him afraide in the night And Xerxes which was the sonne of kyng Darius when he passed into Italye to wage battaile before all other thinges he sente fower thousand horsemen to Delphos wher the Temple of God Apollo was to beate it downe for the pryde of Xerxes was so great that he would not onlye subdue men but also conquere the gods It chaunsed that euen as they approched nere the Temple to beat it downe a sodaine tempest fell vpon them so that with stones and thunder boltes they were al killed in the fields and so dyed Brennus was one of the renowmed Captaines of the Gothes who sithe he had conquered and subdued the Greekes determined also to robbe the treasours of the temples saying that gods should gyue vnto men and not men vnto gods and that it was greate honoure to the goddes that with their goodes men should be made riche But as they beganne to robbe the Temple there fell a multitude of arrowes from heauen that the Captaine Brennus dyed there and all his men with him not one left alyue After that Sextus Pompeius was vanquished in the battaile by sea neare vnto Scicile by Octavus Angustus he retired him selfe into the Arkes Lacinii where there was an auncient Temple consecrated to the godesse Iuno endewed with maruelous treasours And it chaunsed one day that his souldyers asking him money and he beinge then withoute he commaunded theym to beate downe the Temple of the goddesse Iuno and to paye them selues with the spoile of her treasure The historiographers saye that within a whyle after it chaunsed Sextus Pompeius to be taken of the knightes of Marcus Antonius and when he was broughte before Titus generall of the armye he spake vnto him these woordes I wil thou know Sextus Pompeius I do not condemne the to dye for thoffences thou hast committed against my Lord Marcus Antonius But because thou hast robbed and beaten downe the Temple of the Goddesse Iuno For thou knowest that the good Captaynes oughte to forget the offences against men and to reuenge the iniuryes done vnto the Goddes ¶ How Valentine the Emperoure because he was an euyll Chrystian loste in one day both the Empire and his lyfe and was burned alyue in a shepecote Cap. xxiiii WHen Iulian the Apostate was Emperour of Rome he sente to conquere Hongarie of no iust title hee had to it more then of Ambicion to vnite it to the Romaine Empire For tyrannous princes vse all their force to vsurpe others realmes by crueltye and lytle regard whether they maye do it by iustice And because the Romaine Empire was of great force this Ambicious Emperour Iulian had in that warres a mighty and puysant Armie which did wonderfull muche harme throughe al the countryes they came For the fruites of warres is to bereue the enemyes of lyfe and to spoyle the men of their goodes It chaunsed one day as 5 knyghtes wente out of the campe to make a rode they found a young man that caried a halter in hys hande and as they would haue taken it awaye from hym to haue tyed their horses to let them feede he was so hardy and stout that he defended hym selfe from them all so that he had more strength alone then they fyue altogethers The Romayne knyghtes amazed to see this younge man defend hym selfe from them all so stoutly very instauntly desired him to go to the Romaine campe with them and they promised him he should haue great interteynment For the Romaines were so dyligent that they woulde omit no good thinge for want of money so that it wer for the publike weale This yonge man was called Gracian and was borne and brought vp in the country of Pannonia in a citie they called Cibata his lynage was not of the lowest sort of the people nor yet of the most estemed Citizens but were men that lyued by the swete of their browes and in loue of the common people And truly it is no small benefite that God had made him of a meane estate for to be of base linage maketh men to be despised and not regarded and to come of a noble bloud and high synage maketh men to be proud and lofty This yonge man being come into the Romaynes campe the fame was immediatly spred how that he alone had vanquished fiue knyghtes And his strength and courage was so highely estemed that wythin a while after he was made Pretour of the armie For the Romaynes not according to fauour but according to the habilytie of men deuyded the offices and degrees of honoure in warres Tyme therfore working his nature and manye estates beinge decayed after thys yonge Gracian was made Pretour of the armye and that he was sufficiently tryed in the warres fortune which many times bringeth that to passe in a day that mans malyce cannot in many yeres raised this Gracian to be Emperoure of Rome For trulye one hower of good successe is more worthe thenne al worldly fauour This Gracian was not onlye singuler in strengthe couragious in battaile fortunate in all his affaires but also he was luckye of children That is to wete he had two sonnes which were Emperours of Rome the one was called Valente the other Valentinian In this case the children mighte glorye to haue a father so stout but the glorie of the father is greater to haue sonnes of such nobilytie For there is no greater felicitie in this world then duringe life to come to honour and riches after death to leaue good children to enioy them The eldest of the two sonnes was the Emperour Valente who ruled in the Orient for the space of .iiii. yeres was the xxxix Emperour of Rome from Iulius Cesar though some do beginne at the time of Octauian sayeng that he was vertuous and that Iulius Cesar vsurped the Empire lyke a tiraunt This Valente was beautifull of personne but poore of vertues so that he was more beautifull thenne vertuous more couragious thenne mercifull more riche thenne charitable more cruell then pitefull For there are manye Princes that are verye expert to deuise newe orders in a common wealthe but there are few that haue stoute hartes to put the same in execution In those dayes the sect of Arrian the cursed heretike florished and the Emperour Valente was greatly blinded therin in somuch that he did not only fauour the Arrians but also he persecuted the Christiās which was shewed for somuch as he killed caused to be killed for that occasiō many lay men toke many clerkes banished many Bishopps ouerthrew many Churches robbed the goods of the Chrishiās dyd infinite other mischeues in the comcomon wealth For the prince whych is infected wyth heresy liueth without feare of the Church ther is neyther mischiefe nor treasō but he wil comit In the desertes of Egipte in the mountaynes of Armenia and in the cityes of Alexandrie there was a greate multitude of fryers and relygious men amongest whom were many wise men and pure
wisest but these of our daies cōtend who shal be fairest For at this day the ladies would chose rather to haue the face adorned with beautie then the heart endued with wisedome The auncient ladies contented which should be better able to teache others but these ladies nowe a daies contend how they may moste finely apparel them selues For in these daies they geue more honour to a woman richely appareled then they geue to an other with honestie beautified Finally with this worde I doe conclude and let him marke that shall reade it that in the olde time women were such that their vertues caused al men to kepe silence and now their vices be such that they cōpell al men to speake I will not by this my word any man should be so bolde in generally to speake euil of all the ladies for in this case I sweare that there are not at this day so many good vertuous women in the world but that I haue more enuy at the life they lead in secreat then at al the sciences whiche the auncient women red in publike Wherfore my pen doth not shewe it selfe extreme but to those which onely in sumptuous apparell and in vayne wordes do consume their whole lyfe and to those whiche in readyng a good boke wold not spend one only houre To proue my intencion of that I haue spoken the aboue written suffiseth But to the ende princesses and great ladies maye se at the lest howe muche better it shal be for them to know litel then to haue and possesse much and to be able to do more I will remembre thē of that whych a Romaine woman wrate to her children wherby they shal perceyue how eloquent a woman she was in her sayinges and how true a mother in her counsel For in the end of her letter she perswadeth her children to the trauailes of the warre not for any other cause but to auoyd the pleasures of Rome Of the worthines of the ladye Cornelia and of a notable epistle she wrote to her .ii. sonnes which serued in the warres Tyberius and Caius diswadyng them from the pleasures of rome and exorting them to endure the trauailes of warre Chap. xxxi ANnius Rusticus in the boke of the antiquities of the Romaines saith that in Rome ther wer .v. principal linages that is to wete Fabritij Torquatij Brutij Fabij and Cornelij thoughe there were in Rome other newe linages wherof ther were many excellent personages yet alwayes these which came of the .v. linages were kept placed and preferred to the first offices of the common wealth For Rome honored those that were present in such sort that it was without the preiudice of those that are gone Amongest those .v. linages the romaines alwayes counted the Cornelij most fortunat the which were so hardy and couragious in fight and so modest in lyfe that of theyr familie there was neuer found any cowardly man in the feld nor any defamed woman in the towne They saye of this linage of the Cornelij amonge many other there were .iiii. singular and notable women among the whiche the chiefe was the mother of Gracchi whose name was Cornelia and liued with more honour for the sciences she red in Rome then for the conquestes that her children had in Affricke Before her children wer brought into the empire they talked of none other thing but of their strēgth hardines throughout all the worlde and therfore a Romaine one daye asked this woman Cornelia wherof she toke most vaine glory to se her selfe mistres of so many disciples or mother of so valiant children The lady Cornelia aunswered I doe esteme the science more whiche I haue learned then the Children whyche I haue brought forth For in the end the children kepe in honour the lyfe but the disciples continue the renowne after the death And she sayd further I am assured that the disciples dayly will waxe better and better and it maye bee that my Children wil waxe worse and worse The desyres of yong men are so variable that they daily haue newe inuentions With one accord all the wryters do greatly commende this woman Cornelia inespecially for being wyse and honest and furthermore bycause shee red philosophy in Rome openlye And therfore after her death they set vp in Rome a Statue ouer the gate Salaria whereupon there was grauen this Epigrame This heape of earth Cornelie doth encloose Of wretched Gracches that loe the mother was Twyse happye in the sckollers that she choose Vnhappye thrise in the ofspringe that she has AMong the latines Cicero was the Prince of al the Romaine rethorike and the chiefest with his pen inditing of Epystles yet they say that he did not only se the writinges of this Cornelia but red them and did not onely read them but also with the sentences therof profited him selfe And hereof a man ought not to meruaile for there is no man in the world so wise of him selfe but may furder his doynges with the aduice of another Cicero so highly exalted these writinges that he said in his rethorike these or such other like wordes If the name of a woman had not bleamyshed Cornelia truly she deserued to be head of all philosophers For I neuer sawe so graue sentences procede from so fraile flesh Since Cicero spake these wordes of Cornelia it can not be but that the writinges of such a woman in her time were very liuely and of great reputacion yet notwithstāding there is no memory of her but that an author for his purpose declareth an epistel of this maner Sextus Cheronensis in his booke of the prayse of women reciteth the letter whiche she sente to her children She remaynyng in Rome and they beyng at the warres in Affrike The letter of Cornelia to her .ii. sonnes Tiberius and Caius otherwise called Gracchi COrnelia the Romaine that by thy fathers side am of the Cornelij one the mother syde of the Fabij to you my .ii. sonnes Gracchii which are in that warres of Affrik such health to you do wish as a mother to her childrē ought to desire Ye haue vnderstode right well my children how my father died I being but .iii. yeres of age and that this .xxii. yeares I haue remained wydow and that this .xx. yeares I haue red Rethorike in Rome It is .vii. yeres sins I sawe ye and .xii. yeares sins your bretherne my children dyed in the great plage You know .viii. yeres ar past since I left my study and came to se you in Cicilia bycause you should not forsake the warres to come se me in rome for to me could come no greater paine thē to se you absent from the seruice of the common welth I desire my children to shew you how I haue passed my life in labour trauaill to the intent you should not desire to spēd youres in rest and idlenes For if to me that am in rome there can want no trobles be ye assured that vnto you which are in the warres shall
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
wynne as your fathers did All their exercyse was in goodnes and ye that are their chyldren passe all your tyme in ceremonies I saye this ye Romaines because ye haue almoste killed me with laughing at you to see how ye doe all as muche your diligence to leaue your armure without the gate of the Senate as your predecessours did take to them to defende the Empire What profite is it to you to leaue of these armours which hurte the bodies and to put on them those which slea al the world What profiteth it to the careful suiter that the senatour entreth vnarmed into the senate without sweard or dagger his hart entreth into the senate armed with malice O Romains I wil ye know that in our ysle we esteme you not as armed captaines but as malicious senatours You feare vs not with sharpe grounden swoordes and daggers but with hard hartes venemous tongues If ye should in the senate put on harneis therwith take away your liues it were but a small losse seing that ye susteine not the innocentes nor dispatche not the businesse of suiters I can not suffer it I can not tell in what state ye stande here at Rome for in our isle we take armoure from fooles whether your armoures are taken away as from fooles or mad folkes I wot not If it be done for ambitiousnes it cometh not of Romaines but of tyrauntes that wranglers and ireful folke should be iudges ouer the peacible the ambicions ouer the meke the malicious ouer the simple If it be done because ye be fooles it is not in the lawes of the gods that three hundred fooles should gouerne three hundred thousand wise men It is a long season that I haue taried for mine aunswere and licence by your delaies I am nowe farther of then I was the first day We bring oyle hony saffron wood and timber salte siluer And sold out of our ysle into Rome ye wyl that we go els where to seke iustice Ye wil haue one lawe to gather your rentes and another to determine our iustice Ye wyl that we pay our tributes in one day ye wil not discharge one of our errandes in a whole yeare I require you Romaines determine your selues to take away our liues and so we shall ende or els heare our cōplaintes to the entent that we may serue you For in another maner it may be that ye know by hearing with your eares which peraduēture ye would not see with your eyes And if ye thinke my wordes be out of measure so that ye wyl remedy my countrey I set not by my lyfe And thus I make an ende Verely frende Catullus these be the woordes that he spake to the senate which I gate in wryting I say of trouth that the hardinesse that the Romaines were wont to haue in other countreis the same as now straungers haue in Rome There were that saide that this Embassadour should be punished but God forbid that for sayinge trouth in my presence he shoulde haue bene corrected It is enough to much to to suffer these euils though we slea not and persecute those that aduertise and warne vs of them The shepe are not in sucrtie of the wolfe but if the shepehearde haue his dogge with him I meane dogges ought not to leaue barkinge for to awake the shepeherdes There is no God commaundeth nor lawe counsayleth nor cōmon wealth suffereth that they whiche are committed to chastice lyers should hange them that saye trouthe And sithe the senatours shewe them selues men in their liuing and sometime more humaine than other that be Sclaues who els should deliuer theim from chasticement Oh Rome and no Rome hauing nothing but the name of Rome where is nowe become the noblenesse of thy triumphes the glory of thy children the rectitude of thy iustice and the honour of thy temples For as now they chastice him more that murmureth against one only senatour thā thei do them that blaspheme al the gods at once For it greueth me more to se a senatour or cēsore to be worst of al other than it displeaseth me that it should be said that he is the best of all other For of a trouth I saye to thee my frende Catullus that as nowe we nede not to seke to the Gods in the temples for the Senatours are made gods in our handes There is difference betwene them that be immortall and they that be mortall For the Gods neuer doe thing that is euill and the Senatours doe neuer any thinge well The Gods neuer lye and they neuer saye trouthe The gods pardon often and they neuer forgeue The gods are content to be honoured fiue times in the yeare and the Senatours would be honoured ten times a daye What wilt thou that I saye more but what so euer the Gods doe they ought to be praysed and the Senatours in all their workes deserue to be reproued Finally I conclude that the Gods are constant in euery thing and erre and faile in nothing and the Senatours assure nothing but erre in all thing Onely in one thing the Senatours are not of reason to be chasticed and that is when they intende not to amende their faultes they will not suffer the Oratours to wast their time to shewe them the trouth Be it as may be I am of the opinion that what man or woman withdraweth their eares from hearing of trouth impossible it is for them to applie their hartes to loue any vertues be it Censore that iudgeth or Senanatour that ordeineth or Emperour that commaundeth or Consul that executeth or Oratour that preacheth No mortall man take he neuer so good heede to his workes nor reason so well in his desires but that he deserueth some chasticement for some cause or counsayle in his doinges And sithe I haue written to thee thus of others I wyl somewhat speake of my selfe because of the words of thy letter I haue gathered that thou desirest to know of my persone Knowe thou for certaine that in the kalendes of Ianuary I was made Censore in the senate the which office I desired not nor I haue not deserued it The opinion of al wyse men is that no man without he lack witte or surmounteth in folly wil gladly take on him the burdein charges of other men A greater case it is for a shamefast man to take on him an office to please euery man for he must shewe a countenaunce outwarde contrary to that he thinketh inward Thou wilt say that the good are ordeined to take the charge of offices O vnhappy Rome that hath willed to take me in such wyse as to be the best in it Greuous pestilence ought to come for thē that be good sithe I am scaped as good amonge the euill I haue accepted this office not for that I had nede thereof but to fulfil the cōmaundement of Antonius my graundfather Haue no marueile of any thing that I do but of that I leaue to be done
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
