employ our lives if our friends stand in need of-vs But seldome shall we see a man communicate his honor share his reputation and imparte his glory vnto others Catulus Luctatius in the warres against the Cymbres having done the vtmost of his endevours to stay his souldiers that fled before their enemies put-himselfe amongest the runne-awaies and dissembled to bee a coward that so they might rather seeme to follow their Captaine then flie from the enemie This was a neglecting and leaving off his reputation to conceale the shame and reproach of other When Charles the fift passed into Provence the yeare a thousand five hundred thirty seaven some are of opnion that Anthony de Leva seeing the emperor his master resolutely obstinate to vndertake that voyage deeming it wonderfully glorious maintained neverthelesse the contrary and discouncelled him from-it to the end all the honour and glory of this counsell might be attributed vnto his Maister and that it might be said his good advise and fore-sight to have been such that contrary to al mens opinions he had atchieved so glorious an enterprise Which was to honor and magnifie him at his owne charges The Thracian Ambassadors comforting Achileonida the Mother of Brasidas for the death of hir son and highly extolling and commending him said he had not left his equall behind him She refused this private commendation and particular praise assigne-it to the publike state Do not tell me that quoth she For I knowe the Citty of Sparta hath many greater and more valiant Citizens then he was At the battaile of Creey Edward the blacke Prince of Wales being yet very yoong had the leading of the vant-gard The greatest and chiefe violence of the fight was in his quarter The Lordes and Captains that accompanied him perceiving the great danger sent vnto King Edward the princes father to come and help them which when he hard he enquired what plight his sonne was-in and how he did and hearing that he was living and on horse-backe I should quoth he offer him great wrong to goe now and deprive him of the honor of this combates victory which he already hath so long sustained what danger soever there be in-it it shall wholy be his and would neither goe nor send vnto him knowing that if he had gone or sent it would have beene said that without his ayd all had beene lost and that the advantage of this exployt would have beene ascribed vnto him Semper enim quod postremum adiectum est id rem totam videtur traxisse For ever more that which was last added seemes to have drawne on the whole matter In Rome many thought and it was commonly spoken that the chiefest glorious deeds of Scipio were partely due vnto Lalius who notwithstanding did ever advance the greatnesse further the glory and second the renowne of Scipio without any respect of his owne And Theopompus King of Sparta to one who tolde him that the common-wealth should subsist and continue still forsomuch as he could command so well No said he it is rather because the people know so well how to obey As the women that succeeded in the Peere-domes of France had notwithstanding their sexâ— right to assist and priviledge to plead in cases appertaining to the iuridictions of Peeres So the Ecclesiasticall Peeres notwithstanding their profession and function were bound to assist our Kings in their warres not onely with hir friends servants and tenants but in their owne person The Bishop of Beauvais being with Philip Augustus in the battell of Bovines did very couragiously take part with him in the effect but thought hee should not be partaker of the fruite and glory of that bloody and violent exercise He overcame and forced that day many of the enimies to yeeld whom he delivered vnto the first gentleman hee met withall to rifle to take them prisoners or at their pleasure to dispose of them Which he also did with William Earle of Salisbury whom he delivered vnto the Lord Iohn of Neste with a semblable subtletie of conscience vnto this other He desired to fell and strike down a man but not to wound or hurt him and therefore never sought but with a great clubbe A man in my time being accused to the King to have laide violent hands vpon a Priest denied it very stoutly forsomuch as he had onely thumped and trampled him with his feete The two and fortieth Chapter Of the inequalitie that is betweene vs. PLutarke saith in some place That he findes no such great difference betweene beast and beast as he findeth diversitie betweene man and man He speaketh of the sufficiencie of the minde and of internall qualities Verily I finde Epaminondas so farre taking him as I suppose him from some that I know I meane capable of common sense as I could finde in my heart to endeare vpon Plutarke and say there is more difference betweene such and such a man than there is diversitie betweene such a man and such a beast Hem vir viro quid praestat O Sir how much hath one An other man out-gone And that there be so many degrees of spirits as there are steps betweene heaven and earth and as innumerable But concerning the estimation of men it is marvell that except our selves no one thing is esteemed but for i'ts proper qualities We commend a horse because he is strong and nimble volucrem Sic laudamus equum facili cui plurima palma Fervet exultat rauco victoria circo We praise the horse that beares most belles with flying And triumphs most in races hoarce with crying and not for his furniture a graie-hound for his swiftnesse not for his choller a hawke for hir wing not for hir cranes or belles Why doe we not likewise esteeme a man for that which is his owne He hath a goodly traine of men following him a stately pallace to dwell in so great credit amongst men and so much rent comming in Alas all that is about him and not in him No man will buy a pig in a poke If you cheapen a horse you wil take his saddle and clothes from him you will see him bare and abroade or if he be covered as in old times they wont to present them vnto Princes to be sold it is onely his least necessary parts lest you should ammuse your selfe to consider his colour or breadth of his crupper but chiefly to view his legges his head his eyes and his foote which are the most remarkable parts and above all to be considered and required in him Regibus hic mos est vbi equos mercantur apertos Inspiciunt ne si facies vt saepe decora Molli fulâ—a pede est emptorem inducat hiantem Quòd pulchrae clunes breve quòd caput ardua cervix This is Kings maner when they horses buy They see them bare lest if as oft we try Faire face have soft hoofes gull'd the buyer be They buttockes round short head high crest may see
IOANNES FLORIVS AVGVSTAE ANNAE ANGL SCOT FRANC ET HIB REGINAE PRAELECTOR LING ITALICAE CHI SI CONTENTA GODE AET 58. A.D. 1611 In virtute suâ contentus nobilis arte Italus ore Anglus pectore vterque opere Floret adhuc et adhuc florebit floreat vltra FLORIVS hâc specie floridus optat amans Gul Hole sculp Tam foelix vtinam ESSAYES WRITTEN IN French By MICHAEL Lord of Montaigne Knight of the Order of S. Michael Gentleman of the French Kings Chamber DONE INTO ENGLISH according to the last French edition by IOHN FLORIO Reader of the Jtalian tongue vnto the Soueraigne Maiestie of ANNA Queene of England Scotland France and Ireland c. And one of the Gentlemen of hir Royall Priuie chamber LONDON Printed by MELCH BRADVVOOD for EDVVARD BLOVNT and WILLIAM BARRET TO THE MOST ROYAL AND RENOVMED MAIESTIE of the High-borne Princesse ANNA of DENMARKE by the Grace of God QVEENE of England Scotland France and Ireland c. Imperiall and Incomparable Maiestie SEeing with me all of me is in your Royall possession and whatsoeuer pieces of mine haue heeretofore vnder other starres passed the publike view come now of right to be vnder the predomination of a Power that both contain's all their perfections and hath influences of a more sublime nature I could not but also take in this part wherof time had worn-out the edition which the world hath long since had of mine and lay it at your Sacred feet as a memoriall of my deuoted dutie and to shew that where I am I must be all I am and can not stand dispersed in my obseruance being wholly and therein happy Your sacred MAIESTIES most humble and loyall seruant IOHN FLORIO ALL' AVGVSTA MAESTA DI ANNA Seren. ma REGINA d' Inghilterra di Scotia di Francia d' Irlanda c. C He si può dir di VOI somma REGINA Che non sia detto delle più lodate Di Magnanimità Virtù Beltate Incomparabile Sopra-diuina Anzi che stile tanto si raffina Che non sia vinto dalla Maestate L' Altezza la Chiarezza la Bontate Alla qual ' ogni cuor di-cuor s' inchina La qual di tutti honori'l specchio mostra La qual ' il pregio Sour a tutte tiene ANNA l' anello della Gioia nostra La nostra sicurtà la nostra spene VIEN DALL ' ECCELSO LA GRANDEZZA vostra Dalla GRANDEZZA vostra'l nostro bene Il Candido TO THE READER ENough if not too much hath been sayd of this Translation If the faults found euen by my selfe in the first impression be now by the Printer corrected as he was directed the worke is much amended If not know that through mine attendance on hir Maiestie I could not intend-it and blame not Neptune for thy second shipwracke Let me conclude with this worthie mans daughter of alliance Que t'en semble donc lecteur Still resolute IOHN FLORIO To my deare brother and friend M. IOHN FLORIO one of the Gentlemen of hir Maiesties most Royall Priuie Chamber BOoks like superfluous humors bred with ease So stuffe the world as it becomes opprest With taking more than it can well digest And now are turnd to be a great disease For by this ouer charging we confound The appetite of skill they had before There be'ng no end of words nor any bound Set to conceit the Ocean without shore As if man laboured with himselfe to be As infinite in writing as intents And draw his manifold vncertaintie In any shape that passion represents That these innumerable images And figures of opinion and discourse Draw'n out in leaves may be the witnesses Of our defects much rather than our force And this proud frame of our presumption This Babel of our skill this Towre of wit Seemes only checkt with the confusion Of our mistakings that dissolueth it And well may make vs of our knowledge doubt Seeing what vncertainties wee build vpon To be as weake within booke as without Or els that truth hath other shapes then one But yet although wee labor with this store And with the presse of writings seeme opprest And have to many bookes yet want wee more Feeling great dearth and scarsenesse of the bell Which cast in choiser shapes haue bin produc'd To giue the best proportions to the minde Of our confusion and haue introduc'd The likeliest images frailtie can finde And wherein most the skill-desiring soule Takes her delight the best of all delight And where her motions evenest come to rowle About this doubtfull center of the right Which to discouer this great Potentate This Prince Montaigne if he be not more Hath more aduentur'd of his owne