to be drowned the finall end of youre Realme of Iudea and of the Crowne of Israell What shall we say of your most auncient Temple so magnificent in buildings and so holy in the action of sacrifice surely ye haue no other thing but the lies For ye well know that forty yeares and no more After ye crucifyed the Lorde Iesus Christe the Emperours Titus and Vaspasian the father and sonne did sack destroy and burne the same Of the Monarchy of your kingdome muche lesse haue you not of any thing than the lies for that from the time the great Pompâ—y passed into Asia and subdued Palestine he neuer after committed fayth to any Iewe I say to giue him any speciall charge of gouernmeÌ„t in the Citie or defence of any fortresse but perpetually did shew your selues subiect to the Romaynes not as Vassals but rather as slaues If we should speake of your auncient language of the old carrecters of your wrightings we should likewise finde that you haue not any thing left but lies and for proofe thereof first I pray you tell me whiche is he amongst you that knoweth the language of your ancesters either can reade or else vnderstand any of the auncient Hebruish bookes But nowe to bring you to the knowledge thereof I shall deduce notwithstanding it doth not like you directly and successiuely the beginning of your Hebrewish tong and how by little and little it was lost agayne Wherein you haue to vnderstand that the Patriarke Noe with his children and Nephewes escaping the Floud went and did settle in the countrey of Caldea the situation whereof is vnder the fourth Climate the RegioÌ„ after the Floud first inhabited and populat from whence be issued the Aegiptians Sarmits Greekes Latines and all other Nations In the same Region I meane beyond the riuer Euphrates and neare vnto Mesopotamie the Patriark Abraham was borne and nourished the whiche being called of God came to dwell in the countrie of Canaan afterwardes named Siria the lesse the countrey where the good old Abraham and his generation did most inhabit In those days in that countrey of Canaan they had in vse to speake another language named Sirien very differeÌ„t from the Calde tong But as Abraham and hys posteritie dwelling in that countrey many yeares these two languages by processe of time grewe to be corrupted Abraham hys family and successors being not able to learne the Sirien spéeche neyther the Siriens the Calde tong of these two languages there remayned in vse one which was named the Hebrew Also you haue to vnderstand that this name Hebrew is as much to say as a man that is a straunger or come from beyond the Riuer and for that Abraham was come from the other side of the Riuer Euphrates he was generally called Hebrew in such wise that of this name Hebrew by the which Abraham was called the spéeche tong and language was also named Hebraique and not Caldean notwithstanding that hée was of Caldea Many Doctors Gréekes and Latins haue sayde that the Hebrew tong doth come from Heber the sonne of Sale and that it was the language which was in vse and spoken before the generall Floud notwithstanding Rabialhazer Mosanahadach Aphesrura Zimibi and Sadoc your most anciente and famous Hebrew doctors do sweare and affirme that the first spéeche and language in this world was lost in the construction or to say better the confusion of the towre of Babylon without perfection remayning in any one word of their language And then since the language of Noe was lost the Caldean conuerted into the Sirien and the Sirien into the Hebrew it came to passe that Iacob with his twelue sonnes went to dwel in Egipt where they did soiorne so long Captiues that very neare they forgate the Hebrue tong neyther aptly coulde learne the Egiptian language remayning in their spéech and pronounciation corrupted And as after the destruction of the second Temple as also the totall and finall losse and destruction of the holy lande That your brethren were dispersed throughout the worlde for the most part Captiues and that in you ther remayned nothing but the lies of Iacob the things desolate of Israell God did permitte that they shoulde ioyntly take ende both the forme of your life and the manner of your spéech Behold here honorable Iewes sufficiently proued by your owne doctors that of your countrey language renowne glory and the whole state of your Sinagoge ye haue nothing left but the lies as the Prophet sayth and the dregs and grounds of the tubbe In suche manner that ye haue neither Lawe to obserue King to obey Scepter to estéeme priesthood to aduaunce youre honor Temple to pray in Citie to inhabit neyther language to speake And for that the scope and proofe of your obstination and oure healthe and saluation doth lye and consist in the veritie of the Scripture whiche we haue receyued and the falshoode and corruption of theÌ„ which you confesse it shall be expedient to recite how where and when youre Scriptures were corrupted and lost euen as I haue produced and broughte foorth the losse of your language Ye haue therefore to vnderstande that the fyue bookes of the lawe the which your greate Duke Moyses did write after he came foorth of the Land of Egypt and before he entred the lande of promisse and those whiche were written by the Prophet Samuell and Esdras were all written in the Hebrew tong without any addition of the Egiptian language for youre Moyses being inspired by God in all the things hée did take in hand did wright these bookes in the most auncient Hebrew tong which is to vnderstande in the very same that Abraham did speake at his comming out of Calde God giuing you thereby to vnderstand that you should haue folowed your father Abraham not onely in the forme of your life but also in your spéech During the time that Moyses Aaron Iosue Ezechiell Caleph Gedeon and all the fourtéene Dukes did gouerne your Aliama vntill the decease of the excellent King Dauid the lawe of Moyses was alway well vnderstood and indifferently wel obserued But after the decease of these good personages and the kingdome and gouernment being come into the handes of the successors of Dauid the Sinagoge was neuer more well gouerned neyther the Scriptures well vnderstoode I woulde saye not well vnderstoode generally of the twelue Tribes There were notwithstanding alwayes some particular persones of the house of Israell the whiche were agreable and also acceptable vnto God and to the common wealth very profitable That your law was not from thencefoorth wel vnderstood is most euident for it was prohibited and defended in your Aliama that neyther the visions of Ezechiell the sixt Chapter of Esay the booke of the Canticles of Salomon the booke of Iob neyther the lamentations of Ieremy should be read or commented by any person whiche was done not bycause the bookes
let him liue The matter beyng searched and examined it was founde that he came to sue for his twoo fellowes that were taken sleeping in the watche which after whipping shoulde haue bin deliuered vnto the enimies And so it came to passe that the souldier escaped death his fellowes deliuered from punishment and the Emperor of clemencie obteined immortall renoune Of all which premisses me thinketh I gather vnto my selfe a safetie and protection from all iniurie bothe of worde and deede of all manner of men not vnreasonable which in this matter haue vsed but the office of messenger interpreter soliciter but to my owne payne and thy profite beeing vtterly without doubt to be requited with thy ingratitude And whereas but with suche time as was rather stretched vnto the liking of him that myght command them mete for the matter I haue not onely corrected but also performed the translation of the firste booke of the familiar Epistles of Gueuara that were not translated and further finding certaine Epistles and disputations of the sayde auctor by no man as yet translated wādring and as it might seeme taking leaue I thought it more conuenient to entertaine the same with my simple English speach thā to hazard the losse of so rare singular diuine most necessary doctrine therin cōteyned although but with my poore abilitie flatly confessing that I want both glosse hew of rare eloquence vsed in the polishing of the rest of his workes neuerthelesse most certaynely affirming that it goeth agreable vnto the author thereof For due commendations whereof for want of tyme I shall yeelde no other wordes than be conteyned in my former Preface as followeth Being furnished so fully with syncere doctrine so vnvsed eloquence so high a stile so apte similitudes so excellent discourses so conuenient examples so profounde sentences so old antiquities so ancient histories such varietie of matter so pleasant recreations so strange things alledged certaine parcelles of Scripture with such dexteritie hādled that it may hardly be discerned whether shal be greater either thy pleasure by reding or profit by following the same Like as in a most curious shop furnished with incōparable drugs most precious spices both to preserue health as also to expell most pestilent diseases euen so heerein is plentifully to be founde things not only precious to conserue but also to remedy the contagion of any estate both in peace warre As rules for Kings to rule counsellers to counsell magistrates to gouerne prelates to practise captaines to execute souldiers to performe the married to follow the prosperous to prosecute and the poore in aduersitie to be cōforted wherein he delicately toucheth with most curious sayings no lesse philosophie how to write or talke with all men in all matters at large with matter so apte so learned so merry and also so graue with instruction of behauiour with thy better with thy equal with thy friend with thy foe with thy wife seruaunte and children That for prayse and aduancement thereof wordes most certainly and also tyme may want but not matter and iust occasion to commend the same Commending the rest vnto thy good consideration and yeelding my selfe vnto thy mildnesse grace and fauour I commit thee to the liuing God to whome be prayse for euermore ¶ The familiar Epistles of Sir Antony of Gueuara Bishop of Mondonedo Preacher and Chronicler to Charles the fifth ¶ An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a Sermon at the triumphs when the French King was taken VVherin the Author doth perswade to vse his clemency in recompence of so great a victory S.C.C.R.M. SOlon Solonio cōmanded in his lawes to the Athenians that on the day they had ouercome any battayle they should offer vnto the Gods great Sacrifices and giue vnto men large rewards to the end that against other warres they might finde the Gods fauourable and men of willing mindes Plutarch sayth that when the Greekes remayned Conquerours in that renowmed battaile of Marathon they sent vnto the temple of Diana in Ephesus to offer so much Siluer that it was to be doubted whether there remayned so much more in all Greece When Camilius ouercame the Etrurians and Volsians mortall enemies to the Romaines all the women of Rome did not forget to sende to the Oracle of Apollo which stoode in Asia as much Golde and Siluer as they had in possession without reseruing any one iewell When the Consull Silla was Conquerour of the valiant King Mithridates he conceyued so great pleasure in his hart that not contented to offer to the God Mars all the spoyle gotten of the enemies he offered also a viall of his owne bloud The famous and glorious Iephthah Duke of the Hebrewes made a solempne vowe that if God gaue him victorious returne frō the warres he then had in hand he would offer in the temple both the bloud and life of his onely daughter the which vow as he promised so he accomplished Of these examples it may be gathered what and how many thanks Princes ought too giue vnto God for the triumphes victories and bounties hée giueth them for though it be in the hands of kings to begin warre it is in the hands of God only to giue victory There is nothing that moueth god to be lesse carefull for vs than the ingratitude of a good turne receiued For the good things wée receiue of men they will wée recompence or deserue them but God will that wée gratifie and not forget them Princes moste chiefly haue cause to beware they forgette not benefites receiued of GOD bycause the ingratitude of a benefite receiued maketh them incapable and vnworthy of diuine fauour in time to come The forgetfull ingrate or vnkind Prince neither God doth delight too helpe or men so serue All this haue I sayde vnto your imperial Maiestie by occasion of this great victory ye haue obtained at Pauia where your armye hath taken Fraunces the Frenche King who in his owne galleys was brought prisoner into Spayne A case so graue a newes so new a victorie so seldom heard of a fortune so accomplished is both terrible to the world and brings your Maiesty in debt which debt is to giue God thankes for the victory and to recompence the conquerours of the battayle By this it may be apparant to your Maiesty that there is nothing wherin fortune is lesse constant than in martiall affayres since the French king being present and also taken in his owne person with all the potentates of Italy did lose the battayle where dyed all the nobles of Fraunce Much shold your Maiesty erre once to thinke the victory to be gotten by your pollicy or obtayned by your power or els to haue happened by chaunce For a déede so famous an act so glorious and a case so heroicall as this is doth not fall out vnder fortune but is only giuen by diuine prouidence Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi If Dauid being a
Saule In the beginning when Rome was founded and the Romanes began to be Lords of the worlde forthwith they did create kings to rule them and Captaines to defende them They found themselues so gréeued with that maner of gouernment that they suffred but seuen kings not withstanding they thought them seuen hundred And bicause the soothsayers had saide that this name King was consecrate vnto the Gods the Romanes cōmaunded that he should be called King that was no king And this was the high priest of the god Iupiter in such maner that he held only the name of king the office of priest Hauing spoken of the name of king nowe let vs speake of the name of Emperour that is to say how it was inuented where it was inuented and to what ende it was inuented since it is the name in all this world most reuerēced also most desired And although amongst the Syrians the Assyrians Medes Persians Grekes Troyans Parthians Palestines Aegyptians their haue bin princes glorious in armes in great estimation in their cōmon wealths yet they neuer obteyned the name of Emperor either intituled themselues therwith In those ancient tymes in those goldē worlds the good men and the noble personages did not lay vp their honor in vaine titles but in noble valiāt and glorious acts This name Emperour the Romanes first brought into this world whiche they inuented not for their Princes but for their Captains generall In suche wise that in Rome he was not intituled Emperoure that was Lorde of the Common wealth but that was chosen generall of the warre The Romanes euery yere in the Moneth of Ianuarye did choose all their officers of the Senate and in their such election they did firste ordeyne the high Priest which they named King then the Dictator then the Consull then the Tribune of the people then the Emperor then the Censor and then the Edill By this election it may be gathered that the same which is nowe an Imperiall dignitie was in those dayes but an office giuen in the moneth of Ianuary and ended in the moneth of December Quintus Cincinatus Fabius Camillus Marcus Marcellus Quintus Fabius Annius Fabricius Dorcas Metellus Gracchus Sempronius Scipio the African and the greate Iulius Caesar when they did gouerne the Romane hostes were called Emperors but afterwards when in the Senate the office was taken away they were named by their proper names But after the great battayle of Pharsalie in whiche Pompey was ouercome and the field remayning to Caesar it hapned that the cōmon wealth came into the hands of Caesar The Romanes made request he should not take vnto himselfe the Title of king bicause it was odious vnto them but that he would vse some other at his liking vnder which they woulde obey and serue him Being at that time Captain generall of the Romanes and therefore then called Emperour he chose his name and not the name of Kyng to doe the Romaines pleasure in suche wyse that this greate Prince was the firste of the worlde that left this name annexed vnto the Emperour Iulius Caesar beeing deade Octauius his cousin did succéede him in the Empire then Tyberius then Caligula then Claudius then Nero and Vitellius and so of al the other Princes to this day The whiche in memorie of the first Emperour be intituled Augustus Caesars and Emperours Of the seuen conditions that a good king ought to haue with an exposition of a text of holie Scripture THis name of Kyng béeyng declared and the inuention of the title Emperour being spoken of moste Noble Emperoure it shall be méete that we declare howe a good king ought to gouerne his kyngdome and howe the good Emperour oughte to rule his Empire for béeing as they are the two greatest offices in this worlde it is necessarie that the two beste men in thys world doe vse them It were great infamie to the person and no small offence to the common wealth to behold a man earing at the plough that deserueth to reigne to sée him reign that deserueth to go to plough Wherfore most soueraigne Prince it is cōuenient you vnderstand that to be in honor is a thing of smal effect but to deserue the same is of most great worthinesse If he which is only a King be bound to be good he that is king Emperour is he not bound to be good very good The euil Princes be ingrate and forgetful of benefites be they great or little but the good Princes and the Christian Emperours recompence euery seruice bountifullye The Prince that is to God ingrate and of the seruice they do him vnthankfull in his person it will be séene and in his kingdome it will appeare bicause all his attempts do falle out confused or with shame And for that it shal seeme wée speak not of fauour or at large we will expound vpon the same a certaine authoritie of holie Scripture wherein is shewed what a one the King ought to be in his own person and how he ought to gouerne his common wealth for it is not sufficient that the Prince be a good man but that his common wealth be good neyther is it sufficient that the cōmon welth be good but the Prince also bée good In Deutero 18. Chapter God sayd vnto Moyses If the people shal aske thée a King thou shalt giue them one but beware that the King whiche thou shalt giue them be natural of the kingdom that he haue not many horsses that he turne not the people into Egipte that he holde not manye wyues that hée gather not muche treasure that he bée not proud and that he reade in Deuteron Vpon euery one of these commaundementes to speake what myght be sayd should be neuer to make an ende only we will briefly speake of euery of them Before all things God cōmaunded that the Kings should be natural of the kingdome that is to vnderstande that hée shuld be an Hebrue circūcised no Gentile for that god would not they shold be gouerned that honoured one God by those that did beléeue in many Gods. The Prince to whome it aperteyneth to gouerne Christians it is conuenient hée be a good Christian and the signes of a good Christian are these when the offences to God he dothe chastise and his owne hee doth forget Then is the Prince naturall of the kingdome when he doth obserue and defend the Gospell of Christ For to speake according to truth and also with libertie he dothe not deserue to be king which is not zealous of Gods law God also commaundes the Prince not to haue many horses that is to say that he wast not the treasure of the common wealth in superfluous cost in maynteyning a great house and in sustayning a greate sumptuous trayne of horses for vnto the Christian Prince it is more sound counsell rather to séede a few men than to haue many horses Notwithstanding I will not say
