Table To whose table it is best for a feast hanter to resort Ill company loseth a mans credit Wherefore Noblemen Knights GentlemeÌ„s sonnes are sent to the Court. With whom the young Courtier should accompanie himselfe What vices the young Courtyer should eschew A meane ought to be vsed in apparell Whence new fashions in apparrell proceede Who may bee rightly termed a Courtier A good order for it 〈◊〉 great noties There is almost no end of a womans talke Where the Courtier should spare and spend How the Courtiers seruant should bee apparrelled A good caueat for Courtiers The custome of many iudges Contention for place in accompanying a noble man A point of â—ood manâ—â—s to bee obserued in â—aring or â—eaking to â—ur superiours Hee is ill taught that listneth to other men speaking in secret What the propertie of courtly Mistresses is The nature of women in hating or louing to man The friendship of a wise man doth not so much good as a fooles displeasur doth hurt Diuers and sundry sorts of Courtiers The heauie happe of those that are in Sutes of Law What misery the poore Clyents Suters are subiect vnto What torments are incident to those that haue sutes in law A Iudge not to trust too much to his memory The weake knowledge of some Counsellers The Lawyers Physitians to be compared together How the poore 〈◊〉 should demeane himselfe when he commeth before the Iudge How euery wise and prudent Courtier should behaue himselfe The Courtiers paines insupportable A worthy saying of Seneca Kindred are not alwayes friends Great seruitude and trouble to liue in the Court. A lesson for him that meaneth to be a Courties By what meanes affaires are dispatched How the seruants and Officers of the Court must be entreated The intollerable exaction of a Secretaries Clerke Some suiters dye but their suites neuer haue end The fauoured of the court ought to bee easily spoken with What persons should be chosen for gouernors The cruelty of Rhehoboam and his punishment Pride was the ouerthrow of Pompey many other Princes Pride the ruine and decay of all things The speech of Anacharses the Philosopher to Alexander The fauourites of princes ought to beware of pride The fauourites of princes ought to beware of complaints A worthy speech of Agathocles K of Scicilia Pride of all other faults inexcusable The lawes of Lycurgus King of the Lacedemonians A Law amongst the Tuscans worthy to be obserued A worthy saying of Plutarch He that will be a Courtyer must shun couetousnes A good caueat for young Courtiors The couetous desire of some Courtiers An Epitaph of Queene Semiramis The covetousnes of King Cyrus rewarded with deceite Who knoweth who shall enioy his riches after his death An Epitaph of Cato written ouer his gate The speech of Philip K. of Macedonie The vncertaintie of this worlds felicitie Examples of many Fauourites of Princes that haue come to vntimely ends A worthy saying of Euripides the Philosopher The fauourites of the Court compared â—o a game at Tables A Diseourse betwixt Fortune the Consul Seuerius How suddenly the fauours of princes change A worthie saying of Plato A worthy saving of Seneca A true saying of Socrates The speech of king Agesilaus The follie of olde Courtiers The foolish opinion of an olde Courtier A worthy saying of Plutarch A good Caueat for Courtiers 〈…〉 In what veneration the ancients held them that were continent A worthy sentence and worthy to be engrauen in euery mans heart The sinnes of the flesh goeth beyond all other Plutark de Repub. It is impossible that the Courtier that liueth disordinately should continue in faÌ„uour with the Prince Courtiers must beware of dishonest women What daÌ„ger followeth the courtier that keepeth leawd women The painefull trauel and industry of Saint Paul A worthy speech of Socrates the phylosopher A worthy saying of the diuine Plato Another sentence of Plato 〈…〉 The Author continueth his speech concerning the abuse of feasts Fearefull examples of those that haue made riotous feasts Wholsome lawes of the Romains against gluttonie A Law made by Iulius Caesar King Philip noted of drunkennes How carefull a man ought to be to bridle his tongue Anaxagoras his opinion concerning the tongue Plutarch reciteth a Law vsed among the Lidians What punishment by a Law of the Lidians was due to him that would defame his neighbour A speech of King Darius What behauiour belongeth to a Courtier A wise saying of Acaticus the Philosopher A speech of Pythagoras The Courtyer ought to be a tâ—ue Secretarie A worthy answere of Anasillus No seruaÌ„t so hurfull as hee that reuealeth his maisters secrets The sentence of Denis vpoÌ„ Byas a Courtyre Courtiers ought to keepe their secrets from women Pamphylus reported neuer to haue tolde a true tale A worthy speech of the Emperour 〈◊〉 in concerning lyers How hatefull and odious a Lyer ought to be esteemed among men Wee ought not to belieue one that sweareth much Priests ought not to distemble nor be double in their words
although it forsaketh them in deedes yet they will not forsake it in their desires And I durst sweare that if the World could grant them perpetuall life they would promise it alwayes to remaine in their customable folly O what a number of vaine men are aliue which haue neyther remembrance of God to serue him nor of his glorie to obey him nor of their conscience to make it cleane but like bruit beasts fellow and runne after their voluptuous pleasures The bruit beast is angry if a man keepe him too much in awe if he bee weary hee taketh his rest hee sleepeth when hee lifteth he eateth and drinketh when hee commeth vnto it and vnlesse hee be compelled hee doth nothing hee taketh no care for the common-wealth for he neither knoweth how to follow reason nor yet how to resist sensuality Therefore if a man at all times should eate when hee desireth reuenge himselfe when he is moued commit adulterie when hee is tempted drinke when he is thirsty sleep when he is drousie wee might more properly call such a one a beast nourished in the mountaines then a man brought vp in the common-wealth For him properly wee may call a mā that gouerneth himselfe like a man that is to say conformable vnto such things as reason willeth not where sensuality leadeth Let vs leaue these vaine men which are aliue and talke of them that bee dead against whom wee dare say that whiles they were in the world they followed the world and liued according to the same It is not to be maruelled at that since they were liuing in the world they were noted of some world point But seeing their vnhappy and wicked life is ended why will they then smell of the vanities of the World in their graues It is a great shame and dishonour for men of noble and stout hearts to see in one moment the end of our life and neuer to see the end of our solly Wee neyther reade heare nor see any thing more common then such men as bee most vnprofitable in the Common wealth and of life most reprobate to take vpon them most honour whiles they liue and to leaue behind them the greatest memory at their death What vanity can bee greater in the world then to esteeme the world which esteemeth no man to make no account of God who so greatly regardeth all men What greater folly can there bee in man then by much trauell to encrease his goods with vaine pleasures to loose his soule It is an olde plague in mans nature that many or the most part of men leaue the amendement of their life farre behind to set their honour the more before Suetonius Tranquillus in the first booke of the Emperours sayth that Iulius Caesar no further then in Spaine in the City of Cales now called Calis saw in the Temple the triumphes of Alexāder the great painted the which when hee had well viewed he sighed maruellous sore and being asked why hee did so hee answered What a wofull case am I in that am now of the age of thirty yeares and Alexander at the same yeeres had subdued the whole world and rested him in Babylon And I being as I am a Romane neuer did yet thing worthy of prayse in my life nor shall leaue any renowne of mee after my death Dion the Grecian in the second booke De audacia sayeth that the noble Drusius the Almaine vsed to visite the graues and tombes of the famous and renowmed which were buryed in Italie and did this alwayes especially at his going to warfare And it was asked why hee did so Hee answered I visit the sepulchers of Scipio and of diuers others which are dead before whom all the Earth trembled when they were aliue For in beholding their prosperous successe I did recouer both strength and stoutnesse He saith furthermore that it encourageth a man to fight against his enemyes remembring hee shall leaue of him a memory in time to come Cicero saith in his Rhethorike and also Plynie maketh mention of the same in an Epistle that there came from Thebes in Egipt a knight to Rome for no other purpose but only to see whether it were true or no that was reported of the notable things of Rome Whom Moecenas demanded what he perceyued of the Romaines and what he thought of Rome He answered The memory of the absent doth more content me then the glory of the present doth satisfie me And the reason of this is The desire which men haue to extoll the liuing to be equall vnto the dead maketh things so straunge in their life that they deserue immortal fame after their death The Romaines reioyced not a little to heare such wordes of a straungers mouth wherby he praised them which were departed and exalted them which yet liued Oh what a thing it is to consider the auncient heathens which neyther feared Hell nor hoped for Heauen and yet by remembrance of weaknes they tooke vnto them strength by cowardnes they were boldened throgh feare they became hardy of dangers they tooke encouragement of enemyes they made friends of pouertie they tooke patience of malice they learned experience Finally I say they denyed their owne willes and followed the'opinions of others only to leaue behind them a memorie with the dead and to haue a little honour with the dead Oh how many are they that trust the vnconstantnesse of Fortune onely to leaue some notable memorie behinde them Let vs call to minde some worthie examples whereby they may see that to be true which I haue spokē What made king Ninus to inuent such warres Queene Semiramis to make such buildings Vlisses the Grecian to sulke so many Seas king Alexander to conquere so many Lands Hercules the Thebane to set vp his Pillars where hee did Caius Casar the Romaine to giue 52. battells at his pleasure Cyrus King of Persia to ouercome both the Asiaes Hanniball the Carthaginian to make so cruell warres against the Romaines Pyrrhus king of the Epirotes to come down into Italie Attila King of the Hunnes to defie all Europe Truely they would not haue taken vpon them such daungerous enterprises onely vpon the wordes of them which were in those dayes present but because we should so esteem them that should come after Seeing then that wee bee men and the children of men it is not a little to bee maruelled at to see the diuersitie betweene the one and the other and what cowardnes there is in the hearts of some and contrarywise what courage in the stomackes of others For we see commonly now-adayes that if there bee tenne of stoute courages which are desirous with honour to dye there are ten thousands cowards which through shamefull pleasures seeke to prolong their life The man that is ambitious thinking him most happie who with much estimation can keepe his renowm and with little care regard his life And on the other side hee that will set by his life
friend Pulio because that since Traian spake for Nero and that hee found in him some prayse I doe thinke no lesse of the tyrant Periander whom though for his euill works hee did wee doe condemne yet for his good words that he spake and for the good lawes which hee made wee doe prayse For in the man that is euill there is nothing more easier then to giue good counsell and there is nothing more harder then to work well Periander made diuers lawes for the Common wealth of the Corinthians whereof here following I wil declare some Wee ordaine and command that if any by multiplying of wordes kill another so that it were not by treason that hee bee not therefore condemned to dye but that they make him slaue perpetuall to the brother of him that is slaine or to the next of his kinne or friendes for a short death is a lesse paine then a long seruitude Wee ordaine and commaund that if any thiefe bee taken hee shall not dye but with a hote yron shall bee marked on the forehead to bee knowne for a theefe for to shamelesse men long infamy is more paine then a short life wee ordaine and commaund that the man or woman which to the preiudice of an other shall tell any lye shall for the space of a moneth carry a stone in their mouth for it is not meete that hee which is wont to lye should álwayes bee authorized for to speake Wee ordaine and commaund that euery man or woman that is a quarreller and seditious person in the common wealth bee with great reproach banished from the people for it is vnpossible that hee should be in fauour with the gods which is an enemy to his neighbor Wee ordaine and commaund that if there bee any in the Common wealth that haue receyued of an other a benefite and that afterwards it is proued he was vnthankefull that in such case they put him to death for the man that of benefites receyued is vnthankefull ought not to liue in the world among men Behold therefore my friend Pulio the antiquity which I declared vnto thee and how mercifull the Corinthians were to murtherers theeues and Pirates And contrary how seuere they were to vnthankefull people whom they commaunded forthwith to be put to death And truely in mine opinion the Corinthians had reason for there is nothing troubleth a wise man more then to see him vnthankefull to him whom heo hath shewed pleasure vnto I was willing to tell thee this history of Periander for non other cause but to the end thou shouldest see and know that for as much as I do greatly blame the vice of vnthankefulnes I will labour not to bee noted of the same For hee that reproueth vice is not noted to be vertuous but hee which vtterly flyeth it Count vpon this my word that I tell thee which thou shalt not thinke to bee fayned that though I bee the Romane Emperor I will be thy faithfull friend and will not fayle to bee thankeful towards thee For I esteeme it no lesse glory to know how to keep a friend by wisdome then to come to the estate of an Emperour by Phylosophy By the letter thou sentest thou requiredst me of one thing to answere thee for the which I am at my witts end For I had rather open my treasure to thy necessities then to open the books to answer to thy demands although it be to my cost I confesse thy request to be reasonable and thou deseruest worthy prayse for in the end it is more worth to know how to procure a secret of Antiquities past then to heape vp treasures for the necessities in time to come As the Philosopher maketh Philosophie his treasure of knowledge to liue in peace and to hope and to looke for death with honour so the couetous being such a one as hee is maketh his treasure of worldly goods for to keepe and preserue life in this world in perpetual warres and to end his life and take his death with infamy Herein I sweare vnto thee that one day employed in Philosophy is more worth then ten thousand which are spent in heaping riches For the life of a peaceable man is none other then a sweet peregrination and the life of seditious persons is none other but a long death Thou requirest me my friend Pulio that I write vnto thee wherein the Ancients in times past had their felicity know thou that their desires were so diuers that some dispraysed life others desired it some prolonged it others did shorten it som did not desire pleasure but trauels others in trauels did not seeke but pleasures that which variety did not proceede but of diuers ends for the tastes were diuers and sundry men desired to tast diuers meates By the immortall gods I swear vnto thee that this thy request maketh me muse of thy life to see that my Philosophy answereth thee not sufficiently therein For if thou aske to proue mee thou thinkest mee presumptuous if thou demaund in mirth thou countest mee to bee too light if thou demaundest it not in good earnest thou takest mee to bee simple if thou demaundest mee for to shew it thee be thou assured I am ready to learne it if thou demandest it for to know it I confesse I cannot teach it thee if thou demandest it because thou mayest be asked it be thou assured that none will bee satisfied with my answere and if perchance thou doest aske it because sleeping hast dreamed it seeing that now thou art awake thou oughtest not to beleeue a dreame for all that the fantasie in the night doth imagine the tong doth publish it in the morning O my friend Pulio I haue reason to complaine of thee for so much as thou doest not regard the authority of my person nor the credite of thy Philosophy wherefore I feare least they will iudge thee too curions in demaunding and mee too simple in answering all this notwithstanding I determine to answere thee not as I ought but as I can not according to the great thou demaundest but according to the little I know And partly I doe it to accomplish thy request and also to fulfill my desire And now I thinke that all which shal reade this letter will bee cruell Iudges of my ignorance Of the Philosopher Epicurius IN the Olimpiade 103. Serges being King of Perses and the cruell tyrant Lysander Captaine of the Peloponenses a famous battell was fought betweene the Athenians and Lysander vpon the great Riuer of Aegeon whereof Lysander had the victory and truly vnlesse the histories deceyue vs the Athenians took this conflict grieuously because the battell was lost more through negligence of their Captaines then through the great number of theyr enemies For truely many winne victories more through the cowardlinesse that some haue then for the hardinesse that others haue The Philosopher Epicurus at that time florished who was of a liuely wit but of a meane stature
and trauells considered wherein wee liue and the safetie wherein wee dye I say that it is more needefull to haue vertue and strength to liue then courage to dye The Authour hereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censor spake as a wise man since daylie we see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thyrst trauell pouerty inconuenience sorrows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the ende in one day then to suffer them euery houre For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable life Oh how small consideration haue men to thinke that they ought to dye but once Since the truth is that the day when wee are born and come inthis worlde is the beginning of our death and the last day is when we do cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of life then reason perswadeth vs to thinke that our infancie dyeth our childhood dyeth our manhoode dyeth and our Age shall dye wherof we may consequently cōclude that we dye euery yeare euery day euery houre and euery moment So that thinking to leade a sure life we taste a new death I know not why men feare so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanteth for any man to dye neyther I knew any man that euer fayled of this way Seneca in an Epistle declareth that as a Romaine Woman lamented the death of a Childe of hers a Phylosopher saide vnto her Woman why bewaylest thou thy childe She aunswered I weepe because hee hath liued xxv yeares and I would he should haue liued till fiftie For amongst vs mothers wee loue our Children so hartily that we neuer cease to behold them nor yet ende to bewaile them Then the Phylosopher said Tell me I pray thee woman Why doest thou not complame of the Gods because they created not thy Sonne manie yeares before he was borne as well as thou complavnest that they haue not let him liue fiftie yeares Thou weepest that hee is deade so soone and thou dost not lament that he is borne so late I tell thee true Woman that as thou doest not lament for the one no more thou oughrest to bee sorrie for the other For without the determination of the Gods we cannot shorten death and much lesse lengthen our life So Plinie saide in an Epistle that the chiefest law which the Gods haue giuen vnto humane nature was that none shold haue perpactual life For with dis-ordinate desire to liue long wee should reioyce to goe out of this paine Two Phylosophers disputing before the great Emperor Theodose the one saide that it was good to procure death and the other likewise sayde it was a necessary thing to hate life The good Theodose taking him by the hand sayd All wee mortalles are so extreame in hating and louing that vnder the colour to loue and hate life wee leade an euill life For we suffer so many trauells for to preserue it that sometimes it were much better to loose it And further hee sayde Diuers vaine men are come into so great follyes that for feare of Death they procure to hasten death And hauiwg consideration to this me seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue life nor with desperation to seeke Death For the strong and valiant men ought not to hate Life so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that which the Emperour Theodose spake as Paulus Dyacon saith in his life Let euery man speake what he will and let the Phylosophers counsell what they lift in my poore iudgment hee alone shall receyue death without paine who long before is prepared to receyue the same For sudden death is not onely bitter vnto him which tasteth it but also it seareth him that hateth it Lactantius saide that in such sorte man ought to liue as if from hence an houre after he should dye For those men which will haue Death before their eyes it is vnpossible that they should giue place to vaine thoughts In my opinion and also by the aduise of Apuleius It is as much follie to flie from that which we cannot auoyd as to desire that wee can not attaine And this is only spoken for those that would flye the voyage of death which is necessarie and desire to come againe which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long wayes if they want any thing they borrow it of their companie If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or else they write vnto their friends a letter But I am sorrie that if wee once dye they will not let vs returne again we cannot speake and they will not agree we shall write but such as they shall finde vs so shall wee bee iudged And that which is most fearfull of all the execution and sentence is giuen in one day Let Noble Princes and great Lords beleeue mee in this Let them not leaue that vndone til after their death which they may doe during their life And let them not trust in that they commaund but in that whiles they liue they doe Let them not trust in the workes of an other but in theyr owne good deedes For in the end one sigh shall be more worth then all the friendes of the world I counsell pray and exhort all wise and vertuous men and also my selfe with them that in such a sort wee liue that at the houre of death wee may say we liue For wee cannot say that wee liue when we liue not well For all that time which without profite wee shall liue shall be counted vnto vs for nothing CHAP. XLIX ¶ Of the death of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour and how there are fewe Friendes which dare say the truth to sicke men THe good Emperor Marcus Aurelius now beeing aged not onely for the yeares he had but also for the great trauells hee had in the warres endured It chaunced that in the xviii yeare of his Empire and lxxij yeares from the day of his birth and of the foundation of Rome fiue hundreth xliii beeing in the warre of Pannonie which at this time is called Hungaria besieging a famous cittie called Vendeliona suddenly a disease of the palsey tooke him which was such that hee lost his life and Rome her Prince the best of life that euer was borne therein Among the Heathen princes some had more force then he others possessed more riches then hee others were as aduenturous as hee and some haue knowne as much as hee but none hath bin of so excellent and vertuous a life nor so modest as hee For his life being examined to the vttermost ther are many princely vertues to follow and fewe vices to reproue The occasion of his death was that that in going one Night about his Campe suddenly the disease of the palsey tooke him in
further since both rich and poore doe daylie see the experience hereof And in thigs verie manifest it sufficeth onely for wise men to be put in memorie without wasting any more time to perswade them Now the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a secretarie verie wise vertuous through whose hands the affaires of the Empire passed And when this secretarie saw his Lord and Master so sicke and almost at the houre of death and that none of his parents or friends durst speake vnto him he plainly determined to doe his dutie wherein hee shewed verie well the profound knowledge hee had in wisedome and the great good wil he bare to his Lord. This Secretary was called Panutius the vertues and life of whom Sextus Cheronensis in the life of Marcus Aurelius declareth CHAP. L. Of the Comfortable words which the Secretary Panutius spake to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius at the houre of his death O My Lord and Master mytongue cannot keepe silence mine eyes cannot refraine from bitter teares nor my heart leaue from fetching sighs nor yet reason can vse his duty For my bloud boyleth my sinews are dried my powers be open my heart doth faint and my spirit is troubled And the occasion of all this is to see that the wholesome counsels which thou giuest to others ether thou canst not or will not take for thy selfe I see thee die my Lord and I die for that I cannot remedy thee For if the gods would haue granted me my request for the lengthning of thy life one day I would giue willingly my whole life Whither the sorrow bee true or fayned it needeth not I declare vnto thee with wordes since thou mayest manifestly discerne it by my countenance For mine eyes with teares are wet and my heart with sighes is very heauie I feele much the want of thy companie I feele much the dammage which of thy death to the whole commonwealth shall ensue I feele much thy sorrowe which in thy pallace shall remaine I feele much for that Rome this day is vndone but that which aboue all things doth most torment my heart is to haue seene thee liue as wise and now to see thee dye as simple Tell me I pray thee my Lord why do men learne the Greeke tongue trauell to vnderstand the Hebrew sweate in the Latine chaunge so many Maisters turne so many bookes and in studie consume so much money and so many yeares if it were not to knowe how to passe life with honor and take death with patience The end why men ought to studie is to learne to liue well For there is no truer science in man then to know how to order his life well What profiteth it me to know much if thereby I take no profite what profiteth me to know straunge Languages if I refrain nor my tongue from other mens matters what profiteth it to studie many bookes if I studie not but to begyule my friendes what profiteth it to know the influence of the starres and the course of the Elements if I cannot keepe my selfe from vices Finally I say that it little auayleth to to bee a master of the Sage if secretly hee bee reported to bee a follower of fooles The chiefe of all Phylosophie consisteth to serue GOD and not to offend men I aske thee most Noble Prince what auaileth it the Pilot to know the Arte of Sayling and after in a Tempest by negligence to perish What auaileth it the valiaunt Captaine to talke much of Warres and afterwards he knoweth not how to giue the Battell What auayleth it the guyde to tell the nearest way and afterwards in the middest to loose himselfe All this which I haue spoken is saide for thee my Lord For what auayleth it that thou beeing in health shouldest sigh for death since now when hee doeth approche thou weepest because thou wouldest not leaue life One of the things wherein the wise man sheweth his wisdome is to know how to loue and how to hate For it is great lightnes I should rather say follie to day to loue him whome yesterday we hated and to morrowe to slaunder him whom this day wee honoured What Prince so high or what Plebeyan so base hath there been or in the world shall euer be the which hath so little as thou regarded life and so highly commended death What things haue I written beeing thy Secretarie with mine owne hand to diuers Prouinces of the world where thou speakest so much good of death that sometimes thou madest mee to hate life What was it to see that letter which thou wrotest vnto the noble Romaine Claudinaes widdowe comforting her of the death of her Husband which dyed in the warres Wherein shee aunswered that she thought her trouble comfort to deserue that thou shouldst write her such a Letter What a pittifull and sundry letter hast thou written to Antigonus on the death of thy childe Verissimus thy sonne so much desired Whose death thou tookest so that thou exceedest the limits of Phylosophie but in the ende with thy princely vertues thou didst qualifie thy woful sorows What Sentences so profound what wordes so well couched didst thou write in that booke intituled The remedy of the sorrowfull the which thou didst send from the warre of Asia to the Senatours of Rome and that was to comfort them after a sore plague And how much profite hath thy doctrine done since with what new kinde of consolation hast thou comforted Helius Fabatus the Sensour when his son was drowned in the riuer where I do remember that when we entred into his house we found him weeping and when wee went from thence wee lest him laughing I doe remember that when thou wentst to visite Gneus Rusticus in his last disease thou didst speake to him so effectuously that with the vehemency of thy words thou madest the teares to runne downe his cheekes And I demanding him the occasions of his lamentations he said The Emperor my Lord hath told me so much euils that I haue won and of so much good that I haue lost that I weepe I weepe not for life which is short but for death which is long The man whom aboue all thou hast loued was Torquatus whom thou didst obey as thy father and seruedst as thy master This thy faithfull friend being readie to die and desiring yet to liue thou sendest to offer sacrifices to the gods not for that they should graunt himselfe but that they should hasten his death Herewith I being astonied thy noblenesse to so satisfie my ignorance sayd vnto mee in secret these wordes Maruell not Panutius to see me offer sacrifices to hasten my friends death and not to prolong his life for there is nothing that the faithfull friend ought so much to desire to true friend as to see him ridde from the trauels of the earth and to enioy the pleasures of heauen Why thinkest thou most noble Prince that I reduce all these things to thy memory but for to
