letter ill written and worse noted neither is it to be taken in good parte either may wée leaue to murmur thereat The ploughman in plowing dothe reuew his forough that it bée straight and shall not a man haue regard to note and write his letter very well There be many who wil as lightly take the pen in hād to write as the glasse to drink and that which is worst of all they thinke much of themselues to be talking and writing The which doth well appere in their letters because the letter is illegible the paper blotted the lines crooked and the reasons doltish To knowe a man whether he be wise or foolish is a great part to consider whether he write vpon aduisement and speake with iudgement for a mā must not write what commeth to his memory but what reason doth direct Plutarch doth say of Phalaris the tyrant that he did neuer write but being alone withdrawen and with his own hand whereof it doth follow that although al do blaspheme him for his tyranny his letters wer praised throughout the world Of a trouth a Gentleman and a kinseman of mine did write vnto mée a letter of twoo shéetes of paper and as he wrote so large and not returning to read what he had writtē the very same reasons and the very same woords that he had put in the beginning he did return to write in the end wherat I was so much offended that I burnt the letter and made him no aunswere Doubtles your letters are not of such qualitie the whiche to me be very pleasant to reade and not tedious to aunswere bycause in iestes they are very pleasant and in earnest very wise Sir you say that in reading the moralles of saint Gregory you did note and also did meruaile to sée that the deuill did aske licence of God to do hurt vnto holy Iob it was graunted him and the Apostle S. Paule did pray vnto God to take away the temptation of the flesh and it was denied him In such wise that God heard the Deuill and did not condiscend vnto the prayer of saint Paule Maruell ye not sir of this for the thinges that the diuine prouidence do bring to passe be so iust and done for so iust causes that although wée maye not reach them they want not therefore reason why they should not be done If wée déepely consider what God did with the Apostle wée shall finde that it was more that God gaue him than the Apostle did craue Bycause hée desired that the temptation of the flesh might be taken away and God gaue him grace to ouercome it What iniurie doth the Prince to the Captaine that sendes him a warfare if hée makes him sure to haue the victory If absolutely God should haue taken away the temptation of the flesh from the Apostle saint Paul neither should there haue remayned occasiō to deserue either should haue béen giuen grace to ouercome For hée is more supported of God to whom hée giueth helpe to conquere than to him that hée excuseth to fight Let vs not despaire afflict our selues or bée ouer thoughtfull and much lesse complayne and murmur of God if forthwith hée giue not that whiche wée desire For hée doth it not with disfauour in that hée will not heare vs but bycause he wil change it into a better cause Hée knoweth what hée doth and wée vnderstand it not hée knoweth what hée doth denie but wée not what wée aske hée measureth all thinges with reason and wée but with apetite hée dooth denie that is hurtfull vnto vs and graunteth that which is profitable Finally I doo say that he doth know how hée are to bée handled and therfore wée ought of him only to depend The Apostle had séene the inuisible and diuine secrets whiche of his forefathers had béen much desired but neuer séene and bycause of that so high reuelation hée should not boast or grow proud the Lord would not take away the concupiscence of the fleshe In suche wise that in recompence of not condescending to his desire hée did take awaye the occasion to sinne and gaue him grace to ouercome God vsed more pitie with saint Paule in that hée would not heare him than if hée had heard him For if hée should haue taken awaye the concupiscence of the flesh it might haue come to passe that as much as hée had diminished in temptation hée might haue increased in pride When the Lord doth permit that one is tempted it doth not followe therfore that hée is of God abhorred for my parte I holde it rather a signe that of God hée is elect For as saint Gregory sayth there is not a greater temptation than not to be tempted Christ hath left the way to heauen marked and the markes of this voiage be tribulations aduersities mishappes and infirmities In such wise that it is no other thing to be remembred of God but that in this world he be permitted to be tempted Let it be holden for certaine that they of him are lost whiche in this world from aduersities be priuiledged For the enemy of mankind whiche is the deuill vnto all those that he hath registred for his owne hée doth trauell that they may liue in great welfare and ease Sir also you saye that you doe much maruail to sée the boldnesse that the Deuill had in asking licence of God to hurt holy Iob and to sée the liberalitie that God vsed in giuing it In such sort that he denied S. Paule that he desired and graunted the Deuill that whiche hee craued Sir although you haue no reason yet haue you some occasion to demaund that whiche you aske for of a suretie it as an hard thing to consent that our enemy do hurt vnto our friend That whiche I dare speake in this case is that it is lesse pernicious and of more worthinesse to suffer ill than to haue authoritie to do euill And after this maner wée haue more enuie of holy Iob in that hée suffred than vnto the deuill for that whiche he did It ought to be farre distant from the diuine will that he that hath to giue grace to serue him should giue licence to offend It is a great euill for a man to be euill but it is much worse to make him euil which is good Bycause our owne proper sinnes God doth well sée they procéede of weakenesse but the persecuting of the good alwayes groweth of malice If men do aske of God vppon their knées that hée giue grace to serue him they ought to aske with teares that he do not giue them place to offend him For in the ende if I do not good workes I shall haue no reward but if I doe euill for the same I shall haue paynes By Caine Abell was slaine by Esau Iacob was persecuted by Saule Dauid was banished by Nabugodonoser Ierusalem was burned by Achab Micheas was imprisoned by Zedechias Esaias was sawen and by the Diuell holy Iob
