Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	day_n	great_a	time_n	7,743	5	3.4082	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07590	The mirrour of friendship both hovv to knovve a perfect friend, and how to choose him. With a briefe treatise, or caueat, not to trust in worldly properitie. Translated out of Italian into English by Thomas Breme Gentleman.	Breme, Thomas.; I. B., fl. 1584.	1584 (1584)	STC 17979.7; ESTC S110017	15,331	52

toward the common wealth that there cannot be found a man that is able to Iustifie that euer he sawe thée doe euill or that any euer durste pray thée of any fauour or grace in any cause that was not iust and honest Cato would haue no statue or Image of him self set vp as the notable Romans vsed And by good reason such honour was done hym for amonge all the noble and famous Romaynes it was he alone that would not suffer that any Image of himselfe should be erected or set vp in the capytoll of Rome as the other famous Romaynes did vse for their honour and remembrance to continue Many hauing great maruell why this worthy Cato refused the honour where vpon were great discourses and spéeches in Rome Cato vpon a day being in the Senate house sayd openlie vnto them the cause that I wil not cōsnent to erect my Image in the capitoll is for that I desire that after death my good workes should rather be followed A mans good works rather to be followed then his image to be looked vpon then to goe after beholde my Image and enquire what house or parents I came of and what euill I haue done in my life time and so my euill deserts might cause my statue or Image to be throwen downe to my infamy and dishonour after my death for it happeneth often that those which by variant fortune from bace estate be mounted to great honour come afterwards by the same occasion to be plonged and ouer throwē into vtter ruine and defamy for many be reuerenced and honoured for their great riches while they possesse them which after are mocked when fortune hath abaced them and depriued them of their riches Lucian doth recite that Pompey the great was wonte to say Note Pompeius wordes of the varietie of Fortune my friends we haue little cause to trust the flatterings of fortune as for my parte I haue prooued by experience that obtayned the rule of the Roman empire before I did once pretend it or had any hope to doe it you know how sodainly againe it was taken from me whē I nothing suspected any such hap to come Lucius Seneca being banished from Rome wrot a letter to his mother Albine in which in comforting her he said these words know this for certaine good mother Albine that in my life I neuer gaue credit to or trusted fortune The wise will not presume vpō good hap although there were betwéene me and her many showes of friendlinesse but what so euer she as a traitres consēted to whereby I found my selfe in rest and tranquility it was not done by fortune by will to cease to hurt me but onely to giue me the more great fall and dissimuled assurance of her furious reuenge towards me yea euen with the furies that one campe of them come after another armd against me to giue battayle for all that she giues me either in ryches or honour by her liberality I accept it but lent not to continue but small time the promises that fortune offers me the honours she doth mée and the riches she giues me I lay it by accompte in my house by it selfe that alwayes I looke to lose it euery howre of the day and night euen when it pleaseth her to take all againe without any thing troubling my minde or spirites or making dolorous or heauy my heart any thing at all and further knowe that although I haue bene beholding to fortune yet I haue alwayes determined neuer to put trust in any thing she giues me nor hope in my hearte safely to kéepe it otherwise then for the time to take pleasure in it but no assurance I loue to haue fortune my friend rather then mine enimie but notwithstanding if I lose all that she giues mée it shall grieue mée nothing therefore I conclude finally that when fortune causeth or suffereth my house to be robbed and assayled by the greatest extremity shée can yet shall it not cause me to giue one sigh from my heart We reade that King Phillip the father of great King Alexander A wise kinge that doubted prosperous fortune when he had receiued newes of thrée victories that his Captaines and men of warre had gotten in diuers places he immediatly knéeled down ioyning his hands togither lifting vp his eies to the heauens spake these wordes O cruell fortune Oh most pittifull gods after my prosperous successe I most humbly pray you that after such great glory as you haue giuen mée at this present you will moderate the chastisement I feare will follow How fearefull the king Phillip was and that it may be with such pitty that it be not the cause of my extreame ruine and destructiō for I am certaine that after great felicity and prosperity of this life there followeth great misfortunes and disgraces All these examples afore recited be worthy to be noted and often called to our remembraunce that by thinking on them we may know how little we haue to trust in fortune and how much we haue