liue honest and temperate the which cannot well bee done vnlesse they bee marryed or that they see themselues to bee conquerors of the flesh and being so they are satisfyed but if they be not marryed and the flesh doth assault them then they liue immediately conuered Wherefore of necessitie they must goe by their Neighbours houses or else by some other dishonest places scattered abroad to the reproach and dishonor of them and their kindred and oftentimes to the great perill and danger of their Persons CHAP. III. Of sundry and diuers Lawes which the Ancients had in Contracting Matrimony not onely in the choyse of Women but also in the manner of celebrating Marriage IN all Nations and in all the Realmes of the World Marriage hath alwayes beene accepted and marueilously commended for otherwise the world had not beene peopled nor yet the number of men multiplyed The ancients neuer disagreed one from another in the approbation and acception of Marriage but there was amongst them great difference and strife vpon the contracts ceremonies and vsages of the same For they vsed as much difference in contracting Matrimony and choosing their wiues as these Epicures do desire the varietie of sundry delicate meates The diuine Plato in his Booke hee made of the Common-wealth did counsell that all thinges should be common and that not onely in bruit beasts in moueables and heritages but also that womē should be common for he sayd that if these two words thine and mine were abolished and out of vse there should not bee debates nor quarels in this world They cal Plato Diuine for many good things which he spake but now they may call him Worldly for the counsel profane which he gaue I cannot tell what beastlinesse it may be called nor what greater rudenes may be thought that the apparrell should be proper and the wiues common The bruite beast doth not know that which came out of her belly longer then it sucketh of her brests And in this sort it would chance to men yea and worse too if women were common in the Common-wealth for though one should know the Mother which hath borne him hee should not know the Father which hath begotten him The Tharentines which were wel renowmed amongst the ancients and not a little feared of the Romanes had in their Citie of Tharente a law and custome to marry themselues with a legitimate wife to beget children but besides her a man might yet chuse two others for his secret pleasures Spartianus sayd that the Emperour Hellus Verus as touching women was very dissolute and since his wife was young and faire and that she did complaine of him because he led no honest life with her hee spake these words vnto her My wife thou hast no cause to complayne of me since I remaine with thee vntill such time as thou art quicke with childe for the residue of the time we husbands haue licence and priuiledge to seek our pastimes with other women For this name of a wife containeth in it honour but for the residue it is a grieuous burden and painefull office The like matter came to Ptolomeus King of Egipt of whom the Queene his wife did greatly complaine Admit that all the Greekes haue beene esteemed to bee very wise amongst all those the Athenians were esteemed of most excellent vertue for the Sages that gouerned the Common-wealth remained in Athens with the Philosophers which taught the Sciences The Sages of Athens ordeyned that all the neighbours and inhabitants might keepe two lawfull wiues and furthermore vpon paine of grieuous punishments did commaund that none should presume nor be so hardy to maintain any concubine for they sayd when men haunt the companie of light women comonly they misuse their lawfull Wiues As Plutarch saith in his Politiques the cause why the Greekes made this lawe was considering that man could not nor ought not to liue without the companie of a woman and therefore they would that a man should marrie with two wines For if the one were diseased and lay in yet the other might serue in bed waite at the Table and doe other businesses in the house Those of Athens had another great respect and cōsideration to make this law which was this that if it chanced the one to be barren the other should bring forth children in the Common-wealth and in such case shee that brought forth Children should be esteemed for Mistresse and the other that was barren should be taken for a seruant When this law was made Socrates was marryed to Xantippa and to accomplish the law hee tooke another called Mirra which was the daughter of the Phylosopher Aristides and sith those two women had great quarrells and debates together and that thereby they slaundered their Neighbours Socrates saide vnto them My wiues yee see right well that my eyes are hollow my legges are withered my hāds are wrinckled my head is balde my bodie is little and the haires are white Why doe yee then that are so faire stand in contention and strife for mee that am so deformed Though Socrates saide these wordes as it were in ieast yet such words were occasion that the quarrells and strifes betweene them ceased The Lacedemonians than in the time of peace and warre were always contrary to the Athenians obserued it for an inuiolable lawe not that one man should marry with two wiues but that one woman should marrie with two husbands and the reason was that when one Husband should goe to the warre the other shold tarry at home For they saide that a man in no wise should agree to leaue his Wife alone in the common-wealth Plinie writing an Epistle vnto his friend Locratius and Saint Hierome writing to a Frier called Rusticus saith That the Atbenians did vse to marry Bretheren with the Sisters but they did not permitte the Auntes to marrie with their Nephewes neither the Vnckles with their Nieces For they sayd that brothers and sisters to marrie together was to marry with their semblables but for vnckles to marry Nieces Aunts with Nephews was as of fathers to daughters and of mothers to sonnes Melciades which was a man of great renowme amongst the Grecians had a sonne called Cimonius who was marryed to his owne sister called Pinicea and being demaunded of one why hee tooke his sister in marriage hee answered My sister is faire sage rich and made to my appetite and her Father and mine did recommend her vnto mee and since by the commaundement of the Gods a man ought to accomplish the behests and requests of Fathers I haue determined since Nature hath giuen mee her for my sister willingly to take her for my lawfull Wife Dyodorus Siculus saith that before the Egiptians receyued any Lawes euery man had as manie Wiues as hee would and this was at the libertie of both partyes for as much as if she would goe shee went liberally and forsooke the man and likewise hee left her when
offer therin the sacrifice accustomed For wee doe not this honour to the substance wherewith the Temples are made but to the gods to whome they are consecrated I commend vnto thee the veneration of Priests I pray thee though they be couetous auaritious dissolute vnpatient negligent and vitious yet that they bee not dishonoured for to vs others it appertaineth not to iudge of the life they lead as men but wee must consider that they are mediators between the gods and vs. Behold my sonne that to serue the Gods honour the Temples and reuerence the Priests it is not a thing voluntary but verie necessarie for Princes For so long endured the glorie of the Greekes as they were worshippers of their goods and carefull of their temples The vnhappy realm of Carthage was nothing more cowardly nor lesse rich then that of the Romanes but in the ende of the Romaines they were ouercome because they were great louers of their treasures and little worshippers of their Temples I commend vnto thee my sonne Helia thy stepmother and remember though she be not thy mother yet shee hath beene my wife That which to thy mother Faustine thou oughtest for bringing thee into the world the selfe same thou oughtest to Helia for the good entertainement she hath shewed thee And indeed oftentimes I beeing offended with thee shee maintained thee and caused me to forget so that shee by her good wordes did winne againe that which thou by thy euill workes didst lose Thou shalt haue my curse if thou vsest her euill and thou shalt fall into the ire of the Gods if thou agreest that other doe not vse her well For all the damage which shee shall feele shall not bee but for the inconuenience of my death and iniury of thy person For her Dowrie I leaue her the tributes of Hestia and the Orchards of Vulcanus which I haue made to bee planted for her recreation Be thou not so hardy to take them from her for in taking them from her thou shalt shew thy wickednes and in leauing them her thy obedience and in giuing her more thy bounty and liberality Remember my sonne that shee is a Romane woman young and a widdow and of the house of Traiane my Lord that shee is thy mother adoptatiue and my naturall wife and aboue all for that I leaue her recommended vnto thee I commend vnto thee my sons in law whom I will thou vse as parents and friends And beware that thou be not of those which are brethren in words and cousins in workes Bee thou assured that I haue willed so much good to my daughters that the best which were in all the Countries I haue chosen for their persons And they haue beene so good that if in giuing them my daughters they were my sonnes in law in loue I loued them as children I commend vnto thee my sisters and daughters whom I leaue thee all married not with strange Kings but with naturall Senators So that all dwell in Rome where they may doe thee seruices and thou mayest giue them rewards and gifts Thy sisters haue greatly inherited the beauty of thy mother Faustine and haue taken little nature of their Father Marke But I sweare vnto thee that I haue giuen them such husbands and to their husbands such and so profitable counsailes that they would rather lose their life then agree to any thing touching their dishonour Vse thy sisters in such fort that they be not out of fauour for that their aged Father is dead and that they become not proud for to see their brother Emperour Women are of a very tender condition for of small occasion they doe complaine and of lesse they waxe proud Thou shalt keepe them and preserue them after my death as I did in my life For otherwise their conuersation to the people shall bee very noysome and to thee very importunate I commende vnto thee Lipula thy youngest sister which is inclosed within the Virgine Vestals who was daughter of thy mother Faustine whom so dearely I haue loued in life and whose death I haue bewailed vntill my death Euery yeere I gaue to thy sister sixe thousand sexterces for her necessities and indeeed I had married her also if shee had not fallen into the fire and burnt her face For though she were my last I loued her with all my heart All haue esteemed her fall into the fire for euill lucke but I doe count that euill lucke for good fortune For her face was not so burned with coales as her rerenowne suffered perill among euill tongues I sweare vnto thee my sonne that for the seruice of the gods and for the renowne of men she is more sure in the temple with the Vestall Virgins then thou art in the Senate with thy Senators I suppose now that at the end of the iourney shee shall find her selfe better to be enclosed then thou at liberty I leaue vnto her in the prouince of Lucania euery yeare sixe thousand sexterces trauell to augment them for her and not to diminish them I commend vnto thee Drusia the Roman widdow who hath a processe in the Senate For in the times of the commotions past her husband was banished and proclaymed Traytor I haue great pitty of so noble and worthy a widdow for it is now three monethes since shee hath put vp her complaint for the great warres I could not shew her iustice Thou shalt finde my sonne that in 35. yeares I haue gouerned in Rome I neuer agreed that any widow should haue any sute before me aboue eight dayes Be carefull to fauour and dispatch the orphans and widdows for the needy widdow in what place soeuer they be do incur into great danger Not without cause I aduertise thee that thou trauell to dispatch thē so soone as thou mayest and to administer iustice vnto them for throgh the prolonging of beautifull womens suites their honour and credite is diminished so that their businesse being prolonged they shall not recouer so much of their goods as they shall lose of their renowme I commend vnto thee my sonne my olde seruants which with my yong yeeres and my cruell wars with my great necessities with the cumbrance of my body and my long disease haue had great trouble and as faithful seruants oftentimes to ease me haue annoyed themselues It is conuenient since I haue profited of their life that they should not lose by my death Of one thing I assure thee that though my body remaine with the worms in the graue yet before the gods I will remember them And herein thou shalt shew thy selfe to be a good child whē thou shalt recompence those which haue serued thy Father well All Princes which shall do iustice shall get enemies in the execution thereof And sith it is done by the hands of those which are neere him the more familiar they are with the Prince the more are they hated of the people all in generall doe loue
graue countenance eloquenr in speech yet hee spake little stout in his affaires and diligent in his businesse in aduersities patient and a great enemie of the vicious temperate in eating drinking and a friend of religious persons so that they sayde hee resembled the Emperour Aurelius For after that the Emperour Marcus Aurelius dyed with whom the felicitie of the Roman Empire ended they euer vsed thēcefoorth in Rome to compare and liken the yong and new come Princes to the ancient Emperours their Anrecessors That is to say if the Prince were couragious they sayde hee was like Iulius Caesar if he were vertuous they sayde he was an other Octauian if he were fortunate that hee was Tiberius if hee were rash they say de he was Caligula if he were cruell they compared him to Nero if hee were mercifull they said he was like to Traian or Antoninus Pius if he were beaucifull they likened him to Titus if idle they compared him to Domitian if he were patient they called him Vespasius if he were temperate they likened him to Adrian if he were deuout to their gods then he seemed Aurelianus Finally he that was sage and vertuous they compared him to the good Marcus Aurelius This Emperour Valentinian was a good Christian and in all his affaires touching the Empire very wise and circumspect and yet he was noted for one thing verie much and that was that hee trusted and fauoured his seruants so much and was so led by his Friends that through their occasion they abusing his loue and credite there arose many dissentions amongst the people Seneca saide once vnto the Emperour Nero I will that thou vnderstand Lorde that there is no patience can suffer that two or three absolutely commaund all not for that they are most vertuous but for that they are most in fauour with thee O yee Noble Princes and great Lords if you were as I am I know not what you would doe but if I were as you bee I would behaue my selfe in such sorte to them of my house that they should be seruants to serue and obey mee and not to boast themselues to bee so farre in fauour as to commaund mee For that Prince is not sage that to content a fewe getteth the hatred of all The Emperour Valentinian dyed in the fiue and fiftie yeare of his byrth and the eleuenth yeare of his Empire languishing of a long sicknes that his vaynes were so dryed vppe that they could not drawe one drop of bloud