saith it lifteth vp our minds to attend to that which is most excellent laudable best and most profitable Therefore let vs heare ACHITOB discourse of the woonderfull effects of this great and woorthie vertue ACHITOB. Whatsoeuer is done manfully and with a great courage appeereth very decent and beseeming a man But the perfection of euery work consisteth in this that it be done by a staied and constant reason which reacheth vs that there is nothing after God but honestie which we are to admire to make account of to desire and that we ought not in any sort to shrinke and yeeld vnto perturbations or to any other humane accident whatsoeuer Which opinions being well imprinted in our minds pricke vs forward to enterprize those things that are most excellent difficult and fullest of labors perils For being free from all earthly care and void of feare or sorow we contemne euen death it selfe and are in such sort prepared against all griefes that our contentation lieth heerin that the greatest and most exceeding paines will not continue long that the least will vanish away of themselues and that we shall be maisters of the middle sort This is that which the Philosophers by infinite learned writings required to be in the vertue of Fortitude with which the force and strength of the bodie hath nothing common as that which is a Good that belongeth to the bodie But this is an immortall Good of the soule consisting in the power and direction of the spirite being fortified and confirmed through the studie of Philosophie and causing man of his owne accord to make choice of and to perfect all honest things for their owne sakes Fortitude then as Cicero saith is that part of honestie which is knowne by the excellencie greatnes and dignitie of the hart which after aduised counsell and good consideration causeth man to vndertake without feare all perillous matters and constantly to endure all kind of trauell For constancie and dignitie are neuer farre from Fortitude in greatest distresses bicause it adorneth him that possesseth hir with the contempt of griefe and of death causing him to esteeme nothing vntollerable that can happen to man neither any thing euill that is necessarie And so it is the preseruation of a firme setled iudgement in things that seeme terrible full of danger seeing it is the knowledge of that which a man ought to indure Plato also calleth it the knowledge of all good and euill as though he would say that nothing can come to a valiant and noble minded man against his expectation although it may be contrarie to his will bicause he is setled and prepared to vndergo all euents as if he had certainly foreseene them Aristole saith that Fortitude is a mediocritie betweene fearing and enterprizing Moreouer it maketh a man fit for all occasions of dangers and trauels and holdeth him betweene these two extremities of cowardlines and rashnes which vices are very hurtfull to a happie and commendable life The same Philosopher saith that whosoeuer will be strong and valiant must be free from all feare of death constant in aduersities void of feare in perils chosing rather to die honestly than to saue himselfe vilan ously He must endeuor to build noble enterprises hauing for his companions hardines greatnes of hart good confidence and hope besides industrie and patience Then he commeth to set downe many kinds of Fortitude Cicero agreeing well with him saith that Magnificence Considence Patience and Perseuerance are the parts of Fortitude Magnificence sheweth it doing great excellent things Confidence in this that a valiant man conceiueth good hope of the euent of them Patience in a voluntarie and continuall suffering for the loue of honestie and vertue and Perseuerance in a perpetual constancie and in a firme and stedfast abiding in his purposes and resolutions vndertaken with good consideration following reason Moreouer Fortitude as the Stoicks said very well is a vertue that fighteth for equitie and iustice And therefore neither they that suffer for vniust matters nor they that fight for their priuate commodities not being led onely with zeale of publike benefit can boast except falsly that they are decked with this pretious vertue For these latter sort of men are rather to be called cruell barbarous mercenaries and hired hangmen destroying all humanitie and the others impudents shameles and desperate yea so much more woorthie of blame as guiltie of wilfull madnes in that they shew themselues constant in doing euill But those men are valiant of great courage who thinke that no action whatsoeuer no time or season ought to be void of iustice who deliuer the oppressed and those that are wronged who build all their deuises vpon vertuous works They saith Aristotle are void of generositie who fight either for feare of reprehension or by constraint or being stirred vp with other mens speech or of choler or through ignorance of dangers And this was Platoes meaning when he said that all strong and valiant men were hardie but not all hardie men valiant bicause hardines commeth to men either by arte anger or pollicie but Fortitude is ingendred in the soule by nature and holie education And therefore this vertue standeth not in need either of choler rancor ambition pride or of any other euill passion whereby to bring to passe braue and glorious effects but is rather an vtter enimie vnto them because it proceedeth from a mature and ripe consideration and election of reason which causeth a man boldly to put in execution whatsoeuer he knoweth to belong to dutie and honestie according to that place whereunto he is called And this also is the cause that he neuer taketh any thing in hand rashly what pretence soeuer it hath neither is he kept backe by any feare in those matters which offer him good occasion of putting to his hand what hazard or imminent danger soeuer seemeth to threaten him But according to that sentence of Socrates that the hardest things ought to be taken in hand and executed with greater constancie and valure of hart after he hath well and prudently grounded his enterprise vpon a certaine knowledge and firme discourse of reason neither reproches nor praises neither promises nor threatnings or torments neither pleasures nor griefs are able to cause him to breake off or in any sort to alter and change his resolution which remaineth alwaies praise-woorthie and is neuer subiect to repentance the matter falleth out bicause we are not to iudge of enterprises by the euents which are altogither out of our power but by the ground-worke and foundation wherupon they were built And further when the greatest dangers are then is the time wherein a valiant man being nothing at all abashed most of all sheweth his strength prowes neuer taking himselfe to be ouercome as long as his vertue is free and at libertie to giue him new supplie of meanes to set forward againe his matters otherwise in a
the chiefest mens children amongst them being gone out of the citie vnder colour to 〈◊〉 his youth to walke and to exercise themselues along the wals deliuered them into the hands of this Romane Captaine saying vnto him that he might be well assured the Citizens would yeeld themselues to his deuotion for the safetie and libertie of that which was deerest vnto them But Camillus knowing this to be too vile and wicked a practise said to those that were with him that although men vsed great outrage and violence in warre yet among good men certaine lawes points of equitie were to be obserued For victorie was not so much to be desired as that it should be gotten and kept by such cursed and damnable meanes but a Generall ought to warre trusting to his owne vertue and not to the wickednes of others Then stripping the said schole maister and binding his hands behind him he deliuered him naked into the hands of his schollers and gaue to ech of them a bundle of rods that so they might carye him backe againe into the citie For which noble act the Citizens yeelded themselues to the Romanes saying that in preferring iustice before victorie they had taught them to choose rather to submit themselues vnto them than to retaine still their libertie confessing withall that they were ouercome more by their vertue than vanquished by their force and power So great power hath Magnanimitie that it doth not onely aduance Princes to the highest degree of honor but also abateth the hart of the puissant and warlike enemie and oftentimes procureth victorie without battell Truly we may draw an excellent doctrine out of these examples which make all those without excuse that spare nothing to attaine to the end of their intents and deuices making no difficultie at the destruction of innocents but exercising all kind of crueltie so they may ouerthrow their enemies by what meanes soeuer vsing commonly that saying of Lysander Admirall of the Lacedemonians that if the Lions skin will not suffice the Foxe his skin also is to be sewed on But let vs resolutely hold this that treason neuer findeth place in a noble hart no more than the bodie of a Foxe is not found in a Lions bodie Further it is notoriously 〈◊〉 that the Ancients striued to procure all good and profit to their enemies vsing clemencie and humanitie towards them when they had greater occasion and meanes to be reuenged of them Heereof we may alleadge good examples when we discourse heereafter particularly of those vertues that are proper to a noble minded man who ought to hate crueltie no lesse than treason We are therefore to looke vnto the last effect and sound proofe of Magnanimitie Generositie heere propounded by vs which we said consisted in the contempt of earthlie and humane goods Wherein truly resteth the very perfection of a Christian who lifteth vp his desires to his last and soueraigne Good in heauen Now because there are but few that loue not themselues too much in those things that concerne the commodities of this life and fewer that seeke not after glorie honor as a recompence of their excellent deeds and that desire not riches earnestly to satisfie their pleasure in these three points also a noble minded man causeth his vertue to appeere more wonderfull bicause he doth not iudge thē to be a worthie reward for the same but rather altogether vnwoorthy the care of his soule for which principally he desireth to liue This is that which Cicero saith that it is not seemely that he should yeeld to couetousnes and concupiscence who could not be subdued by feare or that he should be ouercome by pleasure who hath resisted griefe but rather that these things ought to be shunned by all possible means togither with the desire of money seeing there is nothing more vile abiect than to loue riches nor more noble than to despise them This also is that which Plato saith that it belongeth to the duetie of a noble hart not onely to surmount feare but also to moderate his desires concupiscences especially when he hath libertie to vse them whither it be in the pleasure of the bodie or in the ambitious desire of vain glory honour and power In this sort then he that hath a right noble and worthie mind will no more waigh greatnes among men and estimation of the common sort than he doth griefe and pouertie but depending wholie vpon the wil of God contēting himself with his works wrought in him he will not that any good thing vpon earth can be taken from him And bicause he aspireth to those things that are best highest and most difficult he abideth free from all earthly care and griefe as being long before prepared for all dolors through the contempt of death which bringing an end to the greatest and most excessiue pangs serueth him for an entrance into eternall rest We haue already alleaged many examples of ancient men fit for this matter which now we speake of and the sequele of our treatises will furnish vs with mo when we shall come to intreat of riches and worldly wealth whereof we are to speake more at large But here we will propound Aristides onely to be imitated who was a woorthy man among the Athenians whose opinion was that a good citizen ought to be alwayes prepared alike to offer his body mind vnto the seruice of the common wealth without hope or expectation of any hired and mercenary reward either of money honor or glory And so with an vnspeakeable grauitie and constancie he kept himselfe always vpright in the seruice of his countrey in such sort that no honor done vnto him could cause him either to be puffed vp in hart or to be more earnest in imploying himselfe as it is the maner of some to do seruice according as they are recompenced neither could any repulse or deniall which he suffred abate his courage or trouble him or yet diminish and lessen his affection and desire to profit his common wealth Whereas now adayes we see that the most part of men with vs vpon a smal discontentment labor to make publike profite to serue their desires and passions in stead of giuing themselues to the good benefit of their countrey Now concluding our present discourse we learne that true and perfect Magnanimitie and Generositie is inuincible and inexpugnable bicause vpon this consideration that death is the common end of mans life and that happy passage to life euerlasting she despiseth it altogither and maketh lesse account thereof than of bondage and vice sustaining also with a great vnappalled hart most cruel torments not being mooued thereby to do any thing that may seem to proceed of the common weaknes and frailtie of mans nature Further we learne that this vertue maketh him that possesseth hir good gentle and curteous euen towards his greatest enimies against whom it suffereth him not to vse any couin
or malice but keepeth him alwayes within the limites of equitie and iustice causing him further to make choice of and to finish all honest matters of his owne will and for their loue not caring at all for mortall and corruptible things that he may wholy apprehend and take hold of those things that are diuine and eternall Of Hope Chap. 28. AMANA COnsidering that the perfection of a wise mans life consisteth in the practise of great and excellent things he that is borne to vertue feeleth himselfe touched to the quicke with desire to bring them to passe But the instabilitie and small assurance which he knoweth to be in that which dependeth vpon the doubtfull euent of euery high enterprise oftentimes cooleth his vertuous intents if a certaine confidence and good hope did not make easie vnto him the means of attaining thereunto Likewise when he feeleth the sharpe pricking that proceedeth from the ouerthwarts and miseries of man which sequester themselues very little from his life he is soone daunted with sorow and care if he haue not this hope that comforteth him with expectation of speedie redresse Of you therfore my companions we shall vnderstand the excellencie of this Good that belongeth to the soule and is so necessarie for a happy life I mean Hope which dependeth of the vertue of Fortitude whereof we haue discoursed all this day ARAM. Learned men saith Bias differ from the ignorant sort in the goodnes of hope which truly is verie profitable sweete and acceptable to a prudent man But euil hope leadeth carnall men as a naughtie guide vnto sinne ACHITOB. As good hope serueth to increase strength in a man so rash hope oftentimes beguileth men But it belongeth to thee ASER to handle this matter ASER. Alexander the great being by the states of all Graecia chosen generall captaine to passe into Asia and to make warre with the Persians before he tooke ship he enquired after the estate of all his friends to know what means they had to follow him Then he distributed and gaue to one lands to another a village to this man the custome of some hauen to another the profit of some Borough towne bestowing in this maner the most part of his demeans and reuenues And when Perdicas one of his Lieutenants demanded of him what he reserued for himselfe he answered Hope So great confidence had this noble monarch not in the strength of his weapons or multitude of good warriors desirous of glory and honor but in his owne vertue being content and satisfied with a little in his continencie beneficence contempt of death magnanimitie curtesie gratious intertainment being easie to be spoken with hauing a free disposition by nature without dissimulation constant in his counsels ready and quicke in his executions willing to be the first in glorie and alwaies resolute to do that which dutie commanded From this Hope thus surely grounded he neuer shrunke vntill the last gaspe of his life which caused him to make this answer to Parmenio who counselled him to accept of the offers which Darius made vnto him for peace namely sixe thousand Talents beeing in value sixe Millions of gold and the halfe of his kingdome with a daughter of his in mariage If I were Parmenio I would accept of his profers Besides he sent word to Darius that the earth could not beare two Sunnes nor Asia two Kings Neither was he deceiued of his good hope which led him to such a perfection of worldlie glorie and felicitie that he was the first and last that euer approched neere vnto it This Hope was that foundation whereupon so many great and excellent Heathen men and Pagans built their high and noble enterprises For proofe heerof may be alleadged that definition which Cicero giueth of Confidence being the second part of Hope affirming it to be that vertue whereby the spirite of man putteth great trust in waightie and honest matters hauing a certaine and sure hope in himselfe And elsewhere he saith that he shall neither reioice nor be troubled out of measure that trusteth in himselfe But we know that this Hope is weake and vncertaine if it be not setled and grounded vpon a sure expectation of the helpe and grace of God without which we can neuer prosper Now this is out of doubt that we can not hope and waite for that grace vnles our counsels and enterprises haue reason for their guide and right and equitie for their bounds For as an ancient man saith that man hopeth in vaine that feareth not God and they onely are filled with good hope whose consciences are cleane and pure So that all they that are led with sundry euill passions either of ambition of vainglory or of any other vnbrideled desire can neuer haue that happy and good hope which neuer deceiueth men And in deed they misse oftentimes of their intent yea are depriued of that which was their owne and certaine bicause they are desirous to get vniustly another mans right being also vncertaine The selfe same thing falleth out to those that trust and stay in such sort vpon their owne strength vertue and constancie that fearing in no respect as they say the greatest calamities that can come to man assure themselues in their prosperitie to be inuincible in their resolutions and presume that nothing is able to pull them downe or to cause them to change their opinion and yet so soone as the wind of aduersitie bloweth they are the first that are throwen to the ground and soonest shew foorth the inconstancie imbecillitie of mans nature left to it self As contrarywise they to whom God giueth eyes to acknowledge themselues are then humbled so that they reuerence the ordinance of God who derideth all the enterprises of men The practise hereof was well knowen to Wencelaüs king of Hungaria being driuen out of his kingdom and forsaken of his owne who oftentimes vsed to say The hope I had in men hindred me from putting my trust in God but now that all my confidence is in him I assure my selfe that he will helpe me by his diuine goodnesse As in deed it fell out so vnto him being re-established agayne in all his estates and dignities But to the end we confound not togither that which is simplie diuine with that which is humaine I thinke we ought to make a double hope the first true certaine and vnfallible which concerneth holy and sacred mysteries the other doubtful respecting earthly things only As touching the first we know things to come by the assurance thereof as well as if they were already done We are taught in the holy scripture what is the vndoubted certaintie of this hope which through faith ought to be so imprinted in our harts that by the strength power vertue therof we should run the race of our short daies in all ioy happinesse and peaceable tranquillitie of our minds expecting without doubting the perfect and absolute enioying
Of the Harmonie and agreement that ought to be in the dissimilitude or vnlike callings of subiects by reason of the duty and office of euery estate 743 67 Of Peace and of Warre 754 68 Of the ancient Discipline and order of Warre 764 69 Of the office and duty of a Generall 772 70 Of the choise of Souldiors of the maner how to exhort them to fight and how victory is to be vsed 783 71 Of a happie Life 794 72 Of Death 804 THE FIRST DAIES WORKE of this Academie with the cause of their assemblie WHen GOD by his infinite and vnspeakable goodnes beholding with a fatherly bountifull and pitifull eie our poore France which most cruel against it selfe seemed to run amain most furiously to throw it self headlong into the center of some bottomlesse gulfe had sent from heauen the wished-for newes of peace in the midst of ciuill and domesticall armies which a man might say were of purpose prepared for the finall ouerthrow of this French Monarchie that hath florished so long time sparing by his heauenlie grace and fauor and that in despite of them the bloud of those men who held foorth their right hand to cut off the left among manie who touched with the loue of their countrie and with true zeale to pietie reioiced at this so well liking and healthfull newes fower yong gentlemen of Aniou who came togither to serue their Prince and to sacrifice their liues if need required for the welfare and safetie of the Common wealth were none of the last that sought out one another and met togither to testifie ech to other as their mutuall kindred and sworne frendship did inuite them the ioy which filled their souls arising of so happie and vnlooked for successe and alteration of affaires to the end also that they might giue glorie and praise to him who for the benefit of his knoweth wel how to take order euen in those things which according to the iudgement of men are desperate and past recouery And that which gaue them greater occasion to reioice for this peace and so diligently to seeke out one another was this bicause contratie to hope they saw the meanes offered them to returne home and to continue an exercise that greatly pleased them which not long before the last fal of France into troubles they had happily begun Now to let you readers vnderstand what this exercise was these fower gentlemen being of kin and neere neighbors and in a maner of one age were by the care and prudence of their fathers brought vp and nourished togither from their yoong yeeres in the studie of good letters in the house of an ancient wise gentleman of great calling who was the principall stocke and roote of these fruitfull buds This man by reason of his manifold experience and long abode in strange countries knew that the common corruption of French youth of it selfe inclined to pleasure proceeded chiefly from the ouer great licence and excessiue libertie granted vnto them in the Vniuersities of this Realme as well through the fault and negligence of the gouernors and tutors in them as also bicause of the euill gouernment of the townes at this day He knew also that they were no lesse abused who thinking to auoide this dangerous downe-fall at home did send their children to studie abroad amongst strangers where the traffike and merchandise of mischiefs is more common and easie to be made bicause they feare not that newes will presently or so speedily be caried to their parents as if they were neere vnto them Oh how well woorthie of eternall praise is the prudence of this gentleman bringing to my remembrance Eteocles one of the most noble Ephories of Lacedemonia who freely answered Antipater asking fiftie pledges that he would not giue him children least if they were brought vp farre from their fathers they should change the ancient custome of liuing vsed in their owne countrie and become vicious but of olde men and women he would giue him double the number if he would haue them Wherevpon being threatened by this king if he speedily sent him not of the youth we care not quoth he for threatenings For if thou command vs to do things that are more greeuous than death we will rather choose death so carefull were the men of old time that the dressing and trimming of these yoong plants should not be out of their presence But let vs go on with our matter This good and notable old man hauing spent the greater part of his yeeres in the seruice of two kings and of his country and for many good causes withdrawen himselfe to his house thought that to content his mind which alwaies delighted in honest and vertuous things he could not bring greater profit to the Monarchie of France than to lay open a way and meane to preserue and keepe youth from such a pernicious and cancred corruption by offering himselfe for example to all fathers and shewing them the way to haue a more carefull eie in the instruction of their children and not so lightly to commit them to the discipline of vices by the hands of mercenarie and hired strangers And this was begun vpon these fower yoong gentlemen whom he tooke to his owne house by the consent of their parents offering himselfe to the vttermost of his power to helpe their gentle nature which appeered in them woorthie their ancestors by training it vp first in the feare of God as being the beginning of al wisedome secondly in humane learning and knowledge which are necessarie helps to liue well and happily to the benefit of the societie of men To this end after that he himselfe had shewed them the first grounds of true wisedome and of al things necessarie for their saluation according to the measure of grace giuen him from aboue and as their age could conceiue them he labored earnestly to haue in his house some man of great learning and wel reported of for his good life and conuersation vnto whom he committed the instruction of this yoong Nobilitie Who behaued himselfe so wel in his charge that not greatly staying himselfe in the long degrees of learning which being ordinarie and vsuall in our French Colledges are often more tedious besides losse of time than profitable to youth after he had indifferently taught his schollers the Latine toong and some smackering of the Greeke he propounded for the chiefe part and portion of their studies the morall philosophie of aucient Sages and wise men togither with the vnderstanding searching out of histories which are the light of life therein following the intent and will both of him that set him on worke and also of the parents of this Nobilitie who desired to see their children not great Orators suttle Logitians learned Lawiers or curious Mathematicians but onely sufficiently taught in the doctrine of good liuing following the traces and steps of vertue by the knowledge of things past from the first ages vntill this present that they
the end well propounded and yet men erre in the meanes to attaine vnto it and contrariwise it falleth out oftentimes that the meanes are good and the end propounded bad So that it is from this liuely and euer-flowing fountaine which is the cause of al good from whence we are to looke for the perfect knowledge of our dutie and the ends and meanes whereby to execute it to the glorie of God and to the good and profit of our like And from this generall vertue and fountaine of honestie and dutie fower riuers issue and spring called morall vertues namely Prudence which is as a guide to the rest and knoweth what is profitable for it selfe for others and for the common-wealth Temperance the mistres of modestie chastitie sobrietie and vigilancie and of all order and mediocritie in all things Fortitude which maketh a man constant patient couragious hardie and readie to enterprise high great profitable and holie things and Iustice which is the bond and preseruation of humane societie by giuing to euery one that which belongeth vnto him by keeping faith in things promised by succoring gladly the afflicted and by helping euery one according as abilitie serueth Which vertues are the true and certain goods of the soule whereby all actions are directed according to dutie as we shall speake particularly thereof heerafter In the meane while let vs enter into the examples of the ancients and see how exactly and inuiolably they obserued all points of dutie choosing rather to sacrifice their liues than to infringe and breake any of them much more contemning all other weaker occasions wherwith lewd and base-minded people suffer themselues to be easily corrupted And first touching the first point of dutie naturally imprinted in the soules of the greatest infidels which is to acknowledge some diuinitie with what zeale although inconsiderate and rash did the ancient heathens and pagans precisely obserue their paganisme euen to the sacrificing and cheerfull offering vp of their owne children to their gods as we read of the Carthaginians What say I their children yea oftentimes themselues whereof Calanus an Indian Gymnosophist serueth for a witnes who seeing himselfe old after he had offered sacrifice to the gods bad Alexander the Great farewell with whom he came to Babylon and tooke his leaue also of all his other friends Then lying along according to the custome of his countrie vpon a little pile of wood which he had prepared for that purpose he caused fire to be put vnto it and so burned himselfe for a burnt-offering to his gods not stirring at all but continuing with such a wonderfull constancie that Alexander who was present confessed himselfe to be vanquished of him in greatnes of hart and magnanimitie of courage Who will not admire the strict obseruation of the ancient religion of the Egyptians Graecians and Romans mooued with a desire of yeelding the dutie of their being to the honor of a diuine nature But for shortnes sake and not to wander farre from the subiect of our assemblie I passe it ouer with silence Heere I will onely alledge one notable example of the Iewes who were more zealous professors of their law than euer were any people Caius a Romane emperor sent Petronius into Syria with commandement to make war with the Iewes if they would not receiue his image into their temple Which when they refused to do Petronius said vnto them that then belike they would fight against Caesar not weighing his wealth or their owne weakenes and vnabilitie We will not fight quoth they but had rather die than turne from the lawes of our God And foorthwith casting themselues on the ground and offering their throtes they said that they were readie to receiue the blow In this estate as Iosephus reporteth it they remained for the space of fortie daies letting slip the time which then was of sowing their grounds Which caused Petronius to defer the execution of his charge and to send the declaration of these things vnto Caesar whose death rid the Iewes out of danger Now we are to consider with what burning affection the ancients imbraced common benefit and safetie seeking to profit all men according to the true dutie of a good man but especially their countrie in whose seruice they thought it great happines to lose their liues For truly besides the sweet affection which nature hath imprinted in our harts towards our countrie and the conformitie of humors which commonly is found in our bodies with that heauenly aire wher we haue our first breathing which seemeth to be a mutual and naturall obligation the reason of all humane right and the religion of diuine equitie besides the dutie of conscience bind all persons to serue the publike wealth of their countrie to the vttermost of their power and that so much the rather bicause that vnder it the life honor and goods of euery particular man are comprehended This reason caused Cato of Vtica a Consul and noble Romane to answer one of his friends who was come to giue him thanks for defending him in iudgement from a false accusation that he was to thanke the Common-wealth for whose loue onely he did spake and counselled all things This also made him to vndertake the sute for the office of Tribuneship of the people that he might resist the faction of Pompey by whom he saw Metellus set on worke to sue and seeke for the same office for the assurance of his affaires and strengthening of his league Now is the time quoth Cato to his friends wherein I must imploy and bestow the power of such an office and of so great authoritie as a strong medicine in time conuenient and vpon necessarie causes and either ouercome or die honorably in the defence of common libertie So likewise he opposed himselfe as much as he could against all nouelties and alteration of affaires betweene Caesar and Pompey And when the selfesame Pompey being desirous to win him to himselfe sought to bring it to passe by alliance and thereupon demanded two of his neeces in marriage one for himselfe and the other for his sonne Cato without any longer deliberation answered him presently as being netled that caried backe the message that he should returne to Pompey and tell him that Cato was not to be taken by the meanes of women Which was not bicause he would not haue him esteem greatly of his friendship which he should alwaies find in him to be more sure and certaine than any alliance by marriage so that he onely sought after and did things honest and iust but at this time he would not giue hostages at Pompeies pleasure against the Common-welth Afterward the affaires of Rome being brought to such necessitie through corruption of monie and by vnlawfull and forceable meanes in procuring publike places of authoritie many Senators being of opinion that Pompey was to be chosen sole and onely Consul Cato also was of the same mind saying that men ought
freely to giue counsaile in that thing which concerneth the dutie of a good man or the charge wherunto we are called The sages vertuous men heretofore haue alwaies shewed themselues to be such in their free counsailes wise declarations as hereafter we may handle more largly In the meane time we may haue here Demaratus for an example of this commendable libertie of speech who comming from Corinth into Macedonia when Phillip was at variance with his wife with his son was demanded by the king whether the Graecians did agree wel among themselues Truly sir quoth he to him it becommeth you wel to inquire after the concord of the Athenians Peloponesians in the meane while to suffer your owne house to be ful of diuision and domesticall discord Diogenes also being gon to the camp of the same Phillip at the same time that he returned from making war against the Grecians being led before him the king asked him if he were not a spy Yes truely answered the philosopher I am a spy com hither to espy thy impudency folly who not constrained by any dost set downe as it were on a dicing boord in the hazard of one houre both thy kingdome life Demosthenes being demanded of the tirant Epemetes why he wept so bitterly for the death of a philosopher a cōpanion of his seeing it was a strang matter to see wisemē weepe yea altogither vnbeseeming their profession know said he to him that I weepe not for the death of this philosopher but bicause thou art aliue For I tel thee that in the Academies we are more sorrowfull for the life of the wicked than for the death of good men Let vs learne then by your present discourse that talke being the messenger of thought discloseth our maners a great deal more than the lines draughts of our face do And as that tree whose root is drie can haue no greene leaues so from a vicious and corrupted soule nothing but vile filthy speeches can proceede which a wise man ought wholy to shunne bicause to make small account of euill words leadeth a man by litle and little to dishonest deeds Let all vaine speech also be banished from vs and let vs take great heed that we neuer speake either in sport or earnest any one word that is not tru knowing that to be true in word is the beginning and foundation of a notable vertue Moreouer let vs know that truth is not onely betraied of those that speake falsely and maintaine a lie but also of those that dare not confesse and defende it publikely Let vs know that aboue all things we must dedicate our voice and speech to sing the praises of God remembring the saying of that holy man Gordius who as he was led to the place of punishment was exhorted by some to leaue his opinion and so saue his life To whom he answered that the toong ought to vtter nothing that is iniurious to the Creator thereof Lastly let vs know that we must refer euery word to the glory of his name and to the profit of our neighbors The end of the third daies worke THE FOVRTH DAIES WORKE Of Friendship and of a friend Chap. 13. ASER. MAn being a reasonable creature borne for ciuill societie to obserue lawes and iustice and to exercise in the world all duties of gentlenes and goodnes the fairest and most fruitfull seede that God hath infused and sowne in his soule and that draweth him to this ende is loue and charitie towards his like But as euerie action of mans life standeth in need to be guided by the vertue of Prudence whereof we discoursed yesterday so in truth she is verie necessarie in euerie good and vnfained friendship For this cause I thinke companions that we shall obserue the order of our discourses if we begin this daies worke with the handling of friendship and of the true and perfect dutie of a friend AMANA Nothing that seemeth to be profitable whether it be honor riches pleasure or whatsoeuer else is of this kinde ought to be preferred in any respect before friendship Yea a man is to make more account of friends as Socrates said then of any other mortall thing ARAM. Perfect friendship saith Aristotle is to loue our friend more for his benefit than for our owne and therefore a friend is alwaies profitable and necessary But he is greatly deceiued saith Homer that seeketh for a friend in the court and prooueth him at a feast But let vs heare ACHITOB discourse hereupon ACHITOB. Rare things are commonly most esteemed amongst men the more pretious they are of their owne nature so much the more are they had in request This we may very aptly apply to a friend seeing there is nothing so rare as one that is vnfained and stedfast neither any thing so excellent and perfect as he is if he be a good and prudent man And for this cause the philosophers accounted friendship to be the chiefest and most excellent good of fortune as being least of all subiect to hir and most necessarie for man But bicause the wickednes of men is so great in these daies that nothing is so sacred and holy which is not violated corrupted brought to confusion no maruell if men impudently abuse this name of a friend so much reuerenced in olde time that some take it to themselues being altogither vnwoorthie thereof and others as freely although to their losse and shame grant them this excellent title and esteeme them for such in truth towards them as they falsely vaunt themselues to be But that we be not deceiued with the greater number which is not alwaies the surest marke let vs briefly consider what friendship is what fruits spring from hir who may rightly challenge this title of a friend what maner of one we ought to choose how we must trie him before we take him for such a one then the meanes whereby to keepe him and lastly what mutuall dutie friends are to vse one towards another First we say with Socrates that true friendship cannot be framed but by the helpe and grace of God who draweth like to the loue of his like that euerie perfect friendship is to bee linked with the bond of charitie and ought to be referred to God as to our soueraigne good and cheefest friend and therefore that true friendship cannot be setled betweene the wicked who being at discord within themselues can haue no concorde and agreement one with another Moreouer there is to be found in friendship whatsoeuer men thinke woorthie to be desired as honestie glorie tranquillitie of minde and pleasure and consequently a happie life which cannot bee amongst the wicked Friendship is a communion of a perpetuall will the end whereof is fellowship of life and it is framed by the perfect habit of a long continued loue Whereby wee may perceiue that there is a difference betwixt loue and
