with the sword betwene one that for his pastime is set round with deskes of bookes and an other in perill of life compassed with troupes of enemies For many there are which with great eloquence in blasing dedes done in warres can vse their tongs but few are those that at the brunt haue hartes to aduenture their liues This sely philosopher neuer saw man of warre in the field neuer saw one army of men discomfeited by an other neuer heard the terrible trumpet sound to the horrible cruel slaughter of men neuer saw the treasons of some nor vnderstode the cowardnes of other neuer saw how fewe they be that fight nor how many there are that ronne away Finally I say as it is semely for a philosopher and a learned man to praise the profites of peace euē so it is in his mouth a thing vncomely to prate of the perils of warre If this philosopher hath sene no one thing with his eyes that he hath spoken but onely red them in sondry bokes let him recounte them to such as haue neither sene nor red them For warlike feates are better learned in the bloudy fields of Afrike than in the beautifull scholes of Grece Thou knowest right wel king Antiochus that for the space of 36. yeres I had continuall and daungerous warres aswell in Italy as in Spayne in which fortune did not fauor me as is alwaies her maner to vse those which by great stoutnes manhodde enterprise things high and of much difficultie a witnes wherof thou séest me heare who before my berde began to grow was serued nowe whan it is hore I my selfe begin to serue I sweare vnto the by the God Mars kinge Antiochus that if any man did aske me how he should vse and behaue him selfe in warre I would not answere him one word For they are things that are learned by experiēce of déedes not by prating in words Although princes begin warres by iustice and folow them with wisedome yet the ende standeth vpon fickle fortune and not of force nor policie Diuers other things Hannibal saide vnto Antiochus who so wil sée thē let him reade the Apothemes of Plutarche This example noble prince tēdeth rather to this end to condempne my boldnes not to cōmende my enterprise saying that thaffaires of the cōmon wealth be as vnknowen to me as the daungers of the warres were to Phormio Your maiestie may iustely say vnto me that I being a poore simple man brought vp a great while in a rude countrey do greatly presume to describe howe so puissant a prince as your highnes ought to gouerne him self and his realme For of trueth the more ignoraunt a man is of the troubles and alteracions of the worlde the better he shal be coūted in the sight of God The estate of princes is to haue great traines about them the estate of religious men is to be solitarye for the seruaunt of God ought to be alwayes voyde from vaine thoughtes to be euer accompanied with holy meditations The estate of princes is alwayes vnquiet but the state of the religious is to be enclosed For otherwise he aboue all others may be called an Apostata that hath his body in the sell and his hart in the market place To princes it is necessary to speake common with all men but for the religious it is not decente to be conuersaunt with the world For solitary men if they do as they ought should occupy their hands in trauaile their body in fasting their tonge in prayer their harte in contemplacion The estate of princes for the most part is employed to warre but the state of the religious is to desire procure peace For if the prince would study to passe his boundes and by battaile to shed the bloud of his enemies the religious ought to shede teares pray to God for his sinnes O that it pleased almighty God as I know what my boūden dutie is in my hart so that he would giue me grace to accomplish the same in my dedes Alas whan I ponder with my selfe the waightines of my matter my penne through slothe and negligence is ready to fall out of my hand I half minded to leaue of mine enterprise My intent is to speake against my selfe in this case For albeit men maye know thaffaires of princes by experience yet they shall not know howe to speake nor write thē but by science Those which ought to counsaile princes those which ought to refourme the life of princes that ought to instruct them ought to haue a clere iudgement an vpright minde their words aduisedly considered their doctrine holesom their life without suspiciō For who so wil speake of high things hauing no experēce of them is like vnto a blinde man that woulde leade teach him the way which séeth better thā he him self This is the sentēce of Xenophon the great which saith There is nothing harder in this life than to know a wise mā And the reason which he gaue was this That a wise man cānot be knowen but by an other wise mā we maye gather by this which Xenophon saieth that as one wise man cannot be knowen but by an other wise man so lykewise it is requisite that he should be or haue ben a prince which should write of the life of a prince For he that hath ben a mariner sailled but one yere on the sea shall be able to giue better counsaile and aduise than he that hath dwelled .x. yers in the hauen Xenophō wrote a boke touching the institucion of princes bringeth in Cambises the kyng how he taughte and spake vnto kyng Cirus hys sonne And he wrote an other booke likewise of the arte of cheualrye and brought in kyng Phillip how he oughte to teache his sonne Alexander to fight For the philosophers thought that writting of no auctoritie that was not intituled set forth vnder the name of those princes which had experience of that they wrate O if an aged prince would with his penne if not with worde of mouth declare what misfortunes haue happened sins the first time he began to reigne howe disobedient his subiectes haue ben vnto him what griefe his seruauntes haue wrought against him what vnkindnes his frendes haue shewed him what subtile wiles his enemies haue vsed towardes hym what daunger his person hath escaped what tarres haue ben in his palace what faultes they haue said against him how many times they haue deceiued straungers finally what grefes he hath had by day what sorrowful sighes he hath fetched in the night truly I thinke in my thought I am nothing deceaued that if a prynce wold declare vnto vs his hole lif that he wold particularly shew vs euery thing we wold both wōder at that body which had so much suffered also we wold be offended with that hart that had so greatly dissembled It is a troublesom thing a daungerous thing an insolent
wel of the father whiche is dead as of the children whyche are alyue is that Theodose was vertuous in deede and the children are capable to follow both good and euill and therfore it is requisite that you nowe goe aboute it For the prince whyche is yonge is in greate perill when in hys youth he begynneth not to folowe the steppes of vertue To speake particulerly of Archadius and Honorius I let the know Estilconus that it is a thyng superfluous to talke of it for I should loase my tyme because the thynges of Prynces are very delicate and though we haue lycence to prayse theyr vertues yet we are bounde to dissemble their faultes As a sage father Theodose desire that to giue his childreÌ„ good doctrine always to accoÌ„pany them But I as a frend do counsaile the that thou kepe them froÌ„ euil For in the end al is euil to accompany with the euil forsake the good but the worse euill pursueth vs rather by the presence of the euill than by the absence of the good It may wel be that one beyng alone without the company of the good may yet notwithstandyng be good but for one that is accompanied with euil men to be good of this I greatly doubte For the same day that a man accompanieth him selfe with the vicious the selfe same day he is bound to be subiecte to vice O Estilconus since thou so much desirest to accomplishe the commaundement of thy lord and maister Theodose if thou canst not cause that Archadius and Honorius which are yong princes doe accompany with the good yet at the least withdraw them from the company of the euil For in the courtes of princes vicious men are none other but solicitours in this world to attempte others to be vitious How many what solicitours haue we seene thou and I in Rome the which forgetting the affayres of their Lordes did solicite for them selues vices and pleasurs I will not tell what seruauntes of princes haue bene in times past but what they were what they are euery man may easely see I will tell the only not of those whiche ought to be counsellours of princes but also of those whyche ought not to liue in their courtes For the counsellers and officers of princes ought to be so iust that sheares can not finde what to cut away in their lyues nor that ther neadeth any nedle or thred to amend their fame If thou Estilconus haste hard what I haue sayd marke now what I wyll saye and keape it in memory for peraduenture it may profite the one daye In the courtes of princes proude men ought to haue no familiarity nor enterteinement For it is vnsemely that those which are not gentle in wordes shuld commaund those that haue not their hartes ready to obey should be familier with the prince In the courtes of princes ther ought not to be of counsaile much lesse familiar enuious men for if enuie reigne amongeste Princes and counsailours there shall alwayes be discentions in the coÌ„mon wealth In the courts of princes hasty men ought not to haue familiaritie for oftentimes it chaunceth that the impacieÌ„ce of the counsellers causeth the people to be euill content with their princes In the courtes of princes ther ought not to be familiar nor of counsaile gready nor couetous men for the Princes giue great occasion to the people to be hated because their seruauntes haue alwayes their handes open to receyue bribes In the courtes of princes ther ought not to be familiar fleshelye men for the vice of the fleshe hath in it so litle profite that he that is wholie ouercome ther with is or ought to be to the prince alway suspected In the palace of a king ther ought not to be drunkerdes nor gluttons for wheras the familiers ought principaly to serue their princes with good couÌ„saile in mine opinion a maÌ„ being full surcharged with exces is more like to bealche breake wind after his surfette then able to gyue any profitable counsaile in the common wealth In the palace of princes ought not to be resient nor familiar blasphemers for the man whiche is a seruaunt and openlye dare blaspeme his creator will not spare in secret to speake euyll of hys Lorde In the palace of princes ought not to be of counsail nor familiar the negligent and delicat persons For ther is nothing next vnto the deuine prouidence that healpeth princes more to be puissaunt and mightie then when their seruauÌ„tes are faythful and diligent In the palace of princes defamed men ought not to haue familiaritie for the prince can not excuse him selfe to be thought culpable when they doe rebuke him if in his house he mainteyne seruauntes which openly are defamed In the palace of princes they ought not to suffer Ideotes fooles for the reâ—ames are not loast for that the princes are yong vncircumspect and vitious but for that their counsaylours are simple and malitious Wo wo be to the land where the lord is vitious the subiect sedicious the seruaunte couetous and the counsailour simple and malicious For thaÌ„ the common wealth perisheth when ignoraunce malice reigneth in the Prince and gouernour of the same These wordes passed betwene the noble knight Estilconus and the wise Philosopher Epimundus vpon the bringing vp of those .2 princes Archadius and Honorius And because that princes and prelates might see whiche now haue the charge to gouerne people how muche the auncientes dyd desire to haue sage men aboute them notwithstandynge that I haue spoken I will shewe you here some notable and auncient examples Howe Cresus king of Lydia was a great frende and louer of Sages Of a letter the same Cresus wrote to the Philosopher Anacharsis And of an other letter of the Philosophers answer agayne to the Kyng Chap. xlv IN the yeare of the creation of the worlde 4355. and in the thirde age Sardanapalus being kinge of the Assirians Ozias king of the Hebrues and Elchias being hygh byshop of the holy temple at that time when Rea the mother of Romulus lyued in the second yeare of the first Olimpiade the great and renowmed realme of Lydes had beginning as Plinie in the fyfte booke of the natural history saieth Lidia is in Asia Minor and first was called Meonia and afterwardes was called Lidia and now is called Morea This Realme of Lydes had many worthy cities that is to wete Ephese Colose Aclasomena and Phoreâ— The first kinge of Lydes was Ardisius a man of great courage and a Greeke borne and reygned .36 yeare The second was Aliaces who reygned 14. yers The third was Meleus and he reygned .12 yeares The fourth was Candale and reigned .4 yeares The fifte was Ginginus and reygned .5 yeares The syxte was Cerdus and reygned .6 yeares The .vii. was Sadiates and reygned .15 yeares The .viij. was Aliates he reygned .49 yeares and the .ix. was Cresus and reigned .15 yeares of this kyng Cresus Xenophon
within a yere shee is met in euery place of Rome what auaileth it that for few days shee hydeth her self from her parents and frends and afterwards shee is found the first at the theaters what profiteth it that widows at the first doo morne and go euil attired and afterwards they dispute and coÌ„plain of the beauty of the romayn wiues what forceth it that widows for a certein tyme doo keepe their gates shutt and afterwards their housen are more frequented then others What skilleth it that a man see the widows weep much for their husbands and afterwards they see them laugh more for their pastymes Fynally I say that it lytle auaileth the woman to seeme to suffer much openly for the death of her husband if secretly shee hath an other husband all ready found For the vertuous and honest wydow immediatly as shee seeth an other man alyue shee renueth her sorow for her husband that is dead I will shew thee Lady Lauinia a thing that beefell in Rome to the end thou think not I talk at pleasure In the old time in Rome ther was a noble and woorthy Romayn Lady wife of the noble Marcus Marcellus whose name was Fuluia And it happened so that this woman seeing her husband buryed in the field of Mars for the great greef shee had shee scratched her face shee ruffled her hear shee tore her gown and fell down to the earth in a found by the reason wherof two Senators kept her in their arms to th end shee shoold torment her self no more To whom Gneus Flauius the Censour said Let Fuluia go out of your hands shee will this day doo all the penaunce of wydows Speaking the trueth I know not whether this Romain spake with the Oracle or that hee were a deuine but I am assured that al hee spake came to passe For that this Fuluia was the wyfe of so excellent a Romayn as the good Marcus Marcellus was I woold that so vnlucky a chaunce had not happened vnto her which was that whyles the bones of her husband were a burning shee agreed to bee maried to an other and which was more to one of the Senators that lyfted her vp by the armes shee gaue her hand as a Romayn to a Romayn in token of a faithfull mariage The case was so abhominable that of all men it was dispraised that were present and gaue occasion that they neuer credit wydows afterwards I doo not speak it Lady Lauinia for that I think thou wilt doo so For by the faith of a good man I swere vnto thee that my hart neyther suspecteth it nor yet the auctority of so graue a Romayn dooth demaund it for to thee onely the fault shoold remain and to mee the wonder Hartely I commend vnto thee thy honesty whych to thy self thou oughtest and the care whych beehoueth so woorthy and noble a wydow For if thou art tormented wyth the absence of the dead thou oughtst to comfort thee with the reputacion of the lyuing At this present I will say no more to thee but that thy renowm among the present bee such and that they speak of thee so in absence that to the euill thou geeue the brydell to bee silent and to the good spurres to come and serue thee For the widow of euill renowm ought to bee buried quick Other things to write to thee I haue none Secrete matters are daungerous to trust considering that thy hart is not presently disposed to here news It is reason thou know that I with thy parents and frends haue spoken to the Senat which haue geeuen the office that thy husband had in Constantinople to thy sonne And truely thou oughtst no lesse to reioyce of that whych they haue sayd of thee then for that they haue geeuen him For they say though thy husband had neuer been citizen of Rome yet they ought to haue geeuen more then thys onely for thy honest beehauiour My wyfe Faustine saluteth thee and I will say I neuer saw her weepe for any thing in the world so much as shee hath wept for thy mishap For shee felt thy losse which was very great and my sorow whych was not lytle I send thee .iiii. thousand sexterces in money supposing that thou hast wherewith to occupy them as well for thy necessaries as to discharge thy debts For the complaints demaunds and processes which they minister to the Romayn matrons are greater then are the goods that their husbands doo leue them The gods which haue geeuen rest to thy husband O Claudine geeue also comfort to thee his wyfe Lauinia Marcus of mount Celio wyth his own hand ¶ That Princes and noble men ought to despyse the world for that there is nothing in the world but playn disceit Cap. xxxix PLato Aristotle Pithagoras Empedocles Democrites Selcucus Epicurus Diogenes Thales Methrodorus had among them so great contention to describe the world his beginning and property that in maintaining euery one hys oppinion they made greater warres with their pennes then their enemies haue doon wyth their launces Pithagoras sayd that that which wee call the world is one thyng and that which wee call the vniuersall is an other The philosopher Thales sayd that there was no more but one world and to the contrary Methrodorus the astronomer affirmed there were infinit worlds Diogenes sayd that the world was euerlasting Seleucus sayd that it was not true but that it had an end Aristotle seemed to say that the world was eternall But Plato sayd cleerely that the world hath had beginning and shall also haue endyng Epicurus sayd that it was round as a ball Empidocles sayd that is was not as a bowl but as an egge Chilo the philosopher in the high mount Olimpus disputed that the world was as meÌ„ are that is to weete that hee had an intellectible and sensible soule Socrates in his schoole sayth in his doctrin wrote that after .37 thousand yeres all things shoold returne as they had been beefore That is to weet that hee him self shoold bee born a new shoold bee norished shoold read in Athens And Dennis the tyraÌ„t shoold return to play the tyraÌ„t in Siracuse Iuliê° Cesar to rule Rome Hanniball to conquer Italy and Scipio to make warre against Carthage Alexander to fight against king Darius and so foorth in all others past In such and other vayn questions and speculations the auncient philosophers consumed many yeres They in writing many books haue troubled their spirits consumed long tyme trauayled many countreys and suffred innumerable daungers and in the end they haue set foorth few trueths and many lyes For the least part of that they knew not was much greater then all that which they euer knew When I took my penne in my hand to write the vanity of the world my entention was not to reprooue this materiall world the which of the fower elements is compounded That is to weete of the earth that is cold and dry of the water that is moyst
I am sory they know so much only for that they subtilly disceiue and by vsury abuse their neighbours and kepe that they haue vniustly gotten and dayly getting more inuenting new trades Finally I say if they haue any knowledge it is not to amend their life but rather to encrease their goods If the diuil could slepe as men do he might safely slepe for wheras he waketh to deceiue vs we wake to vndoe our selues wel suppose that al these heretofore I haue sayd is true Let vs now leue aside craft take in hand knowledge The knowledge which we attaine to is smal that whych we shold attaine to so great that al that we know is the least part of that we are ignoraunt Euen as in things natural the elamentes haue their operacions accordyng to the variety of time so moral doctrines as the aged haue succeded and sciences were discouered Truly al fruites come not together but when one faileth another commeth in season I meane that neyther al the Doctours among the Christians nor al the phylosophers among the gentyles were concurrant at one time but after the death of one good ther came another better The chiefe wysedome whych measureth al thyngs by iustyce and disparseth them accordyng to his bounty wyl not that at one time they should be al wyse men and at an other time al simple For it had not ben reason the one should haue had the fruite and the other the leaues The old world that ran in Saturnes dayes otherwyse called the golden world was of a truth muche estemed of them that saw it and greatly commended of them that wrote of it That is to say it was not gilded by the Sages whych did gilde it but because there was no euyl men whych dyd vngild it For as thexperience of the meane estate nobility teacheth vs of one only parson dependeth aswel the fame and renoume as the infamy of a hole house and parentage That age was called golden that is to saye of gold and this our age is called yronne that is to say of yron This dyfference was not for that gold then was found now yron nor for that in this our age ther is want of theym that be sage but because the number of them surmounteth that be at this day malicious I confesse one thing and suppose many wil fauour me in the same Phauorin the philosopher which was maister to Aulus Gellius and his especial frend sayde ofttimes that the phylosophers in old time were holden in reputacion bycause ther were few teachers and many learners We now a daies se the contrary for infinite are they whych presume to be maysters but few are they whych humble theym selues to be scholers A man maye know how litle wise men are estemed at this houre by the greate veneracion that the phylosophers had in the old tyme. What a matter is it to se Homere amongest the Grecians Salomon amongest the Hebrues Lycurgus amongest the Lacedomoniens Phoromeus also amongest the Grekes Ptolomeus amongeste the Egiptians Liui amongeste the Romaynes and Cicero lykewyse amongeste the Latines Appolonius among the Indians and Secundus amongest the Assirians How happy were those philosophers to be as they were in those dayes when the world was so ful of simple personnes and so destitute of sage men that there flocked greate nombers out of dyuers contries and straung nacions not only to here their doctrine but also to se their persons The glorious saint Hierome in the prologue to the bible sayth When Rome was in her prosperitie thenne wrote Titus Liuius his decades yet notwithstaÌ„ding men came to Rome more to speake with Titus Liuius then to se Rome or the high capitol therof Marcus Aurelius writing to his frend Pulio said these words Thou shalt vnderstand my frend I was not chosen Emperour for the noble bloude of my predecessours nor for the fauoure I had amongest them now present for ther were in Rome of greater bloud and riches then I but the Emperour Adrian my maister set his eyes vpon me and the emperour Anthony my father in law chose me for his sonne in law for no other cause but for that they saw me a frend of the sages an enemy of the ignoraunt Happie was Rome to chose so wise an emperoure and no lesse happye was he to attaine to so great an empire Not for that he was heire to his predecessoure but for that he gaue his mynd to study Truly if that age then were happie to enioye hys person no lesse happie shal ours be now at this present to enioy his doctrine Salust sayth they deserued great glory whych did worthy feates and no lesser renowme merited they whych wrote them in high stile What had Alexander the great ben if Quintus Curtius had not writen of him what of Vlisses if Homere hadde not bene borne what had Alcibiades bene if Zenophon had not exalted him what of Cirus if the philosopher Chilo had not put his actes in memory what had bene of Pirrus kinge of the Epirotes if Hermicles cronicles were not what had bene of Scipio the great Affricane if it had not bene for the decades of Tâ—tus Liuius what had ben of Traiane if the renowmed Plutarche had not bene his frend what of Nerua and Anthonius the meke if Phocion the Greke had not made mencion of them how should we haue knowen the stout courage of Cesar and the great prowesse of Pompeius if Lucanus had not writen them what of the twelue Cesars if Suetonius tranquillus hadde not compiled a booke of their lyues and how should we haue knowen the antiquityes of the Hebrues if the vpright Iosephe had not ben who could haue knowen the commyng of the Lombardes into Italy if Paulus Diaconus had not writ it how could we haue knowen the comming in the going out and end of the Gothes in Spayne if the curious Rodericus had not shewed it vnto vs By these things that we haue spoken of before the readers may perceyue what is dew vnto the Historiographers who in my opinion haue left as great memorye of theym for that they wrote with their pennes as the prynces haue done for that they dyd with their swordes I confesse I deserue not to be named amongest the sages neyther for that I haue wryten and translated nor yet for that I haue composed Therfore the sacred and deuyne letters set a side ther is nothing in the world so curiouslye wryten but neadeth correction as I say of the one so wil I say of the other and that is as I wyth my wyl do renounce the glorye which the good for my learning woulde gyue me so in like maner euyl men shal not want that agaynst my wil wil seke to defame it We other writers smally esteme the labour and paynes we haue to wryte although in dede we are not ignoraunt of a thousand enuyous tongues that wyl backbite it Many now a dayes are so euil taught
