battaile with such a renoumed captaine as Hannibal was to whom he aunswered frend I am a Romaine borne a captaine of Rome and I must daylye put my lyfe in hazard for my countries sake for so I shal make perpetual my renoume He was demaunded againe why he stroke his enemyes with such fiersenes why he did so pitefully lament those which were ouercome after the vyctory gotten in battaile he aunswered the captaine which is a Romaine and is not iudged to be a tiraunt ought with his owne hand to shed the bloud of his enemyes and also to shed the teares of his eyes A captayne Romaine ought more to aduaunce him of his clemencie then of hys bluddie victory And Marcus Marcellus sayth further when a Romaine captaine shal be in the field he hath an eye to his enemyes with hope to vanquishe them but afterl they be vanquisshed he ought to remember they are men and that he might haue bene ouercome For fortune shewith herselfe in nothinge so common as in the successes of warre Certes these were words wel beseming such a man and surely we may boldlye say that al those which shal heare or read such thinges wil commend the words which that Romaine spake but few are they that in dede would haue done the feates that he did For there be many that are ready to praise in their words that which is good but ther are few that in their workes desire to folow the same Such harts are vnquiet much altered by sight and enuie that they bare towards their auncients which through manfulnes atayned vnto great tryumphes and glory let them remember what daungers and trauailes they passed through before they came thereto For there was neuer Captaine that euer triumphed in Rome vnlesse he had first aduentured his life a thousand times in the feld I thinke I am not deceyued in this that I wil say That is to wete al are desirous to tast of the marye of fame presente but none wil breake the bone for feare of peril ensuing Yf honour cold be bought with desire onely I dare boldly say it would be more estemed in these dayes of the poore page then it was in times past of the valyaunt Romaine Scipio For ther is not at this day so poore a man but would desire honour aboue al thinges What a doleful case is this to se many gentlemen and yong knights becom euyl disposed vacabondes and loyterers the whych hearyng tel of any famous battaile fought and that many of their estate and profession haue done valiaunt feates in the same immediately therwith be stirred and set on fire through enuies heate so that in the same furye they chaunge their robes into armour and wyth al spede prepare them selues to warre to exercyse the feates of armes And finally like yong men without experience make importunate sute and obtaine licence and money of their frends to go vnto the warres But after they are ons out of their countrey and see them selues in a straunge place their dayes euyl and their nightes worse at one tyme they are commaunded to skirmish and at an other time to watch when they haue vittailes they want lodging when the pay day cometh that pay the next also is eatē and spent With these other like troubles discommodityes the poore yong men are so astonyed especially when they cal to mind the goodly wide haules so wel hanged trymmed wherin they greatly delighted to passe the time in sommer season When they remember their greate chimneis at home whereby they comforted their olde limmes and how they vsed to sit quietly vpon the sonny bankes in winter For the remembrauncr of the pleasour past greatly augmenteth the paines present Notwithstanding their parents and frends had admonished them hereof before And now being beaten with their owne folye feling these discommodities which they thought not of before they determyne to forsake the warres eche one to retourne home to his owne againe But wher as they asked licence but ons to go forth now they were enforced to aske it .10 times before they could come home And the worst is they went forth loden with money and retourne home loden with vyces But the end why these thinges are spoken is that sage and vertuous men shold marke by what trade the euil disposed seke to gaine which is not gotten by gasing at the windowes but by keping the frountiers against their enemies not with playeng at tables in the tauernes but with fighting in the fields not trimmed with cloth of gold or silkes but loden with armoure weapons not praunsing their palfreis but discouering the ambushmentes not sleaping vntill none but watching al night not by auauncing him of his apparaile and handsomnes but for his stout couragiousnes not banketing his frends but assaulting his enemies though a knight do these things yet he ought to consider that it is vanitye and folishnes But seing the world hath placed honour in such a vaine thyng that they can attaine vnto it by none other way the yong aduenturous gentlmen ought to employe therunto their strength with stout courage to atchieue to some great actes worthy of renowne For in the end when the warre is iustly begonne and that in defence of their countrey they ought to reioyce more of him that dieth in the hands of his enemies thē of him which liueth accompanied with vices It is a great shame and dishonour to men of armes yong gentlemen being at home to heare the prayse of them whych be in the warres for the yong gentlemen ought not to thinke it honour for hym to heare or declare the newes of others but that others shuld declare the vertuous dedes of him O how many are they in the world this day puffed vp with pride not very wise which stil prate of great renowne yet passe their life with smal honesty For our predecessours foughte in the field with their launces but yong men now a dayes fight at the table with their tongues Admit that al vaine men desire procure to leaue a memory of their vanity yet they ought to enterpryse such thyngs in their life wherby they might winne a famous renowne not a perpetual shame after their death For ther are many departed which haue left such memory of their works as moueth vs rather to pitie their folye than to enuy their vertue I aske those that read or heare this thynge if they wil be in loue wyth Nembroth the first tiraunt with Semiramis which sinned with her owne son with Antenor that betrayed Troy his countrey with Medea that slew her children with Tarquine that enforced Lucretia with Brutus that slew Cesar wyth Silla that shed so much bloud with Catilina that played the tiraunt in his countrey with Iugurtha that strangled his bretherne with Caligula that comitted incest with his sisters with Nero that killed his mother wyth Heliogabalus that robbed the temples with Domitian that
I wold not yester daye aunswere to that that the Senatour Fuluius spake vnto me because it was somewhat late and for that we were long in sacrifices I thought that neyther time nor place was conuenieÌ„t to aunswere therunto For it is a signe of a lytle wisedome of great folye for a man to aunswere sodainly to euerye question The libertie that vndiscret men haue to demaunde the selfe same priuiledge hath the sage for to aunswere For though the demaund procede of ignoraunce yet the aunswere oughte to procede of wysedome Trulye wise men were wel at ease if to euery demaund they shoulde aunswere the simple and malicious who for the most part demaund more to vexe other men then for to profyte themselues more for to proue than to know wherfore wise men ought to dissemble at such demaundes For the sages oughte to haue their eares open to heare and their tongue tyed because they should not speake I let you know auncyent fathers sacred senate that the lytle whyche I knowe I learned in the yle of Rhodes in Naples in Capua and in Tharente And al tutors told me that the Intencion and end of men to study was only to know to gouerne them selues amongest the malicious For scyence profiteth nothing els but to know how to kepe his lyfe wel ordered his tongue wel measured Therfore I protest to god that which I will say before your sacred preseÌ„ce I wil not speake it of any malice or ill wil but only to aunswere vnto that which toucheth the auctoritie of my person For the thynges which touch the honour ought first by word to be aunswered afterwards by sword to be reuenged Therfore now beginning my matter addressing my words to the Fuluius and to that which thou spakest vnto me asking why I shew my selfe so to all men I aunswere the. It is because al men shold giue themselues to me Thou knowest wel Fuluius that I haue bene a Consul as thou art and thou hast not bene an Emperour as I am Therfore beleue me in thys case that the prince being dispised caÌ„not be beloued of hys people The gods wil not nor the lawes do permyte neyther the common wealth wyllyngly should suffer that al princes should be lordes of many and that they should not communicate but with a few For princes which haue bene gentile in their lyues the auncients haue made them gods after their deathes The fisher to fish for many fishes in the riuer goeth not with one bote alone nor the Mariner to fish in the depe sea goeth with one net only I meane that the profounde willes which are deepely enclosed in the hartes oughte to be wonne some by giftes other by promises other by pleasaunt words and others by gentle enterteynement For princes should trauaile more to winne the hartes of their subiectes then to conquere the Realmes of straungers The gredy and couetous hartes care not thoughe the prince shutteth vp his hart so that he open his cofers but noble and valiaunt men litle esteme that which they locke vp in their cofers so that their hartes be open to their frendes For loue can neuer but with loue againe be requited Sith Princes are lords of many of necessitie they ought to be serued with many being serued with many they are bound to satisfie many and this is as generally as perticulerly they cannot dispence with their seruaunts For the prince is no lesse bound to pay the seruice of his seruaunte then the maister is to pay the wages of the hired laborer Therefore if thys thing be true as it is how shal poore princes do which kepe many Realmes in keping them they haue great expenses and for to pay such charges they haue lytle money For in this case let euery man do what he will and let them take what counsaile they like best I would counsaile all others as I my selfe haue experimented that is that the prince shold be of so good a conuersacion among those which are his and so affable and familiar with all that for his good conuersacion only they should thinke them selues wel paid For with rewardes princes recompence the trauaile of their seruantes but with gentle wordes they robbe the hartes of their subiectes We se by experience that diuers marchauntes had rather by dearer in one shoppe because the marchaunt is pleasaunte then to â—ye better chepe in an other wheras the marchaunt is churlishe I meane that there are many which had rather serue a prince to gaine nothing but loue only thaÌ„ to serue an other prince for money For there is no seruice better imployed then to him which is honest good and gracious and to the contrary none worse bestowed then on hym which is vnthankfull and churlyshe In princes pallaces there shall neuer want euil and wicked men malicious deuelishe flatterers which wil seke meanes to put into their Lords heades howe they shall rayse their rentes leauye subsidies inuent tributes and borow money but there are none that wil tel them how they shal winne the hartes and good willes of their subiectes though they know it more profitable to be wel beloued then necessarie to be enriched He that heapeth treasure for his prince and seperateth him from the loue of his people ought not to be called a faithfull seruaunt but a mortall enemy Princes and Lordes ought greatly to endeuour themselues to be so conuersant among their subiects that they had rather serue for good wil then for the payment of money For if moneye wante their seruice will quaile and hereof procedeth a thousand inconueniences vnto princes which neuer happen vnto those that haue seruauntes whiche serue more of good wil then for moneye for he that loueth with al his harte is not proude in prosperitie desperate in aduersitie neither complayneth he of pouertie nor is discontented being fauourlesse nor yet abashed with persecution finallye loue and life are neuer seperated vntill they come vnto the graue We see by experience that the rablemeÌ„t of the poore labourers of Scicil is more worth then the money of the knightes of Rome For the labourer euery time he goeth to the fielde bringeth some profit from thence but euery time the knight sheweth him selfe in the market place he returneth without money By that comparison I meane that princes should be affable easie to talke with all pleasaunt mercifull benigne and stoute and aboue all that they be gracious and louing to the end that through these qualities and not by money they may learne to wynne the hartes of their subiectes Princes should greately labour to be loued specially if they will finde who shall succour them in aduersitie and kepe them from euill will and hatred whiche those princes can not haue that are hated but rather euery man reioyceth at their fall and miserie For eche man enioyeth his own trauaile and truly the furious and sorowfull hartes taketh some reste to see that others haue pitie and
for in the ende tyme is of such power that it cause the renowmed men to be forgotten and all the sumptuous buildinges to decaye and fall to the earth If thou wilt knowe my frende Pulio in what tyme the tyraunt this philosopher was I wyll thou knowe that when Catania the renowmed citie was builded in Cicilia neare the mount Ethna and when Perdica was the fourth kyng of Macedonia and that Cardicea was the thirde kyng of the Meedes and when Candare was fift king of Libeans and that Assaradoche was ninth king of the Assirians and when Merodache was twelft king of Caldeans and that Numa Pompilius reigned second king of the Romaines in the time of those so good kinges Periander reigned amonges the Assirians And it is meete thou knowe an other thyng also whiche is this That this Periander was a tyraunt not only in dede but also in renowme so that thei spake of no other thing thorowe Greece but it tended hereunto Though he had euill workes he had good wordes procured that the affaires of the cōmon wealth shuld be wel redressed For generally there is no man so good but a mā may finde somwhat in him to be reproued neither any man so euill but he hath some thing in him to be cōmended I doe yet remēber of my age being neither to young nor to old that I saw the emperour Traian my lord suppe once in Agrippine it so chaunced that wordes were moued to speake of good euil princes in times past as wel of the Grekes as of the Romains that al those which were present there cōmended greatly the emperour Octauian they al blamed the cruel Nero. For it is an aūcient custome to flatter the princes that are present to murmure at princes that are past When the good emperour Traian was at dinner when he praied in the tēple it was maruel if any mā sawe him speake any word that day since he sawe that thei excessiuely praised the emperour Octauian that the others charged the emperour Nero with more then neded the good Traian spake vnto them these wordes I am glad you cōmende the emperour Octauian but I am angry you should in my presence speake euil of the emperour Nero of none other for it is a great infamy to a prince being aliue to heare in his presence any prince euill reported after his death Truly the emperour Octauian was very good but ye will not denye me but he might haue bene better and the emperour Nero was very euil but yet you will graunt me he might haue ben worse I speake this because Nero in his first fiue yeares was the best of all and the other nyne folowyng he was the worste of all so that there is bothe cause to disprayse him and also cause to commende him When a vertuous man will speake of princes that are dead before princes whiche are aliue he is bounde to prayse onely one of their vertues which they had hath no licence to reuyle the vices whereof thei were noted For the good deserueth rewarde because he endeuoreth him selfe to folowe vertue the euill likewyse deserueth pardon because through frayltie he hath consented to vyce All these wordes the emperoure Traian spake I being present and they were spoken with suche fiercenes that all those whiche were there present bothe chaunged their colour and also refrained their tongues For truly the shamelesse man feeleth not so muche a great strype of correction as the gentill harte doth a sharpe worde of admonition I was willing to shewe thee these thinges my frende Pulio because that since Traian spake for Nero and that he founde in hym some prayse I doe thynke no lesse of the tyraunte Periander whome thoughe for his euyll workes he dyd we doe condemne yet for his good wordes that he spake for the good lawes whiche he made we doe prayse For in the man that is euill there is nothing more easier then to geue good counsayle and there is nothing more harder then to worke well Periander made dyuerse lawes for the common wealth of the Corinthians whereof here folowing I wil declare some We ordeyne and commaunde that if any by multipliyng of wordes kyll an other so that it were not by treason that he be not therefore condemned to die but that they make hym slaue perpetuall to the brother of him that is slayne or to the nexte of his kynne or frends for a shorte deathe is lesse payne then a longe seruitude We ordeyne and commaunde that if any these be taken he shall not dye but with a hotte iron shal be marked on the forehead to be knowen for a thefe for to shammefaste men longe infaime is more payne then a short lyfe We ordeyne and commaunde that the man or woman whiche to the preiudice of an other shall tell any lye shall for the space of a moneth carie a stone in their mouthe for it is not meete that he whiche is wonte to lye should alwayes bee authorysed to speake We ordeyne and commaunde that euery man or woman that is a quareler and sedicious persone in the common wealth be with great reproche bannished frome the people for it is vnpossible that he shoulde bee in fauoure with the Gods which is an enemie to his neighbours We ordeyne and commaunde that if there be any in the common wealth that haue receiued of an other a benefite and that afterwardes it is proued he was vnthankefull that in suche case they put hym to death for the man that of benefites receiued is vnthankefull oughte not to lyue in the worlde amonge menne Beholde therefore my frende Pulio the antiquitie whiche I declared vnto thee and howe mercifull the Corinthians were to murtherers theues and Pirates And contrarie howe seuere they were to vnthankefull people whome they commaunded forthwith to be putte to deathe And truly in myne opinion the Corinthians had reason for there is nothinge troubleth a wyse man more then to see him vnthankefull to him whome he hath shewed pleasure vnto I was willing to tel thee this historie of Periander for no other cause but to the end thou shouldest see and know that forasmuch as I doe greatly blame the vice of vnthankefulnes I will laboure not to be noted of the same For he that reproueth vice is not noted to be vertuous but he which vtterly flieth it Count vpon this my worde that I tel thee which thou shalt not thinke to be fained that though I be the Romain Emperour I wil be thy faithfull frend wil not faile to be thankefull towardes thee For I esteme it no lesse glory to know how to keape a frend by wysedom then to come to the estate of an emperour by philosophie By the letter thou sentest thou requiredst me of one thing to answere thee for the whiche I am at my wittes end For I had rather open my treasures to thy necessities then to open the bookes to answere to thy
as he sayd that the tongue is moued by the mocions of the soule that he whiche had no tongue had no soule And he which hath no soule is but a brute beast and he that is a beast deserueth to serue in the fields among brute beasts It is a good thing not to be domme as bruyte beastes are and it is a greater thing to speake as the reasonable men do but it is muche more worthye to speake wel as the eloquent philosophers do For otherwise if he which speaketh doth not wey the sentences more then the wordes ofte tymes the popingayes shal content them more which are in the cage then the men which do read in scooles Iosephus in the booke De bello Iudaico saith that king Herode not onely with his personne and goodes but also with all his frendes and parentes folowed and gaue ayde to Marcus Anthonius and to his louer Cleopatra howbeit in the end Octauian had the vyctorie For the man which for the loue of a woman doth enterprise conquestes it is impossible that eyther he loose not his lyfe or els that he lyue not in infamy Herode seing that Marcus Anthonius was dead determyned to go towardes the Emperour Octauian at whose feete he layd his crowne and made a notable oration wherein he spake so pleasaunt wordes and so hyghe sentences that the Emperour Octauian did not only pardon him for that he was so cruell an enemye but also he confirmed him againe into his Realme and toke him for his deare and special frend For among the good men and noble hartes many euil workes are amended by a few good words If Blundus in the booke intituled Roma triumphante do not deceiue me Pirrus the great king of the Epirotes was stout and hardy valiaunt in armes liberal in benefites pacient in aduersityes and aboue al renowmed to be very swete in wordes and sage in his aunswers They sayd that this Pirrus was so eloquent that the man with whom once he had spoken remayned so much his that from that time foreward in his absence he toke his part and declared his life and state in presence The aboue named Blundus saied and Titus Liuius declareth the same that as the Romaynes were of al things prouided seing that king Pirrus was so eloquent they prouided in the senate that no Romaine Embassadour shold speake vnto him but by a third person for otherwise he would haue perswaded them through his sweate woordes that they shoulde haue retourned againe to Rome as his procurers Soliciters Albeit Marcus Tullius Cicero was Senatour in the Senate consul in the Empire rich amongest the rich and hardy amongest men of warre yet truly none of these qualyties caused him eternal memorie but only his excellent eloquēce This Tullius was so estemed in Rome for the eloquence of his tongue only that oft times they hard hym talke in the Senate iii. houres togethers without any man speakinge one word And let not this be lytle estemed nor lightly passed ouer for worldlye malyce is of such condicion that some man may more easely speake 4. howers then another man shal haue pacience to heare him one minute Anthonius Sabellicus declareth that in the time of Amilcares the Affricans a Philosopher named Afronio florished in great Carthage who being of the yeres of 81. dyed in the first yeare of the warres of Punica They demaunded this Phylosopher what it was that he knew he aunswered He knew nothing but to speake wel They demaunded him againe what he learned he aunswered He did learne nothinge but to speake wel Another time they demaunded him what he taught he aunswered He taught nothing but to speake wel Me thinketh that this good phylosopher in 80. yeres and one said that he learned nothing but to speake wel he knew nothing but to speake wel that he taught nothing but to speake wel And truly he had reasō for the thing which most adorneth mans life is the sweate pleasaunte tongue to speake wel What is it to see ii men in one councel the one talking to the other the one of them hath an euyll grace in propounding and thother excellent in speaking Of such there are some that in hearing theym talke .iii. houres we would neither be trobled nor weryed and of the contrarie part there are others so tedyous and rude in their speache that as sone as men perceiue they beginne to speake they auoyde the place And therfore in mine opinyon ther is no greater trouble thenne to herken one quarter of an houre a rude man to speake and to be contrarye ther is no greater pleasure thenne to heare a dyscreate man though it were a whole weke The deuyne Plato in the Booke of Lawes sayd that there is nothynge whereby a manne is knowen more thenne by the woordes he speaketh for of the woordes whyche we heare hym speake we iudge his intention eyther to be good or euil Laertius in the lyfe of the Phylosophers sayeth that a yong child borne at Athens was brought vnto Socrates the great phylosopher being in Athens to the end he shold receiue him into his company teach him in his scoole The yong chyld was straunge and shamefaste and durst not speake before his maister wherfore the philosopher Socrates said vnto him speake frend if thou wilt that I know the. This sentence of Socrates was very profound and I pray him that shal reade this wryting to pause a while therat For Socrates wil not that a man be knowen by the gesture he hath but by the good or euyl wordes which he speaketh Though eloquence and speaking wel to euery man is a cause of augmenting their honour and no dimynissher of their goodes yet withoute comparison it shineth muche more and is most necessarie in the pallaces of Prynces and great Lordes For men which haue common offices ought of necessity harken to his naturall contrymen also to speake with straungers Speking therfore more plainly I say that the Prince ought not to trauaile only to haue eloquence for the honour of his person but also it behoueth him for the comon wealth For as the prince is but one and is serued of all so it is vnpossible that he haue so much as wil satisfye and content them al. And therfore it is necessarie that he requyte some mith money that he content others with good wordes For the noble hart loueth better a gentle worde then a reward or gift with the tongue of a rude man Plato Liuius Herodotus Vulpicius Eutropius Diorus Plynie and many other innumerable auncient historyographers do not cease to prayse the eloquence of greeke princes and latynes in their workes O how blessed were those tymes when ther were sage princes and discrete lords truly they haue reason to exalt them For many haue obteyned and wonne the royal crounes and septures of the Empire not so much for the great battailes they haue conquered nor for the highe bloud and generacion from whence
want no perils For in warres renoune is neuer sold but by weight or chaunged with losse of lyfe The yong Fabius son of my aunt the aged Fabia at the .iii. CaleÌ„des of March brought me a letter the whych you sent and truely it was more briefe then I would haue wyshed it For betwene so dere children and so louinge a mother it is not suffered that the absence of your parsonnes shoulde be so farre and the letters whyche you write so briefe By those that goe from hence thyther I alwayes do sende you commendations and of those that come from thence hyther I doe enquire of newes Some saye they haue sene you other tell me they haue spoken with you so that with thys my hart is somwhat quieted For betwene them that loue greatly it may be endured that â—he sight be seldome so that the health be certain I am sole I am a widow I 〈◊〉 aged and now all my kinred is dead I haue endured many trauailes in Rome and the greatest of all is my children of your absence For the paine is greater to be voide of assured frendes theÌ„ assault is daungerous of cruel enemies Since you are yong and not very ryche since you are hardy and brought vp in the trauailes of Afrike I do not doubte but that you doe desire to come to Rome to se and know that now you are men whiche you haue sene when you were children For men doe not loue their countrey so much for that it is good as they do loue it for that it is naturall Beleue me children ther is no maÌ„ liuing that hath sene or hard speake of Rome in times past but hath great griefe sorow and pitie to se it at this present For as their hartes are pitiefull and their eyes tender so they can not behold that without great sorow which in times past they haue sene in great glory O my children you shal know that Rome is greatly chaunged from that it was wont to be To reade that that we do reade of it in times past to se that whyche we se of it now present we must nedes esteme that whiche the auncientes haue writen as a gest or els beleue it but as a dreame Ther is no other thing now at Rome but to see iustice corrupted the commen weale oppressed lyes blowen abroade the truth kept vnder the satires silent the flatterers open mouthed the inflamed personnes to be Lordes and the pacient to be seruauÌ„tes and aboue al and worse then all to se the euil liue in rest contented and the good troubled displeased Forsake forsake my children that citie where the good haue occasioÌ„ to weape the euil haue liberty to laugh I can not tel what to say in this mater as I would say Truly the coÌ„mon weale is at this day such so woful that eche wise man without coÌ„parison wold haue greater pleasure to be in the warres of Affrik then in the peace at Rome For in the good war a man seeth of whom he shold take hede but in the euil peace no maÌ„ knoweth whom to truste Therefore my children since you are naturall of Rome I wil tel you what Rome is at this present I let you know that the vestall virgines are now dissolute the honour of the gods is forgotten the profit of the coÌ„mon weale no maÌ„ seketh of the excercise of chiualry ther is no memory for the orphanes widowes ther is no man that doth aunswere to ministre iustice thei haue no regard the dissolute vices of the youth ar without measure Finally Rome that in times past was a receypt of all the good vertuous is now made a denne of al theues vitious I feare me I feare me least our mother rome in shorte time wil haue some sodein great fal And I say not without a cause some great fall for both men Cities that fall froÌ„ the top of their felicity purchase greater infamy with those that shal com after theÌ„ the glory that they haue had of theÌ„ that be past Peraduenture my childreÌ„ you desire to se the walles buildinges of Rome for those thinges which childreÌ„ se first in their youth the same they loue kepe alwaies in memory vntill their age As the auncient buildinges of rome are destroyed the few that ar now builte so would I you should loose your earnest affection to come to se theÌ„ For in dede the noble hartes are ashamed to se that thing amisse which they caÌ„ not remedye Do not thynke my chyldren thoughe Rome be made worse in maners that therfore it is diminished in buildinges For I let you vnderstand if you know it not that if a wall doth decay there is no man that doth repaire it If a house fall ther is no man that wil rayse it vp again If a strete be foule ther is no man that wil make it cleane If the riuer cary awaye any bridge there is no man that will set it vp again If any antiquitie decaye ther is no man that wil amend it If any wood be cut ther is no man that wil kepe it If the trees waxe old ther is no man that will plant theÌ„ a newe If the pauement of the streates be broken ther is no man that wil ley it again Finally ther is nothing in Rome at this day so euil handled as those thinges whiche by the commoÌ„ voices ar ordered These thinges my childreÌ„ though I do greatly lament as it is reason yet you ought litle to esteme them al but this al only ought to be estemed with droppes of bloud to be lamented That now in Rome when the buildinges in many places fal downe the vices all wholy together are raised vp O wofull mother Rome since that in the the more the walles decay the more the vices increase Peraduenture my childreÌ„ since you are in those frountiers of Affrike you desire to se your parentes here in Rome And therat I meruaile not for the loue which our naturall countreye do gyue the straung countrey can not take awaye All those which come from those parties doe bring vs no other certaine newes but of the multitude of those which dye are slain in Afrik therfore since you send vs such newes froÌ„ thence loke not that we should send you any other then the like from hence For death hath such auctoritie that it killeth the armed in the warres sleyeth the quiet in peace I let you know that Licia your sister is dead Drusio your vnckle is dead Torcquatus your neyghbour is dead His wife our cousin her .iii. doughters are dead Fabius your great frend is dead Euander his childreÌ„ ar dead Bibulus which red for me in the chaire the last yere is also dead Finally ther are so many so good with al that be dead that it is a great shame pitie to se at this present so many euill as do liue Know ye my children that all
The Dial of Princes Compiled by the reuerend father in God Don Antony of Gueuara Byshop of Guadix Preacher and Chronicler to Charles the fifte late of that name EMPEROVR Englished out of the Frenche by T. North sonne of Sir Edvvard North Knight L. North of Kyrtheling And now newly reuised and corrected by hym refourmed of faultes escaped in the first edition with an amplification also of a fourth booke annexed to the same Entituled The fauored Courtier neuer heretofore imprinted in our vulgar tongue Right necessarie and pleasaunt to all noble and vertuous persones Now newly imprinted by Richarde Tottill and Thomas Marshe Anno. Domini 1568. To the moste highe and vertuouse Princesse Mary by the grace of God Queene of Englande Spayne Fraunce bothe Sicilles Ierusalem Naples and Irelande Defendour of the faith Archiduchesse of Austria Duchesse of Burgundie Mylaine and Brabante Countesse of Haspourge Flaunders and Tyroll Longe health and perpetual felicitie THE Diuine philosopher Plato moste gracious soueraigne Lady trauailing all his life time to abolish the barbarous maners of the Grecians and to induce a ciuile forme of liuing among the people ordeined a lawe to the greate comfort of those that folowed vertue and no lesse to the terrour of others that haunted vices The which commaunded that not onely those which brought in or inuented any newe thing that might either corrupt the good maners violate the aunciente customes hinder through euill example good liuing impoison with erronious doctrine the consciences effeminate with voluptuous pleasures the heartes impouerish with vnprofitable marchaundise the people or diffame through malitious words the renowmes should be as vnprofitable membres from the common wealth expelled and banished but also ordeined that those which studied to publish any institution apperteyning either to the honoure of the Goddes to the reformation of the frayltie of men or by any other meane to the profit of the weale publike should be condingly of the common wealth enterteined preferred and honoured Then if this lawe were iust most gracious soueraigne Lady as it is moste iuste in dede who deserued more honorable enterteynement amonge the liuing or who meriteth a worthier fame among the dead then Don Antony of Gueuara the Author hereof For by his stayed life God hath bene glorified by his holsome doctrine the people of Spayne heretofore edified and by his swete and sauorie writinges we and sundrie other nations at this present may be much profited The which though they are al pitâ—y and ful of high doctrine yet this entituled Los relox de principes aboue the rest in my opinion is most profonde and pleasaunt For if the zeale that I beare to his workes deceiue not my iudgement there is no Authour the sacred letters set aparte that more effectuously setteth out the omnipotencie of God the frailtie of men the inconstancie of fortune the vanitie of this world the misery of this life and finally that more plainely teaceth the good which mortal men ought to pursue and the euill that all men oughte to flie then this present worke doth The which is so full of high doctrine so adourned with auncient histories so authorised with graue sentences and so beautified with apte similitudes that I knowe not whose eies in reading it can be weried nor whose eares in hearing it not satisfied Considering therfore most gracious soueraigne Lady that this worke may serue to high estates for councel to curious serchers of antiquities for knowledge and to al other vertuous gentlemen for an honest pleasaunt and profitable recreation and finally that it may profite all and can hurte none I according to my small knowledge and tender yeares haue reduced it into our vulgare tongue and vnder your graces name hame published it for the commoditie of many Most humbly beseching your highnes to accept in good parte according to your graces accustomable goodnes this my good will and trauaile which here I offer as a pledge of my bounden duty towardes your highnes and also as a perpetual memory of the feruent zeale I beare to my couÌ„trey And in so doing your grace shal not onely encourage me beinge young in these my first fruites but also others peraduenture of more ripe yeares to attempt the like enterprise by the whiche the deuine maiestie may be immortally glorified your puisaunt name worthely magnified your royall persone duely obeyed and all your graces naturall and louing subiectes greatly profited At Lincolnes Inne the .20 of December Your highnes most humble and loyal subiecte Thomas North. The generall Prologue vppon the Booke entytuled the Diall of Princes with the famous booke of MARCVS AVRELIVS Compyled by the reuerend Father in God the Lord Antony of Gueuara Bishop of Guadix Confessor and Chronicler of Charles the fifte Emperoure of Rome to whom to al other Princes and noble men this worke was directed APOLONIVS THIANEVS disputing with the Schollers of Hiarcas sayde that among all the affections of nature nothynge is more naturall than the desire that all haue to preserue life Omitting the dispute of these great philosophers herin we our selfes hereof haue dayly proofe that to lyue men do trauaile to liue birdes do flye to liue fisshes do swime and to lyue beastes do hide themselfes for feare of death Finally I say there is no liuinge creature so brutish that hath not a naturall desire to liue If many of the auncient Paynems so little wene lyfe that of their owne frée willes they offered theÌ„ selues to death they did it not for that they dispised life but bicause they thought that for their little regarding life we would more highly estéeme their fame For we sée men of hawte courages séeke rather to winne a longe during fame than to saue a shorte lasting life How lothe men are to dye is easely sene by the greate paynes they take to liue For it is a naturall thing to all mortal men to leaue their liues with sorow and take their deathes with feare Admitte that all do taste this corporall death and that generally bothe good and euill do dye yet is there great difference betwene the death of one the death of another If the good desire to liue it is for the greater desire they haue to do good but if the euill desire to lyue it is for that they woulde abuse the worlde longer For the children of vanitie call no tyme good but that wherein they liue according to their owne desires I let ye vnderstande that are at this present and ye also that shal come hereafter that I direct my writing vnto those which embrace vertue and not vnto such as are borne awaye with vice God doth not way vs as we are but as we desier to be And let no man say I would and can not be good for as we haue the audacitie to committe a faulte so if we liste we may enforce our selues to worke amendes Al our vndoing procedeth of this that we outwardly make a showe of vertue but inwardlye in
