and the medicine that is applied will not assure life I cannot determine which is the best or to say more properly which is the woorst extreme miserie without the danger of fortune or extreme prosperitie that is alwaies threatened to fall I had rather mine enimies had enuie at my prosperitie than my friends at my pouertie It is hard to giue a remedie against enuie sith all the world is full therof We see that we be the sonnes of enuie we liue with enuie and he that leaueth most riches leaueth the greatest enuie The riches of rich men is the seede of enuie to the poore and bicause the poore man lacketh and the rich hath too much causeth discord among the people There were two Greekes the one Achilles the other Thiestes the which Achilles being extreme rich was persecuted with enuie the other which was Thiestes sore noted of malice but no man enuied at him I had rather be Achilles with his enuie than Thiestes without it And in case all do vs dammage with enuie yet much more harme doth a friend than an enimie for of mine enuious enimie I will beware and for feare I will withdraw but my friend with his amitie will beguile me and I by my fidelitie shall not mistrust it Among all mortall enimies there is none worse than a friend that is enuious of my felicitie Honor vertue and riches in a man are but a brand to light enuie to all the world Thales being asked when the enuious man was quiet he answered When he seeth his enimie dead or vtterly vndone for truly the prosperitie of a friend is a sharpe knife to the enuious hart The outward malicious word is a token of the inward enuious hart What friendship can there be amongst enuious men seeing the one purchaseth and the other possesseth Euill and wicked men with their vices THe euill men doe offend vs more which we find than doth the good men which we lose for it is great pitie to see the good and vertuous men die but I take it to be more sorow to see the euill and vicious men liue The good man though he die liueth the euill though he liue dieth Let vs compare the trauels which we suffer of the elements with those which we endure of the vices and we shall see that little is the perill we haue in the sea and the land in respect of that which encreaseth of our euill life Is not he in more danger that falleth through malice into pride than he which by chance falleth from a high rocke is not he who with enuie is persecuted in more danger than he that with a stone is wounded are not they in more peril that liue among vicious men than others that liue among brute and cruell beasts Do not those which are tormented with the fire of couetousnes suffer greater danger than those which liue vnder mount Etna Finally they be in greater perils which with high imaginations are blinded than the trees which with importunate winds are shaken Traian the emperor demanding of Plutarke why there were more euill than good and more that embraced vices than followed vertues answered As our natural inclination is more giuen to lasciuiousnes and negligence than to chastitie and abstinence so the men which do enforce themselues to follow vertue are few and those which giue slack the reines to vices are many And this proceedeth that men do follow men and that they suffer not reason to follow reason The remedies which the world giueth for the troubles certainly are greater trauels than the trauels themselues so that they are salues which do not heale our wounds but rather burne our flesh Doe you not know that extreme hunger causeth heasts to deuour with their teeth the thing that was bred in their intrals by experience we see that the wormes deuour the timber wherein they were bred and the mothes the clothes wherein they were bred and so somtimes a man beingeth him vp in his house which afterwards taketh his honor and life from him As the shamefast man should not be denied in any his requests being honest so the shameles and importunate man should be denied whatsoeuer he demandeth The ill rest and conuersation of them that liue cause vs to sigh for the company of them that be dead Vniuersally the noble hart can endure all trauels of mans life vnlesse it be to see a good man decay and the wicked to prosper the which no valiant hart can abide neither toong dissemble Of right ought that common wealth to be destroied which once hath been the flower of all vertues and afterward becommeth most abhominable and defiled with all vices If the euill liue he is sure to fall if the good die not we doubt whether euer he shall come to honor The wickednesse of children are swordes that passe through the harts of their fathers Proud and stout harts obtaining that which they do desire immediately begin to esteem it as nothing Tyrannous harts haue neuer regard to the honour of another vntill they haue obtained their wicked desires The harts that be proud are most commonly blinded proud and ambitious harts know not what will satisfie them If thou be giuen to ambition honor may and will deceiue thee if to prodigalitie couetousnes often begnileth thee if to pride all the world will laugh thee to scorne in such fort that they will say thou followest will and not reason thine owne opinion rather than the councell of another embracing flatterers rather than repelling the vertuous for that most sorts had rather be commended with lies than reprooued with truth That man which is brought vp in debates dissentitions and strife all his felicitie consisteth in burning destroying and bloudshedding such works for the most part proceed not from a creature nourished among men