passions of sundrie men which report nothinge of certayne Notwithstandinge they are to bee excused if they keepe a libertye and write not to the ende to deceaue But in the holye historie they oughte to feare no such thinge since that it proceedeth of the holye Ghoste and thence a man maye take out certayne witnesses and soueraigne arrestes Now that wee may the better reape our profite out of Historyes we must consider the beginning and motyfe cause of all enterprises the meanes which therin they haue held and afterwardes the issue thereof which cannot possibly be good proceeding from an euil beginning And after hauing known the root and causes therof we must iudge what may happen in like cases and consider other circumstances which bewtifie the actions and referre all to the glory of God through whose bountie the euents haue succeeded well and gloriously to the ende wee may render prayses and thankesgeuing vnto him which are due vnto him for asmuche as by weake and vyle persons hee oftentimes compasseth high and mightie things And because that whatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning We ought to apply vnto our selues whatsoeuer we read and to behold as in a looking glasse our own affections to the end we might follow good and eschew euill and cleane remoue from vs all disguising and corruption and aboue all things we ought to acknowledge the iudgementes of God against the wicked and contemners of his law And for because that great dangers ensue those which indifferently gouerne them selues by examples I thought good to aduertise that it is diligently to be considered whether there be a concurrence of lyke reasons not onely in generall but also in particular It is also necessary to rule ones selfe as prudently as they did whom we would imitate and to demaund of God like successe And in our enterprises we must not onely consider the superficies and beginnyng of thinges but to looke more inwardly what may happen in time We must not likewise take too exactly what is written by ancient Historiographers but conferre them with the newe hauing regard to the great chaunges which happen in all countreyes and that there are fewe Cities or Nations which hold theyr former name nor their auncient seates and fashions otherwise we should wander awry and iudge amisse And this consideration of the vnstablenesse subuersions dissipations and lamentable chaunges of sundry peoples and families ought to prepare vs to beare all accidentes sent from God knowing that this life is but a sorrowfull exile subiect to stormes and continuall tempestes and that there is no seate nor hauen sure but in the heauenly and eternall lyfe to the which the sonne of God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath prepared the way for vs and let vs humbly beseeche him to guide vs therein CHAP. 18. That one ought not to suffer him selfe to be deceiued by praises nor be carried away from modesty and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and how much it is requisite to commaund ones selfe WHo so woulde not swarue from the truth ought not to be mooued with praises which for the most part are disguised for as Sainct Augustin hath written He which often praiseth one abuseth him self confirmeth an errour and proueth in the end a lyer and he which is praised becommeth thereby a great deale more vaine And Dion sayd the ouer great praises and honours out of measure carrie with them a misknowledge lightnes and insolensie yea among such persons as of them selues are modest ynough because they are perswaded that they deserue them and euery man pleaseth them and puffeth them vp as Xenophon wryteth though in deed they might well be termed mockeries And such excessiue honours are neither more nor lesse then as portractures ill proportioned which fall to the grounde of them selues as the three hundred statuas of Demetrius which neuer engendred either rust or filth beeing in his owne life tyme broken in peeces And those likewise of Demades were bruysed made to serue for chamberpots and basins in close stooles and so haue sundry other princes their monuments beene serued The inhabitants of the city of Pilles in their counsels ordained moste mightie honours for Theopompus he wrote backe vnto them that time was accustomed to increase honours moderately bestowed and to deface the immoderate When Niger was chosen Emperour they recited certayne verses in his praise but hee sayde that they ought rather to prayse Hanniball or the prowesse of some other great captaynes to the ende they might be imitated and that it was a mockery to prayse men while they liued which peraduenture might alter And that there was great presumption that either they did it for feare or for hope to obtayne somwhat of them and that for his part he rather desired to be fauoured and