to deny that I feare not death shoold bee to deny that I am not of flesh Wee see by experience that the elephants doo feare the Lyon the Beare the Elephant the woolf the Beare the lamb the woolf the ratte the catte the catte the dogge and the dogge the man fynally the one and the other doo feare for no other thyng but for feare that one kylleth not the other Then since brute beasts refuse death the which though they dye feare not to fyght with the furies nor hope not to rest with the gods so much the more ought wee to feare death which dye in doubt whither the furies wyll teare vs in pieces with their torments or the gods will receyue vs into their houses with ioy Thinkest thou Panutius that I doo not see well that my vine is gathered and that it is not hyd vnto mee that my pallace falleth in decay I know well that I haue not but the kirnel of the raison and the skinne and that I haue not but one sygh of all my lyfe vntill this time There was great difference beetweene mee and thee and now there is great difference beetwixt mee and my self For about the ensigne thow doost place the army In the ryuers thow castest thy nettes within the parks thou huntest the bulles In the shadow thow takest cold By this I mean that thow talkest so much of death beecause that thou art sure of thy life O myserable man that I am for in short space of all that in this lyfe I haue possessed with mee I shall cary nothing but onely my wynding sheete Alas now shall I enter into the field not where of the fierce beasts I shal bee assaulted but of the hungry woorms deuoured Alas I see my self in that dystresse from whence my frayl flesh cannot escape And yf any hope remayn it is in thee o death When I am sick I woold not that hee that is whole shoold comfort mee When I am sorowfull I woold not that hee which is mery shoold cōfort mee When I am banished I woold not that he which is in prosperity shoold comfort mee When I am at the hour of death I woold not that hee shoold comfort mee which is not in some suspicion of lyfe But I woold that the poore shoold comfort mee in my pouerty the sorowfull in my sorows the banyshed in my banishment and hee which is in as great daunger of his life as I am now at the poynt of death For there is no counsayle so healthfull nor true as that of the man which is in sorow when hee counsayleth an other whych is likewise tormented him self If thow consyderest well this sentence thow shalt fynd that I haue spoken a thyng very profound wherein notwithstanding my tongue is appeased For in my oppinion euill shall hee bee comforted which is weeping with him that continually laugheth I say this to the end thow know that I know it and that thou perceiue that I perceyue it And beecause thou shalt not lyue deceyued as to my frend I wil disclose the secret and thow shalt see that small is the sorow which I haue in respect of the great which I haue cause to haue For if reason had not stryued wyth sensuality the sighs had ended my lyfe and in a pond of teares they had made my graue The things which in mee thow hast seene which are to abhorre meat to banysh sleepe to loue care to bee annoyed with company to take rest in sighs to take pleasure in tears may easely declare vnto thee what torment is in the sea of my hart when such tremblings doo appeare in the earth of my body Let vs now come to the purpose and wee shall see why my body is without consolation and my hart so ouercome with sorows for my feelyng greatly exceedeth my complaynyng beecause the body is so delycat that in scratchyng it it complayneth and the hart is so stout and valiaunt that though it bee hurt yet it dyssembleth O Panutius I let thee weete that the occasion why I take death so greeuously is beecause I leaue my sonne Commodus in this life who lyueth in this age most perillous for hym and no lesse daungerous for the Empire By the flowers are the fruits knowen by the grapes the vines are knowen and by the face men are knowen by the colt the horse is iudged and by the infant youth is knowen This I say by the Prince my sonne for that hee hath been euill in my life I doo ymagyn that hee will bee woorse after my death Since thou as well as I knowst the euill condicions of my sonne why doost thou maruell at the thoughts and sorows of the father My sonne Commodus in years is yong and in vnderstanding yonger Hee hath an euill inclynation and yet hee wil not enforce him self against the same hee gouerneth him self by hys own sence and in matters of wisedome hee knoweth lytel of that hee shoold bee ignoraunt hee knoweth too much and that which is woorst of all hee ys of no man esteemed Hee knoweth nothing of things past nor occupyeth hym about any thing present Fynally for that which with myne eyes I haue seene I say and that which with in my hart I haue suspected I iudge that shortly the person of my sonne shall bee in hazard and the memory of hys father perysh O how vnkyndly haue the Gods vsed them selues toward vs to commaund vs to leaue our honor in the hands of our children for it shoold suffice that wee shoold leaue them our goods and that to our frends we shoold commyt our honor But yet I am sory for that they consume the goods in vices and lose the honor for to bee vitious The gods beeyng pityful as they are since they geeue vs the authoryty to deuyde our goods why doo they not geeue vs leaue to make our wills of the honor My sonnes name beeing Commodus in the Romayn tongue is as much to say as profyt but as hee is wee will bee content to bee without the lytle profyt which hee may doo to some so that wee may bee excused of the great domage which hee is lykely to doo to all For I suppose hee wyll bee the scourge of men and the wrath of Gods Hee entreth now into the pathway of youth alone without a guide And for that hee hath to passe by the hygh and daungerous places I feare lest hee bee lost in the wood of vices For the children of Princes and great Lords for so much as they are brought vp in lyberty wantonnes doo easely fall into vices and voluptuousnes and are most stubborn to bee wythdrawen from their folly O Panutius geue attentiue eare to that I say vnto thee Seest thow not that Commodus my sonne is at lyberty is rych is yong and is alone By the fayth of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the least of these wynds woold ouerthrow not onely a yong tender ash but also a mighty strong
if the father had not bene vertuous and the childe sage But the Senate would haue done this and more also for Valentinian because he did deserue it well of the Romaine people For it is reason in distributing of the offices that princes haue more respecte to the desertes of the fathers then to the tender age of the children This young Gracian began to be so temperate and was so good a Christian in fauouring the churche that it was muche quiete and great pleasure to the Romaine people to haue chosen him and greater ioye to the father being aliue to haue begotten hym so that he lefte for him after his death an immortall memorie of his life For the childe that is vertuous is always the memory of the father after his death In the yeare of the foundation of Rome a thousand a hundreth thirtie and two she said Gracian the younger was created sole heire of the whole empire his vncle Valent and his father being departed the worlde After Gracian came to the empyre many Byshoppes whiche were banished in the t me of his vncle Valent were restored to the curche againe and banished al the sect of the Arrians out of his region Truly he shewed him selfe to be a very religious and catholike prince For there is no better iustice to confounde humaine malice then to establishe the good in their estate In the first yeare of the reigne of Gracian emperour all the Germaines and the Gothes rebelled against the Romaine empire for they would not only not obey him but also they prepared an huge army to enuade his empire Imagining that sithe Gracian was young he neither had the wytte nor yet the boldnes to resiste them For where the prince is young there oftimes the people suffred muche wrong and the realme great misery Newes come to Rome howe that the Gaules and Germaines were vp the emperour Gracian wrote to all the catholike byshoppes that they should offer in their churches great sacrifices with prayers vnto God and in Rome likewyse it was ordeined that generally processions should be had to the ende almighty god shoulde moderate his ire against his people For good Christians first pacifie god with praiers before they resiste their enemies with weapons This good prince shewed him selfe to be no lesse warlike in his outward affaires then a good Christiā in his religion For god geueth victories vnto princes more through teares then through weapons These thinges thus finished and his affaires vnto god recommended the noble emperour Gracian determined to marche on and him selfe in persone to giue the battaile And truly as at the first he shewed him selfe to be a good christian so nowe he declared him selfe to be a valiaunt emperour For it were a great infamie and dishonour that a prince by negligence or cowardnes shoulde lose that whiche his predecessours by force of armes had gotten The army of the enemies exceaded far the Romain army in nombre and when they met togethers in a place called Argentaria the Romaines being inferiour to their enemies in numbre were afraide For in the warres the great multitude of ennemies and their puissaunte power maketh oft times the desired victorie to be doubtfull This thing seene of the Romaines and by them considered importunatly they besought the Emperour not to charge the battayle for they saide he had not men sufficiente And herein they had reason For the sage prince should not rashely hazarde his person in the warre nor yet should lightely put his life in the handes of fortune The Emperour Gracian not chaunging coūtenaunce nor stopping in his wordes to al his knightes which wer about him answered in this wise ¶ Of the godly Oration which the Emperour Gracian made to his souldiours before he gaue the battaile Cap. xxvi VAliaunt knightes and companions in warre moste thankefully I accept your seruice in that you haue solde your goodes and doe offer your liues here to accompanie me in the warres and herein you shewe your duties for of right you ought to lose your goodes and to venture your liues for the defence suertie of your countrie But if I geue you some thankes for your company knowe you that I geue much more for your good counsell which presently you geue me for in great conflictes seldome is founde together both good counsell and stoute hartes If I haue enterprised this battaile in hope of mans power then you had had reason that we shoulde not geue the battaile seing the great multitude that they haue and the smal numbre that we are for as you say the weightie affaires of the publike weale should not vnaduisedly be committed to the incertaintie of fortune I haue taken vpon me this daungerous and perillous warres firste trusting that on my part iustice remaineth and sith god is the same onely iustice I truste assuredly he will geue me the victorie in this perillous conflict For iustice auaileth princes more that they haue then the men of warre do whiche they leade Wherfore sith my cause is iuste and that I haue god the onely iudge thereof on my side me thinketh if for any worldly feare I shoulde cease to geue the battayle I should both shew my selfe to be a prince of small fayth and also blaspheme god saying he were of small iustice For god sheweth moste his power there where the fraylenes of man hath leste hope Then sithe I beginne the warre and that by me the warre is procured and for me you are come to the warre I haue determined to enter into the battaile and if I perishe therein I shal be sure it shal be for the memory of my personne and the saluation of my soule For to die through iustice is not to die but to chaunge death for life And thus doing if I lose my life yet therefore I lose not my honour and all this considered I doe that whiche for the common wealth I am bounde For to a prince it were great infamy and dishonour that the quarell being his owne should by the bloud of others be reuenged I wyll proue this day in battaile whether I was chosen Emperour by the deuine wyll or not For if god this day causeth my life to be taken from me it is a manifest token he hath a better in store for me and if through his mercy I be preserued it signifieth that for some other better thing he graunteth me life For in the ende the sword of the enemie is but the scourge of our offences The best that I see therfore in this matter to be done is that til three daies be passed the battayle be not geuen and that we confesse our selues this night and in the morning prepare our selues to receiue our redemer besides this that euery man pardon his christian brother if he haue had any wrong or iniury done him For oftimes though the demaunde of the warre be iust yet many mishaps befall therin through the offences of those which pursue and followe the same
like losse to that where a man loseth hym whom entierlye he loueth and of whom also he is derelye beloued The fatal destenies oughte to content them selues to haue annoyed mye house with so manye mysfortunes But after all this and aboue all this theye haue lefte me a wicked nephewe whiche shall bee myne heire and theye haue lefte vnto mee that all mye life I shall lament O Cato for that thou owest to the common wealthe I doe desire thee and by the immortall goddes I doe coniure thee that since thou arte a vertuous Romaine and censor of the people that thou prouyde for one of these two thinges that is to wete that this mye Nephewe doe serue mee or els ordeine that I dye forthewith For it is a greate crueltye that those doe pursue me whiche are aliue since it is nowe 40. yeares that I ceased not to bewaile the deade Cato beinge well enfourmed of that the olde man had tolde him and since he founde al that true whiche he spake he called vnto his presence the yonge Nephew and sayde vnto him these wordes If thou were suche a childe as thou oughtest to bee thou shouldest excuse mee of payne and thy selfe of trauaile But since it is not so I praye thee take that pacientlye that I shall commaunde thee and be thou assured that I will not commaund thee any thing that shal bee againste iustice For the vicious yonglinges as thou art ought to be more ashamed of the youthefullnes theye haue commytted then for the punishement whiche is geeuen vnto them Firste I commaunde thow bee whipte beecause thou arte dysobedyent and troublesome to thy graundefather Secondlye I commaunde that thou bee banished the limittes of Rome because thou arte a vicious yonge man Thyrdly I commaund that of all the goodes thou hast enherited thou shalt be disenherited because thou doest not obey thy graundfather And the cause why I geue suche seuere sentence is to the end that from heÌ„sforthe the yong shal not disobey the aged and also that those which haue enheryted great treasours shall not think that men shall permit them to bee more vicious then others Phalaris the tiraunt wryting to a frend of his which was very aged said these wordes the which rather semed spoken of a Philosopher then of a tirant I haue meruailed at thee am offeÌ„ded with the my friend Vetto to know as I do that in yeares thou arte verye aged and in workes verye yonge and also it greeueth mee that thou hast lost the credite of knoweledge in the schooles It greeueth mee more that through thee the priuilege shoold be lost which the old men haue accustomed to haue in Grece that is to wete that all the theeues all the periured and all the murderers were more sure when by white heares theye semed to be olde when they reteyred to the aulters of the temples O what goodnesse O what wisedome what valyauntnes and what innocencye oughte the aged men to haue in the auncient tyme since in Rome theye honoured them as goddes and in Grece theye priuileged those white heares as the temples Plinie in an epistle hee wrote to Fabatus sayeth that Pirrus king of the Epirotes demaunded a philosopher which was the best cytye of the worlde who aunswered The best cytye of the worlde is Molerda a place of three hundreth fyers in Achaia beecause all the walles are of blacke stones and all those whiche gouerne it haue hoarye heades And further hee sayde Woe bee vnto thee Rome Woe bee vnto thee Carthage woe bee vnto thee Numancia woe bee vnto thee Egypte and woe bee vnto thee Athens fyue cytyes whiche count them selues for the beste of the worlde whereof I am of a contrarye oppynion For theye auaunte them selues to haue whyte walles and are not ashamed to haue yonge Senatoures Thys phylosopher sayde verye well and I thynke noe manne wyll saye lesse then I haue sayde Of thys woorde Senex is deryued the name of a Senatoure for so were the gouernoures of Rome named because the fyrste Kynge that was Romulus chosé a hundred aged men to gouerne the common wealth and commaunded that all the other Romayne youthe shoold employe them selues to the warres Since wee haue spoken of the honour whyche in the olde tyme was geeuen to the auncient men it is reason wee knowe now from what yeare they counted men aged to the ende they shoolde bee honoured as aged men For the makers of lawes when they hadde established the honours whych ought to bee done to the aged dydde aswell ordeyne from what daye and yeare theye shoolde beeginne Dyuers auncyent Philosophers dyd put syx ages from the tyme of the byrthe of man till the houre of deathe That is to wete chyldehood which lasteth till seuen yeares Infancy whiche endureth vntill seuentene yeares Youth which continueth till thirty yeares Mannes estate which remayneth till fyftye and fyue yeares Age whyche endureth till three score and eyghtene yeares Croked age which remaineth till death And so after man had passed fiue and fyftye yeares they called hym aged Aulus Gelius in his tenth booke in the xxvii Chapter saieth that Tullius Hostillius who was kynge of the Romaines determined to count all the old and yonge whiche were amongest the people and also to know whych shoold bee called infaunts whych yong and whych olde And there was noe lytle dyfference amongest the Romayne Phylosophers and in the end it was decreed by the kyng and the Senate that men tyll seuenteene yeares shoold bee called infaunts and tyll syx and forty shoold bee called yong and from syx and forty vpwardes they shoold bee called olde If wee wyl obserue the lawe of the Romaynes wee know from what tyme wee are bound to call and honor the aged men But addyng hereunto it is reason that the olde men know to what prowesses and vertues they are bound to the ende that wyth reason and not wyth faynyng they bee serued For speakyng the trueth yf wee compare duty to duty they old men are more bound to vertue then the yong to seruice Wee can not denay but that all states of natyons great small yong and olde are bound to bee vertuous but in this case the one is more to bee blamed then the other For oftentimes if the yong do offend it is for that hee wanteth experience but if the olde man offend it is for the abundaunce of mallice Seneca in an Epystle sayde these woordes I let thee weete my friend Lucillus that I am very much offended and I do complayne not of any friend or foe but of my selfe and â—â—â—â—e other And the reason why I thynk thus is that I see my selfe olde in yeares and yong in vices so that lytle is that wherein I haue serued the gods much lesse is that I haue profyted meÌ„ And Seneca saith further he whiche praysethe hym selfe moste to be aged and that woulde be honoured for beinge aged oughte to be temperate in eatinge honest in apparayle
