denied him at the first when he became a suter vnto hir but after in processe of time she consented thervnto When they were come to the Temple of Diana to solemnize the mariage before the aultar she powred forth a little of that drinke which she had prepared in a cup and drinking part thereof she gaue the residue to Synorix to drinke The liquor was made of water honie and poison mingled togither When she saw that he had drunke all she fetched a great and loud grone and vsing reuerence towards the Goddesse sayd vnto hir I call thee to witnes that I haue not ouer-liued Sinatus my husband for any other intent than to see this daie neither haue I enioyed any good or pleasure in all this time wherein I haue since liued but only in hope that one daie I should be able to reuenge his death which being nowe perfourmed by me I goe cheerefully and with ioy vnto my husband But as for thee most wicked man quoth she to Synorix take order now that thy friends and kinsfolkes in steede of a wedding bed prepare a buriall for thee And so within a little while after both of them ended their daies Macrina the wife of Torquatus loued hir husband so feruently and was so sorowfull for his absence that for one yeeres space wherein he was gone vpon a voyage she neuer went out of hir house nor looked out of hir windowe We read that many women of Lacedemonia when their husbands were condemned to die for conspiring against their countrie came one euening clothed in blacke to the prison vnder colour to take their finall farewell of them and changing their apparell they couered their husbands with their vailes who went out and left their wiues in their place which sustaining the punishment due to others were beheaded contrarie to humanitie not without great patience shewed on their behalfe Histories are plentifull in shewing the great loue of women towards their husbands Yea I will not be afraid to speake it men are farre inferior vnto them in perfection of loue Wherefore we will conclude that it is easier for them to be dutifull to their husbands whome as we haue alreadie sayd if they loue esteeme and honour no doubt but they are the chiefe cause of all peace and concord in their families and of the prosperous successe of their houshold affaires to the quietnes and contentation of their happie life and to the immortall praise and honour of their good name The ende of the twelfth dates worke THE THIRTEENTH DAIES WORKE Of the dutie of the Head of a familie in other parts of the house namely in the Parentall Maisterlie and Possessorie part Chap. 49. ASER. IT is not without great shew of reason which many Philosophers maintaine that the Oeconomicall science that is to say the art of ruling a house well is one of the chiefest partes of policie which is the art of skilfull gouerning a great multitude of men The reason is bicause a Towne or Citie is nothing else but an assemblie of manie families and houses togither which will be verie harde for one onelie man to order well and iustlie if he knowe not howe to set that order in his familie which is necessarie and to guide it with sound reason and true prudence Moreouer when families are well gouerned no doubt but it goeth well with the Common-wealth as we see that the whole bodie is in good helth when euery seueral member doth his dutie Nowe that we haue considered particularly of that which concerneth the first and principall part of a house and of the mutuall dutie of the husband and wife I thinke my Companions we are to beginne this daies worke with instructing our selues in that which the head of a familie ought to keepe and obserue in other parts of his house mētioned before by vs namely his children seruants and possessions seeing we are taught by the Apostle that he which prouideth not for his owne and namely for them of his houshold denieth the faith and is woorse than an Infidell AMANA Euery house must be ruled by the eldest as by a king who by nature commandeth ouer euery part of the house and they obey him for the good preseruation thereof ARAM. Euery man by right saith Homer hath rule ouer his wife and children and he is not woorthy to haue any that wanteth sufficient vertue and prudence to gouerne them well Go to then ACHITOB let vs learne of thee what belongeth to the parts of a house now mentioned by vs. ACHITOB. Anacharsis one of the wise men of Grecia said that a house is not to be called good bicause it is well built and of good stuffe but men must iudge thereof by that which is within which belongeth to the house as namely by the children wife seruants with whome being wise and well qualified if the father of a familie communicateth and imparteth of that which he hath whether it be in the bottome of a caue or vnder the shade of a bough he may be said to dwell in a good and happie house Therefore it is no small happines and felicitie for them that are called to the gouernment of a familie when they see it wise and well nurtured in euery part But as nerues and sinewes being the instruments of sence and motion proceede and are deriued from the head which by them infuseth into all parts of the bodie the Animal spirite without which the bodie could not exercise any naturall function of sence and moouing so the parts of a house commonly receiue the habite of manners and conditions from the father of a family as from the head therof but then especially when he is prudent and wise and imploieth his care diligence and industrie thereupon Therefore a good housholder must beginne the right gouernment of his house at himself by letting his houshold see that he is prudent chast sober peaceable but chiefly