and parentes it is not vnknowen likewise to you that for your sake I haue sustained some labour in séeking our preferment and getting the Emperours good will who only may prefer vs now as the one hath made your life lesse pleasant then I desire or you deserue so the other shal aduaunce our state so high as your self can wish or I be able to wield so y the commodities of the one shall counteruaile the inconueniences of the other For you shall vnderstand that the Emperour doth not only for the present time prouide for me as if I were his owne child but also for the time to come hath proclaimed mâ—e sole heire to his Diademe and realme Which estate as I neuer sought so mutch as in thought for my selfe knowing mee to bee altogether vnworthy of it so I thinke my selfe most happy to haue aspired therto only for your sake whom I know woorthy of all the honour in the world For as it would haue been a hel and horrour to my hart to haue séene you liue in meaner callinge then you are woorthy of so will it bee a heauenly mirth to my minde to see you a prince in state as well as in stature beauty and vertue Master Germanicus sayth shee I promise you by the loue which I beare you for greater bonde I haue not to confirme my woords by that it doth mee more good to sée you thus pleasantly disposed then to here y newes which you haue imparted vnto me for th' one I am sure cannot hurt you but what harme the other may procure you I feare to thinke and faint to say Alas my Germanicus are you to know the perils which princely stat bringeth the falshood in friendes the treason in nobilyty the rebellion in comminalty the enuy of the weake the iniury of the strong Besides you see boystrous windes do most of all shake the highest towers the higher the place is the sooner and sorer is the fall the tree is euer weakest towardes the top in greatest charge are greatest cares in largest seas are sorest tempestes enuy alwayes shooteth at high markes and a kingdome is more easyly gotten then kept For to get is the gift of fortune but to keepe is the power of prudency and wisdome especially where there bee many that catch for it yea and when a man shall haue no faithfull frendes in sauyng it For Ennius saith flatly there is no fréendly or faithfull dealinge to be looked for at any mans handes in matters pertayninge to a kingdome and Euripides makes it in a manner lawfull for a kingdomes sake to transgresse the limittes of law nature and honesty Which opinions I may iustifie by many examples as of Numitor and Amulius c. who though they were naturall bretheren yet Amulius beeinge the younger deposed his elder brother from the kingdome of Rome sâ—ue his sonnes and made his daughters virgin Vestales that they might not marry and haue issue male to succeede the crowne likewise of Romulus and Remus who beeing bretheren borne at one birth yet bicause Remus should inioy no part of the kingdome Romulus found meanes to make him away The like is reported of Eteocles and Polinices of Iugurth towardes Hyempsal and Adherball all which were bretheren and by natures lawes most neerely linked together But of others that by bloud haue not beene so neere which in cases of kingdomes haue dealt far worse the examples are in straungnesse wonderfull in number infinite and in successe so sorowfull that it maketh mee colde at hart to consider of it I spake not this my Germanicus to forespeake you you may inioy the Empire quietly and so I trust you shall but I know not what the matter is methinkes my minde giues mée some mischiefe will insue thereof Alas good husband was it for my sake you sought the Empire Doo you thinke I can not be content with th' estate which fortune shal assigne to you Yes if it were to beg my bread from doore to doore as Adalesia did with her Alerane I could bee contented therwith so you were not tormented therewith It is you sweete husbande that are the ritches which I séeke to possesse you are the only honours which I looke for you are the only kingdome which I care for for so longe as I may inioy you come pouerty come meane estate come sicknesse yea come death it self so I may die betwéene your armes Therefore good Master Germanicus if you followe my counsayle resigne your title to the Emperour againe to bestow on some that hath more néede of it then thanks bée giuen to god wee haue for for my part I thinke my selfe indued with the greatest riches in the world to wit your person and mine owne contented minde And béesides the euils béefore rehersed incident to a kingdome this inconuenience is commonly incurred therby that it altereth the nature of the person which taketh that name vpon him for honours chaung manners and no doubt the diuersity of delightes which a prince possesseth bée but prickes to pleasure inticementes to folly and allurementes to lust Was not Saull I pray you in the beginning of his raigne a good prince but after declined to impiety Salomon beegan his raigne godly but afterwards gaue him selfe in pray to women Caligula Nero and Hannibal béegan to raigne like good princes but after the whole world was troubled with their tiranny I could aledge infinite other examples to like purpose but these shal suffice neither do I alledge these for that I feare y chaunge of your good nature but to feare you from the chaunge of your estate and yet the better I knowe your