he hath fetched in the night Truely I thinke and in my thought I am nothing deceiued that if a prince would declare vnto vs his whole life and that hee would particularly shewe vs euery thing wee would both wonder at that bodie which had so much suffered and also we would be offended with that heart which had so greatly dissembled It is a troublesome thing a dangerous thing and an insolent and proud enterprise for a man to take vpon him with a penne to gouerne the Common-wealth and with a Prince to reason of his life For in deed men are not perswaded to liue well by faire words but by vertuous deedes And therefore not without cause I say that hee is not wise but very arrogant that dare presume vnasked to giue a Prince counsell For princes in many things haue their mindes occupyed and haughtely bent and som of them also are affectionate and whereas wee peraduenture thinke to haue them mercifull wee finde them more angrie and heauie against vs. For counsell doeth more harme then profite if the giuer thereof be not very wise and hee also which receyueth it very pacient I haue not bin a Prince for to know the trauels of Princes nor am as president to counsell Princes and yet I was so bolde to compile this Booke it was not vpon presumption to counsell a Prince so much as by an humble sort to giue mine aduise For to giue counsell I confesse I haue no credite but to giue them aduise it sufficeth mee to bee a subiect What the order is in that I haue taken in this Booke how profitable it is to all men and how vnpleasaunt to no man how wholsom and profound doctrine in it is contayned and how the Historyes bee heerein applyed I will not that my pen doe write but they themselues shall judge which shall read this worke We see it oft come to passe that diuers Bookes doe loose their estimation not for that they are not very good and excellent but because the Authour hath been too presumptuous and vaine-glorious For in mine opinion for a man to praise his owne wrytings much is nothing else but to giue men occasion to speake euill both of him and of his workes Now let no man thinke that I haue written this which is written without great aduisement and examination I doe confesse before the Redeemer of the whole world that I haue consumed so many yeares to seeke what I should write that these two yeares one day hath scarcely escaped me wherein my Pen hath not done his dutie to write or correct in this worke I confesse that I tooke great paines in writing it for of truth it hath been written twice with mine owne hand and thrice with another mans hand I confesse I haue read and searched in diuers and sundrie partes manie good and straunge books to the end I might finde good and pleasaunt doctrine and besides that I trauelled much to set and apply the Hystories to the purpose For it is an vnseemely thing to applie an hystorie without a purpose I had great respect in that I was not so briefe in my wrytings that a man might note mee to bee obscure nor yet in anie thing so long that any man should slaunder mee with too much talke For all the excellencie of Wryting consisteth where many and goodly Sentences are declared in fewest and aptest words For oft times the long stile is loathsome and tedious both to the Hearers and Readers Nero the Emperour was in loue with a Ladie in Rome named Pompeia the which in beautie to his fantasie exceeded all others In the ende partly with intreatie partly with Money and presents he obtained of her that hee desired For in this case of loue where prayers and importunities bee paciently heard resistance doth lacke The inordinate loue that Nero bare to Pompeia proceeded of the yealow haires she had which were of the colour of Amber and in praise of her he compiled diuers and sundry songs in Heroicall-Meeter and with an instrument sang them himselfe in her presence Nero was a sage Prince wise and excellently well learned in the Latine tongue and also a good Musitian yet Plutarch in his book of the jests of noble women to declare the vanitie and lightnes of Nero reciteth this history and describing Pompeia that her bodie was small her fingers long her mouth proper her eyelids thin her nose somwhat sharpe her teeth small her lips red her necke white her fore-head broad and finally her eyes great and rowling her brest large well proportioned What think you would Nero haue done if hee had so affectionately set his fantasie vpon al other her beautiful properties since that for the loue only of her yellow locks he was depriued both of his wisdom also senses For vaine light men loue commonly not that which reason commandeth but that which their appetite desireth The loue of the Emperour increased with folly so much that not onely he counted seuerally al the haires that his louer Pompeia had on her head but also gaue to euery hayre a proper name and in prayse of euery one of them made a song insomuch that this effeminate Prince spent more time in banqueting and playing with his louer Pompeia then he did to reform and amend the faults of the common wealth yea his folly so much surmoūted all reason that he commaunded a combe of golde to bee made and therewith hee himselfe combed her yellow locks And if it chaunced that any one hayre in combing fell off hee by and by caused it to be set in golde offered it vp in the Temple to the Goddesse Iuno For it was an ancient custome among the Romanes that the thinges which they entirely loued whether it were good or euill should bee offered vp to their gods And when it was once knowne that Nero was so in loue with those haires of Pompeia which were of the color of amber all the Ladies endeauoured themselues not onely to make artificially theyr hayre of that colour but also to weare their garments and other attires of the same colour in somuch that both men and women did vse collers of amber brooches and ringes set with amber and all their other iewels were of amber For alwayes it hath beene seene and euer shall be that those things whereunto the Prince is most addicted the people follow and aboue all other couet the same Before this Emperour Nero plaied this light part in Rome the amber stones was had in little estimation after that hee set so much by it there was no precious stone in Rome so much esteemed Yea and furthermore the Marchant gained nothing so much whether it were in golde or silke as he did in the amber stones nor brought any kind of marchandize to Rome more precious or more vendible then that was I do maruell at this vanitie foras-much as the children of the world do loue desire and labour more to
no sporte nor lightnes inuented in Rome but first it is registred in your house And finally they say that you giue your selues so vnto pleasures as though you neuer thought to receyue displeasures O Claude and Claudine by the God Iupiter I sweare vnto you that I am ashamed of your vnshamefastnes and am greatly abashed of your manners and aboue all I am exceedingly grieued for your offence For at that time that you ought to lift your hands you are returned againe into the filth of the world Manie things men commit which though they seeme graue yet by moderation of the person that cōmitteth them they are made light but speaking according to the truth I finde one reason whereby I might excuse your lightes but to the contrarie I see tenne whereby I may condemne your follies Solon the Phylosopher in his Lawes said to the Athenians that if the young offended hee should be gently admonished and grieuously punished because he was strong and if the olde erre hee should bee lightly punished and sharply admonished sith hee was weake and feeble To this Lycurgus in his lawes to the Lacedemonians sayd contrarie That if the young did offend hee should be lightly punished and grieuously admonished since through ignorance he did erre and the olde man which did euill should bee lightly admonished and sharply punished since thorough malice hee did offend These two phylosophers beeing as they haue bin of such authority in the worlde that is past and considering that their lawes and sentences were of such weight it should bee much rashnes in not admitting the one of them Now not receiuing the one nor rereprouing the other Mee thinketh that there is no great excuse to the young for their ignorance and great condemnation