Emperour at the houre of his death ch 50 531 A continuation of the Secretaries speeches admonishing all men to embrace death willingly vtterly to forsake the world and his alluring vanities c. 51. 534 The answer of the Emperour Marcus to his Secretary Panutiu declaring that he tooke no thought to forsake the world But all his sorrow was to leaue behinde him an vnhappy sonne to enherite the Empire chap. 52 588 The Emperours conclusion of the matter in question shewing that sundry yong Princes by being vicious haue vndone themselues and impouerished their Realmes chap. 53 541 Of the wordes which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius spake to his sonne Commodus at the houre of his death very necessary for all young Gentlemen to vnderstand chap. 54 545 Other wholesome counsels giuen by the Emperour to his sonne and aboue all to keepe wise and learned men about him to assist him with aduise in all his affaires chap. 55 550 The Emperours prosecution still in the same Argument with particular exhortations to his sonne well deseruing to bee engrauen in the hart of men ch 56 554 The good Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth both his purpose life And of the last words he spake to his son Commodus and the Table of Counsell he gaue him chap. 57 557 The fourth Booke The Prologue of the worke declaring what one true friend ought to do for another 563 A few precepts and counsels meet to be remembred by all such as are Princes familiars and affected Courtiers 572 The Argument of the Booke entituled The Fauoured Courtier declaring the entent of the whole worke 575 How it is more necessary for the Courtier abiding in Court to be of liuely spirit and audacitie then it is for the Souldier that goeth to serue in the warres c. 1. 592 Of Courtiers brawles quarrels with Harbingers for their ill lodgings c. 2. 592 How the Courtier should entreat his Host or master of the house where hee lodgeth chap. 3 589 What Courtier◠must do to win their Princes fauour chap. 4. 601 What manners and gestures do best become a Courtier when hee speaketh to his Prince ch 5. 607 How a Courtier should behaue himselfe both to know and to visite Noblemen and Gentlemen that are great with the Prince and continuing still in Court Chap. 6 612 What countenance and modesty becommeth a Courtier for his behauiour at the Princes or Noble mans table during the time of his meale ch 7 617 What company the Courtier should keepe and how he ought to apparrel him selfe chap. 8 624 In what manner the Courtier should serue and honour Ladies and Gentlewomen also how to satisfie and please the Vshers and Porters of the Kings house chap. 9 631 Of the great paines and trauels which the Courtier hath being toiled in suites of law And how he is to suffer and carrie himselfe with Iudges chap. 10 637 Of them that are affected in Court admonishing them to bee pacient in their troubles and that they bee not partiall in the affayres of the common wealth chap. 11 644 That Officers and such as are affected in Court should be very diligent carefull in dispatching the Princes affayres Common-wealth Also that in correcting and reforming of Seruants they ought to bee as circumspect and aduised Chap. 12 fol 649 That affected and esteemed Courtyers ought to be warie of beeing prowde and high-minded for lightly they neuer fall but onely by meanes of that detestable vice Chap 13 fol. 659 That it is not fit for Courtyers to be ouer-couetous if they mean to keepe themselues out of many troubles and dangers chap 14 fol. 670 That fauoured Courtyers should not trust ouer-much to their fauour and credit in Court nor to the prosperitie of their liues chap 15 fo 677 An admonition to such as are highly in fauour with Princes to take heede of the worlds deceyts learning both to liue and dye honourably and to leaue the Court before Age ouer take them chapter 16. fol. 684 What continencie ought to be in fauoured courtyers alwayes shunning the company of vnhonest women also to be carefull in the speedie dispatch of suters suing vnto them chap 17 fol. 691 That Nobles and affected of Princes should not exceede in superfluous fare nor bee ouer-sumptuous in their Dyet chapt 18. fol. 698 That courtiers fauored of Princes ought not to be dishonest of their Tongues nor enuious in their wordes chap. 19 fo 709 A comendation of Truth which professed courtyers ought to embrace And in no respect to be found defectiue in the contrarie reporting one thing for an other chap. 20. fo 718 Certaine other Letters written by M. Aurelius Of the huge Monster seene in Scicile in the time of M. Aurelius of the letters he wrote with bloud vpō a gate ch 1. 727 Of that which chaunced vnto Antigonus a cittizen of Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius chap 2 fol 729 How M. Aurelius sought the wealth of his people how they loued him c. 3. 730 How at the intercession of manie sent by the Empresse the Emperour graunted his daughter Lucilla licence to sport herselfe at the Feasts chap 4 fo 732 Of the sharpe words which M. Aurelius spake to his wife his daughter c 5. 734 A letter sent by the Emperor M. Aurelius to Catullus Censorius concerning the newes then in Rome cha 6 740 M. Aurelius his letter written to the amourous Ladyes of Rome ch 7 747 A letter sent by M. Aurelius to his loue Boemia because shee desired to goe with him to the warres chap. 8 752 The answer of Boemia to the Emperor M. Aurelius expressing the great malice little patience in an euil womā c. 9 755 A letter of M. Aurelius to the Romaine Lady Macrine of whom beholding her at a window he became enamoured declaring what force the beautie of a faire Woman hath in a weake man ch 10 760 An other letter sent by him to the same Macrina expressing the firie flames which soonest consume gentle harts ch 11. 761 A letter sent by him to the lady Lauinia reprouing Loue to be naturall And affirming that the most part of Philosophers and wise-men haue beene ouercome by Loue chap 12 fol 763. The ende of the Table THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE DIALL OF PRINCES WITH the famous Booke of Marcus Aurelius wherein hee entreateth what excellency is in a Prince that is a good Christian and contrariwise what euils doe follow him that is a cruell Tyrant CHAP. I. Here the Author speaketh of the birth and lynage of the wise Philosopher and Emperour Marcus Aurelius And he putteth also at the beginning of this Booke three Chapterss wherein hee entreateth of the discourse of his life for by his Epistles and Doctrine the whole course of this present worke is approued AFter the death of the Emperour Antoninus Pius in the 695. years frō the foundatiō of Rome and in the 173. Olimpiade Fuluius Cato and Cneus Patroclus then being Consuls the fourth
a perpetuall memorie What contempt of world what forgetfulnesse of himselfe what stroke of fortune what whippe for the flesh what little regard of life O what bridle for the vertuous O what confusion for those that loue life O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those here haue willingly despised their owne liues it is not to be thought that they dyed to take the goods of others neither yet to thinke that our life should neuer haue end nor our couetousnesse in like manner O glorious people and ten thousand fold happy that the proper sensuality being forsaken haue ouercom the naturall appetite to desire to liue not beleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall Destenies By the way they assaulted fortune they changed life for death they offered the body to death and aboue all haue wonne honour with the Gods not for that they shoulde hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluous of life Archagent a Surgeon of Rome and Anthonius Musus a Physition of the Emperour Augustus and Esculapius father of the Phisicke should get little money in that Countrie Hee that then should haue sent to the barbarous to haue done as the Romanes at that time did that is to say to take sirrops in the mornings pils at night to drinke milke in the morning to annoint themselues with gromeâ—seed to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eate of one thing and to abstaine from many a man ought to thinke that hee which willingly seeketh death will not giue money to lengthen life CHAP. XXII The Emperour concludeth his letter and shewed what perils those olde men liue in which dissolutely like young children passe their dayes and giueth vnto them wholesome counsell for the remedy thereof BVt returning to thee Claude and to thee Claudine me thinketh that these barbarous men beeing fifty yeares of age and you others hauing aboue threescore and tenne it should be iust that sithence you were elder in yeares you were equall in vertue and though as they you wil not accept death patiently yet at the least you ought to amend your euill liues willingly I doe remember that it is many yeares sithens that Fabritius the young sonne of Fabritius the olde had ordayned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told me great inconueniences had happned and sithens that you did me so great a benefite I would now requite you the same with another the like For amongst friends there is no equal benefite then to deceiue the deceyuer I let you know if you do not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are sunke into your heads the nostrels are shut the haires are white the hearing is lost the tongue faultereth the teeth fall the face is wrinkled the feete swolne and the stomacke cold Finally I say that if the graue could speake as vnto his Subiects by iustice he might commaund you to inhabite his house It is great pitty of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorance for then vnto such their eies are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth them to the graue Plato in his booke of the Common wealth sayde that in vaine wee giue good counsels to fond and light young men for youth is without experience of that it knoweth suspitious of that it heareth incredible of that is tolde him despising the counsell of an other and very poore of his own For so much as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the young haue of the good is not so much but the obstination which the olde hath in the euill is more For the mortall Gods many times doe dissemble with a thousand offences commited by ignorance but they neuer forgiue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doe not maruell that you doe forget the gods as you doe which created you and your Fathers which begot you and your parents which haue loued you and your friends which haue honoured you but that which I most maruell at is that you forget your selues For you neuer consider what you ought to bee vntill such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to returne backe againe Awake awake since you are drowned in your dreames open your eyes since you sleepe so much accustome your selues to trauels sithence you are vagabonds learne that which behoueth you since now you are olde I meane that in time conuenient you agree with death before he make execution of life Fifty two yeeres haue I knowne the things of the world and yet I neuer saw a Woman so aged thorough yeares nor old man with members so feeble that for want of strength could not if they list doe good nor yet for the same occasion should leaue to bee euill if they list to be euill It is a maruellous thing to see and worthy to note that all the corporall members of Man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tongue For the heart is alwayes giuen to inuent euills and the tongue is alwayes able to tell Lyes Mine opinion is that the pleasaunt Summer beeing past you should prepare your selues for the vntemperate winter which is at hand And if you haue but fewe dayes to continue you should make hast to take vp your lodging I meane that sith you haue passed the dayes of your life with trauell you should prepare your selues against the night of death to be in the hauen of rest Let mockeryes passe as mockeries and accept trueth as truth that is to say that it were a very iust thing and also for your honour necessarie that all shose which in times past haue seen you young and foolish should now in your age see you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnesse and follyes of youth as doth grauity and constancie in Age. When the Knight runneth his carriere they blame him not for that the Horses mane is not finely combed but at the end of his race he shold see his horse amended and looked vnto What greater confusion can be to any person or greater slaunder to our mother Rome then to see that which now a dayes therein we see That is to say that the old which can scarcely creepe through the streetes to beholde the playes and games as young men which search for nought else but onely pompe and vanitie It grieueth mee to speake it but I am much more ashamed to see that the olde Romaines do daylie cause the white haires to be plucked out of their heads because they would not seeme old to make their beard small to seem yong wearing their hosen very close their shyrts open before the gowne of the Senatour embrodered the Romane signe richly enamelled the
their trauell and with a good will it should be granted for the gods vse for a little seruice to giue a great reward Triphon and Agamendo aunswered vnto the god Apollo that for their good will for their trauell and for their expences they demaunded no other reward but that it would please him to giue them the best thing that might bee giuen vnto man and that vnto them were most profite saying That the miserable men haue not the power to eschew the euill nor wisedome to chuse the good The god Apollo answered that he was contented to pay them their seruice which they had done and for to grant them that which they had demaunded By reason whereof Triphon and Agamendo hauing dined suddenly at the gates of the temple fel down dead so that the reward of their trauel was to plucke them out of their miserie The reason to declare these two examples is to the ende that all mortall men may knowe that there is nothing so good in this worlde as to haue an ende of this life and though to lose it there be no sauour yet at the least there is profite For wee would reproue a traueller of great foolishnes if sweating by the way he would sing and after at his iourneyes ende hee should beginne to weepe Is not hee simple which is sorry for that hee is come into the Hauen is not hee simple that giueth the battell and fighteth for that hee hath got the victorie Is not he stubborne which is in great distresse and is angry to be succoured Therefore more foolish simple and stubborn is hee which trauelleth to dye and is loath to meete with death For death is the true refuge the perfect health the sure Hauen the whole victorie the flesh without bones Fish without scales and corne without slrawe Finally after death wee haue nothing to bewayle and much lesse to desire In the time of Adrian the Emperour a Phylosopher called Secundus being meruellously learned made an oration at the funerall of a Noble Romaine Matrone a Kins-woman of the Emperours who spake exceedingly much euill of life and maruellous much good of death And when the Emp demanded him what death was The phylosopher aunswered thus Death is an eternall sleepe a dissolution of the bodie a terror of the rich a desire of the poore a thing inhetitable a pilgrimage vncertaine a Theefe of men a kinde of sleeping a shadow of life a separation of the liuing a companie of the dead a resolution of all trauels and the end of all ydle desires Finally Death is the scourge of all euill and the chiefe reward of the good Truely this Phylosopher spake very well and hee should not doe euill which profoundly would consider that hee had spoken Seneca in an Epistle declareth of a Phylosopher whose name was Bessus to whom when they demanded what euill a man can haue in Death since men feare it so much Hee aunswered If any damage or feare is in him who dyeth it is not for the feare of death but for the vice of him which dyeth Wee may agree to that the Phylosopher saide that euen as the deafe cannot iudge harmony nor the blind colours so likewise they cannot say euill of death especially he which neuer tasted it For of all those which are dead none returned again to complaine of Death and of these fewe that liue all complaine of life If any of the dead returned hither to speak vvith the liuing and as they haue proued it so they vvould tell vs. If there were any harme in secrete death it were reason to haue some feare of death But though a man that neuer saw heard felt nor tasted death doeth speake euill of Death should wee therefore feare Death Those ought to haue done some euill in their life which doe feare speake euill of death For in the last houre in the streight iudgement the good shal be known the euill discouered There is no Prince nor Knight rich nor poore whole nor sicke lucky nor vnluckie which I see with their vocations to be contented saue onely the dead which in theyr graues are in peace rest and are neither couetous proud negligent vain ambicious nor dissolute So that the state of the dead ought to bee best since wee see none therein to bee euill contented And since therefore those which are poore â—oe seek the meanes wherwith to endch themselues those which are sad rio seeke wherby to reioyce and those which are sicke to seeke to be healed why is it that those which haue such feare of Death doe seeke remedie against that feare In this case I would say that he which will not feare to die let him vse himself well to liue For the guyltles taketh away feare from death The diuine Plato demaunded Socrates how hee behaued himselfe in life and how he would behaue himselfe in death He answered I let thee know that in youth I haue trauelled to liue well and in age I haue studyed to die well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shall be ioyfull And although I haue had sorrow to liue I am sure I shall haue no paine to dye Truely these wordes are worthie of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruellously when the swear of theyr trauell is not rewarded when they are faithful and their rewards aunswereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their Friends become vnthankefull to them when they are worthy honour and that they preferre them to honorable room and office For the noble and valiant harts doe not esteeme to loose the rewarde of their labour but thinke much vnkindenesse when a man doeth not acknowledge theyr trauells Oh happie are they that dye For without inconuenience and without paine euery man is in his graue For in this Tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place we merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall be iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpright that giueth reward by weight and paine by measure but that somtimes they chasten the innocent absolue the guiltie they vexe the faultlesse and they dissemble with the culpable For little auaileth it the playntife to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that should minister it Truely it is not so in Death but all ought to account themselues happie For he which shall haue good iustice shall bee sure on his parte to haue the sentence When great Cato was Censor in Rome a famous Romaine dyed who shewed at his death a maruellous courage and when the Romains praised him for that hee had so great vertue and for the words he had spoken Cato the Censor laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And he being demanded the cause of his laughter annswered Yee maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that yee maruell For the perills