the renowme of his high enterprises got to himselfe the surname of Great being readie to saile by sea and to passe into Italy whether he was to cary a certaine quantitie of wheate to meete with a famine according to the commission giuen him of the Senate there arose a very great tempest insomuch that the mariners made great doubt to weigh vp their anchors But his resolution beeing well made before and grounded vpon the dutie of a noble hart he tooke shipping first of all and caused the sailes to be spread in the wind saying with a loud and cleare voice It is necessarie that I go but not necessarie that I liue Caius Marius who was six times Consul being in war against the Allies of the Romanes that were reuolted inclosed himselfe one day with trenches and suffered a thousand iniuries and vaunting speeches both of his enimies and of his owne men but yet cared nothing at all for them nor went from his deliberation which was that he would not fight at that time And when Publius Sillo one of the chiefe captaines of the enimie cried vnto him saying If thou art such a great Captaine Marius as men report of thee come out of thy campe to battell Nay doe thou quoth he againe vnto him if thou art a great Captaine compell me to come out to battell in despite of my teeth Afterward this Marius shewed himselfe to be one of the most valiant and courageous men of his time aswell in the discomfiture of the said enemies as in two other battels which he wan against the barbarous Cimbrians and Flemings who were entred into Italy to inhabite there in one of which battels about a hundred thousand fighting men were slaine in the field Agis king of Lacedemonia being resolued to fight his Councellors told him that there was no reason so to doe bicause his enemies were ten against one It must needs be quoth this courageous Prince that he which will command many must fight also against many We are enough to put naughtie men to flight The Lacedemonians vse not to aske what number there is of the enemies but onely where they are The answer which Dienecus made to one that told the Councell of Grecia that the multitude of the Barbarians was so great that their arrowes couered the sunne commeth neere to the courageous saying of king Agis For concluding with their opinion who perswaded to fight Dienecus made this answer Thou tellest vs very goodnewes For if the multitude of the Medes is such that they are able to hide the Sunne they will offer vs the meanes how to fight in the shadowe and not in the heate of the Sunne We may not heere passe ouer with silence the testimonie of inuincible Fortitude which alwaies findeth meanes to effect hir glorious purposes giuen by Themistocles when he saw the sundrie opinions of the Chieftaines of the Grecian armie vnder the leading of Euribiades the Lacedemonian touching the place where they should fight with Xerxes fleet The greatest part determined to forsake Salamis where they were at that time and to retire to Peloponnesus fearing the great force of their enimies who were about twelue hundred vessels whereas they themselues had but three hundred But Themistocles sent Sicinnus his childrens Schoolemaister secretly in a Sciffe towards the Persians aduertising them of the resolution which the Grecians had taken to flie faining as he made Xerxes beleeue that he fauored their side Vpon this watchword Xerxes sent part of his armie to the other side of Salamis Whereupon the Grecians considering that they were enuironed resolued and setled themselues as men constrained to fight and in deed the victorie remained on their side to the confusion ouerthrow of their enemies who departed out of Grecia which otherwise would haue been greatly shaken had not Themistocles vsed this notable stratageme thereby to staie the shamefull flight of his Countreymen It was this vertue of Fortitude which caused Damindas the Lacedemonian to make this answer to one who told him that the Lacedemonians were in danger to suffer much mischiefe if they agreed not with Philip who was armed against the Grecians O my friend quoth he that art halfe a woman what euill can he cause vs to suffer seeing we make no account of death it selfe Dercyllides being sent from Sparta towards king Pyrrhus to know wherefore he marched with his armie vpon their borders and vnderstanding of him that he commanded them to receiue againe their king Cleonymus whome they had banished or else he would let them know that they were not more valiant than others alreadie subdued by him made this answer If thou art a God we feare thee not bicause we haue not offended thee but if thou art a man thou art no better than we The answer which certaine Polonian Embassadors made to Alexander the Great who threatned their countrey sheweth also the excellencie of their courage We are afraid quoth they to him but of one only thing namely least the skie should fall vpon vs. Thunder as Plato saith terrifieth children and threatnings fooles Anaxarchus being likewise threatned by the same Monarke that he should be hauged Threaten this quoth he to thy Courtiers who feare death for my part I care not whether I rot in the ground or aboue ground Socrates also answered thus to one that asked him whether he were not ashamed to commit any thing that would procure his death My friend thou doest not well to thinke that a vertuous man ought to make any account either of danger or of death or to consider any other thing in all his actions than this whether they are iust or vniust good or bad If we desire to see farther what effects Fortitude bringeth foorth in the greatest and most sinister dangers Marcus Crassus shal serue vs for sufficient proofe When he was three skore yeeres of age albeit he had receiued the foile in a battell against the Parthians wherein the greatest part of his armie was destroied and his sonne being Captaine of a thousand men was slaine whose death seemed more to astonish the rest of his men than anye other danger yet he shewed himselfe in this mishap more vertuous than euer before went through all his bands crying aloud in this manner It is I alone my friends whome the sorow and griefe of this losse ought to touch But the greatnes of the fortune and glorie of Rome remaineth whole and inuincible as long as ye stand on your feete Notwithstanding if yee haue any compassion of mee seeing mee loose so valiant and vertuous a sonne I praye you shewe the same by changing it into wrath against your enemies to take vengeance of their crueltie and be not abashed for any mishap befallen vs for great thinges are not gotten without losse Patience in trauels and Constancie in aduersities haue brought the Romane Empire to that greatnes of power wherein it is now
conquering the same whereof he reaped no other benefit but onely a vaine name and glorie of small continuance in his life time which procured him the enuie and hatred of his countreymen so that he was murdred with 23. blowes of the sword on his bodie after he had ouerliued Pompey who was vanquished by him foure yeeres onely or little more Histories are full of sundrie such alterations which commonly follow them that are not content with their estate from whence wise men and of good iudgement may drawe this instruction to limit their thoughts and desires For as Diodorus the Athenian said these two things are very hurtfull to men Hope and Loue of which the one leadeth and the other accompanieth them the one seeketh out the meanes to execute their thoughts and the other persuadeth them with good successe And although these two things are not seene with the eie yet are they mightier than visible punishments Heerof came that old prouerb that proud men fat themselues with vaine hope which by little and little choaketh them as naughtie fat doth mans bodie And if we be willing to keepe our selues from so dangerous a downefall let vs cure our soules of all hurtfull hope and let reason and dutie as we haue alreadie said lead and limit all our affections and enterprises considering wisely their beginning namely that we ground them vpon right and equitie only knowing that they ought not to be iudged of by the euent and end of them which oftentimes seeme to fauor vniust coūsels and doings And this offreth some colour occasion to the wicked to prosecute their dealings hauing no care of violating right and iustice But how soeuer it be a miserable end bringeth them an ouer late repentance Neither let vs perswade our selues that the issue of our imaginations and enterprises although they be well grounded shall certainly fall out according to our meaning for this is that hope which greatly hurteth and most of all troubleth men but let vs know that as in al things which grow there is alwaies some corruption mingled in them it being necessarie that all mortall seedes should presently be partakers of the cause of death so from the same fountaine ill hap floweth vnto vs in great measure yea sooner and more abundantly than good successe Which thing Homer willing to giue vs to vnderstand fained that there were two vessels at the entrie of the great Olympus the one being full of honie the other of gall of which two mingled togither Iupiter causeth all men to drinke And Plutark saith that men can neuer purely and simply enioy the ease of any great prosperitie but whether it be fortune or the enuie of destinie or else the naturall necessitie of earthlie things there ease is alwaies intermingled in their life time with euill among the good yea in the like mishap that which is woorse surmounteth the better All these things being considered of vs they will make vs more aduised and staied in all our counsels and deuises in such sort affected and prepared with true prudence fortitude and magnanimitie that whatsoeuer hapneth vnto vs we shall not be troubled or further mooued but receiue it as hauing long before expected and looked for it This doth Seneca very learnedly teach vs saying that we ought not to be astonished or maruell at vnlooked for chances that light vpon vs but prepare and conforme our harts to all euents that may come vnto vs premeditating and thinking aforehand that we are borne to suffer and that nothing commeth to passe which ought not to be Destinie saith he leadeth those that are consenting draweth gain-sayers by force Neither ought we through doubt of that which is to come to neglect good heroicall and farre remooued hopes of excellent things hauing thus grounded them as we haue said For wise and famous personages desirous of honor and glorie were alwaies of opinion that they ought to be intertained and kept in a sound and setled resolution of the mind bicause of the varietie of accidents which daily happen contrary to the common opinions of men wherein experience teacheth vs that according to the direction of a good spirite and the good successe that followeth and accompanieth it whatsoeuer concerneth the managing of worldlie affairs is changed and turneth about with the moouing of fortune if it be lawfull for vs vnder this Heathen word to vnderstand the ordinance of God Therefore to ende our present discourse we will note this that first we are to defend our selues by the grace of God with that happie and certaine hope which can neuer deceiue or confound any being a certaine guide to keepe vs in this long and tedious pilgrimage from going astray out of the way of saluation Secondly from this the prop staie and comfort of mans life against all miseries and calamities will flow and issue Thirdly and lastly we shall be stirred vp to all great and noble works for the good and common profit of euery one referring the euents of them to the woonderfull counsell of the prouidence of God and receiuing them as iust good and profitable The ende of the seuenth daies worke THE EIGHT DAIES WORKE Of Patience and of Impatiencie of Choler and Wrath. Chap. 29. ASER. IF vertue consisteth in hard matters if that which commeth neerest to the diuine nature and is most vneasie and least of all vsed of all men better beseemeth a valiant and noble minded man than any other thing whatsoeuer no doubt but patience is the very same thing whereof the Scripture teacheth vs that God is the author and that he putteth it in dailie practise among his creatures deferring the full punishment of their faults by expecting their repentance Further this vertue so much resembleth Fortitude wherof we discoursed yesterday that we may say with Cicero that Fortitude is borne of hir or els with hir seeing there is nothing so great and burthensome which she can not easilie sustaine and ouercome euen the violentest most common passions of mans nature as impatiencie choler and anger which commonly procure the vtter ruine of the soule Therefore let vs my Companions begin our daies worke with the handling of the effects of this great vertue of Patience and of the vices that are cleane contrarie vnto it AMANA Patience saith Plautus is a remedie for all griefes Endure patiently and blame not that which thou canst not auoid For he that is able to suffer well ouercommeth But this vertue is so rarely found among men that moe will offer themselues to death than abide griefe patiently Neuertheles it is the point of a wise man saith Horace to set a good face vpon that which must needes be done ARAM. By patience saith Cicero we must seeke after that which we cannot obtaine by fauour and if we endure all the inconuenience will turne to our profite But learned men whilest they resist not their perturbations trouble and ouerturne with a suddain
vices namely too little and too much And this may also be noted in the fourth of those vertues whereof we intreated euen now whose defect and contrarie vice is Iniustice and hir excesse and counterfet follower is Seueritie Of which vices according to the order begun by vs we are now to discourse This matter therefore I leaue to you my Companions ASER. They make themselues guiltie of great Iniustice who being appointed of God to persecute the wicked with the swoord drawne will forsooth keepe their hands cleane from bloud whereas the wicked in the meane while commit murder and offer violence vncontrouled But it is no lesse crueltie to punish no offence than not to forgiue any in whomsoeuer it be the one being an abuse of clemencie the true ornament of a soueraigne and the other to turne authoritie into tyrannie Neuertheles Magistrats in the execution of Iustice ought to take great heed least by ouer-great seueritie they hurt more than they heale AMANA As a Goldsmith can make what vessel he will when the drosse is taken from the siluer so when the froward man is taken away from the kings presence his throne shal be established in Iustice Notwithstanding the seate of a Iudge that is too seuere seemeth to be a gibbet alreadie erected But we shall vnderstand of thee ARAM the nature and effects of these vices Iniustice and Seuerity ARAM. None are so peruerse nor giuen ouer so much to the desires and concupiscences of their flesh that they can vtterly deface through obliuion the knowledge of good and euill or the inward apprehension of some diuine nature both which are ioined together in all men Insomuch that by reason of that which vrgeth them within their soules they are constrained to confesse themselues culpable for their vniust deedes before the iudiciall throne of this Deitie Therfore with what impudencie soeuer the wicked outwardly gloze their corrupt dealings as if they gloried in them yet seeing they haue aswell by the testimonie of their conscience as by proofe and experience this knowledge euen against their wils that Iniustice is vnfruitful barren and vngrateful bringing foorth nothing woorthy of any account after many great labors and trauels which it affoordeth them the remembrance of their vnpure deedes abateth their courage maketh it full of trouble and confusion So that although a corrupt and naughty man during the sway of his vitious passion perswadeth himselfe that by committing a wicked execrable deed he shal enioy some great and assured contentation yet the heat thirst and fury of his passion being ouerpassed nothing remaineth but vile and perilous perturbations of Iniustice nothing that is either profitable necessarie or delectable Moreouer this troubleth his mind that through his dishonest desires he hath filled his life with shame danger distrust terror of the iust iudgement of God For these causes the Philosophers speaking of Iniustice said very well that there was no vice whereof a man ought to be more ashamed than of that bicause it is a malice and naughtines that hath no excuse For seeing men haue this inward sence and feeling that their very thoughts do accuse or absolue them before God they ought to make account thereof as of a watchman that watcheth prieth into them to discouer all those things which they would gladly hide if they could This caused Cicero to say that it is more against nature to spoile another man and to see one man to increase his riches by the hurt of another than either death or pouertie or griefe or any losse of goods belonging either to the bodie or to fortune And if a good man neither may nor ought for profit sake to slander deceiue lie or execute any such like thing it is certaine that there is nothing in this world of so great value no treasure so pretious which should mooue vs to forgo the brightnes and name of vertuous and iust Now as we learned before that Iustice was a generall vertue so Iniustice also comprehendeth all those vices whereinto men commonly fall For this is Iniustice not to giue to euery one that which belongeth vnto him In respect of God it taketh the name of Impietie in regard of men of deniall of rights and lawes Our discourse is of this latter which bringeth foorth pernitious effects after diuers manners destroying all duties of honestie But not to stay ouer-long in the kinds of Iniustice we will note this that we are so many waies guiltie of Iniustice as we deny to our neighbours those duties which we owe vnto them and which our vocation requireth of vs as also when we seeke to inrich our selues by their hinderance whether it be openly or by sinister and suttle meanes against christian sinceritie which ought to shine in all our dealings Let vs see how the Ancients hated this vice and spake of the pernitious effects thereof No man saith Socrates ought to commit any vniust act how small soeuer it be for any treasure wealth or profit which he may hope to reape thereby bicause all the treasures of the earth are not to be compared to the least vertue of the soule For this cause all men iointly ought to haue this one end and intent that when they profit themselues they should also be beneficiall to euery one For if all men should haue respect but to their owne their vnitie would soone be dissolued And although it were so said Cato that Iniustice did procure no perill to him that doth practise it yet would it to all others Plato calleth it a corruption of the soule and a ciuill sedition which neuer looseth strength no not in those that haue it onely within themselues For it causeth a wicked man to be at variance within himselfe It vrgeth troubleth and turmoileth him continually vntill it haue plunged him in the gulfe of all vices whereupon afterward he easily ouerfloweth in all impietie not caring for any thing but to satisfie his vnbrideled desires And if it fall out that they who haue the sword in hand to correct Iniustice do either authorize or practise it themselues then is the gate of all miseries opened vpon euery one through the vnrulie licence of the wicked who wallow in all kind of crueltie from whence all disorder and confusion proceedeth to the vtter ruine and finall subuersion of most florishing townes and cities and in the end of empires kingdomes and monarchies Thus doth Iniustice disanull the force of lawes which are the foundation of euery estate it is an enimie to good men and the Gardian and Tutor of the wicked Briefly it bringeth foorth all effects contrarie to those which we mentioned to be the fruits of Iustice and is the welspring of the other vices that hinder dutie Is it not Iniustice that giueth authoritie to murders robberies violent dealings to other damnable vices which at this day are vnpunished and are the cause that of many great goodly welthy
robbed the common-wealth or of such as being preuented slew themselues were not made so that they that were accused might saue their liues by forsaking their goods yea by paying so much only as their accusers demanded But there are some of a cleane contrary disposition to Licinius who being readie to giue vp the ghost would gladly cary their wealth with them as we read of Hermocrates who by his wil made himself heire of his own goods Athenaeus maketh mention of another who at the houre of his death deuoured many pieces of his gold and sewed the rest in his coate commanding that they should be all buried with him Valerius Maximus telleth of one who being besieged within the town of Cassilina by Hannibal preferred the hope of gaine before his owne life For he chose rather to sell a ratte which he had taken for 200. Romane pence than to satisfie his hunger whereof he died quickly after and the buier being the wiser man saued his life by that deare meate Crassus Consul of Rome is likewise noted by Historiographers to be extreme couetous which caused him to swimme between two factions diuided for Caesar and Pompey seruing his owne turne by them both and chaunging many times from one side to another in the administration of the common-wealth He shewed himselfe neither a constant friend nor a dangerous enemy but soone forsooke both amitie and enmitie when he saw it would be profitable to him wherof the encrease of his substance gaue great proofe For when he first began to entermeddle in affaires his riches amounted but to 300. talents which according to our money came to about 180000. crownes but after when he purposed to go from Rome to warre with the Parthians he would needes know how much all his wealth came to And first he offred to Hercules the tenth of all his goods secondly he made a publike feast for all the people of Rome of a thousand tables and thirdly he gaue to euery citizen as much wheate as would finde him three moneths Notwithstanding all this he found that he was worth 7100. talents which amounted to foure millions two hundred and three-score thousand crownes He vsed to say that he accounted no man rich except he were able of his owne charges to hire and maintaine an armie bicause as no man can set downe a readie reckoning of the expences of warre as king Archidamas sayd so the riches that is to sustaine it may not be limited But in the ende his couetousnesse and ambition which commonly are not farre separated one from another led him to a violent death as we declared else-where Now as Crassus was blamed for couetousnesse so Pompey was as much commended and well thought of bicause he abhorred contemned it Whereof he gaue good proofe as also of great piety at the taking of the city of Ierusalem from the Iewes For when he entred into the Temple beheld the great riches thereof the table of gold the golden candlesticke a great number of vessels of gold with great abundance of good exquisite spice for smels knew moreouer that there was in the treasurie about two thousand talents of sacred siluer yet he would not touch it in any wise nor suffer any thing to be taken from it We that say we are christians follow a farre off the pierie of these heathen men whē as both great and small watch for nothing more than how to intrappe the goods of the Church to make them serue our delights and pleasures Moreouer we see that this cursed plant of couetousnes groweth as much in the house of prayer as in the courts of kings and princes The corruption also that hath folowed the same is knowen sufficiently in those men who to satisfie their vnsatiable desires call themselues protectors of this Hydra Ignorance to the destruction and perdition of their own soules and of ten thousand mo for whom they are to answer Iouian Pontanus rehearseth a pleasant history of a cardinall named Angelot who was well punished for his couetousnes This cardinal vsed when his horse-keepers had in the euening giuen oates to his horses to come downe all alone without light by a trap doore into the stable so steale their oates and cary it into his garner wherof he kept the key himselfe He continued his goings and commings so often that one of his horse-keepers not knowing who was this thiefe hid himselfe in the stable and taking him at the deed doing being ignorant who it was bestowed so many blowes on him with a pitchforke that he left him halfe dead so that he was faine to be caried by foure men into his chamber Iohn Maria Duke of Millan chasticed very iustly but ouer-seuerely the couetousnesse of a Curate who denied the seruice of his office in the burying of a dead body bicause his widow had not wherewith to pay him the charges of the buriall For the Duke himselfe going to the funerals of the dead caused the priest to be taken and bound to the corse and so cast them both into one pit A crueltie no lesse detestable than the vice of those wretches that sell the gifts of God and make merchandise of that which they ought to giue freely to the people Now to end our matter we maintaine this that couetousnes and vnlawful desire of riches is the root of all euill miserie and calamitie Moreouer it is more to be misliked in great men when it followeth riot and prodigalitie than if it be ioyned with niggardlines as wel for the reasons before touched as also bicause niggardly and couetous princes vse more carefully in their estates and dignities to prouide such men as are prudent and staied for the preseruation of their subiects knowing that their owne ruine dependeth of their vndoing Which thing voluptuous princes neglect bicause they dreame of nothing but of their pleasures and so prouide none but such as will serue their humor therein and flatterers or else such as will giue them most money wherewith to maintaine their delights And let vs further know that all couetous men go astray from the right way of truth and infold themselues in many griefs and miseries and become odious to euery one Besides not being content with their daily bread when contrarywise their desire is infinit they euidently mocke God as often as they make that petition bicause they labour to conceale and to dissemble before him that knoweth all things their couetous greedie affection whereas true prayer ought to declare and to open the inward meaning of the hart Let vs therfore that are better instructed learne that godlines with contentation is great gaine and let vs not wearye our selues in the heaping vp of treasure which the rust and moath may consume and eate and the theefe steale but let vs renounce riches and the world ouer which Satan beareth rule least in that terrible day he accuse vs before the
seeing it lieth so heauy vpon them and the time seemeth vnto them ouer-long to stay for the naturall death of this poore old man whom they hate so extremely And yet Titus shall not obtaine a victory greatly honorable or woorthy the praise of the ancient Romanes who euen then when Pyrrhus their enimy warred against them and had wonne battels of them sent him word to beware of poison that was prepared for him Thus did this great vertuous captaine finish his daies being vtterly ouerthrowen and trode vnder foote by fortune which for a time had placed him in the highest degree of honor that could be Eumenes a Thracian one of Alexanders lieutenants and one that after Alexanders death had great wars and made his partie good against Antigonus king of Macedonia came to that greatnesse and authoritie from a poore Potters sonne afterwards being ouercome and taken prisoner he died of hunger But such preferments of fortune will not seeme very strange vnto vs if we consider how Pertinax came to the Empire ascending from a simple souldier to the degree of a captaine and afterward of Gouernour of Rome being borne of a poore countrywoman And hauing raigned only two moneths he was slaine by the souldiers of his gard Aurelianus from the same place obtained the selfe same dignitie Probus was the sonne of a gardiner and Maximianus of a black-smith Iustinus for his vertue surnamed the Great from a hogheard in Thracia attained to the empire Wil you haue a worthy exāple agreeable to that saying of Iuuenal which we alleaged euen now Gregory the 7. from a poore monke was lift vp to the dignitie of chief bishop of Rome Henry the 4. emperor was brought to that extreme miserie by wars that he asked the said Gregory forgiuenes cast him selfe down at his feete And yet before this miserable monarch could speake with him he stood 3. days fasting and barefoote at the popes palace gate as a poore suppliant waiting whē he might haue entrance accesse to his holynes Lewes the Meeke emperour king of France was constrained to giue ouer his estate to shut himself vp in a monasterie through the conspiracie of his own childrē Valerianus had a harder chaunge of his estate ending his days whilest he was prisoner in the hands of Sapor king of the Parthians who vsed the throte of this miserable emperor whensoeuer he mounted vpō his horse But was not that a wonderful effect of fortune which hapned not long since in Munster principal towne in the country of Westphalia wherin a sillie botcher of Holland being retired as a poore banished man from his country called Iohn of Leiden was proclaimed king was serued obeied of all the people a long time euen vntil the taking subuersion of the said town after he had born out the siege for the space of 3. yeeres Mahomet the first of that name of a very smal and abiect place being enriched by marying his mistres and seruing his own turne very fitly with a mutinie raised by the Sarrasins against Heracleus the emperor made himself their captain tooke Damascus spoiled Egypt finally subdued Arabia discomfited the Persians and became both a monarch a prophet Wil you see a most wōderful effect of fortune Look vpon the procedings of that great Tamburlane who being a pesants son keping cattel corrupted 500. sheepheards his companions These men selling their cattel betook them to armes robbed the merchants of that country watched the high ways Which when the king of Persia vnderstood of he sent a captaine with a 1000. horse to discomfit them But Tamburlane delt so with him that ioining both togither they wrought many incredible feates of armes And when ciuil warre grew betwixt the king and his brother Tamburlane entred into the brothers pay who obtained the victory by his means therupon made him his lieutenant general But he not long after spoiled the new king weakened subdued the whole kingdom of Persia And when he saw himselfe captain of an army of 400000. horsmen 600000. footmē he made warre with Baiazet emperor of the Turkes ouercame him in battel and tooke him prisoner He obtained also a great victorie against the Souldan of Egypt and the king of Arabia This good successe which is most to be maruelled at and very rare accompanied him always vntill his death in so much that he ended his days amongst his children as a peaceable gouernour of innumerable countries From him descended the great Sophy who raigneth at this day and is greatly feared and redoubted of the Turke But that miserable Baiazet who had conquered before so many peoples and subdued innumerable cities ended his dayes in an iron cage wherein being prisoner and ouercome with griefe to see his wife shamefully handled in waiting at Tamburlanes table with hir gowne cut downe to hir Nauell so that hir secrete partes were seene this vnfortunate Turke beate his head so often agaynst the Cage that he ended his lyfe But what neede we drawe out this discourse further to shewe the straunge dealinges and maruellous chaunges of fortune in the particular estates and conditions of men which are to be seene daily amongst vs seeing the soueraign Empires of Babylon of Persia of Graecia and of Rome which in mans iudgement seemed immutable and inexpugnable are fallen from all their glittering shew and greatnes into vtter ruine and subuersion so that of the last of them which surpassed the rest in power there remaineth onely a commandement limited and restrained within the confines of Almaigne which then was not the tenth part of the rich prouinces subiect to this Empire Is there any cause then why we should be astonished if litle kingdoms common-wealths and other ciuill gouernments end when they are come to the vtmost ful point of their greatnes And much lesse if it fal out so with mē who by nature are subiect to change and of themselues desire and seeke for nothing else but alteration Being assured therefore that there is such vncertaintie in all humane things let vs wisely prepare our selues and apply our will to all euents whose causes are altogither incomprehensible in respect of our vnderstandings and quite out of our power For he that is able to say I haue preuented thee O fortune I haue stopped all thy passages and closed vp all thy wayes of entrance that man putteth not all his assurance in barres or locked gates nor yet in high walles but staieth himselfe vpon Phylosophicall sentences and discourses of reason whereof all they are capable that imploy their wils trauell and studie thereupon Neither may we doubt of them or distrust our selues but rather admire and greatly esteeme of them beyng rauished with an affectionate spirite He that taketh least care for to morow saith Epicurus commeth thereunto with greatest ioy And as Plutarke saith riches glory
children of Fraunce or to prouide for the gouernement of the kingdome or for other matters The kinges sate amongst them and were Presidentes except at one assemblie wherein was debated the noblest cause that euer was namelie to whome the kingdome of Fraunce belonged after the death of Charles the faire whether to his cosin Phillip de Valois or to Edward king of England his brother in lawe King Phillip was not President not beyng at that time king and besides a partie No doubt but the people receiue great benefit by this assemblie of estates For this good commeth vnto them that they may drawe neere to the kings person to make their complaints vnto him to present him their requests and to obtaine remedie and necessary prouision for redresse Whereby we may easily iudge that many who haue written of the duetie of magistrates and such like treatises are greatly deceiued in maintaining this That the estates of the people are aboue the prince which laieth open a gappe to the rebellions of subiects against their soueraign so that this opinion can haue no reason or good ground to leane vpon For if this were true the commō-wealth would not be a kingdom or monarchy but a pure Aristocratie as we haue declared heretofore Yea what shew of reason is there to maintaine this error seeing euery one in particular al in general bowe their knees before the king vse humbly requests supplications which his maiestie receiueth or reiecteth as it seemeth best vnto him But in this case we except a king that is captiue beside himself or in his infancie For that which is thē decreed by the estates is authorized as from the soueraign power of the prince Moreouer we may see what great good commeth to the king by the assemblie of his estates in the first speech which master Michael de l' Hospital Chauncellor of France made at the last assemblie of estates at Orleans Where he confuteth at large their opinion that say that the king after a sort diminisheth his power by taking aduise and counsell of his subiects seeing he is not bound so to doe as also that he maketh himselfe too familiar with them which breedeth contempt and abaseth his roiall dignitie But we may aunswere them as Theopompus king of Sparta did his wife who obiected this vnto him by way of reproch that by bringing in the Ephories and minglyng their gouernement with his he would leaue his authoritie and power lesse to his children than hee receiued it from his predecessours Nay said this Prince vnto hir I will leaue it greater bicause it shall be more assured The Emperour Aurelius sayd as much to his mother bicause hee freely heard euery one Besides as we see that in any great perill of sea or fire kindled to the daunger of publike profite no mans seruice or succour is reiected how base soeuer his calling is so it cannot but be profitable for the Estate when it is threatned with ruine and the affaires therof are of greatest importance to receiue the counsell of all that haue interest therein laying the opinions in the balance rather than the persons from whom they come And hereby the soueraigne maiestie and prudence of a Prince is knowen when he hath both power and skill to waigh and to iudge of their aduice that giue him counsel and to conclude with the soundest not the greatest side But to go forward with that which remaineth let so many as haue this honour to be ordinarie counsellors to Princes remember the saying of Solon the wise That they are not called thither to please and to speake to their liking but to vtter the truth and to giue them good counsell for common safetie that they must bring with them for an assured and certaine foundation of their conference about state-affaires a good intent mooued with reason and iudgement to profite him not with passions or desires of vain-glory of couetousnesse of emulation of any other imperfection that leadeth them to their priuate profite that they must at the entrie of the councell chamber vnclothe themselues of fauour towardes some of hatred towardes others and of ambition in themselues and aime at no other marke than at the honour of God and safetie of the Common-wealth To this ende they must necessarilie be furnished with wisedome iustice and loyaltie As for skill and knowledge although it be requisite in counsellors of estate namely the knowledge of the lawes of histories and of the estate of Common-wealths yet sound iudgement integritie and prudence are much more necessarie Aboue all things they must hold nothing of other Princes and Seignories that may binde them to their seruice And yet now a dayes to receiue a pension of them is so common a matter but very pernitious in any estate that it is growen to a custome Agesilaus would not so much as receiue a letter which the king of Persia wrote vnto him but sayd to his messenger that if the king were friend to the Lacedemonians he need not write particularly to him bicause he would also remaine his friend but if he were their enimie neyther letter nor any thing else should make him for his part otherwise affected To bee short let counsellors of estate learne of Plutarch that it is necessarie for them to be free from all passions and affections bicause in giuing of counsell the mind hath most force towards that wherunto the will is most enclined As for feare danger or threatnings they must neuer stay them from doyng their duetie but let them constantly propound and maintaine that which they iudge to be good and profitable for the Common-wealth We read that the Thasiens making warre with great vehemencie against the Athenians published a decree that whosoeuer counselled or spake at any time of concluding a peace between them should die the death Within a while after one of the citizens considering what great hurt his countrey receiued by that warre came one day into the assembly of the people with a halter about his necke and cried with a loud voyce that he was come thither to deliuer the Common-wealth by his death that they should put him to death when they would and that for his part he gaue them counsell to abrogate that law and to make peace which was done and he pardoned Considius a Romane Senatour would neuer be from the Senate no not when Caesar ruled all by violence and did what pleased him and when none of the other Senatours came any more through feare of his force And when Caesar asked him how he durst be there alone to stand against him bicause quoth he my age taketh all feare from me For hauing from hence forward such a short time to liue in I am not greatly carefull to saue my life If kings did correct all those that giue them ill counsell as Solyman did one of his Bassaes who was his kinsman they would not so readily
mislike publike charges and by and by they blame the priuate life labouring that they may be imploied They forsake one countrie to go and dwell in another and suddenly they desire to returne againe into their former waies They that haue neither wiues nor children seeke and wish for them and when they haue them they desire oftentimes nothing more than to be rid of them and soone after ye shall see them married againe Haue they heaped vp great store of wealth and increased their reuenues by halfe so much more they desire notwithstanding to make it altogither as much The soldier seeketh to be a captain from a captaine to be maister of the campe from maister of the campe to be lieutenant to the king then he would gladly make himselfe king The seelie Priest would be a Curate from a Curate Bishop from a Bishoppe Cardinall from a Cardinall Pope and then would commaund Kings and soueraigne Princes Kings are not contented to raigne ouer their owne subiects but bende themselues alwaies to enlarge their limits to make themselues if they can the onely Monarchs Briefly all men whose harts are set vpon worldly goods when they are come to this estate of life they would attaine to that and being come thereunto some other neae desire carieth them farther so that this mischiefe of continuall vncertaine and vnsatiable lustes and desires doth more and more kindle in them vntill in the ende death cut off the thred of their inconstant and neuer contented life This commeth to passe bicause the alteration of an Estate and condition of life plucketh not out of the mind that which presseth and troubleth it namely the ignorance of things and imperfection of reason But they who through the studie of wisedome are furnished with skill and vnderstanding and know that all humane and earthlie things are vncertaine deceitfull slipperie and so many allurements vnto men to drawe them into a downe-fall and destruction they I say doe laie a farre better and more certaine foundation of their chiefe Good contentation and felicitie For they are so farre off from being caried away as worldlings are with the desire of greatnes riches and pleasure that they rather desire lesse than they haue contemne them and so vse them as though they had them not And deliuering their soules by the grace of God from all those perturbations which besiege them in the prison of their bodies they lift vp their wishes and desires yea they refer al the endsof their intents actions to this only marke to be vnited and ioined to the last end of their soueraigne Good which is the full whole fruition of the essence of God that their holy affections might be at once fulfilled and satisfied by enioying that diuine light through a most happie immortal life when they shal be vncloathed of this body of death of all concupiscences passions reioice in such a felicitie as neither eie hath seene nor eare heard nor euer entred into the hart of man Moreouer we ought to know if we haue neuer so litle iudgmēt reason that in al worldly things how great goodly soeuer they seeme to our carnall eies sences there is such a mixture of bitternes dislike ioined with the fruition of them that if we could diuide the euil from that which of the ignorant sort is called good weigh them one against another there is no doubt but the bad part would easily weigh down what goodnes soeuer could be found amongst them But how shal we call that good which is so mingled with euill which oftentimes hurteth more than it profiteth and which being possessed abundantly cannot yet keepe the possessor thereof from being wretched and miserable What contentation can a man find therein seeing that such a Good commonly slippeth away as soone as it is receiued and alwaies worketh an vnsatiable desire thereof What felicitie shall we expect and looke for in the fruition of that thing which waxeth old and perisheth and which men are alwaies afraid to loose Now I pray you who can doubt iustly but that the qualitie and nature of riches of glorie of honour and pleasure is such Whereupon we must conclude that man can finde no goodnes contentation or happines in any thing that is earthly and mortall Besides who knoweth not sufficiently the poore estate of mans life which in the fairest of his race commeth to nothing in the twinkling of an eie so that all his bodily shewe and brightnes turneth suddenly into putrefaction Who doth not try more than he would how full his life is of sharpe griefes and pricking miseries and how it is assaulted with continuall troubles With how many percing cares doth it abound and what griping griefes doe pursue it Briefly as a wise Grecian said hauing but the bare name of life it is in effect and truth a continuall paine And truly that thing hath no beeing in deede which changeth without ceasing as the nature of man doth which neuer continueth in the same estate no not the least moment that is I would gladly aske of thee who readest this or doest meane to reade it what day or what hower thou hast passed or now passest ouer since thou hadst any iudgement or knowledge wherein thy body hath not felt some griefe or thy hart some passion As there is no sea without tempest warre without danger or iourney without trauell so there is no life without griefe nor calling without enuie or care neither did I euer see or know that man who hath had no cause to be grieued or to complaine Doth not experience daily teach vs that no man liuing can make choise of any estate void of all trouble or flie one inconuenience but that he is in danger to fall into another Is it not also most certaine that a sudden ioy or prosperitie is but a fore-warning or signe of some griefe heauie calamitie at hand But what Shall we for all this think man so miserable that sailing all his life time in stormes and tempests he cannot possibly attaine to any safe hauen against the rage of them Shall we in such sort depriue him during the time of his being in this world of all Good contentation and happines as if there were no meanes to auoid or at leastwise to mollifie the mishaps and miseries of mankind that he faint not vnder the heauy burden of them Wherefore then do wise men by so many learned writings inuite vs diligently to seeke after and with a burning zeale to embrace holy vertue saying that by hir alone a man may liue happily and contentedly in euery calling and may enioy therein the soueraigne Good through the tranquillitie and rest of his soule purged of perturbations by Philosophy Was it in vaine and fruitles that an infinite number of famous personages whom Histories the mother of antiquitie set before our eies imploied so great trauell passed infinite watchings for sooke and contemned riches pleasures honors and worldly