nature to bee the more cause haue I to feare the alteration therof For freshest colours soonest fade ripest fruit are rifest rotten But to leaue the louringe lottes which light on high estate which are more then I am able to reherse let this request take place with you that séeinge for my sake onely you coueted the empire at my sute only you will forgoe it againe Ah swéet wife saith hée imbracing her in his armes what is it vnder the Sunne whiche you may not commaunde mee to do without desiryng But I béeseche you suffer not the tender care you haue of mée to depriue you of the honour due to you For to cast the worste of it though open enemies or trecherous traytours or rude rebels shall set mée béesides my regall seate and depriue mée of life yet shall you remayne a princesse and be matched agayne with some other more worthy your estate and so longe I care not what béetide of my selfe Alas sir saith shée I bée séeche you vse no more of those wordes onlesse you count my great greif your great good Can I liue when you are dead shall I bée married again and you made away In deed saith hée I néede not vse sutch extréeme doubtes in a matter nothyng daungerous for the numbers are infinite of those who haue wielded far more waightie empires then
of body and soule I thinke I may by more right craue your helpe herein for that partly by your meanes I am fallen into this extremity for y you would not agree to y consummation of the mariage betweene Icilius and mee and howe you can deliuer mee but by deliuering mee to death I see not for that your power is to weake to wreak the wrong which is offred mee and your force is to féeble to fence mee from the fury of my foes Therfore seeing hee will needes haue my body sweet father let him haue it dead that I may not feele the filthinesse which hee purposeth to force mee too Her father melting into teares at her pitifull sute carefully kissing her commended her couragious minde rather confirming her in her constant couragiousnesse then disswadinge her from her purpose By this time the tirantes traine beegan to flocke aboute them to haue her away which Virginius seeing snatched a butchers knife from the shambels and thrust therewith his daughter to the heart saying O daughter by this only meane wherby I may doe I make thee free Icilius seeinge his spouse thus spoyled spent no time in triflinge teares but by the helpe of his father in lawe Virginius prosecuted the matter so ernestly against Appius that hee was throwen into prison where for shame of his deede and dread of deserued punnishment hee did him selfe desperately to death You see here Gentlewomen a most lamentable death of a most vertuous virgin wherein you may note a noble minde in her to desyre it a stout courage in her father to doe it and most outragious tyranny in Appius to driue them to it wherby you may learne that vertue and chastity is to bee preferred beefore worlde or wealth beefore freind or father before loue or liuing before life or death Therfore if I were either in wit able or otherwise worthy to giue you counsayle I would aduise you to auoyde the traines of sutch tyrauntes to kéepe you out of the sight of sutch seedsuckers and to fly from sutch Senes fornecatores sutch raueninge wolues in shéepes cloathinge are rediest to deuoure sutch swéete shéepe sutch olde dogs euer bite forest sutch grauity for the most parte contayneth most incontinency For if their lust were not more then outragious either their great discretion would represse it either their many yéeres would mortify it either their owne wiues would satisfie it But vse of euill maketh vs thinke it no abuse sinnes oft assayed are thought to bée no sinne and these grayheaded gamesters haue the habite of this mischeife so déepely rooted in them that concupiscence will frie their fleshe till breath doe leaue their bodyes And as I would you should auoide these olde youthes in the way of wickednesse so if my wish might wield your willes you should neither medle with them in the way of mariage For perfect loue can neuer bée without equality there can bée no good agréement of affections where there is sutch difference of yéeres Can fire water can flowers frost can warmth and winter can mirth melancholy agrée together No surely Gentlewomen but if you wil haue it so I wil beléeue this matter mooueth you nothing Yet what say you to another point that a most perilous point when to impotencie shal be added Ielousy This is a pill of harde digestion this is a pill which if it bée a litle chewed it will bée so bitter that you will neuer bee able to abide it For when sutch an one shall measure your déedes by his owne desire and your life present by his owne life past when hée shall thinke you to bee naught bicause hee him selfe hath bene naught good god how cloasely then will hee mew you vp how carefully will hee looke to you How lothsomely will hee cloy you with his company Then will you wishe you vnmaried then will you wishe you had maried with a younge man they wil loue and not doate they will bée zelous and not Ielous And if your parentes in some curious or couetous respecte goe about otherwise to dispose of you humbly request them you may chuse where you like and link where you loue that you may bee married to a man rather then mony to quiet rather then coine Dutifully tell them that sutch