that infamed Idoll and violated the sacred Temples For to God this is the most haynous offence to forsake the holy Catholike faith in his life and to despaire in his mercy at the houre of his death Would to God wee had so much grace to acknowledge our offences as God hath reason to punish our sins For if it were so then wee would amend in time to come and God would graunt vs a general pardon for all that is past I see one thing wherin as I thinke I am not deceiued which is this that the fraylties and miseryes which we cōmit wee thinke them naturall and in the satisfaction and amendment of the same wee say they are strange so that we admit the fault and condemne the paine which thereby we doe deserue The secret iudgements of God doe suffer it and our offences do deserue it I doe not denie but that the euill may holde and possesse this life at their pleasure but I sweare vnto them when they shall least thinke of it they shall lose theyr life to their great displeasure for the pleasures of this life are so vnconstant that wee scarce beginne to taste them when they fade out of our sight It is a rule infallible which both of the good and euill hath bin proued that all naturallie desire rather to abound then to want all that which greatly is desired with great diligence is searched and through great trauell is obtained and that thing which by trauell is attained with loue is possessed that which by loue is possessed with much sorrow is lost bewailed lamented For in the end wee cannot deny but that the watry eies do manifestly shew the sorrowfull harts To the fine wits and stout harts this is a continuall torment and endles paine and a worme that alway gnaweth to call to minde that he must lose the ioyfull life which he so entirely loued tast the fearfull death which so greatly he abhorred Therfore to proue this matter which I haue spoken of before it is but reason that Princes knowe if they doe not know that men as the diuine Prouidence exalteth them to high Estates they not deseruing them So likewise his rigorous iustice will bring thē to nought if they bee vnthankfull for his benefits For the ingratitude or benefits receiued maketh that man not worthy to receyue any moe The more a man throgh benefits is bound the more grieuous punishment if he be vnthankfull hee deserueth All wise men should finde if they apply their mindes therevnto that in chastising God calleth those offences first to his minde which are furthest from the thoughts of men For before the Tribunall of God our secret faults are alwayes casting out bloud to the end hee should execute on our person open iustice And further I say that in this case I do not see that the Prince is exempted more though hee liue in great felicitie then the poore labourer who liueth in extreame miserie And also we see it eft-soones by experience that the sudden Lightning Tempests and terrible Thunder forsaketh the small and lowe Cottages and battereth forthwith the great and sumptuous buyldings Gods will and determination is that foras-much as hee hath exalted them aboue all others so much the more they should acknowledge him for Lord aboue all others For GOD did neuer create high Estates because they should worke wickednes but he placed them in that degree to the end they should thereby haue more occasion to doe him seruice Euery Prince that is not a good Christian a seruent louer of the Catholike faith nor wil haue any respect to the Diuine seruice let him be assured that in this world hee shall lose his renowme and in the other he shall hazard his soule For that all euill Christians are the Parishioners of Hell CHAP XXIII The Anthour proueth by twelue examples that Princes are sharpely punished when they vsurpe boldly vpon the Churches and violate their temples Why the children of Aaron were punished IT is now time that wee leaue to perswade with wordes and reasons and to beginne to proue that which we haue sayd by some excellent histories and notable examples For in the end the hearts of men are stirred more through some little examples then with a great multitude of words In the first booke of Leuiticus the 10. Chapter is declared how in the time of Moses the sonne in law of Iethro the Priest that was of Media who was chiefe Prince of all the lynage of Seph with whom the brother of Mary the Leper had charge of the high Priesthood For among all the lawes where God at any time put his hands vnto hee prouided alwayes that some had the gouernement of ciuill affayres and others the administration of the diuine misteries This high Priest then had towe children whose names were Nadab and Abihu which two were yong and beautifull stout and sage and during their infancie serued their Father helped him to doe sacrifice For in the old law they suffered that Priests should not onely haue wiues children but also that their children should succeed them in their Temples and inherite their benefices There came a great mischance for the two children being apparrelled in white their bodies bound with stolles their hands naked in one hād holding a Torch and in the other the Sencer being negligent to light the new fire and contrary to that the law had ordayned and taking coales which were prohibited a maruellous thing was seene in the sight of the people which was that sodenly these two childrē fel flat on the earth dead and all their sacrifice burned Truly the sentence was maruellous but it was iust in ough For they well deserued to loose their liues sithence they durst sacrifice the coales of an other This thing seemed to be true for these young children saued theyr soules and made satisfaction of the fault with their liues but other wicked men God permitteth to liue a short time because they shall loose their soules for euer The cause why the Azotes were punished THe Realme of Palestine being destitute of a King at that time an honorable olde man gouerned the realme which was Father to two Knights named Albino and Phinides for at that time the children of Israel were not gouerned by Kings that did molest them by iniuries but by sage men which did maintaine them by iustice It chaunced that the Azotes made warre against the Palestines and were a kind of the Arabians stout and warlike the which fought so couragiously that the Palestines and Hebrewes were constrained to bring their Arke into the middest of the Battell which was a Relicke as a man should haue put the holie Sacrament to deuide a great multitude of people But Fortune shewed her countenaunce vnto them so frowningly that they were not onely ouer-come but also were spoyled of the Arke which was their chiefe relicke And besides that there were 4000. Palestines slaine The
the Realme of Thracia which then was subiect to the Romanes And the Emperour Valente without any couenant receiued them into his land wherein hee committed great folly and vsed little wisedome for it is a generall rule where rebels vagabonds strangers come to inhabite there the Realme and dominions is destroyed The Gothes remained certain yeares among them without any dissention or quarrelling against the Romaines but afterwards through the couetousnes of Maximus chiefe Captain of the Romaines who denyed the Gothes of their prouision which so long time remained Friendes arose betweene them so cruell warres that it was the occasion of the losse and vtter vndoing both of Rome and of all Italie For truly there is no enmity doth somuch hurt as that of Friends when they fall out at discord The Warres now being kindled the Gothes were scattred through the Kingdome of Thrace and they left no Forte but they battered downe they came to no Townes Villages nor Cities but they sacked and spoyled They tooke no Women but they forced and rauished they entred into no house but they robbed Finally the Gothes in short time shewed the poison that they had against the Romans let no man maruell that the Gothes committed so many cruel and hainous facts sith we that are Christians doe commit dayly greater offences For among rebels it is a common errour that that which they rob in the warres they say they are not bound to restore in peace The Emperor Valente was then in the citie of Antioch and sith he had assembled there a great armie and had great aide out of Italy he determined himselfe in person to goe into the campe of the Romans and to giue the onset against the Gothes wherein hee shewed himselfe more bold then wise for a Prince in battael caÌ„ do no more then one man nor fight more then one man and if he die he is the occasion of the death and destruction of them all When both the hosts of the Romaines and the Gothes ioyned there was betweene them a cruell and mortall fight so that in the first brunt the Gothes shewed themselues so valiant that they put to flight the Romans horsemen leauing their footemen alone in great ieopardie the which in short space after were discomfited and slaine not one left aliue For the barbarous sware that that day the Gothes should all die or else vtterly they would destroy the name of the Romanes And in this first charge the Emperour Valente was mortally wounded who perceyuing he had his deathes wound and that the battell was lost hee determined to flye and saue himselfe but when fortune beginneth to persecute any man shee leaueth him not vntill shee see him dead or beaten downe without recouery Therefore as this wicked Emperour thinking to saue himselfe came into a sheepecote the enemies seeing him in the end set fire on the shepecote and burnt him aliue So in one day hee loft his person his life his honour and his Empire For it is meete that Princes and great Lords should lift vp their eyes to consider well the Historie of Valente that they stray not from the Catholike Faith that they dishonour not Gods Ministers and maintaine heresyes For as this accursed Emperour Valente for his wicked doings was condignely punished by the hands of Almighty God So let them be assured the selfe same God will not pardon their offences For it is a rule infallible That that Prince which is not a good Christian shal fall into the hands of his cruell enemies CHAP. XXV Of the Emperor Valentinian and Gracian his Sonne which raigned in the time of Saint Ambrose which because they were good Christians were alwayes fortunate and that God giueth victory vnto Princes more through the teares of them that pray then thorow the weapons of those that fight IAlentinian and Valent were brethren and the eldest of them was Valentinian who succeeded in the Empire after the death of his Father to bee Pretor of the Armies For amongst the Romaines there was a Law in vre that if the Father dyed in the fauour of the people of right the sonne without any other demand was heyre This Valentinian was a lusty yong man of a sanguine complexion and of his body well shaped and aboue all hee was a good Christian and of all the people generally welbeloued For nothing adorneth the noble man more then to bee counted ciuill and courteous of behauiour At that time when the Emperour Iulian persecuted most the Christians Valentinian was Pretour of the Armies and when Iulian was aduertised that Valentinian was a Christian hee sent vnto him and bad him doe sacrifice to the Idols of the Romane Emperor or else to forsake the office of his Pretorship Iulian would gladly haue killed Valentinian but he durst not for it was a Law inuiolable amongst the Romanes that no Citizen should be put to death without the decree of the Senate Valentinian receyuing the message of this Emperour Iulian aduertised of his will which was to renounce his faith or to leaue his office hee did not onely resigne his office but therewithall forgaue the Emperour all the money hee ought him for arrerages of his sernice And because hee would liue with a more quiet conscience he went from Rome into a Cloyster where hee banished himselfe for two yeares and a halfe for this hee was highly esteemed and commended For it is a good signe That man is a good Christian which of his owne free will renounceth worldly goods Shortly after it happened that Iulian the Emperour went to conquere the Realme of Persia where in a battell hee was very sore wounded and fell downe dead in the present place For to the mishaps of Fortune the Emperour with all his estate and pleasures is as much subiect as is the poorest man that lieth in the streetes When the newes came to Rome that Iulian was dead by the consent of all Valentinian was created Emperour so that hee being banished for Christs sake was called againe and crowned Prince of the Romane Empire Let no man care to loose all that hee possesseth let no man weigh to see himselfe despised for Christes sake For in the end men cannot in a thousand yeeres so much abase vs as God in one houre can exalt vs. In the same yeare which was from the foundation of Rome â—119 in a City called Atrobata it rained very fine wooll so that all the City became rich In the same yeare in the City of Constantinople it hayled such great stones that they killed many men left no heards in the fields aliue At that same time there came an Earthquake throughout Italy and so likewise in Sicille that many houses fell and slew sundry persons and aboue all the sea rose in such sort that it drowned many Cities nigh thereunto Paulus Diaconus in the 11. booke De Legibus Romanorum sayeth that the Emperour Valentinian was of a subtill wit of
