no sporte nor lightnes inuented in Rome but first it is registred in your house And finally they say that you giue your selues so vnto pleasures as though you neuer thought to receyue displeasures O Claude and Claudine by the God Iupiter I sweare vnto you that I am ashamed of your vnshamefastnes and am greatly abashed of your manners and aboue all I am exceedingly grieued for your offence For at that time that you ought to lift your hands you are returned againe into the filth of the world Manie things men commit which though they seeme graue yet by moderation of the person that cōmitteth them they are made light but speaking according to the truth I finde one reason whereby I might excuse your lightes but to the contrarie I see tenne whereby I may condemne your follies Solon the Phylosopher in his Lawes said to the Athenians that if the young offended hee should be gently admonished and grieuously punished because he was strong and if the olde erre hee should bee lightly punished and sharply admonished sith hee was weake and feeble To this Lycurgus in his lawes to the Lacedemonians sayd contrarie That if the young did offend hee should be lightly punished and grieuously admonished since through ignorance he did erre and the olde man which did euill should bee lightly admonished and sharply punished since thorough malice hee did offend These two phylosophers beeing as they haue bin of such authority in the worlde that is past and considering that their lawes and sentences were of such weight it should bee much rashnes in not admitting the one of them Now not receiuing the one nor rereprouing the other Mee thinketh that there is no great excuse to the young for their ignorance and great condemnation to the aged for their experience Once againe I returne to say that you pardon me my friends and you ought not greatly to weigh it thogh I am somewhat sharpe in condemnation since you others are so dissolute in your liues for of your blacke life my penne doth take inke I remember wel that I haue heard of thee Claude that thou hast beene lusty and couragious in thy youth so that thy strength of all was enuyed and the beauty of Claudine of all men was desired I will not write vnto you in this letter my friends and neighbours nether reduce to memory how thou Claude hast employed thy forces in the seruice of the comonwealth and thou Claudine hast won much honor of thy beauty for sundry times it chāced that men of many goodly giftes are noted of grieuous offences Those which striued with thee are all dead those whom thou desirest are deade those which serued thee Claudine are dead those which before thee Claudine sighed are dead those which for thee dyed are now dead and since all those are deade with theyr lightnesse doe not you others thinke to die and your follies also I doe demand now of thy youth one thing and of thy beauty another thing what do you receiue of these pastims of these good entertainements of these aboundances of these great contentations of the pleasures of the world of the vanitie that is past and what hope you of all these to carry into the narrow graue O simple simple and ignoraunt persons how our life consumeth and wee perceiue not how wee liue therein For it is no felicitie to enioy a short or long life but to know to employ the same eyther well or euill O children of the earth and Disciples of vanitie now you know that Time flyeth without mouing his wings the life goeth without lifting vp his feete the World dispatcheth vs not telling vs the cause men doe beguile vs not mouing their lippes our flesh consumeth to vs vnawares the heart dyeth hauing no remedie and finally our glorie decaieth as it it had neuer beene and death oppresseth vs without knocking at the dore Though a man be neuer so simple or so very a foole yet hee cannot deny but it is impossible for to make a fire in the bottome of the sea to make a way in the ayre of the thinne bloud to make rough sinewes and of the soft veines to make hard bones I meane that it is vnpossible that the greene flower of youth be not one day withered by age CHAP. XX. The Emperour followeth his Letter and perswadeth Claudius and Claudinus being now olde to giue no more credite to the World nor to any of his deceitfull flatteryes THat which I haue spoken now tendeth more to aduertise the young then to teach the olde For you others haue now passed the prime time of childhood the summer of youth and the haruest of adolescency and are in the winter of age where it seemeth an vncomely thing that those your hoary haires should bee accompanied with such vaine follies Sithens young men know not that they haue to end their youth it is no maruell that they follow the world but the olde men which see themselues fall into this guile why will they runne after vices againe O world for that thou art the world so smal is our force so great our debilitie that thou willing it and we not resisting it thou dost swallow vs vp in the most perillous gulfe and in the thornes most sharpe thou dost pricke vs by the priuiest wayes thou leadest vs by the most stony waies thou carriest vs. I meane that thou bringest vs to the highest fauours to the end that afterwards with a push of thy pike thou mightest ouerthrow vs. O world wherein all is worldly two and fifty yeeares haue passed since in thee I was first borne during which time thou neuer toldest mee one truth but I haue taken thee with ten thousand lyes I neuer demanded the thing but thou diddest promise it me and yet it is nothing at all that euer thou diddest perform I neuer put my trust in thee but euer thou beguiledst me I neuer came to thee but thou diddest vndoo me finally neuer saw I ought in thee wherby thou deseruest loue but alwayes hatred This presupposed I know not what is in thee O world or what we worldlings want for if thou hatest vs we cannot hate thee if thou doest vs iniury we can dissemble it if thou spurne vs with thy feet wee wil suffer it if thou beatest vs with a staffe wee wil hold our peace also though thou persecutest vs we will not complain though thou take ours wee will not demand it of thee though thou dost beguile vs we will not call ourselues beguiled and the worst of all is that thou doest chase vs from thy house yet we will not depart from thence I know not what this meaneth I know not from whence this commeth I know not who ought to prayse this same that wee couet to follow the world which wil none of vs and hate the gods which loue vs oft times I make account of my yeares past somtimes also I turne and tosse my booke to see what
your bodies weake and corrupted what hope shall wee haue of young men which are but 25. yeeres of age if my memorie deceiue mee not when I was there you had Nephewes married and of their children made sure and two of the children borne and since that is true mee thinketh when the fruite is gathered the fruit is of no value and after the meale is taken from the mill euil shal the mill grinde I meane that the olde man ought to desire that his daies might be shortened in this world Do not thinke my friends that a man can haue his house full of Nephewes and yet say that he is very yong for in loding the tree with fruites the blossoms immediately fall or else they become withered I haue imagined with my selfe what it is that you might doe to see me yong and cut of some of your yeares and in the end I know no other reason but when you married Alamberta your daughter with Drusius and your Neece Sophia the faire with Tuscidan which were so yong that the daughters were scarce 15. veares old nor the young men 20. I suppose because you were rich of yeares and poore of money that he gaue to euery one of them in stead of money for dowry ten yeares of yours hereof a man may gather that the money of your Nephewes haue remayned vnto you and you haue giuen vnto them of your owne yeares I vnderstand my friends that your desire is to bee yong and very yong but I greatly desire to see you old and very old I doe not meane in yeares which in you doth surmount but in discretion which in you doth want O Claude and Claudine note that which I wil say vnto you and beare it alwayes in your memory I let you know that to maintaine youth to deface age to liue contented to be free from trauels to lengthen life and to auoyde death These things are not in the hands of men which doe desire them but rather in the hands of those which giueth thē the which according to their iustice and not according to our couetousnesse doe giue vs life by weight and death without measure One thing the old men do which is cause of slaundering many that is that they will speake first in counsels they will bee serued of the young in feasts they will bee first placed in all that they say they will be beleeued in Churches they will bee higher then the residue in distributing of offices they will haue the most honour in their opinions they will not be gainesayde Finally they will haue the credite of old sage men and yet they will leade the life of young doting fooles All these preheminences and priuiledges it is very iust that olde men should haue spent their yeares in the seruice of the common-wealth but with this I do aduise require them that the authoritie giuen them with their white haires bee not diminished by their euill works Is it a iust thing that the humble honest yong mā do reuerence to the aged man proud and disdainefull Is it a iust thing that the gentle and gracious yong man do reuerence to the enuious and malitious old man is it a iust thing that the vertuous and patient young man do reuerence to the foolish and vnpatient old man is it a iust thing that the stout and liberal yong man doe reuerence to the miserable couetous old man is it iust that the diligent and carefull young man do reuerence to the negligent old man is it iust that the abstinent and sober yong man do reuerence to the greedy and gluttonous old man is it iust that the chast and continent yong man do reuerence to the lecherous and dissolute olde man Mee thinketh these things should not bee such that thereby the old man shold be honored but rather reproued and punished For old men offend more by the euill example they giue then by the fault which they cōmit Thou canst not deny me my friend Claude that it is 33. years since we both were at the Theaters to behold a play whē thou camest late and found no place for thee to sit in thou saydest vnto mee who was set Rise my sonne Mark and sithens now thou art yong it is but iust that thou giue mee place which am aged If it bee true that it is three and thirty yeares sithence thou askedst place in the Theaters as an olde man Tell me I pray thee and also I coniure thee with what oyntment hast thou annoynted thy selfe or with what water hast thou washed thy selfe to become young O Claude if thou hadst found any medicine or discouered any herbe wherwith thou couldest take white haires from mens heades and from women the wrinccles of their face I sweare vnto thee and also I doe assure thee that thou shouldest be more visited and serued in Rome then the God Apollo is in his Temple at Ephesus Thou shouldest well remember Annius Priscus the old man which was our Neighbour and somewhat a kinne to thee the which when I tolde him that I could not be filled with his good words and to behold his auncient white haires he said vnto me Oh my Sonne Marke it appeareth well that thou hast not bin aged because thou talkest as a young man For if white haires do honour the person they greatly hurt the hart For at that houre when they see vs aged the strangers doe hate vs and ours do not loue vs. And he told me more I let thee know my sonne Marke that many times my wife and I talking of the yeares of another particularly when shee beholdeth mee and that I seeme vnto her so aged I say vnto her and sweare that I am yet young and that these white hayres came vnto mee by great trauells and the age by sicknes I doe remember also that this Annius Priscus was Senatour one yeare and because he would not seem aged but desired that men shold iudge him to be young he shaued his beard and his head which was not accustomed among the Senatours nor Censors of Rome And on a day among the other Senators he entred into the high Capitoll one saide vnto him thus Tell me man from whence comest thou What wilt thou and why commest thou hither How durst thou being no Senatour enter into the Senate Hee answered I am Annius Priscus the aged How chaunceth it now you haue not knowne me They replyed vnto him if thou wert Annius Priscus thou wouldest not come hither thus shauen For in the sacred Senate can none enter to gouerne the commonwealth vnlesse his person be endued with vertues and his head with white hayres and therefore thou art banished and depriued of thy Office For the olde which liue as the young ought to bee punished Thou knowest well Claude and Claudine that that which I haue spoken is not the faynings of Homer neyther a Fable of Ouide but that you your selues saw it with your eyes and in his
that land so euil tilled so barren cold and little and that they should come and enhabite Italy which was a plaine Country fertile and ample temperate and very rich and that now or neuer they should conquer it And Narsetes therewith not contented but to prouoke his friends the more and make them the more couetous sent them part of euery good thing that was in Italy that is to say light horses rich armour sweet pleasant and daintie fruites fine mettals and may kindes of ointments very odoriserous silkes and Marchandises of many and diuers sorts The Ambassadors arriued in Pannony which now is called Hungarie were honourably receyued and the Lumbardes seeing that there were such and so many goodly things in Italy determined to leaue Pannonia and goe spoyle and conquer Italy although it belonged to Rome and were at that season friends with the Romanes yet notwithstanding they had little respect to this And hereat no man ought to maruell for in that place there is neuer perfect friendship where he that commandeth is constrayned to demaund helpe of others The Lumbards determined for to passe into Italy and at that time there was seene of the Italians visibly in the ayre sundry Armies of fire that one cruellie killed the other Which thing greatly feared the hearts of the people For by this they knew that within a short space much of theyr bloud of their enemies also should be shed for it is an olde ancient custome that when any great matter doth chance to any Realme first the Planets and Elements do declare the same by secret tokens the ingratitude of the Emperour Iustinian against Narsetes his Captaine and the euill words which Sophia spake vnto him were the occasion that the Lumhards inuaded and destroied all Italy which thing valiant Princes ought well to note to keepe themselues from ingratitude towards their seruants who hath done them great seruice For it is a generall rule That the ingratitude of a great benefite maketh the seruants despayre of recempence or of a faithfull jeruant maketh him become a cruell and mortall enemie And let not Princes trust men because they bee natiue of their realms brought vp nourished in their Pallaces and alwayes haue been faithfull in their seruices that therefore they will not of good subiects be turned to euill nor yet of faithfull become disloyall For such imagination is vaine For the Prince that in his doings is vnthankfull cannot keepe nor retaine any honest man long in his seruice One thing the noble Iustintan did with Narsetes whereof all noble and sage Princes ought to beware that is to know hee did not onely giue eare vnto his enemies and beleeued them but also before them he did dishonour him and shame him to his power which thing made him vtterly to despayre For there is nothing that spiteth a man more then to haue before his enemies any iniury or dishonour done vnto him of his superiour The Empresse Sophia therefore deserued great reproach for speaking such dishonest words to Narsetes to send him to thread the needles in that occupation where the damsels wrought For it is the duety of a Noble Princesse to mitigate the yre of Princes when they are angry and not to prouoke thē further to anger Narsetes then alwayes doubting the Empresse Sophia neuer after returned into Naples where shee was but rather came from Naples to Rome a yeare before the Lambards came into Italy where hee receyued all the Sacraments and like a deuout Christian hee dyed His body was carried to Alexandria in a cossin of siluer all set with precious stones and there was buried And a man cannot tell whether the displeasure were greater that all Asia had not to see Narsetes aliue or the pleasure that Sophia had to see him dead For the vnpatient heart especially of a woman hath no rest vntill shee see her enemie dead CHAP. XVII Of a Letter the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the King of Sicilie in which he recordeth the trauels they endured together in their youth and reproueth him of his small reuerence towards the Temples MArcus Aurelius sole Emperour of Rome borne in Mount Celio called the old Tribune wisheth health and long life to thee Gorbin Lord and King of Sicilie As it is the custome of the Romane Emperours the first yeare of my raigne I wrote generally to all the Isle the second yeare I wrote generally vnto thy Court and Pallace and at this present I write more particularlie to thy person And although that Princes haue great Realmes yet they ought not therefore to cease to communicate with their olde friendes Since I tooke my penne to write vnto thee I stayed my hand a great while from writing and it was not for that I was slothfull but because I was ashamed to see all Rome offended with thee I let thee to know most excellent Prince that in this I say I am thy true friend for in my hart I feele thy trouble and so sayd Euripides That which with the heart is loued with the heart is lamented But before I shew thee the cause of my writing I will reduce into thy memory some thinges past of our youth and thereby we shall see what wee were then and what we are now for no man doth so much reioyce of his prosperity present as hee which calleth to mind his miseries past Thou shalt call to mind most excellent Prince that wee two together did learne to reade in Capua and after we studyed a little in Tarentum and from thence wee went to Rhodes where I reade Rhethorike and thou heardest Philosophy And afterwardes in the end of ten yeares wee went to the wars of Pannonia where I gaue my selfe to musicke for the affections of young men are so variable that dayly they would know strange Realmes and change offices And in all those iournies with the force of youth the sweete company with the pleasant communication of Sciences and with a vaine hope wee did dissemble our extreame pouerty which was so great that many times and often we desired not that which many had but that little which to few abounded Doest thou remember that when wee sayled by the gulfe Arpin to goe into Hellespont a long and tempestuous torment came vpon vs wherein we were taken of a Pirate and for our ransome hee made vs row about nine moneths in a Galley whereas I cannot tell which was greater eyther the want of bread or the aboundance of stripes which wee alwayes endured Hast thou forgotten also that in the City of Rhodes when wee were besieged of Bruerdus puissant King of Epirotes for the space of fourteene monethes wee were ten without eating flesh saue onely two cats the one which wee stole and the other which wee bought remember that thou and I beeing in Tarent were desired of our Host to go to the feast of the great Goddesse Dtana into the which Temple none could enter that day but
a perpetuall memorie What contempt of world what forgetfulnesse of himselfe what stroke of fortune what whippe for the flesh what little regard of life O what bridle for the vertuous O what confusion for those that loue life O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those here haue willingly despised their owne liues it is not to be thought that they dyed to take the goods of others neither yet to thinke that our life should neuer haue end nor our couetousnesse in like manner O glorious people and ten thousand fold happy that the proper sensuality being forsaken haue ouercom the naturall appetite to desire to liue not beleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall Destenies By the way they assaulted fortune they changed life for death they offered the body to death and aboue all haue wonne honour with the Gods not for that they shoulde hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluous of life Archagent a Surgeon of Rome and Anthonius Musus a Physition of the Emperour Augustus and Esculapius father of the Phisicke should get little money in that Countrie Hee that then should haue sent to the barbarous to haue done as the Romanes at that time did that is to say to take sirrops in the mornings pils at night to drinke milke in the morning to annoint themselues with gromeâ—seed to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eate of one thing and to abstaine from many a man ought to thinke that hee which willingly seeketh death will not giue money to lengthen life CHAP. XXII The Emperour concludeth his letter and shewed what perils those olde men liue in which dissolutely like young children passe their dayes and giueth vnto them wholesome counsell for the remedy thereof BVt returning to thee Claude and to thee Claudine me thinketh that these barbarous men beeing fifty yeares of age and you others hauing aboue threescore and tenne it should be iust that sithence you were elder in yeares you were equall in vertue and though as they you wil not accept death patiently yet at the least you ought to amend your euill liues willingly I doe remember that it is many yeares sithens that Fabritius the young sonne of Fabritius the olde had ordayned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told me great inconueniences had happned and sithens that you did me so great a benefite I would now requite you the same with another the like For amongst friends there is no equal benefite then to deceiue the deceyuer I let you know if you do not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are sunke into your heads the nostrels are shut the haires are white the hearing is lost the tongue faultereth the teeth fall the face is wrinkled the feete swolne and the stomacke cold Finally I say that if the graue could speake as vnto his Subiects by iustice he might commaund you to inhabite his house It is great pitty of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorance for then vnto such their eies are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth them to the graue Plato in his booke of the Common wealth sayde that in vaine wee giue good counsels to fond and light young men for youth is without experience of that it knoweth suspitious of that it heareth incredible of that is tolde him despising the counsell of an other and very poore of his own For so much as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the young haue of the good is not so much but the obstination which the olde hath in the euill is more For the mortall Gods many times doe dissemble with a thousand offences commited by ignorance but they neuer forgiue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doe not maruell that you doe forget the gods as you doe which created you and your Fathers which begot you and your parents which haue loued you and your friends which haue honoured you but that which I most maruell at is that you forget your selues For you neuer consider what you ought to bee vntill such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to returne backe againe Awake awake since you are drowned in your dreames open your eyes since you sleepe so much accustome your selues to trauels sithence you are vagabonds learne that which behoueth you since now you are olde I meane that in time conuenient you agree with death before he make execution of life Fifty two yeeres haue I knowne the things of the world and yet I neuer saw a Woman so aged thorough yeares nor old man with members so feeble that for want of strength could not if they list doe good nor yet for the same occasion should leaue to bee euill if they list to be euill It is a maruellous thing to see and worthy to note that all the corporall members of Man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tongue For the heart is alwayes giuen to inuent euills and the tongue is alwayes able to tell Lyes Mine opinion is that the pleasaunt Summer beeing past you should prepare your selues for the vntemperate winter which is at hand And if you haue but fewe dayes to continue you should make hast to take vp your lodging I meane that sith you haue passed the dayes of your life with trauell you should prepare your selues against the night of death to be in the hauen of rest Let mockeryes passe as mockeries and accept trueth as truth that is to say that it were a very iust thing and also for your honour necessarie that all shose which in times past haue seen you young and foolish should now in your age see you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnesse and follyes of youth as doth grauity and constancie in Age. When the Knight runneth his carriere they blame him not for that the Horses mane is not finely combed but at the end of his race he shold see his horse amended and looked vnto What greater confusion can be to any person or greater slaunder to our mother Rome then to see that which now a dayes therein we see That is to say that the old which can scarcely creepe through the streetes to beholde the playes and games as young men which search for nought else but onely pompe and vanitie It grieueth mee to speake it but I am much more ashamed to see that the olde Romaines do daylie cause the white haires to be plucked out of their heads because they would not seeme old to make their beard small to seem yong wearing their hosen very close their shyrts open before the gowne of the Senatour embrodered the Romane signe richly enamelled the
Realme to haue so worthie a King Amongst other Lawes for women hee enacted one worthy of high commendations the wich commaunded that the Father which dyed should giue nothing to his daughter and an other that neyther liuing nor dying hee should giue any Money to marrie her withall to the intent that none should take her for her goods but only for her vertues and not for her beautie but for her good qualities whereas now some are forsaken because they be poore so then they abode vnmarryed because they were vicious Oh Time worthie to bee desired when maydens hoped not to be marryed with their Fathers goods but by the vertuous works of their owne persons this was the time called The golden Worlde when neither the daughter feared to be disinerited by the father in his life nor the Father to dye sorrowfull for leauing her without dowrie at his death Oh Rome treble accursed bee hee that first brought Gold into thy house and cursed be he that first beganne to hoord vp treasures Who hath made Rome to be so rich of Treasures and so poor of vertues who hath caused noble-men to marry the Plebeyans and to leaue the daughters of Senatours vnmaried what hath made that the rich mans Daughter is demaunded vnwilling and the daughter of a poor man none will desire What hath caused that One marryeth a Foole with 500. marks rather then a wise woman with ten thousand vertues then I will not say that in this case the flesh vanquished the flesh but I say that vanitie is ouercome of malice For a couetous person will now-adayes rather take a wife that is rich and foule then one that is poore and faire Oh vnhappy woman that bringeth forth children and more vnhappie be the daughters that are born the which to take in marriage no man desireth neyther for the bloud of their predecessors nor the fauor of their friends nor the worthinesse of their persons nor the puritie of their liues Oh wicked world where the daughter of a Good-man without money shal haue no mariage but it was not wont to bee so For in the olde time when they treated of Marriages first they spake of the persons and afterward of the goods not as they do at this present in this vnhappie time For now they speak first of the goods and last of all of the persons In the said Golden-world first they spake of the vertues that the person was endued with and when they were marryed as it were in sporte they would speake of the Goods When Camillus triumphed ouer the Gaules he had then but one sonne and he was such a one that his deserts merited great praise and for the renowm of his Father diuers Kings desired to haue him to their sonnes and diuers Senators desired to haue him to their sonnes in law This yong man being of the age of thirty years and the Father at 60. was importunately styrred by his naturall friendes and desires of strange kings for to marie him but alwayes the olde Camille withstood the counsell of his friends and the importunitie of the straungers When it was demaunded why he determined not vpon some Marriage for his sonne sith thereby should ensue the quyet life of the man and the ioy and comforte of himselfe in his age He aunswered them thus I will not marry my Sonne because some offer mee rich daughters some noble of lynage some young and some fayre But there is none hath sayde to mee I giue you my vertuous daughter Certainely Gamille merited triumph for that hee did and deserued eternall memory for that he said I spake to you Faustine all these wordes because I see you leade your daughter to Theaters and playes and bring her into the capitol you put her to the keeping of the Sword players you suffer her to see the Tumblers and yet doe not remember that shee is young and you not too aged you goe into the streetes without licence and sport you by the riuers I find no villany therein nor thinke that your daughter is euill but I say it because you giue occasion that she should not bee good Beware beware Faustine neuer trust to the race of flesh of young people nor haue no confidence in old folkes for there is no better way then to flye the occasion of all things For this intent the virgins vestals are closed vp betweene the walles to eschew the occasions of open places not to bee more light and foolish but to bee more sad and vertuous flying occasions The young shall not say I am young and vertuous nor the olde shall not say I am olde and broken for of necessity the drie flaxe will burne in the fire and the greene flagge smoke in the flame I say though a man be a Diamond set among men yet of necessity hee ought to bee quicke and to melte as waxe in the heate among Women Wee cannot deny that though the Wood bee taken from the fire and the imbers quenched yet neverthelesse the stones oftentimes remaine hote In likewise the flesh though it bee chastised with hote and drie diseases consumed by many yeares with trauell yet concupiscence abideth still in the bones What neede is it to blaze the vertues and deny our Naturalities certainely there is not so olde a horse but if hee see a Mare will neigh once or twice there is no man so young nor old but let him see fayre young Damsels eyther hee will giue a sigh or a wish In all voluntary things I deny not but that one may bee vertuous but in naturall thinges I confesse euery man to be weake when you take the wood from the fire it leaueth burning when Sommer commeth the colde winter ceaseth when the sea is calme the waues leaue their vehement motions when the Sunne is set it lightneth not the World I will say then and not before the flesh wil cease to trouble vs when it is layde in the graue of the flesh wee are borne in the flesh wee liue and in the flesh wee shall dye and therby it followeth that our good life shall sooner end then our fleshlie desires forsake vs oftentime some wholesome flesh corrupteth in an euil Vessell and good wine sometimes sauoureth of the foist I say though that the Workes of our life bee vertuous yet shall wee feele the stench of the weake flesh I spake this Faustine sith that age cannot resist those hote apetites how can the tender members of youth resist them vnlesse you that are the Mother goe the right way how should the Daughter that followeth you find it The Romane Matrones if that they will bring vppe their Daughters well ought for to keepe and obserue these Rules when they doe see that they would wander abroade that they breake their legges and if that they should bee gazing then put out their eyes and if they will listen stop their eares if they will giue or take cut off their hands if they dare speake sowe vp their mouthes