there captaine But that could not be for Adrian my lord sent for me to returne to Rome which pleased me not a lytle albeit as I haue said they vsed me as if I had ben borne in that Iland for in theend although the eyes be fedde with delyght to see straunge thinges yet therefore the hart is not satisfyed And this is al that toucheth the Rhodians I will now tel the also how before my going thether I was borne and brought vp in mount Celio in Rome with my father from mine infancie In the common wealthe of Rome ther was a law vsed by custome wel obserued that no citizē which enioyed any lybertie of Rome after their sonnes had accomplyshed .10 yeares should be so bold or hardy to suffer them to walke the streates like vacabondes For it was a custome in Rome that the chyldren of the senatours should sucke til two yeres of age til 4. they should liue at theyr own wylles tyl 6. they should reede tyl 8 they should wryte tyll 10. they should study gramer 10. yeares accomplished they should then take some craft or occupacion or gyue them selues to study or go to the warres so that throughout Rome no man was idell In one of the lawes of the 12 tables weare written these wordes We ordeine and commaund that euery cytizen that dwelleth wythin the circuite of Rome or lybertyes of the same from 10 yeres vpwardes to kepe hys sonne well ordered And if perchaunce the chyld being ydel or that no man teacheth hym any craft or scyence should therby peraduenture fal to vyce or commyt some wycked offence that then the father no lesse then the sonne should be punyshed For ther is nothing so much breadeth vyce amongest the people as when the fathers are to neclygent and the chyldren to bold And furthermore another law sayd We ordeine and commaunde that after 10. yeares be past for the fyrst offence that the chyld shal commyt in Rome that the father shal be bound to send hym forth some where els or to be bound suertye for the good demeanour of hys son For it is not reason that the fonde loue of the father to the sonne should be an occasion why the multytude shuld be sclaundered because al the wealth of the Empyre consisteth in kepyng and mayntaynyng quyet men and in banishyng and expellyng sedycious personnes I wyll tell the one thyng my Pulyo and I am sure thou wylt meruell at it and it is thys When Rome tryumphed and by good wysedom gouerned all the worlde the inhabitantes in the same surmounted the nomber of two hundreth thousand parsonnes which was a maruelouse matter Amongeste whom as a man maye iudge ther was aboue a hundreth thousand chyldren But they whych had the charge of them kept them in such awe and doctryne that they banyshed from Rome one of the sonnes of Cato vticensis for breakyng an erthen pot in a maydens handes whych went to fetche water In lyke manner they banyshed the sonne of good Cinna onlye for entrynge into a garden to gather fruyte And none of these two were as yet fyftyne yeares olde For at that tyme they chastised them more for the offences done in gest then they doo now for those which are don in good earnest Our Cicero saith in his booke De legibus that the Romaynes neuer toke in any thing more paynes then to restreine the chyldren aswel old as young from ydlenes And so long endured the feare of their lawe and honour of theyr common wealthe as they suffered not their children lyke vacabondes idelly to wander the streates For that countrey may aboue all other be counted happye where eche one enioyeth hys owne laboure and no man lyueth by the swette of another I let the know my Pulio that when I was a chylde althoughe I am not yet very olde none durste be so hardy to go commonly throughe Rome wythout a token about hym of the crafte and occupacion he exercysed and whereby he lyued And if anye man had bene taken contrary the chyldren dyd not onlye crie out of hym in the streates as of a foole but also the Censour afterwardes condemned hym to trauayle wyth the captynes in common workes For in Rome they estemed it no lesse shame to the child which was idle then they dyd in Grece to the phylosopher whych was ignorant And to th ende thou mayest se thys I write vnto the to be no new thynge thou oughtest to know that the Emperour caused to be borne afore hym a brenning brand and the counsel an axe of armes the priestes a hat in maner of a coyfe The Senatours a crusible on their armes the Iudges a lytle balance the Tribunes Maces the gouernours a scepter the Byshoppes hattes of floures The Oratours a booke the cutlers a swerd the goldsmithes a pot to melt gold and so forth of al other offices strangers excepted which went al marked after one sort in Rome For they woulde not agree that a stranger shoulde be apparailed marked according to the childrē of Rome O my frend Pulio it was suche a ioye then to beholde the discipline and prosperitie of Rome and it is now at this present suche a grefe to see the calamitie thereof that by the immortall gods I sweare to the and so the god Mars guyde my hande in warres that the man which now is best ordered is not worthe so much as the most dissolute person was then For then amongest a thousande they could not finde one man vicious in Rome and nowe amonges twentie thousande they cannot finde one vertuous in all Italye I know not why the gods are so cruel againste me and fortune so contrary that this 40. yeares I haue done nothynge but wepe and lamente to see the good men die and immediatly to be forgotten and on the other side to see the wicked liue and to be alwayes in prosperitye Vniuersallye the noble harte maye endure al the troubles of mans life vnlesse it be to see a good man decay and the wicked to prosper which my harte cannot abyde nor yet my tonge dissemble And touchynge this matter my frende Pulio I will write vnto the one thynge whiche I founde in the bookes of the highe Capitoll where he treateth of the time of Marius and Sylla whiche trulye is worthy of memorye and that is this There was at Rome a custome and a lawe inuiolable sith the time of Cinna that a Censour expressely commaunded by the senate should goe and visite the prouinces whyche were subiecte vnto it throughe out all Italye and the cause of those visitacions was for three thinges The firste to see if any complained of iustice the second to see in what case the common wealthe stode The thirde to th ende that yearelye they should render obedience to Rome O my frende Pulio how thinkest thou if they visited Italye at this presente as at that time they surueyed Rome how ful of errous should they fynd it And what decaye
Annius Verus my father in thys case deserueth as much prayse as I doe reproche For whiles I was yonge he neuer suffered me to slepe in bed to syt in chayre to eate with him at hys table neyther durst I lyfte vp mine eyes to loke hym in the face And oftentymes he sayde vnto me Marcus my sonne I had rather thou shoudest be an honest Romayne than a dissolute Philosopher Thou desyrest me to wryte vnto the how manye masters I had and what scyences I learned in my youth Knowe thou that I had manye good masters though I am become an euyll scoller I learned also dyuerse scyences though presently I knowe lyttle not for that I forgote them but because the affayres of the empyre of Rome excluded me from them and caused me to forsake them For it is a general rule that science in that place is neuer permanent where the personne is not at libertie I studyed grammer with a mayster called Euphermon who sayed he was a Spaniard borne and his head was hore for age In speache he was very temperate in correction somwhat seuere and in life exceadyng honeste For there was a law in Rome that the childrens masters should be very old so that if the disciple were .10 yeres of age the master should be aboue fiftie I studied a long time Rethorick and the lawe vnder a greeke called Alexander borne in Lycaony which was so excellent an Oratour that if he had had as great a grace in writing with his pen as he hadde eloquence in speakynge with hys tong truly he had bene no lesse renowmed among the Gretians then Cicero was honored amonge the Romains After the death of this my master at Naples I went to Rhodes and hearde rethoricke again of Orosus of Pharanton and of Pulio whiche trulye were men expert and excellent in the arte of oratorie and especially in makyng comedies tragedies and enterludes they were very fyne and had a goodly grace Commodus Calcedon was my firste master in naturall Philosophie He was a graue man and in greate credite with Adrian he translated Homere out of greeke into latin After this man was dead I toke Sextus CheroneÌ„sis for my master who was nephewe to Plutarche the greate whych Plutarche was Traianus master I knewe this Sextus Cheronensis at .35 yeares of age at what time I doute whether there hath bene any Philosopher that euer was so well estemed throughout the Romain empire as he I haue him here with me and although he be foure score yeres olde yet continually he writeth the Histories and gestes done of my time I let the know my frend Pulio that I studied the law .2 yeres and the seekyng of the lawes of many nacions was occasion that I knew many antiquities and in this science Volucius Mecianns was my master a man whiche could reade it well and also dispute of if better So that on a time he demaunded of me merily and sayde Tell me Marke doest thou thinke there is any lawe in the world that I know not and I aunswered him Tell me master is there any lawe in the world that thou obseruest The fyfte yere that I was at Rhodes there came a marueilous pestilence whiche was occasion of the dissolution of our scoole which was in a narowe and litle place and beynge there a certaine painter paintinge a riche and exellent worke for the Realme of Palestine I then for a truth learned there to drawe and painte and my master was Diogenetus who in those dayes was a famous painter He painted in Rome .6 worthy Princes in one table and 6. other tirannous Emperours in an other And amongest those euill Nero the cruell was painted so lyuely that he semed a lyue to all those that sawe him and that table wherein Nero was so liuelye drawen was by decrees of the sacred senat commaunded to be burnt For they saide that a man of so wycked a life deserued not to be represented in so goodly a table Others saide that it was so naturall and perfect that he made all men afrayde that beheld him and if he had bene lefte there a fewe daies that he would haue spoken as if he had bene aliue I studied the arte of Nigromancie a while with al the kyndes of gyromancye and chiromancye In this science I had no particuler master but that somtymes I went to heare Apolonius lecture After I was maried to Faustine I learned Cosmographye in the citie of Argeleta which is the chiefeste towne of Illyria and my masters were Iunius Rusticus and Cyna Catullus Croniclers and counsaylers to Adrian my master and Antonius my father in lawe And because I would not be ignorant in any of those thynges that mans debilitie myght attaine to beyng at the warres of Dalia I gaue my selfe to musicke was apte to take it and my master was named Geminus Câ—modus a man of a quicke hand to play and of as pleasaunte a voice to singe as euer I hearde Romayne tonge prompte to speake This was the order of my lyfe and the tyme that I spente in learning And of good reason a man so occupyed can not chose but be vertuous But I sware and confesse to the that I did not so much geue my selfe to studye but that euery day I lost time enoughe For youth and the tender fleshe desyreth libertie and althoughe a man accustome it with trauailes yet he findeth vacant time also for his pleasours Although al the auncient Romans were in dyuerse thinges very studious yet notwithstandinge amongest all ouer and besides these there were fyue things wherunto they had euer a great respect to those that therin offended neyther requestes auayled rewards profited nor law old nor new dispensed Truly their good willes are to be comended and their dyligence to be exalted For the princes that gouerne great Realmes ought to employe their hartes to make good lawes and to occupie their eyes to se them dulye executed throughoute the common wealthe These fiue thinges weare these 1 The firste they ordeyned that the priestes shoulde not be dishoneste For in that Realme where priestes are dyshonest it is a token that the gods against the people are angrye 2 The seconde it was not suffered in Rome that the Virginnes vestalles should at their pleasoure stray abroad For it is but reason that she whiche of her owne fre wil hath heretofore promised openly to be good should now if she chaunge her mind be compelled in secret to be chast 3 The third they decreed that the iudges should be iuste and vprighte For there is nothing that decayeth a common wealthe more then a iudge who hath not for all men one ballaunce indifferent 4 The fourth was that the Captaines that should go to the warres should not be cowardes for there is no lyke daunger to the common wealthe nor no like sclaunder to the Prince as to committe the charge of men to hym in the fielde who wylbe firste to commaunde and laste to fighte
knewe howe small a thing it is to be hated of men and howe great a comfort to be beloued of god I sweare that you woulde not speake one worde although it were in ieste vnto men neither woulde you cease night nor day to commende your selues vnto god for god is more mercifull to succour vs then we are diligent to call vppon hym For in conclusion the fauour whiche men can giue you other men can take from you but the fauour that god will giue you no man can resiste it All those that possesse muche should vse the company of them whiche can doe muche and if it be so I let you princes wete that all men can not thynke so muche togethers as god him selfe is able to doe alone For the crie of a LyoÌ„ is more fearefull then the howling of a woulfe I confesse that princes and great lordes maye sometimes gayne and wynnne of them selfes but I aske them whose fauoure they haue neade of to preserue and kepe them we see oftentymes that in a short space many come to great authoritie the whiche neither mans wisedome suffiseth to gouerne nor yet mans force to kepe For the authoritie whiche the Romaines in sixe hundred yeares gayned fighting against the Eothes in the space of three yeares they loste We see dayly by experience that a man for the gouernement of his owne house onely nedeth the councell of his friendes and neighbours and doe princes great lordes thinke by their owne heades onely to rule and gouerne many realmes and dominions ¶ What the Philosopher Byas was of his constancie whan he lost all his goodes and of the ten lawes he gaue worthy to bée had in memorie Cap. xxi AMong all nations and sortes of men whiche auaunt them selues to haue had with them sage men the Gretians were the chiefest whiche had and thought it necessary to haue not onely wyse men to reade in their scholes but also they chose them to be princes in their dominions For as Plato saith those whiche gouerned in those daies were Philosophers or els they sayde and did like Philosophers And Laertius wryteth in his second booke De antiquitatibus Grecorum that the Gretians auaunted them selues muche in this that they haue had of all estates persons moste notable that is to wete seuen women very sage seuen Queenes very honest seuen kings very vertuous seuen Captaines very hardy seuen cities verie notable seuen buildinges very sumptuous seuen Philosophers well learned whiche Philosophers were these that folowe The first was Thales Milesius that inuented the Carde to sayle by The seconde was Solon that gaue the first lawes to the Athenians The thirde was Chilo who was in the Orient for Embassadour of the Athenians The fourth was Pittacus Quintilenus who was not only a philosopher but also Captaine of the Mitelenes The fifth was Cleobolus that descended froÌ„ the auncient linage of Hercules The sixte was Periander that long tyme gouerned the realme of Corinth The seuenth was Bias Prieneus that was prince of the Prieneans Therfore as touching Bias you muste vnderstande that when Romulus reigned at Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was great warres in Grecia betwene the Metinenses and the Prieneans and of these Prieneans Bias the philosopher was prince and Captaine who because he was sage read in the vniuersitie and for that he was hardy was chiefetaine in the warre and because he was wyse he was made a Prince and gouerned the common wealth And of this no man ought to marueile for in those dayes the Philosopher that had knowledge but in one thing was litle estemed in the common wealth After many contentions had betwene the Metâ—nenses and Prienenses a cruell battayle was fought wherof the philosopher Bias was captaine and had the victorie and it was the first battayle that euer anye Philosopher gaue in Greece For the whiche victorie Greece was proude to see that their Philosophers were so aduenturous in warres and hardy of their handes as they were profound in their doctrine and eloquente in their toungues And by chaunce one brought him a nomber of women and maydens to sell or if he listed to vse them otherwyse at his pleasure but this good philosopher did not defile them nor sell them but caused them to be apparailed and safely to be conducted to their own natiue countries And let not this liberalitie that he did be had in litle estimation to deliuer the captiues and not to defloure the virgins For many times it chaunseth that those whiche are ouercome with the weapons of the conquerours are conquered with the delightes of them that are ouercome This deede amongest the Grekes was so highly commended and likewyse of their enemies so praysed that immediatly the Metinenses sent Embassadours to demaunde peace of the Prienenses And they concluded perpetuall peace vpon condition that they shoulde make for Bias an immortall statue sith by his handes and also by his vertues he was the occasion of the peace and ending of the warres betwene them And trulye they had reason for he deserueth more prayse which wynneth the hartes of the enemies in his tentes by good example then he whiche getteth the victorie in the fielde by shedding of bloud The hartes of men are noble and we see daily that oftentyme one shal soner ouercome many by good then many ouercome one by euyll and also they saye that the Emperour Seuerus spake these wordes By goodnes the least slaue in Rome shall leade me tied with a heere whether he wyll but by euill the most puissaunt men in the worlde can not moue me out of Italy For my harte had rather be seruaunt to the good then Lorde to the euill Valerius Maximus declareth that when the citie of Priene was taken by enemies put to sacke the wyfe of Bias was slayne his children taken prysoners his goodes robbed the citie beaten downe and his house set on fire but Bias escaped safe and went to Athens In this pytiful case the good philosopher Bias was no whit the sadder but rather sang as he went by the way and when he perceiued that men marueiled at his mirthe he spake vnto them these wordes Those whiche speake of me for wantinge my citie my wife and my children and losing al that I had truly such know not what fortune meaneth nor vnderstande what philosophie is The losse of children and temporall goodes cannot be called losse if the life be safe and the renowne remaine vndefiled Whether this sentence be true or no let vs profoundly consider if the iust god suffer that this citie should come into the handes of the cruell tyrauntes then this prouision is iuste for there is no thing more conformable vnto iustice then that those whiche receyue not the doctrine of the Sages shoulde suffer the cruelties of the Tyrauntes Also thoughe my ennemies haue kylled my wyfe yet I am sure it was not withoute the determynation of the Gods who after they created her bodye immediately appoynted the
if the father had not bene vertuous and the childe sage But the Senate would haue done this and more also for Valentinian because he did deserue it well of the Romaine people For it is reason in distributing of the offices that princes haue more respecte to the desertes of the fathers then to the tender age of the children This young Gracian began to be so temperate and was so good a Christian in fauouring the churche that it was muche quiete and great pleasure to the Romaine people to haue chosen him and greater ioye to the father being aliue to haue begotten hym so that he lefte for him after his death an immortall memorie of his life For the childe that is vertuous is always the memory of the father after his death In the yeare of the foundation of Rome a thousand a hundreth thirtie and two she said Gracian the younger was created sole heire of the whole empire his vncle Valent and his father being departed the worlde After Gracian came to the empyre many Byshoppes whiche were banished in the t me of his vncle Valent were restored to the curche againe and banished al the sect of the Arrians out of his region Truly he shewed him selfe to be a very religious and catholike prince For there is no better iustice to confounde humaine malice then to establishe the good in their estate In the first yeare of the reigne of Gracian emperour all the Germaines and the Gothes rebelled against the Romaine empire for they would not only not obey him but also they prepared an huge army to enuade his empire Imagining that sithe Gracian was young he neither had the wytte nor yet the boldnes to resiste them For where the prince is young there oftimes the people suffred muche wrong and the realme great misery Newes come to Rome howe that the Gaules and Germaines were vp the emperour Gracian wrote to all the catholike byshoppes that they should offer in their churches great sacrifices with prayers vnto God and in Rome likewyse it was ordeined that generally processions should be had to the ende almighty god shoulde moderate his ire against his people For good Christians first pacifie god with praiers before they resiste their enemies with weapons This good prince shewed him selfe to be no lesse warlike in his outward affaires then a good Christiā in his religion For god geueth victories vnto princes more through teares then through weapons These thinges thus finished and his affaires vnto god recommended the noble emperour Gracian determined to marche on and him selfe in persone to giue the battaile And truly as at the first he shewed him selfe to be a good christian so nowe he declared him selfe to be a valiaunt emperour For it were a great infamie and dishonour that a prince by negligence or cowardnes shoulde lose that whiche his predecessours by force of armes had gotten The army of the enemies exceaded far the Romain army in nombre and when they met togethers in a place called Argentaria the Romaines being inferiour to their enemies in numbre were afraide For in the warres the great multitude of ennemies and their puissaunte power maketh oft times the desired victorie to be doubtfull This thing seene of the Romaines and by them considered importunatly they besought the Emperour not to charge the battayle for they saide he had not men sufficiente And herein they had reason For the sage prince should not rashely hazarde his person in the warre nor yet should lightely put his life in the handes of fortune The Emperour Gracian not chaunging coūtenaunce nor stopping in his wordes to al his knightes which wer about him answered in this wise ¶ Of the godly Oration which the Emperour Gracian made to his souldiours before he gaue the battaile Cap. xxvi VAliaunt knightes and companions in warre moste thankefully I accept your seruice in that you haue solde your goodes and doe offer your liues here to accompanie me in the warres and herein you shewe your duties for of right you ought to lose your goodes and to venture your liues for the defence suertie of your countrie But if I geue you some thankes for your company knowe you that I geue much more for your good counsell which presently you geue me for in great conflictes seldome is founde together both good counsell and stoute hartes If I haue enterprised this battaile in hope of mans power then you had had reason that we shoulde not geue the battaile seing the great multitude that they haue and the smal numbre that we are for as you say the weightie affaires of the publike weale should not vnaduisedly be committed to the incertaintie of fortune I haue taken vpon me this daungerous and perillous warres firste trusting that on my part iustice remaineth and sith god is the same onely iustice I truste assuredly he will geue me the victorie in this perillous conflict For iustice auaileth princes more that they haue then the men of warre do whiche they leade Wherfore sith my cause is iuste and that I haue god the onely iudge thereof on my side me thinketh if for any worldly feare I shoulde cease to geue the battayle I should both shew my selfe to be a prince of small fayth and also blaspheme god saying he were of small iustice For god sheweth moste his power there where the fraylenes of man hath leste hope Then sithe I beginne the warre and that by me the warre is procured and for me you are come to the warre I haue determined to enter into the battaile and if I perishe therein I shal be sure it shal be for the memory of my personne and the saluation of my soule For to die through iustice is not to die but to chaunge death for life And thus doing if I lose my life yet therefore I lose not my honour and all this considered I doe that whiche for the common wealth I am bounde For to a prince it were great infamy and dishonour that the quarell being his owne should by the bloud of others be reuenged I wyll proue this day in battaile whether I was chosen Emperour by the deuine wyll or not For if god this day causeth my life to be taken from me it is a manifest token he hath a better in store for me and if through his mercy I be preserued it signifieth that for some other better thing he graunteth me life For in the ende the sword of the enemie is but the scourge of our offences The best that I see therfore in this matter to be done is that til three daies be passed the battayle be not geuen and that we confesse our selues this night and in the morning prepare our selues to receiue our redemer besides this that euery man pardon his christian brother if he haue had any wrong or iniury done him For oftimes though the demaunde of the warre be iust yet many mishaps befall therin through the offences of those which pursue and followe the same
After the thre daies are past and eche thing according to my saiynges before accomplished in euery point as behoueth then let god dispose thinges as he shall see good for nowe I am fully determined to aduenture my life in battaile Wherfore my valiaunt and stout warriers doubt not at all for this day I must either vanquishe mine enemies or els suffer death and if I die I doe that whiche nedes I must Wherfore I will now cease to exhorte you any more desiring you to consider that wherunto your dutie leadeth you remembring that you are come as knightes and in the defence of your countrey you wage battayle for nowe we are come to that pinche that dedes must more auayle vs then wordes For peace ought to be mainteyned by the tongue but warres ought to be atchieued by the sworde All these wordes then ended and the three dayes past the emperour Gracian in parsone gaue the battayle where the conflicte and slaughter on both sides was marueilous terrible yet in the end the emperour Gracian had the victory ouer his enemies and there died in that conflicte .xxx. thousande Gothes and Almaines and of the Romaines there were not slaine but fiue thousande For that army onely is preserued whiche to the deuine will is conformable Let all other princes take example by this noble prince let thē consider howe muche it auayleth them to be good Christians and that in great warres conflictes they nede not feare the great nombre of their enemies but they ought greatly to se that the wrath of god be pacified For the harte is more dismayde with the secrete sinnes then it is feared with the opē enemies ¶ That the captaine Theodosius which was father of the great Emperour Theodosius died a good Christian And of the king Hismarus and the bishop Siluanus and of a councell that was celebrated with the lawes whiche they made and established in the same Cap. xxvii THe two brethren being emperours that is to wete Valentinian Valent in the costes of Affryke and the realme of Mauritania a tyraunt vsurped the place of a kinge against the Romains Who was named Thyrmus a man hardy in trauailes in daungers stout For the aduenturous hartes oftimes doe commit many tyrannyes This tyran Thyrmus by much crueltie came possessed of the realme of Mauritania not contented therwith but also by tyrāny possessed a great part of Affrike prepared as Hānibal did an huge army to passe into Italy to die in chalēging the empire of Rome This was a renowmed tyraunt that neuer toke pleasure in any other thing so muche as to spoyle robbe others of their goodes The Romaines that in all their doinges were very sage of the tyranny of tyrauntes sufficiently monished immediatly prepared a great army to passe into Affryke to spoyle the realme and to destroy the tyrante by the cōmaundement and decre of the Senate and that for no pacte or couenaunt the tyraunt shoulde lyue And without doubte this commaundement was iust For to him that is a destroyer of the common wealth it is not punishement enough to take awaye his lyfe At that tyme there was a knyghte in Rome whose name was Theodosius a man well stryken in yeares and yet better approued in warres but he was not the richest howbeit he vaūted him self as truth was to be of the bloud of Traian the great Emperour vpon which occasion he was greatly honoured and feared in Rome for the commons were so noble and gracious towards their princes that all those whiche from the good and vertuous Emperour descended were of the whole common wealth greatly estemed This noble Theodosius was of yeares so auncient and so honoured in his olde age for his graye heares so noble of linage and so approued in warres that he was by the authoritie of the Emperour Valentinian by the consent of all the Senate and by the good wylles of the whole people chosen to goe to the conquest of Afrike and truly their reason was good For Theodosius desired much to fight against that tyraunt Thirmus and all the people were glad that such a captaine led the armie So this Theodosius imbarked with his armie departed from Rome and in fewe dayes arryued at Bona whiche was a citie greatly replenished with people situated in a hauen of the sea in Afrike And as he and his armie were landed the tyran Thirmus forthwith encamped his armie in the fielde in the face of the Romaines and so all beinge planted in the plaine the one to assaulte and the others to defend immediatly the two armies ioyned and the one assaulting the other fiercely on bothe sydes was great slaughter So that those whiche to daye were conquered to morowe did conquere and those whiche yesterday were conquerours afterward remained conquered For in long warres fortune chaungeth In the prouince of Mauritania there was a strong citie called Obelista and as the captaine Theodosius by his force occupied all the field the tyran Thirmus fortified him selfe in that citie the which valiauntly being assaulted of the captaine Theodosius almost with his men entring into the same the tyranne Thirmus because he would not commit hym selfe vnto the faith of other men slew him self with his proper handes For the propertie of proude and disdainfull hertes is rather to die in libertie then to liue in captiuitie At that tyme the Emperour Valent by the arte of Nigromancie wrought secretly to knowe what lucke should succede in the Romaine Empire And by chaunce a woman being an enchauntresse had aunswere of the deuill that the name whiche with these letters should be wrytten should be successour to the Empire and the letters were these T.E.O.D. The Emperour Valent diligently enquired of all the names which with these foure letters could be named and they found that those signified the Theodotes the Theodores and the Theodoses wherfore Valent furthwith put all those to the sworde that were of that name Suche was the wickednes of the Emperour Valent supposing thei would haue taken the Empire from him being alyue For the tyranous Prince lyueth euer in gelousie and suspition The excellent captaine Theodosius the tyranne Thirmus being dead and hauing subdued all Affrike to the Romaine Empire was burdened that he was a secret traytour to the Empyre and that he compassed to wynne the same by tyrannie for this cause therefore the Emperour Valent gaue sentence he shoulde be beheaded And this was done he neuer hearyng of it and muche lesse culpable thereof for all Prynces that be wylfull in their doynges are very absolute of their sentence This come to the eares of Theodosius and seyng that he was condemned to be beheaded he sent incontinent for the Byshoppe of Carthage to whome he demaunded the water of the holy Baptisme and so being baptised and in the fayth of Christ instructed was by the hangeman put to execution Of this so greuous outtragious and detestable facte euery man iudged this Theodosius to suffer
them do giue vnto their subiects good exāples that on the sabbotte day in especially other Festiuall dayes they repaire vnto the cathedral Church to here deuine seruice ther reconcileng them selues to god that they publickly in the presence of the congregaciō receiue the holy comunion supper of the Lord. For it would be a great sclaunder to Princes which ought to reprehend others of their faults that a man should neuer see them come to the Church and be partakers of that holye Sacrament We ordaine that at Easter chiefly Princes do go to the church Cathedrall and that the Metropolitan be there in person to celebrate the holy communion and the gospel being sayd the Prince hymselfe shal be bound to say with a loude voice the crede confirmed in the sacred counsaile of Nicene For the good Princes ought not only in their hartes to be faithful vnto Iesus Christ but are also bound openly with theyr mouthes to confesse it before the people We ordeine that Princes be not so hardie to haue in their courte aboue two bishoppes the one to giue him ghostlye counsell and the other to preache vnto him the word of God And those we will that the counsell assigne vnto him and that they be bound to find two personnes of the most auncient and vertuous which shall remaine in the courte no more but two yeares and that afterwardes others be placed there in their steades For there is nothinge more monstrous then to see the Churche longe withoute prelates ¶ What a goodly thynge it is to haue but one Prince to rule the publike weale for there is no greater enemye to the common weale then he whiche procureth many to commaund therin as by reasons folowing it shal be proued Cap. xxviii OFte tymes with my selfe alone I consider that sithe the deuine prouidence which doth all thinges by weight and measure and that of her and by none other all creatures are gouerned and that furthermore with God there is no accepcion of personnes for he maketh the one ryche and the other poore the one sage and the other symple the one hole and other sicke the one fortunate and the other vnluckye the one seruaunt and the other maister let no man merueile thoughe I muse therat for the varietie of time is the beginner of dissencions amonge the people In mans iudgmēt it semeth that it were better all were alike in apparel al equal in commaunding none greater then others in possessions al to content them selues with one kynde of meate and that the names of commaunding and obeing were vtterly abolysshed and brought to nought So that if the myseries of the one and prosperities of the other were put out from that day forward I protest there should be no enuy in the world Layeng asyde mans opinion whiche oughte not to be compared to the deuine misterie I demaund now what reason sufficed to thincke that of two brethren that is to wete Iacob and Esau both children of holy and deuout personnes the deuine prouydence woulde the one shoulde bee chosen and the other dispised that the one shoulde commaunde and the other obeye the one to be disherited beinge the eldeste and the other to inherite beinge the yongeste That whyche chaunced to Iacob with Esau the same chaunced to the children of Iacob and Ioseph who beinge patriarkes and chosen God prouided and ordeyned that to Ioseph beinge the youngeste his bretherne should serue and obeye hym This thinge was repined at of all the eleuen bretherne how be it their intencions auayled not for it is vnpossible for mans malice to disorder that which the deuine prouidence hath appointed we se daylye nothing els but that which man decreeth in a longe time god disposeth otherwise in one moment Truly it is not euill done but wel ordeined For in the ende sithe man is man in fewe thinges he can be eyther certaine or assured and sith God is God it is vnpossible that in any thinge he should erre It is a great benefite of the creator to be willing to reforme and correct the workes of the creatures For if God woulde suffer vs to do after our owne mindes we should be quyte contrarie to his pleasure God without a great mysterye did not ordeine that in one family there shoulde be but one father amonge one people there shoulde be but one citizen that should commaunde in one prouynce ther should be but one gouernor alone and also that one king alone should gouerne a proude Realme and likewise that by one onlye captaine a puissant armye should be led And furthermore and aboue all he willeth that there be but one Monarchyall king and Lord of the world Truly all these thinges are such that we with our eyes do see them and know them not we heare them with our eares and vnderstand them not we speake them with our tongues and know not what we say For truly mans vnderstanding is so dull that wythout doubt he is ignoraunt of more then he knoweth Appolonius Thianeus compassing the moste part of Asia Affricke and Europe that is to say from the bridge of Nilus wher Alexander was vnto Gades where the pillers of Hercules were he beinge one day in Ephese in the Temple of Diana the priestes asked him what thing he wondered at most in all the world for it is a generall rule that men which haue sene much alwayes do note one thing aboue another Althoughe the Philosopher Appolonius greatlyer estemed the workes then the speakinge of them that demaunded this question yet forthwith he made them this aunswere I let you know priestes of Diana that I haue bene throughout Fraunce England Spayne Germany throughe the Laces and Lidians Hebrues and Greekes Parthes and Medes Phrigians and Corinthians and so with the Perses and aboue all in the great Realme of India for that alone is more worthe then all these Realmes together I wyl you vnderstand that all these Realmes in manye and sondrye thinges do dyffer as in languages personnes beastes mettals waters fleshe customes lawes landes buyldinges in apparel and fortes and aboue all dyuers in their Gods and Temples For the language of the one dyffereth not so muche from the language of the other as the Gods of Europe differ from the Gods of Asia and the Temples and gods of Asia and Europe differ from them of Affrike Amonges all thinges which I haue sene of two onlye I dyd meruaile which is that in all the partes of the worlde wherin I haue trauailed I haue seen quyet men troubled by sedycious parsones the humble subiect to the proude the iust obedient to the tyraunt I haue sene the cruel commaunding the merciful the coward ruling the hardye the ignoraunt teaching the wise aboue al I saw that the most theues hunge the innocent on the gallowes The other thing wherat I marueiled was this that in al the places circuite wher I haue bene I know not neither could I find any man that
Alexander though thou callest thy selfe lorde of all yet thou hast but onely the name thereof and others thy seruauntes subiectes haue all the profites for the gredy and couetous hartes do trauaile and toyle to get and in wasting that whiche they haue gotten they pyne awaye And finally Alexander thou wilt not denie me that all that whiche thou hast in the longe conquest gotten is litle and that whiche of thy wysedome and quietnes thou hast lost is much For the Realmes whiche thou hast gotten are innumerable but the cares sighes and thoughtes whiche thou hast heaped vpon thy harte are infinite I let the knowe one thing that you princes are poorer then the poore subiectes for he is not ryche that hath more then he deserueth but he that desireth to haue lesse then that he possesseth And therfore princes you haue nothing for though you abound in great treasures yet you are poore of good desires Nowe Alexander let vs come to the pointe and caste accompte and let vs see to what ende thy conquest wil come Eyther thou arte a man or thou arte a God And if thou be any of the gods commaunde or cause that we be immortall and if thou canst doe any suche thing then take vs and our goods withall For perpetuitie of the lyfe by no riches can be boughte O Alexander I let thee vnderstande that therefore we seke not to make warre with thee for we see that bothe from thee and also from vs death will shortly take away the life For he is a very simple man that thinketh alway to remayne in an other mans house as in his owne If thou Alexander couldest geue vs as god euerlastinge life eche man would trauayle to defende his owne house but sithe we knowe we shal die shortly we care litle whether to thee or any other our goods riches remaine For if it be folly to dwell in an other mans house as in his owne it is a greater folly to him that loseth his life in taking thought and lamenting for his goodes Presuppose that thou art not god but a man I coniure the then by the immortal gods and do require the that thou lyue as a man behaue thy selfe as a man and couet no more then an other man neither desyre more nor lesse then a man for in the end thou shalt die as a mā and shal be buried as a man and throwen into the graue then there shal be no more memorie of thee I tolde thee before that it greued me to see thee so hardy couragious so apte and so younge and nowe it greueth me to see thee so deceiued with the world and that which I perceiue of thee is that then thou shalt knowe thy folly when thou shalt not be able to finde any remedy For if the proude younge man before he feleth the wound hath all redy the oyntment You whiche are Grecians call vs Barbarous because we enhabite the mountaines But as touching this I say that we reioyce to be Barbarous in our speache and Greekes in our doinges and not as you which haue the Grecians tongue and doe Barbarous workes For he that doth well speaketh rudely is no barbarous man but he which hath the tongue good and the life euill Sithe I haue begonne to that ende nothing remaynd vnspoken I will aduertise thee of our lawes and life and marueile not to here it but desire to obserue and kepe it for infinite are they whiche extolle vertuous workes but fewe are they whiche obserue the same I let thee wete Alexander that we haue short life we are fewe people we haue litle landes we haue litle goodes we haue no couetousnes wee haue fewe lawes we haue fewe houses wee haue fewe frendes and aboue all we haue no enemies For a wyse man ought to be frende to one and enemy to none Besides all this we haue amongest vs great frendshippes good peace great loue much reste and aboue all we holde our selues contented For it is better to enioy the quietnes of the graue then to liue a discontented life Our lawes are fewe but in our opinions they are good and are in seuen wordes onely included as here foloweth We ordaine that our children make no more lawes then we their fathers doe leaue vnto them for newe lawes maketh them forget good and olde customes We ordayne that our successours shall haue no mo Gods then twoo of the whiche the one god shal be for the life and the other for the death for one God well serued is more worth then many not rewarded We ordaine that all be appareled with one cloth and hosed of one sorte and that the one haue no more apparell then the other for the diuersitie of garmentes edgendreth folly among the people We ordeine that whan any woman which is maried hath had thre childrē that then she be separated from her husband for the aboundaunce of children causeth men to haue couetous hartes And if any woman hath broughte forth any mo children then they should be sacrificed vnto the gods before her eies We ordeine that all men and women speake the truthe in all thinges and if any be taken in a lie committing no other fault that immediatly he be put to death for the same For one lyer is able to vndo a whole multitude We ordeine that no woman liue aboue .xl. yeres and that the man lyue vntill fiftie and if they die not before that time that then they be sacrifised to the gods for it is a great occasion for men to be vicious to thinke that they shal lyue many yeares ¶ That princes ought to consider for what cause they were made princes and what Thales the philosopher was of the .xii. questions asked him and of his aunswere he made vnto them Cap xxxv IT is a commen and an old saiyng whiche many times by Aristotle the noble prince hath bene repeted that in the ende all thinges are done to some purpose for there is no worke neither good nor euill but he that doth it meaneth it to some end If thou demaundest the gardener to what ende he watereth so oft his plantes he wil aunswere thee it is to get some money for his herbes If thou demaundest why the ryuer runneth so swift a man wil aunswere thee that his ende is to the sea from whence it came If thou demaundest why the trees budde in the spring time they will aunswere to the ende they may beare frute in haruest If we see a trauayler passe the mountaines in the snow the ryuers with perill the woodes in feare to walke in extreme heate in sommer to wander in the night time in the colde wynter if by chaunce a man doth aske one of them saiyng frend whether goest thou wherfore takest thou such paines and he aunswereth truly syr I know no more then you to what ende neither can I tell why I take so much paines I aske thee now what would a wyse man aunswere to