but that in the houses of Kynges and of high Princes many must enter many must serue many must liue and many must eate but that whych is to be reprehēded is this that many times more is spoiled than is spent If in the Courtes of Princes there were not so many horses in the stable so many haukes in the mewe so many gibers in chambers so many vagabondes in pallace and so greate disorder in expences I am sure that neyther shoulde they so go ouercharged eyther their Subiectes so much gréeued God in commaunding the Prince not to haue many horses is to forbid him that he vse not excessiue expences bycause in déede and in conclusion they shal giue an accoumpt vnto God of the goodes of the common wealth not as Lords but as tutors Also God dothe commaunde that hée which shall be King do not consent to turne the people intoo Egipt that is to say that he do not permit them to commit Idolatrie ne yet to serue King Pharao for oure good God will that we adore him alone for Lorde and that we hold hym for our creator To come out of Egipt is to come out of sinne to turne into Egipt is to turne into sin for this cause the office of a good Prince is not only to remunerate the vertuous and such as liue wel but also to chastise the wicked and suche as liue euil It is no other thing to return into Egypt but boldly openly and manifestly to sinne the which the good Prince ought not to consent vnto eyther with any in lyke cace to dispence bicause the secrete sinnes to God are to be remitted but those whiche are manifest the good king ought to chastise Then doth the Prince suffer any to return into Egipt when openly he suffreth him to liue in sinne that is to say to passe his life in enuious reuenging to holde by force that which is due to an other to be giuen to folow the lusts of the fleshe and to dare to renue his olde age into wanton affections in which the Prince doth so much offend God that although he be no companion in the fault yet in the worlde to come hée shall not escape to be partaker of the payne For a kyng to gouerne well in his kingdome oughte to be asmuche feared of the euyll as beloued of the good And if by chaunce any bée in his house that is in fauour that is a quareller or any seruaunt that is vicious I denie not but vnto suche a one he may impart of his goods but not with his conscience Also God commaundeth him which shall be king that he hold not in his companie many women that is to vnderstand he shal content himself with his Queene with whom he is maried without vngodly acquayntance with any other for the great Princes and mighty potentates doe more offend God with yll example they giue than with the faultes they committe Of Dauid of Achab of Assa and of Ieroboam the scriptures do not so much complaine of their sinnes as of the occasion they gaue vnto others to sinne bicause very seldome wee sée the people in awe of correction when their lorde is vicious As Princes be more high and also mightyer than the rest euen so are they more behelde also more viewed thā others And for this cause according to my iudgement if they be not chast yet at the least they should be more secrete Among the heap of sinnes this maye be one wherewith God is not a little offended And on the other part it is wherwith the cōmon welth receiueth most sclander for in cases of honor none wil that they haunt his house request his wyfe or defloure his daughter The writers of histories do much prayse Alexander the great Scipio the Affrican Marcus Aurelius the greate Augustus the good Traian which onely vsed not to force women in libertie but did not so much as touch suche as were their captiues taken in battaile and truly they were iustly praised for vertuous mē For it procedeth of a more noble corage to resist a prepared vice thā to giue an onset vpō a cāp of great power Also God doth commaund him which shal be king that he hoord not vp much treasure that he be not scarce or a nigard for the office of the marchant is to kéep but of a King to giue and to be liberal In Alexander the great is muche more praised the largenesse be vsed in giuing than his potencie in fighting the which doth clearly appeare when we wil praise any man we do not say he is mightie as Alexander but franke as Alexander To the contrary of this Suetonius writeth of the Emperor Vespasian the which of pure miserie nigardship and couetousnesse commanded in Rome to be made publike places to receyue vrine not to kéepe the Citie more swéete but to the end that they should giue him more rente The diuine Plato did counsell the Atheniens in his bookes of a good comon wealth that the gouernour whiche they had to choose should be iust in his iudgements true of his word constant in that he takes in hand secrete in that he vnderstandeth large and bountiful in giuing Princes and great potentates for their power they be feared and for their magnificēt liberalitie they are beloued But in déed and in the end fewe folow the king not only for that his conditions be good but bicause they think his giuing is much and verie noble Gods commaunding in his lawe that the Prince shal not hourde vp treasures is no other thyng to saye but that all shall serue hym of good wyll and that bée vse towarde all men of his liberalite for that many tymes it dothe happen that the Prince in béeyng vnchearefull in giuyng it commeth to passe in proces that very few haue any mind to gratifie or serue hym Also God commaunded the kyng that should gouerne his people that he should not be proude tha◠he should always read in Deuteronomie which is the Booke of the Lawe And bycause wée haue alreadie made a large discourse we will leaue the exposition of these two woordes for an other day There resteth that we pray vnto the Lord to giue your Maiestie his grace and vnto you and vs his glorie to the which Iesus Christ bring vs Amen A discourse or conference with the Emperour vpon certayne moste aunciente stampes in Mettalles the whyche he commaunded the Author to reade and to expounde wherin are touched many antiquities S. C. C. R. M. SO greate be the affaires of Princes and so muche laden wyth studious cares that hardlye remayneth tyme to sléepe or eate muche lesse to recreate or ioye themselues with gladsome pastyme Oure forces are so small our iudgemente so weake oure appetite so variable and oure desyres so disordinate that sometyme it is necessarie and also profitable to giue place to the humanitie to bée recreated vppon condition that the truth bée
not putte to flyghte or weakened The sensualitie makes vs warre with his vices Reason fyghteth with oure wickednesse Our bodie contendeth with his appetites The hart striueth with his desires For whiche cause it is necessarie to giue place to the one that they bring vs not to oure ende and to dissemble with the other that they leade vs not to despaire This I saye to your imperiall Maiestie for the magnificent meanes whiche your excellencie vsed to passe the tyme whē it pleased you to cōmand that I shuld be called to your chāber presēce And for a trouth the recreatiō of princes ought so to be measured limited that thei may recreate without offēce to the world Arsacidas king of the Bactriās his pastime was to knit fishing nets of king Artaxerxes to spin And of Arthabanus king of Hircans to arme for Rats And of Viantus King of Lidians to fishe Frogges And of the Emperour Domitianus to chase Flies Princes hauing their times so limitted also of all men so beholden and considered that imploy themselues in such pastimes and vanities we cannot well saye that therin they passe their times but loose their times The case is this that your Maiestie presently after you felt your selfe deliuered of your quartaine commaunded to be set before you a certaine little table all full of stamped metals aswell of gold as siluer of brasse as also of Iron A thing surely worth the beholding and much to be praysed I did not a little delight in seing your Maiestie take pleasure in beholding the faces of those metalles in reading the letters they held and in examining the deuises they did containe All which thinges might not easely be read and much lesse vnderstood There were amongst those stamped metalles certaine that were Gréeke some Latin some Caldée some Arabick some Gothick and other some high Dutch your Maiestie cōmaunded mée to vew them reade them and the most notable to expound assuredly the commaundement was directed very iustly and in me more than another moste aptly imployed For being as I am your imperiall Chronicler it is my part to render accompt of the thinges you shall doubt and to declare the meaning of that which you reade I haue vewed thē read them and studied them and although some of them be very hard to be read and very difficult to bée vnderstoode I will trauayle with such playnesse to declare them and euery parcell so diligently to examin and distinguish that not only your Maiestie may vnderstand to reade the stampe but also comprehend the blason and originall therof It is to be vnderstoode that the Romanes more than all other nations were couetous of riches and ambitious of honoures whereby it came to passe that to haue to spend and to magnifie their names they hild warres sixe hundreth and fortie yeares with all nations and kingdomes In two things the Romanes did trauell to leaue and perpetuate their memorie that is to wit in buildings they made and in their Coines they did graue or stampe neither did they allowe the grauing or stamping of any money but vnto him that had ouercome some famous battaile or done some notable thing in the cōmon wealth The buildings they most vsed to make were wals for Cities cawsies in high waies Bridges ouer Riuers fountaines artificially made statues or greate pictures ouer gates Bathes for the people arches for their triumphes and Temples for their Goddes Much time passed in the Empire of Rome wherein the Romanes had no money but of brasse or of yrō Whereof it procéedeth that the true and most auncient metalls be not of golde but of Iron For the first coyne that was made to be melted in Rome of gold was in the time of Scipio the Africane The auncient Romanes vsed to stampe or graue on the one side of their money their faces drawne most naturall and on the other the kingdomes they had ouercome the offices they had held and the lawes they had made And for that it shall not séeme that I speake at large or of fauour it is reason I giue account of all I haue said The letters of one of these stamped mettals doth say Pboro dact Leg. Your Maiestie hath to vnderstand that this stampe is the most auncient that euer I saw or redde which appeareth very well by the mettall it is made of by the letter it is written in for declaration whereof it is to be vnderstoode there haue bin seuen whiche inuented to giue lawes to the world that is to wit Moses that gaue lawes to the Hebrewes Solon to the Athenians Licurgus to the Lacedemonians Asclepius to the Rhodians Numa Pompilius to the Romanes and Phoroneus to the Aegiptians This Phoroneus was King of Aegipt before that Ioseph the sonne of Iacob was borne And as Diodorus Siculus doth say he was a King very iuste vertuous honest and wise This was he that first gaue lawes in Aegypt and also as it is thought in all the worlde whereof it dothe procéede that all Coūsellours and Lawyers of Rome did call the lawes that were iuste and moste iust Forum in memory of king Phoroneus And so the letters of this mettall would thus much say This is King Phoroneus whiche gaue lawes to the Aegyptians The letters of the other stampe Genuci D. vi Leg. For the vnderstanding of this stampe it is to be considered that the Romanes conceiued so great shame and disdaine of the filthinesse of king Tarquine cōmitted with chast Lucrece that onely they would not that in Rome there should be any more kings but also that the name of king and the lawes of kings should for euermore bée banished and in the common wealth forgotten So the Romanes not meaning to obey the lawes they had receiued of their good King Numa Pompilius sent a moste solemne imbassage to Grecia to bring them the lawes that the Philosopher Solon had giuen to the Athenians Which being brought to Rome accepted and obserued were afterwards intituled the lawes of the twelue tables The Embassadours that were sent to bring these lawes from Greece were ten moste sapient Romanes whose names are Apius Genutius Sextus Veturius Iulius Mannilius Sulpicius Curius Romulus Postumus and bicause Genutius was one of those ten notable men for that great act so famous he stāped those words on the one side of his money The whiche would say this is the Consull Genutius one of the ten men of Rome that was sent for the lawes of Greece The words of the other stamp following are Con Quir Ius Mos Le Obs. To explane these words which are very darke it is to be vnderstood that al the lawes of this world are reduced frō thrée maner of lawes which is to wit Ius naturale lex condita mos antiquus That whiche in the old time was called the Law of Nature is That thou wish not for another which thou wilt not for thy self also to shunne euil approch to do wel which
enter into the Senate and to procure the causes of the people and in such businesse as did not like him he had authoritie to stand for the poore and to resist the Senators And for that the office of Tribune was alwaies against the Senate and thereby passed his life in perill it was a law made and capitulate by the Lawyers and Senators that what soeuer man or woman did violently prease to his person or vnto his garment to offend him publikely they cut off his head And be it knowne to your Maiestie that many Romane Princes did procure to be chosen Tribune of the people not for the interest they receiued by that dignitie but for the securitie they had with the same bycause not only they might not kill them either in their clothes so much as touch them The first Tribune that was in Rome was a certaine Romane named Rusticius a man of a very sincere life and merueilous zealous of his common wealth This Rusticuis was and this dignity created betwixt the first and the second Punick battails in the time that Silla and Marius did leade great bands in Rome and did spoile the common wealth Thus much the letters of the stampe would say This is the good Consull Rusticius the which was the first Tribune that was in the Empire of Rome Your Maiestie amongst these hath many other stāpes the whiche being easie and facile to reade and cleare to vnderstand I shall not néede to spende the time too expound them A certaine relation vnto Queene Germana declaring the life and lawes of the Philosopher Licurgus MOst high and serene Lady this Sunday past after I had preached before your highnesse the Sermon of the destruction of Ierusalem ye commaūded I should recite and also giue in writing who was that great Philosopher Licurgus whose life I praysed whose lawes I alledged In repayment of my trauell and to binde me the more vnto your seruice you commaunded I shoulde dine at your table and also gaue me a rich clocke for my studie For so small a matter as your highnesse doth commaund neither it needed ye should feast me either giue me so great rewards for that I attaine more honour and bountie in that ye commaund than your highnesse doth receiue seruice in the thing I shall accomplish To say the truth I had thought rather yée had slept in the sermon the curtains drawne but since ye cōmaund I shall recite that whiche I sayd of the Philosopher Licurgus it is a signe ye heard the whole Sermon and also noted the same And since it pleaseth your highnesse that the Ladies and dames that serue you and the gallants Courtiers that attend vpon you be present at this communicatiō that ye commaund them that they be not gibing either making of signes for they haue sworne to trouble me or to put me from my matter But cōming to the purpose it is to wit that in the first reignes of this world whē Sardanapalus reigned in Assiria Osias in Iury Tesplus in Macedonia Phocas amongst the Greekes Alchimus amongst the Latins Arthabanes amōgst the Aegyptians Licurgus was borne amōgst the Lacedemoniās This good Licurgus was iointly Philosopher and King King and Philosopher bicause in those Golden times either Philosophers did gouerne eyther else Gouernours did vse Philosophie Plutarche doth say of this Licurgus that he was low of stature pale of colour a friend of silence an enemie of vaine talke a man of small health of great vertue He was