footecloth more nete and clenly then the groomes and pages of the chamber haue his apparell and this proceedes of their great slouth negligēce And truely this passeth the bounds of shamefast degree yea and commeth much to charge the courtiers conscience the small account hee hath so to let his garments and apparell and other hys mouables to bee spoiled and lost And this happeneth very oft by the negligence of their pages and seruaunts which now throweth them about the chambers dragges them vpon the grownd now sweeps the house with thē now they are full of dust then tattered and torne in peeces here their hose seam rent there their shooes broken so that if a poore man come afterwards to buy them to sell agayn it will rather pity those that see them then geeue them any corage to buy them Wherefore the courtier ought not to bee so careles but rather to think vppon his own things and to haue an eye vnto them For if hee goe once a day to his stable to see his horses how they are kept and looked to hee may lykewise take an other day in the weeke when hee may fynd leisure to see his wardroppe how his apparell lyeth But what paciens must a poore man take that lendeth his implements and apparell to the courtiers that neuer laieth them abroad a sunning to beat out the dust of them nor neuer layth them in water to wash and white them bee they neuer so fowl And al bee it the beds and other implements lent to the courtier bee not of any great value yet it is not fitt they shoold bee thrown at theyr tayl kept filthyly For as charely and dayntily dooth a poore laboring and husband man keepe his wollen couerlet and setteth as much by it as dooth the iolly courtier by his quilt or couerpane of silk And it chaunceth oft tymes also that though at a neede the poore mans bed costeth him lesse money then the rich mans bed costeth him yet dooth it serue him better then the ritch and costly bedd serueth the gentleman or nobleman And this to bee true wee see it by experience that the poore husbandman or citizen slepeth commonly more quietly at his ease in his poor bed cabean with his sheets of tow then dooth the lord or ritch courtier lying in his hanged chamber bed of silk wrapped in his fynest holland shetes who still sigheth cōplayneth And fynally wee conclude that then when the court remoueth that the courtier departeth from his lodging where hee lay hee must with all curtesy thank the good man and good wife of the house for his good lodging curteous intertainment hee hath had of them must not stick also to geeue them somwhat for a remembrance of him and beesides geeue certein rewards among the maides men seruants of the house according to their ability that hee may recompence them for that is past win their fauor for that is to come ¶ What the courtier must doo to winne the Princes fauor Cap. iiij DIodorus Siculus saith that the honor and reuerence the Egiptians vsed ordinarily to their Princes was so great that they seemed rather to woorship them then to serue them for they coold neuer speak to them but they must first haue lycence geeuen them When it happened any subiect of Egipt to haue a sute to their prince or to put vp a supplication to thē kneeling to them they sayd these woords Soueraigne lord mighty prince yf it may stand with your highnes fauor pleasure I wil boldly speak yf not I will presume no further but hold my peace And the self reuerence custome had towards god Moyses Aaron Thobias Dauid Salomon and other fathers of Egipt making like intercession when they spake wyth god saying Domine mi rex Si inueni gratiam in oculis tuis loquar ad dominum meum O my lord and king yf I haue found fauor in thy sight I wil speak vnto thee yf not I will keepe perpetuall sylence For there is no seruyce yll when yt is gratefull acceptable to him to whom it is doon as to the contrary none good when it pleaseth not the party that is serued For if hee that serueth bee not in his maisters fauor hee serueth hee may well take pains to his vndooyng wtout further hope of his good will or recompence Wherefore touching that I haue sayd I inferre that hee that goeth to dwell abyde in the court must aboue all indeuer him self all hee can to obtayn the princes fauor and obtayning it hee must study to keepe him in his fauor For it shoold lyttle preuaile the courtier to bee beeloued of all others and of the prince only to bee mislyked And therefore Alcamidas the Grecian beeing once aduertised by a frend of his that the Athenians did greatly thirst for his death the Thebans desyred his life hee answered him thus If those of Athens thirst for my death them of Thebes likewise desyring my life I can but bee sory lament How bee it yet if King Phillip my soueraigne lord maister hold mee still in hys grace fauor repute mee for one of his beeloued I care not if all Greece hate and dysloue mee yea and lye in wayt for mee In deede it is a great thing to get into the princes fauor but when hee hath gotten it doubtles it is a harder matter to know how to keepe it For to make them loue vs and to winne their fauor wee must doo a thousand maner of seruyces but to cause them to hate and dislyke of vs the least dyspleasure in the world suffyseth And therefore the pain and trouble of hym that is in fauor in the court is great if hee once offend or bee in displeasure For albeeit the prince doo pardon him hys fault yet hee neuer after returneth into his fauor agayn So that to conclude hee that once only incurreth his indignation hee may make iust reckening neuer after or maruelous hardly to bee receiued agayn into fauor Therefore sayth the diuine Plato in his bookes De republica that to bee a king and to raigne to serue and to bee in fauor to fyght and to ouercome are three impossible things which neither by mans knowledge nor by any diligence can bee obtayned only remaining in the hands and disposing of fickle fortune whych dooth diuyde and geeue them where it pleaseth her and to whome shee fauoreth best And truely Plato had reason in his saying for to serue and to bee beeloued is rather happ and good fortune then industry or diligence Since wee see oft times that in the court of princes those that haue serued but three yeres only shal bee sooner preferred and aduaunced then such one as hath serued perhaps .xx. or .xxx. yeres or possible al his life tyme. And further hee shal bee both displaced and put out of seruice by means of thother And this proceeds not through his long and
in nothing delighted so much as by straunge hands to put men to death and to dryue away flies wyth his owne hands Smal is the nomber of those that I haue spoken in respect of those which I could recite of whom I dare say affirme that if I had bene as they I cannot tel what I would haue done or what I should haue desired but this I know it would haue bene more paynes to me to haue wonne the infamy that they haue wonne then to haue lost the lyfe that they haue lost It profyteth hym lytle to haue his ponds ful of fish his parkes ful of deere whych knoweth neyther how to hunte nor how to fysh I meane to shew by this that it profiteth a man lytle to be in great authority if he be not estemed nor honored in the same For to attayne to honour wysedome is requisite to kepe it pacience is necessarye Wyth great consyderacions wyse men ought to enterpryse daungerous thyngs For I assure them they shal neuer winne honour but wher they vse to recouer slaunder Returnyng therfore to our matter Puisaunt prynce I sweare durst vndertake that you rather desyre perpetual renowne through death then any idell rest in this life And hereof I do not merueile for ther are some that shal alwayes declare the prowesses of good prynces others which wyl not spare to open the vyces of euyl tiraunts For although your imperial estate is much your catholike person deserueth more yet I beleue wyth my hart se with these eyes that your thoughts are so highly bent vnto aduenturous dedes your hart so couragious to set vpon them that your maiestie litle estemeth the inheritaunce of your predecessours in respect of that you hope to gaine to leaue to your successours A captaine asked Iulius Cesar as he declareth in his commentaries why he trauailed in the winter in so hard frost in the sommer in such extreme heate He aunswered I wyl do what lyeth in me to do and afterward let the fatal destinies do what they can For the valiaunt knyght that gyueth in battayle thonset ought more to be estemed then fickle fortune wherby the victory is obtayned sins fortune gyueth the one aduenture gydeth the other These words are spoken like a stout valyaunt captayne of Rome Of how many prynces do we read whom trulye I muche lament to see what flatteries they haue herd wyth their eares being aliue and to redde what slaunders they haue susteyned after their death Prynces and great lords shold haue more regard to that whych is spoken in their absence then vnto that which is done in their presence Not to that whych they heare but to that whych they would not heare not to that whiche they tel them but to that which they would not be told of not to that is wryten vnto them being aliue but to that which is wryten of them after their death not to those that tell them lyes but to those whych if they durst would tel them trouth For men manye times refrayne not their tongues for that subiects be not credited but because the prince in his auctority is suspected The noble vertuous prince shold not flit from the trouth wherof he is certified neyther with flateryes lyes should he suffer himselfe to be deceiued but to examine himselfe se whether they serue him with trouth or deceiue hym with lyes For ther is no better witnes iudge of truth lyes then is a mans owne conscience I haue spoken al this to thintent your maiesty myght know that I wil not serue you wyth that you should not be serued That is to shew my selfe in my wryting a flaterer For it wer neither mete nor honest that flateries into the eares of such a noble prynce shold enter neither that out of my mouth which teach the deuine truth such vaine tales should issue I say I had rather be dispraysed for trew speaking then to be honoured for flatery lieng For of truth in your highnes it shold be much lightnes to heare them in my basenes great wickednes to inuent them Now againe folowing our purpose I say the historyes greatly commend Licurgus that gaue lawes to the Lacedemonians Numa Pompilius that honoured and adourned the churches Marcus Marcellus that had pitye on those whych were ouercome Iulius Cesar that forgaue his enemyes Octauius that was so welbeloued of the people Alexander that gaue rewards and giftes to al men Hector the Troyane because he was so valiaunt in warres Hercules the Thebane because he emploied his strength so wel Vlisses the Grecian because he aduentured himselfe in so many daungers Pirrhus king of Epirotes because he inuented so many engins Catullus Regulus because he suffered so many torments Titus the Emperour because he was father to the Orphanes Traianus because he edified sumptuous goodly buildings The good Marcus Aurelius because he knew more thē al they I do not say that it is requisyte for one prynce in these dayes to haue in him all those qualyties but I dare be bold to affirme this that euen as it is vnpossible for one prince to folow al so likewise it is a great slaunder for him to folow none We do not require princes to do al that they can but to apply themselues to do some thing that they ought And I speake not without a cause that whych I haue sayd before For if princes did occupy themselues as they ought to do they shoulde haue no tyme to be vycious Plynie saith in an epistle that the great Cato called Censor did were a ring vpon his fynger wherin was wryten these wordes Esto amicus vnius inimicus nullius which is be frend to one enemy to none He that would depely consider these few words shal find therin many graue sentences And to apply this to my purpose I saye the prince that would wel gouerne his common weal shew to al equal iustyce desire to possesse a quiet lyfe to get among al a good fame that coueteth to leaue of hymselfe a perpetual memory ought to embrace the vertues of one and to reiect the vices of al. I alow it verye wel that princes should be equal yea surmount many but yet I aduise theym not to employ their force but to folow one For oftētimes it chaunseth that many which suppose themselues in their life to excel al when they are dead are scarcely found equal to any Though man hath done much blased what he can yet in the ende he is but one one mind one power one byrth one life and one death Then sithen he is but one let no man presume to know more then one Of al these good princes which I haue named in the rowle of iustice the last was Marcus Aurelius to thintent that he should weaue his webbe For suppose we read of many prynces that haue compyled notable things the whych are to be redde and knowen
wrath in giuinge him payne O ye Princes of this world trulie it is both iuste and necessarie that you acknowledge subiection vnto the Prince of heauen and earthe whiche in the end althoughe ye be greate and thynke your selues to be muche worthe although that youe haue muche and can do muche yet in respecte of the supreame prince you are nothing worth neither can ye doe any thing For there is no Prince in the worlde this daye but can doe lesse than he would and would more than he hath Since all that we haue spoken of before is true let Princes and great Lordes see howe consonaunte it is to reason that sythe all the creatures were not created but by one Why then do they not honour one aboue all For as a Prince will not suffer that an other be called kynge in his realme so likewise god will not permit that any other be honoured in this worlde but he onely The father did a greate benefite to vs for to create vs without the desire of any man and also the sonne to redeme by vs without the healpe of any man and aboue all the holye ghoste to make vs christians without the desert of anye man For all the good deedes and seruices whiche we are able to do are not sufficient to requite the leaste benefite that he shewed vnto vs. Princes ought greatly to esteme suche a gyfte that god hath created them men and not beastes and muche more they shoulde esteme that they are made Lordes and not seruauntes but moste of all they ought to reioyce that god hath made them christians and not gentils nor Moores For it profiteth them litle to haue scepters and realmes to condempne if they shall not acknowledge the holy church without the which no man cā be saued O diuine bountie how many paynims had bene better peraduenture than I if thou haddeste chosen them for the churche if thou hadst made me a Paynime I had bene worse than they Thou leauest them which haue serued the and haste chosen me a sinner which offende the. Lorde God thou knowest what thou doest and wher thou art but I know not what I do nor what I speake For we are bounde to praise the workes of god and haue not the lycence to call them backe The Emperours paynem kynges which haue bene good and vertuous as there hathe bene many so muche lesse they haue to aunswer for that in time of charge they were not called And likwise the contrary to the wicked christian princes The more goodnesse they haue receyued without measure so muche the more tormentes shal be giuen them in eternall fyre For accordyng to the ingratitude whiche they haue shewed for the benefites by them receiued in this worlde so shall the bitternesse of their paines be which they shal receiue in hell Princes are muche bound to do well because they were created of god reasonable men but they are moche more bounde because they be christians and more then others bounde because they were made mighty and placed in so high estate for the greatest power is not for a prince to haue and possesse muche but to profite muche They do not require of a litle and weake tree muche but that he beare his fruite in dewe time For a great and high tree is bounde to giue wood to heate them that be a cold shadow to refreshe the very trauailours and frute to confort the neady and also it ought to defend it selfe from all importunate windes For the vertuous prince ought to be a shadow and resting place wher the good may couer them selues being wearye The churche dothe moue vs to do many things and our conscience willeth vs to obserue more But if the princes will promise me they will do .2 thinges onely that is to say that they wil be faithfull in the law of god whom they honour and that they wil not vse tiranny against their people whom they gouerne from hensforthe I promyse thē the glory and felicicie whiche they desire For that prince only dieth in safegarde which dieth in the loue of our sauiour Iesus Christ and hath lyued in the loue of his neyghbour Princes and great lordes which presume to be good Christians should watche greatly that all thinges myght be done to the seruice of god begonne in god followed in god and ended in god And if they will watche in this I let them knowe that as touchyng the exaltacion of faith they shoulde watche so muche that all shoulde knowe that for the defence of the same they are readye to dye For if the prince beleue that ther is paine for the euill and rewarde for the good in an other lyfe it is impossible but that he amend his life and gouerne wel his common wealth Thinke this for a surety that where the princes feare not god neither them selues nor their realmes can prosper For the felicitie or miserie of Realmes proceadeth not of the paynes and trauailes that the kinges and people doe take but of the merites which the kinges and realmes deserue In great peril liueth that realme whose prince is an euil christian Happye sure is that common wealth wherof the prince hath a good cōscience For the man that is of a good conscience will not doe any euill thing to the common wealth ¶ Of sondry gods which the auncientes worshipped of the office of those gods howe they were reuenged of them when they displeased them and of the Twentie elect goddes Cap. xi THough to men of clere iudgement the woorkes of God are greate of them selues without anye comparison to others yet that the whyte maye be better knowen from the blacke I will satisfye somewhat the curious reader in rekenyng vp a flocke of false gods that by them and their power men shall see how muche the princes are bound to the true God The auncient Panyms had gods of diuerse sortes how be if the chiefe of al were these which they called Diis electi They would haue said gods of heauen whiche gods as they thoughte sometime descended from heauen to earth These gods were .xx. in nombre as Ianus Saturnus Iupiter Genius Marcurius Apollo Mars Vulcanus Neptunus Sol Orcus Vibar Tellus Ceres Iuno Minerua Luna Diana Venus Vesta These .viii. laste rehersed were goddesses and .xii. of the firste were goddes No man myghte take anye of those as hys owne God but as common and indifferent to all Their office was to profit all I meane all of any one Realme one prouince singuler or one noble citie And first note they had one God whome they called Cantius whom they honored much offred vnto him many sacrifices to th ende that God might giue them wyse children And this if they had demaunded of the true God they should haue had reason For the impostumation of humain malice is swelled in suche wyse that that man is in great ieopardie whom God hath not indued with wyse iudgement They had also an other
is costly and without profite and in seruing God great profite ensueth For those goddes require great and ryche sacrifices and our God demaundeth nothinge but pure and cleane hartes Secondarely princes shoulde be better Christians then others because they haue more to lose then all And he that hath more to lose then any other ought aboue al other to serue god For euen as he alone can gyue hym so likewise he alone and none other can take from hym And if a subiecte take any thynge from his neighbour the prince whom he serueth maketh him render it agayne but if the Prince be iniuried with any other tyraunte he hath none to complayne vnto nor to demaunde helpe of but onely of his mercifull God For in the ende one that is of power can not be hurt but by an other that is lykewyse mighty Let princes beholde howe the man that wyl make any great assaulte first commeth running afarre of as fast as he can I meane that the prynce whiche wyll haue God mercifull vnto him ought to be content with his onely god For he in vayne demaundeth helpe of him to whome before he neuer dyd seruice Thirdly princes ought to be better Christians then others and this shal be seen by that they succoure the poore prouyde for those that are vnprouided and visite the temples hospitalles and churches and endeuour them selues to heare the diuine seruice and for all these thinges they shall not onely receiue rewardes but also they shal receyue honour For through their good example others wyll doe the same Princes not fearinge God nor his commaundementes cause their Realmes and subiectes to fall into great misery For if the fountayne be infected it is vnpossible for the streames that issue therof to be pure We see by experience that a brydell maistereth a horse and a sterne ruleth a shippe I meane that a prynce good or bad wyll leade after him all the whole Realme And if he honour God all the people doe likewyse if he serue God the people also serue him if he praise God the subiects also praise him and if he blaspheme god they likewise will doe the same For it is vnpossible that a tree should bring forth other leaues or fruites then those whiche are agreable to the humour that are in the rootes Princes aboue all other creatures haue this preeminence that if they be good Christians they shall not onely receiue merite for their owne woorkes but also for all those whiche others shall do because they are occasion that the people worke wel And for the contrarie they shall not onely be punished for the euill whiche they shall doe but also for the euill whiche by occasion of their euill examples others shall commit O ye princes that nowe be aliue howe greatly do I wyshe that ye should speake with some one of those princes whiche nowe are dead especially with those that are cōdemned to the eternall firie flames then ye should see that the greatest tormentes whiche they suffer are not for the euils that they did commit but for the euils whiche through their occasion were done For oftentimes princes and prelates sinne more because they dissemble with others then for that they do committe them selues O howe circumspect ought princes and great lordes to be in that they speake and howe diligently ought they to examine that whiche they doe For they serue not God onely for them selues but they serue hym also in generallye for their subiectes And contrariwyse princes are not only punished for their owne offences but also for the sinnes of their people For the sheaperd ought greuously to be punished when by negligence the rauening woulfe deuoureth the innocent lambe Fourthly princes ought to be better Christians thē others because that to God onely they must render accompt of their estates for as muche as we are sure that god to whom we must render accompte is iust so muche the more we should trauaile to be in his fauoure because whether he finde or not finde in our life any faulte yet for loue pities sake he may correcte vs. Men one with another make their accomptes in this life because they are men and in the ende counte they well or euill all passeth amonges men because they are men but what shall the vnhappy Princes do whiche shall render no accompte but to God onely who wyll not be deceiued with wordes corrupted with giftes feared with threatninges nor aunswered with excuses Princes haue their Realmes full of cruell iudges to punishe the frailtie of man they haue their courtes full of aduocates to pleade against them that haue offended they haue their pallaces full of loyterers promoters that note the offences of other men they haue throughe all their prouinces auditours that ouersee the accomptes of their rentes and besides all this they haue no remembraunce of the day so streighte wherein they must render accompte of their wicked life Me thinkes since all that whiche princes receiue commeth from the handes of God that the greatest parte of the time whiche they spend should be in the seruice of God and all their trade in God and thei ought to render no accompt of their life but vnto God then sithe they are gods in thauthoritie whiche they haue ouer temporall thinges they ought to shewe them selues to resemble god more then others by vertues For that Prince is more to be magnified whiche reformeth two vices among his people then he which conquereth .x. realmes of his enemies But we will desire them from henceforth they presume not any more to be gods on the earth but that they endeuour them selues to be good Christians in the common wealth For all the wealthe of a Prince is that he be stoute with straungers and louing to his own subiectes Fiftly Princes ought to be better Christians then others For the prosperitie or aduersitie that chaunceth vnto them commeth directly from the handes of god onely and none other I haue seen sondry times Princes whiche haue put their whole hope confidence in other princes to be on a sodeine discomfaited and for the contrary those which haue litle hope in men and great confidence in god haue alwayes prospered When man is in his chiefest brauery and trusteth most to mens wisedome then the secret iudgement of God sonest discomforteth him I meane that the confederates frendes of princes might helpe succour thē but god will not suffer them to be holpen nor socoured to th end they should see that their remedie proceadeth not by mās diligence but by deuine prouidēce A prince that hath a realme doth not suffer any thing to be done therin without his aduise therefore sithe god is of no lesse power in heauen then princes are on the earth it is reason that nothing be done without his cōsent sins he taketh account of al mēs deades as he is the end of al things so in him by him al thinges haue their beginning O Princes if you