this innocent trauayler Truly hearing no more he would iudge him to be a foole for he is muche infortunate that for all his trauaile loketh for no rewarde Therfore to our matter a prince which is begotteÌ„ as an other man borne as an other man lyueth as an other man dieth as an other man and besides al this commaundeth all men if of suche one we should demaunde why god gaue him signory and that he should answere he knoweth not but that he was borne vnto it in such case let euery man iudge how vnworthy suche a kyng is to haue such authorie For it is vnpossible for a man to minister iustice vnlesse he knowe before what iustice meaneth Let princes and noble men heare this worde and let them imprinte it in their memory whiche is that when the liuing god determined to make kinges and lordes in this worlde he did not ordeyne theym to eate more then others to drynke more then others to sleape more then others to speake more then others nor to reioyce more then others but he created them vpon condition that sithe he had made them to commaunde more then others they shoulde be more iuste in their lyues then others It is a thinge moste vniuste and in the common wealth very sclaunderous to see with what authoritie a puissaunt man coÌ„maundeth those that be vertuous and with how much shame himselfe is bounde to all vices I knowe not what lorde he is that dare punishe his subiecte for one onely offence committed seing him selfe to deserue for euery deede to be chastised For it is a monsterous thing that a blynd man should take vppon him to leade him that seeth They demaunded great Cato the Censor what a king ought to do that he should be beloued feared and not despysed he answered The good prince should be compared to hym that selleth tryacle who if the poyson hurte hym not he selleth his triacle well I meane thereby that the punyshement is taken in good parte of the people which is not ministred by the vicious man For he that maketh the triacle shall neuer be credited vnlesse the profe of his triacle be openly knowen and tried I meane that the good lyfe is none other then a fine triacle to cure the coÌ„mon wealth And to whome is he more lyke whiche with his tongue blaseth vertues and imployeth his deades to all vyces then vnto the man who in the one hand holdeth poyson to take away lyfe and in the other tryacle to resiste deathe To the ende that a lorde be wholy obeyed it is necessary that all that he coÌ„maundeth be obserued firste in his owne persone for no lorde can nor may withdrawe him selfe from vertuous workes This was the aunswere that Cato the Censor gaue whiche in mine opinion was spoken more like a Christian then any Romaine When the true god came into the worlde he imployed thirtie yeares onely in workes and spente but two yeres and a halfe in teaching For mans harte is perswaded more with the worke he seeketh then with the worde whiche he heaâ—eth Those therefore whiche are lordes let them learne and knowe of him which is the true lorde and also let princes learne why they are princes for he is not a Pylot which neuer sayled on the seas In mine opinion if a prince will know why he is a prince I would saye to gouerne well his people to commaunde well and to mainteyne all in Iustice and this should not be with wordes to make them afrayde neyther by workes whiche should offende them but by swete wordes whiche should encourage them and by the good workes that shoulde edifie them For the noble and gentle harte can not resiste hym that with a louynge countenaunce commaundeth Those whiche wyll rule and make tame fierce and wylde beastes doe threaten and rebuke them a hundred tymes before they beate them once and if they keape them tied they shewe them sondrie pleasures So that the wyldenes of the beaste is taken away onely by the gentyll and pleasaunt vsage of the man Therefore sithe we haue this experience of brute and sauage beastes that is to wete that by their wel doing and by the gentle handling of them they voluntarely suffer them selues to be gouerned muche more experience we reasonable men ought to haue that is to knowe that being right and well gouerned we shoulde huÌ„blye and willingly obey our soueraigne lordes For there is no man so harde harted but by gentyll vsage will humble him selfe O princes and noble men I will tell you in one worde what the lorde oughte to doe in the gouernement of his commoÌ„ wealth Euery prince that hath his mouth full of troth his handes open to geue rewardes and his eares stopped to lyes and his hert open to mercy such a one is happy and the realme which hath him may wel be called prosperous and the people maye call them selues fortunate For where as truth liberalitie and clemency ruleth in the harte of a prince there wronges iniuries and oppressions doe not reigne And contrariwyse where the prince hath his harte flesshed in crueltie his mouthe full of tyrannies his handes defyled with bloude and enclineth his eares to heare lyes suche a prince is vnhappy and muche more the people the whiche by suche one is gouerned For it is vnpossible that there is peace and iustice in the common wealthe if he whiche gouerneth it be a louer of lyes and flatterers In the yere foure hundreth and fourty before the incarnatioÌ„ of Christ whiche was in the yere .244 of the foundation of Rome Darius the fourthe being kyng of Persia and Brutus and Lucius at Rome Counsulles Thales the great Phylosopher floryshed in Greece who was prince of the seuen renowmed sages by the whiche occasion all the realme of Greece had and recouered renowme For Greece boasted more of the seuen sages whiche they had then Rome did of all the valiaunt captaines whiche she nouryshed There was at that tyme muche contention betwene the Romaynes and the Greekes for so muche as the Greekes sayde they were better because they had mo sages and the Romaines sayde the contrary that they were better because they had alwayes mo armies The Greekes replied againe that there were no lawes made but in Grece And the Romaines to this answered that though they were made in Greece yet they were obserued at Rome The Greekes sayde that they had great vniuersities to make wyse men in And the Romaines sayde they had many great temples to worship their Gods in for that in the ende they oughte to esteme more one seruice done to the immortall goddes then all the other commodities that myghte come vnto men A Thebane knight was demaunded what he thoughte of Rome and Greece and he aunswered me thynkes the Romaines are no better then the Greekes nor the Greekes than the Romaines For the Greekes glorie in their tongues and the Romaines in their lances But we referre it to vertuous workes For one good worke
euer succeded so prosperouslye but that they had rather lyue in peace then in warre When the Romaine Emperours wente to the warres or came from the warres first they vysited the Temple of Iupiter secondarilye the Temple of the vestall virgins and thirdely they vysited the Temple of the God Ianus bycause there was a law in Rome that the Emperour should at his going forth to the warres vysite the Temple of Iupiter last of al and at his retourne againe the Temple of Ianus first And let them that be desierous of antiquities here know that when the Emperour should go to the warres in the Temple of the goddesse Vesta they put vpon his shoulders the royall mantell and in the Temple of Iupiter al the senators kissed his foote and in the Temple of Ianus the Consuls kissed his arme For since the time that the cruell Sylla caused thre thousand neighbours to dye which kissed his right hand they neuer after kissed the handes of any Emperour in Rome Therfore sith the gentyles woulde not issue out of Rome before that first they had taken the benediction of those vaine Gods how muche more ought Christian Princes to do it which know well that their Temples are consecrated to the true God and ordayned for his seruice only For the man that forgetteth God and commytteth his affaires to men shal see how his busines wil thriue in the handes of men Therefore procedinge forth the day wherin the feast of the god Ianus was celebrated euery man left his worke reioysed through al the streates of Rome no more then lesse then in the feastes of Iupiter Mars Venus and Berecinthia For the feastes of the other goddes sith they were many in nomber were not celebrated but in certaine places in Rome The Romaynes on that day put on their beste apparell for they had a custome in Rome that he whych had not that daye chaunge of apparell to honoure the feaste should eyther go out of Rome or els kepe themselues locked in his house That daye they set on their houses many lyghtes and made greate bondfiers before their dores and had sondry and many playes and pastimes for the feastes of vaine men are more to delight their bodies then to reforme their minds They watched al the night in the Temples and also they deliuered all the prisoners which were inprisoned for dette and with the common treasures paied their dettes Furthermore they had a custome in Rome that they shoulde susteine all the Senatours whiche were fallen into pouertie with the goodes of the common wealthe They had that daye tables set before their dores furnished with all sortes of meates so that that whiche remayned and was left was more worth then that which was eaten For vaine glorious men auaunt theym selues more of that which in bankettes and feastes is left then they do of that whyche is eaten They sought all that day for poore men bycause they shoulde be prouyded of all things For it was an auncient lawe that none should be so hardy to make any open feast excepte first he had prouided for all them of his streate The Romaynes thought that if they spend lyberallye that day the god Ianus would deliuer them from pouertye because he was the God of the temperall goodes And they sayde further that the GOD Ianus was a God very thankeful acknowledged the seruyces whych were donne vnto hym and beleued earnestlye that if they spente frelye for hys sake he woulde requyte it doble In the feaste of this God Ianus manye processions were made not all togethers but the Senate wente by theym selues the Censours by them selues the people by them selues the Matrones by theym selues the maydens by them selues the vestal virgins by them selues al the straunge Imbassadours went wyth the captiues in procession There was a custome in Rome that the same day the Emperour should were the imperyal robe al the captiues which could touche him with their hands were delyuered and all the transgressours pardoned the exules and outlawryes were called againe For the Romayne princes were neuer presente in any feast but they shewed some noble example of mercy or gentlenes towardes the people At this time Marcus Aurelius was Emperoure of Rome and maried with the beautiful lady Faustina who in the feast of Ianus leuing in procession the company of the Senatours came into the procession of the captiues the which easelye touched his robe wherby they obtained lybertie the which they so greatly desired I say desired for truly the captiue is contented with a small thinge And because ther is no good thing by anye good man done but immediatlye by the wycked it is repined at this deede was so contrary to the euyl as ioyfull to the good For there is nothing be it neuer so good nor so wel done but forthwith it shal be contraried of them that be euyl Of this thing I haue sene by experience in this miserable life sondry examples that euen as amonge the good one only is noted to be chiefe so lykewise amonge the euyll one is noted principall aboue the rest And the worst I find herein is that the vertuous do not so much glory of their vertue as the euil and malicious hath shame and dishonour of their vyce for vertue naturally makleth a man to be temperate and quyet but vice maketh him to be dissolute and rechlesse This is spoken because in the Senate of Rome there was a Senatour called Fuluius whose berd heere 's wer very white but in malyce he was most cankered blacke so that for his yeres he was honoured in Rome of many for his malyce he was hated of al. The Senatour Fuluius made frendes in the time of Adrian to succede in the empire and for this cause he had alwayes Marcus Aurelius for his competytour and whersoeuer he came he alwayes spake euyll of him as of his mortall enemye For the enuyous hart can neuer geue a man one good word This Senatours hart was so puffed with enuye that he seing Marcus Aurelius to obtaine the empire being so yong that he being so old could not attaine therunto ther was no good that euer Marcus Aurelius did in the common wealth openly but it was grudged at by Fuluius who soughte alwayes to deface the same secretlye It is the nature of those whiche haue their hartes enfected with malyce to spitte out their poyson with woordes of spite Oft times I haue mused which of these 2. are greater the dewtye the good haue to speake against the euyl or els the audacitie the euyl haue to speake against the good For in the world ther is no brute beast soo hardye as the euill man is that hath lost his fame O would to God the good to his desyre had asmuch power to do good workes as the euyl hath strength to his affection to exercise wicked dedes For the vertuous man findeth not one hand to helpe him in vertue to worke yet after he
nor adulterer but Tarquine the proude onely for that he was euill cōdicioned By the faith of a good man I sweare vnto you Fathers cōscript that if the miserable Tarquine had bene beloued in Rome he had neuer bene depriued of the Realme for committing adultery with Lucretia for in the end if euery light offence which in youth is committed should be punished within short space there should be no common wealth All these euils both before and after Tarquine were committed by the auncientes in the Romaine empire whiche were suche as these of this young and lighte prince and were nothing in comparison vnto thee For truly cōsidering the youth of the one and the experience of the other the greatest offence of the younge is but a counterfaite to the least that the olde committeth Iulius Caesar last dictatour and firste Emperour of Rome being a thing commendable bothe to Senatours to salute the Emperour on their knees and to the Emperour to rise againste them and resalute eche one according to his order because of presumption and that he woulde not obserue this ceremonie with .xxiii. woundes they dispatched him of his life Tiberius was an Emperour whom they blame for drunkennes and Caligula was an Emperour also whom they accuse of inceste with his sisters Nero was an Emperour who for that he slewe his mother and his maister Seneca hath for euer bene named cruell Sergius Galba was a deuouring and gluttonous Emperour for that he caused for one onely banket seuen thousand byrdes to be kylled Domitian was an Emperour who was greatly noted of all euils For all euils whiche in many were scattered in him alone were founde All these miserable princes in the ende were betraied hanged and beheaded And I sweare vnto ye fathers conscript that they died not for their vices but because they were proude and euill conditioned For finally the prince for one vice only cannot muche endomage the people but for being to haulty and presumptuous of euill conditions he may destroy a common wealth Let princes and great lordes be assured that if they geue many occasions of euill will afterwardes one only suffiseth to stirre their subiects to destroy them For if the lord shew not his hatred it is for that he will not but if the subiecte doe not reuenge it is for that he cannot Beleue me fathers conscripte and sacred Senate that euen as the Phisitians with a litle triacle purge manye euyll humours of the bodye soo the sage Prynces wyth verye lyttle beneuolence drawe out of their subiectes muche fylthines of harte diuerting their ill willes into true and faithfull loue And because the members should be agreable with the head in myne opinion it behoueth the people to obey the commaundement of the prince and to honour and reuerence his person and the good prince to be iuste and equall to all in generally and gentle in conuersation with euery one O happy common wealth wherein the prince findeth obedience in the people and the people in like maner loue in the prince For of the loue of the Lorde springeth obedience in the subiecte and of the obediēce of the subiectes springeth loue in the Lorde The Emperour in Rome is as the spyder in the middest of her cobwebbe the which being touched with the needels pointe by one of the threedes of the same be it neuer so litle immediatly the spider feeleth it I meane that all the workes whiche the Emperour doth in Rome are immediatly published through out all the countrey For in fine since princes are the myrrour of all they cannot well cloake their vices I see fathers conscripte that I haue bene iudged here of worldly malice because I accompanied the captiues in procession and also because I suffred my selfe to be touched with them to the ende they might enioye the priuiledge of their libertie and in this case I render most humble thankes to the immortall gods because they made me a mercifull Emperour to set those at libertie that were in prysone and that they made me not a cruel tyraunt to set those in pryson whiche were at libertie For the prouerbe saieth that with one beane a man may take two pigeons euen so chaunsed the lyke herein yesterdaie For the benefite was done for those miserable captiues but the example of humanitie was shewed to all straunge nations And knowe ye not that whē the prince vnloseth the irons from the feete of the captiues he byndeth the hartes landes and goodes of his subiectes concluding therfore I saye that to princes it were more safetie and to the common wealthe more profite to be serued in their palaces by free hartes with loue then by subiectes whiche are kept vnder by feare ¶ Of a letter the emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to his frende Pulio declaring the opinion of certaine philosophers concerning the felicitie of man Cap. xl MArcus Aurelius Emperour of Rome tribune of the people high byshop seconde consull and monarche of all the Romaine empire wysheth to the Pulio his olde frende health to thy persone and prosperitie againste thy euill fortune The letter that thou wrotest vnto me from Capua I receyued here at Bethinia and if thou diddest wryte it with a good hart I did read it with willing eyes whereof thou oughtest somewhat to content thee For it is an auncient saying of Homere that that whiche is well vewed with the eyes is tenderly beloued of the harte I protest vnto thee by the faithe of the immortall gods that I doe not wryte vnto thee as a Romaine emperour that is to saye from the lorde to the seruaunt for in this sorte I should wryte vnto thee briefe and touching the purpose which thing ought not to be done to the peculier frende For the letters of graue men should neuer beginne the letters of vs frendes should neuer ende I wryte vnto thee my frende Pulio as to a priuate frende to an olde companion of mine and as to him whiche is a faithfull secretary of my desyres and in whose company I was neuer displeased in whose mouth I neuer founde lie and in whose promise there was neuer breache made And the thing being thus I should commit treason in the lawe of frendship if I kept secret from thee any of my inward conceites For all the griefes whiche lie buried in the woful harte ought not to be communicate but with a faithful frende Doest thou thinke Pulio that the Romaine emperour hath litle trauaile to wryte vnto thee as Emperour to speake as Emperoure to walke as Emperoure and to eate as emperour and finally to be as emperour in deede certes I doe not meruaile hereat For truly the life of the vertuous emperour is but a dial which ordereth or disordereth the comon wealth and that wherof I marueile is of the foly of Rome vanitie of the common wealth For as much as all saye that the prince if he wil seme graue be well estemed of the people ought to goe softly to
speake litle to write briefly so that for writing of letters they wyll he be brief for conquering of straunge realmes they doe not rebuke him although he be long Wise men should desire that their princes be of a gentle cōdition to the end they fal not to tyranny That they haue their mind vncorrupted to minister to all equall iustice that their thought be good not to desire straunge realmes that they haue their hartes voide frome wrathe that they be sound within to pardon iniuries that they loue their subiectes to be serued of them that thei know the good to honour them that they know the euil to punish them as for the surplus we litle regard whether the king go fast whether he eate much or write brief For the daunger is not in that which is in the lack of his person but is in the negligence that he vseth in the common wealth I haue receiued my frend Pulio great comfort of thy letter but much more I should haue receiued of thy presence for the letters of auncient frendes are but as a remēbraunce of time past It is a great pleasure to the mariner to talke of the perils past being in the hauen to the captaine to glorie of the battaile after the victory I meane aboue al pleasure this is the greatest to men being now faithful frendes to talke of the trauaile and daūgers which they passed when they were young mē Beleue me in one thing and doe not doubt therof There is no man that knoweth to speake that knoweth to possesse nor that can iudge or take any pleasure neither that knoweth well how to kepe the goods which the gods haue geuen him vnlesse it be he that hath bought it derely with great trauaile For with al our hartes we loue that thing which by our own proper trauaile we haue gotten I aske thee one thing who is he that oweth most to the gods or that is most estemed amongest men of Traian the iuste whiche was brought vp in the warres of Dace Germany and Spaine or of Nero the cruell whiche was nourished in all the deliciousnes of Rome Truly the one was none other then a Rose among briers and the other was but a nettel among flowers I speake this because the good Traian hath gouerned his life in such sort that alwayes they will smell the rose by the pleasaunt sauour but the cruell Nero hath left the sting with the nettell of his infamy I will not speake all because many are were made good but for the most part the princes which were brought vp deliciously gaue euery mā occasion that al should be offended for the euil gouernaunce of their liues in their realmes and because they neuer experimented any kinde of trauaile in them selues they do litle esteme the paines of another I wil not that thou thinke my frend Pulio that I haue forgotten the time that is past though the gods brought me to the empire present For though we togethers were tossed with the tormentes of youthe yet nowe we maye repose our selues in the caulmes of our age I doe remember that thou and I did study in Rhodes in letters and after we had so wen weapons in Capua it hath pleased the Gods that the seedes of my fortune should rype here in Rome and to thee and to others better then I fortune would not geue one onely eare I doe not geue the licence that thy thought be suspitious of me sithe thou of my harte arte made a faithfull frende for if vnconstant fortune doth truste me to gather with trauayle the grape know thou that here in my palace thou shalt not want of the wyne The gods will not suffer that nowe in this moment thou shouldest finde my harte shutte from thee whose gates I founde alwayes for the space of twenty yeares open vnto me Sithe that my fortunes brought me to the Empire I haue alwayes had two thinges before myne eyes that is to wete not to reuenge my selfe of myne enemies neither to be vnthankefull to my frendes For I praye to the gods daily rather then hereafter through vnthankefulnes my renowme should be defamed that euen nowe with forgetfulnes my bodye should be buried Let a man offer to the Gods what sacrifices he will let him doe as muche seruice to men as he can yet if he be vnthankefull to his frende he oughte in all and for all to be vtterly condemned Because thou shouldest see my frende Pulio how greatly the auncient frende ought to bee estemed 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 Grece there was one named Periander who was prince and gouernour a greate whyle and he had in hym suche liuelines of spirite on the one side and suche couetousnes of worldly goods on the other side that the historiographers are in doubte whether was the greater the philosophie that he taught reading in the scholes or the tyranny that he vsed in robbing in the common wealth For truly the science whiche is not grounded of trougthe bringeth great domages to the person In the seconde yeare of my empire I was in the citie of Corinthe where I sawe the graue whiche conteined the bones of Periander where about was ingrauen in Greke verses and olde letter this Epitaphe WIthin the compasse of this narrowe graue Wretched Periander enclosed lies Whose cruell factes could Grece alone not haue So small a soyle his hunger could suffise ¶ Here lodgeth eke lo Periander dedde His filthie fleshe the hungrie wormes doe eate And liuing he with Orphelines goods was fedde His gredie guttes did craue suche deintie meate ¶ The tyraunt Periander stayeth here Whose life was buylte to hinder all the rest And eke whose death suche prefite large did beare As brought reliefe to him that had the lest ¶ Here wicked Periander resteth nowe His life did cause great peopled realmes decaye His death that forste his liuing sprite to bowe Assurde them life that stoode in brittell staye ¶ The curssed Periander here doth lie Whose life did shed the poore and simple blood And eke that clambe to riches rule so hie By others swette that sought for wasting good ¶ Of Corinth lo here Periander rest To seeme for iust that equall lawes did frame Yet flytting from the square that they possest By vertues dome deserude a tyrauntes name ¶ The catiue Periander sleepeth here That finisht hath his foure score yeares with shame And though his lyfe that thousandes bought so deere Be faded thus yet bloometh still his blame THere were mo letters on the graue but because it was alone in the fielde the great waters had worne it so that scarcely the letters coulde be red and truly it was very olde in his time it semed to be a sumptuous thing but the negligence of reparation lost it quite and it is not to be marueyled at
of Corinthe for I haue no commission to treate of peace with vnthriftye players but with sage gouernours Those of Athens comaunded me not to kepe company with those that haue their hāds occupied with dyce but with those that haue their bodyes loden with harnes with those that haue their eyes daseled with their bookes For those men which haue warre with the dice it is vnpossible they shold haue peace with their neighbours After he had spoken these wordes he returned to Athens I let the vnderstand my frend Pulio that the Corinthians thinke it to be the greatest felicitie in the world to occupie dayes nightes in playes and meruel not hereat neyther laugh thou them to scorne For it was tolde we by a Greeke being in Antioche that a Corinthian estemed it more felycitie to winne a game then the Romaine captaine dyd to winne a triumphe As they say the Corinthians were wyse and temperate men vnlesse it were in playes in the which thing they were to vycious Me thynke my frend Pulio that I aunswere the more ampely then thou requyrest or that my health suffreth the whych is lytle so that both thou shalte be troubled to reade it and I here shal haue paine to wryt it I wil make the a briefe some of al the others whiche now come vnto my remembraunce the which in dyuerse things haue put their ioy and chiefe felycities Of Crates the philosopher CRates the philosopher put his felycitie to haue good fortune in prosperous nauigacions sayeng that he which sayleth by sea can neuer haue perfecte ioy at his hart so long as he considereth that betwene death life there is but on bourde Wherfore the harte neuer feeleth so great ioy as when in the hauen he remembreth the perrils whyche he hath escaped of the sea Of Estilpho the philosopher EStilpho the philosopher put all his felycitie to be of great power sayeng that the man which can do litle is worth lytle and he that hath litle the gods do him wrong to let him lyue so long For he only is happie which hath power to oppresse his enemyes and hath wherwith al to succour him selfe and reward his frendes Of Simonides the philosopher SImonides the philosopher put all his felycitie to be wel beloued of the people sayinge that churlyshe men and euyl condicioned shoulde be sent to the mountaynes amongest brute beastes For ther is no greater felycity in this lyfe then to be beloued of all in the common wealthe Of Archita the philosopher ARchita the Philosopher had all his felycity in conquering a battaile sayeng that naturallye man is so much frende to hym selfe and desireth so much to come to the chiefe of his enterprise that thoughe for lytle trifles he played yet he woulde not be ouercome For the hart willynglye suffereth all the trauayles of the lyfe in hope afterwardes to wynne the vyctorye Of Gorgias the philosopher GOrgias the philosopher put all his felycytie to heare a thing whych pleased him sayeng that the body feleth not so much a great wound as the hart doth an euyl word For truly ther is no musicke that soundeth so swete to the eares as the pleasaunt words are sauoury to the hart Of Crisippus the philosopher CRisippus the Philosopher had all his felycitye in this world in making great buildynges sayeng that those which of them selues lefte no memorye both in their lyfe and after their death deserued infamye For greate and sumptuous buyldynges are perpetuall monumentes of noble courages Of Antisthenes the philosopher ANtisthenes the phylosopher put al his felicye in renowne after his death For sayth he there is no losse but of lyfe that flytteth without fame For the wiseman neade not feare to dye So he leaue a memory of his vertuous lyfe behind him Of Sophocles the philosopher SOphocles had all his ioy in hauyng children whych should possesse the inheritaunce of their father sayenge that the graffe of him that hath no children surmounteth aboue al other sorrowes For the greatest felicity in this lyfe is to haue honoure and riches and afterwards to leaue children whych shal inherite them Of Euripides the philosopher EVripides the Philosopher had all his ioy in keaping a fayre woman sayeng hys tongue wyth wordes could not expresse the griefe whiche the hart endureth that is accumbred with a foule woman therfore of truth he whych happeneth of a goodly and vertuous woman ought of ryght in hys lyfe to desire no more pleasure Of Palemon the philosopher PAlemon put the felycytye of men in eloquence sayeng and swearing that the man that cannot reason of al things is not so lyke a reasonable man as he is a brute beast For accordyng to the opinyons of many there is no greater fely citye in thys wretched worlde then to be a man of a pleasaunte tongue and of an honest lyfe Of Themistocles the philosopher THemistocles put all hys felycity in discending from a noble lynage sayeng that the man whych is come of a meane stocke is not bounde to make himselfe of a renowmed fame For truly the vertues and prowesses of them that are past are not but an example to moue them to take great enterprises which are present Of Aristides the philosopher ARistides the philosopher put all his felycitie in keaping temporal goods sayeng that the man which hath not wherwith to eate nor to susteine his lyfe it were better counsayle for him of his free wil to goe into the graue then to do any other thing For he only shal be called happie in this worlde who hath no nede to enter into another mans house Of Heraclitus the philosopher HEraclitus put all his felycitie in heaping vp treasoure sayenge that the prodygall man the more he getteth the more he spendeth but he hath the respecte of a wyse man who can keape a secrete treasoure for the necessityes to come Thou hast now sufficiently vnderstode my frend Pulio how that .vii. monethes since I haue bene taken with the feuer quartaine and I swere vnto the by the immortall gods that at this present instaunt writyng vnto the my hand shaketh which is an euident token that the cold doth take me wherefore I am constrayned to conclude this matter which thou demaundest me although not according to my desier For amongest true frends though the workes do cease wherewith they serue yet therefore the inward partes ought not to quaile wherwyth they loue If thou dost aske me my frend Pulio what I thynke of all that is aboue spoken and to whych of those I do sticke I aunswere the. That in this world I do not graunt any to be happie and if ther be any the gods haue them with them because on the one side chosynge the playne and drye way without clay and on the other syde all stonye and myerie we may rather call this lyfe the precipitacion of the euyl then the safegard of the good I wil speake but one word only but marke wel what therby I meane whych is
younge Epesipus was of a good and cleare iudgement well made of his body and fayre of countenaunce and sithe in his youth he estemed his beautie more then his learninge the Emperour his vncle wrote him a letter into Grece whiche sayde this Marcus Aurelius the Romaine Emperoure firste tribune of the people and Byshop wysheth to thee Epesipus his nephew and scholler health and doctrine In the thirde Calendes of December came thy cosyn Annius Verus at whose comming all our parentage reioyced and so muche the more for that he brought vs newes of Gretia For truly when the harte hath the absence of that he loueth it is no one minute of an houre without suspition After that thy cosyn Annius Verus had spoken in generally to all bryngyng newes from their frendes and chyldren we talked together and he gaue me a letter of thyne whiche is contrary to that was wrytten me out of Grece because thou wrytest to me that I shoulde sende thee money to continue the in studye and they wrote vnto me from thence that thou arte more youthful and geuen to the pleasures of the worlde than becommeth thee Thou art my bloude thou arte my Nephewe thou werte my scholler and thou shalte bee my sonne if thou arte good But God wyll neuer that thou be my Nephew nor that I call thee my sonne duryng the tyme that thou shalt be younge fonde lyght frayle For no good man should haue parentage with the vicious I can not denye but that I loued thee from the bottome of my stomack and so lykewyse thy vnthriftynes greaueth me with all my harte For when I redde the letter of thy follyes I lette thee knowe that the teares ranne downe my cheekes but I wyll contente my selfe For the sage and wyse men though againste their wylles they heare of suche thynges paste yet it pleaseth them to redresse other thynges that maye come hereafter I knowe well thou canst not call it to mynde though perhappes thou haste it that when thy vnlucky mother and my sister Annia Milena died she was then young enough for she was no more but .xviii. yeares of age and thou haddest not then foure houres For thou were borne in the morning and she died at nonetide so that when the wycked childe possessed life the good mother tasted death I can tell that thou hast lost such a mother and I suche a sister that I beleue there was no better in Rome For she was sage honest and fayre the whiche thinges are seldome seene nowe a daies For so muche as thy mother was my sister and that I had broughte her vp and maried her I loued her tenderly And when she died here at Rome I redde then Rethorike at Rhodes because my pouertie was so extreme that I had no other thing but that whiche by reading Rethorike I did gette When newes came vnto me of the death of thy mother and my sister Annia Milena al comforte layde on syde sorowe oppressed my harte in suche wyse that all my mēbers trembled the bones sheuered myne eies without reste did lamente the heauy sighes ouercame me at euery minute my harte vanished awaye from the bottome of my harte I inwardly lamented and bewayled thy vertuous mother and my dere syster Finally sorowe executing his priuilege on me the ioyfull company greued me and onely with the louely care I quieted my selfe I knowe not nor can not expresse vnto the howe and in what sorte I tooke the death of my sister Annia Milena thy mother for in sleaping I dreamed of her and dreaming I sawe her when I was awake she represented her selfe before me remembring then that she liued I was sory to remember her death Life was so greuous vnto me that I woulde haue reioyced to haue bene put in the graue with her For truly he feeleth assuredly the death of an other whiche alway is sorowefull and lamenting his owne life Remembring therefore the great loue whiche my sister Milena bare vnto me in her life and thinking wherein I might requite the same after her death I imagined that I could not by any meanes doe any thing more acceptable for her then to bryng thee vp thou whiche arte her chylde and lefte an orphane so young For of all trauayles to a woman this is chiefest to leaue behinde her children to bring vp My sister being dead the firste thing I dyd was that I came to Rome and then sent thee to Capua to be broughte vp there in the whiche place harde at my nose they gaue the sucke two yeares For thou knowest right well that the money which by reading Rethorike I gate scarcely satisfied for thy dayly finding but that in the night I reade some extraordinary lecture and with that I payed for the mylke which thou suckedst on the dugge so that thy bringing vp depended vpon the labour of my lyfe After that thou wer weyned and brought from the teate I sent the to Bietro to a frende and kinsman of mine named Lucius Valerius with whom thou remainedst vntill fiue yeares were fully accomplished where I founde both him and thee all thinges necessary For he was in great pouertie and a great babler of his tongue in suche sorte that he troubled al men and angred me muche For truly a man should as willingly geue money to cause him to be silente whiche is talkatiue as to geue to a wyse man to heare him speake The fiue yeares accomplished I sente thee to Toringue a citie of Campagnia to a maister whiche taught children there called Emilius Torquates of whom to the end he should teache thee to reade and wryte three yeares I tooke a sonne of his whom he gaue me to reade to him Greke foure yeres so that thou couldest not haue any profite in thee without the encrease of my great trauayle and augmenting paine to my harte After thou were seuen yeares olde that thou couldest reade and wryte well I sente thee to studie in the famous citie of Tarenthe where I kept thee foure yeares paying to the maisters a great summe of money Because nowe a dayes through our euyll fortunes there is none that will teache without great stipende Without lamenting I doe not tell thee that in the time of the Cincinos whiche were after the death of Quintus Cincinatus vntill Cyna and Catullus the philosophers and maisters of Rome did neuer receiue one peny to teache sciences to any that would learne them For all the philosophers and maisters were by the sacred Senate payde and none ceased to study for lacke of money For in those dayes they whiche woulde applie them selues to vertue and sciences were by the common treasure mainteined As our fathers were wel ordered in their thinges so they did not deuide offices by order onely but also by order they paide their money in suche sorte that they paied first with the common treasure the priestes of the temples Secondly the maisters of scholes and studies Thirdly the poore wydowes and orphanes Fourthly the
