children haunt the vice of the flesh whilest they be yong there is small hope of goodnes to be looked for in them when they be old for the older they waxe the riper be their vices Masters would correct the childe but fathers and mothers forbid them Little auaileth one to pricke the horse with the spurre when he that sitteth vpon him holdeth backe with the bridle Of Death O If we would consider the corruption wherof we are made the filth wherof we are engendred the infinite trauell whereunto we are borne the long tediousnes wherwith we are nourished the great necessities and suspicions wherein we liue and aboue all the great peril wherein we die we find a thousand occasions to wish death not one to desire life The excellencie of the soule laid aside and the hope which we haue of eternall life if man do compare the captiuitie of men to the libertie of beasts with reason we may see that the beasts do liue a peaceable life and that which man doth lead is but a long death I had rather chuse an vnfortunate life and an honorable death than an infamous death and an honorable life That man which will be accounted for a good man not noted for a brute beast ought greatly to trauell to liue well and much more to die better for that euill death maketh men doubt that the life hath not been good and the good death is an excuse of an euill life The dead do rest in a sure hauen and we saile as yet in raging seas If the death of men were as beasts that is to wit that there were no furies nor diuels to torment them that God should not reward the good yet we ought to be comforted to see our friends die if it were for none other cause but to see them deliuered from the thraldome of this miserable world The pleasure that the Pilote hath to be in a sure hauen the glory that the captaine hath to see the day of victory the rest that the traueller hath to see his iorney ended the contentation that the workman hath to see his worke come to perfection all the same haue the dead seeing themselues out of this miserable life If men were born alwaies to liue it were reason to lament them when we see them die but since it is truth that they are borne to die we ought not to lament those which die quickly but those which liue long since thou knowest he is in place where there is no sorrow but mirth where there is no paine but ease where he weepeth not but laugheth where he sigheth not but singeth where he hath no sorowes but pleasures where he feareth not cruel death but enioyeth perpetuall life The true widow ought to haue hir conuersation among the liuing and hir desire to be with the dead Death is the true refuge the perfite health the sure hauen the whole victory finally after death we haue nothing to bewaile and much lesse to desire Death is a dissolution of the body a terror to the rich a desire of the poore a thing inheritable a pilgrimage vncertain a theefe of men a kind of sleeping a shadow of life a separatiō of the liuing a company of the dead a resolution of all a rest of trauels and the end of all idle desires If any dammage or feare be in him who dieth it is rather for the vice he hath committed than feare of death There is no prince nor knight rich nor poore whole nor sicke luckie nor vnluckie with their vocations contented saue onely the dead which are in their graues at rest and peace If in youth a man liue well and in age studie to die well and his life hath been honest his hope is that death will be ioyfull and although he hath had sorow to liue he is sure he shall haue no paine to die This equal iustice is distributed to all that in the same place where we haue deserued life in the same we shal be assured of death Cato being praised of the Romanes for his courage at his death laughed they demaunded the cause why he laughed he answered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel for the perils and trauels considered wherein we liue and the safetie wherein we die it is no more needfull to haue vertue and strength to liue than courage to die We see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thirst trauel pouertie inconuenience sorow enmities and mishaps of the which things we were better to see the end in one day than to suffer them euery hower for it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death than to endure a miserable life The day when we are born is the beginning of death and the day wherein we die is the beginning of life If death be no other but an ending of life and that whiles we liue we carrie death than reason perswadeth vs to thinke that our infancie dieth our childhood dieth our manhood dieth and our age shall die whereof we may conclude that we are dying euery yeere euery day euery houre and euery moment Diuers vaine men are come into so great follies that for feare of death they procure to hasten death Hauing thereof due consideration me seemeth that we ought not greatly to loue life nor with desperation to seeke death for the strong and valiant man ought not to haue life so long as it lasteth nor to be displeased with death when it commeth In such sort therefore ought men to liue as if within an houre after they should die If we trauell by long wayes and want any thing we borow of our company if they haue forgotten ought they returne to seek it at their lodging or els they write vnto their friends a letter but if we once die they will not let vs returne againe we cannot and they will not agree that we shall write but such as they shall find vs so shall we be iudged and that which is most fearful of all the execution and sentence is giuen in one day Let not men leaue that vndone till after their death which they may do during their life nor trust in that they command but in that they do whilest they liue nor in the good works of an other but in their owne good deeds for in the ende one sigh shall be more woorth than all the friends of the world I exhort therefore all wise and vertuous men and also my selfe with them that in such sort we liue that in the end we liue for euer Those that visite the sicke ought to perswade them that they make their testaments confesse their sinnes discharge their conscience receiue the sacraments and reconcile themselues to their enimies Many in our life time do gape after our goods few at our death are sory for our offences The wise and sage before nature compelleth them to die of their own wils ought to die that is
