Friendship that is earnest requireth daily communication or visitation A man ought not in any affaires to be so occupied that it be a lawfull let not to communicate or write vnto his friend Where perfit loue is not there wanteth always faithfull seruice and for the contrary he that perfectly loueth assuredly shall be serued I haue been am and will be thine therfore thou shalt do me great iniurie if thou be not mine I haue not seen any to possesse so much to be woorth so much to know so much nor in all things to be so mightie but that one day he shall need his poore friend The man that loueth with his hart neither in absence forgetteth nor in presence becommeth negligent neither in prosperitie he is proud nor yet in aduersitie abiect he neither serueth for profit nor loueth for gaine and finally he defendeth the cause of his friend as if it were his owne We ought to vse friends for 4. causes 1 We ought to haue the company of friends to be conuersant withall for according to the troubles of this life there is no time so pleasantly consumed as in the conuersation of an assured friend 2 We ought to haue friends to whom we may disclose the secrets of our hart for it is much comfort to the wofull hart to declare to his friend his doubts if he doth perceiue that he doth feele them indeed 3 To help vs in our aduersities for little profiteth my hart in teares to bewaile vnles that afterward in deed he will take paines to ease him 4 We ought to seeke and preserue friends to the end they may be protectors of our goods and likewise iudges of our euils for the good friend is no lesse bound to withdraw vs from vices whereby we are slandered than to deliuer vs from our enimies by whom we may bee slaine The Iustice and punishment of God togither with his mercie goodnes and purpose WHen man is in his chiefest brauerie and trusteth most to mens wisdom then the secret iudgement of God soonest confoundeth and discomforteth him The mercie and iustice of God goeth always togither to the intent the one should encourage the good and the other threaten the euill I would to God we had so much grace to acknowledge our offences as God hath reason to punish our sinnes The great mercy of God doth suffer much yet our manifest offences deserue more With God there is no acception of persons for he maketh the one rich the other poore the one sage the other simple the one whole the other sicke the one fortunate the other vnluckie the one seruant the other master and let no man muse thereat for that such are his ordinances We see daily that it is impossible for mans malice to disorder that which the diuine prouidence hath appointed but that which man in a long time decreeth God otherwise disposeth in one moment It is requisite that God should order his purpose for in the ende sith man is man in few things he cannot be either certaine or assured and sith God is God it is impossible that in any thing he should erre Things that are measured by the diuine iudgement man hath no power with rasor to cut them As it is meet we should trust in the greatnes of Gods mercie so likewise it is reason we should feare the rigor of his iustice It is the iust iudgement of God that he that committeth euil shal not escape without punishment and he that counselleth the euill shall not liue vndefamed What the euill with their tyrannie haue gathered in many dayes God shall take from them in one hower Likewise what the good haue lost in many yeeres God in one moment may restore God doth not put vs vnder good or euill fortune but doth gouerne vs with his mercy and iustice Iustice and Iusticers IT is an infallible rule and of humane malice most vsed that he that is most hardie to commit greatest crimes is most cruel to giue sentence against another for the same offence We behold our owne faults as through small nets which causeth things to seeme the lesser but we behold the faults of others in the water which causeth them to seeme greater There is no God commandeth nor law counselleth nor common wealth suffereth that they which are admitted to chastise liars should hang them which saith truth I am of the opinion that what man or woman withdraweth their eares from hearing truth impossible it is for them to apply their harts to loue any vertues be it Senator that iudgeth or Senate that ordaineth or emperor that commandeth or Consul that executeth or Orator that pleadeth The opinion of all wise men is that no man except he lacke wit or surmount in follie will gladly take on him the burden and charge of other men A greater case it is for a shamefast man to take vpon him an office to please euery man for he must shew a countenaunce outward contrary to that he thinketh inward He that will take charge to gouern other seeketh care and trouble for himselfe enuie for his neighbors spurs for his enimies pouertie for his wealth danger for his body torment to his good renowme and an end of his days The charge of Iustice should not be giuen to him that willingly offreth himself to it but to such as by great deliberation are chosen Men now a dayes be not so louing to the common wealth that they will forget their owne quietnes and rest and annoy themselues to do others good Iudges should be iust and vpright for there is nothing decaieth more a common wealth than a iudge who hath not for all men one ballance indifferent There are many in common wealths that are expert to deuise new orders but there are few that haue stout harts to put the same in execution It is impossible