on the earth but rather of one that hath been brought vp among the infernall furies of hell Where vices haue raigned long time in the hart there death onely and no other hath authoritie to plucke vp the rootes To whom is he more like which with his toong blaseth vertues and imploieth his deeds to all vices than to the man that in one hand holdeth poison to take away life and in the other treakle to resist death I haue mused which of these two are greater the dutie the good haue to speake against the euill or else the audacitie the euill haue to speake against the good for in the world there is no brute beast so hardie as the euill man is that hath lost his fame I would all men would call this to memorie that among euill men the chiefest euill is that after they haue forgotten themselues to be men and exiled both truth and reason with all their might they go against truth with their words and against good deedes with their toongs Though it be euill to be an euill man yet it is much woorse not
thereby I take no profit what to speake strange languages if I refrain not my toong from other mens matters what to studie many books if I studie not but to beguile my friends what to know the influence of the stars and course of the elements if I cannot keepe my selfe from vices In all things we are so doubtfull and in all our works so disordered that at some times our vnderstanding is dull and loseth the edge and at another time it is more sharpe than it is necessarie Pouertie causeth good mens children to be vertuous so that they attain to that by vertue which others come vnto by riches It is a rule that neuer faileth that vertue maketh a stranger grow naturall and vice maketh a naturall a stranger in his owne countrie It is impossible a yoong child should be vicious if with due correction he had been instructed in vertues Noble men enterprising great things ought not to imploy their force as their noble heart willeth but as wisedome and reason teacheth There is no man so wise and sage but erreth more through ignorance than he doth good by wisedome and there is no man so iust but wanteth much to execute true iustice The vertuous do so much glorie of their vertue as the euill and malicious haue shame and dishonor of their vice for vertue maketh a man to be temperate and quiet but vice maketh him dissolute and wretchles The lacke of a physition may cause danger in mans person but the lacke of a wise man may set discord among the people Marcus Aurelius at his meate at his going to bed at his vprising in his trauell openly nor secretly suffered at any time that fooles should communicate with him but only wise and vertuous men whom he alwaies entirely loued he had reason therein for there is nothing be it in iest or earnest but is better liked of a wise man than of a foole If a prince be sad cannot a wise man by the sayings of the holy scriptures counsell him better than a foole by foolish words If the prince will passe the time away shall not he be more comforted with a wise man that reckoneth vnto him the sauorie histories done in times past than harkening to a foole speaking foolishly and declaring things dishonestly and ripping vp the saiengs of the malicious of the time present That which I most maruell at is not so much for the great authoritie that fooles haue in the pallaces of princes and great nobles as for the little credit and succor that wise men haue among them It is a great iniurie that fooles should enter into the chamber of princes vnto their bed side and that one wise man may not nor dare not enter into the hall so that to the one there is no gate shut and to the other no gate open Now in these daies there is no wise man alone that trauelleth to be wise but it is necessarie for him to trauell how to get his liuing for necessitie inforceth him to violate the rules of true philosophie Whether he be prince prelate or priuate let him haue about him sage and wise men and to loue them aboue all treasure for of good counsell there commeth profit and much treasure is a token of danger Croesus said I account my selfe to be dead though to the simple folks I seeme to be aliue and the cause of my death is bicause I haue not about me some wise person for he is only aliue amongst the liuing who is accompanied with the wise Euill princes do seeke the companie of wise men for no other intent but onely bicause through them they would excuse their faults We learne not to commaund but to obey not to speake but to be silent not to resist but to humble our selues not to get much but to content vs with litle not to reuenge offences but to pardon iniuries not to take from others but to giue our owne to others not to be honored but to trauell to be vertuous finally we learn to despise that which other men loue and to loue that which other men despise which is pouertie To a man that hath gouernment two things are dangerous that is to wit too soone or too late but of these two the worst is too soone for if by determining too late a man looseth that which he might haue gotten by determining too soon that is lost which is now gained and that which a man might haue gained To men which are too hastie chanceth many euils dangers for the man being vnpatient and his vnderstanding high afterwards commeth quarels and brawlings displeasures varieties and also vanities which looseth their goods and putteth their person in danger It chanceth oftentimes to wise men that when remedie is gone repentance commeth sodenly and then it is too late to shut the stable dore when the steed is stolne