the King and procured peace vnto the Kingdome When I was at the towne of Braxima with your Lordship and with the Commoners I preached nothing vnto you but penitence and to the kings gouernours at Medina del rio secco I perswaded nothing but clemencye for it was impossible if the one did not repent and the other pardon that these kingdomes might be remedied neither so many euilles and daungers cut off Now since I haue traueled after this maner and suffered so greate trauails I knowe not why you should call me traytor desire to kill me and to hang me at a window since I desire not to sée your Lordship hanged but amended Titus Liuius maketh mention of a Romane Patricide who being ambitious of honour a coward to obtaine the same determined to set fier on the treasure house where all the people of Rome layd vp their treasure This euill disposed fellow being taken tormented and examined of the cause of his enterprise made answer I would haue done this hurt to the commō welth for that writers should make mention of me in their Chronicles whiche is to wit as touching the treasures of Rome though I had not abilitie to obtaine them yet had I skill to burne them I thought good too put youre Lordship in remembraunce of this historie to the end you may vnderstande considering I am Preacher and Chronicler vnto his maiestie in which imperiall Chronicle there shall be sufficient report of your Lordship not that you were a father and a pacifier of your countrey but rebellious and an inuentor of these warres How maye I with troth write of the rebellion of Toledo the death of the ruler of Segouia the taking of Tordesillas the imprisonment of the counsell the siege of Alaheios the conuocation of Auila the burning of Medina the alteration of Valiodolid the scandall of Burgos the losse of Toro Zamora and Salamanca without I make mention of your Lordship How may I make report of the euils that Vera the Lockier hath cōmitted in Valiodolid Bobadilla the shereman in Medina the Lockiar in Auila and Burgos and in Salamanca the Skinner but that in that holy brotherhood we must find the Bishop of Zamora I report me vnto you my Lord Bishop shall I raise any slaunder vpon you by reporting in my Chronicle that I sawe at the towne of Braxima all the artillerie brought togither to the gates of your house I saw watch ward kept rounde about your lodging I saw all the Captaines of your bands féede at your table I saw them all ioyne to consult in your chamber and that al did exclame for long life to the bishop of Zamora All these things which your Lordship hath done I woulde gladly leaue them vnwritten if your Lordship would amend and also remedie the mischiefe you haue in hand but I beholde you with suche eyes and with such an opinion that you will rather lose your life wherewith you liue than the opinion which you follow I conceiued no small compassion when this other day I saw you compassed with the commoners of Salamanca with villaines of Saiago with manquellers of Leon with rebelles of Zamora with Cappers of Toledo and with hit makers of Valiodolid All which in generall you are bound to content and not licence to commaund This kind of people that you leade of the communaltie is so vaine and fickle that with threates they will followe you with intreatance bée sustayned with promises be blinded fighting with feare walking with suspition liuing vpon hope not contented with little or pleased with gifts for their intente is not to followe those that haue most right but such as giue best wages There is a certayne difference betwixt vs and you which is that we whiche follow the King hope to be rewarded but you haue no suche hope but by violence to please your selues which we knowe well that you your selfe haue promised to your selfe the Archbishoprike of Toledo we well knowe that Iohn of Padilia hée himselfe hath promised vnto himselfe the Mastership of S. Iames we do know that Clauero himselfe hath promised vnto himselfe the Mastership of Alcantara we well knowe that the Abbot of Compludo he himselfe hath promised vnto hym selfe the Bishoprike of Zamora we well know that the Prior of Vadiodolid he himselfe hath promised vnto himselfe the Bishoprik of Valentia sir Peter Pinentel Maldonado Quintanilla Sarabia the Licēciat Barnardine and the doctor Cowsehed None of these at this day wil giue their hope for a good quēt of rent Ramir Nunez Iohn Braue do accept to be called Lordes Iohn Braue for that he hath hope to be Earle of Chincon Ramir Nunez Earle of Luna it may be that one of thē or both may first lose their heads before they haue obtayned their estates Wherefore my Lord Byshop retire repent and amend bycause the loyaltie of Castile doth not suffer but one king neyther endure but one lawe No more but that our Lord bée youre instructor From Tordesillas the tenth of March. 1521. A letter vnto Sir Iohn of Padilla Captaine of the Commoners against the King wherein he perswadeth him to surcesse that infamous enterprise MAgnificent and vnaduised Gentlemā the letter that with youre owne hande you haue written vnto mée and the credite and trust you sent me with your seruant Montaluan I haue receyued here in Medina and to say the troth I did not more delight to sée your leter than I receyued griefe to heare youre message for that it séemeth you determine to procéede with youre enterprise and to finish the ruine of this common wealth Sir you do well vnderstande at the assemblie of Auila I saide vnto you that you were lost deceyued and solde bycause Hernando of Auila Sir Peter Giron the Bishop of Zamora and the other commoners had not inuented this Ciuill warre with zeale too redresse the offences in the common wealth but to take vengeance of their enemies Sir also I saide vnto you that the resolution of that assembly séemed vnto me great vanitie and no small vaunte and that which the common people demaunded which is to witte that in Castile all shoulde contribute all shoulde be equall all shoulde paye and that they should be gouerned after the manner of segniories in Italy the whiche is scandalous to heare and blasphemie to speake for as it is impossible to gouerne the body without armes so is it impossible that Spaine be sustayned without Gentlemen Also I said vnto you that being of bloud vndefiled of persone so well compact in armes so expect of minde so valiant in iudgemente so aduised in condition so well liked in age so tender and in the flowers of youre youth it were muche more conuenient for you to serue the King in Flaunders than Castile to trouble his kingdome Also I did aduertise you how in that of late the King had created the Admiral and the Constable for gouernours whiche
hath sent thée and that thou art a yong man my nephew and a Citizen of Rome The Emperour Tiberius writing vnto his brother germain said thus The Tēples be reuerenced the Gods be serued the Senate in peace the common wealth in prosperitie Rome in health Fortune gentle and the yeare fertile this is here in Italy the same we desire vnto thée in Asia Cicero writing vnto Cornelius sayeth thus Bée thou merry since I am not euill for likewise I shall reioyce if thou be well The diuine Plato writing from Athens vnto Dionysius the tirant saith thus To kill thy brother to demaund more tribute to force thy people to forget me thy friende and to take Photion as an enimie be workes of a tyrant The great Pompeius writing from the East vnto the Senate saith thus Conscript Fathers Damascus is taken Pentapolis is subiect Syria Colonia and Arabia is confederate and Palestina is ouercome The Consull Cneius Siluius writing newes of the battel of Pharsalia vnto Rome saith thus Caesar did ouercome Pompeius is dead Rufus is fled Cato killed himselfe the gouernement of Dictator is ended and the libertie lost Behold Sir the manner that the ancients vsed in writing to their peculiar friends which with their breuitie gaue vnto all men wherefore to be noted but we in neuer making an end giue large occasion to be corrected No more but that I pray the Lord to be your protector and giue me grace to serue him From Valiodolid the eight of October in the yere 1525. A letter vnto the Marques of Pescara wherein the Authour doth touch what a Captaine ought to be in the warres BEing with Caesar in Madrid the .xxij. of March I receiued a letter from your Lordship written the .xxx. of Ianuary and God be my witnesse that when I sawe and read it I would rather the date thereof had bin not from the siege of Marcellus but from the conquest of Ierusalem For if it were from Asia and not from France your iourney should be more famouse and magnified and of God much more accepted Titus Liuius reporteth of no small variance betwixt Mar. Marcellus and Quintus Fabius which did arise vpon the Cenfulships of the warres for that the good Mar. Marcellus would not be Captaine of the warre which was not very well iustified And Quintus Fabius did not accept to go to the warres were it not very daungerous The Romanes were in a maruelous vaine glory in that worlde when these twoo noble Princes were borne but in the ende muche more was the estimation of Marcus Marcellus for being iust than of Quint. Fab. for being valiaunt The Romanes were neuer so foyled or euer did incurre so muche dishonor in the warres of Asia either in Africa as they receiued at the siege of Numantia And this was not for defaulte of batterie eyther bicause the Citie was very strong but for that the Romanes had no reason to make them warre And the Numantines had iust cause to defend themselues Helie the Spartan doth say that onely the Emperour Traian was hee that neuer was ouercome in battell And the reason thereof was this that he did neuer take any warre in hand wherein he did not iustifie his cause The King of Pontus whiche was called Mithridates dyd wryte a certaine Letter vnto the Consull Silla being bente in warres moste cruelly the one against the other wherein was thus written I doe muche wonder of thée Consull Silla to take warre in hande in so straunge a lande as this of mine and that thou darest aduenture to deale with my great fortune since thou knowest shée neuer deceiued mée neither had acquaintance with thée To these woordes the Consull did answere Oh Mithridates I weighe it very little to holde warre farre from Romae since the Romanes haue fortune alwayes by them And if thou say that she did neuer fayle thée nor euer know mée thou shalt now sée how in vsing hir office she shall passe to mée and take hir leaue of thée And although it be not so I do neither feare thée or doubte hir for that I hope that the Goddes will do more for my iustice than for thée thy great fortune Many times the Emperoure Augustus vsed to say that warres to be good must be incommended vnto the Goddes accepted of Princes iustified of Philosophers and executed of Captaines Thus much I haue saide vnto your Lordship to this end that if your warre had bin vpon Ierusalem it were to be holden for iust but for that it is vpon Marsellius alway we hold it for scrupulous The kings hart is in the hand of God saith the diuine scripture If it be so who may attaine vnto this so great a secret whiche is to wéete that the Kings hart being in Gods hand he dare offend God which doth appeare most cleare in that we see no other thing but warres amongst the Christians and leaue the Moores to prosper and liue in rest This businesse to me is so difficulte that although I cā speak thereof I know not how to vnderstand it since all day wée sée no other thing but that God doth permitte by his secrete iudgements that the Churches where they prayse him be destroyed and throwen downe and the cursed remaine sound and frée where they do offend him Your Lordship is a Christian a good man at armes my neare kinseman and my speciall friend any of which things doth much binde me to féele your trauaile and to be gréeued with your perill I speake of trauell to the bodie bycause the Captaine that holdeth much of his honour ought to estéeme little of his life I say perill vnto the soule bicause amongst Christians there is no warre so iustified that in the same remayneth not some scruple Herein your Lordship shall sée that I desire to saue you in that I will not delite you with lies But only to say vnto you that which I do conceiue to the end that afterwards you may do what is méete If you know not wherunto you are bound I wish your Lordship to vnderstand it is that the Captaine generall do auoyde vniust wrongs correct blasphemers succour innocents chastise quarellers pay his armie defend the people auoyde all sackings and obserue fayth with the enemies Assure your selfe my Lord that there shall come a time in whiche you shall giue an accompt to God and also to the king not onely of what you haue done but likewise of that whereunto you haue consented Sir Iohn of Gueuara was your Grādfather and my cousin and he was one of the Gentlemen at armes that passed out of Spayne into Italy with the King Sir Alonso and there did helpe to get this kingdome of Naples and in recompence of his seruice hée made him Lorde greate Seneshall of the kingdome Of whiche you may gather howe muche your Lordship ought to trauell to leaue suche another renoume vnto your successours as hath bene left vnto you by your predecessors As
Saule In the beginning when Rome was founded and the Romanes began to be Lords of the worlde forthwith they did create kings to rule them and Captaines to defende them They found themselues so gréeued with that maner of gouernment that they suffred but seuen kings not withstanding they thought them seuen hundred And bicause the soothsayers had saide that this name King was consecrate vnto the Gods the Romanes cōmaunded that he should be called King that was no king And this was the high priest of the god Iupiter in such maner that he held only the name of king the office of priest Hauing spoken of the name of king nowe let vs speake of the name of Emperour that is to say how it was inuented where it was inuented and to what ende it was inuented since it is the name in all this world most reuerēced also most desired And although amongst the Syrians the Assyrians Medes Persians Grekes Troyans Parthians Palestines Aegyptians their haue bin princes glorious in armes in great estimation in their cōmon wealths yet they neuer obteyned the name of Emperor either intituled themselues therwith In those ancient tymes in those goldē worlds the good men and the noble personages did not lay vp their honor in vaine titles but in noble valiāt and glorious acts This name Emperour the Romanes first brought into this world whiche they inuented not for their Princes but for their Captains generall In suche wise that in Rome he was not intituled Emperoure that was Lorde of the Common wealth but that was chosen generall of the warre The Romanes euery yere in the Moneth of Ianuarye did choose all their officers of the Senate and in their such election they did firste ordeyne the high Priest which they named King then the Dictator then the Consull then the Tribune of the people then the Emperor then the Censor and then the Edill By this election it may be gathered that the same which is nowe an Imperiall dignitie was in those dayes but an office giuen in the moneth of Ianuary and ended in the moneth of December Quintus Cincinatus Fabius Camillus Marcus Marcellus Quintus Fabius Annius Fabricius Dorcas Metellus Gracchus Sempronius Scipio the African and the greate Iulius Caesar when they did gouerne the Romane hostes were called Emperors but afterwards when in the Senate the office was taken away they were named by their proper names But after the great battayle of Pharsalie in whiche Pompey was ouercome and the field remayning to Caesar it hapned that the cōmon wealth came into the hands of Caesar The Romanes made request he should not take vnto himselfe the Title of king bicause it was odious vnto them but that he would vse some other at his liking vnder which they woulde obey and serue him Being at that time Captain generall of the Romanes and therefore then called Emperour he chose his name and not the name of Kyng to doe the Romaines pleasure in suche wyse that this greate Prince was the firste of the worlde that left this name annexed vnto the Emperour Iulius Caesar beeing deade Octauius his cousin did succéede him in the Empire then Tyberius then Caligula then Claudius then Nero and Vitellius and so of al the other Princes to this day The whiche in memorie of the first Emperour be intituled Augustus Caesars and Emperours Of the seuen conditions that a good king ought to haue with an exposition of a text of holie Scripture THis name of Kyng béeyng declared and the inuention of the title Emperour being spoken of moste Noble Emperoure it shall be méete that we declare howe a good king ought to gouerne his kyngdome and howe the good Emperour oughte to rule his Empire for béeing as they are the two greatest offices in this worlde it is necessarie that the two beste men in thys world doe vse them It were great infamie to the person and no small offence to the common wealth to behold a man earing at the plough that deserueth to reigne to sée him reign that deserueth to go to plough Wherfore most soueraigne Prince it is cōuenient you vnderstand that to be in honor is a thing of smal effect but to deserue the same is of most great worthinesse If he which is only a King be bound to be good he that is king Emperour is he not bound to be good very good The euil Princes be ingrate and forgetful of benefites be they great or little but the good Princes and the Christian Emperours recompence euery seruice bountifullye The Prince that is to God ingrate and of the seruice they do him vnthankfull in his person it will be séene and in his kingdome it will appeare bicause all his attempts do falle out confused or with shame And for that it shal seeme wée speak not of fauour or at large we will expound vpon the same a certaine authoritie of holie Scripture wherein is shewed what a one the King ought to be in his own person and how he ought to gouerne his common wealth for it is not sufficient that the Prince be a good man but that his common wealth be good neyther is it sufficient that the cōmon welth be good but the Prince also bée good In Deutero 18. Chapter God sayd vnto Moyses If the people shal aske thée a King thou shalt giue them one but beware that the King whiche thou shalt giue them be natural of the kingdom that he haue not many horsses that he turne not the people into Egipte that he holde not manye wyues that hée gather not muche treasure that he bée not proud and that he reade in Deuteron Vpon euery one of these commaundementes to speake what myght be sayd should be neuer to make an ende only we will briefly speake of euery of them Before all things God cōmaunded that the Kings should be natural of the kingdome that is to vnderstande that hée shuld be an Hebrue circūcised no Gentile for that god would not they shold be gouerned that honoured one God by those that did beléeue in many Gods. The Prince to whome it aperteyneth to gouerne Christians it is conuenient hée be a good Christian and the signes of a good Christian are these when the offences to God he dothe chastise and his owne hee doth forget Then is the Prince naturall of the kingdome when he doth obserue and defend the Gospell of Christ For to speake according to truth and also with libertie he dothe not deserue to be king which is not zealous of Gods law God also commaundes the Prince not to haue many horses that is to say that he wast not the treasure of the common wealth in superfluous cost in maynteyning a great house and in sustayning a greate sumptuous trayne of horses for vnto the Christian Prince it is more sound counsell rather to séede a few men than to haue many horses Notwithstanding I will not say