estate Then euer man did of himselfe before And hath made such bolde sallies out vpon Custome the mightie tyrant of the earth In whose Seraglio of subiection Wee all seeme bred-vp from our tender birth As I admire his powres and out of loue Here at his gate do stand and glad I stand So neere to him whom I do so much loue T'applaude his happie setling in our land And safe transpassage by his studious care Who both of him and vs doth merit much Having as sumptuously as he is rare Plac'd him in the best lodging of our speach And made him now as free as if borne here And as well ours as theirs who may be proud That he is theirs though he be euery where To haue the franchise of his worth allow'd It be'ing the proportion of a happie Pen Not to b'invassal'd to one Monarchie But dwell with all the better world of men Whose spirits all are of one communitie Whom neither Ocean Desarts Rockes nor Sands Can keepe from th'intertraffique of the minde But that it vents her treasure in all lands And doth a most secure commercement finde Wrap Excellencie vp neuer so much In Hierogliphicques Ciphers Caracters And let her speake neuer so strange a speach Her Genius yet finds apt discipherers And neuer was she borne to dye obscure But guided by the starres of her owne grace Makes her owne fortune and is ever sure In mans best hold to hold the strongest place And let the Critick say the worst he can He cannot say but that Montaigne yet Yeeldes most rich pieces and extracts of man Though in a troubled frame confus'dly set Which yet h 'is blest that he hath euer seene And therefore as a guest in gratefulnesse For the great good the house yeelds him within Might spare to taxe th'vnapt conuayances But this breath hurts not for both worke and frame Whilst England English speakes is of that store And that choyse stuffe as that without the same The richest librarie can be but poore And they vnblest who letters doe professe And have him not whose owne fate beates their want With more sound blowes then Alcibiades Did his Pedante that did Homer want By SAM DANIEL one of the Gentlemen extraordinarie of her Maiesties most royall priuie Chamber Concerning the honor of bookes SInce Honor
man will know that is victorie indeed which shall be attained with credit vnimpeached and dignitie vntainted saith another Vos ne velit an me regnare hera quid-veferat fo rs Virtute experiamur If fortune will have you to raigne or me And what chance bring 's let vertues triall be In the Kingdome of Ternates among those nations which wee so full-mouthed call Barbarous the custome beareth that they never vndertake a warre before the same be denounced thereunto adding an ample declaration of the meanes they have to employ therein what manner and how many men what munition and what Armes either offensive or defensive which done they also establish as a law that without reproch or imputation it shall be lawfull for any man in their warres to vse what advantage soever may in any sort further or helpe them to vanquish The ancient Florentines were so far from desiring any advantage of their enemies by sudden surprises that a moneth before they could bring their Armie into the field they would give them warning by the continuall sound of their common bell which they called Marâ—â—nella As for vs who are lesse superstitious and deeme him to have the honour of the warre that hath the profit of it and according to Lisander say that Where the Lions-skinne will not suffice wee must adde a scantling of the Foxes the most ordinarie occasions of surprises are drawne from this practise and as wee say there is no time wherein a Captaine ought to be more warie and circumspect to looke about him than that of parlies and treaties of accord And therefore is it a common rule in the mouth of all our modern men of warre that the Gouernour or Commaunder of a besieged place ought never to sallie forth himselfe to parlie In the time of our forefathers the same was cast in the teeth as a reproach vnto the Lord of Montmorâ— and Assigni who defended Mouâ—â—â— against the Earle of Nanseaw Yet in this case it were excusable in him that should so sallie out that the assurance and advantage might still be on his side As did the Earle Guâ—â—o Râ—ngom in the Citie of Reggio if credit may be given to Bellay for Guicciâ—â—â—â— affirmeth that it was himselfe when as the Lord of Escute comming to parlie made his approaches vnto it for he did so little forsake his fort that whilest they were in parlie a commotion being raised the Lord of Escute and the troupes which came with him in that tumult found himselfe to be the weakest so that Alexander Trivultio was there slaine and hee deeming it the safest way was forced to follow the Earle and on his word to yeeld himselfe to the mercie and shelter of blowes into the Citie Eumenes in the Citie of Nora being vrged by Antigonus that besieged him to sallie forth to parlie alleaging that there was reason he should come to him sith he was the better man and the stronger after he had made this noble answere I will never thinke any man better than my selfe so long as I can hold or rule my sword nor did he ever yeeld vntill Antigonus had delivered him Ptolomey his owne nephew for a pledge whom he required Yet shall wee see some to have prospered well in sallying foorth of their holdes to parlie vpon the word and honor of the assailant witnes Henrie of Vaulx a knight of Champaigne who being beleagred by the English-men in the Castle of Commercie and Bartholmew of Bones who at that siege commaunded as Chiefe having caused the greatest part of the Castle to be vndermined so that there wanted nothing but the giving of fire vtterly to subvert the same vnder the ruines of it summoned the said Henrie to issue out and for his owne good to parlie with him which he did accompanied but with three more who manifestly seeing the evident ruine wherein he was vndoubtedly like to fall acknowledged himself infinitely beholding to his enemie vnto whose discretion after he had yeelded togither with his troup and that fire was given to the Mine the maine props of the Castle failing it was vtterly overthrowne and carried away I am easily perswaded to yeeld to other mens words and faith but hardly would I do it when I should give other men cause to imagine that I had rather done it through dispaire and want of courage than of a free and voluntary choise and confidence in his honestie and well-meaning The sixth Chapter That the houre of parlies is dangerous NOtwithstanding I saw lately that those of Musidan a place not farre from mee who with others of their partie were by our forces compelled to dislodge thence exclaimed they were betraid because during the speech of accord and the treatie yet continuing they had beene surprized and defeated which thing might happily in other ages have had some apparence of truth but as I say our manner of proceeding in such cases is altogether differing from these rules and no man ought to expect performance of promise from an enemie except the last seale of bond be fully annexed thereunto wherein notwithstanding is then much care and vigilancie required and much adoe shall be found And it was ever a dangerous counsell to trust the performance of word or othe given vnto a Citie that yeelds vnto gentle and favourable composition and in that furie to give the needie blood-thirstie and pray-greedy Souldier free entrance into it vnto the free choise and licence of a victorious armie Lucius Aemilius Regillus a Romane Praetor having lost his time in attempting by force to take the Citie of the Phocens by reason of the singular prowesse which the inhabitants shewed in stoutly defending themselves covenanted to receive them as friends vnto the people of Rome and to enter their Citie as a place confederate remooving all feare of hostile-action from them But to the end hee might appeare more glorious and dreadfull having caused his armie to enter with him do what he might he could not bridle the rage of his Souldiers and with his owne eies saw most part of the Citie ransacked and spoiled the rights of covetousnesse and revenge supplanting those of his authoritie and militarie discipline Cleomenes was woont to say that What hurt soever a man might doe his enemies in time of warre was beyond iustice and not subiect vnto it as well towards the Gods as towards men who for seaven dayes having made truce with those of Argos the third night whilest they were all asleepe mistrusting no harme hee charged and overthrew them alleaging for his excuse that in the truce no mention had bin made of nights But the Gods left not his perfidious policie vnrevenged For during their enter-parlie and businesse about taking hostages the Citie of Casilinum was by surprise taken from him which happened in the times of the justest Captaines and of the most perfect Romane discipline For it is not said that time and place serving wee must not make vse and take advantage of our
chiefe thing I learne in them is their stile and language if Phisitians I believe them in whatsoever they shall report concerning the temperatenesse of the aire the health and complexion of Princes or of hurts and infirmities If Lawiers we should observe the controversies of rights titles and pretenses of lawes and customes the establishments of policies and such like things If Divines we may note the affaires of the Church the Ecclesiasticall censures dispensations cases of conscience and marriages If Courtiers maners complements ceremonies and entertainements if Warriors what belongs vnto their charge but chiefly the managing and conduct of the atchievements or exploits wherein they have bin themselves in person If Ambassadors the negotiations intelligences practises pollicies and maner how to direct complot and conduct them And therefore what in an other Writer I should peradventure have cursorie passed over I have with some advisednesse considered and marked the same in the historie of the Lord of Langey a man most expert and intelligent in such matters which is that after he had exactly set downe and declared those glorious and farre-fetcht remonstrances of the Emperour Charles the fifth made in the consistorie of Rome in the presence of the Bishop of Mascon and the Lord of Velly our Ambassadors wherein he entermixed many bitter and outragious words against vs and amongst others that if his Captaines and Souldiers were not of much more faithfulnesse and sufficiencie in the arte of warre then our Kings he would forthwith tie a rope about his neck and go aske him mercie whereof hee seemed to believe some thing for afterward whilest he lived he chanced twice or thrice to vtter the verie same words Moreover that he had challenged the king to fight with him man to man in his shirt with Rapier and Dagger in a boat The said Lord of Langey following his storie addeth that the said Ambassadors making a dispatch of what had passed vnto the king dissembled the chiefest part vnto