Alexander emperoure hauing warre with the people of that Isle made a strong castle ¶ Of that whiche chaunced vnto Antigonus a citezen of Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius Cap. ii AT the same time when this woful chaunce happened in the Isle there dwelled a Romaine in the same citie called Antigonus a man of a noble bloud and wel stroken in age who with his wife and doughter were banished two yeares before from Rome The cause of his banishment was this There was an olde laudable custome in Rome instituted by Quintus Cincinatus the dictatour that two of the most auncient senatours should â—o with the censour newly created in the moneth of December to visite al Rome and to examine seuerally euery Romain declaring vnto him the .xii. tables also the particular decrees of the senate demaunding of theim if they knewe any man that had not obserued these lawes and if they did they should enfourme the senate thereof And so euery man should receiue condigne punishment according to his offence But thei neuer punished before they warned for they vsed the one yeare to admonishe them of their faultes and the next yeare if they dyd not amende to punyshe theim or elles to banyshe theim These were the wordes of the lawe in the fift table and thyrde chapter The sacret senate doth ordeyne the happy people do consent the auncient colonies doe allowe that if men as men in one yeare doe trespasse that men as men for that yeare doe wynke at them but if they as euill men doe not amende that then the good as good doe punishe them Moreouer the lawe sayde the first faultes are dissembled withall because they are committed through weake ignoraunce but the second shal be punished because they proceade of negligence and malice This inquiry was made in the moneth of December because in the moneth of Ianuary folowynge the officers of Rome were elected And it was reason the good from the euill should be knowen to th entent they might knowe who merited to haue them who deserued to go without them The chiefe cause why this Antigonus his wife and his doughter were banished was this It was ordeined by the eleuenth emperour of Rome Augustus that no man should be so hardy as to pisse nere the dores of any temple And Caligula the fourth emperour coÌ„maunded that no womaÌ„ should geue or sel any letters of witchecrafts to hange about the peoples neckes to deliuer them from the feuer quartaine And Cato the censour made a lawe that neither young maÌ„ nor mayde should talke togethers at the conduictes where they vsed to fetche water nor at the ryuer where they washed their clothes nor at the bakehouse where they baked their bread because al the wanton youth of Rome ordinarely haunted one of these two places It chaunced when the censours and consulles visited the warde of mounte Celio Antigonus who dwelled thereby was accused to haue pissed against the walles of the temple of Mars and his wife likewyse was complained of for selling wrytinges to cure the feuers and his doughter was noted for one that commonly haunted the conduictes riuers and bakehouses to talke with younge men the whiche in those daies was a great shame to maydes of Rome The censours therefore seinge the euill president whiche they founde in the house of Antigonus at that tyme registred also before and that he had bene gently thereof admonished banished him into the Isle of Scicilly for as long time as it should please the senate And lyke as in sumptuous and goodly buyldinges one stone falleth not without shakyng of an other so it chaunceth likewyse to men For commonly one mischaunce commeth not alone but that another immediatly foloweth I speake it for this purpose for that Antigonus was not onely depriued of his honoure goodes and countrey but also by an earth quake his house fel down to the ground slewe his dearest beloued doughter Whyles both these great mischaunces happened I meane of the monstre of Scicily and of the banishement of Antigonus from Rome Marke the emperour was in the warres againste the Argonautes where he receiued a letter from Antigonus of his banishemente whereof the emperoure was marueylous sory as it appeareth by the aunswere whiche he sent to comforte him ¶ Howe Marcus Aurelius sought the wealth of his people and howe his people loued him Cap. iii. IN the seconde yeare that Marke was elected emperour the .xlv. of his age when he retourned from the conquest of the Germaines the Argonautes from whence he brought great ryches and treasures to the Romaine empire he to reste him selfe and to appointe his men lay at Salon vntil such time as the Romaines had prepared all thinges conuenient for suche a glorious triumphe There was one thing done whiche neuer was sene in Rome for that same day of his triumphe his sonne Comodus by the assent of the whole people of Rome was chosen emperour after the death of his father He was not chosen at the request of his father for he was against it saiyng that the empire ought not to be geuen for the merites of those whiche are dead but he should be chosen for his own good workes being aliue This emperour said oftentimes that then Rome should be vndone when the election shal be takeÌ„ from the senate when the emperour shal enherite the empire by patrimony Now to come to our matter themperour being at Salon trauayled much to bring his men into Rome in good order and Rome was more careful for to receiue him triumphantly as it appertained to such a great conqueste He was marueilously wel beloued of al the empire and he alwayes studied the wealthe of his people and they were alwayes most faithful in his seruices So that sundry times there was a question moued in the senate whiche of these two thinges was better beloued Either the emperour of his people or the people of their emperour So that one day they appointed two iudges in this case the one was the Embassadour of the Parthes and the other was the Embassadour of the Rhodes and the information was geuen on bothe partes in writing The emperour alleaged the great profite that he had done to the common wealth and the many euils which he had deliuered it from On the other part the senatours declared the good dedes they had done in his absence and the great loue they bare him alwayes in his presence So likewyse the emperour an other day moued an other question to the senate affirming that it was more glory for him to haue such subiectes then for them to haue such an emperour The senate denied it affirming that the coÌ„fort was greater that they had of him then that which he could haue of them And in this wise the emperour gaue the glory to his people and the people gaue the glory to their emperour Thus merily this matter was reasoned of againe It was a pleasaunt thing to heare the reasons
ende of her lyfe Therfore why should I bewayle her death synce the gods haue lent her life but vntyll this daye The greate estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death semeth vnto vs sodayne and that the lyfe vnwares with death is ouertaken but these are wordes of the children of vanitie for that by the wyl of the gods death visiteth vs and against the wylles of men lyfe forsaketh vs. Also my chyldren be vertuous philosphers and albeit they be nowe in the handes of tyrauntes we oughte not therefore to call them captiues for a man may not call him a captiue whiche is laden with irons but him whiche is ouerwhelmed with vices And although the fire haue burnt my house yet I knowe not why I ought to be sad for of truthe it was now olde and the wynde did blowe downe the tyles the wormes did waste the woode and the waters that ran downe perished the walles and it was old and lyke to fall and perchaunce would haue done greater displeasure For most commonly enuy malice and olde houses sodainely without any warning or knocking at the doore assaulteth menne finally there came the fire whiche quited me of many troubles First of the trouble that I should haue had in repairing it secondarely it saued me money in pluckinge it downe thirdly it preserued me and myne heires from muche coste and many daungers For oftentimes that whiche a man consumeth in repayring an olde house would with auauntage by hym a newe Also those whiche saye that for the taking away of my goodes I lacke the goodes of fortune such haue no reason so to thinke or saye For fortune neuer geueth temporall goodes for a proper thing but to those whome she list and when she will dispose them therfore when fortune seeth that those men whome she hath appointed as her distributers doe hourde vp the same to them and to their heires then she taketh it from them to geue it to an other Therefore by reason I should not cōplayne that I haue lost any thing for fortune recommendeth vnto an other the temporall goodes but I cary pacience and Philosophie with me so that they haue discharged me from all other and haue no more charge but for my selfe alone Laertius declareth in his fift boke of the sayings of the Gretians That this Bias determined to goe to the playes of Mounte Olimpus whereunto resorted people of all nations and he shewed hym selfe in this place of so highe an vnderstanding that he was counted supreame and chiefe of all other philosophers and wonne the name of a true philosopher Other philosophers then beinge in the same playes Olimpicalles asked him many questions of sondry matters whereof I wyll make mention here of the chiefest ¶ The questions demaunded of the Philosopher Bias. THe first question was this Tell me who is the vnhappiest man in the worlde Bias aunswered He is moste vnhappy that is not paciente in aduersities For men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impacience whiche they suffer The second was what is most hardest troublesome to iudge he answered There is nothing more difficulte then to iudge a contention betwixte two friendes For to iudge betwene two enemies th one remaineth a frend but to be iudge betwene two friendes the one is made an enemy The third was what is moste hardest to measure whereunto Bias aunswered Ther is nothing that needeth more circumspection then the measuring of time for the time shold be measured so iustly that by reason no time should want to do wel nor any time should abound to do euill The fourth was what thing is that that nedeth no excuse in the accomplishment therof Bias answered the thing that is promised must of necessity be parformed for otherwise he that doth lose the creadite of his word shoulde lose more then he that should lose the promise to him made The 5 was what thinge that is wherin the men aswell good as euill should take care Bias aunswered men ought not in any thinge to take so greate care as in sekinge counsayle and counselours for the prosperous times cannot be maintayned nor the multitude of enemyes resisted if it be not by wise men and graue counsayles The sixte was what thing that is wherin men are praised to be negligent he aunswered in one thinge only men haue lycence to be neglygente and that is in chosing of frendes Slowly ought thy frendes to be chosen and they neuer after for any thing ought to be forsaken The seuenth what is that which the afflyeted man doth most desire Bias aunswered It is the chaunge of fortune and the thing which the prosperous man doth most abhorre is to thinke that fortune is mutable For the vnfortunate man hopeth for euery chaunge of fortune to be made better and the wealthye man feareth through euery chaunge to be depriued of hys house These wer the questions which the philosophers demaunded of Bias in the playes of the mount Olimpus in the 60 Olimpiad The philosopher Bias liued 95. yeres and as hee drew nere his death the Prienenses shewing them selues to be maruelous sorofull for the losse of suche a famous man desired him earnestly to ordeine some lawes wherby they myght know howe to chose captaynes or some Prince whiche after hym mighte gouerne the Realme The phylosopher Bias vnderstandinge their honeste requestes gaue theym certaine lawes in fewe woordes whiche folowe Of the whyche the deuine Plato maketh mencion in his booke De legibus and lykewise Aristotle in the booke of Occonomices ¶ The Lawes whych Bias gaue to the Prienenses WE ordeine and commaunde that no man be chosen to be prince amonge the people vnlesse he be at least 40 yeres of age For gouernours ought to be of such age that nether youth nor small experience should cause theym to erre in their affaires nor weakenes through ouermuch age should hinder them from taking paines We ordeine and commaund that none be chosen amongest the Prienenses gouernour if he be not wel learned in the greke letters For there is no greater plague in the publik weale then for him to lack wisedome whych gouerneth the same We ordeine and commaunde that ther be none amongest the Prienenses chosen gouernour vnlesse he hath bene brought vp in the warres 10. yeres at the leaste For he alone dothe knowe how precious a thing peace is whych by experience hath felte the extreme miseryes of warre We ordeine and commaund that if any haue bene noted to be cruel that he be not chosen for gouernour of the people For that man that is cruel is likely to be a tyrant We ordeine comaund that if the gouernor of the Prienenses be so hardy or dare presume to breake the aunciēt lawes of the people that in such case he be depriued from thoffice of the gouernour and lykewise exiled from the people For there is nothing that destroyeth soner a publike weale then to ordeine new and fond lawes and