but that in the houses of Kynges and of high Princes many must enter many must serue many must liue and many must eate but that whych is to be reprehēded is this that many times more is spoiled than is spent If in the Courtes of Princes there were not so many horses in the stable so many haukes in the mewe so many gibers in chambers so many vagabondes in pallace and so greate disorder in expences I am sure that neyther shoulde they so go ouercharged eyther their Subiectes so much gréeued God in commaunding the Prince not to haue many horses is to forbid him that he vse not excessiue expences bycause in déede and in conclusion they shal giue an accoumpt vnto God of the goodes of the common wealth not as Lords but as tutors Also God dothe commaunde that hée which shall be King do not consent to turne the people intoo Egipt that is to say that he do not permit them to commit Idolatrie ne yet to serue King Pharao for oure good God will that we adore him alone for Lorde and that we hold hym for our creator To come out of Egipt is to come out of sinne to turne into Egipt is to turne into sin for this cause the office of a good Prince is not only to remunerate the vertuous and such as liue wel but also to chastise the wicked and suche as liue euil It is no other thing to return into Egypt but boldly openly and manifestly to sinne the which the good Prince ought not to consent vnto eyther with any in lyke cace to dispence bicause the secrete sinnes to God are to be remitted but those whiche are manifest the good king ought to chastise Then doth the Prince suffer any to return into Egipt when openly he suffreth him to liue in sinne that is to say to passe his life in enuious reuenging to holde by force that which is due to an other to be giuen to folow the lusts of the fleshe and to dare to renue his olde age into wanton affections in which the Prince doth so much offend God that although he be no companion in the fault yet in the worlde to come hée shall not escape to be partaker of the payne For a kyng to gouerne well in his kingdome oughte to be asmuche feared of the euyll as beloued of the good And if by chaunce any bée in his house that is in fauour that is a quareller or any seruaunt that is vicious I denie not but vnto suche a one he may impart of his goods but not with his conscience Also God commaundeth him which shall be king that he hold not in his companie many women that is to vnderstand he shal content himself with his Queene with whom he is maried without vngodly acquayntance with any other for the great Princes and mighty potentates doe more offend God with yll example they giue than with the faultes they committe Of Dauid of Achab of Assa and of Ieroboam the scriptures do not so much complaine of their sinnes as of the occasion they gaue vnto others to sinne bicause very seldome wee sée the people in awe of correction when their lorde is vicious As Princes be more high and also mightyer than the rest euen so are they more behelde also more viewed thā others And for this cause according to my iudgement if they be not chast yet at the least they should be more secrete Among the heap of sinnes this maye be one wherewith God is not a little offended And on the other part it is wherwith the cōmon welth receiueth most sclander for in cases of honor none wil that they haunt his house request his wyfe or defloure his daughter The writers of histories do much prayse Alexander the great Scipio the Affrican Marcus Aurelius the greate Augustus the good Traian which onely vsed not to force women in libertie but did not so much as touch suche as were their captiues taken in battaile and truly they were iustly praised for vertuous mē For it procedeth of a more noble corage to resist a prepared vice thā to giue an onset vpō a cāp of great power Also God doth commaund him which shal be king that he hoord not vp much treasure that he be not scarce or a nigard for the office of the marchant is to kéep but of a King to giue and to be liberal In Alexander the great is muche more praised the largenesse be vsed in giuing than his potencie in fighting the which doth clearly appeare when we wil praise any man we do not say he is mightie as Alexander but franke as Alexander To the contrary of this Suetonius writeth of the Emperor Vespasian the which of pure miserie nigardship and couetousnesse commanded in Rome to be made publike places to receyue vrine not to kéepe the Citie more swéete but to the end that they should giue him more rente The diuine Plato did counsell the Atheniens in his bookes of a good comon wealth that the gouernour whiche they had to choose should be iust in his iudgements true of his word constant in that he takes in hand secrete in that he vnderstandeth large and bountiful in giuing Princes and great potentates for their power they be feared and for their magnificēt liberalitie they are beloued But in déed and in the end fewe folow the king not only for that his conditions be good but bicause they think his giuing is much and verie noble Gods commaunding in his lawe that the Prince shal not hourde vp treasures is no other thyng to saye but that all shall serue hym of good wyll and that bée vse towarde all men of his liberalite for that many tymes it dothe happen that the Prince in béeyng vnchearefull in giuyng it commeth to passe in proces that very few haue any mind to gratifie or serue hym Also God commaunded the kyng that should gouerne his people that he should not be proude tha◠he should always read in Deuteronomie which is the Booke of the Lawe And bycause wée haue alreadie made a large discourse we will leaue the exposition of these two woordes for an other day There resteth that we pray vnto the Lord to giue your Maiestie his grace and vnto you and vs his glorie to the which Iesus Christ bring vs Amen A discourse or conference with the Emperour vpon certayne moste aunciente stampes in Mettalles the whyche he commaunded the Author to reade and to expounde wherin are touched many antiquities S. C. C. R. M. SO greate be the affaires of Princes and so muche laden wyth studious cares that hardlye remayneth tyme to sléepe or eate muche lesse to recreate or ioye themselues with gladsome pastyme Oure forces are so small our iudgemente so weake oure appetite so variable and oure desyres so disordinate that sometyme it is necessarie and also profitable to giue place to the humanitie to bée recreated vppon condition that the truth bée
Romaines neuer possessed or inhabited The Prince Iugurth of the age of .xxij. yeares came from Africa to the warres of Numantia in fauor of Scipio and did there suche and so notable feates in armes that he deserued with Scipio to be verie priuate and in Rome to be esteemed Al the Historiographers that write of the warres of Numantia saye that the Romaines did neuer receyue so muche hurte or lose so many people or were at so greate charges neyther receyued so great shame as they did in that conqueste of Numantia And the reason they giue for this is for that all the other warres hadde their beginning vppon some iniurie except that of Numantia whiche was of méere malice or enuie To say that the Citie of Samorra was in tyme past Numantia is a thing verie fabulous and worthie to be laughed at bicause if stories do not deceiue vs from the time that Numātia was in the world vntil the time that Samorra begā to be there did passe seuen hundreth thirtie thrée yeres If Plinie Pomponius Ptholomaeus Strabo had said that Numantia was néere to Dwero there had bin a doubt whether it had bin Soria or Samorra But these Historiographers doe saye that the foundation thereof was néere to the head of Dwero wherof it may be gathered that séeing Samorra is more than thirtie leagues from the heade of Dwero Soria is but fiue that it is Soria and not Samorra There be thrée opinions where the situation of the citie of Numantia should bée in whiche some doe saye that it was where nowe is Soria others affirme that it was on the other side of the bridge vpon an hill some do auouche that it was a league from thence on a certain place named Garray and in my iudgement as I consider of the thrée situations this opinion is moste true bycause there is founde greate antiquities and there doth appeare auncient greate buyldings Those that wrote of Numantia were Plinius Strabo Ptholomaeus Trogus Pompeius Pullio Trebellius Vulpicius Isodorus Instinus and Marcus Ancus A letter vnto the Constable Sir Ynigo Valasco in the whiche the Authour doth perswade that in the taking of Founterabie he first make proofe to profite his wisedome before he do experiment his Fortune MOst renoumed Lorde and Captaine to Caesar about the dead of this night Peter Herro deliuered mée a Letter from your Lordship the whiche althogh it had not come firmed or with superscription by the letter I should haue knowen it to be written with your owne hand bicause it conteined few lines many blots While you are in the warres it is tollerable to write on grosse paper with crooked lynes euill ynke and blotted letters For good warriers doe more esteme to sharpen their launces than to make pennes Sir you write vnto me that I should pray for your health and victorie for that at the commaundemente of Caesar you goe to besiege Founterabie which was taken by the Admirall of Fraunce the same béeyng of the Crowne of Castile Thys youre seruaunt preaceth with such diligence for this letter that I shal be forced to answer more at large than I can and muche lesse than I woulde As touchynge Founterabie I doe certaynly beléeue that within these two yeares the takyng and susteynyng of it hathe coste the French King more than it would haue cost to haue bought or else to haue buylt it Wherof there is no cause to haue maruell for that great Lordes and Princes do spend much more in susteyning the opinion they holde than the reason that they vse In all christendome at this presente I fynde not an enterprise more dangerous than this of Founterabie For either you muste ouercome the French king or else displease the Emperor I wold say that ye take in hand to deale with the might of the one and with the fauour or disgrace of the other To be a Captain generall is an estate verie honorable and profitable although ryght delicate For notwithstanding hée doe all that he can and all that is méete to bee done it by the mishap of his sinnes hée giue any battel and carie not away the victorie it is not sufficiēt that the sorowfull man doe lose his lyfe but also they séeke some faulte by the whiche they say he lost that battell Be it that euery man be what he can and fight what he may yet neuer to this day haue we séene a conquered Captain called wyse neyther him that ouercame termed rashe It is verie good that the Captaines which fight and the Physitions that cure be wise but it is muche better that they be fortunate For these bée two things wherein many tymes wysedome fayleth and fortune preuayleth Sir you do take in hand an enterprise iuste and verie iust bicause from tyme out of mynde to this day wée haue neuer heard or séene the towne of Founterabie possessed by any king of France neyther any king of Castile to haue giuen it them In suche wyse that it is a conscience for them to holde it and a shame for vs not to take it Sir consider well for your owne part that a warre so iust be not lost through some secrete offence bycause the disgraces and ouerthrowes that do happen in such like enterprises doe not chaunce bicause the warre is not iust but for that the conductours thereof bée vniuste The warre the Hebrewes made with the Philistines in the mount of Gilboa was a war verie iust but king Saule that had the conduction therof was a Kyng verie vniuste for whose cause the Lorde did permit that noble battayle to be lost to the ende the kyng should be slayne in the same But as the iudgements of God are in them selues so high and of vs so vnknowen many times it dothe happen that a king or prince doth chose out one of his seruāts to make him general of an armie to the ende he be honored and his state more amended than the rest And on the other side God doth permit that there where he thought to obtayn most honor good happe from thence he dothe escape moste shamed and confounded Let it not bée thought of Princes and of great men that séeing they woulde not abstaine from sinne they shall more than others auoyd the payne For God doth compasse them in suche wise that they come to make paymente in one houre of that whiche they committed in all their life In the house of God there hath not is not neyther shall be merite without reward or fault without punishment And if it hap that presentely wée sée not the good rewarded eyther the euill chastised it is not for that God doth forget it but vntill an other tyme to deferre it The Marshall of Nauarre with his band of Agramontenses wée vnderstande is in the defence of Founteraby it séemeth not to be yll counsell to make youre siege openlye and to practise wyth them secretely For although they be nowe seruauntes to the Frenche Kyng
they shal remember they were subiectes to our Caesar for so much as I finde in old Histories that this linage of Marshalls of Nauarre is auncient generous and valyant And for my parte I doe firmely beléeue that the Marshall had rather serue Caesar his lord than folow the French king his master The good Scipio the Affricane did vse to say that al things in the warrs ought to be assayed before the sworde be drawne And surely he did speake most truely Bicause there is not in all this world so greate a victorie as that which is obtayned withoute bloud Cicero to writing to Atticus dothe saye and affirme that the deuise that vanquisheth the enimyes with counsell is of no lesse worthynesse than he that ouercommeth by the sworde Sylla Tyberius Caligula Nero neuer could but cōmaund kill and on the other side the good Augustus Titus and Traianus coulde not but pray and pardon in suche maner that they ouercame praying as the other fighting The good Surgion oughte to cure with swéete oyntments and the good Captaine with discrete persuasions For as for yron God rather made it to eare fieldes than to kill men Plutarch dothe saye that Scipio being at the siege of Numantia when they were importunate that he should besiege the Citie and destroy the Numantins answered I had rather conserue the life of one Roman than kill all those in Numantia If these words of Scipio were wel considered of the Captains of warre peraduenture they woulde leaue to bée soo rashe in hazardyng theyr armyes in so greate and many perils Wherof doth folow oftentimes that thinking to be reuenged of their enimies they execute vengeance of their owne proper bloud All this haue I sayde noble Constable to the ende that sith Caesar hath iustified the warre of Founterabie your noblenesse of your parte should also iustifie the same And the iustification whiche you haue to make is First persuade thē before you come to besiege them bicause it doth many times happen that the prayers of a friend may doe more than the sworde of the enimie Of the good Emperoure Theodosius the historie writers recount that vntill ten dayes were past after he had besieged any Citie he did not permit his souldiours to make warre neyther to misuse the neighbors therof Saying and proclayming euery daye that those tenne dayes space hée gaue them to the ende they shoulde profite themselues by his clemency before they should make proof of his power When the greate Alexander did sée the deade bodie of Darius and Iulius Caesar the heade of Pompeius and Marcus Marcellus Syracusa burne and the good Scipio Numantia destroyed They coulde not detaine their eyes from wéeping althoughe they were mortall enimies For if the tender hearted and noble mynded reioyce of the victorie they are grieued with others spoyle Beleeue me noble Constable that pitie and clemencie doe neuer blunt the launce in tyme of warre And on the other side the Captaine that is blouddie and reuenging eyther the enimies doe kill him or else his owne doe sell hym Iulius Caesar not vndeserued shall hold the supremacie amongst the Princes of the world and not bycause hée was more fayre stronger valyanter or more fortunate than the rest but for that without comparison muche more were the enimies hée pardoned than those he ouercame or killed We doe reade of that famous Captaine Narsetes that he did subdue the Frenche ouercame the Bactrians and did conquere and gouerne the Germains and with all thys dyd neuer gyue battayle to the enimies but hée wepte in the Temples the night before The kingdome wherein the Emperour Augustus moste delighted and ioyed was that of the Mauritanes whyche is nowe called the kyngdome of Marrewcos And the reason that he gaue for this was bycause all other kingdomes he got by the sword and this kingdome he obtained by entreatance If vnto my wordes it please you to giue credite trauayle that Founterabye maye bée yéelded rather by composition than by force For that in graue and doubtefull cases firste men oughte to profite themselues with their pollicie before they make proofe of Fortune All the rest that your Lordship dothe commaunde mee I will perfourme with greate good will Whiche is to witte that I praye vnto our God for your Lordships victorie And that hée giue vnto mée of hys glorie From the towne of Victoria the .xiij. of Ianuary .1522 A letter for Sir Antonie of Cuniga Priour of Saint Iohn in the which is said that although there be in a Gentleman to bee reprehended there ought not to be cause of reproch FAmous and moste valiaunt Captayne yesterday béeyng Sainct Luces day Lopes Osorius gaue mée a letter from your woorship made at the siege of Toledo And of a truthe I didde muche reioyce therein and no lesse estéeme the same to bée written of suche a hande and sente from suche a place For in the tyme of rebellion as nowe the Knyght ought not to write from his house resting but from the Campe fightyng The Priest oughte to boaste hymselfe of his studie the husbandman of his plough and the Knyght of his launce In suche wyse that in a good common wealth the priest prayeth the husbandman ploweth the Knight fighteth He is not to be accounted a knight that is extract of noble blud in power great in iewels rich in seruāts mighty for al these things in marchauntes is many times found and also of a Iewe many tymes obtained But that whiche maketh the Knight to be a perfect gentleman is to be measured in his words liberal in giuing sober in diet honest in lyuing tender in pardoning and valiant in fightyng Notwithstanding any one be noble in bloud and mightie in possessions yet if hee bée in his talke a babbler in eating a glutton in condition ambicious in conuersation malicious in getting couetous in trauells impatient and in fightyng a coward of such we shal rather say to haue more abilitie for a carle than for a Knight vilenesse sluggishnesse nigardship maliciousnesse lying and cowardnesse did neuer take repast with knighthoode For in the good knight although there may be founde wherewith to be reprehended there ought not to be conteyned wherfore to be reproued In our age there hath bin no tyme wherin the good knight mighte better shewe his ablenesse or to what ende hee is than at this instant bicause the King is out of his kingdom the Quéene is sicke the royall Counsell is fledde the people rebell the gouerners are in Camp and all the kingdome out of quiet nowe or neuer they ought to trauaile and die to appease the kingdome and euery man to serue his king The good Knight doth now turne his gloues into gantlets Mules into horsses his buskins into greues his hattes into Helmets his doublets into Harnesse his sylke into mayle his golde into yron his hunting into fighting In such wise that the valiant knight ought not to boaste himselfe