in great felicitie than the poore labourer who liueth in extreme misery And also we see it eftsones by experience that the sodaine lightning tempestes and the terrible thonder forsaketh the small lowe cotages battereth forthwith the great sumptuous buildinges Gods wil determination is that for as much as he hath exalted them aboue al others somuch the more they should acknowledge him for lorde aboue all others For god did neuer create high estates because they should worke wickednes but he placed them in that degree to th end they should therby haue more occasion to do him seruice Euery prince that is not a good Christian a feruente louer of the catholike faith nor will haue any respect to the deuine seruice let him be assured that in this world he shall loase his renowme and in the other he shall hazarde his soule For that all euill Christians are the parishioners of hell ¶ The authour proueth by twelue examples that princes are sharply punished when they vsurpe boldly vpon the churches and violate the tēples Cap. xxiii ¶ Why the children of Aaron were punished IT is now time that we leaue to perswade with wordes reasons and to begin to proue that which we haue said by some excellēt histories notable examples For in th end the hartes of mē are stirred more through some litle examples then with a great multitude of words In the first booke of the Leuitici the .x. chap is declared how in the time of Moyses the sonne in law of Iethro priest that was of Media who was chiefe prince of all the image of Seph with whom the brother of Mary the Iepre had charge of the high priesthod For among al the lawes where god at any time put his handes vnto he prouided always that some had the gouernement of ciuile affaires and others thadministration of the deuine misteries This high priest had then two children whose names were Nadab Abihu which two were yonge beautiful stout sage during their infancy serued their father helped him to do sacrifice For in the old law they suffred that priestes should not onely haue wiues children but also that their children should succede thē in their temples and inherite their benefices There came a great mischaunce for the two childrē being apparailed in whyte their bodies bound with stoels their handes naked in one hand holding a torche in thother the senser being negligent to light the new fyre contrary to that the law had ordeined taking coles which were prohibited a marueilous thing was sene in the sight of the people which was that sodainly these two children fel flat on the earth dead al their sacrifice burned Truly the sentēce was marueilous but it was iust enough For they wel deserued to lose their liues sithen they durst sacrifice the coles of an other This thing semed to be true for those yonge children saued their soules made satisfaction of the fault with their liues but other wicked men god permitteth to liue a short time because they shal loose their soules for euer ¶ The cause why the Azotes were punished THe realme of Palestine being destitute of a kyng at that time an honourable old man gouerned the realme whiche was father to two knightes named Albino and Phinides for at that tyme the children of Israell were not gouerned by kinges that did moleste them by iniuries but by sage men whiche did mainteine theym by iustice It chaunced that the Azotes made warre against the Palestines and were a kynde of the Arabians stoute and warrelyke the whiche fought so couragiously that the Palestines and Hebrues were constrayned to bringe their Arke into the middes of the battaile whiche was a relicke as a man should haue put the holy sacrament to deuide a great multitude of people But fortune shewed her countenaunce vnto them so frowningly that they were not onely ouercome but also were spoyled of the Arke whiche was their chiefe relicke And besides that there were .400 Palestines slayne The Azotes caried awaye the Arke ful of relicks vnto their temple in the citie of Nazote and set it by Dagon their cursed Idol The true God whiche wyll not suffer any to be coequall with him in comparison or in any thing that he representeth caused this Idoll to be shaken throwen downe and broken in pieces no man touching it For our god is of suche power that to execute his iustice he nedeth not worldly helpe God not contented thus though the Idoll was broken in pieces caused those to be punished likewyse whiche worshipped it in suche sorte that all the people of Azote Ascalon Geth Acharon and of Gaza whiche were fiue auncient and renowmed cities were plaged both man and woman inwardly with the disease of the Emerodes so that they could not eate sitting nor ryde by the wayes on horsebacke And to th ende that al men might see that their offences were greauous for the punishment they receiued by the deuine iustice he replenished their houses places gardeins seedes and fieldes full of rattes And as they had erred in honouring the false Idoll and forsaken the true god so he would chastise them with two plagues sending them the Emerodes to torment their bodies and the rattes to destroye their goodes For to him that willingly geueth his soule to the deuill it is but a small matter that god against his wyll depriue him of his goodes This then being thus I would nowe gladly knowe whether of them committed moste offence eyther the Azotes whiche set the Arke in the temple whiche as they thought was the moste holiest or the Christians whiche without the feare of God robbe and pylle the Churche goodes to their owne priuate commoditie in this worlde Truly the lawe of the Azotes differed as muche from the Christians as the offence of the one differeth from the other For the Azotes erred not beleuing that this Arke was the figure of the true God but we beleue it and cōfesse it and without shame committe against it infinite vices By this so rare sodaine a punishement me thinkes that Princes and great Lordes should not onely therfore acknowledge the true god but also reuerence and honour those thinges which to him are dedicated For mans lawes speaking of the reuerence of a Prince doe no lesse condemne him to die that robbeth his house then him whiche violently layeth handes on his persone ¶ The cause why Prince Oza was punished IN the booke whiche the sonne of Helcana wrote that is the seconde booke of the kynges and the sixt Chapter he saieth that the Arke of Israell with his relikes which was Manna the rodde and two stones stode in the house of Aminadab whiche was the next neighbour to the citie of Gibeah the sonne of Esaye who at that tyme was kyng of the Israelites determined to transpose the relickes into his citie and house for it semed to him a great infamy that to a mortall
them do giue vnto their subiects good exāples that on the sabbotte day in especially other Festiuall dayes they repaire vnto the cathedral Church to here deuine seruice ther reconcileng them selues to god that they publickly in the presence of the congregaciō receiue the holy comunion supper of the Lord. For it would be a great sclaunder to Princes which ought to reprehend others of their faults that a man should neuer see them come to the Church and be partakers of that holye Sacrament We ordaine that at Easter chiefly Princes do go to the church Cathedrall and that the Metropolitan be there in person to celebrate the holy communion and the gospel being sayd the Prince hymselfe shal be bound to say with a loude voice the crede confirmed in the sacred counsaile of Nicene For the good Princes ought not only in their hartes to be faithful vnto Iesus Christ but are also bound openly with theyr mouthes to confesse it before the people We ordeine that Princes be not so hardie to haue in their courte aboue two bishoppes the one to giue him ghostlye counsell and the other to preache vnto him the word of God And those we will that the counsell assigne vnto him and that they be bound to find two personnes of the most auncient and vertuous which shall remaine in the courte no more but two yeares and that afterwardes others be placed there in their steades For there is nothinge more monstrous then to see the Churche longe withoute prelates ¶ What a goodly thynge it is to haue but one Prince to rule the publike weale for there is no greater enemye to the common weale then he whiche procureth many to commaund therin as by reasons folowing it shal be proued Cap. xxviii OFte tymes with my selfe alone I consider that sithe the deuine prouidence which doth all thinges by weight and measure and that of her and by none other all creatures are gouerned and that furthermore with God there is no accepcion of personnes for he maketh the one ryche and the other poore the one sage and the other symple the one hole and other sicke the one fortunate and the other vnluckye the one seruaunt and the other maister let no man merueile thoughe I muse therat for the varietie of time is the beginner of dissencions amonge the people In mans iudgmēt it semeth that it were better all were alike in apparel al equal in commaunding none greater then others in possessions al to content them selues with one kynde of meate and that the names of commaunding and obeing were vtterly abolysshed and brought to nought So that if the myseries of the one and prosperities of the other were put out from that day forward I protest there should be no enuy in the world Layeng asyde mans opinion whiche oughte not to be compared to the deuine misterie I demaund now what reason sufficed to thincke that of two brethren that is to wete Iacob and Esau both children of holy and deuout personnes the deuine prouydence woulde the one shoulde bee chosen and the other dispised that the one shoulde commaunde and the other obeye the one to be disherited beinge the eldeste and the other to inherite beinge the yongeste That whyche chaunced to Iacob with Esau the same chaunced to the children of Iacob and Ioseph who beinge patriarkes and chosen God prouided and ordeyned that to Ioseph beinge the youngeste his bretherne should serue and obeye hym This thinge was repined at of all the eleuen bretherne how be it their intencions auayled not for it is vnpossible for mans malice to disorder that which the deuine prouidence hath appointed we se daylye nothing els but that which man decreeth in a longe time god disposeth otherwise in one moment Truly it is not euill done but wel ordeined For in the ende sithe man is man in fewe thinges he can be eyther certaine or assured and sith God is God it is vnpossible that in any thinge he should erre It is a great benefite of the creator to be willing to reforme and correct the workes of the creatures For if God woulde suffer vs to do after our owne mindes we should be quyte contrarie to his pleasure God without a great mysterye did not ordeine that in one family there shoulde be but one father amonge one people there shoulde be but one citizen that should commaunde in one prouynce ther should be but one gouernor alone and also that one king alone should gouerne a proude Realme and likewise that by one onlye captaine a puissant armye should be led And furthermore and aboue all he willeth that there be but one Monarchyall king and Lord of the world Truly all these thinges are such that we with our eyes do see them and know them not we heare them with our eares and vnderstand them not we speake them with our tongues and know not what we say For truly mans vnderstanding is so dull that wythout doubt he is ignoraunt of more then he knoweth Appolonius Thianeus compassing the moste part of Asia Affricke and Europe that is to say from the bridge of Nilus wher Alexander was vnto Gades where the pillers of Hercules were he beinge one day in Ephese in the Temple of Diana the priestes asked him what thing he wondered at most in all the world for it is a generall rule that men which haue sene much alwayes do note one thing aboue another Althoughe the Philosopher Appolonius greatlyer estemed the workes then the speakinge of them that demaunded this question yet forthwith he made them this aunswere I let you know priestes of Diana that I haue bene throughout Fraunce England Spayne Germany throughe the Laces and Lidians Hebrues and Greekes Parthes and Medes Phrigians and Corinthians and so with the Perses and aboue all in the great Realme of India for that alone is more worthe then all these Realmes together I wyl you vnderstand that all these Realmes in manye and sondrye thinges do dyffer as in languages personnes beastes mettals waters fleshe customes lawes landes buyldinges in apparel and fortes and aboue all dyuers in their Gods and Temples For the language of the one dyffereth not so muche from the language of the other as the Gods of Europe differ from the Gods of Asia and the Temples and gods of Asia and Europe differ from them of Affrike Amonges all thinges which I haue sene of two onlye I dyd meruaile which is that in all the partes of the worlde wherin I haue trauailed I haue seen quyet men troubled by sedycious parsones the humble subiect to the proude the iust obedient to the tyraunt I haue sene the cruel commaunding the merciful the coward ruling the hardye the ignoraunt teaching the wise aboue al I saw that the most theues hunge the innocent on the gallowes The other thing wherat I marueiled was this that in al the places circuite wher I haue bene I know not neither could I find any man that
was euerlasting but that all are mortal in the ende both high lowe haue an end for many are layde to nighte into their graue which the next day following thought to be aliue Leaue aside the deuine iudgment in that he spake he said highly and like a Philosopher for it semeth to be a pleasaunt thing to see how men gouerne the world Therfore now to the matter it is but reason we know the cause of this so auncient a noueltye whiche is that God wylleth and ordeinethe that one onlye commaunde all and that all together obey one For there is nothing that God doth thoughe the cause therof be vnknowen to vs that wanteth reason in his eternall wisedome In this case speakyng like a Christian I saye that if our father Adam had obeyed one onlye commaundemente of God whiche was forbydden him in the terrestial Paradise we had remayned in lybertie vpon the earth and should haue bene Lordes and maisters ouer al. But sith he would not then obey the Lord we are nowe become the slaues of so many Lords O wicked sine cursed be thou sith by the onely the world is broughte into suche a bondage without teares I cannot speake that which I would that through our first fathers which submitted them selues to sinne we their children haue lost the sygnorye of the world For sithe they were prisoners to synne in their hartes lytle auaileth the lybertie of their bodyes There was great dyuersitie betwixt the opynions of Pythagoras and the opinyons of Socrates for somuch as those of Socrates scoole saide that it were better all thinges should be common and all men equall Thother of Pythagoras scoole sayde the contrarie and that the common wealthe were better wherin eche one had his owne proper and all should obey one so that the one of them dyd admit and graunte the name of seruantes and thothers dyd despise the name of Lordes As Laertius in his first booke of the life of Philosophers sayth that the Philosopher Demostenes was also of the same opinyon that to the end the people should be well gouerned he would two names should be vtterly abbolished and taken a way that is to wete Lords and subiectes masters and seruaunts for the one desirous to rule â–ª by fyersnes and thothers not willyng to obeye by tyranny would shedde the bloud of the innocent and would be vyolent agaynst the poore they would destroy the renowmed famous people and tyrannes would waxe stout the which thyngs should be taken away if there were no sygnorye nor seruytude in the world But notwithstanding these thinges the Phylosopher in his first booke of his pollitiques sayth that by fower natural reasons we may proue it to be very necessarie that Princes do commaund and the people obey The first reason is of the partes of the Elements symple and mixt For we se by experience that the Elementes do suffer to th ende they wold be ioyned together the one to haue more power then al the whyche is shewed by experyence forasmuch as the Element of the fyer the Element of the ayer and the Element of the water do obey the Element of the earth doth commaund For against their nature he bryngeth them all to the earth But if all the noble and chiefest Elements were obedyente to the most vile Element onely to forme a body myxt it is a greater reason that al obeye to one vertuous person that the common wealth mighte therby the better be gouerned The second reason is of the bodye the soule in the armony wherof the soule is the mistresse which commaundeth and the body the seruaunt which obeyeth fo the body neither seeth heareth nor vnderstandeth without the body The sage Philosopher by this wil infer that the sage men should naturally be lords ouer others For in the world ther is nothing more mâ—nstrous then that fooles should coÌ„maund wise men obey The third reason taketh his ground on beastes for we se by experience that diuers beastes by thonely knowledge of men are gouerned therfore it is but mete that many men which are more lyker beastes then the beastes theym selues do suffer them selues to be gouerned and ruled by wise men For the common weale is more profited by a brute beast then it is by a witlesse man The fourth reason proceadeth of women for we se that they being created to the image of God god commaundeth and ordayneth that they should be subiect to man presupposing their knowledge not to be so great as the knowledge of men Therfore if this thing be thus why could not diuerse mortal men who with out comparison know lesse then women take theym selues for happie that one alone would commaund gouerne them so that such one were a sage vertuous parson Sithe man is naturally pollytike which is to be a frend of company the company engendreth enuy afterwards discord norisheth warre warre bringeth in tiranny tiranny destroyeth the comon wealth the common wealth being lost all men thinke their liues in peryl Therfore it is very necessarie that in the common wealth many be gouerned by one alone for to conclude ther is no common wealth wel gouerned but by one alone The great trauayles and inconuenyences which the auncientes found in tymes past were the occasion that it was ordeyned in the publyke weale that all should obey one Sythe that in a campe one onely Captaine is obeyed and in the sea one Pilot followed in the monasterye all obeye one prelate and in the Churche all obeye one byshoppe and syns in a hyue of bees one bee onely leadeth all the rest it were not reason that men should be without one king nor the common wealth without a gouernour Those men that will not haue a king in a common wealth are lyke vnto drones waspes which without trauaile eate the swete of others And mine opinion in this case should be that euery man that will not be commaunded as an abiect of the common weale should be expulsed and cast out therof For in a common wealthe ther can be no greater enemye then he that desireth that many should rule therin In that publike weale where one alone hath care for al al obey the commaundement of one onely there God shal be serued the people shal profit the good shal be estemed the euil dispised and besides that tirannes shal be suppressed For a gouernaunce of many is not profitable onlesse they referre theym selues to the iudgemente of a fewe and to the arbitermente of one alone Oh howe manâ—e people and Realmes because they woulde not obey their princes by iustice haue since by cruell tirannes bene gouerned with tyrannye For it is euen a iuste plage that they which disire the scepters of righteous Princes shoulde feale and proue the scourge of cruell tirauntes Alwayes it was and shal be that in the worlde there was one to commaunde another to obeye one to gouerne and another to bee gouerned