generally so manie wonderfull works vnder the cope of heauen I cannot maruell enough at the excellencie of Man for whom all these things were created are maintained and preserued in their being and moouing by one and the same diuine prouidence alwaies like vnto it selfe AMANA There is nothing more certaine than this that all things whatsoeuer either the eie can behold or the eare heare were created for the benefit profit and vse of man and that he was made excellent aboue all things to rule ouer them yea the very Angels are sent to minister for their sakes which shall receiue the inheritance of saluation ARAM. Oh vnspeakable and heauenlie goodnesse which hast created man little lower than thy selfe and crowned him with glorie and worship But tell vs I pray thee ACHITOB more particularly what this great and principall worke of nature Man is to what end his being was giuen him and how he hath shewed foorth the fruits thereof For it â—â—st needes be that there is something in him greatly to be woondered at seeing all things were created to serue and obey him ACHITOB. Truely yee haue reason companions to begin our happie assembly with that knowledge which we ought to haue of our selues as being the storehouse of all wisdome and beginning of saluation wherof we may haue an assured testimonie from that father of Philosophie Socrates who beholding the first precept written at Delphos in that temple of Apollo which was so renowmed throughout Graecia namely Know thy selfe was foorthwith driuen into a very deepe cogitation and being rapt with contemplation of spirit he began from that time forward to doubt and to inquire of himselfe Wherupon contemning that way which all the Philosophers of his time who busied themselues about nothing but onely in finding out the causes of naturall things and in disputing curiously of them he gaue himselfe wholie to the knowledge of himselfe I meane of his soule which he maintained to be in deed man and by disputuation to intreat of the soueraigne good thereof and of vertue By which meanes the gate of wisedome was opened vnto him wherein he profited in such sort that according to the oracle at Delphos he was called of all men the wise the iust the prince of Philosophers and father of Philosophie And surely out of his sayings which being more diuine than humane were written by his disciples all other Philosophers haue drawne their knowledge Heraclitus another excellent man minding to giue out in speech that he had done some notable act woorthy of himselfe said I haue sought my selfe Which beginning truely is verie necassarie for man as being a guide to leade him to the true knowledge of God which is a heauenly gifte of God and peculiar to his And this is learnedly taught vs by the same Socrates where he saith that the dutie of a wise man is to seeke out the reasons of things that in the ende he may finde that diuine reason wherby they were made and hauing found it may worship and serue it that afterward he may enioy it and reape profite thereby Moreouer he addeth that the perfect knowledge of ones selfe which consisteth in the soule is in such sort ioined with the knowledge of God that the one without the other cannot be sincere and perfect And for the same reason Plato his disciple who for the excellencie of his writings was surnamed the Diuins saith that the perfect dutie of man is first to know his owne nature then to contemplate the diuine nature and last of all to bestow his labour in those things which may be most beneficiall to all men Ignorance of a mans selfe saith Lactantius and the want of knowledge wherefore and to what end he is borne is the cause of error of euill of leauing the right way to follow the crooked of wandring out of the plaine way to walke in the ragged and vneeuen way or vpon a dangerous and slipperie mountaine and lastly of forsaking the light to walke in darknes Now if we account it a shamefull thing to be ignorant of those things which belong to the life of man surely the not knowing of our selues is much more dishonest Let vs then consider what man is according to that meane knowledge which by the grace of God we are endued withal not staying in those curious definitions which the Philosophers haue made Man is a creature made of God after his owne image iust holy good and right by nature and compounded of soule and body I say of soule which was inspired of God with spirite and life and of a perfect naturall bodie framed of the earth by the same power of God In this sort man had his beeing of the eternal workmaster of the whole world of whom he was created by his incomprehensible goodnes to be made partaker of his immortalitie and permanent felicitie for this onely ende to set foorth the glorie of his Creator and to speake and do those things that are agreeable vnto him through the acknowledgement of his benefits From which ende man being fallen of his own free wil through ingratitude and disobedience was bereaued of all those ornaments which he had receiued before of God and in steede of righteousnes and holines all iniquitie filthines and vncleannes entred into him wherby he was made the slaue of sinne and of death from whence all those miseries had their beginning wherewith the life of man is ouerwhelmed His soule also was wrapped with infinite hurtfull passions and perturbations which worke in it a continuall disquietnes and his body became subiect to innumerable trauailes and violent vntowardnes Of which corruption the ancient Philosophers had great and assured knowledge but the first and true cause therof which was sinne and the voluntarie fall of man with his restoring vnto grace by the vnspeakeable goodnes and mercie of his Creator from whence he was fallen were alwaies hidden from them as we shall see anon as also from an infinite number of men who liuing holily according to the world neuer had the perfect knowledge of God in his eternall sonne As for any good thing whatsoeuer they vttered or found out it came through earnestnes of studie by discoursing and considering in the reasonable part of their soule of those things which offred themselues to their minde But forasmuch as they were not wholy ouerwhelmed in euery part of reason and yet had no knowledge of the heauenly word Iesus Christ they vttered many things contrarie one to another and in the midst of their great and woonderfull skill according to that saying of the Scripture who hideth his secrets from the prudent and reueleth them to babes they had a continuall troubled spirit wandring here and there aswell in the seeking out of themselues and of the causes of naturall things as of those things which are aboue nature And truely the reason of man naturally ingraffed in his hart which so farre foorth
euer came neere vnto his diuine knowledge of eternall things We see then how we must be the disciples of philosophie all our life time Now as there is nothing wherin a master builder reioiceth so much after he hath laid a good foundation of some great worke as to see the progresse and proceeding thereof so after we haue laid our first happie resolution as is said of attaining to the knowledge of philosophie and haue tasted of the first principles of hir holesome fruits it will turne to our great contentation and occasion of proceeding when we see and perceiue that we profite and amende by this studie This will appeare vnto vs by the consideration of our present works and actions being compared with the former and by the diminishing and qualifiying of our wicked passions and naturall inclinations which the profession of this science will vndoubtedly worke in vs. For as we take it for a good signe when a disease remooueth into some parts of least account so when our vices are changed into more meeke and soft passions it putteth vs in hope that we shall wholy deface them afterwarde The right and perfect way hereunto is to enter deepely into our selues and to take a perfect and sound knowledge of our naturall hurtfull and most vehement inclinations by comparing one with another Next as a good and expert Phisition before he dealeth with dangerous diseases beginneth with gentle preparatiues we are first to correct lesser faults that after we may the easier ouercome the greatest For it is certaine that by such an exercise and custome of keeping our selues from things that are after a sort excusable yea that are permitted and lawfull it will be farre more easie for vs afterward to amend abstaine from vnlawfull things After we haue thus reformed our selues we shall wholy forsake small imperfections which will be easie for vs to do and make no more reckoning of little offences as those which we shall auoid altogither From thence we shall come to consider and to discouer better the nature and cause of our greater and more hurtfull passions together with their vglines and deformitie Then labouring to diminish their force by eschewing prudently the causes of them and by cutting oft one branch now and then another we shall in the end woonder to see how reason perfecteth in vs hir office of commanding absolutely ouer all the perturbations of our soule I meane so farre foorth as humane frailtie aided by God can as I said before attaine to perfection Then may we truely call our selues Philosophers when by our owne example we make it knowne that the life of man at all times in al places in all passions and generally in all affaires receiueth the vse of Philosophie Now after we haue well profited through so great diligence watchfulnes through such industry of minde and continuall studie I meane after we are become better than we were before by reason of the tranquillitie of our soules purged from perturbations we must be carefull that this our commoditie redound also to others as the commandement of God and natural dutie binde vs thereunto Then I say we shall haue attained to the perfection of this goodly knowledge when we are seruiceable to our neighbors brethren and countrimen not of vaine glory or for terrestriall riches but for the loue of vertue onely which of it selfe is a goodly recompence for it selfe being ioined with a happy expectation of heauen But let vs note farther for the last point of our discourse whereof I haue already briefely spoken that one of the surest meanes which we can take to come to a true knowledge of Philosophie is not to esteeme at all but rather to contemne whatsoeuer is subiect to corruption and is in the power of variable fortune as the Philosophers vse to speake namely vainglory worldly wealth and other earthly goods forasmuch as the desire of getting keeping and increasing them is that which carrieth vs away most and which hindreth euery other good and vertuous inclination Therefore let vs freely forsake all such things let vs withdraw our mindes from all by-thoughts and dispise all earthly discommodities yea let vs patiently sustaine all greefe that we may yeelde our selues wholy to the studie of Philosophie which is the cause of so many good things Crates the Theban forsooke his patrimonie of eight talents which according to the common computation amounteth to foure thousand eight hundred crownes that being deliuered from the care of hous-keeping and of guiding his goods he might follow the studie of philosophie with greater libertie Anaxagoras for the same cause suffered his lands to lie waste and after long studie returning to his house and finding it altogether fallen into ruine and desolation he said if these things had not perished I had perished as if he had said that he should neuer haue gotten the treasure of knowledge which was the ornament of his minde if he had giuen himselfe to gaine and to gather goods Democritus Abderita being verie rich as may be gathered by the feast which his father made to that innumerable armie of Xerxes who came into Graecia which consisted as Herodotus writeth of more than two millions of fighting men gaue all his patrimonie to his countrey reseruing to himselfe but a little some of money to liue withall that he might haue the more leasure to studie philosophie for which cause he went to dwell at Athens Euclide of the towne of Megara being verie desirous to heare Socrates dwelling at Athens betweene which two cities the warre was so cruel that no Citizen of the one citie durst be seen in the other without ineuitable danger of death if he were knowne had notwithstanding so great loue to wisedome that although he were an Ethnick and doubted of a second life yet he preferred the desire of knowledge before the care of his life and being apparailed like a woman went once in two daies to Athens and abode there all night to heare Socrates who commonly spent the most part thereof in discoursing of wisedome and then returned againe about the break of the day Now to conclude our present treatise we will hold this that onely philosophie can giue vs certaine knowledge teach vs how we may inioy in this life our onely soueraign good which is the rest and tranquillitie of our soules Yea she is vnto vs in stead of a guide to lead vs to the eternall fruition of our supreame and euerabiding good which is promised and purchased by the blood of the immaculate Lamb in that second and most happie life And as Plato said speaking by the mouth of Socrates that they onely shal attaine to the kingdom of heauen with God who end their daies in this life purged by philosophie so shall it be by the vnspeakable loue of this eternall wisedome that we shall be purged clensed and saued Yea through the expectation of this
die with him to vexe himselfe through impatiencie what meanest thou poore man quoth he to him doest thou not thinke thy selfe happie that thou maist die with Phocion The feare and appreheusion of death doth astonish as we commonly say the stoutest but not the most vertuous For they know as Plautus saith that he dieth not who for vertues sake is put to death Callicratides Generall of the Lacedemonians being readie to giue battell to his enimies the soothsaier after sacrifice done to the gods said vnto him that the intrals of the sacrifices promised victorie to the armie but death to the captaine Whereunto he answered as one without all feare although he beleeued it as an oracle from heauen Sparta consisteth not in one man For when I shal be dead my countrie shall be nothing lessened but if I recule now and draw backe the reputation thereof will be diminished Whereupon substituting in his place Cleander as successor in his office he gaue battell wherein it happened vnto him as the soothsaier had told him If we desire infinite such examples histories are ful of them euen of those who loued rather to kill themselues which a Christian neuer ought to do but onely to suffer death patiently if it be offered vnto him than to commit any thing vnwoorthie their vertue Themistocles being vniustly banished from Athens retired to the king of Persia whose great fauour and benefits receiued caused to say to his children We had beene vndone if we had not beene vndone as also to promise that he would imploy himselfe in his seruice Notwithstanding when he saw the war begun againe betweene this king and the Athenians wherein he was offered a great charge he chose rather to hasten his death by a poison which he tooke than to seeme to be pricked or prouoked with malice against his vngratefull countrie-men least thereby he should obscure and blot the glorie of so many goodly exploites triumphes and victories which he had obtained Nowe if death can not stoppe the course of vertue how much lesse can any other weaker accident do it Old-age which diminisheth and consumeth all the strength of the bodie coulde not weaken the great vertue of Agesilaus king of Lacedemonia who being fower-score yeeres of age and seeing the glorie of his countrie brought to nothing by that victorie which the Thebanes had obtained against him withdrewe himselfe into the seruice of a king of Egypt and tooke the charge of a captaine vnder him that through the good seruice he should do him he might deserue whereof he assured himselfe to haue succour of him for his owne countrey affaires Enuie saith Thucidides is heard to be ouercome and followeth great estates and potentates Honour glorie and riches are but firebrandes to kindle it Notwithstanding the excellencie of vertue oftentimes triumpheth ouer it so that the enuious are constrained to speake well of vertuous men We see then cleerely and haue better experience thereof in our selues if we be decked with vertue that she is of an inuincible force and that all things are tamed by hir For who can doubt that through hir great empires monarchies commonwealths estats and cities haue much more florished than through force and might of armes The sequele of our discourses shall furnish vs with examples hereof Now to conclude our present matter knowing that vertue deserueth so great praise in regarde of hir fruits and of hir woonderfull great effects we say that she is the onely good both for honestie profite and pleasure between which there is such a coniunction that they cannot be seperated one from another as hereafter we may intreat more at large so that the seuering of these three things to attribute them to other earthly and perishing goods is the fountaine of all vice deceit and mischiefe If then trouble losse hazard or danger are to be found in the practise and exercise of this holie and sacred vertue as euen the greatest worldly happines is counterpoised with euill and difficultie ought we not to dispise all such things yea death it selfe for that happie recompence which is assured vnto vs not onely of immortall glorie and praise which the men of old time promised to themselues but also of life euerlasting whereof the most of them were ignorant Let vs not be like to a little child for he that is a child in minde differeth nothing from a childe in age who seeing a trifle wherewith he plaieth taken out of his hand casteth away for anger that which he holdeth in his other hand although it be some daintie thing and good to eate But let vs with feruent zeale and burning affection alwaies imbrace this so precious and chaste beautie I meane vertue which alone filleth the life of man with true sound and perfect contentation Let all things come behinde vertue after the example of so many excellent and ancient personages who ought to make vs blush for shame when we consider that the care of earthly goods hath the first place amongst vs. Anacharsis a Barbarian being led with the onely loue of vertue left the kingdome of Scythia to his yoonger brother went into Graecia where he profited so well with Solon that he deserued to be placed in the number of the seauen Sages Now if three things after we haue asked them of him who only can and will giue them vnto vs meete togither in vs namely Nature Reason and Vse we may by them being directed illuminated and guided by the spirit of God attaine to the top of humane perfection in this rich vertue which being thus grounded like to a strong and liuely plant will take sure footing and roote within vs. If she meet with a good and well disposed nature that is able to endure labor that is tilled by reason with the precepts of philosophie whereby it is made firme mightie and fruitfull then vse and exercise will bring foorth the fruits thereof as well for our owne as for the common profit of men Of Vice Chap. 6. ACHITOB AS he that is ignorant of goodnes cannot loue it or boast except it be falsly that he seeketh after it and if he should find it yet he could not acknowledge it or reape any profit thereby so he that knoweth not euill can neuer hate it sufficiently much lesse shun it or keepe himselfe from falling into the snares and ambushes thereof where it lieth in continuall watch to surprise and ouertake men Ye shall haue very few but say that they are enimies to euill and that they labour to driue it as far from them as they can But what As they neuer knew what goodnes meant so they knowe as little of the contrarie Now hauing by our last speech declared sufficiently that vertue is the onely true good of the soule it is out of question that vice which is altogither contrarie vnto it is the onely euill thereof and the fountaine of al the miseries of man
of women when he is inuited to weddings or in their companie to request him to walke that hath alreadie gone a great way when he seeth a thing sold to bring a chapman to the seller who would haue giuen a great deale more for it to repeate one thing oftentimes to shew himselfe readie to do that which a man would not haue him to do and yet dare not well denie it him to woonder at all things and to speake all in a word an vnskilfull man is alwaies in all places and in all affaires vnciuill and impertinent The examples of these foresaid effects are but too familiar amongst vs. And first concerning these of small and meane estate and condition how many millions of men haue there been in the ages past and do liue yet among vs whose life being ignorant of euery good cause and reason is not much vnlike and in many things worse than that of brute beasts The originall of so many errors foolish opinions and impieties hath it not had passage through the midst of their soules bicause they had no true knowledge of the end of their being nor of his will by whom they liue From thence it commeth that the best aduised among them exercise base handicrafts not being desirous to learne further that some lead a seruile and contemptible life bringing their bodies and soules in subiection to the lusts and wicked desires of the greater sort that others remaine idle and vnprofitable seeking to maintaine their liues by vnlawfull meanes that all through a blockish ignorance depriue themselues of all present and eternall felicitie Now albeit these poore men who haue no great meanes to execure their wicked desires may after a sort seeme tollerable and excuseable to mans iudgement bicause their ignorance doth not greatly hurt any but themselues yet it falleth out far worse with those that haue wealth at will and authoritie to command others who not knowing how to vse their goods well by vertuous deeds abuse them to all vice dissolutenes and pleasure whereby for the most part they cast themselues headlong into infidelitie and Atheisme bicause they neuer had true vnderstanding of the perfect diuinitie nor yet considered the perfection of his works both in heauen earth O pitifull calamity abounding in this our age more than euer it did A thousand millions of Pagans and heathens considering that there was nothing to be misliked in the heauens neither any negligence disorder or confusion in the moouing of the stars nor in the seasons of the yeere nor in their reuolutions nor in the course of the sunne about the earth which causeth the day and the night no not in the nourishing and preseruation of all sorts of liuing creatures nor in the generation of yeerly fruits and for a thousand other good considerations beleeued and worshipped one supreme eternall essence which gouerneth all things And shall they that carie the name of Christians to whom the vnspeakable treasures of the heauens haue been opened and offered with innumerable graces shall they I say doubt yea impudently denie that there is a God But let vs returne to our matter It is most certaine that the higher that ignorant men are aduanced so much without question are their faults greater than those of meaner estate bicause they are hurtfull to many Yea oftentimes it hath come to passe that one onely fault of such a man hath been the losse and destruction of an infinite number of men Nicias the general captain of the Athenians through the feare which he had conceiued of the darkness of an Eclipse of the moone and not knowing the cause thereof staied so long vntill his enimies had inclosed him round about whereupon he was taken aliue of them and put to death besides the losse of fortie thousand Athenians that were taken and slaine Who doubteth but that ignorance draue Caligula Domitian into such pride crueltie that whilst they sought to be worshipped in stead of the true God they were the cause of the death destruction of more than a hundred thousand men In the time of Otho the first there fell a stone from heauen which astonished all Germanie and turned them from prosecuting an enterprise of great waight and importance for the benefit of their countrie If they had knowen it to be a naturall thing and such as had come to passe long before as Aristotle affirmeth they had not been so fearfull nor receiued that dammage to the detriment of the Common-wealth which came to them afterward That speech of Anaxagoras a Greeke philosopher agreeable heerunto is worthie to be remembred when he said that a man ought to driue out of himselfe and to tread vnder his feete all superstitious feare of the heauenly signes and impressions of the aire which worke great terror in them that are ignorant of their causes and that feare the gods with a forlorne and amased feare bicause they want that certaine knowledge that philosophie bringeth which in stead of a trembling and alwaies terrifying superstition engendreth true deuotion accompanied with an assured hope of good Let vs looke a little into our Chronicles and consider what profit our kings receiued by their ignorance when they were called Simple when they stood but for images and were seene of their subiects but once a yeere They suffered their wise maisters of the palace to take knowledge of and to order and rule all things who depriuing them as vnworthie of all authoritie tooke possession in the end of their crowne And surely it is no lesse pernitious for the greater sort to aduance ignorant men to charges and places of honor and to vse their counsell than to be ignorant themselues For as we said ignorance causeth him that is aduanced to forget himselfe and lifteth him vp into all pride There are amongst vs too many examples of the ambition and presumption of many ignorant men who contrarie to Torquatus that refused the Consulship bicause of his diseased eies altogither blind as they are deafe dumbe and destitute of all natural light of prudence and experience to guide themselues are not contented to manage the sailes and tacklings but desire to haue the rudder of the Common-welth in their hands And it is greatly to be feared that such vnskilfull and ambitious men will in the end shew themselues both in will and practise to be imitators of one Cleander an outlandish slaue who being preferred by Commodus the emperor to goodlie offices and great places of honor as to be great maister of his men of war and his chiefe chamberlaine conspired notwithstanding against his Lord seeking to attaine to the imperiall dignitie by feditions which he stirred vp in Rome betweene the people and the soldiers But through good order taken his enterprise tooke no effect except the losse of his owne head and destruction of his house Although oftentimes it falleth out cleane contrarie through the iust punishment of God for the ignorance
and impietie as well of the monarks themselues as of their people Now if fortune turne hir selfe about and set hir selfe neuer so little against an ignorant person he is straightway ouercome with a thousand perturbations and vrged with despaire as being only grounded before vpon the vaine and weake hope and confidence in externall and vncertaine goods Perses king of Macedonia and one of the successors of Alexander the great in his great conquests but not in his vnspeakable vertues was ouercome in battel by Paulus Emilius chiefe captain of the Romans was led towards him Emilius as soon as he saw him arose from his seate and went forward to receiue and honor him as being a great personage and fallen into that mishap by the hazard of fortune But Perses being wholie beaten downe through faintnes and basenes of mind cast himselfe at his feete vpon the ground with his face downeward vsing such abiect requests and supplications and so vnbeseeming the vertue of a king that the Conqueror could not abide them but said thus vnto him Alas poore ignorant man as thou art how dost thou by discharging fortune accuse thy selfe in this sort to be the onely cause of this ill successe that is befallen thee seeing thou neuer deseruedst that honor which thou hast had heeretofore bicause of thy base mind within thee which hath made thee an vnwoorthy aduersary of the Romans And truly a man cannot iustly be called through the benefit of fortune but by knowing how to vse hir well and wisely both in prosperitie aduersitie As for an ignorant baseminded man the higher that fortune lifteth him vp in great estate where he shal be viewed of many so much the more shee discouereth descrieth dishonoreth him For great calling riches are no more able to lift vp the hart of a base minded fellow than pouerty can abate and lessen the great courage of a noble hart I could here alleadge many mo examples of the pernicious effects that are as we haue said wrought in the soule by ignorāce but hereafter they will come in more fitly when we shall discourse particulerly of vices Onely I say here with Plato that arrogant ignorance hath now more than euer seazed vpon the minds of men filled them with euils as being the roote and spring of them that it peruerteth al things causeth him that possesseth hir to taste in the ende of a most bitter fruite Nowe to come to malice and crafte which is the excesse of prudence it is that which leadeth a man through wilfull ignorance to oppose himselfe against that which he knoweth to be dutifull and honest causing him vnder the counterfaite name of prudence to seeke to deceiue those that will beleeue him This vice is the chiefe cause of ambition and couetousnes which most men serue in these daies but aboue all things it is an enimie to iustice causing all their actions to tende to the ouerthrow thereof To this purpose Cicero saith that the craftier and subtiler a man is the more he is to be suspected and hated as one that hath lost al credite of goodnes All knowledge seuered from iustice ought rather to be called craft and malice than science and prudence Neither is the onely act of malice as the same author saith euill wicked but also the deliberation therof although it take no effect yea the onely thought thereof is vile and detestable so far is it that any couering or cloake can excuse a fault committed of malice Also he saith that in deliberating all hope of concealing and hiding the fact must be taken away forasmuch as vertuous men ought to seeke after honest not secret things Moreouer it is the propertie of a malicious man to choose hypocrisie and dissimulation for his companions Besides he hath for his first author and father sathan who by his subtiltie and craft abused the simplicitie of our first mother to the ouerthrow of all mankind Amongst many we may note here the example of Nero a most cruell emperor who being instructed from his youth by that wise man Seneca his schoolemaster in the beginning of his empire counterfaited so great bountifulnes and clemencie that when he was to set his hand to the condemnation of one adiudged to die he cried out and said Would to God I had no learning then should I be excused from subscribing to any mans death Notwithstanding within a while after he disclosed his detestable impiety and cruelty by putting to death his mother his tutor and a great number of honest men against all right and iustice Moreouer he purposely caused fire to be put into all quarters of Rome forbidding vnder paine of death that any should quench it insomuch that more then halfe the citie was cleane consumed Afterward to the ende he might haue some coulor to persecute the christians he laid to their charge the kindling of the fire so put a great number of them to death Tiberius also in the beginning of his raigne behaued himselfe so wisely vertuously and gently that he seemed to be saith Suetonius a simple and plaine citizen And yet soone after he became as detestable a tyrant as euer was for crueltie and filthy pleasures True it is that one may attribute the cause of such sodaine alteration of humors to the soueraigne authoritie and power of commanding which commonly hath his propertie to make him that seemed good to become wicked the humble to be arrogant the pittifull cruell the valiant a coward But it is alwaies more likely that a prince changing his nature so quickly vseth to counterfeit and to dissemble and to put a goodly vizard vpon his face as historiographers write that Tiberius could behaue himselfe cunningly in that sort Now that we may profite by this discourse let vs learne to be prudent and simple as the scripture speaketh eschuing all shameles and damnable malice and deceit al want of prudence and ignorance which procure the losse of soule and bodie whereof a man may accuse none but himselfe For ignorance saith Menander is a voluntarie mischeefe And although the knowledge of good euill is most necessarie of all others yet is it most easie For the obtaining whereof and auoiding through the grace of God of that condemnation which is to fall vpon the blinde and vpon the guides of the blinde let vs neuer be ashamed to confesse our ignorance in those things whereof we want instruction following therein that precept of Plato That we must not be ashamed to learne least happily we be hit in the teeth to our confusion with that saying of Diogenes to a yoong man whom he espied in a tauerne who being ashamed to be seene there speedilie fledde further into the same The more thou runnest in quoth this wise man to him the further thou art in the tauerne Euen so we shall neuer cure our ignorance by denying or hiding it but the wiser we seeke to be
speaking bicause a rash and inconsiderate worde may be corrected presently but that which is once set down in writing can no more be denied or amended but with infamy As therfore a man had need of a readie and quicke wit to be able to speake wel so great wisedom is very necessarie to write well yea the same rules and precepts that belong to speaking agree also to writing Besides writing is called of many a dumb speech which ought to be short and full of instruction Caesar in a letter which he sent to Rome frō the Persian battaile wrote but these three words Veni vidi vici that is to saie I came sawe and ouercame Octanian writing to his nephew Cains Drusus said thus For asmuch as thou art nowe in Illyria remember that thou deseendest of Casars that the Senate hath sent thee that thou art yoong my nephewe and a citizen of Rome Plato writing to Dionysius the yoonger vsed these words onely To kill thy brother to double thy tributes to force the people to forget thy friends to take good men for thine enimies are the works of a tyrant Pompey writing to the Senate from the east parts saide thus Fathers of the Senate Damascus is taken Pentapolis subdued Syria Ascalonia and Arabia are confederates and Palestina is vanquished We see then the maner of writing vsed by the ancients for which breuitie they were as much esteemed as the great discoursers of these tiems after inst occasion of correction But to returne againe into the path-way of speaking we haue in Cicero a notable instruction for this matter Let our speech saith he be sweet and pleasant not headstrong and when we discourse let vs not be so long that we hinder others from speaking For speech of all other things ought to be mutuall and equall Moreouer we must haue respect to that thing whereof we speake If a man discourse of graue matters he must adde a certaine seueritie but if he speake of delectable things a pleasant and gratious behauior Aboue all things we must take heede that our speech discouer not some vice to be in our manners which commonly falleth out when we speake euill of a man in his absence either to mooue laughter or to his shame and reproch We must also remember if our speech vpon some occasion comming betweene intermit the first discourse that it returne againe in conuenient time But that is as thinges fall out For all take not pleasure in the same things nor at all times And as we haue begun vpon some occasion so we must end by some meanes Now bicause in euery action of our life the perturbations of the soule are to be eschewed we must be carefull that our speech be voide thereof namely that it be without choler without extreame affections also without carelesnes and other such like imperfection Especially we must striue to make it knowne that we loue reuerence those with whom we speake Further we must know that silence in due time and place is profound wisedome a sober and modest thing and full of deepe secrets This caused Archidamus when he saw that Hecatus the orator was blamed for not speaking one worde at a banquet to answere for him that they which knowe how to speake well know also the time of silence Hyperides likewise being at a feast amongst a great assemblie verie full of noise pleasure and being asked why he spake nothing answered thus It is no time now to discourse of those things for which I am fit and as for those things which the time nowe requireth I am vnfit Bias being mocked of a babler bicause he spake nothing all a supper while answered him thus How is it possible that a foole should holde his peace at the table The ambassadours of the king of Persia being at a feast with a citizen of Athens and seeing Zeno the great philosopher say nothing they began to flatter him and to drinke to him saying what shall we tell the king our master concerning you master Zeno Nothing else quoth he but that you saw an olde man who knew wel how to holde his peace at the table And truly no speech vttred did euer so much good as many kept in haue profited and that which is restrained may be spoken at any time but a worde giuen out can no more be called backe againe For words as the poet saith haue wings and are presently dispersed euery where and manie repent that they haue spoken but neuer that they held their peace How many examples do histories set before our eies of men who through the intemperancie of their toongs haue throwne themselues headlong into infinite calamities of mightie cities and great estates destroied and ouerthrowne through the disclosing of some secret The citie of Athens was taken and destroied by Sylla the Romane dictatour who by his spies was admonished of the pratling of certaine old men in a barbars shop where they talked of a certaine place of the town that was weakest and woorst defended The ouermuch talke of one only man was the cause that Rome was not deliuered from the tiranny of Nero. For seeing one of the prisoners that was taken by the tirant to be dismaid bicause he shuld be put to death he willed him to pray to God that he might escape but vntil the morrow onely then he should haue cause of reioicing Wherupon the prisoner thinking with himselfe that it were better for him to chuse a certaintie than to expect an vncortainty and to prefer a safe way to saue his life before a iust disclosed this speech to Nero who knew wel how to remedy the conspiracy The gentleman of Normandy who in his confession told a Franciscan frier that he was once minded to haue killed king Fraunces the first may wel be placed amongst these ouermuch speakers For the king being aduertised hereof by the Franciscan frier sent the poore penitentiarie to the court of parliament where he receiued sentence of death Those that are nobly roially brought vp saith Plutark learne first to hold their peace then to speake Therfore Antigonus the great being demanded by his son at what houre the campe should dislodge art thou afraid quoth he to him that thou alone shalt not heare the trumpet He trusted not him with a secret matter to whom the succession of the empire was to come teaching him thereby to be more close and secret in such matters Euerie particuler man likewise ought to be no lesse aduised in vsing great discretion when the questiō is of vttring any thing which a man would haue concealed For he saith Plato to whom one discloseth a secret getteth the others libertie Now in this laudable silence which we commend here we haue this to marke wel that when the question is of speaking a truth or of profiting another we ought not to doubt in any case what pretence soeuer there be to speak vtter maintaine