Cicero sayth writing vnto Articus this name Knight or Gentleman the Romaynes did neuer admit either consent to entitle those that could gather muche riches but suche as had bene at the victory of many battailes That Knight or Gentleman that doth not imitate the valiant actes of his predecessours ought not boast himselfe to descend of them For how much the more renoumed the life of the fathers is so much the more are the children to be accused for their negligence To presume much of no more but to descend of Noble parents I say is a thing most vaine To blason a mans owne proper déedes is foolishnesse but in the end of these two extremities he is more tollerable that prayseth his owne vertues than he that boasteth himselfe of other déedes When amongst Knights or Gentlemen talke is of armes a Gentleman ought to haue great shame to say that he read it but rather that he saw it For it is very conuenient for the Philosopher to recount what hee hath read but the Knight or Gentleman it becommes to speake of things that hée hath done The Consull Marius when he was resident in Rome and also in the warres many times would say I confesse that I am extract of linage obscure and also I acknowledge that I haue no armes of my predecessors for that they were not florishing Captaines But iointly with this they that are now aliue can not denie that in the temples I haue erected pictures or counterfets I haue receiued in my body many woundes and in my house many enseignes none of which I do enherite of my predecessours but haue wonne thē of mine enimies And Marius saide more Your predecessors left you riches to enioy houses wherein to dwell slaues to serue you gardens to delight in fame whereof to boaste and armour wherwith to venter but they haue not left you vertue wherof you might presume Of which déede Oh you Romaynes ye may inferre that it is very little that he doth enherite which doth not enherite the vertues of his predecessors I thought good to aduertise you of these things to the end that in remembring the fame and noblenesse of such men as were your predecessours you should muche more estéeme to imitate their vertuous actes than too haue their armes sette forth and drawen at large I am deceiued if I did not sée in Caesars court a certaine gentleman of more than a Quent of rent whiche I did neuer sée haue a horse in his stable either launce in his house neither yet commonly did weare his sword but onely a Dagger that was very little But on the other part when he began to recount the doubty déedes of his forefathers it séemed that he daunted Lions Men do now estéeme to paint their armes in their houses to graue them in their seales to place them in their portals to weaue them in their sumpter clothes but none aduētureth to win them in the field in such wise that they hold armes for others to behold and not for themselues to fight One thing I will counsell your lordship which for suche as are of your estate in the warres is very necessary And that is aboue al things to be vigilant to haue great regard that amongst the captaines of your army there be vsed great secrecie for in greate affayres there is neuer good successe when they be discouered before they take effect If Suetonius Tranquillus doe not deceyue vs Iulius Caesar neuer sayde to morow this shal be done and to day let this be done but onely to day this shal be done and to morrowe wée shall sée what wée haue too doe Plutarche saithe in his politiques that Lucius Metellus being demaunded of one of his Captains when the battayle shoulde bée giuen made aunswere if I thought my shirt did knowe the leaste thought that is in my hart I woulde presently burne it and neuer weare another It were very well the affaires of warres shoulde bée commoned of many but the resolution of them to be vsed with few For otherwise they are like to be discouered before they bée concluded Also I thinke very well that you take counsayle with men that be graue and of experience but not without consideratiō that they be wise without rashnesse For sometimes more sound counsaile doth procéede from men of fewe yéeres and of much habilitie than from men that be opinatiue and of old yéeres Your Lordship hath great cause to consider howe to take aduise of men that in their counsayles be headstrong and in their déedes very rashe for in daungerous cases that happen in the warres it is lesse euill to retire than to be loste Alcibiades a Captaine amongst the Greekes did vse to say that men of bolde and valiant harts haue more néede of fortitude to moue them to retire than to abide their enemies For not to flie their honour doth moue them but to retire their wisdome doth constraine them In greate hazardes it is muche better that men submitte themselues to reason than to hurle themselues into fortune In all things your Lordshippe hath to imbrace counsaile except it be when you shall see your selfe in some sodaine daunger for in the warre wée haue séene many Captaines lost for no other cause but for that when they should haue done a thing at the sodaine they haue sit downe with great leysure to take counsell Also your lordship ought to admonish your armies that in their forcible and necessary perilles they shew not thēselues to be menns dismayed for the warres be of suche qualities that the feare of some dismayeth the rest Your Lordship may hold it for certaine that the heart which is full of feare must of necessitie be voide of hope Those that go alwayes to the warres neither ought to holde victorie for certaine eyther dispayre to obtaine it For there is nothing wherein fortune is lesse correspondent than in the affaires of warre Brasidas the Greek in the warres that hée held with the Thracians when they did take by force of armes a certaine fort which he defended meruailous valiantly being demaunded by one of his enemies why he had put him selfe within the same for his defēce answered I do sweare by the immortall Gods that she did rather commend hir self vnto me to be kept than I vnto hir to be defended Bycause in the end I haue more certentie of hir to serue me for a sepulcher than for a sauegard I will saye no more in this case but craue of especiall fauour that in such wise ye behaue your selfe in these warres of Prouance that it may séeme and also be to all men notorious that you do more for the obedience of your Lord the Emperour than to be reuenged of the French king For otherwise God would take vengeance of your reuengement The penne of gold that you sent me I haue receiued and so I beleue your Lordship shall receiue Marcus Aurelius whiche I do send you the
or not remembring the case was thus that within fewe dayes after they gaue him thrée twentie stabs with a dagger in such wise that the most Noble Prince lost his life for no greater matter than for not hauing a little good maner The contrary of this Suetonius Tranquillus doth write of Augustus the Emperour which being in the Senat or in the Colledge did neuer sit downe vntill they were all set and rendred the same reuerence that they gaue him and if by chaunce his children entred the Senate house neither did he consent that the Senators shoulde rise either that his children should sit downe Sir if you will not that men call you presumptuous or to speake plainly do call you foole haue a care to be well manered for with good maner more than with any other thing we withdraw our enemies and do sustaine our friends Sir I haue spoken with the Popes messenger vppon the dispensations that you sent to haue to marry with the Gentlewoman the Lady Marina Whiche wée haue agréed for thrée score ducates and as he is a Venetian and would not be counted a foole he will first be payed before you shall be dispatcht I haue spoken with Perianes as concerning the expedition of the priuiledge of the Iury and as he was deaffe and moste dunch I cried out more in speaking vnto him than I do vse in preaching The newes of the Courte is that the Empresse wisheth the Emperours comming the Dames woulde marrie the suters would be dispatched the Duke of Veiar would lyue Antony de Fonseca woulde grow young Sir Rodrigo of Voria would enherit also Frier Denise wold be a Bishop Of my selfe I giue you to vnderstand that I am in possession of all the condicions of a good suter that is to wit occupied soliciting carefull spent suspicious importunate out of temper and also abhorred for that my Lorde the Archbishop of Toledo and I go to the lawe for the Abbay of Baza vppon which I haue for my parte a famous sentence No more but that our Lord be your protector and giue me grace to serue him From Medina del Campo the twelfth of Marche .1523 A lerter vnto sir Gonsalis Fernandes of Cordoua great Captaine in which is touched that the knight escaping the warres ought not from thence forth to depart his house MOst renoumed valiant Prince my weakenesse to write vnto your mightinesse my simplicitie vnto your prudencie if it shall séeme vnto those that shal heare thereof to be a thing ouer proude and to such as shal see it to be ouer presumptuous lette them lay the fault vpon your honour which did first write vnto me and not on me that do answere with shamefastnesse Sir I will trauell to satisfie your excellencie in all things that ye cōmaund me by your letter vpon this condition most humbly beséeching that you do not so much consider what I doe say as that which I would say And for that to a person of so greate an estate it is reason to write with grauitie I will trauell to be measured in the wordes I shall speake and to be remeasured in the reasons I shall write The diuine Plato in his Bookes of common wealth did say That lesse greatnesse is not to be imputed to the honorable to deale and be conuersant with the weake than it is to stand and to countenance with the mightie and the reason that he gaue for the same is that the Generouse and magnificent mā vseth more force in taming his harte to stoupe vnto lowe things than to take in hand graue weightie and high attempts A mā of an high stature receiueth more paine in stouping to the ground for a straw than to stretch out his arme to reach a braunche By this that I haue said I would say that this our hart is so puffed vp and so proude that to rise vnto more than he may it is life and to descend to lesse than he is worth it is death There are many things whiche God woulde not bring to passe by himself alone to the end they shall not say that he is a Lord absolute either wil he bring them to passe by the hāds of the mightie for that it shal not be sayd that he taketh help of humaine fauour and afterwardes he performeth the same by the hand and industrie of some man beaten down of fortune and forgotten amongst men wherein GOD sheweth his greatnesse and filleth the same with his might The great Iudas Machabeus was lesse in body and much lesse in yeares than his thrée other brethren but in the end the good old Mathathias his father to him onely did cōmend the defence of the Hebrewes and into his handes did also resigne the armies against the Assyrians The least of the children of the great Patriarch Abraham was Isaac but in him was established the right line of Christ on him al the Iewish people did fixe their eyes The inheritāce of the house of Isaac came too Esau and not to Iacob but after the daies of the Father Iacob did not onely buy the inheritance of his brother Esau but also did steale the blessing Ioseph the sonne of Iacob was the least of his brethren and the last of the eleuen Tribes but in the ende it was he alone that foūd grace with the kings of Aegypt did deserue to interprete their dreames Of seuen sonnes that Iesse had Dauid was the least but in the ende King Saul was of God reproued and Dauid King of Hebrewes elected Amongst the meaner Prophetes Heliseus was the least but in the ende vnto him and vnto none other was giuen a dubled spirite Of the meaner sorte of the Apostles of Christ was S. Philip and the meanest Disciple of Paule was Philemon but in the end with them more than with others they did take counsaill and in great affaires would take aduise Sir it seemes to mée that agréeing with that which I haue saide your Lordship wold not take counsell with other men that be learned and wise but with me that am the simplest of your friends As your Lordship hath ben so long time in the warres of Italie it is very seldome that I haue séene you but much lesse that I haue eyther spoken or bin conuersant with you for whiche cause my friendship is to be holden for more sure and lesse suspitious for that I loue you not for the rewardes you haue giuen me but for the magnificence that I haue séene in you When one cōmes to seeke to be our frend maketh much to the matter to consider the cause that moueth him to séeke the same for if he be poore we must giue him if he be rich we must serue him if he be fauoured we must worship him if he be wilfull we must faune on him if he be impatient we must support him if he be vicious we must dissēble with him and if he be malicious we must beware of him One of the
how was he of the Lord For the vnderstanding hereof it is to be noted how it is written in the 1. Regum cap. xxvj that Dauid being compassed with the armie of King Saul who sléeping on a night in his tent Dauid did passe thorough the middes of his campe and toke from the Kinges beds head the launce that he fought withall and a cruse of water wherein he vsed to drink and in this passage he was neither séen of the watch nor perceiued of the scout And why Quia sopor Domini irruit super eos to saye as the Scripture saith that the sléepe of the Lord fell vppon them is most true but to say that God doth sléepe and hath néede of sléepe is a great mockery For as the Psalmist doth saye Ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet qui custodit Israel Whē the scripture doth say Quòd sopor Domini irruit super eos that God had sent a dead sléepe vpon them it is to be vnderstoode non quòd ipse dominus dormiret Sed quia eius nutu infusus esset ne quisquam presentiam Dauid sentiret The diuine prouidence would cast a sléepe vpon King Saul and vpon his watch and vpon those of his Campe not for their recreation but for the safe kéeping of Dauid in such wise that in God his sléepe and his prouidence is one self thing the Lord is so zelouse of his elect and so vigilant to preserue them that he doth not only giue them grace to performe good purposes but also doth direct them alwaies by good meanes in suche wise that although hée doth permit them to trauaile he doth not consent that they perish But comming to the purpose that after the maner that the Scripture is to be vnderstood Sopor Domini irruit super eos after the same manner is vnderstand Spiritus Domini malus arripiebat Saulem And for farther declaration of this I say Quod si Diabolus tentationem iustis semper inferre cupiat tamen si à Domino potestatem non accepit nullatenus adipisci potest quod appetit The spirite that did tempt and torment King Saul for this cause he is called an euill spirite for that the will of the Deuill in tempting vs is euill And for this purpose he is named the spirite of the Lorde for that the power which the Lord doth giue him to tempt vs is good When God dothe giue licence to any Diuell that he go to vexe and disquiet any iust man it is not Gods intention that he tempt him but to exercise him bicause vertue is of such qualitie that it groweth mortified when it is not exercised with trauailes The wheat whiche is not turned is eaten with wiuels The garment that is not worne is eaten with mothes the timber that is not seasoned is spoiled with chest lockes the frō that is not wrought doth consume with ruste bread long kept groweth finnowed By this that I haue saide I would say that there is not any thing that turneth vs to more weakenesse negligence than to be a certaine time without temptations Much more care hath God of vs than we of our selues for in the end as our worthinesse is litle and but to smal purpose if we do quaile he doth comfort vs if we lie downe to sleepe he waketh vs if we be wearied he helpeth vs if we grow fearful he doth encorage vs if we grow negligent he doth intice vs Finally I say that leauing our selues vnto our owne power wée permit our selues to fall and he alone giues the hand to lift vs vp Also holy Iob was tempted of the euill spirit of the Lord not because there was any notable fault in the man but for that ther raigned in the Diuell enuie and malice For cursed sathan had not enuie of the great goods that Iob had but of the excellent life that he led At the instant that one is euill he doth desire that all be euill if he bée sclaundered that all be defamed in such wise that ther is not so perillous an enuie as that whiche euill men haue of those whiche be good and vertuous If one be good and ritch and liue by one that is euill and malicious First he that is euill dooth trauell to take away the credit the good man hath before he vseth force to spoile him of his goodes Abrabam was tempted when it was commaunded that his onely sonne shoulde be sacrifized Tobie was tempted when he lost his sight The holy Iob was tempted when they killed his children tooke his goods and filled him with the mangie in which temptatiōs those holy men suffered much and also loste much but at the time of repayment he did not giue them reward according to the goods they lost but according to the patience they vsed Since it is certain that all passions or troubles eyther God doth send them or else do come by the hand of God it is reason that we take them as sent by the hand of God who is so iust in that he commaundeth and so limited in that hée permitteth that he doth neuer suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength With men that be of a good life and doe kepe rekening with their conscience the licence whiche God giueth to the Diuill to tempte them is surely limited and the patience that hee giueth them is very bountifull de hoc bactenus sufficit The Controler Hinestrosa came from the Court this way to sée me whiche came in suche distresse for that he had gone thither he him repented and for that hée had staied hée was despited and for that whiche had happened he was abhorred in suche sorte that to heare him report his great trauelles moued me to weigh my owne as light Men in sadnes ought not to séeke comfort of those that be merie but of others that are sorrowfull and more confounded than them selues For if they so doe of a troth they shal find that it is very little they suffer in respecte of that whiche others endure No more but that our Lord be your protector and giue me grace to serue him From Sotia the 4. of March. 1518. A letter vnto the Marques of Velez wherein hee writeth vnto him certaine newes of the Court. RIght magnificent my singular good Lord Garcy Rodrygues seruant and solicitor vnto your Lordshippe gaue me a letter of yours made the seuēth of this present in Velez el Rubio which came with more swiftnes and also more fresh thā the Samons they bring from Bayon Your honour writeth vnto me that I shoulde certifie you what newes and what worlde runneth vnto whiche I dare aunswere your Lordship that in this Court none runneth but they goe all bechafed It is an auncient pestilence in the courtes of Princes that they call suche men as do not aunswere theim they loue where they be hated they follow suche as know them not they seeke those that flie them they serue those that pay them not
they hope for that which is not giuen them and they procure that which they can not obtaine Suche and so great trauelles as these are although we performe with our bodie that suffereth we can not bring to passe with the heart to dissemble them if the body suffer paynes and the heart bée compassed with anguish sooner dothe the body cease to complain than the hart to sighe Plutarche saithe of Aeschines the Philosopher that being as he was alway sick did neuer complaine of the Splene that did gréeue him and on the other parte hée did muche lament of any sorow that hapned vnto him As a wise man it séemethe your Honor to bée aduised in kéeping your house ouerseeing your landes enioying your goods vnderstanding how to liue and howe to discharge your conscience In suche wise that of affaires in court ye delight to heare flie to sée them For of a troth as all things that doe passe here are fayned vayne voide inconstant and daungerous it is a pastime to vnderstand them and a great despite to behold them Your Lordship will that I write vnto you whether I bée present at any time when the Emperesse doth eate and what things she doth most vse to feed on Now in winter as at this present few Prelates being at Court I my Lord am present euery day at dinner and supper not to sée but to blesse the table And I can tell your Lordship that if I blesse hir I cursse my self bicause at the houre that I departe the Court to go to dinner it is then time very neare to goe to bed There is much lesse trauell in seruing of God than the kyng For the king doth not accept seruice but when it liketh him but our God dothe not only accept when hée will but also when we thinke good To that you demaund what and how the Empresse doth eate I can shew your Lordship that shée eateth that whiche she eateth cold and in the cold alone with silence and that all stand beholding If I be not deceiued these bée fiue such condicions that onely one were suffcient to giue me a very euill repast Sir it is now winter the which naturally is a time very heauie cold melancholike and all men delite to eate their meate by the fire warme accompanied and talking and that none stand to behold for that in time of reioycing when a man neither eateth or serueth but standeth with silence musing with him selfe I dare saye of such a one that he doth not behold vs but rather watch vs To eat in the winter any cold meat is no smal wāt of good diet for meats that are cold do hurt the stomacke giue no apetite A man to eat alone is likwise great solitarnesse in the ende the gentleman doth not so much delite in the meate he eateth as in the mirth he maketh with the company he hath at his table For a man to eate without communication and warmthe I would say the one proceded of filthinesse the other of wretchednesse Princes bée not bound to bée subiect to these rules bycause they are forced to vse great seueritie in their life and great authoritie at their meat My Lord be it as be may and let hir Maiestie eate as shall please hir to commaund for in the end I do more repine at hir pacience than enuie the meat she eateth The meates that are serued at hir table are many and those that shee féedeth on bee very few for if hir Phisiognomie do not deceiue me the Empresse is of a very good condition and of a weake complexion The most that shée eateth of is winter Mellons poudred Beefe fed Pigions minst Bacon great Geese and Capons rosted in suche wise that shée eateth that others do loth and shée abhorreth that for whiche men of the countrey do sighe They set before hir Pecocke Partridge Capōs franked Fesant Manger blāck Pasties Tarts and other variable kind of gluttonies of all whiche shée not only pretendeth a contempt to eate but also sheweth a lothsomnesse to behold In such wise that the contētation doth not cōsist in the much or little that we haue but only in that wherunto we be inclined In all her dinner shée drinketh but once and that is not pure wine but water mixed with wine in suche wise that with hir sippets none may satisfie his apetite and much lesse kill his thirst Shée is serued after the maner of Portingall which is to wit there is placed at the table thrée Dames vppon their knées the one to carue the other twaine to serue in such sort that the meate is braught by gentlemen and serued with Ladies All the other Dames be there present standing vpright not in silence but talking not alone but accompanies so that the thrée Ladies giue the Empresse to eate and the others yéeld their seruaunts sufficient matter both to speake and thinke Authorized and pleasant is the maner of Portingall yet truly notwithstanding that sometimes the Dames do laugh so loude and the gallants do speake so high that they lose their grauitie and also are yrksome to hir Maiestie To that whiche your Lordship doth demaunde that whether bée more the Dames that be sued vnto or the gallants that do serue them to this I aunswere that Esayas did saye Apprehendent septem malieres virum vnum Manye sonnes of Knights and Gentlemen do trauel to sée the Dames to talke with them and to serue them but at the tyme of maryage none doth marrie with them In such maner that Iustice iustice but not at home To that whiche you demaund who gaue the Hat to the Lorde Cardinall it was Sir Frauncis of Mendoza Bishop of Samora And if my diuination deceiueth me not the Lord Bishop had rather haue ben vppon his knées to receiue the same than sitting to giue it They presented the Hat in saint Antonies Church and at the instāt it was giuen him there fell so great tempest of wind and raine that if as he was a Christian hée had bene a Romane either he would not haue receiued it or els haue defered it vntill another daye My Lord it is not to be holden for a iest that at the very present the wind and the raine was so cruell and vehement and the water so great that when the Cardinall went thence made Cardinall he did more profite him selfe of the Hat he brought than of the Hat whiche he receiued The banquet made by the Cardinall was magnificent in expences and of long continuance for that we began to eat at one and made an end at foure As concerning drinking there were found so good wines and also so good drinkers that Toro S. Martin Madrigall and Arenas did cause that some did stauke with vnstedy steppes As concerning my lodging your Lordshippe ought not to aske me if I haue good lodging but if I haue any lodging For I saye many times vnto Iohn de Aiala the harbenger that of God wée obtain