him yea and concealed the two precedent articles from him Now me thought it very strange that it should lie in the power of an Ambassadour to dispence with any point concerning the advertisements he should give vnto his Master namely of such consequence comming from such a person and spoken in so great an assembly whereas me seemed it should have beene the office of a trustie servant truely and exactly to set downe things as they were and in what manner they had succeeded to the end the libertie of disposing judging and chusing might wholie lie in the master For to alter and conceale the truth from him for feare he should conster and take it otherwise than he ought and leâ—t that might provoke him to some bad resolution and in the meane while to suffer him to be ignorant of his owne affaires me thought should rather have appertained to him that giveth the law than to him that receiveth the same to the Master or over-seer of the schoole and not to him who should thinke himselfe inferior as well in authoritie as in wisedome and good counsell Howsoever it were I would be loath to be so vsed in mine owne small and particular busines we do so willingly vpon every slight occasion and pretence neglect and forgo commandement and are so farre from obeying that we rather vsurp a kind of masterie and free power every man doth so naturally aspire vnto libertie and authoritie that no profit ought to be so deare vnto a superiour proceeding from those that serve him as their simple and naturall obedience Whosoever obeieth by discretion and not by subjection corrupteth and abuseth the office of commanding And P. Crassus he whom the Romans deemed five times happy when he was Consull in Asia having sent a Graecian Inginer to bring the greatest of two ship-masts before him which he had seene in Athens therewith to frame an engine of batterie This man vnder colour of his skill presumed to do otherwise than he was bidden and brought the lesser of the two masts which according to his artes reason he deemed the fittest Crassus having patiently heard his reasons and allegations caused him to be well whipped preferring the interest of true discipline before that of the worke On the other side a man might also consider that this so strict obedience belongs but to precise and prefixed commandements Ambassadors have a more scopefull and free charge which in manie points dependeth chiefly of their disposition They do not meerely execute but frame and direct by their owne advise and councell the will of their Master I have in my daies seene some persons of commandement checked and found faâ—lt withall because they had rather obeied the literall sense and bare words of the Kings letters than the occasions of the affaires they had in hand Men of vnderstanding and experience do yet at this day condemne the custome of the Kings of Persia which was to mince the instructions given to their Agents and Lieutenants so small that in the least accident they might have recourse to their directions and ordinances This delay in so farre-reaching a scope of domination having often brought great prejudice and notable damage vnto their affaires And Crassus writing vnto a man of that profession and advertising him of the vse whereto he purposed the foresaid mast seemeth he not to enter into conference with him concerning his determination and wish him to enterpose his censure or advise of it The seventeenth Chapter Of feare Obstupui steterùntque comae vox faucibus haesit I stood agast my haire on end My jaw-tide tongue no speach would lend I Am no good Naturalist as they say and I know not well by what springs feare doth worke in vs but well I wot it is a strange passion and as Physitians say there is none doth sooner transport our judgement out of his due seat Verily I have seene divers become madde and senselesse for feare yea and in him who is most setled and best resolved it is certaine that whilest his fitte continueth it begetteth many strange dazelings and terrible amazements in him I omit to speake of the vulgar sort to whom it sometimes representeth strange apparitions as their fathers and grandfathers ghosts risen out of their graves and in their winding sheetes and to others it somtimes sheweth Larves Hobgoblins Robbin-good-fellowes and such other Bug-beares and Chimeraes But even amongst Souldiers with whom it ought to have no credit at all how often hath she changed a flocke of sheep into a troupe of armed men Bushes and shrubbes into men-at-armes and Lanciers our friends into our enemies and a red crosse into a white At what time the Duke of Bourbon tooke Rome an Ancient that kept sentinell in the borough Saint Peter was at the first alarum surprised with such terror that with his colours in his hand he sodainly threw himselfe through the hole of a breach out of the Citie and fell just in the middest of his enemies supposing the way
to go straight in the hart of the Citie but in the end he no sooner perceived the Duke of Burbons troupes advancing to withstand him imagining it to be some sallie the Citizens made that way he better be-thinking him-selfe turned head and the very same way he came out he went into the town againe which was more than three hundred paces distance towards the fields The like happened but not so successefully vnto Captaine Iulius-his ensigne-bearer at what time Saint Paul was taken from vs by the Earle of Bures and the Lord of Reu who was so frighted with feare that going about to cast himselfe over the towne wals with his Ancient in his hand or to creepe through a spike-hole he was cut in pieces by the assailants At which siege likewise that horror and feare is verie memorable which so did choake seize vpon and freeze the hart of a gentleman that having received no hurt at all he fell downe starke-dead vpon the ground before the breach The like passion rage doth sometimes possesse a whole multitude In one of the encounters that Germanicus had with the Germanes two mightie troupes were at one instant so frighted with feare that both betooke themselves to their heeles and ranne away two contrary waies the one right to that place whence the other fled It sometimes addeth wings vnto our heeles as vnto the first named and other times it takes the vse of feete from vs as we may reade if Theophilus the Emperour who in a battell he lost against the Agarenes was so amazed and astonied that he could not resolve to scape away by flight adeò pavor etiam auxilia formidat Feare is so afraide even of that should help Vntill such time as Manuel one of the chiefe leaders in his armie having rouzed and shaken him as it were out of a dead sleepe said vnto him Sir if you will not presently follow me I will surely kill you for better were it you should loose your life than being taken prisoner loose your Empire and all Then doth she shew the vtmost of her power when for her own service she casts vs off vnto valour which it hath exacted from our duty and honor In the first set battell the Romans lost against Hanibal vnder the Consul Sempronius a troupe of wel-nigh tenne thousand footemen was so surprised with feare that seeing no other way to take nor by what other course to give their basenes free passage they headlong bent their flight toward the thickest and strongest squadron of their enemies which with such furie it rowted and brake through as it disranked and slew a great number of the Carthaginians purchasing a reprochfull and disgracefull flight at the same rate it might have gained a most glorious victorie It is feare I stand most in feare of For in sharpnesse it surmounteth all other accidents What affection can be more violent and just than that of Pompeyes friends who in his owne ship were spectators of that horrible massacre yet is it that the feare of the Aegyptian sailes which began to approach them did in such sort daunt and skare them that some have noted they only busied themselves to hasten the marriners to make what speed they could and by maine strength of oares to save themselves vntill such time as being arived at Tyre and that they were free from feare they had leasure to bethinke themselves of their late losse and give their plaints and teares free passage which this other stronger passion had suspended and hindred Tum pavor sapientiam omnem mihi ex animo expectorat Feare then vnbreasts all wit That in my minde did â—it Those who in any skirâ—ish or sudden bickering of warre have been throughly skared sore-hurt wounded and gored as they be are many times the next day after brought to charge againe But such as have conceived a true feare of their enemies it is hard for you to make them looke them in the face againe Such as are in continuall feare to loose their goods to be banished or to besubdued live in vncessant agonie and languor and thereby often loose both their drinking their eating and their rest Whereas the poore the banished and seely servants live often as carelessely and as pleasantly as the other And so many men who by the impatience and vrging of feare have hanged drowned and head long tumbled downe from some rocke have plainely taught vs that feare is more importunate and intolerable then death The Graecians acknowledge an other kinde of it which is beyond the error of our discourse proceeding as they say without any apparant cause and from an heavenly impulsion Whole Nations and Armies are often seene surprised with it Such was that which brought so wonderfull a desolation to Carthage where nothing was heard but lamentable out-cries and frightfull exclamations the inhabitants were seene desperately to runne out of their houses as to a sudden alarum and furiously to charge hurt and entâ—â— kill one another as if they had beene enemies come to vsurpe and possesse their Citie All things were there in a disordered confusion and in a confused furie vntill such time as by praiers and sacrifices they had appeased the wrath of their Gods They call it to this day the Panike terror The eighteenth Chapter That we should not iudge of our happinesse vntill after our death scilicet vltima semper Expectanda dies homini est dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremáqué funera debâ—t We must expect of man the latest day Nor er'e he die he 's happie can we say THe very children are acquainted with the storie of Croesus to this purpose who being taken by Cyrus by him condemned to die vpon the point of his execution cried out aloude Oh Solon Solon which words of his being reported to Cyrus who inquiring what he meant by them tolde him hee now at his owne cost verified the advertisement Solon had before times given him which was that no man what cheerefull blandishing countenance soever fortune shewed them may rightly deeme himselfe happie till such time as he have passed the last day of his life by reason of the vncertaintie and vicissitude of humane things which by a very light motive and slight occasion are often changed from one to another cleane contrary state and degree And therefore Agesilaus answered one that counted the King of Persia happy because being very yong he had gotten the garland of so mightie and great a dominion yea but said he Priame at the same age was not vnhappy Of the Kings of Macedon that succeeded Alexander the great some were afterward seene to become Ioyners and Scriveners at Rome and of Tirants of Sicilie Schoolemasters at Corinth One that had conquered halfe the world and been Emperour over so many Armies became an humble and miserable suter to the raskally officers of a king of Aegypt At so high a rate did that great Pompey purchase the irkesome prolonging of his