reproueth him of his small reuerence towardes the temples Chap. xvii The Emperour procedeth in his letter to admonishe Princes to be feareful of their gods and of the sentence whyche the senate gaue vpon this kynge for pullinge downe the churche Chap. xviii How the Gentiles honored those whiche were deuoute in the seruyce of the goddes Chap. xix For fiue causes Princes ought to be better Christians then their subiectes Chap. xx Of the Philosopher Bias and of the .x. Lawes whyche he gaue worthie to be had in mynde Chap xxi How God from the beginning punysshed euill men by his Iustice and specially those Princes that despise his churche and mansion house Chap. xxii The auctour proueth by .xii. examples that Princes are sharpely punyshed when they vsurpe boldlye vpon the churches and violate the temples Chap. xxiii How Valentine the Emperour because he was an euill christian loste in one daye both the Empire and his lief and was burned aliue in a shepecoote Chap. xxiiii Of the Emperour Valentinian Gratian his sonne whiche because they were good Christians were alwayes fortunate and that God geueth victories vnto Princes more throughe teares of them that praye then throughe the weapons of those that fyght Chap. xxv Of the godlye Oration which the Emperour Gratian made to his souldiours before he gaue the battaile Chap. xxvi That the captayne Theodosius which was father of the great Emperour Theodosius died a good Christian of the kynge Hysmarus and the byshop Siluanus and the holye lawes whiche they made and established Chap. xxvii What a goodly thing it is to haue but one prince to rule in the publike weale for theyr is no greater enemye to the comon weale then he whyche procureth many to commaunde therin Chap. xxviii That in a publike weale there is no greater destruction then wher Princes dayly consent to new orders and change old customes Chap. xxix When Tyrauntes begame to reigne and vpon what occasion coÌ„maunding and obeing fyrst began and how the authoritie the Prince hathe is by the ordinaunce of God Chap. xxx Of the golden age in tymes past and worldly myserie at this present Chap. xxxi What the Garamantes sayed vnto king Alexander the great when he went to coÌ„quer India and how that the puritie of lief hath more power then any force of warre Chap. xxxii Of an Oration which one of the sages of Garamantia made vnto king Alexander a goodlye lesson for ambitious menne Chap. xxxiii The sage Garamante continueth hys Oration and amonge other notable matters he maketh mencyon of seuen lawes which they obserued Chap. xxxiiii That Princes ought to consider for what cause they were made Princes and what Thales the Philosopher was and of the questions demaunded him Chap. xxxv What Plutarke the philosopher was the wise words he spake to Traâ—an the emperour how the good Prince is the head of the publyke weale Chap. xxxvi The Prince ought to heare the complayntes of all his subiectes and to knowe them all to recompence theyr seruice Chap. xxxvii Of a solempne feaste the Romaynes celebrated to the God Ianus and of the bountie of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius the same daye Chap. xxxviii Of the Emperours answer to Fuluius the senatour wherin he peynteth enuious men Chap. xxxix Of a letter the emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to hys frend Pulio wherin he declareth the opinions of certayne Philosophers concernynge the felicitie of man Chap. xl That Princes and great Lordes ought not to esteme them selues for beyng fayer and well proportioned of bodye Chap. xli Of a letter whiche Marcus Aurelius wrote to his neuew Epesipus worthie to be noted of all yonge Gentlemen Chap. xlii Howe Princes and noble menne in olde tyme were louers of sages Chap. xliii Howe the Emperour Theodosius prouided wyse menne at the hower of hys deathe for the education of his sonnes Chap. xliiii Cresus kynge of Lidya was a great louer of sages of a letter the same Cresus wrote to the Philosopher Anacarses and of the Philosophers answer agayne to the kyng Chap. xlv Of the wisdome and sentence of Phalaris the Tyraunte and howe he put an Artisan to death for Inuenting newe tormentes Chap. xlvi That sondrye myghtye and puyssant Princes were louers and frendes of the sages Chap. xlvii The ende of the Table of the firste Booke The table of the seconde Booke OF what excellencye mariage is and wher as common people mary of frée wil princes and noble men ought to marye of necessitie Chap. i. Howe by meanes of mariage manye mortall ennemyes haue béene made parfitte frendes Chap. ii Of the sondry lawes the auncients had in contracting matrimony of the maner of celebrating mariage Chap. iii. How princesses great ladyes ought to loue their husbandes and that must be without any maner of witchcraft or sorcerye but onlye procured by wysedome and obedience Chap. iiii The reuenge of a Greciane Ladye on him that had slayne her husbande in hope to haue her to wyfe Chap. v. That pryncesses and greate Ladyes should be obedient to their husbands and that it is a greate shame to the husband to suffer to bee commaunded by his wyfe Chap vi That women especiallye princesses and great ladies shold be very circumspect in goinge abrode out of their houses and that throughe the resort of them that come to their houses they be not ill spoken of Chap. vii Of the commodities and discomodities which folow princesses and great Ladies that goe abroade to visite or abide in the house cap viii That women great with childe namely princesses and great Ladyes ought to bée very circumspect for the danger of the creatures they beare wherein is layed before you manye knowen sorowful mysfortunes hapned to women in that case Cap ix A further rehersal of other inconueniences and vnlucky chaunces happened to women great with child Chap. x. That women great with child chieflye princesses great ladies ought to be gently entreated of their husbands Chap. xi What the Philosopher Pisto was and of the rules he gaue concerning women with child Chap. xii Of thre couÌ„sels which Lucius Seneca gaue vnto a secretary his frende who serued the emperour Nero. And how Marcus Aurelius dsposed al the howers of the day Cap. xiii Of the Importunate sute of the empresse Faustine to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius her husband concerning the key of his closet Chap. xiiii The Emperours aunswere to Faustine touchinge the demaunde of the key of hys closet Chap. xv The Emperour followeth his matter admonishinge men of the plagues great daungers that follow those whych haunt to much the company of women And reciteth also certayne rules for maried men which if they be matched with shrowes and do obserue them maye cause them liue in quyet with their wiues Chap. xvi The Emperour aunswereth more particularly concerning the key of hys closet Chap. xvii That princesses noble women oughte not to bée ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breasts
Chap. xviii The auctour stil perswadeth women to gyue their owne children sucke Chap. xix That princesses and great ladyes ought to be verye circumspecte in chosinge their nurces of seuen properties whyche a good nource should haue Chap. xx The auctor addeth .3 other condicions to a good nource that giueth sucke Chap. xxi Of the disputacion before Alexander the great concernyng the sucking of babes Chap. xxii Of wytchcraftes and sorceries which the nources vsed in old time in geuinge their chyldren sucke Chap xxiii Marcus Aurelius wryteth to his frende Dedalus inueighenge againste witches which cure children by sorceries and charmes Chap. xxiiii How excellent a thing it is for a gentleman to haue an eloquent tongue cap. xxv Of a letter which the Athenians sent to the Lacedemonians Chap. xxvi That nources which giue sucke to the children of prynces ought to be discret and sage women Chap. xxvii That women may be no lesse wyse then men though they be not it is not through default of nature but for want of good bringyng vp Chap. xxviii Of a letter which Pithagoras sent to his sister Theoclea she readinge at that time philosophy in Samothracia Chap. xxix The auctor followeth his purpose perswading princesses and great ladies to endeuour them selues to be wise as the women wer in old time Chap xxx Of the worthynes of the lady Cornelia and of a notable epistle she wrote to her .ii. sonnes Tyberius and Caius which serued in the warres Chap. xxxi Of the educacion and doctrine of children whyles they are yong Chap. xxxii Princes oughte to take héede that their children be not broughte vp in vaine pleasures and delights chap. xxxiii That princes and great lords ought to be careful in sekynge men to brynge vp their children Of x. condicions that good schoole maisters ought to haue Chap. xxxiiii Of the ii sonnes of Marcus Aurelius of the whych the eldest and best beloued dyed And of the maisters he reproued for the other named Comodus Chap. xxxv Howe Marcus Aurelius rebuked fiue of the xiiii maisters he had chosen for the educacion of his sonne Comodus And how he bannished the rest from his pallace for their light behauior at the feast of the god Genius Chap. xxxvi That princes other noble men ought to ouersée the tutours of their children lest they conceale the secrete faultes of their scholers Chap. xxxvii Of the Emperours determinacioÌ„ when he commytted his sonne to the tutoures which he had prouyded for his educacion Chap. xxxviii That tutours of princes and noble mens sonnes ought to be very circumspect that their scholars do not accustome them selues in vyces whyles they are yonge and speciallye to kepe them from foure vyces Chap xxxix Of .ii. other vyces perilous in youthe whych the maysters ought to kepe theym from Chap. xl The ende of the Table of the seconde Booke The table of the third Booke HOw Princes and great Lordes ought to trauaile to administer to all equall Iustice Chap. i. The waye that Princes ought to vse in choosing their Iudges Officers in their contreyes Chap. ii Of an oration which a vilian of Danuby made before the senatours of Rome concernyng the tyrannie and oppressions whyche their offycers vse in his contrey Chap. iii. The villayne argueth againste the Romaynes whyche without cause or reason concquered their contreye and proued manifestely that they throughe offendyng of their gods were vancquished of the Romaines Chap. iiii The villayne concludeth his oration against the Iudges which minister not Iustice and declareth howe preiudicial such wycked men are to the common weale Chap. v. That Princes and noble men should be very circumspect in choosyng Iudges and Offycers for therin consisteth the profyt of the publyke weale Chap. vi Of a letter whych Marcus Aurelius wrot to Antigonus his frende wherein he speaketh agaynste the crueltye of Iudges and Officiers Chap. vii The Emperour Marcus continueth his letter agaynst cruel Iudges and reciteth ii examples the one of a pitiefull kyng of Cipres and the other of a cruell Iudge of Rome and in this Chapter is mencioned the erbe Ilabia growing in Cipres on the mounte Arcladye whych beyng cut droppeth bloud c. Chap. viii Of the wordes whych Nero spake concernynge iustyce and of the instruction whych the Emperoure Augustus gaue to a iudge which he sent into Dacia Cap. ix The Emperour foloweth his purpose agaynst cruel iudges declareth a notable imbassage whych came from Iudea to the Senate of Rome to complayne of the iudges that gouerned that Realme Chap. x. The Emperour concludeth his letter agaynst the cruel iudges declareth what the grand father of king Boco spake in the Senate Chap. xi An exhortacion of the auctor to princes noble men to embrace peace and to eschew the occasions of warre Chapter xii The commodities which come of peace Chap. xiii A letter of Marcus Aurelius to him freÌ„d Cornelius wherin he describeth the discommodities of warre and the vanitie of the triumphe Chap. xiiii The Emperour Marcus Aurelius declareth the order that the Romaynes vsed in setting forth men of warre and of the ouâ—tragious vilanies whyche captaynes and souldiours vse in the warres Chap. 15. Marcus Aurelius lamenteth with teares the follye of the Romaynes for that they made warre wyth Asia And declarethe what great domage commeth vnto the people wher the prince doth begin warres in a straung countrey Chap. xvi That prynces and great lords the more they grow in yeres should be the more discrete and vertuous to refraine from vices Chap. xvij That princes when they are aged shold be temperate in eating sober in drynking modest in apparel aboue al true in their communication Chap. xviii .. Of a letter of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to Claudius and Claudinus wherein he reproueth those that haue many yeres and litle discrecion Chap. xix The emperour foloweth his letter and perswadeth those that are olde to giue no more credit to the world nor to any of hys flatteries Chap. xx The emperour procedith in his letter proueth by good reasons that sith the aged persons wil be serued and honoured of the yong they ought to be more vertuous and honest then the yong Chap. xxi The emperour concludeth his letter sheweth what perilles those old men lyue in which dissolutly like yong children passe their dayes and geueth vnto them holsom counsel for the remedy therof Chap. xxii Princes ought to take hede that they be not noted of Auarice for that the couetous man is both of god man hated Cap xxiii The auctor foloweth his matter wyth great reasons discoÌ„mendeth the vices of couetous men Chap. xxiiii Of a letter whyche the emperour M. Aurelius wrot to his freÌ„d Cincinatus wherin he toucheth those gentlemen which wil take vpon them the trade of marchaundise againste their vocations deuided into 4. chapters Chap xxv The Emperour procedeth his letter declareth what vertues men ought to vse and the vices which
muche as is possible doe our commendacions and these Popingeys Faustine presenteth vnto her Marcus the Romaine Emperour wryteth to thee with his owne hande ¶ Howe the Gentils honoured those whiche were deuout in the seruice of the Gods Cap. xix THE auncient Romayne historiographers agree that at the beginninge there were seuen kynges whiche gouerned Rome for the space of .xxiiii. yeares The seconde whereof was named Pompilius who amongest all the other was moste highly estemed for none other cause but for that he was a great worshipper of the Gods and a sumptuous builder of the temples For the Romaine princes were as much beloued for seruing the gods as they were honoured for vanquishing their enemies This man was of suche sorte that he allowed Rome wholy for the Gods and made a house for him selfe without the citie For it was an auncient lawe in Rome that no man should be so bolde to dwell in any house consecrated for the Gods The fifte kyng of the Romaines was Tarquinius Priscus And as Tarquinius Superbus was vitious and abhorred of the people so was this vertuous and welbeloued of the gods and was greatlye praysed in al his doynges because he feared God and continually visited the temples and not contented with those whiche were finished but buylte also in the highe Capitoll the sacred temple of Iupiter For that no Prince could buylde any house in Rome for hym selfe vnlesse firste he made a temple for the Gods of the common wealth This temple was had in so greate reuerence that as the Romaines honoured Iupiter for the God aboue all other Gods so was that temple estemed aboue al other temples In the warres betwene the Falisques and the Carpenates two Romaine captaines were vanquished of the whiche the one named Gemetius died whereupon rose suche a great feare among them that many flyeng from the warres came backe agayne to Rome For the victorious hath alwayes this priuiledge that thoughe they be fewe yet they are alwayes feared of them that be ouercome This occasion moued the Romaines to chose newe captaines and truly they did lyke wyse men For oftentimes it happeneth by alteringe the captaines of the warres fortune likewyse chaungeth her doinges And the captayne that was elected for the warres was Marcus Furius Camillus who though he were stoute and hardy yet before he went to the warres he offered great sacrifices to the Gods and made a vowe that if he returned to Rome victorious he would buylde a solempne temple For it was the custome in Rome that immediatly when the Romaine captaine would enterpryse to doe any notable thinge he shoulde make a vowe to buylde temples Nowe when Camillus retourned afterwardes victorious he did not onely buylde a temple but also furnished it with all maner of implementes thereunto belongyng whiche he gotte by spoyle and vanquishing his enemies And sithe he was for this reprehendid of some saying that the Romaine captaines shoulde offer their hartes to the Gods and deuide the treasours among the Souldiours he answered these wordes I like a mā did aske the gods but one triumphe and they like gods gaue me many Therfore considering this it is but iust sithe I was briefe in promysinge that I shoulde be large in perfourminge For euen as I did thanke thē for that they gaue me double in respect of that I demaunded so likewise shal thei esteme that which I do giue in respect of that which I promised At that time when the cruel warre was betwixt Rome the citie of Neye the Romains kept it besieged fiue yeres togethers in th end by policy toke it For it chaunseth sondry times in warre that that citie in shorte time by pollycy is won which by great strength a long time hath bene defended Marcus Furius dictatour of Rome at that time captaine commaunded a proclamation to be had through his hoste that incontinently after the citie was taken none should be so hardy as to kyll any of the citezens but those which were found armed Which thing the enemies vnderstanding vnarmed them selues all so escaped And truly this example was worthy of noting For as the captaines ought to shew them selues fierce cruell at the beginning so after the victory had of their enemies they should shewe them selues meke pitifull This dictatour Camillus for an other thing he did was much cōmended aboue the residue That is to wete he did not only not consent to robbe the temples nor dishonour the gods but he him selfe with great reuerence toke the sacred vessels of the temples the gods which wer therin especially the goddesse Iuno brought thē al to Rome For amongest the aunciētes there was a law that the gods of them which were vanquished shoulde not come by lot to the captaines being conquerours Therefore he made in the mount Auentino a sumptuous tēple wherin he placed al the gods togethers with all the other holy reliques which he wan For the greater triumphe the Romains had ouer their enemies so much the better they hādled the gods of the people vanquished Also you ought to know that the Romains after many victories determined to make a crowne of gold very great and ryche and to offer it to the god Apollo But sithe the common treasour was poore because there was but litle siluer lesse gold to make that crown the Romaine matrons defaced their Iewels ouches of gold siluer to make the crown with all For in Rome there neuer wanted money if it were demaunded for the seruice of gods to repaire temples or to redeme captiues The Senate estemed the well willing hartes of these women in such sort that they graunted them thre thinges that is to wete to weare on their heads garlandes of flowers to go in chariottes to the common places to go openly to the feastes of the gods For the aunciēt Romains were so honest that they neuer ware gold on their heads neither went thei at any time to the feastes vncouered A man ought not to maruaile that the Romaines graunted such priuileges vnto the auncient matrones of Rome For they vsed neuer to be obliuious of any benefite receyued but rather gentill with thankes and rewardes to recompence the same An other notable thing chaunsed in Rome which was that the Romains sent two tribunes the which were called Caulius Sergius into the I le of Delphos with great presentes to offer vnto the god Apollo For as Titus Liuius saith Rome yerely sent a present vnto the god Apollo Apollo gaue vnto the Romaines counsaile And as the Tribunes went out of the way they fell into the handes of pirats rouers on the sea which toke them with their treasours and brought them to the citie of Liparie But the citizens vnderstanding that those presentes were cōsecrated to the god Apollo did not onely deliuer them all their treasure againe but also gaue thē much more and guydes therwith to conduicte them safely both going and comming from
