kinds and degrees of continencie and incontinencie The coniugall is that which importeth more than all the rest which is most requisit and necessarie both for the publike and particular good and therefore should be by all in greatest account It must be kept and retained within the chaste breast of that partie whom the destinies haue giuen for our companion He that doth otherwise doth not only violate his owne bodie making it a vessell of ordure by all lawes the lawe of God which commaundeth chastitie of Nature which forbiddeth that to be common which is proper to one and imposeth vpon a man faith and constancie of Countries which haue brought in mariages of families transferring vniustlie the labour of another to a stranger and lastly Iustice it selfe bringing in vncertainties iealousies and brawles amongst kindred depriuing children of the loue of their parents and parents of the pietie and dutie of their children CHAP. XLII Of Glory and Ambition AMbition the desire of glory and honor wherof we haue alreadie spoken is not altogether and in all respects to be condemned First it is very profitable to the weale-publike as the world goeth for it is it from whence the greatest of our honorable actions doth arise that hartneth men to dangerous attempts as we may see by the greatest part of our ancient heroicall men who haue not all been lead by a philosophicall spirit as Socrates Phocion Aristides Epaminondas Cato and Scipio by the only true and liuely image of vertue for many yea the greatest number haue beene stirred thereunto by the spirit of Themistocles Alexander Caesar and although these honorable atchieuments and glorious exploits haue not beene with their authors and actors true works of vertue but ambition neuerthelesse their effects haue beene very beneficiall to the publike state Besides this consideration according to the opinion of the wisest it is excusable and allowable in two cases the one in good and profitable things but which are inferior vnto vertue and common both to the good and to the euill as artes and sciences Honos alit artes inconduntur omnes ad studia gloria inuentions industrie military valour The other in continuing the good will and opinion of another The wise doe teach not to rule our actions by the opinion of another except it be for the auoiding of such inconueniences as may happen by their contempt of the approbation and iudgement of another But that a man should be vertuous and doe good for glorie as if that were the salarie and recompence thereof is a false and vaine opinion Much were the state of vertue to be pitied if she should fetch hir commendations and prise from the opinion of another this coine were but counterfelt and this pay too base for vertue She is too noble to begge such recompence A man must settle his soule and in such sort compose his actions that the brightnesse of honor dazell not his reason and strengthen his minde with braue resolutions which serue him as barriers against the assaults of ambition Hee must therefore perswade himselfe that vertue seeketh not a more ample and more rich theater to shew it selfe than hir owne conscience The higher the Sunne is the lesser shadowe doth it make The greater the vertue is the lesse glorie doth it seeke Glory is truely compared to a shadowe which followeth those that flie it and flieth those that follow it Againe hee must neuer forget that man commeth into this world as to a Comedy where hee chooseth not the part that he is to play but onely bethinks himselfe how to play that part well that is giuen vnto him or as a banquet wherein a man feeds vpon that that is before him not reaching to the farre side of the table or snatching the dishes from the master of the feast If a man commit a charge vnto vs which we are capable of let vs accept of it modestlie and exercise it sincerelie making account that God hath placed vs there to stand sentinell to the end that others may rest in safetie vnder our care Let vs seeke no other recompence of our trauell than our owne conscience to witnesse our well doing and desire that the witnesse be rather of credit in the court of our fellow-citizens than in the front of our publike actions To be short let vs hold it for a maxime that the fruit of our honorable actions is to haue acted them Vertue cannot finde without it selfe a recompence worthie it selfe To refuse and contemne greatnes is not so great a miracle it is an attempt of no difficultie He that loues himselfe and iudgeth soundlie is content with an indifferent fortune Magistracies very actiue and passiue are painfull and are not desired but by feeble and sicke spirits Otanes one of the seauen that had title to the soueraigntie of Persia gaue ouer vnto his companions his right vpon condition that he and his might liue in that Empire free from all subiection and magistracie except that which the ancient lawes did impose being impatient to commaund and to be commaunded Diocletian renounced the Empire Celestinus the Popedome CHAP. XLIII Of Temperancie in speech and of Eloquence THis is a great point of wisdome Hee that ruleth his tongue well in a word is wise qui in verbo non offendit hic perfect us est The reason heereof is because the tongue is all the world in it is both good and euill life and death as hath beene said before Let vs now see what aduice is to be giuen to rule it well The first rule is that speech be sober and seldome To know how to be silent is a great aduantage to speake well 1 Rules of speeach and he that knowes not well how to do the one knowes not the other To speake well and much is not the worke of one man and the best men are they that speake least saith a wise man They that abound in words are barraine in good speech and good actions like those trees that are full of leaues and yeeld little fruit much chaffe and little corne The Lacedemonians great professors of vertue and valour did likewise professe silence and were enemies to much speech And therefore hath it euer beene commendable to be sparing in speech to keepe a bridle at the mouth Pone domine custodiam ori meo And in the law of Moyses that vessell that had not his couering fastned to it was vncleane By speech a man is knowne and discerned The wise man hath his tongue in his heart the foole his heart in his tongue The second that it be true The vse of speech is to assist the truth and to carrie the torch before it to make it appeare and contrarilie to discouer and reiect lying Insomuch that speech is the instrument whereby wee communicate our willes and our thoughts It had need be true and faithfull since that our vnderstanding is directed by the onely meanes of speech He that falsifieth it betrayeth publike societie
4 Difficult and dangerous affaires PAGE 406 5 Coniurations PAGE 407 6 Treason PAGE 409 7 Popular commotions PAGE 410 8 Faction and confederacie PAGE 411 9 Sedition PAGE 412 10 Tyrannie and rebellion PAGE 414 11 Ciuill warres PAGE 415 12 Aduisements for particular persons touching the foresayd publike diuisions PAGE 416 13 Of priuate troubles and diuisions PAGE 419 Of Iustice the second vertue CHAP. 5 Of Iustice in generall PAGE 419 CHAP. 6 Of the Iustice and dutie of a man towards himselfe PAGE 422 Of the Iustice and dutie of a man towards man with an Aduertisement PAGE 428 The first part which is of the generall and common duties of all towards all and first CHAP. 7 Of Loue or friendship PAGE 429 CHAP. 8 Of Faith fidelitie treacherie secrecie PAGE 436 CHAP. 9 Veritie and free admonition PAGE 439 CHAP. 10 Of flattery lying and dissimulation PAGE 441 CHAP. 11 Of benefits obligation and thankefulnesse PAGE 446 The second part which concerneth the speciall duties of certeine men towards certeine men by certeine and speciall obligation The Preface PAGE 453 CHAP. 12 The dutie of married folke PAGE 454 CHAP. 13 Householde husbandrie PAGE 456 CHAP. 14 The duty of Parents and children PAGE 457 CHAP. 15 The duty of Masters and seruants PAGE 486 CHAP. 16 The duty of Soueraignes and subiects PAGE 488 CHAP. 17 The duty of Magistrates PAGE 491 CHAP. 18 The duty of great and small PAGE 497 Of Fortitude the third vertue Preface PAGE 498 CHAP. 19 Of Fortitude or valour in generall PAGE 499 Of Fortitude or valour in particular PAGE 503 CHAP. 20 The first part of outward euils PAGE 504 CHAP. 21 Of outward euils considered in their effects and fruits PAGE 509 Of outward euils in themselues and particularly An Aduertisement PAGE 510 CHAP. 22 Of Sicknesse and griefe PAGE 511 CHAP. 23 Of Captiuitie and imprisonment PAGE 513 CHAP. 24 Of Banishment and exile PAGE 515 CHAP. 25 Of Pouertie want losse of goods PAGE 516 CHAP. 26 Of Infamie PAGE 518 27 Of the losse of friends PAGE 519 CHAP. Of Death PAGE 520 The second part of inward euils c. The Preface PAGE 520 CHAP. 28 Against Feare PAGE 521 CHAP. 29 Against Sorrow PAGE 522 CHAP. 30 Against Compassion and mercy PAGE 523 CHAP. 31 Against Choler PAGE 524 CHAP. 32 Against Hatred PAGE 528 CHAP. 33 Against Enuie PAGE 528 CHAP. 34 Against Reuenge PAGE 529 CHAP. 35 Against Iealousie PAGE 530 Of Temperance the fourth vertue CHAP. 36 Of Temperance in generall PAGE 532 CHAP. 37 Of Prosperitie and counsell thereupon PAGE 533 CHAP. 38 Of Pleasure and aduice thereupon PAGE 534 CHAP. 39 Of Eating and drinking Abstinence and sobrietie PAGE 539 CHAP. 40 Of Riot and excesse in apparell and ornaments and of frugalitie PAGE 541 CHAP. 41 Carnall pleasure chastitie continencie PAGE 542 CHAP. 42 Of Glory and ambition PAGE 545 CHAP. 43 Of Temperancie in speech and of Eloquence PAGE 547 The end of the Table OF VVISDOME Three Books THE PREFACE VVhere the Name Subiect Purpose and Method of this VVorke is set downe with an Aduertisement to the Reader IT is required at the first entrie into 1 Of the word Wisdome this Worke that wee know what this Wisdome is and since it beareth that name and title how we purpose to speake thereof All men in generall at the first view of the simple word it selfe doe easily conceiue and imagine it to be some qualitie sufficiencie or habit not common or vulgar but excellent singular and eleuated aboue that which is common and ordinarie be it good or euill For it is taken and vsed though perhaps improperly in both kinds Sapientes sunt vt faciant mala and signifieth not Hierem. 