if thou be euill lyfe shal bee euyl imployd on thee and if thou bee good thou oughtest to die imediatly and because I am woors thē all I liue lōger then all These woordes which Adrian my lord sayed doe plainely declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruel death doth assaulte the good and lēgthneth life a great while to the euil The opinion of a philosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their misteryes and so iust in their woorks that to men which least profit the common wealth they lengthen lyfe longest and though he had not sayd it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale and frendship to the common wealth either the gods take him from vs or the enemies do sley him or the daungers doe cast him away or the the trauailes do finish him When great Pompeius Iulius Cesar became enemyes from that enmite came to cruel warres the cronicles of that time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in the fauour of Iulius Cesar and the mightiest most puisaunte of al the oriental parts came in the ayd of great Pompeius beecause these two Princes were loued of few and serued and feared of al. Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the oriental part into the host of the great Pompeius one nation came maruelous cruel barbarous which sayd they dwelled in the other side of the mountayns Riphees which go vnto India And these barbarous had a custome not to liue no longer then fifty years therfore when thei came to that age they made a greater fier and were burned therin aliue and of their owne willes they sacrificed them selues to the gods Let no man bee astoined at that wee haue spoken but rather let them maruel of that wee wyl speak that is to say that the same day that any man had accomplished fifty years immediatly hee cast him self quick in to the fier and the parents children and his freends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eat the fleash of the dead half burned and drank in wyne and water the asshes of his bones so that the stomak of the children beeing aliue was the graue of the fathers beeing dead All this that I haue spoken with my toung Pompeius hath seen with his eies for that some beeing in the camp did accomplish fifty years bycause the case was straunge hee declared it oft times in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what hee will and condemne the barbarous at his pleasure yet I wyll not cease too say what I think O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the world to come shal bee a perpetuall memory What contēpt of world what forgetfulnes of him self what stroke of fortune what whip for the flesh what litell regard of lyfe O what bridell for the veruous O what confusion for those that loue lyfe O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those heeare haue wyllingly dispised their own liues it is not to bee thought that they died to take the goods of others neither to think that our life shoold neuer haue end nor our couetousnes in like maner O glorious people and .10 thousand sold happy that the proper sensuallyty beeing forsaken hath ouercome the natural appetyte to desire to liue not beeleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall destines By the way they assalted fortune they chaunged life for death they offred the body to death and aboue al haue woon honor with the gods not for that they should hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluus of life Archagent a surgiō of Rome and Anthonius Musus a phisition of the Emperor Augustus and Esculapius father of the phisick shoold get litel mony in that country Hee that thē shoold haue sēt to the barbarous to haue doone as the Romaynes at that tyme did that is to wete to take siroppes in the mornings pylls at night to drynk mylk in the morning to noynt them selues with gromelsede to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eat of one thing and to abstein from many a man ought to think that hee which willingly seeketh death wil not geue mony to lengthen lyfe ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and sheweth what perilles those old men lyue in which dissolutely like yong children passe their days and geeueth vnto them holsome counsell for the remedy therof Cap. xxii BVt returning now to thee Claude to thee Claudine mee thinketh that these barbarous beeing fifty years of age and you others hauing aboue thre score and 10. it should bee iust that sithens you were elder in years you were equal in vertue and though as they you wyl not accept death paciently yet at the least you ought to amend your euel liues willingly I do remember that it is many years sithens that Fabritius the yong sonne of Fabritius the old had ordeyned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told mee great inconueniences had hapned and sithens that you did mee so great a benefit I woold now requite you the same with an other like For amongst frends there is no equal benifit then to deceyue the deceyuer I let you know if you doo not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are soonk into your heads the nostrels are shutt the hears are white the hearing is lost the tonge faltreth the teeth fall the face is wrincled the feete swoln the stomak cold Finally I say that if the graue could speak as vnto his subiects by iustice hee myght commaund you to inhabit his house It is great pity of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorante for then vnto such their eyes are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth thē to the graue Plato in his book of the common wealth sayd that in vaine wee geeue good counsels to fond light yongmen For youth is without experiēce of that it knoweth suspicious of that it heareth incredible of that is told him despising the counsayl of an other and very poore of his own Forsomuch as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the yong haue of the good is not so much but the obstinacion which the old hath in the euel is more For the mortal gods many times do dissemble with a .1000 offeces committed by ignorance but they neuer forgeeue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doo not meruel that you doo forget the gods as you doo which created you and your fathers which beegot you and your parēts which haue loued you and your frends which haue
to moch aboundaunce and libertie of youth is no other but a prophesie manifest token of disobedience in age I knowe not why princes and great lordes do toile and oppresse so much and scratche to leaue their children great estates and on the other syde we see that in teachyng them they are and shew theim selues to negligent for princes great lordes ought to make account that all that whych they leaue of their substaunce to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their coÌ„sciences are vpright and of their honours carefull oughte to be very diligent to bring vp their children chiefly that they consyder whether they be mete to inherite their estates And if perchaunce the fathers se that their children be more giueÌ„ to follie then to noblenes and wysdome then should I be ashamed to se a father that is wise trauaile al the dayes of his life to leaue much substaunce to an euill brought vp child after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thyng to se the cares whych the fathers take to gather ryches and the diligence that children haue to spende them And in this case I saye the sonne is fortunate for that he doeth inherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeth In my opinion Fathers ar bound to enstructe theyr Children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also bycause they ought to be theyr heyres For truely with great greyfe and sorow I suppose he doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrifte the toile of all his life Hyzearcus the Greeke hystorien in the booke of his antiquities and Sabellyquus in his generall history sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complaine to the famous phylosopher and auncient Solon Solinon the sonne complayned of the father and the father of the sonne First the son informed the quarel to the Phylosopher sayeng these wordes I complayne of my father bycause he beyng ryche hath dysheryted me and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the whyche thyng my father oughte not nor cannot doe For sence he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason he geue me hys goods to maintayne my feblenes To these wordes aunswered the father I complayne of my sonne bycause he hathe not bene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemye for in all thynges since he was borne he hath bene disobedient to my will wherfore I thought it good to dysheryte hym before my death I woulde I weâ—e quite of all my substaunce so that the goddes hadde quyte hym of hys lyfe for the earthe is very cruell that swalloweth not the chyld alyue whyche to hys father is dysobedyent In that he sayeth I haue adopted another chyld for myne heyre I confesse it is true and for somuche as he sayeth that I haue dysinheryted hym and abiected hym from my herytage he beynge begotten of my owne bodye hereunto I aunswere That I haue not disinheryted my sonne but I haue disinheryted his pleasure tothentent he shal not enioy my trauaile for there can be nothing more vniust then that the yonge and vitious sonne should take his pleasure of the swette and droppes of the aged father The sonne replyed to his father and sayd I confesse I haue offended my father and also I confesse that I haue lyued in pleasures yet if I maye speake the trueth thoughe I were disobedient and euill my father oughte to beare the blame and if for this cause he doeth dysherite me I thynke he doth me great iniurye For the father that enstructed not hys sonne in vertue in hys youthe wrongfullye dysheryteth hym though he be disobedient in hys age The father agayne replyeth and saieth It is true my sonne that I brought the vp to wantonly in thy youth but thou knowest well that I haue taughte the sondrye tymes and besydes that I dyd correcte the when thou camest to some discretion And if in thy youth I dyd not instructe the in learnyng it was for that thou in thy tender age dydest wante vnderstandyng but after that thou haddest age to vnderstand discrecion to receiue and strength to exercyse it I began to punyshe the to teache the and to instructe the. For where no vnderstandyng is in the chyld there in vaine they teache doctrine Sence thou arte old quoth the sonne and I yong sence thou arte my father and I thy sonne for that thou hast whyte heres of thy bearde and I none at all it is but reason that thou be beleued I condemned For in this world we se oftetimes that the smal aucthoryty of the parson maketh hym to lose hys great iustyce I grauÌ„t the my father that when I was a childe thou dydst cause me to learne to reade but thou wylte not denye that if I dyd coÌ„mit any faulte thou wouldest neauer agree I should be punyshed And hereof it came that thou sufferyng me to doe what I woulde in my youth haue bene dysobedient to the euer since in my age And I saye to the further that if in this case I haue offended trulye me thinketh thou canst not be excused for the fathers in the youthe of their children oughte not onely to teache them to dispute of vertues and what vertue is but they ought to inforce them to be vertuous in dede For it is a good token when youth before they know vyces hath bene accustomed to practice vertues Both parties thou diligentlie hard the good Philosopher Solon Solinon spake these wordes I geue iudgement that the father of thys child be not buried after hys death and I commaunde that the sonne bycause in hys youth he hath not obeyed his father who is olde should be dysinheryted whiles the father lyueth from all hys substaunce on suche condition that after hys death hys sonnes should inheryte the heritage and so returne to the heires of the sonne and line of the father For it were vniust that the innocencie of the sonne should be condempned for the offence of the father I doe commaunde also that all the goods be committed vnto some faithful parson to th end they may geue the father meate and drinke durynge hys lyfe and to make a graue for the sonne after hys death I haue not with out a cause geuen suche iudgement the which comprehendeth lyfe and death for the Gods wyll not that for one pleasure the punyshement be double but that we chastyse and punyshe the one in the lyfe takynge from hym hys honour and goods and that we punyshe others after there death takyng from them memorye and buriall Truly the sentence which the Philosopher gaue was graue and would to God we had him for a iudge of this world presentlye for I sweare that he should finde many children now a dayes for to disheryte and mo fathers to punishe For I cannot tell which is greater the shame of the children to disobey their fathers or
apparayle whych he weare and aboue all he made as solempne a funeral to Euripides as if they had buried Vlisses And not contented wythal these thyngs he was neuer mery vntil such tyme he had done cruel execuciō of the malefactours For truly the iniury or death whych is done vnto him whom we loue is no other but as a bath and token of our owne good willes After iustice was executed of those homycides and that some of the bones all gnawen of the dogges were buryed a Grecian knight sayd vnto kyng Archelaus I let the know excellent kyng that all Macedonia is offended with the because that for so small a losse thou haste shewed so greate sorow To whom kynge Archelaus aunswered Among sages it is a thinge sufficientlye tried that noble hartes oughte not to shewe theymselues sadde for mishappes and sodaine chaunces For the king being sadde his realme can not and though it might it ought not shew it selfe mery I haue heard my father say once that princes should neuer shedde teares vnlesse it were for one of these causes 1 The first the Prince should bewaile the losse and daunger of his common wealth for the good Prince ought to pardon the iniuryes done to his parson but to reuenge the least act done to the common wealth he ought to hasarde himselfe 2 The second the good prince ought to lamente if any man haue touched his honour in any wise for the Prince which wepeth not droppes of bloud for the thinges touchinge hys honoure deserueth to be buryed quycke in his graue 3 The third the good Prynce ought to bewayle those whych can lytle and suffer muche For the Prynce whych bewayleth not the calamities of the poore in vaine and without profite lyueth on the earth 4 The fourth the good Prince ought to bewayle the glory and prosperity wherin the Tiraunts are For that prince whych wyth tyrannye of the euil is not displeased wyth the hartes of the good is vnworthye to be beloued 5 The fift the good Prynce ought to bewayle the death of wise men For to a Prynce there can come no greater losse then when a wyse man dyeth in his common wealth These were the words which the king Archelaus aunswered the Grecian knight who reproued him because he had wept for the death of Euripides the phylosopher The auncient Historiographers can say no more of the estimacyon whych the Phylosophers and wyse men had as well the Greekes as the Latynes but I wyl tell you one thinge worthy of noting It is wel knowen through all the world that Scipio the Ethnicke was one of the worthyeste that euer was in Rome for by hys name and by hys occasion Rome gotte such a memorye as shall euermore endure And this was not only for that he cōquered Affrycke but for the great worthynes of hys person Men ought not to esteme a lytle these two giftes in one man that is to wete to be happie and aduentures For many of the auncientes in times past wanne glory by their swords after lost it by their euil liues The Romaynes historographers say that the first that wrote in heroical meeter in the Latin tongue was Ennius the poete the workes of whom was so estemed of Scipio the Ethnicke that when this aduenturous so lucky Romaine dyed he commaunded in hys wil and testament that they should hange the image of thys Ennius the Poet ouer his graue By that the great Scipio did at his death we may wel coniecture how great a frend he was of sages in his life since he had rather for his honor set the statue of Ennius on his graue thā the banner wherwith he wanne and conquered Affricke In the time of Pirrus which was king of the Epirotes great enemy of the Romaines florished a philosopher named Cinas borne in Thessalie who as they say was the disciple of Demosthenes The historiographers at that time did so much esteme this Cinas that they sayd he was the maister measure of mans eloquence For he was very pleasaunt in words profound in sētences This Cinas serued for 3. offices in the palace of king Pyrrus 1 First he made pastime at his table in that he dyd declare for he had a good grace in thinges of laughter 2 Secondarily he wrote the valyaunt dedes of his history for in his stile he had great eloquence and to write the truth he was a witnes of syght 3 Thirdly he went for embassadoure in affaires of great importaunce for he was naturally subtyle and wittie and in dispatching busines he was very fortunate He vsed so many meanes in his busines and had so great perswasion in his wordes that he neuer toke vpon him to speake of thinges of warre but either he set a longe truce or els he made a perpetual peace The king Pyrrus sayd to this Cynas O Cinas for thre thinges I thanke the immortal gods 1 The first for that they created me a king and not a seruaunt for the greatest good that mortal men haue is to haue lyberty to commaund many and not to be bound to obey any 2 The second I thanke the immortal gods for that they naturaly made me stout of hart for the man which wyth euery tryfle is abashed it were better for him to leaue his life 3 The third I giue the immortal gods thankes for that in the gouernment of my common wealth and for the great affaires and busines of my real me as wel in warres as in other thinges they gaue me such a man as thou art in my company For by thy gentle speach I haue conquered and obtained many Cyties which by my cruell sword I could neuer wynne nor attayne These were the wordes which Pyrrus sayd to his frend Cinas the Poete Let euery Prince know now how great louers of wise men those were in tymes past and as vppon a sodaine I haue recyted these few examples so with smal study I could haue heaped infynite Historyes FINIS The ende of the firste Booke The Seconde booke of the Diall of princes vvherein the Authoure treateth howe Princes and greate Lordes shoulde behaue theym selues towardes their wyues And howe they ought to noryshe and brynge vp their Children ¶ Of what excellencye mariage is and wheras common people marie of free will Princes and noble men oughte to marye of necessitie Cap. i. AMonge all the frendships and companyes of this lyfe ther is none so naturall as that betwene the husbande and the wife lyuing in one house for all other compagnies are caused by free wil only but this procedeth both by wil necessity Ther is at this day no Lion so fierce no Serpent so venimous no Viper so infectiue no Aspicke so mortall neyther any beast so tirrible but at the least both male female do once in the yere mete conioyne and thoughe that in brute beastes there lacketh reason yet notwithstandynge they haue a naturall instinction to assemble themselues for the
