knewe howe small a thing it is to be hated of men and howe great a comfort to be beloued of god I sweare that you woulde not speake one worde although it were in ieste vnto men neither woulde you cease night nor day to commende your selues vnto god for god is more mercifull to succour vs then we are diligent to call vppon hym For in conclusion the fauour whiche men can giue you other men can take from you but the fauour that god will giue you no man can resiste it All those that possesse muche should vse the company of them whiche can doe muche and if it be so I let you princes wete that all men can not thynke so muche togethers as god him selfe is able to doe alone For the crie of a LyoÌ„ is more fearefull then the howling of a woulfe I confesse that princes and great lordes maye sometimes gayne and wynnne of them selfes but I aske them whose fauoure they haue neade of to preserue and kepe them we see oftentymes that in a short space many come to great authoritie the whiche neither mans wisedome suffiseth to gouerne nor yet mans force to kepe For the authoritie whiche the Romaines in sixe hundred yeares gayned fighting against the Eothes in the space of three yeares they loste We see dayly by experience that a man for the gouernement of his owne house onely nedeth the councell of his friendes and neighbours and doe princes great lordes thinke by their owne heades onely to rule and gouerne many realmes and dominions ¶ What the Philosopher Byas was of his constancie whan he lost all his goodes and of the ten lawes he gaue worthy to bée had in memorie Cap. xxi AMong all nations and sortes of men whiche auaunt them selues to haue had with them sage men the Gretians were the chiefest whiche had and thought it necessary to haue not onely wyse men to reade in their scholes but also they chose them to be princes in their dominions For as Plato saith those whiche gouerned in those daies were Philosophers or els they sayde and did like Philosophers And Laertius wryteth in his second booke De antiquitatibus Grecorum that the Gretians auaunted them selues muche in this that they haue had of all estates persons moste notable that is to wete seuen women very sage seuen Queenes very honest seuen kings very vertuous seuen Captaines very hardy seuen cities verie notable seuen buildinges very sumptuous seuen Philosophers well learned whiche Philosophers were these that folowe The first was Thales Milesius that inuented the Carde to sayle by The seconde was Solon that gaue the first lawes to the Athenians The thirde was Chilo who was in the Orient for Embassadour of the Athenians The fourth was Pittacus Quintilenus who was not only a philosopher but also Captaine of the Mitelenes The fifth was Cleobolus that descended froÌ„ the auncient linage of Hercules The sixte was Periander that long tyme gouerned the realme of Corinth The seuenth was Bias Prieneus that was prince of the Prieneans Therfore as touching Bias you muste vnderstande that when Romulus reigned at Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was great warres in Grecia betwene the Metinenses and the Prieneans and of these Prieneans Bias the philosopher was prince and Captaine who because he was sage read in the vniuersitie and for that he was hardy was chiefetaine in the warre and because he was wyse he was made a Prince and gouerned the common wealth And of this no man ought to marueile for in those dayes the Philosopher that had knowledge but in one thing was litle estemed in the common wealth After many contentions had betwene the Metâ—nenses and Prienenses a cruell battayle was fought wherof the philosopher Bias was captaine and had the victorie and it was the first battayle that euer anye Philosopher gaue in Greece For the whiche victorie Greece was proude to see that their Philosophers were so aduenturous in warres and hardy of their handes as they were profound in their doctrine and eloquente in their toungues And by chaunce one brought him a nomber of women and maydens to sell or if he listed to vse them otherwyse at his pleasure but this good philosopher did not defile them nor sell them but caused them to be apparailed and safely to be conducted to their own natiue countries And let not this liberalitie that he did be had in litle estimation to deliuer the captiues and not to defloure the virgins For many times it chaunseth that those whiche are ouercome with the weapons of the conquerours are conquered with the delightes of them that are ouercome This deede amongest the Grekes was so highly commended and likewyse of their enemies so praysed that immediatly the Metinenses sent Embassadours to demaunde peace of the Prienenses And they concluded perpetuall peace vpon condition that they shoulde make for Bias an immortall statue sith by his handes and also by his vertues he was the occasion of the peace and ending of the warres betwene them And trulye they had reason for he deserueth more prayse which wynneth the hartes of the enemies in his tentes by good example then he whiche getteth the victorie in the fielde by shedding of bloud The hartes of men are noble and we see daily that oftentyme one shal soner ouercome many by good then many ouercome one by euyll and also they saye that the Emperour Seuerus spake these wordes By goodnes the least slaue in Rome shall leade me tied with a heere whether he wyll but by euill the most puissaunt men in the worlde can not moue me out of Italy For my harte had rather be seruaunt to the good then Lorde to the euill Valerius Maximus declareth that when the citie of Priene was taken by enemies put to sacke the wyfe of Bias was slayne his children taken prysoners his goodes robbed the citie beaten downe and his house set on fire but Bias escaped safe and went to Athens In this pytiful case the good philosopher Bias was no whit the sadder but rather sang as he went by the way and when he perceiued that men marueiled at his mirthe he spake vnto them these wordes Those whiche speake of me for wantinge my citie my wife and my children and losing al that I had truly such know not what fortune meaneth nor vnderstande what philosophie is The losse of children and temporall goodes cannot be called losse if the life be safe and the renowne remaine vndefiled Whether this sentence be true or no let vs profoundly consider if the iust god suffer that this citie should come into the handes of the cruell tyrauntes then this prouision is iuste for there is no thing more conformable vnto iustice then that those whiche receyue not the doctrine of the Sages shoulde suffer the cruelties of the Tyrauntes Also thoughe my ennemies haue kylled my wyfe yet I am sure it was not withoute the determynation of the Gods who after they created her bodye immediately appoynted the
this innocent trauayler Truly hearing no more he would iudge him to be a foole for he is muche infortunate that for all his trauaile loketh for no rewarde Therfore to our matter a prince which is begotteÌ„ as an other man borne as an other man lyueth as an other man dieth as an other man and besides al this commaundeth all men if of suche one we should demaunde why god gaue him signory and that he should answere he knoweth not but that he was borne vnto it in such case let euery man iudge how vnworthy suche a kyng is to haue such authorie For it is vnpossible for a man to minister iustice vnlesse he knowe before what iustice meaneth Let princes and noble men heare this worde and let them imprinte it in their memory whiche is that when the liuing god determined to make kinges and lordes in this worlde he did not ordeyne theym to eate more then others to drynke more then others to sleape more then others to speake more then others nor to reioyce more then others but he created them vpon condition that sithe he had made them to commaunde more then others they shoulde be more iuste in their lyues then others It is a thinge moste vniuste and in the common wealth very sclaunderous to see with what authoritie a puissaunt man coÌ„maundeth those that be vertuous and with how much shame himselfe is bounde to all vices I knowe not what lorde he is that dare punishe his subiecte for one onely offence committed seing him selfe to deserue for euery deede to be chastised For it is a monsterous thing that a blynd man should take vppon him to leade him that seeth They demaunded great Cato the Censor what a king ought to do that he should be beloued feared and not despysed he answered The good prince should be compared to hym that selleth tryacle who if the poyson hurte hym not he selleth his triacle well I meane thereby that the punyshement is taken in good parte of the people which is not ministred by the vicious man For he that maketh the triacle shall neuer be credited vnlesse the profe of his triacle be openly knowen and tried I meane that the good lyfe is none other then a fine triacle to cure the coÌ„mon wealth And to whome is he more lyke whiche with his tongue blaseth vertues and imployeth his deades to all vyces then vnto the man who in the one hand holdeth poyson to take away lyfe and in the other tryacle to resiste deathe To the ende that a lorde be wholy obeyed it is necessary that all that he coÌ„maundeth be obserued firste in his owne persone for no lorde can nor may withdrawe him selfe from vertuous workes This was the aunswere that Cato the Censor gaue whiche in mine opinion was spoken more like a Christian then any Romaine When the true god came into the worlde he imployed thirtie yeares onely in workes and spente but two yeres and a halfe in teaching For mans harte is perswaded more with the worke he seeketh then with the worde whiche he heaâ—eth Those therefore whiche are lordes let them learne and knowe of him which is the true lorde and also let princes learne why they are princes for he is not a Pylot which neuer sayled on the seas In mine opinion if a prince will know why he is a prince I would saye to gouerne well his people to commaunde well and to mainteyne all in Iustice and this should not be with wordes to make them afrayde neyther by workes whiche should offende them but by swete wordes whiche should encourage them and by the good workes that shoulde edifie them For the noble and gentle harte can not resiste hym that with a louynge countenaunce commaundeth Those whiche wyll rule and make tame fierce and wylde beastes doe threaten and rebuke them a hundred tymes before they beate them once and if they keape them tied they shewe them sondrie pleasures So that the wyldenes of the beaste is taken away onely by the gentyll and pleasaunt vsage of the man Therefore sithe we haue this experience of brute and sauage beastes that is to wete that by their wel doing and by the gentle handling of them they voluntarely suffer them selues to be gouerned muche more experience we reasonable men ought to haue that is to knowe that being right and well gouerned we shoulde huÌ„blye and willingly obey our soueraigne lordes For there is no man so harde harted but by gentyll vsage will humble him selfe O princes and noble men I will tell you in one worde what the lorde oughte to doe in the gouernement of his commoÌ„ wealth Euery prince that hath his mouth full of troth his handes open to geue rewardes and his eares stopped to lyes and his hert open to mercy such a one is happy and the realme which hath him may wel be called prosperous and the people maye call them selues fortunate For where as truth liberalitie and clemency ruleth in the harte of a prince there wronges iniuries and oppressions doe not reigne And contrariwyse where the prince hath his harte flesshed in crueltie his mouthe full of tyrannies his handes defyled with bloude and enclineth his eares to heare lyes suche a prince is vnhappy and muche more the people the whiche by suche one is gouerned For it is vnpossible that there is peace and iustice in the common wealthe if he whiche gouerneth it be a louer of lyes and flatterers In the yere foure hundreth and fourty before the incarnatioÌ„ of Christ whiche was in the yere .244 of the foundation of Rome Darius the fourthe being kyng of Persia and Brutus and Lucius at Rome Counsulles Thales the great Phylosopher floryshed in Greece who was prince of the seuen renowmed sages by the whiche occasion all the realme of Greece had and recouered renowme For Greece boasted more of the seuen sages whiche they had then Rome did of all the valiaunt captaines whiche she nouryshed There was at that tyme muche contention betwene the Romaynes and the Greekes for so muche as the Greekes sayde they were better because they had mo sages and the Romaines sayde the contrary that they were better because they had alwayes mo armies The Greekes replied againe that there were no lawes made but in Grece And the Romaines to this answered that though they were made in Greece yet they were obserued at Rome The Greekes sayde that they had great vniuersities to make wyse men in And the Romaines sayde they had many great temples to worship their Gods in for that in the ende they oughte to esteme more one seruice done to the immortall goddes then all the other commodities that myghte come vnto men A Thebane knight was demaunded what he thoughte of Rome and Greece and he aunswered me thynkes the Romaines are no better then the Greekes nor the Greekes than the Romaines For the Greekes glorie in their tongues and the Romaines in their lances But we referre it to vertuous workes For one good worke
which teacheth and correcteth their lyfe The Emperor condescended to the request of the people on such condiciō that they should geeue a mayster and tutor to Pilas that shoold chastice and correct him as a foole Saieng that since sages tooke fooles to bee their maysters that the fooles also shoold haue sages for maisters The case was that one day hee that had the charge of Pilas did rebuke him for certain lightnes that hee had doon or for some dishonesty that hee had sayed wherat Pilas was exceading wrath with him The which the emperor vndestāding cōmaunded hee should bee whipt and banished for euer When Augustus gaue this sentence they say hee sayd these words Rome hath been mighty and puisaunt inough to make her enemyes stoupe and now shee is not able to banish iesters and fooles And that that is woorse of al they haue presumption to vexe vs and wee haue not courage to reproue them The Lacedemonians had great reason and also the Romayns to ryd their common wealth of iesters For they are idel vitious dishonest malycious and preiudyciall to the common wealth These iesters and iuglers are idell seeing that more then others they eat the swette of others They are vicious for they can not excercise their offices but in vices and in treatyng with vicious men They are dishonest for they get not to eat by dooing good woorks but by speaking dyshonest woords They are malicious for they haue accustomed whē they loue not a mā immediatly to speak euyll of hym They are vnprofitable for the common wealth for they mock vs and sel vs vaine woords and wee pay them good money The world is come to so great folly and corruption that euē as graue and wyse men think it great inconuenience to bee conuersaunt with vayne and fond men so the Lords of estate think it an honor to haue in their house some foolysh iesters yea better to say with reuerence of speache raylyng knaues which speake not to please and shew pastyme but to offend the present and rayl at the absent aswell of the high as the low and that that is more yet then this is that they are not contentyd to haue gyuen this enterteinment and welcome to the noble men and Ientlemen that are at their lords boord but they must needs haue a cast at my lord hym selfe to chere him with all which intollerable abuse ought not onely not to bee suffered but with most sharpe correction punished But what shall wee say that for the most part the lords are so vaine and the iesters so presumptuous and arrogant that the Lords haue more care to contente them then they haue to please the lords In the house of a lord a foole at the end of the yere will ask more then any other of those which are most auncient so that the follyes of one are more acceptable then the seruyces of all It is shame to speake it and no lesse to wryte it that the Children of vanity are so vayne that they brybe a foole or a iester no lesse in these days to thintent hee may bee a meane for them vnto the Prince then they did in times past desire Cicero to make an oration for them beefore the Senat. It is for want of vnderstanding and through the vilety of person oppression of the hart and disprayse of renowme to bee desirous by the mean of fooles too attayne to any thing For hee can haue no great wysedōe which putteth hys hope in the fauor of a foole What remayneth for mee to say when I haue sayd that which I will say And it is that if a iester or foole say openly to some lord God saue your lyfe my good lord Oh hee is a noble man in deed hee will not stick to geeue hym a gowne of silk and entring into a church hee would not geeue a poore man a halpeny O what negligence is there of princes O what vanity of Lords since they forsake the poore and wise to enrych the iesters and fooles They haue enough for the world and not for Ihesus Christ they geeue to those that ask for his louers sake and not to those which ask for the health of the soule Hee ought not to doo so for the knyght which is a Christian and not a worldlyng ought rather to will that the poore doo pray for hym at the hower of death then that the fooles and iesters should prayse him in his lyfe What dooth it profit the soule or the body that the iesters doo prayse thee for a cote thou hast geeuen them and that the poore accuse thee for the bread thou hast denayed them Peraduēture it wil profyt thee asmuch that a foole or a flaterer goe beefore a Prince apparayled with a new lyuery of thine as the poore men shall doo thee damage beefore God to whome thou hast denyed a poore ragged shirt All gentlemen and noble parsonages in the name of our sauiour Iesus Christ I admonysh exhort and humbly require that thei consyder well what they spend and to whom they geeue for the good Princes ought to haue more respect of the necessityes of the poore then of the follyes of counterfayts Geeue as yee wyl deuide as ye list for at the houre of death as much as yee haue laughed with the fooles for that ye haue geeuen them so much shall ye weepe with the poore for that ye haue denayed them At the houre of death it shal bee greeuous paynes to him that dyeth to see the flesh of the orphanes all naked and to beehold counterfaite fooles loden with their garments Of one thing I am amased that indifferently euery man may beecome a foole and no man let him and the woorst of al is if once a foole beecome couetous al the world afterwards cannot make him to to bee in his right senses Truly such one which hath no reasō to bee a foole at the least hee hath good occasion since hee getteth more to eat playeng thē the others doo woorking O what negligence of the princes and what smal respect of the gouernours of the common wealth is this that a yong man whole stout strong and valiaunt should bee suffred to goe from house to house from table to table and only for babbling vayne words and telling shamefull lyes hee should bee counted a man of an excellent tong Another foly there is in this case that their woordes are not so foolish as their deedes are wicked And though they haue a good or euel grace yet in the end they bee counted in the common wealth as loyterers and fooles I know not whether in this case is greater either their folly or our lyghtnes for they vse as fooles in telling vs lyes and wee pay them good mony The Romaynes dyd not permit in their common wealthes old stale iesters nor wee Christyans ought to retayne into our houses idel loyterers Ye ought to know that more offendeth hee which sinneth with a defourme woman then hee which
and all his power comming against mee And not only the realmes of Asia shall fight for mee but also I will commaund the ground that I tread on to ryse against him But what was the fattal end of Pompeies pryde His captains lost the battell his children their Realmes and seignories and hee in fyne his head Rome her liberty and his frends their lyues Themperor Domitian also was so vicious in his dooings and so proud in his thoughts that hee openly commaunded the gouernors and magistrats of his realm in all their edicts and proclamations to say these woords Domitian our god our prince commaundeth that this thing bee doon But loe the fynall end of his pryde in taking vppon him the name of a god by consent and counsell of his wicked wife Domitia hee had seuen deadly wounds geeuen him in his bedd with a dagger And thus wofully hee ended his glorious lyfe Plutarch recounteth also that king Demetrius was the proudest prince that euer raigned For hee was not contented to see him self serued of al men like a great mighty prince as hee was but hee made them also honor him as a god And hee woold not suffer any straunge imbassatours to come into his presence but they shoold bee appareled lyke priests Aman was also very familier wyth the king Assuerus and although all those of his realm did him great seruyce and that straungers had him in great veneration and did honor him maruelously yet was there a glorious Mardocheus that woold neuer doo him reuerence nor once put of his capp to hym by reason whereof thys Aman that was in so great fauor commaunded a gybbet of fyfty yards high to bee set vp for Mardocheus whom hee woold haue hanged on that gibbet to bee reuenged on him for the iniury hee had doon him But the diuine will of God was such Fortune dyd permit it that on the same galloes Aman thought to haue putt Mardocheus to death on the self same himself was hanged Themistocles and Aristides were two famous men among the Greekes and because they were both great Prynces and Philosophers and had in great reputation of all those that knew them there was such a secret emulation and ambition betweene them the one to raigne ouer the other that both aspyring eche to commaund other there folowed great disorders and oppressions of the subiects of their commonweal Wherefore Themistocles moued with pity and compassion of so great a tyraunt whych for their sakes theyr commonweal indured one day in the market place beefore all hys people wyth a lowd voyce spake these woords Know you O you people of Athens that if you doo not lay hands on my exceeding presumption and on the ouergreat ambition of Aristides that our gods wil bee offended the temples will fall down to the hard foundation our treasures wil bee consumed our selues destroyed and our common weales brought to vtter ruyn and decay Therefore once agayn good people I say brydle brydle these our inordinat and vnspeakable affections beetymes lest the rayns layd on our neckes wee runne to farre O golden woords of a prince and woorthy eternall fame Lucanus also when hee woold reproue the presumption and pryde of the Romayn princes sayd that Pompei the great coold neuer abyde to haue any for his compagnion or equall with him within Rome And Iulius Cesar also woold neuer suffer that there shoold bee any greater in the world then hym self And therefore to discourse a lyttle of this abhominable and horrible vyce of pryde wee haue not wythout great reason layd beefore you these approued examples beefore wee beginne to reprooue it For in all things thexamples wee shew you are wont to moue vs more then the reasons wee seeme to tell you of For that that I haue seene for that I haue read and for that that I haue hard say also of others I am most assured and resolued thereof that by the only cause of this wycked sinne of pryde proceedeth the ruyn and vtter decay of all our greatest things and affairs of our lyfe for by all other sinnes a man may in deede descend and declyne from his degree and state of honor and estimacion but by this only sinne hee cannot chose but hee must fall down flat to the grownd They fynd out the middest and center of the earth the depth of the sea and the highest tops of Riphei mountains the end of the great mount Caucasus and the beginning of the great fludd Nile and only the little hart of man touching desire to rule commaund can neuer fynd end Thinsatiable couetousnes is such that it cannot bee contented with the things wee haue but only with those wee repute of lesse price Lykewise ambition and pryde to cōmaund cannot bee conteined within bounds but only by obeying For neuer no vyce can haue end if hee that hath it dooth not leaue it and banish it from him After Alexander the great had conquered all Asia and had subdued the great India hee was one day reproued of the great Philosopher Anacharses who told him these woords Sith thou art now O Alexander lord of all the earth why doost thou weary thy self so much in thy affairs as no payn seemeth troublesom to thee To whom Alexander answered Thou hast told mee many times Anacharses that besides this world there are also three others And if it bee so as thou sayst how great a reproche and infamy were it to mee that beeing three other worlds I shoold bee lord but only of one Therefore I doo dayly sacrifyce to the gods that though they take mee out of the lyfe of this world yet at least that they wil not deny mee of so glorious a conquest I confesse that the Scriptures excepted I haue no woords so ryfe in memory as these whereby may easely bee perceiued that to quiet and content a proud hart the seignory of the whole world is not yet sufficient and how ended the pryde of this glorious prince euen thus Hee that hoped to cōquer bee lord of the three other worlds dyd not rule this one only aboue .iii. yeres Wee may boldly say this swere it may also playnly proue it to any that desire to see it that hee wanteth both wit knowledge that taketh vpō him to bee proud and presumptuous For the more hee looketh into him self and considereth and reconsidereth his state and calling what hee is hee shall fynd in him a thowsand occasions fit to humble him but neuer a one only to make him proud and haughty How great rych myghty noble and woorthy so euer the parson bee euery tyme that wee happen to see him and that wee haue no acquayntaunce of hym And that wee desyre to know what hee is wee doo not ask of what element of what sea of what fyre of what planet of what clymat of what sunne of what moone nor of what aier but only of what countrey hee is of and where hee was borne For