the contrarie if she be wooed and sued vnto by clownes mechanicall fellowes and such base kind of people she holds hir selfe disparaged and disgraced as holding no proportion with them And therfore see we by experience that if a true Gentleman or nobleman follow hir with any attention and wooed her with importunitie he shall learne and know more of hir and proove a better scholler in one yeare then an vngentle or base fellow shal in seaven though he pursue hir never so attentively She is much more readie and fierce to lend hir furtherance and direction in the conduct of a warre to attempt honorable actions to command a people to treat a peace with a prince of forraine nation then she is to forme an argument in Logick to devise a Syllogisine to canvase a case at the barre or to prescribe a receit of pills So noble Ladie forsomuch as I cannot perswade my selfe that you will either forget or neglect this point concerning the institution of yours especially having tasted the sweetnesse thereof and being descended of so noble and learned a race For we yet possesse the learned compositions of the ancient and noble Earles of Foix from out whose heroicke loynes your husband and you take your of-spring And Francis Lord of Candale your worthie vnckle doth daily bring forth such fruits thereof as the knowledge of the matchlesse qualitie of your house shall hereafter extend it selfe to many ages I will therefore make you acquainted with one conceit of mine which contrarie to the common vse I hold and that is all I am able to affoord you concerning that matter The charge of the Tutor which you shall appoint your sonne in the choice of whom consisteth the whole substance of his education and bringing-vp on which are many branches depending which forasmuch as I can adde nothing of any moment to it I will not touch at all And for that point wherein I presume to advise him he may so far forth give credite vnto it as he shall see just cause To a gentleman borne of noble parentage and heire of a house that aymeth at true learning and in it would be disciplined not so much for gaine or commoditie to himselfe because so abject an end is far vnworthie the grace and favour of the Muses and besides hath a regard or dependencie of others nor for externall shew and ornament but to adorne and enrich his inward minde desiring rather to shape and institute an able and sufficient man then a bare learned man My desire is therefore that the parents or overseers of such a gentleman be very circumspect and carefull in chusing his director whom I would rather commend for having a well composed and temperate braine then a full stuft head yet both will doe well And I would rather prefer wisedome judgement civill customes and modest behaviour then bare and meere litterall learning and that in his charge he hold a new course Some never cease brawling in their schollers eares as if they were still poâ—ring in a tonell to follow their booke yet is their charge nothing else but to repeat what hath beene told them before I would have a tutor to correct this part and that at first entrance according to the capacitie of the wit he hath in hand he should begin to make shew of it making him to have a smacke of all things and how to chuse and distinguish them without helpe of others sometimes opening him the way other times leaving him to open-it by himselfe I would not have him to invent and speake alone but suffer his disciple to speake when his turne commeth Socrates and after him Arcâ—silaus made their schollers to speak first and then would speake them-selves Obest plerumque ijs qui discere volunt auctoritas eorum qui docent Most commonly the authoritie of them that teach hinders them that would learnâ— It is therefore meet that he make him first trot-on before him whereby he may the better judge of his pace and so guesse how long he will hold out that accordingly he may fit his strength for want of which proportion we often marre-all And to know how to make a good choice and how far forth one may proceed still keeping a due measure is one of the hardest labours I know It is a signe of a noble and effect of an vndâ—nted spirit to know how to second and how far forth he shall condescend to his childish proceedings and how to guide them As for my selfe I can better and with more strength walke vp then downe a â—ill Those which according to our common fashion vndertake with one selfe-same lesson and like maner of education to direct many spirits of diverse formes and different humours it is no marvell if among a multitude of children they scarse meet with two or three that reap any good fruit by their discipline or that come to any perfection I would not onely have him to demaund an accompt of the words contained in his lesson but of the sense and substance thereof and judge of the profit he hath made of-it not by the testimonie of his memorie but by the witnesse of his life That what he lately learned he cause him to set forth and pourtray the same into sundrie shapes and then to accommodate-it to as many different and severall subiects whereby he shall perceive whether he have yet apprehended the same and therein enfeoffed him-selfe at due times taking his instruction from the institution given by Plato It is a signe of cruditie and indigestion for a man to yeeld vp his meat even as he swallowed the same the stomacke hath not wrought his full operation vnlesse it have changed forme and altered fashion of that which was given him to boyle and concoct We see men gape after no reputation but learning and when they say such a one is a learned man they thinke they have said enough Our minde doth move at others pleasure as tyed and forced to serue the fantasies of others being brought vnder by authoritie and forced to stoope to the lure of their bare lesson wee have beene so subjected to harpe vpon one string that we have no way left-vs to descant vpon voluntarie our vigor and libertie is cleane extinct Nunquam tutelae suae fiunt They never come to their owne tuition It was my hap to bee familiarlie acquainted with an honest man at Pisa but such an Aristotelian as he held this infallible position that a conformitie to Aristotles doctrine was the true touchstone and squire of all solide imaginations and perfect veritie for whatsoever had no coherencie with-it was but fond Chimeraes and idle humours in asmuch as he had knowne-all seen-all and said-all This proposition of his being somewhat over-amply and iniuriously interpreted by some made him a long time after to be troubled in the inquisition of Rome I would have him make his scholler narrowly to sift all things with discretion and harbour nothing in his head by meere
remember where he is to be seene in his greatnesse and majestie But returne we to Hieronâ— he also relateth how many incommodities he findeth in his royaltie being so barred that he cannot at his libertie travell to goe whether he pleaseth being as it were a prisoner within the limits of his country and that in all his actions he is encircled and hemd-in with an importunate and tedious multâ—tude Truely to see our Princes all alone sitting at their meate beleagred-round with so many talkers whisperers and gazing beholders vnknowne what they are or whence they come I have often rather pittied then envied them King Alphonsus was wont to say that burthen-bearing asses were in that in farre better condition than Kings for their masters suffer them to feede at their ease whereas Kings cannot obtaine that priviledge of their servants And it could never fall into my minde that it might be any speciall commoditie to the life of a man of vnderstanding to have a score of find-faults picke-thanks and controlers about his close-stoole nor that the service of a man that hath a thousand pound rent a yeere or that hath taken Casal or defended Sienna is more commodious or acceptable to him then that of a sufficient and well-experienced groome Princelike advantages are in a maner but imaginarie preheminences Every degree of fortune hath some image of Principalitie Caesar termeth all the Lords which in his time had justice in France to be Kinglets or petie Kings And truely except the name of Sire we goe very farre with our Kings Looke but in the Provinces remote and farre from the court As for example in Britanie the attending traine the flocking subjects the number of officers the many affaires the diligent service the obsequious ceremonies of a Lord that liveth retired and in his owne house brought vp amongst his owne servants tenants and followers And note also the high pitch of his imaginations and humours there is no greater royaltie can be seene He heareth no more talke of his master then of the Persian king and happily but once a yeare And knowes but some farre-fetcht and old kindred or pedigree which his Secretarie findes or keepes vpon some ancient record or evidence Verily our lawes are very free and the burthen of soveraigntie doth scarsly concerne a gentleman of France twice in his whole life Essentiall and effectuall subjection amongst vs doth not respect any but such as allure themselves vnto it and that affect to honour and love to enrich themselues by such service For he that can shrowd and retire himselfe in his owne home and can manage and direct his house without sutes in law or quarrell with his neighbours or domesticall encombrances is as free as the Duke of Venice Paucos servitus plures servitutem tenent Service holds few but many hold service But above all things Hieron seemeth to complaine that he perceiveth himselfe deprived of all mutuall friendship reciprocall societie and familiar conversation wherein consisteth the most perfect and sweetest fruite of humane life For what vndoubted testimonie of affection and good will can I expect or exact from him that will-he or nill he oweth me all he hath all he can Can I make account of his humble speech of his low-lowting curtzie or of his curteous offers since it lieth not in his power to refuse them me The honour we receive of those which feare and stand in awe of vs is no true honour Such respects are rather due to royaltie to majestie then to me maximum hoc regni bonum est Quòd facta domini cogitur populus sui Quâm ferre tam laudare This is chiefe good of Princes dominations Subjects are forc't their sov'raignes actes