signifieth an honest burthen which bindeth vs to doe well and to take care and trauaile because that prayses are alyed with vertues and are as the badge thereof and followeth it as the shadow doth the body The auncient fathers haue likewyse noted that in the holy scripture the triumphes and honors of the common sort are not termed glory but only vertuous actes And Cicero in his Tusculanes questiōs defineth glory to be a cōsent of praises by vertuous men which iudge without corrupting vertue for they which are of good iudgmēt know better our valor then the grosser sort And there was some mistery in that the Romans builded the tēple of glory adioyning to that of vertue throgh which they must of necessity passe that will goe to the other as if one would say that there were no honor without vertu Epictetus said likewise that glory and vertue wer two sisters which could not be seuered one from the other And Cicero calleth prayse the hyer of vertue And Salomon in his Prouerbes writeth that the noblenes of yong men is their vertue And when it is saide in Ecclesiasticus that the lande is happie when their king is noble he meaneth therby vertuous and not yong of vnderstanding The which is well marked in the first law de cond in pub hor. l.x. C. L.I. de dignitat l. 12. C. Marius mayntayneth in Salust that they may be called noble and gentle which are moste honest and vertuous and that all nobilitie proceeded at the first from vertue And it is better to bring it into a mans house than to diffame it when hee found it already there And the glorie of our ancestors serueth vnto the posteritie as a light which suffereth neither good nor euill actions to lye hid Some haue pictured Maiestie apparelled with a cloake of admiration tissued with great vertues and honestie the markes whereof are in her gesture and actions and that great personages ought to conserue and maintayne her And they whiche commaund ought derogating vnto her or that is vniust cannot excuse themselues of high treason and diminishing her Maiestie And sometimes it is a great honour when benefites are not proportioned according to the valour of desertes And it is farre better to be worthie of honor then to receaue it as Cato said that he had rather one should ask him why he made not a monument for hymselfe then why he had erected one He said likewise that euery man being well borne and of an honest harte ought to carrie in his minde and remembrance his nobilitie and his ancestors to the ende he shoulde doe nothing worthie of reprehension and might be ashamed of all actions of reproche The auncient kinges of Fraunce vsed manie ceremonies in making of a knight the better to induce them to all honestie and aboue all thinges to keepe their faith and trueth which custome as it is tolde me remayneth yet in England and at that tyme euery man contented himselfe with a single promise Maximilian the Emperour aunswered one that desired his letters patentes to ennoble him I am able to make thee riche but vertue onely to make thee noble And there is great likelihoode that that which moued the Lacedemonians to sacrifice vnto the Muses at suche time as they went to warfare was to giue courage to men to doe so well that they might afterwardes be praysed Aboue all thinges wee must take heede of praysing our selues with our own mouth as the wise man warneth vs. But if our life holie conuersation do shew it vertue shal euer be folowed with praise I doe not for all that thinke that a wise man ought to despise the true honour which consisteth in the good will of such as haue receiued any pleasure And from this reputation proceedeth faith and confidence which pusheth men forwarde to the enterprise of all good actions and serueth as a rampiar against the enuious And it is to be excused in young men if they please themselues in doing wel because vertues do double and flourish in that age and doe increase through moderate praise giuen vnto them And the common wealth hath an interest in making the praises of famous men to remaine engrauen to serue for an imitation pricking forward example to al ages Pope Iohn the 23. said vnto the Cardinals who had heard what was spoken in his praise that they mingled therin many things not true yet he tooke pleasure to heare them And Themistocles being asked what musicke or voyce he desired most willingly to heare sayde such a one as praysed his vertue Yet such as so loftily carrie themselues are like such as brag they haue receiued false and naughtie monye And that wee may not be abused it is verie good to consider thoroughly the infirmitie of man the shortnes of our life the defilings of our flesh that whatsoeuer is in vs to be praised proceedeth from the pure liberalitie loane of god which is able to take all from vs againe in a moment to the end that we containe our selues in modestie humblenes of mind Pyndarus likewise compareth the life of men vnto a dreame of a shadow the which is as the Psalmist saieth more vaine then vanitie it selfe and as a flower vanishing away But because that many fearing to be falsely blamed of the common sorte are thereby fallen into great inconueniences I willingly would aduise quicke wits not to surcease the pursute of a good enterprise nor to vndo themselues through the feare of such a blame As Plutarke said in his Proeme of the liues of Agis Cleomenes that hauing wel considered the accidents of the brethren named Gracchi who hauing beene wel borne brought vp nourished and now attained to the managing of the affaires of the common wealth that with a verie good intent yet were they both destroyed in the end not so much through an vnmeasured desire of honor as through feare of dishonor the which for al that proceeded not but from a great noble hart Vertuous persons in like sort haue euer made small account of counterfait wordes false lyes imagining their conscience the vertuous course of their life the behauiors of themselues before time would sufficiently warrāt defend them the contempt which one hath of a foolish word maketh the enuious cleane confounded and railing as Demosthenes saide which maketh him neuer the worse against whom it is vsed is not esteemed among any vertuous persons That is to say that the reputation of a good man is not diminished through any blame that is vniustly laid to his charge And sundry of our kings were willing to meete with the quarels lightnes of the nobilitie that a man might know by good sufficient proofe if the lye were well or yll giuen to the end it might be iudged vppon whome it ought to fall
is murmuring to whome are wounds without cause and to whome is the rednes of eyes Euen to them that tarrie long at wine to them that go seeke mixt wine And S Paul exhorteth vs to walke honestly as in the day not in gluttonie drunkennes neither in chambering wantonnes nor in strife enuying because ther is euer great dissolutenes riotousnes losenes in al such excesse The gluttō the drunkard shal be poore saith Salomon especially forbiddeth it to Princes as both Eccl. Isaiah doe And it was not amisse saide that wine hath drowned more then the sea Plutarque in the life of Cleomenes writeth that Ptolome Philopater so named in mockerie saith Zonarus because hee put to death both his father and mother was destroyed through Wine and Weomen and dyed like a beast Another Ptolome was tearmed the bellie man because of his gluttonie Callicratidas being sent to Cyrus after that he had remained certaine dayes not had any audience by reason the King was retired occupied in continual banquets feastings it was thought meete he should returne without doing any thing saying that as there was great reason they shoulde haue consideration of their weale so ought they to commit nothing vnworthie of Sparta Caesar writeth in his commentaries that the Almanes would not suffer any wine to be brought Men in olde time set downe three most necessarie pointes to continue health to eat without being ful to labour without sparing ones self and to preserue his seede There hath beene also certaine Priestes which woulde neuer vse salt with their meate because it sharpened appetit and prouoked to eate drinke more fearing to be fat and least that diuine part which was in them shoulde be pressed downe and kept vnder by the mortall And thereunto that the extremitie in good point according to the opinion of Physitions is verie dangerous the excellencie of too much welfare enclineth towarde the opposite Iosephus describing the manner of liuing of three sortes of Philosophers or sects in Iudea especially of the Esseniens highly commended them because they loued trueth neuer did eat or drink ought whereby nature mought be offended by reason of their great sobrietie they liued long in health some vnto a hundred yeares And truely it is a great meane to liue happily when a mans bodie is wel disposed and in good temper not drowned with wine nor grieued with meates readie to be imployed in any actiō he desireth The which also moued Plato to call intemperancie a roote proper to euery disease And Gorgias being demanded how he attained to so great yeres of a hundred eight aunswered in neuer hauing eaten or done any thing through pleasure The old prouerb saith much meate much maladie And verie wisely was Socrates wont to say that such as were accustomed to frugalitie continencie enioy great pleasure delight aswel for the quiet of their conscience as good disposition of their body And for as much as in ancient time fish was accounted a more deintie exquisite kind of meat then flesh they which often fed theron were called by an infamous name Opsophagi gluttons wantons This is the reason why in Titus Liuius barrennesse is preferred before frutefulnes because that men in a fat soyle are often times cowards lubberly fellowes in a hungrie they are more industrious sober and painfull as experience teacheth vs. And whensoeuer wee haue a mynde to eate let vs consider that we haue to banquit both the soule and body togeather following the aduise of Epictetus After that Alexander had vanquished Darius he caused a goodly pillar to be hewen downe and burst in peeces wherein was engrauen the order and quantitie of such meates as were euery daye set before the Kinges of Persia saying that it was not fitte for kings to learne to suppe so prodigally and sumptuously And Diodorus the Sicilian writeth that there were lawes set down to the kinges of Aegypt not onely to shewe what they ought vnto their subiectes but also to serue as a rule and dyet of their owne perticular And Zonarus after Xenophon in his Pedia writeth that all the youth of Persia at schooles and places where they learned and exercised were neuer nourished but with bread and water some time for better cheere sayth Cordamus they added a fewe Cresses And they neuer eate vntill they had done their ordinarie taske The which in his second booke he writeth was also enioyned to souldiars and in that countrey it was a very great dishonour for one to shewe himselfe subiect to naturall eiections which they neuer knew to doe but with abstinence moderatenesse and good diet thorough which togeather with their exercise they consumed and diuerted such superfluities and humors as proceeded from too great nourishment Socrates in Xenophon wisheth such as would liue in health to beware of meates which entised them to eate when they had no appetite and of drinkes which prouoked them to drinke when they had no thirst teaching vs onely to vse that which wee haue neede of in ioyning pleasure togeather with necessitie Iulius Caesar Augustus Titus Vespatian Traian Tacitus Alexander Seuerus and Charlemagne grew most famous for that they vsed so great sparing and their table talke was more accounted of then great fare And they made ordinances vpon expenses for the preseruation of health and sparing of the giftes of God It is written of Vespasian that once a moneth he would fast one whole daye And of Cato that for the most part he neuer eate but of breade and beefe and neuer dranke but water with which sometime he mingled a little vineger The like is sayde of Scipio Fabritius was founde by the Samnite Embassadors feeding of Turnups which he rosted between the cenders Massinissa King of the Numides neuer did eate but of rauell bread and very simple meate without sauce and that but once a day according to the auncient order Hannibal neuer vsed other ordinarie then the worst of his souldiers And Cicero alleadgeth the saying of Plato that it was verye strange to see one feede twise on one day And he which sayth that the life of a sober man and one that is content with litle resembleth him which maketh a voyage in the spring time by little iourneys through a pleasant fertill countrey cōpareth it very fitly and ought to withdrawe vs Frenchmen frō so great wantonnes for which the very Turkes haue founde fault with vs as Paulus Iouius writeth At Rome in old time wine was forbid vnto womē the which the inhabitants of Marseilles long time obserued We see likewise that vessels when they are more frayght then they are able to cary do sinke euen so fareth it with such as eate drinke too much As it is written in Eccl. Excesse of meates bringeth sickenes gluttony cōmeth into cholericke diseases By surfet many perisheth but he
that hee had gotten such an opinion to be counted true that euery one trusted him and referred himselfe vnto him Which was likewise said of Demonar in the time of the Emperour Adrian And our chronicles doe greatly prayse king Iohn for that he was open neuer making shewe of louing him whom in deede he did not Titus Liuius in the 5. booke of his fourth Decade and fourth of his 5. made a great matter that the Romaines kept their faith exactly And in the first booke of his first Decade he writeth that fayth and a single othe all feare of lawes and chastisementes not thought on gouerned the whole Citie to which he attributed the course of all their great prosperities Attilius chose rather to returne backe to tormentes and death prepared for him than to breake his fayth And when Antiochus woulde haue vsurped Aegypt vppon Ptolomie Epiphanes whose protection the Romaynes had alreadie taken vppon them they sent vnto him Popilius who made a circle about the sayde Antiochus and constrayned him before hee departed to promise him that he should enterprise nothing ouer their sayde pupill Wee reade of manie other kinges and common-wealthes that in their differences referred themselues to the people of Rome Cato as Plutarke hath written hauing layde to Murena his charge that he bought the voyces of the people the better to attaine to the Consulship went here and there gathering his profes and according to the custome of the Romaines had on the defendants behalfe certaine gardes which followed him euerie where marking what he did for the better instructiō of his bill These watchmē would often aske him if that day he ment to search out ought that appertayned to his accusation if he saide no then they departed whereuppon is growne this prouerbe when one telleth a thing that seemeth strange this is not to bee beleeued though Cato himselfe should tell it And Plinie in his preface describeth the opinion was then had of his manhood and innocencie which sayth he caused Cicero to crie out O gentle Cato howe happy art thou to haue beene such a one that neuer man yet durst presume to sollicite thee in any dishonest cause or contrarie to dutie He writeth also of Scipio surnamed Asiaticus for to haue subdued Natolie being called before the Tribunes Gracchus being one whom he held for his enimie that he had such an assurance in his speech that his very enimies were sufficiēt witnes of his manhood And in Lacedemon whē there was one that was knowen to be a dissolute person and a lyar that he had proposed a very profitable aduise necessary for that time yet was it cleane reiected of the people And the Ephores hauing chosē a Senator that was very true commanded him continually to propose vnto them like councell whereby they might restore their cōmonwealth as it were from an vncleane and foule vessell into a pure neate Cicero in his oration he made for Balbus maketh mention of an honorable person who being called into the Senate at Athenes to depose touching some matter the senators would by no meanes haue him take the accustomed othe knowing him to be a vertuous honest man Such an efficacy hath the opiniō of māhood in a personage accoūted true Xerxes Ariamenes in the great controuersie which was betweene thē for the kingdome of Persia referred thēselues to their vncle Artebanus to whose iudgement they stood I could here recken many forraine Princes who in time past haue had such an opinion of the court of Parlement of Paris composed of graue learned and reuerent counsellers chosen according to the right and ordinances that they haue had recourse thyther as to a temple of iustice We read of the Emperour Frederic the second and certaine kings of Fraunce that they haue beene so greatly esteemed of their subiects that in steede of fine gold they haue receiued lethermonie others haue borowed great sums with good liking which they haue restored againe as soone as conueniently they were able This is the meanes which Cirus sheweth in Xenophon and Zonare to Cresus wherby they may obtaine what they wil of their subiects when they haue once gayned an opinion to be accounted trew he sayth likewise that their treasors cōsist most in enriching of their friends without caring for any other gardes We haue seene what credit by this meanes the great kinges Francis and Henrie obtained thoroughout all Europe and what losse and dishonour such haue receiued as both before and since haue fayled of their promise I will not here omit howe Pharamonde our first king was named VVarmond which signifieth truth And a man is not able to declare what profit and solace he which is true bringeth to euerie man as ending of suits in lawe enmities discordes and other seedes of mischiefes dispersed through a countrey by the reuealing of the truth which he discouereth his wordes being receiued as an oracle And Xenophon in his seuenth booke of young Cirus sheweth that the bare worde of such a man preuaileth more then other mens constraint threates or punishment and gaineth more by his bare promise then other doe by their rewardes He sayth moreouer that there is no greater nor more excellent riches especially to a Prince then vertue iustice and greatnesse of courage because such can nether want friendes nor ought else CHAP. 9. That it behooueth to keepe promise with instruction not to make it with ones disaduantage and not to giue place to the importunate TItus Liuius in his third booke of his first decade declareth what great dammage ensueth him who breaketh his faith and looseth his credit for the societie of men is only maintained by dewe keeping of promises And al good Princes haue esteemed that their authoritie puissaunce and safetie dependeth thereon Hereupon Isocrates wrote to King Nicocles that he should be founde true of his worde in all his promises in sort that one shoulde giue greater credite to his bare worde then to others othes And the wise man writeth in the Prouerbes that VVeldoing and fayth conserueth a Princes estate but a lying talke becommeth him not Himselfe is the onely preseruour of fayth among his subiectes and their debtour for iustice Dion reciteth that the Emperour Marcus Antonius was wont to say that it was a verie lamentable thing that a mans faith should be violat or suspected without which nought can be assured King Attalus in his death bed warned Eumenes his sonne to esteeme fidelitie the good opinion of his subiectes the chiefest parte of the inheritance he could leaue him And Sueton praised Caesar for that hee kept his faith with his enimies though they broke theirs with him For as Cicinnatus said in Titus Liuius a man must not offende led by an other mans example And Dion reporteth of Augustus that hauing made proclamation that he woulde giue fiue and twentie thousand
crownes to whosoeuer would present him with one that was the ringleader of certain theeues the same man presented him selfe obtained both the crownes his pardon Wee reade in sundrie places of Titus Liuius how the Romanes were euer verie curious in maintaining their promise Polibius being a Greeke writeth of them that their verie word was ynough among the Romans and in Greece although they had Notaries and seales oftentimes they broke their faith for which they were grieuously punished And in Iosua it is written that he kept his faith with the deceitfull Barbarians to the end saith he that the wrath of God should not be vpō his people because of the othe which they sware vnto him as it afterwards fel vpon al them of the house of Saul who were hanged for hauing vyolated their owne And the Prophet writing in his Psalmes of such conditions as the faithfull ought to be endued with insysteth greatly vpon this that they keeepe their promise yea though it were to their owne hinderance Cicero in his offices sheweth by many examples that ones faith is broken if one doe ought to the detriment therof what colour soeuer he will set vpon it But that we should not runne further hedlong into these inconueniences Seneca wrote that he which was not able to set light a sottish shame is no disciple of Philosophie Which opinion Brutus was likewise of as Plutarque writeth And it is an ouergreat fault in Princes either not to dare to refuse or too lightly to agree to whatsoeuer is demaunded of them which they ought to endeuour to refourm by custome proceeding from lesser things refusing greater It is also required that we promise not ought which proueth not to our aduantage or ought els that lyeth not in our power but diligently to take heede that we suffer not our selues to be enforced or led with a nyce shamefastnes which manie haue when they dare not contrarie or refuse to graunt what they are required for which oft times they much repent themselues as Zeno wisely did reprehend him who was not ashamed to require a matter both vniust vnreasonable And Rutilius to one that found fault that his friendship was so light set by as not to bee able to obtaine his request made answere But what haue I to do with thine if thou wouldest enforce me to do contrarie to al iustice And king Agesilaus said to certain importunate persons that a man ought not to demaund at a Kings hands ought that were vniust and being intreated by his father to giue iudgement in a cause contrarie to right he aunswered him you haue taught me from my youth to follow the lawes I wil yet now obey you in ought not iudging against them Alexander the great made the like aunswere to his mother adding further that shee asked to great a recompence for hauing borne him nine monethes and because of her yl cariage of her selfe when Antipater to whom Macedonia fel dyed he prayed his subiectes as Diodorus wrote neuer to leaue the managyng of affaires in the hands of a womā The Emperour Frederick said to certaine his minions about him that were verie importunate to get into their hands some of the auncient Domaine of the Empire that he rather chose to be accounted of smal liberalitie then periured They write as much of Sygismond CHAP. X. Examples of euils happened to breakers of promise and of that which dependeth thereupon THE examples of such miseries as they haue runne into which haue not performed their promises ought to make vs thinke their faultes more strange then we win for Titus Liuius recyteth of a Dictator of Albany who was drawne in peeces with foure horses for that he had broken his faith the citie of Albe was rased cleane downe and Carthage dissolued into ashes and the people of Capua murthered and kept in bondage He maketh likewise mention of sundrie ostages giuen in pledge for the better assurance of such treaties as passed thorough the Volsques Tarentines and others who were executed for the breache of promise their people made Zedechiah king of Iuda hauing rebelled contrarie to his promise was led captiue after that his sonnes were flaine before his eyes and had his owne eyes put out Caracalla the Emperour hauing pursued the king of Persia contrary to his promise was himselfe afterward slaine Iustinian hauing falsified his faith to the Bulgares was sent into banishment Cleomenes hauing made a league with the Argiens seeing that vnder the assurance therof they were lulled a sleepe murthered and imprisoned some of them neuertheles not being able to surprise the towne which was defended by the women ran mad killed himselfe The king of Hungarie Ladislaus after certaine victories obtained against Amurates made a most honorable truce during which hee suffered himselfe to be persuaded by the Cardinal Iulian Embassadour from Pope Eugenes to break it which was the cause why the said turke had a most memorable conquest and the said Ladislaus togither with the chiefe of his armie the said Cardinal were either slaine outright or stifeled within the marishes And after such time as he had thus falsified his faith there ensued an infinit number of mischiefes thorough out all Christendome And euen so went it with vs after we had conquered Milan and Naples for that we obserued not duelie the treatise which wee there promised And for the like cause before that happened the Scicilian Vespers and for that we rather gaue credite to Pope Clement the fourth then to the counsel of the Erle of Flanders Pope Adrian tooke a solemne othe to obserue the peace concluded with the Emperour Frederick and afterwardes breaking it as he dranke he was choaked with a flye It came in like sort to passe with Pope Alexander the sixth who tooke himselfe such poyson as he had prepared for the Cardinals he had inuited to supper And to Iulius the second who was wont to say that the treaties he concluded was but to abuse and ruine the one through the other Andronicus Conneus cleane contrarie to his faith giuen to the infants of Emanuel and to them of Nice vsurped the Empire but after sundrie other yll happes hee was soone after hung by the feete and hewen in peeces Loys Sforce vncle to Iohn Galleace inuested himselfe in the Duchie of Milan Hee likewise broke his promise made to King Francis He was afterwards carryed prisoner into France Michael Paleologue beeing chosen Emperour of the Greekes promised swore that he would render vp the Empire into the hands of Iohn Lascaris when he shoulde come of age but notwithstanding he stil helde it He died miserably to his posteritie ensued an infinite number of mischiefs was occasion of the first beginning of the Turkish Monarchie Charles duke of Burgondie hauing violated his faith promised to the Suissers and