and of the Senate best fauoured to whom they committed the charge of the most cruell and dangerous warres For their strife was not to beare rule and to be in office or to get money but to be in the Frontiers to ouercome their enemies In what estimation these foure Frontiers were wee may easily perceyue by that wee see the most noble Romanes haue passed some part of their youth in those places as Captaines vntill such time that for more weighty affaires they were appointed from thence to som other places For at that time there was no word so grieuous and iniurious to a Citizen as to say Goe thou hast neuer beene brought vp in the wars and to proue the same by examples The great Pompey passed the Winter season in Constantinople The aduenturous Scipio in Colonges the couragious Caesar in Gades and the renowmed Marius in Rhodes And these foure were not only in the Frontiers aforesaid in their youth but there they did such valiant acts that the memory of them remaineth euermore after their death These thinges I haue spoken to proue sith wee finde that Marcus Aurelius father was Captain of one of these 4. Frontiers it followeth that he was a man of singular wisdome and prowesse For as Scipio sayd to his friend Masinissa in Affrike It is not possible for a Romane Captaine to want eyther wisdome or courage for thereunto they were predestined at their birth Wee haue no authenticke authorities that sheweth vs frō whence when or how in what countries and with what persons this captaine passed his youth And the cause is for that the Romane Chroniclers were not accustomed to write the things done by their Princes before they were created but onely the acts of yong men which from their youth had their hearts stoutly bent to great aduentures and in my opinion it was well done For it is greater honour to obtaine an Empire by policy and wisdome then to haue it by discent so that there be no tyranny Suetonius Tranquillus in his first booke of Emperours counteth at large the aduenturous enterprises taken in hand by Iulius Caesar in his yong age and how far vnlikely they were from thought that he should euer obtaine the Romane Empire writing this to shew vnto Princes how earnestly Iulius Caesars heart was bent to win the Romane Monarchy and likewise how wisdom fayled him in behauing himselfe therin A Philosopher of Rome wrote to Phalaris the Tirant which was in Cicilia asking him Why hee possessed the realme so long by tyranny Phalaris answered him againe in another Epistle in these few wordes Thou callest mee tyrant because I haue taken this realme and kept it 32. yeares I graunt then quoth hee that I was a tyrant in vsurping it For no man occupyeth another mans right but by reason he is a tyrant But yet I will not agree to be called a Tyrant sith it is now xxxii yeares since I haue possessed it And though I haue atchieued it by tyranny yet I haue gouerned it by wisdome And I let thee to vnderstand that to take another mans goods it is an easie thing to conquere but a hard thing to keepe an easie thing for to keepe them I ensure thee it is very hard The Emperour Marcus Aurelius married the daughter of Antoninus Pius the 16. Emperour of Rome and she was named Faustina who as sole Heyre had the Empire and so through marriage Marcus Aurelius came to be Emperour This Faustine was not so honest and chast as shee was faire and beautifull Shee had by him two sonnes Commodus and Verissimus Marcus Aurelius triumphed twice once when he ouercame the Parthians and another time when hee conquered the Argonants He was a man very well learned and of a deepe vnderstanding Hee was as excellent both in the Greeke and Latine as hee was in his mothers tongue Hee was very temperate in eating and drinking hee wrote many things full of good learning and sweete sentences He dyed in conquering the realme of Pannonia which is now called Hungarie His death was as much bewayled as his life was desired And hee was loued so deare and entirely in the City of Rome that euery Romane had a statue of him in his house to the end the memory of him among them should neuer decay The which was neuer read that they euer did for any other King or Emperour of Rome no not for Augustus Caesar who was best beloued of all other Emperours of Rome Hee gouerned the Empire for the space of eighteene yeere with vpright iustice and died at the age of 63 yeeres with much honor in the yeere Climatericke which is in the 63. years wherein the life of man runneth in great perill For then are accomplished the nine seuens or the seuen nines Aulus Gelius writeth a Chapter of this matter in the booke De noctibus Atticis Marcus Aurelius was a Prince of life most pure of doctrine most profound and of fortune most happy of all other Princes in the world saue only for Faustine his wife and Commodus his sonne And to the end we may see what Marcus Aurelius was from his infancy I haue put here an Epistle of his which is this CHAP. II. Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Pulio wherein he declareth the order of his whole life and amongst other things he maketh mention of a thing that happened to a Romane Censor with his Host of Campagnia MAreus Aurelius only Emperour of Rome greeteth thee his old friend Pulio wisheth health to thy person peace to the common-wealth As I was in the Temple of the Vestall Virgins a letter of thine was presented vnto me which was written long before and greatly desired of me but the best therof is that thou writing vnto me briefly desirest that I should write vnto thee at large which is vndecent for the authority of him that is chiefe of the Empire in especiall if such one be couetous for to a Prince there is no greater infamy then to be lauish of words and scant of rewards Thou writest to me of the griefe in thy leg and that thy wound is great and truly the paine thereof troubleth me at my heart and I am right sorry that thou wantest that which is necessary for thy health and that good that I do wish thee For in the end all the trauels of this life may be endured so that the body with diseases be not troubled Thou lettest me vnderstand by thy letters that thou art arriued at Rhodes and requirest me to write vnto thee how I liued in that place when I was yong what time I gaue my minde to study and likewise what the discourse of my life was vntill the time of my being Emperor of Rome In this case truly I maruell at thee not a little that thou shouldest aske me such a question and so much the more that thou didst not consider that I cannot with out great trouble and
paine answere thy demand For the doings of youth in a yong man were neuer so vpright honest but it were more honest to amend them then to declare them Annius Verus my father shewing vnto me his fatherly loue not accomplishing yet fully 13. years drew me frō the vices of Rome and sent mee to Rhodes to learn science howbeit better accompanied with books then loden with money where I vsed such diligence and fortune so fauored me that at the age of 26. years I read openly natural and moral Philosophy and also Rhetoricke and there was nothing gaue mee such occasion to study and reade books as the want of money For pouerty causeth good mens children to be vertuous so that they attaine to that by vertue which others com vnto by riches Truely friend Pulio I found great want of the pleasures of Rome especially at my first comming into the Isle but after I had read Philosophy x. yeares at Rhodes I tooke my selfe as one born in the countrey And I think my conuersation among them caused it seeme no lesse For it is a rule that neuer faileth That vertue maketh a stranger grow naturall in a strange country and vice maketh the naturall a stranger in his owne countrey Thou knowest well how my Father Annius Verus was 15. years a Captain in the Frontiers against the barbarous by the commandement of Adrian my Lord and Master and Antoninus Pius my Father in Law both of them Princes of famous memory which recommended mee there to their olde friends who with fatherly counsell exhorted me to forgette the vices of Rome and to accustome my selfe to the vertues of Rhodes And truely it was but needfull for mee For the naturall loue of the country oft times bringeth damage to him that is borne therein leading his desire still to returne home Thou shalt vnderstand that the Rhodians are men of much courtesie and requiting benenolences which chanceth in few Isles because that naturally they are persons deceitfull subtill vnthankefull and full of suspition I speake this because my Fathers friends alwaies succored me with counsel mony which 2 things were so necessary that I could not tell which of them I had most need of For the stranger maketh his profite with money to withstand disdainefull pouerty profiteth himself with counsel to forget the sweet loue of his country I desired then to reade Philosophie in Rhodes so long as my Father continued there Captaine But that could not bee for Adrian my Lord sent for me to return to Rome which pleased me not a litle albeit as I haue said they vsed me as if I had beene borne in that Iland for in the end Although the eyes bee fedde with delight to see strange things yet therefore the heart is not satisfied And this is all that touched the Rhodians I will now tell thee also how before my going thither I was borne and brought vp in mount Celio in Rome with my father from mine infancie In the common wealth of Rome there was a law vsed and by custome well obserued that no Citizen which enioyed any liberty of Rome after their sonnes had accomplished tenne yeares should bee so bold or hardy to suffer them to walke the streetes like vacabonds For it was a custome in Rome that the children of the Senators should sucke till two yeares of age till foure they should liue at their own willes till sixe they should reade till eight they should write til ten they should study Grammer and ten years accomplished they should then take some craft or occupation or giue themselues to study or goe to the warres so that throughout Rome no man was idle In one of the lawes of the twelue Tables were written these words Wee ordaine and commaund that euery Citizen that dwelleth within the circuite of Rome or Liberties of the same from ten yeares vpwards to keepe his son well ordered And if perchance the child being idle or that no man teaching him any craft or science should thereby peraduenture fall to vice or commit some wicked offence that then the Father no lesse then the Sonne should bee punished For there is nothing so much breedeth vice amongst the people as when the Fathers are too negligent and the children bee too bold And furthermore another Law sayde Wee ordaine and commaund that after tenne yeares bee past for the first offence that the child shall commit in Rome that the Father shall bee bound to send him forth some where else or to bee bound surety for the good demeanour of his Sonne For it is not reason that the fond loue of the Father to the Sonne should bee an occasion why the multitude should bee slaunred Because all the wealth of the Empire consisteth in keeping and maintaining quiet men and in banishing and expelling seditious persons I will tell thee one thing my Pulio and I am sure thou wilt maruell at it and it is this When Rome triumphed and by good wisdome gouerned all the world the inhabitants in the same surmounted the number of two hundred thousand persons which was a maruellous matter Amongst whom as a man may iudge there was a hundred thousand children But they which had the charge of them kept them in such awe and doctrine that they banished from Rome one of the sonnes of Cato Vticensis for breaking an earthen pot in a Maydens hands which went to fetch water In like manner they banished the sonne of good Cinna only for entring into a garden to gather fruit And none of these two were as yet fifteene yeeres old For at that time they chastised them more for the offences done in iest then they do now for those which are don in good earnest Our Cicero sayth in his booke De Legibus That the Romanes neuer tooke in any thing more pains then to restrain the children as well olde as the young from idlenes And so long endured the feare of their Law and honour of their common wealth as they suffered not their children like vagabonds idlely to wander the streetes For that country may aboue all other bee counted happy where each one enioyeth his owne labour and no man liueth by the sweate of another I let thee know my Pulio that when I was a child although I am not yet very old none durst bee so hardy to goe commonly through Rome without a token about him of the craft and occupation hee exercised and wherby hee liued And if any man had beene taken contrary the children did not onely crie out of him in the streets as of a foole but also the Censour afterwards condemned him to trauell with the captiues in common workes For in Rome they esteemed it not lesse shame to the child which was idle then they did in Greece to the Philosopher which was ignorant And to the end thou mayest see this I write vnto thee to be no new thing thou oughtest to know that the Emperour caused
kill and put into the shambles all the euill men and weigh them as wee doe the flesh of sheepe or other like be asts all the neighbours and Inhabitants of Italy should haue meate sufficient for to eate Behold Censour in this land of Campania they call none good but those which are quiet sober wise and discreet men They call none good but the patient honest and vertuous men Finally I say that wee call none good but these men which will doe no harme and will occupie themselues in good workes Without teares I speake not that which I will say that is if wee seeke for any of them wee shall find none but in their graues For the iust iudgement of God it was they should repose themselues in the entrailes of the earth whom the publike weale deserued not to haue aliue Thou commest to visite this land where thou shalt immediately be serued with the wicked and to hide their faults their desolute life and their vices thou shalt not be a little solicited Beleeue mee if thou wilt not vndoe thy selfe and be deceyued Trust thou rather these rotten bones then their deceitfull hearts For in the end the examples of the dead that were good doe profite men more to liue well then the counsell of the liuing that bee wicked doe interre and bury all those that be now liuing CHAP. III. Marcus Aurelius concludeth the letter and declareth at large the sciences he learned and all the Masters which he had And in the end hee reciteth fiue not able things in the obseruance of which the Romanes were very curious I Haue recited these things vnto thee my friend Pulio to the end thou shouldest know what an infinit number there is of the wicked sort in the world and how small scant a number there is in Italy of the good and this proceedeth of none other thing but because the Fathers doe not bring vp their children as our Ancesters did It is vnpossible a yong child should be vicious if with due correction he had been instructed in vertues Annius Verus my Father in this case deserueth as much prayse as I doe reproach For whiles I was young he neuer suffered me to sleepe in bed to sit in chayre to eate with him at his Table neyther durst I lift vp mine eies to looke him in the face And oftentimes he sayde vnto mee Marcus my sonne I had rather thou shouldest bee an honest Romane then a dissolute Philosopher Thou desirest mee to write vnto thee how many Masters I had and what sciences I learned in my youth Know thou that I had many good Masters though I am become an euill Scholler I learned also diuers sciences though presently I know little not for that I forgot them but because the affaires of the Empire of Rome excluded mee from them and caused me to forsake them For it is a general rule That Science in that place is neuer permanent where the person is not at liberty I studyed Grammer with a Master called Euphermon who sayde he was a Spaniard borne and his head was hoare for age In speech he was very temperate in correction somewhat seuere and in life exceeding honest For there was a law in Rome that the childrens Masters should bee very old So that if the Disciple were ten yeares of age the Master should bee aboue fifty I studyed a long time Rethoricke and the Law vnder a Greeke called Alexander borne in Lycaonya which was so excellent an Oratour that if hee had had as great a grace in writing with his pen as he had eloquence in speaking with his tongue truly hee had beene no lesse renowmed among the Grecians then Cicero was honored among the Romans After the death of this my Maister at Naples I went to Rhodes heard Rhetoricke again of Orosus of Pharanton of Pulio which truly were men expert and excellent in the art of Oratorie and especially in making Comedies Tragedies Enterludes they were very fine and had a goodly grace Commodus Calcedon was my first Maister in naturall Phylosophy He was a graue man and in great credite with Adrian he translated Homer out of Greeke into Latin After this man was dead I tooke Sextus Cheronensis for my Maister who was Nephew to Plutarch the great which Plutarch was Traianus Maister I knew this Sextus Cheronensis at 35. yeares of age at what time I doubt whether there hath beene any Phylosopher that euer was so well esteemed throughout the Romane Empire as he I haue him here vvith me and although hee be fourescore years old yet continually he vvriteth the Histories and gests done of my time I let thee know my friend Pulio that I studyed the law two yeers and the seeking of the lawes of many nations was occasion that I knew many Antiquities and in this science Volucius Mecianus vvas my master a man vvhich could reade it vvell and also dispute of it better So that on a time hee demaunded of me merily and said Tel mee Marke doest thou thinke there is any Law in the World that I knovv not and I answered him Tell mee Master is there any Lavv in the World that thou obseruest The sift yeere that I vvas at Rhodes there came a marnellous pestilence vvhich vvas the occasion of the dissolution of our Schoole vvhich vvas in a narrovv and little place and being there a certaine Painter painting a rich and excellent Worke for the realme of Palestine I then for a truth learned there to dravv and paint and my Master vvas named Diogenetus vvho in those dayes vvas a famous Painter He painted in Rome sixe worthie Princes in one Table and 6. other tirannous Emperours in an other And amongst those euill Nero the cruel was painted so liuely that he seemed aliue to all those that savv him and that Table vvherein Nero vvas so liuely dravvne vvas by decrees of the sacred Senate commanded to be burnt For they sayde That a man of so wicked a life deserued not to be represented in so goodly a Table Others sayde that it was so naturall and perfect that hee made all men afrayde that beheld him and if he had been left there a few dayes that hee would haue spoken as if he had been aliue I studyed the art of Necromancy a while with all the kindes of Gyromancy and Chiromancie In this science I had no particular Master but that sometimes I went to heare Apolonius Lecture After I was married to Faustine I learned Cosmography in the City of Argelata which is the chiefest towne of Illyrta and my Masters were Iunius Rusticus and Cyna Catudus Chroniclers Councellours to Adrian my Master and Antoninus my Father in Law And becaused I would not be ignorant in any of these things that mans abilitie might attaine to being at the wars of Dalia I gaue my selfe to Musicke and was apt to take it and my Master was named Geminus Comodus a man of a quicke hand to play and of
as pleasaÌ„t a voice to sing as euer I heard Romane tongue prompt to speake This was the order of my life and the time that I spent in learning And of good reason a man so occupied cannot chuse but bee vertuous But I sweare and confesse to thee that I did not so much giue my selfe to studie but that euery day I lost time enough For Youth and the tender flesh desireth liberty and although a man accustome it with trauels yet he findeth vacant time in it also for his pleasures Although all the ancient Romaines were in diuers things very studious yet notwithstanding amongst all ouer and besides these there were fiue things whereunto they had euer a great respect and to those that therein offended neyther requests auayled rewards profited nor law olde nor new dispensed Truly their good wils are to be commended and their diligence to bee exalted For the Princes that gouern great Realms ought to employ their harts to make good lawes and to occupie their eyes to see them duely excuted throughout the common-wealth These fiue â—eings were these 1 The first they ordayned that the Priests should not be dishonest For in that Realme where Priests are dishonest it is a token that the Gods against the people are angry 2 The second it was not suffered in Rome that the Virgines Vestals should at their pleasure stay abroad For it is but reason that shee which of her owne free will hath heretofore promised openly to bee good should now if shee change her mind be compelled in secret to bee chast 3 The third they decreede that the Iudges should bee iust and vpright For there is nothing that decayeth a common wealth more then a Iudge who hath not for all men one ballance indifferent 4 The fourth was that the Captaines that should goe to the warres should not bee Cowards for there is no like daunger to the Common-wealth nor no like slaunder to the Prince as to commit the charge of men to him in the Field who will be first to commaund and last to fight The fifth was that they which had charge of bringing vp of children should not be vicious For there is nothing more monstrous and more slanderous then he that is a Master of children should bee subiect and seruant to vices How thinkest thou my friend Pulio when all these things were obserued in Rome Thinkest thou that the youth was so dissolute as at this present Thinkest thou indeed that it is the same Rome wherein in times past were so notable good and auncient men Beleeuest thou that it is that Rome wherein in the golden age the old men were so honest and the children so wel taught the Armies well ordered and the Iudges and Senatours so vpright and iust I call God to witnesse and sweare to thee that it is not Rome neyther hath it any likenesse of Rome nor yet any grace to be Rome and hee that would say that this Rome was the olde Rome knoweth little of Rome The matter was this that the auncient and vertuous Romans being dead it seemeth to the Gods that we are not yet worthy to enioy their houses So that eyther this is not Rome or else we bee not the Romanes of Rome For considering the prowesse and vertuous deedes of the auncient Romanes and weighing also our dissolute liues it were a very great infamy for them to call vs their Successors I desired my friend Pulio to write vnto thee al these things to the end thou mayest see what we were and what wee are For great things haue need of great power and require a long time before they can grow and come to their perfection and then afterward at one moment and with one blow they fall down to the ground I haue beene more tedious in my letter then I thought to haue beene and now I haue tolde thee that which with diligence by reason of my great affaires in three or foure times I haue written of that that wanteth in thine and is too much in mine We shall make a reasodable letter and since I pardon thee for being too briefe pardon thou mee also for being too long I saw thee once enquire for Vnicornes horne in Alexandry wherefore now I send thee a good peece and likewise I send thee a horse which in my iudgement is good Aduertise mee if thy daughter Drusilla bee aliue with whom I was wont to laugh and I will helpe her to a marriage The immortall Gods keepe mee O my Pulio thy wife thy stepmother and thy daughter and salute them all from me and Faustine Marke of Mount Celio Emperour of Rome with his owne hand writeth vnto thee CHAP. IIII. Of the excellency of Christian religion which manifesteth the true God and disproueth the vanity of the Ancients hauing so many Gods And that in the olde time when the enemies were reconciled in their houses they caused also that the Gods should embrace each other in the Temples HE that is the onely diuine Word begotten of the Father Lord perpetuall of the Hierarchies more auncient then the Heauens Prince of all Holinesse chiefe head from whom all had their beginning the greatest of all Gods and Creator of all creatures in the profoundnesse of his eternall sapience accordeth all the Harmony and composition of Christian Religion This is such a manner of sure matter and so well layed that neyther the miseries which spring of the infections of naughtie Christians can trouble nor yet the boisterous windes of the Heretiques are able to moue For it were more likely that Heauen and Earth should both perish then it should suspend for one day that there should be no Christian Religion The ancient Gods which were inuentors of worldly things as the foundation of their reproued sects was but a flying sand and an vnstable ground full of daungerous and erroneous abuses so some of those poore wretches looking perhaps like a ship running vpon a rocke suspecting nothing were drowned Other like ruined buildings were shaken in sunder and sell down dead Finally these Gods which only bare the name of Gods shall be for euermore forgotten But hee onely shall bee perpetuall which in God by God and through God hath his beginning Many and sundry were the multitude of the Nations which haue been in times past That is to wit the Sirians the Assyrians Persians Medians Macedonians Grecians Cythians Arginians Corinthians Caldeans Indians Athenians Lacedemonians Africans Vandales Sweuians Allaines Hungarians Germaignes Britons Hebrews Palestines Gentiles Iberthalides Maurians Lucitanians Gothes and Spaniards And truly in al these looke how great the difference amongst them in their customes and manners was so much diuersity was of the Ceremonies which they vsed their Gods which they honoured For the Gentiles had this errour that they sayd one alone was not of power sufficient to create such a multitude as were created If I were before all the Sages that euer were they would not say the contrary