described Cares that are incident to them that hoorde vp riches Deceyuers neuer go vnpunished either in this life or the other A good counsell to reframe froÌ„ couetousnes Couetousnes alwayes accursed A saying of Pisistratus the Tyrant The opinioÌ„ of the Philosopher Lido concerning a couetous man A custome among the Lumbards worthy to be noted and followed Couetousnes in great personages a greater blemish theÌ„ in the poore The safetie of Princes consists in the loue of his subiects A Question lemau ded of great Alaxander his answere An olde prouerbe A worthy â—aying of the Emperour Seuerus The prayse of King Ptolomeus A wise saying of King Ptolomeus A worthy saying of Titus the Emperour A worthy saying of great Alex to king Darius A worthy saying of Phocion the phylosopher Great difference betweene the ancieÌ„t warriours these of our times An ancient custome among the Romanes A Letter of the Emperour to Mercurius What profiteth it a man to couet much since his day â—s are so short Riches neuer letteth man be in quiet Socrates teacheth vs how to esteeme the goods of this world The conclusion of the Emperours letter shewing the nature of couetous men A superscriptio written ouer the gates of the King of Lacedemonia The vices of Rome and Alexandria layd open What it is that couetous men doe long for in this life The tyranny of Mydas described The answere of the Oracle concerning the life of King Mydas Conference betweene Mydas and the Philosopher Silenus The speech of the Philosopher Silenus A worthy thing to bee considered of among Christians A worthy saying of Eschynes the Philosopher Beasts more prouicent in their kinde then man The miserable estate of man in his infancy Nature of men and beasts compared both together The cares troubles that followe man in this life Man of all other creatures subiect to dangers Brute beasts an instrument to punish man Malitious men worse then brure beasts We ought not to regard where our dead corpes are enterred A Letter of the Emperour to a banished man When good orders were obserued in Rome The time when good orders were broken in Rome The reason that Domitius was banished A worthy speech of Seneca to his mother Albina How little wee ought to regard the flatteries of forune Alexaander the great after his so many conquests dyed by poyson How quickly sodaine death ouertaketh many men How carefull men ought to be to liue wel A worthy example of an AtheniaÌ„ King A good custome among the ancient Romanes A rebuke of a frieÌ„d more acceptable then the slattring words of foes The pittifulnes of the Emperour Claudius The speech â—t King Alexander to king Darius Wherefore the worthie Anthoninus was renowm d. A worthy saying of the Emp worthy to be followed How accessarie it is for a wife to be in her owne house A custome vsed by widdowes in ancient times What a coÌ„fort a good husband is to a woman The care that Worldlings haue Sorrowes that women haue in bringing vp their children A saying of Seneca Troubles and cares incident to Widdowes 〈…〉 An ancient Law amoÌ„g the Carthagenians The life vertues of Claudinus described How little this life is to bee respected How little we ought to esteeme of this life MeÌ„ in their kinde more cruell then beasts The prosecutioÌ„ of the Emperours letter to widowes The dutie that euery Christian â—â—eth to God A custome vsed by the Romains in visiting widdowes A custome vsed among the Romane widowes An admonition of the Emperour to widowes to leaue off mourning 〈…〉 What punishment ought to be inflicted vpon a widow of light behauiour The opinion of sundry Philosophers of the description of the world 〈…〉 The deceitfulnes of the world layd open A worthy saying of K. SalomoÌ„ Nothing in this worlde but vanitie The vaine hope of the worldly minded man The speech of the Emp Traian The answer of Plutarch How little we ought to esteeme the flatteries of the world The inconstancie of the world How the world deceiueth sinfull men The vaine opinion of the worldly minded meÌ„ How suddeÌ„ly Death assaulteth vs comfor◠〈…〉 if the Emp Marc Aur. How a true friend is to be knowne The loue of Marcus Aurelius to his friend The considerations that euery man ought to haue A worthy saying of Plato No man in safety to long as hee liueth in this world The Emperour perswedeth meÌ„ to trust in the world What the world is compared vnto How malicious vnconstaÌ„t the world is Fortune Nature two contrary enemyes Doe what thou canst at last the world will deceyue thee Examples of the vncoÌ„stancy of the world Plutarch commendeth the Lacedemonians in obseruing their lawes A saying of Plutarch The laws of Plutarche Wherfore the Romans esteemed Fencers An ancient custome among the Romaines The reason wherefore the RomaÌ„s allowed Iesters Allowance giuen by the Romans to Iuglers The difference betweene Roscio the Iester and Cicero A good and ancient Law amoÌ„g the Lacedemonians Punishment infflicted by Augustus vpon a Iester An other worthy sentence of the Emperour Augustus The vanity of men in maintaining Iesters such idle persons How necessarie it is to bee beneficiall to the poore How hatefull Iesters and loyterers ought to be in a Common-wealth A custome vsed by the Romanes worthy to be vsed of euery Nation The cause wherefore the Emperour wrote this letter The Emperour bewayleth the folly of the Romanes Such company as meÌ„ haunt the same shall they shew in their life To what sorts of people men ought to giue to eate The Emp coÌ„mendeth the isle of Helespont How reuerently the Sages were esteemed in former time The noble minded respect antiquities What vnloked for mischiefes arise at such meetings The reason wherefore the Emperour banished fooles and loyterers The reward a poore Philosopher had for speaking truth Idlenes the mother of all vices The folly of fooles ought to be contemned of the wise The great riches of two Parasites The property of Iuglers A true patterne for good and vertuous children Death the best gift that can be giuen to mortall men How little we ought to esteeme of Death Comforts against the feare of death A Question of Plato demaunded of Socrates A question demanded of Cato his answer A worthie sentence of Seneca A sentence of Plinie A worthie speech of the Emp Theodose None ought to procrastinate or deny their amendment A great discouragemeÌ„t to loâ—e so worthie a personage Extreame sorrows oppressed the good Emp M Aur. Men ought to prouide a cleare conscience to depart this life c. Good counsell against the feare of death Wise men prepare theÌ„selues before death Death terrible to all men Repentance not to be omitted What care is had to inherit transitory goods The worthy secretary Panurius his speech The reason why men studie is to learne to liue well Stedfastnes of minde is commendable The words of a wise man workes strange effects How loath great
whereby the good were fauoured and also institutions of grieuous paines wherewith the wicked were punished Although truely I had rather and it were better that the good should loue reason then feare the law I speake of those which leaue to doe euill workes for feare onely of falling into the punishments appoynted for euill doers For although men approue that which they do for the present yet God condemaeth that which they desire Seneca in an epistle hee wrote vnto his friende Lucille saide these wordes Thou writest vnto mee Lucille that those of Scicile haue carryed a great quantitie of Corne into Spaine and into Affrike the which was forbidden by a Romaine law and therefore they haue deserued most grieuous punishment Now because thou art vertuous Thou mayest teache mee to doe well and I that am olde will teach thee to say well and this is because that amongst wise and vertuous men it is enough to say that the Law commaundeth appoynteth and suffereth this thing but in as much as it is agreeing with reason For the crowne of the good is reason and the scourge of the wicked is the law The fourth thing that commonly through the worlde amongst all men was accepted was the Barbers And let no man take this thing in mockery For if they doe reade Plinie in the 59. chapter and the seuenth booke there they shall finde for a Trueth that in those former times the Romaines were in Rome 454. yeares without eyther powling or shauing the hâ—ires off the bearde of anie man Marcus Varro said that Publius 〈◊〉 was the first that brought the barbers from Scicilie to Rome But admit it were so or otherwise yet notwithstanding there was a great contention among the Romaines For they sayd they thought it a rash thing for a man to commit his life vnto the curtesie of another Dyonisius the Syracusian neuer trusted his Beard with any barbor but when his Daughters were very little they clipped his beard with sisers but after they became great hee would not put his trust in them to trimme his beard but hee himselfe did burne it with the shales of nuttes This Dyonisius Syracusan was demaunded why hee would not trust any Barbours with his beard He aunswered Because I know that there bee some which will giue more to the Barbor to take away my life then I will giue to trimme my beard Plinie in the seuenth booke sayeth that the great Scipio called Affrican and the Emperour Augustus were the first that caused them in Rome to shaue their beards And I thinke the end why Plinie spake these things was to exalt these two Princes which had as great courage to suffer the rasours to touch their throats as the one for to fight against Hanniball in Affricke and the other against Sextus Pompeius in Scicilie The fifte thing which commonly throgh the world was accepted were the Dyalls and clockes which the Romains wanted a long time For as Plinie and Marcus Varro say the Romaines were without clockes in Rome for the space of 595. yeares The curious Hystoriographers declare three manner of dyalls that were in old time that is to say Dyalls of the houres Dyalls of the Sunne and Dyalls of the Water The dyall of the Sunne Aneximenides Millesius inuented who was great Animandraes scholler The dyall of the water Scipio Nasica inuented the dyall of houres one of the Schollers of Thales the phylosopher inuented Now of all these Antiquities which were brought into Rome none of them were so acceptable to the Romaines as the Dyalls were whereby they measured the day by the houre For before they could not say we will rise at seuen of the clocke wee will dine at ten we will see one the other at twelue at one wee will doe that wee ought to doe But before they sayde after the Sunne is vp wee wil doe such a thing and before it goe downe wee will do that wee ought to doe The occasion of declaring vnto you these fiue antiquities in this preamble was to no other entent but to call my Booke the Diall of Princes The name of the Booke beeing new as it is may make the learning that is therin greatly to be esteemed God forbid that I should bee so bolde to say they haue been so long time in Spaine without dayes of learning as they were in Rome without the Diall of the Sunne the water and of the houres For that in Spaine haue beene alwaies men well learned in Sciences and very expert in the warres By great reason and of greater occasion the Princes ought to bee commended the knights the people their wits and the fertility of their Countrey but yet to all these goodnesse I haue seen many vnlearned bookes in Spaine which as broken Dials deserue to bee cast into the fire to bee forged anew I doe not speake it without a cause that many bookes deserue to bee broken and burnt For there are so many that without shame and honesty doe set forth bookes of loue of the world at this day as boldlie as if they taught them to despise and speake euill of the world It is pitty to see how many dayes and nights be consumed in reading vaine bookes that is to say Orson and Valentine the Court of Venus and the foure sonnes of Amon and diuers other vaine bookes by whose doctrine I dare boldly say they passe not the time but in perdition for they learne not how they ought to flye vice but rather what way they may with more pleasure embrace it This Diall of Princes is not of sand nor of the Sunne nor of the houres nor of the water but it is the Diall of Life For the other Dials serue to know what houre it is in the night and what houre it is of the day but this sheweth and teacheth vs how wee ought to occupie our minds and how to order our life The property of other Dials is to order things publike but the Nature of this dyal of Princes is to teach vs how to occupie our selues euerie houre and how to amend our life euery moment It little auaileth to keepe the dyalls well and to see thy Subiects dissolutely without any order to range in routes and dayly rayse debate and contention among themselues The End of the generall Prologue THE AVTHOVRS PROLOGVE SPEAKETH PARTICVLARLIE of the Booke called MARCVS AVRELIVS which he translated and dedicated to the Emperour CHARLES the fift THe greatest vanity that I finde in the world is that vaine men are not onely content to be vaine in their life but also procure to leaue a memory of their vanity after their death For it is so thought good vnto vaine and light men which serue the world in vain works that at the houre of death when they perceyue they can do no more and that they can no longer preuaile they offer themselues vnto death which now they see approch vpon them Many of the World are so fleshed in the World that
is no other then gold amongst the rust a rose amongst the thorns come amongst the chaffe mary amongst the bones Margarites amongest the peble-stones a holy soule amongst the rotten flesh a Phoenix in the Cage a shippe rocking in the raging Seas which the more shee is beaten the faster shee sayleth And there is no Realme so little nor no man of so little fauour but when other doe persecute him hee is by his friends parents and defendors fauoured and succoured so that many times those which thinke to destroy are destroyed and those which seeme to take their part were their chiefest enemies Doth not that proceede of the great secret of God For though God suffered the wicked to be wicked a while God will not therefore suffer that one euill man procure another to doe euill The Palestines and those of Hierusalem had not for their principall enemies but the Chaldeans and the Chaldeans had for their enemies the Idumeans the Idumeans the Assyrians the Assyrians the Persians the Persians the Ariginians the Ariginians the Athenians the Athenians had for their principall enemies the Lacedemonians and the Lacedemonians the Sydonians the Sidonians the Rhodians and the Rhodians the Scythians the Scythians the Hunnes the Hunnes had the Alaines the Alaines the Sweuians the Sweuians the Vandales the Vandales the Valerians the Valerians the Sardinians the Sardinians the Africanes the Africanes the Romanes the Romans the Dacians the Dacians the Gothes the Gothes the Frenchmen the Frenchmen the Spaniards and the Spaniards the Mores And of all these Realmes the one hath persecuted the other And not all one but our holy mother the Church hath alwayes been oppressed and persecuted with those realms and hath beene succoured of none but of Iesu Christ onely and he hath euer succoured and defended it well For the things that God taketh charge of although all the world were against thē in the end it is impossible for them to perish CHAP. X. How there is but one true God and how happy these Realmes are which haue a good Christian to their King and how the Gentiles affirme that good Princes after their death were changed into Gods and the wicked into Diuels which the Authour proueth by sundry examples ALthough the common opinion of the simple people was that there was many gods yet notwithstanding al the Philosophers affirmed that there was but one God who of some was named Iupiter the which was chiefe aboue all other Gods Others called him the first intelligence for that hee had created all the World Others called him the first cause because hee was the beginner of all things It seemeth that Aristotle vnderstood this thing and was of this opinion forasmuch as he sayth in his 12. booke of his Metaphysickes All superiour and inferiour things would bee well ordered and many things much better by the arbitrement of one then by the aduise of many Marcus Varro in his booke De Theologia mistica and Cicero in his booke De natura Deorum although these were Gentiles and curious enough of the Temples yet they doe mocke the Gentiles which beleeued there were many Gods and that Mars and Mercury and likewise Iupiter and the whole flocke of Gods which the Gentiles set vp were all mortall men as we are But because they knew not that there were good bad Angells nor knew not that there was any Paradise to reward the good nor Hell to torment the euill They held this opinion that good men after their death were Gods and euill men deuils And not contented with these foolish abuses the Deuill brought them into such an errour that they thought it consisted in the Senates power to make some Gods and other Deuils For when there dyed at Rome any Emperour if he had been well affected of the Senate immediately hee was honoured for a God and if hee dyed in displeasure of the Senate hee was condemned for a Deuill And to the end we doe not speake by fauour but by writing Herodian saith that Faustine was the daughter of Antoninus Pius and wife of Marcus Aurelius which were Emperours the one after the other And truely there were few eyther of their Predecessors or of their Successors which were so good as they were and in mine opinion none more better And therefore was shee made a Goddesse and her father a God An Emperour that coueteth perpetuall memory must note 5. things which he should haue in his life That is to say pure in life vpright in iustice aduenturous in feates of Armes excellent in knowledge and welbeloued in his Prouinces which vertues were in these two excellent Emperours This Empresse Faustine was passing fayre and Writers prayse her beauty in such sort that they sayd it was impossible for her to bee so beautiful but that the Gods had placed some diuine matter in her Yet notwithstanding this added thereunto it is doubtfull whether the beauty of her face was more praysed or the dishonesty of her life discommended For her beauty maruelously amased those that saw her and her dishonesty offended them much that knew her Yet after the Emperour Marcus Aurelius had triumphed ouer the Parthians as he went visiting the Prouinces of Asia that goodly Faustine in foure dayes dyed at the mount Taurus by occasion of a burning Feuer and so annealed was caryed to Rome And since shee was the daughter of so good a Father and wife of so dearly beloued an Emperour amongst the Goddesses shee was canonized but considering her vnconstant or rather incontinent life it was neuer thought that the Romaines would haue done her so much honour Wherefore the Emperour reioyced so much that he neuer ceased to render thankes vnto the Senate For truely a benefit ought to be acceptable to him that receyueth it especially when it commeth vnlooked for The contrarie came to the death of Tiberius third Emperour of Rome which was not onely killed drawne through the streetes by the Romaines but also the Priests of all the temples assembled together and openly prayed vnto the gods that they would not receyue him to them and prayed to the Infernall Furies that greeuouslie they would torment him saying It is iustly required that the Tyrant which disprayseth the life of the good in this Life should haue no place amongst the good after his death Leauing the common Opinion of the rude people which in the old time had no knowledge of the true GOD and declaring the opinion of Aristotle who called God the first cause the opinion of the Stoyckes which called him the first Intelligence and the opinion of Cicero who vnder the colour of Iupiter putteth none other God but him I say and confesse according to the religion of Christian Faith there is but one onely GOD which is the Creatour of Heauen and Earth whose excellency and puissant Maiestie is little to that our tongue cā speake For our vnderstanding can not vnderstand nor our iudgement can determine
of the common people And truly it is no small benefit that God had made him of a mean estate for to be of base lynage maketh men to bee despised and not regarded and to come of a noble bloud and high lynage maketh men to be proud and lofty This young man being come into the Romaine Campe the fame was immediately spred how that he alone had vanquished 5. Knights And his strength and courage was so highly esteemed that within a while after he was made Pretour of the Armie For the Romaines not according to fauour but according to the ability of men diuided the offices and degrees of honour in warres Time therefore working his nature and many estates being decayed after this young Gracian was made Pretour of the Armie and that hee was sufficiently tryed in the warres Fortune which many times bringeth that to passe in a day that mans malice cannot in many yeares raysed this Gracian to be Emperour of Rome For truly one houre of good successe is more worth then all worldly fauour This Gracian was not onely singular in strength couragious in battell fortunate in all his affayres but also hee was luckie of children that is to say hee had two sonnes which were Emperors of Rome the one was called Valente the other Valentinian In this case the children might glory to haue a Father so stout but the glory of the Father is greater to haue sonnes of such Nobility For there is no greater felicity in this world then during life to come to honour and riches and after death to leaue good children to enioy them The eldest of the two sonnes was the Emperour Valente who ruled in the Orient for the space of foure yeeres and was the nine and thirtieth Emperour of Rome from Iulius Caesar though some doe beginne at the time of Octauian saying that hee was vertuous and that Iulius Caesar vsurped the Empire like a Tyrant This Valente was beautifull of person but poore of vertues so that hee was more beautifull then vertuous more couragious then mercifull more rich then charitable more cruell then pittifull For there are many Princes that are very expert to deuise new orders in a common wealth but there are few that haue stoute hearts to put the same in execution In those dayes the Sect of Arrian the cursed Heretike flourished and the Emperour Valente was greatly blinded therein insomuch that hee did not onely fauour the Arrians but also hee persecuted the Christians which was shewed for so much as he killed and caused to be killed for that occasion many lay men and tooke many Clerkes and banished many Bishops ouerthrew many Churches robbed the goods of the Christians and did infinite other mischiefes in the common welth For the Prince which is infected with heresie and liueth without feare of the Church there is neither mischiefe nor treason but he will commit In the deserts of Egypt in the mountaines of Armenia and in the cities of Alexandrie there was a great multitude of Fryers and religious men amongst whom were many Wisemen and pure of life constant in the defence of the Church and patient in persecutions For hee is a true religious man that in time of peace is charitable to teach the ignorant and bolde in the time of Schismes to confound the Heretikes The Emperour Valente was not onely a friend vnto the Arrians and and an enemie to the Christians but also hee was a persecuter of the deuoute and religious Fryers For hee commaunded proclamations to be hid through all his Realmes and Domions that all the religious that were young in yeares whole of their bodies and sound of their limmes should immediately cast off theyr Cowles and Hoodes leauing theyr Monastery and take Souldiers wages in the Campe for hee sayde Monasteries were inuented for nothing else but to maintaine those that were deformed blinde lame and maymed and vpon this occasion hee shewed great tyranny for many Monasteries were left naked many notable constitutions were broken many hermites were martyred many Fryers whipped many notable Barons banished and many good men robbed of their goods For the vertuous men desired rather the bitter life of the Monastery then the sweete and pleasant liberty of the world This wicked Emperour yet not contented with these things as by chance his wife commended vnto him the beauty of a Romane called Iustinia without any more delay hee married her not forsaking his first wife and immediately made a law throughout all his Empire that without incurring any danger each Chrian might haue two wiues and marry with them by the law of Matrimonie for the tyrannous Princes to cloake their vices make and establish the lawes of vices The shame was not little that the Emperour Valente against the commaundement of the Church would marry with two women at one time but the lesse shame hee had the greater was his iniquitie to put it in execution and to cause it to bee published through his realm as a Law for a particular vice corrupteth but one alone but a generall law destroyeth all At that time the puissant Gothes were in the parties of the Orient the which were in feates of Armes very valiant and couragious but in things of faith they were euil brought vp although the greatest part of them were baptized for then the Church was very poore of Prelates howbeit those that they had were very notable men After the Gothes were baptized and the fury of the warres somwhat appeased they sent Ambassadours to the Emperour Valente desiring him that immediately and forth with hee would send them holy Catholike Bishoppes by whose doctrine they might be instructed brought to the Christian faith for it was supposed that the Emperour of Rome could haue no Bishops in their countryes vnlesse they were vertuous this wicked Emperour sith hee was now entangled with heresie and that hee had peruerted the customes of good Emperours that is for hauing about him euill Bishoppes as he was now enuironed with al euils and mischiefes so hee sent to the Gothes a Bishop called Eudoxius the which was a ranke Arrian and brought with him many Bishoppes which were Heretikes by the which the Kinges and Princes of the Gothes were Arrians for the space of two hundred yeares The Catholike Princes ought to take great care to Watch and in watching to be warie and circumspect that they their Realmes neyther their Subiects should in theyr time bee defiled with heresie For the plague of Heretikes and Heresies is not of light occasion banished the place where once it hath raigned Wee haue declared of the small faith that this Emperour had in Iesus Christ and of the great mischiefes he did to the Church Let vs now see what was the end of his miserable life For the man of wicked life seldome commeth to good end The matter was this that as the Gothes were driuen out of the Realme by some of the Hunnes they came immediately to
infamy which worketh euil in his life truly he deserueth much more which trauelleth to bring that euill in vre after his death Eusebius seemeth to affirm that after Nimrod had destroied the realm of Chaldea by his plagues came to Italy with 8. sons built the of Camesa which afterwards in Saturnes time was called Valentia and in the time of Romulus it was called as it is at this present Rome And sith this thing was thus a man ought not to maruell that Rome in auncient time was possessed with Tyrants and with Tyrants beaten downe since by so so famous and renowmed tyrants it was founded For euen as Hierusalem was the daughter of the patient and the mansion of the quiet Kinges in Asia so was Rome the mother of proude Princes in Europe The Histories of the Gentiles which knew not the holy Scripture declare in an other sort the beginning of signorie and seruitude and when they came into the world for the Idolaters not onely did not know the Creator of the World but also they were ignorant of many things which beganne in the world They therfore say that the Tyrant Nimrod amongst the others had a sonne called Belus and that this Belus was the first that raigned in the land of Syria and that hee was the first that inuented warres on the earth and that hee set vp the first Monarche among the Assyrians and in the end hee dyed after hee had raigned 65. yeares in Asia and left the world in great wars The first Monarchie of the world was that of the Assyrians and continued 132. yeares The first King was Belus and the last King was Sardanapalus whome at that time when he was slain they found spinning with women hauing a Distaffe in his hand wherewith they vse to spinne and truly his vile death was too good for such a cowardly King For the Prince ought not to defend that with the Distaffe that his Predecessors had wonne with the sword As wee haue sayde Nimrod begat Belus who had to wife Semyramis which was the mother of Ninus which Ninus succeeded his Father in tyranny and in the Empire also and both the Mother and the Sonne not contented to bee tyrants inuented statues of new Gods For mans malice pursueth rather the euill which the wicked doe inuent then the good which vertuous men begin We would haue shewed you how the Grandfather and the Father the Mother and the Sonne were Idolaters and warlike to the end Princes and great Lords might see that they beganne their Empires more for that they were ambitious persons then for that they were good patient or vertuous men Albeit that Nimrod was the first that euer committed any tyranny and whether it bee true or not that Belus was the first that inuented warres and that Chodor Laormor was the first that inuented battels and that there bee others wherof the Writings make no mention euery man taking for himselfe and afterwards all together those vvere occasions of euil enough in the world to agree vnto those thinges Our inclination is greatly to bee blamed For those which haue credite for their euill are many and those which haue power to doe well are but very few CHAP. XXXI Of the golden age in times past and worldly misery which we haue at this present IN the first age and golden world all liued in peace each man tooke care for his owne landes euery one planted sowed their trees and corne euery one gathered his fruites and cut his vines knedde their bread and brought vp their children and finally all liued by their own proper sweate and trauell so that they all liued without the preiudice or hurt of any other O worldly malice O cursed and wicked world that thou neuer sufferest things to remaine in one estate and though I call thee cursed maruell not thereat for when wee are in most prosperity then thou with death persecutest vs most cruelly Without teares I say not that I will say that two thousand yeares of the World were past before we knew what the World meant God suffering it and worldly malice inuented it ploughes were turned into weapons oxen to horses goades vnto launces whips to arrowes slings to Crossebowes simplicity into malice trauell into idlenesse rest to paine peace to warre loue to hatted charity to cruelty iustice to tyranny profite to dammage almes to theft and aboue all Faith into Idolatry And finally the swet they had to profite in their owne goods they turned to bloud-shedding to the damage of the Common-wealth And herein the World sheweth it selfe to bee a world herein worldly-malice sheweth it selfe to bee malicious in so much as the one reioyceth and the other lamenteth the one reioyceth to stumble to the end that other may fall and breake their neckes the one reioyceth to bee poore to the end the other may not bee rich the one reioyceth to bee dispraysed to the end the other may not be honoured the one delighteth to bee sad to the end the other should not bee merry And to conclude wee are so wicked that wee banish the good from our owne house to the end the euill might enter in at the gates of an other man When the Creator created the whole World hee gaue to each thing immediately his place that is to say hee placed intelligence in the vppermost Heauen hee placed the starres in the Firmament the planets in the orbes the birdes in the ayre the earth on the Center the Fishes in the Water the Serpents in the hoales the beasts in the mountaines and to all in generall he gaue place to rest themselues in Now let Princes and great Lords bee vaine-glorious saying that they they are Lords of the earth for truly of all that is created God onely is the true Lord thereof because the miserable man for his part hath but the vse of the fruit for if wee thinke it reasonable that wee should enioy the profite of that which is created then were it more conuenient wee should acknowledge God to be the Lord thereof I doe not deny but confesse that God created all things to the end they should serue man vpon condition that man should serue God likewise but when the creature ryseth against God immediately the Creator resisteth against man For it is but reason that hee bee disobeyed who one onely commandement will not obey O what euill fortune hath the creature onely for disobeying the commandement of his Creator for if man had kept his commaundement in Paradise God had conserued to the World the signorie but the Creatures whom he created for his seruice are occasion to him of great troubles for the ingratitude of benefite heapeth great sorrow to the discreet heart It is great pity to behold the man that was in Paradise and that might haue been in Heauen and now to see him in the world and aboue all to bee interred in the entrals of the earth For in Terrestrial Paradise he was innocent and
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
are not angry for any thing wee see nor wee take any care for any thing we heare Finally when wee sleepe wee feele not the anguishes of the body neyther suffer the passion of the mind to come To this end yee must vnderstand that when they were troubled hee gaue them drinks which caused them immediatly to sleepe so that so soone as the man did drinke it so soone hee was a sleepe Finally all the study wherein the Epicurians exercised themselues was in eating and seeking meates and the chiefe study of this Aeschilus was in sleeping and hauing soft beds Of the Philosopher Pindarus IN the yeare of the foundation of the City of Rome 262. Darius the second of that name King of Persia who was the sonne of Histapsie and in the lynage of Kinges the fourth King of Persia Iunius Brutus and Lucius Collatinus being Consuls in Rome which were the first Consuls that were in Rome There was in the great City of Thebes in Egypt a Philosopher named Pindarus who was Prince of that Realme They write of this Philosopher that in Philosophy he excelled all those of his time and also in teaching singing and playing of Musicke hee was more excellent then any of all his Predecessors for the Thebanes affirmed that there was neuer any seen of such aptnes in speaking and so excellent deliuering of his fingers in playing as Pindarus was and moreouer hee was a great Morall Philosopher but not so excellent in naturall Philosophy For hee was a quiet and vertuous man could better worke then reach which thing is contrary now a dayes in our Sages of Rome For they know little and speake much and worst of all in their wordes they are circumspect and in their deedes very negligent The diuine Plato in his booke that he made of Lawes mentioneth this Philosopher and Iunius Rusticus in his Thebaide sheweth one thing of him and that is that an Ambassadour of Lides being in Thebes seeing Pindarus to bee of a vertuous life and very disagreeable in his words hee spake vnto him in such words O Pindarus If thy wordes were so limed before men as thy workes are pure before the Gods I sweare vnto thee by those Gods that are immortall that thou shouldest bee as much esteemed in Life as Promotheus was and shouldest leaue as much memory of thee after thy death in Egypt as the great Homere left of his life in Greece They demaunded of this Pindarus wherein felicity consisted hee aunswered In such sort yee ought to know that the inward scule followeth in many things for the most part the outward body the which thing presupposed I say that hee that feeleth no griefe in his body may well bee called happy For truly if the flesh bee not well the heart can haue no rest Therefore according to the counsell of Pindarus the Thebanes were aboue all other Nations and people most diligent to cure the diseases of their bodies Annius Seuerus sayth that they were let bloud euery month for the great aboundance of bloud in their bodies They vsed euery weeke vnmitations for the full stomackes They continued the bathes for to auoide opilations They carried sweet fauours about them against the euill and infected ayres And finally they studyed nought else in Thebes but to preserue and keepe their bodies as deliciously as they could inuent Of the Philosopher Zeno. IN the Olimpiade 133. Cneus Seruillus and Caius Brisius then Consuls in Rome which were appointed against the Artikes in the moneth of Ianuary immediately after they were chosen and in the 29. yeare of the raigne of Ptolomeus Philadelphus this great Prince Ptolomeus built in the coast of Alexandry a great Tower which hee named Pharo for the loue of a louer of his named Pharo Dolouina This Tower was built vpon foure engines of glasse it was large and high made foure square the stones of the Tower were as bright and shining as glasse so that the Tower being twenty foot of breadth if a candle burned within those without might see the light thereof I let thee know my friend Pulio that the auncient Historiograpers did so much esteeme his building that they compared it to one of the seuen buildings of the World At that time when these thinges flourished there was in Egypt a Philosopher called Zeno by whose counsell and industrie Ptolomeus built that so famous a Tower and gouerned his land For in the olde time the Princes that in their life were not gouerned by Sages were recorded after their death in the Register of fooles As this Tower was strong so hee had great ioy of the same because he kept his dearely beloued Pharo Dolouina therein enclosed to the end shee should bee well kept and also well contented He had his wiues in Alexandria but for the most part hee continued with Pharo Dolouina For in the old time the Perses Siconians and the Chaldeans did not marry but to haue children to enherite theyr goods and the residue of their life for the most part to leade with their Concubines in pleasure and delight The Egyptians had it in great estimation that were great Wrestlers especially if they were wise men and aboue all things they made great defiance against strangers and all the multitude of wrastlers was continually greate so there were notable Masters among them For truly he that dayly vseth one thing shall at the last be excellent therein The matter was thus That one day amongst them there were many Egyptians there was one that would not bee ouerthrowne nor cast by any man vnto the earth This Philosopher Zeno perceyuing the strength and courage of this great Wrastler thought it much for his estimation if he might throw him in wrastling and in prouing he threw him dead to the earth who of none other could euer be cast This victory of Zeno was so greatly to the contentation of his person that hee spake with his tongue and wrote with his penne that there was none other ioy or felicity then to know how to haue the strength of the Armes to cast downe others at his feet The reason of this Philosopher was that hee sayde it was a greater kinde of victory to ouerthrow one to the erth then to ouerthrow many in the wars For in the warres one onely wrongfully taketh the victory since there bee many that doe winne it but in wresiling as the victory is to one alone so let the onely victory and glory remaine to him and therefore in this thing felicity consisteth for what can bee more then the contention of the heart Truly wee call him in this world happy that hath his heart content and his body in health Of the Philosopher Anacharsis WHen the King Heritaches raigned among the Medes and that Tarquin Priscus raigned in Rome there was in the coasts of Scithia a Philosopher called Anacharsis who was borne in the City of Epimenides Cicero greatly commended the doctrine of this Philosopher and that he
