and engendreth within vs an amendment of life readie obedience and loue towardes God and our neighbour giueth vnto vs the hope of eternal life and of obtaining what we ask at Gods hands rendreth our conscience peaceable maketh vs to perseuere in the good giueth vnto vs a boldnes to addresse our selues to the throne of grace bringeth with it selfe a constancie and pacience in all aduersities and comforteth vs cleane remouing away all feare anguish vexation of minde For this cause God is called by S. Paul in the beginning of his second Epistle to the Corinthians The God of mercie and consolation And in the sixth to the Ephesians he doth exhort vs to take vpon vs the shielde of faith wherewith we may quench all the fierie dartes of the wicked CHAP. 3. Properties of the truth and how much it is requisite in a Prince and Clergie SAint Paul recommendeth this trueth vnto vs as an especiall and principall part of the armour required to be worne by a Christian Knight and as a bulwarke against all assaults And most excelent is that saying in the 8. chapter of the prophesie of Zecharie where hee exhorteth Euerie man to speake the trueth vnto his neighbour and as the bodie bereft of the soule is nought else then stinking carrion so man depriued of this trueth is no better then a verie infection and filthie carkasse For this cause Plato in his commonwealth ordained for a lawe that aboue all thinges the truth might be preserued And Xenophon bringing in a good Prince vnder the person of K. Cyrus requireth especialy that he be founde true This was also the first lesson which Aristotle taught Alexander the great And Isayah setteth downe a King to reigne in Iustice and a Prince to rule in Iudgement being as an hiding place from the winde and as a refuge for the tempest And a byshop of Cologne declared to Fredoric the Emperour that the bare worde of a Prince ought to be of as great weight as other mens othes and that the trueth ought to bee his chiefest ornament The aunsweare which Charles the fift Emperour made vnto such as would haue perswaded him by no meanes to sende backe Luther being come vnto him vnder his safe conduit is greatly praised saying that though the performance of promises were cleane banished the face of the earth yet it should be kept by an Emperour Our Sauiour also in manie places of the Euangelistes commaundeth vs in any wise to keepe truth and nameth himselfe the sonne of Iustice and the essentiall truth On the other side the Diuell is called a lyer and the father thereof to the end that euerie one abyding in God who is the soueraigne good and hauing him for a father Lorde Sauiour and Protectour might be founde true and that we should not serue so wicked a murtherer and cruell deceauer as Sathan and that we shoulde abhor lying with which he onely serueth his turne to extinguish the light of the truth the onely life of the soule And Iob sayth that the wicked abhor the light they knowe not the wayes therof nor continue in the pathes thereof The Catholique Church is likewise called of S. Paul The pillar and grounde of trueth And Lactantius calleth it the fountaine of trueth house of faith and temple of God into which who so doth not enter is cleane shut vp from anie hope of eternall life For out of her is there no saluation to be found but euen as it fared with them that were without the Arke of Noah in the time of the flood And our religion hath beene founded vppon faith which dependeth of this truth which alone hath much more vertue than Cicero would attribute to Philosophie as in casting out of spirits remouing vaine solitarinesse deliuering vs from lusts and chasing away all feare For she teacheth vs the true seruice of God how to worshippe his mightinesse admire at his wisedome loue his bountie trust vnto his promises and rule our life according vnto his holie will She cleareth and giueth light vnto the course of reason thorough the knowledge of thinges and guideth our will vnto the true good and taketh away the clowdes of our vnderstanding as it is saide the North winde doth in the ayre And wee daylie see that the afflicted and wretched innocent taketh his greatest comfort in that the trueth is of his side And this truth causeth that parte of our vnderstanding wherein reason lyeth to rule and our will affections and like partes willingly obey thereto and suffer themselues to be gouerned therby And we may the rather be termed men in neare approching to God our patron For all the doctrine of the lawe tendeth to ioyne man through holinesse of life vnto his God as Moyses in Deutronomy sayth to make him leane vnto him For neither the worlde nor anie other creature can make man happie but he alone which made him man And thorough this truth are we deliuered from false opinions