for any man to minister iustice vnles he know before what iustice meaneth It is impossible that there be peace and iustice in the common wealth if he which gouerneth it be a louer of liers and flatterers That common wealth is greatly slandered wherin the euill are not punished nor the good honored The desire of commandement is become so licentious that it seemeth to the subiect that the weight of a feather is lead and on the contrarie it seemeth to the commanders that for the flieng of a flie they should draw their swords There is no woorse office among men than to take the charge to punish the vices of another and therfore men ought to flie from it as from the pestilence for in correcting of vices hatred is more sure to the corrector than amendement of life is to the offendor Reason it is that he or she which with euill demeanor haue passed their life should by iustice receiue their death Matters of iustice consisteth more in execution than in commanding or ordaining That common wealth cannot decay where iustice remaineth
maisters ought to reforme more by good conuersation than by sharpe correction for it chanceth oftentimes where maisters be cruell the schollers be not mercifull Noble men neuer wan renowme for the pleasures they had in vices but for the trauels they tooke in vertue Follie and foolish men with their vanities IT is a signe of little wisdome and great follie for a man to answere suddenly to euery question As the wise man being demanded maketh a slow and graue answere so the simple and foolish man being asked answereth quickly and lightly The vanitie of the common people is of such a qualitie that it followeth new inuentions and despiseth ancient customs Fortune IF all fals were alike all would be cured with one salue but som fall on their feet some on their sides others stumble and fall not and others fall downe right but some do giue them a hand I mean som to fall from their estate and lose no more but their substance others fall and for verie sorow lose not only their goods but their life withall others there are which neither lose their life nor their goods but their honor onely and so according to the discretion of fortune the more they haue the more still they take from them It is greatly to be mused at that fortune when shee doth begin to ouerthrow a poore man doth not onelie take all that he hath from him but also those which succor him so that the poore man is bound more to lament his friends hurt than his owne lost The afflicted man doth most desire the change of fortune and the thing which the prosperous man doth most abhorre is to thinke that fortune is mutable for the vnfortunate man hopeth for euerie change of fortune to be made better and the wealthie man feareth through euerie change to be depriued of his house and liuings The sage prince and captaine in the wars should not rashly hazard his person nor lightly or vnaduisedly put his life in the hands of fortune Sith fortune is a mistres in all things and that to hir they do impute both good and euill works he alone may be called a princely man who for no contrarietie of fortune is ouercome for truly that man is of a stout courage whose hart is not vanquished by the force of fortune Sith all men naturally desire to be happie he alone amongst others may be called happie of whom they may truly say He gaue good doctrine to liue and least good example to die Gentle harts do alter greatly when they are aduertised of any sudden mishap I thinke him happie who hath his bodie healthfull and his hart at ease The misfortunes that by our follie do chance if wee haue cause to lament them we ought also to haue reason to dissemble them I thinke him happie who hath his bodie healthfull and his hart at ease Vbi multum de intellectu ibi parum de fortuna Whereas is much knowledge commonly there is little wealth It is not good for a man to hazard that in the hands of fortune which a man may compas by friendship The vnluckie man were better be with the dead than remaine heere with the liuing It is commonly seene that when fortune exalteth men of low estate to high degree they presume much and know little and much lesse what they are worth Of Friendship and Friends THat only is true friendship where the bodies are two and the wils one I account that suspicious friendship where the harts are so diuided that the wils are seuered for there are diuers great friends in wordes which dwell but ten houses asunder and yet haue their harts tenne miles distant The man that with words onely comforteth in effect being able to remedie declareth himselfe to haue been a fained friend in times past and sheweth that a man ought not to take him for a faithfull friend in time to come If hitherto thou hast taken me for thy neighbor I beseech thee from hencefoorth take me for an husband in loue for a father in counsell for a brother in seruice for an aduocate in the Senate for a friend in hart In the inconueniences of our friends if we haue no facultie or might to remedie it at the least we are bound to bewaile it Thy anguish and griefe doth so torment me that if God had giuen power to wofull men to depart with their sorowes as he hath giuen power to the rich to depart with their goods by the faith I owe vnto God as I am the greatest of thy friends so would I be he that should take most part of thy griefs I see not why mishaps ought patiently to be suffered but bicause in those we are to trie our faithfull friends In battell the valiant man is known