cannot tell which of these two things were greater in him that is to say the profoundnesse of Knowledge that the Gods had giuen him or the cruell malice wherewith he persecuted his enemies For truely as Pithagoras saith Those which of men are most euill willed of the gods are best beloued This Philosopher Anacharsis then being as he was of Scithia which nation amongst the Romanes was esteemed Barbarous it chaunced that a malitious Romane sought to displease the Philosopher in wordes and truely hee was moued thereunto more through malice then thorow simplicity For the outwarde malitious words are a manifest token of the inward malitious hart This Romane therefore sayde to the Philosopher It is vnpossible Anacharsis that thou shouldest bee a Scithian borne for a man of such eloquence cannot bee of such a Barbarous Nation To whome Anacharsis answered Thou hast sayde well and herein I assent to thy wordes howbeit I doe not allow thy intention for as by reason thou mayest disprayse mee to bee of a barbarous Country and commend mee for a good life so I may iustly accuse thee of a wicked life and prayse thee of a good Country And herein bee thou Iudge of both which of vs two shall haue the most praise in the World to come neyther thou that art borne a Romane and leadest a barbarous life or I that am borne a Scythian and leade the life of a Romane For in the end in the Garden of this life I had rather bee a greene Apple-tree and beare fruit then to bee a drie Liban drawne on the ground After that Anacharsis had been in Rome a long time and in Greece hee determined for the loue of his Country now being aged to return home to Scythia whereof a brother of his named Cadmus was King who had the name of a King but in deede hee was a tyrant Since this good Philosopher sawe his brother exercise the workes of a Tyrant and seeing also the people so desolate hee determined to giue his brother the best counsell he could to ordayne lawes to the people and in good order to gouerne them which thing being seene of the Barbarous by the consent of them all as a man who inuented new deuises to liue in the World before them all openly was put to death For I will thou know O my friend Pulio that there is no greater token that the whole Common wealth is full of vice then when they kill or banish those which are vertuous therein so therefore as they led this Philosopher to death he sayd hee was vnwilling to take his death and loath to lose his life wherefore one sayde vnto him these wordes Tell me Anacharsis sith thou art a man so vertuous so sage and so olde me thinketh it should not grieue thee to leaue this miserable life For the vertuous man should desire the company of the vertuous men the which this world wanteth The Sage ought to desire to liue with other Sages whereof the world is destitute and the olde man ought little to esteeme the losse of his life since by true experience hee knoweth in what trauels he passed his dayes For truely it is a kind of folly for a man which hath trauelled and finished a dangerous and long iourney to lament to see himselfe now in the end thereof Anacharsis answered him Thou speakest very good words my friend and I would that thy life were as thy counsell is but it grieueth mee that in this conflict I haue neyther vnderstanding nor yet sense to taste not that I haue time enough to thanke thee For I let thee know that there is no tongue can expresse the griefe which a man feeleth when hee ought forthwith to dye I dye and as thou seest they kill me onely for that I am vertuous I feele nothing that tormenteth my heart so much as King Cadmus my brother doth for that I cannot bee reuenged For in my opinion the chiefe felicity of man consisteth in knowing and being able to reuenge the iniurie done without reason before a man doth end his life It is a commendable thing that the Philosopher pardon iniuries as the vertuous Philosophers haue accustomed to doe but it should bee also iust that the iniuries which wee forgiue the Gods should therewith bee charged to see reuengement For it is a hard thing to see a tyrant put a vertuous man to death and neuer to see the Tyrant to come to the like Mee thinketh my friend Pulio that this Philosopher put all his felicity in reuenging an iniurie during the like in this world Of the Sarmates THe Mount Caucasus as the Cosmographers say doth deuide in the middest great Asia the which beginneth in Indea and endeth in Scithia and according to the variety of the people which inhabite the villages hath this mount diuers names and those which dwell towards the Indians differ much from the others For the more the Countrey is full of mountaines so much the more the people are Barbarous Amongst all the other Cities which are adiacent vnto the same there is a kinde of people called Sarmates and that is the Countrey of Sarmatia which standeth vpon the riuer of Tanays There grow no vines in the Prouince because of the great colde and it is true that among all the Orientall nations there are no people which more desire Wine then they doe For the thing which wee lacke is commonly most desired These people of Sarmatia are good men of Warre though they are vnarmed they esteeme not much delicate meates nor sumptuous apparrell for all their felicity consisteth in knowing how they might fill themselues with Wine In the yeare of the foundation of Rome p 318. our auncient Fathers determined to wage battell against those people and other Barbabarous Nations and appointed a Consull called Lucius Pius And sith in that warres fortune was variable they made a Truce and afterwardes all their Captaines yeelded themselues and their country into the subiection of the Romane Empire onely because the Consull Lucius Pius in a banquet that hee made filled them with Wine Within this tombe Lucius Pius lyes That whilom was a Consull great in Rome And daunted eke as shame his slaunder cryes The Sarmates sterne not by Mauors his doome But by reproofe and shame of Romane armes He vanquisht hath not as the Romanes vse But as the bloudy tirants that with swarms Of huge deceites the fierce assaults refuse Not in the warres by biting weapons stroke But at the boorde with sweet delighting foode Not in the hazard fight he did them yoke But feeding all in rest he stole their blood Nor yet with mighty Mars in open field He rest their liues with sharpe ypersing speares But with the push of drunken Bacchus shield Home to hie Rome the triumph loe he beares The sacred Senate set this Epitaph here because all Romane Captaines should take example of him For the Maiesty of the Romanes consisteth not in vanquishing their enemies
by vices and deliciousnesse but by weapons and prayers The Romanes were very sore grieued with the and a city of this Consull Lucius Pius and not contented to haue beheaded him and to haue set on his graue so defamous a title but made proclamation forthwith thorow out all Rome by the sound of a Trumpet how al that Lucius Pius had done the sacred Senate condemned for nothing and should stand to no effect For there was an auncient Law in Rome when they beheaded any by iustice they should also take away the authority hee had in Rome After the warres were ended and all the land of Sarmatia subiect the Consull Lucius Pius came to Rome for reward of his trauell required the accustomed triumph the which was not onely denyed him but also in recompence of his fact hee was openly beheaded and by the decree of all the Senate about his graue was written this Epitaph And not contented with these things the sacred Senate wrote to the Sarmates that they did release them of their homage making themselues subiects of the Romanes wherefore they restored them againe to their liberty They did this thing because the custome among the stoute and valiant Romanes was not to gette nor winne Realmes in making their enemies drunke with delicate Wines but in shedding their proper bloud in plaine field I haue tolde thee this my friend Pulio because the Consull Lucius Pius did perceyue that the Sarmates put all their felicity to ingorge themselues with wine Of the Philosopher Chylo IN the 15. Dinastia of the Lacedemonians and Deodeus beeing King of Medes Gigion being king of Lides Argeus being king among the Macedonians and Tullius Hostilius king of the Romaines in the Olympiade 27. there was in Athens a Phylosopher borne in Greece whose name was Chylo one of the seuen Sages which the Greekes had in theyr treasurie In that time there was great warres betweene the Athenians and the Corinthians as wee may perceyue by the Greeks histories which we see written Since Troy was ruinated and destroyed there was neuer peace in Greece for the warres betwixte the Greeks and Troyans was neuer so great as that which afterwards they made among themselues Sith the Greekes were now wise mē they did deuide the offices of the Commonwealth according to the ability of euery person that is to know that to the stoute and hardy men they gaue the gouernment to the sage they recommended the Embasies of of strange countreys And vpon this occasion the Athenians sent the Phylosopher Chilo to the Corinthians to treate of peace who came vnto the cittie of Corinth By chaunce on that day there was celebrated a great Feast wherefore hee found all men playing at dice the women solacing themselues in theyr gardens the Priestes shorte with theyr crosse-bowes in the Temples the Senatours played in the consistory at tables the maisters of Fence played in the streetes And to conclude hee found them all playing The Philosopher seeing these things without speaking to any man or lighting off from his horse returned to his countrey without declaring his message and when the Corinthians went after him and asked him why hee did not declare the cause of his comming he aunswered Friends I am come from Athens to Corinth not without great trauell and now I returne from Corinth to Athens not lattle offended and yee might haue seene it because I spake neuer a word to any of you of Corinth For I haue no commission to treate of peace with vnthrifty players but with sage gouernours Those of Athens commaunded mee not to keepe company with those that haue theyr hāds occupyed with Dyce but with those that haue theyr bodyes loden with harnes and with those which haue theyr Eyes dazeled with Bookes For those men which haue warres with the Dyce it is vnpossible they should haue peace with theyr Neighbours After he had spoken these words he returned to Athens I let thee vnderstand my friende Pulio that the Corinthians thinke it to be the greatest felicity in the world to occupy dayes and nights in playes and maruel not hereat neither laugh thou them to scorne For it was told mee by a Greeke being in Antioche that a Corinthian esteemed it more felicitie to winne a game then the Romaine Captaine did to winne a Triumph As they say the Corinthians were wise and temperate men vnlesse it were in Playes in the which thing they were too vicious Me thinke my friend Pulio that I answer thee more amply then thou requirest or that my health suffereth that which is little so that both thou shalt be troubled to read it and I here shall haue paine to write it I will make thee a briefe summe of all the others which now come to my remembrance the which in diuersethings haue put theyr ioy and chiefest felicities Of Crates the Philosopher CRates the Philosopher put his felicity to haue good fortune in prosperous nauigation saying that hee which sayleth by sea can neuer haue perfect ioy at his his heart so long as hee confidereth that between death and life there is but one bourd Wherefore the heart neuer feeleth so great ioy as when in the Hauen he remembreth the perils which hee hath escaped on the sea Of Estilpho the Philosopher EStilpho the Philosopher put all his felicity to bee of great power saying that the man which can doe little is worth little and he that hath little the gods doe him wrong to let him liue so long For hee onely is happy which hath power to oppresse his enemies and hath wherewithall to succour himselfe and reward his friendes Of Simonides the Philosopher SImonides the Philosopher put all his felicity to bee well beloued of the people saying That churlish men and euill conditioned should bee sent to the mountaines amongst brute beasts For there is no greater happinesse or felicity in this life then to bee beloued of all in the Common-wealth Of Archita the Philosopher ARchita the Phylosopher had all his felicitie in conquering a Bartell saying that naturally man is so much friend to himselfe and desireth so much to come to the chiefe of his enterprise that though for little trifles he played yet he would not bee ouercome For the heart willingly suffereth all the trauels of the life in hope afterwardes to win the victory Of Gorgias the Philosopher GOrgias the Philosopher put al his felicity to heare a thing which pleased him saying That the body feeleth not so much a great wound as the heart doth an euill word For truely there is no musicke that soundeth so sweete to the eares as the pleasant wordes are sauourie to the heart Of Chrysippus the Philosopher CHrysippus the Philosopher had all his felicity in this Worlde in making great buildings saying that those which of themselues left no memory both in their life and after their death deserued infacny For great and sumptuous buildings are perpetuall monuments of
was founded in Europe the rich Carthage in Affricke and the hardy Rome in Italy the goodly Capua in Campaigne and the great Argentine in Germanie and the holy Helia in Palestine Thebes onely was the most renowmed of all the World For the Thebanes amongst all Nations were renowned as well for their riches as for their buildings and also because in their lawes and customes they had many notable and seuere things and all the men were seuere in their works although they would not bee knowne by their extreame doings Homer saith that the Thebanes had fiue customes wherein they were more extreame then any other Nation 1 The first was that the children drawing to fiue yeeres of age were marked in the forehead with a hot Iron because in what places soeuer they came they should be knowne for Thebanes by the marke 2 The second was that they should accustome their children to trauaile alwayes on soote And the occasion why they did this was because the Egyptians kept their beasts for their Gods and therefore whensoeuer they trauelled they neuer rid on horsebacke because they should not seeme to sit vpon their god 3 The third was that none of the Citizens of Thebes should marry with any of strāge nations but rather caused thē to mary parents with parents because the friendes marrying with friends they thought the friendship and loue should be more sure 4 The fourth custome was that no Thebane should in any wise make a house for himselfe to dwell in but first hee should make his graue wherein hee should bee buried ◠Mee thinketh that in this point the Thebanes were not too extreame nor excessiue but that they did like sage and wise men yea and by the law of verity I sweare that they were sager then wee are For if at least we did imploy our thought but two houres in the weeke to make our graue It is vnpossible but that wee should correct euery day our life 3 The fift custome was that all the boyes which were exceeding fayre in theyr face should be by them strangled in the cradell and all the gyrles which were extreame foule were by them killed and sacrificed to the Gods Saying that the Gods forgot themselues when they made the men fayre and the women foule For the man which is very fayre is but an vnperfect woman and the woman which is extreame foule is but a sauage and wilde beast The greatest God of the Thebanes was Isis who was a red bull nourished in the riuer of Nile and they had a custome that all those which had red haire immediate should be sacrifised The contrary they did to the beasts for sith their God was a Bull of tawny colour none durst bee so bold to kill any beasts of the same colour In such forme and maner that it was lawful to kill both men and women and not the brute beasts I doe not say this well done of the Thebanes to slay their children nor yet I do say that it was well done to sacrifise men and women which had red or tawny haire nor I thinke it a thing reasonable that they should doe reuerence to the beasts of that colour but I wonder why they should so much despise foule women and faire men sith all the world is peopled both with with faire and foule Then sith those barbarous liuing as they did vnder a false law did put him to death whom the gods had adorned with any beautie we then which are Christians by reason ought much lesse to esteeme the beauty of the body knowing that most commonly thereupon ensueth the vncleannesse of the soule Vnder the Christall stone lyeth oft-times a dangerous worme in the faire wall is nourished the venomous Coluler within the middle of the white tooth is ingendred great paine to the gummes in the finest cloth the moths do most hurt and the most fruitfull tree by wormes is soonest perished I meane that vnder the cleane bodyes and faire countenances are hid many and abominable vices Truly not onely to children which are not wise but to all other which are light and frayle beutie is nothing else but the mother of many vices and the hinderer of all vertues Let Princes and great Lords beleeue me which thinke to be fayre and well disposed that where there is great aboundance of corporall goods and graces there ought to be great bones of vertues to bee able to beare them For the most high trees by great winds are shaken I say that it is vanity to bee vaine glorious in any thing of this world be it neuer so perfit and also I say that it is a great vanitie to bee prowd of corporall beautie For among all the acceptable gifts that nature gaue to the mortals there is nothing more superfluous in man and lesse necessary then the beauty of the body For truly whether be we faire or foule we are nothing the better beloued of God neither thereby the more hated of men O blindnesse of the world O life which neuer liueth O death which neuer shall end I know not why man through the accident of this beauty should or durst take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption sith he knoweth that all the fairest and most perfitest of flesh must be sacrificed to the wormes in the graue And know also that all the propernesse of the members shall be forfeited to the hungrie wormes which are in the earth Let the great scorne the little as much as they will the fayre mocke the foule at their pleasure the whole disdaine the sicke the well made enuy the deformed the white hate the blacke and the Giants despise the Dwarfes yet in the ende all shall haue an ende Truly in my opinion the trees beare not the more fruit for that they are straight onely nor for being high neither for giuing great shadow nor for being beautifull nor yet for being great By this comparison I meane that though a noble and stout man be proper of person and noble of linage shadowing of fauor comely in countenance in renowne very high and in the commonwealth puissant that therefore he is not the better in this life For truely the common wealthes are not altered by the simple laborers which trauell in the fields but by the vicious men which take great ease in their liues Vnlesse I be deceiued the Swine and other beasts are fed vnder the Oakes with the Acornes and among the pricking briers and thorns the sweet Roses doe grow the sharpe Beech giueth vs the sauory chestnuts I meane that deformed and little creatures oft times are most profitable in the commonwealth For the litle and sharpe countenances are signes of valiant and stout hearts Let vs cease to speak of men which are fleshly being eftsoons rotten and gone and let vs talke of sumptuous buildings which are of stone which if we should goe to see what they were we may know the greatnesse and the height of them Then
to bee drunkards or gluttons for whereas the familiars ought principally to serue their Princes with good counsel in mine opinion a man being full surcharged with excesse is more like to bleach and breake wind after his surfet then able to giue any profitable counsell in the Common wealth In the Pallace of Princes ought not to be resiant nor familiar blasphemers for the man which is a servant and openly dare blaspheme his Creator will not spare in secret to speake euill of the Lord. In the palace of Princes ought not to be of counsell nor familiar the negligent and delicate persons for there is nothing next vnto the diuine prouidence that helpeth Princes more to be puissant and mighty then when their seruants are faithfull and diligent In the pallace of Princes defamed men ought not to haue familiarity for the Prince cannot excuse himselfe to bee thought culpable when they doe rebuke him if in his house he maintaine seruants which openly are defamed In the pallace of princes they ought not to suffer Ideots and fooles for the realmes are not lost for that the Princes are young vncircumspect and vitious but for that their Counsellours are simple and malitious Woe woe be to the land where the Lord is vitious the subiect seditious the seruant couetous and the Counsellour simple and malitious for then the common wealth perisheth when ignorance and malice raigneth in the prince and gouernour of the same Those words passed betweene the noble Knight Estilconus and the wise Philosopher Epimundus vpon the bringing vp of those two princes Archadius and Honorius And because that princes and prelates might see which now haue the charge to gouerne people how much the Auncients did desire to haue sage men about them notwithstanding that I haue spoken I will shew you heere some notable and ancient examples CHAP. XLV How Cresus King of Lydea was a great friend and louer of Sages Of a letter the same Cresus wrote to the Philosopher Anacharsis And of an other letter of the Philosophers answere to the King IN the yeare of the Creation of the World 4355. and in the third age Sardanapulus being king of the Assyrians Ozias King of the Hebrewes and Elchias being high Bishop of the holy temple at that time when Rea the mother of Romulus liued in the second yeare of the first Olimpiade the great and renowmed Realme of Lydes had beginning as Plinie in the fift booke of the Naturall History sayth Lidia is in Asia minor and first was called Meonia afterwards was called Lidia and now is called Morea This Realme of Lydes had many worthy Cities that is to say Ephese Colose Aclasomena and Phorea The first King of Lydes was Ardisius a man of great courage and a Grecian borne and raigned 36. yeares The second was Aliaces who raigned 14 yeares The third was Meleus and he raigned 12. yeares The fourth was Candale and raigned 4. yeares The fift was Ginginus and raigned 5. yeares The sixt was Cerdus and raigned 6. yeares The 7. was Sadiates and raigned 15. yeares The eight was Allates and he raigned 49. yeares and the ninth was Cresus and raigned 15. yeares and of this King Cresus Zenophon declareth that hee was more valiant in feates of warre then comely of personage for though he was lame of one foote blemished of one eye lacking one eare and of body not much bigger then a dwarfe yet for all this hee was a iust man very constant stoute mercifull couragious and aboue all hee was a great enemie to the ignorant and a speciall friend to the Sage Of this king Cresus Seneca speaketh in his booke of Clemency and sayeth that the Sages were so entirely beloued of him that the Greekes which had the fountaine of eloquence did not call him a louer but entituled him the loue of Sages for neuer no man did so much to attaine to the loue of his Lady as hee did to draw to him and to his Country sage men This king Cresus therefore beeing Lord of many barbarous nations the which loued better to drinke the bloud of the innocent then to learne the science of the wise like an excellent prince determined for the comfort of his person and remedy of his Common wealth to search out the greatest Sages that were in Greece At that time flourished the famous and renowmed Philosopher Anacharsis who thogh he was born and brought vp amongst the Seythians yet hee was alwayes resident notwithstanding in Athens For the Vniuersity of Athens did not despise those that were Barbarians but those that were vitious The King Cresus sent an Ambassadour in great authority with riches to the Philosopher Anacharsis to perswade and desire him and with those gifts and presents to present him to the end it might please him to come and see his person and to set an order in his Common wealth Cresus not contented to send him gifts which the Ambassadour carried but for to let him vnderstand why he did so wrote him a letter with his owne hand as hereafter followeth The letter of King Cresus to Anacharfis the Phylosopher CResus King of Lydes wisheth Anacharsis great Phylosopher which remainest in Athens health to thy person and increase of vertue Thou shalt know how well I loue thee in that I neuer saw thee nor knew thee to write vnto thee a letter For the things which with the eyes haue neuer bin seen seldomtimes with the heart are truely beloued Thou doest esteeme little as truth is these my small gifts and presents which I send thee yet I pray thee greatly esteeme the will and heart wherewith I do visite thee For noble hearts receiue more thankefully that which a man desireth to giue them then that which they do giue them in deede I desire to correct this my Realme and to see amendement in the common-wealth I desire good order for my person and to take order touching the gouernement of my palace I desire to communicate with Sages somethings of my life and none of these things can bee done without thy presence for there was neuer any good thing made but by the meane of wisedome I am lame I am crooked I am bald I am a counterfeit I am blacke and also I am broken finally amongst all other men I am a monster But all these imperfections are nothing to those that remaine that is to say I am so vnfortunate that I haue not a Phylosopher with me For in the world there is no greater shame then not to haue a wise man about him to be conuersant with all I count my self to be dead though to the simple fooles I seeme to bee a liue And the cause of death is because I haue not with me some wise person For truely he is onely aliue amongst the liuing who is accompanyed with the Sages I desire thee greatly to come and by the immortall gods I coniure thee that thou make no excuse and if thou wilt not
at my desire doe it for that thou art bound For many men oft-times condiscend to doe that which they would not more for vertues sake then to satisfie the demand of any other Thou shalt take that which my Embassador shall giue and beleeue that which he shall tell in my behalfe and by this my letter I doe promise thee that when thou shalt ariue here I will make thee treasorer of my coffers only counsailour of mine affaires secretary of my counsell father of my children reformer of my Realme master of my person and Gouernour of my Commonwealth finally Anacharsis shall be Cresus because Cresus may be Anacharsis I say no more but the gods haue thee in their custody to whom I pray that they may hasten thy comming The Embassadour departed to goe to Athens bearing with him this letter and many sewels and bagges of gold and by chance Anacharsis was reading in the Vniuersitie at the arriuall of the Ambassadors of Athens Who onely sayd and did his message to Anacharsis presenting vnto him the gifts and the letter Of which thing all those of the Vniuersitie maruelled for the barbarous Princes were not accustomed to seek Phylosophers to gouern their commonwealth but to put them to death and take from them their liues After the great Phylosopher Anacharsis had heard the Ambassage seene the gifts and receiued the lerter with out altering his countenance or elation of his person impediment in his tong or desire of the riches immediatly before the phisophers sayd these words which hereafter are written The letter of the Phylosopher Anacharsis to the king Cresus ANacharsis the least of the Phylosophers which to thee Cresus most mightie and puissant king of Lides the health which thou wishest him and the increase of vertue which thou sendest him They haue told vs many things here in these parts as well of thy Realme as of thy person and there in those parts they say many things as wel of our Vniuersitie as of my selfe For the heart taketh great pleasure to know the conditions and liues of all those in the world It is well done to desire and procure to know all the liues of the euill to amend our owne It is well done to procure and know the liues of the good for to follow them but what shall we doe since now a daies the euill doe not desire to know the liues of the euill but for to couer them and keepe them secret and doe not desire to know the liues of the good for to follow them I let thee know king Cresus that the Phylosophers of Greece felt not so much paine to be vertuous as they felt in defending them from the vitious For if a man once behold vertue immediatly she suffereth to be taken but the euill for any good that any man can doe vnto them neuer suffers themselues to be vanquished I beleeue well that tyrannie of the Realm is not so great as they talke of here neither oughtest thou likewise to beleeue that I am so vertuous as they report me to be here For in mine opinion those which declare newes of strange countries are as the poore which weare their garments al patched and peeced wherof the peeces that were sowne on a new are in more quantitie of cloth then the old which before they had when they were first made Beware king Cresus and bee not as the barbarous Princes are which vse good words to couer the infamy of their cruel deeds Maruel not though we Phylosophers readers in schooles desire not to liue with princes and gouernors of realms For euil Princes for none other intent seeke the company of wise men but onely because they would through them excuse their faults For doing as thou doest of will and not of right you will that the vulgar people thinke you do it by the counsel of a wise man I let thee vnderstand king Cresus that the prince which desireth to gouerne his people well ought not to be content to haue one onely Sage in his Pallace For it is not meete that the gouernement of many do consist in the aduise of one alone The Ambassadour hath sayde by word and the selfe same thy letter testifieth that thou art certified that I am counted for Sage throughout all Greece that this presupposed I wold come to thee to gouerne thy commonwealth And for the contrary thou doing thus as thou doest condemnest mee to be an Idiot for thou thinking that I would take thy gold is nothing else but for to raile vpon me as a foole The chiefe point wherein true philosophy is knowne is when he despiseth the things of the world for there neuer agreeth together the libertie of the soule and the care of the goods in this life O king Cresus I let thee vnderstand that hee which knoweth most the cause of the Element is not called Sage but it is he which least knoweth the vices of this world For the true phylosopher profiteth more by not knowing the euill then by learning the good I let thee vnderstand I am threescore and seuen yeares old and yet neuer before this time there reigned ire in me but when thy Ambassage was presented to me and that I saw layde at my feete such treasures and riches For vpon this deed I gather that either wisedome lacketh in thee or that great couetousnes aboundeth in me I doe send thee thy gold againe which thou sendest me and rhy Ambassadour shall declare as witnesse of sight how greatly it hath slandered all Greece For it was neuer seene nor heard of that in any wise they should suffer gold to enter into the Vniuersitie of Athens For it should not onely bee a dishonour to the Phylosophers of Greece to haue riches but also it would turne them to great infamie to desire them O King Cresus if thou knowest it not it is but reason thou know it that in the Schooles of Greece wee learne not to command but to obey not to speake but to be silent not to resist but to humble our selues not to get much but to content vs with little not to reuenge offences but to pardon iniuries not to take from others but to giue our owne not to be honored but to trauaile to be vertuous finally we learne to despise that which other men loue and to loue that which other men despise which is pouertie Thou thoughtest that I would accept thy gold or else that I would not If thou thoughtest I would haue taken it then thou haddest had reason not to haue receiued me afterwards into thy Palace for it is a great infamie that the couetous man shuld be acceptable to a Prince If thou thoughtst that I wold none of it thou wert not wise to take the pains to send it for Princes ought neuer to take vpon them things wherein as they thinke that subiects should lose their honestie in receiuing them Seeking Cresus and behold that by diligence it litle auayleth