he geueth theÌ„ one which robbeth theÌ„ they require one to deliuer them from boÌ„dage he ordaineth one to kepe them as slaues And finally the Hebrues trusting to be deliuered of their iudges which ruled not according to theyr appetites god shal geue them a king that shal take they â–ª goodes from them by force O how many times ought we to pray vnto god to giue vs princes in our comon wealth prelates in our churches which do know how to gouerne vs and minyster vnto vs not accordynge to the weyght of our soule but accordyng to the measure of hys mercy Plato sath in the first booke of lawes that one of the most excellent lawes which the Siciones had in their prouince was to kepe the Cities that they shoulde not chaunge nor alter any thing therin Truly those Barbarous were sage in doing and Plato was very discrete to commend them therin For nothing destroyeth a common wealth soner then to suffer chaunges oftetimes therin Al these things semed to be true in the Hebrues the which in their gouernment were very rashe and vndiscrete For first they gouerned theym selues by Patriarches as Abraham was After they were gouerned by prophetes as Moyses by captaynes as Iosue by iudges as Geâ—eo by kynges as Dauid after they gouerned theymselues by Byshoppes as Abdias was and in the end the Hebrues not contented with all these God suffered that they should fall into the handes of Antiochus Ptolomeus and Herodes all tyrauntes This punishment fell accordyng to the iust iudgement of God vppon theym for their offeÌ„ces for it was euen mete that they that would not enioy the pleasauÌ„t lybertie of Iudea should tast the cruell seruitude of Babylone The condicion whych chaunced in the gouernement to the vnconstant Hebrues the same happened vnto the proude Romaines The which in the beginning of theyr Empire were gouerned by kinges afterwardes by tenne men then by the Consulles soo by the dictators by the Censours and afterwardes by the Tribu nes and Senatours and in the ende they came to be gouerned by Emperours and tirannous princes The Romaynes inuented all these alteracions in their gouernments for none other cause but to see whether they could be deliuered from the commaundement of an other For the Romaynes in this case were so proude harted that they had rather dye in lybertie then liue in captiuitie God had so ordeyned it and their wofull case dyd soo promyse it when they were aboue al other kyngs and realmes of the earth that then the slaue should be obedyent to his yronnes and the subiect should acknowledge the homage to hys maister And though the subiects do moue warres though kinges also do wynne Realmes and Emperours conquere Empyres yet wyl they or nyl they both great small should acknowledge them selues for seruauntes For duringe the tyme of oure fleshlye lyfe wee canne neuer withdrawe oure selues frome the yooke of seruitude And saye not you Princes for that you are puyssaunte princes that you are excepted from seruitude of menne For withoute doubte it is a thinge more vntollerable to haue their hartes burdened with thoughtes then their neckes loden with yrons If a slaue be good they take from him some yrons but to you that are prynces the greater you are they greater cares you haue For the prynce that for hys common wealthe taketh care hath not one momente of an houre quyete A slaue hopeth to be delyuered in hys lyfe but you can not looke to be delyuered tyl after youre death They laye yrons on the slaue by weyghte but thoughtes burdenne you wythoute measure For the wofull heart is more burdened with one houre of care thenne the bodye is pressed wyth twentye pounde of yrone A slaue or prysonner if he bee alone manye tymes fylethe of hys yrons but you Princes that are alone are more greuouslye tormented wythe thoughtes for soletarye places are Arbours and Gardeyns to woofull and heauye hartes A slaue hath nothing to care for but himselfe alone but you that be Princes haue to satisfie please al men For the prince shuld haue a time for himself also for those which are aboue him The deuine Plato saide wel that he that shold haue the lest part of a prince belonging to a prince oughte to be the prince himselfe For to the end the prince should be al his owne he ought to haue no part in himselfe Though a slaue worke trauaile in the day yet he slepeth without care in the night but you princes passe the daies in hearing importunate suetes the night in fetching innumerable sighes Finallye I say that in a slaue be it wel or be it euil al his paine is finished in one yere or is ended at his death but what shal a woful prince do when he dyeth If he were good ther is but a short memorie of his goodnes and if he hath bene euil his infamy shal neuer haue end I haue spoken these things to the ende that great small lordes and seruauntes should confesse and acknowledge the true signory to be onely vnto him who for to make vs lords aboue became a seruaunt here beneath ¶ When the tirannes beganne to reigne and vpon what occasion commaunding and obeying first began And how the auctorytie which the prince hath is by the ordenaunce of God Cap xxx CEasing to speake any further of the poetical histories auncieÌ„t feynings and speaking the truth according to the deuine histories the first that did loue in this world was our father Adam who did eate of the fruit forbidden that not so much for to trespasse the commaundement of one as for not to displease his wife Eue. For many now a dayes had rather suffer their coÌ„science a long time to be infected then one only day to se their wiues displeased The first homicyde of the world was Cayn The first that died in the world was Abel The first that had .ii. wiues in the world was Lamech The first citie of the world was by Enoch built in the fields of Edon The first musitian was Tubalcaim The first which sayled in that world was Noe. The firste tirant of the world was Nembroth The first priest was Melchysedech The first king of the world was Anraphel The first duke was Moyses The first which was called Emperour in the world was Iulius Cesar For vntil this time they which gouerned wer called CoÌ„sulles Censors Dictators And from Iulius Cesar hitherto haue bene called Emperours The first battaile that was giuen in the world as we rede was in the wild valleis which now they cal the dead salt sea For a great part of that that then was the maine land is now the dead sea The holy scriptures cannot deceue vs for it is ful of al truth by them it is declared that a thousand eyght hundred yeres after the world began there was no battaile assembled nor company that met to fight in the field for at that tyme
this innocent trauayler Truly hearing no more he would iudge him to be a foole for he is muche infortunate that for all his trauaile loketh for no rewarde Therfore to our matter a prince which is begotteÌ„ as an other man borne as an other man lyueth as an other man dieth as an other man and besides al this commaundeth all men if of suche one we should demaunde why god gaue him signory and that he should answere he knoweth not but that he was borne vnto it in such case let euery man iudge how vnworthy suche a kyng is to haue such authorie For it is vnpossible for a man to minister iustice vnlesse he knowe before what iustice meaneth Let princes and noble men heare this worde and let them imprinte it in their memory whiche is that when the liuing god determined to make kinges and lordes in this worlde he did not ordeyne theym to eate more then others to drynke more then others to sleape more then others to speake more then others nor to reioyce more then others but he created them vpon condition that sithe he had made them to commaunde more then others they shoulde be more iuste in their lyues then others It is a thinge moste vniuste and in the common wealth very sclaunderous to see with what authoritie a puissaunt man coÌ„maundeth those that be vertuous and with how much shame himselfe is bounde to all vices I knowe not what lorde he is that dare punishe his subiecte for one onely offence committed seing him selfe to deserue for euery deede to be chastised For it is a monsterous thing that a blynd man should take vppon him to leade him that seeth They demaunded great Cato the Censor what a king ought to do that he should be beloued feared and not despysed he answered The good prince should be compared to hym that selleth tryacle who if the poyson hurte hym not he selleth his triacle well I meane thereby that the punyshement is taken in good parte of the people which is not ministred by the vicious man For he that maketh the triacle shall neuer be credited vnlesse the profe of his triacle be openly knowen and tried I meane that the good lyfe is none other then a fine triacle to cure the coÌ„mon wealth And to whome is he more lyke whiche with his tongue blaseth vertues and imployeth his deades to all vyces then vnto the man who in the one hand holdeth poyson to take away lyfe and in the other tryacle to resiste deathe To the ende that a lorde be wholy obeyed it is necessary that all that he coÌ„maundeth be obserued firste in his owne persone for no lorde can nor may withdrawe him selfe from vertuous workes This was the aunswere that Cato the Censor gaue whiche in mine opinion was spoken more like a Christian then any Romaine When the true god came into the worlde he imployed thirtie yeares onely in workes and spente but two yeres and a halfe in teaching For mans harte is perswaded more with the worke he seeketh then with the worde whiche he heaâ—eth Those therefore whiche are lordes let them learne and knowe of him which is the true lorde and also let princes learne why they are princes for he is not a Pylot which neuer sayled on the seas In mine opinion if a prince will know why he is a prince I would saye to gouerne well his people to commaunde well and to mainteyne all in Iustice and this should not be with wordes to make them afrayde neyther by workes whiche should offende them but by swete wordes whiche should encourage them and by the good workes that shoulde edifie them For the noble and gentle harte can not resiste hym that with a louynge countenaunce commaundeth Those whiche wyll rule and make tame fierce and wylde beastes doe threaten and rebuke them a hundred tymes before they beate them once and if they keape them tied they shewe them sondrie pleasures So that the wyldenes of the beaste is taken away onely by the gentyll and pleasaunt vsage of the man Therefore sithe we haue this experience of brute and sauage beastes that is to wete that by their wel doing and by the gentle handling of them they voluntarely suffer them selues to be gouerned muche more experience we reasonable men ought to haue that is to knowe that being right and well gouerned we shoulde huÌ„blye and willingly obey our soueraigne lordes For there is no man so harde harted but by gentyll vsage will humble him selfe O princes and noble men I will tell you in one worde what the lorde oughte to doe in the gouernement of his commoÌ„ wealth Euery prince that hath his mouth full of troth his handes open to geue rewardes and his eares stopped to lyes and his hert open to mercy such a one is happy and the realme which hath him may wel be called prosperous and the people maye call them selues fortunate For where as truth liberalitie and clemency ruleth in the harte of a prince there wronges iniuries and oppressions doe not reigne And contrariwyse where the prince hath his harte flesshed in crueltie his mouthe full of tyrannies his handes defyled with bloude and enclineth his eares to heare lyes suche a prince is vnhappy and muche more the people the whiche by suche one is gouerned For it is vnpossible that there is peace and iustice in the common wealthe if he whiche gouerneth it be a louer of lyes and flatterers In the yere foure hundreth and fourty before the incarnatioÌ„ of Christ whiche was in the yere .244 of the foundation of Rome Darius the fourthe being kyng of Persia and Brutus and Lucius at Rome Counsulles Thales the great Phylosopher floryshed in Greece who was prince of the seuen renowmed sages by the whiche occasion all the realme of Greece had and recouered renowme For Greece boasted more of the seuen sages whiche they had then Rome did of all the valiaunt captaines whiche she nouryshed There was at that tyme muche contention betwene the Romaynes and the Greekes for so muche as the Greekes sayde they were better because they had mo sages and the Romaines sayde the contrary that they were better because they had alwayes mo armies The Greekes replied againe that there were no lawes made but in Grece And the Romaines to this answered that though they were made in Greece yet they were obserued at Rome The Greekes sayde that they had great vniuersities to make wyse men in And the Romaines sayde they had many great temples to worship their Gods in for that in the ende they oughte to esteme more one seruice done to the immortall goddes then all the other commodities that myghte come vnto men A Thebane knight was demaunded what he thoughte of Rome and Greece and he aunswered me thynkes the Romaines are no better then the Greekes nor the Greekes than the Romaines For the Greekes glorie in their tongues and the Romaines in their lances But we referre it to vertuous workes For one good worke
hath wrought it he shall haue a thousand euyl tongues against his honest doynges to speake I would all those which rede this my writyng would call to memorye this word whiche is that among euyl men the chefest euil is that after they haue forgotten them selues to be men and exiled both trouth reason then with al their might they go against trouth and vertue with their woordes and againste good deedes with their tongues for though it be euyl to be an euyll man yet it is muche worse not to suffer an other to be good which aboue al thinges is to be abhorred and not to be suffered I let you wete and assure you you princes noble men that you in working vertuous dedes shal not want slaunderous tongues and though you be stout yet you must be pacyente to breake their malyce For the noble hart fealeth more the enuye of an other then he doothe the labour of his owne body Princes should not be dismayde neither ought they to meruayle though they be told of the murmuring at their good workes For in the end they are men they liue with men and cannot escape the miseryes of men For ther was neuer prince in the world yet so high but he hath bene subiect to malycious tongues Trulye aman ought to take great pytie of Princes whether they be good or euyll for if they be euil the good hate them if they be good the euyl immediatly murmureth against them The Emperoure Octauian was very vertuous yet greatly persecuted with enuyous tongues whoe on a tyme was demaunded since he dyd good to al men why he suffered a few to murmour against him he aunswered you se my frends he that hath made Rome free from enemyes hath also set at lybertie the tongues of malycious men For it is not reason that the harde stones should be at libertie and the tender stones tyed Truly this Empepour Octauian by his wordes declared himselfe to be a wise man and of a noble heart and lightly to waye both the murmuringes of the people and also the vanities of their words which thing truly a wise vertuous mā ought to do For it is a general rule that vices continually seke defendours and vertues alwayes getteth Enemyes In the booke of lawes the deuine Plato saith wel that the euil were alwayes double euyl ▪ because they weare weapons defensiue to defende their malicious purpose and also cary weapons offensiue to bleamyshe the good workes of others Vertuous men ought with much study to folow the good and with more dilygence to flye from the euil For a good man maye commaund al other vertuous men with a becke of his finger but to kepe himselfe only from one euyl man he had nede both hands feete and frends Themistocles the Thebaine sayd that he felt no greater torment in the world then this that his proper honour should depend vpon the Imaginacion of an other for it is a cruell thinge that the life and honour of one that is good should be measured by the tongue of an other that is euyl For as in the forge the coles can not be kindled withoute sparkes nor as corruption can not be in the synckes without ordure so he that hath his hart fre from malyce his tongue is occupied alwaies in swete and pleasaunt communication And contrary wise out of his mouth whose stomacke is infected with malyce proceadeth always wordes bitter full of poyson For if out of a rotten fornayse the fyre burneth it is impossible that the smoke should be cleare It is but a smal time that in prophane loue he that is enamored is able to refraine his loue and muche lesse time is the wrathfull man able to hyde his wrath For the heuy sighes are tokens of the sorowful hart and the words are those that disclose the malycious man Pulio sayth in the first booke of Cesars that the Emperoure Marcus Aurelius was very vertuous in all his workes sage in knowledge iuste in Iudgement mercifull in punishment but aboue all thinges he was wise in dissemblyng herein he was very discrete for ther was neuer pacyent man but prospered wel in all his affayres We se that throughe pacience and wisedome many euyl thinges become reasonable and from reasonable are brought to good from good to excellent The contrary happeneth to them the are moued more then they nede for the man which is not paciēt loketh not yet for any good successe in his affayres though they are iust The Emperour Marcus ofttimes was wont to say that Iulius Cesar wanne the empire by the sweard Augustus was Emperour by Inheritaunce Caligula came to it because his father conquered Germany Nero gouerned it with tyranny Titus was Emperour for that he subdued Iuery the good Traian came to the empire by his clemency vertue but I sayth he obtained the empire through pacience only For it is a greater pacience to suffer the Iniuries of the malicious then to dispute with the sage in the vniuersity And this Emperour saide further in the gouernement of the empire I haue profited more throughe pacience then by science for science only profiteth for the quyetnes of the parson but pacyence profiteth the parson the common wealthe Iulius Capitolinus sayth that the Emperour Antonius Pius was a prince very pacyent in such sort that oftentymes being in the Senate he saw both those which loued him also those that were against him with the people when they did rebel yet his pacience was so great that neyther his frends for the vnthankfulnes of them selues remayned sad neither his enemyes for any displeasure by him done did at any time cōplaine Meaning therfore in this chapter to ioyne the end with the beginning ▪ I say that as the Emperor Marcus Aurelius put himselfe amongest that captyues that this dede in Rome of al men was commended the Senatour Fuluius could not refraine from speaking for that he had not the wit to endure it wherfore as it were scoffing he spake these wordes to the Emperour Lord I meruayle why thou yeldest thy selfe to al which thing for the reputacion of the Empyre cannot be suffered for that it is not decent for thy maiestie The Emperour Marcus Aurelius seing and hearing that in the present of them all the senatour Fuluius spake vnto him these wordes he toke it paciently and with pleasaunt countenaunce sayd The questions the Senatour Euluius proponeth let it be for to morow because my aunswere may be the ryper and his coller the quieter Therfore the next day folowing the Emperour Marcus came into the hyghe capitoll as Pulio declareth in the life of Marcus Aurelius and spake these words ¶ Of the aunswere the Emperour Marcus Aurelius made to the Senatour Fuluius before al the Senate being reproued of him for his familiaritie he vsed to al contrary to the maiestye and authoritie of the Romayne Emperour wherin he paynteth enuious men Cap. xxxix FAthers conscript and sacred Senat
for in the ende tyme is of such power that it cause the renowmed men to be forgotten and all the sumptuous buildinges to decaye and fall to the earth If thou wilt knowe my frende Pulio in what tyme the tyraunt this philosopher was I wyll thou knowe that when Catania the renowmed citie was builded in Cicilia neare the mount Ethna and when Perdica was the fourth kyng of Macedonia and that Cardicea was the thirde kyng of the Meedes and when Candare was fift king of Libeans and that Assaradoche was ninth king of the Assirians and when Merodache was twelft king of Caldeans and that Numa Pompilius reigned second king of the Romaines in the time of those so good kinges Periander reigned amonges the Assirians And it is meete thou knowe an other thyng also whiche is this That this Periander was a tyraunt not only in dede but also in renowme so that thei spake of no other thing thorowe Greece but it tended hereunto Though he had euill workes he had good wordes procured that the affaires of the cōmon wealth shuld be wel redressed For generally there is no man so good but a mā may finde somwhat in him to be reproued neither any man so euill but he hath some thing in him to be cōmended I doe yet remēber of my age being neither to young nor to old that I saw the emperour Traian my lord suppe once in Agrippine it so chaunced that wordes were moued to speake of good euil princes in times past as wel of the Grekes as of the Romains that al those which were present there cōmended greatly the emperour Octauian they al blamed the cruel Nero. For it is an aūcient custome to flatter the princes that are present to murmure at princes that are past When the good emperour Traian was at dinner when he praied in the tēple it was maruel if any mā sawe him speake any word that day since he sawe that thei excessiuely praised the emperour Octauian that the others charged the emperour Nero with more then neded the good Traian spake vnto them these wordes I am glad you cōmende the emperour Octauian but I am angry you should in my presence speake euil of the emperour Nero of none other for it is a great infamy to a prince being aliue to heare in his presence any prince euill reported after his death Truly the emperour Octauian was very good but ye will not denye me but he might haue bene better and the emperour Nero was very euil but yet you will graunt me he might haue ben worse I speake this because Nero in his first fiue yeares was the best of all and the other nyne folowyng he was the worste of all so that there is bothe cause to disprayse him and also cause to commende him When a vertuous man will speake of princes that are dead before princes whiche are aliue he is bounde to prayse onely one of their vertues which they had hath no licence to reuyle the vices whereof thei were noted For the good deserueth rewarde because he endeuoreth him selfe to folowe vertue the euill likewyse deserueth pardon because through frayltie he hath consented to vyce All these wordes the emperoure Traian spake I being present and they were spoken with suche fiercenes that all those whiche were there present bothe chaunged their colour and also refrained their tongues For truly the shamelesse man feeleth not so muche a great strype of correction as the gentill harte doth a sharpe worde of admonition I was willing to shewe thee these thinges my frende Pulio because that since Traian spake for Nero and that he founde in hym some prayse I doe thynke no lesse of the tyraunte Periander whome thoughe for his euyll workes he dyd we doe condemne yet for his good wordes that he spake for the good lawes whiche he made we doe prayse For in the man that is euill there is nothing more easier then to geue good counsayle and there is nothing more harder then to worke well Periander made dyuerse lawes for the common wealth of the Corinthians whereof here folowing I wil declare some We ordeyne and commaunde that if any by multipliyng of wordes kyll an other so that it were not by treason that he be not therefore condemned to die but that they make hym slaue perpetuall to the brother of him that is slayne or to the nexte of his kynne or frends for a shorte deathe is lesse payne then a longe seruitude We ordeyne and commaunde that if any these be taken he shall not dye but with a hotte iron shal be marked on the forehead to be knowen for a thefe for to shammefaste men longe infaime is more payne then a short lyfe We ordeyne and commaunde that the man or woman whiche to the preiudice of an other shall tell any lye shall for the space of a moneth carie a stone in their mouthe for it is not meete that he whiche is wonte to lye should alwayes bee authorysed to speake We ordeyne and commaunde that euery man or woman that is a quareler and sedicious persone in the common wealth be with great reproche bannished frome the people for it is vnpossible that he shoulde bee in fauoure with the Gods which is an enemie to his neighbours We ordeyne and commaunde that if there be any in the common wealth that haue receiued of an other a benefite and that afterwardes it is proued he was vnthankefull that in suche case they put hym to death for the man that of benefites receiued is vnthankefull oughte not to lyue in the worlde amonge menne Beholde therefore my frende Pulio the antiquitie whiche I declared vnto thee and howe mercifull the Corinthians were to murtherers theues and Pirates And contrarie howe seuere they were to vnthankefull people whome they commaunded forthwith to be putte to deathe And truly in myne opinion the Corinthians had reason for there is nothinge troubleth a wyse man more then to see him vnthankefull to him whome he hath shewed pleasure vnto I was willing to tel thee this historie of Periander for no other cause but to the end thou shouldest see and know that forasmuch as I doe greatly blame the vice of vnthankefulnes I will laboure not to be noted of the same For he that reproueth vice is not noted to be vertuous but he which vtterly flieth it Count vpon this my worde that I tel thee which thou shalt not thinke to be fained that though I be the Romain Emperour I wil be thy faithfull frend wil not faile to be thankefull towardes thee For I esteme it no lesse glory to know how to keape a frend by wysedom then to come to the estate of an emperour by philosophie By the letter thou sentest thou requiredst me of one thing to answere thee for the whiche I am at my wittes end For I had rather open my treasures to thy necessities then to open the bookes to answere to thy