gladsome mynde he trained was to spend Synce that his youth which slippeth loe by stelth To waite on me he freely did commend Since he such heapes of lingring harmes did wast Aye to contente my wanton youthly wil And that his breath to fade did passe so fast To glut their thrust that thus his bloud did spill Though great the dutie be which that I owe Vnto his graued ghost and â—indred moulde Yet loe me seames my duetie well I showe Perfourming that my feble power coulde For since for me vntwined was his threede Of giltles life that ought to purchase breath Can reasons doome conclude I ought to dreede For his decaye to clyme the steppes of death In wretched earth my father graued lyes My deere mother hath ronne her rase of life The pride of loue no more can dawnt mine eies My wasted goodes ar shronke by fortunes strife My honours sone eclipsed is by fate My yong delight is loe fordone by chaunce My broken life these passed happes so hate As can my graued hart no more aduaunce And nowe remaines to duetie with my phere No more but refuse loe my yrkesome life With willing mynde followed eke with drere Whiche I resigne as sitteth for a wife And thou Sinoris whiche Iunos yoke doest craue To presse my corps to feede thy liking lust The route of Homers gods the graunt to haue In steade of roiall feates a throne of dust In chaunge of costlie robes and riche araie A simple winding sheete they deigne the giue And eke in stede of honest wedlockes staie They singe thy dirge and not vouchsaue the liue In place of himens hie vnfiled bedde They laie thée vp in closure of thy graue In steed with precious meates for to be fedde They make the wormes for fitter praie thee haue In steed of songe and musikes tuned sowne They waite on thée with loude lamenting voice In chaunge of ioyfull life and hie renowne Thy cruell death may sprede with wretched noise For you great gods that stalled be on hie Should not be iust ne yet suche titles clame Vnles this wretche ye ruthles cause to die That liueth nowe to sclaunder of your name And thou Dian that haunted courtes doost shonne Knowst with what great delight this life I leaue And when the race of spending breath is donne Will perse the soile that did my phere receaue ¶ And if perchaunce the paled ghostes despise Suche fatall fine with grudge of thankeles minde Yet at the least the shamefast liuing eies Shall haue a glasse rare wysely giftes to finde Wherein I will that Lucres secte shall gase But none that lyue like Helens line in blase AND when the praier was ended that this faire and vertuous Camma made she dranke and gaue to drynke to Sinoris of this cuppe of poyson who thought to drynke no other but good wyne and water and the case was suche that he died at noone daies and she likewyse in the eueninge after And truly her death of all Grece with as great sorowe was lamented as her life of all men was desired Princesses and great Ladies may moste euidently perceiue by the examples herein conteyned howe honest and honourable it is for them to loue and endeuoure them selues to be beloued of their husbandes and that not onely in their lyfe but also after their deathe For the wyfe to serue her husbande in his life seameth oft tymes to proceade of feare but to loue and honour him in his graue proceadeth of loue Princesses and great Ladies ought not to doe that which many other women of the common people doe that is to wete to seke some drinkes and inuente some shamefull sorceries to be beloued of their husbandes for albeit it is a great burden of conscience and lacke of shame in lyke maner to vse such superstitions yet it should be a thing to vniust and very slaunderous that for to be beloued of their husbandes they should procure to bee hated of God Truly to loue to serue and contente God it is not hurtefull to the woman for that she should be the better beloued of her husbande but yet God hathe suffered and doth permitte oftetymes that the women beinge feble deformed poore and negligent should be better beloued of their husbandes then the diligent faire and ryche And this is not for the seruices they doe to their husbandes but for the good intention they haue to serue loue God whiche sheweth them this especiall fauour for otherwyse God doth not suffer that he being with her displeased she should lyue with her husbande contented If women would take this councell that I geue them in this case I wil teache them furthermore a notable enchauntement to obteine the loue of their husbandes whiche is that they be quiet meke pacient solitary and honest with which fiue herbes they may make a confection the which neither seene nor tasted of their husbands shal not onely cause them to be beloued but also honoured For women ought to knowe that for their beautie they are desyred but for their vertue onely they are beloued ¶ That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be obedient to their husbandes and that it is a great shame to the husbande that his wyfe should commaunde him Cap. vi MAny auncient historiographers trauailed greatly and consumed long tyme in wryting to declare what authoritie the man ought to haue ouer the woman and what seruitude the woman oweth to the man and some for to auaunce the dignitie of the man and others to excuse the frailtie of the woman alleged such vayne thinges that it had bene more honour for them not to haue written at all then in suche sorte as they did For it is not possible but the wryters should erre whiche wryte not as reason teacheth but rather as their fantasie leadeth Those that defende the frailtie of the women saied that the woman hath a body as a man she hath a soule as a man she hath reason as a man dieth as a man and was as necessarie for generation as man she liueth as a man and therefore they thought it not mete that she should be more subiect to man then man to her for it is not reason that that whiche nature hath made free should by any lawes of man be made bond They saide furthermore that God created not the creatours but to augmente the generation of mankinde and that in this case the woman was more necessary then the man for the man engendreth without payne or trauayle but the woman is deliuered with perill and daunger and with payne and trauayle norysheth vp the childe Wherfore it seameth great vnkindnes and crueltie that the women whiche are deliuered with peryll and daunger of their lyues and brynge vp their chyldren with laboure and toyle of their bodyes should be vsed of their husbandes as sclaues They sayed further that men are those that cursse that moue seditions that make warres that mayntayne enmytie that weare weapons that sheade mans bloude
they are dyssended ▪ as for the wisedom and eloquence which they had Marcus Aurelius was natural of Rome borne in mount Celio he was poore in patrimony and of base lynage lytel in fauour lefte and forsaken of his parentes and besides al this only for beinge vertuous in his lyfe profound in doctrine and of so high eloquence the Emperour Anthonius called Pius gaue him his daughter Faustine for wife who being reproued of many bycause he gaue his doughter to so poore a philosopher aunswered I had rather haue a poore philosopher then a riche foole Pulio in his seuenth booke of the Romaine lawes sayth that in Rome ther was a law very wel kept obserued of the consulles by a custome brought in that the Dictatours Censors and Emperours of Rome entered into the Senate once in the weke at the least and in this place they should geue and render accompt in what state the common wealth remayned O would to God that at this present this law were so kept and obserued for ther is none who doth minister so good iustice as he which thinketh to giue accompt of his doings They say that Calligula the fourth Emperoure of Rome was not only deformed infamous and cruel in his lyfe but also was an Idiote in eloquence and of an euyl vtteraunce in his communycacion So that he among al the Romaine princes was constrayned to haue others to speake for him in the Senate This wickedman was so vnfortunate that after his cruel and infamous death they drew him throughout Rome and set vppon his graue this Epitaphe ¶ Calligula lyeth here in endles sleape That stretchte his raigne vpon the Empires heade Vnfytte for rule that could such folly heape And fytte for death wher vertue so was dead I Cannot tel why princes do prayse them selues to be strong and hardy to be wel disposed to be runners to iust wel and do not esteame to be eloquent sinse it is true that those giftes do profite them only for their life but the eloquēce profiteth them not only for to honour their life but also to augment their renowme For we do reade that by that many Princes dyd pacifye great sedycions in the common wealth and besides that they deserued immortall memorie Suetonius Trancquillus in the firste booke of Cesars sayth that the aduenturous Iulius Cesar being as yet but 16. yeares of age when there dyed in Rome an aunt of his called Cornelia at her buriall he made an oracion in the which he being so yong shewed marueilous great eloquence which was so accepted that day in al people that in the end euery man iudged him to be a valiaunt Romane captaine And as Appianus declareth they say that Silla spake these wordes That which I perceiue of this yong man Caius Cesar is that in the boldnes of his tongue he declareth how valiaunt he ought to be in his person Let therfore Princes and great Lords se how much it may profite them to know to speake wel and eloquently For we se no other thing dayly but that a man of base lynage by his eloquence commeth to be exalted and the other which of lynage is nobly borne for wante of speaking wel and being eloquent is the first that discendeth most vilest of al other Thentencion wherupon I wrate these things was for no other but to admonishe perswade and pray al princes and great lordes that whiles their children are yong they should put them to wise and learned men to the end they should teache them not only how they ought to liue but also how they ought to speake For to personnes of estate it is a great infamy to do or to inuent to do a thing and afterward not to know how to geue a reason therof Polidorus in the third booke of his commentaries sayth that when the Lacedemonians were put to flyght by the Athenians in Rota Millina it is called Millina bycause the battaile was in the riuer of Milline the Lacedemonians sent a phylosopher called Heuxinus to treate of peace with the Athenians who made such an eloquent oracion to the Senate of Athens that hee dyd not only obtaine the peace which he desired for his country but for himselfe also he wanne perpetual renowme At the phylosophers retourne the Athenians gaue him a letter which sayd in this sort ¶ Of a letter whiche the Athenians sente to the Lacedemonians Cap. xxvi THe Senate people and Sages of Athens wisheth healthe to the persons and peace to the common wealth of you of the senate and people of the Lacedemonians We take the immortal gods to recorde that in the laste battaile we had no lesse dyspleasure to se ye ouercome then on the contrary we had pleasure to se vs remaine victorious For in the end the daungers and inconueniences of the cruel warres are so great that the euill and daunger is certeine to them that are vanquished and the profite is doubtful to them that haue ouercommed We would gladly that that which now ye wil ye would haue willed soner that which now ye require demaund that before ye had requyred and demaunded But what shal we do sinse it was ordeined to your and our woful destenies that he should loose the battaile and that we of your losse can take no profite For it is a rule vnfallible that al that which the gods haue ordeyned no worldly wight can amende nor humaine power resist Ye demaund that warre may cease and leaue of and that we take truise for .iii. monethes and that during this time peace concord may be concluded To this we make aunswere That the senate of Athens hath not accustomed to graunt peace afterwards for to retourne to warre For amongest vs Athenians we haue an auncient law that freely we do accept the cruel warre and liberallye we doe graunt perpetual peace In our scoles and vniuersities we trauaile to haue Sages in time of peace for to helpe vs with their counsayles in the time of warre And they do counsaile vs that we neuer take vpon vs truse vpon suspect condicion And in dead they counsaile vs well For the fayned and dyssembled peace is muche more perrillous then is the manifest warre The philosopher Heuxinus your embassadour hath spoken to vs so highly and eloquentlye in this Senate that it semed to vs very vniust if we should deny him and gaine say that he requireth vs. For it is much more honestye to graunt him peace whiche by sweete and pleasaunt words doth demaund it then him which by force and sharpe sword doeth requyreth it Let the case therfore be that the Senate people and Sages of Athens haue ordeyned that warre do cease with the Lacedemonians and that al discordes contencions dissentions and debates do end that perpetual peace be graunted vnto them And this thing is done to the end al the world should know that Athens is of such courage wythe the hardy and so very a frend to the Sages that she knoweth