and in this place they talked with him that had businesse and truely it was a great policie for where as the Prince doth not sit the suitor alwaies abridgeth his talke And when the day began to waxe hot he went to the high Capitoll where all the Senate tarryed for him and from thence hee went to the Coliseo where the Ambassadours of the Prouinces were and there remained a great part of the day Afterwards he went to the Chappell of the Vestall Virgins and there he heard euery Nation by it selfe according to the order which was prescribed Hee did eate but one meale in the day and it was very late but he did eate well not of many and diuers sorts of meate but of few and good for the abundance of diuers strange meates breedeth sundry diseases They sawe him once a weeke goe through Rome and if hee went any more it was a wonder at the which time he was alwayes without company both of his owne and also of strangers to the entent all poore men might talke with him of their businesse or complaine of his Officers for it is vnpossible to reforme the Common-wealth if he which ought to remedie it be not informed of the iniuries done in the same He was so gentle in conuersation so pleasant in words so Noble amongst the Great so equall with the least so reasonable in that hee did aske so perfect in that he did worke so patient in iniuries so thankefull of benefites so good to the good and so seuere to the euill that all loued him for being good and all the euill feared him for being iust A man ought not little to esteeme the loue that the people bare to this so good a Prince and Noble Emperour for so much as the Romanes haue been thus that for the felicitie of their estate they offered to their Gods greater Sacrifice then they did in any other Prouinces And Sextus Cheronensis saith that the Romanes offered more Sacrifices to the Gods because they should lengthen the life of the Emperour then they did offer for the profite of the Common-wealth Truely their reason was good for the Prince that leadeth a good life is the heart of the Common-wealth But I doe not maruell that the Emperour was so well willed and beloued of the Romane Empire for he had neuer Porter to his Chamber but the two houres which hee remayned with his wife Faustine All this being past the good Emperour weat into his house into the secretst place hee had according to the counsell of Lucius Seneca the key whereof he alone had in his custodie and neuer trusted any man therewith vntill the houre of his death and then he gaue it to an olde ancient man called Pompeianus saying vnto him these words Thou knowest right well Pompeianus that thou being base I exalted thee to honour thou being poore I gaue thee riches thou being persecuted I drew thee to my Palace I being absent committed my whole honour to thy trust thou being olde I marryed thee with my daughter and doe presently giue thee this Key Behold that in giuing thee it I giue thee my heart and life for I will thou know that death grieueth mee not so much nor the losse of my wife and children as that I cannot carry my Bookes into the graue If the Gods had giuen mee the choyse I had rather choose to be in the graue inuironed with Bookes then to liue accompanied with fooles for if the dead doe read I take them to be aline but if the liuing doe not read I take them to be dead Vnder this key which I giue thee remayneth many Greeke Hebrew Latine and Romame Bookes and aboue all vnder this key remaineth all my paynes swet and trauells all my watchings and laboures where also thou shalt finde Bookes by mee compiled so that though the wormes of the earth doe eate my body yet men shall finde my heart whole amongst these Bookes Once againe I doe require thee and say that thou oughtest not a little to esteeme the key which I giue thee for wise men at the houre of their death alwayes recommend that which they best loue to them which in their liues they haue most loued I doe confesse that in my Studie thou shalt finde many things with mine owne hand written and well ordered and also I confesse that thou shalt finde many things by me left vnperfect In this case I thinke that though thou couldest not write them yet thou shalt worke them well notwithstanding and by these meanes thou shalt get reward of the Gods for working them Consider Pompeian that I haue beene thy Lord I haue beene thy Father-in-law I haue beene thy Father I haue beene thy Aduocate and aboue all that I haue beene thy speciall friend which is most of all for a man ought to esteeme more a faithfull friend then all the Parents of the world Therefore in the faith of that friendshippe I require that thou keepe this in memorie that euen as I haue recommended to others my Wife my Children my Goods and Riches So I doe leaue vnto thee in singuler recommendation my Honour for Princes leaue of themselues no greater memorie then by the good learning that they haue written I haue beene eighteene yeeres Emperour of Rome and it is threescore and three yeeres that I haue remayned in this wofull life during which time I haue ouercome many Battailes I haue slayne many Pyrates I haue exalted many good I haue punished many euill I haue wonne many Realmes and I haue destroyed many Tyrants but what shall I doe wofull man that I am sith all my companions which were witnesses with me of all these worthy feates shall be companions in the graue with the greedy wormes A thousand yeeres hence when those that are now aliue shall then be dead what is hee that shall say I saw Marcus Aurelius triumph ouer the Parthians I saw him make the buildings in Auentino I sawe him well beloued of the people I saw him father of the Orphanes I saw him the scourge of Tyrants Truely if all these things had not beene declared by my Bookes or of my friends the dead would neuer haue risen againe to haue declared them What is it for to see a Prince from the time he is borne vntill the time hee come to dye to see the pouertie he passeth the perills he endureth the euill that hee suffereth the shame that he dissembleth the friendshippe that hee fayneth the teares which hee sheddeth the sighes that hee fetcheth the promises that hee maketh and doth not endure for any other cause the miseries of this life but onely to leaue a memorie of him after his death There is no Prince in the world that desireth not to keepe a good house to keepe a good table to apparell himselfe richly and to pay those that serue him in his house but by this vaine honour they suffer the water to passe through their lippes not drinking thereof As
the time past Wherin thou being a woman shewest thy selfe more then a woman because the nature of women is to cast their eyes onely in that that is present and to forget that is past They tell me that thou doest occupy thy selfe now in writing of our Country And truely in this case I cannot say but that you haue matter enough to write on For the warres and trauels of our times haue beene such and so great that I had rather reade them in bookes then to see them with my eyes And if it bee so as I suppose it is I beseech thee heartily and by the immortall Gods I coniure thee that in writing the affayres of thy Countrey thou doest vse thy penne discreetely I meane that thou doe not in this case blemish thy writing by putting therein any flattery or lesing For oft times Historiographers in blasing more then truth the giftes of their Countrey cause worthily to be suspected their writing Thou knowest very well how that in the battell past the Rhodians were ouercome and that ours remained victorious Mee thinketh thou shouldst not in this case greatly magnifie extoll or exalt ours because in the end they fought to reuenge their iuiury neyther thou oughtest to blame the Rhodians for they did not fight but in the ayde of Rome I speake this my sister because for to defend their owne women shew themselues Lyons and for to defend the things of another man men shew themselus chickens For in the end hee onely may bee counted strong the which defendeth not his owne house but which dyeth defending his and another mans I will not deny the naturall loue of my Country nor I will not deny but that I loue them that write and speake well thereof but mee thinketh it is not reason that they should disprayse the goodnesse and truth of other Countries nor that they should so highly commend the euill and vilenesse of their owne For there is not in the world this day so barren a realme but may bee commended for something therein nor there is so perfect a nation but in somthings may be reproued Thou canst not deny me but that amōgst thy brethren I am the eldest and thou canst not deny but that amongst all thy Disciples I am the youngest and since that for being thy Disciple I ought to obey thee thou likewise for that I am thy eldest brother oughtest to beleeue me By the faith of a people I doe counsell thee my sister that thou do trauell much to be profound in thy words vpright in thy life and honest of thy person and besides all this true in thy writing For I let thee vnderstand that if the body of the man without the soule is little regarded I sweare vnto thee that the mouth of a man without truth is much lesse esteemed CHAP. XXX The Authour followeth his purpose perswading Princesses and other Ladies to endeauour themselues to be wise as the women were in olde time THis therefore was the letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Theoclea whereby is shewed the great humility of him and the hie eloquence of her Hierchus the Greeke and Plutarch also in the booke of the gouernement of Princes say that Pythagaras had not onely a sister which was called Theoclea of whom he learned so much Philosophy but also he had a daughter the wisedome and knowledge of whom surmounted her Aunt and was equall to her Father I thinke it no lesse incredible which is spoken of the daughter then that which is spoken of the Aunt which is that those of Athens did reioyce more to heare her speake in her house then for to heare Pythagoras reade in the Schoole And it ought to bee beleeued for the saying of the graue Authours on the one part and by that wee daily see on the other part For in the end it is more pleasure to heare a man tell mery tales hauing grace and comelynes in his words then to heare a graue man speake the truth with a rude and rough tongue I haue found in many writings what they haue spoken of Pythagoras and his Daughter but none telleth her name saue only in an Epistle that Phalaris the Tyrant wrote I found this worde written where hee saith Polychrata that was the Daughter of the Phylosopher Pythagoras was young and exceeding wise more faire then rich and was so much honoured for the puritie of her life and so highly esteemed for her pleasaunt Tongue that the word which shee spake spinning at her Distaffe was more esteemed then the Phylosophie that her Father read in the schoole And he saide more It is so great a pittie to see and heare that women at this present are so dishonest and in their tongues so malicious that I haue greater pleasure in the good renowme of one that is dead then in the infamie of all them which are aliue For a good woman is more worth with her distaffe spinning then a hundred euill Queenes with their royall Scepters reigning By the words which Phalaris said in his letter it seemed that this Daughter of Pythagoras was called Polichrate Pythagoras therefore made manie Commentaryes as well of his owne countrey as of strangers In the end he dyed in Mesopotamia where at the houre of his death hee spake vnto his Daughter Polichrate and saide these wordes I see my Daughter that the houre wherein I must ende my life approcheth The Gods gaue it mee and now they will take it from mee Nature gaue me byrth and now shee giueth me death the Earth gaue me the bodie and now it returneth to ashes The woefull Fatall destenyes gaue mee a little goods mingled with many trauells So that Daughter of al things which I enioyed here in this world I carrie none with mee For hauing all as I had it by the way of borrowing now at my death eache man taketh his owne I die ioyfully not for that I leaue thee rich but for that I leaue thee learned And in token of my tender heart I bequeathe vnto thee all my Bookes wherein thou shalt finde the treasure of all my trauells And I tell thee that that I giue thee is the riches gotten with mine owne sweate and not obtained to the preiudice of another For the loue I beare vnto thee Daughter I pray thee and by the immortall Gods I conjure thee that thou bee such and so good that although I die yet at the least thou mayst keepe my memorie For thou knowest well what Homer sayth speaking of Achilles and Pyrrhus That the good life of the Childe that is aliue keepeth the renowne of the Father which is dead These were the wordes which the Phylosopher spake to his daughter lying in his death bed And thogh perhaps hee spake not these wordes yet at the least this was the effect and meaning As the great Poet Mantuan sayth King Euander was father of the grant Pallas and he was a great friend of king Eneas he vaunted himselfe to
the man that desireth perpetuall renon me though hee bee not banished hee ought to absent himselfe from his Natiue countrey My deare childrē I most earnestly desire you that alwayes you accompanie your selues with the good with the most Auncients and with those which are graue and most expert in counsell and with those that haue most seene the world and doe not vnderstand most of the world by those that haue seene most countreys For the ripe councell proceedeth not from the man that hath trauelled in many Countreys but from him that hath selt himselfe in many daungers Since the nature of the Countrey my Children doth knocke with the hāmer at the heart of man I feare that if you come and see your friends and parents you shall alwayes line in care pensiuenes and being pensiue you shall alwayes liue euill contented and you shall not do that which becometh Romane knights to do And you not being valiaunt knights your enemyes shall alwayes reioyce ouer you and your desires shal neuer take effect for of those men which are carefull and heauy proceedeth alwaies seruices vnworthie I desire you heartily and by this present letter I counsell you that you will not in any wise seeke to come to Rome For as I haue saide you shall know few of those that did know you for eyther they are dead or banished poor or sick aged or come to nought sad or euill contented So that sithence you are not able to remedie their griefes it is best you should not come hither to see their troubles For no man cōmeth to Rome but to weepe with the liuing or to sigh for thē that be dead Truly my children I know not what pleasure is in Rome that shold cause any good man to come hither and to forsake Affrike for if there you haue any enemies here you shal want friends If you haue the Sword that pierceth the body we haue the tōgue here that destroyeth the renowme If you be vexed with the Thieues of Affrike wee are wounded with the traytours flatterers and lyars of Italie If you lacke rest we haue here too much trouble Finally seeing that I doe see in Rome and hearing that which I doe heare of Affrike I cōmend your warre and abhorre your peace If you doe greatly esteem that which I haue said esteem much more that which I shall say which is that wee alwayes heare that you are conquerors of the Affricanes and you shall heare alwayes that we are conquered by vices Therefore if am a true mother I had rather see you win a perpetuall memory among strangers then to liue with infamie at home in your countrey Peraduenture with hope that you shallenioy some goods you will offer to take occasion to come to Rome When this thing shall come to your minds remember my Children that your father being aliue had not much and that vnto your Mother beeing a widow many things wanted And remember that your father bequeathed you nothing but weapons and knowe that from mee you shalll enherite nothing but Bookes For I had rather leaue my Children good doctrine whereby they may liue then euill Riches whereby they may perish I am not rich nor I neuer trauelled to bee rich and the cause was that I saw many mens children vndone only through the hope they had to inherit their parents goods and afterward went a hunting after vices For they seldome times do any worthy feates which in theyr Youth inherite great Treasures This thing therefore beeing true as it is indeede I doe not say onely that I would watch and toyle as many do to get riches and treasures but also if I had treasor before I would giue them vnto you I would as the Phylosopher did cast them into the fire For I had rather haue my children poore and vertuous in Affricke then rich and vicious in Rome You knowe very well my Children that there was among the Tharentines a Law well obserued that the Sonnes should not inherit any thing of the fathers but weapons to fight and that the Daughters should inherite the goods for to marry thēselues withall Truely this Law was very iust for the Sonne that hath alwaies respect to the inheritance will not haue to his Father any great confidence For hee ought to bee called a valiant Romain Knight that with his life hath wonne and by his sword hath gotten Riches Since you are in straunge Realmes I pray you heartily that you be eonuersant with the good as good brethren remembring alwayes that you were my children and that I gaue you both sucke of mine owne proper breasts And the day that I shall heare of your disagreement the same day shall be the end of my life For the discord in one city of parents doth more harme then a whole armie of enemies It is good for you my Children to liue in loue and concord together but it is more requisite to keepe you with the Romain knights The which with you and you with them if you doe not loue together in the warres you shall neuer haue the vpper hand of your enemies For in great Armies the discords that arise amongst them do more harme then the enemies do against whom they fight I thinke well my children that you would be very desirous to know of my estate that is to say whether I am in health whether I am sicke whether I am poore whether I am pleased or whether I am discontented In this case I knowe not why you should desire to knowe it since you ought to presuppose that according to the troubles which I haue passed the miseries which with mine eyes I haue seen I am filled with this world For wise men after fifty yeares and vpwardes ought rather to applie theyr mindes how to receyue death then to seeke for pleasures how to prolong life When mans Flesh is weake it alwayes desireth to bee well kept euen vnto the graue And as I am of flesh and Bone so I do feele the troubles of the world as all mortall men doe But for all this doe not thinke that to bee poore or sicke is the greatest miserie neither thinke that to bee whole and rich is the chiefest felicity for there is none other felicitie of the old fathers but for to see their children vertuous In my opinion it is an honor to the coūtry that the fathers haue such children which will take profit with their counsell and contrariwise that the children haue such fathers which can giue it them For the childe is happy that hath a wise father and more happie is the father that hath not a foolish son I doe write oft times vnto you my children but there is a law that none be so hardy to write to men of war in the field except first they inrowle the letters in the Senate Therefore since I write vnto you more letters then they would they do send lesse then I desire Though this law be painefull to
any misfortune where ripe counsell is euer present It shall seeme vnto those that shall profoundly consider this matter that it is a superfluous thing to treate of these thinges for eyther princes chuse the good or els they chuse the euill If they chuse not good masters they labour in vain to giue them good counsell for the foolish master is lesse capable of couÌ„sell then the dissolute scholler is of wholesome admonition If perchance princes doe make elections of good Masters then those Masters both for themselues and also for others ought to minister good counsels For to giue counsell to the wise man it is eyther a superfluous deed or else it coÌ„meth of a presumptuous man Though it be true that hee which dare giue counsell to the Sage man is presumptuous I say in like manner that the Diamond beeing set in gold loseth not his vertue but rather increaseth in price and value I meane that the wiser a man is so much the more hee ought to desire to know the opinion of another certainely he that doth so cannot erre For to none his owne counsell aboundeth so much but that hee needeth the counsel and opinion of another Though Princes and great Lords do see with their eyes that they haue choseÌ„ good masters tutors to teach their children yet they ought not therefore to be so negligent of themselues but that sometimes they may giue the masters counsell for it may be that the masters be both noble stout that they be ancient sage and moderate but it may be also that in teaching childreÌ„ they are not expert For to masters and tutors of princes it is not so much necessary that sciences do abound as it is shame that experience should want When a rich man letteth out his farme or manor to a farmor he doth not onely consider with himselfe before what rent hee shall pay him but also he couenanteth with him that he shal keepe his grounds well fenced and ditched and his houses well repayred And not contented to receyue the third part of the fruit of his vine but also he goeth twice or thrice in a year to visite it And in seeing it hee hath reason for in the end the one occupieth the goods as a Tenant and the other doth view the ground as chiefe Lord. Then if the father of the family with so great diligence doth recommend the trees and the ground to the Labourer how much more ought the Father to recommend his children to the Masters for the father giuing counsell to the Master is no other but to deliuer his child to the Treasurer of Science Princes and great Lords cannot excuse themselues of an offence if after that they haue chosen a knight or Gentleman for to be Master or els a learned and wise man to be tutour they are so negligent as if they neuer had had children or did remember that their children ought to be theyr Heires certainely this thing should not bee so lightly passed ouer But as a wise man which is carefull of the honour and profite of his child hee ought to bee occupied as well in taking heed to the master as the master ought to be occupied in taking heede to the child For the good fathers ought to know whether the master that he hath chosen can commaund and whether his child will obey One of the noblest Princes among the Ancients was Seuleucus King of the Assyrians and husband of Estrabonica the daughter of Demetrius King of Macedony a Lady for her beauty in all Greece the most renowned of her fame though indeed she was not very fortunate This is an old disease that hapneth alwayes to beutiful women that there be many that desire them and more that slaunder them This King Seuleucus was first married with another woman of whome hee had a sonne called Antigonus ' the which was in loue with the second wife of his Father that is to say with the Queene Estrabonica and was almost dead for loue The which the father vnderstanding married his son with her so that she that was his stepmother was his wife and shee that was a faire wife was a faire daughter and hee which was his Sonne was made his sonne in law and hee which was Father was stepfather The Authour hereof is Plutarch in his liues as Sextus Cheronensis sayeth in the thirde booke of the sayings of the Greekes The king Seuleucus laboured diligently to bring vp his sonne Antigonus wel wherfore he sought him two notable masters the one a Greeke the other a Latine The K Seuleucus herewith not contented prouided secretly by the means of a seruant of his named Parthemius that he should haue no other office in the Pallace but that what the masters taught or did to his sonne Antigonus in the day hee should secretly come and tell him in the night But by the diligence of Parthemius it came to the knowledge of the Tutors that they had ouer-seers for in the ende there is nothing accustomablie but at the last will bee reuealed Since the two Phylosophers knew the secret one day they saide vnto the King Seuleucus these wordes Most mighty Prince Seuleucus since thou hast of trust committed thy Sonne Antigonus into our handes why doest thou appointe thy Seruaunt Parthemius as accuser of our liues If thou accountest vs euill and him good thou shalt shewe vs great fauour if thou wilt discharge vs and committe to him the â—uâ—tion of thy Sonne For wee let thee to knowe that to men of honour it is vntollerable euill to shame them and no dishonour to licence them Thou hast appointed Parthemius to goe and dog vs to see what we do or say openly and afterwards to make relation vnto thee secretly And the worst is that by relation of the simple wee should be condemned beeing Sages For triacle is not so contrary to poyson as ignoraunce is to wisedome And truely most Noble Prince it is a great matter that daily inquisition is made of man for there is no Beard so bare shauen but it wil growe againe I meane that there is no man of so honest a life but if a man make inquisition he may finde wherewithall to detect The K Seuleucus answered them thus Consider my Friendes that I knowe right well that neyther the authoritie of the person nor the good credite of renowme would bee stayned for any other Friende in this world and if the rude men doe it not much lesse ought the Sages to doe it For there is nothing that men trauell for so much in this life as to leaue of them a good renowme after theyr death Since you are Sages and Maisters of my Sonne and likewise counsellers of my house it is not meete that you should with any bee offended For by all good reason hee alone ought to bee esteemed in the Pallaces of Princes that will giue vnto Princes good counsell That which I haue saide to Parthemius was not for the doubt
and vertuous workes are now ful of babling Orators and none issue out from thence at this present but the euill and vitious So that if the sacred Romane lawes are exalted once in a weeke with their tongs they are broken ten times in the day in their works What will you I say more since I cannot tell you any thing without hurting my mother Rome but that at this present all the pleasures of vaine men is to see their children ouercome others by disputing but I let you vnderstand that all my glory shall bee when my sonne shall surmount others not in words but in silence not to be troublesome but to bee patient not in speaking subtill words but in doing vertuous works For the glory of good men is in working much and speaking little Consider my friends and doe not forget it that this day I commit my honor vnto you I put into your hands the estate of Comodus my sonne the glory of Rome the rest of the people which are my subiects the gouernement of Italie which is our Country and aboue all I referre vnto your discretion the peace and tranquility of the whole common wealth Therefore hee that hath such a charge by reason ought not to sleep for as the wise men say To great trust is required much diligence I will say no more but that I would my sonne Comodus should be so wel taught that he should haue the feare of God the science of Philosophers the vertues of the ancient Romanes the approued counsell of the aged the courage of the Romane youth the constancy of you which are his Masters Finally I would that of all the good he should take the good as of me hee ought to take the heritage succession of the Empire For hee is the true prince and worthy of the Empire that with his eyes doth behold the great Signiories he ought to inherite and doth employ his heart how to gouerne it whereby hee shall liue to the great profite of the Common wealth And I protest to the immortall Gods with whom I hope to goe and to the goodnesse of my predecessors whose faith I am bound to keepe I protest to the Romane lawes the which I did sweare to obserue in the conquest of Asia wherein I am bound my selfe to continue and to the friendshippe of the Rhodians the which I haue offered my selfe for to keepe to the enmitie of the Affricanes the which not for me but for the oath of my predecessors I bound my selfe to maintaine And I protest vnto the vessell of the high Capitoll where my bones ought to bee burnt that Rome doe not complaine of mee beeing aliue nor that in the world to come shee curse mee after my death If perchance the prince Comodus my sonne by his wicked life should bee occasion of the losse or hinderance of the Common-Wealth And though you which are his Masters vndoe it for not giuing him due punishment and hee thorow his wicked gouernement destroy it yet I discharge my selfe by all these protestations that I haue made which shall bee witnesses of my will For the Father is bound no more towardes his Childe but to banish him from his pleasures and to giue him vertuous Masters And if hee bee good hee shall bee the glory of the Father the honour of himselfe the wealth of you and the profite and commodity of the whole Common wealth CHAP. XXXIX The Tutors of Princes and Noble mens children ought to be very circumspect that their Schollers doe not accustome themselues in vices whiles they are young and specially they must keepe them from foure vices THe good and expert Surgeons vnto great daungerous wounds doe not onely apply medicins and ointments which do resolue and stoppe but also minister other good playsters for to restraine and heale them And verily they shew themselues in the one no lesse sage then in the other expert for as great diligence ought to bee had to preserue the weake flesh to purge the rotten wound to the end it may be healed so likewise the wise Trauellers learne diligently the way before they take vpon them any iourney that is to say if there bee any dangers in the way eyther of robbing or slaying wherein there is any by-path that goeth out of the high-way Truly hee that in this point is circumspect is worthy to bee counted a Sage mam for according to the multitude of the perilles of the world none can be assured vnlesse hee know first where the daunger is wherein hee may fall To shew therfore that which by these parables I meane I say that the Tutours and Master of Princes and great Lordes ought not to bee contented onely to know what science what doctrine and what vertue they ought to shew and teach their Schollers but also with greater care and diligence they ought to know from what euilles or wicked customes they ought to withdraw them For when the trees are tender and young it is more necessary to bow them and cut off the superfluous branches with kniues then to gather their fruits with baskets Those which take vpon them to gouerne Moyles of great price and value and those that tame breake horses of a good race take great paines that such beasts be light that they leape well and be well made to the spurre and bridle but they take much more paines that they be gentle familiar and faithfull and aboue all that they haue no euill qualities Then sith it is so Masters ought diligently to watch if they bee good that in young Princes there be no apparance of any notable vices for the vertues which the young doe learn doth not them so much profite as one onely vice doth them hurt if they doe thereunto consent knowing that thereby they may bee hereafter blamed or despised For if any man knew a beast that is wilde and stubborne and not gentle and will buye him at a great price such a one hath his head more full of follies then of wisedome Albeit that Masters ought to withdraw their Schollers from many euill customes amongst all there are foure principals in any of the which if the Prince bee defamed the master which hath taught him should deserue great punishment For according to the humane Lawes and Customes all the damage and harme that the beasts doe to the vineyarde the keeper that hath charge thereof shall as he is bound recompence First the Master ought to reform in such sort the tongus of their schollers that neyther in sport nor in earnest they permit them to tell lyes for the greatest fault that is in a good and vertuous man is to bee briefe in the truth and the greatest villany that is in a vicious man is to bee long in lyes Merula in that 5. booke of Caesars sayeth that the first warre that Vlpius Traianus made was against the Romanes and with no small victory ouercame the Emperour Domitian in a battell which they