in nothing delighted so much as by straunge hands to put men to death and to dryue away flies wyth his owne hands Smal is the nomber of those that I haue spoken in respect of those which I could recite of whom I dare say affirme that if I had bene as they I cannot tel what I would haue done or what I should haue desired but this I know it would haue bene more paynes to me to haue wonne the infamy that they haue wonne then to haue lost the lyfe that they haue lost It profyteth hym lytle to haue his ponds ful of fish his parkes ful of deere whych knoweth neyther how to hunte nor how to fysh I meane to shew by this that it profiteth a man lytle to be in great authority if he be not estemed nor honored in the same For to attayne to honour wysedome is requisite to kepe it pacience is necessarye Wyth great consyderacions wyse men ought to enterpryse daungerous thyngs For I assure them they shal neuer winne honour but wher they vse to recouer slaunder Returnyng therfore to our matter Puisaunt prynce I sweare durst vndertake that you rather desyre perpetual renowne through death then any idell rest in this life And hereof I do not merueile for ther are some that shal alwayes declare the prowesses of good prynces others which wyl not spare to open the vyces of euyl tiraunts For although your imperial estate is much your catholike person deserueth more yet I beleue wyth my hart se with these eyes that your thoughts are so highly bent vnto aduenturous dedes your hart so couragious to set vpon them that your maiestie litle estemeth the inheritaunce of your predecessours in respect of that you hope to gaine to leaue to your successours A captaine asked Iulius Cesar as he declareth in his commentaries why he trauailed in the winter in so hard frost in the sommer in such extreme heate He aunswered I wyl do what lyeth in me to do and afterward let the fatal destinies do what they can For the valiaunt knyght that gyueth in battayle thonset ought more to be estemed then fickle fortune wherby the victory is obtayned sins fortune gyueth the one aduenture gydeth the other These words are spoken like a stout valyaunt captayne of Rome Of how many prynces do we read whom trulye I muche lament to see what flatteries they haue herd wyth their eares being aliue and to redde what slaunders they haue susteyned after their death Prynces and great lords shold haue more regard to that whych is spoken in their absence then vnto that which is done in their presence Not to that whych they heare but to that whych they would not heare not to that whiche they tel them but to that which they would not be told of not to that is wryten vnto them being aliue but to that which is wryten of them after their death not to those that tell them lyes but to those whych if they durst would tel them trouth For men manye times refrayne not their tongues for that subiects be not credited but because the prince in his auctority is suspected The noble vertuous prince shold not flit from the trouth wherof he is certified neyther with flateryes lyes should he suffer himselfe to be deceiued but to examine himselfe se whether they serue him with trouth or deceiue hym with lyes For ther is no better witnes iudge of truth lyes then is a mans owne conscience I haue spoken al this to thintent your maiesty myght know that I wil not serue you wyth that you should not be serued That is to shew my selfe in my wryting a flaterer For it wer neither mete nor honest that flateries into the eares of such a noble prynce shold enter neither that out of my mouth which teach the deuine truth such vaine tales should issue I say I had rather be dispraysed for trew speaking then to be honoured for flatery lieng For of truth in your highnes it shold be much lightnes to heare them in my basenes great wickednes to inuent them Now againe folowing our purpose I say the historyes greatly commend Licurgus that gaue lawes to the Lacedemonians Numa Pompilius that honoured and adourned the churches Marcus Marcellus that had pitye on those whych were ouercome Iulius Cesar that forgaue his enemyes Octauius that was so welbeloued of the people Alexander that gaue rewards and giftes to al men Hector the Troyane because he was so valiaunt in warres Hercules the Thebane because he emploied his strength so wel Vlisses the Grecian because he aduentured himselfe in so many daungers Pirrhus king of Epirotes because he inuented so many engins Catullus Regulus because he suffered so many torments Titus the Emperour because he was father to the Orphanes Traianus because he edified sumptuous goodly buildings The good Marcus Aurelius because he knew more thē al they I do not say that it is requisyte for one prynce in these dayes to haue in him all those qualyties but I dare be bold to affirme this that euen as it is vnpossible for one prince to folow al so likewise it is a great slaunder for him to folow none We do not require princes to do al that they can but to apply themselues to do some thing that they ought And I speake not without a cause that whych I haue sayd before For if princes did occupy themselues as they ought to do they shoulde haue no tyme to be vycious Plynie saith in an epistle that the great Cato called Censor did were a ring vpon his fynger wherin was wryten these wordes Esto amicus vnius inimicus nullius which is be frend to one enemy to none He that would depely consider these few words shal find therin many graue sentences And to apply this to my purpose I saye the prince that would wel gouerne his common weal shew to al equal iustyce desire to possesse a quiet lyfe to get among al a good fame that coueteth to leaue of hymselfe a perpetual memory ought to embrace the vertues of one and to reiect the vices of al. I alow it verye wel that princes should be equal yea surmount many but yet I aduise theym not to employ their force but to folow one For oftētimes it chaunseth that many which suppose themselues in their life to excel al when they are dead are scarcely found equal to any Though man hath done much blased what he can yet in the ende he is but one one mind one power one byrth one life and one death Then sithen he is but one let no man presume to know more then one Of al these good princes which I haue named in the rowle of iustice the last was Marcus Aurelius to thintent that he should weaue his webbe For suppose we read of many prynces that haue compyled notable things the whych are to be redde and knowen
but al that Marcus Aurelius sayd or dyd is worthy to be knowen necessary to be folowed I do not meane this prynce in his heathen law but in hys vertuous dedes Let vs not staye at hys belyef but let vs embrace the good that he did For compare many chrystians wyth some of the heathen loke howe farre we leaue them behynd in faith so farre they excel vs in vertuous works Al the old prynces in times past had som phylosophers to their familiars as Alexander Aristotle King Darius Herodotus Augustus Pisto Pompeius Plauto Titus Plinie Adrian Secundus Traian Plutarchus Anthonius Apolonius Theodotius Claudius Seuerus Fabatus Fynally I say that philosophers then had such authority in princes palaces that children acknowledged them for fathers and fathers reuerenced them as maysters These sage meÌ„ wer aliue in the coÌ„pany of princes but the good Marcus Aurelius whose doctrine is before your maiestie is not aliue but dead Yet therfore that is no cause why his doctrine shold not be admitted For it may be paraduenture that this shal profit vs more which he wrate with his hands then that which others spake with their tongues Plutarche sayth in the time of Alexander the great Aristotle was aliue and Homere was dead But let vs see how he loued the one reuerenced the other for of truth hee slept alway with Homers booke in his hands waking he red the same with hys eyes alwayes kept the doctrine therof in his memory layed when he rested the booke vnder his head The which priuiledge Aristotle had not who at al times cold not be heard much lesse at al seasons be beleued so that Alexander had Homere for his frend and Aristotle for a maister Other of these phylosophers wer but simple men but our Marcus Aurelius was both a wyse phylosopher and a valiaunt prynce and therfore reason would he should be credited before others For as a prince he wyl declare the troubles as a phylosopher he wil redresse them Take you therefore Puisaunt Prince this wise phylosopher and noble emperour for a teacher in your youth for a father in your gouernment for a captayne general in your warres for a guide in your iourneys for a frend in your affayres for an example in your vertues for a maister in your sciences for a pure whyte in your desyres and for equal matche in your deedes I wil declare vnto you the lyfe of an other beinge a heathen and not the lyfe of an other being a chrystian For how much glory this heathen prince had in this world being good and vertuous so much paynes your maiestie shal haue in the other if you shal be wicked and vycious Behold behold noble prince the lyfe of this Emperour you shal se how clere he was in his iudgement how vpright in hys iustyce howe circumspect in hys life how louing to his frends how pacient in his troubles how he dissembled with hys enemies how seuere agaynst Tyraunts how quyet among the quiet how great a frend to the sage and louer of the simple how aduenturous in his warres and amyable in peace and aboue al thinges how high in words and profound in sentences Many tymes I haue bene in doubt with my selfe whether the Eternal maiesty which gyueth vnto you princes the temporal maiestie to rule aboue al other in power and authorytie did exempt you that are princes more from humaine frayltye then he did vs that be but subiects and at the last I knew he did not For I see euen as you are chyldren of the world so you do lyue according to the world I see euen as you trauaile in the world so you can know nothing but things of the world I se because you liue in the fleshe that you are subiect to the myseryes of the fleshe I see though for a tyme you prolong your lyfe yet at the last you are brought to your graue I see your trauaile is great and that within your gates there dwelleth no rest I se you are cold in the wynter and hote in the sommer I se that hunger feeleth you and thirst troubleth you I se your frendes forsake you and your ennemyes assault you I se that you are sadde and lacke ioy I se you are sicke and be not wel serued I see you haue muche and yet that which you lacke is more What wil ye se more seyng that princeâ— die O noble princes great Lordes syns you must die and become wormes meat why do you not in your lyfe tyme serche for good counsayle If the prynces and noble men commit an â—rroure no man dare chastice them wherfore they stand in greater nede of aduyse counsaile For the trauailer who is out of his waye the more he goeth foreward the more he errethe If the people do amisse they ought to be punyshed but if the prince erre hee shoulde bee admonished And as the Prynce wyl the people shoulde at his handes haue punyshment so it is reason that he at their hands should receyue counsayle For as the wealthe of the one dependeth on the wealthe of the other soo trulye if the prince bee vycious the people can not be vertuous If youre maiestie wyl punyshe your people with words commaund them to prynt this present worke in their harts And if your people would serue your hyghnes with their aduise let them likewyse beseche you to reade ouer this booke For therin the subiectes shal fynd how they may amende and you Lordes shal se al that you ought to do wdether this presente worke be profytable or noo I wyll not that my penne shal declare but they whyche reede it shall iudge For we aucthours take paines to make and translate others for vs vse to giue iudgement and sentence From my tender yeres vntil this present I haue liued in the world occupieng my selfe in reading and studieng humaine deuyne bookes and although I confesse my debilitie to be such that I haue not reade so much as I might nor studied so much as I ought yet not withstandinge al that I haue red hath not caused me to muse so muche as the doctrine of Marcus Aurelius hath sith that in the mouth of an heathen god hath put such a great treasor The greatest part of al his workes were in Greke yet he wrote also many in latin I haue drawen this out of greke throughe the helpe of my frends afterwards out of latin into our vulgare tongue by the trauaile of my hands Let al men iudge what I haue suffred in drawing it out of Greke into latin out of the latin into the vulgar and out of a plaine vulgar into a swete and pleasaunt style For that banket is not counted sumptuous vnlesse ther be both pleasaunt meates and sauory sauces To cal sentences to mynd to place the wordes to examine languages to correct sillables what swette I haue suffred in the hote sommer what bytter cold in the sharpe wynter what
The fifthe was that they whiche had charge of bringinge vp of children shoulde not be vicious For there is nothinge more monstruous and more sclaunderous then he that is maister of children should be subiecte and seruaunt to vyces How thinkest thou my frende Pulio whan al these thinges were obserued in Rome Thinkest thou that the youthe was so dissolute as at this present thinkeste thou in deede that it is the same Rome wherin in times past were so notable good and auncient men beleuest thou that it is that Rome wherin in the golden age the olde men were so honest and the children so well taught the armies wel ordered and the iudges and Senatours so vpright and iuste I call God to witnes and sweare to the that it is not Rome neyther hath it any likenes of Rome nor yet anye grace to be Rome and he that would say that this Rome was the old Rome knoweth lytle of Rome The matter was this that the auncient and vertuous Romaynes being dead it semeth to the gods that we are not yet woorthye to enioye their houses So that eyther this is not Rome or els we be not the Romaines of Rome For considering the prowesse and vertuous deedes of the auncient Romaines and wayeng also our dissolute lyues it wer a very great infamy for them to call vs their successours I desier my frend Pulio to write vnto the all these thinges to th end thou mayest se what we were and what we are For great things haue neede of great power and require a long tyme before they can growe and come to their perfection and then afterward at one moment with one blow they fal downe to the ground I haue bene more tedious in my letter than I thoughte to haue bene and now I haue told the that which wyth dyligence by reason of my great affayres in thre or foure tymes I haue wryten of that that wanteth in thine and is to much in myne we shal make a reasonable letter and since I pardon the for being to briefe pardon thou me also for being to long I saw the ones enquire for vnicornes horne in Alexandry wherfore now I send the a good peece and likewise I send the a horse which in my iudgement is good Aduertise me if thy doughter Drusilla be alyue wyth whom I was wont to laugh and I wyll healpe her to a mariage The immortall gods kepe the O my Pulio thy wife thy stepmother and thy doughter and Salut them all from me and faustine Marke of Mounte Celio Emperour of Rome with his owne hand wryteth vnto the. ¶ Of the excellency of christian religion whych manyfesteth the true God and disproueth the vanitye of the auncyents hauyng so many Gods And that in the olde tyme when the enemyes were reconcyled in their houses they caused also that the gods should embrace eche other in the Temples Cap. iiii HE that is the onely diuyne worde begotten of the Father lorde perpetuall of the Hierarchies more aunciente then the heauens Prince of all holynesse chiefe head from whom all had their begynning the greatest of all gods and creatore of all creatures in the profundnesse of his eternall sapience accordeth all the harmony and composition of Christian religion This is suche a maner of sure matter and so well laid that neyther the miseries which spring of thinfections of naughty Christians can trouble nor yet the boysterous windes of the heretiques are able to moue For it wer more likely that heauen and earthe shoulde both perishe then it should suspend for one daye and that ther sholde be no Christian religion The auncient godds whyche were inuentours of wordly thinges as the foundacion of their reproued sectes was but a flienge sande and an vnstable ground ful of daūgerous erronious abuses so some of those poore wretches lokyng perhappes lyke a shippe ronning vppon a rocke suspectynge nothyng were drowned Other like ruyned buildynges were shaken in sonder and fell downe dead finally these gods whiche onely bare the name of gods shal be for euermore forgotten But he onely shal be perpetual whiche in god by god thorough god hath his beginninge Many and sundry were the multitude of the nacions whiche haue bene in times past That is to wyt the Sirians the Assirians Persiās Medians Macedoniās Grecians Cythians Arginians Corinthiās Caldeās Indiās Athenians Lacedemonians Africans Vandales Svveuians Allains Hongarians Germaignes Britons Hebrevves Palastines Gentiles Iberthailides Maurians Lucitanians Gothes and Spaniardes And truely in all these loke howe greate the difference amongest them in their customes and maners was so much diuersitie was of the ceremonies which they vsed and of their gods which they honoured For the gentiles had this errour that they sayd one alone was not of power sufficient to create suche a multitude as were created If I were before al the sages that euer were they would not say the contrary but without cōparison the gods whome they worshypped and inuented were greater in multitude then the realmes and prouinces whiche they conquered and possessed For by that folie the auncient poetes durst affirme in their writinges that the gods of one nation and countrey wer mortal enemies to the gods of another prouince So that the gods of Troye enuied the gods of Grece more then the princes of Grece enuied the princes of Troye What a strange thinge was it to see the Assirians in what reuerence they worshypped the god Belus The Egiptiās the god Apis. The Caldeans the god Assas The Babiloniās the deuouring dragon The pharaones the statue of gold The Palestines Belzebub The Romaines honoured the god Iupiter The Affricās the god Mars The Corinthians the god Apollo The Arabians the God Astaroth The Arginians the Sonne Those of Acaia the Moone The Cidonians Belphegorn The Amonites Balim The Indians Baccus The lacedemonians Osiges The Macedonians did sacrifice to Marcury The Ephesians to their goddesse Diana The Grekes to Iuno The Armenians to Liber The Troiās to Vesta The Latins to Februa The Tarentines to Ceres The Rhodians as saieth Apolonius Thianeus worshypped the God Ianus and aboue all thinges wee oughte to meruaile at this That they striued oftentimes amongest them selues not so muche vpon the possessions and signories of Realmes as vppon a certaine obstinacie they had to maintaine the gods of the one to be of greater power then the others For they thoughte if their gods were not estemed that the people should be impouerished vnfortunate and persecuted Pulio in his second booke De dissolatione regionum orientarum declareth that the first prouince that rebelled againste the Emperour Helius Adrianus which was the fiftenth Emperour of Rome was the land of Palestine against the which was sent a captaine named Iulius Seuerus a manne of great courage and verye fortunate and aduenturous in armes This captaine did not only finishe the warres but he wrought such an outragious destruction in that land that he besieged 52. cities and raced them to the ground
him afraide in the night And Xerxes which was the sonne of kyng Darius when he passed into Italye to wage battaile before all other thinges he sente fower thousand horsemen to Delphos wher the Temple of God Apollo was to beate it downe for the pryde of Xerxes was so great that he would not onlye subdue men but also conquere the gods It chaunsed that euen as they approched nere the Temple to beat it downe a sodaine tempest fell vpon them so that with stones and thunder boltes they were al killed in the fields and so dyed Brennus was one of the renowmed Captaines of the Gothes who sithe he had conquered and subdued the Greekes determined also to robbe the treasours of the temples saying that gods should gyue vnto men and not men vnto gods and that it was greate honoure to the goddes that with their goodes men should be made riche But as they beganne to robbe the Temple there fell a multitude of arrowes from heauen that the Captaine Brennus dyed there and all his men with him not one left alyue After that Sextus Pompeius was vanquished in the battaile by sea neare vnto Scicile by Octavus Angustus he retired him selfe into the Arkes Lacinii where there was an auncient Temple consecrated to the godesse Iuno endewed with maruelous treasours And it chaunsed one day that his souldyers asking him money and he beinge then withoute he commaunded theym to beate downe the Temple of the goddesse Iuno and to paye them selues with the spoile of her treasure The historiographers saye that within a whyle after it chaunsed Sextus Pompeius to be taken of the knightes of Marcus Antonius and when he was broughte before Titus generall of the armye he spake vnto him these woordes I wil thou know Sextus Pompeius I do not condemne the to dye for thoffences thou hast committed against my Lord Marcus Antonius But because thou hast robbed and beaten downe the Temple of the Goddesse Iuno For thou knowest that the good Captaynes oughte to forget the offences against men and to reuenge the iniuryes done vnto the Goddes ¶ How Valentine the Emperoure because he was an euyll Chrystian loste in one day both the Empire and his lyfe and was burned alyue in a shepecote Cap. xxiiii WHen Iulian the Apostate was Emperour of Rome he sente to conquere Hongarie of no iust title hee had to it more then of Ambicion to vnite it to the Romaine Empire For tyrannous princes vse all their force to vsurpe others realmes by crueltye and lytle regard whether they maye do it by iustice And because the Romaine Empire was of great force this Ambicious Emperour Iulian had in that warres a mighty and puysant Armie which did wonderfull muche harme throughe al the countryes they came For the fruites of warres is to bereue the enemyes of lyfe and to spoyle the men of their goodes It chaunsed one day as 5 knyghtes wente out of the campe to make a rode they found a young man that caried a halter in hys hande and as they would haue taken it awaye from hym to haue tyed their horses to let them feede he was so hardy and stout that he defended hym selfe from them all so that he had more strength alone then they fyue altogethers The Romayne knyghtes amazed to see this younge man defend hym selfe from them all so stoutly very instauntly desired him to go to the Romaine campe with them and they promised him he should haue great interteynment For the Romaines were so dyligent that they woulde omit no good thinge for want of money so that it wer for the publike weale This yonge man was called Gracian and was borne and brought vp in the country of Pannonia in a citie they called Cibata his lynage was not of the lowest sort of the people nor yet of the most estemed Citizens but were men that lyued by the swete of their browes and in loue of the common people And truly it is no small benefite that God had made him of a meane estate for to be of base linage maketh men to be despised and not regarded and to come of a noble bloud and high synage maketh men to be proud and lofty This yonge man being come into the Romaynes campe the fame was immediatly spred how that he alone had vanquished fiue knyghtes And his strength and courage was so highely estemed that wythin a while after he was made Pretour of the armie For the Romaynes not according to fauour but according to the habilytie of men deuyded the offices and degrees of honoure in warres Tyme therfore working his nature and manye estates beinge decayed after thys yonge Gracian was made Pretour of the armye and that he was sufficiently tryed in the warres fortune which many times bringeth that to passe in a day that mans malyce cannot in many yeres raised this Gracian to be Emperoure of Rome For trulye one hower of good successe is more worthe thenne al worldly fauour This Gracian was not onlye singuler in strengthe couragious in battaile fortunate in all his affaires but also he was luckye of children That is to wete he had two sonnes which were Emperours of Rome the one was called Valente the other Valentinian In this case the children mighte glorye to haue a father so stout but the glorie of the father is greater to haue sonnes of such nobilytie For there is no greater felicitie in this world then duringe life to come to honour and riches after death to leaue good children to enioy them The eldest of the two sonnes was the Emperour Valente who ruled in the Orient for the space of .iiii. yeres was the xxxix Emperour of Rome from Iulius Cesar though some do beginne at the time of Octauian sayeng that he was vertuous and that Iulius Cesar vsurped the Empire lyke a tiraunt This Valente was beautifull of personne but poore of vertues so that he was more beautifull thenne vertuous more couragious thenne mercifull more riche thenne charitable more cruell then pitefull For there are manye Princes that are verye expert to deuise newe orders in a common wealthe but there are few that haue stoute hartes to put the same in execution In those dayes the sect of Arrian the cursed heretike florished and the Emperour Valente was greatly blinded therin in somuch that he did not only fauour the Arrians but also he persecuted the Christiās which was shewed for somuch as he killed caused to be killed for that occasiō many lay men toke many clerkes banished many Bishopps ouerthrew many Churches robbed the goods of the Chrishiās dyd infinite other mischeues in the comcomon wealth For the prince whych is infected wyth heresy liueth without feare of the Church ther is neyther mischiefe nor treasō but he wil comit In the desertes of Egipte in the mountaynes of Armenia and in the cityes of Alexandrie there was a greate multitude of fryers and relygious men amongest whom were many wise men and pure
is more worth then either the longe staues of the Romaines or the eloquent tongues of the Greekes Therefore touching my matter this philosopher Thales was the firste that founde the pole called the north starre to sayle by and the firste that founde the deuision of the yeares the quantitie of the Sonne and the Moone and the firste that sayde soules were immortall and that the worlde had a soule And aboue all he would neuer mary for the care to content the wyfe and the thought to brynge vp the children doth muche dull the wyttes of wyse men This philosopher Thales was very poore wherefore some disdayninge hym for his pouertie to declare and shewe that he was more ryche then all they he bought the next yeare all the Olyues he coulde get for by Astronomie he knewe that in the thirde yeare there woulde be a great wante and scarsitie thereof throughout all the countrey Wherefore all were compelled to come to him for Oliues whiche at his owne price he solde and in this sorte he shewed them that mocked him that he wyllingly despysed ryches and louingly imbraced pouertie For he that willingly in this world is poore ought not to be called poore This philosopher Thales was a mirror amōgst the sages of Grece was greatly reuerenced of all the kinges of Asia highlye renowmed in Rome And further he was so wise and had so redy a wit that to all sodaine questions he was demaunded he gaue present aunswere furthwith which thing declared him to be of a marueilous wytte and truly it was a great matter For the most parte of mortal men can not tel how to aunswere nor what to demaunde Many and diuerse questiōs we asked him as Diogenes Laertius affirmeth in the answering wherof he shewed great wysedome the treasure of memory and subtiltie of vnderstanding First he was asked what god was Thales answered of all the most antiquities God is the moste auncient thing For all the auncientes past neither sawe him take beginning nor those which shal come shal se him haue ending Secondarily he was asked what thing was moste beautiful he aunswered the worlde because no artificiall painting could make the like Thirdly he was asked what was the greatest thing to that he aunswered place wherein all thinges doe stande For the place whiche conteineth all of necessitie must be greater then all Fourthly it was asked him who knoweth moste he aunswereth that no man was wyser then tyme because tyme alwayes onelye inuented newe thinges and is he whiche renueth the olde Fiftly they asked him what was the lightest thinge he aunswered the wytte of man because that without trauayle and daungers it passeth the sea to discouer and compasse all the whole earth Sixtly they asked hym what was the strongest thing he sayde the man that is in necessitie for necessitie reuiueth the vnderstanding of the rude and causeth the cowarde to be hardy in peryll Seuenthly they asked him what was the hardest thing to knowe he answered for man to know him selfe for there should be no contentions in the worlde if man knewe him selfe Eightly they asked him what thing was swetest to obteine he aunswered desire for the man reioyseth to remembre the paines past and to obtaine to that whiche he desyreth present Ninthly they asked him when the enuious man is quiet he aunswered when he seeth his enemy dead or vtterly vndone For truly the prosperitie of the enemy is a sharpe knife to the enuious harte Tenthly he was asked what mā shuld do to liue vprightly he answered to take the coūcel to him self which he geueth to an other For the vndoing of al men is that they haue plenty of councell for others want for them selues The eleuenth question was they asked him what profite he hath that is not couetous wherunto he answered that such a one is deliuered from the tormentes of his auarice and besides that he recouereth frendes for his persone for ryches tormenteth the auaricions because he spendeth them not The .xii. they asked him what the prince should doe to gouerne others he answered he ought firste to gouerne him selfe and then afterwardes to gouerne others For it is vnpossible the rodde should be right wher the shadow is croked By the occasion of this last aunswere I did bring in here all these questions to the end princes and rulers might see how that euery one of thē is as the rod of iustice and that the common wealth is none other but a shadowe of them which in al and for all ought to be right For immediatly it is perceiued in the shadowe of the common wealth if the iustice or lyfe of him whiche gouerneth be out of his order Therefore concluding all that I haue spoken before if a prince would aske me why he is a prince I would tel him in one word only that he which is the highe prince hath made you a prince in this world to the end you should be a distroyer of heretykes a father of orphanes a frend of sages a hater of malicyous a scourge of tirauntes a rewarder of good a defender and protector of Churches a plague of the wicked a onely louer and frend of the common wealth and aboue al you ought to be an vpright mynister of iustice beginning first with your parson pallace for in all thinges amendment is suffered except in iustice which ought to be equal betwene the prince and the common wealth ¶ What Plutarch the Philosopher was Of the wise words he spake to Traian the Emperoure And howe the good Prince is the head of the publike weale Cap. xxxvi IN the time of Traian the Emperour ther flourished in his court a Philosopher named Plutarch a man very pure and of good lyfe wise in science wel estemed in Rome For Traian the Emperour desyred greatlye to haue wyse men in his company and to make notable and sumptuous buildings in euery place wher he came It is he which wrote the lyues of many noble Grekes and Romaynes and aboue all he made a booke entytuled the doctrine of Prynces whych he offered to the Emperour Traian in the which he sheweth his vertues the zeale which he had to the common wealth the highnes of his eloquence and the profoundnesse of his knowledge For he was elegant in writing and pleasaunt in speakyng and among all other thinges which he wrote in his booke were these wordes folowing worthy to be noted and written in golden letters and they are such I let the to wete Lord Traian that thou and the Empire are but one misticall bodye in maner and fourme of a liuely body for they ought to be so agreable that the Emperour should reioyce to haue such subiectes and the Empyre ought to be glade to haue such a Lord. And to the end we may describe the mistical body which is the Empire in the fourme and shape of an natural man you shal vnderstand that the head which is aboue al is the prince which