straunge knyghtes whiche of their owne free wylles voluntarely were made citezins of Rome Fiftly all the olde souldiours whiche had serued xxxvi yeares continually in the warres For those which were retired home to their owne houses were honourably founde of the common wealth The .xii. yeares paste I my selfe was in Tarenthe and caried thee to Rome where I redde vnto thee Rethorike Logike and Philosophie and also the Mathematicall sciences keping thee in my house in my company at my table and in my bedde and furthermore I hadde thee in my harte and in my minde The whiche thinge thou shouldest esteme more then if I gaue thee my house and all my goodes For the true benefite is that onely whiche is done without any respect of profite or interest I kepte thee with me thus in this sorte in Laurente in Rhodes in Naples and in Capua vntil such tyme as the gods created me Emperour of Rome And then I determined to sende thee to Grece because thou shouldest learne the Greeke tongue and also to the ende thou shouldest accustome thy selfe to worke that whiche true philosophie requireth For the true and vertuous philosophers ought to conforme their workes to that they say and publishe their wordes with their deades There is nothing more infamous then to presume to be sage and to be desirous to be counted vertuous principally for him that speaketh much worketh litle For the man of a pleasant tongue euil life is he which with impostumes vndoeth the cōmon wealth When I sent thee to Grece withdrew thee from Rome it was not to exyle thee out of my company so that thou hauing tasted of my pouertie shouldest not reioyce at my prosperitie but it was that considering thy youthfull disposition and lightnes I was afrayd to vndo thee in the palace chiefly least thou wouldest haue presumed to haue bene to bolde familiar because thou werte my nephew For truly princes which take pleasure that their children be familiar with thē thei giue occasion that men shal not count thē wise cause also the yoūg mē to be estemed for light I haue tolde thee that I did for thee in Italy I will nowe let thee knowe what thou hast done and doest in Grece so that I wyl shewe thee to be notorious that is to knowe that thou taking and esteming thy selfe to be wel disposed in thy youthe thou haste forsaken thy studie and despised my counsayles thou arte accompanied with vayne and light men and hast viciously employed the money which I had sent thee to bie bookes All the whiche thinges to thee being hurtfull are to me no lesse dishonour and shame For it is a generall rule when the childe is foolishe and ill taught the blame and fault is layde on the maisters necke who hath taught him and brought him vp It greueth me not for that I haue broughte thee vp neither for that I haue taught thee to reade and cause thee to study neither likewyse to haue kept thee in my house to haue set thee at my table nor also to haue suffred thee to lye with me in bedde neither it greueth me to haue consumed so muche money on thee but with all my harte it greueth me that thou haste not geuen me occasion to doe thee any good For there is nothing that greueth a noble prince more then not to finde parsons able of capacitie to doe them any good They tell me that thou art well made of thy body and fayre of countenaunce and that thou presumest also in those thinges wherefore to enioye the pleasurs of thy persone thou hast forsaken philosophie wherwith I am not contented For in the ende the corporall beautie earely or late perisheth in the graue but vertue and science maketh men to be of immortall memory The gods neuer commaunded it neither the studies and vniuersities of Italy suffred it to haue the body fine and trimme the visage fayre cleare and the harte full of philosophie for the true philosopher of all other thinges estemeth leste the setting forth of the body For that the demonstrations tokens of a true perfect philosopher is to haue his eies troubled his eiebries burnte the head bauld the bal of his eies sonke into his head the face yellow the body leane and feble the fleshe drie the feete vnhosed the garment poore the eating litle and the watching great Finally he ought to liue as a Lacedemonian and speake as a Grecian The tokens of a valiaunt and renowmed captaine are his woundes and hurtes and the signe of a studious philosopher is the despising of the world For the wyse man ought to thinke him selfe as muche dishonoured if they call him stoute and sturdy as a captaine when they call him a cowarde and negligent I like well that the phylosopher studie the auncient antiquities of his forefathers that wrote the profounde thinges for the time to come that he teache profitable and holsom doctrines to those whiche are nowe aliue that he diligently enquire of the mocion of the starres that he consider what causeth the alteration of the elementes But I sweare vnto thee Epesipus that neuer sage of Rome came to those thinges nor philosopher of Grece likewyse but in searching the quietnes of the soule and despising the pleasurs of the body Touching the body I am like to beastes but concerning the spirite I am partely like to the gods sithe that following the thinges of the fleshe I am made lesse than my selfe and in following the motions of the spirite I am made more then I am For truly sensualitie maketh vs inferiour to beastes and reason maketh vs superiour vnto men The worldly malice and presumption naturally desireth rather to mounte then to descende and to commaunde rather than to be commaunded And since it is so why doe we by vices abase our selues to doe lesse then beastes being possible for vs by vertues to doe more then men Amongest all the members which men can haue there is nothing more tender to breake nor any thing more easy to corrupte then is the handesomenes of the body wherof we are so proude For in mine opinion to esteme him self to be handsome propre of persone is no other thing but to esteme our selues that dreaming we shal be riche and mighty and afterwardes awaking we finde our selues to be poore and miserable And me thinketh this thing to be true because I will declare what it is to se a young man in his first age the hed litle the heere yeallowe the browe long the eies grene the chekes white the nose sharpe the lips coloured the bearde forked the face liuely the necke smal the body of good proportion the armes litle the fingers longe to conclude so wel proportioned in his members that mens eies shoulde alwayes desire to beholde him and the hartes alwaies seke to loue him If this young man so faire and wel proportioned remained long time in this beautie and disposition it were
to morow the rust of diseases taketh him and afterwardes by aduersitie he is writhen and by infirmities he is diseased by riches he is whetted by pouerty he is dulled agayne and finally oftentimes it chaunseth that the more sharpe he is whetted so muche the more the lyfe is put in hasarde It is a true thinge that the fete and handes are necessary to clyme to the vanyties of youth and that afterwardes stumblynge a lytle immediately rowling the heade downewardes we discende into the miserie of age For to oure seamynge yesterdaye we knewe one that was yonge and beautifull and with in shorte tyme after we heare that he is dead and rotten When I consider manye men aswell frendes as enemyes whiche were not long a goe florisshyng in beautye and youth and presently I see them to be olde and drye sycke and foule truly I think that as then I dreamed of them or that they be not nowe as they were then What thynge is more fearefull or more incredible then to see a man become miserable in shorte space that the fashion of his visage shoulde chaunge the beautie of the face shoulde be loste the beard waxe whyte the heade bauld the cheekes and forheade full of wrynckelles the teethe as whit as Iuorye become blacke the lighte feete by the goute to seme crepeled and afterwarde waxeth heauie the palsey weakeneth the strong arme the fyne smothe throte with wrinckelles is pleated and the bodye that was streight and vpryghte waxeth weake and croked Aboue all that I haue spoken I say to the Epesipus which presumest to be faire that he which through hys propernes in youth was the mirrour of all becommeth to be such a one that he douteth whether he be the selfe same now in his age that he was in his youth Doe what thou wilte prayse and gloryfye thy beautie asmuch as thou thinckest good yet in the ende the beautie of men is none other but as a veile to couer their eyes a payre of fetters for the fete manacles for the handes a lyme rodde for the winges a these of tyme an occasion of daunger a prouoker of trouble a place of lecherye a sinke of all euill and fynallye it is an inuentour of debates and a scourge of the affectioned man Since thou haste forsaken thy studye I am not bound to send the any thing chiefely wasting thy monye in childysh and youthfull toyes but notwithstandyng all those thinges I sende the by Aulus Vegenus two thousande crounes for thy apparaile and trulye thou shalt be very vnthankfull if thou dost not knowe the benefite done vnto the. For a man ought to giue more thākes for that which is done of curtesie then for that which is offered of necessitie I cannot tell what to let the vnderstande in these partes but that thy sister Anania Salaria is maried who sayeth she is contente I praye God it be so for with money men maye be holpen to mariages but it lyeth in the gods to contente the parties If thou wilte know of Toringa thy cosen thou shalte vnderstande she is imbarked in the fleete whyche went to Spaine and in dede I neuer thought otherwise on her after she had hene .3 dayes hydde in the waye of Salaria For maydes that will betimes gather their grapesi t is a token that they will goe on warfare with souldyars Of Annius Rufus thy frende and companion I certify the that he is gon into the I le of Helespont and he goeth by the authority of the senate to vnderstand the gouernement therof and albeit he be yong yet he is wise and therfore I suppose he will render a good accompt of his commission For of these two extremities the aged that do decline or the yong that are wise I had rather holde my selfe to the wisdom of the yong then to the white berdes of the aged My wife Faustine saluteth the and be thou assured that in thy affaires at the least to my seming she is very fauourable vnto the and dayly she instauntely requireth me not to be angrye with the sayenge that sage men oughte not to esteme the lyghtenes of youth and that there is no olde man that is sage but he which in all thinges was lighte and youthefull I say no more to the in this case but if thou wylte be good I cannot denaye that thou art not my nepheue my old scoler and seruaunte For if in the I se amendment I wil withdrawe mine ire For trulye amonge the louing hartes there is nothing that plucketh vp the euill will vnles it be the good lyfe At the request of my wife Faustine I haue writen the this worde and I saye no more but that of her parte and mine thou commende vs to all the vniuersitie The Gods haue the in their custodye to whom it may please to gyue the amendement of lyfe Marcus Aurelius the romaine emperour to the Annius Epesipus wryteth with his owne hand How princes and great Lordes in olde time were louers of wise men Chap. xliii ONe of the chiefest thynges that wanne reputacion and eternall memorye to the auncient princes and Gouerners was that they sought wyse men to be alwayes couersaunt about them whose graue counsaile their realmes alwayes obserued and obeyed It profiteth a king litle to leade with him a greate nomber of sages to gouerne him and his realme if his subiectes are armed with malice not to obey hym Let princes knowe whiche esteme not the counsaile of sages that their commaundement of other shall not be regarded For the lawe whiche by will is made and not of right ordeined deserueth not to be obeyed We which turne and tosse the leaues of the auncient histories cannot denay but that the romaines naturally were proude Yet we muste confesse that as they haue ben stout in thinges touching warres so they haue shewed them selues temperate in the affaires of the publike weale And truly herin Rome declared her wisedom might for as by hardye and stoute captaynes the enemies were destroied in warre so by sages and wise men the common wealth was gouerned and mainteined in peace Ofte tymes with my selfe I muse whereuppon all these discordes grew betwene lords and subiectes princes and vassalles and my count being made I finde that they haue both reason For the subiectes complaine of the litle loue of their lorde and the lordes complaine of the great disobedience of their subiectes For to say the truth disobedience is so much augmented and the desier of commaundement is become so licencious that it semeth to the subiectes that the waighte of a fether is lead and on the cōtrary it semeth to princes that for the flieng of a flye they should draw their swordes All this euill and damage commeth not but because the princes haue not with them wise men whiche maye counsaile them for there was neuer any good prince that credited euil counsaile There are two thinges in princes and prelates whiche gouerne the soule th one is the
and the good are oppressed finally all doe reioyce one to lyue to the preiudice of an other and euery man to seeke his owne priuate commoditie Many vayne men doe rayse dissentions and quarelles amongest people thinking that in troubled water they shoulde augmente their estates who in shorte space doe not onely loose the hope of that they sought but also are put out of that they possessed For it is not onely reasonable but also moste iuste that those by experience fele that whiche their blynde malyce wyll not suffer them to knowe It is muche good for the people that the gouernours be not vnfortunate ▪ but that of their nature they were happy For to lucky Prynces fortune geueth many thinges euen as they demaunde yea and geueth them better then they looke for The noble and valiaunt princes when they see them selues with other princes or that they are present in great actes oughte to shewe the freenes of their harte the greatnes of their realme the preheminence of their persone the loue of their common wealthe and aboue all the discipline of their courte and the grauitie of their counsayle and palace For the sage and curious men shoulde not beholde the prince in the apparayle whiche he weareth but the men whiche he hath to counsayle him The sage men and those that be not couetous if they do employe their forces to heape vp treasures ought to remember in their hartes how to employ themselues to spende their money well Sithe fortune is maistres in all thinges and that to her they doe impute both good and euil workes he alone may be called a princely man who for no contrarietie of fortune is ouercome For truly that man is of a stoute courage whose harte is not vanquished by the force of fortune Though we prayse one for valiaunt with the sworde we wyll not therefore prayse him for excellent with the penne Although he be excellent with his penne he is not therefore excellent with his tongue Though he haue a good tongue he is not therefore well learned And thoughe he be learned he hath not therefore good renowme And though he hath good renowme he is not therefore of a good lyfe For we are bounde to receyue the doctrines of many whiche wryte but we are not bounde to folowe the lyues whiche they doe leade There is no worse office amongest men then to take the charge to punyshe the vices of an other and therefore men ought to flye from it as from the pestylence for in correctinge vyces hatred is more sure to the correctour then amendement of lyfe is to the offender He hath and possesseth muche that hath good frendes For many ayde their frendes when they woulde haue holpen them more if they coulde For the true loue is not weried to loue nor ceaseth not to profite Though sage men haue loste muche they oughte not therefore to dispayre but that they shall come to it agayne in tyme. For in the ende tyme doth not cease to doe his accustomed alterations nor perfecte frendes cease not to doe that which they oughte The proude and disdainefull man for the moste parte alwayes falleth into some euill chaunce therefore it is a commendable medecine some tymes to be persecuted for aduersitie maketh a wyse man lyue more safely and to walke in lesse daunger For so muche as we doe excuse hym whiche committeth the faulte there is neither the offender nor the offence but deserueth payne For suche a one that committeth the faulte through sodayne anger dyd euyll and if he dyd committe it by deliberation he did muche worse To desyre to doe all thynges by reason is good and lykewyse to laye them all in order is good but it is very harde For temperate men haue suche respecte in compassing their doynges and by weyght so cast all the inconueniences that scarcely they euer determyne to goe about it To the man whiche hath gouernement twoo thynges are daungerous that is to wete to sone or to late But of those twoo the worste is to sone For if by determining late a man loseth that whiche he myght haue gotten by determining to sone that is loste whiche is nowe gayned and that whiche a man might haue gayned To men whiche are to hasty chaunce dayly many euilles and daungers as saieth the prouerbe The hastie man neuer wanteth woe For the man being vnpacient and hauing his vnderstanding high afterward come quarels and brawlynges displeasures varieties and also vanities whiche looseth their goodes and putteth their personnes in daunger Sithe all naturally desire to be happy he alone amongest all others may be called happy of whome they maye truely saye he gaue good doctrine to lyue and lefte good example to die These and many other sentences Phalaris the tyraunt wrote in his letters whereof Cicero profited muche in his workes and Seneca also in his epistles and many other wryters besydes For this tyraunt was very brief in wordes and compendious in sentences This Phalaris beyng in his citie of Agrigente a Philosopher of Grece wrote hym a tauntinge letter chargynge hym with tyranny to whiche he aunswered with this letter followyng ¶ The letter of Phalaris the tyraunt to Popharco the Philosopher PHalaris Agrigentine wyssheth vnto thee Popharco the Philosopher healthe and consolation through the comfortable Gods I receyued thy letter here in Agrigentine and though it sauoured somewhat Satirlike I was not agreued therewith for of philosophers and sages as thou art we shuld not be greaued with the sharpe wordes you tell vs but to consider the intētion whereupon you speake them Quarellers and malicious persons wyll haue the wordes by weight and measure but the vertuous and pacient mē doe not regarde but the intentions For if we should goe about to examine euery worde they speake vnto vs we should geue our selues to much paine and we should alwaies set in the common wealth debate I am a tyraunt as yet am in tyrannie but I sweare vnto the immortall gods whether the worde were good or bad I neuer altered it For if a good man tell it me I take it for my pastime Thou wrytest vnto me that all Grece is offended with me there but I let them vnderstande that all Agrigentine is all edified with thee here And thereof thou maiste praise me For if the tyrauntes were not so muche dispraised the philosophers should not be so well loued Thou art counted for good art good and I am counted for euill and am euyll But in mine opinion thou shouldest not be proud for the one neither I shuld dispeire for the other For the day of the life is long and therein fortune doth many thinges it may wel be that from a tyraunt I shal be a philosopher thou from a philosopher shalt be a tyraunt Se my frend that the long tyme maketh oftentimes the earth to be turned to siluer the siluer gold becommeth nothing worth I meane that there neuer was a tyraūt in any
apparayle whych he weare and aboue all he made as solempne a funeral to Euripides as if they had buried Vlisses And not contented wythal these thyngs he was neuer mery vntil such tyme he had done cruel execuciō of the malefactours For truly the iniury or death whych is done vnto him whom we loue is no other but as a bath and token of our owne good willes After iustice was executed of those homycides and that some of the bones all gnawen of the dogges were buryed a Grecian knight sayd vnto kyng Archelaus I let the know excellent kyng that all Macedonia is offended with the because that for so small a losse thou haste shewed so greate sorow To whom kynge Archelaus aunswered Among sages it is a thinge sufficientlye tried that noble hartes oughte not to shewe theymselues sadde for mishappes and sodaine chaunces For the king being sadde his realme can not and though it might it ought not shew it selfe mery I haue heard my father say once that princes should neuer shedde teares vnlesse it were for one of these causes 1 The first the Prince should bewaile the losse and daunger of his common wealth for the good Prince ought to pardon the iniuryes done to his parson but to reuenge the least act done to the common wealth he ought to hasarde himselfe 2 The second the good prince ought to lamente if any man haue touched his honour in any wise for the Prince which wepeth not droppes of bloud for the thinges touchinge hys honoure deserueth to be buryed quycke in his graue 3 The third the good Prynce ought to bewayle those whych can lytle and suffer muche For the Prynce whych bewayleth not the calamities of the poore in vaine and without profite lyueth on the earth 4 The fourth the good Prince ought to bewayle the glory and prosperity wherin the Tiraunts are For that prince whych wyth tyrannye of the euil is not displeased wyth the hartes of the good is vnworthye to be beloued 5 The fift the good Prynce ought to bewayle the death of wise men For to a Prynce there can come no greater losse then when a wyse man dyeth in his common wealth These were the words which the king Archelaus aunswered the Grecian knight who reproued him because he had wept for the death of Euripides the phylosopher The auncient Historiographers can say no more of the estimacyon whych the Phylosophers and wyse men had as well the Greekes as the Latynes but I wyl tell you one thinge worthy of noting It is wel knowen through all the world that Scipio the Ethnicke was one of the worthyeste that euer was in Rome for by hys name and by hys occasion Rome gotte such a memorye as shall euermore endure And this was not only for that he cōquered Affrycke but for the great worthynes of hys person Men ought not to esteme a lytle these two giftes in one man that is to wete to be happie and aduentures For many of the auncientes in times past wanne glory by their swords after lost it by their euil liues The Romaynes historographers say that the first that wrote in heroical meeter in the Latin tongue was Ennius the poete the workes of whom was so estemed of Scipio the Ethnicke that when this aduenturous so lucky Romaine dyed he commaunded in hys wil and testament that they should hange the image of thys Ennius the Poet ouer his graue By that the great Scipio did at his death we may wel coniecture how great a frend he was of sages in his life since he had rather for his honor set the statue of Ennius on his graue thā the banner wherwith he wanne and conquered Affricke In the time of Pirrus which was king of the Epirotes great enemy of the Romaines florished a philosopher named Cinas borne in Thessalie who as they say was the disciple of Demosthenes The historiographers at that time did so much esteme this Cinas that they sayd he was the maister measure of mans eloquence For he was very pleasaunt in words profound in sētences This Cinas serued for 3. offices in the palace of king Pyrrus 1 First he made pastime at his table in that he dyd declare for he had a good grace in thinges of laughter 2 Secondarily he wrote the valyaunt dedes of his history for in his stile he had great eloquence and to write the truth he was a witnes of syght 3 Thirdly he went for embassadoure in affaires of great importaunce for he was naturally subtyle and wittie and in dispatching busines he was very fortunate He vsed so many meanes in his busines and had so great perswasion in his wordes that he neuer toke vpon him to speake of thinges of warre but either he set a longe truce or els he made a perpetual peace The king Pyrrus sayd to this Cynas O Cinas for thre thinges I thanke the immortal gods 1 The first for that they created me a king and not a seruaunt for the greatest good that mortal men haue is to haue lyberty to commaund many and not to be bound to obey any 2 The second I thanke the immortal gods for that they naturaly made me stout of hart for the man which wyth euery tryfle is abashed it were better for him to leaue his life 3 The third I giue the immortal gods thankes for that in the gouernment of my common wealth and for the great affaires and busines of my real me as wel in warres as in other thinges they gaue me such a man as thou art in my company For by thy gentle speach I haue conquered and obtained many Cyties which by my cruell sword I could neuer wynne nor attayne These were the wordes which Pyrrus sayd to his frend Cinas the Poete Let euery Prince know now how great louers of wise men those were in tymes past and as vppon a sodaine I haue recyted these few examples so with smal study I could haue heaped infynite Historyes FINIS The ende of the firste Booke The Seconde booke of the Diall of princes vvherein the Authoure treateth howe Princes and greate Lordes shoulde behaue theym selues towardes their wyues And howe they ought to noryshe and brynge vp their Children ¶ Of what excellencye mariage is and wheras common people marie of free will Princes and noble men oughte to marye of necessitie Cap. i. AMonge all the frendships and companyes of this lyfe ther is none so naturall as that betwene the husbande and the wife lyuing in one house for all other compagnies are caused by free wil only but this procedeth both by wil necessity Ther is at this day no Lion so fierce no Serpent so venimous no Viper so infectiue no Aspicke so mortall neyther any beast so tirrible but at the least both male female do once in the yere mete conioyne and thoughe that in brute beastes there lacketh reason yet notwithstandynge they haue a naturall instinction to assemble themselues for the
are pardoned in tyme which by reason could neuer take end Others sayd that for to appease the enemyes it was good to offer money because moneye doth not only breake the feminate and tender hartes but also the hard and craggy rockes Others saied that the best remedie was to set good men to be mediatours betwene them in especially if they were sage and wise men for the honest faces stout hartes are ashamed when they are proferred money and the good do humble them selues by intreaty These meanes well considered and the remydies wel soughte out to make frendes there are none so ready so true as mariage for the mariage done sacramentally is of such so great excellency that betwene some it causeth perfite frendship betwene others it appeaseth great iniuries During the time that Iulius Cesar kept him selfe as father in law to the great Pompeius that Pompeius helde himselfe his sonne in law ther was neuer euil wil nor quarels betwene thē but after that Pompeius was deuorced from the house of Cesar hatred enuy enimities engendered betwene them in such sort that they contended in suche so cruell warres that Pompeius against his wil lost his head also Iulius Cesar shortned his life When those that dwelled in Rome rauished robbed the doughters of the Sabines if after they had not chaunged their counsel of theues to become husbandes without doubt the Romaines had bene all destroyed for the Sabines had made an othe to aduenture both their goodes and their lyues for to reueng the iniuries done vnto them their doughters and wiues but by the meanes of mariage they were conferred in great amity and loue For the Romaines receued in mariage the doughters of the Sabines whom before they had rauished Greater enimity ther cānot be then that of god towards men through the sinne of Adam notwithstanding ther neuer was nor neuer shal be greater frendship then that which was made by the godly maryage and for greater aucthority to confirme mariage the sonne of god woulde that his mother should be maried and afterward he himselfe was present at a mariage where he turned the water into wine though now a days the euil maried men do turne the wine into water He doth not speake here of religious personnes nor men of the Church neither of those which are closed in deuout places for those fleing the occasions of the world and chosing the wayes lesse daungerous haue offered their soules to god with their bodyes haue done him acceptable sacrifices For ther is difference betwene the relygion of Christ and the sinfull Sinagoge of the Iewes for they offered kyddes and muttons but here are not offered but teares and sighes Leauyng therfore all those secretes apart which men ought to leaue to God I say and affirme that it is a holy and commendable counsel to vse his profite with the Sacrament of mariage the which though it be taken of al voluntaryly yet Princes great lordes ought to take it necessarily For the prynce that hath no wife nor chyldren shal haue in his realme much grudgyng and displeasure Plutarche in the booke he made of mariage sayth that amongest the Lidiens ther was a law wel obserued and kept that of necessity their kings and gouernours should be maried they had such respect to this thing and were so circumspect in this matter that if a prince dyed and left his heire an infant they would not suffer him to gouerne the realme vntil he were maried And they greatly lamented the day of the departing of their Quene out of this lyfe for with her death the gouermente ceased the royal aucthorytie remained voyd and the common wealth with out gouernment so long tyme as the king deferred to take another wyfe so they were some times without kyng or gouernment For princes are or ought to be the mirrour and example of al to lyue honest and temperate the which cannot welbe done vnlesse they be maried or that they se themselues to be conquerers of the flesh being so they are satisfyed but if they be not maried and the flesh doth assault them then they lyue immedyatly conquered Wherfore of necessity they must go by their neighbours houses or els by some other dishonest places scattered abrode to the reproch and dyshonour of them and their kindredes and oftentymes to the great peryl and daunger of their parsonnes ¶ Of sundry and diuerse lawes which the auncientes had in contractinge matrimony not only in the choise of women but also in the maner of celebrating mariage Cap. iii. IN al nacions and in al the Realmes of the world mariage hath alwayes bene accepted and maruailously commended for other wyse the world had not ben peopled nor yet the nomber of men multyplyed The auncientes neuer disagreed one from another in the approbation and acception of mariage but ther was amongest them great difference strife vpon the contractes ceremonies and vsages of the same For they vsed as muche difference in contractinge matrimony and chosinge their wyues as these Epicures doe desire the varietie of sundry delicate meates The deuine Plato in his booke he made of the common wealth did councel that al things should be common and that not onely in brute beastes in mouables and heritages but also that women should be commen for he saide that if these twoo wordes thine and mine were abolisshed and out of vse there shoulde not be debates nor quarelles in this worlde They call Plato deuine for many good thinges whiche he spake but nowe they may call him worldly for the councell profane whiche he gaue I can not tell what beaste lines it may be called nor what greater rewdenes may be thought that the apparrell shuld be proper and the wyues commen The brute beaste doth not knowe that whiche came out of her belly longer then it sucketh of her breastes And in this sorte it would chaunce to men yea and worse to if women were commen in the common wealth For though one shoulde knowe the mother whiche hath borne him he should not knowe the father that hath begotten him The Tharentines whiche were well renowmed amongest the auncientes and not a litle feared of the Romaines had in their citie of Tharente a lawe and custome to marie them selues with a legittimate wife and to begette children but besides her a man might yet chose twoo others for his secret pleasures Spartianus saide that the Emperour Hellus Verus as thouching women was very dissolute and since his wife was younge and faire and that she did complaine of hym because he ledde no honest lyfe with her he spake these wordes vnto her My wyfe thou haste no cause to complayne of me synce I remayne with thee vntill suche tyme as thou arte quicke with chylde For the residue of the tyme we husbandes haue licence and priuilege to seke our pastimes with other women For this name of a wyfe conteyneth in it honour
were Sinatus Sinoris whiche were by bloud cosins in familiaritie frendes and for the loue of a Grekes doughter being very noble beautifull and exceading gratious they both striued to haue her in mariage and for to attain to their desires they both serued her they both folowed her they both loued her and for her both of them desired to die For the dart of loue is as a stroke with a clod of earth the which being throwen amongest a company dothe hurte the one and blinde the others And as the fatal destinees had ordeined it Sinatus serued this lady called Camma in suche sorte that in the ende he obteined her in mariage for his lawfull wife whiche thing when Sinoris perceiued he was ashamed of his doinges was also wounded in his harte For he lost not only that which of so long time he had sought loued and serued but also the hope to attaine to that which chiefly in his life he desired Sinatus therfore seing that his wife Camma was noble meke gratious faire and louing and that in all thinges she was comely and well taught decreed to offer her to the goddesse Diana to the end that she would preserue her from peril and keape her from infamie Truly we cannot reproue the knight Sinatus for that he did nor we ought to note him for rashe in his counsel for he sawe that his wife was very faire and therfore much desired For with great difficultie that is kepte whiche of many is desired Though Camma was nowe married and that she was in the protectioÌ„ of the goddesse Diana yet notwithstanding her olde frend Sinoris died for her sake and by all meanes possible he serued her continually he importuned her daily he folowed her howerly he required her And all this he did vppon certayne hope he had that suche diligent seruice should suffice to make her chaunge her sacred mynde and as she had chosen Sinatus for her husbande openly so he thought she shoulde take him for her frend secretly For many women are as men without tast through sickenes the which eate more of that that is hurtful and forbidden then of that whiche is healthsome and commaunded Not without a cause Camma was greatly renowmed throughout all Galatia for her beautie and much more among the vertuous esteamed for her honestie The which euidently in this was sene that after she was maried Sinoris could neuer cause her to receiue any iewell or other gifte nor that she would heare him speake any worde nor that she would shew her selfe in the wyndowe either to him or to any other to the ende to be sene in the face For it is not sufficient for Ladies to be pure good but also to geue no occasion for men to iudge that if they durste they would be euill As it is true in dede that the harte which is intangled with loue dare boldely aduenture him selfe in many kynde of daungers to accomplishe that whiche he desired so Sinoris seing that with faire wordes he could not flatter her nor with any giftes wynne her determined to kyll Sinatus her husbande vpon hope that when she should be wydowe he might easely obteine her in matrimonie For he thought although Camma was not euyll it was not for that she wanted desier to do it but because she had no commodious place to accomplishe it And to be shorte Sinoris would neades execute and bryng to effect his deuellyshe and damnable intente so that sone after he vylie slewe his saide compaignion Sinatus After whose death the noble lady Camma was of Sinoris greatly desired and by his parentes muche importuned that she would condiscende to take and mary him and that she would forgyue him the death of her husband Sinatus whiche then was buried And as she was in all her doinges suche a princely woman she imagened with her selfe that vnder the pretence of mariage she might haue opportunitie to accomplishe her desiers wherfore she aunswered vnto his parentes that she did accepte their counsel and saide to Sinoris that she did choose him for her husbande speakyng these woordes more for to comforte him then with intente to pardon him And as amongest those of Galatia there was a custome that the newe maried folkes shoulde eate togethers in one dishe and drynke in one cuppe the daye that the mariage was celebrated Camma determined to prepare a cuppe with poyson and also a lute wherewith she began to playe and singe with her propre voyce before the goddesse Diana in this maner TO thée Dian whose endles reigne doth stretche Aboue the boundes of all the heauenly route And eke whose aide with royall hande to reche Chiefe of all gods is moste proclaimed oute I sweare and with vnspotted faith protest That though till nowe I haue reserud my breth For no entent it was but thus distrest With waylefull ende to wreke Senatus deth ¶ And if in mynde I had not thus decreed Wherto should I my pensife daies haue spent With longer dewle for that forepassed dede Whose ofte record newe sorowes still hath bent But oh synce him their kindled spite hath slaine With tender loue whom I haue waide so dere Synce he by fate is rest from fortunes rayne For whose decaye I dredelesse perishe here Synce him by whom my only lyfe I ledd Through wretched handes the gaping earth nowe haue Ought I by wyshe to lyue in eny stedd But closde with him togither in the graue O bright Dian synce senceles him I see And makeles I here to remaine alone Synce he is graude where greedy wormes nowe bee And I suruiue surmounted with my fone Synce he is prest with lumpes of wretched soyle And I thus chargd with flame of frosen care Thou knowest Dian howe harde with restles toyle Of hoote abhorring mynde my life I spare For howe can this vnquiet brest resarue The fainting breth that striues to drawe his last Synce that euen then my dieng harte did starue When my dead phere in swalowyng earth was cast The first black daye my husbande slept in graue By cruell sworde my lyfe I thought to spende And synce a thousande times I sought to haue A stretching corde my sorowes wrath to ende And if till nowe to wast my pining daies I haue deferde by slaughter of my hande It was but loe a fitter cause to raise Whereon his sharpe reuenge might iustly stande Now since I may in full suffising wyse Redeme his breath if waywarde will would let More depe offence by not reuenge might rise Then Sinoris erst by giltles bloud did get Thee therfore mightie Ioue I iustly craue And eke thy doughter chast in thankefull sorte That loe the offering whiche of my selfe ye haue Ye wil vouchesafe into your heauenly forte Synce Sinatus with soone enflamed eies Amongest the Achaian routes me chiefly â—ewed And eke amidst the prease of Grekes likewyse Chose for his phere when swetely he had sewed Synce at my will the froth of wasting welth With
foure times Censor and in the end he was with much shame banished from Rome wherwith to reueng this iniury he came with a great power army against Rome for the proud hart wounded with iniury is neuer quiet in his life time vntyl he se his enemyes destroyed or that on them he hath taken vengeance Quintus Marcius being very nigh to the gates of Rome was most instantlye requyred that he wold not distroy his mother Rome but he toke no regard nor would condiscend to any request vntil such time that his mother issewed with a niece of his whom he loued entierly At whose intercession teares he left his anger raised his siege from Rome for many are ouercome soner wyth teares then wyth importunate reasonable requestes The ladies of Rome vsed much to haue their heares long and yellowe and to weare their wastes high and streight And as the Niece of Quintus Marcius was great bigge with child the day that the peace was made betwene Quintus Marcius Rome lacinge her selfe to hard in her attire to seme more proper comely she long before her time was delyuered of a creature the case was so woful vnfortunate that the creature deliuered dyed the mother lost her lyfe and the mother losyng her lyfe sodainlye her graundmother fel dead to the ground through which occasion al the ioy and mirth was turned into sorow sadnes For it is commenly sene when the world is in the greatest ioy then fortune sodainly turneth it into sorow The aucthors hereof are Tibulus and Porphirius both Grecians ¶ The aucthour foloweth and declareth other inconueniences and vnluckye chaunces which haue happened to women with child Chap. x. THe warres of Tarent being ended immedyatly begonne the warres of Carthage of whych so long tedious warres the possession of the Isles of Maiorica Minorica were occasion forsomuch as the one would take it and the other defend it This warre endured wel nyghe the space of 40. yeres for oft tymes the wastes and domages which are done in the warres are greater then the profite for which they contend The first captayne in this warre of the Romaines was Gaius Duellus and the fyrst of the Carthaginiens was Hammon the whych wyth their shyppes fought on the sea of Sicili the whych was very cruel for there they feared both the fury of the sea and also the cruelty of the pike the which two things put mans life in great daūger Of thys cruel battaile the Romaine captaine remayned victorious forasmuch as he drowned 14 shippes and toke other 30. he slew 3. thousande men and brought 3. thousand Carthaginiens prysoners and thys was the first victory that the Romaynes had by sea And that that the Romaynes most reioysed at was that by sea also they remained conquerers The captaine Gaius Duellus departyng from Sicili came to Rome wher he had a sister no lesse vertuous then rych and beautifull in whose house he lodged where he made a costly supper to al the senatours of Rome to al the captaines whiche came wyth hym from the warres for the vicious men knew not wherin to shew their loue to their frendes but by inuiting them to costly bankettes The sister of the captaine Gaius Duellus for ioye of his comming and for the pleasure of the banquet feast which was made in her house did eate more then she was accustomed also more then it behoued one in her case so that in the presence of al she began to annoy the bidden gestes for she not onely vomited out the meate of her stomake but also the bloud of her vaines and therwithal most vnluckely brought forth her fruite which she had in her intrailes wherwith immediatly after the soule departed from the body and so died Truly this case was no lesse lamentable then the others for so much as Gaius lost his sister the husband lost his wife his child the wife the child lost their liues and for that that Rome lost so noble and excellent a Roman aboue al for that it so chaunced in such a time of so great ioy and pleasure For there can come no vnluckier newes then in the time of much mirth to heare tel of any great mischaunce Of this matter mention is made in Blundus in the booke of the declination of the Empire The second warre of Afrike which was betwene Rome and Carthage was the. 540. yeres after the foūdation of Rome wherin were captaines Paulus Emilius and Publius Varro the which two consulles fought the great and famous battaile of Cannas in the prouince of Apulia I say famous because Rome neuer lost such nobilitie and Roman youth as she lost in that day Of these two coūsulles Paulus Emilius in the battaile was slaine and Publius Varro ouercome and the couragious Hannibal remained conquerour of the field wherin died .xxx. senatours and 300. officers of the senate and aboue .xl. thousand fotemen thre thousand horsemen finally the end of al the Romain people had bene that day if Hannibal had had the wit to haue folowed so noble a victory as he had the corage to giue so cruel a battaile A litle before that Publius Varro departed to goe to the warres he was maried to a faire young Romain called Sophia with in seuen monethes she was quicke as newes was brought her that Paulus Emilius was dead her husband ouercome she died sodenly the creature remaining aliue in her body This case aboue al was very pitiful in that that after he him selfe was vanquished that he had sene his compaignion the consul Emilius slaine with so great a numbre of the Romaine people fortune would that with his owne eies he should beholde the intrailes of his wife cut to take out the child likewise to se the earth opened to bury his wyfe Titus Liuius saith that Publius Varro remained so sorowful in his harte to see him self ouercome of his enemies to see his wife so sodainly so vnluckely strikē with death that al the time that his life endured he neither comed his beard slept in bed nor dined at the table hereat we ought not to marueile for a man in his hart may so be wounded in one houre that he shal neuer reioyce all the daies of his life If we put no doubtes in Titus Liuius the Romains had long tedious warres against the Samnites which indured for the space of .lxiii. yeres continually vntill suche time as the consull Ancus Rutillus which was a vertuous man did set a good appointment of peace betwene the Samnites the Romains for the noble stout harts ought always by vertue to bring their enemies to peace These warres therefore being so cruell obstinate Titus Venurius Spurius Posthumius which were Romain captains were ouercom by Pontius the valiant captain of the Samnites who after the victory did a thing neuer sene nor hard of before That is to