remaine diseased and their vnderstanding blinded their memory dulled their sense corrupted their will hurted their reason subuerted and their good fame lost and worst of all the flesh remaineth alwayes flesh O how many young men are deceyued thinking that for to satisfie and by once engaging themselues to vices that from that time forwarde they shall cease to bee vicious the which thing not onely doth not profite them but also is very hurtfull vnto them For fire is not quenched with drye wood but with cold water But O God what shall wee doe since that now a dayes the Fathers doe as much esteeme their children for being fine and bolde minions among women as if they were verie profound in science or hardie in feates of Armes and that which is worst they oft times make more of their bastards gotten in adulterie then of their legitimate childe conceiued in matrimony What shall wee say then of mothers Truely I am ashamed for to speake it but they should bee more ashamed to doe it which is because they would not displease their husbands they hide the wickednesse of their children they put the children of their harlots to the Nurse they redeeme their gages they giue them money to play at dice they reconcile them to their fathers when they haue offended they borrow them money to redeeme them when they are indebted Finally they are makers of their bodies and vndoers of their soules I speake this insidently for that the masters would correct the children but the Fathers and mothers forbid them For it little auayleth for one to pricke the horse with the spurre when hee that sitteth vpon him holdeth him back with the bridle Therfore to our matter what shall we do to remedy this ill in the young man which in his flesh is vicious Truely I see no other remedie but with the moist earth to quench the flaming fire and to keepe him from the occasions of vice For in the warre honour by tarrying is obtained but in the vice of the flesh the victory by flying is obtayned The end of the second Booke THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE DIALL OF PRINCES WITH THE FAMOVS BOOKE OF MARCVS AVRELIVS WHERE HEE entreateth of the vertues which Princes ought to haue as Iustice Peace and Magnificence CHAP. I. How Princes and great Lordes ought to trauell to administer to all equall iustice EGidius Frigulus one of the most famous and renowmed Philosophers of Rome sayde that that betweene two of the Zodaicall signes Leo and Libra is a Virgine named Iustice the which in times past dwelled among men in earth and after that shee was of them neglected shee ascended vp to Heauen This Philosopher would let vs vnderstand that Iustice is so excellent a vertue that she passeth al mens capacitie since shee made heauen her mansion place and could finde no man in the whole earth that wold entertaine her in his house During the time they were chaste gentle pittifull patient embracers of vertue honest and true Iustice remayning in the earth with them but since they are conuerted vnto adulterers tyrants giuen to be proud vnpatient lyers and blasphemers shee determined to forsake them and to ascend vp into heauen So that this Philosopher concluded that for the wickednesse that men commit on earth Iustice hath leapt from them into Heauen Though this seeme to bee a Poeticall fiction yet it comprehendeth in it high and profound doctrine the which seemeth to be very cleare for where wee see iustice there are few theeues few murderers few tirants and few blasphemers Finally I say that in the house or Common wealth where Iustice remaineth a man can not committe vice and much lesse dissemble with the vicious Homer desirous to exalt justice could not tell what to say more but to call Kings the children of the great God Iupiter and that not for that naturalty they haue but for the office of iustice which they minister So that Homer concludeth that a man ought not to call iust Princes other but the children of God The diuiue Plato in the fourth booke of his common-wealth saieth that the chiefest gift God gaue to men is that they being as they be of such vile clay should bee gouerned by justice I would to GOD all those which reade this wryting vnderstoode right well that which Plato said For if men were not indued with reason and gouerned by iustice amongst all beasts none were so vnprofitable Let reason be taken from man wherwith he is indued and iustice whereby he is gouerned then shall men easily perceyue in what sort he will leade his life He cannot fight as the Elephant nor defend himselfe as the Tygre nor he can hunte as the Lyon neither labour as the Oxe and that wherby he should profite as I thinke is that he should eate Beares and Lyons in his life as now he shall be eaten of worms after his death All the Poets that inuented fictions all the Oratours which made Orations all the Philosophers which wrote books all the Sages which left vs their doctrines and all the Princes which instituted Lawes meant nothing else but to perswade vs to think how briefe and vnprofitable this life is and how necessary a thing iustice is therin For the filth and corruption which the bodie hath without the soule the selfe same hath the common-wealth without iustice Wee cannot denye but that the Romaines haue been prowde enuious adulterers shamelesse and ambicious but yet with all these faultes they haue beene great obseruers of iustice So that if God gaue them so manie Triumphs beeing loaden and enuironed with so many vices it was not for the vertues they had but for the great iustice which they did administer Plinie in his second booke saith that Democrites affirmed there were two gods which gouerned the vniuersall world that is to say Reward and Punishment Whereby wee may gather that nothing is more necessarie then true and right iustice For the one rewardeth the good and the other leaueth not vnpunished the euill Saint Austine in the first Booke De Ciuitate Dei saieth these words Iustice taken away what are Realmes but dennes of Theeues Truely hee had great reason For if there were no whips for vagabonds gags for blasphemers fines for periurie fires for heretiques sword for murderers galowes for theeues nor prisons for Rebells we may boldly say there would not bee so many Beasts on the mountains as there would be thieues in the Common-wealth In many things or in the greatest parte of the commonwealth wee see that Bread Wine Corn Fish Wool and other things necessary for the life of the people wanteth but we neuer saw but malicious men in euery place did abound Therefore I sweare vnto you that it were a good bargaine to chaunge all the wicked men in the commonwealth for one onely poore sheepe in the fielde In the Common-wealth wee see nought else but whipping daylie beheading slaying drowning hanging but notwithstanding this
prosperous he loseth his goodes and honour and if he perchauce attaine to that he desired peraduenture his desire was to the damage of the Common-Wealth and then hee ought not to desire it For the desire of one should not hurt the profite of all When God our Lord did create Princes for Princes and people accepted them for their Lordes It is to beleeue that the Gods did neuer commaund such things nor the men would euer haue excepted such if they had thought that Princes wold not haue done that they were bound but rather that whereunto they were inclined For if men follow that wherunto their sensuality enclineth them they alwayes erre therfore if they suffer themselus to be gouerned by reasō they are alwayes sure And besides that Princes shold not take vpon thē warres for the burdening of their consciences the mis-spending of theyr goods and the losse of their honour they ought also to remember the duties that they owe to the Common-wealth the which they are bound to keepe in peace and iustice For wee others need not gouernours to search vs enemyes but good Princes which may defend vs from the wicked The diuine Plato in his 4. booke De Legibus sayth that one demaunded him why hee did exalt the Lydians so much and so much dispraise the Lacedemonians c Plato aunswered If I commend the Lydians it is for that they neuer were occupyed but in tylling the Fielde and if I doe reproue here the Lacedemonians it is because they neuer knew nothing else but to conquere realmes And therfore I say that more happy is that realme where men haue their hands with labouring full of blysters then where their arms in fighting are wounded with Swordes These words which Plato spake are very true and would to GOD that in the gates harts of Princes they were written Plinius in an Epistle sayeth that it was a Prouerbe much vsed amongst the Greekes That hee was king which neuer saw king The like may we say that he onely may enioy peace which neuer knewe what warres meant For simple and innocent though a man bee there is none but will iudge him more happy which occupieth his hand kerchiefe to drye the sweate off his browes then he that breaketh it to wipe the bloud off his head The Princes and great Lords which are louers of warres ought to consider that they doe not only hurt in generall all men but also especially the good and the reason is that although they of their owne wills doe abstaine from Battell doe not spoyle doe not rebell nor slay yet it is necessary for them to endure the iniuryes and to suffer their owne losse and damages For none are meete for the warre but those which little esteeme theyr life and much lesse their consciences If the warre were only with the euill against the euill and to the hurte and hinderance of the euill little should they feele which presume to be good But I am sorrie the good are persecuted the good are robbed and the good are slaine For if it were otherwise as I haue saide the euill against the euill we would take little thought both for the vanquishing of the one and much lesse for the destruction of the other I aske nowe what fame what honour what glorie what victorie or what Riches in that warre can be wonne wherin so many good vertuous and wise men are lost There is such penurie of the good in the world and such neede of them in the common-wealth that if it were in our power we with our tears ought to plucke them out of their graues and giue them life and not to leade them into the Warres as to a shambles to be put to death Plinie in one Epistle and Seneca in another say that when they desired a Romaine Captaine that with his armey he should enter into a great danger whereof great honour should ensue vnto him and little profite to the Commonwealth He made answere For nothing would I enter into that daunger if it were not to giue life to a Romane Citizen For I desire rather to goe enuironned with the good in Rome then to goe loaden with treasures into my Countrey Comparing Prince to Prince and law to law and the Christan with the Pagan without comparison the soule of a Christian ought more to be esteemed thē the life of a Romane For the good Romane obserueth it as a law to dye in the warre but the good christian hath the precept to liue in peace Snetonius Tranquillus in the second Booke of Caesars sayeth That among all the Romane Princes there was no Prince so well beloued nor yet in the warres so fortunate as Augustus was And the reason hereof is because that Prince neuer beganne any war vnles by great occasion he was thereunto prouoked O of how manie princes not Ethnicks but Christians we haue heard and read all contrary to this which is that were of such large conscience that they neuer took vpon them any warre that was iust to whom I swear and promise that since the warre which they in this worlde beganne was vniust the punishment which in another they shall haue is most righteous Xerxes King of the Persians being one day at dinner one brought vnto him verie faire and sauourie figges of the prouince of Athens the which beeing set at the table hee sware by the immortall Gods and by the bones of his predecessors that hee would neuer eate figges of his Countrey but of Athens which were the best of all Greece And that which by words of mouth king Xerxes sweare by valiant deedes with force and shield hee accomplished and went forthwith to conquer Grecia for no other cause but for to fill himselfe with the figges of that Countrey so that hee beganne that warre not only as a light prince but also as a vitious man Titus Liuius sayeth that when the French men did taste of the wine of Italy immediately they put them selues in Armes and went to conquer the Country without hauing any other occasion to make warre against them So that the Frenchmen for the licoriousnesse of the pleasant wines lost the deare bloud of their owne hearts King Antigonus dreamed one night that hee saw King Methridates with a Sithe in his hand who like a Mower did cut all Italy And there fell such feare to Antigonus that hee determined to kill King Methridates so that this wicked prince for crediting a light dreame set all the world in an vprore The Lumbardes being in Pannonia heard say that there was in Italy sweet fruits sauourie flesh odorifetous Wines faire Women good Fish little colde and temperate heate the which newes moued them not onely to desire them but also they tooke weapons to goe conquer Italie So that the Lumbardes came not into Italy to reuenge them of their enemies but to bee there more vicious and riotous The Romanes and the Carthagenians were friendes of long time but after they
no sporte nor lightnes inuented in Rome but first it is registred in your house And finally they say that you giue your selues so vnto pleasures as though you neuer thought to receyue displeasures O Claude and Claudine by the God Iupiter I sweare vnto you that I am ashamed of your vnshamefastnes and am greatly abashed of your manners and aboue all I am exceedingly grieued for your offence For at that time that you ought to lift your hands you are returned againe into the filth of the world Manie things men commit which though they seeme graue yet by moderation of the person that cōmitteth them they are made light but speaking according to the truth I finde one reason whereby I might excuse your lightes but to the contrarie I see tenne whereby I may condemne your follies Solon the Phylosopher in his Lawes said to the Athenians that if the young offended hee should be gently admonished and grieuously punished because he was strong and if the olde erre hee should bee lightly punished and sharply admonished sith hee was weake and feeble To this Lycurgus in his lawes to the Lacedemonians sayd contrarie That if the young did offend hee should be lightly punished and grieuously admonished since through ignorance he did erre and the olde man which did euill should bee lightly admonished and sharply punished since thorough malice hee did offend These two phylosophers beeing as they haue bin of such authority in the worlde that is past and considering that their lawes and sentences were of such weight it should bee much rashnes in not admitting the one of them Now not receiuing the one nor rereprouing the other Mee thinketh that there is no great excuse to the young for their ignorance and great condemnation to the aged for their experience Once againe I returne to say that you pardon me my friends and you ought not greatly to weigh it thogh I am somewhat sharpe in condemnation since you others are so dissolute in your liues for of your blacke life my penne doth take inke I remember wel that I haue heard of thee Claude that thou hast beene lusty and couragious in thy youth so that thy strength of all was enuyed and the beauty of Claudine of all men was desired I will not write vnto you in this letter my friends and neighbours nether reduce to memory how thou Claude hast employed thy forces in the seruice of the comonwealth and thou Claudine hast won much honor of thy beauty for sundry times it chāced that men of many goodly giftes are noted of grieuous offences Those which striued with thee are all dead those whom thou desirest are deade those which serued thee Claudine are dead those which before thee Claudine sighed are dead those which for thee dyed are now dead and since all those are deade with theyr lightnesse doe not you others thinke to die and your follies also I doe demand now of thy youth one thing and of thy beauty another thing what do you receiue of these pastims of these good entertainements of these aboundances of these great contentations of the pleasures of the world of the vanitie that is past and what hope you of all these to carry into the narrow graue O simple simple and ignoraunt persons how our life consumeth and wee perceiue not how wee liue therein For it is no felicitie to enioy a short or long life but to know to employ the same eyther well or euill O children of the earth and Disciples of vanitie now you know that Time flyeth without mouing his wings the life goeth without lifting vp his feete the World dispatcheth vs not telling vs the cause men doe beguile vs not mouing their lippes our flesh consumeth to vs vnawares the heart dyeth hauing no remedie and finally our glorie decaieth as it it had neuer beene and death oppresseth vs without knocking at the dore Though a man be neuer so simple or so very a foole yet hee cannot deny but it is impossible for to make a fire in the bottome of the sea to make a way in the ayre of the thinne bloud to make rough sinewes and of the soft veines to make hard bones I meane that it is vnpossible that the greene flower of youth be not one day withered by age CHAP. XX. The Emperour followeth his Letter and perswadeth Claudius and Claudinus being now olde to giue no more credite to the World nor to any of his deceitfull flatteryes THat which I haue spoken now tendeth more to aduertise the young then to teach the olde For you others haue now passed the prime time of childhood the summer of youth and the haruest of adolescency and are in the winter of age where it seemeth an vncomely thing that those your hoary haires should bee accompanied with such vaine follies Sithens young men know not that they haue to end their youth it is no maruell that they follow the world but the olde men which see themselues fall into this guile why will they runne after vices againe O world for that thou art the world so smal is our force so great our debilitie that thou willing it and we not resisting it thou dost swallow vs vp in the most perillous gulfe and in the thornes most sharpe thou dost pricke vs by the priuiest wayes thou leadest vs by the most stony waies thou carriest vs. I meane that thou bringest vs to the highest fauours to the end that afterwards with a push of thy pike thou mightest ouerthrow vs. O world wherein all is worldly two and fifty yeeares haue passed since in thee I was first borne during which time thou neuer toldest mee one truth but I haue taken thee with ten thousand lyes I neuer demanded the thing but thou diddest promise it me and yet it is nothing at all that euer thou diddest perform I neuer put my trust in thee but euer thou beguiledst me I neuer came to thee but thou diddest vndoo me finally neuer saw I ought in thee wherby thou deseruest loue but alwayes hatred This presupposed I know not what is in thee O world or what we worldlings want for if thou hatest vs we cannot hate thee if thou doest vs iniury we can dissemble it if thou spurne vs with thy feet wee wil suffer it if thou beatest vs with a staffe wee wil hold our peace also though thou persecutest vs we will not complain though thou take ours wee will not demand it of thee though thou dost beguile vs we will not call ourselues beguiled and the worst of all is that thou doest chase vs from thy house yet we will not depart from thence I know not what this meaneth I know not from whence this commeth I know not who ought to prayse this same that wee couet to follow the world which wil none of vs and hate the gods which loue vs oft times I make account of my yeares past somtimes also I turne and tosse my booke to see what
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
thousand to helpe to marry her and the other thousand to helpe for to releeue your pouerty My wife Faustine is sicke and I send you another 1000. Sesterces to giue to the Vestall virgins to pray to the Gods for her My wife sendeth to thee Claudine a Cofer by the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee I cannot tell what is in it I beseech the Gods sithence you are aged to giue you a good death and to me and Faustine they suffer vs to leade a good life Marcus of mount Celio with his own hand writeth this CHAP. XXIII Princes ought to take heede that they be not noted of auarice for that the couetous man is both of God and man hated THe great Alexander King of Macedony and Darius the vnfortunate King of Persians were not onely contrary in wars and conquests which they made but also in the conditions and inclinations which they had For Alexander naturally loued to giue and spend and Darius to the contrarie to heape locke and keepe When the fame of Alexander was spredde abroade throughout all the word to bee a Prince of honour and not couetous his owne loued him intirely strangers desired to serue him faithfully The miserable King Darius as he was noted of great auarice and of small liberality so his did disobey him and strangers hated him whereof may be gathered that Princes and great Lords by giuing do make them selues rich and in keeping they make themselues poore Plutarch in his Apothegmes declareth that after King Darius was dead and Alexander had triumphed ouer all the Orientall parts a man of Thebes being in the market place of Athens setting forth the fortune of Alexander for the sundry Countryes which hee had conquered and describing the euill fortune of Darius for the great number of men which hee had lost a Philosopher with a loude voyce sayd O man of Thebes thou art greatly deceyued to think that one prince loseth many seigniories and that the other Prince winneth many Realmes For Alexander the Great wann nought but stones and couerings of Cities for with his liberality hee had already gotten the good wils of the Citizens and on the contrary the vnfortunate Darius did not lose but stones and the couertures of Cities for with his couetousnesse and auarice hee had now lost all the hearts of those of Asia And further this Philosopher sayde vnto him that Princes which will enlarge their estates and amplifie their realmes in their conquests ought first to winne the hearts and to bee noble and liberall and afterwards to send their armies to conquer the Forts and wals for otherwise little auayleth it to winne the stones if the hearts do rebell Whereby a man may gather that that which Alexander wanne he wanne by liberality and stoutenesse and that which King Darius lost he lost for being miserable and couetous And let vs not maruell hereat for that Princes and great Lordes which are ouercome with auarice I doubt whether euer they shall see themselus Conquerours of many realmes The vice of auarice is so detestable so euil so odious and so perillous that if a man should employ himselfe for to write all the discommodities thereunto belonging my penne shoulde do nought else then to presume to drye vp all the water in the sea For the stomacke where auarice entreth causeth a man to serue vices worship Idols If a vertuous man would prepare himselfe to thinke on the great trauel and little rest that this cursed vice beareth with him I thinke that none would be vicious therein Though the couetous man had no other trauell but alwayes to goe to bed with daunger and to rise vp with care Mee thinketh that it is a trouble sufficient for such a one when he goeth to bed thinketh that hee should bee killed in his bedde or that sleeping his coffers should be rifled and from that time he riseth hee is alwayes tormented with feare to lose that which he hath wonne and carefull to augment that little too much The diuine Plato in the first booke of his Common-wealth sayde these words The men be made rich because they neuer learned to bee rich for he which continually and truly will become rich first ought to abhorre couetousnesse before he begin to occupie himselfe to locke vppe goods For the man which setteth no bond to his desire shall alwayes haue little though hee see himselfe Lord of the world The sentence of the Stoyckes doth satisfie my mind much whereof Aristotle in his politikes maketh mention where he sayth That vnto great affayres are alwayes required great riches and there is no extreame pouertie but where there hath beene great aboundance c. Thereof ensueth that vnto Princes and great Lordes which haue much they want much because vnto men which haue had little they can want but little If wee admonish worldlings not to be vicious they will alwayes haue excuses to excuse themselues declaring why they haue been vicious the vice of Auarice excepted to whome and with whom they haue no excuse For if one vaine reason be ready to excuse there are two thousand to condemne them Let vs put example in all the principall vices and wee shall see how this onely of Auarice remaineth condemned and not excused If we reason why a noble Prince or great Lord is hautie and proude He will aunswere that hee hath great occasion For the naturall disposition of men is rather to desire to commaund with trauell then to serue with quyetnes and rest If we reproue any man that is furious and giuen to anger hee will aunswere vs that we maruell not since we maruell not of the proude For that the enemy hath no more authority to trouble any man then the other to take reuenge of him If we blame him for that he is fleshly and vicious he will answer vs that hee cannot abstaine from that sinne For if any man can eschew the actes he fighteth continually with vncleane thoughts If wee say that anie man is negligent hee will answere vs that he deserueth not to be blamed For the vilenes of our nature is such that if we do trauell it immediately it is wearie and if we rest it immediately it reioyceth If wee rebuke any man that is a glutton hee will answere vs that without eating and drinking wee cannot liue in the world for the Diuine Word hath not forbidden man to eate with the mouth but the vncleane thoughts which come from the heart As of these few vices we haue declared so may wee excuse all the residue but to the vice of couetousnesse none can giue a reasonable excuse For with money put into the coffer the soule cannot profite nor the bodie reioyce Boetius in his booke of consolation said That Money is good not when wee haue it in possession but when wee want it And in very deede the sentence of Boetius is very profound For when man spendeth money he attaineth to that he
wold not trust the fine gold and thou doest trust the harde lead Drawe you two lots Socrates of Athens and thou of Samia see which of you two haue erred or done well hee to carry gold from the land to the sea to bring golde to the land I am assured that the auncient Romanes would say that it is he but the couetous of this present Worlde would say that it is thou That which in this case I thinke is that thou in praysing it dost disprayse thy selfe and Socrates in dispraysing it of all is praysed and esteemed CHAP. XXXI The Emperour followeth his matter concludeth his Letter greatly reprouing his friend Mercurius for that hee tooke thought for the losse of his goods Hee sheweth him the nature of fortune and describeth the conditions of the couetous man THis messenger told mee that thou art very sad that thou cryest out in the night and importunest the Godds wakest thy neighbours and aboue all that thou complaynest of Fortune which hath vsed thee so euill I am sorry for thy griefe for griefe is a friend of solitude enemy of company a louer of darkenesse strange in conuersation and heyre of desperation I am sorry thou cryest in the night for it is a sign of folly a token of small patience the point of no wise man and a great proofe of ignorance for at the houre when all the worlde is couered with darkenesse thou alone dost discouer thy hart with exclamations I am sorry that thou art vexed with the Gods saying that they are cruell Forsomuch as if they haue taken any thing from thee for thy pride they should restore it againe for thy humility for as much as we offend the Gods through the offence so much do wee appease them with patience O my friend Mercurius knowest thou not that the patience which the Gods haue in dissembling our faults is greater then that which men haue in suffering their chastisements for wee others vniustly do offend them and they iustly punish vs. I am sorry that with thy exclamations and complaints thou slaunderest thy neighbours for as thou knowest one neighbour alwayes enuieth another in especially the poore the rich And according to my counsell thou shouldest dissemble thy paine and take all things in good part for if perhaps thy riches haue caused thy sorrow thy patience will moue them to compassion I am sorry thou complainest of thy fortune For Fortune sith she is known of all doth not suffer her self to be defamed of one and it is better to thinke with Fortune how thou mayest remedy it then to thinke with what griefe for to complaine For there are diuers men which to publish their paine are very carefull but to seeke remedy are as negligent O poore innocent Mercurius after so long forgetfulnesse art thou more aduised to complain of fortune againe and darest thou defie fortune with whom all wee haue peace Wee vnbend our bowes and thou wilt charge thy launces thou knowest not what warr meaneth and yet thou wilt winne the victory all are deceyued and wilt thou alone goe safe what wilt thou more I say vnto thee since I see thee commit thy selfe vnto Fortune Doest thou know that it is shee that beateth downe the high walles and defendeth the Towne-ditches Knowest thou not that it is shee that peopleth the vnhabitable deserts and dispeopleth the peopled Cities Knowest thou not that it is shee that of enemies maketh friends and of friendes enemies Knowest thou not that it is she that conquereth the Conquerours Knowest thou not that it is shee that of traytors maketh faithfull and of faithfull suspitious Finally I will thou know that Fortune is shee which turneth realmes breaketh armies abasheth Kings rayseth Tyrants giueth life to the dead and burieth the liuing doest thou not remember that the second King of the Lacedemonians had ouer his gates such words The Pallace here behold where men doe striue By fruitlesse toyle to conquere what they can And fortune eke that Princes fancies rine By his vnbrideled will that alwayes wanne Certainely these words were hie and proceeded of a high vnderstanding And if in this case I may bee beleeued they ought to be well noted of wise men and not written before the gates but imprinted within the hearts Better knew he Fortune then thou since hee tooke himselfe for one disinherited and not as heire and when hee lost any thing as thou hee knew that hee receyued it by loane and not that it was his owne Men in this life are not so much deceyued for any thing as for to thinke that the temporall goods should remaine with them during life Now that God doth suffer it now that our wofull fortune doth deserue it I see no greater mishapps fall vnto any then vnto them which haue the greatest estates and riches so that truly wee may boldly say that hee alone which is shut in the graue is in safeguard from the vnconstancie of fortune Thy messenger hath tolde mee further that this sommer thou preparedst thy selfe to Rome and now that it is Winter thou wilt sayle to Alexandria O thou vnhappy Mercurie tell me I pray thee how long it is sithence thou lost thy sences for asmuch as when this life doth end thy auarice beginneth a new thou foundest two Cities very meete for thy traffique that is to say Rome which is the scourge of all vertues and Alexandria which is the chiefest for all vices And if thou louest greatly those two Cities heare I pray thee what marchandize are solde therein In Rome thou shalt loade thy body with vices and in Alexandria thou shalt swell thy heart with cares By the faith of a good man I doe sweare vnto thee that if perchaunce thou buyest any thing of that which is heere or sellest ought of that thou bringest from thence thou shalt haue greater hūger of that thou shalt leaue then contentation of that thou shalt bring Thou doest not remember that wee are in Winter and that thou must passe the sea in the which if the Pirates doe not deceiue mee the surest tranquility is a signe of the greatest torment Thou mightest tell mee that thy shippes should returne without fraught and therefore they shall sayle more surely To this I aunswere thee that thou shalt send them more loden with couetousnes then they shall returne loden with silkes O what a good change should it bee if the auarice of Italy could bee chaunged for the silke of Alexandria I sweare vnto thee that in such case thy silke wold fraught a ship our auarice wold lode a whole nauy That couetousnes is great which the shame of the World dooth not oppresse neyther the feare of death doth cause to cease And this I say for thee that sithens in this daungerous time thou durst sayle eyther wisdome wanteth or else auarice and couetousnesse surmounteth To satisfie mee and to excuse thee with those which speake to me of thee I cannot tell what to say vnto