and of good credit which attribute vnto them a gentle heart fauourable courteous religious vpright vertuous louing one eche other and keeping their faith more constantly then any other people and they haue beene called the inuincible and most noble And if they haue any imperfections at al as no man is without yet are they couered with an infinite number of vertues for as much as reason causeth them to tame and subdue this liuelinesse promptnes and heate which they haue naturally And histories are full of the prowesse of our auncestours who with their victorious hande haue runne ouer wel-neare the whole worlde setting downe orders and lawes to all prouinces there plantinge the memorie of their name and markes of their Empire Italie which speaketh of enuie hath beene well coursed and tamed and sundrie other countries as well in Europe as Asia haue hence beene peopled and receiued their gouernours And an infinite number of Emperours Princes and prouinces haue had recourse vnto them for their owne assurance and haue lefte behinde them moste notable monumentes of their gouernement and iustice to the profite of manie prouinces This woulde gladsomly encourage mee particularly to declare and make recytall of the most famous in all disciplines and knowledge of tongues sciences of a great number of Martyrs which haue suffered for the testimonie of the faith of excellent Emperours Captains and souldiars that wee might well compare to the moste valiant that euer was during the verie flower of the Romanes and Greekes I will not forget what Iulius Caesar in the sixth of his Comentaries and Tacitus hath written that the French men haue farre surpassed the Almaines in prowesse valor and courtesie and haue euer had the first starte of them Salust in the ende of the warre of Iugurth writeth that the auncient Romanes and such as haue beene since haue euer had this opinion that by their owne valour they easily attained to the ende of all other nations but that with the Frenche men they stroue for their owne safetie and not for honour And it is not to be red in al histories of any people that hath attained to their valour and dexteritie nor whose conquestes were more wonderfull expeditions more remarqueable and successe of their battailes more happie and pollicie or lawes better ordayned or pietie bountie and religion better nor their vnitie greater And there is no nation whose brightnesse is not darkened and obscured thorough the high shyning of the glorie of the French men But to satisfie what the sayde Caesar hath written that Frenchemen are soudeine headie desirous of nouelties and deliberatinge vppon vncertaine purposes and coyners of affaires of importance whereupon they must needes quickely repent themselues Other historiographers strangers condemne them of lightnesse And the Emperour Charles the fifth saide to the Kinges Ambassador the which before that hee had proposed to the Consistorie of Rome that he was nowise able to assure himselfe of the French because they began manie things but brought nothing to ende and did no otherwise by their wordes then by their garmentes which they disguised into so manie fashions as one day they were of one minde and tomorrow of another And that a bodie could not beleeue ought except he sawe it done and that if they did anie good at all it was by bountie for the great desire they had to drawe others to their owne aduantage And that they had euer their foote and their wit in the aire their purposes more changeable then the winde And further discharging his choler at that time as the Embassadour him selfe tolde me he greatly blamed the diuersitie and changing of Edicts and ordinances which wee handle so yll and publish so lightly that anon after wee are constrained to change them being a cause that they were so little made account of And then in his passion hee repeated certaine places wherein he thought some words wanted which speach of his notwithstanding he afterwardes excused And in trueth Plato did not amisse compare how manie more tauernes so manie more drinkers The number of Phisitions the encrease of diseases The more accompt the iustice is made of the more sutes So the more lawes the more corruption as daily experience doth teach vs profiting vs no more then great varietie of Medicines doth to a verie weake stomach And in the time of the Emperours Caligula Claudus were manie lawes made and yet tyrannie and corruption tooke neuer more place If youth were well taught in Princes courtes vniuersities scholes but constancie grauitie the trueth they should be a great deale better receiued and strangers woulde more assure themselues of our promises and then mought we wel say of France as S. Ierom attributed vnto it that it were a countrie refyned and purged of monsters I will not here sylently passe ouer to this purpose that counsel which the Princes of Persia Media gaue to King Darius as the Prophet Daniel witnesseth that he should be founde true and neuer change a lawe which was once made according to the custome of the Medes and Persians which altereth not It is also written in the booke of Hester that the writings written in the K. name and sealed with the Kings ring may no man reuoke Diodorus and Demosthenes tel of certaine people that no man mought so much as speak of the change of a lawe except he wore a halter with which he was hanged if his opinion tooke not place So greatly in auncient time did they detest all changes and nouelties The citizens of Marseilles were much renowned by Cicero and Titus Liuius for that they remained constant in their lawes customes and fashions without changing ought yea and as a great treasor they kept their olde sworde of iustice in the smallest matters to shewe howe much they honoured antiquitie And for the like constancie haue the Romanes receiued great glorie And Paulus Aemilius writeth that the Frenche men euer tooke great heede that nought in their lawes and customes shoulde be changed And greatly was Lycurgus praised for that after he had brought the Lacedemonians to receiue his lawes he made them all sweare that they shoulde alter no one iotte of them during his absence and after that neuer retourned into his countrie againe which caused it to fare much the better with them For as Plato hath written in the seuenth of his lawes and Xenophon likewise Change in all matters except they be mischieuous is most daungerous beit in the dyet of the bodie or in manners And according to the olde prouerbe A man shoulde not awake a sleeping Dogge And euerie knowen euill to which a man is vsed is tollerable as Titus Liuius writeth And Aristotle in his Politickes sheweth it is much better to beare with some imperfections faultes in lawes Magistrates if they be not too notorious then in thinking to change them to ruyne a whole estate which
the patient who endure their egernesse and violence without making any shewe or semblance And in the 4. booke Vespasian sayth that it is the fashion of the Romaines to beginne and finish all thinges with order knowledge and industrie the contrary being proper and naturall to the barbarous vsing immoderate hastinesse The examples likewise of such euils as hath fortuned to manie thorough this headinesse and choler ought to make vs more aduised as that written of sundrie in time past who haue kept in and retired them selues feeling choler comming on them and especially of one Architas who sayde to his seruantes keeping ill rule it is a good turne for you that I am in a chafe And Agesilaus counselled the Athenians to set all their force against Epaminundas alone adding that none but the wise and prudent were valiant and the only cause of victorie and that the other would be soone enough vanquished We see likewise that light braynes goe themselues vp and downe gathering of matter to inflame their passions and voluntarily cast themselues hedlong into such vices as of themselues they are inclined vnto and so it commeth of necessitie that he which is once disposed to stumble doth euer so continue And since that vice is made a vertue and that the euill is turned into a custome there is small remedie as Seneca writeth or as experience doth declare And wee must in the beginning be well aduised howe we deliberate because we can not afterwarde without dishonour and danger leaue it or take an other course hauing long time perseuered therein And if the reasons be contradictorie we must followe the more reasonable and the most strong coniectures hoping for remedie as well thorough time as other accidentes Men praysed the prudence of Fabius because he broake the point of fortune and hindred the aduancement of Hanniball in a shonning to fight temporysing attending his aduantage which is a vertue that is named long suffrance And Scipio was wont to say that he might the better keepe his people in that he was accustomed rather to buy suertie then to submit himselfe to any hazarde And did like vnto the Chirurgeons who neuer worke with their instruments when they may finde any other remedie Hee punished the Carthaginians for their vnconstancie for which fault we haue seene as well french as other to be bitterly chastened It is also very requisite to estrange our selues from foolish talking lewde companie and vnconstant people For men of auntient time without any further enquirie iudged a man to be such as they were whom he most frequented Saint Paul teacheth vs discreetely to haue regarde to the humors of such companie as we would frequent for feare least we be pertakers of their euill In an auncient tragedie there was a wicked man brought in forbidding any man to come neare him fearing least by his shadowe the good might be annoyed And Ecclesiasticus doth counsell that we depart from the thing that is wicked and sinne shall turne away from vs. Which moued Dauid in sundrie his Psalmes to protest that he both hated and shunned all wicked companie and was not able to endure within his court any wicked or disloyall person Wherefore I beseech the nobilitie and good wittes of France because it is a matter so easie to bee doone that they will once mayster their wils passions headinesse soddainenesse and choler and that they would for euer accustome themselues to pacience gentlenesse silence and modestie giuing as it were a bridle to their desires and as the Psalmist sayeth a watch before their mouth to the ende they may doe or saye nothing but what they haue well before thought of And that they will beginne by little matters to gaine vpon greater which may be able to hurt vs for as it is written in Ecclesiasticus he which despiseth small thinges shal fall And in Cassiodorus King Theodoric writeth that it is the lightnesse of the wit lightly to promise what a man will not or is not able to perfourme As we will more at large declare hereafter He likewise that could accustome himself not too much to loue himselfe nor his commodities nor that whiche they call ouerwinning the which causeth the vsurpation of an other mans goods but contrarie wise to followe the rule of charitie so muche recommended vnto vs from GOD shall not easily cast himselfe hedlong into this inconstancie Isocrates wisely counselled his king to consider well what hee would saye or doe for feare least hee fayled therein And albeit it be no light combat as Basill sayd to vanquish an euill custome yet by little little must a bodie change itand of rashe inconstant and light to become modest constant and stayde Let vs consider what Caesar in his commentaries layeth to the charge of the Frenchmen because they bare armes too lightly mutinous and not so subtle in warre as hardie and couragious and that hee no lesse desireth in a man of warre modestie and obedience then prowise and greatnesse of courage Thucidides the great Captaine and Historiographer of the Greekes esteemed the fortunate and happie conducte of the warre to hange on three pointes that is to bee willinge to reuerence and to obeye as Paulus Aemilius was in like sorte woont to saye We haue manie examples that may serue to instructe and teach vs in the iourneyes that haue beene made into Flaunders since tenne yeares past of the euill fortunes and mishappes and disorders happened during our troubles and an infinite number of enterprises to inconsideratelye and lightly vndertaken vppon vayne imaginations and deceitfull hopes hauing reaped nought else thereby then losse and dishonour and the profitte of all the warres since one hundred yeares past is not able to be compared to the dammages and euils that haue thence proceeded Whereby we must confesse that God hath weyghed all thinges in an euen ballance minglyng losses and victories togeather that thereby he might set foorth his iudgementes and make vs shunne lightnesse auarice and ambition as well of great as small The discipline of warre consisteth rather in not putting our selues without necessitie to daungers and in making voyde the effortes of the enimie and in turning vpside downe their enterprises with industrie and patience without shedding the bloud of subiectes than to combate couragiouslie and valiantly And there is often times more hope of victorie in standing onely to defende our selues and let the time runne then in putting our selues to the arbitrage of fortune And there are infinite examples what losses haue beene sustayned by giuing of battayles following the counsell which Timotheus gaue to the Thebanes except one bee thereto encouraged through a great aduauntage or constrayned by an vrgent necessitie God being accustomed as he sayde to throwe downe the proude and lift vp the humble And it is no lesse the dutie of a Captayne which is valiant to shewe himselfe wise
Almane An Embassadour hauing long time spoken before Agis king of the Lacedemonians asked him what aunswere he shoulde carrie backe Thou shalt saye quod hee that I haue suffered thee to speake whatsoeuer thou wouldst haue heard thee cōtinually without replying any word And the great K Francis to an Embassador of Charles the fift Emperour who began his Oration with these words Whē Scipio ariued before Carthage said Growe to your end for we know wel enough he went not a foote but a horsback The Athenians made a feast to K. Antigonus Embassador among other called thither Zeno the Philosopher who was held in great reputation and for because he had not spoken one worde all the whole banquet they asked him what they should say of him to their Prince he answered what you haue seene because speach is hardly tempered as Bion said it is vnpossible for a foole to hold his peace at the table it is not so dangerous stumbling with the foote as with the tongue Alexandridas to one which made a verie good discourse yet longer then needed My friend said he you say as it ought to be but not as you ought Cleomenes to a long Oration of the Embassadors of Samos answered As for your exordium I do not wel remember it nor so consequently the midst and I will say little to your conclusion Of like sort was the answere made by K Philip to an other Embassadour Wee haue not vnderstood your conclusion because wee forgot your beginning And after he had asked the Athenian Embassadors if they desired ought els at his hands then to haue him their friend that they aunswered that they wished that he had hong himself he told them that hee which bare these wordes was much more modest then the Athenians who had not the discretion to keepe them in And another was cast in the teeth that for a drop of wit hee had a flood of words and that he which is liberal and abounding in words is euer sparing in deeds Salomon sayeth He which hath knowledge spareth his wordes Euen a foole when he holdeth his peace is counted wise Which gaue occasion to men of olde time to write that Harpocrates was the superintendent correcter of mans speach being drawen with a ring fastened on his lippes And they ordained certaine ceremonies to vse men to scilence not to speake but vpon good deliberation Other worshipped Angerona the goddesse of scilence drawen with her finger vppon her mouth shewing in what reuerence they ought to hold secrecie It is written of S. Pembo that he was wont to saye that hee had spent nineteene whole yeres to put in practise the beginning of the 39 Psalme I though I will take heede to my wayes that I sinne not with my tongue I wil keepe my mouth bridled The Embassador of the Rhodes greatly accounted of before K. Ptolome that in his countrey weomen were giuen to solitarines litle speach To this commeth the custom which the Popes obserue that when they receiue any Cardinall they stop his mouth after certaine dayes that hee maye learne of his seniors they open it againe Iob also fearing to haue spoken too lightly said that he would holde his hande vppon his mouth And S. Ierom writeth how he saw some that in seuen yeres neuer spoke S. Ambrose cast the Christians in the teethe for that the infidels in their temples sacrifices vsed great scilence but that Christians did not so And to shew howe a secrete ought not lightly to be reuealed we haue the answere of Metellus a Romane Captaine to one that asked of him his opinion that if his shirte knew his counsell he would presently throw it off and cast it into the fire The which our French writers haue noted to haue beene since that the speache of Charles the eight And Antigonus answered his sonne demaunding of him when he shoulde goe fight Art thou afraide for not hearing the sound of a trumpet for it is a verie harde matter not to publish what one hath heard which maketh vs often times lose manie good occasions As an indiscreete worde of one man hindered the whole citie of Rome that it was not deliuered from the tyrannie of Nero. King Lycimachus asked Philippides what hee woulde haue him graunt vnto him hee aunswered what it will please you Mileeche to parte with so it bee not any of your secretes for as it is written in the Prouerbes The Kinges heart can no man search out and a secrete thinge must bee concealed And in Ecclesiasticus He which discouereth secrets loseth his credite Alexander perceiuing that Ephestion had red a letter whiche hys mother hadde sent him with his signet closed his lippes as who would saie he ought not to disclose what hee had read Pompey suffered a finger of his owne to burne because hee would not reueale the counsaile of the Senate The like is noted in Papirius And Plyny telleth of one that cut out his tongue and cast it at the face of a Tyraunt because he would not discouer a conspiracie One asked Anacharsis who inuested his yonger brother in his kyngdome why when he lay downe he alwaies held his right hand vpon his mouth he aunswered because he might neither reueale any secret nor speake rashly for that hee to whome one reuealeth it gayneth the libertie of the other Diodorus writeth how the Egiptians did euer cut out his tongue that had disclosed any secret or reuealed any practise to the enemies And one Valerius a Poet was executed at Rome King Seleucus called the conquerour hauing lost a battaile fled by manie crooked waies and in the ende ariued at a poore Pesantes Cottage who gaue vnto him what hee was able to come by in the ende he knew it was the king and not being able to keepe in his ioye nor disguise with the king who desired nothing but to be vnknowne he guided him into the high-way where taking his leaue he said farewell my Leeche Seleucus The king made a signe to one of his companie to kill him whereas if he had held his tongue for a while vntill the king had better fortune he might haue bene highlier rewarded for his secrisie then for his good cheare for since that a worde issueth out of ones mouth as out of his hauen there is no more harbour where to shrowde nor ancker to trust vnto but in the ende bursteth against some rocke or goulfe to his great danger that suffered it to passe And as the Vyper is torne asunder when she bringeth forth her litle ones so secretes comming out of their mouthes that are not able to conceale them doe but vtterly vndoe and ruine suche as haue reuealed them and thorough the intemperance of theyr tongue cast themselues downe headlong as one made an example of cruell beastes that
were penned vp who if they once goe abroad dyd much harme and oftentimes men were constrayned to kill them In the time of Augustus one Fuluius for hauing disclosed a secret to his wife caused themselues both to be put to death And Quintus Cursius sheweth what great punishmentes the Persians ordained for the like Amasis king of Egipt sent vnto Pittacus one of the seuen wise men of Greece that was come to see him a mutton willing him to send backe that peece which he accounted as best and that which he iudged to be the worst in steede of the two peeces so differing hee sent vnto him the tongue as the instrument both of the greatest good greatest harme that might be and that therein as it is sayd among great wits consisted moste excellent vertues and notorious vices as it is written in the Prouerbs that death and lyfe are in the power of the tongue and that he which keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soule from tribulations Let vs then I pray you consider that we haue two eyes and two eares but one onely tongue and that to inclosed within the teeth and lipps betweene the braine and the hart seruing as their truche man hauing aboue it the instrument of all the sences the eyes the eares and the nose obedient vnto reason to the end she put foorth nothing before shee haue taken counsell of the sayde sences her neighbours and of the inward faculties of the soule which are the vnderstanding and reason placed within the brayne whereby we maye easely iudge how faultye they are who are so lauishe of their tongue before they haue fully pondred and considered what they ought to speake Homer blamed Thersites for too much speaking and praysed Menelaus because he spoke little The which Plutarque did of Phocion by whom it was wrytten that he spoke better then Demosthenes because when he spoke in few wordes he comprehended much matter The sayd Demosthenes likewyse termed him the knife of his wordes And was wont to say that such as knew much spoke little Pericles before he mounted into his cheyre was wont to pray vnto God that no word might escape his mouth that serued not to the matter he had in hand And Zeno reproched a great prater in that his eares was founded vpon his tongue And to an other he sayd he was borne of a druncken father for drunckennes is myxed with this vice that it causeth one to speake more then appertayneth The Pye in this respect was consecrated to Bacchus Certayne of auncient tyme sayde that wine descending into the body caused the wordes to ascende Ecclesiasticus called the comprehending of much in little speach good musique We must then set before our tongue the bulwarke of reason which hindreth flowynge and the slypperinesse of inconstancie And as ryders when they breake their coultes firste teach them to haue a good mouth and obey the brydle so ought we to teach our children to heare much and speake little Cato sayde of the Greekes that their speach came but from the teeth outwarde but the Romanes spoke from the hart as Homer wryteth of Vlisses and in his youth he sayde hee refrayned from speach vntill he knew how to speake well and that it was the propertie of Lelius to speake too muche And if there proceeded but this benefite vnto a man which had once gayned this reputation to bee accounted discreete in his speach and true that he is beloued of God and men hee is honoured and beleeued in what so euer he sayth he goeth with his heade lyfted vppe and contrarywyse he which is once caught with a lye or is a pratler is hated blamed and destitute of friendes looseth his credite and meanes to teach it were sufficient to make vs to embrace the truth and shunne lying And whereas Caesar in his commentaries founde fault with the french men because they receaued for certayne such brutes as ranne vp and downe and vncertayne aduertisementes whereof shortlye after they repented as before I touched it were very requisite that that order which he then wryteth to haue beene obserued were at this present practised that hee which had learned ought that concerned the state shoulde presentlye make relation to the magistrate and not speake thereof to anye other personne for that sayth hee we haue often seene by experience that men beeing light and ignoraunt easelye made them selues afrayde with false and counterfaite newes which ledde them to a resolution to vndertake matters of importaunce and daungerous as wee haue sundrye examples of our tyme and all histories are full of the misfortunes which haue happened to such as haue spoken enterprised and beleeued too lightly Moreouer in some cases to bee silent is as daungerous as if anye knowe anye conspiracie agaynste their countrey or kinge or anye that mighte greatlye preiudice their neyghboure they ought to discouer it To them lykewyse whose dutie is to teach Vertue and reprehende vice and to preache silence is forbidden both by GOD and the lawes And as Saint Ambrose learnedlye wryteth if we muste render account to GOD for euerye idle worde so muste we lykewyse for our idle scilence if at anye tyme wee haue omitted accordinge to oure duetye to instruct or correct oure neighbour there by beeynge able to tourne him from his euill waye or errour Wee must lykewyse consider the time and place to speake or hold our peace as it is written that Socrates being requested at a feast that he would speake of his arte had reason to aunswere it is not now time for what I can doe and that which the time now requireth can I not doe CHAP. 16. That as well of friendes as enemies one should learne the truth DIuers haue written that the better to discern trueth from falshoode it were requisite to haue either very entire friendes or enemies for these meaning to anger one do vpraide and blame whatsoeuer seemeth vitious vnto them and as out of a watche discouer suche imperfections as oftentimes men doe not thinke on and so are a meanes that they are corrected As Xenophon writeth that a wise man is able to reape his profite by his enemies And Philp king of Macedon said that he was bound to the Athenians which reuiled him because they were an occasion to make him the more vertuous and aduised and enforced hym all hys life long both in his actions and wordes to make them lyers And in truth they are a cause that maketh men contain theyr fashions and maners as in a straight dyet And this habit that one vndertake nothing vpon the suddaine cleane taketh away all occasion from our enemies of mocking vs or reioysing For this cause Scipio answering them that immagined the estate of the Romanes to be in verie great suretie the Carthagenians being ouerthrowne and the Acheens subdued said Nay now are we in greatest