commaundeth al the eyes wherby we se are the good men in the commonwealth whom we folow the eares that heare what we say are the subiects which do what we commaund them the tongue wherwith we speake are the sages of whom we here the lawes doctrines the heere 's which groweth on our heads are those which are vexed greued and that demaund iustice of the kinge the hands the armes are the knightes which resist the enemyes the feete which susteineth the membres are the tillers of the ground which geueth meate to al estates the hard bones that susteineth the feble soft flesh are the sage mē which endure the trauaile of the common wealthe the harts which we see not outwardly are the priuye councellours Finally the necke that knitteth the bodye with the head is the loue of the kinge and of the Realme whiche make a common wealth All the wordes aboue named spake Plutarche the greate to Traian the Emperoure And trulye the inuencion and grace of him proceaded of a hygh and deape vnderstanding for the heade hath thre properties whiche are verye necessarye for the gouernoure of the common wealth The first is that euen as the head is of al other members of the body the hyghest so the aucthoritie of the prince exceadeth the estates of al others For the prince only hath aucthoritie to commaund and al others are bound to obey Admyt therbe many stout rich noble men in the comon wealth yet al ought to know and acknowledge seruice to the Lord of the same For the noble and worthy princes do dayly ease many of dyuerse seruices but they wil neuer except anye from their loyaltie and allegeaunce Those which are valiaunt and mightie in a Realme should contente themselues with that wherwith the battilments doe vpon a castel that is to wete that they are higher then the rampers wherin men walke on the walles and lower then the pinakelles which are in the toppe For the wise man of highe estate ought not to regard the prince which is the highe pinacle but ought to loke on the alleys which are the poore comfortles I would speake a worde and it greueth me that is wheras great lordes desire in the common wealthe to commaund is like vnto him that holdeth his armes and handes ouer his head For al that I haue herde and for all that I haue redde and also for al that hath chaunced in my time I counsell admonishe and warne all those which shal come after this time that if they wil enioy their goodes if they will liue in safegard and if they wil be deliuered from tirannye and liue quiete in the common wealth that they do not agre to haue in one realme aboue one king and one lord For it a general rule where there are manye rulers in a common wealth in the end both it and al must perishe We se by experience that nature fourmed vs with many synewes many bones with muche fleshe with many fingers and with many teeth and to all this one onely body had but one head wherfore though with many estates the common wealth is ordained yet with one prince alone it ought to be ruled If it consisted in mens handes to make a prince they would then also haue the auctoritie to put him downe but being true as it is most true in dede that the prince is constituted by God none but god alone oughte to depriue and depose him of his estate but thinges that are measured by the deuine iudgement man hath no power with rasor to cut them I know not what ambicion the meane can haue neyther what enuie the lowest can haue nor what pride the highest can haue to commaund and not to obey since we are sure that in this misticall bodye of the common wealth he which is most worth shal be no more estemed then the fingers or paringe of the nayles or the falling of an heere from the heade Let euery man therefore liue in peace in his common wealth and acknowledge obedience vnto his prince he that wil not do so away with him for euen as the onely offence procedeth of hym so let the only paine rest vpon him For it is an old saying that he that taketh vp the sworde againste his maister wil shortlye after lay his heade at his feete The seconde condicion is to compare the kinge to the hed because the hed is the beginning of mans life The moste part of thinges that euer god created accordinge to their natures worke their operacions as in growing highe and towardes the heauens We se the vapors ascend high the plantes groweth highe the trees budde out on height the sourges of the sea mount highe and the nature of fier is alwayes to ascend and mount on highe only the miserable man groweth downeward and is brought low by reasone of the feble and fraile flesh which is but earth and commeth of earth and liueth on earth in the end returneth to earth againe from whēce he came Aristotle saith well that man is but a tre planted with the rootes vpward whose roote is the head and the stocke is the bodye the braunches are the armes the barcke is the flesh the knottes are the bones the sappe is the hart the rottennes is malice the gumme is loue the flowers are words and the frutes are the good workes To make the man to go vprightlye his heade should be wher his feete are and the feete wher the head is syth the head is the roote the feete are the bowes but in this case I sweare that we are correspondaunte to our beginning for if our fleshe be planted contrarywise so much more contrary we haue our life ordered Therfore concerning our matter I say that the Realme hath no lesse his beginning of the kinge then the kinge of the realme whiche thinge is plainlye seene for that the king giueth lawes and institucions to a Realme and not the Realme to the kyng The giftes and benefites which the king geueth commeth to the Realme not from the realme to the king To inuent warres to take trewse to make peace to reward the good and to punish the euyl proceadeth from the king to the Realme and not to the contrary For it apperteineth onlye to the maiestie of a prince to commaund and ordeine and to the common wealth to autorise and obey him As in a great sumptuous bylding it is more daungerous wher one stone of the foundacion doth fall then when .x. thousand tyles faule from the top so he ought more to be blamed for onely disobedience commytted and done to the king and his iustice then for fiue thousand offences against the common wealth For we haue sene of a lytle disobedience a great slaunder aryse in a common wealthe O it is a goodly matter for a prince to be beloued of his subiectes and a goodly thing also for the realme to be feareful of their king For the king that is not
hath wrought it he shall haue a thousand euyl tongues against his honest doynges to speake I would all those which rede this my writyng would call to memorye this word whiche is that among euyl men the chefest euil is that after they haue forgotten them selues to be men and exiled both trouth reason then with al their might they go against trouth and vertue with their woordes and againste good deedes with their tongues for though it be euyl to be an euyll man yet it is muche worse not to suffer an other to be good which aboue al thinges is to be abhorred and not to be suffered I let you wete and assure you you princes noble men that you in working vertuous dedes shal not want slaunderous tongues and though you be stout yet you must be pacyente to breake their malyce For the noble hart fealeth more the enuye of an other then he doothe the labour of his owne body Princes should not be dismayde neither ought they to meruayle though they be told of the murmuring at their good workes For in the end they are men they liue with men and cannot escape the miseryes of men For ther was neuer prince in the world yet so high but he hath bene subiect to malycious tongues Trulye aman ought to take great pytie of Princes whether they be good or euyll for if they be euil the good hate them if they be good the euyl immediatly murmureth against them The Emperoure Octauian was very vertuous yet greatly persecuted with enuyous tongues whoe on a tyme was demaunded since he dyd good to al men why he suffered a few to murmour against him he aunswered you se my frends he that hath made Rome free from enemyes hath also set at lybertie the tongues of malycious men For it is not reason that the harde stones should be at libertie and the tender stones tyed Truly this Empepour Octauian by his wordes declared himselfe to be a wise man and of a noble heart and lightly to waye both the murmuringes of the people and also the vanities of their words which thing truly a wise vertuous mā ought to do For it is a general rule that vices continually seke defendours and vertues alwayes getteth Enemyes In the booke of lawes the deuine Plato saith wel that the euil were alwayes double euyl ▪ because they weare weapons defensiue to defende their malicious purpose and also cary weapons offensiue to bleamyshe the good workes of others Vertuous men ought with much study to folow the good and with more dilygence to flye from the euil For a good man maye commaund al other vertuous men with a becke of his finger but to kepe himselfe only from one euyl man he had nede both hands feete and frends Themistocles the Thebaine sayd that he felt no greater torment in the world then this that his proper honour should depend vpon the Imaginacion of an other for it is a cruell thinge that the life and honour of one that is good should be measured by the tongue of an other that is euyl For as in the forge the coles can not be kindled withoute sparkes nor as corruption can not be in the synckes without ordure so he that hath his hart fre from malyce his tongue is occupied alwaies in swete and pleasaunt communication And contrary wise out of his mouth whose stomacke is infected with malyce proceadeth always wordes bitter full of poyson For if out of a rotten fornayse the fyre burneth it is impossible that the smoke should be cleare It is but a smal time that in prophane loue he that is enamored is able to refraine his loue and muche lesse time is the wrathfull man able to hyde his wrath For the heuy sighes are tokens of the sorowful hart and the words are those that disclose the malycious man Pulio sayth in the first booke of Cesars that the Emperoure Marcus Aurelius was very vertuous in all his workes sage in knowledge iuste in Iudgement mercifull in punishment but aboue all thinges he was wise in dissemblyng herein he was very discrete for ther was neuer pacyent man but prospered wel in all his affayres We se that throughe pacience and wisedome many euyl thinges become reasonable and from reasonable are brought to good from good to excellent The contrary happeneth to them the are moued more then they nede for the man which is not paciēt loketh not yet for any good successe in his affayres though they are iust The Emperour Marcus ofttimes was wont to say that Iulius Cesar wanne the empire by the sweard Augustus was Emperour by Inheritaunce Caligula came to it because his father conquered Germany Nero gouerned it with tyranny Titus was Emperour for that he subdued Iuery the good Traian came to the empire by his clemency vertue but I sayth he obtained the empire through pacience only For it is a greater pacience to suffer the Iniuries of the malicious then to dispute with the sage in the vniuersity And this Emperour saide further in the gouernement of the empire I haue profited more throughe pacience then by science for science only profiteth for the quyetnes of the parson but pacyence profiteth the parson the common wealthe Iulius Capitolinus sayth that the Emperour Antonius Pius was a prince very pacyent in such sort that oftentymes being in the Senate he saw both those which loued him also those that were against him with the people when they did rebel yet his pacience was so great that neyther his frends for the vnthankfulnes of them selues remayned sad neither his enemyes for any displeasure by him done did at any time cōplaine Meaning therfore in this chapter to ioyne the end with the beginning ▪ I say that as the Emperor Marcus Aurelius put himselfe amongest that captyues that this dede in Rome of al men was commended the Senatour Fuluius could not refraine from speaking for that he had not the wit to endure it wherfore as it were scoffing he spake these wordes to the Emperour Lord I meruayle why thou yeldest thy selfe to al which thing for the reputacion of the Empyre cannot be suffered for that it is not decent for thy maiestie The Emperour Marcus Aurelius seing and hearing that in the present of them all the senatour Fuluius spake vnto him these wordes he toke it paciently and with pleasaunt countenaunce sayd The questions the Senatour Euluius proponeth let it be for to morow because my aunswere may be the ryper and his coller the quieter Therfore the next day folowing the Emperour Marcus came into the hyghe capitoll as Pulio declareth in the life of Marcus Aurelius and spake these words ¶ Of the aunswere the Emperour Marcus Aurelius made to the Senatour Fuluius before al the Senate being reproued of him for his familiaritie he vsed to al contrary to the maiestye and authoritie of the Romayne Emperour wherin he paynteth enuious men Cap. xxxix FAthers conscript and sacred Senat
compassiō vpon their griefes Princes also should endeuour them selues to be loued well willed because at their death they maye of all their seruauntes and frendes be lamented For princes ought to be suche that they may be prayed for in their life and lamented and remembred after their death Howe cursed is that prince and also howe vnhappy is that common wealth where the seruauntes wyll not serue their Lorde but for rewarde and that the Lorde doth not loue them but for ther seruices For there is neuer true loue where there is any particuler intereste With many stones a house is buylded and of many men and one prince whiche is the head of all the common wealth is made For he that gouerneth the common wealth may be called a prince and otherwyse not and the common wealth can not be called nor sayde a common wealth if it hath not a prince whiche is the head thereof If Geometrie doe not deceiue me the lyme whiche ioyneth one stone with an other suffereth well that it be myngled with sande but the corner stone that lyeth on the toppe ought to be medled with vnslekyd lyme And it soundeth vnto good reason For if the nether stones seperate the wall openeth but if the corner should slippe the buylding incontinently falleth I suppose fathers conscript you vnderstande very well to what ende I applie this comparison The loue of one neighbour with an other may suffer to be cold but the loue of a prince to his people should be true and pure I meane that the loue amongest frendes may well passe sometymes though it be colde but the loue betwene the kyng and his people at all tymes oughte to be perfect For where there is parfite loue there is no fained wordes nor vnfaithfull seruice I haue seene in Rome many debates among the people to haue bene pacified in one day and one onely which betwene the Lord and the common wealth aryseth can not be pacified vntyll death For it is a daungerous thing for one to stryue with many and for many to contende against one In this case where the one is proude and the other rebelles I wyll not excuse the prince nor let to condemne the people For in the end he that thinketh himself moste innocent deserueth greatest blame From whence thinke you cōmeth it that Lordes nowe a daies doe commaunde vniust thinges by fury that subiectes in iuste matters wyll not obey by reason I will tell you The Lorde doing of will and not of right would caste the willes of all in his owne braine and deriue from him selfe all counsayle For euen as princes are of greater power then all the reste so they thinke they knowe more then all the reste The contrary happeneth to subiectes who beinge prouoked I can not tel you with what frenesy despising the good vnderstanding of their Lord will not obey that that their princes willeth for the health of them all but that whiche euery man desireth for him selfe particularly For men nowe a dayes are so fonde that euery man thynketh the prince should loke on him alone Truely it is a straunge thing though it be muche vsed among men that one should desire that the garmentes of all other should be mete for him whiche is as impossible as one mans armour shoulde arme a multitude But what shall we be Fathers conscripte and sacred senate sith our fathers lefte vs this worlde with suche foly and that in these debates stryfes we their children are alwayes in dissention and controuersie and in this wilfulnes we shall also leaue our children and heires How many princes haue I seene and read of in my time of my predecessours whiche were vtterly vndone by to muche pryde and presumption But I neuer read nor heard of any whiche were destroyed for being courteous and louing to his subiectes I will declare by some examples whiche I haue read in bookes to the ende that the Lordes may see what they wynne by their good conuersation and what they loase by being to haulty The realme of the Sydonians was greater then that of the Caldeans in weapons and inferiour in antiquitie vnto that of the Assirians In this realme there was Debastia whiche was called a linage of kinges that endured two hundreth and .xxv. yeares because all those kinges were of a commendable conuersation And an other of Debastia endured no longer then fourty yeares And our auncientes tooke pleasure of peace whereof we are destitute and were ignoraunt of the warres whiche we nowe vse so muche Alwayes they desired to haue kinges whiche should be good for the common wealth in peace rather than valiaunt and couragious for the warre As Homere in his Iliade saieth the auncient Egiptians called their kinges Epiphanes and had a custome that Epiphanes alwaies should enter into the temples barefoote And because it chaūsed the Epiphane on a time to come into the churche hoased he was immediatly for his disobedience depriued and expulsed from the realme and in his steade an other created Homere declareth here that this king was proude euill conditioned wherefore the Egiptians depriued him and banished hym the realme taking occasion that he did not enter into the temple barefoote For truly when Lordes are euil willed and not beloued for a litle trifle and occasion the people will arise and rebell against them The saide Homere saide also that the Parthes called their kynges Assacides that the sixte of that name was depriued and expulsed the realme for that of presumption he had hym selfe to the mariage of a knight and being bidden and desired would not go to the mariage of a poore Plebeyan Cicero in his Tusculanes saith that in olde time the people perswaded their princes to communicate with the poore that they should abstaine and flye from the ryche For among the poore they may learne to be mercifull and with the ryche they shall learne nothing but to be proude Ye knowe right well Fathers conscript howe this our countrey was first called great Grece afterwarde it was called Latium and then Italie And when it was called Latium they called their kynges Marrani and truly though their borders were but narrowe yet at the leaste their stoutnes was great The Annales of those times say that after the thirde Siluius succeded a Marrane who was proude ambitious and euill cōdicioned in such sorte that for feare of the people alwaies he slept locked vp and therfore they depryued and banished him the Realme For the auncientes saide that the king should locke his dores at no houre of the nighte against his subiectes neither he should refuse in the daie to geue them audience Tarquine whiche was the last of the seuen kinges of Rome was very vnthankefull towards his father in lawe he was an infamie to his bloud a traytour to his countrey and cruell of his persone who also enforced the noble Lucretia and yet notwithstanding this they doe not call him vnthankefull infamous cruell traytour
and reproue the .40 yeares of an other Ther are many princes tender of yeres but ripe in counsailes and for the countrary there are other princes old in yeares yong in counsailes When the good Emperour Vespasian died they determined to put his sōne Titus in the gouernement of the empire or some other aged Senator because they said Titus was to yong And as they were in controuersie of the matter the Senatour Rogerus Patroclus said vnto the Senate For my parte I require rather a Prince which is yong and sage then I do a prince which is old and foolysh Therfore now as touchyng the children of Theodosius one day Estilconus the tutour of Archadius speaking to a greke philosopher very sage whose name was Epimundus sayde thus vnto him Thou and I long time haue bene acquainted together in the palace of the emperour Theodose my lord who is dead and we ar aliue thou knowest it had bene better that we .2 had died and that he had liued For there be many to be seruauntes of princes but there ar few to be good princes I feele no greater griefe in this world than to know many princes in one realme For the man whiche hath sene many princes in his lyfe hath sene many nouelties and alterations in the common wealth Thou knowest well that when Theodosius my maister died he spake to me these wordes the which wer not spoken without great sighes and multiplienge of teares O Estilconus I dye and am going into an other world wherin I shall giue a streighte accompte of the Realmes and seignories which I had vnder my charge And therfore when I thinke of myne offences I am meruelously afrayed But when I remember the mercy of God then I receiue some conforte and hope As it is but mete we should trust in the greatnes of his mercy so likewise is it reason we should feare the rigour of his iustice For truly in the christian law they are not suffred to liue as we which are Princes that liue in delightes of this world and afterward without repentaunce to goe streighte to Paradyse Then when I thinke of the great benefittes which I haue receiued of God and of the great offences which I haue committed when I thynke of the long tyme I haue lyued and of the litle which I haue profited also that vnprofitably I haue spent my time On the one part I am loath to dye for that I am afrayed to come before the tribunall seate of Iesus Christ and on the other part I would liue no lenger because I do not profit The mā of an euil life why doth he desire to lyue any longer My lyfe is now finished the tyme is shorte to make amendes And sithe god demaundeth nought els but a contrite harte with all my harte I doe repente and appeale to his iustice of mercie from his Iustice to his mercy because it maye please him to receiue me into his house and to giue me perpetuall glorie to the confusion of al my synnes and offences And I protest I dye in the holy catholike faith commend my soule to god my body to the earth to you Estilconus Ruffinus my faithful seruauntes I recōmende my dere beloued children For herby the loue of the childrē is sene in that the father forgetteth thē not at the houre of his death In this case of one only thing I doe warne you one only thing I require you one only thing I desire you one onely thing I cōmaund you that is that you occupye not your mindes in augmentinge the Realmes seignories of my childrē but only that you haue due respect to giue thē good education vertuous seruāts For it was only the wise men which I had about me that thus long haue mainteined me in this great auctoritie It is a goodly thing for a prince to haue stoute captains for the warres but without comparison it is better to keape haue wise men in his palace For in the end the victory of the battaille consisteth in the force of many but the gouernement of the common weale oftentimes is putte vnder the aduise of one alone These so dolefull and pitiefull wordes my lord and maister Theodosius spake vnto me now tell me Epimundus what I should doe at this present to fulfill his commaundement For at his harte he had nothing that troubled him so much as to thinke whether his children would vndoe or encrease the cōmon wealthe Thou Epimundus thou art a Grecian thou art a philosopher thou hast vnderstandyng thou art an olde seruaunt thou arte my faithfull frend therfore for al these thinges thou art bound to giue me good healthful counsaile For many times I haue heard Theodosius my maister say that he is not accompted sage which hath turned the leaues of many bookes but he which knoweth and can geue good healthful counsailes Epimundus the philosopher aunswered to these wordes Thou knowest wel Lord Estilconus that the auncientes and great Philosophers ought to be brief in wordes and very parfect in their workes For otherwise to speake muche worke litle semeth rather to be done like a tyraunt then like a greeke philosopher The Emperour Theodosius was thy Lord and my frend I say frend because it is the libertie of a greeke Philosopher to acknowledge no homage nor seruice to any superiour For he in his hart can haue no true sciēce that to rebuke the viicous kepeth his mouth shut In one thing I cōtent my selfe in Theodose aboue al other princes which were in the Romaine empire and that is that he knew and talked wisely of al his affaires and also was very diligēt to execute the same For all the fault of Princes is that they are prompte bold to talke of vertues and in executing them they are very slacke fearefull For such Princes can not continew in the vertue which they doe commende nor yet resyste the vyce which they do dispraise I graunt that Theodosius was an executour of iustice mercifull stoute sober valiaunt true louyng thankfull and vertuous and finally in all thinges and at all times he was fortunate For fortune oftentimes bringeth that to Princes which they will and desire yea many times better then they looke for Presuppose it to be true as it is most true that the time was alwayes prosperous to the Emperour Theodosius yet I doubte whether this prosperity wil continew in the succession of his children For worldlye prosperitie is so mutable that with one only man in a moment she maketh a thousande shrewde turnes and so much the more it is harde to continue stedfast in the second heyre Of slowe and dull horses come oftentimes couragious and fyerse coltes and euyn so of vertuous fathers come children euill brought vp For the wicked children inherite the worste of the father whiche is ryches and are dysenherited of the best whiche are vertues That whiche I perceyue in this matter as