to the aged for their experience Once againe I returne to say that you pardon me my friends and you ought not greatly to weigh it thogh I am somewhat sharpe in condemnation since you others are so dissolute in your liues for of your blacke life my penne doth take inke I remember wel that I haue heard of thee Claude that thou hast beene lusty and couragious in thy youth so that thy strength of all was enuyed and the beauty of Claudine of all men was desired I will not write vnto you in this letter my friends and neighbours nether reduce to memory how thou Claude hast employed thy forces in the seruice of the comonwealth and thou Claudine hast won much honor of thy beauty for sundry times it chāced that men of many goodly giftes are noted of grieuous offences Those which striued with thee are all dead those whom thou desirest are deade those which serued thee Claudine are dead those which before thee Claudine sighed are dead those which for thee dyed are now dead and since all those are deade with theyr lightnesse doe not you others thinke to die and your follies also I doe demand now of thy youth one thing and of thy beauty another thing what do you receiue of these pastims of these good entertainements of these aboundances of these great contentations of the pleasures of the world of the vanitie that is past and what hope you of all these to carry into the narrow graue O simple simple and ignoraunt persons how our life consumeth and wee perceiue not how wee liue therein For it is no felicitie to enioy a short or long life but to know to employ the same eyther well or euill O children of the earth and Disciples of vanitie now you know that Time flyeth without mouing his wings the life goeth without lifting vp his feete the World dispatcheth vs not telling vs the cause men doe beguile vs not mouing their lippes our flesh consumeth to vs vnawares the heart dyeth hauing no remedie and finally our glorie decaieth as it it had neuer beene and death oppresseth vs without knocking at the dore Though a man be neuer so simple or so very a foole yet hee cannot deny but it is impossible for to make a fire in the bottome of the sea to make a way in the ayre of the thinne bloud to make rough sinewes and of the soft veines to make hard bones I meane that it is vnpossible that the greene flower of youth be not one day withered by age CHAP. XX. The Emperour followeth his Letter and perswadeth Claudius and Claudinus being now olde to giue no more credite to the World nor to any of his deceitfull flatteryes THat which I haue spoken now tendeth more to aduertise the young then to teach the olde For you others haue now passed the prime time of childhood the summer of youth and the haruest of adolescency and are in the winter of age where it seemeth an vncomely thing that those your hoary haires should bee accompanied with such vaine follies Sithens young men know not that they haue to end their youth it is no maruell that they follow the world but the olde men which see themselues fall into this guile why will they runne after vices againe O world for that thou art the world so smal is our force so great our debilitie that thou willing it and we not resisting it thou dost swallow vs vp in the most perillous gulfe and in the thornes most sharpe thou dost pricke vs by the priuiest wayes thou leadest vs by the most stony waies thou carriest vs. I meane that thou bringest vs to the highest fauours to the end that afterwards with a push of thy pike thou mightest ouerthrow vs. O world wherein all is worldly two and fifty yeeares haue passed since in thee I was first borne during which time thou neuer toldest mee one truth but I haue taken thee with ten thousand lyes I neuer demanded the thing but thou diddest promise it me and yet it is nothing at all that euer thou diddest perform I neuer put my trust in thee but euer thou beguiledst me I neuer came to thee but thou diddest vndoo me finally neuer saw I ought in thee wherby thou deseruest loue but alwayes hatred This presupposed I know not what is in thee O world or what we worldlings want for if thou hatest vs we cannot hate thee if thou doest vs iniury we can dissemble it if thou spurne vs with thy feet wee wil suffer it if thou beatest vs with a staffe wee wil hold our peace also though thou persecutest vs we will not complain though thou take ours wee will not demand it of thee though thou dost beguile vs we will not call ourselues beguiled and the worst of all is that thou doest chase vs from thy house yet we will not depart from thence I know not what this meaneth I know not from whence this commeth I know not who ought to prayse this same that wee couet to follow the world which wil none of vs and hate the gods which loue vs oft times I make account of my yeares past somtimes also I turne and tosse my booke to see what
banishment I did helpe him with money and moreouer he was banished another time for the lightnes hee did commit in the night in the Citie and I maruell not hereof For we see by experience that Olde men which are fleshed in vices are more obstinate to correct then the young Oh what euill fortune haue the old men which haue suffered themselues to waxe olde in vice For more dangerous is the fire in an old house then in a newe and a great cut of a sword is not so perillous as a rotten Fistula Though olde men were not honest and vertuous for the seruice of the Gods and the commonwealth for the saying of the people nor for the example of the young yet he ought to bee honest if it were but for the reuerence of their yeares If the poore old man haue no teeth how shall he eate If he haue no heate in his stomacke how can he disgest If hee haue no taste how can he drinke if he be not strong how can hee be an adulterer if he haue no feet how can he goe if he haue the palsey how can he speake if he haue the gowte in his hands how can he play Finally such like worldly vicious men haue employed their forces being young desirous to proue al these vices and when they are old it grieueth thē extreamly that they cānot acomplish their desire Amongst all these faultes in olde men in myne opinion this is the chiefest that since they haue proued all things that they should still remaine in theyr obstinate follie There is no parte but they haue trauelled no villanie but they haue essayed no Fortune but they haue proued no good but they haue persecuted no euill but hath chanced vnto them nor there is any wickednes but they haue attēpted These vnhappie men which in this sort haue spent all their youth haue in the ende theyr combes cut with infirmities and diseases yet they are not so much grieued with the vices which in them doe abound to hinder them from vertues as they are tormented for want of corporall courage to further them in their lustes Oh if wee were Gods or that they would giue vs licence to knowe the thoughtes of the olde as wee see with our eyes the deedes of the young I sweare to the God Mars and also to the Mother Berecynthia that without comparison wee would punish more the wicked desires which the aged haue to be wicked then the light deedes of the young Tell mee Claude and Claudine doe you thinke though you behaue your selues as young you shall not seme to be olde Knowe you not that our nature is the corruption of our bodie and that our bodie hindereth our vnderstandings and that the vnderstandings are kept of our soule and that our soule is the mother of desires and that our desires are the scourge of our youth and that our youth is the ensigne of our age and age the spye of death and that death in the end is the house where life taketh his harbor from whēce youth flyeth a foot frō whence age cānot escape a horseback I would reioyce that you Claude and Claudine would but tell mee what you finde in this life that so much therwith you should be contented since no we you haue passed foure-score yeares of life during the which time either you haue bin wicked in the worlde or else you haue bin good If you haue bin good you ought to thinke it long vntill you bee with the good Gods if you haue bin euill it is iust you dye to the ende you be no worse For speaking the truth those which in threescore and ten yeares haue bin wicked in workes leaue small hope of their amendment of life Adrian my Lord beeing at