loued during his life and praysed after his death Other were wont to saye that they neuer acknowledged such prayses but wished to God that they were worthye of them Bracidas his mother was highly commended for aunswearing the embassadours of Thrace comforting her for the death of her sonne affirminge that he had not left his like behinde him that shee knew well ynough that the citye of Sparta had manye Citizens a great deale more worthie and valiaunt then him As Antigonus sayde vnto a Poet who called him the sonne of the sunne that hee whiche emptied his close stoole knew well ynough there was no such matter The shadow shunneth those which follow it and followeth those which shunne it and so fareth it with prayse Sigismond the Emperour stroke one that praysed him too much saying that he bitte him So was it likewise reported by Iustinian When they offered to Titus a crowne of golde togeather with great praises for his taking of Ierusalem he aunsweared that he himselfe was not the authour thereof but that GOD serued him selfe thorough his handes in that he made manifest his anger agaynste the Iewes As much is sayde of Fabritius for the deliuerie of Greece and of Timoleon for restoring Sicilie to libertye And Antistenes commaunded his children neuer to conne any thankes for praysing of them for often tymes it is with men as with an number of beastes which suffer a man to doe with them what he will yea to tumble and drale them on the grounde as long as hee tickleth them Galien entreating howe the sickenesse of the minde might be discerned wryteth that he learned of his father to despise glorye as an intisement to euill and ennemye to truth And Iosephus wryteth that honours bestowed on young men are as matches of follie and rashnes And in our french tongue we call offices and dignities charges And Varro in his fourth booke of the Latin tongue writeth that this name of honour proceedeth from a name which
that he neuer saide what he would do and pleased themselues in counterfaiting and dissembling to deceaue and falsefie their faith And when the sonne had caused certaine Princes to be murthered contrarie to his othe the father laughing saide that he plaide a right Spaniardes parte They both dyed most miserably Fredericke the Emperour desyred that his counselors would at the entring in of his court laye aside al counterfaiting and dissembling I haue learned of some persons worthie to be beleeued that Paulus Iouius demaunded why in his Chronicle hee fained manie thinges as false and dissembled the true which thereby might breede his hystorie to be suspected aunswered that he did it to please his friends and those from whome hee receiued pensions and rewardes and that the posteritie mought easily giue credite to the same It is called fayning to make that to be which is not or that which is not to bee or to be greater than in deede it is And it is dissembling to make that which is not to bee or lesse then it is Aristotle imputed counterfaitinge to an excesse of trueth and dissembling to the defect The Lawyers calleth that couin when to deceaue another a man maketh semblance of one thing and perfourmeth cleane contrarie Saint Peter in his first Epistle exhorteth vs to lay aside all malice guile and dissimulation It is not meant for al that that euerie one nor at al times nor of euerie matter should speake what he thinketh For it is wisedome not to discouer but for some good respect what we would not haue knowen as if a man woulde preach all the giftes hee hath receiued from God or the vice or fault which by infirmitie hee is fallen vnto or discouer to euerie one the secrete of his minde he shoulde bee counted but a dizard Euerie counterfaiting done to the ende to deceiue an other is reprooued but if it bee to conceale a good counsell fearinge least it might bee preuented then is it not to bee blamed neither is it alwayes requisite to make manifest what wee doe conceaue Which hath caused some Emperours and Kinges to saye that hee who cannot dissemble shall neuer raigne prosperously And the olde prouerbe meaneth the same that whatsoeuer is in the heart of a sober man is founde in the tongue of a drunkarde Our Sauiour in the gospell made as though he would haue gon further but it was to stir vp the burning desire of his disciples And Dauid faygned himselfe mad to escape the handes of King Achys And so haue they written of Solon Brutus and other verie great personages CHAP. 6. That the deede ought to be correspondent to the worde and to flie hypocrisie SInce therefore that speech is but a shadow of deedes there must be such an vnitie as that there be founde no difference at al for it is a verie great guile to speake otherwise then the heart indeede thinketh The Emperours Tiberius Calligula Nero Domitian Commodus and some others among an infinite