neuer noted of dishonestie he neuer troubled the common welth he did neuer reuēge iniury he did neuer thing against iustice either against any man did vse malicious wordes He was in féeding tēperate in drinking sober in giuing liberall in receiuing of consideration in sleeping short in his speache reposed in businesse affable in hearing patient prompt in expedition gentle in chastisement and benigne in pardoning Being a child was brought vp in Thebes being a yong mā he did studie in Athens and in the time of more yéeres he passed into the great India afterwards being old was king of the Lacedemonians which also were called Spartans which of nation were Greekes and of condicion very barbarous For excellencie it is recounted of him that they neuer saw him idle he neuer dranke wine neuer trauailed on horsebacke neuer chid with any man neuer did hurt to his enemies neither at any time was ingrate to his friends He himself wente to the temples he himself did offer the Sacrifices he himself did reade in scholes he himselfe did heare complaints he himself gaue sentēce in causes of the law he himself did cause to giue chastisement to offenders This Licurgus was of a valiant mind in warres of great deuise in time of perill certaine in things determined seuere with rebels in sodaine assaults of great readinesse affable with offenders a mortal enemie of vagabonds They say that this Philosopher did inuent the Olimpiades whiche were certaine playes vsed euery fourth yéere in the mountaine Olimpus to the ende that all shoulde giue themselues to studie or to learne some Art bicause in that assembly which there they vsed euery man made a proofe of his knowledge and the sprite that was giuen him Licurgus was the first that gaue lawes to the Spartans which afterwards were called Lacedemonians whiche is to vnderstand before Solon and Numa Pompilius And also it is written of him that he was the first that inuented in Greece to haue publique or cōmon houses founded at the charges of the common wealth also endewed where the sicke might be cured the poore refreshed Before the days of Licurgus the Lacedemonians were a people very absolute also dissolute for which cause the good Philosopher did passe immesurable trauels no lesse perils amongst thē before they would be gouerned by a King or liue vnder a law On a certaine day before al the people he tooke two little dogges new whelped the one of the which he fedde in his own house very faire fat the other he cōmanded to be brought vp in a countrey house with hunger to vse the fields These dogs being thus brought vp he cōmaunded thē to be brought to the market place in the presence of the whole multitude throwing before them a liue Hare a great péece of flesh presently the countrey dog ran after the Hare and the pampered dogge to the fleshe Then said Licurgus you are witnesses that these two dogges were whelpt in one day and in one howre in one place of one Syre Dam. And for that the one was brought vp in the field he ran after the Hare and the other that was brought vp in idlenesse ran to his meat Beléeue me ye Lacedemoniās be out of doubt that to proue good vertuous it importeth muche from the infancie to bée well gouerned and brought vp for we retaine much more of the customes wherwith we be bred
neuer gaue obedieÌ„ce to any but alwaies made a Seigniory of it selfe The seate of the Citie of Sagunto was foure leagues from Valentia where is now Monviedro he that shall say that which we call now in Castile Ciguenca was in time paste the Citie Sagunto it shall be because he dreamed it not to haue read it Being Inquisitor of Valentia I was many times at Monviedro as well to visite the Christians as to baptise the Moores And considering the sharpnesse of the place the antiquitie of the walles the greatnesse of the colledge the distaÌ„ce from the Sea the statelinesse of the buildings and the monstrousenesse of the sepulchers there is none but he may vnderstand that to be Monviedro which was Sagunto and that which was Sagunto is now Monviedro In the fields of Monviedro and in the ruinous buildings that be there at these daies there are found many stones ingraueÌ„ and many auncient Epitaphes of the Hannibals of the Asdrubals that died there in the siege of Sagunto the which were two linages of Carthage very notable of bloud and also famous in armes Neare to Monviedro there is a certaine place that in those daies was called Turditanos is now named Torres torres for that they were mortall enemies of the Saguntines Hanniball put himself in with them and from thence did make his batterie did throw downe burne the citie of Sagunto not succoured then of the Romanes or euer after reedified Behold here my Lords how your contention was which was Sagunto and not whiche was Numantia So that Soria and Samorra doth rather giue doubte whiche was Numantia and Monviedro and Sigentia which was Sagunto But the resolution and conclusion of all the aforesayde considering the merites of the processe and what eyther partie hath alledged for him selfe I doe say and declare by my definitiue sentence that the Archbishop of Ciuile did faile and the Duke of Naiara did erre in the thing that both did contend and lay their wager And I condemne either of them in a good Mule to be employed vpon him that shall declare whiche was the greate Numantia I my Lordes will now recount and declare whiche was that Citie Numantia and also say who was the founder therof where it was foÌ„nded how it was founded and what time it lasted and also how it was destroyed for that it is an history very delectable to read worthie to be vnderstood pleasant to recount and lamentable to heare VVhich was the great Citie Numantia in Spaine THe Citie of Numantia was founded by Numa Pompilius the second king of Romanes in the fiftie and eight yeere after the foundation of Rome and in the eightenth yeare of his raigne in suche sorte for that the founder thereof was called Numa it was named Numantia In the old time they did much vse to name their Cities they builded by their owne proper names as Ierusalem of Salem Antioche of Antiochus Constantinople of Constantine Alexandria of Alexander Rome of Romulus and Numantia of Numa Onely seuen Kings there were of Romanes The first of the which was Romulus the seuenth was Tarquine of these seuen the moste excellent of them all was this Numa Pompilius for he was the first that brought the Goddes into Rome he did inclose the vestall Virgins builded the temples and gaue lawes to the Romanes The situation of this Citie was neare the riuer of Dwero and not farre from the head of the same and it was set vpon the heigth of an hill and this heigth was not of a Rocke but vpon a certaine plaine Neither was it towred within nor walled without onelâ— it was compassed about with a broade déepe dischâ—… was inhabited with more than fiue and lesse than sixe thousand households two partes of the which did follow the warres and the third parte their tillage and labour Amongst them exercise was much praised and idlenesse greatly condemne which is more not couetous of goods and yet very ambitious of honour The Numantins of their naturall coÌ„dition were more flegmatike than colericke suffring dissembling suttle and of great actiuitie in such wise that that whiche they did at one time dissemble at another they did reuenge In their Citie there was but one crafts man that was the Smith Goldsmiths Silkworkers Drapers Fruters Tauerners Fishmongers Butchers such like they would not coÌ„sent to liue amongst them For al such things euery maÌ„ ought to haue in his owne house not to séeke them in the common wealth They were so valiant and so doubtie in the affayres of warre that they neuer saw any Numantine turne his barke or receiue any wound in the same in such wise that they did rather determine to die than to flée They could not go a warfare without licence of their common wealth and those also must goe altogether and followe one quarell for otherwise if one Numantine did kill another Numantine the murtherer afterwards was put to death by the common wealth Foure kind of people the Romanes had very fierce to tame and very warlike to fight that is to wit the Mirmidones whiche were those of Merida the Gauditanes whiche were those of Calis the Saguntines whiche were those of Monviedro and the Numantines whiche were those of Soria The difference amongst these was that the Mirmidons were strong they of Calis valiant the Saguntines fortunate but the Numantines were strong valiant and fortunate Fabatus Metellus Sertorius Pompeius Caesar Sextus Patroclus all the other Romane Captaines that by the space of one hundred and foure score yéeres held warres in Spaine did neuer conquere the Numantins neither at any time had to doe with them Amongst all the Cities of this world onely Numantia did neuer acknowledge hir better or kisse the hands of any other for lord This Numantia was somewhat Rockie halfe coÌ„passed with out-towers not very well inhabited and lesse riche With all this none durst hold hir for enemie but for confederate and this was the cause for that the Fortune of the Numantins was much more than the power of the Romanes In the warres betwene Rome and Carthage Caesar and Pompey Silla and Marius there was no King or kingdome in the world that did not follow one of those partes and against the other did not fight except the proude Numantia which always made aunswere to those that did persuade hir to followe their opinioÌ„ that not she of others but others of hir ought to make a head In the first Punick warres neuer would the Numantines follow the CarthaginiaÌ„s or fauour the Romanes for which occasion or too say better without any occasion the Romanes determined to make warre vpon the Numantins not for anye feare they had of their power but for enuie of their great fortune Fouretene yeares continually the Romanes besieged the Numantins in which great was the hurt the Numantins receiued but much more meruelous of the Romane Captaines that there died There were slaine in
alwaies there is learned new fashions The good Licurgus did commaund the Lacedemonians that neyther out of the kingdome they should goe to traffike or suffer straungers to enter their countrey saying That if kingdomes grow rich by trading with straūgers they turne poore of their proper vertues Speaking the trueth and also with libertie I haue séene fewe come from Italie that came not absolute and also dissolute and this not because the land is not consecrat with saints but for that it is now inhabited with sinners The properties of the belles are to call men to come to seruice neuer enter into the church them selues and in my iudgement such is the condition of Italie where there be great Sanctuaries that prouoke vnto prayer and the people thereof hath no deuotion Many doe say that all the weale of Italie consisteth in libertie I say that all their hurt riseth by want of subiection because for men to doe all that they will they come to doe that whiche they ought not If Trogus Pompeius do not deceiue vs the Romanes giuing libertie to the Bactrians for that they had succoured the Consull Rufus in the Spartian warres they refused it saying that that day they should be made frée they should commit whereby deseruedly to be slaues Speaking the trueth there be no common wealthes more lost than those where the people be most at libertie For the condition of libertie is to be of many desired and of fewe well employed where there is no subiection there is no King wher there is no King there is no law where there is no lawe there is no Iustice where is no Iustice there is no peace where there is no peace there is continuall warre and where there is warre it is impossible that the common wealthe maye long endure Neuer might the mighty Rome bée brought vnder by the Greeks the Carthaginians the French the Hunnes the Epirotes the Sabines the Samnites and Hetrurians but finally it came to ruine and was lost by the pryde they had in commaunding and the much libertie in sinning The diuine Plato did say many times to the Athenians when hee sawe them goe so at large take heed you Athenians to your selues loose not by your viciousnes that which you haue wonne by your valiauntnes For I giue you to vnderstand that libertie asketh no lesse wisdom to conserue it than valiauntnes to obtain it Experiēce teacheth daylie how in a frée cōmon wealth they do more hurtes they speak more blasphemies they cōmit more offences they rayse more scandales more good be defamed and more theft attempted onely of two yongmen at libertie than of two hundred that be subiect If curiously we do behold of a troth we find that they doe not drowne in welles whip banishe cut the throtes hang cut of eares nor put in prison but lost men that spends their time in vanities and employ their libertie in vices In the life of man ther is not the like riches to libertie but iointly therewith there is nothing more perillous than shée is if they know not to measure hir and vse hir according to reason libertie ought to bée wonne procured bought succoured and defended but iointly with this I do warne giue counsell and also aduise him that shall haue hir that hée vse hir not when the appetite shall require but when reason shall giue licence For otherwise thinking that he had libertie for all his life he shal not enioye hier a month The libertie of Phalaris did trouble the Greekes that of Roboam lost the Hebrewes that of Cateline did offend the Romanes that of Iugurtha defamed the Carthaginians that of Dionysius decayd the Scicilians and in the end the common wealths had an end of their trauailes and they of their liues and tyrānies Many men there be that leaue to doe euill bycause they will not but much more are they that cease bycause they cannot Many there be that doe abstaine for conscience and many more for shame many do refraine for loue but many more for feare many liue with a desire to be good many more for feare to be dishonored But yet for fear or for loue or for cōscience or else for shame alwaies we must stay our selues by the truth cut of the sway of libertie For if we giue the bridle to sensualitie doe not shut the doore to libertie we shal haue what to think vpon by daye and also wherefore to wéepe by night Sir I thought good to bring this to your memorie to the ende that since you come from Rome you be not ouer carefull to boast your selfe of the customes thereof For you shall vnderstand if ye know not that the fashions of Italie are more pleasaunt to be recounted than sure to be followed If you call to remembraūce the generositie of Rome the libertie of the neighbours the varietie of the people the galantnes of the women the plēty of victualles the goodnes of the wines the mirth and ioye at their feastes the magnificēcy of their Pallaces you haue therewith to remember that there where goods be spent the cōscience is charged and also many times that soule is lost The Romish people in Rome many of them be good but the straunge people that are stayed in Italie for the more part are euill for they be but very few that goe thyther with deuotion but they be infinite that be lost in wandring after their fleshly lustes Rome is not now in the power of the Christians as it was in the time of the heathen for then being the mother of all vertues she is now turned to the schole of al vices Leauing this aparte what shall we say of a poore priest that goeth to Rome through Spaine Fraunce and Lumbardy and before hée can get sentence of his benefice he cōmittes a thousand vices spendes his money and doth a thousand wicked déedes I say for myne own part that I was at Rome I sawe Rome I visited Rome and did behold Rome in which I sawe many things that gaue deuotion other things that brought me to admiration Oh how much and how much is betwixt the customes of Italie and the law of a pure christian 1 For in the one they saye that ye maye doe all that you will and in the other nothing but what you ought to do 2 In the one that you be a comfort to all men and in the other that you shall denie to procure to be saued 3 In the one that you haue much conscience and in the other that you make no accompt of shame 4 In the one that you trauell to be a good Christian and in the other that you care to be very rich 5 In the one that you liue cōformable vnto vertue in the other that you care not but to enioye libertie 6 In the one that for any thing you shal not speake a lye in the other that in case of interest you make no accōpte of truth 7 In