Nola in Campania one brought vnto him a nephew of his from the studie whereas the yong childe had not profited a little for hee became a great Grecian and Latinist and moreouer hee was faire gratious and honest And this Emperour Adrian loued his Nephew so much that he saide vnto him these wordes My Nephewe I knowe not whether I ought to say vnto thee that thou art good or euill For if thou be euill life shall be euill employed on thee and if thou be good thou oughtest to dye immediately and because I am worse then all I liue longer then all These words which Adrian my Lord said doe plainly declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruell death doth assault the good and lengtheneth life a great while to the euill The opinion of a phylosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their mysteries and so iust in their works that to men which least profite the commonwealth they lengthen life longest and though he had not saide it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale friendship to the Commonwealth eyther the Gods take him from vs or the Enemyes doe slay him or the daungers doe cast him away or the trauells doe finish him When the great Pompeyus and Iulius Caesar became enemyes and from that enmitie came to cruell warres the Gronicles of the time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in he fauour of Iulius Caesar and the mightiest and most puissant of al the oriental parts came in the ayde of great Pompeius because these two Princes were loued of a few and serued and feared of all Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the Orientall part into the hoast of the great Pompeius one nation came maruellous and cruell barbarous which sayde they dwelled on the other side of the mountaine Riphees which goe vnto India And these Barbarians had a Custome not to liue no longer then fifty yeares and therefore when they came to that age they made a greater fire and were burned therin aliue and of their owne wils they sacrificed themselues to the Gods Let no man be astonied at that we haue spoken but rather let them maruell of that wee will speake that is to say that the same day any man had accōplished fifty yeares immediately hee cast himselfe quicke into the fire and his friends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eate the flesh of the dead halfe burned and dranke in wine and water the ashes of his bones so that the stomacke of the childrē being aliue was the graue of the Fathers being dead All this that I haue spoken with my tongue Pompeius hath seene with his eyes for that some being in the camp did accomplish fifty yeares and because the case was strange hee declared it oft in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what he will and condemne the barbarians at his pleasure yet I will not cease to say what I thinke O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the World to ome shall be
those that contrary your opinion Be not proud and seuere vnto those you doe commaund neyther doe any thing without good aduisement and consideration For albeit in Princes Courts euery man doth admire and beholde the excellencie and worthines of the person yet are those alwayes that are most in fauour of the Prince more noted regarded and sooner accused then others 10 If you will not erre in the counselles you shall giue nor fayle in those things you shall enterprise Embrace those that tell you the truth and reiect and hate those whom you know to be Flatterers and dissemblers For you should rather desire to bee admonished of the thing present then to be counselled after the dammage receyued Although wee suppose assuredly that all these things aboue-written are not likely to happen nor yet come euen so to passe as I haue spoken yet if it may please you Syr to remember they are not therefore impossible For spitefull Fortune permitteth oftentimes that the Sayles which in stormie weather the Lightnings and boystrous Tempests could not breake and teare in piecâ—â— are afterwardes vpon a sudden euen in the sweete of the mornings sleepe each man taking his rest leauing the Seas before in quiet calme all to shiuered and torne a sunder He that meaneth to giue another a blowe also the more he draweth backe his arme with greater force hee striketh And euen so neyther more nor lesse sayeth Fortune with those on whom for a time shee smyleth For the longer a man remayneth in her loue and fauor the more cruell and bitter she sheweth herselfe to him in the ende And therefore I would aduise euery wise and Sage person that when Fortune seemeth best of all to fauour him and to doe most for him that then hee should stand most in feare of her and least of all to trust her deceits Therefore Syr nake no small account of this my Booke little though it bee For you know that doubtlesse as experience teacheth vs of greater price and value is a little sparke of a Dyamond then a greater ballast It forceth little that the Booke bee of small or great volume sith the excellencie thereof consisteth not in the number of leaues more or lesse but only in the good and graue sentences that are amply written therein For euery Authour that writeth to make his booke of great price and shew ought to be briefe in his words and sweete and pleasaunt in his matter hee treateth of the better to satisfie the minde of the Reader and also not to growe tedious to the hearer And Syr I speake not without cause that you should not a little esteeme this smal treatise of mine since you are most assured that with time all your things shall haue ende your Friendes shall leaue you your goods shall bee diuided your selfe shall dye your fauour and credit shall diminish and those that succeede you shall forget you you not knowing to whome your Goods and Patrimonie shall come and aboue all you shall not knowe what conditions your heyres and children shall be of But for this I wryte in your royall Historic and Chronicle of your laudable vertues and perfections and for that also I serue you as I doe with this my present worke the memorie of you shall remaine eternized to your Successors for euer Chilo the Phylosopher beeing demanded whether there were anything in the world that Fortune had not power to bring to nought aunswered in this sort Two things only there are which neither Time can consume nor Fortune destroy And that is the renowne of man written in bookes and the veritie that is hidden For though truth for a time lye interred yet it resurgeth againe and receiueth life appearing manifestly to all And euen so in like case the vertues we find written of a man doe cause vs at this present to haue him in as great veneration as those had in his time that best knewe him Reade therefore Syr at times I beseech you these writings of mine albeit I feare me you can scant borrow a moment of Time with leysure once to looke vpon it beeing as I knowe you are alwayes occupyed in affayres of great importance wherin me thinketh you should not so surcharge your selfe but that you might for your commodity and recreation of your spirits reserue some priuate houres to your selfe For sage and wise men should so burden themselues with care of others toyle that they shold not spend one houre of the day at the least at their pleasure to looke on their estate and condition As recounteth Suetonius Tranquillus of Iulius Caesar who notwithstanding his quotidian warres he had neuer let slip one day but that he reade or wrote some thing So that being in his Pauillion in the Campe in the one hand hee held his lance to assault his enemie and in the other the penne he wrote withall with which he wrote his worthy CoÌ„mentaries The resonable man therfore calling to mind the straight account that he must render of himselfe and of the time he hath lost shall alwayes be more carefull that hee lose not his time then he shall be to keepe his treasure For the well imployed time is a meane and helpe to his sal saluation and the euill gotten good a cause of his eternall damnation Moreouer yet what toyle and trauell is it to the body of the man and how much more perill to the liuing soule when hee consumeth his whole dayes and life in worldly broyles and yet seely man hee cannot absent himselfe from that vile drudgery til death doth summon him to yeelde vp his account of his