He is wisest that presumeth to know least and among the simple he is most ignorant that thinketh he knoweth most Science profiteth nothing else but to keep thy life wel ordered and thy toong well measured Vaine and foolish men by vaine and foolish words do publish their vaine and light pleasures and wise men by wise words do dissemble their grieuous sorowes Profound science and high eloquence seldome meet in one person There is no man in the world so wise but may further his doings with the aduise of an other There is nothing more easie than to know the good and nothing more common than to folow the euil As the fine gold defendeth his purenes among the burning coles so the man endued with wisedom sheweth himself wise yea in the midst amongst many fooles for as the gold in the fire is proued so among the lightnes of fooles is the wisdom of the wise discerned The wise is not knowen among the wise nor the foole among fooles but that among fooles the wise man doth shine and that among the wise fooles are darkened for there the wise sheweth his wisedome and the foole his follie He onely ought to be called wise who is discreet in his works and resolute in his words It is a rule that euill works doe cary away the credite from good words There is nothing destroyeth sooner princes thā thinking to haue about them wise men to counsel them find them malicious and such as seek to deceiue them It is not the part of wise and valiant men to enlarge their dominions and diminish their honor Wise men ought circumspectly to see what they do to examine that they speake to prooue that they take in hand to beware whose company they vse and aboue all to know whom they trust The lawe and ordinances THe law which by will is made and not of right ordained deserueth not to be obeied The Achaians obserued this for a law and custome that the husbands should obey and the wiues commaund for the husbands swept and made clean
wings to flie nor feathers to couer them nor any other thing to defende them and yet the mother in all this weaknes and pouertie forsaketh them not nor committeth them to any other but bringeth them vp hir-selfe how much more ought a christian woman to nourish and bring vp that with hir breasts which she once carried in hir wombe rather than commit it into the handes of another woman who bicause she bare it not can not haue the like tender care ouer it Children are neuer so wel beloued of their mothers as when they be nourished of their owne brests If women for excuse should say that they are weake tender and that they haue found a good nurse I answer that the nurse hath small loue to the childe which she nurseth when she seeth the vngentlenes of the mother that bare it for she alone doth nourish the childe with loue which did beare it with paine Aristotle saith that a childe at the most ought to sucke but two yeeres and at the least one yeere and a halfe for if he sucke lesse he is in danger to be sicke and if he sucke more he shall be alwaies tender All women are bounde to loue their husbandes since that willingly and not by compulsion they were not enforced to take them In like maner if the marriage please not the woman she hath not so much cause to complaine of hir husbande for asking hir as she hath reason to mislike with hirselfe that accepted him The wife to serue hir husband in his life time proceedeth oftentimes of fear but to loue him and honor him in his graue proceedeth of loue A woman cannot say euill of hir husband but she doth witnes dishonor to hirselfe I would counsell women not to presume to command their husbands and admonish husbands not to suffer themselues to be ruled by their wiues for in so doing I account it no otherwise than to eate with the feete and trauell with the hands to go with their fingers and to feed themselues with their toes There is an olde disease that happeneth to beautifull women that there be manie that defie them and mo that slander them It little auaileth man and wife that their goods be common and their wils priuate for if the man and wife in loue doe differ in their liues they shall neuer be quiet The want of magnanimitie in the female sexe is supplied with the excellencie of quicke conceite and inuention The reason why women for the more part exceed men in beautie and good complexion is for that they are an effect of a pure cause namely of man a creature polished and not formed as man immediately out of grosse earth After the creation of the worlde and mankind God preferred the companie of a woman as a comfort vnto man exceeding all others Good workes THey that be old and ancient ought to praise their good workes rather than their white haires for honor ought to be giuen for the good life and not for the white head To praise vertuous workes we greatly desire but to put them in vre we are very slow If I haue committed any euill it is impossible to find any that will do me good but if I haue done well no man shall be able to do me wrong Men are not bound to iudge others by the good nature they haue but by the good and euill workes which they do That man is perfite who in his own opinion deserueth not that he hath and in the opinion of an other deserueth much more than that he possesseth The vertuous ought to conforme their works to that they say and publish their words with their deeds There is nothing more infamous than to presume to be wise and desirous to be counted vertuous chiefly for him that speaketh much and worketh little Our euil worke sufficeth to deface many good works The world and worldly prosperitie