as if it were his owne To thys I aunswere that I am not myghtye ynough to remedy it except by my remedye there shoulde spring a greater inconuenience And since thou hast not bene a Prince thou couldest not fall into that I haue nor yet vnderstand that whych I saie For princes by theire wisedome knowe manye thinges the whych to remedy they haue no power So it hath beene so it is so it shal be so I founde it so I keepe it so wil I leaue it them so I haue read it in bookes so haue I seene it with my eyes so I heard it of my predecessours and finallye I saye so our fathers haue inuented it and so wyll wee theire children sustaine it and for this euyll wee will leaue it to our heires I wyll tell thee one thinge and imagine that I erre not therein whych is consideringe the great dommage and lytle profyte which the men of warre doe bringe to our common wealth I thynk to doe it and to sustaine it either it is the folly of menne or a scourge geuen of the gods For there can be nothinge more iust then for the goddes to permit that we feele that in our owne houses whiche we cause others in straunge houses to lament All those thinges I haue written vnto thee not for that it skilleth greatly that thou knowe them but that my harte is at ease to vtter them For as Alcibiades saide the chestes and the hartes ought alwaies to bee open to theire frendes Panutius my secretary goeth in my behalfe to visite that land and I gaue him this letter to geue the with two horses wherewith I think thou wilt be contented for they are gennettes The weapons and ryches whyche I tooke of the Parthes I haue nowe deuyded notwtstanding I doe sende thee .2 Chariottes of them My wyfe Faustine greeteth thee and I sende a riche glasse for thy doughter and a Iewell with stones for thy sister No more but I beseche the Gods to geeue thee a good lyfe and mee a good death ¶ The admonition of the Aucthour to Princes and greate Lordes to thintent that the more they growe in yeares the more they are bounde to refraine from vyces Cap. xvii AVlus Gelius in hys booke De noctibus Atticis sayeth that there was an auncient custome amongest the romaynes to honour and haue in great reuerence aged men And this was so inuiolate a law amongest them that there was none so noble of bloode and lynage neyther so puissaunt in ryches neither so fortunate in battayles that should goe before the aged men which were loden with whit heares so that they honoured them as the gods and reuerenced them as theire fathers Amongest other the aged menne had these preheminences that is to wete that in feastes they sate highest in the triumphes they went before in the temples they did sitte downe they spake to the Senate before all others they had their garments surred they might eat alone in secrat and by theire onlye woorde they were credited as witnesses Fynally I saye that in all thinges they serued them and in nothinge they annoyed them After the people of Rome began warre wyth Asia they forsooke all theire good Romayne customes immediatlye And the occasyon hereof was that since they had no menne to sustaine the common wealth by reason of the great multytude of people which dyed in the warre they ordeyned that al the yong menne should mary the yong maides the wydowes the free and the bonde and that the honour whyche hadde bene done vntyll that tyme vnto the olde menne from henceforthe shoulde be done vnto the maried menne though they were yong So that the moste honoured in Rome was hee not of moste yeares but he that had most children This lawe was made a little before the firste battaile of Catthage And the custome that the maried menne were more honoured then the old menne endured vntill the tyme of the Emperour Augustus whiche was such a frende of antiquyties that hee renewed all the walles of Rome with newe stones and renewed all the auncient customes of the common wealth Licurgus in the lawes whiche hee gaue to the Lacedemonians ordayned that the young menne passinge by the olde shoulde doe them greate reuerence whē the olde dyd speake then the younger shoulde bee sylent And he ordained also that if any olde man by casualtye dyd lose hys goods and came into extreame pouertie that he shoulde bee sustained of the comon wealth and that in suche sustentacion they shoulde haue respecte not onely to succour him for to sustaine hym but further to geue him to lyue competently Plutarche in hys Apothegmes declareth that Cato the Censoure visitinge the corners of Rome founde an olde manne sittinge at his doore weepinge and sheddinge manye teares from hys eyes And Cato the Censoure demaundynge hym why hee was so euyll handeled and wherefore he wepte so bitterlye the good olde manne aunswered hym O Cato the Gods beinge the onelye comfortours comforte thee in all thy tribulations since thou arte readye to comforte mee at this wofull hower As well as thou knowest that the consolations of the harte are more necessarye then the phisike of the bodye the whiche beeynge applyed sometymes doeth heale and an other tyme they doe harme Beholde my scabbed handes my swollen legges my mouth without teethe my peeled face my white beard and my balde heade for thou beinge as thou arte descreete shouldest be excused to aske mee why I weepe For menne of my age thoughe they weepe not for the lyttle they feele yet they ought to weepe for the ouermuche they lyue The manne which is loden with yeares tormented with diseases pursued with enemyes forgotten of his frendes visited with mishappes and with euill wyll and pouertie I knowe not why hee demaundeth long life For there can be no sharper reuengemēt of vyces whych we commit then to geue vs long lyfe Though now I am aged I was yong and if any yong manne should doe me anye iniurye truelye I would not desire the gods to take his lyfe but that they woulde rather prolonge his lyfe For it is a great pitie to heare the man whyche hath lyued longe account the troubles whiche he hath endured Knowe thou Cato if thou doest not knowe it that I haue lyued .77 yeares And in thys tyme I haue buried my father my graundefather twoe Auntes and .5 vncles After that I had buried .9 systers and .11 Brethren I haue buried afterwardes twoe lawfull wyfes and fyue bonde women whyche I haue hadde as my lemmans I haue buryed also .14 chyldren and .7 maryed doughters and therewith not contented I haue buryed .37 Nephues and .15 Nieces and that whyche greaueth me moste of all is that I haue buryed two frendes of myne one which remained in Capua the other which was residente here at Rome The death of whom hath greued me more then all those of my aliaunce and parentage For in the worlde there is no
like losse to that where a man loseth hym whom entierlye he loueth and of whom also he is derelye beloued The fatal destenies oughte to content them selues to haue annoyed mye house with so manye mysfortunes But after all this and aboue all this theye haue lefte me a wicked nephewe whiche shall bee myne heire and theye haue lefte vnto mee that all mye life I shall lament O Cato for that thou owest to the common wealthe I doe desire thee and by the immortall goddes I doe coniure thee that since thou arte a vertuous Romaine and censor of the people that thou prouyde for one of these two thinges that is to wete that this mye Nephewe doe serue mee or els ordeine that I dye forthewith For it is a greate crueltye that those doe pursue me whiche are aliue since it is nowe 40. yeares that I ceased not to bewaile the deade Cato beinge well enfourmed of that the olde man had tolde him and since he founde al that true whiche he spake he called vnto his presence the yonge Nephew and sayde vnto him these wordes If thou were suche a childe as thou oughtest to bee thou shouldest excuse mee of payne and thy selfe of trauaile But since it is not so I praye thee take that pacientlye that I shall commaunde thee and be thou assured that I will not commaund thee any thing that shal bee againste iustice For the vicious yonglinges as thou art ought to be more ashamed of the youthefullnes theye haue commytted then for the punishement whiche is geeuen vnto them Firste I commaunde thow bee whipte beecause thou arte dysobedyent and troublesome to thy graundefather Secondlye I commaunde that thou bee banished the limittes of Rome because thou arte a vicious yonge man Thyrdly I commaund that of all the goodes thou hast enherited thou shalt be disenherited because thou doest not obey thy graundfather And the cause why I geue suche seuere sentence is to the end that from heÌ„sforthe the yong shal not disobey the aged and also that those which haue enheryted great treasours shall not think that men shall permit them to bee more vicious then others Phalaris the tiraunt wryting to a frend of his which was very aged said these wordes the which rather semed spoken of a Philosopher then of a tirant I haue meruailed at thee am offeÌ„ded with the my friend Vetto to know as I do that in yeares thou arte verye aged and in workes verye yonge and also it greeueth mee that thou hast lost the credite of knoweledge in the schooles It greeueth mee more that through thee the priuilege shoold be lost which the old men haue accustomed to haue in Grece that is to wete that all the theeues all the periured and all the murderers were more sure when by white heares theye semed to be olde when they reteyred to the aulters of the temples O what goodnesse O what wisedome what valyauntnes and what innocencye oughte the aged men to haue in the auncient tyme since in Rome theye honoured them as goddes and in Grece theye priuileged those white heares as the temples Plinie in an epistle hee wrote to Fabatus sayeth that Pirrus king of the Epirotes demaunded a philosopher which was the best cytye of the worlde who aunswered The best cytye of the worlde is Molerda a place of three hundreth fyers in Achaia beecause all the walles are of blacke stones and all those whiche gouerne it haue hoarye heades And further hee sayde Woe bee vnto thee Rome Woe bee vnto thee Carthage woe bee vnto thee Numancia woe bee vnto thee Egypte and woe bee vnto thee Athens fyue cytyes whiche count them selues for the beste of the worlde whereof I am of a contrarye oppynion For theye auaunte them selues to haue whyte walles and are not ashamed to haue yonge Senatoures Thys phylosopher sayde verye well and I thynke noe manne wyll saye lesse then I haue sayde Of thys woorde Senex is deryued the name of a Senatoure for so were the gouernoures of Rome named because the fyrste Kynge that was Romulus chosé a hundred aged men to gouerne the common wealth and commaunded that all the other Romayne youthe shoold employe them selues to the warres Since wee haue spoken of the honour whyche in the olde tyme was geeuen to the auncient men it is reason wee knowe now from what yeare they counted men aged to the ende they shoolde bee honoured as aged men For the makers of lawes when they hadde established the honours whych ought to bee done to the aged dydde aswell ordeyne from what daye and yeare theye shoolde beeginne Dyuers auncyent Philosophers dyd put syx ages from the tyme of the byrthe of man till the houre of deathe That is to wete chyldehood which lasteth till seuen yeares Infancy whiche endureth vntill seuentene yeares Youth which continueth till thirty yeares Mannes estate which remayneth till fyftye and fyue yeares Age whyche endureth till three score and eyghtene yeares Croked age which remaineth till death And so after man had passed fiue and fyftye yeares they called hym aged Aulus Gelius in his tenth booke in the xxvii Chapter saieth that Tullius Hostillius who was kynge of the Romaines determined to count all the old and yonge whiche were amongest the people and also to know whych shoold bee called infaunts whych yong and whych olde And there was noe lytle dyfference amongest the Romayne Phylosophers and in the end it was decreed by the kyng and the Senate that men tyll seuenteene yeares shoold bee called infaunts and tyll syx and forty shoold bee called yong and from syx and forty vpwardes they shoold bee called olde If wee wyl obserue the lawe of the Romaynes wee know from what tyme wee are bound to call and honor the aged men But addyng hereunto it is reason that the olde men know to what prowesses and vertues they are bound to the ende that wyth reason and not wyth faynyng they bee serued For speakyng the trueth yf wee compare duty to duty they old men are more bound to vertue then the yong to seruice Wee can not denay but that all states of natyons great small yong and olde are bound to bee vertuous but in this case the one is more to bee blamed then the other For oftentimes if the yong do offend it is for that hee wanteth experience but if the olde man offend it is for the abundaunce of mallice Seneca in an Epystle sayde these woordes I let thee weete my friend Lucillus that I am very much offended and I do complayne not of any friend or foe but of my selfe and â—â—â—â—e other And the reason why I thynk thus is that I see my selfe olde in yeares and yong in vices so that lytle is that wherein I haue serued the gods much lesse is that I haue profyted meÌ„ And Seneca saith further he whiche praysethe hym selfe moste to be aged and that woulde be honoured for beinge aged oughte to be temperate in eatinge honest in apparayle
