With the Poet he can resolue Hic murus aheneus esto nil conscire sibi his integritie to him is a Brazen wall And with the Orator he assures himselfe that nullum theatrum virtuti maius conscientiâ Vertue hath not a more illustrious and eminent Theatre to act on then her owne conscience Socrates a good man if a meere morrall man may be termed so beeing scurrilously by Aristophanes the Poet derided before the people and by Anytus and Melytus vniustly accused before the Iudges as a trifler a master of follies a corrupter of youth a sower of impieties answered If their alledged imputations be true we will amend them if false they pertaine not to vs. It was a noble constancie and resolution of a wise man that he inlightned with the only beames of nature was so moderate and discreet The good man here personated inspired with a farre richer diuiner knowledge then humanitie cannot but asmuch exceede Soerates in those vertues of resolution as Socrates did his aduersaries in modestie and moderation Kings and mightie Monarches as they are first mouers to all subordinate ministers of what ranke or imploiments soeuer within their proper dominions are indeed publike persons But as one king traffiques with another another and another either for repressing of hostilitie inlarging a confederacie confirming an Amitie setling a peace supplanting an heresie and such like not immediately concerning his owne particular or his peoples but for moderating the differences betweene other Princes In this respect euen Kings and priuate men and so their actions belong wholly and onely to themselues printing the royalty of their goodnes in an immortalitie of a vertuous and euerlasting name by which they iustly lay a claime to the Style of good men which attribute doth more glorifie their desert then the mightinesse of their thrones can their glories In which respect our SOVERAIGNE LORD AND KING that now is hath worthily chronicled his Grand-fathers remembrance which was as hee best witnesseth called The poore mans King A title of so inestimable a wealth that the riches of many Kingdomes are of too low meane a value to purchase the dignitie and honour of this onely Style The poore mans King The famous and most excellent commendation of A GOOD MAN cannot be more expresly exemplified in any president or myrrour by all the instances of former times nor shall be euer farre farre beâ— seruilitie or insinuation ouer-paralleled by any age succeeding then in the person of IAMES the King of great Britaine presently here reigning ouer vs A good man so well deseruing from all gratefull memorie seruice and honour that not to doe him seruice is an ingratitude to the greatnesse of his goodnesse and not to doe him all honour an ingratitude to the goodnesse of his greatnesse A good man that euen with his entrance to the Crowne did not more bring peace to all Christian nations yea almost to all Nations of the Westerne World then since the whole course of his glorious reigne hath preserued peace amongst them A Good man who hath thus long sought as an equall and vpright moderatour to decide discusse conclude and determine all differences between his neighbouring Princes and fellowes in Empire A good man of whom it may be verified that he is BONORVM MAXIMVS and MAGNORVM OPTIMVS A good man that loues not vertue for the name of vertue onely but for the substance and realitie A good man whom neither scandal can any way impeach of Iniustice tyrannie ignorance nor imposture traduce to a neglect of merite in the desertfull to leuitie in affections to surquâ—drie in passions to intention of inclyning to folly or declyning from reall worth which as an heditarie inheritance and a fee simple by nature and education hee retaynes in himselfe to the wonder and admiration of all that may emulously imitate him neuer perfectly equall him Questionlesse the Chronicles that shall hereafter report the Annalls of his life and Actions shall doe infinite iniurie to the incomparable monuments of his name if they Style him as some would wish IAMES THE GREAT or as others indeuour IAMES THE PEACEABLE or as not a few hope IAMES THE LEARNED For to those titles haue the Greekes in Alexander the Romans in Augustus the Germans in Charles the Fift the French men in Charlemaine and Henrie the Fourth Father to their present King attayned But if he shall be reported in his Style to be as in his owne worthinesse hee may iustly challenge he must then be styled as by the approbation of all that truely know him he is knowne to be IAMES THE GOOD Let the summe of this branch of Resolution which is indeed Corona operis the summe of the whole sum bee concluded That this onely patterne as he is onely inferior on earth to God who is BONVM SVMMVM the chiefe and soueraigne good so the distinction betweene his great Master and him whose Vicegerent he is consists in this with reuerence to the diuine Maiestie be it spoken That as God whom to call good is but an improprietie of description is not singly bonus good but Bonitas goodnesse in abstracto as the Schoole-men speake So vnder the great KING OF KINGS