is now vnluckie he that was yesterday aliue is this day buried in the graue One thing there is that to all men is grieuous and to those of vnderstanding no lesse painfull Which is That the miseries of this wicked world are not equally deuided but that oftentimes the calamities and miseries of this world lieth on one mans necke onely for we are so vnfortunate that the world giueth vs pleasures in sight and troubles in proofe These are the miseries incident to man The griefe of his children the assaults of his enimies the oportunitie of his wife the wantonnes of his daughters sicknesse in his person great losse of his goods generall famine in the citie cruell plagues in his countrey extreme cold in Winter noisome heat in Sommer sorowful death of his friends the enuious prosperitie of his enimies Finally man passeth so many miseries that somtimes bewailing the wofull life he desireth the sweet death If man hath passed such things outwardly what may be said of those which he hath suffred inwardly for the trauels which the body passeth in 50. yeeres may be well accounted in a day but that which the hart suffreth in one day cannot be counted in an hundred yeeres It is not to be denied but that we would account him rashe which with a reed would meete one with a sword and him for a foole that would put off his shooes to walke vpon thornes so without comparison he ought to be esteemed the most foole that with his tender flesh thinketh to preuaile against so many euil fortunes for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate passeth his life with many miseries The wounded harts oftentimes vtter the pains which they feele without any hope to receiue comfort of that which they desire He is no man borne in the world but rather a furie bred vp in hell that can at the sorow of another take any pleasure Ambition IT chanceth often to ambitious men that in their greatest ruffe when they thinke their honor spoon and wouen that their estate with the webbe of their life in one moment is broken The desire of men considered what things they procure and whereunto they aspire I maruell not though they haue so few friends but I much muse they haue no more enimies In things of weight they marke not who hath been their friend they consider not that they are their neighbours neither do they regard that they are Christians but their conscience layd apart and honestie set aside euery man seeketh for himselfe and his own affairs though it be to the preiudice of another Captains and valiantmen CAptaines that goe to the warres should not be cowards for there is no like danger to the common wealth nor no greater slander to the prince than to commit charge to such in the field which will be first to command last to fight As captains should shew themselues in the beginning cruel so after victory had of their enimies they should shew themselues pitiful and meeke That captaine is more to be praised which winneth the harts of his enimies in his tents by good example than he which getteth the victory in the field with shedding of blood The stout and noble hart for little fauor shewed vnto him bindeth himself to accomplish great things He ought to be called valiant that with his life hath won honor and by the sword hath gotten riches What greater vanitie can there be than that captains for troubling quiet men destroying cities beating down castels robbing the poore enriching tyrants carying away treasures shedding of blood making of widowes taking of noble mens liues should in reward recompence be receiued with triumph Couetousnes and Couetous men THat couetousnes is great which the shame of the world doth not oppresse neither the fear of death doth cause to cease The couetous man seeketh care for himselfe enuie for his neighbors spurs for strangers baite for theeues troubles for his bodie damnation for his renowme vnquietnes for his life annoiance for his friends occasion for his enimies maledictions for his name and long sutes for his children All naturally desire rather to abound than to want and all that which is greatly desired with great diligence is searched and through great trauell is obtained and that thing which by trauell is obtained with loue is possessed and that which by loue is possessed with as much sorow is lost bewailed and lamented The hart that with couetousnes is set on fire cannot with woods and bowes of riches but with the earth of the graue be satisfied and quenched God to the ambitious and couetous harts gaue this for a paine that neither with enough nor with too much they should content themselues Thales being demanded what profite he had that was not couetous he answered Such a one is deliuered from the torments of his desire and besides that he recouereth friends for his person for riches torment him bicause he spendeth them not Greedie and couetous hartes care not though the prince shutteth vp his hart so that he open his cofers but noble and valiant men little esteem that which they