to feare the flattering fawning and felicityes of this life True it is that we be very frayle by nature therefore fall into many fragilities dayly This world as a traytor doth vse alwayes to giue vs troubles and sorrowes as a recharge after our good happes So that we may by good right call our felicities cawteries or burning diseases in the flesh almost incurable to heale for that the world is suttle to finde euery fraud and mischéefe without giuing vs warning to foresée the sequell that followes As is manifestly séene for we fall into a number of mishappes before we can beware After pleasure payne followeth Yea if it fortune that sometimes we happen vpon pleasures or contentmēts of mind by good fortune as we terme it there followes a daungerous gulfe of troubles and a sea of dolorous thoughts so that we hoping as right worldlings to holde in certenty our good happes riches treasures of this world are suddaynly entrapped and toyled in the nets of misfortune hidden vnder a vaine hope of our good fortunes cōtinuing with vs. As though we had good fortune taken in our netts and so forced to abide with vs as had one notable Captaine Timotheus as poets fayne for that hée was happy in all his enterprises wherefore Timotheus a fortunate Captayne how high great riche or how wise so euer we accompt our selues of this wée may be sure and certaine that all men that be in the world shall find thē selues deceiued in following the world and the practises vsed in the same And such is our folly that after a little good fortune our wittes be captiuated and drowned in our owne conceite that we offer our selues as a prayr to euill haps and froward fortune most commonly irrecuperable O trayterous world which for a short time doest flatter vs and sodainely with the twinckling of an eye doest hunt vs from thée sodaynly thou giuest

Greekes hauing knowledge that the king Hytarius did hold prisoner another Captaine his very friend leauing and setting apart al his affaires and trauels thorough infinite countries till he came to the king and after most humble and reuerent salutation sayd these wordes I beseech thee most renowned king that it may please thée to pardon Mynotus my singular friend and thy humble subiect and all that it shall please thee in fauour to doe for him I shall and will account it done to myselfe And I assure thée O king thou canst not chastice or punish his person but that thou shalt giue vnto me feeling of the lyke torment that thou giuest or causest to be done to him The king Herode after that Marcus Antonius was vanquished by the Emperor Augustus Marcus Antonius a noble Romaine and of great auctoritie he came to Rome and set his crowne at the féete of Augustus and with a bolde hearte spake vnto him these words thou shalt now know O Augustus if thou doest not already knowe it that if Marcus Antonius had rather beléeued me then his friend Cleopatra Cleopatra Queene of Egipt after the death of Marcus Antonius enclosed her self in a tombe full of liue serpents so ended her life for the great loue shee bare vnto Marcus Antonius her louer thou shouldest haue prooued how great an enimie he had béene to thée And thou shouldest likewise haue knowen how great a friend I had béene to him as yet I am but he as a man that would rather gouerne himselfe by the will of a woman then be ledde by reason and wisedome he tooke of me mony and of Cleopatra councell and sée here my Realme my person and my Crowne here at thy féete which I offer willingly to thée to dispose at thy will and pleasure but with this consideration O inuincible Augustus that no punishment or hurt be done vpon my Lord and friend Marcus Antonius For a true friend will not forsake his friend not for the perill of death nor after his death be forgetfull or vnmindfull of him although his person be absent By these examples and many other that I could bring it maybe considered what fayth and fidelytie one true friend oweth to an other and what perils one of them ought to aduenture for an other for it is not sufficient that one friend be sory for an other for their mishaps or euill fortunes but to put them selues euen to the daunger of death rather then to faile his friend in his extreame néed Hée then of good right ought to be called a friend and esteemed as true and perfect that dothe willingly offer ¶ Note how to know a perfect friend departe and giue to his friend those things that he lacketh before he asketh his ayde and that spéedely commeth to succor helpe his friend béeing in peril without calling or sending for And therefore there is not nor can not be in this world better friendshippe thē this that I haue spoken of which is that commeth with a frée heart of himselfe to ayde his friend in necessitie and to succor him when he is in griefe or sorrow further we ought to know that to continue and make perfect friendship thou oughtest not to enter into friendshippe with many following the counsell that Seneca the Philosopher gaue to his friend Lucillus willing him to be the onely friend to one and enimie to none for the number of friends causeth greate importunity the which causeth perfect amity to diminish for considering well