things concerning the vertues yet haue they not declared at whose handes they ought to be demaunded nor whither they ought to bee referred neither haue they knowen the beginning of the corruption of mans nature nor the remedie of al euils which is reuealed in the Gospel by the knowledge of the trueth and the adoption of the Christians the remission of sinnes and the promises which giue vs a certaintie of the fauour blessing and good will of our good God whereof ensueth a good conscience hope and peace in the spirite which consumeth all the greefe and sorrowe as the Sunne doth the morning dewe And there is none of the said Philosophers except Plato which was able to set downe that the soueraigne good of man was to be ioyned with God but he had no tast at all what this coniunction meant nor the meane to attaine vnto it And as touching the comfortes of the Philosophers the complaint which Cicero made in his Epistle to Atticus is true that the medicine is not of force enough for the disease that neither the discipline learning nor bookes ought profited him Which a body cannot auerre by the holy scriptures as Dauid saide that hee was quickened comforted instructed that they gaue light to idiots And there is another manner of efficacie then the drougg which Homer called Nepenthes which he said was able to keep one from smelling yll sauours charme greefe vnderstanding therby a discreate speaker one able to apply himself to the present affections times affaires as more at large we haue before declared Which maketh me to disproue the opinion of Seneca which attributeth it to god in that we liue but in that we liue wel to Philosophie which in deede ought rather to be referred to God the aucthor of all good Horace spoke as ignorantly writing that God gaue him life riches but that he furnished himselfe with a good and right vnderstanding For God causeth the eye to see the eare to heare and giueth the right iudgement both to will and to perfourme as S. Paul sayth and he disposeth the pathes intentions of men This word Philosophie hath beene interpreted for the loue of wisedome and Aristotle in his second booke of his Metaphisicks taketh it for the knowledge of the trueth Many haue noted great varietie ambiguitie vncertaintie in the doctrine of Aristotle and that he was ignorant of the most excellent things of nature vsed verie necessarie demonstrations The which men in time past wel marked picturing behind his portracture a woman which had her face couered with a vayle named Physis that is to say Nature And it is no maruaile at al if all of them were not able to attaine to those supernaturall things since that the most excellent treasors of nature were concealed from them The which ought to make vs admyre at Gods speach in the fiue last Chapters of Iob discoursing of the mouings of the heauens force of the starres of the earth founded vpon the waters of the waters hanging in the middle of the worlde and sundry other wonders which a body may perceiue able to declare the knowledge of man to be verie ful of ignorance S. Augustine compared the life of the ancient Pagans which were accounted so wise vertuous to a wandring course their argumēts to a glasse which is shining but verie brickle Concluding it better to halt in the way of truth then to runne lightly without it He wrote likewise that their vertues were impure imperfect because there is nothing good without the soueraigne good And where there is defect of the knowledge of eternal life there vertue is false mens intentions go awrie And there is no man that can haue any quietnes of conscience but through the promises of God from which they were shut out also by the inward obedience required of God by trusting in him by repentance righteousnes iustification of the faithful by the free forgiuenes of our sinnes by hope patience confidence in aduersitie confession giuing of thanks by referring al things to the glorie of God to charitie And S. Chrisostom vpon the first to the Corinthians fourth Homelie cōpareth the subtile disputations of the Philosophers to cobwebbes which breake rent asunder with the wind speaking of a happy life were neuer able to attaine vnto it and as S. Paul writeth professing themselues to be wise they became fooles And not without cause Socrates in Plato lamented that the Philosophers studyed more the contemplation of nature knowledge then to liue well or giue good precepts And towards the end of the treatise of his lawes as through a diuine inspiration he giueth hope of the comming of one more excellent more redoubted and more holy then any man whose office was to open the secrete places of truth and the hidden fountaines who should be folowed honored of al men which surely could not be vnderstood but by our Lord Iesus Christ which is the waie the truth and the life S. Chrisostome setteth downe in the ranke of Philosophers Aristides Cato Solon Lycurgus Epaminundas sundrie other who besides their knowledge were excellent in matters of state gouernement as was our lawyer Vlpian and studied more to do good to euery one then to bee conuersant in contemplation For the Sophisters counterfait to be wise in deed their ende is but glorie and proud boasting And S. Augustine thought that all Philosophers were rather giuen to the seruice and searching out of the intelligences seperate which we call angels diuels and which they called gods and spirites then of the true God albeit they confessed there was one only almightie father of the Gods and men And it is easie to gather out of their writings how they confessed one only God in three persons the Father the Sonne the holy ghost and other Articles contained in the Apostles Creede to conuict Atheists and Epicures withal CHAP. XX. Of disguisings done to Princes and what is their duetie for their honour and quiet of their subiects and of the miseries of the wicked of the obseruation of ordinances and of that which maintaineth or altereth an estate PRinces were ordained of God to be fathers protectors and shephardes ouer the people cōmitted to their charge to serue to maintaine their libertie and to defende them against all iniuries and to shewe them good example to entertaine iustice and peace to cause vertue learning sciences and good lawes to flourish to prouide for the instruction of youth to esteeme of the good and chastice the wicked Plato did write following the fixion of Homer that children born of Kings were composed of a pretious masse to be seperate from the common sort And it is saide of Scipio and certaine other great personages that they were descended from a
diuine race because God giueth particular graces to such as he setteth ouer others Horace likewise named Kings Diogenes that is to say the generatiō of Iupiter Diotrephes nourished by Iupiter Aristes of Iupiter which signifieth as Plato interpreteth the familiars disciple in politike sciences And Frederick is as much to say as the k. of peace And for as much as Artaxerxes Mnemon delighted in peace was affable and vertuous the rest of the Kings of Persia since his time haue beene called by his name And it is incredible howe so many should fall headlong into so great dishonors and misfortunes as we haue both seene and red of had the trueth beene laide open before them It is written that K. Lewys the eleuenth was wont to say that he found euery thing within his kingdome but only one which was trueth K. Lewys the twelueth permitted al commedians and stage players to speake freely and to reprehend such vices as were manifest to the ende they mought bee amended And saide that for his own part he knewe many things by them which he was not before witting of Dyonisius the tyrant of Sicille being retyred to Athens after he was depriued of his kingdome bewayled the estate of Princes but especially in that men neuer spoke freely vnto them and that the trueth was euer hidden and concealed from them The Emperours Gordian the younger and Dioclesian made the verie like complaint that euery thing was disguysed and coloured vnto them and that flatterers cast dust before their eyes making them beleeue the euill to be good That they were often times cosened and solde vnder hande that they put the sworde into the handes of furious magistrates and bestowed states honors vpon vnworthie couetous lewd persons That they were caused to turne the day into night and the night into day That they were altogither conuersant and brought vp in delicacies huntings and other pastimes whereby their mindes might be turned from remembring that charge which God had layde vppon them and all this were they brought to doe to the end that such flatterers as were about them might the better attaine to the depth of their deuises And that oftentimes they were but Emperours and Kings in name as if they had plaid their parte but vpon a stage or had beene commedians And that their counselors were the true actors and reped all the profit honor It is likewise written in the rest of Hester that they which deceitfully abuse the simplicitie and gentlenesse of Princes with lying tales make them selues partakers of innocent bloud and wrap them selues in calamities which can not be remedyed And flatterers haue beene compared to the Syrenes who thorough their singing entised all passengers vppon the sea that heard them to drawe neere vnto them Wee may verie well impute to such disguysinges the great expenses which the Emperoures Tiberius Nero Caligula Commodus Domitian Heliogabalus and sundrye others haue foolishlye spent vnder a colour of liberalitie and the better to maintaine their prodigalities put to death and impouerished many which prodigalitie we very well may terme a kinde of lying King Antiochus in hunting lost his way and was constrayned to retire to a poore Yeomans house of the countrey who not knowing tolde him all the faultes that he and his fauorites had committed to whom at his returne he declared that he neuer vnderstoode the trueth vntill that night and euer after he carryed himselfe most vertuously We reade of sundrie our kinges of France who haue done the like and of some Emperours who haue disguised themselues thereby the better to vnderstande what the people spake of them Platina writeth of Pope Eugenes howe he sent certaine rounde about the citie to espie what men most blamed eyther in him or his that it might be amended King Lewys the Grosse which builded S. Victors disguised himselfe often times the better to be informed of the truth And king Lewys the 12. as Charlemagne and Saint Lewys had doone before him tooke great pleasure to vnderstande the complaintes of his subiects applying thereto such remedie as their case required And for this cause hee obtayned the name of father of the people and his memorie is more famous to serue for an example to the posteritie then all the conquestes and victories of other kinges Sundrie of our kinges in the beginning were greatly blamed for that they suffered themselues to bee so muche gouerned by the principall of their court and some haue beene resembled to golden images that are guilded and shining without but within are full of rust cobwebbes and filthinesse For the crowne doth not take away the passions nor griefe of the spirites but rather doth it diminish the true pleasure As Ptolome seeing certaine fishers sporting themselues vpon the sea shore wished he were like one of them adding that monarchies are full of cares feares mistrustes and disguysed miseries Which also Charles the 4. and 5. Emperours were woont to say desyring to leade a priuate life Seleucus before that did the like adding that if hee shoulde cast his crowne into the high waye there would bee none founde that would take it vp knowing the charge and griefes that euer did accompany it And Pope Adrian sayde that he thought no estate so myserable nor so daungerous as his owne and that hee neuer enioyed a better or more pleasant time then when he was but a simple monke and Traian the Emperour wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that hauing nowe tasted the cares and paynes which the imperiall state led with it selfe he did a thousande times repent that euer he tooke it vpon him Homer fayneth all the gods to sleepe except Iupiter who was altogither exempt from sleepe Saint Chrisostome vpon the second to the Corinthians 15. homely sayd that to gouerne and cōmand wel was the greatest and most hard art of all as his fault is more daungerous which guideth the sterne then his which holdeth the owers It is written of Dioclesian that he was wont to say before his Empire that there was nothing so hard as to commaund well Yet many place therein their felicitie and acquit themselues with pleasure of the charge which God hath laide vpon them In my speech before I do not comprehend the wicked and tyrannicall Princes who as Tacitus writeth in the life of Tiberius are perpetually tormented and torne a sunder in their consciences yea and sundrie of them haue lamented the infamie they should endure which they saw very well men would doe vnto them after their death And alleadge the saying of Plato that if their soules could be discouered they should be seene full of stinching scarres and torne in peeces with a hidden yron that euer burneth them And as it is written in the booke of wisedome It is a feareful thing when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie and a conscience that is
touched doth euer forecast cruell thinges It is written of Nero and certaine other that they were of an opinion that the earth did open before them and sawe the shadowes of such as they had caused to die readie to torment them Guichardin writeth of Alphonsus K. of Naples that neither night nor day he could rest in his spirite thinking the very heauens elements had conspired against him that in sleeping the ghosts of such as he had put to death seemed to appeare vnto him in the day thought his subiects to rise to do vengeance vpon him which was the cause that he did not abide the cōming of the Frenchmen Plutarke sayth that the soules of Tyrantes are composed of arrogancy and crueltie and Demosthenes is of opinion that they be enemies to libertie lawes And Artemidorus describeth the visions and fearefull dreadfull dreames which haue affrighted the wicked The which ought to moue all Princes to feare God to subiect thēselues vnto the laws of nature euen as they desire the obedience of their owne subiects procuring their good vnitie and quiet reuenging their iniuries charging thē with as little as they may bestowing their gouernments vpon vertuous persons giuing good wages without selling of offyces as the Emperours Alexander Seuerus Pertinax sundry of our kings diuers other haue greatly recommended vnto vs. And Claudius the Emperour was wont greatly to thanke such as hee had prouided for offices for that they being men worthie and capable of them would accept them It were also a very great prayse if men would not so easily dispence with the holy ordinaunces and especially those that touch age and forbid two of one parentage to be of one chamber and bed as also it is reported in the Commentaries of Caesar that it was a matter straightly forbidden at Authun Such ordinances likewise as haue beene renewed through pollicie the garmentes banquetes and iustice would breede great quietnesse were they well obserued And if according to the disposition of the lawe for euery matter contayned in the Kinges letters which should not be founde trewe there were a good fine set according to the condition of those which so greatly abuse the fauors of the Prince And were it not that I feared to offend such as reape profit and commoditie by the seale I would desire that those restitutions remedies which the law doth giue might be accorded by the ordinary iudges without letters For as the Emperours and lawyers haue said what neede one trouble a Prine or be too importunate vpon him for that which the law of it selfe permitteth And al policie tendeth to a publicke profite as we haue heretofore noted It were likewise an ordinaunce verie laudable that all offyces were bestowed by an election made of three persons to the most capable of which the kinge should giue the estate that is voyde without anye money For the sale of offyces is an occasion of sundrie mischiefes as Aristotle declareth in his Politicques There are likewise a greate number which following the first ordynaunces are verye desyrous to see those sayde offyces and estates to bee once agayne reduced to their auncient number and what euer were superfluous to bee suppressed as neare as possible mought be for that the ouer greate number of Iudges and gouernours as Plato sayeth is an occasion of great disorder The Kinge in like sorte shoulde ease himselfe of manie importunities and great if he would cause a role to be made of such benefices offyces and charges as are vacant and within one moneth or a little after they be voyde to prouide good seruauntes and woorthie members to occupie the same And hee should deserue great prayse if he would cause his places vpon the frontiers to be well furnished and fortifyed and the high wayes to be amended and repayred as the sayd Emperour Traian did other Lords and commonwelthes And should greatly cōfort his subiectes if he would cause all superfluous ordinances to be reiected and which are no more in vse and leaue a little volume of such as are necessarie And for as muche as the offices of Mareschal chiefe and gouernour require a farre more great wisedome and experience the faults which they should commit being of so great importance they ought not to be bestowed vpon young men that are not experienced of whose vertue there is no further proofe then fauour but vpon well tryed Captaines and men of yeares As also hee ought to take the like order in the principall offyces of iudgement and among the generals of reuenewes of the iustice of Monyes procurers generall and Commissioners of warre And aboue all thinges Princes ought to measure their actions by the standard of their lawes to be gracious maintayners of godlinesse iustice and faith pitifull to the oppressed modest in prosperitie patient and constant in aduersitie courteous vnto the good and terrible vnto the wicked to flatterers tale caryers and coyners of newe inuentions cleane abolishing all occasion that might tende to moue sedition trouble and dissention matters leading men to vproares armes and partialities cleane dismembring the dew obedience we owe vnto our soueraigne Aristotle comprehendeth all the publicke vices vnder this worde inequalitie which seuereth the heartes of the people therefore it is requisite a geometricall equalitie be kept to meate with such miscontentmentes for if the entreatie which is made between diuers persons be temperate and well proportioned then peace ensueth thereon if it be dissolute and out of proportion warres commotions and dissentions arise thereupon And albeit there be no agreement betweene light and darkenesse nor betweene Christ and Belial as S. Paule writeth in 2. to the Corinthians and that euerie good man ought to desire a vnitie in religion yet doe I greatly commende their wisedome who seeing the vrgent necessitie that France hath of a long and quiet peace to the which the King hath nowe guided it as a shippe in mayne sea often times sore brused with stormes and tempestes are not of opinion it should be againe put to the mercie and iniurie of the waues and the rage of bloystering windes of partialities and diuisions which so long time haue tossed too and fro this state nor that the edictes should bee broken hauing so many times beene sworne vnto and published after hauing taken the aduise of the whole bodie of the Kinges priuie counsell and of the principall soueraygne courtes of the whole Realme as a man may saye besides an infinite number of reasons founded vpon that which the Emperours Constantine Licinius Nerua Gratian and sundrie other Emperours haue doone in respect of the necessitie of the time thereby to be the better able to establish peace and quietnesse so better preserue their owne estate I leaue the Turke which doth not at all enforce the consciences of the Christians yea and some religious persons in the holy mount aunciently called Athos
of speech that will not holde his peace for feare of any when it should be time to speake and you shall finde in him such a courage and vertue as Diogenes the Cinike had that is to say a Dogge louer of mankind and this dogge shal be capable of reason that for your sake will barke against any other and against you to if you doe ought woorthy of blame euer for all that vsing prudence and discretion and hauing regarde to the time and season when he ought to performe his duetie Then Titus prayde him he would with speede bestowe that dogge vppon him that was so compagnable and loyall to whom he would giue leaue not only to barke when he should doe ought worthie of reprehension but also to bite him if he sawe him doe any thing vnworthy his aucthoritie He likewise neuer vsed such violence crueltie or tyrannie as did his brother Domitian For in trueth when the people of Rome and other nations yeelded the soueraigne power and right which they had vnto Monarches they neuer ment to put their liberty into their hands that would rather vse violence and passion then reason and equitie but to yeelde themselues to the tuition of such a one as would gouerne according to lawes reason and iustice And it is not possible that this first ordinance could be made without the consent of the subiectes for otherwise it could not be grounded vpon a lawfull Empire or kingdome but vpon an vnlawfull and tyrannicall vsurpation and it is necessarie that such a consent should retaine the nature of a contract in good fayth and a bonde counterchangable As wee see it in like sorte practised at this day in the greatest part of kingdomes and Empires that are in Christendom that it is the only foundation which mainteyneth them as Plutarke writeth the posts pillars which vpholde an estate Neither are Princes able without necessitie to dispence with the othe they take at their coronation and with the obligation which they owe to God and their subiects And according as Aristotle Herodotus Tacitus Demosthenes and Cicero haue written the first souerainitie proceeded from the good will and well liking of such as for their commoditie quiet and suertie submitted themselues to such as excelled in heroical prowes the better to be able to maintayne their ciuill societie thorough lawes And that he in whom was not founde the cause of this originall and image of safetie iustice clemencie and diuine bountie was a person vnworthie of such honour causing an infection to the body of the whole publicke weale And most notable is the saying of king Cyrus that it appertayned to none to cōmand but such as excelled their subiects in bountie goods of the minde The great King of Sparta Agesilaus aunswered those that so highly commended the magnificence greatnesse of the K. of Persia VVherefore is he greater then I except he be more iust then I For a king ought to cause him selfe to be loued and admired of his subiectes thorough the vertuous examples of his good life And Plutarke in the life of Pirrhus writeth that the Kinges tooke an oth that they should gouerne according to their lawes and that in so doing the people would obey thē Now we must needes confesse that they are giuen of God who as Daniel witnesseth establisheth and putteth downe Kings And Ieremiah writeth that he will bestowe kingdomes on whom it him best liketh And God sayth in the Prouerbes Through me kings raygne and Princes iudge the earth and if they do not he threatneth them in Iob that he will loose their celer and guirde their loynes with a girdle And the Queene of Saba sayde to Salomon that God had set him in his throne as Kinge insteede of the Lorde God to execute iudgement and iustice The which more plainely Salomon speaketh in his booke of wisedome Lorde thou hast choosen me to rule ouer thy people and to iudge thy sonnes daughters And the people is called the heritage of the Lorde and the King the gouernour of this heritage the guide light of Gods people And Aristotle in the fift booke of his Politiques sheweth that kinges often times tooke certaine offycers to conteine them in their duetie as did the Ephores about the kinges of Sparta The which Caesar declareth was greatly obserued among the Gaulois yeelding an example of Ambiorix and Vercingentorix The oth the greatest part that the Christian kings toke was I will minister lawe iustice protection aright to euery one And Zonarus wrote after Xenephon that the kings of Persia shewed them selues more subiect to lawes thē Lords had more feare shame to breake the lawes then the people had to be punished what they had offended And God instructing Ioshua what he shuld do aboue all things cōmanded him that the booke of the lawe should not depart out of his mouth but that he shuld meditate therin day night that he might obserue and doe according to all that is written therein For then should hee make his way prosperous and haue good successe Then it followeth in the text that the people promised to obey him in all As Xenophon writing of the commonwealth of the Lacedemonians sayth that monthly the kings did sweare to guide thēselues according to the lawes and the Ephores toke oth in the peoples behalfe that vpon that cōdition they would maintaine thē And S. Paul saith that euery power is of God whose seruants they are for the benefit of their subiects consequently they are bound to follow his wil rule giuē by Moses And the meanes which are of succession or election depend of the diuine prouidence which causeth thē to prosper Dauid hūbled himselfe to what was his dutie office making alliance with the deputies of the people and describeth the dutie of a good king in the 72.82 101. Psalmes And whilest he Salomon Ioas Ezechias other liued wel they continually prospered but falling from that fell into many miseries Pericles was cōmended for that as often as he put on his gowne he saide vnto himselfe remember that thou dost cōmand ouer a free nation ouer Athenians and ouer Greekes The which christian Princes haue more occasion to speak and obserue Agapet sayd of Iustinian that he maystred his pleasures being adorned with the crowne of temperaunce and clad with the purple of iustice And Ammian writeth that a Kingdome or Dukedome is nought else then the care of an others safetie and that where the lawe doth not gouerne there ruyne is at hande As Antiochus sayde to his sonne Demetrius that their kingdome was a noble slauerie And Plutarke in the life of Nicias reciteth the sayinge of Agamemnon in Euripides VVe liue to outwarde shew in greatnesse state and might Yet in effect we are you knowe but peoples seruants right Titus Liuius writeth that the Carthaginians punished their rulers
