kinds and degrees of continencie and incontinencie The coniugall is that which importeth more than all the rest which is most requisit and necessarie both for the publike and particular good and therefore should be by all in greatest account It must be kept and retained within the chaste breast of that partie whom the destinies haue giuen for our companion He that doth otherwise doth not only violate his owne bodie making it a vessell of ordure by all lawes the lawe of God which commaundeth chastitie of Nature which forbiddeth that to be common which is proper to one and imposeth vpon a man faith and constancie of Countries which haue brought in mariages of families transferring vniustlie the labour of another to a stranger and lastly Iustice it selfe bringing in vncertainties iealousies and brawles amongst kindred depriuing children of the loue of their parents and parents of the pietie and dutie of their children CHAP. XLII Of Glory and Ambition AMbition the desire of glory and honor wherof we haue alreadie spoken is not altogether and in all respects to be condemned First it is very profitable to the weale-publike as the world goeth for it is it from whence the greatest of our honorable actions doth arise that hartneth men to dangerous attempts as we may see by the greatest part of our ancient heroicall men who haue not all been lead by a philosophicall spirit as Socrates Phocion Aristides Epaminondas Cato and Scipio by the only true and liuely image of vertue for many yea the greatest number haue beene stirred thereunto by the spirit of Themistocles Alexander Caesar and although these honorable atchieuments and glorious exploits haue not beene with their authors and actors true works of vertue but ambition neuerthelesse their effects haue beene very beneficiall to the publike state Besides this consideration according to the opinion of the wisest it is excusable and allowable in two cases the one in good and profitable things but which are inferior vnto vertue and common both to the good and to the euill as artes and sciences Honos alit artes inconduntur omnes ad studia gloria inuentions industrie military valour The other in continuing the good will and opinion of another The wise doe teach not to rule our actions by the opinion of another except it be for the auoiding of such inconueniences as may happen by their contempt of the approbation and iudgement of another But that a man should be vertuous and doe good for glorie as if that were the salarie and recompence thereof is a false and vaine opinion Much were the state of vertue to be pitied if she should fetch hir commendations and prise from the opinion of another this coine were but counterfelt and this pay too base for vertue She is too noble to begge such recompence A man must settle his soule and in such sort compose his actions that the brightnesse of honor dazell not his reason and strengthen his minde with braue resolutions which serue him as barriers against the assaults of ambition Hee must therefore perswade himselfe that vertue seeketh not a more ample and more rich theater to shew it selfe than hir owne conscience The higher the Sunne is the lesser shadowe doth it make The greater the vertue is the lesse glorie doth it seeke Glory is truely compared to a shadowe which followeth those that flie it and flieth those that follow it Againe hee must neuer forget that man commeth into this world as to a Comedy where hee chooseth not the part that he is to play but onely bethinks himselfe how to play that part well that is giuen vnto him or as a banquet wherein a man feeds vpon that that is before him not reaching to the farre side of the table or snatching the dishes from the master of the feast If a man commit a charge vnto vs which we are capable of let vs accept of it modestlie and exercise it sincerelie making account that God hath placed vs there to stand sentinell to the end that others may rest in safetie vnder our care Let vs seeke no other recompence of our trauell than our owne conscience to witnesse our well doing and desire that the witnesse be rather of credit in the court of our fellow-citizens than in the front of our publike actions To be short let vs hold it for a maxime that the fruit of our honorable actions is to haue acted them Vertue cannot finde without it selfe a recompence worthie it selfe To refuse and contemne greatnes is not so great a miracle it is an attempt of no difficultie He that loues himselfe and iudgeth soundlie is content with an indifferent fortune Magistracies very actiue and passiue are painfull and are not desired but by feeble and sicke spirits Otanes one of the seauen that had title to the soueraigntie of Persia gaue ouer vnto his companions his right vpon condition that he and his might liue in that Empire free from all subiection and magistracie except that which the ancient lawes did impose being impatient to commaund and to be commaunded Diocletian renounced the Empire Celestinus the Popedome CHAP. XLIII Of Temperancie in speech and of Eloquence THis is a great point of wisdome Hee that ruleth his tongue well in a word is wise qui in verbo non offendit hic perfect us est The reason heereof is because the tongue is all the world in it is both good and euill life and death as hath beene said before Let vs now see what aduice is to be giuen to rule it well The first rule is that speech be sober and seldome To know how to be silent is a great aduantage to speake well 1 Rules of speeach and he that knowes not well how to do the one knowes not the other To speake well and much is not the worke of one man and the best men are they that speake least saith a wise man They that abound in words are barraine in good speech and good actions like those trees that are full of leaues and yeeld little fruit much chaffe and little corne The Lacedemonians great professors of vertue and valour did likewise professe silence and were enemies to much speech And therefore hath it euer beene commendable to be sparing in speech to keepe a bridle at the mouth Pone domine custodiam ori meo And in the law of Moyses that vessell that had not his couering fastned to it was vncleane By speech a man is knowne and discerned The wise man hath his tongue in his heart the foole his heart in his tongue The second that it be true The vse of speech is to assist the truth and to carrie the torch before it to make it appeare and contrarilie to discouer and reiect lying Insomuch that speech is the instrument whereby wee communicate our willes and our thoughts It had need be true and faithfull since that our vnderstanding is directed by the onely meanes of speech He that falsifieth it betrayeth publike societie