the tiraunt which was in Cicilia asking him why he possessed the Realme so longe by tirannye Phalaris aunswered hym agayne in another Epystle in these fewe wordes Thou callest me tyraunt bicause I haue taken this realme kept it this .32 yeres I graunt the quod he that I was a tiraunte in vsurpyng it For no manne occupyeth another mannes ryght but by reason he is a tyraunte But yet I will not agree to be called a tyraunte sithe it is nowe .xxxii. yeares sins I haue possessed it And though I haue atcheued it by tyrannie yet I haue gouerned it by wisedome And I let thee to vnderstande that to take an other mans goods it is an easie thing to conquer but a hard thing to kepe an easy thing but to kepe them I ensure the it is very hard The Emperour Marcus Aurelius maried the doughter of Antonius Pius the 16. Emperour of Rome and she was named Faustina who as sole heire had the Empire so through mariage Marcus Aurelius came to be Emperour this Faustine was not so honest and chast as she was faire and beautifull She had by him two sonnes Commodus and Verissimus Marcus Aurelius triumphed twise once when he ouercame the Perthians and an other time when he conquered the Argonantes He was a man very wel learned and of a deepe vnderstanding He was as excellent both in the Greke and latin as he was in his mother tongue He was very temperate in eating and drinking he wrote many thinges ful of good learning swete sentences He dyed in conquering the realme of Pannonia whiche is now called Hongarie His death was asmuch bewayled as his lyfe was desired And he was loued so intierlye in the citye of Rome that euery Romane had a statue of him in his house to th ende the memorie of him among them should neuer decay The which was neuer red that they euer did for any other king or Emperoure of Rome no not for Augustus Cesar who was beste beloued of all other Emperours of Rome He gouerned the empire for the space of 18. yeres with vprighte iustice and dyed at the age of 63 yeres with much honour in the yere clymatericke which is in the 60. and 3. yeres wherein the lyfe of man ronneth in great peril For then are accomplyshed the nine seuens or the seuen nynes Aulus Gelius writeth a chapiter of this matter in the boke De noctibus Atticis Marcus Aurelius was a prince of lyfe most pure of doctrine most profound of fortune most happie of all other princes in the world saue only for Faustine his wife and Commodus his sonne And to the ende we maye see what Marcus Aurelius was from his infancie I haue put here an epistle of his which is this ¶ Of a letter whych Marcus Aurelius sent to his frend Pulio wherein hee declareth the order of hys whole lyfe and amongest other thinges he maketh mencion of a thyng that happened to a Romaine Censor with hys host of Campagna Cap. ii MArcus Aurelius only Emperour of Rome greteth the his old frend Pulio wisheth health to thy parson and peace to the commen wealth As I was in the temple of the vestall virgens a letter of thine was presented vnto me which was writen long before and greatly desired of me but the best therof is that thou wryting vnto me briefly desirest that I should writ vnto the at large Which is vndecent for the authoritie of him that is chiefe of the empire in especial if such one be couetous for to a prince there is no greater infamy then to be lauishe of words and scant of rewards Thou wrytest to me of thy griefe in thy legge and that thy wounde is great and truly the payne thereof troubleth me at my hart and I am righte sory that thou wantest that which is necessarie for thy health and that good that I do wishe the. For in the ende all the trauailes of the life may be endured so that the body with diseases be not troubled Thou lettest me vnderstande by thy letters that thou art arriued at Rhodes and requireste me to write vnto the howe I lyued in that place when I was younge what time I gaue my minde to studie likewise what the discourse of my life was vntil the time of my being Emperoure of Rome In this case trulye I meruell at the not a lytle that thou shouldest aske me such a question and so muche the more that thou diddest not consider that I cannot without great trouble and paine answere thy demaunde For the doinges of youthe in a younge man were neuer so vpright and honest but it were more honesty to amend them then to declare them Annius Verus my father shewing vnto me his fatherly loue not accomplishing yet fully 13 yeres drew me from the vices of Rome and sent me to Rhodes to learne science howbeit better acccompanyed with bookes then loden with money where I vsed suche dilygence and fortune so fauoured me that at the age of 26. yeres I red openly natutall and moral philosophy and also Rethoricke and ther was nothing gaue me such occasion to study and read bookes as the want of moneye for pouertie causeth good mens children to bee vertuous so that they attaine to that by vertue which others come vnto by riches Trulye frende Pulio I found great want of the pleasures of Rome specially at my first comminge into the I le but after I had redde philosophie 10 yeares at Rhodes I toke my selfe as one borne in the countrey And I thinke my couersacion among them caused it to seme no lesse For it is a rule that neuer faileth that vertue maketh a straunger grow natural in a straunge country and vyce maketh the natural a straūger in his owne country Thou knowest wel how my father Annius Verus was 15. yeres a captaine in the frontiers against the Barbarous by the commaundement of Adrian my lorde and maister and Antonius Pius my father in law both of theym prynces of famous memorie which recōmended me ther to his old frendes who with fatherly counsel exhorted me to forget the vyces of Rome and to accustome me to the vertues of Rhodes And trulye it was but nedeful for me for the naturall loue of the countrye oft tymes bringeth domage to him that is borne therein leadinge his desier stil to retourne home Thou shalt vnderstand that the Rhodians are men of much curtesy requyting beneuolence whych chaunseth in few Iles because that naturally they are personnes deceitful subtile vnthankeful and ful of suspiciō I speake this bycause my fathers frends alwaies succoured me wyth counsayle and money which two thinges were so necessarie that I could not tell which of them I had most nede of For the straunger maketh his profit with moneye to withstand disdainfull pouertie and profitteth him selfe with counsell to forget the swete loue of his country I desired then to reade philosophy in Rhodes so long as my father continued
there captaine But that could not be for Adrian my lord sent for me to returne to Rome which pleased me not a lytle albeit as I haue said they vsed me as if I had ben borne in that Iland for in theend although the eyes be fedde with delyght to see straunge thinges yet therefore the hart is not satisfyed And this is al that toucheth the Rhodians I will now tel the also how before my going thether I was borne and brought vp in mount Celio in Rome with my father from mine infancie In the common wealthe of Rome ther was a law vsed by custome wel obserued that no citizē which enioyed any lybertie of Rome after their sonnes had accomplyshed .10 yeares should be so bold or hardy to suffer them to walke the streates like vacabondes For it was a custome in Rome that the chyldren of the senatours should sucke til two yeres of age til 4. they should liue at theyr own wylles tyl 6. they should reede tyl 8 they should wryte tyll 10. they should study gramer 10. yeares accomplished they should then take some craft or occupacion or gyue them selues to study or go to the warres so that throughout Rome no man was idell In one of the lawes of the 12 tables weare written these wordes We ordeine and commaund that euery cytizen that dwelleth wythin the circuite of Rome or lybertyes of the same from 10 yeres vpwardes to kepe hys sonne well ordered And if perchaunce the chyld being ydel or that no man teacheth hym any craft or scyence should therby peraduenture fal to vyce or commyt some wycked offence that then the father no lesse then the sonne should be punyshed For ther is nothing so much breadeth vyce amongest the people as when the fathers are to neclygent and the chyldren to bold And furthermore another law sayd We ordeine and commaunde that after 10. yeares be past for the fyrst offence that the chyld shal commyt in Rome that the father shal be bound to send hym forth some where els or to be bound suertye for the good demeanour of hys son For it is not reason that the fonde loue of the father to the sonne should be an occasion why the multytude shuld be sclaundered because al the wealth of the Empyre consisteth in kepyng and mayntaynyng quyet men and in banishyng and expellyng sedycious personnes I wyll tell the one thyng my Pulyo and I am sure thou wylt meruell at it and it is thys When Rome tryumphed and by good wysedom gouerned all the worlde the inhabitantes in the same surmounted the nomber of two hundreth thousand parsonnes which was a maruelouse matter Amongeste whom as a man maye iudge ther was aboue a hundreth thousand chyldren But they whych had the charge of them kept them in such awe and doctryne that they banyshed from Rome one of the sonnes of Cato vticensis for breakyng an erthen pot in a maydens handes whych went to fetche water In lyke manner they banyshed the sonne of good Cinna onlye for entrynge into a garden to gather fruyte And none of these two were as yet fyftyne yeares olde For at that tyme they chastised them more for the offences done in gest then they doo now for those which are don in good earnest Our Cicero saith in his booke De legibus that the Romaynes neuer toke in any thing more paynes then to restreine the chyldren aswel old as young from ydlenes And so long endured the feare of their lawe and honour of theyr common wealthe as they suffered not their children lyke vacabondes idelly to wander the streates For that countrey may aboue all other be counted happye where eche one enioyeth hys owne laboure and no man lyueth by the swette of another I let the know my Pulio that when I was a chylde althoughe I am not yet very olde none durste be so hardy to go commonly throughe Rome wythout a token about hym of the crafte and occupacion he exercysed and whereby he lyued And if anye man had bene taken contrary the chyldren dyd not onlye crie out of hym in the streates as of a foole but also the Censour afterwardes condemned hym to trauayle wyth the captynes in common workes For in Rome they estemed it no lesse shame to the child which was idle then they dyd in Grece to the phylosopher whych was ignorant And to th ende thou mayest se thys I write vnto the to be no new thynge thou oughtest to know that the Emperour caused to be borne afore hym a brenning brand and the counsel an axe of armes the priestes a hat in maner of a coyfe The Senatours a crusible on their armes the Iudges a lytle balance the Tribunes Maces the gouernours a scepter the Byshoppes hattes of floures The Oratours a booke the cutlers a swerd the goldsmithes a pot to melt gold and so forth of al other offices strangers excepted which went al marked after one sort in Rome For they woulde not agree that a stranger shoulde be apparailed marked according to the childrē of Rome O my frend Pulio it was suche a ioye then to beholde the discipline and prosperitie of Rome and it is now at this present suche a grefe to see the calamitie thereof that by the immortall gods I sweare to the and so the god Mars guyde my hande in warres that the man which now is best ordered is not worthe so much as the most dissolute person was then For then amongest a thousande they could not finde one man vicious in Rome and nowe amonges twentie thousande they cannot finde one vertuous in all Italye I know not why the gods are so cruel againste me and fortune so contrary that this 40. yeares I haue done nothynge but wepe and lamente to see the good men die and immediatly to be forgotten and on the other side to see the wicked liue and to be alwayes in prosperitye Vniuersallye the noble harte maye endure al the troubles of mans life vnlesse it be to see a good man decay and the wicked to prosper which my harte cannot abyde nor yet my tonge dissemble And touchynge this matter my frende Pulio I will write vnto the one thynge whiche I founde in the bookes of the highe Capitoll where he treateth of the time of Marius and Sylla whiche trulye is worthy of memorye and that is this There was at Rome a custome and a lawe inuiolable sith the time of Cinna that a Censour expressely commaunded by the senate should goe and visite the prouinces whyche were subiecte vnto it throughe out all Italye and the cause of those visitacions was for three thinges The firste to see if any complained of iustice the second to see in what case the common wealthe stode The thirde to th ende that yearelye they should render obedience to Rome O my frende Pulio how thinkest thou if they visited Italye at this presente as at that time they surueyed Rome how ful of errous should they fynd it And what decaye