and ignorance and in al actions she is the light to guide vs frō stumbling and bringeth foorth all vertues And since that the end of Grammer is to speake aptly and agreeably and the end of speech societie of Rhethoricke to carrie all mens mindes to one opinion And of Logicke to finde out a truth amidst manie falshoodes all other artes doe likewise tende to this trueth And let vs make our senses to serue our vnderstanding and that vnderstanding of ours to serue him by whom it is and doth vnderstand And since this truth is a light her propertie is to chase away the darkenesse blindnesse and ignorance of our vnderstandings and to reioyce and comfort vs as the sunne rising doth to Pilgrims except they be such as our Sauiour spoke of who loue darkenesse more then the light which maketh vs to perceaue what hath beene hidden from vs. And men are more afraide to do amisse by day then by night and we are better able to guide our selues and can yeelde a better testimonie of what we haue seene as our Sauiour sayde in S. Iohn we speake that we knowe and testifie that we haue seene CHAP. 4. Extremities in the truth and how men may speake of themselues and of that which they vnderstande and that men ought not to publish anie writing but of their owne inuention and to some purpose nor to attribute to themselues the honour of a thing well done SInce that this trueth is approued to be a vertue she ought to hold a mediocritie to be set betweene two vitious extremities of either too little or too much as it is saide of the rest of the vertues which make them selues more apparaunt in gayning vnto themselues by those actions which consist in the middest of two contrarie vices as doeth the true tune among discords The excesse and ouerplus shal proceede of arrogancie pride vaunting disdain insolencie
other credible aucthors discouereth the falshood and reproche of these writers shewing it rather proceeded from the lightnes of other nations as in sundrie places in Cicero we may perceiue And Titus Liuius calleth them of Syria Asia and Greece verie light persons Tacitus attributeth as much to the Almanes Scythians What vnconstancie and lightnesse since two hundred yeres last past haue we I praye you seene among Romanes Neapolitanes Genowaies Milanois Florentînes and other Italians which they haue vsed towardes their princes gouernours And for the verie Almaines haue they not oft abandoned their Emperours endured and made meanes that strangers enriched themselues with the spoiles of thempire haue they not serued their turne with the sonne to ruine the father And haue they not afterward left the sonne as a pray vnto the enimie And vppon the like occasions Auentin Crans some other Almanes haue to small purpose and folishly blamed the French men of lightnes fantasticalnes named them by sundrie other iniurious epithetons so as they which see cleare may easily iudge by their verie writings by other authors better trained vp in matters of state seasons of time then they howe they haue written full of backbyting lying pride enuious malice Beatus Rhenanus calleth such historiographers ambitious praisers of their German nation blameth them for so robbing concealing the praises deserued by the French And the saide Italians vnable to excuse the greate faultes cruelties treacheries cowardnesse treasons and dissimulations of their nation goe about to disguyse these villanies with a name of Italian Prudence and to diminish the noble exploytes and enterprises of the Frenche they counterfait a letter of an Italian as it were descended out of the clowdes thereby to giue thereto greater honour And yet in those verie examples which they doe alledge they shewe howe they of their owne nation haue with al their great discourses beene as yll aduised irresolute vnconstant in all their affaires yea and more than any other nation And howsoeuer they enforce themselues to staine the French wee must needes confesse that there was neuer nation that euer enterprised wel guyded nor more happily executed braue loftie enterprises and matters worthie of memorie then the French nor that euer with greater manhood constancie perseuerance hath conquered defended recouered their owne countrie then they did euen at that instant whâ—â—â—hese men so passionately wrote of them Ierosme Beuzo aâ—… ilaâ—ois who wrote of the West Indies hauing remained there aboue fiften yeres with the Spanyards sheweth how far the Spanish Chroniclers haue spared the trueth do go about to couer the cruelties inconstancies and villanies of their nation of whome parte at their returne home were wel chastened by the French yea and in the verie place by them selues pilling and murthering one an other thorough the iust iudgement of God Moreouer euery one seeth that