religious and godly as also by bringing foorth plentifull fruits of his dutie towards those that are vnder his charge For as the anger and threatnings of the head of a familie astonisheth his children and seruants so his good workes harteneth them on to do well Now bicause there is varietie of houses whose difference is commonly taken from the goods and abilitie of men which abound to some and are wanting to others I will propound heere as my purpose and meaning was before a meane house in all pointes perfect and as we vse to say neither poore nor rich from which notwithstanding both great and small may draw instruction for their gouernment We haue alreadie seene that a house is diuided into foure partes whereof the coniugall or wedlocke part hath beene alreadie handled by vs. Now we must consider of the other three I meane of the Parentall Maisterlie and Possessorie parts And I thinke it will be best to follow that order which is most vsuall in the perfection and progresse of
mortall matter of as small continuance as a vessell of earth sinning without ceasing and endeuoring that that which is shut vp within it should please it Notwithstanding we ought not to neglect and contemne the woonderfull frame of this heauenly plant as Plato calleth it saying that the roote thereof is in the head drawing towards heauen seeing as in a little world we may behold therein the excellencie of the woonderful works of God and that in so great measure that the wisest and most eloquent men could neuer set them foorth sufficiently And if we cal to minde how by his almightie power he framed him at the first of a peece of earth we shall not neede to stand long heere to inquire and search out how he could be ingendred and fashioned in his mothers wombe how he receaued nourishment and life and lastly how he came into the light As for example how the sixe first daies after his conception he is nothing but milke the nine following blood twelue daies after flesh and howe in the eighteene next ensuing he is fashioned at what time the fruite beginneth to liue and to haue sence which is the fiue and fortieth day after he was conceaued These are secrets of nature which may seeme as incomprehensible and beyond the capacitie of man as his first creation For what greater maruell can there be than that of a little drop of mans seed there should be engendred bones sinewes vaines arteries similar and instrumentall partes skinne and flesh and that all these should be framed in that kinde figure and similitude which we daily see in men who are all created after that maner What neede we then to make an anatomy of all the chiefest partes of the body of man when as the consideration of the least of them which peraduenture may be found to be most necessarie will suffice to rauish vs with admiration What superfluous thing can be noted in the bodie What small parcell is there which the noblest part may want conueniently and which is not partaker of euerie euill disposition thereof What thing is there in the whole nature thereof which doth not satisfie that dutie verie profitably whereunto it is borne and appointed which mooueth not of it selfe which either doth suffereth or disposeth of it selfe otherwise than is most expedient and meet for it owne benefite and for the rest of the frame of man The progresse and growth thereof from day to day from houre to houre and that of all the parts together of this principall worke at one instant euen from the first houre of his being vntil his whole perfection are they not more heauenly than humane things What is more woonderfull vnder the cope of heauen than the coniunction and subiection of the naturall sences vnto the bodie I meane of the sight smelling hearing taste and touching whereby saith Plato the common sence which is as it were a generall receptacle conceaueth al outward things What an excellent propertie in man is it to voide from him a profitable superfluitie of his nourishment from whence the cause of the preseruation of mankinde proceedeth The articulate and distinct voice proper to him onely is it not woorthy of great maruell What greater secret of nature could rauish the minde of man more with admiration than amongst the infinite multitude of men in the world to consider the variety of their gestures and diuersity of their countenances that hauing al but one and the same forme yet not one almost resembleth another And when in so great varietie two are found resembling in all points one another as we read of some euen of sundry nations who haue been taken indifferently one for the other is it not a stranger matter How maruellous is it that all men hauing a toong wherewith they speake and sing yet we seldome see that the speaking and singing of one resembleth the speech and tune of another wherupon it commeth to passe that friends and familiars oftentimes acknowledge and vnderstand one another by their speech and voice before they see ech other Who will not admire this great secret in the hand of man that a hundred thousand writers may write the same thing with the same inke and like pen and that with three and twentie letters which haue each his owne figure and shape and yet the writings shall not resemble one another so but that euery writing may be knowne by his hand that wrote it Briefely what is there in the whole body of man that is not full of rare beautie This is sufficient for the matter in hand now let vs come to the soule which is much more noble and infused into the body by God the Creator without any vertue of the generatiue seed when as the parts of the body are alreadie framed and fashioned This alone can