end count they well or euill all passeth amongst men because they are men but what shall the vnhappy Princes doe which shall render no account but to God onely who will not bee deceiued with words corrupted with gifts feared with threatnings nor answered with excuses Princes haue their Realms full of cruell Iudges to punish the frailetic of man they haue their courts full of Aduocates to plead against them that haue offended they haue their Pallaces 〈…〉 and Promoters that note the offences of other men They haue through all theyr Prouince Auditours that ouersee the accounts of their routs and besides all this they haue no remembrance of the day so strict wherein they must render an account of their wicked life Me thinkes since all that which Princes receyue commeth from the hands of God that the greatest part of the time which they spend should bee in the seruice of God and al their trade in God and they ought to render no account of their life but vnto God then sith they are Gods in authority which they haue ouer temporall things they ought to shew themselues to resemble God more then others by vertues For that Prince is more to be magnified which reformeth two vices among his people then hee which conquereth ten Realmes of his enemies But we wil desire them from henceforth They presume not any more to bee Gods on the earth but that they endeuour themselues to bee good Christians in the Commonwealth For all the wealth of a Prince is That hee bee stout with strangers and louing to his owne Subiects Fiftly Princes ought to bee better Christians then others For the prosperity or aduersity that chanceth vnto them commeth directly from the hands of God onely and none other I haue seene sundry times princes which haue put their whole trust and confidence in other Princes to be on a sodaine discomfited and for the contrary those which haue litle hope in men and great confidence in God haue alwayes prospered When man is in his chiefest brauery and trusteth most to mens wisedome then the secret iudgement of God soonest discomforteth him I meane that the consederates and friends of Princes might helpe and succour them but God will not suffer them to be holpen nor succoured to the ende they should see their remedy proceedeth not by mans diligence but by diuine prouidence A Prince that hath a Realme doth not suffer any thing to bee done therein without his aduice therefore since God is of no lesse power in Heauen then Princes are on the earth it is reason that nothing bee done without his consent since he taketh account of all mens deedes and as hee is the end of all things so in him and by him all things haue their beginning O Princes If you knew how small a thing it is to bee hated of men and how great a comfort to be beloued of GOD I sweare that you would not speake one word althogh it were in iest vnto men neyther would you cease night nor day to commend your selues vnto God for God is more mercifull to succour vs then wee are diligent for to call vpon him For in conclusion the fauour which men can giue you other men can take from you but the fauour that God will giue you no man can resist it All those that possesse much should vse the company of them which can doe much and if it bee so I let you Princes know that all men cannot thinke so much together as God is able to doe alone For the crye of a Lyon is more fearefull then the howling of a Wolfe I confesse that Princes and great Lords may sometimes gaine and winne of them selues but I aske them whose fauour they haue neede of to preserue and keepe them we see oftentimes that in a short space many come to great authority the which neyther mans wisedome sufficeth to gouerne nor yet mans force to keepe For the authority which the Romanes in sixe hundred yeares gained fighting against the Gothes in the space of three yeares they lost Wee see daily by experience that a man for the gouernment of his owne house onely needeth the counsell of his friends and neighbours and doe Princes and great Lords thinke by their own heades onely to rule and gouerne many realmes and dominions CHAP. XXI What the Philosopher Bias was of his constancy when hee lost all his goods and of the ten lawes hee gaue worthy to bee had in memory AMong all nations sorts of men which auaunt themselues to haue had with them sage men the Grecians were the chiefest which had and thought it necessary to haue not onely wise men to reade in theyr schooles but also they chose them to bee Princes in their dominions For as Plato sayeth Those which gouerned in those dates were Philosophers or else they sayde and did like Philosohers And Laertius writeth in his second booke De antiquitatibus Graecorum That the Grecians auaunted themselues much in this that they had of all Estates persons most notable that is to say Seuen women very sage seuen Queenes very honest seuen Kings very vertuous seuen Captaines very hardy seuen Cities very notable seuen buildings very sumptuous and seuen Philosophers very well Learned which Philosophers were these that follow The first was Tales Milesius that inuented the Carde to sayle by The second was Solon that gaue the first lawes to the Athenians The third was Chilo who was in the Orient for Ambassadour of the Athenians The fourth was Pittacus Quintilenus who was not onely a Philosopher but also Captaine of the Mitilenes The fifth was Cleobolus that discended from the ancient lynage of Hercules The sixt was Periander that long time gouerned the realme of Corinth The seuenth was Bias Prieneus that was Prince of the Prieneans Therefore as touching Bias you must vnderstand that when Romulus raigned at Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was great warres in Grecia betweene the Metinences and the Prieneans and of these Prieneans Bias the Philosopher was Prince and Captaine who because hee was sage read in the Vniuersity and for that hee was hardy was Chiefetain in the warre and because hee was wise he was made a Prince and gouerned the Common-wealth And of this no man ought to maruell for in those daies the Philosopher that had knowledge but in one thing was little esteemed in the Common-wealth After many contentions had betweene the Metinenses and Prienenses a cruel battell was fought whereof the Philosopher Bias was Captaine and had the victory and it was the first battell that euer any Philosopher gaue in Greece For the which victory Greece was proud to see their Philosophers so aduenturous in wars and hardy of their hands as they were profound in their doctrine and eloquent in their tongues And by chance one brought him a number of women and maides to sell or if hee listed to vse them otherwise at his pleasure but this good Philosopher did not
the Realme of Thracia which then was subiect to the Romanes And the Emperour Valente without any couenant receiued them into his land wherein hee committed great folly and vsed little wisedome for it is a generall rule where rebels vagabonds strangers come to inhabite there the Realme and dominions is destroyed The Gothes remained certain yeares among them without any dissention or quarrelling against the Romaines but afterwards through the couetousnes of Maximus chiefe Captain of the Romaines who denyed the Gothes of their prouision which so long time remained Friendes arose betweene them so cruell warres that it was the occasion of the losse and vtter vndoing both of Rome and of all Italie For truly there is no enmity doth somuch hurt as that of Friends when they fall out at discord The Warres now being kindled the Gothes were scattred through the Kingdome of Thrace and they left no Forte but they battered downe they came to no Townes Villages nor Cities but they sacked and spoyled They tooke no Women but they forced and rauished they entred into no house but they robbed Finally the Gothes in short time shewed the poison that they had against the Romans let no man maruell that the Gothes committed so many cruel and hainous facts sith we that are Christians doe commit dayly greater offences For among rebels it is a common errour that that which they rob in the warres they say they are not bound to restore in peace The Emperor Valente was then in the citie of Antioch and sith he had assembled there a great armie and had great aide out of Italy he determined himselfe in person to goe into the campe of the Romans and to giue the onset against the Gothes wherein hee shewed himselfe more bold then wise for a Prince in battael caÌ„ do no more then one man nor fight more then one man and if he die he is the occasion of the death and destruction of them all When both the hosts of the Romaines and the Gothes ioyned there was betweene them a cruell and mortall fight so that in the first brunt the Gothes shewed themselues so valiant that they put to flight the Romans horsemen leauing their footemen alone in great ieopardie the which in short space after were discomfited and slaine not one left aliue For the barbarous sware that that day the Gothes should all die or else vtterly they would destroy the name of the Romanes And in this first charge the Emperour Valente was mortally wounded who perceyuing he had his deathes wound and that the battell was lost hee determined to flye and saue himselfe but when fortune beginneth to persecute any man shee leaueth him not vntill shee see him dead or beaten downe without recouery Therefore as this wicked Emperour thinking to saue himselfe came into a sheepecote the enemies seeing him in the end set fire on the shepecote and burnt him aliue So in one day hee loft his person his life his honour and his Empire For it is meete that Princes and great Lords should lift vp their eyes to consider well the Historie of Valente that they stray not from the Catholike Faith that they dishonour not Gods Ministers and maintaine heresyes For as this accursed Emperour Valente for his wicked doings was condignely punished by the hands of Almighty God So let them be assured the selfe same God will not pardon their offences For it is a rule infallible That that Prince which is not a good Christian shal fall into the hands of his cruell enemies CHAP. XXV Of the Emperor Valentinian and Gracian his Sonne which raigned in the time of Saint Ambrose which because they were good Christians were alwayes fortunate and that God giueth victory vnto Princes more through the teares of them that pray then thorow the weapons of those that fight IAlentinian and Valent were brethren and the eldest of them was Valentinian who succeeded in the Empire after the death of his Father to bee Pretor of the Armies For amongst the Romaines there was a Law in vre that if the Father dyed in the fauour of the people of right the sonne without any other demand was heyre This Valentinian was a lusty yong man of a sanguine complexion and of his body well shaped and aboue all hee was a good Christian and of all the people generally welbeloued For nothing adorneth the noble man more then to bee counted ciuill and courteous of behauiour At that time when the Emperour Iulian persecuted most the Christians Valentinian was Pretour of the Armies and when Iulian was aduertised that Valentinian was a Christian hee sent vnto him and bad him doe sacrifice to the Idols of the Romane Emperor or else to forsake the office of his Pretorship Iulian would gladly haue killed Valentinian but he durst not for it was a Law inuiolable amongst the Romanes that no Citizen should be put to death without the decree of the Senate Valentinian receyuing the message of this Emperour Iulian aduertised of his will which was to renounce his faith or to leaue his office hee did not onely resigne his office but therewithall forgaue the Emperour all the money hee ought him for arrerages of his sernice And because hee would liue with a more quiet conscience he went from Rome into a Cloyster where hee banished himselfe for two yeares and a halfe for this hee was highly esteemed and commended For it is a good signe That man is a good Christian which of his owne free will renounceth worldly goods Shortly after it happened that Iulian the Emperour went to conquere the Realme of Persia where in a battell hee was very sore wounded and fell downe dead in the present place For to the mishaps of Fortune the Emperour with all his estate and pleasures is as much subiect as is the poorest man that lieth in the streetes When the newes came to Rome that Iulian was dead by the consent of all Valentinian was created Emperour so that hee being banished for Christs sake was called againe and crowned Prince of the Romane Empire Let no man care to loose all that hee possesseth let no man weigh to see himselfe despised for Christes sake For in the end men cannot in a thousand yeeres so much abase vs as God in one houre can exalt vs. In the same yeare which was from the foundation of Rome â—119 in a City called Atrobata it rained very fine wooll so that all the City became rich In the same yeare in the City of Constantinople it hayled such great stones that they killed many men left no heards in the fields aliue At that same time there came an Earthquake throughout Italy and so likewise in Sicille that many houses fell and slew sundry persons and aboue all the sea rose in such sort that it drowned many Cities nigh thereunto Paulus Diaconus in the 11. booke De Legibus Romanorum sayeth that the Emperour Valentinian was of a subtill wit of
by themselues the Maidens by them the Vestall Virgins by themselues and all the straunge Embassadors went with the captiues in procession there was a custome in Rome that the same day the Emperor shold weare the Imperiall robe all the captiues which could touch him with their hands were deliuered and al the transgressors pardoned exiles and outlawries were called againe For the Roman Princes were neuer present in any feast but they shewed some noble example of mercie or gentlenes toward the peeple At this time Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome and married with the beautifull Lady Faustina who in the feast of Ianus leauing in procession the company of the Senators came into the procession of the Captiues the which easily touched his robe whereby they obtayned liberty the which they so greatly desired I say desired for truly the Captiue is contented with a small thing And because there is no good thing by any good man done but immediately by the wicked it is repined at this deede was so contrary to the euill as ioyfull to the good for there is nothing bee it neuer so good not so well done but forthwith it shall bee contraried of them that be euill Of this thing I haue seene by experience in this miserable life sundry examples that euen as among the good one onely is noted to be chiefe so likewise among the euill one is noted principall aboue the rest And the worst I finde herein is that the vertuous doe not so much glory of their vertue as the euill and malitious hath shame and dishonour of their vice for vertue naturally maketh a man to bee temperate and quiet but vice maketh him to bee dissolute and retchlesse This is spoken because in the Senate of Rome there was a Senatour called Fuluius whose beard hayres were very white but in malice hee was most cankered blacke so that for his yeares hee was honoured in Rome of many and for his malice he was hated of all The Senator Fuluius made friends in the time of Adrian to succeede in the Empire and for this cause he had alwayes Marcus Aurelius for his competitor and wheresoeuer hee came he alwayes spake euill of him as of his mortall enemy For the enuious heart can neuer giue a man one good word This Senators heart was so puffed with enuy that hee seeing Marcus Aurelius to obtaine the Empire being so young and that hee being so olde could not attaine thereunto there was no good that euer Marcus Aurelius did in the Common-wealth openly but it was grudged at by Fuluius who sought alwayes to deface the same secretly It is the nature of those which haue their hearts infected with malice to spitte out their poison with wordes of spite Oft times I haue mused which of these two are greater the duety the good haue to speake against the euil or else the audacity the euill haue to speake against the good For in the World there is no brute beast so hardy as the euill man is that hath lost his fame Oh would to God the good to his desire had as much power to doe good works as the euill hath strength to his affection to exercise wicked deedes for the vertuous man findeth not one hand to helpe him in vertue to worke yet after hee hath wrought it hee shall haue a thousand euill tongues against his honest doings to speake I would all these which reade this my writing would call to memory this word which is that among euill men the chiefest euill is that after they haue forgotten themselus to be men and exiled both truth and reason thē with all their might they goe against truth and vertue with their words against good deeds with their tongs for though it bee euill to bee an euill man yet it is worse not to suffer an other to bee good which aboue all things is to bee abhorred and not to bee suffered I let you know and assure you Princes and Noble men that you in working vertuous deeds shall not want slaunderous tongues and though you bee stout yet you must bee patient to breake theyr malice For the Noble heart feeleth more the enuie of another then hee doth the labour of his owne body Princes should not be dismayed neither ought they to maruell though they bee tolde of the murmuring at their good works For in the end they are men they liue with men cannot escape the miseries of men For there was neuer Prince in the World yet so high but hee hath beene subiect to malitious tongues Truly a man ought to take great pitty of Princes whether they bee good or euill for if they bee euill the good hate them and if they bee good the euill immediately murmureth against them The Emperour Octauian was very vertuous yet greatly persecuted with enuious tongues who on a time demaunded since he did good vnto al men why he suffered a few to murmur against him hee answered you see my friends hee that hath made Rome free from enemies hath also set at liberty the tongues of malitious men for it is not reason that the hard stones should be at liberty and the tender stones tyed Truly this Emperour Octauian by his words declared himselfe to bee a Wise man and of a noble heart and lightly to waigh both the murmurings of the people and also the vanities of their words which thing truly a wise and vertuous man ought to doe For it is a generall rule that vices continually seeke defendors and vertues alwayes getteth enemies In the Booke of Lawes the diuine Plato sayth well that the euill were alwayes double euill because they were weapons defensiue to defend their malitious purpose and also carry weapons offensiue to blemish the good works of others Vertuous men ought with much study to follow the good and with more diligence to flye from the euill For a good man may commaund all other vertuous men with a backe of his finger but to keepe himselfe onely from one euill man hee had neede both hands feet and friends Themistocles the Thebane sayde that hee felt no greater torment in the World then this that his proper honour should depend vpon the imagination of an other for it is a cruell thing that the life and honor of one that is good should be measured by the tongue of an other that is euill for as in the Forge the coales cannot bee kindled without sparkes nor as corruption can not bee in the sinckes without ordure so hee that hath his heart free from malice his tongue is occupied alwayes in sweete and pleasant communication And contrariwise out of his mouth whose stomack is infected with malice proceedeth alwayes words bitter and ful of poyson for if out of a rotten furnace the fire burneth it is impossible that the smoake should be cleare It is but a small time that in prophane loue he that is enamored is able to refraine his loue and much lesse time is the
I see Fathers conscript that I haue bin iudged here of worldly malice because I accompanyed the captiues in procession and also because I suffered my selfe to bee touched with them to the ende they might enioye the priuiledge of their libertie and in this case I render most humble thanks vnto the immortall Gods because they made mee a mercifull Emperour to set those at Libertie that were in prison and that they made me not a cruell tyrant to set those in prison which were at liberty For the prouerb saith that with one bean a man may take 2. pigeons euē so chanced the like herein yesterday For the benefite was don for those miserable Captiues but the example of humanitie was shewed to all strange nations And know ye not that whē the prince vnloseth the irons frō the feet of the captiues he bindeth the harts goods and lands of his subiects Concluding therefore I say that to the Princes it were more safety and to the Common wealth more profite to be serued in their Pallaces by free hearts with loue then by subiects which are kept vnder by feare CHAP. XL. Of a Letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Pulio declaring the opinion of certaine Philosophers concerning the felicitie of man MArcus Aurelius Emperour of Rome tribune of the people high Bishop secōd Consull and Monarche of al the Romane Empire wisheth to thee Pulio his olde friend health to thy person and prosperitie against thy euill fortune The letter that thou wrotest vnto mee from Capua I receyued here at Bethinia and if thou diddest write it with a good heart I did reade it with willing eyes wherof thou oughtest somewhat to content thee For it is an olde saying of Homer That that which is well viewed with the eyes is tenderly beloued of the heart I protest vnto thee by the faith of the immortall gods that I do not write vnto thee as a Romane Emperour that is to say from the Lord to the seruant for in this sorte I should write vnto thee briefe and touching the purpose which thing ought not to bee done to the peculiar friend For the Letters of graue men should neuer beginne and the Letters of vs friends should neuer end I write vnto thee my friend Pulio as to a priuate friend to an olde companion of mine and as to him which is a faithfull secretary of my desires and in whose company I was neuer displeased in whose mouth I neuer found lye and in whose promise there was neuer breach made And the thing being thus I shuld commit treason in the law of friendship if I keepe secret from thee any of my inward conceites for all the griefes which lye buried in the wofull heart ought not to bee communicated but with a faithfull friend Doest thou thinke Pulio that the Romane Emperour hath little trauell to write vnto thee as Emperour to speake as Emperour to walke as Emperour and to eate as Emperour and finally to bee as Emperour indeed Certes I do not maruell hereat For truely the life of the vertuous Emperour is but a Dyall which ordereth or disordereth the Common-wealth and that whereof I maruell is of the folly of Rome and vanity of the Common wealth For as much as all say that the Prince if he will seem graue and be well esteemed of the people ought to goe softly to speake little to write briefly so that for writing of letters they will he be briefe and for conquering of strange Realmes they doe not rebuke him although hee be long Wise men should desire that their Princes be of gentle condition to the end they fall not to tyranny That they haue their mind vncorrupted to minister to all equall iustice that their thought bee good not to desire straunge Realms that they haue their hearts voide from wrath that they bee sound within to pardon iniuries that they loue their Subiects to bee serued of them that they know the good to honour them and that they know the euill to punish them and as for the surplus we little regard whether the King go fast whether he eate much or write briefe For the danger is not in that which is in the lacke of his owne person but it is in the negligence that he vseth in the common-wealth I haue receyued my Friend Pulio great comfort of thy letter but yet much more I should haue receiued of thy presence for the letters of auncient friends are but as a remembrance of times past It is a great pleasure to the Mariner to talke of the perils past being in the hauen and to the Captain to glorie of the battell after the victorie I meane aboue all pleasures this is the greatest to men beeing now faithfull friends to talke of the trauells dangers which they had passed when they were young men Belieue me in one thing do not doubt therof There is no man that knoweth to speak that knoweth to possesse nor that cā iudge or take any pleasure neyther that well knoweth how to keep the goods which the gods haue giuen him vnlesse it be hee that hath bought it deerely with great trauell For with all our hearts wee loue that thing which with our owne proper labour and trauell wee haue gotten I aske thee one thing who is hee that oweth most to the Gods or that is most esteemed amongst men of Traian the iust which was brought vp in the Warres of Dace Germanie and Spaine or of Nero the cruell which was nourished in all the deliciousnes of Rome Truely the one was none other then a Rose among bryers and the other was but a Nettle amongst flowers I spake this because the good Traian hath gouerned his life in such sorte that alwayes they will smell the Rose by the pleasant sauour but the cruell Nero hath left the sting the nettle of his infamie I will not speake all because many are and were made good but for the most part the princes which were brought vp deliciously gaue euery man occasion that al shuld be offended for the euill gouernance of their liues in their Realmes and because they neuer experimented any kinde of trauell in themselues they do little esteeme the paines of another I will not that thou thinke my friend Pulio that I haue forgotten the time that is past though the Gods brought me to the Empire present For thogh we together were tossed with the torments of youth yet now wee may repose our selues in the calmes of our age I do remember that thou and I did study in Rhodes in letters and after we had sowen weapons in Capua it hath pleased the gods that the seedes of my Fortunes should ripen heere in Rome and to thee and to others better then I Fortune would not giue one only eare I doe not giue thee licence that thy thought be suspicious of me sith thou of my hart art made a faithfull Friend for if vnconstant Fortune doth trust mee