of such a qualitie that it foloweth new inuentions and despiseth auncient customes All the people therfore gathered togethers the good philosopher Phetonius set vp in the middest of the market place a gybet hoote yrons a swerd a whip and fetters for the feete the whiche thyng done the Thebains were no lesse as they thought slaundered thē abashed To the which he spake these wordes You Thebains sente me to the Lacedemonians to the entent I should learne their lawes and customes and in dede I haue bene ther more then a yere beholdyng al thinges very diligentely for we Philosophers are bound not onely to note that whyche is done but also to know why it is done knowe ye Thebains that this in the aunswere of my Imbassage That the Lacedemonians hang vpon this Gybet theues with this same sworde they behede traytors with these hoote Irons they torment blasphemers and lyers with these roddes they whippe vacabondes and with these Irons do keape the rebels and the others are for players and vnthriftes Finally I say that I do not bryng you the lawes written but I bring you the Instrumentes wherwith they are obserued The Thebains were abashed to se these thinges and spake vnto hym such wordes Consider Phetonius wee haue not sent the to the Lacedemonians to bring instrumentes to take away life but for the good lawes to gouerne the common wealth The philosopher Phetonius replyed again aunswered Thebains I let you wete that if ye know what we philosophers knew you shold see how far your mindes wer from the truth For the Lacedemonians are not so vertuous thoroughe the lawes whych wer made of them that be dead as for the meanes they haue sought to preserue them that be alyue For maters of Iustice consiste more in execution then in commaundyng or ordeinynge Lawes are easely ordeyned but with difficultie executed for there are a thousande to make them but to put them in execution there is not one Ful lytle is that whych men knowe that are present in respect of that those knewe which are past But yet accordyng to my litle knowledge I proffer to gyue as good lawes to you Thebains as euer wer obserued among the Lacedemoniās For there is nothing more easy then to know the good and nothynge more commen then to folow the euill But what profiteth it if one will ordeyne and none vnderstand it Yf ther be that doth vnderstand thē there is none that excuteth them Yf there be that executeth them there is none that obserueth thē Yf there be one that obserueth them ther is a thousand that reproueth them For without comparison mo are they that murmure grudge at the good then those whych blame and despise the euyll You Thebains are offended bycause I haue brought suche Instrumentes but I let you wete if you wyll neyther Gybet nor sworde to kepe that which shal be ordeyned you shall haue your bookes full of lawes and the common wealth full of vices Wherfore I sweare vnto you that there are mo Thebains whiche folowe the deliciousnes of Denis the tyraunt then there are vertuous men that folowe the lawes of Lycurgus If you Thebains do desire greatly to know with what Lawes the Lacedemonians doe preserue their common wealthe I will tel you them all by worde and if you will reade them I will shew you them in writyng But it shal be vpon condition that you shall sweare all openly that once a daye you shall employ your eyes to reade them and your parsonnes to obserue them For the prince hath greater honour to se one onely law to be obserued in dede then to ordeyne a thousand by wryting You ought not to esteame muche to be vertuous in harte nor to enquire of the vertue by the mouth nor to seeke it by labour and trauaille of the feete but that whyche you ought greatly to esteame is to know what a vertuous lawe meaneth and that knowen immediatly to execute it and afterwardes to kepe it For the chefe vertue is not to do one verteous work but in swet and trauayl to continue in it These therfore wer the wordes that this philosopher Phetonius sayde to the Thebains The whyche as Plato sayeth estemed more his wordes that he spake then they dyd the lawes whyche he brought Truly in my opinion those of Thebes are to be praysed and commended and the philosopher for his wordes is worthy to be honoured For the end of those was to searche lawes to liue well and the ende of the Philosophet was to seke good meanes for to kepe them in vertue And therfore he thought it good to shew thē and put before their eyes the gibbet and the sword with the other instrumentes and tormentes For the euill do refraine from vice more for feare of punyshement then for any desire they haue of amendement I was willyng to bring in this Historie to th ende that all curious and vertuous men may see and know how litell the auncientes did esteme the beginnynge the meane and the ende of vertuous workes in respect of the perseueraunce and preseruacion of them Commyng therfore to my matter whych my pen doth tosse and seke I aske now presentely what it profiteth princes and great ladyes that God do gyue them great estates that they be fortunate in mariages that they be all reuerenced and honored that they haue great treasures for their inheritaunces and aboue al that they se their wiues great with child that afterwardes in ioy they se them deliuered that they se theyr mothers geuing their childrē sucke finally they se them selues happy in that they haue found them good nources helthful honest Truely al this auaileth litle if to their children when they are yong they do not giue masters to enstruct thē in vertues and also if they do not recomend them to good guides to exercise thē in feates of Chiualry The fathers which by syghes penetrat the heauē by prayers importune the Liuing god only for to haue children ought first to thinke why they wil haue childrē for that iustly to any man may be denayed which to an euil end is procured In my opinion the father ought to desire to haue a child for that in his age he may susteine his life in honour that after his doth he may cause his fame to liue And if a father desireth not a son for this cause at the least he ought to desire him to the end in his age he may honour his horye hed and that after his death he may enheryte his goodes but wee see few children do these thynges to their fathers in theyr age if the fathers haue not taught them in their youth For the fruite doeth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree dyd bere blosommes in the spryng I see oftentimes many fathers complaine of their Children sayenge that they are disobedient and proude vnto theim and they doe not consydre that they them selues are the cause of all those euilles For
vertues their children are moste inclined and this ought to be to encourage them in that that is good and contrary to reproue them in all that is euill For men are vndone for no other cause when they be olde but for that they had so much pleasures when they are younge Sextus Cheronensis in the seconde booke of the saiynges of the auntientes saieth that on a daye a citezen of Athens was byenge thinges in the market and for the qualitie of his persone the greatest parte of them were superfluous and nothing necessary And in this case the poore are no lesse culpable then the ryche and the ryche then the poore For that is so litle that to susteyne mans lyfe is necessary that he which hath lest hath therunto superfluous Therfore at that tyme when Athens and her common wealth was the lanterne of all Grece there was in Athens a lawe long vsed and of great tyme accustomed that nothing should be bought before a philosopher had set the pryce And truly the lawe was good and would to God the same lawe at this present were obserued for there is nothing that destroyeth a cōmon wealth more then to permitte some to sell as tyrauntes and others to buye as fooles When the Thebane was buying these thinges a philosopher was there present who sayed vnto him these wordes Tell me I praye thee thou man of Thebes wherefore doest thou consume and waste thy money in that whiche is not necessary for thy house nor profitable for thy persone the Thebane aunswered him I let the knowe that I doe buye all these thynges for a sonne I haue of the age of .xx. yeares the whiche neuer did thinge that seamed vnto me euill nor I neuer denayed hym any thing that he demaunded This philosopher aunswered O howe happy were thou if as thou arte a father thou were a sonne and that which the father saieth vnto the sonne the sonne would saye vnto the father but I am offended greatly with that thou hast tolde me For vntill the childe be .xxv. yeares olde he ought not to gaynesaye his father and the good father ought not to condescende vnto the appetites of the sonne Nowe I call the cursed father since thou arte subiect to the wyll of thy sonne and that thy sonne is not obedient to the wyl of his father so that thou alterest the order of nature For so muche as the father is sonne of his sonne and the sonne is father of his father But in the end I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that when thou shalt become old thou shalt weape by thy selfe at that whiche with thy sonne thou diddest laughe when he was younge Though the wordes of this philosopher were fewe yet a wyse man wyll iudge the sentences to be many I conclude therfore that princes and great lordes ought to recōmende their children to their maisters to th ende they may teache them to chaunge their appetites and not to folowe their owne wil so that they withdrawe them from their own will and cause them to learne the aduise of an other For the more a man geueth a noble man sonne the brydle the more harder it is for them to receiue good doctrine ¶ Princes ought to take hede that their children be not brought vp in vayne pleasures and delightes For oftetimes they are so wicked that the fathers would not only haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buried Chap. xxxiii BY experience we see that in warre for the defence of men rampiers fortes are made according to the qualitie of the enemies those which sayle the daungerous seas doe chose great shippes whiche may breake the waues of the raging Sea so that all wyse men according to the qualitie of the daunger doe seke for the same in time some remedy Oftetymes I muse with my selfe and thynke if I coulde finde any estate any age any lande any nation any realme or any worlde wherein there hath bene any man that hath passed this life without tasting what aduersitie was for if suche a one were founde I thinke it should be a monstrous thing throughout all the earth and by reason both the dead and liuing should enuie hym In the ende after my counte made I finde that he whiche yesterdaye was ryche to daye is poore he that was hole I see hym to daye sicke he that yesterdaye laughed to daye I see hym wepe he that had his hartes ease I see hym nowe sore afflicted he that was fortunate I see hym vnlucky finally hym whom we knewe aliue in the towne now we see buried in the graue And to be buried is nothing els but to be vtterly forgotten for mans frendshyp is so frayle that when the corps is couered with earth immediatly the dead is forgotten One thinge me thinketh to all men is greuous to those of vnderstandyng no lesse payneful whiche is that the miseries of this wicked worlde are not equally deuided but that oftetymes all worldly calamities lieth in the necke of one man alone For we are so vnfortunate that the world geueth vs pleasures in sight troubles in profe If a man should aske a sage man now a daies who hath liued in meane estate that he would be contented to tel him what he hath paste since three yeares that he began to speake vntill fifty yeares that he began to waxe olde what thinges thinke you he would tel vs that hath chaunced vnto him truly al these that here folowe The grefes of his children the assaultes of his enemies the importunities of his wife the wantonnes of his doughters sicknes in his person great losse of goods general famine in the citie cruel plagues in his coūtrey extreme colde in wynter noysome heate in sommer sorowful deathes of his frendes enuious prosperities of his enemies finally he wil say that he passed such so many thinges that oftimes he bewailed the wofull life desired the swete death If the miserable man hath passed such things outwardly what would he saye of those which he hath suffred inwardly the whiche though some discrete men may know yet truly others dare not tell For the trauailes which the body passeth in fifty yeres may wel be counted in a day but that which the hart suffereth in one day cannot be counted in a hundred yeres A man cannot denay but that we would coūte him rashe which with a rede would mete an other that hath a sword him for a foole that would put of his shoes to walke vpō the thornes But without cōparison we ought to esteame him for the most foole that with this tender fleshe thinketh to preuaile against so many euil fortunes for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate passeth his life with much paine O how happy may that mā be called which neuer tasted what pleasure meaneth For men whiche from their infancy haue bene brought vp in pleasures for want of wisdome know not how to
Emperour of Rome saieth that an Embassadour of Britayne being one daye in Rome as by chaunce they gaue hym a froward aunswere in the Senate spake stoutely before them all and said these wordes I am sory you will not accepte peace nor graunte truce the whiche thing shal be for the greater iustification of our warres For afterwardes none can take but that whiche fortune shall geue For in the ende the delicate fleshe of Rome shal fele if the bloudy swordes of Britayne wil cut The Englishe historie saieth and it is true that though the countrey be very colde and that the water freseth ofte yet the women had a custome to cary their children where the water was frosen breaking the Ise with a stone with the same Ise they vsed to rubbe the body of the infante to the ende to harden their fleshe and to make them more apt er to endure trauailes And without doubt they had reason for I wyshe no greater penitence to delicate men then in the wynter to see them without fire and in the Sommer to wante freshe shadow Sith this was the custome of the Britayns it is but reason we credit Iulius Caesar in that he saieth in his comentaries that is to wete that he passed many daungers before he could ouercome them for thei with as litle feare did hyde them selues and dyued vnder the cold water as a very man would haue rested him selfe in a pleasaunt shadowe As Lucanus and Appianus Alexandrinus saie amongest other nations whiche came to succour the great Pompei in Pharsalia were the Messagetes the which as they say in their youth did sucke no other but the milke of Camels and eate bread of Acornes These barbarous did these thinges to the ende to harden their bodies to be able to endure trauail and to haue their legges lighter for to rōne In this case we can not cal them barbarous but we ought to cal them men of good vnderstanding for it is vnpossible for the man that eateth muche to runne fast Viriatus a Spanyarde was king of the Lusytaines and a great enemy of the Romains who was so aduenterous in the warre so valiaunt in his persone that the Romains by the experience of his dedes found him vnuincible For in the space of .xiii. yeres they could neuer haue any victory of him the whiche when they sawe they determined to poyson him did so in dede At whose death they more reioysed then if they had wonne the signorie of all Lusitanie For if Viriatus had not died they had neuer brought the Lusitaines vnder their subiection Iunius Rusticus in his epitomie saith that this Viriatus in his youth was a herde man kept cattel by the ryuer of Guadiana after that he waxed older vsed to robbe assault men by the highe wayes And after that he was .xl. yeares of age he became king of the Lusitaines and not by force but by election For when the people sawe theym selues enuirouned and assaulted on euery side with enemies they chose rather stout strong and hardy men for their captaines then noble men for their guydes If the auncient hystoriographers deceiue me not whē Viriatus was a thefe he led with him alwayes at the leaste a hundred theues the whiche were shodde with leaden shoes so that when they were enforced to ronne they put of their shoes And thus although all the daye they wente with leaden shoes yet in the night they ranne lyke swyfte buckes for it is a generall rule that the loser the ioyntes are the more swifter shall the legges be to ronne In the booke of the iestes of the Lumbardes Paulus Diaconus sayeth that in the olde tyme those of Capua had a lawe that vntyl the chyldren were maryed the fathers shold geue them no bedde to sleape on nor permit them to sitte at the table to eate but that they should eate their meates in their handes and take their reste on the grounde And truely it was a commendable lawe for reste was neuer inuented for the younge man whiche hath no bearde but for the aged beinge lame impotent and crooked Quintus Cincinatus was seconde Dictator of Rome and in dede for his desertes was the first emperour of the earth This excellente man was broughte vp in so great trauaile that his hands were found full of knottes the ploughe was in his armes and the swette in his face when he was sought to be Dictator of Rome For the auncientes desired rather to be ruled of them that knewe not but how to plow the ground then of them that delyted in nothing els but to liue in pleasurs among the people Caligula which was the fourth emperour of Rome as they say was brought vp with such cost and delicatnes in his youth that they were in doubt in Rome whether Drusius Germanicus hys father employed more for the Armyes then Calligula hys sonne spent in the cradel for his pleasurs This rehersed agayne I would now knowe of princes great lordes what part they would take that is to wete whether with Cincinatus whych by his stoutnes wanne so many straunge countreys or with Caligula that in hys fylthy lustes spared not his proper sister In myne opinyon ther nedeth no great deliberacion to aunswere this questyon that is to wete the goodnes of the one and the wickednes of the other for there was no battayle but Cincinatus did ouercome nor there was any vyce but Caligula dyd inuent Suetonius Tranquillus in the second booke of Cesars sayth that when the chyldren of the Emperour Augustus Cesar entred into the hygh capitol wher al the senate were assembled the Senatours rose out of their places and made a reuerence to the children the whych when the Emperoure Augustus saw he was much displeased and called them backe agane And on a day being demaunded why he loued his children no better he aunswered in this wise If my chyldren wil be good they shal syt hereafter wher I sit now but if they be euil I will not their vices shold be reuerenced of the Senatours For the aucthoritie grauity of the good ought not to be employed in the seruice of those that be wicked The 26. Emperour of Rome was Alexander the which though he was yong was asmuch esteamed for hys vertues amongest the Romaynes as euer Alexander the great was for hys valiauntnes amongest the Grekes We can not say that long experience caused him to come to the gouernment of the common wealth for as Herodian saith in his syxt booke the day that the Senatours proclamed him emperour he was so lytle that his owne men bare him in their armes That fortunate Emperour had a mother called Mamea the which brought him vp so wel dilygently that she kept alwayes a great gard of men to take hede that no vicious mā came vnto him And let not the diligence of the mother to that child be litle estemed For princes oft times of their owne nature are good by euyl conuersacion