Annius Verus my father in thys case deserueth as much prayse as I doe reproche For whiles I was yonge he neuer suffered me to slepe in bed to syt in chayre to eate with him at hys table neyther durst I lyfte vp mine eyes to loke hym in the face And oftentymes he sayde vnto me Marcus my sonne I had rather thou shoudest be an honest Romayne than a dissolute Philosopher Thou desyrest me to wryte vnto the how manye masters I had and what scyences I learned in my youth Knowe thou that I had manye good masters though I am become an euyll scoller I learned also dyuerse scyences though presently I knowe lyttle not for that I forgote them but because the affayres of the empyre of Rome excluded me from them and caused me to forsake them For it is a general rule that science in that place is neuer permanent where the personne is not at libertie I studyed grammer with a mayster called Euphermon who sayed he was a Spaniard borne and his head was hore for age In speache he was very temperate in correction somwhat seuere and in life exceadyng honeste For there was a law in Rome that the childrens masters should be very old so that if the disciple were .10 yeres of age the master should be aboue fiftie I studied a long time Rethorick and the lawe vnder a greeke called Alexander borne in Lycaony which was so excellent an Oratour that if he had had as great a grace in writing with his pen as he hadde eloquence in speakynge with hys tong truly he had bene no lesse renowmed among the Gretians then Cicero was honored amonge the Romains After the death of this my master at Naples I went to Rhodes and hearde rethoricke again of Orosus of Pharanton and of Pulio whiche trulye were men expert and excellent in the arte of oratorie and especially in makyng comedies tragedies and enterludes they were very fyne and had a goodly grace Commodus Calcedon was my firste master in naturall Philosophie He was a graue man and in greate credite with Adrian he translated Homere out of greeke into latin After this man was dead I toke Sextus CheroneÌ„sis for my master who was nephewe to Plutarche the greate whych Plutarche was Traianus master I knewe this Sextus Cheronensis at .35 yeares of age at what time I doute whether there hath bene any Philosopher that euer was so well estemed throughout the Romain empire as he I haue him here with me and although he be foure score yeres olde yet continually he writeth the Histories and gestes done of my time I let the know my frend Pulio that I studied the law .2 yeres and the seekyng of the lawes of many nacions was occasion that I knew many antiquities and in this science Volucius Mecianns was my master a man whiche could reade it well and also dispute of if better So that on a time he demaunded of me merily and sayde Tell me Marke doest thou thinke there is any lawe in the world that I know not and I aunswered him Tell me master is there any lawe in the world that thou obseruest The fyfte yere that I was at Rhodes there came a marueilous pestilence whiche was occasion of the dissolution of our scoole which was in a narowe and litle place and beynge there a certaine painter paintinge a riche and exellent worke for the Realme of Palestine I then for a truth learned there to drawe and painte and my master was Diogenetus who in those dayes was a famous painter He painted in Rome .6 worthy Princes in one table and 6. other tirannous Emperours in an other And amongest those euill Nero the cruell was painted so lyuely that he semed a lyue to all those that sawe him and that table wherein Nero was so liuelye drawen was by decrees of the sacred senat commaunded to be burnt For they saide that a man of so wycked a life deserued not to be represented in so goodly a table Others saide that it was so naturall and perfect that he made all men afrayde that beheld him and if he had bene lefte there a fewe daies that he would haue spoken as if he had bene aliue I studied the arte of Nigromancie a while with al the kyndes of gyromancye and chiromancye In this science I had no particuler master but that somtymes I went to heare Apolonius lecture After I was maried to Faustine I learned Cosmographye in the citie of Argeleta which is the chiefeste towne of Illyria and my masters were Iunius Rusticus and Cyna Catullus Croniclers and counsaylers to Adrian my master and Antonius my father in lawe And because I would not be ignorant in any of those thynges that mans debilitie myght attaine to beyng at the warres of Dalia I gaue my selfe to musicke was apte to take it and my master was named Geminus Câ—modus a man of a quicke hand to play and of as pleasaunte a voice to singe as euer I hearde Romayne tonge prompte to speake This was the order of my lyfe and the tyme that I spente in learning And of good reason a man so occupyed can not chose but be vertuous But I sware and confesse to the that I did not so much geue my selfe to studye but that euery day I lost time enoughe For youth and the tender fleshe desyreth libertie and althoughe a man accustome it with trauailes yet he findeth vacant time also for his pleasours Although al the auncient Romans were in dyuerse thinges very studious yet notwithstandinge amongest all ouer and besides these there were fyue things wherunto they had euer a great respect to those that therin offended neyther requestes auayled rewards profited nor law old nor new dispensed Truly their good willes are to be comended and their dyligence to be exalted For the princes that gouerne great Realmes ought to employe their hartes to make good lawes and to occupie their eyes to se them dulye executed throughoute the common wealthe These fiue thinges weare these 1 The firste they ordeyned that the priestes shoulde not be dishoneste For in that Realme where priestes are dyshonest it is a token that the gods against the people are angrye 2 The seconde it was not suffered in Rome that the Virginnes vestalles should at their pleasoure stray abroad For it is but reason that she whiche of her owne fre wil hath heretofore promised openly to be good should now if she chaunge her mind be compelled in secret to be chast 3 The third they decreed that the iudges should be iuste and vprighte For there is nothing that decayeth a common wealthe more then a iudge who hath not for all men one ballaunce indifferent 4 The fourth was that the Captaines that should go to the warres should not be cowardes for there is no lyke daunger to the common wealthe nor no like sclaunder to the Prince as to committe the charge of men to hym in the fielde who wylbe firste to commaunde and laste to fighte
an auncient malediction on riches hydde and treasours buried which Epimenides casteth out sayinge these words All the treasours hurded vp by the couetous shal be wasted by the prodigall You say through that I wast in few dayes you shall haue neither to giue to wast nor yet to eate at the yeres ende To this I aunswere most gracious princesse that if you had bene as ready to releue the poore as you Iustinian were dilygent to robbe the riche then you should iustly haue complayned and I worthely might haue repented Tyll now we haue not sene but that of the riche you haue made poore notwithstanding this yet you haue not gotten enoughe to buyld an Hospital for the poore You say the Princes to resist their enemyes haue neede of greate treasours To this I aunswere if Princes be proud gready and of straunge realmes ambicious it is most certaine that they nede great treasours to accomplishe their disordinate appetites For the end of a tyraÌ„nous prince is by hooke or by crooke to make him selfe riche in his lyfe But if the Prince be or wil be a man reposed quyte vertuous paciente peaceable and not couetous of the good of an other man what nede hath he of great treasours For to speake truly in princes houses ther is more offence in that that auaunceth then in that that wanteth I wil not wast many words in aunsweringe sithe I am muche more liberal of dedes then of wordes but I conclude that ther is no Prince which in vertuous dedes wasteth so much but if he wil he may spend much more For in the end princes become not poore spending their goodes vpon necessaries but for wasting it vpon things superfluous And take this word for al that for this he shal not be the porer but rather the richer For it is a general rule in Christian reglion the god wil giue more to his seruaunts in one houre theÌ„ they wil wast in 20. yeres Iustinian was Emperour .11 yeres who being a foole and obstinate in the heresye of Pellagien died to the great offence of the Romaine people whose death was asmuch desired as his life abhorred For the tirannous prince that maketh many wepinge eyes in his life shall cause many reioysing harts at his death Iustinian being dead Tiberius was elected Emperour who gouerned the empire through so great wisedom and iustice that no maÌ„ was able to reproue him if the histories in his time did not deceiue vs. For it seldoÌ„ hapeneth to a prince to be as he was vpright in iustice pure in life clene in conscience For few are those princes which of some vices are not noted Paulus Diaconus in his 18 boke of the Romain gestes declare a thing merueilous which be fell to this emperour at that time and very worthy to know at this present And it is that in the Citie of Constantinople the Romaine Emperours had a palace very sumptuous and besemyng the auctoritie of the imperiall maiesty which was begonne in the time of Constantine the greate and afterwardes as the succession of good or euyll Emperours was so were the buildings decayed or repayred For it is the deede of a vertuous Prince to abolyshe vices of the common wealth and to make greate and sumptuous buildinges in his country This Emperour Tiberius hadde spent treasours to redeme poore captiues to build hospitalles to erect monasteries to marie and prouide for the Orphanes and widowes in this he was so prodigall that it came almost to passe that he had nothing to eate in his palaice And truly this was a blessed necessitie For catholike Princes ought to thinke that well employed which in the seruice of Christ is bestowed And hereof the Emperoure was not ashamed but thought it a great glory and that which onely greued him was to see the Empresse reioyce so much at his miserye For the high and noble hartes which feele them selues wounded do not so much esteme their owne paine as they do to see their enemyes reioyce at their griefe God neuer forsoke theym that for his sake became poore as it appeareth by this It chaunced one day that euen as the Emperour Tiberius walked in the middest of his palace he saw at his feete a marble stone whiche was in fourme of the crosse of the reademer of the world And because it had bene to vniuste a thing as he thoughte to haue spurned that with his feete wherwith we trust from our enemyes to be defended he caused the stone to be taken vp not thinking any thing to be ther vnder and immediatly after they found an other wherin likewise was the forme of the crosse and this beyng taken vp they founde an other in lyke maner and when that was pluct vp from he bottome there was found a treasor which conteyned the some of 2. millions of Duckettes for the which the good Emperour Tiberius gaue vnto all mighty god most high thankes and wheras before he was lyberal yet afterwardes he was much more bountiful For all those treasours he distrybuted amongest the poore and needye people Let therfore mighty princes and great lords see reade and profit by this example and let them thinke them selues assured that for geuing almes to the poore they nede not feare to become poore for in the end the vycious man caÌ„not cal him self rich nor the vertuous man can counte him selfe poore ¶ How the Chefetaine Naâ—setes ouercame manye battailes only for that his whole confidence was in god And what happened to him by the Empresse Sophia Augusta wherin may be noted the vnthankefulnes of Princes towardes their seruauntes Cap. xvi IN the yere of the incarnacion of Christ 528 Iustinian the great being Emperour who was the sonne of Iustines sister his predecessour in the Empyre the histories say in especially Paulus Diaconus in the 18. booke Degestis Romanorum that ther was a knighte of Greece in Rome who from hys tender yeres hadde bene broughte vppe in Italye He was a man of meane stature of a colericke complexcion and in the Lawe of Christe verye deuoute whyche was no small thinge For at that tyme not onelye manye knightes but almoste all the Bishoppes of Italye were Arrians This knightes name was Narsetes and because he was so valliant in armes and so aduenturous in warres he was chosen Chefeteyne generall of the Romane Empire For the Romaines had this excellency that when they had a valiaunt and stoute captaine although they might haue his weighte of gold giuen them they would neuer depart from his person He enterprised so great thinges he ouercame such mighty realmes and had suche notable victories ouer his enemyes that the Romaines said he had in him the strength of Hercules the hardinesse of Hector the noblenes of Alexander the policye of Pirrus and the fortune of Scipio For many of the vaine gentils held opinion that as the bodyes dyd distribute their goodes in the lyfe so did the soules parte their giftes after the deathe This