wyfe and children as that I cannot carye my bookes into the graue Yf the Gods had geuen me the choyse I had rather chose to be in the graue inuyroned with bookes then to lyue accompanyed wyth fooles for if the dead doe rede I take them to be alyue but if the lyuing doe not reade I take them to be deade Vnder this key which I gyue the remayneth many Greke Hebrue latine and Roman bookes and aboue all vnder this key remayneth al my paynes swet and trauayles al my watchinges and labours where also thou shalte fynde bokes by me compyled so that though the wormes of the yearth doe eate my body yet men shall fynde my harte hole amongest these bokes Once againe I doe require the and saye that thou oughtest not a lytell to esteame the key which I giue the for wise men at the hower of their death alwayes recommed that whiche they best loue to them which in their liues they haue most loued I doe confesse that in my studie thou shalte fynd many thinges with myne owne hand written and wel ordered and also I confesse that thou shalte find many thinges by me left vnpersit In this case I thinke that though thou couldest not wryte them yet thou shalt worke thē wel notwithstandynge and by these meanes thou shalte get reward of the Gods for workyng them Consyder Pompeian that I haue ben thy lorde I haue ben thy father in law I haue bene thy father I haue bene thy aduocate and aboue all that I haue bene thy speciall frend which is most of all for a man ought to esteme more a faithful frend then all the parentes of the world Therfore in the faith of that frendshyp I require that thou kepe this in memory that euen as I haue recommended to others my wife my children my goods and ryches So I do leaue vnto the in singular recommendacion my honoure For prynces leaue of them selues no greater memorye then by the good learning that they haue wrytten I haue bene .18 yeares emperour of rome and it is .lx. and .iii. yeares that I haue remayned in thys wofull life during whiche time I haue ouercome many battailles I haue slayne many pirattes I haue exalted many good I haue punished manye euil I haue wonne many realmes I haue distroyed many tirauntes But what shal I do woful man that I am sithe all my compagnions which were witnesses with me of al these worthy feates shal be my compagnions in the graue with the gredy wormes A thousand yeares hence when those that are now alyue shal then be dead what is he that shal say I saw Marcus Aurelius triumphe ouer the Parthians I saw him make the buildings in Auentino I saw him welbeloued of the people I saw him father of the orphanes I saw him the scourg of tiraūtes truly if al these thinges had not ben declared by my bookes or of my frendes the dead would neuer haue rysen agayn to haue declared them What is it for to se a prince from the time he is borne vntil the time he come to dye to se the pouerty he passeth the perilles he endureth the euil that he suffereth the shame that he dyssembleth the frendeshyp that he fayneth the teares which he sheaddeth that sighes that he fetchith the promises that he maketh and doeth not endure for any other cause the mysteries of this life but onely to leaue a memorye of him after his death There is no prince in the worlde that desireth not to keape a good house to keape a good table to aparrel him selfe rychely to pay those that serue hym in his house but by this vaine honour they suffer the water to passe thorough their lippes not drinking therof As one that hath proued it it is reason that I be beloued in this case and that is that the entent of princes to conquere straunge Realmes and to permit their owne to suffer wronges is for no other thyng but because that the commendacions which they speake of the princes past they should lykewyse talke the same of them that be to come Concluding therfore my mynde and declaring my intencion I say that the Prince that is noble and desireth to leaue of him selfe some fame let hym consider and se what it is that those can write of him which writ his history for it profiteth litel that he atchieue greate affayers by the swerde if there be no writer to sette them fourth with the penne and afterwardes to exalte them with the tonge These wordes thus spoken by the noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius he gaue the key of his studye to the honourable old man Pompeianus that toke all the wrytinges and put them in the high Capitol where the Romans honored them as the christians the holye Scriptures all these writynges besydes many others peryshed in rome when by the Barbarous it was dystroyed For the Gothes vtterly to extinguishe the name of rome distroyed not onely the walles therof but also the bokes that were therein and trulye in this case the Goothes shewed more crueltye to the Romans then if they had slayne the children of their bodies or bet downe the walles of their Cities For without doubte the lyuelye letter is a moresewerer wytnes of renowme that alwayes speaketh then eyther the lyme sand or stone wherwith fortresses are buylded Of the importunate suete of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour Marke Aureille Concerning the key of his closet Chap. xiiii VVe Haue declared howe the Emperoure Marcus Aurelius had his studie in the secretest place of al the palace and how that he him selfe did kepe the key It is to be vnderstande that he would neuer let his wife hys children nor any other of his familier frendes come into it for he said I had rather suffer that they shoulde take from me my treasoures then that any man should turne the leaues of my bookes It chaunced that on a daye the Empresse Faustine being great with child importuned the Emperour muche by all the meanes she could that he would be so fauourable vnto her as to gyue her the key of his studye and it is no meruaile for naturallye women dispise that which is geuen them and lust forth at that is denayed them Faustine instantly besoughte him not once but manye times not onely with fayer wordes but with aboundaunt teares alleagynge vnto him these reasons I haue requyred the sondrye tymes that thou wouldest gyue me the key of thy chamber and thou haste by iestinge made frustrate my request the whych thou my Lorde oughte not to haue done consyderynge that I am with childe for oftetimes it chaunceth that that wherfore the husbande reioyceth this daye tomorow he doeth lamente Thou oughtest to remember that I am that Faustine the renowmed the which in thy eyes am the fairest and of thy tonge haue bene most commended of thy parson I was best beloued and of thy harte I am most desired then since it is true that thou hast
me so depely in hart why then doubtest thou to shew me the writtinges of thy study Thou doest communicate with me the secretes of the empire and thou hydest from me the bokes of thy study Thou hast geuen me thy tender harte of flesh and now thou deniest me thy harde key of yron now I must neades thinke that thy loue was fayned that thy words were doble and that thy thoughtes wer others then they seamed For if they had ben otherwise it had ben vnpossible thou shouldest haue denaied me the key that I do aske the for where loue is vnfayned thoughe the requeste be merilye asked yet it is wyllyngly graunted It is a commen custome that you men vse to deceiue vs symple women you present vs great gyftes you gyue many fayre wordes you make vs faier promyses you saye you will do marueiles but in the end you doe nothing but deceiue vs for we are persecuted more of you then of any others When men in such wyse importune the women if the women hadde power to denaye and withstande we shoulde in shorte space brynge ye vnder the yoke and leade you by the noses but when we suffer oure selues to be ouercome then you beginne to forsake vs and despise vs. Let me therfore my Lorde see thy chamber consyder I am with childe and that I dye onlesse I see it If thou doest not to doe me pleasure yet do it at the least because I may no more importune the. For if I come in daunger thoroughe this my longing I shall but lose my lyfe but thou shalte loose the childe that should be borne and the mother also that oughte to beare it I know not why thou shouldest put thy noble harte into such a daungerous fortune whereby both thou and I at one time shoulde peryshe I in dyeng so yong and thou in losyng so louynge a wyfe By the immortall gods I do beseche the and by the mother Berecinthia I coniure the that thou geue me the key or that thou let me enter into the studye and stycke not with me thy wyfe in this my small request but chaunge thy opinion for all that which without consideracion is ordeyned by importunate sewte may be reuoked We see dayly that men by reading in bookes loue their children but I neauer sawe harte of man fall in such sorte that by readyng and lokyng in bookes he should despyse hys children for in the end bookes are by the wordes of others made but children are with their owne proper bloud begotten Before that any thinge of wysedom is begon they alwayes regard the inconuenyences that maye folowe Therefore if thou wilte not geue me this key and that thou arte determyned to be stoberne still in thy will thou shalt lose thy Faustine thou shalte lose so louyng a wyfe thou shalte lose the creature werwith she is bigge thou shalte lose the aucthoritie of thy palace thou shalte geue occasion to all Rome to speake of the wickednes and this grefe shall neauer departe from thy harte for the harte shall neuer be comforted that knoweth that he onely is the occasion of hys owne griefe Yf the Gods doe suffer it by their secreate iudgementes and if my wofull myshappes deserue it and if thou my Lord desirest it for no other cause but euen to do after thy wil for denayeng me this key I should dye I would wyllingly dye But of that I thinke thou wilt repente for it chaunceth oftetymes to wysemen that when remedy is gone the repentaunce commeth sodeinlye And then it is to late as they saye to shutte the stable dore when the steade is stollen I marueill much at the my Lorde why thou shouldest shew thy selfe so froward in this case since thou knowest that all the time we haue bene togethers thy wil and myne hath alway bene one if thou wilte not geue me thy key for that I am thy welbeloued Faustine if thou wilte not let me haue it sinse I am thy deare beloued wyfe if thou wilte not geue it me for that I am great with childe I beseche the geue it me in vertue of the auncient law For thou knowest it is an inuiolate law among the Romaines that a man cānot denay his wife with child her desiers I haue sene sondry times with myne eyes many women sew their husbandes at the law in this behalfe and thou Lorde commaundest that a man should not breake the pryuileges of women Then if this thing be true as it is true in dead why wilte thou that the lawes of strang children should be kepte and that they should be broken to thine owne children Speakyng according to the reuerence that I owe vnto the thoughe thou wouldest I wil not thoughe thou doest it I will not agree therunto and though thou doest commaund it in this case I wil not obey the. For if the husband doe not accept the iuste request of his wyfe the wyfe is not bounde to obey the vniust commaundement of her husbande You husbandes desier that your wyues should serue you you desier that your wiues should obey you in all and ye will condiscende to nothing that they desyer Ye menne saye that we women haue no certeintie in our loue but in dead you haue no loue at all For by this it appeareth that you loue is fained in that it no longer continueth then your desires are satisfyed You saye furdermore that the women are suspytious and that is true in you al men may see and not in vs for none other cause there are so manye euell maried in Rome but bycause their husbandes haue of them suche iuell opinions There is a great dyfference betwene the suspition of the woman and the ielousye of the man for if a man will vnderstande the suspition of the woman it is no other thynge but to shewe to her husbande that she loueth hym with all her hearte For the innocente women knowe no others desire no others but their husbandes only and they woulde that their husbandes should knowe none others nor serche for anye others nor loue any others nor will anye others but them onely for the hearte that is bente to loue one onely would not that into that house should enter anye other But you men knowe so manye meanes and vse so manye subtelties that you prayse youre selues for to offende them you vaunt youre selues to deceiue them and that it is trewe a man can in nothynge so muche shew his noblenes as to susteyne and fauoure a Cortisan The husbandes pleaseth their wyues speakynge vnto them some merye wordes and immediately their backes being tourned to another they geue bothe their bodyes and their good I sware vnto the my Lorde that if women had the libertie and aucthoritye ouer men as men haue ouer women they should fynde more malice dysceiptfulnes and crafte by them committed in one daye then they should fynde in the women all the dayes of their lyfe You men saye that women are euill speakers it is true
women of Italie are so dissolute that though men doe not regarde them yet they doe entyse them If men flie they call them If men goe backe they approche If men are sadde they make them mery If men are silente they force them to speake and finally men begynne the loue in sporte and they temper it in suche sorte that they tourne it all into earnest I let thee wete Faustine that the meanes whereby nature worketh in man is very straunge but the shame whiche the Gods put in women is more marueilous And if it be true as it is true in dede that the men doe loose the stynge of the fleshe and that the women doe not loose the shame of the visage I thynke it is impossible that there should be a chaste or vertuous woman in Rome For there is no common wealth more vndone then that where the women haue lost their shame O women what reason haue they whiche flie form you whiche are wery of you whiche forsake you whiche forget you whiche make them selues straungers and furthermore whiche are dead and buried For the hungrie wormes gnawe in the graue onely the frayle and slymie fleashe of the dead but you women destroy the goodes honoure and lyfe of the liuing Oh if the noble hartes knewe what euill doth folowe them for dallieng with women I sweare vnto them that they would not serue them continually as they doe serue them but also they would haue no luste nor desier to beholde them What wilt thou I saye any more to thee Faustine but that some scape out of your handes for effeminate and sclaundered others hurte by your tongues others persecuted with your workes other deceiued with your countenaunces others despysed through your hatred others desperate through your inconstancie others condempned by your light iudgementes others troubled through your vnkyndnes finally those that escape beste are of your hartes abhorred and through your folly destroyed Then since the man knoweth that he muste passe all those daungers I can not tel what foole he is that wyll either loue or serue you For the brute beaste that once hath felte the sharpe teethe of the dogge wil vnwillingly euer after come nere vnto the stake Oh vnto what perils doth he offer him selfe whiche continually doth haunte the company of women For as much as if he loue them not they despise him and take him for a foole If he doth loue them they accompt him for light If he forsake thē they esteme him for no body If he followe them he is accompted loste If he serue them they doe not regarde him If he doe not serue them they despyse hym If he wyll haue them they wyll not If he will not they persecute him If he doe aduaunce him selfe forth they call hym importunate If he flie they saye he is a cowarde If he speake they saye he is a bragger If he holde his peace they saye he is a dissarde If he laughe they saye he is a foole If he laughe not thei say he is solempne If he geueth them any thing they say it is litle worth he that geueth them nothing he is a pinchpurse Finally he that haunteth them is by them sclaundered and he that doth not frequent them is esteamed lesse then a man These thinges so sene so harde and so knowen what shall the poore and miserable man doe inespecially if he be a man of vnderstanding For though he would absent him selfe from women the flesh doth not geue him licence though he would folow womē wisedom wyl not condiscende Some men thinke in al their thoughts that by seruices and pleasures they may content women But I let them knowe if they know it not that the woman is neuer contented though mā doth what he can as maide that he do al that he ought to do as a husbād though he taketh paines for her sake aboue his force though with the swet of his browes he releaueth her neade though euery houre he putteth him self in daunger yee in the end she wil geue him no thankes but will say that he loueth an other that he doth but that to please and satisfie her It is a long time since I desired to tel thee this Faustine but I haue deferred it vntil this present houre hoping thou wouldest not geue occasion to tel it thee For among wise men those wordes ought chiefly to be esteamed which fittely to the purpose are declared I remember that it is sixe yeres since Anthonius Pius thy father chose me to be his sonne in law and that thou chosest me for thy husband I thee for my wife all the which thinges were done my wofull aduentures permitting it Adrian my lord commaunding it The good Anthonius Pius gaue his onely doughter in mariage vnto me and gaue me likewyse his noble Empire with great treasures he gaue me also the gardēs of Vulcanali to passe the time therin But I thinke that on both sides we were deceiued He in chosing me for his sonne in lawe I in taking thee for my wife O Faustine thy father and my father in law was called Anthonius Pius because to al he was merciful saue only to me to whom he was most cruel for with a litle flesh he gaue me many bones And I confesse the truthe vnto thee that nowe I haue no more teethe to byte nor heate in my stomake to digeaste and the worste of all is that many tymes I haue thought to rage on my selfe I wyll tell thee one worde though it doth displease thee whiche is that for thy bewtie thou art desyred of many and for thy euil conditions thou arte despysed of all For the fayre women are lyke vnto the golden pylles the whiche in sighte are very pleasaunte and in eatinge veray noysome Thou knowest well Faustine and I also that we sawe on a daye Drusio and Braxille his wife which were our neighbours and as they were brauling togethers I spake vnto Drusio suche wordes what meaneth this lorde Drusio that being nowe the feaste of Berecinthia and being as we are adioyninge to her house and presente before so honourable assemblie and furthermore thy wyfe beinge so faire as she is howe is it possible there shoulde bee any stryfe betweene you Men which are maried to deformed personnes to the end that they might kil them quicly should alwaies fal out with their wiues but those that are maried to fayer women they oughte alwayes to liue togethers in ioy and pleasure to the end they may liue long For when a fayre woman dyeth though she haue lyued a hundreth yeres yer she dyeth to sone and though a deformed woman lyueth a smal time yet not withstandyng she dieth to late Drusio as a man being vexed lifting vp his eyes into the heauens fetchinge a greuous sighe from the bottome of his hart sayed these wordes The mother Berecinthia pardon me and her holy house also and al the companye besides forgeue me for by
as he sayd that the tongue is moued by the mocions of the soule that he whiche had no tongue had no soule And he which hath no soule is but a brute beast and he that is a beast deserueth to serue in the fields among brute beasts It is a good thing not to be domme as bruyte beastes are and it is a greater thing to speake as the reasonable men do but it is muche more worthye to speake wel as the eloquent philosophers do For otherwise if he which speaketh doth not wey the sentences more then the wordes ofte tymes the popingayes shal content them more which are in the cage then the men which do read in scooles Iosephus in the booke De bello Iudaico saith that king Herode not onely with his personne and goodes but also with all his frendes and parentes folowed and gaue ayde to Marcus Anthonius and to his louer Cleopatra howbeit in the end Octauian had the vyctorie For the man which for the loue of a woman doth enterprise conquestes it is impossible that eyther he loose not his lyfe or els that he lyue not in infamy Herode seing that Marcus Anthonius was dead determyned to go towardes the Emperour Octauian at whose feete he layd his crowne and made a notable oration wherein he spake so pleasaunt wordes and so hyghe sentences that the Emperour Octauian did not only pardon him for that he was so cruell an enemye but also he confirmed him againe into his Realme and toke him for his deare and special frend For among the good men and noble hartes many euil workes are amended by a few good words If Blundus in the booke intituled Roma triumphante do not deceiue me Pirrus the great king of the Epirotes was stout and hardy valiaunt in armes liberal in benefites pacient in aduersityes and aboue al renowmed to be very swete in wordes and sage in his aunswers They sayd that this Pirrus was so eloquent that the man with whom once he had spoken remayned so much his that from that time foreward in his absence he toke his part and declared his life and state in presence The aboue named Blundus saied and Titus Liuius declareth the same that as the Romaynes were of al things prouided seing that king Pirrus was so eloquent they prouided in the senate that no Romaine Embassadour shold speake vnto him but by a third person for otherwise he would haue perswaded them through his sweate woordes that they shoulde haue retourned againe to Rome as his procurers Soliciters Albeit Marcus Tullius Cicero was Senatour in the Senate consul in the Empire rich amongest the rich and hardy amongest men of warre yet truly none of these qualyties caused him eternal memorie but only his excellent eloquēce This Tullius was so estemed in Rome for the eloquence of his tongue only that oft times they hard hym talke in the Senate iii. houres togethers without any man speakinge one word And let not this be lytle estemed nor lightly passed ouer for worldlye malyce is of such condicion that some man may more easely speake 4. howers then another man shal haue pacience to heare him one minute Anthonius Sabellicus declareth that in the time of Amilcares the Affricans a Philosopher named Afronio florished in great Carthage who being of the yeres of 81. dyed in the first yeare of the warres of Punica They demaunded this Phylosopher what it was that he knew he aunswered He knew nothing but to speake wel They demaunded him againe what he learned he aunswered He did learne nothinge but to speake wel Another time they demaunded him what he taught he aunswered He taught nothing but to speake wel Me thinketh that this good phylosopher in 80. yeres and one said that he learned nothing but to speake wel he knew nothing but to speake wel that he taught nothing but to speake wel And truly he had reasō for the thing which most adorneth mans life is the sweate pleasaunte tongue to speake wel What is it to see ii men in one councel the one talking to the other the one of them hath an euyll grace in propounding and thother excellent in speaking Of such there are some that in hearing theym talke .iii. houres we would neither be trobled nor weryed and of the contrarie part there are others so tedyous and rude in their speache that as sone as men perceiue they beginne to speake they auoyde the place And therfore in mine opinyon ther is no greater trouble thenne to herken one quarter of an houre a rude man to speake and to be contrarye ther is no greater pleasure thenne to heare a dyscreate man though it were a whole weke The deuyne Plato in the Booke of Lawes sayd that there is nothynge whereby a manne is knowen more thenne by the woordes he speaketh for of the woordes whyche we heare hym speake we iudge his intention eyther to be good or euil Laertius in the lyfe of the Phylosophers sayeth that a yong child borne at Athens was brought vnto Socrates the great phylosopher being in Athens to the end he shold receiue him into his company teach him in his scoole The yong chyld was straunge and shamefaste and durst not speake before his maister wherfore the philosopher Socrates said vnto him speake frend if thou wilt that I know the. This sentence of Socrates was very profound and I pray him that shal reade this wryting to pause a while therat For Socrates wil not that a man be knowen by the gesture he hath but by the good or euyl wordes which he speaketh Though eloquence and speaking wel to euery man is a cause of augmenting their honour and no dimynissher of their goodes yet withoute comparison it shineth muche more and is most necessarie in the pallaces of Prynces and great Lordes For men which haue common offices ought of necessity harken to his naturall contrymen also to speake with straungers Speking therfore more plainly I say that the Prince ought not to trauaile only to haue eloquence for the honour of his person but also it behoueth him for the comon wealth For as the prince is but one and is serued of all so it is vnpossible that he haue so much as wil satisfye and content them al. And therfore it is necessarie that he requyte some mith money that he content others with good wordes For the noble hart loueth better a gentle worde then a reward or gift with the tongue of a rude man Plato Liuius Herodotus Vulpicius Eutropius Diorus Plynie and many other innumerable auncient historyographers do not cease to prayse the eloquence of greeke princes and latynes in their workes O how blessed were those tymes when ther were sage princes and discrete lords truly they haue reason to exalt them For many haue obteyned and wonne the royal crounes and septures of the Empire not so much for the great battailes they haue conquered nor for the highe bloud and generacion from whence
they are dyssended ▪ as for the wisedom and eloquence which they had Marcus Aurelius was natural of Rome borne in mount Celio he was poore in patrimony and of base lynage lytel in fauour lefte and forsaken of his parentes and besides al this only for beinge vertuous in his lyfe profound in doctrine and of so high eloquence the Emperour Anthonius called Pius gaue him his daughter Faustine for wife who being reproued of many bycause he gaue his doughter to so poore a philosopher aunswered I had rather haue a poore philosopher then a riche foole Pulio in his seuenth booke of the Romaine lawes sayth that in Rome ther was a law very wel kept obserued of the consulles by a custome brought in that the Dictatours Censors and Emperours of Rome entered into the Senate once in the weke at the least and in this place they should geue and render accompt in what state the common wealth remayned O would to God that at this present this law were so kept and obserued for ther is none who doth minister so good iustice as he which thinketh to giue accompt of his doings They say that Calligula the fourth Emperoure of Rome was not only deformed infamous and cruel in his lyfe but also was an Idiote in eloquence and of an euyl vtteraunce in his communycacion So that he among al the Romaine princes was constrayned to haue others to speake for him in the Senate This wickedman was so vnfortunate that after his cruel and infamous death they drew him throughout Rome and set vppon his graue this Epitaphe ¶ Calligula lyeth here in endles sleape That stretchte his raigne vpon the Empires heade Vnfytte for rule that could such folly heape And fytte for death wher vertue so was dead I Cannot tel why princes do prayse them selues to be strong and hardy to be wel disposed to be runners to iust wel and do not esteame to be eloquent sinse it is true that those giftes do profite them only for their life but the eloquēce profiteth them not only for to honour their life but also to augment their renowme For we do reade that by that many Princes dyd pacifye great sedycions in the common wealth and besides that they deserued immortall memorie Suetonius Trancquillus in the firste booke of Cesars sayth that the aduenturous Iulius Cesar being as yet but 16. yeares of age when there dyed in Rome an aunt of his called Cornelia at her buriall he made an oracion in the which he being so yong shewed marueilous great eloquence which was so accepted that day in al people that in the end euery man iudged him to be a valiaunt Romane captaine And as Appianus declareth they say that Silla spake these wordes That which I perceiue of this yong man Caius Cesar is that in the boldnes of his tongue he declareth how valiaunt he ought to be in his person Let therfore Princes and great Lords se how much it may profite them to know to speake wel and eloquently For we se no other thing dayly but that a man of base lynage by his eloquence commeth to be exalted and the other which of lynage is nobly borne for wante of speaking wel and being eloquent is the first that discendeth most vilest of al other Thentencion wherupon I wrate these things was for no other but to admonishe perswade and pray al princes and great lordes that whiles their children are yong they should put them to wise and learned men to the end they should teache them not only how they ought to liue but also how they ought to speake For to personnes of estate it is a great infamy to do or to inuent to do a thing and afterward not to know how to geue a reason therof Polidorus in the third booke of his commentaries sayth that when the Lacedemonians were put to flyght by the Athenians in Rota Millina it is called Millina bycause the battaile was in the riuer of Milline the Lacedemonians sent a phylosopher called Heuxinus to treate of peace with the Athenians who made such an eloquent oracion to the Senate of Athens that hee dyd not only obtaine the peace which he desired for his country but for himselfe also he wanne perpetual renowme At the phylosophers retourne the Athenians gaue him a letter which sayd in this sort ¶ Of a letter whiche the Athenians sente to the Lacedemonians Cap. xxvi THe Senate people and Sages of Athens wisheth healthe to the persons and peace to the common wealth of you of the senate and people of the Lacedemonians We take the immortal gods to recorde that in the laste battaile we had no lesse dyspleasure to se ye ouercome then on the contrary we had pleasure to se vs remaine victorious For in the end the daungers and inconueniences of the cruel warres are so great that the euill and daunger is certeine to them that are vanquished and the profite is doubtful to them that haue ouercommed We would gladly that that which now ye wil ye would haue willed soner that which now ye require demaund that before ye had requyred and demaunded But what shal we do sinse it was ordeined to your and our woful destenies that he should loose the battaile and that we of your losse can take no profite For it is a rule vnfallible that al that which the gods haue ordeyned no worldly wight can amende nor humaine power resist Ye demaund that warre may cease and leaue of and that we take truise for .iii. monethes and that during this time peace concord may be concluded To this we make aunswere That the senate of Athens hath not accustomed to graunt peace afterwards for to retourne to warre For amongest vs Athenians we haue an auncient law that freely we do accept the cruel warre and liberallye we doe graunt perpetual peace In our scoles and vniuersities we trauaile to haue Sages in time of peace for to helpe vs with their counsayles in the time of warre And they do counsaile vs that we neuer take vpon vs truse vpon suspect condicion And in dead they counsaile vs well For the fayned and dyssembled peace is muche more perrillous then is the manifest warre The philosopher Heuxinus your embassadour hath spoken to vs so highly and eloquentlye in this Senate that it semed to vs very vniust if we should deny him and gaine say that he requireth vs. For it is much more honestye to graunt him peace whiche by sweete and pleasaunt words doth demaund it then him which by force and sharpe sword doeth requyreth it Let the case therfore be that the Senate people and Sages of Athens haue ordeyned that warre do cease with the Lacedemonians and that al discordes contencions dissentions and debates do end that perpetual peace be graunted vnto them And this thing is done to the end al the world should know that Athens is of such courage wythe the hardy and so very a frend to the Sages that she knoweth