World beside peraduenture it is not folly to winne with the tears of the poore and comfortlesse widdowes so great and bloudy victories peraduenture it is no folly willingly to wet the earth with the bloud of Innocents onely to haue a vaine glorie in this World Thou thinkest it no folly peraduenture God hauing diuided the World into so many people that thou shouldest vsurpe them to thee alone O Alexander Alexander truly such workes proceede not from a creature nourished among men on the earth but rather of one that hath beene brought vp among the infernall Furies of Hell for wee are not bound to iudge men by the good nature they haue but by their good and euill works which they do The man is cursed if hee haue not been cursed hee shal be cursed that liueth to the preiudice of all others in this world present onely to be counted couragious stoute and hardie in time to come For the gods seldome suffered them to enioy that quietly in peace which they haue gotten vniustly in the warres I would aske thee what insolencie moued thee to reuolte against the lord K. Darius after whose death thou hast sought to conquer all the world and thus thou doest not as a King that is an inhertitor but as a tyrant that is an oppressor For him properly we cal a tirant that without iustice reason taketh that which is another mans Eyther thou searchest iustic or thou searchest peace or else thou searchest riches and our honor Thou searchest rest or els thou searchest fauour of thy frends or thou searchest vengeance of thine enemies But I sweare vnto thee Alex that thou shalt not find any of all these things if thou seekest by this meanes as thou hast begun For the sweet Sugar is not of the nature of the bitter gumbe How shall wee belieue thou searchest iustice sith against reason and iustice by Tiranny thou rulest al the earth how shal we belieue thou searchest peace sith thou causest them to pay tribute which receiue thee and those which resist thee thou handlest thē like enemies How can we belieue that thou searchest rest sith thou troublest all the world How can wee belieue thou searchest gentiles sith thou art the scourge and sword of humaine frailnes how can we belieue that thou searchest riches sith thine owne Treasures suffiseth thee not neyther that which by thee vāquished cōmeth into thy hands nor that which the conque rors offer thee How shall we belieue thou searchest profit to thy friēds sith that of thy old friends thou hast made new enemies I let thee vnderstand Alex that the greatest ought to teache the least the least to obey the greatst And Friendship is onely amongst equalls But thou sith thou sufferest none in the World to bee equall and like vnto thee looke not thou to haue any Friend in the world For Princes oftentimes by ingratitude loose faithfull Friends and by ambition winne mortall enemies How shall we belieue thou searchest reuēge of thine enemies sith thou takest more vengeance of thy selfe beeing aliue then thine enemyes would take of thee if they tooke thee prisoner though perchance in times past they vsed thy Father Philip euill and haue now disobeyed thee his Sonne It were farre better counsel for thee to make them thy Friends by gentlenes then to confirme them Enemyes by crueltie For the Noble and pitifull harts when they are reuenged of any make of themselues a butcherie Wee cannot with truth say that thy Trauells are well employde to winne such honor sith thy conuersation and life is so vnconstant For truely honour consisteth not in that Flatterers say but in that which Lords doe For the great Familiaritie of the wicked causeth the life to be suspected Honour is not gotten by liberall giuing of Treasours at his death but by spending it well in his life For it is a sufficient profe that the man which esteemeth renowme doth little regard Money and it is an apparant token that man who little esteemeth Money greatly regardeth his renowme A man winneth not honor by murdering Innocents but by destroying Tyrants for all the harmony of the good gouernment of princes is in the chastising of the euil rewarding the good Honour is not wonne in taking and snatching the goods of an other but in giuing and spending his owne For there is nothing that beautifieth the Maiestie of a Prince more then for to shew his noblenes in extending mercie and fauour vnto his subiects and giuing gifts and rewards to the vertuous And to conclude I will let thee know who hee is that winneth true honour in this life and also a perpetuall memorie after his death and that is not hee which leadeth his life in Warres but hee that taketh his death in peace O Alexander I see thou art young and that thou desirst honour wherefore I let thee vnderstand that there is no man farther from true honor then hee which greedily procureth and desireth the same For the ambitious men not obtaining what they desire remaine alwaies defamed and in winning and getting that which they search true honour notwithstanding will not follow them Belieue mee in one thing Alexander that the most truest honor ought through worthie deedes to bee deserued and by no meanes to bee procured For all the honour which by tyrannie is wonne in the ende by infamy is lost I am sorrie for thee Alexander For I see thou wantest Iustice since thou louest Tyrannie I see thou lackest peace because thou louest warre I see thou art not Rich because thou hast made all the world poore I see thou lackest rest because thou seekest contention and debate I see thou hast no honour because thou winnest it by infamie I see thou wantest friends because thou hast made them thine enemies Finally I see thou doest not reuenge thy selfe of thine enemyes because thou art as they wold be the scourge to thy selfe Then since it is so why art thou aliue in this World sith thou lackest vertues for the which life ought to be desired For truely that man which without his owne profite and to the dammage of an other leadeth his life by Iustice ought forthwith to lose his breath For there is nothing that sooner destroyeth the Weale publike then to permit vnprofitable men therein to liue Therefore speaking the truth you Lords and Princes are but poore I beleeue thou conquerest the World because thou knowest not thy superiour therein and besides that thou wilt take life from so many to the end that by their death thou mayest win renowne If cruell and warlike Princes as thou art should inherite the liues of them whom they slay to augment prolong their liues as they doe inherite goods to maintaine their pride although it were vnmeete then warre were tollerable But what profiteth the seruant to lose his life this day and his Masters death to bee differred but vntill the morrow O Alexander to be desirous to
oportunitie to accomplish her desires wherfore shee answered vnto his Parents that shee did accept their counsell and said to Sinoris that she did chuse him for her husband speaking these words more for to comfort him then with intent to pardon him And as amongst those of Galatia there was a custome that the new maried folkes should eate together in one dishe and drinke in one cup the day that the mariage was celebrated Cāma determined to prepare a cup with poyson and alsso a lute wherewith shee began to play and sing with her prober voyce before the Goddesse Diana in this manner TO thee Dian whose endles raigne doth stretch Aboue the bondes of all the heauenly rout And eke whose ayde with royall hand to retch Chiefe of all Gods is most proclaimed out I sweare and with vnspotted faith protest That though till now I haue reserude my breth For no intent it was but thus distrest With wailfull end to wreke Sinatus death ¶ And if in minde I had not thus decreed Whereto should I my pensiue daies haue spent With longer dole for that forepassed deed Whose oft record newe sorrowes still hath bent But oh sinee him their kindled spite hath slaine With tender loue whom I haue waide so deere Since he by fate is rest from fortunes raine For whose decay I dreadlesse perish here Since him by whom my onely life I led Through wretched hands the gaping earth now haue Ought I by wish to liue in any sted But closde with him together in the graue O bright Dian since senslesse him I see And Makeles I here to remaine alone Since he is graude where greedy wormes now bee And I suruiue surmounted with my fone Since he is prest with lumpes of wretched soyle And I thus chargde with flame of frozen care Thou knowst Dian how hard with restles toyle Of hote abhoring minde my life I spare For how can this vnquiet brest reserue The fainting breth that striues to draw his last Since that euen then my dying heart did starue When my dead Phere in swallowing earth was cast The first blacke day my husband sleptin graue By cruell sworde my life I thought to spend And since a thousand times I thought to haue A stretched cord my sorrowes wrath to end And if till now to waste my pining dayes I haue deferde by slaughter of my hand It was but loe a fitter cause to raise Whereon his sharpe reuenge might iustly stand Now since I may in full suffising wise Redeeme his breath if wayward will would let More deepe offence by not reuenge might rise Then Sinoris erst by guiltles bloud did get Thee therefore mighty Ioue Iiustly craue And eke thy daughter chast in thankfull sort That loe the offering which of my selfe ye haue Ye will vouchsafe into your heauenly fort Since Sinatus with soone enflamed eyes Amongst the Acaian routes me chiefly viewed And eke amidst the prease of Greekes likewise Chose for his phere when sweetly he had sewed Since at my will the froth of wasting wealth With gladsome minde he trayned was to spend Since that his youth which slippeth loe by stealth To waite on me he freely did commend Since he such heapes of lingring harmes did waste Aye to content my wanton youthfull will And that his breath to fade did passe so fast To glut their thirst that thus his blould did spill Though great the duetie be which that I owe Vnto his graued ghost and cindred mould Yet loe me seemes my duety well I shew Performing that my feeble power could For since for me vntwined was his threed Of guiltlesse life that ought to purchase breath Can reasons doome conclude I ought to dreed For his decay to clime the steps of death In wretched earth my father graued lies My deare mother hath runne her race of life The pride of loue no more can daunt mine eyes My wasted goods are shrunke by fortunes strife My honour soone ecclipsed is by fate My young delight is loe for done by chaunce My broken life these passed haps so hate As can my grieued heart no more aduaunce And now remaynes to duetie with my phere No more but refuse loe my irksome life With willing minde followed eke with drere Which I resigne as fitteth for a wife And thou Sinoris which Iunos yoke doest craue To presse my corps to feede thy liking lust The rout of Homers gods thee grant to haue In stead of royall feates a throne of dust In change of costly robes and rich array A simple winding sheete they digne thee giue And eke in stead of honest wedlocks stay They sing thy dirge and not vouchsafe thee liue In place of Himens hye vnfiled bed They lay thee vp in closure of thy graue In stead with precious meates for to be fed They make the Woormes for fitter prey thee haue In stead of song and Musickes tuned sowne They waite on thee with lowd lamenting voyce In change of ioyfull life and high renowne Thy cruell death may spread with wretched noyse For you great gods that stalled be on hie Should not be iust ne yet such titles claime Vnlesse this wretch yee ruthlesse cause to die That liueth now to slaunder of your name And thou Dian that haunted Courts dost shunne Know'st with what great delight this life I leaue And when the race of spending breath is done Will pierce the soyle that did my phere receiue ¶ And if perchance the paled ghosts despise Such fatall fine with grudge of thankelesse minde Yet at the least the shamefast liuing eyes Shall haue a Glasse rare wisely gifts to finde Wherein I will that Lucrece sect shall gaze But none that liue like Helens line inblaze ANd when the prayer was ended that this fayre and vertuous Camma made shee dranke and gaue to drinke to Sinoris of this cuppe of poyson who thought to drinke no other but good wine and water and the case was such that he died at noone daies and she likewise in the euening after And truely her death of all Greece with as great sorrow was lamented as her life of all men was desired Princesses and great Ladyes may most euidently perceiue by the examples heerein contayned how honest and Honourable it is for them to loue and endeauour themselues to be beloued of their husbands and that not onely in their life but also after their death For the wife to serue her husband in his life seemeth ofttimes to proceede of feare but to loue and honour him in his graue proceedeth of loue Princesses and great Ladies ought not to do that which many other women of the cōmon people do that is to say to seeke some drinkes and inuent some shamefull sorceries to be beloued of their husbands for albeit it is a great burden of conscience and lacke of shame in like manner to vse such superstitions yet it should be a thing too vniust and very slaunderous that for to be beloued of their husbands they should
your Bookes full of lawes and the common wealth full of vices Wherefore I sweare vnto you that there are more Thebaines which follow the delitiousnesse of Denis the tyrant then there are vertuous men that follow the lawes of Lycurgus If you Thebaines doe desire greatly to know with what lawes the Lacedemonians doe preserue their Common-wealth I will tell you them all by word and if you will reade them I will shew you them in writing but it shall bee vpon condition that you shall sweare al openly that once a day you shall employ your eyes to reade them and your persons to obserue them for the Prince hath greater honour to see one onely law to be obserued in deed then to ordaine a thousand by writing You ought not to esteeme much to be vertuous in heart nor to enquire of the vertue by the mouth nor to seeke it by labour and trauell of the feet but that which you ought greatly to esteeme is to know what a vertuous law meaneth and that knowne immediately to execute it and afterwards to keepe it For the chiefe vertue is not to doe one vertuous worke but in a swet and trauell to continue in it These therfore were the words that this Philosopher Phetonius sayde to the Thebaines the which as Plato sayeth esteemed more his words that hee spake then they did the Lawes which he brought Truly in mine opinion those of Thebes are to bee praysed and commended and the Philosopher for his word is worthy to be honoured For the ende of those was to search lawes to liue well and the end of the Philosopher was to seeke good meanes for to keepe them in vertue And therefore he thoght it good to shew them and put before their eyes the gibbet and the sword with the other Instruments and torments for the euill do refraine from vice more for feare of punishment then for any desire they haue of amendment I was willing to bring in this history to the end that all curious and vertuous men may see and know how little the Ancients did esteeme the beginning the meane and the end of vertuous works in respect of the perseuerance and preseruation of them Comming therefore to my matter which my penne doth tosse and seeke I aske now presently what it profiteth Princesses and great Ladies that God doe giue them great estates that they be fortunate in marriages that they bee all reuerenced and honoured that they haue great treasures for their inheritances and aboue all that they see their wines great with Childe and that afterward in ioy they see them deliuered that they see their mothers giuing their children sucke and finally they see themselues happy in that they haue found them good nurses health full and honest Truly all this auayleth little if to their children when they are young they doe do not giue masters to instruct them in vertues and they also if they doe not recommend them to good guides to exercise them in feates of Chiualry The Fathers which by sighes penetrate the heauen by praiers importune the liuing God onelie for to haue children ought first to thinke why they will haue children for that iustly to a man may be denied which to an euill end is procured In mine opinion the Father ought to desire to haue a child for that in his age he may sustaine his life in honour and that after his death hee may cause his fame to liue And if a Father desireth not a sonne for this cause at the least he ought to desire him to the end in his age hee may honour his hoary head and that after his death hee may enherite his goods but we see few children do these thinges to their fathers in their age if the fathers haue not taught them in their youth For the fruit doth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree did beare blosoms in the spring I see oftentimes many Fathers complaine of their children saying that they are disobedient and proude vnto them and they do not consider that they themselues are the cause of all those euils For too much abundance and liberty of youth is no other but a prophesie and manifest token of disobedience in age I know not why Princes and great Lords do toyle oppresse so much scratch to leaue their children great estates and on the other side wee see that in teaching them they are and shewe themselues too negligent for Princes and great Lordes ought to make account that all that which they leaue of their substance to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their consciences are vpright and of their honours carefull ought to bee very diligent to bring vppe their children and chiefly that they consider whether they bee meete to inherite their estates And if perchance the fathers see that their children bee more giuen to folly then to noblenes and wisdome then should I bee ashamed to see a father that is wise trauell all the dayes of his life to leaue much substance to an euill brought vp childe after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thing to see the cates which the Fathers take to gather riches and the diligence that children haue to spend them And in this case I say the sonne is fortunate for that hee doth enherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeath In my opinion Fathers are bound to instruct their children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also because they ought to be their heyres For truly with great griefe and sorrow I suppose hee doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrift the toyle of all his life Hyzearchus the Greeke Hystorian in the booke of his Antiquities Sabellicus in his generall hystory sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complain to the famous Philosopher and ancient Solon Solinon the Sonne complained of the father and the father of the sonne First the sonne informed the quarrell to the Philosopher saying these words I complaine of my Father because hee being rich hath disinherited mee and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the which thing my father ought not nor cannot doe for since he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason hee giue me his goods to maintaine my seeblenes To these wordes answered the father I complaine of my sonne because hee hath not beene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemie for in all things since hee was borne hee hath beene disobedient to my will wherefore I thought it good to disinherite him before my death I would I were quit of all my substance so that the gods had quit him of his life for the earth is very cruell that swalloweth not the child aliue which to his father is disobedient In that he sayeth I haue adopted another child for mine heyre I confesse it is true and for so much