knewe howe small a thing it is to be hated of men and howe great a comfort to be beloued of god I sweare that you woulde not speake one worde although it were in ieste vnto men neither woulde you cease night nor day to commende your selues vnto god for god is more mercifull to succour vs then we are diligent to call vppon hym For in conclusion the fauour whiche men can giue you other men can take from you but the fauour that god will giue you no man can resiste it All those that possesse muche should vse the company of them whiche can doe muche and if it be so I let you princes wete that all men can not thynke so muche togethers as god him selfe is able to doe alone For the crie of a LyoÌ„ is more fearefull then the howling of a woulfe I confesse that princes and great lordes maye sometimes gayne and wynnne of them selfes but I aske them whose fauoure they haue neade of to preserue and kepe them we see oftentymes that in a short space many come to great authoritie the whiche neither mans wisedome suffiseth to gouerne nor yet mans force to kepe For the authoritie whiche the Romaines in sixe hundred yeares gayned fighting against the Eothes in the space of three yeares they loste We see dayly by experience that a man for the gouernement of his owne house onely nedeth the councell of his friendes and neighbours and doe princes great lordes thinke by their owne heades onely to rule and gouerne many realmes and dominions ¶ What the Philosopher Byas was of his constancie whan he lost all his goodes and of the ten lawes he gaue worthy to bée had in memorie Cap. xxi AMong all nations and sortes of men whiche auaunt them selues to haue had with them sage men the Gretians were the chiefest whiche had and thought it necessary to haue not onely wyse men to reade in their scholes but also they chose them to be princes in their dominions For as Plato saith those whiche gouerned in those daies were Philosophers or els they sayde and did like Philosophers And Laertius wryteth in his second booke De antiquitatibus Grecorum that the Gretians auaunted them selues muche in this that they haue had of all estates persons moste notable that is to wete seuen women very sage seuen Queenes very honest seuen kings very vertuous seuen Captaines very hardy seuen cities verie notable seuen buildinges very sumptuous seuen Philosophers well learned whiche Philosophers were these that folowe The first was Thales Milesius that inuented the Carde to sayle by The seconde was Solon that gaue the first lawes to the Athenians The thirde was Chilo who was in the Orient for Embassadour of the Athenians The fourth was Pittacus Quintilenus who was not only a philosopher but also Captaine of the Mitelenes The fifth was Cleobolus that descended froÌ„ the auncient linage of Hercules The sixte was Periander that long tyme gouerned the realme of Corinth The seuenth was Bias Prieneus that was prince of the Prieneans Therfore as touching Bias you muste vnderstande that when Romulus reigned at Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was great warres in Grecia betwene the Metinenses and the Prieneans and of these Prieneans Bias the philosopher was prince and Captaine who because he was sage read in the vniuersitie and for that he was hardy was chiefetaine in the warre and because he was wyse he was made a Prince and gouerned the common wealth And of this no man ought to marueile for in those dayes the Philosopher that had knowledge but in one thing was litle estemed in the common wealth After many contentions had betwene the Metâ—nenses and Prienenses a cruell battayle was fought wherof the philosopher Bias was captaine and had the victorie and it was the first battayle that euer anye Philosopher gaue in Greece For the whiche victorie Greece was proude to see that their Philosophers were so aduenturous in warres and hardy of their handes as they were profound in their doctrine and eloquente in their toungues And by chaunce one brought him a nomber of women and maydens to sell or if he listed to vse them otherwyse at his pleasure but this good philosopher did not defile them nor sell them but caused them to be apparailed and safely to be conducted to their own natiue countries And let not this liberalitie that he did be had in litle estimation to deliuer the captiues and not to defloure the virgins For many times it chaunseth that those whiche are ouercome with the weapons of the conquerours are conquered with the delightes of them that are ouercome This deede amongest the Grekes was so highly commended and likewyse of their enemies so praysed that immediatly the Metinenses sent Embassadours to demaunde peace of the Prienenses And they concluded perpetuall peace vpon condition that they shoulde make for Bias an immortall statue sith by his handes and also by his vertues he was the occasion of the peace and ending of the warres betwene them And trulye they had reason for he deserueth more prayse which wynneth the hartes of the enemies in his tentes by good example then he whiche getteth the victorie in the fielde by shedding of bloud The hartes of men are noble and we see daily that oftentyme one shal soner ouercome many by good then many ouercome one by euyll and also they saye that the Emperour Seuerus spake these wordes By goodnes the least slaue in Rome shall leade me tied with a heere whether he wyll but by euill the most puissaunt men in the worlde can not moue me out of Italy For my harte had rather be seruaunt to the good then Lorde to the euill Valerius Maximus declareth that when the citie of Priene was taken by enemies put to sacke the wyfe of Bias was slayne his children taken prysoners his goodes robbed the citie beaten downe and his house set on fire but Bias escaped safe and went to Athens In this pytiful case the good philosopher Bias was no whit the sadder but rather sang as he went by the way and when he perceiued that men marueiled at his mirthe he spake vnto them these wordes Those whiche speake of me for wantinge my citie my wife and my children and losing al that I had truly such know not what fortune meaneth nor vnderstande what philosophie is The losse of children and temporall goodes cannot be called losse if the life be safe and the renowne remaine vndefiled Whether this sentence be true or no let vs profoundly consider if the iust god suffer that this citie should come into the handes of the cruell tyrauntes then this prouision is iuste for there is no thing more conformable vnto iustice then that those whiche receyue not the doctrine of the Sages shoulde suffer the cruelties of the Tyrauntes Also thoughe my ennemies haue kylled my wyfe yet I am sure it was not withoute the determynation of the Gods who after they created her bodye immediately appoynted the
in great felicitie than the poore labourer who liueth in extreme misery And also we see it eftsones by experience that the sodaine lightning tempestes and the terrible thonder forsaketh the small lowe cotages battereth forthwith the great sumptuous buildinges Gods wil determination is that for as much as he hath exalted them aboue al others somuch the more they should acknowledge him for lorde aboue all others For god did neuer create high estates because they should worke wickednes but he placed them in that degree to th end they should therby haue more occasion to do him seruice Euery prince that is not a good Christian a feruente louer of the catholike faith nor will haue any respect to the deuine seruice let him be assured that in this world he shall loase his renowme and in the other he shall hazarde his soule For that all euill Christians are the parishioners of hell ¶ The authour proueth by twelue examples that princes are sharply punished when they vsurpe boldly vpon the churches and violate the tēples Cap. xxiii ¶ Why the children of Aaron were punished IT is now time that we leaue to perswade with wordes reasons and to begin to proue that which we haue said by some excellēt histories notable examples For in th end the hartes of mē are stirred more through some litle examples then with a great multitude of words In the first booke of the Leuitici the .x. chap is declared how in the time of Moyses the sonne in law of Iethro priest that was of Media who was chiefe prince of all the image of Seph with whom the brother of Mary the Iepre had charge of the high priesthod For among al the lawes where god at any time put his handes vnto he prouided always that some had the gouernement of ciuile affaires and others thadministration of the deuine misteries This high priest had then two children whose names were Nadab Abihu which two were yonge beautiful stout sage during their infancy serued their father helped him to do sacrifice For in the old law they suffred that priestes should not onely haue wiues children but also that their children should succede thē in their temples and inherite their benefices There came a great mischaunce for the two childrē being apparailed in whyte their bodies bound with stoels their handes naked in one hand holding a torche in thother the senser being negligent to light the new fyre contrary to that the law had ordeined taking coles which were prohibited a marueilous thing was sene in the sight of the people which was that sodainly these two children fel flat on the earth dead al their sacrifice burned Truly the sentēce was marueilous but it was iust enough For they wel deserued to lose their liues sithen they durst sacrifice the coles of an other This thing semed to be true for those yonge children saued their soules made satisfaction of the fault with their liues but other wicked men god permitteth to liue a short time because they shal loose their soules for euer ¶ The cause why the Azotes were punished THe realme of Palestine being destitute of a kyng at that time an honourable old man gouerned the realme whiche was father to two knightes named Albino and Phinides for at that tyme the children of Israell were not gouerned by kinges that did moleste them by iniuries but by sage men whiche did mainteine theym by iustice It chaunced that the Azotes made warre against the Palestines and were a kynde of the Arabians stoute and warrelyke the whiche fought so couragiously that the Palestines and Hebrues were constrayned to bringe their Arke into the middes of the battaile whiche was a relicke as a man should haue put the holy sacrament to deuide a great multitude of people But fortune shewed her countenaunce vnto them so frowningly that they were not onely ouercome but also were spoyled of the Arke whiche was their chiefe relicke And besides that there were .400 Palestines slayne The Azotes caried awaye the Arke ful of relicks vnto their temple in the citie of Nazote and set it by Dagon their cursed Idol The true God whiche wyll not suffer any to be coequall with him in comparison or in any thing that he representeth caused this Idoll to be shaken throwen downe and broken in pieces no man touching it For our god is of suche power that to execute his iustice he nedeth not worldly helpe God not contented thus though the Idoll was broken in pieces caused those to be punished likewyse whiche worshipped it in suche sorte that all the people of Azote Ascalon Geth Acharon and of Gaza whiche were fiue auncient and renowmed cities were plaged both man and woman inwardly with the disease of the Emerodes so that they could not eate sitting nor ryde by the wayes on horsebacke And to th ende that al men might see that their offences were greauous for the punishment they receiued by the deuine iustice he replenished their houses places gardeins seedes and fieldes full of rattes And as they had erred in honouring the false Idoll and forsaken the true god so he would chastise them with two plagues sending them the Emerodes to torment their bodies and the rattes to destroye their goodes For to him that willingly geueth his soule to the deuill it is but a small matter that god against his wyll depriue him of his goodes This then being thus I would nowe gladly knowe whether of them committed moste offence eyther the Azotes whiche set the Arke in the temple whiche as they thought was the moste holiest or the Christians whiche without the feare of God robbe and pylle the Churche goodes to their owne priuate commoditie in this worlde Truly the lawe of the Azotes differed as muche from the Christians as the offence of the one differeth from the other For the Azotes erred not beleuing that this Arke was the figure of the true God but we beleue it and cōfesse it and without shame committe against it infinite vices By this so rare sodaine a punishement me thinkes that Princes and great Lordes should not onely therfore acknowledge the true god but also reuerence and honour those thinges which to him are dedicated For mans lawes speaking of the reuerence of a Prince doe no lesse condemne him to die that robbeth his house then him whiche violently layeth handes on his persone ¶ The cause why Prince Oza was punished IN the booke whiche the sonne of Helcana wrote that is the seconde booke of the kynges and the sixt Chapter he saieth that the Arke of Israell with his relikes which was Manna the rodde and two stones stode in the house of Aminadab whiche was the next neighbour to the citie of Gibeah the sonne of Esaye who at that tyme was kyng of the Israelites determined to transpose the relickes into his citie and house for it semed to him a great infamy that to a mortall
Prince a house should abounde for his pleasours and to the immortall God there should wante a temple for his relickes The daye therefore appointed when they should carie the relicke of Gibeah to Bethleem there mette thirty thousand Israelites with a great nombre of noble men which came with the king besyds a greater nombre of straungers For in such a case those are no which come of their owne pleasure then those which are commaunded Besides al the people they say that all the nobilitie of the realme was there to thend the relicke should be more honoured his persone better accompanied It chaunced that as the lordes and people wēt singing and the king in persone dauncing the whele of the chariot began to fall and goe out of the waye the whiche prince Oza seing by chaunce set to his hand and his shoulder against it because the Arcke wher the relick was should not fall nor breake yet notwithstanding that sodainly and before thē all he fell downe dead Therfore let this punishmēt be noted for truly it was fearfull and ye ought to thinke that since god for putting his hande to the chariot to holde it vp stroke him with death that a prince shoulde not hope seking the destruction and decaye of the churche that god will prolong his life O princes great lordes and prelates sith Oza with suche diligence loste his life what do ye hope or loke for sith with such negligence ye destroy and suffer the churche to fall Yet once againe I doe retourne to exclaime vpon you O princes and great lordes syth prince Oza deserued such punishement because without reuerence he aduaunced him selfe to staye the Arke which fell what punishement ought ye to haue whiche through malice helpe the churche to fall ¶ Why kyng Balthasar was punished DArius kyng of the Perses and Medes besieged the auncient citie of Babilon in Chaldea wherof Balthasar sonne of Nabuchodonosor the great was kinge and lorde Who was so wicked a childe that his father being dead he caused him to be cut in .300 pieces gaue him to .300 haukes to be eaten because he should not reuiue againe to take the goodes and riches from him which he had left him I knowe not what father is so folishe that letteth his sonne liue in pleasures afterwardes the intrelles of the hauke wherewith the sonne hauked should be the wofull graue of the father which so many men lamented This Balthasar then being so besieged determined one night to make a great feast and banket to the lordes of his realme that came to ayde him and in this he did like a valiaunt and stoute prince to th ende the Perses and Medes might see that he litle estemed their power The noble and high hartes do vse when they are enuironed with many trauayles to seeke occasions to inuent pleasours because to their men they may giue greater courage and to their enemies greater feare He declareth of Pirrus kynge of the Epirotes when he was besieged very streightly in the citie of Tharenta of the Romain captaine Quintus Dentatus that then he spake vnto his captaines in this sort Lordes frendes be ye nothing at al abashed since I neuer here before sawe ye afraide though the Romaines haue compassed our bodies yet we haue besieged their hartes For I let you to wete that I am of such a cōplexion that the streighter they kepe my body the more my hart is at large And further I say though the Romains beate down the walles yet our harts shall remaine inuincible And though there be no wall betwene vs yet we wyll make them knowe that the hartes of Greekes are harder to ouercome then the stones of Tarentine are to be beaten downe But retourninge to king Balthasar The banket then being ended and the greatest parte of the night spent Balthasar the kyng being very well pleased that the banket was made to his cōtentation though he was not the sobrest in drynking wyne commaunded all the cuppes of golde and siluer with the treasour he had to be brought and set on the table because all the bidden gestes shoulde drinke therin King Balthasar did this to that ende the princes and lordes with all his captaines shoulde manfully helpe him to defende the siege and also to shewe that he had muche treasour to pay them for their paynes For to saye the truthe there is nothing that encourageth men of warre more than to see their rewarde before their eies As they were drinking merily at the banket of these cups which Nabuchodonosor had robbed from the temple of Hierusalem sodenly by the power of God and the deserte of his offences there appeared a hand in the wal without a body or arme which with his fingers wrote these wordes Mane Thetel Phares which signifieth O kinge Balthasar god hath sene thy life and findeth that thy malice is nowe accomplished He hath commaunded that thou and thy realme shoulde be wayed and hath found that ther lacketh a great deale of iust weight wherfore he comaundeth that thy life for thine offences be taken from thee and that thy realme bee put into the handes of the Perses and Medes whiche are thine enemies The vision was not frustrate for the same night without any lenger delay the execution of the sentence was put in effect by the enemies The king Balthasar died the realme was lost the treasours were robbed the noble men takē and al the Chaldeans captiues I would nowe knowe sith Balthasar was so extreamely punished only for geuing his concubines and frindes drinke in the sacred cuppes what payne deserueth princes and prelates then which robbe the churches for prophane thinges How wicked so euer Balthasar was yet he neuer chaunged gaue sold nor engaged the treasours of the Sinagoge but wat shall we say speake of prelates whiche without any shame wast chaunge sell and spende the churche goodes I take it to be lesser offence to giue drinke in a chalice as king Balthasar did to one of his concubines then to enter into the churche by symony as many do nowe a daies This tyraunt was ouercome more by folie than by couetousnes but these others are vanquished with foly couetousnes and simony What meaneth this also that for the offence of Nabuchodonosor in Hierusalem his sonne Balthasar shoulde come and be punished For this truly me thinke not consonaunt to reason nor agreable to mans lawe that the father should commit the theft and the sonne should requite it with seuen double To this I can aunswere that the good child is bounde to restore all the good that his father hath lefte him euill gotten For he that enioyeth the thefte deserueth no lesse punishement then he that committeth the theft For in th end both are theues and deserue to be hanged on the galowes of the deuine iustice ¶ Why Kyng Ahab was punished IN the first booke of Malachie that is to wete in the third booke of kinges the .viii. chap. It is
declareth that he was more valiaunte in feates of warre then comely of personage For though he was lame of one foote bleamished of one eye lackyng one eare and of bodye not muche bygger than a dwarfe yet for all thys he was a iuste manne verye constant stoute mercyfull couragious and aboue all he was a great enemy to the ignoraunt and a specyall frende to the sage Of thys Kynge Cresus Seneca speaketh in hys booke of clemencie and sayeth that the sages were so entierly beloued of hym that the greekes whyche hadde the fountaine of eloquence dyd not call hym a louer but entitled hym the loue of sages For neuer no louer dyd so muche to attayne to the loue of hys ladye as he dyd to drawe to hym and to hys countreye sage menne Thys kynge Cresus therefore beyng lorde of many Barbarous nations the whiche loued better to drinke the bloude of the innocent then to learne the science of the wise lyke an excellent Prince determined for the comfort of his person and remedye of his common wealth to searche out the greaetst sages that were in Grece At that tyme flourished the famous and renowmed philosopher Anacharsis who though he was borne brought vp amonges the Scithies yet he was alwaies resident notwithstāding in Athens For the vniuersitie of Athens dyd not despise those that were Barbarians but those that were vitious The king Cresus sent an embassatour in great auctoritie with riches to the Phylosopher Anacharsis to perswade and desire him and with those giftes and presentes to present him to the end it myght please him to come and see his person and to sette an order in his common wealth Cresus not contented to send him giftes which the imbassatour caried but for to let him vnderstande why he dyd so wrote hym a letter with hys owne hand as hereafter foloweth The letter of kyng Cresus to Ancharsis the Philosopher CResus kyng of Lydes wysheth to the Anacharsis great Philosopher which remainest in Athens health to thy person and encrease of vertue Thou shalte see howe well I loue the in that I neuer saw the nor knew the to write vnto the a letter For the thinges whiche with the eyes haue neuer bene sene seldome times with the hart are truly beloued Thou doest esteme litle as truth is these my small giftes and presentes which I send the yet I praye the greatly esteme the will and hart wherwith I doe visite the. For noble hartes receyue more thankefully that whych a man desireth to gyue them then that which they doe giue them in dede I desire to correcte thys my Realme and to see amendement in the common wealth I desire some good order for my person and to take order touchyng the gouernement of my palace I desire to communicate with a sage som thinges of my lyfe and none of these thinges can be done without thy presence For there was neuer any good thyng made but by the meane of wisdom I am lame I am crooked I am balde I am a counterfeyte I am black and also I am broken finally amongest all other men I am a monster But all these imperfections are nothyng to those that remayne that is to wete I am so infortunate that I haue not a Philosopher with me For in the world ther is no greater shame than not to haue a wyse man about him to be conuersaunt withall I count my selfe to be dead though to the symple fooles I seme to be alyue And the cause of my death is because I haue not with me some wyse person For truly he is only aliue amongest the lyuyng who is accompanied wyth the sages I desire the greatly to come and by the immortall gods I coniure the that thou make no excuse and if thou wilt not at my desire do it for that thou art bound For many men oftentimes condescend to do that whych they would not more for vertues sake then to satisfye the demaunde of any other Thou shalt take that which my embassatour shal giue the and beleue that which he shall tell in my behalfe and by this my letter I do promise the that when thou shalt ariue here I wil make the treasourer of my coffers only coūsailour of mine affaires secretary of my coūsail father of my childrē refourmer of my realm maister of my person gouernour of my cōmō wealth finally Anacharsis shal be Cresus because Cresus may be Anacharsis I saye no more but the gods haue the in their custodie to whome I praye that they may hasten thy commynge The imbassatour departed to goe to Athens bearyng with him this letter and many iewels and bagges of gold and by chaunce Anacharsis was reading in thuniuersity at the arriual of the imbassatoure to Athens Who openly said and dyd his message to Anacharsis presenting vnto hym the giftes and the letter Of whiche thinge all those of the vniuersitie marueiled for the barbarous princes were not accustomed to seke philosophers to gouerne their cōmon wealth but to put them to death and take from them their liues After the great philosopher Anacharsis had hard the embassage sene the giftes and receiued the letter without alteryng his countenaunce or elacion of his person impedimente in his tong or desire of the riches immediately before all the philosophers said these wordes which heare after are writen The letter of the Philosopher Anacharsis to the king Cresus ANacharsis the least of the philosophers wisheth to the Cresus most mightye and puissaunt king of Lides the health whiche thou wisshest hym and the increase of vertue which thou sendest him They haue told vs many thinges here in these parties aswel of thy realme as of thy person and there in those parties they say many thinges as wel of our vniuersity as of my selfe For the harte taketh greate pleasour to knowe the condicions and liues of all those in the world It is wel done to desier and procure to know all the liues of the euill to amend our owne It is wel done to procure and knowe the liues of the good for to follow them but what shall we do since now a dayes the euill doe not desire to knowe the liues of the euil but for to couer them and kepe them secrete and do not desier to know the liues of the good for to followe them I let the know king Cresus that the philophers of Greece felte not so muche payne to be vertuous as they felte in defendyng thē from the vicious For if a man once behold vertue immediatly she suffreth to be taken but the euil for any good that a man can doe vnto them neuer suffereth them selues to be vanquished I beleue well that the tirannye of the Realme is not so great as they talke of here neyther oughtest thou lykewyse to beleue that I am so vertuous as they reporte me to be there For in mine opinion those whiche declare newes of straunge countries are as the poore which were their garmentes al to