out of his bodie And at the day of his Funeralles where the dead corps was greatly bewayled Saint Ambrose made an excellent Sermon in commendation of him For in those dayes when any Noble Prince departed that loued and succoured the Church all the holy Bishops met together at his buryall The two brethren beeing Emperours that is to say Valentinian and Valent through the desire of the Father in law of Gracian who was father to his wife and desirous to haue one of his daughters childrē chose Valentiniā to bring vp who had a sonne named Gracian which was created Emperor so young that as yet he had no beard And truly the Senate would not haue suffered it if the Father had not bin vertuous and the childe sage But the Senate would haue done this and more also for Valentinian because hee did deserue it well of the Romaine people For it is reason in distributing of the Offices That Princes haue more repsect to the deserts of the Fathers then to the tender age of the Children This young Gracian began to be so temperate and was so good a Christian in fauouring the Church that it was much quiet and great pleasure to the Romaine people to haue chosen him and greater ioy to the Father being aliue to haue begotten him so that he left for him after his death an immortall memorie of his life For the childe that is vertuous is alwayes the memorie of the Father after his death In the yeare of the Foundation of Rome a thousand an hundred thirtie and two the said Gracian the younger was created sole Heyre of the whole Empire his vnckle Valent and his Father being departed the world And after Gratian came to the Empire many Bishops which were banished in the time of his Vnckle Valent were restored to the Church againe and bannished all the sect of the Arrians out of his Region Truely he shewed himselfe to bee a very religious and Catholike Prince For there is no better iustice to confound humain malice then to establish the good in theyr estate In the first yeare of the raigne of Gracian Emperour all the Germanes and the Gothes rebelled against the Romane Empire for they would not onely not obey him but also they prepared an huge Army to inuade his Empire Imagining that sith Gracian was young hee neyther had the wit nor yet the boldnesse to resist them For where the Prince is young there oftentimes the people suffered much wrong and the Realme great misery Newes came to Rome how that the Gaules and Germaines were vp the Emperour Gracian wrote to all the Catholike Bishops that they should offer in their Churches great Sacrifices with prayers vnto God and in Rome likewise it was ordayned that generally processions should be had to the end Almighty God should moderate his ire against his people For good Christians first pacifie God with Prayers before they resist their enemies with weapons This good Prince shewed himselfe to be no lesse warlike in his outward affayres then a good Christian in his Religion for God giueth victories vnto Princes more through tears then through weapons These things thus finished and his affayres vnto God recommended the noble Emperour Gracian determined to march on and himselfe in person to giue the battell And truly as at the first hee shewed himselfe to bee a good Christian so now he declared himselfe to bee a valiant Emperour For it were a great infamy and dishonour that a Prince by negligence or cowardnes should lose that which his Predecessors by force of armes had gotten The army of the enemies exceeded farre the Romane army in number and when they met together in a place called Argentaria the Romaines being inferiour to their enemies in number were afraide For in the warres the great multitude of enemies and their puissant power maketh oft-times the desired victorie to be doubtful This thing seene of the Romanes and by them considered importunately they besought the Emperour not to charge the battell for they sayde hee had not men sufficient And herein they had reason For the sage Prince should not rashly hazard his person in the warre nor yet should lightly put his life in the hands of Fortune The Emperour Gracian not changing countenance nor stopping in his words to all the Knights which were about him answered in this wise CHAP. XXVI Of the godly Oration which the Emperour Gracian made to his Souldiers before hee gaue the battell VAliant
shee displeased him For they sayde that it was vnpossible for Men and Women to liue long together without much trouble contentions and brawles Dyodorus Siculus sayde one thing where hee speaketh of this matter which as yet I neuer read in any book nor heard of the ancients past which was that amongst the Egiptians there was no difference in Children For they accounted them as legitimate though they were children of slaues For they said that the principall doer of the generation was the Father and not the mother and that therfore the Children which were borne among them tooke only the flesh of the mother but they did inherite their honour and dignitie of the part of the Father Iulius Caesar in his Commentaries saith that in Great Brittaine now called England the Brittons had an vse that one Woman was marryed vnto fiue men the which beastlinesse is not read to haue beene in any Nation of times past For if it bee slaunder for one man to haue diuers Wiues why should it not also bee a slaunderous and shamefull thing for one woman to haue many Husbands The noble and vertuous Women ought to bee marryed for two causes The first is to the end God should giue them children and benediction to whom they may leaue their goods and their memorie The second to the end they should liue euery one in their owne house accompanyed and honoured with their husbands For otherwise I say for a truth that the woman that is not contented and satisfied with her own proper husband will not bee contented nor satisfied with all men in the world Plutarch in his Apothegmes saith that the Cymbres did vse to marrie with their proper and natural daughters the which custome was taken from them by the Consull Marius after that hee did ouercome them in Germanie and that of them he had triumphed at Rome For the Childe which was borne of such Marriage was Sonne of the Daughter of one sole Father and was Sonne and Brother of one onely Mother and they were also Cousins Nephews Brothers of one only Father and mother Truely such custome proceedeth rather of wilde beasts then of reasonable creatures For manie or the more part of brute Beasts after the females haue brought forth males within one yeare after they doo accompany with their dammes which brought them forth Strabo in the situation of the world and Seneca in an Epistle say That the Lydes and the Armenians hadde a custome to send their Daughters to the Riuers and Hauens of the Sea to get their Marriages selling their bodyes to straungers so that those which would Marrie were first forced to sell heyr virginitie The Romaines which in all their affaires and businesses were more Sage and modest then other Nations vsed much circumspection in all their mariages For they kept it as an ancient lawe and vse accustomed that euery Romaine should marrie with one woman and no moe For euen as to keepe two wiues among the Christians is a great charge of conscience so was it deemed amongst the Romaines much infamie Amongst the auncient and renowmed Orators of Rome one was called Metellus Numidicus the which one day making his Oration to the Senate sayd these words Worthie Senatours I let you vnderstand that I haue greatly fludyed what the counsels shuld be that I ought to giue yee touching marriage For the counsel rashand sudden oftentimes is not profitable I doe not perswade you at all to marrie neyther yet doe say that yee shall not marrie but it is true that if ye can liue without a woman yee shall bee free from manie troubles But what shall wee doe O yea Romains since that Nature hath made vs such that to keepe women it is a great trouble and to liue without them it is more danger I dare say if in this case my opinion might bee accepted that it should not bee euill done to resist the lust since it commeth by fits and not to take Wiues which are continuall troubles These were the wordes which Metellus Numidicus spake the which were not very acceptable nor pleasant to the Fathers beeing in the Senate for they would not that hee should haue spoken such wordes against Mariage For there is no estate in this life wherein Fortune sheweth her force more then in this state of Matrimonie A man may proue them in this sort that if the fashions and vsages of the ancients were diuers as concerning ordinance truely there was no lesse contrarietie in theyr contracts and ceremonies Boccace the Florentine in a Booke that he made of the Marriages of the auncients reciteth manie and sundrie customs that they vsed in making the Marriages whereof hee telleth some not for to follow or maintaine them but to reproue and condemne them For the writers did neuer write the vices of some but onely to make the vertues of others more cleerely to be knowne The Cymbres had a custome that when they would Marrie after the marriage was agreed vpon hee that was made sure should pare his nayles and send them to his wife that should bee and she in like sort sent hers vnto him And then when she of him and hee of her had receyued the nayles the one of the other they betooke themselues Marryed for euer and did afterwardes liue together as man and wife The Theutonians had a ceremony that the man that was sure rounded the hayre of her to whome hee was made sure and shee did the like vnto him and when the one suffered the other to doe so immediately they celebrated Marriage The Armenians had a law that the Bridegroom shuld pinch the right eare of the Bride and the Bride should likewise pinche the left eare of the Bride-groome and then they tooke themselues marryed for euer The Elamites had a custome that both parties which were made sure pricked one the others little finger vntill they bledde the which bloud they did sucke naturally this done they were marryed The Numidians vsed that the Bryde-groome and the Bryde should gather together a piece of Earth and with theyr spittle they tempered it and therewith the one annointed the forehead of the other so that the Marriage betweene them was to annoynt the one and the other with a little clay When those of Dace would be marryed the Bride-groome and the Bryde each one of themselues were brought in Charryots the one meeting the other and when they came together the Bryde-groome gaue a newe name to the Bride and shee likewise to him and from that time forwardes they liued as in lawfull Matrimonie When they of Hungarie would marrie the one sent vnto the other a familiar god made of siluer whom they called Lares and when they had receyued the God of each other the marriage was finished and they liued as man and wife The Siconians had a custome and lawe that when they should marrie the one sent to the other a shooe and that receyued of both they agreed
the man that desireth perpetuall renon me though hee bee not banished hee ought to absent himselfe from his Natiue countrey My deare childrē I most earnestly desire you that alwayes you accompanie your selues with the good with the most Auncients and with those which are graue and most expert in counsell and with those that haue most seene the world and doe not vnderstand most of the world by those that haue seene most countreys For the ripe councell proceedeth not from the man that hath trauelled in many Countreys but from him that hath selt himselfe in many daungers Since the nature of the Countrey my Children doth knocke with the hāmer at the heart of man I feare that if you come and see your friends and parents you shall alwayes line in care pensiuenes and being pensiue you shall alwayes liue euill contented and you shall not do that which becometh Romane knights to do And you not being valiaunt knights your enemyes shall alwayes reioyce ouer you and your desires shal neuer take effect for of those men which are carefull and heauy proceedeth alwaies seruices vnworthie I desire you heartily and by this present letter I counsell you that you will not in any wise seeke to come to Rome For as I haue saide you shall know few of those that did know you for eyther they are dead or banished poor or sick aged or come to nought sad or euill contented So that sithence you are not able to remedie their griefes it is best you should not come hither to see their troubles For no man cōmeth to Rome but to weepe with the liuing or to sigh for thē that be dead Truly my children I know not what pleasure is in Rome that shold cause any good man to come hither and to forsake Affrike for if there you haue any enemies here you shal want friends If you haue the Sword that pierceth the body we haue the tōgue here that destroyeth the renowme If you be vexed with the Thieues of Affrike wee are wounded with the traytours flatterers and lyars of Italie If you lacke rest we haue here too much trouble Finally seeing that I doe see in Rome and hearing that which I doe heare of Affrike I cōmend your warre and abhorre your peace If you doe greatly esteem that which I haue said esteem much more that which I shall say which is that wee alwayes heare that you are conquerors of the Affricanes and you shall heare alwayes that we are conquered by vices Therefore if am a true mother I had rather see you win a perpetuall memory among strangers then to liue with infamie at home in your countrey Peraduenture with hope that you shallenioy some goods you will offer to take occasion to come to Rome When this thing shall come to your minds remember my Children that your father being aliue had not much and that vnto your Mother beeing a widow many things wanted And remember that your father bequeathed you nothing but weapons and knowe that from mee you shalll enherite nothing but Bookes For I had rather leaue my Children good doctrine whereby they may liue then euill Riches whereby they may perish I am not rich nor I neuer trauelled to bee rich and the cause was that I saw many mens children vndone only through the hope they had to inherit their parents goods and afterward went a hunting after vices For they seldome times do any worthy feates which in theyr Youth inherite great Treasures This thing therefore beeing true as it is indeede I doe not say onely that I would watch and toyle as many do to get riches and treasures but also if I had treasor before I would giue them vnto you I would as the Phylosopher did cast them into the fire For I had rather haue my children poore and vertuous in Affricke then rich and vicious in Rome You knowe very well my Children that there was among the Tharentines a Law well obserued that the Sonnes should not inherit any thing of the fathers but weapons to fight and that the Daughters should inherite the goods for to marry thēselues withall Truely this Law was very iust for the Sonne that hath alwaies respect to the inheritance will not haue to his Father any great confidence For hee ought to bee called a valiant Romain Knight that with his life hath wonne and by his sword hath gotten Riches Since you are in straunge Realmes I pray you heartily that you be eonuersant with the good as good brethren remembring alwayes that you were my children and that I gaue you both sucke of mine owne proper breasts And the day that I shall heare of your disagreement the same day shall be the end of my life For the discord in one city of parents doth more harme then a whole armie of enemies It is good for you my Children to liue in loue and concord together but it is more requisite to keepe you with the Romain knights The which with you and you with them if you doe not loue together in the warres you shall neuer haue the vpper hand of your enemies For in great Armies the discords that arise amongst them do more harme then the enemies do against whom they fight I thinke well my children that you would be very desirous to know of my estate that is to say whether I am in health whether I am sicke whether I am poore whether I am pleased or whether I am discontented In this case I knowe not why you should desire to knowe it since you ought to presuppose that according to the troubles which I haue passed the miseries which with mine eyes I haue seen I am filled with this world For wise men after fifty yeares and vpwardes ought rather to applie theyr mindes how to receyue death then to seeke for pleasures how to prolong life When mans Flesh is weake it alwayes desireth to bee well kept euen vnto the graue And as I am of flesh and Bone so I do feele the troubles of the world as all mortall men doe But for all this doe not thinke that to bee poore or sicke is the greatest miserie neither thinke that to bee whole and rich is the chiefest felicity for there is none other felicitie of the old fathers but for to see their children vertuous In my opinion it is an honor to the coūtry that the fathers haue such children which will take profit with their counsell and contrariwise that the children haue such fathers which can giue it them For the childe is happy that hath a wise father and more happie is the father that hath not a foolish son I doe write oft times vnto you my children but there is a law that none be so hardy to write to men of war in the field except first they inrowle the letters in the Senate Therefore since I write vnto you more letters then they would they do send lesse then I desire Though this law be painefull to
