Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	law_n	nature_n	precept_n	1,292	5	9.1116	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14538	The office and duetie of an husband, made by the excelle[n]t philosopher Lodouicus Viues, and translated into English by Thomas Paynell	Vives, Juan Luis, 1492-1540.; Paynell, Thomas.	1555 (1555)	STC 24855; ESTC S101795	103,854	424

come as wel as men vnto the beatitude and therfore they ought shulde be instructed taught as we men be And that they are no better it is our falt inasmuch as we do not our duetyes to teache them If the husbande be y e womans head the mind the father Christ he ought to execute the office to suche a man belongyng to teache the woman for Christ is not onelye a sauiour and a restorour of hys churche but also a Mayster The father oughte to nouryshe and to teache hys chyldren And what neede is it to reason of the mynde and of the heade In the mynde is wytte coun sell and reason In the head are all the senses wherwyth we doe guyde and rule thys lyfe and therefore he doeth not hys duetye that doeth not instructe and teache hys wyfe And the selfe same Socrates doeth saye that menne shoulde be ruled by Pnblyke and commune lawes and womenne by theyr owne hnsbandes And Paule forbyddynge womenne to speake in the Congregation and commaundynge that they yf they doubted of anye thynge shoulde aske theyr husbandes at hooine doeth bynde theim to teache theyr wyues To what effect or purpose shoulde she aske her husbande that he nother wyll nor can teache her O howe great warres hath there bene made for women We take great payne and laboure to see y t they lacke nothinge and that oure doughters maye haue a conuenient dowrye and yet we flee and auoyde the easye workes by the whiche they maye be the better for yf they were so theyr flagitiousnes shoulde not cause vs to warre nor they beynge contente with a lytle shoulde neede nothyng but alure many to loue them with y e beautifulnesse of their vertue A woman after my iudgement oughte to knowe her selfe of what begynnyng she was made of and to what ende what the order and vse of thynges be and speciallye what Christes religion is without the whiche nothing can be well done nor iustlye But yet it muste be religion no superstition to the ende she maye knowe what difference there is betwene them Religion doeth make them verye simple and good and superstition verye hypocrytes molestious And thus shall she perceyue and vnderstande in what thynges true religion doth consiste how they shoulde honoure God loue theyr neyghboure and thereby knowe howe she oughte to loue and honor her husbande whome she shoulde take as a diuine and a holye thyng obey his wyl as the lawe of God Her house shall be vnto her as a common wealth and she muste learne what her duetye office is at home what is her husbandes There are two principal vertues of a woman the religion of nature chastitie althoughe that religion doe cōprehend all vertues But we wyll seperatlye and exactlye geue preceptes of chastitie for it muste be the chastitie of the wise virgyns not of the folyshe She must know that shamfastnes is coupled with chastitie take heede to her good name fame that in all places she may be vnto y e lord a good sauour to y t example quietnes of her husband and how prōpt ready the cōmon sort of people be to iudge euil and with what diligence thei do nourish teach theyr children She must learne also to contemne worldly chaunces that is she muste be somwhat manly strong moderatly to beare suffer both good euil lest y t she being vnmete to suffer aduersite be cōstrained other to do or to thinke wickedly If she cā not read these thinges nor yet by Nature learne them for there be also such men her husband muste so familierlye and playnelye teache her that she maye remembre theym and vse them when nede shall require Let her heare those that doe reade and speake of such thin ges yf she can reade lette her haue no bookes of Poetrye nor suche tryfelynge bookes as we haue spoken of before for nature is ynoughe inclined to noughtines although we put not fier to towe And Seneca doth saie that the time is shorte althoughe it be all spente in well doynge Such vertuous and holy bokes as may learne her to be wyse inflame her to liue vertuouslye muste be delyuered vnto her wherein yet a certayne iudgemente and prudencye muste be vsed that is that they delyuer her no vayne no chyldyshe no barbarous