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
is now vnluckie he that was yesterday aliue is this day buried in the graue One thing there is that to all men is grieuous and to those of vnderstanding no lesse painfull Which is That the miseries of this wicked world are not equally deuided but that oftentimes the calamities and miseries of this world lieth on one mans necke onely for we are so vnfortunate that the world giueth vs pleasures in sight and troubles in proofe These are the miseries incident to man The griefe of his children the assaults of his enimies the oportunitie of his wife the wantonnes of his daughters sicknesse in his person great losse of his goods generall famine in the citie cruell plagues in his countrey extreme cold in Winter noisome heat in Sommer sorowful death of his friends the enuious prosperitie of his enimies Finally man passeth so many miseries that somtimes bewailing the wofull life he desireth the sweet death If man hath passed such things outwardly what may be said of those which he hath suffred inwardly for the trauels which the body passeth in 50. yeeres may be well accounted in a day but that which the hart suffreth in one day cannot be counted in an hundred yeeres It is not to be denied but that we would account him rashe which with a reed would meete one with a sword and him for a foole that would put off his shooes to walke vpon thornes so without comparison he ought to be esteemed the most foole that with his tender flesh thinketh to preuaile against so many euil fortunes for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate passeth his life with many miseries The wounded harts oftentimes vtter the pains which they feele without any hope to receiue comfort of that which they desire He is no man borne in the world but rather a furie bred vp in hell that can at the sorow of another take any pleasure Ambition IT chanceth often to ambitious men that in their greatest ruffe when they thinke their honor spoon and wouen that their estate with the webbe of their life in one moment is broken The desire of men considered what things they procure and whereunto they aspire I maruell not though they haue so few friends but I much muse they haue no more enimies In things of weight they marke not who hath been their friend they consider not that they are their neighbours neither do they regard that they are Christians but their conscience layd apart and honestie set aside euery man seeketh for himselfe and his own affairs though it be to the preiudice of another Captains and valiantmen CAptaines that goe to the warres should not be cowards for there is no like danger to the common wealth nor no greater slander to the prince than to commit charge to such in the field which will be first to command last to fight As captains should shew themselues in the beginning cruel so after victory had of their enimies they should shew themselues pitiful and meeke That captaine is more to be praised which winneth the harts of his enimies in his tents by good example than he which getteth the victory in the field with shedding of blood The stout and noble hart for little fauor shewed vnto him bindeth himself to accomplish great things He ought to be called valiant that with his life hath won honor and by the sword hath gotten riches What greater vanitie can there be than that captains for troubling quiet men destroying cities beating down castels robbing the poore enriching tyrants carying away treasures shedding of blood making of widowes taking of noble mens liues should in reward recompence be receiued with triumph Couetousnes and Couetous men THat couetousnes is great which the shame of the world doth not oppresse neither the fear of death doth cause to cease The couetous man seeketh care for himselfe enuie for his neighbors spurs for strangers baite for theeues troubles for his bodie damnation for his renowme vnquietnes for his life annoiance for his friends occasion for his enimies maledictions for his name and long sutes for his children All naturally desire rather to abound than to want and all that which is greatly desired with great diligence is searched and through great trauell is obtained and that thing which by trauell is obtained with loue is possessed and that which by loue is possessed with as much sorow is lost bewailed and lamented The hart that with couetousnes is set on fire cannot with woods and bowes of riches but with the earth of the graue be satisfied and quenched God to the ambitious and couetous harts gaue this for a paine that neither with enough nor with too much they should content themselues Thales being demanded what profite he had that was not couetous he answered Such a one is deliuered from the torments of his desire and besides that he recouereth friends for his person for riches torment him bicause he spendeth them not Greedie and couetous hartes care not though the prince shutteth vp his hart so that he open his cofers but noble and valiant men little esteem that which they lock vp in their cofers so that their harts be opened to their friends Periander had in him such liuelines of spirite on the one side and such couetousnes of worldly goods on the other side that the Historiographers are in doubt whether was greater the Philosophie that he taught in the schooles or the tyrannie that he vsed in robbing the common wealth I am in doubt which was greater the care that vertuous princes had in seeking out of Sages to counsel them or the great couetousnes that others haue at this present to purchase themselues treasures Libertie of the soule and care of goods in this life neuer agree togither The prince which is couetous is scarce of capacitie to receiue good councel When couetousnes groweth Iustice falleth force and violence ruleth snatching raigneth lecherie is at libertie the euil haue power and the good are oppressed Finally all do reioice to liue to the preiudice of another and euery man to seek his own priuate commoditie What loue can there be betwixt couetous persons seeing the one dare not spend and the other is neuer satisfied to hoord and heape vp The hart that is ouercome with couetousnes wil not feare to commit any treason If the couetous man were as greedie of his owne honor as he is desirous of another mans goods the little worme or moth of couetousnes would not gnaw the rest of their life nor the canker of infamie should not destroy their good name after their death It is as hard to satisfie the hart of a couetous man as it is to dry the water of the sea Counsell NOtwithstanding thou being at the gate of care reason would that some should take the clapper to knocke thereat with some good counsell for though the rasor be sharpe yet it