life and doings And now to conclude my Prologue I say this booke is diuided into two parts that is to say in the first tenne Chapters is declared how the new-come Courtier shall behaue himselfe in the Princes Court to winne fauour and credit with the Prince and the surplus of the work treateth when hee hath atchieued to his Princes fauour and acquired the credite of a worthy Courtier how he shall then continue the same to his further aduancement And I doubt not but that the Lords and Gentlemen of Court will take pleasure to reade it and namely such as are Princes familiars and beloued of Court shall most of all reape profite thereby putting the good lessons and aduertisements they finde heretofore written in execution For to the young Courtiers it sheweth them what they haue to do and putteth in remembrance also the olde fauoured Courtyer liuing in his princes grace of that he hath to be circumspect of And finally I conclude Syr that of all the Treasures riches gifts fauours prosperities pleasures seruices greatnesse and power that you haue and possesse in this mortall and transitorie life and by the Faith of a true Christian I sweare vnto you also that you shal carrie no more with you then that onely Time which you haue well and vertuously employed during this your Pilgrimage THE ARGVMENT OF THE BOOKE
whereby the good were fauoured and also institutions of grieuous paines wherewith the wicked were punished Although truely I had rather and it were better that the good should loue reason then feare the law I speake of those which leaue to doe euill workes for feare onely of falling into the punishments appoynted for euill doers For although men approue that which they do for the present yet God condemaeth that which they desire Seneca in an epistle hee wrote vnto his friende Lucille saide these wordes Thou writest vnto mee Lucille that those of Scicile haue carryed a great quantitie of Corne into Spaine and into Affrike the which was forbidden by a Romaine law and therefore they haue deserued most grieuous punishment Now because thou art vertuous Thou mayest teache mee to doe well and I that am olde will teach thee to say well and this is because that amongst wise and vertuous men it is enough to say that the Law commaundeth appoynteth and suffereth this thing but in as much as it is agreeing with reason For the crowne of the good is reason and the scourge of the wicked is the law The fourth thing that commonly through the worlde amongst all men was accepted was the Barbers And let no man take this thing in mockery For if they doe reade Plinie in the 59. chapter and the seuenth booke there they shall finde for a Trueth that in those former times the Romaines were in Rome 454. yeares without eyther powling or shauing the hâ—ires off the bearde of anie man Marcus Varro said that Publius 〈◊〉 was the first that brought the barbers from Scicilie to Rome But admit it were so or otherwise yet notwithstanding there was a great contention among the Romaines For they sayd they thought it a rash thing for a man to commit his life vnto the curtesie of another Dyonisius the Syracusian neuer trusted his Beard with any barbor but when his Daughters were very little they clipped his beard with sisers but after they became great hee would not put his trust in them to trimme his beard but hee himselfe did burne it with the shales of nuttes This Dyonisius Syracusan was demaunded why hee would not trust any Barbours with his beard He aunswered Because I know that there bee some which will giue more to the Barbor to take away my life then I will giue to trimme my beard Plinie in the seuenth booke sayeth that the great Scipio called Affrican and the Emperour Augustus were the first that caused them in Rome to shaue their beards And I thinke the end why Plinie spake these things was to exalt these two Princes which had as great courage to suffer the rasours to touch their throats as the one for to fight against Hanniball in Affricke and the other against Sextus Pompeius in Scicilie The fifte thing which commonly throgh the world was accepted were the Dyalls and clockes which the Romains wanted a long time For as Plinie and Marcus Varro say the Romaines were without clockes in Rome for the space of 595. yeares The curious Hystoriographers declare three manner of dyalls that were in old time that is to say Dyalls of the houres Dyalls of the Sunne and Dyalls of the Water The dyall of the Sunne Aneximenides Millesius inuented who was great Animandraes scholler The dyall of the water Scipio Nasica inuented the dyall of houres one of the Schollers of Thales the phylosopher inuented Now of all these Antiquities which were brought into Rome none of them were so acceptable to the Romaines as the Dyalls were whereby they measured the day by the houre For before they could not say we will rise at seuen of the clocke wee will dine at ten we will see one the other at twelue at one wee will doe that wee ought to doe But before they sayde after the Sunne is vp wee wil doe such a thing and before it goe downe wee will do that wee ought to doe The occasion of declaring vnto you these fiue antiquities in this preamble was to no other entent but to call my Booke the Diall of Princes The name of the Booke beeing new as it is may make the learning that is therin greatly to be esteemed God forbid that I should bee so bolde to say they haue been so long time in Spaine without dayes of learning as they were in Rome without the Diall of the Sunne the water and of the houres For that in Spaine haue beene alwaies men well learned in Sciences and very expert in the warres By great reason and of greater occasion the Princes ought to bee commended the knights the people their wits and the fertility of their Countrey but yet to all these goodnesse I haue seen many vnlearned bookes in Spaine which as broken Dials deserue to bee cast into the fire to bee forged anew I doe not speake it without a cause that many bookes deserue to bee broken and burnt For there are so many that without shame and honesty doe set forth bookes of loue of the world at this day as boldlie as if they taught them to despise and speake euill of the world It is pitty to see how many dayes and nights be consumed in reading vaine bookes that is to say Orson and Valentine the Court of Venus and the foure sonnes of Amon and diuers other vaine bookes by whose doctrine I dare boldly say they passe not the time but in perdition for they learne not how they ought to flye vice but rather what way they may with more pleasure embrace it This Diall of Princes is not of sand nor of the Sunne nor of the houres nor of the water but it is the Diall of Life For the other Dials serue to know what houre it is in the night and what houre it is of the day but this sheweth and teacheth vs how wee ought to occupie our minds and how to order our life The property of other Dials is to order things publike but the Nature of this dyal of Princes is to teach vs how to occupie our selues euerie houre and how to amend our life euery moment It little auaileth to keepe the dyalls well and to see thy Subiects dissolutely without any order to range in routes and dayly rayse debate and contention among themselues The End of the generall Prologue THE AVTHOVRS PROLOGVE SPEAKETH PARTICVLARLIE of the Booke called MARCVS AVRELIVS which he translated and dedicated to the Emperour CHARLES the fift THe greatest vanity that I finde in the world is that vaine men are not onely content to be vaine in their life but also procure to leaue a memory of their vanity after their death For it is so thought good vnto vaine and light men which serue the world in vain works that at the houre of death when they perceyue they can do no more and that they can no longer preuaile they offer themselues vnto death which now they see approch vpon them Many of the World are so fleshed in the World that