that the vayne glory which they haue and their beauty also shal haue an end to day or to morow A man that is faire and wel proportyoned is therfore nothyng the more vertuous he that is deformed euil shapen is nothing therfore the more vicious so the vertue dependeth not at all of the shape of the bodye neyther yet vyce procedeth of the deformitye of the face For dayly we se the difformytie of the body to be beautyfied wyth vertues of the mynd and the vertues of the mynd to be defaced wyth the vyce of the body in his works For truly he that in the vsage of his lyfe hath any botche or imperfectyon is worse then he that hath foure botches in hys shoulders Also I say that though a man be great yet it is not true that therfore he is strong so that it is not a general rule that the bigge body hath always a valiaunt and couragious hart nor the man whych is lytle of parson shold be of a vyle false hart For we se by experyence the greatest men the most cowards the least of personage the most stout and hardy of hart The holy scripture speake of king Dauid that he was redde in his countenaunce not bygge of body but of a meane stature yet not withstanding as he and the mighty Gyaunt Golias were in campe Dauid kylled Golias wyth a sling with hys owne sword cut of hys head We ought not maruayle that a lytle sheaperde should sley so valyaunt myghty a Gyaunte For oft tymes of a lytle sparke commeth a great lyght and contrary wise by a great torche a man can scarsely see to do any thinge This kinge Dauid dyd more that he being lytle of body and tender of yeres killed the Lions recouered the lambes out of the Woulfes throtes and besides this in one day in a battaile with his owne handes he slew to the nomber of 800 men Though we cannot find the like in our tyme we may well ymagine that of the 800. which he slew there were at least .300 of theym as noble of linage as he as riche in goodes as faire in countenaunce and as high of stature but none of these had so much force courage since he escaped aliue they remayned in the field deade Thoughe Iulius Cesar was bigge enoughe of body yet notwithstandinge he was euyll proporcioned For he had his head all bald his nose very sharpe one hande more shorter then the other And albeit he was yong he had his face ryuelled his coulour somewhat yeallowe and aboue all he went somewhat croked his girdel was halfe vndone For men of good wittes do not employ themselues to the setting out of their bodyes Iulius Cesar was so vnhandsome in his bodye that after the battaile of Pharsalique a neighbour of Rome said vnto the great Oratour Tullius Tell me Tullius why hast thou folowed the parcialities of Pompeius since thou art so wise knowest thou not that Iulius Cesar ought to be lord and monarche of all the world Tullius then aunswered I tell the true my frend that I seing Iulius Cesar in his youth so euyl vnsemely girded iudged neuer to haue sene that that is sene of him and did neuer greatly regard him But the old Silla knew him better For he seinge Iulius Cesar so vncomely and so slouenly appareiled in his youth oftentimes sayd vnto the Senate beware of this yong man so euil marked For if you do not watche wel his procedings it is he that shall hereafter destroye the Romaine people as Suetonius Tranquillus affirmeth in the booke of Caeser Albeit that Iulius Caeser was vncomely in his behauiour yet in naminge onlye his name he was so feared through the worlde as if bechaunce any king or princes did talke of him at their table as after supper for feare they coulde not slepe that night vntill the next day As in Gallia Gotica wher Iulius Caesar gaue a battaile by chaunce a Frenche knight toke a Cesarian knight prysonner who being ledde prisonner by the frenchmen sayde Chaos Cesar whyche is to say Let Caesar alone Which the Gaulloys hearing the name of Caeser let the prysoner escape and without any other occasion he fel besides his horse Now then let princes and great lordes se how lytle it auayleth the valiaunt man to be faire or foule sith that Iulius Caesar being so deformed only wyth naming his name caused all men for feare to chaunge their countenaunce Hannibal the aduenturous Captaine of Carthage is called monstruous not only for his deedes he did in the world but also for the euyl proporcion of his bodye For of hys two eyes he lacked the right and of the two feete he had the left foote croked and aboue al he was lytle of body verye fyerse cruell of countenaunce The deedes and conquestes which Hannibal did among the people of Rome Titus Liuius declareth at large yet I wyll recite one thing which an historiographer declareth and it is this Frontine in the booke of the stoutnes of the Penians declareth that in xvii yeres that Hannibal warred with the Romaines he slew so great a nomber that if the men had bene conuerted into Kyne and that the bloud which was shed had bene turned into wine it had bene sufficient to haue fylled and satisfyed his hole armye being 80. thousand foote men and 17 thousande horse men in his campe I demaunde nowe howe many were at that tyme faierer and more beautifull of their bodies and countenaunce then he was whose beautie at this daye is forgotten where as his valiauntnes shall endure for euer For there was neuer prince that lefte of him eternall memorie onely for beinge beautifull of countenaunce but for enterprysinge great thinges with the sworde in the hand The great Alexander was no fairer nor better shapen thē an other man For the chronicles declare of him that he had a litle throte a great head a blacke face his eies somewhat troubled the bodie litle and the members not well proporcioned and with all his deformitie he destroyed Darius king of the Perses and Meedes and he subdued al the tyrauntes he made him selfe lorde of all the castles and tooke many kynges and disherited and slewe mightie Lordes of great estates he searched all their ryches and pylled all their treasours and aboue all thinges all the earth trembled before him not hauinge the audacitie to speake one worde against him ¶ Of a letter the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to his Nephew worthy to be noted of all young gentlemen Cap. xlii SExtus Cheronensis in his seconde booke of the lyfe of Marcus Aurelius declared that this good Marcus Aurelius had a syster called Annia Milena the whiche had a sonne named Epesipus who was not onely nephewe but also disciple to Marcus Aurelius And after he was created Emperour he sent his nephewe into Grece to studye the Greeke tongue and to bannyshe him from the vices of Rome This
dignitie of the office and the other is the nature of the person It may wel be that on may be good in his person and euill in his gouernement and the contrary he may be euil of his person and good in gouernement And therfore Tullius Cicero sayeth that there neuer was nor shall be such a Iulius Cesar in his person nor so euill a gouernour as he was for the common wealth It is a great grace in a mā to be good but it is much more that he be a good prince and for the contrary it is a great euil for a man to be euill but it is much worse for him to be an euil prince For the euill man is only euil to him selfe but the euill prince indomageth al others for the more the poison is scatered through the body in so much more daunger he is of his lyfe I meane the more power a man hath ouer the common wealth so much the more euil and domage he doth if his life be euill I maruell why princes and great lordes should be so curious to serche the best medicines to cure their bodies that they are so slacke slow in seking sage persons to gouerne their cōmon wealth For wtout cōparison it is greater domage that the common wealth be euill gouerned then if the prince and gouernour therof should be sicke in his person Hitherto we haue neyther red nor sene that any Prince haue perrished for lacke of phisike but for lacke of counsailours we haue seen and red of infinite kinges and realmes that haue ben destroyed and vtterly vndone The lacke of a phisicion maye cause daunger in mans person but the lacke of a wise man may set discord amongest the people For where ther is any tumulte amongest the people a ripe counsaile of a wyse man profiteth more then a hundreth purgacions of rubarbe Isidorus in the forth boke of his Etimologies affirmeth that the romaines were foure hundreth yeares without phisicions For Esculapius the sonne of Apollo was the laste phisician in Grece And in the tēple of the same Esculapius they set by the image of Archabuto a man very notable in surgery For the romaynes were so beneficious to vertuous parsones that to euery on that exceaded other in any kynde of vertue they rewarded him with mony they set vp a statute of him for memory or els they made him fre in the common wealth And then when the surgian Archabuto was become auncient and very riche when by occasiō of great and daungerous wondes he dyd cutte of the armes and legges of certayne Romaynes they thought him a cruell an vnnaturall man Wherfore they droue him out of his house and killed hym with stones in the fielde of Mars And let no man maruel therat for oftētimes men suffer lesse harme in enduring the paine then to tary for the cruell remedies the surgians applie vnto it Some men will say that when Rome was without surgians the romaynes were disconfaited and halfe lost To this I wil aunswere that they neuer had a more prosperous time ▪ then in the .400 yers when they wer wtout surgians For then was Rome vndone whē they receiued surgions for at the tune they droue philosophers out of rome I do not speake this as a preiudice to any surgian for me thinketh that princes cannot be without some amōg them For as the fleshe is feble and delicate so dayly nedeth it remedies to comforte it The sage surgeons geueth vs none but good and healthfull counsailes For they do not perswade vs to any other thing but that we be sober and continent in eating drynking sleapinge trauailing and workinge and that in all thinges we should be temperat The end why I speake these thinges is to perswade princes prelates and great lordes that the great diligence they haue to seke surgeans the somme of money they wast to mainteyne and content them they should spend parte of that to seke wise men to counsaile their personnes For if men knewe what it were to keape a wyse man to commaunde in their house they would giue for on only wise man al their goods Ye ought to haue pitie and compassion vpon those princes and great lordes which lose so many dayes in the moneth and so many houres in the daye in speaking of warres buildinges weapons meates beastes of huntinges and medecines and oftentimes of othermens doinges of other vaine thinges not necessary for mans lyfe And this cōmunication they vse with those that are neither vertuous nor wise the which can neither wisely talke nor yet aunswere directly vnto that whiche is asked Oftentimes it chaunseth that a prince at randon moueth a matter which they neuer sawe writen before nor with their eares they neuer hard the like neither in all their life time they had knowledge therof and yet they will seme to giue iudgement of it or better to saye obstinatlie to cotend as if all the dayes of their lyfe they had studyed it which thing procedeth of great shame and euil bringyng vp For the priuy counsaile may speake before their princes but be they neuer so priuye with licence or without licence it is not lawfull for them to contend Helius Spartianus in the lyfe of Alexander Seuerus sayeth that the emperour Seuerus was demaūded once by an embassadour of Graece what thing was most painefull to hym in Rome wherunto the emperour aunswered There is nothing greueth me more then when I am mery that my seruauntes should rayse any strife or debate I am not displeased that matters shuld be debated but this greueth me when on wil obstinately striue that hath no ground of that he speaketh ▪ For the mā whych giueth reason of that he speaketh cannot be called obstinate Theodosius the Emperoure was once demaunded what a prince ought to do to be good wherunto he aūswered the vertuous prince whē he goeth abroad ought to haue graue and wise men in his compagnie to discourse with all when he is at his meate to haue wyse men at his bourde disputing and when he withdraweth him self a parte to be reading with wise men and finally at all vacant tymes he ought to be founde with sage men counsaling For the knight which entreth into battaile without weapons is as hardye as the prince whiche will gouerne the common wealth without the counsaile of wyse men Lampridius in the booke of the Romayne gestes saieth that the emperour Marcus Aurelius nether at hys meate at his going to bed at his vprising in his trauaile opēly nor secretely suffered at any time that fooles shuld sing or cōmunicate with him but only wise vertuous men whō always he most intierly loued Of truthe he had reason for there is nothing be it in iest or in earnest but is better lyked of a wise man then of a foole Yf a prince be sad cānot a wise man peraduenture by the saienge of the holy scripture counsell him better then a foole by folysh wordes Yf a
and reproue the .40 yeares of an other Ther are many princes tender of yeres but ripe in counsailes and for the countrary there are other princes old in yeares yong in counsailes When the good Emperour Vespasian died they determined to put his sōne Titus in the gouernement of the empire or some other aged Senator because they said Titus was to yong And as they were in controuersie of the matter the Senatour Rogerus Patroclus said vnto the Senate For my parte I require rather a Prince which is yong and sage then I do a prince which is old and foolysh Therfore now as touchyng the children of Theodosius one day Estilconus the tutour of Archadius speaking to a greke philosopher very sage whose name was Epimundus sayde thus vnto him Thou and I long time haue bene acquainted together in the palace of the emperour Theodose my lord who is dead and we ar aliue thou knowest it had bene better that we .2 had died and that he had liued For there be many to be seruauntes of princes but there ar few to be good princes I feele no greater griefe in this world than to know many princes in one realme For the man whiche hath sene many princes in his lyfe hath sene many nouelties and alterations in the common wealth Thou knowest well that when Theodosius my maister died he spake to me these wordes the which wer not spoken without great sighes and multiplienge of teares O Estilconus I dye and am going into an other world wherin I shall giue a streighte accompte of the Realmes and seignories which I had vnder my charge And therfore when I thinke of myne offences I am meruelously afrayed But when I remember the mercy of God then I receiue some conforte and hope As it is but mete we should trust in the greatnes of his mercy so likewise is it reason we should feare the rigour of his iustice For truly in the christian law they are not suffred to liue as we which are Princes that liue in delightes of this world and afterward without repentaunce to goe streighte to Paradyse Then when I thinke of the great benefittes which I haue receiued of God and of the great offences which I haue committed when I thynke of the long tyme I haue lyued and of the litle which I haue profited also that vnprofitably I haue spent my time On the one part I am loath to dye for that I am afrayed to come before the tribunall seate of Iesus Christ and on the other part I would liue no lenger because I do not profit The mā of an euil life why doth he desire to lyue any longer My lyfe is now finished the tyme is shorte to make amendes And sithe god demaundeth nought els but a contrite harte with all my harte I doe repente and appeale to his iustice of mercie from his Iustice to his mercy because it maye please him to receiue me into his house and to giue me perpetuall glorie to the confusion of al my synnes and offences And I protest I dye in the holy catholike faith commend my soule to god my body to the earth to you Estilconus Ruffinus my faithful seruauntes I recōmende my dere beloued children For herby the loue of the childrē is sene in that the father forgetteth thē not at the houre of his death In this case of one only thing I doe warne you one only thing I require you one only thing I desire you one onely thing I cōmaund you that is that you occupye not your mindes in augmentinge the Realmes seignories of my childrē but only that you haue due respect to giue thē good education vertuous seruāts For it was only the wise men which I had about me that thus long haue mainteined me in this great auctoritie It is a goodly thing for a prince to haue stoute captains for the warres but without comparison it is better to keape haue wise men in his palace For in the end the victory of the battaille consisteth in the force of many but the gouernement of the common weale oftentimes is putte vnder the aduise of one alone These so dolefull and pitiefull wordes my lord and maister Theodosius spake vnto me now tell me Epimundus what I should doe at this present to fulfill his commaundement For at his harte he had nothing that troubled him so much as to thinke whether his children would vndoe or encrease the cōmon wealthe Thou Epimundus thou art a Grecian thou art a philosopher thou hast vnderstandyng thou art an olde seruaunt thou arte my faithfull frend therfore for al these thinges thou art bound to giue me good healthful counsaile For many times I haue heard Theodosius my maister say that he is not accompted sage which hath turned the leaues of many bookes but he which knoweth and can geue good healthful counsailes Epimundus the philosopher aunswered to these wordes Thou knowest wel Lord Estilconus that the auncientes and great Philosophers ought to be brief in wordes and very parfect in their workes For otherwise to speake muche worke litle semeth rather to be done like a tyraunt then like a greeke philosopher The Emperour Theodosius was thy Lord and my frend I say frend because it is the libertie of a greeke Philosopher to acknowledge no homage nor seruice to any superiour For he in his hart can haue no true sciēce that to rebuke the viicous kepeth his mouth shut In one thing I cōtent my selfe in Theodose aboue al other princes which were in the Romaine empire and that is that he knew and talked wisely of al his affaires and also was very diligēt to execute the same For all the fault of Princes is that they are prompte bold to talke of vertues and in executing them they are very slacke fearefull For such Princes can not continew in the vertue which they doe commende nor yet resyste the vyce which they do dispraise I graunt that Theodosius was an executour of iustice mercifull stoute sober valiaunt true louyng thankfull and vertuous and finally in all thinges and at all times he was fortunate For fortune oftentimes bringeth that to Princes which they will and desire yea many times better then they looke for Presuppose it to be true as it is most true that the time was alwayes prosperous to the Emperour Theodosius yet I doubte whether this prosperity wil continew in the succession of his children For worldlye prosperitie is so mutable that with one only man in a moment she maketh a thousande shrewde turnes and so much the more it is harde to continue stedfast in the second heyre Of slowe and dull horses come oftentimes couragious and fyerse coltes and euyn so of vertuous fathers come children euill brought vp For the wicked children inherite the worste of the father whiche is ryches and are dysenherited of the best whiche are vertues That whiche I perceyue in this matter as
me so depely in hart why then doubtest thou to shew me the writtinges of thy study Thou doest communicate with me the secretes of the empire and thou hydest from me the bokes of thy study Thou hast geuen me thy tender harte of flesh and now thou deniest me thy harde key of yron now I must neades thinke that thy loue was fayned that thy words were doble and that thy thoughtes wer others then they seamed For if they had ben otherwise it had ben vnpossible thou shouldest haue denaied me the key that I do aske the for where loue is vnfayned thoughe the requeste be merilye asked yet it is wyllyngly graunted It is a commen custome that you men vse to deceiue vs symple women you present vs great gyftes you gyue many fayre wordes you make vs faier promyses you saye you will do marueiles but in the end you doe nothing but deceiue vs for we are persecuted more of you then of any others When men in such wyse importune the women if the women hadde power to denaye and withstande we shoulde in shorte space brynge ye vnder the yoke and leade you by the noses but when we suffer oure selues to be ouercome then you beginne to forsake vs and despise vs. Let me therfore my Lorde see thy chamber consyder I am with childe and that I dye onlesse I see it If thou doest not to doe me pleasure yet do it at the least because I may no more importune the. For if I come in daunger thoroughe this my longing I shall but lose my lyfe but thou shalte loose the childe that should be borne and the mother also that oughte to beare it I know not why thou shouldest put thy noble harte into such a daungerous fortune whereby both thou and I at one time shoulde peryshe I in dyeng so yong and thou in losyng so louynge a wyfe By the immortall gods I do beseche the and by the mother Berecinthia I coniure the that thou geue me the key or that thou let me enter into the studye and stycke not with me thy wyfe in this my small request but chaunge thy opinion for all that which without consideracion is ordeyned by importunate sewte may be reuoked We see dayly that men by reading in bookes loue their children but I neauer sawe harte of man fall in such sorte that by readyng and lokyng in bookes he should despyse hys children for in the end bookes are by the wordes of others made but children are with their owne proper bloud begotten Before that any thinge of wysedom is begon they alwayes regard the inconuenyences that maye folowe Therefore if thou wilte not geue me this key and that thou arte determyned to be stoberne still in thy will thou shalt lose thy Faustine thou shalte lose so louyng a wyfe thou shalte lose the creature werwith she is bigge thou shalte lose the aucthoritie of thy palace thou shalte geue occasion to all Rome to speake of the wickednes and this grefe shall neauer departe from thy harte for the harte shall neuer be comforted that knoweth that he onely is the occasion of hys owne griefe Yf the Gods doe suffer it by their secreate iudgementes and if my wofull myshappes deserue it and if thou my Lord desirest it for no other cause but euen to do after thy wil for denayeng me this key I should dye I would wyllingly dye But of that I thinke thou wilt repente for it chaunceth oftetymes to wysemen that when remedy is gone the repentaunce commeth sodeinlye And then it is to late as they saye to shutte the stable dore when the steade is stollen I marueill much at the my Lorde why thou shouldest shew thy selfe so froward in this case since thou knowest that all the time we haue bene togethers thy wil and myne hath alway bene one if thou wilte not geue me thy key for that I am thy welbeloued Faustine if thou wilte not let me haue it sinse I am thy deare beloued wyfe if thou wilte not geue it me for that I am great with childe I beseche the geue it me in vertue of the auncient law For thou knowest it is an inuiolate law among the Romaines that a man cānot denay his wife with child her desiers I haue sene sondry times with myne eyes many women sew their husbandes at the law in this behalfe and thou Lorde commaundest that a man should not breake the pryuileges of women Then if this thing be true as it is true in dead why wilte thou that the lawes of strang children should be kepte and that they should be broken to thine owne children Speakyng according to the reuerence that I owe vnto the thoughe thou wouldest I wil not thoughe thou doest it I will not agree therunto and though thou doest commaund it in this case I wil not obey the. For if the husband doe not accept the iuste request of his wyfe the wyfe is not bounde to obey the vniust commaundement of her husbande You husbandes desier that your wyues should serue you you desier that your wiues should obey you in all and ye will condiscende to nothing that they desyer Ye menne saye that we women haue no certeintie in our loue but in dead you haue no loue at all For by this it appeareth that you loue is fained in that it no longer continueth then your desires are satisfyed You saye furdermore that the women are suspytious and that is true in you al men may see and not in vs for none other cause there are so manye euell maried in Rome but bycause their husbandes haue of them suche iuell opinions There is a great dyfference betwene the suspition of the woman and the ielousye of the man for if a man will vnderstande the suspition of the woman it is no other thynge but to shewe to her husbande that she loueth hym with all her hearte For the innocente women knowe no others desire no others but their husbandes only and they woulde that their husbandes should knowe none others nor serche for anye others nor loue any others nor will anye others but them onely for the hearte that is bente to loue one onely would not that into that house should enter anye other But you men knowe so manye meanes and vse so manye subtelties that you prayse youre selues for to offende them you vaunt youre selues to deceiue them and that it is trewe a man can in nothynge so muche shew his noblenes as to susteyne and fauoure a Cortisan The husbandes pleaseth their wyues speakynge vnto them some merye wordes and immediately their backes being tourned to another they geue bothe their bodyes and their good I sware vnto the my Lorde that if women had the libertie and aucthoritye ouer men as men haue ouer women they should fynde more malice dysceiptfulnes and crafte by them committed in one daye then they should fynde in the women all the dayes of their lyfe You men saye that women are euill speakers it is true
