by reason of their age and weaknesse of theyr strength are subiect to sundry imperfections and molested with many diseases Pacunius Gray hayres oft-times are intangled vvith loue but stailesse youth intrapped with lust Age is more to be honored for his wisdom then youth commended for his beauty The mind of an old man is not mutable his fancies are fixed his affections not fleeting he chooseth without intention to change neuer forsaketh his choyce till death make challenge of his life The olde Cedar tree is lesse shaken with the winde then the young bâ—amble and age farre more stayed in his affaires then youth Old men are more meet to giue counsaile then fit to follow warres Bias. Though young men excell in strength yet old men exceede in stedfastnes Though all men are subiect to the suddaine stroke of death yet old men in nature seeme neerest to their graue Age is a crowne of glory when it is adorned with righteousnes but the dregs of dishonor when it is mingled with mischiefe Honorable age consisteth not in the terme of yeeres neyther is it measured by the date of mans dayes but by godly wisedome and an vndefiled life Age is forgetfull and gray hayres are declining steps from strength Age is giuen to melanâ—hollie and manie yeeres acquainted with many dumps Age speaketh by experience and liketh by tryall but youth leaneth vnto vvit vvhich is voyde of wisedome He that will not be aduised by age shall be deceiued by youth Old age is the fore-runner of death Age and time are two thinges which men may fore-thinke of but neuer preuent Men of age â—eare and fore-see that vvhich youth neuer regardeth Olde folkes oft-times are more greedie of coyne then carefull to keepe a good conscience Bias. Age may bee allotted to gaze at beauties blossoms but youth must clime the tree and enioy the fruit Nature lendeth age authority 〈…〉 nes of hart is the glory of all yeeres VVhilst the haires be hidden craftily age bewrayes it selfe Children are compared to the spring-time striplings to sommer-season young-men to autumn and old men to winter An olde man ought to remember his age past and to bethinke himselfe hovv hee hath spent his time if he finde himselfe faulty in neglecting such good deedes as hee might haue done he ought forth-with to be carefull to spend the remainder of his life in liberality towards the poore Old men are commonly couetous because their getting dayes are past It is a great shame for an olde man to be ignorant in the principles of religion An old man ought to be reuerenced for his grauity sooner then for his gray haires If young men had knowledge and old men strength the vvorld vvould become a nevv paradice A man aged and wise is worthy double reuerence Infancie is but a foolish simplicity full of lamentations and harmes as it were laid open to a maine Sea without a sterne Youth is an indiscreete heate outragious blind heady violent and vaine Mans estate is trouble vexation of mind full of repentance and plunged in care Non est senectus vt tu opinaris pater Onus grauissimum sed impatientius Qui fert sibi ipse est author illius mali Patienter at qui sibi quietem comparat Dum dextere eius moribus se accomodat Nec ille solum detrahit molestiam Accersit aliquam sed voluptatem sibi Si nauig andum sit quatuor per dies De comeatu cura nobis maxima At se in senectam quid licet comparcere Non instruemus nos eo viatico Of Death Defi. Death is taken three maner of wayes the first is the seperation of the soule from the bodie with the dissolution of the body vntil the resurrection the second is the death of sinne sith he is sayd to be dead which lyeth sleeping in sin the third is eternall death vnto which the wicked shall bee condemned in the day of generall iudgement DEath is the law of nature the trybute of the flesh the remedy of euills and the path eyther to heauenly felicitie or eternall misery Heâ—â—clit Destenie may be deferred but can neuer be preuented An honourable death is to be preferred before an infamous life That man is very simple that dreadeth death because he feareth thereby to be cutte off from the pleasures of this life Death hath his roote from sinne August Death is the end of feare and beginning of felicitie There is nothing more certaine theÌ„ death nor any thing more vncertain then the houre of death No man dyeth more willingly then he that hath liued most honestly It is better to die well then to liue wantonlie Socrat. Death it selfe is not so painfull as the feare of death is vnpleasant Death is the end of all miseries but infamy is