with two of his friends and with seuen slaues Cato the elder visiting the prouinces of his gouernment tooke but three seruants with him Nowe a daies we see that the least accounted gentleman amongst vs thinketh it a cracking of his credite to ride so ill furnished And yet the most part euen of the greatest neuer make any great inquirie how their traine defray their charges But howsoeuer they may say that they know not of the excesse and riot committed vnder their authoritie and in their seruice yet they are not thereby excused For we ought carefully to beware that no man abuse our name Now if princes and gouernours of Commonwealths in steede of abridging superfluous charges take delight therein themselues from thence proceedeth the necessitie of charging and ouercharging their people with imposts and subsidies to maintaine their excesse and in the end commeth the ouerthrow and subuersion both of the one and the other But they ought rather both to abstaine from such vanities themselues and also to seeke by all meanes to banish them from their subiects and where their owne example and bodilie punishments are not sufficient for this purpose there ought they to lay great imposts vpon all such things as serue but to spill and corrupt their subiects Such things are all exquisite dainties and prouocations of appetite all sorts of toies and trifles perfumes cloth of gold and siluer silkes sypers networks lace wouen works all works of gold siluer and inammell all kind of superfluous apparel with colours of skarlet crimson and such like the forbidding whereof hitherto hath profited little For the nature of men is such that they find nothing more sweete and acceptable than that which is straightly forbidden them so that the more superfluities are prohibited the more they are desired especially of foolish men of such as are vainely brought vp Therefore it were good to raise the price of these things so high by meanes of imposts that none but rich men and daintie folks may vse them And such subsidies would asmuch set forward the glorie of God the profite of the common wealth the desire of good men and reliefe of the poore as many others now vsed are quite contrary hereunto Then these speeches would no more be so common amongst vs as now we heare them daily vttered by our Courtiers We will say they keep company and be seen amongst the greatest be esteemed thereafter If we spend not freely men will make no account of vs. It is our honor and greatnes and the way to procure glory and renowne to our houses and families But I would gladly tell a great number of them that they would be very much troubled to make answer to a law made by Amasis king of Egypt and after established in Athens by Solon whereby it was enacted that euery one should yeerely make it appeere vnto his Prouost or Bailie how he liued and if he approoued not his maner trade of life to be iust and reasonable he was condemned to die If in like case these great spenders were to giue an account from whence they receiue wherewith to satisfie their pride and vanities a man should find that their purchase as we say is far better vnto thē than their rents that they commit a thousand wrongs and detestable vices to make supply to their lauish expences As for them that haue goods lawfully gotten yet in spending of them wastfully they giue sufficient testimonie that they care seeke for nothing but a vaine and vanishing glory which oftentimes contrary to their expectation is waited vpon with great infamie and with the certaintie of perpetual punishment And in the meane while they neglect that glorie which is eternall and always profitable which they should enioy by well vsing and not by mispending their goods whereof they are but Gardians and Stewards must one day yeeld vp an account of them O witlesse man sayd one of the ancient Sages what will the remembraunce of vaine glory profite thee if thou art tormented and vexed where thou art and praised where thou art not This deserueth a longer continuance of speech but we may hereafter discourse thereof more at large In the meane tyme let vs note an other mischief which commonly followeth superfluitie of expences namely pouertie whereinto many rich men fall before they be aware and are then verie much grieued therewith and not able to beare it But the shame and reproch thereof is yet greater because they fell into it by their own folly and misgouernment Therefore to the end we walke not in such a slipperie way which in the beginning is large and pleasant but yet leadeth the trauailer vnto a down-fall frō which he can neuer escape let vs leaue and forsake the discipline and life of Epicures and beware that our pallate and toong be not more sensible than our hart Let vs lead a life woorthy an honest Academie and beseeming the doctrine of the ancient Sages that is a simple sober and modest life adorned with temperance and continence knowing that diet and decking of the body ought as Cicero saith to be referred to health and strength not to pleasure and delight and that all outward excesse is a witnesse of the incontinencie of the soule And for the perfection of all that lasting and ineuitable miserie which belongeth to them that are giuen to voluptuousnes and superfluitie let vs heare that sentence of scripture and feare least we be comprehended vnder the iudgement thereof Continuall miserie and mourning be vpon you that haue liued in pleasure on the earth and in wantonnesse and haue nourished your harts as in a day of slaughter The ende of the fift daies worke THE SIXT DAIES WORKE Of Ambition Chap. 21. ASER. AS often as I remember the strāge tragedie of the Romane Emperors since the time that the Empire was mounted vp to the verie top height of hir greatnes vntill hir declination according to the vncertaintie of all humane things and how within the space of one hundred yeeres wherein there were three skore and thirteene emperors onely three of them died of sicknesse in their beds all the rest by violent death I cannot sufficiently admire considering the inconstancie and short continuance of so great a gouernment which cannot but be well known to euery one the folly of men which commonly affecteth them with an vnmeasurable desire to rule whereby they are all their life time slaues to ambition which is one point of the vice of intemperance whereof we spake yesterday And thus in my opinion we are to begin our days worke with the description of this pernitious passion AMANA It is natural in man the greater his stomack is the more to labor to excel others which is accompanied with an exceeding desire to rule whereupon he is easily driuen forward to do vniustly if by wisdom he be not moderated ARAM. Ambition and contention for honour saith
a noble hart ought to labor but for one thing in this world namely to be great among his owne countreymen and to purchase fame renowne among strangers Which had been well spoken if he had added by Iustice and Vertue Was it not from the same fountaine of ambition that so hurtfull wars to both those Common-wealths of the Lacedemonians and Athenians the one being maisters of the sea and the other of the land tooke their beginning and thereby were both brought to ruine in the end Was it not the same cause of ambition in certaine particular men which procured the speedie returne of that good king Agesilaus to redresse the ciuill dissentions of Grecia when he was in Asia continuing those goodlie victories which he had against the Barbarians for the comfort and libertie of many Grecian cities O yee Grecians said that wise Prince being then verie sorowfull howe many more mischiefes doe yee procure to your selues than were procured vnto you by the Barbarians banded togither for your ouerthrow seeing yee are so vnhappie as to staye with your owne hands that good speede which conducted you to the top of felicitie and to turne backe into your owne entrailes those weapons which were so well guided against your enimies by calling backe the warre into your owne countrey from whence it was so happily banished The great and large scope of the Romane Empire ouer three partes of the world could not satisfie the ambition of Caesar and Pompey whilest the one could abide no equall and the other no superior insomuch that they omitted and forgat no meanes to increase their greatnes although it were with the charges of the Common-wealth As we may read among other things of Caesar who to ground vnderprop his power well for continuance gaue at one time to Paulus the Consul nine hundred thousand crownes for feare lest he should oppose himselfe against his enterprises and to Curio the Tribune he gaue fifteene hundred thousand crownes that he should take his part After the death of these two Princes that great dominion could no better content the Triumuirate namely Octauius Antonius and Lepidus who by force of armes ceased not to put their countrey to sword and fire vntill the soueraigne authoritie became resident in one alone But why should we seeke among the Ancients or amongst our neighbours for examples of the pernitious effects of this vice seing we haue so many at our owne gates Who kindled that fire in France which had taken hold of all the parts thereof and almost consumed it vtterly vnder the raigne of the Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy who stroue togither for the gouernment of the kingdome Were there not vpon the same occasion more than foure thousand men slaine in one daye within Paris the most of them being men of name at the instigation and procurement of the Duke of Burgundy who had taken possession thereof But alas the continuall and present remembrance of our late and vnspeakeable miseries procured chiefly from the same fountaine of ambition and knowne to women and children staieth me from seeking farther for testimonies of this our present matter Yea I feare greatly that we shall shortly see I would to God I might be deceiued the finall and intire ruine of our Monarchie which hath flourished as long as euer any did and continued longer vnuanquished of strangers For we see hir owne children bathing their hands in hir bloud and seeking to plucke out hir hart and intrailes and to cast them as a pray before hir enimies O how would Princes chase farre from them all ambitious persons if they were well instructed in vertue and in the knowledge of those euils which such men procure seeing it is impossible that any good counsell should proceed from them but onely such as tendeth to the aduancement of their priuate greatnes Now if ambition be the mother of ciuill warres is it not the same also of all other warres which are daily bred betweene Kings Princes through the desire of increasing their bounds of seazing vpon other mens territories to the treading downe oppression and ruine of their poore subiects and oftentimes of their owne estats Is it not ambition which blindeth men so that they are not content to be chiefe among a million of others ouer whom they command vnles they be equal or superior to one or two of those whom they know to be greater than themselues The desire of hauing more saith Plutark is a vice common to Princes and great Lords which by reason of ambition and desire to rule bringeth foorth in them oftentimes an vnsociable cruell and beastly nature And as Ennius saith there is no faith or assured societie in kingdomes For they whose greedines neither sea nor mountaines nor inhabitable deserts can staie and whose insatiable desire of hauing cannot be limited with those bounds which separate Asia from Europe how will they content themselues with their owne and not seeke to vsurpe that which belongeth to another especially when their confines and borders touch one another and are ioined so neere togither that nothing is betweene them It is impossible And in truth how soeuer they dissemble they purposely warre one with another watching continually for meanes to surprize and ouerreach each other But in outward shew they vse these two words of Peace and Warre as a peece of monie according as it shall make best for their purpose not for duties sake or vpon reason and iustice but for their owne profite and aduantage wickedly disguising in that manner the intermission and surceasing from the execution of their ill will and purpose with the holie name of iustice and amitie Princes therfore must not thinke it strange if somtime priuate men howbeit that doth not excuse them find the like dealing profitable vnto them according as it falleth out for their purpose For in so doing they do but imitate and follow them that are their maisters in all disloialtie treason and infidelitie thinking that he bestirreth himselfe who least of all obserueth that which equitie and iustice require This did Dionides the pirat fitly giue Alexander the Great to vnderstand when he asked of him why he troubled the whole sea and robbed euery one Know quoth he to him that thou and I are of one disposition and calling except in this that I am called a Pirate for skouring the seas with a few men and thou a prince bicause thou inuadest and spoilest euery where with great mightie armies But if thou wert Dionides and I Alexander it may be I should be a better prince than thou a good pirate With which free speech Alexander was so delighted that in stead of a guiltie man brought before him to be punished as was Dionides he made him one of his great captains But to continue our matter if Right say Ambitious men may be violated it is to be violated for a kingdom O speech ful of all impietie yea
amongst the guests about this proposition What kind of death was best euen that said this Monarch which is least looked for True it is which may be said that destinie may possibly be better foreseene than auoided But this were an euill conclusion thereupon that we must let goe all care of keeping those Goods which God giueth vs as a blessing proceeding from his grace For it is the dutie of a good and sound iudgement to conferre that which is past with the present time to the end to foresee in some sort and to determine of that which is to come which is alwaies doubtfull and vncertaine vnto vs. Moreouer to resume our former matter of honest shame and shamefastnes which is the guide of our life to decencie and vertue we may see amongst the an ients infinite examples how it hath been recommended and precisely obserued and what strength it hath had in right noble mindes The Persians brought vp their youth in such sort that they neither did nor spake any thing that was dishonest putting him to death that stripped himself starke naked in the presence of another Yea they iudged euery vnciuill action how litle soeuer committed before others to be great wickednes The Parthians would neuer suffer their wiues to come among their feastes least wine should cause them to doe or to speake any dishonest thing in their presence Hippocratides as he was walking met with a yong man in a wicked mans company perceiuing that he began to blush said thus vnto him My sonne thou must goe with such as will not cause thee to blush but be of good cheere for thou maiest yet repent thee Blind Eutichus was set without the aray of the battel by Leonidas but being ashamed to leaue his fellowes in danger he caused a slaue to lead him to the place where they fought and there wonderfully doing his endeuor he was slain The Romans were so shamefast amongst themselues that the father would not bathe himselfe with his sonne nor the sonne in law with the father in law They so greatly esteemed honest shame and bashfulnes that when Philip king of Macedonia was accused before the Senate of many crimes the shamefastnes of yong Demetrius his sonne who blushed and held his peace stood him in greater stead than the shamelesse boldnes of the eloquentest Orator in the world could haue done The sonne of Marcus Cato the Censor beyng at that battell wherein Perses was discomfited and fighting with a iaueline his sword fell out of his scabberd wherof he was so ashamed that alighting on foote in the midst of his enemies doubling his courage and strength he tooke it vp and mounted againe fighting on horsebacke as before The sonne of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus hauing abandoned and giuen ouer the keeping and defence of the countrey of Trenta committed to his charge was so ashamed thereof that not daring to returne againe to his father he slew himself Parmenides taught his Disciples that nothing was terrible to a noble mind but dishonor and that none but children and women or at least men hauing womens harts are afraid of griefe When speech was ministred at the banket of the seuen Sages concerning that popular gouernment which was happiest wherein all haue equall authoritie Cleobulus affirmed that that citie seemed vnto him best guided by policie wherein the Citizens stood in greater awe of dishonor than of the law Plutark rehearseth a very noteable historie of the force of honest shamefastnes in the Milesian maidens who were fallen into such frenzie and perturbation of spirite that without any apparant cause to be seene they were suddenly ouertaken with a longing to die and with a furious desire to hang themselues Which thing many of them had alreadie put in practise so that neither reasons nor teares of fathers and mothers no comfort of friends no threatnings pollicies or deuices whatsoeuer could preuaile with them vntill such time that a wise Citizen by his aduice procured an edict to be made by the Councell that if any heerafter hung hir selfe she should be caried starke naked in the sight of all men through the market place This edict being made and ratified by the Councell did not onely represse a little but wholy staied the fury of these maidens that longed to die Insomuch that a simple imagination and conceit of shame and dishonor which yet could not light vpon them before they were dead did preuaile more with them than all other deuised meanes could do yea than death it selfe or griefe which are two of the horriblest accidents which men commonly stand in feare of To conclude therefore our present discourse that honest shame and shamefastnes are alwaies commendable and beseeming all persons that purpose to obserue modestie in their words gestures countenances and actions We learne also that spirits well brought vp are more easily wonne by shame than by feare according to that saying of Quintilian that shamefastnes is the propertie of a free man and feare of a bondman Further we learne that euery temperate man ought to be more ashamed of himselfe when occasion of doing ill is offered than of any other that he must shun all euil excessiue and pernitious shame proceeding from the want of discretion bicause it hindereth men from effecting all good wholesome and honest things insomuch that of it selfe it is able to procure vnto vs losse dishonor and infamie The ende of the sixt daies worke THE SEVENTH DAIES WORKE Of Fortitude Chap. 25. ASER. MAN endued with reason seeking to imitate asmuch as lieth in him the author of his being who albeit simply absolutely he standeth not in neede of any thing whatsoeuer yet doth woonderfull workes without ceasing for the benefit of his creatures feeleth himselfe touched to the quicke in his soule with a desire to profit all those among whome he liueth by all high great laudable and laborious meanes not fearing any perill nor forcing any paine Moreouer meditating weighing the dignitie of the immortalitie of his soule he careth not for earthly and mortal goods nor standeth in feare of the contrarie and whether it be for the hauing or not hauing of them his minde is nothing at all the lesse quiet neither doth he thinke that any good vpon earth can be taken from him All which great and rare excellencies flowe into him from the third riuer of the fountaine of Honesty whereof we are now to speake namely of the vertue of Fortitude which as Cicero saith cannot be forced by any force AMANA This vertue saith Seneca is very great being able to resist and to fight against extreame miseries Which is the propertie of Fortitude that guideth a noble nature through hard and difficult things that he may attaine to the end of his iust deuices ARAM. Fortitude is the cause that neither for feare nor danger we turne aside from the way of vertue and iustice And as Plato
desperate case Briefly to speake in a word Fortitude is the cause that neither for feare nor danger we turne aside from the path waie of vertue and iustice neither yet repent vs of well doing for any torment And thus it belongeth properly to this vertue to command chiefly ouer these two perturbations grounded vpon the opinion of euill namely Feare and Griefe as before we saw that Temperance exerciseth hir power ouer vnbrideled desire excessiue ioy Furthermore bicause they that naturally haue greater stomacks and more excellent spirits are desirous and greedie of honors power and glorie and seeing that an excessiue desire to rule and to excel others commonly groweth with the greatnes of the hart it is necessarie that this vnrulie affection should be moderated by the contempt of such things as are common to all men by nature And this also is a propertie belonging to this vertue of Fortitude which desiring the greatest and best things despiseth those that are base and abiect aspiring to celestiall and eternall things shunneth humane mortall things and iudgeth honors riches and worldlie goods an vnwoorthie recompence for his valiant acts Which is the who cause that whosoeuer hath this vertue of Fortitude perfectly if so great happines could be among mortall wights he remaineth free from all perturbations of the soule to enioy a blessed tranquillitie which togither with constancie procureth vnto him dignitie and reputation For this cause Cicero teacheth vs that they which giue themselues to the gouernment of affaires ought at least asmuch as Philosophers to make light account of temporall goods from whence proceedeth all the rest of our mindes yea they ought to striue to that end with greater care and labor than Philosophers do bicause it is easier for a Philosopher so to doe his life being lesse subiect to Fortune standing in lesse need of worldly Goods than doth that of Politicks And if any mishap befall them it toucheth the Philosopher a great deale lesse But whether it be in war or in ruling a Common-wealth or in the gouernment of a house there are alwaies means enough to exercise the works of Fortitude many times this vertue is most necessarie in things that seeme to be of smallest account Besides that honesty which we seeke after is perfected by the forces of the soule of which euery one hath great need not by those of the bodie I will not say that the firme knitting togither of the members and the good disposition of nature to sustaine manfully the iniuries of wether al kind of paine trauel without sicknes is not a good helpe towards the execution of noble enterprises only I say that it is not so necessarie but that many being troubled with a thousand ill dispositions in their persons especially such as were placed in offices of Captaines and Conductors of armies haue executed infinite great and glorious exploits surmounting all weakenes of their bodies through the magnanimitie of their hart Yea oftentimes they haue as it were constrained their bodies to change their nature that they might be made fit to execure whatsouer their wise spirite iudged to belong to dutie Was there euer any Captaine among the Romanes greater than Iulius Caesar Yet was he of a weake and tender complexion subiect to great head-aches and visited somtimes with the falling sicknes But in steed of vsing the weaknes of his bodie for a cloke to liue nicely and delicately he tooke the labors for warre for a fit medicine to cure the vntowardnes of his bodie fighting against his disease with continuall labor and exercise liuing soberly and lying for the most part in the open aire which made him to be so much the more admired and loued of his souldiers As it may appeere by that which is reported of him that being one daye by reason of great storme and tempest greatly vrged with want of lodging in a plaine where there was but one little cottage belonging to a Peasant which had but one chamber he commanded that Oppius one of his Captaines who was il at ease should be lodged there as for himselfe he laye abroad with the rest saying that the most honorable places were to be appointed for the greatest and the most necessarie for such as were most diseased What shall we say of those who being impotent in some part of their members did notwithstanding not diminish in any sort but augment the glorie of their doings Marcus Sergius a Romane Captaine hauing lost his right hand in a battell practised so well with the left hand that afterward in an armie he chalenged foure of his enimies one after another and ouercame them such force hath a good hart that it can doe more in one onely little member than a man well made and fashioned in all points that hath but a cowardly hart We might heere alleadge infinite examples whereof histories are full of all those effects which we said were brought foorth by the vertue of Fortitude in noble minds but we will content our selues to touch certaine generals that were of notable and politike prowes and valure and constant in their resolutions aswell for shortnes sake as also bicause heereafter we shall haue further occasion to bring others in sight when we handle more at large the parts and branches that proceed from this happie stalke of Fortitude Fabius the Greatest commeth first to my remembrance to prooue that the resolution of a courageous hart grounded vpon knowledge and the discourse of reason is firme and immutable This Captaine of the Romane armie being sent into the field to resist the furie and violence of Hannibal who being Captaine of the Carthaginians was entred into Italy with great force determined for the publike welfare and necessitie to delay and prolong the warre and not to hazard a battell but with great aduantage Whereupon certaine told him that his owne men called him Hannibals schoolemaister and that he was iested at with many other opprobrious speeches as one that had small valure and courage in him and therfore they counselled him to fight to the end he might not incurre any more such reprehensions and obloquies I should be quoth he againe to them a greater Coward than now I am thought to be if I should forsake my deliberation necessarie for the common welfare and safetie for feare of their girding speeches and bolts of mockerie and obey those to the ruine of my countrey whom I ought to command And in deed afterward he gaue great tokens of his vnspeakeable valure being sent with three hundred men onely to encounter with the said Hannibal and seeing that he must of necessitie fight for the safetie of the Common-wealth after all his men were slaine and himselfe hurt to death he rushed against Hannibal with so great violence and force of courage that he tooke from him the diademe or frontlet which he had about his head and died with that about him Pompey who by
placed With such speeches he fought vnto the death Will wee haue other examples of woonderfull prowes and courage Iudas Macchabeus after many victories obtained by him against the Lieutenants of Antiochus and against those of Demetrius was set vpon and assailed with two and twentie thousand men others say two and thirty thousand hauing himselfe but eight hundred or a thousand with him And being counselled to retire into some place of safetie God forbid quoth he that the Sunne should see me turne my backe towards mine enemies I had rather die than staine the glorie which I haue gotten by vertue with an ignomintous and shamefull flight In this resolute perswasion he greatly weakened his enemies and yet died more through wearisomnes than of blowes or woundes which he had receiued in fight Leonides king of Sparta hauing with him but three hundred naturall Lacedemonians fought and put to flight at the strait of Thermopylis three hundred thousand Persians but he and all his died of the woundes which they receiued in that fight Lucius Dentatus a Romane was endued with such Fortitude and Generositie that one writeth of him that he was in sixe skore battels and skirmishes and eight times came away Conquerour from fighting hand to hand that he had receiued of his Captaines by waye of rewarde and in token of his valure eighteene launces twentie bards for horses foure skore and three bracelets and sixe and thirtie crownes and lastly that by his meanes nine Emperours triumphed in Rome Eumenus a Macedonian Captaine hauing beene put to the woorst by Antigonus retired into a strong hold where being besieged and brought to parly through necessitie of victuals and munition it was signified vnto him from his enemie that reason would he should come and speake with him vnder his faith and promise without Hostages seeing he was both greater and stronger But Eumenus made him this answer that he would neuer thinke any man greater than himselfe as long as he had his sword in his owne power And therefore demanding of him no woorse conditions than as one that thought himselfe to be his equall he sailed foorth vpon his enemies with such valure and courage that he saued himselfe out of their handes and afterward greatly troubled Antigonus Aristomenes the Messanian being taken by the Lacedemonians and deliuered fast bound to two souldiers to be kept he drew neere to a fire and burned asunder his bands with a litle of his flesh afterward comming suddenly vpon his keepers he slew them both and saued himselfe Lysimachus being cast to a Lion by Alexander bicause he gaue to Calisthenes the prisoner that poison wherewith he killed himselfe fought with it and stretching foorth his arme and hand all armed into his throte he tooke hold of his toong and strangled him Whereupon the Monarch euer after greatly esteemed and honoured him By this small number out of infinite examples which I could heere mention we see the great and woonderfull effects of this vertue of Fortitude which are no lesse in euerye part thereof touched in our discourse as heereafter I hope we shall declare at large Wherefore we may well say that this vertue is very necessarie to liue well and happily and to lead vs to the end of our being which is to referre both our life and death to the onely exercise of dutie and honestie that by it we enioy the true rest of the soule which is nothing else as Cicero saith than a peaceable sweete and acceptable constancie which vndoubtedly alwaies followeth Fortitude being crowned with these two inestimable rewardes the contempt of griefe and of death whereby we forsake that which is mortall that we may imbrace heauenlie thinges in the hope and certaine expectation of that happie immortalitie Of Timorousnes Feare and Cowardlines and of Rashnes Chap. 26. ACHITOB WE may call to remembrance that saying of Plato before mentioned that a temperate man not indued with the vertue of Fortitude falleth easilie into cowardlines basenes of mind which is the defect of that vertue which euen now we described and likewise that a strong and valiant man without the direction of Prudence and Temperance is easily caried away with temeritie and boldnes which is the excesse of the same vertue Which two vices are so hurtfull in the soule that he which is infected with them holdeth much more of the nature of a beast than of that essence wherein he was created Let vs then consider what these imperfections are that through the horror of that infamie which followeth them we may be more zealous to follow that which is decent and honest ASER. We must take good heede saith Cicero least through feare of peril we commit any thing that may iustly argue vs to be timorous and fearfull But withall we must beware that we offer not our selues vnto dangers without cause than which nothing is more foolish and blame-woorthie AMANA It is not seemely for a man saith Plato to commit any cowardly act to auoid perill Temeritie also setteth foorth it selfe with courage and contempt of dangers but vnaduisedly and to no purpose But let vs heare ARAM who will handle this matter more at large ARAM. Albeit there is no greater disgrace than to be iustly reproched with a cowardly and faint hart especially for youth to be called effeminate yet is that feare good which turneth vs away from dishonest things and maketh man staied and wel aduised This is the cause why the Ancients speaking of feare made it twofold the one good necessarie the other euill and hurtfull The first which they grounded vpon a good discourse of reason iudgement was so esteemed and honored of them that in the citie of Sparta which for armes arts flourished most among the Grecians there was a temple dedicated consecrated to this feare which as they affirmed better maintained and preserued the estate of Common-wealthes than any other thing whatsoeuer bicause thereby man was led to stand more in awe of blame reproch dishonor than of death or griefe Which thing maketh him both apter readier to vndertake to execute all vertuous laudable matters whensoeuer good iust occasion shall be offred also more staied against euerie rash vniust enterprise that might procure dammage to the common-wealth And this was the occasion of that Prouerbe Feare alwaies accompanieth shame Another reason alleadged by these wise men whie they honoured in such sort this fained goddesse was bicause to doubt and feare nothing was more hurtfull to Common-wealths than their verie neighbour enimies the feare of whome was their safetie and assurance The other naughtie and pernicious feare standeth of two kinds The first beeing destitute of all good reason and assured iudgement is that which we call Cowardlines and Pusillanimitie alwaies followed of these two perturbations of the soule Feare and Sadnes and is the defect of the vertue of Fortitude which wee purpose
he knoweth the one to be honest and the other vile and wicked Hauing now seene that vice which is cleane contrary to Fortitude and knowing that euery vertue hath a counterfeit follower thereof no doubt but rashnesse is that vice which falsly shrowdeth it selfe vnder the title of Fortitude and valure For this vertue easily ouerthroweth it selfe if it be not vnderpropped with good counsaile and the greater abilitie it supposeth to haue in it selfe the sooner it turneth aside to wickednesse if prudence gouerne it not This is that which Isocrates saith that Fortitude ioined with Prudence is auaileable but otherwise it procureth more euill than good to the possessors thereof If Fortitude saith Lactantius without necessarie constraint or for a dishonest matter hazardeth hir selfe into daungers she chaungeth into rashnesse He that doth anie thing at all aduentures saith Aristotle not considering how well he doth it ought not to be called vertuous but onely if he put it in execution after knowledge consultation and election Therefore as it is a noble acte to make such account of vertue as for the loue thereof not to feare the losse of life otherwise very deare so is it a point of rashnesse and follie to contemne life vpon a small and light occasion Rashnesse than is that which causeth a man with ioy of hart and for a vaine and friuolous matter to cast himselfe into certaine vndoubted daungers and to desire earnestly to fall into them to vndertake all things vnaduisedly and vnconstrained to expect those perils which he knoweth will fall vpon him The Elder Cato hearing certaine men to commend one openly who desperately hazarded himselfe and was bold without discretion in perils of warre said vnto them That there was great difference betweene much esteeming of vertue and little waighing of life as if he would haue said that it is a commendable thing to desire life to be vertuous And truely to liue and die are not of themselues good but to do both of them rightly and in a good matter So that to shunne death if it proceed not from a faint hart is not to be reprehended But rashnesse is especiallie to be condemned in Captaines and Heads of Armies as that which procureth great dammage to kingdomes and monarchies and to so manie as march vnder their conduct This is that which Iphicrates an Athenian captaine would haue vs learne who compared in an armie the Scoutes lightly armed to the handes the Horsemen to the Feete the battaile of Footemen to the Stomacke and breast and the Captaine to the Head of a Mans bodie For sayde he the Captaine that hazardeth himselfe too much and throweth himselfe into daunger without cause is not retchlesse of his own life onely but also of all those whose safetie dependeth vpon him and contrarywise in taking care for the safegard of his owne person he careth therewithall for all those that are vnder him Isadas the Lacedemonian seeyng Epaminondas with the Thebane armie at hand agaynst the Spartanes readie to force and take their Citie vnclothed himselfe starke naked puttyng off his Shirte and all and taking a Partisane in one hand and a sworde in the other he went with might and mayne agaynst his enemies where he shewed great prowesse and valure For which behauiour although he had a Crowne giuen him by the Seignorie according to the custome that was amongst them yet he was fined bicause he hazarded his lyfe so rashly We see daylie among vs but too manie examples of great mischiefes which befall men through their rashnesse led with ambition and desire of vayne-glorie Therefore to conclude and to drawe some profite out of our present discourse we say that we ought to feare the incurring of blame and dishonour for filthie and vnhonest matters and for euill deeds and are to shun all feare proceeding of want of courage of pusillanimitie and of a depraued and corrupted nature this last as proper and peculiar to the wicked and the other as that which maketh a man vnapt to all good and commendable thinges And as it is an acte of Prudence and Fortitude to prouide for a tempest and for stormes to come when the shippe is still in the Hauen and yet not to be afrayd in the middest of stormes so is it a point of rashnesse for a man to throw himselfe wittingly into an euident danger which might be auoyded without any breach of Vertue and Iustice Therefore Plato saith that timorous and rash men feare enterprise vnaduisedly whatsoeuer they take in hand but that noble minds do all things with prudence This also is that which Seneca saith thou maist be valiant if thou cast not thy selfe into perils nor desirest to fall into them as timorous men do neither abhorrest or standest in feare of them as being timorous But following the sage aduice of Cicero before we enterprise any thing we must not onely consider whether it be honest and commendable but also whether there be any like meane to execute it that neither throgh cowardlines we giue it ouer nor through greedie desire and presumption we purchase to our selues the reputation of rash men obseruing moreouer in euery matter of importance this Maxime of estate that before we begin any thing we must diligently prepare and foresee whatsoeuer is necessarie thereunto Of Magnanimitie and Generositie Chap. 27. ARAM. WHen that saying of Aristotle cōmeth to my remembrance that Fortitude isa mediocritie in fearing enterprising but that Magnanimitie consisteth in great things I am somewhat troubled in the vnderstāding of this sentēce bicause it semeth he would put a difference betweene Fortitude and Magnanimitie as if this latter had more excellencie and perfection in it than the other For this cause my Companions hauing intreated this morning of the vertue of Fortitude I propound now vnto you to discourse vnto vs what Magnanimitie is ACHITOB. Among mortall and perishing things there is nothing as the Philosophers say that ought to trouble the Magnanimitie of a noble hart But I find that they propound vnto vs in this word such a wisedome as cannot be in him that remaineth all his life time subiect to affections and perturbations For this they would not haue in true Magnanimitie which notwithstanding is wel able to bring foorth infinite wonderfull effects out of a noble mind causing it to be neuer vnprouided of a good resolution to be put in execution according to the ouerthwarts that happen vnto him ASER. The propertie of a noble spirit saith Cicero is not to be turned aside through ingratitude from the desire of doing good to all men euen to his enemies as also to leaue carking for that which is mortall that he may imbrace celestiall things But we shall vnderstand more at large of thee AMANA how these marueilous effects are works of true magnanimitie AMANA Although the vertue of Fortitude be neuer perfected without Magnanimitie which is as much to say as generositie or noblenes of
