The Aegyptians ordained death it selfe for a punishment to periured persons and to such as declared not the verie trueth in their declaration which of necessitie eche one was to make yearely both touching his name and the meanes he had to nourish his familie The Scithians and Garamanthes followed the same lawe and there was he condemned that had prognosticated any false thinges to come The Persians and Indians depriued him of all honour and farther speache which lyed The Gimnosophistes Chaldeans barred them al companies dignities condemned to remaine in perpetual darknes without speaking And Nicephorus reciteth how the verie wormes did eat the toung of the cosener Nestorius in his life time Monstrelet writeth of Popiel k. of Pologne who had euer this word in his mouth If it be not true I would the Rattes might eat mee that he was so assailed by rattes in a banquet that neither his gards nor fire nor water could preserue him from them Other do assure vs that an Archbishop of Magence died of the like death K. Artexerxes made one of his souldiers toungs to be nailed with iij nailes that had made a lie The lawes of Solon imposed great pains vpon such for that cause did the Gabaonites lose their libertie The emperour Traian surnamed the good Prince took away frō the sonne of Cebalus the kingdom of Dace which we terme at this day Trāsiluania Valachia only because he caught him in a lye told him that Rome the mother of truth could not permit a lyar to possesse a kingdom Cirus in like sort told the k. of Armenia that is was most manifest a lye was not capable of pardō as Xenophon writeth in his 3. booke of his Pedia After that one had red vnto Alexander the great a historie out of Aristobulus wherin he had intermingled certaine counterfait praises he flong the booke into the riuer saying the said writer deserued to haue bin flung in himself because men ought to studie to serch out the truth without which nothing can be wel don that it was a shame great damage when a lye shold put good wordes out of credit And he found fault with another when he compared him to Hercules If he had in this sort remained al the rest of his life that prosperitie flatterie had not rendred himself more insolent he had bin worthy of much greater honor I could here verie wel alledge how in Almanie the lye hath bin alwayes extremely hated shunned as it were a plague bastardes could neuer obtain the prise of any ocupatiō whatsoeuer nor take degree in any art or science as also in the olde testament they were excluded both out of the church sanctuarie For they are euer in doubt which of the sundrie mignions that their mother entertained was their father For this cause Philo Alexandrin compareth those with Idolaters who through ignorance of their creator and his bountie cal vpon many declareth that a multitude as much to say as a pluralitie of gods is very athisme the grounde of lying banishing for euer from thence life euerlasting CHAP. XXIX That the periured and blasphemers are detestable lyers and the paines for them CIcero was of opinion that there was no difference betweene the lyar and the periured person and that God had ordained to eche like punishment and that he which was accustomed to lye did easily periure himselfe The which opinion sundry doctors of the church haue in like sort helde Others notwithstanding haue thought that they haue offended more deepely which abuse the name of God to confirme their lying the which sort of people deserued death by the lawes of Plato Aegypt as committers of sacriledge And the Prophet Ezechiel calleth it the prophaning of the name of God the spoyling him of his trueth He saieth also that he which despiseth his othe shall neuer escape And it is written in Ecclesiasticus that A man that vseth much swearing shalbe filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer goe from his house Saint Chrisostom made sundrie homilies sermons to the end we should hate leaue all othes that there mought neuer be among men folowing the cōmandement of our sauiour but yea yea nay nay without blaspheming the name of God by swearing And he greatly marueiled to see vs so ready to obey the lawes ordinances of Princes albeit they be very hard vnreasonable that of Gods commandemēt so expressely giuen vnto vs not to sweare at al we make so litle account wherof also Plato greatly complaineth and that men couer themselues with a lewd custom which euery man ought to enforce himselfe vtterly to abolish The saide doctor in like sort writeth that it is vnpossible that he which much sweareth should not forsweare himselfe As wee reade of the othe rashly made by King Saul whereby he was constrained either to put to death his innocent sonne or to remaine periured And God reuenged vpon his race and people the great slaughter that he made of the Gabaonites contrarie to the othe sworne vnto them by his predecessours And the other tribes of Israel hauing sworne that they would not giue their daughters in marriage to that of Beniamin because they woulde not breake their othe chose rather to councell them to rauish their saide daughters And Titus Liuius sheweth that the Petelins in Calabria the Sagontines in Spaine chose rather to dye a most miserable death then to breake the faith they had plighted It is written in Zechariah I sawe a flying booke the length thereof is 20 Cubites and the bredth 10. the curse whereof shall enter into the house of him that falsely sweareth and it shall remaine in the middest of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and stones thereof Now that all is full of blasphemies othes and periuries wee greatly ought to feare a most sharpe chastisement of the wrath of God for so ordinarie a contempt of his holy name and followe the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Keepe thy mouth from being accustomed to sweare for that carryeth great at ruyne withall K. Agesilaus hauing vnderstoode that Tisaphernes K. of Persia had broken the promise which he had sworne vnto him aunswered that therein he had done him a verie great pleasure because that by his periurie he had rendred himselfe odious and enimie both to the Gods and men And truely all policies and matches are cleane turned topsie turuie if the promise be not obserued Titus Liuius in the beginning of his historie greatly commendeth the common wealth of Rome because it was gouerned by faith and simple oth not by feare of lawes or chastisements It was also the principall charge of the Censors of Rome as Cicero writeth to punish the periured against whome there is great threates in the holie scripture and in Leuiticus not onely the periured man is
vs hauing beene hitherto verie yl considered of the Spaniardes who for hauing exercised all their crueltie and inhumanitie which they were able to imagine against the poore Indians for the most part haue ended their liues most miserably as such as haue entreated of this historie more at large declare and that the same Spaniards counterfaiting as though they would instruct them in the trueth thorough their wicked life and excesse haue most estranged them from it and of a most populous countrie made a most horrible desert This trueth is called a vertue because they that vse to tel the trueth doe loue it and shee hath such a force that wheresoeuer shee is seene shee causeth her selfe to be the rather desired and loued Now since that our Creator of his pure grace performeth all the promises which he hath made vnto vs in the trueth whereof consisteth our assurance and saluation wee likewise ought to make good whatsoeuer in our christian professiō we haue promised to him seruing for nought els then our owne good quiet and happinesse And leauing all togither the Philosophers dalyings touching the true marke and knowledge of the trueth nor respecting their opinions who haue doubted of all things and helde for certaine that no man knew ought seeing how senselesse they were we wil wholie cleaue to common sense the onely meane betweene the senses and vnderstanding and will thinke that reasonable which we haue seene heard tasted and felt and so haue recourse to ech one in his science as Lawyers and others yeeld to Phisitions in their arte and runne to Astrologians when they woulde vnderstande by what meanes the Sunne is one hundred threescore sixe times greater than the earth and sixe thousande fiue hundred and fiue and fourtie times greater than the Moone albeit there be no appearance thereof at all And wil wholly followe the rules and maximes of Diuines who thorough the verie worde of God declare his will infallible trueth And herein it behoueth vs to shunne two faults which S. Augustine doeth thinke greatly hindereth the knowledge of the trueth to wit desperation presumption But most especially to haue a great desire to knowe it as a treasor and true science according to the exhortation of Salomon And humby beseeche at Gods handes that wee may learne and vnderstande it and let vs bende our selues thereto by readinge of good bookes and frequenting of Sermons and honest companie not imagininge wee see more then in deede wee doe see following the lesson of our Sauiour to the Scribes and Pharisees in the ninth of Saint Iohn and in the Chapter going before where he sayde to his disciples If you continue in my worde you verilie are my disciples and shall knowe the trueth So must wee heare the worde of God as beleeuing it and perseuering therein For thorough faith is our entrance thereto In this respect spake Saint Peter in the name of the whole in the sixth of Saint Iohn Master to whome shall wee goe thou hast the wordes of eternall life And wee beleeue and knowe that thou art the Christe the sonne of the liuinge God Saint Augustine likewise is of opinion that mans minde giuen to vice cannot be capable of the trueth Some haue writen that Saint Peter sayde that God did not couer nor hyde the trueth vnder a mountaine to the ende that none but such as toyled farre for her might finde her But as with the heauens he hath enuironed the earth and the hilles so hath he couered the trueth with the vayle of his charitie whereby whosoeuer will knocke at the heauenly dore might easily enter in Therefore it is a matter necessarie that who so will loue the trueth must first knowe her and louing her search her out and searching her must knocke at the gate of the heauenly loue our Sauiour hauing promised that Aske and it shalbee giuen you Seeke and you shall finde knocke and it shalbe opened vnto you And those of olde time haue set downe two principall partes to be especiall in man to wit his vnderstanding and his will which beeing once corrupted turne him cleane from the waye of trueth and leadeth him into an infinite number of discommodities and errours And all good things haue this nature and propertie that they be desirous not onely to bee knowen but likewise to bee beloued and coueted and the vnderstanding doth serue as a meanes to affection to shewe what it shoulde most of all pursue as hereafter wee will more at large declare CHAP. II. The definition of the trueth and faith CIcero writeth that the trueth causeth vs to speake assuredlie without chaunging of oughte which hath beene is or shall bee and that it is a vertue thorough which wee are enclined to speake no otherwise then as wee thinke The which definition Sainct Augustine followed in his Booke of true Religion addinge it further to bee a true signification of the voyce it is taken for the Gospel and the woorde of God the which as Dauid and Sainct Peter saieth is A lanterne to our feete and a light that shineth in a darke place And our Sauioure saieth that this trueth shall deliuer vs from the Worlde sinne and Diuell through faith which wee haue in him beeing giuen vs from God for righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption who came into the worlde to accomplishe the trueth of the promises of God who is as Sainct Paul saieth A light that none can attaine vnto to the which Christe Iesus doeth guide vs being the cleerenesse of the worlde and his reconciliation It is likewise taken for an inwarde integritie and a rule teachinge to liue well accordinge to the holye will of God And when Ezekias desired there might bee trueth in his dayes it is interpreted that thereby hee meant the continuaunce of a quiet and peaceable state And as the trueth conformeth wordes according to the meanyng of the hearte so doeth faith in the promises beeing a vertue which maketh our deedes aunswerable to our promises and a habite through which wee are enclined to perfourme whatsoeuer wee haue promised And our Sauiour in the Gospel of Sainct Matthewe saying that the weightie matters of the Lawe consisted in iudgement mercie and fidelitie by this word of fidelitie meant a trueth farre from anie disguising and treacherie And the Romanes in old time dedicated a temple to Faith the better to cause the people to keepe and reuerence it I leaue to the Diuines the definition of Faith which consisteth in the substance of that we hope for and in the knowledge of the good will of God towards vs of our reconciliatiō iustification founded vpon the promises freely giuen vnto vs in Christ Iesus which quickneth the soule and purifieth the heart maketh vs the children and sonnes of God causeth in vs a desire to walke holie and vnblamable taketh away the poyson abateth the sting of death
and engendreth within vs an amendment of life readie obedience and loue towardes God and our neighbour giueth vnto vs the hope of eternal life and of obtaining what we ask at Gods hands rendreth our conscience peaceable maketh vs to perseuere in the good giueth vnto vs a boldnes to addresse our selues to the throne of grace bringeth with it selfe a constancie and pacience in all aduersities and comforteth vs cleane remouing away all feare anguish vexation of minde For this cause God is called by S. Paul in the beginning of his second Epistle to the Corinthians The God of mercie and consolation And in the sixth to the Ephesians he doth exhort vs to take vpon vs the shielde of faith wherewith we may quench all the fierie dartes of the wicked CHAP. 3. Properties of the truth and how much it is requisite in a Prince and Clergie SAint Paul recommendeth this trueth vnto vs as an especiall and principall part of the armour required to be worne by a Christian Knight and as a bulwarke against all assaults And most excelent is that saying in the 8. chapter of the prophesie of Zecharie where hee exhorteth Euerie man to speake the trueth vnto his neighbour and as the bodie bereft of the soule is nought else then stinking carrion so man depriued of this trueth is no better then a verie infection and filthie carkasse For this cause Plato in his commonwealth ordained for a lawe that aboue all thinges the truth might be preserued And Xenophon bringing in a good Prince vnder the person of K. Cyrus requireth especialy that he be founde true This was also the first lesson which Aristotle taught Alexander the great And Isayah setteth downe a King to reigne in Iustice and a Prince to rule in Iudgement being as an hiding place from the winde and as a refuge for the tempest And a byshop of Cologne declared to Fredoric the Emperour that the bare worde of a Prince ought to be of as great weight as other mens othes and that the trueth ought to bee his chiefest ornament The aunsweare which Charles the fift Emperour made vnto such as would haue perswaded him by no meanes to sende backe Luther being come vnto him vnder his safe conduit is greatly praised saying that though the performance of promises were cleane banished the face of the earth yet it should be kept by an Emperour Our Sauiour also in manie places of the Euangelistes commaundeth vs in any wise to keepe truth and nameth himselfe the sonne of Iustice and the essentiall truth On the other side the Diuell is called a lyer and the father thereof to the end that euerie one abyding in God who is the soueraigne good and hauing him for a father Lorde Sauiour and Protectour might be founde true and that we should not serue so wicked a murtherer and cruell deceauer as Sathan and that we shoulde abhor lying with which he onely serueth his turne to extinguish the light of the truth the onely life of the soule And Iob sayth that the wicked abhor the light they knowe not the wayes therof nor continue in the pathes thereof The Catholique Church is likewise called of S. Paul The pillar and grounde of trueth And Lactantius calleth it the fountaine of trueth house of faith and temple of God into which who so doth not enter is cleane shut vp from anie hope of eternall life For out of her is there no saluation to be found but euen as it fared with them that were without the Arke of Noah in the time of the flood And our religion hath beene founded vppon faith which dependeth of this truth which alone hath much more vertue than Cicero would attribute to Philosophie as in casting out of spirits remouing vaine solitarinesse deliuering vs from lusts and chasing away all feare For she teacheth vs the true seruice of God how to worshippe his mightinesse admire at his wisedome loue his bountie trust vnto his promises and rule our life according vnto his holie will She cleareth and giueth light vnto the course of reason thorough the knowledge of thinges and guideth our will vnto the true good and taketh away the clowdes of our vnderstanding as it is saide the North winde doth in the ayre And wee daylie see that the afflicted and wretched innocent taketh his greatest comfort in that the trueth is of his side And this truth causeth that parte of our vnderstanding wherein reason lyeth to rule and our will affections and like partes willingly obey thereto and suffer themselues to be gouerned therby And we may the rather be termed men in neare approching to God our patron For all the doctrine of the lawe tendeth to ioyne man through holinesse of life vnto his God as Moyses in Deutronomy sayth to make him leane vnto him For neither the worlde nor anie other creature can make man happie but he alone which made him man And thorough this truth are we deliuered from false opinions and ignorance and in al actions she is the light to guide vs frō stumbling and bringeth foorth all vertues And since that the end of Grammer is to speake aptly and agreeably and the end of speech societie of Rhethoricke to carrie all mens mindes to one opinion And of Logicke to finde out a truth amidst manie falshoodes all other artes doe likewise tende to this trueth And let vs make our senses to serue our vnderstanding and that vnderstanding of ours to serue him by whom it is and doth vnderstand And since this truth is a light her propertie is to chase away the darkenesse blindnesse and ignorance of our vnderstandings and to reioyce and comfort vs as the sunne rising doth to Pilgrims except they be such as our Sauiour spoke of who loue darkenesse more then the light which maketh vs to perceaue what hath beene hidden from vs. And men are more afraide to do amisse by day then by night and we are better able to guide our selues and can yeelde a better testimonie of what we haue seene as our Sauiour sayde in S. Iohn we speake that we knowe and testifie that we haue seene CHAP. 4. Extremities in the truth and how men may speake of themselues and of that which they vnderstande and that men ought not to publish anie writing but of their owne inuention and to some purpose nor to attribute to themselues the honour of a thing well done SInce that this trueth is approued to be a vertue she ought to hold a mediocritie to be set betweene two vitious extremities of either too little or too much as it is saide of the rest of the vertues which make them selues more apparaunt in gayning vnto themselues by those actions which consist in the middest of two contrarie vices as doeth the true tune among discords The excesse and ouerplus shal proceede of arrogancie pride vaunting disdain insolencie
vnto him Saint Ambrose happening into a rich mans house and vnderstanding that he had euery thing as he would wish it neuer hauing occasion of disquiet or anger presently departed fearing least hee shoulde bee partaker of some misfortune anon after was the house swalowed vp with an earthquake Saint Ierome alledgeth an auncient prouerbe that a riche man is either wicked of himself or heire to a wicked man And he wrote vnto Saluia that euen as pouertie is not meritorious if it be not borne with patience no more are riches hurtful if they be not abused The which S. Chrisostom in his homelie of the poore man and the rich more amply entreateth of CHAP. XIIII Of the care which men haue had that youth might be instructed in the trueth PArents haue beene commanded to bring vp and instruct their children but especially to teach them how to knowe and feare God in Exodus Chap. 12. 13. Deut. 4.6 7. in Saint Paul to the Ephes 6. in sundry Psalms In Persia Lacedemonia and sundrie other prouinces the most vertuous graue and learned men had the charge of the education instruction of youth and endeuoured most especially to make them true and hate lying following Platoes counsell in sundrie of his treatises And in Alcibiades he writeth that there was giuen vnto the Princes of Persia their children a tutor which had care aboue all things to make them loue the trueth for of the foure vertues which concerne manners to wit Prudence Iustice Fortitude Temperance the trueth especiall draweth neere vnto Iustice which rendreth vnto euerie one what appertaineth vnto him and kepeth equality being the spring and foundation of all vertue and preseruer of the societie of man Which was the cause that in time past they had so great care to teach their children togither with their mothers milke a habite and custome to be true and hate lying dissembling and hypocrisie and that they imploy that time which is giuen vnto them to all matters of vertue and reforme them making them more aduised and capable to serue God the common wealth and their parents Diuers Emperours haue been greatly praised for erecting of common scholes the better to instruct youth to discerne truth from lying And those Princes which gaue stipends to scholemasters were accounted to haue don more good to the common wealth then they which ordained wages for Physitions because the former bettered the wit the other onely the bodie which is the lesser parte and of lesse account For this cause Alexander the Emperour Commenes and diuers other are recommended to famous memorie for prouiding for all things necessarie to scholemasters readers and poore scholers Great account was made of the speache of Leo the Emperour who wished that scholemasters might receiue the paye of men of armes Guichardin writeth that sundrie Popes gaue consent to the Venetians to gather money of the Clergie the better to encourage and find scholers in learning And there were in the olde time certain persons chosen out of the quarters wardes of good townes which they called Sophronistes who had a continuall charge and care to controll moderate and rule the manners of youth which being well instructed all things prosper more fortunately and euery one doth his duetie without neede of any more lawes For as Diogenes said and since Cicero Learning is the temperance of youth the comfort of old age standing for wealth in pouertie and seruing for an ornament to riches as more at large is discoursed of hereafter CHAP. XV. How requisite it is to speake little and not to blase a secrete with aduise vppon newes inuented and of that which is to be spoken ECclesiasticus doeth counsell vs to vse but fewe words because manie multiply vanitie and a man of good vnderstanding speaking litle shalbe much honored Pithagoras willed all those he receiued into his schoole to tarrie fiue yeares before they spoke And it is euer seene that children which are long before they speake in the end do euer speak best as amōg manie it is written of Maximilian the first that they which cannot hold their peace doe neuer willingly giue eare to ought And by a good occasion one made answere to a prater It is great maruel that a man hauing feet can endure thy babling And those that haue beene long time past haue saide that men taught vs to speake but the Gods to hold our peace as also it is written in the Prouerbs that God hath the gouernement of the tongue and that a wise men doth euer hold his peace he that can countermaund his mouth keepeth his own soule Ioyned with all that by a light worde oftentimes great paine is endured whereas scilence doth not onely no-whit alter but is not at al subiect to accounte nor amendes For this cause one being asked why Lycurgus made so fewe lawes aunswered that such as vsed fewe words had no neede of many lawes and woulde accustome their youth to deedes and not to writing And the great K Francis made aunswere to one that asked pardon for one speaking euil of him if hee will learne to speake litle I wil learne to pardon much And Cicero in his booke of the Oratour writeth that Cato and Piso esteemed breefenes a great praise of eloquence so as thereby they make themselues to bee fully conceiued Among such as speake much I comprehende following the opinion of them of olde time such as speake either what is hurtfull or serueth to no ende or as Saint Paul calleth them thinges pleasing for the time which doe no whit edifie Plutarque setteth vs down certaine Geese and Plinie certaine Cranes which when they passe ouer Cicilie vppon the mount Taurus fill their becke full of flintes for feare of making any noyse least they shoulde serue for a praye to the Eagles that are there The like experience wee haue had of Quailes after haruest in France Aristotle sending Calistenes a kinsman and friend of his to Alexander counselled him to speake but little which he not obseruing it fared with him but badlye Simonides was wont to saye that hee repented himselfe oftentimes in speaking but neuer in holdinge his peace The which Valerius attributeth to Xenocrates folowing the rule which is in our lawe that those thinges hurte which are expressed but not such as are not And Apollonius saied that many words breede often times offence but that holding ones peace was the more sure Greatly was the breefenes of the Lacedemonians praysed in their letters as amongest other thinges of a Prince which put in his aunswere but this worde No and that which wee touched aboue of Archidamus to the Aeoliens disswading them from warre saying that quietnesse is good And K. Philip the faire aunswering a letter of Adolphe the Emperor gotten by the Englishmen in al his pacquet had but these two wordes too much