doth not amend hys lyfe that the father do disinherit him When good wil doth want and vicious pleasures abounde the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being .52 yeres old by chaunce this chylde Verissimus which was the glory of Rome the hope of the father at that gate of Hostia of a sodayne sicknes dyed The death of whom was as vniuersallye lamented as his lyfe of al men was desired It was a pitiful thynge to see how wofully the father toke the death of his intierly beloued son no lesse lamētable to behold how the senat toke the death of their prince beinge the heire For the aged father for sorow did not go to the Senate and the senat for few daies enclosed themselues in the high Capitol And let no man meruaile though the death of this yong prince was so taken through Rome For if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewaile and lament hys death When a knight a gentleman a squyre an offycer or when any of the people dyeth ther dyeth but one but when a prince dieth which was good for all and that he lyued to the profit of al then they ought to make account that al do dye they ought al greatly to lament it For oft times it chaunseth that after ii or iii. good Princes a foule flocke of tyraunts succedeth Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperour as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely parsonne though the inward sorow from the rootes of the hart could not be plucked yet he determined to dissemble outwardly and to burie his greues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shew extreame sorow vnlesse it be that he hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good prince as one that hath his vineyard frosen wherin was al hys hope contented with him selfe with that whych remaineth his so derely beloued sonne being dead comaunded the prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his only heyre Iulius Capitolinus whych was one of those that wrote of the tyme of Marcus Aurelius sayd vpon this matter that when the father saw the disordinate fraylenes and lightnes and also the litle shame whych the prince Comodus his sonne brought with him the aged man began to weape and shed teares from his eyes And it was bycause the symplenes and vertues of his deare beloued sonne Verissimus came into hys mynd Though this Emperour Marcus for the death of hys sonne was very sorowful yet notwithstanding this he prouided how his other sonne Comodus should be gouerned this before that eyther of age or body he wer greater For we cānot deny but when Princes are mē they wil be such as in their youth they haue bene brought vp The good father therfore knowing that the euil inclinacions of his sonne should do him domage the empire in like maner he sent throughout al Italy for the most sagest expert men to be gouernours Tutors of Comodus the prince He made them seke for the most profoundest in learning the most renowmed of good fame the most vertuous in dedes and the most depest in vnderstandyng for as the dust is not swept with fyne cloth but with dry bromes so the lightnes follies of yong mē are not remedied but by the hard disciplyne of the aged Thys commaundement being published and proclaimed in Rome the bruit scattered through Italye there came and ranne thither dyuerse kinde of sages whom he commaunded to be examyned He being informed of the bloud of thier predicessours of the age of their persones of the gouernment of their houses of the spendyng of their goodes of their credit amongest their neighbours of the sciences they knew aboue al they were no lesse examined of the purenes of their lyues then of the grauitie of their personnes for ther are many men whych are graue in open wordes very light in secret works Speakyng therfore more particularly he commaunded they should examyne the Astronomers of Astronomy the phylosophers in philosophie the musitines in musike the Orators in oracions And so forth of other sciences in order wherin euery one sayd he was instructed The good emperour was not so contented to do this once but sondry times not al in one day but in many not only by an other man but also by him selfe Finally they were al examyned as if they had bene al one and that the same one shold haue remayned bene kept for al to be only master tutor of the young child and prince Comodus To acquire a perfect knowledge and to be sure not to erre in choyce of thinges in my opinion is not onely required experience of him selfe and a cleare vnderstanding but also the aduyse of an other For the knowledge of thinges wholly together is easy but the choyce of them particularly is harde This thing is spoken because the good Emperour sent and commaunded to chose gouernours and maisters of his children Of many he choose fewe and of fewe the most wysest of the most wysest the most expert of the most expert the best learned of the best learned the most temperate of the most temperate the most auncient and of the most auncient the moste noble Certainely such election is worthy prayse because they be true maisters and teachers of princes which are noble of bloud auncient in yeares honeste in life men of litle folly and of great experience According to the seuen liberal sciences two maisters of euery one were chosen so that the prince was but one and the others were .xiiii. but this notwithstanding the workes of this prince Comodus were contrary to the expectation of his father Marcus Aurelius because the intention of the good father was to teache his sonne all sciences and the study of the sonne was to learne all vices At the bruite of so great a thing as this was that the Emperour sought to prouide tutors for the prince Comodus and that they should not be those which were best fauoured but those whiche were found the most wysest in shorte space there came so many philosophers to Rome as if the deuine Plato had bene reuiued againe in Grece Let vs not marueile at all if the sages desired the acquaintaunce familiaritie of this good Emperour For in the ende there is no man so sage nor so vertuous in this life but sometime wyll seke after the fauours of the world Since there were many sages and that of those he chose but fourtene It was necessary he should honestly and wisely dispatche and geue the others leaue as did behoue him And herein the good emperour shewed him selfe so wyse that shewing to some a mery coūtenaunce to others speaking gently and to others by a certaine hope to others by giftes presentes al the good company of the sages departed the good emperour dispatched them not
the Senatours thoughe in dede they wer verye vnlucky in the bryngyng vp of the Prince Comodus For this cursed prynce had nyne masters whych instructed him but he hadde aboue nyne thousand vyces whych vndyd him The emperour Marcus Aurelius made fyue bokes of declamations and in the third booke the syxte Chapter vnder the title ad Sapientes pedagogos he brought in these nyne maysters and perswaded them greatly that they should be diligent and attentyue to teach hys sonne Comodus And in this matter he spake vnto them manye and graue sentences the wordes whereof doe folow The matter is manifest in Rome and no lesse publyshed thorough out all Italy what paynes I toke to searche oute to manye Sages to enstructe my sonne Comodus the whiche all beyng examined I kept onely the wysest and the best and though in verye dede I haue done muche yet I haue not done so muche as I am bounde For Prynces in doubtefull matters ought not only to demaunde councel of all the good that be alyue but also to take payne to talke with those which are dead That is to reade the dedes of the good in their writynges You were fouretene maysters chosen whereof I haue put out fyue so that presently you ar but nyne and if in dede you be wyse men you shall not be offended with that I haue done For the greefe of euill thynges procedeth of wisdome but the admiration of good thynges commeth of small experience I do not denay but that wyse men do fele in them passions as men but in the end there is no arte nor science that doth excuse vs from the miseries of men But that wher at I maruaile is how it is possible that a wyse man shoulde meruaile at any thyng in this world For if the wise man shuld be astonied at euery thing of the world it appeareth that ther is litle constancy or vertue in him at all Returnyng therfore to our particular talke I haue taken you to be masters of my son and you se of many I chose a few to the end that with few my son shold be taught For as it is the fathers dutie to search out good masters so it is the masters dutie to be diligent about his scoller The nource of my sonne Comodus gaue hym sucke two yeres with her teates at the gate of Hostia And hys mother Faustine other two yeares brought him vp wantonly in Capua How be it thys was a sufficient excuse I woulde as a pitiefull father yf I coulde geue hym correction at the leaste thys twentye yeares For I sweare by the immortall Goddes that to a Prynce that shal be an enheritour one yeares punyshement is more worthe then twenty yeares of pleasure Synce the nources whyche geueth the chyldren sucke knoweth lytell and synce the mothers whyche bare them doe loue them muche and synce the chylde peraduenture as yet is but of a weake vnder standynge they are occupyed about the thinges that are presente considerynge that chastysemente in muche more betters for him then pleasure But the wise man whyche hath vnderstandyng oughte to thyncke of that that is past and by much wysedome to prouyde for that that is to come For he can not be counted wise that onely in one thing is carefull My sonne Comodus was borne the laste daye of Auguste in a citie by Danubio I shall not forget the day that the gods gaue him vnto me nor yet this day in the whiche I commit hym vnto you Of greater reason I should remember that daye wherin I put him to be taught then the day whych I saw him to be borne For the gods gaue hym me as I gaue hym to you mortall since he is a man but you shall restore him againe vnto me and I lykewyse him to the Godds as immortall if he be wyse What will you I saye more vnto you but if you regarde that any thinge at all whyche I saye you will regarde much more thys whych I wyll saye When the Gods determined that I should haue a child of my wyfe and that my wofull destenies deserued that I should haue such a child truly the Gods made me a man in the sprite and I begot him a beast amongest the beastes in the fleshe But if you will you may make hym a god amongest the gods by science For princes winne infamye for beynge fearse and selfe willed but they get good renowme for beyng wise and pacient I would you should apply this busines well and therfore it is necessarye that you examine him ofte For it is a general rule that the precious iewel is litle regarded when he whyche hath it knoweth not the value thereof I require that you aunswere me in this one thynge What dyd I geue vnto my sonne Comodus when the gods gaue him me but frayle and mortall flesh by the corruption wherof hys life shal ende but you shal geue hym highe doctrine whereby he shall alwayes deserue perpetuall memore For the good renowme is not gotten by that the weake fleshe doth but by that whyche the highe vnderstandyng immagyneth and by that the curious harte executeth O if his tender age knew what I gaue to his weake flesh and if his dul vnderstanding could com to the wisedom which you may geue him he wold call you his right fathers me but his stepfather For he is the true father that geueth vs doctrine to liue and he is but an vniust stepfather that geueth vs fleshe to dye Certainely the naturall Fathers of children are but their open enemyes and cruell stepfathers synce we geue them such dul vnderstanding so weake a memory a wyll so frowarde lyfe so shorte fleshe so frayle honour so costly health so vncertaine ryches so troublesome prosperitie so scarse and death so fearefull Finally we geue them a nature subiecte to infinite alterations and great misfortunes Reason woulde not you shoulde lytle regarde that whiche I committe vnto your iudgement that is to wete that you haue the charge of Comodus my sonne For the thynge that Prynces chefely ought to foresee is to whome they oughte to recommende the gouernement of theyr children To be a mayster and Tutor of a Prince in the yearth is to haue an office of the Gods whyche are in heauen bycause he gouerneth him that ought to gouerne vs he teacheth him that ought to teache vs he chastneth him that ought to chasten vs. Finally he commaundeth one that oughte to commaunde all What wyll you that I saye more vnto you Truly he that hath the charge to teache the children of Prynces and great Lordes is as the gouernour of the shyppe a standarde of a battaylle a defence of the people a guyde of the wayes a father of the Orphanes the hope of pupylles and a treasourer of all For ther is no other true treasore in the common wealthe but the prince whyche doth mainteine and kepe it in good peace and iuste iustice I will tell you furthermore to the ende you
like losse to that where a man loseth hym whom entierlye he loueth and of whom also he is derelye beloued The fatal destenies oughte to content them selues to haue annoyed mye house with so manye mysfortunes But after all this and aboue all this theye haue lefte me a wicked nephewe whiche shall bee myne heire and theye haue lefte vnto mee that all mye life I shall lament O Cato for that thou owest to the common wealthe I doe desire thee and by the immortall goddes I doe coniure thee that since thou arte a vertuous Romaine and censor of the people that thou prouyde for one of these two thinges that is to wete that this mye Nephewe doe serue mee or els ordeine that I dye forthewith For it is a greate crueltye that those doe pursue me whiche are aliue since it is nowe 40. yeares that I ceased not to bewaile the deade Cato beinge well enfourmed of that the olde man had tolde him and since he founde al that true whiche he spake he called vnto his presence the yonge Nephew and sayde vnto him these wordes If thou were suche a childe as thou oughtest to bee thou shouldest excuse mee of payne and thy selfe of trauaile But since it is not so I praye thee take that pacientlye that I shall commaunde thee and be thou assured that I will not commaund thee any thing that shal bee againste iustice For the vicious yonglinges as thou art ought to be more ashamed of the youthefullnes theye haue commytted then for the punishement whiche is geeuen vnto them Firste I commaunde thow bee whipte beecause thou arte dysobedyent and troublesome to thy graundefather Secondlye I commaunde that thou bee banished the limittes of Rome because thou arte a vicious yonge man Thyrdly I commaund that of all the goodes thou hast enherited thou shalt be disenherited because thou doest not obey thy graundfather And the cause why I geue suche seuere sentence is to the end that from heÌ„sforthe the yong shal not disobey the aged and also that those which haue enheryted great treasours shall not think that men shall permit them to bee more vicious then others Phalaris the tiraunt wryting to a frend of his which was very aged said these wordes the which rather semed spoken of a Philosopher then of a tirant I haue meruailed at thee am offeÌ„ded with the my friend Vetto to know as I do that in yeares thou arte verye aged and in workes verye yonge and also it greeueth mee that thou hast lost the credite of knoweledge in the schooles It greeueth mee more that through thee the priuilege shoold be lost which the old men haue accustomed to haue in Grece that is to wete that all the theeues all the periured and all the murderers were more sure when by white heares theye semed to be olde when they reteyred to the aulters of the temples O what goodnesse O what wisedome what valyauntnes