when they followed any euill counsell albeit it succeeded wel the which was long time obserued in the kingdome of Persia For as Brutus wrote vnto Cicero a man once placed in great dignitie hath more to do to mainetaine the grace and reputation which he hath alreadie gotten then he which doth but beginne to get Euen as King Philip aunswered Arpalus who greatly did importunate him to reuerse a suite that a kinsman of his had in the law it were better that thy Cosen in the estate which he is in be defamed through his owne outragiousnesse then that I who am a King commaunding ouer so great a countrey should giue cause to my subiects to speake euill of me for hauing done so great iniustice eyther in fauour of him or thee As also the great Kinge Artaxerxes gaue a great summe of money to a gentleman of his chamber in steede of a suyte he besought at his handes which well hee mought not graunt saying that for giuing that he should not be the lesse rich but if he had yeelded to what he vniustly craued hee should haue beene lesse esteemed and not haue performed the dutie of a good King which aboue all thinges ought to haue in price iustice and equitie For as Pliny declared vnto Traian his Master The life of a Prince is a censure that is to saye the rule the square the frame and forme of an honeste life according to which their subiectes frame the manner of their life and order their families and rather from the life of Princes doe subiectes take their paterne and examples then from their lawes This was it which moued Isocrates to write vnto Nicocles it serueth to proue that thou hast wel gouerned if thou see thy subiectes become more modest and riche vnder thy Empire For the subiectes followe the example of their Princes as certaine flowers turne according to the Sunne And Theodoric the K. of the Goths wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that the course of nature would fayle before the people would bee other then their Prince And Claudian was of opinion that the edictes and lawes were not so well able to amende and temper the maners and hearts of the people as did the good life of their gouerners And in Hosea it is written that there shalbe like people like Priest Xenophon in the eight of his Pedion writeth that subiectes are as it were enforced to doe well when they see their Princes temperate not giuen to vniustice and for the most parte fashion themselues according to their moulde For this cause great personages haue the more neede to haue good counsellours about them whose vnderstanding mouthes eyes and eares maye serue them to make them better able to acquite themselues of their charge as Aristotle saith And it were to be wished that they were not corrupt but wel remember what Plinie the yonger wrote vnto Traian that a Prince ought onely to wil that which he may Quintus Cursius writeth that a Prince rather ought to imploy his time and to spende in getting and maintaining a wise counseler about him then in conquests Anthonie the Emperour onely amended his manners by the report of those as he had sent about the citie to vnderstande what was saide of him And the Emperour Theodosius the second copyed out with his owne hande al the new testament and red euery day one Chapter and made his prayers and soung Psalmes togither with his wife and sisters And many haue commended the custome of diuers of our Kinges and especially saint Lewes who when they rose out of their bed kneeled downe thanking God that he had preserued them that night beseeching him to pardon them their sinnes for his mercies sake and to continue them in his holie custodie and fauour to the ende that without offending of him they might employ all the daye to his honour and acquite themselues of the charge which he had bestowed on them And they caused a Chapter of the Bible or some other good booke to be red while they apparelled them selues the better to teache them to gouerne For to rule is as much to saye as to amende what is amisse or awrie And in Deutronomie it is commaunded the King to haue the booke of the lawe and to read therin al the dayes of his life as aboue wee haue noted was enioyned to Iosua And it is written in Iob that wee shoulde enquire of the former age and search of our fathers because of our ignorance And in the Prouerbes Where no Councell is the people fall but where manye Councellors are there is health And that health commeth from manie Councellors but good councel proceedeth from God And wee see by sundrie histories that such Emperours as haue contemned the Senate haue had a verie euil ende And that some of our Kinges though they were but of meane capacitie yet so guyded themselues thorough Counsell that they atchieued great matters And Thucidides called them bondmen slaues and of verie base mindes that were led by lewde Councell Edward King of Englande saide of King Charles the fifth surnamed the wise that hee feared more the learning and remembrances of that wise King then he did the puissant armies of his predecessour And K. Lewys the eleuenth sayde it was as much as to fish with a hook of golde to sende an armie beyonde the mountaines where the losse is assuredly greater then can be the profit Agamemnon said in Homer that hee had rather choose two like vnto his old counsellor Nestor then so manye Achilles or Aiax Darius King of the Persians and Medes made great account of Daniel Pericles had about him Anaxagoras Cato Anthenodorus Scipio hauing in charge and beeing appointed to goe looke and sounde out what iustice raigned through the worlde presently sent to fetch Panetius and oftentimes serued his turne through the councel of Lelius Iulius Caesar tooke aduise of Aristo Augustus of Mecenas Pompeye of Cratippus Nero al the fiue first yeres of his Empire wisely conducted him selfe through the counsell of Seneca Marcus Antonius had Apollodorus Demetrius Crates of whome he was wont to say that hee conned small thankes to his businesse and affaires which so much hindered him from sooner hauinge attained to knowledge Pyrrhus sayde likewise of Cineas his councellor that hee more esteemed his eloquence then the valour of all his Captaines Alexander the great had in high estimation Anaxarques and Aristotle to whome he confessed that hee owed no lesse vnto them then to his owne father hauing of the one receiued life but of the other to be able to liue well and that the best munition weapons and maintainance of warre that he had were the discourses hee had learned of Philosophie and the preceptes touching the assurance of fearing nought and the diligence in differring nothing that was to be done Cyrus vsed the counsell of Xenophon Craesus King of Lydia
render them back againe And so by the ordinances of the kings Charles 6 9. Philip 6. Iohn 2. Charles 5.6 8. such alienations were reuoked And at an assembly of the three estates holdē at Tours the said Charles the 8 being himself present sundry alienations made by Lewys the 11. were repealed And sundry places that he had bestowed vpon Tanored du Chastel his chiefe mignion were taken away frō him The like was renewed at the last parliament holden at Orleans Hence came the order decree concluded in the treasurie chamber Too large excessiue gifts must be caled back I wil not here omit how sundry authors haue written of the kings of Persia that euery one had one of his chamber ordained of purpose to come euery day verie early into his chamber say vnto him Arise Mileach prouide for the affaires which the great god hath committed to thy charge The which we read was in like sort vsed by Philip k. of Macedon And sundry kings haue bin called some Philadelphes that is to say louers of their brethren others Euergetes that is to say Benefactors Soter swyor Eupater good father Theophiles louers of God others fauorable shephards fathers of the people by sundry other names mētioned in the former Chapter proper to good Princes And yet we see in sundry ancient stāps of Augustus Nerua Traian Lewys the 12. others how great account they made of the names of protectors fathers of the people Quintus Cursius recyteth how Alexander bosted vanted of himself that in all his actions he estemed himself in the theater of the whole world The which Cicero in like sort saith ought to take place in al Magistrates to the end they may guide themselues the more wisely Spartianus Suetonus Lampridius write how Tiberius Claudus Alexander seuerus Adrian the Emperors oftē went to the Senate called to their councell not their fauorits but men learned graue wel experienced and of a good conscience and that there ensued lesse danger if the counsellors were vertuous and the Prince wicked than if the Prince were good and they of his councell nought Wee may neuerthelesse iustly complaine at this present as Carneades sayed of his time howe the children of Kinges and great Lordes learne nothing aright but to ryde well and manage their horses which knowe not howe to flatter or spare the great more then the simple In Aegypt they pictured their God osyris with an eye vppon a Scepter vnderstanding by the eye the prouidence and knowledge of the trueth and by the Scepter authoritie and power And manie haue thought the custome that is obserued in France to make our Kings kisse the booke of the holie Euangelistes is to admonish them to honour and followe the trueth Men of olde time painted Pallas armed hauing a cocke vppon her helmet as gouerning as well ouer learning as warre For manie haue the nobilitie not so accomplished as their calling required except they intermingled learning with armes knowledge wisedome and skill in hystories and the Mathematiques mixt with valour and actiuitie The Emperour Charles the fifth oftentimes was much greeued that hee neuer learned Latine and confessed hee had great hinderances thereby as also did Hannibal And they which haue not beene learned haue runne into the common errour and haue suffered themselues to bee blindfolded to the ende they mought not further search into that which shoulde giue vnto them great iudgement and ornament And if I were not afrayde I shoulde be too tedious I coulde reckon most notable verie preiudiciall faultes which sundrie great Captaines gouernours and Kinges haue committed thorough a fonde opinion they conceiued of their owne sufficiencie and for lacke of demaunding counsell of them that were about them more aduised and experienced I will content my selfe with one example recited by some hystoriographers of the late lorde of Lautrec viceroy for the King in the kingdome of Naples who was so selfe willed in his opinions that hee had rather misse his enterprise then bee helped by the counsell of other Captaines To whome the losse of the sayde kingdome and of all Italie was attributed Pope Alexander the sixth was greatlye blamed by Guichardin for the same fault who writeth that hee neuer consulted but commaunded Xerxes King of Persia hauing determined to inuade Greece sayde vnto his counsell I haue assembled you togither to the ende it may not be thought that I haue vndertaken this enterprise on my owne braine but I will that without either further deliberating or diswading you obey Hee went awaye likewise faster then he entred in and receiued there a verie great dishonor and irrecouerable losse There be but too manie examples of our time whosoeuer would cote them that are able to teache great personages to distrust of their owne senses wittes aduise sufficiencie and to vndertake nothing without good deliberation least they repent themselues long after as it often happeneth And in Titus Liuius he which only foloweth his owne opinion is rather iudged presumptuous then wise for a man is not able continually of himselfe to consider and knowe al things or among many contrarie reasons to discerne the best In which wisedome is required that a man be not deceaued through an vnfaithful counsellor who tendeth nought els then his owne particular interest And the counsel of the wise carrieth greater commoditie then of the imprudent For this cause Princes ought to take in good part when they shalbee aduised by their Chancelers and soueraigne Courts according to their dueties for the preseruation of their honor and benefite of their affaires and not to thinke that they pretende to make doubt of their power but to esteem their good will when they see they iudge but according to iustice equitie and benefite of the common wealth opposing themselues to the importunities false suggestions and disguisings of the courtiars In which the saide Princes do repose themselues and relye vppon the conscience fidelitie allegeance and othe of their officers according as the lawyers and Emperours haue left behinde them written in the ciuil lawe and our Kings in their ordinances especially Philip le Bel Charles 7. and Lewys the twelfth and by the lawe inuiolably kept in Aegypt as Plutarque sayeth and I els where haue recyted And if Princes take in better part the counsel of their Phisition to shunne and hate intemperance and meates offensiue to the stomache then of a flatterer who shorteneth their dayes so ought they to esteeme of their officers which haue the lawes in estimation and iust gouernement which leadeth to a happie end without listening vnto such as desire an vnbrydeled power which turneth vpside downe all lawes pollicie iustice order and states For this cause our Kings haue likewise ordained that no regarde shoulde bee had to their letters if they were not sealed with the great seale
to the ende that if ought had inconsideratly escaped their mouth or that their letters had beene rashly signed and passed the signet by reason of their great busines and affaires or for not hauing beene fully infourmed how matters stoode it mought the more easily be moderated and remedied They willed likewise all their letters to bee examined by the soueraigne Courts and ordinarie Iudges of their realme Ecclesiasticus also admonisheth vs To praye vnto the most high that he will direct our waye in trueth and that reason goe before euerie enterprise and councell before euerie action Hence proceedeth the ordinarie clauses had by the counsell aduise and ripe deliberation of our councell There are likewise some that haue wel vnderstood the saying of the wisemaÌ„ Where there is no vision the people decay to bee meant of a good gouernement ruled by good councel And the foundations of good counsels and actions ought to be laide vppon pietie iustice and honestie and to be executed with diligence and prudence otherwise they are altogither vnprofitable These two discourses concerne in especiall the greatnes safetie profit of Princes because that of the comfort of their subiects ensueth amitie and of this amitie proceedeth a readie will to expose their persons and goods for the affaires of their soueraigne CHAP. XXII That one ought not to iudge too readily of another IT was not sayde without cause in the olde time that he which beleeued a backebyter committed no lesse offence then hee did And Symonides complained of a friend of his that had spoken yll of him of his eares and lightnes of beleefe which ought not to haue place in any before they be throughly informed of the trueth For by how much by speache a man approcheth nearer to the seate of vnderstanding reason which is in the braine by so much doth it the more hurt marre him which beleeueth if a man take not verie diligent heed and the hearer partaketh halfe with the speaker It is also verie strange to see what care wee haue to keepe the gates of our houses shut and yet howe wee leaue our eares open to raylers and euen as Homer praised them which stopped their eares sayling on the sea neare vnto the Syrenes for feare of being heald entised by their melodie singing and so fal into the daungers that ensued thereon so should not we giue audience to tale carriers and detractors of mens good name and if they chance to prate in our presence we should examine the whole and take thinges in the beste part without giuing too light credence therto Thucidides the historiographer in his preface greatly blamed such as would report of credite sundry thinges of olde time founding their beliefe vppon an vncertaine brute without taking paines to enquire further The which Caesar in like sort writeth of the Gaulois which caused a lie often times to be put in stead of the truth And Aristotle hauing giuen this precept to Alexander to be founde true addeth that he shoulde not beleeue too lightly And it was euer esteemed an act of a wise man to retaine his iudgement without discouering it especially in matters vncertaine and to consider all the circumstances and consequence thereof And we ought to be as it were gardiens of the renowne and good of our neighbour fearing least being men we shoulde fall into that euill which is reported of an other And we ought to put in vre the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Blame no man before thou haue enquired the matter vnderstande first and then reforme Giue no sentence before thou hast heard the cause The which principallye we ought to practise in the wonderfull and vnsearchable workes of God and rather to thinke our selues short in our owne vnderstanding then to suspect that God fayled in his prouidence and in the gouernment of the vniuersall world and by no meanes to controle the worke whereof we haue no skill at all CHAP. 23. Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a discription of detraction MAny haue sayde that it is a great corsey to a man of courage to be barred libertye of free speach And the Emperours Augustus and Tiberius and Pope Pius the seconde haue saide that in a citie that is not bonde tongues ought to be free And S. Ambrose writeth to Theodosius the Emperour that nothing better beseemed a Prince then to loue libertye of speach nor nothing worst for a Priest then not to dare to speake what hee feeleth And as Socrates writeth free speach and discourse is the principall remedye of the afflicted and greeued minde And Pyndarus made aunswere to a king of Sparta that there was nothing more easie for a man to doe then to reprehend an other nor harder then to suffer him selfe to be reprehended The custome of the Lacedemonians was very commendable to punishe him that saw one offende without reprehendinge him for it and him likewise that was angry when he was tolde of his fault For a man is bound to them that tell him of his faultes and admonishe him of the right way that he should hold And a man ought not to suffer his friende to vndoe him selfe though he would as Phocion sayth Salomon describeth in his Prouerbes the profite that it yeeldeth and how necessary a thing it is to the amendement of ones life and one ought not tarrye till the faulte be committed but to preuent it by admonition The which caused certaine of our kinges of France and some other common wealthes haue endured the same that in publike playes men should reprehend such notable faultes as were committed And in Alexandria certain were appointed to go some time in a coch through out the citye blaming such persons as they saw do any fault to the end they might be more afrayde to doe ill and that shame might be of more force then the law And if at anie time anye mislike to haue the truth tolde them as Comicus hath written it proceedeth of the corruption of men of their haughtinesse and ignoraunce As Ptolomeus put Aristomenes his tutor in prison because that in the presence of an Ambassadour he waked him out of his sleepe that he mought be more attentiue to what was sayde vnto him Pope Boniface the seuenth beeing returned home againe to Rome from whence he was driuen away for his dissolutenes caused the eyes of Cardinal Iohn who had told him of his faultes to be put out Fulgosus writeth of Pope Innocent that hauing beene reprehended by some of the citizens of Rome because he prouided not sufficiently against Schismes he sent them backe to his nephew for answere which was that he made them all be caste out of windowes albeit the sayde Innocent before he came to that dignitie often times vsed towardes his predecessours Vrbain and Bennet lâ—ke reprehension In the time of Honorius the seconde they put Arnulphe to death because he so liberally
goods melt away as snowe This is it which Salomon meaneth in the ende of his first chapter of Prouerbs that the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them I will not here forget what S. Chrisostome writeth of vppon the fift of the first to the Corinthians that a little gayne fraudulently gotten is often times the occasion of the losse of great wealth though well come by And in vaine do men locke their chestes with cheynes springes padlockes when they haue enclosed therein deceat a most violent theife which desperseth what euer it findeth within the coffer We read in histories and in Daniel the miserable ende of manye and among other of Nabuchodonosor and of Alexander the great who left nothing to their heyres but their wickednes We read likewise in the Prouerbes that the riches of the wicked auaile not in the day of wrath and that the breade of deceat is sweet to a man but afterwarde his mouth shal be filled with grauell And that the roberie of the wicked shal destroy them For iustice beeinge remoued euery state falleth to ruine and an inheritaunce hastely purchased shall not be blessed And God sayth by Ieremie that as the Partrich gathereth the young which she hath not brought foorth so he that getteth riches and not by right shal leaue them in the middest of his dayes and at his ende shalbe a foole And he pronounceth a cursse on his head that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnesse And in Tobie and some of the Psalmes a little is more worth with right then much heaped vp in iniquitye And it hath not without cause beene saide in auncient time that whatsoeuer vice buildeth it destroyeth Which beeing well considered it ought to stirre vp all maner of persons who wil not degenerate from the auncient nobilitie which hath taken foot and sure foundation vpon vertue to be true and kepe their promises what soeuer should chaunce to happen and not to seeke ought but by honest meanes For if you will exempt iustice and truth out of a gouernment it is then no more then a very robbing as Sainct Augustin affirmeth And for as much as the inconstancy of Princes and almost of al other kind of men is sufficiently apparant and sundry inconueniences haue ensewed where too much trust hath bin yeelded the wiser sort and best aduised haue stoode vppon their garde haue not been too light of beliefe and haue so prouided that men shall not easelie breake their faith with them or surprise them I thinke likewise that they haue heald a verye absurde opinion that commende crueltie in gouernours For he which delighteth in taxing can neuer be beloued or esteemed of I coulde answere them as king Alphonsus did that such men deserued to be gouerned by Lions Beares Dragons and such like beastes For as Salomon writeth the Kinges throne shal be established with mercie the which togeather with subiectes loue and iustice is the very chaine that holdeth togeather and maintaineth an estate and not force feare or great gardes as Dion declareth in Plutarque God beeing willing to make him knowne to Moyses calleth him selfe the Lord the Lord strong mercifull and gratious slow to anger and aboundaunt in goodnes and truth And the Grecians called the king of their Gods Melchins that is to say sweete as hony And the Athenians called him Memactis that is to say succourable And the holy scripture and sundrye Philosophers calleth him a Father a shepheard a refuge and protectour of his people For to murther and torment is the office of a Diuell of furie of a hangman not of a king or honest man And subiects ought otherwise to be accounted of then as slaues as Bartole in his treatise de regimine ciuitatis declareth it vpon the seuenth of Deutronomy where kinges are exhorted not to lift their harts vp aboue their brethren amonge which God had made choyce of them For the puissance of a father as Martian the Lawyer wrote l. s de paracid consisteth in pietie and mercy no whit at all in rigor It is written in the second of the kings how the cruell Senacherib after the angell had put to death 155000. of his men was himselfe slaine by his owne children And in the same booke he writeth of sundry kings and queenes abandoned of God pilled and murthered for their cruelty Like ende had Ptolome surnamed the lightning Ptolome Lamious that is to say the babler Cambises killed him selfe with his owne swoorde Xerxes was slaine by his vncle Seleucus Nicanor killed by Ptolome Kerapnos Antiochus Ierax surnamed the sacre because he liued vppon pillage was in like sort slaine as also was Seleucus surnamed the lightning because of his violence Antiochus the great pilling of the temple was slaine of his people as were Epiphanes and Eupator the histories are full of an infinite number of others which had like ende for their crueltye and couetousnes A man may see in an apology of Saint Ciprian against Demetrian the names of those which persecuted the church and how they haue beene punished holding it for a maxime that there was neuer no crueltye vsed against the Christian church that was not in shorte tyme after reuenged Aristotle exhorted Alexander to doe good to euery one and not to be cruell rather to be praised for his clemency then conquestes It is written of Theodosius that when he deliuered his swoord to his Constable he willed him to vse it only against malefactours and if he commaunded any thing cruell or vniust then hee should draw it againste him selfe As also the kinges of Aegipt would sweare their Iudges that they shoulde not obeye them in ought they demaunded of cruell vniust or against the lawes The like did Antiochus also write to the Cities vnder his obedience that they should obey and keepe such his commaundementes as oppressed none Antonius Pius held opinion of Scipio Africane that he rather chose to preserue one of his subiects then slay one thousand of his enemies Which I greatly wish all kinges would obserue Marecellinus termeth the vice of crueltye the boche of the soule proceedinge from the feeblenes and basenes of the hart And the sayd Antoninus sayd that nothing rendreth an Emperor more famous among al natiōs then clemency vpon this and graciousnes is the assurance of the publike weale founded as Valerius Publicola repeateth in Titus Liuius and Plutarque And Antigonus was wont to say that Clemency worketh more then violence One of the interpreters of the Bible councelled Ptolome to vse patience and longe sufferinge imitatinge the sweetnesse of God to the ende hee mought reigne well And Marrinus the Emperour wrote to the Senate what good is there in Nobilitye if a Princes hart be not replenished with bountye and sweetnesse toward his subiectes Plutarque mentioneth of the great captaine Pericles that when his friendes came to visite him in his sickenesse and had put him in minde
of the great exploites he had made of his victories eloquence wisedome and other singular vertues wherewith he was endewed hee then made them aunswere you cleane forget the principall and which is to me the most proper that hetherto I neuer in my life caused any man to weare a mourning garment Which was in like sort reported of Phocion in respect of his great clemency With this agreeth that article of the aunswere made by the late great kinge Francis of famous memory to the supplication of those of Rochel of the Isles adioyning which greatlye deserueth not to bee forgotten Let others do and rigorously exercise their power I will be alwayes as much as in me shall lye prone to pitie and mercy and will neuer vse my subiectes as the Emperour did them of Gaunt for a lesse offence then you haue committed which causeth him at this instant to haue blody handes and I thanke God mine are as yet without any stayne of my peoples bloud also he hath togeather with the effusion of his subiectes bloud and the losse of so manye heades and soules lost likewise their good willes and hartes for euer And after the king had thoroughly forgiuen them he caused the prisoners to be deliuered the keies and armes of the city to be rendred all his garrisons to be voyded and their ancient liberty and priuileges to be againe fully restored vnto them If I were not afraid I shoulde be too tedious I coulde shew a number of miserable endes that chanced to other Emperors and kinges for their crueltie Tales the chiefe of the seuen wise men of Grece being demanded what in all his life seemed most strange vnto him answered an olde Tyraunt Which agreeth with the saying of Ecclesiasticus that all tyranny is of small indurance And in the rest of the history of Hester Artaxerxes said that he purposed with equity alway and gentlenes to gouerne his subiectes thereby to bring his kingdome vnto tranquillity that might safelye liue in peace And Pittacus said that a Prince by nothing becometh more glorious then when he maketh his subiects to fear not him but for him the which was alwaies in time paste reported of the french men And not only the tyrants them selues haue beene hated and defeated but what soeuer they haue besids taken pleasure in as after that they of Ariginta were deliuered from Phalaris that great tirant they by and by published an Edict that from that day forwarde it shall bee lawfull for no man to weare any garment of blewe because his garde were euer wont to weare cassockes of the same colour And after the death of Domitian they defaced his name in all places And the moneth of October was no more called by his name as hee had ordayned it nor April by Neroes nor May by Claudus nor September by Tiberius cleane defacing their tyrannicall and vnfortunate names Philip aunswered such as aduised him to plant garrisons in the cities of Greece which hee had conquered that hee rather chose to be called for a long time curteous then for a short time Lorde And as the wise man writeth in his Prouerbes In the multitude of the people is the honour of a King and for the want of people commeth the destruction of the Prince Sundrie haue sayde that as hee which diminisheth his troupe can neuer be termed a good heardman or shepheard so hee which causeth his subiectes to be vniustly murthered can neuer bee accounted a good Prince The Emperour Rodolph was wont to saye that hee greatly repented that euer hee had beene a seuere Prince but neuer in that hee had beene gratious or bountiful Martian and sundrie other Emperours haue beene of opinion that a Prince ought neuer to enter into warres if conueniently he mought auoyde it and retaine peace For this cause wee ought not to read Machiauel and such like authors cleane voide of conscience foresight religion but with great iudgement and discretion without trusting too much vnto them and to confront their writinges and whatsoeuer else they haue taken of tyrants qualities with Cannon rules and honestie trying all things and keeping that which is good according vnto the councell of S. Paul in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians and of S. Ierom in his Epistle to Minerius by following the example of exchangers which trie their good money from the counterfait The which Saint Augustine in his seconde booke de Doctrina Christiana Chap. 3. applyeth vnto the Philosophers bookes to the ende they mought serue to good vse takinge them backe againe of them as of vnlawfull possessors It is also verie requisite as I before mentioned wee should obserue how sundrie hystoriographers and in especiall the Italians do neuer measure their actions by the intention and conscience or accordinge vnto the infallible rule of the worde of God but by the euents and their owne ablenesse cunnings and subtleties euer in applyinge their vaine discourses to their ende which they pretende without any consideration whether it bee vertuous and lawfull or no. And in this respect haue they giuen the name of Prudence vnto some which haue beene moste wicked and miserablye haue ended their liues and to strangers which haue been endued with a good conscience magnanimitie and haue dyed happely do they yelde most reprochfull names And wee must confront their reproches with other aucthors more worthie of trust and with the times circumstances and behauiours of those whome they write of I do not for all that any whit allowe the vniustice which is committed in not punishing such as are lewde For as the King S. Louis was wont to saye A Prince which may punish a fault and will not is as much culpable thereof as if hee had committed it him selfe And that it is a worke of pitie and not of crueltie to doe iustice and that he which iustifieth the wicked is not in lesse abhomination before God then he which condemneth the iust as Salomon sayde Homer writeth that the scepter and the lawes were giuen by God to Agamemnon to the ende hee shoulde minister right to eache one and that Iupiter had Themis that is to saye right and iustice set by his side And it is commaunded that the murtherer shoulde bee pulled awaye from the verie alter that hee may dye and bee punished without remission The which is marueilousstraitly obserued in Suitzerlande And God is alwayes like vnto him selfe executinge righteousnes and iudgement vppon the earth and hating all iniquitie and vice Sigismond the Emperour hauing pardoned one of a murther which afterward committed another saide that it was he that had committed the seconde and that Princes ought not to dispense or pardon without verie vrgent cause any which hath deserued punishment And if he cannot quite the ciuil interest of his subiect how can he quite the paine which God hath ordained by his lawe And often times too great meekenes causeth the magistrates