In this case lette no manne saye I am excepted for vntyll thys daye there hath noo Prynce nor Knyghte beene seene but hathe trauayled vnder thys yooke I warne and praye and importunatelye requyre you all that you be loyall and faythefull seruauntes to the ende you may deserue to haue louing Lords For generally the prince that is wicked causeth his subiects to rebel the sedicious subiect maketh his lord to become a tiraunt It is a great thing to the people that their Princes be good or euil For there are no Princes so stable nor so temperate that alwayes will dissemble the euil nor there is no gouernor so very a tyraunte but sometimes wil acknowledge the good Oftimes god suffereth that ther be Emperours in the Empire kinges in realmes and gouernors in the prouinces Lordes in the cities and prelates in the churches not al only as that common wealth desireth nor as the good gouernmente requyreth but as the offence of the multitude deserueth For now a dayes we se many the haue the charge of soules in the church which deserue not kepe the sheape in the field That to be true plainly it doth appeare For such do not gouerne but disorder they do not defend but offend they do not resist the enemyes but ingage sel the innocent they are no iudges but tirannes they are not gentil pastores but cruel hangmen they are not incre asers of the common wealthe but distroyers of iustice they are not ordeynors of lawes but inuentors of trybutes their hartes wake not to good but to inuent and worke al mischefe and finally God sendeth vs such prelates and gouernors not for that they shoulde be mynisters of his lawes but for that they should be scourges for oure offences ¶ That in a publike weale there is no greater destruction then where princes dayly consent to new orders and chaunge olde customes Cap. xxix IN the first booke of the Kinges the viii Chapter of the holye and sacred scripture is sayde that Samuel when he was old in his steade placed his two sonnes to gouerne the people whose names were Iohel and Abiah for that naturally the fathers are desirous to aduaunce their children to honor The sonnes of Samuell were residente and helde the iudgemente in the citye of Beersheba whyche was the fortheste parte of Iudea and the olde Samuel wente to dwell in the citie Ramah The honorable and moste aunciente menne amonge the people of Ierusalem assembled togither and decreed to send Embassadors to Samuel which should be the wisest men of all the Sinagoge For the auncientes in those dayes were so circumspect that they neuer committed any affayres of the common wealthe into the handes of yonge men The auncientes then being arriued at Ramah spake these wordes vnto Samuel Samuel thou art now old and for thy yeres thou canst not gouerne the people therfore thou lyke a pytefull father hast committed the gouernmente of the people into the handes of thy children Wherfore we let the know in this case that thy children are couetous First they do receiue brybes of the suters And secondarilye they do great iniurie to the people Therfore we are come to require the to giue vnto vs a king that may gouerne vs and that might leade vs in battaile For we wil no more iudges to iudge vs but kinges for to gouerne vs. The aged Samuel hearinge the imbassage was ashamed of that the auncientes of Iudea had told him First seing his children to be euill Secondarily because they would take their offices from them And truly herein Samuell had iust occasion both to be ashamed also sorye For the vyces wickednes of the yong children are swords that passe throughe the hartes of the old and aunciente fathers Samuel seing that the Hebrues were determined to depriue theym of their office and gouernement of the people had none other remedye but euen to make his mone to god of his griefe god hearing his complaintes said vnto him Samuel be not sad nor lament not for their demaunding a kinge as they do they do not mislike thy parson but they dispraise my prouydence maruel not though they forsake thy children for they are somwhat to yong sith they haue forsaken me their god worship false idolles Syth they demaund a king I haue determined to giue them one but first tel tow thē the cōdicions of the king which are these The king whom I wil geue you shall take your chyldren with your chariottes beastes shal sende them loden with burdens And yet therwith not contented he shall make your children postes by the wayes tribunes cēturions in his battailes shal make them laborers and gardyners in his gardins he shal make them sowe his sedes past his bread and furbishe his harnes and armour You shal haue besides delicate tender doughters the which you shal litle enioy for the king that I wil geue you shal commaund them to kepe attend those that are wounded in the warres he shal make them cookes in his pallace and caters of his expences The king that I wil geue you if he hādel your sonnes and doughters euil much worse he wil handle your goods For on the beastes fertile feldes that you haue his herd shal fede he shal gather the best grapes of your vines he shall chose of your oliue trees the best olyues oyles and if anye fruit afterwards remaine in your feilds he wil they shal be gathered not by you but of his workemen afterwards the king that I wil geue you shal oppresse you much more For of euery pecke of corne you shal geue him one of tenne shepe you must nedes geue him one so that of al things which you shal gather against your wylles you shal giue the tenth of your slaues the king shal be serued soner then you and he shal take al your Oxen that labour and trauaile in your owne possessions shal bring them to ploughe in his owne ground and tenements So that you shal pay tribute and the king shal take his owne profite for the wealth and commoditie of his pallace And al thys which I haue rehersed before the King shal haue whom I wil geue you The historye which here I haue declared is not Ouide neither yet the Eglogges of Virgil ne yet the fayninge of Homer but it is the sentence the very worde of god O mortal ignoraunce that we demaund and know not why nor wherfore to whom nor wher neyther when we demaund which causeth vs to fall into sondry errors For few men are so wise that they offend not in chosing that they can aske with reason The Hebrues asked as they thinke the better and god geueth them the worse they aske one to gouerne them and god gyueth them a Tiraunt to destroy them they aske one that should maintayne them in iustice and he threatneth them with tiranny they require one that should geue them
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
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
but for the residue it is a greuous burden and painfull office The like matter came to Ptolomeâ—s king of Egipt of whom the queene his wife did greatly complaine Admitte that all the Grekes haue bene estemed to be very wyse amongest all those the Athenians were estemed of most excellent vertue for the sages that gouerned the common wealth remained in Athens with the philosophers which taught the sciences The sages of Athens ordeined that all the neighbours and inhabitauntes might kepe twoo lawful wiues furthermore vpon paine of greuous punishmentes did coÌ„maunde that none shuld presume nor be so hardie to maintaine any concubine for they sayde when men haunte the companie of light women commonly they misuse their lawfull wiues As Plutarche saith in his politiques the cause why the Grekes made this lawe was considering that man coulde not nor ought not to liue without the company of a womaÌ„ and therfore they wold that man shuld mary with two wiues For if the one were diseased and lay in yet the other might serue in bedde wayte at the table and doe other busynes in the house Those of Athens had an other great respect and consideration to make this lawe which was this that if it chaunced the one to be barrayne the other should brynge foorth chyldren in the common wealthe and in suche case she that brought forth children should be estemed for maistres and the other that was barraine should be taken for a seruaunt WheÌ„ this law was made Socrates was married with Xantippa and to accomplish the lawe he toke an other called Mitra whiche was the doughter of the philosopher Aristides and sithe those two women had great quarrels debates together and that thereby they slaundered their neighbours Socrates sayde vnto them My wyues you see righte well that my eyes are holowe my legges are wythered my handes are wryncled my head is balde the body is litle and the heares are whyte why doe ye then that are so faire stand in coÌ„tention and strife for me that am so defourmed though Socrates sayde these wordes as it were in ieste yet suche woordes were occasion that the quarrelles and strifes betwene them ceased The Lacedemonians that in tyme of peace and warre were alwayes contrarie to the Athenians obserued it for an inuiolate lawe not that one man should mary with twoo wyues but that one woman should mary with twoo husbandes and the reason was that when one husbande should go to the warres the other should tary at home For they sayde that a man in no wyse should agree to leaue his wife alone in the common wealth Plinie wryting an Epistle to his frende Locratius and saint Hyerome wryting to a friere called Rusticus saieth that the Athenians dyd vse to marie the bretherne with the sisters but they did not permitte the Auntes to marie with their nephewes neither the vncles with their neices For they saide that brothers and sisters to marye togethers was to marye with their semblable but for vncles to marye nieces and auntes with nephewes was as of fathers to doughters of mothers to sonnes Melciades whiche was a man of great renowne amongest the Gretians had a sonne called Cymonius who was maried to his syster called Pinicea and beinge demaunded of one why he toke his sister in mariage he aunswered my syster is fayre sage ryche and made to my appetite and her father and myne dyd recommaund her vnto me and since by the commaundement of the Gods a man ought to accomplishe the behestes and requestes of fathers I haue determined since nature hath geuen her me for my syster willingly to take her for my lawfull wyfe Diodorus Siculus sayth that before the Egiptians receiued any lawes euery man had as many wyues as he would and this was at the libertie of both parties for as muche as if she would go she went liberally and forsooke the man and likewise he left her when she displeased him For they saide that it was impossible for men and women to liue long togethers without muche trouble contentions and brawles Diodorus Siculus said one thing speaking of this matter that I neuer red in any booke nor heard of the auncientes paste whiche was that amongest the Egiptians there was no difference in children for they accoÌ„pted them all legittimate though they were children of slaues For they saide that the principall doer of the generation was the father and not the mother and that therefore the children whiche were borne among them toke only the fleshe of the mother but they did inherite the honour and dignitie of the parte of the father Iulius Caesar in his commentaries saieth that in great Britaine called nowe Englande the Britons had an vse that one woman was maried vnto fiue men the which beastlines is not redde to haue bene in any nation of times paste for if it be sclaunder for one man to haue diuers wyues why shoulde it not also be a sclanderous and shamefull thing for one woman to haue many husbandes The noble and vertuous women ought to be maried for twoo causes The first to the ende God should geue them children and benediction to whome they may leaue their goodes and their memory The second to th end they should liue euery one in their owne house accompanied and honoured with their husbandes For otherwise I saie for a truthe that the woman that is not contented and satisfied with her owne propre husbande will not be contented nor satisfied with all men in the worlde Plutarche in his apotheames sayeth that the Cymbres did vse to mary with their propre naturall doughters the whiche custome was taken from them by the Consul Marius after that he did ouercome them in Germany and that of them he had triumphed at Rome For the chylde whiche was borne of suche mariage was sonne of the doughter of one sole father and was sonne and brother of one onely mother and they were also cosins nephewes and brother of one onely father brother Truly suche custome procedeth rather of wylde beastes then of reasonable creatures for many or the more parte of brute beastes after the females haue brought forth males within one yeare after they doe accompany with their dammes which brought them forth Strabo in the situation of the worlde and Seneca in an Epistle saye that the Lydes and the Armenians had a custome to sende their doughters to the Ryuers and hauens of the sea to gette their mariages selling their owne bodies to straungers so that those whiche would marie were firste forced to sell their virginitie The Romains whiche in all their affayres and busynesses were more sage and modeste then other nations vsed muche circumspection in all their mariages For they kepte it as an auncient lawe and vse accustomed that euery Romaine should marie with one woman and no mo For euen as to kepe two wyues among the Christians is a great conscience so was it demed amongest the Romaines muche infamie Amongest the
a man haue hys desire that is to say to haue his wife great with child and redy to bring forth good fruite afterward to se the woful mother through some sodeine accident peryshe the innocent babe not to be borne When the woman is healthful bigge with child she is worthy of great reproch if eyther by runnyng leaping or dauncing any mischaunce hap vnto her And truly the husband hath great cause to lament this case for without doubt the gardiner fealeth great grefe in his hart when in the prime time the tre is loden with blosomes and yet by reason of some sharpe and bitter froste it neuer beareth fruit It is not only euyl that women should runne leape when they are bigge great with chyld but it is also dishonest and specially for great Ladies for alwayes women that be common dauncers are esteamed as light housewiues The wiues in general princesses and great ladies in particuler ought to go temperately to be modest in their mouinges for the modeste gate argueth discretnes in the person Al women naturally desire to be honoured reuerenced touching that I let them know that ther is nothing which in a common wealth is more honor for a woman then to be wise ware in speaking moderate quyet in going For it is vnpossible but that the woman which is lyght in her going and malycious in her talking should be dispised and abhorred In the yere of the foundacion of Rome .466 the romaines sente Curius Dentatus to make warre agaynst king Pirrus who kept the city of Tharent did much harme to the people in Rome for the Romaines had a great corage to conquere straunge realmes therfore they could haue no pacience to suffer any straunger to inuade theirs This Curius Dentatus was he which in the end ouercame king Pirrus was the fyrst that brought the Oliphantes to Rome in his tryumphe wherfore the fiercenes of those beasts astonyed the Romaine people much for they weyed lytel the sight of the kyngs loden with irons but to se the Oliphants as they did they wondered much Curius Dentatus had one only sister the which he intierly loued They wer seuen children two of the which dyed in the warres other thre by pestilence so that ther were none left him but that sister wherfore he loued her with al his hart For the death of vnthriftye children is but as a watch for childrē vnprouided of fauoures This sister of Curius Dentatus was maried to a Romaine consul was conceiued gone .7 moneths with child and the day that her brother triumphed for ioy of her brothers honor she leaped daunced so much that in the same place she was deliuered so vnluckely that the mother toke her death the chyld neuer lyued wherupon the feast of the triumphe ceased and the father of the infant for sorow lost hys speach For the hart which sodainly feleth grefe incontinently loseth vnderstanding Tibullus the Grecian in the third booke De casibus triumphi declareth the hystorie in good stile how and in what sorte it chaunced Nyne yeares after that the kings of Rome weare bannyshed from the rape that Tarquine dyd to the chast Lucretia the Romaine created a dignytie whiche they called DICTATVRA and the Dictatoure that hadde this office was aboue al other lord chiefe for the Romaines perceiued that the common wealth could not be gouerned but by one head alone And because the Dictatour had so great aucthority as the Emperour hath at this present to th end they should not become tirauntes they prouided that the office of the Dictatoursship should last no longer then vi moneths in the yeare the which past and expired they chose another Truly it was a good order that that office dured but vi moneths For oft tymes princes thinkinge to haue perpetual aucthority become necligent in vsing iustice The first dictatour in Rome was Largius Mamillus who was sent against the Volces the which at that time were the greatest enemies to the Romaines for Rome was founded in such a signe that alwayes it was beloued of fewe and abhorred of many As Titus Liuius saith this Largius Mamillus vanquished the Volces triumphed ouer theym in the end of the warre distroyed their mighty citye called Curiola and also distroyed and ouerthrewe many places and fortresses in that prouince for the cruel hartes do not only distroy the personnes but also take vengeaunce of the stones The hurtes which Largius Mamillus did in the country of the Volces were maruelous and the men which he slewe were many and the treasories he robbed were infinite and the captiues which he had in his triumphe were a great nomber amongest whom inespecial he brought captiue a noble mans doughter a beautiful gentlewoman the which he kept in his house for the recreacion of his person for the aunciente Romaines gaue to the people al the treasours to maintayne the warre they toke to them selues al the vycious things to kepe in their houses The case was that this damsel being with child Largius Mamillus brought her to solace herselfe in his orchard wher were sondry yonge fruites and as then not ripe to eate wherof with so great affection she did eate that forthwith she was delyuered in the same place of a creature so that on the one part she was delyuered and on the other part the chylde died This thinge chaunsed in the gardeins of Vulcan two dayes after the triumphe of Largius Mamillus a ruful and lamentable case to declare forasmuch as both the child that was borne the mother that was delyuered and also the father that begat it the selfe same day dyed and were buried all in one graue and this thing was not wythout great waylyng lamenting throughout al Rome For if with teares their lyues myght haue bene restored wythout doubt none of them should haue ben buried The first sonne of Rome which rebelled against rome was Tarquin the proud The second that wythstode Rome being as yet in Lucania was Quintus Marcius The third that went agaynst Rome was the cruel Silla The domages which these thre did to their mother Rome were such and so great that the thre seueral warres of Affricke were nothing to be compared to those thre euil children for those enemyes could scarcely se the walles of Rome but these vnnatural chyldrē had almost not left one stone vpon another A man ought not greatly to esteme those buildings that these tirauntes threw to the ground nor the buildings that they distroyed neither the men that they slew nor the women that they forced ne yet the orphanes which they made but aboue al things we ought to lament for that that they brought into Rome For the comon wealth is not distroyed for lacke of riches sumpteous buildings but because vices abound vertuous want Of these thre Romaynes he whose name was Quintus Marcius had ben consul thrise once Dictatour