to gather with trauell the grape know thou that heere in my palace thou shalt not want of the wine The Gods will not suffer that now in this moment thou shuldst find my heart shut from thee whose gates I found alwaies for the space of twentie yeares open vnto mee Sith that my Fortunes wrought me to the Empire I haue alwayes had two things things before mine eyes that is to say not to reuenge my selfe of mine enemies neither to bee vnthankfull to my friends For I pray to the Gods daylie rather then hereafter through vnthankfulnes my renowm should be defamed that euen now with forgetfulnes my bodie should be buryed Let a man offer to the Gods what sacrifices he will let him doe as much seruice to men as he can yet if he be vnthankfull to his friend hee ought in all and for all to bee vtterly condemned Because thou shouldest see my friend Pulio how greatly the auncient friend ought to bee esteemed I will declare thee an example of a Philosopher the which to heare thou wilt somewhat reioyce The auncient Histories of the Grecians declare that among the seuen Sages of Greece there was one named Periander who was Prince Gouernour a great while and he had in him such liuelinesse of Spirit on the one side and such couetousnesse of worldly goods on the other side that the Historiographers are in doubte whether was the greater the Philosophy that hee taught reading in the Schooles or the tyranny that hee vsed in robbing the Common-wealth for truly the science which is not grounded of truth bringeth great damages to the person In the second yeare of my Empire I was in the City of Corinth where I saw the Graue which contained the bones of Periander where about was engrauen in Greeke verses and old letter this Epitaph Within the compasse of this narrow graue Wretched Periander enclosed lyes Whose cruel facts could Greece alone not haue So small a soyle his hunger could suffice Here lodgeth oke loe Periander dead His filthy flesh the hungry wormes doe eate And liuing he with Orphelines good was fed His greedy guts did craue such dainty meate The Tyrant Periander stayeth here Whose life was built to hinder all the rest And eke whose death such profit large did bear As brought reliefe to him that had the least Here wicked Periander resteth now His life did cause great peopled realmes decay His death that forst his liuing sprite to how Assurde them life that stoode in brittle stay The cursed Periander heere doth lye Whose life did shed the poore and simple blood And eke that clambe to riches rule so hye By others swette they sought for wasting good Of Corinth loe here Periander rest To seeme for iust that equall Lawes did frame Yet flitting from the square that they possest By vertues doome deserude a Tyrants name The Catiue Periander sleepeth here That finisht hath his 80. years with shame And though his life that thousands bought so deer Be faded thus yet bloometh stil his blame There was more letters on the graue but because it was alone in the fielde the great waters had worne it so that scarsely the letters could bee roade and truely it was very olde in his time it seemed to bee a sumptuous thing but the negligence of reparation lost it quite and it is not to bee maruelleed at for in the end time is of such power that it causeth renowmed men to be forgotten and all the sumptuousbuildings to decay and fall to the earth If thou wilt know my friend Pulio in what time the tyrant this Philosopher was I will thou know that when Catania the renowned City was builded in Cicilia neere the Mount Ethna and when Perdica was the 4. King of Macedonia and that Cardiced was the third King of the Medes and when Candare was fift king of the Libeans and that Assaradoche was ninth King of the Assyrians and when Merodache was twelfth King of the Caldeaus and that Numa Pompilius raigned second King of the Romanes and in the time of those so good Kinges Periander raigned amongst the Assirians And it is meete thou know an other thing also which is this That this Periander was a Tyrant not only in deede but also in renowme so that they spake of no other thing thorow Greece but it tended hereunto Though hee had euill works hee had good words and procured that the affayres of the Common-wealth should bee well redressed For generally There is no man so good but a man may finde somewhat in him to bee reproued neyther any man so euill but hee hath some thing in him to bee commended I doe yet remember of my age being neyther too yong nor too old that I saw the Emperour Traian my Lord suppe once in Agrippine and it so chanced that wordes were moued to speake of good and euill Princes in times past as wel of the Greekes as of the Romans that all those which were present there cōmended greatly the Emperour Octauian and they all blamed the cruell Nero for it is an ancient custom to flatter the princes that are present and to murmur at Princes that are past When the good Emperour Traian was at dinner and when he praied in the Temple it was maruell if any man saw him speake any word and that day since hee saw that they excessinely praysed the Emperour Octauian and that the others charged the Emperour Nero with more then needed the good Traian spake vnto them these words I am glad you commend the Emperour Octauian but I am angry you should in my presence speake euill of the Emperour NERO and of none other for it is great infamy to a Prince being aliue to heare in his presence any Prince euill reported after his death Truely the Emperour Octauian was very good but yee will not deny me but hee might haue beene better and the Emperour Nero was very euill but you will graunt mee hee might haue beene worse I speake this because Nero in his first fiue yeares was the best of all and the other nine following he was the worst of all so that there is both cause to disprayse him and also cause to commend him When a vertuous man will speake of Princes that are dead before Princes which are aliue hee is bound to prayse onely one of their vertues that they had and hath no licence to reueale the vices whereof they were noted for the good deserueth reward because he endeauoureth himselfe to follow vertue and the euill likewise deserueth pardon because through frailety he hath consented to vice All these wordes the Emperour Traian spake I being present they were spoken with such fiercenes that all those which were there present both chaunged their colour and also refrayned their tongues For truly the shamelesse man feeleth not so much a great stripe of correction as the gentle heart doth a sharpe worde of admonition I was willing to shew thee these things my
wee shall not know the manner of their beauty and that which seemed to be perpetuall in short space we see it end and lose the renowme in such sort that there is neuer memory of them hereafter Let vs all leaue the ancient buildings come to the buildings now a dayes and none shall see that there is no man that maketh a house bee it neuer so strong nor faire but liuing a little while he shall see the beautie thereof decay For there are a great number of ancient men which haue seene both the tops of famous and strong buildings made and the foundation and ground thereof decayed And that this is true it appeareth manifestly for that if the toppe decay or the wals fall or else if the timber bee weake or the ioynts open or the windowes waxe rotten or the gates doe breake the buildings forthwith decay What shall we say of goodly halls galleries well appointed the which within short space by coles or candles of children or by torches of pages or smoke of chimneys by cobwebs of spiders become as drie and foule as before they were fresh and faire Then if that bee true which I haue sayd of these things I would now gladly know what hope man can haue of the countenance of his beautie since wee see the like destruction of corporall beauty as of stones wood bricke and clay O vnprofitable Princes O children too foolish hardy do you not remember that all your health is subiect to sicknes as in the pain of the stomack in the heate of the liuer the inflammation of the feete in the distemperance of humors in the motions of the aire in the coniunctions of the Moon in the Eclipse of the Sunne I say doe you not know that you are subiect to the tedious Summer and vntollerable Winter Of a truth I cannot tell how you can be among so many imperfections and corruptions so full of vaine glory by your beauty seeing knowing that a litle feuer doth not onely deface and man the beauty but also maketh and coloureth the face all yealow bee it neuer so well fauoured I haue maruelled at one thing that is to say that all men are desirous to haue al things about their body clean their gownes brushed their coates neate their table handsome and the bed fine and onely they suffer their soules to be foule spotted and filthy I durst say and in the faith of a Christian affirme that it is a great lacke of wisedome and a superfluity of folly for a man to his haue house clean to suffer his soule to be corrupted I wold know what preheminence they haue which are fair aboue others to whom nature hath denyed beautie Peraduenture the beautifull man hath two soules and the deformed creature but one peraduenture the most fairest are the most healthfull and the most deformed are the most sickliest peraduènture the most fairest are the wisest and the most deformed the most innocent peraduenture the fairest are most stout and the deformed most cowards peraduenture the faire are most fortunate and the foole most vnluckiest peraduenture the faire only are accepted from vice and the foule depriued from vertue peraduenture those which are faire of right haue perpetuall life and those which are foule are bound to replenish the graue I say no certainely Then if this be true why doe the great mocke the little the faire the foule the right the crooked and the white the blacke since they know that the vaine glory which they haue and their beauty also shall haue an end to day or tomorrow A man that is faire and well proportioned is therefore nothing the more vertuous and he that is deformed and euil shapen is nothing therfore the more vicious so that vertue dependeth not at all of the shape of body neither yet vice proceedeth of the deformity of the face For dayly wee see the deformity of the body to be beautified with the vertues of the minde and the vertues of the minde to be defaced with the vice of the body in his works For truely he that in the vsage of his life hath any botch or imperfection is worse then he that hath foure botches in the shoulders Also I say that though a man be great yet it is not true that therefore he is strong so that it is not a generall rule that the big body hath alwayes a valiāt couragious heart nor the man which is of little person should be of a vile and false heart For we see by experience the greatest men the most cowards and the least of personage the most stout and hardy of heart The holy Scipture speaketh of king Dauid that he was red in his countenance and not big of body but of a meane stature yet notwithstanding as he and the mighty Giant Goliah were in campe Dauid killed Goliah with a sling and with his owne sword cut of his head We ought not maruaile that a litle sheapheard should slay so valiant and mighty a Giant For ofttimes of a litle spark cōmeth a great light cōtrariwise by a great torcha man can searcely see to do any thing This king Dauid did more that hee being little of body and tender of yeares killed the Lyons and recoured the lambes out of the wolues throtes besides this in one day in a battle with his owne hands he slue to the number of 800. men Though wee cannot finde the like in our time we may wel imagine that of the 800. which he slew there were at least 300. of them as noble of linage as he as rich in goods as faire in countenance as high of stature but none of these had so much force and courage since he escaped aliue and they remained in the field dead Though Iulius Caesar was big enough of body yet notwithstanding he was euill proportioned For he had his head all bald his nose very sharpe one hand more shorter then the other And albeit he was yong he had his face riuelled his colour somewhat yellow and aboue all he went somewhat crooked and his girdle was half vndone For men of good wits do not imploy themselues to the setting out of their bodies Iulius Caesar was so vnhandsome in his body that after the battle of Pharsalique a neighbour of Rome said vnto the great Orator Tullius Tell me Tullius why hast thou followd the partialities of Pompeius since thou art so wise knowest thou not that Iulius Caesar ought to be Lord Monarch of al the world Tullius answered I tell thee true my friend that I seeing Iulius Caesar in his youth so euill and vnseemely girded iudged neuer to haue seene that that is seene of him and did neuer greatly regard him But the old Sylla knew him better For he seeing Iulius Caesar so vncomly and so slouenly apparrelled in his youth oftentimes saide vnto the Senate beware of this yong man so euill marked For if you do not watch well his proceeding
sate perisheth in the graue but vertue science makes men to be of immortall memory The gods neuer commanded it neither the studies and vniuersities of Italy suffered it to haue the body fine and trimme the visage faire and cleare and the heart full of Phylosophy for the true Phylosopher of all other things esteemeth least the setting forth of the body For that the demonstrations and tokens of a true perfect phylosopher is to haue his ere 's troubled his eye bries burnt and the head bald the ball of his eyes sunke into his head the face yellow the body leane and feeble the flesh dry the soâ—te vnhosed the garment poore the eating little and the watching great Finally he ought to liue as a Lacedemonian and speake as a Grecian The tokens of a valiant renowmed captain are his wounds and hurts and the signe of a studious phylosopher is the despising of the world For the wise man ought to thinke himselfe as much dishonored if they call him stout and sturdie as a captaine when they call him a coward and negligent I like well that the phylosopher study the ancient antiquities of his forefathers that wrote the profound things for the time to come that hee teach profitable wholesome doctrines to those which are now aliue that he diligently enquire of the motion of the starres that he consider what causeth the alteration of the elements But I sweare vnto thee Epesipus that neuer sage of Rome came to those things nor phylosopher of Greece likewise but in searching the quietnesse of the soule despising the pleasures of the body Touching the body I am like to beasts but concerning the spirit I am partly like to the gods sith that following the things of the flesh I am made lesse then my self and in following the motions of the spirit I am made more then I am For truly sensualitie maketh vs inferiour to beasts and reason maketh vs superiour vnto men The worldly malice presumption naturally desireth rather to mount then to descend and to command rather then to be commanded And since it is so why do we by vices abase our selues to do lesse then beasts being possible for vs by vertues to do more then men Amongst all the members which men can haue there is nothing more tender to breake nor any thing more easy to corrupt then is the handsomnes of the body where we are so proud For in mine opinion to esteeme himselfe to be a handsome and proper person is no other thing but to esteeme our selues that dreaming we shal be rich and mighty and afterwards awaking we find our selues to be poore and miserable And me thinkes thâ—s thing to be true because I will declare what it is to see a yong man in his first age the head litle the haire yeallow the brow long the eyes green the cheeks whit the nose sharp the lips coloured the beard forked the face liuely the necke small the body of good proportion the arme little the fingers long and to conclude so well proportioned in his members that mens eyes should alwayes desire to behold him and the hearts alwayes seeke to loue him If this yong man so faire and well proportioned remained long time in his beautie and disposition it were good to desire it to procure it to keepe it to pay sâ— it and to loue it well for in the end if we loue the beautie in beasts and buildings by greater reason wee should desire it in our selues But what shall wee say that when we do not watch this litle floure which yesterday florished on the tree faire and whole without suspition to be lost one little hoary frost sodainly wasteth and consumeth it the vehement wind ouerthrows it the knife of enuy cutteth it the water of aduersitie vndoeth it and the heate of persecutions pineth it and finally the worme of short life gnaweth it and the putrifaction of death decayeth and bringeth it down to the ground O mans life that art alwayes cursed I count fortune cruell and thee vnhappy since she will that thou tarriest on her which dreaming giueth thee pleasures and waking worketh the displeasures which giueth into thy hands trauell to tast and suffereth thee not onely to listen after quier which will thou proue aduersitie and agree that thou haue prosperitie but at her will finally she giueth ther life by ounces and death without measure The wicked and vitious say that it is a great pleasure to liue in ease but I protest vnto them that there was neuer any mortall man had so much pleasure in vices but that he remained in great paine after that they were banished from him For the heart which of long time hath bene rooted in vice incontinently is subiect to some great alteration I would all would open their eyes to see how wee liue deceiued for all the pleasures which delight the body make vs beleeue that they come to abide with vs continually but they vanish away with sorrows immediatly And on the contrary part the infirmities and sorrowes that blind the soule say that they come onely to lodge as guests and ramaine with vs continually as housholders I maruell of thee Epesipus why thou doest not consider what shall becom of the beauty of thy body hereafter sith thou leest presently the beauty of those departed interred in the graue By the diuersitie of fruits man doth know the diuersitie of trees in the Orchyard that is to say the Oake by the Acornes the Date tree by the Dates and the Vines by the Grapes but when the roote is dry the body cut the fruit gathered the leafe fallen and when the tree is layd on fire and become ashes I would now know if this ashes could bee knowne of what tree it was or how a man might know the difference of the one froÌ„ the other By this coÌ„parison I meane to say that for so much as the life of this death the death of this life commeth to seeke vs out wee are all as trees in the Orchard whereby some are knowne by the rootes of their predecessors others by the leaues of their wordes others by the branches of their friendes some in the flowers of their beauty and other some by the barke of their foule skinne The one in their mercifulnesse the other in their stoutenesse other in their hardinesse beeing aged others in their hastinesse of their youth others in their barrennesse by theyr pouerty others by their fruitfulnesse in riches Finally in one onely thing wee are all alike that is to say that all vniuersally goe to the graue not one remayning I aske now when death hath done his office executing all earthly men in the later dayes what difference is there then betweene the fayre and the foule which lye both in the narrow graue certainely there is none and if there bee any difference it shall bee in the making of their graues which vaine men inuented And I doe
not repent mee for calling them vayne since there is no vanity nor fondnes comparable to this for they are not contented to bee vaine in their liues but will also after their drathes enterprise their vanities in sumptuous and stately sepulchres The coale of the Cedar in mine opinion that is high and fayre is nothing more whether when it is burnt then the coale of the oake which is little and crooked I meane oftentimes the Gods doe permit that the bones of a poore Philosopher are more honoured then the bones of Princes With death I wil threaten thee no longer for sith thou art giuen to the vices of this life thou wouldest not as yet that with a word it should destroy thee but I will tell thee on â— word more though it grieue thee to heare it which is that God created thee to die women bare thee to dye and thou camest into the world for to die and to conclude I say some are borne to day on condition they dye tomorrow â—â—d giue their places to others When the great and fearefull Trees beginne to budde by the rootes it signifieth that time draweth on for them to cut the drie withered branches meane that to see hildren borne in Ihe House is no other but to cite the Grand-fathers and Fathers to the graue If a man would aske me what death is I would say a miserable lake wherein all worldly men are taken for those that most safely thinke to passe it ouer remaine therein most subtilly deceyned I haue alwayes read of the Ancients past and haue seene of the young men present and I suppose that the selfe same will bee to come hereafter that when life most sweetest seemeth to any man then suddenly death entereth in at their dores O immortall Gods I cannot tell if I may call you cruell I know not if I may call you mercifull because you gaue vs flesh bones honour goods friends and also you giue vs pleasure finally yee giue to men all that they want saue onely the cuppe of life which to your selues you did reserue Since I may not that I would I will that I may but if it were referred to my will I would rather one onely day of life then all the riches of Rome for what auayleth it to toyle and take paines to encrease honour and worldly good since life dayly diminisheth Returning therefore to my first purpose thou must know that thou esteemest thy selfe and glorifiest in thy personage and beauty I would gladly know of thee and of others which are young and faire if you doe not remeÌ„ber that once yee must come to bee olde and rotten for if you thinke you shall liue but a little then reason would you should not esteem your heaâ—ties much for by reason it as a straunge thing that lise should abate vs and folly traine vs. If you thinke to become aged yee ought to remember and alwayes to thinke that the steele of the knife which doth much seruice at length decayeth and is lost for lacke of looking to Truely the young man is but a new knife the which in processe of time cankereth in the edge For on one day hee breaketh the poynt of vnderstanding another he looseth the edge of cutting and to morrow the rust of diseases taketh him and afterwards by aduersitie he is writhen and by infirmities hee is diseased by riches hee is whetted by pouertie hee is dulled againe and finally oftentimes it chanceth that the more sharpe he is whetted so much the more the life is put in hazard It is a true thing that the feete and hands are necessarie to climbe to the vanities of youth and that afterwards stumbling a little immediately rowling the head downewards wee discend into the misery of age For to our seeming yesterday wee knew one that was young and beautifull and within short time after wee heare that he is dead and rotten When I consider many men as well friends as enemies which were not long agoe flourishing in beauty and youth ' and presently I see them to bee old and drie sicke and foule truely I thinke that as then I dreamed of them or that they be not now as they were then What thing is more fearefull or more credible then to see a man become miserable in short space that the fashion of his visage should change the beauty of the face should bee lost the beard waxe white the head bould the cheekes and forehead full of wrinckles the teeth as white as Iuorie become blacke the light feete by the goute to seeme crepeled and and afterward waxeth heauy the palsey weakenneth the strong arme the fine smoth throat with wrinckles is playted the body that was straight and vpright waxeth weake and crooked Aboue all that I haue spoken I say to thee Epesipus which presumest to bee fayre that hee which through his propernesse in youth was the mirrour of all becommeth to bee such a one that he doubteth whether he be the selfe same now in his age that he was in his youth Doe what thou wilt praise and glorifie thy beautie as much as thou thinkest good yet in the end the beauty of men is none other but as a vayle to couer their eyes a payre of fetters for the feete manacles for the hands a lime rodde for the winges a theefe of time an occasion of daunger a prouoker of trouble a place of lecherie a sinke of all euill and finally it is an inuentor of debates and a scourge of the affectioned man Since thou hast forsaken thy study I am not bound to send thee any thing chiefly wasting thy money in childish and youthfull to yes but not withanding all those things I sende thee by Aulus Vegenus two thousand crownes for thy apparrell and truelle thou shalt be very vnthankfull if thou doest not know the benefite done vnto thee for a man ought to giue more thanks for that which is done of curtesie then for that which is offered of necessitie I cannot tell what to let thee vnderstand in these partes but that thy sister Anania Salaria is married who sayth shee is content I pray God it bee so for with money men may bee holpen to marriages but it lyeth in the gods to content the parties If thou wilt know of Torings thy cofin thou shalt vnderstand shee is embarked in the fleet which went to Spaine indeed I neuer thought otherwise wise on her after shee had been three dayes hidde in the way of Salaria For maydes that will betimes gather their grapes it is a token that they will go on warfare with Souldiers Of Annius Rufus thy friend and companion I certifie thee that hee is gone into the Isle of Helespont and hee goeth by the authority of the Senate to vnderstand the gouernement thereof and albeit he bee young yet he is wise and therefore I suppose he will render a good account of his commission for of these two extremities the aged that doe
they did more esteeme the good will wherewith they gaue it then they did the gifts themselues for there was so much indeed that sufficed both to make the Image of the Goddesse Berecinthia and also for a long time to maintaine the Warres Therefore from that day that those Matrons presented their Iewels in the high Capitoll the Senate forthwith in remembrance of the gentlenesse graunted them these fiue things as a priuiledge for at that time Rome neuer receiued seruice or benefite of any person but Shee rewarded it with double payment The first thing that the Senate granted the Romane Women was That in the day of their buriall the Oraters might openly make Orations in the prayse of their liues for in olde time men vsed neyther to exalt them when they were dead nor yet to accompany them to their graues The second thing that was graunted vnto them was That they might sit in the Temples for in the olde time when the Romanes did offer Sacrifices to their Gods the aged did alwayes sit the Priests kneele the marryed men did leane but the women though they were of Noble and high linage could neyther be suffered to talke sit nor leane The third thing that the Senate granted the women of Rome was That euery one of them might haue two rich Gownes and that they should not aske the Senate leaue to weare them for in the old time if any woman were apparelled or did buy any new Gowne without asking licence of the Senate she should immediately lose her Gowne and because her husband did condiscend vnto the same he was banished the Common-wealth The fourth thing which they granted them was That they should drinke Wine when they were sicke for there was in Rome a custome inuiolable that though their life was in hazard they durst not drinke wine but water for when Rome was well corrected a woman that drunke wine was as much slandered among the people as if she had committed Adultery towards her husband The fith thing granted by the Senate vnto the women was That a man might not deny a Romane being with childe any honest and lawfull thing that she demanded I cannot tell why the Ancients of Rome esteemed more of women with childe then others that had no children All these fiue thinges were iustly granted to the Matrons and Noble Romane Ladyes And I can tell thee Faustine that they were of the Senate most willingly granted for it is reason that women which in vertues doe excell should with all meanes be honoured I will tell thee Faustine the especiall cause that mooued the Romanes to grant vnto you Matrones this last priuiledge that is to say That a man cannot deny them any thing being with child Thou oughtest to know that the others as well Greekes as Latines did neuer giue Lawes nor Institutions vnto their people without great occasions for the great multitude of lawes are commonly euill kept and on the other part are cause of sundry troubles We cannot deny but that the Ancients did well auoyde the great number of Institutions for it is better for a man to liue as reason commandeth him then as the lawe constraineth him The case therefore was that in the yeere of the foundation of Rome 364. Fuluius Torquatus then being Consull in the warre against the Volces the Knights of Mauritania brought to Rome an huge Monster with one eye called Monoculus which he had found in the Desarts of Aegipt at the time the wife of Torquatus called Macrina should haue beene deliuered of child for the Consull did leaue her great This Macrina amongst all was so honest that they spent as much time in Rome to praise her for her vertues as they did set foorth her husband for his Victories They read in the Annalles of that time That the first time that this Consull Torquatus went into Asia he was eleuen yeeres out of his Country and his found for a truth that in all the time that Torquatus was absent his wife was neuer seene to looke out at the window which was not a thing smally esteemed for though it was a custome in Rome to keepe the doore shut it was lawfull notwistanding to speake to women at the windowes Though men at that time were not so bold and the women were so honest yet Macrina wife to Torquatus liued so close solitary to her selfe that in all these eleuen yeeres there was neuer man that saw her goe through Rome or that euer saw her doore open neither that shee consented at any time from the time that shee was eight yeeres of age that any man should enter into her house and moreouer there was neuer man saw her face wholly vncouered This Romane Ladie did this to leaue of her a memorie and to giue example of her vertue She had also three children whereof the eldest was but fiue yeeres olde and so when they were eight yeeres of age immediately shee sent them out of her house towards their Parents lest vnder the colour to visite the children others should come to visite her O Faustine how many haue I heard that haue lamented this excellent Romane and what will they thinke that shall follow her life Who could presently restrain a Romane woman from going to the window eleuen yeeres since things now adayes are so dissolute that they doe not onely desire to see them but also run in the Streetes to babble of them Who should cause now adayes a Romane woman that in the eleuen yeeres she should not open her dores since it is so that when the husband commaunded her to shut one doore she will make the whole house to ring of her voyce Hee that now would commaund his wife to tarry at home and let her of her vagaries into the Towne shall perceiue that there is no Basiliske nor Viper that carryeth such poison in her taile as she will spit with her tongue Who could make a Romane woman to bee eleuen yeeres continually without shewing her face to any man since it is so that they spend the most part of their time in looking in a Glasse setting their Ruffes brushing their Cloathes and painting their faces Who would cause a Romane woman to keepe her selfe eleuen yeeres from being visited of her Neighbors and Friends since it is true that now women thinke them greatest enemies which visite them most seldome Returning therefore to the Monster As they led this Monster before the doore of Torquatus his house she being great with childe and her husband in the warre by chance a Mayde of his told her how that this Monster passed by wherefore so great a desire tooke her to see the Monster that for to keepe that she had begun suddenly for this desire she dyed Truely I tell thee Faustine that this Monster had passed many times by the Streete where she dwelt and she would neuer notwithstanding go to the window and much lesse out of her doore to see it The death of this Romane of