The Aegyptians ordained death it selfe for a punishment to periured persons and to such as declared not the verie trueth in their declaration which of necessitie eche one was to make yearely both touching his name and the meanes he had to nourish his familie The Scithians and Garamanthes followed the same lawe and there was he condemned that had prognosticated any false thinges to come The Persians and Indians depriued him of all honour and farther speache which lyed The Gimnosophistes Chaldeans barred them al companies dignities condemned to remaine in perpetual darknes without speaking And Nicephorus reciteth how the verie wormes did eat the toung of the cosener Nestorius in his life time Monstrelet writeth of Popiel k. of Pologne who had euer this word in his mouth If it be not true I would the Rattes might eat mee that he was so assailed by rattes in a banquet that neither his gards nor fire nor water could preserue him from them Other do assure vs that an Archbishop of Magence died of the like death K. Artexerxes made one of his souldiers toungs to be nailed with iij nailes that had made a lie The lawes of Solon imposed great pains vpon such for that cause did the Gabaonites lose their libertie The emperour Traian surnamed the good Prince took away frō the sonne of Cebalus the kingdom of Dace which we terme at this day Trāsiluania Valachia only because he caught him in a lye told him that Rome the mother of truth could not permit a lyar to possesse a kingdom Cirus in like sort told the k. of Armenia that is was most manifest a lye was not capable of pardō as Xenophon writeth in his 3. booke of his Pedia After that one had red vnto Alexander the great a historie out of Aristobulus wherin he had intermingled certaine counterfait praises he flong the booke into the riuer saying the said writer deserued to haue bin flung in himself because men ought to studie to serch out the truth without which nothing can be wel don that it was a shame great damage when a lye shold put good wordes out of credit And he found fault with another when he compared him to Hercules If he had in this sort remained al the rest of his life that prosperitie flatterie had not rendred himself more insolent he had bin worthy of much greater honor I could here verie wel alledge how in Almanie the lye hath bin alwayes extremely hated shunned as it were a plague bastardes could neuer obtain the prise of any ocupatiō whatsoeuer nor take degree in any art or science as also in the olde testament they were excluded both out of the church sanctuarie For they are euer in doubt which of the sundrie mignions that their mother entertained was their father For this cause Philo Alexandrin compareth those with Idolaters who through ignorance of their creator and his bountie cal vpon many declareth that a multitude as much to say as a pluralitie of gods is very athisme the grounde of lying banishing for euer from thence life euerlasting CHAP. XXIX That the periured and blasphemers are detestable lyers and the paines for them CIcero was of opinion that there was no difference betweene the lyar and the periured person and that God had ordained to eche like punishment and that he which was accustomed to lye did easily periure himselfe The which opinion sundry doctors of the church haue in like sort helde Others notwithstanding haue thought that they haue offended more deepely which abuse the name of God to confirme their lying the which sort of people deserued death by the lawes of Plato Aegypt as committers of sacriledge And the Prophet Ezechiel calleth it the prophaning of the name of God the spoyling him of his trueth He saieth also that he which despiseth his othe shall neuer escape And it is written in Ecclesiasticus that A man that vseth much swearing shalbe filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer goe from his house Saint Chrisostom made sundrie homilies sermons to the end we should hate leaue all othes that there mought neuer be among men folowing the cōmandement of our sauiour but yea yea nay nay without blaspheming the name of God by swearing And he greatly marueiled to see vs so ready to obey the lawes ordinances of Princes albeit they be very hard vnreasonable that of Gods commandemēt so expressely giuen vnto vs not to sweare at al we make so litle account wherof also Plato greatly complaineth and that men couer themselues with a lewd custom which euery man ought to enforce himselfe vtterly to abolish The saide doctor in like sort writeth that it is vnpossible that he which much sweareth should not forsweare himselfe As wee reade of the othe rashly made by King Saul whereby he was constrained either to put to death his innocent sonne or to remaine periured And God reuenged vpon his race and people the great slaughter that he made of the Gabaonites contrarie to the othe sworne vnto them by his predecessours And the other tribes of Israel hauing sworne that they would not giue their daughters in marriage to that of Beniamin because they woulde not breake their othe chose rather to councell them to rauish their saide daughters And Titus Liuius sheweth that the Petelins in Calabria the Sagontines in Spaine chose rather to dye a most miserable death then to breake the faith they had plighted It is written in Zechariah I sawe a flying booke the length thereof is 20 Cubites and the bredth 10. the curse whereof shall enter into the house of him that falsely sweareth and it shall remaine in the middest of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and stones thereof Now that all is full of blasphemies othes and periuries wee greatly ought to feare a most sharpe chastisement of the wrath of God for so ordinarie a contempt of his holy name and followe the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Keepe thy mouth from being accustomed to sweare for that carryeth great at ruyne withall K. Agesilaus hauing vnderstoode that Tisaphernes K. of Persia had broken the promise which he had sworne vnto him aunswered that therein he had done him a verie great pleasure because that by his periurie he had rendred himselfe odious and enimie both to the Gods and men And truely all policies and matches are cleane turned topsie turuie if the promise be not obserued Titus Liuius in the beginning of his historie greatly commendeth the common wealth of Rome because it was gouerned by faith and simple oth not by feare of lawes or chastisements It was also the principall charge of the Censors of Rome as Cicero writeth to punish the periured against whome there is great threates in the holie scripture and in Leuiticus not onely the periured man is
condemned but they which are consenting thereto and knowe him do not reueale him to the end that the holye name of God be not prophaned contrarie to the first table of commandements which forbiddeth vs to take it in vaine The which hath beene the cause that some diuines haue esteemed it a greater and more haynous sinne then murther forbidden by the second table the rather for that if proofes be wanting against the murtherer men haue recourse to his othe Salomon in his prayer that hee made at the dedication of the temple demaunded the punishment of such as should periure themselues The Aegyptians and Scithians put them to death the Indians cut off the toppes of their feete and handes for an example to shewe the offence they had committed against God and their neighbour Saint Lewys the King caused their lips to be feared with a hote yron in Zuiserland they fasten their tong with two nayles and in some Cantons they make them dye like felons or pul out their tongue And against them there are sundrie ordinances made by the Kings of France which we ought to obserue especially against blasphemers the which God in Leuiticus woulde should be stoned vnto death It is written in the Prouerbs The toung of the frowarde shalbe cut off And Iustinian the Emperour ordained by sundrie lawes that such should be executed And not without cause haue the diuines accounted blasphemie much more worthie of punishment then any other fault wickednesse which as Samuel sayth are chiefely committed against men whereas blasphemies are directly against the honour of God and in despite of him And by some decrees of the Court they haue beene condemned to a most greeuous fine and to haue their tongue perced thorough with a hot yron and after to be hanged and strangled It is worthy to be considered what Iohn Viet a Phisition in his historie of the deceites of diuels and sundry other writers haue testified of some that haue beene visibly carryed away by diuels in calling vpon them or giuing themselues vno them Pope Iohn the 12. was deposed and afterwardes put to death for hauing broken his othe made to Otho touching Berangare Iustinian the sonne of Constantine the fourth for hauing violated his faith giuen to the Bulgares and periured himselfe in assailing of the Sarazins was deposed from his imperiall crowne and banished I omit an infinite number of other who haue receiued like punishmentes for their periuries Pericles being required by a certaine friende of his to sooth a certain matter for his sake aunswered I am thy friende as farre as the aultar that is to say so farre as not to offende God To which that which is written of Hercules may be very well referred that he was so religious and vertuous that hee neuer swore in all his life but once and it was one of the first thinges that children were forbid as Fauorinus testified and the better to retayne and keepe them from this vice there is a very auntient ordinance at Rome that expressely forbiddeth them to sweare And the Prophetisse of Delphos made aunswere vnto the Lacedemonians that euery thing should prosper better and better if they forbad all othes Also it was in no case permitted to the Priestes of Iupiter to sweare for that often times an othe endeth in cursing and periurie And Stobeus writeth that for this cause the Phrigians did neuer sweare They which periure themselues as an auncient father sayth very well shewe suffycient testimony howe they despise God and feare men And if one thoroughly examined all estates and whereto euery offycer is bound to God to the king and to iustice by his othe hee should finde a maruelous number of periured Cicero in his oration which hee made for Balbus sayth that what oth soeuer he that is alreadie periured can take yet must one not beleeue him and in the end shall carrie his own paine For what shal remaine to God if he be spoyled of his truth making him a witnesse and approuer of fashood Therefore Iosua when he would haue had Achā to confesse the truth vnto him sayde My sonne I beseech thee giue glorie vnto the Lord God of Israel declaring that God is greatly dishonored if one periure him selfe by the like coniuration that the Pharises were wont to vse in the Gospell it appeareth that they commonly accustomed this kind of speech If we will then liue with quietnes of minde without destroying our selues we must eschewe all lying periurie folow our vocation obserue whatsoeuer we haue promised to God men CHAP. XXX That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth EVery man confesseth yea the very Pagan Philosophers that men were created for the seruice of God and that aboue all thinges they should make accoūt of religion which giueth the only meanes to vnite and reconcile man to God for his saluation Cicero and Lactantius in sundry places declare besides that we find written in the old new testament that onely by seruing of god men differ from brute beasts and the good frō wicked and that the aucthoritie of Philosophie consisteth in the searching out of the principall end soueraine good of man And since that godlinesse is the scope of the rest it is requisite that it be fixed vnmoueable yet ther is nothing wherin mē erre so much as in that which ought to be most knowen The cause of the error proceedeth as in sundry places S. Augustin writeth by the testimonie of the scriptures for that the most part measure the said seruice rather according vnto their own blind braine then by the rule giuē in the word of god according to our corrupt reason through the hereditary fal of our prime parēts who were not able to cōprehend as the Apostle saith the diuine heauēly things Frō thence hath proceeded the multitude of Gods when they haue thought that one was not able to suffice prouide for all so were sundry kind of seruices in shew inuēted which might plese the cōmō people the creature taken in place of the creator nothing in steed of infinit S. Basil in a proeme writing of the iudgements of God greatly lamenteth that the church was so seuered in diuisions And searching into the cause therof he remēbred that passage in the booke of Iudges where it is written that Euery man did that which was good in his owne eies Since then that no error is so dangerous as that which is cōmitted in religion for as much as our saluation quietnes and happines dependeth therō it is very requisite that we apply therto what sense or vnderstāding soeuer is within vs according to the opiniō of S. Augustin if it be a leude part to turne the waifaring mā out of his right waye then are such as teach false doctrine much more to bee
often times the ignorant and vnconstant do turne the scriptures to their owne ruyne as our Sauiour and S. Peter witnesse so is it very requisite that in the reading thereof men carry a sounde iudgement and certaine bookes to be forbidden to be reade of euery one and not to giue stronge meate vnto such as haue neede of milke and in this poynt is it very conuenient to followe the decree of the Councell of Trent in those places where it is receiued and the instruction of their Curate and Pastor Gregorie Nazianzene in his apologie maketh mention of the custome of the Hebrewes who neuer accustomed all ages to euery kinde of doctrine nor reuealed their secretes but to suche as were of a sounde iudgement The which S. Ierome marketh well in the beginning of Ezechiel and S. Ambrose vpon the 35. Psalme and S. Augustine li. de spir lit alleage for example the Cantickes which some for their owne pleasure haue very disorderly applyed I leaue to the iudgement of euery man whether we haue nowe lesse occasion then had the Prophetes to complaine of some pastors which they termed by the name of theeues wolues dumbe dogges seducers idoles couetous voluptuous hypocrits and by sundry other most detestable names The dreame or vision of S. Anthonie where hee imagined he sawe certaine swyne and moyles defiling the aultar is verified in this time Our dutie is to beseeche at Gods handes that it well please him to sende vs such as be good that they may search nought else then his glorie and nourish their flocke with good holsome food For from thence as Plinie doth witnesse commeth the good wooll that is to say good life S. Augustine commended the saying of Socrates that both God and man will be serued as he commaundeth The which he applyeth to the seruice of the trewe God who commaundeth that nothing be eyther added or diminished vnto his worde And sayth that for this cause the Romanes allowed the seruice of all gods hauing for that ende builded a Temple to all gods called Pantheon and yet would neuer receaue the trewe to wit the God of the Hebrewes Because if they had serued him otherwise then he commaunded they had not serued him at all but their owne fictions if they had done as he had ordeined then had they cleane reiected and set aside all other Gods For the principall seruice of God consisteth in obedience as Samuel sayde vnto Saul The Prophets called it a spirituall chastitie not to swarue therefrom nor to thinke that whatsoeuer wee finde good in our owne eyes pleaseth him And as Nahas the Ammonite woulde by no meanes receiue them of Iabes a citie in Iudea which he had beseaged to his mercie vntill he had put out their right eye And when the Philistins had subdued the children of Israell they disarmed them euen to their kniues So did that Apostata Emperour Iulian Dioclesian and other who studied in what they coulde to make the Christians continue in ignoraunce and blindnesse neuer enquiring of the will of GOD or order of the primatiue Churche and vnder a great payne made them to be disarmed of that worde which the scripture calleth the knife of the spirite Iosephus lib. 2. contra Apionem setteth downe the custome which the Iewes obserued euerie weeke in reading of the holie scripture so as eache man vnderstoode it and knewe it by heart The which Socrates lib. 5. cap. 22. sheweth was also obserued in Alexandria and it maye bee seene by that which is written of our Sauiour Luke 4. Actes 5. 1. Tim. 4 When in the time of Iosias 2. Kinges 21 the booke of the lawe after it had long lyne hydde was founde againe he made great estimation thereof and sayde vnto the Priestes Goe yee and enquire of the Lorde for me and for the people and for all Iudah concerning the wordes of this booke that is founde for great is the wrath of the Lorde that is kindled agaynst vs because our fathers haue not obeyed the wordes of this booke to doe according to all that which is written therein for vs. We must likewise imagine that such as haue taken vppon them to teach the way to that happinesse which all men couet to attayne vnto haue beene but counterfayte except they haue layde the foundation out of the holy and Canonicall scriptures and the lyes wherein their fathers liued ledde them into erroure according as Amos wrote We ought therefore often to praye vnto God with Dauid Salomon and Saint Paule that he will giue vs wisedome and vnderstandinge and open our eyes that we may followe that which may be most agreeable vnto him without deceiuing of our selues Saint Ierome in his Epistle to Laeta sayeth excellently well that reading ought to followe prayer and prayer reading A man might verye well impute the cause that so manie prouinces haue beene made subiecte vnto the tyrannie of the Turke so many disorders corruptions warres seditions maladies murthers and other calamities haue happened to the contempt of this worde according to which a man will not reforme his life nor his strange opinions nor supporte one an other knowing that this worde teacheth nought else then peace concord and amitie and that we may be wise as serpentes which to saue their heade laye open their bodie and with their tayle stop their eare against the enchanter So let vs spare nothing for the mayntenance of this doctrine so long a goe left vnto vs without dissolutenesse sectes or discentions for there is nothing so well established which discorde can not ransacke and as Saint Augustine sayth very well the knowledge of the trewe doctrine humilitie and patience entertayneth concorde And Quintius Capitolius in Titus Liuius sayth that partialitie poysoneth and infecteth common-wealthes making such as would gayne saye not to consider what is most expedient as we finde by experience in France and haue too many examples both at home and abroade The Emperour Maximilian the seconde had often in his mouth that it was a greenous sinne and errour to raygne ouer mens consciences as the lawes carryed it I can here affirme that if men did knowe the truth and the happinesse which followeth the knowledge of trewe religion the voluptuous man would there searche his pleasures the couetous his wealth the ambitious his glorye the onely meane which can fill their heart and satisfie their desire and it serueth vs for a guyde to leade vs vnto God whereas the false doeth cleane withholde vs from him CHAP. XXXI That those which deferre their amendment doe wrappe them selues in a daungerous lie WE haue alreadie shewed that if they which name themselues Christians would but follow their profession vice should not raigne so plentifully For who so would beleeue the promises of God and setle therein a full assurance and consider what a great blessing is prepared for such as feare him and what euerlasting punishment
lying might bee met with which accompanieth the disabilitie of restoring The which likewise was the cause of the aunswere which Phocion made vnto them which demaunded of him to contribute where euerie man had verie franckly giuen Nay I should be much ashamed to giue vnto you and not to restore vnto him pointing vnto a creditor of his owne And Seneca writeth that often times he which lendeth money vnto his friend loseth both money and friend Aulus Gellius l. 7. c. 18. l. 16. c. 7. telleth of one which tearmed an othe a playster of them which borrowed And to the ende the Boetiens and sundry other mought be kept from borowing they tyed a coller of yron about such as payde not at their day and they stoode long time open to the reproche of such as passed by The father of Euripides was in like sort handled And Sueton writeth that Claudus was so serued before he was chosen Emperour And Hesiodus parents to auoid that shame were constrained to quitte their countrey That is worthie of marking which Pausanias writeth that the Athenians before they gaue charge to any Captaine either by sea or by lande acquited their debts otherwise no account was made of him And according to the disposition of the law one that is endebted ought not to take vppon him the office of an Embassador I haue seene this same lawe of the collar obserued in certain Cantons of Zuizerland to make men thereby the better to keepe their promise In Saxe they made them prisoners which did not acquite themselues The lawe of the twelue tables was farre more seuere for if one did not pay what he borowed they would giue vnto him a short peremptorie day in which time if he did not acquite himselfe they solde him or he was giuen to his creditour to serue him as his slaue if hee had many creditors they mought dismember him take euery one a peece Such a lawe notwithstanding was not long since in vse as Titus Liuius and Aulus Gellius haue written and was repealed at the request of the tribunes of the people afterwarde by Dioclesian Among the Indians likewise if the debtor did not discharge himselfe in his prefixed time they mought take from him either a hand or an eye and if he dyed indebted they would not suffer him to be buried vntil his children or friendes had answered it Wee read in the seconde booke of the Kinges the miracle which Eliseus did to pay the debte of a widowe from whom her creditor woulde haue taken away her two children to haue serued him for want of payment And it is written in the Prouerbs that the borower is seruant to the man that lendeth and so is it in the lawe 3. C. de Nouatio Titus Liuius and Plutarque in the liues of Coriolanus and Sertorius describeth the sedition which fell out at Rome which was abandoned of manie because the creditoures lead as slaues their debtors and detained them in most cruell bondage Aluare which wrote the historie of the Abissius setteth downe that debtors were deliuered as bondmen to their creditours and some others haue written that in the realme of Calicut vpon complaint made to the Bramains against the debtor they gaue the creditour an instrument wherewith hee mought make a circle in the earth and therein enclose his debtor commaunding him in the Kings name not to depart from thence vntil he were satisfied and so was he constrained either to pay or dye there for hunger At Athens there was a Iudge which had no other charge then to see debtes payde the Tribunes likewise at Rome had the like charge against the greater sort And by the ciuil lawe if a man called one his debtor which in deede was not he mought lawfully haue an action of the case against him so odious was that name As touching the inconueniences of suretiship Salomon setteth them down in the Prouerbes He shalbe sure vexed that is suretie for a stranger and he that hateth suertiship is sure Be not among them that are suretie for debtes if thou hast nothing to paye why causest thou that hee shoulde take thy bed from vnder thee And in Ecclesiasticus Suretiship hath destroied manie a riche man and remoued them as the waues of the sea For the condition of the suertie is sometime worse then his that borroweth because not making account to pay it he is prosecuted and put in execution and often times constrained to helpe himselfe by verie sinister means to his great disaduantage The which agreeth with the olde Prouerbe Be suertie and thy paine is at hande And according to the opinion of Bias he which loseth the credit of his worde loseth more then he which loseth his debte I doe not for all that meane by this that charitie shoulde therefore waxe colde nor that there shoulde be any let why both in worde and deede wee should assist and helpe the necessitie of our neighbour according vnto such meanes as God hath bestowed vpon vs. CHAP. XXXIIII Of lying ingratitude THE vnthankfull man hath euer beene accounted a more daungerous lyer then the debtor for as much as he is onely bounde by a naturall obligation to acknowledge the benefite which hee hath receiued and notwithstanding impudently dissembleth the same thinking it a sufficient excuse for that he can not be by lawe constrained therunto as the debtor shunneth him whom he ought to seeke breaking that conuersation humanitie which preserueth the societie of men He despiseth God his kinne and friends And through this impudencie he is euen driuen to al vilanie and mischiefe and maketh him selfe a slaue and ought to be grieuously chastised as Xenophon writeth And Plutarque interpreteth Pithagoras symbole of not receiuing of swalowes that a man ought to shunne vngratefull persons The which hath been an occasion that many haue refused great presents fearing that they shoulde not haue meanes to requite the same and thereby to auoid the suspition of ingratitude which hath alwayes beene condemned for a most manifest iniurie and vniustice and vnder the worde vngratefull haue all vices with a curse beene comprehended The Romanes likewise in the middle of their citie caused a temple to be builded and dedicated it to the Graces thereby to admonish euery man to loue peace detest ingratitude and to render to euery one according to Hesiodus rule a man famous among the Philosophers with encrease and greater measure whateuer we haue receiued imitating therein as Cicero sayeth the fertile landes well laboured and sowne which bringeth forth more then foure folde increase For this cause Xenophon among the praises which he gaue vnto Agesilaus reputeth it a parte of iniustice not onely not to acknowledge a good turne but also if more be not rendred then hath ben receiued And if we bee naturally inclined to do good to them of whome we conceiue good hope howe much