patched and peced wherof the peces that were sowen on of new are in more quantity of clothe then the olde whyche before they had when they were first made Beware king Cresus and be not as the barbarous princes are which vse good wordes and euill dedes For they go about with faire wordes to couer the infamie of their cruel dedes Meruell not though we philosophers readers in scholes desire not to liue with you Princes gouernours of Realmes For euil Princes for none other intente seke the companye of wyse menne but onelye because they woulde throughe them excuse their faultes For doinge as thou doest of wyll and not of ryghte you will that the vulger people thincke you doe it by the coūsayle of a wyse man I let the vnderstande Kynge Cresus that the Prince which desireth to gouerne his people wel oughte not to be contente to haue one only sage in his palace For it is not mete that the gouernement of many doe consiste in the aduise of one alone Thy imbassadour hath sayde by worde and the selfe same thy letter testifieth that thou arte certified that I am counted for sage throughout all Greece and that this presupposed I woulde come to thee to gouerne thy common wealthe And for the contrary thou doyng thus as thou doest condemnest me to be an Idiote for thou thynkyng that I woulde take thy golde is nothyng els but for to rayle vppon me as a foole The chiefe poynte wherein true philosophie is knowen is when he dispyseth the thinges of the worlde for there neuer agreeth together the lybertie of the soule and the care of goodes in this lyfe O kyng Cresus I let thee vnderstande that he whiche knoweth moste the course of the elemente is not called sage but it is he whiche leaste knoweth the vices of this worlde For the true Philosopher profiteth more by not knowynge the euyll then by learnyng the good I let thee vnderstande I am three score and seuen yeares olde and yet neuer before this tyme there reigned Ire in me but whan thy embassage was presented to me and that I sawe layde at my feete suche treasure and ryches For vppon this deede I gather that either wysedome lacketh in thee or that great couetousnes aboundeth in me I doe sende thee thy golde againe which thou sendest me and thy embassadour shall declare as witnes of syghte how greatly it hath sclaundered all Grece For it was neuer sene nor heard of that in any wyse they shoulde suffer golde to enter into the vniuersitie of Athens For it should not onely be a dishonour to the philosophers of Grece to haue ryches but also it woulde turne them to great infamy to desire them O king Cresus if thou knowest it not it is but reason thou know it that in the scholes of Grece we learne not to commaunde but to obey not to speake but to be silent not to resist but to humble our selues not to get much but to cōtent vs with litle not to reuēge offences but to pardon iniuries not to take from others but to giue oure owne not to be honored but to trauaile to be vertuous finally we learne to despise that which other men loue and to loue that which other men despise which is pouertie Thou thoughtest that I would accept thy golde or els that I would not If thou thoughtest I would haue taken it then thou haddest had reason not to haue receiue me afterwardes into thy palace for it is a great infamy that the couetous man shuld be acceptable to a prince If thou thoughtest that I would none of it thou were not wyse to take the paynes to sende it for princes ought neuer to take vpon them thinges wherein as they thinke the subiectes should lose their honestie in receiuing them See king Cresus and behold that by diligence it litle auaileth to serche for the phisition afterwards to do nothing of that which by him is ordeined I meane that it shall not profite but rather it shabe harme that I come into thy common wealth that afterwardes thou wilt not doe that whiche I shall ordeine therin for great daungers ensue to alter the humors with siropes vnlesse they take afterwardes a purgation to purge away the same For to redresse thy barbarous realme to satisfie thy good desier I am determined to condiscende vnto thy request and to accomplishe thy commaundement vpon condition that thou shalt ensure me of these thinges folowing For the labourer ought not to sowe his sede before the ground be plowed tilled The firste thou shalt forsake the euill custome which ye barbarous kings doe vse that is to wete to heape vp treasures and not to spende them For euery prince whiche is couetous of treasures is scarsely of capacitie to receiue good counsayle The seconde thou shalt not only banishe out of thy place but also out of thy courte all flatterers for the prince that is a frende of flatterers of necessitie must be an enemy of the truthe The thirde thou shalt ende the warres whiche thou at this present doest mainteine against the people of Corinthe for euery prince that loueth forayne warres must nedes hate the peace of his common wealth The fourth thou shalt bannishe from thy house all those Iugglers comediantes and minstrels for the prince which occupieth him selfe to heare vaine and trifling thinges in time of necessitie shall not applie him selfe to those whiche be of weight and importaunce Fiftly thou shalt prouide that all loiterers and vacaboundes be expulsed from thy persone and bannished thy palace for idlenes and negligence are cruell enemies of wysedome Sixtly thou shalt banish from thy court and palace al liers and sedicious men for when liers are suffered in the palace of princes it is a signe that the kyng and the realme falleth into vtter destruction The seuenth thou shalt promise that in al the daies of thy life thou shalt not presse me to receiue any thing of thee for the day that thou shalt corrupt me with giftes it is necessary that I corrupt thee with euill counsailes For ther is no counsel that is good but that whiche procedeth frō the man that is not couetous If on these conditions the king Cresus desireth the philosopher Anacharsis that philosopher Anacharsis desireth the king Cresus if not I had rather be a disciple of sage philosophers then a king of the barbarous people Vale felix rex Sith this letter doth declare it it is nedeles for my penne to write it that is to wete what was the humanitie goodnes of king Cresus to write vnto a poore philosopher howe great the courage of a philosopher was to despise the gold to say as he did in this behalfe Therefore let princes note here that such ought the sages to be they shold chose and let Sages note heare also vppon what conditions they oughte to enter into the pallace of princes For this is suche a bargayne that it seldome tymes
realme but that first he had bene brought vp in the studies of Grece I will not denie that all the renowmed tyrauntes haue not bene nourished in Scicile but also thou shalt not deny me that they were not borne in Grece Therfore see and beholde to whom the fault is from the mother whiche bare them or froÌ„ the nurse which gaue theÌ„ suck I do not say that it shal be but I say that it may wel be that if I were there in Grece I should be a better philosopher than thou if thou were here in Agrigentine thou wouldest be a worser tyraunt thaÌ„ I. I would thou shouldest thinke that thou mightest be better in Grece where thou art and that I might be worse in Agrigentine where I am For thou dost not so muche good as thou mightest doe and I do not so much euil as I may do The conning man Perillus came into these partes and hath made a Bul wherin he hath put a kind of torment the most feare fullest in the world and truly I caused that that which his malyce had inuented should be of none other than of himselfe experimented For there is no iuster law that when any workeman haue inuented engins to make other men dye then to put them to the torments by them inuented to know the experience in them selues I beseche the hartely to come and se me and be thou assured thou shalt make me good For it is a good signe for the sicke when he acknowledgeth his sicknes to the Physitian I saye no more to the but that once againe I returne to solicite the that thou faylest not to come to se me For in the end if I do not profite of the I am sure thou shalt profite by me and if thou winnest I cannot lose ¶ How Philippe kyng of Macedonia Alexander the great the king Ptolomeus the king Antigonus the king Archelaus and Pâ—rrus kynge of the Epirotes were all great louers and frendes of the sages Cap. xlvii IF Quintus Curtius deceiue me not the great Alexander sonne to kyng Philyppe of Macedome dyd not deserue to be called great for that he was accompanied with thousands of men of warre but he wanne the renowne of great for that he had more philosophers on his counsaile then all other princes had This great prince neuer toke vpon him warres but that firste the order of executyng the same shoulde before his presence be examyned of the sages and wise philosophers And truly he had reason For in affaires wher good counsaile haue proceded they may alwayes loke for a good end These Historiographers whych wrote of great Alexander as wel the Grecians as the Latines knowe not whether the fiersnes wherwith he stroke his enemyes was greater or the humanitie wherewith he embraced his counsayle Though the sage philosophers whych accompanied the great Alexander were many in nombre yet notwithstandyng amongest all those Aristotle Anaxarcus and Onosichrates were his most familiars And herein Alexander shewed hymselfe very wise For wise princes ought to take the counsaile of many but they ought to determine and conclude vpon the opinion of few The greate Alexander did not contente himselfe to haue sages with hym neyther to sende onlye to desire those whiche were not his but oftentymes himselfe in personne woulde goo see theym vysite theym and counsayle with theym Saying that the Princes whiche are the seruauntes of sages come to be made maisters and Lordes ouer all In the time of Alexander Magnus Diogenes the philosopher lyued who neither for entreatye nor yet for any promises made would come to see Alexander the great Wherfore the great Alexander went to se him and when he had desired him to go with him and acompany him Diogenes aunswered O Alexander since thou wilte winne honoure in keapinge of menne in thy companye it is not reason that I shoulde loose it to forsake my study For in folowing the I shall not folow my selfe and being thyne I shal cease to be myne Thou arte come to haue the name of the greate ALEXANDER for conqueringe the worlde and I haue attayned to come to renowme of a good Phylosopher in flyeng the world And if thou dost ymagine that thou hast gotten and wonne I thinke that I haue not erred nor lost And since thou wilt be no lesse in aucthoritye then a king do not thinke that I wil lose the estimacion of a philosopher For in the world there is no greater losse vnto a man then when he looseth his proper lybertie When hee had spoken these wordes Alexander said vnto them that were about him with a loude voyce By the immortall gods I sweare and as god Mars rule my handes in battaile if I were not Alexander the greate I would be Diogenes the Philosopher And he sayd further in myne opinion there is no other felycitie vpon the earth then to be Alexander king who commaundeth al or to be Diogenes to commaund Alexander who commaundeth all As king Alexander was more familyar with some philosophers then with others so he estemed some bookes more then others And they say he read oftentimes in the Iliades of Homere which is a booke where the storye of the destruction of Troy is and that when he slept he layde vnder his head vpon a bolster his sword and also his booke When the great king Alexander was borne his father King of Macedonie did two notable things The one was that he sent many and very riche giftes into the I le of Delphos wher the Oracle of Apollo was to the end to present theym with him and to praye him that it would please him to preserue his sonne The other thing that he did was that immediatly he wrote a letter to the greate Philosopher Aristotel wher in he sayd these words ¶ The letter of king Philippe to Aristotle the philosopher PHilippe king of Macedonie wisheth healthe and peace to the Philosopher Aristotel which readeth in the vniuersitie of Grece I let the vnderstand that Olimpias my wife is brought to bedde of a goodly man child wherof both she and I and all Macedonie do reioyce For kinges realmes ought to haue great ioy when there is borne any sonne successour of the naturall prince of the prouince I render thankes vnto the immortall gods haue sent many great giftes to the Temples and it was not so much for that I haue a sonne as for that they haue giuen him vnto me in the time of so great and excellent philosopher I hope that thou wilt bringe him vp and teache him in such sort that by heritage he shal be Lord of my patrimonye of Macedonie and by desert he shal be lorde of all Asia so that they should call him my sonne and the his father Vale foelix iterumque vale Ptolomeus father in lawe who was the viii kinge of the Egiptians did greatly loue the sages as wel of Caldea as of Grece and this thinge was estemed for a great vertue in king Ptolome
For there was asmuch enuy betwene the Philosophers of Greece and the sages of Egipt as betwene the captaines of Rome and the captaines of Carthage This Ptolome was very wise and did desire greatly to be accompained with philosophers and after this he learned the letters of the Latynes Caldes and Hebrues For the which cause though the kinges named Ptolomei were .11 in nombre and all warrelyke men yet they put this for the chiefe and captaine of all not for the battayles which he wanne but for the sentences which he learned This king Ptolomeus had for his famyliar a philosopher called Estilpho Megarense who was so entierlye beloued of this prince that laying aside the gentlenes and benifites which he shewed him he dyd not only eate with the king at his table but oftentimes the king made him drincke of his owne cuppe And as the fauours which princes shew to their seruauntes are but as a watche to proue the malycious it chaunsed that when this king gaue the phylosopher to drincke that whyche remayned in his cuppe an Egiptian knight moued with enuye sayd vnto king Ptolome I thinke Lord how that thou art neuer satisfyed with drinking to leaue that whiche remayneth in the cuppe for the philosopher to drinke after the. To whom the king aunswered Thou sayst wel that the phylosopher Estilpho is neuer fylled with that which I do giue him For that which remayneth in my cuppe doth not profite him so much to drinke as the phylosophye which remayneth in hym should profite the if thou wouldest take it The king Antigonus was one of the moste renowmed seruauntes that kinge Alexander the great euer had who after his death enherited a great part of his empire For how much happie the king Alexander was in his lyfe so much he was vnhappie at the tyme of his death because he had no children whych might enherite his goodes and that he had such seruauntes as spoyled him of his renowme This king Antigonus was an vnthrift and excessiue in all vyces But for all that he loued greatly the Phylosophers which thing remayned vnto him from kinge Alexander whose palace was a scoole of all the good Phylosophers of the world Of this ensample they may se what great profite ensueth of bringing vp of them that be yonge for there is none that euer was so wicked or enclyned vnto euyl but that in longe contynuannce may profyte somewhat in his youth This kyng Antigonus loued ii philosophers greatly the which florished in that tyme that is to wete Amenedius Abio of which ii Abio was wel learned very poore For in that time no phylosopher durst openly read phylosophy if he were worth any thing in temporall goodes As Laertius sayth and as Pulio declareth it better in the booke of the rulers and noble men of the Greekes The scholes of the vniuersytie were so correct that the Phylosopher whych knew most had least goodes so that they did not glorifie of any thing els but to haue pouertye and to know much of philosophy The case was such that the philosopher Abio was sicke and with that sicknes he was so vexed that they might almost see the bones of his weake body The king Antigonus sēt to visite him by his owne sonne by whom he sent hym much money to he helpe him wyth all For he lyued in extreame pouerty as it behoued the professours of Philosophy Abio was sore sicke being aged and croked and though he had made himselfe so leaue with sicknes yet notwithstanding he burned always vpon the weeke of good life I meane that he had no lesse courage to dispise those giftes then the kinge Antigonus had nobles to send them This Philosopher not contented to haue despised these giftes in such sort said vnto the sonne of Antigonus who brought theym Tell king Antigonus that I giue him great thankes for the good enterteinment he gaue me always in my life and for the giftes he sendeth me now at my death For one frende can doo no more to an other thanne to offer him hys parsonne and to departe withe his proper goodes And tell the kynge thy father that I maruayle what he shoulde meane that I nowe beinge foure score yeres of age haue walked al my lyfe time naked in this world should now be laden with vestures money since I must passe so streight a goulfe in the sea to goe out of this world The Egiptians haue a custome to lighten the burden of their camels when they passe the desertes of Arabia which is much better then to ouercharge them I meane that he only passeth without trauayle the daungers of the lyfe which bannisheth from him the thought of temperal goods of this world Thirdly thou shalt say to the king thy father that from henceforth when any man will dye he do not succour nor healpe him with money gold nor riches but with good and ripe counsayle For gold wil make him leaue his lyfe with sorow and good counsail-will moue him to take his death with pacience The fift king of the Macedonians was called Archelaus who they say to be the grandfather of kinge Philip father of the great Alexander This kinge bosteth himselfe to descend from Menelaus king of the Grecians and principall captaine which was at the distruction of Troy This kyng Archelaus was a great frend to the sages and amongest others there was a Poete with him called Euripides who at that tyme had no lesse glory in his kind of Poetrie then Archelaus in his kingdome being kyng of Macedonia For now a days we esteme more the sages for the bookes which they wrote then we do exalt kynges for the realmes which they ruled or the battayles whych they ouercome The familiarity whych Euripides had wyth the kyng Archelaus was so streight and his credite wyth Archelaus was so great that in the Realme of Macedonie nothyng was done but first it was examined by the hands of this phylosopher And as the simple and ignoraunt would not naturally be subiecte to the sage it chaunsed that one nyght Euripides was talkyng a long time wyth the kyng declaring vnto hym the auncient hystoryes and when the poore Poete would depart to go home to his house hys enemyes espyed him and let hungrye dogges fly vpon hym the whych dyd not only teare hym in peces but eate hym euery morsell So that the intraylles of the dogges were the wofull graue of the myserable poete The king Archilaus being certifyed of this woful case immedyatly as sone as they told hym was so chafed that almost he was bereft of hys sences And here at merueile not at al. For gentle hartes do alter greatly when they are aduertysed of any sodayne myshappe As the loue whych the kyng had to Euripides in hys lyfe was much so lykewyse the sorow whych he felte at hys death was very great For he shed many teares from hys eyes he cut the heares of hys head he rounded his beard he chaunged the
And the cause whye I was willing ther should be none in the common wealth was for that ther was not riches in Rome sufficient to acquite the desarts of the Romaine chiualry And if you esteme an honorable office to be a Tribune Millitaire since you cānot al haue it me thinketh you shold al want it For amonge the noble men Plebeians it is not mete that one alone should enioy that which many haue deserued This history Sabellicus declareth allegeth Pulio for his aucthor reciteth that for this good worke that Camillus did in Rome that is to wete to set the great the smal at one he was aswel beloued of that romaines as he was feared of the enemies And not without a iust cause for in my opinyon it is a greater vertue to pacify his owne then to robbe straungers As touching the office of this Tribune wherupon this great cōtencion rose in Rome I cānot tel which was greater the folish rashnes of the knights to procure it or the wisedom of Camillus to abbolish it For to say the truthe the arte of cheualrie was inuented more to defend the common wealth then to byde at home haue the charge of iustice For to the good knight it semeth better to be loden with weapōs to resist enemyes then to be enuyroned with bokes to determyne causes Returning therfore to that whych the people sayd against the souldiors it was ordayned by the consent of al that in Rome an office should be erected and that he which should haue it should haue the charge to go through Rome to se what they were in Rome that did not instruct their children in good doctrine and if perchaunce he found any neighbours child that was euyl taught he chastised and banished the father And truly that punishment was very iust for the father deserueth more punyshment for that he doth therunto consent then the child deserueth more the offences which he doth comit When Rome was Rome that of al the world the common wealth therof was comended they chose for an officer therin the most auncient vertuous Romaine who was called the general vysiter of the childrē of Rome it semeth to be true for somuch as he whych had this office one yere hoped to be consul dictatour or censor the next As it appeareth by Marcus Porcio who desired to be corrector of the childrē afterwards succeded to be censor of the Romaine people For the Romaynes dyd not offer the office of iustice to any man vnlesse he had had experience of al offices Patricius Senensis in the booke of the common wealth saith that before the warres were betwene Carthage Rome the comon wealth of Carthage was very wel gouerned as it be semed such a noble citie but it is an auncient preuiledge of the warre that it kylleth the persones consumeth the goods aboue al engendreth a new passion miserie in the end destroyeth al good aunciente customes The Carthagians therefore had a custome that the chyldren and especially those which were of honest men should be put in the temples from iii. yeres tyl .xii. so from .xii. til xx they learned crafts sciences occupacions and from .xx. vntil .xxv. they instructed them in the feates of warre at the end of xxx yeres they gaue themselues to mariage ▪ For amōgest them it was a law inuiolable that no man shold mary vntil he were xxx yeres of age the women xxv And after that they were maried the moneth folowing they ought to present themselues before the Senate ther to chose what kind of estate they would take vpon them to liue in and what their minds most desired that is to wete if they would serue in the Temples folow the warre or trauayle the seas or get their lyuing by land or follow their occupacion which they had learned And loke what estate or office that day they chose the same they kept occupyed during their lyfe truly the law was very good bycause such chaunge of estates offices in the world are occasion that presently so many come to destruction Al the excellent and auncient Princes had many great philosophers for their masters this seameth to be true by this that kyng Darius had Lichanius the phylosopher for his mayster The greate Alexander had Aristotel the phylosopher for hys master Kinge Artaxerces had Pindarus the phylosopher for his mayster The aduenturous and hardye captayne of the Athenians Palemo had Xenocrates the Phylosopher for his maister Xemiades only kyng of the Corinthians had Chilo the phylosopher for hys mayster and tutour to hys chyldren Epamynundes prince of the Thebaines had for his maister and councelloure Maruchus the Phylosopher Vlisses the Greke as Homere sayth had for his mayster and companyon in hys trauayles Catinus the phylosopher Pirrus whyche was kynge of the Epirotes and greate defendoure of the Tharentines had for hys maister and chronicler Arthemius the phylosopher Of whom Cicero speaketh ad atticum that his sword was sharper to fighte then his penne ready to write The great kyng Ptholomeus Philadelphus was not onely scholer of the most singuler Phylosophers of Grece but also after he was king he sent for 72. phylosophers wych were Hebrues Cirus kyng of the Persians that destroyed the great Babylon had for his mayster Pristicus the Phylosopher Traian the Emperour had Plutarche for hys mayster who dyd not only teach hym in hys youth but also wrote him a booke how he ought to gouerne hym selfe his common wealth By these few examples which I haue expressed and by many other whych I omit Princes at this present may se how carefull princes were in tymes past to geue their chyldren wyse and learned men O prynces and great lordes synce you that are at thys present do presume and take vppon you that whyche your forefathers dyd I would that now you would consyder who brought them to so high estate and who leaueth of them eternal memory For wythout doubt noble men neuer wanne renowme for the pleasures they had in vyces but for the trauailes they had in vertues Againe I say that princes in tymes past were not famous for theyr stoutnes and apt dysposicion of theyr bodyes neyther for discent of hygh and noble lynage nor yet for the possession of many realmes or heaping vp of great treasours but they wanne obtayned immortal renowme for that their fathers in theyr youth put them vnder the tuiciō of wise and learned tutours whych taught them good doctrine when they were of age gaue them good counsaylers to gouerne the common wealth Laertius in the lyfe of the phylosophers Boccase in the boke of the lynage of gods say That among the phylosophers of Athens there was a custome that no straung phylosopher should reade in their scholes before he weare first examyned in natural and moral phylosophy for amonge the Grekes it was an auncyent prouerbe that in the schole
