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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05094	The French academie wherin is discoursed the institution of maners, and whatsoeuer els concerneth the good and happie life of all estates and callings, by preceptes of doctrine, and examples of the liues of ancient sages and famous men: by Peter de la Primaudaye Esquire, Lord of the said place, and of Barree, one of the ordinarie gentlemen of the Kings Chamber: dedicated to the most Christian King Henrie the third, and newly translated into English by T.B.; Academie françoise. Part 1. English	La Primaudaye, Pierre de, b. ca. 1545.; Bowes, Thomas, fl. 1586.	1586 (1586)	STC 15233; ESTC S108252	683,695	844

a sodaine auoiding all superfluous speech their answers were verie witty and wel contriued their words very significant and short hauing in them both grace and grauitie ioined together As when Philip king of Macedonia wrote vnto them that if he entred within Laconia he would ouerthrowe them topsy turuy they wrote backe vnto him onely this word If. And another time as Demetrius one of his successors being angry with the ambassadour which they sent vnto him asked if he came alone from the Lacedemonians to him the ambassadour made this onely answere One to one Pittacus vsed to say that a dry and thirstie eare must be washed with a sentence that is good to drinke that speech grounded vpon reason onely is able to content and satisfie the hearing Notwithstanding that we may the rather and the more profite others we are not to neglect if it may be the ioining of graue doctrine with sweet gratious and eloquent speech mingled with some pleasure grace and delight but voide of all dissolutenes For as Euripides saith that is the goodliest assembly in the world where the graces and muses meete togither Right and reason are inuincible being well vttred bicause the soule is therby induced easily to beleeue the good reasons she heareth through the delight that is ioined with them Examples also being vttred fitly and with a good grace profit no lesse than the other bicause with the force of perswading which is in the nature of the example there is ioined the vertue of delighting But we must carefully auoide all subtiltie of speech all proude superfluous and vnprofitable talke least that be iustly obiected vnto vs which Phocion replied to Leosthenes who laboured to perswade the Athenians to warre by an eloquent and verie loftie oration Thy words quoth he to him yoong man and my friend may fitly be compared to Cypres trees For they are great and tall but beare no fruite woorth any thing Or else that may be obiected vnto vs which Aristotle answered to a great pleader of causes who at euerie sentence he rehearsed asked him if that were not a strange thing Not that replied he but this is a greater maruaile that any man hauing two legs can abide thy babling And to another who after a long discourse said vnto him I haue troubled thy head philosopher not a whit answered he for I thought not vpon it Such bablers whom Plato verie aptly calleth theeues of time are cōpared by Plutark to emptie vessels which giue a greater sound than they that are ful So he that is poore in respect of the goods of the soule hath alwaies some fond speech in his mouth But we must aboue all things shunne this vice of intemperancie of the toong which Bias called the best and woorst thing that was It serueth vs to profit and instruct others and by the same also we hurt and corrupt others And as a little fire consumeth a great wood so this little member which is a fire yea a world of iniquitie defileth all the bodie and setteth on a flaming fire the whole world if it be not extinguished and repressed It seemeth that nature would teach vs this by fortifiing the toong better than any other part of the body and by setting before it the bulworke of the teeth that if it wil not obey reason which being within ought to serue in steade of a bridle to stay it from preuenting the thought we might restraine and chastice the impudencie thereof with blouddy biting And because we haue two eares and two eies it ought to serue vs for instruction that we must heare and see much more than we speake Do we not also see that sight and hearing go before speaking and that of necessitie an infant must first vnderstand before he can be able to speake Isocrates appointed onely two times to speake in the one when the matter is necessarie and the other when a man speaketh that which he knoweth And this we may put in practice without blame in this maner As touching the first point it is lawfull and seemly for vs to speake when we stand in need of any thing secondly when our speech shall profit any also to delight and recreate one another with pleasant deuices void of dissolutenes to mollifie and to ease the trauell of our affaires or else to relish our rest the better and to induce vs thereby to giue glorie to God All speech not grounded vpon one of these three causes were better restrained than vttred Moreouer we ought to obserue inuiolably the second point of not speaking that which we know not except it be in seeking and asking after instruction remembring that which Apelles once spake to Megabyses a great Persian Lord who comming into his shop to see him intermingled some talke of the art of painting So long quoth Apelles to him as thou wert silent thou seemedst to be some man of great account by reason of thy chains carquenets of gold and purple gowne but now there is not