lead vs to the knowledge of God and of our selues or rather as Socrates said we shall neuer vnderstand perfectly what the soule is except we first know God and behold it in him as in a true glasse who onely can represent it vnto vs. Let vs then see what the soule is according to the sayings of the ancient Philosophers Thales Milesius one of the sages of Graecia who florished in Athens in the time of Achab king of Iuda was the first that defined the soule affirming it to be a nature alwaies moouing it selfe Pythagoras the light of his time and the first that tooke vnto himselfe the name of a Philosopher bicause all those who before him were addicted to the contemplation of the diuinity of the secrets of nature caused themselues to be called by the name of Mages and wisemen which he would not haue spoken of himselfe saying that this diuine and lofty title of Wise was proper to God onely and that it farre passed all humane ability I say this excellent man Pythagoras affirmed that the soule was a number moouing it selfe Plato saith that it is a spiritual substance moouing it selfe by harmonicall number Aristotle saith that the soule is the continuall act or moouing of a naturall and instrumentall bodie that may haue life Or else according to others it is the light of the substance and in perpetuall motion They diuiâ—e it likewise diuersely and make many parts therof The soule as Pythagoras said is compounded of vnderstanding knowledge opinion and sence from which things all knowledge and Arts proceed and of which man is called reasonable that is apt to discourse by reason Plato saith that there are three vertues in the soule belonging to knowledge and vnderstanding which for this cause are called cognitiue or knowing vertues namely reason vnderstanding and phantasie Vnto which three others are answerable appertaining to appetite namely Will whose office is to desire that which vnderstanding and reason propound vnto it Choler or Anger which followeth that that reason and phantasie offer vnto it and Concupiscence which apprehendeth whatsoeuer phantasie and
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
time forward to liue a mortall life so that his bodie and soule became subiect to infinite miseries and damnable infirmities which draw vpon them the condemnation of eternall death Notwithstanding God whose goodnes and mercie are endles reestablished and assured the succession of his immortall inheritance vnto those whom it pleased him by grace to make dead to sin and aliue to himselfe through the satisfaction of his wrath made by the innocencie of his eternall sonne purging them in his bloud and opening vnto them by him the gates of heauen after he hath renewed them in righteousnes holines and innocencie that they may follow after godlines and religion And knowing that man so fraile and weake might easily fall downe vnder the heauie burden of those miseries and calamities whereunto the corruption of his nature made him subiect and wherein by reason of hereditarie sinne he should remaine during this mortall life as also that those furious and continuall passions which are mingled togither in his soule being ioined to the common infirmities of his bodie would be of too great force to throwe him againe headlong into destruction this infinite mercie of God appointed that from the beginning there should remaine in the spirite of man a little sparke of light which driueth him to a naturall loue of the truth and to a desire to inquire after it yea which pricketh and prouoketh him not to sleepe altogither in his vices This weake instinct being awaked stirred vp holpen and disposed by the pure grace vertue and power of the author of all goodnes draweth and moueth a Christian regenerated by the holie Ghost after knowledge of himselfe and hatred of that which is in him to seeke after and to couet with a speciall hartie desire that goodnes and righteousnes whereof he is void and that glorious libertie of which he depriued himselfe Furthermore the same heauenlie grace blessing this holie desire of the man regenerate causeth him to draw out of the doctrine of holie scriptures that wherewithall he may if not heale perfectly his wicked inclinations yet at the least containe and represse them in such sort that they breake not out into any damnable execution He teacheth him also to receiue the infirmities of his flesh as fatherly chastisements for his sin and as necessarie means to exercise him and to keepe him in awe And lastly for the vpshot and perfection of all happines and felicitie in this world he instructeth him how he may lead a quiet and peaceable life in beholding the woonderfull works of the diuinitie which he is to adore and honour and in the amendement and correction of his maners naturally corrupted by squaring them after the patterne of vertue that so he may be made worthie and fit to gouerne humane affaires for the profit of manie and at length attaine to the perfection of a wise man by ioining togither the actiue life with the contemplatiue in the certaine hope and expectation of a second immortall and most blessed life Whereunto also the precepts and discourses of learned and ancient philosophers may serue for-our instruction and pricking forward as also the examples which are liuely reasons of the liues of so manie notable men as histories the mother of antiquitie do as it were represent aliue before our eies And this in my iudgement is sufficient generally to vnderstand of Man seeing we are heerafter to discourse more particularly of both his principall parts the bodie and the soule Of the bodie and soule ACHITOB THe bodie