if thou be euill lyfe shal bee euyl imployd on thee and if thou bee good thou oughtest to die imediatly and because I am woors thē all I liue lōger then all These woordes which Adrian my lord sayed doe plainely declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruel death doth assaulte the good and lēgthneth life a great while to the euil The opinion of a philosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their misteryes and so iust in their woorks that to men which least profit the common wealth they lengthen lyfe longest and though he had not sayd it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale and frendship to the common wealth either the gods take him from vs or the enemies do sley him or the daungers doe cast him away or the the trauailes do finish him When great Pompeius Iulius Cesar became enemyes from that enmite came to cruel warres the cronicles of that time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in the fauour of Iulius Cesar and the mightiest most puisaunte of al the oriental parts came in the ayd of great Pompeius beecause these two Princes were loued of few and serued and feared of al. Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the oriental part into the host of the great Pompeius one nation came maruelous cruel barbarous which sayd they dwelled in the other side of the mountayns Riphees which go vnto India And these barbarous had a custome not to liue no longer then fifty years therfore when thei came to that age they made a greater fier and were burned therin aliue and of their owne willes they sacrificed them selues to the gods Let no man bee astoined at that wee haue spoken but rather let them maruel of that wee wyl speak that is to say that the same day that any man had accomplished fifty years immediatly hee cast him self quick in to the fier and the parents children and his freends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eat the fleash of the dead half burned and drank in wyne and water the asshes of his bones so that the stomak of the children beeing aliue was the graue of the fathers beeing dead All this that I haue spoken with my toung Pompeius hath seen with his eies for that some beeing in the camp did accomplish fifty years bycause the case was straunge hee declared it oft times in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what hee will and condemne the barbarous at his pleasure yet I wyll not cease too say what I think O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the world to come shal bee a perpetuall memory What contēpt of world what forgetfulnes of him self what stroke of fortune what whip for the flesh what litell regard of lyfe O what bridell for the veruous O what confusion for those that loue lyfe O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those heeare haue wyllingly dispised their own liues it is not to bee thought that they died to take the goods of others neither to think that our life shoold neuer haue end nor our couetousnes in like maner O glorious people and .10 thousand sold happy that the proper sensuallyty beeing forsaken hath ouercome the natural appetyte to desire to liue not beeleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall destines By the way they assalted fortune they chaunged life for death they offred the body to death and aboue al haue woon honor with the gods not for that they should hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluus of life Archagent a surgiō of Rome and Anthonius Musus a phisition of the Emperor Augustus and Esculapius father of the phisick shoold get litel mony in that country Hee that thē shoold haue sēt to the barbarous to haue doone as the Romaynes at that tyme did that is to wete to take siroppes in the mornings pylls at night to drynk mylk in the morning to noynt them selues with gromelsede to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eat of one thing and to abstein from many a man ought to think that hee which willingly seeketh death wil not geue mony to lengthen lyfe ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and sheweth what perilles those old men lyue in which dissolutely like yong children passe their days and geeueth vnto them holsome counsell for the remedy therof Cap. xxii BVt returning now to thee Claude to thee Claudine mee thinketh that these barbarous beeing fifty years of age and you others hauing aboue thre score and 10. it should bee iust that sithens you were elder in years you were equal in vertue and though as they you wyl not accept death paciently yet at the least you ought to amend your euel liues willingly I do remember that it is many years sithens that Fabritius the yong sonne of Fabritius the old had ordeyned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told mee great inconueniences had hapned and sithens that you did mee so great a benefit I woold now requite you the same with an other like For amongst frends there is no equal benifit then to deceyue the deceyuer I let you know if you doo not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are soonk into your heads the nostrels are shutt the hears are white the hearing is lost the tonge faltreth the teeth fall the face is wrincled the feete swoln the stomak cold Finally I say that if the graue could speak as vnto his subiects by iustice hee myght commaund you to inhabit his house It is great pity of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorante for then vnto such their eyes are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth thē to the graue Plato in his book of the common wealth sayd that in vaine wee geeue good counsels to fond light yongmen For youth is without experiēce of that it knoweth suspicious of that it heareth incredible of that is told him despising the counsayl of an other and very poore of his own Forsomuch as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the yong haue of the good is not so much but the obstinacion which the old hath in the euel is more For the mortal gods many times do dissemble with a .1000 offeces committed by ignorance but they neuer forgeeue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doo not meruel that you doo forget the gods as you doo which created you and your fathers which beegot you and your parēts which haue loued you and your frends which haue
the Catholicke Churche that they dyshonour not Gods mynisters and maintayne heresyes For as this accursed Emperoure Valente for his wicked doinges was condignely punished by the hands of the almighty God So let them be assured the selfe same god wil not pardon their offences For it is a rule infallible that the prince which is not a good christian shall fall into the hands of his cruell enemyes ¶ Of the Emperour Valentinian and Gracian hys sonne whych reigned in the time of saynte Ambrose whyche because they were good Christians were alwayes fortunate and that god gyueth victorye vnto Princes more throughe the teares of them that pray then through the weapons of those that fyght I Valentinian and Valent were brethrene and the eldest of them was Valentinian who succeded in the Empire after the death of his father to be pretor of the armies For amonges the Romaines there was a lawe in vre that if the father died in the fauour of the people of right the sonne without any other demaunde was heire This Valentinian was a lusty yong man of a sanguine complection and of his body well shaped and aboue al he was a good Christian and of all the people generallye welbeloued For nothynge adorneth the noble man more then to be counted ciuill and corteous of behauior At that time wher the Emperoure Iulian persecuted moste the chrisstians Valentinian was pretor of the armies and when Iulian was aduertised that Valentinian was a christian he sent vnto him and bad hym do sacrifice to the idols of the Romaine Emperour or els to forsake the office of his pretorship Iulian would gladly haue killed Valentinian but he durst not For it was a law inuiolable amonges the Romaynes that no citizen should be put to death without decre of the Senate Valentinian receyuing the message of this Emperour Iulian aduertised of his will which was to renownce his faith or to leaue his office he dyd not only resigne his office but therwithal forgaue the Emperour all the money he ought him for arreragies of his seruyce And because he woulde lyue with a more quyete conscience he wente from Rome into a cloyster where he bannyshed hym selfe for two yeares and a halfe and for this he was hyghlye estemed and commended For it is a good signe that man is a good Christian whyche of his owne free will renounceth worldlye goodes Shortlye after It happened that Iulian the Emperoure wente to conquer the Realme of Persia wherein a battaile he was very sore wounded and fell downe deade in the presente place For to the mishappes of fortune the Emperour with all his estate pleasours is asmuch subiect as is the poorest man that lyeth in the streates When the newes came to Rome that Iulian was dead by the consent of all Valentinian was created Emperoure so that he beinge bannyshed for Christes sake was called againe and crowned Prince of the Romaine empire Let no man care to lose al that he possesseth let no man way to see him selfe despised for Christes sake For in the end no men can in a thousand yeares so much abase vs as god in one houre can exalt vs. In the same yere which was from the foundation of Rome a thousand a hundred and .xix. in a citie called Atrobata it rained very fine wull so that all the citie became riche In the same yeare in the citie of Constantinople it hailed suche great stones that they killed many men left no herdes in the fieldes aliue At the same tyme there came an earthquake throughout Italy so likewyse in Scicille that many housen fell and slewe sundry persons and aboue all the sea rose in suche sorte that it drowned many cities nighe thereunto Paulus Diaconus in the .xi. booke De gestibus Romanorum saieth that the emperour Valentinian was of a subtile witte of graue coūtenaunce eloquēt in speache yet he spake litle stoute in his affaires and diligent in his busines in aduersities pacient and a great enemy of the vicious temperat in eating and drinking a frend of religious persons so that they saide he resembled the emperour Aurelius For after that the emperour Marcus Aurelius died with whom the felicitie of the Romaine empire ended they euer vsed thenceforth in Rome to compare and liken the young and newe come princes to the auncient emperours their antecessours That is to wete if the prince wer couragious they said he was like Iulius Caesar if he were vertuous they saide he was an other Octauian if he were fortunate that he was Tiberius if he were rashe they sayde he was Caligula if he were cruell they compared him to Nero if he were merciful thei sayde he was like to Traian or Antonius Pius if he were beawtifull they likened him to Titus if he were idle they compared him to Domitian if he were paciēt they called him Vespasius if he were tēperat they likened him to Adrian if he were deuoute to their gods then he semed Aurelianus finally he that was sage and vertuous they compared him to the good Marcus Aurelius This emperour Valentinian was a good Christian and in al his affaires touching the empyre very wyse and circumspecte and yet he was noted for one thynge very muche and that was that he trusted and fauoured his seruauntes so muche and was so led by his friendes that through their occasion they abusinge his loue and credite there arose manye dissentions emonges the people Seneca sayde once to the Emperoure Nero I wyll that thou vnderstande Lorde that there is no pacience can suffre that twoo or three absolutly commaunde all not for that they are moste vertuous but for that they are moste in fauour with thee O princes and great Lordes if you were as I am I knowe not what you would doe but if I were as you be I woulde behaue my selfe in suche sorte to them of my house that they should be seruauntes to serue and obeye me and not boste themselues to be in suche fauour to commaunde me For that prince is not sage that to content a fewe getteth the hatred of all The Emperour Valentinian died in the fiue and fifty yeare of his byrthe and eleuen yeare of his Empyre of so longe sickenesse that his vaynes were so dried vp that they could not drawe one droppe of bloude out of his body And at the daye of his funeralles where the dead corps was greatly bewayled Saint Ambrose made anexcellent sermon in commendation of him for in those dayes when any prince departed that fauoured muche the Churche all the holy Byshoppes mete at his buriall The two brethren being Emperours that is to wete Valentinian and Valent through the desire of the father in lawe of Gracian that was father to his wyfe and desirous to haue one of his doughters children chose Valentinian to bryng vp who had a sonne named Gracian whiche was created emperour so young that as yet he had no berde And truly the Senate would not haue suffered it
thee if they toke the prysoner though perchaunce in times past they vsed thy father Philip euill and haue now disobeied thee his sonne It were better counsell for thee to make them thy frendes by gentlenes then to confirme them ennemies by crueltie For the noble and pitifull hartes when they are reuenged of any make of them selues a bucherye Wee can not with trouthe saye that thy trauayles are well imployed to wynne suche honour sythe thy conuersation and lyfe is so vnconstaunt For trulye honour consisteth not in that flatterers saye but in that whiche Lordes doe For the great familiaritie of the wycked causeth the lyfe to be suspected Honour is not gotten by lyberall geuinge of treasoures at hys death but by spendynge it well in his lyfe For it is a sufficient profe that the man whiche esteameth renowme dothe lytle regarde money and it is an apparaunte token that man who lytle esteameth money greatlye regardeth his renowme A man wynneth not honour by murdering innocentes but by destroying tyrauntes for all the armonie of the good gouernement of princes is in the chastising of the euill and rewarding the good Honour is not wonne in taking and snatching the goodes of an other but in geuing and spendinge his owne For there is nothing that beautifieth the maiestie of a prince more thē to shewe his noblenes in extending mercy and fauour to his subiectes and geuing giftes and rewardes to the vertuous And to conclude I will let the know who he is that winneth both honour in this life and also a perpetuall memory after his death and that is not he whiche leadeth his lyfe in warres but he that taketh his death in peace O Alexander I see thou arte younge and that thou desirest honour wherfore I let thee vnderstande that there is no man farther from honour then he whiche procureth and desireth the same For the ambicious mē not obteining that which they desire remayne alwayes defamed and in wynning and getting that whiche they searche honour notwithstanding will not followe them Beleue me in one thynge Alexander that the true honour ought through worthy deades to be deserued and by no meanes to be procured for all the honour that by tyranny is wonne in the ende by infamy is lost I am sory for thee Alexander for I see thou wantest iustice since thou louest tyranny I see thou lackest peace because thou louest warre I see thou art not ryche because thou hast made all the worlde poore I see thou lackest rest because thou sekest contention and debate I see thou hast no honour because that thou winnest it by infamy I see thou wantest frendes because thou haste made them thyne ennemies Finally I see thou doest not reuenge thy selfe of thy ennemies because thou arte as they would be the scourge to thy selfe Then since it is so why arte thou alyue in this world sithe thou lackest vertues for the which life ought to be desired For truly that man whiche without his owne profite and to the domage of another leadeth his life by iustice ought forthwith to lose his breath For there is nothing that soner destroieth the weale publyke then to permit vnprofitable men therein to liue Therefore speaking the trouthe you lordes and princes are but poore I beleue thou conquerest the worlde because thou knowest not thy superiour therein and besydes that thou wylte take lyfe from so many to the ende that by their death thou maiest wynne renowme If cruell and warrelike princes as thou arte should inherite the liues of them whome they slaye to augmente and prolonge their liues as they doe inheritie goodes to maintayne their pryde although it were vnmeate then warre were tollerable But what profiteth the seruaunt to lose his life this day and his maisters death to be differred but vntil the morowe O Alexander to be desirous to commaunde muche hauinge respite to liue but litle me thinketh it were a great foly and lacke of wysedome Presumptuous and ambicious men whiche measure their workes not with the fewe daies they haue to liue but with the arrogant and haughty thoughtes they haue to commaunde They leade their lyfe in trauayle and take their death with sorowe And the remedy hereof is that if the wyse man cannot obtayne that which he would he should content him selfe with that which he may I let thee knowe Alexander that the perfection of men is not to see much to heare much to knowe much to procure much to come to much to trauayle much to possesse much and to be able to doe much but it is to be in in the fauour of the gods Finally I tell thee that that man is perfecte who in his owne opinion deserueth not that he hath and in the opinion of another deserueth muche more then that he possesseth We are of this opinion amonge vs that he is vnworthy to haue honour who by suche infamous meanes searcheth for it And therfore thou Alexander deseruest to be sclaue to many because thou thinkest to deserue the signorie ouer all By the immortall gods I sweare I can not imagine the great mischiefe which entred into thy breast so vnrighteously to kill kyng Darius whose vassale and frende thou wert onely because thou wouldest possesse the Empire of the whole worlde For truly seruitude in peace is more worth then signorie in warre And he that shall speake against that I haue spoken I saye he is sicke and hath loste his taste ¶ The sage Garamante continueth his oration shewing that perpetuitie of life can not be bought with any worldly treasure Among other notable matters he maketh mention of the seuen lawes which they obserued Cap. xxxiiii THou wilt not deny me Alexander that thou wert more healthfull when thou waste kyng of Macedonia then thou art nowe being lorde of all the earth for the excessiue trauayle bryngeth menne out of all order Thou wilt not denye me Alexander that the more thou gettest the more thou desirest for the hart which with couetousnes is set on fier cannot with wood and bowes of riches but with the earth of the graue be satisfied and quenched Thou wilt not denie me Alexander but the aboundaunce that thou thy selfe hast semeth vnto thee litle and the litle whiche an other man possesseth semeth vnto thee muche for the gods to the ambicious couetous hartes gaue this for penaunce that neither with enough nor with to muche they should contente them selues Thou wilt not denie me Alexander if in dede thy harte be couetous that first the pleasures of life shall ende before thy couetousnes for where vices haue had power long time in the harte there death onely and none other hath authoritie to pluck vp the rootes Thou wilt not denie me Alexander that though thou hast more then all yet thou enioyest least of any for the prince that possesseth muche is alwayes occupied in defending it but the prince that hath litle hath time and leasure in quiet to enioye it Thou wilt not denie me