the houses made the bed washed the buck couered thetable dressed the dinner and went for water On the contrary part his wife gouerned the goodes answered the affaires kept the money and if she were angry she gaue him not onely foule words but also oftentimes laid hir hands on him to reuenge hir anger whereof came this prouerbe vita Achaiae Where men haue so little discretion that they suffer themselues to be gouerned be it well or euill of their wiues and that euery womā commandeth hir husband there can be nothing more vaine or light than by mans law to giue that authoritie to a woman which by nature is denied hir The lawes are as yokes vnder the which the euill do labor and they are wings vnder the which the good do flie The great multitude of lawes are commonly euill kept and are on the other part cause of sundry troubles The Romanes did auoid the great number of lawes and institutions for that it is better for a man to liue as reason commaundeth him than as the law constraineth him Lawes are easily ordained but with difficultie executed and there be thousands that can make them but not one that will see the execution of them The law of Athens was that nothing should be bought before a Philosopher had set the price I would the same law at these daies were obserued for there is nothing that destroieth a common wealth more than to permit some to sell as tyrants and others to buy as fooles Of Loue. BEleeue not that loue is true loue but rather sorow not ioy but perplexitie not delite but torment not contentment but griefe not honest recreation but confusion seeing that in him that is a louer must be looked for youth libertie and liberalitie Strawe that is rotten is fitter for the land than the house so in a broken body and aged sorow and infirmities are fitter passions than loue for to Cupid and Venus no sort of people is acceptable but yong men to serue them The liberall which spares for no cost the patient to endure discreet to speake secret to conceale faithfull to deserue and constant to continue to the end It is a miserie to be poore and proud to be reuengefull and dare not strike to be sicke and farre from succor to be subiect to our enimies and lastly to suffer perill of life without reuenge but for an old man to be in loue is the greatest wretchednes that can occupy the life of man for the poore sometimes findeth pitie but the old man standeth always reiected The coward findeth friends to beare out his quarell but the amorous old man liueth always persecuted with passions The sicke liues vnder the climate of Gods prouidēce and is relieued by hope but the old amorous man is abandoned all succor He that is subiect to his enimies is not somtimes without his seasons of consolation and quiet where to the old louer is no time of truce or hope of reconcilement There is nothing more requireth gouernment thā the practise of loue seeing that in cases of hūger thirst cold heat and all other natural influences they may be referred to passions sensible only to the body but the follies imperfections and faults in loue the hart is subiect to suffer feele and bewaile them since loue more than all other things natural retaineth always this propertie to exercise tyrannie always against the hart of his subiects There is no doubt but vnperfit loue will resolue into iarres contention and continuall disquietnes for that where is not conformitie of condition there can be no contented loue no more than where is no true faith can be no true operation of good life and maners Say what you will and surmise the best to please fancie but according to experience the best remedie in loue is to auoid occasion and to eschew conuersation for that of the multitude that follow him there are few free from his bondage where such as abandon him liueth alwaies in libertie Behold how deerly I loued thee in thy presence I alwaies behold thee and absent I alwaies thought of thee sleeping I dreamed of thee I haue wept at thy sorowes and laught at thy pleasures finally all my wealth I wished thee and all thy misfortunes I wished to me I feel not so much the persecutiō thou hast done to me as I do the wailing forgetfulnes thou hast shewed to me It is a great griefe to the couetous man to lose his goods but without comparison it is a greater torment for the louer to see his loue euill bestowed for it is a hurt alwaies seene a paine alwaies felt a sorow alwaies gnawing and a death that neuer endeth As the loue of a couetous woman endeth when goods faileth so doth the loue of the man when beautie decaieth That woman which neuer loued for goods but was beloued for beautie did then loue with all hir hart and now abhor with all hir hart The gallowes is not so cruell to the euill doer as thou art to me which neuer thought otherwise than well they which suffer there do endure but one death but thou makest me to suffer a thousand they in one day and one hower do end their liues and I euery minute do feele the pangs