Carthage had as great priuileges as now our sanctuaries haue for the safegard of misdoers for in times past al such offēdours as could enter into the house wher a woman lay in child bed should haue ben free frō correction of iustice As Fronto saith in his booke of the veneration of the gods the Galloys Transalpins did not only honour reuerence the womē with child but also with much care diligence watched her deliuery for it litle auaileth the shippe to haue passed safe the daungerous seas if at the shore she be cast away The case was in this sort that al the auncient gentils honoured some gods in their temples kept other in their houses the which were called Lares Penates when any woman began to labour eche neighbour brought his familiar god vnto her to present her with all because they thought that the more gods there were of so much more power they were to kepe her frō perils Speaking like a christian truly those gods were of small value since they could not helpe the woman safely to be deliuered that was in trauaile ¶ What the Philosopher Pisto was and of the rules he gaue concerning women with childe Cap. xii IN the tyme of Octauian the Emperour was a phylosopher called Pisto whiche was of the secte of Pithagoras and when Rome florished he was very familiar with the Emperour Octauian and welbeloued of all the people whiche ought not to be a litle estemed for he which of the prince is most fauoured commonly of the people is moste hated This Emperour Octauian was a prince very desirous of all vertuous thinges so that when he dyned with his captaines he spake of warre when he supped with the sages he reasoned of sciences and he that vttered any dishonest or idle worde in his presence he alwayes afterward toke him as his enemy This Pisto was very graue in weightie affaires very pleasaunt in slentes and iestes ofte times he was demaunded many questiōs of the Emperour whereof the answers of some according to the demaundes and questions here foloweth The Emperour said to Pisto of all these that liueth whom takest thou to be moste foole to whom the Philosopher aunswered In my opinion I take him to be moste foole of whose worde there commeth no profite for truly he is not so very a foole that slingeth stones into the winde as he that vttereth vayne wordes Tell me Pisto whom ought we of right to desire to speake and whom of right to commaunde to be silent he aunswered It is good when speache doth profite and good to kepe silence when speache is hurtfull for the one desiring to mainteine the good and the other to defende the euil warres beginne throughout all the worlde Tell me Pisto from what thing ought the fathers moste to kepe their children he sayd In my opiniō parentes ought in nothing to watche so much as to kepe them from being vicious for the father ought rather to haue his sonne die well then to liue euill Tell me Pisto what shall man do if he be brought to this extremitie that if he speake truthe he condempneth him selfe and if he make a lie he saueth him selfe The vertuous man saide he ought rather to chose to be ouercome by truthe then to ouercome by lies for it is vnpossible that a man which is a lier should continue long in prosperitie Tell me Pisto what shall man doe to obtaine reste he aunswered As I thinke the man can not haue reste vnlesse he forsake worldly affaires for the menne that are occupied with weightie affaires can not be without great cares are alwayes accompanied of great troubles Tell me Pisto wherein a man sheweth him selfe to be most wyse he aunswered There is no greater profe to knowe a wyse man then if he be paciēt to suffer the ignoraunt for in suffering an iniury the harte is more holpen by wysedome then by knowledge Tell me Pisto what is that thing that the vertuous man may lawfullye desire he aunswered All that that is good so that it be not to the preiudice of any other may honestly be desired but in my opinion that onely ought to be desired whiche openly without shame may be demaunded Tell me Pisto what shal men doe with their wiues when they are great with child to cause that the child in safetie may be deliuered he aunswered In the world there is nothyng more perylous then to haue the charge of a woman with child For if the husbande serue her he hath payne trauaile and if perchaunce he doe not contente her she is in daunger In this case the wiues of Rome and their husbandes also oughte to be very diligent and to the thinges folowyng more careful the which I shew them more for counsell then for commaundement For good coūsell ought to haue as much auctoritie in the vertuous as the commaundement hath in the vitious Thou Octauian as thou arte a mercifull and a pitieful Emperour and that kepest thy Nece Cossucia great with childe I know thou desirest that she had presentely good and luckye deliuery and that she were deliuered of her paine all the whyche thou shalte see if thou doest marke these thynges that I will shew the here folowynge First the woman oughte to beware of dauncing leapinge and running for leaping oftentimes maketh man to loose his speache and women with childe to loose their life wherfore it is not reason that the folly of the mother should be permitted to put in hazarde the lyfe of the childe The secound the woman beyng with child ought to beware that she be not so hardye to enter into gardeyns wher there is much frute and that for eating to many she be not yll deliuered for it is no reason that the likerousnes of the mother be punished with the death of the childe The third the woman with child ought to beware of ouer harde lacing herselfe about the midle for many Roman Dames for to seme propre doe weare their gownes so streighte that it is an occasion to kyll their creatures which is a heynous mater that the yonge babe should loose hys lyfe bycause his mother shoulde seme pretye The fourth the women with child ought to beware of eating in a great banket for oftetimes there commeth a sodayne deliueraunce only through eating without measure and it is not mete that for tastinge a thyng of litell value the mother and the child should both loose their liues The fifte the woman beyng with child ought to beware that she giueth no eare to any sodayne newes For she is in more daunger for hearynge a thing that greueth her then for suffering long sicknes that paineth her and it were vniust that for knowing of a trifeling matter the mother that is to be deliuered the child that is to be borne should both in one momēt perish The sixte the woman with child ought to beware that she go not by any meanes to any feastes wher ther
wyfe and children as that I cannot carye my bookes into the graue Yf the Gods had geuen me the choyse I had rather chose to be in the graue inuyroned with bookes then to lyue accompanyed wyth fooles for if the dead doe rede I take them to be alyue but if the lyuing doe not reade I take them to be deade Vnder this key which I gyue the remayneth many Greke Hebrue latine and Roman bookes and aboue all vnder this key remayneth al my paynes swet and trauayles al my watchinges and labours where also thou shalte fynde bokes by me compyled so that though the wormes of the yearth doe eate my body yet men shall fynde my harte hole amongest these bokes Once againe I doe require the and saye that thou oughtest not a lytell to esteame the key which I giue the for wise men at the hower of their death alwayes recommed that whiche they best loue to them which in their liues they haue most loued I doe confesse that in my studie thou shalte fynd many thinges with myne owne hand written and wel ordered and also I confesse that thou shalte find many thinges by me left vnpersit In this case I thinke that though thou couldest not wryte them yet thou shalt worke thē wel notwithstandynge and by these meanes thou shalte get reward of the Gods for workyng them Consyder Pompeian that I haue ben thy lorde I haue ben thy father in law I haue bene thy father I haue bene thy aduocate and aboue all that I haue bene thy speciall frend which is most of all for a man ought to esteme more a faithful frend then all the parentes of the world Therfore in the faith of that frendshyp I require that thou kepe this in memory that euen as I haue recommended to others my wife my children my goods and ryches So I do leaue vnto the in singular recommendacion my honoure For prynces leaue of them selues no greater memorye then by the good learning that they haue wrytten I haue bene .18 yeares emperour of rome and it is .lx. and .iii. yeares that I haue remayned in thys wofull life during whiche time I haue ouercome many battailles I haue slayne many pirattes I haue exalted many good I haue punished manye euil I haue wonne many realmes I haue distroyed many tirauntes But what shal I do woful man that I am sithe all my compagnions which were witnesses with me of al these worthy feates shal be my compagnions in the graue with the gredy wormes A thousand yeares hence when those that are now alyue shal then be dead what is he that shal say I saw Marcus Aurelius triumphe ouer the Parthians I saw him make the buildings in Auentino I saw him welbeloued of the people I saw him father of the orphanes I saw him the scourg of tiraūtes truly if al these thinges had not ben declared by my bookes or of my frendes the dead would neuer haue rysen agayn to haue declared them What is it for to se a prince from the time he is borne vntil the time he come to dye to se the pouerty he passeth the perilles he endureth the euil that he suffereth the shame that he dyssembleth the frendeshyp that he fayneth the teares which he sheaddeth that sighes that he fetchith the promises that he maketh and doeth not endure for any other cause the mysteries of this life but onely to leaue a memorye of him after his death There is no prince in the worlde that desireth not to keape a good house to keape a good table to aparrel him selfe rychely to pay those that serue hym in his house but by this vaine honour they suffer the water to passe thorough their lippes not drinking therof As one that hath proued it it is reason that I be beloued in this case and that is that the entent of princes to conquere straunge Realmes and to permit their owne to suffer wronges is for no other thyng but because that the commendacions which they speake of the princes past they should lykewyse talke the same of them that be to come Concluding therfore my mynde and declaring my intencion I say that the Prince that is noble and desireth to leaue of him selfe some fame let hym consider and se what it is that those can write of him which writ his history for it profiteth litel that he atchieue greate affayers by the swerde if there be no writer to sette them fourth with the penne and afterwardes to exalte them with the tonge These wordes thus spoken by the noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius he gaue the key of his studye to the honourable old man Pompeianus that toke all the wrytinges and put them in the high Capitol where the Romans honored them as the christians the holye Scriptures all these writynges besydes many others peryshed in rome when by the Barbarous it was dystroyed For the Gothes vtterly to extinguishe the name of rome distroyed not onely the walles therof but also the bokes that were therein and trulye in this case the Goothes shewed more crueltye to the Romans then if they had slayne the children of their bodies or bet downe the walles of their Cities For without doubte the lyuelye letter is a moresewerer wytnes of renowme that alwayes speaketh then eyther the lyme sand or stone wherwith fortresses are buylded Of the importunate suete of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour Marke Aureille Concerning the key of his closet Chap. xiiii VVe Haue declared howe the Emperoure Marcus Aurelius had his studie in the secretest place of al the palace and how that he him selfe did kepe the key It is to be vnderstande that he would neuer let his wife hys children nor any other of his familier frendes come into it for he said I had rather suffer that they shoulde take from me my treasoures then that any man should turne the leaues of my bookes It chaunced that on a daye the Empresse Faustine being great with child importuned the Emperour muche by all the meanes she could that he would be so fauourable vnto her as to gyue her the key of his studye and it is no meruaile for naturallye women dispise that which is geuen them and lust forth at that is denayed them Faustine instantly besoughte him not once but manye times not onely with fayer wordes but with aboundaunt teares alleagynge vnto him these reasons I haue requyred the sondrye tymes that thou wouldest gyue me the key of thy chamber and thou haste by iestinge made frustrate my request the whych thou my Lorde oughte not to haue done consyderynge that I am with childe for oftetimes it chaunceth that that wherfore the husbande reioyceth this daye tomorow he doeth lamente Thou oughtest to remember that I am that Faustine the renowmed the which in thy eyes am the fairest and of thy tonge haue bene most commended of thy parson I was best beloued and of thy harte I am most desired then since it is true that thou hast
one eye called Monoculus which he had found in the desertes of Egipt At that time the wife of Torquatus called Macrina shold haue bene deliuered of child for the Consul did leaue her great This Macrina amongest al was so honest that they spent as much time in Rome to prayse her for her vertues as they did set forth her husband for his victories They rede in the Annalles of that time that the first time that this Consul Torquatus went into Asia he was eleuen yeres out of his countrey and it is found for a truth that in al the time that Torquatus was absente his wife was neuer sene loke out at the windowe whiche was not a thinge smally estemed for though it was a custome in Rome to kepe the dore shut it was lawfull notwithstandinge to speake to women at the windowes Though men at that time were not so bold the women were so honest yet Macrina wife to Torquatus lyued so close and solitary to her selfe that in all these 11. yeres ther was neuer man that saw her go through Rome nor that euer saw her dore open neither that she consented at any time from the time that she was viii yeres of age that any man should enter into her house more ouer ther was neuer man saw her face wholy vncouered This Romaine Lady did this to leaue of her a memory to giue example of her vertue She had also iii. children whereof the eldest was but v. yeres old and so when they were viii yeres of age immediatlye she sent them out of her house towards their parentes lest vnder the coullour to vysite the children others should come to visite her O Faustine howe many haue I hard that haue lamented this excellent Romaine and what wil they thinke that shal folow her life Who could presently restraigne a Romaine woman from going to the window .11 yeres since thinges nowe a daies are so dissolute that they do not only desire to se them but also runne in the streates to bable of them Who should cause now a dayes a Romaine woman that in the 11. yeres she should not open her dores since it is so that when the husband commaunded her to shut one dore she wil make the hole house to ringe of her voyce He that now would commaund his wife to tary at home and let her of her vagaries into the towne shal perceiue that ther is no Basilie nor Viper that carrieth suche poison in her tayle as she wil spitt with her tongue Who could make a Romaine women to be 11. yeres continually without shewing her face to any man since it is so that they spend the most part of their time in loking in a glasse setting their ruffes brushing their clothes and painting their faces who would cause a Romaine womā to kepe her selfe xi yeres from being vysited of her neighbours and frends since it is true that now women thinke them greatest enemyes whych vysite them most seldom Retournyng therfore to the monstre as they led this monstre before the doore of Torquatus house she being great wyth child her husbande in the warre by chaunce a maide of his tolde her how that this monstre passed by wherfore so great a desire toke her to see the monstre that for to kepe that she had begon sodeinly for this desier she dyed Truly I tel the Faustine that this monstre had passed many times by the streat wher she dwelt she would neuer notwithstandyng go to the window and muche lesse go out of her doore to see it The death of this Romaine of many was lamented for it was a long time that Rome had neuer heard of so honest vertuous a Romaine wherfor at the peticion of al the Romayne people and by the commaundement of al the sacred senate they set on he◠tombe these verses ¶ The worthy Macrine resteth here in graue Whom wyse Torquatus lodged in Iunos bedde Who reked not a happy lyfe to haue So that for aye her honest fame was spredde BEhold therfore Faustine in my opinyon the law was not made to remedye the death of this noble Romayne since she was alredy dead but to the end that you Princesses shoulde take example of her lyfe and that through al Rome ther should be a memorye of her death It is reason synce the law was ordeyned for those women which are honest that it should be obserued in none but vppon those that are vertuous let the women with chyld marke the words of the law which commaund them to aske things honest Wherfore I let the know Faustine that in the seuenth table of our lawes are wryten these wordes We wil that wher ther is corruption of manners the man shal not be bound to obserue their liberties ¶ That princesses and noble women ought not to be ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breastes Cap. xviii AL noble men that are of hault courages watch continually to bringe that to effect which they couet and to kepe that which they haue For by strength one commeth to honour and by wisedom honor life are both preserued By these wordes I meane that she that hath borne .9 monethes through trauaile the creature in her wombe with so much paine that afterwards is delyuered with so greate perill by the grace of god from so many daungers escaped me thinke it is not wel that in this point which for the norishment of the babe is most expedient the mothers should shew them so negligent For that wanteth no foly that by extreame labour is procured and with much lightnes afterward despised The thinges that women naturaly desire are infinite among the whych these are foure cheafely The first thing that women desire is to be very faire For they had rather be poore and faire then to be riche and foule The second thing which they desire is to se them selues maried for vntill such time as the woman doth see her selfe maried from the bottome of the hart she alwayes sigheth The third thing that women desire is to se them selues great with child herein they haue reason For vntil such time as the woman hath had a child it semeth that she taketh him more for a louer then for a husband The fourth thing that they desire is to se them selues deliuered and in this case more then all the rest they haue reason For it is greate pitie to see in the pryme time a yong tre loden with blosomes and afterward the fruite to be destroyed throughe the abondaunce of caterpillers Then since god suffereth that they are borne faire that they se them selues maried that they be with child and that they are deliuered why be they so vnkind as to send them out of their houses to be nourished in other rude cotages In my opinion the womā that is vertuous ought assone as she is deliuered to lift vp her eyes and with her hart to giue god thankes for her frute For the
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
watche narrowly to know wheÌ„ and how much the nources doe eate whiche doe nourish their children For the child is so tender and the milke so delicate that with eatyng of sondrye meates they become corrupte and with eatyng muche they waxe fat If the children suck those which are fatte and grosse they are commonly sicke and if they sucke milke corrupted they ofte tymes go to bed hole and in the mornyng be found dead Isodore in his etimologies saieth that menne of the prouince of Thrace were so cruell that the one dyd eate the other and they dyd not onely this but also furder to shew more their immanitie in the sculles of those that were deade they dranke the bloud of him that was lately alyue Thoughe men were so cruell to eate mennes flesh and to drynk the bloud of the vaines yet the women â—hich nourished their children wer so temperat and moderat in eatyng thaâ—â—hey dyd eate nothyng but nettelles sodden and boyled in goates milke And â—â—ause the women of Thrace were so moderate in eatinge the philosopher Solon Solynon brought some to Athens for the auncientes sought no lesse to haue good women in the commen wealthe then to haue hardy and valiant captaines in the warre The auctoure addeth .iii. other conditions to a good nourse that giueth sucke that they drinke no wine that she be honest and chiefly that she be well conditioned Chap. xxi THe Princesses and great ladies may know by this example what difference there is betwene the women of Thrace which are fed with nettelles only and haue brought forth suche fierce men and the women of our tyme whiche through their delicate and excessiue eatyng bryng forthe suche weake and feable children Fiftly the Ladies ought to be very circumspecte not onely that nources eate not much that they be not gready but also that they be in drinkynge wine temperat the which in old time was not called wine but â—enym The reason hereof is apparant and manifest ynough for if we doe forbyd the fat meates which lieth in the stomacke we should then much more forbidde the moyst wine whyche washeth all the vaines of the body And further I say that as the child hath no other nourishement but the milke only that the milke proceadeth of bloud that bloud is nourished of the wine and that wine is naturally whot from the first to the last I say the woman whyche drinketh wine and geueth the child sucke doth as she that maketh a greate fire vnder the panne wher ther is but a litle milke so that the panne burneth and the milke runneth ouer I will not denaye but that some times it maye chaunce that the child shal be of a strong complexioÌ„ and the nource of a feable and weake nature and theÌ„ the child would more substanciall milke wheÌ„ the womeÌ„ is not able to geue it him In such a case though with other thinges milke may be conferred I allow that the nource drink a litel wine but it ought to be so litel and so well watered that it should rather be to take awaye the vnsauorines of the water then for to tast of any sauour of the wine I do not speake this without a cause for the nource being sicke and feable of her selfe and her milke not substancial it ofte times moueth her to eate more then necessitie requireth and to drinke wine which is somewhat nutritiue so that they supposyng to giue the nource triacle do giue her poyson to destroy her child Those excellent auncient Romaines if they had bene in our time and that we had deserued to haue bene in their time thoughe our time for beyng Christians is better they had saued vs from this trauaile for they were so temperat in eatyng meates and so abstinent in drynkyng wynes that they dyd not only refrayne the drinkyng therof but also they would not abyde to smell it For it was a greater shame vnto a Romayne woman to drynke wyne then to be deuorced from her husbande Dionisius Alicarnaseus in his boke of the lawes of the Romaynes sayed that Romulus was the fyrste founder of Rome and that he occupyed hym selfe more in buildyng houses to amplifie Rome then in constituting lawes for the gouernement of the commen wealth But emongest .xv. lawes which he made the seuenth therof was that no Romaine woman on paine of death shold be so hardy to drinke wine within the walles of Rome The same Historian saieth that by the occasion of this law the custome was in Rome that when any Romain Ladye would drinke wine or make any solempne feast she must nedes goe oute of Rome where euery one hadde their gardens and dwellyng place because the smell also of wine was prohibited and forhidden women within the circuite of Rome If Plinie do not deceyue vs in his .xxiiii. booke of his naturall history It was an auncient custome in Rome that at eche time that parentes met both men and women they did kisse the one the other in the face in token of peace and this ceremony began first for that they would smel whether the woman hadde dronke any wine And if perchaunce she sauored of wine the Censor mighte haue banished her from Rome And if her kinseman found her without Rome he might frely and without any daunger of lawe put her to death because within the circuite and walles of Rome no pryuat man by Iustice could put any Romaine to death As aboue is rehersed Romulus was he which ordeined the paine for dronkardes and Ruptilius was he which ordeined the paine for adulterers And betwene Romulus and Ruptilius there was .xxxii. yeares so that they ordeyned this strayght lawe for dronckardes a long time before they dyd the law for adulterers For if a woman be a dronckarde or harlot truly they are both great faultes and I can not tell whether of them is worst for beyng a harlot the woman loseth her name and for being a dronckard she loseth her fame and the husbande hys goods Then if women for the honestie of their personnes only are bound to be temperat in eating and drincking the woman which nourisheth giueth the child sucke ought to be much more corrected and sober in this case For in her is concurrante not only the grauitie of their personnes but the health and lyfe also of the creature whiche she nourisheth Therfore it is mete that the nource be kepte from wine since the honour of the one and the lyfe of the other is in peryll Sixtly the princesses and great Ladies ought to take hede that their nources be not gotten with child And the reason herof is that in that time wheÌ„ the woman is with child her natural course is stopped and that corruption is mingled with the pure bloud so that she thinking to giue the child mylke to nourish it geueth it poison to destroye it And nothyng can be more vniuste then to put the childe whiche is alredy borne and aliue in daunger for that which
