certaine seruant of his obseruing this pinching and preposterous nigardlines of his maister fled away from him and being asked afterwards why he had left his Lord answered thus Because I could not endure to stay with a man who hauing that which was good made choise of that which was euill The Philosopher Aristippus made yet a farre better reply who hauing lost one of his three Farmes said thus vnto his friends That it was babishnes to bee sory for one Farme lost and not to bee merry for the other two that did rest in his hands seeing that all of them had lyen open to the same aduenture We are like vnto little children from whom if ye pull but one of their playockes and knackes they wil presently without more ado fling away all the rest in despite For if of many good things that we enioy it chance that one of them either be taken from vs or that it be lost by and by we beginne to bewaile it forgetting all that resteth behind in our hands But some man bewailingly will aske me saying alas what haue we to whom askingly I would answere But what rather haue we not One hath great reputation and credite another hath wealth and another health one hath a wife according to his wish and will another hath sweete children and another faithfull and trusty friends Antipater of Thrase did reckon it among his other good fortunes that he had sailed prosperously betweene Sicile and Athens and wee each one of vs would haue all though we haue not in the meane time the vnderstanding to thanke God for the smallest thing Neither make wee any account or reckoning of the greatest goods because they seeme to vs to bee too common as to liue to be in health to see to heare to speak to enioy peace to eate and drink to haue foode for our belly clothes for our back to see enioy the fruites of the labourable ground together with the commodities of the saileable sea that we can talk or hold our tongue sit or stand sleepe or wake as we will If men would but consider in their mindes what displeasure and griefe redoundeth vnto such as doe lacke any of these abilities they would no doubt liue much more content then they do What thinke yee would the sicke giue for the benefite of health the blind for the vse of his eyes and such as are despised for a small measure of renowne wee wretches are so blockish and blind that wee can neuer prize the goods that we haue vntill that we be depriued of them and haue them no more That which resteth I wish you alwaies to bee aduertised that ye fall neuer so farre in loue with the things of this life that the feare ye haue to loose them vexe you with vnrest or yet hauing lost them immoderate sorrow for them hurle you headlong into dispaire DISC. 13. Of sadnesse and sorrow ADuersity doth beget in vs vexation and griefe according to the greatnesse or smalnesse thereof whereabout likewise there happeneth some fault for now a daies we may see men ordinarily mourning and moaning excessiuely for many things not so much for that they haue cause as because it is the custome One lamenteth the mishaps of his neighbour or friend and carrieth a pale and heauy countenance to shew that hee is very sorry therefore although hee bee nothing sorry at all This kinde of customable compassion is altogether vnprofitable in regard that euen in your owne aduersity yee ought not to be sad but onely so farre forth as reason doth require and not as custome doth command How many is there who weepe when others looke on them and do thinke it should be a very ill fauoured thing not to shed teares when as others do mourne How many friuolous sorrowes hath it made many to slide into to leane too much vpon the tottering and vnstayed proppe of opinion How much better were it in such cases to deuise some new fashion and to feele humane accidents after that moode which best becommeth wise and moderate men What good do their immoderate sighs and sobs either to the liuing or to the dead Doth their any ther thing flow therfro saue that they wast thēselues wretchedly wretchlesly away For though it be true that oftentimes such disasters and accidents fall out that it is impossible for men to passe them ouer without being touched with sorrow for the same neuertheles wee must alwaies beware to bee more sorry then reason doth allow and seeing that time ought to heale you in the end it were a babishnesse not to preuent it wisely and to doe that betimes which once at last nill we will we it behooueth vs to doe How many men shortly after the death of their children or wiues haue recomforted themselues as esteeming the time lost which they had spent in sadnesse and in sorrow For although it bee true that such persons are worthy to bee renewed in our remembrance yet wee ought to bring thereunto that moderation and remedy which at last wil needs offer and apply it selfe though ye would neuer so faine it were otherwise DISC. 14. Of the affliction of good men IT is not a small occasion of sorrow vnto vigorous minds and such as are touched with humanity to see vertuous men vilipended or wronged and truly it seemeth to be nothing lesse then a heauy heart-break almost an vnsupportable paine to behold wise peaceable men afflicted troubled and vexed yea to bee ill-vsed trampled as it were vnder feete by the vaine world and to say the truth it seemeth that this doth touch vs very neere