and fashions To beare with patience passe with commendations Doe I not see that both the badde and the good King are served alike That hee who is hated and he that is beloved are both courted alike And the one as much fawned vpon as the other My predecessor was served with the same apparances and waited vpon with the like ceremonies and so shall my successor be If my subjects offend me not it is no testimony of any good affection Wherefore shall I take it in that sense sithence they cannot if they would No man followeth me for any friendship that is between him and me inasmuch as no firme friendship can be contracted where is so small relation so slender correspondencie such disparity My high degree hath excluded me from the commerce of men There is too great an inequalitie and distant disproportion They follow for countenance and of custome or rather my fortune then my selfe hoping therby to encrease theirs Whatsoever they say all they doe vnto me is but a glosse and but dissimulation their liberty being every where brideled and checked by the great power I have over them I see nothing about me but inscrutable hearts hollow mindes fained lookes dissembled speeches and counterfet actions His Courtiers one day commended Iulian the Emperour for ministring of right and doing of justice I should easily grow proud said he for these praises if they came from such as durst either accuse or discommend my contrary actions should I commit any All the true commodities that Princes have are common vnto them with men of meane fortune It is for Gods to mount winged horses and to feed on Ambrosia They have no other sleepe nor no other appetite then ours Their steele is of no better temper then that wherewith we arme our selves Their crowne their diademe can neither hide them from the Sun or shelter them from the raine Dioclesian that wore one so much reverenced and so fortunate did voluntarily resigne the same to withdraw himselfe vnto the pleasure of a private life but a while after the vrgent necessitie of publike affaires requiring his presence and that he should return to re-assume his charge againe he answered those that solicited him vnto it you would never vndertake to perswade me to that had you but seene the goodly rankes of trees which myselfe have planted in mine Orchard or the faire muske-meloâ—s I have set in my garden According to Anacharsis his opinion The happiest estate of a well-ordered common wealth should be where all other things being equally common precedencie should be measured and preferments suted according to vertue and desert and the contrarie according to vice At what time King Pirrhus vndertooke to passe into Italy Cyneas his wise and trustie counsellor going about to make him perceive the vanitie of his ambition one day bespake him thus My good sir said he To what end do you prepare for so great an enterprise He answered sodainly To make my selfe lord of Italic That done what will you doe then replied Cyneas I will then passe said Pirrhus into Gaule and then into Spayne And what afterwards I will then invade Affrike and subdue the same and at last when I shall have brought all the world vnder my subiection I will
Boeotians which Xenophon who was there present saith To have beene the whottest and rudest that ever he had seene Agesilaus refused the advantage which fortune presented him to let the battalion of the Boeotians passe and to charge them behind what certaine victorie soever he saw likely to follow the same esteeming that it were rather skill then valour and to shew his prowesse and matchlesse-haughtie courage chose rather to charge them in the front of their forces But what followed He was well beaten and himselfe sore-hurt and in the end compelled to leave his enterprise and embrace the resolution which in the beginning he had refused causing his men to open themselves to give passage vnto that torrent of the Boeotians who when they were pastthrough perceiving them to march in disaray as they who perswaded themselves to be out of all danger he pursued them and charged them flank-wise All which notwithstanding he could never put to route or force them run-away for they orderly and faire and softly made their retreit ever shewing their face vntill such time as they got safely into their houlds and trenches The sixe and fortieth Chapter Of Names WHat diversitie soever there-be in hearbs all are shuffled-vp together vnder the name of a sallade Even so vpon the consideration of names I will heer huddlevpa gallymafrie of diverse articles Every severall nation hath some names which I wot not how are sometimes taken in ill part as with vs Iacke Hodge Tom Will Bat Benet and so forth Item it seemeth that in the genealogies of Princes there are certaine names fatally affected as Ptolomeus with the Aegyptians Henries in England Charles in France Baldwins in Flanders and Williams in our ancient Aqustanie whence some say came the name of Guiâ—nne which is but a cold invention As if in Plato himselfe there were not some as harsh and ill-founding Item it is an idle matter yet neverthelesse by reason of the strangenesse worthie the memorie and recorded by an oculare witnesse that Henrie Duke of Normandie sonne to Henrie the second King of England making a great feast in France the assemblie of the Nobilitie was so great that for pastimes sake being by the resemblance of their names divided into severall companies in the first were found a hundred and ten Kinghts sitting at one table and all called Williams besides private Gentlemen and servants It is as pleasant to distribute the tables by the names of the assistants as it was vnto Geta the Emperor who would have all his messes or dishes served-in at his table orderly according to the first letters of their names As for example those that began with P. as pig pie pike puddings pouts porke pancakes c. were all served in together and so of all the rest Item it is a common saying That it is good to have a good name As much to say good credit or good reputation Yet verely it is verie commodious to have a well-sounding and smooth name and which is easie to be pronounced and facile to be remembred For Kings Princes Lords and Magistrates know and remember vs the better by them and will not so soone forget-vs Marke but of those that serve and follow-vs whether we doe not more ordinarily commaund and sooner employ such whose names come readier to our tongue or memorie I have seene our King Henrie the second who could never â— it on the right name of a Gentleman of Gascoigne and did ever call a Ladie waiting on the Queene by the generall surname of hir house because that of hir father was so harsh and hard to be remembred And Socrates saith It ought to be a fathers speciall care to give his children good and easie-sounding names Item it is reported that the foundation of our Ladie the great at Poitiers had this beginning A licentious yoong man having his dwelling house where the Church now standeth had one night gotten a wench to lie with him who so soone as she came to bed he demaunded hir name who answered Marie The yong man hearing that name was sodainly so strucken with a motive of religion and an awefull respect vnto that sacred name of the virgin Marie the blessed mother of our Saviour and Redeemer that he did not only presently put hir away from him but reformed all the remainder of his succeeding life And that in consideration of this miracle there was first erected a Chappell in the place where this yong mans house stood consecrated vnto that holy name and afterward the faire great church which yet continueth This vocale and auricular correction and so full of devotion strucke right vnto his soule This other following of the same kind insinuated itselfe by the corporall sences Pythagoras being in companie with two yong men whom he heard complot and consult being somewhat heated with feasting and drinking to go and ravish a chast-house commaunded immediatly the minstrels to change their tune and so by a solemne grave severe and spondaicall kind of musicke did sweetly inchaunt allay and in-trance their rashviolent and lawlesse lust Item shall nor succeeding posteritie say that our moderne reformation hath been exact and delicate to have not onely oppugned and resisted errors and vices and filled the world with devotion humilitie obedience peace and every other kind of vertue but even to have combated their ancient names of baptisme Charles Lewis Francis to people the world with Methusalem Ezechiel Malachie much better feeling of a lively faith A Gentleman my neighbour esteeming the commodities of ancient times in regard of our daies forgot not to aledge the fiercenesse and magnificence of the names of the Nobilitie of those times as Don Grumedan Quedragan and Agesilan And that but to heare them sounded a man might easilie perceive they had been other manner of men then Peter Guiâ—â—oâ— or Michell Item I commend and am much beholding to Iames Amiot in the course of a French oration of his to have still kept the full ancient Latin names without disguising or changing them to give them a new-French cadence At the first they seemed somewhat harsh vnto the Reader but now by reason of the credit which his Plutarke hath deservedly gotten amongst-vs custome hath removed all strangenesse from-vs I have often wished that those who write histories in Latin would leave-vs our names whole and such as they are For altering Vaâ—demont to Vallemontanus and metamorphosing them by suring them to the Graecian or Latin tongue we know not what to make of them and are often at a non-plus To conclude my discourse It is an ill custome and of exceeding bad consequence in our countrie of France to call every man by the name of his Towne Mannor Hamlet or Lordship as the thing that doth most confound houses and bring sur-names out of knowledge A cadet or yonger-brother of a good house having had for his appanage a Lordship by whose name he hath beene knowne and honored cannot well forsake and leave the same ten yeares