and the house wherein she dwelleth euell combred For suche one doeth importune the lorde trobleth the ladye putteth in hazard the childe and aboue all is not contented with her selfe Finallye fathers for geuynge to much libertie to their nources oftetimes are the cause of many practises which they do wherwith in the end they are greued with the death of their children which foloweth Amongest all these which I haue red I saye that of the auncient Romaine princes of so good a father as Drusius Ge manicus was neuer came so wycked a sonne as Caligula was beyng the fourth Emperour of Rome for the historiographers were not satisfyed to enryche and prayse the excellencies of hys father neither ceased they to blame and reprehende the infamyes of his sonne And they say that hys naughtines proceadeth not of the mother which bare hym but of the nource which gaue hym sucke For oftimes it chaunceth that the tree is grene and good when it is planted and afterwardes it becommeth drye and wythered only for beyng caryed into another place Dion the greke in the second boke of Cesars sayeth that a cursed woman of Campania called Pressilla nouryshed and gaue sucke vnto thys wycked childe She had agaynst al nature of women her breastes as heary as the berdes of men and besides that in runnyng a horse handelyng her staffe shoting in the Crosbowe fewe yong men in rome were to be compared vnto her It chaunced on a time that as she was geuyng sucke to Caligula for that she was angry she tore in peces a yong child with the bludde there of annoynted her breastes and so she made Caligula the yong childe to sucke together both blud and milke The sayed Dion in hys booke of the lyfe of this Emperour Caligula sayeth that the women of Campania whereof the sayed Prescilla was had this custome that when they would geue their teat to the childe firste they dyd anoynte the nipple with the bludde of a hedge hogge to the end their children myght be more fyerce and cruell And so was this Caligula for he was not contented to kyll a man onely but also he sucked the bludde that remayned on his swerde and lyked it of with his tong The excellent Poet Homer meanyng to speake playnely of the crueltyes of Pirrus sayed in his Odisse of him suche wordes Pirrus was borne in Grece nourished in Archadye and brought vp with tigers milke whiche is a cruel beast As if more plainelye he had sayed Pirrus for beyng borne in Grece was Sage for that he was brought vp in Archadie he was strong and couragyous and for to haue sucked Tigars milke he was veray proude and câ—uell Hereof maye be gathered that the great Gretian Pirrus for wantinge of good milke was ouercome with euell condicions The selfe same historian Dion sayeth in the lyfe of Tiberius that he was a great dronckarde And the cause herof was that the nource dyd not onelye drynke wyne but also she weined the child with soppes dypped in wyne And wythout doubte the cursed woman had done lesse euill if in the steade of milke she had geueÌ„ the child poison wythout teachinge it to drinke wine wherfore afterwardes he lost his renowme For truly the Romayne Empire had lost lytell if Tiberius had died beyng a child and it had wonne muche if he had neauer knowen what drinkyng of wyne had mente I haue declared all that whyche before is mencioned to thentente that Princesses and great Ladyes myghte be aduertised that sinse in not nouryshyng their children they shewe them selues crewel yet at the least in prouidyng for them good nourses they should shew them selues pitifull For the children oftetymes folow more the condicion of the milke which they sucke then the condicion of their mothers whyche broughte them forth or of thâ—ir fathers whych begot them Therfore they oughte to vse much circumspectioÌ„ herin for in them consisteth the fame of the wyues the honoure of the husbande and the wealth of the children Of the disputations before Alexander the great concernyng the time of the suckyng of babes Chap. xxii QVintus Curtius sayeth that after the great Alexander whych was the last kyng of the Macedonians and first Emperour of the grekes hadde ouercome kynge Darius and that he sawe hym selfe onely lorde of all Asia he went to rest in babylon for among menne of warre there was a custome that after they had ben long in the warres euery on should retire to his owne house King Philip whych was father of kyng Alexander always councelled his sonne that he should lead with him to the warres valiaunt captaines to conquere the world and that out of his realmes and dominioÌ„s he should take chose the wysest men and best experimented to gouerne the empire He had reason in such wyse to councell hys sonne for by the councell of Sages that is kept and mainteined whych by the strengthe of valiaunt men is gotten and wonne Alexander the great therefore beyng in Babilon after he had conquered all the countrye since all the citye was vitious and hys armye so long without warres some of his owne men began to robbe one another others to playe their owne some to force women and others to make banquettes and feastes and when some were droncke others raysed quarels striffes and dyscentions so that a man could not tell whether was greater the ruste in their armours or the corruptions in their customes For the property of mans malice is that when the gate is open to idlenes infynite vyces enter into the house Alexander the great seing the dyssolution which was in his armye and the losse which myght ensewe hereof vnto his great empire commaunded streightly that they should make a shew and iuste thoroughe Babilon to the end that the men of warre should excersise their forces thereby And as Aristotle sayethe in the booke of the questions of Babylon the turney was so muche vsed amongest them that sometimes they caryed awaye more dead and wounded men then of a bloudy battaile of the enemy Speaking accordyng to the law of the gentiles whiche loked not glorie for their vertues nor feared hell to dye at the torney the commendemant of Alexander was veray iuste for that doyng as he dyd to the armye he defaced the vyce whych dyd wast it and for him selfe he got perpetuall memorye and also it was cause of muche suretye in the common weale This good Prince not contented to excersise his armye so but ordeined that daily in his presence the philosophers should dispute and the question wherin they shold dyspute Alexander him selfe would propounde â–ª wherof folowed that the great Alexander was made certayne of that wherin he doubted and so by his wisedom all men exercysed their craftes and wittes For in this tyme of idlenes the bokes wer no lesse marred with dust because they were not opened then the weapons were with rust which were not occupied There is a booke of Aristotle intituled the
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
these and many others which ye left aliue ful high in rome are now become wormes meat ful low vnder the yearth death also doth summon me vnto the graue If you my childreÌ„ did consider what shal become of you herafter truly you will thinke it better to weape .1000 yeares with the dead then to laugh one houre with those that be aliue Remembryng that I baâ—e ye in great payne and haue nourished you in great trauell that ye came of my proper intrailles I would haue you as children about me for the confort consolation of my paines But in the end beholdyng the prowesses of those that are paste that bindeth their heires I am coÌ„tent to suffer so long absence your persons only to the end you may get honour in chiualrye For I had rather here tell you should liue like knightes in Afrik theÌ„ to se you vtterly lost here in Rome My childreÌ„ as you are in the warres of Afrike so I doubt not but that you desire to se the pleasurs of rome for ther is no man in this world so happy but at his neyghbours prosperity had som enuy enuie not the vitious nether desier to be amoÌ„g vices for truly vices ar of such a coÌ„dition that they bring not with theÌ„ so much plesure wheÌ„ they com as they leaue sorow behind theÌ„ wheÌ„ they depart for that true delight is not in the pleasure which sodeÌ„ly vanisheth but in the truth which euermore remaineth I thank the immortal gods for all these thinges first for that they made me wise not folish for to a woman it is a small mater to be called so fraile that in dede she be not folish The secoÌ„d I thank the gods bicause in al times of my troubles they haue geueÌ„ me pacieÌ„ce to endure theÌ„ for the maÌ„ only in this lif may be called vnhappy to whom the gods in his troubles hath not giueÌ„ pacience The third I thank the gods for that those .lxv. yeares which I haue liued I neuer hytherto was defamed for the woman by no reason can coÌ„plaine of her fortune if in none of her troubles she hath loste her honour The fourthe I thanke the Gods that in this forty yeres I haue lyued in Rome remained widow ther was neuer man nor woman the contended with me for since we women profite litle the commoÌ„ wealth it is but reason that she whych with euill demeanoures hath passed her lyfe shoulde by iustice receaue her death The fift I giue the gods tankes that they gaue me children the whych are better contented to suffer the trauailes of Affrik theÌ„ to inioy the pleasurs of Rome Do not counte me my childreÌ„ for so vnlouing a mother that I wold not haue you alwayes before my eyes but considering that many good meÌ„s children haue bene lost only for being brought vp in the excessiue pleasures of Rome I do content my selfe with your absence For that man that desireth perpetuall renowne thoughe he be not banished he ought to absent him self froÌ„ his natiue countrey My deare children I most earnestly desire you that always you accoÌ„panie your selues with the good with the most auncientes and with those which ar graue most expert in councel and with those that haue most sene the world and do not vnderstand most of the world by those that haue sene most countreis For the rype councel proceadeth not from the man that hath traueiled in many contreis but from him that hath felte him selfe in many daungers Since the nature of the countrey my children dothe knocke with the haÌ„mer at the gate of the hart of man I feare that if you come and se your frendes parentes you shal always lyue in care pensifnes and being pensife you shal always lyue euil coÌ„tented you shal not do that whiche becommeth Romain knights to do And you not beyng valiaunt knightes your enemies shal alwayes reioice ouer you your desires shall neuer take effect for of those men which are careful heauy proceadeth always seruices vnworthy I desire you hartely by this present letter I counsell you that you wil not in any wise seke to come to rome for as I haue saied you shal know few of those that did know you for eyther they are dead or banished poore or sicke aged or coÌ„me to nought sad or euil coÌ„tented so that sithens you are not able to remedy their grefes it is best you should not come hyther to se their troubles For no man coÌ„meth to Rome but to weape with the liuing and to sigh for theÌ„ that be dead Truly my children I know not what pleasure is in Rome that should cause any good man to come hyther and to forsake Affrik for if there you haue enemies here you shall want frendes If you haue the sworde that perceth the body we haue that tong here that destroyeth the renowme If you be vexed with the theues of Affrike we are wounded with the traitours Flatterers and liers of Italy If you lack rest we haue here to much trouble Finallye seyng that that I doe se in Rome and hearynge that which I heare of Affrik I commende your warre and abhorre our peace If you do greatly esteme that which I haue sayd esteme much more that whiche I shall say which is that we alwayes here that you are conquerours of the Africkans you shall here always that we are conquered by vyces Therfore if I am a true mother I had rather se you winne a perpetuall memory amonge straungers theÌ„ to liue with infamy at home in your couÌ„trey Peraduenture with hope that you shal enherit some goodes you wil take occasioÌ„ to come to Rome When this thing shall come to your mindes remember my children that your father being aliue had not much and that vnto your mother being a widow many thinges wanted And remember that your father bequethed you nothing but weapons and know that from me you shall enherite nothing but bookes For I had rather leaue my children good doctrine wherby they may liue them euil riches wherby they may perysh I am not riche nor I neuer trauailed to be rich and the cause was that I saw many mens children vndone only through the hope they had to enherite their pareÌ„tes goods and afterward went a huntinge after vices For they seldome times do any worthy feates which in their youth enherit great treasurs This thing therfore being true as it is in dead I do not say only that I would watche and toile as many do to get riches and treasurs but also if I had treasour before I would gyue them vnto you I would as the philosopher did cast theÌ„ into the fyre For I had rather haue my children pore and vertuous in Affrike theÌ„ riche and vitious in Rome You know very wel my children that there was amongest the Tharentins a law wel obserued that the sonnes shoulde not inherit any other thyng of their fathers but weapons to fight and
that the doughters should inherit the goodes for to mary them selues with all Truly this law was very iust for the sonne that hath alwayes respect to the enheritaunce will not haue to his father any great confidence For he ought to be called a valiant Romaine knight that with his life hath wonne honour and by the sword hath gotten riches Since you are in straung realmes I praye you hartely that you be conuersaunt with the good as good brethren remēbring alwayes that you wer my children and that I gaue you both sucke of myne owne propre breastes And the daye that I shall here of your disagrement the same day shal be the end of my life For the discord in one citie of parentes doth more harme then a hole armie of enemys It is good for you my childrē to liue in loue concord togethers but it is more requisit to kepe you with the Romaine knightes The which with you you with thē if you do not loue together in the warres you shall neuer haue the vpper hand of your enemies For in great armies the discordes which rise emongest thē do more harme then the enemys do against whō they fight I think wel my children that you wold be very desirous to know of my estate that is to wete whether I am in health whether I am sick whether I am poore whether I am pleased or whether I am miscontented In this case I know not why you shold desire to know it since you ought to presuppose that accordyng to the troubles which I haue passed the miseries that with mine eyes I haue sene I am filled with this world for wise men after .50 yeres and vpwarde ought rather to apply their mindes how to receiue death thē to seke pleasurs to prolong life When mans flesh is weake it always desireth to be wel kept euen vnto the graue And as I am of flesh bone so I do feale the troubles of the world as al mortal men do But for al this do not think that to be pore or sick is the greatest misery neither thinke that to be hole riche is the chefest felicity for ther is none other felicity of the old fathers but for to se their childrē vertuous In my opiniō it is an honour to that countrey that the fathers haue such children which wil take profit with their counsell contrary wyse that the children haue such fathers which can giue it them For the child is happy that hath a wise father more happy is the father that hath not a folish sonne I do write oft times vnto you my children but there is a law that none be so hardy to write to men of war in the field except first they inrowle the letters in the senate Therfore since I write vnto you more letters then they would they do send lesse then I desire Thoughe this law be painefull to mothers which haue children yet we must confesse it is profitable for the weale publik For if a man should write to one in the warre that his family is not well he would forsake the warres to remedye it Yf a man wryte vnto him that it is prosperous he hath then a desire to enioye it Be not displeased my children thoughe all the letters I do sende vnto you come not to your handes For all that I do not cease to visite the temples for your owne health nor yet to offre sacrifices to the Gods for your honour For if we do please the gods we haue not cause to feare our enemies I say no more in this case my children but that I beseche the immortall Gods that if your lyues maye profyte the common wealth then they shorten my dayes and lēgthen your yeres but if your lyues should be to the domage of the common wealth then those immortall gods I desire that first I may vnderstand the end of your dayes before that the wormes should eate my flesh For rather then by your euill lyfe the glory of our predecessours should be bleamished it were much better both your liues wer ended The grace of the Gods the good renowme amongest men the good fortune of the Romains that wisedom of the greekes the blessing of Scippio of al other your predecessours be alwayes with you my children Of the education and doctrine of children whiles they are yong Wherein the auctour declareth many notable histories Chap. xxxii ALl mortall men which will trauell and see good fruite of their trauell ought to do as the chefe artificer did that painted the world For the man that maketh god the head of his workes it is vnpossible that he should erre in the same That whych we beleue and reade by wrytinge is that the eternall created the world in short space by his mighte but preserued it a lōg time by his wisedome Wherof a man may gather that the time to do a thing is short but the care and thought to preserue it is long We see daily that a valiaunt captaine assaulteth his enemies but in the end it is god that giueth the victorye but let vs aske the conquerour what trauell it hath bene vnto him or wherin he hath perceaued most daunger that is to wete either to obteine the victory of his enemies or els to preserue them selues amongest the enuious and malicious I sweare and affirme that such a knight wil swere that ther is no comparison betwene the one and the other for by the bloudy sweard in an houre the victorye is obteined but to kepe it with reputation the swete of al the life is required Laertius in the booke of the lyfe of the philophers declareth and Plato also hereof maketh mention in the bookes of hys common wealth that those of Thebes vnderstandyng that the Lacedemonians hadde good lawes for that whych they were of the godes fauoured and of menne greatly honoured determined to send by common assent and agreement a wise philosopher the beste esteamed amongest them whose name was Phetonius to whome they commaunded that he should aske the lawes of the Lacedemonians and that he shoulde be verye circumspecte and ware to see what their rules and customes were Those of Thebes were then very noble valliant and honest so that their principal end was to come to honour renowme to erect buildinges to make them selues of immortall memory for beyng vertuous For in buildyng they were very curious and for vertues they had good Philosophers The philosopher Phetonius was more thē a yeare in the realme of the Lacedemonians beholding at sondry times all thinges therin for simple men do not note thinges but onely to satisfye the eyes but the wise menne beholdeth them for to know and vnderstand their secrettes After that the philosopher had well plainely sene and behelde all the thinges of the Lacedemonians he determined to returne home to Thebes and beyng arriued all the people came to see him and here him For the vanitie of the common people is