any misfortune where ripe counsell is euer present It shall seeme vnto those that shall profoundly consider this matter that it is a superfluous thing to treate of these thinges for eyther princes chuse the good or els they chuse the euill If they chuse not good masters they labour in vain to giue them good counsell for the foolish master is lesse capable of couÌ„sell then the dissolute scholler is of wholesome admonition If perchance princes doe make elections of good Masters then those Masters both for themselues and also for others ought to minister good counsels For to giue counsell to the wise man it is eyther a superfluous deed or else it coÌ„meth of a presumptuous man Though it be true that hee which dare giue counsell to the Sage man is presumptuous I say in like manner that the Diamond beeing set in gold loseth not his vertue but rather increaseth in price and value I meane that the wiser a man is so much the more hee ought to desire to know the opinion of another certainely he that doth so cannot erre For to none his owne counsell aboundeth so much but that hee needeth the counsel and opinion of another Though Princes and great Lords do see with their eyes that they haue choseÌ„ good masters tutors to teach their children yet they ought not therefore to be so negligent of themselues but that sometimes they may giue the masters counsell for it may be that the masters be both noble stout that they be ancient sage and moderate but it may be also that in teaching childreÌ„ they are not expert For to masters and tutors of princes it is not so much necessary that sciences do abound as it is shame that experience should want When a rich man letteth out his farme or manor to a farmor he doth not onely consider with himselfe before what rent hee shall pay him but also he couenanteth with him that he shal keepe his grounds well fenced and ditched and his houses well repayred And not contented to receyue the third part of the fruit of his vine but also he goeth twice or thrice in a year to visite it And in seeing it hee hath reason for in the end the one occupieth the goods as a Tenant and the other doth view the ground as chiefe Lord. Then if the father of the family with so great diligence doth recommend the trees and the ground to the Labourer how much more ought the Father to recommend his children to the Masters for the father giuing counsell to the Master is no other but to deliuer his child to the Treasurer of Science Princes and great Lords cannot excuse themselues of an offence if after that they haue chosen a knight or Gentleman for to be Master or els a learned and wise man to be tutour they are so negligent as if they neuer had had children or did remember that their children ought to be theyr Heires certainely this thing should not bee so lightly passed ouer But as a wise man which is carefull of the honour and profite of his child hee ought to bee occupied as well in taking heed to the master as the master ought to be occupied in taking heede to the child For the good fathers ought to know whether the master that he hath chosen can commaund and whether his child will obey One of the noblest Princes among the Ancients was Seuleucus King of the Assyrians and husband of Estrabonica the daughter of Demetrius King of Macedony a Lady for her beauty in all Greece the most renowned of her fame though indeed she was not very fortunate This is an old disease that hapneth alwayes to beutiful women that there be many that desire them and more that slaunder them This King Seuleucus was first married with another woman of whome hee had a sonne called Antigonus ' the which was in loue with the second wife of his Father that is to say with the Queene Estrabonica and was almost dead for loue The which the father vnderstanding married his son with her so that she that was his stepmother was his wife and shee that was a faire wife was a faire daughter and hee which was his Sonne was made his sonne in law and hee which was Father was stepfather The Authour hereof is Plutarch in his liues as Sextus Cheronensis sayeth in the thirde booke of the sayings of the Greekes The king Seuleucus laboured diligently to bring vp his sonne Antigonus wel wherfore he sought him two notable masters the one a Greeke the other a Latine The K Seuleucus herewith not contented prouided secretly by the means of a seruant of his named Parthemius that he should haue no other office in the Pallace but that what the masters taught or did to his sonne Antigonus in the day hee should secretly come and tell him in the night But by the diligence of Parthemius it came to the knowledge of the Tutors that they had ouer-seers for in the ende there is nothing accustomablie but at the last will bee reuealed Since the two Phylosophers knew the secret one day they saide vnto the King Seuleucus these wordes Most mighty Prince Seuleucus since thou hast of trust committed thy Sonne Antigonus into our handes why doest thou appointe thy Seruaunt Parthemius as accuser of our liues If thou accountest vs euill and him good thou shalt shewe vs great fauour if thou wilt discharge vs and committe to him the â—uâ—tion of thy Sonne For wee let thee to knowe that to men of honour it is vntollerable euill to shame them and no dishonour to licence them Thou hast appointed Parthemius to goe and dog vs to see what we do or say openly and afterwards to make relation vnto thee secretly And the worst is that by relation of the simple wee should be condemned beeing Sages For triacle is not so contrary to poyson as ignoraunce is to wisedome And truely most Noble Prince it is a great matter that daily inquisition is made of man for there is no Beard so bare shauen but it wil growe againe I meane that there is no man of so honest a life but if a man make inquisition he may finde wherewithall to detect The K Seuleucus answered them thus Consider my Friendes that I knowe right well that neyther the authoritie of the person nor the good credite of renowme would bee stayned for any other Friende in this world and if the rude men doe it not much lesse ought the Sages to doe it For there is nothing that men trauell for so much in this life as to leaue of them a good renowme after theyr death Since you are Sages and Maisters of my Sonne and likewise counsellers of my house it is not meete that you should with any bee offended For by all good reason hee alone ought to bee esteemed in the Pallaces of Princes that will giue vnto Princes good counsell That which I haue saide to Parthemius was not for the doubt
true pittifull honest and vertuous nor yet to be iust but that it is as well necessarie they bee obseruers of iustice For let them know that there is great difference between him that is iust and another that doth minister iustice for to the Prince that is good commeth honor to his person but from him that ministreth iustice commeth profite to the Common-wealth Peraduenture it is no wonder to see the Prince that will tell no lye and to see his Ministers not to speake one truth Peraduenture I do not thinke my selfe slaundered to see the Prince temperate in eating and to see all his seruants distempred both with eating and drinking peraduenture and it is no cause to muse vpon to see the Princes chast and honest and to see their seruants in flesh filthy and dissolute peraduenture it is no cause to maruell to see the Prince iust and to loue iustice and that very few of his ministers do minister it The end why all these thinges are spoken is to aduertise Princes that they be not so carefull to be chast sober true and iust but that they know whether their Gouernours and Iudges are corrupted couetous greedy vnshamefast lyers or bribers for if it toucheth vs much that our Princes be good so much more it toucheth vs that the Ministers be not euill One of the things wherein Princes ought to prouide with their Iudges and gouernours is that by no meanes they suffer their lawes and and ancient customes to be broken in their commō welth and that in their steads strange customs be not introduced for the Comminalty is so variable in that they say and so light in that they aske that they would dayly see a new king and hourely change a new law Plinie in an Epistle that he writeth to Escario sayeth Optime apud Persius capitalem per legem fuit prohibitum nouos aut perigrinos mores inducere As if hee spake more plainely Amongst the Persians it was a Law inuiolable that no man should bring into the Common-wealth any strange custome for such an offence they should pay none other ransome but the losse of their heads As men dayly doe diminish in vertue vnlesse by force they be withholden and augment in vanity so they would inuent new deuises and strange customes wherewith men should bee decayed and the Common wealth destroied for straunge meates doe alter mens stomackes When those of Creta were vngently vsed of the Rhodians they did not pray to their gods to send them pestilence warre famine or sedition among their enemies but that they would suffer som euil maners to be brought in amongst the people Let not those thinke that shall reade this that it was a small curse that those of Creta desired and that it was a small reuenge which God gaue them of their enemies if he gaue them that which they did require for from war famin and pestilence som may escape but with deuises we see all perish Of many things the historiās do reproue the Emperor Sergius Galba for one alone they praise him That he neuer cōsented that in Rome any new law shold be made nor any old custom broken And he commanded that those should be grieuously punished which brought in any new law he rewarded those which put him in mind of any olde custome the which bee commaunded to bee obserued It is a mockery yea better to say a slaunder to see that some young Iudges will doe that of the Common-wealth which a Taylour doeth of a gowne that is to say to turne him within and without before behind which they ought not to doe nor the people to consent therevnto For the Prince doeth not sende them to make lawes nor to bring in new orders but to the ende that they do only preserue the commonwealth in their good customes Princes ought also to take great care that vnto litle and great rich poor they minister equall iustice sith there is no diuine nor humaine law that giueth them power and aucthoritie to corrupt it For if a Prince cannot without reason d pose of his owne goods much lesse he can make lawes and sell Iustice Wee doe not denye a Prince but that hee is lorde of Beastes of Fysh of Byrds of Mynes of Mountains of seruants and of fields Finally that hee is lord of the sea and land but therefore we will not graunt him that he is lord of iustice For there is none other true Lorde of Iustice but GOD which is the selfe same Iustice When a Prince dyeth and maketh his will he sayeth I bequeath all my Realms and Seigniories to the Prince my sonne and legitimate heyre and doe leaue vnto my second sonne such an Estate and dowrey and to my daughter such Lands and to all I recommend Iustice to the end they do obserue it and cause it to be obserued euery one in his owne Countrey It is much to note that the Father doth not say that hee leaueth vnto his Sonne Iustice but that hee doeth recommend it vnto him so that the good Princes ought not to think that they haue inherited Iustice of theyr predecessors in form of a patrimony but that God gaue it vnto thē of trust Princes of all things may be called Lords saue onely of Iustice whereof they are but onely ministers Wee dare boldely say that the Prince or great Lord which iudgeth causes not according to the Diuine will but according to their owne affection wee will not call him a iust iudge but a rouing Theefe For the Prince is much worse which robbeth God of Iustice then the Theefe which stealeth the goods from men Suetonius Tranquillus reciteth much wickednes of Domitian and the greatest of al was the poore the Orphans and those which could doe little hee alwayes punished and the other that were rich and of authoritie he pardoned He compounded with some for money and with others hee dissembled for fauour Lampridius sayde of Alexander Seuerus the 25. Emperour of Rome that hee neuer kept in his Court any euill man or suffered any of his parents to be vicious And when he was demanded on a time why hee banished one of his cousines since he was young and a Childe Hee aunswered them which intreated for him and alleadged That though he was young and his Cousin yet Charior est mihi Respub as if more plainely he had saide I haue none other neerer of kinne to mee in my Pallace then the Commonwealth O high much more higher words worthy for a truth to be writtē in princes hearts whereby they ought to be aduertised that hee said not I take for my kinne one part of the Commonwealth For the Prince which feareth GOD and desireth to be found iust as he wil indifferently be obeyed of al so ought he equally to administer iustice to all If they wil not credit me nor my pen let them credit Plato in the books of his commonwealth who giueth libertie and