for when as wee weigh with our selues that the portion and lot of vertuous men is no other but affliction and labour of minde we do therupon presently imagine that thereby our best hopes are hemmed in If then such a case disquiet you as ordinarily it doth thinke with your selfe that if they be honest and patient men then are they in that case so much the more happy because that in this life which is so short they purchase to themselues a life eternall in the heauens for ye must know that the first good which such as go to rest in Gods house do obtaine is to be quit and discharged from the tentations and torments of this troublesome life Moreouer set before your eyes the roll and scroll of the holy men of old the blessed Martyrs of Christ of whom some haue beene beheaded others haue beene hanged some haue beene burnt and others haue beene broyled some haue beene cut in peeces and others haue had their skinne pulled off Besides that during their life they haue beene afflicted with hunger nakednes and neede of whom certainly the world was not worthy and therfore it had them in horrour as those in whom it had no interest at all But God loued them deerely and by his diuine prouidence which cannot bee deceiued appointed them to passe through such tribulations as through
matters according as they fall forth and not to tye themselues so much to one manner of liuing but that in case of necessity they may well leaue it For euen as a man that is whole sound should not subiect himselfe to the keeping of one certaine rule in his dyet but ought rather to accustome himselfe to eate somtimes more and sometimes lesse at one time of one meate at another time of another meate to drinke now of wine and then of water to stay sometimes in the sunne sometimes in the shade sometimes to labour and sometimes to rest so must a man frame and fashion himselfe to all manner of accidents for in so doing any new accident whatsoeuer that can befall you for there falleth out an infinity of chances in the course of our life shall not trouble nor disquiet you yea though yee bee driuen to betake your selfe to some other maner of liuing yet shall ye do it without much adoe prouiding alwayes that temerity and rashnesse bee away by reason that yee shall bee so well inured thereunto before hand that it will bee easie for you to giue place vnto the time that offereth it selfe And truly the impotency and weaknesse is all one not to be able to change in time of need and not to be able to continue constant in a good course Moreouer wee must mingle and temper our matters in such sort that they may be fitted proportionably one to another As for example At one time to bee solitary at another time to be in company the one for our friends sake the other for our selues for we must not alwaies remaine in our graue moode for that should make vs to be abhorred neither must we shew our selues continually iocund and glad for that should make vs to be despised But wee must carry our selues discreetly obseruing comelinesse and conueniency of time and place as the life of man doth require For it is a needfull thing for a man at one time or other to recreate himselfe by giuing intermission to his more serious affaires We reade of Socrates a most graue Phylosopher that he made no difficultie to play and refresh himselfe with the litle boies and of Cato a very austere man that somtimes he did feast his friends thereby to refresh himselfe with the pleasure of their company and to recreate his minde wearied with the weighty affaires of the Common-wealth Also of Scipio Africanus that sometimes he would delight himselfe with daunsing And this we haue said to shew that the minde of man requireth some release Neither hath that man his due liberty who hath not the meanes sometimes to be at leasure The fruitfullest grounds if they get not leaue to rest a while become barren in a short time Continuall labour maketh the minde of man to become slacke and weake euen as lasinesse luxurie doth make it heauy feeble and faint Our recreation ought to bee as our sleepe which restoreth our strength and giueth vs breath to returne more gayly and ioyfully to our worke For if we should sleepe continually it should bee a death and not a sleepe Those which of old did establish lawes haue ordained there should bee also certaine feast-dayes in the yeare to the end men might in a manner bee constrained to surcease from the actions of their ordinary callings and to take their pastimes after their toyles and of old we finde that many excellent men were wont to allot some parcell of time to their recreation Asinius Pollio a great Orator was neuer so much busied in affaires but hee reserued for his pleasure and pastime the two last houres of the day during the which space hee would not so much as reade the letters which hee receiued from his friends fearing lest they should minister vnto him some new care and cogitation Others were wont to labour vntill noone and the remnant of the day they did spend about meaner matters The lights which they distribute to seruants at Court doe like wise limit and bound the times appointed both for labour and rest There was a decree of the Senate of Rome which did beare a prohibition that no new thing should be propounded or mentioned in the last two houres of the day Furthermore