haue more then others that therfore you should bee more honoured then all the which truly is not so For if presently you will not open your eyes and confesse your owne errors you shall see that wheras you auant your selues to be Lords of strange Countries you shall find yourselus made slaues with your own proper goods Gather as much as you will let them doe all you doe commaund them yet as I thinke it little auaileth to haue Plebeians houses with goods and contrariwise the hearts to bee possessed with couetousnesse for the riches which are gotten with couetousnesse and are kept with Auarice do take away the good name from the possessor and do nothing auaile to maintaine his life It cannot bee suffered many dayes and much lesse hidde many yeares that one man should be counted both for rich among the rich for honoured among the honorable for it is vnpossible that hee which is a great louer of temporall goods should be a friend of his good name O if the couetous men were of their owne honour as greedy as they are of the goods of another desirous I sweare vnto you by the immortall Gods that the little worme or moth of couetousnes would not gnaw the rest of their life nor the canker of infamie should destroy their good name after their death Hearken yee Romanes hearken what I wil say and I beseech the gods that you may vnderstand it for other wise I should loose my labour and yee others should take no fruit of my wordes I see that all the World hateth pride and yet there is none that will follow humanity Euery man condemneth adultery and yet I see no man that liueth chaste Euerie man curseth excesse I see no man liue temperately Euery man prayseth patience and I see no man that will suffer Euery man blameth sloth and I see no man but those that are idle Euery man blameth auarice and yet euery man robbeth One thing I say and not without teares in this Senate openly I do declare it which is that with the tongue euery man prayseth vertue and yet they themselues with al their lims are seruants vnto vices Doe not thinke that I say this onely for the Romanes which bee in Illyria but for the Senators which I see here in the Senate All you Romanes in your deuises about your Armes haue this for your word Romanorum est debellare superbos et parcere subiectos Truely you should better haue sayde Romanorum est spoliare innocentes et reddere subiectos For you Romanes are but destroyers of the people that bee peaceable and robbers of the swette and labours of strangers CHAP. IIII. The villaine argueth against the Romaines which without cause or reason conquered their Countrey and proued manifestly that they thorow offending of their Gods were vanquished of the Romanes I Aske ye Romanes what occasion yee haue that are brought vp nigh to the riuer of Tiber against vs that liue in peace nigh to the riuer of Danuby Peraduenture you haue seene vs friends to your foes or else wee haue shewed our selues your enemies peraduenture you haue heard say that forsaking our owne land wee should goe conquere forraine realmes peraduenture you haue beene aduertised that wee rebelling against our own Lords shold become obedient to the cruell Barbarians peraduenture yee haue sent vs some Ambassadour to desire vs to be your friends or else there came some from vs to Rome to defie you as our enemies peraduenture some King dyed in our realme which by his Testament made you heyres vnto our Realme whereby you clayme your Title and seeke to make vs your subiects peraduenture by some ancient law or custome yee haue found that the noble and worthy Germany of necessity is subiect to the proude people of Rome peraduenture wee haue destroyed your Armies wee haue wasted your fields sacked your Cities spoyled your subiects or fauoured your enemies so that to reuenge these iniuries yee should destroy our land If wee had bin your neighbours or you ours it had been no maruell though one should haue destroyed the other For it chaunceth oftentimes that through controuersie of a little peece of ground tedious warres betweene people arise Of a truth none of these thinges which I haue named hath chaunced betweene ye Romains and vs Germains For in Germany wee felte your tyranny as soone as wee heard of your renowne If yee bee grieued with that I haue sayde I pray you bee not offended with that I will say which is that the name of Romanes and the cruelty of tyrants arriued together in one day vpon our people And what more to say I know not Romanes of the litle care the Gods doe take and of the great audacitie that men haue For I see that hee which possesseth much doth oppresse him which hath but little and he that hath but little wayeth not him that hath much So disordered couetousnesse striueth with secret malice and secret malice giueth place to open theft open robbery no man resisteth and thereof commeth that the couetousnesse of a malitious man is accomplished to the preiudice of a whole state Hearken yee Romanes hearken by the Immortall Gods I doe coniure you giue care to that I will say which is consider well what you haue done for the good wordes bee in vaine or else men must haue an end the world in time must needes fall or else the world shall be no world Fortune must needs make sure the pinne of the wheele or else that shall bee seene which neuer was seene which is that which in eight yeares ye haue wonne yee shall within eight dayes lose For nothing can bee more iust since yee by force haue made your selues tyrants then the Gods by iustice should make you slaues And doe not thinke you Romanes though you haue subdued Germany and bee Lords thereof that it was by any warlike industry for ye are no more warlike no more couragious nor more hardy ne yet more valiant then wee Germaines but since through our offences wee haue prouoked the Gods to wrath they for the punishment of our disordinate vices ordained that ye should be a cruel plague and scourge to our persons Do not take your selues to be strong neither repute vs to bee so weake that if the Gods at that time had fauoured the one part as much as the other it might perchance haue happened yee should not haue enioyed the spoyle For to say the truth yee wanne not the victory through the force of weapons that you brought from Rome but through the infinite vices which yee found in Germany Therefore since wee were not ouercome for being cowards neyther for being weake nor yet for beeing fearefull but onely for being wicked and not hauing the Gods fauourable vnto vs what hope yee Romanes to become of you beeing as you are vicious and hauing the Gods angrie with you Doe nor thinke Romanes to be the more victorious for that ye assemble
Triumphes they went before in the Temples they did sit downe they spake to the Senate before all others they had their garments furred they might eate alone in secret and by their onely word they were credited as witnesses Finally I say that in all thinges they serued them and in nothing they annoied them After the people of Rome beganne warre with Asia they forsooke all their good Romane customes immediately And the occasion hereof was that since they had no men to sustaine the Common-wealth by reason of the great multitude of people which died in the warre they ordained that all the young men should marry the young maides the widdows the free and the bond and that the honour which had beene done vntill that time vnto the olde men from henceforth should bee done vnto the maried men though they were yong So that the most honoured in Rome was hee not of most yeares but he that had most children This Law was made a little before the first battell of Carthage And the custome that the married men were more honoured then the old endured vntil the time of the Emperour Augustus which was such a friend of Antiquities that hee renued all the walles of Rome with new stone and renued all the auncient customes of the Common-wealth Lycurgus in the lawes which he gaue to the Lacedemonians ordayned that the young men passing by the olde should doe them great reuerence and when the old men did speake then the younger should be silent And hee ordained also that if any olde man by casualtie did lose his goods and came into extreame pouertie then hee should be sustained of the Common wealth and that in such sustentation they should haue respect not onely to succour him for to sustain him but further to giue him to liue competently Plutarch in his Apothegmes declareth that Cato the Censor visiting the corners of Rome found an olde man sitting at his dore weeping and shedding many teares from his eyes And Cato the Censour demanding him why he was so euill handled and wherefore hee wept so bitterly the good olde man answered him O Cato the Gods beeing the only Comforters comfort thee in all thy tribulations since thou art ready to comfort mee at this wofull houre As well as thou knowest that the consolations of the Heart are more necessarie then the physicke of the bodie the which being applyed sometimes doeth heale and an other time they do harme Behold my scabby hands my swollen legs my mouth without Teeth my peeled Face my white beard and my balde head for thou beeing as thou art discreete shouldest be excused to aske mee why I weepe For men of my Age though they weepe not for the little they feele yet they ought to weep for the ouermuch they liue The man which is loaden with teares tormented with diseases pursued with Enemies forgotten of his friends visited with mishaps and with euill will and pouertie I know not why he demandeth long life For there can be no sharper reuengement of vices which wee commit then to giue vs long life Though now I am aged I was young and if any young man should doe me any iniurie truely I would not desire the Gods to take away his life but that they would rather prolong his life For it is great pittie to heare the man which hath liued long recount the troubles which he hath endured Know thou Cato if thou doest not know it that I haue liued 77. yeares and in this time I haue buryed my Father my Grand-father two Aunts and fiue vncles After that I had buryed 9. Systers and 11. Bretheren I haue buryed afterwards two lawfull wiues and fiue bond-women which I haue had as my lemmans I haue buryed also 14. children and 7. marryed daughters and therewith not contented I haue buryed 37. Nephewes and 15. Nieces and that which grieueth me most of all is that I haue buryed two good friendes of mine One of the which remayned in Capua and the other which remained was resident heere at Rome The death of whome hath grieued me more then all those of my alyance and parētage For in the world there is no like losse to that where a man looseth him whom entierly he loueth and of whome also hee is deerely beloued The fatall Destenyes ought to content themselues to haue annoyed my house with so many misfortunes But all this and aboue all this they haue left me a wicked nephewe which shall be mine heyre and they haue left vnto me that all my life I shall lament Oh Cato for that thou owest to the Common-wealth I doe desire thee and by the immortal Gods I doe conjure thee that since thou art a vertuous Romane and Censor of the people that thou prouide for one of these two things that is to say that this my nephew doe serue me or else ordeyne that I dye forthwith For it is a great crueltie that those doe pursue mee which are aliue since it is now fourtie yeares that I ceased not to bewayle the dead Cato beeing well informed of that the olde man had tolde him and since he found all that true which he spake he called vnto his presence the young Nephewe and sayde vnto him these wordes If thou wert such a Childe as thou oughtest to bee thou shouldest excuse mee of paine and thy selfe of trauell But since it is not so I pray thee take paciently that which I shall commaund thee and bee thou wel assured that I will not commaund thee any thing but that which shal be correspondent to Iustice For the vicious younglings as thou art ought to be more ashamed of the vnbrideled youthfulnesse they haue committed then for all the punishments which is giuen vnto them First I commaund thou bee whipt because thou art become so disobedient and troublesome to thy Graundfather Secondly I commaunde that thou bee banished the limites of Rome because thou art a vicious young man Thirdly I commaund that of all the goods which thou hast enherited thou shalt bee disinherited because thou doest not obey thy Graundfather And the cause why I giue such seuere sentence is to the ende that from henceforth the young shall not disobey the Aged and also that those which haue inherited great treasours shall not thinke that men should permit them to bee more vicious then others Phalaris the Tyraunt writing to a Friende of his which was very aged saide these words the which seemed rather spoken of a Phylosopher then of a tyrant I haue maruelled at thee and am offended with thee my friend 〈◊〉 to know as I doe that in yeares thou art very aged and in workes very young and also it grieueth mee that thou hast lost the credit of knowledge in the Schooles It grieueth me more that through thee the priuiledges should bee lost which the olde men haue accustomed to haue in Greece that is to say that all the thieues all the periured and all the murtherers were
banishment I did helpe him with money and moreouer he was banished another time for the lightnes hee did commit in the night in the Citie and I maruell not hereof For we see by experience that Olde men which are fleshed in vices are more obstinate to correct then the young Oh what euill fortune haue the old men which haue suffered themselues to waxe olde in vice For more dangerous is the fire in an old house then in a newe and a great cut of a sword is not so perillous as a rotten Fistula Though olde men were not honest and vertuous for the seruice of the Gods and the commonwealth for the saying of the people nor for the example of the young yet he ought to bee honest if it were but for the reuerence of their yeares If the poore old man haue no teeth how shall he eate If he haue no heate in his stomacke how can he disgest If hee haue no taste how can he drinke if he be not strong how can hee be an adulterer if he haue no feet how can he goe if he haue the palsey how can he speake if he haue the gowte in his hands how can he play Finally such like worldly vicious men haue employed their forces being young desirous to proue al these vices and when they are old it grieueth thē extreamly that they cānot acomplish their desire Amongst all these faultes in olde men in myne opinion this is the chiefest that since they haue proued all things that they should still remaine in theyr obstinate follie There is no parte but they haue trauelled no villanie but they haue essayed no Fortune but they haue proued no good but they haue persecuted no euill but hath chanced vnto them nor there is any wickednes but they haue attēpted These vnhappie men which in this sort haue spent all their youth haue in the ende theyr combes cut with infirmities and diseases yet they are not so much grieued with the vices which in them doe abound to hinder them from vertues as they are tormented for want of corporall courage to further them in their lustes Oh if wee were Gods or that they would giue vs licence to knowe the thoughtes of the olde as wee see with our eyes the deedes of the young I sweare to the God Mars and also to the Mother Berecynthia that without comparison wee would punish more the wicked desires which the aged haue to be wicked then the light deedes of the young Tell mee Claude and Claudine doe you thinke though you behaue your selues as young you shall not seme to be olde Knowe you not that our nature is the corruption of our bodie and that our bodie hindereth our vnderstandings and that the vnderstandings are kept of our soule and that our soule is the mother of desires and that our desires are the scourge of our youth and that our youth is the ensigne of our age and age the spye of death and that death in the end is the house where life taketh his harbor from whēce youth flyeth a foot frō whence age cānot escape a horseback I would reioyce that you Claude and Claudine would but tell mee what you finde in this life that so much therwith you should be contented since no we you haue passed foure-score yeares of life during the which time either you haue bin wicked in the worlde or else you haue bin good If you haue bin good you ought to thinke it long vntill you bee with the good Gods if you haue bin euill it is iust you dye to the ende you be no worse For speaking the truth those which in threescore and ten yeares haue bin wicked in workes leaue small hope of their amendment of life Adrian my Lord beeing at Nola in Campania one brought vnto him a nephew of his from the studie whereas the yong childe had not profited a little for hee became a great Grecian and Latinist and moreouer hee was faire gratious and honest And this Emperour Adrian loued his Nephew so much that he saide vnto him these wordes My Nephewe I knowe not whether I ought to say vnto thee that thou art good or euill For if thou be euill life shall be euill employed on thee and if thou be good thou oughtest to dye immediately and because I am worse then all I liue longer then all These words which Adrian my Lord said doe plainly declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruell death doth assault the good and lengtheneth life a great while to the euill The opinion of a phylosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their mysteries and so iust in their works that to men which least profite the commonwealth they lengthen life longest and though he had not saide it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale friendship to the Commonwealth eyther the Gods take him from vs or the Enemyes doe slay him or the daungers doe cast him away or the trauells doe finish him When the great Pompeyus and Iulius Caesar became enemyes and from that enmitie came to cruell warres the Gronicles of the time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in he fauour of Iulius Caesar and the mightiest and most puissant of al the oriental parts came in the ayde of great Pompeius because these two Princes were loued of a few and serued and feared of all Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the Orientall part into the hoast of the great Pompeius one nation came maruellous and cruell barbarous which sayde they dwelled on the other side of the mountaine Riphees which goe vnto India And these Barbarians had a Custome not to liue no longer then fifty yeares and therefore when they came to that age they made a greater fire and were burned therin aliue and of their owne wils they sacrificed themselues to the Gods Let no man be astonied at that we haue spoken but rather let them maruell of that wee will speake that is to say that the same day any man had accōplished fifty yeares immediately hee cast himselfe quicke into the fire and his friends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eate the flesh of the dead halfe burned and dranke in wine and water the ashes of his bones so that the stomacke of the childrē being aliue was the graue of the Fathers being dead All this that I haue spoken with my tongue Pompeius hath seene with his eyes for that some being in the camp did accomplish fifty yeares and because the case was strange hee declared it oft in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what he will and condemne the barbarians at his pleasure yet I will not cease to say what I thinke O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the World to ome shall be
coller of golde at the necke as those of Dace Fringes in their gownes as those of Saphire hoops in their hattes as the Greekes and pearls on their fingers as those of India What wilt thou I tell thee more then I haue tolde thee but that they weare theyr Gownes long and large as those of Tharento and they weare them of the colour as men of warre and euery weeke they haue change as players and the worste of all is that they shew themselues as doating with loue now in their Age as others haue done heretofore in their youth That old men are ouercome by yong desires I doe not maruel for that brutish Lust is as naturall as the daylie foode but the olde men being olde men should be so dissolute herewith men iustly ought to be offended For the olde men couetous and of Flesh vicious both offend the Gods and slaunder the commonwealth Oh how many I haue knowne in Rome who in their youth haue been highly praysed and esteemed and after wardes through giuing themselues to very much lightnes in their age haue bin of all abhorred And the worst of all is that they haue lost all theyr credite their parents their fauour and their poore innocent Children theyr profit For many times the Gods permit that the Fathers committing the offences the paines should fall vpon their owne children The renowmed Gaguino Cato who discended from the hie linage of the sage Catoes was fiue yeares Flamen priest and administrator to the Vestall virgins three yeers Pretor two yeeres Censor one yeere Dictator fiue times Consull being 75. yeares olde he gaue himself to follow serue and to desire Rosana and daughter of Gneus Cursius a Lady of truth verie young and faire and of many desired and much made of time afterwards passing away and God Cupid doing his office the loue was so kindled inwardly in the heart of this olde man that hee ranne almost mad So that after hee had consumed all his goods in seruing her dayly he sighed and nightly hee wept onely for to see her It chaunced that the saide Rosana fell sicke of a burning ague wherewith shee was so distempered that shee could eate no meat but greatlie desired to eates grapes and sithens there were none ripe at Rome Gaguino Cato sent to the riuer of Rheyn to fetch some being farre and many miles distant from thence And when the thing was spredde through Rome and that all the people knew it and the Senate vnderstanding the folly of him the Fathers commaunded that Rosana should be looked vp with the Vestall Virgins the olde man banished Rome for euer to the end that to them it should be a punishment and to others an example Truely it grieued mee sore to see it and also I had great paines in writing it For I saw the Father dye in infamie and his children liue in pouertie I beleeue that all those which shall heare this example and all those which shall reade this writing shall finde the fact of this amorous olde man both vile and filthy and they will allow the sentence of the Senate which they gaue against him for good and iust I sweare that if Gaguino Cato had had as manie young men in his banishment as he left olde men Louers that followed his example in Rome there should not be cast away so many men neyther so many women euill married It chanceth oft times that when the olde men specially being noble and valiant are aduertised of their seruants are rebuked of their parents are prayed of their friends and accused of their enemies to bee dishonest in such a place they answere That they are not in loue but in iest When I was very young no lesse in wisedome then in age one night in the Capitoll I met with a neighbour of mine the which was so old that hee might haue taken me for his nephew to whom I sayde these words Lord Fabritius are you also in Loue he answered me You see that my age suffereth me not that I should be a louer if I should bee it is but in sport Truly I maruelled to meete him at that houre and I was ashamed to haue such an answere In olde men of great age and grauity such request cannot be called loue but griefe not pastime but losse of time not mocrie but villanie for of loue in iest ensueth infamy indeed I aske you Claude and Claudine what a thing is it to see an olde man bee in loue Truely it is no other but as a garland before the Tauerne doores where al men think that there is wine and they sell nought else but vineger They are egges white without rotten within they are golden pilles the tast wherof are very bitter and as emptie boxes in shops which haue newe writings on them or as a new gate and within in the house is full of filth and cobwebs Finally the old Louer is a knight of Exchetes which helpeth to lose money and can deliuer no man from perill Let this word be noted and alwayes in your memory committed That the olde man that is vitious is but as a Leeke which hath the head white and the tale greene Mee thinketh that you ought to breake the wings of time since that you haue feathers to flye withall deceyue not your selfe nor your friends and neighbours saying that there is time for all For the amendment is in your hands but time is in the hands of God to dispose Let vs come now to remedy this great dammage doe what you can by the day of youth and deferre it not vntill the night of age for ill cutteth the knife when the edge thereof is dulled and ill can hee gnawe the bones which is accustomed to eate the flesh I tell you and aduertise you that when the olde and rotten houses beginne to fall vnderset not them with rotten wood but with hard timber I meane with the vpright thoughts of accounts which we ought to giue the Gods of our life and to men of our renowne For I say that if the Vine bee gathered of our vertues wee ought to graffe againe the amendment and if the shreds of our gatherings be drye and withered through our peruerse workes wee ought to set them againe with new mould and good desires The Gods are so gentle to serue and so good to content that if for all the seruices we owe them and for the gifts which they giue vs we cannot pay them in good works they demaund no more in pauement but good wils Finally I say that if thou Claude and Claudine haue offered the meale of youth to the world offer now the bloud of age to the Gods I haue written longer then I had thought to haue done Salute all my neighbours specially Drusio the Patrician and noble Roman widow I remember that Gobrine your neece did mee a pleasure that day of the Feast of the mother Berecinthia wherfore I send two thousand Sesterces one