and what innocencye oughte the aged men to haue in the auncient tyme since in Rome theye honoured them as goddes and in Grece theye priuileged those white heares as the temples Plinie in an epistle hee wrote to Fabatus sayeth that Pirrus king of the Epirotes demaunded a philosopher which was the best cytye of the worlde who aunswered The best cytye of the worlde is Molerda a place of three hundreth fyers in Achaia beecause all the walles are of blacke stones and all those whiche gouerne it haue hoarye heades And further hee sayde Woe bee vnto thee Rome Woe bee vnto thee Carthage woe bee vnto thee Numancia woe bee vnto thee Egypte and woe bee vnto thee Athens fyue cytyes whiche count them selues for the beste of the worlde whereof I am of a contrarye oppynion For theye auaunte them selues to haue whyte walles and are not ashamed to haue yonge Senatoures Thys phylosopher sayde verye well and I thynke noe manne wyll saye lesse then I haue sayde Of thys woorde Senex is deryued the name of a Senatoure for so were the gouernoures of Rome named because the fyrste Kynge that was Romulus chosé a hundred aged men to gouerne the common wealth and commaunded that all the other Romayne youthe shoold employe them selues to the warres Since wee haue spoken of the honour whyche in the olde tyme was geeuen to the auncient men it is reason wee knowe now from what yeare they counted men aged to the ende they shoolde bee honoured as aged men For the makers of lawes when they hadde established the honours whych ought to bee done to the aged dydde aswell ordeyne from what daye and yeare theye shoolde beeginne Dyuers auncyent Philosophers dyd put syx ages from the tyme of the byrthe of man till the houre of deathe That is to wete chyldehood which lasteth till seuen yeares Infancy whiche endureth vntill seuentene yeares Youth which continueth till thirty yeares Mannes estate which remayneth till fyftye and fyue yeares Age whyche endureth till three score and eyghtene yeares Croked age which remaineth till death And so after man had passed fiue and fyftye yeares they called hym aged Aulus Gelius in his tenth booke in the xxvii Chapter saieth that Tullius Hostillius who was kynge of the Romaines determined to count all the old and yonge whiche were amongest the people and also to know whych shoold bee called infaunts whych yong and whych olde And there was noe lytle dyfference amongest the Romayne Phylosophers and in the end it was decreed by the kyng and the Senate that men tyll seuenteene yeares shoold bee called infaunts and tyll syx and forty shoold bee called yong and from syx and forty vpwardes they shoold bee called olde If wee wyl obserue the lawe of the Romaynes wee know from what tyme wee are bound to call and honor the aged men But addyng hereunto it is reason that the olde men know to what prowesses and vertues they are bound to the ende that wyth reason and not wyth faynyng they bee serued For speakyng the trueth yf wee compare duty to duty they old men are more bound to vertue then the yong to seruice Wee can not denay but that all states of natyons great small yong and olde are bound to bee vertuous but in this case the one is more to bee blamed then the other For oftentimes if the yong do offend it is for that hee wanteth experience but if the olde man offend it is for the abundaunce of mallice Seneca in an Epystle sayde these woordes I let thee weete my friend Lucillus that I am very much offended and I do complayne not of any friend or foe but of my selfe and â—â—â—â—e other And the reason why I thynk thus is that I see my selfe olde in yeares and yong in vices so that lytle is that wherein I haue serued the gods much lesse is that I haue profyted meÌ„ And Seneca saith further he whiche praysethe hym selfe moste to be aged and that woulde be honoured for beinge aged oughte to be temperate in eatinge honest in apparayle
set ryse my sonne Marke and sithens nowe thou arte yong it is but iust that thou geue me place whiche am aged If it bee true that it is xxxiii yeares sithens thou askedst place in the theathers as and old man tell mee I praye thee and also I coniure thee with what oyntement hast thou anoynted thy selfe or with what water hast thou wasshed thy selfe to become yonge O Claude if thou hadst founde anye medicyne or dyscouered anye herbe where with thou couldest take whyte heares from mens heades and from women the wrincles of theire face I sweare vnto thee and also I doe assure thee that thou shooldest be more vysyted and serued in Rome then the god Apollo is in his Temple at Ephesus Thou shouldest wel remember Annius priscus the old man whiche was our neighbour and somewhat a kinne to thee the whiche when I tolde him that I coulde not bee filled with his good woordes and to behold his auncient white heares he saied vnto me O my soone Mark it appereth wel that thou hast not byn aged because thou talkest as a yong maÌ„ for if white heares do honour the ê‘son they greatlye hurt the harte For at that houre when they se vs aged the straungers do hate vs ours do not loue vs. And he told me more I let the wete my sonne Marke that many times my wyfe and I talking of the yeares of another perticularly when she beholdeth mee and that I seeme vnto her so aged I saye vnto her and swere that I am yet yoÌ„ge and that the white heares came vnto me by great trauailes and the age by sicknes I do remember also that this Annius Priscus was senatour one yeare and bycause he woulde not seeme aged but desired that men shoulde iudge hym too bee yonge he shaued his bearde and hys heade which was not accustomed amonge the senatours nor Censours of Rome And as one day amongest the other Senatours he entred into the hyghe Capitolle one sayde vnto hym Tell me man from whence comest thou What wylte thou and why comest thou hither howe durste thou being no senatour enter into the Senate he aunswered I am Annius priscus the aged howe chauÌ„ceth it that nowe you haue not knowen me they replyed vnto hym if thou werte Annius Priscus thou woldest not come thus shauen For in this sacred senate can none enter to gouerne the coÌ„mon wealth vnlesse his parsoÌ„ be endued with vertues and his heade with white heares and therfore thou art banished and depriued of thy office For the olde which lyue as the yong ought to be punished Thou knowest wel Claude and Claudine that that which I haue spoken is not the faynyng of Homere neither a fable of Ouide but that you your selues saw it with your eyes and in his banishment I dyd helpe him with money and more ouer he was banished another time for the lightnes he dyd commit in the nighte in the citye and I meruaile not hereof for we see by experyence that old men whiche are fleashed in vices are more obstinate to correct then the yong O what euill fortune haue the olde men which suffered them selues too waxe olde in vyces for more daungerous is the fier in an old house then in a new and a greate cut of a sworde is not so perilous as a rotten fistule Though old men were not honest and vertuous for the seruice of the gods and the common wealth for the saieng of the people nor for the example of the yong yet he ought to be honest yf it weare but for the reuerence of their yeares If the pore old man haue noe teeth how shall he eate If he haue no heate in his stomacke howe can he dysgest If he haue no taste how can he drinke if hee be not strong howe can he be an adulterer If hee haue no feete howe can he goe If hee haue the palsy howe can hee speake if hee haue the goute in his handes howe can hee play Fynally suche lyke wordlye and vicyous men haue employed their forces beinge yonge desirous to proue al these vices and when they are old it greueth them extreamelye that they can not as yet accoÌ„pplishe their desiers Amongest all the faultes in old men in my opinion this is the chefest that since they haue proued al thiÌ„ges that they shoold stil remaine in their obstinat folly There is no parte but they haue trauailed no villany but they haue assayed no fortune but they haue proued no good but they haue persecuted no euyl but hath chaunced vnto theÌ„ nor there is any vice but they haue attempted These vnhappy men which in this sorte haue spent all their youth haue in the end their combes cut with infirmities diseases yet they are not somuch greued with the vices which in them do abound to hinder them froÌ„ vertues as they are tormented for wante of corporall courage to further them in their lusts O if wee were gods or that they would geeue vs licence to know the thoughts of the old as wee see with our eies the deeds of the yong I swear to the God Mars and also to the mother Berecinthe that without comparison we woold punishe more the wicked desiers which the aged haue to be wicked then the light deeds of the yong Tel mee Claude and thou Claudine do you think though you behaue your selues as yong you shall not seme to bee old know you not that our nature is the corruption of our body and that our body hindereth our vnderstandings and that the vnderstandyngs are kept of our soule that oure soule is the mother of desiers that our desiers are the scourge of our youth that our youth is the ensigne of our age age the spye of death that death in the end is the house where life taketh hys herber and from whence youth flyeth a fote and from whence age can not escape a horsback I woold reioyce that you Claude and Claudine woolde tell me what you fynde in lyfe that somuche therwith you should bee contented since now you haue passed foure score yeares of lyfe duryng the which tyme either you haue been wycked in the world or els you haue been good Yf you haue been good you ought to think it long vntil you be with the good gods if you haue been euil it is iust you dye to the end you bee no worse For speaking the truth those which in .3 score 10 yeares haue been wicked in woorks leaue smal hope of their ameÌ„dment of lyfe Adrian my lord being at Nola in Campania one brought vnto him a nephew of his from the study where as the yong child had not profyted a lytel for hee became a great Gretian and latinest and more ouer he was faire gratious wise honest And this Emperor Adrian loued his nephew so much that hee saied vnto him these woords My nephew I know not whither I ought to say vnto thee that thou art good or euil for
then that of thy merits Thou hast taken on thee an office wherwith that which thy cōpaignions in many days haue robbed thou in one hour by disceit doost get afterwards the time shal come when all the goods which thou hast gotten both by trueth falshod shal be lost not only in an hour which is long but in a momēt which is but short Whether wee geeue much wee haue much wee may doo much or wee liue much yet in the end the gods are so iust that all the euill wee doo cōmit shal bee punished for all the good wee woork wee shal bee rewarded so that the gods oftentimes permit that one alone shall scourge many and afterward the long time punisheth all ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and perswadeth his frend Cincinnatus to despise the vanities of the world and sheweth though a man bee neuer so wyse yet hee shall haue need of an other mans counsell Cap. xxvii IF I knew thy wisdom esteemed the world vanities therof so much as the world doth possesse thee and thy days as by thy white hears most manyfestly doth appeere I neede not take the payns to perswade thee nor thou shooldst bee annoied in hearing mee Notwithstanding thou beeing at the gate of great care reason woold that some shoold take the clapper to knock therat with some good counsell for though the raser bee sharp it needeth sometimes to bee whet I mean though mans vnderstanding bee neuer so cleere yet from time to time it needeth counsel Vertuous men oft times do erre not because they woold fail but for that the thīgs are so euil of digestiō that the vertu they haue suffiseth not to tell them what thing is necessary for their profit For the which cause it is necessary that his will bee brydled his wit fyned his oppinion changed his memory sharpned aboue all now and then that hee forsake his own aduise and cleaue vnto the counsell of an other Men which couet to make high sumptuous fair and large buildings haue grete care that the foundacion therof be surely layd for where the foundacions are not sure there the whole buyldings are in great daunger The maners and conditions of this world that is to weete the prosperous estates whervpon the children of vanity are set are founded of quick sand in that sort that bee they neuer so valyaunt prosperous and mighty a litle blast of wynd dooth stirre them a little heat of prosperity doth open them a showre of aduersity doth wet them and vnwares death striketh them all flatt to the ground Men seeing they cannot bee perpetuall doo procure to continue thē selues in raising vp proud buyldings and leauing to their children great estates wherin I count them fooles no lesse then in things superfluous For admit the pillers bee of gold the beams of siluer and that those which ioyn them bee kings and those which buyld them are noble and in that mining they consume a thousand yeres beefore they can haue it out of the ground or that they can come to the bottoms I swere vnto them that they shall fynd no stedy rock nor lyuely mountain wher they may buyld their house sure nor to cause their memory to bee perpetuall The immortall gods haue participated all things to the mortall men immortality only reserued and therfore they are called immortall for so much as they neuer dye and wee others are called mortall bycause dayly wee vanish away O my frend Cincinnatus men haue an end and thou thinkest that gods neuer ought to end Now greene now rype now rotten fruit is seuered from this lyfe from the tree of the miserable flesh esteem this as nothing forsomuch as death is naturall But oft times in the leaf or flower of youth the frost of some disease or the peril of some mishap dooth take vs away so that whē wee think to bee aliue in the morning wee are dead in the night It is a tedious long woork to weue a cloth yet when in many days it is wouen in one moment it is cut I mean that it is much folly to see a man with what toil hee enricheth him self into what perill hee putteth him self to win a state of honor afterwards whē wee think litle wee see him perish in his estate leauing of him no memory O my frend Cincinnatus for the loue that is between vs I desire thee by the immortal gods I coniure thee that thou geeue no credit to the world which hath this condiciō to hide much copper vnder little gold vnder the colour of one truth hee telleth vs a thousand lyes with one short pleasure hee mingleth ten thousand displesures Hee beegyleth those to whom hee pretendeth most loue and procureth great domages to them to whom hee geeueth most goods hee recompenseth them greatly which serue him in iest and to those which truely loue him hee geeueth mocks for goods Finally I say that when wee sleepe most sure hee waketh vs with greatest perill Eyther thou knowst the world with his deceyt or not if thou knowest him not why doost thou serue him if thou doost know him why doost thou follow him Tell mee I pray thee wooldst not the take that theef for a foole which woold buy the rope wherwith hee shoold bee hanged the murtherer that woold make the swoord wherwith hee shoold bee beheaded the robber by the high way that woold shew the well wherin hee shoold bee cast the traitor that shoold offer him self in place for to bee quartered the rebel that shoold disclose him self to bee stoned Then I swere vnto thee that thou art much more a foole which knowest the world will folow it serue it One thing I wil tel thee which is such that thou oughtest neuer to forget it that is to weete that wee haue greater need of faith not to beliue the vanities which wee see then to beeleue the great malices which with our ears wee here I retorn to aduise thee to read cōsider this woord which I haue spoken for it is a sentence of profound mistery Doost thou think Cincinnatus that rych men haue litle care to get great riches I let thee weet that the goods of thys world are of such condicion that beefore the poore man dooth lock vp in hys chests a .100 crowns hee feeleth a thousād greefes cares in his heart Our predecessors haue seen it wee see it presently our successors shal see it that the money which wee haue gotten is in a certein nomber but the cares trauails which it bringeth are infinit Wee haue few paynted houses few noble estats in Rome the wtin a litle time haue not great cares ī their harts cruel enmities with their neighbors much euil wil of their heirs disordinat importunities of their frends perilous malices of their enemies aboue al in the Senate they haue innumerable proces oft times to lock a litle good in their chests