of her Husband doe spoyle her of her goods For in this case their heires oftentimes are so disordered that for a worne cloake or a broken shirt they wil trouble and vexe the poore widdowe If perchance the miserable widdow haue children I say that in this case shee hath double sorrow For if they are young shee endureth much paine to bring them vp so that each houre and moment theyr Mothers liue in great sorrows to bethinke them only of the life death of their children If perhaps the Children are olde truely the griefes which remaine vnto them are no lesse For so much as the greatest part of them are either proud disobedient malicious negligent Adulterers gluttons blasphemers false lyars dull-headed wanting witte or sickly So that the ioy of the woefull Mothers is to bewaile the deaths of their well beloued Husbands and to remedy the discordes of theyr youthfull children If the troubles which remaine vnto the careful mothers with their sonnes be great I say that those which they haue with their Daughters bee much more For if the Daughter be quicke of wit the Mother thinketh that shee shall be vndone If shee be simple she thinketh that euery man will deceyue her If she be faire shee hath enough to doe to keepe her If shee be deformed she cannot marrie her If she be well mannered she will not let her go from her If shee be euill mannered she cannot endure her If she be too solitary she hath not wherewith to remedy her If she be dissolute she will not suffer her to bee punished Finally if she put her from her she feareth she shal be slaundered If she leaue her in her house she is afraid she shal be stollen What shall the wofull poor widdow doe seeing herselfe burdened with daughters and enuironed with sonnes and neyther of them of sufficient age that there is any time to remedy them nor substance to maintaine them Admit that shee marrie one of her sonnes and one daughter I demand therfore if the poor widdow wil leaue her care anguish truly I say no thogh she chuse rich personages wel disposed she cānot scape but that day that shee replenished her selfe with daughters in law the same day she chargeth her heart with sorrows trauels and cares O poore widdowes deceyue not your selues and doe not imagine that hauing married your sonnes and daughters from that time forwardes yee shall liue more ioyfull and contented For that layde aside which their Nephewes doe demaund them and that their sonnes in Law do rob them when the poore olde woman thinketh to be most surest the young man shall make a claim to her goods what daughter in Law is there in this world who faithfully loueth her stepmother And what sonne in Law is there in the world that desireth not to bee heyre to his father in Lawe Suppose a poore widdow to be fallen sicke the which hath in her house a sonne in Law and that a man aske him vpon his oath which of these two things hee had rather haue eyther to gouerne his mother in Law with hope to heale her or to bury her with hope to inherite her goods I sweare that such would sweare that he could reioyce more to giue a ducket for the graue then a penny for a Physition to cure and heale her Seneca in an Epistle sayeth That the Fathers in Law naturally do loue their daughters in Law and the sons in Law are loued of the mothers in Law And for the contrary he saieth that naturally the sonnes in law doe hate their mothers in Law but I take it not for a generall rule for there are mothers in Law which deserue to be worshipped and there are sonnes in Law which are not worthie to be beloued Other troubles chaunce dayly to these poore widdowes which is that when one of them hath one onely sonne whom she hath in steade of a husband in stead of a brother in steade of a sonne shee shall see him dye whom sith shee had his life in such great loue shee cannot though she would take his death with patience so that as they bury the deade body of the innocent childe they burie the liuely heart of the woefull and sadde mother Then let vs omit the sorrowes which the mothers haue when their children dye and let vs aske the mothers what they feele when they are sicke They will aunswere vs that alwayes and as oftentimes as their children bee sicke the death of their husband then is renued imagining that it will happen so vnto them as it hath done vnto others And to say the truth it is no maruell if they doe feare For the vine is in greater perill when it is budded then when the grapes are ripe Other troubles oftentimes increase to the poore widdowes the which amongst others this is not the least that is to say the little regard of the Friendes of her Husband and the vnthankfulnes of those which haue been brought vp with him The which since hee was layde in his graue neuer ented into the gates of his house but to demaund recompence of their old seruices and to renew and beginne new suites I would haue declared or to say better briefly touched the trauells of widdowes to perswade Princes that they remedie them and to admonish Iudges to heare them and to desire all vertuous men to comfort them For the Charitable worke of it selfe is so Godly that hee deserueth more which remedyeth the troubles of the one onely then I which write their miseries altogether CHAP. XXXVII Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to a Romane Lady named Lauinia comforting her for the death of her husband MArcus of mount Celio Emperour of Rome chiefe Consull Tribune of the people high Bishop appointed against the Daces wisheth health and comfort to thee Lauinia noble and worthy Romane matron the late wife of the good Claudinus According to that thy person deserueth to that which vnto thy husband I ought I thinke well that thou wilt suspect that I weigh thee little for that vnto thy great sorrowes complaints and lamentations are now arriued my negligent consolations When I remember thy merites which cannot fayle and imagine that thou wilt remember my good will wherewith alwayes I haue desired to serue thee I am assured that if thy suspition accuse mee thy vertue and wisdome will defend me For speaking the truth though I am the last to comfort thee yet I was the first to feele thy sorrowes As ignorance is the cruell scourge of vertues and sputre to all vices so it chaunceth oft times that ouer much knowledge putteth wise mē in doubt and slaundereth the innocent For as much as wee see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome are those which fall into most perilous vices We find the Latines much better with the ignorance of vices then the Greekes with the knowledge of vertues And the reason hereof is for that of things
to punish an iniurious word then to seeme to laugh at it For it is a thing more naturall and proper to women then men to desire to take reuenge of wordes with the like words againe sith the noble heart that esteemeth his honour must not haue his handes in his tongue but his tongue in his hands O how many haue we seene both out of Court and in Court the which for no other respect but to reuenge one onely silly word that touched them not much would put themselus their goods and fame in perill and yet in the end had not that reuenge which they desired but rather redoubled it against themselues in loosing their fond and vaine attempt Therefore to conclude those that will bee great in fauour and estimation in the Princes Court and those also that are now in fauour and credite with the Prince and that desire to continue and perseuer in his fauour still must not make account of any wordes spoken to him or offences done him for all that are in fauour haue neede to suffer and no occasion to report Till this present day I neuer saw any that receiued any hurt or detriment by being patient but being impatient I haue seen numbers cast thēselus away you must also know that in all places where troupes and companies of people be there is alwayes euer discords and diuersities in opinions and iudgements of men So that it happeneth many times in a common-weale yea and it meeteth sometimes in one house that all shal be of one bloud and kinred yet in priuate willes and affections mortall enemyes And therefore sure it is a thing worthy to be noted and no lesse to be wondred at to see the fathers with the sonnes the Vnckles with the nephews the graund-fathers with the children the sonnes in Law with their fathers in Lawe and Brothers with their brothers and sisters the one to be as farre different from the other as white and blacke and as much friends as the dogge and the cat And all this is caused only for that they are rather wedded to a selfe-will and opinion they haues then they are adicted to loue and affect that that nature bindeth them to We see also many young Courtiers that though they be vertuous and Noble hauing inherited and succeeded in Nobilitie of bloud their Ancestors by meanes whereof they are honoured and reuerenced and possessing also the greatnesse and abundance of their goods and riches which makes them wealthy and maintaines them honourably enioying the Noble parentage for which they are regarded hauing many friends and seruants that doe them great seruice and pleasure And all in respect of their Noble Ancestors and yet notwithstanding al these great things wee haue spoken they follow their owne inuentions and imaginations which their Ancestors knowing would haue fled and hate and mislike that they doubtlesse being aliue would haue followed And therefore it is rather a token of lightnesse then of good will for one to leaue to helpe and relieue his owne friends and kinsfolks to succour and doe good to strangers or others whom hee neuer knew nor can tell what they are For I assure you that one of the greatest losses and mishaps that can come to a Noble house is to haue new friendshippe and parciality with strangers and men vnknowne That Gentleman that giueth himselfe to follow such a one as pleaseth his fantasie best and that leaueth to leaue to those whom his Ancestors heretofore both loued and liked shall see those old friends not onely leaue and forsake him but cleane giue him ouer to his will and shortly after shall finde his substance and faculty consume and waste away besides the honour of his house to bee brought to vtter decay and obliuion And this we haue spoken onely to aduise the Princes Officers and such as haue credite and authoritie that they doe not with fauour support and ayde any partiall sect namely that that concerneth the state and body of Common-wealth for the esteemed of the Prince more easily and with lesse occasion doe vndoo themselues and lose the credite they haue wonne by reason of their partialiteis and factions they maintaine then they doe for their daily benefites and suits they importune the Prince in Wherefore the seruants and Officers of the Kings house although they bee in good fauour with the Prince and that it please him to like well of them yet they may not so hardly support any to doe hurt to others and so absolutely as if they were the Lords and Princes themselues For albeit it pleaseth the King to call them to honour and to enrich them with goods and possessions yet the King cannot nor will not like that they shall bee suborners of factions and quarels amongst their subiects in the Common-wealth And yet neuerthelesse it happeneth many times that those that see themselues onely in fauour aboue others will presume to doe violence and wrong to others trusting to their great fauour they are in that that shall suffice to cloke and hide any fault they shall commit which they neuer ought to think nor yet for any respect in the world to doe For such vnhaply might be the crime they doe commit that although it be in the Princes power to doe great things for them yet he could not at that time with his honor excuse their offence nor seeme to protect them in their lewdnesse without great murmour and discontentation of his subiects I know very well that in Court the mindes affections and opinions of Courtiers are so diuers and variable and notwithstanding the beloued of the Prince endeauour himselfe all hee can possible to please and content euery man in Court yet of all impossibilities it is a thing most impossible euer to attaine to it to winne all mens good willes Neuerthelesse hee must so trimly and wisely behaue himselfe in all his doings that those at least whom he cannot with all his pollicy and deuice make his friends haue not yet any iust occasion giuen them to bee his enemies I see there is no meane no reason no deuice nor pollicy of man fauour nor negligence that can defend the honoured and esteemed of Court from detraction and enuy Therefore I will boldly giue him this aduice with him that in matters of Iustice and other publike affayres he beare himselfe so vpright that notwithstadding they repine at his authoritie and credite yet that they haue no cause offered to complayne of him The Courtyer is forced to complaine when his owne familiar companyons and fellow-seruants of the Prince in his matters of contenion or quarrell step between them not to part them but rather to the contrary to contend with them and ioyne in demaund of that they striue for which the luckles Courtyer is very apt to know although hee dares not discouer it For many times he supposeth it lesse euill to suffer the persecution of the enemie then to fall into the disgrace of the beloued and
entent that afterwardes suddenly and at vnawares shee may bring vs into some great aduersity By experience dayly we see that the Sea is seldome times calme but immediately there followeth some perillous Tempest The extreame heate of the day doth prognosticate that terrible thunder is the Euentide I meane when Fortune doth flatter vs with her golden pilles it is a token that shee intendeth to catch vs in her snares The Mylner before the banke broken repayreth the dammes The husband man before it raineth thacketh his house fearing the snow and raine that is to come So likewise the sage man ought to cōsider that during this life he hath prosperitie but by leaue and aduersity as by patrimony Marcus Aurelius among all other men was hee that knew how to enioy prosperity and also to preuaile of aduersity Though fortune gaue him much prosperitie yet he neuer trusted therein nor for any troubles that euer he receyued in this life he was at any time abashed CHAP. V. Of the sharpe words which Marcus Aurelius spake to his wife and to his daughter WHen the triumphes before named were finished this good Emperour then beeing willing to vnburden his heart and to aduise Faustine and to teach the yong damosell his daughter and to the end that no man should heare it he called them a part and sayde vnto them these words I am not content Faustine with that thy daughter did nor yet with that which thou hast done being her mother The daughters if they will bee counted for good Children must learne to obey their fathers and the mothers if they will be counted good mothers must learn to bring vp their daughters well When the mother is honest and the daughter shamefast the father is excused in giuing counsell It is great shame to the Father being a man that the Mother beeing a woman should chastife his sonne And this is a great reproach to the mother that the daughter should bee chastised by the hands of any man There was a Law enacted amongst the Rhodians that neyther the Fathers should haue to do with the daughters nor the mothers with the Sonnes but the men vsed to bring vp the men and the women the women And in such wise that they abiding all in one house it seemeth vnto the fathers that they had no daughters and vnto the mothers that they had no sonnes Oh Rome Rome I bewaile thee not to see thy streets vnpaued nor to see thy houses so decayed nor to see thy battlements so fallen downe nor thy timber hewed downe not for the diminishing of the inhabitants for all this Time bringeth and Time taketh away but I weepe for thee againe to see thee vnpeopled of good-fathers and vnprouided in the nourishing of their children Rome beganne to decay when the discipline of Sonnes and Daughters was enlarged and that their bridle was set at libertie For there is now such boldnes in Boyes and so little shamefastnes in Gyrles with dishonestie of the Mothers that whereas one Father sufficed for xx Sonnes and one Mother for xx daughters now xx fathers dare scarcely vndertake to bring vp well one Sonne and xxx Mothers one daughter I say this to you Faustine you remember not how you are a Mother For you giue