4. Arist lib. 5. Metaphy properly a good and laudable qualitie but exquisite singular excellent in whatsoeuer it be And therefore we doe as well say A wise Tyrant Pirat Theefe as A wise King Pilot Captaine that is to say Sufficient prudent aduised not simply and vulgarly but excellently For there is opposite vnto Wisdome not onely follie which is an irregularitie or loosenesse of life and Wisdome a regularitie or moderation well measured and proportioned but also common basenesse and vulgar Simplicitie For Wisdome is high strong and excellent yea whether it be in good or euill it conteineth two things Sufficiencie that is Prouision or furnture for whatsoeuer is required and necessarie and that it be in some high degree of excellencie So that you see what the simpler sort imagine Wisdome to be at the first view and the simple sound of the word whereby they conclude That there are few wise men that they are rare as euery excellencie is and that to them by right it apperteineth to command and gouerne others that they are as Oracles from whence is that saying Beleeue others and referre thy selfe to the wise But well to define this thing and according to trueth and to distinguish it into his true parts all men know not neither are they of one accord nor is it easie for otherwise doe the common people otherwise the Philosophers otherwise the Diuines speake thereof These are the three floores and degrees of the world The two latter proceed by order and rules and precepts the former confusedly and very imperfectly Now then we may say That there are three sorts 2 The diuision of Wisdome and degrees of wisdome Diuine Humane Mundane which correspond vnto God Nature pure and entire Nature vitiated and corrupted Of all these sorts and euerie of them doe all these three orders of the world which before we speake of write and discourse euerie one according to his owne maner and fashion but properly and formally the common sort that is to say the world of worldly wisdome the Philosopher of humane the Diuine of diuine wisdome Worldly wisdome and of the three the more base 3 Worldly wisdome which is diuers according to the three great Captaines and Leaders of this inferiour world Opulencie Pleasure Glorie or rather Auarice Luxurie Ambition Quicquid est in mundo est concupiscentia oculorum 1. Iohn 3. concupiscentia carnis superbia vitae for which cause it is called by S. Iames Terrena Animalis Diabolica Iames 3. is reprooued by Philosophie and Diuinitie which pronounceth it follie before God Stultam fecit 1. Cor. 1. Deus sapientiam huius mundi Of this wisdome therefore we speake not in this Booke except it be to dispraise and condemne it Diuine wisdome and of the three the highest is defined 4 Diuine wisdome and handled by Philosophers and Diuines but somewhat diuersly As for the common or worldly wisdome I disdaine it and passe by whatsoeuer may be spoken thereof as prophane and too vnworthy in this Treatise to be read The Philosophers make it altogether Speculatiue saying That it is the knowledge of the principles first causes and highest power to iudge of all things euen of the most Souereigne which is God himselfe and
of the wiues are kept apart and carrie in some places the titles of lawfull wiues in others of concubines and their children are onely pensioners The vse of repudiation in like sort is different for with 12 Repudiation diuers some as the Hebrewes Greeks Armenians the cause of the separation is not expressed and it is not permitted to retake the wife once repudiated but yet lawfull to marry another But by the law of Mahumet the separation is made by the Iudge with knowledge taken of the cause except it be by mutuall consent which must be adulterie sterilitie incompatibilitie of humours an enterprise on his or hir part against the life of each other things directly and especiallie contrarie to the state and institution of mariage and it is lawfull to retake one another as often as they shall thinke good The former seemeth to be the better because it bridleth proud women and ouer-sharp and bitter husbands The second which is to expresse the cause dishonoureth the parties discouereth many things which should be hid And if it fall out that the cause be not sufficientlie verified and that they must continue together poysonings and murthers doe commonly ensue many times vnknowne vnto men as it was discouered at Rome before the vse of repudiation where a woman being apprehended for poysoning of her husband accused others and they others too to the number of threescore and ten which were all executed for the same offence But the worst law of all others hath beene that the adulterer escapeth almost euery where without punishment of death and all that is laid vpoÌ„ him is diuorce separation of companie brought in by Iustinian a man whollie possessed by his wife who caused whatsoeuer lawes to passe that might make for the aduantage of women From hence doth arise a danger of perpetuall adulterie desire of the death of the one partie the offender is not punished the innocent iniured remaineth without amends The dutie of maried folke See Lib. 3. Cap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are many sorts and degrees of authoritie and humane power Publicke and Priuate but there is none 1 Fatherly power more naturall nor greater than that of the father ouer his children I say father because the mother who is subiect vnto hir husband cannot properly haue hir children in hir power and subiection but it hath not been alwayes and in all places alike In former times almost euery where it was absolute and vniuersall ouer the life and death the libertie the goods the honor the actions and cariages of their children as to plead to marie to get goods as namely with the Romans by the expresse law of Romulus parentum in liberos omne ius esto relegendi vendendi occidendi except only children vnder Dion Halic li 2. antiq Rom l. in â—uis ff de lib. post Aul. Gell. lib. 20. Lib. 8. Eth. cap. 20. Lib 6. Bel. Gal. Prosper Aquitan in Epist Sigism the age of three yeares who as yet could not offend either in word or deede which law was afterwards renued by the law of the twelue tables by which the father was allowed to sell his children to the third time with the Persians according to Aristotle the ancient French as Caesar and Prosper affirme with the Muscouits and Tartars who might sell their children to the fourth time And it should seeme by that fact of Abraham going about to kill his sonne that this power was likewise vnder the law of nature for if it had been against his dutie and without the power of the father he had neuer consented thereunto neither had hee euer thought that it was God that commanded him to do it if it had beene against nature And therefore we see that Isaac made no resistance nor alledged his innocencie knowing that it was in the power of his father which derogateth not in any sort from the greatnesse of the faith of Abraham because he would not sacrifice his sonne by vertue of his right or power nor for any demerit of Isaac but only to obey the commandement of God So likewise it was in force by the law of Moyses though somewhat Deut. 21. moderated So that we see what this power hath been in ancient times in the greatest part of the world and which endured vnto the time of the Romane Emperours With the Greeks it was not so great and absolute nor with the Egyptians neuerthelesse if it fell out that the father had killed his sonnes wrongfully and without cause he had no other punishment but to be shut vp three daies together with the dead bodie Now the reasons and fruits of so great and absolute a power 2 The reasons and fruits thereof of fathers ouer their children necessarie for the culture of good maners the chasing away of vice and the publike good were first to holde the children in awe and dutie and secondly because there are many great faults in children that would escape vnpunished to the great preiudice of the weale publike if the knowledge and punishment of them were but in the hand of publike authoritie whether it be because they are domesticall and secret or because there is no man that will prosecute against them for the parents who know them and are interessed in them will not discredit them besides that there are many vices and insolencies that are neuer punished by iustice Adde heereunto that there are many things to be tried and many differences betwixt parents and children brothers and sisters touching their goods or other matters which are not fit to be published which are extinct and buried by this fatherly authoritie And the law did alwayes suppose that the father would neuer abuse this authoritie because of that great loue which he naturally carrieth to his children incompatible with crueltie which is the cause that in stead of punishing them with rigour they rather become intercessours for them when they are in danger of the law and there can be no greater torment to them than to see their children in paine And it falleth out very seldome or neuer that this power is put in practise without very great occasion so that it was rather a scarcrow to children and very profitable than a rigour in good earnest Now this fatherly power as ouer-sharpe and dangerous is almost of it selfe lost and abolished for it hath rather hapned 3 The declination by a kinde of discontinuance than any expresse law and it beganne to decline at the comming of the Romane Emperours for from the time of Augustus or shortly after it was no more in force whereby children became so desperate and insolent against their parents that Seneca speaking to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. sayd That hee had seene more paricides punished in fiue yeeres past than had beene in seuen hundred yeeres before that is to say since the foundation of Rome In former times if it fell out that the father killed his