that wee desire with praiers and of him wée can not get a lodging no not with teares On a sunday in Aduent preaching in the Chappell vnto hir Maiestie I sayd that saint Iohn Baptist went to dwell in the desert not onely to auoyd sin but also for that he woulde not haue to doe with herbingers and your Lordship do demaund if there be much people at the Court to my iudgement ther are few men many women for that from Auila there came inowe to the Court and here in Medina was very many beside these Toro Zamora Salamanca Olmedo haue sent hither other aduentures in suche fort that if in Palace there be for euery galant seuen dames there is in Courte for euery courtyer seuen Courtizanes For that Caesar is in Flanders the winter harde and the yeare déere also there is none at the court that willingly would be there but for necessitie Further your Lordship will that I write vnto you what I thinke of the duke of Veiar which gathered so great treasure in hys lyfe that at his death he left foure hundreth thousand Ducates This is a matter perillous to write and odious to heare but in the ende my iudgemente is that he wente to séeke care for himselfe enuie for his neyghboures spurres for his enimies a praie for théeues trauaile for his person anguishe for his spirite scruple for his conscience perill for his soule lawe for his children and cursses for his heyres Great contention and debate goeth betwixt the olde duchesse and the yong Duke and the Erle of Miranda and others his kinsfolke and heyres vpon the inheritaunce of his good and the succession of his house in such wise that there be many that eft procure to inherit his money and none that takes the charge of his discharge In the yeare 1523. I béeing sicke in Burgos the Duke came to sée mée and demanded who might properly be called couetous for the he had asked many none had answered vnto his minde and that which I answered at the sodeyn were these words The man the sitteth in the smoke when he may warme himself by a faire fire that may drinke good wyne and drinketh euill that may haue a good garment and goeth hard and ragged and that will lyue poorely to die riche he alone and no other wée maye name couetous and wretched And sayde further Beléeue mée my Lord Duke that I holde hym a more woorthie man that dothe venter to parte his riches than him that gathereth them together bicause for a man to be riche it is sufficient that he be diligent but to employ his greate riches he muste be a Gentleman and noble minded To that your Lordship doth demaūd my opinion of this towne of Medina I can saye vnto youre honour to my iudgement that it hath neyther grounde nor heauen for the heauens are always couered with Clowdes and the grounde with dirt in suche wise that if the neighbourhed do call it Medina of the field we Courtiers doe terme it Medina of the dirt It hathe a riuer that is called Sapardiell which is so déepe and daungerous that géese in sommer go ouer drye footed and as it is a riuer narrow and muddy it doth prouide vs many éeles and dothe couer vs with many Clowdes No more but that our Lord be your protector and giue me grace to serue him Frō Medina del campo the xviij of Iuly in the yeare 1532. A letter vnto the Bishop of Tui new president of Granado in which is sayd what is the office of Presidents MAgnificent and most reuerend Lorde and regall iudge I wish the new prouision that his maiestie hath bestowed vpon your honour for the Presidentship of this royal audience of Granado may be fortunate I can shewe youre lordship that in this countrey you are more knowen by your fame than by your persō Wherfore as you know you haue to trauaile that your life may be conformable vnto your fame also you haue to consider that if you come to iudge you shall also be iudged not of few but of many not of learning but of custome not of goods but of fame not only in publique but also in secret not of waightie causes but also of very small matters One of the greatest trauayls that Presidents haue and suche as gouerne common wealthes is that they doe not onely iudge what they doe but also what they thinke not only the things that they doe in earnest but also what they commit in iest in such sort that all things whiche they doe not with seueritie they iudge it for lightnesse Plutarke sayth in his politikes that the Athenians did note in Simonides that he spake loude The Thebanes accused Parniculus that he spet much The Lacedemonians sayd that Licurgus went stouping The Romains blamed Scipio that hée slepte snorting The Vticenses defamed the good Cato that he did eat with both his chéekes The enimies of Pompey murmured that he scratched with one finger The Carthaginiās reproued their Hanniball for that he went lose with his garments and the Sillanos charged Iulius Caesar that he went euill girt Behold sir how far the malice of man doth extend and in what things the ydle in the common wealth do occupie themselues to witte that they prayse not what the noble mynded doe take in hande as valiaunt men but condemne that whiche they doe of negligence With reason they mighte haue praysed Simonides that ouercame the battaile of Marathone Parniculus that reskued Thebes Licurgus that reformed his kingdom Scipio that subdued Carthage Cato that susteined Rome Pompeius that augmented the Empire Hanniball that was of a mynd immortall and Iulius Caesar that thought it little to bée Lord of the world Wherof we may gather that the people of a base soile do not speake of their betters and of the mightie accordyng as reason directeth but agréeable to that whiche enuie dothe persuade them Plinie sayeth that the Romanes onely in the prouince of Vetica held fiue iurisdictions conuented whiche is that of Gades Hispalis Emeritans Astaginensis Cordubensis they called Andelozia the Prouince of Vetica they named the Chauncellorships iurisdictions conuented Gades was Calis Hispalis was Seuill Cordubensis Corduua Meritensis Merida Astaginensis Ecija Of these fiue Chauncelorships the first and the greatest was that of Calis for there was resident the Counsell of the Prouince and in Merida were the men of warre I haue broughte all these antiquities vnto youre Lordships memorie therby to be aduertised and also to consider as there were then many presidents appoynted to gouerne ther were many of whom also to murmur but now you being alone the charge of murmuration wil light vpō you onely The people of this countrey are not lyke the people of your countrey for here they be sharpe suttle and greate dissemblers therefore I aduise and forewarne you that in hearing them you vse leysure and in your answers resolution As you shall perceiue more hereafter
they will applie more vnderstaÌ„dings to one word than ther be gloses vpoÌ„ the Bible Conserue theÌ„ in their auncient customs care not to attempt or bring in any new things for nouelties doe always bring displeasures to those that deale therin and amongst the people doth engeÌ„der vprores or offences Stand always vpon good aduisement walk always vpon consideration for in the houses of iudges as many enter to view as to dispatch matters The house of Audience is verie moyst old narowe little displeasant darke in such sorte that it is rather to bée puld down than to dwel in it wil greue your honor to sée it offend you to inhabite the same but in the ende you haue to comfort your selfe that your comming thither is not to dwel but to amende your estate My Lorde president your predecessor entred the same Bishop of Malorca came froÌ„ thence made bishop of Auila And so may it please the Lord as yée now come Bishop of Tui ye shall returne Archbishop of Ceuill for it is nowe an auncient custome that the presidentes be neuer remoued vntill their estate be amended Your Lordship may bold it for most certain that the office of president is not a little honourable but ioyntly therwith verie tedious and burdensome For that no man hath compassion of his trauell all if he take ease blaspheme him In this presidentship there is other trauell which is your friends haue licence to sée you and to speake vnto you but your Lordship hathe not libertie to vse conference with them for if you talk with any in particular and admitte him to youre secrete affaires foorthwith they will reporte thorowe the audience and also will talke in place that you haue more abilitie to bée commaunded than capacitie to commaund In hard graue and waightie matters it is not repugnant to wisedome neither yet to conscience for a Iudge to confer with his friendes vppon this condicion that they be neither affected or furious for there doth wit most bend where will hath most force In such wise ye ought to be conuersant confer talke and also coÌ„sult with your familiar friends that all men may thinke of you that they do couÌ„sell but not coÌ„maund you Such as come to bée suters vnto you are not to be answered sharply or with rigor a milde aunswere neuer offendeth for if they go not with hope to bée despatched it were not iust they shoulde depart complayning of their aunswere In the wordes in the curtesies and in the aunsweres that you shall vse deale with euery one according as your Lordship shall perceiue the condicion of his estate to require for otherwise some will prayse you for iust and other some note you of euill nurture Your Lordship also hath to trauel in the commoÌ„ wealth to appeare milde pitifull louing and well wishing in suche sort that you rather seeke to be praised for the bountie ye vse than for the authoritie you haue Consent not to be furious angry cruell absolute for that Iudges be bound to suffer infinite iniuries and haue no licence to reuenge onely one When at any time you shal fele occasion to be angrie troubled and also iniuried breake not forth into ire nor speake any euil word For if the man that doth iniury vs be discrete we take no small reuenge if to his wordes wée giue no aunswere The good President ought to haue rectitude in iudgement puritie of life quicknesse in dispatch pacience in hys affayres and prudence in his gouernaunce The whiche fiue vertues he in them selues so connexed and in him so necessary that he shall not be so much profited by the foure that he hathe as he shall receiue offence by the one that he lacketh Of my selfe I giue your Lordship to vnderstaÌ„d that two yeres since I haue â—in at the law in this audience against the Church of Toledo for the Abbay of Basa in whiche I haue sentence in my fauour Per omnia benedictus Deus My Lord at this present we be in degrée of a reuew and for that the matter dependeth in such estate and maye not farther procede without the President Nil iam superest nisi quod descendas ponas manum super eam In that your Lordship is President and I a suter this letter suffreth not offers in words nor permitteth much lesse seruice in workes Ne imponamus crimen gloriae vestrae Come your Lordship when you will with gladnes and enter this audience in an happie houre that as you know positus es in ruinam in resurrectionem multorium Of lawiers and officers olde and new you shall find a sacred College dignum profectò tali viro. No more but our Lord bée your protector and giue me grace to serue him From Granado the 12. of May. 1531. A letter vnto the warden of Alcala in whiche is expounded that of the Psalme whiche saith Let the liuing descend into hell MOst reuereÌ„d and sufficient religious father Frater Antonius de Gueuara predicator Chronista Caesaris suo precordiali patri guardiano cumplu sal plu mittit Quamuis hactenus non scripsi paternitati tuae non tunc minus tibi deditus affectus fui Causam autem meae taciturnitatis tua singularis prudentia per sese optime nouit Literas tuas accepimus quae nobis incunditati volupâ—ati fuerunt Nec enim est alius quisquam bomimum cuius scripta libentius quà m tua legamus est enim in eis dicendi ornatus debiti salis condimentum Gaudemus te bene valere vtinaÌ„ semper tibi sit Et de bis hactenus In the general chapter I preached all our order being present amoÌ„gst other authorities of holy Scripture I expounded that text of the Psalmist whiche saieth desceÌ„dant in infernuÌ„ viueÌ„tes The expositioÌ„ wherof your reuerence desireth me to send written as it was preached for that as then you heard it not The preacher that giues in writing what hée hath fayd in the pulpit bindes him selfe to lose his credit For in the mouth of a great preacher it is more to sée the spirit whiche he giueth to the words he speaketh than to all that he can write vnto vs Aeschines the Philosopher being banished by the Athenians to the Rodes when vppon a certaine daye hée related the Oration that Demosthenes had made and written against him hée sayd vnto them if ye had séene that beast Demosthenes blason his words and the spirite he had in speaking of them Amongst the thirtie most famous tyrants that did destroy the common wealth of Athenes Pifistrato was one in whose time the Philosopher Damonidas did florish A man out of doubt of a reformed life and must eloquent in his speech Of this Philosopher Damonidas Pifistraro the tyrant on a daye sayd vnto the Senate of Athens All maner of men of Atheâ—s and of Greece may fréely come and speak with me in their affaires and say what appertaineth except
for myne own sinnes but that I must burdē my selfe with you Much is God pleased with the prayer of the iust but much more he doth delight in the amendment of the sinner for it doth litle profit for the one to augment his prayers if the other do not diminishe his sinnes If you will gouerne this Earledome very well begin the gubernation in youre selfe for it is impossible for him to vnderstand to gouerne the common wealth that doth not know to rule his owne house or order his owne person when the Lorde is milde honest chast sober silent patient and deuout all his housholde and common wealth be likewise affected and if by chaunce there be any seruaunts absolute or dissolute they must be hidden and withdrawen which to the Lord is no small glory for hée doth not little that taketh holdnesse from any man in his house to be euill In the houses where Lordes are ambitious rashe quarelling lyars gluttons gamsters infamous and lecherous what steward may bring to passe that the seruants bée honest seeing they do not but what their maisters do allowe and likewise do The wordes of Lords be fearfull but theyr good works do animate and I say it to this end for their seruaunts and vassalles do rather imitate the works they sée thē do than the words they heare them speake The charge that a Bishop hath of his housholde and Diocesse the same hath a Gentleman of his seruants For it is not sufficient that a master or Lorde pay his seruants what is dew but that they make them also do their dutie it is a lamentable thing to sée that a mother shall send hir sonne to the house of Gentleman clad shod shamefast honest solitarie well mannered and deuoute and at the yeares end the poore yong man shall returne ragged bare legged dissolute a glutton a dice player a liar and a quarreller in such wise that it had bin lesse euill to haue had him dead than sent to such pallace or court Let the conclusion of this case be that in suche maner you order your life and gouerne your house that your owne may haue to follow and straungers to prayse That the Knight ought to be to God gratefull and to men pitifull ALso it is right necessary that alwayes you haue in remembrance the bounties and good things ye haue receyued of god In speciall to giue you this Earledome be depriued the Earle youre Brother of his life the Lady countesse died disherited your Cosin gaue a sentence against the Admirall in suche wise that you owe vnto God not only for the gift thereof but also for the deliuerance of the incumber thereof My Lorde be ye certaine that although before God all sinnes be gréeuous yet the sinne of ingratitude is holden for most intollerable for God will not any thing that we haue but only for that which he giueth vs we be thankfull Giue thanks vnto God for that he created redéemed and reléeued you and also prouided for you And surely with this estate Earledome if you kéepe rekoning with your rent and measure in expences you may serue God and liue honorably Although this Earledome hathe cost muche trauell perilles sutes anger and money contend not wyth God thinking that you haue obtained it by youre owne diligence but confesse his great mercie to haue giuen it for the victories and good gifts that God doth giue vs we may desire thē also craue thē but not deserue thē Remēber my Lord that god hath remoued you frō anger to ease frō poore to rich from asking to giuing from seruing to commaunding from misery to plentie and from sir Peter to be intitled the Earle of Buendia in such wise that you owe vnto God not only the state that he hath giuen you but also the miserie that he hath taken from you Oh how great mercie doth God vse with that man that giues him wherewith to giue and putteth him not in estate to craue of any man For to shamefast faces and to generous hearts there is no trauell that so doth perce their intralles as to enter to craue at other mens dores Plutarch reported of the great Pompeius that being sicke in Pusoll whē the Phisitions saide that to be hole and recouer strength it were conuenient hée shoulde eate of certain Zorzales that the Consull Luculus did bréede he aunswered I will rather die than sende to craue them for the Goddes haue not created Pompeius to aske but to giue My Lord I saye thus much to the ende ye consider since God hath giuen you liberally that you néede not craue of any man that you be not rechlesse to giue as they gaue you to succour as they succoured you and to part as they parted with you For of the temporall goods that God giues vs we be not lords but reparters Although the Earledom of Buendia be of no great rentes yet maye you do with it many good workes For as I haue said the gentleman that knoweth to rule his house and to order his goodes hée shall haue to spende to kepe and to giue For Princes and Lordes of power ought not to bée called great or mighty for the proude estates that they hold but for the great rewardes they giue The office and dewtie of the labouring man is to digge the religious to be contemplatiue the priest to pray the craftes man to worke the Marchaunt to be guilefull the vserer to keepe the poore to craue and of the gentleman to giue for vppon that day that the gentleman doth beginne to hourde vp money from thēce foorth he putteth his fame in proclamation In Lordly houses and of inheritours there ought to be the haunts of brothers cosines nephewes vncles and all others of his kinne bearing good will to their affaires and supporting their necessities In suche wise that to them there is no houre forbidden or any dore shut neuerthelesse there are some Brothers Cosins and Nephewes tedious in theyr spéech so importunate in visiting and so without measure in their crauing that they make a man angrie and also abhorre them and the remedy for suche is to succour their necessities and to appart their conuersations You shall now find in your Earledome retaynours of your Fathers Seruants of your Brothers allies of youre house and friends of all your dealings vnto whome you ought in generall to vse good countenance speake sweete words gyue good hope and deale some rewards for if you should be ingrate vnto them you should run into greate indignation of the people Also my Lord you shal find some old Seruants and some poore widowes vnto whome youre predecessours commaunded to be giuen some pension or some refreshing for trauelles past or for seruice they did them beware in no wise to take it away neither yet to diminish it For besides that vnto you it were a great wretchednesse and vnto them a great want In the place to pray vnto God for your life