so glorious Princes from the office of Iudges did rise to be Emperours in suche wise that in those dayes they did not prouide offices for men but men for offices for the office of Gouernour Iustice and corrector many will be suters and for many they will make sute but in any wise you ought to be aduised howe ye make promise thereof to any man eyther for prayers or intreataunce to giue the same For your good you may giue to whome you shal think good but the rod of iustice to him who shall beste deserue it Also some of your seruants in recompence of seruice will craue the office of iustice and in my iudgement you oughte lesse to giue it vnto those than vnto any other for in saying they be your seruants that you shal beleeue them more thā the rest The people shal not dare to complayn and they shall haue libertie the more to robbe and steale If any man or woman shall come to complain before your Lordship of your Iustice giue him eare at leysure and with good will and if you shall fynd his complaynte to be true remoue his griefe and reprehende your Iusticer but if it bée not so declare how iust it is that he commaundeth and how vniust that he demaundeth for the base countrey people doe holde the words of their Lord for gospell of the officer as a passioned If it be not cōuenient for the Iudge you shal choose that he bée skilful to steale or bribe muche lesse dothe it beseeme your Lordeship to be a nigarde or couetous neyther with the price of iustice to profit your chamber Aduise your Iustices that haynous bloudy desperate and scandalous offences in no wyse be redeemed with money for it is impossible that any may liue in suretie eyther goe safe by the highe way if there be not in the common wealth the whip the halter and the sworde There are so many quarellers vagabonds and théeues murtherers rebels and sedicious that if they had hope for money to escape Iustice they would neuer cease to commit offences And therfore it is conuenient that the Iudge bée wyse and skilfull to the ende he chastise not all offences with extremitie neither that he leaue somtime with the voyce of the king to honoure the people Also your Lordship hath to prouide that the officers of your audience which is to wit Counsellers Atturneys and Scriueners be faithfull in the processe they make and no tyrantes in the Lawes they haue in hande for many tymes it doth happen that one cōming to complayn of an other they do not iustice vpon the person that gaue the quarel but they execute iustice vpon the pouche that he weareth Also aduise your Iustices that they dispatche their affaires with breuitie and with trouth with trouth bicause they shall iudge iustly with breuitie that it be done with expedition for it hapneth to many Clients that without obteyning that they craue they consume al that whiche they haue Also your Lordship ought to prouide and commaunde the ministers of your iustice that they doe not dishonor misvse shame or despise such as come to your audience but that they be mylde modest and manerly For sometimes the sorowful suter doth more féele a rough word they speake than the Iustice they delate I assure you there be officers so absolute without temperance and so yll manered that they presume to doe more cruelties with their pen than Roulande with his sworde Also your lordship hath to prouide that your Iudges doe not suffer themselues to be muche visited accompanied and muche lesse serued For the iudge can not hold narrow frendship with any man that is not in the preiudice of iustice for verie fewe resorte vnto the Iudge for that he deserueth but for the power he holdeth In the common wealthe dissentions angers quarelles of ambition amongst your officers of Iustice neither ought you to dissemble or in anye wise consente vnto for at the instant that they shall grow into quarels the people shal be deuided into partialities wherof may rise great offences in the common wealth and great want of reuerence to youre person Concluding in this case I say that if you will hold your Countrey in iustice giue your Officers occasion to conceyue opinion that you loue Equitie And that for no request or interest you will be remoued from the same for if the Lord be iust his officers neuer dare to be vniust That a Knight or Gentleman be mylde and of good gouernance ALso it is necessarie to the good gouernmēt of your house cōmon wealth that your behauior towardes your subiects be suche that with the meaner sort ye deale as with sonnes with the equall as with brothers with the ancient as with fathers and with the strangers as with felows for you ought much more to estéem your self in holding them for frends than to cōmaund them as vassals The difference betwixt the tirant the Lord is that the tyrant so he may be serued makes small accompt to be beloued but he that is a Lorde wise and will rather choose to be beloued than serued and I assure you he hath great reson for the person that giues me his heart will neuer denie me his goods The great Philosopher Licurgus in the laws he gaue to the Lacedemonians did commaund and counsel That the auncient men of his common wealth shoulde not talke standing neyther be suffred to stand bareheaded and I say it to this ende For that it shall diminishe nothing your authoritie or grauitie in that you shall say vnto the one be couered Gossip and vnto the other sit down frende The good Emperour Titus was worthily beloued for that the old men he called fathers the yong men fellowes Strangers Cousins the priuate frendes and all in generall brothers The gentleman that is humble courteous and of a good bringing vp strangers loue him and his owne do serue him for courtesie and friendly behauiour is more honour to hym that vseth it than to whom it is done I am not far in in loue with many Gentlemen vnto whom there goeth to talk and to dispatche affaires olde honorable and wise men although poore they neuer offer vnto thē so much curtesie as to say aryse neyther be couered and muche lesse to sit downe conceiuing all their greatnesse to consiste in not commaundyng to giue them a stoole eyther to put of their cap to any man note and consider well this which I say vnto your Lordship that the authoritie greatenesse and grauitie of Lordes and Gentlemen doth not consist to haue their vassals knéeling and bare headed but in gracious and good gouerning them When I heard a certain knight valiant and of noble bloud yet disdainfull and very proud that vsed always to say to all men although of worship he talked withal thou thou and he he neuer added wordes of fauor worship or curtesy I said vnto him By my life sir
I assure you and do iudge many tymes with my selfe that for this cause God or the king shew you any fauor bicause you neuer talk with any man with words of fauor worship or curtesie He did so much féele this word that from thence forward he left to say thou and said vnto all men My maisters or by your fauors All men that shal come to talke and haue businesse with your Lordship you ought to vse with mildnesse honour and also fawne on them as euerie man shall deserue and according to their degrées cōmanding the olde men to couer the yong men to rise and some to sit downe For if they delight to serue as vassalles they will not that you intreate them as slaues many vassals wée doe sée euery day rise against their Lords not so much for the tributes they raise on them as for the euil dealings they vse towards them always your Lordship hath to remember that you and they haue one God to honor one King to serue one lawe to kéepe one land to inhabite and one death to fear and if you hold this before your eies you shall speak vnto them as vnto brothers and deale with them as with Christians Aboue all things take greate héede to say at the sodaine to any of your subiects any word that shall staine his kinred or iniurie his person for there is no villain of Saigo so insensible that doth not more féele an iniurious word that is spoken than the chastisement which is giuen and there is a greater euil therin than this that amongst the cōmon and countrey-people all the kinred doth aunswere for the iniurie and the shame to one redoundeth to the despite of the whole whereof it hapneth many times that to be reuenged of a worde the whole people do rise against their lord So in this case take my counsell that if any your subiects shal doe a thing whiche he ought not to do that you determine to chastise him not to vpbrayd or defame him for the chastisement he shal think to procéede of iustice but your vpraiding of malice For any distemperance that may gréeue you or maye happen to anger you Auoyde in any wise to call any man knaue Iew filth or villaine for besides that these woords be rather of tiplers than of Knightes or Gentlemen The Gentleman is bound to be as chast of his spéech as a virgin of hir virginitie for a gentleman to be of a distempred spéeche foule mouthed euill manered loude and foule spoken this maye not procéede of any other occasion but that he is melancholike a coward and feareful For it is notorious vnto all men that vnto the woman it appertaineth to be reuenged with the toung but the knight or Gentleman with his launce The king Demetrius had a certain loue named Lamia whiche when she demaunded Demetrius why he didde not speake and was not merrie he made answere Holde thy peace Lamia and let me alone for I doe as wel my office as thou dost thine for the office of the woman is to spin and prattle and the office of the man is to holde his peace and fight To buffet the boyes of the chamber to pull them by the heare to ioll them against the portall and to spurne with the féete Your Lordship ought not to do it neither consent that it bée done in your presence For in palaces of auctoritie and grauitie to the Lord it appertaineth to manifest his mind and to the stuarde to chastise If your lordship shall commaunde to chastise or to whip any page or seruaunt prouide that it be doone in a place priuie and secrete for it ought to be very strange vnto the Lord or Gentleman that is noble valiant to sée any man wéepe either to heare any complaine The writers of histories do muche prayse the Emperour Octauius Augustus which did neuer consent that any execution shoulde be doone whilest he was within the walles of Rome but for the taking away of any mans lyfe he always went to hunting By the contrarie the Historiographers do much reprehend the Emperour Aurelius who before his owne eyes commaunded his seruants to be whipt and chastised which certaynly he should not haue doone for the clemencie of the Prince oughte to bée such that not only they should not sée the execution neyther yet so much as the person that is executed Your Lordship also hath to beware to aduenture to recoūt newes to compound lies to relate fables and to tell tales For the foolishe man and the tatling tedious Gentleman be brothers children The officers and seruantes of your house you haue to kéepe them corrected warned and also in feare that they rayse no quarels robbe no orchardes spoyle no gardens neither dishonour maried women In such sort that the seruants presume not to doe that whiche theyr Maisters dare not commaunde the yong men and pages that shal attende on you cause them to learne the commandements to praye and fast and to kéepe the Sabbaoth dayes For God wyl neuer deale mercifully with you if you make not greatter accompt that they serue God than your selfe Suche as shall play at cardes or dice for drie money not only chastise them but also dispatch them away for the vice of play may not be susteyned but by stealing or disceyt The pages and yong mē that you shall take into your chamber you haue to make choyse of suche as be wyse honest clenly and secret for babling and foulemouthed boyes they will imbesill your apparell staine your fame Commaunde the Controller of your house that the pages be taught to go clenly to brushe and laye vp their apparel serue at the table put of their cap vse reuerence and to speake with good maner bicause it may not bée named a palace where there wants in the Lorde shamefastnesse and in the seruants good bringing vp To the seruaunt that shall be vertuous and agréeable to your condition trust him with your person let him cōmaund in your house incommend him with your honoure and giue him of your goods vpon suche condition that he presume not to be absolute lord of the common weal for that day that they holde such one in reuerence they shall estéeme you but little If you will enioy seruice and be frée from displeasures you shall giue no man suche rule in your estate that your seruant shall thwart you or your vassal disobey you Also your Lordship is to be aduertized in that as now ye enter of new you attempt not to doe manye newe thinges for euery noueltie doth not more please him that doth institute the same than the accomplishement therof displeaseth hym to whome it is commaunded Lactantius Firmianus doth saye that the common wealth of the Sicienians endured longer than that of the Grekes Aegyptians Lacedemonians and the Romaines bicause in seuen hundreth and fortie yeares they neuer made newe lawes neyther brake their olde Suche as shall counsell you
life and iust in youre tribunall or iudgements I wold not gladly heare that those that do praise that which you do should complaine of that whiche you say with a Lorde of so high estate and with a iudge of so preheminent an office my pen should not haue presumed to write what it hath written if your Lordship had not commaunded My Lord I saide it bycause if this that I haue here written vnto you shall not like you that it may please you to sende too reuoke the licence that you haue giuen Also you will that I shall write vnto youre Lordship if I haue founde in anye auncient Chronicle what is the cause wherefore the Princes of Castile do call themselues not onely Kings but also Catholique Kings And that also I write vnto you who was the first that called himself Catholique King and what was the reason and the occasion to take this so generous and Catholique title There were ynowe in thys Court of whome you might haue demaunded and of whome you might haue vnderstood in yeares more auncieÌ„t in knowledge more learned in bookes more rich and in writing more curious than I am But in the end my Lord be sure of this one thing that that which I shall write if it be not written in a polished stile at the least it shall be all very true Comming to the purpose it is to be vnderstood that the Princes in olde time did always take proud ouer-names as Nabugodonozer that did intitle him selfe King of Kings Alexander the greate the king of the world the king Demetrius the conqueror of Cities the great Haniball the tamer of kingdomes Iulius Caesar the Duke of the Citie the king Mithridates the restorer of the world the king Athila the whip of nations the king Dionisius the host of all men the king Cirus the last of the Gods the king of England defender of the Church the king of Fraunce the most Christian king and the king of Spaine the Catholique king To giue your Lordship a reckoning who were these kings and the cause why they did take these so proude titles to me it should be painfull to write and to your Lordship tedious to reade it is sufficient that I declare what you commaunde me without sending what you craue not It is to wit that in the yere seuen hundreth fiftie two the fift day of the month of Iuly vpon a sunday ioyning to the riuer Bedalake about Xeres on the frontiers euen at the breake of day was giuen the last and most vnfortunate battell betwixt the Gothes that were in Spaine and the Alarues that had come from Africa in whiche the sorowfull king Sir Rodrigo was slaine and all the kingdome of Spaine lost The Moore that was Captaine and that ouercame this famous battell was named Musa which did know so well to folow his victorie that in the space of eight moneths he did win and had dominion from Xeres in the frontieres vnto the rocke Horadada which is neare to the towne of Onnia And that whiche séemeth to vs most terrible is that the Moores did win in eighte moneths which in recouering was almost eight hundred yeres for so many yeares did passe from the time that Spaine was lost vntill Granado was wonne The fewe Christians that escaped out of Spaine came retiring vnto the mountaines of Onnia neare vnto the rocke Horadada vnto which the Moores did come but from thence forward they passed not either did conquer it for there they found great resistance and the land very sharp And when they of Spaine did see that the king Sir Rodrigo was dead and all the Gothes with hym and that without Lord or head they could not resist the Moores they raysed for king a Spanish Captaine that was named Sir Pelaius a man venturous in armes and of all the people very well beloued The fame being spread thoroughout all Spaine that the mountaine men of Onia had raised for king the good Sir Pelaius all men generouse and warlike did repaire vnto him with whome he did vnto the Moores greate hurt and had of them glorious triumphes Thrée yeares after they had raysed the good sir Pelaius for King hée married one of his daughters with one of the sonnes of the Earle of Nauarn who was named Sir Peter and his sonne was called Sir Alonso This Earle Sir Peter descended by right line of the linage of the blessed King Richardos in whose tyme the Gothes did leaue the sect of the curled Arrius by the meanes of the glorious and learned Archbyshop Leonard The good king Pelaius being dead in the eighteene yeare of his raigne the Castilians exalted for king a sonne of his that was named Fauila the which two yeares after he began to raigne going on a certaine day to the mountaine meaning to flea the Beare the Beare killed him And for that the king Fauila died without children the Castilians elected for king the husband of his sister whiche is to wit the sonne of the Earle of Nauarne who was named Alonso the whiche began his raigne in the yeare .vii. C.lxxij hys raigne endured eightene yeares which was as much tyme as his father in law the good King Sir Pelaius had raigned This good King was the firste that was named Alonso which tooke his name in so good an houre that since that daye amongst all the kings of Castile that haue bin named Alonso we reade not of one that hath bin euill but very good Of thys good king Alonso the historiographers do recite many landable things to recompt worthy to be knowen and exemplars to be followed The King sir Alonso was the first that out of Nauarne entered Galizia to make warre vppon the Moores with whome be had many encounters and battells in the ende he ouercame and droue them out of Astorga Ponferada Villa franca Tuy and Lugo with all their Countries and Castelles This good king Alonso was he that did win of the Moores the Citie of Leon and builded there a royall place to the ende all the Kings of Castile his successors should there be resideÌ„t and so it came to passe that in long time after many Kings of Castile did liue and die in Leon. This good King Alonso was the firste that after the destruction of Spaine began to builde Churches and to make Monasteries and Hospitalles in especially from the beginning the Cathedrall churches of Lugo Tâ—y Astorga and Ribeâ—ew the which afterwards did passe to Mondonedo This good king Alonso did buiâ—d many and very solempne Monasteries of the order of saint Benet and many hospitalles in the way of saint Iames and many particular Churches in Nauarne and in the Countrey of Ebro whiche he endewed all with great riches and gaue them opulent possessions This good King Alonso was the first that did séeke and commaunded to be sought with very great diligence the holy bookes that had escaped the hands of the Moores and as a zelous Prince commaunded that