or not remembring the case was thus that within fewe dayes after they gaue him thrée twentie stabs with a dagger in such wise that the most Noble Prince lost his life for no greater matter than for not hauing a little good maner The contrary of this Suetonius Tranquillus doth write of Augustus the Emperour which being in the Senat or in the Colledge did neuer sit downe vntill they were all set and rendred the same reuerence that they gaue him and if by chaunce his children entred the Senate house neither did he consent that the Senators shoulde rise either that his children should sit downe Sir if you will not that men call you presumptuous or to speake plainly do call you foole haue a care to be well manered for with good maner more than with any other thing we withdraw our enemies and do sustaine our friends Sir I haue spoken with the Popes messenger vppon the dispensations that you sent to haue to marry with the Gentlewoman the Lady Marina Whiche wée haue agréed for thrée score ducates and as he is a Venetian and would not be counted a foole he will first be payed before you shall be dispatcht I haue spoken with Perianes as concerning the expedition of the priuiledge of the Iury and as he was deaffe and moste dunch I cried out more in speaking vnto him than I do vse in preaching The newes of the Courte is that the Empresse wisheth the Emperours comming the Dames woulde marrie the suters would be dispatched the Duke of Veiar would lyue Antony de Fonseca woulde grow young Sir Rodrigo of Voria would enherit also Frier Denise wold be a Bishop Of my selfe I giue you to vnderstand that I am in possession of all the condicions of a good suter that is to wit occupied soliciting carefull spent suspicious importunate out of temper and also abhorred for that my Lorde the Archbishop of Toledo and I go to the lawe for the Abbay of Baza vppon which I haue for my parte a famous sentence No more but that our Lord be your protector and giue me grace to serue him From Medina del Campo the twelfth of Marche .1523 A lerter vnto sir Gonsalis Fernandes of Cordoua great Captaine in which is touched that the knight escaping the warres ought not from thence forth to depart his house MOst renoumed valiant Prince my weakenesse to write vnto your mightinesse my simplicitie vnto your prudencie if it shall séeme vnto those that shal heare thereof to be a thing ouer proude and to such as shal see it to be ouer presumptuous lette them lay the fault vpon your honour which did first write vnto me and not on me that do answere with shamefastnesse Sir I will trauell to satisfie your excellencie in all things that ye cōmaund me by your letter vpon this condition most humbly beséeching that you do not so much consider what I doe say as that which I would say And for that to a person of so greate an estate it is reason to write with grauitie I will trauell to be measured in the wordes I shall speake and to be remeasured in the reasons I shall write The diuine Plato in his Bookes of common wealth did say That lesse greatnesse is not to be imputed to the honorable to deale and be conuersant with the weake than it is to stand and to countenance with the mightie and the reason that he gaue for the same is that the Generouse and magnificent mā vseth more force in taming his harte to stoupe vnto lowe things than to take in hand graue weightie and high attempts A mā of an high stature receiueth more paine in stouping to the ground for a straw than to stretch out his arme to reach a braunche By this that I haue said I would say that this our hart is so puffed vp and so proude that to rise vnto more than he may it is life and to descend to lesse than he is worth it is death There are many things whiche God woulde not bring to passe by himself alone to the end they shall not say that he is a Lord absolute either wil he bring them to passe by the hāds of the mightie for that it shal not be sayd that he taketh help of humaine fauour and afterwardes he performeth the same by the hand and industrie of some man beaten down of fortune and forgotten amongst men wherein GOD sheweth his greatnesse and filleth the same with his might The great Iudas Machabeus was lesse in body and much lesse in yeares than his thrée other brethren but in the end the good old Mathathias his father to him onely did cōmend the defence of the Hebrewes and into his handes did also resigne the armies against the Assyrians The least of the children of the great Patriarch Abraham was Isaac but in him was established the right line of Christ on him al the Iewish people did fixe their eyes The inheritāce of the house of Isaac came too Esau and not to Iacob but after the daies of the Father Iacob did not onely buy the inheritance of his brother Esau but also did steale the blessing Ioseph the sonne of Iacob was the least of his brethren and the last of the eleuen Tribes but in the ende it was he alone that foūd grace with the kings of Aegypt did deserue to interprete their dreames Of seuen sonnes that Iesse had Dauid was the least but in the ende King Saul was of God reproued and Dauid King of Hebrewes elected Amongst the meaner Prophetes Heliseus was the least but in the ende vnto him and vnto none other was giuen a dubled spirite Of the meaner sorte of the Apostles of Christ was S. Philip and the meanest Disciple of Paule was Philemon but in the end with them more than with others they did take counsaill and in great affaires would take aduise Sir it seemes to mée that agréeing with that which I haue saide your Lordship wold not take counsell with other men that be learned and wise but with me that am the simplest of your friends As your Lordship hath ben so long time in the warres of Italie it is very seldome that I haue séene you but much lesse that I haue eyther spoken or bin conuersant with you for whiche cause my friendship is to be holden for more sure and lesse suspitious for that I loue you not for the rewardes you haue giuen me but for the magnificence that I haue séene in you When one cōmes to seeke to be our frend maketh much to the matter to consider the cause that moueth him to séeke the same for if he be poore we must giue him if he be rich we must serue him if he be fauoured we must worship him if he be wilfull we must faune on him if he be impatient we must support him if he be vicious we must dissēble with him and if he be malicious we must beware of him One of the
the Philosopher Damonidas which may write vnto me but not come and talke with me for he holdeth suche efficacie in his wordes that he perswadeth to what hee will. Kyng Philip Father to Alexander the great besieging a certaine citie in Grecia came to parlée with those in the Citie that if they would suffer the Philosopher Theomastes to enter and to speake with them certaine words he would depart and rayse his siege the Philosopher Theomastes had great eloquence in the words he did speake and very great perswasion in things he would bring to passe and so it chaunced there that he entring alone into the Citie making his Oration in the Senate they did not only render them selues and open their gates but also did kisse King Phillips hands for kyng In such wise that the Philosopher had more power with his wordes thā the King with his armies I say this reuerend Father for that betwixt the bearing and reading of a sermon there goeth no small difference For as the Apostle sayeth the letter killeth but the spirit quickneth The authoritie of the Prophets be assured the sermon goeth written as it was preached but I giue you to vnderstand it goeth despirited and vnsauery But comming to the purpose of that the Prophet saithe which is to wete descendant in infernum viuentes The doubt is how it may agrée that they may go downe to hell being aliue and being aliue how they may bée in hell Saying as the Prophet doth saye in an other Psalme Non mortui lnudabunt te Domine nes omnes qui descendant in infernum If those that goe downe into hell shall not there praise God but blaspheme him to what end doth the prophet commaund vs to descēd To say that Orestes entred into hell after the Nymphes and that Aeneas descended thither to seke his father and that the musicion Orpheus did fetch from thence his wife and the valiant Hercules did breake the gates and bind the Giant Aethna and the dog Cerberus These may bée termed poetical fixions and no truthes for the vnfortunate that is once