it The miserable man is not born with so many present commodities he cannot eate drinke nor goe make himself ready aske nor yet complain and that which is more hee knoweth not scarsely how to sucke for the mothers oft times would giue to their children if they could the bloud of their heart and yet they cannot cause them to take the milke of their brests O great misery of mans nature forsomuch as the brute beasts as soone as they are come forth of their mothers wombe can know and seeke but when it is offred vnto man he cannot know it We must note also that to brute beasts nature hath giuen cloathing wherewith they may keepe themselus from the heate of Sommer and defend themselues from the colde of Winter which is manifest for that to Lambes and sheepe she hath giuen wooll to birdes feathers to hogges bristles to horses hayre to fishes scales and to snailes shels Finally I say there is no beast which hath neede with his hands to make any garment nor yet to borrow it of another Of all this the miserable man is depriued who is borne all naked and dyeth all naked not carrying with him one onely garment and if in the time of his life he will vse any garment hee must demaund of the beasts both leather and wooll thereunto he must also put his whole labour and industry I would aske Princes and great Lords if when they are borne they bring with them any apparrell and when they dye if they carry with them any treasure To this I answere no but they dye as they are borne as well the rich as the poore and the poore as the rich And admit that in this life fortune doth make difference betweene vs in estates yet nature in time of our birth and death doth make vs all equall We must also thinke and consider that for so much as nature hath prouided the beasts of garments shee hath hath also taken from them the care of what they ought to eate for there is no beast that doth eyther plow sow or labour but doth content her selfe and passeth her life eyther with the flyes of the ayre with the Corne that shee findeth in the high-wayes with the hearbes in the fieldes with the Ants of the Earth with the grapes of the vine or with the fruites which are fallen Finally I say that without care all beasts take their rest as if the day following they should haue no neede to eate Oh what a great benefite should GOD doe to the miserable man if he had taken from him the trauell to apparrell himselfe and the care to search for things to eate But what shall the poore miserable man doe that before he eateth hee must tyll sow hee must reape and thresh the Corne hee must cleanse it grinde it paste it and bake it and it cannot bee prouided without care of minde nor be done without the proper sweate of the browes And if perchaunce any man did prouide for himselfe with the sweate of others yet shall hee liue with his owne offences Also in other things the silly beasts doe excell vs For in the Flowers in the leaues in the hearbes in the straw in the Oates in the bread in the flesh or in the fruits which they eate or in the waters which they drinke they feele no paine although it be not sweet nor take no displeasure thogh theyr meates be not sauorie Finally such as Nature hath prouided them without disguysing or making themselus better they are contēted to eate Man could loose nothing if in this point he agreed with beasts but I am very sorrie that there are many vicious and prowd men vnto whom nothing wanteth eyther to apparell or eate but they haue too much to maintaine themselues and herewith not contented they are such Drunkards to taste of diuers wines and such Epicures to eate of sundry sorts of meates that oft times they spend more to dresse them then they did cost the buying Now when the Beasts are brought foorth they haue knowledge both of that that is profitable and also of that which is hurtfull for them For we see this that the sheep doth fly the wolfe the catte flieth the dogge the ratte flieth the catte and the chicken the kyte so that the beasts in opening the eyes doe immediately knowe the friendes whom they ought to followe and the Enemies whome they ought to flye To the miserable man was vtterly denyed this so great priuiledge For in the worlde there hath bin many beastly men who haue not onely attayned that which they ought to know whiles they liued but also euen as like beasts they passed their dayes in this life so they were infamed at the time of their death Oh miserable creatures that we are which liue in this wicked world For wee know not what is hurtfull for vs what we ought to eate from what we ought to abstaine nor yet whom wee should hate wee doe not agree with those whome wee ought to loue wee know not in whome to put our trust from whom we ought to flie nor what it is we ought to choose nor yet what wee ought to forsake Finally I say that when wee thinke oft times to enter into a sure Hauen within three steps afterwards wee fall headlong into the deepe Sea Wee ought also to consider that both to wilde and tame beasts nature hath ginen arms or weaponsto defend themselues and to assault their enemyes as it appeareth For that to byrds shee hath giuen wings to the Harts swifte feete to the Elephants tuskes to the Serpents scales to the Eagles tallons to the Fawkon a beake to the Lyons teeth to the Bulles hornes and to the Beares pawes Finally I say that she hath giuen to the Foxes subtiltie to know how to hyde themselues in the Earth and to the Fishes little finnes how to swimme in the water Admit that the wretched men haue few enemyes yet in this they are none otherwise priuiledged then the beasts for we see without teares it cannot be told that the beasts which for the seruice of Man were created with the selfe same beasts men are now a dayes troubled and offended And to the ende it seeme not wee should talke of pleasure let euery man bethinke with himselfe what it is that we suffer with the Beasts of this life For the Lyons doe feare vs the Wolues deuoure our sheep the dogges do byte vs the Cats scratche vs the Beare doeth teare vs the Serpents poyson vs the Bulls hurt vs with their hornes the Byrds doe ouerflye vs the Rats doe trouble vs the spyders doe annoy vs and the worste of all is that a little Flye sucketh our bloud in the day and the poore Flea doth hynder and let vs from sleeping in the night Oh poore and miserable man who for to sustaine this wretched life is enforced to begge all things that he needeth of the Beasts For the beasts do giue him wooll the
beasts doe drawe him water the beasts doe carrie him from place to place the beasts doe plough the Lande and carryeth the corne into their barnes Finally I say that if the man receyue any good hee hath not wherewith to make recompence and if they doe him any euill hee hath nought but the tongue to reuenge Wee must note also that though a man loade a beast with strypes beate her and driue her by the fowle wayes though hee take her meate from her yea though her younglings dye yet for none of all these she is sad or sorrowfull and much lesse doth weepe and though she should weep she can not For beasts little esteme their life and much lesse feare death It is not so of the vnhappy and wretched man which cānot but bewaile the vnthankfulnesse of theyr friendes the death of their Children the wants which they haue of necessaries the cases of aduersitie which doe succeed them the false witnes which is brought against them and a thousand calamityes which doe torment their hearts Finally I say that the greatest comforts that men haue in this life is to make a riuer of water with the teares of their Eyes Let vs enquire of Princes and great Lordes what they can doe when they are borne whether they can speake as Orators if they can runne as Postes if they can gouern themselues as kings if they can fight as men of Warre if they can labour as labourers if they can worke as masons if they knowe to teach as maisters These litle children would answer that they are not onely ignorant of all that wee demaund of them but also that they cannot vnderstand it Let vs returne to aske them what it is that they knowe since they know nothing of that we haue demaunded them They will answer that they can doe no other thing but weepe at their byrth and sorrow at theyr death Though all those which saile in this so perillous Sea doe reioyce and take pleasure and seeme to sleepe soundly yet at the last there cometh the winde of aduersitie which maketh them all know their follies For if I be not deceiued and if I know any thing of this world those which I haue seene at the time of their birth take ship weeping I doubt whether they will take Land in the graue laughing Oh vnhappy life I should say rather death which the mortalls take for life wherein afterwards we must spend and consume a great time to learne all Artes Sciences and offices and yet notwithstanding that whereof we are ignorant is much more then that which wee knowe Wee forget the greatest part saue only that of weeping which no man needeth to learne for wee are borne and liue weeping and vntill this present wee haue seene none to die in ioy Wee must note also that the beasts doe liue and dye with the inclinations wherwith they were borne that is to say that the Wolfe followeth the sheepe and not the birdes the hound followeth the hares and not the rattes the sparrow flyeth at the birdes and not at the fish the spider eateth the flyes and not the herbes Finally I say that if wee let the beast search his meate quietly we shall not see him giuen to any other thing The contrary of all this hapneth to men the which though nature hath created feeble yet Gods intention was not they should bee malitious but I am sorry since they cannot auoyd debility that they turne it into malice The presumption which they haue to bee good they turne to pride and the desire they haue to be innocent they turne into enuy The fury which they should take against malice they turne into anger and the liberality they ought to haue with the good they conuert into auarice The necessity they haue to eate they turne into gluttonie and the care they ought to haue of their conscience they turne into negligence Finally I say that the more strength beasts haue the more they serue and the lesse men are worth so much the more thankes haue they of God The innocency of the brute beastes considered and the malice of the malitious men marked without comparison the company of the brute beast is lesse hurtfull then the conuersation of euill men For in the end if hee bee conuersant with a beast yee haue not but to beware of her but if yee bee in company with a man there is nothing wherin yee ought to trust him Wee must note also that it was neyther seene or read that there was any beast that took care for the graue but the beasts being dead some were torne in peeces with Lions other dismembred by the bears others gnawn with dogs other remain in the fields other are eaten of men and other by the Ants. Finally the entrailes of the one are the graues of others It is not so of the miserable man the which consumeth no small treasure to make his Tombe which is the most vainest thing that is in this miserable life for there is no greater vanity nor lightnes in man then to be esteemed for his goodly and sumptuous sepulture and little to weigh a good Life I will sweare that at this day all the dead doe sweare that they care little if their bodies be buried in the deepe Seas or in the golden Tombes or that the cruell beasts haue eaten thē or that they remaine in the fieldes without a graue so that their soules may be among the celestiall Companies Speaking after the Lawe of a Christian I durst say that it profiteth little the body to be among the painted and carued stones when the miserable soule is burning in the fierie flames of hell O miserable creatures haue not wee sufficient wherewith to seeke in this life to procure to trauell to accomplish to sigh and also what to bewayle without hauing such care anguish to know where they shall bee buried Is there any man so vaine that hee dooth not care that other men should condemne his euil life so that they praise his rich tombe To those that are liuing I speake and say of those that are dead that if a man gaue them leaue to returne into the World they would bee occupied more to correct their excesse and offences then to adiourne and repayre their graues and tombes though they haue found them fallen downe I cannot tell what to say more in this case but to admonish men that it is a great folly to make any great account of the graues CHAP. XXXIIII The Emperour Marcus Aurelius writeth this letter to Domitius a Citizen of Capua to comfort him in his exile beeing banished for a quarrell betwixt him and another about the running of a horse very comfortable to those that haue beene in fauour and now fallen in disgrace MArke the Romane Emperour borne at Mount Celio to thee Domitius of Capua wisheth health and consolation from the gods the onely Comforters The bitter Winter in these partes haue raysed bosterous winds and
vpon the needle and thrust it into her breast whereby the mother dyed Gneus Ruffirius which was a very wise man and also my Kinsman one day combing his white hayres strake a tooth of the combe into his heade wherewith hee gaue himselfe a mortall wound so that in short space after his life had end but not his doctrine nor memory How thinkest thou Domitius By the immortal Gods I do sweare vnto thee that as I haue declared to thee this small number so I could recite thee other infinite What mishappe is this after so many fortunes what reproch after such glory What perill after such surety what euill lucke after such good successe what darke night after so cleare a day what euill entertainement after so great labour what sentence so cruell after so long processe O what inconuenience of death after so good beginning of life Being in their steade I cannot tell what I would but I had rather chuse vnfortunate life and honorable death then an infamous death and honourable life That man which will bee counted for a good man and not noted for a brute beast ought greatly to trauell to liue well and much more to dye better for the euill death maketh men doubt that the life hath not bin good and the good death is the excuse of an euill life At the beginning of my Letter I wrote vnto thee how that the gowte troubleth mee euill in my hand I say it were to much to write any longer and though the Letter bee not of my owne hand these two dayes the loue that I beare thee and the griefe that holdeth me haue striued together My will desireth to write and my fingers cannot hold the penne The remedy hereof is that since I haue no power to doe what I would as thine thou oughtest to accept what I can as mine I say no more herein but as they tell mee thou buildest now a house in Rhodes wherefore I do send thee a thousand sexterces to accomplish the same My wife Faustine saluteth thee who for thy paine is sore grieued They tell vs thou hast beene hurt wherefore she sendeth thee a weight of the Balme of Palestine Heale thy face therewith to the end the scarres of that wound doe not appeare If thou findest greene Almonds new nuts Faustine desireth thee that thou wilt send her some By another man shee sendeth a gowne for thee and a kirtle for thy wife I conclude and doe beseech the immortall Gods to giue thee all that I desire for thee and that they giue me all that thou wishest me Though by the hands of others I write vnto thee yet with my heart I loue thee CHAP. XXXV That Princes and Noble men ought to bee aduocates for widdowes Fathers of Orpnans and helpers of those which are comfortlesse MAcrobius in the 3. booke of the Saturnals sayeth That in the noble Citie of Athens there was a temple called Misericordia which the Athenians kept so well watched and locked that without leaue licence of the Senate no man might enter in There were the Images of pittifull Princes onely and none entered in there to pray but pittifull men The Athenians abhorred always seuere and cruell deeds because they would not be noted cruell And thereof commeth this manner of saying that the greatest iniurie they could say vnto a wan was That hee had neuer entred into the Schoole of the Philosophers to learne nor into the Temple of Misericordia to pray So that in the one they noted him for simple and in the other they acused him for cruell The Historiographers say that the most noble linage that was at that time was of a King of Athens the which was exceeding rich and liberall in giuing and aboue all very pittifull in pardoning Of whom it is written that after the great Treasures which he had offred in the temples and the great riches he had distributed to the poore hee tooke vpon him to bring vp all the Orphans in Athens and to feede all the widdowes O how much more did that statute of the sayde pittifull King shine in that Temple who nourished the Orphanes then the Ensignes which are set vp in the Temples of the Captains which had robbed the widows All the auncient Princes I say those that haue beene noble and valiant that haue not had the name of Tyrants though in some thinges they were noted yet they alwayes haue beene praysed esteemed and commended to be mercifull and gentle so that they recompenced the fiercenesse and cruelty which they shew to their enemies with the mercy and clemency which they vsed to the Orphans Plutarch in his Politiques sayeth that the Romanes among themselues ordained that all that which remayned of banquets and feastes which were made at mariages and triumphs should bee giuen to Widdows and orphanes And this custome was brought to so good an order that if any rich man would vse his profite of that which remayned the Orphanes might iustly haue an action of felony against him as a thing robbed from them Aristides the Philosopher in an Oration hee made of the excellency of Rome sayth That the Princes of Persia had this custome neuer to dine nor suppe but first the Trumpets should blow at their gates the which were more loude then harmonius And it was to this end that all the Widdowes and Orphanes shoulde come thither for it was a Law amongst them that all that which was left at the royall tables should bee for the poore and indigent persons Phalaris the Tirant writing to a friend of his sayde these wordes I haue receyued thy briefe Letter with the rebuke likewise which thou gauest me therein more bitter then tedious And admit that for the time it grieued mee yet after I came to my selfe I re ceyued thereby great comfort For in the ende one louing rebuke of his friēds is more worth then a fayned flattery of his enemie Amongst the things whereof thou accusest mee thou sayest that they take mee for agreat tyraunt because I disobey the Gods spoyle the Temples kyll the Priestes pursue the innocents robbe the people and the worst of all that I doe not suffer mee to be entreated nor permit that any man be conuersaunt with mee To that they say I disobey the Gods in very deede they say true For if I did all that the Gods would I should doe I should doe little of that men doe aske mee For as much as they say I robbe the Temples there vnto also I graunt For the immortall Gods doe demaund rather of vs pure hearts then that wee should buylde their Temples For that they say I kill the priests I confesse also that it is true For they are so dissolute that I thinke I doe more seruices to the Gods to put them to death then they doe in doing their Sacrifices while they liue For that they say I robbe the Temples I also confesse it For I defending it as I doe
thinke thou wilt do so For by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that my heart neither suspected iâ— nor yet the aucthority of so graue a Romane doth demand it for to thee onely the fault should remaine and to me the wonder Heartily I commend vnto thee thy honesty which to thy selfe thou oughtest and the care which behooueth so worthy and notable a widow For if thou art tormented with the absence of the dead thou oughtest to comfort thee with the reputation of the liuing At this present I will say no more to thee but that thy renowne among the present be such and that they speake of thee so in absence that to the euill thou giue the bridell to be silent and to the good spurres to come and sefue thee For the widow of euill renowne ought to be buried quicke Other things to write to thee I haue none Secret matters are dangerous to trust considering that thy heart is not presently disposed to heare newes It is reason thou know that I with thy parents and friends haue spoken to the Senate which haue giuen the office that thy husband had in Constantinople to thy sonne And truly thou oughtest no lesse to reioyce of that which they haue said of thee then for that they haue giuen him For they say though thy husband had neuer beene Citizen of Rome yet they ought to haue giuen more than this onely for thy honest behauiour My wife Faustine saluteth thee and I will say I neuer saw her weepe for any thing in the world so much as shee hath wept for thy mishap For shee felt thy losse which was very great and my sorrow which was not little I send thee foure thousand sexterces in money supposing that thou hast wherewith to occupy them as well for thy necessaries as to discharge thy debts For the complaints demaunds and processes which they minister to the Romane Matrons are greater then are the goods that their husbands doe leaue them The gods which haue giuen rest to thy husband O Claudine giue also comfort to thee his wife Lauinia Marcus of mount Celio with his owne hand CHAP. XXXIX That Princes and Noble men ought to despise the world for that there is nothing in the world but plaine deceit PLato Aristotle Pythagoras Empedocles Democrates Seleucus Epicurus Diogenes Thales and Methrodorus had among them so great contention to describe the world his beginning and propertie that in maintaining euery one his opinion they made greater wars with their pens then their enemies haue done with their lances Pythagoras sayde that that which wee call the World is one thing and that which wee call the vniuersall is an other the Philosopher Thales said that there was no more but one World and to the contrarie Methrodorus the Astronomer affirmed there were infinit worlds Diogenes sayd that the world was euerlasting Seleucus sayd that it was not true but that it had an ende Aristotle seemed to say that the world was eternall But Plato sayde clearely that the world hath had beginning and shall also haue ending Epicurus sayd that it was round as a ball Empedocles saide that it was not as a bowle but as an egge Chilo the Philosopher in the high Mount Olimpus disputed that the world was as men are that is to say that hee had an intellectable and sensible soule Socrates in his Schoole sayeth and in his doctrine wrote that after 37 thousand yeares all things should returne as they had beene before That is to say that he himselfe should bee borne anew and should be nourished and should reade in Athens And Dennis the Tytant should returne to play the Tyrant in Syracuse Iulius Caesar to rule Rome Hannibal to conquer Italy and Scipio to make warre against Carthage Alexander to fight against King Darius and so foorth in all others past In such and other vaine questions and speculstions the auncient Philosophers consumed many yeares They in writing many bookes haue troubled their spirites consumed long time trauelled many Countryes and suffered innumerable dangers and in the end they haue set forth few truthes and many lyes For the least part of that they knew not was much greater then all that which they euer knew When I tooke my penne in my hand to write the vanity of the world my intention was not to reproue this material world the which of the four Elements is compounded that is to say of the earth that is cold and drie of the water that is moist and cold of the ayre that is hote and moist of fire that is drie and hote so that taking the world in this sort there is no reason why we should complaine and lament of it since that without him we cannot liue corporally When the Painter of the world came into the world it is not to be beleeued that he reproued the water which bare him when hee went vpon it nor the ayre that ceased to blow in the sea nor the earth that trembled at his death nor the light which ceased to light nor the stones which brake in sunder nor the fish which suffered themselues to bee taken not the trees which suffered themselues to be drie nor the monuments that suffered themselues to bee opened For the creature acknowledged in his Creator omnipotency and the Creator founded in the creature due obedience Oftentimes and of many persons wee heare say O woefull world O miserable world O subtill world O world vnstable and vnconstant And therefore it is reason wee know what the world is whereof the world is from whence this world is whereof this world is made and who is lord of this world since in it all things are vnstable all things are miserable all things deceitfull all things are malicious which cannot be vnderstood of this materiall worlde For in the fire in the aire in the earth and in the water in the light in the Planets in the stones and in the Trees there are no sorrowes there are no miseryes there are no deceytes nor yet any malice The world wherein wee are borne where we liue and where we die differeth much from the world whereof we doe complaine for the world against whom wee fight suffereth vs not to be in quyet one howre in the day To declare therefore my intention this wicked World is no other thing but the euill life of the Worldlings the Earth is the desire the fire the couetise the water the inconstancie the ayre the folly the stones are the pride the flowers of the Trees the thoughts the deepe Sea the heart Finally I say that the Sunne of this world is the prosperity and the moon is the continuall change The Prince of this so euill a world is the diuell of whom IESVS CHRIST laid The prince of this world shall now be cast out and this the Redeemer of the World sayeth For he called the worldlings and their worldly liues the world For since they be seruants of sinne of
in his flatteries since wee doe know that one day we shall see our selues depriued thereof and that which is more he vseth such craft and subtilty with the one and with the other that in olde men whome reason would should not be vicious hee the more to torment their persons hath kindled a greater fire in their hearts so that this malicious world putteth into olde riches a new couetousnesse and in the aged engendreth cruell auarice and that in that time when it is out of time Wee ought greatly to consider how by the world we are deceiued but much more we ought to take heede that we be not by it destroyed For whereas we thinke to be in open liberty hee keepeth vs secret in prison Wee thinke we are whole and he giueth vs sicknesse Wee thinke wee haue all things yet we haue nothing Wee thinke that for many yeares long shall be our life when that at euery corner we are assaulted of death We thinke that it counteth vs for men that bee wise when hee keepeth vs bound like vnto fooles Wee thinke that it encreaseth our good when that in deede it burdeneth our conscience Finally I say that by the way where we thinke to continue our renowne and life we loose without recouery both life and fame O filthy world that when thou doest receiue vs thou dost cast vs off when thou dost assemble vs thou dost seperate vs when thou seemest to reioyce vs thou makest vs sad when thou pleasest vs how thou displeasest vs when thou exaltest vs how thou humblest vs and when thou doest chastise vs how thou reioycest Finally I say that thou hast thy drinkes so impoysoned that wee are without thee with thee and hauing the thiefe within the house wee goe out of the dores to seeke him Though men be diuers in gestures yet much more are they variable in their appetites And sith the world hath experience of so many yeares it hath appetites prepared for all kinde of people For the presumptuous he procureth honours to the auaricious he procureth riches and to those which are gluttons hee presenteth diuers meates The fleshly he blindeth with women and the negligent he letteth rest and the end why he doth all these things is that after he hath fed them as flesh he casteth vpon them the nets of all vices Note Princes and great Lords note noble men though a Prince doe see himselfe Lord of all the world hee ought to thinke that of no value is the seignory vnlesse he himselfe be vertuous For little it profiteth that he be Lord of the vicious which is himselfe the seruant of all vices Many say that the world doth beguile them and other say that they haue no power against the world To whom we may answere That if at the first temptations wee would haue resisted the world it is vnpossible that so oftentimes it durst assault vs. For of our small resistance commeth his so great audacity I cannot tell if I shall dissemble I shall hold my peace or whether I shall say that I would say since it greeueth my heart so much onely to thinke of it For I feele my eyes readier to lament it then my fingers able to write it It is so that euery man suffereth himselfe to be gouerned so of the world as if God were not in heauen and he had not promised to bee a good Christian here in earth For all that he will wee will that which he followeth wee follow and that which hee chooseth wee choose And that which is greatest sorrow of all if wee doe refraine our selues from aduersity it is not for that of our owne nature wee would cease from it but because the world will not command vs to doe it Little is that which I haue spoken in respect of that I will speake which is that the world hath made vs now so ready to his law that from one houre to another it changeth the whole state of this life So that to day he maketh vs hate that which yesterday we loued he maketh vs complaine of that which we commended hee maketh vs to bee ofended now with that which before we did desire hee maketh vs to haue mortall enemies of those which before were our speciall friends Finally I say that the world maketh vs to loue that in our life which afterwards wee bewaile at the houre of death If the world did giue vnto his minions any perfect and accomplished thing it were somewhat that for a time a man should remaine in the seruice of his house But since that in the world all things are granted not during life but as lending which ought to bee rendred the day following I know not what man is so very a foole that in the world doth hope for any perpetuall thing For all that he giueth hee giueth with such condition that they shall render it vnto him when hee shall demaund it and not at the discretion of him that doth possesse it Peraduenture the world can giue vs perpetuall life I say certainly no. For in the sweetest time of all our life then sodainly we are assaulted of cruell death Peraduenture the world can giue vs temporal goods in aboundance I say certainly no. For no man at any time had so much riches but that which hee wanted was more then that hee possessed Peraduenture the world can giue vs perpetuall ioy I say certainly no. For exempting those dayes which wee haue to lament and also the houres which we haue to sight there remaineth not for vs one moment to laugh Peraduenture he can giue vs perpetuall health I say certainly no. For to men of long life without comparison the diseases are more which they suffer then the yeares are which they liue Peraduenture the world can giue vs perpetuall rest I say certainly no. For if the dayes be fewe wherein we see the elements without cloudes fewer are the houres which wee feele our hearts without cares Therefore since that in this miserable world there is no health perpetuall nor life perpetuall nor riches perpetuall nor ioy perpetuall I would knowe what it is that the worldlings would of the world since they know that it hath no good thing to giue them but onely by lending or by vsurie If it be vsurie there is no gaine of money but rather returne with restitution of vices O children of vanity O maisters of lightnesse since it is so that ye now determine to followe and serue the world looke not of the world to haue any thing but things of the world In it is nothing but pride enuie leacherie hate ire blasphemy auarice and folly And if ye aske if he haue in his gouernance any vertuous thing hee will answere you that hee doth neuer sell such merchandize in his shop Let no man thinke that the world can giue vs that which it hath nor for it selfe And if wee will chaunge any thing with it and it with vs hee is so subtill to sell
couer then the riches which groweth thereon If thou hast not lost the sence of smelling as that Isle doth sauour vnto mee of Sages so doth Rome stinke of fooles For for the time it is lesse paine to endure the stinke of the beast then to heare the words of a foole When the wars of Asia were ended I returned home by that Isle wherein I visited all the liuing people and all the graues of the dead Phylosophers And for a truth I tell thee Lambert that that iourney was very troublesome vnto mee for herein my person endured much paine on the land I suffered diuers daungers and on the Sea I saw my selfe in sundrie perills In the citie of Corinthe where thou art resident at this present in the middest of the Market-place thou shalt find the graue of the phylosopher Panimio to whome the straight friendship auayled little which he had with Ouide but the enmitie greatly endammaged him which hee had with Augustus the Emperour Two myles from Theadfonte at the foote of the mountaines Arpines thou shalt finde the graue of the famous Oratour Armeno who was by the Consul Scylla vniustly banished And of trueth as heere was much bloud lost because Scylla should not enter into Rome so there were not fewe teares shedde in Italie for the banishment of this learned Phylosopher In the gate of Argonauta harde by the water on the top of a high Rocke thou shalt finde the bones of Celliodorus the philosopher who obserued all the auncient lawes and was a great enemy of those which brought in new customes and statutes This good Phylosopher was banished in the prosperity and furie of the Marians not for the euils they found in him but for the vices hee reproued in them In the fields Heliny there was a great tombe within the which were the bones of Selleno the phylosopher who was as well learned in the vii Liberall-arts as if hee himselfe had first inuented them And hee was banished by the Emperour Nero for because he perswaded this cruell Emperour to bee mercifull and pittifull In the fieldes Helini out of the Woods towardes the west parte thou shalt finde the graue of the phylosopher Vulturnus a man in Astrologie profoundly learned which little auayled him in the time of his banishment For hee was banished by Marcus Antonius not for that Marcus Antonius would haue banished him for hee was not offended by him but because his loue Qu. Cleopatra hated him as her mortall enemie For Women of an euill life doe commonly reuenge their angrie hearts with the death of their especiall friends Diuers other Tombes in that isle I saw the names whereof though in wryting I haue them yet at this present I cannot call them to memorie Well by the faith of an honest man I sweare vnto thee that thou shalt finde all true which I haue tolde thee Now I tell thee Lambert that I visiting those graues theyr Disciples did not beare them greater obedience when thee were aliue then I did reuerence now they are dead And it is true also that in al that time mine eyes were as much wet with teares as their bones were couered with earth These worthy and learned Phylosophers were not banished for any mischiefes by their persons committed nor for any slaunders they had done in the common-wealths but because the deeds of our fathers deserued that they should be taken from their companie and we their children were not worthie to haue the bones of such famous and renowmed Sages in our custodie I cannot tell if the enuie I haue to that isle bee greater or the pittie I haue of this miserable Rome for the one is immortall by the graues of the dead and the other is defamed with the bad life of the liuing I desire thee hartily as a friend and doe commaund thee as a seruant that thou keepe the Priuiledges which I gaue to that Isle without breaking any one For it is very iust that such cities peopled with such dead should be priuiledged of the liuing By this Centurion thou shalt knowe all things which are chaunced amongst the prisoners For if I should wryte vnto thee all the whole matter as it was done I ensure thee vnto mee it would be much paine to wryte it and vnto thee great trouble to read it It suffiseth presently to say that the day of the great solemnitie of the Mother Berecynthia a slaunder arose in Rome by the occasion of these Iesters Scoffers Loyterers and by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the bloud which was shead through the places surmoūted the wine which was drunk at the Feast And thinke not that which I say to be little that the bloud which was shedde surmounted the wine that was drunke For as thou now knowest the Cittizens are come to so great follie that he which was on that day most drunk they sayde that hee had offered vnto the Gods greatest sacrifices I am yet afrayde to remember the crueltyes which that day I saw with mine owne eyes But I am much more ashamed of that which they talke of vs in straunge Realmes For the Noble and worthie hearts doe not account it so much to receyue a great wound as to take it of a cowardly man There is great difference betweene the Nettes wherewith they vse to take Byrdes and no lesse is there betweene the hookes wherewith they take Fish I meane that the knife which cutteth the Flesh differeth much from the knife which hurteth the heart For the hurts of the bodie with Surgeons helpe may bee healed but the Gods onely are the physitions of the perills of the heart I behelde and saw Rome which was neuer vanquyshed by valiaunt men at that day ouercome by loyterers Rome which could neuer bee won by those of Carthage is now wonne by Iesters Players and Vacabonds Rome which triumphed of all the Realmes is now vanquished of the loyterers Iesters and idle persons Finally wee saw that Rome which in times past gaue lawes to the barbarous is now become the slaue of fooles In this case I haue beene so troubled that I cannot tell what to say and lesse what I write vnto thee One thing comforteth me that since Rome and her Romanes doe not reioyce themselues but with fooles that shee and her children be not punished but by the hands of fooles I thinke not that in this case the Gods do any wrong if Rome which laughed thorough mockery at the players doe weepe one day with the loyterers in good earnest Thou mightst demaund me Lambert since wee other Princes are bound to maintaine equall iustice with all wherefore wee doe dissemble many offences which others haue done in earnest and yet wee will not pardon those Iesters since al that they haue inuented was for mirth and pastime I promise thee though their offences were great indeed yet I doe not banish thē so much for the bloud they haue shed as for the good