of such a qualitie that it foloweth new inuentions and despiseth auncient customes All the people therfore gathered togethers the good philosopher Phetonius set vp in the middest of the market place a gybet hoote yrons a swerd a whip and fetters for the feete the whiche thyng done the Thebains were no lesse as they thought slaundered thē abashed To the which he spake these wordes You Thebains sente me to the Lacedemonians to the entent I should learne their lawes and customes and in dede I haue bene ther more then a yere beholdyng al thinges very diligentely for we Philosophers are bound not onely to note that whyche is done but also to know why it is done knowe ye Thebains that this in the aunswere of my Imbassage That the Lacedemonians hang vpon this Gybet theues with this same sworde they behede traytors with these hoote Irons they torment blasphemers and lyers with these roddes they whippe vacabondes and with these Irons do keape the rebels and the others are for players and vnthriftes Finally I say that I do not bryng you the lawes written but I bring you the Instrumentes wherwith they are obserued The Thebains were abashed to se these thinges and spake vnto hym such wordes Consider Phetonius wee haue not sent the to the Lacedemonians to bring instrumentes to take away life but for the good lawes to gouerne the common wealth The philosopher Phetonius replyed again aunswered Thebains I let you wete that if ye know what we philosophers knew you shold see how far your mindes wer from the truth For the Lacedemonians are not so vertuous thoroughe the lawes whych wer made of them that be dead as for the meanes they haue sought to preserue them that be alyue For maters of Iustice consiste more in execution then in commaundyng or ordeinynge Lawes are easely ordeyned but with difficultie executed for there are a thousande to make them but to put them in execution there is not one Ful lytle is that whych men knowe that are present in respect of that those knewe which are past But yet accordyng to my litle knowledge I proffer to gyue as good lawes to you Thebains as euer wer obserued among the Lacedemoniās For there is nothing more easy then to know the good and nothynge more commen then to folow the euill But what profiteth it if one will ordeyne and none vnderstand it Yf ther be that doth vnderstand thē there is none that excuteth them Yf there be that executeth them there is none that obserueth thē Yf there be one that obserueth them ther is a thousand that reproueth them For without comparison mo are they that murmure grudge at the good then those whych blame and despise the euyll You Thebains are offended bycause I haue brought suche Instrumentes but I let you wete if you wyll neyther Gybet nor sworde to kepe that which shal be ordeyned you shall haue your bookes full of lawes and the common wealth full of vices Wherfore I sweare vnto you that there are mo Thebains whiche folowe the deliciousnes of Denis the tyraunt then there are vertuous men that folowe the lawes of Lycurgus If you Thebains do desire greatly to know with what Lawes the Lacedemonians doe preserue their common wealthe I will tel you them all by worde and if you will reade them I will shew you them in writyng But it shal be vpon condition that you shall sweare all openly that once a daye you shall employ your eyes to reade them and your parsonnes to obserue them For the prince hath greater honour to se one onely law to be obserued in dede then to ordeyne a thousand by wryting You ought not to esteame muche to be vertuous in harte nor to enquire of the vertue by the mouth nor to seeke it by labour and trauaille of the feete but that whyche you ought greatly to esteame is to know what a vertuous lawe meaneth and that knowen immediatly to execute it and afterwardes to kepe it For the chefe vertue is not to do one verteous work but in swet and trauayl to continue in it These therfore wer the wordes that this philosopher Phetonius sayde to the Thebains The whyche as Plato sayeth estemed more his wordes that he spake then they dyd the lawes whyche he brought Truly in my opinion those of Thebes are to be praysed and commended and the philosopher for his wordes is worthy to be honoured For the end of those was to searche lawes to liue well and the ende of the Philosophet was to seke good meanes for to kepe them in vertue And therfore he thought it good to shew thē and put before their eyes the gibbet and the sword with the other instrumentes and tormentes For the euill do refraine from vice more for feare of punyshement then for any desire they haue of amendement I was willyng to bring in this Historie to th ende that all curious and vertuous men may see and know how litell the auncientes did esteme the beginnynge the meane and the ende of vertuous workes in respect of the perseueraunce and preseruacion of them Commyng therfore to my matter whych my pen doth tosse and seke I aske now presentely what it profiteth princes and great ladyes that God do gyue them great estates that they be fortunate in mariages that they be all reuerenced and honored that they haue great treasures for their inheritaunces and aboue al that they se their wiues great with child that afterwardes in ioy they se them deliuered that they se theyr mothers geuing their childrē sucke finally they se them selues happy in that they haue found them good nources helthful honest Truely al this auaileth litle if to their children when they are yong they do not giue masters to enstruct thē in vertues and also if they do not recomend them to good guides to exercise thē in feates of Chiualry The fathers which by syghes penetrat the heauē by prayers importune the Liuing god only for to haue children ought first to thinke why they wil haue childrē for that iustly to any man may be denayed which to an euil end is procured In my opinion the father ought to desire to haue a child for that in his age he may susteine his life in honour that after his doth he may cause his fame to liue And if a father desireth not a son for this cause at the least he ought to desire him to the end in his age he may honour his horye hed and that after his death he may enheryte his goodes but wee see few children do these thynges to their fathers in theyr age if the fathers haue not taught them in their youth For the fruite doeth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree dyd bere blosommes in the spryng I see oftentimes many fathers complaine of their Children sayenge that they are disobedient and proude vnto theim and they doe not consydre that they them selues are the cause of all those euilles For
chose the good for lack of force cannot resiste the euil which is the cause that noble mens children ofttimes cōmit sondrye heynous offences For it is an infallible rule that the more a mā geueth him selfe to pleasures the more he is entangled in vices It is a thing worthy to be noted and woful to see how politike we be to augmente thinges of honour how bolde we be to enterprise them how fortunate to compas them how diligent to kepe them how circumspect to susteine them and afterwarde what pitie is it to see how vnfortunate we are to lose all that whiche so longe time we haue searched for kept and possessed And that which is moste to be lamented in this case is that the goodes and honour are not lost for wante of diligence trauaile of the father but for the aboundaunce of pleasures and vices of the sonne Finallye let the riche man knowe that that which he hath wonne in labour and toyle waking his sonne being euill brought vp shall consume in pleasures sleaping One of the greatest vanities that reigneth at this day among the children of vanitie is that the father can not shew vnto his sonne the loue which he beareth him but in suffering him to be brought vp in the pleasures and vanities of this life Truly he that is such a one ought not to be called a pitifull father but a cruel stepfather for no man wil denie me this but that where there is youth libertie pleasure and money there will all the vices of this world be resident Lycurgus the great king geuer of lawes and sage philosopher ordeined to the Lacedemonians that all the children whiche were borne in cities good townes should be sent to bringe vp in villages till they were .xxv. yeares of age As Liuius saith that the Lygures were which in olde time were confederate with those of Capua and great enemies to the people of Rome They had a lawe amongest them that none should take wages in the warres vnlesse he had bene brought vp in the fieldes or that he had bene a heard man in the mountaines so that through one of these twoo wayes their flesh was hardned their ioyntes accustomed to suffer the heate and the colde and their bodies more mete to endure the trauayles of the warres In the yeare of the foundation of Rome a hundred and fourty the Romaines made cruell warres with the Lygures against whome was sent Gneus Fabritius of the which in the ende he triumphed and the day folowyng this triumphe he spake vnto the Senate these wordes Worthy Senatours I haue bene these fiue yeares against the Ligures and by the immortall gods I swere vnto you that in al this time there passed not one weke but we had either battaile or some perilous skermiche And that whiche a man oughte moste to marueile at is that I neuer perceiued any feare or cowardlynes to be in those barbarous people whereby they were constrained to demaunde peace of the people of Rome These Lygures pursued with suche fearcenes the warres that oftetimes they toke awaye from vs all hope to winne the victory for betwene armies the great might of the one doth put alwayes the others in feare And I wyll tell you fathers conscript their brynging vp to the ende the Romaine youth should take hereby example When they are young they are put to be shepeheardes because they should accustome their fleshe in the mountaines to endure trauaile by the whiche custome they are so much maisters of them selues the countrey being alwayes ful of snowe Ise in the wynter also noisome through the extreame heate in the Sōmer that I sweare by the god Apollo in al this time of fiue yeres of those we haue not sene one prease to the fire in the winter nor couet the shadow in the sommer Do not ye thinke worthy Senatours that I was willing to declare vnto you these thinges in the Senate for any desire I haue that you should esteame any thing the more my triumphe but I doe tell it you to this ende that you may haue an eie and take heade to your men of warre to the ende they may alwayes be occupied and that you suffer them not to be idle For it is more perilous for the Romaine armies to be ouercome with vices then to be disconfited with their enemies And to talke of these matters more at large me thinketh they should prouide commaunde that riche men should not be so hardy to bring vp their children to delicatly for in the ende it is vnpossible that the delicate persone should winne with his handes the honour of many victories That which moued me to saye so muche as I haue sayed worthy Senatours is to the end you may know that the Ligures were not ouercome by the power of Rome but because fortune was against them And since in nothing fortune sheweth her selfe so variable as in the thinges of warre me thinketh that though the Ligures are nowe vanquished ouercome yet notwithstanding you ought to entertaine them in loue to take them for your confederates For it is not good councell to hazarde that into the handes of fortune which a man may compasse by frendship The authour of this whiche is spoken is called Iunius Pratus in the booke of the concorde of Realmes and he saith in that place that this captaine Gneus Fabritius was counted no lesse sage for that he spake then esteamed valiaunte for that he did In the olde time those of the Iles Balleares whiche nowe are called Maiorque and Minorque though they were not counted wyse yet at the least in bringing vp their children they shewed them selues not negligent Because they were brought vp in hardnes in their youth and could not endure all painefull exercises of the warres Those of Carthage gaue fiue prisoners of Rome for one sclaue of Maiorque Diodorus Siculus saith in those Iles the mother did not geue the children bread with their own handes but they did put it on an high pole so that they might see the bread with their eies but they could not reache it with their handes Wherefore when they woulde eate they should firste with hurling of stones or slinges winne it or elles faste Though the worke were of children yet the inuention came of a high wyt And hereof it came that the Balleares were esteamed for valiaunt mē as well in wrastling as in slinges for to hurle for they did hurle with a slinge to hit a white as the Lygures shoote nowe in a crosse bowe to hitte the prick Those of great Britayne whiche nowe we call Englande amongest all the Barbarous were men most barbarous but you ought to knowe that within the space of fewe yeares the Romaines were vanquished of them many tymes For tyme in all thinges bringeth such chaunge alteration that those which once we knew great lordes within a while after we haue sene them sclaues Herodian in his hystory of Seuerus
only they are made euil This worthy woman kepyng alwaies such a faythful gard of her chyld that no flatterers should enter in to flatter him nor malicious to tel hym lyes bychaunce on a day a Romaine sayd vnto her these words I thinke it not mete most excellente princesse that thou shoulde be so dyligente aboute thy sonne to forget the affaires of the common wealth for prynces ought not to be kept so close that it is more easye to obtaine a sute at the gods then to speake one word with the prince To this the Empresse Mamea aunswered and said They which haue charge to gouerne those that do gouerne withoute comparison oughte to feare more the vyces of the kinge thenne the ennemyes of the Realme For the ennemyes are destroyed in a battaile but vyces remayne durynge the life and in the end enemyes do not destroy but the possessions of the land but the vycious prince destroyeth the good maners of the comon wealth These wordes were spoken of this worthye Romaine By the histories which I haue declared and by those which I omitte to recite al verteous men may know how much it profiteth them to bring vp their children in trauailes or to bring them vp in pleasures But now I ymagine that those which shall read this will praise that which is wel writen and also I trust they wil not giue their children so much their owne willes For men that read much worke litle are as belles the which do sound to cal others and they theim selues neuer enter into the church If the fathers did not esteame the seruice they do vnto God their owne honour nor the profite of their owne children yet to preserue them from disseases they ought to bring them vp in vertue withdraw them from vices For truly the children which haue bene brought vp daintely shal alwayes be diseased and sikely What a thinge is it to se the sonne of a labourer the cote without pointes the shyrte tottered and torne their feete bare their head without a cappe the body withoute a girdle in sommer without a hat in winter without a cloke in the day ploughing in the night driuing his herd eating bread of Rye or Otes lyeng on the earth or els on the strawe and in this trauaile to se this yong man so holy vertuous that euery man desireth and wisheth that he had such a sonne The contrarie commeth of noble mens sonnes the which we se are nourished brought vp betwene two fine holland sheetes layed in a costly cradel made after the new fashion they giue the nourse what she wil desire if perchaunce the child be sicke they chaunge his nource or els they appoint him a diet The father and the mother slepe neither night nor daye all the house watcheth they let him eate nothing but the broth of chyckins they kepe hym diligentely that he fal not downe the stayres the child asketh nothing but it is geuen him immediatly Finally they spend their time in seruyng them they waste their riches in geuyng them their delights they occupie their eyes but to behold them they imploye not their harts but to loue them But I sweare that those fathers whiche on this wise do spend their riches to pomper theim shal one day water their eyes to bewaile theym What it is to se the wast that a vaine man maketh in bringinge vp his child specially if he be a man sumwhat aged that at his desire hath a child borne He spendeth so muche goodes in bringing his vp wantonly whyles he is yong that oft times he wanteth to mary him when he commeth to age And that which worst of al is that that which he spendeth and employeth he thynketh it wel bestowed and thinketh that to much that he geueth for gods sake Though the fathers are very large in spendinge the mothers very curious and the norces ful of pleasures and the seruauntes very dilygente and attentiue yet it foloweth not that the children should be more hole then others For the more they are attented the more they be disseased the more they eate the more they are weake the more they reioyce the worse they prosper the more they wast and spend soo muche lesse they profite And all this is not without the secret permission of God For God wil not that the cloutes of children be of greater value then the garments of the poore God without a greate misterie toke not in hande the custodye of the poore and doth not suffer that the children of the rich men should prosper For the good bringeth vp his children without the preiudyce of the rich and to the profit of the comon wealth but the rich bringeth vp his children wyth the swet of the poore and to the domage of the common wealth Therfore if this thyng be true as it is it is but reason that the wolfe whych deuoureth vs do dye and the shepe which clotheth vs do lyue The fathers oft times for tendernes wyl not teach nor bryng vp their children in doctrine sayeng that as yet he is to yong and that there remayneth time enough for to be learned and that they haue leysure enough to be taught and further for the more excuse of their error they affirme that when the chyld in his youth is chastned he ronneth in daunger of his health But the euil respect which the fathers hath to their chyldren God suffereth afterwards that they come to be so slaunderous to the common wealth so infamous to their parents so disobedient to their fathers so euyl in their condicions so vnaduised and light in their behauiour so vnmeate for knowledge so vncorrigible for disciplyne so inclined to lies so enuyeng the truth that their fathers would not only haue punished them with sharpe correction but also they woulde reioyce to haue them buryed with bytter teares An other thyng ther is in this matter worthy to be noted and much more worthyer to be commended that is that the Fathers and mothers vnder the couller that their chyldren should be somewhat gracious they learne them to speake to bable to be great mockers and scoffers the which thing afterwards redoundeth to the great infamye and dishonour of the Father to the great peril of the sonne and to the greatest griefe and displeasure of the mother For the child which is brought vp wantonly without doctrine in his youth of necessity must be a foole when he is old If this which I haue sayd be euil this which I wil say is worse that the Fathers and mothers the gouernours or nources do teach them to speake dishonest things the which are not lawful and therfore ought not to be suffered to be spoken in that tender age nor the grauitie of the auncients ought not to lysten vnto them For there are no men vnlesse they be shamelesse that wil permit their children to be great bablers Those which haue the charge to gouerne good mens children ought to be very