the negligence of the fathers in bringing vp their childrē Sextus Cheronensis in the second boke of the sainges of the Philosophers declareth that a citezen of Athens sayed on daye to Dyogenes the Phylosopher these wordes Tel me Diogenes what shall I doe to be in the fauour of the gods and not in the hatred of men for oft tymes amonges you Philosophers I haue hard saye that there is great difference betwene that that the Goddes wil and that which men loue Diogenes aunswered Thou speakest more then thoughtest to speake that the gods will one thinge and men another for the gods are but as a center of mercy and men are but as a denne of malice if thou wilte inioye rest in thy dayes and keape thy lyfe pure and cleane thou must obserue these thre thinges The first honour thy gods deuoutly For the man which doeth not serue and honour the gods in all his enterprises he shal be vnfortunate The second be very diligent to bring vp thy children well For the man hath no enemy so troublesome as his owne son if he be not wel brought vp The third thyng be thankefull to thy good benefactours and frendes For the Oracle of Apollo sayeth that the man who is vnthankefull of all the worlde shal be abhorred And I tell the further my frend that of these thre thinges the most profitable though it be more troblesome is for a manne to teache and bring vp his children well This therefore was the aunswere that the Philosopher Diogenes made to the demaunde of the Cytezen It is great pytie and griefe to see a yonge child how the bloud doth stirre him to se how the fleshe doth prouoke him to accomplishe his desire to se sensualyte go before and he himselfe to come behinde to se the malicious world to watche him to se howe the deuill doth tempt him to se how vyces bynde him and in all that whych is spoken to se how the father is negligent as if he had no children wher as in deed the old man by the few vertues that he hath had in his youth may easely know the infirmites and vices wherewith his sonne is compassed If the expert had neuer ben ignoraunt if the fathers had neuer ben children if the vertuous had neuer ben vicious if the fyne wittes had neuer ben deceiued it were no meruaile if the Fathers were negligent in teachyng their children For the lytell experience excuseth men of great offences but synce thou arte a father and that fyrst thou were a sonne synce thou arte old and hast ben yong and besides al this synce that pride hath enflamed the lechery hath burned the wrath hath wounded the negligēce hath hindred the couetousnes hath blinded the and glotonie surfeted the tell me cruell father since so manye vices haue reigned in the why hast thou not an eye to thy childe whom of thy owne bloud thou hast begotten And if thou doest it not bycause he is thy childe thou oughtest to do it bycause he is thy nearest For it is vnpossible that the child whych with many vyces is assaulted and not succoured but in the end he should be infamed and to the dishonour of the father most wickedly ouercome It is vnpossible to kepe flesh well fauored vnlesse it be first salted It is vnpossible that the fishe should liue without water It is vnpossible but that the Rose should wyther whiche is of the thorne ouergrowen So like it is vnpossible that the fathers should haue any comforte of their chyldren in their age vnlesse they haue instructed them in vertue in their youth And to speake further in this matter I saye that in the Christian catholike religion where in dede there is good doctrine ther alwayes is supposed to be a good conscience Amongest the wryters it is a thinge well knowen howe Eschines the philosopher was banished from Athens and with all his family came to dwell at Rhodes The occasion was because that he and the philosopher Demosthenes were in great contention in the common wealth Wherefore the Athenians determined to banish the one and to keape the other with them And truly they dyd well for of the contentions and debates of sages warres most commonly aryse amongest the people This philosopher Eschines being at Rhodes banished amongest others made a solempne oration wherein he greatly reproueth the Rhodians that they were so negligente in brynging vp their children saiyng vnto them these wordes I let you vnderstande Lordes of Rhodes that your predecessours aduaunced them selues to discende and to take their beginning of the Lides the whiche aboue all other nations were curious and diligent to bring vp their children and hereof came a lawe that was among them which sayed We ordeine and commaunde that if a father haue many chyldren that the moste vertuous should enherite the goods and riches and if there were but one vertuous that he alone should inherite the whole And if perchaūce the children were vitious that then al should be depriued from the heritage For the goods gotten with trauaile of vertuous fathers ought not by reason to be inherited with vitious children These were the wordes that the philosopher spake to the Senate of the Rhodes and because he sayde in that Oration many other thinges whiche touche not our matter I wyll in this place omitte them For among excellent wryters the wryting loseth muche authoritie when the authour from his purpose digresseth into an other matter To saye the truthe I doe not maruayle that the children of princes and great lordes be adulterers and belly gods for that on the one parte youth is the mother of Idlenes and on the other litle experience is the cause of great offences And furthermore the fathers being once dead the children enherite their goodes as quietly being loden with vices as if in dede they were with all vertues endued If the younge children did knowe for a certaine that the lawes of the Lydes should be obserued that is to witte that they shoulde not enherite vnlesse they be vertuous it is vnpossible but that they would leade a good life and not in this wyse to runne at large in the worlde For they doe absteine more from doing euill fearyng to lose that whiche they doe possesse then for any loue to doe that whiche they ought I doe not denaye but according as the natures of the fathers is dyuers so the inclinations of the chyldren are variable For so muche as some folowyng their good inclination are good others not resisting euil sensualities are euill But yet in this matter I saye that it lieth muche in the father that doeth brynge them vp when as yet they are younge so that the euill whiche nature gaue by good bryngyng vp is refrayned For oftetymes the good custome doeth ouercome all euill inclination Princes and great lordes that wylbe diligent in the instruction of their chyldren ought to enforme their maisters and tutors that shall teache theim to what vyces and
vertues their children are moste inclined and this ought to be to encourage them in that that is good and contrary to reproue them in all that is euill For men are vndone for no other cause when they be olde but for that they had so much pleasures when they are younge Sextus Cheronensis in the seconde booke of the saiynges of the auntientes saieth that on a daye a citezen of Athens was byenge thinges in the market and for the qualitie of his persone the greatest parte of them were superfluous and nothing necessary And in this case the poore are no lesse culpable then the ryche and the ryche then the poore For that is so litle that to susteyne mans lyfe is necessary that he which hath lest hath therunto superfluous Therfore at that tyme when Athens and her common wealth was the lanterne of all Grece there was in Athens a lawe long vsed and of great tyme accustomed that nothing should be bought before a philosopher had set the pryce And truly the lawe was good and would to God the same lawe at this present were obserued for there is nothing that destroyeth a cōmon wealth more then to permitte some to sell as tyrauntes and others to buye as fooles When the Thebane was buying these thinges a philosopher was there present who sayed vnto him these wordes Tell me I praye thee thou man of Thebes wherefore doest thou consume and waste thy money in that whiche is not necessary for thy house nor profitable for thy persone the Thebane aunswered him I let the knowe that I doe buye all these thynges for a sonne I haue of the age of .xx. yeares the whiche neuer did thinge that seamed vnto me euill nor I neuer denayed hym any thing that he demaunded This philosopher aunswered O howe happy were thou if as thou arte a father thou were a sonne and that which the father saieth vnto the sonne the sonne would saye vnto the father but I am offended greatly with that thou hast tolde me For vntill the childe be .xxv. yeares olde he ought not to gaynesaye his father and the good father ought not to condescende vnto the appetites of the sonne Nowe I call the cursed father since thou arte subiect to the wyll of thy sonne and that thy sonne is not obedient to the wyl of his father so that thou alterest the order of nature For so muche as the father is sonne of his sonne and the sonne is father of his father But in the end I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that when thou shalt become old thou shalt weape by thy selfe at that whiche with thy sonne thou diddest laughe when he was younge Though the wordes of this philosopher were fewe yet a wyse man wyll iudge the sentences to be many I conclude therfore that princes and great lordes ought to recōmende their children to their maisters to th ende they may teache them to chaunge their appetites and not to folowe their owne wil so that they withdrawe them from their own will and cause them to learne the aduise of an other For the more a man geueth a noble man sonne the brydle the more harder it is for them to receiue good doctrine ¶ Princes ought to take hede that their children be not brought vp in vayne pleasures and delightes For oftetimes they are so wicked that the fathers would not only haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buried Chap. xxxiii BY experience we see that in warre for the defence of men rampiers fortes are made according to the qualitie of the enemies those which sayle the daungerous seas doe chose great shippes whiche may breake the waues of the raging Sea so that all wyse men according to the qualitie of the daunger doe seke for the same in time some remedy Oftetymes I muse with my selfe and thynke if I coulde finde any estate any age any lande any nation any realme or any worlde wherein there hath bene any man that hath passed this life without tasting what aduersitie was for if suche a one were founde I thinke it should be a monstrous thing throughout all the earth and by reason both the dead and liuing should enuie hym In the ende after my counte made I finde that he whiche yesterdaye was ryche to daye is poore he that was hole I see hym to daye sicke he that yesterdaye laughed to daye I see hym wepe he that had his hartes ease I see hym nowe sore afflicted he that was fortunate I see hym vnlucky finally hym whom we knewe aliue in the towne now we see buried in the graue And to be buried is nothing els but to be vtterly forgotten for mans frendshyp is so frayle that when the corps is couered with earth immediatly the dead is forgotten One thinge me thinketh to all men is greuous to those of vnderstandyng no lesse payneful whiche is that the miseries of this wicked worlde are not equally deuided but that oftetymes all worldly calamities lieth in the necke of one man alone For we are so vnfortunate that the world geueth vs pleasures in sight troubles in profe If a man should aske a sage man now a daies who hath liued in meane estate that he would be contented to tel him what he hath paste since three yeares that he began to speake vntill fifty yeares that he began to waxe olde what thinges thinke you he would tel vs that hath chaunced vnto him truly al these that here folowe The grefes of his children the assaultes of his enemies the importunities of his wife the wantonnes of his doughters sicknes in his person great losse of goods general famine in the citie cruel plagues in his coūtrey extreme colde in wynter noysome heate in sommer sorowful deathes of his frendes enuious prosperities of his enemies finally he wil say that he passed such so many thinges that oftimes he bewailed the wofull life desired the swete death If the miserable man hath passed such things outwardly what would he saye of those which he hath suffred inwardly the whiche though some discrete men may know yet truly others dare not tell For the trauailes which the body passeth in fifty yeres may wel be counted in a day but that which the hart suffereth in one day cannot be counted in a hundred yeres A man cannot denay but that we would coūte him rashe which with a rede would mete an other that hath a sword him for a foole that would put of his shoes to walke vpō the thornes But without cōparison we ought to esteame him for the most foole that with this tender fleshe thinketh to preuaile against so many euil fortunes for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate passeth his life with much paine O how happy may that mā be called which neuer tasted what pleasure meaneth For men whiche from their infancy haue bene brought vp in pleasures for want of wisdome know not how to
purenes of conscience but also in the outward apparance and cleanes of lyfe For it is vnpossible that the child be honest if the mayster be dissolute The 3. it is necessary that tutors and gouernours of princes and great lordes be true men not only in their words but also in their couenauntes For to say the truth that mouth which is alwaies ful of lyes ought not by reason to be a teacher of the truth The 4. condicion it is necessary that the gouernours of princes great lordes of their owne nature be liberall for oft tymes the greate couetousnes of maisters maketh the harts of princes to be gredy and couetous The 5. it is necessary that the maisters and gouernours of princes great lords be moderate in wordes very resolute in sentences so that they ought to teach the children to speake litle to harken much For it is the chefest vertue in a prince to heare with pacience and to speake wyth wisedome The 6. condicion is it is necessary that the maysters and gouernours of princes and great lords be wise men and temperate so that the grauitye of the mayster maye restrayne the lyghtnes of the Schollers for there is no greater plagues in Realmes then for princes to be yong and their maisters to be lyght The 7. it is necessarye that the maisters and tutors of princes and greate lords be wel learned in diuinity and humanitie in such sort that that which they teach the princes by word they may shew it by writing to the end that other princes may execute and put the same in vre for mens harts are soner moued by the examples of those which are past then by the words of them that are present The 8. condicion it is necessarie that the maisters and tutors of princes be not giuen to the vice of the flesh for as they are yong and naturallye giuen to the flesh so they haue no strength to abide chast neyther wisedome to be ware of the snares Therefore it is necessarye that theyr maisters be pure and honeste for the Dyscyples shall neuer bee chaste if the mayster bee vicyous The 9. it is necessary that the masters and tutors of Princes and greate lords haue good condicions bycause the children of noble men being daintely brought vp alwayes learne euill condicions the which their maisters ought to reforme more by good conuersacion then by sharpe correction For oftentimes it chaunceth that whereas the maister is cruel the scholer is not merciful The .10 it is necessary that the maisters and tutors of prynces and great lordes haue not only sene and red many things but also that they haue proued chaungeable fortune For since noble mens sonnes by the gift of god haue great estates they ought therefore to prouide to speake to many to aunswere to many and to entreat with many and it is very profitable for them to be conuersaunt with expert men for in the end the approued mā in councel hath preheminence I was willyng to bringe in these rules in my writing to the end that fathers may kepe them in their memory when they do seke maysters to teach their children for in my opinyon the father is more in fault to seke an euil maister then the maister is to make an euyl scholer For if I choose euyl taylers to cut my gowne it is my faulte that the cloth is lost and my gowne marred Albeit the Romaines were in al their doings circumspect yet for this one thinge I must enuy the good doctrine which they gaue to noble mens children For wythout doubt it is vnpossible that in any city there by a good common wealth vnlesse they are very circumspect to bring vp yong children Sabellicus in his rapsodies sayth that in the 415 yeres of the foundacion of Rome Qintus Seruilius and Lucius Geminus then consulles being in the warre against the Volces the stout aduenturous captaine Camillus there rose a great strife and contencion in Rome amongest the people and the knights and that contencion was vpon the prouision of offyces For in great common wealthes it hath bene an aunciente quarell that in knights and gentlemen there surmounteth pride in commaundyng and amonge the people ther wanteth pacience in obeyinge The knightes and gentlemen would they should chose a Tribune Millitare in the senate to speake in the name of al the knyghtes that were absent and present for they sayd that sence they were alwayes at the warre the whole common wealth remained in the power of the people The commons on the other part importuned and desired that a new officer should be created the whych should haue the charge to examine and take accompt how the youth of Rome were brought vp bycause the comon people did accuse the knights gentlemen that the longer they remained in the warres the more sensuallye their chyldren lyued in Rome It was decreed then that a Tribune Millitare should be erected the which in aucthority and dignytie should be equal with the senatours that he should represente the state of warlike knights but that office continued no longer then foure yeres in Rome that is to wete til the time that Camillus retourned from the warres For thinges that are grounded of no reason of them selues they come to nought Al the knights gentlemen sought to the vttermost of their power to maintaine their preheminēce on the other side al the cominalty of Rome was against it In the end the good captaine Camillus called al the knights gentlemen to gethers and sayd vnto them these words I am greatly ashamed to se that the stoutnes should be so lytle of the Romaine knights that they should cōdiscend to the wil of the Plebians for in dede the myghty do not get so much honour to ouercome the lytle as the litle do to striue with the great I say that the strife debate amongest you in Rome doth displease me muche therfore you knights if you wil not lose your honours you must eyther kil them or ouercome them You cannot ouercome them bycause they are many kyll them you ought not for in the end they are youres therfore ther is no better remedy then to dissemble with theym For things which suffer no force nor obserue not iustyce ought alwayes vntil conuenient time to be dissembled The immortal gods did not create Romaine knights to gouerne people but to conquere Realmes And I say further that they dyd not create vs to teach lawes to oures but to giue lawes to straungers And if we be the children of our fathers immitators of the auncient Romanes we wil not content our selues to commaund in Rome but to commaund those which do commaund in Rome For the hart of a true Romaine doth lytle esteame to se himselfe lord of this world if he know that ther is another to conquere You others did creat this Tribune Millitare we being in the warre whereof now theris no necessitye since we are in peace
examples whiche they geue then in the faulte and offence that they committe All the aunciente wryters affirme that the triumphant Rome neuer began to decay vntil the Senate was replenished with sage serpentes and destitute of simple doues For in the ende there is nothing that soner destroyeth princes then thinking to haue about them wyse men that should counsell them when in dede they are malitious that seke to deceiue them What a thing was in olde time to see the pollicie of Rome before that Sylla and Marius did alter it before that Catilina and Catullus did trouble it before that Iulius Caesar and Pompeius sclaundered it before that Augustus and Marcus Antonius destroyed it before that Tiberius and Caligula did defame it and before that Nero and Domician did corrupt it For the most parte of these though they were valiaunt wan many Realmes yet notwithstanding the vices whiche they brought vs were more then the Realmes they wanne vs. And the worst of all is that al our kingdomes are loste and our vices abide still If Liuius and the other historiographers doe not deceiue vs in olde time they might haue sene in the sacret Senate some Romaines so auncient with heere 's so honorable others so expert mē others aged so modest that it was a wonder to see the maiestie they did represente and a comforte to heare that which they sayde I speake not that without teares whiche I wyll saye that in steade of these auncient aged personnes there sprange vp other younge bablers the whiche are suche and so manye that all the common wealth is altered and Rome her selfe sclaundered For that lande is cursed and with muche miserie compassed where the gouernaunce of the young is so euil that al wyshe for the reuiuing of the dead If we credite that which the auncientes wrote we cannot denay but that Rome was the mother of all good woorke as the auncient Grece was the beginner of al sciences So that the effect of the Grekes was to speake the glory of the Romaynes was to worke But nowe through our woful◠destenies it is all contrary for Grece hath banished from it all the speakers to Rome and Rome hath banished from it all the sages to Grece And if it be so as it is in dede I had rather be banished to Grece with the sages then to take parte with Rome among the fooles By the faithe of a Christian I sweare vnto you my frendes that I being young sawe an Oratour in Rome which was brought vp in the pallace of Adrian my Lorde whose name was Aristonocus of his body he was of meane stature leane of face also he was of an vnknowen countrey but he had such a pleasaunt tongue that though he had made an oration in the senate of three houres long there was no mā but willingly was desirous to heare him For in the old time if he that made an Oration in the Senate were eloquent in his speache he was heard no lesse then if God Apollo had spoken him selfe This philosopher Aristonocus was on the one parte so gentle in his speache and on the other parte so disolute in his life that he neuer spake worde to the Senate but it deserued eternall memory and out of that place they neuer sawe him do good worke but it merited greuous punishement As I haue sayed though in that tyme I was young yet I remember that to see this philosopher so loste all the people did pitie and the worste of all was that they neuer hoped of his amendement since daily more and more he loste his honour For there is no man that by his eloquence may haue suche renowme but in the ende he may lose it againe by his euil lyfe Now I aske you my frends sithe you are in the reputation of sages which was better or to saye better whiche had bene lesse enuied that this philosopher had bene a simple man and of good life then to be as he was a man of high eloquence and of euill condition It was vnpossible if he had once heard of me that whiche many times I haue hearde say of him that he had not counsayled me yea and futher to doe it he had constrained me rather to chose the graue then to lyue in Rome with infamy For he is vnworthy to lyue amongest men whose wordes of all are approued and his workes of all condemned The firste dictatour in Rome was Largius and the first lordes of the knightes was Spurius And from the tyme of the first dictatour vntill the time of Silla and Iulius whiche were the first tyrauntes were foure hundred and fiftie yeares In the whiche space we neuer redde that any Philosopher spake any vayne wordes nor yet committed any sclaunderous deades And if Rome had done any otherwyse it had bene vnworthy of suche prayse and estimation as it had for it is vnpossible that the people be well gouerned if the Sages whiche gouerne them are in their liues dissolute I protest to the immortall Gods sweare by the faithe of a Christian that when I consider that whiche at this present with myne eyes I see I can not but sighe for that that is past and wepe for that which is present That is to wete to see then howe the armies fought to see howe the younge men trauayled to be good to see howe well princes gouerned to se the obedience of the people and aboue all it was a merueilous thing to see the libertie and fauour whych the Sages had and the subiection and small estimation that the simple were in And nowe by our euil fortune we see the contrary in our woful time so that I cannot tell whither first I should bewaile the vertues and noblenes of them that are past or the vices infamies of these whych are present For we neauer ought to cease from praysinge the goodnes of the good nor to cease from reprouyng the wyckednes of the euill O that I had bene in that glorious worlde to se so honorable and auncient sages to gouerne in pleasure and for the contrary what grefe pytye shame and dishonor is it to se now so many dissolute sages and so many yong and busy heades the whych as I haue sayd doe destroye all Rome and slaunder all Italy and dishonor them selues For the want of vertue whyche in them aboundeth endomageth the comon wealth and the other vyces wherewith they are replenished corrupteth the people in such sorte that the weale publyke is more dyshonored through the dissolute life of them then it is anoyed by the weapons of their enemies I say agayn and repete my frendes that the prosperity of Rome endured .400 and .xv. yeres in the whych time there was a great maiestie of workes and a marueilous simplicity of wordes aboue all that the best that it had was that it was rich of the good and vertuous men and poore of euill and vitious loyterers For in the end that citie cannot