when a man is wearie of his worke hee doth finde himselfe maruailously refreshed and restored when as hee goeth out into an open and spatious place and it seemeth that the free aire doth repaire and renew the strength and vigour of his dispearsed and spent spirits For conclusion ye ought to loue diuersity and change according to the time and take heed least yee nourish and cherish your minde too delicately and daintely For it hauing of the owne nature great strength prouiding that it be wakened and rouzed vp it were not reasonable ye should suffer it through voluptuous and delitious liuing to waxe feeble and faint And no sooner do ye come to that point to be impatient and delicate but as soone all things begin to crosse your good liking To eate it goeth against your stomacke to be hungrie it hurteth you to sleepe it slayeth you to be awake it vexeth you and as a sicke or queasie person ye go on in a restlesse maze alwayes searching and seeking after some new thing such delicacie and tendernesse hath bene the cause that diuerse haue had much ado to comport with the very things which are necessary in this life as to lie to sleepe to wake to rise to dine to sup to talke to walke to cloath vncloath thēselues so that some haue thought it a death to be alwaies wearied in beginning a new againe so often the same things Such folks come to such extremities that hardly can they manage or maintaine the manly courage of their minde neither can they frame themselues to all things to know many things to taste of many things and alwaies in euery thing to carry a good stomacke For in this case there is the like reason and condition of the body and of the mind Hence it is that ye shall espie some men so tenderly disposed that a small noise of their neighbour will annoy them and the sound of a little bell will trouble their braine For as vnto a crasie and ill-complexioned body so vnto a drooping and languishing minde it doth semblably befall that what thing soeuer toucheth it doth pricke it and sting it full sore DISC. 7. Of the choice of friends SEeing that the life of man necessarily hath need of friendship and fellowship for it were a matter both harsh and hard for a man to haue alwayes his mind bended about businesse and it should be yet more wearisome if he had not one with whom he might take some release I finde that we proue commonly too negligent and carelesse in making our choice We ought in my iudgement to chuse such folkes for our friends as be of a mild and meeke conuersation and who because of their calme and quiet disposition do
deserue to be loued Neither is there any thing that so much doth content delight the mind of man as doth a faithfull and trustie friendship For it is a great contentment to find a person so disposed vnto whom ye may safely impart your most secret affaires whose counsell may aduise you whose cheerfulnesse may qualifie all your cares and whose presence may appease all your paines and expell your pensiuenesse of mind and therefore ye must endeauor to chuse such friends as are free from couetousnesse and all notorious vice For vice like the fire taketh hold of that which is neerest vnto it So that we must doe as men are wont in the time of plague and pestilence which is to separate and seuer the sicke from the whole it being a contagion and an occasion of sicknesse to let them liue together Neuerthelesse I do not like that we should be in our choice too scrupulous but seeing we cannot find folkes altogether perfect wee must hold those for good which be lesse euill But in the election of friends ye ought chiefly to auoid such as be extremely sullen or sad who weepe and waile at all things and dispaire of all things alalthough otherwise they be such as do loue you and would proue faithfull inough vnto you For it is a thing that must needs trouble vs much to haue such a man for our friend as is alwayes sad sighing and sobbing at euery occasion For seeing that friendship and fellowship is ordained to driue away discontent sorrow and griefe it were neither reasonable nor conuenient to chuse such a one for your comforter and friend as in stead of delighting you and of lightning your griefe should by his sullennesse and sadnesse increase your sorrow and euery day occasion vnto you some new vaine apprehension and feare DISC. 8. Of dissembling or disguising of humors IT is a great paine and a restlesse molestation of mind for men to labour to appeare different in shewe from that which they are in substance And a marueilous trouble and torment it is for them to take alwayes heed vnto themselues for the feare they haue to be discouered Looke how often men looke on them as often doe they thinke that they are espied so that in the end it falleth out that nill they will they they do bewray what humour and inclination doth beare rule in their breast The excessiue care they haue to hide their naturall humor putteth them to an vnexplicable paine and againe to be discouered it putteth them to almost an intollerable shame So that in this couered and masked kind of cariage there is not that pleasure and ease which is to be felt in the other plaine and simple kind of conuersation that nature doth leade each man vnto And though there be some little danger accōpanying this plainnesse that a man may be the lesse esteemed of