so swift as he that is naked Aristotle in the sixt booke de Animalibus saith when the Lionesse is bigge with whelpe the Lyon doth not only hunt for her him self but also both night daye he wandreth continually about to watche her I meane that princesses great Ladies when they be with child should be of their husbande 's both tended serued for the man can not do the woman so great a pleasure before her lieng down as she doth to him when she bringeth forth a sonne Considering the daunger that the woman abideth in her deliuerance beholding the paines that the husbād taketh in her seruice without cōparison that is greater which she suffereth then that which he endureth For when the womā deliuereth she doth more then her power and the husband though he serueth her well doth lesse then his dutie The gentle and louing husband ought not one moment to forsake his wife specially when he seeth she is great for in the law of a good husbād it is written that he should set his eies to behold her his handes to serue her he should spende his goods to cherishe her should geue his harte to cōtent her Let not men thinke it paines to serue their wiues when they are with childe for their labour consisteth in their strengthe but the trauell of their wiues is in their intrailes And that whiche is moste pitifull is that when the sorowfull women will discharge their burden on the earthe they often times bryng them selues vnto the graue The meane women of the Plebeians ought no lesse to be reproued for that when they are with childe they would be exempted from all busines of the house the whiche neither they them selues ought to desire nor yet their husbandes to suffer For idlenesse is not only an occasion not to deserue heauen but also it is a cause whereby womē ofte times haue ill successe in their trauaile For considering bothe the deintie Ladie with childe that hath her pleasure and doth litle and on the other side the poore mans wyfe whiche moderatly laboureth you shall see that the great Ladies for all their pleasures abydeth more daunger then the other doth with all her labour The husbande ought to keape his wyfe from takyng to muche paines for so ought he to doe and the wyfe lykewyse ought to flee to much pleasure for it behoueth her For the meane trauaile is no other but occasion of a safe deliuerie The women with childe also ought to take hede to them selues and in especially noble and great ladies that they be not to gredy nor hasty in eating For the woman being with childe ought to be sobre and the woman whiche is a great eater with great paines shall liue chaste Women with childe ofte times doe disordre them selues in eating licorous meates and vnder the colour of feedinge them selues and their infant they take to excessiuely which is not onely vnholsome for the childe but also dishonour for their mothers For truly by the great excesse of the mother being with child commeth many diseases to the infant when it liueth The husbande 's also ought neither to displease nor greue their wiues specially when thei see them great with child for of truth ofte times she deliuereth with more daunger by reason of the offences that mē do vnto them then by the abondaunce of meates which they doe eate Though the woman when she is with childe in some thinges doth offend her husband yet he like a wise man ought to forbeare her hauing respect to the child wherwith she is great and not to the iniurie that she hath committed for in th end the mother can not be so great an offender but that the childe is muche more innocent For the profe of this it neadeth not bookes to reade but only our eies to see how the brute beastes for the moste parte when the females are bigge doe not touche them nor yet the females suffer thē to be touched I meane that the noble and high estates ought to absent them selues from their wiues carnally beyng great with child and he that in this case shal shewe him selfe moste temperate shall of all men be deamed most vertuous I do not speake this to thend it should bind a man or that it were an offence then to vse the company of his wyfe but vnto men that are vertuous I geue it as a counsel For some things ought to be done of necessitie others ought to be eschewed for honestie Diodorus Siculus saith that in the realme of Mauritania there were so few men so many women that euery man had fiue wiues where there was a law amōgest them that no man should mary vnder thre wiues furthermore they had a wonderful folishe custome that when any husband died one of these women should cast her selfe quick in to the graue be buried with him And if that within a moneth she did it not or that she died not by iustice she was then openly put to death saiyng that it is more honestie to be in company with her husband in the graue then it is to be alone in her house In the Isles of Baliares the cōtrary is sene for there increase so many men and so few women that for one woman there was seuen men and so they had a custome specially amongest the poore that one woman should be maried with fiue men For the ryche men sent to seke for women in other straunge Realmes wherfore then marchauntes came heuie loden with women as now they do with marchaundise to sell Vpon which occasion there was a custome in those Isles that for as muche as there were so fewe women when any woman with chylde drewe nere the seuen monethes they were seperated from their husbandes and shut and locked vp in the Temples where they gaue them suche thinges as were necessary for them of the commen treasure For the auncientes had their goodes in suche veneration that they would not permitte any personne to eate that whiche he brought but of that whiche vnto the goddes of the Temple was offered At that tyme the Barbarous kepte their wyues locked in the churche because the gods hauing them in their Temples should be more mercifull vnto them in their deliuery and also to cause them to auoyde the daungers at that tyme and besydes that because they tooke it for a great vilany that the women during that tyme should remaine with their husbandes The famous and renowmed philosopher Pulio in the fift booke De moribus antiquorum said that in the Realme of Paunonia whiche nowe is Hongarie the women that were great with childe were so highly estemed that when any went out of her house al those which met with her were bounde to returne backe with her in such sorte as we at this present do reuerence the holy Comunion so did these Barbarous then the women with child The women of Carthage being with child whē Carthage was
as one but men do tourne from vice to vertue from vertue to vice The good Emperour Marcus Aurelius did deuid the time by time so that though he had time for him selfe he had time lykewise to dispatche his owne and others affaires for the man that is willing in a small time dispatcheth much busynes the man which is necligent in a longe tyme doth lytel This was the order that the Emperour Marcus Aurelius toke in spendyng his time He slepte .7 houres in the nighte and one hower reasted hym selfe in the day In dyning and suppynge he consumed onely .2 howers and it was not for that he toke great pleasure to be longe in eatinge but bycause the philosophers whyche disputed before his presence were occasion to prolonge the time For in .17 yeares they neauer saw hym at meate but one or other redde vnto him some booke or elles the philosophers reasoned before hym philophye As he hadde manye realmes and prouinces so he appointed one hower for the affaires of Asia for Affryke one hower and for Europe another hower and for the conuersacion of his wife children and family he appointed other .2 howers of time he had another hower for extraordinary affaires as to here the complaintes of the greued the quarrelles of the poore the complaintes of the widowes and the robberies done to the orphanes For the mercifull prince geueth no lesse eare vnto the poore which for want can doe lytell then to the riche which for aboundance can do much He occupyed all the residew of the day and night to rede bokes write workes to make meter and in studyng of other antiquities to practyse with the sage and to dyspute with the philosophers and fynally he toke no tast of any thing so muche as he dyd to talke of science Vnlesse the cruell warres dyd let hym or suche lyke affaires troubled him ordynarily in winter he went to bed at .9 of the clocke and awaked at .4 and bycause he would not be idle he had alway a boke vnder his beddes hed and the residue of the day he bestowed in readyng The romans had an auncient custome to beare fyer before them that is to wete a torche lyghte in the daye and a lampe burnyng in the night in their chambers so that wakyng they burned waxe and fleapyng they hourned oyle And the cause why the Romans ordeyned that the oyle should be made of olyue and the waxe made of bees which was vsed to be borne before the princes was to the end they should remember that they ought to be as gentell and louing as the oyle of Olyue is swete and as profytable to the common wealth as the Bees are He did rise at .6 of the clocke and made him selfe ready openlye and with a gentle countenaunce he asked them that were about hym wherin they had spente all the nyght and declared vnto them then what he had dreamed what he had thought and what he had red when he was readye he washed his face with odiferous waters and loued veray wel swete sauoures For he had so quycke a sent that he was much offended when he passed by any stincking place In the mornyng he vsed to eate .2 morsels of a lectuary made of Sticades and dranke .3 sponefulls of maluesey or els two droppes of Aqua Vite bycause he had a colde stomacke for that he gaue hym selfe so muche to studye in tymes past We se it by experience that the greate studentes are persecuted more with sycknes then any others for in the swetenes of the scyence they knowe not how their lyfe consumeth If it were in the sommer season he went in the mornyng to recreate him selfe to the ryuer of Tiber and walked there a fote for .2 howers and in this place they talked with hym that had busines and trulye it was a great policie for wher as the Prince doeth not syt the sewtour alwayes abridgeth his talke And when the day began to wax hot he went to the hight capitol where al the Senate taried for him from thence he went to the Coliseo wher the imbassadours of the prouinces wer there remained a great part of the day afterwardes he went to the chappel of the vestal virgines ther he hard euery nation by it selfe accordyng to the order which was prescribed He dyd eate but one meale in the daye it was veray late but he did eate wel not of many diuers sortes of meates but of fewe and good For the aboundaunce of diuerse and straunge meates breadeth sondry dysseases They sawe him once a weke go thoroughe Rome and if he wente anye more it was a wonder at the whyche tyme he was alwayes without companie both of his owne and also of straungers to thentente all poore men myghte talke with him of their busines or complaine of his officers for it is vnpossible to reforme the common wealthe if he which ought to remedy it be not informed of the iniuryes done in the same He was so gentle in conuersacion so pleasaunt in wordes so noble amongest the great so equall with the least so reasonable in that he dyd aske so persyte in that he dyd worke so patiēt in iniuries so thankefull of benefittes so good to the good and so seuere to the euill that all loued him for beyng good and all the euill feared him for being iuste A man oughte not lytell to esteme the loue that the people bare to this so good a Prince and noble Emperour forsomuch as the Romans haue bene thus that for the felicitye of their estate they offered to their gods greater sacryfyce then they dyd in any other prouinces And Sextus Cheronensis sayeth that the Romains offered more sacrifyces to the gods because they should lengthen the lyfe of the Emperour then they dyd offer for the profyte of the common wealthe Trulye their reason was good for the Prynce that leadeth a good lyfe is the harte of the common wealthe But I doe not maruaile that the Emperour was so well wylled and beloued of the Romayn empire for he had neuer porter to hys chamber but the .2 howers which he remained with his wyfe Faustine Al this beyng past the good Emperour went into his house into the secretest place he had accordyng to the councel of Lucius Seneca they key whereof he alone had in his custodye and neuer trusted any man therwith vntyll the hower of hys death and then he gaue it to an old auncient man called Pompeianus sayeng vnto hym these wordes Thou knowest ryght wel Pompeianus that thou beyng base I exalted the to honor Thou beyng poore I gaue the riches Thou being persecuted I drewe the to my pallas I beyng absente committed my hole honoure to thy trust thou beyng old I maryed the with my doughter and doe presently gyue the this key Behold that in geuing the it I giue the my harte lyfe For I will thou know that death greueth me not so much nor the losse of my
woordes What thing is more pleasaunt to the father then to see them and to the mother to agree to it when the chyldren doe sucke they plucke forth the brestes with the one hande and with the other they plucke their heere and further they beate their feete together and with their wanton eies they caste on their parentes a thousande louyng lookes what is it to see them when they are vexed and angry how they wyll not be taken of the fathers howe they stryke their mother they caste awaye things of golde and immediatly they are appeased with a litle apple or russhe what a thing is it to see the innocentes howe they aunswer when a man asketh them what follies they speake when they speake to them how they play with the dogges and runne after the cattes how they dresse them in wallowing in the dust how they make houses of earth in the streates how they weape after the birdes when they see them flie away Al the which thinges are not to the eies of the fathers and mothers but as Nitingales to sing and as bread and meate to eate The mothers peraduenture will saye that they will not bringe vp their children because when they are younge they are troublesome but that after they shoulde be nourished and brought vp they would be glad To this I answere them that the mothers shal not denay me but that some of these things must neades meate in their children that when they be old they shal be either proud enuious couetous or negligent that they shal be lecherous or els theues that they shal be blasphemours or els glottons that they shal be rebelles or fooles and disobedient vnto their fathers I beleue that at this daie there are many mothers in the worlde which did hope to be honoured serued with the children which they had brought vp and afterwarde perceiuing their maners would willinglye forgo the pleasures whiche they hoped for so that they might also be deliuered frō the troubles which through their euill demeanours are like to ensue For that time which the parentes hoped to passe with their childrē in pleasures they consume seing their vnthrifty life in sorowfull sighes I councel admonishe humbly require princesses great ladies to nourishe enioy their children when they are young and tender for after that they are great a man shal bring them newes euery day of diuerse sortes and maners they vse for as much as the one shal say that her sonne is in pryson another shal say that he is sore wounded another that he is hid others that he hathe plaied his cloke others that he is sclaundered with a cōmon harlot another that he stealeth his goodes from him another that his enemies do seke him another that he accompanieth with vnthriftes and finally they are so sturdy vnhappy and so farre from that which is good that oftentimes the fathers would reioyce to see them die rather then to see thē liue so euill a life Me thinketh that the knot of loue betwene the mother and the childe is so great that not onely she ought not to suffer them to be nourished out of the house one whole yere but also she ought not to suffer thē to be out of her presence one only day For in seing him she seeth that which is borne of her intrails she seeth that which she hath with so great paines deliuered she seeth hym who ought to inherite all her goodes she seeth him in who the memory of their auncestours remaineth and she seeth him who after her death ought to haue the charge of her affayres and busines Concludynge therefore that whiche aboue is spoken I saye that whiche the greate Plutarche saied from whom I haue drawen the moste parte of this chapter that the mother to be a good mother ought to haue kepe her chylde in her armes to nourishe him and afterwardes when he shal be great she ought to haue him in her harte to helpe him For we see oftentymes great euils ensewe to the mother and to the chylde because she did not bringe hym vp her selfe and to put hym to nouryshe to a straunge breaste there commeth neither honour nor profite ¶ That princesses and great Ladies ought to be very circumspecte in chosinge their nources Of seuen properties whiche a good nource should haue Chap. xx THose whiche ordeined lawes for the people to lyue were these Promotheus whiche gaue lawes to the Egiptians Solon Solmon to the Grekes Moyses to the Iewes Licurgus to the Lacedemonians and Numa Pompilius to the Romaines for before these princes came their people were not gouerned by written lawes but by good auncient customes The intention of those excellent princes was not to geue lawes to their predecessours for they were now dead neither they gaue them onely for those which lyued in their tyme being wicked but also for those which were to come whom they did presuppose would not be good For the more the worlde increaseth in yeares so muche the more it is loden with vices By this that I haue spoken I meane that if the princesses and great ladies euery one of them woulde nourishe their owne childe I neade not to geue them counsell But since I suppose that the women which shal be deliuered hereafter wil be as proude and vaine glorious as those whiche were in times past we will not let to declare here some lawes and aduises how the ladie ought to behaue her self with her nource and howe the nource ought to contente her selfe with the creature For it is but iuste that if the mother be cruell and hardy to forsake the creature that she be sage pitiefull and aduised to choose her nource If a man finde great treasoure and afterward care not how to kepe it but doth commit it into the handes of suspected persons truely we would call hym a foole For that which naturally is beloued is alwayes of al best kept The woman oughte more wysely kepe the treasure of her owne body then the treasure of all the earth if she had it And the mother which doth the contrary and that committeth her child to the custody of a straunge nource not to her whom she thinketh best but whom she findeth best cheape we will not call her a foolishe beaste for the name is to vnseamely but we will call her a sotte which is somewhat more honester One of the things that doth make vs moste beleue that the ende of the world is at hande is to see the litle loue which the mother doth beare to the child being young and to see the wante of loue which the childe hath to his mother beinge aged That whiche the childe doth to the father and the mother is the iust iudgement of God that euen as the father would not nourishe the childe in his house being younge so likewise that the sonne should not suffer the father in his house he beinge olde Retourning therefore to the matter that sith the woman
be beleued for the saying of the graue authours on the one parte and by that we dayly see on the other parte For in the ende it is more pleasure to heare a man tell mery tales hauing grace and comlines in his wordes then to heare a graue man speake the truthe with a rude and rough tongue I haue founde in many wrytinges what they haue spoken of Pithagoras and his doughter but none telleth her name saue only in a pistle that Phalaris the tyraunt wrate I fouÌ„d this word written where he saith Polichrata that was the doughter of the philosopher Pithagoras was young and exceading wyse more faire then riche and was so much honoured for the puritie of her life and so high estemed for her pleasaunt tongue that the worde which she spake spinning vpon her distaffe was more estemed then the philosophy that her father red in the schole And he sayd more It is so great a pitie to see and heare that women at this present are in their life so dishonest in their tongues so malicious that I haue greater pleasure in the good renowme of one that is dead then in the infamie of all them which are aliue For a good woman is more worth with her distaffe spinning then a hundred euel queenes with their roiall scepters reigning By the wordes which Phalaris saied in his letter it seamed that this doughter of Pithagoras was called Polichrate Pithagoras therefore made many commentaries as wel of his owne countrey as of straungers In the end he died in Mesopotamia where at the houre of his death he spake vnto his doughter Polichrate saied these wordes I see my doughter that the houre wherein I must ende my life approcheth The Gods gaue it me and nowe they wil take it from me nature gaue me birth now she geueth me death the earth gaue me the body and now it retourneth to ashes The woful fatall destinies gaue me a litle goodes mingled with manie trauailes so that doughter of all thinges which I enioyed in this world I cary none with me for hauing all as I had it by the waye of borowyng nowe at my death eche man taketh his owne I die ioyfully not for that I leaue thee riche but for that I leaue thee learned And in token of my tender harte I bequethe vnto the al my bookes wherin thou shalt finde the treasure of my trauailes And I tel thee that that I geue thee is the riches gotten with mine owne sweat and not obtained to the preiudice of an other For the loue I beare vnto thee doughter I pray thee and by the immortall gods I coniure thee that thou be such so good that althoughe I die yet at the least thou mayst kepe my memory for thou knowest wel what Hoâ—ere saieth speaking of Achilles and Pirrus that the good life of the childe that is aliue keapeth the renowme of the father that is dead These were the wordes which this philosopher spake vnto his doughter lieng in his death bed And though perhaps he spake not these wordes yet at the least this was the meaning As the great poet Mantuan saieth king Euander was father of the giant Pallas and he was a great frende of king Eneas he vaunted him selfe to discend of the linage of the Troyans and therfore when king Eneas prince Turnus had great warres betwene them which of them should haue the princesse Lauinia in mariage the which at that time was only heire of Italy king Euander ayded Eneas not only with goodes but also sending him his owne sonne in persone For the frendes ought for their true frendes willingly to shed their bloud in their behalfe without demauÌ„ding thei ought also to spend their goods This king Euander had a wyfe so well learned that that which the Grekes saied of her semeth to be fables That is to say of her eloquence wisdome for they say that if that which this woman wrote of the warres of Troye had not bene through enuy cast into the fire the name of Homere had at this day remained obscure The reason hereof is because the woman was in the time of the destruction of Troy and wrate as a witnes of sight These wordes passed betwene the Romaine Calphurnius and the poet Cornificius I desire to declare the excellency of those fewe auncient women as wel Grekes as Latines Romaines to thintent that princesses and great ladies may knowe that the auncient women were more esteamed for their sciences then for their beauties Therefore the princesses and great Ladies ought to thinke that if they be women they were also in lyke maner and if they be frayle the others were also weake If they be maried the other also had husbandes if they haue their wylles the other had also what they wanted if they be tender the others were not strong Finally they ought not to excuse them selues saying that for to learne women are vnmete For a woman hath more abilitie to learne sciences in the scholes then the Parate hath to speake wordes in the cage In my opinion princesses great ladies ought not to esteame theÌ„selues more then an other for that they haue fairer heares then other or for that they are better appareled then an other or that they haue more ryches then an other But they ought therfore to esteame them selues not for that they can doe more then others To say the truth the faire and yelow heares the riche and braue apparel the great treasures the sumptuous palaces and strong buildinges these and other like pleasures are not guides and leaders to vertues but rather spies scout watches for vices O what a noble thinge were it that the noble ladies would esteme them selues not for that they can doe but for that that they knowe For it is more commendation to knowe howe to teache twoo philosophers then to haue authoritie to commaunde a hundred knightes It is a shame to write it but it is more pitie to see it that is to wete to read that we read of the wisdome and worthines of the auncient matrones paste and to see as we doe see the frailenes of these younge ladies present For they coueted to haue disciples both learned and experimented and these of this present desire nothing but to haue seruauntes not only ignoraunt but deceitful and wicked And I do not marueile seing that which I se that at this present in court she is of litle value lest estemed among ladies which hath fairest seruauntes is lest enterteined of gentlemen What shall I say more in this matter but that they in times past striue who should write better compile the best bookes and these at this presente doe not striue but who shal haue the richest and most sumptuous apparel For the ladies thinke it a iolier matter to weare a gown of a new fachion then the auncientes did to read a lesson of philosophie The auncient ladies striue whiche of them was
of Athens no vycious man could enter nor idle word be spoken neither they dyd consent that any ignoraunt philosopher should come in to read there As by chaunce many phylosophers were come from the mout Olimpus amongest the residue ther was one came to se the phylosophers of Athens who was natife of Thebes a man as afterwards he declared him selfe in mortal natural Phylosophy very wel learned and since he desired to remayne in Athens he was examined and of many and dyuers thyngs demaunded And amongest the others these folowing were some of them Firste they asked him what causeth women to be so frowarde since it is true that nature made them shamefast and created them simple the Philosopher aunswered A Woman is not frowarde but bycause she hath to much her wil and wanteth shame Secondarily they asked him why yong men are vndone he aunswered bycause time aboundeth them for to do euil and maysters wanteth to enforce them to do good Thirdly they asked him why are wise men deceyued aswel as the simple he aunswered The wise man is neuer deceyued but by him that vseth faire words and hath euil condicions Forthly they asked him of whom mē ought most to beware he aunswered That ther is to a man no greater enemye then he which seeth that thing in the which he desireth to haue in him selfe Fifthly they asked him why many princes beginne wel and end euil he aunswered princes begin wel bycause their nature is good they end euil bycause no man doth gaine say them Sixtly they asked him why do princes comit such follyes he aunswered Bicause flatterers aboundeth that deceiue them true men wanteth which should serue them Seuenthly they asked him why the auncients were so sage men at thys present so simple he aunswered Bycause the auncients did not procure but to know they present do not trauaile but for to haue Eightly they asked him why so many vyces were nourished in the pallace of princes he aunswered Bycause pleasures abound and councel wanteth The ninth they asked him why the most part of mē liued without rest few without paine he aunswered No man is more without suffereth more paine thē he which dieth for the goods of another litle estemeth his owne The tenth they asked him wherby they myght know the common wealth to be vndone he aunswered There is no comon wealth vndone but where the yong are light and the old vicious The xi they asked him wherwith the comon wealth is mainteyned he aunswered The common wealth cannot decay wher iustice remayneth for the poore punishment for the tiraunts weight and measure plentiful chefely if ther be good doctrine for the yong lytle couetousnes in the old Affro the historiographers declareth this in the x boke De rebus attheniensium Truly in my opinion the words of this philosopher were few but the sentences were many And for none other cause I dyd bring in this history but to profite me of the last word wherin for aunswere he saith that al the profite of the commō wealth consisteth in that ther be princes that restrayne the auarice of the aged that there be maisters to teach the youthful We se by experience that if the brute beasts were not tied the corne seedes compassed with hedges or ditches a man should neuer gather the fruite when they are ripe I meane that strife debate wil rise continually amonge the people if the yonge men haue not good fathers to correct them wise maisters to teach them We cānot deny but though the knife be made of fyne steele yet sometimes it hath nede to be whet so in lyke maner the yong man during the time of his youth though he do not deserue it yet from time to time he ought to be corrected O princes great lords I know not of whom you take councell when your sonne is borne to prouyde him of a maister gouernour whom you chose not as the most vertuous but as the most richest not as the most sagest but as the most vile euil taught Finally you do not trust him wyth your children that best deserueth it but that most procureth it Againe I say O princes great lords why do you not wtdraw your childrē from their hands which haue their eyes more to their owne profite thē their harts vnto your seruice For such to enrich themselues do bring vp princes vyciously Let not princes thinke that it is a trifle to know how to find chose a good master the lord which herein doth not employ his dyligence is worthy of great rebuke And because they shal not pretend ignoraunce let them beware of that man whose life is suspicious and extreame couetous In my opinion in the palace of princes the office of tutorship ought not to begeuen as other comon offices that is to wete by requestes or money by priuyties or importunities eyther els for recompence of seruices for it foloweth not though a man hath ben imbassadour in straunge realmes or captaine of great armies in warre or that he hath possessed in the roial palace offices of honour or of estemaciō that therfore he should be able to teach or bring vp their children For to be a good captayne sufficeth only to be hardy and fortunate but for to be a tutour and gouernour of princes he ought to be both sage and vertuous ¶ Of the ii children of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour of the which the best beloued dyed And of the maisters he prouided for the other named Comodus ▪ Chap. xxxv MArcus Aurelius the xvii Emperour of Rome in that time that he was maried with Faustine only doughter of the Emperour Antonius Pius had only ii sonnes wherof the eldest was Comodus and the second Verissimus Of these ii chyldren the heyre was Comodus who was so wycked in the 13 yeres he gouerned the empire that he semed rather the disciple of Nero the cruel then to descend by the mothers syde from Anthonius the mercifull or sonne of Marcus Aurelius This wicked chyld Comodus was so light in speach so dishonest in parson so cruel with his people that oft tymes he being aliue they layed wagers that ther was not one vertue in him to be found nor any one vyce in him that wanted On the contrary part the second sonne named Verissimus was comely of gesture proper of personne in witte verye temperate the most of al was that by his good conuersacion of al he was beloued For the faire and vertuous princes by theyr beauty draweth vnto them mens eyes by their good conuersacion they winne their harts The child Verissimus was the hope of the comon people the glory of his aged father so that the Emperour determined that this chyld Verissimus shold be heyre of the Empire and that the prince Comodus should be disherited Wherat no man ought to maruaile for it is but iust since the child
the Senatours thoughe in dede they wer verye vnlucky in the bryngyng vp of the Prince Comodus For this cursed prynce had nyne masters whych instructed him but he hadde aboue nyne thousand vyces whych vndyd him The emperour Marcus Aurelius made fyue bokes of declamations and in the third booke the syxte Chapter vnder the title ad Sapientes pedagogos he brought in these nyne maysters and perswaded them greatly that they should be diligent and attentyue to teach hys sonne Comodus And in this matter he spake vnto them manye and graue sentences the wordes whereof doe folow The matter is manifest in Rome and no lesse publyshed thorough out all Italy what paynes I toke to searche oute to manye Sages to enstructe my sonne Comodus the whiche all beyng examined I kept onely the wysest and the best and though in verye dede I haue done muche yet I haue not done so muche as I am bounde For Prynces in doubtefull matters ought not only to demaunde councel of all the good that be alyue but also to take payne to talke with those which are dead That is to reade the dedes of the good in their writynges You were fouretene maysters chosen whereof I haue put out fyue so that presently you ar but nyne and if in dede you be wyse men you shall not be offended with that I haue done For the greefe of euill thynges procedeth of wisdome but the admiration of good thynges commeth of small experience I do not denay but that wyse men do fele in them passions as men but in the end there is no arte nor science that doth excuse vs from the miseries of men But that wher at I maruaile is how it is possible that a wyse man shoulde meruaile at any thyng in this world For if the wise man shuld be astonied at euery thing of the world it appeareth that ther is litle constancy or vertue in him at all Returnyng therfore to our particular talke I haue taken you to be masters of my son and you se of many I chose a few to the end that with few my son shold be taught For as it is the fathers dutie to search out good masters so it is the masters dutie to be diligent about his scoller The nource of my sonne Comodus gaue hym sucke two yeres with her teates at the gate of Hostia And hys mother Faustine other two yeares brought him vp wantonly in Capua How be it thys was a sufficient excuse I woulde as a pitiefull father yf I coulde geue hym correction at the leaste thys twentye yeares For I sweare by the immortall Goddes that to a Prynce that shal be an enheritour one yeares punyshement is more worthe then twenty yeares of pleasure Synce the nources whyche geueth the chyldren sucke knoweth lytell and synce the mothers whyche bare them doe loue them muche and synce the chylde peraduenture as yet is but of a weake vnder standynge they are occupyed about the thinges that are presente considerynge that chastysemente in muche more betters for him then pleasure But the wise man whyche hath vnderstandyng oughte to thyncke of that that is past and by much wysedome to prouyde for that that is to come For he can not be counted wise that onely in one thing is carefull My sonne Comodus was borne the laste daye of Auguste in a citie by Danubio I shall not forget the day that the gods gaue him vnto me nor yet this day in the whiche I commit hym vnto you Of greater reason I should remember that daye wherin I put him to be taught then the day whych I saw him to be borne For the gods gaue hym me as I gaue hym to you mortall since he is a man but you shall restore him againe vnto me and I lykewyse him to the Godds as immortall if he be wyse What will you I saye more vnto you but if you regarde that any thinge at all whyche I saye you will regarde much more thys whych I wyll saye When the Gods determined that I should haue a child of my wyfe and that my wofull destenies deserued that I should haue such a child truly the Gods made me a man in the sprite and I begot him a beast amongest the beastes in the fleshe But if you will you may make hym a god amongest the gods by science For princes winne infamye for beynge fearse and selfe willed but they get good renowme for beyng wise and pacient I would you should apply this busines well and therfore it is necessarye that you examine him ofte For it is a general rule that the precious iewel is litle regarded when he whyche hath it knoweth not the value thereof I require that you aunswere me in this one thynge What dyd I geue vnto my sonne Comodus when the gods gaue him me but frayle and mortall flesh by the corruption wherof hys life shal ende but you shal geue hym highe doctrine whereby he shall alwayes deserue perpetuall memore For the good renowme is not gotten by that the weake fleshe doth but by that whyche the highe vnderstandyng immagyneth and by that the curious harte executeth O if his tender age knew what I gaue to his weake flesh and if his dul vnderstanding could com to the wisedom which you may geue him he wold call you his right fathers me but his stepfather For he is the true father that geueth vs doctrine to liue and he is but an vniust stepfather that geueth vs fleshe to dye Certainely the naturall Fathers of children are but their open enemyes and cruell stepfathers synce we geue them such dul vnderstanding so weake a memory a wyll so frowarde lyfe so shorte fleshe so frayle honour so costly health so vncertaine ryches so troublesome prosperitie so scarse and death so fearefull Finally we geue them a nature subiecte to infinite alterations and great misfortunes Reason woulde not you shoulde lytle regarde that whiche I committe vnto your iudgement that is to wete that you haue the charge of Comodus my sonne For the thynge that Prynces chefely ought to foresee is to whome they oughte to recommende the gouernement of theyr children To be a mayster and Tutor of a Prince in the yearth is to haue an office of the Gods whyche are in heauen bycause he gouerneth him that ought to gouerne vs he teacheth him that ought to teache vs he chastneth him that ought to chasten vs. Finally he commaundeth one that oughte to commaunde all What wyll you that I saye more vnto you Truly he that hath the charge to teache the children of Prynces and great Lordes is as the gouernour of the shyppe a standarde of a battaylle a defence of the people a guyde of the wayes a father of the Orphanes the hope of pupylles and a treasourer of all For ther is no other true treasore in the common wealthe but the prince whyche doth mainteine and kepe it in good peace and iuste iustice I will tell you furthermore to the ende you