younge Epesipus was of a good and cleare iudgement well made of his body and fayre of countenaunce and sithe in his youth he estemed his beautie more then his learninge the Emperour his vncle wrote him a letter into Grece whiche sayde this Marcus Aurelius the Romaine Emperoure firste tribune of the people and Byshop wysheth to thee Epesipus his nephew and scholler health and doctrine In the thirde Calendes of December came thy cosyn Annius Verus at whose comming all our parentage reioyced and so muche the more for that he brought vs newes of Gretia For truly when the harte hath the absence of that he loueth it is no one minute of an houre without suspition After that thy cosyn Annius Verus had spoken in generally to all bryngyng newes from their frendes and chyldren we talked together and he gaue me a letter of thyne whiche is contrary to that was wrytten me out of Grece because thou wrytest to me that I shoulde sende thee money to continue the in studye and they wrote vnto me from thence that thou arte more youthful and geuen to the pleasures of the worlde than becommeth thee Thou art my bloude thou arte my Nephewe thou werte my scholler and thou shalte bee my sonne if thou arte good But God wyll neuer that thou be my Nephew nor that I call thee my sonne duryng the tyme that thou shalt be younge fonde lyght frayle For no good man should haue parentage with the vicious I can not denye but that I loued thee from the bottome of my stomack and so lykewyse thy vnthriftynes greaueth me with all my harte For when I redde the letter of thy follyes I lette thee knowe that the teares ranne downe my cheekes but I wyll contente my selfe For the sage and wyse men though againste their wylles they heare of suche thynges paste yet it pleaseth them to redresse other thynges that maye come hereafter I knowe well thou canst not call it to mynde though perhappes thou haste it that when thy vnlucky mother and my sister Annia Milena died she was then young enough for she was no more but .xviii. yeares of age and thou haddest not then foure houres For thou were borne in the morning and she died at nonetide so that when the wycked childe possessed life the good mother tasted death I can tell that thou hast lost such a mother and I suche a sister that I beleue there was no better in Rome For she was sage honest and fayre the whiche thinges are seldome seene nowe a daies For so muche as thy mother was my sister and that I had broughte her vp and maried her I loued her tenderly And when she died here at Rome I redde then Rethorike at Rhodes because my pouertie was so extreme that I had no other thing but that whiche by reading Rethorike I did gette When newes came vnto me of the death of thy mother and my sister Annia Milena al comforte layde on syde sorowe oppressed my harte in suche wyse that all my mēbers trembled the bones sheuered myne eies without reste did lamente the heauy sighes ouercame me at euery minute my harte vanished awaye from the bottome of my harte I inwardly lamented and bewayled thy vertuous mother and my dere syster Finally sorowe executing his priuilege on me the ioyfull company greued me and onely with the louely care I quieted my selfe I knowe not nor can not expresse vnto the howe and in what sorte I tooke the death of my sister Annia Milena thy mother for in sleaping I dreamed of her and dreaming I sawe her when I was awake she represented her selfe before me remembring then that she liued I was sory to remember her death Life was so greuous vnto me that I woulde haue reioyced to haue bene put in the graue with her For truly he feeleth assuredly the death of an other whiche alway is sorowefull and lamenting his owne life Remembring therefore the great loue whiche my sister Milena bare vnto me in her life and thinking wherein I might requite the same after her death I imagined that I could not by any meanes doe any thing more acceptable for her then to bryng thee vp thou whiche arte her chylde and lefte an orphane so young For of all trauayles to a woman this is chiefest to leaue behinde her children to bring vp My sister being dead the firste thing I dyd was that I came to Rome and then sent thee to Capua to be broughte vp there in the whiche place harde at my nose they gaue the sucke two yeares For thou knowest right well that the money which by reading Rethorike I gate scarcely satisfied for thy dayly finding but that in the night I reade some extraordinary lecture and with that I payed for the mylke which thou suckedst on the dugge so that thy bringing vp depended vpon the labour of my lyfe After that thou wer weyned and brought from the teate I sent the to Bietro to a frende and kinsman of mine named Lucius Valerius with whom thou remainedst vntill fiue yeares were fully accomplished where I founde both him and thee all thinges necessary For he was in great pouertie and a great babler of his tongue in suche sorte that he troubled al men and angred me muche For truly a man should as willingly geue money to cause him to be silente whiche is talkatiue as to geue to a wyse man to heare him speake The fiue yeares accomplished I sente thee to Toringue a citie of Campagnia to a maister whiche taught children there called Emilius Torquates of whom to the end he should teache thee to reade and wryte three yeares I tooke a sonne of his whom he gaue me to reade to him Greke foure yeres so that thou couldest not haue any profite in thee without the encrease of my great trauayle and augmenting paine to my harte After thou were seuen yeares olde that thou couldest reade and wryte well I sente thee to studie in the famous citie of Tarenthe where I kept thee foure yeares paying to the maisters a great summe of money Because nowe a dayes through our euyll fortunes there is none that will teache without great stipende Without lamenting I doe not tell thee that in the time of the Cincinos whiche were after the death of Quintus Cincinatus vntill Cyna and Catullus the philosophers and maisters of Rome did neuer receiue one peny to teache sciences to any that would learne them For all the philosophers and maisters were by the sacred Senate payde and none ceased to study for lacke of money For in those dayes they whiche woulde applie them selues to vertue and sciences were by the common treasure mainteined As our fathers were wel ordered in their thinges so they did not deuide offices by order onely but also by order they paide their money in suche sorte that they paied first with the common treasure the priestes of the temples Secondly the maisters of scholes and studies Thirdly the poore wydowes and orphanes Fourthly the
good to desire it to procure it to kepe it to praise it and to loue it wel for in the end if we loue the beautie in beastes and buildinges by greater reason we should desire it in our selues But what shall we saye that when we doe not watche this litle floure whiche yesterday florisshed on the tree faire and whole without suspicion to be lost one litle hory frost sodainly wasteth and consumeth it the vehement wynde ouerthroweth it the knife of enuie cutteth it the water of aduersitie vndoeth it and the heate of persecutions pineth it and finally the worme of shorte life gnaweth it and the putrifaction of death decayeth and bryngeth it downe to the grounde O mannes lyfe that arte alwayes cursed I counte fortune cruell and thee vnhappy synce she will that thou tariest on her whiche dreaminge geueth the pleasures and wakinge woorketh the displeasures whiche geueth into the handes trauayle to taste suffreth thee not only to listen after quiet which wil thou proue aduersitie and agree not that thou haue prosperitie but at her will finally she geueth thee life by ounces and death without measure The wicked vicious say that it is a great pleasure to liue in ease but I protest vnto them that ther was neuer any mortal man had so much pleasure in vices but that he remained in great paine after that they were bannished frō him For the harte which of long time hath ben rooted in vice incontinently is subiect to some great alteration I would all would open their eies to see how we liue deceiued for al the pleasures which delighte the body make vs beleue that they come to abide with vs continually but they vanishe awaye with sorowe immediatly And on the contrary parte the infirmities and sorrowes that blynde the soule saye that they come onely to lodge as gestes and remayne with vs continually as housholders I marueyle of thee Epesipus why thou doest not consyder what shall become of the beautie of thy bodye hereafter sythe thou seest presently the beautie of those departed interred in the graue By the dyuersitie of fruites manne dothe knowe the dyuersytie of trees in the Orcharde that is to wete the Oke by the acornes the Date tree by the dates the vines by the grapes but when the roote is drie the body cut the fruite gathered the leafe fallen when the tree is laide on the fire and become asshes I would now know if this ashes could be knowen of what tree it was or howe a man might know the difference of the one from the other By this comparison I meane to saye that for somuche as the life of this death and the death of this life cōmeth to seke vs out we are all as trees in the orcharde whereby some are knowen by the rootes of their predecessours others by the leaues of their wordes others by the braunches of their frendes some in the floures of their beauty and other some by the barke of their foule skynne The one in their mercifulnes the other in their stoutnes others in their hardines being aged others in the hastines of their youthe others in their barronnes by their pouertie others by their fruitfulnes in ryches fynally in one onely thinge we are all alike that is to wete that all vniuersally goe to the graue not one remaining I aske nowe when death hath done his office executing all earthely men in the latter daies what differēce is there then betwene the faire and the foule whiche lie both in the narrowe graue certainely there is none and if there be any difference it shal be in the making of the graues whiche vayne men inuented And I doe not repent me for calling them vaine since there is no vanitie nor fondnes comparable to this for they are not contented to bee vaine in their liues but will also after their deathes eternise their vanities in sumptuous and stately sepulchres The coale of the Ceder in my opinion that is highe and faire is nothing more whither when it is burnte then the coale of the Oke which is litle and croked I meane oftentimes the gods do permitte that the bones of a poore Philosopher are more honoured then the bones of princes With death I will threathen thee no lenger for sithe thou art geuen to the vices of this life thou wouldest not as yet that with a word it should destroye thee but I will tell thee one worde more though it greue thee to heare it whiche is that the Gods created thee to die men begot thee to die women bare thee to die and thou camste into the worlde for to die to conclude I saye some are borne to daye on condition they die to morow and geue their places to others When the great and fruitfull trees begin to budde forth by the rootes it signifieth that time draweth on for them to cut the drie and wythered braunches I meane that to see children borne in the house is no other but to cite the grandfathers and fathers to the graue If a man would aske me what death is I woulde saye a miserable lake wherin all worldly men are taken For those that most safely thinke to passe it ouer remaine therein moste subtilly deceiued I haue alwayes redde of the auncientes past and haue seene of the younge men present and I suppose that the selfe same will be to come hereafter That when life most swetest semeth to any man then sodainly death entreth in at their dores O immortal gods I can not tell if I may call you cruell I knowe not if I may call you mercifull because you gaue vs fleshe bones honour goodes frendes and also ye geue vs pleasure finally ye geue to men all that they wante saue onely the cuppe of lyfe whiche to your selues you did reserue Since I may not that I would I will that I may but if it were referred to my will I woulde rather one onely day of life then all the ryches of Rome For what auayleth it to toyle and take paine to increase honour and worldly goodes since lyfe daily diminisheth Returning therfore to my first purpose thou must knowe that thou estemest thy selfe and glorifiest in thy personage and beautie I would gladly know of the and of others whiche are yonge and faire if you doe not remember that once ye must come to be olde and rotten For if you thinke you shall lyue but a lytle then reason woulde you shoulde not esteme youre beauties muche for by reason it is a straunge thinge that lyfe shoulde abate vs and folie trayne vs. Yf you thinke to become aged ye ought to remember and alwayes to thinke that the steele of the knyfe whiche dothe muche seruice at length decayeth and is lost for lacke of lokynge to Trulye the yong man is but a new knyfe the whiche in processe of tyme cankerethe in the edge for on one daye he breaketh the poynte of vnderstandynge another he loseth the edge of cuttyng and
gladsome mynde he trained was to spend Synce that his youth which slippeth loe by stelth To waite on me he freely did commend Since he such heapes of lingring harmes did wast Aye to contente my wanton youthly wil And that his breath to fade did passe so fast To glut their thrust that thus his bloud did spill Though great the dutie be which that I owe Vnto his graued ghost and â—indred moulde Yet loe me seames my duetie well I showe Perfourming that my feble power coulde For since for me vntwined was his threede Of giltles life that ought to purchase breath Can reasons doome conclude I ought to dreede For his decaye to clyme the steppes of death In wretched earth my father graued lyes My deere mother hath ronne her rase of life The pride of loue no more can dawnt mine eies My wasted goodes ar shronke by fortunes strife My honours sone eclipsed is by fate My yong delight is loe fordone by chaunce My broken life these passed happes so hate As can my graued hart no more aduaunce And nowe remaines to duetie with my phere No more but refuse loe my yrkesome life With willing mynde followed eke with drere Whiche I resigne as sitteth for a wife And thou Sinoris whiche Iunos yoke doest craue To presse my corps to feede thy liking lust The route of Homers gods the graunt to haue In steade of roiall feates a throne of dust In chaunge of costlie robes and riche araie A simple winding sheete they deigne the giue And eke in stede of honest wedlockes staie They singe thy dirge and not vouchsaue the liue In place of himens hie vnfiled bedde They laie thée vp in closure of thy graue In steed with precious meates for to be fedde They make the wormes for fitter praie thee haue In steed of songe and musikes tuned sowne They waite on thée with loude lamenting voice In chaunge of ioyfull life and hie renowne Thy cruell death may sprede with wretched noise For you great gods that stalled be on hie Should not be iust ne yet suche titles clame Vnles this wretche ye ruthles cause to die That liueth nowe to sclaunder of your name And thou Dian that haunted courtes doost shonne Knowst with what great delight this life I leaue And when the race of spending breath is donne Will perse the soile that did my phere receaue ¶ And if perchaunce the paled ghostes despise Suche fatall fine with grudge of thankeles minde Yet at the least the shamefast liuing eies Shall haue a glasse rare wysely giftes to finde Wherein I will that Lucres secte shall gase But none that lyue like Helens line in blase AND when the praier was ended that this faire and vertuous Camma made she dranke and gaue to drynke to Sinoris of this cuppe of poyson who thought to drynke no other but good wyne and water and the case was suche that he died at noone daies and she likewyse in the eueninge after And truly her death of all Grece with as great sorowe was lamented as her life of all men was desired Princesses and great Ladies may moste euidently perceiue by the examples herein conteyned howe honest and honourable it is for them to loue and endeuoure them selues to be beloued of their husbandes and that not onely in their lyfe but also after their deathe For the wyfe to serue her husbande in his life seameth oft tymes to proceade of feare but to loue and honour him in his graue proceadeth of loue Princesses and great Ladies ought not to doe that which many other women of the common people doe that is to wete to seke some drinkes and inuente some shamefull sorceries to be beloued of their husbandes for albeit it is a great burden of conscience and lacke of shame in lyke maner to vse such superstitions yet it should be a thing to vniust and very slaunderous that for to be beloued of their husbandes they should procure to bee hated of God Truly to loue to serue and contente God it is not hurtefull to the woman for that she should be the better beloued of her husbande but yet God hathe suffered and doth permitte oftetymes that the women beinge feble deformed poore and negligent should be better beloued of their husbandes then the diligent faire and ryche And this is not for the seruices they doe to their husbandes but for the good intention they haue to serue loue God whiche sheweth them this especiall fauour for otherwyse God doth not suffer that he being with her displeased she should lyue with her husbande contented If women would take this councell that I geue them in this case I wil teache them furthermore a notable enchauntement to obteine the loue of their husbandes whiche is that they be quiet meke pacient solitary and honest with which fiue herbes they may make a confection the which neither seene nor tasted of their husbands shal not onely cause them to be beloued but also honoured For women ought to knowe that for their beautie they are desyred but for their vertue onely they are beloued ¶ That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be obedient to their husbandes and that it is a great shame to the husbande that his wyfe should commaunde him Cap. vi MAny auncient historiographers trauailed greatly and consumed long tyme in wryting to declare what authoritie the man ought to haue ouer the woman and what seruitude the woman oweth to the man and some for to auaunce the dignitie of the man and others to excuse the frailtie of the woman alleged such vayne thinges that it had bene more honour for them not to haue written at all then in suche sorte as they did For it is not possible but the wryters should erre whiche wryte not as reason teacheth but rather as their fantasie leadeth Those that defende the frailtie of the women saied that the woman hath a body as a man she hath a soule as a man she hath reason as a man dieth as a man and was as necessarie for generation as man she liueth as a man and therefore they thought it not mete that she should be more subiect to man then man to her for it is not reason that that whiche nature hath made free should by any lawes of man be made bond They saide furthermore that God created not the creatours but to augmente the generation of mankinde and that in this case the woman was more necessary then the man for the man engendreth without payne or trauayle but the woman is deliuered with perill and daunger and with payne and trauayle norysheth vp the childe Wherfore it seameth great vnkindnes and crueltie that the women whiche are deliuered with peryll and daunger of their lyues and brynge vp their chyldren with laboure and toyle of their bodyes should be vsed of their husbandes as sclaues They sayed further that men are those that cursse that moue seditions that make warres that mayntayne enmytie that weare weapons that sheade mans bloude
Carthage had as great priuileges as now our sanctuaries haue for the safegard of misdoers for in times past al such offēdours as could enter into the house wher a woman lay in child bed should haue ben free frō correction of iustice As Fronto saith in his booke of the veneration of the gods the Galloys Transalpins did not only honour reuerence the womē with child but also with much care diligence watched her deliuery for it litle auaileth the shippe to haue passed safe the daungerous seas if at the shore she be cast away The case was in this sort that al the auncient gentils honoured some gods in their temples kept other in their houses the which were called Lares Penates when any woman began to labour eche neighbour brought his familiar god vnto her to present her with all because they thought that the more gods there were of so much more power they were to kepe her frō perils Speaking like a christian truly those gods were of small value since they could not helpe the woman safely to be deliuered that was in trauaile ¶ What the Philosopher Pisto was and of the rules he gaue concerning women with childe Cap. xii IN the tyme of Octauian the Emperour was a phylosopher called Pisto whiche was of the secte of Pithagoras and when Rome florished he was very familiar with the Emperour Octauian and welbeloued of all the people whiche ought not to be a litle estemed for he which of the prince is most fauoured commonly of the people is moste hated This Emperour Octauian was a prince very desirous of all vertuous thinges so that when he dyned with his captaines he spake of warre when he supped with the sages he reasoned of sciences and he that vttered any dishonest or idle worde in his presence he alwayes afterward toke him as his enemy This Pisto was very graue in weightie affaires very pleasaunt in slentes and iestes ofte times he was demaunded many questiōs of the Emperour whereof the answers of some according to the demaundes and questions here foloweth The Emperour said to Pisto of all these that liueth whom takest thou to be moste foole to whom the Philosopher aunswered In my opinion I take him to be moste foole of whose worde there commeth no profite for truly he is not so very a foole that slingeth stones into the winde as he that vttereth vayne wordes Tell me Pisto whom ought we of right to desire to speake and whom of right to commaunde to be silent he aunswered It is good when speache doth profite and good to kepe silence when speache is hurtfull for the one desiring to mainteine the good and the other to defende the euil warres beginne throughout all the worlde Tell me Pisto from what thing ought the fathers moste to kepe their children he sayd In my opiniō parentes ought in nothing to watche so much as to kepe them from being vicious for the father ought rather to haue his sonne die well then to liue euill Tell me Pisto what shall man do if he be brought to this extremitie that if he speake truthe he condempneth him selfe and if he make a lie he saueth him selfe The vertuous man saide he ought rather to chose to be ouercome by truthe then to ouercome by lies for it is vnpossible that a man which is a lier should continue long in prosperitie Tell me Pisto what shall man doe to obtaine reste he aunswered As I thinke the man can not haue reste vnlesse he forsake worldly affaires for the menne that are occupied with weightie affaires can not be without great cares are alwayes accompanied of great troubles Tell me Pisto wherein a man sheweth him selfe to be most wyse he aunswered There is no greater profe to knowe a wyse man then if he be paciēt to suffer the ignoraunt for in suffering an iniury the harte is more holpen by wysedome then by knowledge Tell me Pisto what is that thing that the vertuous man may lawfullye desire he aunswered All that that is good so that it be not to the preiudice of any other may honestly be desired but in my opinion that onely ought to be desired whiche openly without shame may be demaunded Tell me Pisto what shal men doe with their wiues when they are great with child to cause that the child in safetie may be deliuered he aunswered In the world there is nothyng more perylous then to haue the charge of a woman with child For if the husbande serue her he hath payne trauaile and if perchaunce he doe not contente her she is in daunger In this case the wiues of Rome and their husbandes also oughte to be very diligent and to the thinges folowyng more careful the which I shew them more for counsell then for commaundement For good coūsell ought to haue as much auctoritie in the vertuous as the commaundement hath in the vitious Thou Octauian as thou arte a mercifull and a pitieful Emperour and that kepest thy Nece Cossucia great with childe I know thou desirest that she had presentely good and luckye deliuery and that she were deliuered of her paine all the whyche thou shalte see if thou doest marke these thynges that I will shew the here folowynge First the woman oughte to beware of dauncing leapinge and running for leaping oftentimes maketh man to loose his speache and women with childe to loose their life wherfore it is not reason that the folly of the mother should be permitted to put in hazarde the lyfe of the childe The secound the woman beyng with child ought to beware that she be not so hardye to enter into gardeyns wher there is much frute and that for eating to many she be not yll deliuered for it is no reason that the likerousnes of the mother be punished with the death of the childe The third the woman with child ought to beware of ouer harde lacing herselfe about the midle for many Roman Dames for to seme propre doe weare their gownes so streighte that it is an occasion to kyll their creatures which is a heynous mater that the yonge babe should loose hys lyfe bycause his mother shoulde seme pretye The fourth the women with child ought to beware of eating in a great banket for oftetimes there commeth a sodayne deliueraunce only through eating without measure and it is not mete that for tastinge a thyng of litell value the mother and the child should both loose their liues The fifte the woman beyng with child ought to beware that she giueth no eare to any sodayne newes For she is in more daunger for hearynge a thing that greueth her then for suffering long sicknes that paineth her and it were vniust that for knowing of a trifeling matter the mother that is to be deliuered the child that is to be borne should both in one momēt perish The sixte the woman with child ought to beware that she go not by any meanes to any feastes wher ther