as hee sayeth that I haue disinherited him and abiected him from my heritage hee beeing begotten of my body hereunto I answere That I haue not disinherited my sonne but I haue disinherited his pleasure to the entent hee shall not enioy my trauell for there can bee nothing more vniust then that the young and vicious sonne should take his pleasure of the swet and droppes of the aged father The sonne replyed to his Father and sayde I confesse I haue offended my Father and also I confesse that I haue liued in pleasures yet if I may speake the truth though I were disobedient and euill my Father ought to beare the blame and if for this cause hee doeth dishenherite mee I thinke hee doth me great iniurie for the father that instructeth not his son in vertue in his youth wrongfully disinheriteth him though he be disobedient in his age The Father againe replyeth and sayeth It is true my sonne that I brought thee vp too wantonly in thy youth but thou knowest well that I haue taught thee sundry times and besides that I did correct thee when thou camest to some discretion And if in thy youth I did not instruct thee in learning it was for that thou in thy tender age diddest want vnderstanding but after that thou hadst age to vnderstand discretion to receyue and strength to exercise it I beganne to punish thee to teache thee and to instruct thee For where no vnderstanding is in the child there in vaine they teach doctrine Since thou art old quoth the sonne and I young since thou art my Father and I thy sonne for that thou hast white hayres on thy beard and I none at all it is but reason that thou be belieued and I condemned For in this world wee see oft times that the small authoritie of the person maketh him to loose his great iustice I graunt thee my Father that when I was a childe thou diddest cause mee to learne to reade but thou wilt not denie that if I did commit any faulte thou wouldst neuer agree I should be punished And hereof it came that thou suffering me to do what I would in my Youth haue bin disobedient to thee euer since in my age And I say vnto thee further that if in this case I haue offended truely mee thinketh thou canst not bee excused for the fathers in the youth of their children ought not onely to teach them to dispute of vertues what vertue is but they ought to inforce thē to be vertuous in deed For it is a good token when Youth before they knowe vices haue been accustomed to practise vertues Both partyes then diligently heard the good Phylosopher Solon Solinon speake these words I giue iudgement that the Father of this childe be not buryed after his death and I commaund that the Sonne because in his youth hee hath not obeyed his Father who is olde should be disinherited whilest the Father liueth from all his substance on such condition that after his death his sonnes should inherite the Heritage and so returne to the heyres of the Sonne and liue of the Father For it were vniust that the innocencie of the Sonne should be condemned for the offence of the Father I do commaund also that all the goods be committed vnto some faithfull person to the end they may giue the Father meat and drinke during his life and to make a graue for the Sonne after his death I haue not without a cause giuen such iudgement the which comprehendeth life and death For the Gods will not that for one pleasure the punishment bee double but that wee chastise and punish the one in the life taking from him his honour and goods and that wee punish others after their death taking from them memorie and buryall Truely the sentence which the Philosopher gaue was very graue and would to GOD wee had him for a iudge of this world presently For I sweare that hee should finde manie Children now a dayes for to disinherite and moe Fathers to punish For I cannot tell which is greater The shame of the children to disobey their Fathers or the negligence of the Fathers in bringing vp their children Sextus Cheronens in the second book of the sayings of the Philosophers declareth that a Citizen of Athens saide vnto Dyogenes the Phylosopher these wordes Tell mee Dyogenes What shall I doe to be in the fauour of the Gods and not in the hatred of men For oft times amongst you Phylosophers I haue hearde say that there is a great difference between that that the gods will and that which men loue Dyogenes answered Thou speakest more then thou oughtest to speake that the Gods will one thing and men another for the Gods are but as a center of mercy and men are but as a denne of malice if thou wilt enioy rest in thy dayes and keepe thy life pure and cleane thou must obserue these three things The first honour thy Gods deuoutely for the man which doeth not serue and honour the Gods in all his enterprises hee shall be vnfortunate The second bee very diligent to bring vp thy children well for the man hath no enemie so troublesome as his owne sonne if hee bee not well brought vp The third thing bee thankefull to thy good benefactors and friends for the Oracle of Apollo sayth that the man who is vnthankefull of all the world shall be abhorred And I tell thee further my friend that of these three things the most profitable though it be more troublesome is for a man to teach and bring vp his children well This therefore was the answere that the Philosopher Diogenes made to the demaund of the Citizen It is great pitty and griefe to see a young childe how the bloud doth stirre him to see how the flesh doth prouoke him to accomplish his desire to see sensuality goe before and he himselfe to come behind to see the malitious World to watch him to see how the Diuell doth tempte him to see how vices binde him and in all that which is spoken to see how the Father is negligent as if hee had no children whereas in deede the olde man by the fewe vertues he hath had in his Youth may easily knowe the infirmityes and vices wherewith his Sonne is incompassed If the expert had neuer beene ignorant if the Fathers had neuer beene children if the vertuous had neuer been vicious if the fine wittes had neuer been deceiued it were no maruell if the Fathers were negligent in teaching their children For the little experience excuseth men of great offences but since thou art my Father and that first thou wert a Sonne since thou art old and hast bin young and besides all this since that pride hath inflamed thee lechery hath burned thee wrath hath wounded thee Negligence hath hindred thee Couetousnes hath blinded thee Glotonie surfetted thee Tell mee cruell Father since so many vices haue reigned in thee why hast thou not an
perillous skirmish And that which a man ought most to maruell at is that I neuer perceyued any feare or cowardlinesse to bee in those barbarous people whereby they were constrained to demaund peace of the people of Rome These Lygures pursued with such fiercenesse the wars that often times they tooke away from vs all hope to winne the victory for betweene Armies the great might of the one doth put alwayes the others in feare And I wil tell you Fathers conscript their bringing vp to the ende the Romaine youth should take heereby example When they are young they are put to bee Sheapheardes because they should accustome their flesh in those mountaines to endure trauell by the which custome they are so much masters of themselues the countrey being alwayes full of snow and Ise in the winter and also noysom through the extreame heate in the Summer that I sweare by the God Apollo in all this time of fiue yeares of those wee haue not seene one prease to the Fire in the winter nor couet the shadow in the Summer Doe not yee thinke worthie Senators that I was willing to declare vnto you these things in the Senate for any desire I haue that you should esteeme any thing the more my Triumph but I doe tell it you to this ende that you may haue an eye and take heede to your men of warre to the ende they may alwayes be occupied and that you suffer them not to be idle For it is more perillous for the Romaine Armyes to bee ouercome with vices thē to be discomfited with their enemies And to talke of these matters more at large me thinketh they should prouide and commaund that Rich men should not be so hardie to bring vppe their children too delicately for in the ende it is vnpossible that the delicate person should win with his hands the honour of many victories That which moued me to say somuch as I haue sayd worthie Senatours is to the ende you may knowe that the Lygures were not ouercome by the power of Rome but because Fortune was against them And since in nothing Fortune sheweth her selfe so variable as in the things of the warre mee thinketh that though the Ligures are nowe vanquished and ouercome yet notwithstanding you ought to entertain them in loue and to take them for your confoederates For it is not good counsell to hazzard that into the handes of Fortune which a man may compasse by friendship The Authour of this which is spoken is called Iunius Pratus in the Booke of the concord of Realmes and hee saieth in that place that this captaine Gneus Fabritius was counted no lesse sage for that he spake then esteemed valiant for that hee did In the olde time those of the Isles Balleares which now are called Maiorque and Minorque though they were not counted wise yet at the least in bringing vp their Children they shewed rhemselues not negligent Because they were broght vp in hardnes in their youth and could endure all painefull exercises of the warres Those of Carthage gaue fiue prisoners of Rome for one slaue of Maiorque Dyodorus Siculus saith in those Iles the mother did not giue the children bread with their own hands but they did put it on a high poale so that they might see the Bread with theyr eyes but they could not reach it with their hāds Wherfore when they would eat they should first with hurling of stones or slinges win it or else fast Though the worke were of children yet the inuention came of a high wit And hereof it came that the Baleares were esteemed for valiant mē as well in wrastling as in slinges for to hurle for they did hurle with a sling to hit a white as the Lygures shoot now in a Crosse-bow to hit the pricke Those of Great Brittaine which now we cal England amongst all the barbarous were men most barbarous but you ought to know that within the space of few yeares the Romanes were vanquished of them many times for time in all things bringeth such change and alteration that those which once wee knew great Lords within a while after wee haue seene themslaues Herodian in his history of Seuerus Emperour of Rome sayeth That an Ambassadour of Brittaine being one day in Rome as by chance they gaue him a froward answer in the Senate spake stoutely before them all and saide these words I am sorry you will not accept peace nor graunt Truce the which thing shall bee for the greater iustification of your warre For afterwardes none can take but that which fortune shall giue For in the end the delicate flesh of Rome shall feele if the bloudy swords of Brittaine will cut The English history sayeth and it is true that though the country be very cold that the water freezeth oft yet the women had a custome to carry theyr children where the water was frozen and breaking the Ice with a stone with the same Ise they vsed to rubbe the body of the Infant to the end to harden their flesh and to make them more apter to endure trauels And without doubt they had reason for I wish no greater pennance to delicate men then in the Winter to see them without fire and in the Summer to want fresh shadow Sith this was the custome of the Brittaines it is but reason we credite Iulius Caesar in that hee sayeth in his Comentaries that is to say that he passed many daungers before hee could ouercome them for they with as little feare did hide themselues diued vnder the colde water as verily a man would haue rested himselfe in a pleasant shadow As Lucanus and Appianus Alexandrinus say amongst other Nations which came to succour the greate Pompey in Pharsalia were the Messagetes the which as they say in their youth did suck no other but the milke of Camels and eate bread of akorns These barbarous people did these things to the end to harden their bodies to bee able to endure trauell to haue their legges lighter for to runne In this case wee cannot cal them barbarous but wee ought to call them men of good vnderstanding for it is vnpossible for the man that eateth much to runne fast Viriatus a Spaniard was King of the Lusitaines and a great enemy of the Romaines who was so aduenturous in the war and so valiant in his person that the Romaines by the experience of his deedes found him inuincible for in the space of 13. yeares they coulde neuer haue any victory of him the which when they saw they determined to poyson him did so indeed At whose death they more reioyced then if they had wonne the Sgniorie of all Lusitania For if Viriatus had not dyed they had neuer brought the Lusitanians vnder their subiection Iunius Rusticus in his Epitomie sayeth that this Viriatus in his youth was a Heard-man kept cattell by the riuer of Guadiana and after that he waxed older vsed to robbe and assault men by
fought together for as Nafica sayde the pleasures that Rome had to see many victories were not so great as the displeasure was which she tooke to see her selfe once ouercome The good Vlpius Traianus gaue battell to king Cebalus wherein Cebalus was not onely ouercome but also taken and afterwardes brought before the Emperor Traianus which sayde vnto him these words Speake Cebalus Why diddest thou rebell against the Romaines since thou knowest that the Romanes are inuincible King Cebalus answered him If the Romans could not bee ouercome how then did I ouercome the Emperour Domitian Traian the Emperour sayde vnto him againe Thou art greatly deceyued King Cebalus to thinke that when thou ouercamest the Emperor thou hadst ouercome the Romanes For when that Romulus founded Rome the Gods ordained that though their Emperour dyed in any battell yet notwithstanding it is not to bee thought that the Empire is ouercome The Historiographers made a great matter of the words that this Vlpius Traianus spake for therin he shewed that the Rom Empire was invincible After that this King Cebalus was dead and that for his deserts hee was depriued as the Emperour Traian was a mercifull Prince so hee prouided that a little child that Cebalus had should bee brought vp in his Palace with intention that if the Child became good they would giue him the Realme which his Father through treason had lost For in Rome there was an auncient Law that all which the Father lost by reason the sonne should recouer by his faithfull acts It chaunced that the good Traian taking his pleasure in the garden of Vulcan saw the sonne of King Cebalus and many other young children of Rome stealing fruit foorth of an Orchard and it is no wonder for the Locustes did not so much harme to the corne as the children do to the fruites when they enter into the Orchards When the Emperour afterwardes demaunded him from whence hee came hee answered from his study hearing Rethorike but indeed hee came from stealing of fruit The Emperour Traian was so angry and displeased that the child was a lyer that he commanded he should vtterly be depriued and made voide of all hope to recouer the Realme of his Father The Emperour Traian was greatly importuned as wel of strange Ambassadours as of his owne countrimen that he would change that cruell sentence For Princes in a fury doe commaund that which when they are patient they doe vndo The Emperour Traian answered them if the Father of this child which was King Cebalus had been a true Prince he had not lost his life neyther his Realme nor had not put mee and the Empire so many times in daunger but since the Father was a lyer and the sonne is not true it were too vniust a thing to render him the Realme For to me it should be great reproach and to our mother Rome as much dishonour that shee being the mother of truth should giue Realmes to children beeing lyers This was it that Vlpius Traian spake vnto the sonne of King Cebalus Marcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour of Rome had two sonnes as before we haue rehearsed the eldest of the which was called Comodus and his father procured greatly to dishen herite him of the Empire for hee would that the second sonne named Verissimus should haue enherited it and hee did not onely determine it but also spake it oft