will be a witnesse thereof he sinneth the lesse so is there no doubt but manye tyrauntes haue refrayned the executing of a number of mischiefes they haue determined for feare of the spotte which a historie woulde staine them with As Democritus likewyse rehearseth how manye kinges of Aegipt haue heene brideled from committing of euill fearing a custome which the people had to oppose them selues to the pompes and magnificences that were wont to be celebrated at the obsequies of their good kinges Without histories we are neuer able to know the benefites which GOD hath bestowed vppon men nor the chastisementes with which he correcteth the wicked nor the beginning progresse and successe of all thinges nor the mischeefe which both the publique and particular weale suffer nor what doctrine is more auncient and to bee followed For this cause Cicero calleth it the light of trueth the witnesse of tymes the Mistresse of lyfe the Messenger of antiquitie and the life of memorye preseruinge from obliuion deedes worthye of memorye atchieued thorough longe processe of tymes And this same seede of vertues whiche Plato sayeth is in oure spirites lyfteth it selfe vppe thorough the emulation of them whiche haue beene suche as wee nowe are And wee doe gayne more by reading thereof in our youth then by whatsoeuer is either attributed to sence or experience of old men or to suche as haue beene in farre voyages It is written tht Charlemagne woulde euer haue a history read vnto him during his meales and that perceauing the small regarde the auncient Gaulois had of setting downe the monumentes of their auncestors in writing he caused certaine songes to bee made commaunding they shoulde teach their children to singe them by hart to the ende the remembraunce therof might endure from race to race and that by this meanes other might be stirred vp to doe well and to write the gestes of valiaunt men Which they say was likewise obserued by the Indians and Homer writeth the same of Achilles And the like is mencioned in the 78. psalme And Caesar in his Commentaries Lucane and Tacitus maketh mention of certaine philosophers that were french men called Bardes which song the praises of valiaunt men and the blame and reproch of lewde persons tyrauntes and base minded and Polibus sheweth that a historie doth teache and prepare the way to the affaires of Policie and to carrie well the chaunges of Fortune and to know what we are And if that which Plinie writeth be true that all that time which is not imployed to the study or exercise of good things is lost and that which Seneca hath written that they are all fooles that in this greate scarcetie of time which is bestowed of them learne but matters superfluous Wee ought much to lament that the desire which the common sort haue to histories is an occasiō that they giue themselues to fables and old wiues tales where is nought els but a vaine delight without anie profite where as in histories besides pleasure there is great learning to teach vs not to vndertake vppon the fiske and flying either any warre that is not necessary or any quarrels suites in law or other affaires of importaunce And we see how manie mischiefes losses and faultes ignoraunce hath beene the cause of But Prudence is greatly required especially in holy histories For there must we confrant the examples to the commaundementes of God because the very saints them selues haue had their faultes which we ought not to follow and the holye scripture is a good looking glasse which representeth as Saint Augustine saide thinges as they in deede are setting before vs vertues to follow them and vices and imperfections to shunne them and to praise the mercie and bountie of God in that he couereth them And as touching the prophane we must carry the like iudgement and therein consider the particularities the causes the conduct and Prudence which men haue vsed and the fortune and successe that hath proceeded from aboue It shall not here be amisse for the readers if I admonish them not to take for good monye not to account all that which prophane aucthours haue writen as articles of their faith nor indifferently to trust therevnto without examining them further I comprehend herein all such where they which can see clearely may discouer lies and vntruthes amidst good things and some beastes come from a pensell and not by nature Therefore we must apply thereto a good sife to sifte and seperate the one from the other And me thinketh what knowledge soeuer those bookes teach vs is verye small if one bee not acquainted with the vse and practise of the world and be likewise accompanied with a iudgement and quicknes of spirit And it was verye wisely written by Aristotle that in reading of histories a man muste not be of too quicke a beliefe nor too incredulous for feare he take not false for true or els profite no whit at all And what color or disguising so euer men set on to flatter great ones they which prie narrowly into their behauiours take their counsels and actions in time of peace and war are not deceaued and discerne toyes and cauillinges amidst deepe counsels and do discouer pretexts cloaking and occasions with the true causes neuer hauing their iudgement there by deceaued referring and examining all things to the rule of the holy scripture Besids we ought to esteme most of such histiographers which haue had least passions and partialitie and the best meanes to discouer the truth either beeing there them selues in personne or hauinge certaine intelligence from them that were present men of faith and sincere iudgement speaking without affection to the ende they set not out fables and lies as many of our time haue done and that which they steale from other is as a precious stone ill set in worke It were also requisite they should be conuersaunt and nourished in affaire of state and acquainted with the proceedinges of the worlde and not giue them selues so much to pleasure as to speake the truth not beeing inough not to write false but to declare the very truth without anye partialitie at all For if in anye one place a writer be founde a lier the rest of his historie is cleane reiected as Alexander the great was wont to saye It is also needefull to obserue what sundrye Italians Spaniardes Fleminges as Almames of an enuious malice and want of right iudgement haue euen enforced them selues to praise their countrie and couer their faultes and diminish the greatnesse and excellencie of matters done by the french men to the aduancement of whole christendome and profite of sundry nations And it is no straunge thing to see how much the passions and affections of men doe staine the truth which is the very eye of histories Polibus him selfe reherseth the exāples of sundrie historiographers before his time and discouer contrarieties betweene them selues and by
rebuked vice Sundry Emperours haue done the like We haue sundry examples in the scriptures of Baasha for killing the Prophet Iehu because he tolde him the truth Likewise of Achab Asa Ioas and Ozias 1. King 22.2 Paral. 18.16.24 26. of Sedichias of Ioachim and of the princes of Iuda Ierem. 23.32 38. But as the wise man saith in the Prouerbes in the end he shall be conned more thanke which rebuketh then he that deceaueth by flattery Notwithstanding euery man according as his vocation the times the persons and places will permit him ought to declare the truth to such as he seeth neede with an intention to profit instruct thē without any choler disdain immodesty or other passiō mingling with the bitternes of reprehension the sweetnes of some praises A man ought likewise to consider that the egernes and sharpnes of biting wordes especially spoken to one that is in aduersity profiteth nothing being a kinde of incontinencie of a tong mingled with malignitye and a will to iniury carrying a very declaration of enmitye which is the cause that they which vse it hurt them selues As did Antiphon about Dyonisius the tyraunt where a dispute beeing helde betweene them what brasse was best he aunswered that whereof the Athenians made the statuas of Armodius and Aristogiton for this soure aunswer caused him to be put to death And as Plutarque sayde in the life of Phocion euen as the honye which is sweete of his owne nature engendreth greefe and payne beeing applyed to partes infected so doe true admonitions the more prouoke such as are in misery if they bee not well sweetned and mingled with pitye and consolation Clytus an auncient Captaine of Alexanders maye serue for an example who was slayne for vsinge too arrogant an admonition In lyke sort one ought not at the boarde to vse such reprehensions as make men knitte the browes forgetting the occasion and place of pleasure and there is required a dexteritie as it is written of Socrates who beeinge desired at a feaste to speake and discourse of his arte it is not now time sayde he to discourse of what I knowe and in that for which the tyme now serueth I am no whit skilfull in And when Damaratus was arryued in Macedonia during the time that king Philip was fallen out with his Wyfe and Sonne the kinge hauinge saluted and embraced him demaunded of him if the Greekes agreed well one with an other Demaratus who was verye familiar with him aunsweared it becommeth you very well O kinge to enquire of the concorde of the Athenians and Peloponesians in the meane time suffer your owne house to be so full of discord and diuision A captiue which the sayde Philip caused to be solde to him that woulde giue moste bad him in his eare to let downe the fore part of his robe because hee shewed what was not comelye to bee discouered the whiche was the cause of his deliuerie An other beeing taken for a spie sayde vnto him that he came to espie his follye in that without necessity he put both his realme and life in hasard Some haue compared reprehensions to the remedies of the splene which ought to be souer and sharpe so truth told in fit oportunitie is profitable and is of such force as Eschines saide that shee surpassed all the cogitations of man And Menander wrote that shee commeth into light although shee be not sought for and defendeth her selfe easely against all the deceates craftinesse and wilines of men And in the disputation that was held before Darius truth was found the greatest and most strong for euer S. Augustin in the citie of God lib. 2. c. 19 calleth her an eternall victorye and in the question 108 ex vtr he sayth that It is better to be ouercome of the truth then to be willing to surmount her in vaine To which purpose may very well serue the summarie description of the table which Apelles painted after he was eschaped out of a false accusation and an extreame daunger He had pictured a Iudge with the eares of an Asse hauing on the one side two Ladies Ignoraunce and Suspition before him stood false accusation with a countenaunce full of rage and furie holding in the left hande a burning torche and with the right pulled a young man by the heare lifting vp his eyes and handes to heauen neare vnto whome was a man painted looking pale earthly and a squint which was enuie two damsels followed false Accusation named Treason and Deceat behind whome stoode a Ladye all wailing and mourning which was Repentaunce which fastened her eye sight vppon a verye fayre Lady intituled Truth declaring by this picture to all Princes and Iudges that they ought not too lightly to beleeue As Alexander closing one of his eares to an accuser sayde he kept the other for him which was accused And it was commaunded Moyses straightlye to forbid the children of Israell lying false accusation and malitious detraction and cause them to keepe iustice equalitie and truth I will not heare omit the aduertisement giuen by wise Plato commended so much by Plutarque that when one founde anye committing anye fault he ought to discende into him selfe and say priuatelye vnto him selfe Am not I such a one To the ende wee may auoyde the like errours When in like sort we woulde iustifie our selues for anye reprehension we mought praye him that did it to reserue that freedome of speach againste he committed a fault him selfe And it was not sayde amisse of them of olde time that the beginning to liue well and repulse ignoraunce was to be reprehended mocked and blamed Sainct Basyl for this cause named reprehension the healing of the soule and in the Prouerbes 25. it is called an ornament of fine gold And in the 29. it is written a man that hardeneth his neck when he is rebuked shall suddainly be destroyed can not be cured And Dauid Psal 41. sayd that it was like the precious baulme We read euen of the Emperours Philip Theodosius and Valentinian that they did great penitence after they were admonished as also did Dauid and other kinges being reprehended by the Prophetes And Sainct Augustine in his booke of recantations acknowledged how he had erred But as Plato sayd that Speusippus corrected other by the example of his owne life so men ought to esteeme those reprehensions that are made without a word speaking thorough a single life irreprehensible and vertuous CHAP. 24. That anger hindereth the truth of the euilles which it bringes with it and of the meanes to resist it PHisitions esteeme the sicknesse very daungerous when the face is disfigured The which we maye saye of choler which altereth the countenaunce speach and all the sences of man It hath beene termed a fury darkning iudgement And as in the darke a man is not able to discerne his kinsman or friende from his enemye so amidst the
comfort instruction counsell in all affaires and for a guide to leade vs through the straights of this world It is also called the square balaunce iudge of all nations the Canon and rule to liue well by and the very touchstone which discerneth truth from falshoode And S. Basile wrote that it resembled a great shop full of all kinde of medicinable drugges where each man might finde a fitte salue for his sore And it is to be feared which God threatned in Ezechiel that he wil take away the force of bread from the vnthankefull And in Amos that hee will sende a famine not of bread but of hearing of his word And in the Apocalips that he will take away the candlesticke as much to say as that his word shall be no more purely preached And we ought well to weigh the saying of Solomon in his Prouerbes that where there is no vision vnderstanding hereby the preaching of the worde there the people decaye For this cause S. Peter exhorteth vs so to speake as it be agreeable to the word of God which he termeth to be a light that shineth in a darke place And S. Paul requireth of vs that our charitie may abound in all knowledge and vnderstanding to the ende we might followe what were best be entyre and able to teach one an other for as much as VVhatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning that we thorough patience and comforte of the scriptures might haue hope This was the reason why the Councell of Cartharge forbadde anie thing to be reade in the Church but the verye scripture And the Emperour in the Code sheweth the difference betweene the Catholickes and Heretickes by the Apostolicall and Euangelicall doctrine And Constantine after that he had assembled the Councell of Nyce gaue in charge to three hundred eightene Byshops which were there present to followe this rule that they should euer dissolue al questions by the books of the Prophets Euangelistes and Apostles The which Saint Augustine euer mainteyned iudging all from thence And the auntience fathers haue giuen three principall marks by which the true religion may be discerned that it serueth the true God that it serueth him according vnto his worde and that it reconcileth that man vnto him which followeth it The shadowes are passed and the vayle of the temple cleane taken away to the ende that all men might enter in Our Sauiour also in the praier that he made to god his father whē he was readie to enter into the combat for our redemption and to fasten our bondes to his crosse prayed that he would sanctifie his in the truth that is to say that his Church might be adorned with the true light The which I haue the rather amplified because that Pontanus Quintus Cursius wrote that Alexander the great much cōmended superstition accoūting that aboue al other things it was that which guided gayned the multitude And it were a very easie matter to shew how much it preuailed for a time and what multitudes of people haue bin easily drawne to embrace a strange vntrue religiō But to the end that we may both discerne shun the enimies to this truth folow the right way of eternal life we must haue recourse to the fountaines of this doctrin meditate therin on that which may concerne the glory of God loue towardes our neighbour oftē to pray vnto him which is the true wisdom take councell of the diuines pastors of the Church For as the young plants haue need of watering our bodies of food so must we for the sustenance of our soules oftē cal the gospel to memory as it is cōmanded in Deutronomie These words which I cōmand thee this day shalbe in thy hart thou shalt rehearse thē cōtinually vnto thy childrē thou shalt talke of thē when thou tarriest in thy house as thou walkest by the way when thou liest down when thou risest vp And S. Paul exhorteth Timothe to giue attēdance to reading For by that god speaketh vnto vs reformeth our life inspireth into vs maketh sauory eternall life strengthneth vs against the dangers of this world The saying of Epictetus deserueth to be here gretly cōmended If we haue any vnderstanding at al sayth he what shuld we do but praise god daily sing vnto him Psalmes actions of thankesgiuing in digging plowing of the earth in trauail in rest And what o great God mighty are thou in hauing bestowed vpō vs these thy instruments wherewith we plough the earth more mighty which hast giuen vnto vs hands but most mighty in that thou hast giuen vnto vs the increase without thinking thereon to take breath in sleeping for by no means can we attribute these things to our own industry if I were a nightingale I would do as the nightingales do but since that I am a reasonable creature I wil praise God without ceasing so I beseech al you to do the like Simplicius who trāslated him addeth that he which is negligēt slack in the seruice honor of god cānot be careful of any other cause For this cause sundry haue wel said that religion did link vnite vs togither to serue one God almighty the sauiour of vs that it was the guide of all other vertues that such as do not exercise thēselues therein are like thē which go to the battaile without a weapō Sundry likewise affirme that in our late nauigations they haue discouered sundry sortes of people stragled in woodes without either lawes or magistrats but none without som seruice or shadow of religiō the which as of antient time we haue bin taught requireth of vs in substance that we render an entire obedience to God that we consecrate to his glory our thoughts words works refer our selues what euer is in vs to his honour and the succor of our neighbour otherwise it is but hypocrisie sacriledg The which maketh vs to run to the merciful god which hath made satisfactiō for vs is our paier creditor to which scope all ceremonies tend We read in the histories of sūdry emperors kings that they haue bin meruelously giuē to the reading of the bible And k. S. Louis willed that his subiects shuld reade it hauing to that end made it to be trāslated into french The which our historiographers do also writ of k. Charles the 5. surnamed the wise and our most gracious and valiant K. Henry raygning at this present hath confirmed the same by his especiall priueledge and commandement And if there be any which abuse the same it is by their owne fault in that they sucke poison out of the same flower whence the Bee taketh honie Notwithstanding as men ought not to cast perles and precious stones to swine nor holy thinges to dogges and
with ones disaduantage and not to giue place to the importunate 24 Examples of euils hapned to breakers of promise and of that which dependeth thereupon 26 Effects of the truth with exhortation not to change the statutes or lawes and not to daunce vpon holy dayes prayse of Frenchmen and a solution of that for which they are blamed 29 Of the meanes to withstande inconstancie and lightnesse and not to take in hande warre or fight without necessitie of the point of honour that one ought not to deferre a good purpose that the reading of good bookes giueth hardinesse and prudence that one ought not too hastely proceed in criminal iudgement that one ought to flie euill and seducing companies with other instructions to nobilitie worthie to be noted 42 That the truth findeth good that which many feare and flye and giueth contentment 51 Of the care which men haue had that youth might be instructed in the truth 60 Howe requisite it is to speake little and not to blase a secrete with aduise vppon newes inuented and of that which is to be spoken 61 That aswell of friendes as enemies one should learne the truth 68 That it is needefull to reade hystories there to see the trueth which one is a frayde to speake with aduise vppon the reading of all bookes and of the conquestes of Frenchmen of the meanes to keepe them and to assure a victorie of the dutie of a captayne and of that which is to be considered in examples and alterations 69 That one ought not to suffer himselfe to be deceiued by prayses nor be carryed away from modestie and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and howe much it is requisite to commaunde ones selfe 74 That without the truth there is nought else but darknesse and confusion and howe much the philosophers haue laboured to finde it out and howe farre wide they haue beene of it 80 Of disguisinges done to Princes and what is their dutie for their honour and quiet of their subiectes and of the miseries of the wicked of the obseruation of ordinances and of that which mainteineth or altereth an estate 83 That Princes ought to haue about them good councellours which may not spare to tell them the trueth and that their lyfe ought to serue as a rule and instruction to their subiectes not to graunt to any vniust thinge of excessiue giftes an aduertisement to such as are in fauour of warnings and that in all actions of importance one ought to take councell without trusting to his owne sufficiencie 95 That one ought not to iudge too readely of another 108 Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a description of detraction 109 That anger hindereth the truth of the euils which it bringes with it and of the meanes to resist it 113 Of the error of some authors which haue praysed promise breakers and the cruell of punishments of such what our gettinges and dealing with the great ought to be aduertisements to the readers and of pardonings 119 The definition of lying 127 The effectes of lying 128 The punishments of lying 129 That the periured and plasphemers are detestable lyers and the paynes for them 130 That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth 134 That those which defer their amendment doe wrappe themselues in a daungerous lye 142 That ignorance is a lye and the gappe of great inconuenience 148 That one ought not rashly to borrowe money nor answere for another man for feare of lying 153 Of lying ingratitude 155 That lying hath made Poets and painters to be blamed and of the garnishing of houses 159 Of backebiters mockers and euill speakers and why the Comedians stage players and iuglers haue beene reiected 161 That accusers talebearers false pleaders and curious persons are of the same brotherhoode of lying 165 Of flatterers 168 That enuie is a miserable lye and of the meanes to remedy it 171 Howe pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and howe all passions leade cleane contrarie to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meane which conteyneth vs therein 174 That painting is lying 183 That witches southsayers sorcerers and vserers are replenished with lying and how a man may exempt himselfe from them 185 Of the punishmentes which haue befallen vnto such as haue giuen eare vnto malitious surmises reiecting the truth 190 That we must auoyde sutes in lawe because of the lying and cawtell of the practisioners 192 That it is a lying in Iudges to receiue presents and what exercise is to be required to be meete with auarice buying of offices and couetousnesse 198 That it is a lye to be intemperate drunke excessife whoremonger player and ydle and to say that one would be in health of musicke Phisicke as wel for the bodie as the soule 209 What we ought to iudge of certaine examples of lying 225 Of the meanes howe to render a nation true and happie and of the bringing vp of youth 227 Of certaine pointes which might be added to this discourse 236 The conclusion 245 Politique discourses vpon Trueth and Lying CHAP. I. That the trueth is a vertue most praiseworthie by what it may be discerned and of that which hindereth the knowledge therof AMong the vertues contained in moral Philosophie the Trueth hath euer been esteemed as one of the moste praise worthie The which Plato called the fountaine of all goodnes and S. Augustine in his booke of the Citie of God ordaineth it as the King and faith as the foundation and piller of Iustice and all commen wealthes for so much as there is nothing more proper to man being formed according to the image of God than in his words and manners to approche him the nearest that he is able to make his words serue for no other ende than to declare his good intent meaning whereby he may be better able to informe his neighbour Agathius hauing written of the manners religion of the Persians saith that they had two gods as Marcion Manichaeus the heretikes haue heretofore helde the one good creator and aucthor of all good and of the light whome they called by the name of truth the other wicked aucthor of al euil resembling him to darkenes and ignorance And Martir intreating of the West Indies declareth that a certaine old man of the same countrie praying the first discouerer of them to behaue himself courteously shewed him that the soules of men departing their bodies passed by two wayes as also Philemon and Plato in his Phedon and tenth booke of his Common wealth hath written The one darke and obscure thorough which the soules of all cruell men wade grieuously tormented The other shining cleare full of all happinesse ordained for those that loue peace trueth and quietnes This the holie scripture ought more deepely to impresse into