of kyng Arthebanus had nourished his sonne they coulde not haue robbed it in the cradell nor these twoo princes had not bene slayne in battayle nor the common wealth had not bene destroied nor Alexander had not entred into the lande of another nor had not come to conquere the contrey of Italy nor the dead corps had not wanted his graue for oftetimes it chaunceth for not quenching a litle coale of fier a whole forest house is burned The deuine Plato among the Grekes and Licurgus among the Lacedemonians commaunded and ordeined in all their lawes that al the Plebeical women those of meane estate should nourishe al their children and that those which were princesses and great ladies should at the least nourishe their eldest and first begotten Plutarche in the booke of the reigne of princes saieth that the sixt kyng of the Lacedemonians was Thomistes the whiche when he died lefte two children of which the second inherited the realme because the Quene her selfe had brought it vp and the first did not inherite because a straūge nource had geuen it sucke and brought it vp And hereof remained a custome in the moste parte of the realmes of Asia that the childe whiche was not nourysshed with the pappes of his mother shoulde inherite none of his mothers goodes There was neuer nor neuer shal be a mother that had suche a sonne as the mother of God which had Iesus Christe nor there was neuer nor neuer shal be a sonne which had suche a mother in the worlde But the infante would neuer sucke other milke because he would not be bounde to call any other mother nor the mother did geue him to nourish to any other mother because that no other woman should call him sonne I doe not marueile at al that princesses and great ladies doe geue their children forth to nourishe but that which moste I marueile at is that she whiche hath conceiued and brought forth a child is a shamed to geue it sucke and to nourishe it I suppose that the ladies doe thinke that they deserue to conceiue them in their wombes and that they sinne in nourishing them in their armes I can not tell how to wryte and much lesse howe to vtter that which I would say which is that women are now a daies come into such folly that they thinke and esteme it a state to haue in their armes some litle dogges they are ashamed to nourish geue the childrē sucke with their own breastes O cruel mothers I cannot thinke that your hartes can be so stony to endure to see and keape fantasticall birdes in the cages vnhappy Monkeis in the wyndowes fisting spaniels betwene your armes and so neglect and despise the swete babes casting them out of your houses where they were borne and to put them into a straunge place where they are vnknowen It is a thing which cannot be in nature neither that honestie can endure conscience permit nor yet consonant either to deuine or humaine lawes that those which God hath made mothers of children shoulde make them selues nourses of dogs Iunius Rusticus in the third booke of the sayings of the auncientes saith that Marcus Porcio whose life and doctrine was a lanterne and example to al the Romain people as a man much offended saied on a day to the senate O fathers conscripte O cursed Rome I can not tell what nowe I shoulde saye sithe I haue sene in Rome suche monsterous thinges that is to wete to see women cary Parrottes on their fistes and to see women to nourishe dogges geuing them mylke from their owne breastes They replied in the senate and sayde Tell vs Marcus Porcio what wouldest thou we should doe whiche lyue nowe to resemble our fathers whiche are dead Marcus Portio aunswered them The woman that presumeth to be a Romaine Matrone ought to be founde weauing in her house and out of that to be found in the temple praying to God and the noble and stoute Romane ought to be foūd in his house reding bookes and out of his house fighting in the playn fielde for the honour of his countrie And suer these were wordes worthy of suche a man Annius Minutius was a noble Romaine and captaine of great Pompeius who was a great friende to Iulius Caesar after the battaile of Farsaliae for he was an auncient and on that could geue good councell wherefore he neuer scaped but that he was chosen in Rome for Senatour Consul or Censor euery yeare for Iulius Caesar was so mercifull to them that he pardoned that those whiche had bene his moste enemies in the warres were of hym in peace best beloued This Annius Minutius then beinge chosen Censor within Rome which was an office hauing charge of iustice by chaunce as he went to visite the wyfe of an other frende of his the whiche laye in child bedde because she had great aboundaunce of mylke he founde that a litle pretie bitche did sucke her vpon the whiche occasion they saye he said these wordes to the Senate fathers conscripte a present mischiefe is nowe at hande according to the token I haue sene this daye that is to wete I haue seene a Romaine woman denie her owne chyldren her mylke and gaue to sucke to a filthy bitche And truly Annius had reason to esteme this case as a wonder for the true and swete loues are not but betwene the fathers and children and where the mother embraceth the brute beaste and forsaketh her naturall childe whiche she hath brought foorth it cannot be otherwyse but there either wysedome wanteth or folly aboundeth for the foole loueth that he ought to despise and despiseth that whiche he ought to loue Yet thoughe the mothers wyll not geue their children sucke they oughte to doe it for the daunger whiche may come to the helthe of their personnes for as the womē which bryng forth children do lyue more healthful then those which beare none so these which do nourish them haue more health then those which doe not nourishe them For although the brynging vp of children be troublesome to women it is profitable for their healthe I am ashamed to tell it but it is more shame for ladies to do it to see what plasters they put to their breastes to drie vp their milke and hereof commeth the iust iudgement of God that in that place ofte tymes where they seke to stoppe their mylke in the selfe same place they them selues procure their sodaine death I aske now if women doe not enioye their children being younge what pleasure hope they to haue of them when they are olde What a great comforte is it for the parentes to see the younge babe when he wyll laughe howe he twincleth his litle eies when he wyll weape how he wyll hange the prety lippe when he woulde speake howe he wyll make signes with his lytle fyngers when he wyll goe howe he casteth forwarde his feete and aboue all when he beginneth to bable howe he doubled in his
wisest but these of our daies cōtend who shal be fairest For at this day the ladies would chose rather to haue the face adorned with beautie then the heart endued with wisedome The auncient ladies contented which should be better able to teache others but these ladies nowe a daies contend how they may moste finely apparel them selues For in these daies they geue more honour to a woman richely appareled then they geue to an other with honestie beautified Finally with this worde I doe conclude and let him marke that shall reade it that in the olde time women were such that their vertues caused al men to kepe silence and now their vices be such that they cōpell al men to speake I will not by this my word any man should be so bolde in generally to speake euil of all the ladies for in this case I sweare that there are not at this day so many good vertuous women in the world but that I haue more enuy at the life they lead in secreat then at al the sciences whiche the auncient women red in publike Wherfore my pen doth not shewe it selfe extreme but to those which onely in sumptuous apparell and in vayne wordes do consume their whole lyfe and to those whiche in readyng a good boke wold not spend one only houre To proue my intencion of that I haue spoken the aboue written suffiseth But to the ende princesses and great ladies maye se at the lest howe muche better it shal be for them to know litel then to haue and possesse much and to be able to do more I will remembre thē of that whych a Romaine woman wrate to her children wherby they shal perceyue how eloquent a woman she was in her sayinges and how true a mother in her counsel For in the end of her letter she perswadeth her children to the trauailes of the warre not for any other cause but to auoyd the pleasures of Rome Of the worthines of the ladye Cornelia and of a notable epistle she wrote to her .ii. sonnes which serued in the warres Tyberius and Caius diswadyng them from the pleasures of rome and exorting them to endure the trauailes of warre Chap. xxxi ANnius Rusticus in the boke of the antiquities of the Romaines saith that in Rome ther wer .v. principal linages that is to wete Fabritij Torquatij Brutij Fabij and Cornelij thoughe there were in Rome other newe linages wherof ther were many excellent personages yet alwayes these which came of the .v. linages were kept placed and preferred to the first offices of the common wealth For Rome honored those that were present in such sort that it was without the preiudice of those that are gone Amongest those .v. linages the romaines alwayes counted the Cornelij most fortunat the which were so hardy and couragious in fight and so modest in lyfe that of theyr familie there was neuer found any cowardly man in the feld nor any defamed woman in the towne They saye of this linage of the Cornelij amonge many other there were .iiii. singular and notable women among the whiche the chiefe was the mother of Gracchi whose name was Cornelia and liued with more honour for the sciences she red in Rome then for the conquestes that her children had in Affricke Before her children wer brought into the empire they talked of none other thing but of their strēgth hardines throughout all the worlde and therfore a Romaine one daye asked this woman Cornelia wherof she toke most vaine glory to se her selfe mistres of so many disciples or mother of so valiant children The lady Cornelia aunswered I doe esteme the science more whiche I haue learned then the Children whyche I haue brought forth For in the end the children kepe in honour the lyfe but the disciples continue the renowne after the death And she sayd further I am assured that the disciples dayly will waxe better and better and it maye bee that my Children wil waxe worse and worse The desyres of yong men are so variable that they daily haue newe inuentions With one accord all the wryters do greatly commende this woman Cornelia inespecially for being wyse and honest and furthermore bycause shee red philosophy in Rome openlye And therfore after her death they set vp in Rome a Statue ouer the gate Salaria whereupon there was grauen this Epigrame This heape of earth Cornelie doth encloose Of wretched Gracches that loe the mother was Twyse happye in the sckollers that she choose Vnhappye thrise in the ofspringe that she has AMong the latines Cicero was the Prince of al the Romaine rethorike and the chiefest with his pen inditing of Epystles yet they say that he did not only se the writinges of this Cornelia but red them and did not onely read them but also with the sentences therof profited him selfe And hereof a man ought not to meruaile for there is no man in the world so wise of him selfe but may furder his doynges with the aduice of another Cicero so highly exalted these writinges that he said in his rethorike these or such other like wordes If the name of a woman had not bleamyshed Cornelia truly she deserued to be head of all philosophers For I neuer sawe so graue sentences procede from so fraile flesh Since Cicero spake these wordes of Cornelia it can not be but that the writinges of such a woman in her time were very liuely and of great reputacion yet notwithstāding there is no memory of her but that an author for his purpose declareth an epistel of this maner Sextus Cheronensis in his booke of the prayse of women reciteth the letter whiche she sente to her children She remaynyng in Rome and they beyng at the warres in Affrike The letter of Cornelia to her .ii. sonnes Tiberius and Caius otherwise called Gracchi COrnelia the Romaine that by thy fathers side am of the Cornelij one the mother syde of the Fabij to you my .ii. sonnes Gracchii which are in that warres of Affrik such health to you do wish as a mother to her childrē ought to desire Ye haue vnderstode right well my children how my father died I being but .iii. yeres of age and that this .xxii. yeares I haue remained wydow and that this .xx. yeares I haue red Rethorike in Rome It is .vii. yeres sins I sawe ye and .xii. yeares sins your bretherne my children dyed in the great plage You know .viii. yeres ar past since I left my study and came to se you in Cicilia bycause you should not forsake the warres to come se me in rome for to me could come no greater paine thē to se you absent from the seruice of the common welth I desire my children to shew you how I haue passed my life in labour trauaill to the intent you should not desire to spēd youres in rest and idlenes For if to me that am in rome there can want no trobles be ye assured that vnto you which are in the warres shall
doth not amend hys lyfe that the father do disinherit him When good wil doth want and vicious pleasures abounde the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being .52 yeres old by chaunce this chylde Verissimus which was the glory of Rome the hope of the father at that gate of Hostia of a sodayne sicknes dyed The death of whom was as vniuersallye lamented as his lyfe of al men was desired It was a pitiful thynge to see how wofully the father toke the death of his intierly beloued son no lesse lamētable to behold how the senat toke the death of their prince beinge the heire For the aged father for sorow did not go to the Senate and the senat for few daies enclosed themselues in the high Capitol And let no man meruaile though the death of this yong prince was so taken through Rome For if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewaile and lament hys death When a knight a gentleman a squyre an offycer or when any of the people dyeth ther dyeth but one but when a prince dieth which was good for all and that he lyued to the profit of al then they ought to make account that al do dye they ought al greatly to lament it For oft times it chaunseth that after ii or iii. good Princes a foule flocke of tyraunts succedeth Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperour as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely parsonne though the inward sorow from the rootes of the hart could not be plucked yet he determined to dissemble outwardly and to burie his greues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shew extreame sorow vnlesse it be that he hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good prince as one that hath his vineyard frosen wherin was al hys hope contented with him selfe with that whych remaineth his so derely beloued sonne being dead comaunded the prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his only heyre Iulius Capitolinus whych was one of those that wrote of the tyme of Marcus Aurelius sayd vpon this matter that when the father saw the disordinate fraylenes and lightnes and also the litle shame whych the prince Comodus his sonne brought with him the aged man began to weape and shed teares from his eyes And it was bycause the symplenes and vertues of his deare beloued sonne Verissimus came into hys mynd Though this Emperour Marcus for the death of hys sonne was very sorowful yet notwithstanding this he prouided how his other sonne Comodus should be gouerned this before that eyther of age or body he wer greater For we cānot deny but when Princes are mē they wil be such as in their youth they haue bene brought vp The good father therfore knowing that the euil inclinacions of his sonne should do him domage the empire in like maner he sent throughout al Italy for the most sagest expert men to be gouernours Tutors of Comodus the prince He made them seke for the most profoundest in learning the most renowmed of good fame the most vertuous in dedes and the most depest in vnderstandyng for as the dust is not swept with fyne cloth but with dry bromes so the lightnes follies of yong mē are not remedied but by the hard disciplyne of the aged Thys commaundement being published and proclaimed in Rome the bruit scattered through Italye there came and ranne thither dyuerse kinde of sages whom he commaunded to be examyned He being informed of the bloud of thier predicessours of the age of their persones of the gouernment of their houses of the spendyng of their goodes of their credit amongest their neighbours of the sciences they knew aboue al they were no lesse examined of the purenes of their lyues then of the grauitie of their personnes for ther are many men whych are graue in open wordes very light in secret works Speakyng therfore more particularly he commaunded they should examyne the Astronomers of Astronomy the phylosophers in philosophie the musitines in musike the Orators in oracions And so forth of other sciences in order wherin euery one sayd he was instructed The good emperour was not so contented to do this once but sondry times not al in one day but in many not only by an other man but also by him selfe Finally they were al examyned as if they had bene al one and that the same one shold haue remayned bene kept for al to be only master tutor of the young child and prince Comodus To acquire a perfect knowledge and to be sure not to erre in choyce of thinges in my opinion is not onely required experience of him selfe and a cleare vnderstanding but also the aduyse of an other For the knowledge of thinges wholly together is easy but the choyce of them particularly is harde This thing is spoken because the good Emperour sent and commaunded to chose gouernours and maisters of his children Of many he choose fewe and of fewe the most wysest of the most wysest the most expert of the most expert the best learned of the best learned the most temperate of the most temperate the most auncient and of the most auncient the moste noble Certainely such election is worthy prayse because they be true maisters and teachers of princes which are noble of bloud auncient in yeares honeste in life men of litle folly and of great experience According to the seuen liberal sciences two maisters of euery one were chosen so that the prince was but one and the others were .xiiii. but this notwithstanding the workes of this prince Comodus were contrary to the expectation of his father Marcus Aurelius because the intention of the good father was to teache his sonne all sciences and the study of the sonne was to learne all vices At the bruite of so great a thing as this was that the Emperour sought to prouide tutors for the prince Comodus and that they should not be those which were best fauoured but those whiche were found the most wysest in shorte space there came so many philosophers to Rome as if the deuine Plato had bene reuiued againe in Grece Let vs not marueile at all if the sages desired the acquaintaunce familiaritie of this good Emperour For in the ende there is no man so sage nor so vertuous in this life but sometime wyll seke after the fauours of the world Since there were many sages and that of those he chose but fourtene It was necessary he should honestly and wisely dispatche and geue the others leaue as did behoue him And herein the good emperour shewed him selfe so wyse that shewing to some a mery coūtenaunce to others speaking gently and to others by a certaine hope to others by giftes presentes al the good company of the sages departed the good emperour dispatched them not