times openly For that thing is with great difficulty dissembled that excessiuely is beloued By chance an olde Senator and friend of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour one day both going out of the Senate house sayde vnto him I maruell at thee most Excellent Prince Why thou doest dishenherite thy sonne which is eldest to make thine Heyre the youngest knowing that they are both thy sonnes and that the gods haue giuen thee no other but them For the good Fathers are bound to chasten their children but they haue not licence to dishenherite them The Emperour Marcus Aurelius answered him If thou wert a Greeke Philosopher as thou ort a Romane Citizen and if thou knowest tke fathers loue towards the child thou wouldest not take pitty on my sonne which vndoeth the Empire but thou shouldest haue compassion on me his Father which doth dishenherite him For the child scarcely knoweth what hee looseth but I that am his Father doe bewayle the dammage which I doe vnto him For in the end there is not in the world so cruell a Father but if his sonne should bee hurt with the pomell of the sword in the hand the Father would feele incontinently the dent of his blade at his heart In this case I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that I do that which I would not doe and I take that from him which I would not take For Anthonius my Lord and Father in law gaue mee the Empire for no other cause but because hee neuer found in mee any lye and for this occasion I doe depriue my sonne from it for that I neuer found in him any truth For it is not meete that the Empire beeing giuen vnto me for that I was true should bee left in heritage to him that is a lyer For in the ende it is better that the sonne doe loose the heritage then the father should loose his renowne By these two examples those which are the tutors and masters of Princes and great Lordes may see how to bee diligent to keepe them from lyes whilest they are yong and it ought to be in such sort that neyther in pastime neyther in earnest answering they should bee suffered to tell a lye For those that for their pleasures were accustomed to lye in their youth will not fayle for their profite to lye in their age Secondarily the Tutours and Masters ought to keepe their Disciples that they bee no gamesters that they doe not accustome themselues in their youth to bee vnthrifts for it is a great token of the decay of the Empire when the Prince in his youth is affectionated to play Experience sheweth vs that to play is a vice as Seneca saieth which hath the property of a raging dogge with whom if a man bee once bitten vnlesse hee hath present remedie forthwith he runneth mad and the disease also continueth with him vncurable vntill the houre of his death Players not without a cause are compared to madde dogges for al those that vse it hurt their conscience loose their honour and consume their substance It chaunceth oft that in that wherein Masters should bee most circumspect they for the most part are most negligent that is to say that vnder the colour of some honest recreation they agree to their Schollers to vse some pastime which if therein bee contained no commendable exercise the children ought not to vse it nor yet the tutors to suffer it for vice is of such a propertie that if a childe in his youth dare play a point it is to bee feared when he commeth to yeares hee
age lay in Winter season in an Isle called Chetyn which now is called Cypres wherein is a little mountain as yet full of Wood which is called the mount of Archadia where groweth an hearbe called Ilabia which the Auncients say that if it bee cut it droppeth bloud and the nature of it is that if one doe rubbe any man with the bloud thereof hote although hee would not yet hee shall loue him and if they doe annoint him with the bloude that is colde hee shall hate him Of this hearbe wee neede not doubt any thing at all for I did proue it and anointed one with that bloud who would sooner loose his life then that loue which he bare mee There was a Kingin that Isle of great example of life and greatly renowned of clemency though in deed neyther by writing nor by wordes I could neuer know his name but that hee was buried vnder foure pillars in a Tombe of Marble and about the Tombe were engrauen these Greeke and ancient letters where amongst other things these wordes were engrauen The mighty gods whiles they drew out the length Of my weake yeares to passe the floud of life This rule I had my Common wealth to strength To nourish peace and stint vaine blasts of strife By vertues way if ought I could obtaine By vices path I neuer sought to get By dreadles peace if I could right attaine By clattering armes blind hazard could not let By curteous meanes if I could ouercome By raging threates I heaped vp no dread By secret shiftes if I might guide my dome By open force I nowlde the paine were spread By gentle read if I could chastice eke By sharpe wayes no further proofe I sought In outward sight I neuer thought to stricke Before I had to couerte chekes them brought My free consent could neuer vainely heare My tongue to tell one sweet entising lye Nor yet my hollow eares would euer heare Their crooked tales that flatter oft awry My schooled heart was alwayes taught to stay From eager lust of others heaped good I forst my selfe his proper wealth to way And stand content as fortune iudgement stoode My friends decay I alwayes watcht to ayde And recked not for bent of enuies bow In huge expence I neuer lauish payde My glittring golde nor spared yet to low For grieuous faults I neuer punisht wighi With mind appeased but erst I would forgiue My griefe did grow when iust reuenge did hight And eke I ioyed to pardon men to liue A mortall man amongst blinde heapes of men Nature my mother produced me here And therefore loe inclosed in this denne The eagre wormes my senselesse carcasse teare Amongst the Wights that vertue did enhaunce A vertuous life I freely passed on And since that death his kingdome did aduance My heauenlie sprite to haunt the Gods is gone HOw thinkest thou Antigonus what Epitaph was this and what prince ought he to be of whom I should say his life ought to bee glorious and his memory eternall I sweare vnto thee by the law of a good man and as the Gods may prosper me I tooke not so much pleasure in Pompey with his Hierusalem in Semiremis with her India in king Cyrus with his Babylon in Caius Caesar with his Gawles in Scipio with his Affrike as I haue in the king of Cypres in his graue For more glorie hath that king there in that sharpe mountaine being deade then others haue had in prowde Rome beeing aliue CHAP. IX ¶ Marcus Aurelius continueth his Letter against cruell Iudges Of the words which the Emperor Nero spake concerning Iustice and of the instructions the Emperour Augustus gaue to a Iudge which hee sent into Dacia NEITHER for that which I write in this Letter nor yet for that king Cirus had in his Graue my intention is not to defende the euil to the ende that for their euill deedes and outragiousnesse they should bee punished for by this means it shold bee worse for mee to fauour them then for them to bee euill for they through debility do offend and I by malice doe erre But in this case it seemeth vnto mee and to all others which are of good iudgement that since frailety in men is naturall and the punishment which they giue is voluntary Let Iudges therefore in ministring iustice shew that they do it for the weale of the Common-wealth and not with a mind for to reuenge To the end the faulty may haue occasion to amned the faultes past and not reuenge iniuries present the diuine Plato in the books of his Common-wealth sayde that Iudges ought to haue two things present before their eyes that is to say that in iudging things touching the good of others they shew no couetousnes and in punishing any man they shew no reuenge For Iudges haue licence to chastice the bodie but therefore they haue no licence to hurt theyr hearts Nero the Emperour was greatly defamed in his life and verie cruell in his iustice And withall his cruelties it chanced that as one in a day brought him a iudgement for to subscribe to behead certain murtherers Hee fetching a great sigh sayd these words O how happy were I if I had neuer learned to write onely to bee excused to subscribe this sentence Certainely the Emperour Nero for speaking such a pittifull word at that time deserued immortal memory but afterwardes his so cruell life peruerted so notable a sentence For speaking the truthe one euil word sufficeth to deface manie good wordes O how many realmes and countreyes haue bin lost not so much for the euills which in those the wicked haue committed as for the disordinate Iustices which the ministers of iustice therein haue executed For they thinking by rigour to correct the dammages past haue raysed vppe present slaunders for euer It is knowne to all men who and what the Emperour Augustus hath bin who in all his doings was exceeding good For he was noble valiant stout fierce and a louer of iustice and aboue all very pittifull And for so much in other things hee shewed his pitie and clemencie he ordained that no prince should subscribe iudgements of death with his owne hand neyther that hee should see iustice done of any with his owne eyes Truely the law was pittifully ordained and for the cleannes purenes of Emperors very necessary For it seemeth better for Princes to defend theyr Landes with the sharpe sword then to subscribe a sentence of death with the cruell penne This good Emperour Augustus was very diligent to chuse ministers of iustice and very carefull to teach them how they should behaue themselues in the Common-wealth admonishing them not onely of that they had to doe but also of that they ought to flie For the ministers of iustice oftentimes faile of theyr duetie In Capua there was a gouernour named Escaurus who was a iust iudge though hee were somewhat seuere whom the Emperour Augustus sent to the realme of Dace to take charge
more sure when by white hayres they seemed to bee olde when they retired to the Aultars of the Temples Oh what goodnesse Oh what wisedome what valiantnesse and what innocencie ought the aged men to haue in the auncient time since in Rome they honoured them as Gods and in Greece they priuiledged those whyte haires as the temples Plinie in an Epistle he wrote to Fabarus saith that Pyrrus king of the Epyrotes demaunded of a phylosopher which was the best citie of the world who aunswered him thus The best Citie of the world is Molerda a place of three hundreth Fyres in Achaia because all the walles are of blacke stones and all those which gouerne haue hoary heads And further he saide Woe bee vnto thee Rome Woe be vnto thee Carthage Woe be vnto thee Numantia Wo be vnto thee Egipt and woe bee vnto thee Athens Fyue Cittyes which count themselues for the best of the Worlde whereof I am of a contrary opinion For they auaunte themselues to haue whyte Walles and are not ashamed to haue young Senatours This phylosopher saide very well and I thinke no man will say lesse then I haue saide Of this word Senex is deriued the name of a Senatour For so were the gouernours of Rome named because the first King that was Romulus chose an hundred aged men to gouerne the Common-wealth and commaunded that all the Romane youth should employ themselues to the warres Since wee haue spoken of the honour which in the old time was giuen to the auncient men it is reason wee know now from what yeares they accounted men aged to the end they should reuerently bee honoured as aged men For the makers of lawes when they hadde established the honours which ought to be done to the Aged did as well ordain from what day and yeare they should beginne Diuers auncient phylosophers did put six ages from the time of the birth of man vntill the houre of his death That is to say Childe-hood which lasteth vntill seuen yeares Infancie which lasteth vntill seuenteene yeares Youth which continueth till thirtie yeares Mans estate which remaineth till fiftie and fiue yeares Age which endureth till three-score and eighteene yeares Then last of all Crooked-age which remaineth till death And so after man had passed fiue and fifty yeares they called him aged Aulus Gelius in his tenth booke in the 27 Chapter sayth that Fuluius Hostilius who was King of the Romanes determined to count all the olde and yong which were amongst the people and also to know which should be called Infants which yong and which old And there was no little difference among the Romane Philosophers and in the end it was decreed by the King and the Senate that men till seuenteene years should bee called Infants and till sixe forty should be called young and from sixe and forty vpwards they should be called olde If wee will obserue the Law of the Romanes wee know from what time we are bound to call and honor the aged men But adding hereunto it is reason that the olde men know to what prowesses and vertues they are bound to the end that with reason and not with fainting they bee serued for speaking the truth if wee compare duty to duty the olde men are more bound to vertue then the young to seruice Wee cannot deny but that all states of Nations great small young and old are bound to bee vertuous but in this case the one is more to bee blamed then the other For oftentimes if the young men doe offend it is for that hee wanteth experience but if the old man offend it is for the aboundance of malice Seneca in an Epistle sayde these words I let thee know my friend Lucillus that l am very much offended and I doe complaine not of any friend or foe but of my selfe and none other And the reason why I thinke this is that I see my selfe old in vices so little is that wherein I haue serued the Gods and much lesse is that I haue profited him And Seneca sayeth further Hee which prayseth himselfe most to bee aged and that would bee honoured for being aged ought to bee temperate in eating honest in appartell sober in drinking soft in words wise in counsell and to conclude he ought to be very patient in aduersity and far from vices which attempt him Worthy of prayse is the greate Seneca for those wordes but more worthy shall the olde men if they wil conforme their workes according to these words For if wee see them for to abandon vices and giue themselus to vertues we will both serue them and honour them CHAP. XVIII That Princes when they are aged should be temperate in eating sober in drinking modest in apparrell and aboue all true in communication IT is consonant to the counsell of Seneca that the aged should bee temperate in eating which they ought to doe not onely for the reputation of their persons but also for the preseruation of theyr liues For the olde men which are drunke and amorous are persecuted with their owne diseases and are defamed by the tongues of other That which the ancient men should eate I meane those which are noble and vertuous ought to bee very cleane and well dressed and aboue all that they doe take it in season time for otherwise too much eating of diuers things causeth the young to bee sicke and enforceth the olde to die Young men though they eate dishonestly very hastily and eate speaking we can doe no lesse but dissemble with them but the olde men which eate much and hastily of necessitie we ought to reproue them For men of Honour ought to eate at table with a great grauitie as if they were in any counsell to determine causes It is not mine intention to perswade the feeble olde men not to eate but onely to admonish them to eate no more then is necessarie We doe not prohibite them to eate delicate things but to beware of superfluous things We doe not counsell them to leaue eating hauing need but to withdraw themselues from curiositie For though it bee lawfull for aged men to eate sufficient it is not honest for them to eate to ouercome theyr stomacks It is a shame to write it but more shame ought they to haue which doe it which is that the goods which they haue wonne and inherited by their predecessours they haue eaten and drunken so that they haue neyther bought House not vyne nor yet marryed any Daughter but they are naked and their poore children goe to the Tauernes and Innes and the miserable Fathers to the Hospitalles and Churches When any man commeth to pouertie for that his house is burned or his shippe drowned or that they haue taken all from him by Lawe or that hee hath spent it in pleading against his enemies or any other in conueniēce is come vnto him me thinketh we are all bound to succor him and the hart hath cōpassion to behold him