ouertaken with night in hell for euermore there remaineth buried and he that can once tymely rise vp into Paradise shall neuer more sée night for the elect shall there find day without night and the dampned shall find night without day Being such as wée ought to be wée may excuse our going to hell but after that wée shall be entred thither it is not in vs to returne againe For ther is nothing more consonant to reason thā that he which willingly came to the fault against his wil do suffer paine For the prophet to saye descendant in infernum viuentes in my iudgement I durst say that his meaning was to perswade vs and to warne vs that wée descend into hell being aliue that wée descend not after wée be dead Now let vs descend into hell by contemplation so that afterwards we descend not to eternall dampnation Let vs descend thither by feare that they carry vs not thither by rigour Let vs descend thither with good will that they carry vs not by force Let vs descend by day that they carry vs not at night Let vs descend alone bycause they shall not compell vs to goe with companye Let vs descend in tyme that wee maye returne because that afterwardes they shall not carry vs to leaue vs there Finally I do saye that it is an holy thing to descend into hell while we are aliue to the ende wée descend not whē wée bée dead They dayly descend into hell that thinke vpon the gréeuous paines and formentes that be giuen there for sinne For there is no better salue to part vs frō our sinnes than alway to carry the paine in memorie For out of doubt the paine of the dampned dothe withdraw vs from vices Goe who will on pilgrimage to Mōserate let them wander to get the Iubile of S. Iames let him vow himselfe to our Lady of Gadaliape let him trauaile to S. Lazarus of Ciuill let him send almes to the holy house and let him offer his goods to S. Antony de Castro But for my part I will no other station but that vnto hell Hée vnderstendeth not a little nor occupieth himselfe in little nor goeth not a little nor takes in hand that is little neither goeth on pilgrimage a little that euery daye giueth a hoylt or a turne into hell Once a yeare did the Hebrewes visit their temple From fiue yeares to fiue the Samnites did celebrate their Lustros from foure to foure yeares the Greekes did feast at their Olimpiades from seuen yeares to seuen yeares the Aegyptians did renew the Temple of Iris from ten to ten yeares the Romanes did send presentes to the Oracle of Apollo but he that is a faithful and a true Christian not from a time to so long a time but euery houre and euery moment shall goe and come to hell For of a perpetual paine perpetual ought to be the memorie therof In the pilgrimage to the holy House there is cost trauell and also perill but those that euery day do visite hell by contemplation neyther haue cost or passe trauell neyther runne in any kind of daunger For it is a pilgrimage that you goe on drie foote and is visited with standing still Oh blessed is the Soule that euery day by the stations of hell giues a turne in which he doth behold howe the proud be there brought downe the enuious chastized the gluttons pine with hunger the furious grow milde and the fleshly consumed Therfore let the liuing descend into hell To go this holy iorney neyther weaknesse maye excuse vs eyther pouertie let vs for it dothe neyther commaunde vs to weary our persons or that wée employe our goods but that wée kéepe our money and there to bestow our thoughtes Therefore let the liuing descend into hell It doth not séeme to me the 〈…〉 at h an vnméet painted storie that hath hell painted in his oratorie for they are much more that abstain from sin for fear of the pain than for loue of the glorie This is that I iudge of that text of the Psalmist about the whiche may it please the king of heauen that euen as my pen hath written my soule may alwayes ruminate for as the Apostle sayth not the hearers but the doers shall be iustified Vale. Iterumque vale From Madrid the .viij. of Ianuarie .1524 A Letter vnto sir Diego of Caminia wherein is treated how enuy raigneth in all men MAgnificent and good Christian gentleman you write vnto me that you are muche offended by many slaunderers that depraue your doings vnframe your attemptes I saye to maruaile thereat you haue some occasion but to be offended you haue no reason For in the ende it is lesse euill that your neybors enuy you thā that your frends shuld pitie you The most auncient vice of this world is enuie and that which shall not ende vntill the worlde be
great eyes a soft skinne colour baye and aboue all of courage maruellous fierce This horse being yet but a colt they came from Asia from Palestina from Thebes from Pentapolis and from all Greece by the meane of his fame some to sée him others to buy him and other some to praise him and set him a sale to the people for there was no person that desired not to sée him and much more to haue him And in this world as there is not a thing so perfit in whiche there is not some imperfection the destiny of this horse was so accursed for all they that bred him bought him and did ride him died miserable and infamed And for that it shall not séeme that wée speake at large and doe recounte an historie very suspicious briefly we will touche who were they that bought this horse and did possesse him and also the great misfortunes that came vnto them by the same In the yeare CCCCxiij from the foundation of Rome Quintus Cincinatus the Dictator being dead the Romanes did sende a Romane Consull into Grecia that was named Cneius Saianus a man in bloud holden famous and for gouernement in the common wealth very wise When the Consull Cneius Saianus went into Greece that horse was a Colt of thirtie monethes the which he cheapened bought and brake and was the first that did ryde him And for that this Cneius Saianus being in Rome did follow the partialitie of Octauius Augustus a yeare after hée went into Greece and not six moneths after hée had bought that horse Marcus Antonius commaunded his head to be cut off and also his body to be vnburied This maye it appeare that Cneius Saianus was the first that bought and brake this horse and also did experiment by death his vn happy destenie They named him then and from thence forwarde Saianus horse Cneius Saianus being beheadded there succéeded him in the office of Consulship a certayne Romaine named Dolabella whiche immediatly being Consull did buy that horse for an hundreth thousand Sestercios and surely if hée had knowen the euill that hée bought vnto his house I think hée would haue giuen an other hundreth thousand not to haue bought him Within a yeare after the Consull Dolabella had bought that horse there arose in the Citie of Epirus were hée was resident a popular sedition in whiche the sorowfull Dolabella was slaine and also drawen throughe the streates The Consull Dolabella being dead another Consull was desirous to buy that horse whose name was Caius Cassius a manne whome Plutarch writeth to haue borne great office in Rome and to haue done great déedes in Africa Not two yeares after the Cōsul Cassius had bought that vnhappy horse they gaue him suche herbes at his dinner that within an howre hée his wife and children lost their liues not hauing time to speake one word The Consull Caius Cassius being dead the famous Romane Marcus Antonius desired to buy that horse and hée was so pleased with the forme and shape