THe prosperous estate whereupon the children of vanitie are set are founded of quicke sande in that sort that be they neuer so valiant prosperous and mightie a little blast of wind doth stirre them a litle calme of prosperitie doth open them sodenly death doth confound them Men seeing that they cannot be perpetual do procure to continue themselues in raising vp proud buildings leauing to their children great estates wherin I account them fooles no lesse than in things superfluous Admit the pillars be of gold the beames of siluer that those that ioyne them be kings and those which build them are nobles in which they consume a thousand yeers before they can haue it out of the ground or come to the bottom I sweare they shall find no steadie rocke where they may build their house sure not cause their memory to be perpetuall If men knew the world with his deceit why doe they serue him if they do not why do they follow him The world hath this condition to hide much copper vnder a litle gold vnder the color of one truth he telleth vs a thousand lies and with one short pleasure he mingleth ten thousand and displeasures Would ye not take the thiefe for a foole that would buy the rope wherewith he should be hanged and the murtherer the sword wherwith he should be beheaded and the traitor that should offer himselfe in place for to be quartered the rebell that should disclose himselfe to be stoned than are they I sweare more fooles that know the world and will follow it The ancients in times past did striue which of them could furnish most men haue most weapons and keep most horses but now a days they contend who hath the finest wit who can heape vp greatest treasure and who can keep most sheep They striued who should keep most men but in these days who can haue most reuenues Now it is so that one hauing mony to buy a lordship immediately he is made a knight and when he is made knight it is not to fight against the enimies in the field but more freely to commit vices and oppresse the poore at home What profiteth vs to desire much to procure much to attaine to much sith our days are so briefe and our person so fraile Men are deceiued that thinke that temporall goods shall remaine with them during life I see no greater mishaps to fall to any than vnto them which haue the greatest riches so that we may boldly say that he alone which is shut in the graue is in safegard from the inconstancie of fortune The earth is cold and drie the water cold and moist the aire hote and moist the fire hote and dry The wicked world is the euill life of the worldlings where the earth is the desire fire the couetice water the inconstancie aire the folly the stones are the pride the flowers of trees the thoughts the deep sea the hart The worldlings and their worldly liues are called the world for sinnes they be called the
manners of the common wealth Why do princes commit folly bicause flatterers aboundeth that deceiueth them and true men wanteth that shoulde serue them Princes deserueth more honor for the good meanes they vse in their affairs than for the good successe whervnto it commeth for the one is guided by aduenture and the other aduanced by wisedome The land is with much miserie compassed where the gouernance of the yoong is so euill that all wish for the reuiuing of the dead It is impossible that the people be well gouerned if the magistrates that gouerne them be in their liues dissolute Princes in doubtfull matters ought not onely to demaunde counsell of all the good that be aliue but also to take paines to talke with the dead that is to read the deeds of the good in their writings To a prince that shall be an inheritor one yeeres punishment shal be better woorth then xx yeeres pleasure A prince is as the gouernor of the ship a standerd of a battell a defence of the people a guid of the waies a father of the orphanes a hope of pupils and a treasure of all The glorie of a prince is that in his works he be vpright and in his words he speake verie discreet The vertues of princes should be so manie that al men might praise them and their vices so fewe that no man might reprooue them Princes are lords of all things sauing of iustice wherof they are onely but to minister I would to God that princes did make an account with God in the things of their conscience touching the common wealth as they do with men touching their rents and reuenewes Many crouch to princes with faire words as though they ment good seruice to him their entent being by deceit to get some office or to seeke some profite Seruants I Councell those that be seruaunts to great lordes that their labours be accounted rather honest than wise for the wise man can but please but the honest man can neuer displease Of the toong and of the slanderer or backbiter IT is most certaine that of Hollie we looke for pricks of Acrons husks of Nettels stinging and of thy mouth malice I haue seriously noted I neuer saw thee say well of any nor I neuer knew any that would thee good Octauian the Emperor being demaunded why doing good to all men he suffered some to murmure against him he answered He that hath made Rome free from enimies hath also set at libertie the toongs of malicious men That is a cruell thing that the life and honor of those that be good should by the toong of the euill be measured As in the forge the coales cannot be kindled without sparkes nor as corruption cannot be in the sinkes without ordure so he that hath his hart free from malice his toong is always occupied in sweet and pleasant sayings and contrarywise out of