the immortall Gods I swere vnto the that I had rather haue bene maried with a Moore of Calde that is so foule then beinge maried as I am with a Romaine being very faier for she is not soo faire and white as my life is wofull and blacke Thou knowest well Faustine that when Drusio spake these wordes I did wype the teares from his eyes and I gaue him a worde in his eare that he should procede no further in this matter for such women ought to be chastened in secrete and afterwardes to be honoured openly O thou art infortunate Faustine and the Gods haue euill deuided with the geuing the bewtye and riches to vndoe thy selfe and denayeng thee the best whiche is wisedome and good condicions to kepe thy honour Oh what euyl lucke commeth vnto a man when God sendeth him a fayer doughter vnlesse furthermore the gods do permyt that she be sage and honest for the woman which is yong folyshe and faier distroyeth the common wealth and defameth al her parentage I say vnto the againe Faustine that the Gods were very cruel against thee since they swallowe the vp by the goulfes wher all the euil perisheth and toke from the all the sayles and owers whereby the good do escape I remained xxxviii yeres vnmaried and these vi yeres only which I haue bene maried me thinketh I haue passed vi hundreth yeres of my life for nothing can be called a tormente but the euyl that man doth suffer that is euyl maried I wil ensuer the of one thinge Faustine that if I had knowen before which now I know and that I had felte that whiche now I fele though the gods had commaunded me and the emperour Adrian my Lord desired me I had not chaunged my pouertie for thy riches neither my rest for thy Empyre but since it is fallen to thine and myne euyl fortune I am contented to speake lytel and to suffer much I haue so muche dissembled with the Faustine that I can no more but I confesse vnto the that no husband doth suffer his wife so much but that he is bound to suffer her more considering that he is a man that she is a woman For the man which willingly goeth into the briers must thinke before to endure the prickes The woman is to bold that doth contend with her husband but the husband is more foole which openly quarrelleth with his wife For if she be good he ought to fauour her to the end she may be better if she be vnhappie he oughte to suffer her to th end she be not worse Trulye when the woman thinketh that her husband taketh her for euil it is a great occasion to make her to be worse for women are so ambitious that those which comonly are euyl wil make vs beleue that they are better then others Beleue me Faustine that if the feare of the gods the infamy of the person and the speach of men do not refraine the woman al the chastisements of the world wil not make her refraine from vyce for all things suffereth chastisemente and correction the woman only except the which must be wonne by intreaty The hart of the man is very noble and that of the woman very delycate bycause for a lytle good he wil geue a great reward and for a great offence he wil geue no punishment Before the wise man marieth let him beware what he doth and when he shall determine to take the companye of a woman he ought to be lyke vnto him that entereth into the warre that determineth with himselfe to suffer al that may happen be it good or euil I do not cal that life a warre without a cause which the euyll maried man leadeth in his house for women do more hurt with their tongues then the enemyes do with their swordes It is a great simplycitie for a wise man to make accompt or esteme the simplycitie of his wife at euery time for if they would marke and take hede to that which their wife doth or sayth I let them know that they shal neuer come to an ende O Faustine if the Romaine woman would alwayes one thing that they would procure one thing that they would be resolued in one thing though it were to our great charges we would haue pleasure to condiscend vnto their desires but what shal we do sinse that which now pleaseth you a while after dipleaseth you that which you aske for in the morning ye wil not haue at none that which you enioye at none days do trouble you in the night that which in the night you loue ye care not for in the morninge that which yesterday ye greatly estemed to day ye asmuch despise If ye desired to see a thing the last yeare this yere ye wil not heare talke of it that which before made you to reioyce doth nowe make you to be sad that which ye were wont and ought to lament at the selfe same thinge a man seeth you laughe Finally ye women are as children which are appeased with an aple and casteth the golde to the earthe not wayeng it I haue dyuers times thought with my selfe if I could say or write any good rule in keping the which I might teach men to be quiet in their house And by my counte I find hauing experimented it also with the Faustine that it is vnpossible to geue a rule to maried men and if a man could geue them they should scarcely profite therwith sinse their wiues lyue without rule But notwithstanding that I wil declare some rules how the maried folkes shold kepe themselues in their houses and how they shall if they lyst auoide strifes and debates betwene them For the husbandes and the wiues hauyng warres together it is impossible there should be peace in the common wealth And thoughe this present writynge hath not profited me vnluckey and vnfortunate man yet it may profite others which haue good wyues For oft times the medycen whiche profiteth not for the tender eyes suffiseth to heale the hard heales I know wel Faustine that for that I haue sayd and for that I wil say vnto the thou and others such like shall greatly enuye me Ye will marke the words that I speake more then the intencion that I meane but I protest before the Gods that in this case my end is for none other intent but to aduertise the good wherof there are a great manye and to punyshe the euyl whych are many moe And though perchaunce neyther the one nor the other wil beleue that my intencion in speaking these thinges was good yet therfore I wyl not cease to know the good from the euyl and to choose the euil from the good For in my fantasy the good wife is as the feasaunt whose feathers we lytle esteame and regard much the bodye but the euyll woman is as the Marterne whose skynne we greatly esteme and vtterly despise the fleshe I wil therfore declare the rules wherby the husbands may liue in peace
as he sayd that the tongue is moued by the mocions of the soule that he whiche had no tongue had no soule And he which hath no soule is but a brute beast and he that is a beast deserueth to serue in the fields among brute beasts It is a good thing not to be domme as bruyte beastes are and it is a greater thing to speake as the reasonable men do but it is muche more worthye to speake wel as the eloquent philosophers do For otherwise if he which speaketh doth not wey the sentences more then the wordes ofte tymes the popingayes shal content them more which are in the cage then the men which do read in scooles Iosephus in the booke De bello Iudaico saith that king Herode not onely with his personne and goodes but also with all his frendes and parentes folowed and gaue ayde to Marcus Anthonius and to his louer Cleopatra howbeit in the end Octauian had the vyctorie For the man which for the loue of a woman doth enterprise conquestes it is impossible that eyther he loose not his lyfe or els that he lyue not in infamy Herode seing that Marcus Anthonius was dead determyned to go towardes the Emperour Octauian at whose feete he layd his crowne and made a notable oration wherein he spake so pleasaunt wordes and so hyghe sentences that the Emperour Octauian did not only pardon him for that he was so cruell an enemye but also he confirmed him againe into his Realme and toke him for his deare and special frend For among the good men and noble hartes many euil workes are amended by a few good words If Blundus in the booke intituled Roma triumphante do not deceiue me Pirrus the great king of the Epirotes was stout and hardy valiaunt in armes liberal in benefites pacient in aduersityes and aboue al renowmed to be very swete in wordes and sage in his aunswers They sayd that this Pirrus was so eloquent that the man with whom once he had spoken remayned so much his that from that time foreward in his absence he toke his part and declared his life and state in presence The aboue named Blundus saied and Titus Liuius declareth the same that as the Romaynes were of al things prouided seing that king Pirrus was so eloquent they prouided in the senate that no Romaine Embassadour shold speake vnto him but by a third person for otherwise he would haue perswaded them through his sweate woordes that they shoulde haue retourned againe to Rome as his procurers Soliciters Albeit Marcus Tullius Cicero was Senatour in the Senate consul in the Empire rich amongest the rich and hardy amongest men of warre yet truly none of these qualyties caused him eternal memorie but only his excellent eloquēce This Tullius was so estemed in Rome for the eloquence of his tongue only that oft times they hard hym talke in the Senate iii. houres togethers without any man speakinge one word And let not this be lytle estemed nor lightly passed ouer for worldlye malyce is of such condicion that some man may more easely speake 4. howers then another man shal haue pacience to heare him one minute Anthonius Sabellicus declareth that in the time of Amilcares the Affricans a Philosopher named Afronio florished in great Carthage who being of the yeres of 81. dyed in the first yeare of the warres of Punica They demaunded this Phylosopher what it was that he knew he aunswered He knew nothing but to speake wel They demaunded him againe what he learned he aunswered He did learne nothinge but to speake wel Another time they demaunded him what he taught he aunswered He taught nothing but to speake wel Me thinketh that this good phylosopher in 80. yeres and one said that he learned nothing but to speake wel he knew nothing but to speake wel that he taught nothing but to speake wel And truly he had reasō for the thing which most adorneth mans life is the sweate pleasaunte tongue to speake wel What is it to see ii men in one councel the one talking to the other the one of them hath an euyll grace in propounding and thother excellent in speaking Of such there are some that in hearing theym talke .iii. houres we would neither be trobled nor weryed and of the contrarie part there are others so tedyous and rude in their speache that as sone as men perceiue they beginne to speake they auoyde the place And therfore in mine opinyon ther is no greater trouble thenne to herken one quarter of an houre a rude man to speake and to be contrarye ther is no greater pleasure thenne to heare a dyscreate man though it were a whole weke The deuyne Plato in the Booke of Lawes sayd that there is nothynge whereby a manne is knowen more thenne by the woordes he speaketh for of the woordes whyche we heare hym speake we iudge his intention eyther to be good or euil Laertius in the lyfe of the Phylosophers sayeth that a yong child borne at Athens was brought vnto Socrates the great phylosopher being in Athens to the end he shold receiue him into his company teach him in his scoole The yong chyld was straunge and shamefaste and durst not speake before his maister wherfore the philosopher Socrates said vnto him speake frend if thou wilt that I know the. This sentence of Socrates was very profound and I pray him that shal reade this wryting to pause a while therat For Socrates wil not that a man be knowen by the gesture he hath but by the good or euyl wordes which he speaketh Though eloquence and speaking wel to euery man is a cause of augmenting their honour and no dimynissher of their goodes yet withoute comparison it shineth muche more and is most necessarie in the pallaces of Prynces and great Lordes For men which haue common offices ought of necessity harken to his naturall contrymen also to speake with straungers Speking therfore more plainly I say that the Prince ought not to trauaile only to haue eloquence for the honour of his person but also it behoueth him for the comon wealth For as the prince is but one and is serued of all so it is vnpossible that he haue so much as wil satisfye and content them al. And therfore it is necessarie that he requyte some mith money that he content others with good wordes For the noble hart loueth better a gentle worde then a reward or gift with the tongue of a rude man Plato Liuius Herodotus Vulpicius Eutropius Diorus Plynie and many other innumerable auncient historyographers do not cease to prayse the eloquence of greeke princes and latynes in their workes O how blessed were those tymes when ther were sage princes and discrete lords truly they haue reason to exalt them For many haue obteyned and wonne the royal crounes and septures of the Empire not so much for the great battailes they haue conquered nor for the highe bloud and generacion from whence
they are dyssended ▪ as for the wisedom and eloquence which they had Marcus Aurelius was natural of Rome borne in mount Celio he was poore in patrimony and of base lynage lytel in fauour lefte and forsaken of his parentes and besides al this only for beinge vertuous in his lyfe profound in doctrine and of so high eloquence the Emperour Anthonius called Pius gaue him his daughter Faustine for wife who being reproued of many bycause he gaue his doughter to so poore a philosopher aunswered I had rather haue a poore philosopher then a riche foole Pulio in his seuenth booke of the Romaine lawes sayth that in Rome ther was a law very wel kept obserued of the consulles by a custome brought in that the Dictatours Censors and Emperours of Rome entered into the Senate once in the weke at the least and in this place they should geue and render accompt in what state the common wealth remayned O would to God that at this present this law were so kept and obserued for ther is none who doth minister so good iustice as he which thinketh to giue accompt of his doings They say that Calligula the fourth Emperoure of Rome was not only deformed infamous and cruel in his lyfe but also was an Idiote in eloquence and of an euyl vtteraunce in his communycacion So that he among al the Romaine princes was constrayned to haue others to speake for him in the Senate This wickedman was so vnfortunate that after his cruel and infamous death they drew him throughout Rome and set vppon his graue this Epitaphe ¶ Calligula lyeth here in endles sleape That stretchte his raigne vpon the Empires heade Vnfytte for rule that could such folly heape And fytte for death wher vertue so was dead I Cannot tel why princes do prayse them selues to be strong and hardy to be wel disposed to be runners to iust wel and do not esteame to be eloquent sinse it is true that those giftes do profite them only for their life but the eloquēce profiteth them not only for to honour their life but also to augment their renowme For we do reade that by that many Princes dyd pacifye great sedycions in the common wealth and besides that they deserued immortall memorie Suetonius Trancquillus in the firste booke of Cesars sayth that the aduenturous Iulius Cesar being as yet but 16. yeares of age when there dyed in Rome an aunt of his called Cornelia at her buriall he made an oracion in the which he being so yong shewed marueilous great eloquence which was so accepted that day in al people that in the end euery man iudged him to be a valiaunt Romane captaine And as Appianus declareth they say that Silla spake these wordes That which I perceiue of this yong man Caius Cesar is that in the boldnes of his tongue he declareth how valiaunt he ought to be in his person Let therfore Princes and great Lords se how much it may profite them to know to speake wel and eloquently For we se no other thing dayly but that a man of base lynage by his eloquence commeth to be exalted and the other which of lynage is nobly borne for wante of speaking wel and being eloquent is the first that discendeth most vilest of al other Thentencion wherupon I wrate these things was for no other but to admonishe perswade and pray al princes and great lordes that whiles their children are yong they should put them to wise and learned men to the end they should teache them not only how they ought to liue but also how they ought to speake For to personnes of estate it is a great infamy to do or to inuent to do a thing and afterward not to know how to geue a reason therof Polidorus in the third booke of his commentaries sayth that when the Lacedemonians were put to flyght by the Athenians in Rota Millina it is called Millina bycause the battaile was in the riuer of Milline the Lacedemonians sent a phylosopher called Heuxinus to treate of peace with the Athenians who made such an eloquent oracion to the Senate of Athens that hee dyd not only obtaine the peace which he desired for his country but for himselfe also he wanne perpetual renowme At the phylosophers retourne the Athenians gaue him a letter which sayd in this sort ¶ Of a letter whiche the Athenians sente to the Lacedemonians Cap. xxvi THe Senate people and Sages of Athens wisheth healthe to the persons and peace to the common wealth of you of the senate and people of the Lacedemonians We take the immortal gods to recorde that in the laste battaile we had no lesse dyspleasure to se ye ouercome then on the contrary we had pleasure to se vs remaine victorious For in the end the daungers and inconueniences of the cruel warres are so great that the euill and daunger is certeine to them that are vanquished and the profite is doubtful to them that haue ouercommed We would gladly that that which now ye wil ye would haue willed soner that which now ye require demaund that before ye had requyred and demaunded But what shal we do sinse it was ordeined to your and our woful destenies that he should loose the battaile and that we of your losse can take no profite For it is a rule vnfallible that al that which the gods haue ordeyned no worldly wight can amende nor humaine power resist Ye demaund that warre may cease and leaue of and that we take truise for .iii. monethes and that during this time peace concord may be concluded To this we make aunswere That the senate of Athens hath not accustomed to graunt peace afterwards for to retourne to warre For amongest vs Athenians we haue an auncient law that freely we do accept the cruel warre and liberallye we doe graunt perpetual peace In our scoles and vniuersities we trauaile to haue Sages in time of peace for to helpe vs with their counsayles in the time of warre And they do counsaile vs that we neuer take vpon vs truse vpon suspect condicion And in dead they counsaile vs well For the fayned and dyssembled peace is muche more perrillous then is the manifest warre The philosopher Heuxinus your embassadour hath spoken to vs so highly and eloquentlye in this Senate that it semed to vs very vniust if we should deny him and gaine say that he requireth vs. For it is much more honestye to graunt him peace whiche by sweete and pleasaunt words doth demaund it then him which by force and sharpe sword doeth requyreth it Let the case therfore be that the Senate people and Sages of Athens haue ordeyned that warre do cease with the Lacedemonians and that al discordes contencions dissentions and debates do end that perpetual peace be graunted vnto them And this thing is done to the end al the world should know that Athens is of such courage wythe the hardy and so very a frend to the Sages that she knoweth
purenes of conscience but also in the outward apparance and cleanes of lyfe For it is vnpossible that the child be honest if the mayster be dissolute The 3. it is necessary that tutors and gouernours of princes and great lordes be true men not only in their words but also in their couenauntes For to say the truth that mouth which is alwaies ful of lyes ought not by reason to be a teacher of the truth The 4. condicion it is necessary that the gouernours of princes great lordes of their owne nature be liberall for oft tymes the greate couetousnes of maisters maketh the harts of princes to be gredy and couetous The 5. it is necessary that the maisters and gouernours of princes great lords be moderate in wordes very resolute in sentences so that they ought to teach the children to speake litle to harken much For it is the chefest vertue in a prince to heare with pacience and to speake wyth wisedome The 6. condicion is it is necessary that the maysters and gouernours of princes and great lords be wise men and temperate so that the grauitye of the mayster maye restrayne the lyghtnes of the Schollers for there is no greater plagues in Realmes then for princes to be yong and their maisters to be lyght The 7. it is necessarye that the maisters and tutors of princes and greate lords be wel learned in diuinity and humanitie in such sort that that which they teach the princes by word they may shew it by writing to the end that other princes may execute and put the same in vre for mens harts are soner moued by the examples of those which are past then by the words of them that are present The 8. condicion it is necessarie that the maisters and tutors of princes be not giuen to the vice of the flesh for as they are yong and naturallye giuen to the flesh so they haue no strength to abide chast neyther wisedome to be ware of the snares Therefore it is necessarye that theyr maisters be pure and honeste for the Dyscyples shall neuer bee chaste if the mayster bee vicyous The 9. it is necessary that the masters and tutors of Princes and greate lords haue good condicions bycause the children of noble men being daintely brought vp alwayes learne euill condicions the which their maisters ought to reforme more by good conuersacion then by sharpe correction For oftentimes it chaunceth that whereas the maister is cruel the scholer is not merciful The .10 it is necessary that the maisters and tutors of prynces and great lordes haue not only sene and red many things but also that they haue proued chaungeable fortune For since noble mens sonnes by the gift of god haue great estates they ought therefore to prouide to speake to many to aunswere to many and to entreat with many and it is very profitable for them to be conuersaunt with expert men for in the end the approued mā in councel hath preheminence I was willyng to bringe in these rules in my writing to the end that fathers may kepe them in their memory when they do seke maysters to teach their children for in my opinyon the father is more in fault to seke an euil maister then the maister is to make an euyl scholer For if I choose euyl taylers to cut my gowne it is my faulte that the cloth is lost and my gowne marred Albeit the Romaines were in al their doings circumspect yet for this one thinge I must enuy the good doctrine which they gaue to noble mens children For wythout doubt it is vnpossible that in any city there by a good common wealth vnlesse they are very circumspect to bring vp yong children Sabellicus in his rapsodies sayth that in the 415 yeres of the foundacion of Rome Qintus Seruilius and Lucius Geminus then consulles being in the warre against the Volces the stout aduenturous captaine Camillus there rose a great strife and contencion in Rome amongest the people and the knights and that contencion was vpon the prouision of offyces For in great common wealthes it hath bene an aunciente quarell that in knights and gentlemen there surmounteth pride in commaundyng and amonge the people ther wanteth pacience in obeyinge The knightes and gentlemen would they should chose a Tribune Millitare in the senate to speake in the name of al the knyghtes that were absent and present for they sayd that sence they were alwayes at the warre the whole common wealth remained in the power of the people The commons on the other part importuned and desired that a new officer should be created the whych should haue the charge to examine and take accompt how the youth of Rome were brought vp bycause the comon people did accuse the knights gentlemen that the longer they remained in the warres the more sensuallye their chyldren lyued in Rome It was decreed then that a Tribune Millitare should be erected the which in aucthority and dignytie should be equal with the senatours that he should represente the state of warlike knights but that office continued no longer then foure yeres in Rome that is to wete til the time that Camillus retourned from the warres For thinges that are grounded of no reason of them selues they come to nought Al the knights gentlemen sought to the vttermost of their power to maintaine their preheminēce on the other side al the cominalty of Rome was against it In the end the good captaine Camillus called al the knights gentlemen to gethers and sayd vnto them these words I am greatly ashamed to se that the stoutnes should be so lytle of the Romaine knights that they should cōdiscend to the wil of the Plebians for in dede the myghty do not get so much honour to ouercome the lytle as the litle do to striue with the great I say that the strife debate amongest you in Rome doth displease me muche therfore you knights if you wil not lose your honours you must eyther kil them or ouercome them You cannot ouercome them bycause they are many kyll them you ought not for in the end they are youres therfore ther is no better remedy then to dissemble with theym For things which suffer no force nor obserue not iustyce ought alwayes vntil conuenient time to be dissembled The immortal gods did not create Romaine knights to gouerne people but to conquere Realmes And I say further that they dyd not create vs to teach lawes to oures but to giue lawes to straungers And if we be the children of our fathers immitators of the auncient Romanes we wil not content our selues to commaund in Rome but to commaund those which do commaund in Rome For the hart of a true Romaine doth lytle esteame to se himselfe lord of this world if he know that ther is another to conquere You others did creat this Tribune Millitare we being in the warre whereof now theris no necessitye since we are in peace