And I saye that they doe not suffer them to be to light or vnconstant for of younge men inconstant and light commeth oftētimes an olde man fonde and vnthriftie I saie that they doe not suffer them to be to rashe for of to hardy young men commeth rebellious and seditious persones I say that they doe not consent they be shamelesse for of the vnshamefastnes commeth sclaunderous persones Princes and great lordes ought to haue much circumspection that their children be brought vp in shamefastnes with honestie For the crowne doth not geue so much glory to a kyng nor the head doth more set forth the man nor the iewell more adourne the breast nor yet the scepter more become the hande then shamefastnes with honestie beutifieth a younge man For a man of what estate so euer he be the honestie which he sheweth outwardly doth hide many secret vices wherewith he is endued inwardly In the time of the reigne of the emperour Helius Pertinax the nyntenthe Emperour of Rome two consulles gouerned the commō welth the one named Verus and the other Mamillus one daye they came to the Emperour and were humble suiters to his highnes besechinge him that it would please hym to receiue their two children into his seruice the eldest of the whiche passed not as yet twelue yeares of age the whiche request after the Emperour had graunted the fathers were not negligent to bryng them vnto hym and being come before his presence each of them made an oration the one in Latine and the other in Greke Wherewith the Emperour was greatly pleased and all the residue amased for at that time none serued the Romaine princes but that he were either very apte to cheualry or els toward in sciences As these two children in the presence of the Emperour made their orations the one of thē behelde the Emperour in suche sorte that his eies neuer went of him neither once moued his head to loke down to the earth and the other contrary behelde the earth alwayes neuer lift vp his head during his oration Wherewith the Emperour being a graue man was so highly pleased with the demeanours of this child that he did not onely admitte him to serue him at his table but also he suffred him to enter into his chambre and this was a preferment of great estimation For princes did not vse to be serued at their tables nor in their chambers with any vnlesse they were of his owne kynred or auncient seruauntes And concerning the other childe whiche was his compaignion the Emperoure retourned againe to his father saiynge that when hereafter he shoulde bee more shamefast he woulde receiue hym into his seruice And certainly the Emperoure had reason for good and graue princes ought not to be serued with light and shameles children I woulde nowe demaunde fathers whiche loue their children very well and woulde they shoulde be worthy what it auaileth their children to be faire of countenaunce well disposed of body liuely of sprighte whyte of skinne to haue yellowe heere 's to be eloquent in speache profounde in science if with all these graces that nature geueth them they be to bolde in that they doe and shamelesse in that they saye the authour hereof is Patritius Senesis in the firste booke De rege regno One of the moste fortunate princes was the great Theodosius the whiche amongest all other vertues had one moste singuler which was that he was neuer serued in his pallace with any young man that was vnshamefast or seditious nor with an olde man which was dishonest For he said oftetimes that princes shall neuer be well beloued if they haue about thē liers or sclaūderers This good emperour spake as a man of experience and very sage for if the counsellers and familiars of princes be euil taught and vnpacient they offende many and if they be liers they deceiue all and if they be dishonest they sclaunder the people And these offences be not so great vnto them that committe them as they be vnto the prince whiche suffreth them The emperour Theodose had in his pallace two knightes the one called Ruffinus and the other Stelliconus by whose prudence and wisdome the cōmon wealth was ruled and gouerned And as Ignacius Baptista saieth they twoo were the tutors gouernours of the children of Theodose whose names were Archadius and Honorius For as Seneca saieth when good princes do die they ought to be more carefull to procure maisters and tutors whiche shall teache their children then to procure realmes or kingdomes for to enriche them These twoo maisters Stelliconus and Ruffinus had in the pallace of Theodose eche of them a sonne the which were maruellous wel taught and very shamefast and for the contrary the two princes Honorius and Archadius were euill manered and not very honest And therfore the good emperour Theodose tooke these children oftetimes and set them at his table and contrary he woulde not once beholde his owne Let no man marueile though a prince of suche a grauitie did a thing of so smal importaunce for to say the truthe the shamefast children and wel taughte are but robbers of the hartes of other men Fourthly the tutors and maisters of princes oughte to take good heade that when the younge princes their schollers waxe great that they geue not them selues ouer to the wicked vice of the fleshe so that the sensualitie and euill inclination of the wanton childe ought to be remedied by the wisedom of the chaste maister For this cursed fleshe is of suche condition that if once by wantonnes the wicket be opened death shall soner approche then the gate shal be shut agayne The trees which budde and caste leaues before the time our hope is neuer to eate of their fruite in season I meane that when chyldren haunte the vice of the fleshe whyles they be young there is small hope of goodnes to be loked in them when they be olde And the elder we see them waxe the more we may be assured of their vices And where we see that vice encreaseth there we may affirme that vertue diminisheth Plato in his seconde booke of lawes ordeyneth and commaundeth that younge men shoulde not marye before they were .xxv. yeares of age and the younge maydens at .xx. because at that age their fathers abide lesse daungers in begetting them and geuing of them lyfe and the children also which are borne haue more strength against the assaultes of death Therefore if it be true as it is true in dede I aske nowe if to be maried and get children whiche is the ende of mariage the Philosophers doe not suffer vntill suche time as they be men then I say that maisters ought not to suffer their schollers to haunte the vices of the fleshe when they be chyldren In this case the good fathers oughte not alone to committe this matter to their tutors but also thereunto to haue an eye them selues For oftetimes they wyll saye they haue bene at their
sober in drinkynge softe in wordes wyse in counsaile and to conclude hee oughte to be very pacient in aduersytye and farre from vices which attempt him Worthye of prayse is the greate Seneca for these wordes but more worthye shall the olde men be if they will conforme their workes according to those wordes For if wee see them abandon vices and geue them selues to vertues we wyll both serue them and honour them ¶ That princes when they are aged should be temperate in eating sober in drinkynge modest in apparell and aboue all true in communicacion Cap. xviii IT is consonaunt to the counsayle of Seneca that the aged shoulde bee temperate in eating whych they ought to do not only for the reputacion of their persons but also for the preseruacion of their liues For the olde men which are drunk and amarous are persecuted with their owne diseases and are defamed by the tonges of other That whiche the auncient men shoulde eate I meane those whiche are noble and vertuous ought to be verye cleane well dressed and aboue all that theye take it in ceason and time for otherwise to muche eatinge of diuers thinges causeth the yonge to bee sicke and enforceth the olde to dye Yong men though they eate dishonestly very hastely and eate speakinge we can do no lesse but dissemble withe them but the olde mē whych eate much and hastelye of necessitie we oughte to reproue them For men of honour ought to eate at the table with a great grauitie as if they were in anye counsaile to determine causes It is not my intention to perswade the feble olde men not to eate but to admonishe them to eate no more then is necessarye We doe not prohibite them to eate delicate thinges but to beware of superfluous thinges We doe not counsale them to leaue eatinge hauinge nede but to withdrawe them selues from curiosyties For thoughe it bee lawefull for aged men to eate sufficiente it is not honeste for them to eate to ouercome their stomakes It is a shame to wryte it but more shame ought they to haue whiche doe it whiche is that the goodes whiche theye haue wonne and inheryted by their predecessours theye haue eaten and dronken so that theye haue neyther bought house vyne nor yet maried any doughter but they are naked and theire poore children goe to the Tauernes and Innes and the myserable fathers to the Hospitalles and churches When anye man commeth to pouertye for that his house is burned or his shyppe drowned or that theye haue taken all from hym by lawe or that he hath spent it in pleadyng against hys enemye or anye other inconuenience is come vnto hym mee thinketh wee all are bounde to succoure him and the harte hathe compassion to beeholde hym but hee that spendeth it in apparaile not requysyte to seeke delitious wynes and to eate delicate meates to such one I woulde saye that the pouertye hee suffreth is not sufficiente for his desertes For of all troubles there is none so greate as to see a man suffer the euill whereof he hymselfe hathe bene the occasion Also according to the counsaile of Seneca the auncients ought to be wel aduertised in that they should not onely be temperate in eatyng but also they shoolde be sober in drinking and this both for the preseruacion of their health and allso reputacion of theire honestye For if the olde Phisitions doe not deceiue vs humaine bodies doe drye and corrupte beecause theye drinke superfluously and eate more then nature requireth If I shoulde saye vnto the olde menne that theye shoulde drynke no wyne theye myghte tell mee that it is not the counsayle of a Christian But presuppose theye oughte to drynke and that for noe oppynyon theye shoulde leaue it yet I admonyshe exhorte and desire them that theye drynke lytle and that theye drynke verye temperate For the disordynate and immesurate drynkynge causeth yonge men to bee drunke and the olde men bothe drunke and foolishe O howe muche authoritye loste theye and what grauytye doe honourable and auncient menne lose whiche in drynkinge are not sober Whyche semeth to bee true for asmuche as the man beeinge loden wyth wyne thoughe hee were the wysest in the worlde hee shoulde bee a verye foole that woulde take counsayle of suche one in hys affaires Plutarche in a booke whiche hee made of the fortune of the Romains sayed that in the senate of Rome there was an auncient manne who made greate exclamacions that a yonge man hadde in suche sorte dishonoured him that for the iniuries he hadde spoken hee deserued deathe And when the yonge manne was called for to aunswere to that hee hadde sayde vnto hym he aunswered Fathers conscripte thoughe I seeme yonge vnto you yet I am not so yonge but that I knewe the father of this olde manne who was a vertuous and noble Romayne and somewhat a kynne to mee And I seeynge that his father hadde gotten muche goodes fightynge in the warres and also seeinge this olde manne spending them in eatynge and drinkynge I sayde vnto him one daye I am verye sorye my lorde and vncle for that I heare of thye honour in the market place and am the more sorye for that I see done in thy house wherein we sawe fyftye men armed before in one houre and we nowe see a hundreth knaues made drunke And worse then that as thye father shewed to all those that entered hys house the ensignes hee hadde wonne in the warres so nowe to those that enter into thy house thou shewest them dyuers sortes of wynes My vncle complayned of mee but in this case I make the plaintife iudge againste mee the defendaunt And I woolde by the immortall goddes hee deserued noe more payne for hys woorkes then I deserue by my woordes For yf he had bene wyse hee woulde haue accepted the correction which secretlye I gaue him and had not come openly to declare his faults in the Senate The complaynte of the olde manne beeinge hearde by the Senate and the excuse in lyke manner of the yonge man they gaue iudgement that theye shoolde take all the goods from the olde manne and prouyde hym of a tutour whyche shoulde gouerne hym and hys house And theye commaunded the tutoure that from hence forwarde hee shoolde not geeue him one cuppe of wyne since hee was noted of drunkennesse Of truth the sentence whiche the Senate gaue was verye iuste For the olde manne whiche geeueth him selfe to wyne hathe asmuche neede to haue a gouernoure as an infaunte or a foole Laettius made a booke of the feastes of Phylosophers and declarethe sundrye auncyente bankettes amonge the which he putteth one where were assēbled many greate philosophers And admit that the meats were meane simple yet the bidden gestes were sage And the cause why they did assemble was not to eat but to dispute of some graue doctrines whereof the philosophers did somewhat doubte For in those daies the greater the Stoikes the Peripatetikes were in nomber
fynde that the more I eate the more I dye for hunger the more I drinke the greater thirste I haue the more I rest the more I am broken the more I slepe the more drousier I am the more I haue the more I couet the more I desire the more I am tormēted the more I procure the lesse I attaine Fynally I neuer hadde so greate paine through want but afterwarde I had more trouble with excesse It is a great follye to thinke that as longe as a man lyueth in this fleshe that hee can satisfye the fleshe for at the last cast she may take from vs our lyfe but wee others can not take from her her disordynate couetousnes Yf men dyd speake with the goddes or the gods were conuersant with men the first thing that I woold aske thē shoold be why they haue appointed an end to our woful dayes and wyl not geue vs an end of our wicked desires O cruel Gods what is it you do or what do you suffer vs it is certain that we shal not passe one good day of life only but in tasting this and that life consumeth O intollerable life of man wherin there are such malices from the which we ought to beware and such perils to fal in and also so many thinges to cōsyder that then both she and we do end to know our selues when the houre of death approcheth Let those knowe that knowe not that the world taketh our wil and we others like ignorauntes cannot denay it hym and afterwardes hauing power of our wil doth constraine vs to that which we would not so that many times we would do vertuous workes and for that we are now put into the worldes handes we dare not doe it The world vseth another subtiltye with vs that to the end wee should not striue with it it prayseth the times past because we should liue according to the time present And the worlde saieth further that if we others employ our forces in his vices he geueth vs licence that we haue a good desire of vertue O woulde to god in my dayes I myghte see that the care whiche the worlde hath to preserue vs the wordlyngs would take it to withdraw thē from hys vyces I sweare that the gods shoulde then haue more seruauntes and the world and the fleshe should not haue so many slaues ¶ The Emperoure procedeth in his letter proueth by good reasons that sithe the aged persons wyl be serued and honored of the yong they oughte to bee more vertuous and honest then the yonge Cap. xxi I Haue spoken al this before rehersed for occasion of you Claude and Claudine the which at .3 score and 10. yeares wyl not kepe out of the prison of the world You I say which haue your bodies weake and corrupted what hope shale wee haue of young men which are but .25 yeares of age if my memorye deceiue mee not when I was there you had nephewes maried and of their children made sure and two of the children borne and since that is true mee thinketh when the frute is gathered the leafe is of no value and after the meale is taken from the mylle euil shal the mil grinde I meane that the old man ought to desire that his daies might be shortned in this worlde Do not thinke my frendes that a man can haue his house full of nephewes and yet say that he is very yong for in lodīge the tree with frutes the blossomes immediately fall or els they become wythered I haue imagined with my selfe what it is that you might do to seme yonge and cut of some of your yeares and in the end I know no other reason but when you maried Alamberta your doughter with Drusus and your neere Sophia the faire with Tuscidan which were so yonge that the daughters were scarce 15. yeres olde nor the yonge mē .20 I suppose because you were ritche of yeares and poore of money that hee gaue to euery on of them in steede of money for dowrye 20. yeares of yours hereof a man may gather that the money of your nephews haue remained vnto you and you haue geuen vnto them of your own yeares I vnderstand my frendes that your desire is to bee yonge and very yong but I greatly desire to see you old and very old I do not meane in yeares which in you doeth surmount but in discrecion which in you doth want O Claud Claudine note that which I will say vnto you and beare it alwaies in youre memorie I let you wete that to mainteine youth to deface age to lyue contented to be free from trauayles to lengthen lyfe and to auoyde death these thinges are not in the handes of men whiche doe desire them but rather in the handes of those which geueth them the which accordinge to their iustice and not to our couetousnes doe geue vs lyfe by weight and death withoute measure One thinge the olde men do which is cause of slaunderinge manye that is that they wyl speake firste in coūsels they wylbe serued of the yonge in feastes they will bee fyrste placed in all that they saye they wyll bee beleued in churches they wil be hygher then the resydue in distributinge of offyces they wyll haue the moste honoure in there opinyons they wyll not bee gayne sayde fynallye they will haue the credite of old sage men and yet they wyl leade the lyfe of yonge dotynge fooles All these premynences and pryuileges it is verye iuste that old men shoulde haue spent their yeares in the seruice of the common wealthe but with this I dooe aduyse and require them that the auctority geuen them with their white heares bee not dyminyshed by their euil workes Is it a iust thinge that the humble and honest yonge man doe reuerence to the aged man proude and dysdaynefull is it a iust thinge that the gentyll and gratious yonge man doe reuerence to the enuious and malycious old man is it a iust thing that the vertuous and pacyent yonge man doe reuerence to the foolishe and vnpacyente olde man is it a iust thinge that the stoute and liberall yonge man doe reuerence to the myserable and couetous olde man is it iuste that the dylygente and carefull yonge man doe reuerēce to the neglygente olde man Is it iuste that the abstynent and sober yonge man doe reuerence to the greedye and gluttonous old man Is it iuste that the chaste and contynente yonge man do reuerence to the lecherous and dyssolute olde man Mee thinketh these thinges shoulde not bee such that therby the olde man should bee honored but rather reproued and punyshed For olde men offende more by the euel example they geue then by the faulte which they doe commit Thou canste not denaye me my frende Claude that it is thirtye and thre yeares sythe we bothe were at the Theathers to beholde a playe when thou camest late and found no place for thee to sit in thou sayedst vnto mee who was