faithfull friend about them to helpe them to passe that paine And not without a cause I say that he ought to be a faithfull friend For many in our life do gape after our goods few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wise and sage men before nature compelleth them to die of their owne will ought to die That is to say that before they see themselues in the pangs of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if we count him a foole which wil passe the sea without a ship truely we will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparation before What losest a wisest man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenuenture of honour is any man before death to reconcile himselfe to his enemies and to those whom he hath borne hate and malice What loseth he of his credite who in his life time restoreth that which at his death they will command him to render wherein may a man shew himselfe to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by processe they will take from him O how many Princes and great Lords are there which onely not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heires all the dayes of their life to bee in trauerse in the Law So that they supposing to haue left their children wealthy haue not left them but for Atturneyes and Counsellers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dispose his goods and correct life as if he shold dye the same night And at night in like manner he ought to commit himselfe to GOD as if he hoped for no life vntill morning For to say the truth to sustaine life there are infinite trauels but to meete with death there is but one way If they will credite my wordes I would coūsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the worlde he should vndoe himselfe The Riche and the poore the great and the smal the Gentlemen and the Plebeyans all say and sweare that of death they are exceeding fearefull To whome I say and affirm that he alone feareth death in whome we see amendment of life Princes and great Lords ought also to be perfect to ende before they ende to dye before they die and to be mortified before they bee mortified If they doe this with themselues they shall as easily leaue their life as if they channged from one house to another For the most parte of men delight to talke with leysure to drinke with leysure to eate with leysure and to sleepe with leysure but they die in haste Not without cause I say they die in haste since wee see them receiue the sacrament of the Supper of the Lord in haste male their willes by force and with speede to confesse and receyue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue loste their Sences and are readie to giue vp the spirite when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the Ship-master after the ship is sunke what doe weapons after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By this which I haue spoken I will demaund what it auayleth the sicke being heauie with sleepe and berefte of their sences to call for Confessors vnto whome they confesse their sinnes Euill shall hee bee confessed which hath no vnderstanding to repent himselfe What auaileth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secrets of his Conscience when the sicke man hath lost his speech Let vs not deceyue our selues saying in our age we will amend hereafter and make restitution at our death For in mine opinion it is not the poynt of wise men nor of good Christiās to desire so much time to offend and they will not espie any to amend Would to GOD that the third parte of the precious time which men occupie in sinne were employed about the meditations of Death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their Fleshly lusts were spent in bewayling their filthie sinnes I am very sorrie with my heart that they so wickedly spend and passe their-life in vices and pleasures as if there were no GOD vnto whom they shold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doe sinne vpon a vaine hope onely in Age to amend and at death to repent But I would demaund him that in this hope sinned what certainty he hath in age of amendment and what assurance he hath to haue long warning before hee die Since we see by experience there are moe in number which dye young then olde it is no reason wee should commit so many sinnes in one day as that wee should haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our life And afterwards to bewayle the sins of our long life we desire no more but one space of an houre Considering the the Omnipotencie of the Diuine mercie it sufficeth yea and I say that the space of an houreis to much to repent vs of our wicked life but I would counsel all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one houre that that be not the last houre For the sighes and repentance which proceed from the bottome of the heart penetrate the high Heauens but those which come of necessity doeth not pierce the bare seeling of the House I allow and commende that those which visit◠the sick do counsell them to examin their consciences to receiue the Communion to pray vnto GOD to forgiue their enemyes and to recommend themselues to the deuoute prayers of the people and to repent them of their sinnes Finally I say that it is very good to doe all this But yet I say it is better to haue done it before For the diligent and careful Pyrate prepareth for the Tempest when the Sea is calme Hee that deepely would consider how little the goods of this life are to be esteemed Let him go to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what he doeth in his bed And he shall finde that the wife demandeth of the poore husband her dowrie the Daughter the third parte the other the fifth the childe the preheminence of age the Sonne in law his Marriage the physition his duetie the Slaue his libertie the Seruaunts their wages the creditours their debtes and the worst of all is that none of those that ought to inherite his goods will giue him one glasse of water Those that shall heare or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene done at the death of their neighbours the same shall come vnto them when they shall be sicke at the poynt of death For so soone as the Rich shutteth his eyes forthwith there is great strife betweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but which of them shall inherite most of his possessions In this case I will not my pen trauell any
demaund thee how it is possible that I which haue heard thee speake so well of death doe presently see thee so vnwilling to leaue life since the gods commaund it thy age willeth it thy disease doth cause it thy feeble nature doth permit it the sinfull Rome doth deserue it and the sickle fortune agreeth that for our great miserie thou shouldest die Why therefore sighest thou so much for to die The trauels which of necessitie must needes come with stout heart ought to be receiued The cowardly heart falleth before hee is beaten downe but the stout and valiant stomacke in greatest perill recouereth most strength Thou art one man and not two thou owest one death to the gods and not two Why wilt thou therefore being but one pay for two and for one onely life take two deaths I meane that before thou endest life thou diest for pure sorrow After that thou hast sayled and in the sayling thou hast passed such perill when the gods doe render thee in the safe Hauen once againe thou wilt runne into the raging Sea where thou scapest the victorie of life and thou dyest with the ambushments of death Threescore and two yeeres hast thou fought in the Field and neuer turned thy backe and fearest thou now beeing enclosed in the Graue Hast thou not passed the pykes and bryers wherein thou hast beene enclosed and now thou tremblest being in the sure way Thou knowest what dammage it is long to liue and now thou doubtest of the profit of death which ensueth It is now many yeeres since death and thou haue beene at defyance as mortall enemies and now to lay thy hands on thy Weapons thou flyest and turnest thy backe Threescore and two yeeres are past since thou wert bent against fortune and now thou closest thy eyes when thou oughtest ouer her to triumph By that I haue told thee I meane that since wee doe not see thee take death willingly at this present we do suspect that thy life hath not in times past beene very good For the man which hath no desire to appeare before the gods it is a token he is loaden with vices What meanest thou most noble Prince why weepest thou as an infant and complainest as a man in despaire If thou weepest because thou dyest I answer thee that thou laughest as much when thou liuedst For of too much laughing in the life proceedeth much wayling at the death Who hath alwaies for his heritage appropriated the places being in the common wealth The vnconstancy of the minde who shall bee so hardy to make steadie I meane that all are dead all die all shall die among all wilt thou alone liue Wilt thou obtaine of the gods that which maketh them gods That is to say that they make thee immortall as thēselues Wilt thou alone haue by priuiledge that which the gods haue by nature My youth demandeth thy age what thing is best or to say better which is lesse euill to die well or to liue euill I doubt that any man may attaine to the meanes to liue well according to the continuall and variable troubles and vexations which daily we haue accustomed to carrie betweene our hands alwayes suffering hunger cold thirst care displeasures temptations persecutions euill fortunes ouerthrowes and diseases This cannot be called life but a long death and with reason wee will call this life death since a thousand times we hate life If an ancient man did make a shew of his life from time he is come out of the intrailes of his mother vntill the time hee entreth into the bowels of the earth and that body would declare al the sorrowes that he hath passed and the heart discouer all the ouerthrows of fortune which he hath suffered I imagine the gods would maruell and men would wonder at the body which hath endured so much and the heart which hath so greatly dissembled I take the Greeks to be more wise which weepe when their children bee borne and laugh when the aged dye then the Romanes which sing when their children are borne and weepe when the olde men die Wee haue much reason to laugh when the olde men die since they dy to laugh and with great reason wee ought to weepe when the children are borne since they are borne to weepe CHAP. LI. Panutius the Secretarie continueth his exhortation admonishing all men willingly to accept death vtterly to forsake the world and all his vanities SInce life is now condemned for euill there remaineth nought else but to approoue death to be good Oh if it pleased the immortall gods that as I oftentimes haue heard the disputation of this matter so now that thou couldest therewith profite But I am sorry that to the Sage and wise man counsell sometimes or for the most part wanteth None ought to cleaue much to his owne opinion but sometimes he should follow the counsell of the third person For the man which in all things will follow his owne aduise ought well to be assured that in all or the most part hee shall erre O my Lord Marke sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and ancient didst not thou thinke that as thou hadst buried many so likewise some should burie thee What imaginations were thine to thinke that seeing the ende of their dayes others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rich honorably accompanied olde and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the commonwealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast alwaies beene a friend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Since thou hast prooued what honours and dishonours deserue riches and pouertie prosperitie and aduersitie ioy and sorrow loue and fear vices and pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remaineth to know but that it is necessarie to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble Lord that thou shalt learne more in one houre what death is then in an hundred yeares what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to be good and hast liued as good is it better that thou die and goe with so many good then that thou scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doe maruell that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discreet Many things doe the sage men feele which inwardly doe oppresse their heart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honour If all the poyson which in the sorrowfull heart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the wals would not suffice to rubbbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore wherewith to shut the shop wherein all the miserie of this wofull life are vendible What wrong or preiudice doe the gods vnto vs when they call vs before them but from an old decayd house to change
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
to his owne profite As the gods gaue me long life of these things haue I had great experience wherein I let thee know that for the space of xv yeares I was Consull Senator Censor Pretor Questor Edil and Tribune and after all this I haue beene 18. yeares Emperour of Rome wherein all those which haue spoken most against me touched the profite or damage of another The chief intention of those which follow the Courts of Princes are to procure to augment their houses And if they cannot come to that they seeke to diminish that of another not for that any profite should follow vnto them thereof be it neuer so little but because mans malice is of such condition that it esteemeth the profite of another his owne dammage They ought to haue great compassion of the Prince for the most that follow him serue him not for that they loue him but for the gifts and rewards which they hope to haue of him And this seemeth to be true for the day that Princes shall cease to giue them the selfe same day beginne they for to hate him So that such seruants wee cannot call friends of our persons but couetous of our goods That thou loue my sonne the one aboue the other thou mayest right well but I aduertise thee that thou nor they do make any semblance in such sort that all doe know it for if thou doest otherwise they will murmur at thee will all persecute thee Hee incurreth into no small perill nor hath no little trouble which is aboue all of the Prince beloued and of the people hated For then hee is hated and persecuted of all and yet more damage ensueth vnto him of the enmity of all then doth of the loue of the Prince alone for sometimes the gods permitting it and his behauior deseruing it the prince doth cease to loue him and therewith his enemies beginne to persecute him From the time I knew what meaned to gouerne a Common weale I haue alwayes determined neuer to keepe man in my house one day after I knowe him to bee an enemie to the Common-wealth In the yeare of the Foundation of Rome 649. Lucius Lucullus the Senatour going to the warres against Mythridates by chaunce found a tablet of coppper in the cittie called Trigane the which was at the gate of the king of that Prouince And on the same was engrauen certaine Caldean letters the which in effect saide these words The Prince is not sage who will put in hazzard the state of his Common-wealth for the onely commoditie of one alone For the seruice of one can not auaile against the loue of all The Prince is not sage that for to enrich one alone seeketh to empouerish all For it is a thing intollerable that one doe labour the fields and the other doe gather the fruite The Prince is not iust which will satisfie the couetousnes of one more then the seruices of all For there is mean to pay the seruices of the good and there is no Riches to satisfie the couetousnes of the euill The prince is a foole that despiseth the counsell of all and trusteth in the opinion of one For though there bee in a great Ship but one pilot yet it needeth many mariners Bolde is the Prince which to loue one onely wil be hated of all For noble Princes ought to think it much profite to be beloued and much more displeasure to be hated These were the words which were written in that tablet worthy of eternall memory And I will tell thee further in this case that Lucullus the Senatour sent on the one part that Tablet of copper where these wordes were on the other part the coffers wherein he had brought the riches to the end the Senate should chose one and leaue the other The Senate despising the riches and Treasours chose the Tablet of counsells CHAP. LVI The Emperour followeth his matter and exhorteth his Sonne vnto certaine particular things worthy to be engraued in the hearts of men VNtil now I haue spoken as a father to his Sonne that which toucheth thy profit Now I will tell thee what thou shalt doe after my death for my seruice And if thou wilt bee the true Sonne of thy Father the things which I haue loued in my life shall be of thee esteemed after my death Do not resemble many Children which after theyr Fathers haue closed their Eyes doe remember them no more For in such case though indeede the Fathers be dead and buryed yet they are alwaies liuing to complaine to the Gods of their children Though it seemeth not to be slaunderous yet it is more perilous to contend with the dead then to iniure the liuing And the reason is for that the liuing may reuenge and are for to answere but the dead cannot make aunswer and much lesse they can bee reuenged And in such case the Gods do take their cause in protection and somtimes they execute such cruell punishment of those that liue that rather then they would endure it rhey wish to be dead Thou oughtst to thinke my Sonne that I haue begoten thee I haue nourished thee I haue taught thee I haue trymmed thee I haue chastised thee and I haue exalted thee And for this onely consideration though by death I am absent it is not reason that thou euer forget me For the true and not vnthankefull Childe ought the same day to bury his Father in his tender hart when others haue laide him in the harde graue One of the visible chasticements which the Gods giue to men in this world is that the children obey not their Fathers in their life For the selfe same fathers did not remember their owne fathers after their death Let not young Princes thinke after they haue inherited after they see their Father dead and after they are past correction of their Masters that all things ought to bee done as they themselues will it for it wil not be so For they want the fauour of the gods and haue malediction of their fathers they liue in trouble dye in danger I require nought else of thee my sonne but that such a father as I haue been to thee in my life such a sonne thou be to mee after my death I commend vnto thee my sonne the veneration of the Gods and this chiefly aboue all things for the Prince which maketh account of the gods need not to feare any storm of fortune Loue the gods and thou shalt bee beloued Serue them and thou shalt bee serued Feare them and thou shalt be feared honour them and thou shalt be honoured Doe their commaundements and they will giue thee thy hearts desire for the gods are so good that they doe not onely receiue in account that which we do but also that which we desire to doe I commend vnto thee my sonne the reuerence of the Temples that is to say that they be not in discord that they be cleane and renued that they
apparrelled like Priests Haman was also very familiar with the King Assuerus and although all those of his Realme did him great seruice and that strangers had him in great veneration and did honor him maruellously yet was there a glorious Mardocheus that would neuer do him reuerence nor once put off his cappe to him by reason whereof this Haman that was in so great fauour commaunded a gybbet of fifty yardes high to bee set vppe for Mardocheus whom hee would haue hanged on that gibbet to be reuenged on him for the iniury he had done him But the Diuine wil of God was such and fortune did permit it that on the same Gallowes Hamon thought to haue put Mardocheus to death on the selfe same himselfe was hanged Themistocles and Aristides were 2. famous men among the Greekes and because they were both great Princes and Philosophers and had in great reputation of all those that knew them there was such a secret emulation and ambition betweene them the one to raigne ouer the other that both aspiring each to commaund other there followed great disorders and oppressions of the subiects of their Common-Weale Wherefore Themistocles moued with pitty and compassion of so great a Tirant which for their sakes their Common weale endured one day in the Market place before all his people with a loude voyce hee spake these words Know you O you people of Athens that if you doe not lay handes on my exceeding presumption and on the ouer great ambition of Aristides that our Gods will bee offended the temples will fall down to the hard foundation our treasures will bee consumed our selues destroyed and our common weales brought to vtter ruine and decay Therefore once againe good people I say bridle these our inordinate and vnspeakeable affections betime lest the reines layde in our neckes be runne too farre O golden wordes of a Prince and worthie eternall fame Lucanus also when hee would reproue the pride and presumption of the Romane Princes sayde that Pompey the great could neuer abide to haue any for his companion or equall with him within Rome And Iulius Caesar also wold neuer suffer that there should bee any greater in the Worlde then himselfe And therefore to discourse a little of this abominable and horrible vice of pride we haue not without great reason layde before you these approued examples before wee beginne to reproue it For in al things the examples wee shew you are wont to moue vs more then the reasons we seeme to tell you of For that which I haue seene for that I haue read and for that I haue heard say also of others I am most assured and resolued therof that by the onely cause of this wicked sinne of pride proceedeth the ruine and vtter decay of all our greatest things and affayres of this life for by all other sinnes a man may indeede discend and decline from his degree and state of honour and estimation but by this onely sinne hee cannot chuse but hee must fall downe flat to the ground They finde out the middest and center of the earth the depth of the sea and the highest toppes of Riphey Mountaines the end of the great mount Caucasus and the beginning of the great floud Nile and only the little heart of man touching desire to rule and commaund can neuer finde ende The insatiable couetousnesse is such that it cannot bee contented with the things wee haue but onely with those wee repute of lesse price Likewise Ambition pride to commaund cannot bee contained within boundes but onely by obeying For neuer no vice can haue end if hee that haue it doe not leaue it and banish it from him After Alexander the Great had conquered all Asia and had subdued the great India he was one day reproued of the great Philosopher Anacharses who tolde him these words Sith thou art now O Alexander Lord of the earth why doest thou weary thy selfe so much in thy affayres as no paine seemeth troublesome to thee To whom Alexander answered Thou hast tolde mee many times Anacharses that besides this world there are also three others And if it bee so as thou sayest how great a reproach and infamy it were to me that being three other worlds I should bee Lord but onely of one Therefore I doe dayly sacrifice to the Gods that though they take mee out of the life of this World yet at least they will not deny mee of so glorious a conquest I confesse that the Scriptures excepted I haue no wordes so rise in memorie as these whereby may easily be perceyued that for to quiet and to content a proud and haughty heart the seigniorie of the whole World is not yet sufficient and how ended the pride of this glorious prince euen thus Hee that hoped for to conquere and to bee Lorde of three other Worldes did not rule this one onely aboue three yeares Wee may boldly say this and sweare it and may also plainely proue it to any that desire to see it that he wanteth both wit and knowledge that taketh vppon him to bee proud and presumptuous For the more hee looketh into himselfe and reconsidereth and considereth his state and calling and what he is hee shall finde in him a thousande occasions fitte to humble him but neuer a one onely to make him proude and naughty How great rich mighty noble and worthy soeuer the person be euery time that wee happen to see him and that we haue no acquaintance of him And that we desire to know what hee is wee doe not aske of what Element of what Sea of what Fire of what Planet of what Climat of what Sunne of what Moone nor of what ayre but onely of what Countrey hee is of and where he was born For wee are all of the earth wee liue in the earth and in the end wee haue to turne into the earth as to our naturall thing If the Planets and the beasts could helpe vs with the Instrument and benefite of the tongue they would take from vs the occasions of vaine glory For the starres woulde say that they were created in the firmament the Sunne in the Heauens the birdes in the ayre the Salamander in the fire and the fish in the water but onely the vnhappy man was made of earth and created in the earth So that in that respect wee cannot glory to haue other kinsfolke neerer to vs then are the wormes the flyes and horse-flyes If a man did consider wel what he were hee would assertaine vs that the fire burns him water drowns him the earth wearies him the ayre troubles him the heate grieues him the colde hurtes him and the day is troublesome to him the night sorrowfull hunger and thirst makes him suffer meate and drinke filles him his enemies dayly follow him and his friendes forget him So that the time a man hath to liue in this wretched world cannot be counted a life but rather a long death The first day wee
wee now at this present doe also aduise them to take heede that they doe not accept and take all that is offered and presented although they may lawfully doe it For if hee be not wise in commaunding and moderate in taking a day might come that hee should see himselfe in such extremity that he should be inforced to call his Friends not to counsell him but rather to helpe and succour him It is true that it is a naturall thing for a Courtyer that hath twenty crowns in his purse to desire suddenly to multiplie it to an 100. from a 100. to 200. from 200. to a 1000. from a thousand to 2000. and from 2000 to an hundred thousand So that this poore wretched creature is so blinded in couetousnes that hee knoweth not nor feeleth not that as this Auarice continually increaseth and augmenteth in him so his life daily diminisheth and decreaseth besides that that euery man mocks and scorns him that thinketh The true contentation consisteth in commanding of Money and in the facultie of possessing much riches For to say truly it is not so but rather disordinate riches troubleth and grieueth the true contentation of men and awaketh in them daily a more appetite of Couetousnes We haue seen many Courtiers rich and beloued but none indeede that euer was contented or wearyed with commaunding but rather his life should faile him then Couetousnes Oh how many haue I seene in the Court whose legges nor feete haue bin able to carry them nor their bodie strong enough to stand alone nor their hands able to write nor their sight hath serued them to see to reade nor their teeth for to speake nor their iawes to eate nor their eares to heare nor their memory to trauell in any suite or matter yet haue not their tongue fayled them to require presents and giftes of the Prince neyther deepe and fine wit to practise in Court for his most auaile and vantage So incurable is the disease and plague of auarice that hee that is sicke of that infirmity can not bee healed neyther with pouerty nor yet bee remedied with riches Since this contagious maladie and apparant daunger is now so commonly knowne and that it is crepte into Courtiers and such as are in high fauour and great authoritie by reason of this vile sinne of auarice I would counsell him rather to apply himselfe to bee well thought of and esteemed then to endeauour to haue enough Also Queene Semiramis was wife to king Belius and mother of king Ninus and although by nature shee was made a woman yet had shee a heart neuer otherwise but valiant and Noble For after shee was widdow shee made her selfe Lord by force of armes of the great India and conquered all Asia and in her life time caused a goodly tombe to bee made where she would lye after her death and about the which she caused to bee grauen in golden Letters these words Who longs to swell with masse of shining golde And craue to catch such wealth as fewe possesse This stately Tombe let him in hast vnfolde Where endlesse heapes of hatefull coyne do rest Many dayes and kinges raignes past before any durst open this Sepulchre vntill the comming of the great Cyrus who commaunded it to be opened And being reported to him by those that had the charge to seeke the treasure that they had sought to the bottomlesse pit and Worldes end but treasure they could find none nor any other thing saue a stone wher in were grauen these words Ah haplesse Knight whose high distracted mind By follies play abused was so much That secret tombes the carcasse could none binde But thou wouldst reaue them vp for to be rich Plutarch and also Herodotus which haue both written this history of Semiramis doe shew and affirme that Queen Semiramis got great honour by this iest and King Cyrus great shame and dishonour If Courtiers that are rich thinke and beleeue that for that they haue money inough and at their will that therefore they should be farre from all troubles and miseries they are deceyned For if the poore soule toyle and hale his body to get him onely that he needeth much more dooth the rich man torment and burne his heart till hee be resolued which way to spende that superfluitie he hath Iesu what a thing is it to see a rich man how bee tormenteth himselfe night and day imagining and deuising with himselfe whether hee shall with the mony that is left buy leases milles or houser anuities vines or cloth lands tenemēts or pastures or some thing in see or whether he shal enrich his sonne with the thirds or fifts and after all these vaine thoughts Gods will is for to strike him with death suddenly not onely before he hath determined how hee should lay out or spend this money but also before he hath made his will I haue many times tolde it to my friends yea and preached it to them in the Pulpit and written it also in my bookes that it is farre greater trouble to spend the goods of this world well and as they ought to be spent then it is to get them For they are gotten with swette and spent with cares Hee that hath no more then hee needeth it is hee that knoweth well how to parte from them and to spend them but he that hath aboundance and more then needfull doth neuer resolue what hee should doe Whereof followeth many times that those which in his life time were enemies to him shall happen to bee heyres after his death of all the goods and money he hath It is a most sure and certaine custome among mortall men that commonly those that are rich while they are aliue spend more money vainely in thinges they would not and that they haue no pleasure in and wherein they would lest lay it out and after their death they leaue the most part of their inheritance to those whom they loued least for it hapneth many times that the sonne which hee loueth worst enheriteth his goods that sonne which hee loued best and made most of remaineth poore Therfore continuing still our matter I say that I know not the cause why the fauoured of the Court desire to bee so rich couetous and insatiable sith they alone haue to gette the goods where afterwardes to spende them they haue need of the counsell and aduise of many Let not those also that are in fauour with the Prince make too great a shew openly of their riches but if they haue aboundance let them keepe it secret For if their lurking enemies know not what they haue the worst they can doe they can but murmur but if they see it once they will neuer leaue till they haue accused him To see a Courtier builde sumptuous houses to furnish them with wonderfull and rich hangings to vse excesse and prodigality in their meates to haue their cupbordes maruellously decked with cups and pots of golde and siluer to