Lido of whom the Atheniens demaunded what they shoold doo with the treasure and dead body mee thinketh quod thys philosopher that if those which are lyuing did know any siluer or gold which the tyraunt tooke from them it shoold bee restored again immediatly and doo not meruell that I doo not require it to bee put in the common treasure For god will not permit that the commonwealth bee enriched with the theft of Tyraunts but with the swet of the inhabitants If any goods remayn which doo not appere from whom they haue beene taken mee thinketh that they ought to bee distributed among the poore for nothing can bee more iust then that which the goods wherewyth the tyraunt hath enpouerished many wyth the self same wee shoold enrich some As touching his buriall mee thinketh hee ought to be cast out to the 〈…〉 to bee eaten and to the dogs to bee gnawen And let no man thynk this sentence to bee cruell for wee are bound to doo no more for him at his death then hee did for him self in his lyfe who beeing so ouercome with auaryce that hee woold neuer disburse so much money as shoold buy him seuen foote of earth wherin his graue shoold bee made And I will you know that the gods haue doon a great good to all Greece to take lyfe from this tyrant First it is good because much goods are dispersed which heeretofore lay hid and serued to no purpose Secondly that many tongues shall rest for the treasours of this tirant made great want in the common welth and our tongues the greatest part of the day were occupied to speak euill of his parson Mee thinketh this philosopher hath touched two things which the couetous man dooth in the common wealth that is to wete that drawing much gold siluer to the hid treasure hee robbeth the marchandise wherwith the people doo liue The other dommage is that as hee is hated of all so hee causeth rancour malice in the harts of all for hee maketh the rych to murmour and the poore to blasphem One thing I read in the laws of the Lombards woorthy of truth to bee noted and knowen and no lesse to bee folowed which is that all those which shoold haue gold siluer money silks clothes euery yere they shoold bee registred in the place of iustice And this was to the end not to consent nor permit them to heap much but that they shoold haue to buy to sell and to trafik wherby the goods were occupyed among the people So that hee which did spend the money to the profit of his house it was taken for good of the common wealth Yf christians woold doo that now adays which the Lombardes did there shoold not bee so many treasures hid nor so many couetous men in the commonwealth for nothing can bee more vniust then that one rych man shoold heap vp that which woold suffise ten thousand to liue wyth all Wee can not deny but that the cursed auarice and disordinat couetise to al states of men is as preiudiciall as the moth which eateth all garments Therfore speaking the truth and wyth lyberty ther is no house that it dooth not defyle for it is more perilous to haue a clod of earth fall into a mans eye then a beam vppon his foot Agesilaus the renowmed king of the Lacedemonians beeing asked of a man of Thebes what woord was most odible to bee spoken to a king and what woord that was that coold honor him most hee aunswered The prince with nothing so much ought to bee annoied as to say vnto him that hee is rich and of nothing hee ought so much to reioice as to bee called poore For the glory of the good prince consisteth not in that hee hath great treasures but in that hee hath geeuen great recompences Thys woord without doubt of all the world was one of the most royallest and worthiest to bee committed vnto memory Alexander Pirrhus Nicanor Ptolomeê° Pompeius Iulius Cesar Scipio Hanniball Marcus Portius Augustus Cato Traian Theodose Marcus Aurelius all these princes haue beene very valiant and vertuous but addyng heereunto also the writers which haue writeÌ„ the deedes that they did in their lyues haue mencioned also the pouerty which they had at their death So that they are no lesse exalted for the riches they haue spent then for the prowesses they haue done Admit that men of meane state bee auaricious and princes and great lords also couetous the fault of the one is not equall with the vice of the other though in the end all are culpable For if the poore maÌ„ keepe it is for that hee woold not want but if the knight hoord it is beecause he hath to much And in this case I woold say that cursed bee the knight which trauaileth to the end that goods abound and dooth not care that betweene two bowes his renowmsall to the ground Sithens princes and great lords will that men doo count them noble vertuous valyaunt I woold know what occasion they haue to bee nigards and hard Yf they say that that which they keepe is to eat heerein there is no reasoÌ„ for in the end where the rich eateth least at his table ther are many that had rather haue that which remaineth then that which they prouide to eat in their houses If they say that that which they keepe is to apparel them heere in also they haue as lytle reason for the greatnes of lords consisteth not in that they shoold bee sumptuously appareled but that they prouide that their seruaunts go not rent nor torne If they say it is to haue in their chambers precious iewels in their halles rich Tapestry as little woold I admit this answer for all those which enter into princes palaces doo beehold more if those that haunt their chambers bee vertuous then that the tapestries bee rych If they say that it is to compasse their cities with walles or to make fortresses on their fronters so lykewise is this aunswer amongst the others very cold For good princes ought not to trauel but to bee well willed and if in their realms they bee welbeeloued in the world they can haue no walles so strong as the harts of their subiects If they tell vs that that they keepe is to mary their children as little reason is that for sithens princes and great lords haue great inheritaunces they neede not heap much For if their children bee good they shall encrease that shal bee left them and if by mishap they bee euill they shall aswell lose that that shal bee geeuen them If they say vnto vs that that which they heap is for the warres in like maner that is no iust excuse For if such warre bee not iust the prince ought not to take it in hand nor the people therunto to condescend but if it bee iust the common wealth then not the prince shal bere the charges therof For in iust warres it is not sufficient that they geeue
pleasure of the shee geueth mee neither greefe of that shee taketh froÌ„ me nor I wyl haue respect when she telleth mee truth nor I doo not regard it though she tel mee a lye Finally I will not laugh for that shee asketh mee nor I wil weepe for that shee sendeth mee I wyll now tel thee my frend Domitiê° one thing and hartely I desire thee to keepe it in memory Oure lyfe is so doubtfull and fortune so sodaine that wheÌ„ shee thretneth she stryketh not always neyther doth shee threaten alwaies when shee stryketh The man which presumeth to bee sage and in all things well prouyded goeth not so fast that at euery steppe hee is in daunger of falling nor so softly that in long tyme hee cannot aryue at his iorneys end For the false fortune gauleth in steed of strikyng in steed of gauling striketh Therefore since in years I am older then thou and haue more experience of affairs if thou hast marked that I haue told thee thou wylt remember wel that which I will say vnto thee which is that that part of thy life is troublesome which vnto the seemeth to be most sure wylt thou that by example I tell thee al that which by woords I haue spoken Behold Hercules of Thebes who escaped so many daungers both by sea and by land and afterwardes came to dy in the armes of a harlotte Agamemnon the great Captaine of Greekes in the x. years which hee warred agaynst Troy neuer had any peryl and afterwards in the nyght they kylled hym entring into his own house The vnuincyble Alexander the great in al the conquests of Asia dyd not dye and afterwards with a lytle poyson ended hys life in Babilon Pompeius the great dyed not in the conquest of his enemys and afterwardes his frende Ptholomeus slew him The couragyus Iulius Cesar in .lii. battells could not be ouercom and afterwards in the Senate they slew him with xxiii wouÌ„ds Hannibal the terryble captaine of Carthage slew hym selfe in one moment which the Romaynes could not dooe in xvii years onelye bycause hee would not com into the hands of hys enemys Asclipius medius brother of great Pompeius in xx years that he was a rouer on the seas neuer was in any peryll afterwards drawyng water out of a well was drowned therin Tenne Captaynes whoÌ„ Scipio had chosen in the coÌ„quest of Affrike iestynge on a bridge fell into the water and ther were drowned The good Bibulê° going triuÌ„phing in his chariot at Rome a tile fel on his head so that his vayne glory was the end of his good lyfe What wylt thou more I saye vnto thee but that Lucia my sister hauynge a needel on her brest her childe betweene her armes the chyld layeng his hand vppon the needell and thrust it into her breast wherby the mother dyed Gneus Ruffirius Which was a very wyse man and also my kinseman one daye keamyng hys whyte heares strake a tooth of the comb in his head wherwith hee gaue him selfe a mortall wounde so that in short space after his lyfe had end but not his doctrine nor memory How thinkest thou Domitiê° by the immortal gods I swear vnto thee that as I haue declared to thee this small nomber so I coold recite thee other infinyte What mishap is this after so many fortunes what reproch after such glory What peril after such surety what euil luck after such good successe What dark night after so clere a day What so euil enterteinment after so great labour What sentence so cruel after so long proces O what inconuenience of death after so good beginnyng of lyfe Being in their steade I can not tel what I would but I had rather choose vnfortunat lyfe honorable death then an infamous death and honorable lyfe That man which wyll bee counted for a good man and not noted for a brute beast ought greatly to trauayle to lyue wel and much more to dye better For the euill death maketh men doubt that the lyfe hath not been good and the good death is the excuse of an euyl lyfe At the beeginnyng of my letter I wrate vnto thee how that the gowt troubleth mee euil in my hand I say it were to much to wryte any leÌ„ger though the letter bee not of myne owne hand these two days the loue that I bear thee and the grief that holdeth mee haue stryued together My wyll desireth to wryte and my fingers cannot hold the penne The remedy herof is that since I haue no power to doo what I would as thine thou oughtst to accept what I can as myne I say no more herein but as they tel mee thou buildest now a house in Rhodes wherfore I send thee a thousand sexterces to accomplysh the same My wife Faustine saluteth thee who for thy paine is sore dyseased They tell vs thou hast bene hurt wherfore shee sendeth thee a weight of the balme of Palestyne Heale thy face therwith to the end the scarres of that wound doo not appere If thou findest greene almonds and new nutts Faustine desyreth thee that thou wilt send her some By another man shee sendeth a gowne for thee and a kirtell for thy wyfe I conclude and doo beeseech thee immortall Gods to geeue thee all that I desire for thee and that they geeue mee all that thou wyshest mee Though by the hands of others I wryte vnto thee yet with my hart I loue thee ¶ That Princes and noble men ought to bee aduocates for widows fathers of orphanes and helpers of all those which are comfortles Cap. xxxv MAcrobius in the third book of the Saturnalles saieth that in the noble cyty af Athens there was a temple called Misericordia which the Athenians kept so well watched and locked that without leaue and lycence of the Senat no man might enter in There were the Images of pitifull princes onely and none entred in there to pray but pitefull men The Atheniens abhorred always seuere and cruel deeds beecause they would not bee noted cruell And therof cometh this maner of saying that the greatest iniury they could say vnto a man was that hee had neuer entred into the scoole of the philosophers to learne nor in to the temple of Misericordia to pray So that in the one they noted him for simple and in the other they accused him for cruell The historiographers say that the most noble linage that was at that time was of a king of Athens the which was exceeding rych and lyberall in geeuing and aboue all very pitifull in pardoning Of whom it is written that after the great treasours which hee had offered in the temples and the great riches hee had distributed to the poore hee tooke vppon him to bring vp all the orphans in Athens and to feede all the widows O how much more did that statut of the sayd pytyfull king shine in that temple who norished the orphanes then the ensignes which are set vp in the Temples of the captaines which
dye lyueth the euill man though hee liue dyeth I swear vnto thee by the mother Berecinthia and so the god Iupiter doo preserue mee that I speak not this which I will speak fainedly which is that considering the reast that the dead haue with the gods and seeing the sorows troubles wee haue here with the lyuing I say and affirm once agayn that they haue greater compassion of our lyfe then wee others haue sorow of their death Though the death of men were as the death of beasts that is to weet that there were no furies nor deuils which shoold torment the euil that the gods shoold not reward the good yet wee ought to bee comforted to see our frends dye if it were for no other but to see thē deliuered from the thraldō of this miserable world The pleasure that the Pilot hath to bee in sure hauen the glory that the captaine hath to see the day of victory the rest that the traueler hath to see his iorney ended the contentation that the woork man hath to see his woork come to perfeccion all the same haue the dead seeing them selues out of this miserable lyfe If men were born alway to lyue it were reason to lament them when wee see them dye but since it is troth that they are borne to dye I woold say since needes dye wee must that wee ought not to lament those whych dye quickly but those whych lyue long I am assured that Claudine thy husband remembring that whych in this lyfe hee hath passed and suffered and seeing the rest that hee hath in the other though the Gods woold make him emperor of Rome hee woold not bee one day out of his graue For returning to the world hee shoold dye agayn but beeing with the gods hee hopeth to lyue perpetually Lady Lauinia most earnestly I desire thee so vehemently not to perse the heauens with thy so heauy sighes ne yet to wete the earth with thy so bitter teares since thou knowst that Claudine thy husband is in place where there is no sorow but mirth where ther is no payn but rest where hee weepeth not but laugheth where hee sigheth not but singeth where hee hath no sorows but pleasures where hee feareth not cruell death but enioyeth perpetuall lyfe Since therfore this is true it is but reason the wydow appease her anguish considering that her husband endureth no payn Often tymes wyth my self I haue thought what the widows ought to immagin when they see them selues in such cares and distresse And after my count made I fynd that they ought not to thynk of the company past nor wofull solitarynes wherin they are presently and much lesse they ought to think on the pleasures of this world but rather to remember the rest in the world to come For the true widow ought to haue her conuersacion among the lyuing and her desire to bee wyth the dead If til this present thou hadst paine and trouble to look for thy husband to come home haue thou now ioy that hee looketh for thee in heauen wherin I swere vnto thee that there thou shalt bee better vsed of the gods then hee was here of mē For in this world wee know not what glory meaneth and there they know not what payns are Licinius and Posthumius thy vncles told mee that thou art so sorowful that thou wilt receiue no comfort but in this case I think not that thou bewailest so much for Claudinus that thou alone doost think thou hast lost him For since wee did reioyce togethers in his lyfe wee are bound to weep togethers at his death The heauy and sorowful harts in this world feele no greater greef then to see others reioice at theyr sorows And the cōtrary hereof is that the wofull and afflicted hart feeleth no greater ioy nor rest in extreme mishaps of fortune then to think that others haue sorow and greef of their payn When I am heauy and comfortles I greatly ioy to haue my frend by mee and my hart dooth tell mee that what I feele hee feeleth So that all which my frend with his eyes dooth beewail and all that which of my greefes hee feeleth the more therwith hee burdeneth him self and the more therof hee dischargeth mee The Emperor Octauian Augustus the histories say on the riuer of Danuby found a kynd of people which had thys straunge custom that with eyes was neuer seene nor in books at any time euer read which was that two frends assembled and went to the aultars of the temples and there one frend confederat with an other so that their harts were maried as man and wife are maried touching their bodies swering and promysing there to the gods neuer to weepe nor to take sorow for any mishap that shoold come to their persons So that my frend shoold come to lament and remedy my troubles as if they had been his own I shoold lament and remedy his as if they had been mine O glorious world O age most happy O people of eternal memory wherin men are so gentle frendz so faithfull that their own trauails they forgot and the sorows of strangers they beewayled O Rome without rome O tyme euil spent O lyfe to vs others euil emploied O wretch that always art careles now adays the stomack and intrailes are so seuered from the good and the harts so ioyned with the euill that men forgetting them selues to bee men beecome more cruell then wyld beasts I labor to geeue thee lyfe and thou seekest to procure my death Thou weepest to see mee laugh and I laugh to see thee weepe I procure that thou doo not mount and thou seekest that I might fall Fynally without the profit of any wee cast our selues away and wythout gayn wee doo reioyce to end our lyues By the faith of a good man I swear vnto thee Lady Lauinia that if thy remedy were in my hands as thy grief is in my hart I woold not bee sory for thy sorows neither thou so tormēted for the death of thy husband But alas though I miserable man haue the hart to feele thy anguysh yet I want power to remedy thy sorows ¶ The Emperor proceedeth in his letter and perswadeth wydowes to put their willes to the will of god and exhorteth them to lyue honestly Cap. xxxviii SInce thy remedy and my desire cannot bee accomplished beecause it is a thing vnpossible to receiue and speak with the dead and not hauing power mee think that thou and I shoold referre it to the gods who can geeue much better then wee can ask O lady Lauinia I desire thee earnestly and as a frend I counsel and admonish thee and with all my hart I require thee that thou esteem that for wel doon which the gods haue doon that thou conform thy self to the will of the gods and that thou will nought els but as the gods will For they only know they erre not wherfore they haue assaulted thy husband with so