in tempestuous stormes the Pilote by the touchstone gold is tried and in aduersitie a friend is knowen If true friends cannot do that which they ought yet they accomplish it in doing that which they can He that promiseth and is long in fulfilling is but a slack friend he is much better that denieth forthwith bicause he doth not deceiue him that asketh There is nothing more noisome than to iudge a contention betwixt two friends for to iudge between two enimies the one remaineth a friend but to iudge between two friends the one is made an enimie In one thing onely men haue licence to be negligent that is in chusing of friends Slowly ought thy friends to be chosen and neuer after for any thing to be forsaken The griefs that lie buried in the woful hart ought not to be communicated but to a faithful friend I do not giue thee licence that thy thought be suspicious of men sith thou of my hart art made a faithfull friend for if vnconstant fortune do trust me to gather the grape be thou assured thou shalt not want of the wine Two things are to be respected not to reuenge thy selfe of thine enimies neither to be vnthankfull to thy friend He possesseth much which hath good friends for many aid their friends when they would haue holpen them more if they could for the true loue is not wearied to loue nor ceaseth not to profit One friend can do no more for an other than to offer him his person and to depart with his goods It is a generall rule among the phisitions that the medicines do not profit the sicke vnlesse they first take away the opilation of the stomacke euen so no man can speake to his friend as he ought vnlesse before he shew what thing greeueth him The hart neuer receiueth such ioy as when he seeth himself with his desired friend Friends for their true friends ought willingly to shed their blood and in their behalfe without demaunding they ought also to spend their goods The paine is greater to be void of assured friends than assault is dangerous of cruell enimies Our chests and harts ought always to be open to our friends
habite craueth pardon for so bold an attempt as also becommeth an humble petitioner to be admitted to supplie the place of his absent and diseased master who in all humilitie and loialtie of hart prostrateth himself at your Maiesties feete most humbly beseeching the continuance of your Highnes former fauors and clemencie without which neither he nor his shall be in case to performe such offices as in dutie and honor appertaineth And thus ac-acknowledging my selfe most bounden vnto your right gracious and excellent Maiestie do according to duetie beseech the Almightie for the long continuance of your Maiesties prosperous Estate and raigne in all happinesse and felicitie Your Maiesties most humble and loiall subiect WINCHESTER To the friendly Readers THIS worke is not intituled my good friends The L. Marques Idlenes for your eies to gaze on or your minds to be amazed at but as by your leaue it may be spoken by antiphrasin so by your patience I discouer no monster In shewing an vnnaturall generation happily you will imagine that Idlenes can bring foorth no good action and therefore an vnkinde issue to be called by the name of Idlenes But I answere though your surmise or imagination may engender such a report in the life of the L. Marques yet you see my conception and deliuery sheweth the contrarie in that I obserued the former idle time in reading perusing the learned and wise whose sentences and good saiengs I so greatly affected that I did not onely reade them but also committed many of them to writing which being done onely for my owne recreation and benefite I assure you good Readers was earnestly requested by diuers my louing friends to make the same more manifest to the world by cōmitting it to the presse In which doing if I haue neither done well nor satisfied your expectation blame them that prouoked my euulgation and deceiued your hope and yet for mine own part I wil be excused by the title of my booke which can warrant no more to you than it afoorded to my selfe which is enough if it keepe you onely from idlenes and yet I wil assure you something more for you shall heare many wise learned and well experienced men which I haue painefully requested to giue you some aduertisement And if your fantasies be not ouer curious or your minds to scornefull I doubt not but among so many variable blossoms you may happily catch one sauoring flower if not though it seemeth to be against all reason that idlenes can beget some fruitefull trauell yet you shall see a greater miracle which is that The dead liueth I meane that they whose carcases are consumed many yeeres since do now as it were viua voce speake aduertise counsell exhort and reprooue I assure you I perused them to my no smal contentation and delight not onely to be instructed but also to the end that idlenes might not attach me whose great burden of vanities and suggestions doth not onely surcharge vs with the manifolde heape of sin but also with the lamentable losse of golden time for indeed the want of some exercise bringeth vs in open question with the world and in hazard of condemnation either to be barren of knowledge or slow of wil for as the slanderer his toong cannot be tied though he oftentimes vtter follies so the will of man should not be barren whereby ill toongs might be occasioned to take hold and to say the truth as we our selues esteeme not the knife that is rustie nor account of the trees that are