more libertie to your Daughter then ought to bee suffered And now Lucilla remember not how you are a daughter for you shew to haue more libertie then requireth for a young Maiden The greatest gift that the Gods haue giuen to the Matrones of Rome is because that they are women they keepe themselues close and secret because they are Romanes they are shamefast The day when the women want the feare of the Gods secretlie and shame of men openly beleeue me they shall either faile the world or the world them The common wealth requireth it of great necessity that the women which therein inhabite should bee as honest as the Captaines valiant for the Captaines going to warre defend them and the women which abide at home conserue them As now foure yeares passed you saw this great pestilence and I demaunded then to haue account of the people and I found that of a C. and xl M. honest women lxxx M. dyed and of x. M. dishonest women in a manner they scaped all I cannot tell for which I should weep eyther for the lacke that wee haue of the good and vertuous Women in our common wealth or else for the great hurt and dammages that these euill and wicked women doe to the youth of Rome The fire that burneth in Mount Ethna doth not so much endamage those that dwell in Scicill as one euill woman doth within the walls of Rome A fierce beast and a perillous enemie to the Common wealth is an evill woman for shee is of power to commit all euils and nothing apt to doe any good O how many realmes and Kingdomes reade wee of which by the euill behauiours of one woman haue been lost and to resist against them there hath beene neede both of wisedome perils money and force of many men The vices in a woman is as a green Reede that boweth euery way but the lightnes and dishonesty is as a dry Kyxe that breaketh in such wise that the more euill they vtter the more vnlikely is the amendment therof Beholde Faustine there is no creature that more desireth honour and worse keepeth it then a Woman and that this is true wee see by Iustice by Orations by writing and other Trauells man getteth fame and renowm but without it bee by flattering and faire speaking this houre by auncient wryters we can read of few women or none which eyther by writing reading working with Needle spinning or by weauing haue gotten them any great renowme But euen I say of one so I say of another certainly of diuers we reade by keeping themselues closed in their houses being well occupyed in their busines temperate modest in their wordes faithfull to their Husbandes well-ordered in theyr persons peaceable with their Neighbours and finally for beeing honest amongst their owne Familie and shamefast amongst strangers they haue obtained great renown in their life time and left perpetuall memorie of them after their death I will tell you an ancient history as profitable to restraine your vices as it did then augment vertues which is this The Realme of the Lacedemonians saieth Plato was a long time as dissolute through the vnthriftines of the women-kinde as infamed by the vices of the men So that of all Nations they were both called and esteemed barbarous what time Greece of the Phylosophers was called The Mother of Phylosophers Lycurgus a moste wise Phylosopher in knowledge and a right iust king concerning his gouernāce partly with his doctrine very profitable and partly with his life most pure ordayned Lawes in the said Realm whereby hee expelled all vices and planted all vertues I cannot tell which of these two were most happyest the King hauing so obedient people or else the
and of the Senate best fauoured to whom they committed the charge of the most cruell and dangerous warres For their strife was not to beare rule and to be in office or to get money but to be in the Frontiers to ouercome their enemies In what estimation these foure Frontiers were wee may easily perceyue by that wee see the most noble Romanes haue passed some part of their youth in those places as Captaines vntill such time that for more weighty affaires they were appointed from thence to som other places For at that time there was no word so grieuous and iniurious to a Citizen as to say Goe thou hast neuer beene brought vp in the wars and to proue the same by examples The great Pompey passed the Winter season in Constantinople The aduenturous Scipio in Colonges the couragious Caesar in Gades and the renowmed Marius in Rhodes And these foure were not only in the Frontiers aforesaid in their youth but there they did such valiant acts that the memory of them remaineth euermore after their death These thinges I haue spoken to proue sith wee finde that Marcus Aurelius father was Captain of one of these 4. Frontiers it followeth that he was a man of singular wisdome and prowesse For as Scipio sayd to his friend Masinissa in Affrike It is not possible for a Romane Captaine to want eyther wisdome or courage for thereunto they were predestined at their birth Wee haue no authenticke authorities that sheweth vs frō whence when or how in what countries and with what persons this captaine passed his youth And the cause is for that the Romane Chroniclers were not accustomed to write the things done by their Princes before they were created but onely the acts of yong men which from their youth had their hearts stoutly bent to great aduentures and in my opinion it was well done For it is greater honour to obtaine an Empire by policy and wisdome then to haue it by discent so that there be no tyranny Suetonius Tranquillus in his first booke of Emperours counteth at large the aduenturous enterprises taken in hand by Iulius Caesar in his yong age and how far vnlikely they were from thought that he should euer obtaine the Romane Empire writing this to shew vnto Princes how earnestly Iulius Caesars heart was bent to win the Romane Monarchy and likewise how wisdom fayled him in behauing himselfe therin A Philosopher of Rome wrote to Phalaris the Tirant which was in Cicilia asking him Why hee possessed the realme so long by tyranny Phalaris answered him againe in another Epistle in these few wordes Thou callest mee tyrant because I haue taken this realme and kept it 32. yeares I graunt then quoth hee that I was a tyrant in vsurping it For no man occupyeth another mans right but by reason he is a tyrant But yet I will not agree to be called a Tyrant sith it is now xxxii yeares since I haue possessed it And though I haue atchieued it by tyranny yet I haue gouerned it by wisdome And I let thee to vnderstand that to take another mans goods it is an easie thing to conquere but a hard thing to keepe an easie thing for to keepe them I ensure thee it is very hard The Emperour Marcus Aurelius married the daughter of Antoninus Pius the 16. Emperour of Rome and she was named Faustina who as sole Heyre had the Empire and so through marriage Marcus Aurelius came to be Emperour This Faustine was not so honest and chast as shee was faire and beautifull Shee had by him two sonnes Commodus and Verissimus Marcus Aurelius triumphed twice once when he ouercame the Parthians and another time when hee conquered the Argonants He was a man very well learned and of a deepe vnderstanding Hee was as excellent both in the Greeke and Latine as hee was in his mothers tongue Hee was very temperate in eating and drinking hee wrote many things full of good learning and sweete sentences He dyed in conquering the realme of Pannonia which is now called Hungarie His death was as much bewayled as his life was desired And hee was loued so deare and entirely in the City of Rome that euery Romane had a statue of him in his house to the end the memory of him among them should neuer decay The which was neuer read that they euer did for any other King or Emperour of Rome no not for Augustus Caesar who was best beloued of all other Emperours of Rome Hee gouerned the Empire for the space of eighteene yeere with vpright iustice and died at the age of 63 yeeres with much honor in the yeere Climatericke which is in the 63. years wherein the life of man runneth in great perill For then are accomplished the nine seuens or the seuen nines Aulus Gelius writeth a Chapter of this matter in the booke De noctibus Atticis Marcus Aurelius was a Prince of life most pure of doctrine most profound and of fortune most happy of all other Princes in the world saue only for Faustine his wife and Commodus his sonne And to the end we may see what Marcus Aurelius was from his infancy I haue put here an Epistle of his which is this CHAP. II. Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Pulio wherein he declareth the order of his whole life and amongst other things he maketh mention of a thing that happened to a Romane Censor with his Host of Campagnia MAreus Aurelius only Emperour of Rome greeteth thee his old friend Pulio wisheth health to thy person peace to the common-wealth As I was in the Temple of the Vestall Virgins a letter of thine was presented vnto me which was written long before and greatly desired of me but the best therof is that thou writing vnto me briefly desirest that I should write vnto thee at large which is vndecent for the authority of him that is chiefe of the Empire in especiall if such one be couetous for to a Prince there is no greater infamy then to be lauish of words and scant of rewards Thou writest to me of the griefe in thy leg and that thy wound is great and truly the paine thereof troubleth me at my heart and I am right sorry that thou wantest that which is necessary for thy health and that good that I do wish thee For in the end all the trauels of this life may be endured so that the body with diseases be not troubled Thou lettest me vnderstand by thy letters that thou art arriued at Rhodes and requirest me to write vnto thee how I liued in that place when I was yong what time I gaue my minde to study and likewise what the discourse of my life was vntill the time of my being Emperor of Rome In this case truly I maruell at thee not a little that thou shouldest aske me such a question and so much the more that thou didst not consider that I cannot with out great trouble and
bin too vniust a thing as hee thought to haue spurned it with his feet wherewith we trust from our enemies to bee desended he caused the stone to bee taken vp not thinking any thing to bee there vnder and immediately after they found another wherein likewise was the forme of the Crosse and this beeing taken vp they found an other in like manner and when that was pluckt vp from the bottome there was found a Treasure which contained the summe of two millions of Duckets for the which the good Emperour Tiberius gaue vnto Almighty God most high thankes and whereas before hee was liberall yet afterwards hee was much more bountifull For all those treasures hee distributed amongst the poore needy people Let therefore mightie Princes and great Lords see reade profite by this example and let them thinke themselues assured that for giuing almes to the poore they need not feare to become poore for in the end the vicious man cannot call himselfe rich nor the vertuous man cannot count himselfe poore CHAP. XVI How the Chiefetaine Narsetes ouercame many battailes onely for that his whole confidence was in God And what hapned to him by the Empresse Sophia Augusta wherein may be noted the vnthankefulnesse of Princes towards their seruants IN the yeare of the Incarnation of Christ 528. Iustinian the Great being Emperour who was the sonne of Iustines sister his Predecessor in the Empire the Histories say in especially Paulus Diaconus in the 18. booke De gestis Romanorum that there was a Knight of Greece in Rome who from his tender yeares had bene brought vp in Italie Hee was a man of meane stature of a cholericke complexion and in the law of Christ very deuout which was no small thing For at that time not onely many knights but almost all the Bishops of Italie were Arrians This Knights name was Narsetes and because he was so valiant in arms and so aduenturous in warres he was chosen Chieftaine generall of the Romane Empire For the Romanes had this excellencie that when they had a valiant and stout Captaine although they might haue his weight of golde giuen them they would neuer depart from his person Hee enterprised so great things he ouercame such mightie Realms and had such notable victories ouer his enemyes that the Romanes said he had in him the strength of Hercules the hardinesse of Hector the noblenes of Alexander the pollicie of Pyrrhus and the fortune of Scipio For manie of the vaine Gentiles held opinion that as the bodyes did distribute their goods in the life so did the soules part theyr gifts after the death This Narsetes was a pittifull Captain and very constant in the Faith of Christ liberall to giue almes effectuous to build newe Monasteryes and in repairing Churches a man very carefull And truly it was a rare thing For in great warres vpon smal occasions Captains vse to beat down churches that which was greatest of all was that he feared God deuoutly visited the Hospitals said his deuotions with penitent teares and aboue all be resorted very often to the Churches in the night And this excellencie was no lesse then the other For the Captaines in such an houre are readier to kill men in their Campe then to bewaile their sinnes in the Church Finally hee was a Christian and so deuoure that God gaue him the victories more through the prayers which hee vsed then through the weapons wherewith hee fought For there was neuer man that saw him shed the bloud of his enemies in battell before he had shed the teares of his eyes in the Temple And to the end Christian Princes and Captaines may see how much better it is to pacific God by teares and prayers then to haue their Campe full of souldiers and riches of many of his doings I will declare part as heere followeth Iustinian the Emperour beeing in Alexandrie Totila King of the Gothes did many mischiefes and great dammages throughout all Italy so that the Romaines durst not goe by the way nor could bee in safeguarde in their houses For the Gothes in the day kept the wayes and in the night robbed and spoyled all the people wherefore Iustinian the Emperour not knowing the matter sent the noble Narsetes Captaine Generall against the Gothes who being arriued in Italy immediately confedered with the Lumbardes the which at that time had their mansion in Hungarie and sent his messengers to King Albonius at that time their King for ayde against the Gothes and in so doing hee sayde hee should see how faithfull a friend hee would be to his friends and how cruell an enemie to his enemies Albonius hearing the message of Narsetes was very glad and without delay armed a great and puissant Army which by the Adriatical sea came into Italy so that the aunswere and the offer came both at one time with effect and so together arriued in one day for the succour of Narsetes the two Armies that is to say that of the Romanes and of the Lumbardes the which assembled all in one and marched vnder the banner of their Captaine Narsetes Wherefore Totila King of the Gothes beeing aduertised as one that had not proued the happy fortune of Narsetes nor the force of the Lumbardes sent to offer them the battell which was giuen in the fields of Aquileia and it was of both parts so fierce and cruell that infinite were they that dyed but in the end Totilla King of the Gothes was ouercome and neyther hee nor any of his hoast escaped aliue The good Captaine Narsetes after the battell gaue many and noble gifts to the Lumbardes and so with riches and victory they returned into Hungarie towards their King Albonius And truly this Narsetes did as he was bound to doe For the friend cannot bee recompenced by riches when for his friend he putteth his life in ieopardy When the Lumbards were gone Narsetes caused all the spoile of his Campe to bee deuided amongst his souldiers and that which belonged vnto him he gaue it wholly to the poore Monasteries so that by this victory Narsetes got triple renown that is to say very bountifull in that hee gaue to the Lumbardes charitable in that hee gaue to the poore and valiant in that he vanquished so puissant enemies Dagobert King of France beyond the Alpes being a couragious young Prince and very desirous of honour for no other cause but to leaue of him some memory determined himselfe in person to passe into Italy although hee had no iust title thereunto For the hearts puffed vp with pride little passe though they war of an vniust quarrell His mishap was such that the same day he passed the riuer of Rubico where the Romanes in old time limited the marches of Italy newes came to him that his own country was vp and those which were there one rebelled against the other that which was not without the great permission of God For it is but reason that