by the occasion of this his inclination when it is discried notwithstanding in mine opinion it were better for him to be a little lesse accounted of and to liue openly then to haue such a paine to disguise himselfe and to carry himselfe thus dissemblingly And yet in both the two there is to be kept a reasonable mediocrity and meane for there is a great difference betweene a franke and free fashion of behauiour and a negligent or carelesse kind of cariage To vnderstand this point somwhat the better we haue to cōsider how that nature hath indued man with two diuerse qualities and properties the one generall and common to vs all in making vs reasonable and capable of discourse wherein we surpasse the bruit beasts the other particular to each one of vs as to be enclined to grauitie to policie to melancholy or to some such humor In this euery one should follow his naturall inclination prouiding that it be not absurde vnseemely or vitious As if a man bee subiect to too much laughter it behoueth him to endeauor to amend this imperfection But in such qualities as are not blameable it is good not to vse counterfeiting cloaking or dissembling For it is a thing very vneasie for that man alwaies to play the graue who is not naturally enclined to grauity as to change his countenance to enlarge or raise swellingly his voyce to fashion and frame his eyes and lookes to austeritie maiestie and greatnesse The which gestures if a man chance to forget through negligence and ouersight by and by he is discried In my conceit it were much better for such a man to follow his in-bred cheerfull inclination and gay humour in conuersing with others Notwithstanding if it be a mans fortune to be preferred to a place of dignitie and honour such as doth require a graue or seuere countenance and cariage then in this case it behoueth him to constraine and commaund a little his iouiall inclination But this must be done with much discretion and moderation and by degrees and in such sort that this change offend no man And this kind of dissembling or disguising of humours cannot be blamed seing the quality of his charge doth require it for the seemely bearing whereof he must be content to take the paines to put aside or rather to smother a little of his facile and easie disposition But there are some which being indeed light-headed and ridiculous will notwithstanding that men take them for graue stayed and magnanimous and there are others againe who without cause labour to counterfeit and couer or rather smother their good inclination for being borne of a mild and meeke disposition they endeauor to daube themselues ouer with the vntempered morter of inhumanitie roughnesse and austeritie And others there are who being very cowards will yet make shew as if they were the most valorous in the world and by no meanes can they be brought to know themselues But yet this their coloured constrained courage they cannor carry farre off without discouery The common saying alwayes prouing true That no violent or constrained thing hath any long continuance DIS 9. Of Vanitie IT is a thing very difficult yea I dare say impossible that a vaine and ambitious man can euer attaine to taste of this sweet and most desirable tranquility of minde which the wise haue so diligently sought for by sea and by land on foote and on horse sparing no paines for the man that hath his mind and heart eaten with the gnawing worm of ambitiō cannot attain to that which he desireth to wit that place credit and account which he doth craue And as of himselfe hee promiseth alwaies more then he can performe so likewise in his habites attire and all his other things he doth vsually goe beyond his measure So that he is found to bee in the selfe same paine wherin are lodged all those which striue against the streame or which creepe and graspe vpwards against a steepe brae because in setting forwards they make too much haste therefore it commeth to passe that they doe lye the further behinde Contrariwise
a needles eie into the place of perpetuall repose Yea the paines and perplexities that vertuous men do endure do euen pricke them forwards to haue a more earnest desire to loath and to leaue this wretched world So that in the end they dislodge out of a bad sad prison they escape slip out of the dark caues and obscure corners and hauing no deepe apprehension of death they finde the faire beaten way that leadeth them to a better life DISC. 15. Of other mens faults and imperfections AFter that yee haue thus disposed of your selfe and haue appeased your owne passions yet shall yee haue the vices of others and the faults which are done in publicke making an on-set against you to trouble your minde Considering the disorder that is amongst men which is so great that scarcely can any thing bee found in the roome where it ought to be and that there is scarcely any one that doth the duty whereunto by birth and calling hee was ordeined The man who should proue the wise Iudge is a simple Cittizen and he that ought to be but a meere citizen is made a Iudge and that man doth command who ought to obey It is a strange thing to consider how that almost euery thing is corrupt and sold how that as it were all things are turned vpside downe To see how that the poore man is punished for euery petty trespasse the puisant and