honored you but that which most I maruel at is that you forget your selues For you neuer coÌ„sider what you ought to bee vntil such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to return back again Awake awake since you are drownd in your dreams open your eyes since you slepe so much accustom your selues to trauells sithens you are vacabonds learne that which beehoueth you sithens now you are so old I mean that in time conuenient you agree with death beefore he make execution of life .52 yers haue I known the things of the world yet I neuer saw a woman so aged through years nor old man with members so feble that for want of strength could not if they list doo good nor yet for the same occasion shoold leaue to bee euel if they list to bee euel It is a meruelous thing to see and woorthy to note that al the corporal members of man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tonge for the hart is always green to inuent euils the toung is alwais able to tel lies My opinion should bee that the pleasant somer being past you shoold prepare your selues for the vntemperat winter which is at hand And if you haue but few days to coÌ„tinew you shoold make hast to take vp your lodging I mean that sith you haue passed the days of your life with trauel you shoold prepare your selues against the night of death to bee in the hauen of rest Let mockries passe as mockries and accept truth as truth that is to weete that it were a very iust thing and also for your honor necessary that al those which in times past haue seene you yoÌ„g foolish shoold now in your age se you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnes and folly of the youth as dooth grauity and constancy in age When the knight ronneth his carire they blame him not for that the horse mayn is not finely commed but at the end of his race hee shoold see his horse ameÌ„ded and looked to â–ª what greater confusion can bee to any parson or greater sclauÌ„der to our mother Rome then to see that which now adays therin wee see that is to weete the old which can scarcely creap through the streats to beehold the plays and games as yong men which serch nought ells but pomp and vanity It greeueth mee to speak it but I am much more ashamed to see that the old Romayns do dayly cause the white hears to be plucked out of their heads bicause they would not seeme old to make their berd small to seme yong wearing their hosen very close theyr sherts open beefore the gown of the senatour imbrodred the Romayn signe richly enameled the coller of gold at the neck as those of Dace Fringes in their gowns as those of Saphire hoopes in their hatts as the Greekes and perles on their fingers as those of India What wilt thou I tell thee more then I haue told thee but that they weare their gowns long and large as those of Tharenthe and they wear theim of the colour as men of warr and euery weeke they haue chaunge as players and the woorst of all is that they show them selues as doting in loue now in their age as others haue doon hertofore in their youth That old men are ouercom by yong desires I do not meruel for that brutish lust is as natural as the daily foode but the old men being old men should be so dissolute heerewith men iustly ought to be offended For the old men couetous and of flesh vicious both offend the gods and sclaunder the coÌ„mon wealth O how many I haue known in Rome who in their youth haue been highly praysed and esteamed and afterwards through geeuing theÌ„ self to very much lightnes in theyr age haue been of all abhorred And the woorst of al is that they haue lost al their credit their parents their fauor and their poore innocent children theyr profit For many times the gods permit that the fathers committing th offence the pain shoold fall vpoÌ„ their owne childreÌ„ The renowmed Gaguino Cato who desceÌ„ded from the high lignage of the sage Catoes was fiue years Flamen preest administrator to the vestal virgins three years pretor two years Censor one year dictator and fiue times CoÌ„sull being .75 years old hee gaue him self to folow serue and to desire Rosana the doughter of Gneus Cursius a lady of trouth very yong and fair and of many desired and much made of time afterwards passing away and god Cupide dooing his office the loue was so kindled inwardly in the hart of this old man that he rann almost madde So that after he had consumed all his goods in seruing her dayly hee sighed and nightely he wept onely for to see her It chaunced that the sayd Rosana â—el sick of a burning ague wherwith she was so disteÌ„pered that shee could eat no meat but desired greatly to eat grapes and sithens there were none ripe at Rome Gaguino Cato sent to the riuer of Rheyn to fetch som beeing farre and many miles distant from thence And when the thing was spred through Rome that all the people knew it and the senat vnderstanding the folly of him the fathers commaunded that Rosana should bee locked vp with the vestal virgins the old man banished Rome for euer to the end that to theÌ„ it shoold bee a punishmeÌ„t to others an example Truly it greued mee sore to see it also I had great payns in writiÌ„g it For I saw the father die in iÌ„famy his childreÌ„ liue in pouerty I beleue that al those which shal hear this exaÌ„ple al those which shal reade this wryting shall find the fact of this amorous old man both vile and filthy and they will allow the senteÌ„ce of the senat which they gaue against him for good and iust I swere that if Gaguino Cato had had as many yong men in his banishment as hee left old men louers that followed his example in Rome ther shoold not be cast away so many men neyther so many women euyl maried It chaunceth oft tymes that when the old men specially beeyng noble and valyant are aduertysed of theyr seruants are rebuked of their pareÌ„ts are prayed of their frends accused of their enemies to bee dishonest in such a place they aunswer that they are not in loue but in iest When I was very yong no lesse in wisdome theÌ„ in age one night in the Capitoll I met with a neighbour of mine the which was so old that hee might haue taken mee for his nephiew to whom I sayd these woords Lord Fabricus are you also in loue hee aunswered mee You see that my age suffereth mee not that I shoold bee a louer if I shoold bee it is but in sport Truly I marueiled to meete him at that hour and I was ashamed to haue such an answer In old men of
with lyes With our frends wee are shamelesse in their life and also bashfull at their death The which ought not to bee so For if our fathers were not dead and that wee did not dayly see these that are present dye mee thinketh it were a shame and also a fear to say to the sick that hee alone shoold dye But since thou knowst as well as hee and hee knoweth as well as thou that all doo trauell in this perillous iurney what shame hast thou to say vnto thy frend that hee is now at the last point If the dead shoold now reuyue how woold they complayn of their frends And thys for no other cause but for that they woold not geeue them good counsell at their death For if the sick man bee my frend and that I see peraduenture hee will dye why shall not I counsell him to prepare him self to dye Certeinly oftentimes wee see by experyence that those which are prepared and are ready for to dye doo escape and those which think to liue doo perish What shoold they doo which goe to vysit the sick perswade them that they make their testaments that they confesse their sinnes that they discharge their conscience that they receiue the Communion and that they doo reconcile them selues to their enemies Certeinly all these things charge not the launce of death nor cut not the threed of lyfe I neuer saw blyndnes so blynd nor ignoraunce so ignorant as to bee ashamed to counsell the sick that they are bound to doo when they are whole As wee haue sayd heere aboue Princes and great Lords are those aboue all other that liue and dye most abusedly And the cause is that as their seruaunts haue no harts to perswade them when they are mery so haue they no audacity to tell them trueth when they are in peril For such seruaunts care lytle so that their maisters beequeath them any thing in theyr willes whether they dye well or lyue euyll O what misery and pity is it to see a Prince a Lord a gentleman and a rych person dye if they haue no faythfull frend about them to help them to passe that payn And not wythout a cause I say that hee ought to bee a faythfull frend For many in our lyfe doo gape after our goods and few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wyse and sage men before nature compelleth them to dye of their own will ought to dye That is to weete that beefore they see them selues in the pangues of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if wee count him a foole whych will passe the sea without a shippe truely wee will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparacion beefore What loseth a wise man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenture of honor is any man beefore death to reconsile him self to his enemies and to those whom hee hath born hate and malyce What loseth hee of his credit who in his lyfe tyme restoreth that which at his death they will commaund him to render wherein may a man shew him self to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by proces they will take from him O how many princes great lords are there which only not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heirs all the days of their life to bee in trauerse in the law So that they supposing to haue left their children welthy haue not left them but for atturneis and counselers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dyspose his goods and correct his lyfe as if hee shoold dye the same night And at night in like maner hee ought so to commit him self to god as if hee hoped for no lyfe vntill morning For to say the truth to sustein life there are infinit trauels but to meete death there is but one way If they will credit my woords I woold counsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the world hee shoold vndoo him self The rich and the poore the great and the small the gentlemen and the Plebeians all say and swear that of death they are exceeding fearfull To whom I say and affirm that hee alone feareth death in whom wee see amendment of lyfe Princes and great lords ought also to bee perfect beefore they bee perfect to end beefore they end to dye beefore they dye and to bee mortified beefore they bee mortified If they doo this with them selues they shall as easely leaue their lyfe as if they chāged from one house to an other For the most part of men delight to talk with leisure to drink with leisure to eat with leisure to sleep with leisure but they dye in haste Not without cause I say they dye in haste since wee see thē receiue the sacrament of the supper of the lord in haste make their willes by force with speed to confesse and receiue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue lost their senses and are ready to geeue vp the spirit when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the ship maister after the ship is sonk what doo weapons auayl after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By that I haue spoken I will demaund what it auaileth the sick beeing heuy with sleep and beereft of their senses to call confessors to whom they confesse their sinnes Euill shal hee bee confessed whych hath no vnderstandyng to repent him self What auayleth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secret of his conscience when the sick man hath lost his speach Let vs not deceiue our selues saying in our age wee will amend heereafter make restitution at our death For in myne oppinion it is not the poynt of wyse men nor of good christians to desire so much tyme to offend and they wil neuer espy any to amend Woold to god that the third part of tyme which men occupy in sinne were employed about the meditations of death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshly lusts were spent in beewayling their filthy sinnes I am very sory at my hart that thei so wickedly passe their life in vyces and pleasures as if there were no God to whom they shoold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doo sinne vppon hope only in age to amend and at death to repent but I woold demaund him that in this hope sinned what certeinty hee hath in age of amendment and what assuraunce hee hath to haue long warning beefore hee dye Since wee see by experience there are mo in nomber which dye yong then old it is no reason wee shoold commit so many sinnes in one day that wee shoold haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our lyfe And afterwards to beewail the sinnes of our long life wee desire no more but one
aduise ought wel to bee assured that in al or the most part hee shall erre O my lord Mark sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and auncient didst not thou think that as thou hadst buried many so like wise some should burie thee What imaginacions were thine to think that seeing the end of their days others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rych honourably accompanied old and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the common wealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast always beene a frend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Sins thou hast proued what honors and dishonors doo deserue ryches and pouerty prosperity and aduersity ioy and sorow loue and feare vices pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remayneth to know but that it is necessarye to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble lord that thow shalt learn more in one hour what death is then in a hundreth years what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to bee good and hast lyued as good is it not better that thow dye goe with so many good then that thow scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doo maruail that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discrete Many things doo the sage men feele which inwardly doo oppresse their hart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honor If all the poyson which in the sorowfull hart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the walles woold not suffice to rubbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore where with to shut the shop wherein all the miseries of this wofull lyfe are vendible What wrong or preiudice doo the gods vnto vs whē they cal vs beefore them but from an old decaied house to chaunge vs to a new builded pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherein wee shut our selues from the assaults of lyfe broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee fynd in death then of that wee leaue in lyfe If Helia Fabricia thy wife doo greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doo not care For shee presently hath litle care of the perill wherein thy lyfe dependeth And in the end when shee shall know of thy death shee will bee nothing greued Trouble not thy self for that shee is left widow For yong women as shee is which are maried with old men as thou when their husbands dye they haue their eies on that they can robbe and their harts on them whom they desire to mary And speaking with due respect when with their eies they outwardly seeme most for to beewaile then with their harts inwardly doo they most reioyce Deceyue not thy self in thinking that the empresse thy wife is yong and that shee shal fynd none other Emperor with whom agayn shee may mary For such and the like will chaunge the cloth of gold for gownes of skynnes I mean that they woold rather the yong shepeheard in the field then the old emperour in his royall pallace If thou takest sorow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shooldst do so For truely yf it greeue thee now for that thou dyest they are more displeased for that thow lyuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may bee counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that hee is not maintained if hee bee rich hee desireth his death to enherit the sooner Sins therefore it is true as in deede it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing thou weepe If it greue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces these sūptuous buildings deceiue not thy self therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death dooth finish thee at the end of .lxii. yeares tyme shal consume these sūptuous buildings in lesse then xl If it greeue thee to forsake the cōpany of thy frends neighbors for them also take as litle thought sins for thee they wil 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 buryed but of their frends neighbors they are forgotten If thou takest great thought for that thou wilt not dye as the other emperors of Rome are dead mee seemeth that thou oughtst allso to cast this sorow from thee For thou knowst ryght wel that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankful to those which serue her that the great Scipio also woold not bee buryed therein If it greeue thee to dye to leaue so great a seignory as to leaue the empire I can not think that such vanity bee in thy head For temperat reposed men when they escape from semblable offices do not think that they lose honor but that they bee free of a troblesome charge Therefore if none of al these things moue thee to desire lyfe what should let thee that through thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dye for one of these two things eyther for the loue of those they leaue beehynd them or for the feare of that they hope Sins therefore there is nothing in this lyfe worthy of loue nor any things in death why wee shoold feare why doo mē feare to dye According to the heauy sighs thou fetchest the bitter tears thou she dest according also to the great payn thou shewest for my part I think that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods shoold cōmaund thee to pay this debt For admit that al think that their life shal end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soone For that men think neuer to dye they neuer beeginne their faults to amend so that both life fault haue end in the graue togethers Knowst not thou most noble prince that after the long night cōmeth the moist morning Doost thou not know that after the moyst morning there commeth that cleere sunne Knowst not thou that after the cleare sunne cōmeth the cloudy element Doost thou not know that after the dark myst there commeth extream heat And that after the heat cometh the horrible thunders after the thunders the sodeyn lightnings that after the perilous lightnings commeth the terrible hayle Fynally I say that after the tempesteous troublesome time commonly commeth cleare faire weather The order that time hath to make him self cruel gentill the self same ought men to haue to liue dye For after the infancy cōmeth chyldhod after chyldhod commeth youth after youth cōmeth age after age cōmeth the fearfull death Finally after the fearful death cōmeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read of thee not seldome hard that