during life but as lendyng whych ought to bee rendered the day following I know not what man is so very a foole that in the world dooth hope for any perpetuall thyng For all that hee geeueth hee geeueth with such condicion that they shall render it vnto him when hee shall demaund it and not at the dyscrecion of him that dooth possesse it Peraduenture the world can geeue vs perpetual life I say certainly no. For in the sweetest tyme of all our lyfe then sodainly wee are assaulted of cruell death Peraduenture the world can geeue vs temporall goods in abundaunce I say certaynly no. For no man at any tyme had so much riches but that whych hee wanted was more then that hee possessed Peraduenture the world can geeue vs perpetual ioy I say certaynly no. For exemptyng those days whych wee haue to lament and allso the hours whych wee haue to sygh there remayneth not for vs one moment to laugh Peraduenture hee can geeue vs perpetuall health I say certaynly no. For to men of long lyfe without comparison the diseases are more which they suffer then the years are whych they lyue Peraduenture the world can geeue vs perpetuall rest I say certaynly no. For if the days bee few wherein wee see the elements without clouds fewer are the howers whych wee feale our harts without cares Therefore synce that in this myserable world there is no health perpetuall nor lyfe perpetuall nor ryches perpetuall nor ioy perpetuall I woold know what it is that the worldlyngs woold of the world synce they know that it hath no good thing to geeue them but onely by lendyng or by vsury If it bee vsury there is no gayn of money but rather retourn with restitucion of vices O children of vanyty O maisters of lyghtnes synce it is so that yee now determyne to follow and serue the world looke not of the world to haue any thyng but thyngs of the world In it is nothyng but pryde enuy leachery hate yre blasphemy auaryce and folly And if yee ask yf hee haue in hys gouernaunce any vertuous thyng hee will aunswer you that hee dooth neuer sell such marchaundyse in hys shop Let no man thynk that the world can geeue vs that whych it hath not for it self And if wee will chaunge any thyng with it and it with vs hee is so subtil to sel so curious to buy that that which hee taketh shal bee of great measure and that which hee selleth vs shal want much weight ¶ Of a letter the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote to hys frend Torquatus to comfort hym in hys banishment which is notable for all men to learn the vanities of this world Cap. xli MArcus Emperour of Rome companion in the empyre with hys brother Annius Verus to thee Torquatus of the city of Gayetta wisheth health to thy parson strength against thy euil fortune I being in the Temple of the vestal virgins about three moneths hence I receyued a letter of thine the which was in such sort that neither mine eyes for that tyme could make an end to read it nor synce I haue had the hart to aunswer it For in the inconueniences of our frends if wee haue no faculty nor might for to remedy it at the least wee are bound to beewaile it Thy sorow maketh mee so heauy thy payn dooth trouble mee so much I am so carefull of thy anguish so tormented with thy grief that if the gods had geeuen power to wofull men to depart theire sorows as they haue geeuen to rych men to depart their goods by the faith I owe to god I sweare that as I am the greatest of thy frends I woold bee hee which shoold take the most part of thy griefes I know ryght well and as well as hee that hath prooued it that asmuch difference as there is beetween the bark the tree the mary and the bone the corn the straw the gold and the drosse the trueth and the dreames so much is there to here the trauailes of another and to tast his own Notwithstandyng comfort thy self my frend Torquatus for where the frends bee trew the goods and the euills are common beetwyxt them Oftentymes with my self I haue marueiled to what end or intencion the immortall Gods haue geeuen trauaile and torments to men synce it is in their power to make vs to lyue wythout them I see no other thyng why the myshaps ought pacyently to bee suffered but beecause in those wee know who are our faithfull frends In battaile the valyaunt man is knowen in tempesteous weather the Pilot is knowen by the touch stone gold is tryed and in aduersyty the frend is knowen For my frend dooth not ynough to make mee mery vnlesse allso hee dooth take part of my sorow I haue heard say here and now by thy letter I haue seene how they haue banished thee from Rome and confyscated thy goods and that for pure sorow thow art sick in thy bed whereof I maruell not that thou art sick but to bee as thou art aliue For saying to thee the trueth where the hart is sore wounded in short space it hath accustomed to yeeld vp vnto the body I see well that thow complaynest and thou hast reason to complayn to see thy self banyshed from Rome and thy goods confiscate to see thy self out of thy countrey without any parentage yet therefore thy sorow ought not to bee so extreame that thow shooldst put thy lyfe in hazard For hee alone ought to haue lycence and allso is bound to hate lyfe whych dooth not remember that hee hath serued the Gods nor hath doone any profyt to men If the affaires of the Empire dyd not occupy mee and the emperyall maiesty dyd not wythdraw mee I woold immedyatly haue to come to comfort thy person where thow shooldst haue seene by experience wyth what grief I feele thy trouble And therefore if thou takest mee for thy frend thow oughtst to beeleeue of mee that which in this case I woold of thee which is that as thow hast been the most entyer frend which I had in Rome so ys thys the thing that most I haue felt in this lyfe Tell mee my frend Torquatus what is it thow suffrest there that I doo not lament here It may bee that sometyme thow laughest but I allways weepe sometimes thow comfortest thy self but I am allways sad It may bee that thow lightnest thy payn but I am in sighyng It may bee that sometymes thow castest from thee sorow but for mee I cannot receiue consolation It may bee that thow hopest remedy of longlyfe but for mee I fynd no remedy more healthfull then present death Fynally I say that here I feele all that thow feelest there and furthermore I suffer all that which as a frend I ought to suffer here so that both our paynes are made one most cruell sorrow wherewyth my wofull lyfe is tormented I woold greatly desire to come and see thee and to help to
taketh away fear from death The deuine Plato demaūded Socrates how hee beehaued him self in life and how hee woold beehaue him self in death hee aunswered I let thee weete that in youth I haue traueled to liue wel and in age I haue studied to dye well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shal bee ioyful And though I haue had sorow to lyue I am sure I shall haue no payn to dye Truely these woords were woorthy of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruelously when the swet of their trauel is not rewarded when they are faithful and their reward answereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their frends beecome vnthankful to them when they are woorthy honor and that they preferre them to honorable rome and office For the noble and valyant harts doo not esteeme to lose the reward of their labor but think much vnkindnes when a man dooth not acknowledge their trauel O happy are they that dye For without inconuenience and without payn euery man is in hys graue For in this tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place wee merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall bee iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpryght that geeueth reward by weight payn by measure but somtimes they chastice the innocent and absolue the gylty they vex the faultlesse and dissemble with the culpable For litle auayleth it the plaintif to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that shoold minister Truely it is not so in death but all ought to count them selues happy For hee which shall haue good iustice shal bee sure on his part to haue the sentence When great Cato was censor in Rome a famous Romayn dyed who shewed at his death a merueylous courage and when the Romayns praised him for that hee had so great vertu and for the woords hee had spoken Cato the Censour laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And hee beeing demaunded the cause of his laughter aunswered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel For the perils and trauels considered wherein wee liue and the safety wherein wee dye I say that it is no more needful to haue vertue strength to liue then courage to dye The aucthor heereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censour spake as a wise man since dayly wee see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thrist trauel pouerty inconuenience sorows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the end in one day then to suffer them euery hour For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable lyfe O how small cōsideration haue men to think that they ought to dye but once Since the trueth is that the day when wee are born and comen in to the world is the beeginning of our death and the last day is when wee doo cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of lyfe then reason perswadeth vs to think that our infancy dyeth our chyldhod dyeth our manhod dyeth our age shall dye whereof wee may consequently conclude that wee dye euery yere euery day euery hour and euery moment So that thinking to lead a sure lyfe wee tast a new death I know not why men fear so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanted to any man to dye neither I knew any man that euer failed of this way Seneca in an epistle declareth that as a Romain woman lamented the death of a child of hers a philosopher said vnto her Woman why beewaylest thou thy child she aunswered I weepe beecause hee hath liued .xxv. yeres I woold hee shoold haue liued till fyfty For amongst vs mothers wee loue our children so hartely that wee neuer cease to beehold them nor yet end to beewayl them Then the Philosopher said Tell mee I pray thee woman why doost thou not complayn of the gods beecause they created not thy sonne many yeres beefore hee was born as well as thou complaynest that they haue not let him liue .l. yeres Thou weepest that hee is dead so soone and thou doost not lament that hee is borne so late I tel thee true woman that as thou doost not lament for the one no more thou oughtst to bee sory for the other For wythout the determination of the gods wee can not shorten death and much lesse lengthen life So Plinie sayd in an epistle that the cheefest law whych the gods haue geeuen to humayn nature was that none shoold haue perpetuall life For with disordinat desire to liue long wee shoold neuer reioice to goe out of this payn Two philosophers disputyng beefore the great Emperor Theodose the one sayd that it was good to procure death and the other lykewise sayd it was a necessary thing to hate lyfe The good Theodose takyng hym by the hand said All wee mortalles are so extreem in hatyng and louyng that vnder the colour to loue and hate lyfe wee lead an euyll lyfe For wee suffer so many trauels for to preserue it that sometymes it were much better to lose it And further hee sayd dyuers vayn men are come into so great follies that for fear of death they procure to hasten death And hauing consideration to this mee seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue lyfe nor with desperation to seeke death For the strong and valiaunt men ought not to hate lyfe so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that whych Theodose spake as Paulus Diaconus sayth in his lyfe Let euery man speak what hee will and let the philosophers counsell what they list in my poor iudgement hee alone shal receiue death without payn who long before is prepared to receiue the same For sodayn death is not only bitter to hym which tasteth it but also it feareth him that hateth it Lactantius sayd that in such sort man ought to liue as if from hence an hour after hee shoold dye For those men which will haue death beefore their eies it is vnpossible that they geeue place to vain thoughts In my oppinion and also by the aduyse of Apuleius it is as much folly to fly from that which wee cannot auoyd as to desire that wee cannot attain And this is spoken for those that woold flye the vyage of death which is necessary and desire to come agayn which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long ways if they want any thing they borow it of their company If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or els they write vnto their frends a letter But I am sory that if wee once dye they will not let vs return agayn wee cannot speak and they will not agree