fruiteles so we must thinke that if men would not speake ill of our idlenes verie Time it selfe passing by our doores without entertainemet would accuse our life of sluggishnes or condemne our consciences of contempt and so we may both staine our name blemish our creation and hazard our happie estate that when the iudge of all iudges shall heare the crime laide to our charge our consciences shall be assured to feele the gilte therefore the great stay of mans life requireth labor first in searching Gods word to know him secondly in bending of our endeuors for the benefit of our countrey last of all by looking into our selues and beholding the great filth which most horribly lieth stinking in mans life which for want of purge doth oftentimes smell of hypocrisie vngodlines vncharitablenes treason diuelish inuentions and wicked practizes whereof sathan hath great store to plant in the idell soile Wherfore my louing friends I haue done this for my selfe and for you and though I haue not set it foorth with profound learning fined phrases or eloquent termes which are expected but of wanton eares yet I pray you allow of me in mine olde plaine fashion in the which if I cannot to your contentation make sufficient shewe of mine assured good will pardon my present weaknes being vnder the phisitians hands and I will with all my hart wish you well and commend you to the most highest Basing this viij of Nouember Your louing friend WINCHESTER IN LAVDEM OPERIS HEXASTICON G. Ch. Nobilis esto liber quòd te tot philosophantes Tanta per antiquos philosophia beat Nobilior multò quòd tandem nobilis heros Marchio Wintoniae nobilitauit opus Nobilis es genitus nutritus nobilitate es Et genus Appiadum nobile te decorat The Table THe beginning of things 1 The history of priuate men and of townes 3 Aduersitie 5 Ambition 7 Captaines ibid. Couetousnes 8 Children and youth 13 Counsell 10 Death 18 Discord and variance 25 Enuie ibid. Euill and wicked men in which treatise all wickednes is conteined 27 Fame 32 Follie. 34 Fortune ibid. Friendship and friends 36 Iustice and punishment of God 39 Iustice and iusticers of this world with iudges 40 Knowledge wisedome foresight 46 Law and ordinances 50 Loue. 51 Man and his life 56 Mercie and pitie to the poore 62 Obedience 63 Patience 64 Peace 65 Pleasure 66 Pride 68 Princes 69 Seruants 76 Slanderer 77 Sorrow and griefe ibid. Toong 79 Time 80 Warres 81 Women 82 good Works 86 World and worldly prosperitie ibid. Manie pretie saiengs 93 THE LORD MARQVES IDLENES The beginning of beginnings THE first homicide of the world was Cain The first that died in the world was Abel The first that was blind in the world was Lamec as some learned haue collected The first that builded was Enoc in the fields of Edon The first musitian was Tubalcain The first sailer was Noe. The first tyrant was Nemrod The first priest was Melchisedec The first Duke as some affirme was Moises The first that was called by the name of Emperor was Iulius Caesar. Thales was the first that found out the pole called the North star to saile by and the first that found out the diuision of the yeere the quantitie of the sunne and moone and also said that soules were immortall He would neuer marrie for the care to content his wife and the thought to bring vp his children He was asked
for the poore punishment for the tyrants weight and measure plentifull and chiefly if there be good doctrine for the yoong and little couetousnes in the old Correction executed after a good sort hath this propertie that it incourageth the good to be good and feareth the wicked from their wickednes If men were not endued with reason and gouerned by iustice among all beasts none were so vnprofitable Iustice being taken away what are realms but dennes of theeues for to affirme that men can liue without iustice is as much to say as fishes can liue without water Do iustice thy selfe if thou wilt be a minister thereof for the good iudge with the right yarde of his owne life ought to measure the whole state of the common welth O to how much is he bound that hath taken vpon him to minister iusticel If such an one be an vpright man he accomplisheth that wherunto he is bound but if vniust iustly of God he ought to be punished and likewise of men to be accused No man neglecteth iustice but for want of knowledge and experience or else through abundance of affection and malice Musing with my selfe wherin so many dammages of the common wealth did consist such disobedience such contrarieties so many theeues in the end I find that all or the most part proceed in that they prouide for ministers of iustice not for conscience sake but for couetousnes and ambitions sake The vertuous and Christian iudge ought rather to shed teares in the Church than by affection of men to shed blood in the seate of iudgement There are many iudges which imploy their studie more to get friends to maintaine their state proudly than for to read bookes to iudge mens causes vprightly Great shame ought they to haue which take vpon them to correct others when they haue more neede to be corrected themselues for the blind man ought not to take vpon him to lead the lame If the poore come to demand iustice hauing no monie to giue no wine to present no friend to speake after his complaint he receiueth faire words promises of speedie iustice but in the end he consumeth that he hath spendeth his time looseth his hope and is voide of his sute although his cause be neuer so honest and good If wee sigh with