the gods onely which had no beginning shall haue also no endyng Therefore mee thinketh most noble prince that sage men ought not to desire to lyue long For men which desire to liue much eyther it is for that they haue not felt the trauailes past beecause they haue been fooles or for that they desire more time to geeue them selues to vices Thou mightst not complayn of that sins they haue not cut thee in the flower of the herb nor taken thee greene from the tree nor cut in thee in the spring tide and much lesse eat the eager beefore thou were ripe By that I haue spoken I mean if death had called thee when thy lyfe was sweetest though thou hadst not had reason to haue complayned yet thou mightst haue desired to haue altered it For it is a great grief to say vnto a yong man that hee must dye and forsake the world What is this my lord now that the wall is decayed ready to fall the flower is withered the grape dooth rotte the teeth are loose the gown is worn the launce is blunt the knife is dull and doost thou desire to return into the world as if thou hadst neuer knowen the world These lxii yeares thou hast liued in the prison of thys body wilt thou now the yron fetters haue rot thy legges desire yet to length thy days in this so woful prison They that wil not be cōtented to lyue lx years fyue in this death or to dye in this lyfe will not desire to dye in lx thousand years The Emperour Augustus octauian sayd That after men had lyued .l. years eyther of their own will they ought to dye or els by force they shoold cause them selues to bee killed For at that time all those which haue had any humain felicity are at the best Those which liue aboue that age passe their days in greeuous torments As in the death of children in the losse of goods importunity of sōne in laws in mainteining processes in discharging debts in sighing for that is past in bewailing that that is present in dissēbling iniuries in hearing woful news in other infinit trauails So that it were much better to haue their eies shut in the graue then their harts bodies aliue to suffer so much in this miserable life Hee whom the gods take from this miserable life at the end of 50. years is quited from al these miseries of life For after that time hee is not weak but crooked he goeth not but rouleth hee stumbleth not but falleth O my lord Mark knowest thou not that by the same way whereby goeth death death cometh Knowst not thou in like maner that it is 52. years that life hath fled from death and that there is an other time asmuch that death goeth seeking thy life and death going from Illiria where hee left a great plague and thou departing from thy pallayce ye .ii. now haue met in Hungary knowst not thou that where thou leapedst out of thy mothers intrails to gouern the land immediatly death leaped out of his graue to seeke thy life Thou hast always presumed not onely to bee honored but also to bee honorable if it bee so synce thou honoredst the Imbassadours of Princes which did send them the more for their profyt then for thy seruice why doost thou not honor thy messenger whom the gods send more for thy profyt then for their seruices Doost thow not remember well when Vulcane my sonne in law poysoned mee more for the couetousnes of my goods then any desire hee had of my life thou lord diddest come to comfort mee in my chamber and toldst mee that the gods were cruell to slea the yong and were pytiful to take the old from this world And thou saydst further these woords Comfort thee Panutius For if thow were born to dye now thou diest to liue Sins therefore noble prince that I tell thee that which thow toldst mee and counsaile thee the same which thou coūsayledst mee I render to thee that which thow hast geeuen mee Fynally of these vines I haue gathered these clusters of grapes ¶ The aunswer of the emperour Marcus to Panutius his secretory wherein hee declareth that hee tooke no thought to forsake the world but all his sorow was to leaue beehynd hym an vnhappy chyld to enheryt the Empire Cap. lij PAnutius blessed bee the milk thou hast sucked in Dacia the bread which thou hast eaten in Rome the learning which thou hast learned in Greece the bringing vp which thou hast had in my pallace For thou hast serued as a good seruant in life and geeuest mee counsayl as a trusty frend at death I commaund Commodus my sonne to recompence thy seruice and I beseech the immortal gods that they acquite thy good counsayls And not wythout good cause I charge my sonne with the one and require the gods of the other For the payment of many seruices one man alone may doo but to pay one good counsayl it is requisyt to haue all the gods The greatest good that a frend can doo to his frend is in great wayghty affayres to geeue him good and holsome counsayl And not without cause I say holsome For commonly it chaunceth that those which think with their counsayl to remedy vs do put vs oftentimes in greatest perils All the trauayles of lyfe are hard but that of death ys the most hard and terrible Al are great but this is the greatest All are perillous but this is most perillous All in death haue end except the trauayl of death whereof wee know no end That which I say now no man perfectly can know but onely hee which seeth him self as I see my self now at the point of death Certainly Panutius thou hast spoken vnto mee as a wise man but for that thou knowst not my grief thow couldst not cure my disease for my sore is not there where thou hast layd the playster The fistula is not there where thou hast cut the flesh The opilation is not there where thou hast layd the oyntments There were not the right vayns where thou dydst let mee blood Thou hast not yet touched the wound which is the cause of all my grief I mean that thou oughtst to haue entred further with mee to haue knowen my grief better The sighes which the hart fetcheth I say those which come from the hart let not euery man thynk which heareth thē that he can immediatly vnderstand them For as men can not remedy the anguishes of the spirit so the gods likewise woold not that they shoold know the secrets of the hart Without fear or shame many dare say that they know the thought of others wherein they shew them selues to bee more fooles then wise For since there are many things in mee wherein I my self doubt how can a straunger haue any certayn knowledge therein Thow accusest mee Panutius that I feare death greatly the which I deny but to feare it as mā I doo confesse For
oke Ryches youth pride and lyberty are fower plagues which poison the prince replenysh the common wealth with filth kill the lyuing and defame the dead Let the old men beeleeue mee and the yong men mark well what I say that where the gods haue geeuen many gyfts it is necessary they haue many vertues to susteyn them The gentle the peaceable the couÌ„terfait the simple and the fearful doo not trouble the common wealth but those whoÌ„ nature hath geeuen most gyfts For as experience teacheth vs with the fayrest weomen the stews are furnyshed the most proper personages are vnshamefast the most stout and valiaunt are murderers the most subtill are theeues and men of clearest vnderstanding oft times beecome most fooles I say and say again I affirm and affirm agayn I sweare and sweare agayn that if two men which are adorned with naturall gyfts doo want requisyt vertues such haue a knife in their hands wherewith they doo strike and wound them selues a fyer on their shoulders wherewith they burn them selues a rope at their necks to hang them selues a dagger at their breast wherewyth they kyll them selues a thorn in their foote wherewith they prick them selues and stones whereat they stumble so that stumbling they fall and falling they fynd them selues with death whom they hate and without lyfe which so much they loued Note well Panutius note that the man which from his infancy hath always the feare of the gods beefore his eyes and the shame of men sayeth trouth to all and lyueth in preiudice to none and to such a tree though euil fortune doo cleaue the flower of his youth doo wither the leaues of their fauors drye they gather the fruits of hys trauailes they cut the bough of hys offices they bow the highest of his braunches downwards yet in the end though of the winds hee bee beaten hee shall neuer bee ouercome O happy are those fathers to whom the Gods haue geeuen quick children wyse faire able lyght and valiaunt but all these gifts are but means to make them vicious And in such case if the fathers woold bee gouerned by my counsayl I woold rather desire that members shoold want in them then that vyces shoold abound Of the most fairest chyldren which are born in the Empire my sonne Commodus the Prince is one But I woold to the immortal gods that in face hee resemble the blackest of Ethiope in maners the greatest philosopher of Greece For the glory of the father is not nor ought not to bee in that his childe is faire of complexion and handsome of person but that in his lyfe hee bee very vpryght Wee will not call hym a pytifull father but a great enemy who exalteth foorth his childe for that hee is faire and dooth not correct him though hee bee vicious I durst say that the father which hath a chyld endued with many goodly gyfts and that hee dooth employ them all to vices such a chyld ought not to bee born in the world and if perchaunce he were born hee ought immediatly to bee buried ¶ The Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth his matter and sheweth that sundry yong princes for beeing vicious haue vndoone them selues and impoueryshed their Realmes Cap. liij O What great pyty is it to see how the father buyeth his chyld of the gods with sighs how the mother deliuer them with payn how they both nourish them with trauailes how they watch to susteyn them how they labor to remedy them and afterwards they haue so rebelled and bee so vicious that the myserable fathers oftentimes doo dye not for age but for the greeues wherewith their children torment theÌ„ I doo remember that the prince CoÌ„modê° my sonne beeing yong I aged as I am with great payns wee kept him froÌ„ vices but I fear that after my deth hee wil hate vertues I remeÌ„ber many yong princes which of his age haue enherited theÌ„pire of Rome who haue beene of so wicked a life that they haue deserued to lose both honor and life I remember Dennis the famous tyraunt of Scicil of whom is sayed that as great reward hee gaue to those that inuented vices as our mother Rome dyd to those which conquered realmes Such woork could not bee but of a Tyrant to take them for most famyliar which are most vicious I remember fower yong princes which gouerned the empire but not with such valyauntnes as the great Alexander that is to weete Alexander Antiochus Siluius and Ptholomeus to whom for their vanyty and lightnes as they called Alexander the great Emperour in Greece so likewise doo they call these yong men tiraunts in Asia Very happy was Alexander in life they vnhappy after his death For all that which with glorious triumphs hee wanne with vile vices they lost So that Alexander deuided between them fower the world and afterwards it came into the hands of mo then fower hundreth I doo remember that kyng Antigonus litle exteemed that which cost his lord Alexander much Hee was so lyght in the beehauior of his person and so defamed in the affaires of the common wealth that for mockry and contempt in the steede of a crown of gold hee bare a garland in the steede of a scepter hee caryed neitels in hys hand of this sort and maner hee sat to iudge among his counsailours and vsed to talk with straungers This yong prince dooth offend mee much for the lightnes hee coÌ„mitted but much more I marueyl at the grauity of the sages of Greece which suffred him It is but meete hee bee partaker of the payn which condescended to the fault I doo remember Calligulus the fowerth Emperour of Rome who was so yong and foolysh that I doubt of these two thyngs which was greatest in his time That is to weete the dysobedyence which the people beare to their lord or the hate which the lord beare to hys people For that vnhappy creature was so dysordered in his maners that if all the Romayns had not watched to take life from him hee woold haue watched to take life from them This Caligula ware a brooche of gold in his cap where in were writen these woords Vtinam omnis populus vnam precise ceruicem haberet vt vno ictu omnes necarem Whych is to say woold to god all the people had but one neck to the end I might kyll them all at a stroke I remember the Emperour Tiberius thadoptiue sonne of the good Cesar Augustus whych was called Augustus beecause hee greatly augmented the empire But the good Emperour did not so much augment the state of hys common wealth duryng hys lyfe as Tiberius dyd dymynish it after hys death The hate and mallyce which the Romayn people bare to Tiberius in hys lyfe was manyfestly dyscouered after the tyme of hys death For the day that Tiberius dyed or better to say when they kylled him the Romayn people made great processyons and the Senators offred great presents to the Temples and the priests
for that they were vertuous By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee that when they came from the warre of Parthia triumphed in Rome confirmed the Empire to my sonne if then these nat nat had not withstoode mee I had left Commodus my sonne poore wyth hys vices and woold haue made heire of all my realmes some vertuous man I let thee to weete Panutius that fyue thyngs oppresse my hart sore to the which I woold rather see remedy my self then to commaund other to remedy it The first for that in my lyfe time I can not determyn the proces that the vertuous wydow Drusia hath with the senat Beecause since shee is poore and deformed there is no man that will geeue her iustice The second beecause I dye not in Rome And this for none other cause then that with the sound of the trumpet shoold bee proclaymed that all those which haue any quarell or debt against mee and my famyly should come thither to bee payd or satisfyed of their debts and demaunds The thyrd that as I made fower tyraunts to bee put to execucion which commytted tyranny in Asia and Italy so it greeued mee that I haue not also punished certayn Pyrats which roued on the seas The fowerth for that I haue not caused the Temple to bee fynished which I dyd beegynne for all the gods For I might haue sayd vnto them after my death that since for all them I haue made one house it were not much that any of them shoold receiue one into his which passe thys lyfe in the fauor of gods and wythout the hatred of men For dying after this sort men shal susteyn our honours and the gods shall prouide for our soules The fyfth for that I leaue in life for my onely heire Commodus the prynce yet not so much for the destruction which shall come to my house as for the great domage which shall succeede in the common wealth For the true princes ought to take the domages of their persons lyght and the domages of the common wealth for the most greeuous O Panutius let therefore thys bee the last woord which I will say vnto thee that is to weete that the greatest good that the Gods may geeue to the man that is not couetous but vertuous is to geeue hym good renowne in lyfe and afterwards a good heire at our death Fynally I say that if I haue anything to doo with the gods I require and beeseech them that if they should bee offended Rome slaundered my renowme defamed and my house demynished for that my sonne bee of an euill lyfe that they wyll take from hym lyfe beefore they geeue mee death ¶ Of the woords which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius spake vnto his sonne Commodus at the hower of death necessary for all yong gentlemen to vnderstand Cap. liiij SInce the dysease of Marcus Aurelius was so extream that in euery hower of his lyfe hee was assaulted with death after hee had talked a long tyme with Panutius his secretary hee commaunded his sonne Commodus to be wakened who as a yong man slept soundly in his bed And beeing come beefore his presence al those which were there were moued immediatly with cōpassion to see the eies of the father all swollen with weeping and the eies of the chylde closed with ouermuch sleepe They could not waken the chylde hee was so careles and they could not cause the goodfather sleape hee tooke so great thought All those which were there seeing how the father desired the good lyfe of the sonne and how lytel the sonne wayed the death of his father had compassion of the old man and bare hate to the wicked chylde Then the good Emperour casting his eies on high and directing his woords to his sōne sayd When thou were a chylde I told thy maisters how they ought to bring thee vp after that thou dydst waxe greater I told thy gouernors how they shoold counsaile thee And now will I tel thee how thou with them which are few and they with thee beeing one ought to gouern and maintayn the common wealth If thou esteeme much that which I wil say vnto thee my sonne know thow that I will esteeme it much more that thow wilt beeleue mee For more easely doo wee old men suffer your iniuryes then yee other yong doo receyue our counsailes Wysedome wanteth to you for to beeleeue vs yet yee want not boldnesse to dishonor vs. And that which is woorst the aged in Rome were wont to haue a chayr of wysedome and sagenes but now a days the yong men count it a shame and folly The world at this day ys so chaunged from that it was wont to bee in tymes past that all haue the audacity to geeue counsaile and few haue the wisedome to receyue it so that they are a thowsaund which sell counsailes there is not one that buyeth wisedom I beleeue wel my sōne that according to my fatal destinies thy euill manners litle shal that auaile which I shal tel thee For since thou wooldst not credyt these woords which I spake vnto thee in my life I am sure that thou wilt litle regard them after my death But I doo this more to satisfy my desyre and to accomplish that which I owe vnto the common wealth than for that I hope for any amendment of thy lyfe For there is no grief that so much hurteth a person as when hee him self is cause of his own payn If any man dooth me an iniury if I lay my hands vppon him or speak iniurious woords vnto him my hart is foorthwith satisfyed but if I doo iniury to my self I am hee which wrongeth am wrōged for that I haue none on whom I may reuenge my wrōg and I vexe chafe with my self If thou my sonne bee euill after that thou hast enheryted the empire my mother Rome wil complain of the gods which haue geeuen thee so many euil inclinacions Shee wil cōplayn of Faustine thy mother which hath brought thee vp so wantonly shee will complayn of thee which hast no will to resist vice but shee shall haue no cause to complayn of the old man thy father who hath not geeuen thee good counsailes For if thou hadst beeleeued that which I told thee men woold reioyce to haue thee for their lord and the gods to vse thee as their minister I cannot tel my sonne if I bee deceiued but I see thee so depriued of vnderstanding so vncertayn in thy woords so dissolute in thy maners so vniust in iustice in that thou desirest so hardy in thy duty so negligent that if thou chaunge alter not thy maners men wil hate thee and the gods will forsake thee O if thou knewst my sonne what thyng it is to haue men for enemies and to bee forsaken of the gods by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that thou wooldst not onely hate the seignory of Rome but with thy hands also thou wooldst
cruel punyshment of those that liue that rather thē they would endure it they wysh to bee dead Thou oughtst to think my sonne that I haue beegot thee I haue nouryshed thee I haue taught thee I haue trymmed thee I haue chastised thee and I haue exalted thee And for this consyderation though by death I am absent it is not reasō that thou euer forget mee For the true not vnthākfull chyld ought the same day to bury his father in his tender hart when others haue layd hym in the hard graue One of the visible chastisements which the gods geeue to men in this world is that the children obey not their fathers in their life For the self same fathers did not remēber their owne fathers after their death Let not yong Princes think after they haue inherited after they see theyr father dead after they are past correction of their masters that al things ought to bee doone as they thē selues wil it for it will not bee so For if thei want the fauour of the Gods haue maledyction of their fathers they liue in trouble and dye in daunger I require nought els of thee my sonne but that such a father as I haue been to thee in my life such a sonne thou bee to mee after my death I commend vnto thee my sonne the veneracion of the gods and this cheefely aboue al thing For the prince with maketh accompt of the gods neede not to feare any storme of fortune Loue the gods thou shalt bee beeloued Serue them thou shalt bee serued Feare them thou shalt bee feared Honor them thou shalt bee honored Doo their commaūdements they will geeue thee thy harts desire For the gods are so good that they doo not onely receiue in accompt that which wee doo but also that which wee desire to doo I commend vnto thee my sonne the reuerence of the Temples that is to weete that they bee not in discorde that they bee cleane renewed that they offer therin the sacrifices accustomed For wee doo not this honor to the substaūce wherwith the temples are made but to the Gods to whome they are consecrated I commend vnto thee the veneration of priestes I pray thee though they bee couetous auaricious dissolute vnpacient negligēt vicious yet that thei bee not dishonored For to vs others it apperteineth not to iudge of the life they leade as mē but wee must consider that they are mediators beetwene the gods vs. Beehold my sonne that to serue the gods honor the temples reuerence the priestes it is not a thing voluntary but very necessary for Princes For so long endured the glory of the Greekes as they were worshippers of their Gods carefull of theyr Temples The vnhappi realme of Catthage was nothing more cowardly nor lesse rych then that of the Romaynes but in the ende of the Romaynes thei were ouercome beecause they were great louers of their treasours and litle worshippers of their Temples I commend vnto thee my sonne Helia thy stepe mother remember though shee bee not thy mother yet shee hath been my wyfe That which to thy mother Faustine thou oughtst for bringing thee into the world the selfe same thou oughtst to Helia for the good entertainmēt which shee hath shewed thee And in deede often tymes I beeing offended with the shee mainteined thee caused mee to forget so that shee by her good woords did winne againe that which thou by thy euill woorks didst loose Thou shalt haue my curse yf thou vsest her euyll thou shalt fall into theire of the gods if that agreest that other doo not vse her wel For all the domage which shee shal feele shal not bee but for the inconuenience of my death iniury of thy persō For her dowrye I leaue her the tributes of Hostia the orchyardes of Vulcanus which I haue made to bee planted for her recreation Bee thou not so hardy to take them from her for in taking them from her thou shalt shewe thy wickednes in leauing them her thy obedyence in geeuing her more thy bounty liberalyty Remember my sonne that shee is a Romaine woman yong a wydow of the house of Traiane my lord that shee is thy mother adoptatiue my naturall wyfe aboue al for that I leaue her recommended vnto thee I commend vnto thee my sonne in laws whome I will thou vse as parents and frends And beeware that thou bee not of those which are brethern in woords cousins in woorks Bee thou assured that I haue willed somuch good to my doughters that the best which were in al the countries I haue chosen for their persons And they haue beene so good that if in geeuing them my doughters they were my sonne in laws in loue I loued them as chyldren I commend vnto thee my Systers doughters whome I leaue thee al maryed not with straūge kings but with natural senatours So that al dwel in Rome where they mai doo thee seruices and thou maist geue them rewards gifts Thy sisters haue greatly inheryted the beauty of thy mother Faustine haue taken lytle nature of their father Marke But I sweare vnto thee that I haue geeuen them such husbands and to their husbands such and so profitable counsailes that they would rather loose their lyfe then agree to any thing touching their dishonor Vse thy sisters in such sort that they bee not out of fauor for that their aged father is dead and that they beecome not proud for to see their brother Emperor Women are of a very tender condicion for of small occasion they doo complayne of lesse they wax proud Thou shalt keepe them preserue them after my death as I did in my lyfe For otherwise their conuersacion to the people shal bee very noisome to thee very importunate I comend vnto thee Lipula thy yongest Sister which is inclosed with in the virgine vestalles who was doughter of thy mother Faustine whome so derely I haue loued in life whose death I haue beewailed vntil my death Euery yeare I gaue to thy sister sixe thousand Sexterces for her necessyties in deede I had maryed her also if shee had not fallen into the fire burnt her face For though shee were my last I loued her with all my hart All haue esteemed her fal into the fire for euyll luck but I doo coūt the euil luck for good fortune For her face was not so burned with coles as her renowme suffred peryl among euill tongs I sweare vnto thee my sonne that for the seruice of the gods for the renowme of men shee is more sure in the Temple with the vestal Virgins then the art in the Senate with thy Senatours I suppose now that at the end of the iourney shee shal find her selfe better to bee enclosed then thou at liberty I leaue vnto her in the prouynce of Lucania euery yeare six