the beginning of all sorrowes Plut. VVhile men seeke to prolong theyr lyfe they are preuented by some suddaine death VVhile wee thinke to flie death wee most earnestly follow death VVhat is he that being lustie and young in the morning can promise himselfe life vntill the euening Many men desire death in their misery that cannot abide his presence in the time of their prosperitie An euill death putteth great doubt of a good life and a good death partly excuseth an euill life The death of euill men is the safety of good men liuing Cicero Hee that euery hower feareth death can neuer be possessed of a quiet conscience Nothing is more like to death then sleepe who is deaths elder brother Cicero There is nothing more common then suddaine death which beeing considered by the great Phylosopher Demonax hee therefore warned the Emperour Adrian and such other as lyued at theyr pleasure and ease in no wise to forget how in euery short moment they should be no more Nature hath giuen no better thing then death Plinie To men in misery death is most welcome Death deadly woundeth without eyther dread or daliance Sith death is a thing that cannot be auoided it ought of all men the lesse to be feared By the same vvay that life goeth death coÌ„meth Aurelius The most profitable thing for the worlde is the death of couetous and euill people Death is lyfe to the godly minded man whose meditation is on diuine matters and whose hope is heauen Death is common to all persons though to some one way and to some another If we liue to die then we die to liue All things haue an end by death saue onely death whose end is vnknowne Death is metaphorically called the end of all flesh Aristot. The last curer of diseases is death Death despiseth all riches and glory and ruleth ouer all estates alike Boetius None neede to feare death saue those that haue committed so much iniquitie as after death deserueth damnation Socrat. VVisedome maketh men to despise death it ought therefore of all men to be imbraced as the best remedy against the feare of death Hermes So liue and hope as if thou shouldest dye immediatly Plinie Non
moneth into dayes and called them Festos profestos and Intercisos the first dedicated to the gods the next to men for dispatching of theyr busines the last as common for theyr Gods as men A day natural hath twenty foure houres a day artificiall hath twelue houres The day beginneth vvith the Egyptians at sunne-setting and vvith the Persians at the sunne-rising The Athenians count all the time from the setting of the sunne till the setting of the sun againe but one day The Babylonians count their day from the sunne rising in the morning till the sun rising the next day The Vmbrians an auncient people in Italy count theyr day from noonetide till no one-tide next following The vvicked and euill-liuing man loueth darknes and hateth the light One day taketh from vs the credite that another hath giuen vs and the last must make reckoning of all the rest past By daily experience we wax wiser wiser Hee that refuseth to amend his life to day may happen to be dead ere to morrow Aure. Let no day be spent without some remembrance how thou hast bestowed thy time Vespasian thought that day lost vvherein he â—ad not gotten a friend One day the hardy broode Of Fabius sent to fight Thus sent one day Did see them nobly dead ere night The Romans called Iupiter Diespiter which signifieth the father of the day or light Light is some-times taken for day and darknes for night No day commeth to man wherein he hath not some cause of sorrow Quintil. The entrance of adolescencie is the end of infancie mans estate the death of youth and the morrow dayes birth the ouer-throw of this dayes pride Light is the Queene of the eyes Aug. GOD in the beginning made tvvo great lights one for the day another for the night Day is the image of life night of death Aug. The pleasure of the day is the sunne called of the Philosophers the golden eye and hart of heauen The light of learning is the day of the minde Aug. Euery day that passeth is not to be thought as the last but that it may be the last Seneca The sunne melteth wax and hardneth clay Abbreuiare dies poteris producere nunquam Abbreuiare tuum est sed prolong are tonantis Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus eui Prima fugit subeunt morbi tistisque senectus Et labor et durae rapit inclementia mortis Night or Darknes Defi. Night is the houres of rest and peace after labours beeing commonly that part of the day naturall in which the sunne is