the liberty of our hearte it is impossible that one man should or can conforme or dispose his nature and condition to the will and liking of many nor that many should conforme themselues to the desire and liking of one Tully and Salust were two Orators in Roome very renomed amongst the Romaines which two Orators were mortall enimies and during their enimities Tully had for his friendes all the Senators in Roome and Salust had no other friend in Roome but Marcus Antonius and one day these two Orators being in contention in wordes togither Tully with great disdaine did reproch Salust saying vnto him what canst thou doe or enterprise in Roome against me for wel thou knowest that in all Roome thou hast to thy friend but onely Marcus Antonius and that I haue in Roome no enimie but him Salust made him a ready answere thou makest great bragges O Tully for that thou hast but one enimie mocking me that I haue but one friend but I hope in the immortall gods that all thy friends shall not be able to defend thée from destructiō and that this one friend of mine if all be of power sufficient to kéepe mée from daunger against thée and all thy adherents and so it came to passe within fewe daies after that Marcus Antonius caused Tully to be slaine and did aduance Salust to great auctority and honour A friend may part to another body with all that he hath as bread wine golde siluer and all other his temporal goods but not the hart for that can not be parted nor giuen to more then one for this is true and certaine many hold it for great glory to haue many friendes but if they consider to what purpose such a number of friendes serue for no other cause but to eate drinke walke and talke together not to succor them in their necessities with their goods fauour and credits nor brotherly to reproue them of their vices and faults where in truth where is a perfect amite neither my friend to me nor I to my friend ought neuer to dissemble but one to tell another their vices and faults A perfect friend a great measure for in this world is not founds so great a treasure that may be compared to a true and perfect friend considering that to a true and assured friend a man may discouer the secrets of his hearte and recounte to him all his griefes trust him with things touching his honour and deliuer him to keep his goods and treasures which will sucour vs in our paines and trauels councell vs in all perrilles and daungers reioyce with vs in our prosperityes and will be sorrowfull with vs in our aduersities and disgraces of fortune Finally I conclude that a faithfull friend doth neuer fayle to ayde vs during his life nor to complaine mourne for vs after our death I agrée that gold and siluer is good and parents and kinred but farre better is true friends without comparison for that all other things cannot helpe vs in our necessity if by fortune it happen that we be plonged in troubles but riches many times doth danger vs yea doth further increase our perill and deceiueth vs making vs to enterprise vnprofitable attempts leading vs to the toppes of craggy mountaynes from which we fall in great perrill and perpetuall ruine but a true friend séeing or hearing his friend in daunger or heauines doth minister to him of his goods trauell and daunger

vs occasion to be merry trayterous ●orlde and by and by makest vs heauy and sad now thou doest aduaunce vs and shortly after abace vs inchant vs vnder the guise of troubles doth so trauell and weary vs and makest vs so fast in thy toyles troublous laborinthes that we can not escape thy engines for the world the more knowing a man hawty and glorius the more doth prouide for him honors and riches deinty fare bewtifull women other worldly pleasures and restes which is to no other end but after all these wished pleasures and deintines ministered vnto vs euen as a baite is to the fishes we are sodainly more easily taken in the nettes snares of our owne wickednes but as for our first tēptations that by the world be presented vnto vs wée thinke it vnpossible that we should be so often assayled with aduerse fortune and our power that is smal to resist is cause to vs of great hardynesse but I would haue one that is most affectionate to the world or loueth it most should tell me what hope or recompence he or they can recouer after they be deceiued of the world and their trust they haue of the continuance of their brittle pleasures by trusting whereof they after endure so many incūbrances of fortune If we should euer hope they would continue with vs that were a great folly and mockery Death mo neare whē lif is most desire considering that the time when our life is moste swéete and agréeable to vs then is death most neare vs euen moste sodainly to intrap vs for when we thinke to haue peace and truce with fortune at the same instant she rayses a camp and stirs vp a new war against vs. And I certainly beléeue that which I haue written and sayd shal be red of many and remembred and beléeued of few that is that I haue knowen great dolors and lamentations to haue bene in the houses of many where before hath bene great ioye laughing and reioycing in this world which is a giuer of euill ●he world des●●ibed a ruine of good things a heape of wickednes a tirant of vertue an enimy of peace a friend of wars a mayntayner of errors a riuer of vices a persecutor of vertues an inuēter of nouelties a graue of ignorance a forrest of mischefe a burning desire of the fleshly delightes insatiable delicacy in féeding gourmandise and finally a Charibdis or most dangerous gulfe in which doth perish many noble harts and a very Scilla where also doth perish al our desires good thoughts for the people doe not accompt them happy that deserue well ●he Peoples ●ccompt but those that posses the riches and treasures which vpon the suddaine some times they sée fortune vtterly despoyle them of that thē possesse but of that minde were not the Philosophers Sages neither at this day those that be wise and vertuous we sée some lose their riches and some their liues and treasures togither that haue bene long in gathering getting for where is greate riches enuy followeth as the shadow the body Ewsenides was in great fauour with King Ptholome of Egipt thereby very rich Note this reioycing in this prosperity of fortune said to another his great familiar the king can giue me no more then the rule of all that he hath his friend answered him yet aduerse fortune may take it all from thée then it will be a gréeuous day to thée to descend the degrées of good hap The cruelty of a king in respect of this liuer shortly after it followed that king Ptholome found Ewsenides talking secretly with a womā that king Ptholome loued greatly wherefore the king taking high displeasure againste them both commaunded the woman to drink poyson and caused the man to be hanged before his gate Plaucian was so greatly estéemed of the Emperor Seuerus that al that Plaucian preferred the Emperour thought well of Plaucian slayn by the Emperours sonne willingly accomplished his requests yet was he sodainly slain in the kings chamber by the hands of Basian the Emperours eldest sonne the Emperour Commodus sonne of the good Emperour Marcus Aurelius loued one seruāt that he had called Cleander The ende of extreame couetousnesse a mā very wise olde but yet couetous which man being asked pay by the souldiers of Rome shewing the emperours warrant vnder his hand Princes commaundements are dangerous to be broken yet would not Cleander make pay wherefore the Emperour séeing his disobedience the small respect he had to doe the emperours commaundment commaunded imediatly that Cleander should be put to a shameful death and all his goodes confiscate Alcimenides a famous king in Gréece had one that serued him named Pannonian one that the king held in singular fauour and account in so much that the king plaied at tennis with this his seruant in playing a contentiō grew betwéene them where the chace was marked It is daunger to contend with princes the king said in one place Pannonion in another the king being in a great fury commanded his garde to take him in the same place that Pannonian affirmed the chace to be the king caused Panonians head to be cut of the Emperour Constance fauoured greatly one Hortensius in so much that all matters in the common wealth the wars and houshould affaires were done by Hortensius his direction the emperour hauing cause to signe letters very hastely Hortenslus brought the Emperour a pen that was euill made or else some faulte in the ynke that the Emperour could not readily write with it the Emperour being very angry caused Hortensius head to be cut of with out any stay A cruel punishmēt for a light fault Many other examples might here be brought in How great Alexander slew in his anger Craterus King Pirrhus caused his scretary Alphabot to be slain The emperour Bittalio Cincinatus his deare friend Domician his chamberlen Rufus by which examples may be seene the sodainnesse of the alteration of prospetity and riches for light occasions also death King Demetrius asked the Philosopher Euripides what he thought of the weaknesse of man of the vncertainty of this life he answered O king there is nothing certaine in this life but that suddaine eclipses and incumberances chanceth King Demetrius answered you might well say they change daily and almost from houre to houre So that there may be inferred by the words of this good king that changes of perrill daunger come in the twinkling of an eye but to say the truth the man that would liue content Many mishaps might be preuented by wisdome and foresée these euill happes might well auoid most mischances but aboundance prosperity of fortime doth so blind vs that coueting still to inrich our selues and to commaund brings vs in the end to infelicity and torments of the minde Finally I conclude that all men ought to liue sagely and wisely to foresée the directions of their liues and dayly affayres For most true it is that none liue in any prosperous estate that hath no enimies noting their doings wherefore let all men direct a vertuous course in their liuing in this worlde by meanes whereof their owne quietnesse may followe in their life time and be a good example for their posterity to follow after their deathes FINIS Imprinted at London by Abel Ieffes and William Dickenson