noble courages Of Antisthenes the Philosopher ANtisthenes the Philosopher put al his felicity in renowne after his death For sayeth hee there is no losse but of life that flitteth without fame For the Wise man needeth not feare to die so he leaue a memory of his vertuous life behinde him Of Sophocles the Philosopher SOphocles had al his ioy in hauing children which should possesse the inheritance of their Father saying that the graft of him that hath no children surmounteth aboue all other sorrowes for the greatest felicity in this life is to haue honour riches and afterwardes to leaue children which shall inherite them Of Euripides the Philosopher Euripides the Philosopher had all his ioy in keeping a fayre woman saying his tongue with wordes could not expresse the griefe which the hart endureth that is accombred with a foule woman therefore of of truth hee which hapneth of a good vertuous woman ought of right in his life to desire no more pleasure Of Palemon the Philosopher PAlemon put the felicity of men in eloquenee saying and swearing that the man that cannot reason of all things is not so like a reasonable man as he is a brute beast for according to the opinions of many there is no greater felicity in this wretched world then to be a man of a pleasant tongue and of an honest life Of Themistocles the Philosopher THemistocles put all his felicity in discending from a Noble lynage saying that the man which is come of a meane stocke is not bound to make of a renowmed fame for truly the vertues and prowesses of them that are past are not but an example to moue them to take great enterprises which are present Of Aristides the Philosopher ARistides the Philosopher put all his felicity in keeping temporal goods saying that the man which hath not wherwith to eate nor to sustaine his life it were better coūsell for him of his free will to goe into the graue then to do any other thing For he onely shall bee called happy in this world who hath no neede to enter into an other mans house Of Heraclitus the Philosopher HEraclitus put al his felicity in heaping vp treasure saying that the prodigall man the more begetteth the more he spendeth but he hath the respect of a wise man who can keep a secret treasure for the necessitie to come Thou hast now sufficiently vnderstood my friend Pulio that 7. moneths since I haue been taken with the feuer quartaine and I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that at this present instant writing vnto thee my hand shaketh which is an euident token that the colde doth take mee wherefore I am constrained to conclude this matter which thou demaundest mee although not according to my desire For amongst true friendes though the workes doe cease wherewith they serue yet therefore the inward parts ought not to quaile wherwith they loue If thou doest aske mee my friend Pulio what I thinke of all that is aboue spoken and to which of those I doe sticke I answere thee That in this World I doe not graunt any to bee happy and if there be any the gods haue them with them because on the one side chosing the plaine and drye way without clay and on the other side all stony and myerie wee may rather call this life the precipitation of the euill then the safegard of the good I will speake but one word onely but marke well what thereby I meane which is that amongst the mishaps of fortune wee dare say that there is no felicitie in the World And hee onely is happy from whom wisdome hath plucked enuious aduersity and that afterwards is brought by wisedome to the highest felicitie And though I would I cannot endure any longer but that the immortall Gods haue thee in their custody and that they preserue vs from euill fortune Sith thou art retired now vnto Bethinie I know well thou wouldest I should write thee some newes from Rome and at this present there are none but that the Carpentines and Lusitaines are in great strife dissention in Spaine I receiued letters how that the barbarous were quiet though the Host that was in Ilium were in good case yet notwithstanding the Army is somwhat fearefull and timorous For in all the coast and borders there hath beene a great plague Pardon me my friend Pulio for that I am so sickly that yet I am not come to my selfe for the feuer quartane is so cruel a disease that he which hath it contenteth himselfe with nothing neyther taketh pleasure in any thing I send thee two of the best horses that can be found in al Spaine and also I send thee two cups of gold of the richest that can bee found in Alexandria And by the law of a good man I sweare vnto thee that I desire to send thee two or three howers of those which trouble mee in my feuer quartane My wife Faustine saluteth thee and of her part and mine also to Cassia thy olde mother and noble Widdow we haue commended Marcus the Romane Emperour with his own hand writeth this and againe commendeth him vnto his deere friend Pulio CHAP. XLI That Princes and great Lords ought not to esteeme themselues for being fayre and well proportioned IN the time that Ioshua triumphed amongst the Hebrewes and that Dardanus passed from great Greece to Samotratia and when the sons of Egenor were seeking their sister Europe and in the time that Siculus raigned in Scicil in great Asia in the realme of Egypt was builded a great City called Thebes the which K. Busiris built of whom Diodorus Siculus at large mentioneth Plinie in the 36. Chapter of his naturall history and Homer in the second of his Iliades Statius in al the booke of his Thebiade doe declare great maruels of this City of Thebes which thing ought greatly to bee esteemed for a man ought not to thinke that fayned which so excellent authours haue written For a truth they say that Thebes was in circuit forty miles and that the walles were thirty stades hie and in bredth sixe They say also that the City had a hundred gates very sumptuous and strong and in euery gate two hundred Horsemen watched Through the midst of Thebes passed a great riuer the which by milles and fish did greately profite the City When Thebes was in his prosperity they say that there was two hundred thousand fires and besides all this all the Kings of Egypt were buried in that place As Strabo sayeth De situ orbis when Thebes was destroyed with enemies they found therein seuenty seuen Tombes of Kings which had bin buried there And here is to bee noted that all those tombes were of vertuous kings for among the Aegyptians it was a law inuiolable that the King which had beene wicked in his life should not bee buried after his death Before the noble and worthy Numantia
though man doth what hee can as a maid and that he do all that he ought to do as a husband though he taketh painesfor her sake aboue his force and though with the sweat of his browes he relieueth her neede though euery houre he putteth himselfe in daunger yet in the ende shee will giue him no thanks but wil say that he loueth another and how hee doeth that but to please and satisfie her It is a long time since I desired to tell thee this Faustine but I haue deferred it vntill this present houre hoping thou wouldest not giue occasion to tell it thee For amongst wise men those wordes ought chiefly to bee esteemed which fitly to the purpose are declared I remember that it is six yeares past since Antonius Pius thy Father chose me to bee his Sonne in law and that thou chosest mee for thy Husband and I thee for my wife all the which things were done my wofull aduentures permitting it and Adrian my Lord commaunding it The good Anthonius Pius gaue his onely daughter in marriage vnto me and gaue mee likewise his Noble Empire with great treasures Hee gaue mee also the gardens of Vulcanali to passe the time therein But I thinke on both sides we were deceiued He in chosing mee for his Sonne in law and I in taking thee for my wife Oh Fanstine thy Father and my Father in law was called Anthontus Pius because to all hee was mercifull saue only to mee vnto whom he was most cruell For with a little flesh he gaue me many bones And I confesse the truth vnto thee that now I haue no more teeth to bite nor heate in my stomacke to digest and the worst of all is that many times I haue thought to rage on my selfe I will tell thee one word though it doeth displease thee which is that for thy beautie thou art desired of manie and for thy euill conditions thou art despised of all For the faire women are like vnto the golden pilles the which in sight are very pleasant and in eating very noysome Thou knowest well Faustine and I also that wee saw on a day Drusio and Braxille his Wife which were our neighbours and as they were brawling together I spake vnto Drusio such wordes What meaneth this my Lorde Drusio that being now the Feast of Berecinthia and being as we are adioyuing to her house and present before so honorable an assemblie furthermore thy wife being so faire as she is How is it possible there should bee any strife betweene you Men which are marryed to deformed persons to the ende that they might kil them quickly should always fall out with their Wiues but those that are married to faire women they ought alwayes to liue together in ioy and pleasure to the end they may liue long For when a faire woman dyeth although shee haue liued an hundred yeares yet shee dyeth too soone and on the contrarie though a deformed woman liueth but a small time yet notwithstanding shee dyeth too late Drusio as a man being vexed lifting vp his eyes vnto the heauens fetching a grieuous sigh from the bottome of his hart said these words as followeth The Mother Berecinthia pardon me and her holy house also and all the companie besides forgiue mee for by the immortall gods I sweare vnto thee that I had rather haue beene Marryed with a Moore of Chalde that is so fowle then being marryed as I am with a Romaine beeing very faire For shee is not so faire and white as my life is wofull and blacke Thou knowest well Faustine that when Drusio spake these wordes I did wipe the teares from his eyes and I gaue him a word in his eare that hee should proceede no further in this matter For such women ought to be chastened in secret and afterwards to be honoured openly Oh thou art most vnfortunate Faustine and the Gods haue euill deuided with thee giuing thee beautie and riches to vndoe thy selfe and denying thee the best which is wisedome and good conditions to keepe thy honor O what euil lucke cōmeth vnto a man when God sendeth him a faire daughter vnlesse furthermore the Gods doe permit that shee be sage and honest for the womā which is yong foolish and faire destroyeth the Common-wealth defameth all her parentage I say vnto thee againe Faustine that the gods were very cruel against thee since they swallowe thee vppe by the goulfes where all the euill perisheth and tooke from thee all the sayles and owers whereby the good doe escape I remained xxxviij yeares vnmarried and these vj. yeares only which I haue bin married mee thinketh I haue passed vj. hundreth yeares of my life for nothing can bee called a torment but the euil that man doth suffer that is euill married I will assure thee of one thing Faustine that if I had knowne before that which now I knowe and that I had felt that which now I feele though the Gods had cōmanded me and the Emperour Adrian my Lorde desired mee I had not chaunged my pouerty for thy riches neither my rest for thy Empire But since it is fallen to thine and mine euill fortunes I am contented to speake little and to suffer much I haue so much dissembled with thee Faustine that I can no more but I confesse vnto thee that no Husband doth suffer his wife so much but that hee is bound to suffer her more considering that hee is a man and that she is a woman For the man which willingly goeth into the bryers he must thinke before to endure the prickes The Woman is too bolde that doeth contend with her Husband but that Husband is more foole which openly quarrelleth with his wife For if shee be good hee ought to fauour her to the end that she may be better if she be vnhappie he ought to suffer her to the end she be not worse Truly when the woman thinketh that her husband taketh her for eulll it is a great occasion to make her to be worse For women are so ambitious that those who cōmonly are euil wil make vs belieue that they are better then the others Belieue me Faustine that if the feare of the gods the infamy of the person the speech of men do not restraine the woman all the chastisements of the worlde will not make her refraine from vice for all things suffereth chastisement and correction the woman only except the which must be wonne by intreatie The heart of the man is very noble and that of the woman very delicate because for a little good hee will giue a great rewarde and for a great offence hee will giue no punishment Before the wise man marieth it behoueth him to beware what he doth and when hee shall determine to take the companie of a Woman he ought to be like vnto him that entreth into the warre that determineth with himselfe to suffer all that may happen bee it good or euill I doe not