forme the food thereof is double ambiguitie it is a perpetuall motion without rest without bound The world is a schoole of inquisition agitation and hunting is it proper dish to take or to faile of the pray is another thing But it worketh and pursueth it enterprices rashly and irregularly without order and without measure it is a wandring 9 It worketh rashly instrument mooueable diuersly turning it is an instrument of leade and of wax it boweth and straitneth applieth it selfe to all more supple and facill than the water the aire flexibilis omni humore obsequentior vt spiritus qui omni materia facilior vt tenuior it is the shoo of Theramenes fit for all The cunning is to finde where it is for it goes alwayes athwart and crosse as wel with a lie as with a truth it sporteth it selfe and findeth a seeming reason for euery thing for it maketh that 10 Reason hath diuers faces which is impious vniust abominable in one place pietie iustice and honour in another neither can we name any law or custome or condition that is either generally receiued of all or reiected the marriage of those that are neere of blood the murther of infants parents is condemned in one place lawfull in another Plato refused an embrodered and perfumed robe offered him by Dionysius saying that he was a man and therefore would not adorne himselfe like a woman Aristippus accepted of that robe saying the outward acoutrement can not corrupt a chaste minde Diogenes washing his colewarts and seeing Aristippus passe by sayd vnto him If thou knewest how to liue with colewarts thou wouldest neuer follow the Court of a Tyrant Aristippus answered him If thou knewest how to liue with Kings thou wouldest neuer wash colewarts One perswaded Solon to cease from the bewailing the death of his sonnes because his teares did neither profit nor helpe him Yea therefore sayth he are my teares iust and I haue reason to weepe The wife of Socrates redoubled her griefe because the Iudges put her husband to death vniustly What saith he wouldest thou rather I were iustly condemned There is no good sayth a wise man but that to the losse whereof a man is alwayes prepared In aequo enim est dolor amissae rei timor amittendae Quite contrary faith another we embrace and locke vp that good a great deale the more carefully which we see lesse sure and alwaies feare will be taken from vs. A Cynique Philosopher demanded of Antigonus the King a dram of siluer That sayth he is no gift fit for a King Why then giue me a talent sayth the Philosopher And that saith the King is no gift fit for a Cynique One sayd of a King of Sparta that was gentle and debonaire Hee is a good man euen to the wicked How should hee be good vnto the wicked saith another if he be not wicked with the wicked So that we see that the reason of man hath many visages it is a two-edged sword a staffe with two pikes Ogni medaglia ha il suo riuerso There is no reason but hath a contrary reason sayth the soundest and surest Philosopher Now this volubilitie and flexibilitie proceedeth from many causes from the perpetuall alteration and motion of the bodie which is neuer twice in a mans life in one and the same estate from the obiects which are infinite the aire it selfe and the serenitie of the heauen Tales sunt hominum mentes quali pater ipse Iuppiter auctiferas lustrauit lampide terras and all outward things inwardly from those shakings and tremblings which the Soule giues vnto it selfe by the agitation and stirreth vp by the passions thereof insomuch that it beholdeth things with diuers countenances for whatsoeuer is in the world hath diuers lustures diuers considerations Epictetus sayd it was a pot with two hands He might better haue sayd with many The reason heereof is because it entangleth it selfe in it 12 The reason of this intanglement owne worke like the Silke-worme for as it thinketh to note from farre I know not what appearance of light and imaginarie truth and flies vnto it there are many difficulties that crosse the way new sents that inebriate and bring it forth of the way The end at which it aimeth is twofold the one more common and naturall which is Trueth which it searcheth and 13 The end is verity which it can neither attaine nor finde pursueth for there is no desire more naturall than to know the trueth we assay all the meanes we can to attaine vnto it but in the end all our endeuours come short for Truth is not an ordinarie bootie or thing that will suffer it selfe to be gotten and handled much lesse to be possessed by any humane Spirit It lodgeth within the bosom of God that is her chamber Reade before Chap. 9. her retiring place Man knoweth not vnderstandeth not any thing aright in puritie and in trueth as he ought appearances doe alwayes compasse him on euery side which are as well in those things that are false as true We are borne to search the truth but to possesse it belongeth to a higher and greater power Truth is not his that thrusts himselfe into it but his that runnes the fairest course towards the marke When it falles out that he hits vpon a trueth it is by chance and hazzard he knowes not how to holde it to possesse it to distinguish it from a lie Errours are receiued into our soule by the selfe same way and conduit that the truth is the spirit hath no meanes either to distinguish or to chuse and as well may he play the sot that telles a trueth as a lie The meanes that it vseth for the discouerie of the truth are reason and experience both of them very weake vncertaine diuers wauering The greatest argument of truth is the generall consent of the world now the number of fooles doth farre exceed the number of the wise and therefore how should that generall consent be agreed vpon but by corruption and an applause giuen without iudgement and knowledge of the cause and by the imitation of some one that first began the dance The other end lesse naturall but more ambitious is Inuention 14 The second end Inuention vnto which it tendeth as to the highest point of honor to the end it may raise it selfe and preuaile the more this is that which is in so high account that it seemeth to be an image of the Diuinitie From the sufficiencie of this inuention haue proceeded all those works which haue rauished the whole world with admiration which if they be such as are for the publike benefit they haue deified their Authours Those works that shew rather finenesse of wit than bring profit with them are painting caruing Architecture the art Perspectiue as the vine of Zeuxis the Venus of Apelles the image of Memnon the horse of Aâ—â—ain the woodden pigeon of Architas the cow of Myron the flie and
and hinder one the other Miserie and Pride Vanitie and Presumption See then how strange and monstrous a patch-coat man is Forasmuch as man is composed of two diuers parts the soule and the body it is a matter of difficulty well to describe him entire in his perfection and declining state Some refer vnto the body whatsoeuer ill can be spoken of man they make him an excellent creature and in regard of his spirit extoll him aboue all other creatures but on the other side whatsoeuer is ill either in man or in the whole world is forged and proceedeth from this spirit of man and in it there is farre more vanity inconstancy misery presumption than in the body wherein there is little matter of reproch in respect of the spirit and therefore Democritus calleth it a world of hidden miseries and Plutarch prooueth it in a booke written of that subiect Now let vs consider man more according to the life than heeretofore we haue done and pinch him where it itcheth not referring all to these fiue points vanity weaknesse inconstancy misery and presumption which are his more naturall and vniuersall qualities but the two latter touch him more neerely Againe there are some things common to many of these fiue which a man knowes not to which to attribute it and especially imbecillity and misery CHAP. XXXVI 1. Vanity VAnity is the most essentiall and proper quality of humane nature There is nothing so much in man bee it malice infelicity inconstancy irresolution and of all these there is alwaies abundance as base feeblenesse sottishnesse and ridiculous vanity And therefore Democritus met better with it with a kind of disdaine of humane condition mocking and laughing at it than Heraclitus that wept and tormented