women of Italie are so dissolute that though men doe not regarde them yet they doe entyse them If men flie they call them If men goe backe they approche If men are sadde they make them mery If men are silente they force them to speake and finally men begynne the loue in sporte and they temper it in suche sorte that they tourne it all into earnest I let thee wete Faustine that the meanes whereby nature worketh in man is very straunge but the shame whiche the Gods put in women is more marueilous And if it be true as it is true in dede that the men doe loose the stynge of the fleshe and that the women doe not loose the shame of the visage I thynke it is impossible that there should be a chaste or vertuous woman in Rome For there is no common wealth more vndone then that where the women haue lost their shame O women what reason haue they whiche flie form you whiche are wery of you whiche forsake you whiche forget you whiche make them selues straungers and furthermore whiche are dead and buried For the hungrie wormes gnawe in the graue onely the frayle and slymie fleashe of the dead but you women destroy the goodes honoure and lyfe of the liuing Oh if the noble hartes knewe what euill doth folowe them for dallieng with women I sweare vnto them that they would not serue them continually as they doe serue them but also they would haue no luste nor desier to beholde them What wilt thou I saye any more to thee Faustine but that some scape out of your handes for effeminate and sclaundered others hurte by your tongues others persecuted with your workes other deceiued with your countenaunces others despysed through your hatred others desperate through your inconstancie others condempned by your light iudgementes others troubled through your vnkyndnes finally those that escape beste are of your hartes abhorred and through your folly destroyed Then since the man knoweth that he muste passe all those daungers I can not tel what foole he is that wyll either loue or serue you For the brute beaste that once hath felte the sharpe teethe of the dogge wil vnwillingly euer after come nere vnto the stake Oh vnto what perils doth he offer him selfe whiche continually doth haunte the company of women For as much as if he loue them not they despise him and take him for a foole If he doth loue them they accompt him for light If he forsake thē they esteme him for no body If he followe them he is accompted loste If he serue them they doe not regarde him If he doe not serue them they despyse hym If he wyll haue them they wyll not If he will not they persecute him If he doe aduaunce him selfe forth they call hym importunate If he flie they saye he is a cowarde If he speake they saye he is a bragger If he holde his peace they saye he is a dissarde If he laughe they saye he is a foole If he laughe not thei say he is solempne If he geueth them any thing they say it is litle worth he that geueth them nothing he is a pinchpurse Finally he that haunteth them is by them sclaundered and he that doth not frequent them is esteamed lesse then a man These thinges so sene so harde and so knowen what shall the poore and miserable man doe inespecially if he be a man of vnderstanding For though he would absent him selfe from women the flesh doth not geue him licence though he would folow womē wisedom wyl not condiscende Some men thinke in al their thoughts that by seruices and pleasures they may content women But I let them knowe if they know it not that the woman is neuer contented though mā doth what he can as maide that he do al that he ought to do as a husbād though he taketh paines for her sake aboue his force though with the swet of his browes he releaueth her neade though euery houre he putteth him self in daunger yee in the end she wil geue him no thankes but will say that he loueth an other that he doth but that to please and satisfie her It is a long time since I desired to tel thee this Faustine but I haue deferred it vntil this present houre hoping thou wouldest not geue occasion to tel it thee For among wise men those wordes ought chiefly to be esteamed which fittely to the purpose are declared I remember that it is sixe yeres since Anthonius Pius thy father chose me to be his sonne in law and that thou chosest me for thy husband I thee for my wife all the which thinges were done my wofull aduentures permitting it Adrian my lord commaunding it The good Anthonius Pius gaue his onely doughter in mariage vnto me and gaue me likewyse his noble Empire with great treasures he gaue me also the gardēs of Vulcanali to passe the time therin But I thinke that on both sides we were deceiued He in chosing me for his sonne in lawe I in taking thee for my wife O Faustine thy father and my father in law was called Anthonius Pius because to al he was merciful saue only to me to whom he was most cruel for with a litle flesh he gaue me many bones And I confesse the truthe vnto thee that nowe I haue no more teethe to byte nor heate in my stomake to digeaste and the worste of all is that many tymes I haue thought to rage on my selfe I wyll tell thee one worde though it doth displease thee whiche is that for thy bewtie thou art desyred of many and for thy euil conditions thou arte despysed of all For the fayre women are lyke vnto the golden pylles the whiche in sighte are very pleasaunte and in eatinge veray noysome Thou knowest well Faustine and I also that we sawe on a daye Drusio and Braxille his wife which were our neighbours and as they were brauling togethers I spake vnto Drusio suche wordes what meaneth this lorde Drusio that being nowe the feaste of Berecinthia and being as we are adioyninge to her house and presente before so honourable assemblie and furthermore thy wyfe beinge so faire as she is howe is it possible there shoulde bee any stryfe betweene you Men which are maried to deformed personnes to the end that they might kil them quicly should alwaies fal out with their wiues but those that are maried to fayer women they oughte alwayes to liue togethers in ioy and pleasure to the end they may liue long For when a fayre woman dyeth though she haue lyued a hundreth yeres yer she dyeth to sone and though a deformed woman lyueth a smal time yet not withstandyng she dieth to late Drusio as a man being vexed lifting vp his eyes into the heauens fetchinge a greuous sighe from the bottome of his hart sayed these wordes The mother Berecinthia pardon me and her holy house also and al the companye besides forgeue me for by
watche narrowly to know wheÌ„ and how much the nources doe eate whiche doe nourish their children For the child is so tender and the milke so delicate that with eatyng of sondrye meates they become corrupte and with eatyng muche they waxe fat If the children suck those which are fatte and grosse they are commonly sicke and if they sucke milke corrupted they ofte tymes go to bed hole and in the mornyng be found dead Isodore in his etimologies saieth that menne of the prouince of Thrace were so cruell that the one dyd eate the other and they dyd not onely this but also furder to shew more their immanitie in the sculles of those that were deade they dranke the bloud of him that was lately alyue Thoughe men were so cruell to eate mennes flesh and to drynk the bloud of the vaines yet the women â—hich nourished their children wer so temperat and moderat in eatyng thaâ—â—hey dyd eate nothyng but nettelles sodden and boyled in goates milke And â—â—ause the women of Thrace were so moderate in eatinge the philosopher Solon Solynon brought some to Athens for the auncientes sought no lesse to haue good women in the commen wealthe then to haue hardy and valiant captaines in the warre The auctoure addeth .iii. other conditions to a good nourse that giueth sucke that they drinke no wine that she be honest and chiefly that she be well conditioned Chap. xxi THe Princesses and great ladies may know by this example what difference there is betwene the women of Thrace which are fed with nettelles only and haue brought forth suche fierce men and the women of our tyme whiche through their delicate and excessiue eatyng bryng forthe suche weake and feable children Fiftly the Ladies ought to be very circumspecte not onely that nources eate not much that they be not gready but also that they be in drinkynge wine temperat the which in old time was not called wine but â—enym The reason hereof is apparant and manifest ynough for if we doe forbyd the fat meates which lieth in the stomacke we should then much more forbidde the moyst wine whyche washeth all the vaines of the body And further I say that as the child hath no other nourishement but the milke only that the milke proceadeth of bloud that bloud is nourished of the wine and that wine is naturally whot from the first to the last I say the woman whyche drinketh wine and geueth the child sucke doth as she that maketh a greate fire vnder the panne wher ther is but a litle milke so that the panne burneth and the milke runneth ouer I will not denaye but that some times it maye chaunce that the child shal be of a strong complexioÌ„ and the nource of a feable and weake nature and theÌ„ the child would more substanciall milke wheÌ„ the womeÌ„ is not able to geue it him In such a case though with other thinges milke may be conferred I allow that the nource drink a litel wine but it ought to be so litel and so well watered that it should rather be to take awaye the vnsauorines of the water then for to tast of any sauour of the wine I do not speake this without a cause for the nource being sicke and feable of her selfe and her milke not substancial it ofte times moueth her to eate more then necessitie requireth and to drinke wine which is somewhat nutritiue so that they supposyng to giue the nource triacle do giue her poyson to destroy her child Those excellent auncient Romaines if they had bene in our time and that we had deserued to haue bene in their time thoughe our time for beyng Christians is better they had saued vs from this trauaile for they were so temperat in eatyng meates and so abstinent in drynkyng wynes that they dyd not only refrayne the drinkyng therof but also they would not abyde to smell it For it was a greater shame vnto a Romayne woman to drynke wyne then to be deuorced from her husbande Dionisius Alicarnaseus in his boke of the lawes of the Romaynes sayed that Romulus was the fyrste founder of Rome and that he occupyed hym selfe more in buildyng houses to amplifie Rome then in constituting lawes for the gouernement of the commen wealth But emongest .xv. lawes which he made the seuenth therof was that no Romaine woman on paine of death shold be so hardy to drinke wine within the walles of Rome The same Historian saieth that by the occasion of this law the custome was in Rome that when any Romain Ladye would drinke wine or make any solempne feast she must nedes goe oute of Rome where euery one hadde their gardens and dwellyng place because the smell also of wine was prohibited and forhidden women within the circuite of Rome If Plinie do not deceyue vs in his .xxiiii. booke of his naturall history It was an auncient custome in Rome that at eche time that parentes met both men and women they did kisse the one the other in the face in token of peace and this ceremony began first for that they would smel whether the woman hadde dronke any wine And if perchaunce she sauored of wine the Censor mighte haue banished her from Rome And if her kinseman found her without Rome he might frely and without any daunger of lawe put her to death because within the circuite and walles of Rome no pryuat man by Iustice could put any Romaine to death As aboue is rehersed Romulus was he which ordeined the paine for dronkardes and Ruptilius was he which ordeined the paine for adulterers And betwene Romulus and Ruptilius there was .xxxii. yeares so that they ordeyned this strayght lawe for dronckardes a long time before they dyd the law for adulterers For if a woman be a dronckarde or harlot truly they are both great faultes and I can not tell whether of them is worst for beyng a harlot the woman loseth her name and for being a dronckard she loseth her fame and the husbande hys goods Then if women for the honestie of their personnes only are bound to be temperat in eating and drincking the woman which nourisheth giueth the child sucke ought to be much more corrected and sober in this case For in her is concurrante not only the grauitie of their personnes but the health and lyfe also of the creature whiche she nourisheth Therfore it is mete that the nource be kepte from wine since the honour of the one and the lyfe of the other is in peryll Sixtly the princesses and great Ladies ought to take hede that their nources be not gotten with child And the reason herof is that in that time wheÌ„ the woman is with child her natural course is stopped and that corruption is mingled with the pure bloud so that she thinking to giue the child mylke to nourish it geueth it poison to destroye it And nothyng can be more vniuste then to put the childe whiche is alredy borne and aliue in daunger for that which