will but hauing it with him it profiteth him nothing Wee may say of these rich and couetous men that if they heape and keepe they say it is for deere and drye yeares and to relieue theyr parents and friends We may aunswer them that they doe not heape vp to remedie the poore in like necessityes but rather to bring the Common-wealth to greater pouerty For then they sell all things deere and put out their money to great vsurie so that this couetous man doth more harme with that he doth lend them then the drie yeare doth with that it hath taken frō them The noble and vertuous men ought not cease to doe well for feare of dry yeares For in the ende if one deare yeare come it maketh al deere and at such a time and in such a case he onely may be called happie which for being free and liberall in Almes shall reioyce that his table should be costly Let all couetous men beware that for keeping of much goods they giue not to the diuell theyr soules For it may bee that before the deare yeare commeth to sel their Corne their bodyes shal be layd in the graue Oh what good doeth GOD to the Nobles giuing them liberal harts and what ill lucke haue couetous men hauing as they haue their harts so hard laced For if couetous men did taste how sweet and necessarie a thing it is to giue they could keepe little for themselues Now sithens the miserable and couetous men haue not the heart to giue to their friendes to depart to their parents to succour the poore to lend to their neighbours nor to sustaine the Orphanes It is for to bee thought that they will spend it on themselues Truly I say no more for there are men so miserable and so hard of that they haue that they thinke that as euill spent which among themselues they spend as that which one robbeth from them of their goods How will the couetous and miserable wretch giue a garment to a naked man which dare not make himselfe a coate How will hee giue to eate to the poore familiar which as a poore slaue eateth the bread of branne and selleth the flower of meale How shal the Pilgrims lodge in his house who for pure misery dare not enter and how doth he visite the Hospitall and releeue the sicke that oft times hazardeth his owne health and life for that hee will not giue one penny to the Physition how shall hee succour secretly the poore and needy which maketh his owne children goe barefoote and naked how can hee helpe to marry the poore maides being orphanes when he suffereth his owne daughters to waxe olde in his house how will hee giue of his goods to the poore Captiues which will not pay his owne men their wages how will he giue to eate to the children of poore Gentlemen which alwayes grudgeth at that his owne spend how should wee beleeue that hee wil apparrell a widdow which will not giue his owne wife a hoode How doth hee daily giue almes which goeth not to the Church on the Sunday because hee will not offer one penny how shall the couetous man reioyce the heart sith for spending of one penny oft times hee goeth supperlesse to bed And finally I say that hee will neuer giue vs of his own proper goods which weepeth alwayes for the goods of another CHAP. XXIIII The Author followeth his matter and with great reasons discommendeth the vices of couetous men ONe of the thinges wherein the diuine prouidence sheweth that we do not vnderstand the maner of her gouernement is to see that shee giueth vnderstanding to a man to know the riches shee giueth him force to seeke them subtilly to gather them vertue to sustaine them courage to defend them and also long life to possesse them And with all this shee giueth him not licence to enioy them but rather suffereth him that as without reason hee hath made himselfe Lord of an other mans of right hee should bee made slaue of his owne thereby a man may know of how greater excellency vertuous pouerty is then the outragious couetousnesse for so much as to the poore God doth giue contentation of that little hee hath from the rich man he taketh contentation of the great deale hee possesseth So that to the couetous man wee see troubles encrease howerly and the gaine commeth vnto him but monethly Let vs compare the rich and couetous man to the poore potter and wee shall see who shall profite most eyther the potter with his pots that he maketh of the earth or else the couetous with his money which he hath in the earth Though I make no answere to this yet answer herein hath already been made that the one is much better at ease with the earth then the other is with the good For the Potter getteth his liuing by selling pots and the couetous man loseth his soule by keeping riches I humbly require the high Princes and also I beseech the great Lordes and further I admonish the other nobles and Plebeians alwayes to haue this word in memory I say and affirme that the more strongly the man keepeth and locketh his treasure the more strongly and priuily is he kept for if hee put two keyes to keepe his treasure he putteth seuen to his heart not to spend them Let the noble and valiant men beware that they giue not their mindes to heape vp treasures for if once their hearts bee kindled with couetousnes for feare of spending a halfe penny they will dayly suffer themselues to fall into a thousand miseries The Plebeians which are very rich may say that they haue not heaped vp much treasures sithence they cannot behold a hundred or two hundred duccats To this I answere that the estates considered ten duccates doe as much harme to a Treasurer as to others ten thousand For the fault consisteth not in keeping or hiding much or litle riches but forsomuch as in keeping them we cease to doe many good workes To mee it is a strange matter that niggardlinesse hath a greater force to the couetous then conscience hath in others For there are many which notwithstanding conscience do profite with the goods of others and the couetous hauing more misery then conscience cannot yet profite with their owne With much care and lesse diligence the couetous men doe prouide that the millers do not rob the meale that their beasts make no wasts that the Hunters run not through the corne that their wine perish not that those which owe them any thing doe not go and make themselues bankroutes that wynets do not eate their corne and the theeues rob not their goods but in the end they watch none so well as themselues for all the others earely or late haue alwayes oportunitie to robbe from them somewhat but the couetous hath neuer the heart to change a duccate Men ought to take great pitty of a couetous man who by his own will
but with comfortable wordes The ende of this comparison tendeth to this effect that all the afflicted harts should know that somtimes the the hart is more comforted with one benefite which they doe then with an hundred words which they speake And at an other time the sorrowfull hart is more lightned with one worde of his friendes mouth then with all the seruice of others in the worlde Oh wretch that I am for as in the one and in the other I am destitute So in all I do want For considering thy greatnes and weyghing my little knowledge I see my selfe very vnable For that to comfort thee I want science and for to helpe thee I want riches But I cease not to haue great sorrow if sorrow in payment may be receyued That which with my person I can doe neyther with paper or iuke I will requite For the man which with word only comforteth in effect being able to remedy declareth himselfe to haue beene a fayned Friend in times past and sheweth that a man ought not to take him for a faithfull friend in time to come That which the Romaines with the widdowes of Rome haue accustomed to doe I will not presently doe with rhee Lady Lauinia that is to say that thy Husband being dead all goe to visite the Widdow all comfort the widdow and within a few dayes after if the wofull widdow haue neede of any smal fauor with the Senate they withdraw themselues together as if they had neuer knowne her Husband nor seene her The renowme of Romaine widdowes is very dayntie For of their honestie or dishonestie dependeth the good renowme of their person the honour of their parents the credite of their childreÌ„ and the memory of the dead For this therfore it is healthfull counsell for wise men to speake few words to widowes and to doe infinite good works What auaileth it wofull widowes to haue their Cofers filled with letters and promises and their eares stuffed with words and flatteries If hitherto thou hast taken mee for thy neighbour and parent of thy husband I beseech thee henceforth that thou take mee for a husband in loue for father in counsell for brother in seruice and for aduocate in the Senate And all this so truly shall be accomplished that I hope thou wilt say that which in many I haue lost in Marcus Aurelius alone I haue found I know well as thou doost in like maner that when the hearts with sorrowes are ouerwhelmed the spirits are vexed and troubled the memory is dulled the flesh doth tremble the spirit doth change and reason is withdrawne And since that presently sorrow and care in thy house doe remaine let the gods forsake me if I abandon thee let them forget mee if I remember thee not But as Claudine remained thine wholly till the houre of death so Marcus Aurelius will euermore be thine during his life Since I loue thee so entirely and thou trustest me so faithfully and that thou with sorrowes art so replenished and my heart with care so oppressed let vs admit that thou Lady Lauinia hast the aucthority to command me in thy affaires and I licence to counsell aduertise thee of things touching thy honour and person For oftentimes the widowes haue more neede of a meane remedy then of a good counsell I earnestly desire thee to leaue the lamentation of the Romane widowes that is to know to shut the gates to teare their haires to cut their garments to goe bare legged to paint the visage to eate solitarily to weepe on the graues to chide her Chamberlaines to poure out water with teares to put Acornes on the graues and to bite their nailes with the teeth For these things and such other semblable lightnesse behooueth not the grauity of Romane Matrons either to see them or else to know them Since there is no extremity but therein vice is annexed I let thee know Lady Lauinia if thou bee ignorant thereof that the widowes which are so extreame doe torment themselues doe trouble their friends do offend the gods do forsake theirs in the end they profit not the dead and to the enuious people they giue occasion to talke I would thinke and me seemeth that the women which are Matrons and widowes ought to take vpon them such garment and estate the day that the gods take life from their husbands as they entend to weare during their life What auaileth it that a widow bee one moneth shut vp in her house and that afterwards within a yeare she is met in euery place of Rome what auaileth it that for few dayes she hideth her selfe from her parents and friends and afterwards shee is found the first at the theaters what profiteth it that widowes at the first doe mourne and goe euill attired and afterwards they dispute and complaine of the beauty of the Romane wiues what forceth it that widowes for a certaine time doe keepe their gates shut and afterwards their houses are more frequented then others What skilleth it that a man see the widowes weepe much for their husbands and afterwards they see them laugh more for their pastimes Finally I say that it little auaileth the woman to seeme to suffer much openly for the death of her husband if secretly she hath another husband already found For the vertuous and honest widow immediatly as she seeth another man aliue she renueth her sorrow for her husband that is dead I will shew thee Lady Lauinia a thing that befell in Rome to the end thou thinke not I talke at pleasure In the olde time in Rome there was a noble worthy Romane Lady wife of the noble Marcus Marcellus whose came was Fuluia And it happened so that this woman seeing her husband buried in the field of Mars for the great priese she had she scratched her face shee ruffled her haire shee tore her gowne and fell downe to the earth in a sound by the reason whereof two Senatours kept her in their armes to the end she should torment her selfe no more To whom Gneus â—lâ—uius the Censour said Let Fuluia goe out of your hands she will this day doe all the penance of widowes Speaking the truth I know not whether this Romane spake with the Oracle or that hee were a Diuine but I am â—ssured that all hee spake came to paile For that this Fuluia was the wise of so excellent a Romane as that good Marcus Marceilus was I would that so vnlucky a chance had not happened vnto her which was that whiles the bones of her husband were a burning she agreed to be married to another and which was more to one of the Senatours that lifted her vp by the armes she gaue her hand as a Romane to a Romane in token of a faithfull marriage The case was so abhominable that of all men it was dispraised that were present and gaue occasion that they neuer credite widowes afterwards I doe not speake it Lady Lauinia for that I
and so curious to buye that that which hee taketh shall be of great measure and that which hee selleth vs shal want much weight CHAP. XLI ¶ Of a Letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote vnto his friend Torquatus to comfort him in his banishment which is notable for all men to learne the vanities of this World MArcus Emperour of Rome companion in the Empire with his Brother Annius Verus to thee Torquatus of the citie of Gaietta wisheth all health to thy person and strength against thy euill Fortunes I beeing in the Temple of the Vestall virgines about three moneth since I receyued a Letter of thine the which was in such sorte that neyther mine eyes for that time could make an ende to read it or since I haue had the heart to answer it For in the incoÌ„nueniences of our friends if we haue no facultie nor might for to remedie it at the least we are bound to bewayle it Thy sorrow maketh me so heauie thy paine doeth trouble mee so much I am so carefull of thy anguish so tormented with thy griefe that if the Gods had giuen power to wofull men to imparte theyr sorrowes as they haue giuen to rich men to imparte their goods by the faith I owe to God I sweare that as I am the greatest of thy Friendes I would bee hee which should take the most parte of thy griefes I know right well and as well as he that hath proued it that asmuch difference as there is betweene the baâ—ke and the tree the marow and the bone the corne and the straw the gold and the drosse the trueth and the dreams so much is there to heare the Trauells of another and to taste his own Notwithstanding comfort thy selfe my friend Torquatus for where the friends bee true the goods and the euills are common betwixt them Oftentimes with my selfe I haue maruelled to what ende or intention the immortall Gods haue giuen Trauell and torments to men since it is in their powers to make vs liue without them I see no other thing why the mishaps ought paciently to bee suffered but because in those wee know who are our faithfull friendes In battell the valiant man is knowne in tempestuous weather the Pylot is known by the Touch-stone the gold is tryed and in aduersitie the true Friende is knowne For my friende doth not enough to make me merrie vnles also he doth take part of my sorrow I haue heard say here and now by thy letter I haue seene how they haue banished thee from Rome and confiscated thy goods and that for pure sorow thou art sicke in thy bed wherof I maruel not that thou art sicke but to be as thou art aliue For saying to thee the Trueth where the heart is sore wounded in shorte space it hath accustomed to yeelde vp vnto the bodie I see well that thou complaynest and thou hast reason to complain to see thy selfe banished from Rome and thy goods confiscate to see thy selfe out of thy countrey without any parentage yet therfore thy sorrowes ought not to be so extreame that thou shouldst put thy life in hazzard For hee alone ought to haue licence and also is bounde to hate life which doeth not remember that hee hath serued the Gods nor hath done any profite to men If the affayres of the Empire did not occupie me and the Emperiall Maiestie did not withdraw me I would immediately haue come to comforte thy person where thou shouldest haue seen by experience with what griefe I feele thy troubles And therefore if thou takest mee for thy friende thou oughtest to belieue of mee that which in this case I would of thee which is that as thou hast been the most entier Friend which I had in Rome So is this the thing that most I haue felt in this life Tell me my friend Torquatus what is it thou sufferest there that I do not lament here It may be that sometime thou laughest but I alwayes weepe sometimes thou comfortest thy selfe but I am alwayes sad It may be that thou lightnest thy paine but I am in sighing It may bee that sometimes thou castest from thee sorrow but for mee I cannot receyue consolation It may bee that thou hopest remedie of long life but for mee I finde no remedie more healthfull then present death Finally I say that here I feele all that thou feelest there and furthermore I suffer all that which as a friend I ought to suffer here so that both our paynes are made one moste cruell sorrowe wherewith my woefull life is tormented I would greatly desire to come and see thee and to help to disburden thee of this charge And since it is vnpossible that thou shalt finde some comfortable wordes For thou knowest that if the true Friendes cannot doe that which they ought yet they doe accomplish it in doing that they can If my memory deceyue me not it is well two and thirty yeares since we two haue known together in Rome during the which Fortune hath made here betweene vs diuers alterations in the which time I neuer saw thee one day contented For if thou were sad nothing did make thee merrie but wert as a man without taste and if thou were ioyfull thou esteemedst it little as a man being troubled Therefore if the trueth be so as indeed it is that in trauells thou were loden with sorrows and in prosperities thou wert euill content so that of nothing in the world thou takest any taste why is it my friend Torquatus that now again thou art in despaire as if thou camest new into this world Thou didst reioyce thy selfe xxxii yeares with the Triumphes and prosperitie of Rome and thou complainest onely of three moneths that Fortune hath been contrary vnto thee O Torquatus Torquatus dost thou knowe that the wise men in whome wisedome raigneth haue more feare of two vnhappie dayes in this life then of two hundreth of prosperous Fortune Oh how many haue I seene go out of their prosperities with the charges of another man and theyr owne proper vices so that the vaine-glory and the fayling prosperities endured fewe dayes but the griefe of that they haue lost and the enmities which they haue recouered endure many yeares The contrary of all this commeth to vnfortunate men which escape out of their tribulations spoyled of vices enuironed with vertues persecutors of euills zealous of good friends of all and enemyes of none contented with theirs and not desiring others Finally they are escaped wisely from the snare and haue gathered the Rose not hurting themselues with the prickes What wilt thou that I say more vnto thee but that the most Fortunate ate vanquished in peace and the vnfortunate are conquerors in warre One of the Sentences which moste haue contented me of those which the Auncients haue spoken is this of the diuine Plato That those which are in prosperity haue no lesse need of good counsell then the vnhappy haue of remedie For
no lesse doe they trauell which goe alwayes in the plaine way then those which mount on the sharpe craggy mountaine According to that I haue gathered of thy letter mee seemeth that when we hope most rest greatest trauel hath succeeded to thee And hereof I doe not maruell nor thou oughtest not be offended for as experience teacheth vs when the trees haue the blossoms then they are most subiect to the frost and when glasses are drawne out of the furnace they breake The Captaines hauing won the victorie doe die When they will put the key in the dore the house doth fall The Pirates perish within the kenning of land By that I haue spoken I meane that when wee thinke to haue made peace with fortune then shee hath a new demaund ready forged All new changes of Fortune causeth all wayes new paine to the person but often times it is cause of more great fortresse for the tree beareth not so much fruit where it first grew as there where againe it is planted and the sauours are more odoriferous when they are most chafed I meane that men of high thoughts the more they are wrapped in the frownings of Fortune the more valiant and stout they shew themselues The man vtterly is foolish or hath great want of vnderstanding who hopeth at any time to haue perfect rest imagining that the World will giue no assault vpon him but that the time shall come wherein hee shall bee without care and feare This miserable life is of such condition that dayly our yeares doe diminish and our troubles encrease O Torquatus by the immortall Gods I doe desire thee and in the faith of a friend I doe require thee thou being borne in the world nourishing thy selfe in the world liuing in the world being conuersant in the world being a child of the world and following the world what didst thou hope of the world but things of the world Peraduenture thou alone wilt eate the flesh without bones giue battell without perill trauell without paine and sayle by the sea without daunger I meane that â—s vnpossible for mortall men to liue in the world vnlesse they will become subiect to the sorrowes of the world The world hath alwayes been the world and now the world shall be after vs and as a world shall handle the worldlings The wise men and those which of their estates are carefull are not contented to see nor superficialy to know the things but rather waigh them profoundly I say this because if thou knewest thy debelity and knewest fortune and her chaunge if thou knewest the men and their malices if thou knewest the world and his flatteries thou shouldest winne no little honour where as otherwise thou mayes chance to get infamie Wee are now come to so great folly that wee will not serue the Gods which haue created vs nor abstaine from the World which persecuteth vs And the best is that hee not willing vs but rather reiecting vs we say that of our owne willes wee will loue and serue him and yet knowing that those which longest haue serued the world do goe out of his house most bitterly lamenting Oftentimes I stay for to thinke that according to the multitude of men which follow the world beeing alwayes euill handled of the World if the World did pray them as hee doth annoye them if hee did comfort them as he doth torment them if he kept them as he banisheth them if he exalted them as he abuseth them of he receyued them as he expelleth them if he did continue them as he consumeth them I thinke that the Gods should not be honoured in heauen nor the temples worshipped in the earth O Torquatus my friend that which I will now say of thee thou mayest say of mee that is to say how much wee put our confidence in fortune how lewdly wee passe our dayes and how much wee are â—inded in the world yet for all that we credite his word as much as though hee had neuer mocked any CHAP. XLII Marcus Aurelius goeth on with his Letter and by strong and high reasons perswadeth all that line in the world not to trust the world nor any thing therein TEl l mee I pray thee Torquatus what wilt thou hear more What wilt thou see more and what wilt thou know more to know the world seeing how vntill this present thou hast beene handled of the world thou demaundest rest and he hath giuen thee trouble thou demaundest honour and he hath giuen thee infamie Thou demaundest riches and he hath giuen thee pouerty thou demaundest ioy and hee hath giuen thee sorrow Thou demaundest to be his and hee hath giuen thee his hand Thou demandest life and hee hath giuen thee death Therefore if it be true that the world hath handled thee in this wise why doest thou weepe to returne againe to his wicked house O filthy worlde how farre art thou from iust and how farre ought they to bee from thee which desire to be iust For naturally thou art a friend of nouelties and enemie of vertues One of the Lessons which the world readeth to his children is this that to be true worldlings they should not bee very true The which experience plainely sheweth vs for the man which medleth much with the world leaueth alwayes suspition of him that hee is not true The World is an Ambassadour of the euill a scourge of the good chiefest of vices a tyrant of the vertuous a breaker of peace a friend of warre a sweete water of vices the gawle of the vertuous a defendor of lyes an inuentor of nouelties a trauellour of the ignorant a hammer for the malitious a table of gluttons and a furnace of concupiscence Finally it is the perill of Charibdes where the harts doe perish and the danger of Scylla where the thoughts doe waste Presuppose that these he the conditions of the world The truth is that if there bee any worldling who complayneth to be euill content with the world shall he therefore chaunge his stile Truly no and the reason is that if perchaunce one worldling should goe out the house of the world there are x. thousand vanityes at his Gate I know not what wise man will liue in the World with such conditions since the vices wherewith wee doe reioyce our selues are very fewe in respect of the torments which we suffer I say not that we doe heare it by heare-say and reade them in bookes but wee see with our owne eyes the one to consume and wast the goods others by misfortune to fall and lose their credite others to fall and loose their honour and others to loose their life and all these miseryes seene yet neuertheles euery man thinketh to be free by priuiledge where there is none priuiledged Oh my deare Friend Torquatus of one thing I assure thee which is that the men which are born of women are so euill a generation and so cruell is the world wherein we liue and Fortune
so empoysoned with whome wee frequent that we cannot escape without beeing spurned with his feete bitten with his Teeth torne with his nayles or empoysoned with his venome Peraduenture thou mayest say vnto mee that thou hast seene some in Rome which haue liued longtime Fortune neuer beeing against him To this I answere thee that thou oughtst rather to haue pittie vppon him then enuie For it is not for his profite but for his great hinderance For the World is so malicious that when it seemeth to bee most our Friende then it worketh vs most displeasure The healthfull men dye rather of a short disease in fewe dayes then the drye and feeble men doe with a disease of many yeares By this comparison I meane that since man cannot escape nor liue without trauell it is much better that by little and little he tasteth them then they enter al at one time into his house Oh how much ought the man to be hated of the immortall Gods who knoweth not what trauell meaneth in this world For hee onely ought to feare Fortune who knoweth not Fortunes force Since the Gods would permit and thy mishap hath beene such that thou hast found more daunger where thou thoughtst most surety as a man euillfortuned it is reason that wee applye vnto thee some newe ware to the end thou lose not thy good renowm since thou hast lost thy euill goods Tell mee I pray thee Torquatus why doest thou complayne as a man sicke why cryest thou as a foole why sighest thou as a man in despaire and why doest thou weepe as a Childe Thou art come out of the way And thou complainst to haue lost thy way Thou sailest by the broyling Seas and thou wonderest that the Waues doe assault thee Thou hast ascended the steepe and craggie Mountaines and thou complainest that thou art weary Thou walkest by the thornes and wilt not that thy gowne be torne Didst thou thinke on the top of the high Mountaine to liue most sure By that I haue spoken I will aske what diligent seruice thou hast done to the world that thou wouldst the Gods of heauen should recompence thee Wouldest thou of Fortune a safe conduct shee being as shee is enemie of manie Nature being not able to giue it the which is mother of all Oh my Friend Torquatus that which that pittifull Nature cannot promise thee didst thou thinke that Fortune which is the iust step-mother should giue It is vnpossible that the Sea should always promise vs surety and the heauens clearenesse the Summer deawes and the Winter Frosts Marke well my Friende Torquatus that all naturall things are subiect to chaunge euery yeare but all the Worldlings ought to endure to Eclipse euery moment Since the naturall Gods cannot alwayes be in one mans custodie being necessarie it is iust that the goods of Fortune perish since they are superfluous Vniust should the Gods bee if that which is to the damage of so manie they had made perpetuall and that which is to the profite of all they had made mortall I will no more reduce to thy memorie the prosperities which thou hast had in times past before that we treate how Fortune handleth thee at this present The deceytfull Fortune when at thy gate she sold her Marchandise knowing that shee soldevnto thee and thou being ignorant of that thou boughtst she gaue thee fruitfull ground and afterwards made it vnto thee painefull Shee hath giuen thee sower for sweet and the sweete shee hath returned to the sower Shee hath giuen thee the euill for the good and where that thou hast solde her good shee returneth vnto thee euill Finally shee hath beguyled thee in the iust price thou not supposing that thou hadst receyued any damage Wee can doe no lesse in this case but to haue compassion vpon thee yet though they condemne malicious Fortune for selling they will note thee simple in buying For in the shoppe of Fortune all Marchandize are suspicious Oh vnhapie that we are I say those which meddle with the Word for in his Market they see nought but lyes and wee doe not trust but in the ouerthrowes of our renowme which are not paide but with the cost of our life And the factours of that Fayre giue vs nothing by weyght or measure for they are a sort of vacabondes And the worst of all is knowing that they ought to lose with Fortune all seeke to buye at her shoppe Giue thy selfe to the Worlde loue the world much serue the world well followe the world well and feele the world well For in the ende of thy iourney the world requireth thee to be like vnto his inconstancie I would enter into count not with the Worlde which in the ende is the world but with the worldlings which are in loue with the world For in thè ende eyther it is good or euill If the world be good for them whereof doe they complaine If he be euill why do they follow him They cannot though they would denie one of the two errours wherein the worldlings fall that is to say that they serue an euill maister or that they murmure of a good lord Now tell mee my Friend Torquatus what didst thou hope since thou madest so long time a countenaunce to the world Two and thyrtie yeares thou hast serued the worlde and hast been in his fauour wherefore it were now high time that between thee and him were some discord For between the Grand-fathers and the Nephews between the Father and the children between the vnkles and the nephews daylie we see great strifes And didst thou thinke that betweene thee and Fortune perpetuall peace should be Shee gaue not to Belus king of the Assyrians but lx yeares of prosperity To the queene Semiramis sixe onely To Label King of the Lacedemonians fiue To the K of the Chaldeans fowre To the great Alexander of Macedony fowre To the great Amilcar King of Carthage two To our Iulius Caesar one and to infinite others shee gaue not one If the world were pacient he should be no world if the world were constant hee should bee no world if the world were sober hee should bee no world if the world were true he shold be no world if the world were corrigible he should be no world Finally I say that for nought else the world is world but because there is nothing in him worthy to be beloued and many things in it deserueth to bee reproued If thou wert wise and knewst any thing of the world in all the discourse of those xxxii yeares thou hadst not eaten without care nor hadst gone without guyles and hadst not spoken without suspicion nor slept without assault nor trusted any friende For the Warre men doe bethinke them all wayes wherein their enemies doe beguile them wherein they themselues may fayle and wherein fortune may let them I know not if it be that the world of himselfe bee happy or that the Worldlings are fooles For if one stranger