of death they die guiltie but I innocently they die openly and I secretly What wilt thou more I say they for that they died and I shed hartie teares of blood for that I liue their torments spreadeth abrode through all the bodie but I keepe mine altogither in my hart O vnhappie hart of mine that being whole thou art diuided being in health thou art hurt being aliue thou art killed being mine owne thou art stolen and the woorst of all thou being the onely helpe of my life dost onely consent vnto my death Loue bewitcheth the wisest and blindfoldeth reason as appeereth in many wise philosophers as for example Gratian was in loue with Tamira Solon Selaminus was in loue with a Grecian Pitacus Mitelenus left his owne wife and was in loue with a bond woman that he brought from the war Periander prince of Achaia and chiefe philosopher of all Greece at the instance of his louers slew his owne wife Anacharsis the philosopher a Scithian by his father and a Greeke by his mother loued so deerly a friend of his called Thebana that he taught hir all that he knew in so much that he being sicke on his bed she read for him in the schooles Tarentinus the maister of Plato and scholler of Pithagoras occupied his mind more to inuent new kinds of loue than to imploy his mind to vertue and learning Borgias Cleontino borne in Cicill had more concubines in his house than bookes in his studie All these were wise and knowen for no lesse Yet in the end were ouercome with the flesh O how many times did Hercules desire to be deliuered from his loue Mithrida Menelaus from Dortha Pyrrhus from Helena
needeth somtimes to be whet I meane though mans vnderstanding be neuer so cleare yet from time to time it needeth counsell Vertuous men oftentimes do erre not bicause they would faile but bicause the things are so euil of digestion that the vertue they haue suffiseth not to tell them what thing is necessarie for their profite For the which cause it is necessarie that his will be kindled his wit fined his opinion changed his memorie sharpned aboue all now and then that he forsake his owne aduise and cleaue to the counsell of another The world at this day is so changed from that it was woont to be in times past that all haue the audacitie to giue counsell and few haue the wisedom to receiue it If my counsell be woorth receiuing prooue it if it doth harme leaue it if it doth good vse it for there is no medicine so bitter that the sicke doth refuse to take if thereby he thinke he may be healed I exhort and aduise thee that thy youth beleeue mine age thine ignorance my knowledge thy sleepe my watch thy dimnes my cleernes of sight thine imagination my vertue thy supicion mine experience otherwise thou maist hap to see one day thy selfe in some distresse where small time thou shalt haue to repent and none to find remedie If thou wilt liue as yoong thou must gouerne thy selfe as olde If any old man fall for age and if thou find a yoong man sage despise not his counsell for bees do drawe more honie out of the tender flowers than of the hard leaues Plato commandeth that in giuing politike counsell it be giuen to them that be in prosperitie to the intent that they decay not and to them that be in heauines and trouble to the intent that they despaire not Happie is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is Lord of yoong men to trauell and ancient persons to counsell Manie things are cured in time which reason afterward cannot helpe No mortall man take he neuer so good heede to his works nor reason so well in his desires but that he deserueth some chastisement for some cause or counsell in his doings The examples of the dead do profit good men more to liue well than the counsell of the wicked prouoketh the liuing to liue euill Men ought not in any thing to take so great care as in seeking of counsell and counsellers for the prosperous times cannot be maintained nor the multitude of enimies resisted if it be not by wise graue counsellers Thales being demanded what a man should do to liue vprightly he answered To take that counsell for himselfe which he giueth to another for the vndoing of all men is that they haue plentie of counsell for others and want for themselues He shall neuer giue to his prince good nor profitable counsell which by that counsell intendeth to haue some proper interest He is not counted sage that hath turned the leaues of manie bookes but he which knoweth and can giue good and wholsome counsell Anacharsis said Thou shalt promise me not to be importune with me to receiue any thing of thee for the day thou shalt corrupt me with gifts it is necessarie that I corrupt thee with euil counsell It is easie to speake well and hard to worke well for there is nothing in the world better cheape than counsell By the counsell of wise men that thing is kept and maintained which by the strength of valiant men is gotten Ripe counsels proceed not from the man that hath trauelled into many countries but from him that hath felt himselfe in manie dangers It is impossible that there should any misfortune happen whereas ripe counsell is To giue counsell to the wise man it is either superfluous or commeth of presumption though it be true yet I say in like maner that the diamond being set in gold looseth not his vertue but rather increaseth in price so the wiser that a man is so much the more he ought to know and desire the opinion of others certainly he that doth so cannot erre for no mans owne counsell aboundeth so much but that he needeth the counsell and opinion of others We ordaine that none be so hardie to giue counsell vnlesse therewith he giue remedie for to the troubled hart words comfort little when in