his mouth whose stomacke is infected with malice proceedeth always wordes bitter and full of poison It is an olde disease of euill men through malice to backbite with their toong which through their cowardnes they neuer durst enterprise with their hands Of sorow and griefe GRiefe is a friend of solitude enimie of companie a louer of darknes strange in conuersation heire to desperation Sith fortune is knowen of all she suffreth not hir selfe to be defamed of one and it is better to thinke with fortune how thou maiest remedy thy self than to thinke with grief how to complaine There are diuers men which to publish their grief are very carefull but to seek remedy are very negligent We suffer griefs know them not with the hands we touch them perceiue them not we go ouer them and see them not they sound in our eares we heare them not they daily admonish vs we do not beleeue them finally we feele the wound and see not the remedy Experience doth teach vs with a little blast of winde the fruit doth fall with a little sparke of fire the house is kindled with a little rocke the ship is broken at a litle stone the foote doth stumble with a litle hooke they take great fish and with a little wound dieth a great person I meane that our life is so fraile and fortune so fickle that in that part where we are best harnessed we are soonest wounded and grieued The heauy and sorowfull harts of this world feele no greater grief than to see others reioyce at their sorowes To men of long life without comparison the diseases are more which they suffer than the yeeres are which they liue If the days be few wherein we see the elements without cloudes fewer are the howers wherein we feele our harts without cares As much difference as is betweene the barke and the tree the marow and the bone the corne and the straw the gold and the drosse the truth and dreames so much is there to heare the trauels of an other and taste his owne Greater is the disease that proceedeth of sorow than that which proceedeth of the feuer quartane and therof ensueth that more easily he is cured which of corrupt humors is full than he which with profound thoughts is oppressed There is no griefe that so much hurteth a person as when he himself is cause of his own paine Men which haue not God mercifull and men friendly do eate the bread of griefe and drinke the teares of sorow There is no greater torment to the hart than when it is differred from that which it greatly desired If all things as they be felt at hart shoulde be shewed outward with the toong I thinke that the winds should breake the hart with sighings and water all the earth with teares If the corporall eies sawe the sorow of the hart I beleeue they should see more blood sweating within than all the weeping that appeereth without There is no comparison of the great dolors of the bodie with the least grief of the mind For all trauell of the body men may find some remedie but if the heauy hart speake it is not heard if it weepe it is not seen if it complaine it is not beleeued I know no remedy but this to abhorre the life wherewith it dieth and to desire death wherewith it liueth The toong NOble stoute personages though they would be esteemed and iudged true in their sayings hauing seene many wonders with their eies yet when they make report of them they ought to be very moderate in their toongs for it is a very shame to an honest man to declare any thing wherein may be any doubt whether it be true or not When a woman is mery she alwayes babbleth more with the toong than she knoweth in hir hart Men do not vtter half their grief bicause their wofull and heauie hart commandeth the eyes to weep and the toong to be silent The chiefest thing which God
gaue vnto man was to know and be able to speake for otherwise the soule reserued the brute beasts are of more valew than dombe men Pythagoras commanded that all men which are dombe and without speech should immediatly and without cōtradiction be banished and expulsed from the people and the cause why he commāded this was that he said that the toong is mooued by the motions of the soule and that he which had no toong had no soule The toong which is noble ought to publish the goodnes of the good to the end that all know it the frailnes of the wicked ought to be dissembled and kept secret that it be not followed If the body of a man without the soule is little regarded I sweare vnto thee that the toong of a man without truth is much lesse esteemed As the sword pierceth the body so the toong destroieth the renowme There are many which are of a goodly toong and wicked life Wise men ought to feare more the infamie of the litle pen than the slander of the babling toong All corporall members in a man waxeth olde sauing the inward hart and outward toong for the hart is always greene to beare the fruit of euil and the toong always fruitfull to tell lies Time THere is nothing needeth more circumspection than the measuring of Time for that Time should be measured so iustly that by reason no Time should want to do well nor any time abound to doe euill That time may be accounted lost which is spent without the seruice of God or profite of our neighbor Time in all things bringeth such change and alteration that those we haue once seen to be great lords within a while after we haue seene slaues Deceiue not your selfe to say there is time for all amendement for time is in the hand of God to dispose Warres IN time of war princes cannot reforme vices nor correct the vicious They which mooue war or intreat it ought to consider