hart as that which vndoubtedly is comprehended vnder the first part of Fortitude which Cicero calleth Magnificence or a doing of great excellent things yet notwithstanding it seemeth that this word Magnanimitie carieth with it some greater and more particular Empasis that a man may say that the wonderful effects thereof appeare principally in three points whereof I purpose here to discourse The first concerning extreme and desperate matters as when a man is past all hope of sauing his life wherein perfect magnanimitie always knoweth how to find out a conuenient remedie and wise consolation not suffering himselfe to be vexed therewith The second respecteth dutie towards enimies against whom generositie will in no wise suffer a man to practise or to consent to any wickednesse vnder what pretence so euer it be nor for any aduantage which may be reaped thereby The third causeth a noble minded man to contemne and to account that thing vnworthy the care of his soule which others wonder at labor by all means to obtaine namelie strength health beauty which the Philosophers call the goods of the bodie and riches honor and glory which they say are the goods of fortune and likewise not to stand in feare of their contraries Amongst the woorthy and famous men of olde time whose names and glorious factes crowned with an immortall Lawrell are ingrauen in the temple of Memorie we find no praise woorthie of greater admiration or that ought to awaken and stirre vs vp better in Christian dutie than the effects of this vertue of Magnanimitie vpon these three occasions presently touched Whereof one effect is that we yeeld not against reason nor passe the limits of duty by fainting vnder that heauy burthen of extreme distresses which the horror of death bringeth with it but that euen in the midst of greatest agonie which seemeth intollerable in mans iudgement we shew such grauitie and woorthines that we depart not in any sort from the peace and quietnes of our soules but with constancie and cheerefulnes of spirit meditate vpon the ioy of that hauen of saluation which we behold with the eyes of our soule whereinto through a happy death at hand we shall shortly be receiued Another effect is that we accomplish so farre as our frailtie can approch to perfection the commandement of the diuine will by louing our neighbors as our selues and by abstaining euen in regard of our greatest enimies from doing procuring or consenting yea by hindring that no treacherie or treason should be wrought them nor any other thing vnbeseeming that naturall loue which ought to be in euery one towards his like and further by procuring them all the good and profit that may be The third effect of this great vertue no les wonderful thā the rest is in that a noble minded man solong as he liueth wholy withdraweth his affection from worldly and corruptible things through a stedfast constant reason and lifteth it vp to the meditation and holy desire of heauenly and eternal things The remedy which these great personages destitute of the right knowledge of the truth most commonly vsed when their affaires were past all hope of mans helpe was death which they chose rather to bring vpon themselues by their owne handes than to fall into the mercy of their enimies whereby they supposed that they committed a noble act woorthie the greatnes of their inuincible courage And if peraduenture they were surprised and forced in such sort by their enemies that they were compelled to become their prisoners they neuer desired them to saue their liues saying that it beseemed not a noble hart and that in so doing they should submit both hart and bodie to him who before had but the bodie in his power Cato the yoonger being brought to such extremity in the towne of Vtica that by the aduice of all those that were with him he was to send Embassadors to Caesar the Conqueror to practise an agreement after submission to his mercie yeelded therevnto in the behalfe of others but forbad that any mention should be made of himselfe It belongeth quoth he to those that are ouercome to make request and to such as haue done amisse to craue pardon As for me I will account my selfe inuincible so long as in right and iustice I shall be mightier than Caesar He it is that is now taken and ouercome bicause that which hitherto he denied to take in hand against the Common-wealth is at this present sufficiently testified against him and discouered Neither will I be beholding or bound to a Tyrant for an vniust matter For it is a point of iniustice in him to vsurpe the power of sauing their liues like a Lord ouer whome he hath no right to command After many other speeches of Philosophie vsed by him standing much vpon that Stoicall opinion that onely a wise and good man is free and that all wicked men are bond men and slaues he went alone into his chamber and slew himselfe with his sword Sylla the Dictator hauing condemned to death all the inhabitants of Perouza and pardoning none but his Host he also would needes die saying that he would not hold his life of the murtherer of his countrey Brutus after the battel lost against Augustus Caesar was counselled by certaine of his friends to flie I must flie in deed said he but with hands not with feete And taking them all by the hand he vttered these words with a very good and cheerfull countenance I feele my hart greatly contented bicause none of my friends haue for saken me in this busines neither complaine I of fortune at all but onely so farre foorth as toucheth my countrey For I esteeme my selfe happier than they that haue vanquished as long as I leaue behind me a glorie of vertue for hazarding all liberally to free from bondage my brethren and countreymen Which praise our conquering enemies neither by might nor money can obtaine and leaue to posteritie but men will alwaies say of them that being vniust and wicked they haue ouerthrowne good men to vsurpe a tyrannous rule and dominion that belongeth not vnto them After he had thus spokē he tooke his sword and falling vpon the point thereof gaue vp the ghost Cassius also his companion caused his owne head to be cut off by one of his slaues whom he had made free and kept with him long time before for such a necessitie The historie which we read of the Numantines commeth in fitly for this matter which we handle heere For after they had sustained the siege of the Romanes fourteene yeeres togither and were in the ende inclosed by Scipio with a very great ditch of two and fortie foote in depth and thirtie in breadth which compassed the citie round about the Consul summoned them to commit themselues to the clemencie of the Romanes and to trust to their promise seeing all meanes of sallying foorth to fight and of
recouering any victuals were taken from them To whome they made this onely answer that forasmuch as they had liued for the space of 338. yeeres in freedom they would not die slaues in any sort Whereupon such as were most valiant assembled togither and slew those that were most growne in yeeres with women and children Then they tooke all the riches of the citie and of the temples and brought it into the midst of a great hall and setting fire to all quarters of the citie each of them tooke the speediest poison they could find so that the temples houses riches and people of Numantia ended all in one day leauing to Scipio neither riches to spoile neither man or woman to triumph withal For during the whole time wherin their citie was besieged not one Numantine yeelded himselfe prisoner to any Romane but slew himselfe rather than he would yeeld Which Magnanimitie caused Scipio to bewaile the desolation of such a people in these words O happie Numantia which the Gods had decreed should once end but neuer be vanquished Now albeit these examples and infinite other like to these are set foorth vnto vs by Historiographers as testimonies of an excellent Magnanimitie whereby they would teach vs both to be neuer discouraged for the most tedious trauels and irkesome miseries of mans life and also to stand so little in awe of death that for feare thereof much lesse for any other torment or griefe we neuer commit any thing vnbeseeming a noble hart yet notwithstanding no man that feareth God and is willing to obey him ought to forget himselfe so much as to hasten forward the end of his daies for any occasion whatsoeuer This did Socrates knowe very well when he said that we must not suffer our soule to depart from the Sentinell wherein she is placed in this bodie without the leaue of hir Captaine and that so waightie a matter as death ought not as Plato saith to be in mans power But if it be offred vnto vs by the will of God then with a magnanimious hart void of al starting aside in any thing against dutie we must set free this passage being staied and assuredly grounded vpon that consolation which neuer forsaketh a good conscience not onely through the expectation of a naked and simple humane glorie which most of the Heathen propounded to themselues but of that life which abideth for euer following therein the constancie of Alcibiades a great Captaine of Grecia who hearing the sentence of his condemnation to death pronounced said It is I that leaue the Athenians condemned to die and not they me For I go to seeke the Gods where I shall be immortall but they shall remaine still amongst men who are all subiect to death Socrates also hauing a capitall accusation laid against him wrongfully directed his speech to the Iudges and said vnto them that his accusers by their false depositions might wel cause him to die but hurt him they could not adding further that he woulde neuer leaue his profession of Philosophie for feare of death I â—m per swaded quoth he in Plato that this my opinion is very good namely that euery one ought to abide constantly in that place and trade of life which either he hath chosen himselfe or is appointed him by his superior that he must account that for the best and hazard himselfe therein to all dangers without feare either of death or of any other thing whatsoeuer And therfore I should erre greatly if obeying the Generall of warre which ye appointed vnto me in Potidaea Amphipolis and Delos and abiding in that place wherein he set me without feare of death I should now for feare of death or of any other thing forsake that rancke wherein God hath placed me and would haue me remaine in as I alwaies beleeued thought namely that I should liue a student in Philosophie correcting mine owne and other mens vices Now if I should do otherwise I might iustly be accused for calling my selfe a wise man not being so indeed seeing to feare death is to thinke that to be which is not But neither I nor any other man ought to do all that we may either in iudgement or in warre to the end to auoid death For it is very certaine that he who would in time of battell cast downe his armour and flie away might by that meane auoid death and the like is to be vnderstood in al dangers perils if he were not afraid of infamie But consider O countreymen that it is no very hard matter to auoid death but farre more difficult to eschew wickednes and the shame therof which are a great deale swifier of foote than that is O speech woorthie of eternal praise and such a one as instructeth a Christian notably in a great and noble resolution namely to run the race of his short daies in that vocation wherunto God hath called him and that in the midst of tortures torments all agonies of death From which whilest we expect a happie passage we ought to be no more destitute of an apt remedie in all those things which according to the world are most irkesome and desperate but sustaine them with like constancie and woorthines not departing from the tranquillitie and rest of our soules which is a more noble act than to hasten forward the end of our daies that we may be deliuered of them But howsoeuer it be let vs alwaies preferre a vertuous and honest death before any kind of life be it neuer so pleasant And seeing that one and the same passage is prepared aswell for the coward as the couragious it being decreed that all men must once die the louers of vertue shall do well to reape to themselues some honor of common necessity and to depart out of this life with such a comfort Now to come to the second commendable effect of this vertue of Magnanimity wherof Heroical men were so prodigall heeretofore for the benefit and safetie of their enemies we can bring no better testimonie than the courteous fact of Fabritius the Romane Consul towards Pyrrhus who warred against him and whose Physition wrote vnto him that he offered himselfe to murder his maister by poison and so to end their strife without danger But Fabritius sent the letter vnto him and signified withall that he had made a bad choice of friends aswell as of enemies bicause he made warre with vpright good men and trusted such as were disloiall and wicked whereof he thought good to let him vnderstand not so much to gratifie him as least the accident of his death should procure blame to the Romanes as if they had sought or consented to end the warre by meanes of treason not being able to obtaine their purpose by their vertue Camillus a Romane Dictator is no lesse to be commended for that which he did during the siege of the citie of the Fallerians For he that was Schoolemaister to
fidelitie and many other good deedes wherof many men taste and which procure to a man greater good will of euery one are proper to mildnes and meekenes called by an ancient man the characters of an holie soule which neuer suffer innocencie to be oppressed as Chilo said which lead noble harts slowly to the feasts of their friends but speedily to the succouring of them in their calamities This vertue of meekenes is truly most necessarie for a valiant man For without it he should be in danger to commit some actions which might be iudged cruell And seeing that a noble minded man commeth neere to the diuine nature he must also resemble it as much as may be in gentlenes and clemencie which adorneth and honoreth those especially that are lift vp in dignitie and haue power to correct others True it is also that they are deceiued that commend and as it were adore the bounty of great men and Magistrats who of a certain simplicity without prudence shew themselues gratious gentle and courteous towards all men Which is no lesse pernitious to an Estate than is the seueritie and crueltie of others For of this ouer-great lenitie among many other inconueniences an impunitie of the wicked is bred and the sufferance of one fault quickly draweth on another Therefore the mildnes of those that haue power and authoritie ought to be accompanied with seueritie their clemencie mingled with rigour and their facilitie with austeritie This is that which Plato learnedly teacheth vs saying that the noble and strong man must be courageous and gratious that he may both chastice the wicked and also pardon when time requireth And as for those offences which may be healed he must thinke that no man is willingly vniust Therefore Cicero saith that it is the property of a noble minded man simply to punish those that are most in fault the authors of euill but to saue the multitude And thus the rigour of discipline directing meekenes and meekenes decking rigour the one will set foorth and commend the other so that neither rigour shall be rigorous nor gentlenes dissolute By the learned sentences of these Philosophers it is very euident that the vertue of meekenes is not onely a part of Fortitude which can not be perfect without it but hath also some particular coniunction with all the other vertues yea is as it were the seede of them and induceth men to practise all dutie towards their neighbours But bicause the order of our discourses wil offer vs matter and occasion to intreat particularly heereafter aswell of iustice and of reuenge of wrongs and ininries which a man receiueth of his enemy as also of other vertues heere briefly mentioned we will now come to certaine notable examples of meekenes gentlenes mildnes and goodnes of nature The first that commeth to my remembrance is Philip king of Macedonia who giueth place to none in the perfection of these gifts and graces When it was told this good Prince that one Nicanor did openly speake ill of his maiestie his counsellors being of opinion that he was to be punished with death I suppose quoth he to them that he is a good man It were better to search whether the fault commeth not from vs. And after he vnderstood that the said Nicanor was a needy fellow and complained that the king neuer succoured him in his necessity he sent him a rich present Whereupon afterward it was told Philip that this Nicanor went vp and downe speaking much good of him I see well said he then to his Councellors that I am a better Phisition for backbiting than you are and that it is in my power to cause either good or euill to be spoken of me The good disposition of Antigonus king of Macedonia commeth in here not vnfitly vpon the like occasion For hearing certaine souldiers speake ill of him hard by his tent who thought not that the king could ouerheare them he shewed himselfe vttering these onelie words without farther hurting of them Good Lord could you not go further off to speake ill of me And to say truth such gifts and graces become a noble Prince very well yea he cannot more woorthily and more beseeming himselfe giue place to any wrongs than to those that are done to his owne person As contrariwise those men are vnwoorthie their scepters who cruelly reuenge their owne iniuries pardon such as are done to others yea such faults as are directly against the honor of God A Prince wel instructed in vertue saith Xenophon in his Cyropaedia ought so to behaue himselfe towards his enemie as to thinke consider that at some time or other he may be his friend Was there euer Monarch more feared of his enemies than Alexander the Great inuincible in all things he tooke in hand insomuch that he would not onely force al humane powers but also times places themselues and yet who hath left greater proofes of meekenes and curtesie than he As he was on his voyage vndertaken for the conquest of the Indians Taxiles a king of those countries came desired him that they might not warre one against another If thou said this king vnto him art lesse than I receiue benefits if greater I will take them of thee Alexander greatly admiring and commending the grauitie and courteous speech of this Indian answered thus At the least we must fight and contend for this namely whether of vs twaine shall be most beneficiall to his Companion so loath was this noble Monarch to giue place to another in goodnes mildnes and courtesie Heereof he gaue a great argument after he had vanquished Porus a very valiant Prince of whome demanding how he would be intertained of him this king answered Royally Neither would he giue him any other answer albeit Alexender vrged him thereunto For he said that all was contained vnder that word As in deede the Monarch shewed that he was nothing ignorant thereof For he did not onely restore his kingdome vnto him but inlarged it also wherein he surmounted his victorie and procured to himselfe as much renowne by his clemency as by his valure Had he euer any greater enemie than Darius vanquished and subdued by him And yet when he saw himselfe letted from vsing towards him any bountie worthy his greatnes bicause Bessus one of his captains had slaine him he was so displeased therwith that he caused the murderer to be punished albeit he was one of his familiar friēds with a most cruel death causing him to be torne asunder with two great trees bowed down by main strength one against another vnto each of which a part of Bessus his body was fastened Then the trees beyng suffered to returne backe again to their first nature with their vehement force rent asunder the body of this poore and miserable wretch Iulius Caesar was of such a curteous disposition that hauing conquered Pompey and all his enemies he wrote to his friends
them next we will behold some examples of these famous personages that we may be induced thereby to contemne such pernitious goods Men ought to make great account of riches said Socrates if they were ioined with true ioy but they are wholy separated from it For if rich men fall to vsing of them they spoile themselues with ouergreat pleasure if they would keepe them care gnaweth and consumeth them within and if they desire to get them they become wicked and vnhappie It cannot be saith Plato that a man should be truly good and very rich both togither but he may well be happie and good at one time And it is a verie miserable saying to affirme that a rich man is happy yea it belongeth to children and fooles to say so making them vnhappy that beleeue and approoue it Slouth and slug gishnes grow of riches and they that are addicted to heape them vp more and more the greater account they make of them the lesse they esteeme vertue So that if riches and rich men are greatly set by in a Common-wealth vertue and good men will be much lesse regarded and yet great matters are brought to passe and Common-wealths preserued by vertue and not by riches Riches saith Isocrates serue not so much for the practise of honestie as of wickednes seeing they draw the libertie of men to loosenesse and idlenesse and stirre vp yong men to voluptuousnes Men said Thales are by nature borne to vertue but riches draw them backe vnto them hauing a thousand sortes of sorceries to allure them to vices and through a false opinion of good to turne them from those things that are truly good They suffer not him that hath them to be able to know any thing but draw him to external goods They are passing arrogant most feareful If they vse themselues they are riotous if they abstaine miserable They neuer content their Owners nor leaue them void of sorow and care but as they that are sicke of the dropsie the more they drinke become the thirstier so the more that men abound in wealth the more they desire to haue Riches of themselues breed flatterers who helpe to vndoe rich men They are the cause of infinite murders and hired slaughters they make couetous persons to contemne the goods of the soule thinking to become happy without them They prouoke them also to delicacies and to gluttony whereby their bodies are subiect to diseases and infirmities Briefly riches greatly hurt both bodie and soule They stirre vp domesticall sedition and that among brethren They make children worse in behauiour towards their fathers and cause fathers to deale more hardly with their children Through them it commeth that friends suspect each other for a true friend is credited no more by reason of a flatterer Besides rich mē are angry with good men saying that they are arrogant bicause they will not flatter them and in like maner they hate such as flatter them thinking that they keepe about them onely to robbe them and to diminish their wealth These are the cuils which may be said to be commonly in riches But these also accompany them being execrable diseases namely presumptiō pride arrogancie vile and abiect cares which are altogether earthly naughtie desires wicked pleasures and an insatiable coueting Besides if they were not pernitious of thēselues so many mischiefs would not take their beginning from them For men commit a thousand murders for gaine They robbe churches fidelitie is lost and broken friendship is violated men betray their country maidens are loosely giuen brieflie no euils are left vnexecuted through the desire of riches They that giue them selues said Bion to gather riches are verie ridiculous seeing fortune giueth them couetousnes keepeth them and liberalitie casteth them away Men must haue rich soules saith Alexides as for siluer it is nothing but a shew and vaile of life It is a naughtie thing saith Euripides but common to all rich men to liue wickedly The cause thereof as I take it is this bicause they haue nothing but riches in their mind which being blind seele vp likewise the eies of their vnderstanding I pray God neuer to send me a wealthy life which hath alwaies sorow and care for hir Companions nor riches to gnaw my hart Speake not to me of Pluto that is to say of riches for I make no great reckoning of that God who is alwaies possessed of the most wicked vpon the earth O riches you are easie to beare but infinite cares miseries and griefs keepe you companie He saith Democritus that woondereth at such as haue great riches and are esteemed of the ignorant multitude to be happie will surely through a desire of hauing commit and vndertake wicked things and those oftentimes against the lawes As drunkennes saith Aristotle begetteth rage and madnes so ignorance ioined with power breedeth insolencie and furie And to those whose minds are not well disposed neither riches nor strength nor beautie can be iudged good but the greater increase ariseth of them the more harme they procure to him that possesseth them Moreouer do we not see that the most part of rich men either vse not their riches bicause they are couetous or abuse them bicause they are giuen ouer to their pleasures and so they are all the seruants either of pleasures or of trafficke and gaine as long as they liue But he that would be as Plato saith truly rich ought to labor not so much to augment his wealth as to diminish his desire of hauing bicause he that appointeth no bounds to his desires is alwaies poore and needie For this cause the libertie of a wise mans soule who knoweth the nature of externall goods belonging to this life is neuer troubled with the care of them being assured as Plutark saith that as it is not apparell which giueth heate to a man but only staieth and keepeth in naturall heate that proceedeth from the man himselfe by hindring it from dispersing in the aire so no man liueth more happily or contentedly bicause he is compassed about with much wealth if tranquillitie ioy and rest proceed not from within his soule Heape vp saith the same Philosopher store of gold gather siluer togither build faire galleries fill a whole house full of slaues and a whole towne with thy debtors yet if thou doest not maister the passions of thy soule if thou quenchest not thy vnsatiable desire nor deliuerest thy soule of all feare and carking care thou doest asmuch to procure thy quietnes as if thou gauest wine to one that had an ague Life of it selfe saith Plato is not ioyfull vnles care be chased away which causeth vs to waxe gray-headed whilest we desire but meane store of riches For the superfluous desire of hauing alwaies gnaweth our hart Whereupon it commeth to passe that oftentimes amongst men we see pouertie to be better than riches death than life And truly there is great madnes in the greedy coueting of
that fall into it through negligence or misgouernment of those goods which God hath put into their hands that they should be faithfull keepers and disposers thereof in charitable workes This is that which Thucidides saith that it is no shame for a man to confesse his pouertie but very great to fal into it by his owne default Therefore to reape profite by that which hath beene heere discoursed let vs put off that old error which hath continued so long in mens braines that pouertie is such a great and troublesome euill whereas it is rather the cause of infinite benefits and let vs say with Pythagoras that it is a great deale better to haue a quiet and setled minde lying vpon the ground than to haue much trouble in a golden bed Moreouer let vs knowe that to possesse small store of earthlie goods ought not to be called pouertie bicause all fulnes of wealth aboundeth in the knowledge and assurance of the fatherlie grace and goodnes of the Author and Creator of all things which he offereth liberally to all without accepting either of pompe or greatnes And further when as continuing the care which it pleaseth him to take of vs he giueth vs although in trauell and sweate wherewith to feede and to cloth vs in all simplicitie and modestie and that according to our necessitie we should be vnthankfull and altogither vnwoorthie the assistance of his helpe and fauour and of his eternall promises if not contented nor glorifieng him for our estate we complained or wondred at desired the calling of other men offering thereby in will and affection our birthrights through a gluttonous desire whereas we ought to preserue to our selues the possession of that heauenlie inheritance wherein consisteth the perfection of all glorie rest and contentation Of Idlenes Sloth and Gaming Chap. 35. ARAM. TWo things being the cause of all passions in men namely Griefe and Pleasure they alwayes desire the one but flie from and feare the other But the occasion of the greatest euil that befalleth them is bicause these desires and affections being borne with them from the beginning do also grow encrease a long time before they can haue any iudgement framed in them through the right vnderstandyng of things Whereupon as well by nature which of it selfe is more inclined to euill than to good as through a long continuing in vice they are easily drawen to follow the appetite and lust of their sensualitie wherein they falsly iudge that pleasure consisteth and thinke it painfull not to please it Being thus guided by ignorance and walking like blindmen they haue experience for the most part of such an end as is cleane contrary to their purposes As we may see in those men who purposing with themselues to liue at their ease in ioy rest and pleasure giue ouer all intermedling in serious matters and such as beseeme the excellencie of vertue that they may liue in idlenes wherwith being bewitched they are partakers of many false pleasures which procure them a greater number of griefs and miseries all which they thought to auoyd very well And this we may the better vnderstand if we discourse of Idlenes the enemie of all vertue and cleane contrary to Perseuerance which is a branch of Fortitude Therefore I propound the handling of this matter to you my Companions ACHITOB. Although we haue not a singular excellencie of spirite yet we must not suffer it to be idle but constantly follow after that which we haue wisely hoped to obtaine For as Erasmus saith that which is often done reiterated and continually in hand is finished at last ASER. They that do nothing saith Cicero learne to do ill through idlenesse the body minds of men languish away but by labour great things are obtained yea trauail is a worke that continueth after death Let vs then giue eare to AMANA who will handle more at large for our instruction that which is here propounded vnto vs. AMANA As we admire and honour them with very great commendation in whom we may note as we think some excellent and singular vertues so we contemn them whom we iudge to haue neither vertue courage nor fortitude in them and whom we see to be profitable neither to themselues nor to others bicause they are not laborious industrious nor carefull but remain idle and slouthfull And to say truth the maners conditions and natural disposition of such men are wholy corrupted their conuersation is odious vnprofitable and to be auoided seeing that Idlenes is the mother and nurse of vice which destroieth and marreth all Therefore it was very well ordained in the primitiue Church that euery one should liue of his owne labor that the idle and slothfull might not consume vnprofitably the goods of the earth Which reason brought in that ancient Romane edict mentioned by Cicero in his booke of Lawes that no Romane should goe through the streets of the city vnles he caried about him the badge of that trade whereby he liued Insomuch that Marcus Aurelius speaking of the diligence of the ancient Romanes writeth that all of them followed their labor and trauell so earnestly that hauing necessarie occasion one daye to send a letter two or three daies iournie from the towne he could not find one idle bodie in all the citie to carie it That great Orator and Philosopher Cicero minding to teach vs how we ought to hate Idlenes as being against nature sheweth that men are in deede borne to good works whereof our soule may serue for a sufficient and inuincible proofe seeing it is neuer still but in continuall motion action And for the same cause he greatly commendeth Scipio who vsed to say that he was neuer lesse quiet than when he was quiet Whereby he giueth vs to vnderstand that when he was not busied with waightie affaires of the Common-wealth yet his owne priuate matters and the searching after knowledge were no lesse troublesome vnto him so that euen then in his solitarines he tooke counsell with himselfe It seemeth saith this father of eloquence that nature doth more require of a man such actions as tend to the profit of men than she doth the perfect knowledge of all things seeing this knowledge and contemplation of the workes of nature should seeme to be maimed vnperfect if no action followed it whereas vertuous deedes are profitable to all men for which end nature hath brought vs foorth which sheweth sufficiently that they are better and more excellent So that vnles the knowledge of things be ioined with that vertue which preserueth humane societie it will seeme to be dead and vnprofitable Therefore Chrysippus the Philosopher said that the life of those men that giue themselues to idle studies differed nothing from that of voluptuous men So that we must not studie Philosophie by way of sport but to the end we may profit both our selues and others Now if action must of necessitie be ioined to
peraduenture they will say that they knowe no other life but this that they liue onely for the world without beleefe or hope of a second and eternall life And albeit they confesse a second life with their mouth yet their deeds declare sufficiently that they are altogither ignorant of the nature and happines of the other life and that they care not greatly to come vnto it But let vs that are better instructed imitate Socrates who being counselled to reueng a wrong receiued made this answer What If a Mastie had bit me or an Asse giuen me a blow would you haue me serue writs vpon them So let vs behaue our selues towards them that are froward vitious making a great deale lesse account of their iniuries than of a blow that hurteth which they cannot do at all to our honour As for good men we shall neuer be hurt by them Now if we draw neere although neuer so little to the perfection of such a nature much lesse ought we to be prouoked stirred vp through any laughter or gibing which cannot touch or offend any but those that are troubled and caried away with passions Thus much did Socrates wisely giue one to vnderstand who told him that certaine mocked him I do not quoth he thinke that I am mocked Heereupon I remember a notable answer made by one Ptolemaeus king of Egypt who was counselled to punish a Grammarian The king demanding of him by way of gibing who was father to Peleus he made this answer that he desired first to knowe who was Lagus his father noting thereby that the king was borne of base parentage If it be vnseemly quoth Ptolemaeus to his friends for a king to be mocked it is also as vndecent for him to mocke another Now although it be our dutie to tread vnder foote all desire of reuenge to make no account of iniuries and mocks yet is it lawfull for vs sometime if we be disposed and no greater offence arise thereof to stop the mouths of such as are iniurious impudent with a little short replie not in wrath or choler but with a certaine meekenes and graue smiling and somewhat nippingly so that it passe not the bounds of modestie Cato knew well how to behaue himself after this sort who being iniuriously dealt with all by one that had alwaies liued wickedly said thus vnto him I am not able to deale with thee in this manner by contending with iniuries For thou hast throughly vsed thy selfe both to vtter reproches freely and to suffer with ease when any man offereth thee wrong or iniurie But as for me I delight neither in hearing nor in vttering them Likewise Demosthenes answered another in this sort I will not enter into this combat with thee wherein the vanquished is better than the vanquisher Plato also being touched with iniurious speeches said Go on to speake ill seeing thou didst neuer learne to speake well Lysander Admirall of the Lacedemonians being reuiled with many bitter speeches said to him that offered the iniurie Spue out boldly my friend spue out boldly and often and spare not to see if thou canst emptie thy soule of that euill and wickednes wherewith it is replenished Shall we thinke now that these famous men making so small account of iniuries wrongs had any other bound than right and iustice onely in the hatred of the vices of wicked men or that they would haue sought by any other way for the satisfieng of those wrongs which they receiued Let vs consider how Scaurus behaued himselfe towards his enimie Domitius against whome he was to put vp a complaint by way of iustice There was one of Domitius his seruants who before iudgment was giuen of their processe came to Scaurus and said that he would disclose vnto him a matter of great importance against his maister which vndoubtedly would cause him that was his aduerse partie to gaine his suit But he not minding to heare him any further tooke order that he should be straightly bound and so sent him to his maister The meanes which Agesilaus vsed to make his enimies his friends in steede of reuenging himselfe vpon them are woorthie of eternall praise and ought to mooue vs greatly to correct our naturall imperfections so much inclined to reuenge For when he could come to the knowledge of them without any further shew he thrust them into publike offices and charges And if it fell out so that they committed any offence wherby they were drawn into iudgement he holpe them as much as he could by that meanes winning the friendship of euery one For although we commonly say that as one and the same sunne softeneth the waxe and hardeneth the clay so good deeds win the harts of good men but prouoke the wicked yet there is no man of so peruerse a nature whome a man cannot make his friend by plying him often with benefits and when occasion is offered by binding him with some notable good turne For this cause Augustus after the conspiracie of Cinna was discouered notwithstanding that he had him in his power being conuicted by his owne letter yet he did not onely forgiue him but taking him also by the hand sware friendship with him and bestowed vpon him great estates and dignities wherein Cinna afterward serued him faithfully And it seemeth that for the same reason the Venetians hauing taken the Duke of Mantua their deadly enimie in steed of taking his estate from him they made him their Generall captaine so that euer after he abode their faithfull friend Pontinus also an ancient captaine of the Samnites said that they were either freely to set at libertie the Romane armie which was surprized in the straights of the mountaine Apenninus and so make them loyall friends through the bond of so great a good turne or else to put them all to death thereby to take from the enimie a great part of his strength Neither may we heere let go in silence the discretion of Dionysius the elder king of Syracusa in punishing an iniurie Which example ought to cause all them to blush who in furie and choler after an iniurie receiued or after some report therof seeke presently for some cruell reuenge This king being told that two yoong men as they were drinking togither had spoken many outragious words of him he inuited them both to supper And perceiuing that one of them after he had taken a little wine into his head vttered and committed much follie and that contrariwise the other was very staied and drunke but a little he punished this fellow as one that was malitious and had been his enimy of set purpose but forgaue the other as being drunken and mooued by the wine to speake ill of him Concluding therefore our present discourse let vs learne that it is the propertie of a great and noble mind to be mild gratious and readie to forgiue and that
reuenged or called in question after that peace and agreement togither is made otherwise there would neuer be any assurance of peace or end of periurie From the selfe same fountaine of the profanation of faith and custome in lying it being the propertie of vice to ingender another vice for a punishment of it selfe proceedeth that pernitious plague of kingdomes and Common-wealths I meane Treason hated of God and men wherewith periured persons being bewitched feare not to betray themselues so they may betray others also and their countrey Whereupon they become odious to euery one euen to those who vsed them to serue their owne turnes in disloyall and wicked actions and in the end they receiue the reward due to their execrable impieties For this is the common affection that men beare towards such people so to seeke them out which notwithstanding is not the propertie of a noble hart when they stande in feare of them as they that want gall or the poison of some venemous beasts afterward to giue them ouer and to reiect bicause of their wickednes If a man be called slothfull he may become diligent if talkatiue hold his peace if a glutton temperate himselfe if an adulterer abstaine if furious dissemble if ambitious stay himselfe if a sinner amend but he that is once called a traitor there is no water to washe him cleane nor meane to excuse himselfe Nowe let vs come to the examples of the Ancients and know what zeale they bare to fidelitie and hatred to periurie and treason as also what recompence commonly followed and accompanied such things and with what reward noble-minded men did requite those that were disloiall and traiterous Attilius Regulus a Romane of great credite being taken prisoner in the Carthaginian warre and sent to Rome vpon his faith to intreat about a peace and the exchange of captiues so soone as he arriued gaue cleane contrarie aduice in the Senate shewing that it was not for the profit of the Common-wealth to make such an agreement Afterward hauing resolued with himselfe to keepe faith with the enimie he returned to Carthage where he was put to death very cruelly For his eie-lids being cut off himselfe bound to an engine he died with the force of waking Demaratus king of Sparta being in Persia with the king against whome a great man of Persia had rebelled was the meanes of their reconciliation Afterward this barbarian king hauing his said Vassaile in his power would haue beene reuenged of him thinking to put him to death But the vertuous Lacedemonian turned him from it declaring vnto him that it would redound to his great shame not to know how to punish him for his rebellion when he was his enimie and now to put him to death being his seruant and friend A reason truly well woorthie to be marked but very slenderly put in vre at this day Augustus hauing made proclamation by sound of trumpet that he would giue 25000. Crownes to him that should take Crocotas ringleader of the theeues in Spaine he offered himselfe to the Emperor and required the summe promised by him which he caused to be paid him pardoned him withall to the end no man should thinke that he would take his life from him thereby to frustrate him of the promised recompence as also bicause he would haue publike faith and safetie kept to euery one that came according to order of Iustice although in truth he might haue proceeded and giuen out processe against him Cato the elder being in warre against the Spaniards was in great danger by reason of the multitude of enimies who sought to inclose him round about And not being then in possibilitie to be succored of any but of the Celtiberians who demanded of him 200. Talents which are 120000. Crownes in hand for their wages the Councell tolde him that it was not by anie meanes to be gotten presently but yet promised to furnish them with such a summe and that within any time which they would appoint otherwise that it was more expedient not to meddle with them But this wise and wel aduised captaine vsed this occasion to very good purpose by resoluing with himselfe and with his souldiers either to ouercome their enimies or else to die after they had agreed with the Celtiberians that the Romane glorie should not be stained by the falshood of their promises For quoth he to his souldiers if we get the battell we will pay them not of our owne but at the charges of our enimies but if we loose the victorie none will be left aliue either to pay or to demand any paiment There was no talke among the Councell of these noble Romanes how they might deceiue their enimies or those whose seruice they were vrged to vse but they determined rather to die than to be wanting in their promise Likewise we may note that as their enterprizes thus grounded had good successe so periurie and violating of right were through the vengeance of God pursued for the most part with vnhappie effects contrarie to the platformes and desires of periured and faithles men or at leastwife that themselues were speedily punished for their wickednes And therefore when Tissaphernes Lieutenāt to the king of Persia had broken a truce which he had made with the Grecians they gaue him thankes by his owne Herald bicause he had placed the Gods in whose name the truce was sworne on their side And in deede he smally prospered after that in his enterprizes Cleomenes king of Lacedemonia hauing taken a truce for seuen daies with the Argians assaulted them the third night after knowing that they were in a sound sleepe and discomfited them which he did vnder this craftie subtletie bicause forsooth in the foresaid truce mention was made of the day onely and not of the night Whereupon the Grecians noted this as a iust iudgement of his periurie and breach of faith in that he was miraculously frustrated of his principall intent which was by the meanes of that ouerthrow to haue suddenly taken the citie of Argos For the women being full of wrath and iust griefe for the losse of their husbands by the cowardly treacherie of this Lacedemonian tooke those weapons that were in the said towne and droue him from the wals not without great murder and losse of the greatest part of his armie Whereupon within a while after he became furious and taking a knife he ript his bodie in smiling manner and so died Caracalla the Emperor trauelling with his armie towardes the Parthians vnder pretence of marying the daughter of Artabanus their king who came for the same purpose to meete him he set vpon him contrary to his faith and put him to flight with an incredible murder of his men But within a little after being come downe from his horse to make water he was slaine of his owne men which was noted as a iust punishment sent from God for his vnfaithfulnes