hidden from vs cheering the Antipodes THe longer the night is in comming the more it is desired of the oppressed yet no sooner seene then wisht to be departing Night is the benefit of nature and made for mans rest Liuius Suspition and feare are nights companions This our life is as it were night Aug. Darknes is not euill but in comparison of the light Aug. Euery light hath his shadow and euery shadow of night a succeeding morning The darknes of our vertues and not of our eyes is to be feared Aug. It is not darknes but absence of the light that maketh night Darknes cannot be seene Aug. The breath wee breathe in the morning is often stopt and vanished before night Night followeth day as a shadow followeth a body Arist. Night is more comfortable to the miserable then the day Night is the cloake to couer sinne and the armour of the vniust man Theophr Night which is the nurse of ease is the mother of vnquiet thoughts Night which is all silence heares all the coÌ„plaints of the afflicted The deeded of the night are lothsome to the day neyther hath light to doe with darknes Night is warres enemy yet is it the onely finder out of martiall stratagems A darke night and a deadly resolution begets cause of the dayes lamentation Night vvhich is most foule begets day vvhich is most faire a contrary of a contrarie Night begets rest and rest is the refreshing of tired spirits VVhat euer is ouer-wearied by the dayes exercise is as it vvere nevve borne by the nights rest and quiet Tully Night and sinne hold affinitie and ioyntly ayde each other It is impossible to weare out the day in trauaile if some part of the night be not spent in rest Vt ingulent homines surgunt de nocte latrones vt teipsum serues non expergisceris Horatius Interiores tenebrae caecitas mentis exteriores infernus Of Wickednes Defi. VVickednes is any sinne vice or euil committed or imagined in the whole course of our liues and the meane by which we loose Gods fauour and expose our selues to the danger of hell fire THe prosperity of euill men is the calamitie of the good VVhen wicked men reioyce it is a signe of some tempest approching It is the corruption of the good to keepe company with the euill Reioyce as often as thou art despised of euill men and perswade thy selfe that their euill opinion of thee is most perfit praise Ill men are more hasty then good men be forward in prosecuting their purpose Hee that worketh wickednes by another is guilty of the fact committed himselfe Bias. It is better to destroy the wickednes it selfe then the wicked man Vnexperienced euils doe hurt most The remembrance of euill thinges is to be obserued by the contemplation of good matters Phillip K. of Macedon assembled together the most wicked persons and furthest from correction of all his subiects and put them into a Towne which hee builded of purpose calling it Poneropolis the Citty of vvicked persons Continuance of euill doth in it selfe increase euill S. P S. A wicked life is the death of the soule Chris. VVho can be more vnfortunate then hee which of necessity will needs be euill VVho soeuer hee be that spareth to punish the wicked doth thereby much harme to the good Anachar It is a praise to the godly to be dispraised of the wicked and it is likewise a dispraise to be praised of them Sinne blindeth the eyes of the wicked but punishments open them Greg. The wicked man is daily drawne to punishment and is ignorant therof The minde of an ill disposed person is more vnstable then the superficies of the water VVhen wicked men be in the midst of all theyr iollitie then some misfortune comes knocking at the doore VVhen the euill man vvould seeme to be good then is he worst of all He is euill that doth willingly associate him selfe with wicked men VVicked men are the deuils shadowes Vertue is health but vice is sicknes Plato The wicked man attempteth thinges impossible Arist. The wicked man is euer in feare Plato Hee vvrongeth the good that spareth the wicked A good sentence proceeding from a wicked mans mouth looseth his grace The progeny of the wicked although it be not wholy infected yet it vvill sauour something of the fathers filthines As vertue is a garment of honour so vvickednes is a robe of shame Cursed is