euery man enuieth Certainly against enuy is no fortresse nor caue to hyde nor highe hyll to mounte on nor thicke woode to shadowe in nor shippe to scape in nor horse to beare away nor money to redeme vs. Enuy is so venemous a serpente that there was neuer mortall man among mortalles that could scape from the byting of her toothe scratching of her nayles defyling of her feete and the castinge of her poyson I sweare to thee my frend Piramon that such as fortune lifteth vp with great ryches she full of crueltie sonest ouerthroweth Enuy is so enuious that to them whiche of her are most denied and set farthest of she geueth most cruell strokes with her feete This vnhappy enuy prepareth poyson secretely for them that enioye great pleasures I haue red diuerse bookes of Hebrewe Greke Latine and Caldei And also I haue spoken with many excellent wyse men to see if there might be founde any remedy against an enuious man I confesse the truthe reade all that can be read and imagen all that can be demaunde all that can be demaunded and ye shall finde none other cure against this cursed enuy but to banishe vs fro all the prosperitie and to dwell in the house of aduersitie O howe vnhappy are they that be in prosperitie for iustly they that be set vp in high estate cannot flie from the peril of Scilla without falling into the daunger of Caribdis They cannot scape the peryll without casting their treasures into the sea I saye that the malady of enuy wyl not suffer them to scape from death and the medecine that is applied to them wyll not assure their life I cannot determine whiche is the best or to saye more properly the worste extreame misery without the daunger of fortune or extreame prosperitie that is alwayes threatned to fall In this case to be so extreame I wyl not determine sithe in the one is a perilous life and in the other renoume is sure I shall tell thee what wyse Cicero sayde when he was pursued with many at Rome Beholde you Romaines I holde you not for so good nor my selfe so euill to saye the trouth alwayes nor alwayes to make lies I am certaine that ye beare me no enuy for that I am not as ye be but it is because ye can not be as I am In this case I had rather that my enemies had enuy at my prosperitie then my frendes at my pouertie This Oratour spake after the appetite of them that be in prosperitie leauing to geue remedie to them that be sorowefull And after this Cicero had sene the fieldes of Farsale he tooke other councell and remedy suche as pleased him in Rome For though Caesar had graunted him his goodes yet that turned not his credence and renowme Surely frende Piramon I knowe no remedy to geue thee against enuy sith thou seest al the world ful therof We see how we be the sonnes of enuy we liue with enuy die with enuy he that leueth moste riches leueth the greatest enuy The auncient wyse men counsailed riche men that they should haue poore folkes nere them and they admonished the poore that they should not dwell nere to the riche And truly it is good reason For the riches of riche mē is the seede of enuy to the poore And because the poore man lacketh and the riche hath to muche causeth discorde among the people I sweare by the gods immortall frende Piramon though they that be euill would that I sweare falsely as muche as riches with thought nourisheth couetise so much the enuious nourisheth enuy therby I tel the one thing and that is that it is no good councell to flie enuy to auoyde the vertue contrary to the same Homer saith that in his time there were two Grekes extreame in all extremities the one was extreame in ryches and therefore he was persecuted by enuy that was Achilles and the other was sore noted of malice but no man had enuy at him and that was Thiestes Certainly I had rather be Achilles with his enuy then Thiestes without it Thou knowest wel that we Romaines searche not but for rest in our life for honor after death And sith it is so it is not possible but the mā that euery man enuieth his renowme ought to be exalted in the reste of his life And sithe I see those two thinges in thee such as be my frendes taketh litle thought for that thine enemies murmure against thee Thou wrytest to me how they of Lions doe well and are mery except thy selfe that art heuy and full of pensiuenes And sith they shew not to haue pleasure at thy displeasure shew not thy self displeased with their pleasure For it may chaunce one day they shal be sorowfull when that thou arte mery and so thou shalt be quite with them In an euil persone there can be no greater euill nor in a good mā a greater faulte then to be displeased with another mans wealthe to take pleasure af another mans harme And in case that all doe vs domage with enuy yet much more a frend then the enemy For of mine enemy I will beware for feare I wil withdrawe but my frende with his amitie may beguile me I by my fidelitie shall not perceiue Among all mortall enemies there is none worse then a frende that is enuious of my felicitie Piramon my frend I wil conclude if thou wilt withdraw thy self fro enemies then kepe cōpany with thine own familiar frendes I wote not what to write more to thee but with al my harte I lament thy heuines Thou knowest howe thy niece Brusia slew with a dagger her owne husband I was very sory for her death and for the renowme that she left behinde her Flauius Priscus thine vncle is newly made censoure The proces betwene thy brother Formio Britio is determined by the senate and it pleaseth me right well that they be frendes and euery man well contented The booke intituled the consolation of heauines I haue ended and layde it in the capitol I haue written it in Greke and that is the cause that I sent it not to thee But I doe sende thee a riche swerde a faire girdle Faustine my wyfe doth salute thee sendeth thy wife two sclaues The gods be my kepers comfort thee in thy present heuines Marke the man fortunate to Piramon sore discomforted ¶ A letter sent by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to Catullus Censorius that was so sorowefull for the death of Verissimus the Emperoures sonne worthy to be red and noted Cap. viii MArke the younge and newe Censour saluteth thee olde and aunciente Catullus I haue wrytten two letters to thee and thou hast made aunswere to none of them If it be because thou couldest not I holde my peace if it be because thou wouldest not then I complayne me if it be for forgetfulnes thē I accuse thee if it be because thou settest litle by me then
day in hearing tydings another day in doing seruyces somtime liking darknes sometime lothing lyght being in company and solitary lyueth and finally the poore louer may that he wil not and would that he may not More ouer the counsel of his frends auayleth hym nothing nor the infamy of his enemyes not the losse of goodes the aduenture of honour the losynge of his lyfe nor the sekyng of death neyther commyng neare nor flyeng farre nor seing with his eyes ne hearing with his eares nor tasting with his mouth nor fealing with his hand to conclude to get vyctory he is alway at warre wyth hym selfe Then I would ye louers knewe from whence your loue doth come it is this The entrayles wherof we are bread be fleshe the breastes that we sucked are fleshe the armes wherin we be fastned be of flesh the thoughts which we thynke be fleshly the workes which we do are fleshly the men with whom we lyue are of flesh and the wonder for whom we dye are flesh by whych occasion commeth the reuerting of our flesh to flesh many fre harts are intangled with the snares of loue It semeth wel my ladies ye were gendered in puddels as before is mencioned of the Egiptians the puddels haue no cleare water to drincke nor fruite to eate nor fish to be taken nor shyppe to sayle in I meane that in your lyues ye be filthy your personnes wythout shame in aduersitye weake and feble in prosperity ful of deceite and guyle false in your woordes and doubteful in your doynges in hatynge without measure in loue extreame in gifts couetous in takyng vnshamefast finally I say ye are the ground of feare in whom the wise men find peril the simple men suffer iniury In you the wise men hold their renowne slaundered the simple men their lyfe in penury Let vs omit the opinion of the Egiptians and come to the Grekes which say that in the desertes of Arabia the sonne shineth hottest at the beginning ther was found one womaÌ„ with one bird called the Phenix which bird was created on the water and the woman engendered by the great heat of the sonne of the pouder of trees in this wise Ther was a tree sore eaten with wormes vpon a time a blast of lightning set it on fier burnt it so as amongest the ashes of that rotten tre the first woman was made found Although I be a Roman philosopher yet can I not disalow the opinion of the greke philosopher Of trouth ye amorous dames ye haue your tongues of the nature of fire and your condicions like the pouder of a rotten tre Accordyng to the dyuersity of beasts so nature hath in diuers parts of the body placed their strength as the Eagle in her byl the Vnicorne in the horne the serpent in the taile the bul in the head the beare in his pawes the horse in the breast the dogge in the teath the bore in the tuske the doues in the winges the women in their tongues For of trouth the flight of the doue is not so hyghe as the fantasy of your folyshnes is vaine the cat scratcheth not so sore with her nayles as ye scratch the folish men with your importunities The dogge hurteth not hym so much that he runneth after as ye do the sorowful louer that serueth you the life of him is not in so muche daunger that catcheth the bul by the hornes as the same of him that falleth in your hands To conclude the serpent hath not so much poison in his taile as ye haue in your tongues I accept the Romaine ladies a part for ther are many very noble whose lyues are not touched with complaint nor good fames had in suspect Of such neither my letter speaketh ought nor my penne writeth but of those women I speake that be such as al the venemous beastes in the world haue not so much poison in their bodyes as one of those hath in their tongues And sith the gods haue commaunded our fate doth permit that the life of men cannot passe without women I aduise the youth besech the aged I wake the wise instrucâ—â—â—mple to shonne women of euyl name more then the comon pestilence Râ—â—â—â—ng the auncient lawes of Plato I find written this We comaund that al women openly defamed bee openlye banished the citye to thintente that others seing the sinne punished may abhorre the same for feare to fal in the like paine The same law said further we comaund that they pardon a woman for al her faults she committeth bodely in case ye se amendment likewise in her but we wil that no fault be pardoned committed by the tongue For actual sinne done is the frailety of nature the tongue only of malyce O deuyne Plato maister measure of al knowledge science prince of al philosophers When thou in the golden world maydst such lawes in whiche time ther was such scarsitye of those women which were euil and so great plenty of them that were good what should we do now in Rome wher there be so many euil openlye and none good in secret women naturally oughte to be shamefast in their face temperate in wordes wise of wit sober in going honest in conuersacion pitiful in correction ware in their lyuyng auoyding companyes faithfull in their promyse constaÌ„t in loue Fynally she that wil be counted honest let her not trust to the wisedome of the wise nor commit her fame to the wanton youth let euery wise woman take hede what he is that promyseth her ought For after that the flames of Venus be set on fire and Cupide shotte his arrowes the rich offereth all that he hath and the poore al that he may The wise man wil euer be her frend and the simple man for euer her seruaunt The wise man wil lose his lyfe for her and the simple wil accept his death for her The old men say they wil be frendes to their frendes and the yonge man wil say he wil be enemy to their enemyes The aged promysing to pay her debtes the other to reuenge her iniuries Finally the one because to hide their pouertie and the other to publyshe their beautie leade these fooles losing their lyues bringinge their fame to ende I wil leaue to speake of the good women for I mind not to charge them with ought I aske you amorous ladyes yf Plato was amongest you when ye made a play of my lyfe drew my picture about Rome no surely for that I se in your act now I do suspect that to be true which hath bene sayd of others for there are fewe in Rome that execute the paine of Platoes law One thing ye cannot deny if I were the worst of al men at the last ye se the end of my vylanies but this you caÌ„not deny that she which is least euil of al you the naughtines of her life I could not sufficiently set out in my lyfe Yt
neuer toke care for thy absence I alwaies iudged thy persō safe Thē tel me Marke what dost thou now in thy age I thinke thou carieste thy lance not to serue thy tourne in thy warre but to leane on whē the gout taketh the Thy head pece I iudge thou hast not to defend the from stroks of swords but to drinke withal in tauernes I neuer sawe the strike any man with thy sword but I haue sene the kil a thousand womē with thy tongue O malicious Marke if thou wert as valiaunte as thou art spiteful thou shouldest be no lesse feared among the barbarous nacions then thou art abhorred with good reason amongest the Romaines Tel me what thou list but thou canst not deny but both thou hast bene arte a slacke louer a cowardly knight an vnknowen frend auaricious infamed an ennemy to all men frend to none Moreouer we that knew the a lyght yong mā condemne the now for an old doting foole Thou saiest that taking my letter into thy handes forthwith thy hart receiued the hearbe of malyce I beleue the wel vnsworne for any thing touching malyce doth streight find harber in thy brest The beasts corrupted do take poison which the sound of good complection refuseth Of one thing I am sure thou shalt not die of poison For seldom times one poison hurteth another but it driueth out the other O malicious Marke if al they in Rome knew the as wel as the vnhappie Boemia dothe they should se how much the words that thou speakest differ from the intencion of thy hart And as by the bookes thou makest thou meritest the name of a philosopher euen so for the ilnes thou inuentest thou dost deserue the name of a tiraunt Thou saist thou sawest neuer constancy in a womans loue nor end in her hate I ioy not a litle that other ladies in Rome as wel as I doo know thy smal wisedom Behold Marke I wil not mocke the For thou art such a one as neuer deserued that one shold begin to loue nor end to hate Wilt thou haue stabilite in loue and thou vnthankeful of thy seruyce wilte thou serue in mockerie and be beloued faithfully wilt thou enioy the parson without spending any of the goods wilt thou haue no complaints on the thou ceasest not thy malice Thou knowest the il of womē I wil thou know that we be not so folishe as ye wene vs nor thou so wise as thou praisest thy selfe to be Hitherto we haue sene mo men folow the desire of women then women haue liked to folow men I haue sene a thousand times yea thou thy selfe that one man hath not so mighty a hart as to ouercome three wise womē one woman holdeth her selfe strong inough to subdue .iii. C. lighte persons Thou saist thou art ashamed of my lightnes to se me forsake Rome come to the into the warres Great is the loue of the countrey and many leaue much goodes which they haue in straunge landes to lyue poorely in their owne but greater is thy loue sith I would leaue Rome with the delites therin come to seke the in straung lands amonge the rude souldiours O malicious Marke O straunge frend If I leaue Rome it were to goe seke my harte whiche is with thee in the warres And certainly oftentimes when I thinke of thy absence I fall into a swoune as one that hadde no harte but I neuer fynde remedy I thinke oure loue is not like to these beastes whiche haue their myndes only vpon sensual pleasures without the cōioyning of the louing hartes I sweare to the by the goddesse Vestal the mother Berecinthia that thou owest more to me for the loue I haue borne to thee in one day then for the seruice I haue done to thee in .xxii. yeres Behold vnhappy Marke howe much and dearly I loued thee In thy presence I alwayes behelde thee and absent I alwayes thought of thee sleping I dreamed on thee I haue wepte for thy sorowes and laught at thy pleasures and finally al my wealth I wished thee and al thy misfortunes I toke as mine I ensure thee of one thing that I fele not so much the persecution thou hast done to me as I doe the wayling forgetfulnes thou shewest to me It is a great griefe to a couetous man to lose his goodes but without comparison it is a greater torment for the louer to see his loue euill bestowed It is a hurt that is alwayes sore and a payne alwayes paynefull a sorowe always sorowfull and it is a death that neuer endeth O if men knewe howe dearly and faithfully women doe loue when they are bent to loue and with what malicious harte they hate being set to hate I sweare to you ye would neuer company with them in loue or if ye did loue them ye would neuer leaue for feare of their hate And as there is neuer great hate but where there was first much loue euen so thou shalt neuer be greatly hated for that thou wert neuer truly beloued of the ladies The sorowful Boeme hath loued thee xxii yeares of her life and nowe she onely hateth thee till after her deathe Thou sayst I may be eaten for veriuyce and yet would be solde for wyne I knowe I haue erred as one both young and light and when I founde me to straye out of the waye I was to farre gone and my mishappe coulde no other way nor remedy It is a great losse of all losses when there is no remedy I haue offended as a weake and frayle woman but thou as a man strong I erred by simple ignoraunce but thou of a purposed and wilful malice I sinned not knowyng that I did amisse but thou knewest what thou diddest I did credite thy wordes as a faithfull knighte and thou betraidest me with a .1000 lyes as a common lier Tell me diddest not thou seke occasion to come into my mothers house Getulia to entise me her doughter Boemia to thy mynde diddest not thou promise my father to teache me to reade in one yeare and readest me Ouide of the act of loue didest not thou sweare to mary me and after withdrewe thy hande as a false adulterer doest thou not knowe that thou neuer foundest in my persone any vyllany nor in thy mouthe any truthe At the least thou canst not deny but thou hast offended the gods thou art defamed amongest mē odious to the Romains a sclaunderer of the good folkes an example to the ill and finally a traitour to my father a breaker of thy faith to my mother and to me the vnhappy Boemia an vnkynde louer O malicious Marke hast thou not cut me in leaues offering to my father to kepe his vines safe Euell may the chicken truste the Kyte or the Lambes the Wolfe or the Doues the Faucon but thou arte worse to bring vp the doughters of good men O cursed Marke a hurtfull keaper of vines hath the Matrone of Rome founde thee in