be called prosperous whych hath in it many people but that which hath in it few vices Speakyng therfore more perticulerly the cause that moued me to put you from me is bycause in the day of the great feast of god Genius you shewed in the presence of the senate your litle wisedom and great foly for so much as all men did behold more the lightnes of your parson then they did the follies of the iuglers If perchaunce you shewed your folly to th entent men should thinke that you were familiar in my royal pallace I tell you that the errour of your thought was no lesse then the euil and example of your work for no man ought to be so familiar with princes but whether it be in sporte or in earnest he ought to do him reuerence Since I geue you leaue to departe I know you had rather haue to helpe you in your iorney a litle money then many councelles but I will geue you both that is to wete mony for to bring you to your iournies end and also counsels to the end you may lyue And meruail not that I geue counsel to them that haue an office to councel others for it chaunceth oftetimes that the phisition do cure the diseases of others and yet in dede he knoweth not his owne Let therfore the last word counsell be when you shal be in the seruices of princes and great lordes that first you labour to be coūted honest rather then wise That they do chose you rather for quiet men then for busy heades and more for your fewe woordes then for your much bablyng For in the pallace of Princes if the wise man be no more then wise it is a great happe if he be moch estemed but if he be an honest man he is beloued and wel taken of all That Princes and other noble men ought to ouer see the tutours of their children least they conceale the secret faultes of their scollers Chap xxxvii VVe haue before rehersed what conditions what age and what grauity maisters ought to haue which should bring vp the children of Princes Now reason would we shold declare what the counsels should be that princes shold geue to the maysters and tutours of their children before they ought to geue them any charge And after that it is mete we declare what the counsel shal be whyche the mayster shall geue to hys dyscyple hauyng the gouernement of hym For it is vnpossible ther should happen any misfortune wher rype counsel is euer present It shal seame vnto those that shal profoundly consider this matter that it is a superfluous thing to treate of these thinges for either princes chose that good or els they chose the euil If they chose not good maisters they labour in vaine to geue thē good counsel for the folish maiser is lesse capable of coūsel thē the dyssolute scoler of holsome admonitiō If perchaunce princes do make elections of good maisters then those maisters both for them selues and also for others ought to minister good counsels For to geue councell to the wyse man it is either a superfluous dede or els it cōmeth of a presumptuous man Though it be true that he whych dare geue councel to the sage man is presumptuous I saye in lyke maner that the dyamonde beyng set in gold loseth not his vertue but rather increseth in pryce value I meane that the wiser a man is somuche the more he oughte to desire to knowe the opinion of another certainly he that doeth so cannot erre For to none his owne councell aboundeth somuch but that he nedeth the counsell and opinion of another Though princes and great lordes do se with their eyes that they haue chosen good maisters and tutors to teache their children yet they ought not therfore to be so negligent of them selues but that sometimes they may geue the maysters counsell For it maye be that the maysters be both noble and stout that they be auncient sage moderate but it may be also that in teaching children they are not expert For to masters and tutours of princes it is not somuche necessary that science doth abounde as it is shame that experience shoulde want When a riche man letteth out his farme or maner to a farmor he doth not only consider with him selfe before what rent he shall pay hym but also he couenanteth with hym that he shall keape his groundes well fensed and ditched and his howses well repaired And not contented to receiue the thirde parte of the frute of his vine but also he goeth twyse or thrise in a yeare to visite it And in seyng it he hath reason for in the end the one occupyeth the goods as tenaunte and the other doth viewe the grounde as chefe lord Then if the father of the family with so great diligence doeth recōmend the trees and the groūd to the labourer how much more ought the father to recōmend his children to the maisters for the father geuing coūcell to the maister is no other but to deliuer his child to the treasurer of sciēce Princes and great lords cānot excuse them selues of an offence if after that they haue chosen a knight or gentleman for to be maister or els a learned wise man to be tutour they are so necligēt as if they neuer had had children or did remember that their childrē ought to be their heires certainly this thing shold not be so lightly passed ouer but as a wise man which is careful of the honor profit of his child he ought to be occupied aswel in taking hede to the maister as the maister ought to be occupied in taking hede to the child For the good fathers ought to know whether the maister that he hath chosen can cōmaund and whether his child wil obey One of the notablest princes among the auncientes was Sculeucus king of the Assiriās and husband of Estrabonica the daughter of Demetrius kyng of Macedony a lady for her beauty in al Grece the most renowmed thoughe of her fame in dede she was not very fortunat This is an olde disease that hapneth alwayes to beautiful women that ther be many that desire them mo that slaunder them This king Seuleucus was first maryed with another woman of whom he had a sonne called Antigonus the whyche was in loue with the second wife of his father that is to wete with the quene Estrabonica and was almost dead for loue The whiche the father vnderstandyng maried his sonne with her so that she that was his stepmother was hys wife and she that was a faire wyfe was a faire doughter he which was hys sonne was made his sonne in lawe he which was father was stepfather The aucthor herof is Plutarke in his liues as Sextus Cheronensis saith in the third boke of the sayenges of the grekes The king Seuleucus laboured diligently to bring vp his son Antigonus well wherfore he sought him .ii. notable maisters the one a greke
lordes of thy riches and iust tenauntes of thy vyces Fynally thou Asia art a wofull graue of Rome and thou Rome art a fylthy sinke of Asia Since our auncient fathers dyd content them selues with Rome alone why should not wee theire chyldren content our selues with Rome and Italy but that wee must goe to conquer Asia where wee aduentured our honor and spent our treasure If those auncient romaines being as they were so princely barons in lyfe and so valyaunt in fyghting and so hardy to commaund dyd content them selues wyth this lyttle border why should not wee content our selues not being as they are hauing a realme riche and vicious I knowe not what fond toye tooke vs in the head to goe conquer Asia and not to content our selues wyth Rome Italy was not so poore of ryches nor so destitute of cities nor so vnpeopled of people nor so solitary of beasts nor so vndecked with buyldinges nor so barrayne of good fruites but that of all these things wee had more then our fathers wished and also more then wee theire children deserued For mee I would say that it is for want of iudgement or aboundaunce of pryde for vs to seeke to exceede our forefathers in seignorie when we are not coequall vnto them in vertue I was contented with all thinges of my forefathers saue onely that they were a lytle proud and seditious and herein wee theire children doe resemble them well For as muche as wee are not onely proude and sedicious but also couetous and malycious So that in vertuous things wee go backeward and in vnlawfull woorkes wee goe forward What is become of the great victories that our forefathers had in Asia What is become of the infinite treasure they haue robbed in that countrey what is become of the great nomber of captiues that they tooke in the warre what is become of the straunge beastes that they sent into Italy What is become of the ryches which euerie one brought home to his house what is become of the valiaunt kinges which they tooke in that conquest what is become of the feastes and triumphes wherewyth they entred triumphing into Rome What wilt thou I say more vnto thee in this case my Cornelius but that all they which inuented the warre are dead all those which were in Asia are dead al those which defended that contrey are dead all those which entred triumphing into Rome are dead and fynally all the riches and tryumphs whiche our fathers brought from Asia they and those in short space had an end except the vyces pleasures whereof wee see no end O if the valyaunt princes knewe what a thing it is to inuent warres in straunge realmes what trauayls they seeke for theire persons what cares in their hartes what trouble to their subiects what waste to theire treasors what pouertie to their frends what pleasures to theire enemies what destruccion of the good what libertie of the euill and what occasion they geeue to straungers to speke what vniuersall euyll they sow in their naturall countreys and what euill poison they leaue to their heires I swere by the faith of a good man that if as I feele it princes did feele it and as I taste it princes did taste it also as I haue proued it princes dyd proue it I do not say that with effusion of blood I woold take realmes by force but also they offering them to mee with teares I woold not take thē willingly For speaking the truth it is not the point of valyaunt princes for to sustayne an other mans to put theire owne in ieoperdye I aske nowe what profite toke Rome of the conquest of Asia I admitte that it durst conquer it that it was hardye in winning it obstinate in fightinge and happy in takinge it shoulde it therefore bee fortunate in maintaininge it In this case I saye and affirme and of that I saye I doe not repent mee that it is possible to take Asia but it is but a folye to presume to maintaine it Doest thou not thinke it a great folye to presume to maintaine Asia synce there neuer commeth newes of a victorye but that it is occasion of an other battayle and that to sustaine warre they robbe all Italy In Asia our money is spent our children are perished In Asia dyed our fathers for Asia they make vs paye tributes In Asia the good horses are consumed Into Asia they cary all our corne In Asia all the theeues are nourished From Asia cōmeth all the sedicious personnes In Asia all the good doe perishe From Asia they sende vs all the vyces and fynallye in Asia all our treasures are spent and in Asia all our excellent Romaines are killed And sith this is the seruyce that Asia doth to Rome why will Rome continue warre with Asia Other princes before vs haue conquered Asia taken Asia and possessed Asia but in the ende when they saw that it was a countrey where they feared not the goddes nor acknowledged subiection to theire princes neither that they were apte to receiue lawes they determined to forsake them because they founde by experience that they neyther weary theire bodyes with warres neither wynne theire hartes with benefytes Those Princes not being hardye nor so bolde to sustaine Asia by lande shoulde wee others presume to succour it by sea They forsake it being neighbours and will wee others maintaine it being straungers In my oppinion Asia is a countrey where all the valiaunt men haue employed theire valauntnes where all the fooles haue proued theire folye where al the proude haue shewed theire pryde where all the princes entred in with myght where all the tyrauntes haue employed theire lyfe but in the ende it neither profiteth the one to wyll it nor to the others to knowe it and yet muche lesse to vanquishe it I knowe not the man that loueth Asia that wylleth well to Asia that speaketh well of Asia or that fauoureth the thynges of Asia since shee geueth vs occasion to speake daylye to sigh nightly and to weepe hourely If men atteined to the secrete to knowe the fatall destenies with the which the goddes haue created Asia they woulde not striue so much in the conquest thereof For the gods haue created it in such a sygne that it shoulde be a cōmon pasture where all feede a common market where all sell a common Inne where all reste a common table where all playe a common house where all dwell a common countrey where all remayne and thereof it commeth that Asia is desyred of manye and gouerned of fewe For beynge as it is a common countrey euerye manne will make it his owne proper Peraduenture thou wylt thynke my frende Cornelius that I haue spoken nowe all the euylles of Asia but harken yet I will fourme the a newe question agayne For accordynge to the dommages whych haue followed from Asia to our mother Rome tyme shall rather want to write then matter to declare Not wythout teares I saye that whyche
vertues men ought to vse and the vyces which they ought to eschew Cap. xxvi IN tymes past I beeing yong and thou old I did succor thee with money and thou mee with good counsell but now the world is otherwise chaunged in that thy white hears doo iudge thee to bee old and thy woorks doo cause thee to bee yong Therefore necessity compelleth mee that wee chāge our stile which is that I succor thee with good counsell though thou geeue mee no money therfore for I count thy couetousnes to bee such that for all the good counsel coūselers of Rome the wilt not vouchsafe to geeue one quatrine of Capua Now for the good that I wish thee for that which I owe to the law of frendship I will presently geeue thee a counsel wherby thou mayst know what a good mā ought to doo to bee loued of god feared loued of mē If the wilt quietly lead thy life in this miserable world retain this well in memory which I write vnto thee First the good deedes thou hast receiued of any those shalt thou remember the wrongs thou hast sustained them shalt thou forget Secondarely esteeme much thy own little way not the much of an other Thirdly the company of the good always couet the conuersation of the euill dayly fly Fourthly to the great shew thy self graue to the small more conuersant Fiftly to those which are present doo always good woorks and of those that bee absent always speak good woords Sixtly way little the losse of fortune esteeme much things of honor The seuenth to win one thing neuer aduenture thou many nor for many things doubtfull doo not thou aduēture any one thing certain Finally lastly I pray thee aduertise thee that thou haue no enemy that thou keepe but one frend Hee which among the good wil bee counted for good none of these things hee ought to want I know well that thou wilt haue great pleasure to see these my counsels well writen But I ensure thee I shal haue greater pleasure to see them in thy deedes well obserued For by writing to geeue good counsel it is easy but by woorks to folow the same is maruelous hard My faithful frendship to thee plighted thy great ability considered caused mee always for thee in Rome to procure honorable offices by my suyt thou hast been Edite tribune maister of the horses wherin thou behauedst thy self with such wisdom that all the senate therfore yelded mee most harty thanks I procuring them for thee thou for thy self winning such perpetual renowm One thing of thee I vnderstand which with good wil I woold not haue knowen much lesse that any such thing by thee shoold haue been cōmitted that is to weet that thou leauing thy office of the pretorship in the warre by land hast taken vpon thee traffike of a marchāt by sea so that those which in Rome knew thee a knight doo see thee now in Capua a marchant My pen indyting this my letter for a tyme stood in suspence for no other cause but only to see what thing in thee first I might best blame either the noble office which thou didst forsake or the vyle base estate which thou hast chosen And though thou bee so much bereued of thy sences yet call to mynd thy auncient predecessors which dyed in the warres only to leaue their children and nephews armed knights and that thou presently seekest to lose that liberty through thy couetousnes which thei wanne by their valyauntnes I think I am not deceiued that if thy predecessors were reuiued as they were ambicious of honor so woold they bee greedy to eat thee in morsels sinnues bones and all For the children which vniustly take honor from their fathers of reason ought to lose their lyues The castels towns housen mountains woods beasts Iewels and siluer which our predecessors haue left vs in the end by long cōtinuance doo perish and that which causeth vs to haue perpetuall memory of them is the good renowm of their lyfe And therfore if this bee true it is great shame for the parents to haue such children in whom the renowm of their predecessors dooth end In the florishing time of Cicero the oratour when by his counsell the whole common wealth was gouerned hee beeing then of power both in knowledge and of money Salust said vnto him in his inuectiue that hee was of base stock wherunto hee aunswered Great cause haue I too render thāks vnto the gods that I am not as thou art by whom thy high linage is ended but my poore stock by me doth now begin too rise It is great pity to see how many good noble valiant men are dead but it is more greef to see presently their children vitious and vnthrifts So that there remaineth asmuch memory of their infamy as there doth of the others honesty Thou makst mee ashamed that thou hast forsaken to conquer the enemies as a romain knight and that thou art become a marchant as a poore plebeian Thou makest mee to muse a littel my freend Cincinnatus that thou wilt harme thy familiars and suffer straungers to liue in peace Thou seekest to procure death to those which geeue vs life and to deliuer from death those which take our life To rebels thou geeuest rest to the peace makers thou geeuest anoyaunce To those which take from vs our own thou wilt geeue and to those which geeueth vs of theirs thou wilt take Thou condemnest the innocent and the condemned thou wilt deliuer A defender of thy countrey thou wilt not bee but a tirant of thy common welth To al these things aduentureth hee which leaueth weapons and fauleth to marchandise With my self oft times I haue mused what occasion should moue thee to forsake chiualry wherein thou hadst such honor and to take in hand marchandise whereof foloweth such infamy I say that it is asmuch shame for thee to haue gon from the warres as it is honor for those which are born vnto office in the common welth My freend Cincinnatus my end tendeth not to condemne marchandise nor marchaunds nor to speak euill of those which traffick by the trade of bying and selling For as without the valiant knights warre cannot bee atchyued so likewise without the diligent marchants the comon wealth cannot bee maintained I cannot imagin for what other cause thou shooldst forsake the warre traffique marchandise vnlesse it were because thou now being old wantest force to assault men openly in the straits shooldst with more ease sitting in thy chayer robbe secretly in the market place O poore Cincinnatus sithens thou byest cheap sellest deare promisest much performest litle thou byest by one measure sellest by an other thou watchest that none deceiue thee playest therin as other marchants accustom And to conclude I swear that the measure wherwith the gods shall measure thy lyfe shal bee much iuster