that if it come not well to passe all the blame shall be imputed to their counsell and if his substance be not able presently to recompence the losse let him assure himselfe that his soule hereafter shall endure the paine In examining of histories we shall finde more defamed for beginning of wars than renowmed for vanquishing of their enimies In wars they do naught else but kill men spoile the people destroy innocents giue libertie to theeues seperate friendes raise strife all which cannot be done without hinderaunce of iustice and scrupulositie of conscience Before wars be begun it would be considered what losse and what profite may ensue None are fit for the wars but such as little esteeme their liues and much lesse their consciences If war were onely the euil against the euill there were no thought nor care to be taken but where honor fame glory and riches are taken prisoners it is a lamentable matter that so many wise good and vertuous be lost Iust war is more woorth than fained peace for looke how much his enimie offendeth for taking it so much he offendeth his common wealth for not defending it Women in times past were led to the wars to dresse meate for the whole and to cure the wounded but now to the end that cowards should haue occasions to be effeminate and the valiant to be vicious Men which in peace seeme most fierce in time of war shew themselues most cowards and likewise men full of words are for the most part cowards in deeds Women ANd sith God hath commanded and our face doth permit that the life of men can not passe without women I aduise the youth and beseech the aged I awake the wise and instruct the simple to shunne women of euill name more than the common pestilence Shee that will be accounted honest let hir not trust to the wisedome of the wise nor commit hir fame to the wanton youth let her take heede what he is that promiseth ought for after that the flames of Venus is set on fire and Cupid shot his arrowes the rich offereth all that he hath and the poore all that he may the wise man will be for euer hir friend and the simple man for euer hir seruant the wise man will loose his life for hir and the simple man will accept his death for hir It is great perill to wise women to be neighbored with fooles great perill to the shamefast to be with the shamlesse great peril to the chaste to be with the adulterers for the honorable to be with the defamed there is no slandered woman but thinketh euery one like hirselfe or at least desireth so procureth so and saieth so in the ende to hide their infamie they slander the good Diuers things ought to be borne in the weakenes of women which in the wisedome of men are not permitted I know not what iustice this is that they kill men for robbing and stealing of money and suffer women to liue that steale mens harts Women haue more neede of remedie than of good counsell The beautie of women setteth strangers on desire and putteth neighbours on suspection to great men it giueth feare to meane men ennie to the parents infamy to themselues perill with great paine it is kept that is desired of manie The most laudable and holy company in this life is of the man and woman especially if the woman be vertuous the wife withdraweth all the sorrowes from the hart of hir husbande and accomplisheth his desires whereby he liueth at rest A man of vnderstanding ought not to keepe his wife so short that she should seeme to be his seruant nor yet to giue hir so much libertie that she becommeth therby his mistres The good wife may be compared to the phesant whose feathers we little esteeme and regarde much the bodie but the euill woman to the Marterne whose skinne we greatly account of and vtterly despise the bodie The complexion of women with childe is very delicate and the soule of the creature is very precious and therefore it ought with great diligence to be preserued for all the treasure of the Indies is not so pretious or in value equal to that which the woman beareth in hir bowels when a man planteth a vineyarde foorthwith he maketh a ditch or some fence about it to the end beasts should not crop it while it is yoong nor that trauellers should gather the grapes when they are ripe if the laborer to get a little wine onely which for the bodie and soule is not alwaies profitable doth this how much more circumspection ought the woman to haue to preserue hir childe since she shall render account vnto the creator of a creature vnto the church of a christian vnto hir husband of a childe The birds when they haue hatched hauing but six little ones haue neither milke to nourish them nor corne to giue them neither haue they
seruants of sinne must be subiects of the deuill Pride auarice enuie blasphemie pleasures lecherie negligence gluttonie ire malice vanitie and folly this is the world against which we fight all the days of our life and where the good are princes of vices and vices are lords of the vicious This world is our cruell enimie A deceitfull friend that always keepeth vs in trauell and taketh from vs our rest he robbeth vs of our treasure and maketh himselfe to be feared of the good and is greatly beloued of the euill It is that which of the goods of others is prodigal of his own very miserable the inuenter of all vices and the scourge of all vertues it is he which entertaineth all his in flattery and faire speach bringeth men to dissolution robbeth the renowme of those that be dead and sacketh the good name of those that be aliue This cursed world is he which to all ought to render acccount and of whom none