thereof when they brought him that hée gaue as great reward to the bringer as hée paid vnto him that solde the same not twoo monethes after that Marcus Antonius had bought this horse a batell was fought at Sea betwixt him and his enemy Octauius Augustus In whiche bataill his onely beloued Cleopatra would be present to hir greate infamie and greater losse of him selfe What vnfortunate ende Marcus Antonius had and what an hastye death his Cleopatra did suffer is notorious to all men that haue reade Plutarch Marcus Antonius being dead yet still that vnfortunate horse remained aliue whiche came to the handes of a Knight of Asia who was named Nigidius and for that the horse as now was somewhat olde at that present he bought him good cheape although afterwards he cost him very deare for within one yeare after he bought him at the passage of the Riuer Marathon the horse stumbled and fell in suche wise that both master and horse were drowned and were neuer more seene These are the fiue Knightes that are throwen downe at the foote of Sayans horse to wit Saian Dolabella Cassius Marcus Antonius and Nigidius The whiche history although it bée delectable to reade on the other part it is lamentable to heare Afterwardes whē in Asia they fell in reckoning and to remēber the euill fortune that the horse had alway with him there arose amongest them a common prouerbe to saye vnto the man that was vnhappy or vnfortunate That he had ridden vpon Sayans horse The like chaunce happened when Scipio did robbe the Temples of Tolosa in France in that of all those which caried away any golde and riches to their houses none did escape but within one yeare died and all his familie and house destroyed To this daye it is a custome in France to saye vnto the man that is vnfortunate That he hath Tolouze golde in his house Laertius saith that in Athenes there was an howse where all were borne fooles and there was another house where they were all borne doltish and as by discourse of time the Senators fell into the reckoning therof they commāded that those houses shoud not bée inhabited but pulled downe Herodianus sayeth that in the Marcian field in Rome there was a Gentlemans house in whiche all the owners died sodainly And as the neighbourhod made relatiō thereof vnto the Emperour Aurelianus he did not onely commaund it to bée threwen downe but also that all the tymber shoulde be burned Solon Solonius forbiddeth in his Lawes to the Aegyptians that nothing of the dead should be sold but that all should bee parted amongst his heyres saying If the dead had any vnfortunate or vnluckie thing it should remayne in his family and kinred and should not passe vnto the common wealth Incontinent vpon the death of the infamouse Romane Princes Caligula and Nero the Senate prouided that all the riches and houshold stuffe should be burned and buried in welles fearing that in their tyrānicall goods ther might be hid some euill fortune by the couetousnesse whereof Rome might be lost and the common wealth impoysoned Sir I thought good to write all these examples and straūge chaunces not that you shoulde béeleue in Augureis but to the ende you should think that there be in this world some things so infortunate as they séeme to draw or bring with them the selfe same or other mishaps No more but that our Lord bée your protector c. A letter vnto the Duke of Alba Sir Frederique of Toledo in the whiche is entreated of infirmities and the profites of the same REnoumed and most magnificēt Lorde at the time that Palome your seruaunt came to visit me on your behalf and gaue me your letters I was in a furious feuer in suche wise that I could neither read your letter or speake a word vnto the bearer thereof After that the feuer begā to cease that I had reade your letter I vnderstood the desire you had of my
our Lord be youre protectour From Borgos the .15 of October Anno .1523 A letter vnto sir Peter of Acunia Erle of Buendia wherin is declared a prophesie of a certaine Sibill. RIght magnificent Christian knight doth your honor thinke in your iudgement that the answere I shall sende you shall be as large as the letter you haue written vnto me of a trouth it may not be so for I am nowe come to that age that nothing lyketh me that I take in hand either can I performe any thing that I would do The many yeares the cōtinual studies the great trauels that I haue passed haue made in me such impression that now the eyes be tired with reading the pulses with writing the memorie with retaining and also the iudgemente with noting and compounding God knowes I would not boast my self therof but in the end I can not but cōfesse it which is euery day I féele my self much more in age and much lesse in abilitie the more I wold dissemble the more I would enable my self the more I wold grow yong the more tenderly I would deale with my selfe I can not leaue to acknowledge but that my sighte decreaseth my memorie fayleth my bodie goeth wearied the strength decayeth and also my heares grow hoare Oh my soule what be all these things but certaine cruell summoners that cite my life to inhabite the sorowfull sepulture Epaminondas the Greke sayde that vntill the age of thirtie yeares they ought to say vnto men you are welcome or you come in a good houre bicause at that tyme they séeme to bée cōming into the world from thirtie vntill fiftie they ought to say God keepe you or stande in a good houre bycause at that time they begin to haue some iudgement of the world from fiftie yeares forwarde they ought to say vnto them God speed you or goe in a good hour for from thence they go taking their their leaue of the world In these repartments of Epaminondas it appertaineth not vnto your honour and mée that wée come in a good houre nor that we stande in a good houre for we are now come to be of the number that go in a good houre I beséech the redéemer of the worlde that when we shal passe out of this worlde we may depart in a good houre take our leaue in a good houre and that we goe in a good houre For if it be muche requisite for vs to liue well muche more it standeth vs vpon to finish well I thought good to write vnto your Lordship all this to the end that if I shal answere you somewhat short ye haue me excused and to hold me blamelesse But comming to the purpose I say that I muche delighte to reade your letters on the other parte I am ouercharged with your importunities for alwayes you come to me with vnknowne demaunds and right strange questions you now sende mée a moste auncient Epitaph that a certaine friende of yours hath brought from Rome whiche hath waged with your honour a certain wager that in all Spayn there shoulde not be a man which should haue skil to reade it much lesse to vnderstand it the letters of the Epitaph be these R.R.R.T. S.D.D.R.R.R.F.F.F.F. Neyther did that Romane speake according to knowledge eyther shall he winne his wager For that notwithstanding they be moste obscure and euery letter importe one worde I will sende them so declared and so aptly distinguished that he shall remayn confounded and you win the wager The case is thus Romulus raigning in Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was a woman borne in Tarento named Delphica which was famous in hir life and singular in the art of diuining Amongest the Hebrues such women were named Prophetesses and amongste the Gentils called Sibilles Thys Sibill Delphica prophesied the destruction of