What is there to see but hath bin seene what to discouer but hath bin discouered what is there to read but hath bin read what to write but hath bin written what is there to knowe but hath bin knowne Now-adayes humaine malice is so experte men so well able and our wittes so subtill that wee want nothing to vnderstand neyther good nor euill And wee vndoe ourselues by seeking that vaine knowledge which is not necessary for our life No man vnder the pretence of ignoraunce can excuse his fault since all men know all men reade and all men learne that which is euident â—n this case as it shall appeare Suppose the Plough-man and the Learned-man do goe to the Law and you shall perceyue the Labourer vnder that simple garment to forge to his Counsellour halfe a dozen of malitious trickes to delude his aduersarie as finely as the other that is learned shall bee able to expound two or three Chapters of this booke If men would employ their knowledge to honesty wisedome patience and mercy it were well but I am sorry they know so much onely for that they subtilly deceiue and by vsury abuse their neighbours and keepe that they haue vniustly gotten and dayly getting more inuenting new trades Finally I say if they haue any knowledge it is not to amend their life but rather to encrease their goods If the deuil could sleep as meÌ„ do he might safely sleepe for whereas he waketh to deceyue vs wee wake to vndo our selues Well suppose that all this heretofore I haue sayde is true Let vs now leaue aside craft and take in hand knowledge The knowledge which we attaine to is small and that which wee should attain to so great that all that wee know is the least part of that wee are ignorant Euen as in things naturall the Elements haue their operations according to the varietie of time so morall Doctrines as the aged haue succeeded and sciences were discouered Truly all fruites come not together but when one fayleth another commeth in season I meane that neyther all the Doctors among the Christians nor all the Philosophers among the Gentiles were concurrant at one time but after the death of one good there came another better The chiefe wisdome which measured all thinges by iustice and dispearseth them according to his bounty will not that at one time they should bee all Wisemen and at another time all simple For it had not beene reason that one should haue had the fruit and the other the leaues The old world that ranne in Saturnes dayes otherwise called the golden world was of a truth much esteemed of them that saw it and greatlie commended of them that wrote of it That is to say it was not guided by the Sages which did guild it but because there was no euill men which did vnguilde it For as the experience of the meane estate and Nobility teacheth vs of one onely person dependeth as well the fame and renowne as the infamy of a whole house and parentage That age was called golden that is to say of gold and this our age is called yron that is to say of iron This difference was not for that gold then was found and now yron nor for that in this our age there is want of them that be sage but because the number of them surmounreth that be at this day malicious I confesse one thing and suppose many will fauour mee in the same Phauorin the Philosopher which was master to Aulus Gelius and his especiall friend saide oft-times that the Phylosophers in olde time were holden in reputation Because there were fewe teachers and many learners We now-adayes see the contrarie For infinite are they which presume to bee Maisters but fewe are they which humble themselues to be Schollers A man may know how little Wise-men are esteemed at this houre by the great veneration that the Phylosophers had in the olde time What a matter is it to see Homer amongst the Grecians Salomon amoÌ„gst the Hebrewes Lycurgus amongst the Lacedemonians Phoromeus also amongst the Greeks Ptolomeus amongst the Egiptians Liuius amongst the Romaines and Cicero likewise amongst the Latines Appolonius amongst the Indyans and Secundus amongst the Assyrians How happie were those Phylosophers to bee as they were in those dayes when the world was so full of simple personnes and so destitute of Sage men that there flocked great numbers out of diuers countreys and straunge Nations not onely to heare their doctrine but also to see theyr persons The glorious Saint Hierome in the prologue to the Byble sayth When Rome was in her prosperitie then wrote Titus Lyuius his deedes yet notwithstanding men came to Rome more to speake with Titus Linius then to see Rome or the high capitol therof Marcus Aurelius writing to his friend Pulio saide these wordes Thou shalt vnderstand my Friende I was not chosen Emperor for the Noble bloud of my predecessors nor for the fauour I had amongst them now present For there were in Rome of greater bloud and Riches then I but the Emperour Adrian my Maister set his eyes vpon mee and the Emperor Anthonie my Father in law chose mee for his Sonne in law for none other cause but for that they saw me a friend of the Sages and an enemie of the ignoraunt Happie was Rome to chuse so wise an Emperour and no lesse happie was he to attaine vnto so great an Empire Not for that hee was heire to his predecessours but for that hee gaue his minde to studie Truely if that Age were then happie to enioy his person no lesse happie shall ours bee now at this present to enjoy his doctrine Salust saith they deserued great glory which did worthie feates and no lesser merited they which wrote them in high stile What had Alexander the great bin if Quintus-Curtius had not written of him what of Vlysses if Homer had not bin borne what had Alcybiades bin if Zenophon had not exalted him what of Cyrus if the phylosopher Chilo had not put his actes in memorie what had been of Pyrrus king of the Epyrotes if Hermicles chronicles were not what had bin of Scipio the great Affricane if it had not bin for the Decades of Titus Liuius what had been of Traian if the renowmed Plutarch had not bin his friend what of Nerua and Anthonius the meeke if Phocion the Greeke had not made mention of them How should wee haue knowne the stoute courage of Caesar and the great prowesse of Pompeius if Lucanus had not written them what of the twelue Caesars if Suetonius Tranquillus had not compyled a booke of their liues And how should we haue knowne the antiquities of the Hebrues if the vpright Ioseph had not beene Who could haue knowne the comming of the Lombardes into Italie if Paulus Dyaconus had not writ it How could we haue knowne the comming in and the going out of the Gothes in Spayne if the curious Roderious had not showed it vnto
those which were new apparrelled And to say the truth we determined not to goe thither thou because thy garments were torne and I because my shoes were broken and that both the times wee were sicke in Capua they neuer cured vs by diet for our diseases neuer proceeded of excesse but of extreame hunger And oftentimes Retropus the Physition for his pleasure spake to vs in the Vniuersity sayd Alas children you dye not through surfetting and much eating And truely hee sayde truth for the Country was so deare and our mony so scarce that wee did neuer eate vntill the time we could endure no longer for famine Doest thou not remember the great famin that was in Capua for the which cause wee were in the war of Alexandria wherein my flesh did tremble remembring the great perils which wee passed in the gulfe of Theberinth What snowes at winter what extreame heate all Summer what generall famine in the fields what outragious pestilence amongst the people and worst of all what persecution of strangers and what euill will we had of ours remember also that in the city of Naples when wee made our prayer the Prophetesse Flauia shee tolde vs what should become of vs after vvee left our Studies Shee tolde mee that I should bee an Emperour and sayde that thou shouldest be a King To the which answere wee gaue such credite that wee tooke it not onely for a mocke but also for a manifest iniury And now I do not maruell in that then we both maruelled wonderfull much For enuious fortune practised her power more in plucking downe the rich then in setting vp the poore Beholde excellent Princes the great power of the Goddesse the wheele of fortune and the variety of times who would haue thought when I had my hands all rough and scuruy with rowing in the Galley that betweene those hands the Scepter of the Romane Empire should haue been put Who vvould haue thought when I was so sicke for lacke of meate that I should euer haue surfetted by too much eating Who vvould haue thought when I could not bee satisfied vvith cattes flesh that I should