they shoulde bée caried to the Church of Oiendo to be kept and gaue great rewards vnto such as had hid them This good King Alonso was the firsts that commaunded that all the greate writers and singers should resort to Leon to the end they should write great singing bookes and litle breuiaries to pray on the which he gaue and deuided amongst all the Monasteries and Churches that he had founded for the cursed Moores had not left a Church in Spaine that they did not ouerthrow either booke that they did not burne This good king Alonso was the first that did begin to make all the Bishops houses ioyning to the Cathedrall Churches bycause the heate in the Sōmer either the colde in Winter should not let them to be resident in the Quier and to sée how they worshipped God. This good king Alonso the first died in the age of .lxiiij. yeres in the Citie of Leon in the yeare of our Lord. 793. And hys death of the Castilians and Nauarrois was as much bewayled as of all men his life was desired How acceptable his life was vnto God it appeared most cleare in that the Lord shewed by him at his death whiche is to wit that at the point of his last breath they heard ouer his chamber Angelike voices sing and say Beholde how the iust dieth and no man maketh account thereof his dayes be ended and his soule shall bée in rest The lamentation was so great that was made through out Spaine for the deathe of this good King Alonso that from thence forward euery time that any named his name if hée were a man he put off his cap and if a woman she made a reuerence Not thrée months after the death of the good King Alonso all the mightie of the Kingdome ioyned in parliament wherein they did ordeyne and commaund by a publique Edict that from thence forward and for euermore none should presume to say coldly or driely the king Alonso but for his excellencie they should cal him the king Alonso the Catholique for that he had bin a prince so glorious and of the diuine seruice so zelouse This good king was sonne in law of sir Pelaius he was the third King of Castile after the destruction thereof he was the first king of this name Alonso he was the firste that founded Churches in Spaine he was the first King at whose death such Angelike voyces were heard he was the first king that was intituled Catholike by whose deseruings and vertues all the kings of Spaine his successors be called to thys day Catholike Kings My Lorde it séemeth to me that since the kings of Spaine presume to inherit the name they should also presume to follow his life which is to wit to make warre vpon the Moores and to be fathers and defendours of the Church And for that in the beginning of this letter I did vse the spéech of a friend and in this I haue accomplished what you craued as a seruāt I say no more but that our Lord be your protector and gyue vs all his grace From Segouia the xij of May. 1523. A letter vnto Mosen Rubin of Valentia beeing enamoured wherein is touched the displeasures that the amorous dames giue vnto their louers MAgnificent and old enamored being in Madrid the fourth of August where I receyued a letter of youres and for that it was torne and the firme somewhat blotted I sweare vnto you by the law of an honest mā I could not find meanes to read it or imagine or cal to remembrance who should write it For notwithstanding we were acquainted when I was Inquisitor in Valencia it is almost a thousand yeares since we saw eche other after I awakened and called my selfe to remembrance and did read and read againe your letter I fell in the reckoning that it was of Mosen Rubin my neighbour I say Mosen Rubin the enamored I remēber that sometimes we were wont to play at the chesse in my lodging and cannot aduise me that you gaue me the dame but I do certainly remember that you did not suffer me to sée your enamored I remember that at the rock of Espadon at the encounter we had with the Moores I escaped wounded and you with a broken head where wée could neyther finde Chirurgion to cure vs or as muche as a clout to bind vs I remember that in reward for that I caused your bill to be firmed by the Quéene you sent me a Mule which I did gratifie and not receyue I remember that when we went to accompany the French King to Requena whē we came to the seuen waters I complayned for want of meate and you for lacke of lodging and in the ende I receyued you into my lodging and you went foorth to prouide victualles I remember when Caesar commaunded me to repaire vnto Toledo you gaue me a letter to be deliuered vnto the Secretarie Vrias vppon a certaine businesse of yours to whome I dyd not only speake but also obtained your sute I remember that chiding with a Chaplayne of youre wiues in my presence when he said vnto you that it were not conuenient you shuld deale fowly with him for that he had charge of soules was a Curat you made answer that he was not a Curat of soules but of fooles I remember that I counselled you and also perswaded you being in Xatina that you shoulde giue to the Diuell the loue that you wot of and I also doe knowe bycause they were tedious perillous and costly I remember that after in Algezira you reported wéeping and sighing that you had no power to chase them from your minde either roote them from your hart and ther I returned to say and sweare that it was no loue eyther pleasant to your persone or too your estate conuenient I remember that after we mette at Torres where I demaunded to what conclusion you had framed your loue you answered in a thousand sorrowes and trauelles for that you had escaped from thence wounded abhorred beflouted infamed and also be pilled Of many other things I remember I haue both séene and hard you speake and do in that time that we were neighbours and couersant in Valentia whereof although we may talke they are not too be written In this present letter you aduertise me that now you are enamored and taken with other new loues and that since I sayd the troth in the first you pray me to write my opinion in the second holding it for certaine that my skil serueth to let bloud in the right vayne and also to bind vp the wound Sir Mosen Rubin I woulde you had written or demaunded some other matter for speaking the very troth in this matter of loue you are not in the age to follow it eyther may it be contained with my ingrauitie to write it of my habit of my profession and of my authoritie and grauitie you shoulde haue demaunded cases of counsell and not remedies of loue
and to driue the Erle of Alua de Lista out of Zamora If you enter in reckening with all those of your bande which goe in your companie certainly you shall fynde that passion was your foundation not reason neither zeale of the common wealth but ouermuche desire in euery one to augment his owne house and estate Sir Peter Giron woulde haue the possession of Medina the Earle of Saluatiera commaunde the royall Pastures Fernando de Aualoes reuenge his iniurie Iohn de Padilia be maister of S. Iames Sir Peter Lasso the onely ruler in Toledo Quintanilla Controller of Medina Sir Fernando de Hulloa expell his brother out of Toro the Abbot of Compludo obtaine the Bishoprike of Zamora the Doctor Barnardine the Auditor of Valiodolid Ramir nimez the possession of Leon and Charles de Arrelano ioyne Soria with Vorobia The wise man sayeth hée séeketh occasion that will depart from a frend in like maner we may say that sedicious men séek not but rebellious times for that it séemeth vnto them whiche want are in necessitie while rebellion lasteth they may feed of the sweate of other mens brows and profit by their neighbors losse The arte séemeth not a litle gracious which you haue vsed to deceiue and persuade Toledo Burgos Valiodolid Leon Salamanca Auila and Segouia to rebell saying that by this meane they shal be established and made frée as Venize Geneua Florence Sena and Luke in suche wise that from hencefoorth they shall not bée named Cities but Seigniories Musing what was to be said in this matter a good space I had my pen in suspence and in the end I conceiued that vpon so great a vanitie and mischief neuer lyke heard of there is nothing to be sayd much lesse to be written For I hold it for certain and dare auouch that you make not those Cities frée but a praye not entitle them with seigniories but profit your selues with their riches Those the wil take in hand any enterprise that naturally is seditious or offensible haue not to consider of the occasion that moueth thē to ryse but only the good or euil end which therof may procéed for all famous offences haue had always a beginning of good respects Silla Marius and Cateline whiche were famous Romains and glorious Captaines vnder the coloure to delyuer Rome from euill gouernours made themselues tirants of the same At sometymes it is lesse euill in greate Cities to beare with some want of Iustice than to moue the people and therby to raise warre for that war is a certain net that catcheth away all weale from the common wealth The great Alexander being demaunded for what cause hée would be Lord of the whole worlde made answere All the warres that are raised in this worlde is for one of these thrée causes which is eyther to haue goodes many lawes or else many Kings therfore would I obtain the same to cōmaund throughout the whole worlde that they honour but one God serue but one king and obserue but one law But let vs now conferre your Lordship with Alexander the great and we shal finde that he was a King and your Lorship a Bishoppe he a Pagan and you a Christian he bred in the warres and you in the Church he neuer heard of the name of Christe you haue sworne to obserue his Gospell and with all these conditions he would not for the whole worlde haue but one king and your lordship wold haue seuen only for Castile I say vnto your Lordship that you wold establish seuen kings in Castile for that you would make the seuen Cities of the same seauen seigniories The good and loyal gentlemen of Spayn vse to remoue kings to make one king and such as be traytours and disloyall do vse to remoue the King to make kings For vs and our friends we wil no other God but Christ no other law but the Gospell or other king but the Emperoure Charles the fifth And if you and your commoners will haue an other king and an other lawe ioyne your selues with the Curate of Mediana which euery sunday doth establishe and take away kings in Castile And this is the case In a certain place named Mediana which is néere vnto Palomera of Auila there was a Biskay priest and halfe a foote whiche was moued with so great affection to Iohn of Padilia that at the tyme of bidding of beads on the holy days he recōmended after this maner My brethren I commend vnto you one Aue Maria for the most holy communaltie that it neuer decay I commende vnto you an other Aue Maria for the maiestie of king Iohn of Padilia the God may prosper him I cōmend vnto you an other Aue Maria for the Quéenes highnesse our mistresse and Lady Mary of Padilia that God may preserue hir for of a troth these be the true kings and all the rest before time were tyrantes These prayers continued aboute thrée wéekes little more or lesse After whiche tyme Iohn of Padilia with his menne of warre passed that waye and the souldiers that lodged in the priests house inticed away his woman drank his wine kilde his hennes and eate vp his bacon The sundaye folowing in the Churche he sayde It is not vnknowne vnto you my brethren howe Iohn of Padilia passed this way and howe his souldiors hath left me neuer a henne haue eaten me a flitch of bacon haue drunke out a whole tinage of wine and haue caried away my Cateline I say for that from hencefoorth you shall not pray vnto God for him but for king Charles and for our Lady Quéene Ione for they be the true Princes giue to the diuell these straunge kings Behold here my Lord Bishop how the Curate of Mediana is of more power than your Lorshippe for that he made and vnmade Kings in thrée wéekes whiche you haue not performed in eyght moneths and yet I doe sweare and prophesie that the King that you shall establish in Castile shall endure as little as that king whiche was made by the Curate of Mediana No more but that our Lorde be your protectour and lighten you with his grace From Medina del rio secco the .xx. of December .1521 A letter vnto the Bishop of Zamora sir Antony of Acunna in whiche the Author doth perswade him to turne to the seruice of the kyng REuerend disquiet bishop by the letter of Quintanilla of Medina I was aduertised in what maner your lordship receiued my letter and also vnderstoode that in the ende of reading thereof presentely you beganne to groue and murmuring sayd Is this a thing to be suffred that the tong of Frier Antony of Gueuara may bee of more power than my launce and that he be not contented to haue withdrawne Sir Peter Giron euen from betwixte oure hands but also now euen here doth write me a thousand blasphemies It hath much pleased me that my letter was so wel cōfected that with such swiftnes it
the King and procured peace vnto the Kingdome When I was at the towne of Braxima with your Lordship and with the Commoners I preached nothing vnto you but penitence and to the kings gouernours at Medina del rio secco I perswaded nothing but clemencye for it was impossible if the one did not repent and the other pardon that these kingdomes might be remedied neither so many euilles and daungers cut off Now since I haue traueled after this maner and suffered so greate trauails I knowe not why you should call me traytor desire to kill me and to hang me at a window since I desire not to sée your Lordship hanged but amended Titus Liuius maketh mention of a Romane Patricide who being ambitious of honour a coward to obtaine the same determined to set fier on the treasure house where all the people of Rome layd vp their treasure This euill disposed fellow being taken tormented and examined of the cause of his enterprise made answer I would haue done this hurt to the commō welth for that writers should make mention of me in their Chronicles whiche is to wit as touching the treasures of Rome though I had not abilitie to obtaine them yet had I skill to burne them I thought good too put youre Lordship in remembraunce of this historie to the end you may vnderstande considering I am Preacher and Chronicler vnto his maiestie in which imperiall Chronicle there shall be sufficient report of your Lordship not that you were a father and a pacifier of your countrey but rebellious and an inuentor of these warres How maye I with troth write of the rebellion of Toledo the death of the ruler of Segouia the taking of Tordesillas the imprisonment of the counsell the siege of Alaheios the conuocation of Auila the burning of Medina the alteration of Valiodolid the scandall of Burgos the losse of Toro Zamora and Salamanca without I make mention of your Lordship How may I make report of the euils that Vera the Lockier hath cōmitted in Valiodolid Bobadilla the shereman in Medina the Lockiar in Auila and Burgos and in Salamanca the Skinner but that in that holy brotherhood we must find the Bishop of Zamora I report me vnto you my Lord Bishop shall I raise any slaunder vpon you by reporting in my Chronicle that I sawe at the towne of Braxima all the artillerie brought togither to the gates of your house I saw watch ward kept rounde about your lodging I saw all the Captaines of your bands féede at your table I saw them all ioyne to consult in your chamber and that al did exclame for long life to the bishop of Zamora All these things which your Lordship hath done I woulde gladly leaue them vnwritten if your Lordship would amend and also remedie the mischiefe you haue in hand but I beholde you with suche eyes and with such an opinion that you will rather lose your life wherewith you liue than the opinion which you follow I conceiued no small compassion when this other day I saw you compassed with the commoners of Salamanca with villaines of Saiago with manquellers of Leon with rebelles of Zamora with Cappers of Toledo and with hit makers of Valiodolid All which in generall you are bound to content and not licence to commaund This kind of people that you leade of the communaltie is so vaine and fickle that with threates they will followe you with intreatance bée sustayned with promises be blinded fighting with feare walking with suspition liuing vpon hope not contented with little or pleased with gifts for their intente is not to followe those that haue most right but such as giue best wages There is a certayne difference betwixt vs and you which is that we whiche follow the King hope to be rewarded but you haue no suche hope but by violence to please your selues which we knowe well that you your selfe haue promised to your selfe the Archbishoprike of Toledo we well knowe that Iohn of Padilia hée himselfe hath promised vnto himselfe the Mastership of S. Iames we do know that Clauero himselfe hath promised vnto himselfe the Mastership of Alcantara we well knowe that the Abbot of Compludo he himselfe hath promised vnto hym selfe the Bishoprike of Zamora we well know that the Prior of Vadiodolid he himselfe hath promised vnto himselfe the Bishoprik of Valentia sir Peter Pinentel Maldonado Quintanilla Sarabia the Licēciat Barnardine and the doctor Cowsehed None of these at this day wil giue their hope for a good quēt of rent Ramir Nunez Iohn Braue do accept to be called Lordes Iohn Braue for that he hath hope to be Earle of Chincon Ramir Nunez Earle of Luna it may be that one of thē or both may first lose their heads before they haue obtayned their estates Wherefore my Lord Byshop retire repent and amend bycause the loyaltie of Castile doth not suffer but one king neyther endure but one lawe No more but that our Lord bée youre instructor From Tordesillas the tenth of March. 1521. A letter vnto Sir Iohn of Padilla Captaine of the Commoners against the King wherein he perswadeth him to surcesse that infamous enterprise MAgnificent and vnaduised Gentlemā the letter that with youre owne hande you haue written vnto mée and the credite and trust you sent me with your seruant Montaluan I haue receyued here in Medina and to say the troth I did not more delight to sée your leter than I receyued griefe to heare youre message for that it séemeth you determine to procéede with youre enterprise and to finish the ruine of this common wealth Sir you do well vnderstande at the assemblie of Auila I saide vnto you that you were lost deceyued and solde bycause Hernando of Auila Sir Peter Giron the Bishop of Zamora and the other commoners had not inuented this Ciuill warre with zeale too redresse the offences in the common wealth but to take vengeance of their enemies Sir also I saide vnto you that the resolution of that assembly séemed vnto me great vanitie and no small vaunte and that which the common people demaunded which is to witte that in Castile all shoulde contribute all shoulde be equall all shoulde paye and that they should be gouerned after the manner of segniories in Italy the whiche is scandalous to heare and blasphemie to speake for as it is impossible to gouerne the body without armes so is it impossible that Spaine be sustayned without Gentlemen Also I said vnto you that being of bloud vndefiled of persone so well compact in armes so expect of minde so valiant in iudgemente so aduised in condition so well liked in age so tender and in the flowers of youre youth it were muche more conuenient for you to serue the King in Flaunders than Castile to trouble his kingdome Also I did aduertise you how in that of late the King had created the Admiral and the Constable for gouernours whiche