banishment I did helpe him with money and moreouer he was banished another time for the lightnes hee did commit in the night in the Citie and I maruell not hereof For we see by experience that Olde men which are fleshed in vices are more obstinate to correct then the young Oh what euill fortune haue the old men which haue suffered themselues to waxe olde in vice For more dangerous is the fire in an old house then in a newe and a great cut of a sword is not so perillous as a rotten Fistula Though olde men were not honest and vertuous for the seruice of the Gods and the commonwealth for the saying of the people nor for the example of the young yet he ought to bee honest if it were but for the reuerence of their yeares If the poore old man haue no teeth how shall he eate If he haue no heate in his stomacke how can he disgest If hee haue no taste how can he drinke if he be not strong how can hee be an adulterer if he haue no feet how can he goe if he haue the palsey how can he speake if he haue the gowte in his hands how can he play Finally such like worldly vicious men haue employed their forces being young desirous to proue al these vices and when they are old it grieueth thē extreamly that they cānot acomplish their desire Amongst all these faultes in olde men in myne opinion this is the chiefest that since they haue proued all things that they should still remaine in theyr obstinate follie There is no parte but they haue trauelled no villanie but they haue essayed no Fortune but they haue proued no good but they haue persecuted no euill but hath chanced vnto them nor there is any wickednes but they haue attēpted These vnhappie men which in this sort haue spent all their youth haue in the ende theyr combes cut with infirmities and diseases yet they are not so much grieued with the vices which in them doe abound to hinder them from vertues as they are tormented for want of corporall courage to further them in their lustes Oh if wee were Gods or that they would giue vs licence to knowe the thoughtes of the olde as wee see with our eyes the deedes of the young I sweare to the God Mars and also to the Mother Berecynthia that without comparison wee would punish more the wicked desires which the aged haue to be wicked then the light deedes of the young Tell mee Claude and Claudine doe you thinke though you behaue your selues as young you shall not seme to be olde Knowe you not that our nature is the corruption of our bodie and that our bodie hindereth our vnderstandings and that the vnderstandings are kept of our soule and that our soule is the mother of desires and that our desires are the scourge of our youth and that our youth is the ensigne of our age and age the spye of death and that death in the end is the house where life taketh his harbor from whēce youth flyeth a foot frō whence age cānot escape a horseback I would reioyce that you Claude and Claudine would but tell mee what you finde in this life that so much therwith you should be contented since no we you haue passed foure-score yeares of life during the which time either you haue bin wicked in the worlde or else you haue bin good If you haue bin good you ought to thinke it long vntill you bee with the good Gods if you haue bin euill it is iust you dye to the ende you be no worse For speaking the truth those which in threescore and ten yeares haue bin wicked in workes leaue small hope of their amendment of life Adrian my Lord beeing at Nola in Campania one brought vnto him a nephew of his from the studie whereas the yong childe had not profited a little for hee became a great Grecian and Latinist and moreouer hee was faire gratious and honest And this Emperour Adrian loued his Nephew so much that he saide vnto him these wordes My Nephewe I knowe not whether I ought to say vnto thee that thou art good or euill For if thou be euill life shall be euill employed on thee and if thou be good thou oughtest to dye immediately and because I am worse then all I liue longer then all These words which Adrian my Lord said doe plainly declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruell death doth assault the good and lengtheneth life a great while to the euill The opinion of a phylosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their mysteries and so iust in their works that to men which least profite the commonwealth they lengthen life longest and though he had not saide it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale friendship to the Commonwealth eyther the Gods take him from vs or the Enemyes doe slay him or the daungers doe cast him away or the trauells doe finish him When the great Pompeyus and Iulius Caesar became enemyes and from that enmitie came to cruell warres the Gronicles of the time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in he fauour of Iulius Caesar and the mightiest and most puissant of al the oriental parts came in the ayde of great Pompeius because these two Princes were loued of a few and serued and feared of all Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the Orientall part into the hoast of the great Pompeius one nation came maruellous and cruell barbarous which sayde they dwelled on the other side of the mountaine Riphees which goe vnto India And these Barbarians had a Custome not to liue no longer then fifty yeares and therefore when they came to that age they made a greater fire and were burned therin aliue and of their owne wils they sacrificed themselues to the Gods Let no man be astonied at that we haue spoken but rather let them maruell of that wee will speake that is to say that the same day any man had accōplished fifty yeares immediately hee cast himselfe quicke into the fire and his friends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eate the flesh of the dead halfe burned and dranke in wine and water the ashes of his bones so that the stomacke of the childrē being aliue was the graue of the Fathers being dead All this that I haue spoken with my tongue Pompeius hath seene with his eyes for that some being in the camp did accomplish fifty yeares and because the case was strange hee declared it oft in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what he will and condemne the barbarians at his pleasure yet I will not cease to say what I thinke O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the World to ome shall be
vs to a new builded Pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherin we shut our selues from the assaults of life and broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee finde in death then of that wee haue in life If Helia Fabricia thy wife doe greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doe not care for shee presently hath little care of the perill wherein thy life dependeth And in the end when she shall know of thy death shee will be nothing greeued Trouble not thy selfe for that she is left a widdow for yong women as shee is which are married to olde men as thou when their husbands die they haue their eyes on that they can robbe and their hearts on them whom they desire to marrie And speaking with due respect when with their eyes they outwardly seeme most for to bewayle then with their hearts inwardly doe they most reioyce Deceiue not thy selfe in thinkeing that the Empresse thy wife is yong and that she shall finde none other Emperor with whom again she may marrie For such and the like will change the cloth of gold for gownes of skinnes I meane that they would rather the young shepheard in the field then the olde Emperour in his royall pallace If thov takest sorrow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shouldst do so For truely if it greeue thee now for that thou diest they are more displeased for that thou liuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may be counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that he is not maintained and if hee rich he desireth his death to enherite the sooner Since therefore it is true as indeed it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing and thou weepe If it greeue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces and these sumptuous buildings deceiue not thy selfe therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death doth finish thee at the end of threescore and two yeeres time shall consume these sumptuous buildings in lesse then 40. If it greeue thee to forsake the company of thy friends and neighbors for them also take as little thought since for thee they will not take any at all For amongst the other compassions that they ought to haue of the dead this is true that scarcely they are buried but of their friends and neighbours they are forgotten If thou takest greatest thought for that thou wilt not die as the other Emperours of Rome are dead me seemeth that thou oughtest also to cast this sorrow from thee for thou knowest right well that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankefull to those which serue her that the great Scipio also would not be buried therein If it greeue thee to die to leaue so great a Seignory as to leaue the Empire I cannot thinke that such vanity be in thy head for temperate and reposed men when they escape from semblable offices doe not thinke that they lose honour but that they be free of a trouble some charge Therefore if none of all these things moue thee to desire life what should let thee that throgh thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dy for one of these two things either for the loue of those they leaue behinde them or for feare of that they hope Since therefore there is nothing in this life worthy of loue nor any thing in death why we should feare why doe men feare to die According to the heauy fighes thou fetchest the bitter teares thou sheddest and according also to that great paine thou shewest for my part I thinke that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods should commaund thee to pay this debt For admit that all thinke that their life shall end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soon For that men think neuer to die they neuer begin their faults to amend so that both life and fault haue end in the graue together Knowest not thou most noble Prince that the long night commeth the middest morning Doest thou not know that after the moist morning there cometh the cleare Sun Knowest not thou that after the cleare Sun commeth the cloudy Element Doest thou not know that after the darke myst there commeth extreme heate And after the heate commeth the horrible thunders and after the thunders the sodaine lightnings and after the perilious lightnings commeth the terrible haile Finally I say that after the tempestuous and troublesome time commonly commeth cleare and faire weather The order that time hath to make himselfe cruell and gentle the selfe same ought men to haue to liue and die For after the infancy commeth childhood after childhood commeth youth after youth commeth age and after age commeth the feareful death Finally after that feareful death commeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read and of thee not seldome heard that the gods onely which had no beginning shall haue also no ending Therefore mee thinketh most noble Prince that sage men ought not to desire to liue long Formen which desire to liue much either it is for that they haue not felt the trauels past because they haue bene fooles or for that they desire more time to giue themselues to vices Thou mightest not complaine of that since they haue not cut thee in the flower of the herbe nor taken thee greene from the tree nor cut thee in the spring tide and much lesse eate thee eager before thou wert ripe By that I haue spoken I meane if death had called thee when thy life was sweetest though thou hadst not had reason to haue complayned yet thou mightest haue desired to haue altered it For it is a greater griefe to say vnto a yong man that he must die and forsake the world What is this my Lord now that the wall is decaied ready to fall the flower is an hered the grape doth rot the teeth are loose the gowne is worne the lance is blunt the knife is dull and dost thou desire to returne into the world as if thou hadst neuer knowne the world These threescore and two yeeres thou hast liued in the proportion of this body and wilt thou now that the yron fetters haue rot thy legges desire yet to lengthen thy daies in this so wofull prison They that will not be contented to liue threescore yeeres and fiue in this death or to die in this life will not desire to liue threescore thousand yeeres The Emperour Augustus Octauian saide That alter men had liued fiftie yeeres either of their owne will they ought to dye or else by force they should cause themselues to bee killed For at that time all those which haue any humaine felicitie are at the best Those which liue aboue that age passe their daies in grieuous torments As in the death of children in the losse of goods and importunitie of
sonne in lawes in maintaining processes in discharging debts in fighing for that is past in bewayling that that is present in dissembling iniuries in hearing woful newes and in other infinite trauels I So that it were much better to haue their eyes shut in the graue thē their hearts and bodies aliue to suffer so much in this miserable life He whom the gods take from this miserable life at the end of fiftie yeeres is quitted from all these miseries of life For after that time hee is not weake but crooked hee goeth not but rowlleth he stumbleth nor but falleth O my Lord Marke knowest thou not that by the same way whereby goeth death death cometh Knowest not thou in like manner that it is 62. yeers that life hath fled from death that there is another time asmuch that death goeth seeking thy life and death going from Illiria where he left a great plague thou departing frō thy pallace ye two haue now met in Hungarie Knowest not thou that where thou leapedst out of thy mothers intrailes to gouerne the land immediately death leaped out of his grauè to seeke thy life Thou hast alwayes presumed not onely to bee honored but also to be honorable if it bee so since thou honouredst the Embassadors of Princes which did send them the more for their profite then for thy seruice why dost thou not honor thy messenger whom the gods send more for thy profite then for their seruices Doest thou not remember well when Vulcan my sonne in law poysoned me more for the couetousnesse of my gods then any desire that hee had of my life thou Lord that diddest come to comfort mee in my chamber and toldst me that the gods were cruell to slay the yong and were pitiful to take the old from this world And thou saidst further these wordes Comfort thee Panutius for if thou wert borne to the now thou drest to liue Since therefore noble Prince that I tell thee that which thou toldst me and counsell thee the same which thou counsellest me I render to thee that which thou hast giuen me Finally of these vines I haue gathered these cluster of grapes CHAP. LII The answer of the Emperour Marcus to Panutius his Secretarie wherein he declareth that he tooke no thought to forsake the world but all his sorow was to leaue behind him an vnhappie child to inherit the Empire PAnutius blessed be the milke which thou hast sucked in Dacia the bread which thou hast eaten in Rome the larning which thou hast learned in Greece and the bringing vppe which thou hast had in my pallace For thou hast serued as a good seruant in life and giuest mee good counsell as a trustie friende at death I command Commodus my son to recompence thy seruice and I beseech the immortall gods that they acquite thy good counsels And not without good cause I charge my son with the one and requrie the gods of the other For the payment of many seruices one man alone may doe but to pay one good counsell it is requisite to haue all the gods The greatest good that a friend can doe to his friend is in great and waightie affaires to giue him good and wholesome counsell And not without cause I say wholesome For commonly it chaunceth that those which thinke with their counsell to remedy vs doe put vs oftentimes in greatest perils All the trauells of life are hard but that of death is the most hard and terrible Al are great but this is the greatest All are perillous but this is most perrillons All in death haue ende except the trauell of death whereof wee know no end that which I say now no men perfectly can know but he which seeth himselfe as I see my selfe now at the point of death Certainly Panutius thou hast spoken vnto mee as a wise man but for that thou knowst not my griefe thou couldst not cure my disease for my sore is not there where thou hast layde the plaister The fistula is not there where thou hast cutte the flesh The opilation is not there where thou hast layd the oyntments There were not the right veines where thou didst let me bloud Thou hast not yet touched the wound which is the cause of all my griefe I meane that thou oughtest to haue entred further with mee to haue knowne my griefe better The sighes which the heart fetcheth I say those which come from the heart let not euerie man think which heareth them that he can immedialy vnderstand them For as men cannot remedie the anguishes of the spirit so the gods likewise would not that they should know the secrets of the heart Without feare or shame many dare say that they know the thought of others wherein they shew themselues to bee more fooles then wise For since there are many things in me wherein I my selfe doubt how can a stranger haue any certaine knowledge therein Thou accusest me Panutius that I feare death greatly the which I deny but to feare it as man I doe confesse For to deny that I feare not death should bee to denie that I am not of flesh We see by experience that the Elephants do feare the Lyon the Beare the Elephant the wolfe the Beare the Lambe the Wolfe the Rat the Cat the Cat the Dog the Dog the man Finally the one and the other do feare for no other thing but for feare that one killeth not the other Then since bruite beasts refuse death the which though they die feare not to fight with the suries nor hope not to rest with the gods so much the more ought we to feare death which die in doubt whether the furies will teare vs in peeces with their torments or the gods will receiue vs in to their houses with ioy Thinkest thou Panutius that I doe not see well my vine is gathered and that it is not hid vnto me that my palace falleth in decay I know well that I haue not but the kernell of the Raison the skin and that I haue not but one sigh of all my life vntill this time There was great difference betweene me and thee now there is no great difference betwixt me and my selfe For about the ensign thou dost place the army In the riuers thou castest thy nets within the parkes thou huntest the buls in the shadow thou takest cold By this I meane that thou talkest so much of death because that thou art sure of thy life O miserable man that I am for in short space of all that is life I haue possessed with mee I shall carrie nothing but onely my winding sheete Alasse how shall I enter into the field not where of fierce beasts I shall bee assaulted but of the hungrie wormes deuoured Alasse I see my selfe in that distresse from whence my fraile flesh cannot escape And if any hope remaine it is in thee O death When I am sicke I would not that hee that is whole should comfort me When