Paule we speake the truth euery one to his neighbour who is euery one that needeth our helpe and let all faining and dissimulation be banished from vs and all roundnes and integritie of hart and manners appeere in all our actions let vs hate periurie and treason periured and traiterous persons knowing that faith being taken away the whole foundation of Iustice is ouerthrowne al bonds of friendship broken and all humane societie confounded Of Ingratitude Chap. 40. AMANA AS the remembrance of an euil is kept a long time bicause that which offendeth is very hardly forgotten so we commonly see that the memorie of benefits receiued is as suddenly vanished lost as the fruite of the good turne is perceiued Which thing doth so ill beseeme a man well brought vp and instructed in vertue that there is no kind of Iniustice which he ought more to eschew And therefore my Companions I thinke that according to the order of our discourse we are nowe to speake of the vice of Ingratitude that knowing the ignominie therof and the pernitious effects which flowe from it we may beware of spotting our life therewithall ARAM. An vngratefull person can not be of a noble mind nor yet iust And therefore as Sophocles said a man is to remember him often of whome he hath receiued curtesie and pleasure For one good turne begetteth another and euery gentle hart easily pardoneth all iniuries except vnthankfulnes which it hardly forgetteth ACHITOB. Ingratitude maketh men impudent so that they dare ioine togither to hurt those that haue been their friends and them to whom they are bound both by blood and nature Let vs then heare ASER discourse more amply of this pernitious vice ASER. If man had not shewed himselfe vnthankfull for the vnspeakeable benefits which he had receiued of his Creator by eating of the fruite of the tree of life at the perswasion of Satan contrarie to his expresse commandement to whome he owed all obedience it is certaine that neither sinne nor death neither through them any kind of miserie and calamitie should haue had any power ouer him But as by his Ingratitude he neglected his obedience to his Lord and Creator so it seemeth also that his punishment was according to the manner of his offence For his owne members which before were in subiection to the will of his spirite rebelled against it and that with such force that they led him often captiue into the bondage of sinne Now although we are necessarily and iustly made inheritors of the same curse both of sinne death yet how become we so dull of vnderstanding as to desire with cheerefulnes of hart and without constraint to succeede him in the cause therof I meane Ingratitude which we ought to hate in greater measure and to slie from it more than from death it self by reason of the euils which it hath brought vpon vs Notwithstanding if we looke narrowly into the iustest mans life that is it will be a hard matter yea altogither vnpossible to find it purged and exempted of this detestable vice aswell towards God as towards his neighbours But this is farre woorse to behold the greatest part of men to nourish and feede their soules with Ingratitude as if they tooke singular delight therein by accustoming their mindes to keepe very diligently the memorie of the aduersities and iniuries which they suffer and to let the remembrance of those graces and benefits which they receiue slip away incontinently euen as soone as the pleasure of them is past Whereas dutie bindeth all persons to esteeme as a great benefit all fauour how little soeuer it be which the heauens or mer impart vnto them and to preserue it in perpetuall memorie as in a most safe Treasurie wherein they may keepe lay vp those good things which they receiue But contrariwise vnthankefull men suffer the remembrance of their greatest felicities to slide away suddenly which is the cause that they are alwaies void of happines of rest and tranquillitie and full of vnquietnes vncertaine desires which is an argument of the imperfection of their reason and of their ignorance of that which is good This is that which Seneca saith that the life of the ignorant is vnthankful wauering vnstaied in things present through the desire of things to come And as it is the propertie of an ignorant man to be alwaies troublesome to himselfe so from Ingratitude and the forgetfulnes of our prosperitie proceede cares melancholie passions to no purpose which consume men pull on age vpon them more than yeeres For it is vnthankfulnes that causeth vs to be neuer contented with our present estate but to complaine and murmure in steede of giuing praise as it becommeth vs to him that sendeth vs far better things than we deserue Vpon the least touch of affliction the Ingratitude for a million of graces receiued before causeth vs to cry out that we neuer had any thing but mishap whereas rather we ought to take aduersitie for a blessing and testimonie of the loue of God towards vs being assured that by Iustice rightly ordeined he dispenseth pouertie and riches health sicknes honor and contempt according as he seeth it expedient for euery one of vs. Yea it is necessarie by reason of the intemperancie of our flesh which is redie to cast off the yoke of the Lord when he handleth vs ouergently that he should reiue vs in hard with the bridle and keep vs within the compasse of some discipline least we wholy giue ouer that seruice obedience which we owe vnto him But to vexe our selues vpon euery occasion and as often as things fal out contrary to our inconstant rebellious will which for the most part is ignorant of that which belongeth vnto it is that which Pythagoras sayd To eat our hart or to offend wound our soule and spirit by consuming them with cares griefs as also not to know that one cause which most of all troubleth this miserable life is the suddain entrance of sorowes and irksomnes into the hart which afterward will not depart out of it but by litle and litle These are melancholy passions voyd of reason which as Plato saith proceed from naughty fumes and bitter vapors gathered togither within vs and which ascend and mingle themselues amidst the passages of the soule Euen as our strange and vnwoonted dreams testifie signifie that there is within vs repletion of grosse gluish humors perturbations of the vital spirits so are those euil vapors which darken our senses dim the eies of our soule namely ignorance rebellion arrogancie murmuring vnsatiable desires other inward corruptions which ingratitude stirreth vp and nourisheth and which hinder vs from acknowledging the benefits that God bestoweth vpon vs either towards him by thanksgiuing or towards his creatures by good deeds which he accepteth as done to himself For only God needeth nothing neither asketh any thing for
himself but only willeth vs not to be vnthākful for that which it pleaseth him to giue vs. And through this self same fountain of the corruptions of our soule we are bewitched with vnthankful forgetfulnes of those good turns which we receiue from our like yea vpon the least dislike of them which either with or without reason we forge in our braines we say that neuer any did vs good The vassaile for the least deniall or hard countenaunce which he receiueth of his lord forgetteth all the good turnes furtherances and fauours which before that time he had done vnto him The sonne complaineth of the father the brother of the brother the friend of the friend the seruant of the master Alas we see but too many such vngrateful wretches in France who euē betray sel daily them of whom they hold all their aduancement greatnes And if vnthankfulnes be familiar with the meaner sort let vs not thinke that it is farther off from those of higher calling For vpon euery light occasion especially if a man frame not himselfe to that vice which they haue in greatest recommendation they easily forget all the seruice that hath been done vnto them by reason of some new-come guest who will shew himselfe a seruiceable minister of their pleasures This commeth to passe soonest when they grow vp and increase in calling and greatnes bicause commonly as they mount vp in calling not being well instructed in vertue they waxe worse and worse in behauior But let them boldly take this for an infallible rule that an vnthankfull prince cannot long retaine a good man in his seruice For the hope of reward saith Plutarke is one of the elements and grounds of vertue and of that honor bountie and humanitie wherwith the prince recompenceth vertuous men thereby prouoking and alluring them to seeke the welfare of his estate This also is that which procureth the proceedings of Artes and Sciences and that which bringeth foorth notable wits as contrarywise all these things languish that are extinguished by litle and litle through the ingratitude and couetousnes of those that rule The ancients said not without cause that impudencie was the companion of ingratitude For if no beast as they say is so shamelesse as an impudent who is he that may be said to haue lesse shame than an vnthankful body Impudencie saith Theophrastus is a contempt of glory wrought in a man through the desire of vile and filthie gayne and that man is impudent that boroweth some thing of him whome he purposeth to deceiue Are not these the proper effects of the vice of Ingratitude which seeketh nothing else but to drawe away the commoditie and profite of euery one being vnwilling to doe good to any or to requite a pleasure receiued neither caring for true glory and immortall honor which followeth euery vertuous action grounded vpon dutie and honesty And truly it is a very hard matter for them to be answerable to their honor who seeke their owne profit as much as may be For we must know that in equitie and reason there is a difference betweene duetie and that which we commonly call profit yea they are distinct things and separated one frō the other as honestie is from such earthly commoditie This latter maketh men voyd of feare to breake a sunder and to dissolue whatsoeuer was ordeined and ioyned togither both by the law of God and man so that they may gaine thereby But the other cleane contrary causeth them to imploy liberally their goods trauell industrie and whatsoeuer else is in their power that they may profit euery one and that without hope of any recompence albeit they that receiue good turnes are bound to returne againe the like to their benefactors according to their abilitie and to acknowledge their kindnes For this cause amongst the lawes of Draco established among the Athenians there was a commandement that if any man had receiued a benefit of his neighbor and it were prooued against him long time after that he had been vnthankfull for it had ill acknowledged the good turne receiued I say that such a one should be put to death And although no histories are able to shew vnto vs any kings or princes which surmounted yea which matched Alexander the great in munificence and liberalitie or Iulius Caesar in pardoning iniuries yet we read of them that when they had knowledge of an vngratefull person Alexander neuer gaue vnto him nor Caesar euer forgaue him so greatly haue vertuous men alwayes hated ingratitude It is reported of the Storke that as often as she hath yong she casteth one out of the neast for the hire of the house and reward of him that lodged hir O barbarous ingratitude to behold him that hath been lodged serued and brought vp in a house and that with the sweate and labor of another to seeke and to endeuor the spoil of all that is therin euen to the honor oftentimes the life of his host Is it not the same vice of vnthankfulnes that soweth dissentions and quarels between the children the father between brethren kinffolks friends and all for want of acknowledging one towards another that bond of nature wherewith we ought to be tied and that secondary supply of good turns which knit vs vnseparably and make vs daily beholding vnto them if we consider exactly the nature of our estate which cannot stand without the succor and aide of many how great so euer we be But what We see by experience that which one of the Ancients said That all humane things growe to be old and come to the end of their time except Ingratitude For the greater the encrease of mortall men is the more doth vnthankfulnesse augment And yet we may note many examples in histories against this vice which ought to awaken vs in our dutie Pyrrhus is exceedingly commended by Historiographers bicause he was gentle and familiar with his friendes ready to pardon them when they had angred him and very earnest and forward in requiting recompencing those good turnes which he had receiued Which caused him to be grieued aboue measure for the death of a friend of his not as he said bicause he saw that befall him which is common and necessarily incident to the nature of man but bicause he had lost all means of acknowledging vnto him those benefits which he had receiued whereupon he reprooued and blamed himselfe for delaying and deferring it ouer-long For truly money lent may well be restored to his heires that did lend it but it goeth to the hart of a man that is of a good noble and excellent nature if he cannot make the selfe same man that benefited him to feele the recompence of those pleasures which he receiued This caused the ancients not onely to feare the note of ingratitude towards their friends but also to contend with their enimies which of them should do most good and shew greatest
to Anaxarchus the Philosopher 50. Talents which are 30000. Crownes but he refused them saying that he knewe not what to doe with so great a summe What said Alexander then hath he no friendes to pleasure seeing all king Darius wealth will not suffice me to distribute amongst mine owne Perillus besought him to giue him some monie towards the mariage of his daughters whervpon he gaue to him also 50 Talents And when he told him that it was too much by halfe he replied thus If half be enough for thee to take yet is it not enough for me to giue Likewise he gaue to a poore Egyptian asking his almes a rich and populous citie when the other all astonished supposed that he mocked him Take quoth he to him that which I giue thee for if thou art Biace that demandest I am Alexander that giueth The first Monarch of the Caesars is he not also exceedingly praised of Historiographers for the liberallest Prince of his time and for such a one as shewed in deede that he loued not riches in warre that afterward he might at his pleasure liue in delight or abuse them about his owne pleasures but that they were the common price and reward of vertue which he laid vp to recompence valiant and honest men withall Of which reward he said he would haue no part but only distribute it to euery one according to his desert Antonius one of his successours sought to imitate him in this bountifull liberalitie For proofe heereof may serue that commandement which he gaue to his Treasorer to double the halfe of 2500. Crownes which he had giuen to one of his fauorits whereas his Treasorer that brought him the saide summe when he beheld it thought that he should haue diminished the gift But he stained this vertue with a perpetuall blot and infamie which caused his destruction in that he applied it to the seruice and maintenance of his delights and pleasures and abused it in the fauor and behalfe of the wicked which is al one in great men as if they themselues were authors of vice and iniquitie Archelaus king of Macedonia may serue vnto them for a notable example whereby they may learne to keepe themselues in their estates from such a pernitious euill This king being requested by a Minion of his Court to giue him a cup of gold wherein he dranke deliuered it to his Page commanding him to beare and giue the same to Euripides who was there present and then said to the other As for thee thou art woorthie to aske and to be denied also but Euripides is woorthie of gifts although he aske not Antigonus the elder being importunately desired by one that was good for nothing and that counterfaited the Cynick Philosopher to giue him a drachma which might be in value about foure pence halfepenie made answer that it was no meete gift for a king And when the other replied that he should then giue him a Talent he answered it is no present for a Cynick Titus the emperor was so greatly in loue with liberalitie all his life time that remembring one euening with himselfe that he had giuen nothing the same day he cried out O my friends we haue lost this day He vsed to blesse those daies wherein the poore came vnto him or when he sought after them to do them good putting in practise that precept of Phocylides which saith Sleepe not at night before thou hast thrice called to mind thy works that day and repent thee of the euill but reioice in that which was well done For this great good nature Titus was loued whilest he liued and bewailed after his death and vpon his Tombe was written this Epitaph The delights of mankind are ended Ptolemaeus the Thebane Captaine ouer a great armie had so acquainted himselfe not to denye any that stood in neede of his liberalitie that when a poore souldior demanded his almes of him he hauing at that present nothing to bestow vpon him gaue him his shooes saying My friend make thy profit of this seeing I haue no better thing to giue thee For I had rather go bare-foote than see thee suffer so much Denys the elder entring into his sonnes lodging and beholding there great store of rich iewels of gold and siluer and of incredible treasure said vnto him My sonne I did not giue thee these riches to vse in this sort but to impart of them vnto thy friends For thou must know that no man in all the world is so rich as he that is liberall who with his liberalitie preserâ—eth his friends and mollifieth his enimies This is that which Cyrus by experience shewed vnto Croesus and how smally those gifts which he had bestowed vpon woorthy persons had impouerished him For sending to euery one of them to succour him with monie they sent him altogither as much as they had receiued by gift from him bestowing moreouer great rewards vpon the bearer of his message So that the wealth which proceedeth from liberalitie is vnconsumeable as that which is gotten by giuing and by scattering abroad is gathered togither Pertinax who succeeded Commodus in the Empire surpassed all the Emperors that euer were for exceeding liberalitie which he vsed to the benefite and profite of all his subiects For first he gaue freely all the waste and desolate ground in Italy and in other his prouinces to them that could and would till them and to the labourers thereof he gaue freedome and exemption from al taxes and subsidies for ten yeeres with perpetuall assurance that they should not be troubled in their possession He forbad also that his name should be set in any castell or place within his dominion saying that his lands were not proper to him onely but common to all the people of Rome He abolished all customs tributes and toles laid vpon the hauens of riuers at the entries into townes waies and passages which he called inuentions of tyrannie to get monie placed all such things in their ancient liberties Which actions beseemed rather a father of the countrie than a lord and maister and there are few Princes that vse to doe so but many to whome their owne will seemeth to be a most iust law But contrariwise let them know that they ought to be subiect to the eternall law namely to right reason truth and iustice which are the proper will of God onely whose people they must rule with right and equitie by comforting them through beneficence and continuall good turnes Let vs learne then by our present discourse to decke our selues with this vertue of Liberalitie euery one according to those meanes that are giuen vnto him from aboue and are iustly gotten by him taking good heede that we abuse it not in any kind of voluptuousnes or vice neither yet vpon the wicked as though we purposed to nourish and maintaine their impieties For this is vtterly to destroye Iustice and
side if we acquaint our selues and take delight in enuying the welfare of our enimies we shall do the like many times to our friends as we see experience thereof in many at this day who are so touched with this vice that they reioice at the euil which happeneth to their wel-willers and to such as are the occasion of their good preferment But if we be desirous to discharge our duetie towards our neighbours for whose profite we are borne let vs seeke to practise that sentence of Cicero that an honest man good citizen neuer ought to be moued with hatred or enuy vpō supposed crimes no not towards his enimy wishing to die rather thā to offend against Iustice which is an vtter enimie to that vice This also will be a good helpe and meane to keepe vs from backbiting if we eschew al kind of scoffing which as Theophrastus saith is nothing else but a close and coloured reproofe of some fault which by little and little inureth him that mocketh to back bite another openly and vntruly This great imperfection of gibing is very familiar amongst vs although it be as vnseemely for an honorable personage as some other more infamous vice But to the end we may haue better occasion to keepe vs from it let vs know that many times a man is more mooued with a gibing gird than with an iniurie bicause this latter proceedeth commonly from the vehemencie of sudden choler euen against his will that vttereth it but the other is more taken to hart as that which seemeth to come from a setled wil and purpose to offer wrong and from a voluntarie malitiousnes without any necessitie If we be disposed to be merie as sometimes opportunitie place and persons inuite vs thereunto let it be done with a good grace and without offence to any Now although enuie and backbiting by reason of their pernitious effects are so odious to all honorable and vertuous personages yet no other reuenge is to be sought or desired than that punishment which followeth and groweth with the vice it selfe which neuer suffereth him that is touched therewith to enioy any rest in his soule as we haue already learned Neither is there any great care to be had for the matter seeing enuious persons and backbiters are no waies able to bite the deserts of good men But if we would haue their punishment augmented and doubled there is no better way than to studie so much the more to do well as we see them labor more earnestly to enuie and to condemne our dealings For as the Sunne being directly ouer the top of any thing whatsoeuer if it leaue any shadow at all yet is it but short and little bicause the light thereof is dispersed round about the same so the excellencie of vertue glorie honor in the end constraineth the venemous toong to drinke and to swallow downe hir owne poison not daring to bring it againe in sight whereby enuie and blame are as it were wholy extinguished and vnable to hurt good men any more This reason caused Phillip king of Macedonia to make this answere to certaine who told him that the Graecians spake ill of him behind his backe notwithstanding he did them much good and therefore willed him to chastice them What would they do then quoth this noble and gentle Prince if we should doe them any harme But they make me become a better man For I striue dailie both in my wordes and deedes to prooue them lyars And another time as his friendes counselled him to put to death or to banish a Gentleman of Macedonia who continued in slandering him he would not doe either of both saying that it was no sufficient cause to condemne him to death and as for banishing him he sayd that it was a great deale better if he stirred not out of Macedonia where all men knewe that he lyed than if he went amongst strangers to speake ill of him who bicause they knewe him not well might peraduenture admit his slander as true Whereby this vertuous Prince at one tyme shewed foorth the effectes of three excellent vertues first of Clemencie in that hee would not put him to death of whome he had receiued great iniurie then of Magnanimitie in contemning iniurie and lastly of woonderfull Prudence in that he did not banish him And in deede he was of such a gentle nature that he would neuer punish them that gaue him an euill report but rather tooke away the occasion thereof as heeretofore we haue in part mentioned it And for a greater testimonie of the goodnes of this Monarch the answere he made to them that counselled him to destroy the citie of Athens deserueth well to be heere set downe I doe all thinges quoth he to them for glorie how then should I destroy Athens which by reason of learning is the Theater of glorie The example of Demetrius Phalerius a Prince of immortall renowne serueth fitly to teach vs what small account we are to make of the dealings of enuious men so farre ought we to be from caring either for their dooings or sayings When word was brought to this Prince that the Athenians mooued with enuie against him had broken downe those three hundred images which were before erected in their streete of Ariopagus to his honour and thereupon was prouoked by his Councel to be reuenged of them he said The Athenians may well throw downe my images but they are not able to abase my vertues for whose sake my images were heeretofore erected for a publike spectacle And truely those actes of Princes which being done in their life time are woorthie of memorie may serue them for an euerlasting monument and not Images Tombs made with mens hands which length of time besides a thousand other accidents may bring to pouder Neither are they depriued of the same glorie that liue vnder the gouernment of great men when according to their places and callings they direct their actions to the benefite and safetie of the Common-wealth For whensoeuer enuie laboureth to hurt them with supposed crimes their innocencie as Horace saith will be vnto them in place of an inexpugnable tower of brasse so that being assured of that they neede not stand in any feare of the cruell teeth of slanderers Therefore Socrates being reprooued by Hermogenes bicause he did not once dreame of defending himselfe when he was accused made this answere I haue dreamed of that all my life time by striuing to liue well To conclude then our present discourse let vs learne to vncloath our hartes of all enuie and hatred which procure so many turbulent and hurtfull passions in the soule and ouerthrowe all that charitie and loue which we ought to beare towards euery one Let vs feare this sentence pronounced by the holie spirite that whosoeuer hateth his brother is a man slayer And if we see that vice and imperfections raigne in our like let vs hate their
of their falling out otherwise so that a man may well say that such a thing came to him by Fortune which falleth out besides his thought when he vndertaketh any worke with deliberation Epicurus said that Fortune was such a cause as agreed neither to persons times or manners Theophrastus speaking of Fortune saith that she looketh not whereat she shooteth that oftentimes she delighteth in taking away that which is gotten with very great paine but especially in ouerturning those felicities which as men think are best staied and assured Iuuenal saith that when it pleaseth hir she maketh a Consul of a Rhetoritian likewise cleane contrary hauing this propertie in hir to reioice greatly in the varietie of chances to deride all the deuices of men oftener lifting vp into the place of soueraigne authoritie such as are vnwoorthy thereof than those that deserue the same Amongst the Ancients the Romanes honoured Fortune more than all the rest esteeming of hir saith Pindarus as of the patron nurse vpholder of the citie of Rome They builded for hir many sumptuous Temples wherein she was adored vnder sundry names honorable titles for a Goddesse of singular power insomuch that they thought themselues more beholding to hir for the greatnes prosperity of their Empire than to vertue Sylla hauing attained to the soueraigne authoritie of a Monarch and of Dictator yeelded himselfe all his actions to the fauor of Fortune saying that he reputed himselfe to be Fortunes child and thereupon tooke vnto him the surname of Happie Which opinion seemeth to haue preuailed greatly with him in causing him after he had committed infinite proscriptions murders cruelties voluntarily without feare to giue ouer the Dictatorship to lead the rest of his yeeres in all assurance quietnes as a priuate man to passe repasse through all Italy without any gard euen in the midst of them whome he had so much offended We read also that when Mithridates king of Pontus wrote vnto him concerning the war which he had vndertaken against him saying that he maruelled how Sylla durst buckle with his great fortune especially knowing that she had not deceiued him at any time whereas she neuer knew Sylla Consul he returned this answer For this selfe same reason thou shalt now see how Fortune doing hir dutie will take hir leaue of thee to come to mee Iulius Caesar gaue a certaine argument of the assurance he had in Fortune when entring vpon the sea in a little Fregate in a very tempestuous weather and the Pilot making some doubt of waighing vp the Anchor he sayde thus vnto him Be not afrayde my friende for thou cariest Caesar and his Fortune Augustus his successour sending his Nephew to the warre wished that he might be as valiant as Scipio as well beloued as Pompey and as fortunate as himselfe attributing to Fortune as a principall worke the honour of making him so great as he was To this purpose also it is reported that great acquaintance and familiaritie growing betweene Augustus and Antonius his Companion in the Empire they often passed away the time togither with sundrie sortes of plaies and pastimes wherein Antonius alwayes went away vanquished Whereupon one of his familiar friendes well seene in the arte of Diuination tooke occasion many tymes to vtter his mind vnto him in these or the like speeches Sir what do you so neere this yoong man Separate your selfe farre from him Your fame is greater than his you are elder than he you command moe men than he you are better exercised in feates of Armes you haue greater experience but your familiar spirite feareth his and your fortune which of it selfe is great flattereth his and if you sequester not your selfe farre from him she will forsake you and goe to him Thus we see what great estimation the Romanes had of Fortune yea they stood in so great awe of hir power that Paulus Aemilius that great Captaine sayd that amongst humane things he neuer feared any one of them but amongst diuine things he alwaies stoode in great feare of Fortune as of hir in whome there was small trust to be placed bicause of hir inconstancie and mutable varietie whereby she neuer vseth to gratifie men so liberally or to bestow such absolute prosperitie vpon them but that some enuie is mingled withall Oh deceitfull Fortune said Demetrius thou art easily found but hardly auoyded They that haue laboured most in painting out this fained Goddesse say that she hath a swift pace a loftie mind and a hawtie hope They giue hir light wings a globe vnder hir feete and in hir hand a horne of abundance full of all such heauenlie and earthlie things as are exquisite and pretious which she poureth foorth liberally when and where she pleaseth Some put a wheele into hir hands which she turneth about continually whereby that part which is aboue is presently turned downeward therby giuing vs to vnderstand that from hir highest preferment she throweth downe in one instant such as are most happy into the gulfe of miserie In a word we may well compare hir to a glasse which the brighter it is the sooner it is broken dasht in peeces Histories the treasurie of antiquitie set before our eies innumerable examples of common and contrary effects which are wrought by this inconstant Fortune and those oftentimes practised vpon the same persons whome of smal she hath made very great and after taken them downe lower yea made them more miserable if I may so speake than they were at their beginning Hannibal that renowmed Captaine of the Carthaginians that redouted enimy of the Romanes after notable victories obtained sundry times against thē was in the ende vtterly ouerthrowen and compelled to flie hither and thither and to haue recourse to forraine princes into whose armes he cast himselfe for the safetie of his person and after long wandring being old spent he setled himselfe with the king of Bithynia But Titus Flaminius whom the Romanes had sent embassador to that king required to haue him that he might put him to death For quoth he as long as he liueth he will be a fire for the Romane empire which wanteth but some one or other to kindle it When he was in the vigor and strength of his age neither his hand nor his body had procured so great damage to the Romanes as his good vnderstanding and sufficiencie in the arte of warre had done being ioined with the hatred he bare them Which is nothing diminished through old age neither yet through the alteration of his estate and fortune bicause the nature and qualitie of maners continueth alwaies Hannibal being aduertised of this request of Titus stieped poison in a cup of drinke which he had kept a long time against an extremitie But before he dranke thereof he vttred these wordes Go to let vs deliuer the people of Rome from this great care
of Hercules by Deïanira and many other miserable euents procured chiefly by womē plentifully declared in histories Neither do they forget the saying of Hipponactus That of one mariage only two good dayes are to be hoped for namely the mariage day and the day of the wiues deth They say that the wedding day according to Alexandreïdes speech is the beginning of many euils that in no estate fortune sheweth hir self more in constant lesse faithful in performing hir promise thā in mariage as Polyhistor saith bicause there is not one to be found wherin there is not some deceit or some occasion of complaint giuen to the man They say as Philemon said That a wife is a necessary and perpetual euil to hir husband that as Diphilus sayd nothing is hardlier found in all the world than a good wife Wherunto that old prouerbe agreeth that a good wife a good mule and a good goate are three naughtie beasts The answer also made by a noble Romane is not forgotten of these scuere Censorers of women to whom when some of his acquaintance and friends said that he had great cause to hold himself happie and contented bicause he had a wife that was faire rich and come of noble parentage he shewed them his foote saying My friends you see that my shoe is very new faire and well made but none of you can tell whereabout it pincheth me Likewise the saying of Alphonsus king of Arragon is alleaged by them that blame mariage namely that if a mā would see a perfect and wel agreeing mariage the husband must be deafe and the wife blind that he may not heare his wiues brawling nor she see hir husbands faults He that trusteth to a woman said Hesiodus is as safe as he that hangeth by the leaues of a tree in the ende of Autumne when the leaues begin to fall I remember yet three things which I haue heard vttered in contempt of mariage the saying of a mery conceited man the deed of another and the answer of a good fellow that was in talk of a certaine mariage They haue reason quoth the first who say that when a yong man is to be maried he must be arrested For truly I thinke we should flie vp to heauen if this arrest kept vs not backe The second hearing this preached that whosoeuer will be saued must beare his crosse ran to his wife laid hir vpon his necke Thirdly when one said to a good fellow that he should tary vntill his sonne were wise before he maried him Be not deceiued my friend quoth he to him for if he once grow to be wise he wil neuer marry These such like reasons are cōmonly alleaged by them that mislike mariage But now marke what we say to the contrary First we haue to consider the beginning and antiquitie of mariage the place where it was instituted and who was the Author thereof and that in the time of innocencie of which things we haue alreadie spoken Moreouer we must remember that the heauenly worde honoured with his presence and set foorth a wedding feast with a miracle euen with the first which he wrought in this world Can any thing then be found more holie than that which the holy of holies the father and creator of all things hath established honored and consecrated with his presence But what greater equitie can we vse thā to leaue to our successors that which we hold of our predecessors By wedlocke copulation we came into the world and by the same we must leaue others behind vs to continue that propagatiō which hath endured frō our ancestors vnto vs. Can there be any greater want of consideration than to seeke to flie from that as prophane which God hath taken for holy as euill which he hath reputed good As detestable which he esteemeth holy Is there any greater inhumanitie than to reiect the fountain of humanitie Is there any greater ingratitude thā to deny to those that are to come that which we hold of thē that are past When God created woman not of the slime of the earth as he did mā but of his bone did he not shew thereby that he should haue nothing faster cleauing neerer ioyning or surer glued to him than his wife especially when he added these words that it was not good for man to be alone as though he had sayd that his life would be miserable irksom vnpleasant if he had not giuen him a wife for a faithful companion How dare we say that we know better what is meet for vs than he that made vs knew all our life before we came out of the bowels of our mother then he that honoured the bond of matrimonie so far as to say that a man shal leaue his father mother and cleaue to his wife Is there any thing more holy than that honor which we owe to them that haue begotten vs And yet the fidelitie of wedlock is preferred before fatherly and motherly honour that it should be kept preserued euen to the last gaspe of life Further we see how the spirit of God speaking by his prophet honoreth mariage so far as to vse it for a similitude and representation of that holy sacred vnitie which he hath with his church What could any mā say more to extoll the dignitie therof That which God hath begun only death endeth what God hath conioined death only separateth what God hath made sure man cannot shake what he hath established man cannot abolish Oh what how great is the dignitie preheminence prerogatiue of mariage Again do we not see how it hath been continued throughout all ages past vntill this present receiued approued of all nations both Hebrews Greeks Latins Barbarians so that there is no nation vnder the cope of heauen how barbarous soeuer it be far from ciuilitie which sheweth not great ioy delight at wedding feasts Besides who shal defend common-welths without armor and weapons and who shal weare armour if men be wanting If that be not supplied by generation which through death necessarily endeth how can the linage and race of mankind endure The lawes of the Romans who were the patern of vertue to all nations with rigor punished such as would not marry forbidding thē all publike dignities depriuing them of those which they had obtained And to inuite them the rather to marry they appointed priuiledges for thē that had children so that he was most benefited and preferred to publike honors that had most children Whē Augustus Caesar was Censor inquirie was made by his authoritie of a Roman knight that had broken the law and would not marry wherupon he should haue been punished but that he prooued that he had been father of 3. children The same Augustus being come to the empire desirous to correct the detestable vnclennes of his subiects to compel them to