heauenly apparrell All thinges are tollerable saue those things which are dishonest Calistes the harlot said shee excelled Socrates because that when she was disposed shee could draw his auditors from him no meruaile sayth hee for thou allurest them to dishonestie to which the way is ready but I exhort them to vertue whose way is harde to finde Honestie is ioyned with misery dishonestie vvith all kinde of vvorldly felicitie but the misery which we suffer for honestie shall bee turned to euerlasting comfort and that felicitie gotten by dishonestie shall bee changed into perpetuall torment Saepé diespiter neglectus Incaesto addidit integrum Raâ—o antecedentem scelestum Deseruit pede poena claudo Disce bonas artes moneo romana iuuentus Sit procul omne nefas vt ameris amabilis esto Vices in generall Defi. Vice is an inequalitie and iarring of manners proceeding from mans naturall inclination to pleasure and naughtie desires A Man sildome repenteth his silence but he is often sorrowfull for his hastie speeches Hee that is rooted in sinne will hardly bee by good counsaile reformed VVho doubts of God with Protagoras is an infidell who denieth God with Diagoras is an Epicure and a deuill Consent and sin are both of one kind Vice is the habitude of sin but sinne is the act of the habitude Hee that pampers his flesh dooth nourish many wormes Demonax Excessiue sleepe is found the bodies foe Lust bringeth short life prodigalitie vvretched life and perseuerance in sinne eternall damnation As by nature some men are more inclined to sicknes then othersome so one mans mind is more prone then anothers to all vnrighteousnesse The sicknes of our age is auarice the errors of our youth inconstancie Theopom Craft putteth on him the habite of policie malice the shape of courage rashnesse the title of valure lewdnesse the image of pleasure thus dissembled vices seeme great vertues VVhere elders are dissolute past grauity there the younger sort are shamelesse past grace Euery vice fighteth against nature Vice ruleth where gold raigneth Greg. VVe ought not to hate the man but his vices August There are more vices then vertues Greg. Riches gotten with craft are coÌ„monly lost with shame Folly in youth negligence in age breeds at length woe to both the one ending in sorowfull griefe the other in lamentable miserie VVhere youth is voyde of exercise there age is voyde of honestie Flattery soothing great men in their humors getteth more coine then true speeches can get credite Bias. Faire faces haue gotten foule vices straight personages crooked manners good complexions bad conditions A merry minde dooth commonly shewe a gentle nature where a sower countenaunce â—s a manifest signe of a froward disposition Sobrietie without fullennesse is commenâ—lable and mirth with modestie delectable Euery vice hath a cloake creepeth in vnder the name of vertue VVee ought to haue an especiall care least â—hose vices deceiue vs which beare a shewe of vertue Craft often-tymes accompanieth pollicie too much austeritie temperance pride a resolute minde prodigalitie liberalitie fortitude temeritie and religion superstition VVhat Nation dooth not loue gentlenesse thankfulnes and other commendable parts in a man Contrarily who dooth not hate a proude disdainfull vnhonest and vnthankfull person Cum â—aleamur satis magnam vim esse in vitijs ad miseram vitam fatendum est etiam eandem vim in virtute esse ad beatam vitam contrarioruÌ„ enim contraria sunt consequentia Qui voluptatibus ducuntur et se vitiorum illecebris et cupiditatuÌ„ lenocinijs dediderunt missos faciant honores nec atting ant reÌ„publicaÌ„ patianter viros fortes labore se otio suo perfrui Of Ingratitude Defi. Ingratitude is that which maketh men impudent so that they dare ioyne together tâ— hurt those which haue been their best friends and them to whom they are bounde both by blood nature and benefits INgratitude challengeth reuenge by custome and is a vice most hatefull both before God and man Ingratitude for great benefits maketh men to dispayre of recompence and of faythfull friends causeth them to become mortall foes Impudency is the companion of that monster ingratitude Stobaeus He is vnthankfull that being pardoned sinneth againe There can be no greater iniury offered to a free minde and a bashfull face then to be called vnthankfull sith such reproches sincke most deepely into the reputation of honor Ingratitude springeth either froÌ„ couetousnesse or suspect Theophr It is a shamelesse and vnthankfull part alwayes to craue and neuer to giue Martiall Princes rewarding nothing purchase nothing and desert beeing neglected courage will be vnwilling to attempt Benefits well bestowed establish a kingdome but seruice vnrewarded weakeneth it Archim The nature of man is ambitious vnthankfull suspectfull not knowing rightly how to vse his friendes