sufficient to protect and defende mee in all my causes And shortly after these words passed betweene tham Marke Anthonie shewed the friendship hee bare to the one and the enmitie hee had to the other For he caused Tullie to be put to death and raysed Salust to great honour A Friend may well imparte to the other all his owne as bread wine money time conuersation and such like but hee cannot notwithstanding giue him part of his heart for that suffereth it not to be parted nor deuided because it cā be giuē but to one alone This graunted to bee true as needs it must doubtles that the heart cannot bee deuided but onely giuen to one then is it of necessitie that hee that will seeke to haue many Friends must needs repaire to the shambles to prouide him of many hearts Many vaunt themselues and thinke it a glory to haue numbers of friends but let such well consider to what vse that legendarie of Friendes doe serue them they shall then easily finde they stand them in no oeher steede but to eate to drinke to walke to babble and to murmure togethers and not one to helpe the other with their goods fauour and credite at their neede nor friendly to reprooue them of theyr faults and vices which doubtles ought not to bee so For where true and perfect friendship raigneth neyther I with my friend nor hee with mee should dissemble any vice of faulte Ouide sayth in his booke De Arte amandi that the law of true and vnfained Loue is so streight that no friendship but mine in thy heart should harbour and in mine should lodge none others loue but thine for loue is none other thing But one heart liuining in two bodyes and two bodyes obeying in one heart In this World there is no treasure comparable to a true and sure Friend sith to a faithfull Friende a man may safely discouer the secrets of his heart bewray vnto him his gryping griefes trusting him with his honour committing to his guyde and custodie all his goods hee shall succour him in his miserie counsell him in perill reioyce at his prosperitie and mourne at his aduersitie And in fine I conclude such a friend neuer wearyeth to serue him in his life nor to lament him after his death I graunt that Golde and Siluer is good Kinsefolkes are good and Money is good but true friends exceede them all without comparison For all these things cannot warrant vs from necessitie if sinister Fortune plunge vs into it but rather encrease our torments and extreamitie Also they doe not reioyce vs but rather heape further griefes vpon vs neither doe they succour vs but rather eache houre giue vs cause to complaine and much lesse do they remember and aduise vs of that that is good but still doe deceyue vs not directing vs the right way but still bringing vs out of our way and when they haue led vs awry out of the High-way they bring vs into Desart woods and high and dangerous mountaines whence from we must fall downe headlong A true friend is no partaker of these conditions but rather hee is sorry for the least trouble that happeneth to his friend hee feareth not neither spareth his goods nor the daunger of his person he careth not to take vpon him any painfull iourney quarrels or sutes nor yet to put his life in euery hazard of death And yet that that is most of all to bee esteemed is that like as the heart and bowels euer burne with pure and sincere loue so doth hee wish and desire with gladsome mind to beare the burthen of all his friends mishaps yea more then yet is spoken of Alexander the Great offered great presents to the Philosopher Zenocrates who would not vouchsafe to receyue them much lesse to beholde them And beeing demaunded of Alexander why he would not receyue them hauing poore kinsfolkes and parents to bestow them on hee answered him thus Truely I haue both brothers and sisters O Alexander yet I haue no kinsman but him that is my friend and one onely friend I haue who hath no need of any gifts to bee giuen him For the onely cause why I chose him to be my sole and only friend was for that I euer saw him spise these worldly things Truly the sentence of this good Philosopher Zenocrates is of no small efficacy for him that will aduisedly consider of it sith that not seldome but many times it happeneth that the great troubles the sundry dangers the continuall necessities and miseries wee suffer in this vale of misery haue for the most part procceded from our parents and afterwards by our friends haue beene mediated and redressed Therefore since wee haue thought it good and necessary to chose a friend and that hee bee but one onely each man must bee wise lest in such choise hee be deceyued For oft times it happeneth that those that take little regarde herein grant their friendship to such a one as is too couetous impatient a great babler seditious and presumptuous and of such conditions that sometimes it should be lesse euill for vs to haue him our enemie then to account of him as of our deer friend Him whom wee will chuse for our faithfull friend amongst other manners and conditions hee must chiefly and before all bee indued with these that he be courteous of nature fayre spoken hard and stout to indure pain patient in troubles sober in diet moderate in his words graue and ripe in his counsels and aboue all stedfast in friendshippe and faithfull in secrets And whom wee shall find with these laudable vertues and conditions adorned him may wee safely take and accept for our friend But if wee see any of these parts wanting in him wee ought to shun him as from the plague knowing for certainety that the friendshippe of a fayned and fantasticall friend is much worse and perillous then the enmity of a knowne and open enemy for to the hands of one wee commit our heart and faith and from the deceites and treasons of the other wee defend our selues with our whole force and power Seneca writing to his deere and faithfull friend Lucillus sayeth vnto him I pray thee O Lucillus that thou order and determine thine affayres by the aduice and counsell of thy friend but also I doe remember thee that first thou see well what manner of friend thou hast chosen thee for there is no marchandise in the world this day that men are so soone beguiled in as they are in the choise of friends Therfore the graue sentence of Seneca wisely wayed wee should assent with him in opinion that sith no man buyeth a Horse but hee first causeth him to bee ridden nor bread but first hee seeth and handleth it nor wine but hee tasteth it nor flesh but first he wayeth it nor corne but hee seeth a sample nor house but hee doth first value it nor Instrument but that first hee playeth on it
ENTITVLED THE FAuoured Courtyer wherein the Authour sheweth the intent of his worke exhorting all men to studie good and vertuous Books vtterly reiecting all Fables vaine trifling storyes of small doctrine erudition AVlus Gellius in his Booke De noctibus Atticis saith That after the death of the great Poet Homer 7-famous cities of Grece were in great controuersie one with the other each one of them affirming that by reason the bones of the saide Poet was theirs and only appertained to them all 7. taking their oaths that he was not only borne but also nourished broght vp in euery one of thē And this they did Supposing that they neuer had so great honor in any thing but that this was far greater to haue educated so Excellent and rare a Man as hee was Euripides also the phylosopher born and broght vp in Athens trauelling in the realm of Macedonia was suddēly strucken with death which woful newes no soner came to the Athenians eares declared for a truth but with all expedition they dispatched an honorable Embasie only to intreat the Lacedemoniās to be contented to deliuer them the bones of the said phylosopher protesting to them that if they wold frankly grant them they would regratifie that pleasure done them and if they would denie them they should assure themselues they would come and fetch them with the sword in hand K Demetrius helde Rhodes besieged long time which at length he won by force of arms the Rhodiās being so stubborn that they wold not yeeld by composition nor trust to his princely clemencie hee cōmanded to strike off al the Rhodians heads to rase the city to the hard foundations But when he was let vnderstand that there was euen then in the Cittie Prothogenes a Phylosopher and Paynter and doubting least in executing others hee also vnknowne might bee put to the sword reuoked his cruell sentence gaue straight commandement forthwith they should cease to spoile and deface the towne further and also to stay the slaughter of the rest of the Rhodians The diuine Plato beeing in Athens aduertised that in the city of Damasco in the realme of Palestine were certaine bookes of great antiquity which a Philosopher borne of that Country left behind him there when he vnderstood it to be true went thither immediately led with the great desire he had to see them purposely if they did like him afterwards to buy them And when hee saw that neyther at his suit nor at the requests of others he could obtaine them but that he must buy thē at a great price Plato went and solde all his patrimony to recouer them and his owne not being sufficient hee was faine to borrow vpon interest of the commō Treasury to helpe him so that notwithstanding he was so profound and rare a Philosopher as indeed he was yet he would sell all that small substāce hee had onely to see as hee thought some prety new thing more of Philosophy As Ptolomeus Philadelphus king of Egypt not contened to bee so wise in al sciences as he was nor to haue in his Library 8000. bookes as hee had nor to study at the least 4. houres in the day nor ordinarily to dispute at his meales with Philosophers sent neuerthelesse an Ambassage of Noble men to the Hebrewes to desire them they would be contented to send him some of the best learned and wisest men amongst them to teach him the Hebrew tongue and to reade to him the books of their Laws When Alexander the Great was borne his father King Philip wrote a notable letter immediately to Aristotle among other matters hee wrote there were these I let thee to vnderstand O greatest Philosopher Aristotle if thou knowest it not that Olimpius my wife is brought to bedde of a sonne for which incessantly I giue the Gods immortall thankes not so much that I haue a sonne as for that they haue giuen him mee in thy time For I am asassured hee shall profite more with the doctrine thou shalt teach him then he shall preuayle with the Kingdomes I shall leaue him after me Now by the examples aboue recited and by many more wee could alledge wee may easily consider with what reuerence and honour the auncient Kings vsed the learned and vertuous men in their time And wee may also more plainely see it sith then they helde in greater price and estimation the bones of a dead Philosopher then they doe now the doctrine of the best learned of our time And not without iust occasion did these famous and heroycall Princes ioy to haue at home in their houses and abroad with them in the field such wise and learned men whilest they liued and after they were dead to honour their bones and carcases and in doing this they erred not a a iot For whosoeuer accompanieth continuallly with graue and wise men enioyeth this benefit and priuiledge before others that he shall neuer bee counted ignorant of any therfore continuing stil our first purpose let vs say that whosoeuer will professe the company of sober wise men it cannot otherwise be but he must maruellously profit by their cōpany for being in their company they wil put al vain and dishonest thoughts from him they will teach him to subdue resist al sudden passions motions moued of choler by thē they shal win good friends and learn also neuer to be troublesom or enemy to any they will make him forsake all sinne vice declaring to him what good works he shall follow and what hee shall most flye and eschew they will let him vnderstand how hee shall humble and behaue himselfe in prosperity and they will also comfort him in his aduersity to keep him from all sorrow and despaire For though a man be neuer so carefull and circumspect yet hath he hath always need of the councell of another in his affaires if therefore such a person haue not about him good vertuous sage men how can it otherwise bee but that he must stūble oft and fall down right on his face hauing no man to aid or help him Paulus Dyaconus sayth that albeit the Affricanes were wilde and brutish people yet had they notwithstanding a law amongst them that the senators amongst them could chuse no other Senator if at the Election there were not present a philosopher So it hapned on a day amongst the rest that of manie phylosophers they had in Carthage amongst them there was one named Apolonius who ruled for the space of 62. yeares all their Senat with great quyet and to the contentation of all the Senators which to shew themselues thankfull to him erected in the market place so many images of him as hee had gouerned their Common-weale yeares to the ende the fame and memorie of him should bee immortall and yet they did dedicate to their famous Hannibal but one only image and to this Phylosopher they set vp aboue 60. Alexander the great whē he was most
beginner ender of all things God the giuer of all things Laert. de antiq Graec. The wisdome of Bias the Philosopher Bias the occasion of peace Laert de antiq Graec. Certaine questions resolued by Byas Laws made by Byas God the Creator of all things Rewards 〈…〉 to the 〈…〉 the wicked The mercifull goodnes of God How God punisheth ingratitude Leuit. 