shall esteme it more that when I doe geue you my sonne to teache I geue you more then if I gaue you all the ryches of the Realme For in him that hath the reformacion of the childes life dependeth the fame of the Father after he is deade So that the Father hathe no greater renowme then to see hys chylde leade an honeste lyfe I praye the Gods that they maye be so mercyful and the fatall destinies so fortunate that if tyll thys time you haue watched to teache the children of others that from hence forwarde you watche to teache thys my sonne Comodus whyche I truste shal be to the comforte of all For the thynge that is vniuersally good to all oughte to be preferred before that whyche tendeth but to the commoditie of some You see my frendes that there is a greate difference to teache the chyldren of Prynces and to teache the children of the people the cause hereof is that the greatest parte of those come to the scooles and vniuersities to learne to speake but I doe not geue you my sonne Comodus to the ende you should teache hym to speake many wordes but that you should learne him to do good workes For all the glorye of the Prynces is that in the workes whyche he doth he be vprighte and in the woordes that he speaketh he be very discrete After that the children haue spente manye yeares in scooles after their Fathers haue spente muche money vppon them yf perchaunce the chylde can dispute in Greeke or Latin anye thyng at all thoughe he be lyghte and vitious the Father thynketh hys goodes well imployed For in Rome nowe a dayes they esteme an Oratour more whyche can doe nought but bable then a philosopher whyche is vertuous O wofull men that now lyue in Rome and muche more wofull shall those be whyche hereafter shall succede For Rome is no more that Rome whyche it was wont to be that is to wete that the fathers in olde tyme sente their children to scooles and studies to learne them to be silent and nowe they sende them to learne to speake to muche They learned them then to be sage and temperate and nowe they learne them to be dissolute And the worste of all is that the scooles where the sage and pacient were wont to be and from whence issued the good and vertuous workes are nowe full of bablynge Oratours and none issue oute from thence at this present but the euill and vitious So that if the sacred Romain lawes are exalted once in a weeke with their tongues they are broken tenne tymes in the daye in their workes What will you I say more since I can not tel you any thing without hurting my mother Rome but that at this present al the pleasures of vain men is to see their children ouercome others by disputing but I let you vnderstand that all my glory shal be when my son shal surmount others not in wordes but in silence not to be troublesome but to be pacient not in speakyng subtill wordes but in doing vertuous workes For the glorie of good menne is in workyng muche and speakyng littell Consider my frendes and do not forget get it that this daye I committe my honour vnto you I put into your handes the estate of Comodus my sonne the glory of Rome the rest of the people which are my subiectes the gouernement of Italye which is your countrey and aboue all I referre vnto your discretions the peace and tranquillitie of the hole common wealth Therefore he that hath suche a charge by reason ought not to slepe For as the wise men say to great trust is required much diligence I will saye no more but that I would my sonne Comodus shoulde be so well taught that he should haue the feare of god and the science of philosophers the vertues of the auncient Romaynes the approued councell of the aged the corage of the Romaine youth and the constancy of you whiche are his masters Fynally I would that of al the good he shold take the good as of me he ought to take the heritage and succession of the Empyre For he is the true prince and worthy of the empyre that with his eyes doth beholde the great signories he ought to enherite and dothe employe his harte howe to gouerne it wherby he shal lyue to the great profit of the common wealth And I proteste to the immortall gods with whom I hope to goe and to the goodnes of my predecessours whose faith I am bound to kepe I proteste to the Romaine lawes the whyche I dyd sweare to obserue in the conquest of Asia wherein I bound my selfe to continue and to the frendeshyppe of the Rhodiens the whiche I haue offered my selfe to kepe to the ennemitye of the Affricans the whyche not for me but for the oth of my predecessours I haue bounde my selfe to mainteine And I proteste vnto the vessell of the hyghe Capitall where my bones ought to be burnt that Rome do not complaine of me beyng alyue nor that in the worlde to come she curse me after my death If perchaunce the prince Comodus my sonne by his wicked lyfe should be occasion of the losse of hinderaunce to the common wealth And thoughe you whych are his masters vndoe it for not geuyng hym dew punishement and he thoroughe hys wicked gouernement destroye it yet I discharge my selfe by all these protestations that I haue made whyche shal be witnesses of my will For the father is bound no more towardes his child but to banyshe hym from his pleasures and to geue him vertuous masters And if he be good he shal be be the glory of the father the honor of him selfe the wealth of you and the profite and comoditie of the hole common wealth That tutours of Princes and noble mens children ought to be very circumspect that their scollers doe not accustome them selues in vices whilles they are yonge and speciallye they must kepe them from foure vices Chap. xxxix THe good and experte Surgeons vnto greate and daungerous woundes do not onelye applye medycynes and oyntementes whyche doe resolue stop but also do minister other good playsters for to restraine and heale them And verelye they shewe them selues in the one no lesse sage then in the other experte for as greate dylygence ought to be had to preserue the weake fliesh and to purge the rotten wounde to the end it maye be healed so lykewise the wyse trauailers learne diligentely the waye before they take vppon them any iourney that is to wete yf there be any daungers in the waye eyther of robbynge or sleyinge wherein there is anye by pathe that goeth oute of the hyghe waye Truly he that in this point is circumspecte is woorthy to be counted a sage man For accordyng to the multitude of the perylles of the world none can be assured vnlesse he know first where the daunger is wherin he may fal To shew therfore that which by these parables I meane
common wealthe and not with a mynde to reuenge To the ende the faultye maye haue occasion to amende the faultes past and not to reuenge iniuries present the diuine Plato in the bookes of his common wealth saide that iudges ought to haue two things alwaies present before their eyes that is to wete that in iudging thinges touching the goodes of others they shewe no couetousnes and in punishing anye man they shewe no reuenge For iudges haue lycence to chastice the bodye but therefore they haue not lycence to hurte theire hartes Nero the emperour was greatly defamed in his lyfe and verye cruell in his iustice and with all hys crueltyes i◠chaunced that as one on a daye brought him a iudgement for to subscribe to behead certeine murtherers He fetching a greate syghe said these woordes O howe happye were I that I had neuer learned to write onlye to be excused to subscribe this sentence Certaynly the Emperour Nero for speking such a pitifull worde at that tyme deserued immortall memorie but afterwardes his so cruell lyfe peruerted so notable a sentence For speaking the cruche one euil worke suffiseth to deface many good words O how manye realmes and countreys haue beene loste not so muche for the euilles whyche in those the wicked haue committed as for the disordinate Iustices whyche the ministers of iustice therein haue executed For they thinkinge by rigour to correct the dommages past haue raised vp present sclaunder for euer It is knowen to al men who and what the emperour Augustus hath beene whoe in all his doinges was exceadinge good For he was noble valyaunt stoute fyerse and a louer of iustice and aboue all verye pitiefull And for so muche as in other thinges he shewed his pitye and clemency he ordained that no prince should subscribe iudgementes of deathe with his owne hande neyther that he shoulde see iuystce done of anye wyth hys owne eyes Truelye the lawe was pitifullye ordeyned and for the cleannesse and purenes of Emperours verye necessarye For it semeth better for Prynces to defende theire lande with the sharpe sworde then to subscribe a sentence of deathe with the cruell penne Thys good Emperour Augustus was verye diligent to choose ministers of iustyce and verye carefull to teache them howe they shoulde behaue them selues in the common wealth admonishing them not onely of that they had to doe but also of that they ought to flye For the mynisters of iustyce oftentymes sayle of theire dutye In Capua there was a gouernour named Escaurus who was a iuste iudge thoughe he were somewhat seuere whome the Emperour Augustus sent to the realme of Dace to take charge of that prouince And amongest dyuers other thynges he spake these wordes vnto him to retayne theym in hys memorye Frynde Escaurus I haue determyned to plucke thee from Capua and to put into thy custodye the gouernement of the prouynce of Dace where thou shalt represent the roiall maiestye of my persone and thou oughtest also to consyder well that as I make thee better in honour and goodes so thou in like case shouldest make thy selfe better in lyfe and more temperate in iustice For hitherto in iustice thou hast bene a lyttle to rigorous and in thy lyfe somewhat to rashe I counsaile thee therefore I doe desire thee and further I commaunde thee that thou chaunge thy trade of lyfe and haue great respecte to my honour and good name For thou knowest right well that the onelye profite and honour of the common wealth of Romayne Princes consysteth in hauinge good or euyll ministers of theire iustyce If thou wylt doe that I woulde thou shouldest I let the vnderstande that I doe not commyt my honour in thy truste neyther my iustyce to thintente thou shouldest bee an enuyer of the innocent a scourge of transgressours but that onelye wyth the one hande thou helpe to sustanie the good and wyth the other thou healpe to amende the euyll And if thou wilt more perticulerly knowe my entencion I do send the to the end thou shouldest be graundfather to the Orphanes an aduocate for the wydowes a plaister for the greued a staffe for the blynde and a father to all Let therefore the resolution of all be to reioyce myne enemies to comfort my frindes to lift vp the weke to fauour the strōg so that thou be indifferent to all parcyall to none to the end that through thy vpright dealing myne may reioice to dwel there strangers desire to come serue me here This was the instruccion whiche the emperour Augustus gaue to the gouernour Escaurus And if a man wil consider way his words wel he shal synde them compendious enough that I would they were written in our iudges hartes By thy letter thou declarest that the iudges whom the Senate sent to that I le are not very honest nor yet without some suspicion of couetousnes O wofull cōmon wealth where the iudges therofare cruell dishonest couetous forthe cruell iudges seeke nought elles but the bloude of innocentes they couet the goods of the poore they sclaunder the good to suche so wicked a common welth I would saye that it were better to remaine in the mountains among the brute bestes then by such vniust iudges to be gouerned in a comō wealth For the firce Lyons which of all beasts are moste cruell if in his presens the hunter prostrate him self on the earth before him the Lyon wil neither touch him nor his garment O my frinde Antigonus dost thou thinke that if the cōmon welth be vnhappy which hath such iudges that therfore Rome may reioise which prouyded them By the faith of a good mā I swere vnto the that I count the Senatours worse which sent them than the Iudges which wēt thither It is a great griefe to a noble stoute harte to demaunde iustyce of a man which neither is true nor yet obserueth Iustice but it is a greater grief to see a Iudge that to many hath executed tyrāny to many poore men hath done sundry wronges afterwardes not with the lyfe he leadeth but with the authoritie he hath presumeth to correct diuers Iudges He that hath the offyce to punish the vicious ought him selfe to be voide of all vyces otherwyse he that hath that office by tyrāny executeth iustice furthermore he is a traitour to the common welth It is vnpossible that any Iudge shoulde be good vnlesse he hath the aucthoritie of his office for accessary and his pure lyfe for principall The ende why a iudge is sente in prouinces is to defyne doubtfull causes to refourme their maners to fauour those which can lytle by vyolēce to enforce those whiche can do muche And for the most parte there is no common welth so weake but may well hang a thefe on the gallouse though there came no Iudge from Rome to geue sentence O how many iudges are there now a dayes in Rome whiche haue caused dyuers to be hanged regardynge nothyng
to lawe and the christian wyth the pagan without comparison the soule of a christian oughte more to be estemed then the lyfe of a Romayne For the good Romaine obseruethe it as a lawe to dye in the warre but the good christian hathe this precepte to lyue in peace Suetonius Tranquillus in the seconde booke of Cesars sayethe That amonge all the Romayne prynces there was noe prynce so wellbeloued nor yet in the warres so fortunate as Augustus was And the reason hereof is beecause that prynce neuer beganne anye warre vnlesse by greate occasyon he was thereunto prouoked O of how many prynces not ethnicks but christians we haue hearde and reade all contrarye to thys whyche is that were of suche large conscience that theye neuer tooke vppon them anye warre that was iuste to whom I sweare and promyse that since the warre which they in thys worlde beeganne was vniuste the punishemente whiche in an other theye shall haue is moste righteous Xerxes kynge of the Perses beynge one dayeat dynner one broughte vnto hym verye faire and sauourye fygges of the prouince of Athens the whyche beeinge sette at the table he sweare by the immortal goddes and by the bones of his predecessours that he would neuer eate fygges of hys countreye but of Athens whych were the beste of all Greece And that whyche by woorde of mouthe kynge Xerxes sweare by valiaunt dedes withe force and shielde he accomplished and wente foorthwith to conquere Gretia for noe other cause but for to syll him selfe wythe the sygges of that countreye so that he beganne that warre not onelye as a lyghte prynce but also as a vicious man Titus Liuius sayethe that when the Frenche men did cast of the wine of Italy immediately they put them selues in armes and went to conquere the countreye witheout hauinge anye other occasion to make warre againste them So that the Frenchemen for the lycorousnes of the pleasaunt wynes loste the deare bloude of theire owne hartes Kyng Antigonus dreamed one nighte that he sawe kinge Methridates withe a fyeth in hys hande who lyke a mower dyd cut all Italy And there fell suche feare to kynge Antigonus that he determined to kyll kynge Methridates so that this wicked prince for credytinge a lighte dreame set all the worlde in an vprore The Lumberdes beeinge in Pannonia herde saye that there was in Italy sweete fruites sauowry fleshe odoriferous wynes faire women good fish litle colde and temperate heate the whyche newes moued them not onelye to desire them but also theye toke weapons to goe conquere Italye So that the Lombardes came not into Italye to reuenge them of theire enemies but to bee there more vicious and riotous The Romaynes and the Carthagiens were friendes of longe time but after they knew there was in Spaine great mynes of golde and of siluer immediatelye arose betweene them exceadynge cruell warres so that those twoe puissaunt realmes for to take eche from other their goods destroyed their own proper dominions The authors of the aboue said were Plutarchus Paulus Diaconus Berosus Titus Liuius O secret iudgements of god which suffreth such thyngs O mercyful goodnes of thee my Lord that ê‘mitteth such things that through the dreame of on price in his chaÌ„ber another for to robbe the treasures of Spayne another to fly the colde of Hungary another to drinke the wines of Italy another to eat figges of Grece shoulde put al the countrey to fire bloud Let not my pen be cruel against al princes which haue vniust warres For as Traianus said Iust warre is more worthe then fayned peace I commend approue and exalt princes whiche are carefull stout to kepe and defende that which their predecessours lefte them For admit that for dispossessing them hereof cometh all the breache with other Princes Loke how much his enemy offendeth his conscience for taking it so much offendeth he his common wealth for not defending it The wordes whiche the diuine Plato spake in the first booke of his laws dyd satisfye me greatly which were these It is not mete we should be to extreme in coÌ„mending those which haue peace nor let vs be to vehement in reprouing those whiche haue warre For it may be now that if one haue warre it is to the end to attaine peace And for the contrary if one haue peace it shal be to the ende to make warre In deede Plato sayde verye true For it is more worthe to desire shorte warre for longe peace then short peace for longe warre The philosopher Chilo being demauÌ„ded whereby a good or euil gouernour might be knowen he auÌ„swered There is nothing wherby a good and euill man maye be better knowen then in that for the which they striue For the tyranous Prince offrethe him selfe to dye to take from an other but the vertuous prince trauaileth to defend his own WheÌ„ the redemer of this worlde departed from this worlde he sayde not I geue ye my warre or leaue ye my warre but I leaue ye my peace and geeue you mye peace Thereof ensuethe that the good christian is bounde to keepe the peace which Christ so muche commaunded then to inuent warre to reuenge his proper iniurye which god so much hated If princes dyd that they oughte to doe and in this case woulde beleue me for no temporall thing they shoulde condescend to shed mans bloud if nothinge els yet at the leaste the loue of hym whiche on the crosse shed hys precious bloude for vs shoulde from that cleane disswade vs. For the good Christians are commaunded to bewaile theire owne sinnes but they haue no licence to shed the bloude of their enemies Fynally I desire exhorte and further admonishe al princes and great lordes that for his sake that is prince of peace they loue peace procure peace kepe peace and liue in peace For in peace they shal be rich their people happye ¶ Themperour Marcus Aurelius writeth to his friend Cornelius wherein he dyscribeth the discomodyties of warre and the vanitie of tryumphe Cap. xiiij MArcus Emperoure wysheth to thee Cornelius hys faithful frend helth to thye person and good lucke against all euill fortune Withein fiftene daies after I came from the warre of Asia whereof I haue triumphed here in Rome remembrynge that in times paste thou weare a companyon of my trauaile I sent immedyatly to certyfy thee of my triuÌ„phes For the noble harts do more reioice of their friÌ„ds ioy theÌ„ they do of their own proê‘ delights If thou wilt take pains to come wheÌ„ I seÌ„d to cal thee be thou assured that on the one part thou shalt haue much plesure to se the great abuÌ„daÌ„s of riches that I haue brought out of Asia to beeholde mye receiuinge into Rome on the other thou canst not kepe thy selfe from weepinge to se suche a sorte of captiues the which entred in before the triuÌ„phant chariotes bounde naked to augment to the coÌ„querours most glory also to them vanquished to be a greater
as if it were his owne To thys I aunswere that I am not myghtye ynough to remedy it except by my remedye there shoulde spring a greater inconuenience And since thou hast not bene a Prince thou couldest not fall into that I haue nor yet vnderstand that whych I saie For princes by theire wisedome knowe manye thinges the whych to remedy they haue no power So it hath beene so it is so it shal be so I founde it so I keepe it so wil I leaue it them so I haue read it in bookes so haue I seene it with my eyes so I heard it of my predecessours and finallye I saye so our fathers haue inuented it and so wyll wee theire children sustaine it and for this euyll wee will leaue it to our heires I wyll tell thee one thinge and imagine that I erre not therein whych is consideringe the great dommage and lytle profyte which the men of warre doe bringe to our common wealth I thynk to doe it and to sustaine it either it is the folly of menne or a scourge geuen of the gods For there can be nothinge more iust then for the goddes to permit that we feele that in our owne houses whiche we cause others in straunge houses to lament All those thinges I haue written vnto thee not for that it skilleth greatly that thou knowe them but that my harte is at ease to vtter them For as Alcibiades saide the chestes and the hartes ought alwaies to bee open to theire frendes Panutius my secretary goeth in my behalfe to visite that land and I gaue him this letter to geue the with two horses wherewith I think thou wilt be contented for they are gennettes The weapons and ryches whyche I tooke of the Parthes I haue nowe deuyded notwtstanding I doe sende thee .2 Chariottes of them My wyfe Faustine greeteth thee and I sende a riche glasse for thy doughter and a Iewell with stones for thy sister No more but I beseche the Gods to geeue thee a good lyfe and mee a good death ¶ The admonition of the Aucthour to Princes and greate Lordes to thintent that the more they growe in yeares the more they are bounde to refraine from vyces Cap. xvii AVlus Gelius in hys booke De noctibus Atticis sayeth that there was an auncient custome amongest the romaynes to honour and haue in great reuerence aged men And this was so inuiolate a law amongest them that there was none so noble of bloode and lynage neyther so puissaunt in ryches neither so fortunate in battayles that should goe before the aged men which were loden with whit heares so that they honoured them as the gods and reuerenced them as theire fathers Amongest other the aged menne had these preheminences that is to wete that in feastes they sate highest in the triumphes they went before in the temples they did sitte downe they spake to the Senate before all others they had their garments surred they might eat alone in secrat and by theire onlye woorde they were credited as witnesses Fynally I saye that in all thinges they serued them and in nothinge they annoyed them After the people of Rome began warre wyth Asia they forsooke all theire good Romayne customes immediatlye And the occasyon hereof was that since they had no menne to sustaine the common wealth by reason of the great multytude of people which dyed in the warre they ordeyned that al the yong menne should mary the yong maides the wydowes the free and the bonde and that the honour whyche hadde bene done vntyll that tyme vnto the olde menne from henceforthe shoulde be done vnto the maried menne though they were yong So that the moste honoured in Rome was hee not of moste yeares but he that had most children This lawe was made a little before the firste battaile of Catthage And the custome that the maried menne were more honoured then the old menne endured vntill the tyme of the Emperour Augustus whiche was such a frende of antiquyties that hee renewed all the walles of Rome with newe stones and renewed all the auncient customes of the common wealth Licurgus in the lawes whiche hee gaue to the Lacedemonians ordayned that the young menne passinge by the olde shoulde doe them greate reuerence whē the olde dyd speake then the younger shoulde bee sylent And he ordained also that if any olde man by casualtye dyd lose hys goods and came into extreame pouertie that he shoulde bee sustained of the comon wealth and that in suche sustentacion they shoulde haue respecte not onely to succour him for to sustaine hym but further to geue him to lyue competently Plutarche in hys Apothegmes declareth that Cato the Censoure visitinge the corners of Rome founde an olde manne sittinge at his doore weepinge and sheddinge manye teares from hys eyes And Cato the Censoure demaundynge hym why hee was so euyll handeled and wherefore he wepte so bitterlye the good olde manne aunswered hym O Cato the Gods beinge the onelye comfortours comforte thee in all thy tribulations since thou arte readye to comforte mee at this wofull hower As well as thou knowest that the consolations of the harte are more necessarye then the phisike of the bodye the whiche beeynge applyed sometymes doeth heale and an other tyme they doe harme Beholde my scabbed handes my swollen legges my mouth without teethe my peeled face my white beard and my balde heade for thou beinge as thou arte descreete shouldest be excused to aske mee why I weepe For menne of my age thoughe they weepe not for the lyttle they feele yet they ought to weepe for the ouermuche they lyue The manne which is loden with yeares tormented with diseases pursued with enemyes forgotten of his frendes visited with mishappes and with euill wyll and pouertie I knowe not why hee demaundeth long life For there can be no sharper reuengemēt of vyces whych we commit then to geue vs long lyfe Though now I am aged I was yong and if any yong manne should doe me anye iniurye truelye I would not desire the gods to take his lyfe but that they woulde rather prolonge his lyfe For it is a great pitie to heare the man whyche hath lyued longe account the troubles whiche he hath endured Knowe thou Cato if thou doest not knowe it that I haue lyued .77 yeares And in thys tyme I haue buried my father my graundefather twoe Auntes and .5 vncles After that I had buried .9 systers and .11 Brethren I haue buried afterwardes twoe lawfull wyfes and fyue bonde women whyche I haue hadde as my lemmans I haue buryed also .14 chyldren and .7 maryed doughters and therewith not contented I haue buryed .37 Nephues and .15 Nieces and that whyche greaueth me moste of all is that I haue buryed two frendes of myne one which remained in Capua the other which was residente here at Rome The death of whom hath greued me more then all those of my aliaunce and parentage For in the worlde there is no
set ryse my sonne Marke and sithens nowe thou arte yong it is but iust that thou geue me place whiche am aged If it bee true that it is xxxiii yeares sithens thou askedst place in the theathers as and old man tell mee I praye thee and also I coniure thee with what oyntement hast thou anoynted thy selfe or with what water hast thou wasshed thy selfe to become yonge O Claude if thou hadst founde anye medicyne or dyscouered anye herbe where with thou couldest take whyte heares from mens heades and from women the wrincles of theire face I sweare vnto thee and also I doe assure thee that thou shooldest be more vysyted and serued in Rome then the god Apollo is in his Temple at Ephesus Thou shouldest wel remember Annius priscus the old man whiche was our neighbour and somewhat a kinne to thee the whiche when I tolde him that I coulde not bee filled with his good woordes and to behold his auncient white heares he saied vnto me O my soone Mark it appereth wel that thou hast not byn aged because thou talkest as a yong maÌ„ for if white heares do honour the ê‘son they greatlye hurt the harte For at that houre when they se vs aged the straungers do hate vs ours do not loue vs. And he told me more I let the wete my sonne Marke that many times my wyfe and I talking of the yeares of another perticularly when she beholdeth mee and that I seeme vnto her so aged I saye vnto her and swere that I am yet yoÌ„ge and that the white heares came vnto me by great trauailes and the age by sicknes I do remember also that this Annius Priscus was senatour one yeare and bycause he woulde not seeme aged but desired that men shoulde iudge hym too bee yonge he shaued his bearde and hys heade which was not accustomed amonge the senatours nor Censours of Rome And as one day amongest the other Senatours he entred into the hyghe Capitolle one sayde vnto hym Tell me man from whence comest thou What wylte thou and why comest thou hither howe durste thou being no senatour enter into the Senate he aunswered I am Annius priscus the aged howe chauÌ„ceth it that nowe you haue not knowen me they replyed vnto hym if thou werte Annius Priscus thou woldest not come thus shauen For in this sacred senate can none enter to gouerne the coÌ„mon wealth vnlesse his parsoÌ„ be endued with vertues and his heade with white heares and therfore thou art banished and depriued of thy office For the olde which lyue as the yong ought to be punished Thou knowest wel Claude and Claudine that that which I haue spoken is not the faynyng of Homere neither a fable of Ouide but that you your selues saw it with your eyes and in his banishment I dyd helpe him with money and more ouer he was banished another time for the lightnes he dyd commit in the nighte in the citye and I meruaile not hereof for we see by experyence that old men whiche are fleashed in vices are more obstinate to correct then the yong O what euill fortune haue the olde men which suffered them selues too waxe olde in vyces for more daungerous is the fier in an old house then in a new and a greate cut of a sworde is not so perilous as a rotten fistule Though old men were not honest and vertuous for the seruice of the gods and the common wealth for the saieng of the people nor for the example of the yong yet he ought to be honest yf it weare but for the reuerence of their yeares If the pore old man haue noe teeth how shall he eate If he haue no heate in his stomacke howe can he dysgest If he haue no taste how can he drinke if hee be not strong howe can he be an adulterer If hee haue no feete howe can he goe If hee haue the palsy howe can hee speake if hee haue the goute in his handes howe can hee play Fynally suche lyke wordlye and vicyous men haue employed their forces beinge yonge desirous to proue al these vices and when they are old it greueth them extreamelye that they can not as yet accoÌ„pplishe their desiers Amongest all the faultes in old men in my opinion this is the chefest that since they haue proued al thiÌ„ges that they shoold stil remaine in their obstinat folly There is no parte but they haue trauailed no villany but they haue assayed no fortune but they haue proued no good but they haue persecuted no euyl but hath chaunced vnto theÌ„ nor there is any vice but they haue attempted These vnhappy men which in this sorte haue spent all their youth haue in the end their combes cut with infirmities diseases yet they are not somuch greued with the vices which in them do abound to hinder them froÌ„ vertues as they are tormented for wante of corporall courage to further them in their lusts O if wee were gods or that they would geeue vs licence to know the thoughts of the old as wee see with our eies the deeds of the yong I swear to the God Mars and also to the mother Berecinthe that without comparison we woold punishe more the wicked desiers which the aged haue to be wicked then the light deeds of the yong Tel mee Claude and thou Claudine do you think though you behaue your selues as yong you shall not seme to bee old know you not that our nature is the corruption of our body and that our body hindereth our vnderstandings and that the vnderstandyngs are kept of our soule that oure soule is the mother of desiers that our desiers are the scourge of our youth that our youth is the ensigne of our age age the spye of death that death in the end is the house where life taketh hys herber and from whence youth flyeth a fote and from whence age can not escape a horsback I woold reioyce that you Claude and Claudine woolde tell me what you fynde in lyfe that somuche therwith you should bee contented since now you haue passed foure score yeares of lyfe duryng the which tyme either you haue been wycked in the world or els you haue been good Yf you haue been good you ought to think it long vntil you be with the good gods if you haue been euil it is iust you dye to the end you bee no worse For speaking the truth those which in .3 score 10 yeares haue been wicked in woorks leaue smal hope of their ameÌ„dment of lyfe Adrian my lord being at Nola in Campania one brought vnto him a nephew of his from the study where as the yong child had not profyted a lytel for hee became a great Gretian and latinest and more ouer he was faire gratious wise honest And this Emperor Adrian loued his nephew so much that hee saied vnto him these woords My nephew I know not whither I ought to say vnto thee that thou art good or euil for
great age and grauitie such request can not bee called loue but grief not pastime but losse of time not mockry but villany for of loue in iest ensueth infamy in deede I ask you Claude and Claudine what a thing is it to see an old man to bee in loue Trulye it is no other but as a garland before the tauern dores wher al men think that ther is wine and they sel nought els but vineger They are egges white without and rotten within they are golden pilles the tast wherof are very bitter and as ēpty boxes in shops which haue new writings on them or as a new gate and with in the house is full of filth and cobwebs finally the old louer is a knight of Exchetes which helpeth to lose mony and can deliuer no man from peril Let this woord bee noted and alwayes in your memory committed that the old man which is vitious is but as a leeke which hath the head white the tayle green Mee thinketh that you ought to break the wings of time since that you haue feathers to flye withal Deceiue not your self nor your frends and neighbours saying that ther 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 domage do what you can by the day of youth and deferr it not vntil the night of age for ill cutteth the knife when the edge therof is dulled and ill can hee knaw the bones which is accustomed to eat the flesh I tel you and aduertise you that when the old and rotten houses beeginneth to fall vnder set not them with rotten wood but with hard timber I mean with the vpright thoughts of accompts which wee ought to geue to the gods of our life and to mē of our renoume Forthe I say that if the vine bee gathered of our vertues we ought to graffe againe the amendment and if the shreds of our gatherings bee drye and withered through our peruers woorks wee ought to set them agayn with new mould and good desires The gods are so gentle to serue and so good to content that if for all the seruices wee ow them and for the gifts which they geeue vs wee can not pay them in good woorks they demaund nomore in payment but good willes Finally I say that if thou Claude and Claudine haue offred the meale of youth to the world offer now the blood of age to the gods I haue written longer then I had thought to do Salute all my neyghbours specially Drusio the patrician and noble Romayne widdow I remember that Gobrine your niece did me a pleasure the day of the feast of the mother Berecinthia wherfore I sēd 2. thou sand Sesterces one thousand to help to mary her and the other thousand to help to reliue your pouerty My wife Faustine is sick and I send you another .1000 Sesterces to geeue to the vestal virgines to pray to the gods for her My wife sendeth to thee Claudine a cofer by the immortal gods I swear vnto thee I can not tel what is in it I beeseech the godds sithens you are aged to giue you a good death and to mee Faustine they suffer vs to lead a good life Marcus of mount Celio with his owne hand writeth this ¶ Princes ought to take heede that they be not noted of auarice for that the coueious man is both of god and man hated Cap. xxiii THe great Alexander king of Macedony and Darius the vnfortunat king of the Persyes were not onely contrary in warres and conquests which they made but also in the conditions and inclinations which they had For Alexander naturally loued to geeue and spēd and Darius to the contrary to heape lock keepe When the fame of Alexander was spred abrode through out all the world to bee a prince of honor and not couetous his owne loued him entierly and straungers desyred to serue him faithfully The miserable kyng Darius as hee was noted of great auarice and of small liberality so his did disobey him and straungers hated him Whereof may bee gathered that princes and great lords by geeuing do make them selues rich in keeping they make theym selues poore Plutarche in his apothegmes declareth that after king Darius was dead Alexander had triumphed ouer al the oriental parts a man of Thebes beinge in the market place of Athenes setting foorth the fortune of Alexander for the sundry countreys which hee had conquered and describing the euel fortune of Darius for the great nomber of men which hee had lost a philosopher with a loude voice sayd O man of Thebes thou art greatly deceiued to think that one prince loseth many seignories and that the other Prince winneth many realmes For Alexander the great wanne nought but stones and couerings of cities for with his liberality he had alredie gotten the good willes of the cite sins And to the contrary the vnfortunat Darius did not lose but stones and the couertures of cities for with his couetousnes and auarice he had now lost al the hartes of those of Asia And farther this philosopher sayd vnto him that princes which wil enlarge their estates and amplify their realmes in their conquests ought first to winne the harts to bee noble and liberal and afterwards to send their armies to conquer the forts and walls for otherwise litel auayleth it to winne the stones if the hartes do rebell Wherby a man may gather that that which Alexander wan hee wan by liberalitye and stoutnes and that which king Darius lost he lost for beeinge miserable and couetous And let vs not meruail hereat for the princes great lordes which are ouercome with auarice I doubt whither they euer shal see theym selues cōquerors of many realmes The vice of auarice is so detestable so euel so odious so perilous that if a mā shoold ēploy hī self to write al the discōmodites therūto belongīg my penne should do nought elles then to presume to dry vp all the water in the sea For the stomake where auarice entreth causeth a man to serue vices worshippe Idolles If a vertuous man woulde prepare him selfe to think on the great trauaile and litell reste that this cursed vice beareth with him I thinke that none would be vicious therin Though the couetous man had no other trauaile but alwayes to go to bed wyth daunger and to rise vp with care Me thinketh it is a trouble sufficient for such one when he goeth to bed thinketh that he should be killed in his bed or that sleping his cofers should be rifled and from that time he riseth he is alwayes tormented with feare to lose that which he hath wonne and careful to augmēt that litel in to much The deuine Plato in the first boke of his common welth said these wordes the men be made riche because they neuer learned to bee riche for he which continually and truelye will become riche
first ought to abhorre couetousnes before hee beginne to occupie hym selfe to locke vp goods For the man which setteth no bond to his desire shall alwayes haue litle thoughe he see himselfe lord of the worlde Truly this sentence was worthilye spoken of such a man The sentēce of the Stoyckes doth satisfy my mind much wherof Aristotel in his pollitikes maketh mēcion where he sayth that vnto great affayres are alwaies required great riches there is no extreame pouerty but where there hathe beene greate aboundaunce Therof ensueth that to princes and great lordes which haue much they wāt much bicause to men which haue had litel they can not wāt but litel Yf we admonishe wordlings not to be vitious they wil alwayes haue excuses to excuse theim selues declaring why they haue bene vitious the vice of auarice excepted to whom and with whom they haue no excuse For if one vaine reason be readye to excuse then there are .2000 to condemne them Let vs put example in all the principall vices and we shall se how this onely of auarice remaineth condemned and not excused If we reason why a prince or great lord is haulty and proude he wil aunswere that he hath great occasion For the natural disposition of men is rather to desire to commaūd with trauaile then to serue with rest Yf we reproue any man that is furious and geuen to anger he will aunswere vs that we maruaile not since we maruaile not of the proude For the enemy hath no more auctority to trouble any man then the other to take reuēge of him Yf we blame him for that he is fleshly and vitious he will aunswer vs that he can not absteyne from that sinne for if any man can eschew the acts he fighteth continually with vncleane thoughtes Yf we say that any man is negligent he will aunswere vs that he deserueth not to be blamed for the vilenes of our nature is suche that if we do trauaile it immediatly it is weary and if we rest it immediatly it reioyceth Yf we rebuke any man that is a glutton he wil aunswer vs that without eatinge and drinkinge we can not lyue in the worlde for the deuine worde hath not forbidden man to eate with the mouthe but the vncleane thoughtes which come from the hart As of these fewe vices we haue declared so maye we excuse al the reasidue but to the vice of couetousnes none can geue a reasonable excuse For with money put into the cofer the soule cānot profite nor the bodye reioyce Boetius in his booke of consolation sayd that money is good not when we haue it in possessiō but when we want it in very dede the sentence of Boetius is very profound for when man spendeth mony he attayneth to that he wil but hauinge it with him it profiteth him nothinge We may say of riche and couetous men that if they heape and kepe they say it is but for deare and drye yeres and to releue their parents frendes We may aunswere them that they do not heape vp to remedye the poore in suche like necessities but rather to bringe the commonwealth to greter pouertye For then they sel al thinges deare and put out theyr money to great vsury so that this couetous man dooth more harme with that he dooth lend them then the dry yere dooth with that it hath taken from theim The noble and vertuous men ought not to cease to do wel for feare of dry yeres for in the ende if one deare yeare come it maketh all dere and at such a time and in such a case he onely may be called happy which for being free and liberal in almes shall reioyce that his table should be costlye Let couetous mē beware that for keaping of much goodes they giue not to the deuel their soules for it may be that before the deare yere cometh to sel their corne their bodies shal be layd in the graue O what good dooth god to the noble men geuing them liberal hartes and what ill luck haue couetous men hauing as thei haue their hartes so hard laced For if couetous men did tast how sweete and necessary a thing it is to giue they could kepe litle for them selues Nowe sithens the miserable and couetous men haue not the hart to giue to their frendes too depart to theire parentes to succour the poore to lend to their neighboures nor to susteyne the orphanes it is to be thought that they wil spend it on them selues Truly I saye no more for there are men so miserable and so hard of that they haue that they thinke that as euyll spent whiche amonge theim selues they spende as that which one robbeth from them of their goods Howe will the couetous and miserable wretche geue a garmēte to a naked man which dare not make him selfe a cote How wil he geue to eate to the poore famylyar which as a poore slaue eateth the bread of branne and sellethe the floure of meale How shal the pilgrimes lodge in his house who for pure miserye dare not enter and howe doth he visite the hospitall and reliue the sicke that oft times hasardeth his owne helth and life for that he wil not geue one penye to the phisition how shall he succour secretly the poore and neady which maketh his owne children go barefoote and naked how can he helpe to marye the poore maydes being orphanes when he suffereth his owne daughters to waxe old in his house how wil he geue of his goodes to the poore captiues which will not paye his owne men their wages how wil he geue to eate to the children of poore gentelmen which alwayes grudgeth at that his owne spende howe should we beleue that he wil apparel a widowe hwich wil not giue his owne wife a hoode howe doth he dayly giue almes which goeth not to the churche on the Sonday because he wil not offer one peny how shal the couetous mā reioice the hart sith for spending of one peny oft times hee goeth supperles to bed And finally I saye that he wil neuer giue vs of his owne proper goodes which weapeth alwayes for the goodes of an other ¶ The auctor foloweth his matter and with great reasons discommendeth the vices of couetous men Cap. xxiiii ONe of the thinges wherin the deuine prouidence sheweth that we do not vnderstand the maner of her gouerment is to see that she geueth vnderstandinge too a man too knowe the riches she geueth him force too seeke theim subtiltye too gather them vertue too susteyne them courage too defend them and also longe life to possesse them And with al this she gyueth him not licence to enioye them but rather suffereth him that as withoute reason he hath made him selfe lorde of an nother mans of righte he shoulde bee made sclaue of his owne thereby a man may knowe of howe greater excellencye vertuous pouertye is then the outragious couetousnes for so much as to the poore god doth giue contentation of