or with what regarde to recompence hys well-willers for theyr benefits bestowed Anthonie in the time of Vespasian when hee was proclaimed and named Emperour after all his seruices against the Vitellians after hee had recouered Rome was suspected by Mutianus brought to Rome without authoritie and visiting Vespasian in Asia hee vvas so coldly entertained that he died very shortlie after not onely disgraded and disgraced but also most desperatly Tis better to bee borne foolish then to vnderstand how to be vnthankfull The ingratitude of the Romaines towardes Scipio was by reason of the conceiued suspect of his fortunes the suddainnesse of his expedition and the greatnes of his enemies All which forced a wound in the greatest wits a dread in all sorts of people Cato Priscus hauing deserued vvell of the Romaines was disgraced by them for thys onely cause because his oppugner sayd that that Cittie coulde not bee free where there was a Cittizen which was feared of the Magistrate Ingratitude looseth all things in himselfe in forgetting all duties to his friend To doe good to an vnthankfull body is to sowe corne on the sand Two contraries giue light one to the other and ingratitude and thankfulnes are best discerned one by the other There is no affection among men so firmely placed but through vnthankfull dealing it may be changed to hatred Bias. Two heads vpon one body is a monstrous sight but one vnthankfull hart in a bosome is more odious to behold Bias. There cannot bee a greater occasion of hatred then to repay good turns with vnthankfull dealing The vnthankfull man hath euer beene accounted a more dangerous buyer then the debtor Cognet The vngratefull man is of worse condition then the serpent which hath venom to anoy other but not himselfe Tis better neuer to receiue benefit then to be vnthankfull for it Thankfulnes dooth consist in truth and iustice truth doth acknowledge what is receiued and iustice doth render one good turne for another Stobaeus He is vnthankfull with whom a benefit perisheth he is more vngrateful which wil forget the same but he is most vnthankfull that rendereth euill for the good hee hath receiued Bias. Hee which receiueth
aut scientia superbire ô superba praesumptio ô praesumptuosa superbia August Cum non sit nostrum quod sumus quomodo nostrum est quod habemus Stultitiae genus est vt cum alijs debeas vitae beneficium tibi adscribas ornamenta virtutum Of Treason Defi. Treason is that damned vice hated of God and man where-with periured persons being bewitched feare not to betray themselues so they may eyther betray others or theyr Countrey it is the breach of fayth and loyaltie with God theyr Gouernours and Country THey are deceaued that looke for any reward for treason Curtius The conflict with traytours is more dangerous then open enemies Liuius Traytors are like moaths which eate the cloath in which they were bred like Vipers that gnaw the bowels where they were born lyke vvormes which consume the wood in which they were ingendered Agesilaus Trecherie hath alvvayes a more glozing shew then truth and flattery displayes a brauer flag then fayth No place is safe enough for a traytor Amb. Once a traytor and neuer after trusted Liuius VVho will not with Antigonus make much of a traytor going about to plesure him but hauing his purpose who will not hate him to the death Such as are traytors to their Prince periured to God deserue no credit with men Trechery ought not to be concealed and friends haue no priuiledge to be false Such as couet most bitterly to betray first seeke most sweetly to entrap Phillip Traytors leaue no practise vndone because they will not but because they dare not Victory is not so earnestly to be sought as treason is to be shunned Scylla did betray her owne Father vnto Minos but he rewarded her accordingly Ouid. A Schoolmaister among the Falerians hauing the charge and bringing vp of all the youth in the Cittie hoping to recouer the fauour of the Romaâ—s betrayed all the Cittizens children into the hands of Camillus but Camillus louing iustice caused him to bee stript and his hands to be bound behind him and gaue the children rods whips to beate him home to the Citty A good vvarrior ought to commit the fortune of his vvarre to the trust of his ovvne vertue not to the impiety and treason of his enemies Tarpeias daughter betrayed the Castle of Rome to the Sabines for lucre sake Many men loue the treason though they hate the traytor Many conspire valiantly but ende wretchedly Traytors haue continual feare for their