himselfe whereby he gaue some testimony that he made some account thereof and Diogenes who scorned it than Timon that hater and flier of the company of men Pindarus hath expressed it more to the life than any other by the two vainest things in the world calling it the dreame of ashadow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is that that hath wrought in the wisest so great a contempt of man that hearing of some great designment and honourable enterprise and iudging it such were wont neuerthelesse to say that the world was not worthy a mans labour and paines so answered Statilius to Brutus talking with him about the conspiracie against Caesar and that a wise man should doe nothing but for himselfe for it is not reason that wise men and wisedome should put themselues in danger for fooles This vanitie is shewed and expressed many waies and after 2 Thoughts a diuers maner first in our thoughts and priuate imaginations which are many times more than vaine friuolous and ridiculous wherein neuerthelesse we spend much time and yet perceiue it not Wee enter into them we dwell in them and we come foorth againe insensibly which is a double vanitie and a great forgetfulnesse of our selues One walking in a hall considereth how he may frame his paces after a certaine fashion vpon the boords of the floure another discourseth in his minde with much time and great attention how he should carry himselfe if he were a king a Pope or some other thing that he is assured can neuer come to passe and so hee feedeth himselfe with winde yea lesse than winde that that neither is nor euer shall be Another dreameth how he shall compose his body his countenances his gestures his speech after an affected fashion and pleaseth himselfe therein as with a thing that wonderfully becomes him and that euery man should take delight in But what a vanitie and sottish weakenesse in our desires is this that brings forth beliefs and hopes farre more vaine And all this falleth out not only when we haue nothing to doe when we are swallowed vp with idlenesse but many times in the midst of our most necessarie affaires so naturall and powerfull is vanitie that it robbeth and plucketh out of our hands the truth soliditie and substance of things and fills vs with winde yea with nothing Another more sottish vanitie is a troublesome care of what shall heere fall out when we are dead We extend our desires 3 Care for times to come and affections beyond our selues and our being wee would prouide that some thing should bee done vnto vs when wee know not what is done vnto vs owe desire to be praised after our death what greater vanitie It is not ambition as it seemeth a man may thinke it for that is the desire of a sensible and perceptible honor if this praise of our selues when we are gone might any way profit either our children our parents or our friends that suruiue vs it were well there were some benefit though not to our selues but to desire that as a good which shall no way touch vs nor benefit others is a meere vanitie like that of those who feare their wiues will marrie after their departure and therefore they desire them with great passion to continue vnmarried and binde them by their willes so to do leauing vnto them a great part of their goods vpon that condition This is vanitie and many times iniustice It was contrariwise a commendable thing in those great men in times past which dying exhorted their wiues to marry speedily for the better increase of the Commonwealth Others ordeine that for the loue of them and for their sakes a friend keepe such and such a thing or that he do this or that vnto their dead bodies which rather sheweth their vanitie than doth any good to soule or bodie See heere another vanitie we liue not but by relation vnto another we take not so much care what we are in our selues in effect and truth as what we are in the publike knowledge of men in such sort that we do many times deceiue and depriue our selues of our owne goods and commodities and torment our selues to frame our outward appearances to the common opinion This is true not onely in outward things and such as belong to the bodie and the expense and charge of our meanes but also in the goods of the spirit which seeme vnto vs to be without fruit if others enioy them not and they be not produced to the view and approbation of strangers Our vanity is not only in our simple thoughts desires and discourses but it likewise troubleth shaketh and tormenteth 5 Agitations of the spirit both soule and bodie Many times men trouble and torment themselues more for light occasions and matters of no moment than for the greatest and most important affaires that are Our soule is many times troubled with small fantasies dreames shadowes fooleries without bodie without subiect it is intangled and molested with choler hatred sorow ioy building castles in Spaine The remembrance of a farewell of some particular grace or action afflicteth vs more than a whole discourse of a matter of greater importance The sound of names and certaine words
spirits and many times such things are vaine and not to be esteemed if they bring not with them goodnesse and commoditie And therefore that Prince did iustly contemne him that glorified himselfe because he could from far cast a graine of millet thorow the eye of a needle 4 Generally all those superstitious opinions wherewith children women and weake mindes are infected 5 To esteeme of men for their riches dignities honors and to contemne those that want them as if a man should iudge of a horse by the saddle and bridle 6 To account of things not according to their true naturall and essentiall worth which is many times inward and hidden but according to the outward shew or common report 7 To thinke to be reuenged of an enemy by killing him for that is to put him in safetie and to quit him from all ill and to bring a vengeance vpon himselfe it is to take from his enemie all sense of reuenge which is the principall effect thereof This doth likewise belong vnto weaknesse 8 To account it a great iniurie or to thinke a man miserable because he is a cuckold for what greater folly in iudgement can there be than to esteeme of a man the lesse for the vice of another which hee neuer allowed As much may be sayd of a bastard 9 To account lesse of things present and that are our owne and which wee peaceably enioy and to esteeme of them most when a man hath them not or because they are another mans as if the presence and possession of them did lessen their worth and the want of them increase it Virtutem incolumem odimus Sublatam ex oculis quaerimus inuidi And this is the cause why a Prophet is not esteemed in his owne countrey So likewise mastership and authoritie ingendreth contempt of those that are subiect to that authoritie husbands haue a carelesse respect of their wiues and many fathers of their children Wilt thou saith the good fellow loue her no more then marrie her Wee esteeme more the horse the house the seruant of another because he is anothers and not ours It is a thing very strange to account more of things in imagination than in substance as a man doth all things absent and that are not his whether it be before hee haue them or after he hath had them The cause hereof in both cases may be because before a man possesse them hee esteemeth not according to that they are worth but according to that which he imagineth them to be or they haue by another beene reported to be and possessing them hee esteemes them according to