care is to bee taken for the hanging and adorning of the palace of the soule then of the outwarde And the same Philosopher did not muche out of the waye warne vs that wee shoulde take heede that the skirt of our garments shoulde not carrie a stinche of life CHAP. XXXVI Of backebyters mockers and euill speakers and why the Comedians stage players and Iugglers haue beene reiected WE haue heretofore shewed that our mouth ought to serue our neighbour as wel to preserue him in honor as in profit and for that our Lord God commaundeth that wee should neither deale falsly nor lye one to another He forbiddeth vs either to depraue or deceiue any for deprauing backbiting is an enimie vnto the trueth to the weale honour of our neighbor forbidden by God in the commandement of not bearing false witnes hath euer bin accounted as manslaughter stealing away of the renowne which we ought to esteeme according to the saying of the wise man aboue great riches Plato in his common wealth greatly praised the lawes of Lidia which punished backbiters as murtherers neither doe wee want sundrie examples which shew what mischiefe hath ensued through backbyting Wee haue one in Hester c. 3. of the mischiefe which Haman pursued against the Iewes which K. Ahashueroh of Doeg which through his backbiting was the cause of the death of 85. persons that did wear a lynen Ephod sundrie other myseries And Dauid did attribute vnto slanderers al the euil which Saul had wrought against him The backbiter is in degree neare vnto the flatterer hurteth three persons the absent of whom he speaketh the present which giueth eare vnto him himselfe And it is written in Ecclesiast that hatred enmitie reproch attendeth the backbiter And S. Paul writeth that railers shal not inherit the kingdome of God to the Ephesians Let al bitternes anger wrath crying euil speaking be put away from you with al malitiousnes Be ye courteous one to another tender harted forgiuing one another euen as God for Christes sake forgaue you Solon being demanded what was more cutting then a knife answered a slaunderous toung the which Dauid calleth a sharpe razor and hot burning coales The same writeth S. Iames in his Epistle more at large And as it is taken for a signe of health so is it a signe of a sound vnderstanding to be exempt from al words that may do harme And not without cause said Salomon that death life are in the power of the tongue more perish thereby then by the sword And addeth that he which keepeth his tongue keepeth his life S. Augustin sheweth that the truth hath written in our hearts this commandement Do vnto an other as thou wouldst be done vnto thy selfe And S. Ierom vppon Isaiah in like sort saith euen as wee woulde not that men shoulde speake euil of vs no more ought we to depraue our neighbour S. Paul willeth vs not so much as to eat or drink with the railers and so did S. Iames. Al kind of mockerie ought also to be shunned which is a reproch couered with some fault and which accustometh the mocker to raile lie moueth more then an iniurie when it proceedeth from a wil to outrage a malice without necessitie The which moued some to terme it an artificial iniurie Salomon writeth in his prouerbs that God doth abhorre al mockers the which Isaiah comprehendeth C. 38. 57. The lieutenant of K. Darius put to death one of his soldiars which had railed vpon Alexander saiing that the part of a soldiar was to fight not to raile Antigonus caused one to dye for the like cause and they of Alexandria were well chastised by Vespasian and diuers children were torne in peeces for mockinge of Elisha with wylde beares At the least wee ought to resemble the Phisitiōs which Hipocrates made to sweare that they shoulde not bewraye the secrete and hidden faultes and euils And Saint Gregorie in his Morals compareth the backebiter vnto him which bloweth the powder that flasheth into his owne eyes and hindereth his seeing For this cause ought wee to followe the councel giuen vnto vs by Saint Peter that laying aside all malitiousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and enuie and all euil speaking as newe borne babes wee desire the milke of the worde that wee may growe thereby And aboue all thinges followinge the councell of Demosthenes wee must take heede of speaking yll of the absent or giuing eare vnto the backebiters as Alexander Seuerus was wont to saye and doe And for as much as comedies are compounded of fixions fables and lyes they haue of diuers beene reiected As touchinge Playes they are full of filthie wordes which woulde not become verie lacqueys and courtisanes and haue sundrie inuentions which infect the spirite and replenish it with vnchaste whorishe cosening deceitfull wanton and mischeeuous passions Atheneus writinge of the inuention of a Comedie and tragedie sayeth that they haue euer been inuented in a time of vintage drunkennesse And for that besides all these inconueniences Comedians and stage players doe often times enuie and gnawe at the honor of another and to please the vulgar people set before them sundrie lies teach much dissolutenes and deceit by this meanes turning vpside downe all discipline and good manners many cities wel gouerned would neuer at any time intertaine thē And the citie of Marseilles hath beene maruelously praised in auncient time for that she alwaies reiected such kind of people And the Emperours Augustus Anthony Frederick the first and Henry the thirde caused them to be driuen out of their Empire And the Tribunes banished one Neuius out of Rome And S. Chrisostome in his 17 homilie vpon S. Matth. saith that there is no peril vppon the sea so dangerous as are the Theaters and places of Commedies playes and declareth at large what dissolutenes disorder factions mischiefes inconueniences haue ensued thereby The like doth Seneca declare in his first Epistle of the first booke Caelius Rodiginus in his 5. booke 7. Chapter And S. Augustine in his Citie of God commendeth Scipio for that he forbad the vse of any such pastimes as an enimie to al vertue honesty And saieth that the diuels vnder the similitude of false gods erected them The Lacedemonians also would neuer permit such playes acts for feare somewhat might be imprinted into the peoples brest cōtrary to the lawes truth For as the Apostle writeth Euil words corrupt good manners And this caused the good king S. Louis to banish them out of his court And S. Ierom towards the end of his first booke against Iouinian writeth that tragedies are ful of contempt of mariage good lawes And Seneca wisely wrote in his Epistles that it is verie daungerous
first precept of eloquēce answered to pronounce wel being demāded what was the 2. answered the like so to the 3. In like sort sayth he if I be asked of the precepts of religion I will answere that the 1.2 and 3. is humilitie And S. Chrysostome in the homely of the perfection of the Gospell sayth that the very foundation of our Philosophie is humilitie For arrogancy is alwayes accōpanied with folly audacitie rashnesse insolencie as Plato writeth solitarinesse as if one would saye that the proude is abandoned of all the world euer attributing to himselfe that which is not neuer measuring his will according to his force hauing much more bragge then matter of woorth S. Augustine compareth him to a ship tossed with windes without a pylote And an auncient father writeth that presumption is the mother of all vices is like vnto a great fire which maketh euery one retyre backe Wee read in the works of antient Phisitions how some that were of a melancolicke or sadde humour thought their owne selues to be some sencelesse thing or beast Aristotle and Gallen yeelde vs sundry examples therof how some in their own fancies imagining wonderful matters through the illusions of wandering transported wits constantly affyrmed that they sawe and did that which indeede was not as he which beleeued al the ships that came into the hauē to be his own and other that thought they sawe and heard players vppon a wide stage as Horace writeth Such are the Proude which delight them selues in their owne foolish inuentions There is in Daniel a notable example of Kinge Nabugodonozur and of Sennacharib that was slayne of his owne children after that the Angell had discomfited his armie And likewise of Antiöchus and sundry other which proueth that most true which our sauiour saith that he which exalteth himselfe shalbe brought lowe and he which humbleth him selfe shalbe exalted And that which is written in Ecclesiasticus The beginning of mans pride is to fall away frō God to turne away his heart frō his maker For pride is the originall of sinne and he that hath it shall powre out abhominatiō till at last he be ouerthrowen I touch no whit at all here the Licantropie whē as sundry certainly perceiue a change of humane shape their minde and reason remayning in their accustomed order referring my selfe to that which many haue written therof All wits in like sort that are giuē to preiudice opiniōs iudge otherwise then they ought Salomon saith in his Prouerbes that al that are proude in hart are an abhomination to the Lord that among the proud is nothing but strife counselleth vs not to haunte thē nor to be too conuersant with ouer far reaching heads adding that the pride of a mā shall bring him lowe In Ieremiah God sayth The proude shall stumble fall and none shal raise him vp I wil kindle a fire in his cities and it shal deuour al round about him And in Isaiah they are sore threatned he saith that the magnificence shalbe brought low that pride destroieth all cōmonwealth states As also in Ezechiel in the 1. of Abdias it is writtē the pride of thy hart hath deceiued thee And in Tobit In pride is destruction much trouble and in fiercenes is scarcitie and great pouertie The sonne of Agesilaus wrote vnto K. Philip who much gloried in some of his victories that if he measured his shadow he should find it no greater then it was before the victory The same poore king was slaine of one to whom he refused to minister iustice and histories declare how his successors through their disloyaltie fell into great calamities And yet was he praised amonge the rest of his vertues for that one of his people saide vnto him 3. times euery morning to the end he should not waxe too haughtie Remember thy selfe Philip that thou art a man Theodosius the Emperour had often times the like warning giuen him by his wife Arrian in the 7 of his historie reciteth how Alexander demanded of certain wise men of the Indies why as soone as they had espied him they stamped vpon the ground with their feete they answered him that no man held ought sauing the ground vpon which he trod that they esteemed him like other men saue only that he came so far to put him selfe other to much more paine that when he should die he should enioy no more earth then of necessitie to couer his bodie but ambition cleane turned him from following of anie good councell and for a good time was he afterwarde depriued of any buriall Nicanor when he went about to assayle the Iewes sold them before he came neere them but in the end he was ouercome as in like sort the Marquisse of Gast in our time at Cerisoles deuided among his fauorites the spoile of the French and prepared sundry ropes to lead them prisoners and to put them to ransome and yet in the end his selfe was vanquished Herod glorying in his rayment the honor which was done him was shortly after eaten vp with wormes Like vnto this pride was the vanitie of Caligula of diuers other which must in any wise haue their feet to be kissed Sigibert found fault with Charlemagne because that after he was chosen Emperour he dispised the fashions of France For the same cause was Alexander reprehended K. Lewys the 11. was wont to say that whē pride was on horseback mischief shame was on the croper And as husbandmē rather allow of those eares which bow down waxe croked then such as growe streigh as thinking least store of graine to be in them as it is written that if a stone be hunge vpon the bough of a tree to weigh it downe it shall carie the more frute and as valleys are commonly more fertile then mountaines and as the more liquor a man putteth into a vessell the more vayne ayre goeth out and the emptie hogsheade carrieth a greater sound then the full so the more that men arme thēselues with vertue vanitie hypocrisie and lying doth depart not seeking preferment before other but in honest actions and the more that a man shall thinke of his vices and imperfections the more shall his wings fall from presumption Experience teacheth vs that infancie is but a foolish simplicitie full of lamentations filthines and harmes as it were layde open to a mayne sea without a sterne and youth but an indiscreate heate outragious blinde headie violent and vaine mans estate trouble and vexation of minde full of repentance and plunged in care Olde age a noysome languishing and full of greefe still feeling the excesse of immoderate youth and all mans life consumed in teares trouble and griefe where pleasures are the feuers of the spirite goods tormentes honours heauie charges and rest vnquietnesse it selfe and to passe from one age
to an other is to fall from one mischeife to an other drawing towardes death With good discretion did Solon call townes boroughtes and villages the retreates of mans miseries full of noysomnesse trauaile and fortune And Aristotle termeth man to be the disciple of imbecillitie of inconstancie of ruines and diseases All which ought to make vs humble our selues The old prouerbe is common who knoweth himselfe best esteemeth himselfe least For if any man seeme to himselfe that he is somewhat when he is nothing he deceiueth himselfe in his imagination sayth S. Paul This is also the reason why the prophet Abacuc writeth that the iust man liueth by faith and that they which exalt themselues shall haue a fall Sundry writers make mention of K. Sesostris that he made himselfe be drawen by foure Kings which he held captiues and one of them euer vsed to turne his face backwarde and being demaunded why he did so aunswered that in beholding the wheeles howe the highest part became lowest he remembred the condition of men with which aunswere the same Sesostris became a great deale the more ciuill Saladin after his death made his shirt to be carried at the ende of a launce and to be cryed that of all the Realmes and riches he had nowe nothing was left him but that In sundry places doth the holy scripture impute this qualitie of pride left to them which distrust in God and presume of them selues And would to God ech one would practise the exhortation of S. Paule to the Philippians To be like minded hauing the same loue being of one accorde and one iudgement That nothing be done thorough contention or vayne glorie but that in meekenesse of minde euerie one esteeme other better then himselfe Looking not euery man on his owne thinges but euery man also on the thinges of an other man And to the Romaynes he desireth them to be affectioned to loue one an other with brotherly loue in giuing honour going one before an other Herodotus telleth of one Apricus Kinge of Aegypt who was so insolent that hee would saye that there was neyther God nor man could abate him or dispossesse him of his kingdome but shortly after Amasis put him by it and hee was strangled by his owne subiectes The like doeth Ouid make mention to befall to one Niob. Goliah was slaine by Dauid Iulius Caesar was so arrogant as he would say that it should stande for a lawe whateuer pleased him Other Princes haue had this woorde in their mouth I will it be so neuer considering that their willes ought to bee measured by the will of God iustice and lawes for the preseruation of their estate as king Theopompus and the Emperour Alexander Seuerus were woont to say and as wee recited before of Kinge Antigonus good Princes ought to esteeme nothing honest and lawefull that is not so of his owne nature and agreeable to the lawes And as touching such as are ambitious they neuer doe ought that is entirely pure and neete but euer in their actions you shall discerne a kinde of bastardie full of faultes dispersed according to the diuersitie of the windes which driue them forwarde and neuer measuring themselues doe dayly commit notorious errours and ruine themselues in vndertaking more then they are able or then is honest Whereupon it is very necessarie that the counsell of Ecclesiasticus be put in practise Seeke not out the things that are too harde for thee neyther search the thinges rashly that are too mightie for thee and burthen not thy selfe aboue thy power while thou liuest Plutarke in the life of Agis applyeth the fable of Ixîon which was tormented in hell and of him which found a clowde insteede of Iuno to such as are ambitious vngratefull And so do some other refer that which Homer in his Odes reciteth of Sysiphus who continually rouled the stone which he was neuer able to cary to the toppe of the mountaine and of Phaëton who would needs guide the horses of the sunne It hath bin an old prouerbe that he which aduaunceth himselfe further then he ought receiueth more thē he would They resēble the fisherman in Theocrites who satisfied his hunger with dreames of gold And with very great reason may a man impute all sects heresies diuisions foolish enterprises combats and vnnecessarie warres to the ambition of vnquiet mouing spirits which neuer content thēselues in their vocation for this cause S. Gregory Nazianzene wrote to Procopius that he neuer saw any good issue come of any coūcel or Synode by reason of ambitiō which did more impare controuersie thē amend thē And Aristotle in the 2. of his Politiques sheweth that the greatest part of faults which men cōmit proceedeth frō ambition or couetousnes as there are infinite examples of factions which haue long time endured in France Englād Italy Hesiodus writeth that the vnwise do not vnderstand that the halfe is more thē the hole For this cause it often chaunceth that they lose what euer they haue gotten which peaceably before they enioyed through a gredines of vndewly getting frō other as we see it fell out so doth it euery day to a number which haue not retyred themselues in dewe time not being able to staye the course of their fortune The which in the ende Antiochus full well vnderstoode for after that he was vanquished and that the Romanes had taken from him the prouince of Asia hee was wont to say that he esteemed himselfe much bounde vnto them for the learning which they had taught him and for their gratiousnes and courtesie which they had vsed towards him for when I enioyed sayth he so large a circuit of countrey I could not content my selfe nor set an ende to my ambition or desires but since such time as the Romaines haue abrydged my limittes they haue so gnawen my wings of ambition that I am more content then I was and nowe my care needeth not to be so great to gouerne well my little kingdome which is left before not beeing able to be satisfied Augustus the Emperour said that he wondered how so great a king as Alexander who had conquered all Greece Aegypt and Asia and yet could not be quiet except he mought stil be in hande with new busines continuing war not considering that it was both as great a vertue redounded as much to his glory by wholsome lawes and ordinances to establish the gouernment of a well pacified monarchy as it was to conquer it I greatly cōmend the councel of one Democrites that a man should euer propose vnto himselfe and couet thinges possible and be contented with the present and with that portion and measure which it hath pleased God to yeelde vnto him and to fashion himselfe according to that facultie and meane which is giuen vnto him neuer coueting the manuage of any greater affayre then appertayneth to his owne estate
of fortunes Lycurgus did the like And if we mark it wel we shal find that they cast sow in the aire as it were in a sea without any iudgement and at the aduenture of ambiguous words tending to al sorts of accidents passions chance of a hundred perhaps one falleth out right which was neuer foreseene or thought by them for the most part wee see the contrarie happen of that which is prognosticated Cicero for this cause writeth that Plato was wont to saye that hee marueiled when such people met togither how they could abstain frō laughter seing the cosening tricks which they playd And God by Ieremie commanded vs not to be afraid for the signes of heauen from whence these abusers say they take their foundation And Homer bringing in the gods deliberating of things to come declared thereby how it passeth mans capacitie as Isocrates writeth yea Daniel in the end of his prophesie saieth that he vnderstoode not the wordes of the Angel speaking of the end of the world The which maketh mee greatly to condemne such as haue writen therof especially Leouitius who setteth it down to be in the yere 1583 yet he forgeth an Ephemerides of nigh hand 30. yeares after that yeare Astrologers likewise foretolde of the yeare 1524 that such an other coniunction should meet as was at the time of the floud and that al the face of the earth shoulde be couered with water and there was neuer seene a more fayre and dry yeare then that was as Viues writeth In short that kind of people haue skill of any thing but to tell true For sorcerers the lawes of the 12. Tables and sundrye other haue condemned them to death as worse then murtherers most wicked and abhominable enemies both vnto nature and mankinde The title of the Code de maleficiis and the lawe neminem containeth this cursse that the cruell pestilence eate them out and consume them And God condemneth them in Exod. c. 2. Leuit 20. 21. Deu. 18. Isaiah 3. Iere. 19.17 50. For such sorceries Iehu made queene Iezabel to bee eaten with dogs It is verye requisite that Iudges take great paines and be very seuere herein because they growe so common and God threatneth that hee will roote out the people which shall leaue them vnpunished S. Augustine also greatlye detesteth them And the reason why the Cananites were rooted out is expressed in Deut. to wit for the abhominable sorceries which they vsed And Plato in his lawes condemned them to die for they renounce God all his religiō they blaspheme him they do homage to the Diuell they vow their children vnto him they promise to drawe vnto him whatsoeuer they are able they poyson men beastes and fruites they are incestuous and worke much mischiefe And as touching vsurers Plutarque in his booke which he made to which I referre the Reader is of opinion that no kinde of people of the worlde are so notorious lyars nor which vse more to falsefie their faith in all their practises they haue beene condemned both by the law of God and man and excommunicated by a counsell holden in Spaine And the Persians alwayes reputed loane to vsury to be deceat lying and wickednesse Appian in his first booke of the ciuill warres wrote that by an auncient law at Rome vsurye was forbidden vpon great paines and we see in Titus Liuius and in Tacitus the great searches and punishmentes that ensewed therefore And in the time of kinge Philip Augustus of S Lewys of kinge Iohn and Charles the sixt the Iewes and Italiens which held banques and exercised vsurye thorough out Fraunce were driuen out and rifled because they marred the houses and families that adioyned neare vnto them The ancient Cato held them as lyars murtherers theifes and a continuall fire which euer encreased thorough the losse and ruine of such as fell there in And so they which haue to do with vsurers are by little and little consumed and gnawne a sunder And as he which is stong with the aspe dieth sleeping so sweetly doth he consume him selfe which hath borrowed vpon vsury And Michah writeth that they deuour the fleshe of the people flea their skin and gnaw their bones Moreouer the worde vsury in the hebrew tongue is as much to say as biting And mony is brought forth before it be begot The which caused some to terme loan to vsury the great chastiser of fooles for their incontinencie And vsury was euer accounted the daughter of couetousnes and ambition which leadeth to all euill Wherefore according to the lesson of the wise man eache one ought to beware that he fall not into so great a mischiefe but it is requisite rather to be content with a little to shun thinges superfluous to vse parsimony and sparing thinking that if one bee not able to liue with a little he will lesseliue with nothing And as in sundry places debtors were priuiliged among other in Dianas temple at Ephesus so was the temple of sparing and well ordered expense into which vsurers mought not enter open vnto the wise and yeeldeth to them a ioyful rest And for because such as intermeddle with selling againe do it without anye art or trauile and with lying they haue beene in like sort blamed as well by Aristotle as by Cicero CHAP. 43. Of the punishments that hath be fallen vnto such as haue giuen eare vnto malitious surmises reiecting the truth IF what we haue before set downe touching forged accusations doe not so sone discouer it selfe if choler false reports opinions do so far insinuate them selues as truth can take no place nor iustifications be heard yet will God the protector of innocency set to his helping hande and discouer the truth as the holy scriptures affirme And Theophrastus said that surmises woulde die by litle and litle but truth was the daughter of time Among an infinit number of exāples I will content my selfe with a few the most notable Leo the emperor condēned Michael to die the execution was differred but vntil Christmas was ended in which time he died soddainly the same Michael was not onle deliuered from prison but chosen Emperor of Constantinople Mathias the son of that great captaine Hunniades was charged of ill behauing him self towards Ladislaus K. of Boheme Hungary as he was ready to be condēned his eldest brother hauing bene before executed throgh enuy false information the said Ladislaus mindinge to marrye Margrite daughter to Charles the 7. died soddenly and the said Mathias attending but the hangman of Prag was chosen K. of Hungary As also one Castrutio retired frō an obscure prison was chosen gouernor of Lucques by the death of the tirant Vgutio And one Iacques de lusignan prisoner at Genes was chosen K. of Cipres Theodoric K. of the Ghots in his rage through a forged accusation executed Boetius