examples whiche they geue then in the faulte and offence that they committe All the aunciente wryters affirme that the triumphant Rome neuer began to decay vntil the Senate was replenished with sage serpentes and destitute of simple doues For in the ende there is nothing that soner destroyeth princes then thinking to haue about them wyse men that should counsell them when in dede they are malitious that seke to deceiue them What a thing was in olde time to see the pollicie of Rome before that Sylla and Marius did alter it before that Catilina and Catullus did trouble it before that Iulius Caesar and Pompeius sclaundered it before that Augustus and Marcus Antonius destroyed it before that Tiberius and Caligula did defame it and before that Nero and Domician did corrupt it For the most parte of these though they were valiaunt wan many Realmes yet notwithstanding the vices whiche they brought vs were more then the Realmes they wanne vs. And the worst of all is that al our kingdomes are loste and our vices abide still If Liuius and the other historiographers doe not deceiue vs in olde time they might haue sene in the sacret Senate some Romaines so auncient with heere 's so honorable others so expert mē others aged so modest that it was a wonder to see the maiestie they did represente and a comforte to heare that which they sayde I speake not that without teares whiche I wyll saye that in steade of these auncient aged personnes there sprange vp other younge bablers the whiche are suche and so manye that all the common wealth is altered and Rome her selfe sclaundered For that lande is cursed and with muche miserie compassed where the gouernaunce of the young is so euil that al wyshe for the reuiuing of the dead If we credite that which the auncientes wrote we cannot denay but that Rome was the mother of all good woorke as the auncient Grece was the beginner of al sciences So that the effect of the Grekes was to speake the glory of the Romaynes was to worke But nowe through our woful◠destenies it is all contrary for Grece hath banished from it all the speakers to Rome and Rome hath banished from it all the sages to Grece And if it be so as it is in dede I had rather be banished to Grece with the sages then to take parte with Rome among the fooles By the faithe of a Christian I sweare vnto you my frendes that I being young sawe an Oratour in Rome which was brought vp in the pallace of Adrian my Lorde whose name was Aristonocus of his body he was of meane stature leane of face also he was of an vnknowen countrey but he had such a pleasaunt tongue that though he had made an oration in the senate of three houres long there was no mā but willingly was desirous to heare him For in the old time if he that made an Oration in the Senate were eloquent in his speache he was heard no lesse then if God Apollo had spoken him selfe This philosopher Aristonocus was on the one parte so gentle in his speache and on the other parte so disolute in his life that he neuer spake worde to the Senate but it deserued eternall memory and out of that place they neuer sawe him do good worke but it merited greuous punishement As I haue sayed though in that tyme I was young yet I remember that to see this philosopher so loste all the people did pitie and the worste of all was that they neuer hoped of his amendement since daily more and more he loste his honour For there is no man that by his eloquence may haue suche renowme but in the ende he may lose it againe by his euil lyfe Now I aske you my frends sithe you are in the reputation of sages which was better or to saye better whiche had bene lesse enuied that this philosopher had bene a simple man and of good life then to be as he was a man of high eloquence and of euill condition It was vnpossible if he had once heard of me that whiche many times I haue hearde say of him that he had not counsayled me yea and futher to doe it he had constrained me rather to chose the graue then to lyue in Rome with infamy For he is vnworthy to lyue amongest men whose wordes of all are approued and his workes of all condemned The firste dictatour in Rome was Largius and the first lordes of the knightes was Spurius And from the tyme of the first dictatour vntill the time of Silla and Iulius whiche were the first tyrauntes were foure hundred and fiftie yeares In the whiche space we neuer redde that any Philosopher spake any vayne wordes nor yet committed any sclaunderous deades And if Rome had done any otherwyse it had bene vnworthy of suche prayse and estimation as it had for it is vnpossible that the people be well gouerned if the Sages whiche gouerne them are in their liues dissolute I protest to the immortall Gods sweare by the faithe of a Christian that when I consider that whiche at this present with myne eyes I see I can not but sighe for that that is past and wepe for that which is present That is to wete to see then howe the armies fought to see howe the younge men trauayled to be good to see howe well princes gouerned to se the obedience of the people and aboue all it was a merueilous thing to see the libertie and fauour whych the Sages had and the subiection and small estimation that the simple were in And nowe by our euil fortune we see the contrary in our woful time so that I cannot tell whither first I should bewaile the vertues and noblenes of them that are past or the vices infamies of these whych are present For we neauer ought to cease from praysinge the goodnes of the good nor to cease from reprouyng the wyckednes of the euill O that I had bene in that glorious worlde to se so honorable and auncient sages to gouerne in pleasure and for the contrary what grefe pytye shame and dishonor is it to se now so many dissolute sages and so many yong and busy heades the whych as I haue sayd doe destroye all Rome and slaunder all Italy and dishonor them selues For the want of vertue whyche in them aboundeth endomageth the comon wealth and the other vyces wherewith they are replenished corrupteth the people in such sorte that the weale publyke is more dyshonored through the dissolute life of them then it is anoyed by the weapons of their enemies I say agayn and repete my frendes that the prosperity of Rome endured .400 and .xv. yeres in the whych time there was a great maiestie of workes and a marueilous simplicity of wordes aboue all that the best that it had was that it was rich of the good and vertuous men and poore of euill and vitious loyterers For in the end that citie cannot
euylles and inuentoures of all vyces Wherein appeareth your lytle care and muche tyrannye For all sayde openlye in Asia that the theues of Rome doe hang the theues of Iewrye What will ye I shall saye more Romaynes but that wee lyttle esteame the theeues whiche keepe the wooddes in comparison of the Iudges whyche robbe vs in oure owne houses O howe wofull were oure fatall destenyes the daye that we became subiecte to the Romaynes Wee feare no theues whiche shoulde robbe vs in the highe waye wee feare no fyre whiche should burne oure goods nor we feare no tyrauntes whyche shoulde make warre againste vs neyther anye Assirians whiche shoulde spoyle oure countrey we feare not the corrupte ayre that shoulde infect vs neyther the plague that shoulde take oure lyues from vs but wee feare youre cruell iudges whyche oppesse vs in the common welthe and robbeth vs of oure good name I saye not without a cause they trouble the common wealthe For that layde a parte whiche they saye that layde a parte whiche they meane and that layde aparte whiche they robbe immediatelye they write to the Senate to consent vnto them not of the good whyche they fynde in the auncientes but of the lightnes whiche they see in the yonge And as the Senatoures doe heare them here and doe not see them there so ye geeue more credite to one that hathe beene but three monethes in the prouince then to those whiche haue gouerned the common wealth .30 yeares Consyder Senatoures that ye haue beene made and appointed Senatours in this place for that ye were the wysest the honestest the beste experimented and the most moderate and vertuous Therefore in this aboue all shal bee seene if ye bee vertuous in that you do not beleue all For if those bee manye and of dyuers nations whiche haue to doe with you muche more dyuers and variable are theire intencions and endes for the whiche they entreate I lye if youre Iudges haue not done so manye wronges in iustice forsaken theire disciplyne that they haue taught the youth of Iudea inuencions of vyces whiche neither hathe bene hearde of oure fathers neyther reade in oure bookes ne yet seene in oure tyme. Ye others Romaines since ye are noble and myghtye ye disdaine to take counsayle of menne that bee poore the whiche ye ought not to doe neither counsail youre frendes to doe it For to knowe and to haue lytle seldome times goeth together As manye counsayles as Iudea hath taken of Rome so manye lett nowe Rome take of Iudea You ought to knowe thoughe your Captaynes haue wonne manye realmes by sheddynge bloude yet notwithstandyng your iudges ought to keepe them not with rygorous sheddynge of bloud but with clemencye and winnynge theire hartes O Romaynes admonishe commaunde praye and aduertyse youre Iudges whome ye sende to gouerne straunge prouynces that they imploye them selues more to the common wealthe of the realme then they re handes to nomber theire fynes and forfettes For otherwise they shall sclaunder those whiche sende them and shall hurte those whome they gouerne You re Iudges in iuste thinges are not obeyed for anye other cause but forasmuche as firste they haue commaunded manye vniuste thinges The iuste commaundementes make the humble hartes and the vniuste commaundementes doe turne and conuerte the meeke and humble menne to seuere and cruell personnes Humayne malyce is so geeuen to commaunde and is so troublesome to be commaunded that though they commaunde vs to doe good wee doe obey euylle the more they commmaund vs euyll the woorse they bee obeyed in the good Beleue me Romaines one thinge and doubte nothinge therin that of the great lightnes of the iudges is sprong the little feare and greate shame of the people Eche Prince whiche shal geue to anye iudge the charge of iustice whō he knoweth not to bee able doth it not so much for that he knoweth wel how to minister iustice but because he is verye craftye to augment his goodes Let hym be well assured that when he least thinketh on it his honour shal bee in moste infamye his credite lost hys goodes diminished and some notable punyshement lyght vppon his house And because I haue other things to speke in secreate I will here conclude that is open and fynallye I saye that if ye will preserue vs and our realme for the whiche you haue haserded youre selues in manye periles keape vs in iustice and wee wil haue you in reuerence Commaunde as Romaynes and wee will obey as Hebrues geue a pytefull president and ye shall haue all the realme in safegarde What will ye I saye more but that if you be not cruell to punishe our weaknesse we will be verye obedient to your ordinaunces Before ye prouyde for to commaunde vs thinke it well to entreate vs for by prayeng with al mekenes and not commaundinge with presumpcion ye shall fynde in vs the loue whyche the fathers are wonte to fynde in theire children and not the treason whiche the lordes haue accustomed to fynde in their seruauntes ¶ The Emperour concludeth hys letter againste the cruell iudges and declareth what the graundfather of king Boco spake in the Senate Cap. xi ALl that whiche aboue I haue spoke the Hebrue saide and not without greate admiracion he was hearde of all the Senate O Rome without rome whiche nowe haste nought but the walles and arte made a common stewes of vyces What diddest thou tell mee when a straunger dyd rebuke and taunte thee in the myddest of thy Senate it is a generall rule where there is corruption of custome lyberties are alwaies loste which seemeth moste true here in Rome For the Romaines which in tymes past went to reuenge theire iniuries into straunge countreys nowe others come out of straunge countreyes to assaulte them in theire owne houses Therefore since the iustice of Rome is condemned what thinkest thou that I beleeue of that I le of Cicil tell mee I praye thee Antigonus from whence commeth thinkest thou so greate offence to the people and suche corruption to iustice in the common wealth Yf peraduenture thou knowest it not harken and I will tell the. It is an order whereby all goeth without order Thou oughtest to know that the counsayloures of princes beinge importunate and the Prince not resistinge them but suffringe them they deceyue hym some wyth couetousnes other with ignoraunce geeue from whome they ought to take and take from whome they ought to geeue they honour them who do dyshonour them they witholde the iuste and delyuer the couetous they dyspyse the wyse and trust the lyghte fynallye they prouyde not for the offyces of personnes but for the persons of offyces Harke Antigonus I wyl tell the more These myserable iudges after thei are prouided inuested in the auctority of their offices wherof they wer vnworthy seing thēselues of power to cōmaūd that the dygnitie of their offices is muche more then the desert of theire personnes immediatelye they make them selues to
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
talke three houres If with such efficacie wee perswade olde men that they be honest in theire apparaile for a truthe we will not geue them licence to be dissolute in their wordes sins there is a great difference to note some man in his apparaile or to accuse him to bee malicious or a bablet For to weare riche apparayle iniuryeth fewe but iniurious wordes hurte manye Macrobius in the firste booke of the dreames of Scipio declareth of a philosopher named Crito who liued a hundreth and fiue yeares and till fyltye yeares he was farre oute of course Butte after he came to bee aged he was so well measured in his eatynge drinking and so ware in his speache that they neuer sawe him doe any thinge worthye reprehension nor heard him speake worde but was worthy of notynge On this coÌ„dicioÌ„ we would geue liceÌ„ce to many the till fifty yeres they should be yoÌ„g so that from thence forth they would be clothed as olde men speake as old meÌ„ they should esteme them selues to be olde But I am sorye that al the spring time dothe passe in flower and afterwardes they fall into the graue as rotten before they finde any time to pull them out The olde doe complain that the yong doe not take theire aduise and theire excuse herein is that in theire wordes theye are to longe For if a manne doe demaunde an olde man his opynion in a case immediatelye hee will beginne to saye that in the life of suche and suche kynges and lordes of good memorye this was done and this was prouyded So that when a yonge man aske them counsaile howe he shall behaue hym selfe with the lyuinge the olde man beginneth to declare vnto him the life of those whiche bee dead The reason whye the olde men desire to speake so longe is that since for theire age they can not see nor goe nor eate nor slepe they woulde that al that tyme theire members weare occupyed to doe their duties al that time theire tonge shoulde be occupied to declare of theire times past All this being spoken what more is to say I knowe not but that we should contente oure selues that the olde men shoulde haue theire fleshe as muche punished as they haue their toÌ„gue with talke martired Though it be very vile for a yong man to speak slander to a yonge manne not to saye the truthe yet this vice is muche more to be abhorred in old princes other noble worshipful meÌ„ which ought not only to thynke it theire dutie to speake truthe but also to punishe the enemies therof For otherwise the noble and valyaunt knyghtes shoulde not lose a lytle of theire aucthoritie if a manne sawe on theire heades but white heares and in theire mouthes founde nothing but lyes ¶ Of a letter of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to Claudius and Claudinê° reprouinge them beinge olde men for that they lyued youthefullye Cap. xix MArke Emperoure borne in mounte Celio desyreth to yowe my neyghboures Claude and Claudine healthe of youre persones and amendement of youre liues I beeinge as I am at the conquest of Asia and yow remaynynge alwaies in the pleasures of Rome we vnderstande youre newes very late and I thinke oure letters arriue there as late NotwithstaÌ„dynge to all those whiche goe thither I geeue aunsweres for you others and of al those which come hither I demaunde of your healthe And doe not demaunde of others howe well and howe muche I loue you but of your own proper hartes and if your harte saye that I am a feyned friende then I take my selfe condempned If perchaunce youre hartes dothe tell you that I loue you beinge true in dede that I hate you or if I tell you that I hate you beeinge true that I loue you of truthe I woulde plucke suche a harte oute of my body and giue it to be eaten of the beastes For there is noe greater dysceyte then that whiche the man doth to him selfe If a straunger begile me I ought to dissemble it if an enemie deceiue mee I ought to reuenge it if mye fryend misuse me I oughte to complayne of hym but if I doe deceiue my selfe wyth whom shall I comforte my selfe For there is no pacience that can suffer the hart to deceyue him selfe in anye thinge whiche he hathe not deepely considered Peraduenture ye will saye that I doe not esteame you and that I haue not written any letter vnto you of long time To this I aunswere That you doe not attrybute the faulte to mye neglygence but to the greate distaunce of Countreis that there is from hence to Rome also to the greate affayres of Asia For amongest other discommodities the warre hath this also that it depriueth vs of the sweete conuersacion of our countrey I haue alwaies presumed to be youres and at this present am at no mannes pleasure more then at yours And sins you haue alwaies knowen of me what you desired to know I haue espied in you others that whiche of force I must speake For in the end I haue not sene any possesse so much to be worthe so much to know so much nor in all things to be so mighty but that one day he shoulde neede his poore friende The diuine Plato sayde and allso well that the manne whyche louethe with his hart neyther in absence forgetteth neyther in presence becommeth negligent neither in prosperitie he is proude nor yet in aduersitie abiect neyther he serueth for profite nor yet he loueth for gayne and fynallye he defendethe the case of his friende as his owne Diuers haue beene the opinions whiche the auncients helde to affirme for what ende friendes were taken and in the ende they were fully resolued that for .4 causes we ought to chose frindes The first we ought to haue friendes to treate and be conuersant with all for according to the troubles of this life there is no time so pleasauntlye consumed as in the conuersacion of an assured friende The seconde is we ought to haue friendes to whom we may disclose the secretes of our hartes for it ys muche comforte to the wofull harte to declare to his fryende his doubtes if he perceiue that he doth fele them in deede The thirde we oughte to searche and chose friendes to th end they helpe vs in oure aduersities For litle profytethe it my harte that with teares the friendes doe heare all that I bewaile onlesse afterwardes in dede he will take paines to refourme the same The fourth we ought to seke and preserue frindes to th end they be protectors of our goodes and likewise iudges of our euilles for the good frinde is no lesse bound to withdrawe vs from the vices whereby we are sclaundered then to deliuer vs from our enemies by whom we may be slayne The ende whye I tolde you all thys was if that in this letter you chaunce to lyghte of any sharpe worde that you take it pacientlye considerynge that the loue whych I beare yowe dothe