that good and benefit he getteth by them and after they are taken from him he considereth and desireth them wholly in their perfection and declination whereas before he enioyed them and vsed them but by peecemeale successiuely for a man thinketh he shall alwayes haue time enough to enioy them and by that meanes they are gone before he was aware that he had them And this is the reason why the griefe is greater in hauing them not than the pleasure in possessing them But heerein there is as much imbecillitie as miserie We haue not the sufficiencie to enioy but only to desire There is another vice cleane contrarie to this and that is when a man setleth himselfe in himselfe and in such sort conceits himselfe and whatsoeuer he hath that he preferres it before all and thinks nothing comparable to his owne Though these kinde of people be no wiser than the other yet they are at least more happie 10 To be ouer-zealous in euery question that is proposed to bite all to take to the heart and to shew himselfe importunate and opinatiue in euery thing so he haue some faire pretext of iustice religion the weale publike the loue of the people 11 To play the mourner the afflicted person to weepe See cap. 27. for the death or vnhappie accident of another to thinke that not to be moued at all or very little is for want of loue and affection There is also vanitie in this 12 To esteeme and make account of actions that are done Lib. 2. ca. 10. with rumour clatter and clamor and to contemne those that are done otherwise and to thinke that they that proceed after so sweet and calme a maner do nothing are as in a dreame without action and to be briese to esteeme Art more than Nature That which is puffed vp swollen and eleuated by studie fame report and striketh the sense that is to say artificiall is more regarded and esteemed than that which is sweet simple plaine ordinarie that is to say Naturall that awaketh this brings vs asleepe 13 To giue an ill and wrong interpretation of the honourable actions of another man and to attribute them to base and vaine or vicious causes or occasions as they that attributed the death of yoong Cato to the feare he had of Caesar wherewith Plutarch seemes to be offended and others more foolishly to ambition This is a great maladie of the iudgement which proceedeth either from malice and corruption of the will and maners or enuie against those that are more woorthy than themselues or from that vice of bringing their owne credit to their owne doore and measuring another by their owne foot or rather than all this from imbecillitie and weaknesse as not hauing their sight so strong and so certaine to conceiue the brightnesse of vertue in it owne natiue purity There are some that thinke they shew great wit and subtiltie in deprauing and obscuring the glory of beautifull and honorable actions wherein they shew much more malice than sufficiencie It is a thing easy enough to doe but base and villanous 14 To defame and to chastise ouer-rigorously and shamefully certaine vices as crimes in the highest degree villanous and contagious which are neuerthelesse but indifferent and haue their roote and excuse in nature and not so much to detest and to chastise with so greedy adoo those vices that are truly great and against nature as pretended and plotted murders treasons and treachery cruelty and so forth 15 Behold also after all this a true testimonie of spirituall miserie but which is wily subtile and that is that the spirit of man in it best temper and peaceable setled and soundest estate is not capable but of common ordinary naturall and indifferent things To be capable of diuine and supernaturall as of diuination prophesie reuclation inuention and as a man may say to enter into the cabinet of the gods he must be sicke displaced from his naturall seate and as it were corrupted correptus either by extrauagancie extasie inspiration or by dreaming insomuch that the two naturall wayes to atteine thereunto are either fury or dead sleepe So that the spirit is neuer so wise as when it is a foole nor more awaked than when it sleepeth it neuer meeteth better than when it goes on one side or crosseth the way it neuer mounts or flies
consisteth in this that the husband hath power ouer the wife and the 8 Inequalitie wife is subiect to the husband This agreeth with all lawes and policies but yet more or lesse according to the diuersitie of them In all things the wife though she be far more noble and more rich yet is subiect to the husband This superioritie and inferioritie is naturall founded vpon the strength and sufficiencie of the one the weaknes and insufficiencie of the other The Diuines ground it vpon other reasons drawen from the Bible Man was first made by God alone and immediatly expresly for God his head and according to his image and perfect for nature doth always begin with things perfect The woman was made in the second place after man of the substance of man by occasion and for another thing mulier est vir occasionatus to serue as an aide and as a second to man who is her head and therefore imperfect And this is the difference by order of generation That of corruption and sinne proueth the same for the woman was the first in preuarication and by hir own weakenes and will did sinne man the second and by occasion of the woman the woman then the last in good and in generation and by occasion the first in euill and the occasion thereof is iustly subiect vnto man the first in good and last in euill This superioritie and power of the husband hath beene in some places such as that of the father ouer life and death as 9 The power of the husband Dion Halicar l. 2. Lib. 2. Lib. 6. bel Gal. with the Romans by the law of Romulus and the husband had power to kill his wife in foure cases Adulterie Suborning of children counterfeiting of false keyes and drinking of wine So likewise with the Greeks as Polybius and the ancient French as Caesar affirmeth the power of the husband was ouer the life and death of his wife Elswhere and there too afterwards this power was moderated but almost in all places the power of the husband and the subiection of the wife doth inferre thus much That the husband is master of the actions and vowes of his wife and may with words correct her and hold her to the stocks as for blowes they are vnworthy a woman of honour or honestie saith the Law and the wife is bound to holde the condition follow the qualitie countrey familie habitation and rancke of her husband she must accompanie and follow him in all things in his iourneys if need be his banishment his imprisonment yea a wandring person a vagabond a fugitiue The examples heereof are many and excellent of Sulpitia who followed her husband Lentulus being banished into Cicilie Erithrea her husband Phalaris Ipsicrates the wife of King Mithridate vanquished by Pompey who wandred thorow the world Some adde vnto this That wiues are to follow their husbands euen in the warres and into those prouinces whither the husband is sent with publike charge Neither can the wife bring any thing into question of law whether she be plaintiffe or defendant without Corn. Tacit the authority of her husband or of the Iudge if he refuse neither can she call her husband into iudgement without the permission of the Magistrate Marriage is not carried after one and the same fashion neither 10 The diuers rules of mariage hath it in euery place the same lawes and rules but according to the diuersitie of religions and countreys it hath rules either more