and soule are so knit and conioined togither that nothing can separate them but death the destroier of all which through sinne and for the iust punishment thereof entred into the world And this is no sooner done but that whatsoeuer we see of man vanisheth from before our eies the earthie part returning into the masse of earth frō whence it came according to that saying of Aristotle that All things are resolued into those things whereof they are compounded likewise that which is spirituall and inuisible goeth into an eternall immortalitie from whence the being thereof proceeded ASER. Truly this knitting togither and coniunction of the bodie and soule is a most wonderfull thing in nature yea as manie of the philosophers say against nature seeing the soule which is light is contained within the bodie being heauie that which is of celestiall fire within that which is cold and earthie that which is inuisible within that which is palpable that which is immortall within that which is mortall But what Where is the sence of man which is able to comprehend the reason of the doings of that great Maister-builder of the vniuersall frame Yea there is more For during this coniunction as all things that mooue within this generall globe are maintained by agreeing discords euen so of necessitie there must be such a harmonie betweene the bodie and the soule that by the helpe of the one the other subsisteth and abideth and that through their continuall striuing sometimes the one and then the other be in the end obeied AMANA Thou tellest vs heere of a wonderful strange thing that that which is spirituall and immortall sometime obeieth that which is mortal and made of a corruptible lumpe But I vnderstand thee well This proceedeth of the imperfection and imbecillitie of our nature For as Socrates said if we were perfect philosophers we would neuer agree with our selues but resist continually Now following this matter make vs to vnderstand more particularly ARAM what the bodie and soule are what properties they haue and what is the excellencie both of the one and the other ARAM. With a good will my companions and first I will begin at the definition of a body A body as the Philosophers say speaking generally of all things that haue bodies is that which may be deuided and measured after three sorts in length in breadth and in deapth Or according to others a bodie is a masse or lump which asmuch as lieth in it resisteth touching and occupieth a place A body saith Plato is that which being in his proper place is neither heauie nor light but being in a strange place first inclineth somewhat then is driuen and caried forward either with heauines or lightnes Hereupon both he and other Philosophers discourse learnedly and profoundly of the particular nature of al bodies of the earth of the fire of the aire of the water and of all other both simple and compound bodies and of their contrarie motions But seeing all those discourses are at this present without the compasse of our Academy let vs simplie with more profite and that according to the scripture define the body which we haue vndertaken to handle We say then that the body is flesh that euery affection of the flesh is deadly and that the works therof are vncleannes pride fornication enmity debate wrath contention enuy murder gluttonie and such like and therfore that the bodie is made of
being desirous to procure the benefit and ease of the Common-wealth would serue himselfe for this sacrifice And so it came to passe for presently this gulfe closed vp to the great astonishment of all the people How shal we thinke that these and so many others as histories set before our eies who haue freely offered their liues for the safetie of many and chose rather to vndertake any danger than to turne aside in any thing from that which they knew to be the dutie of a good man how I say shall we thinke that they would haue fainted or yeelded through the enticements of honor grace fauor riches whereby the greatnes of their courage limited onely with the bounds of right and iustice might haue beene weakened But hoping that the sequele of our discourses will furnish vs with more ample testimonies both of this and of all the other parts of dutie which respect euery particular action and fearing least I haue been somewhat too long in the examples alreadie alledged we will conclude our present matter with this generall instruction that vnto what estate qualitie or condition soeuer men are called they ought to propound to themselues in all their actions Dutie and Honestie searching for them in the holie scriptures and in the precepts of good life conformable thereunto which are left vnto vs by the ancient Sages and wise philosophers to this end that being wel instructed in true pietie we may first of all giue honor and glorie to God and then be beneficiall helpfull and profitable to his creatures These graces we may by the direction and blessing of God draw out of those fower riuers which proceed and flow from this generall vertue and fountaine of Honestie of which we are to discourse particularly heerafter namely of Prudence Temperance Fortitude and Iustice which are those morall vertues whereby all good and vertuous actions are brought to passe Of Prudence Chap. 10. ACHITOB THere is one only wise souereign Creator of al things the almighty strong and terrible who sitteth vpō his throne frō whom commeth al wisedom which alwaies hath been and is for euer with him and which he hath powred out vpon all works and vpon all flesh according to his liberalitie and giueth hir abundantly to them that loue him She teacheth the doctrine