sée them fled that they neyther dare assemble or execute iustice This other day I sawe in Soria where they hanged a Procurer of the citie béeing poore sicke and olde not bycause he had cōmitted any euill but for that some did wish him euill To report vnto you how they haue throwen the Constable out of Burgos the Marques of Auia frō Tordisillas the Earle and Countesse of Duneas and the knights and gentlemen frō Salamanca and Sir Iames of Mendoza from Palentia and how in place of these gentlemen they haue taken for their leaders and captaines bit makers sheremē skinners lockmakers is no smal shame to recount and infamy to heare The hurts murders robberies and scandals that is nowe committed within this realme I dare say that of this so great fault wée al are in fault bycause our God is so right a iudge that hée would not permit that all should be chastised if all were not offenders The affairs of this miserable kingdome is come to such a state the through the same there is no way sure no tēple priuiledged none that tilleth the fielde none bringeth vitailes none the executeth iustice none safe in their houses yet all confesse a king and appeale to the king but the disgrace is that none doth obserue the law none doth obey the King beleue me if your people did acknowledge the King and obserue the law neyther would they robbe the kingdome or disobey the King but for that they haue no feare of the sword nor doubt of the gallowes they do what they lust and not what they ought I knowe not how you can say that you wil refourme the kingdome since you obey not the King you consent to no gouernours you admit no royall counsell you suffer no Chancelour you haue no Iudges nor Iustices no giuing of sentence in matters of lawe neyther any euill chastised in such wise that your iudgemēt to haue no iustice in the kingedome is to refourme iustice I can not cōprehende how you wil reforme this kingdome since by your consent there is no subiect that shall acknowledge a preacher neither any Nunne that keepes hir cloyster no Frier that remayneth in his monastery neyther womā that obeyeth hir husband nor vassall that obserueth loyalty neyther any man that dealeth iustly in so much that vnder the colour of liberty euery man liueth at his owne wil. I know not how you will reforme the common welth since those of your campe do force women rauish maydens burne villages spoyle houses steale whole slockes cut downe woods and rob churches in such wise that if they leaue any euill vndone it is not bycause they dare not but for that they can not I can not conceiue how you will reforme the common welth since by your occasion Toledo is risen Segouia altered Medina burned Halaheios besieged Burgos fortified Valiodolid immutined Salamanca stragled Soria disobedient and also Valentia an Apostata I can not perceiue how you will reforme the common welth since Naiarza is rebelled against the Duke Dueas against the Earle Tordisillas against the Marques Chincon against his Lorde since Auila Leon Toro Zamora and Salamanca doe neither more or lesse than the assembly doth commaund So may my life prosper as I like of your demaund which is to weete that the King be not absent out of this Realme that he maintaine all men in iustice that he suffer no money to be transported out of the Realme that he giue his rewardes and offices vnto the natural subiectes of Spaine that they deuise not any new tributs and aboue all that the Offices be not solde but gyuen to men of most vertue These and such other like things you haue licence to craue and only the King hath authoritie to graunt but to demaund of princes with the lance that which they haue to prouide by Iustice is not the part of good vassalles but of disloyall seruants wée well vnderstand that many people of this lande doe complaine of the newe gouernement of Flemmings and to speake the truth that fault was not all theirs but in their small experience and our much enuie Further aduertising that the straungers were not more to bée blamed than our owne countrie men they knew not the state of things either what offices to craue neither how they would be solde but that they were aduised and also instructed in the skill thereof by the men of our owne nation in such wise that if in them there did abound desire of gain in vs there did excéed the vice of cruell malice Although Maister Xebes and the rest haue cōmitted some fault I know not that our Spaine hath done any offence that you should in the same and against the same rayse any warre The medicine that you haue inuented for the remedie of this mischiefe is not to purge but to kill But since you will néedes make war let vs examine here against whom is this war not against the king bycause his tender youth dothe excuse him not against the Counsell for they appeare not not against Xebes for hée is in Flaunders not against the Gouernors whiche haue but nowe entred their offices not against the Gentlemen who haue not offended neither yet against tyrantes for the Kingdome was in peace than is this war againe your own countrie and against our own lamentable common wealth The wante of prouidence in the king neither the auarice of Xebes is sufficient cause that we should sée that whiche wée doe sée the people to ryse against people fathers against the sonnes the vncles against their cousins friends against friends neighbors against neybours and brothers against brothers but that our sinne hath so deserued to be chastised and yours hath merited that you shuld be our scourge Speaking more particular you are not able to excuse your faulte for beginning as you did the assemblie of Auila from which counsell all this warre hath had his féeding and of a trouth presently I did diuine and also preache that is to witte that neuer was Monipody of any kingdome whereof did not arise some notable scandall The kingdom is nowe altered the kyng is disobeyed the people are nowe risen the hurt is alreadie begon the fire is alreadye in flame and the common wealth goeth sinking to the bottom But in the ende if it like you a good end may be made from whence may procéede all the remedie for that we haue firmely to beléeue that God will rather heare the hearts that praye for peace than the fifes and drums that proclaime warre If it may lyke you to forget some part of your anger and the gouernours to lose some part of their right I hold it all for finished And to speake you the trouth in popular and ciuil warres men do rather fight for the opinion they haue takē than for the reason that they hold My iudgement should be in this case that you should ioyne with the Gouernours to talke and conferre for the
gréeues and things amisse and to vnderstād for the remedie therof for by this meanes you should growe to more ripenesse for the things you haue to demaund and in our king and maister more facilitie in that whiche he shoulde graunt If it may please you to leaue your armour and giue faith vnto my words I sweare by the faith of a Christian by this letter of credence that I bring with me do promise you that you shall be pardoned of the king and well intreated of his gouernors that you shal neuer for this déed be chastized neither yet in wordes be blamed or defamed And bicause it shall not séeme that your zeale hath bin in vaine and that the Gouernours doth not desire the common wealth I will here shew vnto you what they wil do for the kingdome and what kindnesse on his Maiesties behalfe they will bestowe vppon you which is as followeth First they promise you that at any time whē the kings Maiestie shall be absent from this kingdome he shall place a Castilian to gouerne Castile bicause the authoritie greatnes of Spaine endureth not the gouernment of straungers Also they promise you that all the dignities holdings and offices of the kingdome and Court shall be giuen to Spaniards and not to straungers notwithstāding there be many noble personages that haue well deserued and in whome they were well employed Also they promise you that the royall rents of the people shall be rated at an indifferent rente in such wise that the Cities may haue reasonable gayne and no greate losse to the king Also they promise you that if in the regall counsell shal be found any examiner or any other officer although it be the president vnwise or vnapt for gouernement and not learned to giue sentence or not honest of lyfe that his maiestie shall absolue him of his office notwithstanding they may be affectionate to some and also offended like other men Also they promise that from hencefoorth his Maiestie shall commaund his Iustices of Court and Chauncery that they shall not vse their commaundements so absolute neyther their chastisements so rigorous notwithstanding that sometimes they be in some things fierce bycause they may be more feared and also more esteemed Also they promyse that from henceforth his Maiestie shall commaunde to reforme his house and also remoue the excessiue charges thereof considering that disordinate expences bryng forth newe tributes Also they promise you that for any neede the Kings Maiestie may haue hée shall not carry neither yet commaund to be caried any money out of this kingdome to bée transported into Flaunders Almayne or Italy considering that incontinent trafficke decayeth in kingdomes where money wanteth Also they promise that his Maiestie shall not permitte from henceforth Biscay Iron Alum of Murcia Vitailes of Andolozia nor Sackes of Burgos to be laden in straunge botoms but in shippes of Biscay and Galizia to the ende that straungers shall not robbe and our Countrey men to gayne whereby to eate Also they promise that his Maiestie shall not permit to be gyuen from henceforth fortresse Castell bridge gate or towne but vnto Gentlemen plaine and curteous and not vnto Gentlemen or Knights of power which in reuolting times may rise with the same considering that in the ancient times none might haue Artilery or Fortresse but the King in Castile Also they do promise you that from henceforth his Maiestie shall not permitte licences to cary corne into Portingall neyther from Mancha to Valentia consideryng that many tymes to haue licence to transport thither is here amongst ourselues cause of greate dearth Also with all breuitie his Maiestie wil commaund the contentions and matters in law to be examined and considered that haue bene continued betwixt Toledo and the Earle of Velalcassar and Segonia and sir Fernando Chichon and of Iaen with the towne of Martos and Valiodolid with Simancas and that of sir Peter Giron with the Duke of Medina considring that those in possession do delay and the dispossessed complaine Also they promise that the King will commaund to reforme the excesses giue lawe for banquets reforme Monasteries visit Chanceries repayre sorts and fortifie all the frontiers considering that in all these things there is necessitie of reformation and also of correction If you my Masters bée suche as you publishe your selfe throughout Castile whiche is to witte that you bée the redéemers of the Common wealth and the restorers of the libertie of Castile behold here wée offer you the redemption and also the resurrection thereof bycause so many and so good thinges as these are neyther did you remember to demaunde eyther woulde presume to craue nowe is the houre come wherein of necessitie it muste bée manifested whither you speake and meane one thing For if yée desire the generall wealth now is it offred you and if you pretend your particuler interest it may not be graunted you for speaking the troth it is not iust but most vniust that with the sweate of the poore common wealth you shoulde séeke to amend the state of your owne houses But let it be for cōclusion since we be here in the Churche of the towne of Braxima of my part I do humbly beséeche you vppon my knées and in the behalfe of the gouernours I doe request you and on the Kings name I commaund you to leaue your armour to discamp your camp and to vnfortifie Tordisillas if not I iustifie this offer for the gouernours that all the euils mischieues and slaughters that hereafter shall happen in this kingdome be vpon the charge of your soules and not vpon the burden of their conscience As I knéeled downe at the speaking of these last wordes forthwith came vnto me Alonso of Quintanilla and Sarabia bare headed and with great courtesie did help me to rise and forced me to sitte downe During the time I didde speake all that is aforesaid it was a thing to looke vpon and worthy consideration how some of them did behold me some did stampe some did eye me and also some did mocke me but I neuer the more did leaue to note either stay to speake After I had finished my Oration they all with one voice said and desired the Bishop of Zamora to speake his iudgemente and that afterwards they would all sée what were conuenient to be done Forthwith the Bishop toke me by the hand in the name of thē all he said vnto me Father frier Antony of Gueuara thou hast spoken sufficiently and also for the authoritie of thy habite as a man ouer rash but for that thou art a yong man and of small experience neither knowest thou what thou speakest eyther vnderstandest thou what thou demaundest eyther wast thou made a Frier being a boy or else thou art angrie or knowest little of this worlde or thou wantest iudgement since thou presumest to speak such things wouldest make vs beleue but thou father being stayd within thy monasterie knowest not of tirānies
subtill in witte of valiant hart and fortunate in exployt of war as he manifested most puisantly by obtayning more honour than any other in the Campe whereby he grew in dayly reputation amongst his owne companions and more fearefull than the Wolfe is to the Shéepe to the hearts of his enemies which hanging the times of these warres caused the Emperour Heraclius to fauoure him aboue all others The warres ended and licence giuen for all the straungers to departe he sent the Saracyns away discontented and not wel payed which moued them and their generall Mahomet to rayse mutine and coniuration in suche wyse that they assayled Palestina whyche before they had subdued and inuaded the countreys of Aegypt Damas the two Syrias Pentapolis and Antioch without resistaunce of any person Here also you must vnderstande that Mahomet was by his father a Gentile and by his mother a Iewe whyche is the cause why he was fostred in Iudea He held one Sergius which was infected with the heresies of Arius and Nestor a very ambitious man for his especiall friende By whome Mahomet vnderstanding well what honour and reuerence the Saracyns yeelded vnto him and accompting him selfe their head and chiefe determined to become their King lawegiuer to the end as King to be reputed and for lawmaker to be worshipped And as thys moÌ„ster Mahomet had a GeÌ„tile to his father a Iew to his mother and a Christian Heretique to his chiefe friend and instructer so each of them vsed their seueral lawes out of whiche thrée he determined to elect one to satisfye or more properly speaking to delude all nations Thus this miscreant nothing regarding the soules health nor due reformation of the common state but thristing after the renoune of a Prince during life and the fame of their lawgiuer after death instituted and published a sect or rather a rabble of abhominable preceptes and detestable counsells thereby to chaunge the vertuous and therewith to delight the vicious and wicked In the yeare 630. Heraclitus inferred and began his warres against the Persians and in the yeare 632. the warres ended In that yeare 632. Mahomet by conquest subdued the greatest part of Asia and in the yeare 636. he gaue his lawes to the Saracyns his countrymen the which he first brought into Arabia Petrosa not by preaching in worde but murdering with sword The gouernment of the East thus resting it chaunced in the yeare 642. that an infinite number of barbarous people passing by the stréetes of the mountaynes Caucasus to inuade that part of Asia Minor that bordereeh on Asia Maior whose comming brought good successe to the Nations adioyning These people by discent were of thrée mighty rude countries that is of the Scithians now called Persia of the PanoniaÌ„s now named Hungaria and of the Escaines nowe called Denmarcia whiche barbarians departed foorth of their natiue soyle as it is iudged constrayned with penurie and want of victualls as also with the Ciuill warres which they had amongst themselues For being without a gouernour they liued by robbing and pilling one from another euermore driuing the weakest to the worst Whereat Mahomet astonied at this their arriuall and séeing the Scithes and Paenonians dayly more and more to endamage Asia and to become so stout as to furnish themselues with places of defence he determined with a mighty power of Saracyns to encounter them This thing dismayed the Barbarians and caused them to assemble togither where they chose one Trangolipique for their general a man in warres much fortunate and in peace most vicious Now the warres of the Scithians and Saracyns grew so hote so long and so cruell that in thrée yeares and a halfe was soughten sixe mightie and bluddy battells wherein Fortune declared hir mutabilitie for to the Saracyns she was vnfriendly and to the Scithians nothing