Carthage the prosperitie of Rome the ruine of Capua the glorie of Graecia and the great pestilence of Italie And for that the fame of this Sibill was spread thoroughoute the worlde Kyng Romulus sente hir great presentes made hir greate promises and wrote to hir many letters to remoue hir out of hir countreye to lyue at Rome Neyther for any intreatance they vsed with hir or for any giftes they could sende hir this Sibill at any tyme would leaue hir countrey or come to dwell at Rome The whiche Romulus perceiuing determined in his owne person to goe sée hir and with hir in certayne causes to communicate The secret that Romulus desired was to vnderstand what Fortune was reserued for him and what destenie the Citie of Rome should haue whiche at that time king Romulus began to buylde Answere better nor worse mighte the kyng receyue of that Sibille Delphica but that she gaue him fouretéene letters written in certayne barkes of trées for that in those so auncient tymes they had not as then founde oute the manner to write in parchement and muche lesse in paper the secrete and misterie of which letters neither coulde King Romulus vnderstande eyther woulde the woman declare the same But so muche she did certifie him that there was one to be borne which should vnderstand and interprete those letters King Romulus being returned vnto his Citie of Rome commaunded those letters to be set in one of his Temples vnder greate and safe kéeping vntill the tyme shoulde come that the Goddes shoulde reueale them or some other bée borne that shoulde vnderstande them Foure hundreth thirtie seuen yeares those letters stoode hydden that no man coulde reade them muche lesse vnderstand them vntil there came to Rome an other Sibill named Erithra the whiche so clearely did declare interprete and expound them as if she hir selfe and none other had composed them The letters are but fouretéene the whiche declared in Englishe sayeth Romulus reygning Rome triumphing Sibill Delphica sayde the kingdome of Rome shall perish by Sword Fier Hunger and Colde Let vs put the selfe same caracters of the letters and the exposition in Latin vppon euery one of them in the forme that the Sibill expounded them whyche was as followeth R. Romulo R. Regnante R. Roma T. Triumphante S. Sibilla D. Delphica D. Dixit R. Regnum R. Romae R. Ruet F. Ferro F. Flamma F. Fame F. Frigore Sir behold héere your letters expounded your prophesies deuined your Romane confounded and also youre wager gotten And the reward shal be that I ouer watching my selfe to séeke this history your honour shall beare away the prayse of the aunswer If he will more thorowly know of this history let him come to séeke and reade Liuius Vulpitius Trebellius and Pogius whiche haue written of the antiquities of the Romans the sayings of the Sibilles No more but that our Lord be your protector and that he giue vs both his grace Amen Amen From Madrid the .xiij. of March. 1535. A letter vnto Sir Ynigo Marrique in which is re counted what hapned in Rome betwixt a slaue and a Lion an history very pleasant
is delicate and of smal strength so be is more offended by a little ayre that cōmes in at a chinke thā the cold of one whole winter night did gréeue him when he was yong The old men of your age ought very much to procure to eate good bread and to drinke good wine and the bread that is well baked and the wine that is a yeare old for as old age is compassed with infirmities and laden with sadnesse the good vituals shall hold them in health and the good wine shall leade them in mirth The old men of your age ought much to consider that theyr meales be small their meate yong and well seasoned and if they eate much and of many meates they euer goe sicke for notwithstanding they haue money to buy them they haue not heate to disgest them The old men of your age ought too procure their bed curteyned their Chamber hanged a meane fire the chimney without smoke for the life of olde men consisteth in going clenly warme cōtented and without anger The old men of your age ought vtterly to auoide to dwel vppon any riuer either to do their busines in moist groundes either to sléepe in ayry places for olde men being delicate as they are be like children and naturally accraised the ayre shall penetrate their powers and moystnesse shall enter their bones The old mē of your age vpon paine of their life ought to be temperate in their diet refusing to eate late for old mē as they haue their stomacks weake and growen colde they may not disgest two meales in a day for the olde man that is vnsatiable and a glutton vsing the contrary shall belke much and sléepe little The olde men of your age to the ende that they be not sicke or grow heauie neyther turne to be grosse ought a little to refreshe them selues walke into the fielde vse some exercise or be occupied in some facultie for otherwise it might happen them to get a tisick or a lamenesse in their limmes in such wise that it will be hard to fetch breath and by puffing and blowing giue warning where you walk The old men of your age ought to haue great care to auoyde all contentious brabbling amongst their seruants and sometime to beare with their negligences to pay their wages too the ende they go contented for otherwise they will be negligent in seruice and very suttle in stealing For conclusion the old men of your age ought much to procure to weare their apparell swéete and cleanly their shirts very well washed their house neat and wel swept and their chamber very close warme and well smelling For the olde man whiche presumeth to be wise if he will liue in health and goe contented ought to haue his body without life his hart without strife In the end of your letter you write that hauing left to loue sorow leaueth not to vere you which vseth to folow the enamored and instantly you desire me to giue you some remedy or to sende you some comfort for notwithstanding you haue throwen it out of the house it leaueth not nowe and then too knocke at the gate Sir in this case I remit you to Hermogenes to Tesiphontes to Doreatius to Plutarch and to Ouid which spent much time and wrote many bookes to giue order in what manner the enamored shoulde loue and the remedies that for their loue they should vse Let Ouid write what him pleaseth Dorcas say what he thinketh good but in fine there is no better remedie for loue than is neuer to begin to loue for loue is so euill a beast that with a thread he suffereth to be taken but hée will not depart with thrusts of a launce Let euery man consider what he attempteth marke what he doth beholde what he taketh in hand note whither he dothe enter and haue regarde where he may be taken for if it were in his handes to set the tables he is not certaine to win the game There is in loue after it is begon infinite shelues immesurable sloughes daungerous rockes and vnknowen whirelpooles in whych some remaine defaced others blinded some besoilde and also some others vtterly drowned in such wise that he that is best deliuered I accoumpt to be euill deliuered Oh how many times did Hercules desire to be deliuered from his loue Mithrida Menelaus from Dortha Pyrrhus from Helena Alcibiades from Dorobella Demophon from Phillis Hāniball from Sabina and Marcus Antonius from Cleopatra from whome they could neuer not only depart but also in the end for them and with them they were cast away In case of loue let no man trust any man and much lesse him