haue then glutted with too much dainty meates Who vvould haue thought at that time when I left going into the Temple because my shooes were broken that another time should come when I should ride triumphing in Chariots and vpon the shoulders of other men who would haue thought that that which with my eares I heard of the Prophetes in Campagnia I should see heere with my eyes in Rome O how many did hope at the time we were in Asia to be gouernours of Rome Lords of Sicille which not onely fayled of the honour that they desired but also obtayned the death which they neuer feared for oftentimes it chaunceth to ambitious men that in their greatest ruffe and when they thinke their honour spun and wouen then their estate with the webbe of their life in one moment is broken If at that time one had demaunded the Tirant Laodicius aspiring to the Kingdome of Sicille and Ruphus Caluus who looked to be Emperour of Rome what they thought of themselues assuredly they would haue sworne their hope to haue been as certaine as ours was doubtfull For it is naturall to proud men to delight themselues and to set their whole mind vpon vaine deuises It is a strange thing and worthy of memory that they hauing the honour in their eyes fayled of it and wee not thinking thereof in our hearts should obtaine it But herein fortune shewed her might that shee prouided hope for those which looked for least and despayre for others that hoped for most vvhich thing grieued them at the very heart For no patience can endure to see a man obtaine that without trauell which hee could neuer compasse by much labour I cannot tell if I should say like a simple Romane That those things consist in fortune or if I should say like a good Philosopher That all the Gods doe ordaine them For in the end no Fortune nor chaunce can doe any thing without the Gods assent Let the proud and enuious trauell asmuch as they will and the ambitious take as much care as they can I say and affirme that little auayleth humane diligence to attaine to great estates if the Gods bee theyr enemies Suppose that euill Fortune doe ordaine it or that the God and Gods doe suffer it I see those which haue their thoughts high oftentimes are but of base estate and so in fine to come to mischiefe or extream pouerty those that haue their thoghts low are humble of heart and for the more part are greatly exalted by fortune For many oftentimes dreame that they are Lords and men of great estate which when they are awake finde themselues slaues to all men The condition of honour is such as I neuer read the like and therfore such as haue to doe with her ought to take good heed For her conditions are such shee enquireth for him whom she neuer saw and she runneth after him that flyeth from her she honoureth him that esteemeth her not and she demaundeth him which willeth her not she giueth to him that requireth her not and she trusteth him whom she knoweth not Finally Honour hath this custome to forsake him that esteemeth her to remaine with him which little regardeth her The curious Trauellers aske not what place this or that is but doe demand what way they must take to leade them to the place they goe I meane the Princes and Noble men ought not directly to cast their eyes vpon honour but in the way of vertue which bringeth them to honour For dayly wee see many remaine defamed onely for seeking honour and others also exalted and esteemed for flying from her O miserable World thou knowest I know thee well and that which I know of thee is That thou art a Sepulchre of the dead a prison of the liuing a shoppe of vices a Hangman of vertues obliuion of antiquity an enemy of things present a pittefall to the rich and a burden to the poore a house of Pilgrimes and a denne of theeues Finally O World Thou art a slaunderer of the good a rauenour of the wicked and a deceyuer and abuser of all and in thee O world to speake the trueth It is almost impossible to liue contented and much lesse to liue in honour For if thou wilt giue honour to the good they thinke themselues dishonoured and esteeme thy honour as a thing of mockerie And if perchance they bee euill and light thou sufferest them to come often to honour by way of mockery meaning infamy dishonour vnto them O immortall Gods I am oftentimes troubled in my thought whose case I should more lament eyther the euill man aduanced without desert or the good man ouerthrowne without cause And truely in this case the pitifull man will haue compassion on them both For if the euill liue hee is sure to fall and if
places are Arbours and Gardeins to wofull and heauie hearts A slaue hath nothing to care for but himselfe alone but you that be princes haue to satisfie and please all men For the Prince should haue a time for himselfe and also for those which are about him The diuine Plato said well that hee that should haue the least parte of a Prince and belonging to a Prince ought to be the Prince himselfe For to that ende the Prince should bee all his owne he ought to haue no part in himselfe Though a slaue work trauel in the day yet he sleepes without care in the night but you Princes passe the time in hearing importunate suites and the nights in fetching innumerable sighs Finally I say that in a slaue be it well or be it euill all his paine is finished in one yeare or is ended at his death but what shall a wofull Prince doe when he dyeth If he were good there is but a short memory of his goodnesse and if hee hath beene euill his infamy shall neuer haue end I haue spoken these things to the end that great and small Lords and seruants should confesse and acknowledge the true Seigniory to be onely vnto him who for to make vs Lords aboue became a seruant heere beneath CHAP. XXX When the Tyrants beganne to ratgne and vpon what occasion commaunding and obeying first begann And how the authority which the Prince hath is by the ordinance of God CEasing to speake any further of the Poeticall Histories and auncient faynings and speaking the truth according to the diuine Histories the first that did liue in this World was our Father Adam who did eate of the fruite forbidden and that not so much for to trespasse the commaundement of one as for not to displease his wife Eue For many now a dayes had rather suffer theyr conscience a long time to bee infected then one onely day to see theyr wiues displeased The first homicide of the worlde was Caine The first that dyed in the World was Abel The first that had two wiues in the World was Lamech The first City of the World was by Enoch built in the fields of Edon The first Musition was Tubalcaim The first which sayled in the World was Noe The first Tyrant of the World was Nembroth The first Priest was Melcrisedech The first King of the World was Anraphel The first Duke was Moyses The first which was called Emperour in the World was Iulius Caesar For vntill this time they which gouerned were called Consuls Censors and Dictators And from Iulius Caesars hitherto haue beene called Emperours The first battell that was giuen in the world as wee reade was in the wilde valleyes which now they call the dead and salt sea For a great part of that that then was the maine land is novv the dead sea The holy Scriptures cannot deceyue vs for it is full of all truth and by them it is declared that eighteene hundred yeares after the World beganne there was no battell assembled nor company that met to fight in the field for at that time when they had no ambition nor couetousnesse they knew not what battell meant It is reason therefore that in this writing we declare the cause why the first battell was fought in the world to the end Princes may thereof bee aduertised and the curious Reader remaine therein satisfied The manner was this that Bassa being King of Sodome Bersa King of Gomorrhe Senaab King of Adamee Semebar King of Seboime and Vale King of Segor were all fiue Tributaries to Chodor Lanmor King of the Elamites which fiue Kings conspired against him because they would pay him no tribute and because that they would acknowledge no homage vnto him For the realmes paying tribute haue alwayes rebelled and sowed sedition This rebellion was in the 13 yeare of the raigne of Chodor Laomor King of the Elamites and immediately the yeare following Anraphel king of Sernaar Arioch king of Ponte