first ought to abhorre couetousnes before hee beginne to occupie hym selfe to locke vp goods For the man which setteth no bond to his desire shall alwayes haue litle thoughe he see himselfe lord of the worlde Truly this sentence was worthilye spoken of such a man The sentēce of the Stoyckes doth satisfy my mind much wherof Aristotel in his pollitikes maketh mēcion where he sayth that vnto great affayres are alwaies required great riches there is no extreame pouerty but where there hathe beene greate aboundaunce Therof ensueth that to princes and great lordes which haue much they wāt much bicause to men which haue had litel they can not wāt but litel Yf we admonishe wordlings not to be vitious they wil alwayes haue excuses to excuse theim selues declaring why they haue bene vitious the vice of auarice excepted to whom and with whom they haue no excuse For if one vaine reason be readye to excuse then there are .2000 to condemne them Let vs put example in all the principall vices and we shall se how this onely of auarice remaineth condemned and not excused If we reason why a prince or great lord is haulty and proude he wil aunswere that he hath great occasion For the natural disposition of men is rather to desire to commaūd with trauaile then to serue with rest Yf we reproue any man that is furious and geuen to anger he will aunswere vs that we maruaile not since we maruaile not of the proude For the enemy hath no more auctority to trouble any man then the other to take reuēge of him Yf we blame him for that he is fleshly and vitious he will aunswer vs that he can not absteyne from that sinne for if any man can eschew the acts he fighteth continually with vncleane thoughtes Yf we say that any man is negligent he will aunswere vs that he deserueth not to be blamed for the vilenes of our nature is suche that if we do trauaile it immediatly it is weary and if we rest it immediatly it reioyceth Yf we rebuke any man that is a glutton he wil aunswer vs that without eatinge and drinkinge we can not lyue in the worlde for the deuine worde hath not forbidden man to eate with the mouthe but the vncleane thoughtes which come from the hart As of these fewe vices we haue declared so maye we excuse al the reasidue but to the vice of couetousnes none can geue a reasonable excuse For with money put into the cofer the soule cānot profite nor the bodye reioyce Boetius in his booke of consolation sayd that money is good not when we haue it in possessiō but when we want it in very dede the sentence of Boetius is very profound for when man spendeth mony he attayneth to that he wil but hauinge it with him it profiteth him nothinge We may say of riche and couetous men that if they heape and kepe they say it is but for deare and drye yeres and to releue their parents frendes We may aunswere them that they do not heape vp to remedye the poore in suche like necessities but rather to bringe the commonwealth to greter pouertye For then they sel al thinges deare and put out theyr money to great vsury so that this couetous man dooth more harme with that he dooth lend them then the dry yere dooth with that it hath taken from theim The noble and vertuous men ought not to cease to do wel for feare of dry yeres for in the ende if one deare yeare come it maketh all dere and at such a time and in such a case he onely may be called happy which for being free and liberal in almes shall reioyce that his table should be costlye Let couetous mē beware that for keaping of much goodes they giue not to the deuel their soules for it may be that before the deare yere cometh to sel their corne their bodies shal be layd in the graue O what good dooth god to the noble men geuing them liberal hartes and what ill luck haue couetous men hauing as thei haue their hartes so hard laced For if couetous men did tast how sweete and necessary a thing it is to giue they could kepe litle for them selues Nowe sithens the miserable and couetous men haue not the hart to giue to their frendes too depart to theire parentes to succour the poore to lend to their neighboures nor to susteyne the orphanes it is to be thought that they wil spend it on them selues Truly I saye no more for there are men so miserable and so hard of that they haue that they thinke that as euyll spent whiche amonge theim selues they spende as that which one robbeth from them of their goods Howe will the couetous and miserable wretche geue a garmēte to a naked man which dare not make him selfe a cote How wil he geue to eate to the poore famylyar which as a poore slaue eateth the bread of branne and sellethe the floure of meale How shal the pilgrimes lodge in his house who for pure miserye dare not enter and howe doth he visite the hospitall and reliue the sicke that oft times hasardeth his owne helth and life for that he wil not geue one penye to the phisition how shall he succour secretly the poore and neady which maketh his owne children go barefoote and naked how can he helpe to marye the poore maydes being orphanes when he suffereth his owne daughters to waxe old in his house how wil he geue of his goodes to the poore captiues which will not paye his owne men their wages how wil he geue to eate to the children of poore gentelmen which alwayes grudgeth at that his owne spende howe should we beleue that he wil apparel a widowe hwich wil not giue his owne wife a hoode howe doth he dayly giue almes which goeth not to the churche on the Sonday because he wil not offer one peny how shal the couetous mā reioice the hart sith for spending of one peny oft times hee goeth supperles to bed And finally I saye that he wil neuer giue vs of his owne proper goodes which weapeth alwayes for the goodes of an other ¶ The auctor foloweth his matter and with great reasons discommendeth the vices of couetous men Cap. xxiiii ONe of the thinges wherin the deuine prouidence sheweth that we do not vnderstand the maner of her gouerment is to see that she geueth vnderstandinge too a man too knowe the riches she geueth him force too seeke theim subtiltye too gather them vertue too susteyne them courage too defend them and also longe life to possesse them And with al this she gyueth him not licence to enioye them but rather suffereth him that as withoute reason he hath made him selfe lorde of an nother mans of righte he shoulde bee made sclaue of his owne thereby a man may knowe of howe greater excellencye vertuous pouertye is then the outragious couetousnes for so much as to the poore god doth giue contentation of
that is hurtful for them For wee see this that the sheepe flyeth the wolf the catt flyeth the dog the ratt flyeth the catt and the chicken the kyte so that the beasts in opening the eyes doo immediatly know the frends whō they ought to folow and the enemies whom they ought to fly To the miserable man was vtterly denyed this so great priuilege For in the world there hath been many beastly men who hath not onely attained that which they ought to know whiles they lyued but also euen as like beasts they passed their daies in this life so they were infamed at the tyme of their death O miserable creatures that wee are which lyue in this wicked world for wee know not what is hurtfull for vs what wee ought to eat from what wee ought to abstain nor yet whom wee shoold hate wee doo not agree with those whom wee ought to loue wee know not in whom to put our trust from whom wee ought to fly nor what it is wee ought too choose nor yet what wee ought to forsake Finally I say that when wee think oft times to enter into a sure hauen within .3 steps afterward wee fall headlong into the deepe sea Wee ought also to consider that both to wild and tame beasts nature hath geeuen armes or weapons to defend them selues and to assault their enemies as it appeareth for that to birds shee hath geeuen wings to the harts swiftfeete to the Elephants tushes to the serpents scales to the Eagle tallons to the Faucon a beake to the lyons teeth to the bulles hornes and to the bears pawes Finally I say that shee hath geeuen to the Foxes subtilty to know how to hyde them selues in the earth and to the fishes lyttle finnes how to swim in the water Admit that the wretched men haue few enemies yet in this they are none otherwise priuileged then the beasts for wee see without teares it cannot bee told that the beasts which for the seruice of men were created with the self same beastes men are now adays troubled and offended And to the end it seeme not wee should talk of pleasure let euery man think with him self what it is that wee suffer with the beasts of this life For the Lyons do fear vs the wolfes deuoure our sheepe the dogges doo bite vs the cattes scratche vs the Bear doth tear vs the serpents poysō vs the Bulles hurt vs with their horns the birds do ouerfly vs the ratts doo trouble vs the spiders do annoy vs and the woorst of all is that a litel flye sucketh our blood in the day the poore flea doth let vs from slepe in the night O poore and miserable mā who for to sustein this wretched life is enforced to begge al things that hee needeth of the beastes For the beasts do geeue him wool the beast do draw him water the beasts do cary him him from place to place the beasts do plough the land and carieth the corn into their barnes Finally I saye that if the mā receiue any good he hath not wherwith to make recompēce if they doo him any euill he hath nought but the tong to reuenge Wee must note also that though a man lode a best with stripes beate her driue her by the foule wayes though he taketh her meat from her yea though her yonglings dye yet for none of all these things shee is sad or sorowfull and much lesse doth weepe though shee should weepe shee cannot For beasts little esteame their life much lesse feare death It is not so of the vnhappy and wretched mā which can not but bewayle the vnthankfullnes of their frends the death of their children the want which they haue of necessityes the case of aduersitie which doo succede theim the false witnes which is brought against theym and a thousād calamities whice doo torment their harts Fynally I say that the greatest cōfort that men haue in this life is to make a riuer of water with the teares of their eyes Let vs inquire of princes and great lords what they can doo whē they are borne whether they can speak as oratours if they can ronne as postes if they can gouerne them selues as kinges if they can fyght as men of warre if they can labor as laborers if they can woork as the masons if they knew to teach as maisters these litell children would aunswer that they are not onely ignoraunt of all that wee demaund of them but also that they can not vnderstād it Let vs retourne to ask them what is that they know since they know nothing of that wee haue demaunded them they wil aunswer that they can doo none other thing but weepe at their byrth and sorow at their death Though al those which sayle in this so perillous sea doo reioyce and take pleasure and seeme too sleap soundly yet at the last there cometh the winde of aduersity which maketh them al to know their foly For if I bee not deceyued and if I know any thing of this world those which I haue seene at the time of their birth take shipp weeping I doubt whether they will take land in the graue laughing O vnhappy life I shoold say rather death which the mortalls take for life wherein afterwards wee must cōsume a great time to learn all arts sciences and offices and yet notwithstanding that whereof wee are ignorante is more thē that which wee know Wee forget the greatest part saue only that of weeping which no man needeth to learn for wee are borne and liue weeping and vntill this present wee haue seene none dye inioy Wee must note also that the beasts doo lyue and dye with the inclinations where with they were borne that is to weete that the wolfe foloweth the sheepe and not the birds the hounds follow the hares and not the ratts the sparrow flyeth at the birds and not at the fish the spider eateth the flyes and not the herbs Finally I say that if wee let the beast search hys meat quietly wee shall not see hym geeuen to any other thing The contrary of al this happeneth to men the which though nature hath created feeble yet Gods intētiō was not they should bee malitious but I am sory since they cannot auoyde debilyty that they turne it into malice The presumption which they haue to bee good they turne to pryde and the desire they haue to bee innocent they tourne into enuy The fury which they should take against malice they turne into anger and the liberality they ought to haue with thee good they conuerte into auaryce The necessity they haue to eat they turne into gluttony and the care they ought to haue of their conscience they turne into neglygence Finally I say that the more strength beasts haue the more they serue and the lesse men are worth somuch the more thanks haue they of god The innocency of the brute beast consydered and the malice of the malitious man marked without comparison the
the troubles disceits of this world If I bee not deceiued if I vnderstand any thing of this world the remedy which the world geeueth for the troubles certainly are greater trauailes then the trauailes them selues so that they are salues that doo not heal our wounds but rather burn our flesh When the diseases are not very old rooted nor daungerous it profiteth more oftentimes to abide a gentle feauer then to take a sharp purgacion I mean that the world is such a deceyuer and so double that hee dooth contrary to that hee punisheth That is to weete that if hee doo perswade vs to reuenge an iniury it is to the end that in reuenging that one wee shoold receiue a thousand incōueniences And where as wee think it taketh from vs it encreaseth infynite So that this cursed guide making vs to beeleeue it leadeth vs vpon the dry land among our frends causeth vs to fall into the imbushment of our enemies Princes and great lords in the thoughts they haue and in the woords that they speak are greatly esteemed and afterwards in the woorks which they doo and in the affaires they trauaile are as litle regarded The contrary of all this dooth the wicked world who with al those hee companieth in his promisses hee is very gentle afterwards in his deedes hee is very proud For speakyng the trouth it costeth vs deare and wee others doo sell it good chepe I say much in saying that wee sell it good chepe but in manner I shoold say better that wee geeue it willingly For few are those in number which cary away wages of the world and infinite are those which doo serue it onely for a vayn hope O princes and great lords I counsaile and require you that you doo not trust the world neither in word deede nor promise though hee sweare and sweare agayn that hee will keepe all hee hath promised with you Suppose that the world dooth honor you much flatter you much visit you oft offer you great treasures and geeue you much yet it is not beecause hee wil geeue it yee by lytle lytle but that afterwards hee might take it all from yee again in one day For it is the old custome of the world that those whych aboue all men hee hath set beefore now at a turn they are furdest beehinde What may wee haue in the world and in his flatteries since wee doo know that one day wee shall see our selues depryued thereof and that which is more hee vseth such craft and subtilty with the one and the other that in old men whom reason woold shoold not bee vicious hee the more to torment their parsons hath kyndled a greater fyer in their harts so that this malicious world putteth into old ryches a new couetousnesse and in the aged engendreth cruell auaryce and that in that tyme when it is out of tyme. Wee ought greatly to consyder how by the world wee are deceyued but much more wee ought to heede that wee bee not by it distroyed For where as wee thynk to bee in open lyberty hee keepeth vs secret in pryson Wee thynk wee are whole and hee geeueth vs sicknesse Wee thynk wee haue all things yet wee haue nothing Wee thynk that for many yeares long shal bee our life when that at euery corner wee are assaulted of death Wee think that it counteth vs for mē that bee wise when hee keepeth vs bond like vnto fooles We think that it encreaseth our good when that in deede it burdeneth our cōsciens Fynally I say that by the way where wee thynk to contynue our renowme and life wee lose without recouery both lyfe and fame O filthy world that when thou doost receiue vs thou doost cast vs of when thou doost assēble vs thou doost seperat vs when thou seemest to reioice vs thou makest vs sad when thou pleasest vs how thou displeasest vs when thou exaltest vs how thou hūblest vs when thou doost chastice vs how thou reioicest Fynally I say that thou hast thy drynks so impoysoned that wee are without thee with thee and hauyng the theefe within the house wee goe out of the dores to seeke hym Though men bee diuers in gestures yet much more are they variable in their appetites And sith the world hath experiēce of so many years it hath appetites prepared for all kynd of people For the presumptuous hee procureth honors to the auaricious hee procureth riches and to those which are gluttons hee presenteth dyuers meats The fleshly hee blindeth with women and the negligent hee letteth rest and the end why hee dooth all these things is that after hee hath fed them as fysh hee casteth vpon them the nettes of all vices Note princes and great lords note noble men though a prince doo see him self lord of all the world hee ought to thynk that of no value is the seignory onles hee him self bee vertuous For litle it profiteth that hee bee lord of the vicious which is him self the seruant of all vices Many say that the world dooth beeguile them and other say that they haue no power against the world To whō wee may aunswere That if at the first temptacions wee woold haue resisted the world it is vnpossible that so oftentimes it durst assault vs. For of our small resistaunce commeth his so great audacity I can not tell if I shall dissemble I shal hold my peace or whither I shal say that I woold say since it greeueth my hart so much onely to think of it For I feele my eyes redyer to lament it then my fingers able to write it It is so that euery man suffereth himself to bee gouerned so of the world as if god were not in heauen hee had not promised to bee a good christian here in earth For all that hee will wee will that which hee followeth wee follow and that which hee chooseth wee choose And that which is greatest sorow of all if wee doo refrayn our selues from aduersity it is not for that of our own nature wee woold cease from it but beecause the world will not commaund vs to doo it Litle is that which I haue spoken in respect of that I will speak which is that the world hath made vs now so ready to his law that from one hower to another it chaungeth the whole state of this life So that to day hee maketh vs hate that which yesterday wee loued he maketh vs complayn of that which wee commended hee maketh vs to bee offended now with that which beefore wee did desire hee maketh vs to haue mortall enemies of those which before were our speciall frends Fynally I say that the world maketh vs to loue that in our lyfe which afterwards wee beewaile at the hower of death If the world did geeue vnto his minyons any perfect and accomplished thing it were somewhat that for a time a man should remayn in the seruice of his house But since that in the world all things are graunted not
which teacheth and correcteth their lyfe The Emperor condescended to the request of the people on such condiciō that they should geeue a mayster and tutor to Pilas that shoold chastice and correct him as a foole Saieng that since sages tooke fooles to bee their maysters that the fooles also shoold haue sages for maisters The case was that one day hee that had the charge of Pilas did rebuke him for certain lightnes that hee had doon or for some dishonesty that hee had sayed wherat Pilas was exceading wrath with him The which the emperor vndestāding cōmaunded hee should bee whipt and banished for euer When Augustus gaue this sentence they say hee sayd these words Rome hath been mighty and puisaunt inough to make her enemyes stoupe and now shee is not able to banish iesters and fooles And that that is woorse of al they haue presumption to vexe vs and wee haue not courage to reproue them The Lacedemonians had great reason and also the Romayns to ryd their common wealth of iesters For they are idel vitious dishonest malycious and preiudyciall to the common wealth These iesters and iuglers are idell seeing that more then others they eat the swette of others They are vicious for they can not excercise their offices but in vices and in treatyng with vicious men They are dishonest for they get not to eat by dooing good woorks but by speaking dyshonest woords They are malicious for they haue accustomed whē they loue not a mā immediatly to speak euyll of hym They are vnprofitable for the common wealth for they mock vs and sel vs vaine woords and wee pay them good money The world is come to so great folly and corruption that euē as graue and wyse men think it great inconuenience to bee conuersaunt with vayne and fond men so the Lords of estate think it an honor to haue in their house some foolysh iesters yea better to say with reuerence of speache raylyng knaues which speake not to please and shew pastyme but to offend the present and rayl at the absent aswell of the high as the low and that that is more yet then this is that they are not contentyd to haue gyuen this enterteinment and welcome to the noble men and Ientlemen that are at their lords boord but they must needs haue a cast at my lord hym selfe to chere him with all which intollerable abuse ought not onely not to bee suffered but with most sharpe correction punished But what shall wee say that for the most part the lords are so vaine and the iesters so presumptuous and arrogant that the Lords haue more care to contente them then they haue to please the lords In the house of a lord a foole at the end of the yere will ask more then any other of those which are most auncient so that the follyes of one are more acceptable then the seruyces of all It is shame to speake it and no lesse to wryte it that the Children of vanity are so vayne that they brybe a foole or a iester no lesse in these days to thintent hee may bee a meane for them vnto the Prince then they did in times past desire Cicero to make an oration for them beefore the Senat. It is for want of vnderstanding and through the vilety of person oppression of the hart and disprayse of renowme to bee desirous by the mean of fooles too attayne to any thing For hee can haue no great wysedōe which putteth hys hope in the fauor of a foole What remayneth for mee to say when I haue sayd that which I will say And it is that if a iester or foole say openly to some lord God saue your lyfe my good lord Oh hee is a noble man in deed hee will not stick to geeue hym a gowne of silk and entring into a church hee would not geeue a poore man a halpeny O what negligence is there of princes O what vanity of Lords since they forsake the poore and wise to enrych the iesters and fooles They haue enough for the world and not for Ihesus Christ they geeue to those that ask for his louers sake and not to those which ask for the health of the soule Hee ought not to doo so for the knyght which is a Christian and not a worldlyng ought rather to will that the poore doo pray for hym at the hower of death then that the fooles and iesters should prayse him in his lyfe What dooth it profit the soule or the body that the iesters doo prayse thee for a cote thou hast geeuen them and that the poore accuse thee for the bread thou hast denayed them Peraduēture it wil profyt thee asmuch that a foole or a flaterer goe beefore a Prince apparayled with a new lyuery of thine as the poore men shall doo thee damage beefore God to whome thou hast denyed a poore ragged shirt All gentlemen and noble parsonages in the name of our sauiour Iesus Christ I admonysh exhort and humbly require that thei consyder well what they spend and to whom they geeue for the good Princes ought to haue more respect of the necessityes of the poore then of the follyes of counterfayts Geeue as yee wyl deuide as ye list for at the houre of death as much as yee haue laughed with the fooles for that ye haue geeuen them so much shall ye weepe with the poore for that ye haue denayed them At the houre of death it shal bee greeuous paynes to him that dyeth to see the flesh of the orphanes all naked and to beehold counterfaite fooles loden with their garments Of one thing I am amased that indifferently euery man may beecome a foole and no man let him and the woorst of al is if once a foole beecome couetous al the world afterwards cannot make him to to bee in his right senses Truly such one which hath no reasō to bee a foole at the least hee hath good occasion since hee getteth more to eat playeng thē the others doo woorking O what negligence of the princes and what smal respect of the gouernours of the common wealth is this that a yong man whole stout strong and valiaunt should bee suffred to goe from house to house from table to table and only for babbling vayne words and telling shamefull lyes hee should bee counted a man of an excellent tong Another foly there is in this case that their woordes are not so foolish as their deedes are wicked And though they haue a good or euel grace yet in the end they bee counted in the common wealth as loyterers and fooles I know not whether in this case is greater either their folly or our lyghtnes for they vse as fooles in telling vs lyes and wee pay them good mony The Romaynes dyd not permit in their common wealthes old stale iesters nor wee Christyans ought to retayne into our houses idel loyterers Ye ought to know that more offendeth hee which sinneth with a defourme woman then hee which