which carie an inscription in the front of manie remedies and excellent drogues but within there is eyther nought auaileable or else peraduenture some poyson which our Sauiour reproched the Pharises with that they clensed the outside but within was full of rauening and iniquitie And God in the 29. of Isaiah sayth This people commeth neare vnto mee with their mouth and honour mee with their lippes but haue remoued their heart farre from me and their feare towarde me was taught by the preceptes of men The same did he cast in the Iewes teeth Matth. 15. Mar. 7. and in the 48. of Isaiah You turne your selues from me and make mention of me but not in truth nor righteousnesse It is not without cause written in Iob The hypocrites hope shall perish his confidence also shall be cut off and his trust shall be as the house of a spider Neither was it ill pictured of him who in the right hand put a tongue and in the left drewe a long a heart All deceites are likewise proper as Seneca writeth to a base and mischeeuous minde and to be detested of an honest man I would desire euerie one that meaneth to estrange himselfe from hypocrisie to consider his debt vnto his creator to wit to imploye himselfe and whatsoeuer is giuen vnto him our being our life our senses our speech our actions brieflie all that wee haue in vs or without vs for his seruice And that contrariwise we turne all things to our selues as to their end And if we make a regyster of our life what part thereof we giue to God to whom all is dewe And see howe much we are mooued if a body doe but speake euill of our friend and neuer regard nor care for blasphemies against God or iniuries against our neighbour being his image We deserue to be called the children of the earth as they were woont to call bastardes For we doe followe earthly thinges despising the spirituall for which we were created We must not thinke it strange if the Philosopher toke a light at noone day to seeke a man in the midst of a presse for the greatest part serue to vanitie and leasing and no whit obey vertue And if our eye sight could but enter so farre we should finde manie sauage beastes hidden in some men which make semblance to bee vertuous and yet will not confesse their fault to the Phisition who by their confession should the nearer approch to iustice according to the opinion of Aristotle the Diuines and other auncient writers which say that the confession of sinne is the remedie thereof S. Basill praysed the aboue sayde opinion of Plato touching the vniust that counterfayted to be iust and blamed that sayde in Euripides that he rather desired to seeme good then to be Dauid after he had declared the happinesse of them whose sinnes the Lorde had pardoned and couered addeth those in whose spirite there is no guile nor hypocrisie with which that faith which resteth in the heart not in bare countenance hath no acquaintance CHAP. 7. That those which loue the truth should shewe it by good workes and of the meanes which doe leade vs thereunto and of those which are farre from it OVr Sauiour sayeth that they which are of the truth heare his voice so consequently obey him And saint Iohn in his first Epistle after hauing shewed our inclination to sinne and that our sauiour Christ Iesus offred himselfe for our deliuerance and that he is our aduocate and also that faith in the mercie of God is ioyned with a loue and obedience he addeth that he wrote those things vnto them that they sinne not and he that sayth he knewe God and doeth not keepe his commaundementes is a lyer and the trueth is not in him For as Paul writeth we are deliuered from sinne to the end we should liue to righteousnesse and their sinnes are forgiuen that acknowledge and confesse them detesting and shunning them and hope for life eternall And to this end as well the law as the gospell tendeth that we liue no more in sinne but enforce our selues to followe truth righteousnesse and holinesse Yea the verie worlde was created for the vse of men that thereby they might glorifie God The promisses were giuen and Christ Iesus came into the worlde to the ende that by participating his so great benefites we should learne to obey God whose people we are called of him in his Church that euerie one should knowe how to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour and not in the lust of concupiscence being iustified through him to the end we should serue thorough righteousnesse and not defile our bodies being his temple For The eyes of the Lorde sayth Ieremie are vpon the truth S. Iames writeth that they abuse themselues who boast that they haue faith and shewe it not by their good workes S. Paul also requireth that faith that worketh thorough charity for as much as the sonne of God appeared to the ende that they which are his should be clensed of all their filthinesse and required such disciples who renouncing them selues shoulde followe him not searching any more their owne pleasure but to obey God and dispose them selues to pacience long suffering and all vertues And we haue beene deliuered from the bondage of sinne to the end we should walke before God all the daies of our life in in holinesse and righteousnesse And the grace of God that bringeth saluation vnto all men hath appeared vnto vs and teacheth vs that we should deny vngodlinesse and worldly lust and that we should liue soberly and righteously and godly in this present worlde looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glorie of the mightie God and of our sauiour Iesus Christ We be the temples of the holy ghost which we must not defile we are consecrated and dedicated to God and are not our owne nor darkenesse but light in God and therefore we ought to walke as children of the light and to liue and die to the Lorde to whom we appertaine And our sanctification is the will of the Lorde to the ende we should abstaine from all naughtie desires And S. Iohn saide in his first Canonicall that in this the children of light differ from the children of darkenesse in that they loue one another as members of one bodie and that they who haue hope of life sanctifie themselues since their God is holie And if we loue God in respect of the benefites which we receiue continually at his handes and beleeue that he is our prouident father it is vnpossible but we should manifest this loue by our obedience Dauid saide Mercie is with thee O Lorde that thou mayst be feared As if he woulde saye that the foundation of the feare of God is to knowe his great mercie And in respect of the accorde which is betweene trueth and mercie they haue euer beene ioyned together as in the
the lawe consisteth in the loue towardes God and our neighbour And wee reade in manie places of Cicero and others that the better a man is the lesse he tendeth al his actions to his owne profit and the more he doth studie to serue God and his commonwealth Plato himselfe wrote to Architas that man was borne for his parents friends and countrey in sort that the least part of him remaineth to himselfe and for this cause man is named a ciuill and communicatiue creature And as S. Paule wrote Iesus Christ was borne for vs to the ende that they which liue should not liue anie more vnto themselues but to him which dyed for them And exhorteth vs no more to purchase after our owne profitte but that which may concerne our neighbour and that we be made rich in good workes which he calleth a treasure and foundation to come In which doing we shall followe the pathes of truth and shalbe counted most happie especially if wee retire our affections from vncleannesse from whence Nilus an auncient byshop sayde a smooke proceeded which blacked the soule with sowte There be then two sorts of Christians the one in name and profession only the other in effect The first care not but for their bodie honours riches and pleasure without ought regarding the feare of God The other with all their affection dedicate themselues to God at whose hand they take all in good parte and despise the worlde louing God and his woorde and commaundementes and of these Isayah writeth that they which shall see them shall knowe they are the blessed seede of the Lord and in another place he calleth a naughtie conscience a narrowe bed in which a man cannot well stretch out his bodie nor lie at ease for he which hath a wounded conscience can neuer finde out anye condition place or state that is not too little for him and which may anye wayes content him This is the cause why Dauid requireth at Gods hande to set at large his imprisoned heart that is to say that he will do him the grace to cause him to haue a sound and neate conscience I will not here forget that as God is honoured by the good life of the faithfull according as the holy scripture witnesseth so is he blasphemed and dishonoured thorough wickednesse And there is no doubt but the behauiour of Christians haue caused the Turkes and Infidels euen to detest the true religion Lopes a Spaniard and Beuzo a Millannese and other that haue written of the historie of America and the West Indies haue beene constrayned to confesse that the crueltie couetousnesse blasphemies and wickednesse of the Spaniardes hath altogether alienated the poore Indians from the religion which the said Spaniards gaue out they held for true who did not long enioye those goods which by detestable meanes they had there gathered And all men write that they were lesse worthe then the Idolatrous Indians The cruell handling of those Indians and that which the Turke did to them of Asia Africa and part of Europe who liued as we doe the Turke notwithstanding being the farther are set before our eyes as an example to the end that we should change our selues and seeing the behauiour of Christians and their obstinacie to vice wee shoulde looke but euen for such cursednesse and miseries as we reade they haue beene enwrapped and fallen into And wee may well say that we touch euen neare the end of the worlde alreadie quaking and doting thorough old age and full of the wrincles of lying which notwithstanding can not obscure the sonne of trueth nor take away the light of them which feare God which see and loue the way which we ought to follow to attaine to life eternal And that we neede not further wander wee must exercise our selues in reading of good bookes in prayer fasting and workes of godlinesse And as Xenophon writing of the dewtie and office of an esquire warneth him aboue all thinges to beseeche at Gods hande to make his thought speech and deedes such as shall be agreeable vnto him and contentment to all his friendes and honourable and profitable to his commonwealth without molesting of anie man by farre greater reason the Christians ought to praye vnto God without intermission that he will teach them his will and dresse their pathes to loue and feare his name When a man speaketh of good woorkes it is thereby meant such as are furthest from all superstition and hypocrisie and proceede from a fayth woorking thorough charitie and a pure heart witnessing the great bountie and excellencie thereof and profiting our neighbours referring all to the glorie goodnesse and grace of God which bringeth foorth in vs good fruites and giueth vnto vs both to will and to performe as saint Paul sayth and crowneth in vs his owne workes CHAP. 8. How much true men haue beene esteemed and that all magistrates ought to be so and of the riches of princes IN Exodus Iethro counselled Moses to appoint rulers ouer the people men of courage fearing God men dealing truely hating couetousnesse and in Egypt the chiefe magistrate euer carried a picture of truth hanging at his necke The which Amian writeth also of the Druydes shewing that a Iudge ought to carie it in his heart his Iudgements and all other his actions And the tablet hanging with two chaines vpon the heart of the high priest whereof mention is made in Exod. 28. and Numbers 3. was called VRIM which signifieth light For the kings in all their actions of importance demaunded counsell of God by his high priest or prophets Pythagoras and Demosthenes esteemed to be trewe and to doe good to another the two most excellent thinges that were giuen from heauen to mankinde And the same Pythagoras being demaunded wherein men were likest vnto God aunswered in trueth And it was a sufficient reason for any thing he said to say He saide it And the great Thebane captaine Epaminondas was most especially praysed because he loued the truth and neuer made lie And Pyndarus praysed him as he did before one Pyttacus a Tarentine for that knowing much he spake little And albeit Pyrrhus was an enimie to the Romaines yet neuerthelesse did he giue this prayse vnto Fabritius that a man might assoone turne him from the truth and honestie as the sunne out of his course And the chiefest prayse which hystoriographers giue to Byshops in time past is that they neuer lyed and in the Psalmes and Apocalyps the saintes were euer honored with this title that a lye was neuer founde in their mouth And Zacharie praysing Ierusalem calleth it the citie of trueth And in the holy scripture this woorde of thinke say or promise is interpreted in God to doe because all which he thinketh sayth or promiseth is surely executed and put in effect Pomponius a friende of Ciceroes was extolled for
before that to the Earle of S. Pol was vanquished and all yl hap accompanied him euer after Hildebran otherwise named Gregorie the seuenth sware an accorde with the Emperour Henrie the fourth from whome as soone as he was departed he created Rodolph Emperour who afterwards was ouercome by the said Henrie and seeing his hand cut off said vnto the Bishops Beholde the hande which I did lift vp when I made the othe of fidelitie to the Emperour And anon after he dyed the said Pope was deposed put to flight Which ought to serue for an example to great personages to hold their promises I will not here forget what we haue seene of our time happen to Christierne king of Danemarke who for hauing broken his faith giuen to his subiectes was depriued his realme and afterwardes liued miserably for al the succours which he receiued from Charles the fift Emperour As also the histories recite of one Richard who caused his nephewes to be murthered and his neaces to be declared bastardes to make him selfe king of England but he was afterwarde vanquished and put to flight by one as then scarce knowen I omit sundrie examples set foorth by Boccace in nine bookes which hee wrote touching the misaduentures of notable personages which euerie one may reade And could here touch that which Plutarch writeth of Catoes opposing him selfe to the sacrifices which they would make for the victorie obtained by Caesar against the Almaines meaning that they ought to had deliuered it for them whome he had outragiouslie wronged and contrarie to the peace they had made with the people of Rome to the ende to cast vppon him alone the fault they had committed in violating their faith And without searching of any further examples thorough the folliciting of Cardinall Caraffe sent from Pope Paul the thirde thorough other mens ambition was there broken a most honorable truce and thereby a great warre vndertaken which had verie yll successe I passe ouer in scilence the great calamities ruynes dissipations disorders excesse losses dissolutions subuersions of states rauishments mischiefes happened in Christendome since thirtie yeres past thorough a dispensation which men take to vyolate their faith promise and Edictes And wee haue verie great occasion to beseeche God that hee will giue remedie thereto and hinder these defiances euill fortunes diuisions and stormes which as yet are like to happen And albeit that according to Bias opinion no excuse is to be receiued to make one able to breake his promise neuerthelesse he ought not to bee accused for a lyar who maye not lawfully keepe it for some iust occasion afterwardes happened vnto him As if a mad man shoulde demaunde the sworde which hee had giuen another to keepe or if a more mightie man shoulde oppose him selfe or if by that means another would attempt against his person or estate which did promise or if thee keeping of his promise should turne him to any great dishonor mischiefe errour fraude or any other preiudice not to be recouered For matters not alreadie in practise strange and newe require a newe counsell according to the saying of the lawers who euen dispense with a promise after an oth taken And often times men promise with an intent to accōplish that which lyeth not in their power through an indispositiō or matter fallen out of more great importance As the vowe and promise which Iephthe made ought to be otherwise interpreted And as Alexander did hauing promised he woulde slaye the first that should come out of the town killed an asse in lieu of him that led her as by equitie the rigour of a lawe is often times moderated And auncient men haue saide that Necessitie is the mother of dispensation It is likewise excusable if any preiudice or interest happen not thorough the not accomplishing of a promise CHAP. XI Effects of the truth with exhortation not to change the statutes or lawes and not to daunce vpon holydayes praise of French men a solution of that for which they are blamed IF the light of the truth take frō vs the vaile which blemisheth our iudgement wee shall modestly behaue our selues without any colour or disguising in our wordes habites or anie other our actions We shal knowe how we ought to render vnto God al reuerence obedience trust prayers actions of thankesgiuing and praise with peace in our spirits and how we ought to honour loue serue and succour all kind of persons We shal be readie to obey our King his lawes and Magistrates and wisely to commaund ouer subiectes wee shall haue sufficient of little magnanimitie easie accesse humanitie a nature not dissembling nor fained constancie in our counsels and enterprises with a resolution alwayes to do that which our duetie commaundeth we shall not be dissolute in pleasures nor insolent in prosperitie nor too much carried away with our passions wee shal contemne death and the dangers thereof in respect of a better life we shal lose no hart in aduersitie we shall rightfully followe what either is to be chosen or left treading vpon the thornes of this life without pricking vs and vpon Scorpions without feeling their venome as it is written in Ezekiel And would to God that al French men might so know the beautie of this trueth that they might become amorous thereof altogither cast off their lying vnconstancie to the end they might no more be cast in the teeth with not performing their promises that the citie of Paris might of euerie one be called the citie of truth as the Prophet Zecariah called the citie of Ierusalem and according to his vision God placed a woman in the middest of the Ephah named Iniquitie vpon the mouth whereof he cast a weight of lead because she should not escape Or as Philip king of Macedon assembled togither the most wicked persons and furthest from correction of al his subiects and put them into a town which he builded of purpose and named it Poneropolis that is the citie of wicked persons So that there mought be sent inclosed in some one place in France al such as do delight in inconstancie lightnes falshod against promise and trueth seditions lyings pilling extortion knauerie cousinage pernitious inuentions murthers reproches and periuries to the ende that the rest might liue in greater honor peace reputation credit Nowe standing not at all vpon the praise which proceedeth from the beginning auncestors of Frenchmen not being pertinent hereunto may easily be seen in the hystoriographers I wil thus much say for Frenchmē that if we consider their antiquitie pietie valour manhod courage humanitie mercie gentlenes dexteritie quicknesse of spirit and al other their vertues and perfections they giue place to no nation vnder the Sunne whatsoeuer but rather excelleth it as a Frenche man said to the Embassadours of Rome in Titus Liuius And there be diuers graue writers
and of good credit which attribute vnto them a gentle heart fauourable courteous religious vpright vertuous louing one eche other and keeping their faith more constantly then any other people and they haue beene called the inuincible and most noble And if they haue any imperfections at al as no man is without yet are they couered with an infinite number of vertues for as much as reason causeth them to tame and subdue this liuelinesse promptnes and heate which they haue naturally And histories are full of the prowesse of our auncestours who with their victorious hande haue runne ouer wel-neare the whole worlde setting downe orders and lawes to all prouinces there plantinge the memorie of their name and markes of their Empire Italie which speaketh of enuie hath beene well coursed and tamed and sundrie other countries as well in Europe as Asia haue hence beene peopled and receiued their gouernours And an infinite number of Emperours Princes and prouinces haue had recourse vnto them for their owne assurance and haue lefte behinde them moste notable monumentes of their gouernement and iustice to the profite of manie prouinces This woulde gladsomly encourage mee particularly to declare and make recytall of the most famous in all disciplines and knowledge of tongues sciences of a great number of Martyrs which haue suffered for the testimonie of the faith of excellent Emperours Captains and souldiars that wee might well compare to the moste valiant that euer was during the verie flower of the Romanes and Greekes I will not forget what Iulius Caesar in the sixth of his Comentaries and Tacitus hath written that the French men haue farre surpassed the Almaines in prowesse valor and courtesie and haue euer had the first starte of them Salust in the ende of the warre of Iugurth writeth that the auncient Romanes and such as haue beene since haue euer had this opinion that by their owne valour they easily attained to the ende of all other nations but that with the Frenche men they stroue for their owne safetie and not for honour And it is not to be red in al histories of any people that hath attained to their valour and dexteritie nor whose conquestes were more wonderfull expeditions more remarqueable and successe of their battailes more happie and pollicie or lawes better ordayned or pietie bountie and religion better nor their vnitie greater And there is no nation whose brightnesse is not darkened and obscured thorough the high shyning of the glorie of the French men But to satisfie what the sayde Caesar hath written that Frenchemen are soudeine headie desirous of nouelties and deliberatinge vppon vncertaine purposes and coyners of affaires of importance whereupon they must needes quickely repent themselues Other historiographers strangers condemne them of lightnesse And the Emperour Charles the fifth saide to the Kinges Ambassador the which before that hee had proposed to the Consistorie of Rome that he was nowise able to assure himselfe of the French because they began manie things but brought nothing to ende and did no otherwise by their wordes then by their garmentes which they disguised into so manie fashions as one day they were of one minde and tomorrow of another And that a bodie could not beleeue ought except he sawe it done and that if they did anie good at all it was by bountie for the great desire they had to drawe others to their owne aduantage And that they had euer their foote and their wit in the aire their purposes more changeable then the winde And further discharging his choler at that time as the Embassadour him selfe tolde me he greatly blamed the diuersitie and changing of Edicts and ordinances which wee handle so yll and publish so lightly that anon after wee are constrained to change them being a cause that they were so little made account of And then in his passion hee repeated certaine places wherein he thought some words wanted which speach of his notwithstanding he afterwardes excused And in trueth Plato did not amisse compare how manie more tauernes so manie more drinkers The number of Phisitions the encrease of diseases The more accompt the iustice is made of the more sutes So the more lawes the more corruption as daily experience doth teach vs profiting vs no more then great varietie of Medicines doth to a verie weake stomach And in the time of the Emperours Caligula Claudus were manie lawes made and yet tyrannie and corruption tooke neuer more place If youth were well taught in Princes courtes vniuersities scholes but constancie grauitie the trueth they should be a great deale better receiued and strangers woulde more assure themselues of our promises and then mought we wel say of France as S. Ierom attributed vnto it that it were a countrie refyned and purged of monsters I will not here sylently passe ouer to this purpose that counsel which the Princes of Persia Media gaue to King Darius as the Prophet Daniel witnesseth that he should be founde true and neuer change a lawe which was once made according to the custome of the Medes and Persians which altereth not It is also written in the booke of Hester that the writings written in the K. name and sealed with the Kings ring may no man reuoke Diodorus and Demosthenes tel of certaine people that no man mought so much as speak of the change of a lawe except he wore a halter with which he was hanged if his opinion tooke not place So greatly in auncient time did they detest all changes and nouelties The citizens of Marseilles were much renowned by Cicero and Titus Liuius for that they remained constant in their lawes customes and fashions without changing ought yea and as a great treasor they kept their olde sworde of iustice in the smallest matters to shewe howe much they honoured antiquitie And for the like constancie haue the Romanes receiued great glorie And Paulus Aemilius writeth that the Frenche men euer tooke great heede that nought in their lawes and customes shoulde be changed And greatly was Lycurgus praised for that after he had brought the Lacedemonians to receiue his lawes he made them all sweare that they shoulde alter no one iotte of them during his absence and after that neuer retourned into his countrie againe which caused it to fare much the better with them For as Plato hath written in the seuenth of his lawes and Xenophon likewise Change in all matters except they be mischieuous is most daungerous beit in the dyet of the bodie or in manners And according to the olde prouerbe A man shoulde not awake a sleeping Dogge And euerie knowen euill to which a man is vsed is tollerable as Titus Liuius writeth And Aristotle in his Politickes sheweth it is much better to beare with some imperfections faultes in lawes Magistrates if they be not too notorious then in thinking to change them to ruyne a whole estate which