lock vp in their cofers so that their harts be opened to their friends Periander had in him such liuelines of spirite on the one side and such couetousnes of worldly goods on the other side that the Historiographers are in doubt whether was greater the Philosophie that he taught in the schooles or the tyrannie that he vsed in robbing the common wealth I am in doubt which was greater the care that vertuous princes had in seeking out of Sages to counsel them or the great couetousnes that others haue at this present to purchase themselues treasures Libertie of the soule and care of goods in this life neuer agree togither The prince which is couetous is scarce of capacitie to receiue good councel When couetousnes groweth Iustice falleth force and violence ruleth snatching raigneth lecherie is at libertie the euil haue power and the good are oppressed Finally all do reioice to liue to the preiudice of another and euery man to seek his own priuate commoditie What loue can there be betwixt couetous persons seeing the one dare not spend and the other is neuer satisfied to hoord and heape vp The hart that is ouercome with couetousnes wil not feare to commit any treason If the couetous man were as greedie of his owne honor as he is desirous of another mans goods the little worme or moth of couetousnes would not gnaw the rest of their life nor the canker of infamie should not destroy their good name after their death It is as hard to satisfie the hart of a couetous man as it is to dry the water of the sea Counsell NOtwithstanding thou being at the gate of care reason would that some should take the clapper to knocke thereat with some good counsell for though the rasor be sharpe yet it
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
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
to suffer another to be good which aboue all things is to be abhorred and not to be suffered Truly the shameles man feeleth not so much a great stripe of correction as the gentle hart doth a sharp word of admonition In the man that is euill there is nothing more easier than to giue good counsell and there is nothing more harder than to worke well Vnder the cristall stone lieth oftentimes a dangerous woorme in the faire wall is nourished the venemous coluber within the middle of the white tooth is engendred griefe to the gums in the finest cloth is the moth soonest found and the most fruitfull tree by woorms doth soonest perish so vnder the cleane bodie and faire countenance are hid manie and abhominable vices Truly not onely to children that are not wise but to all other wich are light and fraile beautie is nothing els but the mother of all vices and the hinderer of all vertues There is nothing more superfluous in man and lesse necessarie than the beautie of the bodie for whether we be faire or fowle we are nothing the more beloued of God or hated of wise men The man of a pleasant toong and euill life is he which with impostumes vndoeth the common wealth Sensualitie maketh vs inferior to beasts and reason maketh vs superior to men He that knoweth most the course of the elements is not called wise but he which knoweth least the vices of this world for the good philosopher profiteth more by not knowing the euill than by learning the good Quarrellers and malicious persons will haue their words by weight and measure but the vertuous and patient men regard the intentions Men naturally desire honor in their life and memorieis after death therefore I say as they come and attaine thereunto by high noble and heroicall facts so memorie left by the good and legitimate children For the children that are borne in adulterie are begotten in sin and that memorie is infamous Adulterers are not only taken among Christians for offenders but also among the gentils they are counted infamous If the gentils feared infamie the Christians ought to feare both infamie and paine Men are so euill and wicked that they behold to the vttermost the offences of an other but wil not heare the faults of himselfe It is a naturall thing that when a man hath committed any vice foorthwith it repenteth him of his deede and so againe after his new repentance he turneth to his old vices Where the soule doth not shew hir selfe mistres it wanteth but little but that the man remaineth a beast The euill do refraine more from vice for feare of punishment than for any desire they haue of amendment The Romans did not permit that liers nor deceiuers should be credited by their othes neither would they permit or suffer them to sweare The simple man slaieth but one man with his sword of wrath but the sage killeth manie by the il example of his life There is no man by his eloquence may haue such renowme but in the end may lose it by his euill life for he is vnwoorthie to liue amongst men whose words of all are approoued and his works of all are condemned There is no beard so bare shauen but that it will grow againe I meane there is no man of so honest a life but