children haunt the vice of the flesh whilest they be yong there is small hope of goodnes to be looked for in them when they be old for the older they waxe the riper be their vices Masters would correct the childe but fathers and mothers forbid them Little auaileth one to pricke the horse with the spurre when he that sitteth vpon him holdeth backe with the bridle Of Death O If we would consider the corruption wherof we are made the filth wherof we are engendred the infinite trauell whereunto we are borne the long tediousnes wherwith we are nourished the great necessities and suspicions wherein we liue and aboue all the great peril wherein we die we find a thousand occasions to wish death not one to desire life The excellencie of the soule laid aside and the hope which we haue of eternall life if man do compare the captiuitie of men to the libertie of beasts with reason we may see that the beasts do liue a peaceable life and that which man doth lead is but a long death I had rather chuse an vnfortunate life and an honorable death than an infamous death and an honorable life That man which will be accounted for a good man not noted for a brute beast ought greatly to trauell to liue well and much more to die better for that euill death maketh men doubt that the life hath not been good and the good death is an excuse of an euill life The dead do rest in a sure hauen and we saile as yet in raging seas If the death of men were as beasts that is to wit that there were no furies nor diuels to torment them that God should not reward the good yet we ought to be comforted to see our friends die if it were for none other cause but to see them deliuered from the thraldome of this miserable world The pleasure that the Pilote hath to be in a sure hauen the glory that the captaine hath to see the day of victory the rest that the traueller hath to see his iorney ended the contentation that the workman hath to see his worke come to perfection all the same haue the dead seeing themselues out of this miserable life If men were born alwaies to liue it were reason to lament them when we see them die but since it is truth that they are borne to die we ought not to lament those which die quickly but those which liue long since thou knowest he is in place where there is no sorrow but mirth where there is no paine but ease where he weepeth not but laugheth where he sigheth not but singeth where he hath no sorowes but pleasures where he feareth not cruel death but enioyeth perpetuall life The true widow ought to haue hir conuersation among the liuing and hir desire to be with the dead Death is the true refuge the perfite health the sure hauen the whole victory finally after death we haue nothing to bewaile and much lesse to desire Death is a dissolution of the body a terror to the rich a desire of the poore a thing inheritable a pilgrimage vncertain a theefe of men a kind of sleeping a shadow of life a separatiō of the liuing a company of the dead a resolution of all a rest of trauels and the end of all idle desires If any dammage or feare be in him who dieth it is rather for the vice he hath committed than feare of death There is no prince nor knight rich nor poore whole nor sicke luckie nor vnluckie with their vocations contented saue onely the dead which are in their graues at rest and peace If in youth a man liue well and in age studie to die well and his life hath been honest his hope is that death will be ioyfull and although he hath had sorow to liue he is sure he shall haue no paine to die This equal iustice is distributed to all that in the same place where we haue deserued life in the same we shal be assured of death Cato being praised of the Romanes for his courage at his death laughed they demaunded the cause why he laughed he answered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel for the perils and trauels considered wherein we liue and the safetie wherein we die it is no more needfull to haue vertue and strength to liue than courage to die We see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thirst trauel pouertie inconuenience sorow enmities and mishaps of the which things we were better to see the end in one day than to suffer them euery hower for it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death than to endure a miserable life The day when we are born is the beginning of death and the day wherein we die is the beginning of life If death be no other but an ending of life and that whiles we liue we carrie death than reason perswadeth vs to thinke that our infancie dieth our childhood dieth our manhood dieth and our age shall die whereof we may conclude that we are dying euery yeere euery day euery houre and euery moment Diuers vaine men are come into so great follies that for feare of death they procure to hasten death Hauing thereof due consideration me seemeth that we ought not greatly to loue life nor with desperation to seeke death for the strong and valiant man ought not to haue life so long as it lasteth nor to be displeased with death when it commeth In such sort therefore ought men to liue as if within an houre after they should die If we trauell by long wayes and want any thing we borow of our company if they haue forgotten ought they returne to seek it at their lodging or els they write vnto their friends a letter but if we once die they will not let vs returne againe we cannot and they will not agree that we shall write but such as they shall find vs so shall we be iudged and that which is most fearful of all the execution and sentence is giuen in one day Let not men leaue that vndone till after their death which they may do during their life nor trust in that they command but in that they do whilest they liue nor in the good works of an other but in their owne good deeds for in the ende one sigh shall be more woorth than all the friends of the world I exhort therefore all wise and vertuous men and also my selfe with them that in such sort we liue that in the end we liue for euer Those that visite the sicke ought to perswade them that they make their testaments confesse their sinnes discharge their conscience receiue the sacraments and reconcile themselues to their enimies Many in our life time do gape after our goods few at our death are sory for our offences The wise and sage before nature compelleth them to die of their own wils ought to die that is