wealthy person is spared to see I say how the whole plotting and plodding of men now a daies is altogether for money Againe it cannot but bring griefe vnto a good mans minde to consider how small occasion and example of liuing vertuously such persons do minister vnto vs as hold the chiefe offices and the first rankes in the Common wealth The vertuous man is holden euery where as a monster abhorred dispised and disdained And what shall a man say when as hee weigheth with himselfe the variable mutable disposition of the multitude one while louing and another while loathing at one time praising at another time dispraising one and the same thing one and the same party How many bee the miseserable changes that fall out amongst men And what a hard case is it when men make none account of that they should diligently heare and on the other side hearken to that whereunto they should rather stop the eare The dispite and dislike that many haue conceiued by reason of such courses hath made them bid the world farewell and moued them to withdraw themselues into the deserts and solitarie aboades as not being able to behold with their eyes that which did breede and bring so much displeasure to their minds And therefore such haue chosen to liue rather amongst the wilde beasts amidst the vaste wildernesse and rocky mountaines then amongst so many wild men swarming with vile and wicked manners Neuerthelesse in these and such other occurrents as cannot bee amended man must command and maister his minde and carry himselfe in such sort that these vnamendable euils make him not to abhorre the company and society of men but rather hee must take occasion thereof to bee the more watchfull warie least he become one of those that forget to carry themselues discreetly amongst men hee must also beware least he minister occasion to another to blame in himselfe that which hee doth blame in his neighbour A man must hold more on Democritus then on Heraclitus side Heraclitus did weepe alwaies at the faults he saw men fall into but Democritus did laugh at them alwaies To the one all that men doe did seeme to be but miserie to the other fondnesse and folly And it seemeth to bee the better of the twaine when as things amisse cannot bee amended that we sweeten them a little if it were but in couering them with the cloake of a faire shew and as it is a thing by all likelihood more consonant to mans nature to laugh at the manifold miseries of our life then mourningly to bewaile them with teares But yet yee shall doe better if that about the vices of other men and such as are done in publicke yee do keepe a mediocrity and meane neither alwaies lamēting nor yet alwaies laughing at them for it were both a miserable kinde of disposition for a man to afflict himselfe excessiuely by reason of another mans miscarriage and a pitilesse kinde of passe-time alwayes to be laughing thereat But there bee some to whom this aduice will seeme to bee of no weight for not onely they cannot comport with the imperfections of their friends but also those of their enemies doe put them to paine The honors the precedencies the wrongs the incompetencies vex them the importunities of their friends the waywardnesse and pieuishnesse of their seruants and acquaintance trouble and torment them daily But how much better were it to haue patience in such accidents chiefly seeing they winne so little by willing and wishing the amendment thereof Yee must rather imagine and thinke with your selfe that these men which thus take pleasure to annoy you are as dogges which be borne to bark We must impute all this euill to their peruerse nature wherein they are inough punished by the meanes of a perpetuall perplexity and anguish which pricketh and pierceth their minde But if your weakenesse bee such as to stumble at all that yee see ill done by such as are about you yee are then in that case meerely forlorne For if the vices of strangers or of those that be your owne come once to win ground on you to close with you and to ouercome you yee shall be abashed and amazed to see how that all such importunities and troubles like water shall runne into you as the raine doth from the gutter into the base court or from a steepe hill into a low valley And out of all question it is to be vndiscreetly tender-hearted for a man to be alwaies sorry and sad if those with whom we do hant do not handle vse or entertaine vs so carefully or respectiuely as we craue The immoderate affection we beare vnto our selues doth deceiue vs and the delicacy of our condition maketh that wee cannot beare with the defects and neglects of our seruants we not considering how that very often they know not how to doe any better Wee require at their hands perfect things when as yet we our selues do fall into so many faults and are subiect vnto so many imperfections And most often wee play the passionate and fretting mans part in our seruants behalfe either being moued by the distasts that our owne ill conditions doe occasion vnto vs or by the quality and kinde of the businesse we haue in hand and thus foolishly wee cast the fault ouer vpon them which are innocent and do the best they can There is also another thing which doth bring vnto vs much disquiet and that is to affect too much one and the same thing thereabout to fall into debate with our