passions of sundrie men which report nothinge of certayne Notwithstandinge they are to bee excused if they keepe a libertye and write not to the ende to deceaue But in the holye historie they oughte to feare no such thinge since that it proceedeth of the holye Ghoste and thence a man maye take out certayne witnesses and soueraigne arrestes Now that wee may the better reape our profite out of Historyes we must consider the beginning and motyfe cause of all enterprises the meanes which therin they haue held and afterwardes the issue thereof which cannot possibly be good proceeding from an euil beginning And after hauing known the root and causes therof we must iudge what may happen in like cases and consider other circumstances which bewtifie the actions and referre all to the glory of God through whose bountie the euents haue succeeded well and gloriously to the ende wee may render prayses and thankesgeuing vnto him which are due vnto him for asmuche as by weake and vyle persons hee oftentimes compasseth high and mightie things And because that whatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning We ought to apply vnto our selues whatsoeuer we read and to behold as in a looking glasse our own affections to the end we might follow good and eschew euill and cleane remoue from vs all disguising and corruption and aboue all things we ought to acknowledge the iudgementes of God against the wicked and contemners of his law And for because that great dangers ensue those which indifferently gouerne them selues by examples I thought good to aduertise that it is diligently to be considered whether there be a concurrence of lyke reasons not onely in generall but also in particular It is also necessary to rule ones selfe as prudently as they did whom we would imitate and to demaund of God like successe And in our enterprises we must not onely consider the superficies and beginnyng of thinges but to looke more inwardly what may happen in time We must not likewise take too exactly what is written by ancient Historiographers but conferre them with the newe hauing regard to the great chaunges which happen in all countreyes and that there are fewe Cities or Nations which hold theyr former name nor their auncient seates and fashions otherwise we should wander awry and iudge amisse And this consideration of the vnstablenesse subuersions dissipations and lamentable chaunges of sundry peoples and families ought to prepare vs to beare all accidentes sent from God knowing that this life is but a sorrowfull exile subiect to stormes and continuall tempestes and that there is no seate nor hauen sure but in the heauenly and eternall lyfe to the which the sonne of God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath prepared the way for vs and let vs humbly beseeche him to guide vs therein CHAP. 18. That one ought not to suffer him selfe to be deceiued by praises nor be carried away from modesty and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and how much it is requisite to commaund ones selfe WHo so woulde not swarue from the truth ought not to be mooued with praises which for the most part are disguised for as Sainct Augustin hath written He which often praiseth one abuseth him self confirmeth an errour and proueth in the end a lyer and he which is praised becommeth thereby a great deale more vaine And Dion sayd the ouer great praises and honours out of measure carrie with them a misknowledge lightnes and insolensie yea among such persons as of them selues are modest ynough because they are perswaded that they deserue them and euery man pleaseth them and puffeth them vp as Xenophon wryteth though in deed they might well be termed mockeries And such excessiue honours are neither more nor lesse then as portractures ill proportioned which fall to the grounde of them selues as the three hundred statuas of Demetrius which neuer engendred either rust or filth beeing in his owne life tyme broken in peeces And those likewise of Demades were bruysed made to serue for chamberpots and basins in close stooles and so haue sundry other princes their monuments beene serued The inhabitants of the city of Pilles in their counsels ordained moste mightie honours for Theopompus he wrote backe vnto them that time was accustomed to increase honours moderately bestowed and to deface the immoderate When Niger was chosen Emperour they recited certayne verses in his praise but hee sayde that they ought rather to prayse Hanniball or the prowesse of some other great captaynes to the ende they might be imitated and that it was a mockery to prayse men while they liued which peraduenture might alter And that there was great presumption that either they did it for feare or for hope to obtayne somwhat of them and that for his part he rather desired to be fauoured and loued during his life and praysed after his death Other were wont to saye that they neuer acknowledged such prayses but wished to God that they were worthye of them Bracidas his mother was highly commended for aunswearing the embassadours of Thrace comforting her for the death of her sonne affirminge that he had not left his like behinde him that shee knew well ynough that the citye of Sparta had manye Citizens a great deale more worthie and valiaunt then him As Antigonus sayde vnto a Poet who called him the sonne of the sunne that hee whiche emptied his close stoole knew well ynough there was no such matter The shadow shunneth those which follow it and followeth those which shunne it and so fareth it with prayse Sigismond the Emperour stroke one that praysed him too much saying that he bitte him So was it likewise reported by Iustinian When they offered to Titus a crowne of golde togeather with great praises for his taking of Ierusalem he aunsweared that he himselfe was not the authour thereof but that GOD serued him selfe thorough his handes in that he made manifest his anger agaynste the Iewes As much is sayde of Fabritius for the deliuerie of Greece and of Timoleon for restoring Sicilie to libertye And Antistenes commaunded his children neuer to conne any thankes for praysing of them for often tymes it is with men as with an number of beastes which suffer a man to doe with them what he will yea to tumble and drale them on the grounde as long as hee tickleth them Galien entreating howe the sickenesse of the minde might be discerned wryteth that he learned of his father to despise glorye as an intisement to euill and ennemye to truth And Iosephus wryteth that honours bestowed on young men are as matches of follie and rashnes And in our french tongue we call offices and dignities charges And Varro in his fourth booke of the Latin tongue writeth that this name of honour proceedeth from a name which
things concerning the vertues yet haue they not declared at whose handes they ought to be demaunded nor whither they ought to bee referred neither haue they knowen the beginning of the corruption of mans nature nor the remedie of al euils which is reuealed in the Gospel by the knowledge of the trueth and the adoption of the Christians the remission of sinnes and the promises which giue vs a certaintie of the fauour blessing and good will of our good God whereof ensueth a good conscience hope and peace in the spirite which consumeth all the greefe and sorrowe as the Sunne doth the morning dewe And there is none of the said Philosophers except Plato which was able to set downe that the soueraigne good of man was to be ioyned with God but he had no tast at all what this coniunction meant nor the meane to attaine vnto it And as touching the comfortes of the Philosophers the complaint which Cicero made in his Epistle to Atticus is true that the medicine is not of force enough for the disease that neither the discipline learning nor bookes ought profited him Which a body cannot auerre by the holy scriptures as Dauid saide that hee was quickened comforted instructed that they gaue light to idiots And there is another manner of efficacie then the drougg which Homer called Nepenthes which he said was able to keep one from smelling yll sauours charme greefe vnderstanding therby a discreate speaker one able to apply himself to the present affections times affaires as more at large we haue before declared Which maketh me to disproue the opinion of Seneca which attributeth it to god in that we liue but in that we liue wel to Philosophie which in deede ought rather to be referred to God the aucthor of all good Horace spoke as ignorantly writing that God gaue him life riches but that he furnished himselfe with a good and right vnderstanding For God causeth the eye to see the eare to heare and giueth the right iudgement both to will and to perfourme as S. Paul sayth and he disposeth the pathes intentions of men This word Philosophie hath beene interpreted for the loue of wisedome and Aristotle in his second booke of his Metaphisicks taketh it for the knowledge of the trueth Many haue noted great varietie ambiguitie vncertaintie in the doctrine of Aristotle and that he was ignorant of the most excellent things of nature vsed verie necessarie demonstrations The which men in time past wel marked picturing behind his portracture a woman which had her face couered with a vayle named Physis that is to say Nature And it is no maruaile at al if all of them were not able to attaine to those supernaturall things since that the most excellent treasors of nature were concealed from them The which ought to make vs admyre at Gods speach in the fiue last Chapters of Iob discoursing of the mouings of the heauens force of the starres of the earth founded vpon the waters of the waters hanging in the middle of the worlde and sundry other wonders which a body may perceiue able to declare the knowledge of man to be verie ful of ignorance S. Augustine compared the life of the ancient Pagans which were accounted so wise vertuous to a wandring course their argumēts to a glasse which is shining but verie brickle Concluding it better to halt in the way of truth then to runne lightly without it He wrote likewise that their vertues were impure imperfect because there is nothing good without the soueraigne good And where there is defect of the knowledge of eternal life there vertue is false mens intentions go awrie And there is no man that can haue any quietnes of conscience but through the promises of God from which they were shut out also by the inward obedience required of God by trusting in him by repentance righteousnes iustification of the faithful by the free forgiuenes of our sinnes by hope patience confidence in aduersitie confession giuing of thanks by referring al things to the glorie of God to charitie And S. Chrisostom vpon the first to the Corinthians fourth Homelie cōpareth the subtile disputations of the Philosophers to cobwebbes which breake rent asunder with the wind speaking of a happy life were neuer able to attaine vnto it and as S. Paul writeth professing themselues to be wise they became fooles And not without cause Socrates in Plato lamented that the Philosophers studyed more the contemplation of nature knowledge then to liue well or giue good precepts And towards the end of the treatise of his lawes as through a diuine inspiration he giueth hope of the comming of one more excellent more redoubted and more holy then any man whose office was to open the secrete places of truth and the hidden fountaines who should be folowed honored of al men which surely could not be vnderstood but by our Lord Iesus Christ which is the waie the truth and the life S. Chrisostome setteth downe in the ranke of Philosophers Aristides Cato Solon Lycurgus Epaminundas sundrie other who besides their knowledge were excellent in matters of state gouernement as was our lawyer Vlpian and studied more to do good to euery one then to bee conuersant in contemplation For the Sophisters counterfait to be wise in deed their ende is but glorie and proud boasting And S. Augustine thought that all Philosophers were rather giuen to the seruice and searching out of the intelligences seperate which we call angels diuels and which they called gods and spirites then of the true God albeit they confessed there was one only almightie father of the Gods and men And it is easie to gather out of their writings how they confessed one only God in three persons the Father the Sonne the holy ghost and other Articles contained in the Apostles Creede to conuict Atheists and Epicures withal CHAP. XX. Of disguisings done to Princes and what is their duetie for their honour and quiet of their subiects and of the miseries of the wicked of the obseruation of ordinances and of that which maintaineth or altereth an estate PRinces were ordained of God to be fathers protectors and shephardes ouer the people cōmitted to their charge to serue to maintaine their libertie and to defende them against all iniuries and to shewe them good example to entertaine iustice and peace to cause vertue learning sciences and good lawes to flourish to prouide for the instruction of youth to esteeme of the good and chastice the wicked Plato did write following the fixion of Homer that children born of Kings were composed of a pretious masse to be seperate from the common sort And it is saide of Scipio and certaine other great personages that they were descended from a
diuine race because God giueth particular graces to such as he setteth ouer others Horace likewise named Kings Diogenes that is to say the generatiō of Iupiter Diotrephes nourished by Iupiter Aristes of Iupiter which signifieth as Plato interpreteth the familiars disciple in politike sciences And Frederick is as much to say as the k. of peace And for as much as Artaxerxes Mnemon delighted in peace was affable and vertuous the rest of the Kings of Persia since his time haue beene called by his name And it is incredible howe so many should fall headlong into so great dishonors and misfortunes as we haue both seene and red of had the trueth beene laide open before them It is written that K. Lewys the eleuenth was wont to say that he found euery thing within his kingdome but only one which was trueth K. Lewys the twelueth permitted al commedians and stage players to speake freely and to reprehend such vices as were manifest to the ende they mought bee amended And saide that for his own part he knewe many things by them which he was not before witting of Dyonisius the tyrant of Sicille being retyred to Athens after he was depriued of his kingdome bewayled the estate of Princes but especially in that men neuer spoke freely vnto them and that the trueth was euer hidden and concealed from them The Emperours Gordian the younger and Dioclesian made the verie like complaint that euery thing was disguysed and coloured vnto them and that flatterers cast dust before their eyes making them beleeue the euill to be good That they were often times cosened and solde vnder hande that they put the sworde into the handes of furious magistrates and bestowed states honors vpon vnworthie couetous lewd persons That they were caused to turne the day into night and the night into day That they were altogither conuersant and brought vp in delicacies huntings and other pastimes whereby their mindes might be turned from remembring that charge which God had layde vppon them and all this were they brought to doe to the end that such flatterers as were about them might the better attaine to the depth of their deuises And that oftentimes they were but Emperours and Kings in name as if they had plaid their parte but vpon a stage or had beene commedians And that their counselors were the true actors and reped all the profit honor It is likewise written in the rest of Hester that they which deceitfully abuse the simplicitie and gentlenesse of Princes with lying tales make them selues partakers of innocent bloud and wrap them selues in calamities which can not be remedyed And flatterers haue beene compared to the Syrenes who thorough their singing entised all passengers vppon the sea that heard them to drawe neere vnto them Wee may verie well impute to such disguysinges the great expenses which the Emperoures Tiberius Nero Caligula Commodus Domitian Heliogabalus and sundrye others haue foolishlye spent vnder a colour of liberalitie and the better to maintaine their prodigalities put to death and impouerished many which prodigalitie we very well may terme a kinde of lying King Antiochus in hunting lost his way and was constrayned to retire to a poore Yeomans house of the countrey who not knowing tolde him all the faultes that he and his fauorites had committed to whom at his returne he declared that he neuer vnderstoode the trueth vntill that night and euer after he carryed himselfe most vertuously We reade of sundrie our kinges of France who haue done the like and of some Emperours who haue disguised themselues thereby the better to vnderstande what the people spake of them Platina writeth of Pope Eugenes howe he sent certaine rounde about the citie to espie what men most blamed eyther in him or his that it might be amended King Lewys the Grosse which builded S. Victors disguised himselfe often times the better to be informed of the truth And king Lewys the 12. as Charlemagne and Saint Lewys had doone before him tooke great pleasure to vnderstande the complaintes of his subiects applying thereto such remedie as their case required And for this cause hee obtayned the name of father of the people and his memorie is more famous to serue for an example to the posteritie then all the conquestes and victories of other kinges Sundrie of our kinges in the beginning were greatly blamed for that they suffered themselues to bee so muche gouerned by the principall of their court and some haue beene resembled to golden images that are guilded and shining without but within are full of rust cobwebbes and filthinesse For the crowne doth not take away the passions nor griefe of the spirites but rather doth it diminish the true pleasure As Ptolome seeing certaine fishers sporting themselues vpon the sea shore wished he were like one of them adding that monarchies are full of cares feares mistrustes and disguysed miseries Which also Charles the 4. and 5. Emperours were woont to say desyring to leade a priuate life Seleucus before that did the like adding that if hee shoulde cast his crowne into the high waye there would bee none founde that would take it vp knowing the charge and griefes that euer did accompany it And Pope Adrian sayde that he thought no estate so myserable nor so daungerous as his owne and that hee neuer enioyed a better or more pleasant time then when he was but a simple monke and Traian the Emperour wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that hauing nowe tasted the cares and paynes which the imperiall state led with it selfe he did a thousande times repent that euer he tooke it vpon him Homer fayneth all the gods to sleepe except Iupiter who was altogither exempt from sleepe Saint Chrisostome vpon the second to the Corinthians 15. homely sayd that to gouerne and cōmand wel was the greatest and most hard art of all as his fault is more daungerous which guideth the sterne then his which holdeth the owers It is written of Dioclesian that he was wont to say before his Empire that there was nothing so hard as to commaund well Yet many place therein their felicitie and acquit themselues with pleasure of the charge which God hath laide vpon them In my speech before I do not comprehend the wicked and tyrannicall Princes who as Tacitus writeth in the life of Tiberius are perpetually tormented and torne a sunder in their consciences yea and sundrie of them haue lamented the infamie they should endure which they saw very well men would doe vnto them after their death And alleadge the saying of Plato that if their soules could be discouered they should be seene full of stinching scarres and torne in peeces with a hidden yron that euer burneth them And as it is written in the booke of wisedome It is a feareful thing when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie and a conscience that is