presinesse of parentes brought Pyramus and Thisbe to a wofull end Romeo and Iulietta to vntimely death and draue Virginius miserably to murther his owne daughter Virginia Admetus and Alcest ADMETVS sonne to ATYS kynge of Lybla fallynge in loue with Alcest daughter to Lycabas kynge of Assur who recompenced him with femblable affection are restrayned eche from other by their parentes but beeyng secretly married wander in wildernesses like poore pilgrimes Atys shortly after dieth wherof Admetus beyng aduertised returneth with his wyfe and is established in the kyngdom The destines graunt him a double date of life if hee can finde one to die for him which Alcest her self perfourmeth for whose death Admetus most wofully lamentyng shee was eftsoones by Proserpina restoared to her life and louer agayne IT is a saying no lesse common then commonly proued true that Marriages are guided by destinie amongst all the contractes which concerne the life of man I think they only bee not in our owne power or pleasure which may plainly appeare by this that when the choice of sutch marriages doth chaunce vnto vs as wée our selues can wish when they may by their parents freindes countenance vs by their dowry and portion profit vs by theyr person and bewtie pleasure vs by their vertue and perfection euery way place vs in paradise yet it is often séen that wee set litle by them neither make any account of sutch profitable profers but by a contrarie course of the heauens and destinies are caried as it were agaynst our willes some other way and caused to settle in affection there where heauen and earth séeme to withstand our desire where freindes frowne on vs where wealth wants where there is neither fecilitie in pursuyng neither felicitie in possessing which the history which you shal heare shall more playnly set forth vnto you There raygned in the lande of Lybia one Atys who had to his neighbour more neere then was necessary one Lycabas kynge of Assur which princes rather couetynge their neighbours dominions then cōtentyng themselues with their owne incroched eche one vpon others right and continued continuall warre one against the other But at length Atys whether hee were weried and wasted with warre or whether hee had occasion to bend his force some other way or whether hée were disposed to enter into league and amitie with his neighbours I know not but hée sent his one sonne Admetus to Lycabas to parlée of a peace Now Lycabas either thinkyng hée had him at some aduaūtage either not minding to put vp iniu ries béefore receiued would accept no conditions of peace but by Admetus sent his father flat defiance So that the warre continued between them
haste his request required stood not vpon the nice termes of her virginity but with a reuerence of maiesty made him this answere Most worthy prince whatsoeuer were the cause of your comming into this countrey the kinge my father hath to holde himselfe mutch beeholding to your maiestie that it would please you too do him the honour to visite him but touching the cause you pretend I doubt not but your wisdome knoweth that dreames are doubtfull and visions are altogether vaine and therfore I must craue pardon if I hardly beleeue y vpon so light a cause you would vndertake sutch heauy trauayle and I mutch muse that in your sleepe the goddes had no seemelier sight then my selfe to present vnto you but whether beefore you came hether the goddes moued your minde or whether beeing here your owne fancy forced your affection towards mee assure your selfe this if your loue bee as loyall as your wordes seeme wonderfull in shewing the originall therof you shal not finde mee either so discourteous as to contemne your goodwill either so vngratefull as not to requite it mary as I may which is for your harty goodwil to giue you my hart for any benefit of my body it is not in mee to bestow on you for if you do mee that iniury to exacte any thing at my handes lasciuiously honesty will not allow it whose boundes I meane not to transgresse and if you doe mee that honour to pursue my good will in the way of mariage perchance my parents will not permit it who onely haue power to place mee at their pleasuer So that as the one halfe and moytie of mee is not mine so the other part if your goodwill bee as greate as you pretend shal bee yours Presently vpon this he preferred his sute to her parentes who were no lesse glad of sutch a sonne in law then hee of sutch a wife And so out of hand y mariage with great solemnity was celebrated Which done hee ioyfully departed from his sorowfull father in law and in short time safely lande with his wife in his owne land where they liued together the space of fiue â–ª yéeres in sutch ioy as they commonly inioy who cary fortune as it were vpon their shoulders and abound in al thinges which they can wish or desire But see the frailty of our felicity marke the misery which mortall men are subiect to A man would haue thought this maried couple in loue so loyall in estate so high in all thinges so happy had bene placed in perpetuity of prosperity But alas what estate hath fortune euer made so inuencible which vice can not vanquish Who hath euer bene established in sutch felicity but that wickednesse can woorke his ouerthrow What loue hath euer beene so fast bound but by lust hath been loâ—sed Yea the most faithfull bond