accounted vnciuill and void of discretion And how shall we not vse the same reason towards them that are vnto vs a second selfe with whome we are to liue and die Let vs then haue regard to those principall points that are to be desired for the establishment and continuance of loue vpon which euerie holie mariage ought first to be grounded as we haue already said Secondly it must be grounded vpon the conformitie and agreement of good and honest conditions and lastly it must hold depend of prudence which breedeth a continuall liuely and mutuall affection of one towards another the true testimonie whereof is a reuerent behauiour of each to other It is a Maxime and principle granted by wise men that no man is woorthie and meete to command vnles he be better than they ouer whome he commandeth Therefore it seemeth that nature commonly giueth more vigour strength authoritie grauitie and prudence in deedes and wordes to men than to women The effects of which graces he cannot better shew foorth than by gouerning himselfe with reason and according to duty towards his wife first in louing hir then in gouerning hir gratiously as being a free person as Aristotle saith perswading hir more by reason than authoritie He must not offer hir any iniurie either in deede or worde but honour and make much of hir For the husband that honoureth his wife honoureth himselfe The Lawyer saith that maried women are and ought to be set foorth with the beames of their husbands and that the husband ought to giue example to others to honour his wife whereby also he shall prouoke his wife to honour him But on the other side by offring hir wrong he shall incense hir and giue hir occasion to reply vpon him with bitter speeches which in the end will prouoke him to wrath and to behaue himselfe woorse towards his wife thereby constraining hir as it falleth out often-times to inuent some mischiefe against him and his honor There are a thousand examples heerof in good authors and experience affoordeth too many proofes of the same We reade of Clytemnestra the wife of Agamemnon that to reuenge an iniurie receiued from hir husband she committed adulterie and afterward consented to his death It is true that this is but a simple reuenge of women and such a one as lighteth vpon them selues But what This sexe is fraile spitefull and giuen to reuenge and therefore men are to vse the greater prudence in the gouerning and managing of them The prouerbe is that a man is bitten of his dog by prouoking him ouer-much and that an Eele is often-times lost when it is strained ouer-hard Therefore let a wise husband knowe this that he must neuer deale iniuriously with his wife especially before others and that he must abstaine most of all from laying violent hands vpon hir If the Ancients would haue their slaues corrected rather with wordes than blowes much more ought the wife to be so dealt withall whome God calleth a helpe like to vs. To this effect Marcus Aurelius sayd that a wise husband and one that mindeth to liue peaceably with his wife ought aboue all things to obserue this rule namely to admonish hir often to reprehend hir seldome but neuer to lay hands vpon hir Homer bringeth in Iupiter reproouing his wife and threatning hir when she is rebellious but neuer maketh him goe farther We read in the life of Cato of whome it was giuen out that he was a sworne enimie to women that he neuer strake his wife accounting that sacriledge and yet he knewe well howe to vse the place and dignitie of a husband which keepeth his wife in obedience But aboue all that hath beene hitherto spoken a husband must obserue this as an inuiolable lawe that he abstaine from touching any other woman but his owne aswell in respect of the feare of God who excludeth all whoremongers adulterers from his heauenlie mansion as also bicause his wife should haue no knowledge or suspition thereof For otherwise he will cast himselfe into a more dangerous Labyrinth than was that of king Porsenna or of Dedalus yea he shall hardly haue a good countenance of his wife at any time except she dissemble the matter that she may the better be renenged of him either by rendring like for like thinking that she hath iust occasion to breake hir faith made to hir husband seeing he hath broken his to hir or else by some other meane vpon his person Of this suspition which the wife hath of hir husbands incontinencie or the husband of the wiues is bred a great passion or to speake better fury and rage which we call iealousie Chrysippus calleth it a disease of the minde proceeding from a feare which a man hath that that thing is communicated to another which he would not haue common but priuate to himselfe Or otherwise we may say that iealousie is bred of that loue which will not suffer a partner in the thing beloued Some write saith Plutarke that Cats are troubled with the smell of perfumes and sweet sauours in so much that they waxe mad withall Likewise if it should so fal out that a woman should be offended and haue hir braine troubled with the perfumes of hir husband he were of a very strange nature if he would not abstaine from it but for the enioying of a little pleasure would suffer hir to fall into so great an inconuenience Now seeing it is so that such accidents come vpō them not when their husbands are perfumed but when they giue ouer themselues to the loue of harlots it is great iniustice in them to grieue offend and trouble their wiues in such hainous sort At least wise they should behaue themselues as they do that draw neere to Bees who abstaine frō touching euen their owne wiues For it is reported of Bees that they hate and make warre more against them than against others bicause they haue such false harts as to lie neere their wiues being defiled and polluted with the company of any other womē The wilde bore saith one of the Poets pursued of dogs the Lionesse bitten with hunger the Tyger robbed of hir yong ones or the Viper whose taile is troad vpon are not more terrible than a woman that is offēded but nothing wil sooner cast hir into a phrensie fury than ielousy Ariadna buried aliue Zenon Isauricus the emperour that she might be reuenged on him He that taketh to himselfe those pleasures which he forbiddeth his wife doth as much as if he commanded hir to fight against enimies to whom he had alreadie yeelded himself And if vice whoredom curiositie superfluitie choler and other imperfections raigne among men how should they driue them away from women So a husband must correct himselfe first and after vse learned instructions towards his wife Let him as Bees do gather togither and cary to his wife so much of his studies
aliue as after their death by refusing to ouer-liue them Queene Hipsicrates the wife of king Mithridates cōmeth first to mind who bare such loue towards hir husband that polling hir selfe for his sake although she was yong and very faire she acquainted hir selfe with the wearing of armour and rode with him to the war And when he was ouercome by Pompey she accompanied him in his flight through all Asia whereby she mollified the griefe and sorow which he receiued by his losse Triara wife to Lucius Vitellus brother to the emperour Vitellus seeyng hir husband in a daungerous battell thrust hir selfe amongst the souldiours to beare him company and to helpe him both in death and life and fought as well as the valiauntest amongst them When king Admetus his wife sawe hir husband very sicke and heard the answere of the oracle which was That he could not recouer except one of his best friendes died for him she slew hir selfe When the wife of Ferdinando Gonçales a prince of Italy knewe that hir husband was prisoner and in daunger of death she went to visite him and putting on his apparell abode in his place whilest he beyng clothed in hir garmentes saued him-selfe Zenobia Queene of Armenia seeing hir husband Radamisus flie from a battell and not beyng able to follow him bicause she was great with childe besought him to kill hir Which when he thought to haue done she was striken downe with the blowe of a sworde but being taken of the enimie and throughly healed Tyridates the king who had vanquished hir husband maried hir afterward for the great loue that was in hir The princesse Panthea loued hir husband Abradatus so well that when he died in Cyrus campe she slue hir selfe vpon his bodie Artemisia Queene of Caria for the great loue she bare to hir husband that was dead dranke all the ashes of his bodie meanyng thereby to be his sepulchre When Iulia the wife of Pompey sawe a gowne of hir husbande 's all bloodie wherewith he had offered some sacrifice she imagined that he was slayne and so died presently after When Porcia the wife of Brutus heard of hir husbandes death and perceiued that hir kinsfolkes tooke away all meanes of killing hir self she drew hote burning coles out of the fire and threw them into hir mouth which she closed so fast that shee was choked thereby Sulpitia beyng carefully restrained by hir mother Iulia from seeking hir husband Lentulus in Sicilia whither hee was banished shee went thither beyng apparelled like a slaue banishing hir selfe voluntarily rather than she would forsake hir husband Octauia sister to Augustus and wife to Antonius notwithstanding the iniurie that hir husband offered vnto hir in preferring before hir a Queene that was nothing so yong or faire as she bare such great loue towards him that setting aside al intreatie of hir brother she would neuer leaue hir husbands house but stil brought vp his children by his first mariage as carefully as if they had been hir owne Moreouer she sought by all means to reconcile those two emperors saying that it was an vnworthy thing that two so mightie princes the one for the euil intreatie of his sister the other bicause he was bewitched by a wicked woman should warre one against another As this vertuous princes had taken hir iourney as far as Athens where she ment to take shipping to seeke out hir husband being then in war with the Parthians bringing with hir souldiers mony furniture other munitions he sent hir word that she should passe no farther but stay for him at Rome This she performed and sent him all the aboue named things not seeming at all to be offended with him Wheras he in the mean while skorned hir sporting himself with Cleopatra in the sight and knowledge of all men and afterward delt worse with hir when the warre was begunne between him and Augustus For he sent a commandement to Octauia at Rome to go out of his house which she presently obeied albeit she would not therefore forsake any of hir husbands children but wept and bewailed hir mishap which had brought hir to be a principal cause of that ciuill warre Aria the wife of Cecinna followed in a little boate vnto Rome hir husband who was taken prisoner bicause he had borne armes against the emperour Claudius Being there condemned to die she would haue borne him companie but that hir sonne in lawe and hir daughter stayed hir When she sawe that she strake hir head so hard agaynst the wall that she fell downe amazed and beyng come to hir selfe agayne sayde vnto them You see that you can not hinder me from dying cruelly if ye stay mee from a more gentle death They being astonished at the fact and at hir words suffered hir to do what she would who then ran to the place where hir husband was and slewe hir selfe first after she had spoken thus courageously vnto him I am not Cecinna sorie for that which is done but bicause the race of thy life must end When Seneca was condemned to die by Nero and had libertie to chuse what kind of death he would he caused his veines to be opened in a bath His wife Paulina of hir owne accord did the like to hir self in the same bath mingling togither their blood for a greater vnion and coronation of their long and perfect loue Whereof Nero being aduertised presently commanded that hir veines should be stopt constraining hir thereby to liue a little longer in continuall griefe Hipparchia a very faire rich woman was so farre in loue with the Philosopher Crates who was hard-fauoured and poore that she maried him against all hir kinsfolks minde and followed him throughout all the countrie being poorely apparelled barefoote after the Cynick fashion Pisca seeing hir husband pine away daily through a great and strange discase which he had concealed from hir of long time hauing at the length knowledge thereof and perceiuing it to be incurable she was mooued with pitie for the euill which he suffered whom she loued better than hir selfe and therevpon counselled him with great courage to asswage his griefe by death and the better to stirre him vp thereunto she offered to beare him companie Whereunto hir husband agreeing they imbraced each other and cast themselues headlong into the sea from the top of a rocke The king of Persia taking prisoner the wife of Pandoërus whom he had vanquished and slaine would haue maried hir But she slew hir selfe after she had vttered these words God forbid that to be a Queene I should euer wed him that hath beene the murderer of my deere husband Pandoërus Camma a Greekish woman of the countrie of Galatia bare such loue to hir husband euen after his death that to be reuenged of a great Lorde called Synorix who had put hir husband to death that he might marrie hir she gently
we practice diligently these precepts in the education instruction of our children there is no doubt but as seales and signets doe easily make a print in soft waxe so we may quickly cast in the mindes of little children as it were in a mould whatsoeuer we would haue them learne for the leading of a good and happie life to the glorie of God the profit of their neighbours and discharge of our consciences which are bound thereunto Of the diuision of the ages of man and of the offices and duties that are to be obserued in them Chap. 52. AMANA AMongst the most common and notorious faults which fathers now a daies commit in the education and bringing vp of their children this deserueth great blame and reprehension that in their first age they vsually prouide teachers for them sending them to Colledges where they are kept in awe when they cannot commit any greater euill than that which commeth from the yoong yeeres of their infancie not very hurtfull to any being light faults and soone amended but when the vehemencie of adolescencie beginneth to tickle them with foule and infamous desires and when they haue greatest neede of a bridle then they let loose the raines and withdraw them from the subiection of their guides giuing them libertie to make choice of their estate of life when their perturbations are most violent in danger to bring foorth most peruitious effects Whereas on the contrary side then ought they most diligently to looke vnto them and to set a most careful watch ouer them that their first discipline and instruction may be framed in vertue and in the perfection of a most happie life For this cause my Companions I thinke that by continuing our former discourse seeing all men enioye not commonly this benefite of the forenamed education instruction from their infancie vnto the end we ought to search out some way whereby to amend the first faults by handling the diuision of the ages of man according to the ancient writers and by setting downe a briefe instruction of that which is most necessarily required and to be obserued in euery of them especially in adolescencie for the obtaining of true felicitie through good behauiour and instructions which are the meanes thereof ARAM. It is true as Plato saith that vertue must be learned from the first infancie Yea there is no part of our age which ought to be imploied in any other studie But adolescencie especially must not onely inquire and seeke after the decrees of honesty vertue but also haue them already imprinted and ingrauen in his hart ACHITOB. As no man euer saw a Bee become a Beetle through age so no part of our life ought to leaue the first election grounded vpon vertue if the ende thereof be to liue well But let vs heare ASER discourse of this present matter ASER. It cannot be denied that place and time are a great helpe to honestie and vertue insomuch that if we consider not of them the knowledge and practise of that which belongeth to our dutie cannot greatly profit vs. For all things are to be applied in time place and some thinges are decent and lawfull vpon one occasion which would be very vnseemely in another The prouerbe saith that the way to handle a sound man is diuers from the guiding of him to whome the diet is inioined Euen so although vertue honesty are alwaies requisite in a man bicause it is the only ornament of his life yet in diuers ages diuersity of honest behauior is required the selfe same things are not decent in them but some kind of behauiour is proper to the age of childhood some to youth and another to old age bicause as nature altereth with age so it behooueth that maners should chang Now among them that haue most diligently obserued the secrets of mans nature there hath beene two sundry opinions concerning the diuision of the ages of man Some haue made 7. parts adding decrepite or bed red-age after old age they would groūd their principal reason of this diuision vpon this that the number of 7. is an vniuersall absolute number So we reckon 7. planets whose motion worketh all generations corruptions in the earth By a stronger reason therfore this number of seuen wil be applied to the continuance of time Moreouer the growth of men according to age increaseth at the seuenth number For teeth are bred in the seuenth moneth in the seuenth yeere they change alter Besides in the same yeere doubled that is in the fourteenth yeere man receiueth abilitie of seede that is to say of engendring True it is that the number of six worketh alteration in females Yet the number of 7. in other things worketh augmentation or else the rest and quietnes of men and sheweth the difference or iudgement of diseases The whole time of the creation of the world is comprehended therein likewise the rest and ceasing of the worke-maister thereof All the ancient writers haue also noted that the number of 63. which is the multiplication of seuen by nine carieth with it commonly the end of old men bicause that in the whole course of our life we liue vnder one onely climate which is either from seuen or from nine yeeres except in the yeere of 63. wherein two terminations or climates ende that is to say nine seuen times seuen or seuen nine times nine and therefore this yeere is called climactericall wherein we may note out of histories the death of many great men and the change of estates and kingdomes As touching the other diuision of the age of man into sixe parts onely of which opinion Isidorus is we will now enter into the particular handling thereof The parts are these Infancie Childhood Youth Adolescencie Virilitie old age Infancie is the first age of man beginning after his natiuitie it is so called bicause at that time he hath no vse of speech and therefore cannot then learne manners and vertue hauing no sence or vnderstanding to comprehend them Childhood is when children beginne to speake albeit as yet they haue not the full vse of reason in which estate a man may say they are vntill the age of seuen yeeres during which time fathers and mothers ought to nourish and bring them vp in the feare of God reuerence of their parents frame them gently vnto all good maners as we haue already declared This age is called of the Latines Pueritia as it were pure and neate from sinne forasmuch as children haue then no vse of discretion so that iudgement cannot be attributed to their works wherby they may be called good or euill Youth is reckoned from seuen yeeres of age vntill foureteene at which time children ought to be deliuered vnto skilfull and honest maisters teachers to be instructed Then must parents looke well whether those two things are in them to whose direction they
liuing bicause Princes ordinarilye take delight in changing and in remoouing almost all things that men might speake of them which manye tymes bringeth great discommodities to their subiects But if this were not so and the Prince as wise as hart could wish yet the alliances and leagues made by a mans predecessor end with him which is the cause that the alliances ending the neighbours betake them to armes and the strongest assaulteth the weakest or else prescribeth him lawes For many maintaine that the successours of Princes are not bound to the treaties and obligations of their predecessors if they be not their heires An other inconuenience to be feared in a Monarchie is the danger of falling into ciuill warre through the diuision of those that aspire to the crowne and namely if there be right of election which oftentimes draweth after it the ruine of the estate But put the case there were no strife for the Monarchie yet if the Monarch be a childe there will be diuision for the gouernment of him betweene the moother and the Princes or betwixt the Princes themselues Also when God purposeth to be reuenged vpon nations he threatneth to giue them children for Princes And although the child hath a Tutor by the appointment of the predecessor or by custome yet is there danger of making himselfe soueraigne Lord of which thing histories set downe many examples before our eies If a yoong Prince freed from Tutors come to the crowne his gouernment is no lesse to be feared For being then set at libertie when his lusts are most violent you shall see nothing in his Court but fooleries maskings and loose behauiour If he be warly he will hazard his subiects his estate and his person to make triall of his valure Briefly a craftie and wicked Monarch will establish a tyrannie a cruell man will make a slaughter-house of the Common-wealth a whore-maister will make it a stewes a couetous wretch will pull off both haire and skin from his subiects a prodigall Prince will sucke the blood and marrow to glut a dozen of horse-leaches about his person a foolish and ignorant Prince will do woorse falling easily into the most of these vices for want of iudgement to knowe and to make choice of counsell necessary for the gouernment of his estate These are the chiefe reasons of them that mislike a Monarchie Now we will alleadge the other reasons in the defence of it and begin with Darius his declaration vpon the speeches of his companions rehearsed by vs in the generall Councell of the Persians bicause it is well woorthy to be remembred according vnto which the Monarchie was concluded of in the Councell In my iudgement said he to the assemblie Megabyses said well concerning the multitude but ill in that which belongeth to an Oligarchy For although there be three kinds of Policies a Democraty an Oligarchy and a Monarchy and all good yet I say this last is farre better than the other bicause there is nothing so good as the gouernment of one vertuous man alone who iudging thereafter gouerneth his people without reprehension I will not speake of the councels which he taketh in like manner against his enimies and ill-willers But in an Oligarchy where many busie them selues with publike affaires great enmities arise betweene them from whence proceede seditions and from seditions murders and by murders some one attaineth to a Monarchye Whereby you may easily knowe how much better a Monarchy is As touching the people it is impossible but that where they rule there should be much wickednes which increasing in the euill gouernours of the Common-wealth breedeth not hatred betweene them but great friendship For they that are euill affected towards the Common-wealth hide one anothers counsell vntill some one man being set ouer the people cause them to giue ouer Then is that man admired and therewithall made a Monarch whereby also it is euident that a Monarchy is best Wherefore my aduice is that seeing we haue beene set at libertie by one onely man we should maintaine that Estate otherwise we shall disanull the lawes of our countrie that are already well established which will not turne to the best for vs. Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his antiquities of Rome affirmeth that the like speech was vsed before Romulus when he first established the gouernment in Rome where Amulius concluded for the Monarchy as Darius did among the Persians The same question was deliberated of by Augustus amongst his friends bicause he desired nothing more than to liue in rest and to giue ouer the Estate but it was then concluded that a Monarchy was best for the Common-wealth and the cuent prooued the same For before the Romans could not liue ten yeeres without ciuill warre or sedition whereas Augustus preserued them almost 50 yeeres in perfect peace which continued also long time after his death Demosthenes in his first Olynthiacke oration sheweth the Athenians what aduantage a Monarch hath in the deliberation and execution of great enterprises speaking in this manner It is greatly auaileable for the speedie and commodious execution of warlike exploits when one man alone hath the ouer-sight of all enterprises both secret and open withall is Captaine Lord Treasurer alwaies present at the affaires But who can deny that it is not a great deale better for great and mighty nations to be gouerned Monarchically to the end that they may maintain themselues in vnity at home abroad in reputation Especially those nations where there are Princes Dukes Marquesses Earles Barons other gentlemen who possesse in the highest lowest midle sort of iustice Villages Boroughs Townes Castles with vassals holding and relying of them by fealtic and homage as namely in France Spaine and other countries wherin the Monarch by absolute power and force when need is holdeth in the greater sort with the lesse staying the insolencie of the one releeuing others from oppression Otherwise if they were diuided into many heads disagreeing among themselues and acknowledging no soueraigne Lord who doubteth but that they would be continually troubled with ciuill warres set vpon by strangers and spoiled of all sides Italy prooueth this sufficiently vnto vs which commanded the greatest part of the world when it was vnited in onâ— but being now diuided into many Potentats and Seignories after vnspeakeable calamities of ciuill wars which it hath suffered a long time it is yet without doubt exposed for a praie to all the neighbours if they were not staied with other warres If we consider the antiquitie of the royal gouernment how it hath been practised of all nations almost either wholy or in part to their great honor felicitie we shall be constrained to prefer it before all others to account all those happy that liue vnder a Monarchy As men liued in old time saith Aristotle vnder Kings so they thought that the gods had a king All nations saith Cicero obeyed
the constitutions of lawes aswell in the gathering of their duties and tributes as in their manner of life They vsed the seruice of Noble mens and of Princes children onely who were of the age of twentie yeeres and were instructed in all sciences The reason whereof was that the king being pricked forward with the sight of thē that were about him might beware how he committed any thing woorthie of reproch And truly there is nothing that corrupteth Princes so much as vitious seruants who seeke to please their sensuall desires and affections When the king arose in the morning he was bound first to take and receiue all the letters and requests that were brought vnto him that answering necessarie matters first all his affaires might be guided by order and reason Then he went to the Temple to offer sacrifice to the gods where the Prelate and chiefe Priest after the sacrifice and praiers were ended rehearsed with a loud voice in the presence of the people what vertues were in the king what reuerence and religion towardes the gods was in him and what clemencie and humanitie towards men Moreouer he told that he was continent iust noble-minded true liberall one that brideled his desires and punished malefactors with a more mild and light punishment than the greatnes of their sinne and offence required rewarding also his subiects with graces gifts that were greater than their deserts This done he exhorted the king to a happie life agreeable to the gods and likewise to good manners by following after honor and vertue and therewithall propounded vnto him certaine examples of the excellent deedes of ancient kings thereby to prouoke him the rather therunto These kings liued with simple meates as with veale birds for all dishes they kept very exactly all the lawes and ordinances of their countrie in euery point of their life which was no lesse directed euen in the least things than the simplest of their subiects And truly so long as the kings of Egypt were such zealous obseruers of their lawes and of iustice raigned peaceably among their subiects they brought many strang nations into their subiection gathered togither infinite riches whereby they adorned their countrie with great buildings and sumptuous works and decked their townes with many gifts and benefits The Barbarian kingdomes were the second kinde of Monarchy namely the ancient Monarchies of the Assyrians Medes and Persians whose Princes vsurped Lordlie rule ouer their goods and persons and gouerned their subiects as a father of a familie doth his slaues Which kind of gouernment sauoureth more of a tyrannie than of a kingdome besides it is directly against the law of nature which keepeth euery one in his libertie and in the possession of his owne goods Notwithstanding when by the law of Arms and of iust warre a Prince is made Lord ouer any people they properly belong to him that conquereth and they that are ouercome are made his slaues by the ancient consent of all nations and this maketh the difference betweene the Lord-like Monarchy and a tyrannic which abuseth free subiects as slaues Of this second kinde of Monarchy was the kingdome of Persia as Plato writeth vnder Cambyses Xerxes and other kings vntill the last Darius For vsurping more absolute authoritie to rule than was conuenient they began to contemne their Vassals and to account of them as of slaues and putting no more confidence in them they intertained into their seruice mercenarie souldiors and strangers whereby they made their owne subiects vnfit for warre and so in the end lost their estate when it seemed to haue attained to the top of worldlie prosperitie Such is the estate of the Turke at this day wherein he is sole Lord commanding ouer his subiects in rigorous manner aswell ouer the Musulmans as Christians and Iewes He vseth in his principall affaires which concerne peace and warre and matters of gouernment the seruice of runnagate slaues whom he placeth in authoritie changeth or deposeth as he thinks good without peril and enuie yea he strangleth them vpon the least suspition or dislike conceiued of them not sparing his owne children and others of his blood if they anger him So did Sultan Solyman deale with Hibrahim Bascha who was almost of equall authoritie with him insomuch that he was there called the Seignour king of the Ianitzaries the Bascha and king of the men of Armes Neuertheles in one night wherin he made him stay sup with him lie in his owne chamber he caused him to be slaine and his bodie to be cast into the sea The morrow after he seazed vpon his goods as confiscate and caried them away and yet no man euer knewe the cause of his death except it were this that he was growne too great and consequently suspected of his maister who was a Tyrant rather than a King Likewise he keepeth in his hands all the Lordships of his kingdome which he distributeth to men of warre who are charged to maintaine a certaine number of men of Armes and of horses according to the rate of their reuenew and when it pleaseth him he taketh them away againe Neither is there any man in all the countries vnder his obedience that possesseth Townes Castles and Villages or dwelleth in strong houses or that dare build higher than one storie or than a Dooue-house The great Knes or Duke of Moscouia exceedeth for seueritie and rigour of commanding all the Monarchs in the world hauing obtained such authoritie ouer his subiects both Ecclesiasticall and secular that he may dispose of their goods and liues at his pleasure so that none dare gainesay him in any thing They confesse publikely that the will of their prince is the will of God and that whatsoeuer he doth is done by the will of God The king of Ethiopia is also a Lordlike Monarch hauing as Paulus Iouius affirmeth 50. kings no lesse subiect vnto him than slaues And Frauncis Aluarez writeth that he hath seene the great Chancellour of that countrie scourged starke naked with other Lords as the very slaues of the prince wherein they thinke themselues greatly honoured The Emperour Charles the fift hauing brought vnder his obedience the kingdome of Peru made himselfe soueraigne Lord thereof in regard of goods which the subiects haue not but as they farme them or for terme of life at the most The third kind of Monarchy whereof the Ancients made mention was that of Lacedemonia wherein the king had not absolute power but in time of warre out of the countrie and a certaine preheminence ouer the sacrifices We made mention of their gouernment before The first kings in Rome were sacrificers also and afterward the emperors called themselues Pontifices that is chiefe bishops and those of Constantinople were consecrated as our kings of Frāce are In like maner the Caliphaes of the Sarasins were kings and chiefe bishops in their religion the
authoritie yet he is of one and the same kind with them a man commanding men and free ouer those that are free not ouer beasts or slaues as Aristotle saith very well And if he would haue that excellent title which we giue to God the Prince of all men calling him Our father he must procure it not by threatnings and feare but by good deedes by meekenes and humanitie which will stand him in steede of a sure Gard to preserue his estate For the loue and loialtie of his subiects will greatly encrease thereby of which the assurance of Monarchies dependeth When the nobilitie and common-people vse to feare not him but for his sake that commandeth them then he seeth with many eies heareth with many eares and perceiueth a farre off whatsoeuer is done Let the Prince haue this saying of Plutarke alwaies engrauen in his soule That nothing heere below pleaseth God more or draweth neerer to his diuine nature than to rule well in all iustice and equitie which is the chiefest charge of his vocation and that vnto which he is straightly bound in respect of his subiects For as the subiect oweth obedience aide and reuerence to his Lord so the Prince oweth iustice defence and protection to his subiects When a Prince sheweth himselfe vpright indifferent and true of his word to all it is the greatest felicitie that can happen to a Common-wealth and that which crowneth the Monarch thereof with greater glorie and honour And truly a Prince ought to be more carefull to obtaine that praise and reputation which proceedeth of goodnes and vertue than that which commeth of strength and power For as the diuine nature vnto which kings must endeuour to conforme their woorks and actions excelleth all other essences and natures chiefly in three things that is in immortalitie power and goodnes so a Prince must striue to excell his subiects not so much in the immortalitie of his name or in power as in goodnes which vertue is certainly much more venerable and draweth neerest to the diuinitie For to be incorruptible and immortall the fower Elements and the whole frame are indued with that qualitie as naturall Philosophers maintaine And as for strength and power earthquakes lightnings tempestuous whirlewinds flouds and inundations of waters are full of force and might but nothing is partaker of iustice vprightnes and equitie except it be diuine and that by the meanes of reason and vnderstanding So that as the same Plutark saith we only are capeable of that Good of vertue that commeth from God To be short let the Prince be diligently taught whilest he is yoong and labour to knowe how he may adorne his name with works answerable to those excellent Epithits and titles wherewith Iulius Pollux who was gouernour to the Emperour Commodus in his yoong yeeres setteth foorth a good king He calleth him Father gentle acceptable mercifull prudent iust curteouus noble-minded free a contemner of monie not subiect to passions but commanding ouer himselfe one that ouercommeth pleasures and vseth reason quicke of iudgement sharpe prouident good in counselling iust sober godly and full of good religion carefull ouer the welfare of men constant firme no deceiuer minding great things decked with authoritie industrious a quicke dispatcher of affaires carefull ouer those whome he commandeth a Sauiour ready to do good slow to reuenge alwaies one and the same without turning aside inclining greatly to iustice easie to haue accesse vnto curteous in speech gentle to them that haue to deale with him plaine a louer of vertuous and valiant men who neuertheles are not desirous of warre a louer of peace a peace-maker a precise obseruer thereof borne to correct the manners of people skilfull in discharging the dutie of a king and Prince hauing knowledge to make good lawes borne to profit euery one and of a diuine forme A Prince of noble birth shall feele himselfe greatly prouoked to desire and seeke after these excellent gifts and graces through the consideration of examples propounded vnto him concerning the liues deeds of so many famous and woorthy men as are at this day after innumerable ages reuiued againe by meanes of histories And it cannot be but he will be greatly pricked forward to conforme himselfe vnto them thereby to giue like occasion to good wits to write singe and publish his praises What Prince will not burne with a iealous desire of vertue when he heareth that the onely fame thereof in the person of Scipio Africanus allured and rauished theeues and robbers with such an admiration that when they vnderstood that he was in a house far from any towne they did beset it round and as he stood in his defence to driue them away they threw downe their weapons assuring him that they came thither onely to see and to reuerence him as in deed they did What prince will not be possessed with ioy when he heareth that Menander king of the Bactrians was so beloued of his subiects for his iustice and vertue that after his death the cities were in great contention which of them should haue the honor of his buriall for the appeasing of ẇhich strife order was taken that each of them should make a tombe Who wil not be mooued with loue towards the goodnes of Traian Emperour of the Romanes when he heareth his Panegyricall Oration wherein Plinie after he had extolled him to heauen concludeth thus That the greatest happines which could come to the Empire was that the Gods tooke example by the life of Traian Who will not desire the honour that king Agesilaus receiued when he was fined by the Ephoryes bicause he had stolne away the harts and wonne the loue of all his Citizens to himselfe alone Who will not wish to haue the surname of Aristides the iust as diuine and royall a title as euer king could obtaine rather than as many vse to be called Conquerours Besiegers Thunderers Briefly vnto these examples oppose the reprehension and marke of perpetuall infamie which histories set vpon euill Princes and it cannot be but that a Prince well brought vp and exercised in the loue and studie of vertue will be very desirous to shew foorth the fruits and effects thereof especially if he be well instructed in the feare of God and knowledge of his dutie whereof he shall haue perfect vnderstanding in the law of God which he is commanded by the soueraigne king of all to haue with him to read in it all the daies of his life and to obey it to the end he may raigne happily in earth and finally in heauen Of the office and dutie of a King Chap. 60. AMANA AVgustus Caesar hearing some rehearse that Alexander the great after he had finished most of his conquests at two and thirtie yeeres of age said that he tooke great care to know what he should do afterward I woonder said this wise Monarch at the speech of that great
to lay them vp in a sure place The dignitie of a Head of an armie is in truth greatly to be accounted of especially when it is ioyned with prowesse and experience the chief point whereof is to saue him that must saue all the rest Therefore Timotheus an Athenian captaine and Chares also an other captaine shewed one day openly vnto the Athenians the skarres of many woundes which he had receiued in his body and his shield also that was spoyled and thrust through with many pushes of a pike but now quoth he I am of another minde For when I besieged the citie of Samos I was very much ashamed that an arrowe shotte from the walles fell harde by me being then too venturous a yong man and hazarding my selfe more rashly than became the Head of so great an armie And yet when it greatly profiteth the whole enterprise and is a matter of no small importance that the Generall of the armie should put his life in daunger then he must yeeld and imploy his person not sparing himselfe or giuing place to their wordes who say that a good and wise captaine ought to die of age or at least to be olde But where small benefit ariseth if he prosper well and contrarywise an vniuersall losse and generall hurt to all if any thing but well betide him no wise man will require it or be of the opinion that he should venture himselfe as a common souldiour doth whereby he being the Generall should be in daunger of destruction And yet in the meane while he must not be lesse carefull ouer the safetie of those valiaunt men that follow him or thrust them into danger but very warily remembring the saying of that good emperor Antoninus that he had rather saue one citizen thā put a thousand enimies to death The answer of Scipio was very like it whē he was earnestly requested by the souldiours at the siege of Numantia to gine an assault I had rather quoth he haue the life of one Romane than the death of all the Numantines He vsed also to say that all things ought to be assaied in warre before the sword be taken in hand And in deed there is no greater victory than that which is gotten without sheding of bloud Sylla Tiberius Caligula and Nero had no skill but to commaund and to kill but that good Augustus Titus and Traian were always ready to sollicite to request and to agree by forgiuing Augustus also said that although a prince were mightie yet if hee were wise hee would neuer giue battell vnlesse there were more apparant profite in the victorie than losse if the enimie should ouercome And in deede he neuer gaue battell but vpon necessitie We reade of that great captaine Narses who subdued the Gothes vanquished the Bactrians and ouercame the Germaines that he neuer gaue his enimies battell but he wept in the Temple the night before Theodosius the Emperor suffred not his men to assault any towne nor to lay siege vnto it before tenne dayes were past causing this proclamation to be made vnto them that hee graunted these tenne daies to the ende they might accept and taste of his clemencie before they had experience of his power It is a common saying that it is not enough for a Captaine to know how to leade his men well to the fight vnlesse he foresee also the meanes to retire and to saue them in tyme of neede And it is no lesse fault in a Captaine to fall into an inconuenience vnlooked for than through too much mistrust to let slippe an occasion of doyng some great exploite when it is offred For want of experience breedeth rashnesse in the one and taketh away boldnesse from the other Neither must a good captaine onely vse present occasion well but hee must also iudge wisely of that which is to come distrusting alwayes the doubtfull issue of all enterprises of warre For this cause the ancient Generals of armies both Greekes and Latines neuer marched but in armour nor incamped although they were farre from their enimies but they closed their campe round about with a trench And when Leonidas was demanded the reason hereof he aunswered bicause as the sea hath his sandes gulfes and rocks so hath war his among which none is more perillous and hurtful than this of I had not thought it Among other things necessary in a captaine the knowledge of nature and of the situation of places is very requisite which is to know how the mountaines are lift vp how the valleis hang how the Champian fields are couched togither and to know the nature and course of riuers the bredth of marishes This is profitable in two respects First a man learneth thereby to know his owne countrey so to be more skilful to defend it Secondly hauing by that means had good practise of the seat of that countrey he may easily conceiue the situation of another place of which sometime he must necessarily consider So that if a General be wanting herein he is destitute of the chief vertue which a good captain ought to haue For it is that which teacheth him to find out the enimy to encamp himself to guide an host to set his men in aray for the battell and to take the aduauntage at the siege of a towne Among other great praises that authors giue to Philopaemenus prince of the Acheans they forget not this that in time of peace he studied diligētly how he might war more skilfully And when he was in the fields with his friends he would stand stil many times and conferre with them vsing such like speeches If the enimie were in this mountaine and we here with our campe who should haue the aduantage how might we seeke him out marching on in battell If we would retire how should we do If they retired how should we folow thē Thus in the way he set before them all the chances that might happen to a campe then he would heare their opinions and after set down his own confirming it with reasons This he did so well that by reason of these continual disputations and cogitations no hinderance could befall him when he guided an army which he could not redresse Xenophō sheweth in Cyrus his life that being ready to set forward in that voyage which he vndertooke against the king of Armenia he said familiarly to his men that this iourny was but one of those huntings which they had so often practised with him He willed those whom he sent to lye in ambush vpon the mountaines to remember when and how they went to pitch their nets vpon the small hils and to those that went to begin the skirmish he sayd that they resembled such as went to rouze a beast out of his denne to driue him to their nets This noble Prince shewed well that his exercise of hunting was not vnprofitable vnto him as in deede it is a true