number of vices wherwith they were possessed were most of al blamed because their heart was double doing cleane contrarie to that they sayd and making a shewe in the beginning of their raigne to loue the trueth did most of all corrupt it by their vices and enormities The Emperour Pertinax was likewise surnamed Chrestologus that is to say wel speaking but ill doing And Dion wrote of the saide Tiberius who was so called of a streame defiled and stayned with bloud that he was wont to say that one ought not to knowe the will of a Prince and that he should shewe good countenance to such whose death he ment to practise These men resemble those which rowe in a galley who albeit that they looke towardes the hinder part beate the waue towards it yet doe they altogither driue forwards the nose And the Diuines vpon the 32. Psalme and other places shew that the analogie of this worde Speake in the Hebrewe phrase importeth a signification both of speaking and thinking to declare that we ought not to speake otherwise then we thinke as Homer did write of Vlysses that his speach proceeded from his heart At what time Othon the fourth and Frederic the second contended for the Empire Pope Innocent the thirde made faire wether with them both and neuer the lesse made a verie solemne and eloquent oration of the agreement and vnitie which ought to be among Christian Princes but a citizen of Rome presumed to aunsweare him Holie father your wordes seeme to be of God but your deedes and practises which thereto are so contrarie surely proceede from the diuell Guychardin and others write of certaine Popes that they bended al their forces to nourish thorough sundrie sleightes and dissimulations the Princes in dissention and that they were more politique then good and vnder a colour of procuring peace set them worse together by the eares As Cicero saide of Augustus when hee made as though he would not accept the Empire that his honest orations were not correspondent to his dishonest deliberation And if the speech of a Philosopher as it is written is a lawe which men voluntarilie set before themselues to make their life conformable and aunswerable to his doctrine we Christians which professe the true Philosophie and holinesse as S. Peter hath written ought to shun the two extremities of too much or too little and followe the meane which is to doe well and speake accordingly vsinge our wordes as garments well besytting the bodie The Lacedemonians banished one Chesiphon for that hee vaunted that hee could discourse a whole day long of anie theame that was put vnto him because that speech ought to be so precious a treasure as Hesiodus sayde that it is not to be vsed but for necessitie Hereupon will I not forget to declare howe daungerous an enemie hypocrisie is to the truth For yeelding an apparaunce and opinion of all truth and holinesse it is inwardly cleane contrarie and disguysing and cloaking it selfe with a shewe of truth it is within full of all wickednesse cosinage and deceite And as Plato wrote it is a most extreeme iniustice of him who maketh shewe to be iust and is not so And Saint Augustine writeth that dissembled equitie is double iniquitie For this cause the Lacedemonians condemned one that did open pennance wearing hearecloth vppon his skin for that thereby they discouered his hypocrisie in as much as it was wouen with pourpure As Alexander saide to Antipater that outwardly hee ware a white garment but it was lyned with purple And it seemeth that such men woulde make God a meane of their deceite who beholdeth the heart and the purenesse thereof And for this cause are they often punished The holie Scripture doth oft times call them paynted sepulchers deceauers wolues and esteemeth worse of them then of publicans and sinners A man might compare them to the Pottes of the Apothicaries
that hee had gotten such an opinion to be counted true that euery one trusted him and referred himselfe vnto him Which was likewise said of Demonar in the time of the Emperour Adrian And our chronicles doe greatly prayse king Iohn for that he was open neuer making shewe of louing him whom in deede he did not Titus Liuius in the 5. booke of his fourth Decade and fourth of his 5. made a great matter that the Romaines kept their faith exactly And in the first booke of his first Decade he writeth that fayth and a single othe all feare of lawes and chastisementes not thought on gouerned the whole Citie to which he attributed the course of all their great prosperities Attilius chose rather to returne backe to tormentes and death prepared for him than to breake his fayth And when Antiochus woulde haue vsurped Aegypt vppon Ptolomie Epiphanes whose protection the Romaynes had alreadie taken vppon them they sent vnto him Popilius who made a circle about the sayde Antiochus and constrayned