and Aradal King of the Allotali ioyned with Chodor Laomor All which together beganne to make warres to destroy Cities and Countries vpon their enemies For the olde malice of the warre is That where they cannot haue their enemies which are in the fault they put to sacke and destroy those which are innocent and guiltlesse So the one assaulting and the other desending in the end all come to the field they gaue battell as two enemies and the greatest part was ouercome of the fewest and the fewest remayned victorious ouer the greatest which thing God would suffer in the first battell of the world to the end Princes might take example that all the mishappes of the Warres come not but because they are begun of an vniust occasion If Chodor Laomor had helde himselfe contented as his Predecessors did and that hee had not conquered Realmes in making them subiect and had not caused them to pay tribute neyther they vnto him would haue denyed reason nor hee with them would haue waged battell For thorow the couetousnesse of the one and the ambition of the other enmities grew betweene the people This considered which wee haue spoken of Sygnorie and of those which came into contentions for signories Let vs now see from whence the first originall of seruitude came and the names of seruantes and Lordes which were in the old time and whether seruitude was by the discorde of vertuous men first brought into the World or else inuented by the ambition of tyrants for when the one commaundeth and the other obeyeth it is one of the nouelties of the world as the holy Scripture declareth vnto vs in this manner The holy Patriarch Noah had three sons which were Sam Ham and Iaphet and the second sonne which was Ham begot Cusn and this Cusn begotte Nimrod Nimrod made himselfe a Hunter of wilde beasts in the woodes and mountaines Hee was the first that beganne to play the Tyrant amongst men enforcing their persons and taking their goods and the Scripture called him Oppressor hominum which is to say an Oppressor of men For men of euill life alwaies commit much euill in a Common-wealth He taught the Chaldeans to honor the fire hee was the first that presumed to be an absolute Lord and the first that euer required of men homage and seruice This cursed tyrant ended his life in the golden World wherein all things were in common with the Common-wealth For the Auncients vsed their goods in common but their wils onely they reserued to themselues They ought not so thinke in a light matter for his persō to haue been a tyrant but they ought to think it a greater matter to haue beene a rebel in a Common-wealth much more they ought to esteeme it as an euill matter in him which hath beene as hee was a disturber of the good customes of his country but the most vniust of all is to leaue behind him any euil custom brought into the common wealth for if hee deserue great
whom he neyther lifted speare nor sword because all yeelded to his cōmandment With these and such other like things they would haue feared them for that words oft times maketh men more afraide especially when they are spoken of braue stoute men then doe the swords of cowards Lucius Bosco saith in his third booke of the antiquityes of the Grecians of whom the originall of this hystorie is drawne that after the Embassadours of Alexander had spoken to the Garamantes they were nothing at all troubled for the message neither did they fly away from Alexander nor they prepared any warre neyther tooke they in hand any weapon nor yet they did resist him Yea and the chiefest of all was that no man of the Countrey euer departed out of his house Finally they neyther answered the Ambassadors of Alexander to theyr right message nor yet spake one word vnto them concerning their coming And truly the Garamantes had reason therein and did in that right wisely For it is but meere follie for a man to perswade those men with words who enterprise any thing of will It is a maruellous matter to heare reported the hystories of these Garamantes that is to say that all theyr houses were of equall height all men were apparelled alike the one had no more authority then another in feeding they were no glouttons in drinking wine they were temperate concerning pleas and debates they were ignorant they would suffer no idle man to liue among them they had no weapons because they had no enemyes and generally they spake few words but that which they spake was alwayes true King Alexander being somwhat informed of those Garamantes and their life determined to send for them and called them before his presence and instantly desired them if they had any wise men among them to bring them vnto him and by writing or by word of mouth to speake somewhat vnto him For Alexander was such a friend to sage men that all the realms which he ouercame immediately he gaue to his men excepting the Sages which he kept for his owne person Quintus Curtius by king Alexander sayth that a Prince doth wel spende his treasors to conquer many Realms only to haue the conuersation of one wise man And truely he had reason for to princes it is more profit in their life to bee accompanied with Sages then after their deaths to leaue great treasours to their heires Certaine of those Garamantes thē being come before the presence of Alex the great one among them as they thoght the most ancientst himselfe alone the residue keeping silence in the name of them all spake these words CHAP. XXXIII Of an Oration which one of the Sages of Garamantia made vnto King Alexander a goodly lesson for all ambitious men IT is a custome king Alexander amongst vs Garamantes to speake seldome one to another scarsely neuer speake to strangers especially if they be busie and vnquiet men For the tongue of an euil man is no other but a plaine demonstration of his enuious heart When they tolde vs of thy comming into this countrey immediately wee determined not to goe out to receyue thee nor to prepare our selues to resist thee neyther to lifte vp our eyes to beholde thee nor to open our mouthes to salute thee neyther to moue our hands to trouble thee nor yee to make warre to offend thee For greater is the hate that we beare to riches and honours which thou louest then the loue is that thou hast to destroy men and subdue Countreyes which we abhorre It hath pleased thee we shuld see thee not desiring to see thee and wee haue obeied thee not willing to obey thee and that we should salute thee not desirous to salute thee wherewith wee are contented vppon condition that thou be patient to heare vs. For that which we will say vnto thee shall tend more vnto amendmēt of thy life then to disswade thee frō conquering our countrey For it is reason that Princes which shal come hereafter doe know why wee liuing so little esteeme that which is our owne and why thou dying takest such paines to possesse that which is another mans O Alexander I aske thee one thing and I doubt whether thou canst aunswer me thereunto or no For those hearts which are proud are also most commonly blinded Tell me whether thou goest from whence thou commest what thou meanest what thou thinkest what thou desirest what thou seekest what thou demandest what thou searchest and what thou procurest and further to what Realms Prouinces thy disordinate appetite extendeth Without a cause do I not demand thee this question what is that thou demandest and what it is that thou seekest For I think thou thy selfe knowest not what thou wouldest For proud and ambicious hearts know not what will satisfie them Sith thou art ambitious honor deceiueth thee sith thou art prodigall couetousnes beguyleth thee sith thou art yong ignorance abuseth thee and sith thou art proude all the world laugheth thee to scorne in such sort that thou followest men and not reason thou followest thine owne opinion and not the counsell of an other thou embracest flatterers and repulsest vertuous men For Princes and Noble men had rather bee commended with lyes thē to be reproued with truth I cannot tell to what ende you Princes liue so deceyued and abused to haue keepe in your pallaces more flattrers iuglers and fooles then wise and sage men For in a princes pallace if there bee any which extolleth theyr doings there are ten thousand which abhorre their tyrannies I perceiue by these deeds Alexander that