I assure you and do iudge many tymes with my selfe that for this cause God or the king shew you any fauor bicause you neuer talk with any man with words of fauor worship or curtesie He did so much féele this word that from thence forward he left to say thou and said vnto all men My maisters or by your fauors All men that shal come to talke and haue businesse with your Lordship you ought to vse with mildnesse honour and also fawne on them as euerie man shall deserue and according to their degrées cōmanding the olde men to couer the yong men to rise and some to sit downe For if they delight to serue as vassalles they will not that you intreate them as slaues many vassals wée doe sée euery day rise against their Lords not so much for the tributes they raise on them as for the euil dealings they vse towards them always your Lordship hath to remember that you and they haue one God to honor one King to serue one lawe to kéepe one land to inhabite and one death to fear and if you hold this before your eies you shall speak vnto them as vnto brothers and deale with them as with Christians Aboue all things take greate héede to say at the sodaine to any of your subiects any word that shall staine his kinred or iniurie his person for there is no villain of Saigo so insensible that doth not more féele an iniurious word that is spoken than the chastisement which is giuen and there is a greater euil therin than this that amongst the cōmon and countrey-people all the kinred doth aunswere for the iniurie and the shame to one redoundeth to the despite of the whole whereof it hapneth many times that to be reuenged of a worde the whole people do rise against their lord So in this case take my counsell that if any your subiects shal doe a thing whiche he ought not to do that you determine to chastise him not to vpbrayd or defame him for the chastisement he shal think to procéede of iustice but your vpraiding of malice For any distemperance that may gréeue you or maye happen to anger you Auoyde in any wise to call any man knaue Iew filth or villaine for besides that these woords be rather of tiplers than of Knightes or Gentlemen The Gentleman is bound to be as chast of his spéech as a virgin of hir virginitie for a gentleman to be of a distempred spéeche foule mouthed euill manered loude and foule spoken this maye not procéede of any other occasion but that he is melancholike a coward and feareful For it is notorious vnto all men that vnto the woman it appertaineth to be reuenged with the toung but the knight or Gentleman with his launce The king Demetrius had a certain loue named Lamia whiche when she demaunded Demetrius why he didde not speake and was not merrie he made answere Holde thy peace Lamia and let me alone for I doe as wel my office as thou dost thine for the office of the woman is to spin and prattle and the office of the man is to holde his peace and fight To buffet the boyes of the chamber to pull them by the heare to ioll them against the portall and to spurne with the féete Your Lordship ought not to do it neither consent that it bée done in your presence For in palaces of auctoritie and grauitie to the Lord it appertaineth to manifest his mind and to the stuarde to chastise If your lordship shall commaunde to chastise or to whip any page or seruaunt prouide that it be doone in a place priuie and secrete for it ought to be very strange vnto the Lord or Gentleman that is noble valiant to sée any man wéepe either to heare any complaine The writers of histories do muche prayse the Emperour Octauius Augustus which did neuer consent that any execution shoulde be doone whilest he was within the walles of Rome but for the taking away of any mans lyfe he always went to hunting By the contrarie the Historiographers do much reprehend the Emperour Aurelius who before his owne eyes commaunded his seruants to be whipt and chastised which certaynly he should not haue doone for the clemencie of the Prince oughte to bée such that not only they should not sée the execution neyther yet so much as the person that is executed Your Lordship also hath to beware to aduenture to recoūt newes to compound lies to relate fables and to tell tales For the foolishe man and the tatling tedious Gentleman be brothers children The officers and seruantes of your house you haue to kéepe them corrected warned and also in feare that they rayse no quarels robbe no orchardes spoyle no gardens neither dishonour maried women In such sort that the seruants presume not to doe that whiche theyr Maisters dare not commaunde the yong men and pages that shal attende on you cause them to learne the commandements to praye and fast and to kéepe the Sabbaoth dayes For God wyl neuer deale mercifully with you if you make not greatter accompt that they serue God than your selfe Suche as shall play at cardes or dice for drie money not only chastise them but also dispatch them away for the vice of play may not be susteyned but by stealing or disceyt The pages and yong mē that you shall take into your chamber you haue to make choyse of suche as be wyse honest clenly and secret for babling and foulemouthed boyes they will imbesill your apparell staine your fame Commaunde the Controller of your house that the pages be taught to go clenly to brushe and laye vp their apparel serue at the table put of their cap vse reuerence and to speake with good maner bicause it may not bée named a palace where there wants in the Lorde shamefastnesse and in the seruants good bringing vp To the seruaunt that shall be vertuous and agréeable to your condition trust him with your person let him cōmaund in your house incommend him with your honoure and giue him of your goods vpon suche condition that he presume not to be absolute lord of the common weal for that day that they holde such one in reuerence they shall estéeme you but little If you will enioy seruice and be frée from displeasures you shall giue no man suche rule in your estate that your seruant shall thwart you or your vassal disobey you Also your Lordship is to be aduertized in that as now ye enter of new you attempt not to doe manye newe thinges for euery noueltie doth not more please him that doth institute the same than the accomplishement therof displeaseth hym to whome it is commaunded Lactantius Firmianus doth saye that the common wealth of the Sicienians endured longer than that of the Grekes Aegyptians Lacedemonians and the Romaines bicause in seuen hundreth and fortie yeares they neuer made newe lawes neyther brake their olde Suche as shall counsell you
His rule commaunded that if any knight of the band did vnderstande that within the compasse of thyrtie myles of the Courte there shoulde bée made any Iustes or Turneys he was bounde to go thither to iust and turneye vpon pain to goe one Moneth without his sworde and as much without his bande 34 His rule commaunded that if any knight of the bande shoulde be maried within thrée score miles compasse of the Court al the other Knights of the band should go with him to the King to craue for him some reward and that afterwards they should accompany him to the place of his mariage to the end that there they shoulde do some honorable exercise of chiualrie and knighthood to the end they should offer some iewell vnto his spouse 35 His rule commaunded that on the first sonday of euery moneth the knights of the band should go to Court together very well appointed armed and that there in the Court or in the great hall in the presence of the king and al his Court they should play at all weapons two and two in such wise that no hurt were done for the end that this order was made was bicause they shoulde rather boast themselues of déedes than of the names of knights and were of the kyng therefore much honored 36 His rule commaunded that they shoulde not torney more than thirtie with thirtie and with swordes rebated and at the sounde of a trumpet they shoulde assayle eche other and also at the sound of the Clarion they shoulde all retire vpon paine not to enter more in torney and in one moneth not to go to the Court. 37 His rule commaunded that at the iustes none shoulde run more than euery man his foure courses and should haue for Iudges foure Knights and he that in foure courses brake not a staffe should pay al the costes of the tilt 38 His rule commaunded that at the time that any Knight of the band did fayle or die they shoulde all go to helpe him to die well and after they should go to his buriall and for that he had bin brother and companion of the band they should for one moneth be cladde with blacke after for thrée moneths forbeare to Iust 39 His rule commaunded that two dayes after the knight of the band should be buried al the other knights of the order should assemble and go to the king on the one part to deliuer the king the band that the dead had left and on the other part to make supplication to haue remembrance to rayse in hys place some of his able sonnes if he left anye and to vse hys bountie towards his wife to sustaine and marrie hir children and daughters Behold here my Lord the rule and order of the knightes of the band that was made by the king Alfonso Ioyntly whervnto I will adde all the knights that did first enter into thys order the title of whome said thus These are the most Courteouse the most esteemed the moste renoumed the moste chosen Knights and Infants of the Knightlike order of the Band that our Lord and king Don Alphonso commaunded to be made whome God maintayne The King Don Alfonso that made this order The infant Don Pedro. Don Enrique Don Fernando Don Tello Don Iuan el bueno Don Iuan Nunez Enrique Enriquez Alfonso Fernandez Coronel Lope Diaz de Almacan Fernan perez puerco carrero Fernan Perez ponce Carlos de Gueuara Fernan Enriquez Aluer Garcia Dalbornoz Pero Fernandez Garci Ioffre tenorio Iuan Esteuanez Diego Garcia de Toledo Martin Alfonso de Cordoua Goncalo ruys dela Vega. Iuan Alfonso de Benauides Garci Laso dela Vega. Fernan Garcia Duque Garci Fernandez tello Pero Goncales de Aguero Iuan Alfonso de Carriello Ynigo Lopez de Horozco Garci Gutierez de Graialba Gutierre Fernandez de Toledo Diego Fernandez de Castriello Pero ruyz de Villegas Alfonso Fernandez Alcayde Ruy Goncales de Castaneda Ruy ramirez de Guzman Sancho Martiuez de Leyua Iuan Goncales de Bacan Pero Trillo Suero Perez de Quinones Goncalo Meria Fernan Carriello Iuan de Roias Ptralbarez Osorio Pero Lobez de Padilla Don Gil de Quintana Iuan Rodrigez de Villegas Diego Peres Sarmiento Mendorodrigues de Viezma Iuan Fernandez Coronel Iuan de Cereiuela Iuan Rodrigez de Cisneros Oreion de Liebana Iuan Fernandez del Gadillo Gomez Capiello Beltran de Gueuara vnico Iuan Tenorio Ombrete de Torrellas Iuan Fernandez de Bahamon Alfonso Tenorio THat which is to be noted in all this letter is how in order the Gentlemen and Knights went in those days and how they did exercise them selues in armes and auaunced themselues by deedes of prowes and that the children of good men were in the kings house very well brought vp and were not suffered to be vitious and go lost It is also to be noted in this letter in how little time the world hath made so many changes it is to wit vndoing some and aduauncing others out of the dust bicause fortune neuer dischargeth hir shot but against such as be set aloft My Lord I say this for that ther is to be founde in this order of the band some auncient linages which in those days were noble and famous all which be not only ended but also altogither forgotten What houses or Manors be there now in Spaine of the Albornozes of the Tenorios of the Villegas of the Trillos of the Quintanas of the Biesmas of the Cereiuelas of the Bahamondas of the Coronels of the Cisneros of the Graialbas and of the Horozcos of all these linages there were Gentlemen and Knights very honorable In those days as in the list it doth appeare amōgst those that first entred into the order of the band of al which at this present there is not found any notable Manor neither so much as the name There are nowe in Spaine other Linages the which be Velascos Manriques Enriques Pimenteles Mendozas Cordouas Pachecos Cunigas Faiardos Aguilares Manueles Arellanos Tendillas Cueuas Andradas Fonsecas Lunas Villandrandos Carauaiales Soto maiores and Benauides It is a thing surely to be noted and no lesse to be maruailed that none of the linage of all aboue said is named amōgst the Knights of the band All which in these our days be illustre generouse ritch and much renoumed It is well to bée beléeued that some of these glorious linages were risen in those dayes and if they were not put amongst the knightes of the band it was not bycause they wanted grauitie but for that they had not at that tyme suche authoritie and also bycause though they had sufficient noblenesse they wanted riches Also it is to be thought that of those aunciente and forgotten linages there are inough at thys instant descending and decayed that he noble and vertuous whiche for that we sée they haue little and may do little we hold it for better too kéepe silence than so name them The sonnes of Gentlemen and Knights be they neuer so glorious
life and iust in youre tribunall or iudgements I wold not gladly heare that those that do praise that which you do should complaine of that whiche you say with a Lorde of so high estate and with a iudge of so preheminent an office my pen should not haue presumed to write what it hath written if your Lordship had not commaunded My Lord I saide it bycause if this that I haue here written vnto you shall not like you that it may please you to sende too reuoke the licence that you haue giuen Also you will that I shall write vnto youre Lordship if I haue founde in anye auncient Chronicle what is the cause wherefore the Princes of Castile do call themselues not onely Kings but also Catholique Kings And that also I write vnto you who was the first that called himself Catholique King and what was the reason and the occasion to take this so generous and Catholique title There were ynowe in thys Court of whome you might haue demaunded and of whome you might haue vnderstood in yeares more auncieÌ„t in knowledge more learned in bookes more rich and in writing more curious than I am But in the end my Lord be sure of this one thing that that which I shall write if it be not written in a polished stile at the least it shall be all very true Comming to the purpose it is to be vnderstood that the Princes in olde time did always take proud ouer-names as Nabugodonozer that did intitle him selfe King of Kings Alexander the greate the king of the world the king Demetrius the conqueror of Cities the great Haniball the tamer of kingdomes Iulius Caesar the Duke of the Citie the king Mithridates the restorer of the world the king Athila the whip of nations the king Dionisius the host of all men the king Cirus the last of the Gods the king of England defender of the Church the king of Fraunce the most Christian king and the king of Spaine the Catholique king To giue your Lordship a reckoning who were these kings and the cause why they did take these so proude titles to me it should be painfull to write and to your Lordship tedious to reade it is sufficient that I declare what you commaunde me without sending what you craue not It is to wit that in the yere seuen hundreth fiftie two the fift day of the month of Iuly vpon a sunday ioyning to the riuer Bedalake about Xeres on the frontiers euen at the breake of day was giuen the last and most vnfortunate battell betwixt the Gothes that were in Spaine and the Alarues that had come from Africa in whiche the sorowfull king Sir Rodrigo was slaine and all the kingdome of Spaine lost The Moore that was Captaine and that ouercame this famous battell was named Musa which did know so well to folow his victorie that in the space of eight moneths he did win and had dominion from Xeres in the frontieres vnto the rocke Horadada which is neare to the towne of Onnia And that whiche séemeth to vs most terrible is that the Moores did win in eighte moneths which in recouering was almost eight hundred yeres for so many yeares did passe from the time that Spaine was lost vntill Granado was wonne The fewe Christians that escaped out of Spaine came retiring vnto the mountaines of Onnia neare vnto the rocke Horadada vnto which the Moores did come but from thence forward they passed not either did conquer it for there they found great resistance and the land very sharp And when they of Spaine did see that the king Sir Rodrigo was dead and all the Gothes with hym and that without Lord or head they could not resist the Moores they raysed for king a Spanish Captaine that was named Sir Pelaius a man venturous in armes and of all the people very well beloued The fame being spread thoroughout all Spaine that the mountaine men of Onia had raised for king the good Sir Pelaius all men generouse and warlike did repaire vnto him with whome he did vnto the Moores greate hurt and had of them glorious triumphes Thrée yeares after they had raysed the good sir Pelaius for King hée married one of his daughters with one of the sonnes of the Earle of Nauarn who was named Sir Peter and his sonne was called Sir Alonso This Earle Sir Peter descended by right line of the linage of the blessed King Richardos in whose tyme the Gothes did leaue the sect of the curled Arrius by the meanes of the glorious and learned Archbyshop Leonard The good king Pelaius being dead in the eighteene yeare of his raigne the Castilians exalted for king a sonne of his that was named Fauila the which two yeares after he began to raigne going on a certaine day to the mountaine meaning to flea the Beare the Beare killed him And for that the king Fauila died without children the Castilians elected for king the husband of his sister whiche is to wit the sonne of the Earle of Nauarne who was named Alonso the whiche began his raigne in the yeare .vii. C.lxxij hys raigne endured eightene yeares which was as much tyme as his father in law the good King Sir Pelaius had raigned This good King was the firste that was named Alonso which tooke his name in so good an houre that since that daye amongst all the kings of Castile that haue bin named Alonso we reade not of one that hath bin euill but very good Of thys good king Alonso the historiographers do recite many landable things to recompt worthy to be knowen and exemplars to be followed The King sir Alonso was the first that out of Nauarne entered Galizia to make warre vppon the Moores with whome be had many encounters and battells in the ende he ouercame and droue them out of Astorga Ponferada Villa franca Tuy and Lugo with all their Countries and Castelles This good king Alonso was he that did win of the Moores the Citie of Leon and builded there a royall place to the ende all the Kings of Castile his successors should there be resideÌ„t and so it came to passe that in long time after many Kings of Castile did liue and die in Leon. This good King Alonso was the firste that after the destruction of Spaine began to builde Churches and to make Monasteries and Hospitalles in especially from the beginning the Cathedrall churches of Lugo Tâ—y Astorga and Ribeâ—ew the which afterwards did passe to Mondonedo This good king Alonso did buiâ—d many and very solempne Monasteries of the order of saint Benet and many hospitalles in the way of saint Iames and many particular Churches in Nauarne and in the Countrey of Ebro whiche he endewed all with great riches and gaue them opulent possessions This good King Alonso was the first that did séeke and commaunded to be sought with very great diligence the holy bookes that had escaped the hands of the Moores and as a zelous Prince commaunded that