take vpon it the guardianship protection of the bodie So farre should it be from seruing the bodie which is the most base vniust shamefull and burthensome seruitude that is that it should assist counsell it and be as a husband vnto it So that it oweth thereunto care not seruice It must handle it as a lord not as a tyrant nourish it not pamper it giuing it to vnderstand that it liueth not for it but that it cannot liue heere below without it This is an instruction to the workeman to know how to vse and make vse of his instruments And it is likewise no small aduantage to a man to know how to vse his bodie and to make it a fit instrument for the exercise of vertue Finallie the bodie is preserued in good estate by moderate nourishment and orderly exercise How the spirit must haue a part and beare it companie in those pleasures that belong vnto it hath been said before and shall heereafter be set downe in the vertue of temperance Touching goods and the dutie of euery man in this case there are many and diuers offices for to gather riches to keep them to husband them to employ them to yeeld vnto them all that is fit are different sciences One is wise in the one of them that in the other vnderstandeth nothing neither is it fit he should The acquisition of riches hath more parts than the rest The employment is more glorious and ambitious The preseruation and custodie which is proper to the woman is the arbour to couer them These are two extremities alike vitious to loue and affect riches to hate and reiect them By riches I vnderstand that which is more than enough and more than is needfull A wise man will do neither of both according to that wish and praier of Salomon Giue me neither riches nor pouertie but he will hold them in their place esteeming them as they are a thing of it selfe indifferent matter of good and euill and to many good things commodious The euils and miseries that follow the affecting and hating of them haue been spoken of before Now in fiue words we set downe a rule touching a mediocritie therein 1. To desire them but not to loue them sapiens non amat diuitias sed mauult As a little man and weake of bodie would willinglie be higher and stronger but this his desire is without care or paine vnto himselfe seeking that without passion which nature desireth and fortune knoweth not how to take from him 2. And much lesse to seeke them at the cost and dammage of another or by arte and bad and base meanes to the end no man should complaine or enuie his gaines 3. When they come vpon him entring at an honest gate not to reiect them but cheerfullie to accept them and to receiue them into his house not his heart into his possession not his loue as being vnworthie thereof 4. When he possesseth them to employ them honestlie and discreetlie to the good of other men that their departure may at the least be as honest as their entrance 5. If they happen to depart without leaue be lost or stollen from him that he be not sorrowfull but that he suffer them to depart with themselues without any thing of his si diuitiae effluxerint non auferent nisi semetipsas To conclude he deserueth not to be accepted of God and is vnworthie his loue and the profession of vertue that makes account of the riches of this world Aude hospes contemnere te quoque dignum singe deo Of the iustice and dutie of man towards man An aduertisment THis dutie is great and hath many parts we will reduce them to two great ones In the first we will place the generall simple and common duties required in all and euery one towards all and euery one whether in heart word or deed which are amitie faith veritie and free admonition good deeds humanitie liberalitie acknowledgement or thankfulnes In the second shall be the speciall duties required for some speciall and expresse reason and obligation betweene certaine persons as betweene a man and his wife parents and children masters and seruants princes and subiects magistrates the great and powerfull and the lesse The first part which is of the generall and common duties of all towards all and first CHAP. VII Of loue or friendship AMitie is a sacred flame kindled in our breasts first by nature and hath expressed it first heate betweene the husband 1 The description and the wife parents and children brothers and sisters and afterwards growing cold hath recouered heate by arte and the inuention of alliances companies fraternities colleges and communities But forasmuch as in all this being diuided into many parts it was weakned and mingled with other profitable pleasant considerations to the end it might restrengthen it selfe and grow more feruent it hath recollected it selfe and vnited it owne forces into a narrower roome betwixt two true friends And this is perfect amitie which is so much more feruent and spirituall than other by how much the heart is hotter than the liuer and the bloud than the vaines Amitie is the soule and life of the world more necessarie say the wise than fire and water amicitia necessitudo amici necessary it is the summe the staffe the salt of our life for without it all is darknes and there is no ioy no stay no taste of life amicitia iustitiae consors naturae vinculum ciuitatis praefidium senectutis solatium vitae humanae portus ea omnia constant discordia cadunt And we must not thinke that friendship 3 How necessary to the weale-pub is profitable and delightfull to priuat men only for it is more commodious to the weale-publike it is the true nursing mother of humane societie the preseruer of states and policies Neither is it suspected nor displeaseth any but tyrants and monsters not because they honor not it in their hearts but because they cannot be of that number for only friendship sufficeth to preserue the world And if it were euery where in force there would be no need of a law which hath not been ordained but as a help and as a second remedie for want of friendship to the end it might enforce and constraine by the authoritie thereof that which for loue and friendship should be freelie and voluntarie but howsoeuer the law taketh place farre below friendship For friendship ruleth the heart the tongue the hand the will and the effects the law cannot prouide but for that which is without This is the reason why Aristotle said That good law-makers haue euer had more care of friendship than of iustice And because the law and iustice do many times lose their credit the third remedie and least of all hath been in armes and force altogether contrarie to the former which is friendship Thus we see by degrees the three meanes of publike gouerment But loue or friendship is worth more than the
Plin. open to do good so must he haue his mouth open to preach and publish it and to the end the memory thereof may be the more firme and solemne he must name the benefit and that by the name of the benefactor The fourth office is to make restitution wherein hee must obserue these foure conditions That it be not too speedie nor too curiously for this carries an ill sent with it and it bewraies too great an vnwillingnesse to be in debt and too much haste to bee quit of that band And it likewise giueth an occasion to the friend or benefactor to thinke that his curtesie was not kindlie accepted of for to be too carefull and desirous to repay is to incur the suspition of ingratitude It must therefore follow some time after and it must not be too long neither lest the benefit grow too ancient for the Graces are painted yong and it must be vpon some apt and good occasion which either offereth it selfe or is taken and that without noise and rumour That it be with some vsurie and surpasse the benefit like fruitfull ground ingratus est qui beneficium reddit sine vsura or at least equall it with all the shew and acknowledgement that may be of great reason of a farther requitall and that this is not to satisfie the obligation but to giue some testimony that he forgetteth not how much he is indebted That it bee willingly and with a good heart Ingratus est qui metu gratus est for if it were so giuen eodem animo beneficium debetur quo datur errat si quis beneficium libentius accipit quà m reddit Lastly if his inabilitie bee such as that hee cannot make present restitution yet let his will be forward enough which is the first and principall part and as it were the soule both of the benefit and acknowledgement though there bee no other witnesse heereof than it selfe and he must acknowledge not onely the good hee hath receiued but that likewise that hath beene offered and might haue beene receiued that is to say the goodwill of the benefactor which is as hath beene said the principall The second part which concerneth the speciall duties of certaine men by certaine and speciall obligation THE PREFACE BEing to speake of speciall and particular duties differing according to the diuersitie of persons and their states whether they be vnequall as superiours and inferiours or equall we will begin with maried folks who are mixt and hold with both equallitie and inequallitie And so much the rather because we are first to speake of priuate and domesticall iustice and duties before publike because they are before them as families and houses are before common-weales and therefore that priuat iustice which is obserued in a familie is the image and source and modell of a common-weale Now these priuat and domesticall duties are three that is to say betweene the husband and the wife parents and children masters and seruants and these are the parts of a houshold or familie which taketh the foundation from the husband and the wife who are the masters and authours thereof And therefore first of maried folke CHAP. XII The dutie of maried folke ACcording to those two diuers considerations that are in mariage as hath been said that is to say equalitie and 1 Common duties inequalitie there are likewise two sorts of duties and offices of maried folke the one common to both equallie reciprocall of like obligation though according to the custome of the world the paine the reproch the inconuenience be not equall