of God and causeth vs to choose his works She decketh vs with prudence iustice and courage giuing vs the knowledge of the time past and iudgement of that which is to come The multitude of those which are endued with these gifts graces are the gard of the world and a prudent king is the assurance of his people The sequele therfore of our speech leadeth vs to the handling of Prudence the first riuer of the fountaine of Dutie ASER. Wisedome raineth downe knowledge and wise vnderstanding and bringeth to honor those that possesse hir Of hir therefore we are to seeke for true Prudence a necessarie guide to all our actions but we must hate the prudence of the flesh which is follie before God and maketh all the thoughts of the wise of this world to become vaine and foolish Moreouer Cicero saith that no man can be prudent but he must be good AMANA O how learnedly hath Socrates taught vs to know and marke this true and heauenly Prudence proceeding from the loue and feare of the highest from that earthlie Prudence which is full of darknes when he saith that Prudence is the generall vertue the princesse and guide of morall vertues and that wherein the knowledge of our souereigne good and of the end of our being consisteth as also the choice of those waies wherby we may come vnto it But let vs heare ARAM discourse more largely of the great woorthie and wonderfull effects of this rich vertue ARAM. All the life of men expressing a worthie end of their being consisteth in contemplation and action For knowing that the thoughts of all mortall men are vnstable and their inuentions vncertaine bicause the bodie and the affections thereof oppresse the soule and cast downe the spirit loden with care they lift vp their harts towards the brightnes of the eternall light who of his meere grace prepareth their soules lighteneth their vnderstandings and directeth their paths to the knowledge of that true and perfect Idea of Good from whence Prudence floweth that she may gouerne their actions according to Gods will and to the profit of humane societie Therefore it is from knowledge and reason gotten in the studie of wisedome by the grace of God from whence the vertue of Prudence proceedeth which is that rule of all the actions of man whereby through good and sage aduice he discerneth and chooseth good from bad that which is profitable from the contrarie to the end he may shun the one and practise the other This is that which Aristotle saith that the office of Prudence consisteth in skill to consult and to choose to the end to execute that which vertue commandeth namely Honestie and decencie and that for no other respect than for the loue thereof And therfore wise men haue put a difference betweene Science and Prudence saying that Science is a dead knowledge of things which of it selfe cannot change the will in such sort that it may imbrace and follow the knowen good or auoid the euill which is euident in wicked men endued with knowledge But Prudence is a beame proceeding from that true sunne which doth not only illuminate and lighten the vnderstanding but also warmeth and kindleth the affection This vertue saith Bias one of the Sages of Graecia is amongst the rest of the vertues as the sight is amongst the fiue senses of mans bodie thereby giuing vs to vnderstand that as the eie of al the other senses is most beautifull subtill and pearcing so the vertue of Prudence by hir quicke and cleere light directeth and conducteth al vertues in their good and commendable operations It is by hir that man is alwaies clothed with a milde and setled disposition whereof he standeth no lesse in need than a ship floating on the sea doth of the presence of a pilot that he may prudently vndertake wisely execute whatsoeuer he knoweth to be good after mature deliberation and consideration of all the circumstances of the fact Morall philosophers attributed three eies to this vertue of Prudence namely Memorie Vnderstanding and Prouidence which three things Cicero calleth the parts of Prudence With the first she beholdeth the time past with the second the time present with the third the time to come Moreouer a prudent and wise man by the consideration of things past and of that which hath followed since iudgeth of that which in the like case may fall out in the time following And after long deliberation he expecteth the times waigheth the dangers and knoweth the occasions and then yeelding now and then to the times but alwaies to necessitie so it be not against dutie he boldly setteth
imbecillitie to be stirred vp to anger and to be troubled let vs follow that commandement of the Scripture Not to sinne in our anger neither to let the sunne go downe vpon our wrath least we shew our selues to haue lesse vertue and curtesie than the Ethnike Pythagorian Philosophers who albeit they were neither of kinne nor allied yet kept this custome inuiolable that if peraduenture they were entred into some contention and choler one against another before the sunne went downe they appointed a meeting where they imbraced and shooke hands one with another Further we haue carefully to auoyd all occasions which we know might induce and prouoke vs to choler As Cotis king of Thracia wisely behaued himselfe when one brought him a present of many goodly vessels curiously made and wrought but very brittle and easie to breake bicause they were of glasse After he had well recompenced the gift he brake them all for feare least through choler whereunto he knew himselfe subiect he should be mooued with wrath against any of his seruants that should breake them and so punish him too seuerely And of this matter