him before hee departed to promise him that he should enterprise nothing ouer their sayde pupill Wee reade of manie other kinges and common-wealthes that in their differences referred themselues to the people of Rome Cato as Plutarke hath written hauing layde to Murena his charge that he bought the voyces of the people the better to attaine to the Consulship went here and there gathering his profes and according to the custome of the Romaines had on the defendants behalfe certaine gardes which followed him euerie where marking what he did for the better instructiō of his bill These watchmē would often aske him if that day he ment to search out ought that appertayned to his accusation if he saide no then they departed whereuppon is growne this prouerbe when one telleth a thing that seemeth strange this is not to bee beleeued though Cato himselfe should tell it And Plinie in his preface describeth the opinion was then had of his manhood and innocencie which sayth he caused Cicero to crie out O gentle Cato howe happy art thou to haue beene such a one that neuer man yet durst presume to sollicite thee in any dishonest cause or contrarie to dutie He writeth also of Scipio surnamed Asiaticus for to haue subdued Natolie being called before the Tribunes Gracchus being one whom he held for his enimie that he had such an assurance in his speech that his very enimies were sufficiēt witnes of his manhood And in Lacedemon whē there was one that was knowen to be a dissolute person and a lyar that he had proposed a very profitable aduise necessary for that time yet was it cleane reiected of the people And the Ephores hauing chosē a Senator that was very true commanded him continually to propose vnto them like councell whereby they might restore their cōmonwealth as it were from an vncleane and foule vessell into a pure neate Cicero in his oration he made for Balbus maketh mention of an honorable person who being called into the Senate at Athenes to depose touching some matter the senators would by no meanes haue him take the accustomed othe knowing him to be a vertuous honest man Such an efficacy hath the opiniō of māhood in a personage accoūted true Xerxes Ariamenes in the great controuersie which was betweene thē for the kingdome of Persia referred thēselues to their vncle Artebanus to whose iudgement they stood I could here recken many forraine Princes who in time past haue had such an opinion of the court of Parlement of Paris composed of graue learned and reuerent counsellers chosen according to the right and ordinances that they haue had recourse thyther as to a temple of iustice We read of the Emperour Frederic the second and certaine kings of Fraunce that they haue beene so greatly esteemed of their subiects that in steede of fine gold they haue receiued lethermonie others haue borowed great sums with good liking which they haue restored againe as soone as conueniently they were able This is the meanes which Cirus sheweth in Xenophon and Zonare to Cresus wherby they may obtaine what they wil of their subiects when they haue once gayned an opinion to be accounted trew he sayth likewise that their treasors cōsist most in enriching of their friends without caring for any other gardes We haue seene what credit by this meanes the great kinges Francis and Henrie obtained thoroughout all Europe and what losse and dishonour such haue receiued as both before and since haue fayled of their promise I will not here omit howe Pharamonde our first king was named VVarmond which signifieth truth And a man is not able to declare what profit and solace he which is true bringeth to euerie man as ending of suits in lawe enmities discordes and other seedes of mischiefes dispersed through a countrey by the reuealing of the truth which he discouereth his wordes being receiued as an oracle And Xenophon in his seuenth booke of young Cirus sheweth that the bare worde of such a man preuaileth more then other mens constraint threates or punishment and gaineth more by his bare promise then other doe by their rewardes He sayth moreouer that there is no greater nor more excellent riches especially to a Prince then vertue iustice and greatnesse of courage because such can nether want friendes nor ought else CHAP. 9. That it behooueth to keepe promise with instruction not to make it with ones disaduantage and not to giue place to the importunate TItus Liuius in his third booke of his first decade declareth what great dammage ensueth him who breaketh his faith and looseth his credit for the societie of men is only maintained by dewe keeping of promises And al good Princes haue esteemed that their authoritie puissaunce and safetie dependeth thereon Hereupon Isocrates wrote to King Nicocles that he should be founde true of his worde in all his promises in sort that one