needes within short time lose their fruites After that King Antiochus was ouercome and his Land spoyled Cornelius Scipio came into Rome triumphing for the victory that hee had of Asia so that his brother for the victory that hee had of Affrica was called Affricane so hee was called Scipio the Asian because he vanquished Asia The Captaines of Rome loued honor so much that they would no other reward nor recompence of their trauel but that they should giue them the renowme of the Realme which they had ouercome Truely they had reason for the noble hearts ought little to esteem the encrease of their riches and ought greatly to esteeme the perpetuity of their good name As Sextus Cheronensis saith in his third booke De ambigua iustitia that Cornelius Scipio had a long time the gouernment of the people for as much as hee was Consul Censor Dictator of Rome for he was not onely hardy and couragious but also he was sage and wise which thing ought greatly to bee esteemed in a man for Aristotle doeth not determine it which of these two is most excellent either stoutnes to fight in the warres or pollicy to rule in peace Scipio therfore being Dictator which was an office then as the Emperour is now it chanced that the ten Captaines which had beene with him in the warres violently fought to haue entred into the Monastery of the Virgins Vestals wherfore the Dictator commanded their heads to be cut off for the Romanes punished more cruelly those that onely required the Virgins vestalls then those that forced the marryed Matrons Cornelius Scipio was besought of many in Rome that hee would moderate and change his so cruell sentence And hee which most in this case did importune him was his brother Scipio the Affrican whose prayer was not accepted Howbeit in the end the sayd Captaines were pardoned by the request of a Sister of the sayde Dictator Scipio the Affrican And because hee blamed his brother Scipio that he had done more for the daughter of his Nurse then for the sonne of his proper mother he answered I let thee know brother that I take her more for my Mother that brought me vp and did not beare me then shee which hath borne me and in my infancy hath forsaken me And since I haue had her for my true mother it is but reason that I haue this for my deare and well beloued sister These were the words which passed betweene these two brethren I haue diligently read in holy and prophane Writings that many Tyrants haue caused their owne mothers to bee killed which bare them but I could neuer find that they haue done any discourtesie or disobedience to the Nurses which gaue them milke For the cruell Tyrants doe thirst after the bloud of others but they feare them whose milke they sucke The fourth reason that bindeth Women to nourish their children is to keepe them in more obedience for if the Fathers liue a long time they must of force come into the hands of their children And let not old Fathers make their accounts saying that during the time that they shall haue the gouernment of the house their children shall be kept in obedience for in so doing they might abuse themselues for young men in their youth feele not the trauailes of this life not know not as yet what it meaneth to make prouision for household for to the stomacke that is full and cloyed with eating all meates seeme both vnsauory and noysome It may well bee that since the children are not nourished in the house that they know not their seruants that they loue not their Parents that they come not neere their brethren nor talke with their sisters that they are ignorant of their fathers and doe disobey their mothers wherefore since little feare doth abound and good will fayle one day they commit some mischieuous offence wherby they doe lose their life worthily and the fathers lose the riches and likewise their honour deseruedly to the intent that the fathers alwaies keepe their proper children vnder obedience there is no better meane then to bring them vp in their owne houses the mother to giue them sucke and the father to teach them for when the mother desireth any thing of her childe shee should not shew him the belly from whence hee came but the dugges which hee did sucke for all that which is asked vs by the milke which we did sucke truely there is no heart so hard that can deny her The Historiographers say that Antipater among all the Grecians was the most renowmed tyrant among the Romanes Nero. And these two wicked Princes were not great tirants because they had committed many tyrannies but because they did commit one which was most grieuous of al others for they do not call a man a Glutton or Cormorant because hee eateth euery houre but because hee deuoureth more at one paste then others doe in one day The case was that Antipater in Greece and Nero in Rome determined to kill their owne Mothers And the Historiographers say that when Nero commanded his mother to be killed she sent to aske of him why he would put her to death whereunto he answered That hee was cloyed to behold the armes wherein hee was nourished and therefore he caused her to be killed to see the intrailes out of the which he came This case was so horrible that it seemed to many not to speake it but cōcluding I say as vniustly as the mothers lost the mortall life so iustly did the children get for them immortall infamy Nothing can be more wieked and detestable to the children then to kill their mothers which did beare them with paine and did nourish them with loue but notwithstanding all this we doe not read that euer they did kill dishonour or yet disobey their nurses which gaue them milke Iunius Rusticus in the fift booke of the bringing vp of children sayth that the two Gracchi renowmed famous Romanes had a third brother being a Bastard who shewed himselfe as valiant and hardy in the warres of Asia as the other two did in the wars of Affrica The which as he came one day to Rome to visite his house hee found therein his Mother which bare him and the Nurse which gaue him sucke to the which Nurse hee gaue a Girdle of gold and to his owne Mother he gaue a Iewell of siluer Of the which things the mother being ashamed considering what her son had done she asked him why hee had giuen the nurse the gold which did but only giue him suck that he had not giuen the girdle of gold to her as well as the Iewell of siluer since shee had born brought him into the world Whereunto he answered in this manner Maruell not thereat mother why I doe this thing for thou didst beare me but nine moneths in thy wombe and shee hath giuen mee sucke and nourished mee these three yeeres with her owne
she seeth him who after her death ought to haue the charge of her affayres and businesse Concluding therefore that which aboue is spoken I say that which the great Plutarch saide from whom I haue drawn the most part of this chapter that the mother to bee a good Mother ought to haue and keepe her Childe in her armes to nourish him and afterwards when he shal be great she ought to haue him in her hart to helpe him For we see oft times great euills ensue to the Mother and to the Childe because she did not bring him vp her selfe and to put him to nourish to a straunge breast there commeth neither honour nor profite CHAP. XX. ¶ That Princesses great Ladyes ought to bee very circumspect in choosing of their Nurses Of seuen propertyes which a good Nurse should haue THose which ordayned Lawes for the people to liue were these Promotheans which gaue lawes to the Egyptians Solon Solinon to the Greekes Moyses to the Iewes Lycurgus to the Lacedemonians and Numa Pompilius to the Romains for before these Princes came their people were not gouerned by written lawes but by good auncient customes The intention of these Excellent Princes was not to giue lawes to their predecessors for they were now dead neyther they gaue theÌ„ onely for those which liued in their time being wicked but also for those which were to come whome they did prestippose would not be good For the more the World increaseth in yeares so much the more it is loaden with vices By this that I haue spoken I meane that if the Princesses and great Ladies euery one of them would Nourish their owne childe I neede not to giue them counsell But since I haue supposed that the women which shall be deliuered hereafter will be as proude and vaine-glorious as those which were in times past We will not let to declare here some Lawes and aduises how the Ladie ought to behaue her selfe with her Nurce and how the Nurce ought to content her selfe with the creature For it is but iust that if the mother be cruell and hardie to forsake the creature that she be sage pitifull and aduised to chose her Nurce If a man finde great treasure and afterwards care not how to keepe it but doeth commit into the hands of suspected persons truly we would call him a foole For that which naturally is beloued is alwayes of all best kept The Woman ought more wisely to keepe the treasure of her own bodie then the treasure of all the Earth if she had it And the Mother which doth the contrarie and that committeth her Childe to the custodie of a straunge Nurce not to her whome shee thinketh best but whom she findeth best cheape we will not call her a foolish beast for that name is too vnseemly out we will call her a sotte which is somewhat more honester One of the things that doth make vs most belieue that the ende of the world is at hand is to see the little loue which the mother doth beare to the childe being young and to see the want of loue which the Childe hath beare to his Mother being aged That which the childe doeth to the Father and Mother is the iust iudgement of God that euen as the Father would not nourish the child in his house being young so likewise that the sonne should not suffer the Father in his house he being olde Returning therefore to the matter that sith the woman doth determine to drie and shut vp the fountaines of milke which Nature hath giuen her shee ought to bee very diligent to search out a good nurse the which ought not only to content herselfe to haue her milke whole but also that shee be good of life For otherwise the childe shal not haue so much profite by the which hee sucketh as the nurse shall doe it harme if shee bee a woman of an euill life I doe aduise Princesses and great Dames that they watch diligently to knowe what their Nurses are before they commit their children to them for if such Nurses be euill and slaundered they are as Serpents which doe byte the Mother with their mouth and do sting the childe with her taile In my opinion it were lesse euill the Mother should suffer that her Childe should perish in deliuering it then for to keepe in her house an euill woman For the sorrow of the death of the Childe is forgotten and brought to nought in time but the slaunder of her house shall endure as long as shee liueth Sextus Cheronensis sayeth that the Emperor Marcus Aurelius commanded his Sonne to be brought vp of a woman the which was more faire theÌ„ vertuous And when the good Emperour was aduertised thereof he did not onely send her from his Pallace but also hee banished and exiled her from Rome swearing that if she had not nourished his Sonne with her pappes he would haue commaunded her to haue been torne in pieces with Beasts For the woman of an euill renowme may iustly bee condemned and put to death Princesses and great Ladyes ought not greatly to passe whether the nurses be faire or fowle For if the milke be sweete white and tender it little skilleth though the face of the Nurse be white or blacke Sextus Cheronensis saith in the booke of the nurture of children that euen as the black Earth is more fertile then is the white earth So likewise the Woman which is browne in countenance hath alwayes the most substantiall milke Paulus Dyaconus in his greatest Hystorie saieth that the Emperour Adocerus did Marrie himselfe with the daughter of another Emperour his predecessor called Zeno and the Empresse was called Arielna The which in bringing forth a Sonne had a woman of Hungarie maruellous faire to nourish it and the case succeeded in such sort that the Nurse for beeing faire had by the Emperor iij. children the one after the other and his wofull Wife neuer had any but the first alone A man ought to belieue that the Empresse Arielna did not only repent her selfe for taking into her house so faire a Nurse but also was sorry that euer shee had any at all sith the Ribalde thereby was Mistresse in the house and she remained without husband all her life I doe not say it for that there are not many foule women vicious nor yet because there are not many faire women vertuous but that Princesses and great Ladyes according to the qualities of their Husbands ought to bee profitable and tender Nurses to bring vp their Children For in this case there are some men of so weake a complexion that in seeing a little cleane water immediately they die to drinke thereof Let therefore this be the first counsell in choosing Nurses that the Nurse before shee enter into the house be examined if shee be honest and vertuous For it is a trysâ—e whether the Nurse be faire or foule but that she be of a good life and of an honest behauiour
weight and measure plentifull and chiefly if there be good doctrine for the young and little couetousnesse in the old Affro the Historiographer declareth this in the tenth booke De rebus Atheniensium Truly in my opinion the words of this philosopher were few but the sentences were many And for none other cause I did bring in this history but to profite mee of the last word wherein for aunswere hee sayeth that all the profite of the Common wealth consisteth in that there be princes that restraine the auarice of the aged and that there bee Masters to teach the youthfull We see by experience that if the brute beasts were not tyed and the corne and seedes compassed with hedges or ditches a man shold neuer gather the fruit when they are ripe I meane the strife and debate will rise continually among the people if the yong men haue not good fathers to correct them and wise masters to teach them Wee cannot deny but though the knife be made of fine steele yet sometimes it hath neede to bee whet and so in like manner the young man during the time of his youth though he doe not deserue it yet from time to time hee ought to bee corrected O Princes and great Lords I know not of whom you take counsell when your sonne is borne to prouide him of a Master and gouernour whom you chuse not as the most vertuous but as the most richest not as the most sagest but as the most vile and euill taught Finally you doe not trust him with your children that best deserueth it but that most procureth it Againe I say O princes and great Lords why doe you not withdraw your children from their hands which haue their eyes more to their owne profite then their hearts vnto your seruice For such to enrich themselus doe bring vp princes viciously Let not Princes thinke that it is a trifle to know how to finde and chuse a good Master and the Lord which herein doth not employ his diligence is worthy of great rebuke And because they shall not pretend ignorance let them beware of that man whose life is suspitious and extreame couetous In my opinion in the pallace of princes the office of Tutorshippe ought not to be giuen as other common offices that is to say by requests or money by priuities or importunities eyther else for recompence of seruices for it followeth not though a man hath beene Ambassadour in strange Realms or captaine of great Armies in warre or that hee hath possessed in the royall pallace Offices of honour or of estimation that therefore he should bee able to teach or bring vp their children For to bee a good Captaine sufficeth onely to be hardy and fortunate but for to bee a Tutour and gouernour of Princes hee ought to be both sage and vertuous CHAP. XXXV Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour of the which the best beloued dyed And of the Masters he prouided for the other named Comodus MArcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour of Rome in the time that hee was married with Faustine onely daughter of the Emperour Antonius Pius had onely two sonnes whereof the eldest was named Comodus and the second Verissimus Of these two children the heyre was Comodus who was so wicked in the 13. yeares he gouerned the Empire that hee seemed rather the Disciple of Nero the cruell then to discend by the mothers side from Antonius the mercifull or sonne of Marcus Aurelius This wicked child Comodus was so light in speech so dishonest in person and so cruell with his people that oft-times hee being aliue they layed wagers that there was no vertue in him to bee found nor any one vice in him that wanted On the contrary part the second sonne named Verissimus was comely of gesture proper of person and in witte very temperate and the most of all was that by his good conuersation of all hee was beloued For the fayre and vertuous Princes by their beauty draweth vnto them mens eyes and by their good conuersation they winne their hearts The child Verissimus was the hope of the common people and the glory of his aged Father so that the