they shoulde bée caried to the Church of Oiendo to be kept and gaue great rewards vnto such as had hid them This good King Alonso was the firsts that commaunded that all the greate writers and singers should resort to Leon to the end they should write great singing bookes and litle breuiaries to pray on the which he gaue and deuided amongst all the Monasteries and Churches that he had founded for the cursed Moores had not left a Church in Spaine that they did not ouerthrow either booke that they did not burne This good king Alonso was the first that did begin to make all the Bishops houses ioyning to the Cathedrall Churches bycause the heate in the Sōmer either the colde in Winter should not let them to be resident in the Quier and to sée how they worshipped God. This good king Alonso the first died in the age of .lxiiij. yeres in the Citie of Leon in the yeare of our Lord. 793. And hys death of the Castilians and Nauarrois was as much bewayled as of all men his life was desired How acceptable his life was vnto God it appeared most cleare in that the Lord shewed by him at his death whiche is to wit that at the point of his last breath they heard ouer his chamber Angelike voices sing and say Beholde how the iust dieth and no man maketh account thereof his dayes be ended and his soule shall bée in rest The lamentation was so great that was made through out Spaine for the deathe of this good King Alonso that from thence forward euery time that any named his name if hée were a man he put off his cap and if a woman she made a reuerence Not thrée months after the death of the good King Alonso all the mightie of the Kingdome ioyned in parliament wherein they did ordeyne and commaund by a publique Edict that from thence forward and for euermore none should presume to say coldly or driely the king Alonso but for his excellencie they should cal him the king Alonso the Catholique for that he had bin a prince so glorious and of the diuine seruice so zelouse This good king was sonne in law of sir Pelaius he was the third King of Castile after the destruction thereof he was the first king of this name Alonso he was the firste that founded Churches in Spaine he was the first King at whose death such Angelike voyces were heard he was the first king that was intituled Catholike by whose deseruings and vertues all the kings of Spaine his successors be called to thys day Catholike Kings My Lorde it séemeth to me that since the kings of Spaine presume to inherit the name they should also presume to follow his life which is to wit to make warre vpon the Moores and to be fathers and defendours of the Church And for that in the beginning of this letter I did vse the spéech of a friend and in this I haue accomplished what you craued as a seruāt I say no more but that our Lord be your protector and gyue vs all his grace From Segouia the xij of May. 1523. A letter vnto Mosen Rubin of Valentia beeing enamoured wherein is touched the displeasures that the amorous dames giue vnto their louers MAgnificent and old enamored being in Madrid the fourth of August where I receyued a letter of youres and for that it was torne and the firme somewhat blotted I sweare vnto you by the law of an honest mā I could not find meanes to read it or imagine or cal to remembrance who should write it For notwithstanding we were acquainted when I was Inquisitor in Valencia it is almost a thousand yeares since we saw eche other after I awakened and called my selfe to remembrance and did read and read againe your letter I fell in the reckoning that it was of Mosen Rubin my neighbour I say Mosen Rubin the enamored I remēber that sometimes we were wont to play at the chesse in my lodging and cannot aduise me that you gaue me the dame but I do certainly remember that you did not suffer me to sée your enamored I remember that at the rock of Espadon at the encounter we had with the Moores I escaped wounded and you with a broken head where wée could neyther finde Chirurgion to cure vs or as muche as a clout to bind vs I remember that in reward for that I caused your bill to be firmed by the Quéene you sent me a Mule which I did gratifie and not receyue I remember that when we went to accompany the French King to Requena whē we came to the seuen waters I complayned for want of meate and you for lacke of lodging and in the ende I receyued you into my lodging and you went foorth to prouide victualles I remember when Caesar commaunded me to repaire vnto Toledo you gaue me a letter to be deliuered vnto the Secretarie Vrias vppon a certaine businesse of yours to whome I dyd not only speake but also obtained your sute I remember that chiding with a Chaplayne of youre wiues in my presence when he said vnto you that it were not conuenient you shuld deale fowly with him for that he had charge of soules was a Curat you made answer that he was not a Curat of soules but of fooles I remember that I counselled you and also perswaded you being in Xatina that you shoulde giue to the Diuell the loue that you wot of and I also doe knowe bycause they were tedious perillous and costly I remember that after in Algezira you reported wéeping and sighing that you had no power to chase them from your minde either roote them from your hart and ther I returned to say and sweare that it was no loue eyther pleasant to your persone or too your estate conuenient I remember that after we mette at Torres where I demaunded to what conclusion you had framed your loue you answered in a thousand sorrowes and trauelles for that you had escaped from thence wounded abhorred beflouted infamed and also be pilled Of many other things I remember I haue both séene and hard you speake and do in that time that we were neighbours and couersant in Valentia whereof although we may talke they are not too be written In this present letter you aduertise me that now you are enamored and taken with other new loues and that since I sayd the troth in the first you pray me to write my opinion in the second holding it for certaine that my skil serueth to let bloud in the right vayne and also to bind vp the wound Sir Mosen Rubin I woulde you had written or demaunded some other matter for speaking the very troth in this matter of loue you are not in the age to follow it eyther may it be contained with my ingrauitie to write it of my habit of my profession and of my authoritie and grauitie you shoulde haue demaunded cases of counsell and not remedies of loue
a wype To the Father Prior of Corta caeli I sende a riche palia for my sake I pray you to cōmaunde that it bée giuen him in my behalf to visit him bicause I lodged long time with him am much bound affectioned vnto him No more but that our Lord be your protector and kéepe you from an euill lemman and heale you of your goute From Madrid the thirde of Marche .1527 A letter vnto the Bishop of Zamora Sir Anthony of Acuna wherein he is sharply reprehended for that he was captain of the commons that rebelled in Spaine REuerent and seditious Prelate Zalobrena the sergeant of your bande gaue mée a Letter of yours whiche presently I coulde not vnderstand but after I had read returned againe to reade the same I did sée it was no letter but a bill that the Bishop of Zamora had sente wherein he dyd desie and threaten that he woulde kill me or commaunde mée to be chastized The cause of this defiaunce your Lordshippe declareth to procéede for that in Villa Braxima I withdrew Sir Peter Giron from your parcialitie and counselled hym to cease to followe you and retire to serue the king I my Lorde doe accept your defiance and hold my selfe defyed not that wée kill our selues but that we examin our selues not to the ende wée goe vnto the fielde but to incommende our selues to reason Which reason as a viewer of our factes shall declare whether of vs is moste culpable I in followyng and obeying the Kyng or you in altering and reuolting the kingdome I remēber me being as thē but yong in Trecenon a manour house of Gueuara I did sée my vncle Sir Ladron sir Beltram my father mourne in black for your father in verie trouth my lord Bishop seeing you as I did sée you in Villa Braxima compassed with artillery accōpanied with souldiours and armed at al points with more reason we might weare gréen bicause you liue than black for that your father died The diuine Plato of two thinges did not discerne which first to bewayle that is to wit the death of good men or the life of the wicked for it is a most great grief vnto the heart to sée the good so soon to die and the wicked so long time to liue A certain Greeke béeing demanded for what cause he shewed so great sorow in the death of Agesilaus He answered I wéepe not bicause Agesilaus died but for that Alcibiades remaineth liuing whose life offendeth the Goddes and escandalizeth the world A certain Gentleman of Medina who is named Iohn Cnaso reported that being appointed to haue the ouersight of your bringing vp he was driuen to change foure Nursses in six moneths for that in nursing you were fierce wayware and importune in suckyng It séemeth vnto mée my Lorde Bishop that since in your childhoode you were so paynfull and in your lyfe so sedicious it were great reason that in your olde yeares as you shoulde be quiet if not for your deseruing yet to repose you shoulde seeke quietnesse holding as you haue in youre possession thrée score yeare completed ▪ and shortely maye boaste youre selfe of thrée score and tenne accomplyshed it seemeth to mée no euyll counsayle that you offer if it lyke you the flower to God for that you bestowed so muche branne in the worlde Since your gardein is blasted your vinedage ended youre floure fallen your primetyme finished your youthe passed you olde age come it were muche more conueniente to take order for amendment of olde sinnes reformation of youre life than to execute the office of Captaine ouer rebelling cōmoners If you will not followe Christe that made you yet folow sir Lewes of Acuna that begat you at whose gates many poore euery day did féede and at your gates we sée not but playing and blaspheming souldiours To make of souldiours priests it passeth but of priests to make souldiors is an acte moste scandalous whervnto I wil not say your Lordship consented but that you exactely haue perfourmed You broughte from Zamora to Tordissillas thrée hundreth Massing Priestes not to instructe the Kinges subiectes but to defend that Town against the King and to remoue your Lordship from euill toungs as also for the better saluation of their soules you brought them from Zamora in the beginning of Lent in such wise that like a good pastor an excellent Prelate you remoued thē from praying to fighting in the assault which the Gentlemē gaue at Tordessillas against your bande I saw with mine eyes one of your priests with an harquebuse ouerthrow eleuen men behinde a window the grace was that when he did leuell to shoote he blessed him selfe with his péece and killed them with the pellot I sawe also before the assaulte was ended the Souldiours of oure side that were without giue that good Prelate such a blow in the forehead with an arrow that the death of that caytise was so suddain as he had neither time to confesse his sinnes nor yet so muche as to blesse himselfe But nowe the soule of that Bishop that remoued that priest from his churche the soule of that priest that slew so many men what excuse can they haue before men and what accounte maye they make to God It were a sinne to take you from the warres but much greater to make you of the church since you be so offensiue in nothing scrupulous hereof we be most certain for that you make no account to fight to kill and also to be irregular I woulde gladly knowe in whether booke you haue read most which is to wit in Vegetius whiche entreateth of matters of warres or in S. Austine his booke of Christian doctrine and that whiche I durste auouche is I haue séene you many tymes handle a partisan but neuer anye booke and it séemeth vnto mée not a little gréeuous that to the souldioures that assaulted and fel at the taking of the fort of Impudia they say that you sayde So my sonnes vp fight and die beholde my soule for yours since you dye in so iust an enterprise and a demaunde so holye My Lorde Bishop you well knowe that the Souldiors that there were slayne were excommunicate for sacriledge traytours to the King robbers of churches théeues on high ways enemies of the common wealth and maintainers of ciuill warre It is most euident that the soule of that Bishop that speaketh suche blasphemie is not much scrupulous that desireth to die as a souldiour neither doe I maruell that he desireth to die like a desperate Souldiour that neuer made account of his estate as a Bishoppe If you had raysed this warre to reforme the common wealth or to haue made frée your countrey from some oppression and taxation it might séeme you had occasion although in déed no reason but your Lordship hath not risen against the king for the weale of the kingdom but to make exchange for a better Bishoprike
and to driue the Erle of Alua de Lista out of Zamora If you enter in reckening with all those of your bande which goe in your companie certainly you shall fynde that passion was your foundation not reason neither zeale of the common wealth but ouermuche desire in euery one to augment his owne house and estate Sir Peter Giron woulde haue the possession of Medina the Earle of Saluatiera commaunde the royall Pastures Fernando de Aualoes reuenge his iniurie Iohn de Padilia be maister of S. Iames Sir Peter Lasso the onely ruler in Toledo Quintanilla Controller of Medina Sir Fernando de Hulloa expell his brother out of Toro the Abbot of Compludo obtaine the Bishoprike of Zamora the Doctor Barnardine the Auditor of Valiodolid Ramir nimez the possession of Leon and Charles de Arrelano ioyne Soria with Vorobia The wise man sayeth hée séeketh occasion that will depart from a frend in like maner we may say that sedicious men séek not but rebellious times for that it séemeth vnto them whiche want are in necessitie while rebellion lasteth they may feed of the sweate of other mens brows and profit by their neighbors losse The arte séemeth not a litle gracious which you haue vsed to deceiue and persuade Toledo Burgos Valiodolid Leon Salamanca Auila and Segouia to rebell saying that by this meane they shal be established and made frée as Venize Geneua Florence Sena and Luke in suche wise that from hencefoorth they shall not bée named Cities but Seigniories Musing what was to be said in this matter a good space I had my pen in suspence and in the end I conceiued that vpon so great a vanitie and mischief neuer lyke heard of there is nothing to be sayd much lesse to be written For I hold it for certain and dare auouch that you make not those Cities frée but a praye not entitle them with seigniories but profit your selues with their riches Those the wil take in hand any enterprise that naturally is seditious or offensible haue not to consider of the occasion that moueth thē to ryse but only the good or euil end which therof may procéed for all famous offences haue had always a beginning of good respects Silla Marius and Cateline whiche were famous Romains and glorious Captaines vnder the coloure to delyuer Rome from euill gouernours made themselues tirants of the same At sometymes it is lesse euill in greate Cities to beare with some want of Iustice than to moue the people and therby to raise warre for that war is a certain net that catcheth away all weale from the common wealth The great Alexander being demaunded for what cause hée would be Lord of the whole worlde made answere All the warres that are raised in this worlde is for one of these thrée causes which is eyther to haue goodes many lawes or else many Kings therfore would I obtain the same to cōmaund throughout the whole worlde that they honour but one God serue but one king and obserue but one law But let vs now conferre your Lordship with Alexander the great and we shal finde that he was a King and your Lorship a Bishoppe he a Pagan and you a Christian he bred in the warres and you in the Church he neuer heard of the name of Christe you haue sworne to obserue his Gospell and with all these conditions he would not for the whole worlde haue but one king and your lordship wold haue seuen only for Castile I say vnto your Lordship that you wold establish seuen kings in Castile for that you would make the seuen Cities of the same seauen seigniories The good and loyal gentlemen of Spayn vse to remoue kings to make one king and such as be traytours and disloyall do vse to remoue the King to make kings For vs and our friends we wil no other God but Christ no other law but the Gospell or other king but the Emperoure Charles the fifth And if you and your commoners will haue an other king and an other lawe ioyne your selues with the Curate of Mediana which euery sunday doth establishe and take away kings in Castile And this is the case In a certain place named Mediana which is néere vnto Palomera of Auila there was a Biskay priest and halfe a foote whiche was moued with so great affection to Iohn of Padilia that at the tyme of bidding of beads on the holy days he recōmended after this maner My brethren I commend vnto you one Aue Maria for the most holy communaltie that it neuer decay I commende vnto you an other Aue Maria for the maiestie of king Iohn of Padilia the God may prosper him I cōmend vnto you an other Aue Maria for the Quéenes highnesse our mistresse and Lady Mary of Padilia that God may preserue hir for of a troth these be the true kings and all the rest before time were tyrantes These prayers continued aboute thrée wéekes little more or lesse After whiche tyme Iohn of Padilia with his menne of warre passed that waye and the souldiers that lodged in the priests house inticed away his woman drank his wine kilde his hennes and eate vp his bacon The sundaye folowing in the Churche he sayde It is not vnknowne vnto you my brethren howe Iohn of Padilia passed this way and howe his souldiors hath left me neuer a henne haue eaten me a flitch of bacon haue drunke out a whole tinage of wine and haue caried away my Cateline I say for that from hencefoorth you shall not pray vnto God for him but for king Charles and for our Lady Quéene Ione for they be the true Princes giue to the diuell these straunge kings Behold here my Lord Bishop how the Curate of Mediana is of more power than your Lorshippe for that he made and vnmade Kings in thrée wéekes whiche you haue not performed in eyght moneths and yet I doe sweare and prophesie that the King that you shall establish in Castile shall endure as little as that king whiche was made by the Curate of Mediana No more but that our Lorde be your protectour and lighten you with his grace From Medina del rio secco the .xx. of December .1521 A letter vnto the Bishop of Zamora sir Antony of Acunna in whiche the Author doth perswade him to turne to the seruice of the kyng REuerend disquiet bishop by the letter of Quintanilla of Medina I was aduertised in what maner your lordship receiued my letter and also vnderstoode that in the ende of reading thereof presentely you beganne to groue and murmuring sayd Is this a thing to be suffred that the tong of Frier Antony of Gueuara may bee of more power than my launce and that he be not contented to haue withdrawne Sir Peter Giron euen from betwixte oure hands but also now euen here doth write me a thousand blasphemies It hath much pleased me that my letter was so wel cōfected that with such swiftnes it
and obey the king I hold these for rebelles amongst the commoners Hernando of Aualos that did inuent it your Ladiship that doth sustayne it your husbande that dothe defende it the Bishop of Zamora that doth prosecute it Sir Peter Giron that doth aucthorize it Sir Peter Lasso that doth publish it Sarabia that doth cōmende it Quintanilla that doth accompany it Sir Charles of Aurellano that doth honor it and Sir Peter Pimentel that commands it all whiche know not what they followe muche lesse what they demaund I do well vnderstand that Hernando of Aualos was the first that inuented the state of all things in common and I know that in your house was commaunded and ordeyned to make conuocation in Auila and the order to raise all Castile in such manner that he made the fier and your Ladiship did blewe it A blacke correction was that of Giberaltar whiche was taken from Hernando of Aualos Since it was the cause that hée deceyued you and you Iohn of Padilla and Iohn of Padilla Sir Peter Giron and sir Peter Giron sir Peter Lasso and Sir Peter Lasso the Abbot of Compludo and the Abbot of Compludo the Bishop of Zamora the Bishop of Zamora the Licenciat Barnardine the Licenciat Barnardine Sarabia and Sarabia all the rest of the Letany I haue many times thought deuised and also enquired what motion might moue your Ladiship to vowe the alteration of this kingdome and all youre friendes and kinsfolke do answer that you haue diuined or else dreamed to sée your husband master of Saint Iames which if it be so is a most certaine great lightnesse and no smal vanitie for it may come to passe that in the place to gyue hym the crosse they may put him vpon the crosse If you woulde make your husband Master of Saint Iames you must take some other order and giue him some other coūsel for so gret a dignitie in times past was not obtayned to the masters thereof by rebellion as you that haue raised all Castile but by fighting valiantly with the Moores in the viage of Granado In all the common welthes of this world there be friends and enemies contented and discontented prosperous and vnfortunate and also loyalties and treasons wherein the one or the other is knowen the loyall in that they giue themselues to serue and the traytors to spoyle and rob Your Ladiship hath to remember that king Iohn is dead and king Henry gone they haue cut the throte of the Marshall Peter Pardo and they haue banished the Iustice Castromino the Captaine Sapico was drowned in a well and Fernan Centeno was hanged in whose miserable times who could do most had most but now praise be to God he that will haue any thing must not only craue but deserue If stories doe not deceiue vs Mamea was proud Medea was cruell Martia was enuious Popilia was vnchast Mirtha was malicious and Domitia was rashe but I haue read of none that hathe bin disloyall and a traytresse but youre Ladiship that hath denied the fidelitie that you owe and the bloud from whence you are discended Your Ladiship descending from a parentage so honorable of bloud so auncient of father so valiant and of linage so noble I know not what sinnes you haue committed that it shoulde be your chaunce to match with a husband of so small discretion and he to obtaine a wife of so great wisdome Women naturally were wont to be pitifull but your Ladiship is cruell they were wont to be milde but you are fierce they were wont to be pacient but you are quarelling and also they were wont to be cowardes but you are ouer hardie in suche wise that to the Duchesse of Vilalua succéeded the Lady Mary of Padilla Assiria complayneth of their scandall Semiramis Damascus for Mithridates Armenia for Pincia Grecia for Helena Germany for Vxodonia Rome for Agripina Spaine for Hecuba and now Castile complayneth not that they are raysed for you but that you haue raised them To quiet this Citie of Toledo where you are resident neither the commaundementes of the King is sufficiente neyther the promises of the Gouernours neither the siege of the Prior Iohn neyther the threatnings of Sir Iohn de Ribora neyther the intreatance of the Archbishop of Varry neither perswasions of your brothers neither yet prayers of the monasteries but that euery day more and more you are fleshed in warre lesse friend to peace Also they report that you haue a sorceresse or rather a foole to your slaue which is a great witch and they say that she doth affirme and make you beléeue that ere it be long you shall be magnified with the title of Grace and your husband with the title highnesse in such wise that you stand◠in great hope to succéede the Quéenes Maiestie and your husband no lesse to succéede the Kings highnesse which I cannot beléeue nor lightly will beléeue But if by chance there be any thing beware of the Diuell and haue no confidence in spirits for Ioseph did dreame that he shuld be Lord of his brethren but he dreamed not that they should sell him into Egypt for a slaue But it may be considering the Deuill is so skilful and very subtill he hathe prognosticated vnto you the same that now you hold the authoritie that your husband now possesseth how the king should be absent and Castile rise and bée in rebellion but on the other side he hath hidden frō you how the communaltie shal be defaced and how your selues shal be cast away Zorastes that was inuentor of that art of magike Democritus the Philosopher Arthenius Captain of the bands Pompeius Consul of the Romanes Iulia the daughter of Iulius and others infinite with them gaue themselues to speake with Diuels and to beléeue much in dreames which as they beléeued if they were aliue would recount vnto vs the great deceypts the Diuell vsed with them here on earthe and the great torments that they giue them there in hell I did neuer sée neyther euer did read mā or womā to beléeue in dreames vse witchcrafts deale with Nigromancers marke or studie in Augurise practise with Enchantors incommende themselues to Magisians that were not holden for light witted and for euill Christians for the Diuell with no man holdeth so straight friendship to the end to aduise him but to deceyue him Also they make report of your Ladiship here that you entred the vestorie or treasure house of Toledo to fetche the plate that was there not to the ende to renew it but to pay your men of warre The maner that you vsed in fetching the same hath not séemed here a little gracious which is that you entred kneeling holding vp your hands couered with blacke striking your brest wéeping and sobbing with two burning torches before you Oh fortunat theft oh glorious pillage oh happie plate since thou hast deserued to be stolne with so gret deuotion from that holy Churche Men when they steale doe