shoulde giue greater credite to his bare worde then to others othes And the wise man writeth in the Prouerbes that VVeldoing and fayth conserueth a Princes estate but a lying talke becommeth him not Himselfe is the onely preseruour of fayth among his subiectes and their debtour for iustice Dion reciteth that the Emperour Marcus Antonius was wont to say that it was a verie lamentable thing that a mans faith should be violat or suspected without which nought can be assured King Attalus in his death bed warned Eumenes his sonne to esteeme fidelitie the good opinion of his subiectes the chiefest parte of the inheritance he could leaue him And Sueton praised Caesar for that hee kept his faith with his enimies though they broke theirs with him For as Cicinnatus said in Titus Liuius a man must not offende led by an other mans example And Dion reporteth of Augustus that hauing made proclamation that he woulde giue fiue and twentie thousand
of the great exploites he had made of his victories eloquence wisedome and other singular vertues wherewith he was endewed hee then made them aunswere you cleane forget the principall and which is to me the most proper that hetherto I neuer in my life caused any man to weare a mourning garment Which was in like sort reported of Phocion in respect of his great clemency With this agreeth that article of the aunswere made by the late great kinge Francis of famous memory to the supplication of those of Rochel of the Isles adioyning which greatlye deserueth not to bee forgotten Let others do and rigorously exercise their power I will be alwayes as much as in me shall lye prone to pitie and mercy and will neuer vse my subiectes as the Emperour did them of Gaunt for a lesse offence then you haue committed which causeth him at this instant to haue blody handes and I thanke God mine are as yet without any stayne of my peoples bloud also he hath togeather with the effusion of his subiectes bloud and the losse of so manye heades and soules lost likewise their good willes and hartes for euer And after the king had thoroughly forgiuen them he caused the prisoners to be deliuered the keies and armes of the city to be rendred all his garrisons to be voyded and their ancient liberty and priuileges to be againe fully restored vnto them If I were not afraid I shoulde be too tedious I coulde shew a number of miserable endes that chanced to other Emperors and kinges for their crueltie Tales the chiefe of the seuen wise men of Grece being demanded what in all his life seemed most strange vnto him answered an olde Tyraunt Which agreeth with the saying of Ecclesiasticus that all tyranny is of small indurance And in the rest of the history of Hester Artaxerxes said that he purposed with equity alway and gentlenes to gouerne his subiectes thereby to bring his kingdome vnto tranquillity that might safelye liue in peace And Pittacus said that a Prince by nothing becometh more glorious then when he maketh his subiects to fear not him but for him the which was alwaies in time paste reported of the french men And not only the tyrants them selues haue beene hated and defeated but what soeuer they haue besids taken pleasure in as after that they of Ariginta were deliuered from Phalaris that great tirant they by and by published an Edict that from that day forwarde it shall bee lawfull for no man to weare any garment of blewe because his garde were euer wont to weare cassockes of the same colour And after the death of Domitian they defaced his name in all places And the moneth of October was no more called by his name as hee had ordayned it nor April by Neroes nor May by Claudus nor September by Tiberius cleane defacing their tyrannicall and vnfortunate names Philip aunswered such as aduised him to plant garrisons in the cities of Greece which hee had conquered that hee rather chose to be called for a long time curteous then for a short time Lorde And as the wise man writeth in his Prouerbes In the multitude of the people is the honour of a King and for the want of people commeth the destruction of the Prince Sundrie haue sayde that as hee which diminisheth his troupe can neuer be termed a good heardman or shepheard so hee which causeth his subiectes to be vniustly murthered can neuer bee accounted a good Prince The Emperour Rodolph was wont to saye that hee greatly repented that euer hee had beene a seuere Prince but neuer in that hee had beene gratious or bountiful Martian and sundrie other Emperours haue beene of opinion that a Prince ought neuer to enter into warres if conueniently he mought auoyde it and retaine peace For this cause wee ought not to read Machiauel and such like authors cleane voide of conscience foresight religion but with great iudgement and discretion without trusting too much vnto them and to confront their writinges