to warrant them from the out-rages which some tyrants prepared against their religion and consciences Peâ—agia and Sophronâ—a both canonized the first together with her mother and sisters to escape the outragious rapes of some souldiers threw her selfe into a river the other to shun the force of Maxentius the Emperour slew her selfe It shall peradventure redound to our honour in future ages that a wise Author of these daies and namely a Parisian doth labour to perswade the Ladies of our times rather to hazard vpon any resolution than to embrace so horrible a counsell of such desperation I am sorie that to put amongst his discourses he knew not the good saying I learnt of a woman at Tholouse who had passed through the hands of some soldiers God be praised said she that once in my life I have had my belly-full without sinne Verily these cruelties are not worthy of the French curtesie And God be thanked since this good advertisement our ayre is infinitely purged of them Let it suffice that in doing it they say No and take it following the rule of Marot The historie is verie full of such who a thousand waies have changed a lingering-toylsome life with death Lucius Aruntius killed himselfe as he said to avoide what was past and eschew what was to come Granius Sylvanus and Statius Proximus after they had been pardoned by Nero killed themselves either because they scorned to live by the favour of so wicked a man or because they would not another time be in danger of a second pardon seeing his so easie-yeelding vnto suspicious and accusations against honest men Spargapises sonne vnto Queene Tâ—miris prisoner by the law of warre vnto Cyrus employed the first favour that Cyrus did him by setting him free to kill himselfe as he who never pretended to reap other fruit by his libertie then to revenge the infamie of his taking vpon himselfe Boges a Governour for king Xerxes in the countrie of Ionia being besieged by the Athenians army vnder the conduct of Cymon refused the composition to returne safely together with his goods and treasure into Asia as one impatient to survive the losse of what his Master had given him in charge and after he had stoutly-and even to the last extremitie defended the Towne having no manner of victuals left him first he cast all the gold and treasure with whatsoever he imagined the enemie might reap any commoditie by into the river Strimon Then having caused a great pile of wood to be set on fire and made all women children concubines and servants to be stripped throwne into the flames afterward ran-in himselfe where all were burned Ninacheâ—uen a Lord in the East Indies having had an inkling of the king of Portugales Viceroyes deliberation to dispossesse him without any apparant cause of the charge he had in Malaâ—a for to give it vnto the king of Campar of himselfe resolved vpon this resolution First he caused an high scaffold to be set vp somewhat longer then broad vnderpropped with pillars all gorgeously hanged with rich tapistrie strewed with flowers and adorned with pretious perfumes Then hauing put-on a sumptuous long roab of cloth of gold richly beset with store of pretious stones of inestimable worth he came out of the pallace into the street and by certaine steps ascended the scaffold in one of the corners whereof was a pile of aromaticall wood set afire All the people of the Citie were flocked together to see what the meaning of such vnaccustomed preparation might tend vnto Ninacheâ—uen with an vndanted-bold yet seeming-discontented countenance declared the manifold obligations which the Portugal Nation was endebted vnto him for expostulated how faithfully and truely he had dealt in his charge that having so often witnessed armed at all assayes for others that his honour was much dearer vnto him then life he was not to forsake the care of it for himselfe that fortune refusing him all meanes to oppose himselfe against the injurie intended against him his courage at the least willed him to remoove the feeling thereof and not become a laughing stocke vnto the people and a triumph to men of lesse worth then himselfe which words as he was speaking he cast himselfe into the fire Sextilia the wife of Scaurus and Praxea wife vnto Labeo to encourage their husbands to avoid the dangers which pressed them wherein they had no share but in regard of the interest of their conjugal affection voluntarily engaged their life in this extreame necessitie to serve them as an example to imitate and company to regard What they performed for their husbands Cocceius Nerva acted for his countrie and though lesse profitable yet equall in true-love That famous interpreter of the lawes abounding in riches in reputation in credit and flourishing in health about the Emperour had no other cause to rid himselfe of life but the compassion of the miserable estate wherein he saw the Romane common-wealth There is nothing can be added vnto the daintinesse of Fulvius wives death who was so inward with Augustus Augustus perceiving he had blabbed a certaine secret of importance which he on-trust had revealed vnto him one morning comming to visit him he seemed to frownevpon him for-it whereupon as guiltie he returneth home as one full of despaire and in pitteous sort told his wife that sithence he was falne into such a mischiefe he was resolved to kill himselfe shee as one no whit dismaide replide vnto him Thou shalt do but right since having so often experienced the incontinence of my tongue thou hast not learnt to beware of it yet give me leave to kill my selfe first and without more adoe ran her selfe through with a sword Vibius Virius dispairing of his Cities safetie besieged by the Romans and mistrusting their mercie in their Senates last consultation after many remonstrances employed to that end concluded that the best and fairest way was to escape fortune by their owne hands The verie enemies should have them in more honour and Hanniball might perceive what faithfull friends he had forsaken Enviting those that should allow of his advise to come and take a good supper which was prepared in his house where after great cheere they should drinke together whatsoever should be presented vnto him a drinke that shall deliver our bodies from torments free our minds from injuries and release our eyes and eares from seeing and hearing so many horrible mischiefes which the conquered must endure at the hands of most cruell and offended conquerors I have quoth he taken order that men fit for that purpose shall be readie when we shall be expired to cast vs into a great burning pile of wood Diverse approved of his high resolution but few did imitate the same Seaven and twentie Senators followed him who after they had attempted to stifle so irkesome and suppresse so terror-mooving a thought with quaffing and swilling of wine they ended their repast by this deadly messe and entre-embracing one another after they had in
but their tittle-tattle to aime at nothing else so much Thus with store of choise and quaint words and wyre-drawne phrases they huddle vp and make a hodge-pot of a laboured contexture of the reports which they gather in the market-places or such other assemblies The only good histories are those that are written by such as commanded or were imploid themselves in weighty affaires or that were partners in the conduct of them or that at least have had the fortune to manage others of like qualitie Such in a maner are all the Graecians and Romans For many eye-witnesses hauing written of one same subject as it hapned in those times when Greatnesse and Knowledge did commonly meet if any fault or over-sight have past them it must be deemed exceeding light and vpon some doubtfull accident What may a man expect at a Phisitions hand that discourseth of warre or of a bare Scholler treating of Princes secret designes If we shall but note the religion which the Romans had in that we need no other example Asinius Polio found some mistaking or oversight in Caesars Commentaries whereinto he was falne only because he could not possiblie oversee all things with his owne eyes that hapned in his Armie but was faine to relie on the reports of particular men who often related vntruths vnto him or else because he had not been curiously advertised and distinctly enformed by his Lieutenants and Captaines of such matters as they in his absence had managed or effected Whereby may be seen that nothing is so hard or so vncertaine to be found-out as the certaintie of a Truth sithence no man can put any assured confidence concerning the truth of a battel neither in the knowledge of him that was Generall or commanded over it nor in the soldiers that fought of any thing that hath hapned amongst them except after the maner of a strict point of law the severall witnesses are brought and examined face to face and that all matters be nicely and thorowly sifted by the objects and trials of the successe of every accident Verily the knowledge we have of our own affaires is much more barren and feeble But this hath sufficiently been handled by Bodine and agreeing with my conception Somewhat to aide the weaknesse of my memorie and to assist her great defects for it hath often been my chance to light vpon bookes which I supposed to be new and never to have read which I had not vnderstanding diligently read and run-over many yeares before and all bescribled with my notes I have a while since accustomed my selfe to note at the end of my booke I meane such as I purpose to read but once the time I made an end to read it and to set downe what censure or judgement I gave of it that so it may at least at another time represent vnto my mind the aire and generall Idea I had conceived of the Author in reading him I will here set downe the Coppie of some of mine annotations and especially what I noted vpon my Guicciardine about ten yeares since For what language soever my bookes speake vnto me I speake vnto them in mine owne He is a diligent Historiographer and from whom in my conceit a man may as exactly learne the truth of such affaires as passed in his time as of any other writer whatsoever and the rather because himselfe hath been an Actor of most part of them and in verie honourable place There is no signe or apparance that ever he disguised or coloured any matter either through hatred malice favour or vanitie whereof the free and imparciall judgements he giveth of great men and namely of those by whom he had been advanced or imployed in his important charges as of Pope Clement the seaventh beareth vndoubted testimonie Concerning the parts wherewith he most goeth about to prevaile which are his digressions and discourses many of them are verie excellent and enriched with faire ornaments but he hath too much pleased himselfe in them for endevouring to omit nothing that might be spoken having so full and large a subject and almost infinite he proveth somewhat languishing and giveth a taste of a kind of scholasticall tedious babling Moreover I have noted this that of so severall and divers armes successes and effects he judgeth of of so many and variable motives alterations and counsels that he relateth he never referreth any one vnto vertue religion or conscience as if they were all extinguished and banished the world and of all actions how glorious soever in apparance they be of themselves he doth ever impute the cause of them to some vicious and blame-worthie occasion or to some commoditie and profit It is impossible to imagine that amongst so infinite a number of actions whereof he judgeth some one have not been produced and compassed by way of reason No corruption could ever possesse men so vniversally but that some one must of necessity escape the contagion which makes me to feare he hath had some distaste or blame in his passion and it hath haply fortuned that he hath judged or esteemed of others according to himselfe In my Philip de Comines there