feare and wéepe when they be hanged the contrary is found in your Ladiship since you wéepe when you steale I thinke you will laugh at execution The Romanes to send a certaine present vnto the God Apollo in Delphos all the Ladies and women of Rome gaue their collers from their neckes theyr rings from their fingers their bracelets from their armes and also their eare rings from their eares bycause they helde them better imployed to be giuen to their temples than to weare them to their owne vses Madame God graunt that you be now a better Christian than you would haue then bin a Romane since you haue presumed to take the plate from the Church of Toledo with an euil will would giue your gold to the temple of Apollo To take from souldiours to giue to the Churche it passeth but to take from the Churche to gyue vnto Souldiers is a thing very slaunderous and intollerable in such wise as it was great sacriledge to take it from whēce it was taken and no lesse horrible to giue it where it was gyuen Humbly I beséech your Ladiship to cut off these euilles leaue that people open those gates retire your husband quiet your owne hart giue witchcraft to the Deuil and haue pitie on Toledo for if otherwise the affayres go on as they haue begonne we shall not want wherefore to bewayle and you shall haue to paye From Medina del rio secco the sixtenth of Ianuary .2522 An Oration made in the towne of Braxima vnto the Knights and Gentlemen of the assembly wherein the Author doth request them vnto peace in the name of the King. MAgnificent and extreme Gentlemen I doe inuoke and call to witnesse the God that made me and I do sweare by this holy temple that in all things that here I intende to speake my intent is not to defame any man and lesse to deceyue bicause the religious habit wherewith I am clad and the noble bloud from whence I descend giue no place that I should be of malicious entrailes either double in words Some of those that are here present do very well know my condicion and my conuersation and also you doe knowe the libertie I vse to take in speaking franckly and my bold plainnesse in preaching and in the vse of lying very cold and in reprehending absolute Yesterday which was New yeres day I preached vnto the gouernours and to all the mightie and noble men of the kingdome that was there with them And for that I did sharply say what was to be cut off and in the kingdome to be amended to day they haue commaunded me to come hither with this letter of credite and of safe conduit to the ende I shoulde say vnto you wherein you erre as I saide vnto them wherein they fayled Also gentlemen I bring with me a large instruction firmed by the Cardinall the Admirall and the Constable in whiche is contayned what worde the King doth sende you and what they on his behalfe do offer bycause his writing being séene and my tale heard from hencefoorth eyther cruell warre shal be determined or a generall and godly peace concluded In sixtéene dayes I haue come hither to conferre with you seuen times and bycause the gouernours will not any more commaund me to come hither neyther in these affaires farther to trauell it is necessary that this day we determine and as friends or enemies to declare our selues for otherwise being as you are so neare togither of necessitie you must strike battell I my Masters wil say what I thinke and also wil speake what is commaunded me to the ende that the one and the other being heard you may vnderstand what you haue to aunswere and determine what you haue to doe But first I haue to complaine of your captaine Lares which tooke me and misvsed me both in word and deede he knowing very well that a mediator passing from Campe to Camp in all places is accustomed to go safe There is no reason that Lares should carrye me taken as a thiefe and vse me with rudenes as a traytor for I come in the Kings name and at the commaundement of the gouernours to bring peace and to auoyde warre and besides this if I were one of the world he would hold him selfe right happie to be one of my seruants but leauing this apart I will recite vnto you what I haue passed and the hainous mischaunces whereat I haue ben present Since the king hath bene absent and the cōmonaltie raysed you may credit me in all that I shall say vnto you which I haue not deuined either dreamed but with my eyes haue séen it you wel know of this your cōmotion the beginner was Harnando of Aualos the captaine sir Peter Ciron the generall Iohn of Padilla the counseller the licenciat Barnardine the accessary the Doctor Sūiga the enseigne bearer Peter of Mercado the chaplain the Abbot of Cōpludo and the Metropolitan my Lord bishop of Zamora I was present in Segouia at the first rising that was in this kingdome when vpon the .xxiij. of May on a wednesday after Easter they pulled out of the Churche of S. Mighell the Iustice Tordisillas caried him to the gallowes where they hanged him betwixt two hogges as Iesus Christ was betwixt two théeues I was present also in Auila when all the procurers of the assembly were ioyned together in the vestry of the great Church and there did al sweare to prosecute and die for the seruice of the cōmonaltie except Antony Ponce I that would not sweare whereupon commmaundement was giuen to pul downe his house and that I shoulde departe from Auila Also I was present in Medina del campo the .xxij. of the moneth of August on a tewsday in the morning when Antony of Fons seca came vpon them in the breake of the day with .viij C. launces and for that they denyed him the kings artillery he burnt the towne and the monastery of S. Francis. Also I was present there when the Shereman Bobadilla did rise and others with him and threw out at the towne hall window the Iustice Nieto and slewe Telles the Bookebinder and forthwith toke the house placed porters and entituled him selfe with grace and highnes as though he had ben presently Lorde of Medina or that the King of Castile had ben dead I was present when Valiodolid firste rebelled in burning Medina and al in armour went the whole night pulling down howses hauing for their Captaine Vera the bit maker Also I was in Valiodolid whē the Cardinall fledde away by the bridge the President put himselfe into Saint Benets the Licenciat Vergas skaped out at a window the Licenciat Sapata we brought forth in Friers habite vnto Sigales and the Doctor Gueuara my brother was sent in the name of the Counsell vnto Flaunders all the other lords of the royall Counsel I did not sée them when they were taken but I sawe them afterwards prisoners and nowe I
sée them fled that they neyther dare assemble or execute iustice This other day I sawe in Soria where they hanged a Procurer of the citie béeing poore sicke and olde not bycause he had cōmitted any euill but for that some did wish him euill To report vnto you how they haue throwen the Constable out of Burgos the Marques of Auia frō Tordisillas the Earle and Countesse of Duneas and the knights and gentlemen frō Salamanca and Sir Iames of Mendoza from Palentia and how in place of these gentlemen they haue taken for their leaders and captaines bit makers sheremē skinners lockmakers is no smal shame to recount and infamy to heare The hurts murders robberies and scandals that is nowe committed within this realme I dare say that of this so great fault wée al are in fault bycause our God is so right a iudge that hée would not permit that all should be chastised if all were not offenders The affairs of this miserable kingdome is come to such a state the through the same there is no way sure no tēple priuiledged none that tilleth the fielde none bringeth vitailes none the executeth iustice none safe in their houses yet all confesse a king and appeale to the king but the disgrace is that none doth obserue the law none doth obey the King beleue me if your people did acknowledge the King and obserue the law neyther would they robbe the kingdome or disobey the King but for that they haue no feare of the sword nor doubt of the gallowes they do what they lust and not what they ought I knowe not how you can say that you wil refourme the kingdome since you obey not the King you consent to no gouernours you admit no royall counsell you suffer no Chancelour you haue no Iudges nor Iustices no giuing of sentence in matters of lawe neyther any euill chastised in such wise that your iudgemēt to haue no iustice in the kingedome is to refourme iustice I can not cōprehende how you wil reforme this kingdome since by your consent there is no subiect that shall acknowledge a preacher neither any Nunne that keepes hir cloyster no Frier that remayneth in his monastery neyther womā that obeyeth hir husband nor vassall that obserueth loyalty neyther any man that dealeth iustly in so much that vnder the colour of liberty euery man liueth at his owne wil. I know not how you will reforme the common welth since those of your campe do force women rauish maydens burne villages spoyle houses steale whole slockes cut downe woods and rob churches in such wise that if they leaue any euill vndone it is not bycause they dare not but for that they can not I can not conceiue how you will reforme the common welth since by your occasion Toledo is risen Segouia altered Medina burned Halaheios besieged Burgos fortified Valiodolid immutined Salamanca stragled Soria disobedient and also Valentia an Apostata I can not perceiue how you will reforme the common welth since Naiarza is rebelled against the Duke Dueas against the Earle Tordisillas against the Marques Chincon against his Lorde since Auila Leon Toro Zamora and Salamanca doe neither more or lesse than the assembly doth commaund So may my life prosper as I like of your demaund which is to weete that the King be not absent out of this Realme that he maintaine all men in iustice that he suffer no money to be transported out of the Realme that he giue his rewardes and offices vnto the natural subiectes of Spaine that they deuise not any new tributs and aboue all that the Offices be not solde but gyuen to men of most vertue These and such other like things you haue licence to craue and only the King hath authoritie to graunt but to demaund of princes with the lance that which they haue to prouide by Iustice is not the part of good vassalles but of disloyall seruants wée well vnderstand that many people of this lande doe complaine of the newe gouernement of Flemmings and to speake the truth that fault was not all theirs but in their small experience and our much enuie Further aduertising that the straungers were not more to bée blamed than our owne countrie men they knew not the state of things either what offices to craue neither how they would be solde but that they were aduised and also instructed in the skill thereof by the men of our owne nation in such wise that if in them there did abound desire of gain in vs there did excéed the vice of cruell malice Although Maister Xebes and the rest haue cōmitted some fault I know not that our Spaine hath done any offence that you should in the same and against the same rayse any warre The medicine that you haue inuented for the remedie of this mischiefe is not to purge but to kill But since you will néedes make war let vs examine here against whom is this war not against the king bycause his tender youth dothe excuse him not against the Counsell for they appeare not not against Xebes for hée is in Flaunders not against the Gouernors whiche haue but nowe entred their offices not against the Gentlemen who haue not offended neither yet against tyrantes for the Kingdome was in peace than is this war againe your own countrie and against our own lamentable common wealth The wante of prouidence in the king neither the auarice of Xebes is sufficient cause that we should sée that whiche wée doe sée the people to ryse against people fathers against the sonnes the vncles against their cousins friends against friends neighbors against neybours and brothers against brothers but that our sinne hath so deserued to be chastised and yours hath merited that you shuld be our scourge Speaking more particular you are not able to excuse your faulte for beginning as you did the assemblie of Auila from which counsell all this warre hath had his féeding and of a trouth presently I did diuine and also preache that is to witte that neuer was Monipody of any kingdome whereof did not arise some notable scandall The kingdom is nowe altered the kyng is disobeyed the people are nowe risen the hurt is alreadie begon the fire is alreadye in flame and the common wealth goeth sinking to the bottom But in the ende if it like you a good end may be made from whence may procéede all the remedie for that we haue firmely to beléeue that God will rather heare the hearts that praye for peace than the fifes and drums that proclaime warre If it may lyke you to forget some part of your anger and the gouernours to lose some part of their right I hold it all for finished And to speake you the trouth in popular and ciuil warres men do rather fight for the opinion they haue takē than for the reason that they hold My iudgement should be in this case that you should ioyne with the Gouernours to talke and conferre for the
murdred and buried vpon whose Tomb was placed this Epitaph with his armes whiche englished importeth as followeth Here lyeth the valiant Athaolphus with sixe of his children issued of Gothick bloud this was the first that aduentured to enter Spayne with an Army slayne with his owne men and buried with great teares in the great Citie of Barcelone Sée here the exposition of your Epitaph and the cause of the fame It resteth now to reueale the occasion of the destruction of Spayne and how the Christians lost the same to the Paynims concerning which you muste vnderstande that in the tyme of the raigne of king Roderic whiche was of the line of the Gothes there was in Spayne a Prince called Iulian Earle of Cepta and Lord of Consuegra whiche had a daughter of excellent beautie and incomparable wisedome named Caba Thys Damesell beyng sent to the Courte to attende vppon the Quéene to serue hir according to the manner of the Countrey was cause of the destruction of Spaine For the king being surprised with hir loue when shée woulde not agrée to accomplishe his inordinate desires determined by force if not by loue to inioy hir béeyng thus drowned in extreme passions hée defloured hir within his royall Palace The which when Count Iulian vnderstoode hée was hyghly offended therewith and féeling himselfe muche iniured thereby determined reuenge vpon the kings owne person to the ende he myght make a perpetuall remembrance of the wrong done by the Prince to him and his defloured daughter This Counte Iulian kepte secretely in his stomacke the mortall hatred hée bare vnto King Roderic and when hée sawe conuenient tyme hée made semblance to passe into Africa with an armie whiche the King had committed vnto him where with to repulse the Moores whiche then inuaded the borders of Spaine And hauing conferred of his determinations with Muzza Liuetenaunt generall of that Prouince to the greate Miramamolyn Vlit hée secretely practyzed with him in this sorte that if hée woulde yéelde him sufficient supplye of souldiers hée woulde put all Spaine vnder his obedience The whiche when Muzza vnderstoode hée gaue intelligence thereof to King Miramamolyn who did not onely in curteous wise accepte the offer of the Count but also sent him a sufficient army to bring his deuysed practize to effect The countrie béeyng néere the straites of Giberaltare was well furnished with men of great courage He then folowing fortune béeyng stirred forwarde by his wife and the iniury whiche he had receyued reiecting all loue of his cuntry renouncing obedience to his Prince Sodenly as hée had imbarked his army of Moores in foure ships and strongly fortified himselfe he reuealed to his friends and kinred the iniury which the king had done him by deflouring his daughter and requested their friendly succour in his enterprise so waighty Wherevnto they assenting sent him aide both of men monie Sée here the exposition of your Epitaph and the cause of the fame It resteth now to reueale the occasion of the destruction of Spaine and how the Christians lost the same to the Paynims concerning which you muste vnderstande that in the tyme of the raigne of king Roderic which was of the line of the Gothes there was in Spaine a Prince called Iulian Earle of Cepta and Lorde of Consuegra whiche had a daughter of excellent beautie and incomparable in wisedome named Caba This damsell beyng sent to the Courte to attende vppon the Quéene to serue hir according to the manner of the cuntrie was cause of the destruction of Spaine For the King being surprised with louing hir when shée woulde not agrée to accomplishe his inordinate desires determined by force if not by loue to inioy hir so as béeyng thus drowned in extreme passions hée defloured hir within his royall Palace The whiche when Counte Iulian vnderstoode he was highly offended therewith and féeling himselfe muche iniured thereby determined reuenge vpon the kings owne person to the end he might make a perpetuall remembrance of the wrong done by the Prince to him and his defloured daughter This Counte Iulian kepte secretely in his stomacke the mortall hatred hée bare vnto king Roderic and when hée sawe conuenient tyme hée made semblance to passe into Africa with an armie which the king had committed vnto him where with to repulse the Moores which then inuaded the borders of Spaine And hauing conferred of that which he woulde do with Muzza Auuenokair Liuetenaunt generall of that prouince to the greate Miramamolyn Vlit hée secretely practyzed with him in this sorte that is if hée woulde yéelde him sufficient supply of souldiers hee woulde put all Spaine vnder his obedience The whiche when Muzza vnderstoode hee gaue intelligence thereof to King Miramamolyn who did not onely in curteous wise accepte the offer of the Counte but also sent him a sufficient army to bryng his deuised practize to effect The Ilandes of this country beyng néere the straites of Giberaltare were wel furnished with meÌ„ of great courage He theÌ„ folowing fortune being stirred forwarde by his wife and the iniury which he had receyued reiecting all loue to his cuntry renouncing obedience to his Prince Sodenly as he had imbarked his army of Moores in foure shippes strongly fortified himselfe he reuealed to his friends and kinred the iniurie which the king had done him by deflouring his daughter and requested their friendly succour in his enterprise so waightie Whervnto they assenting sent him aide both of men and monie so as he tooke all the coastes of Spaine and much of the cuntry for the Moores whiche was the firste entrie of the Moores into Spaine and was in the yeare of grace 712. When the miserable king Roderic had vnderstaÌ„ding hereof that if with speede he ordered not his affaires he shoulde be in daunger to loose his realme and state with all the hasâ—â— possible he assembled an armie to encounter the Moores and made a nephew of his Captaine generall But the Moores giuing them the ouerthrow mangled him his men in péeces About which time another armie of Moores which the fornamed Muzza had placed in garison in places before subdued entred and tooke another countrye or prouince Whiche King Roderic vnderstanding and perceyuing the Moores daylye to aduaunce their force committing to fire and swoorde all the countrie that they subdued he gathered togither another army in whiche himselfe in person togither with all the Nobilitie of Spaine woulde go to searche out the Moores which then remayned at Seres and did so in déede where hée made greate slaughter both of the straunge Moores of his owne Christians But in fine the Christian army was vtterly destroyed the king loste in suche wise that afterwards he could neuer be founde quicke or deade From this tyme Spaine fell into the subiection of the Moores This battell was ended on a sunday the fourth of September in the yeare of our Sauiour 714. so as the Moores beeyng then victors might