teares to haue good princes wee ought much more to pray that we haue not euill officers What profiteth it the knight to be nimble if the horse be not readie What auaileth it the owner of the ship to be sage and expert if the pilot be a foole and ignorant What profiteth the king to be valiant and stout and the captaine in the war to be a coward I meane what profiteth it a prince to be honest if those that minister iustice be dissolute What profiteth vs that the prince be true if his officers be liers What to be louing and gentle and his officers cruell and malicious What to be liberall if the iudge that ministreth iustice be a briber and an open theefe What to be carefull and vertuous if the iudge be negligent and vicious What auaileth it if he in his house be secret iust if he trust a tyrant and an open theefe with the gouernement of the common-wealth Iudges ought to be iust in their words honest in their works mercifull in their iustice and aboue all not corrupted with bribes It sufficeth not that iudges be true in their words but it is very necessary that they be vpright in their dealings Iudges ought not to haue respect to those which desire them but to that which they demand for in doing their dutie their enimies will proclaime them iust and contrariwise if they do that which they should not their neerest friends will count them tyrants Lycurgus made a law whereby he inioined iudges not to be couetous nor yet theeues for the iudge that hath receiued part of the theft will not giue sentence against the stealers thereof Oftentimes it chaneeth that iudges do eate the fruit and the poore suter doth feele the morsell Sith frailtie in men is naturall and the punishment they giue vs is voluntarie let iudges shew in ministring of iustice that they do it for the zeale of the common wealth and not with a mind to reuenge The beginning of iudges are pride and ambition their meanes is enuie and malice and their end is death and destruction for the leaues shall neuer be greene where the roots are drie Offices are somtimes giuen to friends in recompence of friendship somtimes to seruants to acquit their seruice somtimes to their sollicitors to the end they shall not importune them so that few remaine to the vertuous which onely for being vertuous are prouided Idlenes EVerie lightnes done in our youth breaketh downe a loope of our life but idlenes whereby our enimie entreth is it which openeth the gate to all vice Of idle motions and outragious thoughts the eies take licence without leaue the mind altereth and the will is hurt and finally thinking to be the white that amarous men shoote at they remaine as a burt full of vices In conclusion there is nothing that more chaseth the ball of the thought in this play than the hand set a worke There is nothing breedeth vice sooner in children than when the fathers are too negligent and the children too bold as do not keepe the same from idlenes The prince that occupieth himselfe to heare vaine and trifling things in time of necessitie shall not imploy himselfe to those which be of weight and importance for idlenes and negligence are cruell enimies to wisedome Of knowledge wisedome foresight and vertue WE cannot say that the man knoweth little which doth know himselfe Man giuing his minde to seeke strange things commeth to forget his owne proper We see by experience that in the fistula that is stopped and not that which is open the surgeon maketh doubt in the shalow water and not in the deepe seas the pilot despaireth the good man of arms is more afeard of the secret ambushment than in the open battell I meane that the valiant man ought to beware not of strangers but of his owne not of enimes but of friends not of the cruell war but of fained peace not of the open dammage but of the priuie perill How manie haue we seene whom the mishaps of fortune could neuer change and yet afterward hauing no care she hath made them fall Asignorance is the cruell scourge of vertues and spur to all vice so it chanceth oftentimes that ouer-much knowledge putteth wise men in doubt and slandereth the innocent forasmuch as we see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome are those which fal into most perilous vices The end why men ought to studie is to learne to liue well for there is no truer science in man than to know how to order his life well What profiteth it me to know much if
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
and we perceiue not how we liue therein Of mercie pitie helpe and compassion towards the poore HAppy not once but an hundred times is he that will remember the poore afflicted and open his hart to comfort them and doth not shut his cofers from helping them to him at the straight day of iudgement the processe of his life shall be iudged with mercie and pitie The pitifull hart which is not fleshed in crueltie hath as much pitie to see another man suffer as of the sorow and torment which he himselfe feeleth If a man behold himselfe from top to toe he shal find not one thing in him to mooue him to crueltie but he shall see in himself many instruments to exercise mercie For he hath eyes to behold the needie feete to goe to the church eares to heare Gods word hands to be stretched to the poore a toong to vtter good things an hart to loue God and to conclude he hath vnderstanding to know the euil and discretion to follow the good God hath not giuen him scratching nails as to the cat nor poison as to the serpent nor perilous feete as to the