chose the good for lack of force cannot resiste the euil which is the cause that noble mens children ofttimes cōmit sondrye heynous offences For it is an infallible rule that the more a mā geueth him selfe to pleasures the more he is entangled in vices It is a thing worthy to be noted and woful to see how politike we be to augmente thinges of honour how bolde we be to enterprise them how fortunate to compas them how diligent to kepe them how circumspect to susteine them and afterwarde what pitie is it to see how vnfortunate we are to lose all that whiche so longe time we haue searched for kept and possessed And that which is moste to be lamented in this case is that the goodes and honour are not lost for wante of diligence trauaile of the father but for the aboundaunce of pleasures and vices of the sonne Finallye let the riche man knowe that that which he hath wonne in labour and toyle waking his sonne being euill brought vp shall consume in pleasures sleaping One of the greatest vanities that reigneth at this day among the children of vanitie is that the father can not shew vnto his sonne the loue which he beareth him but in suffering him to be brought vp in the pleasures and vanities of this life Truly he that is such a one ought not to be called a pitifull father but a cruel stepfather for no man wil denie me this but that where there is youth libertie pleasure and money there will all the vices of this world be resident Lycurgus the great king geuer of lawes and sage philosopher ordeined to the Lacedemonians that all the children whiche were borne in cities good townes should be sent to bringe vp in villages till they were .xxv. yeares of age As Liuius saith that the Lygures were which in olde time were confederate with those of Capua and great enemies to the people of Rome They had a lawe amongest them that none should take wages in the warres vnlesse he had bene brought vp in the fieldes or that he had bene a heard man in the mountaines so that through one of these twoo wayes their flesh was hardned their ioyntes accustomed to suffer the heate and the colde and their bodies more mete to endure the trauayles of the warres In the yeare of the foundation of Rome a hundred and fourty the Romaines made cruell warres with the Lygures against whome was sent Gneus Fabritius of the which in the ende he triumphed and the day folowyng this triumphe he spake vnto the Senate these wordes Worthy Senatours I haue bene these fiue yeares against the Ligures and by the immortall gods I swere vnto you that in al this time there passed not one weke but we had either battaile or some perilous skermiche And that whiche a man oughte moste to marueile at is that I neuer perceiued any feare or cowardlynes to be in those barbarous people whereby they were constrained to demaunde peace of the people of Rome These Lygures pursued with suche fearcenes the warres that oftetimes they toke awaye from vs all hope to winne the victory for betwene armies the great might of the one doth put alwayes the others in feare And I wyll tell you fathers conscript their brynging vp to the ende the Romaine youth should take hereby example When they are young they are put to be shepeheardes because they should accustome their fleshe in the mountaines to endure trauaile by the whiche custome they are so much maisters of them selues the countrey being alwayes ful of snowe Ise in the wynter also noisome through the extreame heate in the Sōmer that I sweare by the god Apollo in al this time of fiue yeres of those we haue not sene one prease to the fire in the winter nor couet the shadow in the sommer Do not ye thinke worthy Senatours that I was willing to declare vnto you these thinges in the Senate for any desire I haue that you should esteame any thing the more my triumphe but I doe tell it you to this ende that you may haue an eie and take heade to your men of warre to the ende they may alwayes be occupied and that you suffer them not to be idle For it is more perilous for the Romaine armies to be ouercome with vices then to be disconfited with their enemies And to talke of these matters more at large me thinketh they should prouide commaunde that riche men should not be so hardy to bring vp their children to delicatly for in the ende it is vnpossible that the delicate persone should winne with his handes the honour of many victories That which moued me to saye so muche as I haue sayed worthy Senatours is to the end you may know that the Ligures were not ouercome by the power of Rome but because fortune was against them And since in nothing fortune sheweth her selfe so variable as in the thinges of warre me thinketh that though the Ligures are nowe vanquished ouercome yet notwithstanding you ought to entertaine them in loue to take them for your confederates For it is not good councell to hazarde that into the handes of fortune which a man may compasse by frendship The authour of this whiche is spoken is called Iunius Pratus in the booke of the concorde of Realmes and he saith in that place that this captaine Gneus Fabritius was counted no lesse sage for that he spake then esteamed valiaunte for that he did In the olde time those of the Iles Balleares whiche nowe are called Maiorque and Minorque though they were not counted wyse yet at the least in bringing vp their children they shewed them selues not negligent Because they were brought vp in hardnes in their youth and could not endure all painefull exercises of the warres Those of Carthage gaue fiue prisoners of Rome for one sclaue of Maiorque Diodorus Siculus saith in those Iles the mother did not geue the children bread with their own handes but they did put it on an high pole so that they might see the bread with their eies but they could not reache it with their handes Wherefore when they woulde eate they should firste with hurling of stones or slinges winne it or elles faste Though the worke were of children yet the inuention came of a high wyt And hereof it came that the Balleares were esteamed for valiaunt mē as well in wrastling as in slinges for to hurle for they did hurle with a slinge to hit a white as the Lygures shoote nowe in a crosse bowe to hitte the prick Those of great Britayne whiche nowe we call Englande amongest all the Barbarous were men most barbarous but you ought to knowe that within the space of fewe yeares the Romaines were vanquished of them many tymes For tyme in all thinges bringeth such chaunge alteration that those which once we knew great lordes within a while after we haue sene them sclaues Herodian in his hystory of Seuerus
And the cause whye I was willing ther should be none in the common wealth was for that ther was not riches in Rome sufficient to acquite the desarts of the Romaine chiualry And if you esteme an honorable office to be a Tribune Millitaire since you cānot al haue it me thinketh you shold al want it For amonge the noble men Plebeians it is not mete that one alone should enioy that which many haue deserued This history Sabellicus declareth allegeth Pulio for his aucthor reciteth that for this good worke that Camillus did in Rome that is to wete to set the great the smal at one he was aswel beloued of that romaines as he was feared of the enemies And not without a iust cause for in my opinyon it is a greater vertue to pacify his owne then to robbe straungers As touching the office of this Tribune wherupon this great cōtencion rose in Rome I cānot tel which was greater the folish rashnes of the knights to procure it or the wisedom of Camillus to abbolish it For to say the truthe the arte of cheualrie was inuented more to defend the common wealth then to byde at home haue the charge of iustice For to the good knight it semeth better to be loden with weapōs to resist enemyes then to be enuyroned with bokes to determyne causes Returning therfore to that whych the people sayd against the souldiors it was ordayned by the consent of al that in Rome an office should be erected and that he which should haue it should haue the charge to go through Rome to se what they were in Rome that did not instruct their children in good doctrine and if perchaunce he found any neighbours child that was euyl taught he chastised and banished the father And truly that punishment was very iust for the father deserueth more punyshment for that he doth therunto consent then the child deserueth more the offences which he doth comit When Rome was Rome that of al the world the common wealth therof was comended they chose for an officer therin the most auncient vertuous Romaine who was called the general vysiter of the childrē of Rome it semeth to be true for somuch as he whych had this office one yere hoped to be consul dictatour or censor the next As it appeareth by Marcus Porcio who desired to be corrector of the childrē afterwards succeded to be censor of the Romaine people For the Romaynes dyd not offer the office of iustice to any man vnlesse he had had experience of al offices Patricius Senensis in the booke of the common wealth saith that before the warres were betwene Carthage Rome the comon wealth of Carthage was very wel gouerned as it be semed such a noble citie but it is an auncient preuiledge of the warre that it kylleth the persones consumeth the goods aboue al engendreth a new passion miserie in the end destroyeth al good aunciente customes The Carthagians therefore had a custome that the chyldren and especially those which were of honest men should be put in the temples from iii. yeres tyl .xii. so from .xii. til xx they learned crafts sciences occupacions and from .xx. vntil .xxv. they instructed them in the feates of warre at the end of xxx yeres they gaue themselues to mariage ▪ For amōgest them it was a law inuiolable that no man shold mary vntil he were xxx yeres of age the women xxv And after that they were maried the moneth folowing they ought to present themselues before the Senate ther to chose what kind of estate they would take vpon them to liue in and what their minds most desired that is to wete if they would serue in the Temples folow the warre or trauayle the seas or get their lyuing by land or follow their occupacion which they had learned And loke what estate or office that day they chose the same they kept occupyed during their lyfe truly the law was very good bycause such chaunge of estates offices in the world are occasion that presently so many come to destruction Al the excellent and auncient Princes had many great philosophers for their masters this seameth to be true by this that kyng Darius had Lichanius the phylosopher for his mayster The greate Alexander had Aristotel the phylosopher for hys master Kinge Artaxerces had Pindarus the phylosopher for his mayster The aduenturous and hardye captayne of the Athenians Palemo had Xenocrates the Phylosopher for his maister Xemiades only kyng of the Corinthians had Chilo the phylosopher for hys mayster and tutour to hys chyldren Epamynundes prince of the Thebaines had for his maister and councelloure Maruchus the Phylosopher Vlisses the Greke as Homere sayth had for his mayster and companyon in hys trauayles Catinus the phylosopher Pirrus whyche was kynge of the Epirotes and greate defendoure of the Tharentines had for hys maister and chronicler Arthemius the phylosopher Of whom Cicero speaketh ad atticum that his sword was sharper to fighte then his penne ready to write The great kyng Ptholomeus Philadelphus was not onely scholer of the most singuler Phylosophers of Grece but also after he was king he sent for 72. phylosophers wych were Hebrues Cirus kyng of the Persians that destroyed the great Babylon had for his mayster Pristicus the Phylosopher Traian the Emperour had Plutarche for hys mayster who dyd not only teach hym in hys youth but also wrote him a booke how he ought to gouerne hym selfe his common wealth By these few examples which I haue expressed and by many other whych I omit Princes at this present may se how carefull princes were in tymes past to geue their chyldren wyse and learned men O prynces and great lordes synce you that are at thys present do presume and take vppon you that whyche your forefathers dyd I would that now you would consyder who brought them to so high estate and who leaueth of them eternal memory For wythout doubt noble men neuer wanne renowme for the pleasures they had in vyces but for the trauailes they had in vertues Againe I say that princes in tymes past were not famous for theyr stoutnes and apt dysposicion of theyr bodyes neyther for discent of hygh and noble lynage nor yet for the possession of many realmes or heaping vp of great treasours but they wanne obtayned immortal renowme for that their fathers in theyr youth put them vnder the tuiciō of wise and learned tutours whych taught them good doctrine when they were of age gaue them good counsaylers to gouerne the common wealth Laertius in the lyfe of the phylosophers Boccase in the boke of the lynage of gods say That among the phylosophers of Athens there was a custome that no straung phylosopher should reade in their scholes before he weare first examyned in natural and moral phylosophy for amonge the Grekes it was an auncyent prouerbe that in the schole