After that the wife doth see her louing husband in the graue I woold ask her what good could remayne with her in her house Since wee know that if her husband were good he was the hauē of al her trobles the remedy of al her necessitys the inuentour of all her pleasours the true loue of her hart the true lord of her parson and the idoll whom shee honored finally he was the faithfull steward of her house and the good father of her children and familye Whether family remayneth or not whyther children remayneth or not in the one and in the other trouble and vexation remaineth most assuredly to the poore widow If perchaunce shee remayne poore and haue no goods let euery man imagine what her life can bee For the poore miserable vnhappy woman eyther wil aduenture her parson to get or wil lose her honesty to demaund An honest woman a noble worthy womā a delicat woman a sweete woman a woman of renowme a woman that ought to maynteyne children and family ought to haue great reason to bee full of anguishe and sorow to see that if shee wil mainteyne her self which the needle shee shal not haue sufficiently to find her self bread and water If shee gaine with her bodie shee loseth her soule If shee must demaund others shee is sahamed If shee fulfill the testament of her husband shee must sell her gowns If shee will not pay his detts they cause her to be brought beefore the iudge As women naturaly are tender what hart will suffer theym to suffer such inconueniēces and what eyes can absteine to shed infinite tears If perchaūce goods doo remaine to the miserable widow she hath no litel care to keepe thē Shee is at great charges and expences to sustain and maintayn her self in long suit about her lands much trouble to augment them and in the end much sorow to depart from them For all her children and heirs doo occupy them selues more to think how they might inherit then in what sort they ought to serue her When I came to this passage a great while I kept my pen in suspence to see whither I ought to touch this matter or no that is to weete that oftentimes the poore wydows put openly the demaund of their goods and the iudges doo secretly demaund the possession of their parson So that first they doo iniury to her honor beefore they doo minister iustice to her demaunds Though perchance shee hath no child yet therfore shee remaineth not without any comfort and for that the parents of her husband doo spoyl her of her goods For in thys case their heirs often times are so disordered that for a worn cloke or for a broken shirt they trouble and sore vexe the poore wydow If perchaunce the miserable wydow haue children I say that in this case shee hath double sorow For if they are yong shee endureth much payn to bring them vp so that ech hour and moment their mothers lyue in great sorows to think onely of the lyfe and health of their children If perhaps the children are old truely the griefs whych remayn vnto them are no lesse For so much as the greatest part of them are eyther proud disobedient malycious negligent adulterers gluttons blasphemers false lyers dull headed wanting wit or sickly So that the ioy of the wofull mothers is to beewayl the death of their welbeeloued husbands and to remedy the discords of their youthfull children If the troubles which remain to the mothers with the sonnes bee great I say that those which they haue with their doughters bee much more For if the doughter bee quick of witt the mother thinketh that shee shal bee vndoon If shee bee simple shee thinketh that euery man will deceiue her If shee bee faier shee hath enough to doo to keepe her If shee bee deformed shee cannot mary her If shee bee well manered shee wil not let her go from her If shee bee euil manered shee cānot endure her If shee bee to solitary shee hath not wherewith to remedy her If shee bee dissolute shee wil not suffer her to bee punished Fynally if shee put her from her shee feareth shee shal bee sclaundeted If shee leaue her in her house shee is afrayd shee shal bee stollen What shal the wofull poore wydow doo seeing her self burdened with doughters enuironed with sonnes and neither of them of such sufficient age that there is any tyme to remedy them nor substāce to maintein them Admit that shee mary one of her sonnes and one doughter I demaund therfore if the poore widow wil leaue her care and anguish Truely I say no though shee choose rich personages and wel disposed shee cannot escape but the day that shee replenisheth her self with doughters in law the same day shee chargeth her hart with sorows trauels and cares O poore wydows deceiue not your selues and doo not immagin that hauing maried your sonnes doughters from that time forward yee shal liue more ioyful and contented For that laid aside which their nephews doo demaund them and that their sonnes in law doo rob them when the poore old woman thinketh to bee most surest the yong man shall make a claym to her goods What doughter in law is there in this world who faithfully loueth her stepmother And what sonne in law is there in the world the desireth not to bee heir to his father in law Suppose a poore widow to bee fallen sick the which hath in her house a sonne in law and that a man ask him vppon his oth which of these two things hee had rather haue either to gouern his mother in law wyth hope to heal her or to bury her with hope to inherit her goods I swear that such woold swere that hee coold reioyce more to geeue a ducket for the graue then a penny to the phisition to purge and heal her Seneca in an epistle saith that the fathers in law naturally loue their doughters in law the sonnes in law are loued of their mothers in law And for the contrary hee saith that naturally the sonnes in law doo hate their mothers in law But I take it not for a generall rule for there are mothers in law whych deserue to bee woorshipped and there are sonnes in law which are not worthy to bee beeloued Other troobles chance dayly to these poore wydows which is that when one of them hath one only sonne whom shee hath in the steed of a husband in steed of a brother in steed of a sonne shee shall see him dye whom sith shee had his lyfe in such great loue shee cannot though shee woold take his death with pacience So that as they bury the dead body of the innocent chyld they bury the lyuely hart of the wofull mother Let vs omit the sorows whych the mothers haue when their children dye and let vs ask the mothers what they feele when they are sick They will aunswer vs that always and as often tymes as their
sodein death and to thee his wife haue lent so long lyfe The gods beeing as they are so mighty and so sage what is hee that can bee iudge of their profound iugements The gods know right well those which serue them and those which offend them those that loue them and those which hate them those that praise them and those that blaspheme them those that yeeld them thanks and those which are vnthankfull And I tel thee further that oftentimes the gods are serued more with them which are buried in the graues then with those which go weeping through the temples Wilt thou now enter into account with the gods thou oughtst to note cōsider that they haue left thee childrē to comfort thy self they haue left thee goods wherwith thou maist auoid pouertie they haue left thee frends by whom thou shalt bee fauored they haue left thee parentz of whom thou art beeloued they haue left thee a good name for to bee esteemed and health wherwith thou mayst liue Fynally I say that small is that which the gods take from vs in respect of that they leaue vs. After one sort wee ought to beehaue our selues with men and after an other wee ought to serue the gods For to men some times it is requisite to shewe a countenaunce for to humble them but to the gods it is necessary to lye flat on the ground with thy stomack to honor them And if the Oracle of Apollo doo not deceiue vs the gods are sooner with humility wherewith wee woorship them appeased then with presumptuous sacrifices which wee offer vnto them contented Since thou art wydow Lady Lauinia and art a wise and vertuous woman beesech the gods to preserue thy children to defend thy renowm and not to seuer thy frends from thee and that thou scatter not thy goods to preserue thy person in health and aboue all to bee in their fauour Thou canst not winne nor lose somuch in all thy lyfe as the gods can geeue or take from thee in one hower Woold to god the wydow knew how little shee winneth among men and how much shee loseth amōg the Gods when shee is not pacient in aduersitie for impacience oftentymes prouoketh the gods to wrath Wee see it in mans body by experience that there are sundrye dyseases which are not cured with woords spoken but with the herbs thereunto applyed And in other diseases the contrary is seene which are not cured with costly medicynes but wyth comfortable woords The end of this comparison tendeth to this effect that all the afflicted harts shoold know that sometymes the hart is more comforted with one benefyte which they doo then with a hundred woords which they speak And at an other tyme the sorowfull hart is better lyghtned with one woord of his frends mouth then with all the seruice of others in the world O wretch that I am for as in the one and in the other I am destitut So in all I doo want For considering thy greatnes and waying my lytle knowledge I see my self very vnable For that to comfort thee I want science and for to help thee I neede ryches But I cease not to haue great sorow if sorow in paiment may bee receiued That which with my person I can doo neither with paper or ynk I wil requite For the man which with woord only cōforteth in effect beeing able to remedy declareth him self to haue been a fayned frend in tymes past and sheweth that a man ought not to take him for a faithful frend in tyme to come That which the Romains with the wydows of Rome haue accustomed to doo I will not presently doo with thee Lady Lauinia that is to weete that thy husband beeing dead all go to visite the widow all comfort the wydow and all weepe with the wydow and within a few days after if the wofull wydow haue neede of any small fauor with the Senat they withdraw them selues togeether as if they had neuer knowen her husband nor seene her The renowm of the Romayn wydows is very daynty for of their honesty or dishonesty dependeth the good renowm of their person the honor of their parents the credit of their children and the memory of the dead For this therfore it is healthfull counsayl for wyse men to speak few woords to wydows and to doo infinite good woorks What auayleth it woful wydows to haue their coffers fylled with letters and promyses and their eares stuffed wyth woords and flatteries If hitherto thou hast taken mee for thy neighbor and parent of thy husband I beeseech thee henceforth that thou take mee for a husband in loue for father in counsell for brother in seruyce and for aduocat in the Senat. And all this so truely shal bee accomplished that I hope thou wilt say that which in many I haue lost in Marcus Aurelius alone I haue found I know well as thou doost in lyke maner that when the harts with sorows are ouer whelmed the spirits are troubled the memory is dulled the flesh dooth tremble the spirit dooth chaunge and reason is withdrawn And since that presently sorrow and care in thy house doo remayn let the gods forsake mee if I abandone thee let them forget mee if I remember thee not But as Claudine remayned thyne wholly till the hour of death so Marcus Aurelius will euermore bee thyne duryng his lyfe Since I loue thee so intierly and thou trustest mee so faithfully and that thou with sorrows art so replenished and my hart with care so oppressed let vs admit that thou Lady Lauinia hast the auctority to commaund mee in thy affayrs and I lycence to counsell and aduertyse thee of thyngs touching thy honor and person For often tymes the wydows haue more neede of a mean remedy then of a good counsell I earnestly desyre thee to leaue the lamentacion of the Romayn wydows that is to weete to shutt the gates to tear their hears to cutt their garments to go bare legged to paynt the vysage to eat solitarily to weepe on the graues to chyd her Chamberlayns to poure out water wyth tears to put Acorns on the graues and to byte theyr nayls wyth the teeth For these thyngs and such other semblable lightnes beehoueth not the grauitie of Romayn Matrons eyther to see thē or els to know them Since there is no extremity but therunto vice is annexed I let thee weete lady Lauinia if thou bee ignoraunt thereof that the widows which are so extreme doo torment them selfes doo trouble their frends doo offend the gods doo forsake theirs and in the end they profit not the dead to the enuious people they geeue occasion to talk I woold think and mee seemeth that the women which are matrons and widows ought to take vppon them such garment and estate the day that the gods take lyfe from their husbands as they entend to wear during their lyfe What auaileth it that a wydow bee one moneth shut vp in her house that afterwards
to deny that I feare not death shoold bee to deny that I am not of flesh Wee see by experience that the elephants doo feare the Lyon the Beare the Elephant the woolf the Beare the lamb the woolf the ratte the catte the catte the dogge and the dogge the man fynally the one and the other doo feare for no other thyng but for feare that one kylleth not the other Then since brute beasts refuse death the which though they dye feare not to fyght with the furies nor hope not to rest with the gods so much the more ought wee to feare death which dye in doubt whither the furies wyll teare vs in pieces with their torments or the gods will receyue vs into their houses with ioy Thinkest thou Panutius that I doo not see well that my vine is gathered and that it is not hyd vnto mee that my pallace falleth in decay I know well that I haue not but the kirnel of the raison and the skinne and that I haue not but one sygh of all my lyfe vntill this time There was great difference beetweene mee and thee and now there is great difference beetwixt mee and my self For about the ensigne thow doost place the army In the ryuers thow castest thy nettes within the parks thou huntest the bulles In the shadow thow takest cold By this I mean that thow talkest so much of death beecause that thou art sure of thy life O myserable man that I am for in short space of all that in this lyfe I haue possessed with mee I shall cary nothing but onely my wynding sheete Alas now shall I enter into the field not where of the fierce beasts I shal bee assaulted but of the hungry woorms deuoured Alas I see my self in that dystresse from whence my frayl flesh cannot escape And yf any hope remayn it is in thee o death When I am sick I woold not that hee that is whole shoold comfort mee When I am sorowfull I woold not that hee which is mery shoold cōfort mee When I am banished I woold not that he which is in prosperity shoold comfort mee When I am at the hour of death I woold not that hee shoold comfort mee which is not in some suspicion of lyfe But I woold that the poore shoold comfort mee in my pouerty the sorowfull in my sorows the banyshed in my banishment and hee which is in as great daunger of his life as I am now at the poynt of death For there is no counsayle so healthfull nor true as that of the man which is in sorow when hee counsayleth an other whych is likewise tormented him self If thow consyderest well this sentence thow shalt fynd that I haue spoken a thyng very profound wherein notwithstanding my tongue is appeased For in my oppinion euill shall hee bee comforted which is weeping with him that continually laugheth I say this to the end thow know that I know it and that thou perceiue that I perceyue it And beecause thou shalt not lyue deceyued as to my frend I wil disclose the secret and thow shalt see that small is the sorow which I haue in respect of the great which I haue cause to haue For if reason had not stryued wyth sensuality the sighs had ended my lyfe and in a pond of teares they had made my graue The things which in mee thow hast seene which are to abhorre meat to banysh sleepe to loue care to bee annoyed with company to take rest in sighs to take pleasure in tears may easely declare vnto thee what torment is in the sea of my hart when such tremblings doo appeare in the earth of my body Let vs now come to the purpose and wee shall see why my body is without consolation and my hart so ouercome with sorows for my feelyng greatly exceedeth my complaynyng beecause the body is so delycat that in scratchyng it it complayneth and the hart is so stout and valiaunt that though it bee hurt yet it dyssembleth O Panutius I let thee weete that the occasion why I take death so greeuously is beecause I leaue my sonne Commodus in this life who lyueth in this age most perillous for hym and no lesse daungerous for the Empire By the flowers are the fruits knowen by the grapes the vines are knowen and by the face men are knowen by the colt the horse is iudged and by the infant youth is knowen This I say by the Prince my sonne for that hee hath been euill in my life I doo ymagyn that hee will bee woorse after my death Since thou as well as I knowst the euill condicions of my sonne why doost thou maruell at the thoughts and sorows of the father My sonne Commodus in years is yong and in vnderstanding yonger Hee hath an euill inclynation and yet hee wil not enforce him self against the same hee gouerneth him self by hys own sence and in matters of wisedome hee knoweth lytel of that hee shoold bee ignoraunt hee knoweth too much and that which is woorst of all hee ys of no man esteemed Hee knoweth nothing of things past nor occupyeth hym about any thing present Fynally for that which with myne eyes I haue seene I say and that which with in my hart I haue suspected I iudge that shortly the person of my sonne shall bee in hazard and the memory of hys father perysh O how vnkyndly haue the Gods vsed them selues toward vs to commaund vs to leaue our honor in the hands of our children for it shoold suffice that wee shoold leaue them our goods and that to our frends we shoold commyt our honor But yet I am sory for that they consume the goods in vices and lose the honor for to bee vitious The gods beeyng pityful as they are since they geeue vs the authoryty to deuyde our goods why doo they not geeue vs leaue to make our wills of the honor My sonnes name beeing Commodus in the Romayn tongue is as much to say as profyt but as hee is wee will bee content to bee without the lytle profyt which hee may doo to some so that wee may bee excused of the great domage which hee is lykely to doo to all For I suppose hee wyll bee the scourge of men and the wrath of Gods Hee entreth now into the pathway of youth alone without a guide And for that hee hath to passe by the hygh and daungerous places I feare lest hee bee lost in the wood of vices For the children of Princes and great Lords for so much as they are brought vp in lyberty wantonnes doo easely fall into vices and voluptuousnes and are most stubborn to bee wythdrawen from their folly O Panutius geue attentiue eare to that I say vnto thee Seest thow not that Commodus my sonne is at lyberty is rych is yong and is alone By the fayth of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the least of these wynds woold ouerthrow not onely a yong tender ash but also a mighty strong
thyng wherein they lyue so long deceyued And allbeeyt in deede this present woork sheweth to you but a few contriued lines yet god him self dooth know the payns wee haue taken herein hath been exceedyng great and this for two causes th one for that the matter is very straunge and dyuers from others thother to thynk that assuredly it should bee hated of those that want the taste of good discypline And therefore wee haue taken great care it should come out of our hands well refoormed and corrected to the end that courtiers might fynd out many sentences in yt profitable for thē and not one woord to trouble them Those noble men or gentlemen that wil from hencefoorth haue their children brought vp in princes courts shall fynd in this kooke all things they shall neede to prouide them of those also that haue been long courtiers shall fynd all that they ought to doo in court And such also as are the best fauored of princes and cary greatest reputacion of honor with them shall fynd likewise excellent good councells by meane whereof they may always maynteyn and continue them selues in the cheefest greatnes of their credit and fauor so that it may wel bee called a mitridatical electuary recuering and healing all malignaunt opilations Of all the bookes I haue hitherto compyled I haue dedicated some of them to the Imperiall maiesty others to those of best fauor credit with him where the readers may see that I rather glory to bee a satire then a flatterer for that in al my sentences they can not fynd one cloked woord to enlarge and imbetter my credit and estate But to the contrary they may read an infynyt number of others where I doo exhort them to gouern their persons discreetly and honorably and to amend their lyues thencefoorth Whan I imprinted the Dyal of princes together with Marcus Aurelius and brought them to lyght I wanted not backbyters and detracters that beeganne foorthwith to teare mee in peeces neither shal I want at this present as I beeleeue such as will not spare wyth venomus tongues to poyson my woork But lyke as then I litle wayd their sclaunderous speaches of mee euen so much lesse doo I now force what they can say against mee beeing assured they shal fynd in the end they haue yl spoken of mee and my poore woorks proceedyng from them rather of a certayn enuy that gnaweth their hart then of any default they fynd in my doctryne comforting my self yet in the assuraunce I haue that al their spight shal one day haue an end and my woorks shal euer bee found good and perdurable Here endeth the Argument ¶ The fourth booke of the Dyall of Princes Compiled by the Lord Antony Gueuara Bysshop of Mondogueto ¶ That it is more necessary for the courtyer abydyng in court to bee of lyuely spirit audacity then it is for the souldior that goeth to serue in the warres Cap. i. PLutarch Plinie and Titus Liuius declare that kyng Agiges one day requested the oracle of Appollo to tell hym who was the happiest man in the world to whom aunswer was made that it was a man they called Aglaon bee knowen of the gods and vnknowen of men This kyng Agiges makyng then search for this man thorough all Greece who was called Aglaon found at length that it was a poore gardyner dwellyng in Archadia who beeing of the age of three score years and twoo neuer went aboue a myle from his house keepyng hym self and his famyly contynually wyth hys onely labor and tyllage of hys gardeyn Now all bee it there were in the world of better parentage and lynage then hee better accompanyed of seruaunts and tenaunts better prouyded of goods and ryches hygher in dygnyty and of greater authoryty then hee yet for all this was this Aglaon the happyest of the world And thys was for that hee neuer haunted Prynces courts neyther by enuy to bee ouerthrowen nor yet by auaryce to bee ouercome For many tymes it chaunceth to men that when they would least geeue them selues to acquayntaunce then come they most to bee knowen and when they make least account of them selues then commeth there an occasyon to make them to bee most reputed of For they wynne more honor that dispyse these goods honors and ryches of thys world then those doo that continually gape and seeke after the same And therefore wee should more enuy Aglaon wyth hys lytel gardeyn then Alexander the great wyth hys myghty Asia For trew contentacion consysteth not in hauyng aboundaunce but in beeyng contented with that lytle hee hath Yt is a mockry and woorthely hee deserueth to bee laughed at that thynketh contentacion lyeth in hauyng much or in beeyng of great authoryty for such ways are redyer to make vs stumble yea and many tymes to fall down ryght then safly to assure vs to goe on our way The punyshment that God gaue to Cain for murderyng of his brother Abel was that his body contynually trembled and hee euer after wandered thorough the world so that hee neuer found ground wheare hee might enhabyt nor house where hee might herber And albeeit this malediction of Cain was the fyrst that euer god ordeyned I durst affirme notwythstandyng that it remayneth as yet vntyll this present day amongst courtyers syth wee see them dayly traueyle and runne into straunge countreis dayly chaungyng and seekyng new lodgyngs Which maketh mee once agayn to say that Aglaon was counted happy for that onely hee neuer romed farre frō hys house For to say truely there is no mysery comparable to that of the courtier that is bound dayly to lye in others howses hauyng none of hys own to goe too And hee onely may bee called happy that putteth not hym self in daunger to serue others Iulius Cesar beeyng councelled to wayt vppon the consull Silla to the end that by seruyng or beeyng about hym hee myght doo hym self great good and yt myght bee very profytable to hym aunswered thus I sweare by the immortall gods I wyll neuer serue any on hope to bee more woorth and greater then I am For thys I am suer of that where lyberty is exiled there myght nor power can preuayle Hee that forsaketh his own countrey where hee lyued at ease and in health and the place where hee was knowen and beeloued the neyghbors of whom hee was visyted the frends of whom hee was serued the parents of whom hee was honored the goods wherewith hee mayntayned him self hys wife and children of whom hee had a thousand pleasures and consolations and that commeth to serue and dye in the court I can not say otherwise of hym but that hee is a very foole or that hee commeth to doe penaunce for some notable cryme hee hath commytted And therefore not wythout great cause was thys name of court whych in our tongue sygnyfyeth short adhibited to the pallace of prynces where all things in deede are short onely enuy and malice excepted which contynue long Hee