10. God the onely ruler of all estates The iust iudgement of God The permission of God The plague of God vpon Idolaters 2. Reg. 6. A good admonition for all Estates Babylon besieged The stout resolution of Pirius The reward due to those that contemne God A good caneat for Magistrates The wickednes of Ahab The punishment of Ahab What mischiefe followes the contemners of God The cruelty of Pompeius The punishment of sacriledge The pride of Xerxes euerthrown The misrable end of Brennus The valour of Gracian What maketh a man to be respected in this world Gracian chosen Emperour The heresie of Arian The description of a religious man The cruelty of Valente The duety of euery good Prince The folly and ouersight of the Emperour The miserable end of the Emperour Valentinian A custome among the Romanes The duty of euery good Christian The description of the Emperour Valentinian The saying of Seneca The death of the Emperour The wisedome and discretion of young Gracian The olde Prouerbe not alwayes true The Oration of the Emperour The duety of euery good Souldier The tyranny of Thyrmus The death of Thyrmus The wickednes of Valent. The death of Theodosius The iudgement of God The lawes ordained by the Counsel of Hyponense What is required of euery true Christian No respect of persons with God Man may purpose but God disposeth The speech of Appolonius A wort saving 〈◊〉 worthie obseruation What we lost by the fall of Adam The difference of opinions The soule mistresse of the body What is required in the gouernemēt of the common wealth God suffereth euill Gouernors for the offences of the people 1 Reg. 8. The folly of youth The power and 〈…〉 of a King The folly of men How much we are boūd to pray vnto God for good Gouernors The gouernment of Rome The care of Princes The reason why warres first began How seruitude began The first tyrant that euer was Belus the first inuentor of wars The mutability of the World God made al things for the vse of man What man loft by Adams fall A warning for all sorts of people Nothing so sure as death The reason wee haue to obey our Prince The pride of Alexander A compendious reprehension How wee ought to iudge of men The propertie of a tyrant In what true Honor consisteth How a Prince must winne honour How true honour is wonne The propertie of a wise man What mean a wise man should vse The greedy desires of man neuer satisfied The man is happie that hath content How a man ought to conceyue of himselfe The lawes of the Garamantes What gifts God bestoweth vp on Princes aboue other men What is required in a Prince What time Thales the Philosopher flourished Thales the first that found out the North starre Questions resolued by Thaks Princes and Magistrates supporters of the common wealth The description of Plutarch The authoritie of Princes What is most requisite in the Common wealth God the only letter vp of Princes Man differeth from all other creatures What benfite cōmeth by a good Prince Good lawes ordayned What the Prince ought to do The King compared to the Common wealth The King the onely head of all The death of Iulius Caesar A Prince ought not to be sparing in words What is required in a Prince for the gouernment of the Common-wealth The commendations of the Emperour Alexander Scue us The feasts of the Romanes The duty of euery good Christian An ancient custome in Rome An other custome in Rome Nothing so hurtfull as an enuious tongne Enuse an enemie to vertue The prayse of Marcus Aurelius Patience ouercommeth many matters True patience described The property of a wise man The replye of the Emperour How a Prince ought to behaue himselfe The Court neuer without flatterers The loue of the prince to his people The fondnes of our time Pride the ouerthrow of great personages Pride the fall of many great men Tarquine noted of vnthankfullnes The punishment of Tarqui The miserable end of euill Gouernours The true patterne of a vertuous Prince A true saying of Homer A description of a perfect friend What pleasure it is to remember dāgers past Two good properties of Marcus Aurelius The Epitaph of Periander An vsuall custome among all Nations Diuers laws made by to Periander the tyrant The punishment of ingratitude The commendation of Phylosophy The battell betweene the Athenians and Lysander The pouerty of the Philosophers of Athens The small hope of the wicked The Philosopher Aeschilus described Aeschilus the first inuenter of Tragedies Aeschilus his opinion wherein the felicity of this life consisted Wherein true felicity consisteth Of the Philosopher Zeno. The strength of Zeno. Wherein felicity consisteth No respect of persons with God The opinion of Anacharsis The felicity of the Sarmatians The Epitaph of Lucius Pius An ancient custome in Rome Warres in Greece euer since the destruction of Troy Idlenes and pastimes hated by the philosopher Crates the Philosopher Estilpho Simonides Archita Gorgias Chrysippus Antistenes Sophocles Euripides Palemon Themistocles Aristides Heraclitus No perfect felicity in this world A description of the City of Thebes Strabo de situ orbis A Law among the Aegyptians By the example of the Thebanes is shewed the duty of euery Christian An in humane custome among the Thebans Beauty the mother of vices Time the consumer of al things The smalest creatures profitable in the commonwealth What folly it is for man not to regard his own soule The vertue of the mind beautifieth the whole body The deformity of Iulius Caesar The valiant deeds of Hanniball The description of Alexander The letter of Marcus Aurelius What offence comes by much talke Learning well regarin ancient times An euill man a wicked member in a common-wealth How children should be brought The description of a yong man The of the wicked The office of death What death is The miserable estate of man The counsell of wise men euer respected among the Ancients What is required of euery Magistrate What hurt commeth by euill Counsellors What benefite proceedeth frō good Councellors Time best spent in the seruice of God How little wisedome now a dayes is regarded Youth subiect to many vices How circumspect Princes ought to be 〈…〉 Theodosius The duety of euery good Christian The loue of a master to his seruants The fault of many Princes The inconstancy of the world The younger sort must accompany with the vertuous Proud and ambitious men ought not to gouerne Plin lib. de nat hist The description of Cresus The godly minde of Cresus The letter of king Cresus The description
weight and measure plentifull and chiefly if there be good doctrine for the young and little couetousnesse in the old Affro the Historiographer declareth this in the tenth booke De rebus Atheniensium Truly in my opinion the words of this philosopher were few but the sentences were many And for none other cause I did bring in this history but to profite mee of the last word wherein for aunswere hee sayeth that all the profite of the Common wealth consisteth in that there be princes that restraine the auarice of the aged and that there bee Masters to teach the youthfull We see by experience that if the brute beasts were not tyed and the corne and seedes compassed with hedges or ditches a man shold neuer gather the fruit when they are ripe I meane the strife and debate will rise continually among the people if the yong men haue not good fathers to correct them and wise masters to teach them Wee cannot deny but though the knife be made of fine steele yet sometimes it hath neede to bee whet and so in like manner the young man during the time of his youth though he doe not deserue it yet from time to time hee ought to bee corrected O Princes and great Lords I know not of whom you take counsell when your sonne is borne to prouide him of a Master and gouernour whom you chuse not as the most vertuous but as the most richest not as the most sagest but as the most vile and euill taught Finally you doe not trust him with your children that best deserueth it but that most procureth it Againe I say O princes and great Lords why doe you not withdraw your children from their hands which haue their eyes more to their owne profite then their hearts vnto your seruice For such to enrich themselus doe bring vp princes viciously Let not Princes thinke that it is a trifle to know how to finde and chuse a good Master and the Lord which herein doth not employ his diligence is worthy of great rebuke And because they shall not pretend ignorance let them beware of that man whose life is suspitious and extreame couetous In my opinion in the pallace of princes the office of Tutorshippe ought not to be giuen as other common offices that is to say by requests or money by priuities or importunities eyther else for recompence of seruices for it followeth not though a man hath beene Ambassadour in strange Realms or captaine of great Armies in warre or that hee hath possessed in the royall pallace Offices of honour or of estimation that therefore he should bee able to teach or bring vp their children For to bee a good Captaine sufficeth onely to be hardy and fortunate but for to bee a Tutour and gouernour of Princes hee ought to be both sage and vertuous CHAP. XXXV Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour of the which the best beloued dyed And of the Masters he prouided for the other named Comodus MArcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour of Rome in the time that hee was married with Faustine onely daughter of the Emperour Antonius Pius had onely two sonnes whereof the eldest was named Comodus and the second Verissimus Of these two children the heyre was Comodus who was so wicked in the 13. yeares he gouerned the Empire that hee seemed rather the Disciple of Nero the cruell then to discend by the mothers side from Antonius the mercifull or sonne of Marcus Aurelius This wicked child Comodus was so light in speech so dishonest in person and so cruell with his people that oft-times hee being aliue they layed wagers that there was no vertue in him to bee found nor any one vice in him that wanted On the contrary part the second sonne named Verissimus was comely of gesture proper of person and in witte very temperate and the most of all was that by his good conuersation of all hee was beloued For the fayre and vertuous Princes by their beauty draweth vnto them mens eyes and by their good conuersation they winne their hearts The child Verissimus was the hope of the common people and the glory of his aged Father so that the Emperor determined that this child Verissimus should bee heyre of the Empire and that the Prince Commodus should bee dishenherited Wherat no man ought to maruell for it is but iust since the childe dooth not amend his life that the father doe dishenherite him When good will doth want and vicious pleasures abound the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being 52. yeares old by chance this childe Verissimus which was the glory of Rome and the hope of the Father at the gate of Hostia of a sodaine sicknesse dyed The death of whom was as vniuersally lamented as his life of all men was desired It was a pittifull thing to see how wofully the Father tooke the death of his entirely beloued son and no lesse lamentable to beholde how the Senate tooke the death of their Prince being the heyre for the aged Father for sorrow did not go to the Senate and the Senate for a few dayes enclosed themselues in the hie Capitoll And let no man maruell though the death of this young Prince was so taken through Rome for if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewayle and lament his death When a Knight a Gentleman a Squire an Officer or when any of the people dyeth there dyeth but one but when a Prince dyeth which was good for all and that he liued to the profite of all then they ought to make account that all do dye they ought all greatly to lament it for oft times it chanceth that after 2. or 3. good Princes a foule flocke of Tyrants succeede Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperor as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely person though the inward sorrow from the rootes of the heart could not bee plucked yet hee determined to dissemble outwardly to bury his grieues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shewe extreame sorrow vnlesse it be that hee hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good Prince as one that hath his vineyarde frozen wherein was all his hope contented with himselfe with that which remaineth his so deerly beloued sonne being dead and commaunded the Prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his onely heire Iulius Capitolinus which was one of those that wrote of the time of Marcus Aurelius saide vpon this matter that when the Father saw the disordinate frailenesse and lightnes and also the little shame which the prince Comodus his Sonne brought with him the aged man beganne to weepe and shed teares from his eyes And it was because the simplenesse and vertues of his deere beloued Sonne Verissimus came into his minde Although this Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius for the death of
his sonne was very sorrowfull yet notwith standing this hee prouided how his other sonne Comodus shold be gouerned and this before that either of age or bodie he were greater For we cannot denye but when Princes are men they will bee such as in theyr youth they haue been brought vp The good Father therefore knowing that the euill inclinations of his should doe him damage and the Empire in like manner he sent throughout all Italie for the moste sagest and expert men to be gouernours and tutours of Comodus the Prince Hee made them seeke for the moste profoundest in learning the most renowmed of good fame the most vertuous in deedes and the most deepest in vnderstanding For as the dust is not swept with fine cloth but with drye broomes so the lightnes and follyes of young men are not remedyed but by the hard discipline of the aged This commaundement being published and proclaimed in Rome and the bruite scattered through Italie there came and ranne thither diuers kinde of Sages whom he commaunded to be examined Hee being truely informed of the bloud of their predecessours of the age of their persons of the gouernement of their houses of the spending of their goods of their credite among their neighbours of the sciences they knew and aboue all they were no lesse examined of the purenes of their liues then of the grauitie of their persons for there are many men which are graue in open wordes and verie light in secrete workes Speaking therfore more particularly hee commanded they should examine the Astronomers of astronomy the Phylosophers of Phylosophie the Musitians in musicke the Orators in orations and so forth of other Sciences in order wherin euery one said hee was instructed The good Emperour was not so contented to doe this once but sundrie times and not all in one day but in many and not onely by another man but also by himselfe Finally they were all examined as if they had been all one and that the same one should haue remayned and been kept for all to bee the onely Master and Tutour of the young childe and prince Comodus To acquire a perfect knowledge and to be sure not to erre in choyce of things in my opinion is not onely required experience of himselfe and a cleare vnderstanding but also the aduise of another For the knowledge of things wholly together is easie but the choyce of them particularly is harde This thing is onely spoken because the good Emperour sent and commaunded to choose gouernours and Masters of his children Of many he chose few and of few the most wisest of the most wisest the most expert of the most expert the best learned of the best learned the most temperate of the most temperate the most ancient and of the most ancient the most noble Certainely such election is worthy prayse because they be true masters and teachers of Princes which are noble of bloud ancient in yeers honest in life men of little folly and of great experience According to the seuen liberall Sciences two masters of euery one were chosen so that the Prince was but one and the others were 14. but this notwithstanding the workes of this Prince Comodus were contrary to the expectation of his father Marcus Aurelius because the intention of the good father was to teach his son all sciences and the study of the son was to learne all vices At the bruite of so great a thing as this was that the Emperor sought to prouide tutors for the Prince Comodus and that they should not bee those which were best fauoured but those which were found the most wisest In short space there came so many Philosophers to Rome as if the diuine Plato had beene reuiued againe in Greece Let vs not maruell at all if the Sages desired the acquaintance of familiarity of this good Emperour for in the ende there is no man so sage nor so vertuous in his life but somtime will seeke after the fauours of the world Since there were many Sages and that of those he chose but foureteene It was necessary hee should honestly and wisely dispatch and giue the others leaue as did behoue him And herein the good Emperour shewed himselfe so wise that shewing to some a merry countenance to others speaking gently and to others by a certaine hope and to others by gifts and presents and all the good company of the Sages departed and the good Emperor dispatched them not one being sadd which departed but very well pleased For it is not comely for the magnificence of a Prince that the man which commeth to his Pallace onely for his seruice should returne murmuring or without reward This good Emperour shewed him selfe Sage to seeke many Sages hee shewed himselfe wise in the choyce of some and of a good vnderstanding in dispatching others and in contenting them all for as wee see dayly by experience though the election be good cōmonly great affections thereupon engender for those for not beeing chosen are sorry and to see that others chosen are shamefast In such case likewise let it not be esteemed litle to serch a good remedie for the Goldsmith oft times demaundeth more for the workemanshippe then the siluer is worth I meane that sometimes Princes doe deserue more honour for the good meanes they vse in their affaires then for the good sucesse whereunto it commeth for the one aduenture guideth but the other wisedome aduanceth The good Emperour not contented with this prouided that those foureteen Philosophers which should remaine in his Pallace should sit at the table and accompany his person the which thing he did to see if their life were comformable to their doctrine and if their words did agree to their workes for there are many men which are of a goodly tongue and of a wicked life Iulius Capitolinus and Cinna Catullus which were writers of this History say that it was a wonder to see how this good Emperour did marke them to know if they were sober in feeding temperat in drinking modest in going occupyed in studying aboue all if they were very sage in speaking and honest in liuing Would to God that Princes of our time were in this case so diligent and carefull and that in committing in trust their affayres they would not care more for one then for others For speaking with due reuerence there aboundeth no wisedome in that Prince which committeth a thing of importance to that man whom hee knoweth not whether hee is able to bring it to passe or not Many talke euill and maruel that Princes and great Lords in so many things do erre and for the contrary I maruell how they hit any at all For if they committed their weighty affayres to skilfull men though perhappes they erre once yet they hitt it a hundred times but when they commit theyr businesse to ignorant men if they hit once they misse a thousand times againe In this case I say there is nothing destroyeth