when themselues shal be vngently handled by thē when they shal endure reproch when they shal be polled or afflicted with any kind of iniurie their comfort in al these euils will be to haue the last day before their eies in which they know that the lord wil gather his faithful ones togither into the rest of his kingdom that he wil wipe away the teares frō their eies crown thē with glory clothe thē with gladnes satisfie them with the exceeding sweetnes of his delicacies exalt them vnto his high mansion in a word make them partakers of his happines In the meane time going on in their course with all tranquillitie ioy of spirit they are cheerfully to giue vnto God that homage worship that is due vnto him submitting themselues wholy to his greatnesse receiuing with all reuerence his cōmandements Next they must put that trust hartie assurance in him which they haue receiued by knowing him aright attributing to him all wisdom iustice goodnes vertue truth making this account that all their happines is in communicating with him Inuocation foloweth wherby their soules must haue recourse vnto him as to their only hope whē they are pressed with any necessity In the last place is thanksgiuing which is that acknowledgement wherby all prayse is giuē vnto him Vnder these 4. points of worship trust prayer and thanksgiuing all those innumerable duties which we owe to God may well be comprehended Moreouer the contempt of this present life and the meditation of that which is immortal heauenly will teach vs the right vse of earthly goods created of God for the seruice of man as necessary helpes for this life Which things we must not neglect in such sort that we neuer vse them but vpon constraint necessity taking no delight in them as if we were sencelesse blocks Much lesse may we abuse them by ouer-great lust in superfluity delights but apply them to that end for which God hath created appointed thē for our good not for our hurt namely that they should sustain nourish preserue delight our nature vsing thē in al temperance mediocritie with thanksgiuing So that we are to vse these goods as though we vsed them not that is to say our chief affection and desire must be so smally set vpō them as if we were wholy depriued of them and we must be disposed and affected as well to sustaine pouertie patiently with a quiet mind as to vse abundance moderately Especially let vs referre the true and holy vse of all our earthly commodities to the works of charitie as we haue already touched knowing that all things are so giuē vnto vs by the goodnes of God appointed for our commoditie as things cōmitted to our trust of which we must one day giue account before his maiestie For the conclusion therfore of our speech we learn that thelife of a Christian is a perpetuall studie and exercise of the mortification of the flesh vntil it be so throughly dead that the spirit of God may raigne fully in his soule We learn also that our whole life ought to be a meditation and exercise of godlines bicause we are called to sanctification that true happines of life in this world consisteth therein namely when being regenerated by baptisme and the spirit of God we haue the loue of righteousnes throughly imprinted in our harts and follow the diuine rule thereof by framing and directing all our actions to the glory of our God and profit of our neighbors Wherfore euery one of vs must take his vocation and calling for a principle and ground for a station assigned of God vnto which we must direct our leuell withdrawing our mindes from the yoke and bondage of those naturall perturbations that are in vs. Wee must not be led with ambition and desire to take hold of many sundry matters at once being assured that euery worke done according to our calling how contemptible soeuer it be among men shineth before God and shall be rewarded by him beyng accounted very precious in his sight Of Death Chap. 72. AMANA NO man ought to be ignorant of this that after God had created man in the beginning he placed him in a garden and paradise ful of al pleasures and delights and gaue him leaue to vse all things contained therin the fruit of the knowledge of good and euill onely excepted which was expresly forbidden Neuerthelesse being vnable to keepe himselfe in that high degree and great dignitie he fell by disobedience so that thinking to make choice of life he chose the fruit of death as God had foretold him saying Whensoeuer thou eatest of this fruit of the knowledge of good and euil thou shalt die the death which thing fell vpon him and vpon all his posteritie Whereby we see that the reward and recompence of sinne is death not onely bodily death but which is more spirituall whereby we are banished and shut out of the heauenly kingdome and inheritance if we apprehend not that great grace and mercy of the father offered to all that draw neere vnto him by true confidence in Iesus Christ to the ende as the Apostle saith that as sinne raigned vnto death so grace might raign by righteousnes vnto eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. And this is the onely way wherby to passe from death to life when we shall be subiect to no condemnation or afflictiō Moreouer neither sworde famine nor any other miserie can hurt vs no not temporal death which according to mās iudgement is the extreamest of all miseries shall in any sort confound vs but rather be a meane and pleasant way for vs to passe by from prison and bondage to ioyfull liberty and from miserie to happinesse Therfore my companions as death is the end of all men happy to the elect and vnhappy to the reprobate so let vs finish our discourses with the handling thereof ARAM. Nothing but death and the end of this bodily life is able to accomplish the wish and desire of a faithful christian For the spirit being then deliuered as it were out of a noisome and filthie prison reioyceth with freedom and libertie in those pleasant places which it seeketh after and desireth so earnestly ACHITOB. It is decreed that all men must once die And therfeore as the Wiseman saith whatsoeuer thou takest in hand remember the end and thou shalt neuer do amisse Now ASER as thou beganst to lay the foundation of our Academie so make thou an end of it with the treatise of Death that endeth all things ASER. It is no maruell if natural sense be mooued astonished when we heare that our body must be separated from the soule But it is in no wise tollerable that a Christian hart should not haue so much light as to surmount suppresse this feare whatsoeuer it be by a greater comfort and consolation For if
we consider that this tabernacle of our body which is weake vicious corruptible casuall and inclining to putrefaction is dissolued and as it were pulled downe by death that it may afterward be restored to a perfect firme incorruptible and heauenly glory shal not this certain assurance compel vs to desire earnestly that which nature flieth and abhorreth If we consider that by death we are called home from a miserable exile to dwel in our countrey yea in our celestial coūtrey shall we not conceiue singular consolation thereby But some man may say that al things desire to continue in their being For the same cause I say we ought to aspire to the immortalitie to come where we haue a setled estate which is not seene at all vpon earth How commeth it to passe that the bruite beasts and sencelesse creatures euen wood and stones hauing as it were some feeling of their vanitie corruption are in expectation of the iudgement day that they may be deliuered from their corruption and yet we that haue some light of nature boast that we are illuminated by the spirit of God lift not vp our eies aboue this earthly putrefaction when we talk of our beeing But what shal we say of those men whose number alas is very great who quenching all natural light opposing themselues directly against the testimonies of truth which presse their consciences sound daily in their eares dare yet doubt of yea impudently deny this day of iudgement and the change of this mortall life into a second which is immortal If the word of god so expresly set down for our assurance be of so litle credit that it wil not satissie them yet how is it that they are not conuinced by the writings of so many Ethnike and heathen Philosophers who make the immortalitie of the soule out of doubt by the consideration of the being of this life conclude a iudgemēt to come which bringeth perpetuall happines and felicitie to the soules of the blessed euerlasting miserie paine to them that are vnhappy Plato vnder the name of Socrates may serue for a fit teacher for such Epicures and Atheists that wil not heare the heauenly word of the almighty Frō whence commeth it saith he that we see so many wicked mē passe the course of their days in worldly happines and fclicitie and die in great rest quietnes whereas on the other side so many good men liue die in great afflictions most hard calamities The reason is bicause God doth not punish and chastise all the wicked vpon the earth to the end men may know that there is a iudgement to come wherin the vngodlines of such men shal be corrected Neither doth he recompence all good men with blessings in this world to the ende they may hope that there is a place in the other life where the vertuous shal be rewarded Likewise he doth not punish all the wicked nor reward al good men here beneath least men should thinke that the vertuous folowed vertue in hope of a carnal earthly reward or eschewed vice for feare of punishmēts torments in this world For so vertue should be no more vertue seing there is no action that may cary the surname of vertuous if the intent of him that doth it be in hope of some earthly carnal recompence not for the loue of vertue it self that he may be accepted of God and so conceiue hope of eternal rewards in the other life Also he punisheth and correcteth some wicked men vpon earth rewardeth some good men least if good men only were afflicted the wicked suffred in quiet men might be brought to beleeue that there were no prouidence that the diuine nature had no care of vs so all men would giue ouer themselues to folow iniustice By the sequele of this speech Plato inferreth proueth that there is one God that hath care ouer his cretures that naturally euery spirit loueth him better that striueth to resemble him in manners fashiōs of liuing that reuerēceth honoreth him thā those that feare him not but despise him whose conditions are altogither vnlike his Moreouer he prooueth euidētly that good men in feare reuerence of the Deitie striue to imitate it by good works done to the benefit and safetie of others and contrarywise that the wicked despise God and all lawes both diuine and humane whereupon it followeth that God loueth good men and hateth the wicked And bicause we see that good mē are subiect to calamity ignominy in this world we must therfore vndoubtedly confesse that there is another life after this wherein good men are eternally rewarded the wicked punished Otherwise it would folow that God cared more for the wicked than for the good which were too absurd to graunt From hence that diuine Philosopher draweth this conclusion that the life of a wise man ought to be a perpetual meditation of death and that the very feare to die not any desire to liue is that which maketh death fearefull to them that know not the immortalitie of the soule Now then ought not these men to blush for shame that dare doubt of the second life and future iudgement when they heare this discourse of an Ethnike and Pagan destitute of that true light of God and sincere religion which is manifested to vs in Iesus Christ Truly nothing is more cleere in all the holy scripture than that as before the first day mētioned in Genesis all things were possessed of Eternitie so that there was neither time nor yeere nor moneth nor season but all things were in that Eternitie so when the last day shal come all shall be eternall for the felicitie of the good torment of the wicked But to returne to our speech of death the worde of God giueth vs to vnderstand of three kinds of death the one is the separation of the soule from the body with the dissolution of the body vntill the resurrection and of this is our present discourse The second is the death of sinne as it is said oftentimes that they are dead that nourish themselues in sinne The third is called in the Apocalyps the second death and sometimes eternal death vnto which the wicked shal be condemned in the last iudgemēt Therfore to cōtinue our speech of corporal temporal death if the doctrine of the sonne of God be neuer so little apprehended of vs by faith we shall see cleerely enough that the faithful ought to haue that in great request which to humane sense seemeth neither happie nor to be desired seeing it turneth to their saluation It belongeth to him that will not goe vnto Iesus Christ to feare death and to be vnwilling to goe to Christ is a badge of such a one as wil not raign with him What traueller hauing passed many dangerous wayes reioyceth not when he draweth neer to his countrey
Demosthenes Plato Lysander The limits that are to be vsed in hating the wicked Scaurus How Agesilaus made his enimies his friends Augustus The Venetians Pontinus The prudence of Dionysius in punishing euill speakers Antisthene counsaile Math. 5. 44. Rom. 12. 19. What true Philosophie is The fruits and effects of Iustice What Iustice is Three things necessary in euery common-wealth The ground of all Iustice The distinction of Iustice Whosoeuer hath Iustice perfectly hath all the vertues The praise of Iustice Respect of persons is not to be vsed in the practise of Iustice The diuision of Iustice The difference between Commutatiue and Distributiue Iustice The end of Iustice The necessitie of Iustice Diuers names agree to Iustice in diuers respects Ierem. 21. 12. 22. 3. What Iustice and Iudgement are The Egyptians were zealous of Iustice How they painted Iudges The Grecians and Romans What citie is best gouerned Examples of the loue of Iustice Cleon. Aristides I. Brutus Phocion Alexander Augustus Agesilaus Prowes without Iustice is worth nothing The difference between a great and a little king Phillip Traianus â— â—am 8. 5. What causeth kingdoms to flourish God is the author of Iustice What maner of men magistrates ought to be One meane wherby the abuse of Iustice may be taken away The inconuenience that commeth by setting offices to sale Exod. 18. The saving of Alexander and Lewes the 12. Against buyers of offices Aurelianus A meane to preserue policies A pretie comparison Euerie vertue is in the midst of two vices How the thrones of kings may be established in iustice All men haue some knowledge of good and euill and some inward sence of a diuine nature The fruits of Iniustice in the wicked Vertue is to be preferred before all worldlie things Iniustice is a generall vice How many waies a man may be vniust The effects of Iniustice Pericles A notable example for euery ciuil Magistrate Why the life of the wicked cannot be happy A comparison A comparison The wrong conceit which men haue of the wicked that prosper The punishment of sinne is equall with it both for age and time All things are present with God A sure token of a desperate common-welth The miserable estate of France The deniall of Iustice dangerous Phillip Demetrius Henrie king of Sweathland A notable historic of the death of Ferdinando the 4. Notable Iniustice committed by a Prouost of Paris Hugues of Crecy Artaxerxes Alexander Seuerus The punishment of one who sold his masters fauor Of Seueritie Clemencie preserueth a prince his throne Prou. 20. 28. M. Torquatus Ausidius Most cruell seucritie of Piso Augustus Caesar Ier. 22. 3. 5. 2. Chr. 19. 6. Matth. 7. 2. Of the corruption of our age When vertue seemeth to be out of season What Faith and Fidelitie is Of the violating of faith Leuit. 19. 12. Deut. 5. 11. Matth. 5. 34. Whether a forced promise is to be kept A wise man must neuer promise any thing against dutie Psal 15. 4. Lysander a forsworne and deceitfull man We must keep promise with our enimie Of the neglect of fidelitie commeth a custom of lying It is wickednes to conceale the fault of that which a man selleth Lying in a prince is most odious The promise of a prince is tied with a double bond Of the word faith of a prince Of Treason Notable examples A. Regulus Demaratus Augustus Cato Periurie and faithles persons haue alwaies had ill successe Tissaphernes Cleomenes Caracalla The Corinthians Iustinianus the Emperor Rastrix Duke of Cleaueland The cause of the present miserie of France Examples of the entertainment which the ancients gaue to traitors Lasthenes Rymetalces Agis Pausanias Ariobarzanes Iustinian a Genâ—an cause of the taking of Constantinople A famous and heroicall fact of Sultan Solyman Cato commended for his truth Ephes 4. 25. Luk. 10. 37. The memorie of euill things is fruitfull but of good things barren Ingratitude the cause of the sin and death of man No mans life void of Ingratitude The life of the ignorance is vnthankfull God disposeth all thiâ—gs by Iustice The vapors wherwith the eyes of the mind are dimmed Of the ingratitude of great men Reward and honor nourisheth vertue Artes. Impudencie Ingratitude are companions The description of impudencie Dutie and profit are two distinct things A law against vnthankful persons The Storke a gracefull bird The fruits of ingratitude Examples against ingratitude Pyrrhus Circerius A notable historie of an Arabian Turke Baiazet A mean to keep vs from ingratitude Another meane for the same Artaxerxes thankfully accepted a litle water Vertue is a sufficient recompence to it selfe The sleepe of the spirite is woorse than death What Liberalitie is Riches 〈…〉 the waters How riches may be well vsed Aristotles opinion concerning a happie life destitute of bodilie and outward goods A poore man may be liberall Luke 16. 9. How princes passe the limites of liberalitie When the inferior sort passe the bounds of liberalitie About what we are to bestow the ouerplus of our wealth A notable law amongst the Romanes How Epaminondas compelled a rich man to be liberall CimoÌ„ a notable paterne of the true vse of riches Liberalitie most necessarie for princes and great men The lawes of liberalitie A common mischief which foloweth the greater sort The liberalitie of Alexander To the Macedonians To all debtors in his armie To Aristotle To Anaxarchus To Perillus. To an Egyptian Caesar a liberall Prince Antonius a magnificall Prince but voluptuous Archelaus gaue not to the vnwoorthy How Antigonus denied one that was importunate Titus a good liberall Prince A notable precept of Phocylides Ptolemaeus the Thebane Denys the elder Cyrus Pertinax Matth. 25. No wicked thing ought to be iudged profitable Couetousnes hath ouerflowen all Couetousnes will neuer be satisfied Conetousnes like to a dropsie Stratonicus derided the superfluitie of the Rhodians Couetous men compared to Mules The miserable life of couetous men 1. Tim. 6. 10. The fruits of couetousnes How prodigalitie and couetousnes may in some sort be linked togither in one subiect Couetous men compared to hogs Couetous men compared to rats and cundit pipes It is better to be the sheepe than the sonne of a couetous man Examples of the fruites of couetousnes and of prodigalitie Muleasses Polymester Caligula Nero. Against the superfluitie of sumptuous buildings An Italian Monke A cruell murder of a Gentlewoman and of hir houshold Mauritius depriued of the Empire for his couctousnes The Nobilitie of Switserland destroied for the same cause Lewes 11. Calipha How Dionysius punished a couetous wretch How Darius his couerousnesse was beguiled C. Licinius strangled himselfe to leaue his goods to his children Hermocrates bequeathed his goods to himselfe A ratte sold for 200. pence Couetousnes caused Crassus to play on both sides Wonderfull riches Pompey abhorred couetousnes The great couetousnes of a cardinall The cruel punishment of a couetous curate 1. Tim. 6. 10. What magistrates are best liked of couetous princes 1.
of it What the law of nature is The diuision of the written law The diuision of the law of God Of the Morall law Of the Ceremoniall law Of the Iudiciall law Of ciuill or positiue lawes The diuision of ciuill lawes What ciuill lawes may not be changed The Salick law immutable What ciuill lawes may be changed A Prince may deny the request of his three Estates hauing reason and iustice on his side The change of lawes in a well setled Estate is dangerous A seuere decree of the Locrians against such as would bring in new lawes Mischiefs in a commonwealth must be resisted in the beginning The law is the foundation of ciuill societies Bias. We must not iudge of the law but according to the law Why the Lacedemonian lawes might not be changed The ancient law-makers No law before the law of God The necessitie and profit of a law The vpright and equall distribution of the law maketh a good gouernment To dispence with good statuts and daily to make new is a token of the decay of a common-wealth Examples therof in Caligula in Claudius How lawes may be kept inuiolable Two things required in the keeping of euery law Equitie is alwayes one and the same to all people The equitie of the morall law ought to be the end and rule of all other lawes Their opinion confuted who would tie all nations to the policie of Moses Theft punished diuersly in diuers nations How false witnes was punished among the Iewes Ciuil ordinances depend only of the soueraign ruler The end wherunto all lawes are to be referred The magistrate is the head the law the soule and the people the body of the common-welth The Nowne and Verbe are no parts of Logike but of Grammer The definition of a citizen in a popular state Other definitions of a citizen A general definition of a citizen Of the state of Venice Of the ancient estate in Rome Who are truly citizens The diuision of the whole people into three orders or estates The diuision of citizens in Venice and Florence In Egypt and among the ancient Gaules These gardes were the Senate and councell for state affaires consisting of 400. Burgesses Of the agreement that is to be kept between the estates of a common-wealth One cause of the â—â—serie of France at this present The office and dutie of subiects The soueraign magistrate compared to the Sunne Against them that thinke the magistrate to be a necessarie euil Prou. 24. 21. What is ment by honouring the King Rom. 13. 5. Subiects must obey their prince for the feare of God Of the seruice due to the prince Rom. 13. 1. 2. Tit. 3. 1. 1. Pet. 2. 13. 14. 1. Tim. 2. 1. 2. Priuate men must not busie themselues in publike affairs The counsailors of a prince are his eies eares and his officers are his hands Two kinds of publike power The difference between the prince the magistrate and the priuate man How farre subiects are bound to obey their prince and his lawes The titles of a good magistrate The behauiour of euil princes Tirants are naturally hated We must obey and reuerence vniust princes a well as iust Dan. 1. 21. 4. 14. Nebuchadnezzer Eze. 29. 18. 19. Dan. 2. 37. 1. Sam. 3. Iere. 27. 5. c. A tyrant called the seruant of God Ier. 29. 7. 1. Sam. 24. 7. 26. 9. 10. Dauid would not lay viosent hands vpon Sauls person These Essaei or Esseni were a superstitious sect among the Iewes that pretended to lead a most perfect kind of life Exod. 22. 28. A gentleman iudged to die bicause he once thought to haue killed his prince A sâ—uâ—râ— law against treason How we must behaue our selues vnder a tyrant Psal 82. 1. 2. 12. Esay 10. 1. The lawes of nature lead vs to a monarchie In euery kind of thing one excelleth A monarchie most significantly representeth the diuine regiment What a Monarchie or kingly power is Of a Duarchy that is of the rule of two The diuision of the Empire 8. Marks of soueraigntie Their reasons who mislike a Monarchie What excellencie is required in him that ruleth others The Persian Councell held for the establishing of their Estate Otanes oration The effects of a Tyrant Megabyses oration for an Aristocraty The dangers of a Monarchy A child Prince is a token of Gods wrath Darius oration for a Monarchy Against an Oligarchy A Monarchy concluded vpon in the Councell of the Persians of Romulus and of Augustus The commodities of a Monarchy Italy a praie to all hâ—r neighbours and â—â—y Of the antiquitie of a kingdome Ninus was the first that extended the limits of his kingdom What Estates were ruled Monaâ—chically The Dukedome of Venice is electiue What this word Emperour importeth Vpon what occasion the name of Emperour was first giuen to a Monarch The reasons alleadged against a Monarchie answered One iust Princ better than many good Lords and many Tyrants woorse than one Monarchies haue continu longest The opinion of many Politicks touching a mixt estate of a Common wealth The Lacedemonian estate mingled The Carthaginian Common-wealth was mixt The Romane estate mingled The estate of Venice compounded What agreemeÌ„t the French Monarchy hath with euery good policie Why men are diueisly affected vnto diuers formes of gouernments The praise of the French nation for their loue to a Monarchy The difference betweene the rule of a king and of a tyrant Fiue kinds of Monarchies How the first Monarchy came vp Gen. 10. 8. of the raigne of Nimrod Nimrod was the first king that warred vpon his neighbours Of the happie raigne of the king of Egypt They vsed the seruice onely of Noble mens children â—nd they wel learned The Priests of Egypt vsed to praise their Princes in the Temple before the people The diet of the ancient kings of Egypt Of the second kind of Monarchy The difference betweene a Lord-like Monarchy and a tyranny Marks of a tyrannicall gouernment Of the estate of the Turke The death of Hibrahim Bascha The Turke disposeth of all Lordships at his pleasure Of the Estate of Moscouia Of the king of Ethiopia The king of Ethiopia whipped his Lords like slaues Of the kingdom of Peru. Of the third kind of Monarchy What kings took vpon them soueraigntie in religion Of the 4. kind of monarchie which is electiue The dangerous state of an electiue kingdom when the prince is dead Examples therof in the kingdoms of Thuâ—es of Egâ—pt The great disorder in Rome vpâ—n the death of the Pope In the empire of Germanie In the Popedome All electiue princes are either taken indefinitely or out of certaine estates The Souldans of Cayre chosen out of the Mammelucks The great mastership of Malta electiue and that also of Prussia Of the fift kind of Monarchie which is hereditarie The Salick law excludeth daughters and their sonnes Kingdoms left by will Of the happy gouernment of the estate of France The Chancellor of France must approoue all
matters before they can passe Officers in France sworne to let nothing passe that is hurtfull to the realme notwithstanding the king his cōmandement Of a tiranny of the name of a tirant The difference between a good king and a tyrant Diogenes girdeth Dionysius Of the miserable condition of tyrants Democles was quickly wearie of the estate of Dionysius A tyrant cannot long continue Tyrants haue commonly an euil end Examples of the extraordinarie deaths of tyrants Rewards appointed for murderers of tyrants It is not lawfull for any to kill his Prince although a tyrant Custome goeth beyond nature in that which is euil The chiefe hope of a prince dependeth next to God of his institution A notable comparison Why great care is to be had in the institution of a prince The kingdom of France goeth only from male to male The barbarous crueltie of Selim The custome of electing of a king in Ethiopia The custome of succession in Calecuth When a prince may best be corrected The best token of remembrāce that a Prince can leaue behind him How a prince ought to liue himselfe and to bring vp his children What teachers a yong prince must haue Two properties requisite in him that teacheth a prince What maner of persons must be about the prince The duty of him that is chosen to bring vp the prince To make a good prince is to do good to all his people The inclination of a yong prince must first be knowen How a yong prince must be taught Deu. 17. 18. 19 The law of God belongeth to the prince When a Common-wealth is happy The agreement between a Philosopher and a Christian Wherin a prince ought to excell others The fault of a Prince is much more hurtfull than that of a priuate man A prince ought to be skilfull by reason and not by vse How a prince is to receiue the praises that are giuen him Good precepts for princes set out by comparisons A kingdome is but a great familie The safetie of Monarchies dependeth of the loue and loialtie of subiects The mutuall duties of the Prince and his subiects What praise a Prince is to seek after The whole world is immortall in respect of substance but not of qualities Excellent titles of a good Prince Examples of former ages must be propounded to Princes Scipio Africanus Menander Traian Agesilaus Aristides Deut. 17. 19. It is as hard a matter to gouerne well as to get an Empire Why Princes are placed in their thrones The good will of the people dependeth of the integritie of religion The sayings of the seuen wise men of Grecia touching the estate of Princes Traians letter to the Senate touching the carefull estate of Princes To what false surmises a Prince is subiect Who is fittest to tule The Prince must giue account to none but to God The first and principall dutie of a Prince is to haue the law of God before his eies Psal 119. The pietie of the prince is of great force with his subiects to stirre them vp to their dutie The Prince must be sure that the religion he maintaineth is the iust will of God The duties of a Prince comprehended in three points Isocrates argument whoreby he prooueth the good raigne of a Prince A Prince must loue his subiects He must begin reformation at himselfe He must haue the wisest next his person The first dutie of a king towards his subiects Good precepts for a Prince What manner of lawes are to be established in a Common-wealth Ierem. 22. 3. Philip lost his life bicause he delaied iustice Demetrius threw the supplications of his subiects into a water A prince must execute iustice vpon the transgressours of the law of God and of nature When it is commendable in him to shew mercie How a Prince may preserue his kingdome a great while without danger Marcus Aurelius stood not in feare of his subiects Numa refused the gard of three hundred archers which Romulus had Plato his speech to Dionysius concerning his gard Grauitie and seueritie requisite in a prince A principle in state matters The effects of harmonicall iustice What authority a Prince hath ouer his subiects goods Hebreas freedome of speech in reproouing Antonius Some gold more vile and base than iron Darius diminished his tributs Lewes the 9. was the first that raised a taxe in France His exhortation to his eldest sonne Liberalitie necessarie in a Prince The difference betweene a reward and a benefit A king must be as good as his word The saying of Theopompus A Prince must discerne wiselie betweene faithfull seruants and flatterers Wisedome necessarie in a King Temperance requisite in a Prince What maner of exercises a Prince must vse A Prince must be skilfull in warre and yet loue peace A Prince must carefully auoid ciuill dissention What Counsellors a Prince must chuse The summe of the dutie of a Prince A common misery incident 〈◊〉 the estate of princes Counsellors are the eies eares of a Prince What counsellors are to be vsed by Princes Counsell is the anchor of the citie The excellencie of counsell All common-wealths consist chiefly of two things What a councel is The profit of a councell A councell or Senate is the soule of the common-welth The Hebrewes compared it to a foundation The councell of the Amphictions The Senate of the Lacedemonians The Senate of the Athenians The Senate of the Romanes The power of the Consuls of Rome The power of the Senate of Rome The power of the people of Rome Of the councel of the Turke Of the councell of the Venetians Of the councel of Rhagusium Of the councel of Genes The councel of Switzerland The councel of Germanie The assemblie of estates in Polonia Of the councel of Spaine Seuen seuerall councels in Spaine Of the councell of England Of the secret councell of France Of the priuie councell of France What matters are handled therein A commendable custome vsed in the priuie councell of France Of the great councell Of the court of Parliament Of the strict councell What it is to hold the estates The name of parliament belongeth to priuate courtes in France Causes of the assemblie of estates The assembly of estates is not aboue the prince Theopompus answer to his wife An excellent comparison The dutie and qualities of counsellors of estate Three things necessarie in a counsellor of estate Counsellors may not be Pensioners to forrain princes Example hereof in Agesilaus Counsellors must not through feare shrinke from their dutie Examples hereof Considius answer to Caesar Solyman hanged a wicked counsellor Good counsell better than many hands Rom. 13. 4. The common breach of lawes breedeth contempt of the magistrate Iudgements are the sinews of an estate A certain token of the ruine of an estate The prince stādeth bound for iustice and must answer before God for the breach therof What iudgementis Magistrats must alwaies haue the law equitie before their eies The diuision of iudgements A rigorous iudgment
14 Recreation how men ought to recreate theÌ„selues 375 Religion religion is the foundation of all estates 576. Socrates called it the greatest vertue 53. integritie of religion knitteth the harts of subiects to their princes 653. the fruits of the contempt of religion 704 Reprehension how we must vse reprehension 151. examples of free reprehension 156 Reuenge priuate reuenge commeth of frailtie 326. examples of princes void of reuenge 327. Socrates precept against priuate reuenge 381. a comendable kind of reuenge 382. 383. Reward the difference between a reward and a benefit 672 Riches how riches may be well vsed 435. the common effects of riches 350. anotable example of the true vse of riches 439. the nature qualitie and fruits of riches 351. what riches are to be sought for 358. riches are the sinewes of warre 749 Rome of the ancient estate of Rome 605 S Salick the Salick lawe excludeth daughters and their sonnes from gouernment 635 Schoole-master what schoole-masters are to be chosen 554. the properties of a good schoolemaster 564 Sciences what sciences are first to be learned 77 Scoffing what scoffing is and how it is to bee auoided 464 Secret of concealing a secret 134 Sedition the original of all sedition 703. the fruits of sedition 705. the causes of sedition 718 Selling it is wickednes to conceale the fault of that which a man selleth 416 Senate what a Senate is and from whence the word came 572. why the Senate of Lacedemonia was first instituted 580. of the Senate of sundry nations 678 Seruant examples of moderate traine of seruing-men 220. the dutie of seruants comprehended in foure points 547. examples of the loue of seruants towards their maisters 548 Seueritie an example of most cruell seueritie 412 Shame honest shame is alwaies commendable 264. howe we must learne to resist all naughty shame 259. 261. shame is the keeper of all vertues 256. what shame is hurtfull 259 Shamefastnes the shamefastnes of the Romans 263. of the Milesian maidens 264. it is the best dowrie of a woman 516 Signes Anaxagoras saying against the superstitious feare of celestiall signes 121 Silence Alexander gaue monie to a poet to keepe silence 131. the praise of silence 133 Sinne the punishment of sinne is equall with it both for age and time 407. how we must auoid and represse it 258. some sinnes are punishments of other sinnes 190. how we may ouercome great sinnes 47. sinne the first and true cause of all our miserie 13 Sobrietie it preserueth health 200. examples of sobrietie 203. c. Societie the end of all societie 480 Soueraigntie what soueraigntie is 586. the marke of a soueraigne 595 Souldiers good counsell for souldiers 343. souldiers must begin war with praier and end with praise 783 Soule the soule is not subiect to mans iurisdiction 573. the soule is infused not traduced 23. the properties of the soule 25. the soule is truly man 12. 85. 115. the actions beautie and delight of the soule 26 Speech pleasant speeches full of doctrine 114. how it is framed 127. Laconical speech 128. two times of speaking 130. how great men ought to speake 131. a good precept for speech 132. examples of the commendable freedome of speech 135 Spirit the difference betweene the soule and the spirit 88. the proper worke of mans spirit 74 Sports the sports of prudent men 113 Studie the end of all studies 556 Stupiditie the description of stupiditie 196 Subiects what seruice they owe to their princes 608. how far they are bound to obey their prince and his lawes 610 Superfluitie how Heraclitus disswaded superfluitie 217. good counsell for princes and magistrates concerning superfluous expences 222 Swearing against swearing 317 T Temperance no vertue can be without temperance 180. fower parts of temperance 182. what passions are ruled by it 181. examples thereof 184 Temple the temple of Diana was burnt by Erostratus 196 Theft theft punished diuersly in diuers nations 602 Timocratie the description of a Timocratie 581 Toong the toong is the best and woorst thing that is 130. examples of mischiefes caused by the intemperancie of the toong 134. Trafficke Lycurgus forbad all traffick with strangers 164 Treason treason and crueltie neuer find place in a noble hart 296. the effects of treason 418. examples of the ill successe of traitors 422. a seuere law against treason 614 Truth all men by nature haue some light of truth 18 Turke of the estate of the Turke 631. he disposeth of all lordships at his pleasure 632 Tyrannie when a kingdome turneth into a tyoannie 579 tyrants are naturally hated 610. marks of a tyrannie 631. of the name of a tyrant 636. the difference betweene a good king and a tyrant 637. examples of the extraordinarie deaths of tyrants 639 V Vain-glorie Solon called euery vain-glorious man a foole 255 Valure properties requisite in a valiant man 267. all hardie men are not valiant 268. how a man may be valiant 288. froÌ„ whence valure proceedeth 765 Vengeance why God deferreth his vengeance vpon the wicked 69 Venice of the state of Venice 605. the dukedome of Venice is electiue 624 Vertue vertue is neither without affections nor subiect vnto them 309. the propertie of vertue oppressed 347. three things concurre in perfect vertue 175. the neere coniunctiâ— of all the vertues 107. examples of the force of vertue in aduersitie 58. the excellencie and property of vertue 55. it is alwaies void of extreame passion 37 Vice when we begin to hate vice 64. the effects of vice 65. how we should fortifiâ— our selues against vice 69. fiâ—â— vices brought out of Asia by the Romans 164 Victorie how victorie is to be vsed 791 Vnhappines who are vnhappie 334 Vnthankfulnes Draco punished vnthankfulnes by death 429. the fruits of vnthankfulnes 430 Voice the diuersitie of mens voices is a great secret of nature 22 Vsuric biting vsuric is detestable gaine 527 W War a notable example against ciuill war 101. two kinds of war 706. whether diuersitie of religion be a cause of ciuill war 738. the effects of war 758. wherefore and when we must begin war 760. three things necessarily required in men of war 765. war ought to be speedily ended 776. affaires of war must be debated by manie but concluded by few 781 Whoordome the hurtfull effects of whoordome 237. c. good counsell against whoordome 244 Wicked why the life of the wicked cannot be happâ—â— 406. the propertie of the wicked 67 Widow of the marriage of widowes 496 Wife a wife is to be chosen by the cares not by the fingers 493. the best way to order an 〈◊〉 wife 507. how she must deale with hi◠〈◊〉 husband 514. a short 〈◊〉 of â—he dutie of a wife 517. examples of the great loue of wiâ—â—s toward their husbands 518. Wisedome it is true wisedome to know our selues 11. the perfection of a wise mans life 18. a wise man is ashamed to offend before himselfe 68. the praise of wisedome 75. 730. Wit quicke wits commonly want memorie 84 Wimes how the Iewes punished false witnes bearing 602 Woman why the woman was created of the rib of man 485. the naturall gifts of women 512. curtaine takens of an adulterous hart in a woman 516. against ignorance in women 555 Worke wherin she perfection of euery worke consisteth 266. two things requisite in euerie good worke 95 World the differens opinions of the Stoicks and Epicures concerning the gouernment of the world 328 Wrath Cotys brake his glasses to auoid occasion of wrath 315 Writing piâ—hie writings of ancient men 132 X Xenophon the great prudence of Xenophon in conducting an armie 81 Y Yeer effects of the climacterical yeer 63. 563 Youth how the Romans taught their youth to for sake the follies of their first age 567. examples of vâ—riuous yoong-mâ—n 568. how the Perâ—iaâ— youth was instructed 263. two things to be respected in the institution of youth 556. the common diseases of youth 559. sixe precepts requisite in the inâ—truction of youth 558 Z Zaleucus Zaleucus laâ—e against adulterie 240 Zeale the zeale of the ancients in the seruice of their Gods 97 FINIS