any thing crooke shouldred hee shall haue many that will imitate him Hath Alexander the great a peculiar writhing of his necke no doubt but Hephestion out of his loue would willingly seeme to haue the like It is the nature of true affection not onely to palliate and disguise the blemishes of a friend but with all to ioy in them somerimes Balbini polypus Agnam Delectat and to make them often the subiects of setled imitation Is there any tumour therefore or inflammation in the Leg or other inferiour parts of the bodie let vs see if the defluction which causeth it proceede not from the Head Where there is a neere coniunction no maruaile if there happen a sudden infection grex totus in agris Vnius scabie cadit porrigine porci Vuaque conspect â liuorem ducit ab vuâ One scabbed sheepe may marr a faire flocke one measled hogge endanger a whole heard The clearest eye many times by viewing onely that which is bleared becomes abnoxious to the like perill Let vs not complaine then like that foolish fellow of a paine in the Hand whē there is an impostume in the Head If we would haue women without spots let vs keep our selues without staines But here our aduersaries crie out Quid iuuat ad surdas si cālet Phemius aures Quid miserā Thamyram picta tabella iuuat Little auaileth the wisedome of the Inchanter if the Adder be not disposed to listen What effect can either Precept or Precedent produce in those who haue armed themselues with a willful Resolution to put by all good counsell and perswasion Oleum perdit impensas qui bouem mittit ad ceroma saith the Prouerb An Oxe will neuer prooue a Wrestler vse what care and cost you can Let your plees bee neuer so well tempered with wisedome and discretion your speeches sa Let him spie one wrinckle on her brow And he shall streight his Mistris disauow Let her skin writhell let her eye-sight faile Her teeth wex yellow or her cheeks look pale Packe huswife hence this honest man shal say Out of my doores dispatch vse no delay Your dropping nose occasions my disdaine I must haue one that hath a dryer braine For there are which make Virtue the marke whereat they leuell Let vs but listen a while and wee shall heare many tragically sighing out what Demenetus vttered in the Comedie Argentum accepi dote imperium vendidi I haue gotten monie but I haue purchased miserie and for a large Portion forgone my libertie M. Aurelius will not dare though to cast himselfe into the loose embraces of a Strumpet so she bring an Empire to him for her dowrie Many of lower ranke out of a couerous desire to soder vp a crackt estate let not to doe the like but in the ende they may crie out with Esau The pottage hath refresht me but my birthright's gone Plaut in Aulul sunt multae in magnis dotibus Incommoditates sumptu sque intolerabiles Nam quae indotata est ea in potestate est viri Dotatae mactant malo damno viros Let all things be rightly considered and we shall finde that rich wiues are but bils of charge She that hath no such addition to make her weigh will be continually readie to conforme herselfe in all things to her Husbands will but shee that hath the start in that will haue it in all things else or the whole house shall perish in her Furie Intoler abilius nihil est quà m foemina diues There can be no greater torture to a man then to bee matched to a woman whose fortunes are of a higher built roofe than his owne Iuv lib. 2. Sat. 6. Nil non permitt it mulier sibi turpe putat nil Cum virides gemmas collo circundedit cum Auribus extensis magnos commisit Elenchos Beautie therefore is vaine and riches are deceitfull saith Pro. 31. the H. G. but a woman that feareth the Lord shee shall be praised She openeth her mouth with wisedome and in her tongue is the Law of kindnesse Hir Husband shall be knowne in the Gates when he sitteth among the elders of the Land The frailty of the first is fully characterd in this ensuing Poem occasioned it should seem by some great and suddaine alteration discouered in the Subiect which for the corespondencie it holds with this discourse I will heere wholly insert A glorious place I did of late behold Whose outside richly deckt with burnisht gold Did seeme to mee a Mansion fit for Ioue For virtuous Pallas or the Queene of Loue. I thought so sweete a seat could not but be The sacred harbour of some Deitie The roofe thereof was arched like the skies And grac'd with stars which though but mortal eies Yet such they were as like Promethean fire In frozen earth could kindle hot desire Such as could warme the Liuer quick the braine And moue affection in the dullest Swaine It ioy'd me much to see my weaker sight Curiously search this Labyrinth of Delight One Beauty seene I straightway more discouer And rauisht crie Who would not be a Louer Through christall Casements I might easily see The louely Graces in their sport full glee And by and by the Archer and his Mother With wanton dalliance courting one another An entrance was into this princely place Whose currall Gates tooke vp a