to say before they see or feele the pangs of death they haue their consciences ready prepared What loseth a wise man to haue his wil wel ordained what loseth he of his credite who in his life time restoreth which at his death he shall be constrained to render Wherein may a man shew his wisedom more than willingly to be discharged of that which otherwise by processe they will take from him How many lordes which for not spending one day about their testament haue caused their heires all the days of their life after to be in trauerse in the law so that in supposing to haue left them wealthie haue left them but attorneis in the law The true christian and vnfained ought euery morning so to dispose his goods and correct his life as if he should die the same night and so to commit himselfe to God at night as if he hoped for no life vntil the morning Princes and Lords ought to be perfect before they be perfect to end before they end to die before they die to be mortified before they be mortified if they do this they shal as easily leaue their life as if they changed from one house to another The most part of men delight to talke with leisure to drinke with leisure to eate with leisure and to sleepe with leisure but they die in haste for we see them send for their ghostlie father in haste to receiue the sacrament in haste to make their wils by force to vse conference so out of season that oftentimes the sicke hath lost his senses and giuen vp the ghost before any thing be perfectly ordered What auaileth the shipmaister after the ship is sunke what do weapons auaile after the battell is done what pleasure after men are dead likewise what auaileth the godlie instructor when the sicke is heauie and bereft of his senses or to vnlocke his conscience when the key of his toong is lost Let vs not deceiue our selues thinking in age to amend and to make restitution at our death for it is not the point of wise men nor of good Christians to desire so much time to offend and yet will neuer spie any time to amend Would to God that the third part of time which men do occupie in sinne were imploied about the meditation of death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshlie lusts were spent in bewailing their filthie sinnes All worldlings do willingly sinne vpon hope onely in age to amend and at death to repent but they that in this hope sinne what certaintie haue they of amendement and assurance to haue long warning ere they die sith in number there are more yoong than old which die The omnipotencie of the diuine mercie considered the space of an hower sufficeth yea too much to repent vs of our wicked life but yet I counsell all sith the sinner for his repentance taketh but one hower that it be not the hower too late The sighes and repentance which proceedeth from the bottom of the hart do penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessitie do not pearce the seeling of the house What wrong doth God offer vnto vs when he calleth vs away seeing from an olde decaied house he is to change vs to a new builded pallace What other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherin we shut our selues from the assalts of life and broiles of fortune for we ought to be more desirous of that we find in death than of that we leaue in life Two things cause men loth to die the loue they haue to that they leaue or else the feare of that they deserue Now I enter into the field not where of the wilde beasts I shall be assalted but of the hungrie woorms deuoured We ought not to lament the death allotted but the life that is wicked that man is very simple that dreadeth death for feare to lose the pleasures of life There is nothing that shorteneth more the life of man than vaine hope and idle thoughts The great estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death seemeth to vs sudden and that the life is ouertaken by vnwarie death but this is a practise of the children of vanitie for that by the will of God death visiteth vs and against the will of man life forsaketh vs. To the stout harts and fine wits this is a continuall torment and endlesse paine and a woorme that alwaie gnaweth to call to mind that he must lose the ioifull life which he so entirely loued and taste the fearfull death that he so greatly abhorred O cursed and wicked world thou that sufferest things neuer to remaine in one state for when we are in most prosperitie then thou with death dost persecute vs most cruelly Death is a patrimonie which successiuely is inherited but life is a right which daily is surrendred for death accounteth vs so much his owne that oftentimes vnwares he commeth to affalt vs and life taketh vs such strangers that oftentimes we not doubting thereof vanisheth away When death hath done hir office what difference is there between the faire and the fowle in the graue The man which is loden with yeers tormented with diseases pursued with enimies forgotten of his friends visited with mishaps charged with euill will and pouertie is not to demand long life but rather to imbrace death Death is that from whence youth cannot flie a foot and from whence age cannot escape on horsebacke Discord Enimitie and Variance FOr all that we can see heare or trauell and all that we can do we did neuer see nor heare tel of men that haue lacked enimies For either they be vicious or vertuous and if they be vicious and euill they are hated of the vertuous if they be good and vertuous they are continually hated and persecuted of the euill In great armies the discord that among them arise doth more harme than the enimies against whom they fight Manie vaine men do raise dissentions and quarrels among people thinking that in troubled water they should augment their estate whereas in short space they do not onely lose their hope of that they sought but are put out of that they possessed For it is not onely reasonable but also most iust that they by experience feele that which their blind malice will not suffer them to knowe Enuie AGainst enuie is no fortresse nor caue to hide nor high hil to mount on nor thicke wood to shadow in nor ship to scape in nor horse to beare away nor monie to redeeme vs. Enuie is so venemous a serpent that there was neuer mortall man among mortals that could scape from the biting of hir tooth the scratching of hir nailes defiling of hir feete and the casting of hir poison Enuie is so enuious that to them which of hir are most denied and set fardest off she giueth most cruell strokes with hir feete The maladie of enuie rankleth to death
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
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
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