if those hauing no conscience doe not geue it then they blaspheme complayne of those whych are in fauour with princes as yf they had done them greate iniurye O what trouble is it to good men to accomplishe the desyre of the euill For the couetous and ambicious persons doe but desyre that the good men had the lyke payne in geuyng that they haue in demaunding Many tymes I haue thought with my selfe wherin so many damages of the common wealth should consist such disobedience such contrarieties and so many theftes and in the ende I fynde that all or the most part procede in that that they prouyde for ministers of iustice not for conscience sake but for couetousnes onely Admyt that it appertayne to all to desyre and procure iustice yet to none it appertaineth so muche to procure and defend it as to the royall personne whiche the subiectes ought some tyme to feare but princes are bound to minister it equally to all It is a great matter that princes be pure in lyfe and that theire houses be well ordered to the end that their iustice be of credyte and auctoritie For he which of him selfe is vniust geueth no hope that an other at hys handes shoulde haue iustice He whiche cannot gouerne his owne house can euill gouerne the whole common wealth These princes which are true in theire wordes cleane in theire lyues iust in theire woorkes though some tyme they erre in the administratiō of the cōmon welth all excuse them sayeng that they erre not thorough the malyce of them selues but rather thorough the euill counsayle of others So that all which the good prince doth they commende and all the euill that chaunceth they excuse Plutarche in the seconde booke of hys common wealth sayeth that herein some princes differ from others For the euyll prince is onely obeyed but the good prince is obeyed feared and loued And more ouer he that is good maketh heauy thinges light with his goodnes and the tyraunt that is euyll maketh thinges whiche are light to be very heauy through his naughtynes Happy is the Prince whiche is obeyed but muche more happy he which is obeyed feared and loued For the body is weary often tymes to obeye but the harte is neuer constrained to loue Titus the Emperour was once demaūded of these 2. thinges that is to wete whether to rewarde the good or to punish the euill were for a prince more naturall He answered As naturall as bothe the right and left arme is in a man so necessary is reward punyshement in a prince But as we helpe our selues more with the right arme then with the lefte so the prince ought more to endeuour him selfe to rewarde then to punishe For punishemement ought to be by the handes of a straunger but reward ought to be wyth hys owne proper handes When we perswade princes to be iuste and that they doe iustice it is not to be vnderstanded that they should behead murtherers bannishe rebelles and sedicious persones hange theues and burye felons aliue For suche or other lyke thinges rather appertaine to bloudy hangemen then to pitiefull kings All the profite of iustice is in that the prince be honest of person carefull for hys housholde zelous of the common wealth and not large of his conscience For princes ought not to bee commended for murderyng many cruelly but for refourmyng the common wealth louyngly Plutarche in the comfortable oration that he wrote to Appoloni speakynge of the lawes whiche Promotheus gaue to the Egiptians amongest the residue he resited these three that followe We ordeine and commaund that princes laye not handes on others for any crymes or offences done vnto hym selfe For princes ought not to vse their handes to reuenge theire owne iniuries but rather by iustice to defende other that be iniuried We ordeine and commaund that all tymes when they shal be in their common wealth and not in warres they shal not weare weapons defensiue and muche lesse offensiue For good princes neither ought to be hastye to the end they may kill nor yet to haue vyces whereby they may be killed We ordeine cōmaund that the prince do not onely not kill with his hāds but also that he do not see them do iustice with his eyes For howe muche noble and woorthy a thing it is before the presence of a prince that all shoulde receiue honour so sclaunderous a thing it is that anye in his presence should loase their lyues ¶ The way that princes ought to vse in chosing theire iudges and officers in their countreys Cap. ii SParthianus in the lyues that he wrote of .30 tyrauntes saide that Ciriacus the tyraunt had a memoriall made of certeine of the Senatours whome he woulde haue killed and when the thinge was discouered they slewe him They founde in the handes of an other tiraunt named Regilius after he was deade a memoriall of those whiche with his owne handes he had depriued of their lyues wherefore they afterwarde depriued him of his buriall O how many iudges are there in this worlde that do asmuch auaunce them selues of those whom they haue caused to be whipt to be slaine to be beheaded to be hāged quartered slaine as others do which haue redemed many captyues or haue maryed many orphanes Those iudges which according to the order of lawes customes and iurisdiccions doe punishe the euill I doe well allowe but to reioyce and auaunce them selues of them whome they haue condemned I vtterly abhorre For the vertuous and christian iudge ought rather to shed teares in the churches then by affection to shed bloude of men in the seate of iudgement And for the confirmacion of that whiche I haue sayde I affirme that the good iudge and gouernour of the common wealth ought not to beare in mynde the murthers and slaughters done by others but to recorde the iniuries whiche they haue done them selues For in other mens offences we ought to be silent and for our owne iniquities we ought to be penitent Iudges execute some punishementes whiche menne disallowe and god doth approue an other tyme god condemneth thē though the world do allowe them therefore the surest thing for suche iudges is not to reioise of their brethren whom they haue corrected but what they them selues for their owne offences haue deserued In iudging others by false witnes the iudges manye tymes against theire wils doe erre but in theire owne matters they can neuer erre vnlesse they will since the offences whiche we committe are alwaies certaine Therefore it greueth mee that there bee some so euill whiche beinge accused before god woulde excuse them selues before menne yet theire owne brethren with false witnesses they dare condempne Greate care ought princes to haue to examine them whome they will make iudges and gouernoures For the iudge whyche daylye maketh not an accoumpte with his conscience in secrete shall commit euerye houre a thousande euylles in the common wealth O poore and miserable common
fyre If any man thinke it at the leaste I doe not thynk it that when Licaronicus died all the cruell iudges dyd ende with hym For throughe all the Romayne Empire there was no more but one Licaronicus and at thys presente there is aboue .iii. or .iiii. in euerye common wealth Notwithout teares I speake that whiche I will speake whiche is that in those daies as all the iudges that ministred were pitifull so was this Lycaronicus renowmed for cruell But nowe synce all are cruell we hope in a iudge which is pitefull In the .xii. yere of the foundacion of our mother Rome the first king therof was Romulus who sent a commaundement to al the neighbours and inhabitants there aboutes to the end that all banished menne all those whiche were afflicted all those which were persecuted all those whiche were in necessitie shoulde come to Rome for they shoulde bee defended from their enemies and succoured in theire necessities The fame being spred thoroughout Italy of the pitie and clemency whiche Romulus shewed in Rome if the Anualles of the auncientes do not deceiue vs Rome was more peopled with inhabitauntes in .x. yeares then Babilon or Carthage in a hundred O noble harte of Romulus which such thinges inuented blessed be that tong which commaunded that the famouse Rome with clemency and pitie should be founded In the originall bookes whiche were in the high capitoll once I founde dyuers letters written to the sacred senate and romayne people and in the beginning of the letters the wordes saide thus We the king of Parthes in Asya to the fathers conscripte of Rome and to the happye romaine people of Italie and to all those whiche with the Romayne senate are confederate whyche haue the name of Romaynes and the renoume of clemencye health and tranquillitie to your personnes we doe sende you and desyre the same of the gods for our selues Beholde therefore Antigonus what tytles of clemencye had our fyrst Romaines and what example of clemencye dyd the Emperour leaue for them to come so that synce the barbarous straungers called them pitifull it is not to be beleued that to theire subiects or natural countrey menne they were cruell As the auncientes haue trauailed of al to be beloued so they at this present throughe theire cruelties seeke nothing but to be feared If the gods perhaps should reuyue the dead and should compare the lyuinge before them in iudgement I suppose they would say these are not their children but theire enemies not encresers of the common wealth but destroyers of the people I being xxxvii yeres of age laye in winter season in an yle called Chetyn whiche nowe is called Cipres wherin is a lytle mountaine as yet ful of wood whiche is called mounte of Archady where groweth an herbe called Ilabia whiche the auncientes saye that if it be cut it droppeth bloude and the nature of it is that if one rubbe any manne with the bloud therof hoate although he woulde not yet he shal loue him and if they annoynt him with the bloud that is colde he shall hate him Of this herbe we neede not doubte any thinge at all for I dyd proue it and noynted one with that bloud who sooner lost his lyfe then the loue whiche he bare me There was a kynge in that I le of greate example of lyfe and gretlye renowmed of clemencye though indeede neither by writing nor by wordes I coulde neuer knowe his name but that he was buryed vnder .iiii. pillers in a tombe of marble and about the tombe were engraued these greeke and auncient letters where amongest other thynges these wordes were engrauen THe mighty gods whiles they drew out the leÌ„gth Of my weake yeres to passe the flud of lyfe This rule I had my common wealth to strenght To norishe peace and stint vaine blastes of strife ¶ By vertues waye if ought I could obtaine by vyces pathe I neuer sought to get by dredles peace if I could right attaine by clatering armes blynd hasard could not let ¶ By curteis meanes if I could ouercome By raging threates I heaped vp no dread By secrete shiftes if I might guyde my dome by open force I nowlde the payne were spread ¶ By gentle read if I coulde chastice eke by shaâ—pe waies no further proofe I sought In out warde sight I neuer thought to streeke before I had to couerte chekes them brought ¶ My free consent could neuer vainly beare my tong to tell one swete entysinglye Nor yet my hollow eares would euer heare Theire crooked tales that flatter oft awrye ¶ My schooled harte was alwaies taught to staye From egre luste of others heaped good I forst my selfe his proper wealth to way And stand content as fortunes iudgement stood ¶ My frendes decaye I alwaies watche to aidâ— And recked not for bent of enuies bowe In huge expence I neuer lauish paide my glittering golde nor spared yet to lowe ¶ For greeuous fautes I neuer punisht wight with mynde appeasde but erst I would forgiue my griefe did growe when iust reuenge did highâ— And eke I ioyed to pardon men to lyue ¶ A mortall man amongest blynde heapes of men Nature my mother produced me here And therefore loo enclosed in this den The egre wormes my senseles carcas tere ¶ Amongest the wights that vertue did enhaunce A vertuous life I freely passed on And since that death his kingdome did aduauÌ„ce my heauenly spirite to haunt the gods is gone HOw thinkest thow Antigonus what epitaph was this and what prince ought he to be of whome I shoulde saye his lyfe ought to be glorious and his memory eternall I swere vnto the by the law of a good man and as the gods maye prosper me I tooke not so muche pleasure in Pompey with his Hierusalem in Semiramis with her India in kynge Cirus wyth hys Babilon in Caius Cesar wyth hys Gawles in Scippio with his Affrike as I haue in the kynge of Cipres in his graue For more glory hath that king there in that sharpe mountaine being deade then others haue had in proud Rome being alyue ¶ Marcus Aurelius continueth his letter againste cruell iudges Of the woordes whiche themperour Nero spake concerning iustice and of the instruccion themperour Augustus gaue to a iudge which he sent into Dacya Cap. ix NEyther for that which I write in this letter nor yet for that which king Cirus had in his graue my entencion is not to defende the euill to the ende that for theire euyll deedes and outragiousnes they should not be punished For by this meanes it shoulde be worse for me to fauour them then for them to be euill For they through debilitie do offende and I by malyce do erre But in this case it semeth vnto mee and to all others whiche are of good iudgement that since frailtie in men is natural and the punishement whiche they geeue is voluntarye Let iudges therefore in ministring iustice shewe that they do it for the zeale of the
be feared mynystringe extreame iustice Thâ—y tâ—ke vppon them the estates of greate lords they liue of the swet of the poore they supply with malice that which they want in discrecion and that which is worst of all they myngle another mans iustice with their own proper profyte Therfore here more what I wil say vnto thee that these cursed iudges seinge them selues pestred with sundrye affaires and that they want the eares of knoweledge the sailes of vertue and the ankers of experience not knowing howe to remedy such smal euils they inuent others more greater they disturbe the coÌ„mon peace only for to augment their owne particuler profyt And finally they bewayle theire owne domage and are dyspleased withe the prosperity of an other Nothing can be more iust that since they haue fallen into offyces not profitable for them they do suffer though they would not great domages so that the one for taking gifts remaine slaundered and the other forgeuing theÌ„ remayneth vndone Harken yet I wil tell thee more Thou oughtest to knowe that the beginnings of these Iudges are pryde ambition their means enuy and malice and their endinges are death and destruccion For the leaues shall neuer be grene where the rootes are dry Yf my counsel should take place in this case suche Iudges should not be of counsayle with princes neyther yet should theye be defended of the pryuate but as suspecte men theye shoulde not onelye be caste from the common wealthe butte allso theye shoulde suffer death It is a great shame to those which demaund offyces of the Senate but greater is the rashnes and boldenes of the counsailers whyche doe procure them and we may say both to the one and to the other that neither the feare of god dothe withdrawe them nor the power of Princes dothe bridell them nor shame dothe trouble them neyther the common wealthe dothe accuse them and fynallye neyther reason commaundeth them nor the lawe subdueth theÌ„ But harke and I will tell thee more Thou oughtest alwaies to knowe what the fourme and maner is that the Senatours haue to deuide the offices for somtimes they geue them to theire frindes in recompence of theire frindship and other times they geue them to their seruauntes to acquite their seruices and sometime allso they geue them to solicitours to the end theye shall not importune them so that fewe offices remaine for the vertuous the whiche onely for beinge vertuous are prouided O my frinde Antigonus I let you to wete that since Rome dyd kepe her renowme and the common wealth was well gouerned the dylygence whiche the Iudges vsed towardes the Senate to the ende theye mighte geeue them offices the selfe same oughte the Senate to haue to seke vertuous men to commit suche charge into theire handes For the office of iustice oughte to be geuen not to him whiche procurethe it but to him that best deserueth it In the yeare of the foundacion of Rome .6 huÌ„dreth 42. yeares the Romaine people had manye warres throughout al the world To wete Chaius Celius againste those of Thrace Gneus Cardon his brother against the Sardes Iuniê° Scilla against the Cymbres Minutius Rufus against the Daces Scruilius Scipio against the Macedonians and Marius Consull againste Iugurtha kynge of Numidians and amongest all these the warre of the Numidians was the most renowmed and also perylous For if Rome had many armies against Iugurtha to conquere him Iugurtha hadde in Rome good frindes whiche did fauour him King Boco at that time was kinge of Mauritanes who was Iugurthas frinde in the end he was afterwards the occasion that Iugurtha was ouerthrowen that Marius toke him These two kinges Marius the CoÌ„sull brought to Rome triumphed of them leadinge them beefore his triumphaunt chariot their neckes loden with yrons their eies ful of teares The which vnlucky fortune al the Romaines which beheld lamented toke great pytye of the staungers whom they heard The nighte after the triumphe was ended it was decreed in the Senat that Iugurtha should be beheaded leauing king Boco aliue depryued of his countrey And the occasion therof was thys The Romaines had a custome of longe time to put no man to execucion beefore that first with great dyligence they had looked the auncient bookes to se if any of their predecessoures had done any notable seruice to Rome whereby the poore prisoner might deserue his pardon It was founde written in a booke which was in the highe Capitoll that the graundefather of kynge Boco was very sage and a special friende to the Romayne people and that once hee came to Rome and made dyuers Orations to the Senat and amongst other notable sentences there was found in that booke that he had spoken these wordes Woe be to the that realme where all are such that neither the good amongest the euill nor the euill amongest the good are knowen Woe vppon that realme which is the enterteiner of al fooles and a destroier of all sages Woe is that realme where the good are fearefull and the euill to bolde Woe on that realme where the pacient are despysed and the sedicious commended Woe on that realme whiche distroie the those that watche for the good and crowne the those that watche to doe euill Woe to that realme where the poore are suffered to be proude and the riche tiraunts Woe to that realme where all knowe the euil and no man doth follow the good Woe to that realme what so manye euil vices are openly committed withe in an other countrey dare not secretly be mencioned Woe to that realme where all procure that they desire where all attaine to that theye procure where all thinke the that is euill where all speake that they thinke finally where al may doe that which they will In such and so vnfortunate a realme where the people are so wicked let euery man beware he bee not inhabitaunt For in shorte time they shal se vpon him eyther the yre of the gods the fury of the men the depopulation of the good or the desolation of the tyrauntes Diuers other notable things were conteyned in those oracions the which are not at this present touching my letter But for asmuch as we thought it was a verye iuste thing that they should pardon the follye of the nephewe for the desertes of the wise grandfather Thou shalt reade this my letter openlye to the Pretours Iudges which are resydente there and the case shal be that when thou shalte reade it thou shalt admonishe them that if they will not amende secretlye we will punishe them openlye I wrote vnto thee the last daye that as touchynge thy banyshement I woulde be thy frinde and be thou assured that for to enioye thy olde friendeshyppe and to perfourme mye woorde I wyll not let to daunger mye parsone I wrytte vnto Panutius my secretary to succoure thee with two thousande Sesterses wherewith thou mayest relieue thy pouertye and from hence I sende thee
not geeuen thee nor neuer will geeue thee For the goddes are so iuste in deuydynge theire giftes that to them to whom theye geue contentacion theye take from them ryches and to those whom theye geeue riches they take their contentacion Plutarche in the fyrste of hys pollytike puttethe this example and he declareth not the name of thys phylosopher O howe greate a benefyte is that whiche the goddes geeue to prynces and greate lordes in geeuinge them theire healthe in geeuynge them ryches and in geuinge them honour but if besides those hee geueth them not contentacion I saye that in geeuynge them the goodes hee geuethe them trauaile and daunger For if the trauaile of the poore bee greater thenne the trauayle of the riche wytheoute comparison the discontentacion of the ryche is greater then the discontentacion of the poore Menne lytle regardynge theire healthe beecome sicke lytle esteeminge theire riches beecome poore and beecause theye knowe not what honoure is theye become dishonoured I meane that the rashe prynces vntill suche time as theye haue benne well beaten in the warres will alwayes lytle regarde peace The daye that yowe prynces proclayme warres agaynste youre enemies you set at lybertye all vyces to your subiectes Yet yowe saye youre meanynge is not theye shoulde bee euyll I saye it is true Yet all thys ioyned togethers ye geeue them occasion that theye bee not good Let vs knowe what thynge warre is and then we shall see whyther it bee good or euill to followe it In warres theye doe noughte els but kyll menne robbe the temples spoyle the people destroye the innocentes geeue lybertie to theeues seperate friendes and rayse stryfe all the whiche thynges cannot bee done wytheoute greate hurte of iustyce and scrupulosytie of conscyence The sedycious manne hym selfe canne not denaye vs that if twoe Prynces take vppon them warres beetweene them and that bothe of them seeme to haue ryghte yet the one of them onelye hathe reason So that the prynce whyche shall fyghte agaynste iustice or defende the vniuste cause shall not escape oute of that warre iustifyed Not issuynge oute iustifyed hee shall remayne condempned and the condemnation shall be that all the losses murders burnynges hangynges and robberies whiche were done in the one or other common wealthe shall remayne vppon the account of hym whyche tooke vppon hym the vniuste warre Allthoughe hee dothe not fynde an other prynce that will demaunde an accoumpte of hym heare in thys lyfe yet hee shall haue a iuste iudge that will in another place laye it to hys charge The prince whiche is vertuous and presumethe to be a christian beefore hee beeginne the warre oughte to considre what losse or profyte will ensue thereof Wherein if the ende bee not prosperous hee loseth his goodes and honoure and if hee perchaunce attaine to that he desyred peraduenture his desire was to the domage of the common wealthe and then hee oughte not to desire it For the desire of one should not hurte the profite of all When GOD oure lorde dyd create prynces for prynces and people accepted them for their lordes it is to beleue that the goddes neuer commaunded suche things nor the men would euer haue excepted such if they had thought the princes would not haue done that they were boūd but rather that whereunto they were enclined For if men follow that whereunto theire sensualitie enclinethe them they do alwaies erre Therefore if they suffer them selues to bee gouerned by reason they are always sure And besides that princes should not take vppon them warres for the burdening of theire conscience the mispendinge of their goodes and the losse of their honour they ought also to remember the dutie that they owe to the common wealth the which they are bounde to kepe in peace and iustice For we others nede not gouernours to search vs enemies but princes which may defend vs from the wicked The diuine Plato in his .4 booke de legibus sayeth that one demaunded him why he did exalt the Lidians so much and so muche dispraise the Lacedemonians Plato aunswered If I cōmend the Lidians it is for that they neuer were occupied but in tilling the field and if I do reproue here the Lacedemonians it is because theye neuer knewe nothinge els but to conquere realmes And therefore I saye that more happie is that realme where men haue their handes with labouring full of blysters then where theire armes in fightinge are wounded withe sweordes These wordes whiche Plato spake are verye true and woulde to god that in the gates and hartes of princes they were written Plinius in an epistle sayethe that it was a prouerbe muche vsed amongest the Grekes that he was kyng whiche neuer sawe kynge The lyke maye we saye that he onelye maye enioye peace whiche neuer knewe what warre meant For simple innocent though a man be there is none but will iudge him more happye whiche occupyeth his handekerchiefe to drye the sweate of his browes then he that breakethe it to wipe the bloude of his heade The princes and greate lordes which are louers of warre ought to consider that they do not onelye hurte in generall all men but also specially the good and the reason is that allthoughe they of their own willes do abstaine from battaile doe not spoile do not rebell nor sleye yet it is necessarie for them to endure the iniuries and to suffer theire owne losse and damages For none are meete for the warre but those whiche litle esteeme theire life and muche lesse theire consciences If the warre weare onely with the euill againste the euill and to the hurte and hinderaunce of the euill litle shoulde theye fele whiche presume to be good But I am sory the good are persecuted the good are robbed and the good are slaine For if it were otherwyse as I haue sayde the euill againste the euill we would take litle thought both for the vanquishinge of the one and muche lesse for the destruccion of the other I aske nowe what fame what honoure what glorye what victorie or what riches in that warre can be wonne wherein so manye good vertuous wyse men are loste There is suche penurye of the good in the worlde and such nede of them in the common wealthe that if it weare in oure power wee wythe oure teares oughte to plucke them oute of theire graues and geeue them lyfe and not to leade them into the warres as to a shambles to be put toe deathe Plinie in one epistle and Seneca in an other saye that when theye desyred a Romayne captain that with his army he should enter into a greate daunger whereof greate honoure shoulde ensue vnto hym and lytle profyte to the cōmon wealthe He aunswered For nothynge woulde I enter into that daunger if it were not to geue life to a romayn citizē For I desire rather to go enuironed with the good in Rome then to go loden with treasures into my coūtreye Comparinge prince to prince and lawe