them there is no remedie The woman is hardie that dare giue counsel to a man and he more bold that taketh it of a woman but I say he is a foole that taketh it and he is a more foole that asketh it but he is most foole that fulfilleth it Children and youth IT is better to leaue vnto children good doctrine whereby they may liue than euill riches wherby they may perish And the cause is that manie mens children haue beene through the hope they had to inherit their fathers goods vndone and afterward gone a hunting after vices for they seldome do any woorthie feats which in their youth inherit great treasures It is better to haue children poore and vertuous than rich and vicious To be poore or sick is not the greatest miserie neither to be whole and rich is the chiefest felicitie for there is no such felicitie to fathers to see their children vertuous It is an honor to the countrie that fathers haue such children that will take profit with their counsell and contrariwise that the children haue such fathers as can giue it them The father ought to desire his sonne onely in this cause that in his age he may sustaine his life in honor and that after his death he may cause his same to liue If not for this at the least he ought to desire him that in his age he may honor his head and that after his death he may inherit his goods But we see few do this in these daies except they be taught of their parents the same in youth for the fruit doth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree doth beare blossoms in the spring Too much libertie in youth is no other but a prophesie and manifest token of disobedience in age It is a griefe to see and a monstrous thing to declare the cares which the fathers take to gather riches the diligence that children haue to spend them There can be nothing more vniust than that the yong and vicious sonne should take his pleasure of the sweate of the aged father The father that instructeth not his sonne in vertue in his youth is lesse blamewoorthie if he be disobedient in age It is a good token when youth before they know vices haue beene accustomed to practise vertue It is pitifull to see and lamentable to behold a yoong child how the blood doth stir him the flesh prouoke him to accomplish his desires to see sensualitie go before and he himselfe to come behind the malicious world to watch him and how the diuel doth tempt
to say before they see or feele the pangs of death they haue their consciences ready prepared What loseth a wise man to haue his wil wel ordained what loseth he of his credite who in his life time restoreth which at his death he shall be constrained to render Wherein may a man shew his wisedom more than willingly to be discharged of that which otherwise by processe they will take from him How many lordes which for not spending one day about their testament haue caused their heires all the days of their life after to be in trauerse in the law so that in supposing to haue left them wealthie haue left them but attorneis in the law The true christian and vnfained ought euery morning so to dispose his goods and correct his life as if he should die the same night and so to commit himselfe to God at night as if he hoped for no life vntil the morning Princes and Lords ought to be perfect before they be perfect to end before they end to die before they die to be mortified before they be mortified if they do this they shal as easily leaue their life as if they changed from one house to another The most part of men delight to talke with leisure to drinke with leisure to eate with leisure and to sleepe with leisure but they die in haste for we see them send for their ghostlie father in haste to receiue the sacrament in haste to make their wils by force to vse conference so out of season that oftentimes the sicke hath lost his senses and giuen vp the ghost before any thing be perfectly ordered What auaileth the shipmaister after the ship is sunke what do weapons auaile after the battell is done what pleasure after men are dead likewise what auaileth the godlie instructor when the sicke is heauie and bereft of his senses or to vnlocke his conscience when the key of his toong is lost Let vs not deceiue our selues thinking in age to amend and to make restitution at our death for it is not the point of wise men nor of good Christians to desire so much time to offend and yet will neuer spie any time to amend Would to God that the third part of time which men do occupie in sinne were imploied about the meditation of death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshlie lusts were spent in bewailing their filthie sinnes All worldlings do willingly sinne vpon hope onely in age to amend and at death to repent but they that in this hope sinne what certaintie haue they of amendement and assurance to haue long warning ere they die sith in number there are more yoong than old which die The omnipotencie of the diuine mercie considered the space of an hower sufficeth yea too much to repent vs of our wicked life but yet I counsell all sith the sinner for his repentance taketh but one hower that it be not the hower too late The sighes and repentance which proceedeth from the bottom of the hart do penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessitie do not pearce the seeling of the house What wrong doth God offer vnto vs when he calleth vs away seeing from an olde decaied house he is to change vs to a new builded pallace What other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherin we shut our selues from the assalts of life and broiles of fortune for we ought to be more desirous of that we find in death than of that we leaue in