so much the more were the philosophers deuided amongest them selues When they were so assembled truely they did not eate nor drinke out of measure but some pleasaunt matter was moued betwene the masters and the scollers betwene the yong and the olde that is to wete which of them coulde declare any secrete of phylosophye or anye profound sentence O happy were such feastes and no lesse happy were they that thether were bidden But I am sory that those whiche nowe byd and those that are bidden for a trouth are not as those auncients were For there are noe feastes now adays of phylosophers but of gluttons not to dispute but to murmour not to open doubtfull things but to talke of the vices of others not to confirme aunciente amities but to begynne newe dissensions not to learne any doctrines but to approue some nouelty And that whiche worste of all is that the olde striue at the table with the yonge not on hym whiche hathe spoken the moste grauest sentence but of hym whyche hathe dronke moste wyne and hathe rinsed most cuppes Paulus Diaconus in the historye of the Lumbardes declarethe that foure olde Lumbardes made a banket in the whiche the one dranke to the others yeres and it was in this manner Theye made defyaunce to drinke two to twoe and after eche man had declared howe many yeres olde he was the one drāke as manye times as the other was yeares olde and likewise his companion pledged him And one of these foure companions had at the leaste 58. yeares the second .63 the thyrde .87 the fourthe .812 so that a man knowethe not what they did eate in this banket eyther litle or muche but we knowe that hee that dranke least dranke 58. cuppes of wine Of this so euill custome came the Gothes to make this lawe which of manye is reade and of fewe vnderstanded where it sayeth We ordeyn and commaūd on payne of deathe that no olde man drinke to the others yeres being at the table That was made because they were so muche geuen to wyne that they dranke more ofte thenne they did eate morselles The Prynces and greate Lordes whyche are nowe olde oughte to bee verye sober in drinkynge synce theye oughte greatlye to be regarded and honoured of the yonge For speakinge the truthe and withe libertie whan the olde man shall bee ouercome with wine he hath more necessitie that the yong man leade him by the arme to his house then that hee shoulde take of his cappe vnto hym or speake vnto hym with reuerence Also prynces and greate lordes oughte to be verye circumspecte that whenne theye become aged theye bee not noted for yonge in the apparayle whiche theye weare For althoughe that for wearinge a fyne and riche garmente the prynce dothe not enriche or enpouerishe his common wealthe yet we cannot denye but that it dothe much for the reputacion of his persone For the vanytie and curiositie of garments dothe shewe great lightnes of minde According to the varietye of ages so ought the diuersitie of apparaile to bee whiche semethe to bee verye cleare in that the yonge maydes are attyred in one sorte the maried women of an other sorte the widdowes of an other And lykewise I woulde saye that the apparayle of children oughte to be of one sorte those of yonge men of an other and those of olde men of an other whyche oughte to bee more honester then all For men of hoarye heades oughte not to be adourned withe precious garmētes but withe verteous workes To goe cleanlye to be well apparayled and to be well accompanied we doe not forbydde the olde especiallye those whych are noble and valyaunt men but to goe to fine to go with great traynes and to goe verye curious wee doe not allowe Let the olde men pardon mee for it is not the office but of yonge fooles For the one sheweth honestye and the other lightnes It is a confusion to tell it but it is greater shame to doe it that is to weete that manye olde men of oure time take noe small felicitye to put caules on theire heades euerye manne to weare iewels on theire neckes to laye theire cappes withe agglettes of golde to seeke oute dyuers inuencions of mettall to loade theire fingers wythe riche ringes to goe perfumed wythe odiferous fauoures to weare newe fashioned apparayle and fynallye I saye that thoughe theire face bee full of wrincles they can not suffer one wrincle to be in theire gowne All the auncient historiens accuse Quintus Hottensius the Romayne for that euerye tyme when hee made hym selfe readye he hadde a glasse beefore hym and as muche space and tyme had hee to streyghten the plaites of his gowne as a woman hadde to trymme the heares of her heade This Quintus Hortensius beinge Consul goynge by chaunce one day through Rome in a narrowe streat met wythe the other Consul where throughe the streightnes of the passage the plaightes of his gowne weare vndone vppon whych occasion hee complayned to the senate of the other Consull that he had done hym a greate iniurye sayinge that he deserued to lose hys lyfe The authoure of all this is Macrobius in the thyrde booke of the Saturnales I can not tell if I be deceiued but we maye saye that al the curiositye that olde men haue to goe fine wel appareled and cleane is for no other thinge but to shake of age and to pretende righte to youthe What a griefe is it to see dyuers auncient men the whiche as ripe figges do fal and on the other side it is a wonder to see howe in theire age they make them selues yonge In this case I saye woulde to god we might see them hate vices and not to complaine of the yeares which theye haue I praye and exhorte princes and greate lordes whom oure soueraigne lorde hathe permitted to come to age that theye doe not despise to be aged For speaking the truthe the man whiche hathe enuye to seeme olde doth delight to liue in the lightnes of youthe Also man of honour oughte to be verye circumspecte for so muche as after theye are beecome aged theye bee not suspected of theire friends but that both vnto their friends foes they be counted faythfull For a lye in a yonge mannes mouthe is but a lye but in the mouthe of an olde manne it is a heynous blasphemye Prynces and great lordes after they are become aged of one sorte they oughte to vse them selues to geue and of thother to speake For good prynces oughte to sell woordes by weighte and geeue rewardes withoute measure The auncient oftentymes complayne sayinge that the yonge will bee not conuersaunt with them and truely if there be anye faulte therin it is of them selues And the reason is that if sometimes theye doe assemble togethers to passe awaye the tyme if the olde man set a talkinge he neuer maketh an ende So that a discrete man had rather go .xii. miles on foote then to heare an olde man
vppon not aboue two yoke of oxen to till his land Titus Liuius Macrobius Cicero Plutarch Salust Lucan Seneca Aulus Gelius Herodian Eutropius Trebellius Vulpitius and all the other romayn writers doo neuer cease to praise the auncient romain pouerty saying the common wealth of Rome neuer lost one iott of her greatnes honor during the tyme that they went abroad to conquer other realmes and dominions but only since they began to geather treasor together Licurgus the Philosopher who afterwards was king of the Lacedemonians ordeined in his lawes hee made that no neighbor shoold haue any more goods then an other but that all houses lands vynes possessions gold siluer apparell mouables and generally all other things what soeuer shoold bee indifferently holden among them to the common vtilitie of all And beeing asked why hee woold not consent the common weal shoold haue her own priuate commodities and particulers answered thus The payns and trauels men indure in this mortall life and the great troubles disorders that come dayly to the comon weal chaunce not so much for that men haue neede of lyuing to maintain them selues with all but for that they doo desire to leaue to their heirs and successors And therefore I haue appointed euery thing in cōmon amōg subiects because that during their liues they might haue honestly to maintain them selues with all that they shoold leaue any thing to dispose by will after their deaths Herodotus sayth also that it was decreed by thinhabitans of the Iles Baleares that they shoold suffer none to come into theyr countrey to bring them any gold siluer silk iewels or precious stones And this serued them to great profit For by means of this law for the space of .iiii. C. yeres that they had warres with the Romains the Carthagians the Frēch the Spaniares neuer any of these nations once stirred to goe about to conquer their land beeing assured that they had neither gold nor siluer to robbe or conuey from them Promotheus that was the first that gaue lawes to the Egiptians did not prohibit gold nor siluer in Egipt as those of the Iles Baleares did in their territories neither did hee also comand that all thing shoold bee common as Licurgus but only commanded that none in all his kingdom shoold bee so hardy once to gather any masse or quantity of gold or siluer together to hoard it vp And this hee did vpon great penalties for as he said auarice is not showed in buylding of fair houses neither in hauīg rich moueables but in assembling gathering together great treasure laying it vp in their coffers And Plutarche in his booke De consolatione saith also that if a rich man dyed among the Rhodians leauing behind him one only sonne no more suruyuing him they woold not suffer that hee shoold bee sole heyre of all that his father left but they left him an honest heritage lyuing so hys state call to mary him well withall and the rest of all his sethers goods they dissipated among the poore orphans The Lydians that neither were Greekes nor Romains but right barbarous people had a law in their common weal that euery man shoold bee bound to bring vp his children but not to bee at tharges in bestowing them in mariage So that the sonne or daughter that were now of age to mary they gaue them nothing to their mariage more then they had gottē with their labor And those that will exactly consider this lawdable custom shal fynd that it is rather a law of true philosophers then a custom of barbarous people Since thereby the childrē were inforced to labor for their lyuing the parents also were exempted from al maner of couetousnes or auarice to heap vp gold siluer to enrich them selues Numa Pompilius second king of the romains establisher of their laws decrees in the law of the seuen tables which hee made hee left them order only which way the Romayns might rule their comon weal in tranquility put in no clause nor chapter that they shoold make their willes wherby their children might inherit their fathers goods And therfore being asked why hee permitted in his laws euery man to get asmuch goods as hee coold not to dispose them by wil nor leaue them to their heirs Hee answered because wee see that albeeit there are some children that are vnhappy vicious abhominable yet are there few fathers notwtstanding this that will depriue disherit them of their goods at theyr death only to leaue them to any other heir therefore for this cause I haue comaunded that al the goods that remain after the death of the owner of thē shoold bee geuen to the comon weal as sole heir successor of them to th end that if their children shoold become honest vertuous they shoold then bee distributed to them if they were wicked vnhappy that they shoold neuer be owners of them to hurt offend the good Macrobius in his booke De somno Scipionis saith that there was in the old tyme an old and ancient law amōgst the Tuscans duly obserued kept afterwards taken vp of the Romayns that in euery place where so euer it were in town or village within their territories on new yeres day euery man shoold present him self beefore the iudge or magistrate of the place hee was in to geeue him account of his maner of lyfe now hee mainteined himself in this examinatiōs they did accustome to punish him that lyued ydlely with knauery deceipt maintayned them selues as minstrels ruffyans dycers carders iuglers coggers foysters cosiners of men sylching knaues with other loytering vacabōds rogues that lyue of others swett toyl without any pain or labor they take vpon them to deserue that they eat I woold to god if it were his will that this Tuscan law were obserued of christians then wee shoold see how few they be in nomber that geeue them selues to any faculty or science or other trade to lyue by their own trauell industry and how many infinit a nomber they bee that liue in ydle sort The diuine Plato in his Timee sayth that although an ydle man bee more occasion of many troubles inconueniences in a common weal then a couetous man yet is it not alwais greater for the ydle mā that gladly taketh his ease dooth but desire to haue to eat but the couetous man dooth not only desire to eat but to bee rich and haue money enough All the eloquence and pleasant speche that the Orators studyed in their orations the lawyers in their law and the famous philosophers in their doctryne and teaching was for no other cause but to admonish and perswade those of the common weal to take very good heede in choosing of their gouernors that they were not couetous and ambitious in thadministration of their publyke affairs Laertius recyteth also that a