be called prosperous whych hath in it many people but that which hath in it few vices Speakyng therfore more perticulerly the cause that moued me to put you from me is bycause in the day of the great feast of god Genius you shewed in the presence of the senate your litle wisedom and great foly for so much as all men did behold more the lightnes of your parson then they did the follies of the iuglers If perchaunce you shewed your folly to th entent men should thinke that you were familiar in my royal pallace I tell you that the errour of your thought was no lesse then the euil and example of your work for no man ought to be so familiar with princes but whether it be in sporte or in earnest he ought to do him reuerence Since I geue you leaue to departe I know you had rather haue to helpe you in your iorney a litle money then many councelles but I will geue you both that is to wete mony for to bring you to your iournies end and also counsels to the end you may lyue And meruail not that I geue counsel to them that haue an office to councel others for it chaunceth oftetimes that the phisition do cure the diseases of others and yet in dede he knoweth not his owne Let therfore the last word counsell be when you shal be in the seruices of princes and great lordes that first you labour to be coūted honest rather then wise That they do chose you rather for quiet men then for busy heades and more for your fewe woordes then for your much bablyng For in the pallace of Princes if the wise man be no more then wise it is a great happe if he be moch estemed but if he be an honest man he is beloued and wel taken of all That Princes and other noble men ought to ouer see the tutours of their children least they conceale the secret faultes of their scollers Chap xxxvii VVe haue before rehersed what conditions what age and what grauity maisters ought to haue which should bring vp the children of Princes Now reason would we shold declare what the counsels should be that princes shold geue to the maysters and tutours of their children before they ought to geue them any charge And after that it is mete we declare what the counsel shal be whyche the mayster shall geue to hys dyscyple hauyng the gouernement of hym For it is vnpossible ther should happen any misfortune wher rype counsel is euer present It shal seame vnto those that shal profoundly consider this matter that it is a superfluous thing to treate of these thinges for either princes chose that good or els they chose the euil If they chose not good maisters they labour in vaine to geue thē good counsel for the folish maiser is lesse capable of coūsel thē the dyssolute scoler of holsome admonitiō If perchaunce princes do make elections of good maisters then those maisters both for them selues and also for others ought to minister good counsels For to geue councell to the wyse man it is either a superfluous dede or els it cōmeth of a presumptuous man Though it be true that he whych dare geue councel to the sage man is presumptuous I saye in lyke maner that the dyamonde beyng set in gold loseth not his vertue but rather increseth in pryce value I meane that the wiser a man is somuche the more he oughte to desire to knowe the opinion of another certainly he that doeth so cannot erre For to none his owne councell aboundeth somuch but that he nedeth the counsell and opinion of another Though princes and great lordes do se with their eyes that they haue chosen good maisters and tutors to teache their children yet they ought not therfore to be so negligent of them selues but that sometimes they may geue the maysters counsell For it maye be that the maysters be both noble and stout that they be auncient sage moderate but it may be also that in teaching children they are not expert For to masters and tutours of princes it is not somuche necessary that science doth abounde as it is shame that experience shoulde want When a riche man letteth out his farme or maner to a farmor he doth not only consider with him selfe before what rent he shall pay hym but also he couenanteth with hym that he shall keape his groundes well fensed and ditched and his howses well repaired And not contented to receiue the thirde parte of the frute of his vine but also he goeth twyse or thrise in a yeare to visite it And in seyng it he hath reason for in the end the one occupyeth the goods as tenaunte and the other doth viewe the grounde as chefe lord Then if the father of the family with so great diligence doeth recōmend the trees and the groūd to the labourer how much more ought the father to recōmend his children to the maisters for the father geuing coūcell to the maister is no other but to deliuer his child to the treasurer of sciēce Princes and great lords cānot excuse them selues of an offence if after that they haue chosen a knight or gentleman for to be maister or els a learned wise man to be tutour they are so necligēt as if they neuer had had children or did remember that their childrē ought to be their heires certainly this thing shold not be so lightly passed ouer but as a wise man which is careful of the honor profit of his child he ought to be occupied aswel in taking hede to the maister as the maister ought to be occupied in taking hede to the child For the good fathers ought to know whether the maister that he hath chosen can cōmaund and whether his child wil obey One of the notablest princes among the auncientes was Sculeucus king of the Assiriās and husband of Estrabonica the daughter of Demetrius kyng of Macedony a lady for her beauty in al Grece the most renowmed thoughe of her fame in dede she was not very fortunat This is an olde disease that hapneth alwayes to beautiful women that ther be many that desire them mo that slaunder them This king Seuleucus was first maryed with another woman of whom he had a sonne called Antigonus the whyche was in loue with the second wife of his father that is to wete with the quene Estrabonica and was almost dead for loue The whiche the father vnderstandyng maried his sonne with her so that she that was his stepmother was hys wife and she that was a faire wyfe was a faire doughter he which was hys sonne was made his sonne in lawe he which was father was stepfather The aucthor herof is Plutarke in his liues as Sextus Cheronensis saith in the third boke of the sayenges of the grekes The king Seuleucus laboured diligently to bring vp his son Antigonus well wherfore he sought him .ii. notable maisters the one a greke
feuer which I haue I sawe this villaine standing boldely a whole houre on his feete al we beholdinge the earthe as amazed coulde not aunswere him one word For in dede this villaine confuted vs with his purpose astonied vs to se the litle regarde he had of his life The senate afterwardes being al agreed the next day folowing we prouided new iudges for the ryuer of Danuby cōmaunded the villaine to deliuer vs by writing all that he had saide by mouth to the end it might be registred in the booke of good saiyng of straungers which were in the senate And further it was agreed that the saide villaine for the wise wordes he spake should be chosen senatour and of the free men of Rome he should be one and that for euer he should be sustayned with the cōmon treasour For our mother Rome hath alwaies bene praysed estemed not only to acquite the seruices which hath bene done vnto her but also the good wordes which were spoken in the Senate ¶ That princes noble men oughte to be very circumspect in chosinge iudges and offycers for therein consistethe the profyte of the publike weale Cap. vi ALexander the great as the historiographers say in his youth vsed hūting very much specially of the mountains that which is to be marueiled at he would not hunt Deare goats hares nor partriges but Tigers Lyberdes elephants cocodrilles and Lyons So that this mighty prince did not onely shewe the excellency of his courage in conqueringe proude princes but also in chasing of cruel sauage beasts Plutarche in his Apothegmes saiethe that the greate Alexander had a familiar seruaunt named Crotherus to whom often times he spake these words I let the to know Crotherus that the valyāt princes ought not only to be vpright in their realmes which they gouern but also to be circumspect in pastimes which they vse that the auctoritie whiche in the one they haue wonne in the other they do not lose When Alexander spake these wordes truely he was of more auctoritie then of yeares But in the ende he gaue this example more to be folowed cōmanded then to be reproued or blamed I saye to be folowed not in the huntinge that he exercysed but in the great courage which he shewed To the Plebeyans men of base condicion it is a litle thing that in one matter they shew their might in other things they re small power is knowen but to princes greate lordes it is a discommendable thing that in earnest matters any man should accuse them of pryde in thinges of sport they should count them for light For the noble valiaunt Prince in thinges of importaunce ought to shew great wisedome in meane things great stoutnes The case was such that Alexander the great hunting on the wilde mountaines by chaunce met with a cruel Lion as the good Prince would wyn his honor with the Lion also the Lion preserue his own life they were in griepes the one of the other so faste that bothe fell to the earthe where they striued almoste halfe an houre but in the ende the lyon remained there deade and the hardye Alexander escaped all bloudye This huntynge of Alexander and the Lyon thoroughe all Grece was greatlye renowmed I say gretly renowmed because the grauers painters drew a pourtrait forthwith in stone worke of this huntinge the grauers hereof were Lisippus and Leocarcus marueilous grauers of anuk workes which they made of mettall where they liuely set forth Alexander the Lion fighting also a familiar seruant of his named Crotherus being among the dogges beholding thē So that the worke semed not onely to represent an aūcient thing but that the Lyon Alexander Crotherus the dogges semed also to be aliue in the same chase Whē Alexander fought with the Lyon ther came an Embassatour from Sparthes to Macedonia who spake to Alexander these wordes Woulde to god immortall prince that the force you haue vsed with the Lyon in the mountain you had imployed against some prince for to be Lorde of the earth By the wordes of the Embassatour the deedes of Alexander may easely by gathered that as it is comly for Princes to be honest valiaunt and stout so to the contrary it is vnsemely for them to be bolde and rashe For thoughe princes of their goodes be lyberall yet of their lyfe they oughte not to be prodigall The diuine Plato in the tenth booke of his laws saieth that the .2 renowmed Philosophers of Thebes whose names were Adon Clinias fell at variaunce withe them selues to know in what thing the prince is bound to aduenture his life Clinias said that he ought to dye for any thing touching his honour Adon saide the contrarye That he should not hazarde his life vnles it were for maters touching the affaires of the common wealth Plato saieth those .2 philosophers had reason in that they saide but admit that occasion to dye shoulde be offred the prince for the one or the other he ought rather to dye for that thing touching iustice then for the thinge touchinge his honour For there is no great difference to dye more for the one then for the other Applying that we haue spoken to that we will speake I say that we do not desire nor we wil not that princes and greate lordes doe destroy them selues with Lions in the chase neither aduenture their persones in the warres nor that they put their liues in peril for the common weale but we only require them that they take some paines and care to prouide for thinges belonging to iustice For it is a more naturall hunting for princes to hunt out the vicious of their common weales then for to hunt the wilde bores in the thicke woodes To the end princes accomplish this which we haue spoken we wil not aske them time when they ought to eat slepe hunt sport recreate thē selues but that of the foure and twenty houres that be in the daye and nyghte theye take it for a pleasure and commoditie one houre to talke of iustice The gouernement of the commonweale consisteth not in that they should trauaile vntil they sweate and molest theire bodies shed theire bloude shorten theire lyues and lose theire pastimes but all consistethe in that they shoulde be dylygent to forsee the domages of their common wealth and likewise to prouyde for good mynysters of iustice We doe not demaunde Prynces and greate lordes to geue vs theire goodes nor we forbydde them not to eate to forsake slepe to sporte to hunte nor to putte theire lyues in daunger but we desyre and beseeche them that theye prouyde good mynysters of iustice for the common wealthe Firste they oughte to be very dyligente to serche them oute and afterwards to be more circūspect to examine thē for if we sighe withe teares to haue good Prynces we oughte muche more to praye that wee haue not euill offycers What profytethe it
talke three houres If with such efficacie wee perswade olde men that they be honest in theire apparaile for a truthe we will not geue them licence to be dissolute in their wordes sins there is a great difference to note some man in his apparaile or to accuse him to bee malicious or a bablet For to weare riche apparayle iniuryeth fewe but iniurious wordes hurte manye Macrobius in the firste booke of the dreames of Scipio declareth of a philosopher named Crito who liued a hundreth and fiue yeares and till fyltye yeares he was farre oute of course Butte after he came to bee aged he was so well measured in his eatynge drinking and so ware in his speache that they neuer sawe him doe any thinge worthye reprehension nor heard him speake worde but was worthy of notynge On this coÌ„dicioÌ„ we would geue liceÌ„ce to many the till fifty yeres they should be yoÌ„g so that from thence forth they would be clothed as olde men speake as old meÌ„ they should esteme them selues to be olde But I am sorye that al the spring time dothe passe in flower and afterwardes they fall into the graue as rotten before they finde any time to pull them out The olde doe complain that the yong doe not take theire aduise and theire excuse herein is that in theire wordes theye are to longe For if a manne doe demaunde an olde man his opynion in a case immediatelye hee will beginne to saye that in the life of suche and suche kynges and lordes of good memorye this was done and this was prouyded So that when a yonge man aske them counsaile howe he shall behaue hym selfe with the lyuinge the olde man beginneth to declare vnto him the life of those whiche bee dead The reason whye the olde men desire to speake so longe is that since for theire age they can not see nor goe nor eate nor slepe they woulde that al that tyme theire members weare occupyed to doe their duties al that time theire tonge shoulde be occupied to declare of theire times past All this being spoken what more is to say I knowe not but that we should contente oure selues that the olde men shoulde haue theire fleshe as muche punished as they haue their toÌ„gue with talke martired Though it be very vile for a yong man to speak slander to a yonge manne not to saye the truthe yet this vice is muche more to be abhorred in old princes other noble worshipful meÌ„ which ought not only to thynke it theire dutie to speake truthe but also to punishe the enemies therof For otherwise the noble and valyaunt knyghtes shoulde not lose a lytle of theire aucthoritie if a manne sawe on theire heades but white heares and in theire mouthes founde nothing but lyes ¶ Of a letter of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to Claudius and Claudinê° reprouinge them beinge olde men for that they lyued youthefullye Cap. xix MArke Emperoure borne in mounte Celio desyreth to yowe my neyghboures Claude and Claudine healthe of youre persones and amendement of youre liues I beeinge as I am at the conquest of Asia and yow remaynynge alwaies in the pleasures of Rome we vnderstande youre newes very late and I thinke oure letters arriue there as late NotwithstaÌ„dynge to all those whiche goe thither I geeue aunsweres for you others and of al those which come hither I demaunde of your healthe And doe not demaunde of others howe well and howe muche I loue you but of your own proper hartes and if your harte saye that I am a feyned friende then I take my selfe condempned If perchaunce youre hartes dothe tell you that I loue you beinge true in dede that I hate you or if I tell you that I hate you beeinge true that I loue you of truthe I woulde plucke suche a harte oute of my body and giue it to be eaten of the beastes For there is noe greater dysceyte then that whiche the man doth to him selfe If a straunger begile me I ought to dissemble it if an enemie deceiue mee I ought to reuenge it if mye fryend misuse me I oughte to complayne of hym but if I doe deceiue my selfe wyth whom shall I comforte my selfe For there is no pacience that can suffer the hart to deceyue him selfe in anye thinge whiche he hathe not deepely considered Peraduenture ye will saye that I doe not esteame you and that I haue not written any letter vnto you of long time To this I aunswere That you doe not attrybute the faulte to mye neglygence but to the greate distaunce of Countreis that there is from hence to Rome also to the greate affayres of Asia For amongest other discommodities the warre hath this also that it depriueth vs of the sweete conuersacion of our countrey I haue alwaies presumed to be youres and at this present am at no mannes pleasure more then at yours And sins you haue alwaies knowen of me what you desired to know I haue espied in you others that whiche of force I must speake For in the end I haue not sene any possesse so much to be worthe so much to know so much nor in all things to be so mighty but that one day he shoulde neede his poore friende The diuine Plato sayde and allso well that the manne whyche louethe with his hart neyther in absence forgetteth neyther in presence becommeth negligent neither in prosperitie he is proude nor yet in aduersitie abiect neyther he serueth for profite nor yet he loueth for gayne and fynallye he defendethe the case of his friende as his owne Diuers haue beene the opinions whiche the auncients helde to affirme for what ende friendes were taken and in the ende they were fully resolued that for .4 causes we ought to chose frindes The first we ought to haue friendes to treate and be conuersant with all for according to the troubles of this life there is no time so pleasauntlye consumed as in the conuersacion of an assured friende The seconde is we ought to haue friendes to whom we may disclose the secretes of our hartes for it ys muche comforte to the wofull harte to declare to his fryende his doubtes if he perceiue that he doth fele them in deede The thirde we oughte to searche and chose friendes to th end they helpe vs in oure aduersities For litle profytethe it my harte that with teares the friendes doe heare all that I bewaile onlesse afterwardes in dede he will take paines to refourme the same The fourth we ought to seke and preserue frindes to th end they be protectors of our goodes and likewise iudges of our euilles for the good frinde is no lesse bound to withdrawe vs from the vices whereby we are sclaundered then to deliuer vs from our enemies by whom we may be slayne The ende whye I tolde you all thys was if that in this letter you chaunce to lyghte of any sharpe worde that you take it pacientlye considerynge that the loue whych I beare yowe dothe
if thou be euill lyfe shal bee euyl imployd on thee and if thou bee good thou oughtest to die imediatly and because I am woors thē all I liue lōger then all These woordes which Adrian my lord sayed doe plainely declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruel death doth assaulte the good and lēgthneth life a great while to the euil The opinion of a philosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their misteryes and so iust in their woorks that to men which least profit the common wealth they lengthen lyfe longest and though he had not sayd it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale and frendship to the common wealth either the gods take him from vs or the enemies do sley him or the daungers doe cast him away or the the trauailes do finish him When great Pompeius Iulius Cesar became enemyes from that enmite came to cruel warres the cronicles of that time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in the fauour of Iulius Cesar and the mightiest most puisaunte of al the oriental parts came in the ayd of great Pompeius beecause these two Princes were loued of few and serued and feared of al. Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the oriental part into the host of the great Pompeius one nation came maruelous cruel barbarous which sayd they dwelled in the other side of the mountayns Riphees which go vnto India And these barbarous had a custome not to liue no longer then fifty years therfore when thei came to that age they made a greater fier and were burned therin aliue and of their owne willes they sacrificed them selues to the gods Let no man bee astoined at that wee haue spoken but rather let them maruel of that wee wyl speak that is to say that the same day that any man had accomplished fifty years immediatly hee cast him self quick in to the fier and the parents children and his freends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eat the fleash of the dead half burned and drank in wyne and water the asshes of his bones so that the stomak of the children beeing aliue was the graue of the fathers beeing dead All this that I haue spoken with my toung Pompeius hath seen with his eies for that some beeing in the camp did accomplish fifty years bycause the case was straunge hee declared it oft times in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what hee will and condemne the barbarous at his pleasure yet I wyll not cease too say what I think O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the world to come shal bee a perpetuall memory What contēpt of world what forgetfulnes of him self what stroke of fortune what whip for the flesh what litell regard of lyfe O what bridell for the veruous O what confusion for those that loue lyfe O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those heeare haue wyllingly dispised their own liues it is not to bee thought that they died to take the goods of others neither to think that our life shoold neuer haue end nor our couetousnes in like maner O glorious people and .10 thousand sold happy that the proper sensuallyty beeing forsaken hath ouercome the natural appetyte to desire to liue not beeleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall destines By the way they assalted fortune they chaunged life for death they offred the body to death and aboue al haue woon honor with the gods not for that they should hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluus of life Archagent a surgiō of Rome and Anthonius Musus a phisition of the Emperor Augustus and Esculapius father of the phisick shoold get litel mony in that country Hee that thē shoold haue sēt to the barbarous to haue doone as the Romaynes at that tyme did that is to wete to take siroppes in the mornings pylls at night to drynk mylk in the morning to noynt them selues with gromelsede to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eat of one thing and to abstein from many a man ought to think that hee which willingly seeketh death wil not geue mony to lengthen lyfe ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and sheweth what perilles those old men lyue in which dissolutely like yong children passe their days and geeueth vnto them holsome counsell for the remedy therof Cap. xxii BVt returning now to thee Claude to thee Claudine mee thinketh that these barbarous beeing fifty years of age and you others hauing aboue thre score and 10. it should bee iust that sithens you were elder in years you were equal in vertue and though as they you wyl not accept death paciently yet at the least you ought to amend your euel liues willingly I do remember that it is many years sithens that Fabritius the yong sonne of Fabritius the old had ordeyned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told mee great inconueniences had hapned and sithens that you did mee so great a benefit I woold now requite you the same with an other like For amongst frends there is no equal benifit then to deceyue the deceyuer I let you know if you doo not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are soonk into your heads the nostrels are shutt the hears are white the hearing is lost the tonge faltreth the teeth fall the face is wrincled the feete swoln the stomak cold Finally I say that if the graue could speak as vnto his subiects by iustice hee myght commaund you to inhabit his house It is great pity of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorante for then vnto such their eyes are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth thē to the graue Plato in his book of the common wealth sayd that in vaine wee geeue good counsels to fond light yongmen For youth is without experiēce of that it knoweth suspicious of that it heareth incredible of that is told him despising the counsayl of an other and very poore of his own Forsomuch as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the yong haue of the good is not so much but the obstinacion which the old hath in the euel is more For the mortal gods many times do dissemble with a .1000 offeces committed by ignorance but they neuer forgeeue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doo not meruel that you doo forget the gods as you doo which created you and your fathers which beegot you and your parēts which haue loued you and your frends which haue
honored you but that which most I maruel at is that you forget your selues For you neuer coÌ„sider what you ought to bee vntil such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to return back again Awake awake since you are drownd in your dreams open your eyes since you slepe so much accustom your selues to trauells sithens you are vacabonds learne that which beehoueth you sithens now you are so old I mean that in time conuenient you agree with death beefore he make execution of life .52 yers haue I known the things of the world yet I neuer saw a woman so aged through years nor old man with members so feble that for want of strength could not if they list doo good nor yet for the same occasion shoold leaue to bee euel if they list to bee euel It is a meruelous thing to see and woorthy to note that al the corporal members of man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tonge for the hart is always green to inuent euils the toung is alwais able to tel lies My opinion should bee that the pleasant somer being past you shoold prepare your selues for the vntemperat winter which is at hand And if you haue but few days to coÌ„tinew you shoold make hast to take vp your lodging I mean that sith you haue passed the days of your life with trauel you shoold prepare your selues against the night of death to bee in the hauen of rest Let mockries passe as mockries and accept truth as truth that is to weete that it were a very iust thing and also for your honor necessary that al those which in times past haue seene you yoÌ„g foolish shoold now in your age se you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnes and folly of the youth as dooth grauity and constancy in age When the knight ronneth his carire they blame him not for that the horse mayn is not finely commed but at the end of his race hee shoold see his horse ameÌ„ded and looked to â–ª what greater confusion can bee to any parson or greater sclauÌ„der to our mother Rome then to see that which now adays therin wee see that is to weete the old which can scarcely creap through the streats to beehold the plays and games as yong men which serch nought ells but pomp and vanity It greeueth mee to speak it but I am much more ashamed to see that the old Romayns do dayly cause the white hears to be plucked out of their heads bicause they would not seeme old to make their berd small to seme yong wearing their hosen very close theyr sherts open beefore the gown of the senatour imbrodred the Romayn signe richly enameled the coller of gold at the neck as those of Dace Fringes in their gowns as those of Saphire hoopes in their hatts as the Greekes and perles on their fingers as those of India What wilt thou I tell thee more then I haue told thee but that they weare their gowns long and large as those of Tharenthe and they wear theim of the colour as men of warr and euery weeke they haue chaunge as players and the woorst of all is that they show them selues as doting in loue now in their age as others haue doon hertofore in their youth That old men are ouercom by yong desires I do not meruel for that brutish lust is as natural as the daily foode but the old men being old men should be so dissolute heerewith men iustly ought to be offended For the old men couetous and of flesh vicious both offend the gods and sclaunder the coÌ„mon wealth O how many I haue known in Rome who in their youth haue been highly praysed and esteamed and afterwards through geeuing theÌ„ self to very much lightnes in theyr age haue been of all abhorred And the woorst of al is that they haue lost al their credit their parents their fauor and their poore innocent children theyr profit For many times the gods permit that the fathers committing th offence the pain shoold fall vpoÌ„ their owne childreÌ„ The renowmed Gaguino Cato who desceÌ„ded from the high lignage of the sage Catoes was fiue years Flamen preest administrator to the vestal virgins three years pretor two years Censor one year dictator and fiue times CoÌ„sull being .75 years old hee gaue him self to folow serue and to desire Rosana the doughter of Gneus Cursius a lady of trouth very yong and fair and of many desired and much made of time afterwards passing away and god Cupide dooing his office the loue was so kindled inwardly in the hart of this old man that he rann almost madde So that after he had consumed all his goods in seruing her dayly hee sighed and nightely he wept onely for to see her It chaunced that the sayd Rosana â—el sick of a burning ague wherwith she was so disteÌ„pered that shee could eat no meat but desired greatly to eat grapes and sithens there were none ripe at Rome Gaguino Cato sent to the riuer of Rheyn to fetch som beeing farre and many miles distant from thence And when the thing was spred through Rome that all the people knew it and the senat vnderstanding the folly of him the fathers commaunded that Rosana should bee locked vp with the vestal virgins the old man banished Rome for euer to the end that to theÌ„ it shoold bee a punishmeÌ„t to others an example Truly it greued mee sore to see it also I had great payns in writiÌ„g it For I saw the father die in iÌ„famy his childreÌ„ liue in pouerty I beleue that al those which shal hear this exaÌ„ple al those which shal reade this wryting shall find the fact of this amorous old man both vile and filthy and they will allow the senteÌ„ce of the senat which they gaue against him for good and iust I swere that if Gaguino Cato had had as many yong men in his banishment as hee left old men louers that followed his example in Rome ther shoold not be cast away so many men neyther so many women euyl maried It chaunceth oft tymes that when the old men specially beeyng noble and valyant are aduertysed of theyr seruants are rebuked of their pareÌ„ts are prayed of their frends accused of their enemies to bee dishonest in such a place they aunswer that they are not in loue but in iest When I was very yong no lesse in wisdome theÌ„ in age one night in the Capitoll I met with a neighbour of mine the which was so old that hee might haue taken mee for his nephiew to whom I sayd these woords Lord Fabricus are you also in loue hee aunswered mee You see that my age suffereth mee not that I shoold bee a louer if I shoold bee it is but in sport Truly I marueiled to meete him at that hour and I was ashamed to haue such an answer In old men of