if a man make inquisition he may find som spots therein Oftentimes they say they haue been on pilgrimage at some deuout Saint that is dead when indeed they haue been imbracing the bodie of some faire harlot aline Of Fame and Infamie THe infamie of the slanderous shall neuer die for he neuer liued to die well To die well doth couer an evill fame and to make an ende of an euill life doth begin a good fame When a noble man shal aduenture to hazard his person and his goods he ought to do it for a matter of great importance for more defamed is he that ouercommeth a poore laborer than he which is ouercome of a sturdie knight The losse of children and temporall goods cannot be called losse if the life be safe and renowme remaine vndefiled Of the good man there is but a short memorie of his goodnes if he be euill his infamie shal neuer haue end If he deserue great infamie which worketh euil in his life truly he deserueth much more which trauelleth to bring that euill in vre that shal continue after his death for mans malice doth rather pursue the euill which the wicked do inuent than the good which vertuous man do begin Noble harts ought little to efteeme the increase of their riches and ought greatly to esteeme the perpetuitie of their good name The good life of the child that is aliue keepeth the renowme of the father that is dead The glorie of the scholler alwaies redoundeth to the honor and praise of the maister First that he be fortie yeeres of age bicause the maister that is yoong is ashamed to command if he be aged he is not able to correct Secondly he ought to be honest and that not onely in purenes of conscience but in the outward appeerance and cleannes of life for it is impossible that the child be honest if the maister be dissolute Thirdly they ought to be true in words and deedes for the mouth that is alwaies full of lies ought not by reason to be a teacher of the truth Fourthly they ought of nature to be liberall for oftentimes the couetousnes of maisters maketh and causeth the harts of princes to be greedie and couetous Fiftly they ought to be moderate in words and verie resolute in sentences so that they ought to teach the children to speake little and to harken much for it is a great vertue in a prince or noble man to heare with patience and to speake with wisedome Sixtly they ought to be wise and temperate so that their grauitie may restraine the lightnes of their schollers for there can be no greater plagues to a realme than princes to be yoong and their maisters light It behooueth also that they be learned both in diuine and humane letters in such sort that that which they teach princes by word they may shew it by writing to the end they may put the same in vre for mens harts are sooner moued by the example of those that are past than by the words of them that are present Also he ought not to be giuen to vices of the flesh for as they are yoong and naturally giuen to the flesh they haue no strength to abide chaste neither wisedome to beware of the suares it is necessarie therefore that the maister be pure and honest for the disciple shall hardly be chaste if the maister be vicious They ought to haue good conditions bicause noble mens children being daintily brought vp are more prone to learne euill than good conditions the which their
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
and in steede of gawling striketh What euill happened to Hercules that after so manie dangers came to die in the armes of an harlot Alexander after his great conquest ended his life with poison Agamemnon that woorthie Greeke after ten yeeres wars against the Troians was killed entring into his owne house Iulius Caesar after two and fiftie battels was killed in the Senate house with xxiij wounds Hanniball slew himselfe in one moment bicause he would not become a pray to his enimies What mishap is this after so many fortunes what reproch after such glorie what perill after such suretie what euill lucke after such good successe what darke night after so cleare day what euil entertainment after so great labor what cruell sentence after so long proces what inconuenience of death after so good beginning of life The miserable life of man is of such condition that dailie our yeeres do diminish and our troubles encrease life is so troublesome that it wearieth vs and death is so doubtefull that it feareth vs. The philosopher Appollonius being demanded what he woondered most at in al the world answered but at two things the one was that in all parts wherein he had trauelled he saw quiet men troubled by seditious persons the humble subiect to the proud the iust obedient to the tyrant the cruell commanding the mercifull the coward ruling the hardie the ignorant teaching the wise and aboue al I saw the most theeues hang vp the innocent The other was that in all the places and circuite that he had bin in I know not neither could finde anie man euerlasting but that all are mortall and that both high low