And all this commeth onely because one sort of people followeth an other but one reason seldome followeth another If wee fall if we stumble if wee be sicke if we breake our face are we sure that seruing as we do the world that the world will recure and remedie vs No sure it is not so For the remedy the world is wont to giue to our troubles is euer notwithstanding greater trouble then the first so that they are like vnto Searing-yrons that burne the flesh and heale not the wound For the world is full of guile and deceyte and subtill to deceiue but very slowe to giue vs remedy And this we see plainly For if it perswade vs to reuenge any iniury receyued it doeth it onely in reuenging of that to make vs receiue a thousand other iniuries And if sometimes wee thinke wee receiue some comfort of the world of our paines and troubles of the body if afterwardes ouer-lodeth our mindes with a Sea of thoughts and cogitations So that this accursed and flattering world maketh vs belieue perswadeth vs the right and perfite way and in the end we are cast vnwares into the Nets of all wickednes priuily layde to ensnare vs. How great soeuer a man bee in fauor with the king how noble of bloud how fine of wit and how warie soeuer hee be let euery man bee assured that practiseth in the world he shall in the ende be deceyued by him For hee costeth vs very deere and wee sell our selues to him good cheape I tolde you but little to tell you we solde our selues good cheape for I should haue saide better in saying we haue giuen out selues in preye wholly to him without receiuing any other recompence And in deede they are very fewe and rare that haue any reward of him and infinit are they that serue him without any other recompence more then an ydle foolish and vaine-hope Oh Trayterous Worlde in how short a time doest thou receyue vs and afterwardes with a glimce of an Eye suddenly doest put vs from thee thou gladdest and makest vs sorrowfull thou callest vs to honour and abasest vs thou punishest vs and doest vs a thousand pleasures And finally I say thou doest make vs so vile and poysonest vs with thy vile labourers that without thee wee are yet euer with thee and that that grieues vs worst of all is that hauing the Thiefe in the house we goe out of the house to giue him place and make him owner When the world knoweth one once that is prowd and presumptuous he procureth him honour to another that is couetous riches to another that is a glutton good meats to an other that is carnall the commoditie of womeÌ„ to another that is idle quyet and ease and all this doth the Trayterous Worlde to the ende that after as Fish whom hee hath fed hee may laye the net of sinne vpon vs to catch vs in If we would resist the first temptations the World offreth vs it is impossible hee durst so many times assaulte vs. For to say truely by our small and weake resistance increaseth his ouer-great audacitie I would these Louers of this worlde would but tell me a little what 〈◊〉 or what Hope they can hope of him Why they should suffer so manie eâ—cumbers broyles and troubles as they doe To thinke the Worlde can giue vs perpetuall life it is a mockery and extreame madnes to hope of it For we see when life is most deare to vs and that we are lothest to leaue the world then arriueth Death in an vnhappie houre to swallow vs vp to depriue vs of all this our worldly felicitie To hope that the World will giue vs assured Myrth euen this is also a madnes For the dayes excepted we must lament and the houres allottod out to complaine alas we shal see but a small surplus of Time left to laughe and be mertie I can say no more but exhort euery man to looke well about him what he doth and that he be aduised what hee thinketh For when we thinke and belieue wee haue made peace with Fortune euen then is she in battel against vs. And I doe assuredly belieue that that I now prepare my selfe to speake euen presently shall be read of manie but obserued of few and that is that I haue seene those come out of their owne proper houses mourning and lamenting that had spent and consumed all their time in laughing and making good cheere seruing this miserable world which is but only a giuer of all euils a ruine of the good a heap of sinne a tyraunt of vertues a traitor of peace and warre a sweet water of errors a riuer of vices a persecutor of the vertuous a combe of lyes a deuiser of nouelties a graue of the ignorant a cloake of the wicked an ouen of lechery and finally a Charibdis where all good and noble hearts doe perish and a Sylla where all Noble desires and thoughts are cast away together For it is most certaine that this Worlding that is not content with this World and that leaueth his first estate and that taketh vpon him a new manner of life and chaungeth from house to house and from Countrey to Countrey hee shall neuer notwithstanding content himselfe nor quiet his mind And the cause hereof is that if a Worlding depart out of his house neuer to come againe into it there are yet at hand immediatly other ten licentious persons that do but watch to enter into his house Speaking more particularly I say that in the Court of Princes they account them happy and fortunate that be in fauour with the Prince that haue great affairs in Court that bee rich and of power that be serued and honoured of euerie man and that take place goe before euery man So that it may be said that the common people doe not cal those fortunate that deserue to be fortunat but onely those that haue enough But the auncient Philosophers were not of this mind and much lesse are the wise vertuous men at this day For we see that in the Court of Princes many lacke fauor rather then life others lacke both fauour and life together and others not onely their life and fauour but also their goods and faculties So that all that their fauour and credite haue giuen them in many yeares and by sundry griefes and troubles they come afterwardes to lose them euen vpon a suddain and in short time I graunt notwithstanding that it is a great honour profite and furtherance for the Courtier to bee in his Princes fauour but neuerthelesse hee cannot deny me but that it is a dangerous thing also For naturally a great familiarity bringeth also a great enuy with it sith the beloued of the Princes is commonly euill willed of the Common weale And that which is most daungerous is that to obtain the fauor of his Prince hee must so behaue himselfe that his seruice must bee more rare better and exquisite
Realme to haue so worthie a King Amongst other Lawes for women hee enacted one worthy of high commendations the wich commaunded that the Father which dyed should giue nothing to his daughter and an other that neyther liuing nor dying hee should giue any Money to marrie her withall to the intent that none should take her for her goods but only for her vertues and not for her beautie but for her good qualities whereas now some are forsaken because they be poore so then they abode vnmarryed because they were vicious Oh Time worthie to bee desired when maydens hoped not to be marryed with their Fathers goods but by the vertuous works of their owne persons this was the time called The golden Worlde when neither the daughter feared to be disinerited by the father in his life nor the Father to dye sorrowfull for leauing her without dowrie at his death Oh Rome treble accursed bee hee that first brought Gold into thy house and cursed be he that first beganne to hoord vp treasures Who hath made Rome to be so rich of Treasures and so poor of vertues who hath caused noble-men to marry the Plebeyans and to leaue the daughters of Senatours vnmaried what hath made that the rich mans Daughter is demaunded vnwilling and the daughter of a poor man none will desire What hath caused that One marryeth a Foole with 500. marks rather then a wise woman with ten thousand vertues then I will not say that in this case the flesh vanquished the flesh but I say that vanitie is ouercome of malice For a couetous person will now-adayes rather take a wife that is rich and foule then one that is poore and faire Oh vnhappy woman that bringeth forth children and more vnhappie be the daughters that are born the which to take in marriage no man desireth neyther for the bloud of their predecessors nor the fauor of their friends nor the worthinesse of their persons nor the puritie of their liues Oh wicked world where the daughter of a Good-man without money shal haue no mariage but it was not wont to bee so For in the olde time when they treated of Marriages first they spake of the persons and afterward of the goods not as they do at this present in this vnhappie time For now they speak first of the goods and last of all of the persons In the said Golden-world first they spake of the vertues that the person was endued with and when they were marryed as it were in sporte they would speake of the Goods When Camillus triumphed ouer the Gaules he had then but one sonne and he was such a one that his deserts merited great praise and for the renowm of his Father diuers Kings desired to haue him to their sonnes and diuers Senators desired to haue him to their sonnes in law This yong man being of the age of thirty years and the Father at 60. was importunately styrred by his naturall friendes and desires of strange kings for to marie him but alwayes the olde Camille withstood the counsell of his friends and the importunitie of the straungers When it was demaunded why he determined not vpon some Marriage for his sonne sith thereby should ensue the quyet life of the man and the ioy and comforte of himselfe in his age He aunswered them thus I will not marry my Sonne because some offer mee rich daughters some noble of lynage some young and some fayre But there is none hath sayde to mee I giue you my vertuous daughter Certainely Gamille merited triumph for that hee did and deserued eternall memory for that he said I spake to you Faustine all these wordes because I see you leade your daughter to Theaters and playes and bring her into the capitol you put her to the keeping of the Sword players you suffer her to see the Tumblers and yet doe not remember that shee is young and you not too aged you goe into the streetes without licence and sport you by the riuers I find no villany therein nor thinke that your daughter is euill but I say it because you giue occasion that she should not bee good Beware beware Faustine neuer trust to the race of flesh of young people nor haue no confidence in old folkes for there is no better way then to flye the occasion of all things For this intent the virgins vestals are closed vp betweene the walles to eschew the occasions of open places not to bee more light and foolish but to bee more sad and vertuous flying occasions The young shall not say I am young and vertuous nor the olde shall not say I am olde and broken for of necessity the drie flaxe will burne in the fire and the greene flagge smoke in the flame I say though a man be a Diamond set among men yet of necessity hee ought to bee quicke and to melte as waxe in the heate among Women Wee cannot deny that though the Wood bee taken from the fire and the imbers quenched yet neverthelesse the stones oftentimes remaine hote In likewise the flesh though it bee chastised with hote and drie diseases consumed by many yeares with trauell yet concupiscence abideth still in the bones What neede is it to blaze the vertues and deny our Naturalities certainely there is not so olde a horse but if hee see a Mare will neigh once or twice there is no man so young nor old but let him see fayre young Damsels eyther hee will giue a sigh or a wish In all voluntary things I deny not but that one may bee vertuous but in naturall thinges I confesse euery man to be weake when you take the wood from the fire it leaueth burning when Sommer commeth the colde winter ceaseth when the sea is calme the waues leaue their vehement motions when the Sunne is set it lightneth not the World I will say then and not before the flesh wil cease to trouble vs when it is layde in the graue of the flesh wee are borne in the flesh wee liue and in the flesh wee shall dye and therby it followeth that our good life shall sooner end then our fleshlie desires forsake vs oftentime some wholesome flesh corrupteth in an euil Vessell and good wine sometimes sauoureth of the foist I say though that the Workes of our life bee vertuous yet shall wee feele the stench of the weake flesh I spake this Faustine sith that age cannot resist those hote apetites how can the tender members of youth resist them vnlesse you that are the Mother goe the right way how should the Daughter that followeth you find it The Romane Matrones if that they will bring vppe their Daughters well ought for to keepe and obserue these Rules when they doe see that they would wander abroade that they breake their legges and if that they should bee gazing then put out their eyes and if they will listen stop their eares if they will giue or take cut off their hands if they dare speake sowe vp their mouthes
and that is without procuring or offering my selfe he Senate of their own Will hath commaunded mee In the eight Table of our auncient laws by these Wordes Wee commaund that in our sacred Senate Charge of iustice bee neuer giuen to him that willinglie offereth him selfe to it but to such as by great deliberation are chosen This is certainely a iust Law for men be now not so vertuous not so louing to the Common wealth that they will forget their own quietnes and rest doing damage to themselues to procure another mans profite There is none so foolish that will leaue his wife children and his owne sweet Countrey to gee into straunge Countries but if hee see himselfe among strange people thinking vnder the colour of iustice to seeke for his owne vtility I say not this without weeping that the Princes with their small study and thought and the Iudges with their couetousnesse haue vndermined and shaken downe the high wals of the policie of Rome O my friend Catullus what wilt thou that I shall say but that our credence so diminisheth our couetousnesse so largely stretcheth our hardinesse so boldneth our shamefastnesse so shamelesse that wee prouide for Iudges to go and rob our neighbours as Captaines against our enemies I let thee to know where as Rome was beloued for chastising the euill now it is as much hated for spoiling the good I doe remember that I reade in the time of Dennis Siracusan that ruleth all Scicill there came an Ambassadour from Rhodes to Rome being of a good age wel learned and valiaunt in armes and right curious to note all things He came to Rome to see the Maiesty of the sacred Senate the height of the high Capitoll enuironed with the Colliset the multitude of Senators the wisedome of the Counsellors the glory of triumphes the correction of the euill the peace of the inhabitants the diuersity of Nations the aboundance of the mantenance the order of the offices And finally seeing that Rome was Rome hee was demaunded how hee thought thereby He answered and sayde O Rome at this present world thou art ful of vertuous and wise men hereafter thou shalt bee furnished with fooles Loe what high and very high words were these Rome was seuen hundred yeares without any house of fooles and now it hath beene three hundred yeares without any wise or vertuous man Looke what I say it is no mockery but of truth if the pittifull Gods now a dayes did raise our predecessors from death to life eyther they would not know vs for their children or else they would attach vs for fooles These be things vsed in Rome but thou sendest no word of that is vsed in Agripine I will write nothing vnto thee to put thee to paine write to me some thing to reioyce me if thy wiâ—e Dimisila chanced well of the flote that came out of Cetin with salt oyle and honey I haue well prouided for her Wilt thou know that Flodius our vncle was cast downe by the rage of his horse and is deceased Laercia and Colliodorus are friendes together by occasion of a marriage I doe sende thee a Gunne I doe pray to the gods to send thee ioy thereof My wife Faustine saluteth thee Recommend mee to Iamiro thy sonne The Gods haue thee in keeping and and sinister fortune bee from me Marcus thy friend to thee Catullus his own CHAP. VII Marcus Aurelius writeth to the amorous Ladies of Rome MArk Orator reading in Rhodes the art of humanity to you amorous Ladies of Rome wisheth health to your persons and amendmeÌ„t of your desired liues It was written to mee that at the Feast of the mother Berecinthia all you being present together made a play of mee in which you layed my life for an example and slaundred my Renowne It is tolde mee that Auilina composed it Lucia Fuluia wrote it and thou Toringua did sing it and you altogether into the Theater did present it You brought mee forth painted in sundry formes with a booke in my hand turned contrary as a fained Philosopher with a long tongue as a bold speaker without measure with a horn in my head as a common Cuckolde with a nettle in my hand as a trembling louer with a banner fallen down as a coward Captaine with my beard halfe shauen as a feminate man with a cloth before my eyes as a condemned foole and yet not content with this another day yee brought mee foorth portracted with another new deuise Yee made a figure of mine with feete of straw the legges of amber the knees of wood the thighes of brasse the belly of horne the armes of pitch the hands of mace the head of yron the eares of an Asse the eyes of a Serpent the heares of rootes â—agged the teeth of a catte the tongue of a Scorpion and the forehead of lead in which was writteÌ„ in two lines these letters M. N. S. N. I. S. V. S. which in my opinion signifieth thus This picture hath not so many mettals as his life hath changes This done yee went to the riuer and tyed it with the head downwarde a whole day and if it had not beene for the good Lady Messelyne I thinke it had beene tyed there till now And now yee amorous Ladies haue written mee a Letter by Fuluius Fabritius which grieued me nothing but as an amorous man from the handes of Ladies I accept it as a mockery And to the end I should haue no leysure to thinke thereon yee sent to demaund a question of me that is if I haue found in my bookes of what for what from whence when for whom and how women were first made Because my condition is for to take mockes for mockes and sith you doe desire it I will shew it vnto you Your friendes and mine haue written to mee but especially your Ambassador Fuluius hath instantly required mee so to doe I am agrieued with nothing and will hold my peace sauing to your letter onely I will make aunswere And sith there hath been none to aske the question I protest to none but to you amorous Ladies of Rome I send my aunswere And if an honest Lady will take the demaund of you it is a token that shee doth enuie the office that yee bee of For of a truth that Lady which sheweth her selfe annoyed with your paine openly from henceforth I condemne her that shee hath some fault in secrete They that bee on the Stage feare not the roaring of the Bull they that bee in the Dungeon feare not the shot of the Canon I will say the woman of good life feareth no mans slaunderous tongue The good Matrons may keepe mee for their perpetuall seruant and the euill for their chiefe enemie I aunswere It is expedient you know of what the first women were made I say that according to the diuersities of Nations that are in the world I find diuers opinions in this case The Egyptians say that when the tiuer Nilus brake and ouerranne the
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
his diuine power And of the superstition of the false and faigned goddes chap 9. fol. 20. How there is but one true God and how happy those Realmes are which haue a good Christian to be their King How the Gentiles affirmed that good Princes after their death were changed into gods and the wicked into Deuils which the Authour proueth by sundry examples chap. 10. fol. 23. Of sundry gods which the Ancients worshipped Of the offices of those gods How they were reuenged of such as displeased them And of the twentie elected gods chap. 11. fol. 26. How Tiberius was chosen Gouernour of the Empire and afterward created Emperour onely for being a good Christian And how God depriued Iustinian the younger both of his Empire and senses because he was a perfidious heretique chap. 12. fol. 29 Of other more naturall and peculier gods which the ancient people had and adored chap. 13. fol. 32 What words the Empresse Sophia spake to Tiberius Constantinus then being Gouernour of the Empire reprouing him for lauishly consuming the Treasure of the Empire gotten by her chap. 14. fol. 36 The answere of Tiberius to the Empresse Sophia Augusta declaring that Noble Princes neede not hoord vp treasures And of the hidden treasure which this good Emperour foundeby reuelation in the Palace where he remayned chap. 15. fol. 38 How the Captayne Narsetes ouercame many Battailes onely by reposing his whole confidence in God And what hapned to him by the Empresse Sophia Augusta relating the vnthankfulnesse of Princes towards their seruants chap. 16. fol 41 Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the King of Scicille remembring the trauels they had endured together in their youth and reprooning him for his small reuerence to the Temples ch 17 fo 46 The Emperours prosecution in his Letter admonishing Princes to bee fearefull of their Gods And of the sentence which the Senate gaue vpon the King for pulling down the church ch 18 f. 49 How the Gentiles honoured those that were deuout in the seruice of their gods chap. 19 fol 52 Of fiue causes why Princes ought to be better christians then their subiects ch 20 fol. 55 What the Philosopher Bias was Of his constancy when hee had lost all his goods And of the ten lawes he gaue deseruing to be had in perpetuall memory chap 21 59 Questions demanded of the Philosopher Bias. fol. 61 The lawes which Bias gaue to the Prienenses 62 How God from the beginning punished men by his iustice and especially those Princes that despised his church how all wicked Christians are Parishioners of hel ch 22 63 Of twelue examples why Princes are sharply punished when they vsurpe boldly vpon churches and violate their temples ch 23 65 Why the children of Aaron were punished eodem The cause why the Azotes were punished eodem The cause why Prince Oza was punished 66. Why King Balthazar was punished 67 Why King Ahab was punished 69 Why King Manasses was punished cod Why Iulius Pompey Xerxes Cateline Germanicus Brennus were punished 70 How Valentine the Emp. because he was an euil Christian in one day lost both the Empire and his life ch 24 72 Of the Emp. Valentinian Gratian his son which raigned in the time of S. Ambrose and because they were good Christians were alwayes fortunate and how God giueth victory to Princes more by the teares of them that pray then thorow the weapons of thē that fight ch 25 76 Of the goodly Oration which the Em Gratian made to his Souldiers before hee gaue the battell ch 26 78 Of the Captaine Theodosius who was father to the great Emp. Theodosius died a good Christian Of the K. Hismarus and the Bishop Siluanus and the lawes which they made and established ch 27 60 What a happy thing it is to haue but one Prince to rule the publike weale for there is no greater enemy to the Common-weale then he which procureth many to commaund therein ch 28 84 That in a publike weale there is no greater destruction then where Princes dayly consent to new orders and make an alteration of ancient customs ch 29 f. 88 When Tirants began to raigne and vpon what occasion commaunding and obeying first began and how the authority which a Prince hath is by the ordināce of God chap. 30 91 Of the golden age in times past and worldly misery at this present ch 31 94 How K. Alexander the Great after hee had ouercome K. Darius in Asia went to conquer the great India and of that which hapned to him with the Garamantes and that purity of life hath more power then force of warre ch 32 96 Of an Oration which one of the Sages of Garamantia made vnto K. Alexander a good lesson for ambitious mē ch 33. 98 A continuation of the sage Garamants Oration and among other notable matters he maketh mention of seuen lawes which they obserued chap. 34 101 That Princes ought to consider for what cause they were made Princes What Thales the Philosopher was of 12 questions demāded of him his answer c. 35. 104 What Plutarch the Philosopher was Of the wise words he spake to the Emperour Traiane how a good Prince is the head of the publique-weale chap. 36. fo 108 As there are two Sences in the Head Smelling and Hearing So likewise a Prince who is the head of the Common-weale ought to heare the complaints of all his subiects and should know them all to recompence their seruices ch 37. fol. 111 Of the great Feast which the Romaines celebrated to the God Ianus the first day of Ianuary And of the bounty and liberality of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius the same day chap. 38 114 Of the answer which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius made to the Senatour Fuluius before all the Senate beeing reproued by him for the familiarity hee vsed to all men contrary to the maiesty and authority of the Romane Emperour wherein hee painteth enuious men ch 39 fol. 118 Of a Letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Pulio declaring the opinion of certaine Philosophers concerning the felicity of man chap. 40. 124 Of the Philosopher Epicurus fol. 129 Of the Philosopher Eschilus 131 Of the Philosopher Pindarus 132 Of the Philosopher Zeno 133 Of the Philosopher Anacharsis 134 Of the Sarmates 135 Of the Philosopher Chilo 137 Of the Philosophers Crates Stylphas Simonides Gorgias Architas Chrysippus Antistenes Sophocles Euripides Palemon Themistocles Aristides and Heraclius 138. 139 That Princes and great Lords ought not to esteeme themselues for being fayre and well proportioned chap. 41 140 Of a letter written by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to his Nephew worthy to be noted of all young Gentlemen chap. 42 146 How Princes and great Lords in olde time were louers of men that were wise and learned chap. 43 153 How the Emperor Theodosius prouided wise men at the houre of his death for the education of his two noble sonnes Archadius and Honorius chap. 44 158
How Cresus King of Lidia was a great friend and louer of Wise men Of a letter which the same Cresus wrote to the Philosopher Anacharsis and an other letter of the Philosophers answer to him chap. 45 162 Of the wisdome and sentences of Phalaris the tyrant And how hee put an artezan to death for deuising new torments chap. 46 166 The letter of Phalaris the tirant which was sent to Popharco the Philosopher 169 Of seuerall great and powerfull Kinges who were all of them true friends and louers of the Sages chap. 47. 170 The letter of King Philip to Aristotle the Philosopher 172 The second Booke Of what excellency marriage is and whereas common people marry of free-will Princes and noble men ought to marry vpon necessity and vrgencie chap. 1 177 How the Author prosecuting his purpose of marriage declareth that by means thereof many mortall enemies haue been made good and perfect friends c. 2. f. 180 Of diuers and sundry lawes which the Ancients had in contracting matrimony not onely in the choyce of women but also in the manner of celebrating marriage chap. 3 183 How princesses and great Ladies ought to loue their husbands and that loue ought not to be procured by coniurations and enchantments but by wisedom honesty and vertue desired ch 4. 187 Of the reuenge which a woman of Greece tooke on him that had killed her husband as hoping to enioy her in marriage chap. 5. 189 That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be obedient to their husbands and how great shame it is to the husband that his wife should command him ch 6. 194 That women especially princesses great Ladies should be very circumspect in going abroad out of their houses and that they should not deserue to be ill spoken of by such as resort to their houses chap. 4 198 Of the commodities and discommodities which follow princes and great Ladies that go abroad to visite or abide in their houses chap. 8 200 That women great with child especially princesses and great Ladies ought to be circumspect for the danger of creatures wherin is shown many misfortunes happening to women with child in olde time chap. 9 202 Of other inconueniences and vnluckie mischances which haue happened to women with child chap. 10 207 That women great with child especially princesses and great Ladies ought to be gently vsed of their husbands c. 11. 209 What the philosopher Pisto was and of the rules hee gaue concerning women with child chap. 12 212 Of three counsels which Lucius Seneca gaue vnto a Secretary his friend who serued the Emperour Nero And how the Emp. M. Aurelius spent the houres of the day chap. 13 214 The importunity of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour concerning the keye of his closet chap. 14 219 The answere of the Emperour to Faustine concerning her demaund for the key of his study chap. 15 223 Of great dangers ensuing to men by excessiue haunting the company of women And of certaine rules for married men which if they obserue may cause them to liue in peace with their wiues chap. 16 228 A more particular answer of the Emperour to Faustine concerning the key of his study chap. 17 235 That Princesses and noble women ought not to be ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breasts chap. 18 239 A further continued perswasion of the Author that women should giue their owne children sucke chap. 19 242 That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be very circumspect in choice of theyr Nurses and of seuen especiall properties which a good Nurse should haue cha 20 249 Of three other especiall conditions which a good Nurse ought to haue that giueth sucke chap. 21 254 Of the disputations before Alexander the Great concerning the time of the sucking of babes chap. 22 259 Of sundry kinds of Sorceries charmes and witchcrafts which they in old time vsed in giuing their children suck which in Christians ought to be auoided ch 23. fol. 260 Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Dedalus inueighing against such women as vse to cure children by sorceries charms enchantments ch 24 264 How excellent a thing it is for gentlemē to haue an eloquent tong ch 25 270 Of a letter which the Athenians sent to the Lacedemonians chap. 26 273 That Nurses which giue sucke to the childrē of Princes ought to bee discreete and sage women chap. 27 275 That women may be no lesse wise then men though they be not it is not thorow the defect of nature but rather for want of good bringing vp chap. 28. 279 Of a letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Theoclea he being in Rhodes and she in Samcthrace both studying Philosophy chap. 29 281 A further perswasion of the Authour to Princesses and other great Ladies to endeauour themselues to be wise like as the women in elder times were c. 30. 282 Of the worthines of the Lady Cornelia and of a notable Epistle which she wrote to her two sons seruing in the warres Tiberius and Caius disswading them from the pleasurs of Rome exhorting them to endure the trauels of war chap. 31. 288 The Letter of Cornelia to her two sons Tiberius and Caius 289 Of the education and doctrine of children while they are young with a declaratiō of many notable histories c. 32. 294 Princes ought to take heede that their children bee not brought vp in pleasures and vaine delights because oftentimes they are so wicked that the fathers would not onely haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buried chap. 33 302 How Princes and great Lords ought to be careful in seeking wise men to bring vp their children Of ten conditions which good Schoolmasters ought to haue chap. 34. 309 Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the best wherof dyed And of the masters he prouided for the other chap. 35. 317 Of the words which Marcus Aurelius spake to 5. of the 14. masters which hee had chosen for the education of his son And how he dismissed them from his pallace because they behaued thēselus lightly at the feast of their god Genius c. 36. 322 That Princes and noble men ought to ouersee the tutors of their children least they should conceale the secrete faultes of their scholler chap. 37. 326 Of the determination of the Emperour when he committed his childe to the tutors chap. 38 331 Tutors of Princes and noble mens children ought to bee very circumspect that their schollers do not accustom themselus in vices while they be yong but especially to be kept frō 4. vices chap. 39 343 Of two other vices perillous in youth which their masters ought to keepe them from chap. 40 348 The third Booke How Princes and great Lords ought to trauell in administring iustice to all men equally chap. 1 353 The way that Princes ought to vse for choyse of Iudges and Officers in theyr Countreyes chap. 2 fol 357 A villaine argueth in an Oration