the least of these boyes that grinde oker who doth not mocke thee hearing thee speak that which thou knowest not By which saying we may note that great men ought to weigh well and to consider of that which they speake in publike places and to vse graue and sententious words of another phrase than that of the vulgar sort or else to hold their peace if they haue not this gift of speaking Or at the least they are to speake but little seeing the verie words gesture and countenance of a prince are oftentimes taken for lawes oracles and decrees Tiberius also brought vp this custome of speaking to the prince by writing and of his answere by the same to the ende that nothing should escape his mouth that was not well considered of before But to continue our matter as the aboue named painter had set foorth a table of his owne for all men to behold and had hid himselfe behinde it that he might heare what could be reprehended a shooemaker espied a fault in the fashion of the latchet which Apelles afterward corrected And hauing the next morning hung it out again to be viewed this shooemaker passing by and seeing that his opinion was followed entred further to speake against other lineaments But the painter not able to beare his boldnes came from behinde his table and stopped his mouth with this saying That a shoomaker ought not to iudge of greater matters than of the shoo This is the meaning of that common prouerbe to go about to teach Minerua which is so intollerable a thing in men of honor and so pernitious in the simpler sort that are light of beliefe that for this cause Alexander the great gaue money to Cherillus an ignorant poet to holde his peace and to leaue writing And seeing we are entred into this matter we must know that we ought to be much more staied and aduised in writing any thing than in bare

contrarywise he made him Consull the next yeere Whereat his familiar friends wondring and disswading him from it My meaning is quoth he to them that he should one day remember this good turne Let vs also propound to kings and princes that sentence of Titus the emperor who making a feast one day with a cheerful countenance to the contentation of euery one in the ende of the banquet strake himselfe on the brest at the table and fetched a great sigh withall Wherupon his fauorites demanding the cause why I cannot quoth he keepe my selfe from sighing and complaining when I call to mind that this great honor which I haue dependeth vpon the will of fortune that my estates and dignities are as it were in sequestration and my life as it were laid in pawne pledged vnto me Let the saying of that good prince Philip king of Macedonia be well noted of great men who on a day falling all along in that place where wrestling was exercised and beholding the fashion of his body printed in the dust Good Lord quoth he how little ground must we haue by nature and yet we desire all the habitable world According to his example let vs all humble our selues in the acknowledgement of our imbecillitie and poore humain estate and let vs moderate our vnruly affections through the contempt of those things which worldly men desire and seeke after iudging them an vnwoorthy reward for vertue Let euery one of vs content himself with his estate and calling so that it tendeth to the right end namely to his glory that gaue it vnto vs and to the benefit and profit of his creatures and let all be done according to that measure of graces which he shall bestow vpon vs. Of Voluptuousnes and Lecherie Chap. 22. ACHITOB AMong those faults which men commit being led with desire and pleasure that is naturally in them we noted a little before luxuriousnes and whoredome But bicause we then reserued it to a more ample handling of Voluptuousnes and of a lustfull life which is the chiefe worke therof whose desire and contentation is in lecherie to the end we may the better discouer that sugred poison which lurketh vnder these detestable vices I am of opinion that we must begin to enter into this large field so fruitfull for thornes and thistles which to sicke eyes many tymes seeme faire blossoms of some goodly fruits propounding to the sight of euery one the nature and effects of the tyrannical power of pleasure a mortall enemie to the raigne of Vertue ASER. Pleasure saith Plato is the hooke of all euils bicause men are taken thereby as fish by a hooke For it quencheth the light of the soule hindreth all good counsell and through inticements turneth men aside from the way of vertue throwing them downe headlong into the gulfe of confusion which is luxuriousnes and whoredom a most wicked abominable vice aboue all others wherby all vertue is hurt and offended AMANA He that is giuen to pleasure saith Cicero iudgeth all things not according to reason but according to sence esteeming that best which most delighteth him so that he easily suffreth himselfe to be kindled with the burning fire of luxuriousnes which is hurtfull to euerie age and extinguisheth old age But let vs heare ARAM vpon this matter ARAM. It is no new opinion that many iudging according to their sensualitie and being altogither ignorant of the true nature and immortality of the soule haue placed their soueraigne Good in pleasure and in the enioying of those things which most of all tickle the sences Aristippus and all the Cyrinaiks Epicurus Metrodorus Chrysippus and many others who falsly tooke vnto themselues the name of Philosophers laboured to prooue it by many arguments cloking their wickednes with