easie or more streight according to the rules of Christianitie of all others the streightest marriage is more subiect and held more short There is nothing but the entrance left free the continuance is by constraint depending of some thing els than our owne willes Other nations and religions to make marriage more easie free and fertile haue receiued and practised Polygamie and repudiation libertie to take and leaue wiues they accuse Christianitie for taking away these two by which meanes amity and multiplication the principall ends of marriage are much preiudiced inasmuch as amitie is an enemie to all constraint and they doe better maintaine themselues in an honest libertie and multiplication is made by the woman as Nature doth richly make knowen vnto vs in wolues of whom the race is so fertile in the production of their yoong euen to the number of twelue or thirteene that they farre excell all other profitable creatures of these there are great numbers killed euery day by which meanes there are but few and they though of all others the most fertile yet by accident the most barren the reason is because of so great a number as they bring there is one only female which for the most part beareth not by reason of the multitude of males that concurre in the generation of which the greatest part die without fruit by the want of females So likewise we may see how much Polygamy helpeth to multiplication in those nations that receiue it Iewes Turks and other Barbarians who are able to raise forces of three or foure thousand fighting men fit for warres Contrariwise in Christendome there are many linked together in matrimony the one of which if not both are barren which being placed with others both the one and the other may happely leaue great posteritie behinde them But to speake more truly all his fertilitie consisteth in the fertilitie of one only woman Finally they obiect That this Christianlike restraint is the cause of many lasciuious pranks and adulteries To all which we may answer That Christianitie considereth not of marriage by reasons purely humane naturall temporall but it beholds it with another visage and weigheth it with reasons more high and noble as hath beene said Adde vnto this That experience sheweth in the greatest part of marriages that constraint increaseth amitie especially in simple and debonaire mindes who doe easily accommodate themselues where they finde themselues in such sort linked And as for lasciuious and wicked persons it is the immodestie of their maners that makes them such which no libertie can amend And to say the truth Adulteries are as common where Polygamie and repudiation are in force witnesse the Iewes and Dauid who for all the wiues that hee had could not defend himselfe from it and contrariwise they haue beene a long time vnknowen in policies well gouerned where there was neither Polygamie nor repudiation witnesse Sparta and Rome a long time after the foundation And therefore it is absurd to attribute it vnto religion which teacheth nothing but puritie and continencie The libertie of Polygamie which seemeth in some sort naturall 11 Polygamie diuers is caried diuersly according to the diuersitie of nations and policies In some all the wiues that belong to one husband liue in common and are equall in degree and so are their children In others there is one who is the principall and as the mistresse whose children inherit the goods honours and titles of the husband the rest
of the wiues are kept apart and carrie in some places the titles of lawfull wiues in others of concubines and their children are onely pensioners The vse of repudiation in like sort is different for with 12 Repudiation diuers some as the Hebrewes Greeks Armenians the cause of the separation is not expressed and it is not permitted to retake the wife once repudiated but yet lawfull to marry another But by the law of Mahumet the separation is made by the Iudge with knowledge taken of the cause except it be by mutuall consent which must be adulterie sterilitie incompatibilitie of humours an enterprise on his or hir part against the life of each other things directly and especiallie contrarie to the state and institution of mariage and it is lawfull to retake one another as often as they shall thinke good The former seemeth to be the better because it bridleth proud women and ouer-sharp and bitter husbands The second which is to expresse the cause dishonoureth the parties discouereth many things which should be hid And if it fall out that the cause be not sufficientlie verified and that they must continue together poysonings and murthers doe commonly ensue many times vnknowne vnto men as it was discouered at Rome before the vse of repudiation where a woman being apprehended for poysoning of her husband accused others and they others too to the number of threescore and ten which were all executed for the same offence But the worst law of all others hath beene that the adulterer escapeth almost euery where without punishment of death and all that is laid vpoÌ„ him is diuorce separation of companie brought in by Iustinian a man whollie possessed by his wife who caused whatsoeuer lawes to passe that might make for the aduantage of women From hence doth arise a danger of perpetuall adulterie desire of the death of the one partie the offender is not punished the innocent iniured remaineth without amends The dutie of maried folke See Lib. 3. Cap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are many sorts and degrees of authoritie and humane power Publicke and Priuate but there is none 1 Fatherly power more naturall nor greater than that of the father ouer his children I say father because the mother who is subiect vnto hir husband cannot properly haue hir children in hir power and subiection but it hath not been alwayes and in all places alike In former times almost euery where it was absolute and vniuersall ouer the life and death the libertie the goods the honor the actions and cariages of their children as to plead to marie to get goods as namely with the Romans by the expresse law of Romulus parentum in liberos omne ius esto relegendi vendendi occidendi except only children vnder Dion Halic li 2. antiq Rom l. in â—uis ff de lib. post Aul. Gell. lib. 20. Lib. 8. Eth. cap. 20. Lib 6. Bel. Gal. Prosper Aquitan in Epist Sigism the age of three yeares who as yet could not offend either in word or deede which law was afterwards renued by the law of the twelue tables by which the father was allowed to sell his children to the third time with the Persians according to Aristotle the ancient French as Caesar and Prosper affirme with the Muscouits and Tartars who might sell their children to the fourth time And it should seeme by that fact of Abraham going about to kill his sonne that this power was likewise vnder the law of nature for if it had been against his dutie and without the power of the father he had neuer consented thereunto neither had hee euer thought that it was God that commanded him to do it if it had beene against nature And therefore we see that Isaac made no resistance nor alledged his innocencie knowing that it was in the power of his father which derogateth not in any sort from the greatnesse of the faith of Abraham because he would not sacrifice his sonne by vertue of his right or power nor for any demerit of Isaac but only to obey the commandement of God So likewise it was in force by the law of Moyses though somewhat Deut. 21. moderated So that we see what this power