that is to say an entire loyaltie fidelitie communitie and communication of all things and a care and authoritie ouer their familie and all the goods of their house Heereof we haue spoken more at large in the first booke The other are particular and different according to that inequalitie that is betwixt them for those of the husband 2 Particular duties of the husband are 1. To instruct his wife with mildnesse in all things that belong vnto hir dutie hir honor and good and whereof she is capable 2. To nourish hir whether she brought dowrie with hir or no. 3. To cloath hir 4. To lie with hir 5. To loue and defend hir The two extremities are base and vitious to hold hir vnder like a seruant to make her mistris by subiecting himselfe vnto hir And these are the principall duties These follow after to comfort hir being sicke to deliuer hir being captiue to burie hir being dead to nourish hir liuing and to prouide for his children he hath had by hir by his will and testament The duties of the wife 1. are to giue honor reuerence and respect to hir husband as to hir master and lord for so haue 3 Of the wife the wisest women that euer were termed their husbands and the hebrew word Baal signifieth them both husband and lord She that dischargeth hirselfe of this dutie honoreth hir selfe more than hir husband and doing otherwise wrongs none but hir selfe 2. To giue obedience in all things iust and lawfull applying and accommodating hir selfe to the maners and humours of hir husband like a true looking-glasse which faithfullie representeth the face hauing no other particular designement loue thought but as the dimensions and accidents which haue no other proper action or motion and neuer moue but with the bodie she applieth hir selfe in all things to hir husband 3. Seruice as to prouide either by hir selfe or some other his viands to wash his feet 4. To keepe the house and therefore she is compared to the Tortuis and is painted hauing hir feet naked and especiallie in the absence of hir husband For hir husband being farre from hir she must be as it were inuisible contrarie to the Moone which appeareth in hir greatnes when she is farthest from the sunne not appeare but when she comes neere hir sunne 5. To be silent and not to speake but with hir husband or by hir husband and forasmuch as a silent woman is a rare thing and hardlie found she is said to be a pretious gift of God 6. To employ hir time in the practise and studie of huswifrie which Eccles 26. is the most commodious and honorable science and occupation of a woman this is hir speciall mistris qualitie and which a man of meane fortune should especiallie seeke in his mariage It is the only dowrie that serueth either to ruinate or preserue families but it is very rare There are diuers that are couetous few that are good huswiues We are to speake of them both of houshold husbandrie presentlie by it selfe In the priuat acquaintance and vse of mariage there must 4 An aduisement vpon the acquaintance of maried folks be a moderation that is a religious and deuout band for that pleasure that is therein must be mingled with some seueritie it must be a wise and conscionable delight A man must touch his wife discretlie and for honestie as it is
said and for feare as Aristotle saith lest prouoking hir desires too wantonlie the pleasure thereof make hir to exceed the bounds of reason and the care of health for too hot and too frequent a pleasure altereth the seed and hindereth generation On the other side to the end she be not ouer-languishing barraine and subiect to other diseases he must offer himselfe vnto hir though seldome Solon saith thrise in a month but there can no certaine law or rule be giuen heereof Plutar. in Solone The doctrine of houshould husbandrie doth willinglie follow and is annexed vnto mariage CHAP. XIII Houshold Husbandrie 1 HOushold husbandrie is an excellent iust and profitable occupation It is a happie thing saith Plato for a man to goe through his priuat affaires without iniustice There is nothing more beautifull than a houshold well and peaceably gouerned 2 It is a profession which is not difficult for he that is capable of any thing else is not vncapable of this but yet it is carefull and painefull and troublesome by reason of the multitude of affaires which though they be small and of no great importance yet forasmuch as they are common frequent and neuer at an end they do much annoy and wearie a man Domesticall thornes prick because they are ordinarie but if they come from the principall persons of the familie they gaule and exulcerate and grow remedilesse 3 It is a great happines and a fit meane to liue at ease to haue one whom a man may trust and vpon whom he may repose himselfe which that he may the better do he must choose one that is true and loyall and afterwards bind him to do well by that trust and confidence he putteth in him habita fides ipsam obligat fidem multi fallere docuerunt dum timent falli alijs ius peccandi suspicando dederunt 4 The principall precepts and counsels that belong to frugalitie or good husbandrie are these 1. To buy and sell all things at the best times and seasons that is when they are best and best cheape 2. To take good heed lest the goods in the house bee spoiled or miscarrie bee either lost or caried away This doth especiallie belong to the woman to whom Aristotle giues this authoritie and care 3. To prouide first and principallie for these three necessitie cleanlinesse order and againe if there be meanes some aduise to prouide for these three too but the wiser sort wish no great paines to bee taken therein non ampliter sed munditer conuinium plus salis quà m sumptus abundance pompe and preparation exquisite and rich fashion The contrary is many times practised in good housen where you shall haue beds garnished with silke embrodered with gold and but one simple couerlid in winter which were a commoditie farre more necessarie And so of the rest 4. To rule and moderate his charge which is done by taking away superfluities yet prouiding for necessitie and that which is fit and beseeming A ducket in a mans purse will doe a man more honour and honestie than tenne prodigallie spent saith one Againe but this requires industrie and good sufficiencie to make a great shew with a little charge and aboue all not to suffer the expence to grow aboue the receit and the income 5. To haue a care and an eie ouer all the vigilancie and presence of the master saith the prouerbe fatteth the horse and the land And in any case the master and mistrisse must take a care to conceale their ignorance and insufficiencie in the affaires of the house and much more their carelesnesse making a shew as if they attended and thought of nothing else For if officers and seruants haue an opinion that their masters looke not vnto them they may chance to make his haire grow through his hood CHAP. XIIII The duty of Parents and children THe dutie of parents and children is reciprocall and reciprocallie naturall if that of children be more strait that of parents is more ancient parents being the first authours and cause and more important to a common-weale for to people a state and to furnish it with honestmen and good citizens the culture and good nourishment of youth is necessarie which is the seed of a common-wealth And there comes not so much euill to a weale-publike by the ingratitude of children towards their parents as by the carelesnesse of parents in the instruction of their children and therefore with great reason in Lacedemon and other good politike states there was a punishment and a penaltie laid vpon the parents when the children were ill conditioned And Plato was wont to say that he knew not in what a man should bee more carefull and diligent than to make a good sonne And Crates cried out in choler To what end doe men take so much care in heaping vp goods and so little care of those to whom they shall leaue them It is as much as if a man should take care of his shoo and not of his foot What should hee do with riches that is not wise and knowes not how to vse them It is like a rich and beautifull saddle vpon a iades backe Parents then are doubly obliged to this duty both because they are their children and because they are the tender plants and hope of the Common-weale This is to till his owne land together with that of the weale-publicke Now this office or dutie hath foure successiue parts according to those foure goods or benefits that a child ought to receiue 2 The diuision of the office of parents successiuely from his parents life nourishment instruction communication The first regardeth the time when the infant is in the wombe vntill his comming into the world inclusiuelie the second the time of his infancie in his cradle vntill hee know how to goe and to speake the third all his youth this part must be handled more at large and more seriously the fourth concerneth their affection communication and cariage towards their children now come to mans estate touching their goods thoughts designments The first which regardeth the generation and fruit in the wombe is not accounted of and obserued with such diligence 3 The first part the office of parents as it ought although it haue as much part in the good or euill of a child as well of their bodies as their soules as their education and instruction after they are borne and come to some growth This is that that giueth the subsistence the temper and temperature the nature the other is artificiall and acquired and if there be a fault committed in this first part the second and third can hardly repaire it no more than a fault in the first concoction of the stomacke cannot bee mended in the second nor third We men go vnaduisedlie and headlong to this copulation only prouoked thereunto by pleasure and a desire to disburthen our selues of that which tickleth and presseth vs thereunto if a conception happen thereby it is