Emperor determined that this child Verissimus should bee heyre of the Empire and that the Prince Commodus should bee dishenherited Wherat no man ought to maruell for it is but iust since the childe dooth not amend his life that the father doe dishenherite him When good will doth want and vicious pleasures abound the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being 52. yeares old by chance this childe Verissimus which was the glory of Rome and the hope of the Father at the gate of Hostia of a sodaine sicknesse dyed The death of whom was as vniuersally lamented as his life of all men was desired It was a pittifull thing to see how wofully the Father tooke the death of his entirely beloued son and no lesse lamentable to beholde how the Senate tooke the death of their Prince being the heyre for the aged Father for sorrow did not go to the Senate and the Senate for a few dayes enclosed themselues in the hie Capitoll And let no man maruell though the death of this young Prince was so taken through Rome for if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewayle and lament his death When a Knight a Gentleman a Squire an Officer or when any of the people dyeth there dyeth but one but when a Prince dyeth which was good for all and that he liued to the profite of all then they ought to make account that all do dye they ought all greatly to lament it for oft times it chanceth that after 2. or 3. good Princes a foule flocke of Tyrants succeede Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperor as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely person though the inward sorrow from the rootes of the heart could not bee plucked yet hee determined to dissemble outwardly to bury his grieues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shewe extreame sorrow vnlesse it be that hee hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good Prince as one that hath his vineyarde frozen wherein was all his hope contented with himselfe with that which remaineth his so deerly beloued sonne being dead and commaunded the Prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his onely heire Iulius Capitolinus which was one of those that wrote of the time of Marcus Aurelius saide vpon this matter that when the Father saw the disordinate frailenesse and lightnes and also the little shame which the prince Comodus his Sonne brought with him the aged man beganne to weepe and shed teares from his eyes And it was because the simplenesse and vertues of his deere beloued Sonne Verissimus came into his minde Although this Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius for the death of
faithfull friend about them to helpe them to passe that paine And not without a cause I say that he ought to be a faithfull friend For many in our life do gape after our goods few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wise and sage men before nature compelleth them to die of their owne will ought to die That is to say that before they see themselues in the pangs of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if we count him a foole which wil passe the sea without a ship truely we will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparation before What losest a wisest man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenuenture of honour is any man before death to reconcile himselfe to his enemies and to those whom he hath borne hate and malice What loseth he of his credite who in his life time restoreth that which at his death they will command him to render wherein may a man shew himselfe to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by processe they will take from him O how many Princes and great Lords are there which onely not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heires all the dayes of their life to bee in trauerse in the Law So that they supposing to haue left their children wealthy haue not left them but for Atturneyes and Counsellers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dispose his goods and correct life as if he shold dye the same night And at night in like manner he ought to commit himselfe to GOD as if he hoped for no life vntill morning For to say the truth to sustaine life there are infinite trauels but to meete with death there is but one way If they will credite my wordes I would coūsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the worlde he should vndoe himselfe The Riche and the poore the great and the smal the Gentlemen and the Plebeyans all say and sweare that of death they are exceeding fearefull To whome I say and affirm that he alone feareth death in whome we see amendment of life Princes and great Lords ought also to be perfect to ende before they ende to dye before they die and to be mortified before they bee mortified If they doe this with themselues they shall as easily leaue their life as if they channged from one house to another For the most parte of men delight to talke with leysure to drinke with leysure to eate with leysure and to sleepe with leysure but they die in haste Not without cause I say they die in haste since wee see them receiue the sacrament of the Supper of the Lord in haste male their willes by force and with speede to confesse and receyue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue loste their Sences and are readie to giue vp the spirite when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the Ship-master after the ship is sunke what doe weapons after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By this which I haue spoken I will demaund what it auayleth the sicke being heauie with sleepe and berefte of their sences to call for Confessors vnto whome they confesse their sinnes Euill shall hee bee confessed which hath no vnderstanding to repent himselfe What auaileth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secrets of his Conscience when the sicke man hath lost his speech Let vs not deceyue our selues saying in our age we will amend hereafter and make restitution at our death For in mine opinion it is not the poynt of wise men nor of good Christiās to desire so much time to offend and they will not espie any to amend Would to GOD that the third parte of the precious time which men occupie in sinne were employed about the meditations of Death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their Fleshly lusts were spent in bewayling their filthie sinnes I am very sorrie with my heart that they so wickedly spend and passe their-life in vices and pleasures as if there were no GOD vnto whom they shold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doe sinne vpon a vaine hope onely in Age to amend and at death to repent But I would demaund him that in this hope sinned what certainty he hath in age of amendment and what assurance he hath to haue long warning before hee die Since we see by experience there are moe in number which dye young then olde it is no reason wee should commit so many sinnes in one day as that wee should haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our life And afterwards to bewayle the sins of our long life we desire no more but one space of an houre Considering the the Omnipotencie of the Diuine mercie it sufficeth yea and I say that the space of an houreis to much to repent vs of our wicked life but I would counsel all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one houre that that be not the last houre For the sighes and repentance which proceed from the bottome of the heart penetrate the high Heauens but those which come of necessity doeth not pierce the bare seeling of the House I allow and commende that those which visit◠the sick do counsell them to examin their consciences to receiue the Communion to pray vnto GOD to forgiue their enemyes and to recommend themselues to the deuoute prayers of the people and to repent them of their sinnes Finally I say that it is very good to doe all this But yet I say it is better to haue done it before For the diligent and careful Pyrate prepareth for the Tempest when the Sea is calme Hee that deepely would consider how little the goods of this life are to be esteemed Let him go to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what he doeth in his bed And he shall finde that the wife demandeth of the poore husband her dowrie the Daughter the third parte the other the fifth the childe the preheminence of age the Sonne in law his Marriage the physition his duetie the Slaue his libertie the Seruaunts their wages the creditours their debtes and the worst of all is that none of those that ought to inherite his goods will giue him one glasse of water Those that shall heare or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene done at the death of their neighbours the same shall come vnto them when they shall be sicke at the poynt of death For so soone as the Rich shutteth his eyes forthwith there is great strife betweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but which of them shall inherite most of his possessions In this case I will not my pen trauell any
matter to adde to a Henne Oh mishaps of worldly creatures you embrace not now the time that was for now if hee bee an Officer or popular person of any like condition and that hee inuite his friend or neighbor hee will not for shame set before him lesse then vi or vij seuerall dishes though hee sell his cloke for it or fare the worse one whole weeke after for that one supper or dinner Good Lord it is a wonder to see what sturre there is in that mans house that maketh a dinner or supper Two or three dayes before you shall see such resort of persons such hurly burly such flying this way such sending that way some occupyed in telling the Cookes how many sorts of meats they will haue other send out to prouide a Cater to buy their meate and to hier seruants to wayte on them and other poore folks to looke to the dressing vp of the house brawling and fighting with their seruants commaunding their maides to looke to the Butterie to rubbe the tables and stooles and to see all thinges set in their order as fitte as may bee and to taste this kinde of Wine and that kind of wine so that I would to God they would for the health of theyr soules but imploy halfe this care and paines they take in preparing one dinner to make cleane their consciences and to confesse themselues vnto Almighty God I would faine know after all these great feastes what there remayneth more then as I suppose the Master of the house is troubled the Stewards and Caters wearied the poore cookes broyled in the fire the house all foule and yet that is worst of al somtimes the master of the feast commeth short of a peece of plate that is stollen So that hee cannot chuse but bee sorry for the great charges hee hath beene at besides the losse of his plate and vessell stollen and the rest of his implements of house marred and in a manner spoyled And peraduenture also the inuited not satisfied nor contented but rather will laugh him to scorne for his cost and murmur at him behind his backe Marcus Tullius Cicero was once bidden to supper of a couetous Romane a Citizen borne whose supper agreede with his auarice So the next day it chanced this couetous Citizen to meete with Cicero and hee asked him how hee did with his Supper very well sayde Cicero for it was a good Supper that it shall serue me yet for all this day Meaning to let him vnderstand by these words that his Supper was so miserable and hee lest with such an appetite as hee should dine the next day with a better stomacke at home The Author continueth his purpose IT is now more then time wee doe bring you aparant proofes as well by Scriptures as prophane Authors that there was neuer made feast nor banquet but the Diuell was euer lightly a guest by whose presence alwayes happeneth some mischiefe The first banquet that euer was made in the World was that the Diuell made to Adam and Eue with the fruite of terrestriall Paradise after which followed a disobeying of Gods commādement the losse that Adam had of his innocency and a suddaine shame and perpetual reproch to our mother Eue Mans nature presently brought to all sinne and vice So that wee may well say they eat the fruit that set our teeth an edge Did not Rebecca likewise make a feast to her husband Isaac in which Esau lost his heritage and Iacob succeeded in the same blessing Isaacke through fraude whom hee tooke for Esau and all through the counsell of his mother Rebecca she hauing her dedesire and purpose as shee wished Absolon did not hee make an other to all his brethren after which followed the death of Aman one of his brothers by one of the other brethren their sister Thamar was defamed and their father King Dauid very sore grieued and afflicted and all the realme of Israel slaundered king Assuerus made an other of so great and foolish expence that he kept open house for a hundred and fourescore dayes and it followed that Queene Vasti was depriued of her crowne and the fayre Hester inuested in her roome Many Noble men of the City of Hull were murthered and hewen in pieces by meanes whereof the Hebrues came into great fauour and credit and Aman the chiefe in authority and fauor about the Prince depriued of all his lands and shamefully executed vpon the Gallowes and Mardocheus placed in his roome and greatly sublimed and exalted Also the 14. children of the holy man Iob which were 7. sonnes and so many daughters beeing all feasted at their eldest brothers house before they rese from the boord were they not all slaine Also Baltezar Sonne of King Nabuchodonozer made a banquet to al the Gentlewomen and his Concubines within the City so sumptuous and rich that that onely vessell hee was serued withall and the cuppes they dranke in were robbed out of the Temple of Hierusalem by his Father and this followed after his great banquet The selfe same night the king with all his Concubines dyed suddenly and his Realme taken from him and put into the handes of his enemies It had beene better for all these I haue recited that they had eaten alone at home then to haue dyed so suddenly accompanied Now let all these gourmands and licorous mouthed people marke what I shall say to them and carry it well in mind and that is this that the sin of Gluttony is nothing else but a displeasure great peril and a maruellous expence I say it is a displeasure for the great care they haue continually to seeke out diuersity of fine and curious meates great perill because they plunge their bodies into many diseases and in vnmercifull charge for the curiosity and number of dishes So that for a litle pleasure and delight wee take in the sweet taste of those dainety meates but a satisfaction vnto the mind for a short time wee afterwardes haue infinite griefes and troubles with a sower sawce to our no little paine And therefore Aristotle mockeing the Epicurians sayde That they vpon a time went all into the Temple together beseeching the Gods that they would giue them neckes as long as the Cranes and Herens that the pleasures and taste of the meates should bee more long before that it came into the stomacke to take the greater delight of their meate complayning of Nature for that shee made their neckes so short affirming that the only pleasure of meates consisted in the swallowing of it downe which they sayde was too soone If that wee saw a man euen vpon a sudden throw all his goods into the Sea or riuer would we not imagine he were mad or a very foole Yes vndoubtedly Euen such a one is hee that prodigally spendeth all his goods in feasting and banquetting And that this is true doe wee not see manifestly that all these meats that are serued in at Noblemens boords to day