we may also draw a good instructiō for all those that are placed in authoritie aboue others namely that they beware least they correct or punish any body in their choler but only when they are void of all vehement passions considering the fact in it selfe aduisedly and with quiet and setled sences knowing that as bodies seeme greater through a miste so doe faults through choler which for the most part carieth Princes headlong to commit execrable and cursed cruelties Among many examples we may note that of the emperor Theodosius who being mooued with anger against those of Thessalonica for a commotion which they made for staying his lieutenant sent his army thither with commādement that they should be vtterly rooted out whereupon fifteene thousand were slaine neither women nor children being spared Of which fault repenting him but too late he made a law afterward whereby he willed that the execution of his letters Patents and Commaundements should be held in suspence and deferred thirtie days after signification and knowledge of them namely when any were to be punished more rigorously than of custome he vsed Neither is it lesse dangerous in an estate that the administration of publike charges should be committed to such as suffer themselues to be ouer-ruled with wrath seeing there are not in a maner fewer matters which are to be winked at and dissembled than to be punished corrected And although Magistrates haue authoritie iust cause to punish vices yet haue they no licence to shew thēselues to be passionated But this being a matter of Policie let vs continue our morall instructions and note that which we read of Plato deseruing to be considered of here who being very angry with a seruaunt of his for a great fault committed by him and seeing Xenocrates to come towards him requested him if he were his friend to correct that seruant of his bicause at this present quoth he anger surmounteth my reason Whereby this wise Philosopher declared sufficiently that if the first motions are not at all in our power through the imperfection of our nature yet at the lest reason may serue for a bridle to hinder euery naughtie execution teaching vs likewise that we ought to vse and exercise our power and authoritie ouer others without any extreme passion Further that we may haue such imperfections in greater hatred we are to note that choler hath been the ouerthrow of many great men as it was of the emperor Aurelianus who was endued with notable vertues but otherwise easilie mooued to anger whose wrath was such that their death with whom he was displeased was the onely remedie to appease it For being one day incensed against Mnesteus his Secretarie he knowing his masters disposition for the safegard of his life deuised to write counterfaiting the emperors hand in a litle scroule the names of the principall captaines of his army putting himselfe in the number of those whom he had fully purposed to put to death and bearing it vnto them sayd that he saw this bill fall out of the emperours sleeue Whereat they being astonished and giuing credit thereunto resolued with themselues to preuent it and so falling vpon him slew him Moreouer it is well known to euery one that choler may greatly hurt health whereof men are for the most part desirous enough It was cause of the emperour Valentinians death who through crying out in his choler brake a veine in his neck From this vice proceedeth another detestable imperfection which is swearing a thing directly contrary to a wise mans life and condemned by the lawe both of God and man whereof we might easilie be cured by custome if first we destroied Impatiencie and Choler which prouoke blasphcmie The Romanes obserued an auncient decree which expresly commaunded that when yong men would sweare by the name of some God they should first go out of the house wherin they were Which was a commēdable mean both to retain keep them frō swearing lightly vpō the suddain also that they might haue good laisure space to bethink thēselues This would be very profitable for vs towards the correction of this vice the vnmeasurable licence whereof ought to be kept backe and chastised by some better meanes Yea it were very expedient and necessarie to renew and put in practise that law of good king S. Lewes that all blasphemers should be marked in the forehead with an hot iron yea punished with death if they would not be corrected otherwise Such contemners of the name of God ought to learne their lesson of Carilaüs the Ethnicke and Pagan who being demanded why the images of the Gods in Lacedemonia were armed to the end quoth he that men might feare to blaspheme the Gods knowing that they are armed to take reuengement Concluding therefore our present discourse let vs learne to decke our liues so well with patience which is so profitable and necessary to saluation and to a good and happie life that we be patient towards all men in all things to the end we may obey the will of God and reape the fruite of his promises as the end of patience is the expectation of things promised And let vs know that the learning and vertue of a man is knowne by patience and that he is to be accounted to haue lesse learning and vertue that hath lesse patience Further let vs learne that the office dutie of a prudent and noble minded man is to winke at many things that befall him to redresse other things to hold his peace at some things and to suffer much so that he follow reason alwaies and flie opinion Lastly we are to know that he which endureth euill patiently shall know also how afterward he may easily beare prosperitie and that euery christian offereth an