seemely space From foorth betwixt the Leaues issued a breath Could set a glosse vpon the face of death And now and then came foorth a gentle sound Whose sweet concent did Orpheus quite confound It much affected many mortall eares And might haue drawn bright Angells from their Spheares But beauty fades and louely parts decay Greene Herbes do quickly turne to withered hay The blushing Rose the glory of the morne Doth often-times become the mid-daies scorne This seeming Eden I did lately view But all things varied from their former hewe Nothing I saw which I might terme the same So short a Date hath euery earthly frame Yet in this change Time could not vant his force So I had not finisht halfe his annuall course Since first that glorious parcell of the skies Was made the happie Obiect of mine eyes Whereat th' affections formed in my brest As vnderpropped with to weake arest In their owne ruins did themselues entombe And like Abortiues perish't in the Wombe My thoughts shall therefore neuer more embrace The washie tincture of a female face Beauties imperious lookes may force mine eye But virtues Liege-man my poore heart shall die Yet some may taxe me for a wauering minde Whose loue goes out at euery blast of winde But let these know buildings though nere so tal If once their Base ground-worke faile must fall As for the vanitie of the last I will take Martiall for my Patron who being condemned by a friend for hauing refused to marrie with a wealthie Widow returned him his reasons in this pithie Epigramme Vxorem quare locupletem ducere nolim Quaeritis vxori
any such offender One of the meanest amongst them both for birth and breeding when a Chapman as she stood in the Market to be sold demanded of hir whether shee would proue honest if he should buy hir replide vpon the instant I wil proue honest though you should not buy me The Cianians were so free from any taxation this way that for the space of seauen hundreth yeares it was neuer known that any Matrone amongst them had vnloosed to a stranger the girdle of hir honestie or any Virgin bestowed vpon a lustfull friend the floure of hir Virginity The Easterne Indians did neuer prostitute their Bodies but to him who did present them with an Elephant and that the law permitted them to doe with no little approbation of their worth that could be valued at so high a rate Those religious and holy Vestals who had the charge of that immortall and sacred fire which was by Numa consecrated to the gods were so respected for their spotlesse puritie that if by chance they met at anytime some wretched malefactor who by the appointment of iustice was conducted to his Death they had a priuiledge to reprieue him so that the Votresse vpon hir deposition would affirme that the encounter was onely casuall Poets enforme vs that Venus had hir chariot drawne by swannes to signifie vnto vs that Women as they labour to bee neate and cleanely in their Clothes should striue to be sweete and comely in their Conuersation Many may peraduenture make it their delight to stand gase vpon the Estrich for the rarenesse of hir Plumes but not any will make it the dish which their Appetite shall feede vpon because of the ranknesse of hir flesh They must harbour therefore alwaies a speciall care within themselues that as they haue Vultum Veneris the badge of Beautie in their Face they haue likewise cestum Veneris the markes of Virtue in their Forehead least want of grace in their outward gesture might make their inward goodnesse liable to misconstruction Chastitie must haue setled Grauitie for hir Vsher and for hir waiting-woman bashfull Modestie or she shall neuer procure respectiue reuerence and obseruance from those that doe behold hir If Ladies of noble rancke quality should now and then though but to sport their Fancie lay aside the ornaments of their state and without their vsual attendance shew themselues abroade disguised in some wanton manner I doubt not but they would quickly finde that many not acquainted with their intent would not sticke to ranke them in the role of Courtisans nor yet to rayle vpon them in a phrase which onely fitteth creatures of that condition Immodesty is like a Vintners bush which giueth euery man direction where he may call for wine Women alone are said by scandalous and traducing Spirits to giue it countenance a little therefore now of this as likewise of the contrary CHAP. 4. Of their outward modestie IT is an iniurie to Virtue to be committed alwaies close-prisoner to the Heart she desireth to looke out at the eyes and to goe forth now and then in the words If shee see hir selfe restrained of this libertie she will goe neere with griefe to fall into a hectike Feuer and so to die of a languishing Consumption Euill words are as the Apostle saith the very gangrenes of good manners if they eate them not out they will at least deface them If Women haue immodest lookes it will auaile them little for auoiding the worlds censure to haue honest hearts A booke is censured