hath been in ancient times in the greatest part of the world and which endured vnto the time of the Romane Emperours With the Greeks it was not so great and absolute nor with the Egyptians neuerthelesse if it fell out that the father had killed his sonnes wrongfully and without cause he had no other punishment but to be shut vp three daies together with the dead bodie Now the reasons and fruits of so great and absolute a power 2 The reasons and fruits thereof of fathers ouer their children necessarie for the culture of good maners the chasing away of vice and the publike good were first to holde the children in awe and dutie and secondly because there are many great faults in children that would escape vnpunished to the great preiudice of the weale publike if the knowledge and punishment of them were but in the hand of publike authoritie whether it be because they are domesticall and secret or because there is no man that will prosecute against them for the parents who know them and are interessed in them will not discredit them besides that there are many vices and insolencies that are neuer punished by iustice Adde heereunto that there are many things to be tried and many differences betwixt parents and children brothers and sisters touching their goods or other matters which are not fit to be published which are extinct and buried by this fatherly authoritie And the law did alwayes suppose that the father would neuer abuse this authoritie because of that great loue which he naturally carrieth to his children incompatible with crueltie which is the cause that in stead of punishing them with rigour they rather become intercessours for them when they are in danger of the law and there can be no greater torment to them than to see their children in paine And it falleth out very seldome or neuer that this power is put in practise without very great occasion so that it was rather a scarcrow to children and very profitable than a rigour in good earnest Now this fatherly power as ouer-sharpe and dangerous is almost of it selfe lost and abolished for it hath rather hapned 3 The declination by a kinde of discontinuance than any expresse law and it beganne to decline at the comming of the Romane Emperours for from the time of Augustus or shortly after it was no more in force whereby children became so desperate and insolent against their parents that Seneca speaking to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. sayd That hee had seene more paricides punished in fiue yeeres past than had beene in seuen hundred yeeres before that is to say since the foundation of Rome In former times if it fell out that the father killed his
that haue done the same There are some that separate these two and thinke that one of them sufficeth to true nobilitie that is either only vertue 3 the distinction and qualitie without any consideration of race or ancestors This is a personall and acquired nobilitie considered with rigour it is rude that one come from the house of a Butcher or Vintner should be held for noble whatsoeuer seruice he hath done for the Common-weale Neuerthelesse this opinion hath place in many nations namely with the Turks contemners of ancient nobilitie and esteeming of no other but personall and actuall militarie valour or only antiquitie of race without profession of the qualitie this is in the bloud and purely naturall If a man should compare these two simple and imperfect nobilities together that which is purely naturall to iudge aright 4 Naturall nobilitie it is the lesse though many out of their vanitie haue thought otherwise The naturall is another mans qualitie and not his owne genus proauos quae non fecimus ipsi vix ea nostra puto nemo vixit in gloriam nostram nec quod ante nos fuit nostrum est And what greater follie can there be than to glorie in that which is not his owne This honor may light vpon a vitious man a knaue and one in himself a true villaine It is also vnprofitable to another for it communicateth not with any man neither is any man bettered by it as science iustice goodnes beautie riches do They that haue nothing else commendable in them but this nobilitie of flesh and bloud make much of it they haue it alwaies in their mouthes it makes their cheekes swell and their hearts too they will be sure to manage that little good that they haue it is the marke by which they are knowne and a token that they haue nothing else in them because they rest themselues whollie vpon that But this is vanitie for all their glorie springeth from fraile instruments ab vtero conceptu partu and is buried vnder the toombe of their ancestors As offenders being pursued haue recourse to altars and the sepulchers of the dead and in former times to the statues of Emperours so these men being destitute of all merit and subiect of true honor haue recourse to the memorie and armories of their ancestors What good is it to a blind man that his parents haue beene well sighted or to him that stammereth that his Grandfather was eloquent and yet these kind of people are commonly glorious high minded contemners of others Contemptor animus superbia commune nobilitatis malum Salust The personall and acquired honor hath conditions altogether contrarie and very good It is proper to the possessor 5 Acquired and personall honor thereof it is alwaies a worthie subiect and profitable to others Againe a man may say that it is more ancient and more rare than the naturall for by it the naturall began and in a word that is true honor which consisteth in good and profitable effects not in dreames and imagination vaine and vnprofitable and proceedeth from the spirit not the bloud which is the same in noble men that is in others Quis generosus ad virtutem à natura bene compositus animus facit nobilem cui ex quacunque conditione supra fortunam licet surgere Senec. But they are both oftentimes and verie willinglie together and so they make a perfect honor The naturall is a way 6 Naturall and acquired and occasion to the personall for things do easily returne to their first nature and beginning As the naturall hath taken his beginning and essence from the personall so it leadeth and conducteth his to it fortes creantur fortibus hoc vnum in nobilitate bonum vt nobilibus imposita necessitudo videatur ne à maiorum virtute degenerent To know that a man is sprung from honorable ancestors and such as haue deserued well of the Common-weale is a strong obligation and spurre to the honorable exploits of vertue It is a foule thing to degenerate and to belie a mans owne race The nobilitie that is giuen by the bountie and letters patent of the Prince if it haue no other reason it is shamefull and rather dishonorable than honorable It is an nobilitie in parchment bought with siluer or fauor and not by bloud as it ought If it be giuen for merit and notable seruices it is personall and acquired as hath beene said CHAP. LX. Of Honor. SOme say but not so well that honor is the prise and recompence of vertue or not so ill an acknowledgement of 1 The description of honor vertue or a prerogatiue of a good opinion and afterwards of an outward dutie towards vertue It is a priuiledge that draweth his principall essence from vertue Others haue called it the shadow of vertue which sometimes followeth sometimes goeth before it as the shadow the bodie But to speake truly it is the rumor of a beautifull and vertuous action which reboundeth from our soules to the view of the world and by reflexion into our selues bringeth vnto vs a testimonie