Simmachus two very honorable personages shortly after he was serued at the table with a head of a fish which seemed vnto him to be the head of the same Simmachus loking a squint vpon him grinning with his teeth so with this fright conceit fel he sick and died Thrasibulus K. of the Iewes cōceiued such a greif in that he had slaine his brother without hearing his excuse that he died The like also befell to Aristobulus for murthering his brother Antigonus for sorow vomited vp his own bloud which was caste in the place where his brothers was spilt with a remorse of conscience died as Iosephus writeth And in thend of his history he telleth of a gouernor of Libia vnder the Romanes who with false surmises hauing made many be put to death to get their wealth was surprised with a sudden fright astonishment often cried out that the shadowes of such as he had caused to bee murthered apeared vnto him cast him self vpon his bed as if he had bin in tormēts fire in thend died his intrals gushing out of his body They which by wrong accusatiō caused Socrates to die not being able any longer to abide the publike hate which was carried vnto thē hong strangled thēselues The great Lord Soliman made his own son be strangled K Herod did the like vnto his and after that the truth was discouered they both too late sorrowed There is as much written of a K. of Spaine and of Cambises the K. of Persia who put his brother to death wherof ensued great alteration of state Mary of Aragon accused an Earle before the Emperor Otho her husband faining that he wold haue defiled her he was beheaded but the truth being afterwards discouered she was publikly burned Nicephorus writeth as much of the wife of Constantine the gret Sedechias caused Ieremy to be imprisoned who had told him the truth to keep him frō breaking his faith was led away captiue after his eyes were thrust out his childrē beheaded Conrad that writeth the chronicles of Magence saith of one Henry Archb. of the same Sea who to purge him selfe of a certaine charitie which was lent vnto him sent to Rome one Arnold whom he had highly aduanced but instead of excusing him hee aggreuated the matter to the ende that thorough presentes he might attaine vnto his maisters seat which he did compasse with his maisters owne monye and there vpon carried home with him as farre as Vnormes two Cardinals from Rome where he caused the sayde Archbishop to be deposed from his sea who appealed vnto God the most iust iudge Anon after one of those Cardinals miserably burst a two the other as franticke tore his handes in peeces with his teeth and so dyed And the sayde Arnold who had compassed the Archbishopricke by so lewd meanes was murthered by them of the Citie Ferdinand the fourth kinge of Castile caused twoo of his greatest Lordes of Spaine which had beene falsely accused to haue conspired againste him to leape downe from the top of a high towre they appealed before God before whom within thirty dayes they adiourned him to appeare and at the ende of thirty dayes the same king when men thought he was a sleepe was found dead It is also written of the great M. of the Templers that when he was vpon the point to be burned at Bourdeaux he adiourned Pope Clement the fift and king Philip the fayre to appeare before the throne of God to receaue iustice shortly after they both dyed So hath God alwaies beene accustomed to reuenge periuries and such as will shut their eares to the truth which ought to be consecrated onelye to heare what is iust good true and appertaining to his glory CHAP. 44. That we must auoide suites in law because of the lyinge and cautell of the practisers THe knowledge of the truth holdeth manye backe and keepeth them from embarking them selues amid the floudes of suites and seates of Petefoggers which are but the shoppes of falsehood deceat and counterfait lying thorough disguising and formality peruerting the vprightnes of a cause For as Demosthenes Anacharses sayd wisedom and eloquence without truth and iustice are a Panurgie that is to say a guyle or sleight such as we reade the slaues to vse in Comedies which still turneth to their owne domage and confusion And in truth the fashion which they hold in manye soueraigne and baser Courtes is but a kind of Sophistrie which casteth smooke and duste into the eyes of the iudges to the ende to couer lying and pilferie And we may say with Ecclesiasticus I haue seene the place of iudgement where was wickednes and the place of iustice where was iniquity It were also very requisite that Lawyers besides that God doth especiallye commaund them woulde obserue the preceptes of Plato repeated in Thucidides that in pleading they should not so much regarde to please men as to speake the truth to the end they shoulde neither charge their own consciences nor their clients knowing that wealth gotten with lying will neuer profite Salomon saide that the beginning of a controuersie is as when waters soking thorough a banke by little and little make a great breach or like Hidra who for euery head which was stroke off brought out seuen other Seneca found fault with the Lawyers of his time as also Tacitus did because they sold their lyes The Emperour Licinius termed them the plagues of a common wealth Apuleus named them Cormorantes because of their gredines Other termed them Harpies And Florus wryteth that when Varus was vanquished in Germany they put out the eyes of all the Lawyers which they could find and from some pulled out their tongue Frederic the third sayde thy defiled the place of iustice and equity making it a banke of deceat and cosinage S. Augustin in one of his sermons writeth that there is nothing so impudent as arrogancie and the babling of a Lawyer And Saint Ambrose saith that they deceaue the Iudges and gaine them by falshood and that they ought to repaye whatsoeuer they take againste the truth And S. Bernard sayde that they were the enemies of iustice ouerthrew the truth and gnawed like ratts And Origen called them swolne froggs which sell euen their very scilence rather encrease the charge more then the profit will auaile when they haue gained their cause And Ammian thought that it was as vnpossible to find out in all Asia a true Lawyer as a white Crow Tacitus writeth that there is nothing so saleable Cicero likewise complained that thorough them good lawes were corrupted And it is too notorious to see how many of them giue rashe and vncertaine counsell verye lewdly acquite them selues of their charge pleading onely vpon the superscription of their bagges or not loking halfe waye into them whence much iniustice hath proceeded Pausanias writeth that in
how we pul vp the bryars weeds which hinder the good seedes from growing in our gardens yet fewe haue regard to this couetousnes which kepeth the word of God the onely incorruptible seede from being able to take roote choketh it when it would growe Crates finding that the wealth of this world did hinder him frō the studie of Philosophy cast his goods into the sea saying that he had rather drown them then be drowned by them Wee haue before made mention of sundrie other which haue left their goods possessions the better to intend their studie the which poore Pagans wil condemne such as are slaues to their own substance And would to God men would learn that lesson of S. Paul Godlines is great gaine if a man be contented with that he hath For wee brought nothing into the world it is certaine that we can carrie nothing out therfore whē we haue foode raiment let vs therwith be content And sheweth of how many mischiefes couetousnes hath bin the cause And he writeth in the 3. to the Philippians that after that he knew Iesus Christ the great riches which he brought to them which receiued possessed them through faith he then began to account al those things which the flesh was accustomed to glorie in but as losse dong And al such as through reading preaching haue known wel tasted of those goods which God the father by the meanes fauor of his sonne would bestow of vs esteem not of this worldly riches muck but enioy thē as though they enioyed thē not do not set their hearts vpon so friuolous vncertain things as we haue infinit examples in the scripture to declare for as we haue aboue noted the knowledge of spiritual goods maketh vile the price of earthly The desire loue wherof beginneth to vanish as soone as we haue but tasted of the other which are sound permanēt breed true contentmēt Our sauiour Christ is called in Isaiah the Prince of peace that faith which wee haue in him is such as thereby wee haue peace towarde God rest in our spirit And contrariwise couetousnes desires trouble the same for they are vnsatiable infinit they which are possessed with them are accursed like the serpent for that like vnto him they liue with earth therin settle their paradise like Moles For where their treasor is there is their heart their God paradise Let vs consider that very litle wil content a mind which is but desirous of what is necessarie for to entertain it here and if we seek his kingdō the righteousnes therof al temporal things as he hath promised shalbe giuen vnto vs without needing for our further enriching to fashion our selues or do ought against our dutie or honor or rendring our selues too much addicted vnto them It is here wher we ought to vse violence not only if our eye cause vs to offend to plucke it out if our hand or foote cause vs to stumble to cut them off cast them frō vs as our sauiour councelleth vs in the 18. of S. Matth. but to cut off these accursed desires which in such sort presseth downe our harts keepeth thē from not being able to lift vp them selues on high to search out heauenly things as al good Christians ought to do The which I haue the rather amplified besides that which is before contained in the 25 discourse to the end we mought endeuor to diminish these accursed desires which are the cause of so great mischiefs annoyes miseries throughout the world And to make vs to haue lesse occasions to take we may not be too curious in our raimēts banquets buildings for as Cicero writeth if one wil exēpt himself frō couetousnes he must take away riotousnes which is the mother it shalbe very requisite that they by no offices which the Emperor Iustinian thought to be the very beginning of naughtines And the Emperors Theodosius Valentinian ordained that al Iudges gouernors of prouinces should at their entrance into their office sweare that they neither gaue nor promised any thing nor had any wil to giue or cause ought to be giuē also that they shoulde take nothing but their wages And if it were foūd that they had receiued any thing in which it was lawful for euery one to be an informer then paid they quadruple besids the infamie they sustained of periury And the like paine was ordained to him which gaue the brybe I would commend it much more for the weale both of the King realme if the youth mought rather giue themselues to learning discipline and Philosophy or to the Mathematiques diuinitie phisick or some honest trade of marchandise to husband wel their reuenues left vnto them by their ancestors then both dearly foolishly to buy offices to gaine by them pil the poore people That would be a cause both of fewer officers fewer sutes more learned men And for the most part the money which cometh of such a saile turneth into smoke through a iust iudgement of God and often time such purchasers leaue behind them no heires Now the Presidents counsellors Iudges beeing chosen according as the ordinances carie would be much more honored France in more quiet Sabellic recyteth that in the graue Senate of Areopage none was receiued except he had made some notable proofs of his vertue knowledge dexteritie And if any one suffred himselfe to be corrupted impayred he was so ashamed among so many vertuous men that voluntarily he quited his estates absented himself And euery one was aboue fortie yeres of age The holy Scripture attributed the change of the Iewisse common wealth to that they demanded a King founded vppon that the sonnes of Samuel turned aside after lucre and tooke rewards And Dauid said that man was happie which tooke not And our Sauiour bad his disciples giue for nothing what they receiued for nothing Yet wil I not herby restrayne the liberalitie of Princes as wee haue sundrie examples in the scripture it is praise worthie to releeue such as haue neede thereof and to entertaine amitie and reconcile themselues and especially the holy scripture commaundeth vs to giue of our substance to the poore as if it were to God euen to attaine to eternall life Tiberius the second made a notable aunswere to his wife that a man shoulde neuer want wealth while he gaue great almes And that good Bishop Nilus exhorted vs to intertaine the poore because they rendred our Iudge more fauourable vnto vs. Guiciardin in his seconde booke greatlye commended the Venetians because they did not onely encrease the paye to such as had valiantly behaued them selues at the daye of Tournauue but also yeelded pensions and sundrie recompenses to manye of their children which dyed in that battaile and assigned dower to their
the good to do well and to profit in the exercise of vertue Pouertie to moderate their desires basenes to humble themselues sickenesse to liue patiently and more soberly and al kinds of griefes to make vs runne vnto God and reconcile our selues vnto him and to succour our neighbour in like distresse when God shall haue drawne vs out For I esteeme none good but such as followe trewe riches which are godlinesse and vertue and contrariwise the wicked are fastned to trewe euils that is vice and impietie That was the reason why in the councell of Latran it was enioyned that the sicke man should cal for his spirituall Phisitian Diognes was angrye with such as sacrificed to health and in the meane time liued in all pleasures and idlenesse and sayd that as in a house where much prouision and victuall is are many rats and cats so the body that is replenished with meates drawe sundry diseases vnto it And he called frugalitie the mother of health for which without great neede a man neede not vse laxatiue medicines because they are offensiue to the stomacke and often times breede more superfluities and excrements then they drawe out of the body Plato also in the 8. of his commonwealth councelleth vs not to prouoke sickenesse with phisicke except the disease be most dangerous and vehement It is written of the Emperour Aurelian and sundry other that they neuer called for phisitians or vsed phisicke as at this day most part of the Almanes Zuzers vse but they healed themselues throught good and spare dyet and some of them with a quart of strong wine and spyce And as Herodotus wrote the Babilonians neuer vsed phisicke but all sicke persons were brought into the market place to whom al such as had beene cured of the like disease taught their remedies And there was founde in the temple of Esculapius enregistred all such receites as had beene experimented for to serue in like case For otherwise phisicke consisted in the knowledge of sundry herbes and they were almost all instructed in anatomies and simples as Galen writeth And we see euen very many beastes and birdes to finde out herbes and remedies fit for themselues which they haue taught vnto men with the vse of letting of bloud and glisters Yet they haue alway thought that they are often deceiued when there is nothing but experience without iudgement and contemplation to apply remedies in time and place with other consideration of the age strength or debilitie of person condition maner of liuing the season of the yeare the cause beginning encrease growing and declyning of the disease Asclepiades set all phisicke at nought and counselled only sobrietie to rubbe ouer the whole bodie euery morning and to exercise And some haue compared such as take phisicke to those which driue out the burgesse out of the citie to place strangers there M. Cato feared least the Grecians would sende phisitions to Rome and therefore made some to be banished and driuen thence and expresly forbad his sonne in any wise to vse or deale with thē as appeareth in a letter he wrote vnto him They in like sort of the same professiō which since haue crept into Rome were meere strangers the Romaines themselues hauing beene aboue 600. yeares togither without Phisitians since they haue euen abhorred thē saying their irresolutiō hazardous aduise which was the very cause that they termed thē hangmen theeues and so the most part of the citizens endeuored only to be skilful in simples vsing no other drogues then what proceeded frō nature of their own growing Indeede they had certaine deputies which sent them panniers ful of simples out of the isles which appertained vnto thē as sundry haue written And were it not that I feare being too tedious I could alledge a great nūber of Kings Princes which haue bin very curious in knowing seeking out the property of herbes plants some haue writtē therof to the great profit of their posterity an immortall glory is remained vnto thē Galē himself writeth that sundry emperours haue gratly studied to attaine vnto the knowledg of simples to adorne that art amidst their busines in sundry places entertained arborysts and in their triumphes caused rare plants to be caried The tēple of Esculapius was in old time builded without the citie teaching vs therby how we ought to esloyne our selues frō Phisitians phisick which kind of people Plato could neuer like of except they were surgions meruelous wel experienced thinking it to be a great signe of intēperancy wher he foūd any of the other sort And in his dialogue Philosophus he esteemeth phisick to consist only in opinions vncertaine coniectures Nicocles called Phisitians happy men because the Sunne made manifest what good successe soeuer happened in their cures and the earth buried what fault soeuer they cōmitted And some say they are very angry men when they see their neighbours in health not to need them The said Plato and Cato were likewise wont to say that men in doing nothing learned to do ill And Eccl. coūselleth vs to exercise because Idlenes breedeth much euill slothfulnes pouerty which tēteth vs to do ill as Isocrates wrote And Xenophon exhorted Hierom to spend his time in honest exercises to make both his body and mind better disposed And the Athenians ordined a great punishment for idlenes For this cause Scipio was wont to say that he was neuer lesse in rest then whē he rested himself vnderstāding therby that when he was not busied in publick affaires his owne perticular his study sufficiently held him occupied that in solitarines he cōsulted with himself The wise mē of the Indies called Gymnosophistes so greatly detested idlenes that they caused euery mā to render a perticular account of what he had learned or did euery day We read in S. Ambrose in the 82. Epistle of his 10. booke in S. Ierom in sundry treaties and other ecclesiasticall aucthors that monasteries were first ordained for academies scholes of trauaile and exercise as well of the body as of the mind of learning vertue abstinence fasting patience all good exāple And the word of the Emperour Seuerus was Trauaillons And the Emperours Adrian Antonius Cyrus Sertorius and sundry other captains haue still kept their men of armes and souldiers yea their very horses in continuall exercise trauaile sobrietie And we reade in the Commentaries of Caesar that his souldiers had no other prouision then corne and a little vineger to mingle with their water and that some would neuer suffer any to bring thē wine imagining that that made men more nyce effeminate and lesse able to endure paine and trauaile and sheweth as also did Titus Liuius how they sought to cut off all occasions and meanes of delicatenesse and howe the souldiers were all the day long kept to trauaile in workes
and constrained to cary about them sufficient corne for one whole month and seauen piles to serue for a rampire And Vegetius ordayned that young apprentises and nouices should carie burthens to threescore pounde weight And Marius so charged his souldiers and employed them in the diches neere vnto the Rhyne that they were after termed the moyles of Marius yea they were often times imployed in amending the high wayes called militarie and there they made diches to make them the dryer and the waters to soake away The sayde Marius sayde likewise in Salust that his father and sundrye other personages had taught him that daintinesse and nicenesse were fitte for weomen but trauayle for men and that all good men ought rather to esteeme a good reputation then riches and that weapons beautified a house and not fayre mooueables The sayde Salust recyteth before howe that when Metellus was ariued in Africa he tooke away whatsoeuer might seeme to nourish slothfulnesse and caused proclimation to be made throughout the campe that none should be so hardie as to presume to sell eyther bread or any other meate dressed that the cariers of water should not follow the campe that the simple souldiers shuld neuer haue page nor beast of carriage that ech one shuld keepe his rank cast his trench and carry his victuall together with his furniture And Xenophon in the second of the Pedia of Cyrus writeth that the souldiers and men at armes did neuer dyne and sup vntill they trauailed and sweate The which ought to make our men ashamed that haue so many boyes drabs to cary their furniture such ought rather to be held in the ranke of theeues robbers cowardes and boyes then of valiant men for cōbat The sayd Caesar writeth also of a fashion which the Gaulois had the which Titus Liuius and Tacitus doe likewise affirme that when by publick ordinance proclamation of warre was made all young men aboue the age of 15. yeares were summoned to appeare armed and furnished as they ought and he which ariued last was put to death The which Plinie also doeth recite of storkes how they detest slothfulnes And in certaine Islandes namely the Baleares nowe called Maiorque and Minorque the children can not breake their fast nor eate vntill with their slinges they strike downe their meate which is set vpon the toppe of a high beame or pole Other vsed to giue their childrē nothing but what they could get by hunting And they of Crete caused them continually to exercise to make themselues the more nimble Yea Amasis K. of Aegypt forbad to all his subiectes vppon a great penaltie that none should eate before he had long iourneyed or trauayled in his occupation and thereof should render account Alexander the great called trauaile a royall thing and idlenesse seruile And in the prouerbes idlenesse is forbidden and he writeth that A slothfull hande maketh poore and he that sleepeth in haruest is the sonne of confusion And in Ecclesiastes The sleepe of him which trauaileth is sweete And the sayde Kinge Amasis condemned to death all idle persons except they had wherewithall to liue and in all sortes greatly blamed idlenesse and would that once a yeare each one should render account by what science or occupation he gayned his lyuing The which the Atheniens and sundry other well ordered cōmonwealth diligently obserued And Cicero entreating of the lawes writeth that none went in the streates but he caried the badge and marke whereby he liued Which is yet obserued in sundry cities of Germany and Cantons of Zuizerlande Of others they write that sometimes men so imployed themselues at Rome that there was not to be founde so much as one ydle man And a Philosopher sayde that as a woman can not engender any thing to purpose without a man no more doth hope without trauayle and there is nothing which continuall labour will not attayne vnto and thorough care and watchfulnesse a man ouercommeth thinges more then harde as Seneca sayde And Hesiodus counceled the laborer to make his prayes to the Gods before he went to his worke or saying marry he must lay his hande on the plough tayle And Plato hath most holily written that as through great and continuall labours concupiscences and ryotousnesse were quenched so were they set a fire agayne by idlenesse Stobeus writeth that in sundry countryes if a man lent money to one that were idle or giuen to his pleasure he should loose it for euer And if at Rome one had negligently husbanded his inheritaunce he was straightwayes censured And God in Ezechiel among the causes of the destruction of Sodom setteth downe idlenes for a principall And Themistocles was wont to say that slothfulnes buried men while they were liuing in their graue And S. Ambrose called idlenes the pillow of Satan And it is written in Ecclesiasticus what euer thou doe take exercise and cruell sickenesse shall not meete with thee and that idlenes breedeth much euill For she is the spring of iniustice of pouertie and euill disposition And Seneca wrote that trauaile nourished gentle spirits And the holy scripture teacheth vs that as the birde is borne to flie so is man to trauaile and to imploy himselfe to many fayre and good offyces for vice which watcheth hard cōmeth and runneth ouer as soone as euer it perceiueth that one is giuen ouer to idlenes maketh thē giue way because that nature being alwaies in a perpetual motion desireth to be driuē to the better part or else she suffreth her selfe to be weighed downe as a balance to the worser Which was the cause that Plato was wont to say to his children when they went out of his schoole Goe to masters studie to imploy your leasure to some honest pastime S. Paul in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians declareth howe he had eate his bread trauayling both day night to the end he would not be chargeable vnto any and that he which refused to worke ought not to eate adding that some walked disordinately doing nothing and liuing wantonly wherefore he commaunded those which were such and be sought them thorough Christ Iesus to eate their breade laboring peaceably Xenophon reciteth among the sayinges of Socrates that it is idlenesse if one do no good The Pithagoriens cōmanded none to helpe their friendes to ease them of their burthen but to charge them well as not approuing idlenesse And K. Cyrus boasted that he neuer did eate before he had first done some exercise as a sauce to breede him a good appetite The which Alexander was often times wont to say that he had no need of any other cookes for his dinner then to rise earely nor for his supper then to eate little at dinner and refused the cookes which the Queene of Carie sent vnto him The like is written of Iulian the Emperour To which purpose we reade that the Thessalonians sent vnto