this King of men is substitute to his King with this vp-shut The one is foreuer the King of goodnesse and our King on earth not onely a good King but a good man Such a good man as doth himselfe run and teacheth by his example others securely and readily to runne by his Line of Life to the immortalitie of a vertuous name A priuate man A publique man A good man haue beene here particularly deciphered discoursed It comes to conclusion that hee who desires either in his owne person to be renowned for the generall prosperitie of the Common-wealth to be eternized or for the coÌ„munitie of his friends or any whom hee will make his friends remeÌ„bred in the Diaries of posteritie must first lay the foundation of a willingnesse from thence proceed to a desire froÌ„ theÌ„ce to a delight from a delight to practise from practise to a constant perseuerance in noble actions And then such a man howsoeuer he liue shall neuer misse to end his dayes before his honors and the honours of his name can end for they shal know no end and yet euen in death and after death over-ouer-liue all his enemies in the immortall spring of a most glorious memorie which is the most precious Crowne and reward of A most precious Line of Life The Corollarie IN the view of the precedent Argument somewhat perhaps too lamely hath the Progresse of a Mans Life in any Fate been traced wherein still the course like a Pilot sayling for his safetie and wel-fare hath alwayes had an eie to the North-Starre of Vertue without which men cannot but suffer shipwrack on the Land aswell as Mariners on the Sea Such as haue proofes in their owne persons and experiences of both fortunes haue past through
A LINE OF LIFE Pointing at the Immortalitie of a Vertuous NAME Printed by W. S. for N. Butter and are to be sold at his shop neere Saint Aâ—stens gate 1620. WISE and therein NOBLE AMbition beeing sooner discouered by acting then plotting can rarely personate practise in studie vnlesse the Arts themselues which in themselues are liberall should 〈◊〉 too curiously censured too inquisitiuely confined It is an easie vanity in these dayes of libertie to be a conceited Interpreter but a difficult commendation to bee a serious Author for whatsoeuer is at all times honestly intended oftentimes is too largely construed Generall collections meet not seldome with particular applications and those so dangerous that it is more safe more wisâ— to professe a free silence then a necessarie industrie Here in this scarce an handfull of discourse is deciphered not what any personally is but what any personally may be to the intent that by the view of others wounds we might prouide playsters and cures for our owne if occasion impose them It is true that all men are not borne in one the same or the like puritie of qualitie or condition for in some Custome is so become another Nature that Reason is not the mistresse but the seruant not the directresse but the foyle to their passions Folly is a sale-able merchandise whose factour youth is not so allowedly profest in young men as pleasure in men of any age yet are the ruines the calamities the wofull experiences of sundrie presidents and samplars of indiscretion and weakenesse euen in noted and sometimes in great ones so apparent so daily that no Antidote against the infection disease leprosie of so increasing an euill can be reputed superfluous For my part I ingeniously acknowledge that hitherto how euer the course hath proued a barre to my thrift yet I neuer fawned vpon any mans Fortunes whose person and merit I preferred not Neither hath any court-ship of applause set me in a higher straine a higher pinnacle of opinion then seuerest Approbation might make warrantable Howbeit euen in these few lines that follow my ayme hath not beene so grossely leuelled that I meant to chuse euery Reader for my Patron considering that none can challenge any interest herein from me vnlesse he challenge it by way of an vsurped impropriation whom I my selfe doe not out of some certaine knowledge and allowance of Desert as it were poynt out and at with my finger and confesse that Hic est it is this one and onely By which marke I can deny no man not guiltie to himselfe of a selfe-unworthinesse to call it his owne at least none of those who freely returne the defects to their proper owner and the benefit if any may be of this little worke to their own vse and themselues So much it is to bee presumed the verie taliarie Law may require and obtaine In all things no one thing can more requisitely bee obserued to be practised then The Golden Meane The exemplification whereof howeuer heretofore attributed I dare not so poorely vnder-value my selfe and labours as not to call mine But if I should farther exceede I might exceede that meane which I haue endeuoured to commend Let him that is wise and therein noble assume properly to himselfe this interest that I cannot distrust the successefull acceptation where the sacrifice is a thriftie loue the Patron a great man good for to be truly good is to be great And the Presentor a feodarie to such as are maisters not