life Two things cause men loth to die the loue they haue to that they leaue or else the feare of that they deserue Now I enter into the field not where of the wilde beasts I shall be assalted but of the hungrie woorms deuoured We ought not to lament the death allotted but the life that is wicked that man is very simple that dreadeth death for feare to lose the pleasures of life There is nothing that shorteneth more the life of man than vaine hope and idle thoughts The great estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death seemeth to vs sudden and that the life is ouertaken by vnwarie death but this is a practise of the children of vanitie for that by the will of God death visiteth vs and against the will of man life forsaketh vs. To the stout harts and fine wits this is a continuall torment and endlesse paine and a woorme that alwaie gnaweth to call to mind that he must lose the ioifull life which he so entirely loued and taste the fearfull death that he so greatly abhorred O cursed and wicked world thou that sufferest things neuer to remaine in one state for when we are in most prosperitie then thou with death dost persecute vs most cruelly Death is a patrimonie which successiuely is inherited but life is a right which daily is surrendred for death accounteth vs so much his owne that oftentimes vnwares he commeth to affalt vs and life taketh vs such strangers that oftentimes we not doubting thereof vanisheth away When death hath done hir office what difference is there between the faire and the fowle in the graue The man which is loden with yeers tormented with diseases pursued with enimies forgotten of his friends visited with mishaps charged with euill will and pouertie is not to demand long life but rather to imbrace death Death is that from whence youth cannot flie a foot and from whence age cannot escape on horsebacke Discord Enimitie and Variance FOr all that we can see heare or trauell and all that we can do we did neuer see nor heare tel of men that haue lacked enimies For either they be vicious or vertuous and if they be vicious and euill they are hated of the vertuous if they be good and vertuous they are continually hated and persecuted of the euill In great armies the discord that among them arise doth more harme than the enimies against whom they fight Manie vaine men do raise dissentions and quarrels among people thinking that in troubled water they should augment their estate whereas in short space they do not onely lose their hope of that they sought but are put out of that they possessed For it is not onely reasonable but also most iust that they by experience feele that which their blind malice will not suffer them to knowe Enuie AGainst enuie is no fortresse nor caue to hide nor high hil to mount on nor thicke wood to shadow in nor ship to scape in nor horse to beare away nor monie to redeeme vs. Enuie is so venemous a serpent that there was neuer mortall man among mortals that could scape from the biting of hir tooth the scratching of hir nailes defiling of hir feete and the casting of hir poison Enuie is so enuious that to them which of hir are most denied and set fardest off she giueth most cruell strokes with hir feete The maladie of enuie rankleth to death
thereby I take no profit what to speake strange languages if I refrain not my toong from other mens matters what to studie many books if I studie not but to beguile my friends what to know the influence of the stars and course of the elements if I cannot keepe my selfe from vices In all things we are so doubtfull and in all our works so disordered that at some times our vnderstanding is dull and loseth the edge and at another time it is more sharpe than it is necessarie Pouertie causeth good mens children to be vertuous so that they attain to that by vertue which others come vnto by riches It is a rule that neuer faileth that vertue maketh a stranger grow naturall and vice maketh a naturall a stranger in his owne countrie It is impossible a yoong child should be vicious if with due correction he had been instructed in vertues Noble men enterprising great things ought not to imploy their force as their noble heart willeth but as wisedome and reason teacheth There is no man so wise and sage but erreth more through ignorance than he doth good by wisedome and there is no man so iust but wanteth much to execute true iustice The vertuous do so much glorie of their vertue as the euill and malicious haue shame and dishonor of their vice for vertue maketh a man to be temperate and quiet but vice maketh him dissolute and wretchles The lacke of a physition may cause danger in mans person but the lacke of a wise man may set discord among the people Marcus Aurelius at his meate at his going to bed at his vprising in his trauell openly nor secretly suffered at any time that fooles should communicate with him but only wise and vertuous men whom he alwaies entirely loued he had reason therein for there is nothing be it in iest or earnest but is better liked of a wise man than of a foole If a prince be sad cannot a wise man by the sayings of the holy scriptures counsell him better than a foole by foolish words If the prince will passe the time away shall not he be more comforted with a wise man that reckoneth vnto him the sauorie histories done in times past than harkening to a foole speaking foolishly and declaring things dishonestly and ripping vp the saiengs of the malicious of the time present That which I most maruell at is not so much for the great authoritie that fooles haue in the pallaces of princes and great nobles as for the little credit and succor that wise men haue among them It is a