that litell he hath and from the rich man he taketh contentacion of the great deale he possesseth So that to the couetous man we se troubles encrease hourely and the gaine cometh vnto him but monethly Let vs compare the riche and couetous man to the pore potter and we shall se who shall profite most eyther the potter with his pottes that he maketh of earthe or els the couetous with the mony which he hathe in the earth Though I make no aunswere to this yet answere herein hath ben alredye made that the one is muche better at ease with the earth then the other is with the good For the potter getteth his liuing by selling pottes and the couetous man loseth his soule by keping riches I humblye require the high princes and also I besech the great lordes further I admonishe the other nobles and Plebeiens alwayes to haue this worde in memorye I saye and affirme that the more strongly the man keapeth and locketh his treasures the more strongly and priuely is he kepte for if he put two keyes to keape his treasure he putteth seuen to his harte not to spende them Let the noble and valiaunt men beware that they geue not their myndes to heape vp treasoures for if once their hartes be kindled with couetousnes for feare of spendinge a halfpeny they wyll daylye suffer them selues to fall into a thousād miseries The Plebeiens which are very riche may saye that they haue not heaped vp much treasures sithens they can not behold a hundred or two hundred duccates To this I aunswere that the estates considered tenne duccates do asmuch harme to a treasurer as to others tenne thousand For the faulte consisteth not in keaping or hidīg much or litel riches but for so much as in keapinge them we cease to doe many good workes To me it is a straūge matter that nigardlines hath greater force to the couetous then conscience hath in others For there are many which notwithstandynge conscience doe profite with the goodes of others and the couetous hauinge more misery then conscience cannot yet profite with their owne With much care and no small dilygence the couetous men doe prouyde that the myllers doe not robbe the meale that their beastes make no wastes that the hunters runne not through the corne that their wine perish not that those which owe them any thing do not go make them selues bank routes that wynetts doe not eate their corne and that theues robbe not their goods but in the ende they watche none so wel as them selues For al the others erely or late haue alwaies oportunitye to robbe from them somewhat but the couetous hath neuer the herte to chaunge a duccate Men ought to take great pity of a couetous man who by his owne wil not of necessity weareth his gowne al to torne his shoes out his poyntes without aggletes an euill fauored girdle his cote rente his hatte olde hys hose seame rent hys cappe greasy and his sherte lowsy fynally I say that dyuers of these mysers fayne that they haue a great summe to pay and it is for no other thing but for not wearyng a good garment What can the couetous doo more then for keeping a peny in his pursse hee will goe two moneths and not trimme his beard Sithens it is true that these pynchpenies doo behaue theire personnes so euyll doo ye thynk they haue their houses any thing the better furnished I say no but you shall see their chambers full of cobwebbes the doores out of the hingels the windows riuen the glasses broken the planches lose the couertures of the house wythout gutters the stooles broken the beds woorme eaten and chimnies ready to fall so that to herber a frend or kinsman of theirs they are cōstrained to lodge him in their neighbors house or els to send to borrow all that they want And passing ouer the garments they wear and the housen wherin they dwel let vs see what table they keep◠for of their gardeins they eat no fruyt but that that falleth of the tree of their vines but rotten grapes of their sheepe the sickest of their corne the wettest of wine that which hath taken wind of lard that is yelow of milk that is turned and finally I say the felicity that glottons haue in eating the self same haue they in keeping O vnhappy are the glottons and much more are the couetous for the tast of one consisteth only in the throte and the felicity of the other cōsisteth in that hee may lock vp in his chest Wee haue now seen how the couetous were symple apparayl keepe a poore table and dwell in a filthy house and yet they lesse regard those things that touch theyr honor For if they had their eares as open to heere as they haue their harts bent at ech hour to gather and heap vp they should hear how they are called mysers vserers nygards pinchepenies oppressors cruell vnthankfull and vnfortunat Fynally I say that in the commonwealth they are so hated that all men had rather lay hands vppon their bodyes to kill them then tongues on their renowm to defame them The couetous man is of all other most vnlucky For if wee fall at strief with any hee shall fynd no one frend that wyll come to visit him in his house but hee shall haue a hundred theeues whych will robbe him of his goods For to reuenge a couetous enemy a man neede desire nought els but that hee liue long for hee is more tormented in his life with his own couetousnes then hee can bee otherwise with any penaunce If rych men woold say vnto mee that they do not reioice to haue fair houses sithens they may haue them neither of curious aparel since they may were it nor of deinty meats sithens they may eat them and that that which they doo is not to bee couetous but for that they are good christians In so iust a thing reason woold my pen shoold cease but I am sory they so lyttle esteeme things touching their honor and much lesse the matters touching their consciēce If the auaricious say hee keepeth goods to doo almes I doo not beleue it for daily wee see that if a poore man ask him almes hee answereth them immediatly god help you for hee hath neither purse nor peny The couetous vseth this that hee neuer geeueth any almes in his house but fatt meat and resty baken rotten cheese and hore bread so that it seemeth rather that they make clean their house then geeue almes to the poore If the couetous man woold tel vs that that which they haue is to discharge some dets of their predecessors wherwith they are burdened I say it is a vain excuse sithens wee see that the willes of their fathers of their mothers of their graundfathers bee not as yet performed neyther will they think to performe them which seemeth to bee very true For since the hour that they layd their fathers in the graue they
Lido of whom the Atheniens demaunded what they shoold doo with the treasure and dead body mee thinketh quod thys philosopher that if those which are lyuing did know any siluer or gold which the tyraunt tooke from them it shoold bee restored again immediatly and doo not meruell that I doo not require it to bee put in the common treasure For god will not permit that the commonwealth bee enriched with the theft of Tyraunts but with the swet of the inhabitants If any goods remayn which doo not appere from whom they haue beene taken mee thinketh that they ought to bee distributed among the poore for nothing can bee more iust then that which the goods wherewyth the tyraunt hath enpouerished many wyth the self same wee shoold enrich some As touching his buriall mee thinketh hee ought to be cast out to the 〈…〉 to bee eaten and to the dogs to bee gnawen And let no man thynk this sentence to bee cruell for wee are bound to doo no more for him at his death then hee did for him self in his lyfe who beeing so ouercome with auaryce that hee woold neuer disburse so much money as shoold buy him seuen foote of earth wherin his graue shoold bee made And I will you know that the gods haue doon a great good to all Greece to take lyfe from this tyrant First it is good because much goods are dispersed which heeretofore lay hid and serued to no purpose Secondly that many tongues shall rest for the treasours of this tirant made great want in the common welth and our tongues the greatest part of the day were occupied to speak euill of his parson Mee thinketh this philosopher hath touched two things which the couetous man dooth in the common wealth that is to wete that drawing much gold siluer to the hid treasure hee robbeth the marchandise wherwith the people doo liue The other dommage is that as hee is hated of all so hee causeth rancour malice in the harts of all for hee maketh the rych to murmour and the poore to blasphem One thing I read in the laws of the Lombards woorthy of truth to bee noted and knowen and no lesse to bee folowed which is that all those which shoold haue gold siluer money silks clothes euery yere they shoold bee registred in the place of iustice And this was to the end not to consent nor permit them to heap much but that they shoold haue to buy to sell and to trafik wherby the goods were occupyed among the people So that hee which did spend the money to the profit of his house it was taken for good of the common wealth Yf christians woold doo that now adays which the Lombardes did there shoold not bee so many treasures hid nor so many couetous men in the commonwealth for nothing can bee more vniust then that one rych man shoold heap vp that which woold suffise ten thousand to liue wyth all Wee can not deny but that the cursed auarice and disordinat couetise to al states of men is as preiudiciall as the moth which eateth all garments Therfore speaking the truth and wyth lyberty ther is no house that it dooth not defyle for it is more perilous to haue a clod of earth fall into a mans eye then a beam vppon his foot Agesilaus the renowmed king of the Lacedemonians beeing asked of a man of Thebes what woord was most odible to bee spoken to a king and what woord that was that coold honor him most hee aunswered The prince with nothing so much ought to bee annoied as to say vnto him that hee is rich and of nothing hee ought so much to reioice as to bee called poore For the glory of the good prince consisteth not in that hee hath great treasures but in that hee hath geeuen great recompences Thys woord without doubt of all the world was one of the most royallest and worthiest to bee committed vnto memory Alexander Pirrhus Nicanor Ptolomeê° Pompeius Iulius Cesar Scipio Hanniball Marcus Portius Augustus Cato Traian Theodose Marcus Aurelius all these princes haue beene very valiant and vertuous but addyng heereunto also the writers which haue writeÌ„ the deedes that they did in their lyues haue mencioned also the pouerty which they had at their death So that they are no lesse exalted for the riches they haue spent then for the prowesses they haue done Admit that men of meane state bee auaricious and princes and great lords also couetous the fault of the one is not equall with the vice of the other though in the end all are culpable For if the poore maÌ„ keepe it is for that hee woold not want but if the knight hoord it is beecause he hath to much And in this case I woold say that cursed bee the knight which trauaileth to the end that goods abound and dooth not care that betweene two bowes his renowmsall to the ground Sithens princes and great lords will that men doo count them noble vertuous valyaunt I woold know what occasion they haue to bee nigards and hard Yf they say that that which they keepe is to eat heerein there is no reasoÌ„ for in the end where the rich eateth least at his table ther are many that had rather haue that which remaineth then that which they prouide to eat in their houses If they say that that which they keepe is to apparel them heere in also they haue as lytle reason for the greatnes of lords consisteth not in that they shoold bee sumptuously appareled but that they prouide that their seruaunts go not rent nor torne If they say it is to haue in their chambers precious iewels in their halles rich Tapestry as little woold I admit this answer for all those which enter into princes palaces doo beehold more if those that haunt their chambers bee vertuous then that the tapestries bee rych If they say that it is to compasse their cities with walles or to make fortresses on their fronters so lykewise is this aunswer amongst the others very cold For good princes ought not to trauel but to bee well willed and if in their realms they bee welbeeloued in the world they can haue no walles so strong as the harts of their subiects If they tell vs that that they keepe is to mary their children as little reason is that for sithens princes and great lords haue great inheritaunces they neede not heap much For if their children bee good they shall encrease that shal bee left them and if by mishap they bee euill they shall aswell lose that that shal bee geeuen them If they say vnto vs that that which they heap is for the warres in like maner that is no iust excuse For if such warre bee not iust the prince ought not to take it in hand nor the people therunto to condescend but if it bee iust the common wealth then not the prince shal bere the charges therof For in iust warres it is not sufficient that they geeue
from the bottom of his hart fetched a heauy sigh and hee beeing demaunded of those which were at his table why hee sighed so sore hee aunswered Wee haue lost at this day my frends By the which woords the emperor ment that hee counted not that day amongst those of lyfe wherein hee had geeuen no reward nor gyft Truely this noble prince was valyaunt and myghty since hee sighed and had displeasure not for that which in many days hee had geeuen but beecause that one day hee had failed to geeue any thyng Pelopa of Thebes was a man in his time very valiaunt and allso rich sith hee was fortunat in getting liberall in spēding one asked him why he was so prodigal to geeue hee aunswered If to thee it seemeth that I geeue much to mee it seemeth yet I shoold geue more sithens the goods ought to serue mee not I to honor them Therefore I wil that they cal mee the spender of the goods not the steward of the house Plutarche in his apothemes saieth that kyng Darius floutyng at king Alexander for being poore sēt to know where his treasures were for such great armies to whō Alexander the great aūswered Tel king Darius that hee keepeth in his cofers his treasures of metal that I haue no other treasures then the harts of my frinds And further tel him that one man alone can rob al his treasures but hee al the world can not take my treasures frō mee which are my frinds I durst say affirming that Alexander sayd that hee cānot bee called poore which is rich of frinds neither can hee bee called rich which is poore of frinds For wee saw by experience Alexander with his frinds toke kyng Darius treasures from him king Darius with all his treasures was not puissaūt inough to take Alexanders frends from him Those which of their natural inclinacion are shamefast in estate noble they ought aboue all things to fly the slaūder of couetousnes for wtout doubt greater is the honor which is lost then the goods that are gotten If princes and great lords of their own natural dispositions bee lyberal let thē follow their nature but if perchaunce of their own nature they are enclined to couetousnes let them enforce their wil. And if they wil not doo it I tel them which are present that a day shal come whē they shal repent for it is a general rule that the disordinat couetousnes doo raise against them selues al venemous tongues Think that whē you watch to take mens goods the others watch in like maner to take your honor And if in such case you hazard your honor I doo not think that your life cā be sure for there is no law that dooth ordein nor pacience that can suffer to see my neighbor liue in quiet by the swet of my brows A poore man esteemeth asmuch a cloke as the rich man doth his delicious life Therefore it is a good consequent that if the rich man take the gown from the poore the poore man ought to take life frō the rich Phocion amongst the Greeks was greatly renowmed this not so much for that he was sage as for that hee did despise al worldly riches vnto whom when Alexander the great king of Macedony had sent him a hundreth marks of siluer hee said vnto those that brought it Why dooth Alexander sēd this money vnto mee rather then to other philosophers of Grece they aūswered him He dooth send it vnto thee for that thou art the least couetous most vertuous Then aunswered this philosopher Tel Alexander that though he knoweth not what belongeth to a prince yet I know wel what perteineth to a philosopher For the estate office of philosophers is to dispise the treasures of prynces the office of princes is to ask counsel of philosophers And further Phocion said you shal say also to Alexander that in that hee hath sent mee hee hath not shewed him self a pitiful frend but a cruel enemy for esteeming mee an honest man such as hee thought I was hee shoold haue holpen mee to haue been such These woords were worthy of a wise man It is great pity to see valyāt noble men to bee defamed of couetousnes only for to get a few goods hee abaseth him self to vile offices which appertein rather to mean parsons then to noble men valiant knights Whereof ensueth that they liue infamed al their frends slaūdered Declaring further I say that it seemeth great lightnes that a knight shoold leaue the honorable state of chiualry to exercise the handycraft of husbandry that the horse shoold bee changed into oxen the speres to mattocks the weapons into plows Finally they doo desire to toyl in the field refuse to fight in the frontiers O how much some knights of our time haue degenerated frō that their fathers haue ben in times past for their predecessors did aduāce them selues of the infidels which in the fields they slew their children brag of the corne shepe they haue in their grounds Our auncient knights were not woont to sigh but when they saw thē selues in gret distres their successors weepe now for that it rained not in the month of May. Their fathers did striue which of them could furnish most men haue most weapons keepe most horses but their children now adaies contend who hath the finest witte who can heape vp greatest treasour who can keepe most sheep The auncients stryued who should keepe most men but these worldlings at this day striue who can haue greatest reuenues Wherefore I say synce the one dooth desyre asmuch to haue great rents as the other dyd delyght to haue many weapons it is as though fathers shoold take the sweord by the pomell and the children by the scaberd All the good arts are peruerted and the art of chyualry aboue all others is despysed and not wythout cause I called it an art for the auncyent phylosophers consumed a great tyme to write the lawes that the knights ought to keepe And as now the order of the Carthagians seemeth to be most streight so in times past the order of knighthod was the streightest To whom I swere that if they obserued the order of chiualry as good and gentill knights there remayned no time vacant for them in life to be vitious nor wee should accuse them at their death as euil christians The trew and not fayned knight ought not to be prowd malicious furious a glutton coward prodigal nigard a lyer a blasphemer nor negligent Finally I say that all those ought not to bee iudged as knights which haue golden spurs vnlesse hee hath there with an honest life O if it pleased the king of heauen that princes would now adays examin as straitly those which haue cure of souls as the Romains dyd those which had but charge of armies In old time they neuer doubbed any man knight vnlesse he were of noble blood proper of
who was caled Affricane beecause hee ouercame and conquered the great and renowmed city of Carthage the which city in riches was greater then Rome in armes power it surmounted all Europe Many haue enuy at Scipio the Asian who was called Asian beecause hee subdued the proud Asia the which vntil his tyme was not but as a church yard of Romains Many haue great enuie at the imortall name of Charles who was called Charles the great beecause beeing as hee was a litle king hee did not only vanquish and triumph ouer many kings and straunge realmes but also forsake the royall sea of his own realme I doo not maruayl that the proud princes haue enuy agaynst the vertuous and valiant princes but if I were as they I would haue more enuy at the renowme of Antonius the emperor then of the name and renowme of all the princes in the world If other princes haue attayned such proud names it hath been for that they robbed many countreys spoyled many temples committed much tyranny dissembled with many tyraunts persecuted diuers innocents beecause they haue takē frō diuers good mē not onely their goods but also their liues For the world hath such an euel property that to exalt the nāe of one only he putteth down 500. Neither in such ēterprises nor with such titles wā the emperor Anthonius Pius his name and renowne But if they cal him Anotonius the pitefull it is beecause he knew not but to bee father of Orphans and was not praysed but beecause hee was aduocate of wydows Of this most excellent prince is read that he himselfe did here and iudge the cōplaints and processe in Rome of the orphans And for the poore and wydows the gates of his pallace were always open So that the porters which hee kept within his pallace were not for to let the entre of the poore but for to let and keepe back the rich The historiographers oftētimes say that this good prince sayd that the good and vertuous princes ought alwayes to haue their harts open for the poore and to remedy the wydows and neuer to shut the gates agaynst them The god Apollo sayth that the prince which will not speedely iudge the causes of the poore the gods will neuer permit that hee bee well obeyed of the rich O high and woorthy woords that it pleased not the god Apollo but our lyuing god that they were written in the harts of princes For nothing can bee more vniust or dishonest then that in the pallace of princes and great lords the rich and fooles shoold bee dispatched and the widows and orphans frinds should haue no audience Happy and not once but a hundreth times happy is hee that will remember the poore afflicted and open his hand too comfort them and dooth not shut his cofers from helping them vnto him I assure and promise that at the strayght day of iudgement the proces of his life shall bee iudged with mercy and pity ¶ That the troubles griefes and sorows of widdows are much greater then those of widdowers where fore princes and noble men ought to haue more compassion vpon the weemen then on men Cap. xxxvi IT is great pity to see a noble and vertuous man sorowfull alone and a widower if especially hee liued cōtented when hee was maryed For if hee will not mary hee hath lost his sweete company and yf hee think to mary an other let him bee assured hee shall scarcely agree with his second wife There is much sorow in that house where the woman that gouerned it is dead For immediatly the husband forsaketh him self the children doo lose their obedience the seruants beecome neglygent the hand maides beecome wantō the frēds are forgotten the house decayeth the goods wast the apparel is lost finally in the widowers house there are many to robbe few to labor Heauy lamentable are the thoughts of the widower for if hee thinketh to mary it greueth him to geeue his children a stepmother If hee can not bee maryed hee feeleth greater payne seeing him al the day to remayne alone so that the poore miserable mā sigheth for his wife hee hath lost weepeth for her whom hee desireth to haue Admit that this bee true there is great difference from the cares sorows of weemen to that of men A thing very clere for so much as the widower lawfully may goe out of his house hee may goe to the fields hee may talk with his neigbours he may bee occupied with his frēds hee may folow his sutes also hee may bee conuersant refresh him selfe in honest places For commonly men are not so sorowful in taking the death of their wyues as the wyues are in taking the death of their husbands All this is not spoken in the disfauour of wise and sage men whom wee see make small streames with the teares of their eyes for the death of their wiues But for many other vaine light men which the 9. dayes of the funeral past a mā dooth see without any shame to go thro ought the strets beeholding the ladies and damsells which are in the windows Truly the wofull women which are honest vse not such lightnesse For whyles they are widowes it is not lawfull for them to wander abrode to goe out of the house nor speake with straūgers nor practise with her own nor bee conuersant with her neighbours nor plead with their creditours but agreable to their wofull estate to hide and withdraw them selues in their houses and to lock them selues in their chambers and they think it their dutye to water theyr plāts with teares and importune the heauēs with sighes O how wofull o how greuous o how sorowfull is the state of wydowes for so much as if a widow go out of her howse they take her for dishonest If shee wil not come out of the house shee loseth her goods If shee laugh a litel they count her light If she laugh not they call her an hipocrit If shee goe to the church they note her for a gadder If shee go not to the churche they say shee is vnthākfull to her late husband If shee go il apparayled they coūt her to bee a nigard If she go clenly and handsome they say nowshee would haue a new husband If shee do mainteyne her selfe honestly they note her to bee presumptuous If shee keepe company immediatly they suspect her house Finally I say that the poore miserable widows shall find a thousand which iudge their liues and they haue not one that wil remedy their paynes Much loseth the woman who loseth her mother which hath borne her or her sisters which she loueth or the frīdes which shee knoweth or the goods which shee hath heaped vp but I saye and affirme that ther is no greater losse in the world vnto a woman then the losse of a good husband For in other losses there is but one onely losse but in that of the husband al are loste together
dye lyueth the euill man though hee liue dyeth I swear vnto thee by the mother Berecinthia and so the god Iupiter doo preserue mee that I speak not this which I will speak fainedly which is that considering the reast that the dead haue with the gods and seeing the sorows troubles wee haue here with the lyuing I say and affirm once agayn that they haue greater compassion of our lyfe then wee others haue sorow of their death Though the death of men were as the death of beasts that is to weet that there were no furies nor deuils which shoold torment the euil that the gods shoold not reward the good yet wee ought to bee comforted to see our frends dye if it were for no other but to see thē deliuered from the thraldō of this miserable world The pleasure that the Pilot hath to bee in sure hauen the glory that the captaine hath to see the day of victory the rest that the traueler hath to see his iorney ended the contentation that the woork man hath to see his woork come to perfeccion all the same haue the dead seeing them selues out of this miserable lyfe If men were born alway to lyue it were reason to lament them when wee see them dye but since it is troth that they are borne to dye I woold say since needes dye wee must that wee ought not to lament those whych dye quickly but those whych lyue long I am assured that Claudine thy husband remembring that whych in this lyfe hee hath passed and suffered and seeing the rest that hee hath in the other though the Gods woold make him emperor of Rome hee woold not bee one day out of his graue For returning to the world hee shoold dye agayn but beeing with the gods hee hopeth to lyue perpetually Lady Lauinia most earnestly I desire thee so vehemently not to perse the heauens with thy so heauy sighes ne yet to wete the earth with thy so bitter teares since thou knowst that Claudine thy husband is in place where there is no sorow but mirth where ther is no payn but rest where hee weepeth not but laugheth where hee sigheth not but singeth where hee hath no sorows but pleasures where hee feareth not cruell death but enioyeth perpetuall lyfe Since therfore this is true it is but reason the wydow appease her anguish considering that her husband endureth no payn Often tymes wyth my self I haue thought what the widows ought to immagin when they see them selues in such cares and distresse And after my count made I fynd that they ought not to thynk of the company past nor wofull solitarynes wherin they are presently and much lesse they ought to think on the pleasures of this world but rather to remember the rest in the world to come For the true widow ought to haue her conuersacion among the lyuing and her desire to bee wyth the dead If til this present thou hadst paine and trouble to look for thy husband to come home haue thou now ioy that hee looketh for thee in heauen wherin I swere vnto thee that there thou shalt bee better vsed of the gods then hee was here of mē For in this world wee know not what glory meaneth and there they know not what payns are Licinius and Posthumius thy vncles told mee that thou art so sorowful that thou wilt receiue no comfort but in this case I think not that thou bewailest so much for Claudinus that thou alone doost think thou hast lost him For since wee did reioyce togethers in his lyfe wee are bound to weep togethers at his death The heauy and sorowful harts in this world feele no greater greef then to see others reioice at theyr sorows And the cōtrary hereof is that the wofull and afflicted hart feeleth no greater ioy nor rest in extreme mishaps of fortune then to think that others haue sorow and greef of their payn When I am heauy and comfortles I greatly ioy to haue my frend by mee and my hart dooth tell mee that what I feele hee feeleth So that all which my frend with his eyes dooth beewail and all that which of my greefes hee feeleth the more therwith hee burdeneth him self and the more therof hee dischargeth mee The Emperor Octauian Augustus the histories say on the riuer of Danuby found a kynd of people which had thys straunge custom that with eyes was neuer seene nor in books at any time euer read which was that two frends assembled and went to the aultars of the temples and there one frend confederat with an other so that their harts were maried as man and wife are maried touching their bodies swering and promysing there to the gods neuer to weepe nor to take sorow for any mishap that shoold come to their persons So that my frend shoold come to lament and remedy my troubles as if they had been his own I shoold lament and remedy his as if they had been mine O glorious world O age most happy O people of eternal memory wherin men are so gentle frendz so faithfull that their own trauails they forgot and the sorows of strangers they beewayled O Rome without rome O tyme euil spent O lyfe to vs others euil emploied O wretch that always art careles now adays the stomack and intrailes are so seuered from the good and the harts so ioyned with the euill that men forgetting them selues to bee men beecome more cruell then wyld beasts I labor to geeue thee lyfe and thou seekest to procure my death Thou weepest to see mee laugh and I laugh to see thee weepe I procure that thou doo not mount and thou seekest that I might fall Fynally without the profit of any wee cast our selues away and wythout gayn wee doo reioyce to end our lyues By the faith of a good man I swear vnto thee Lady Lauinia that if thy remedy were in my hands as thy grief is in my hart I woold not bee sory for thy sorows neither thou so tormēted for the death of thy husband But alas though I miserable man haue the hart to feele thy anguysh yet I want power to remedy thy sorows ¶ The Emperor proceedeth in his letter and perswadeth wydowes to put their willes to the will of god and exhorteth them to lyue honestly Cap. xxxviii SInce thy remedy and my desire cannot bee accomplished beecause it is a thing vnpossible to receiue and speak with the dead and not hauing power mee think that thou and I shoold referre it to the gods who can geeue much better then wee can ask O lady Lauinia I desire thee earnestly and as a frend I counsel and admonish thee and with all my hart I require thee that thou esteem that for wel doon which the gods haue doon that thou conform thy self to the will of the gods and that thou will nought els but as the gods will For they only know they erre not wherfore they haue assaulted thy husband with so
taketh away fear from death The deuine Plato demaūded Socrates how hee beehaued him self in life and how hee woold beehaue him self in death hee aunswered I let thee weete that in youth I haue traueled to liue wel and in age I haue studied to dye well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shal bee ioyful And though I haue had sorow to lyue I am sure I shall haue no payn to dye Truely these woords were woorthy of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruelously when the swet of their trauel is not rewarded when they are faithful and their reward answereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their frends beecome vnthankful to them when they are woorthy honor and that they preferre them to honorable rome and office For the noble and valyant harts doo not esteeme to lose the reward of their labor but think much vnkindnes when a man dooth not acknowledge their trauel O happy are they that dye For without inconuenience and without payn euery man is in hys graue For in this tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place wee merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall bee iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpryght that geeueth reward by weight payn by measure but somtimes they chastice the innocent and absolue the gylty they vex the faultlesse and dissemble with the culpable For litle auayleth it the plaintif to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that shoold minister Truely it is not so in death but all ought to count them selues happy For hee which shall haue good iustice shal bee sure on his part to haue the sentence When great Cato was censor in Rome a famous Romayn dyed who shewed at his death a merueylous courage and when the Romayns praised him for that hee had so great vertu and for the woords hee had spoken Cato the Censour laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And hee beeing demaunded the cause of his laughter aunswered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel For the perils and trauels considered wherein wee liue and the safety wherein wee dye I say that it is no more needful to haue vertue strength to liue then courage to dye The aucthor heereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censour spake as a wise man since dayly wee see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thrist trauel pouerty inconuenience sorows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the end in one day then to suffer them euery hour For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable lyfe O how small cōsideration haue men to think that they ought to dye but once Since the trueth is that the day when wee are born and comen in to the world is the beeginning of our death and the last day is when wee doo cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of lyfe then reason perswadeth vs to think that our infancy dyeth our chyldhod dyeth our manhod dyeth our age shall dye whereof wee may consequently conclude that wee dye euery yere euery day euery hour and euery moment So that thinking to lead a sure lyfe wee tast a new death I know not why men fear so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanted to any man to dye neither I knew any man that euer failed of this way Seneca in an epistle declareth that as a Romain woman lamented the death of a child of hers a philosopher said vnto her Woman why beewaylest thou thy child she aunswered I weepe beecause hee hath liued .xxv. yeres I woold hee shoold haue liued till fyfty For amongst vs mothers wee loue our children so hartely that wee neuer cease to beehold them nor yet end to beewayl them Then the Philosopher said Tell mee I pray thee woman why doost thou not complayn of the gods beecause they created not thy sonne many yeres beefore hee was born as well as thou complaynest that they haue not let him liue .l. yeres Thou weepest that hee is dead so soone and thou doost not lament that hee is borne so late I tel thee true woman that as thou doost not lament for the one no more thou oughtst to bee sory for the other For wythout the determination of the gods wee can not shorten death and much lesse lengthen life So Plinie sayd in an epistle that the cheefest law whych the gods haue geeuen to humayn nature was that none shoold haue perpetuall life For with disordinat desire to liue long wee shoold neuer reioice to goe out of this payn Two philosophers disputyng beefore the great Emperor Theodose the one sayd that it was good to procure death and the other lykewise sayd it was a necessary thing to hate lyfe The good Theodose takyng hym by the hand said All wee mortalles are so extreem in hatyng and louyng that vnder the colour to loue and hate lyfe wee lead an euyll lyfe For wee suffer so many trauels for to preserue it that sometymes it were much better to lose it And further hee sayd dyuers vayn men are come into so great follies that for fear of death they procure to hasten death And hauing consideration to this mee seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue lyfe nor with desperation to seeke death For the strong and valiaunt men ought not to hate lyfe so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that whych Theodose spake as Paulus Diaconus sayth in his lyfe Let euery man speak what hee will and let the philosophers counsell what they list in my poor iudgement hee alone shal receiue death without payn who long before is prepared to receiue the same For sodayn death is not only bitter to hym which tasteth it but also it feareth him that hateth it Lactantius sayd that in such sort man ought to liue as if from hence an hour after hee shoold dye For those men which will haue death beefore their eies it is vnpossible that they geeue place to vain thoughts In my oppinion and also by the aduyse of Apuleius it is as much folly to fly from that which wee cannot auoyd as to desire that wee cannot attain And this is spoken for those that woold flye the vyage of death which is necessary and desire to come agayn which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long ways if they want any thing they borow it of their company If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or els they write vnto their frends a letter But I am sory that if wee once dye they will not let vs return agayn wee cannot speak and they will not agree