demaund thee how it is possible that I which haue heard thee speake so well of death doe presently see thee so vnwilling to leaue life since the gods commaund it thy age willeth it thy disease doth cause it thy feeble nature doth permit it the sinfull Rome doth deserue it and the sickle fortune agreeth that for our great miserie thou shouldest die Why therefore sighest thou so much for to die The trauels which of necessitie must needes come with stout heart ought to be receiued The cowardly heart falleth before hee is beaten downe but the stout and valiant stomacke in greatest perill recouereth most strength Thou art one man and not two thou owest one death to the gods and not two Why wilt thou therefore being but one pay for two and for one onely life take two deaths I meane that before thou endest life thou diest for pure sorrow After that thou hast sayled and in the sayling thou hast passed such perill when the gods doe render thee in the safe Hauen once againe thou wilt runne into the raging Sea where thou scapest the victorie of life and thou dyest with the ambushments of death Threescore and two yeeres hast thou fought in the Field and neuer turned thy backe and fearest thou now beeing enclosed in the Graue Hast thou not passed the pykes and bryers wherein thou hast beene enclosed and now thou tremblest being in the sure way Thou knowest what dammage it is long to liue and now thou doubtest of the profit of death which ensueth It is now many yeeres since death and thou haue beene at defyance as mortall enemies and now to lay thy hands on thy Weapons thou flyest and turnest thy backe Threescore and two yeeres are past since thou wert bent against fortune and now thou closest thy eyes when thou oughtest ouer her to triumph By that I haue told thee I meane that since wee doe not see thee take death willingly at this present we do suspect that thy life hath not in times past beene very good For the man which hath no desire to appeare before the gods it is a token he is loaden with vices What meanest thou most noble Prince why weepest thou as an infant and complainest as a man in despaire If thou weepest because thou dyest I answer thee that thou laughest as much when thou liuedst For of too much laughing in the life proceedeth much wayling at the death Who hath alwaies for his heritage appropriated the places being in the common wealth The vnconstancy of the minde who shall bee so hardy to make steadie I meane that all are dead all die all shall die among all wilt thou alone liue Wilt thou obtaine of the gods that which maketh them gods That is to say that they make thee immortall as thēselues Wilt thou alone haue by priuiledge that which the gods haue by nature My youth demandeth thy age what thing is best or to say better which is lesse euill to die well or to liue euill I doubt that any man may attaine to the meanes to liue well according to the continuall and variable troubles and vexations which daily we haue accustomed to carrie betweene our hands alwayes suffering hunger cold thirst care displeasures temptations persecutions euill fortunes ouerthrowes and diseases This cannot be called life but a long death and with reason wee will call this life death since a thousand times we hate life If an ancient man did make a shew of his life from time he is come out of the intrailes of his mother vntill the time hee entreth into the bowels of the earth and that body would declare al the sorrowes that he hath passed and the heart discouer all the ouerthrows of fortune which he hath suffered I imagine the gods would maruell and men would wonder at the body which hath endured so much and the heart which hath so greatly dissembled I take the Greeks to be more wise which weepe when their children bee borne and laugh when the aged dye then the Romanes which sing when their children are borne and weepe when the olde men die Wee haue much reason to laugh when the olde men die since they dy to laugh and with great reason wee ought to weepe when the children are borne since they are borne to weepe CHAP. LI. Panutius the Secretarie continueth his exhortation admonishing all men willingly to accept death vtterly to forsake the world and all his vanities SInce life is now condemned for euill there remaineth nought else but to approoue death to be good Oh if it pleased the immortall gods that as I oftentimes haue heard the disputation of this matter so now that thou couldest therewith profite But I am sorry that to the Sage and wise man counsell sometimes or for the most part wanteth None ought to cleaue much to his owne opinion but sometimes he should follow the counsell of the third person For the man which in all things will follow his owne aduise ought well to be assured that in all or the most part hee shall erre O my Lord Marke sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and ancient didst not thou thinke that as thou hadst buried many so likewise some should burie thee What imaginations were thine to thinke that seeing the ende of their dayes others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rich honorably accompanied olde and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the commonwealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast alwaies beene a friend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Since thou hast prooued what honours and dishonours deserue riches and pouertie prosperitie and aduersitie ioy and sorrow loue and fear vices and pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remaineth to know but that it is necessarie to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble Lord that thou shalt learne more in one houre what death is then in an hundred yeares what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to be good and hast liued as good is it better that thou die and goe with so many good then that thou scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doe maruell that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discreet Many things doe the sage men feele which inwardly doe oppresse their heart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honour If all the poyson which in the sorrowfull heart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the wals would not suffice to rubbbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore wherewith to shut the shop wherein all the miserie of this wofull life are vendible What wrong or preiudice doe the gods vnto vs when they call vs before them but from an old decayd house to change
vs to a new builded Pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherin we shut our selues from the assaults of life and broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee finde in death then of that wee haue in life If Helia Fabricia thy wife doe greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doe not care for shee presently hath little care of the perill wherein thy life dependeth And in the end when she shall know of thy death shee will be nothing greeued Trouble not thy selfe for that she is left a widdow for yong women as shee is which are married to olde men as thou when their husbands die they haue their eyes on that they can robbe and their hearts on them whom they desire to marrie And speaking with due respect when with their eyes they outwardly seeme most for to bewayle then with their hearts inwardly doe they most reioyce Deceiue not thy selfe in thinkeing that the Empresse thy wife is yong and that she shall finde none other Emperor with whom again she may marrie For such and the like will change the cloth of gold for gownes of skinnes I meane that they would rather the young shepheard in the field then the olde Emperour in his royall pallace If thov takest sorrow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shouldst do so For truely if it greeue thee now for that thou diest they are more displeased for that thou liuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may be counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that he is not maintained and if hee rich he desireth his death to enherite the sooner Since therefore it is true as indeed it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing and thou weepe If it greeue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces and these sumptuous buildings deceiue not thy selfe therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death doth finish thee at the end of threescore and two yeeres time shall consume these sumptuous buildings in lesse then 40. If it greeue thee to forsake the company of thy friends and neighbors for them also take as little thought since for thee they will not take any at all For amongst the other compassions that they ought to haue of the dead this is true that scarcely they are buried but of their friends and neighbours they are forgotten If thou takest greatest thought for that thou wilt not die as the other Emperours of Rome are dead me seemeth that thou oughtest also to cast this sorrow from thee for thou knowest right well that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankefull to those which serue her that the great Scipio also would not be buried therein If it greeue thee to die to leaue so great a Seignory as to leaue the Empire I cannot thinke that such vanity be in thy head for temperate and reposed men when they escape from semblable offices doe not thinke that they lose honour but that they be free of a trouble some charge Therefore if none of all these things moue thee to desire life what should let thee that throgh thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dy for one of these two things either for the loue of those they leaue behinde them or for feare of that they hope Since therefore there is nothing in this life worthy of loue nor any thing in death why we should feare why doe men feare to die According to the heauy fighes thou fetchest the bitter teares thou sheddest and according also to that great paine thou shewest for my part I thinke that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods should commaund thee to pay this debt For admit that all thinke that their life shall end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soon For that men think neuer to die they neuer begin their faults to amend so that both life and fault haue end in the graue together Knowest not thou most noble Prince that the long night commeth the middest morning Doest thou not know that after the moist morning there cometh the cleare Sun Knowest not thou that after the cleare Sun commeth the cloudy Element Doest thou not know that after the darke myst there commeth extreme heate And after the heate commeth the horrible thunders and after the thunders the sodaine lightnings and after the perilious lightnings commeth the terrible haile Finally I say that after the tempestuous and troublesome time commonly commeth cleare and faire weather The order that time hath to make himselfe cruell and gentle the selfe same ought men to haue to liue and die For after the infancy commeth childhood after childhood commeth youth after youth commeth age and after age commeth the feareful death Finally after that feareful death commeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read and of thee not seldome heard that the gods onely which had no beginning shall haue also no ending Therefore mee thinketh most noble Prince that sage men ought not to desire to liue long Formen which desire to liue much either it is for that they haue not felt the trauels past because they haue bene fooles or for that they desire more time to giue themselues to vices Thou mightest not complaine of that since they haue not cut thee in the flower of the herbe nor taken thee greene from the tree nor cut thee in the spring tide and much lesse eate thee eager before thou wert ripe By that I haue spoken I meane if death had called thee when thy life was sweetest though thou hadst not had reason to haue complayned yet thou mightest haue desired to haue altered it For it is a greater griefe to say vnto a yong man that he must die and forsake the world What is this my Lord now that the wall is decaied ready to fall the flower is an hered the grape doth rot the teeth are loose the gowne is worne the lance is blunt the knife is dull and dost thou desire to returne into the world as if thou hadst neuer knowne the world These threescore and two yeeres thou hast liued in the proportion of this body and wilt thou now that the yron fetters haue rot thy legges desire yet to lengthen thy daies in this so wofull prison They that will not be contented to liue threescore yeeres and fiue in this death or to die in this life will not desire to liue threescore thousand yeeres The Emperour Augustus Octauian saide That alter men had liued fiftie yeeres either of their owne will they ought to dye or else by force they should cause themselues to bee killed For at that time all those which haue any humaine felicitie are at the best Those which liue aboue that age passe their daies in grieuous torments As in the death of children in the losse of goods and importunitie of
world then to be in health No greater pouertie then neuer to haue neede of any thing And there is no greater temptation then to be neuer tempted Nor there can be no greater sadnesse then to be alwayes merry Nor greater daunger then neuer to be in danger For many times it so happeneth that where a man thinketh to passe ouer a dangerous floud safe enough his horse falleth ouer head and eares and drowneth his Master or hee escapeth hardly Socrates being one day demaunded which was the most sure and certaine thing of this life Aunswered thus There is nothing more certain in this life then to account all things vncertaine hee hath nor among Riches any greater then to haue life and health But if the life bee doubtfull and vnquyet what suretie or certaintie may bee found in it Surely none King Agesilaus beeing requested of certaine of his Grecian captains to go see the Olympiade in mount Olympus where all the philosophers did assemble to dispute and where all the Rich men of the countrey came to buy and sell any thing he answered them If in mount Olympus they solde and exchanged sorrow for mirth sicknesse for health honour for infamy and life for death I would not onely goe to see it but I would also spend all that I am worth and that I haue But since the buyer is mortall and the thing also hee buyeth condemned to death I will buye nothing in this life since I can not carrie it with mee into my graue Yet is there another deceipt which the poore Courtyers fall into daylie and that is that in liuing many yeares they think and assuredly belieue in the ende to light of a time when they hope to haue ease and rest which is a mockery to thinke it and extreame madnesse to hope for it For if their years grow by ounce and ounce their sorrowes and troubles encrease by pounds Who can denie but that milke that is kept many dayes doth corrupt and becommeth sower and sharpe Yea the garments that are now very olde and haue beene long worne without that euer moth doth touch it doth in the ende also become rags and dust By this therefore I doe inferre that if it be a most certain thing for young men to dye quickly then much more should olde men be assured that they haue no long time to liue And there are many in the Courts of Princes also that finde themselues so laden with sinnes and wickednesse that they thinke assuredly that in changing their age time and fortune they shall not onely leaue their vices but shall be discharged also of manie grieues and troubles Which we see afterwardes happen contrary to them For there is no way so plaine in this world but there is some ascent or discent for vs to goe vp to the toppe or some Riuer for vs to passe ouer or some terrible mountaine to feare or some crooked ill-fauoured way to loose vs in or some Caue or hole to fall into Those also that thinke certainely that the Sunne cannot lose his light nor that the Moone can be eclipsed nor that the starres may be darkened and that the earth shall not cease to bring forth the seas to flow the water to runne the fire to burne and Winter to be cold let them also bee assured that man cannot bee excused to suffer and abide much For sure it is impossible hee should passe one day without some trouble or sinister hap of Fortune And the greatest trumpery and deceite that Courtiers for the most part are abused in is that the more they waxe in yeares the more they enter dayly into greater affayres and businesse with a vaine hope and assurance they haue to dispatch them and bring them to such end as they list or desire But afterwards when they come to looke into their matters it is the wil of God and their deserts to procure it that the poore old men find when they thinke to goe home to their houses that they see death approach neare them and they afterwardes are carried to be buried in their graues O how many are there in Court that become aged men by long seruing in Court with a vaine hope afterwards in their age to depart from the Court and to repose their aged yeares in their owne houses in quyet and tranquilitie which abuseth them very much So that they may bee called Christians in name and thoughtes but right worldlings and Courtyers in doings And therefore many times I reproued diuers olde Courtyers my Friendes for that they did not leaue the Court when they might haue left it with honour and commoditie tellling them it was more then time now they should depart from the Courte seeing that Age and grauitie had stollen vpon them Who could not tell how to aunswere me nor what to say more then they would within a shorte time goe home to their houses with deliberation and intent to take their ease at home for the better health of their persons which they had not till then and so to seclude them from all doings saue onely in the morning when hee riseth to goe to the Church and serue GOD and from thence to go vnto the Hospitalls to visite the sicke and diseased to seeke out the poore Orphanes and widowes amongst his Neighbours and to make peace between neighbour and neighbour and to relieue the poore And albeit they haue tolde me this tale many a time and ofte yet I neuer sawe any of them put it in execution with good will And I saw once an honorable and rich Courtyer who was so olde that for very Age hee had neuer a blacke haire on his head nor any Teeth in his mouth neyther any Children or Sonnes or Daughters to inherite his good who notwithstanding was of so foolish and phantasticall opinion brought to that kinde of madnesse by his sinnes that he sware vnto me that for the discharge of his Conscience onely hee would neuer leaue or giue vp his Office hee had in Courte to chaunge that seruile trade and course of life for to obtaine his quyet rest at home Thinking assuredly that enjoying rest at home in his owne house hee might easily be damned and abyding the paines and seruice of Court hee belieued vndoubtedly hee should be saued Surely wee may aptly say that this olde Courtyer was more then a Dotard and that hee had marred the call of his conscience since hee belieued that it was a charge of Conscience to depart the court The ambition to do much and the couetousnesse to haue much maketh the miserable Courtyers belieue that they haue yet Time ynough to liue and to repent themselues when they will So that in the Court thinking to liue two yeares onely in their Age good men they liue fiftie and three score yeares naughty and wicked persons Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayth that Eudonius that was Captain of the Greekes seeing Zenocrates reading one day in the vniuersitie of
Athens hee being not of the age of eightie fiue yeares asked what that old man was and it was answered him that it was one of the Philosophers of Greece who followed vertue and serched to know wherein true Philosophie consisted Whereupon he answered If Xenocrates the Philosopher tell mee that hee being now eightie fiue yeares old goeth to seek vertue in this age I would thou shouldest also tell me what time hee should haue left him to bee vertuous And hee sayde moreouer in those yeares that this Philosopher is of it were more reason we should see him doe vertuous things then at this age to goe and seeke it Truely we may say the very like of our new Courtier that Eudonius sayde of Xenocrates the Philosopher the which if hee did looke for other threescore yeares or threescore and ten to be good what time should remaine for him to proue and shew that goodnesse It is no maruell at all that the olde Courtiers forget their Natiue Countrey and bringing vp their Fathers that begate them their friendes that shewed them fauour and the seruants that serued them but at that I doe not onely wonder at them but also it giueth mee cause to suspect them is that I see they forget themselues So that they neuer know nor consider that they haue to doe till they come afterwardes to be that they would not be If the Courtiers which in Princes Courts haue beene rich noble and in authority would counsell with me or at least beleeue my writing they shold depart from thence in time to haue a long time to consider before of death least death vnawares and suddenly came to take execution of their liues O happy and thrice happy may we call the esteemed Courtier whom God hath giuen so much witte and knowledge to that of himselfe hee do depart from the Court before fortune hath once touched him with dishonour or laid her cruell handes vpon him For I neuer saw Courtier but in the end did complain of the Court and of their ill life that they ledde in Court And yet did I neuer know any person that would leaue it for any scruple of consciēce he had to remain there but peraduenture if any did depart from the court it was for some of these respects or altogether that is to say Eyther that his fauour and credite diminished or that his money fayled him or that some hath done him wrong in the court or that hee was driuen from the court or that he was denyed fauour or that his side faction he helde with had a fall or for that hee was sicke for to gette his health hee went into the Countrey So that they may say hee rather went angrie and displeased with himselfe then hee did to lament his sins If you aske priuately euery Courtier you shall finde none but will say he is discontented with the Court eyther because he is poore or afflicted enuied or ill willed or out of fauour and hee will sweare and resweare againe that he desireth nothing more in the World then to be dismissed of this Courtiers trauell and painefull Life But if afterwards perchance a little winde of fauour be but stirring in the Entrey of his chamber dore it will sodenly blow away all the good and former thoughts from his mind And yet that which makes mee to wonder more at these vnconstant Courtiers and vnstable braines is that I see many build goodly stately houses in their countrey and yet they neyther dwell in them nor keepe hospitality there They graffe and set trees plant fruites and make good Gardens and Orchards and yet neuer goe to enioye them they purchase great Landes and possessions and neuer goe to see them And they haue offices and dignities giuen them in their Countryes but they neuer goe for to exercise them There they haue their friends and parents and yet they neuer goe for to talke with them So they had rather be slaues and drudges in the court then lords rulers in their own countrey we may iustly say that many courtiers are poore in riches strangers in their owne houses and Pilgrimes in their Countrey and banished from all their kindreds So that if wee see the most part of these Courtiers backbite murmure complaine and abhorre these vices they see daily committed in Court I dare assure you that this discontentation and dislyking proceeds not only of those vices and errors then see committed as of the spight and enuie they haue daylie to see their Enemyes growe in fauour and credite with the Prince For they passe little of the vices of Court so they may be in fauour as others are Plutarch in his book De exilio sheweth that there was a Law amongst the Thebanes that after a man was fiftie yeares of age if he fell sicke he should not bee holpen with Physitians For they say that after a man is once arriued vnto that age he should desire to liue no longer but rather to hasten to his iourneys ende By these examples wee may know that infancie is till vii yeares Childhood to xiiii yeares Youth to xxv yeares manhood till xl and Age to three-score-yeares But once passed three-score me thinks it is rather time to make cleane the nettes and to content thēselues with the Fish they haue till now then to go about to put their nets in order againe to fish any more I grant that in the Courts of princes all may be saued yet no man can deny mee but that in princes Courts there are mo occasions to be damned then saued For as Cato the Censor saith The apt occasions bring men a desire to do yll though they be good of themselues And although some do take vpon them and determine to leade a godly and holie life or that they shew themselus ' great hypocrites yet am I assured notwithstanding that they cannot keepe their tongue frō murmuring nor their hart from enuying And the cause hereof proceedeth for that ther are very few that follow the Court long but onely to enter into credit and afterwards to vaxe rich and growe in great authoritie Which cannot bee without bearing a little secret hate and enuy against those that doe passe them in this fauour and authority and without suspect and feare of others which in 〈◊〉 are their equals and companions It were a good counsell for those that haue 〈◊〉 the Court or Princes till they be 〈◊〉 old and gray headed that they should determine and liue the rest of their yeares as good Christians and not to passe them as Courtiers so that though they haue giuen the world a meale yet they should in the end giue the brain to Iesus Christ I know euery man desireth to liue in Princes Courts and yet they promise they will not dye in Court And since it is so mee thinkes it is a great folly and presumption for such men to desire to liue long in such state where they would not dye for all the