the Psalmist sayth that the Lorde powreth contempt vppon Princes and causeth them to erre in desearte places out of the waye The which Iob setteth foorth more at large And the alterations which we see happen in our age in so many countryes might serue for a notable table to beholde the iudgementes of God cleane abolyshinge whole empires for cause of our sinnes And God declared that he cast the people out of the lande of Palestina for the sorceries which they vsed And threatned that he would not onely roote out sorcerers but those likewise that suffereth them to liue And in Ieremie he sayth that he will scatter them in all kingdomes of the earth because of Manasses for that which he did in Ierusalem Which ought to mooue all Princes to detest them and cause them to bee punished according to the lawe of God Sundry histories doe witnesse that vpon the image of Sennacharib in Aegypt was written Learne by me to feare God CHAP. XXI That Princes ought to haue about them good counsellours which may not spare to tell them the truth and that their life ought to serue as a rule and instruction to their subiectes not to graunt to any vniust thing of excessiue gifts an aduertisement to such as are in fauour of warnings and that in all actions of importance one ought to take councell without trusting to his owne sufficiencie MAlice and vice taking their full swyng through the carier of the power libertie which wicked Princes yeelde vnto them do push forward euery violent passion making euery litle choler occasioned vpon some false reporte to turne anon eyther to murther or banishment euery regard and loue to a rape or adultery and couetousnes to confyscation The sight of what is precious causeth a mischeuous desire of making warre is the occasion that a million of swordes are naked which peace would keepe within the scabbard The importunitie of a flatterer driueth away a good counseller a light beleefe or suspition causeth the innocent often times to loose his life as the Prophet Mycheas describeth Through inequalitie iniustice or ambition an entrie is made to seditions troubles And a wicked counsell causeth the ruyne of a whole estate the order of iustice affaires is cleane turned vpside down and as Isocrates writeth the amities of Tyrants through a false report are often turned into most deadly enmities They proceed rather with a headines then counsell without resisting their appetites they are insolent and impatient imagining that with a looke they are able to remedie al hinderances and to surmount the nature of thinges not taking counsell of wisedome and reason but of their owne wil their woordes euer differing from their workes and preferring profit before sayth Caligula the Emperour wished that all the people of Rome had but one head that he might cut it off at a blowe And one day hauing two Senators at dinner with him that asked him what made him to laugh it is aunswered hee because in the twinckling of an eye I am able to hange you both The which other Emperours both haue sayde and put as much in execution And as Saluste writeth Tyrantes rather suspect the good then the wicked and stande in feare of such as are vertuous and are many As Horace after other historiographers reciteth of one Dionisius a Tyrant that he caused a friend of his to sit in a place abounding with all kinde of delicacies and delightes but ouer his heade he had a naked sworde hanging by a threede thereby to shewe him the estate in which all tyrantes stoode The Emperour Alexander Seuerus did as it were the like to a delicate Senator named Ouinius And in truth if iustice reason lawes and the feare of God did not conteyne and keepe within boundes suche power and might and that they were not accustomed to demand account of thēselues condemnations would goe before profes and all iustice pollicie and order should lie vnder feete Varus the Emperour was wont to say after Marius in Saluste diuers other of old time that it was a most hard matter for one in great power and aucthoritie to temper himselfe or not to be corrupted and to put a bridle to his desires Herodotus sheweth how easely royal gouernement is degenerated into tyrannye whereof Samuel aduertised the people of GGD so playnely by the example of Deioces who beeing greatly renowned and loued of euerye one for his vertue and iustice was choosen as Bayleife amonge the Medes and in the ende crowned their Kinge and to the ende he should haue greater aucthoritie and be the better able to maintayne iustice and to oppose himselfe to any harme they gaue him a guarde and a verye stronge place of defence But hee seeing himselfe so assuredly establyshed changed his manners cleane accordinge to the fashion of tyrauntes and thought of nothing else but howe hee mought be reuenged and contemned and oppressed euerie one for his owne greatnesse and pleasure And not without cause Theodosius the Emperour exhorteth his children Arcadius and Honorius to put a bridle to such licentiousnesse as neuer regarded what was iuste and to moderate their first motions and choler without trusting too much to fortune which is like vnto a glasse the more it is shining the more is it brickle Wherefore Plato Xenephon Aristotle and Plutarke counselled all good Princes to prouide about them men learned well aduised modest and of good vnderstanding to conferre with and to vnderstande of them what their dewtie is Isocrates wrote vnto Nicocles that he should procure friends not such as should be euer readie to shewe him pastime but such as should assist him in well gouerning of his kingdome and that euer would tell him the truth And he addeth that it is a greater felicitie to obeye a good King then to raygne Theopompus made aunswere vnto him that demaunded how a King with safety might gouerne his kingdom in giuing libertie vnto his friends frankly to speake the truth and in taking heede that he oppresse not his subiects Plutark sheweth that Philosophers ought especially to conuerse with Princes alleaging the aunswere of Solon to him which said that one ought not to approch neere Princes except he purpose to do al things to plese thē but cōtrariwise saith he you ought not to be about thē except you euer tel thē the truth As he did in visiting K. Craesus And Plato in Sicilie to Dionisius Dion Philostratus reciteth in the life of Apollonius that when Titus returning frō Iudea was inuested in the Empire he required the sayd Apollonius to giue him certain politicke instructions the better to be able to gouern his Empire to whō he answered that he would giue him a certaine disciple of his that should teach him the manner a good Prince ought to vse And being demanded what qualities he had He is sayth he a man franke
to the ende that if ought had inconsideratly escaped their mouth or that their letters had beene rashly signed and passed the signet by reason of their great busines and affaires or for not hauing beene fully infourmed how matters stoode it mought the more easily be moderated and remedied They willed likewise all their letters to bee examined by the soueraigne Courts and ordinarie Iudges of their realme Ecclesiasticus also admonisheth vs To praye vnto the most high that he will direct our waye in trueth and that reason goe before euerie enterprise and councell before euerie action Hence proceedeth the ordinarie clauses had by the counsell aduise and ripe deliberation of our councell There are likewise some that haue wel vnderstood the saying of the wisemaÌ„ Where there is no vision the people decay to bee meant of a good gouernement ruled by good councel And the foundations of good counsels and actions ought to be laide vppon pietie iustice and honestie and to be executed with diligence and prudence otherwise they are altogither vnprofitable These two discourses concerne in especiall the greatnes safetie profit of Princes because that of the comfort of their subiects ensueth amitie and of this amitie proceedeth a readie will to expose their persons and goods for the affaires of their soueraigne CHAP. XXII That one ought not to iudge too readily of another IT was not sayde without cause in the olde time that he which beleeued a backebyter committed no lesse offence then hee did And Symonides complained of a friend of his that had spoken yll of him of his eares and lightnes of beleefe which ought not to haue place in any before they be throughly informed of the trueth For by how much by speache a man approcheth nearer to the seate of vnderstanding reason which is in the braine by so much doth it the more hurt marre him which beleeueth if a man take not verie diligent heed and the hearer partaketh halfe with the speaker It is also verie strange to see what care wee haue to keepe the gates of our houses shut and yet howe wee leaue our eares open to raylers and euen as Homer praised them which stopped their eares sayling on the sea neare vnto the Syrenes for feare of being heald entised by their melodie singing and so fal into the daungers that ensued thereon so should not we giue audience to tale carriers and detractors of mens good name and if they chance to prate in our presence we should examine the whole and take thinges in the beste part without giuing too light credence therto Thucidides the historiographer in his preface greatly blamed such as would report of credite sundry thinges of olde time founding their beliefe vppon an vncertaine brute without taking paines to enquire further The which Caesar in like sort writeth of the Gaulois which caused a lie often times to be put in stead of the truth And Aristotle hauing giuen this precept to Alexander to be founde true addeth that he shoulde not beleeue too lightly And it was euer esteemed an act of a wise man to retaine his iudgement without discouering it especially in matters vncertaine and to consider all the circumstances and consequence thereof And we ought to be as it were gardiens of the renowne and good of our neighbour fearing least being men we shoulde fall into that euill which is reported of an other And we ought to put in vre the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Blame no man before thou haue enquired the matter vnderstande first and then reforme Giue no sentence before thou hast heard the cause The which principallye we ought to practise in the wonderfull and vnsearchable workes of God and rather to thinke our selues short in our owne vnderstanding then to suspect that God fayled in his prouidence and in the gouernment of the vniuersall world and by no meanes to controle the worke whereof we haue no skill at all CHAP. 23. Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a discription of detraction MAny haue sayde that it is a great corsey to a man of courage to be barred libertye of free speach And the Emperours Augustus and Tiberius and Pope Pius the seconde haue saide that in a citie that is not bonde tongues ought to be free And S. Ambrose writeth to Theodosius the Emperour that nothing better beseemed a Prince then to loue libertye of speach nor nothing worst for a Priest then not to dare to speake what hee feeleth And as Socrates writeth free speach and discourse is the principall remedye of the afflicted and greeued minde And Pyndarus made aunswere to a king of Sparta that there was nothing more easie for a man to doe then to reprehend an other nor harder then to suffer him selfe to be reprehended The custome of the Lacedemonians was very commendable to punishe him that saw one offende without reprehendinge him for it and him likewise that was angry when he was tolde of his fault For a man is bound to them that tell him of his faultes and admonishe him of the right way that he should hold And a man ought not to suffer his friende to vndoe him selfe though he would as Phocion sayth Salomon describeth in his Prouerbes the profite that it yeeldeth and how necessary a thing it is to the amendement of ones life and one ought not tarrye till the faulte be committed but to preuent it by admonition The which caused certaine of our kinges of France and some other common wealthes haue endured the same that in publike playes men should reprehend such notable faultes as were committed And in Alexandria certain were appointed to go some time in a coch through out the citye blaming such persons as they saw do any fault to the end they might be more afrayde to doe ill and that shame might be of more force then the law And if at anie time anye mislike to haue the truth tolde them as Comicus hath written it proceedeth of the corruption of men of their haughtinesse and ignoraunce As Ptolomeus put Aristomenes his tutor in prison because that in the presence of an Ambassadour he waked him out of his sleepe that he mought be more attentiue to what was sayde vnto him Pope Boniface the seuenth beeing returned home againe to Rome from whence he was driuen away for his dissolutenes caused the eyes of Cardinal Iohn who had told him of his faultes to be put out Fulgosus writeth of Pope Innocent that hauing beene reprehended by some of the citizens of Rome because he prouided not sufficiently against Schismes he sent them backe to his nephew for answere which was that he made them all be caste out of windowes albeit the sayde Innocent before he came to that dignitie often times vsed towardes his predecessours Vrbain and Bennet lâ—ke reprehension In the time of Honorius the seconde they put Arnulphe to death because he so liberally
and lawes to runne in contempt And both the one and the other is to be founde fault with if it be not tempered Saul was reprehended of God because hee slewe not Amelec And the Prophet sayd to Achab that he should die because hee had pardoned Benadad the King of Siria who had deserued death as also because he caused Naboth to be murthered The holie scripture doth also teache vs that the wrath of God is appeased by the punishment of the wicked and that his vengeance extendeth ouer all people for their iniquitie and contrariewise his blessing doeth spreade it selfe vppon whome soeuer hee chasteneth The wicked shalbe afraide and kept backe but the righteous shal bee preserued from the contagion of them that worke iniquitie For this cause the booke of the lawe founde againe in the time of Iosias is called the booke of the alliance of the Lorde the which hee commaunded the Priestes to deliuer to the King Samuel followinge this rule put it into the handes of Saul and according vnto the tenure thereof Iosias yeelded himselfe the feodarie and vassal of the Lorde Likewise the lawe which was giuen in the Arke was called the couenant of the Lorde And Salomon saide vnto God Lord thou hast chosen mee to raigne ouer thy people and to iudge ouer thy sonnes and daughters For this cause our Kings were euer willing that none should regarde the pardones they yeelded if they were grounded vppon so yll a foundation As also Micheas the Prophet detesteth and curseth in the name of God all such as obey the wicked ordinances of Kinges who for this cause haue had especiall care and commaundement to administer iustice esteeming themselues rather armed with the sworde to chastise the wicked then to repulse their enimies and are the ministers of God for the peoples benefite as the Apostle sayeth And to this ende they establish good and learned Iudges in all places that are voyde of passions if they followe the lawes otherwise they shoulde bringe into the flocke the Wolfe which they ought to chase away and render themselues culpable of the death of those innocentes that such pardoned men shoulde kill and so grace should neuer be without crueltie CHAP. XXVI The definition of Lying THE Philosophers were neuer wont to content themselues in declaring the propertie of vertues except they opposed vnto them their contrarie vice to the ende that the lothsomnes thereof being wel regarded the other mought be found more agreable So haue we of purpose discoursed of the trueth before we com to shew the vice of lying the which we may define by a contrary significatiō vnto the truth whē one speaketh of things vncertain contrarie to that which one knoweth making thē seeme other then they are S. Augustin writeth to Cōsentius that it is a false significatiō of spech with a wil to deceiue And when one speaketh more or lesse then is in deede it is a member of iniustice turning topsie turuie all humane societie and the amitie due vnto our neighbour for since that speach is giuen vnto vs to make manifest what we thinke and to instruct his vnderstanding of whome wee speake It is a foule fault to abuse it and to behaue our selues in other sort towardes our neighbour then we willingly woulde he shoulde towardes vs for as much as hee which desireth and expecteth from vs the trueth is deceiued and led into an errour and hauing afterwardes in time discouered the lye he will no more beleeue vs and wee shal lose the meanes to be able to instruct for euer For lyars only gaine this that albeit they say and speake the trueth yet shal they neuer be beleeued And in the holy scripture idolatrie hipocrisie superstition false weights false measures and al cosinages are called lying to the end that by so disformed a name we should the rather eschewe them The lyar is detested of God and called double of heart and toung because he speaketh one thing and doeth an other And for verie good respect sundrie of the auncient doctors haue written that the trueth being depraued there are ingendred an infinite number of absurdities heresies scismes and contentions And Socrates was wont to saye that it proceeded from a good will to enforce it selfe to remoue the foolish opinions of men and that it was not possible for him to approue a lye nor to dissemble the trueth And Homer writeth of the great and valiant Captaine Achilles that he did more hate and abhorre lying then hell or death And it is written in the olde and newe testament that God doeth abhorre all lying and that the true are gratious in his sight yea that a theefe is better than a man that is accustomed to lye And lying is contrarie to nature ayded by reason and seruaunt or handmayd to the trueth It is writen in Leuiticus Yee shall not steale neither deale falsly neither lye one to another CHAP. XXVII The effectes of Lying PHilo in his first booke of the contemplatiue life setteth downe all kind of wickednes to proceede from lying as all good doth from the trueth And if wee wel consider the causes of the seditions troubles heresies and quarels which alter whole estates publike quiet and mans conuersation we shall finde all to proceede from the infected fountaine of lying And that Achab and the most part of the Kings of Israel the Emperours Nero Commodus Maximinus Iulius Valencius and sundrie other as well of olde time as of ours haue thereby beene ruyned Gehazi the seruant of Elisha was stroken with a leprosie Ananias Saphira fell downe dead Haman was hanged on the tree he had prepared for Mardocheus The hande of Ieroboam was dryed vp Craesus King of Lidia draue awaye Solon reiecting the trueth he had tolde him which for all that afterwardes saued his life and Dionisius the tyrant of Sicil not being able to make his profite of that which Plato had declared vnto him nor to wash away the stayne of tyrannie was constrained in his banishment to confesse that that which he had hearde of Plato made him the better able to carrie so great a change Thorough a lye Ioseph was cast in prison and S. Chrisostome sent into banishment and an infinite number of other holy and great personages haue beene maruelously afflicted and manie realmes and common wealthes haue euen had the verie beginning of their ruine from thence The saide Chrisostome in the 28. Homelie vppon Iohn sayeth that nothing is so vnfirme or vnconstant as lying for what ayde or piller so euer it can come by it weakeneth so as it causeth it to fall of it selfe CHAP. 28. The punishments of Lying IT is written in the Prouerbs He that speaketh lyes shal not escape and in the booke of wisedome The mouth that speaketh lies slayeth the soule and in Ecclesiasticus The condition of liars are vnhonest and their shame is euer with them
the example of the pismire which prepareth her meate in sommer knowing that in winter she nether shall haue time nor leasure and likewise of the swallowe turtle and storke who obserue the time of their comming that they may not be preuented with colde which is so contrarie vnto their nature Our sauiour Iesus Christ in like sorte reprooueth the Scribes and Pharises for if men returne not vnto him and leaue their euill waye they haue occasion to feare his iustice For in the 13. of the Prophet Hosea he protesteth that the fault laye not in him that we are not saued and that none is the cause of our ruyne and destruction but our owne selues And we must not resemble them of whom it is sayde in the 24. of Saint Math. that they neuer beleeued they should be surprised or ouertaken For as S. Paul sayth in the first to the Thessalonians the daye of the Lorde shall come as a theefe in the night a fit houre to conuey ones selfe secretely into the house he doth meane to robbe and as the lightning which no sooner is perceiued then it vanisheth away We haue before greatly esteemed and commended Fabius Maximus for that by delay and temporising he cleane brake the furie of Hannibal but such wisedome preuaileth not with God in respect of whom nothing is more holsome then a readines to execute what he cōmaundeth which is not without very great reason and for the especiall good of such as obeye him In the first of Zephaniah God saith I will visite the men that are frosen in their dregges as much to say that they chose rather to lie wallowing in their fylth then to hasten the preuenting of the iudgement of God Let vs then cast away euery thing that presseth downe and the sinne which hangeth so fast on and let vs runne with patience the race which is set before vs and let vs so runne as we may carrie the price And let vs craue at Gods hande with the Psalmist that he will breake in sunder the corde which so fast tyeth vs and deliuer vs from all vayne desires slothfulnesse and delayes which are so daungerous Here I will craue of the reader if it please him to holde me excused in hauing beene so tedious in this discourse of so great weight and importance CHAP. XXXII That ignorance is a lye and the gappe of great inconuenience Plato in his second and seuenth booke of his common wealth writeth that ignorance is a spiritual lying which we ought to shunne And in Timeus he termeth it the sicknesse of the mind and the occasion of euil And in the tenth of his lawes He addeth that the soule receiuing and comprehending the diuine vnderstanding conducteth all thinges rightly and happily but if shee be once ioyned with ignorance shee worketh cleane contrarie and the vnderstanding is vnto the soule as the sight is vnto the bodie And in his discourse of the soueraigne good he saith that ignorance is a moste daungerous matter to fall into great personages which ought to serue as a light and example vnto the people And Pythagoras his counsell was that aboue all things wee should haue a care to keepe the bodie from diseases the soule from ignorance and the citie from sedition And Ecclesiasticus biddeth vs to be ashamed of the lies of our owne ignorance And Isaiah setteth it downe for the fountaine of al euils And as S. Ciril wrote there is no mischiefe which ignorance doeth not vndertake S. Augustine in his thirde booke of the citie of God was of the same opinion and placed it amidst the temporal paines of this life And from this lewd mother of ignorance haue two daughters issued to wit falshood and doubt This is the reason why Salomon sayeth in Ecclesiastes that the wise mans eyes are in his head but the foole walketh in darknesse For ignorance maketh one fearefull base minded vnconstant like vnto beastes and such as are dead and as Cleanthes was wont to saye suffereth it selfe to be deceiued and to deceiue besides it knoweth not how to vse that well which it possesseth It is rash taketh the false for the true the vncertaine for the certaine vice for vertue and as Menander saide it beleeueth not what it seeth For this cause k. Philip when he gaue his sonne Alexander to Aristotle to be instructed by him exhorted him in any wise to applye himselfe vnto Philosophie to the ende he should doe nothing whereof he mought repent Sundrie other haue likewise beene of opinion that knowledge was the true substance of felicitie and the efficient cause of wisedome profitable to all mankinde Salomon writeth that men are adorned and preserued by wisdome And from thence receiue infinite benefits and for the most part all great Captaines of auncient time were giuen to learning The Emperour Theodosius the second with his owne hande copied out all the newe testament and the Psalmes As Titus Vespasian did the whole hystorie of Iosephus and other al Homer It is written of Epaminondas who obtained so manie and great victories that he was instructed by the Phylosopher Licides and that through learning hee became much more valiant iust and modest The like hath beene reported of Iulius Caesar of Augustus of the Scipioes Fabius Catoes and that life without learning is but a verie death and as a man buryed while hee is yet liuinge For as a Philosopher sayed the vnderstandinge seeth heareth and liueth all the rest is blinde and deafe wanting reason And high dignities estates and riches doeth greatly blemish such as possesse them vnlesse trueth bee ioyned therewithall which causeth all to bee well vsed The Poets described one Tiphon an enimie to knowledge as a man puffed vp prowde and scattering all thinges by his ignorance for there is great difference betweene the iudgement contentment sight and feelinge of a learned man and of one that is ignorant As vppon a time that great painter ZeuZis not beeing able to satisfie himselfe in beholding the excellent workemanship of a Picture aunswered an ignorant man You woulde not demaunde of mee why I so much admyre it if you had my eyes which was the occasion that Plato saide that for to loue well vertue wisedome and the trueth Philosophicall eyes were required And it is written in Hosea that for lacke of knowledge the people were destroyed And Saint Paul exhorteth vs carefully to auoyde ignorance and diligently to search the knowledge of the will of God And the Prophet Ieremiah complaineth Shall they fall and not arise shall he turne away and not turne againe Wherefore is this people of Ierusalem turned backe by a perpetuall rebellion they gaue themselues to deceite and would not returne Pope Pius the seconde saide that his bookes were his treasor And a Philosopher beeing demaunded if the King of Persia were not most fortunate made aunswere I knowe not what vertue and