diuers things passe more strange more great And in this sense it was that wise Socrates called himselfe a citizen of the world And contrarily there is not any thing that doth more depraue and enthraule the minde of man than to make him taste and vnderstand but one certaine opinion beleefe and maner of life What greater follie or weakenesse can there be than to thinke that all the world walketh beleeueth speaketh doth liueth and dieth according to the maner of his countrey like those barde block-heads who when they heare one recite the maners and opinions of forraine countries very different and contrarie to theirs they tremble for feare and beleeue them not or else doe absurdly condemne them as barbarous so much are they enthralled and tied to their cradell a kinde of people brought vp as they say in a bottle that neuer saw any thing but through a hole Now this vniuersall spirit must be attained by the diligence of the master or teacher afterwards by trauell and communication with strangers and the reading of bookes and the histories of all nations Finally he must teach him to take nothing vpon credit and by authoritie this is to make himselfe a beast and to suffer himselfe to be ledde by the nose like an oxe but to examine all things with reason to propose all things and then to giue him leaue to chuse And if he know not how to chuse but doubt which perhaps is the better sounder and surer course to teach him likewise to resolue of nothing of himselfe but rather to distrust his owne iudgement After the minde comes the body whereof there must likewise be a care taken at one and the same instant with the spirit 32 An aduisement touching the body not making two works thereof Both of them make an entire man Now a master must endeuour to keepe his childe free from delicacie and pride in apparrell in sleeping eating drinking he must bring him vp hardly to labour and pains accustome him to heat and cold winde and weather yea and vnto hazards too harden his muscles and his sinewes as well as his minde to labour and then to paine and griefe too For the first disposeth to the second Labor callum obducit dolori To be briefe he must endeuour to make him lustie and vigorous indifferent to all kinde of viands All this serueth not onely for his health but for publike affaires and seruices We come now to the third head which concerneth maners wherein both body and soule haue a part This is twofold 33 3 An aduisement touching maners To hinder the euill to ingraft and to nourish the good The first is the more necessarie and therefore the greater care and heed must be taken It must therefore be done in time for there is no time too speedy to hinder the birth and growth of ill maners and conditions especially these following which are to be feared in youth To lie a base vice of seruants and slaues of a licentious and fearefull minde the cause whereof ariseth many times 1 Euill maners from bad and rude instruction A sottish shame and weaknesse whereby they seeke to hide themselues hold downe their heads blush at euerie question that is proposed cannot indure a correction or a sharpe word without a strange alteration of countenance Nature doth many times beare a great sway heerein but it must be corrected by studie All affectation and singularitie in habit cariage gate speech gesture and all other things this is a testimonie of vanitie and vaine-glory and marreth all the rest euen that which is good Licet sapere sine pompa sine inuidia But aboue all choler sullennesse obstinacie and therefore it is very necessarie that a childe neuer haue his will by such froward meanes and that he learne and finde that these qualities are altogether vnprofitable and bootlesse yea base and villanous and for this cause he must neuer be flattered for that marreth and corrupteth him teacheth him to be sullen and froward if he haue not his will and in the end maketh him insolent that a man shall neuer worke any good vpon him Nihil magis reddit iracundos quà m educatio mollis blanda By the selfesame meanes a man must ingraft into him 34 Good maners good and honest maners And first instruct him to feare and reuerence God to tremble vnder that infinite and inuisible maiestie to speake seldome and soberly of God of his power eternitie wisdome will and of his works not indifferently and vpon all occasions but fearefully with shame and reuerence Not to be ouer scrupulous in the mysteries and points of religion but to conforme himselfe to the gouernment and discipline of the church Secondly to replenish and cherish his heart with ingenuitie freedome candor integritie and to teach him to be an honest man out of an honorable and honest minde not seruilely and mechanically for feare or hope of any honour or profit or other consideration than vertue it selfe These two are especially for himselfe For another and the company with whom he conuerseth he must worke in him a sweet kinde of affabilitie to accommodate himselfe to all kinde of people to all fashions Omnis Aristippum decuit color status res Heerein Alcibiades was excellent That he learne how to be able and to know how to doe all things yea excesse and licentious behauiours if need be but that he loue to doe onely that which is good That he refraine to doe euill not for want of courage nor strength nor knowledge but will Multum interest virùm peccare quis nolit aut nesciat Modestly whereby he contesteth not nor tieth himselfe either to all as to the greatest and most respectiue persons or such as are his inferiors either in condition or sufficiencie nor See Lib. 2. cap. 9. defendeth any thing obstinately with affirmatiue resolute commanding words but sweet submisse and moderate specches Hereof hath beene spoken else-where And thus the three heads of the duties of parents towards their children are dispatched The fourth concerneth their affection and communication with them when they are great and capable of that wherunto 36 The fourth part touching the dutie of parents they were instructed We know that affection is reciprocall and naturall betwixt parents and their children but that of parents towards their children is farre more strong and more naturall because it is giuen by nature to loue those things that are comming on to the maintenance and continuance The loue of parēts greater than the loue of children of the world especiallie those in whom a man doth liue when he is dead That of children towards their parents is retrograde and therefore it goeth not so stronglie nor so naturallie and it seemeth rather to be the paiment of a debt and a thankfull acknowledgement of a benefit receiued than a pure free simple and naturall loue Moreouer he that giueth and doth good loueth more than he that receiueth and is
indebted And therefore a father and euery agent that doth good to another loueth more than he is beloued The reasons of this proposition are many All loue to be which being is exercised and demonstrated in motion and action Now he that giueth and doth good to another is after a sort in him that receiueth He that giueth and doth good to another doth that which is honest and honorable he that receiueth doth none of this honestie is for the first profit for the second Now honestie is farre more worthie firme stable amiable than profit which in a moment vanisheth Againe those things are most beloued that cost vs most that is dearest vnto vs which we come more dearely by Now to beget to nourish to bring vp is a matter of greater charge than to receiue all these This loue of parents is two-fold though alwaies naturall yet after a diuers maner the one is simplie and vniuersallie 37 The loue of parents twofold naturall and as a simple instinct which is common with beasts according to which parents loue and cherish their children though deformed stammering halting milke-sops and vse them like moppets or little apes This loue is not truly humane Man indued with reason must not seruilelie subiect himselfe vnto nature as beasts do but follow it more noblie with discourse of reason The other then is more humane and reasonable whereby a man loueth his children more or lesse according to that measure wherein he seeth the seeds and sparks of vertue goodnes and towardlinesse to arise and spring vp in them Some there are who being besotted and caried with the former kind of affection haue but little of this and neuer complaining of the charge so long as their children are but small complaine thereof when they come to their growth begin to profit It seemeth that they are in a sort offended and vexed to see them to grow and set forward in honest courses that they may become honest men These parents are brutish and inhumane Now according to this second true and fatherlie loue in 38 Of the true fatherly loue in communicating with his children being come to yeares of discretion the well gouerning thereof parents should receiue their children if they be capable into their societie and partnership in their goods admit them to their counsell intelligence the knowledge and course of their domesticall affaires as also to the communication of their designements opinions and thoughts yea consent and contribute to their honest recreations and pastimes as the case shall require alwaies reseruing their ranke and authoritie For wee condemne the austere lordlike and imperious countenance and cariage of those that neuer looke vpon their children nor speake vnto them but with authoritie will not be called fathers but lords though God himselfe refuse not this name of father neuer caring for the hartie loue of their children so they may be feared reuerenced and adored And for this cause they giue vnto them sparinglie keepe them in want that they may the better keepe them in awe and obedience euer threatning them some small pittance by their last will when they depart out of this life Now this is a sottish vaine and ridiculous foolerie It is to distrust their owne proper true and naturall authoritie to get an artificiall And it is the way to deceiue themselues and to grow into contempt which is cleane contrarie to that they pretend It causeth their children to carie themselues cunninglie with them and to conspire and find meanes how to deceiue them For parents