more of their own Fortunes then their owne affections Aestatis occasum hauâ—d aegre tulit vnquám Temperata Hyems IO. FORD LINEA VITAE A Line of Life TO liue and to liue well are distinct in theÌ„selues so peculiarly as is the ACTOR and the ACTION All men couet the former as if it were the totall and souereigne felicitie of a humane condition And some few pursue the latter because it giues an eternity to their blessednesse The difference between those two is Life desired for the only benefit of liuing feares to dye for such men that so liue when they dye both dye finally dye all But a good Life aymes at another mark for such men as indeauour to liue well liue with an expectation of death and they when they dye dye to liue and liue for euer In this respect hath death beâ—ng the parting of a precious Ghest from a ruinous Inne the soule â—rom the bodie beene â—y the Ancients styled a Hauen of safetie a finishing of Pilgrimages â— resting from trauaile â— passage to glorie Eueâ—ie man that most shuns â—t and he most shunnes â—t that most feares it â—unnes notwithstanding wilfully to meet it euen â—hen posting to it when â—ee abhorres it for the comparison is liuely â—emarkeable as he who in a Shippe directs his course to some Port whether he stand walk reuell sleepe lie downe or any way else dispose himself is notwithstanding alwaies driuen on to the period of his voyage So in this Ship of our mortalitie howsoeuer wee limit our courses or are suited in any fortune of prosperitie or lownesse in this great Sea of the World yet by the violence and perpetuall motion of time are we compeld to pace onward to the last and long home of our graues and then the victorie of Life is concluded in the victory of our ends It is granted in Philosophie that Action is the Crowne of Vertue It cannot in reason the light of Philosophie be denied that perseuerance is the Crowne of Action and then Diuinitie the Queene of Nature will confirme that sufferance is the Crowne of perseuerance For to be vertuous without the testimonie of imployment is as a rich Minerall in the heart of the Earth vn-vseful because vnknowne yet to bee vertuously imployed and not to continue is like a swift runner for a Prize who can with ease gaine it from others but slothfully sitteth downe in the middle way but to perseuere in well-doing without a sence of a dutie only with hope of reward is like an Indian Dromedarie that gallops to his common Inne prickt on-wardes with the desire of Prouender It is beast-like not to differ from beasts aswell in the abuse of reason as it would bee in the defect ACTION PERSEVERANCE IN ACTION SVFFERANCE IN PERSEVERANCE are the three golden linkes that furnish vp the richest Chain wherwith a good man can bee adorned They are a tripartite counterpawne wherby wee hold the possession of life whose Charter or Poll Deed as they terme it are youth till twentie manhood till fortie olde age till our end And hee who beginnes not in the spring of his minoritie to bud forth fruits of vertuous hopes or hopefull deserts which may ripen in the Summer of confirmed manhood rarely or neuer yeelds the crop of a plentifull memory in his age but preuents the winter of his last houre in the barren Autume of his worst houre by making an euen reckoning with time mis-spent dying without any Issue
concealement and extenuation Let it be spoken with some authority borrowed from experience of the elder times that men in high places are like some hopelesse marriners set to sea in a leaking vessel there is no safetie no securitie no comfort no content in greatnesse vnlesse it be most constantly armed in the defensiue armor of a selfe-worthie resolution especially when their places they hold are hourely subiect to innouation as their names if they preuent not their dangers by leauing them and their liues at once are to reproach and the libertie of malice Flatterie to either publique persons is not more inductious on the one side then enuie on the other is vigilant Great men are by great men not good men by good men narrowly sifted their liues their actions their demeanors examined for that their places and honours are hunted after as the Beazar for his preseruatiues And then the least blemish the least slide the least error the least offence is exasperated made capitall the dangers ensuing euer prooue like the wound of an enemies sword mortall and many times deadly Now in this case when the eye of iudgement is awakened Flatterie is discouered to be but an Inmate to Enuie an Inmate at least consulting together though not dwelling together the one being Catarer to the others bloudie banquet And some wise men haue been perswaded that the pestilence the rigour of Law Famine Sicknes or War haue not deuour'd more great ones then Flattery and Enuie Much amisse from the purpose it cannot bee to giue instance in three publike Presidents of three famous Nations all chancing within the compasse of twentie yeares In England not long agoe a man supereminent in Honours desertfull in many Seruices indeared to a vertuous and a wise Queene ELIZABETH of glorious memorie