Agesilaus certaine refreshinges of corne foule comfits baked meates and other exquisite fare and most daintie wine He tooke the corne only and commanded such as brought it to carry away the rest as a thing which hee had no neede of but in the end thorough the great instancie which they made vnto him he tooke them and willed them to make diuision thereof among the slaues telling them that it was not meete for such as made profession of valor and prowesse to receiue such nice daynties and that which is proper and serueth to a seruile nature ought not to agree with such as are of a franke free courage A Lacedemonian answered one that wondered howe he could liue so sparingly considering he was of such wealth that it was an honest matter when one hauing great store of riches could notwithstanding liue according vnto reason and not appetite And Archidamus tolde one that had promised to giue him excellent wine that that would serue but to make one drinke more and become lesse man Too much sleeping also fatteth and diminisheth the spirits of life and of time And not without cause sayd a Philosopher that it annoyed the bodie the minde and all businesse except it were moderated to suffice nature egalling our felicitie with an other miserie and that like vnto a tole gatherer it tooke away the halfe part of our life And if as Plutarke Varro and Plinie wrote to liue is to watch then they which sleepe doe not properly liue as they write of Epaminondas who after that he had killed one of his souldiers that was set to watch because he founde him sleepinge aunswered that he left him in the same estate he founde him in Frō whence I imagine the custome first grewe of which I spake before to awake the Kinges of Persia and Macedonia earely to put them in minde to take care of that which God had committed vnto their charge Hesiodus describeth vertue vnto vs to be enuironed with sweate watching and great trauaile And we see that sluggishnesse maketh both mind and bodie to languish And if the ayre in which we liue and the waters were not tossed with windes there would be nought else but corruption Quintus Cursius writeth of Alexander and of the Lacedemonians and Titus Liuius of Hannibal and the Carthaginians that they which were not able to be ouercome and vanquished by their enemies and infinite harmes which they endured were notwithstanding cleane destroyed through delights and pleasures And the Poets wrote of Perseus that through the ayde of Minerua he cut off Gorgons head which turned men into stones vnderstanding therby that Princes through wisedome haue surmounted pleasures which make men as blockish as images And we see by experience that the poore hath this aduantage ouer the rich that they are exempt frō pleasure The which Curius Corancanus wel knowing when it was told thē that some referred all to plesure said wold to god that the Samnites Pirrhus had bin as wel perswaded herein to the end that giuing thēselues to pleasure they mought more easely haue bin vanquished And many haue sayd that all pleasure was followed by enemies it is to be coniectured that it was not thorough folly that sundry emperors haue made al the spider cobwebs through out the citie of Rome to be gathered heaped togeather created a Senate of weomen led their armies to the sea shore to gather cockles as though there were want of enimies to stand catching of flies but it was to auoide idlenes rather to occupie their souldiers in such trifles toyes then quarels to sel smoke rather thē to do worse which likewise as Plinie wrote moued thē which builded those so wonderfull Pyramides where about one of thē 300. and threescore thousand men wrought the space of 20. yeares yet he writeth that their remēbrance was clean lost which spent so much treasure and time in such vanities And it had bin much more commendable to haue bestowed that time expence in matters profitable to the common wealth Gelon after that he had vanquished the Carthaginians led the Siracusians often times into the field to labour and plant as well as to warre to the end to enrich their lande and that they should not waxe worse in doing nothing The auncient prouerbe carieth that the Gods sell riches vnto men for their trauayle So following Galens counsell who so would be in health ought to liue soberly and to take paynes except he will cosen him selfe as we see that all thinges alter except they be put in vse A great Lorde tolde Kinge Alphonsus that hee toyled too much to whome hee aunswered thinkest thou that God and nature haue giuen handes vnto Kinges in vayne And if they desire to liue in health why should they seeke the contrarie thorough idlenesse and delightes As Salomon teacheth in his Prouerbes Ease slayeth the foolishe and the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them Our forefathers counselled vs to exercise our bodie and minde equally togeather as a couple of horses sette in a coach togeather And Zenon was woont to saye that the life of schoolers that is to saye of such as are giuen to idle studie dyffereth not from the voluptuous and Epicurians For knowledge and studie ought as well to profitte other as ones owne selfe And for as muche as idlenesse draweth to vnprofytable and dishonest games heere were a verye good place to shewe the mischiefes noysomnesse blasphemies and cosonage that they carie with them and to prayse Chilon the Lacedemonian who returned from Corinth without deliuering what he had in charge because he found the gouernors playing at dice. And it were very requisite that the good ordinaunces which are made therefore were well obserued The which Alphonsus forbad to those in his court and to all his subiectes not permitting them to playe vnder a great forfaiture And in Turkie he was noted of great infamie which played for money and greeuous paines are appointed if he returne to it againe Sundrye haue written that King Cyrus to punish them of Sardes commanded them to passe away their time in playes and banquets therby to render them lesse men and keepe thē from rebellion It were very requisite that all playing at chance and hazard were banished out of France as well in deed as they are by the edictes by the lawe Martia sundry other Euery man may see how many young gentlemen haue beene cleane vndon by playing at cardes and dice by gluttonie drunkennesse whordome expences and excesse which proceede thereof I will not for all that mislike honest pastime and yet we ought to be sorrie with Apelles if we scape a day without drawing a line or with Cato the Censor if through negligence we haue neyther done nor learned any thing that is good and at night call all our actions to account and see what losse we haue made of the
children then verie necessitie requireth for they shal verie much esteem that which is sufficient if thou hast wel brought them vp and if they be ignorant then wil they haue lesse care feare and occasion to do euil The which Phocion practised refusing the presents of Alexander as Plutarque writeth Let vs then consider that knowledge is not laid open to fortune as are richesse the which are verie often possessed by the wicked nor mutable as glorie nor coÌ„meth by discent as nobilitie nor of smal lasting as beautie nor changeable as health nor decayeth diminisheth as strength but encreaseth with time is not vanquished by warre as Stilpon tolde K. Demetrius And the Laconien scholemaster aunswered verie well that he would make the noble gentleman which was his pupil to sport himself in things honest iust true and to be offended at vnhonest vniust lyes For maners being through discipline well composed within are the verie fountaine whence al contentment proceedeth And children are by custome trayned into the waye of vertue And the Pithagoriens lesson seemeth vnto mee to bee very wise Choose the best way custome shal make it agreeable pleasant vnto thee The Komanes had a good custome to place their children with those whom they would haue them to imitate And in France there is great account made of one which hath bin brought vp as a page to some valiant and wise gentleman Cirus in the end of the 7. booke of Xenophon desireth euery man to giue a good example to children because if they see no vncomlines they shalbe enforced to follow goodnes and vertue be fit for al things A King of Sparta answered him wisely which asked what children ought to learne That said he which they ought to doe when they are men he told another that they were to learne to knowe how to obey to commaund We must then more studie to fil the vnderstanding then the memorie not onely to haue a care to besprincle the soule with knowledge but to make it grow perfect and learne by studie not of the tongues but of wisedome courage and resolution to auoide the baytes of pleasure and to throwe downe with an inuincible courage the threates of Fortune and death to be sounde and short in discourse to render themselues and quite their force to trueth as soone as they shall perceiue it without beeing too stubborne that their conscience sinceritie and vertue be manifested in their wordes and deedes that in companie they cast their eyes rounde about and in themselues controll the manners of eche one to followe the good and contemne the wicked And they ought not to let one worde or sentence fall to ground without putting it in their tables to make their profite thereof as Bees drawe honye out of sundry flowers so learning the discourse of Phylosophie they shall cleare the tempestes of Fortune They must also take away strangenes and partialitie enimies to societie and apply the supple bodies to all kinde of fashions customes companies to bee able to doe all thinges but louing to doe but what is good And if they goe to the warre to feare nothing but God and an euil renowne To learne to combate with the enemie and aboue all things to obey their head as Caesar in his commentaries desired the French to doe To accustome themselues to endure paine colde and heate to lye harde to assault well and to keepe a forte The cheefe care which Kinges and gouernours ought to take is of the honour of God and maintainance of his Churche and nexte of pollicie and iustice followinge the lesson of our Sauiour in seekinge the kingdome of God and then whatsoeuer is necessarye for them shall bee giuen vnto them Nowe the kingdome of God is the Church of the faithfull the seede whereof is youth which is consecrated to God thorough baptisme vnder the Churche Then this seede ought to bee well husbanded and kept from weedes which might choake it that the eares may bee gathered full of graine It is an olde saying that hee which hath begunne well hath halfe ended The beginning is in the first youth whence the good Bourgesses Magistrates and gouernours doe spring And there is greate aduauncement and hope to bee looked for in that place where youth is well brought vppe in godlynesse and honestie For this cause Aristotle in the ende of the seuenth of his Politiques would haue them turne their eyes and eares from all iniuries fowle and vndecent actions and communication And the more that we see all thinges to impayre good manners subuerted wickednesse couetousnesse ignoraunce and vniustice not by stealth but publickely and without shame to runne their course of which our predecessours greatly complained and wee complaine of at this daye and it is verie likely that they which come after vs shall rewe it the more regarde ought we to haue that the nurcerie of our posteritie which is the youth may be taught to liue soberly and iustly not so much to speake well as to liue well to the ende that what the vessel beeing newe hath once beene seasoned with it may long keepe the sent thereof as Horace writeth And there is no doubt but that man being desirous to knowe and encline to vertue from his birth if by a good guyde he bee vntill the last yeare of his adolescencie kepte and defended from the snares which the delightes of sences and pleasures drawe with them his vnderstanding beeing once fortified thorough good instructions shall after of himselfe bee so well rooted in the loue of knowledge vertue and the feare of God that it shalbee verie harde euer after to withdrawe him The which was the cause that the Lacedemonians aunswered Antipater that they woulde rather dye then giue him their children whiche hee demaunded for hostages so great account made they of their education This felicitie and happinesse as Aristotle sheweth in the ende of his Ethickes dependeth principallye of the grace of God of a good reformation of the liberalitie magnâ—â—cence bountie and courtesie of Princes which heereby prouoke and pricke forwarde the aduauncement of Artes and of good wittes as contrariwise they languish and cleane decaye thorough the ignorance enuie couetousnesse tyrannie and stubbernesse of such as gouerne and thorough great disorder and corruption I haue before touched the inconueniences and mischiefes which happen in France by reason that the nobilitie is not trayned vp in learning And not without cause the greate King Francis said that it greatly grieued him that the gentlemen of his Realme gaue themselues no more to studie and learning to the ende he mought haue prouided for them the cheefe offices of the long robe thinking that thereby hee shoulde haue been better serued both in his gouernmentes and warres And that great Captaine Bayart aunswered him that asked him the difference betweene a learned man and an ignorant as much as betweene a Phisition and a patient
a liue man and one dead Aristippus aunswered likewise sende them into a farre countrey and then you shall knowe and there is nothing but knowledge which causeth a man to bee esteemed And the oracle giuen vnto the Greeks of the doubling of the house was interpreted by the wise men that it was ment thereby that they should leaue armes and conuerse with the Muses and learning which would mollifie their passions and driue away ignorance and procure courage and good councell as Agesilaus maintained that the lawes of Lycurgus bread a contempt of pleasures To accustome youth in like sorte to followe vertue to brydle passions and choler to shunne vice and lying to enter into consideration how good and vertuous personages haue in all times behaued themselues to remember the harmes happened to the wicked and the blessings and honours which haue accompanied the good bredeth a great quiet al the life long because such a custom hath a maruailous efficacie in aduauncing of a man And betimes is the iudgement that proceedeth from an euil custome to be corrected the which in a vile nature doeth ofte by processe of time throwe downe and abase our mindes and render vs contemptible The which may be helped and amended through vertuous exercises For if that resistance which reason maketh to the appetite of eating and drinking forceth verie often hunger thirst much more easie shal it be for one to cut off couetousnes ambition pride enuie choler curiositie lying and other vices by refraining and abstaining from those things which he coueteth so as in the end they shall al remaine cleane discomfited To abstain also from pleasures which are permitted is a good exercise to meete with such as are forbidden I leaue here to declare howe much France was dishonored when as the Polakes made their entrie into Paris accompanied with the French gentlemen who for the most parte were dome not able to speake or vnderstand Latine and were rather brought vp to wear a rapiar be their syde ryde a horse danse and playe at fense then to haue skill in languages and artes with which the verie Barbarians in old time were adorned honoured became more valiant in the warres As Alexander and sundry other great Captaines and Princes haue confessed Yea him selfe grew extreme angry that Aristotle had published his Metaphisicks because he said he had rather a desire to passe all others in learning and knowledge then in armes and force And wee before haue noted that he attributed all his victories to what hee had learned of Philosophie The Emperour Antonin the Philosopher went himselfe to seeke out learned men in their owne houses saying that it verie well became a man yea though he were olde to learne what hee was ignorant of The which Cato and other of our lawyers haue affirmed And Paulus Iouius writeth of Charles the fifth that his schoolemaster Adrian who since was Pope did with verie greate cause often times foretell him that hee woulde greatly repent that in his youth hee had not learned the Latine tongue For it is verie requisite that youth be brought vp in that parte of learning which is called humanitie because that without the discipline thereof the worlde shoulde liue but brutishly And that it bee accustomed to make account of lawes and superiours and to keepe a straight discipline in the manner of life which it chooseth be it in warre and defence of their countrie And a man followeth all his life longe his first addressinge in his youth As if a tree blossome not in the spring it will hardly beare fruit in the Autumne The which ought to stirre parents to chastise their children and to make them to bee diligently taught and not to pamper them As Plinie writeth of Apes which choak their little ones in imbrasing them too harde And wee ought greatly to weigh the saying of Origen that the sinnes which the euill nurtured and vnchastised children commit shalbee layde to the fathers charge as it is sayde in Samuel of Ely And if it be written of Xenocrates that his auditours of dissolute became temperate and modest what fruite are wee to thinke that youth will beare through the sweetenesse and benignitie of the Muses That is through the knowledge of learning which as Plutarque writeth in the life of Sertorius causeth them to tame and sweeten their nature which before was wylde and sauage holdinge the meane by the compasse of reason and reiectinge the extreame And Lycurgus the lawgiuer sayde that hee neuer vsed to set downe his lawes in writinge because such as had beene well nourished woulde approoue and followe whatsoeuer were moste expedient for the time Which was the cause of the lawes so muche commended by Diodorus that children shoulde bee brought vp in learninge at the publicke expense To bee shorte good bringing vp of youth maketh it to bee true constant and ioyfull For hauing a good conscience true comforte and resolution which sweeteneth all the bitternesse of this life and knowinge the causes why God hath alwayes beene accustomed to punish his maketh them carrie all thinges cheerefully not doubtinge but that hee loueth and hath a fatherly care ouer them So doe they repose themselues vppon the assurance of this good will and endeuour to obey him and dye with a good hope acquitinge them selues of their duetie Sundrie haue greatly commended the lawes of the Lydes because they depriued such children as were not vertuous from their enheritaunce which caused them to correcte their naughtie inclinations and to shunne vice as also they had certaine officers in sundrye prouinces which tooke care of youth and punished the parentes which did not well bringe vp their children And for as much as it is a great happinesse vnto a countrey when the Prince hath beene well instructed Plato in his Alcibiades and Xenophon doe write that out of the whole realme of Persia were foure moste sufficient men chosen to bringe vp the Kinges children the one in learninge the seconde to teache them all their life to bee true the thirde to instruct them to commaunde their passions and not to addicte themselues to pleasures the fourth to make them hardie and couragious Wee ought to make our profite of the lamentation which the Prophet Baruche made in that the young sought after wisedome vppon the earth and became expounders of fables and knewe not the waye of wisedome which was the cause of their destruction Dauid also founde no meanes for a young man to redresse his waye but in takinge heede thereto according to Gods worde The Apostle admonished Timothie to flye from the lustes of youth and to humble the fleshe to the spirite to the ende no aduauntage bee giuen vnto the enimie which will bee an euill token for the rest of the course which is to bee runne all our life longe And Saint Peter commaundeth young men to bee wise modest and humble
K. S. Louis S. Ierome Seneca K. Theodoric Aristotle Plato Aristotle Slaunders false reports C. de calumni Agesilaus Punishment of talebearers Pro. 18.8 Dan. 6.24 Diuell 1. Sam. 22.18 Aristobulus Herod Constantine Francis D. of Bretaigne Remedy against accusers 1. Pet. 2.12 False pleaders Curious persons Anthony Eccles 21.21 Li. 10 de confessi Tertullian Voyages into farre countries Death of Aristotle Death of Pleny Remedies against curiositie Phocion Socrates Geometry Arithmetike Flatterers Selfe loue blinde Tiberius Princes subiect to flatterers Augustus Flatterers banished the courts of princes Iouinian Agesilaus Isocrates K. Alphonsus Hos 7.3 Iulian. Dion Quintus cursius Vopiscus Philip de Comines Alexander Dionisius Tyrants delighted vvith flattery Plato Sigismonde Seneca Phocion Alexander Remedy against flattery No man so pestilent as the flatterers All christians are one body where of Christ is the heade Christian loue Mal. 2.10 1. Cor. 6.20 Gal. 3.15 Enuie Socrates Pro. 14.30 Iob 5. Eccle. 30.24 31. Remedie against enuie Description of enuie Agis K of Lacedemon Aristotle Pliny The nature of certaine Scorpions serpents Hannibal Bellisare â—ide Aristotle Augustine Humilitie Presumption Dan. 4.20 Eccles 10.13 Licantropie Pro. 16.5 Ier. 50.32 Tob. 4.13 K. Philip. Theodosius Alexander Marquiss of Gast Caligula Charlemagne Alexander K Lewis 11. Comparison Mans imbecillity Gal. 6.3 Sesostris Saladin Phil. 2.2 Rom. 12.10 Apricus Iulius caesar The vvill of princes ambitious Eccles 3.21 23.2 Ixion Sisiphus Phaeton Heresies coÌ„bats and vvarres imputed to ambition The ambitious often loose vvhat they get Alexander The Councel of Democrites To moderate ambition Dioclesian Pro. 28.25 1. Cor. 4.7 Ieremy 9.23 Passions leade to the contrary The last perfection is subiect to alteration Vice Isaiah 50.11 Wisd 11.13 Pro. 10.24 14.12 Pastors in name Hipocrisie Mal. 6.6 Faith vvithout vvorkes is deade VVho are to be named men Eccles 12.13 Remedies against pride The nature of the Pacocke All good proceedeth from god VVhy leuen vvas forbid vnto the Ievves Paynting disguising 1. Pet. 3 Tit. 2. Isaiah 3 Deut. 22.3 1. Cor. 6.20 Gorgious raiments Lib. 3. praed c. p. 2. Archidamus K. Philip. Mariadge vvithout doure Sparta a vvel gouerned citie L. sistatuas Posthumia vestale Tertullian Plato Aristippus Southsayers vvitches and astrologers Li. 24. c. 11. Iudiciall science is but vaine Ptolome Lib. 3. Francis marquisse of Salusses Icarus Porphyre Prophets Lib. 12. Latem apud S Si quis de minor Prophetes li 4. Deut. 28. Exod. 12. Lib. 9. c. 9. 1. Sam. 15.23 2. King 23 24 1. Chro. 19.23 Ier. 50.36 Isaiah 44.25 Eneas Siluius Scipio Lycurgus De nat deo Ier. 10.2 Homer Daniel Ende of the vvorlde Sorcerers Li. 4. de ciuit dei c. 3. Deut. 18. Lib. 11 Of Vsurers Iewes and Italiens chased out of France Cato Micah 3. Vsury the daughter of auarice and ambition Remedy against vsurie False accusations in the end discouered Castrutio aques de Lusignam Theodoric Accusers of Socrates Herode Mary of Aragon Ier. 59. Henry archbishope of Magence accused by Arnold Ferdinand K. of Castile The greate maister of the Templers Pleas and sutes to be auoyded Eccles 3.16 The office of a good Lawyer Tacit. l. 6. * j Rauenous fovvles or heilish furies described by Vergil in his Eneidos Florus lib. 4. Augustine Ambrose Bernard The pleading place at Athens Cato Babling of Lavvyers more dangerous then presents L. petitionem de aduocat tit de ï rescri pr. Practisers in lavve driuen out of Rome Caligula vvould haue had all lavve bookes to be burned VVhen petifoggers first set foote in Fraunce The Druides and their authority comment lib. 6 French men simple in matters of trial Many sutes and pleas the greatest mischeife can happen to a common vvealth The Indians no pleaders Pleaders in smal estimation or accouÌ„t Questions betvveene the Lavvyer and Phisition Statua of Martia Quintil. l. 12. c. 1. Gellâ—us l. 1. c. 18. Ierem. 5.27 6.13 Isaiah 9.6 Astrea Ate. Isaiah 1. 33. Alexander seuerus Buying of offices Niger VVages appointed to officers Lavves of Iustinian Othes of Iudges A poeticall fiction applied They vvhich giue presents to iudges are notably cosened A picture vvithin the pallace Philip. Iustice a virgine vndefloured Lavves forbidding iudges to receaue presents Iudges drawn vvithout handes Marius Isaiah 1.23 33.1 Exod. 23.8 Micach 3.11 Deut. 16.19 1. Sam. 12.3 Iob. 15.34 17.9 VVhence gredines of bribes proceadeth Plato his Councell The remedy to meete vvith couetousnes and greadines of bribes Eccles 19.1 Eccles 28.25 31.5 Spice money for sutes Romanes very continent Valerius Agrippa Epaminondas Not lavvfull for embassadors to receaue presents Phocion Agesilaus Iason Eliseus 2. King 5.16 Philopemen Cimon Romaines Menander Cleomenes Demosthenes Fabritius Sophocles Tulg l 6. ca. 3 Remedy against auarice Pluto the god of riches Lycurgus Pliny Isocrates VVhereon the mindes of men most runneth Hipocrates aphorisme Themistocles Cambises Darius Bishope of Cologne Auarice Pro. 15.27 Riches withdravve from the feare loue of god Luke 7. Crates Tim. â— 6 Celestiall gods 3. Col. 7.31 Isâ—â—h 9.6 Rom. 5. â— VVordly goodes Col. 3.1 Remedy against couetousnes Buying of offices Li. 5. 3. Sam. 7.3 Liberality of princes Liberalitye of the Venetians The intemperate in vaine seeke health Alexander an emperoure of the east Epaminondas allovved not of soldiars Scipio Fat Li. 2. c. 1 A girdell of the Gaulois Iberiens Controllers of youth Exercises against Idlenes Lib. 22. The Lacedemonians very sober Fatenesse Change of meats Eccles 21.23 Lisimachus Seneca Rom. 12.10 Ptolome philopater Necessary points to preserue health Salt Plato Fat and hungry soyles The bringing vp of the persian youth Socrates his councell Princes very sober Vespasian Cato VVyne forbidden to Romain weomen Eccles 37.29 Xenophon Socrates Eccles 12.15 Pleasure Amos 6.4 Of VVhoredome 1. Thes 4.3 1. Cor. 9.18 Pro. 7.22 Remedy against whoredome Ezec. 16 49. Iob. 13.1 Antigonus Correction of vices Hipocrates aduise to phisitians Siknes and aflictions are sent from god for our good and profit Good euil Frugalitie Phisicke Aurelius Babilonians In the temple of Esculapius vvere all receipts registred Plin. lib. 29. Asclepiades Cato Rome loâ—ng time vvithout phisitians The temple of Esculapius vvithout the citie Veget. L. 1 c. 19 Marius his Moyles De bello Iug. Metellus kept the discipline of vvarre The auncient fashion of the Galois at an entrance into vvarre Baleares Alexander The Aegiptians Athenians rendred account how they liued Mony lost lent to an idle person Ezec. 16 49. Mans nature 1. Thes 2.9 Pithagoriens Cirus Alexander Agesilaus A Lacedemonian Archidamus of Sleaping Epaminondas K. of Persia Macedonia Vertue Soldiors employed in trifles to auoyde Idlenes By vvhat meanes health is preserued Of gaming Alphonsus Turkie Cirus Young gentlemen wndone by play Honest pastime allovved Musicke Architas Men giuing ouer publick charge to liue priuately Maner of the Egiptians Temperature of the soule The health of the soule All maner of lying forbidden of god Lying ioyfull or offici ous The Lye vvhich the midvviues of the hebrewes made 2. King 10.25 1. Thes 5.21 Bringing vp of youth of vvhat importance Good lawes straighly to be obserued L. 5. c. 6 Nourture bringing vp of children The foundation of churches prebends and colleges Good bringing vp of children maketh them moderate and temperate Punishments of childrens faults at Rome Poore scollers nourished vvith tenthes Dan. 1.5 Deut. 25. L. 2. c. 6 L. 2. de stud litera The principal care vvhich pareÌ„ts ought to haue ouer their children Knovvledge and vertue a more sure inheritaunce then riches Phocion Stilpon Good example to be shevved to children Lessons to youth Youth going to vvarres Com. 6. The beginning is cheefly and principally to be considered Adolescencie is from 12. to 21. years K. Francis 1 Bayart Aristippus Agesilaus An embassage from Pologne to K. Henry 3 Alexander Charles 5. Youth sheweth by his blossomes what fruite it vvill beare in age Apes 1. Sam. 4.18 Xenocrates Licurgus The effects of good education Lavves of the Lydes The children of the kings of Persia Baruc. 2.23 Psal 119.9 1. Cor. 9.24 Eccles 2â— 23 Ier. 3 2â— Deut. 4.10 Great happines dependeth of â—…od education An argument ample and fertile Sophistrie Mariage AlexaÌ„ l. 2. c. 2 Strabo l. 4 Tiers of points Tiberius Ambassadors Masques Gen. 38.15 A greater matter to preserue vvhat is gotten theÌ„ to get Eccles 3.16 Misseres Tauerns and play â—esire of olde age Silenus pliny Dreames To demaund councell Superstition Saints Ciuill vvarres L. 29. Phisitians Pliny his error Simples Apothecaries The assembly of a councell or estats Despaire Suspition Torture The gouernment of vveomen Bartolus his opinion not to be follovved Atheists Alliance of the Zuizers VVherein mans felicity consisteth Riches Glry oâ— Pleasure God is the true onely felicity Murmuringe Admonishment to follovve the truth and shunne lying Deut. 3. Blessings promised to such as follovve the truth and curses to such as follovvelying