care is to bee taken for the hanging and adorning of the palace of the soule then of the outwarde And the same Philosopher did not muche out of the waye warne vs that wee shoulde take heede that the skirt of our garments shoulde not carrie a stinche of life CHAP. XXXVI Of backebyters mockers and euill speakers and why the Comedians stage players and Iugglers haue beene reiected WE haue heretofore shewed that our mouth ought to serue our neighbour as wel to preserue him in honor as in profit and for that our Lord God commaundeth that wee should neither deale falsly nor lye one to another He forbiddeth vs either to depraue or deceiue any for deprauing backbiting is an enimie vnto the trueth to the weale honour of our neighbor forbidden by God in the commandement of not bearing false witnes hath euer bin accounted as manslaughter stealing away of the renowne which we ought to esteeme according to the saying of the wise man aboue great riches Plato in his common wealth greatly praised the lawes of Lidia which punished backbiters as murtherers neither doe wee want sundrie examples which shew what mischiefe hath ensued through backbyting Wee haue one in Hester c. 3. of the mischiefe which Haman pursued against the Iewes which K. Ahashueroh of Doeg which through his backbiting was the cause of the death of 85. persons that did wear a lynen Ephod sundrie other myseries And Dauid did attribute vnto slanderers al the euil which Saul had wrought against him The backbiter is in degree neare vnto the flatterer hurteth three persons the absent of whom he speaketh the present which giueth eare vnto him himselfe And it is written in Ecclesiast that hatred enmitie reproch attendeth the backbiter And S. Paul writeth that railers shal not inherit the kingdome of God to the Ephesians Let al bitternes anger wrath crying euil speaking be put away from you with al malitiousnes Be ye courteous one to another tender harted forgiuing one another euen as God for Christes sake forgaue you Solon being demanded what was more cutting then a knife answered a slaunderous toung the which Dauid calleth a sharpe razor and hot burning coales The same writeth S. Iames in his Epistle more at large And as it is taken for a signe of health so is it a signe of a sound vnderstanding to be exempt from al words that may do harme And not without cause said Salomon that death life are in the power of the tongue more perish thereby then by the sword And addeth that he which keepeth his tongue keepeth his life S. Augustin sheweth that the truth hath written in our hearts this commandement Do vnto an other as thou wouldst be done vnto thy selfe And S. Ierom vppon Isaiah in like sort saith euen as wee woulde not that men shoulde speake euil of vs no more ought we to depraue our neighbour S. Paul willeth vs not so much as to eat or drink with the railers and so did S. Iames. Al kind of mockerie ought also to be shunned which is a reproch couered with some fault and which accustometh the mocker to raile lie moueth more then an iniurie when it proceedeth from a wil to outrage a malice without necessitie The which moued some to terme it an artificial iniurie Salomon writeth in his prouerbs that God doth abhorre al mockers the which Isaiah comprehendeth C. 38. 57. The lieutenant of K. Darius put to death one of his soldiars which had railed vpon Alexander saiing that the part of a soldiar was to fight not to raile Antigonus caused one to dye for the like cause and they of Alexandria were well chastised by Vespasian and diuers children were torne in peeces for mockinge of Elisha with wylde beares At the least wee ought to resemble the Phisitiōs which Hipocrates made to sweare that they shoulde not bewraye the secrete and hidden faultes and euils And Saint Gregorie in his Morals compareth the backebiter vnto him which bloweth the powder that flasheth into his owne eyes and hindereth his seeing For this cause ought wee to followe the councel giuen vnto vs by Saint Peter that laying aside all malitiousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and enuie and all euil speaking as newe borne babes wee desire the milke of the worde that wee may growe thereby And aboue all thinges followinge the councell of Demosthenes wee must take heede of speaking yll of the absent or giuing eare vnto the backebiters as Alexander Seuerus was wont to saye and doe And for as much as comedies are compounded of fixions fables and lyes they haue of diuers beene reiected As touchinge Playes they are full of filthie wordes which woulde not become verie lacqueys and courtisanes and haue sundrie inuentions which infect the spirite and replenish it with vnchaste whorishe cosening deceitfull wanton and mischeeuous passions Atheneus writinge of the inuention of a Comedie and tragedie sayeth that they haue euer been inuented in a time of vintage drunkennesse And for that besides all these inconueniences Comedians and stage players doe often times enuie and gnawe at the honor of another and to please the vulgar people set before them sundrie lies teach much dissolutenes and deceit by this meanes turning vpside downe all discipline and good manners many cities wel gouerned would neuer at any time intertaine thē And the citie of Marseilles hath beene maruelously praised in auncient time for that she alwaies reiected such kind of people And the Emperours Augustus Anthony Frederick the first and Henry the thirde caused them to be driuen out of their Empire And the Tribunes banished one Neuius out of Rome And S. Chrisostome in his 17 homilie vpon S. Matth. saith that there is no peril vppon the sea so dangerous as are the Theaters and places of Commedies playes and declareth at large what dissolutenes disorder factions mischiefes inconueniences haue ensued thereby The like doth Seneca declare in his first Epistle of the first booke Caelius Rodiginus in his 5. booke 7. Chapter And S. Augustine in his Citie of God commendeth Scipio for that he forbad the vse of any such pastimes as an enimie to al vertue honesty And saieth that the diuels vnder the similitude of false gods erected them The Lacedemonians also would neuer permit such playes acts for feare somewhat might be imprinted into the peoples brest cōtrary to the lawes truth For as the Apostle writeth Euil words corrupt good manners And this caused the good king S. Louis to banish them out of his court And S. Ierom towards the end of his first booke against Iouinian writeth that tragedies are ful of contempt of mariage good lawes And Seneca wisely wrote in his Epistles that it is verie daungerous
breake the couenaunt of our fathers And it was wisely set downe by an auncient father that vppon whatsoeuer wee possesse we ought to engraue this title It is the gift of God And S. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that Loue enuieth not and if ye bite and deuour on an other take heede least yee be consumed one of an other Notwithstanding whosoeuer he be that is already possessed and replenished with this mischeuous vice of enuie he violateth the dispensation of God is himselfe mightily afflicted at the prosperity good of his neighbour whereas he ought to haue reioysed thereat as though hee had beene partaker thereof and euen as if hee were greeuouslie payned in the eyes he is alwayes offended not able to abide any clearenesse or light but gnaweth consumeth himselfe as the rust doth yron This moued Socrates to terme this vice the filth slime impostume of the soule and a perpetuall torment to him in whom it abideth a venum poyson or quicke siluer which consumeth the marow of the bones taking away all pleasure of the light of rest of meate And the wise man in his prouerbs writeth that enuie is the rotting of the bones and in Iob that it slaieth the idiote and in Ecclesiasticus that it shortneth the life and there is nothing worse then the enuious man And in the Pro. that he shalbe filled with pouerty through enuie man is made incōpatible And Plutarke writeth that it filleth the body with a wicked pernitious disposition and charmeth it selfe bewitching darkning the body the soule the vnderstanding For this cause Isocrates wrote to Enagoras that enuie was good for nothing but in that it tormēted thē which were possessed therwith which euil the enuious do no whit at al feele but contrariwise make it an argument of their vertue As Themistocles in his youth said that as then he had neuer done any thing worthy of memory in that there was no man whom he mought perceiue did any ways enuie him And Thucidides was of opinion that a wise man was euer content to be enuied This passion doth often engender enmitie mislike which is flatly forbidden of God except it be against sinne This was the very cause why the Philosophers did giue vs councell to praise our enemies when they did wel and not to be angry when any prosperitie befell them to the ende we mought thereby be the further off from enuiyng the good fortune of our friends And can there be any exercise in this worlde able to carie a more profitable habite to our soules then that which cleane taketh away this peruerse emulation of ielousie and this inclination to enuie a sister germaine to curiositie reioysing in the harme of an other And yet this is still tormented with an others good Both which passions proceede from a wicked roote and from a more sauage and cruell kinde of passion to wit malice And not without cause did Seneca stande in doubt whether enuie were a more detestable or deformed vice And Bion on a time seeing an enuious man sadde demanded of him whether any euill had betide him or good to an other Neither was enuie amisse described by a Poet imagined to be in a darke caue pale leane looking a squint abounding with gall her teeth blacke neuer reioysing but at an others harme still vnquiet and carefull and continually tormenting her selfe And the same Poetes haue written that the enuious were still tormented by Megera one of the Eumenides and furies Megarein likewise in Greeke is as much to saye as to enuie We ought then to consider that a great part of these thinges which we commonly enuie is attayned vnto by diligence prudence care vertuous actions to the end we should exercise sharpen our desire to honor seeke by al means to attaine to the like good without enuie Some report howe Agis K. of Lacedemon when it was tolde him that he was greatly enuyed by his competitors made aunswere They are doubly plagued for both their owne lewdnes doth greatly torment them and besides are greeued at that good which they see in me mine For enuie both maketh the body to be very ill disposed chaungeth the colour of the countenance therefore was it termed the wiche feuer hepticke of the spirite And as Aristotle Pliny wrote that in the mountaine of Care and in Mesopotamia there is a kind of scorpions and small serpents which neuer offende or harme strangers but yet do deadly sting the natural inhabitants of the place so enuie neuer doth exercise it selfe but vpon such as it most frequenteth and is most priuate with And most wisely was it saide of the auncient fathers that the enuious man is fedde with the most daintie meat for he doth continually gnawe on his owne heart and shorten his life and often times is the cause of great sedition and ruyne Hannibal often times complained that he was neuer vanquished by the people of Rome but by the enuie of the Senate of Carthage as also did that great Captaine Bellisare beeing thereby brought to extreme beggerye I doe not exempt hence their fault who when they haue attayned to any science or perticular knowledge that might be profitable and seruiceable to the common wealth will neuer impart the same to any but choose rather to die and let such a gift receiued from God bee buried with them defrauding their successours and posteritie thereof who shall in the end receiue dewe chastisement therefore the only cause of the losse of so many and excellent inuentions CHAP. XXXX How pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and how all passions leade cleane contrary to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meanes which contayneth vs therein DIuers haue set down two impediments as chiefe hinderers of the truth to wit despaire presumption And the wise Bion saide that pride kept men frō learning profit And Ecclesiasticus termeth it the beginning of sinne And Philo in his booke of the contemplatiue life sheweth that the spring of pride is lying as the truth is of humblenesse And Aristotle wrote in his morales that the proud boasting man doth faine things to be which indeed are not or maketh thē appeare greater then they are wheras the desebler contrariwise doth deny that which is or doth diminish it but the true mā telleth things as they are indeede holding a middle place between the presūptuous the desēbler as we haue before touched S. Augustine shewed how pride was the beginning of al mischeif vpō S. Mat. entreting of the words of our sauiour he maketh pride the mother of enuie saieth that if one be able to suppresse it the daughter shalbe in like sort And in the 56. Epistle which he worte to Dioscorides he sayth As Demosthenes the Greeke orator being demaunded what was the
as the Psalmist and S. Peter exhorteth vs. They haue alwayes in like sort beene highly esteemed of which haue stayde the violence of their desires and moderated the vnbrideled fiercenesse of their ambition by prudence and will with regarde of honestie As we reade of Lucullus Dioclesian Curius Cincinnatus Scipio and sundrie other The very same moued Traian to write to Plutarke that he did more admire the contempt which the saide Cincinnatus Scipio and M. Porcus made of great estate and wealth then he did at their victories The saide Dioclesian aunswered him which egged him forward agayne to reenter into the Empire that hauing once escaped the plague hee woulde no more drinke poyson and was contented to become a gardener Concerning such as are proude in heart Salomon sayth that they stirre vp strife For as Saint Paule sayth VVe haue nothing which we haue not receiued from God nor wee must not glorie in our wisedome in our strength nor in our riches as Ieremie exhorteth vs. The miserable ende of such as haue vaunted in their strength is fully set downe before our eyes in Exodus of Pharao of Absolon of Roboam of Iesabel and of Beneadad 1. Rings 14.19 and 20. of the K. of Assiria and of Babilon of Nabugadonozor Daniel 3. and 4. and in sundry other places as well scripture as histories Plato or rather better Ecclesiasticus and S. Augustine haue taught vs that experience sufficiently sheweth vnto such as take heede therof that all passions concupiscences and greefes of the soule are for the most part accompanied with inconueniences which in shewe a man endeuoureth to shunne by them yet they lead to the contrarie as the vice of ambition is followed with dishonour dissolutenesse pleasure bringeth griefe and repentance delicatenesse daintinesse breedeth trauaile stubbornesse contentions with losse vnshamefastnes and while they seeke to shunne blame fall into further infamie peril enmitie and for fear of refusing one that is importunate sustaine great losses and suites Hee likewise which vnconsiderately maketh a promise is oft cōstrained to break it to possesse goods which one hath not deserueth giueth occasion as Demosthenes saith to commit many follies to become vnfortunate As also Hippocrates said that it is most perilous whē a good disposition aryueth at his last point because whatsoeuer is in the last perfection and excellencie is subiect to change by reason of the feeblenes imbecillitie of the bodie And our life is a pilgrimage vnstable and vnconstant and we containe within our selues the matter of all diseases And not without cause did Thales the Milesian call vice the most harmefull matter of the world because where that is it loseth all and destroyeth what euer was before buylded God reprocheth in Isaiah that they haue kindled a fire and are compassed about with sparkes and haue walked in the light of their feete and in the sparkes that they haue kindled And it is written in the booke of wisedome that wherewith a man sinneth with the same shall he be punished And S. Augustine teacheth vs that euerie disordinate appetite carrieth his owne paine as wee see sundry examples of such which while thorough murther vsurie falshood thefte or other vilanie they seeke to enrich themselues do contrariwise lose what wealth soeuer they before had besides the paine and punishment which they endure This is that which Salomon sayeth that what the wicked feareth shall befall vnto them And that there is a waye which seemeth righteous to a man but the issues thereof are the wayes of death And it was a common saying of olde that the proude fatt themselues with vaine hope which by litle choketh them as water doeth to him which hath the dropsie or naughtie fat to mans bodie or the grease of an horse when it is melted I will not speake of pastors which haue only the bare name neuer executing ought which apertaineth to their charge employing those blames which the holy scripture giueth them and yet no man would haue a seruant ignorant of the charge which is required of him It were not impertinent to discourse here of the hypocrisie and lyinges which is found in all estates and officers which acquite not themselues faithfully were it not for feare of being too tedious Wee may say as that great Captaine Marcellus did vnto his souldiors also Xerxes to his I see manie bodies countenances garmentes of Romanes but no Romane And howe farre are we estranged from our principall and important profession of Christianitie Rightly may they cast vs in the teeth as God by his Prophet Malachie did vnto the Iewes If then I be a father where is my honor if I bee a Master where is my feare considering that in vaine doth man boast of faith without good woorkes from which it is no lesse seperate then heate is from the Sunne and the shadowe from the bodie as wee haue aboue declared For wee ought not to terme such men as S. Chrisostom most excellently saide which haue hands a head feete and some reason but such as remaine in the trueth and feare of God and haue a liuely faith working by charitie As Salomon sheweth in the ende of Ecclesiastes saying Feare God and keepe his commaundements for this is the whole duetie of man Euen the greatest part of the Philosophers haue maintained that mans felicitie consisted not in this life but in another and that his scope is to referre this life to the knowledge and seruice of God to enioy all blisse eternally in an other But nowe in this olde age of the worlde of all good things there resteth nought but the name and a vaine shadowe Nowe that wee may bee deliuered from a vice so pernitious as pride is wee must fall into due consideration of our owne vanitie our faultes and imperfections and remember that wee are but filth wormes dust and putrifaction as the Psalmist saith as Aug. vppon Iohn sayth verie diuels and Satans except God of his mercie shewe pitie vppon vs. The Birth-day is in Greeke called Genethliae the beginning of trauels and death Thanatas thence vp to God And Menander saide that life and miserie were two twinnes which encrease are nourished and liue togither Aristotle also vppon the question which was propounded vnto him what man was aunswered that he was the example of imbecillitie pray of time sport of fortune and enuie the image of vnconstancie seate of phlegme choler and rumes And Solon called Cities the retreates of miseries teares and sorrows The which is more plainly set foorth vnto vs both in holie and prophane histories Some haue compared man to a bubble made of a droppe of raine and to the dreame of a shadowe It is sayde of the Pecocke when hee spreadeth abroade his goodly plumes if hee looke downe vppon his feete hee shutteth them in again for shame and remaineth abast so wee
Simmachus two very honorable personages shortly after he was serued at the table with a head of a fish which seemed vnto him to be the head of the same Simmachus loking a squint vpon him grinning with his teeth so with this fright conceit fel he sick and died Thrasibulus K. of the Iewes cōceiued such a greif in that he had slaine his brother without hearing his excuse that he died The like also befell to Aristobulus for murthering his brother Antigonus for sorow vomited vp his own bloud which was caste in the place where his brothers was spilt with a remorse of conscience died as Iosephus writeth And in thend of his history he telleth of a gouernor of Libia vnder the Romanes who with false surmises hauing made many be put to death to get their wealth was surprised with a sudden fright astonishment often cried out that the shadowes of such as he had caused to bee murthered apeared vnto him cast him self vpon his bed as if he had bin in tormēts fire in thend died his intrals gushing out of his body They which by wrong accusatiō caused Socrates to die not being able any longer to abide the publike hate which was carried vnto thē hong strangled thēselues The great Lord Soliman made his own son be strangled K Herod did the like vnto his and after that the truth was discouered they both too late sorrowed There is as much written of a K. of Spaine and of Cambises the K. of Persia who put his brother to death wherof ensued great alteration of state Mary of Aragon accused an Earle before the Emperor Otho her husband faining that he wold haue defiled her he was beheaded but the truth being afterwards discouered she was publikly burned Nicephorus writeth as much of the wife of Constantine the gret Sedechias caused Ieremy to be imprisoned who had told him the truth to keep him frō breaking his faith was led away captiue after his eyes were thrust out his childrē beheaded Conrad that writeth the chronicles of Magence saith of one Henry Archb. of the same Sea who to purge him selfe of a certaine charitie which was lent vnto him sent to Rome one Arnold whom he had highly aduanced but instead of excusing him hee aggreuated the matter to the ende that thorough presentes he might attaine vnto his maisters seat which he did compasse with his maisters owne monye and there vpon carried home with him as farre as Vnormes two Cardinals from Rome where he caused the sayde Archbishop to be deposed from his sea who appealed vnto God the most iust iudge Anon after one of those Cardinals miserably burst a two the other as franticke tore his handes in peeces with his teeth and so dyed And the sayde Arnold who had compassed the Archbishopricke by so lewd meanes was murthered by them of the Citie Ferdinand the fourth kinge of Castile caused twoo of his greatest Lordes of Spaine which had beene falsely accused to haue conspired againste him to leape downe from the top of a high towre they appealed before God before whom within thirty dayes they adiourned him to appeare and at the ende of thirty dayes the same king when men thought he was a sleepe was found dead It is also written of the great M. of the Templers that when he was vpon the point to be burned at Bourdeaux he adiourned Pope Clement the fift and king Philip the fayre to appeare before the throne of God to receaue iustice shortly after they both dyed So hath God alwaies beene accustomed to reuenge periuries and such as will shut their eares to the truth which ought to be consecrated onelye to heare what is iust good true and appertaining to his glory CHAP. 44. That we must auoide suites in law because of the lyinge and cautell of the practisers THe knowledge of the truth holdeth manye backe and keepeth them from embarking them selues amid the floudes of suites and seates of Petefoggers which are but the shoppes of falsehood deceat and counterfait lying thorough disguising and formality peruerting the vprightnes of a cause For as Demosthenes Anacharses sayd wisedom and eloquence without truth and iustice are a Panurgie that is to say a guyle or sleight such as we reade the slaues to vse in Comedies which still turneth to their owne domage and confusion And in truth the fashion which they hold in manye soueraigne and baser Courtes is but a kind of Sophistrie which casteth smooke and duste into the eyes of the iudges to the ende to couer lying and pilferie And we may say with Ecclesiasticus I haue seene the place of iudgement where was wickednes and the place of iustice where was iniquity It were also very requisite that Lawyers besides that God doth especiallye commaund them woulde obserue the preceptes of Plato repeated in Thucidides that in pleading they should not so much regarde to please men as to speake the truth to the end they shoulde neither charge their own consciences nor their clients knowing that wealth gotten with lying will neuer profite Salomon saide that the beginning of a controuersie is as when waters soking thorough a banke by little and little make a great breach or like Hidra who for euery head which was stroke off brought out seuen other Seneca found fault with the Lawyers of his time as also Tacitus did because they sold their lyes The Emperour Licinius termed them the plagues of a common wealth Apuleus named them Cormorantes because of their gredines Other termed them Harpies And Florus wryteth that when Varus was vanquished in Germany they put out the eyes of all the Lawyers which they could find and from some pulled out their tongue Frederic the third sayde thy defiled the place of iustice and equity making it a banke of deceat and cosinage S. Augustin in one of his sermons writeth that there is nothing so impudent as arrogancie and the babling of a Lawyer And Saint Ambrose saith that they deceaue the Iudges and gaine them by falshood and that they ought to repaye whatsoeuer they take againste the truth And S. Bernard sayde that they were the enemies of iustice ouerthrew the truth and gnawed like ratts And Origen called them swolne froggs which sell euen their very scilence rather encrease the charge more then the profit will auaile when they haue gained their cause And Ammian thought that it was as vnpossible to find out in all Asia a true Lawyer as a white Crow Tacitus writeth that there is nothing so saleable Cicero likewise complained that thorough them good lawes were corrupted And it is too notorious to see how many of them giue rashe and vncertaine counsell verye lewdly acquite them selues of their charge pleading onely vpon the superscription of their bagges or not loking halfe waye into them whence much iniustice hath proceeded Pausanias writeth that in