should in good time frame their minds to dutie by reason and not haue recourse to these meanes more tyrannous than fatherlie Errat longè mea quidem sententia Qui imperium credit esse grauius aut stabilius Vi quod sit quà m illud quod amicitia adiungitur In the last disposition of our goods the best and surest way is to follow the lawes customes of the countrie The lawes 39 The vsage of them in their last willes according to the lawes haue better prouided for it than we and it is a safer course to suffer them to faile in some thing than to aduenture vpon our owne defects in our owne proper choice It is to abuse that libertie we haue therein to serue our foolish fantasies and priuat passions like those that suffer themselues to be caried by the vnwonted officious actions and flatteries of those that are present who make vse of their last willes and testaments either by gratifying or chastising the actions of those that pretend interest therein A man must conforme himselfe to reason and common custome heerin which is wiser than we are and the surer way We come now to the dutie of children towards their parents 40 Of the dutie of children towards their parēts so naturall and so religious and which ought to be done vnto them not as vnto pure and simple men but demi-gods earthlie mortall visible gods And this is the reason why Philo the Iew said that the commandement touching the dutie of children was written the one halfe in the first table which conteined the commandements that concerne our dutie towards God and the other halfe in the second table wherein are the commandements that concerne our neighbour as being halfe diuine and halfe humane This dutie likewise is so certaine so due and requisite that it may not be dispensed withall by any other dutie or loue whatsoeuer be it neuer so great For if it shall happen that a man see his father and his sonne so indangered at one and the same instant as that he cannot rescue and succour them both he must forsake his sonne and goe to his father though his loue towards his sonne be greater as before hath beene said And the reason is because the dutie of a sonne towards his father is more ancient and hath the greater priuiledge and cannot be abrogated by any later dutie 41 This dutie consisteth in fiue points Now this dutie consisteth in fiue points comprehended in this word Honour thy father and thy mother The first is reuerence not only in outward gesture and countenance but also inward which is that high and holy opinion and esteeme that a childe ought to haue of his parents as the authors and originall causes of his being and of his good a qualitie that makes them resemble God himselfe The second is obedience euen to the roughest and hardest 2 Ier. 35. commands of a father according to the example of the Rechabites who to obey the command of their father neuer dranke wine in all their liues Nay more than that Isaac refused not to yeeld his necke to the sword of his father The third is to succour their parents in all their needs and necessities to nourish them in their old age their impotency and want to giue them their assistance in all their affaires We haue an example and paterne heereof euen in beasts In the Storke whose little ones as
S. Basil affirmeth feed and nourish In examer their old dames couer them with their feathers when they fall from them and couple themselues together to carrie them vpon their backs Loue furnisheth them with this arte This example is so liuely and so significant that the dutie of children towards their parents hath beene signified by the qualitie of this creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reciconiare And the Hebrewes call this bird for this cause chasida that is to saie Leuit. 11. the debonaire the charitable bird We haue likewise notable examples heere amongst men Cymon the sonne of great Miltiades whose father dying in prison as some say for debt and not hauing wherewithall to burie his bodie much lesse to redeeme it being arested for the debt whilest it was caried to the buriall according to the lawes of that country Cymon sold himselfe and his libertie for money to prouide for his funerall He with his plentie and goods relieued not his father but with his libertie which is deerer than all goods yea and life too He helped not his father liuing and in necessitie but dead and being no more a father nor a man What had he done to succour his father liuing wanting and requiring his helpe This is an excellent president We haue two the like examples euen in the weake and feeble sex of women of two daughters which haue nourished and giuen sucke the one to the father the other to hir mother being prisoners and condemned to die by famine the ordinarie punishment of the ancients It seemeth in some sort a thing against nature that the mother should be nourished with the daughters milke but this is truely according to nature yea those first lawes that the daughter should nourish her mother The fourth is not to doe to attempt or enterprise any thing of weight or importance without the aduice consent and approbation of parents and especially in mariage The fift is mildly and gently to endure the vices imperfections and testie and impatient humors of parents their seueritie and rigour Manlius hath made good proofe heereof for the Tribune Pomponius hauing accused the father of this Manlius in the presence of the people of many crimes and amongst others that he ouer cruelly handled his sonne enforcing him to till the earth the sonne goeth to the Tribune and finding him in his bedde putting the point of his dagger to his throat inforced him to sweare that he should desist from that pursuit he made against his father desiring rather to indure his fathers rigour than to see him troubled for it A childe shall finde no difficultie in these fiue duties if he consider how chargeable he hath been to his parents and with what care and affection he hath beene brought vp But he shall neuer know it well vntill he haue children of his owne as hee that was found to ride vpon a hobbie-horse playing with his children entreated him that so tooke him to hold his peace vntill he were himselfe a father reputing him till then no indifferent iudge in this action CHAP. XV. The dutie of Masters and seruants HEere commeth the third and last part of priuate and domesticall iustice which is the duties of masters and seruants Touching which it is necessarie to know the distinction of seruants for they are principally three sorts That is to say of slaues whereof all the world hath beene full in former time and is at this present except a part of Europe and no place more free than heere about France they haue no power neither in their bodies nor goods but are wholly their masters who may giue lend sell resell exchange and vse them as beasts of seruice Of these hath beene spoken of at large There are inferiour seruants and seruants free people masters of their persons and goods yea they cannot bargaine or otherwise doe any thing to the preiudice of their owne libertie But they owe honour obedience and serue vntill such times and vpon such conditions as they haue promised and their masters haue power to command correct and chastise them with moderation and discretion There are also mercenaries which are lesse subiect they owe no seruice nor obedience but onely worke and labour for money and they haue no authoritie in commanding or correcting them The duties of masters towards their seruants as well of slaues as inferior seruants are not to handle them cruellie remembring they are men and of the same nature with vs but onely fortune hath put a difference which is euer variable and sporteth it selfe in making great men little and little great And therefore the difference is not so great so much to contemne them Sunt homines contubernales humiles Senec. amici conserui aequè fortunae subiecti To handle seruants gently seeking rather to be beloued than feared is the testimonie of a good nature to vse them roughly and too seuerely proceedeth from a crabbed and cruell minde and that he beareth the same disposition towards all other men but want of power hindereth the execution thereof They ought to instruct them with godly and religious counsell and those things that are requisite for their health and safety The duties of seruants are to honour and feare their masters whatsoeuer they be and to yeeld them obedience and fidelitie seruing them not for gaine or onely outwardly and for countenance but heartily seriously for conscience sake and without dissimulation We read of most worthie noble and generous seruices performed in former times by some towards their masters euen to the engaging and hazard of their liues for their masters safegard and honour CHAP. XVI The dutie of Soueraignes and Subiects OF Princes and Soueraignes their descriptions notes humours markes and discommodities hath beene discoursed in the first booke chap. 49. Their dutie to gouerne the common-wealth hath beene spoken at large in this present booke chap. 2. and 3. which is of politike prudence yet we will touch a little heere the heads and generall points of their dutie The Soueraigne as the meane betweene God and the people 1 The dutie of Soueraignes and debtour to these two ought alwaies remember that he is the liuely image the officer and lieutenant generall of the great God his soueraigne and to the people a perfect mirrour a bright beame a cleere looking glasse an eleuated theater for euerie one to behold a fountaine where all refresh themselues a spurre to vertue and who doth not any good that is not famous and put in the register of perpetuall memorie He ought then first of all to feare and honour God to To be religious be deuout religious to obserue pietie not onely for himselfe and for conscience sake as euery other man but for his state and as he is a soueraigne The pietie which we heere require in a prince is the care he ought to haue and to shew for the conseruation of religion and the ancient lawes and ceremonies of the countrey prouiding by lawes