in that they blame the French to be too open prompt moueable light they might better conster it to a vertue and such reproches setteth them againe in so good away that they take away al occasion of speach as Philip King of Macedon was wont to saie of the rayling Athenians and causeth in them a habit to euerie vertue And to persons of colerique humor as Frenchmen are Galene attributeth prompnesse and prudencie in their actions And this worde of fantasticalnesse in respect of the Frenche may be taken in a signification as other authors vse for a courage and readinesse in all matters worthie praise And they are not to be blamed if they take their partie the best to helpe themselues occasioned by the incommoditie of their enemies nor if they shewe themselues carelesse in small matters the better to be able to atchieue things of greater importance nor if they keepe themselues from the treacheries deceites dissemblings and falshood of faith which their enemies haue euer beene accustomed to vse nor if they render like for like as they are able and occasion may serue And whereas K. Alphonsus and diuers other authors haue greatly blamed Frenchemen because they delighted so much in daunsing they might easily excuse themselues through an old auncient custome which hath bin receiued in sundrie prouinces and by reason of the exercise therin taken so as a man modestly behaue himselfe without counterfaiting a mad man It is to be wished for al that our pathes might bee as wel ruled as our wordes ought to be that daunsing were in lesse estimation then it is especially vpon holie daies by reason of the inconuenience disorder insolencie dissolutenes that ensueth thereon As in time past the Romanes Lacedemonians and other coÌ„men wealths wel ordered yea the verie king S. Lewys banished out of their townes al vaine plesures which serued for nought els then to effeminate yong men allure them to vice and aboue all they haue beene enimies to dansing which a man easily may gather in an Oration that Cicero made for Murena assuring that no man dansed except he were drunk or mad that such a vice proceeded from the dissolute banquet of drunkennes loue lecherie whereof no man was able to accuse the said Murena being a man giuen to all honest exercises And the same Oratour finding fault with an enimie of his called him a braue danser And in his offices he sheweth that for nothing in the world a vertuous wise maÌ„ ought to danse in publike albeit he had so promised And Frederick the Emperour was wont to say that he rather chose to haue an agew then to daunse And Plutarke in his communings at boarde saieth that the Persians neuer durst daunse in presence of their wiues And Domitian deposed one Ruffyn out of the Senate because he daunsed as though he had committed an act vnworthie of an honest man And it semeth they which so wel loue it haue more braine in their feet then hed think to plaie the fooles with reason as Terence saith And Aristotle in his Ethicks writeth of the Milesians that they were not fools but did the selfesame things that fooles are accustomed to do And herein they followe not the precept of the wise man to ponder the path of our feete to let al our waies be ordered aright For vanitie is so great in many men that they altogether studie to keep measure folow the tune in dansing in their actions countenance speach counsels they go hedlong obseruing neither measure wisedom nor reason It is the verie right occupation of iesters iuglers noted of infamie in good commen wealths And to cause laughture pastime they were wont in time past to counterfait persons adiudged to die whereto all great princes ought to take heede that their scepters serue not for a scoff to their subiects theÌ„selues ther by run in contempt The pleasures of the court of Pharaoh are caled in the Epistle to the Hebrues the
such as can commaunde ouer them selues enter heauen The auncient custome obserued among the Princes and gentlemen of Fraunce written by Agathius deserueth here to bee recited that when anye one had a quarrell or was at variaunce with an other a great number of gentlemen woulde presently present them selues in armes and constraine those that had a minde to fight to ende their controuersie by lawfull and amiable meanes which occasioned the subiectes a great deale more willinglye to applye them selues to iustice which they sawe so much esteemed amonge their Lordes and Princes And it was one of the chiefe articles in the leage of the Grecians and all allies to vndertake nothing by armes but by iustice The Philosophers set downe foure powers to rule in the mind reason will anger and concupiscence in which they lodged foure vertues to euery one one Prudence iustice fortitude temperance So as they made choler to