his booke De exilio saith that the Lydians had a law that as they sent the condemned murtherers to row in the gallyes so they confyned those that were detractors and yll tongued men into a secrete place farre of from all company the space of half a yere Inso much as many tymes these lewd mates chose rather to row in the galley iii. yeres then to bee exempt from company and speaking with any but syx moneths Much lyke vnto this law dyd Tiberius the emperor make an other and condemned a great talker and rayler of hys tongue and commaunded straightly that hee shoold neuer speak woord the space of a whole yere And as the history saith hee remayned domme neuer spake during the whole terme but yet that hee did with his domnes more hurt with nods signes with his fingers then many other woold haue doon with their yll tongues By these two exaumples wee may see that sith these naughty tongs are not to bee repressed by sylence in secret nor to entreat them as frends nor by doing them good nor by sending them to galleys nor to make them hold their peace and to bee as domme men by my aduyce I woold haue them banished by generall counsell out of al colleges counsels chapters townes and common wealths For wee see daly by experience that let an apple haue neuer so lyttle a broose that broose is enough to â—ott him quickly if hee bee not eaten in tyme. Demosthenes the philosopher was of great auctority for his person graue in maners condicion very sentencious profound in his woords but with these hee was so obstinate wylfull such a talker in all his matters that all Greece quaked for fear of hym Whereuppon all the Athenians one day assembled in their hall or common house there they appointed him a great stipend of the goods of the common wealth telling him that they gaue him this not that hee shoold read but because hee shoold hold his peace Also this great and renowmed Cicero that was so valyaunt politike in martiall affairs so great a frend to the commoÌ„ weal of Rome more ouer a prince of eloquence for the latin tong though hee was cruelly put to death by Mark Antony it was not for any fact committed against him neither for any wrong or iniury hee had doon him saue only for that hee enueied against him and spake euyll of him Also the noble poet Salust and famous orator of Rome was not hated of strangers and not beloued of his own neighbors for no other cause but for that hee neuer took pen in haÌ„d to write but hee euer wrote against the one neuer opened his mouth to speak but hee alwais spake euil of the other Plutarche touching this maiâ—er reciteth in his books de republica that amongst theÌ„ of Lidia in their publik weal it was holden an inuiolat law that they should not put a murderer to death for kylling of any but that they should only execut put him to torture that would defame his neighbor or in any one woord seeme to touch him in honor or estimation So that those barbarous nation thought it more execrable so defame a man then to kill murder him And therefore I say hee that burneth my house beats my person robbeth mee of my goods must needes doo mee great dommage but hee that taketh vpon him to touch my honor and reputacioÌ„ with infamy I wil say hee offendeth mee much that so greatly as hee may well stand in feare of his life For there is not so litle an offence â—oon to a maÌ„ of stout courage but hee carieth it euer after imprinted in his hart till hee haue reuenged the villany doon him euen so in princes courts there the more quarells debates through euil tongues dishonest reports then there dooth for any play or shrewd turnes that are doon I know not what reason they haue to strike of his hand the first draweth sword fauoreth leaueth him vnpunished that draweth blood with his ill tongue O what a happy good turn were it for the common weale if as they haue in al townes well gouerned policies penal laws prohibiting to weare or cary weapon they had like laws also to punish detractiue wicked toÌ„gues Surely there caÌ„ bee none so great a blot or vice in a noble man knight or gentleman of honest behauior countenance as to bee counted reputed a tatler of his tongue there wtal a detracter of others But let not such deceiue them selues thinking that for they re countenaunce or estates sake they bee priuileged aboue others at their willes and pleasure to enlarge their tongues on whom they list in such manner but that their inferiors farre will as liberally speak of them yea and asmuch to their reproche as they before had doone of them reputing asmuch of their honesty and credit for their calling being inequiualent in estate or degree to theÌ„ as they doo of their dignitie reputacion At that tyme when I was a courtier and lyued in princes court there dyed out of the court a woorthy knight who at his noble funeralls was recommended of vs all and praysed in hys lyfe to bee a noble valyaunt woorthy and wise man and a good and deuout christian cheefely aboue all his noble heroycall vertues hee was only landed and renowmed for that they neuer hard him speak ill of any man So one of the company that was present hearing this great prayse of him tooke vpon him to say this of him If hee neuer spake ill of any then did hee neuer know what pleasure those haue that speak ill of their enemies Which woordes when wee hard though wee passed them ouer with silence yet was there none but was greatly offended at them and good cause why For to say truely the first degree of malignitie is for a man to take a felicyty in speakyng ill of his neighbor Kyng Darius being at dinner one day there were put foorth of the weighters and standers by certayn arguments of the acts and dooings of Alexander the great in whych dispute one Mignus a Captayn of the kynge and greatly in fauor with him was very earnest against Alexander went too farre in speach of him But Darius perceiuing him thus passioned sayd to him O Mignus hold thy tong for I doo not bring thee into the warrs with mee that thou shouldst infame Alexander and touch his honor with thy tongue but that thou shouldst with thy sweord ouercome him By these examples wee may gather how much wee ought to hate detraction ill speaking syns wee see that the very enemies theÌ„ selues can not abide to here their enemies ill spoken of in their presence and this is always obserued of the honorable graue and wise men that are of noble mynds For suer ech noble hart dysdaigneth to bee reuenged of his enemy wyth his tongue for his iniures doon hym if
the vnhappie matrone Lucrece were the cause that she was desired but the beautie of her vysage the grauytie of her personne the honesty of her lyuing the keping of her selfe close in her house the spendyng of her time and credite among her neighboures the great renowne that she had among straūgers prouoked the folish Tarquine to comit with her adultrye by force What thinke you wherof came this I shal shew you We that be euyl are so euyl that we vse euil the goodnes of them that be good The fault hereof is not in the Ladyes of Rome but rather in the immortal goddes Their cleane honestye declareth our cruel malice Faustine you say your doughter is to yong to be maried Do you not know that the good father oughte to endoctrine his sonnes frome their age and to prouide for his doughters whyles they be yonge Of a trouth if the fathers be fathers and the mothers mothers as sone as the goddes haue geuen them a daughter forthwith they ought to be myndfull therof and neuer forget it til they haue prouided her a husband The fathers ought not to tary for riches nor the mother for her linage the better to mary them so what with the one and the other the time passeth and the doughter waxeth aged and in this maner they be to old to be maried and to lyue alone they cānot so that they themselues liue in paine the fathers in thought and the parentes in suspection least they should be cast away O what great ladyes haue I knowen the doughters of great senatours which not for fault of richs nor of vertues in their persons but al only for differring of time and driuyng from one houre to an other so that at last sodaine death come to the fathers and no prouision was made for the doughters So that some were couered vnder the earth after their death others buried with forgetfulnes being alyue Eyther I lye or els I haue red in the lawes of the Rhodians these wordes We commaund the father in maryinge tenne sonnes to trauaile but one daye but to mary one vertuous doughter let hym trauaile ten yeares yea and hazarde his bodye in the water vppe to the chinne sweate droppes of of bloude alter the stomake disherite all his sonnes lose his goodes and aduenture his person These words in this law were pitiful for the doughters no lesse graue for the sonnes For .x. sonnes by the law of men are bound to go ouer al the world but the doughter by this good law ought not to go out of the house I say moreouer that as things vnstable thret fallyng so likewise it chaunceth to yong damosels which thinketh al their time lost and superfluous vnto the day of their mariage Homere sayth it was the custome of ladyes of Grece to count the yeres of their life not from the time of their birth but from the time of their mariage As if one demaunded a Grecian her age she would aunswere .20 yeres if it were .20 sithe she was maried though it wer .60 yeres sith she was borne Affirming after they had a house to gouerne and to commaund that day she beginneth to liue The Melon after it is ripe and abydeth still in the gardeine cannot escape but eyther it must be gathered or els it rotteth I say the mayden that tarieth long tyll she be maried can not escape eyther to be taken or infamed I wil saye no more As sone as the grapes be ripe it behoueth that they be gathered so it is necessary that the woman that is come to perfect age be maried And the father that doth this casteth peril out of his house bringeth himselfe out of care and getteth much contentacion of his doughter ¶ Of a letter whych the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to Piramon hys especial frend to comfort him in his troubles Cap. vii MArke oratour Romaine borne at mount Celio to Piramon of Lion my great frend desireth health to thy person and strengthe and vertue against thy sinister fortune In the thirde kalendes of Ianuarye I receyued thy letter wherby I perceiue thou hast receyued one of myne I regard not much thy words but I esteame greatlye thy meanynge So that without declaring therof I haue gathered the sentence Reason would because I haue writen so often to the that thou shouldeste the better vnderstand me but thou art so slouthful that though I call the thou wilt not heare nor though I strike the thou wilt not fele But now to come to the purpose Thou knowest Piramon how nere we be in parentage aunciēt in frendship stedfast in loue and tender of herts how faithful in al things wherin one true frend might proue another Thou remembrest well when we were at Rhodes that we dwelled together in one house and did eate at one table al that thou thoughtest I did it in effect and that I sayd thou neuer gainesaydest Certainly thou were in my harte and I in thine entrailes I was thine and thou were myne We being together it semed to al other that we were but one of one wil. What a matter is this Thou writest how thou art heauy yet thou doest not tel the cause why Thou complaynest that thou art almost dead and thou shewest me not who taketh from the thy life If thou wilt not shew to me thy troubles sith thou art my frende I wil thou know that I demaund it of right If thou wilt not I wyl that thou know that the piteful gods haue determyned that al pleasures ioye shal departe from my house and that al heuines sorowes shal be lodged in my person Sith I am prince of al honor in tribulacion if thou wouldest thou canst not escape out of my siegnory For if thou complaine that thou art vnhappye in fortune then I esteme my selfe to be happie in vnhappines I demaund one thing of the when hast thou sene me haue sufficient and thou nede when hast thou sene me slepe and thou wake and when hast thou trauailed and I rested Of trouth sith the goods and persons are their owne proper the trauailes and euil aduentures are alwaies common One thing thou oughtest to know if in myne amytie thou wilt perseuer that all my goodes are thine al thyne euyls are myne sith thou was borne to pleasure I to trouble I say not this fainyngly for thou haste had experience of me that when Maria thy sister died who was no lesse vertuous then faire thou perceiuedst wel when she was with earth couered dead I was with sorowes ouerwhelmed alyue and at the sowne of my teares thine eyes daunced Sythe thou hast such confidence in my person surely thou maist discouer to me thy paine Yet as often as I haue demaunded there hath no famed excuses wanted I require the and desire the againe and in the name of the Gods I pray the and in their names I coniure the that thou powre al thy sorowes into mine