first ought to abhorre couetousnes before hee beginne to occupie hym selfe to locke vp goods For the man which setteth no bond to his desire shall alwayes haue litle thoughe he see himselfe lord of the worlde Truly this sentence was worthilye spoken of such a man The sentēce of the Stoyckes doth satisfy my mind much wherof Aristotel in his pollitikes maketh mēcion where he sayth that vnto great affayres are alwaies required great riches there is no extreame pouerty but where there hathe beene greate aboundaunce Therof ensueth that to princes and great lordes which haue much they wāt much bicause to men which haue had litel they can not wāt but litel Yf we admonishe wordlings not to be vitious they wil alwayes haue excuses to excuse theim selues declaring why they haue bene vitious the vice of auarice excepted to whom and with whom they haue no excuse For if one vaine reason be readye to excuse then there are .2000 to condemne them Let vs put example in all the principall vices and we shall se how this onely of auarice remaineth condemned and not excused If we reason why a prince or great lord is haulty and proude he wil aunswere that he hath great occasion For the natural disposition of men is rather to desire to commaūd with trauaile then to serue with rest Yf we reproue any man that is furious and geuen to anger he will aunswere vs that we maruaile not since we maruaile not of the proude For the enemy hath no more auctority to trouble any man then the other to take reuēge of him Yf we blame him for that he is fleshly and vitious he will aunswer vs that he can not absteyne from that sinne for if any man can eschew the acts he fighteth continually with vncleane thoughtes Yf we say that any man is negligent he will aunswere vs that he deserueth not to be blamed for the vilenes of our nature is suche that if we do trauaile it immediatly it is weary and if we rest it immediatly it reioyceth Yf we rebuke any man that is a glutton he wil aunswer vs that without eatinge and drinkinge we can not lyue in the worlde for the deuine worde hath not forbidden man to eate with the mouthe but the vncleane thoughtes which come from the hart As of these fewe vices we haue declared so maye we excuse al the reasidue but to the vice of couetousnes none can geue a reasonable excuse For with money put into the cofer the soule cānot profite nor the bodye reioyce Boetius in his booke of consolation sayd that money is good not when we haue it in possessiō but when we want it in very dede the sentence of Boetius is very profound for when man spendeth mony he attayneth to that he wil but hauinge it with him it profiteth him nothinge We may say of riche and couetous men that if they heape and kepe they say it is but for deare and drye yeres and to releue their parents frendes We may aunswere them that they do not heape vp to remedye the poore in suche like necessities but rather to bringe the commonwealth to greter pouertye For then they sel al thinges deare and put out theyr money to great vsury so that this couetous man dooth more harme with that he dooth lend them then the dry yere dooth with that it hath taken from theim The noble and vertuous men ought not to cease to do wel for feare of dry yeres for in the ende if one deare yeare come it maketh all dere and at such a time and in such a case he onely may be called happy which for being free and liberal in almes shall reioyce that his table should be costlye Let couetous mē beware that for keaping of much goodes they giue not to the deuel their soules for it may be that before the deare yere cometh to sel their corne their bodies shal be layd in the graue O what good dooth god to the noble men geuing them liberal hartes and what ill luck haue couetous men hauing as thei haue their hartes so hard laced For if couetous men did tast how sweete and necessary a thing it is to giue they could kepe litle for them selues Nowe sithens the miserable and couetous men haue not the hart to giue to their frendes too depart to theire parentes to succour the poore to lend to their neighboures nor to susteyne the orphanes it is to be thought that they wil spend it on them selues Truly I saye no more for there are men so miserable and so hard of that they haue that they thinke that as euyll spent whiche amonge theim selues they spende as that which one robbeth from them of their goods Howe will the couetous and miserable wretche geue a garmēte to a naked man which dare not make him selfe a cote How wil he geue to eate to the poore famylyar which as a poore slaue eateth the bread of branne and sellethe the floure of meale How shal the pilgrimes lodge in his house who for pure miserye dare not enter and howe doth he visite the hospitall and reliue the sicke that oft times hasardeth his owne helth and life for that he wil not geue one penye to the phisition how shall he succour secretly the poore and neady which maketh his owne children go barefoote and naked how can he helpe to marye the poore maydes being orphanes when he suffereth his owne daughters to waxe old in his house how wil he geue of his goodes to the poore captiues which will not paye his owne men their wages how wil he geue to eate to the children of poore gentelmen which alwayes grudgeth at that his owne spende howe should we beleue that he wil apparel a widowe hwich wil not giue his owne wife a hoode howe doth he dayly giue almes which goeth not to the churche on the Sonday because he wil not offer one peny how shal the couetous mā reioice the hart sith for spending of one peny oft times hee goeth supperles to bed And finally I saye that he wil neuer giue vs of his owne proper goodes which weapeth alwayes for the goodes of an other ¶ The auctor foloweth his matter and with great reasons discommendeth the vices of couetous men Cap. xxiiii ONe of the thinges wherin the deuine prouidence sheweth that we do not vnderstand the maner of her gouerment is to see that she geueth vnderstandinge too a man too knowe the riches she geueth him force too seeke theim subtiltye too gather them vertue too susteyne them courage too defend them and also longe life to possesse them And with al this she gyueth him not licence to enioye them but rather suffereth him that as withoute reason he hath made him selfe lorde of an nother mans of righte he shoulde bee made sclaue of his owne thereby a man may knowe of howe greater excellencye vertuous pouertye is then the outragious couetousnes for so much as to the poore god doth giue contentation of
are old For how can hee loue hys health which hateth vertu All that which I haue spoken heere beefore is to the end you may know and beeleeue that I am sick and that I cannot write vnto the so loÌ„g as I would and as thou desirest so that hereof it followeth that I shall bewayle thy payne and thou shalt bee greeued with my gowte I vnderstood here how at the feast of the god Ianus through the running of a horse great stryfe is rysen beetweene thee and thy neighbour Patriciê° And the brute was such that they haue confiscated thy goods battered thy house banished thy children depriued thee from the Senate for x. years And further they banished thee out of Capua for euer haue put thy felow in the prison Mamortine so that by this lytle fury thou hast cause to lament all the dayes of thy lyfe All those which come from thens doo tell vs that thou art so wofull in thy hart and so chaunged in thy parson that thou doost not forget thy heauy chaunces nor receiuest consolation of thy faithfull freends Think not that I speak this that thou shouldest bee offended for according to the often chaunges which fortune hath shewed in mee it is long since I knew what sorow ment For truly the man which is sorowfull sigheth in the day watcheth in the night delyteth not in company and with only care hee resteth The light hee hateth the darkenes hee loueth with bitter tears he watereth the earth with heuy sighes hee perceth the heaueÌ„s with infinite sorows he remembreth that that is past and forseeth nothing that that to coÌ„e is Hee is displeased with hym that dooth comfort hym and hee taketh rest to expresse his sorowes Fynally the vnfortunat man is coÌ„tented with nothing and with hym self continually hee doth chafe Beeleue mee Domitiê° that if I haue well touched the condicions of the sorowfull man it is for no other cause but for that my euill fortune hath made mee tast them all And herof it commeth that I can so wel dyscribe them for in the end in things which touche the sorrows of the spiryte and the troubles of the body there is great dyffereÌ„ce from hym that hath read them and from hym that hath felt them If thou dydst feele it there as I doo fele it heer it is suffycient to geeue thee and thy frends great dolor to think that for so small a trifle thou shouldest vndoo thee and all thy parentage And speaking with the trouth I am very sory to see thee cast away but much more it greeueth mee to see thee drowned in so litle a water When men are noble and keepe their harts high they ought to take their enemies agreable to their estates I meane that when a noble man shal aduenture to hazard hys person and hys goods he ought to doo it for a matter of great importaunce For in the end more defamed is hee that ouercommeth a laborer then hee which is ouercome with a knight O how variable is fortune and in how short space dooth happen an euill fortune in that which now I wyll speake I doo condemne my self and accuse thee I complayne to the Gods I reclayme the dead and I call the lyuing to the end they may see how that before our eyes wee suffer the greeses and know them not with the hands wee touch them and perceue them not wee goe ouer theÌ„ and see them not they sound in our eares and wee heare them not dayly they doo admonysh vs and wee doo not beeleue them fynally wee feele the peryl where there is no remedy of our greefe For as experyence dooth teach vs with a lytell blast of wynde the fruit doo fall with a lytell spark of fyer the house is kyndled with a lytell rock the shipp is broken at a lytell stone the foot doth stumble with a lytell hook they take great fysh and with a lytell wound dyeth a great person For all that I haue spoken I meane that our lyfe is so frayl and fortune so fykcle that in that parte where wee are surest harnessed wee are soonest wouÌ„ded Seneca wrytyng to hys mother Albina which was banished froÌ„ Rome sayd Thou Albina art my mother and I thy sonne thou art aged and I am not yong I neuer beeleued in fortune though shee woold promise to bee in peace with mee And further hee sayd al that which is in mee I count it at the dysposition of fortune aswell of ritches as of prosperitye and I keep them in such a place that at any hour in the night when shee listeth shee may carye them away neuer wake mee So the though shee cary those out of my cofers yet shee should not rob mee of this in my intrails With out doubt such woords were merueylous pythy and verye decent for such a wise man The Emperor Adryan my Lord did weare a rynge of gold on his fynger which hee sayd was of the good Drusius Germanicus and the woord about the ring in latin letters sayd thus Illis est grauis fortuna quibus est repentina Fortune to them is most cruell whom sodenly she assaulteth Wee see oftentimes by experience that in the fystula which is stopped and not in that which is open the Surgion maketh doubt In the shallow water and not in the deepe seas the Pilot despayreth The good man of armes is more afrayd of the secreate ambushment then in the open battayle I mean that the valiant man ought to beware not of straungers but of his owne not of enemyes but of frends not of the the cruel warre but of the fayned peace not of the manyfest domage but of the pryuy perill O how manye wee haue seene whome the myshaps of fortune coold neuer chaunge and yet afterward hauyng no care she hath made them fall I ask now what hope can man haue which wyll neuer trust to the prosperity of fortune Since for so lyght a thing wee haue seene such trouble in Capua and so great losse of thy person and goods If we knew fortune wee woold not make so great complaynt of her For speakynge the trouth as she is for all and would contente all though in the end she mock all shee geeueth and sheweth vs all her goods and wee others take them for inherytaunce That which shee lendeth vs wee take it for perpetuall that which in iest she geeueth vs wee take it in good earnest in the end as she is the mocker of all so shee goeth mockyng of vs thinkynge that she geeueth vs another mans and she taketh our owne proper I let thee wete that knowing that of fortune which I know I fear not the turmoyles of her traueyles neyther dooth her lightnings or thuÌ„ders astony mee nor yet wyll I not esteme the pleasantnes of her goodly fayr flatteryes I wyll not trust her sweete reioysings neither wyll I make accompt of her frendshyps nor I wyll ioyne my selfe with her enemyes nor I wyll take any
who was caled Affricane beecause hee ouercame and conquered the great and renowmed city of Carthage the which city in riches was greater then Rome in armes power it surmounted all Europe Many haue enuy at Scipio the Asian who was called Asian beecause hee subdued the proud Asia the which vntil his tyme was not but as a church yard of Romains Many haue great enuie at the imortall name of Charles who was called Charles the great beecause beeing as hee was a litle king hee did not only vanquish and triumph ouer many kings and straunge realmes but also forsake the royall sea of his own realme I doo not maruayl that the proud princes haue enuy agaynst the vertuous and valiant princes but if I were as they I would haue more enuy at the renowme of Antonius the emperor then of the name and renowme of all the princes in the world If other princes haue attayned such proud names it hath been for that they robbed many countreys spoyled many temples committed much tyranny dissembled with many tyraunts persecuted diuers innocents beecause they haue takē frō diuers good mē not onely their goods but also their liues For the world hath such an euel property that to exalt the nāe of one only he putteth down 500. Neither in such ēterprises nor with such titles wā the emperor Anthonius Pius his name and renowne But if they cal him Anotonius the pitefull it is beecause he knew not but to bee father of Orphans and was not praysed but beecause hee was aduocate of wydows Of this most excellent prince is read that he himselfe did here and iudge the cōplaints and processe in Rome of the orphans And for the poore and wydows the gates of his pallace were always open So that the porters which hee kept within his pallace were not for to let the entre of the poore but for to let and keepe back the rich The historiographers oftētimes say that this good prince sayd that the good and vertuous princes ought alwayes to haue their harts open for the poore and to remedy the wydows and neuer to shut the gates agaynst them The god Apollo sayth that the prince which will not speedely iudge the causes of the poore the gods will neuer permit that hee bee well obeyed of the rich O high and woorthy woords that it pleased not the god Apollo but our lyuing god that they were written in the harts of princes For nothing can bee more vniust or dishonest then that in the pallace of princes and great lords the rich and fooles shoold bee dispatched and the widows and orphans frinds should haue no audience Happy and not once but a hundreth times happy is hee that will remember the poore afflicted and open his hand too comfort them and dooth not shut his cofers from helping them vnto him I assure and promise that at the strayght day of iudgement the proces of his life shall bee iudged with mercy and pity ¶ That the troubles griefes and sorows of widdows are much greater then those of widdowers where fore princes and noble men ought to haue more compassion vpon the weemen then on men Cap. xxxvi IT is great pity to see a noble and vertuous man sorowfull alone and a widower if especially hee liued cōtented when hee was maryed For if hee will not mary hee hath lost his sweete company and yf hee think to mary an other let him bee assured hee shall scarcely agree with his second wife There is much sorow in that house where the woman that gouerned it is dead For immediatly the husband forsaketh him self the children doo lose their obedience the seruants beecome neglygent the hand maides beecome wantō the frēds are forgotten the house decayeth the goods wast the apparel is lost finally in the widowers house there are many to robbe few to labor Heauy lamentable are the thoughts of the widower for if hee thinketh to mary it greueth him to geeue his children a stepmother If hee can not bee maryed hee feeleth greater payne seeing him al the day to remayne alone so that the poore miserable mā sigheth for his wife hee hath lost weepeth for her whom hee desireth to haue Admit that this bee true there is great difference from the cares sorows of weemen to that of men A thing very clere for so much as the widower lawfully may goe out of his house hee may goe to the fields hee may talk with his neigbours he may bee occupied with his frēds hee may folow his sutes also hee may bee conuersant refresh him selfe in honest places For commonly men are not so sorowful in taking the death of their wyues as the wyues are in taking the death of their husbands All this is not spoken in the disfauour of wise and sage men whom wee see make small streames with the teares of their eyes for the death of their wiues But for many other vaine light men which the 9. dayes of the funeral past a mā dooth see without any shame to go thro ought the strets beeholding the ladies and damsells which are in the windows Truly the wofull women which are honest vse not such lightnesse For whyles they are widowes it is not lawfull for them to wander abrode to goe out of the house nor speake with straūgers nor practise with her own nor bee conuersant with her neighbours nor plead with their creditours but agreable to their wofull estate to hide and withdraw them selues in their houses and to lock them selues in their chambers and they think it their dutye to water theyr plāts with teares and importune the heauēs with sighes O how wofull o how greuous o how sorowfull is the state of wydowes for so much as if a widow go out of her howse they take her for dishonest If shee wil not come out of the house shee loseth her goods If shee laugh a litel they count her light If she laugh not they call her an hipocrit If shee goe to the church they note her for a gadder If shee go not to the churche they say shee is vnthākfull to her late husband If shee go il apparayled they coūt her to bee a nigard If she go clenly and handsome they say nowshee would haue a new husband If shee do mainteyne her selfe honestly they note her to bee presumptuous If shee keepe company immediatly they suspect her house Finally I say that the poore miserable widows shall find a thousand which iudge their liues and they haue not one that wil remedy their paynes Much loseth the woman who loseth her mother which hath borne her or her sisters which she loueth or the frīdes which shee knoweth or the goods which shee hath heaped vp but I saye and affirme that ther is no greater losse in the world vnto a woman then the losse of a good husband For in other losses there is but one onely losse but in that of the husband al are loste together
space of an hour Considering the omnipotency of the diuine mercy it suffiseth ye and I say that the space of an hour is to much to repent vs of our wicked lyfe but yet I woold counsell all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one hour that that bee not the last hour For the sighs and repentaunce which proceed from the bottom of the hart penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessity dooth not perse the seeling of the house I allow and commend that those that visit the sick doo counsell them to examin their conscienses to receiue the communion to pray vnto god to forgeeue their enemiez and to recommend them selues to the deuout prayers of the people and to repent their sinnes fynally I say that it is very good to doo all this but yet I say it is better to haue doon it beefore For the diligent and carefull Pirate prepareth for the tempest when the sea is calm Hee that deepely woold consider how little the goods of this lyfe are to bee esteemed let him goe to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what hee dooth in his bed And hee shall fynd that the wife demaundeth of the poore husband her dower the doughter the third part the other the fift the child the preheminence of age the sonne in law his mariage the phisition his duity the slaue his liberty the seruants their wages the creditors their debts and the woorst of all is that none of those that ought to enherit his goods wil geeue him one glasse of water Those that shall here or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene doon at the death of their neighbors the same shall come to them when they shal bee sick at the point of death For so soone as the rych shutteth his eyes foorthwith there is great strife beetweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but whych of them shall inherit most of his possessions In this case I will not my penne trauel any further since both rich and poore dayly see the experience hereof And in things very manyfest it suffyseth only for wyse men to bee put in memory without wasting any more tyme to perswade them Now the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a secretary very wise and vertuous through whose hands the affairs of the Empire passed And when this secretary saw his lord and maister so sick and almost at the hour of death and that none of his parents nor frends durst speak vnto him hee plainly determined to doo his duity wherein hee shewed very well the profound knowledge hee had in wisdom and the great good will hee bare to his lord This secretary was called Panutius the vertues and lyfe of whom Sextus Cheronensis in the lyfe of Marcus Aurelius declareth ¶ Of the comfortable woords which the Secretary Panutius spake to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius at the hour of his death Cap. l. O My lord and maister my tong cannot keepe silence myne eies cannot refrayn from bitter tears nor my hart leaue from fetching sighes ne yet reason can vse his duity For my blood boyleth my sinnews are dryed my pores bee open my hart dooth faint and my spirit is troubled And the occasion of all this is to see that the wholsom counsels which thou geeuest to others either thou canst not or wil not take for thy self I see thee dye my lord and I dye for that I cannot remedy thee For if the gods woold haue graunted mee my request for the lengthning of thy lyfe one day I woold geeue willingly my whole life Whether the sorow bee true or fained it nedeth not I declare vnto thee with woords since thou mayst manyfestly discern it by my countenaunce For my eies with tears are wet and my hart with sighs is very heauy I feele much the want of thy company I feele much the domage which of thy death to the whole common wealth shal ensue I feele much thy sorow which in thy pallace shal remaine I feele much for that Rome this day is vndoon but that which aboue al things dooth most torment my hart is to haue seen thee liue as wise and now to see thee dye as symple Tell mee I pray thee my lorde why doo men learn the Greek tong trauel to vnderstand the hebrew sweat in the latin chaunge so many maisters turn so many bookes and in study consume so much money and so many yeres if it were not to know how to passe lyfe with honor and take death with pacience The end why men ought to study is to learn to liue well For there is no truer science in man then to know how to order his life well What profiteth it mee to know much if thereby I take no profit what profiteth mee to know straunge languages if I refrain not my tong from other mens matters what profiteth it to study many books if I study not but to begyle my frends what profiteth it to know the influence of the starres and the course of the elements if I cannot keepe my self from vyces Fynally I say that it lytle auayleth to bee a maister of the sage if secretly hee bee reported to bee a folower of fooles The cheef of all philosophy consisteth to serue god and not to offend men I ask thee most noble prince what auaileth it the Pilot to know the art of sayling and after in a tempest by neglygence to perish What auayleth it the valyaunt captayn to talk much of warre and afterwards hee knoweth not how to geeue the battayl What auaileth it the guyde to tell the neerest way and afterwards in the midst to lose him self All this which I haue spoken is sayd for thee my Lord. For what auayleth it that thou beeing in health shooldst sigh for death since now when hee dooth approch thou weepest because thou wooldst not leaue life One of the things wherein the wise man sheweth his wisedom is to know how to loue and how to hate For it is great lightnes I shoold rather say folly to day to loue him whom yesterday wee hated and to morow to sclaunder him whom this day wee honored What Prince so hygh or what Plebeyan so base hath there been or in the world shall euer bee the whych hath so lyttle as thou regarded lyfe and so hyghly commended death What thyngs haue I wrytten beeing thy Secretary with my own hand to dyuers prouynces of the world where thou speakest so much good of death that sometymes thou madest mee to hate lyfe What was it to see that letter which thou wrotest to the noble Romayn Claudines wydow comforting her of the death of her husband which dyed in the warres Wherein shee aunswered That shee thought her trouble comfort to deserue that thou shooldst write her such a letter What a pitifull and sauory letter hast thou written to Antigonus on the death of thy child Verissimus thy sonne so much desired Whose death