great iniurie that fooles should enter into the chamber of princes vnto their bed side and that one wise man may not nor dare not enter into the hall so that to the one there is no gate shut and to the other no gate open Now in these daies there is no wise man alone that trauelleth to be wise but it is necessarie for him to trauell how to get his liuing for necessitie inforceth him to violate the rules of true philosophie Whether he be prince prelate or priuate let him haue about him sage and wise men and to loue them aboue all treasure for of good counsell there commeth profit and much treasure is a token of danger Croesus said I account my selfe to be dead though to the simple folks I seeme to be aliue and the cause of my death is bicause I haue not about me some wise person for he is only aliue amongst the liuing who is accompanied with the wise Euill princes do seeke the companie of wise men for no other intent but onely bicause through them they would excuse their faults We learne not to commaund but to obey not to speake but to be silent not to resist but to humble our selues not to get much but to content vs with litle not to reuenge offences but to pardon iniuries not to take from others but to giue our owne to others not to be honored but to trauell to be vertuous finally we learn to despise that which other men loue and to loue that which other men despise which is pouertie To a man that hath gouernment two things are dangerous that is to wit too soone or too late but of these two the worst is too soone for if by determining too late a man looseth that which he might haue gotten by determining too soon that is lost which is now gained and that which a man might haue gained To men which are too hastie chanceth many euils dangers for the man being vnpatient and his vnderstanding high afterwards commeth quarels and brawlings displeasures varieties and also vanities which looseth their goods and putteth their person in danger It chanceth oftentimes to wise men that when remedie is gone repentance commeth sodenly and then it is too late to shut the stable dore when the steed is stolne He is wisest that presumeth to know least and among the simple he is most ignorant that thinketh he knoweth most Science profiteth nothing else but to keep thy life wel ordered and thy toong well measured Vaine and foolish men by vaine and foolish words do publish their vaine and light pleasures and wise men by wise words do dissemble their grieuous sorowes Profound science and high eloquence seldome meet in one person There is no man in the world so wise but may further his doings with the aduise of an other There is nothing more easie than to know the good and nothing more common than to folow the euil As the fine gold defendeth his purenes among the burning coles so the man endued with wisedom sheweth himself wise yea in the midst amongst many fooles for as the gold in the fire is proued so among the lightnes of fooles is the wisdom of the wise discerned The wise is not knowen among the wise nor the foole among fooles but that among fooles the wise man doth shine and that among the wise fooles are darkened for there the wise sheweth his wisedome and the foole his follie He onely ought to be called wise who is discreet in his works and resolute in his words It is a rule that euill works doe cary away the credite from good words There is nothing destroyeth sooner princes thā thinking to haue about them wise men to counsel them find them malicious and such as seek to deceiue them It is not the part of wise and valiant men to enlarge their dominions and diminish their honor Wise men ought circumspectly to see what they do to examine that they speake to prooue that they take in hand to beware whose company they vse and aboue all to know whom they trust The lawe and ordinances THe law which by will is made and not of right ordained deserueth not to be obeied The Achaians obserued this for a law and custome that the husbands should obey and the wiues commaund for the husbands swept and made clean
and we perceiue not how we liue therein Of mercie pitie helpe and compassion towards the poore HAppy not once but an hundred times is he that will remember the poore afflicted and open his hart to comfort them and doth not shut his cofers from helping them to him at the straight day of iudgement the processe of his life shall be iudged with mercie and pitie The pitifull hart which is not fleshed in crueltie hath as much pitie to see another man suffer as of the sorow and torment which he himselfe feeleth If a man behold himselfe from top to toe he shal find not one thing in him to mooue him to crueltie but he shall see in himself many instruments to exercise mercie For he hath eyes to behold the needie feete to goe to the church eares to heare Gods word hands to be stretched to the poore a toong to vtter good things an hart to loue God and to conclude he hath vnderstanding to know the euil and discretion to follow the good God hath not giuen him scratching nails as to the cat nor poison as to the serpent nor perilous feete as to the horse to strike withall nor bloodie teeth as to the Lion but hath created vs to be pitifull and commanded vs to be mercifull Obedience AS the element of the fire the element of the aire and the element of water do obey and the element doth commaund of the earth or that against their nature he bringeth them to the earth and al the noble and most chiefest elements obedient to the most vile onely to forme a body mixt it is great reason that all obey one vertuous person that the common wealth therby might be the better gouerned The second reason is of the body and soule The