selfe for loue is so naturall to man or woman and the desire to be beloued that where loue amongst them dothe once cleaue it is a sore that neuer openeth and a bond that neuer vnknitteth Loue is a metall so delicat a canker so secret that he planteth not in the face where he may be sene nor in the pulse where he may be felte but in the sorowfull hart where although he be sensible they dare not discouer it After all this I say that the remedie that I giue for loue is that they gyue him no place to enter amongst the entrayles nor giue theyr eyes libertie to behold windowes or giue eare to bawdes either suffer any trade of Dames to come or goe if any come to house to shut the dores and not to walke abroade after euening if with these conditions loue may not altogither bée remedied at the least it may be eased and amended Sir and my gossip if you will in all these things profite youre selfe and well consider thereof you shall be excused of many angers and also saue much money For to youre age and my grauitie it is more conuenient to vnderstande of the best wines than to view the windowes of the enamored Take for example chastisement the Licentiat Burgos your acquainted and my great friend which being old and enamored as you died this saterday a death so straunge and fuddayne as was fearefull to al men and sorowfull to his friēds No more but our Lord be youre guide and giue me grace too serue him From Burgos the .24 of Febr. 1523. A letter vnto Sir Iames of Gueuara vncle to the Author wherein he doth comfort him for that he hath bin sicke MAgnificent and right honorable Vncle it pleaseth your Honor to complaine of mée in youre letter that I neither serue you as my good Lorde either do sue as vnto a father or visite as an vncle neyther write as vntoo a friende I may not denie but as concerning kinred your are my Fathers brother in merit my good Lord my father in curtesie and my Progenitor in giuing of liberall rewards which I haue receiued at your hands not as a nephew but as a sonne much beloued Since I haue confessed the affinitie that I hold and affirme the dette
of rich Merchantes they become poore Seruantes The Sonnes of Vesko Bello haue quartered their goodes as if they should haue quartered the same by iustice for the one part they haue giuen to women another to banquets another to dice and the other to wanton deuises in such wise that that which their fathers gate in Fayres they spend and consume in follies Sir also you write me to aduertise you of my iudgement of a certayne new marriage that they offer you in Villena with a woman that is rich yong fayre gentle and aboue all of good report and fame As concerning the first Sir I can say vnto you that such a marriage as this is of many desired and of few obtayned bycause there is not in this world a woman so perfect and accōplished the hath all in hir that of hir husband may be wished nothing found in hir to be remoued reiected There be some Gentlewomen the whiche if they on the one part be riche of gentle bloud yong and faire they hold on the other part a certaine ouerthwartnesse in condition and certain frowardnesse in conuersation that their husbāds hold it for lesse euill to dissemble that they sée thā to chide or grow angry for that which they féele Leauing this apart Sir you haue to consider that if she be yong you are old and if she be fayre you are hoare headed and that it is not sufficient that she doe content you but that she also of you haue very good liking for otherwise shée walking with a crooked face you shall passe with hir a very tedious life Amongst the married it is lesse euill that misliking do happen vnto the man than vnto the woman bycause the husband if he be wise can dissemble his griefe but the wife neyther can she dissemble it neyther yet kéepe silence If the wife which they giue you be rich I hold it for profitable if she be fayre I hold it for delectable if she be of gentle bloud I hold it for honorable but if she be yong I holde it for perillous bycause she shall haue wherefore to sigh to sée you so old and you shal not wāt wherfore to watch to sée hir so yong I cānot say in whether of you both I may lay the blame or rather which I may not blame you for choosing or she in accepting bycause a yong wench of twenty yeares with an old man of thréescore yeares is a life of two yeares Consider well what you doe and haue regard what you take in hande and be aduised with whome you marry for a man of so greate an age to marry with so tender yeares from henceforward I prophesy that either she shall hate you or else defame you eyther else finish or make an end of you Sir finally I say that if you will accept my counsell and escape anger and displeasure you shall kéepe your house and procure and follow your profit and if you wil néedes marry you shall marrie with the fatlings of Algezi with the lambs of Polop with the white wine of Monuiedro and with the Claret of Venicarlo the whiche shall yéelde you substance and enlarge your life No more but that I incommend my selfe to the grace of the Lady Leonora of Villa noua From Granado the xij of February Anno. 1526. A letter to the Chanon Osorius wherein is declared that we know not the things that profit or hurt vs in this life REuerende Chanon Cornelius Rufus in the late time of Omitus Cincinatus lying one night in his bed in good health dreamed that he had lost his sighte so as he was constrayned to be lead like a blind man which afterward was found true for awaking from sléepe he was so depriued of sight that he neuer after could sée either heauē or earth Phalaris the Theban being gréeuously sicke of a disease in hys lungs enterprised himselfe to enter into battell wherin he receyued a wound with a Speare and suche was his fortune that he was not only healed of the hurt which in the battel he receyued but was also discharged and cured of his former malady Mamilius Bubulus king of Hetruria receyuing in battaile a wound with an arrowe whiche entred his body vp to the feathers the same being drawen out the head thereof remayning still in hys fleshe had afterwardes by fortunes fauour this good chaunce one day going to chase in pursute of a Hart was cast downe Horse and man into a ditche out of which mishappe sprang his better lucke for by meanes of the same he voyded from him the arrow head before left and closed in his flesh and became afterwards more healthfull than euer he was before So as we may inferre by that which hath bin sayd that men full little know what is profitable or hurtfull to them sure it appeareth that Cornelius Rufus sléeping in his bed became blind Phalaris the Thebane by hurt of a speare recouered remedie of his former sicknesse and Mamilius by mishappe of a fall to receyue happie auoydance of the arrowe head whiche before lay closed in his flesh Wherefore I conclude and say that all the chaunces of this present life haue in themselues alone no more good or euill than according to their sequele and effect they bring so that if we find they haue conclusion to our liking we count them happie and good and if contrary to our desires and expectatiō they bring misfortune vnfortunate and euill which giueth me iust cause to say that we should not for any flatterie of fortune or of any good hap be proude nor yet for any hir frownings and contrary haps despaire I haue made all this recitall before to gratify your new recouered health and the departure of your