serue to fortitude so it be not infirme or out of square CHAP. 25. Of the errour of some Authours which haue praised promise breakers and the cruel of punishmentes of such what our gettinges and dealing with the great ought to be aduertisements to the readers and of pardoninges I Euer found it a very strange matter in diuers authors who lacked no iudgement at all in that they produced those for example who during the whole course of their conquestes violated their faith with sundrye Princes and esteemed it verye necessarye for a great Prince that he shold learne to deceaue I do not in like sort approue the opinion of Lysander that where a Lions skin will not suffice it must be patched vp with a foxes confessing in deed that the truth is better then falsehoode but that the dignitye and price of each of them ought to be measured and turned to commodity and profit saying further that children must be deceaued with trifles men with othes The which likewise the tyrants Dionisius and Policrates were wont to say authorising impietye lying and deceat Which maxime hath been followed of sundry Princes as king Pirrhus confessed him selfe to the Athenians in recompence for their good cheere counselling them euer to distrust all tyrauntes because they did euer obserue or breake their faith accordinge as they serued their turnes in their commodities profites or ambition As in Thucidides an Athenian embassador sayd that a tyraunt is a friende and enemy according to the time and season There is likewise an Aleman prouerbe that it is for noble men to promise and clownes to obserue And in Sophocles Vlisses taught Neoptolemus the sonne of Achilles to deceiue by lying and whereas the saide childe demaunded how it was possible to lye without blushing he aunsweared that such was the vse in the trafficque of men and that one neuer is to bee ashamed where anye profitte maye bee reaped The which that wicked Emperour Caligula in lyke sort sayde praysinge impudencie Moreouer I approoue no whit at all the sayinge of Thrasimachus the Calcedonian that the pleasure and profit of Princes is the rule and definition of all lawes nor that which Anaxarchus sayde vnto Alexander when hee sawe him so much vexed for the death of his friend Clytus whome hee had slayne that Themis and Iustice were set of each side a kinge to confirme his faultes nor that which that vilanous step-mother sayde vnto Caracalla that whatsoeuer hee listed was lawfull for him But we will mayntayne that God and the lawes are set ouer kingdomes to punishe such as violate the Maiestie of the lawes and that right blyndeth the profite and pleasure of Princes and that nothinge is lawfull saue what the lawes permit And it is certayne that the higher any personne is exalted the more ought he to shew him selfe vertuous and true as aboue we haue noted And in all actions a man must consider the motife roote and counsell with sundry other circumstaunces and therein discouer if there haue beene anye cloaking infidelity trompery perill or deceat that the bare matter maye be perceaued and confront what ill soeuer is founde vnder an apparaunce of good knowing that an euill beginning can not but leade an euill ende And if we shoulde take awaye this firste excellencye of suddaine conquestes we shall finde a tragicall issue and a chaunge in extreame calamities As Quintus Cursius wrote that power gotten by mischiefe endureth but a while The which likewise the Prophetes besides experience doe in sundye places witnesse And the Duke of Valentinois Sonne of Pope Alexander and others which Michiauel set before vs to imitate haue had moste miserable endes after hauing beene made a laughing stocke vnto their enemyes And the sayde Authour hath not without iuste cause had his qualityes paynted out by Paulus Iouius as one ignoraunt both of Gâ—D and learning and so censured by the counsell of Trente And as accompanyed with truth and vertue euerye kinde of lyfe is sweete and easie so doth there euer ensue lyinge sorrowe payne losse repentaunce and care and it is vnpossible to haue anye ioye or contentment if quietnesse of the minde constancy pietie iustice and full assuraunce haue not layde the foundation And a good conscience carryeth a calme with it selfe which can not be found in falsehood against promise trust the which as euery other kind of wickednes is the occasion and bruer of her own tormeÌ„t being a maruailous worker of a miserable life with great shame suffering many frightes furies and perturbations of the minde full of vnquietnesse and sorrowes as Ieremie the Prophet witnesseth And not without cause did Isocrates entreating of peace compare such men to Wolues and beastes who while they thinke to rauen vpon some pray cast them selues headlong into the snare