graue and loftie words saying that none could perfectly attaine to pleasure except he were vertuous and wise But that which Cicero alleadgeth against them is sufficient to discouer the maske of their impudencie and to conuince them of lying namely that we must not simply looke to mens sayings but consider whether they agree in their opinions For how is it possible that he which placeth his chiefe Good in the pleasure of the bodie and in neuer-feeling griefe should make account of or imbrace vertue which is an enimie to delights and pleasures and commandeth vs rather to suffer a cruell and dolorous death than to start aside against dutie It is certaine that he which placeth his chiefe Good in pleasure hath no regard to do any thing but for his priuate profit Whereby he declareth sufficiently that he careth not at all for vertue especially iustice which commandeth nothing so much as to leaue our owne particular pleasure and profit and to imbrace though with our perill losse the publike welfare Moreouer how could he be couragious if he thought that grief were the extreamest and greatest euill or temperate supposing pleasure to be perfect felicitie Besides what can be more vnbeseeming man appointed for all great and excellent things than to take that for his chiefe Good whereof brute beastes haue better part than we and to leaue the care of that which is diuine and immortal in vs to attend to that which is mortall and subiect to corruption But these erronious and false opinions being contrarie to themselues are so absurd and full of blockish ignorance that we neede not here loose much time in confuting them and conuincing them of lies Notwithstanding it being so common a thing with men to imbrace pleasure as the principall end of their actions bicause naturally they desire pleasure and shun griefe it will be easie for vs to shew that ignorance only guideth them when being depriued of the knowledge of that Good which is to be wished for and is pleasant and acceptable they seeke after through an euill choice the greatest mischiefe of all I meane pleasure vnseparably followed of griefe which men labour most of all to eschew Let vs then see what pleasure is and what fruites she bringeth with hir Voluptuousnes or pleasure saith Cicero is properly called that delight which mooueth and tickleth our sences which slideth and slippeth away and for the most part leaueth behind it occasions rather of repentance than of calling it again to remembrance For many through wicked and vnnecessarie pleasure haue fallen intogreat diseases receiued great losses and suffred many reproches It alwaies saith Plato bringeth damage and losse to man ingendring in his mind sorow sottishnes forgetfulnes of prudence and insolencie Wheresoeuer sweete is saith Antipho there presently followeth sowre For voluptuousnes neuer goeth alone but is alwaies accompanied with sorow and griefe Pleasure saith Plutark resolueth mens bodies mollifieng them daily through delights the continuall vse of which mortifieth their vigor and dissolueth their strength from whence abundance of diseases proceedeth so that a man may see in youth the beginnings of the weakenes of old age Voluptuousnes is a

honestie shamefastnes She ware a iewell hanging by a riben about hir necke to signifie that she was bound and put in subiection to hir husband She presented also to hir husband water in one hand and fire in the other Which some interprete thus that as the communication of mans life consisteth chiefly in the vse of these two elements of fire water so there cannot be any fellowship more familiar or neerer linked togither than that of the husband and the wife Now bicause fire and water signifie communication others haue thus vnderstood it that as fire and water are cleane contraries aswell in the first as in the second qualities so are man and wife the one being hot and dry of the nature of fire and the other cold and moist of the nature of water which contrarieties being ioined togither make a harmonie temperature of loue Againe some would haue the dissentions murmurings complaints that are often in mariages signified therby wherin laughter is not without weeping nor rest without labor nor sweete without sower according to the nature of all earthly things in which we cannot taste honie without gall nor sugar without Aloes Many other ceremonies were vsed of the Ancients which for breuity sake as also bicause there is smal instruction in them I omit for this present Therefore to conclude our discourse we learne that the name of a house doth not onely signifie the wals and roofe of a building but that it ought to be taken for a familie gathered togither to communicate one with another in all necessities We learne also that in euery mariage we ought to haue regard to the ordinance and institution of God and to those politike lawes vnder which we liue to the ende we trouble not common tranquillitie that we must auoide all disparitie of goods of houses of age and especially of nature and manners Let vs not suffer our selues to be caried away with any foolish passion but looke chiefly to this that vnder a gratious honest behauiour may shine foorth cleare and euident steps of an vpright and sincere soule void of dissimulation saying with the Wise man Fauour is deceitfull and beautie is vanitie but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised We must also rid our wedding assemblies of all dissolutenes of all kind of allurements to voluptuousnes and nicenes that they