soule is the mistres that commaundeth and the body the seruant which obeyeth for the body neither seeth heareth nor vnderstandeth without the soule but the soule doth these without the body In that common wealth where one hath care for all and all obey the commandement of that one there God shall be serued the people shall profit the good shall be esteemed the euill despised and besides that tyrants shall be suppressed How many people and realms bicause they would not obey their prince by iustice hath sithence by cruell tyrants been gouerned with tyrannie for it is a iust plague that those which despise the scepter of righteous princes should feele and prooue the scourge of cruel tyrants O happy common wealth wherein the prince findeth obedience in the people and the people in like maner loue of the prince for of the loue of the prince springeth obedience in the subiects and of the obedience in the subiects springeth the loue of the prince Patience LOoke howe much wee offend through the offence so much doe we appease through patience The patience which God vseth in not punishing our faultes is greater than that which men haue in suffering the chastisement bicause we iustly offend and iustly are punished I account all in me at the disposition of fortune as wel riches as other prosperities and I keep them in such a place that at any hower in the night when she listeth she may cary them away and neuer awake me so that though she cary those out of my cofers she should neuer rob me of my patience Patience in aduersitie pleaseth God where as wrath prouoketh his indignation We see in a mans bodie by experience that there are sundry diseases which are not cured with words spoken but with the herbes thereunto applied and in other diseases the contrary is seen which are not cured with costly medicines but with comfortable words When the diseases are not very olde rooted nor dangerous it profiteth more oftentimes to abide a gentle feauer than to take a sharpe purgation The impatient hart especially of a woman hath no rest till she see her enimie dead No patience can endure to see a man obtaine that without trauel which he could neuer compasse by much labor He is most vnhappy which is not patient in aduersity for men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impatience which they suffer Though wise men leese much they ought not therfore to dispaire but that they shall come to it againe in time for in the end time doth not cease to do his accustomed alterations nor perfect friends cease not to do that which they ought That man onely in this life may be called vnhappy to whom God in his troubles hath not giuen patience Peace HE alone doth knowe howe precious a thing peace is which by experience hath felt the extreeme miserie of war The life of a peaceable man is none other then a sweete peregrination and the life of seditious persons is no other than a long death Euerie prince which loueth forraine wars must needs hate the peace of his common wealth Aristotle doth not determine which of these two is the most excellēt either stoutnes to fight in the wars or policie to rule in peace That peace is more woorth that is honest than is the victorie which is bloodie In the good war a man seeth of whom he should take heed but in the euill peace no man knoweth whom to trust Where peace is not no man enioieth his owne no man can eate without feare no man sleepeth in good rest no man safe by the way no man trusteth his neighbor and where there is no peace we are threatned daily with death and euery houre in feare of our life Seeing Christ left to vs his peace and commanded vs to keepe the same we should not condiscend for reuenging iniuries to shed mans blood for the good christians are commanded to bewaile their own sins but they haue no licence to shed the blood of their enimies and therefore I wish all princes for his sake that is prince of peace they loue peace procure peace keepe peace liue in peace for in peace they shall be rich and their people happie Pleasure WHat commeth of vaine pleasure nothing but the time euill spent famine in way of perdition goods consumed credit lost God offended and vertue slandered Of pleasure we get the names of brute beasts and the surnames of shame I would the eies were opened to see how we liue deceiued for all pleasures that delight the bodie make vs beleeue that they come to abide with vs continuallie but they vanish away with sorrow immediately on the contrary the infirmities that blinde the soule say that they come to lodge as guests and remaine with vs continually as housholders Death is a miserable lake wherein all worldly men are drowned for those men that thinke most safely to passe it ouer remaine therin most subtilly deceiued During the time that we liue in the house of this fraile flesh sensualitie beareth so great a rule that she wil not suffer reason to enter in at the gate Reason leadeth