sicknesse that is to say that hauing bin thrée yeares gréeuously sicke of a feuer quartan there hath hapned to your mind some so greate a griefe that the force thereof suffred to driue and beate the quartaine from your house which maketh me once twice and thrice to affirme that we know not what to require to be helping to vs bycause diuers times with greate care we séeke that we should flée and eschue and we flée from that we shuld with all diligence séeke and follow Amongst the high precepts of the diuine Plato this was one that we shuld not pray to the Gods to giue vs this or that but with importunat prayer to require that it would please them to giue vs that which stoode with deuine pleasures best to bestow and to our néede most commodious The Hebrewes being long time ruled by Iudges demaunded of God a King to gouerne them whome they might obey which God performed rather to satisfye their earnest petitiō than of any procéeding from his merciful pleasure he gaue them suche a person to their King as it had bin better for thē neuer to haue demanded or had any at all Now be it as it be may or happen what shall happen I returne agayne to reioyce
were not holy and approued but rather bycause ye could not vnderstand them Muche lesse may you denie me that your Rabby Salmon Rabby Salomon Rabby Fatuell Rabby Aldugac and Rabby Baruch do not saye and affirme by their writings that after your second deliuerance from the Captiuitie of Babylon ye neuer more vnderstoode to performe the Ceremonies of your temple speake the Hebrew tong either vnderstande the holy Scripture much lesse to sing the Canticles of Dauid And no lesse may you denie that of all sorts of your Iewish people in the dayes of the great Priest Mathathias did repaire vnto the Court of king Antiochus to sell the Realme and to learne his law and that which is more vile ye consented that all the bookes of Moyses shoulde publikely be burnt and likewise permitted scholes in the Citie of Ierusalem to reade the lawes of the Gentiles placing also an Idol in the holy temple vnto whome was offered incense and other odours as if it had bin the true God the which most certaynly I woulde not haue spoken if I had not found it written in the booke of Machabees And then our Lorde God seing the wine of the lawe in a manner consumed and that there remayned nothing but lies and dregs and the time approching that the Gentiles shoulde be called and conuerted and that in them the Church shoulde begin he did permit and ordayne that all the holy scriptures should be translated into the gréeke tong foreséeing that the Hebrew tong should be lost And how so famous a translation and interpretation came as touching their law hauing also in the same charge to iudge all differences betwixt the people They had likewise the charge to commaunde and to make ordinances as touching the gouernement of the Common wealth euen to the assignement direction what euery one should haue in his house These were the mē hat did ordeyne and commande that before the Hebrewes should sute at table they shoulde wash their handes the transgression of whiche Ceremonie the Iewes did accuse the Apostles but as well defended by Iesus Christ For surely if these auncientes had not dealte farther than with the gouernement of their common wealth and iudging their causes it had bene notwithstanding a thing tolerable But by their authoritie they thrust in themselues to glose the Bible and garboyle the scripture Wherof the principal that therto did first giue attēpt was Rabby Salmon Rabby Enoch Limuda Rabby Adam Rabby Elechana and Rabby Ioiade whose gloses ye haue as much praysed and estéemed as if God him selfe had ordeyned and Moyses written them Whereof hath risen many errors in your Aliames and many wrong and most vntruthes in the Scriptures which you haue Neither are ye able to denie vnto mée that by the meane of your false interpretations and the erroneous vnderstandings that your predicessors haue committed and done vppon the Bible there hath not risen in your Synagoge those thrée cursed sectes of the Assees Saduces and Pharises the which heretiques caused in your common wealth great scandalles and in your lawe greate doubtes And to the ende you shall vnderstand that I know all your secrets It is not vnknowne vnto you that .40 yeares before the incarnation of Iesus Christ there was in Babylon a Iewe named Ionathan Abemiziell so muche estéemed amongst you and his doctrine so muche reuerenced that your auctors haue sayde that in him was renewed the fayth of Abraham the pacience of Iob the zeale of Helie and the spirite of Esay This Rabby Abemiziell was the firste that translated the Bible out of the Hebrew into the Caldian tongue with suche diligence and fidelitie that hée was thought to bée inspired of the holy Ghost in the doing thereof This good Iewe Abemiziel is the same the which whereas the Psalmist sayeth Dixit Dominus Domino meo he sayde Dixit Dominus verbo meo And in that Psalme whiche sayeth Ego mortifico hée sayde Ego mortificor And where it is sayde Percutiam ego sanabo he sayde Percutiar ego sanabo And where it is sayde Aduersus Dominum aduersus Christū eius he sayde Aduersus Dominum aduersus Messiam eius And where Salomon sayeth Viam viri in adolescentia he sayd Viam viri in adolescentula In suche manner that in his woordes he séemed rather to prophesie than to translate The translation of this Iewe Abemiziel is the same which at this present we call the Caldian translation and the which is moste in vse in the Orientall Churches likewise is vsed of the Armenians the Caldees the Aegiptians and of many Greekes But the doctors of your law perceyuing that many Iewes did conuert Christians and that also conformable vnto his translation they gathered that Christe was the true Messias The whiche when they perceyued they did assemble in the Citie of Babylon in the fourthe yeare of the reygne of the Emperour Traian wherein it was ordeyned and commaundement giuen vnder great penalties that any of that translation should neuer more be vsed but in all places whersoeuer it should be founde without remission to be burned The translation of Abemiziel béeyng condemned by the cōmon consent of the Iewes it came to passe in the sixt yeare of the sayde Emperor Traian a certayne greate and famous heathen Priest borne in the Isle of Pont named Aquile did conuert himselfe to the lawe of Moyses the which conuersion hée did not performe of conscience to saue his soule but to obtaine in mariage an excellent fayre Iewishe woman with whome he was farre inflamed And for that this Aquile was a man very skilfull in the Gréeke and Hebrewe tongues hée founde no better opportunitie more aptly to shewe his spirite than to take in hande the translation of all the holy Scripture out of Hebrewe into Gréeke This same was the first translation that was performed after the incarnation of Iesus Christe in the yeare .104 after his natiuitie The whiche translation among you Iewes was in small estimation bycause it was doone by suche a one as in tymes paste had bene a Heathen or Gentile and of the Christians much lesse estéemed for that it was brought to passe by him that was conuerted a Iewe. Fiftie twoo yeares after the death of the sayde Aquile it is to bée vnderstoode in the eyght yeare of the euyll Emperour Commodus There was another Gréeke translation performed by a Iewe named Theodosius the whiche after became a Christian which remooued and made perfect all the errors of Aquile Thirtie seuen yeares after the death of Theodosius which is to vnderstande in the nynth yeare of the Empire of Seuerus there was another translation performed out of the Hebrewe into Gréeke by a man learned and vertuous named Simachus the whiche was approued well allowed and reseued throughout all the Easte notwithstanding that not long after it was reproued and reiected In those tymes there raygned in the greatest partes