is this In him you shall find a pleasing-sweet and gently-gliding speach fraught with a purely-sincere simplicitie his narration pure and vnaffected and wherein the Authours vnspotted-good meaning doth evidently appeare void of all maner of vanitie or ostentation speaking of himselfe and free from all affection or envie speaking of others his discourses and perswasions accompanied more with a well-meaning zeale and meere veritie then with any laboured and exquisit sufficiencie and all-through with gravitie and authoritie representing a man well-borne and brought vp in high negotiations Vpon the memories and historie of Monsieur du Bellay It is ever a well-pleasing thing to see matters writen by those that have assaide how in what maner they ought to be directed and managed yet can it not be denied but that in both these Lords there will manifestly appeare a great declination from a free libertie of writing which clearely shineth in ancient writers of their kind as in the Lord of Ionuille familiar vnto Saint Lewis Eginard Chancellor vnto Charlemaine and of more fresh memorie in Philip de Comines This is rather a declamation or pleading for king Francis against the Emperour Charles the fifth then an Historie I will not believe they have altered or changed any thing concerning the generalitie of matters but rather to wrest and turne the judgement of the events many times against reason to our advantage and to omit whatsoever they supposed to be doubtfull or ticklish in their masters life they have made profession of it witnesse the recoylings of the Lords of Momorancy and Byron which therein are forgotten and which is more you shall not so much as find the name of the Ladie of Estampes mentioned at all A man may sometimes colour and happily hide secret actions but absolutely to conceal that which all the world
kindled That done she commeth downe againe and taking the nearest of hir Husbands kindred by the hand they goe together to the nex River where shee strippes hir selfe all naked and distributeth hir jewels and clothes among hir friends then plungeth herselfe in the Water as if she meant to wash away hir sins then comming out she enwrappeth herselfe in a yellow piece of linnen cloth about the length of fourteene yards And giving hir hand againe vnto hir Husbands Kins-man they returne vnto the Mount where she speakes vnto the people to whom if she have any she recommendeth hir Children Betweene the Pitte and Mount there is commonly a Curtaine drawne lest the sight of that burning furnace might dismay them Which many to shew the greater courage will not have it drawne Her speech ended a Woman presenteth her with a Vessell ful of Oyle therewith to annoint hir head and body which done she casteth the rest into the fire and there withall sodainely flings herselfe into it Which is no sooner done but the people cast great store of Faggoâ—s and Billets vpon hir lest she should languish over-long and all their joy is converted into griefe and sorrow If they be persons of meane quality the dead mans body is carried to the place where they intend to bury him and there he is placed sitting his Widdow kneeling before him with hir armes close about his middle and so keepeth hirselfe whilest a Wall is erected vp about them both which raised to the height of her shoulders some of her kindred taking her by the head behind wrings her neck about and having given the last gaspe the wall is immediately made vp close over their heades wherein they remaine buried In the same Country there was something like to this in their Gymnosophists or wise-men who not by meanaces-or compulsions of others nor by the violence of a sodaine humour but by the expresse and voluntary profession of their rule their maner was according as they attained vnto a certaine age or saw themselves threatned by some sickenesse to cause a pile of Wood to be erected and vpon it a rich bedde and having cheerefully feasted their friends and acquaintance with such a resolution laide themselves downe in that bedde that fire set vnto it they were never seene to stirre nor hand nor foote and thus died one of them named Calanus in the presence of all the army of Alexander the Great And who had not so made himselfe away was neither esteemed holy nor absolutely happy amongst them sending his soule purged and purified by fire after it had consumed whatsoever was mortall and iterrestriall in it This constant premeditation of al the life is that which makes the wonder Amongest our other disputation that of Fatum hath much entermedled it selfe and to joyne future things and our will it selfe vnto a certaine vnavoidable necessity wee yet stand vpon that argument of former times since God foreseeth all things must thus happen as vndoubtedly he doeth They must then necessarily happen so To which our Clarks and Maisters answere that to see any thing come to passe as we doe and likewise God for hee being present in full essence rather feeth than foreseeth is not to force the same to happen yea we see because things come to passe but things happen not because we see The hapning makes the science or knowledge and not knowledge the happening What we see come to passe happeneth but it might come to passe otherwise And God in the eternall register of the causes of happenings which he hath in his prescience hath also those which are called casuall and the voluntary which depend of the liberty he hath given vnto our free wil and knoweth we shall faile because our will shall have beene to faile I have seene diverse encourage their troupes with this fatall necessitie For if our houre be tied vnto a certaine point neither the musket-shottes of our enemies nor our courage nor our flight and cowardize can either advance or recoyle the same This may well be saide but seeke you who shall effect it And if it be so that a strong and lively faith doth likewise draw action after it truely this faith wherewith wee so much fill our mouths is marvelous light in our times except the contempt it hath of workes make her disdaine their company So it is that to the same purpose the Lord of Ioinville as credible a witnesse as any other tells vs of the Bedoins a nation entermingled with the Saracine with whom our King Saint Lewes had to deale in the holy land who so confidently believed in their religion the dayes of every one to be prefixed and numbred from all eternitie by an inevitable preordinance that they went all bare and naked to the warres except a Turkish Glaive in their hand and their body covered but with a white linnen-cloth And for the the bitterest curse if they chanced to fall out one with another they had ever in their mouth Cursed be thou as he that armeth himselfe for feare of death Here is another maner of triall or a beliefe or faith then ours In this rank may likewise be placed that which those two religious men of Florence not long since gave vnto their countrymen Being in some controversie betweene themselves about certaine points of learning they accorded to goe both into the fire in the presence of all the people and in the open market place each one for the verifying of his opinion and all preparations were ready made an execution to be performed but that by an vnexpected accident it was interrupted A yong Turkish Lord having atchieved a notable piece of service in armes and with his owne person in full view of the two battels betweene Ammurath Huniades ready to be joyned together being demanded by Ammurath his Prince who being so yong and vnexperienced for is was the first warre oâ— service he had seene before had replenished him with so generous and vndanted vigor of courage answered that a Hare had beene his soveraigne maister and onely teacher of valour and thus began his speech Being one day a hunting I found a Hare sitting in her forme and although I had a brace of excellent good gray-houndes with me in a slip or leash I thought it good because I would be sure of my game to vse my bow for she was a very faire marke I beganne to shootâ— my arrowes at her which I did to the number of fortie for in my quiver were iust so many yet could I never hurt her no not so much as start her After all this I let slip my gray-hounds who could doe no more then I had done by which I learnt that she had beene sheltred and defended by her destinie and that no glaives nor arrowes never hit but by the permission of our fatalitie which it lieth not in vs to avoide or advance This storie may serve to make vs perceive by the way how flexible our reason is
all eyes are fixed alwayes to shew himselfe in a good temper but that the chiefest point consisted in providing inwardly and for himselfe and that in mine opinion it was noe discreete parte inwardly to fret which to maintaine that marke and formall outward apparance I feared hee did Choller is incorporated by concealing and smothering the same as Diogenes saide to Demosthenes who fearing to be seene in a Taverne withdrew himselfe into the same The more thou recoylest backe the further thou goest into it I woulde rather perswade a man though somewhat out of season to give his boy a whirret on the eaâ—e then to dissemble this wise sterne or severe countenance to vex and fret his minde And I woulde rather make shew of my passions then smother them to my cost which being vented and exprest become more languishing and weake Better it is to let it's pointe worke outwardly then bend it against our selves Omnia vitia in aperto leviora sunt tunc perniciosissimae quum simulata sanitate subsidunt All vices are then lesse perillous when they lie open to bee seene but then most pernicious when they lurke vnder counterfeited soundnesse I ever warne those of my houshold who by their offices-authoritie may sometimes have occasion to be angry first to husband their anger then not to employ it vpon every slight cause for that empeacheth the effect and worth of it Rash and ordinary brawling is converted to a custome and that 's the reason each man contemnes it That which you employ against a servant for any theeving is not perceiâ—ed because it is the same he hath sundry times sâ—ene you vse against him if hee have not washt a glasse well oâ— misplaced a stoole Secondly that they be not angry in vaine but ever have regard their châ—ding come to his eares with whom they are offended for commonly some will brawle before hee come in their presence and chide a good while after he is gone secum petulans amentia ceâ— tat Madnesse makes with it selfe a fray Which fondly doth the wanton play and wreake their anger against his shadow and make the storme fall where no man is either chastised or interressed but with the rumour of their voice and sometimes with such as cannot doe withall I likewise blame those who being angry will brave and mutime when the partie with whome they are offended is not by These Rodomantados must be employed on such as feare them Mugitus veluti cùm prima in praelia taurus Terrificos â—iet atque ir asci in