or toyle And we may saie with Dauid that iniquitye is seated in a slippery and daungerous place I haue seene the wicked strong and spreading it selfe like a greene Bay tree yet I passed away and loe he was gonne For since that God is true iust constant and like vnto him selfe his iudgementes are euer founde a like against all the enemies of the truth as it is sayde in Ieremie and in Ezechiel speaking of Sedechias Thinke you it is possible for him that breaketh his promise longe to endure and raigne And since that Isaiah tearmeth righteousnes the mother of peace we must no whit maruaile if lying and treason be punished by warre plague famine sedition and disorders in a realme or if that which is attained by leasing and lewde meanes be called by the Prophets a fire brane wherewith one burneth his owne house a heape of earth which one causeth to fall vpon him selfe and a pit to stifle and bury ones selfe in and as siluer put into a rented sacke Euripides in like sort esteemeth whatsoeuer is vniustlye added to a house as a plague and infected ayre and euerye man maye perceiue suche gotten
first precept of eloquēce answered to pronounce wel being demāded what was the 2. answered the like so to the 3. In like sort sayth he if I be asked of the precepts of religion I will answere that the 1.2 and 3. is humilitie And S. Chrysostome in the homely of the perfection of the Gospell sayth that the very foundation of our Philosophie is humilitie For arrogancy is alwayes accōpanied with folly audacitie rashnesse insolencie as Plato writeth solitarinesse as if one would saye that the proude is abandoned of all the world euer attributing to himselfe that which is not neuer measuring his will according to his force hauing much more bragge then matter of woorth S. Augustine compareth him to a ship tossed with windes without a pylote And an auncient father writeth that presumption is the mother of all vices is like vnto a great fire which maketh euery one retyre backe Wee read in the works of antient Phisitions how some that were of a melancolicke or sadde humour thought their owne selues to be some sencelesse thing or beast Aristotle and Gallen yeelde vs sundry examples therof how some in their own fancies imagining wonderful matters through the illusions of wandering transported wits constantly affyrmed that they sawe and did that which indeede was not as he which beleeued al the ships that came into the hauē to be his own and other that thought they sawe and heard players vppon a wide stage as Horace writeth Such are the Proude which delight them selues in their owne foolish inuentions There is in Daniel a notable example of Kinge Nabugodonozur and of Sennacharib that was slayne of his owne children after that the Angell had discomfited his armie And likewise of Antiöchus and sundry other which proueth that most true which our sauiour saith that he which exalteth himselfe shalbe brought lowe and he which humbleth him selfe shalbe exalted And that which is written in Ecclesiasticus The beginning of mans pride is to fall away frō God to turne away his heart frō his maker For pride is the originall of sinne and he that hath it shall powre out abhominatiō till at last he be ouerthrowen I touch no whit at all here the Licantropie whē as sundry certainly perceiue a change of humane shape their minde and reason remayning in their accustomed order referring my selfe to that which many haue written therof All wits in like sort that are giuē to preiudice opiniōs iudge otherwise then they ought Salomon saith in his Prouerbes that al that are proude in hart are an abhomination to the Lord that among the proud is nothing but strife counselleth vs not to haunte thē nor to be too conuersant with ouer far reaching heads adding that the pride of a mā shall bring him lowe In Ieremiah God sayth The proude shall stumble fall and none shal raise him vp I wil kindle a fire in his cities and it shal deuour al round about him And in Isaiah they are sore threatned he saith that the magnificence shalbe brought low that pride destroieth all cōmonwealth states As also in Ezechiel in the 1. of Abdias it is writtē the pride of thy hart hath deceiued thee And in Tobit In pride is destruction much trouble and in fiercenes is scarcitie and great pouertie The sonne of Agesilaus wrote vnto K. Philip who much gloried in some of his victories that if he measured his shadow he should find it no greater then it was before the victory The same poore king was slaine of one to whom he refused to minister iustice and histories declare how his successors through their disloyaltie fell into great calamities And yet was he praised amonge the rest of his vertues for that one of his people saide vnto him 3. times euery morning to the end