is murmuring to whome are wounds without cause and to whome is the rednes of eyes Euen to them that tarrie long at wine to them that go seeke mixt wine And S Paul exhorteth vs to walke honestly as in the day not in gluttonie drunkennes neither in chambering wantonnes nor in strife enuying because ther is euer great dissolutenes riotousnes losenes in al such excesse The gluttō the drunkard shal be poore saith Salomon especially forbiddeth it to Princes as both Eccl. Isaiah doe And it was not amisse saide that wine hath drowned more then the sea Plutarque in the life of Cleomenes writeth that Ptolome Philopater so named in mockerie saith Zonarus because hee put to death both his father and mother was destroyed through Wine and Weomen and dyed like a beast Another Ptolome was tearmed the bellie man because of his gluttonie Callicratidas being sent to Cyrus after that he had remained certaine dayes not had any audience by reason the King was retired occupied in continual banquets feastings it was thought meete he should returne without doing any thing saying that as there was great reason they shoulde haue consideration of their weale so ought they to commit nothing vnworthie of Sparta Caesar writeth in his commentaries that the Almanes would not suffer any wine to be brought Men in olde time set downe three most necessarie pointes to continue health to eat without being ful to labour without sparing ones self and to preserue his seede There hath beene also certaine Priestes which woulde neuer vse salt with their meate because it sharpened appetit and prouoked to eate drinke more fearing to be fat and least that diuine part which was in them shoulde be pressed downe and kept vnder by the mortall And thereunto that the extremitie in good point according to the opinion of Physitions is verie dangerous the excellencie of too much welfare enclineth towarde the opposite Iosephus describing the manner of liuing of three sortes of Philosophers or sects in Iudea especially of the Esseniens highly commended them because they loued trueth neuer did eat or drink ought whereby nature mought be offended by reason of their great sobrietie they liued long in health some vnto a hundred yeares And truely it is a great meane to liue happily when a mans bodie is wel disposed and in good temper not drowned with wine nor grieued with meates readie to be imployed in any actiō he desireth The which also moued Plato to call intemperancie a roote proper to euery disease And Gorgias being demanded how he attained to so great yeres of a hundred eight aunswered in neuer hauing eaten or done any thing through pleasure The old prouerb saith much meate much maladie And verie wisely was Socrates wont to say that such as were accustomed to frugalitie continencie enioy great pleasure delight aswel for the quiet of their conscience as good disposition of their body And for as much as in ancient time fish was accounted a more deintie exquisite kind of meat then flesh they which often fed theron were called by an infamous name Opsophagi gluttons wantons This is the reason why in Titus Liuius barrennesse is preferred before frutefulnes because that men in a fat soyle are often times cowards lubberly fellowes in a hungrie they are more industrious sober and painfull as experience teacheth vs. And whensoeuer wee haue a mynde to eate let vs consider that we haue to banquit both the soule and body togeather following the aduise of Epictetus After that Alexander had vanquished Darius he caused a goodly pillar to be hewen downe and burst in peeces wherein was engrauen the order and quantitie of such meates as were euery daye set before the Kinges of Persia saying that it was not fitte for kings to learne to suppe so prodigally and sumptuously And Diodorus the Sicilian writeth that there were lawes set down to the kinges of Aegypt not onely to shewe what they ought vnto their subiectes but also to serue as a rule and dyet of their owne perticular And Zonarus after Xenophon in his Pedia writeth that all the youth of Persia at schooles and places where they learned and exercised were neuer nourished but with bread and water some time for better cheere sayth Cordamus they added a fewe Cresses And they neuer eate vntill they had done their ordinarie taske The which in his second booke he writeth was also enioyned to souldiars and in that countrey it was a very great dishonour for one to shewe himselfe subiect to naturall eiections which they neuer knew to doe but with abstinence moderatenesse and good diet thorough which togeather with their exercise they consumed and diuerted such superfluities and humors as proceeded from too great nourishment Socrates in Xenophon wisheth such as would liue in health to beware of meates which entised them to eate when they had no appetite and of drinkes which prouoked them to drinke when they had no thirst teaching vs onely to vse that which wee haue neede of in ioyning pleasure togeather with necessitie Iulius Caesar Augustus Titus Vespatian Traian Tacitus Alexander Seuerus and Charlemagne grew most famous for that they vsed so great sparing and their table talke was more accounted of then great fare And they made ordinances vpon expenses for the preseruation of health and sparing of the giftes of God It is written of Vespasian that once a moneth he would fast one whole daye And of Cato that for the most part he neuer eate but of breade and beefe and neuer dranke but water with which sometime he mingled a little vineger The like is sayde of Scipio Fabritius was founde by the Samnite Embassadors feeding of Turnups which he rosted between the cenders Massinissa King of the Numides neuer did eate but of rauell bread and very simple meate without sauce and that but once a day according to the auncient order Hannibal neuer vsed other ordinarie then the worst of his souldiers And Cicero alleadgeth the saying of Plato that it was verye strange to see one feede twise on one day And he which sayth that the life of a sober man and one that is content with litle resembleth him which maketh a voyage in the spring time by little iourneys through a pleasant fertill countrey cōpareth it very fitly and ought to withdrawe vs Frenchmen frō so great wantonnes for which the very Turkes haue founde fault with vs as Paulus Iouius writeth At Rome in old time wine was forbid vnto womē the which the inhabitants of Marseilles long time obserued We see likewise that vessels when they are more frayght then they are able to cary do sinke euen so fareth it with such as eate drinke too much As it is written in Eccl. Excesse of meates bringeth sickenes gluttony cōmeth into cholericke diseases By surfet many perisheth but he
time which is so precious and not able to be againe recouered And in a good beginning we ought to perseuer without loosing courage And forasmuch as meere leasure is the cause of disorders and little honest thoughtes we ought not to spend one bare houre in vaine Many haue counselled youth to exercise themselues in Musicke to employ their time in those harmonies which stirre vp to commendable operations and moral vertues tempering desires greedinesse and sorrowes for so much as rimes melodies consist in certaine proportions and concords of the voyce And so long as this pleasure without wantonnesse allureth them they loose the occasion of deuising any lesse honest sport according to Plato his opinion the seconde of his lawes and eight of his commonwealth and Aristotle in his Politiques lib. 8.3 5. 7. This mooued Architas to inuent a certaine musicall instrument to stay the running wit of children I could here extoll Curius Diocletian Lucullus and sundry other who retyred themselues into a little small farme to the ploughe And Cicinnatus who after he had giuen ouer his Dictatorshippe returned to his plough as did Attilius Calatinus Attilius Regulus and sundrye other who contented themselues with the labour of the field despising all honours The which in my opinion mooued Plynie to write that the grounde tooke pleasure in being ploughed by Emperours Wantonnesse and daintinesse breedeth vexation of minde strange fashions and choler whereas facilitie of manners maketh one content with what he hath in hande and to seeke nothing too exquisite or superfluous I am of opinion that the manner which the Aegyptians helde and long time obserued in carrying vp and downe the hall at feastes a dryed anatomie of a dead mans bodie and shewing it vnto the companie thereby admonishing men to remember that in short time they should be a like was to make men more sober and temperate And sundry before time haue written that the diseases of the body be not to be feared so as the soule be sounde the health whereof consisteth in the good temperature of powers couragious or wrathfull coueting and reasonable she being the reasonable mistresse and bridling the two other as two furious and vnbroken coltes For as wee are curious to preserue the health of our bodie through the receites which are giuen and prescribed vnto vs by Phisitians or experience and so abstayne from meates and excesse which may offende or alter the same it is more required at our handes to remayne in the trueth and to haue a greater desire and care to preserue the health of our soules diligently obseruing all the rules which God the souerayne Phisitian of all prescribeth vnto vs and taking great heede on the other side that we shunne and auoyde whatsoeuer he hath forbidden And if we be carefull to seeke out those remedies which nature art and experience present vnto vs to preserue the health of our bodie much more ought wee to drawe and sucke out of the holy scriptures and histories that which formeth dresseth teacheth aduiseth reformeth and healeth the most noble and excellent part of vs which prepareth and strengtheneth vs at all assayes to receiue and carie with great contentment hope God assisting whatsoeuer may befall vnto vs in this life CHAP. XLVII What we ought to iudge of certaine examples of lying WE haue before recited the maxime which Vlysses in Sophocles would teach the sonne of Achilles as a matter very necessarie neuer to bee ashamed to lye when a man may reape profit thereby as also we put in vre what Plato permitted to Magistrates and Phisitians to lye so some other benefit mought be reaped for the scriptures and Doctors of the Church forbid all kinde of lying as well to great as to small And none ought to saue his corporall life to loose his spirituall And such helpe as we ought to minister vnto our neighbour ought to be without offence to God by iust vpright and honest means A man must not in like sort doe euill in hope of good And as touching that kinde of lying which is called ioyfull or offycious it discouereth it selfe easely doth no great harme Now to satisfie what may be obiected of the ly which the midwiues of the Hebrewes made and of Rahab which hid the spies of the children of Israell of Iacob which saide he was Esau and of other places which seeme to derogate from the truth S. Augustine sayth that as touching the midwiues we ought not so much to respect the lie as the fayth which they had in God and the affection and mercie which they shewed vnto the children of Israell In the rest wee are to consider the will of God and that they haue beene moued thorough the holy Ghost to foretell like Prophets what God had ordayned for his glory And when he willeth a thing then is sinne cleane excluded and what may seeme vnto men most vniust is in respect of our soueraine Lorde most iust Constance the father of Constantine the great made proclamaton that all Christians should giue ouer their offyces and lyuing which the good did and went from the court but such as were but in name gaue ouer their religion The sayde Emperour shortly after caused all those to be called home agayne which were departed and droue away the rest saying that if they were not faythfull to God they would not be to his seruice The like was doone by Iehu who after he had summoned all the Priests of Baal as though he would reestablish their idolatrie put them all to the edge of the sworde and made a iakes of their temple Yet ceased he not to worship the golden calfes We ought then to admire the sayinges and deedes of great personages and not to imitate them in what is not conformable to the rule which God hath prescribed or wherein they shall fayle like men and to followe the counsell giuen vnto vs by S. Paul to trie all things and holde that which is good CHAP. XLVIII Of the meanes how to render a nation true and happie and of the bringing vp of youth ALbeit that sundry of those meanes may bee perceiued by that which we haue before touched yet by reason of their importance to be meete with sundry inconueniences which happen I thought good to set forth more at large howe the very fountayne of all trueth godlines bountie iustice pollicy and vertue proceedeth frō a naturall good and that thorough the carelesnes of heads Magistrates guiding their affayres by hazard without any foresight according to the humor of mē which in all time haue halted in their dutie youth neuer hauing receiued good bringing vp corruption hath in euery place mightely increased For as Isocrates wrote in his Areopagiticke it is not great reuenewes nor riches nor lawes ordinances which make a citie quiet and happie but the good nourture of youth which being ill brought vp maketh no account
of lawes and contrariwise becommeth very obedient vnto Magistrates giueth it selfe to all kind of vertue if betime it receiue a good impression It were also very requisite to cause lawes to be straightly obserued but in vaine do mē make lawes as Aristotle in his Politicks said if youth be not brought vp in good manners and nourished therein And Plato in the 4. of his commonwealth was of opinion that it had no great neede of lawes by reason of the good discipline in which his citizens had beene nourished as such as without lawes were able to gouerne themselues as they ought And in his Politiques and bookes of lawes he attributeth all the disorder of a countrey or citie to the multitude of lawes and so often change of them and all delightes to lewde bringing vp sheweth that the principal scope of a good establisher or reformer of a commonwealth ought to be in causing youth to be well brought vp instructed to the end it mought be more capable of good discipline it is required that the fathers and mothers should be sober moderate and quietly minded that when children are borne they should sucke their owne mothers breastes to be sure that they should not be nourished in delightes nor idlenesse and in playing might fashion themselues to vertue He would also that whatsoeuer might breed happines were engrauen through good nourture in the maners hearts of men to remayne there all their life as a good impression because that while they are young they haue more neede to be well looked vnto diligently taken heed of then any other kind of beasts And it is more meete that care shalbe taken hereof then of getting or preseruing of wealth or enclosing our parks or gardens with walls or hedges And there is no doubt as S. Ierom and other ancient doctors haue written that the cause which moued the most part of such as heretofore founded Churches Prebends Colleges was chiefly for to bring vp youth in learning to render thē more capable to serue God the cōmonwelth and the better to imprint in thē the feare of God which is the beginning of all wisedome which formeth the mind to the true mould of truth vertue and carieth it far off frō vice foolish fashions lewde cōpanies whence there is always caried away some botch stayne of the infection of their wickednes And by the ordinance of the three estates in all Cathedrall and collegiall Churches of this Realme the reuenew of one prebend is still allotted to a scholemaster For that according vnto the saying of Plato when youth in the beginning hath bin wel taught then is the nauigation voyage of this world happie and all the life after is accompanied with contentment felicitie good hope and such as haue bin well nourished brought vp become for the most part very moderate temperate the old prouerbe auerreth that nourture passeth nature The which Licurgus shewed by the nourishing of 2. dogges the one to the field the other to the kitchin if one sowe good corne in haruest he shall reape the like Themistocles was wont to say that colts fierce beasts became tame through discipline And it is manifest that the Almanes and sundry other nations which were meruelous barbarous as we reade in Caesar and Tacitus became more meeke and industrious by better education And some haue written that at Rome in auncient time it was ordayned that children for the first fault should be tolde of it for the seconde punished for the third hanged and the father banished And Plato was alwayes of opinion that enourmious vices proceeded more from a generous nature corrupted then from vilitie or low estate And the first thing which ought to be beaten into youth is to loue honour to feare God and to obey his will to make no account of the brickle goods of fortune but of the eternall and spirituall and of vertue to set before their eyes the examples and praises of vertuous personages and the blames and miseries of the lewde and wicked to the ende they may become wise by others harmes and detest all vice and euill companie receiuing correction at the handes of euery one without presuminge ought of themselues shunning wantonnesse and delightes neither speaking nor beleeuing too lightly not beeing to obstinate harde stubborne cholericke impatient nor vnconuersable Saint Ierome writing to Nepotian thought that all poore scholers and such as had will to serue the common wealth or the church were to bee nourished with the tenthes Wee see in Daniel the care which was had to the bringing vp of youth And Strabo in his Geographie shewed sundry examples of the Indians and Persians for the eschewing of that vice of ignorance whereof wee haue before entreated as Moyses complained and Iosephus And the ordinance of the Emperours is set downe in the eleuenth of the Code It falleth out oftentimes that the wicked abhorre the remembrance of their fathers and mothers when thorough their damnable libertie wanton pleasures lasciuiousnesse fond collinges and euil examples they haue beene lead awaye whereas contrariwise the well nourished giue thanks vnto them which haue beene the occasion of their so great good And Salomon affirmeth that A wise sonne maketh a glad father but a foolish sonne is a heauinesse vnto his mother The wife Crates was wont to saye that if it were possible for him he would climme vp to the toppe of the citie and crye alowde O men whither doe you carrie your selues thus headlonge that take what care you can to heape vp wealth and yet make small account of those to whome you are to leaue it as caring more for the doublet or showe then the bodie or foote The same Salomon in his prouerbes saieth that wisedome cryeth thoroughout To this purpose the contentes of an Epistle written by Xenophon to Crito seemeth worthie of marking Knowe ye that Socrates hath often told vs that such as leaue great riches to their children without seeing them brought vp well and honestly are like vnto such as giue much prouender vnto young horses but neuer breake them at all for so they waxe fat but vnprofitable The praise of an horse consisteth not in the fashion of his bodie but in his seruice and dexteritie They also are in as great an errour which buy heritages for their children which set little by them because they will esteeme of the wealth but despise them wheras there is a great deale more reason that the gardien should be better liked then the possession He then which maketh his sonne worthie to be had in estimation hath don much for him although he leaue him but litle wealth For it is the vnderstanding which maketh euery thing seeme great or small because that whatsoeuer the wel brought vp possesseth is moderate sufficiēt but vnto the euil nurtured it is verie litle Leaue no more then vnto thy
It is not founde likewise in anye part of this brittle and wretched lyfe but in the trust mercy puissance and bounty of God and remission of our sinnes as Dauid setteth it 32. Psalme and Saint Paule to the Romanes in the feare and loue of God and of his worde and to put oure whole confidence in him and in that which our Sauiour reciteth in the 6. of Sainct Mathew It had not likewise beene vnfruitfull to haue shewed how hurtfull impatience and murmuring are and how necessarye to be eschewed followinge the instruction of Salomon Prouerb 14. 19. and of Sainct Paule 1. Corrinth 10. 2. Phil. the example of Achitophel is in the 2. of Samuel cap. 17. I referre other greater reasons of the aboue sayde articles vntill an other season I coulde also haue discoursed at large of sundry other opinions which are in controuersie were it not for feare of beeing too long and ouer tedious The Conclusion CHAP. L. TO the end then that we may rest beloued of God and of good men and haue a good conscience a peaceable life a guide in all affaires with hope of eternall life and heape of blysse we must walke wisely and be founde true in all our thoughtes wordes and actions and so to accustome our selues thereto that we giue no place to any lye though it be the lightest which may be made Nowe for feare least we should fall hereunto to our great greife let vs be time thinke of what we would doe or say before we put it in execution beseeching God with Dauid that he will addresse vs in his trueth and that it may alwayes remayne in our heart and mouth that he will make vs to vnderstande howe short and vncertaine the course of this our life is to the ende that wee may retyre our heartes from the vanities and false apparances of this worlde and spende that little time which we haue to liue in learning of his wisedome that is to saye to beleeue and assure our selues vpon his promises to obey whatsoeuer it pleaseth him to commaunde vs and carefully to eschewe whatsoeuer he hath forbidden And as this contagion of lying hath well gayned place in many thorough custome and is growen by little and litle so let vs exercise our selues to followe truth though in tryfles and euery day before we sleepe examine and trie what we haue gotten by being true and vertuous and according to Seneca his counsell in all our actions howe secrete soeuer they be let vs imagine that God his saintes and Angels be present or some man of great aucthoritie and grauitie to the ende our countenances wordes and actions may be the better gouerned And of such as shall liue in this truth shunning lying we may say as Moyses prophesied and pronounced to the children of Israel to whom al christians haue succeeded that they shall be blessed in the citie and blessed also in the fielde blessed shalbe the fruite of their bodye and the fruite of their grounde and the fruit of their cattell God shall make an alliance with them he shall make them increase and multiply in abundance of whatsoeuer is necessarie But if contrariwise they followe lying and liue disorderly feare and trembling feauers burning agewes and all sorts of curses there set downe shall fall vpon them There is no question to be made which way is to be followed that wee may attayne to all felicitie and the inheritance promised to such as are sanctified of God and to those are thinges which neyther eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor came into mans heart which God hath prepared for them which loue him Saint Paul wrote to the Romaines that the wrath of God is reuealed from heauen against all vngodlinesse and vnrighteousnesse of men which withholde the truth in vnrighteousnesse And to them which by continuance in well doing seeke glory honour and immortalitie to giue euerlasting life but to them that are contentious and disobey the truth and obey vnrighteousnesse shal be indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shall be vppon the soule of euery man that doth euill but to euery man that doth good shalbe glory and honour and peace And seeing the chastisements miseries and afflictions so many tragicall euents sent from God to so many people Christians but in name which are set before our eyes for an example to reconcile vs to God we haue great occasion humbly to beseech by feruent prayers and groanes that he will bende our heartes to his obedience and so make other mens plagues and visitations to profit vs that we may not drawe through our vnthankfulnesse more greeuous paynes vppon vs and ours most humbly thanking him for that amidst so great darkenesse error and ignorance as couereth the worlde it pleaseth him to cast some beames of his grace and truth vpon vs beseeching him that he wil warme quicken and illuminate vs more and more attending the day of our deliuerie out of this world already vanquished by him Τω θεω δωξα Τελος Trueth a vertue most praise vvorthie Marcion Manichaeus heresie The religion of the Indians touching the soules departure out of the bodie The crueltie of the Spanyardes Trueth called a vertue Common sense The Sunne 166 times greater than the earth 6545 times greater than the Moone l. 2. ca. 3. contra academ Prou. 2. Iohn 8.32 Iohn 6.68 S. Augustine Hovv the trueth appeareth Matth. 7.7 Tvvo principall partes in man VVhat truth is Psa 119.105 2. Pet. 2.19 Iohn 5.39 2. Cor. 1.30 2. Tim. 6.16 Iohn 3.16 Isaiah 39.8 Faith Math. 23.23 Iohn 6. 8. Heb. 11.1 Act. 15.9 Gal. 4.6 Ephes 1.4 Act. 19. Rom. 8.1 1. Cor. 13.2 2. Thes 1.3 Mat. 6.8 Ioh. 14.1 2. Cor. 1.3 Ephe. 6.16 Ephes 6.14 Zechar. 8.16 Ephes 4.15 Plato Zenophon A king to be faithfull Aristotle Isaiah 32.1 Fredericke emperoure Charles the 5 emperoure Christ Iesus the sonne shining of iustice Iohn 14.6 Iohn 8.45 The Diuell a father of lies Iob. 24.13 1. Tim. 3.15 Lactantius Gen. 7.21 Cicero To vvhat the doctrine of the lavve tendeth Deut. 6.14 Hovv man becommeth happie The ende of all artes Ioh. 3.19 Iohn 3.11 All vertues holde a meane Democritus speache Euripides Plato Methode Phocion Ecclesiast VVhat in speach is to be considered Prouerb 27.2 August vpon the Psalm 85 Not to be vnthankfull for benefites receiued Plin. in his nat hist The Lybrarie of Ptolomie Not to speake of vvhat a man doth not vnderstand 2. Chr. 25.17 Lavves and pollicy ordayned from God Pro. 16.2.9 Phil. 2.13 2. Cor. 3.8 Counterfayting Dissembling Alexander 6. Duke of Valentinois his sonne Fredericke emperoure Paulus Iouius Aristotle 1. Pet. 2.1 Luke 24.28 1. Sam. 21.13 Great personages haue fayned them selues madde Speache a shaddovve of deades Emperoures of dubble hearte Pertinax surnamed Chrestologus Tiberius Speake Homer Othon 4. Frederic 2. Innocent 3. Guychardyne Augustus VVhy the Lacedemonians banished Chesiphon Hipocrisie an enimie to the trueth Dissembled equitie double iniquitie 1.