dare to aske account He should beare false witnes that would say that in this world there is any thing assured healthfull true as he that would say in heauen there is any thing vnconstant variable or false I maruell not though the worldlings at euery momēt be deceiued since superficiously they behold the world with their eies and loue it profoundly with their harts but if they desired as profoundly to consider it as they do vainely follow it they should see very plainly that the world did not flatter them with prosperitie but threaten them with aduersitie fo that vnder the greatest point of the Die which is the sise is hid the least which is the ase The world is of such a condition that if he let vs rest our first sleep that commonly ere the morning yea somtimes within an hower after he waketh vs with a new care Suppose that the world doth honor you much flatter you much visite you oft offer you great treasures and giue you much yet it is not bicause he will giue you litle and little but that afterwards he might take it all from you in one day for it is the custome of the world that those men which aboue all men are set before now at a turne they are farthest behind O filthie world that when thou doest receiue vs thou doest cast vs off when thou doest assemble vs thou doest separate vs when thou seemest to reioice vs thou makest vs sad when thou pleasest vs how quickly thou doest displease vs when thou exaltest vs how thou humblest vs and when thou doest chastise vs how thou doest reioyce As mē be diuers in gestures so are they much more variable in their appetites sith the world hath experiēce in many yeeres it hath appetites prepared for all kind of people for the presumptuous he procureth honors to the auaricious he procureth riches and to those which are gluttons he presenteth diuers meats the carnall he blindeth with women the negligent he feedeth with rest and thus he doth baite them as fish and in the end will catch them in the nets of all vices If at the first temptations we had resisted the world it were impossible that so oftentimes it durst assault vs for of our small resistance commeth his so great boldnes The world hath made vs now so ready to his law that from one hower to another it changeth the whole estate of our life so that to day he maketh vs hath that which yesterday we loued he causeth vs to complaine of that which we commended he maketh vs to be offended with that which before we did desire and to account those our mortall enimies which before we accepted as our speciall friends If he did giue any perfect or certain thing we were the rather to serue him but he giueth them with such condition that they shall render it to him againe when he shall demaund it and not at the discretion of him that doth possesse it The world hath no good thing to giue vs but only by lending or by vsurie if it be by vsurie there is no gaine of money but rather returne with restitution of vices if ye aske whether he hath any vertuous thing in his gouernance he will answer that he doth sell such merchandise in his shop and therefore cannot giue that which he hath not for himself If ye exchange any thing with it he is so subtile to sel and so curious to buy that that which he taketh shall be of great measure and that which he selleth shall want waight They which are in prosperitie haue no lesse neede of good counsell than the vnhappy hath of remedy When euery man thinketh he hath made peace with fortune than she hath a new demaund ready forged Man being born in the world nourished in the world liuing in the world being a child of the world folowing the world what is man to hope for of the world but things of the world Man alone thinketh to eate the flesh without bones to giue battell without perill to trauell without pain saile by the seas without danger but it is impossible for mortal men to liue in the world vnlesse they wil become subiects to the sorowes of the world We are now come to so great folly that we forget and will not serue God that created vs nor abstaine from the world that persecuteth vs. O filthy world how far art thou from iust and howe far ought they to be from thee which desire to be iust for naturally thou art a friend of nouelties and an enimie of vertues How much do we put our trust in fortune how lewdly do we passe our dais how much blinded in the world yet for all that we giue him so much credit as though he had neuer deceiued vs. The world is an embassador of the euill and a scourge of the good a nurse to vices and a tyrant to vertues a breaker of peace a maintainer of war a table of gluttons and a fornace of concupiscence it is the danger of Charybdis where the harts do perish and the perill of Scylla where the harts do waste The men that are borne of women are so euill a generation and so cruell is the worlde wherein we liue and fortune so empoisoned with whom we frequent that we cannot escape without being spurned with his feete bitten with his teeth torne with his nailes or empoisoned with his venime If a stranger or neighbor yea our proper brother doe enuie vs we will neuer pardon him though he earnestly request it yet cease we not to follow the world though he continually persecute vs thus we see that we drawe our swords against flies and will kill the Elephants with needles Some I see which willingly fall and some which would recouer themselues I finde that all do complaine but few that will amend Riches youth pride and libertie are fowre plagues which poison princes replenish the cōmon wealth with filth kill the liuing and