horse to strike withall nor bloodie teeth as to the Lion but hath created vs to be pitifull and commanded vs to be mercifull Obedience AS the element of the fire the element of the aire and the element of water do obey and the element doth commaund of the earth or that against their nature he bringeth them to the earth and al the noble and most chiefest elements obedient to the most vile onely to forme a body mixt it is great reason that all obey one vertuous person that the common wealth therby might be the better gouerned The second reason is of the body and soule The soule is the mistres that commaundeth and the body the seruant which obeyeth for the body neither seeth heareth nor vnderstandeth without the soule but the soule doth these without the body In that common wealth where one hath care for all and all obey the commandement of that one there God shall be serued the people shall profit the good shall be esteemed the euill despised and besides that tyrants shall be suppressed How many people and realms bicause they would not obey their prince by iustice hath sithence by cruell tyrants been gouerned with tyrannie for it is a iust plague that those which despise the scepter of righteous princes should feele and prooue the scourge of cruel tyrants O happy common wealth wherein the prince findeth obedience in the people and the people in like maner loue of the prince for of the loue of the prince springeth obedience in the subiects and of the obedience in the subiects springeth the loue of the prince Patience LOoke howe much wee offend through the offence so much doe we appease through patience The patience which God vseth in not punishing our faultes is greater than that which men haue in suffering the chastisement bicause we iustly offend and iustly are punished I account all in me at the disposition of fortune as wel riches as other prosperities and I keep them in such a place that at any hower in the night when she listeth she may cary them away and neuer awake me so that though she cary those out of my cofers she should neuer rob me of my patience Patience in aduersitie pleaseth God where as wrath prouoketh his indignation We see in a mans bodie by experience that there are sundry diseases which are not cured with words spoken but with the herbes thereunto applied and in other diseases the contrary is seen which are not cured with costly medicines but with comfortable words When the diseases are not very olde rooted nor dangerous it profiteth more oftentimes to abide a gentle feauer than to take a sharpe purgation The impatient hart especially of a woman hath no rest till she see her enimie dead No patience can endure to see a man obtaine that without trauel which he could neuer compasse by much labor He is most vnhappy which is not patient in aduersity for men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impatience which they suffer Though wise men leese much they ought not therfore to dispaire but that they shall come to it againe in time for in the end time doth not cease to do his accustomed alterations nor perfect friends cease not to do that which they ought That man onely in this life may be called vnhappy to whom God in his troubles hath not giuen patience Peace HE alone doth knowe howe precious a thing peace is which by experience hath felt the extreeme miserie of war The life of a peaceable man is none other then a sweete peregrination and the life of seditious persons is no other than a long death Euerie prince which loueth forraine wars must needs hate the peace of his common wealth Aristotle doth not determine which of these two is the most excellēt either stoutnes to fight in the wars or policie to rule in peace That peace is more woorth that is honest than is the victorie which is bloodie In the good war a man seeth of whom he should take heed but in the euill peace no man knoweth whom to trust Where peace is not no man enioieth his owne no man can eate without feare no man sleepeth in good rest no man safe by the way no man trusteth his neighbor and where there is no peace we are threatned daily with death and euery houre in feare of our life Seeing Christ left to vs his peace and commanded vs to keepe the same we should not condiscend for reuenging iniuries to shed mans blood for the good christians are commanded to bewaile their own sins but they haue no licence to shed the blood of their enimies and therefore I wish all princes for his sake that is prince of peace they loue peace procure peace keepe peace liue in peace for in peace they shall be rich and their people happie Pleasure WHat commeth of vaine pleasure nothing but the time euill spent famine in way of perdition goods consumed credit lost God offended and vertue slandered Of pleasure we get the names of brute beasts and the surnames of shame I would the eies were opened to see how we liue deceiued for all pleasures that delight the bodie make vs beleeue that they come to abide with vs continuallie but they vanish away with sorrow immediately on the contrary the infirmities that blinde the soule say that they come to lodge as guests and remaine with vs continually as housholders Death is a miserable lake wherein all worldly men are drowned for those men that thinke most safely to passe it ouer remaine therin most subtilly deceiued During the time that we liue in the house of this fraile flesh sensualitie beareth so great a rule that she wil not suffer reason to enter in at the gate Reason leadeth