of that which others beleeue of vs which turneth to a great contentment of mind Honor is so much esteemed and sought for by all that to attaine thereunto a man enterpriseth endureth contemneth whatsoeuer besides yea life it selfe neuerthelesse it is a matter of small and slender moment vncertaine a stranger and as it were separated in the aire from him that is honored for it doth not only not enter into him nor is inward and essentiall vnto him but it doth not so much as touch him being for the most part either dead or absent and who feeleth nothing but setleth it selfe and stayeth without at the gate sticks in the name which receiueth and carieth all the honors and dishonours praises and dispraises whereby a man is said to haue either a good name or a bad All the good or euill that a man can say of Caesar is caried by his name Now the name is nothing of the nature and substance of the thing it is only the image which presenteth it the marke which distinguisheth it from others a summarie which conteineth it in a small volume mounteth it and carieth it whole and entire the meane to enioy it and to vse it for without the names there would be nothing but confusion the vse of things would be lost the world would decay as the historie of the tower of Babell doth richly teach vs to be breefe the stickler and middle of the essence of the thing and the honor or dishonor thereof for it is that that toucheth the thing it selfe and receiueth all the good or ill that is spoken Now honor before it ariue to the name of the thing it goes a course almost circular like the Sunne performed and perfected in three principall sites or places the action or worke the heart the tongue for it begins and is conceiued as in the
the mutinous people being strucken and blinded with the bright splendor of this authoritie are quieted attending what he will say vnto them Veluti magno in populo cùm saepe coorta Seditio est saeuit que animis ignobile vulgus Iamque faces sax a volant furor arma ministrat Tum pietate grauem ac meritis si fortè virum quem Conspexêre silent arrectisque auribus astant Ille regit dictis animos pectora mulcet There is nothing greater in this world than authoritie which is an image of God a messenger from Heauen if it be souereigne it it is called maiestie if subalterne authoritie and by two things it is maintained admiration and feare mingled together Now this maiestie and authoritie is first and properly in the person of the soueraigne prince and lawmaker where it is liuely actuall and mouing afterwards in his commandements and ordinances that is to say in the law which is the head of the worke of the prince and the image of a liuely and originall maiestie By this are fooles reduced conducted and guided Behold then of what weight necessitie and vtilitie authoritie and the law is in the world The next authoritie and that which is likest to the law is custome which is another powerfull and Emperious mistris 2 Of Custome It seaseth vpon this power and vsurpeth it traiterously and violently for it planteth this authoritie by little and little by stealth as it were insensibly by a little pleasing and humble beginning hauing setled and established it selfe by the helpe of time it discouereth afterwards a furious and tyrannicall visage against which there is no more libertie or power left so much as to lift vp ones eies It taketh it authoritie from the possession and vse thereof it increaseth and ennobleth it selfe by continuance like a riuer it is dangerous to bring it back to his originall fountaine Law custome establish their authoritie diuersly custome by little and little with long time sweetly and without force 3 A comparison of them both by the common consent of all or the greater part and the authour thereof are the people The law springeth vp in a moment with authoritie and power and taketh his force from him that hath power to command all yea many times against the liking of the subiects whereupon some compare it to a tyrant and custome to a king Againe custome hath with it neither reward nor punishment the law hath them both at least punishment neuerthelesse they may mutuallie help and hinder one another For custome which is but of sufferance authorized by the soueraigne is better confirmed and the law likewise setleth it owne authoritie by possession and vse and contrariwise custome may be caschiered by a contrarie law and the law loseth the force thereof by suffering a contrarie custome but ordinarily they are together that is law and custome wise and spirituall men considering it as a law idiots and simple men as a custome There is not a thing more strange than the diuersitie and strangenes of some lawes and customes in the world Neither 4 Their diuersitie and strangenesse is there any opinion or imagination so variable so mad which is not established by lawes and customes in some place or other I am content to recite some of them to shew those Of lawes and customes in the world that are hard of beleefe heerein how farre this proposition doth go Yet omitting to speake of those things that belong to religion which is the subiect where the greatest wonderments and grossest impostures are but because it is without the commerce of men and that it is not properly a custome and where it is easie to be deceiued I will not meddle with it See then a brief of those that for the strangenes are best worth the noting To account it an office of pietie in a certaine age to kill their parents to eate them In Innes to pay the shot by yeelding their children wiues and daughters to the pleasure of the hoste publike brothelhouses of males old men lending their wiues vnto yong women common an honor to women to haue accompaned with many men and to cary their locks in the hembes of their garments daughters to go with their priuie parts vncouered and maried women carefullie to keepe them couered to leaue the daughters to their pleasures and being great with child to enforce an obort in the sight and knowledge of all men but maried women to keepe themselues chaste and faithfull to their husbands women the first night before they companie with their husbands to receiue all the males of the estate and profession of their husbands inuited to the mariage and euer after to be faithfull to their husbands yong maried women to present their virginitie to their prince before they he with their husbands mariages of males women to go to warre with their husbands to die and to kill themselues at the decease of their husbands or shortly after to permit widowes to marie againe if their husbands die a violent death and not otherwise husbands to be diuorced from their wiues without alledging any cause to sell them if they be barren to kill them for no other cause but because they are women and afterwards to borrow women of others at their neede women to be deliuered without paine or feare to kill their children because they are not faire well featured or without cause at meate to wipe their fingers vpon their priuities and their feete to liue with mans flesh to eate flesh and fish raw many men and women to lie together to the number of tenne or twelue to salute one another by putting the finger to the ground and afterwards lifting it towards heauen to turne the back when they salute and neuer to looke him on the face whom a man will honor to take into the hand the spittle of the prince not to speake to the king but at a peepe-hole in a mans whole life neuer to cut his haire nor nailes to cut the haire on one side and the nailes of one hand and not of the other men to pisse sitting women standing to make holes and pits in the flesh of the face and the dugs to hang rings and iewels in to contemne death to receiue it with ioy to sue for it to pleade in publike for the honor thereof as for a dignitie and fauour to account it an honorable buriall to be eaten with dogs birds to be boyled cut in peeces and pounded and the powder to be cast into their ordinarie drinke When we come to iudge of these customes that is the complaint and the trouble the vulgar sot and pedante are 5 ExaminatioÌ„ and iudgement not troubled heâ—ewith for euery seditious rout condemneth as barbarous and beastly whatsoeuer pleaseth not their palat that is to say the common vse and custome of their countrie And if a man shall tell them that others do speake and iudge the same of ours