is written in the Prouerbes that it is a greater honour for a man to ouercome him selfe and commaunde his passions then to rase cities and castles It is that which God requireth by his Prophetes to cut off the forskinne of the heart The which Saint Paul to the Romaines recōmended to the end we should cut off the bad thoughts and desires of reuenge And the Platonists sayde that the shortest way to returne vnto God was to mortifie our affections and that vertue was a victorie of reason ouer passions I thinke they longe a goe that wrote so much of monsters perils tyrants and theues vanquished by Hercules Theseus Vlysses and Iason ment thereby to teach vs that men vertuously disposed and well taught haue subdued their pleasures desire of reuenge inconstancie lightnes intēperancie other passions and vices Which also the Poetes figureth by Eolus which moderateth keepeth in his winds The most valiant Lacedemonians highly extolled him that endureth an iniury And a Philosopher gaue counsell if he which harmed vs were weaker then our selues to pardon him if more mightie to pardon our selues And by the lawe of God and man all wayes of reuenge are forbidden and reconciliation atonement commanded by God the King and the lawes and the peacemakers are called the heires and children of God who will neuer pardon vs if we pardon not those offences which other haue committed towards vs. S. Augustine calleth the obedience which we render to God the mother and garden of all vertues And when our sauiour in S. Mathew calleth the meeke blessed some haue reduced to them that are not mooued with iniuries And S. Paul commaundeth vs to liue peaceably one with an other The which we haue handled else where and deserueth to be againe repeated for that point in which the nobilitie iudgeth all honour to consist but amisse and being carryed without the barres of reason they hazard themselues to the peril both of their corporall and spirituall life willing to be the accuser and slayer of themselues the witnesse iudge and hangman of such as they pretende to haue offended them And it is not possible to reuenge themselues but thorough a thousande perturbations which causeth them cleane to depart from tranquillitie which an auncient writer termed to eate out ones heart to offend ones selfe more then his enimie And often times thorough a little miscontentment which we coyne to our selues we enter into choler and melancholy forgetting the pleasures we receiue else where and as if we were bewicthed suffer our selues to be so transported S. Iohn in his first epistle calleth him a lyar that sayth he loueth God and hateth his brother and we ought not to haue respect to a corrupt custome or opinion but to that which God and the King commaundeth For as Demosthenes was wisely wont to say VVe liue and rule by lawes not by examples We reade in good aucthors that in olde time that wordes were neuer reuenged but by wordes and neuer came to handstrokes I counsell the nobilitie likewise not to differ anie resolution in a good matter For slacknesse doth often time make that harde which is most easie to be brought to passe in his time As the losse of the Romane legions was attributed to the negligence of Varus And it is a very easie matter to note an infinite number of losses happened through such slackings The answere which Alexander the great made to him which asked him how he had gayned subdued al Asia in so short a time is to be recommended to all Captaines following Homers precept neuer to differre or omit what was to be done Which was in like sort reported by Iulius Caesar and the olde prouerbe is very notable He that will not when he may deserueth when he would to haue a nay and to abide the smart of it The sayde Caesar sheweth likewise howe much quicknesse and diligence is profitable to the ende wee should not giue time to our enemies astonied to assemble themselues but to vse the victorie not tarying about the pillage I will not here forget to exhort them to shunne all inconstancie in religion fayth and doctrine not to varie nor suffer themselues to be carryed about with euerie winde of doctrine as Saint Paule teacheth vs and Saint Iames Chap. 1. and 3. Constancie is preserued by patience as Tertullian declared in the booke hee made and Impatience is the cause of all mischeiues It is also necessarie to prouide for that which they so much reprooch French men with that is that they commence and pursue manie thinges happely enough but for lacke of constancie staydenesse and discretion they neuer come to the ende of their enterprises and neuer consider that they which doe not so lightly runne about their businesse proceeding with a ripenesse of iudgement and a more stayde brayne carryeth away the honour and profitte of their enterprises wisely vndertaken and couragiously executed CHAP. 13. That the truth findeth good that which many feare and flie and giueth contentment IT were no small happinesse if in life we put in practise that which we haue marked in sundrie Philosophers who albeit they were destitute of the light of the Gospell and the certaintie of the promisses of God yet haue they discouered the maske of this worlde contemning the honours riches and pleasures thereof delighting in their pouertie patience sobrietie and temperaunce carrying meekely all losses mocking at the foolish opinions which driue men into passions condemning false apparaunces and vanities themselues remayning in great tranquillitie and calme in all perturbations and hauing nought but their wallet and certaine vile garmentes did nothing but laugh all their life as if they had beene at a feast and eaten as they saye of a bride cake And wee which haue so greate pleadges of eternall life and an assuraunce of the diuine promises bountie and more then a fatherly affection of our God towardes vs haue much more occasion not to esteeme these corruptible thinges and to liue ioyfully in respect of that which hath beene giuen vnto vs without beeing desirous or coueting anye other thinge then that which proceedeth from the will of the almightie Seneca in the seconde of his Epistles writeth that suche as liue according to nature are neuer poore and according to the opinion of men they are neuer riche because nature contenteth her selfe with little and opinion doth infinitely couet And in his 4. booke he counselleth a friende of his to despise all that which other so hotly pursue For that which men esteeme as great aduancement in honor goods or pleasures when they once approch to the truth to vertue and heauenly goodnesse it looseth cleane his apparance and lustre euen as the starres when they are neere the sunne beames For the dispositions of such as are moderated and instructed in the truth rendreth a life peaseable and like vnto her selfe the occasion of the quietnesse
of the minde proceeding thence thorough his grace which communicateth so great a good as it is written in the booke of Wisedome I doe reioyce in all thinges because wisedome goeth before And it receaueth no griefe but such as our selues are content to yeelde vnto as Possidonius sayde to Pompey And there is an other sauour giuen and an other kinde of face set vpon that which they call euill And vertue valor force patience magnanimitie can no waies play their part without griefe paine And as Diamans other precious stones haue either a more high or dimme colour according to the foile in which they are set so fareth it with the euil happes griefe which taketh place as a man is eyther strong or weake And as all thinges in this worlde in the ende referreth it selfe wholly to the glorie of God so doth all thinges turne to good to such as are good Plato and Terence compareth our life to a game at draughtes where the player must euer marke well what shal befall vnto him and dispose euery thing eyther to profit him or little to hurt him And they which care least for to morrowe following the commandement of our sauiour ariue there most ioyfully hauing not the will vnproportionate to the might nor their minde afflicted Homer maketh two vessels to be in heauen full of destinies the one of good the other of bad he accounteth him happie which equally partaketh as well of the one as the other as much hony as gaul And Seneca writeth that the destinies leade gently such as consent drawe by force such as refuse Notwithstanding the wise do temper and turne the euill into good drawing out of their good aduentures what naught soeuer is there mingled by this meanes passe away the more easily the course of this life To which the old prouerbe agreeth that euery man is the workman of his owne fortune and fashioneth her according to his maners And if we doe contemne honours riches pleasures banishmentes griefes and sickenesse we shall be cleane exempt from all couetous desires passions and tormentes of the minde As Xenophon in his Pedia reciteth of one Pheraulas to whō Cirus gaue a Lordship of a very great reuenewe but hauing well considered the ease contentment which he toke during his pouertie and the care which he must then needes take for his reuenewe and domesticall affayres hee put all againe into the handes of a friende of his As Anacreon hauing had fiue talents worth three thousande crownes giuen him by Policrates after he saw that he had passed two nights togither studying what he shold do with it he sent them backe againe saying that they were not worth the care he had taken for thē And when newes was brought vnto Zeno and certaine other that their shipps goods and marchandise were loste they reioysed because it was a cause to make them apply themselues to Philosophie which yeelded them farre greater contentment Philoxenes hauing purchased a farme wherby he might liue the better at ease quitted it againe and returned to Athens saying These goods shall not loose me but I them As Seneca wrote to a friend of his if thou hadst not lost thy goods it might be they might haue lost thee And the bricklenesse of the aduised serueth them as it were to be shodde with showes of yce against sinne Anacharsis left the kingdome of Scithia to his younger brother to growe to be a Philosopher in the sayde Citie of Athenes Aristides chose likewise to remaine in his pouertie though it laye in his power to haue made himselfe a Lorde of greate riches Scipio hauing by force taken Cartharge touched no whit of the sacking or spoyle thereof Epaminundas and Camillus amonge all the victories they obtayned neuer carried anie thing else away then honour An infinite number of other as well Captaines as Philosophers haue contemned goods albeit this moderation which was so greatly praysed in them was neuer ioyned together with a hope of eternall life as the Christians is who knowe that the creator of heauen and earth is their father and Lord almightie that he loueth them and knoweth ful well the way they ought to holde the medicines which they ought to vse and whatsoeuer is most expedient to bring them to the promissed blisse after this their pilgrimage and exile Therfore they suffer thēselues to be cōducted by him without murmuring approuing for good whatsoeuer proceedeth from his fatherly hande and by this meane remaine in the peace of the spirit and calmenesse what winde soeuer blowe without being tossed in the troubles stormes of this life They know likewise that if God doe stricke them downe with the left hande he rayseth them vp with the right againe according to the promisse he made by his Prophet Ose And as all meates are agreeing with a good stomach and to a bad the most delicate seeme corrupt as it is written in the Prouerbes that to a hungrye soule all bitter things seeme sweete so all things turne to good to the faithfull as S. Paul hath written And in Ecclesiasticus all thinges are turned into good to such as feare God but to the sinners they are turned into euill who turne light into darkenesse and good into euill And money is to good men a cause of good to the wicked of euill and crueltie And as the showe is fashioned according to the foote so his disposition which is wise moderate leadeth a life like vnto it to wit peaseable and without passion coueting nothing vnpossible and contenting it selfe with the present That is it which Cicero writeth that vertue in trouble doth euer remaine quiet and being cast into banishment neuer departeth from her place For the goods of fortune reioyce those most which least doubt their contraries and the feare of loosing them maketh the pleasure of the enioying of them more feeble and lesse assured Plato gaue counsell not to cōplaine in aduersitie for that we know not whether it happen vnto vs for our hurt or no. And in his Phedon hee writeth that looke what beautie riches honour and kinred we here desire it is so farre off from being good that indeede they doe rather corrupt and impayre vs. But a Christian man ought to esteeme all good and for his health whiche perswasion serueth vnto him as the meale did which Elisha cast into the pot which tooke cleane away all the bitternesse of the pottage and as the tree with which Moses made the waters sweete From thence ensueth that Christian Parradoxe so often times verified that there neuer happeneth euill to the good nor good to the wicked whose nature is changed by blessing As it is sayde of a diseased bodie that the more it is nourished the more it is offended And as strange dreames shewe that there be grosse and clammie humors and perturbation of
other greater authours then they are condemned of lying as we haue marked in the Spaniardes before which haue written the history of the new world and of the west Indies who couer and make lesse their owne excesse and incredible vilanies the greatest part of them beeing reuenged and punished thorough the iust iudgement of God The Englishmen haue somewhat runne awry in handling the affaires on this side the sea Paulus Iouius was wont to say that to doe fauour to such great personages as gaue him pensions he set thinges downe in such sort as they that liued in that time were well inough able to discouer them mary the posterity should hold them for true And in truth sundrye historiographers of all times thorough ignoraunce hatred couetousnes or ambition take a colour to warrant their lying and disguising vpon a beleefe they haue that few shall bee able to discerne their coseninges And for because thorough this error of discourse they name sundry wise and prudent which in deed haue beene most wicked and blame french men that haue bene vertuous of a good conscience and haue ended their liues honestlye and laudablye condemning them of fole hardines and vice men ought therin to carry a good sound and right iudgement Considering that such authours doe not alwaies measure the maners and actions of men according to the vnmooueable rule of the worde of God and morall philosophy nor distinguish the vitious by the intention or conscience but onely by the issue dexteritie and industrye or rather subtiltye of such as know how to applie each thing to the end which they pretend neuer regarding whether it be honest laudable and iuste or no. They do not in respect of the french men referre any of their actes at all to vertue if they be not led thereto by that which they account prudence but rather to rashnes as they doe in regarde of their owne nation imputing their owne actes of cowardnesse basenes of minde disceat dissembling treason crueltie disloyaltie infidelity and ambition to wisedome and prudence Neuerthelesse here we may well consider for what cause they haue made the like comparison of french men that Antigonus did of Pirrhus to a gamester whome the dise fauoured well but knew not how to serue him selfe of those chaunces that happened vnto him for that loke what he got by the effect he loste thorough hope coueting in such sort what he had not that he cleane forgot to assure himselfe of what he had gained because they are more ready to get then wise to keepe and that by feates of armes they make braue conquestes but they preserue them but a while not knowing that a countrye conquered by such as obserue not discipline is both vnprofitable and hurtfull Therefore they coniecture that valour and dexteritie in armes is a greate matter but that nobility not brought vp in learning nor in reading of histories hath not this wisedome to moderate it selfe and to prouide by suche meanes as they ought to take to bee able in peace to conserue what they haue conquered and suffer themselues to bee led by the coloured wordes of their enemies who after that the firste fire and french boyling is extinguished they know wel inough how to vse their occasion and serue their owne turnes with the ignoraunce of such as esteeme nought but armes without running ouer the courses held by their auncestors in keeping their conquestes and vsing of their victories as we haue but too manye examples which is the cause that Caesar writeth in his Commentaries that french men are more hardie and couragious then fine in warre which they make great account of ioynct that they giue them selues more to the hope which they take of conquering then they doe to anye feare of losing Euery man confesseth that men differ from beastes in reason if this good nature be not manured with the reading of histories good letters what other thing is it thē a pretious stone hid in a donghil We ought to account the saying of K. Theodoric true that what was begon with good aduise prudence preserued with care is of long lasting strong And if victories be not made sure with temperance prudence they dim through some vnloked for accident the glorye which was before gotten and in short time loseth the whole fruit through insolency carelesnes delicacies arrogancy violentnes of taking vp of lodging yet to be well entreated in capacity of a gouernor couetousnes confusiō to make no distinction betwene persons in giuing taking away or changing and somtime a cōmandement amisse conceaued an ordinance ill executed rashnes vanity of speach carrieth the victorye awaye cleane vnto such as before seemed already vanquished And a marueilous prudence is required to foresee an innumerable number of other accidentes in matters of warre and sometime to apply counsell to necessitye beeing no lesse the dutye of a valiaunt Captaine to shew him selfe wyse in his actions then couragious to the end hee approoue deliberation lesse difficile and daungerous and cleane reiecte all rashe counselles attendinge likewyse the oportunities of times and ripenesse of occasions not for all that presupposing for certayne those perilles that are vncertaine beeing more afrayde then he ought calling hope no lesse to his counsell then feare Cirus likewise in the ende of the seuenth booke of the Pedion of Xenophon thought it a matter more laudable to keepe then to get because often tymes in conquestes is nothinge but hardinesse but a bodie can not conserue what hee hath taken without temperaunce continence care and diligence besides valour And as it is a greater greefe to become poore then neuer to haue beene riche so is it to lose more bitter then neuer to haue gotten I doe not thinke that garrisons serue to so great an ende as if the conquerours shew them selues meeke and louers of good thinges and that no thing can succeede well to suche as abandon vertue and honestie Aristotle dedicatinge his Rhetorique to Alexander writeth vnto him that as the bodye is entertayned thorough a good disposition so is the witte by discipline and erudition which were the causes that not onelye hee had euer an addresse to doe well but also to conserue what he had gotten It is likewise requisite that we put the sayde reading in vse and practise thereby to becomme more vertuous wise and aduised and that we conferre thinges passed with the present and such as might ensue and to apply examples to the rule of veritye iustice and equitye And albeit that Sainct Augustine attributed much to histories yet doth he adde that hee can not see how all that which is written by the witte of man can bee in euerie point true consideringe that all men are lyers and that it commeth to passe often tymes that they which follow the reason of man in anye historie builde vppon the brutes of the vulgar sorte and are abused by the