he should not waxe too haughtie Remember thy selfe Philip that thou art a man Theodosius the Emperour had often times the like warning giuen him by his wife Arrian in the 7 of his historie reciteth how Alexander demanded of certain wise men of the Indies why as soone as they had espied him they stamped vpon the ground with their feete they answered him that no man held ought sauing the ground vpon which he trod that they esteemed him like other men saue only that he came so far to put him selfe other to much more paine that when he should die he should enioy no more earth then of necessitie to couer his bodie but ambition cleane turned him from following of anie good councell and for a good time was he afterwarde depriued of any buriall Nicanor when he went about to assayle the Iewes sold them before he came neere them but in the end he was ouercome as in like sort the Marquisse of Gast in our time at Cerisoles deuided among his fauorites the spoile of the French and prepared sundry ropes to lead them prisoners and to put them to ransome and yet in the end his selfe was vanquished Herod glorying in his rayment the honor which was done him was shortly after eaten vp with wormes Like vnto this pride was the vanitie of Caligula of diuers other which must in any wise haue their feet to be kissed Sigibert found fault with Charlemagne because that after he was chosen Emperour he dispised the fashions of France For the same cause was Alexander reprehended K. Lewys the 11. was wont to say that whē pride was on horseback mischief shame was on the croper And as husbandmē rather allow of those eares which bow down waxe croked then such as growe streigh as thinking least store of graine to be in them as it is written that if a stone be hunge vpon the bough of a tree to weigh it downe it shall carie the more frute and as valleys are commonly more fertile then mountaines and as the more liquor a man putteth into a vessell the more vayne ayre goeth out and the emptie hogsheade carrieth a greater sound then the full so the more that men arme thēselues with vertue vanitie hypocrisie and lying doth depart not seeking preferment before other but in honest actions and the more that a man shall thinke of his vices and imperfections the more shall his wings fall from presumption Experience teacheth vs that infancie is but a foolish simplicitie full of lamentations filthines and harmes as it were layde open to a mayne sea without a sterne and youth but an indiscreate heate outragious blinde headie violent and vaine mans estate trouble and vexation of minde full of repentance and plunged in care Olde age a noysome languishing and full of greefe still feeling the excesse of immoderate youth and all mans life consumed in teares trouble and griefe where pleasures are the feuers of the spirite goods tormentes honours heauie charges and rest vnquietnesse it selfe and to passe from one age
of fortunes Lycurgus did the like And if we mark it wel we shal find that they cast sow in the aire as it were in a sea without any iudgement and at the aduenture of ambiguous words tending to al sorts of accidents passions chance of a hundred perhaps one falleth out right which was neuer foreseene or thought by them for the most part wee see the contrarie happen of that which is prognosticated Cicero for this cause writeth that Plato was wont to saye that hee marueiled when such people met togither how they could abstain frō laughter seing the cosening tricks which they playd And God by Ieremie commanded vs not to be afraid for the signes of heauen from whence these abusers say they take their foundation And Homer bringing in the gods deliberating of things to come declared thereby how it passeth mans capacitie as Isocrates writeth yea Daniel in the end of his prophesie saieth that he vnderstoode not the wordes of the Angel speaking of the end of the world The which maketh mee greatly to condemne such as haue writen therof especially Leouitius who setteth it down to be in the yere 1583 yet he forgeth an Ephemerides of nigh hand 30. yeares after that yeare Astrologers likewise foretolde of the yeare 1524 that such an other coniunction should meet as was at the time of the floud and that al the face of the earth shoulde be couered with water and there was neuer seene a more fayre and dry yeare then that was as Viues writeth In short that kind of people haue skill of any thing but to tell true For sorcerers the lawes of the 12. Tables and sundrye other haue condemned them to death as worse then murtherers most wicked and abhominable enemies both vnto nature and mankinde The title of the Code de maleficiis and the lawe neminem containeth this cursse that the cruell pestilence eate them out and consume them And God condemneth them in Exod. c. 2. Leuit 20. 