I doe appeale thee if thou hast dreamed that thou hast wrytten I saye beleue not in dreames and if thou wylt not it shoulde auayle to glorifie me as a frende yet thou mightest wryte it aduertising and repreuing me as the father to the sonne younge vertuous persones are bounde to honour auncient wyse men and no lesse olde wyse men ought to endoctrine the younge people and very young as I am A iust thing it is that the new forces of youth supplie and serue them that are worne by age For their longe experience instructeth our tender age and naturall ignoraunce Youthe is euill applied when it aboundeth in force of the body wanteth the vertues of the mind and age is honoured wherein the force dieth outwarde whereby vertues quickeneth the more inwarde We may see the tree when the fruite is gathered the leaues fall and when flowers drie then more grene and perfecte are the rootes I meane that when the first season of youth is passed whiche is the Sommer time then commeth age called Wynter and purifieth the fruite of the fleshe and the leaues of fauour fal the flowers of delite wither and the vynes of hope drye outwarde then it is ryght that much better are the rootes of good workes within They that be olde and auncient ought to prayse their good workes rather then their white heares For honoure ought to be geuen for the good life and not for the whyte head Glorious is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is lord of young men to trauaile and auncient persones to councell As to regarde the sustaininge of the naturalitie of the lyfe in likewyse ought to be considered the policy of gouernaunce the whiche is that al the fruites come nor drye not al at once but when one beginneth another faileth And in this maner ye that be auncient teaching vs and we be obedient as olde fathers and young pullettes being in the neste of the Senate Of some their fethers fallinge and other younge fethered and where as the olde fathers can not flie their trauayles are mainteined by their tender children Frende Catullus I purposed not to wryte one lyne this yeare because my penne was troubled with thy slouthe but the weakenes of my spirite and the great peril of myne offices alwayes called on me to demaunde thy councell This priuiledge the olde wyse men holde in their houses where they dwell They are alwayes lordes ouer them that be simple and are sclaues to them that be wyse I thinke thou hast forgotten me thinking that sithe the death of my dere sonne Verissimus the time hath bene so long that I should forget it Thou hast occasion to thinke so for many thinges are cured in time which reason can not helpe But in this case I can not tell which is the greatest thy trūpery or my dolour I sweare to thee by the gods immortall that the hungry wormes are not so puissaunt in the entrales of the vnhappy chylde as the bitter sorowes are in the heauy hart of the wofull father And it is no comparison for the sonne is dead but one tyme and the heauy father dieth euery momente What wylt thou more that I should saye But that one ought to haue enuy of his death and compassion of my lyfe because in dyeng he lyueth and in the lyuing I dye In the mischaunces of lyfe and in the great vnconstancie of fortune whereas her gyles profiteth but litle and her strengthe lesse I thinke the best remedy is to fele it as a man and dissimule it as discrete and wyse If all things as they be felt at heart should be shewed outward with the tongue I thynke that the wyndes shoulde breake the hearte with syghinges and water all the earth with weping O if the corporal eyes sawe the sorowe of the heart I sweare to thee they should see more of a drop of bloud sweatinge within then all the wepyng that appeareth without There is no comparyson of the great dolours of the body to the least greife of the mynde For all trauayle of the body men may finde some remedy but if the heauy heart speake it is not heard if it wepe it is not sene if it complaine it is not beleued What shal the poore harte doe Abhorre the lyfe wherwith it dieth and desire death wherwith it liueth The highe vertues among noble vertuous people consiste not all onely to suffer the passions of the body but also to dissimule them of the soule They be suche that alter the humours and shewe it not outward they brynge a feuer without altering of the poulce they alter the stomacke they make vs to knele to the earth to suffer the water vp to the mouthe and to take death without leauing of the lyfe and finally they length our life to the intente that we should haue no more trauayle and denieth vs our graue to the intent that we should not reste But considering as I am troubled with sorowes so am I voyde of consolations for when I haue either desire of the one or werynes of the other I vse alwayes this remedy to dissimule with the tongue to wepe with the eyes and to fele it with my heart I passe my lyfe as he that hoped to lese all that he hath neuer to recouer that that is loste I saye this though ye see me not nowe make funeral wepinges and waylinges as I did at the death of my sonne yet thinke not but it doeth bren my heart so that with the great heate inward is consumed the humiditie of the eyes for it brenneth al my spirites within Thou mayest knowe what an honorable father suffereth to lese a good childe in all thinges the gods be liberal except in geuing vs vertuous children Where there is aboūdaunce of great estates there is greatest scarsitie of good inheritours It is a dolefull thing to heare and greater pitie to see howe these fathers clime to haue rychesse and to see their children descende to haue viciousnes To see the fathers honoure their children and the children to infame their fathers yea and the fathers to geue reste to the chyldren and the chyldren to geue trouble to their fathers yea and sometyme the fathers die for sorowe that their children die so sone and we see their childrē wepe because their fathers die so late What should I saye more but that the honoure and ryches that the fathers haue procured with great thought the chyldren consume with litle care I am certayne of one thing that the fathers may gather ryches with strengthe and crafte to susteyne their children but the Gods wyll not haue durable that that is begonne with euyll intention as that is whiche is wonne to the preiudice of other and possessed with an euyll heyre And though the heauy destinies of the father permit that the ryches be lefte to their children to serue them in all their vyces for their pastime at last yet according to their merites the
officers aboue recyted resteth nothing but only these goodly rytles And heereunto wee may add also that officers of lyke condition to them neede not to haue any to accuse them neither yet to punish theÌ„ For a time will come one day that they will plunge themselues so deepe into a sea of troubles that it cannot bee chosen but they must needes at last drown vtterly perish or at the least to bee driuen into the hauen of their greatest enemies so that they shal cary the burden of their own wickednes be condingly chastised with their own folly Therefor I pray all those that shall read these writings of myne to obserue them in their hart imprint them well in mynd beeing a matter of such morality and wisedom that it can hardly bee vnderstandid of any but of such as first haue had some proofe therof Helius Spatâ—hianus writeth that there was sometyme a senator in Rome called Lucius Torquatus who was a tyrant a dissembler a great lyer and very seditious deuysyng only to sett discord between the emperor Tytus and the people who being many tymes complained vpon by the people vnto Tytus hee answered them thus I pray you good people let no man seeke to reproue him perswade him threaten nor punish him for hee is so wicked and peruerse in al things that I trust in the gods one day his own crooked naughty condition shall make reuenge and satisfaccion of all the mischiefs hee hath doon mee which was a wonderfull thing in this prince that for an iniury of such importance as that was he woold haue no other reuenge of him but referre al to that hee hoped to see by his own yll nature And sure the matter wel considered hee had good reason to doo yt For a wicked person is of this condition that after hee hath once begon to doo euill hee neuer ceaseth dayly to doo woorse if hee bee not reclaimed by some honest man vntill such time as vnwares not looking to him self hee vtterly falleth to ruyn perdition So that wee may aptly compare an yll man to a caÌ„dell which after it is once lyght it neuer leaueth burning till it haue made an end of it self In great weighty matters sometimes such as haue the dispatchyng of them are wont to speak one woord for an other also to make some faynt promisses to their suters not in respect to lye to them nor deceiue them but to prolong them lenger in suit to encrease their gaigne the more Which I must say they ought not to doo much lesse once to think it When the fauored courtier or officer of the prince is moued in any matter by the suter let him consider well if it bee any thing that may displease the prince bee it neuer so little for they must take great heede that they tell not princes nor their seruants any thing that they know may bee displeasant to their yeres but only that that shal bee both pleasaunt to the eare profitable to the purse there withall that it bee true necessary to bee told looked to For there is no greter destruccioÌ„ to the comoÌ„ weal then to bring false reports vnto the king of his affairs It is one of the gretest kinds of treason that can bee for a prince to disclose the secrets of his hart to his fauored courtier and for him again to tell the prince nothing but lyes tales How great a frend so euer the prince be to his fauored courtier the beloued courtier ought not to presume to aduaunce him self to tell or make his prince beleeue one thing for an other For the matter afterwards discouered the troth knowen it shall not bee enough for him in his excuse to tel the prince that hee made him beleeue so only to satisfy his frend For the king may iustly tell him that it is but an excuse that hee ment no other but to deceiue him For princes ears condicions are so delicate that I am bold to admonish theÌ„ that are his familyers beloued of him that they indeuour them selues alwaies to speak with all humble duity reuerence that that is true yea though in secrete it pleaseth the prince to bee mery with them This is euer true hee that is a frend of verity is also of iustice and hee that is a frend of iustice is also of the common weal and hee that is a frend of the common weal is euer indued wyth a good conscience and hee that hath a good conscience consequently is of a good lyfe hee that is of a good lyfe is also of a good same and beloued of all Albeeit wee cannot deny but that his enemyes will euer speak yll of him yet wee may say also that they can neuer hurt nor condemne him but rather hee shoold bee counted a foole of all men that will goe about or seeke to bee his enemy who is honest in his doiÌ„gs trew in his woords modest in his behauiour beloued and wel thought of of al. Therefore hee putteth him self into a great peril that dare make him self a coÌ„panion fellow in dooings with a wise vertuous man For hee must think that accoÌ„panying with such a man hee accoÌ„panyeth not his person alone but also the vertues that raigne in him if hee doo repugne gainsay reasonable things hee shall straight shew him self to come of a wicked race to bee plunged and rooted in all malyce Now to the end wee may leaue nothing beehind that may serue to aduyse counsell this our fauored courtier I say also that there are many other in fauor with the prince that oft tymes doo procure the prince to geeue offices of dignity realty of the realme sometimes to their kinsfolks otherwhiles to their frends afterwards to their seruants also which perhaps are so vnmeet vnworthy for them that neither their merits shall deserue to haue them nor their knowledge experience also fitt for so weighty an administration And they doo not procure these offices for them for that they are wise and capable but only to aduance them aboue others because they are very troublesome importunat I am sory to write it much more to see it that offices are not geeuen now for the benefit of the comon wealth but to recompence those of whom the fauored courtier hath receiued pleasure or els to satisfy the importunacy of his seruants of his own house But by proces of tyme it might happeÌ„ by means of their skillesse rule that the king woold take from them altogether their offices or remoue them from one place to an other although they were neuer well settled in a town commodiously And being the princes pleasure to doo thus the wise beloued courtier must take heede hee doo not contrary the king much lesse take vppon him to defend the yll gouernment of those officers hoping thereby to come to greater honor For it were lesse
hurt for him the officer lost his estate office then hee his credit reputation Therefore those in fauor auctority ought to content them selues with the prince the seruants with their maisters the parents kinsfolks with the princes officers for that they procured them these offices at the kings hands with the yll willes of many wtout that they further prease importune thē to suborn their faults For after that the dooings of these woorthy officers bee once discouered to bee naught corupted it is impossible by any means to make them good before the prince with whom all the means the parents kinsfolks of such persōs can make cannot stead thē to bring them to their first honor by their own folly lost And now to end thys our present volume of the fauored courtier I doo assure al the beloued courtiers that if god shall fynd purity in their soules the comon weal iustice in their house the king troth in their mouthes fidelity in their harts the good and honest men grace in their fauor that the yll wicked boast them selues no more of their autority office that the poore shall praise them for their good woorks the king also fynd them faithfull seruants I will at this present with myne own hand geeue thē such faith assurance that they shall neede neuer to feare that god wil forsake them nor that men can hurt them and that they shal neuer bee detected of any infamy ouerthrowen by any misfortune neither put out of fauor credit with their prince at any tyme. Finis Here folovveth certaine other letters vvritten by Marcus Aurelius Selected out of the Spanishe copie not wrytten in the Frenche tongue ¶ Of the huge monstre seene in Scicily in the tyme of Marcus Aurelius And of the letters he wrote with bloude vpon a gate Cap. i. IN the yeare of the foundation of Rome .720 and .xlii. of the age of Marcus Aurelius and twoo yeares before he tooke possession of the Empire the twenty daie of August about the going downe of the Sunne in the Realme of Sicill in the Citie of Palermo a porte of the Sea there chaunced a thing perillous to them that sawe it then and no lesse dread full to those whiche shall heare it nowe Whiles they of Palermo were celebrating a great feaste with much ioy that they had vanquished the nauy of the Numidians the pirates deuiding their bootie were preuented by the magistrates of the citie who commaunded the whole spoyle to be layde vp tyll the warres were finished for such was the lawe of the I le And truly it was a iust lawe for oftentimes the only let why the peace is not made betwene princes is because there wanteth riches to satisfie the domages done in warres When all the people were retourned home vnto their houses to supper for it was in the Sommer there appeared an hughe monster in the citie in this fourme He seamed to be of the length of three cubites his heade was balde so that his scull did appeare He hadde no eares saue onely twoo holes in his necke whereby men iudged that he hearde he had two wrythen hornes like a goate his right arme was longer then his left his handes wer lyke the feete of horses without throte his shoulders and his head were both of one height his shoulders shone as doth the scales of fishes his brest was all rough of heere his face in all thinges was lyke vnto a man saue that it had but one eye which was in the middest of his forehead In his nose there was but one nosethril From the middle downwarde there was nothinge seene because it was all couered he satte on a chariot with foure wheles whiche was drawen with foure beastes that is two Lions before and two Beares behinde No man could tell of what wood the chariot was made In fashion it differed nothing from those whiche other men doe accustomably vse Within the chariot stode a great chauldron with eares wherein the monstre was wherfore it could not be seene but from the midle vpwarde It wandered a great space in the citie from one gate to an other castinge out sparkes of fyre The feare was so great throughout all the citie that some women with childe were with great daunger deliuered and others beyng faynte harted fell downe dead And all the people both men and women great and small ran to the temples of Iupiter Mars and Februa with dolefull clamoures and cries makyng their importunate prayers At the same tyme all these rouers were lodged in the gouernours pallace of the citie whose name was Solyno borne at Capua wher also the ryches was kepte After the monstre hadde bene in all partes of the citie or in the moste parte therof it came to the pallace where the pirates were and cut one of the Lions eares of and with the bloude thereof wrote these letters vpon the pallace gate which was shut R. A. S. P. I. P. These letters were of diuers men diuersly interpreted so that the interpretations were mo then the letters And in the ende a woman prophetesse greatly esteamed for her science to whom God had geuen this secret knowledge opened the true meanynge of these letters saying R. signifieth Reddite A. aliena S. si vultis P. propria I. in pace P. possidere Whiche altogethers is to say Render vnto other that which is theirs if you in quiet wyll possesse your owne Truely the pirates were wonderfully afrayd of this sodaine commaundement and the woman was highly commended for her exposition This being done the monstre went the same nyght out of the Citie vnto a high hill called Iamicia and there stode for the space of three dayes in the sight of the citie the Lyons with terrible voyces roaring the Beares with no lesse fearefull cryes ragyng and finally the monstre moste dreadfull flames casting During al this tyme there was neither byrde sene in the ayre nor beaste in the fieldes And the people offred suche great sacrifices vnto their Gods that they brake the vaynes of their handes and feete and offred the bloude thereof to see if they could appease their wrathes These three dayes being passed there appeared in the element a marueilous darke cloude whiche seamed to darken the whole earth and there with it began to thunder and lighten so terriblye that sundrye houses fell to the grounde and infinite men ended their lyues And laste of all ther came such a flame of fire from the monstre that it brent both the pallace where the rouers were all other thinges that were therin so that all was consumed with fire yea the very stones theim selues The tempest was so great that there fell aboue two thousand houses and there died more then ten thousand persones In this place where this monstre was on the toppe of the hill the emperour edified a sumptuous temple to the god Iupiter in perpetuall memory of the same Whereof afterward