like losse to that where a man loseth hym whom entierlye he loueth and of whom also he is derelye beloued The fatal destenies oughte to content them selues to haue annoyed mye house with so manye mysfortunes But after all this and aboue all this theye haue lefte me a wicked nephewe whiche shall bee myne heire and theye haue lefte vnto mee that all mye life I shall lament O Cato for that thou owest to the common wealthe I doe desire thee and by the immortall goddes I doe coniure thee that since thou arte a vertuous Romaine and censor of the people that thou prouyde for one of these two thinges that is to wete that this mye Nephewe doe serue mee or els ordeine that I dye forthewith For it is a greate crueltye that those doe pursue me whiche are aliue since it is nowe 40. yeares that I ceased not to bewaile the deade Cato beinge well enfourmed of that the olde man had tolde him and since he founde al that true whiche he spake he called vnto his presence the yonge Nephew and sayde vnto him these wordes If thou were suche a childe as thou oughtest to bee thou shouldest excuse mee of payne and thy selfe of trauaile But since it is not so I praye thee take that pacientlye that I shall commaunde thee and be thou assured that I will not commaund thee any thing that shal bee againste iustice For the vicious yonglinges as thou art ought to be more ashamed of the youthefullnes theye haue commytted then for the punishement whiche is geeuen vnto them Firste I commaunde thow bee whipte beecause thou arte dysobedyent and troublesome to thy graundefather Secondlye I commaunde that thou bee banished the limittes of Rome because thou arte a vicious yonge man Thyrdly I commaund that of all the goodes thou hast enherited thou shalt be disenherited because thou doest not obey thy graundfather And the cause why I geue suche seuere sentence is to the end that from heÌ„sforthe the yong shal not disobey the aged and also that those which haue enheryted great treasours shall not think that men shall permit them to bee more vicious then others Phalaris the tiraunt wryting to a frend of his which was very aged said these wordes the which rather semed spoken of a Philosopher then of a tirant I haue meruailed at thee am offeÌ„ded with the my friend Vetto to know as I do that in yeares thou arte verye aged and in workes verye yonge and also it greeueth mee that thou hast lost the credite of knoweledge in the schooles It greeueth mee more that through thee the priuilege shoold be lost which the old men haue accustomed to haue in Grece that is to wete that all the theeues all the periured and all the murderers were more sure when by white heares theye semed to be olde when they reteyred to the aulters of the temples O what goodnesse O what wisedome what valyauntnes and what innocencye oughte the aged men to haue in the auncient tyme since in Rome theye honoured them as goddes and in Grece theye priuileged those white heares as the temples Plinie in an epistle hee wrote to Fabatus sayeth that Pirrus king of the Epirotes demaunded a philosopher which was the best cytye of the worlde who aunswered The best cytye of the worlde is Molerda a place of three hundreth fyers in Achaia beecause all the walles are of blacke stones and all those whiche gouerne it haue hoarye heades And further hee sayde Woe bee vnto thee Rome Woe bee vnto thee Carthage woe bee vnto thee Numancia woe bee vnto thee Egypte and woe bee vnto thee Athens fyue cytyes whiche count them selues for the beste of the worlde whereof I am of a contrarye oppynion For theye auaunte them selues to haue whyte walles and are not ashamed to haue yonge Senatoures Thys phylosopher sayde verye well and I thynke noe manne wyll saye lesse then I haue sayde Of thys woorde Senex is deryued the name of a Senatoure for so were the gouernoures of Rome named because the fyrste Kynge that was Romulus chosé a hundred aged men to gouerne the common wealth and commaunded that all the other Romayne youthe shoold employe them selues to the warres Since wee haue spoken of the honour whyche in the olde tyme was geeuen to the auncient men it is reason wee knowe now from what yeare they counted men aged to the ende they shoolde bee honoured as aged men For the makers of lawes when they hadde established the honours whych ought to bee done to the aged dydde aswell ordeyne from what daye and yeare theye shoolde beeginne Dyuers auncyent Philosophers dyd put syx ages from the tyme of the byrthe of man till the houre of deathe That is to wete chyldehood which lasteth till seuen yeares Infancy whiche endureth vntill seuentene yeares Youth which continueth till thirty yeares Mannes estate which remayneth till fyftye and fyue yeares Age whyche endureth till three score and eyghtene yeares Croked age which remaineth till death And so after man had passed fiue and fyftye yeares they called hym aged Aulus Gelius in his tenth booke in the xxvii Chapter saieth that Tullius Hostillius who was kynge of the Romaines determined to count all the old and yonge whiche were amongest the people and also to know whych shoold bee called infaunts whych yong and whych olde And there was noe lytle dyfference amongest the Romayne Phylosophers and in the end it was decreed by the kyng and the Senate that men tyll seuenteene yeares shoold bee called infaunts and tyll syx and forty shoold bee called yong and from syx and forty vpwardes they shoold bee called olde If wee wyl obserue the lawe of the Romaynes wee know from what tyme wee are bound to call and honor the aged men But addyng hereunto it is reason that the olde men know to what prowesses and vertues they are bound to the ende that wyth reason and not wyth faynyng they bee serued For speakyng the trueth yf wee compare duty to duty they old men are more bound to vertue then the yong to seruice Wee can not denay but that all states of natyons great small yong and olde are bound to bee vertuous but in this case the one is more to bee blamed then the other For oftentimes if the yong do offend it is for that hee wanteth experience but if the olde man offend it is for the abundaunce of mallice Seneca in an Epystle sayde these woordes I let thee weete my friend Lucillus that I am very much offended and I do complayne not of any friend or foe but of my selfe and â—â—â—â—e other And the reason why I thynk thus is that I see my selfe olde in yeares and yong in vices so that lytle is that wherein I haue serued the gods much lesse is that I haue profyted meÌ„ And Seneca saith further he whiche praysethe hym selfe moste to be aged and that woulde be honoured for beinge aged oughte to be temperate in eatinge honest in apparayle
great age and grauitie such request can not bee called loue but grief not pastime but losse of time not mockry but villany for of loue in iest ensueth infamy in deede I ask you Claude and Claudine what a thing is it to see an old man to bee in loue Trulye it is no other but as a garland before the tauern dores wher al men think that ther is wine and they sel nought els but vineger They are egges white without and rotten within they are golden pilles the tast wherof are very bitter and as ēpty boxes in shops which haue new writings on them or as a new gate and with in the house is full of filth and cobwebs finally the old louer is a knight of Exchetes which helpeth to lose mony and can deliuer no man from peril Let this woord bee noted and alwayes in your memory committed that the old man which is vitious is but as a leeke which hath the head white the tayle green Mee thinketh that you ought to break the wings of time since that you haue feathers to flye withal Deceiue not your self nor your frends and neighbours saying that ther is time for all For the amendment is in your hands but time is in the hands of god to dispose Let vs come now to remedy this great domage do what you can by the day of youth and deferr it not vntil the night of age for ill cutteth the knife when the edge therof is dulled and ill can hee knaw the bones which is accustomed to eat the flesh I tel you and aduertise you that when the old and rotten houses beeginneth to fall vnder set not them with rotten wood but with hard timber I mean with the vpright thoughts of accompts which wee ought to geue to the gods of our life and to mē of our renoume Forthe I say that if the vine bee gathered of our vertues we ought to graffe againe the amendment and if the shreds of our gatherings bee drye and withered through our peruers woorks wee ought to set them agayn with new mould and good desires The gods are so gentle to serue and so good to content that if for all the seruices wee ow them and for the gifts which they geeue vs wee can not pay them in good woorks they demaund nomore in payment but good willes Finally I say that if thou Claude and Claudine haue offred the meale of youth to the world offer now the blood of age to the gods I haue written longer then I had thought to do Salute all my neyghbours specially Drusio the patrician and noble Romayne widdow I remember that Gobrine your niece did me a pleasure the day of the feast of the mother Berecinthia wherfore I sēd 2. thou sand Sesterces one thousand to help to mary her and the other thousand to help to reliue your pouerty My wife Faustine is sick and I send you another .1000 Sesterces to geeue to the vestal virgines to pray to the gods for her My wife sendeth to thee Claudine a cofer by the immortal gods I swear vnto thee I can not tel what is in it I beeseech the godds sithens you are aged to giue you a good death and to mee Faustine they suffer vs to lead a good life Marcus of mount Celio with his owne hand writeth this ¶ Princes ought to take heede that they be not noted of auarice for that the coueious man is both of god and man hated Cap. xxiii THe great Alexander king of Macedony and Darius the vnfortunat king of the Persyes were not onely contrary in warres and conquests which they made but also in the conditions and inclinations which they had For Alexander naturally loued to geeue and spēd and Darius to the contrary to heape lock keepe When the fame of Alexander was spred abrode through out all the world to bee a prince of honor and not couetous his owne loued him entierly and straungers desyred to serue him faithfully The miserable kyng Darius as hee was noted of great auarice and of small liberality so his did disobey him and straungers hated him Whereof may bee gathered that princes and great lords by geeuing do make them selues rich in keeping they make theym selues poore Plutarche in his apothegmes declareth that after king Darius was dead Alexander had triumphed ouer al the oriental parts a man of Thebes beinge in the market place of Athenes setting foorth the fortune of Alexander for the sundry countreys which hee had conquered and describing the euel fortune of Darius for the great nomber of men which hee had lost a philosopher with a loude voice sayd O man of Thebes thou art greatly deceiued to think that one prince loseth many seignories and that the other Prince winneth many realmes For Alexander the great wanne nought but stones and couerings of cities for with his liberality he had alredie gotten the good willes of the cite sins And to the contrary the vnfortunat Darius did not lose but stones and the couertures of cities for with his couetousnes and auarice he had now lost al the hartes of those of Asia And farther this philosopher sayd vnto him that princes which wil enlarge their estates and amplify their realmes in their conquests ought first to winne the harts to bee noble and liberal and afterwards to send their armies to conquer the forts and walls for otherwise litel auayleth it to winne the stones if the hartes do rebell Wherby a man may gather that that which Alexander wan hee wan by liberalitye and stoutnes and that which king Darius lost he lost for beeinge miserable and couetous And let vs not meruail hereat for the princes great lordes which are ouercome with auarice I doubt whither they euer shal see theym selues cōquerors of many realmes The vice of auarice is so detestable so euel so odious so perilous that if a mā shoold ēploy hī self to write al the discōmodites therūto belongīg my penne should do nought elles then to presume to dry vp all the water in the sea For the stomake where auarice entreth causeth a man to serue vices worshippe Idolles If a vertuous man woulde prepare him selfe to think on the great trauaile and litell reste that this cursed vice beareth with him I thinke that none would be vicious therin Though the couetous man had no other trauaile but alwayes to go to bed wyth daunger and to rise vp with care Me thinketh it is a trouble sufficient for such one when he goeth to bed thinketh that he should be killed in his bed or that sleping his cofers should be rifled and from that time he riseth he is alwayes tormented with feare to lose that which he hath wonne and careful to augmēt that litel in to much The deuine Plato in the first boke of his common welth said these wordes the men be made riche because they neuer learned to bee riche for he which continually and truelye will become riche
vnderstandyng And if in this case I may bee beeleeued they ought to bee well noted of wyse men not written beefore the gates but imprinted within the harts Better knew hee fortune then thow since hee tooke him self for one disherited and not as heire and when hee lost any thing as thow hee knew that hee receiued it by loan and not that it was his own Men in this lyfe are not so much deceiued for any thing as to thynk that the temperall goods shoold remayn with them duryng lyfe Now that god dooth suffer it now that our wofull fortune dooth deserue it I see no greater myshaps fall vnto any then vnto them which haue the greatest estates and ryches so that truly wee may boldly say that hee alone which is shut in the graue is in safegard from the vnconstancy of fortune Thy messenger hath told mee further that this sommer thow preparedst thy self to Rome now that it is winter thou wylt sayl to Alexandria O thou vnhappy Mercury tell mee I pray thee how long it is sythens thow lost thy sensis forasmuch as when this lyfe dooth end thy auaryce beeginneth a new Thou foundest two cyties very meete for thy traffyck that is to weete Rome which is the scourge of all vertues and Alexandria which is the chiefest of all vyces And if thow louest greatly these two cyties here I pray thee what marchaundise are solde therein In Rome thow shalt lode thy body with vyces and in Alexandria thow shalt swell thy hart with cares By the fayth of a good man I sweare vnto thee that if perchance thou buyest any thing of that that is there or sellest ought of that thou bringest from thence thou shalt haue greater hunger of that thou shalt leaue then contentacion of that thou shalt bryng Thou doost not remember that wee are in winter and that thou must passe the sea in the which if the Pyrats doo not deceiue mee the surest tranquyllyty is a signe of the greatest torment Thow myghtst tel mee that thy ships should retourn without frayt and therefore they shal sayle more surely To this I aunswere thee that thou shalt send them more loden with couetousnesse then they shall returne loden with silks O what a good chaunge shoold it bee if the auarice of Italy coold bee chaunged for the silk of Alexandry I sweare vnto thee that in such case thy sylk woold frayght a shyp and our couetyse woold lode a whole nauy That couetousnes is great which the shame of the world dooth not oppresse neither the feare of death dooth cause to cease And this I say for thee that sythens in this daungerous time thou durst sayle eyther wisedome wanteth or els auaryce and couetousnes surmounteth To satisfy mee and to excuse thee with those which speak to mee of thee I can not tell what to say vnto them but that GOD hath forgotten thee and the seas doo know thee I pray thee what goest thow to seeke synce thow leauest the gouernaunce of thy howse and saylest in Alexandrie Peraduenture thow goest to the goulph Arpyn where the maryners cast in thy lead Take heede Mercury and consyder well what thow doost for peraduenture where as thow thinkest to take from the fysh the hard lead thow mayst leaue vnto them thy soft flesh I haue knowen many in Rome which for to recouer one part of that that they haue lost haue lost all that which was left vnto them O my frend Mercury note note note well this last woord whereby thou shalt know what it is that you couetous men gape for in this life Thou seekest care for thy selfe enuy for the neighbours spurs for straungers a bayt for theeues troubles for thy body damnacion for thy renowm vnquietnes for thy life annoyance for thy frends and occasion for thy ennemies Finally thou searchest maledictions for thy heires and long sutes for thy children I can not wryte any more vnto thee beecause the feuer dooth so behemently vexe mee I pray thee pray to the gods of Samia for mee for medecines littel profiteth if the gods bee angry with vs. My wife Faustine saluteth thee and shee sayeth that shee is sory for thy losse shee sendeth thee a rich iewell for Fabilla thy doughter and I send thee a cōmission to th end they shall geeue thee a ship in recompence of thy lead If thou saylest with it come not by Rhodes for wee haue taken it from their pirats The gods bee in thy custody geeue mee and Faustine a good life with ours a good name amōg straungers I doo not write vnto thee with mine own hand for that my sicknes dooth not permit it ¶ That Princes and noble men ought to consider the mysery of mans nature and that brute beasts are in some poynts reason set a part to be preferred vnto mā Cap. xxxij MYdas the auncient kyng of Phrigia was in his gouernment a cruell tyrant and contented not him self to play the tiraunt in his own proper countrey but also mainteined rouers on the sea and theeues in the lād to robbe straūgers This king Mydas was wel knowen in the realms of orient and in such sort that a frend of his of Thebes sayd vnto him these woords I let thee to weete king Mydas that all those of thy own realm doo hate thee and al the other realms of Asia doo feare thee and this not for that thou canst doo much but for the crafts and subtilties which thou vsest By reason where of all straungers and all thine own haue made a vow to god neuer to laugh during the time of thy life nor yet to weepe after thy death Plutarche in the book of pollitiques sayth that when this king Mydas was born the ants brought corn into his cradel and into his mouth and when the nurse woold haue taken it from him he shut his mouth and woold not suffer any parson to take it from him They beeing all amazed with this straunge sight demaūded the oracle what this beetokened Who aunswered that the chyld should bee marueilous rych and with that exceeding couetous which the ants dyd beetoken in fylling his mouth with corne And afterwards hee woold not geeue them one onely grayn and euen so it chaunced that kyng Mydas was exceedyng rych and allso very couetous for hee woold neuer geeue any thyng but that which by force was taken from him or by subtelty robbed In the schools of Athens at that tyme florished a philosopher called Sylenus who in letters and purenes of lyfe was highly renowmed And as kyng Mydas was knowen of many to haue great treasures so this phylosopher Silenus was no lesse noted for despysyng them This phylosopher Silenus trauaylyng by the borders of Phrigia was taken by the theeues whych robbed the countrey and beeing brought beefore kyng Mydas the kyng sayd vnto hym Thow art a phylosopher and I am a kyng thou art my prisoner and I am thy lord I wyll that immedyatly thow tell mee what raunsome