fauorable sometimes gyuing victory to the one side one day and tryumph to the other side on the next day Which the Scithians well noting and perceyuing that their number was muche decreased by meanes of those warres and also the Saracyns beholding the presente spoyle of their countrâ—… â–ª they agréed amongst themselues vppon Articles ensuing to continue friends for euer that is that the Scithes shoulde receyue the lawe of Mahomet and that the Saracyns should giue them that countrey to inhabite Whyche accordingly tooke effect and was concluded in the yeare 647. that the Saracyns and Turks became friends and confederates and from that time forwarde did wholly submit themselues to the obedience of Mahomet taking him for king and vowing fidelitie to his lawes Strabo Plynie Pomponius Mela and Gelaton whiche haue described all countries in the worlde make little accompte of Turkie before suche time as the Scythes beganne to inhabite the same who in the end became so strong and the Great Turk and Turquy so famous as at this day it is reputed one of the most renowmed Empyres in the world How the loue of Mahomet entred Africa VNderstand you that in the yeare 698. a puissant Pirat named Abeuchapeta passed from Asia into Africa leading with him 70. Galleys and 100. other vessels furnished for his exployte with which he pilled pirased such as he met withall by Seas and did also many times much hurt on the firme land This Abeuchapeta was a man valiant hardie and rich and a Saracyne obseruing the law of Mahomet of whome the Arabian Historiographers reporte that he neuer sacked anye Towne that would submit theÌ„selues to him nor raunsomed to libertie any persone that he had taken prisoner This companion for so hencefoorth will I terme him vnderstanding that in the Realme of the Moores otherwise called the countrie of Mauritania and now called the kingdome of Marrucos were extreme cruell and ciuill warres he determined to hasten thither with his fléete and to establish himselfe Lorde of all who passing the straites Giberaltare and being arriued vpon firme lande immediately practised to acquaint himselfe with one of the chéefe bands of the Moores by which policie in short time he obtayned afterward to be chéefe of the Realme and compelled them secretly to accept and obserue the Mahometicall lawes and religion by killing some and banishing others Whereby it came to passe that such as this coÌ„panion brought thither with him and the subdued inhabitantes of Marrucos were the first in Africa that togythers imbraced the lawes of Mahomet who as before time were alwayes called Moores do still at this presente and euer after continue the name of Moores or Morisques so that the inhabitants of Thunies whych be those of Tunis and the Numidians whiche are the people of Fesse and the Maurentines which are the people of Marrucos be al generally tearmed by the name of Moores though the countries do much differ in scituatioÌ„ This then is the resolution of your letter and the aunswere to youre demaunde that the name Saracyns was first found in Arabia where Mahomet was borne the name Turkes inuented in Asia where Mahomet remayned and
enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum in peccatis concepit me mater mea Durste he peraduenture say that in him was no sinne And God sayde vnto Noe Quòd omnis caro corruperat viam suā what may hée be that will saye he had no sinne considering that God condemneth the vniuersall worlde of sinne Since the Psalmist sayeth with most cleare voyce Omnis homo mendax how cōmes it to passe that any dare excuse himselfe of sinne The Scripture saying thus Adam sinned in eating of the defended frute Cain sinned in killing his brother King Dauid sinned by his adultery Ionathas sinned in eating the hony Absalon in conspiring against his father Dauid and also Salomon sinned by idolatrye Then since these glorious personages be fallen downe flatte is there any person that may thinke himselfe safe from stumbling And in the name of God I craue to be answered for what cause did the diuine Paule cry saying Qui se existimat stare videat ne cadat but to the ende that euery man shoulde consider with himselfe that hee is fallen into sinne or that shortly hée may fall into sinne He that considereth the moste infortunate fall of Iudas the disciple of Iesus Christ accompanying Iesus Christe and hearing Iesus Christ dareth he aduenture to trust and haue confidence in himselfe Since wée are descended of sinners haue taken our byrth of sinners be conuersant with sinners and committe so enorme and deadly sinnes say we not most true that they be most vniust which affirme estéeme themselues for iust and rightuous I admitte that euery man say what he will and performe of himselfe what hée thinketh good For if I will confesse the troth that in mée there is many things to be amended many things to be clipt or shorne many things to be purged and to too muche to be snuffed And surely it is no small parte of Iustification to confesse our faultes notwithstanding the confession suffiseth not if wée do not inforce our selues to correction For if a candell haue too long a snuffe it suffiseth not a little to dresse and erect but to snuffe the same And for that if in this whole worlde there were but one vice wherein wée myght fall all men woulde beware thereof But séeyng there be so many quagmires wherein to bée myred it is a thing too common that if we sincke not to the bottome at the leaste we remayne all bemyred Yf wée wyll haue the candle cleare and of himselfe gyue lyght it is very necessary that he be oft snuffed By this that I haue sayde I woulde say that the man that hath shame in his face and woulde preserue his conscience presently when he hath committed the faulte he muste determine to amende For if he once harden his conscience late or neuer doth hée amende his lyfe To this purpose the wise Salomon sayde Impiusciòn in profundum malorum venerit contemnit as if he shoulde say He that the Lorde doth refuse to succour with his mercifull hande deferring from day to day to amend he goeth deeper and deeper to the bottome beeing clad in suche manner with sinne as he in no wise wyll yeelde to correction Wherefore God in commaunding that at the foote of the lampes that did light in the Temple there shoulde be snuffers to snuffe them it is no other thing as mée thinketh but that euery man ought to séeke with whome to bée indoctrined in that whiche hee ought to followe and remoued from his errour wherein hée offended For in his owne cause it is not permittible for any man to bée Iudge of himselfe But how contrary is the fashion at these dayes in this miserable worlde The glorious Apostle S. Paule sayde In nouissanis diebus coaceruabunt sibi magistros prurientes auribus which is They shall more delyght to haue with them flatterers to deceyue them than directers by good counsell to aduise them I returne to say and reiterate that it is no other thing to commaunde to haue snuffers nyghe vnto the candlesticke than to gyue vs to vnderstande that wée ought often to accustome our selues to purge our conscience For if it be necessarie in one houre thrée or foure tymes to snuffe the candle it shall not be ouermuche that euery wéeke at the leaste once or twice to purge and snuffe the soule The candle hauing a greate snuffe may not well gyue lyght and the soule laden with sinnes may finde no merite And therefore it is necessarie to gyue and maynteyne muche as to a lampe or to snuffe him well as a candle bycause sinnes that bee rooted and growen olde be difficile to confesse and harde to amende Therein it is also to bée vnderstoode God commaunded that the snuffers wherewith they shoulde snuffe the lampes and also the bason wherin they shoulde lay the snuffers to be not of grosse but pure and moste fine golde to gyue vs to vnderstande that the King the Prelate the Iudge the gouernour and giuer of chasticement ought not to containe in thēselues any vice wherfore to be shorue clipt or snuffe for that it is not permittable by the lawes humane or diuine that one théefe should iudge another théefe to be hanged And then are the snuffers of leade or of yron when the Iudge or gouernor is of a life lesse honest in his speache inordinate and wherein hée iudgeth of partiall affection For otherwise it shall be more expedient to neate and purge the snuffers than to snuffe the Candelles And then be the snuffers of fine golde when the Iudge or Prelate is of a syncere life modest in his purposes zelous of his Common wealth a right Iusticer as also by the voyce of common consent to haue nothing whereof to be amended and lesse to be desired Faciebat Dauid iudicium iustitiam omni populo This is written of Dauid in the seconde booke of Kings which is as muche to say That the good king Dauid did sitte openly giuing audience to euery man and doing iustice to all men Certaynly there bée many that as Iudges do heare all in publike and smal is the number which giueth right to all men And some that do iustice vnto diuers but not many that equally minister iustice to all men Which ought in no wise to be done much lesse to be consented vnto For the lawe ought not to go as the king willeth but rather the King as the lawe willeth O wordes moste certainely to bée noted and to memorye bée incommended by the which is sayde of the good King Dauid not by the hands of another but of himselfe not in his house but openly not once but euery daye not to one person but to al the people not that he would prolong them but it is sayde from the present hour◠in whiche hée hearde them he did dispatche them The Iudges that God did constitute and send into diuers places all haue bene holy and iust which is to say Noe
were not holy and approued but rather bycause ye could not vnderstand them Muche lesse may you denie me that your Rabby Salmon Rabby Salomon Rabby Fatuell Rabby Aldugac and Rabby Baruch do not saye and affirme by their writings that after your second deliuerance from the Captiuitie of Babylon ye neuer more vnderstoode to performe the Ceremonies of your temple speake the Hebrew tong either vnderstande the holy Scripture much lesse to sing the Canticles of Dauid And no lesse may you denie that of all sorts of your Iewish people in the dayes of the great Priest Mathathias did repaire vnto the Court of king Antiochus to sell the Realme and to learne his law and that which is more vile ye consented that all the bookes of Moyses shoulde publikely be burnt and likewise permitted scholes in the Citie of Ierusalem to reade the lawes of the Gentiles placing also an Idol in the holy temple vnto whome was offered incense and other odours as if it had bin the true God the which most certaynly I woulde not haue spoken if I had not found it written in the booke of Machabees And then our Lorde God seing the wine of the lawe in a manner consumed and that there remayned nothing but lies and dregs and the time approching that the Gentiles shoulde be called and conuerted and that in them the Church shoulde begin he did permit and ordayne that all the holy scriptures should be translated into the gréeke tong foreséeing that the Hebrew tong should be lost And how so famous a translation and interpretation came as touching their law hauing also in the same charge to iudge all differences betwixt the people They had likewise the charge to commaunde and to make ordinances as touching the gouernement of the Common wealth euen to the assignement direction what euery one should haue in his house These were the mē hat did ordeyne and commande that before the Hebrewes should sute at table they shoulde wash their handes the transgression of whiche Ceremonie the Iewes did accuse the Apostles but as well defended by Iesus Christ For surely if these auncientes had not dealte farther than with the gouernement of their common wealth and iudging their causes it had bene notwithstanding a thing tolerable But by their authoritie they thrust in themselues to glose the Bible and garboyle the scripture Wherof the principal that therto did first giue attēpt was Rabby Salmon Rabby Enoch Limuda Rabby Adam Rabby Elechana and Rabby Ioiade whose gloses ye haue as much praysed and estéemed as if God him selfe had ordeyned and Moyses written them Whereof hath risen many errors in your Aliames and many wrong and most vntruthes in the Scriptures which you haue Neither are ye able to denie vnto mée that by the meane of your false interpretations and the erroneous vnderstandings that your predicessors haue committed and done vppon the Bible there hath not risen in your Synagoge those thrée cursed sectes of the Assees Saduces and Pharises the which heretiques caused in your common wealth great scandalles and in your lawe greate doubtes And to the ende you shall vnderstand that I know all your secrets It is not vnknowne vnto you that .40 yeares before the incarnation of Iesus Christ there was in Babylon a Iewe named Ionathan Abemiziell so muche estéemed amongst you and his doctrine so muche reuerenced that your auctors haue sayde that in him was renewed the fayth of Abraham the pacience of Iob the zeale of Helie and the spirite of Esay This Rabby Abemiziell was the firste that translated the Bible out of the Hebrew into the Caldian tongue with suche diligence and fidelitie that hée was thought to bée inspired of the holy Ghost in the doing thereof This good Iewe Abemiziel is the same the which whereas the Psalmist sayeth Dixit Dominus Domino meo he sayde Dixit Dominus verbo meo And in that Psalme whiche sayeth Ego mortifico hée sayde Ego mortificor And where it is sayde Percutiam ego sanabo he sayde Percutiar ego sanabo And where it is sayde Aduersus Dominum aduersus Christū eius he sayde Aduersus Dominum aduersus Messiam eius And where Salomon sayeth Viam viri in adolescentia he sayd Viam viri in adolescentula In suche manner that in his woordes he séemed rather to prophesie than to translate The translation of this Iewe Abemiziel is the same which at this present we call the Caldian translation and the which is moste in vse in the Orientall Churches likewise is vsed of the Armenians the Caldees the Aegiptians and of many Greekes But the doctors of your law perceyuing that many Iewes did conuert Christians and that also conformable vnto his translation they gathered that Christe was the true Messias The whiche when they perceyued they did assemble in the Citie of Babylon in the fourthe yeare of the reygne of the Emperour Traian wherein it was ordeyned and commaundement giuen vnder great penalties that any of that translation should neuer more be vsed but in all places whersoeuer it should be founde without remission to be burned The translation of Abemiziel béeyng condemned by the cōmon consent of the Iewes it came to passe in the sixt yeare of the sayde Emperor Traian a certayne greate and famous heathen Priest borne in the Isle of Pont named Aquile did conuert himselfe to the lawe of Moyses the which conuersion hée did not performe of conscience to saue his soule but to obtaine in mariage an excellent fayre Iewishe woman with whome he was farre inflamed And for that this Aquile was a man very skilfull in the Gréeke and Hebrewe tongues hée founde no better opportunitie more aptly to shewe his spirite than to take in hande the translation of all the holy Scripture out of Hebrewe into Gréeke This same was the first translation that was performed after the incarnation of Iesus Christe in the yeare .104 after his natiuitie The whiche translation among you Iewes was in small estimation bycause it was doone by suche a one as in tymes paste had bene a Heathen or Gentile and of the Christians much lesse estéemed for that it was brought to passe by him that was conuerted a Iewe. Fiftie twoo yeares after the death of the sayde Aquile it is to bée vnderstoode in the eyght yeare of the euyll Emperour Commodus There was another Gréeke translation performed by a Iewe named Theodosius the whiche after became a Christian which remooued and made perfect all the errors of Aquile Thirtie seuen yeares after the death of Theodosius which is to vnderstande in the nynth yeare of the Empire of Seuerus there was another translation performed out of the Hebrewe into Gréeke by a man learned and vertuous named Simachus the whiche was approued well allowed and reseued throughout all the Easte notwithstanding that not long after it was reproued and reiected In those tymes there raygned in the greatest partes