space of an hour Considering the omnipotency of the diuine mercy it suffiseth ye and I say that the space of an hour is to much to repent vs of our wicked lyfe but yet I woold counsell all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one hour that that bee not the last hour For the sighs and repentaunce which proceed from the bottom of the hart penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessity dooth not perse the seeling of the house I allow and commend that those that visit the sick doo counsell them to examin their conscienses to receiue the communion to pray vnto god to forgeeue their enemiez and to recommend them selues to the deuout prayers of the people and to repent their sinnes fynally I say that it is very good to doo all this but yet I say it is better to haue doon it beefore For the diligent and carefull Pirate prepareth for the tempest when the sea is calm Hee that deepely woold consider how little the goods of this lyfe are to bee esteemed let him goe to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what hee dooth in his bed And hee shall fynd that the wife demaundeth of the poore husband her dower the doughter the third part the other the fift the child the preheminence of age the sonne in law his mariage the phisition his duity the slaue his liberty the seruants their wages the creditors their debts and the woorst of all is that none of those that ought to enherit his goods wil geeue him one glasse of water Those that shall here or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene doon at the death of their neighbors the same shall come to them when they shal bee sick at the point of death For so soone as the rych shutteth his eyes foorthwith there is great strife beetweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but whych of them shall inherit most of his possessions In this case I will not my penne trauel any further since both rich and poore dayly see the experience hereof And in things very manyfest it suffyseth only for wyse men to bee put in memory without wasting any more tyme to perswade them Now the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a secretary very wise and vertuous through whose hands the affairs of the Empire passed And when this secretary saw his lord and maister so sick and almost at the hour of death and that none of his parents nor frends durst speak vnto him hee plainly determined to doo his duity wherein hee shewed very well the profound knowledge hee had in wisdom and the great good will hee bare to his lord This secretary was called Panutius the vertues and lyfe of whom Sextus Cheronensis in the lyfe of Marcus Aurelius declareth ¶ Of the comfortable woords which the Secretary Panutius spake to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius at the hour of his death Cap. l. O My lord and maister my tong cannot keepe silence myne eies cannot refrayn from bitter tears nor my hart leaue from fetching sighes ne yet reason can vse his duity For my blood boyleth my sinnews are dryed my pores bee open my hart dooth faint and my spirit is troubled And the occasion of all this is to see that the wholsom counsels which thou geeuest to others either thou canst not or wil not take for thy self I see thee dye my lord and I dye for that I cannot remedy thee For if the gods woold haue graunted mee my request for the lengthning of thy lyfe one day I woold geeue willingly my whole life Whether the sorow bee true or fained it nedeth not I declare vnto thee with woords since thou mayst manyfestly discern it by my countenaunce For my eies with tears are wet and my hart with sighs is very heauy I feele much the want of thy company I feele much the domage which of thy death to the whole common wealth shal ensue I feele much thy sorow which in thy pallace shal remaine I feele much for that Rome this day is vndoon but that which aboue al things dooth most torment my hart is to haue seen thee liue as wise and now to see thee dye as symple Tell mee I pray thee my lorde why doo men learn the Greek tong trauel to vnderstand the hebrew sweat in the latin chaunge so many maisters turn so many bookes and in study consume so much money and so many yeres if it were not to know how to passe lyfe with honor and take death with pacience The end why men ought to study is to learn to liue well For there is no truer science in man then to know how to order his life well What profiteth it mee to know much if thereby I take no profit what profiteth mee to know straunge languages if I refrain not my tong from other mens matters what profiteth it to study many books if I study not but to begyle my frends what profiteth it to know the influence of the starres and the course of the elements if I cannot keepe my self from vyces Fynally I say that it lytle auayleth to bee a maister of the sage if secretly hee bee reported to bee a folower of fooles The cheef of all philosophy consisteth to serue god and not to offend men I ask thee most noble prince what auaileth it the Pilot to know the art of sayling and after in a tempest by neglygence to perish What auayleth it the valyaunt captayn to talk much of warre and afterwards hee knoweth not how to geeue the battayl What auaileth it the guyde to tell the neerest way and afterwards in the midst to lose him self All this which I haue spoken is sayd for thee my Lord. For what auayleth it that thou beeing in health shooldst sigh for death since now when hee dooth approch thou weepest because thou wooldst not leaue life One of the things wherein the wise man sheweth his wisedom is to know how to loue and how to hate For it is great lightnes I shoold rather say folly to day to loue him whom yesterday wee hated and to morow to sclaunder him whom this day wee honored What Prince so hygh or what Plebeyan so base hath there been or in the world shall euer bee the whych hath so lyttle as thou regarded lyfe and so hyghly commended death What thyngs haue I wrytten beeing thy Secretary with my own hand to dyuers prouynces of the world where thou speakest so much good of death that sometymes thou madest mee to hate lyfe What was it to see that letter which thou wrotest to the noble Romayn Claudines wydow comforting her of the death of her husband which dyed in the warres Wherein shee aunswered That shee thought her trouble comfort to deserue that thou shooldst write her such a letter What a pitifull and sauory letter hast thou written to Antigonus on the death of thy child Verissimus thy sonne so much desired Whose death
shoold bee lesse euil for vs to haue him our enemy then to account of him as of our deere frend Him whom wee wil choose for our faithfull frend amongst other maners and condicions hee must chiefely and beefore all bee indued with these that hee bee curteous of nature faier spoken hard and stout to indure payn pacient in troubles sober in dyet moderate in his woords graue and rype in his counsels and aboue all stedfast in frendship and faithfull in secrets And whom wee shall fynd with these laudable vertues and conditions adorned him may wee safely take and accept for our frend But if wee see any of these parts wanting in him wee ought to shon him as from the plague knowing for certeinty that the frendship of a fayned and fantasticall frend is much woorse and perilous then the enmity of a knowen and open enemy For to the hands of one wee commit our hart and faith and from the deceipts and treasons of the other wee defendour selues with our whole force power Seneca wryting to his deere faithful frend Lucillus sayth vnto hym I pray thee O Lucillus that thou order determyne thine affaiers by thaduise counsel of thy frend but also I doo remember thee that first thou see well what maner of frend thou hast chosen thee for there is no marchandise in the world this day that men are so soone beegyled in as they are in the choise of frends Therefore the graue sentence of Seneca wysely wayed wee shoold assent with him in oppinion that sith no man byeth a horse but hee first causeth him to bee ridden nor bread but first hee seeth and handleth it nor wyne but hee tasteth it nor flesh but first hee wayeth it nor corne but hee seeth a sample nor house but that hee dooth first value it nor Instrument but first hee playeth on it and iudgeth of his sound yt is but reason hee shoold bee so much the more circumspect beefore he choose his frend to examin his lyfe and condicion since all the other things wee haue spoken of may bee put in dyuers houses and corners but our frend wee lodge and keepe deerely in our proper bowels Those that write of the emperor Augustus say that hee was very straunge and scrupulous in accepting frends but after hee had once receyued theÌ„ into his frendship hee was very constant and circuÌ„spect to keepe them For hee neuer had any frend but first hee had some proofe and tryall of him neither woold hee euer after forsake him for any displeasure doon to him Therefore yt shoold always bee so that true frends shoold bere one to an other such loue and affection that the one beeing in prosperity should not haue occasion to complayn of him self in that hee did not reliue his frends necessity beeing in aduersity nor the other beeing poore and needy shoold grudge or lament for that his frend beeing rich and welthy woold not succor him with all that hee might haue doone for him For to say the truth where perfect frendshyp is there ought no excuse to bee made to doo what possible is the one for the other The frendship of young men cometh commonly or for the most parte at the least by beeing companyons in vyce and folly and such of right ought rather to bee called vacabonds then once to deserue the name of true frends For that cannot bee called true frendship that is continued to the preiudyce or derogation of vertue Seneca wryting agayn to Lucillus sayth these woords I woold not haue thee think nor once mistrust O my Lucillus that in all the Romayn empire I haue any greater frend then thou but with all assure thy self that our frendship is not so streight beetwene vs that I woold take vppon mee at any tyme to doo for thee otherwyse then honesty shoold lead mee For though the loue I bere thee hath made thee lord of my lyberty yet reason also hath left mee vertue free ¶ The aucthor proceedeth on Applyeng that wee haue spoken to that wee will now declare I say I wil not acknowledge my self your seruant for so shoold I bee compelled to feare you more then loue you much lesse will I vaunt my self to bee your kinsman for so I shoold importune and displease you and I will not brag that heeretofore wee haue been of familier acquaintance for that I woold not make any demonstration I made so lyttle account of you and lesse then I am bound to doo neither will I bost my self that I am at this present your famyliar and welbeeloued for in deede I shoold then shew my self to bee to bold and arrogant but that that I will confesse shal bee that I loue you as a frend and you mee as a kinsman al bee it this frendship hath succeeded dyuersly tyll now For you beeing noble as you are haue bountifully shewed your frendship to mee in large and ample gyfts but I poore and of base estate haue only made you sure of myne in woords Plutarche in his Polytikes sayd That it were farre better to sell to our frends our woorks and good deeds whether they were in prosperity aduersity or necessity then to feede them with vayn flattering woords for nothing Yet is it not so general a rule but that sometymes it happeneth that the high woords on the one syde are so profitable and the woorks so few and feeble on the other syde that one shal bee better pleased and delighted with hearing the sweete and curteous woords of th one then hee shal bee to bee serued with the cold seruyce and woorks of the other of small profyt and value Plutarch also in his booke De animalibus telleth vs that Denis the tyrant beeing one day at the table reasoning of dyuers and sundry matters with Chrisippê° the philosopher it chaunced that as hee was at diner one brought him a present of certen suger cakes wherefore Chrisippus cesing his former discours fell to perswade Denys to fall to his cakes To whom Denys aunswered on with your matter Chrisippus and leaue not of so For my hart is better contented wyth thy sweet and sugred woords then my tong is pleased with the delycate tast of these mountayn cakes For as thou knowest these cakes are heauy of digestion and doo greatly annoy the stomake but good woords doo maruelously reioyce and comfort the hart For this cause Alexander the great had the poet Homer in greater veneration beeing dead then all the other that were alyue in hys tyme not for that Homer euer did him seruyce or that hee knew him but only beecause of his lerned bookes hee wrote and compyled and for the graue sentences hee found therein And therefore hee bare about him in the day tyme the booke of the famous deedes of Troy called the Illiades hanged at his neck within hys bosom in the night hee layd it vnder his bolster at hys beddes head where hee slept In recompence therefore syr of the many
also I will inferre that those that are atchiued to sublime estate hygh degree are commonly more subiect to fall then those of mean and baser sort The emperor Augustus on a tyme demaunded of the Poet Virgill that hee woold teach him how hee might conserue him self in thempire and alwayes bee acceptable to the publike weal. To whom Virgill aunswered I think O mighty Cesar that to reigne long in thempire thou must consideratly looke into thy self examining thy lyfe and dooings and how much thou shalt see thy self excell and exceede all those of thy empire in dignity So much more must thou endeuor thy self to surmount all others in vertue and we orthynes For hee is vnwoorthy to rule a multitude that is not chief himself in all vertues Those therefore that in court of princes bere office and aucthority ought earnestly to desire and indeuour them selues to auoyd the fylthy sink of vice and to seeke the cleere spring of vertue For otherwise they shal bee more defamed for one vyce or defect found in them then honored for their office and authority they haue ¶ The aucthor concludeth According to the saying of the poet Virgill to the Emperor Augustus I am also of oppinion my Lord that you ought to bee very circumspect and well aduised in looking into your self who you are what power you are of what you are woorth and what you possesse and dooyng thus you shall fynd that among your wise councellors you are the greatest among the rich among the best esteemed among the most fortunat among your secretories among the rulers amongst all those of your realm subiects you are euer the greatest And therefore as you are greatst and supreme aboue them all so you ought the more to force to bee the most vertuous of them all For els it were against all reason beeing the greatest to bee the least and most inferior of all For truely none ought to bee praised for good for that hee is of power force possessions wealth much woorth in fauor of dignity neither for any nobilitie that is in him if these natural gifts bee not accompagnied with vertue good woorks The auncient historiographers do highly commend the greatnes of Alexander the knowledge of Ptholomie the iustice of Numa Pompilius the clemency of Iulius Cesar the pacience of Augustus the trueth of Traian the pity of Antonius the temperancy of Constantius the continency of Scipio and the humanity of Theodosius so that wee may say these so great noble princes haue wonne more honor by their vertues then they haue atchyued by tryumphant victories Albeeit a man bee neuer so dishonest vicious and lasciuious and that hee bee rooted in all ydlenes let vs say and auouch it for a trueth that it is impossible if hee may return to looke back on him self and that hee may cal to mynd what maner of man hee hath been what hee is at this present to what end hee may come but that the remembraunce of his forepassed faults and deeds shoold bee more greeuous and yrksom to him then the great delight his body shoold take of the present pleasures For neither the woorms in the vynes nor the locusts in the corn nor the moths in the garments nor the litle woorms in the wood are so hurtful and dommageable as sinnes are of power to make a man sorowfull For to say truely the pleasure wee receyue when wee commyt them is not so great as is the displeasure wee feele after wee remember them The whych I considering my lord yt causeth mee to looke ouer myne old memorials to examyne my memory to strengthen my iudgement and to seeke a new kynd of study to no other end but to fynd out sweete woords dyuers doctryns and straunge historyes by means whereof I myght withdraw you from vayn and worldly delights to cause you to walk in the right path and to affect things vertuous and honest though I haue always knowen them as acceptable to you as they haue been familier For princes seruaunts the more they are busied with affairs the lesse they know them selues And therefore great payn suffereth hee and wyth ouer venymous poyson is hee infected that wyth others and for other occupyeth all hys time and for his own sowl health cannot spare a moment of tyme. O what comfort and quiet were it vnto my hart if it were assured it had taken the ryght way in the doctrine which I write to you and that I had not erryd in the counsels I geeue you so that in readyng my booke you myght acquire profit thereby and I of my trauel therein reap my full contentation And to the end my Lord wee may better expresse the matter search the wound and stoppe the vayns that wee may leaue no part vncured or dreggs of infection if heetherto I haue vsed playnesse I will now speak more playnly to you and yet as one frend vseth to an other And therefore may it please you to accept these smal written preposes in this book among al the residue proceeding from the hands of one that rather desyreth the health of your sowl then the gayn and satisfaction of your affects and desyres ¶ All you that bee princes familiers and beeloued Courtiers obserue and retayn with you these few precepts and counsels 1 NEuer tell my lord to any all that you think Shew not all that you haue Neyther take all that you desire Tell not all that you know Much lesse neuer doo all that you may For the right path way to bring the fauored courtier into hys Princes disgrace is to bee addicted to hys sensuall appetytes and vayne humors and not to bee guyded wyth reason and discrecion 2 Beware also you trust not nor commit to the hasard of fortunes ticklenes such things as touch and conserue your parson honor goods and conscience For the wyse courtier that lyueth in his princes grace will not rashly put him self in daunger in hope to saue him self harmles at all tymes when hee listeth 3 Although euery man offer his seruice to you and seeme to bee at your commaundement when you shall neede him yet I tell you syr I woold not wish you had eyther neede of them or of mee For many of those lyne and curious courtiers which are the first that offer them selues to draw on your syde and to stand by you if neede bee are commonly at the very pinch the first and redyest to throw stones at our faces 4 In other mennes matters busy not your self to much and in your own stryue not wyth tyme but take leysure For lyuing after thys rule you shall long keepe your self in the good and quyet estate you are in and otherwise some inconuenience myght lightly fall vppon you that shoold make you remember what you were wont to bee 5 The imminent perill and daunger those are in which are mounted to the toppe of some high thyng or to the cliffe of some hygh and rocky mountayn where they
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
Emperour of Rome saieth that an Embassadour of Britayne being one daye in Rome as by chaunce they gaue hym a froward aunswere in the Senate spake stoutely before them all and said these wordes I am sory you will not accepte peace nor graunte truce the whiche thing shal be for the greater iustification of our warres For afterwardes none can take but that whiche fortune shall geue For in the ende the delicate fleshe of Rome shal fele if the bloudy swordes of Britayne wil cut The Englishe historie saieth and it is true that though the countrey be very colde and that the water freseth ofte yet the women had a custome to cary their children where the water was frosen breaking the Ise with a stone with the same Ise they vsed to rubbe the body of the infante to the ende to harden their fleshe and to make them more apt er to endure trauailes And without doubt they had reason for I wyshe no greater penitence to delicate men then in the wynter to see them without fire and in the Sommer to wante freshe shadow Sith this was the custome of the Britayns it is but reason we credit Iulius Caesar in that he saieth in his comentaries that is to wete that he passed many daungers before he could ouercome them for thei with as litle feare did hyde them selues and dyued vnder the cold water as a very man would haue rested him selfe in a pleasaunt shadowe As Lucanus and Appianus Alexandrinus saie amongest other nations whiche came to succour the great Pompei in Pharsalia were the Messagetes the which as they say in their youth did sucke no other but the milke of Camels and eate bread of Acornes These barbarous did these thinges to the ende to harden their bodies to be able to endure trauail and to haue their legges lighter for to rōne In this case we can not cal them barbarous but we ought to cal them men of good vnderstanding for it is vnpossible for the man that eateth muche to runne fast Viriatus a Spanyarde was king of the Lusytaines and a great enemy of the Romains who was so aduenterous in the warre so valiaunt in his persone that the Romains by the experience of his dedes found him vnuincible For in the space of .xiii. yeres they could neuer haue any victory of him the whiche when they sawe they determined to poyson him did so in dede At whose death they more reioysed then if they had wonne the signorie of all Lusitanie For if Viriatus had not died they had neuer brought the Lusitaines vnder their subiection Iunius Rusticus in his epitomie saith that this Viriatus in his youth was a herde man kept cattel by the ryuer of Guadiana after that he waxed older vsed to robbe assault men by the highe wayes And after that he was .xl. yeares of age he became king of the Lusitaines and not by force but by election For when the people sawe theym selues enuirouned and assaulted on euery side with enemies they chose rather stout strong and hardy men for their captaines then noble men for their guydes If the auncient hystoriographers deceiue me not whē Viriatus was a thefe he led with him alwayes at the leaste a hundred theues the whiche were shodde with leaden shoes so that when they were enforced to ronne they put of their shoes And thus although all the daye they wente with leaden shoes yet in the night they ranne lyke swyfte buckes for it is a generall rule that the loser the ioyntes are the more swifter shall the legges be to ronne In the booke of the iestes of the Lumbardes Paulus Diaconus sayeth that in the olde tyme those of Capua had a lawe that vntyl the chyldren were maryed the fathers shold geue them no bedde to sleape on nor permit them to sitte at the table to eate but that they should eate their meates in their handes and take their reste on the grounde And truely it was a commendable lawe for reste was neuer inuented for the younge man whiche hath no bearde but for the aged beinge lame impotent and crooked Quintus Cincinatus was seconde Dictator of Rome and in dede for his desertes was the first emperour of the earth This excellente man was broughte vp in so great trauaile that his hands were found full of knottes the ploughe was in his armes and the swette in his face when he was sought to be Dictator of Rome For the auncientes desired rather to be ruled of them that knewe not but how to plow the ground then of them that delyted in nothing els but to liue in pleasurs among the people Caligula which was the fourth emperour of Rome as they say was brought vp with such cost and delicatnes in his youth that they were in doubt in Rome whether Drusius Germanicus hys father employed more for the Armyes then Calligula hys sonne spent in the cradel for his pleasurs This rehersed agayne I would now knowe of princes great lordes what part they would take that is to wete whether with Cincinatus whych by his stoutnes wanne so many straunge countreys or with Caligula that in hys fylthy lustes spared not his proper sister In myne opinyon ther nedeth no great deliberacion to aunswere this questyon that is to wete the goodnes of the one and the wickednes of the other for there was no battayle but Cincinatus did ouercome nor there was any vyce but Caligula dyd inuent Suetonius Tranquillus in the second booke of Cesars sayth that when the chyldren of the Emperour Augustus Cesar entred into the hygh capitol wher al the senate were assembled the Senatours rose out of their places and made a reuerence to the children the whych when the Emperoure Augustus saw he was much displeased and called them backe agane And on a day being demaunded why he loued his children no better he aunswered in this wise If my chyldren wil be good they shal syt hereafter wher I sit now but if they be euil I will not their vices shold be reuerenced of the Senatours For the aucthoritie grauity of the good ought not to be employed in the seruice of those that be wicked The 26. Emperour of Rome was Alexander the which though he was yong was asmuch esteamed for hys vertues amongest the Romaynes as euer Alexander the great was for hys valiauntnes amongest the Grekes We can not say that long experience caused him to come to the gouernment of the common wealth for as Herodian saith in his syxt booke the day that the Senatours proclamed him emperour he was so lytle that his owne men bare him in their armes That fortunate Emperour had a mother called Mamea the which brought him vp so wel dilygently that she kept alwayes a great gard of men to take hede that no vicious mā came vnto him And let not the diligence of the mother to that child be litle estemed For princes oft times of their owne nature are good by euyl conuersacion