hee speak not with his head aswell as wyth hys tongue nor that hee play not wyth his hands nor his feete nor that hee stroke hys beard nor wynk with his eyes for such fond countenaunces and gestures doo rather beecome a foole or iester then a ciuill or honest courtier And in his discourse with the Prince that hee exceede not in superfluous woords more then shall onely bee needefull and touching his matter and not to seeme in his presence to depraue or detract any man Hee may honestly allege and that without reproch the seruyce hee hath doon him but not to lay beefore him others faults and imperfections For at such a tyme it is not lawfull for him to speak yll of any man but onely to communicate wyth hym of his own affayrs And hee may not goe so farre also as to remēber him with too great affection the blood spent by his auncestors in hys seruyce nor the great acts of his parents for this onely woord sayd to the prince I did this better pleaseth and lyketh the Prince then to tell him a hundred other woords of that that hys predecessors had doone It pertayneth onely to women and they may iustly craue recompence of the prince for the lyues of their husbands lost in the princes warres but the valyaunt and woorthy courtier ought not to demaund recompence but for that hee only hath doon by persyng launce and bloody swoord Hee must beeware also that hee shew no countenaunce to the king of insatisfaccion neither to bee passioned in casting his seruice in the princes teeth saying all others haue been recompenced saue only him whom the Prince hath clean forgotten For princes will not that wee only serue them but that wee also at their willes and pleasures tary for recompence and not to haue it when wee gape or are importune for yt Howbeeit it is lawfull notwithstandyng humbly and lowly wythout cholor or passion to put the Prince in remembraunce of all that wee haue doone for him and of the long tyme wee haue spent in seruyng him Also the curious courtier shall not shew him self to dyslike at all of the prince neither by heaping of many woords to induce him to bere hym the better good will For mens harts are so prone to yll that for one only vnpleasaunt or ouerthwart woord spoken to them they lyghtly forgeat a thowsand seruyces doone them Socrates beeing one day demanded what hee thought of the princes of Greece aunswered There is no other difference beetwene the names and properties of the gods and that of princes but that the Gods were immortall and these mortall For these mortall princes vse in maner the lyke aucthority here in earth that the gods immortall doo in heauen aboue Saying further also that I alwayes was am and wil bee of that mynd that my mother Greece remayn a common weal. But since it is determined to bee gouerned by princely monarchie I wish them in all and for all to acknowledge their obedyence and allegeance to their king and soueraigne For when they woold otherwise vse it they may bee assured they shall not only goe against mortall princes but also against the eternall god Suetonius Tranquillus sayeth that Titus the emperor being aduertised that the consuls woold kill him and vsurp his empire aunswered thus wisely Euen as without the diuine will and prouidence I coold neuer haue possessed the imperiall crown so without their permission and sufferaunce it lyeth in no mans power to depriue mee of it For to vs men it pertaineth only to keepe the imperiall iurisdiccion and to the gods alone to geeue and defend it Which wee haue spoken to thend no man presume to bee reuenged of his prince neither in woord nor deede for to speak yll of hym wee shoold rather purchase vs their high indignation and displeasure then procure vs any cause or suggestion to bee reuenged of him Let the good courtier bee also aduysed that in talking with the prince hee bee not to obstinate to contend with the prince or any other in the princes presence For this name of arrogant and self willed beecommeth not the person of a wise courtier For wee know that in sport and argument euery man desireth to ouercome how tryfling so euer the matter bee And therefore wee read in the lyfe of the emperor Seuerus that Publius the consull iested one day with Fabritius his compagnion and told him hee was in loue Whom Fabritius aunswered I confesse it is a fault to bee in loue but yet it is a greater fault for thee to bee so obstinate as thou art For loue proceedeth of witt and discretion but obstinacy commeth of folly and great ygnoraunce Yf perchaunce the kyng ask the courtiers opinion in those matters they discoursed if hee know his opiniō to agree wyth the princes let him tell it him hardely but if it bee contrary let hym hold hys peace and not contend against him framyng some honest excuse to concele hys oppinon But if perhaps the king were obstinate and bent to his oppinion in any thing and that through his self will and obstinacy hee woold doo any thing vnreasonable or preiudiciall to his common wealth and that great detryment might come thereby yet for all this in such case the beeloued courtier shoold not at that instant bee to playn with hym to let hym vnderstand his error neyther yet shoold hee suffer him altogeether to passe hys way vntouched but in some fyne maner and proper woords as may beecome the place best to geeue him to vnderstand the troth But to vse it with more discretion hee shall not neede beefore them all to open hys whole mynd but to keepe his oppynion secrete expecting a more apter tyme when the kyng shall bee apart in his priuy chamber and then frankly to tell hym his hole mynd with all humylity and reuerence and to shew him the plaine troth wythout keeping any one thing from his knowledge For otherwyse in tellyng the kyng openly hee shoold make him ashamed and in dyssemblyng his fault also priuily hee shoold not bee admonished of hys error committed Now therefore let our conclusion bee that the courtier that proceeds in his matters rather with oppinion and obstinacy then discretion and iudgement shall neuer bee in fauor with the Prince nor yet beeloued in the court For it is as necessary for the courtier that will seeke the fauor of the prince and loue of the court to impose his tongue to sylence as it is to dyspose his body to all maner of seruyce I know there are some such rash vndiscreete and arrogant fooles that as much doo bost and reioice to haue spoken vndiscreetly to the king and without respect of his princely maiesty as if they had doon some maruelous thankfull seruice with whom truely no man ought to bee greatly offended for such fond bostes and vaunts as they make and much lesse also with that that happens to them afterward The courtier also must bee
well aduysed that albeeit the kyng for his pleasure doo priuely play wyth his hands or iest with his tong with the courtier and that hee take great pleasure in it yet that hee in no case presume to doo the lyke yea though hee were assured the kings maiesty woold take it well but let him modestly beehaue him self and shew by his woords and countenaunce that hee thinketh the prince dooth honor him in pleasing his maiesty to vse those pastymes and pleasant deuyses with so vnwoorthy a person as hee is For the prince may lawfully play and sport him self with his lords and gentlemen but so may not they again wyth him For so dooing they might bee counted very fond and lyght With a mans compagnions and coequals it is lawfull for euery man to bee mery and play with all But wyth the prince let no man so hardy once presume further more then to serue honor and obey him So that the wyse courtier must indeuor him self alwayes to come in fauor by his wisedom and courtly beehauiour in matters of weight and importaunce and by great modesty and grauity in things of sport and passe tyme. Therefore Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayth that Alcibiades amongst the Greekes a woorthy captayn and a man of hys own nature disposed to much myrth and pleasure beeing asked once by some of hys familiar frends why hee neuer laughed in theaters bankers and other common plays where hee was aunswered them thus Where others eat I fast where others take pain play I rest mee am quiet where other speak I am silent where they laugh I am curteous iest not For wise men are neuer knowen but among fooles and light persons When the courtier shall vnderstand or heere tell of pleasant things to bee laughed at let him in any case if he can fly frō those great laughters foolries that hee bee not perhaps moued too much with such toys to laugh to loud to clap his hands or to doo other gestures of the body or admirations to vehement accompanied rather with a rude and barbarous maner of beehauiour then wyth a cyuyll and modest noblenes For ouer great and excessiue laughter was neuer engendered of wisedome neither shall hee euer bee counted wyse of others that vseth it There are also an other sort of courtiers that speak so coldly and laugh so dryly and with so yl a grace that it were more pleasure to see them weepe then to laugh Also to nouel or to tell tales to delyght others and to make them laugh you must bee as brief as you can that you weary not comber not the auditory pleasant and not byting nor odyous Els it chaunceth oft times that wanting any of these condicions from iesting they come many tymes to good earnest Elius Spartianus in the lyfe of the Emperor Seuerus sayth that the said Emperor had in his court a pleasaunt foole and hee seeing the foole one day in his domps and cogitacions asked hym what hee ayled to bee so sadd The foole made aunswer I am deuysing with myself what I shoold doo to make thee mery And I swere to thee my lord Seuerus that for as much as I way thy lyfe deere possible I study more in the nights for the tales I shall tell thee in the morow after then doo thy Senators touching that they must decree on the next day And I tell thee further my lord Seuerus that to bee pleasaunt and delighting to the prince hee must neyther bee a very foole nor altogeether wyse But though hee bee a foole yet hee must smatter somewhat of a wise man and if hee bee wyse hee must take a lyttle of the foole for his pleasure And by these examples wee may gather that the courtier must needes haue a certein modesty and comely grace as well in speakyng as hee must haue a soft and sweete voice in singing There are also some in court that spare not to goe to noble mens bords to repast which beeing in deede the vnseemely grace it self yet in their woords and talk at the boord they woold seeme to haue a maruelous good grace wherein they are oft deceyued For if at tymes the Lords and gentlemen laugh at them it is not for any pleasure they take in their talk but for the yl grace and vncomly gestures they vse in their talke In the bankets and feasts courtyers make some tymes in the sommer there are very oft such men in theyr company that if the wyne they drank tooke theyr condition yt shoold bee drunk either colder or whotter then it is ¶ How the Courtier shoold beehaue him self to know and to visit the noble men and gentlemen that bee great with the Prince and continuing still in court Cap. vi THe courtier that cometh newly to the court to serue there must immediatly learn to know those that are in aucthority and fauor in the court that are the princes officers For if hee doo otherwise neither shoold hee bee acquainted with any noble man or gentleman or any other of the princes seruaunts neither woold they also geeue him place or let him in whē hee woold For wee bee not conuersant with him wee know not not beeing conuersant with him wee trust him not and distrusting him wee commit no secrets to him So that hee that will come in fauor in the court must make him self known bee frend to all in generall And hee must take heede that hee begin not to sodainly to bee a busy suter in his own priuate affairs or for his frend for so hee shal bee soone reputed for a busy soliciter rather then a wise courtier Therefore hee that wil purchase fauor and credite in the court must not bee to carefull to preferre mens causes and to entermedle in many matters For the nature of princes is rather to commit their affairs in the hands trust of graue and reposed men then to busy importunate soliters The courtier also may not bee negligent to visyt the prelates gentelmen and the fauored of the court nor to make any difference beetween the one the other and not onely to vysyt their parents and frends but his enemies also For the good courtier ought to endeuour him self the best hee can to accept all those for his frends at least that hee can not haue for parents and kinsfolks For amongst good and vertuous courtiers there should neuer bee such bloudy hate that they should therefore leaue one to company with an other and to bee courteous one to another Those that bee of base mynd doo shew their cankred harts by forbearing to speak but those that bee of noble blood valiaunt courage beegynne first to fight ere they leaue to speak togethers There is also an other sort of courtiers which beeing sometimes at the table of noble men or els where when they heare of some quarell or priuate dyspleasure they shew them selues in offer like fyerce lyons but if afterwards their help bee
you haue hitherto geeuen mee you will moderate your correction and punishment which after this I looke for that you wil geeue mee that you punish mee with pyty and not with vtter destruction and ruyn And yet hee added this furder to his woords Not without cause I coniure thee O fortune doo beeseech you immortal gods that you will punish mee fauorably but not to vndoo mee because I am assured that ouermuch felicity and prosperyty of this life is no more but a prediction and presage of a great calamity ill ensuyng happe Truely al the examples aboue recited are woorthy to bee noted to bee kept always beefore the eyes of our mynd sith by them wee come to know that in the prosperity of this our thrawled life there is litle to hope for much to bee afrayd of It is true wee are very frayle by nature since we are borne fraile wee liue frayl and dayly wee fall into a thowsand fraylties but yet notwithstanding wee are not so frayl but wee may if wee will resist vice And all this commeth onely because one sort of people foloweth an other but one reason seeldome foloweth an other If wee fall if wee stomble if wee bee sick if wee break our face are wee suer that seruing as wee doo the world that the world will recure remedy vs No sure it is not so For the remedy the world is woont to geeue to our troubles is euer notwithstanding greater trouble then the first So that they are like to searing yrons that burn the flesh and heale not the wound For the world is full of guile disceyt subtill to deciue but very slow to geeue vs remedy And this wee see plainly For if it perswade vs to reuenge any iniury receyued it dooth it only in reuenging of that to make vs receiue a thousand other iniuries And if sometimes wee think wee receiue some comfort of the world of our payns and troubles of the body it afterwards ouer lodeth our mynds with a sea of thoughts cogitacions So that this accursed and flattering world maketh vs beleeue and perswadeth vs the right perfyt way in the end wee are cast vnwares into the nettes of all wickednes priuily layd to snare vs. How great so euer a man bee in fauor with the kyng how noble of blood how fyne of wyt how ware so euer hee bee let euery man bee assured that practiseth in the world hee shall in the end bee deceyued by him For hee costeth vs very deere wee sell our selues to him good cheap I told you but litle to tell you wee sold our selues good cheap for I should haue sayd better in saying wee haue geeuen our selues in pray wholly to him without receiuing any other recompence And in deede they are very few and rare that haue any reward of him infinit are they that serue him without any other recompence more then a foolish and vayn hope O trayterous world in how short a time doost thou receiue vs and afterwards with a glimse of an eye sodeinly doost put vs from thee thou gladdest and makest vs sorofull thou callest vs to honor and abasest vs thou punishest vs doost vs a thousand pleasures And fynally I say thou doost make vs so vile and poysonest vs with thy vile labors that wythout thee wee are yet euer with thee and that that greeues vs woorst of all ys that hauing the theefe in the house wee goe out of the house to geeue him place and make him owner When the world knoweth one once that is proud and presumptuous hee procureth him honor to another that is couetous riches to an other that is a glutton good meats to an other that is carnall the commodity of women to an other that is idle quiet and ease all thys dooth the traterous world to the end that after as fysh whom hee hath fed hee may lose the net of sinne vpon vs to catch vs in If wee would resist the first temptacions the world offereth vs it is impossyble hee durst so many times assault vs. For to say truely by our small resistaunce increaseth his ouer great audacity I woold these louers of this world woold but tel mee a litle what reward or what hope they can hope of him why they should suffer so many incombers broiles and troubles as they doo To think the world can geeue vs perpetual life it is a mockry and extreame madnes to hope of it For wee see when life is most deere to vs and that wee are lothest to leaue the world then ariueth death in an vnhappy hower to swallow vs vp and to depriue vs of all thys worldly felicity To hope that the world will geeue vs assured mirth this ys also a madnes For the days excepted wee must lament the due hours allotted out to cōplain alas wee shal see a small surplus of time left to laugh and bee meery I can say no more but exhort euery man to looke well about him what hee dooth and that hee bee aduised what hee thinketh For when wee thynk and beleeue wee haue made peace with fortune euen then is shee in battell against vs. And I doo assuredly beleeue that that I now prepare my self to speak euen presently shal bee read of many but obserued of few and that is that I haue seene those come out of their own propre houses moorning lamenting that had spent and consumed all their time in laughing and making good cheere seruing this miserable world Which is but only a geeuer of al euels a ruyn of the good a heap of sinne a tyrant of vertues a traytor of peace and warre a sweete water of errors a riuer of vices a persecutor of the vertuous a combe of lyes a deuiser of nouelties a graue of the ignorant a cloke of the wicked an ouen of lechery and fynally a Caribdis where all good and noble harts doo perish and a right Silla where all noble desires and thoughts are cast away togeethers For it is most certayn that this worldling that is not content with this world and that leaueth his fyrst state and that taketh vppon him a new maner of life and chaungeth from house to house and contrey to contrey hee shall neuer notwithstanding content him self nor quyet his mynd And the cause heereof is that if a worldling depart out of his house neuer to come agayn into it there are yet at hand immediatly other tenne licentious persons that doo but watch to enter into his house Speaking more particulerly I say that in the court of prynces they account them happy and fortunat that bee in fauor with the prince that haue great affairs in court that bee rich and of power that bee serued and honored of euery man and that take place and goe beefore euery man So that it may bee sayd that the common people doo not call those fortunat that deserue to bee fortunate but onely those that haue
Gods wyll that the heire and heritage should perishe Marke what I saye I had two sonnes Comodus and the prince Verissimus the yonger is dead that was greatest in vertue Alway I imagined that whyle the good liued I should be poore and nowe that the euill remayneth I thinke to be riche I will tell thee the cause the Gods are so pitifull that to a poore father they neuer geue euill childe and to a ryche father they neuer geue a good childe And as in all prosperitie there chaunceth alwayes some sinister fortune either sone or late so therewith fortune doth arme and apparell vs wherein she seeth we shall fall to our greatest hurte And therefore the Gods permit that the couetous fathers in gathering with greate trauayle should die with that hurte to leaue their ryches to their vicious children I wepe as muche for my childe that the Gods haue left me as for him that they haue taken from me For the small estimation of him that lyueth maketh immortall memory of him that is dead The ill rest and conuersation of them that liue cause vs to sighe for the company of them that be dead The ill is alway desired for his ilnesse to be dead and the good alwaye meriteth to haue his death bewayled I saye my frende Catullus I thought to haue lost wy wytte when I sawe my sonne Verissimus die but I tooke comforte againe for either he of me or I of him must see the ende considering that the Gods did but lende him to me and gaue him not and howe they be inheritours I to haue the vse of the fruite For all thinges is measured by the iust wyll of the Gods and not by our inordinate wylles and appetites I thinke when they toke away from me my childe I restored him to another and not that they haue taken myne But sithe it is the wyll of the Gods to geue rest to the good childe and hurte the father because he is euill I yelde thankes to theim for the season that they haue suffered me to enioye his life and for the pacience that I haue taken for his death I desire them to mitigate therewith the chasticement of their yre And I desire sith they haue taken away the lyfe from this childe to plante good customes in the prince myne other sonne I knowe what heauinesse thou haste taken in Rome for my sorow I praye the Gods to sende thee ioy of thy children and that I may rewarde thee with some good pleasure for that thou hast wept for my payne My wyfe Faustine saluteth thee and truly thou wouldest haue had compassion to see her for she wepeth with her eies and sigheth with her harte and with her handes hurteth her selfe and curseth with her tongue She eateth nothing on the daye nor sleapeth in the night She loueth darkenes and abhorreth light and thereof I haue no marueyle for it is reason that for that was nourished in her entrayles she should fele sorowe at her hart And the loue of the mother is so strong that though her childe be dead and layed in graue yet alwayes she hath him quicke in her harte It is a general rule that the persone that is entierly beloued causeth euer great griefe at his death And as for me I passe the life right sorowfully though I shew a ioyfull face yet I want mirth at my harte And among wyse men being sorowful and shewing their faces mercy is none other thing but burying the quicke hauing no sepulture And I sweare by the Gods immortall I feele muche more than I haue saide And diuers times me thinke I should fall downe because I dare not wepe with myne eyes yet I fele it inwardly in my harte I would fayne common with thee in diuers thinges Come I praye thee to Briette to the entent that we may speake together And sithe it hath pleased the Gods to take my chylde fro me that I loued so well I would counsayle with thee that arte my louing frende But few dayes passed there came thither an Embassadour fro the Rhodes to whom I gaue the moste parte of my horses and fro the farthest parte of Spayne there were brought me eight of the which I send the foure I would they were such as might please ye. The gods be thy saulfegard send me my wife som coÌ„fort Marcus Aurelius right sorowfull hath written this with his owne hande ¶ A letter sent by Marcus Aurelius Emperour to Catullus Censoâ—ius of the newes which at that time were at Rome Cap. ix MArcus the new Censore to thee Catullus now aged sendeth salutations There are ten daies paste that in the temple of God Ianus I receiued thy letter And I take that same God to witnes that I had rather haue sene thy persone Thou desirest that my letters may be longe but the sshortnes of tyme maketh me to aunswere thee more briefly than I would Thou wyllest me to geue thee knowledge of the newes here Therto I anwere that it were better to demaunde if there were any thing remayning here in Rome or Italy that is olde For nowe by our euill destinies all that is good and olde is ended and newe thinges which be euil nowe begynne The Emperour the Consull the Tribune the Senatours the Ediles the Flamines the Pretours the Centurions all thinges be newe saue the veretues which be old We passe the time in making newe officers in deuisinge newe counsailes in raysing newe subsidies In suche wyse that there hath bene now mo nouelties within these foure yeres theÌ„ in time passed in .400 yeres We now assemble together .300 to couÌ„sel in the capitol and there we bragge and boste sweare and promise that we will exalte the vertuous and subdue the vitious fauour the right and not winke at the wrong punishe the euil and rewarde the good repayre olde and edefie new plucke vices vp by the rootes and to plant vertues to amend the olde and folow the good reproue tyrauntes and assist the poore and when that we are gone from thence they that spake beste wordes are often taken with the worst dedes Oh wicked Rome that now a daies hath such senatours which in sayinge we wil doe we wil doe passe their life and so euery man seking his owne profite forgetteth the weale publyke Oftentimes I am in the senate to behold others as they regard me I maruaile much to heare the eloquence of their wordes the zeale of iustice and the iustification of their persons and after that I come thence I am ashamed to see their secret extortions their damnable thoughtes and their il workes And yet ther is an other thing of more marueile not to be suffered that such persones as are most defamed and vse most wicked vices with their most damnable incencioÌ„s make their auowes to doe moste extreame iustice It is an infallible rule and of humain malice most vsed that he that is most hardy to coÌ„mit greatest crimes is most cruel to
accompte that we haue gotten that we hope to get Tel me what cōmeth of these vaine pleasures the time euil spent the fame in way of perdition the goodes cōsumed the credite lost the goddes offendeth the vertues sclaundered from whence we get the names of brute beastes and sir names of shame Suche be ye and others Thou writest in thy letter howe thou wouldest willingly leue Rome and come to see me in the warres of Dacia Considering thy folly I laugh but knowing thy boldnes I beleue thee And when I thinke on this I tourne to my bosome peruse thy seale doubting whether the letter were thyne or not The vaynes of my hart do chaunge my colour doeth tourne imagening that either shame hath vtterly forsaken thee or els grauitie hath wholy abandoned me for such lightnes should not be beleued but of the like persons Thou knowest wel he that doth euil deserueth punishment soner then he that doth infamy I would aske the whether thou wilt go thou suffredest to be cut as sower grape now thou woldest be sold for good wine thou camest in with cheries yet wouldest remain as quinces We haue eaten the in blossomes thou wilt be like the fruite the nuttes be pleasaunt but the shelles be hard By dong thou were made ripe in thy youthe thou wenest to be in stil Thou art nought els but rotten And if thou be rotten thou art to be abhorred Thou art not content with .xl. yeres which thou hast wherof xxv thou didest passe in tast like to swere wine that is sold or like the melōs that be rype melow Art not thou that Boemia which lacketh two teethe before are not thine eies sonken into thy head thy heares whiter thy fleashe wryncled thy hand perished with the gout one ribbee marred with child bearing Whether doest thou desire to go put thy selfe then in a barel cast it into the ryuer so shalt thou become pure white We haue eaten the fresh fish now thou wouldest bring hether the stinking salt fishe O Boemia Boemia in this case I see no trust in youthe nor hope in age For vnder this thy hored age there is hid the panges of fraile youth Thou cōplainest that thou hast nothing it is an olde quarell of the auncient amorous ladies in Rome that taking all thinges they say they haue left them nothing The cause therof is where you doe lacke credite there ye would haue it accomplished with money Beleue me louing frende the folish estate of vnlawfull gaming both geueth an vnsure state also an euill fame to the persone I knowe not howe thou art so wastful for if I pulled of my ringes with the one hande thou pickedst my purse with the other greater warres haddest thou then with my coffers then I haue now with my enemies I neuer had iewel but thou demaundedst of me thou neuer askedst me thing that I denied thee I find bewayle nowe in my age the high partes of my youth Of trauel pouertie thou complainest I am he that hath great nede of the medicine for this opilation plaisters for the sonne cold water for such a burning feuer Doest thou not wel remember how I did banish my necessitie into the land of forgetfulnes placed thy good wil for the request of my seruice in the winter I went naked in the sommer loded with clothes In the mire I went on foote rode in a faire way When I was sad I laught when I was glad I wept Being afraid I drew out my strength out of strēgth cowardnes The night with sighes daies in wayling I consumed When thou hadest nede of any thing I robbed my father for it Tel me Boemia with whom diddest thou fulfil thine open follies but with the misorders that I did in secret wote ye what I thinke of the amorous ladies in Rome that ye be mootes in olde garmentes a pastime for light persones a treasure of fooles the sepulcres of vices This that semeth to me is that in thy youth euery mā gaue to thee for that thou shouldest geue to euery one nowe thou geuest thy selfe to euery man because euery one should geue them to thee Thou tellest me that thou hast two sonnes lackest helpe for thē Geue thākes to the gods for the mercy they haue shewed thee To .xv. children of Fabritius my neighbour they gaue but one father to thine only two sonnes they haue geuē .xv. fathers Wherfore deuide them to their fathers euery one shal be wel prouided Lucia thy doughter in dede mine by suspect remēbre that I haue done more in marieng of her then thou diddest bringing her forth For in the getting of her thou callest many but to mary her I did it alone Very litle I wryte to the in respect of that I would wryte Butrio Cornely hath spoken much to me on thy behalf he shall say as much to the in my part It is long ago sithe I knew thy impacience I know wel thou wilt sende me another more malicious I pray the sence I write to the in secret discouer me not openly whē thou readest this remēbre what occasion thou hast geuen me to write thus Although we be fallen out yet I will sende the money I send the a gown the gods be with thee Boemia and sende me from this warre with peace Marke pretour in Daci to Boemia his louer auncient frend in Rome ¶ The aunswere of Boemia to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius Wherin is expressed the great malice and litle pacience of an euill woman Cap. xii BOemia thine aunciēt louer to thee Marke of mount Celio her natural enemy desireth vengeance of thy persone euill fortune duryng thy life I haue receiued thy letter therby perceiue thy spiteful intētes thy cruel malices Such naughty persons as thou art haue this priuiledge that sith one doth suffre your villanies in secrete you wil hurt thē openly but thou shalt not do so with me Marke Although I am not treasoresse of thy good yet at the least I am of thy naughtines Al that I cānot reuēge with my person I wil not spare to do it with my tongue And though we women for weakenes sake ar easely ouercom in persone yet knowe thou that our hartes are inuincible Thou saiest escaping from a battaile thou receiuedst my letter wherof thou wast sore agaste It is a common thing to them that be slouthfull to speake of loue for fooles to treat of bookes for cowards to blase of armes I say it because the answere of a letter was not nedeful to rehearse to a woman whether it was before the battaile or after I thinke wel thou hast escaped it for thou wert not the first that fought nor the last that fled I neuer saw that go to the warre in thy youth that euer I was feareful of thy life for knowing thy cowardlines I
keapyng their doughters I sweare that there was neyther grape nor cluster but it was either eaten or gathered by the. Thou diddest eate me grene for the which I promise the it hath set thy teeth on edge Thou sayest I was riped by power of heat and straw It greueth me not so much that thou saiest it as that thou geuest me occasion to say to the thy shame is so shamelesse and thy euil so malicious that I cannot make aunswere to thy purpose onlesse I rubbe the on the quycke I aske the when thou mariedst Faustine whether thou foundest them grene or ripe thou knowest wel and so do I also that other gaged the vessel and thou drankest the lyees other had the meate and thou the huskes other did eate them being grene and with the refuge set thy teath on edge O cursed Marke behold how great thy euels are and how the goddes haue iustly punished the that beinge yonge thou couldest not deserue to be beloued of thy louers nor yet now in thy age thy wife kepe her faith to the. For me to be reuenged of thy parson I nede no more but to se the maried to Faustine By the mother Berecinthia I promise the that if thy smal wisedome mighte attaine to know at the ful what they say of the and her in Rome thou wouldest wepe both day and night for the life of Faustine and not leaue the woful Boemia O Marke litle care is taken for the and how farre is our vnderstanding vncoupled from thy thoughtes For through thy great learninge thy house in the day tyme is a schole of philosophers and the wantonnes of thy wife Faustine in the night maketh it a receite of ruffians It is a iust iudgement of the goddes sith that thy malice onely sufficeth to poison many that be good the euilnes onely of one woman shal be enough to spoile and take away thy good renowm One difference ther is betwene the and me and thy Faustine which is that my facts are in suspect and yours done in deed mine be in secret but yours knowen openly I haue but stombled but you haue fallen For one onely fault I deserue punishment but you deserue pardon for none My dishonour dyed with my fact and is buried with my amendmēt but your infamy is borne with your desires nourished with your malices stil with your works Finally your infamy shal neuer dye for you liued neuer wel O Marke malicious with al that thou knowest dost not thou knowe that to dye wel doth couer an euil fame and to make an end of an euyl life doth begin a good fame Thou ceasest not to say euil onely of suspect which thy false iudgements geueth and yet wouldest thou we shold conceale that we se with our eyes Of one thing I am sure that neyther of the nor of Faustine ther are hath bene any false witnes For ther are so many true euilles that ther neadeth no lyes to be inuented Thou saiest it is an old custome with the amorous ladies in Rome though they take of many yet they are the porest of al because we want credite we are honored for siluer It is most certaine that of holly we loke for pricks of acorns huskes of nettels stinginge and of thy mouth malices I haue seriously noted I neuer heard the say wel of any nor I neuer knew any that would the good What greater punishmēt can I desire for thy wickednes nor more vengeaunce for my iniuries then to se al the amorous ladies of Rome discontented with thy life and ioy to thinke on thy death cursed is the man whose life many do bewaile and in whose death euery one doth reioyce It is the propertie of such vnthankeful wretches as thou art to forget the great good done to them to repent that litle they geue How muche the noble harts do reioyce in geuing to other so much they are ashamed to take seruice vnrewarded For in geuing they are lords in taking they become sclaues I aske what it is thou hast geuen me or what thou hast receiued of me I haue aduentured my good fame and geuen thee possession of my persone I haue made thee lord of me and mine I banished me from my countrey I haue put in perill my life In recompence of this thou dost detect me of misery Thou neuer gauest me ought with thy harte nor I toke it with good will nor it euer did me profite As all thinges recouer a name not for the worke we openly see but for the secrete intention with which we worke Euen so thou vnhappy man desirest me not to enioye my parsonne but rather to haue my money We ought not to call thee a cleare louer but rather a thefe a wily persone I had a litle ring of thine I minde to throwe it into the riuer a gowne thou gauest me which I haue burnt And if I thought my body were increased with the bread I did eate of thine I would cut my fleshe being whole let out my bloud without feare O malicious Marke thy obscured malice wyl not suffer thee to vnderstande my cleare letter For I sent not to thee to aske money to relieue my pouertie and solitarines but only to acknowledge satisfie my willing hart Such vayne couetous men as thou are cōtented with giftes but the hartes incarnate in loue are not satisfied with a litle money For loue is rewarded alway with loue The man that loueth not as a mā of reason but like a brute beast the woman that loueth not where she is beloued but onely for the gaine of her body such ought not to be credited in wordes nor their persones to be honored For the loue of her endes when goods faileth and his loue when her beautie decaieth If the beautie of my face did procure thy loue they riches only allured my good wyl it is right that we should not be called wyse louers but rather folishe persons O cursed Marke I neuer loued thee for thy goodes although thou likedst me for that I was faire Then I loued with my hart now I abhorre thee with all my hart Thou saiest the gods vsed great pitie on me to geue me fewe children them many fathers The greatest faulte in women is shameles the greatest villany in men is to be euill sayers Diuers thinges ought to be borne in the weakenes of women which in the wisedome of men are not permitted I say this for that I neuer saw in the tēperance to cloke thine own maliciousnes nor wisedome to shadow the debilitie of others Thou saiest my children haue many fathers but I sweare to thee that the children of Faustine shal not be fatherles although thou die And if the gods as thou saiest haue ben pitifull to my childrē no lesse art thou to straunge children For Faustine kepeth the but to excuse her faultes to be tutor to her children O cursed Marke thou nedest not take thought for
merite The contrary ought and may be saied of those whych are euill maried whom we wil not cal a compaigny of sayntes but rather a house of deuylles For the wife that hath an euil husbande may say she hath a deuyl in her house and the husband that hath an euil wife let him make accompt that he hath hel it selfe in his house For the euyl wyues are worse then the infernal furyes Because in hel ther are none tormented but the euil only but the euil woman tormeÌ„teth both the good and the euyl Concluding therfore this matter I say also and affirme that betwixt the busband and the wife which are wel maryed is the true and very loue and they only and no others may be called perfite and perpetuall frendes The other parentes and frendes if they do loue and praise vs in our presence they hate vs and dispise vs in our absence Yf they giue vs faire wordes they beare vs euill hartes finally they loue vs in our prosperitye and forsake vs in our aduersity but it is not so amongest the noble and vertuous maried personnes For they loue both within and without the house in prosperity and in aduersitie in pouertie and in riches in absence and in presence seing them selues mery and perceiuing them selues sad and if they do it not trulye they ought to doo it for when the husband is troubled in his foote the wyfe ought to be greued at her hart The fourth commodity of mariage is that the men and women maryed haue more aucthority and grauity then the others The lawes whych were made in old time in the fauour of mariage were many and diuerse For Chapharoneus in the lawes that he gaue to the Egiptians commaunded and ordeyned vpon greuous paynes that the man that was not maried should not haue any office of gouernment in the common wealth And he sayd furder that he that hath not learned to gouerne his house can euil gouerne a commoÌ„ wealth Accordyng to the lawes that he gaue to the Athenians he perswaded al those of the comon wealth to marie themselues voluntarily but to the heddes and captaines which gouerne the affaires of warre he commaunded to marye of necessity sayeng that to men which are lecherous God seldome giueth victories Licurgus the renowmed gouernour and geuer of the lawes of the Lacedemonians commaunded that al captaines of the armyes and the priestes of the Temples should be maried sayeng that the sacrifyces of maried men were more acceptable to the gods then those of any other As Plynie sayth in an epistle that he sent to Falconius his frende rebuking him for that he was not maried where he declareth that the Romaynes in old time had a law that the dictatoure and the Pretor the Censour and the Questor and al the knightes should of necessity be maried for the man that hath not a wife and children legittymate in his house cannot haue nor hold greate aucthority in the common wealth Plutarche in the booke that he made of the prayse of mariage sayth that the priestes of the Romaynes dyd not agre to them that were vnmaried to come and sytte downe in the Temples so that the yong maydens prayed without at the church dore and the yonge men prayed on their knees in the temple only the maried men were permitted to sitte or stande Plynie in an epistle that he wrote to Fabatus hys father in law sayth that the Emperour Augustus had a custome that he neuer suffered any yonge man in his presence to sitte nor permitted any man maried to tel his tale on foote Plutarche in the booke that he made in the prayse of women sayth that since the realme of Corinthe was peopled more with Bachelours then with maried men they ordeyned amongest theym that the man or woman that had not bene maried and also that had not kept chyldren and house if they lyued after a certaine age after their death shoulde not be buried ¶ The aucthoure folowing his purpose declareth that by meanes of maryage many mortal enemyes haue bene made good and parfite frendes Cap. iii. BY the sundry examples that we haue declared and by al that whych remayneth to declare a man may know wel enoughe of what excellency matrimony is not only for the charge of conscience but also for the thinges touching honour for to say the truth the men that in the common wealth are maried giue smal occasion to be sclaundered haue more cause to be honored We cannot denay but that matrimony is troublesome chargeable to them that be maried for two causes The one is in bringing vp their children and the other in suffering the importunityes of their mothers Yet in fiâ—e we caÌ„not deny but that the good vertuous wife is she that setteth a stay in the house and kepeth her husband in estimacion in the common wealth for in the publike affaires they giue more faith and credit vnto those that are charged with children then vnto others that are loden with yeres The fifth commodity that ensueth matrimony is the peace and reconciliacions that are made betwene the enemyes by meanes of mariage MeÌ„ in this age are so couetous so importune and malicious that there are very few but haue enemyes wherby groweth contencion and debate for by our weaknes we fall dayly into a thousande occasions of enimities and scarcely we can find one to bring vs againe into frendship CoÌ„sidering what men desire what thinges they procure and wherunto they aspire I meruaile not that they haue so few frendes but I much muse that they haue no moe enemyes For in thinges of weight they marke not who haue bene their frendes they consider not they are their neighbours neyther they regard that they are christians but their conscience layd a part and honesty set a side euery man seketh for himselfe and his owne affaires though it be to the preiudice of all his neighbours What frendship can ther be amongest proud men since the one wil go before and the other disdayneth to come behind What frendship can ther be amongest enuyous men â–ª since the one purchasseth and the other possesseth what loue can there be betwene two couetous men since the one dare not spend and the other is neuer satisfyed to hourd and heape vp For al that we can reade se go and trauaile and for al that we may do we shall neuer se nor here tell of men that haue lacked enemyes for eyther they be vycious or vertuous Yf they be euil and vycious they are alwayes hated of the good and if they be good and vertuous they are continually persecuted of the euill Many of the auncient philosophers spent a great part of their time lost much of their goodes to serche for remedies and meanes to reconcile them that were at debate contencion to make them by gentlenes good frends and louers Some said that it was good and profitable to forget the enimities for a time for many things