from Spaine and to treate of accord of peace When hee came to Rome he proued before the Senate that sith hee entred into Italy he had bin ten times robbed of his goods and whiles he was at Rome he had seene one of them that robbed him hang vpanother that had defended him Hee seing so euill a deed and how the theefe was saued without iustice as a desperate man tooke a cole and wrote vpon the gybet as followeth O gybet thou art planted among theeues nourished among theeues squared of theeues wrought of theeues and hanged full of Innocents with innocents The originall of these wordes are in the history of Liuius where the whole Decade was written with blacke inke and these words with redde vermelion I cannot tell what other newes I should send thee but that euery thing is so new and so tender and it ioyned with so euill sement that I feare mee all will fall suddenly to the ground I tell thee that some are suddenly risen within Rome vnto honour whose fal I dare rather assure then life For all buildinges hastily made cannot bee sure The longer a tree is kept in his kinde the longer it will bee ere it bee olde The trees whose fruite wee eate in Summer doe warme vs in Winter Oh how many haue wee seene wherof we haue maruelled of their rising and beene abashed at their falles They haue growne as a whole peece and suddenly wasted as a skumme Their felicity hath beene but a short moment and their infortune as a long life Finally they haue made a mille and layde on the stones of increase and after a little grinding left it vnoccupied all the yeare after Thou knowest well my friend Catullus that wee haue seene Cincius Fuluius in one yeare made Consull and his children Tribunes his wife a Matrone for young maydens and besides that made keeper of the Capitoll and after that not in one yeare but the same day we saw Cincius beheaded in the place his children drowned in Tiber his Wife banished from Rome his house razed down to the ground and all his goods confiscated to the common Treasury This rigorous example wee haue not read in any booke to take a copie of it but wee haue seene it with our eyes to keepe it in our minds As the Nations of people are variable so are the conditions of men diuers And mee thinketh this is true seeing that some loue some hate and that some seeke some eschew and that some set little by other make much store In such wise that all cannot bee content with one thing nor some with all things cannot be satisfied Let euery man chuse as him list embrace the world when hee will I had rather mount a soft pace to the falling and if I cannot come thereto I will abide by the way rather then with the sweat to mount hastily and then to tumble downe headlong In this case sith mens hearts vnderstand it we neede not to write further with pennes And of this matter marke not the little that I doe say but the great deale that I will say And sith I haue begunne and that thou art in strange lands I will write thee all the newes from hence This yeare the 25. day of May there came an Ambassadour out of Asia saying hee was of the Isle of Cetin a Baron right proper of body ruddy of aspect and hardy of courage Hee considered being at Rome thogh the Summers dayes were long yet Winter would draw on and then would it bee daungerous sayling into this isle and saw that his busines was not dispatched On a day beeing at the gate of the Senate seeing all the Senators enter into the Capitoll without any armour vpon them he as a man of good spirite and zelator of his Country in the presence of vs all sayd these words O Fathers Conscript O happie people I am come from a straunge countrey to Rome only to see Rome and I haue found Rome without Rome The walles wherewith it is inclosed hath not brought mee hither but the fame of them that gouerne it I am not come to see the Treasury wherein is the treasure of all Realmes but I am come to see the sacred Senat out of the which issueth counsell for al men I came not to see it because yee vanquish other but because I thought you more vertuous then all other I dare well say one thing except the gods make me blinde and trouble my vnderstanding yee bee not Romanes of Rome nor this is not Rome of the Romanes your predecessors Wee haue heard in our Isle that diuers realmes haue beene wonne by the valiantnes of one and conserued by the wisedome of all the Senate and at this houre you are more likely to lose then to winne as your Fathers did Al their exercise was in goodnes and yee that are their children passe all your time in Ceremonies I say this yee Romanes because you haue almost killed me with laughing at you to see how you doe all as much your diligence to leaue your armour without the gate of the Senate as your predecessors did take to them to defend the Empire What profite is it to you to leaue off these Armours which hurt the bodies and to put on them those which kill all the World What profiteth it to the carefull Suiter that the Senator entreth vnarmed into the Senat without sword or dagger and his hart entreth into the Senate armed with malice O Romanes I will that you know that in our Isle wee esteeme you not as armed Captaines but as malitious Senators You feare vs not with sharpe golden swords and daggers but with hard hearts and venemous tongues If yee should in the Senate put on harnesse and therewith take away our liues it were but a smal losse seing that you sustaine not the Innocents nor dispatch not the businesse of suiters I cannot suffer it I cannot tell in what state yee stand here at Rome for in our Isle we take armour from fooles whether your Armours are taken away as from fooles or mad folks I know not if it bee done for ambitiousnesse it commeth not of Romanes but of Tirants that wranglers and irefull folke should be iudges ouer the peaceable and the ambitious ouer the meeke the malitious ouer the simple if it be done because you are fooles it is not in the Lawes of the gods that three hundred fooles should gouerne three hundred thousand wise men It is a long season that I haue tarried for mine answere and licence and by your delayes I am now further off then I was the first day Wee bring oyle honey saffron wood and timber salte siluer and solde out of our Isle into Rome and yee will that wee goe else where for to seeke iustice Yee will haue one Law to gather your rents and another to determine your iustice yee will that wee pay our tributes in one day and yee will not discharge one of our errands in a
knowest well Camilla not being content with thy owne Countrey folke thou haddest such resorte and haunt of strangers to thee that thou canst speake all languages I will marke them that haue marked mee hurt them that haue hurted mee persecute them that haue persecuted mee defame them that haue slaundered mee all other my penne pardoneth for that they pardoned me in their play Because my letter begunne with that ye did to my person therefore I will end it with that it knoweth of your good names And thus I conclude that a man may escape from all dangers in shunning them but from women there is no way but to flye from them Thus I end and beseech the gods that I may see of you that which you would see of mee and sith yee bee louers I counsell you as you haue sent mee the play in a mockery euen so receyue my aunswere Marke now the Rhodian to the amorous Ladies of Rome CHAP. VIII Of a Letter sent by Marcus Aurelius to his loue Boemia for that shee desired to goe with him to the warres MArcus the Romane Pretor beeing in the warres of Dacia sendeth health to his louing Boemia remayning in the pleasures of Rome Escaping from a cruell battell thy fewe lines I read and vnderstood thy large information I let thee know thou hast astonied me more then mine enemies haue feared me and taking thy letter in my hands the herbe of malice entred into my heart When I temper my body with the delights I thinke my heart free from the venome of thy amours sith I of my will and thou for want of power hath giuen vs to bee free of our pleasures I thinke as well to make a diuorce of our sorrowes But yee bee such yea such I say as are the banishments of loue and the treasure of griefes The loue of you all ought to bee digested with pilles but the passion of one of you will not bee oppressed with all the rubarbe in Alexandria Yee shew your selues cruell to pardon an enemie and euer lightly you change your friendes I haue curiously made search whilest delight gouerned my youth yet could I neuer see in a woman stedfastnesse nor reason in their loue nor end in their hate The present wantonnesse quarrelleth with my youth passed because thou seest not in me the auncient good will towardes thee nor the present seruice And certainely hearing thy accusation and not my iustification thou mightest pay me as iustly with death as I pay thee with forgetfulnesse The which forgetfulnesse ought to bee as straunge in him that serueth as ingratitude in the Lady that is serued thinkest thou that I haue forgotten the law of Venus when I commaunded that the curious Louers should exercise their strength in chiualry and occupy their hearts in loue and more it willeth a man to weare his clothes cleanly their feet right their bodies constant their voyce soft and humble demure and modest of cheare they ought to haue eyes open alwayes looking vp to the Windowes and their hearts ready to flye into the aire For a truth my friend Boemia hee is a grosse louer that hath his will in captiuity and his iudgment free The iudgment is of no value where the will is in thraldome This I say that thou mayest know though my age hath left the exercise yet my vnderstanding hath not forgot the art Thou complaynest because I giue my selfe vnto much quiet and that I haue forgotten thee I will not deny the truth the day of my forgetting maketh thee priuie of my thoughts And reason the Ouerseer declareth that it is not requisite for my grauitie to permit I should loue nor in thy age to suffer to be beloued The world doth dissemble many things in youth which in age meriteth grieuous corrections The wanton toyes of youth proceed of ignorance but the villanies done in age grow of malice When I walked in the nights I ietted the streetes I sang ballades I gazed to the Windowes I played on the Gitiornes I scaled the walles I wakened the youth Thinkest thou that I win what I did in my youth but sithence I see my selfe bereaued of all my wonted wanton toyes and polished with so many white hayres cladde with so many sorrowes eyther I thinke now I was not then or else I dreame now not knowing the way I stray in nor seeing that stony way ready to stumble in Vnwittingly I haue fallen into the stayres not foreseeing the Whirlepoole guidelesse I entred in the rashnesse of my youth I lost mee for the which I aske pardon And nowe that I am out of the bryers thou woldest haue me further in then euer I was Now that I cannot take the purgations thou offerest to mee the sirropes I haue awaked all night and now thou giuest me a fresh alarum By our auncient friendshippe I pray thee and by the Gods I coniure thee that sithence my heart is rebell to thy will that thy doubtfull will doe suffer and let alone my will out of doubt And because thou shouldest not thinke any ingratitude in my white hayres as I may in thy young wanton person I will that wee account that wee haue gotten and that wee hope to get Tell mee what commeth of these vaine pleasures the time euill spent the fame in way of perdition the goods consumed the credite lost the gods offended the vertuous slaundered from whence wee gette the names of bruit beasts and surnames of shame Such bee yee and others Thou writest in thy Letter how thou wouldest willingly leaue Rome come to see mee in the Warres of Dacia Considering thy folly I laugh but knowing thy boldnesse I beleeue thee And when I thinke on this I turne to my bosome and peruse thy seale doubting whether the Letter were thine or not The veines of my heart doe chaunge my colour doth turne imagining that eyther shame hath vtterly forsaken thee or els grauitie hath wholly abandoned mee for such lightnes should not be beleeued but of the like persons Thou knowest well he that doth euil deserueth punishment sooner then hee that doth infamy I would aske thee whether thou wilt goe thou sufferedst to be cut as a sower grape and now thou wouldest bee sold for good wine thou camest in with Cheries and yet wouldest remaine as quinces Wee haue eaten thee in blossomes and thou wilt bee like the fruite the nuttes bee pleasant but the shelles bee hard By dung thou wert made ripe in thy youth and thou thinkest to bee in still Thou art nought else but rotten And if thou bee rotten thou art to bee abhorred Thou art not content with forty yeares which thou hast whereof 25. thou diddest passe in taste like to sweet wine that is solde or like the Melons that bee ripe and mellow Art not thou that Boemia which lacketh two teeth before are not thine eyes sunken into thy head thy hayres whiter the flesh wrinckled and thy hand perished with the gowt and one rib marred with
discend of the Linage of the Troyans and therefore when king Eneas and prince Turnus had great Warres betweene them which of them should haue the Princesse Lauinia in Marriage the which at that time was onely heyre of Italie king Euander ayded Eneas not only with goods but also sending him his owne Sonne in person For the friendes ought for their true friendes willingly to shead their bloud and in their behalfe without demaunding they ought also to spend their goods This King Euander had a Wife so well learned that that which the Greekes sayde of her seemeth to bee fables That is to say of her eloquence and wisedome for they say that if that which this woman wrote of the warres of Troy had not been through enuie cast into the fire the name of Homer had at this day remayned obscure The reason hereof is because that woman was in the time of the destruction of Troy and wrote as a witnesse of sight But Homer wrote after the destruction of Troy as one affectioned vnto the Prince Achilles as a friend of the Greekes and enemie of the Troians And truely when a Writer is affectioned to any person his writing of force must be suspected The wife of this King Euander was called by her name Nicostrata albeit others called her Carmenta for the eloquence shee had in her verses For they say that she made as easily in meeter as others doe in prose The Historiographers of the Gentiles say that shee prophefied the destruction of Troy fifteen years before She tolde the comming of Aeneas into Italy and spake of the warres that should be before the marriage of Lauinia and said how Ascanius the sonne of Enea should builde Alba longa She sayde further that of the Latine Kings should descende the Romaines and that the reuenge which Rome should take of Greece should bee greater then that which Greece did take of Troy And shee sayde also that the greatest Warre which Rome should haue should be against the Princes of Affricke and that in the end Rome should triumph ouer all the Realmes of the earth and finally a nation vnknowne should triumph for euer in Rome As Eusesebius Caesarten saith The Routaines kept these writings in as great estimation in the high capitoll as the Christians kept their faith vnto GOD. King Darius after he was vanquished in the first Battell by King Alexander the great before he was in the second battel vtterly destroyed trauelled and sought many wayes and means to the ende he might be friend vnto Alexander And in very deede King Darius was sage to seeke it but not so happie to obtain it For to Princes the peace is more worth that is honest then is the victorie which is bloudie Betwixt these two so stoute Princes Truce was made for three moneths and in the meane time the Priests of the Chaldeans treated peace with these conditions that the great Alexander should marry the daughter of king Darius and that Darius should giue her a great quantity of gold and besides this that he should endow her with the third part of his realme And truely these meanes were good For among Princes there is nothing that sooner pacifieth olde iniuries then to make betweene them newe Mariages King Alexander excused himselfe of this marriage saying that hee was but xxiiij yeares of age and that hee was too young to bee marryed because amongst the Macedonians there was a custom that the woman could not be marryed vntill xxv yeares of age nor the man vntill xxx The Daughter of King Darius was faire rich and noble but the best she wanted for she was not wise And this was the cause why K Alexander refused her for his wife for in those dayes women were not marryed because they were rich but beloued because they were wise And finally the woman that had studyed best came commonly to the highest Marriage Antonius Rusticus and Quintus Seuerus say that the great Alexander after he had forsaken the daughter of king Darius marryed a wife which was a poore woman and deformed called Barsina which indeede was neyther with riches nor beautie endued but without doubt in the Greeke and Latine tongue most excellently learned And when the Princes of Macedonie would haue withdrawn him from that marriage asking him why hee esteemed the rich lesse then the poore he aunswered thus I see my Friends in Marriage it suffiseth the husband to bee rich and the woman wise For the Office of the husband is to winne that which is lost and the Office of the wife is to keepe safe that which is wonne Strabo de situ Orbis saith that the fifte Queene of Lides was Mirthas the which of her bodie was so little that shee seemed to bee a Dwarffe and in quicknes of wit so high that they called her a giant For the man that hath a stout stomack and a little body may well be called a giaunt and hee that hath a great body and a cowards hart may iustly be named a Dwarffe For that this excellent Queen Mirtha was such a wise wife when she was marryed and afterwards also a widowe very honest and aboue all things in Phylosophie excellently learned The Lides counted this Queen Mirtha amongst the seuen Kings of the which they vaunted themselues to be gouerned as of glorious Princes For the Auncients gaue as much glorie to Women learned in Letters as vnto the valiant and stoute men expert in Armes Cornificius the Poete as Laertius saieth had a sister called Cornificia the which in Greeke Latin letters was not onely learned but also in making Metre and Epigrames very expert They write that of this Woman which of few men the like hath been heard That is to say that she made verses and Epigrams better at the first sight then her brother did with much study And it is not too much incredible to put any doubt in that that is spoken for the penne hath more swiftnesse of the liuely spirit then the tongue hath of the small vnderstanding This Poet Cornificius was resident a long time in Rome and was alwayes poore and voide of all fauour thogh indeede hee was better learned then others which were in greater estimation the which thing dayly chaunceth in the Court of Princes For there is no difference whether they bee fooles or wise but whether they be acceptable to the Princes Aristotle sayeth Vbi multum de intellectu ibi parum de fortuna Meaning thereby that men which of memory and vnderstanding are most rich of the goods of this world are commonly most poore This Poet Cornificius therefore going through Rome little set by of any by chaunce a Romane named Calphurnius to scoffe at him sayd Tell me Cornificius hast thou had any fortunate day since thou wert borne for in these twenty yeers that I haue known thee I neuer saw thee in fauour and if I bee not deceyued it is fifteene yeeres since I knew thee haue
this coate The poore Poet answered him I let thee know my friend that I cannot tell which is greater thy euill lucke or my greate felicitie The Romane Calphurnius replyed Tell me Cornificius How canst thou call thy selfe happy since thou hast not a loafe of bread to eate nor a gowne to put on thy backe and why sayest thou that I am vnhappy since thou and thy family may be fed with that alone which at my table remayneth To this the poet answered I will that thou know my friend and neighbour that my felicitie is not for that I haue little but for that I desire lesse then I haue And thy euill lucke is not for that thou bast much but for that thou desirest more and doest little esteem that that thou hast And if thou be rich it is for that thou neuer spakest truth and if I he poore it is because I neuer tolde lye For the house that is stuffed with riches is commonly voyd of the truth And I tell thee further that I call my selfe happie because I haue a sister which is the best esteemed in all Italie and thou hast a Wife the most dishonest in all Rome And sith it is so betweene thee and mee I referre it to no mans iudgement but to thine which is better eyther to be poore as I am with honour or else to bee rich as thou art and liue with infamte These wordes passed betweene the Romane Calphurnius and the Poet Cornificius I desire to declare the excellencie of those few auncient women as well Greekes as Latines and Romanes to the intent that Princesses and great Ladyes may knowe that the auncient women were more esteemed for their sciences then for their beauties Therefore the Princesses and great Ladies ought to thinke that if they be womē the other were also in like māner and if they bee fraile the others were also weake If they be marryed the others also had Husbands if they haue theyr willes the others had also what they wanted If they be tender the others were not strong Finally they ought not to excuse themselues saying that women are vnmeete for to learne For a woman hath more abilitie to learne Sciences in the scholes then the Parate hath to speake words in the cage In my opinion Princesses and great Ladyes ought not to esteeme themselues more then another for that they haue fairer hayres then others or for that they are better Apparrelled then another or that they haue more riches then another But they ought therfore to esteeme themselues not for that they can doe more then others To say the trueth the faire and yeallow hayres the rich and braue Apparel the great treasurs the sumptuous Pallaces and strong Buildings these and other like pleasures are not guydes and leaders vnto vertues but rather Spyes and Scowtewatches to vices Oh what an excellent thing were it that the noble Ladyes would esteeme themselues not for that they can doe but for that they knowe For it is more commendations to know how to teach two Philosophers then to haue authority to commaund a hundred knightes It is a shame to write it but it is more pittie to see it that is to say to reade that wee read of the wisedome and worthinesse of the auncient Matrons past and to see as we do see the frailenes of these yong ladies present For they coueted to haue Disciples both learned and experimented and those of this present desire nothing but to haue seruants not only ignorant but deceitfull and wicked And I doe not maruell seeing that which I see that at this present in Court she is of little value least esteemed amōg Ladies which hath fairest Seruants is least entertained of Gentlemen What shall I say more in this matter but that they in times past striued who shold write better and compile the best books and these at this present doe not striue but who shall haue the richest and most sumptuous Apparrell For the Ladyes thinke it a jolyer matter to weare a Gowne of a new fashion then the ancients did to read a lesson of Phylosophie The ancient Ladyes striued which of them was wisest but these of our dayes contend who shal be fairest For at this day the Ladyes would choose rather to haue the face adorned with beautie then the heart endued with wisedome The Auncient Ladyes contended which should bee best able to teach others but these Ladyes now a dayes contend how they may most finely apparrell themselues For in these dayes they giue more honour to a Woman richly Apparrelled then they giue to another with honesty beautified Finally with this word I doe conclude and let him marke that shall reade it that in the olde time women were such that their vertues caused all men to keepe silence and now their vices bee such that they compell all men to speake I will not by this worde any man should be so bold in general to speake euill of all the Ladyes for in this case I sweare that there are not at this day so many good vertuous women in the world but that I haue more enuie at the life they lead in secrete then at all the sciences which the auncient women read in publike Wherefore my pen doth not shew it selfe extreame but to those which onely in sumptuous Apparrell and vaine words doe consume their whole life and to those which in reading a good Booke would not spend one onely houre To proue my intention of that I haue spoken the aboue written sufficeth But to the ende Princesses and great Ladyes may see at the least how much beter it shal be for them to know little then to haue and possesse much and to be able to do more I wil remēber them of that which a Romain woman wrote to her children wherby they shal perceiue how eloquent a woman she was in her sayings and how true a mother in her coūsel For in the end of her letter she perswadeth her children to the trauels of the warre not for any other cause but to auoyde the pleasures of Rome CHAP. XXXI Of the worthinesse of the Lady Cornelia and of a notable Epistle shee wrote to her two sonnes which serued in the warres Tiberius and Caius disswading them from the pleasures of Rome and exhorting them to endure the trauels of warre ANNius Rusticus in the booke of the Antiquities of the Romanes sayeth that in Rome there were fiue principall Iynages that is to say Fabritii Torquatii Brutii Fabit and Cornelii though there were in Rome other new lynages whereof there were many excellent personages yet alwayes these which came of the fiue lynages were kept placed and preferred to the first Offices of the common wealth For Rome honoured those that were present in such sort that it was without the preiudice of those that are gone Amongst those v. linages the Romaines alwayes counted the Cornelii most fortunate that which were so hardy and couragious in fight
I haue read and another time I desire my friends to giue mee good counsell and for no other end I doe it then to attaine to that I haue spoken and to know that I will say I reading Rethorike in Rhodes Adrian my lord maintaining me there knowing that I was two and thirty years of age it hapned in the Spring time I found my selfe solitarily and soluarinesse with liberty smelled the world and smelling it I knew it and know-it I followed it and following it I attained it attayning vnto it therunto I ioyned my selfe and ioyning my selfe therewith I proued it and in prouing it I tasted it and in tasting it mee thought it bitter and in finding it bitter I hated it and hating it I left it and leauing it is returned and being returned I receyued it againe Finally the world inuiting mee and I not resisting it two and fiftie yeares wee did eate our bread together and in one house wee haue alwayes remayned wilt thou know after what sort the world and I doe liue in one house together or better for to say in one heart remayne Harken then and in one word I will tell it thee When I saw the world braue I serued him when hee saw me sad hee flattered mee when I saw him wealthy I asked him when hee saw mee merry hee begulled mee when I desired any thing hee holpe me to attaine to it and afterwards when the same I best enioyed then hee tooke it from me when hee saw me not pleased he visited me when hee saw mee he forgot me when he saw mee ouerthrowne hee gaue mee his hand to releeue mee when he saw me exalted hee tripped me againe to ouerthrow me Finally when I thinke that I haue somewhat in the world I finde that all that I haue is a burthen If this which I haue spoken of the world bee any thing more is that a great deale which yet of my selfe I will say which is that without doubt my folly is greater then his malice since I am beguiled so oft and yet alwayes I follow the deceyuer O world world thou hast such moods and fashions in thy proceeding that thou leadest vs all to perdition Of one thing I maruell much whereof I cannot bee satisfied Which is since that we may go vpon the bridge and yet without any gaine wee doe wade through the water and where as the shallow is sure wee seeke to runne into the gulfe and where the way is drie wee goe into the plash where wee may eate wholesome meates to nourish the life wee receyue poyson to hasten death we seeke to destroy our selues whereas wee may bee without danger Finally I say without profite wee commit a fault though wee see with our eyes the paine to follow Wise men ought circumspectly to see what they do to examine that they speake to proue that they take in hand for to beware whose company they vse and aboue all to know whom they trust For our iudgement is so corrupt that to beguile vs one is inough and to make vs not to bee deceyued tenne thousand would not suffice They haue so great care of vs I doe meane the world to be guile vs and the flesh to flatter vs that the high way being as it is narrow the pathway daungerous and full of prickes the iourney is long and the life short our bodies are neuer but loden with vices and our hearts are full of sorrows and cares I haue wondered at diuers things in this World but that which astonieth mee most is that those which be good we make them beleeue they are euill and those which are euill wee perswade others to beleeue that they are good So that wee shoote at the white of vertues and hit the butte of vices I will confesse one thing the which beeing disclosed I know that infamy will follow mee but peraduenture some vertuous man will maruell at it that is that in those two and fifty yeeres of my life I haue proued al the vices of this world for no other entent but for to proue if there bee any thing where in mans malice might be satisfied And afterwards all well considered all examined and all proued I finde that the more I eate the more I dye for hunger the more I drinke the greater thirst I haue the more I rest the more I am broken the more I sleepe the more drousier I am the more I haue the more I couet the more I desire the more I am tormented the more I procure the lesse I attaine Finally I neuer had so greate paine through want but afterwards I had more trouble with excesse it is a great folly to thinke that as long as a man liueth in this flesh that he can satisfie the flesh for at the last cast shee may take from vs our life but wee others cannot take from her her disordinate couetousnesse if men did speake with the Gods or that the Gods were conuersant with men the first thing that I would aske them should bee why they haue appointed an end to our wofull dayes and will not giue vs an end of our wicked desires O cruell Gods what is it you doe or what doe you suffer vs it is certaine that wee shall not passe one good day of life onely but in tasting this and that life consumeth O intollerable life of man wherein there are such malices from the which wee ought to beware and such perils to fall in and also so many things to consider that then both shee and wee doe ende to know our selues when the houre of death approcheth Let those know that know not that the World taketh our will and wee others like ignorants cannot deny it him and afterwardes hauing power of our will doth constraine vs to that which wee would not so that many times wee would doe vertuous workes and for that wee are now put into the Worlds hands wee dare not do it The World vseth another subtilty with vs and to the end we should not striue with it it prayseth the times past because wee should liue according to the time present And the World sayeth further that if wee others employ our forces in his vices he giueth vs licence that wee haue a good desire of vertue O would to God in my dayes I might see that the care which the Worlde hath to preserue vs the Worldlings would take it to withdraw them from his vices I sweare that the Gods should then haue more seruants and the World and the flesh should not haue so many slaues CHAP. XXI The Emperour proceedeth in his Letter and proueth by good reasons that sith the aged persons will bee serued and honoured of the young they ought to be more vertuous and honest then the young I Haue spoken all this before rehearsed for occasion of you Claude and Claudine the which at 60 and 10 yeeres will not keepe out the prison of the world You I say which haue