vs with his mercie and to lend vs his blessed grace by the meanes whereof we might bring foorth the frutes of good woorks wherof he himselfe might be amourous and our conscience comforted Then Sainct Peter that denied him S. Paule that pursued him S. Mathew that as a Publican did exchaunge the théefe that did steale might not haue foūd the house of Iesus Christ if he himselfe first had not giuen his grace Oh loue neuer hearde of oh louer not to be compared the which against the heare of mundaine loue both giue loue and the occasions of loue In charitate perpetua dilexi te sayde Iesus Christ by the Prophete that the loue wherewith Iesus Christ doeth loue vs is not fayned much lesse transitorie but perpetuall stable whiche is moste true in as muche as by the meane of his owne grace he is pleased with vs before our good works can declare vs to be his friendes That with a perpetuall and perfect charitie thou louest mée oh thou loue of my soule and redéemer of my lyfe considering the loue which thou bearest vs is thine and the profite therof is mine pretēding no other thing of thy loue which thou bearest to all creatures but by demonstration to declare thy souerayne bountie in placing vpon vs thy most great and ardent charitie With perpetuall charitie O Lorde thou dost loue vs considering that greate daye of thy passion wherein neyther the tormentes of thy body eyther the despitefull malice of the people might in no maner withdraw thy souerayne bountie or darken thy most great charitie but rather with innarrable sighes and teares incomparable didst praye for them that did crucifie thée didst pardon them that did offend thée And most certainly with a perpetuall charitie did our good Lorde loue vs since from the present houre wherein hée finished his prayer and rendred his spirite incontinent was manifested the frute of his passion and the efficacie of his prayer Non rogo pro ijs tantum sed pro bis qui credituri sunt in me Iesus Christe speaking vnto his father the nyght before his passion sayd O my father I pray not vnto thée onely for my Apostles and Disciples but also I praye as well for all the faythfull whiche shall beleeue in mée and that shall loue thée For euen as thou I be one selfe thing in diuinitie so they and I be one body mysticall by charitie O Redéemer of my lyfe oh repayrer from all my distresses what may I do that may please thée wherewith may I recompence thy great goodnesse wherwith I am indebted if I be not sufficient to giue due thankes for the good things that hourely thou dost bestow vpon me what abilitie may I finde to satisfie the great loue which thou bearest vnto my soule Surely the woordes that the Lorde Iesus Christ did speake in his prayer bée ryght woorthie to bée noted retayned and to memorie to be commended considering we were not yet borne neyther yet our greate Grandfathers He prayed vnto his father with suche instance and great efficacy for the health of all his Churche as much I saye as for those whiche were with him at supper in such wise that the good Lorde as he should die for all woulde pray for all whereof we maye inferre that we ought fully to beléeue and to be out of doubt that since oure redéemer had vs in remembrance before wée came into the world that he will not now forget vs when by faith we enter into his seruice I pray thée gentle Christian say vnto me if Iesus Christe had not pitied our estate what had become of vs surely if the Church of God at this present do contayne or is endued with any obedience patience charitie humilitie abstinence or cōtinence all is to be imputed to the ardēt loue that Iesus Christ did beare vs by the prayer he made vnto his father on oure behalfe redéeming our disgrace with his precious bloud and by his prayer placing vs in fauour To be in loue with such as be present and absent to be in loue both with quicke and dead it passeth but to loue suche as be yet to come and be not yet borne certainly is a thing that was neuer heard of the which our redeemer hath performed and brought to passe and yet hateth the wicked liuer and loueth the good not yet borne In such manner is cuppled togither both life and deathe loue and hatred he that loueth and the thing loued that al taketh end at an houre which is contrary vnto the loue whyche Iesus Christ doth beare vs for his loue had beginning before the creation of the world and yet shall not ende at the daye of iudgement The conclusion of all that we haue sayd shall bée that the excesse or extremitie which was spokē of in the mount of Thabor was of the extreme and excessiue sorrowes that Iesus Christ should endure and of the most great and excessiue loue that he did beare vs and in time to come shoulde shewe vs here by grace and after by glory Ad quam nos perducat Iesus Christus Amen The taking and ouerthrow of Carthage done by Scipio the great with a singular example of continencie which he there expressed written to the Byshop of Carthage MOst honorable Lord and Catholike Prelate I haue receyued in this Citie of Toledo in his Maiesties Chamber the letter that you haue written and the Emrode which you haue sent me the which surely is very faire and rich but notwithstanding in respect of the place and from whome it commeth I rather hold and estéeme it more deare incontinuall remembrance And I vnderstoode by your letter youre estate and how you behaue your selfe in your bishoprick and that you are not as yet disposed to come to this Court for that you are there in greater quietnesse and haue leysure to serue God whereof doubtlesse I do not a little enuie your felicitie for this life at Court is no other thing than a languishing death a certayne vnquiet life without peace and principally without money and a certayne purchace of domage and offence to the body and of Hell for the soule If it pleased his Maiestie that I might retire vnto my house I promise you by the fayth of a Christiā I would not stay one houre at court For the Court is neyther good or conuenient for me either I for the court But being confessor vnto his maiestie and Amner vnto the Emperesse I may not escape one day from the court Notwithstanding amongst all these discommodities wé receyue this benefite whiche is we vnderstand in this Courte all that is done or in practise through the world which is a matter wherein man dothe much delight content his spirites hauing no regarde to other thinges that might tourne him to more profite As touching you my Lorde you possesse youre house with great quietnesse deliuered of all fantasy to come to the
so great merit for their worthy vertues Wherevnto Lucius coulde say no other thing but kissing the right hande of Scipio besought the immortall Gods to remunerate the great goodnesse and passing courtesie he had vsed vnto him confessing his great want of abilitie for the recompence of so great a bountie And after returning vnto the parents of the sayd Damsell rendering their daughter without any raunsome They most instantly besought him that it might please him to accept the gold whiche they had brought for hir raunsome in token and as a pledge of their amitie and dutifull affection Scipio being pressed of them did accept the same and placing it at his feete in the presence of them all called Lucius and sayd behold Lucius I giue thée this gold which thy father and mother in law haue presented me as a gift vnto the marriage of thy wife besides that which before was appoynted thée Take and refuse it not for my sake and as a token for remembrance of sound friendship in time to come Then Lucius and his father and mother in lawe receiuing the Damsell and the golde did take their leaue of Scipio and retired into their countrie publishing in all places wher they past most greatest praise of Scipio and the Romaine people Very shortly after Lucius came to séeke Scipio with fourtéene hundreth horse to attend and assist the Romaynes After which time Scipio departed from Carthage to Tarzacone to giue order for the warres in effect to chace and expulse the Carthaginians out of Spayne My Lorde beholde here my opinion as touching youre demaund and if your honor or the gouernor be not of the same opinion which is that if Marhaball were not the first Carthaginian that entred Spayne and that the great Scipio the African did not take sack and subuert new Carthage I will say no more but that if Titus Liuius were aliue he would giue you suche a cōbat with the Camp of his Decades that he would throughly giue you to vnderstand of your wrong information Of newes there is no other but that his Maiestie is in health and twice a wéeke goeth to the assembly The Emperesse also is in health and this hote weather féedeth very little Thys other night from Ciuile they broughte a paquet of letters vnto his maiestie wherein he was aduertised of ten shippes from Peru to be arriued in the hauen of Ciuill with twenty Millions of gold whereof there were eight for his maiestie and twelue for other particular persons Diego of Acunia the bearer hereof shall farther make report of all that passeth here at court No more but God haue you in his kéeping and giue me grace to serue him From Toledo the 22. of Iuly 1537. A disputatiō and discourse holdē against the Iewes of Rome wherin is declared notable authorities of the sacred Scripture ALiama Horranda which is to say honorable troupe of Inis I remayne with the long disputation past so wéery and my head so distempred with your cries that if it were not for the seruice of my Lorde Iesus Christe and for the zeale of youre soules the profession of a deuine as also for the honor of my law which I confesse soundly beleeue you shoulde be assured that I would neither dispute with you any more or enter at any time into your Sinagogue for that as touching your cōuersion ye are too too much obstinate and in the maner of disputation extremely opiniatiue Neyther vnto you eyther yet vnto me doth it apertayne that the difficulties or opinions which eyther of vs defendeth shuld be verefied with offensiue armes much lesse with iniurious words assuring that at the Scholes where I haue studied and of the masters of whome I haue learned he was not esteemed wise that cried strongly but could performe and speake very well And since we debate not vppon any matter of your goodes much lesse is my comming for the same or any suche purpose but only for the verifying of the sacred Scripture I pray you for the loue of God interrupt not my reasons but heare me with patience vntill I haue finished my tale for al you of this Sinagogue hold for custome that if any word be spokē againste your tast or liking forthwith ye begin to garboile cry brable Therefore heare me and I will heare you speake or else I will speake giue eare vnto me or else I wil hearken vnto you suffer me and I shall endure and suffer you since we talke confer and dispute of matters so high and deuine it is good reason that such difficulties and so great mysteries should be disputed after the manner of wise men and not crying as fooles considering that the wisedome of the wise is knowen by his talke and his prudence in the modestie which he vseth in his speech I haue sayd all this for that in the disputation which wee haue had betwixt vs eight days past ye did not only impugne and speake against both the authorities which I alleadged of the holy Prophet Esay and of King Dauid but also ioyning your fistes to my eyes ye charged me with the lie iniuriously and threatning If ye shuld say that I am a great sinner a dasterd dull and simple I confesse the same But to saye that is false whiche I alledged or erroneous whiche I defended I vtterly appeale and denie for my good Lord Iesus Christ of his mercy either coulde or woulde fayle me therin But comming to the purpose me thinketh to commit no iniurie to bring foorth and alleage the passages of the holy Bible and therewithall of the holy Prophet Dauid and a king amongst you best beloued and of Esay the Prophet of you most esteemed The whiche haue sayde and prophecied of the ignorance which ye should haue from the which I beséech God to drawe you and with his grace to enspire you for certaynely I haue compassion to consider youre greate infamie hauing in times past aboue all nations receyued most fauour of God. Scrutati sunt iniquitates defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio The royal Prophet Dauid sayd speaking of the doctors of your lawe as if he would say the ministers of the lawe be set to interprete and declare the sacred scripture from the which they haue not drawen but falshood and malice But now honorable Inis I pray you to say of whome doth your Prophete here speake And tell me what they be that dare falsifye the sacred scripture to the ende we may vnderstand to shun them or else as Heretiques to burne them For as the diuine Plato sayde he ought to be accused of high treason that falsely doth interprete the law If ye will saye that the Gentiles Scrutati sunt iniquitates which is to say That they haue euill interpretated the law I answere that you speake vniustly and raise a false testimonie against them for the princes of the heathen haue more gloried and giuen themselues vnto the warres than to the
was afflicted Man by the multitude of his sinnes doth deserue to be an offence and a scourge of the good Much did the Diuell offend Iob in tempting him but much more did holy Iob deserue in suffering that temptation Bycause in the persecutions of the iust God doth more behold the pacience of him that suffreth than he doth the malice of him that doth persecute Also you will that I write vnto you what it was I preached this other day vnto the Emperour which is to wit that the Princes which tyraÌ„nously gouerne their common wealthes haue more cause to feare good men than those that be euill Sir that whiche I sayde in this case was that the tyrants whiche in the common wealthes haue offices of most preheminence haue much more respect to the bountie of the good than to the conspiracies of the euill For that amongst many other thinges this priuilege is coÌ„tayned in vertue that is to vnderstand amongst the least inferiors it giueth dismay with the equall it moueth enuie and to the great mightie it yeldeth feare The Siracusan Dionisius had more feare of the diuine Plato which was in Grecia than of al the enemies he had neare him in Cicilia Kyng Saule had more respect to the deseruings of Dauid than to the armies of the Philistines The proud Aman that was so priuate with Kyng Assuerus was more grieued with the good Mardocheus that he held him in no reuerence than with all the rest of the kyngdome Herod Escalonite did hold in more reuereÌ„ce and also did more feare only Iohn Baptist than all the kingdome of Iudea Finally I do say and affirme that none may with a troth say or affirme that he hathe an enemie but when he hath some good man to his enemie Bycause the euil man doth hurt with his knife but the good doth hurt with his credit Sir alwaies haue regard not to striue or contend with a man that naturally is good and hath credite in the common wealth with all men For he shall do you more hurt with his word than you shall offend him with a blowe of a launce Sir as touching the Commendathor Iohn of Towres that would not the gouernment this yéere which the gouernours had giuen him saying that he deserued better and that the king when he shall come from Flaunders will giue him more to this I aunswere that it seemeth to me lacke of wit and also a surplusage of foolishnesse to leaue a reward certaine for a hope doubtfull Sir also you coniure me that I write vnto you what I thought of the Lorde President Sir Antony de Roias when I talked with him in your businesse to this I aunswere that hée séemeth to mée sharpe in his aunsweres and wise in his dealings I do not like well with many of this Court that depraue him for his speache and do not afterwards consider of his doings as it is true so likewise many of our fréends giue vs wordes by Kintals but workes by the ounce Also you will mée that I write vnto you what I iudge of the Embassadour of Venize for that I am conuersant with him and hée confesseth himself with me Sir I can tell you that hée is in science learned in his life reformed and in conscience much considerate And it may bée sayde by him thatwhich Plato saide by Phocion his friend he did more loue to bée than séeme to be vertuous In the other secrete and particular businesse that Alonso Espinell commoned with mée off in your behalf with the same faith that your worship sent me the message receyue yée also the aunswere From Toledo the .xxx. of Iune in the yeare of our Lord. 1525. A letter vnto Master Frier Iohn Beneuiades wherein is expounded that which is sayd in the scripture that the euill spirite sent of God came vpon Saule REuerend and welbeloued Father the letter that your fatherhod made in Salamanca I haue receiued héere in Soria the which forthwith I read and afterwardes many times did turne to reade For that I receyued very great consolatioÌ„ in remembring my self from whom it came and in noting what it contained In the letter of a very friend the spirits do reioyce the eyes delight the hart is recreated friendeship confirmed and the vnderstanding is comforted For Plutarch sayth in the book of the fortune of Alexander that the great Alexander did neuer reade the letters whiche tyrantes did send him eyther did teare the letters that Philosophers did write vnto him All the letters that Marcus Antonius did write vnto Cleopatra and all the letters that Cleopatra did write vnto Marcus Antonius were found by the Emperoure Augustus very well laide vp after the death of Marcus Antonius The letters that Cicero did write to Publius Lentulus to Atticus to Rufus to Fabarius and to Drusius which were his familiar frends were all found in their keping and not in his originall As coâ—cerning that your fatherhode wryteth and by this letter comaund me to write it may be very well answered as saint Agneda did answer the virgin Lucie which is to wete Quid a me petis Lucia Virgo nam ipsa poteris praestare continuò matri tuae In this case and in this demaund I can not tell whether of vs deserueth more paine your fatherhode for tempting my patience or I in aduenturning my selfe to publishe my ignorance For hée is not worthy lesse fault that sinneth than hée that is the cause of sinne Si nequeo ascendere in montem cum Loth ad minus saluabor in Segor I would say that if your fatherhode bée not satisfied with that whiche I shall aunswere it maye please you to bée satisfied with that I would aunswere For as Plato sayd hée that doth trauel not to erre misseth very narowly You will that I write vnto you what I iudge and how I vnderstand that text whiche is written in holy scripture 1. Regum cap. xvj where it is said speaking of King Saul and of his infirmitie Spiritus Domini malus arripiebat Saulem The fyrst King of Israell was named Saul he was chosen of the Tribe of Beniamin which was the last Tribe of all the Tribes and in the second yeare of his raigne an euill spirit sent of God did vex him whiche would not come out of him neyther leaue to torment him vntill the good King Dauid came before him to play and to sing But now the dout is how it may be vnderstoode and agrée withall that the scripture should say the euill spirit of the Lord did take Saul if the spirit were of the Lord how was he euell and if he were euill how was he of the Lord it séemeth an hard thing and not intelligible to say of the one part that that spirit which held Saul was of the Lord and of the other part to say that the spirit was euil But if the spirite were of the Lord how was he then euil and if he were euill