of frendship betwéene Tytus and Gysippus thorow luste was violated the most natural league of loue betweene Antiochus and his owne sonne through lust was broken and this moste loyall loue betweene Tereus and Progne through lust was turnd to lothsome hate For it fortuned that Progne after they had bene maried together a whyle entred into greate desire to see her sister Philomelia and lay very importunately vpon her husband to go to Athens and request her father Pandion to let her come vnto her Tereus loued his wife so intirely that hee would deny her nothinge but presently imbarkte him selfe and went to fetch Philomela vnto her And beeing arriued at Athens hée made Pandion priuy to y cause of his comming The olde man was assailed with great sorrowe to thinke hee must parte from his faire Philomela the only stay and comfort of his olde yeeres but Tereus intreated so ernestly that hee could not denie him easely and Philomela was so desirous to see her sister that had so louingely sent for her that shee hung about her fathers necke kist him and vsed al the flatteries shee could to force him to yeelde his consent to her departure wherwith hee béeinge vanquished with weeping eyes in great griefe and dolour delyuered his daughter to Tereus saying It is not my daughter onely I deliuer you but mine owne life for assure your selfe my life can not last one minute longer then I shall heare shee doth well and if her returne beâ— not with speede you shall heare of my speedy returne to the earth from whence I came Tereus desired him to bee of good chere promisinge to be as carefull of her well dooing as if shee were his owne sister or childe Where vpon the olde man blessinge his daughter gaue her vnto him But like a simple man hee committed the seely sheepe to the rauening Woulfe Nay there was neuer blouddy tiger that did so terribly teare the litle Lambe as this tiraunt did furiously fare with faire Philomela For beeing in ship together hee began filthily to fixe his fancy vpon her and castinge the feare of god front before his eies rootinge the loue of his wife out of his heart contemninge the holy rites of matrimony and the sacred state of virginity hée fell to fleshly daliance with her and attempted to win that point of her which shée held more dere and precious then her life and which ought to bée of curious regard to al women of honest behauiour But hauing no other weapon but wéepyng to defende her selfe by pitiful exclemations and cries shée kept him from satisfiyng his insaciable desire But as the rauenyng Woulfe hauing seazed in his tearyng clawes some seely Lambe séekes some den to hide him in that nothyng hinder him from quietly inioyinge his pray so hée was no sooner arriued on the coastes of his owne countrey but that hée secretly conuayed her to a graunge of his owne far from any towne or citie there by force filthily deâ—lowred her The poore mayde thus piteously spoyled so soone as her greif would giue her leaue to speake spit foorth her venome agaynst his villanie in this sort Ah most tirrannous Traytor hast thou thus betrayed my father and sister haddest thou no other to worke thy wickednesse on but mée who was the iewell of my father and the ioy of my sister and now by thy meanes shal be the distruction of the one and the desolation of the other O that my handes had strength to teare these starynge eyes out of thy hatefull head or that my mouth were able to sounde the trumpet of this thy trumpery either to the court of my sister or country of my father that thei might take reuenge on thy villanie O cursed bée the wombe from whence thou camst and the paps whiche gaue thee sucke O cursed bée the cause of thy conception and the Father that begat thée who if hée neuer otherwise in his life offended yet doth hée deserue to bée plonged in the most paynfull pit of Hell only for begetting so wicked a sunne Tereus not able to indure this talke and fearyng least her words might bewray his wickednesse made no
is the cause when they will lay on them selues heauier burdens then they are able to beare and refuse to beare those burthens whiche nature hath appointed them to beare which are but light What talke you sir sayth shee so mutch of nature and of creatures without reason as though wee ought to follow either the instinct of the one either the example of the other I haue bene alwayes taught that reason is the rule to direct our dooinges by and that wee ought to laye béefore vs the actions of creatures indued with reason to follow and imitate For if you sticke so strictly to the example of reasonles creatures you should vse the company of women but once or twice at the moste in the yeere as most of them doo with their females whereto I am sure you would bée loth to bée tied Madame sayth hee a gentlewoman of this citie hath answerd this obiction alredy for me Why then saith she wil you condemne their dooings in some poinctes place them for paternes to bée practised by in othersome Yea why not sayth hée otherwise you might generally take exception against the example of men for that some men in some matters do amisse The good euer is to bee vsed and the ill refused But to come to the dooings of men which you séeme to desire doth not euery man so soone as his daughter is arriued to ripe yeres trauell to bestow her in mariage wherby she may inioy the