nor no superstitious bookes Likewise she shal not be med linge with those curious and depe questions of diuinitie y t which thinge besemeth not a woman And as concerning morall Philosophie those religious vertuous bokes do suffise for vertue doth teache vs all good fashions and maners But yet yf we wil or in tende priuately to teache thē any customes let thē be suche as shal stirre prouoke them to liue wel vertuouslye and suche as be farre frō al conten tion altercation wher vnto womenne are but to much of thē selues inclined Let her read many thinges to subdue bring vnder the affections to appeace and pacifie the tē pestes vnquietnesses of the minde A woman hath verye great nede of this moral part of philosophi in y t which these auctours are excellent Plato Cicero Seneca and Plutarche And in this thinge those writers do helpe that declare the notable examples of vertue worthy to be ensued folowed as Valerius Maximus Sabellicus and in like maner the lau dable workes of the holy and vertuous men of oure re ligion and likewise of those that haue folowed the worldly wis dome Aristotle and Zenophon do write how men shuld rule gouerne their house and fa mily of the educatiō bringing vp of childrē Plutarche lately Paulus Vergerius Francis Philelphe There are annexed vnto these thinges certayn preceptes and rules of a quotidiane a dayly life of simple medicines for y e lighte in●irmities of yong childrē y t which haue no nede to hire any phisitions I do remēber y t I haue already in other places written of these thinges yet it shal not be withoute a cause here to write somwhat of thē again for it perteyneth to the husband to see y t these thinges be done And I doo thinke y t with this the womā be sufficiently ynough instructed to liue cōmodiously religiouslye But yf she delite to read verses prepare her these thristē poetes Prudentius Aratus Sedulius Iuuencus other in Latin or els in their vulgare natiue language And as for the knowledge of grammer logike histories the rule and gouernaunce of the common welth the arte mathematical they shalleaue it vnto mē Eloquence is not conuenient nor fitte for women although the Cornelians of the Graccis the Mutians y e Lelians and the Hortentians be much cōmended nor y t because they spake many thinges eloquētlye but because they spake a fewe thinges purelye incorruptlye nor they neuer learned that arte but receaued it by y t

familiar custome of their fathers without any paine or laboure But nowe a dayes they call her eloquente that with long vayne confabulation can intertayne one and what shuld a man thinke that she beinge vnlearned shoulde talke with a yonge man litle wiser then her selfe but that that is eyther folish or filthy And this they call the gentill intertaynement of the court that is to say of y t scole where they learne other like artes of their mayster the deuill See no we where vnto y e maners and customes of men be come and how all thinges do turne for nowe it is estemed as vile that a woman shulde holde her peace that is that her most fayrest vertue shuld seeme to be deforme and fylthye Howe greate laboure shal we coniecture that Sathan tooke to perswade man to beleue this But thoushalt number scilence among other thy wiues vertues y t whiche is a great ornament of y t hole feminine sexe And when she sp eaketh let her cōmunicatiō be simple not affectate nor ornate for y t declareth the vanitie of y t mind And al suche as were praysed of oure elders for their eloquēce were most extolled lauded forasmuch as they kept the language of their forefathers sincere and cleane as Cicero declareth in his boke of an Orator And Iuuenal euen crabbedly and not withoute a cause doeth saye Lette not thy wife be ouermuch eloquent nor full of her shorte and quycke argumentes nor haue the knowledge of al histories nor vnderstand manye thinges whiche are written she pleaseth not me that geueth her selfe to poetry and obseruing the arte maner of the olde eloquence doth study to speake facundiously This holye and sincere institution shall increase thorough the good example of y e husbād the which to informe and fashion the womans life and his family withall is of no lesse valure and force then the example of a prince to informe the publique maners customes of a citye for euerye manne is a kynge in his owne house and therefore as it besemeth a kyng to excell the common people in iudgemente and in example of lyfe and in