may rather seeme to be schooles of honour and chastitie than of intemperancie and loosenes If we lay such foundations in mariages no doubt but God will blesse them and make them happie and prosperous to the glorie of his name and to the quietnes and contentation of vs all Of the particular dutie of a husband towards his wife Chap. 47. ARAM. AS Phisitions stand more in feare of feauers engendred of hid causes gathered togither by little and little of a long time than of those which proceed of very apparant causes so the smal iarres and daily quarrelings of maried folkes being vnknowne to strangers and drawing by litle and little to an incurable hardnes do more separate them one from another than any other cause whatsoeuer Therefore it is necessary that all the rootes of such naughty sprigs should be cut off and all occasions eschewed which might prouoke one another to the least and lightest anger that may be The industrie of the man ought to aime especially at this being called to the honorable estate of Head of a familie looking diligently that he performe such dutie towards hir who is so straightly linked vnto him that such dissentions neuer take their beginning through his default Let vs then my Companions take occasion of this subiect to be better instructed in the dutie of a husband towards his wife ACHITOB. Reioice sayth the Wise man with the wife of thy youth Let hir be as the louing Hinde and pleasant Roe let hir breastes satisfie thee at all times and delight in hir loue continually For why shouldest thou delight in a strange woman or imbrace the bosome of a stranger For the waies of man are before the eyes of the Lorde and he pondereth all his pathes ASER. Husbands sayth S. Paule loue your wiues euen as Christ loued the Church and gaue himselfe for it So ought men to loue their wiues as their owne bodies he that loueth his wife loueth himselfe But it belongeth to thee AMANA to handle vs this point at large AMANA Gorgias an excellent Orator commended of Cicero in many places exhorted the Graecians long since to peace and concord by an oration of woonderfull arte Which when he had ended one Melanthus stoode vp before all the companie that was present and sayd My Lordes behold Gorgias who by his eloquent oration exhorteth vs that are in number infinite to concord and yet he cannot playe the Oratour so well as to cause his wife and hir chamber-maide to liue quietly with him in his house wherein there are but they three For ye shall daily see them at strife and continuall dissention Therefore my Lordes I thinke it great rashnes in him to exhort vs to concord when he cannot haue it himselfe in his priuate house And truly besides the vnspeakeable torment that is ioined with such riots ianglings and controuersies in a house it is a shamefull offence when they are knowne to strangers The Ancients had a priuate and houshold God whome they called the God Lar which we may translate into our language the God of the Harth He was had in such veneration that if any man withdrewe himselfe to the harth and house of his deadlie enimie his enimie durst not offer him anie violence as long as he was there the harth being vnto him a sanctuarie and place of immunitie For so we read of Themistocles that being banished from Athens and pursued by some that would haue layed violent handes vpon him he fled to the Harth of his deadlie enimie who for that cause durst not strike him nor offer him any iniurie This Harth was dedicated and consecrated to the Goddesse Vesta and was placed where the chiefe fire of the house was made Nowe I pray you if it were prohibited and accounted an vniust thing for a man to quarrell to iniurie or to offer violence euen to his vtter enimie beeing fled to his Harth howe infamous an acte thinke you and vnwoorthie the nature of man did these men iudge it to be to offer any violence to them that were of the same Harth but chiefly to the wife who is a principall person belonging to the bed table Harth yea to the whole house of the husband and is called by the lawe a companion both of the diuine and humane house At this daie we commonly obserue this not to offend in any sort those that come to see vs and if we haue any occasion of quarrelling it shall not be shewed as long as they are in our house if we haue any care not to be

the Lord shal smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battel and perish The Lord keepe me from laying my hand vpon the Lords annointed This word is directed to vs all it ought to teach vs not to sift out the life of our soueraign prince but to content our selues with this knowledge that by the wil of God he is established set in an estate that is ful of an inuiolable maiestie Moreouer we read in Iosephus that the holiest men that euer were among the Hebrewes called Essaei that is to say true practisers of the lawe of God maintained this that soueraigne princes whatsoeuer they were ought to be inuiolable to their subiectes as they that were sacred and sent of God Neither is there any thing more vsuall in all the holy scriptures than the prohibition to kill or to seeke the life or honour not onely of the prince but also of inferiour magistrates although saith the scripture they be wicked And it is said in Exodus Thou shalt not raile vpon the iudges neither speake euill of the ruler of thy people Now if he that doth so is guiltie of treason both against the diuine and humane maiestie what punishment is sufficient for him that seeketh after their life According to mens