cornua tentat Arborts obnixus trunco ventósque lacâ—ssit Ictibus sparsa ad pugnam proludit arena As when a furious Bull to his first combate mooves His terror-breeding lowes his horne to anger prooves Striving against a trees trunke and the winde with strokes His preface made to fight with scaâ—tered sand provokes When I chance to be angry it is in the earnestâ—st manner that may be but yet as briefly and as secretly as is possible I loose my selfe in hastinesse and violence but not in trouble So that let me spend all maner of injurious wordes at random and without all heede and never respect to place my points pertinently and where they may doe most hurt For commonly I employ nothing but my tongue My boyes scape better cheape in great matters then in small trifles Slight occasions surprise me and the michiefe is that after you are once falne into the pit it is no matter who thrusts you in you never cease till you come to the bottome The fall presseth hasteneth mooveth and furthereth it selfe In great occasions I am pleased that they are so just that every body expects a reasonable anger to insue I glorify my selfe to deceive their expectation Against these I bandy and prepare my selfe they make me summon vp my wits and threaten to carry me very farre if I would follow them I easily keepe my selfe from falling into them and if I stay for them I am stronge enough to reject the impulsion of this passion what violent cause soever it hath But if it seize vpon and once preoccupate me what vaine cause soever it hath it doth cleane transport me I condition thus with those that may contest with me when you perceve me to be first angry be it right or wrong let me hold-on my course I will do the like to you when ever it shall come to my lot The rage is not engendred but by the concurrencie of cholers which are easily produced one of another and are not borne at one instant Let vs allow every man his course so shall we ever be in peace Oh profitable prescription but of an hard execution I shall some time seeme to be angry for the order and direction of my house without any just emotion Accoding as my age yeeldeth my humours more sharpe or peevish so doe I endevour to oppose my selfe against them and if I can I will hereafter enforce my selfe to be lesse froward and not so teasty As I shall have more excuse and inclination to be so although I have heretofore beene in their number that are least A word more to conclude this Chapter Aristotle saith Choller doth sometimes serve as armes vnto Vertue and Valour It is very likely notwithstanding such as gainesay him answer pleasantly it is a weapon of a new fashion and strange vse For we moove other weapons but this mooveth vs our hand doth not guide it but it directeth our hand it holdeth vs and we hold not it The two and thirtieth Chapter A defence of Seneca and Plutarke THe familiarity I have with these two men and the ayde they affoord me in my olde age and my Booke meerely framed of their spoiles bindeth me to wed and maintaine their honour As for Seneca amongest a thousand petty-Pamphlets those of the pretended reformed religion have published for the defence of their cause which now and then proceede from a good hand and which pitty it is it should not be employed in more serious and better subjects I have heeretofore seene one who to prolong and fill vp the similitude he would finde betweene the governement of our vnfortunate late king Charles the ninth and that of Nero compareth the whilom lord Cardinall of Lorenâ— vnto Seneca their fortunes to have beene both chiefe men in the governement of their Princes and therewithall their manners their conditions and their demeanours wherein in mine opinion hee doth the saide lorde Cardinall great honour for although I bee one of those that highly respect his spirite his woorth his eloquence his zeale toward his religion and the service of his King and his good fortune to have beene borne in an age wherein hee was so new so rare and there withall so necessarie for the common-wealth to have a Cleargie-man of such dignitie and nobilitie sufficient and capable of so weightie a charge yet to confesse the truth I esteeme not his capacitie such nor his vertue so
wholly ingage themselves into them may carry such an order and temper as the storme without offending them may glide over their head Had wee not reason to hope as much of the deceased Bishop of Orleans Lord of Moruillters And I know some who at this present worthilie bestirre themselues in so even a fashion or pleasing a manner that they are likely to continue on foote whatsoeuer iniurious alteration or fall the heavens may prepare against vs. I holde it onely fit for Kings to hee angry with Kings And mocke at those rash spirits who from the brauerie of their harts offer themselues to so vnproportionate quarrels For one vndertaketh not a particular quarrell against a Prince in marching against him openly and couragiously for his honour and according to his dutie If hee love not such a man hee doth better at least hee esteemeth him And the cause of lawes especially and defence of the auncient state hath ever found this priviledge that such as for their owne interest disturbe the same excuse if they honour not their defendors But wee ought not terme duty as now a dayes we do a sower rigour and intestine crabbednesse proceeding of priuate interest and passion nor courage a treacherous and malicious proceeding Their disposition to frowardnesse and mischiefe they entitle zeale That 's not the cause doth heate them t' is their owne interest They kindle a warre not because it is just but because it is warre Why may not a man beare himselfe betweene enemies featly and faithfully Doe it if not altogether with an equall for it may admit different measure at least with a sober affection which may not so much engage you to the one that hee looke for all at your hands Content your selfe with a moderate proportion of their fauour and to glide in troubled waters without fishing in them Th' other manner of offering ones vttermost endeuours to both sides implyeth lesse diseration then conscience What knowes hee to whom you betray another as much your friend as hmselfe but you will doe the like for him when his turne shall come Hee takes you for a villaine that whilst hee heares you and gathers out of you and makes his best vse of your disloyaltie For double fellowes are onely beneficiall in what they bring but we must looke they carry away as little as may be I carry nothing to the one which I may not hauing opportunity say vnto the other the accent only changed a little and report either but indifferent or knowne or common things Noe benefit can induce mee to lye vnto them what is entrusted to my silence I conceale religiously but take as little in trust as I can Princes secrets are a troublesome charge to such as haue nought to doe with them I euer by my good will capitulate with them that they trust mee with very little but let them assuredly trust what I disclose vnto them I alwayes knew more then I wold An open speach opens the way to another and drawes all out euen as Wiue and Loue. Philippides in my minde answered king Lysiâ—â—achus wisely when hee demaunded of him what of his wealth or state hee shoulde empare vnto him Which and what you please quoth hee so it be not your secrets I see euery one mutinie if another conceale the deapth or misterie of the affaires from him wherein he pleaseth to employ him or haue but purloyned any circumstance from him For my part I am content one tell me no more of his businesse then hee will haue mee knowe or deale in nor desire I that my knowledge exceede or straine my word If I must needes bee the instrument of cozinage it shall at least bee with safety of my conscience I will not be esteemed a seruant nor so affectionate nor yet so faithfull that I bee iudged fit to betray any man Who is vnfaithfull to himselfe may bee excused if hee be faithlesse to his Maister But Princes entertaine not men by halfes and despise bounded and condicionall seruice What remedy I freely tell them my limits for a slaue â— must not bee but vnto reason which yet I cannot compasse And they are to blame to exact from a free man the like subiection vnto their seruice and the same obligation which they may from those they haue made and bought and whose fortune dependeth particularly and expresly on theirs The lawes haue deliuered mee from much trouble they haue chosen mee aside to followe and appointed mee a maister to obey all other superioritie and duty ought to bee relatiue vnto that and bee restrained Yet may it not bee concluded that if my affection should otherwise transport mee I would presently afforde my helping hand vnto it Will and desires are a law to themselues actions are to receiue it of publike institutions All these proceedings of mine are some what dissonant from our formes They should produce noe great effects nor holde out long among vs. Innocencie it selfe could not in these times nor negotiate without dissimulation nor trafficke without lying Neither are publike functions of my dyet what my profession requires thereto I furnish in the most priuate manner I can Being a childe I was plunged into them vp to the eares and had good successe but I got loose in good time I have often since shunned medling with them seldome accepted and neuer required euer holding my backe toward ambition but if not rowers who goe forward as it were backeward Yet so as I am lesse beholding to my resolution then to my good fortune that I was not wholly embarked in them For there are courses lesle against my taste and more comfortable to my carriage by which if heere tofore it had called mee to the seruice of the common-wealth and my aduancement vnto credit in the world I know that in following the same I had exceeded the reason of my couceite Those which commonly say against my prosession that what I terme liberty simplicity and plainenesse in my behauiour is arte cunning and subtilty and rather discretion then goodnesse industry then nature good wit then good hap doe mee more honour then shame But truely they make my cunning ouercunning And whosoeuer hath traced mee and nearely looked into my humoures lie loose a good wager if hee confesse not that there is noe rule in their schoole could a midde such crooked pathes and diuerse windings square and raport this naturall motion and maintaine an apparance of liberty and licence so equall and inflexible and that all their attention and wit is not of power to bring them to it The way to trueth is but one and simple that of particular profit and benefit of affaires a man hath in charge double vneven and accidentall I haue often seene these counterset 〈…〉 artificiall liberties in practise but most commonly without successe They sauour of Aesopes Asse who in emulation of the dogge layde his two fore-feete very jocondly vpon his maisters shoulders but looke how many blandishments the pretty dogge