and whatsoeuer else they haue taken of tyrants qualities with Cannon rules and honestie trying all things and keeping that which is good according vnto the councell of S. Paul in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians and of S. Ierom in his Epistle to Minerius by following the example of exchangers which trie their good money from the counterfait The which Saint Augustine in his seconde booke de Doctrina Christiana Chap. 3. applyeth vnto the Philosophers bookes to the ende they mought serue to good vse takinge them backe againe of them as of vnlawfull possessors It is also verie requisite as I before mentioned wee should obserue how sundrie hystoriographers and in especiall the Italians do neuer measure their actions by the intention and conscience or accordinge vnto the infallible rule of the worde of God but by the euents and their owne ablenesse cunnings and subtleties euer in applyinge their vaine discourses to their ende which they pretende without any consideration whether it bee vertuous and lawfull or no. And in this respect haue they giuen the name of Prudence vnto some which haue beene moste wicked and miserablye haue ended their liues and to strangers which haue been endued with a good conscience magnanimitie and haue dyed happely do they yelde most reprochfull names And wee must confront their reproches with other aucthors more worthie of trust and with the times circumstances and behauiours of those whome they write of I do not for all that any whit allowe the vniustice which is committed in not punishing such as are lewde For as the King S. Louis was wont to saye A Prince which may punish a fault and will not is as much culpable thereof as if hee had committed it him selfe And that it is a worke of pitie and not of crueltie to doe iustice and that he which iustifieth the wicked is not in lesse abhomination before God then he which condemneth the iust as Salomon sayde Homer writeth that the scepter and the lawes were giuen by God to Agamemnon to the ende hee shoulde minister right to eache one and that Iupiter had Themis that is to saye right and iustice set by his side And it is commaunded that the murtherer shoulde bee pulled awaye from the verie alter that hee may dye and bee punished without remission The which is marueilousstraitly obserued in Suitzerlande And God is alwayes like vnto him selfe executinge righteousnes and iudgement vppon the earth and hating all iniquitie and vice Sigismond the Emperour hauing pardoned one of a murther which afterward committed another saide that it was he that had committed the seconde and that Princes ought not to dispense or pardon without verie vrgent cause any which hath deserued punishment And if he cannot quite the ciuil interest of his subiect how can he quite the paine which God hath ordained by his lawe And often times too great meekenes causeth the magistrates
and constrained to cary about them sufficient corne for one whole month and seauen piles to serue for a rampire And Vegetius ordayned that young apprentises and nouices should carie burthens to threescore pounde weight And Marius so charged his souldiers and employed them in the diches neere vnto the Rhyne that they were after termed the moyles of Marius yea they were often times imployed in amending the high wayes called militarie and there they made diches to make them the dryer and the waters to soake away The sayde Marius sayde likewise in Salust that his father and sundrye other personages had taught him that daintinesse and nicenesse were fitte for weomen but trauayle for men and that all good men ought rather to esteeme a good reputation then riches and that weapons beautified a house and not fayre mooueables The sayde Salust recyteth before howe that when Metellus was ariued in Africa he tooke away whatsoeuer might seeme to nourish slothfulnesse and caused proclimation to be made throughout the campe that none should be so hardie as to presume to sell eyther bread or any other meate dressed that the cariers of water should not follow the campe that the simple souldiers shuld neuer haue page nor beast of carriage that ech one shuld keepe his rank cast his trench and carry his victuall together with his furniture And Xenophon in the second of the Pedia of Cyrus writeth that the souldiers and men at armes did neuer dyne and sup vntill they trauailed and sweate The which ought to make our men ashamed that haue so many boyes drabs to cary their furniture such ought rather to be held in the ranke of theeues robbers cowardes and boyes then of valiant men for cōbat The sayd Caesar writeth also of a fashion which the Gaulois had the which Titus Liuius and Tacitus doe likewise affirme that when by publick ordinance proclamation of warre was made all young men aboue the age of 15. yeares were summoned