another booke apart by it selfe this Prince during the tyme that he made warres against the Parthians as Eusebius and Orosius do declare endeuored his power to persecute the Christians which remayned in Europe and Asia where Lucus Varus was gouernour This was the fourth persecution of the Church myllitant so that it followeth that God suffered this general pestilence to raigne amongst them and a thousande other callamities to happen vnto them enduring the gouernment of this Prince as wee haue largely declared in his Cronicle The fift persecution of the Church was during the raigne of Septimus Seuerus the Emperour the which by the instigation of the deuil made a great butcherie of the faithful Christiās This fift persecutiō was the cause as fayth Osorius the God dyd not permit this Prince to lyue in peace for one of his Captaines rebelled against him named Albinius the which made all Brittany to reuolt from him calling him selfe Emperour during the time of his life The sixt persecution of the Church was in the time of the Emperour Maximius the cursed Prince being offended that Alexander Seuerus had supported the Christians by expresse ordinaunce commission made a great and blooddye spoyle of the Christians principallie of the ministers of those which executed any aucthoritie amōgst the Christiā people This was the sixt persecutiō as saith Eusebius Orosius in the which this Prince vsed many vnacustomed tormēts and caused diuers cruell punishmentes to be inuented whereby the poore Christians might be miserablye handled who had such an opinion and presumptuous pride of himselfe his power that he estéemed that no person might once hurt him and that it were impossible to wounde or to kyll him In which opinion he most deuillishlie pursued all his cruelties and tormentes The seuenth persecution was in the rule of the Emperor Decius This Prince although otherwise he were of good naturall disposition was notwithstanding in religion an Infidell and in that respect sought the vexation of the millitant Church so that no such crueltye were before tyme vsed as nowe in his tyme towardes the afflicted Christians The which is affirmed that he onely dyd in despite of his prodecessour Phillip who had before béene Christened And so this seuenth persecution was in the time of this Decius The eyght persecution was enduring the raigne of the Emperour Valerian who as Eusebius doth report was so fauourable to the Christians in the beginning of his raigne that he would not permitte that any personne dyd them any wrong or violence for he bare such affection and honour vnto them that his pallace was a true colledge and sanctuarie for the Christians but towardes the ende of his raigne he suffred him selfe to be seduced by a Magicien of Egipt who was a deadlye enemie to the Christian religion because the same dyd impugne the deceiptes and Sorceries of the Magicians In such sort that he dyd not all onely chaunge his opinion towardes the Christians but also persecuted them with great slaughter This was the eyght persecution of which Orosius doth liberally discourse but such was the iustice of God for his cruell excesse that such euyll fortune followed Valerian after this déede that he was taken prisoner and fell into the handes of Sapor King of Percia which dyd intreate and handle him most cruelly The ninth persecution of the Church was in the time of the Emperour Aurelian who hauing most louinglie vsed the Christians in the first sixe yeares of his raigne as appeareth by the writing of Eusebius and Orosius in the ende by the prouocation of the Deuill and other most wicked persons he persecuted the Christians generally throughout all the confines of his Empire And this was the ninth persecution of the faithfull Now it happened that as this Prince was readie to signe a commission which he was to dispatche to the gouernors of the Princes of the Empire against the Christians an arrow fell from Heauen so neare vnto him that those which were present thought that it had kylled the Emperour But besides this signe and aduertisement God suffered the effect to followe that is to saye the death of the aforesayd Prince for he was miserablye slaine by his owne men and seruauntes and by the same receyued the guerdone and payment of his desartes and offences The tenth persecution was in the time of the Emperour Diodesian This Prince being in quiet rest from all his affaires styrred by Belzebub and his ministers he being a Painim and norished in the supersticions of the Idolatrye of the Gentiles beganne to persecute and pursue the Catholike church which was the tenth generall persecution of the Christians to accoumpt from the same of Nero and this was the most cruell longest of continuaunce of al others the which endured by the space of ten continuall yeares Now the Christiās had long time liued in rest quiet since the persecution which was in the gouernment of the Emperor Aurelian in such sort that the Christian religion was now become of great force in all churches And all the Cities and Towns as well within the dominions of the Emperour as without the limmits of the same and the Christians were excéedinglie multiplied in nomber and had great assemblies in their Churches But as sayth Eusebius this rest and libertie which they enioyed was cause that the pollicie and maner of lyuing of the Christians began to bee corrupted so that many iniquities wickednesse dyd grow presently the old former sanctimony began to deminishe and such disorders discentions began to be moued amongst the Bishops and the Prelats that as the sayd Eusebius witnesseth God permitted this persecution to serue in place of reuenge and chastisement of his Church This persecution was so great so cruell and so blooddy that it is impossible for any pen to write the vnnatural slaughters which the Paynims vsed neither is there any tongue that is able to pronoūce them The which Eusebius doth well declare being a present witnesse beholding the same with his eies as done in his owne sight for he sayth that he cannot discribe nor speake that which he saw executed before his face To whom Orosius doth condiscend wryting in the same sort that there was not any heart so harde that would not be moued to compassion reading the cruelties of this persecution Which amaseth me to consider of the constancie of the Martyrs which endured such tormentes so valiantlye and of the cruelty of those which murdered and tormented them so maliciouslye And to the entent that you and all other shoulde know what punishments this butcherlie Prince ministred vnto the Christians I haue wyllinglie recited some notable partes of the same which be these Fyrst this Prince dyd ruinate and sacke al the Churches of the Christians and forbid them to make any assembles for the seruice of God in any part be commaunded all the bookes of the holy Scriptures to be burned which they might finde Also he ordayned that all Christians