I would not dye For life is so troublesome that it weareth vs death is so doubtfull that it feareth vs. If the gods deferred my death I doubt whyther I should reforme my life And if I doo not amend my lyfe nor serue the Gods better nor profit the common wealth more if that euery tyme I am sick it should greeue me to die I say it is much better for mee now to accept death then to wysh the lengthning of my life I say the life is so troublesome so fyckle so suspicious so vncertayne so importunat finally I say it is a life whithout lyfe that hee is an obstinat foole which so much desireth it Come that that may come for finally not withstanding that I haue spoken I willingly commit my selfe into the hands of the Gods since of necessity I am thereunto constreined For it proceedeth not of a lytle wisedom to receiue that willingly which to doo wee are constrayned of necessity I will not recommend my self to the priests nor cause the oracles to bee visited nor promise any thing to the temples nor offer sacrifices to the gods to the end they should warrant mee from death and restore mee to lyfe but I will demaund and require them that if they haue created mee for any good thing I may not loose it for my euyll lyfe So wise and sage are the gods in that they say so iust true in that they promise that if they geeue vs not that which wee others would it is not for that they wil not but beecause wee deserue it not For wee are so euyl and woorth so litel and wee may doo so lytel that for many good woorks wee deserue no meryt and yet with an euil worke wee bee made vnworthy of al. Since therfore I haue put my selfe in to the hands of the Gods let them doo with mee what they wil for their seruice for in the ende the woorst that they will doo is much better then the world wil doo For all that the world hath geeuen mee hath beene but mockry and deceyte but that which the gods haue geeuen mee I haue gouerned and possessed without suspicion For this last houre my sonne I haue kept the best the most noble and riches iewell that I haue possessed in my life tyme. And I doo protest vnto the immortal gods that if as they doo commaūd mee to dye they would geeue mee lycence to rede in the graue I would commaund it to bee buryed with mee Thou shalt know my sonn that in the .x. yeare of my Empire a great warr arose agaynst the vnruly people of Persia where by euyll luck it was appoynted for mee in person to geeue the battayle the which wonne and al their country destroyed I returned by the old city of Thebes in Aegipte to see if I could finde any antiquity of those in times past In the house of an Egiptian pryest I found a litel table which they hāged at the gate of the kynges pallace the day of his coronatiō And this poore pristes told mee that that which was in this table was writen by a king of Egypt named Ptholomeus Arsasides I beeseech the immortal Gods my sonne that such bee thy woorks as the woords of this table require As emperor I leaue thee heire of many realmes and as a father I geeue thee this table of counsayles The woords which the fathers doo teach vnto the chyldren at the last houre the children ought to keepe continually in their memorye Let this therefore bee my last woord with the Empire thou shalt bee feared through out all the world and with the counsayles of this table thou shalt bee loued of al nations This talk beeing ended and the table geeuen the Emperor turned his eyes lost his senses and for the space of a quarter of an houre lay languishing in extreame payne within a while after yelded vp the ghost In this table weare certain greeke letters which were in meeter and in our tonge signify thus ON honours stall I doo no tirant heaue nor yet the poore suppresse if hee weare iust For riches rule I nould to pardon cleaue For want of wealth nor folow rigours lust For naked loue I neuer spent reward nor would correct for onely enuies heate Of vertues imps I always had regard mischifs mates haue plagd with torment great To others doome I neuer would commit of open right the quarell to decide ne yet of doubtfull strifes in trust of witt The finall end alone I would deuide To them that sought for iustice equall sway her golden rule I neuer did deny ne yet to such for whom desert would lay Their sclender fautes might wel bee slipped by To feele the grife that waued in my minde With others smart I neuer could susteyne nor yet rewardes my princely woordes would binde VVhen sweete delight had chifest ioy to rayne In high estate when most blind fortune smild A reckles lyfe I restles ran not on nor yet when chaunge those happy dayes beegyld to cold despaier my quiet minde was gon By boiling heat of malice endeles fier to vices trayne I cast no egre eye ne yet for lust of pining welthes desire Vnlefull facts I rechles would apply The traitours brest I neuer could embrace nor lend mine eares to swalow flattring talke of vices slaues I wayed not the grace nor left vnsought good will in vertues walke Poore Irus band for that I did reliue VVhos 's needy state dooth stoope in Cresus swaie the greatest gods whose heauenly warck doth griue the proudest crownes was aymy present state FINIS ¶ The fourth booke of the Dyall of Princes Compyled by the right reuerend father in god Antony of Gueuara Byshop of Mondogueto preacher Chronicler and counceller to Charles the fift Emperor of Rome Contayning many instructions and rules for the fauored of the Court beyng once in fauor easely to keepe and continue them selues in fauor still Right necessary profitable for all princes and noble men gentlemen courtiers that seeke to continue them selues in honor and estimacion The Epistle to the Reader WHat detracting tongues report of mee and my first trauell in the translation of this Dyall enlarging them at pleasure to woork my defame disabling my dooing heerein by brute yt was no woork of myne but the fruit of others labor I neede not much force since by dayly proof wee see that yll disposed mynds can neuer frame an honest tongue in head For my obiect and reproofe of this their sclaunderous malignant speeche I can allege curteous reader two principall causes which thou reading and iudging with indifferency mayst easely approoue yf I shoold seeme to glose with thee First the basenes of my style the playn and humble woords couched in the same the mean rude and yll contryued sentences layd beefore thee togeether with the simple handelyng of the whole playnly sheweth to thee whence they are and easely acquainteth thee with the curious translator Who protesteth
troble his eares with tryfles and matters of small moment hee should bee reputed of the hearers a rash man and of the king him self a witlesse foole Let vs consider a little what is fit for the courtier to doo and what beecometh him best and whether it bee lawfull for him to conferr with the prince and then wee shall come to know if yt bee decent for him to speake oft to the prince Therfor to go to the kynge to speake ill of any man I think no wise man will offer to doo yt and if it bee to geeue him secret intelligence of any thing hee must first dout whether the kynge will beeleeue him or no and to think to counsell him it is a token of a light head and to presume to sleyt with the prince and to beemery with him to passe the tyme away let euery man beeware hee runne not into that error nor that hee once prease to doo it To send to reproue a prince I know not what hee is that would bee so foolish hardy once â—o dare to open his lippes against him and to flatter him if the prince bee wise hee will vnderstand him and if hee fynd him once it is enough to turne the flatterer to greate displeasure yea and to put him quite out of fauor wish him And therfor to liue in suerty and auoyde these dangers mee thinkes it is best to speake but seldome to him Lucullus was a great frend to Seneca and was also gouerner of Sicilia and demaunding one day of Seneca what hee might doo that might bee acceptable to the emperor Nero his lord and master Seneca answered him thus If thou desier to bee acceptable to princes doo them many seruices and geeue them fewe words And so like wise the diuine Plato sayd in his bookes De repub that those that haue to moue the prince in any thing in any case bee brief for in dilating to much they should both comber the prince and make him also not geeue attentiue eare nether could hee haue leysure to heare them nor pacyens to tary them And hee sayd further Those matters and subiectes they treate with princes in and that are vsed to bee told them ought to bee graue and sententious eyther tendyng to comodyty of the weale publyke to his honor or profit or to the seruyce of the kyng to whome hee speakes Theise counsells and aduertysements of Plato and Seneca in my poore opinion deserue to bee noted and had in memory And notwithstanding all that I haue spoken I say yet further to you that there is nothing disposeth the prince better to loue and fauor his seruants then to see them diligent in seruice and slow in speaking For to reward him that only seekes it by meanes of his tongue and by words it is in our free wills to doo it but to recompeÌ„ce him that by his diligent seruice only craueth a good turne and not in woords wee are in consciens bounde to yt And hereof springeth the vulgare prouerbe The good seruice is demaund sufficient though the tongue bee silent ¶ What maners and gestures beecome the courtier when hee speaketh to the prince Cap. v. WHen the courtier determineth to speake to the prince hee must fyrst showe him self vnto him with greate reuerence beefore hee come at him if the kyng bee set hee must knele to him vpon one knee with his cappe in his left hand holding yet nether to farre nor to neere his body but rather downwards towards his knee with a good grace and comly fashion not to lustely nor to much boldly but with a sett shamefast grauity putting him selfe on the left hand of the prince to speake with him whether hee bee sitting or standing For placing our selues on the left hand wee leaue the king on the right as duty willeth vs For the right hand beelongeth euer to the best person Plutarke sayeth that in the bankets the kings of Persia made they sate him whome they loued and made most account of cheeke by cheeke and on the left hand of the prince where the hart lieth saieng that those whome they loued with their hart should bee sett downe also on that syde the hart lay and in no other place Blondus sayeth to the contrary that the Romaines dyd honor the right hand somuch that when the Emperor entred ted into the senate no man durst euer put him selfe on his right hand And hee saieth more ouer that if a yong man were perchanse found sitting on the right hand of an old man or the seruant on the vpper hand of his master the sonne on the right hand of his father or any page prentise or seruing man on the vpper hand of a burgeis or cytesin they were no lesse punished by Iustice for that fault and offence then if they had doon any notable cryme or delicte Who so euer will speake to the prince must speake with a soft voyce and not to hastely For if hee speake to loud those that stand by shall heare what hee sayth to the kynge and in speaking to fast the king shall not easely vnderstand what hee sayeth And hee must alsoere hee speake to the prince premeditate long beefore what hee will say to him and put into him good woords and aptly placed for wise men are more carefull what words theyr tongues should vtter then what theyr hands should doo There is greate difference beetwixt speaking well and dooing well for in the ende the hand can but strike and offend but the tongue can both offend and defame Euen when the courtier is telling his tale to the prince let him bee aduised in all his actioÌ„s gestures that hee play not with his cappe from one hand to an other much lesse that hee beehold the prince to earnestly in the face For in the one hee shoold bee taken for a foole and esteemed in the other for a simple courtier Hee must take great heede also that hee spitt not coffe nor hawk when hee speakes to him and if it bee so hee bee constrayned by nature to it then let him hold down his head or at least turn at one syde that hee breath not in the kings face Plinie wryting to Fabatus saith that the kings of India neuer suffered any man in speaking to them to approch so neere them that their breth might come to their face And they had reason to doo it to auoid strong and vnsauery breths growing rather of the indisposition of the stomak or of the putrefaction of the lungs or of the corruption of the brayn And if the courtier haue to speak with the king after dinner or supper let him beeware hee eat no garlyke nor onyons nor drink wine without water For if hee sauour of garlyk or onyons the king may think hee lacketh discretion to come wyth those sents to his presence or if his breath were strong of wyne that hee were a drunkard Hee must bee very circumspect also that when hee speaketh to the king
sodeinly to rise in fauor and to bee rich al in short time By thys I inferre that the wise man euer desireth first to bee in fauor before hee couet to bee rich but the foole Ideot desireth first to bee rich then in fauor last Not few but many wee haue seen in princes courts which though fortune in short time hath exalted to the first degree of riches made theÌ„ cheefe in fauor yet wtin short space after shee hath made theÌ„ also lose their riches fal from the top of their honor It is most certain that if one haue enemies in the court onely for that hee is infauor hee shal haue as many moe if beeing in fauor hee bee also rich For wee are al of so ill a condicion in things that touch our particular profyt that all that wee see geeuen to others wee think sodeinly taken away from our selues Wee haue heretofore sayd that it is not fit for the courtier and those that are in fauor to coÌ„maund for his profit al that hee list neither al those that hee may And wee now at this present also aduise them to take heede that they doo not accept take al that is offered preseÌ„ted although they may lawfully doo it For if hee bee not wise in coÌ„mauÌ„ding moderatin taking a day might come that he should see himself in such extremity that hee should bee inforced to cal his frends not to couÌ„sel him but rather to help succor him It is true that it is a natural thing for a courtier that hath 20. crownes in his purse to desire sodeinly to multiply it to a .100 from a .100 to .200 froÌ„ 200. to a .1000 froÌ„ a .1000 to 2000. and from .2000 to 10000. So that this poore wretched creature is so blinded in couetousnes that hee knowth not nor feeleth not that as this auar ce ê¯tinually increaseth augmenteth in him so his life dayly diminisheth and decreaseth beesides that that euery man mocks scornes him that thinketh the true coÌ„tentacion consisteth in commaunding of many in the faculty of possessing much riches For to say truly it is not so but rather disordinat riches troubleth greeueth the true contentacion of men and awaketh euer in them dayly a more appetite of couetousnes Wee haue seen many courtiers rich beloued but none in deede that euer was contented or wearied with commaunding but rather his life should faile him then couetousnes O how many haue I seene in the court whose legges nor feete haue ben able to cary them nor their body strong inough to stand alone nor their hands able to wryte nor their sight hath serued them to see to read nor their teeth to speak neither their iawes to eat nor their eares to heare nor their memory to trauaile in any suyt or matter yet haue not their tongue fayled them to require presents and gifts of the prince neither deepe and fyne wit to practise in court for his most auaile and vantage So incurable is the disease and plague of auarice that hee that is sick of that infirmity can not bee healed neither with pouerty nor yet bee remedied with riches Sence this contagious malady and apparant dauÌ„ger is now so commonly knowen and that it is crept into courtiers and such as are in high fauor and great autoritie by reason of this vile sinne of auarice I would counsell him rather to apply him self to bee well thought of and esteemed then to endeuor to haue inough Albeit Queene Semiramis was wife to king Belius and mother of king Ninus and although by nature shee was made a woman yet had shee a hart neuer other wise but valiaunt and noble For after shee was wyddow shee made her self lord by force of armes of the great India and conquered all Asia and in her life time caused a goodly tombe to bee made wheare shee would lyfe after her death and about the which shee caused to bee grauen in golden letters these woords VVho longs to swell with masse of shining gold and craues to catch such wealth as few possest This stately tomb let him in haste vnfold where endles hopes of hatefull coyne doo rest Many days and kings reignes past before any durst open this sepulker vntill the comming of the great Cyrus who commaunded it to bee opened And beeing reported to him by those that had the charge to seeke the treasure that they had sought to the bottomles pyt and wolrds end but treasure they coold fynd none nor any other thing saue a stone wherein were grauen these woordes Ah haples knight whose high distraughted mynd by follies play abused was so â—ych that secret tombs the care as could not bynd but thow wouldst reaue them vp for to be rich Plutarke and also Herodotus which haue both writen this history of Semiramis doo shew affirm that Queene Semiramis got great honor by this gest kyng Cyrus great shame dishonor If courtiers that are rych think beleeue that for that they haue money inough at their wil that therefore they should bee farre from al troubles miseries they are farre deceiued For if the poore soul toile hale his body to get him only that that hee needeth much more dooth the rich maÌ„ torment burn his hart til he bee resolued which way to spend that superfluous hee hath Ihesu what a thing is it to see a rich man how hee tormenteth him self night day imagyning deuising with him self whether hee shal with that money that is left buy leases mills or houses aÌ„nuities vines or cloth laÌ„ds tenemeÌ„ts or pastures or some thing in fee or whether he shal eÌ„rich his soÌ„ne with the thirdes or fifts after al these vain thoughts gods wil is to stryke him with deth sodeinly not onely before he haue determined how hee should lay out or spend this money but also before hee haue made his will I haue many times told it to my frends yea preached it to them in the pulpit and wrytten yt also in my bookes that it is farre greater trouble to spend the goods of this world wel and as they ought to bee spent then it is to get them For they are gotten wyth swet and spent with cares Hee that hath no more then hee needeth it is hee that knoweth wel how to part from them to spend theÌ„ but hee that hath abundaÌ„s more then needeful dooth neuer resolue what hee should doo Whereof followeth many times that those which in his life time were enemies to hym shall happeÌ„ to bee heires after his death of all the goods money hee hath It is a most suer certain custome among mortal men that commonly those that are rych men while they are aliue spend more money vaynly in things they would not that they haue no pleasure in where in they would least lay it out and after their death they leaue the most part of their inheritance
inough But the auncient phylosophers were not of this mynd and much lesse are the wise men vertuous men at this day For wee see that in the court of prynces many rather lack fauor then lyfe and others lack both fauor and lyfe togethers and others not onely their lyfe and fauor but also all their goods and faculties So that all that that their fauor and credit haue geeuen them in many yeares and by sundry greefes and troubles they come afterwards to lose them euen vppon a sodeyn and in short time I graunt notwithstanding that it ys a great honor profyt and furtheraunce for the courtier to bee in his princes fauor but neuertheles hee cannot deny mee but that it is a daungerous thing also For naturally a great famyliarity bringeth also a great enuy wyth yt syth the beloued of the prince is commonly ill willed of the common weale And that that is yet most daungerous is that to obtayn the sauor of hys prince hee must so behaue him self that his seruice must bee more rare better and exquysite then all others and otherwise to fall in disgrace and to make the prynce forget all the good seruice hee hath doone hym hys whole life tyme hee neede but the least displeasure and fault hee can commit Eusenides was maruelously beloued with Tolomey who after fortune had exalted and brought him to honor and that hee was growen to great wealth sayd one day to Cuspides the phylosopher these woords O my frend Cuspides tell mee I pray thee of thy fayth is there any cause in mee to bee sad syth fortune hath placed mee in so great autoryty and honor as shee can deuise to doo and that the kynk Tolomey my lord hath now no more to geeue mee he hath alredy beene so bountyfull to mee To whom the philosopher aunswered saying O Eusenides yf thou wert a phylosopher as thou art a beeloued seruaunt thou wouldst tell mee an other tale then that thou tellest mee now For although kyng Tolomey hath no more to geeue thee knowst not thou that spyghtfull fortune hath power to take away from thee many thynges For the noble hart feeleth more greefe and displeasure to come down one staire or step then to clymme vp a hundred Not many days after these woords passed betweene Cuspides and Eusenides yt happened that one day Kyng Tolomey found Eusenides talkyng with aleman or curtesan of hys which hee loued deerely whereat hee was so much offended that hee made her straight drink a cuppe of poyson and caused him to bee hanged before his own gates The emperor Seuerus had one in so great fauor and credit which was called Plautius hee loued hym so extreamely trusted him so much that hee neuer read letter but Plautius must read it and hee neuer graunted commissyon or lycence to any man but it must passe vnder Plautius seale neither dyd hee euer graunt any thyng but at the request of Plautius nor dyd make warres or peace without the counsell and aduice of Plautius The matter fel out so that Plautius entring one night into the emperors chamber armed with a priuy cote his yll hap was such that a litle of his brest before was open whereby was spyed the mayle which Bahhian seeyng beyng the emperors eldest sonne sayd vnto hym these woords Tell mee Plautius doo those that are the beloued of prynces vse to come into they re bed chamber at these howers armed with Iron coate I sweare to thee by the Immortall gods and let them so preserue mee in the succession of the Empire that syth thou comest armed with Iron thou shalt also dye with Iron Which presently tooke place For before hee went out of the chamber they strake of his head The Emperor Comodus that was sonne of the good Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a seruaunt called Cleander a wise and graue man old and very pollytyck but with all a litle couetous This Cleander was oft times requested of the pretoryne compaigny that is to say of the whole band of souldiours that hee woold commaund they might bee payd their pay dew to them and to perswade him the better to pay it they shewed him a bill signed from the Emperor to which bill hee aunswered That the emperor had nothing to doo in the matter For although hee were lord of Rome yet had hee not to deale in the affaires of the common weale These discourteous and vnseemely woords related to the emperor Comodus and perceiuing the small obedyence and respect of duty that Cleander shewed to him hee cōmaunded foorth with hee should bee slayn to his great shame that all his goods should bee confiscat Alcimenides was a great renoumed kyng among thee Greekes as Plutark writeth of him and hee fauored one Pannonius entierly wel to whom only hee did not commit his person his trust but also the whole affaires and dooings of the the comon weale hee might dispose of the goods of the kyng at his wil and pleasure without leaue or licence So that al the subiects found they had more benefit in seruing of Pannonius then in pleasyng of the Kyng Therefore the king the beloued Pannonius playing at the balle togethers they came to contend vppon a chase and the one sayd it was thus the other sayd it was contrary and as they were in this contention the kyng commaūded presently those of his gard that in the very place of the chase where Pannonius denied they should strike of his head Constantius the Emperor also had one whom hee lyked very well and made much of called Hortentius which in deede might well bee counted a princes derling for hee dyd not onely rule the affaires of the common weale of the pallace of warres his goods and person of the emperor but also hee was euer placed aboue all the Imbassatours at his table And when the emperor went in progresse or any other iorny hee euer had him to his bedfellow Thus things beeing in this state I tel you it happened that one day a page geeuing the emperor drink in a glasse the glasse by myshap fell out of the pages hand and brake in peeces whereat the emperor was not a litle displeased and offended And euen in this euil vnhappy hower came Hortentius to the Kyng to present hym certayn bylles to signe of hasty dyspatch which was a very vnapt tyme chosen and the emperor contented yet to signe yt could neither the first nor the second tyme because the penne was ill fauordly made and the ink so thyck that yt would not wryte whych made the kyng so angry that euen presently for anger hee commaunded Hortensius head to bee striken of But to the end wee may come to the knowledge of many things in few woords I wyll shew you how Alexander the great slew in hys choller hys deere accounted Cratherus and Pirrhus Kyng of the Epirotes Fabatus hys secretory The Emperor Bitillion hys greatest frend Cincinatus Domitian the emperor Rufus of his