children he was not punished Salust in bel Catil Valer. Maxim as we may see by the example of Fuluius the Senator who killed his sonne because he was a partner in the conspiracie of Catiline and of diuers other Senatours who haue made criminall processe against their children in their owne houses and haue condemned them to death as Cassius Tratius or to perpetuall exile as Manlius Torquatus his sonne Sillanus There were afterwards lawes ordeined that inioyned the father to present vnto the Iudge his children offending that they might be punished and that the Iudge should pronounce such a sentence as the father thought fit which is still a kinde of footstep of antiquitie and going about to take away the power of the father they durst not doe it but by halfes and not altogether and openly These latter lawes come somewhat neere the law of Moyses which would That at the only complaint of the father made before the Iudge without any other knowledge taken of the cause the rebellious and contumacious childe should be stoned to death requiring the presence of the Iudge to the end the punishment should not be done in secret or in choler but exemplarilie So that according to Moyses this fatherly power was more free and greater than it hath beene after the time of the Emperours but afterwards vnder Constantine the Great and Theodosius and finally vnder Iustinian it was almost altogether extinct From whence it is that children haue learned to denie their obedience to their parents their goods their aide yea to wage law against them a shamefull thing to see our Courts full of these cases Yea they haue beene dispensed heerewith vnder pretext of deuotion and offerings as with the Iewes before Christ wherwith he reprocheth them Matt. 15. and afterwards in Christianitie according to the opinion of some yea it hath beene lawfull to kill them either in their owne defence or if they were enemies to the Common-weale although to say the truth there should neuer because iust enough for a sonne to kill his father Nullum tantum scelus admitti potest a patre quod sit parricidio vindicandum nullum scelus rationem habet Now we feele not what mischiefe and preiudice hath hapned to the world by the abolishing and extinction of this fatherly power The Common-weales wherein it hath beene in force haue alwayes flourished If there were any danger or euill in it it might in some sort be ruled and moderated but vtterly to abolish it as now it is is neither honest nor expedient but hurtfull and inconuenient as hath beene sayd Of the reciprocall duty of parents and children See Lib. 3. Cap. 14. CHAP. XLVIII Lords and slaues Masters and seruants THe vse of slaues and the full and absolute power of Lords and Masters ouer them although it be a thing common 1 The vse of slaues vniuersall and against nature thorowout the world and at all times except within these foure hundred yeeres in which time it hath somewhat decayed though of late it reuiue againe yet it is a thing both monstrous and ignominious in the nature of man and such as is not found in beasts themselues who consent not to the captiuitie of their like neither actiuely nor passiuely The law of Moyses hath permitted this as other things ad duritiam cordis eorum but not such as hath beene elswhere for it was neither so great nor so absolute nor perpetuall but moderated within the compasse of seuen yeeres at the most Christianitie hath left it finding it vniuersall in all places as likewise to obey idolatrous Princes and Masters and such like matters as could not at the first attempt and altogether be extinguished they haue abolished There are foure sorts Naturall that is slaues borne Enforced 2 Distinction and made by right of warre Iust termed slaues by punishment by reason of some offence or debt whereby they are slaues to their Creditors at the most for seuen yeeres according to the law of the Iewes but alwayes vntill paiment and restitution be made in other places Voluntaries whereof there are many sorts as they that cast the dice for it or sell Tacit. de mort German their libertie for money as long sithence it was the custome in Almaigne and now likewise in some parts of Christendom where they do giue and vow themselues to another for euer as the Iewes were woont to practise who at the gate bored a hole in their eare in token of perpetuall seruitude And this kind of voluntarie captiuitie is the strangest of all the rest and almost against nature It is couetousnesse that is the cause of slaues enforced and lewdnesse the cause of voluntaries They that are Lords and 3 The cause of Slaues Masters haue hoped for more gaine and profit by keeping than by killing them and indeed the fairest possessions and the richest commodities were in former times slaues By this meanes Crassus became the richest among the Romanes who had besides those that serued him fiue hundred slaues who euery day brought gaine and commoditie by their gainefull artes and mysteries and afterwards when he had made what profit by them he could he got much by the sale of them It is a strange thing to reade of those cruelties practised by Lords vpon their slaues euen by the approbation and permission 4 The cruelties of Lords against their slaues of the lawes themselues They haue made them to till the earth being chained together as the manner is in Barbary at this day they lodge them in holes and ditches and being old or impotent and so vnprofitable they sell them or drowne them and cast them into lakes to feed their fish withall They kill them not only for the least fault that is as the breaking of a glasse but for the least suspition yea for their owne pleasure and pastime as Flaminius did one of the honestest men of his time And to giue delight vnto the people they were constrained in their publicke Theaters to kill one another If a Master hapned to be killed in his house by whomsoeuer the innocent slaues were all put to death insomuch that Pedonius the Romane being slaine although the murtherer were knowne yet by the order of the Senat foure hundred of his slaues were put to death On the other side it is a thing as strange to heare of the rebellions insurrections and cruelties of slaues against their 5 The cruelties of Slaues against their Lords Lords when they haue beene able to worke their reuenge not only in particular by surprise and treason as it fell out one night in the Citie of Tyre but in set battaile both by sea and land from whence the prouerb is So many slaues so many enemies Now as Christian religion and afterwards Mahumetisme 6 Diminution of Slaues did increase the number of slaues did decrease and seruitude did cease insomuch that the Christians and afterwards the Turks like apes imitating them gaue
and are as much offended with ours as we with theirs they cut a man short after their maner tearming them beasts and barbarians which is alwaies to say the same thing A wise man is more aduised as shall be said he maketh not such haste to iudge for feare lest he wrong his owne iudgment and to say the truth there are many lawes and customes which seeme at the first view to be sauage inhumane and contrarie to all reason which if they were without passion and soundly considered of if they were not found to be altogether iust and good yet at the least they would not be without some reason and defence Let vs take amongst the rest for example the two first which wee haue spoken of which seeme to be both the strangest and farthest off from the dutie of pietie to kill their owne parents at a certaine age and to eate them They that haue this custome do take it to be a testimonie of pietie and good affection endeuoring therby first of meere pitie to deliuer their old parents not only vnprofitable to themselues and others but burthensome languishing and leading a painfull and troublesome life and to place them in rest and ease afterwards giuing them the most worthie and commendable sepulchre lodging in themselues and their owne bowels the bodies and reliques of their parents in a maner reuiuing them againe and regenerating them by a kind of transmutation into their liuing flesh by the meanes of the digestion and nourishment These reasons would not seeme ouer-light to him that is not possessed with a contrarie opinion and it is an easie matter to consider what crueltie and abomination it had been to these people to see their parents before their owne eies to suffer such griefe and torment and they not able to succour them and afterwards to cast their spoiles to the corruption of the earth to stench and rottennes and the foode of wormes which is the worst that can be done vnto it Darius made a triall asking some Greekes for what they would be perswaded to follow the custome of the Indians in eating their dead fathers To whom they answered that they would not do it for any thing in the world And on the other side assaying to perswade the Indians to burne the bodies of their dead parents as the Greekes did it seemed to them a matter of such difficultie and horror as that they would neuer be drawne vnto it I will adde only one other which concerneth only matter of decencie and comelinesse and is more light and more pleasant One that alwaies blew his nose with his hand being reprehended for inciuilitie in the defence of himselfe asked what priuiledge that filthie excrement had that a man must affoord it a faire handker chiefe to receiue and afterwards carefullie wrap fold it vp which he thought was a matter of greater lothsomnes than to cast it frō him So that we see that for all things there may be found some seeming reason and therefore we are not suddenly and lightlie to condemne any thing But who would beleeue how great and imperious the authoritie of custome is He that said it was another nature did 6 The authoritie thereof not sufficientlie expresse it for it doth more than nature it conquereth nature for hence it is that the most beautifull daughters of men draw not vnto loue their naturall parents nor brethren though excellent in beautie winne not the loue of their sisters This kind of chastirie is not properly of nature but of the vse of lawes and customes which forbid them and make of incest a great sinne as we may see in the fact not Gen. 11. 