thou tookest so that thou exceedest the limits of philosophy but in the end with thy princely vertues thou didst qualify thy wofull sorows What sentences so profound what woords so wel couched didst thou write in that booke entytuled The remedy of the sorowfull the which thou didst send from the warre of Asia to the Senators of Rome and that was to comfort them after a sore plague And how much profit hath thy doctrin doon since with what new kinde of consolation hast thou comforted Helius Fabatus the Sensour when his sonne was drowned in the ryuer where I doo remember that whē wee entred into his house wee found him weeping and when wee went from thence wee left him laughing I doo remember that when thou wentst to visit Gneus Rusticus in his last disease thou spakest vnto him so effectuously that with the vehemency of thy woords thou madest the tears to run down his cheeks And I demaunding him the occasions of his lamentacions hee said The emperor my lord hath told mee so much euils that I haue wonne and of so much good that I haue lost that if I weepe I weepe not for lyfe which is short but for death which is long The man whom aboue all thou hast loued was Torquatus whom thou didst obey as thy father and seruedst as thy maister This thy faithfull frend beeing ready to dy and desyring yet to liue thou sendst to offer sacrifices to the gods not for that they shoold graunt him lyfe but that they shoold hasten his death Herewith I beeing astonied thy noblenesse to satisfy my ignoraunce said vnto mee in secret these woords Maruel not Panutius to see mee offer sacrifyces to hasten my frends death and not to prolong his life For there is nothing that the faithfull frend ought so much to desyre to his true frend as to see him ridde from the trauels of this earth and to enioy the pleasures of heauen Why thinkest thou most noble prince that I reduce all these things to thy memory but for to demaund thee how it is possible that I which haue hard thee speak so well of death doo presently see thee so vnwilling to leaue life since the gods commaund it thy age willeth it thy disease dooth cause it thy feeble nature dooth permit it the sinfull Rome dooth deserue it and the fickle fortune agreeth that for our great misery thou shooldst dye Why therfore sighest thou so much for to dye The trauels whych of necessity must needes come wyth stout hart ought to bee receiued The cowardly hart falleth beefore hee is beaten down but the stout and valyaunt stomack in greatest perill recouereth most strength Thou art one man and not two thou oughtst one death to the gods and not two why wilt thou therefore beeyng but one pay for two and for one only lyfe take two deaths I mean that beefore thou endest lyfe thou dyest for pure sorow After that thou hast sayled and in the sayling thou hast passed such perill when the gods doo render thee in the safe hauen once agayn thou wilt run in to the raging sea wher thou scapest the victory of lyfe and thou dyest with the ambushements of death Lxii. yeres hast thou fought in the field and neuer turned thy back and fearest thou now beeing enclosed in the graue hast thou not passed the pykes and bryers wherein thou hast been enclosed and now thou tremblest beeing in the sure way Thou knowest what dommage it is long to liue and now thou doutest of the profit of death which ensueth It is now many yeres since death and thou haue been at defiaunce as mortall enemies and now to lay thy hands on thy weapons thou flyest and turnest thy back Lxii. yeres are past since thou were bent agaynst fortune and now thou closest thy eyes when thou oughtst ouer her to tryumph By that I haue told thee I mean that since wee doo not see thee take death willyngly at this present wee doo suspect that thy lyfe hath not in tymes past been very good For the man which hath no desire to appeere beefore the gods it is a token hee is loden with vyces What meanest thou most noble prince why weepest thou as an infant and complainest as a man in dispaire If thou weepest beecause thou diest I aunswer thee that thou laughedst as much when thou liuedst For of too much laughing in the life proceedeth much wayling at the death Who hath always for his heritage appropriated the places beeing in the common wealth The vnconstancy of the mynd who shal bee so hardy to make steddy I mean that all are dead all dye and al shal dye and among all wilt thou alone lyue Wilt thou obtayn of the gods that which maketh them gods That is to weete that they make thee immortall as them selues Wilt thou alone haue by priuiledge that which the gods haue by nature My youth demaundeth thy age what thing is best or to say better which is lesse euill to dye well or to lyue euill I doubt that any man may attayn to the means to lyue well according to the continuall variable troubles whych dayly wee haue accustomed to cary beetweene our hands always suffring hunger cold thirst care displeasures temptacions persecucions euil fortunes ouerthrows and diseases Thys cannot bee called lyfe but a long death and with reason wee will call this lyfe death since a thousand tymes wee hate lyfe If an auncient man did make a shew of his lyfe from tyme hee is come out of the intrailes of his mother vntill the tyme hee entreth into the bowels of the earth and that the body woold declare all the sorows that hee hath passed and the hart discouer all the ouerthrows of fortune which hee hath suffered I immagin the gods woold maruell and men woold wonder at the body whych hath endured so much and the hart whych hath so greatly dissembled I take the Greekes to bee more wise whych weepe when their children bee borne and laugh when the aged dye then the Romayns whych syng when the children are borne and weepe when the old men dye Wee haue much reason to laugh when the old men dye since they dye to laugh and with greater reason wee ought to weepe when the children are borne since they are borne to weepe ¶ Pannatius the secretary continueth his exhortatiō admonishing al men willingly to accept death and vtterly to forsake the world and all his vanities Cap. li. SIns lyfe is now condempned for euill there remaineth nought els but to approue death to bee good O if it pleased the immortall gods that as I oftentimes haue hard the disputacions of this matter so now that thow cooldst therewith profit But I am sory that to the sage and wise man counsaile sometimes or for the most part wanteth None ought to cleue so much to his own opinion but sometimes hee shoold folow the counsaile of the thyrd parson For the man which in all things will follow his own
footecloth more nete and clenly then the groomes and pages of the chamber haue his apparell and this proceedes of their great slouth negligēce And truely this passeth the bounds of shamefast degree yea and commeth much to charge the courtiers conscience the small account hee hath so to let his garments and apparell and other hys mouables to bee spoiled and lost And this happeneth very oft by the negligence of their pages and seruaunts which now throweth them about the chambers dragges them vpon the grownd now sweeps the house with thē now they are full of dust then tattered and torne in peeces here their hose seam rent there their shooes broken so that if a poore man come afterwards to buy them to sell agayn it will rather pity those that see them then geeue them any corage to buy them Wherefore the courtier ought not to bee so careles but rather to think vppon his own things and to haue an eye vnto them For if hee goe once a day to his stable to see his horses how they are kept and looked to hee may lykewise take an other day in the weeke when hee may fynd leisure to see his wardroppe how his apparell lyeth But what paciens must a poore man take that lendeth his implements and apparell to the courtiers that neuer laieth them abroad a sunning to beat out the dust of them nor neuer layth them in water to wash and white them bee they neuer so fowl And al bee it the beds and other implements lent to the courtier bee not of any great value yet it is not fitt they shoold bee thrown at theyr tayl kept filthyly For as charely and dayntily dooth a poore laboring and husband man keepe his wollen couerlet and setteth as much by it as dooth the iolly courtier by his quilt or couerpane of silk And it chaunceth oft tymes also that though at a neede the poore mans bed costeth him lesse money then the rich mans bed costeth him yet dooth it serue him better then the ritch and costly bedd serueth the gentleman or nobleman And this to bee true wee see it by experience that the poore husbandman or citizen slepeth commonly more quietly at his ease in his poor bed cabean with his sheets of tow then dooth the lord or ritch courtier lying in his hanged chamber bed of silk wrapped in his fynest holland shetes who still sigheth cōplayneth And fynally wee conclude that then when the court remoueth that the courtier departeth from his lodging where hee lay hee must with all curtesy thank the good man and good wife of the house for his good lodging curteous intertainment hee hath had of them must not stick also to geeue them somwhat for a remembrance of him and beesides geeue certein rewards among the maides men seruants of the house according to their ability that hee may recompence them for that is past win their fauor for that is to come ¶ What the courtier must doo to winne the Princes fauor Cap. iiij DIodorus Siculus saith that the honor and reuerence the Egiptians vsed ordinarily to their Princes was so great that they seemed rather to woorship them then to serue them for they coold neuer speak to them but they must first haue lycence geeuen them When it happened any subiect of Egipt to haue a sute to their prince or to put vp a supplication to thē kneeling to them they sayd these woords Soueraigne lord mighty prince yf it may stand with your highnes fauor pleasure I wil boldly speak yf not I will presume no further but hold my peace And the self reuerence custome had towards god Moyses Aaron Thobias Dauid Salomon and other fathers of Egipt making like intercession when they spake wyth god saying Domine mi rex Si inueni gratiam in oculis tuis loquar ad dominum meum O my lord and king yf I haue found fauor in thy sight I wil speak vnto thee yf not I will keepe perpetuall sylence For there is no seruyce yll when yt is gratefull acceptable to him to whom it is doon as to the contrary none good when it pleaseth not the party that is serued For if hee that serueth bee not in his maisters fauor hee serueth hee may well take pains to his vndooyng wtout further hope of his good will or recompence Wherefore touching that I haue sayd I inferre that hee that goeth to dwell abyde in the court must aboue all indeuer him self all hee can to obtayn the princes fauor and obtayning it hee must study to keepe him in his fauor For it shoold lyttle preuaile the courtier to bee beeloued of all others and of the prince only to bee mislyked And therefore Alcamidas the Grecian beeing once aduertised by a frend of his that the Athenians did greatly thirst for his death the Thebans desyred his life hee answered him thus If those of Athens thirst for my death them of Thebes likewise desyring my life I can but bee sory lament How bee it yet if King Phillip my soueraigne lord maister hold mee still in hys grace fauor repute mee for one of his beeloued I care not if all Greece hate and dysloue mee yea and lye in wayt for mee In deede it is a great thing to get into the princes fauor but when hee hath gotten it doubtles it is a harder matter to know how to keepe it For to make them loue vs and to winne their fauor wee must doo a thousand maner of seruyces but to cause them to hate and dislyke of vs the least dyspleasure in the world suffyseth And therefore the pain and trouble of hym that is in fauor in the court is great if hee once offend or bee in displeasure For albeeit the prince doo pardon him hys fault yet hee neuer after returneth into his fauor agayn So that to conclude hee that once only incurreth his indignation hee may make iust reckening neuer after or maruelous hardly to bee receiued agayn into fauor Therefore sayth the diuine Plato in his bookes De republica that to bee a king and to raigne to serue and to bee in fauor to fyght and to ouercome are three impossible things which neither by mans knowledge nor by any diligence can bee obtayned only remaining in the hands and disposing of fickle fortune whych dooth diuyde and geeue them where it pleaseth her and to whome shee fauoreth best And truely Plato had reason in his saying for to serue and to bee beeloued is rather happ and good fortune then industry or diligence Since wee see oft times that in the court of princes those that haue serued but three yeres only shal bee sooner preferred and aduaunced then such one as hath serued perhaps .xx. or .xxx. yeres or possible al his life tyme. And further hee shal bee both displaced and put out of seruice by means of thother And this proceeds not through his long and
well aduysed that albeeit the kyng for his pleasure doo priuely play wyth his hands or iest with his tong with the courtier and that hee take great pleasure in it yet that hee in no case presume to doo the lyke yea though hee were assured the kings maiesty woold take it well but let him modestly beehaue him self and shew by his woords and countenaunce that hee thinketh the prince dooth honor him in pleasing his maiesty to vse those pastymes and pleasant deuyses with so vnwoorthy a person as hee is For the prince may lawfully play and sport him self with his lords and gentlemen but so may not they again wyth him For so dooing they might bee counted very fond and lyght With a mans compagnions and coequals it is lawfull for euery man to bee mery and play with all But wyth the prince let no man so hardy once presume further more then to serue honor and obey him So that the wyse courtier must indeuor him self alwayes to come in fauor by his wisedom and courtly beehauiour in matters of weight and importaunce and by great modesty and grauity in things of sport and passe tyme. Therefore Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayth that Alcibiades amongst the Greekes a woorthy captayn and a man of hys own nature disposed to much myrth and pleasure beeing asked once by some of hys familiar frends why hee neuer laughed in theaters bankers and other common plays where hee was aunswered them thus Where others eat I fast where others take pain play I rest mee am quiet where other speak I am silent where they laugh I am curteous iest not For wise men are neuer knowen but among fooles and light persons When the courtier shall vnderstand or heere tell of pleasant things to bee laughed at let him in any case if he can fly frō those great laughters foolries that hee bee not perhaps moued too much with such toys to laugh to loud to clap his hands or to doo other gestures of the body or admirations to vehement accompanied rather with a rude and barbarous maner of beehauiour then wyth a cyuyll and modest noblenes For ouer great and excessiue laughter was neuer engendered of wisedome neither shall hee euer bee counted wyse of others that vseth it There are also an other sort of courtiers that speak so coldly and laugh so dryly and with so yl a grace that it were more pleasure to see them weepe then to laugh Also to nouel or to tell tales to delyght others and to make them laugh you must bee as brief as you can that you weary not comber not the auditory pleasant and not byting nor odyous Els it chaunceth oft times that wanting any of these condicions from iesting they come many tymes to good earnest Elius Spartianus in the lyfe of the Emperor Seuerus sayth that the said Emperor had in his court a pleasaunt foole and hee seeing the foole one day in his domps and cogitacions asked hym what hee ayled to bee so sadd The foole made aunswer I am deuysing with myself what I shoold doo to make thee mery And I swere to thee my lord Seuerus that for as much as I way thy lyfe deere possible I study more in the nights for the tales I shall tell thee in the morow after then doo thy Senators touching that they must decree on the next day And I tell thee further my lord Seuerus that to bee pleasaunt and delighting to the prince hee must neyther bee a very foole nor altogeether wyse But though hee bee a foole yet hee must smatter somewhat of a wise man and if hee bee wyse hee must take a lyttle of the foole for his pleasure And by these examples wee may gather that the courtier must needes haue a certein modesty and comely grace as well in speakyng as hee must haue a soft and sweete voice in singing There are also some in court that spare not to goe to noble mens bords to repast which beeing in deede the vnseemely grace it self yet in their woords and talk at the boord they woold seeme to haue a maruelous good grace wherein they are oft deceyued For if at tymes the Lords and gentlemen laugh at them it is not for any pleasure they take in their talk but for the yl grace and vncomly gestures they vse in their talke In the bankets and feasts courtyers make some tymes in the sommer there are very oft such men in theyr company that if the wyne they drank tooke theyr condition yt shoold bee drunk either colder or whotter then it is ¶ How the Courtier shoold beehaue him self to know and to visit the noble men and gentlemen that bee great with the Prince and continuing still in court Cap. vi THe courtier that cometh newly to the court to serue there must immediatly learn to know those that are in aucthority and fauor in the court that are the princes officers For if hee doo otherwise neither shoold hee bee acquainted with any noble man or gentleman or any other of the princes seruaunts neither woold they also geeue him place or let him in whē hee woold For wee bee not conuersant with him wee know not not beeing conuersant with him wee trust him not and distrusting him wee commit no secrets to him So that hee that will come in fauor in the court must make him self known bee frend to all in generall And hee must take heede that hee begin not to sodainly to bee a busy suter in his own priuate affairs or for his frend for so hee shal bee soone reputed for a busy soliciter rather then a wise courtier Therefore hee that wil purchase fauor and credite in the court must not bee to carefull to preferre mens causes and to entermedle in many matters For the nature of princes is rather to commit their affairs in the hands trust of graue and reposed men then to busy importunate soliters The courtier also may not bee negligent to visyt the prelates gentelmen and the fauored of the court nor to make any difference beetween the one the other and not onely to vysyt their parents and frends but his enemies also For the good courtier ought to endeuour him self the best hee can to accept all those for his frends at least that hee can not haue for parents and kinsfolks For amongst good and vertuous courtiers there should neuer bee such bloudy hate that they should therefore leaue one to company with an other and to bee courteous one to another Those that bee of base mynd doo shew their cankred harts by forbearing to speak but those that bee of noble blood valiaunt courage beegynne first to fight ere they leaue to speak togethers There is also an other sort of courtiers which beeing sometimes at the table of noble men or els where when they heare of some quarell or priuate dyspleasure they shew them selues in offer like fyerce lyons but if afterwards their help bee
lesse to take it least of all to keepe it secret The fowerth was that an other tyme I was contented to bee ouercome by a frend of mine that earnestly inuyted mee to his house to dinner thereupon I went wyth him which I shoold not haue doone For to say the troth there was neuer famous nor woorthy person that went to eat in an other mans house but that hee diminished his liberty hasardyng also his grauyty and reputacion to the rumor brute of others The which woords beeing so wisely spoken by the prudent Cato were wel woorthy to bee noted caried away so much the more that beeing now drawing to his last home euen in his last breathing hower hee onely spake of these fower things no moe whereof although hee were a Romain yet hee shewed to vs a repenting mynd But woe is mee that albeeit I beare the name of a christian yea that I am so in deede yet in that last day when nature sommons mee I feare mee beeleeue assuredly I shal haue cause to repent mee of more then fower things Now by these thyngs heretofore recyted wee may easely coniecture that albeeit wee are contented to bee entreated requested in many things yet in this onely to goe to others tables to feast in straūge houses wee shoold not bee intreated but rather compelled against our wills And where the courtier is forced by importunancy to accept the bidding without offring him self beefore hee deserueth as great thāks of the bidder for his comming as the other did in bidding him For if it should not bee so it should seeme rather a dynner for straungers that trauels by the way then for noble men and gentelmen that comes from the court For that day the courtier graunteth to dine with any man the same day hee byndeth him self to bee beeholding to him that bids him for although hee come to him of good will yet to acquite his curtesy doon him hee is bound of necessity Also it is a small reputacion and woorthy great reproch that a courtier make his boste hee hath eaten at al the tables and officers boords in the court that no man can say hee hath once been at dinner or supper with him at his own house And truely I remēber I knew once a courtier that might dispēd aboue two hundreth ducats by yeare who told mee assured mee hee neuer bought stick of wood to warm him with in his chāber nor pot to seeth his meat in neither spyt to rost with all nor that euer hee had any cater for his prouision saue only that hee had made a register of many noble mens boords amōgst whō hee equally deuided his dyners suppers By means wherof hee saued al his charges saue only his mēs boord wages But what vilenes or discurtesy coold equal the misery shame of this careles courtier Suer not that of the meanest poorest slaue of the world the lyueth only by his hyer no it deserueth not to be cōpared vnto it For to what end desire wee the goods of this world but that by them wee may bee honored relieue our parents kinsmen and thereby also winne vs new frends what state or condicion so euer hee be of that hath inough abundance wee are not boūd to esteeme the more of him for that nor to doo him the more honor but only for that hee spendeth it wel woorshipfully and for his honor if he bee honorable And this wee speak of gentleman as of cytisyn And hee that in court makes profession to dine at other mēs tables I dare vndertake if they dine betimes on the holly day hee wil rather lose saruice in the morning then dinner at noone And if any frend come to lye with these sort of courtiers that hee bee but newly come to the court straight ways he wil haue him with him to dinner and bring him to salute the gentleman where hee dines that day saying that hee was bold to bring his kinsman and frend with him to salute him and all this is not so much to bring hym acquainted wyth him as it is to spare his meat at home for bothe And yet they haue an other knack of court fyner thē thys They flatter the pages seruants beecause they should euer geeue thē of the best wine at the table with certayn familiar noddes swete woords they entertain the lords shewers caruers make much of them that they should set beefore them full dyshes of the best and deintiest meat There are also some of these courtiers that to bee wel wayted vpon at the table to make them his frends doo sometimes present the steward with a veluet cap the shewers with a paire of washed or perfume gloues the pages with a sweord girdel and the butlers or cooberd keepers with some other prety reward or deuise And it chaunceth oft times in noble mens houses that there are so many gests to dyne and sup with him dayly that many times the boord wil not hold thē al by a great number which when they once perceiue to see how quickly with what speede the courtiers take their places to set them down to bee suer of a roome it is a world to see it But oh I woold to god they were so happy dilygent to goe to the church heare a sermon as they are busy to get them stooles to syt at the table And if perhaps a courtier come late and that the table bee all ready full and the lurch out yet hee will not bee ashamed to eat his meat neuertheles For albeeit hee can not bee placed at his ease yet he is so bold shameles that rather then fayle hee will syt of half a buttock or beehynd one at the table I remēber I saw once at a noble mans boord three courtiers set vpon one stoole like the fower sonnes of Amon and whan I rebuked them for it and told them it was a shame for them they aunswered mee merely agayn that they did it not for that there wanted stooles but to prooue if neede were if one stoole woold beare them three Such may well bee called greedy gluttons shameles prowlers without respect or honesty that when they are dead would bee buried in the highest place of the church when they are aliue litle force at whose table they sit or how they syt litel regarding their honor or estate Truely for him that is poore and needy to seeke his meat and drink where hee may come by it best it is but meete but for the gorgeous courtyer bee deckt with gold bee buttoned bee iewelled ietting in his veluets silks to begge seeke his dinner dayly at euery mans boord beeing nobly honorably enterteined of the prince able to beare his countenaunce what reproch defame dishonor is it to him Hee that vseth daily to runne to other mens tables is oft times
inough But the auncient phylosophers were not of this mynd and much lesse are the wise men vertuous men at this day For wee see that in the court of prynces many rather lack fauor then lyfe and others lack both fauor and lyfe togethers and others not onely their lyfe and fauor but also all their goods and faculties So that all that that their fauor and credit haue geeuen them in many yeares and by sundry greefes and troubles they come afterwards to lose them euen vppon a sodeyn and in short time I graunt notwithstanding that it ys a great honor profyt and furtheraunce for the courtier to bee in his princes fauor but neuertheles hee cannot deny mee but that it is a daungerous thing also For naturally a great famyliarity bringeth also a great enuy wyth yt syth the beloued of the prince is commonly ill willed of the common weale And that that is yet most daungerous is that to obtayn the sauor of hys prince hee must so behaue him self that his seruice must bee more rare better and exquysite then all others and otherwise to fall in disgrace and to make the prynce forget all the good seruice hee hath doone hym hys whole life tyme hee neede but the least displeasure and fault hee can commit Eusenides was maruelously beloued with Tolomey who after fortune had exalted and brought him to honor and that hee was growen to great wealth sayd one day to Cuspides the phylosopher these woords O my frend Cuspides tell mee I pray thee of thy fayth is there any cause in mee to bee sad syth fortune hath placed mee in so great autoryty and honor as shee can deuise to doo and that the kynk Tolomey my lord hath now no more to geeue mee he hath alredy beene so bountyfull to mee To whom the philosopher aunswered saying O Eusenides yf thou wert a phylosopher as thou art a beeloued seruaunt thou wouldst tell mee an other tale then that thou tellest mee now For although kyng Tolomey hath no more to geeue thee knowst not thou that spyghtfull fortune hath power to take away from thee many thynges For the noble hart feeleth more greefe and displeasure to come down one staire or step then to clymme vp a hundred Not many days after these woords passed betweene Cuspides and Eusenides yt happened that one day Kyng Tolomey found Eusenides talkyng with aleman or curtesan of hys which hee loued deerely whereat hee was so much offended that hee made her straight drink a cuppe of poyson and caused him to bee hanged before his own gates The emperor Seuerus had one in so great fauor and credit which was called Plautius hee loued hym so extreamely trusted him so much that hee neuer read letter but Plautius must read it and hee neuer graunted commissyon or lycence to any man but it must passe vnder Plautius seale neither dyd hee euer graunt any thyng but at the request of Plautius nor dyd make warres or peace without the counsell and aduice of Plautius The matter fel out so that Plautius entring one night into the emperors chamber armed with a priuy cote his yll hap was such that a litle of his brest before was open whereby was spyed the mayle which Bahhian seeyng beyng the emperors eldest sonne sayd vnto hym these woords Tell mee Plautius doo those that are the beloued of prynces vse to come into they re bed chamber at these howers armed with Iron coate I sweare to thee by the Immortall gods and let them so preserue mee in the succession of the Empire that syth thou comest armed with Iron thou shalt also dye with Iron Which presently tooke place For before hee went out of the chamber they strake of his head The Emperor Comodus that was sonne of the good Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a seruaunt called Cleander a wise and graue man old and very pollytyck but with all a litle couetous This Cleander was oft times requested of the pretoryne compaigny that is to say of the whole band of souldiours that hee woold commaund they might bee payd their pay dew to them and to perswade him the better to pay it they shewed him a bill signed from the Emperor to which bill hee aunswered That the emperor had nothing to doo in the matter For although hee were lord of Rome yet had hee not to deale in the affaires of the common weale These discourteous and vnseemely woords related to the emperor Comodus and perceiuing the small obedyence and respect of duty that Cleander shewed to him hee cōmaunded foorth with hee should bee slayn to his great shame that all his goods should bee confiscat Alcimenides was a great renoumed kyng among thee Greekes as Plutark writeth of him and hee fauored one Pannonius entierly wel to whom only hee did not commit his person his trust but also the whole affaires and dooings of the the comon weale hee might dispose of the goods of the kyng at his wil and pleasure without leaue or licence So that al the subiects found they had more benefit in seruing of Pannonius then in pleasyng of the Kyng Therefore the king the beloued Pannonius playing at the balle togethers they came to contend vppon a chase and the one sayd it was thus the other sayd it was contrary and as they were in this contention the kyng commaūded presently those of his gard that in the very place of the chase where Pannonius denied they should strike of his head Constantius the Emperor also had one whom hee lyked very well and made much of called Hortentius which in deede might well bee counted a princes derling for hee dyd not onely rule the affaires of the common weale of the pallace of warres his goods and person of the emperor but also hee was euer placed aboue all the Imbassatours at his table And when the emperor went in progresse or any other iorny hee euer had him to his bedfellow Thus things beeing in this state I tel you it happened that one day a page geeuing the emperor drink in a glasse the glasse by myshap fell out of the pages hand and brake in peeces whereat the emperor was not a litle displeased and offended And euen in this euil vnhappy hower came Hortentius to the Kyng to present hym certayn bylles to signe of hasty dyspatch which was a very vnapt tyme chosen and the emperor contented yet to signe yt could neither the first nor the second tyme because the penne was ill fauordly made and the ink so thyck that yt would not wryte whych made the kyng so angry that euen presently for anger hee commaunded Hortensius head to bee striken of But to the end wee may come to the knowledge of many things in few woords I wyll shew you how Alexander the great slew in hys choller hys deere accounted Cratherus and Pirrhus Kyng of the Epirotes Fabatus hys secretory The Emperor Bitillion hys greatest frend Cincinatus Domitian the emperor Rufus of his