haue an end for many enter the same night into the graue which the day ensuing thought to be aliue Aristotle saith that man is but a tree planted with the rootes vpward whose roote is the head and the stock is the bodie the branches are the armes the barke is the flesh the knots are the bones the sap is the hart the rottennes is malice the gum is loue the flowers are words and the fruits are good woorks We see the vapors to ascend high the plants growe high the trees budde out on high the sourges of the sea mount high the nature of the fire is alwaies to ascende vpwarde onelie the miserable man groweth downewarde and is brought lowe by reason of the feeble and fraile flesh which is but earth and commeth of earth and liueth on earth and in the end returneth to the earth from whence it came Generallie there is no man so good but a man may find in him somwhat reprooueable nor any man so euill but he hath in him something commendable What man and his life is O Blindnes of the world ô life which neuer liueth nor shall liue ô death which neuer hath end I know not why man through the accident of his beautie should take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption sith he knoweth that all the perfitest and most faire must be sacrificed to the worms in the graue It is to be maruelled at that all men are desirous that all things about them should be cleane their gownes brushed their coats neat the table handsome and the bed fine and onely they suffer their soules to be spotted and filthie The faire and well proportioned man is therfore nothing the more vertuous he that is deformed and euill shapen is nothing therfore the more vicious Corporall beautie early or late perisheth in the graue but vertue and knowledge maketh men of immortall memorie Although a man be great it followeth not that he is strong so that it is no generall rule that the bigge body hath always a valiant and couragious hart nor the little man a faint and false hart Iulius Caesar was big of body yet euill proportioned for he had his head bald his nose sharp one hand more shorter than the other and being yoong had a riueled face yealow of colour went crooked and his girdle half vndone Hannibal was called monstrous both for his deeds and euil proportion for of his two eies he lacked the right and of the two feet he had the left foote crooked fierce of countenance and little of body Truly he feeleth the death of another which always is sorowfull and lamenting his own life To esteeme thy selfe to be handsome and proper of person is no other thing but to esteeme thy selfe that dreaming thou shalt be rich and mightie and waking thou findest thy self poore and miserable What shall we say to this little flower that yesterday florished on the tree whole without suspicion to be lost and yet one little frost wasteth and consumeth it the vehement wind ouerthroweth it the knife of enuy cutteth it the water of aduersitie vndoeth it the heate of persecutions pineth it the putrifaction of death decayeth it and bringeth it down to the ground O mans life that art alwayes cursed I count fortune cruel thee vnhappy since she wil not that thou stay on hir which dreaming giueth thy pleasures and waking giueth thy displeasures which giueth into thy handes trauell to taste and suffereth thee to listen after quiet which will that thou approoue aduersitie and agree not that thou haue proseritie but after hir will she giueth thee life by ounces and death without measure The yoong man is but a new knife the which in processe of time cankereth in the edge one day he breaketh the point of vnderstanding another he looseth the edge of cutting and next the rust of diseases taketh him and afterwards by aduersities he is writhen and by infirmities diseased by riches he is wheted by pouerty he is dulled againe and oftentimes it chanceth that the more sharpe he is whetted so much the more the life is put in hazard It is a true thing that the feet and hands are necessary to clime to the vanities of youth and afterwards stumbling a little immediatly rowling the head downwards we descend into the miseries of age What thing is more fearfull or more incredible than to see a man become miserable in short space the fashion of his visage changeth the beautie of the face lost the beard waxe white the head bald the cheeks forehead full of wrinkles the teeth as white as Iuorie becommeth blacke as a cole the light feete by the goute are crepeled the strong arme with palsey weakened the fine and smooth throte with wrinkles plaited and the body that was straite and vpright waxeth crooked The beautie of man is none other but a veile to couer the eyes a paire of fetters for the feete manacles for the hands a lime rod for the wings a theese of time an occasion of danger a prouoker of trouble a place of lecherie a sinke of all euill and finally it is an inuenter of debates and a scourge of the affectioned man O simple simple and ignorant persons how our life consumeth