bedfellow care for their coÌ„panion the sting of conscience for their torment Manlius A light head an ambitious desire a corrupt conscience ill counsaile soone breede a traytor VVhere the peoples affection is assured the traytors purpose is preuented Bias. There are many Traytors in Common-weales whom it is better to forbeare then to prouoke Of rash hopes proceede perrillous ends of execrable treasons damnable successe Traytors about the thrones of Princes are like wolues about the foulds of sheepe One skabd sheepe will infect a whole flock and one traytor subuert a whole Monarchy Caesar rewarded those that betrayed Pompey with death Those that murdered Caesar in the Senate-house neuer prospered Tully sayth that no vvise-man at any time will trust a Traytor Ne colloquiorum de praetextu pacis proditiones vrbium tententur fiantque interlocutores maximé cauendum est Proditores vrbium saepé né ipsi quidem proditionem euadunt sed ab hoste trucidantur Of Desperation Defi. Desperation is a sorrowfulnes without all hope of better fortune a vice which falsely shrowdeth it selfe vnder the tytle of fortitâ—de and valure and tickling the vaine humors of the vaine-glorious carry them to ignoble and indisereet actions to the vtter losse of soâ—les and bodies DEsperation is a double sinne and finall impenitency hath no remission It is better to be counted a dastardly coward then a desperate caitife Let no man dispaire of grace although hee repent in his latter age for God iudgeth of a mans end and not of his life past Benard Desperation springeth from the ignorance of God Aug. Idlenes is the root of desperation Theod. Better it is to lyue pinched vvith a few momentary passions then with desperate death to destroy both soule and body It is vaine to be stout and desperate where none of both will preuaile It is better to prolong our lyfe in miserie then to hasten our owne death without hope of mercy Lactan. Loue wanting desire makes the mind desperate and fixed fancie bereft of loue turneth into fury Desperate thoughts are fit for them that feare shame not for such as hope for credit Sighes are the emblazers of thoughts and melancholy the messenger of dispaire There is no offence so great but mercy may pardon neyther is there any thing so desperate which time cannot cure Dispaire is the fruite of disordinate sinne vvhich becomming his owne Iudge proues his owne exexcutioner The feare of ineuitable punishment is the cause of desperation Stobaus Nothing doth more torment a man then forsaken hope Quintilian Desperation preferreth profit before honestie Erasmus Let no man dispaire of that thing to be effected which hath beene done already Extreame feare danger makes cowards desperatly aduenturous and what perswasion could not make constant misery hath made desperate Resolution is grounded on honour desperatenes on danger He is foolishly desperate that engageth his honour for beauty and aduentureth the halter for a lye Diog. Fortune desperatly attained is as desperatlie lost and dispaire suddainly entertayned is a token of a wretched conscience If thou wilt be accounted valiant let neyther chaunce nor griefe make thee desperate Dispaire comes of the feeblenes of courage and the lack of wit To him that is subiect to passion dispayre is euer attendant He that is desperatly inclined to his ovvne will is euer most neere to the wrath of God Despaire leadeth damnation in chaynes and violently layes clayme to the vvrath of God Bernard Despayre and reuenge depriue men of the mercy of God and cleane blotteth out the memory of their former good deeds There can be no greater wonder then to see a wise-man become desperate Of all the perturbations of mans mind dispaire is the most pernicious Liuius If he be a wicked homicide which killeth a man then is he the same vvhich killeth himselfe because he killeth a man Many reading Plato his booke of the immortalitie of the soule haue layde violent hands vpon themselues Hee that through the burthen of his sinnes breakes forth into desperation wilfully refuseth the mercy of the Almighty VVhen hope leaueth a man feare beginneth to conquer him Plato The soules first comfort is to auoyde the fault the next not to dispaire of pardon Desperation is a certaine death Aug. The desperate ambitious build theyr houses vpon others ruins afterwards fall them selues by like practises S. P. S. Brutus and Cassius after the death of Caesar desperatly flew themselues Anthony when he heard that Cleopatra had killed her selfe sayd dye Anthony what lookest thou for