aduise ought wel to bee assured that in al or the most part hee shall erre O my lord Mark sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and auncient didst not thou think that as thou hadst buried many so like wise some should burie thee What imaginacions were thine to think that seeing the end of their days others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rych honourably accompanied old and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the common wealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast always beene a frend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Sins thou hast proued what honors and dishonors doo deserue ryches and pouerty prosperity and aduersity ioy and sorow loue and feare vices pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remayneth to know but that it is necessarye to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble lord that thow shalt learn more in one hour what death is then in a hundreth years what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to bee good and hast lyued as good is it not better that thow dye goe with so many good then that thow scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doo maruail that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discrete Many things doo the sage men feele which inwardly doo oppresse their hart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honor If all the poyson which in the sorowfull hart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the walles woold not suffice to rubbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore where with to shut the shop wherein all the miseries of this wofull lyfe are vendible What wrong or preiudice doo the gods vnto vs whē they cal vs beefore them but from an old decaied house to chaunge vs to a new builded pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherein wee shut our selues from the assaults of lyfe broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee fynd in death then of that wee leaue in lyfe If Helia Fabricia thy wife doo greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doo not care For shee presently hath litle care of the perill wherein thy lyfe dependeth And in the end when shee shall know of thy death shee will bee nothing greued Trouble not thy self for that shee is left widow For yong women as shee is which are maried with old men as thou when their husbands dye they haue their eies on that they can robbe and their harts on them whom they desire to mary And speaking with due respect when with their eies they outwardly seeme most for to beewaile then with their harts inwardly doo they most reioyce Deceyue not thy self in thinking that the empresse thy wife is yong and that shee shal fynd none other Emperor with whom agayn shee may mary For such and the like will chaunge the cloth of gold for gownes of skynnes I mean that they woold rather the yong shepeheard in the field then the old emperour in his royall pallace If thou takest sorow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shooldst do so For truely yf it greeue thee now for that thou dyest they are more displeased for that thow lyuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may bee counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that hee is not maintained if hee bee rich hee desireth his death to enherit the sooner Sins therefore it is true as in deede it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing thou weepe If it greue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces these sūptuous buildings deceiue not thy self therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death dooth finish thee at the end of .lxii. yeares tyme shal consume these sūptuous buildings in lesse then xl If it greeue thee to forsake the cōpany of thy frends neighbors for them also take as litle thought sins for thee they wil not take any at all For amongst the other compassions that they ought to haue of the dead this is true that scarcely they are buryed but of their frends neighbors they are forgotten If thou takest great thought for that thou wilt not dye as the other emperors of Rome are dead mee seemeth that thou oughtst allso to cast this sorow from thee For thou knowst ryght wel that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankful to those which serue her that the great Scipio also woold not bee buryed therein If it greeue thee to dye to leaue so great a seignory as to leaue the empire I can not think that such vanity bee in thy head For temperat reposed men when they escape from semblable offices do not think that they lose honor but that they bee free of a troblesome charge Therefore if none of al these things moue thee to desire lyfe what should let thee that through thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dye for one of these two things eyther for the loue of those they leaue beehynd them or for the feare of that they hope Sins therefore there is nothing in this lyfe worthy of loue nor any things in death why wee shoold feare why doo mē feare to dye According to the heauy sighs thou fetchest the bitter tears thou she dest according also to the great payn thou shewest for my part I think that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods shoold cōmaund thee to pay this debt For admit that al think that their life shal end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soone For that men think neuer to dye they neuer beeginne their faults to amend so that both life fault haue end in the graue togethers Knowst not thou most noble prince that after the long night cōmeth the moist morning Doost thou not know that after the moyst morning there commeth that cleere sunne Knowst not thou that after the cleare sunne cōmeth the cloudy element Doost thou not know that after the dark myst there commeth extream heat And that after the heat cometh the horrible thunders after the thunders the sodeyn lightnings that after the perilous lightnings commeth the terrible hayle Fynally I say that after the tempesteous troublesome time commonly commeth cleare faire weather The order that time hath to make him self cruel gentill the self same ought men to haue to liue dye For after the infancy cōmeth chyldhod after chyldhod commeth youth after youth cōmeth age after age cōmeth the fearfull death Finally after the fearful death cōmeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read of thee not seldome hard that
thousand sexterces Trauaile to augmēt them for her not to dymynish them I commend vnto thee Drusia the Romain wydow who hath a proces in the Senat. For in the times of the cōmotions past her husband was banished proclamed traytor I haue great pyety of so noble worthy a widow for it is now .iii. moneths since shee hath put vp her cōplaint for the great warres I could not shew her iustice Thou shalt find my sonne that in .xxxv. yeares I haue gouerned in Rome I neuer agreed that any widow should haue any sute beefore mee aboue .viii. dayes Bee carefull to fauour and dispatch the orphanes and wydows For the needy wydows in what place so euer they bee doo encurre into great daunger Not which out cause I aduertise thee that the trauaile to dispatch thē so sone as the maist to administer iustice vnto thē For through the prolōging of beautiful womēs suites their honor credit is diminished So that their busines being prolōged they shal not recouer so much of their goods as they shal lose of their renowm I cōmēd vnto thee my sonne my old seruaunts which with my long yeares and my cruell warres with my great necessityes with the combrance of my body and my long disease haue had great trouble as faithfull seruaunts oftentimes to ease mee haue annoyed them selues It is conuenient since I haue preuailed of their lyfe that they should not loose by my death Of one thing I assure thee that though my body remaine with the wormes in the graue yet beefore the gods I will remember them And heerin thou shalt shew thy selfe to bee a good child when thou shalt recompence those which haue serued thy father well Al princes which shall doo iustice shal get enemies in the excucion therof And sith it is doone by the hands of those which are neere him the more familiare they are with the prince the more are they hated of the people al in generally doo loue iustice but none doo reioyce that they execute it in his house And therfore after the Prince endeth his lyfe the people will take reuenge of those which haue beene ministers therof It were great infamy to the empire offence to the gods iniury to mee vnthankfulnes to thee hauing found the armes of my seruants redy xviii yeares that thy gates should bee shut against them one day Keepe keepe these thinges my sonne in thy memorye and since particulerly I doo remember them at my death cōsider how hartely I loued them in my life ¶ The good Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome endeth his purpose life And of the last woords which hee spake to his sonne Commodus and of the table of counsels which hee gaue him Cap. lvii WHen the Emperor had ended his particuler recommendacions vnto his sonne Commodus as the dawning of the day beegan to appeere so his eies beegan to close his tong to faulter his hands to tremble as it dooth accustome to those which are at the point of death The prince perceiuing then litle life to remaine commaunded his secretory Panutius to go to the coffer of his books to bring one of the coffers beefore his presence out of the which hee tooke a table of .iii. foot of bredth and ii of length the which was of Eban bordered al about with vnycorne And it was closed with .2 lyds very fine of red wood which they cal rasing of a tree where the Phenix as they say breedeth which dyd grow in Arabia And as there is but one onely Phenix so in the world is there but one onely tree of that sorte On the vttermost part of the table was grauen the God Iupiter on the other the goddesse Venus in the other was drawen the God Mars the goddesse Diana In the vppermost part of the table was carued a bull in the neythermost part was drawne a kyng And they sayd the paynter of so famous renowmed a woork was called Apelles The Emperor takyng the table in his hands casting his eies vnto his sonne sayd these woords Thou seest my sonne how from the turmoyls of fortune I haue escaped how I into miserable destenies of death doo enter where by experience I shall know what there is after this lyfe I meane not now to blaspheme the gods but to repent my sinnes But I would willingly declare why the gods haue created vs since there is such trouble in life such paine in death Not vnderstāding why the gods haue vsed so great cruelti with creatures I see it now in that after .lxii. yeres I haue sayled in the daunger peril of this life now they commaund mee to land harbour in the graue of death Now approcheth the houre wherin the band of matrimoni is losed the thred of life vntwined the key dooth lock the slepe is wakened my lyfe dooth end I go out of this troublesome paine Remembring mee of that I haue doone in my lyfe I desire no more to liue but for that I know not whyther I am caryed by death I feare refuse his darts Alas what shal I doo since the gods tel mee not what I shal doo what coūsail shal I take of any mā since no man will accompany mee in this iourney O what great disceite o what manifest blindnes is this to loue one thing al the days of his life to call nothing with vs after our death Beecause I desired to bee rych they let mee dy poore Bycause I desired to lyue with company they let mee dy alone For such shortnes of life I know not what hee is that wyl haue a house since the narow graue is our certain mansiō place beeleeue mee my sonne that many things past doo greeue mee sore but with nothing so much I am troubled as to come so late to the knowledge of this life For if I could perfectly beeleeue this neyther should men haue cause to reproue mee neither yet I now such occasion to lament mee O how certaine a thing is it that men when they come to the point of death doo promise the gods that if they proroge their death they will amend their life but notwithstanding I am sory that wee see them deliuered from death without any maner of amendment of life They haue obteyned that which of the gods they haue desired haue not perfourmed that which they haue promised They ought assuredly to think that in the sweetest time of their lyfe they shall bee constreyned to accept death For admit that the punishment of ingrate persons bee deferred yet therfore the fault is not pardoned Bee thou assured my sonne that I haue seene enough hard felt tasted desired possessed eaten slept spoken and also liued inough For vices geeue as great trouble to those which follow them much as they doo great desire to those which neuer proued them I confesse to the immortall Gods that I haue no desire to lyue yet I ensure thee
thy children haue no nede to be maried For one thing we are bound to thee that is the example of thy pacience for since thou suffrest Faustine in so many open infamies it is no great nede we suffer any secretes in thee For this present I say no more I end my letter desiring to se shortly the ende of thy life ¶ Marcus Aurelius wryteth to the lady Macrine the Romaine of whom beholding her at the wyndowe he became enamoured Whiche declareth what force the beauty of a fayre woman hath in a weake man Cap. xiii MArke the very desirous to the lady Macrine greatly desired I know not whether by my euyl aduenture or by happe of my good aduenture not long agoe I saw the at a window where thou haddest thy armes as close as I my eyes displayd that cursed be they for euer for in beholding thy face forthwith my hart abode with the as prisoner The beginning of thy knowledge is the end of my reason and fallyng in shonnyng one euyl come infinite trauayles to men I say it for this if I had not bene ydel I had not gone out of my house and not gone out of my house I had not passed by the streat And not going through the streate I had not sene that at the window and not seing the at the window I had not desired thy person And not desiringe thy person I had not put thy fame in so greate peril nor my life in doubt nor we had geuen no occasion to Rome to speake of vs. For of troth lady Macrine in this case I condemne my selfe For willyngly I dyd behold the. I did not salute the althoughe thou desiredst to be sene Sith thou were set vp as a white it is no merueile though I shotte with the arrowes of my eyes at the but of thy beauty with rollyng eyes with browes bent wel coloured face incarnate teth ruddy lipps courled heere hands set with ringes clothed with a thousand maner of coloures hauyng purses full of swete sauoures the bracelettes and earinges ful of pearles and stones Tel me what this meaneth The most that I can thinke of this is sith you shew vs your bodies openly ye would we should know your desires in secret And if it be so as I beleue it is it semeth to me lady Macrine thou oughteste to loue him that lyketh the to enfourme him that seketh the to aunswere him that calleth the to feale him that fealeth the and to vnderstand him that vnderstandeth the and sith thou vnderstandest me I do vnderstand the vnderstand that thou knowest not I do wel remember as I went by the streat solitarily to se ii theues put to death my eyes saw the at a window on whom dependeth al my desires More iustice thou dost to me then I to the theaues for I being at iustice thou hast iusticed the iustice none dare paine the. The gallowes is not so cruel to them which neuer knew but doing euyl as thou art to me which neuer thought other but to serue the. They suffer but one death but thou makest me suffer a thousand They in one daye one houre end their lyues and I each minute do fele the pāges of death They died gilty but I innocently They dy openly I in secret What wilt thou I saye more to thee they wepte for that they died and I wepe teares of bloude from my hart for that I liue This is the differēce their torments spreadeth abrod through al their body I kepe mine together in my hart O cruel Macrine I know not what iustice this is that they kil men for robbing stealing of money suffer women to liue which steale mens harts If they take the liues from them that picke purses why then do they suffer ladies which robbe our entrailes By thy noblenes I pray the by the goddesse Venus I coniure the eyther satisfye my desire or restore to me my hart whych thou hast robbed from me I would thou knew lady Macrine the clere intencion of my hart rather then this letter written with my hande If my hap were so good as thy loue would permit me to speake with the I wold hope by sight speche to win that which I am in suspect by my letter to lose The reason wherof is because thou shalt rede my rude reasons in this leter if thou sawest me thou shouldest se the bitter teares which I would offer to thee in this my vnhappy life O that my mouth could publishe my cruel peines as my harte fealeth thē I sweare to thee lady Macrine that my woful plaintes would stirre vp thy small care and as thy beauty hath made thee thine owne so the knowledge of my griefe should make the myne I desire thou wouldest regarde the beginning and therewith note the ende For of truth the same day that thou imprisonest my hart at the window in the dungeon of my desires I had no lesse weakenes to ouercome then thou haddest strength to enforce me greater was thy power to take me frome my selfe then my reason was to put me from the. Now lady Macrine I doe not aske other mercy of the but that we may declare our minds together But in this case what wilt thou I say vnto the but that thou hast somuch power ouer me and I so lytle of my libertie that though I would not my hart must nedes be thine that being thine thou wilt shewe thy selfe to be mine And sith it may not be but that my life must be condemned in thy seruice be thou as sure of my faith as I am doubtful of thy good wil. For I shal haue a greater honor to be lost for thy sake thē to winne any other treasure I haue no more to say to the now but that thou haue respect to my perdicion draw life out of my death tourne my teares to ioy And because I hold my faith and wil neuer dispaire in thy hope I send the x. litle ringes of gold with x. ringes of Alexandria and by the immortall gods I cōniure the that when thou puttest thē on thy finger thou receiuest my loue into thy hart Marcus thy louer wrote this with his owne hand ¶ Of an other letter whiche the emperour sent to the Lady Macrine wherin he expresseth the firy flames which consume sonest the gentle harts Cap. xiiii MArke thy neighbour at Rome to the Macrine his swete enemy I cal the swete for it is iust I die for the enemy because thou ceasest not to kil me I cannot tel how it is but sithe the feast of Ianus hitherto I haue writen thre letters vnto the in the aunswere wherof I would haue ben cōtented to haue receiued but ii from the. If I wuld serue the thou wil not be serued if I speake to the thou wilt not aunswere me If I behold the thou wilt not loke at me if I cal the thou wilt not answer me If I visite