to appeare armed and furnished as they ought and he which ariued last was put to death The which Plinie also doeth recite of storkes how they detest slothfulnes And in certaine Islandes namely the Baleares nowe called Maiorque and Minorque the children can not breake their fast nor eate vntill with their slinges they strike downe their meate which is set vpon the toppe of a high beame or pole Other vsed to giue their childrē nothing but what they could get by hunting And they of Crete caused them continually to exercise to make themselues the more nimble Yea Amasis K. of Aegypt forbad to all his subiectes vppon a great penaltie that none should eate before he had long iourneyed or trauayled in his occupation and thereof should render account Alexander the great called trauaile a royall thing and idlenesse seruile And in the prouerbes idlenesse is forbidden and he writeth that A slothfull hande maketh poore and he that sleepeth in haruest is the sonne of confusion And in Ecclesiastes The sleepe of him which trauaileth is sweete And the sayde Kinge Amasis condemned to death all idle persons except they had wherewithall to liue and in all sortes greatly blamed idlenesse and would that once a yeare each one should render account by what science or occupation he gayned his lyuing The which the Atheniens and sundry other well ordered cōmonwealth diligently obserued And Cicero entreating of the lawes writeth that none went in the streates but he caried the badge and marke whereby he liued Which is yet obserued in sundry cities of Germany and Cantons of Zuizerlande Of others they write that sometimes men so imployed themselues at Rome that there was not to be founde so much as one ydle man And a Philosopher sayde that as a woman can not engender any thing to purpose without a man no more doth hope without trauayle and there is nothing which continuall labour will not attayne vnto and thorough care and watchfulnesse a man ouercommeth thinges more then harde as Seneca sayde And Hesiodus counceled the laborer to make his prayes to the Gods before he went to his worke or saying marry he must lay his hande on the plough tayle And Plato hath most holily written that as through great and continuall labours concupiscences and ryotousnesse were quenched so were they set a fire agayne by idlenesse Stobeus writeth that in sundry countryes if a man lent money to one that were idle or giuen to his pleasure he should loose it for euer And if at Rome one had negligently husbanded his inheritaunce he was straightwayes censured And God in Ezechiel among the causes of the destruction of Sodom setteth downe idlenes for a principall And Themistocles was wont to say that slothfulnes buried men while they were liuing in their graue And S. Ambrose called idlenes the pillow of Satan And it is written in Ecclesiasticus what euer thou doe take exercise and cruell sickenesse shall not meete with thee and that idlenes breedeth much euill For she is the spring of iniustice of pouertie and euill disposition And Seneca wrote that trauaile nourished gentle spirits And the holy scripture teacheth vs that as the birde is borne to flie so is man to trauaile and to imploy himselfe to many fayre and good offyces for vice which watcheth hard cōmeth and runneth ouer as soone as euer it perceiueth that one is giuen ouer to idlenes maketh thē giue way because that nature being alwaies in a perpetual motion desireth to be driuē to the better part or else she suffreth her selfe to be weighed downe as a balance to the worser Which was the cause that Plato was wont to say to his children when they went out of his schoole Goe to masters studie to imploy your leasure to some honest pastime S. Paul in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians declareth howe he had eate his bread trauayling both day night to the end he would not be chargeable vnto any and that he which refused to worke ought not to eate adding that some walked disordinately doing nothing and liuing wantonly wherefore he commaunded those which were such and be sought them thorough Christ Iesus to eate their breade laboring peaceably Xenophon reciteth among the sayinges of Socrates that it is idlenesse if one do no good The Pithagoriens cōmanded none to helpe their friendes to ease them of their burthen but to charge them well as not approuing idlenesse And K. Cyrus boasted that he neuer did eate before he had first done some exercise as a sauce to breede him a good appetite The which Alexander was often times wont to say that he had no need of any other cookes for his dinner then to rise earely nor for his supper then to eate little at dinner and refused the cookes which the Queene of Carie sent vnto him The like is written of Iulian the Emperour To which purpose we reade that the Thessalonians sent vnto