Gospell of Iesus Christ And also most faythfully am fully persuaded that whē Christ in his humanitie did take beginning your ceremoniall law did then take ending And from the present houre that the Lord Iesus Christ sayd vpō the crosse Consummatū est he gaue vs to vnderstande that then was finished the holocaustes sacrifices oblations figures ceremonies and also your royall scepter had then taken ende and pontificall dignitie declined and in short time after vtterly consumed and in the same momēt our church began to spring your synagoge to be buried There is now more than .1500 yeres past that ye haue had neither King to obey sacrifising priest to command temple to pray in sacrifice to offer prophets in whome to giue credite either as muche as a citie wherein to be succoured or repaire vnto in suche wise that to all men it is manifestly seene that your sorowfull synagoge is dead and ended without all hope for euermore to ryse agayne Iesus Christ sayde that your kingdome should be remoued and taken away that your temple should be subuerted and ouerthrowen that ye shold be dispersed throughout the world the Ierusalem should be destroyed that your law should be lost In like maner Iesus Christ sayd that ye should dye obstinate in your sinnes and so cōtinue wandering as vacabunds vntill the ende of the world Notwithstanding that ye remained in bondage seruitude slauery in those two greate captiuities of Aegipt Babylon yet there remained with you some rēnāt of priesthood of prophet of king or of law But after the cōming of Iesus Christ all was lost al was finished al was vanished away nothing remaining vnto you but the name of Iewes the liberty of slaues There is not any nation in this worlde be it neuer so barbarous that hath not some place to retire vnto or some captaine to defend them the Garaments of Asia the Messagetes bordering vppon the Indians and the Negros of Aethiope bearing witnesse except you most miserable Iewes the which in all places and countries be fugitiues and captiues Certaynely moste obstinate and stiffe necked people I do not maruell that I haue so little profited and done so little good amongst you in these fyue monethes in arguing preaching and disputing in so muche that Iesus Christ with his excellent doctrine and maruelous miracles could do no more in .30 yeares hauing no grace to accept the same in better part than to crucifie him for his greate bountie Then sithens the principall cause of your losse doth consist in that yée beléeue not the newe Testament neyther vnderstand the olde which is most true For if soundly and intierly ye had vnderstanding of the sacred scripture with your owne handes ye would set fire vnto the synagogue And for that you haue all in generall and euery one in particular desired mée to say and gyue you to vnderstande what or howe the Christians do conceyue and what our doctors and learned men do teache as touching the right hyghe mysterie of the Trinitie I pray you also honorable Rabbies to be intentiue to that which I shall propose and to haue regard to that which I shal determine for that the mysteries of the Trinitie be of suche depth and profunditie that they ought to be beléeued with the vnderstanding although reason may not shewe and comprehend them Forasmuch as all you Rabbies Iewes whiche be present do well vnderstand the Latine and the Spanishe tongue and I vnderstand your Hebrew the Italian tongs I will endeuoire and vndertake to declare the best that I can this mysterie of the Trinitie partly in Latine and partly in Hebrew partly in Spanishe for the matter is so high that one language is not sufficient to declare the same scilicet singularitatis incommutabilitatis et dignitatis By this I vnderstande that for one personne to bee a Diuine personne it is requisite that he shoulde haue thrée thinges whiche is to vnderstande that it haue in it some singularitie whiche is not founde in any other Incommutabilite whiche vnto it and to no other is communicated And some dignitie which in it and not in any other is to bée founde The personne of Iesus Christ our God by all these reasons here aboue sayde is a person Diuine notwithstanding it bee cladde with humayne fleshe As touching the fyrst which is to haue some priuiledge of singularitie that hath beene founde in the Soule of Iesus Christe the which onely by spetiall grace from the howre it was create it was vnited with the Diuine worde The seconde priuiledge of Iucommutabilite was founde in the Sacred bodye of Iesus Christe the whiche in the Wombe of his gloryous mother lykewise was by the holye Ghoste fourmed Et a verbo Assumptum The thyrde priuiledge whiche is of dignitye is lykewyse founde in the Soule and bodye of Iesus Christe remayning in his humayne nature and not but one person the whiche was and is Diuine You haue farther to vnderstande honourable Rabbis That there are twoo termes the diffinicion of which is verye necessarie to bee knowne vnto them That seeke to vnderstande any thing in the holye Scripture whiche is to saye Actes essentialles and actes personalies The example thereof is written in the fyrste Chapter of Genesis Jn principio Creauit deus Celum et terram c. In this place here this name Deus Accipitur essentialiter Et non personaliter quia creare est actus essentiales et non personalis et conuenit e rinitati in quantum deus Also it is writtē Dominus dixit ad me filius meus es tu in which place this name dominus Accipitur personaliter et nō essentialiter qui de patris persona precise intelligitur et in diuini generare est actus personalis et non essentialis et est notio ipssius patris Likewise ye haue to vnderstande that as in Iesus Christ is one person diuine there is in the same diuine nature humaine nature mistical nature Prima est eterna Secunda est a verbo assumpta Tertia est in Adam corrupta qui licet nō sunt altera spetie ab humanitate Christi tamen est altera secundū conditionē nature sauciate In the scriptures Iesus Christ is introduced sometimes speaking according to diuine eternal nature as when it is sayd Dominus dixit ad me filius meus est tu Sometimes speaking in the humaine nature As when he sayth In capite libri scriptū est deme et illum non est exaltatū cor meū c. And sometimes is brought in speaking according to the nature mistical corrupted So as Longe A salute meaver ba delictorum meorum et illud Delicta labiorum meorum non sunt a te abscondita The which he sayd as of the paine not touching the faulte for as much as the body mistical dyd perpetrate his true verie body dyd paye and suffer Our amitie is so lytle That our
the rest The conditions of a good king Princes ought so to recreate themselues that thereof ryse none offence Princes ought to limite their recreations In the auncient times yron was vsed in coyne It is to be noted that all lawes are reduced from three lawes Seuen maner of auncient lawes Lawes onely for Romane Senators The lawes for warre they vsed in Rome The first that made lawes for warres The procurer of the people was most priuiledged in Rome We receiue liberalitie from the Prince when he commaundeth to serue Note the great vertues of the Philosopher Licurgus Of him that brought vp one dog fat in idlenesse and in the house the other in the field To be good it doth much profite to be well brought vp A notable proclamation daily made A right worthy search Bathes and oyntmēts forbidden The authoritie of old men The disobedient sonne both chastised and disinherited A friend by fraternitie New inuentiō and the inuentors banished An honour vsed to the dead that valiantly died in the warres Gentlemen may commen but not cōtend For what causes a Gentleman may be inflamed with choler Helia is nowe Ierusalē and Byzantio is Constantinople Numantia was named of Numa Pompilius The Numantins in the warres did rather die than flee Rome was enuious of the fortune of Numantia Nine Consulles were slaine at the siege of Numantia The good Captaine ought rather loose his life than make an infamous truce In the warres vice doth more hurt thā the enimies The Numātines did eate the fleshe of the Romains To fight with a desparate man is no small perill The noble minded had rather die free than lyue a slaue The Numantines did kill their wiues and children No Numantine taken prisoner The continuance of the prosperitie of Numantia In the warres it importeth dot to write with an euill pen. More is spent to maynteyne opinion than to defende reason No excuse may excuse the losse of a battayle A iust warre is loste by an vniust captaine An euill lyfe doth come to make repayment in one day The more noble victorie is that which is obtayned by counsel thā by the sword Iron was made to eare fields and not to kill men We ought rather to make tryall by perswasion than by sworde The bloudie Captain doth finishe his days with an euill ende Iulius Cesar pardoned more enimies than he kilde It is more loued that is obteyned by request than by the sworde In tyme of warre it besemeth not a knighte to write from his house Note the right conditions of a right gētleman Is a gentleman a fault is tolerable if it be not vile The good knight hath in possessiō more armour than bookes Iudas Machabeus had rather lose his his lyfe than his fame To cōmaund many wil cost muche Note the wordes of a valiant captain To demaunde how many not where the enimies be is a signe of fear Words wordthy to be engraued on his tombe Of more value is the noble mynded expert captain than a greate armie Who was the valiāt Viriato captain of Spayne Viriato was inuincible in the warres Fewe vices are sufficiente to darken many victories Note what is due betwixte friendes Ingratitude seldom or neuer pardoned The grace that is giuen in preaching is seldome giuen in writing The hearte is more moued hearing the word of God than by reading The old lawe gaue punishment to the euill but no glorie to the good Vntill Christ none proclaymed rest For what cause Christe saide my yoke is sweete and my burden is light The propertie of a faithfull louer Perfect loue endureth all trauell Christ did not commaund vs to doe that whiche he did not first experimēt himself The worlde doth more chastise than pardon but in the house of God more pardoned than chastised In all the lawes of the world vices be permitted Christes lawes excepted The Lawe of christ is sharp vnto the wicked but easie and light to the vertuouse Daughters are to be married before they grow old The Ipineās did write the date of their letters with the superscriptiō With what paper they were wont to write Note the inck of old time Famouse eloquence of the Auctor in a base matter Notable exāples of cōtinēcie in Princes Catiline a tyrant of Rome It ought not to be written that cannot be written The inuētion of the A.B.C. The rentes of great Lords ought to be agreeable to their titles Gamsters at dice play them selues to nothing Postes in old time made great speede Euill newes neuer cōmeth to late The auctor reporteth of his linage of Gueuara To descend of a noble bloud prouoketh to be vertuous The auncient and noble Linages in Rome were much esteemed In Rome they bare no office that descended of traitours The properties of a man born of a good linage A note of the Giants of the old time The differēce betwixt the great and litle men Of a little Frier of the Abbay of Guysando Little thinges giue more offence than profite A sise is obserued in nothing but in sermōs More grauitie is required in writing thā in talking Note the breuitie of ancient writing Twoo Romane Captaines would two manner of warres The warres against Numantia was vmust The nature of warres that is to be holden iust Warres betwixt christiās dependeth of the secretes God. Eight condicions meete to be performed by a captaine generall of the warres The good knight ought to imitate his good predecessors He is not to be intituled a knight that is rich but vertuous In the talke of warres not that I haue heard but that I haue scene is most commendable for a gentleman The armes of a knight are giuen him to fight and not to behold Age and abilitie be mothers of good counsell The generous and noble mind dothe more feare to flie than to abide In soden perils it needeth not to vse lōg and delayed counsels A fort ought to be the sepulchre of the defendant If many be married they are not fewe that be repentant No married man may liue without trauell That man is miserable that is maried vnto a foolish woman Worship is not blemished by answering of a letter A Prince did write vnto a bitmaker A noble Romane did write vnto a plough man. No man is so euill in whom there is not somwhat to be praysed Negligence presumptiō be two things that loseth friends Euill nurture is hurtfull in all estates Where is money there is dispatch God doth many times bring things to passe rather by the weake thā by the strong Amongst .xij. sonnes the yongest was most excellent To lacke friends is perillous And some friends be tedious We ought rather to bewaile the life of the wicked than the death of the iust A man is to be knowne but not to be vnderstood The battell of Rauenna for euermore shall be renoumed Lesse in the warres than many other thing we haue to beleue fortune With great eloquence the aucthor declareth the nature of
which wanne Belgra HuÌ„garia Buda and Rhodes Semiramis Queene of Babylon set this Epitaph vp in the name of hir husbaÌ„d Ninus The Epitaph of Cata MaÌ„lia that was buried liuing The Epitaph of Athaolphus king of the Gothes The deflouring of a maideÌ„ was cause of the ruine of Spaine or rather the heresie of Arius wherewith they were infected was cause of that punishment The deflouring of a maideÌ„ was cause of the ruine of Spayne or rather the heresie of Arius wherewith they were infected was cause of that punishment The Moores being Lordes of all Spaine except Biscay the Mountaines which is Astiria Cantabria diuided it into kingdomes as Cordubia Carthage suche like A necessarie consideration betwixt will and necessitie A harde comfort An accompte to be made not what wee liue but howe we liue A counsell of Horace the Poet. Errors of mans life A superfluous care A sound couÌ„sell A smal boast of Anchises S 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 thi 〈…〉 Th 〈…〉 me 〈…〉 thei 〈…〉 An 〈…〉 eni 〈…〉 ceas 〈…〉 amoÌ„ 〈…〉 A straunge Sepulture A violence without all reason An art most barbarous An vse of the Chibirins most inhumayne The foure notable Sepultures in Rome A commendable manner of drunkennesse An amplification vpon a small cause An exposition of the .25 chapiter of Exodus A necessary maner to expounde the Scriptures A description of the Tabernacle A question An imperfection of all estates A note for the Pope and papistes An example not to be forgotten No smal part of iustificatioÌ„ to confesse our sinnes And yet vnperfect without correctioÌ„ Contempt of amendement yeldeth vtter confusion A chaunge of fashion The vnderstaÌ„ding of the snuffers of most pure and fine golde The snuffers of leade or yron to bee noted Notable qualities of a magistrate A notable example of king Dauid To be incommended to the memory of Princes A note for Iudges An excellent expoâ—â—tion An example to be imbraced For that God pardoneth sinners it is conuenient that sinners do pardon eche other To rowe agaynste the streame and fishe agaynste the winde The notes of Vertue The garmeÌ„ts wherewith a foole is clad An extreme excesse coÌ„mitted of Christ Thirste ceasseth not to coÌ„mit excesse Loue of effect more than of affection Wante of power but not of will is accepted Loue hath his maintenance by good workes Weake causes to obtayne the loue of God. Agaynst the heare of mundaine loue A diuine loue not vsed among men A most soueraine vnremouable loue Christ extended an ardent loue vnto vs before we had being A great cause of hope A loue neuer hard of An euerlasting loue The manner and frute of life in the Court of Spayne The commodities of the Court of Spayne A good rule for a Byshop A matter without remission The Gaditains be those of Caliz A possession and a secret commission to be noted A description of the situation of Carthage A most vnfortunate report of a neighbor A duble fute of a vertuous Lady An answer of a noble vertuous minde A chiefe point of Ladies of chast renowne A spectacle for yong Captaynes Scipio of singular continencie A rendred raunsome giuen to the mariage of an enemie A recompence for curtesie receyued Newes To be obstinate and opiniatiue expresseth enimitie to the troth The wise is knowen by the manner modestie of his talke The Inis dispute with their fists Psalme 63. King Dauid did Prophesie the errours and false interpretation of the Inis The GeÌ„tiles be excused of false interpretation of the scripture The Turks Moores and Sarasins were not acused by the prophesy of King Dauid to be false interpreters The Christians be defended of false interpretation of the Scriptures A manifest proofe that the Prophet only chargeth the Iewes of false interpretation Ieremy 31. A comfort vnto Christians The weale of the Christian is faith Many be saued without reading but not one person without beleeuing Loue is the law of Christians Chapter .49 A report as true as miserable An heauy destenie Nothing left but lies Nothing left but dregs Nothing but lies Nothing but dregges Nothing but lyes The beginning and ending of the Hebrew tong described The Iewes lost both the forme of their life and the maner of their speeche A maruelous desolation How where when and by whom the scriptures were falsifyed Aliama a troup or company A prohibitioÌ„ amongst the Iewes to reade the scriptures The Iewes doctors aleaged A most wicked exchange The apostles accused by the Iewes and defended by Christ A cause of error in the scripture CoÌ„gregatioÌ„s or Common wealthes The three cursed sectes Asees Saduces and Pharises The auctor knoweth the secretes of the Iewes The Iewes began to conuert Christians The Iewes coÌ„demne and dury the traÌ„slation of Abemiziel doubting the conuersion of the Iewes to Christ The firste traslatioÌ„ after the incarnation of Christ The seconde translation The thirde translation The fourth translation allowed in the Christian Churche A fifth traÌ„slatioÌ„ by Origen after Christ One of the great manifest causes of the false beleefe of the Iewes A Cruell suggestion of the Diuell Vanities affirmed by the Iewishe doctors This prophecie of Dauid verified vpon the Iewes This prophecie of Esay verified vpon the Christians Psal. 2. Psal. 30. Psal. 119. Psal. 20. ¶ The Table of the familiar Epistles of Sir Antony of Gueuara AN Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a Sermon at the triumphes vvhen the french king vvas taken fol. 1 An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a Sermon on the daye of kinges vvherein is declared hovv the name of kinges vvas inuented fol. 4. A discourse or conference vvith the Emperour vpon certaine and most auncient stampes in metalles 12 A relation vnto Queene Germana declaring the life and lavves of the philosopher Licurgus 20 A letter vnto Sir Alonso Manrique Archbishop of Ciuile and Sir antony Manrique Duke of Nauara for the iudgemeÌ„t of a matter in coÌ„tentioÌ„ 21 A letter vnto the Constable Sir Ynnigo of velasco vvherin the Author doth persvvade in the taking of Founterabie to make profe first of his vvisdome before he experiment his fortune 38 A letter vnto sir Antony of cuninga Prior of saint Iohn in vvhich is saide that although there be in a Gentleman to be reprehended there ought not to be cause of reproch 41 A letter to the Earle of Miranda vvherin is expounded that text of Christ vvhich saith My yoke is svveete 45 A letter vnto sir Peter Giron vvherin the Author doth toutch the manner of auncient vvriting 53 A letter vnto sir Ynnigo of Velasco Constable of Castile vvherein th' author doth teach the breifnes of vvriting in old time 59 A letter vnto the Marques of Pescara vvherein the Author doth note vvhat a captaine ought to be in the vvarres 66 A letter vnto sir Allonso Albornos vvherein in is touched that it is a poynt of euill manner not to aunsvvere to a letter vvritten vnto him 72 A letter vnto sir