and eternall happinesse A man too publikely beloued and too confident of the loue he held ROBERT EARLE OF ESSEX and Earle Marshall of the Kingdome He euen he that was thought too high to fall and too fixed to bee remoued in a verie handfull of time felt the misery of Greatnesse by relying on such as flattered and enuyed his Greatnesse His end was their end and the execution of Law is a witnesse in him to Posteritie how a publike person is not at any time longer happie then hee preserues his happinesse with a Resolution that depends vpon the guard of innocēcie goodnes CHARLES DVKE OF BYRON in France not long after him ranne the same Fate A Prince that was reputed the inuincible Fortresse to his King Countrey great in desert and too great in his Greatnesse not managing the fiery chariot of his guiding the Sunne of that Climate with moderation gaue testimonie by an imposed and inexpected end how a publike man in Authoritie sits but in Commission on his own Delinquencie longer then Resolution in noble actions leuels at the immortalitie of A Line of life Lastly SIR IOHN VANOLDEN BARNEVELT in the Netherlands whose ashes are scarce yet colde is and will bee a liuely president of the mutabilitie of Greatnesse Hee was the only one that traffiqued in the Coūsels of forreine Princes had factors in all Courts Intelligencers amongst all Christian nations stood as the ORACLE of the Prouinces and was euen the Moderator of Policies of all sorts was reputed to bee second to none on Earth for soundnesse of Designes was indeed his Countreyes both Mynion Mirror and Wonder yet enforcing his publike Authoritie too much to bee seruant to his priuate Ambition hee left the Tongue of Iustice to proclayme that long life and a peacefull death are not granted or held by the Charter of Honours except vertuous RESOLVTION renew the Patent at a daily expence of proficiencie in goodnesse Others fresh in memorie might bee inserted but these are yet bleeding in the wounds which they haue giuen themselues and some now liuing to this day who both haue had and doe enioy as great Honours and are therefore as incident to as many wofull changes but that they wisely prouide to proppe their greatnesse with many greater deserts Here is in Text Letters layd before vs the hazard perill and casualty of A PVBLIKE MAN the possibilitie what Miserie Calamity Ruine Greatnesse and Popularitie may winde him into Heere is decyphered the vnauoydable and incessant Persecutors of their Honors and Ioyes Flatterie and Enuie two ancient Courtiers It comes now to conclusion that it cannot be denyed but those publike men haue notwithstanding these chiefe and immediate meanes in their owne powers if they well and nobly order their courses to make their Countrey their Debtors and to enroll their names in the glorious Register of an euer-memorable Glorie especially if they be not too partially doting on euery commendable Vertue which in priuate men is reputed as it is a Vertue but in them a Miracle Certainly without disparagement to desert in great men there are many particular persons fit for publike imployments whose ablenesse and sufficiencie is no way inferiour to the prayses of the mightiest but that they are clouded in their lownesse obscured in their priuatnesse but else would could giue testimony to the World that all fulnesse and perfection is not confined to Eminence and Authoritie A PVBLIKE MAN therefore shunning the Adulation of a Parasite which hee may easily discouer if hee wisely examine his merit with their Hyperbolical insinuations then keeping an euen course in the processe of lawfull and iust actions auoyding the toyles snares and trappes of the enuious cannot chuse in his own lifetime but build a monument to which the Triumph and Trophies of his memorie shall giue a longer life then the perpetuitie of stone Marble or Brasse can preserue Otherwise if they stand not on the guard of their owne Pietie and Wisedome they will vpon trifles sometime or other bee quarrelled against and euicted Neyther may they imagine that any one taint howsoeuer they would bee contented to winke at it in themselues supposing it to be as perhaps it is little and not worthy reprehension can escape vnespyed For the Morall of the Poets Fiction is a goodly Lesson for their instruction It is said that Thetis the Mother of Achilles drencht him being an Infant in the Stygian Waters that thereby his whole bodie might bee made invulnerable but see the seueritie of Fate for euen in that part of the heele that his Mother held him by was hee shot by the Arrow of Paris of which wound he dyed In like case may euery Statesman bee like Achilles in the generall body of his Actions impassible and secure from any assault of wilfull and grosse ennormitie yet if he giue way to but one handfull as it may be termed of Folly not becomming the grauity and greatnes of his Calling hee shall soone meete with some watchfull Paris some industrious Flatterer or ouer-busie enuious Cōpetitour that will take aduantage of his weaknesse and wound his infirmitie to the ruine of his Honours if not to the ieopardy