lawes not onely that subiect is guiltie of high treason that hath killed his soueraigne prince but he also that attempted it that gaue counsell that consented to it that thought it Yea he that was neuer preuented nor taken in the maner in this point of the soueraigne the law accounteth him as condemned alreadie and iudgeth him culpable of death that thought once in times past to haue seazed vpon the life of his prince notwithstanding any repentance that folowed And truly there was a gentleman of Normandie who confessed to a Franciscan frier that he once minded to haue killed king Francis the first but repented him of that euill thought The frier gaue him absolution but yet afterward told the king thereof who sent the gentleman to the parliament of Paris there to be tried where he was by common consent condemned to die and after executed Amongst the Macedonians there was a law that condemned to death fiue of their next kinsfolks that were conuicted of conspiracie against their prince We see then the straight obligation wherby we are bound vnto our princes both by diuine and humane right Wherfore if it so fall out that we are cruelly vexed by a prince voyd of humanitie or els polled and burthened with exactions by one that is couetous or prodigall or despised and ill defended by a carelesse prince yea afflicted for true pietie by a sacrilegious and vnbeleeuing soueraigne or otherwise most vniustly and cruelly intreated first let vs call to mind our offences committed against God which vndoubtedly he correcteth by such scourges Secondly let vs thinke thus with our selues that it belongeth not to vs to remedie such euils being permitted onely to call vpon God for helpe in whose hands are the harts of kings and alterations of kingdoms It is God who as Dauid saith sitteth among the gods that shal iudge them at whose onely looke all those kings and iudges of the earth shall fall and be confounded who haue not kissed his sonne Iesus Christ but haue decreed vniust lawes to oppresse the poore in iudgement and to scatter the lawfull right of the weake that they may praie vpon the widowes and poll the orphans Thus let all people learne that it is their duetie aboue all things to beware of contemning or violating the authoritie of their superiours which ought to be full of maiestie vnto them seeing it is confirmed by God with so many sentences and testimonies yea although it be in the hands of most vnwoorthy persons who by their wickednes make it odious as much as in them lieth and contemptible Moreouer they must learne that they must obey their lawes and ordinances and take nothing in hand that is against the priuiledges and marks of soueraigntie Then shall we be most happy if we consecrate our soules to God only and dedicate our bodies liues and goods to the seruice of our prince The ende of the fourteenth daies worke THE FIFTEENTH DAIES WORKE Of a Monarchie or a Regall power Chap. 57. ASER. WHen we began yesterday to intreat of the sundry kinds of estates and gouernments that haue been in force amongst men and of the excellencie or deformitie of them we reserued to a further consideration the monarchie or kingly power vnder which we liue in France This forme of regiment by the common consent of the woorthiest philosophers and most excellent men hath been always taken for the best happiest and most assured common-wealth of all others as that wherein all the lawes of nature guide vs whether we looke to this little world which hath but one bodie and ouer al the members one only head of which the wil motion and sense depend or whether we take this great world which hath but one soueraigne God whether we cast vp our eyes to heauen we shall see but one sunne or looke but vpon these sociable creatures belowe we see that they cannot abide the rule of many amongst them But I leaue to you my Companions the discourse of this matter AMANA Among all creatures both with and without life we alwais find one that hath the preheminence aboue the rest of his kind Among al reasonable creatures Man among beasts the Lion is taken for chiefe among birds the Eagle among graine wheate among drinks wine among spices baulme among all mettals gold among al the elements the fire By which natural demonstrations we may iudge that the kingly and monarchicall gouernment draweth neerest to nature of all others ARAM. The principalitie of one alone is more conformable and more significant to represent the diuine ineffable principalitie of God who alone ruleth al things than the power of many ouer a politicall body Notwithstanding there hath been many notable men that haue iudged a monarchie not to be the best forme of gouernment that may be among men But it is your duetie ACHITOB to handle vs this matter ACHITOB. This controuersie hath always been very great among those that haue intreated of the formes of policies and gouernments of estates namely whether it be more agreeable to nature and more profitable for mankind to liue vnder the rule of one alone than of many neither side wanting arguments to prooue their opinion Now although it be but a vaine occupation for priuate men who haue no authoritie to ordain publike matters to dispute which is the best estate of policie and a greater point of rashnesse to determine therof simply seeing the chiefest thing consisteth in circumstances yet to content curious mindes and to make them more willing to beare that yoke vnto which both diuine humane nature and equitie hath subiected them I purpose here to waigh