the execution performaunce of the thynge that he cōmaūdeth so he that doth marrye muste east of all childishnes remember the saying of the Poet This age requireth another manner of life other maners and so to take vnto him selfe the counsel and mind of him y t is aged to mayntayne the duetie and office of an husbande declarynge a good life not in wordes preceptes onely but also in life and dede The which two thinges to rule mā withal are very necessarye that is wisdome and example and that thou thy selfe fulfyll the thynge that thou cammaundest to be done The life whether it he good or euyll dothe not onelye as Fabius sayeth perswade but also constraine and inforce We doe see how myghtye that thys exhortation is in warre and in battell O my souldiers doe that ye shall see me doe the which contempte of deathe in the captayne doeth so creepe thorowe the whole hooste that there is not one be he neuer so seeble and weake hearted that doeth esteme his lyfe for the which he perceyueth that hys captayne careth so lytle for Thus dyd Christe wyth hys Apostles and Martyrs draw the world vnto y e faith for as thei liued so thei spake and as they spake so they lyued Nowe shall thy wyfe obeye thee commaundynge her to be sober temperate yf she see thee distempered and likewyse of continence chastitie yf thou be an aduou terer and a folower of other mens wyues For Claudian doeth say yf thou commaund any thynge to be done looke thou be the first that shall doe it and so shall other obey thy law commaundement nor shal not ●eny to do the thyng that they se him do that commaunded it Furthermore he muste rehearse vnto his wife the good examples of other women for that shall seeme and apeare more easye to be done that hathe bene done alreadye And yf the mind be couragious and noble it can not be well expreste no nor scantlye beleued howe it shall be prouoked and styrred vp wyth the laude and prayse of other Themistocles was wonte to saye that Mylciades tryumphes dyd excite and quycken hym Nor thou shalt not onely rehearse vnto her olde and aunciente names as Sara Rebecca Penelope Androinacha Lu cretia Colebolina Hipparchia Portia Sulpitia Cornelia and of our sayntes as Agnes Catherine Margaret Barbara Monica Apolonia but also those that more fresher as Catherin quene of englād Clara Ceruerta the wife of Uallearus and Blanca Maroa albet I doe feare to be reproued that I doe thus commende my mother geuynge my selfe to muche to loue and pitie the which trulye doeth take muche place in me but yet the trueth muche more There can not lacke in euerye nacion and citye ho nest and deuonte Matrones by whose examples thei may be styrred and prouoked but yet the familier examples as of the mother the ●eldame the aunt the sister the cosyn or of some other kinswoman or frende shoulde be of more force and value For why suche examples as we do fee doe muche moore moue vs and better we folowe theym then anye other And in like maner the actes and deedes of euyll and wycked women doe teache vs what we shuld flee and auoyde beynge certayne that suche thynges can not be hydden and that the rewarde ther of is at hande at leaste wyse the publyke ignominie and shame of all the cytye that better it were to dye then to lyue so Familier communication doeth bothe instructe them and also confirme theyr maners but yet let it be symple as wyth her that is thy moste frende and mooste familier not vsynge her in thy wordes more reue rentlye then is conueniente nor sufferynge her to honour thee more then it beseemeth the whiche as at some tymes they doe increace reuerence so thei do diminish loue cha ritie y t which in matrimonye should be most true seruent And as concernyng venerati on reuerence thei cause the mind rather to dissemble thē to be symple and open as it ought to be No man geueth faythful honour or reuerence to him that is arrogant and vayne or that of right doeth loke to haue it for honor may wel be drawen but not extor ted Call thy wyse by a name that pretendeth a loue that maye styr her to loue thee as doughter or syster as Paule dyd cal hys And she shall call thee by some name of honour as Sara called Abraham lorde Ye muste often tymes cōmon together of vertue of maners of y t errour of the cōmon people of the vse of thinges of the conuersation gouerning of the house houshold of the artes occupations y t ye must get your liuyng with al of the holy institution and education of your children