many times by what the title promiseth and Siluer into what fashion soeuer wee melt it though it cease not to be siluer yet the outward stampe is that which maketh it currant Crassus had a liking to a goodly Mannor belonging to a certaine Vestal which that he might the better purchase hee tooke occasion to meete with hir in sundrie places at sundrie times omitting nothing in his carriage conuersation which might any way endere him to hir but by this courteous entercourse hir Innocency grew to be suspected and in the end as Malice is euer ready to picke a hole in Virtues coat shee was publikely accused to haue incestuously conuersed with him Postumia was a little too much in clinde to laughter and now and than delighted freely to discourse with Men but this hir freedome brought hir to bee arraignd as an Adulteresse wherof when shee had throughly acquited hir selfe Spur. Minutius the high Priest absolued hir but withall aduised hir ne verbis vitae castimoniam non aquantibus vteretur so to order hir life thence forward that the outward fashion might not preiudice the inward forme Forbearance of the Action is no suffient demonstration of a chast Deuotion T' is from the setled disposition of the Will that this purer Virtue doth receiue hir forme A certaine Spanish Lasse hauing passed through the hands of Souldiers God be thanked said shee that once in my daies I haue had my fill without sinning But herein silly wretch she deceiued hir selfe for howsoeuer Violence were Prologue to the fact the delight shee tooke in the performance conuinced hir of a fault Some could be content to haue it but they would not bee thought to desire it They wish another would foile them when of themselues they haue a will to fall Such as are truely modest and such assuredly are the most will not sticke to make their liues the ransome of their Fame for feare though they consented not to the doing they might be thought to bee well enough contented with the deede Theoxena to free hir Sisters children and hir owne from the lasciuious embraces of King Phillip put weapons into their weaker hands and perswaded them Vt imminens ludibrium morte effugerent to rescue themselues by Death from imminent disgrace where in she had no sooner preuailed but with a heroine resolution she shewed them by hir owne example that what shee had taught them was easie to be done Hippo a Grecian when the Shippe in which shee trauailed was taken by the Enemy cast hirselfe immediately into the soft embraces of the sea to free hir Honour from the luxurious courtship of hir Foe A Gentlewoman of Capua did the like But these examples are a little too vehement that which followeth is somewhat more considerate Cn. Manlius hauing giuen the Galathians a mighty ouerthrow at the mount of Olympus there was amongst the captiues that were taken Chiomara the wife of Orgiagontes a Ruler in that Prouince of some note who being compelled by the Centurion that had hir in custody to satisfie the beastly appetite of his debauched affections imparted afterwards the wrong she had receiued to some of hir friends who were come thither to redeeme hir and willed them to kill him as hee should kisse hir at the farewell This done she caused his head to be cut off and bringing it home in hir own lap cast it for a present at hir husbands feete who vented the passions
found in the vntutoured bosomes of some fewe amongst them must needs like a beloued Guest be inwardly harboured of them all is a consequence as voide of Charity as the other was full of Sophistrie For as for the first Mens immota manet lachrymae volvuntur inanes And for the other there can be no certaine demonstration grounded vpon particular obseruation But not to follow Womens valour any longer afarre of as Hippolytus did the Goddesse Venus I will begin to court it at a neerer distance and make knowne in breife vnto the world that amongst them are very many which deserue a wreath of Bayes as well as a garland of Roses and to haue their Temples shrouded vnder the Oliue as well as shadowed with the Lillie Plinie the younger had a neighbour neere vnto a certaine house of his in Italy wonderfully tormented with certaine Vlcers which had befallen him in those parts that were the occasion of our first Parents shame His Wife in the end considering how long hee languished besought him earnestly that shee might view his greife and that she would more freely than any bodie else tell him in briefe what he had to trust vnto which when she had obteyned she found it was impossible he should euer be recouered and therefore counsailed him as the safest and surest remedie to kill himselfe And finding him too soft for so rough an enterprise Nay doe not thinke said she sweete friend that the paines I see you suffer concerne not me as well as you and that to free my selfe from them I will not take the same medicine I prescribe to thee I will accompanie you in the Cure as I haue done hitherto in the Care Cast of this feare and beleeue assuredly that