nor by slyght of wytt procured to deceyue or begyle nether hee called his frends to help hym to withstand his enemies but only craued remedy against his vnhonest and vaine desires And vndoubtedly hee had reason For a man may easely absent hym selfe frō his enymys but to fly from hym selfe it is an impossible thing And therfor mee thinkes it is a thing more to bee lamented then writtē to see that a multitude of corporall enymes cannot vanquish and ouercome vs and yet notwithstanding when wee are alone and think nothing of it this only vice of the flesh doth not alone make vs stumble but fall downe ryte on the ground For nether to become religious a priest a fryer nor to dwell in churches nor to bee shut vp in cloysters to sequester our selues from the world nor to chaūge state and condition For all this I saye I see none of all these things helpe vs mortall mē to defend vs from this vyce and sinne But the further wee seeke to fly from yt the more danger wee find to fal in to it And albeit to auoide other vices and synnes it shall suffise vs to bee admonished yet against that alone of the flesh it behoueth vs to bee armed For ther is no synne in the world but that there are meanes for mē to auoid it this only excepted of the flesh where with all wee are ouercome and taken prysoners And to proue this true it is aparant thus Where rayneth pryde but amongst the potentates where enuy but amongst equalls anger but amongst the impatient glotony but amongst gourmans auarice but amongest the rych slothe but amongest the idle And yet for all these the synne of the flesh generally raigneth in al men And therfore for not resisting this abhominable vice wee haue seene Kings lose ther Kyngdoms noblemen ther landes and possessiōs the maried wiues their auowed fayth the religion nonnes their professed virginity so that wee may compare this synne to the nature and condicion of the venomus serpent which beeing aliue stings vs and after hee is dead offendeth vs with his noysome stink Examples by Dauid who for all his wisedom could not preuayl against that synne nor Salomon for al his great knowledge nor Absolon for al his diuine bewty nor Sampson with his mighty force which notwtstanding the great fame they had for their renowmed vertues yet thorough this onely defect they lost al accōpaniyng with harlots licencious weomen Into which shameful felowship fel also Holofernes Annibal Ptholomeus Pirrhus Iulius Cesar Augustus Marcus Antonius Seuerus and Theodotius many other great princes with these aboue recyted the most part of the which wee haue seene depriued of their crownes and afterwards them selues haue come to their vtter shame dishonor on their knees to yeeld them selues to the mercy of these their infamed louers crauing pardō forgeeuenes Many graue writers of the Gretians say that the imbassadors of Lidia comming one day into the chamber of Hercules vpon a sode in to speak with him they found him lying in his curtesans lap shee pulling his rings of on his fyngers hee dressed on hys head with her womenly attier shee in exchange on hers beedect with his royal crown They write also of Denis the Siracusan that albeeit of nature hee was more cruel then the wilde beast yet hee beecame in the end so tractable pleasant by the meanes of a curtisan his frend called Mirta that shee onely did confirme al the prouisions depeches of the affaires of the weale publike hee onely did but ordein and appoint them And if the histories written of the Gothes deceyue vs not wee fynd that Antenaricus the famous kyng of the Gothes after hee had triumphed of Italy that hee had made hymself lord of all Europe hee beecame so farre in loue with a louer of his called Pincia◠that whilst shee combo his head hee made clean her slippers Also Themistocles the most famous captain of the Greekes was so enamored of a woman hee had taken in the warrs of Epirus that shee beeing afterwards very sick when shee purged her self hee woolde also bee purged with her if shee were let blood hee would also bee let blood yet that that is woorst to bee lyked is that hee washed his face with that blood that came out of her arme so that they might truly say though shee were his prisoner yet hee was also her slaue subiect When Kyng Demetrius had takē Rhodes there was brought to him a faire gentlewoman of the cyty which hee made his frend in loue this loue beetwixt them by tyme grew so great that shee shewing her selue vpō a time to bee angry with Demetrius refusing to sit nere him at the table also to ly with him Demetrius vtterly forgetting him self royal estate did not only on his knees pray her to pardō him but also imbrasing her cōueighed her in his armes īto his chamber Myronides the Gretian albeeit hee had made subiect to hym the Kingdome of Boetia yet was hee notwithstanding made subiect with the loue of Numidia his louer Hee enflamed thus with loue of her shee like wise striken with couetous desire of his goods in fine they agreed that hee should geeue her al the spoyle hee had wonne in the warres of Boetia that shee shoold let him lye with her in her house onely one night Annibal made warres seuenteen yeares with the romains in all that time hee was neuer vanquished till that hee was ouercome with the loue of a yong mayden in the City of Capua which prooued a most bitter loue to him sith thereby it happened that where as hee had so many yeares kept in subiection all Italy hee now was made a subiect at home in his own country Plutarke in his booke De republica writeth that Phalaris the tirant woold neuer graunt a man any thing hee desired nether euer denied any thing that a dissolute woman requested No smal but great disorder happened to the comon weale of Rome by the occasion of the Emperor Calligula who gaue but 6000. sexterces onely to repaire the wals of Rome gaue otherwise for surring one gown alone of his lemans a 10000 sexterces By al these exāples aboue resyted wee may easely vnderstād how daungerous a thing it is for the courtier to haue frendship acquaintance with weomen of so vyld a faculty For the woman is of like quality that a knot tyed of cords is which is easely tyed of sundry knots and very hardly afterwards to bee vndoon agayn Heretofore wee haue beesought courtiers the fauored of princes that they shoold not bee so liberall in cōmaunding now once agayn wee pray them to bee ware of fornication adultry for albeeit this sinne of the flesh bee not the greatest in faut yet is it the most daūgerous in fame There is no King prelat nor knight in this world so vicious and dishonest of life but
that I eat thou shooldst not serue so great a tyraunt as thou doost The excesse of meates ys greater in these days both in quantity and in dressing of them then in tymes past For in that golden age which the philosophers neuer cease to beewaile men had no other houses but naturall caues in the ground and apparelled onely with the leaues of trees the bare ground for their shoes their hands seruing them in steede of cuppes to drink in they drank water for wyne eat toâ—â—â—s for bread and fruyts for flesh and finally for their bed they made the earth for their couering the sky beeing lodged always at the signe of the starre When the diuine Plato returned out of Cicill into Greece hee sayd one day in his colledge I doo aduertise you my disciples that I am returned out of Cicill maruelously troubled and this is by reasoÌ„ of a monster I saw there And beeing asked what moÌ„ster it was hee told them that it was Dionisius the tyrant who is not contented with one meale a day but I saw him suppe many tymes in the night O diuine Plato if thou wert alyue as thou art dead and present with vs in this our pestilent age as thou wert then in that golden tyme how many shouldst thou see that doo not onely dyne and suppe wel but beefore dinner breake their fast with delycate meats and wynes and banket after dynner and supper also beefore they goe to bed So that wee may say though Plato saw then but one tyrant suppe hee might see now euery body both dyne and suppe and scant one that conteÌ„teth hym with one meale a day in which the brute bests are more moderate theÌ„ reasonable men Syth wee see that they eat but somuch as satisfyeth them and men are not contented to eate inough yea till they bee full but more then nature wyl beare And brute beasts haue not also such diuersity of meats as men haue neither seruants to wayt on them beddes to lye in wyne to drink houses to put their heads in money to spend nor phisitioÌ„s to purge them as men haue And yet for al these commodities wee see men the most part of their tyme sick And by these things recyted wee may perceyue that there is nothing preserueth so much the health of man as labor nothing consumeth sooner then rest And therefore Plato in his tyme on spake a notable sentence and woorthy to bee had in mynd and that is this That in that city where there are many phisicions yt must needes follow of necessity that the inhabitaunts there of are vicious ryotous persons And truely wee haue good cause to cary this saying away Sith wee see that phisitions commonly enter not into poore mens houses the trauell and exerciseth their body dayly but contrarily into the rych and welthy mens houses which lyue coÌ„tinually idlely at ease I remember I knew once a gentleman a kynsman of myne and my very frend which hauing taken physyck I came to see how hee did supposing hee had beene syck and demaunding of him the cause of his purgacion hee told mee hee tooke it not for any sicknes hee had but oÌ„ely to make him haue a better appetite against hee weÌ„t to the feast which should bee a two or three days after And with in syxe days after I returned agayn to see hym and I found him in his bedde very sick not for that hee had fasted too much but that hee had inglutted hym self with the variety of meats hee eat at the feast So it happened that where hee purged him self once onely to haue a better stomack to eat hee needed afterwards a douzen purgacions to discharge his loden stomack of that great surfet hee had taken at the feast with extreme eating And for the fower howers hee was at the table where this feast was hee was lodged afterwards in his chamber for two moneths to pay vsery for that hee had taken yet yt was the great grace of god hee escaped with lyfe For if it bee yll to synne yt vs farr worse to seeke and procure occasions to synne And therfor by consequent the synne of Gluttony is not only dangerous for the coÌ„sciens hurtfull to the health of the body and a displeasing of god but it is also a worme that eateth and in fine consumeth wholly the goods faculties of him that vseth yt Beesyds that these gurmands receyue not so much pleasure in the eatyng of these dainty morsells as they doo afterwards greefe and displeasure to heare the great accounts of their stewards of their excessyue expensis Yt is a swete delight to bee fed daily with dainty dishes but a sower sawce to those delicat mouthes to put his hand so oft to the purse Which I speake not with out cause syth that as wee feele great pleasure and felicity in those meates that enter into our stomack so doo wee afterwards think that they pluck out of our hart that mony that payeth for those knacks I remember I saw writen in an Inne in Catalogia these woords You that hoste heere must say wheÌ„ you sit down to your meat Salue regina yea when you are eating Vitae dul cedo yea and when you recken with the host Ad te Suspiramus yea and when you come to pay him Gementes flentes Now yf I would go about to describe by parcells the order and maner of our feasts and banckets newly inuented by our owne nation there would rather appeare matter to you to lament and bewaile then to write And it had been better by way of speach to haue inuented dyuers fashions of tables formes and stooles to sit on theÌ„ such diuersity of meates to set vpon the tables as wee doo vse now a dayes And therefore by good reason did Licurgus King of Lacedemonia ordeyne comaund that no stranger comming out of a strange country into his should so hardy bring in any newe customes vpon pain that if it were knowen hee should bee streight banished out of the couÌ„try and if hee did vse and practise yt hee should bee put to death I will tell you no lye I saw once serued in at a feast xlii sortes and kyndes of meates in seuerall dishes In an other feast of diuers sortes of the fish caled Tuny And in an other feast beeing flesh day I saw dyuers fishes broyled with lard And at an other feast wheare I saw no other meate but Troutes and Lampereis of dyuers kyndes of dressinge And at an other feast wheare I saw only vi persons agree togethers to drink ech of them .iii. pottels of wyne apeece with this condition further that they should bee .vi. howers at the table and hee that drank not out his part should pay for the whole feast I saw also an other feast where they prepared iii. seuerall tables for the bidden guests the one boord serued after the Spanish maner the other after the Italian and the third after the fasshion
why wee haue layd beefore you these forepassed examples was only to this end to admonish the fauored of princes to looke into them selues that they auoyd this fylthy sinne of gluttony Beeing a foul blott in a courtier to bee counted a greedy gutt Carmarant at hys meat being one whose maners behauior euery man marketh For sure it is more sitting for thē to bee moderat sober in eating drinking then others good reasō why For as they are more noble then others so haue thei many that sue vnto them they haue also the weightiest matters of gouernment passing vnder their charge by reason where of if they surcharge them selues with excesse they are then very vnapt to dispatch any matters for much eating causeth sleepe much drinking depriueth them of their iudgement sences both Is it not to be wondered at yea to bee reprooued also to see a magistrat or counceller set in his chair to heere poor mens causes sutes the suter opening his cause vnto him hee sitteth nodding with his head in his bosom redy to sleepe Euen so doo I say like wise that it is a great reproch to the beloued of the prince great damage to the comon wealth that it shoold bee spoken amongst courtiers suters that to day hee was of this opinion to morow hee is of an other So that the courtier or suter shoold haue hope to dispatch that to morow hee coold not doo to day King Phillip father of Alexander the great although hee was a prince noble fortunat yet was hee noted rebuked for drinking of wyne wherof folowed that after hee had geuen iudgement vpō a tyme against a poor wydow womā shee answered streight shee appealed The noble men that were present heering what was said by the king asked her to whom shee woold appele since the king in person gaue sentence of her no other And this was her answer shee made them I appeal to king Philip which is now dronk that when hee is sober hee returne to geeue sentence And as the historiographers say that writeth this history thys poore woman was not deceiued in her appellation at all for after King Philip had reposed slept a little hee reuoked repealed that sentence that hee had before geeuen against her And therefore cōcerning this matter I say that how wyld or tame so euer a beast bee hee still continueth a beast in his kind only man except who very oft through too much excesse of meat and drynk strayeth so farre from reason forgetting him self that neither he him self nor any other knoweth wel whether hee bee then a man or a beast Those that are the fauored of princes must bee very circumspect that they bee not too sumptuous prodigall in their feasts bankets for that they haue many eyes attendant of them And some will say that they make not these great feasts of them selues but by the gyfts presents of others others will not stick to say that they make it with that they haue robbed of others I wish them in this case that they shoold not hope to excuse themselues by saying that they only feast their kinsfolks familier frends For the enuy that comonly one beareth against the power auctority of a man is so great extreme that it spareth not frēds remembreth not kinsfolks neither maketh account of the benefits receyued but rather assoon as the bidden guests are departed frō his house that bad thē they goe talking among them selues murmuring amongst others saying many tymes that it is more woorth that is lost by the vayn lauish expences of the fauored courtier then that that is comōly serued to the princes own boord Also I counsell the belyked of princes that they take heede whom they trust whom they inuite to their tables For many tymes if they bee but fower that are bidden one of them sure goeth to eat banket the other three to fleere mock to mark all that is brought in the maner of the seruyce And the woorst is yet that hee shall many tymes bring such to eat with him that woold more willingly eat his flesh then his meat These reputed courtiers must be wel aduised that though they be too delicat superfluous in their meats yet at least that they bridle their tongues For they may bee assured that as their guests they bad goe full paunched from them so cary they away with them all the superfluous vayn woords they hard at the table Besydes that that what so euer the courtier said at the boord reporting it otherwhere they wyll not say that hee spake yt of him self but that the king him self told it him And yet is there a farre greater danger peril then this wee haue spoken of and that is that they will not simply tell that they hard of the beloued courtier but will adde to it of their own heads what they think best what was his meaning in speaking of it So that wee may say that ther are not so many comments vppon the byble as they make gloses vpon the same reports by their rash iudgements and fond interpretacions which they did descant vpon one only woord spoken vnwares perhaps by some at the table of this fauored courtier It is a general custom amongst all estates conditions of people that where there are sumptuous tables and aboundaunce of dishes there the inuyted sitt long at their meat are liberall to speak euill Which sure such as are in fauor with the prince neither ought to doo nor suffer it to bee doon by others at his boord For the good and honorable feast ought only to bee serued with good and dainty meats but in no wise marred with the defaming of his neighbor O how many feasts bankets are made in princes courts where without all cōparison there are more detractions vsed of their neighbors then there are diuersities of dishes to eat A pernitious thing doubtles and not to bee suffered nor abidden For no man hurteth the reputation of an other with his tongue but with the self same hee condemneth his own conscience and therefore let men bee aduysed of their spech and what they speak of others For it is alwais an easy matter to detract and hinder the fame and reputation of a man but very hard afterwards to satisfy the party Therfore I councell admonish these courtiers that they doo not oft feast others but also that they doo not accept to goe to others tables where they are bidden For they may bee assured that they are beloued of few and hated of all and besides that it might so happen that others shoold bee at the charge of the feast and that they shoold lose their lyues Also let not the fauored courtyer trust those to much that come ordinarily to his table that doo rebydd him again to theirs yea though they seeme euen to bee
person both whom I reprooued diuers times as hys familiar frend of his prodigall lyuing and ill speakyng And hee made mee thys aunswer ▪ Truely sir those that report that I speak ill of thē it is them selues that doo yt of mee if I follow them therein it is for nothing els but to bee a witnes for thē if any seeke to impugne their saiyngs but suer of my self I neuer vttered or deuised woord that might bee to the preiudice of any O what ill causeth he that speaketh ill of an other hee onely offendeth not that beginneth but hee that assisteth him much more hee that heareth him after publisheth it but aboue all hee that telleth it abrode addeth more then hee hard The fauored of princes must also think that though they are prohibited to speak much yet it is most fyt and decent for them to bee true faithful secretaries For there is no thing the prince priseth more then the secret brest of his fauored courtier And therefore I say not wtout cause that they ought to bee secret but most secret For the esteemed courtier must haue a better consideracion of his princes secrets committed to him then of the benefits hee receiueth of him Suer yt ys no small but a great most necessary vertue in a man to bee close of few woords so secret in deede that hee make no more countenance of that was told him priuily then if he had neuer hard it spokē of I know an other maner of people so prone ro speak ill that they cannot keepe secret their own faults much lesse others faults publishing them in euery corner Cecilius Metellus being asked one day of a Centucion what hee ment to doo the next day followyng aunswered thus Think not Centurion that those things I am determined to doo my hāds shal so lightly discouer for I am of this mynd if I knew that my shirt had any knowledge of that I will doo to morrow I woold put it of throw it straight in the fyer see it burned before my face It is not a like trust to put money into one mans hands of trust to commit secrets to the brest of an other this to bee true wee see it plainly that the prince deliuereth his goods and treasure to the custody of many but his secrets hee commytteth onely to one The fauored of princes ought to bee so secret that what so euer they see the prince doo or say bee it in the presence of dyners and that they are told of it by many Yet they ought not to bee acknowen of it For in deede the prince speaketh many things commonly for his pleasure which being reported agayn of the fauored courtier wil bee thought true most certayn Therefore speakyng generally of this matter I say that surely frendes are greatly bound to keepe the secrets of their frends For that day I discouer my intent to any the self same I make him lord of my liberty Therefore let that man think hee hath woonne a maruelous treasure that hath a secret frend For without doubt it is no such matter of importaunce to keep treasure saflye locked vp in a chest as it is to commit trust secrets to the hart of an other Plutark writeth that the Athenians hauing warres with king Phillip because there came certayn letters of kyng Phillips to their hands intercepted by their scouts directed and sent vnto his wife Olimpa Which they no sooner vnderstoode but they presently returned agayn safely sealed and vntouched of them as they came first vnto them saying that syth by their law they were bound to bee secret they would not reueale the secrets of others notwithstāding they were their mortal enemies as king Phillip was to thē therefore they woold neither see them nor read thē openly Diodorus Siculus sayeth also that among the Egiptians it was a criminall act for any man to bewray the secrets of an other which was prooued trew by thexample of a preest that in the temple of the goddes Isis had deflowered a virgine they both trusting to the fydelitie of an other preest making their loue knowen vnto him euen as they were in Venus sweete delights hee not regarding any lenger their secrets in ipso facto exclamed cried out therupon cōuict apprehēded by the iustice these poore louers were myserably executed this spightful vnfortunat preest condignely banished And this banished preest cōplaining of thiniust sentence saiyng that that hee reueled was in fauor of the religiō for the behoofe of the cōmon wealth the iudge aūswered him thus If thou hadst knowen their offence of thy self wtout their notice geeuē thee thou hadst had reasō to haue cōplained of our sentence but synce they trusted thee with their dooings thou gauest thē thy woord promis to bee secret if thou hadst called to mynd the bond thou were bound to them in that thy self did freely wtout their cōpulsiō submit thy self vnto thou wooldst not once haue dared to haue published the fact as thou hast doon Plutark in his booke de exilio saieth that a man of Athens once demaunded an Egiptian disciple of a philosopher what he had vnder his cloke aūswered him thus Truely thou hast studied litle born away lesse although thou art an Athenian born syth thou seest that I cary secretly that thou demaundst because thou nor no other should know it yet thou askest it of my self what it is that I cary Anasillus that was a captayn of the Athenians was takē of the Lacedemonians put to the torture because hee should tel that hee knew what the king Agesilaus his Land maister did to whom hee gaue this aunswer You Lacedemoniās haue liberty to dismēber mee heaw mee in peces but so haue not I to reuele my lord maisters secrets For in Athens wee vse rather to dye then to be wray the secrets of our frend Kyng Lisimachus entreated the philosopher Philipides very earnestly that hee woold come dwell with him but hee made them this answer I woold bee very glad to bee in your cōpany knowīg you to be a fauorer of philosophy if you wil go to the warres I wil follow you if you trust mee with your goods I wil keepe them carefully faithfully if you haue children I wil teach them with al my hart if you wil vse my counsel in your affairs I wil geeue you the best I can And if you will also geeue mee the charge of your cōmon wealth I wil gouern it with my best discretion Only one thing I wil request you that you wil neuer cōmaund mee that is not to make mee partaker of your secrets For it might happen that what you had told mee in secret your self vnwares at a time might tell it openly and yet not think of it and beeing afterwards told you by some other you woold presently enter into suspect that it came to