fruits of loue participate with the pleasures incident to that estate wherby they plainly shew that the cause why they begot them with pleasure and bring them vp with pain is to haue them enter into that trade of life wherin not only themselues may liue happily abounding in all pleasure but also by the fertill fruite of their body make their mortall parentes immortall that when they with age shalbée wasted and withered away the séede of their seede may begin gréenely to grow and flowrishingly to spring to the great comfort of both the father and daughter For what pleasure the graundfather takes in the sportinge pastime of his proper daughters prety children I thinke you partly vnderstaÌ„d and what delight the mother takes in the toyes of her litle sonne you soone shall perfectly perceiue if it please you friendly to followe the friendly counsayle which I frankely preache vnto you For do you thinke if virginity were of sutch vertue that parentes would not rather paine them selues to keepe their deare daughters modest maides then straine them selues and their substance to ioyne them in Iunos sacred bond Yes perswade your swéete selfe if your mother were so perswaded shée would rather locke you vp close in her closet then suffer any to inioy the soueraigne sight of your beuty or once aspire to your spéeche whereby you might bée perswaded to some other kinde of life But shée experienced by yéeres knoweth best what is best for your behouse and would you should followe her example and make no conscience to loose that which shée her self hath lost which except shée had lost wée had lost so rare a Iewell as your séemely selfe are with what a losse it had bene to my self I dare not say lest you count verity vanity and truth trifling and flattery But to our purpose you perceiue as I sayd your parentes pleased with the accesse of gentlemen vnto you wherby you may conceiue their minde is you should accept sutch seruice as they profer and pertake with those pleasures which they prefer vnto you Why sir sayth shée you altogether mistake the meaning of men in this matter for when fathers teÌ„der mariages to their daughters it is not for any minde they haue to haue them maried but onely for feare least they should fall to folly otherwayes for knowing the fickle frailenesse of youth and our procliuyty to prauity and wickednesse they prouide vs mariages to preuent mischiefes and séeinge of euils the least is to bée chosen they count mariage a lesse euill then lightnesse of our life and béehauiour Alas good Madame saith he why do you so mutch prophane the holy state of wedlocke as to count it in y number of euils wheras the goddes themselues haue entred into that state where as Princes pleasantly passe their time therin whereas by it only mankinde is preserued and amitie and loue amongst men conserued of the worthinesse wherof I am not worthy to open my lippes Sir saith she I speake it not of my self but according to the opinion of the most wise and learned Philosophers that euer liued amongest whom one Aminius so mutche misliked of Marriage that béeyng demaunded why hee would not marrie answered because there were so manie inconueniences incident to that estate that the least of them is able to slea a thousande men Why Madame saith hee you must consider there is nothyng in this mortall life so absolutely good and perfect but that there bée inconueniences as well as commodities incurred therby by that reason you may take the Sâ—une out of the world for that it parcheth the summers greene and blasteth away the beutie of those that blaze their face therin But to leaue naturall humaine lawes and come to the deuine precepts proceedyng from Gods owne mouth doth not God say it is not good for man to liue alone and therefore made Eue for an helper and comforter Likewise in diuers places of Scripture he doth not only commend Marriage to vs saying Marriage and the bed vndefiled are honourable but also commaundeth vs to it saying you shall forsake Father and Mother and follow your wiues Why sir saith shee and doth not God say it is good for man not to touche a woman and if thou bee vnmarried remayne so But why alleadge you not this text it is better to marrie then to burn wherby is playnly shewed that Marriage is but a meane to medicine the burnynge in concupiscence and lust and as I sayd béefore of two euils the least and therfore preferred But because wee bee entred into deuine misteries I could refer you to a place of scripture where it is reported that in Heauen Uirgins chéeifly serue God and set foorth his glorie And Mahamet the great Turke who was in heauen saith he saw there Uirgins who if they issued foorth of Heauen would lighten the whole worlde with their brightnesse and if they chaunced to spit into the sea they would make the whole water as sweet as Honie but here is no mention of married folke Belike saith hée those Uyrgins bee like your self and then no meruayle though God be delighted with the sight of them whiche perchaunce is the cause hee hath them in Heauen to attend vpon him as first Heue and after Ganymedes did vpon Iupiter But generally of women the scripture sayth that by bringinge forth of children they shalbée saued and inioy a place in heauen which must bée by mariage if honestly But bicause I am perswaded that it is onely for argument sake that you