Plin. open to do good so must he haue his mouth open to preach and publish it and to the end the memory thereof may be the more firme and solemne he must name the benefit and that by the name of the benefactor The fourth office is to make restitution wherein hee must obserue these foure conditions That it be not too speedie nor too curiously for this carries an ill sent with it and it bewraies too great an vnwillingnesse to be in debt and too much haste to bee quit of that band And it likewise giueth an occasion to the friend or benefactor to thinke that his curtesie was not kindlie accepted of for to be too carefull and desirous to repay is to incur the suspition of ingratitude It must therefore follow some time after and it must not be too long neither lest the benefit grow too ancient for the Graces are painted yong and it must be vpon some apt and good occasion which either offereth it selfe or is taken and that without noise and rumour That it be with some vsurie and surpasse the benefit like fruitfull ground ingratus est qui beneficium reddit sine vsura or at least equall it with all the shew and acknowledgement that may be of great reason of a farther requitall and that this is not to satisfie the obligation but to giue some testimony that he forgetteth not how much he is indebted That it bee willingly and with a good heart Ingratus est qui metu gratus est for if it were so giuen eodem animo beneficium debetur quo datur errat si quis beneficium libentius accipit quà m reddit Lastly if his inabilitie bee such as that hee cannot make present restitution yet let his will be forward enough which is the first and principall part and as it were the soule both of the benefit and acknowledgement though there bee no other witnesse heereof than it selfe and he must acknowledge not onely the good hee hath receiued but that likewise that hath beene offered and might haue beene receiued that is to say the goodwill of the benefactor which is as hath beene said the principall The second part which concerneth the speciall duties of certaine men by certaine and speciall obligation THE PREFACE BEing to speake of speciall and particular duties differing according to the diuersitie of persons and their states whether they be vnequall as superiours and inferiours or equall we will begin with maried folks who are mixt and hold with both equallitie and inequallitie And so much the rather because we are first to speake of priuate and domesticall iustice and duties before publike because they are before them as families and houses are before common-weales and therefore that priuat iustice which is obserued in a familie is the image and source and modell of a common-weale Now these priuat and domesticall duties are three that is to say betweene the husband and the wife parents and children masters and seruants and these are the parts of a houshold or familie which taketh the foundation from the husband and the wife who are the masters and authours thereof And therefore first of maried folke CHAP. XII The dutie of maried folke ACcording to those two diuers considerations that are in mariage as hath been said that is to say equalitie and 1 Common duties inequalitie there are likewise two sorts of duties and offices of maried folke the one common to both equallie reciprocall of like obligation though according to the custome of the world the paine the reproch the inconuenience be not equall that is to say an entire loyaltie fidelitie communitie and communication of all things and a care and authoritie ouer their familie and all the goods of their house Heereof we haue spoken more at large in the first booke The other are particular and different according to that inequalitie that is betwixt them for those of the husband 2 Particular duties of the husband are 1. To instruct his wife with mildnesse in all things that belong vnto hir dutie hir honor and good and whereof she is capable 2. To nourish hir whether she brought dowrie with hir or no. 3. To cloath hir 4. To lie with hir 5. To loue and defend hir The two extremities are base and vitious to hold hir vnder like a seruant to make her mistris by subiecting himselfe vnto hir And these are the principall duties These follow after to comfort hir being sicke to deliuer hir being captiue to burie hir being dead to nourish hir liuing and to prouide for his children he hath had by hir by his will and testament The duties of the wife 1. are to giue honor reuerence and respect to hir husband as to hir master and lord for so haue 3 Of the wife the wisest women that euer were termed their husbands and the hebrew word Baal signifieth them both husband and lord She that dischargeth hirselfe of this dutie honoreth hir selfe more than hir husband and doing otherwise wrongs none but hir selfe 2. To giue obedience in all things iust and lawfull applying and accommodating hir selfe to the maners and humours of hir husband like a true looking-glasse which faithfullie representeth the face hauing no other particular designement loue thought but as the dimensions and accidents which haue no other proper action or motion and neuer moue but with the bodie she applieth hir selfe in all things to hir husband 3. Seruice as to prouide either by hir selfe or some other his viands to wash his feet 4. To keepe the house and therefore she is compared to the Tortuis and is painted hauing hir feet naked and especiallie in the absence of hir husband For hir husband being farre from hir she must be as it were inuisible contrarie to the Moone which appeareth in hir greatnes when she is farthest from the sunne not appeare but when she comes neere hir sunne 5. To be silent and not to speake but with hir husband or by hir husband and forasmuch as a silent woman is a rare thing and hardlie found she is said to be a pretious gift of God 6. To employ hir time in the practise and studie of huswifrie which Eccles 26. is the most commodious and honorable science and occupation of a woman this is hir speciall mistris qualitie and which a man of meane fortune should especiallie seeke in his mariage It is the only dowrie that serueth either to ruinate or preserue families but it is very rare There are diuers that are couetous few that are good huswiues We are to speake of them both of houshold husbandrie presentlie by it selfe In the priuat acquaintance and vse of mariage there must 4 An aduisement vpon the acquaintance of maried folks be a moderation that is a religious and deuout band for that pleasure that is therein must be mingled with some seueritie it must be a wise and conscionable delight A man must touch his wife discretlie and for honestie as it is