20. 29. 35. Exod. 6. Leuit. 28. only of the children of Adam where there was an inforced necessitie but of Abraham and Nachor brethren of Iacob and Iudas Patriarches Amram the father of Moses and other holy men And it is the law of Moses which forbad it in these first degrees but it hath also sometimes dispensed therewith not only in the colaterall line and betwixt brothers and their brothers wiues which was a commandement and not a dispensation Deut. 25. 2. Reg. 12. 3. Reg. 2. and which is more betweene the naturall brother and sister of diuers wombs but also in the right line of alliance that is to say of the sonne with the mother in law for in the right line of bloud it seemeth to be altogether against nature notwithstanding the fact of the daughters of Lot with their father which neuerthelesse was produced purely by nature in that extreame apprehension and feare of the end of humane kind for which cause they haue beene excused by Chrysost Ambrose August great and learned doctors Now against nature there is not any dispensation if God the only superior thereunto giue it not Finally of casuall incests and not voluntarie the world is full as Tertullian teacheth Moreouer custome doth enforce In Apolog. the rules of nature witnes those Physitians who many times leaue the naturall reasons of their arte by their owne authoritie as they that by custome do liue and sustaine their liues with poyson Spiders Emmets Lyzards Toades which is a common practise amongst the people of the West Indies It likewise dulleth our senses witnes they that liue neere the fall of the riuer of Nilus neere clocks armories milles and the whole world according to some Philosophers with the sound of a heauenly kind of musick and the continuall and diuers motions of the heauens dulleth our senses that we heare not that which we heare To conclude and it is the principall fruit thereof it ouercommeth all difficultie maketh things easie that seeme impossible sweetneth all sower and therefore by the meanes heereof a man liues in all things content but yet it mastereth our soules our beliefs our iudgements with a most vniust and tyrannicall authoritie It doth and vndoeth authoriseth and disauthoriseth whatsoeuer it please without rhythme or reason yea many times against all reason It establisheth in the world against reason iudgement all the opinions religions beleefs obseruances maners and sorts of life most fantasticall and rude as before hath been said And contrarily it wrongfully degradeth robbeth beateth downe in things that are truly great and admirable their price and estimation and maketh them base and vile Nil adeo magnum nec tam mirabile quidquam Principiò quod non cessent mirarier omnes Paulatim So that we see that custome is a thing great and powerfull Plato hauing reprehended a youth for playing at cobnut or chery-pit and receiuing this answere from him That he controuled him for a matter of small moment replied My child custome is not a matter of small moment A speech wel worth the noting for all such as haue youth to bring vp But it exerciseth it power with so absolute authoritie that there is no striuing against it neither is it lawfull to reason or call into question the ordinances thereof it enchanteth
from a friendlie hand from those whom a man is inclined to loue without this occasion and contrarily it is a griefe to be obliged vnto him whom a man likes not and to whom he would not willingly be indebted Such benefits also are welcome that come from the hand of him that is any way bound to the receiuer for heere is a kind of iustice and they bind lesse Those good deeds that are done in necessities and great extremities carie with them a greater force they make a man forget all iniuries and offences past if there were any and binde more strongly as contrarilie the deniall in such a case is very iniurious and makes a man forget all benefits past Such benefits likewise as may be requited with the like are more gladly receiued than their contraries which ingender a kind of hate for he that findeth himselfe wholly bound without any power or possibility of repaiment as often as he seeth his benefactour hee thinkes hee sees a testimony of his inabilitie or ingratitude and it is irksome to his heart There are some benefits the more honest and gratious they are the more burthensome are they to the receiuer if he be a man of credit as they that tie the conscience and the will for they lock faster keepe a man in his right memorie and some feare of forgetfulnesse and failing his promise A man is a safer prisoner vnder his word than vnder locke and keie It is better to be tied by ciuill and publicke bands than by the law of honestie and conscience two notaries are better than one I trust your word and your faith and conscience heere is more honour done to the receiuer but yet constraint fastneth solliciteth and presseth much more and heere is more safety to the lender and a man carrieth himselfe more carelesly because he doubteth not but that the law and those outward ties will awaken him when the time shall serue Where there is constraint the will is more loose where there is lesse constraint the will hath lesse libertie quod me ius coget vix a voluntate impetrem From a benefit proceeds an obligation and from it a benefit 16 Obligation the mother and daughter of a benefit or good turne and so it is both the child and the father the effect and the cause and there is a twofold obligation actiue and passiue Parents princes and superiours by the dutie of their charge are bound to do good vnto those that are committed and commended vnto them either by law or by nature and generally all men that haue means are bound to releeue those that are in want or anie affliction whatsoeuer by the command of nature Behold heere the first obligation afterwards from benefits or good turnes whether they be due and sprining from this first obligation or free and pure merits ariseth the second obligation and discharge whereby the receiuers are bound to an acknowledgement and thankfull requitall All this is signified by Hesiodus who hath made the Graces three in number holding each other by the hands The first obligation is discharged by the good offices of euerie one that is in anie charge which shall presentlie be discoursed 17 The first obligation and mother of in the second part which concerneth particular duties but yet this obligation is strengthened and weakned and lesned accidentallie by the conditions and actions of those that are the receiuers For their offences ingratitudes and vnworthinesse doe in a maner discharge those that are bound to haue care of them and a man may almost say as much of their naturall defects too A man may iustly with lesse affection loue that child that kinsman that subiect that is not onelie wicked and vnworthie but foule misshapen crooked vnfortunate ill borne God himselfe hath abated him much from their naturall price and estimation but yet a man must in this abatement of affection keepe a iustice and a moderation for this concerneth not the helpes and succors of necessitie and those offices that are due by publike reason but onlie that attention and affection which is in the inward obligation The second obligation which ariseth from benefits is that 18 The second obligation which is thankfulnes which we are to handle concerning which we must at this time set down some rules 1. the law of dutifull acknowledgement thankfulnesse is naturall witnesse beasts themselues not only priuat and domesticall but cruell and sauage among whom there are many excellent examples of this acknowledgement as of the Lion towards the Roman slaue Officia etiam ferae sentiunt Secondly it is a certaine act of vertue and a testimony of a good mind and therefore it is more to be esteemed than bountie or benefit which many times proceeds from abundance from power loue of a mans proper interest and very seldome from pure vertue whereas thankfulnesse springeth alwaies from a good heart and therefore howsoeuer the benefit may be more to be desired yet kinde acknowledgement is farre more commendable Thirdly it is an easie thing yea a pleasant and that is in the power of euery man There is nothing more easie than to doe according to nature nothing more pleasing than to be free from bands and to be at liberty By that which hath beene spoken it is easie to see how base and vilanous a vice forgetfulnesse and ingratitude is 19 Of ingratitude how vnpleasing and odious vnto all men Dixeris maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris It is against nature and therefore Plato speaking of his disciple Aristotle calleth him an vngratefull mule It is likewise without all excuse and cannot come but from a wicked nature graue vitium intolerabile quod dissociat homines Reuenge which followeth an iniury Senec. as ingratitude a good turne is much more strong and pressing for an iniurie inforceth more than a benefit altius iniuriae quà m merita descendunt it is a very violent passion but yet nothing so base so deformed a vice as ingratitude It is like those euils that a man hath that are not dangerous but yet are more grieuous and painful than they that are mortall In reuenge there is some shew of iustice and a man hides not himselfe to worke his will therein but in ingratitude there is nothing but base dishonesty and shame Thankefulnesse or acknowledgement that it may be such 20 Rules of thankfulnes as it should bee must haue these conditions First hee must gratiously receiue a benefit with an amiable and cheerefull visage and speech qui gratè beneficium accepit primam eius pensionem soluit Secondly he must neuer forget it Ingratissimus Senec. omnium qui oblitus nusquam enim gratus fieri potest cut totum beneficium elapsum est The third office is to publish it ingenui Idem pudoris est fateri per quos profecerimus haec quasi merces authoris As a man hath found the heart and the hand of another