we shall meete but with pleasure in this passage which must rescue vs from such torments Come my Loue we will goe ioyfully together This said finding that shee had already warmed hir Husbands courage shee rosolueth from a window in their lodging to fling themselues headlong out into the Sea and to maintaine euen to the end this loyal and vehement affection where with shee had euer formerly imbraced him she would haue him dye within hir armes and that hir strict enlacements might not slacken either through the fall or feare shee caused him to be fast bound vnto hir middle and in this manner for the easing of his life abandoned hir owne But this was a Woman of meane ranke and amongst such it is not so strange a thing to see now and than some traces of extraordinarie goodnesse extrema per illos Iustitia excedens terris vestigia fecit I will bring you others from the Pallaces of Princes where some say Virtue seldome quartereth Arria wife to Cecinna Poetus when she saw that hir Husband afterthe ouerthrow of Scribonianus whose faction hee had followed against the Emperour Claudius was led away by the souldiers as a prisoner and that shee might not be suffered to accompany him in the same ship hired vpon the instant a fisher-boate and followed him in that manner from Sclauonia to Rome where one day Iunia the wife of Scribonianus accosting her in presence of the Emperour somewhat familiarly by reason of the Society of their fortunes shee thrust her backe veryeagerly with these words Heauens forbid that I should either speak or listen vnto thee in whose lap Scribonianus was slaine and thou yet aliue These and other the like words gaue her friends occasion to suspect that shee was not minded to continue long the slauish captiue of an insulting fortune And heereupon did Thrasea her sonne in Law beseech her not to lay violent hands vpon herselfe asking her whether shee would be content that his wife her Daughter if hee at any time should chance to runne the like hazard which Cecinna did should doe the like whereunto shee answered Would I yes yes assure thy selfe I would had shee liued so long and so peaceably with thee as I haue done with him These desperate replies made them more narrowly obserue her gesture and demeanour which when once shee had discouered You doe wisely said she well may you make mee die more vneasily but keepe mee from dying at all you cannot and therewith rising furiously out of her chaire she ranne her head against a post and a while after being somewhat recouered of the blow Did I not tell you said she that if you denied me an easie death I would make choice of some other how painefull soeuer it did prooue The end of such an admirable vertue was this Her husband Paetus was somewhat too faint-hearted to preuent what the Tyrant had cruelly design'd against him by doing it himselfe One day therefore amongst other hauing employed all the inducements perswasions end exhort ations that were fit for such a businesse shee tooke the poynard which he wore and holding it naked in her hand for the conclusion of her discourse Paetus said shee doe thus and hauing vpon the very instant giuen herselfe a mortall stroake about the stomacke and then snarching it out of the wound presented it vnto him as the Legacie of her affectionate loue with this noble generous and immortall encouragement Paete non dolet Hold take it Paetus it hath not hurt me at all The Summe of which worthy story is punctually comprized in this ensuing Epigram Mart. lib. 2. Ep. 14. Casta suo gladium cum traderet Arria Paeto Quam de visceribus traxerat ipsa suis Si qua fides vulnus q d feci non dolet inquit Sed quod tu facies hoc mihi Paete dolet And vpon the instant he strucke himselfe with the same weapon ashamed in my opinion that euer hee had needed so deere and precious an instruction But shall I shew you a Rosie Bud that will bloome no longer than it may lie in the bed of winter a Fire that burneth not but when cold water is cast vpon it a Marigold that openeth not but at a setting Sunne looke then vpon that young and honourable Romane Lady Pompeia Paulina who hauing in the spring of her youth matched herselfe with Seneca in the full fall of his age would not after Nero had decreed his death vpon any rearmes bee disswaded by him from dying with him It was she said a necessarie Iourney and could neuer bee better vndertaken then in his company Seneca was much delighted with this glorious determination of hers and told her that he would not enuie her that honour and withall that howsoeuer there might be an equality of constancie and resolution in both of them towards their common end the beauty yet and glorie of the action would bee greater on her side then on his by farre And so hand in hand after many sweete farewels taken and soft embraces they set themselues in a readinesse to welcome death and had their veines wide opened presently to let out life to let in him Harmonia the Daughter of Hieron the Syracusan would needes bee buried