21. Deu. 18. Isaiah 3. Iere. 19.17 50. For such sorceries Iehu made queene Iezabel to bee eaten with dogs It is verye requisite that Iudges take great paines and be very seuere herein because they growe so common and God threatneth that hee will roote out the people which shall leaue them vnpunished S. Augustine also greatlye detesteth them And the reason why the Cananites were rooted out is expressed in Deut. to wit for the abhominable sorceries which they vsed And Plato in his lawes condemned them to die for they renounce God all his religiō they blaspheme him they do homage to the Diuell they vow their children vnto him they promise to drawe vnto him whatsoeuer they are able they poyson men beastes and fruites they are incestuous and worke much mischiefe And as touching vsurers Plutarque in his booke which he made to which I referre the Reader is of opinion that no kinde of people of the worlde are so notorious lyars nor which vse more to falsefie their faith in all their practises they haue beene condemned both by the law of God and man and excommunicated by a counsell holden in Spaine And the Persians alwayes reputed loane to vsury to be deceat lying and wickednesse Appian in his first booke of the ciuill warres wrote that by an auncient law at Rome vsurye was forbidden vpon great paines and we see in Titus Liuius and in Tacitus the great searches and punishmentes that ensewed therefore And in the time of kinge Philip Augustus of S Lewys of kinge Iohn and Charles the sixt the Iewes and Italiens which held banques and exercised vsurye thorough out Fraunce were driuen out and rifled because they marred the houses and families that adioyned neare vnto them The ancient Cato held them as lyars murtherers theifes and a continuall fire which euer encreased thorough the losse and ruine of such as fell there in And so they which haue to do with vsurers are by little and little consumed and gnawne a sunder And as he which is stong with the aspe dieth sleeping so sweetly doth he consume him selfe which hath borrowed vpon vsury And Michah writeth that they deuour the fleshe of the people flea their skin and gnaw their bones Moreouer the worde vsury in the hebrew tongue is as much to say as biting And mony is brought forth before it be begot The which caused some to terme loan to vsury the great chastiser of fooles for their incontinencie And vsury was euer accounted the daughter of couetousnes and ambition which leadeth to all euill Wherefore according to the lesson of the wise man eache one ought to beware that he fall not into so great a mischiefe but it is requisite rather to be content with a little to shun thinges superfluous to vse parsimony and sparing thinking that if one bee not able to liue with a little he will lesseliue with nothing And as in sundry places debtors were priuiliged among other in Dianas temple at Ephesus so was the temple of sparing and well ordered expense into which vsurers mought not enter open vnto the wise and yeeldeth to them a ioyful rest And for because such as intermeddle with selling againe do it without anye art or trauile and with lying they haue beene in like sort blamed as well by Aristotle as by Cicero CHAP. 43. Of the punishments that hath be fallen vnto such as haue giuen eare vnto malitious surmises reiecting the truth IF what we haue before set downe touching forged accusations doe not so sone discouer it selfe if choler false reports opinions do so far insinuate them selues as truth can take no place nor iustifications be heard yet will God the protector of innocency set to his helping hande and discouer the truth as the holy scriptures affirme And Theophrastus said that surmises woulde die by litle and litle but truth was the daughter of time Among an infinit number of exāples I will content my selfe with a few the most notable Leo the emperor condēned Michael to die the execution was differred but vntil Christmas was ended in which time he died soddainly the same Michael was not onle deliuered from prison but chosen Emperor of Constantinople Mathias the son of that great captaine Hunniades was charged of ill behauing him self towards Ladislaus K. of Boheme Hungary as he was ready to be condēned his eldest brother hauing bene before executed throgh enuy false information the said Ladislaus mindinge to marrye Margrite daughter to Charles the 7. died soddenly and the said Mathias attending but the hangman of Prag was chosen K. of Hungary As also one Castrutio retired frō an obscure prison was chosen gouernor of Lucques by the death of the tirant Vgutio And one Iacques de lusignan prisoner at Genes was chosen K. of Cipres Theodoric K. of the Ghots in his rage through a forged accusation executed Boetius