manners of the common wealth Why do princes commit folly bicause flatterers aboundeth that deceiueth them and true men wanteth that shoulde serue them Princes deserueth more honor for the good meanes they vse in their affairs than for the good successe whervnto it commeth for the one is guided by aduenture and the other aduanced by wisedome The land is with much miserie compassed where the gouernance of the yoong is so euill that all wish for the reuiuing of the dead It is impossible that the people be well gouerned if the magistrates that gouerne them be in their liues dissolute Princes in doubtfull matters ought not onely to demaunde counsell of all the good that be aliue but also to take paines to talke with the dead that is to read the deeds of the good in their writings To a prince that shall be an inheritor one yeeres punishment shal be better woorth then xx yeeres pleasure A prince is as the gouernor of the ship a standerd of a battell a defence of the people a guid of the waies a father of the orphanes a hope of pupils and a treasure of all The glorie of a prince is that in his works he be vpright and in his words he speake verie discreet The vertues of princes should be so manie that al men might praise them and their vices so fewe that no man might reprooue them Princes are lords of all things sauing of iustice wherof they are onely but to minister I would to God that princes did make an account with God in the things of their conscience touching the common wealth as they do with men touching their rents and reuenewes Many crouch to princes with faire words as though they ment good seruice to him their entent being by deceit to get some office or to seeke some profite Seruants I Councell those that be seruaunts to great lordes that their labours be accounted rather honest than wise for the wise man can but please but the honest man can neuer displease Of the toong and of the slanderer or backbiter IT is most certaine that of Hollie we looke for pricks of Acrons husks of Nettels stinging and of thy mouth malice I haue seriously noted I neuer saw thee say well of any nor I neuer knew any that would thee good Octauian the Emperor being demaunded why doing good to all men he suffered some to murmure against him he answered He that hath made Rome free from enimies hath also set at libertie the toongs of malicious men That is a cruell thing that the life and honor of those that be good should by the toong of the euill be measured As in the forge the coales cannot be kindled without sparkes nor as corruption cannot be in the sinkes without ordure so he that hath his hart free from malice his toong is always occupied in sweet and pleasant sayings and contrarywise out of his mouth whose stomacke is infected with malice proceedeth always wordes bitter and full of poison It is an olde disease of euill men through malice to backbite with their toong which through their cowardnes they neuer durst enterprise with their hands Of sorow and griefe GRiefe is a friend of solitude enimie of companie a louer of darknes strange in conuersation heire to desperation Sith fortune is knowen of all she suffreth not hir selfe to be defamed of one and it is better to thinke with fortune how thou maiest remedy thy self than to thinke with grief how to complaine There are diuers men which to publish their grief are very carefull but to seek remedy are very negligent We suffer griefs know them not with the hands we touch them perceiue them not we go ouer them and see them not they sound in our eares we heare them not they daily admonish vs we do not beleeue them finally we feele the wound and see not the remedy Experience doth teach vs with a little blast of winde the fruit doth fall with a little sparke of fire the house is kindled with a little rocke the ship is broken at a litle stone the foote doth stumble with a litle hooke they take great fish and with a little wound dieth a great person I meane that our life is so fraile and fortune so fickle that in that part where we are best harnessed we are soonest wounded and grieued The heauy and sorowfull harts of this world feele no greater grief than to see others reioyce at their sorowes To men of long life without comparison the diseases are more which they suffer than the yeeres are which they liue If the days be few wherein we see the elements without cloudes fewer are the howers wherein we feele our harts without cares As much difference as is betweene the barke and the tree the marow and the bone the corne and the straw the gold and the drosse the truth and dreames so much is there to heare the trauels of an other and taste his owne Greater is the disease that proceedeth of sorow than that which proceedeth of the feuer quartane and therof ensueth that more easily he is cured which of corrupt humors is full than he which with profound thoughts is oppressed There is no griefe that so much hurteth a person as when he himself is cause of his own paine Men which haue not God mercifull and men friendly do eate the bread of griefe and drinke the teares of sorow There is no greater torment to the hart than when it is differred from that which it greatly desired If all things as they be felt at hart shoulde be shewed outward with the toong I thinke that the winds should breake the hart with sighings and water all the earth with teares If the corporall eies sawe the sorow of the hart I beleeue they should see more blood sweating within than all the weeping that appeereth without There is no comparison of the great dolors of the bodie with the least grief of the mind For all trauell of the body men may find some remedie but if the heauy hart speake it is not heard if it weepe it is not seen if it complaine it is not beleeued I know no remedy but this to abhorre the life wherewith it dieth and to desire death wherewith it liueth The toong NOble stoute personages though they would be esteemed and iudged true in their sayings hauing seene many wonders with their eies yet when they make report of them they ought to be very moderate in their toongs for it is a very shame to an honest man to declare any thing wherein may be any doubt whether it be true or not When a woman is mery she alwayes babbleth more with the toong than she knoweth in hir hart Men do not vtter half their grief bicause their wofull and heauie hart commandeth the eyes to weep and the toong to be silent The chiefest thing which God