the gods will sooner end thy life then then wilt end thy wars The man that is brought vp in debates discentions and strife all his felicitie consisteth in burning destroying and bloud shedding I see thee defended with weapōs I see thee accōpanied with tirants I see thee rob the tēples I se thee without profit wast the treasors I see thee murder the Innocent and trouble the patient I see thee euill willed of all and beloued of none which is the greatest euill of all euils Therefore how were it possible for thee to endure such and so great trauels vnlesse thou art a foole or else because God hath appointed it to chastice thee The Gods suffer oftentimes that men being quiet should haue some weighty affayres and that is not for that they should be honoured at this present but to the end they should be punished for that which is past Tell mee I pray thee peraduenture it is no great folly to empouerish many to make thy selfe alone rich It is not peraduenture folly that one should commaund by tyranny and that all the rest lose the possession of their Seigniory It is not folly perchance to loue to the damnation of our soules many memories in the world of our body It is not folly perchance that the Gods approue thy disordinate appetite alone and condemne the will and opinion of all the
and had memorie fresh being meanely learned in Philosophy but he was of much eloquēce and for to encourage and counsell the Athenians he was sent to the warres For when the Ancients tooke vpon them any warres they chose first Sages to giue counseil then Captains to leade the souldiers And amongst the Prisoners the Philosopher Epicurus was taken to whom the tyrant Lysander gaue good entertainement and honoured him aboue all other and after hee was taken hee neuer went from him but read Philosophy vnto him and declared vnto him histories of times past and of the strength and vertues of many Greekes and Troians The tyrant Lysander reioyced greatly at these things For truly tyrants take great pleasure to heare the prowesse and vertues of Ancients past and to follow the wickednesse and vices of them that are present Lysander therefore taking the triumph and hauing a Nauie by sea and a great Army by land vpon the riuer of Aegeon he and his Captaines forgot the danger of the wars and gaue the bridle to the flothfull flesh so that to the great preiudice of the Common wealth they led a dissolute and idle life For the manner of tyrannous Princes is to leaue off their ownt trauell and to enioy that of other mens The Philosopher Epicurus was alwayes brought vp in the excellent Vniuersity of Athens whereas the Philosophers liued in so great pouerty that naked they slept on the ground their drinke was colde water none amongst them had any house proper they despised riches as pestilence and labored to make peace where discord was they were onely defenders of the Common wealth they neuer spake any idle word and it was a sacriledge amongst them to heare a lye and finally it was a Law inuiolable amongst them that the Philosopher that should bee idle should bee banished and he that was vicious should be put to death The wicked Epicurius forgetting the doctrine of his Master and not esteeming grauity whereunto the Sages are bound gaue himselfe wholly both in words and deedes vnto a voluptuous beastly kind of life wherin he put his whole felicity For hee sayde There was no other felicity for slothfull men then to sleepe in soft beds for delicate persons to feele neyther hote nor cold for fleshly men to haue at their pleasure amorus Dames for drunkards not to want any pleasant wines and gluttons to haue their fils of al delicate meats for herein hee affirmed to consist all worldly felicity I doe not maruell at the multitude of his Schollers which hee had hath and shall haue in the world For at this day there are very few in Rome that suffer not themselues to be mastered with vices and the multitude of those which liue at their owne wils and sensuality are infinite And to tell the truth my friend Pulio I do not maruell that there hath been vertuous neither doe I muse that there hath beene vitious for the vertuous hopeth to rest himselfe with the Gods in an other World by his well doing and if the vitious bee vitious I doe not maruell though he will goe and engage himselfe to the vices of this world since he doth not hope neyther to haue pleasure in this not yet to enioy rest with the gods in the other For truly the vnstedfast beleefe of an other life after this wherein the wicked shall bee punished and the good rewarded causeth that now a dayes the victous and vices raigne so as they doe Of the Philosopher Eschilus ARtabanus beeing the sixt king of Persians and Quintus Concinatus the husbandman beeing onely Dictator of the Romanes in the Prouince of Tharse there was a Philosopher named Aeschilus who was euill fauoured of countenance deformed of body fierce in his lookes and of a very grosse vnderstanding but hee was fortunate of credite for he had no lesse credite amongst the Tharses then Homer had among the Greekes They say that though this Philosopher was of a rude knowledge yet otherwise he had a very good naturall wit and was very diligent in harde things and very patient with these that did him wrong hee was exceeding couragious in aduersity and moderate in prosperities And the thing that I most of all delighted in him was that hee was courteous and gentle in his conuersation and both pithie and eloquent in his communication For that man onely is happy where all men prayse his life and no man reproueth his tongue The auncient Greekes declare in their Histories that this Philosopher Aeschilus was the first that inuented Tragedies and that got money to represent them and sith the inuention was new and pleasant many did not onely follow him but they gaue him much of their goods And maruel not thereat my friend Pulio for the lightnesse of the Common people is such that to see vaine things all will runne and to heare the excellency of vertues there is not one will goe After this Philosopher Aeschylus had written many bookes specially of Tragedies and that he had afterward trauelled through many Countries Realmes at the last hee ended the residue of his life neare the Isles which are adioyning vnto the Lake of Meatts For as the diuine Plato saveth when the auncient Philosophers were young they studied when they came to be men they trauelled and then when they were old they retyred home In mine opinion this Philosopher was wise to do as he did and no lesse shall men now a dayes bee that will imitate him For the Fathers of wisdome are Science and Experience and in this consisteth true knowledge when the man at the last returneth home from the troubles of the World Tell me my friend Pulio I pray thee what dooth it profite him that hath learned much that hath heatd much that hath knowne much that hath seene much that hath beene farre that hath bought much that hath suffered much and hath proued much that had much if after great trauell he doth not retire to repose himselfe a little truly hee cannot be counted wise but a foole that willingly offereth himselfe to trauell hath not the wit to procure himselfe rest for in mine opinion the life without rest is a long death By chance as this ancient Philosopher was sleeping by the lake Meatis a Hunter had a Hare with him in a Cage of woode to take other Hares by whereon the Eagle seazed which tooke the Cage with the Hare on high and seeing hee could not eate it hee cast it downe againe which fell on the heade of this Philosopher and killed him This Philosopher Aeschylus was demaunded in his life time wherein the felicity of this life consisted hee answered that in this opinion it consisted in sleeping and his reason was this that when wee sleepe the entisements of the flesh do not prouoke vs nor the enemy persecute vs neyther the friends do importune vs nor the colde winter oppresse vs nor the heate of long Sommer doth annoy vs nor yet wee
great estimation For Princes did not vse to be serued at their Tables nor in their chambers with any vnlesse they were of his owne Kinred or auncient Seruants And concerning the other childe which was his companion the Emperour returned againe to his father saying That when hereafter hee should bee more shamefaste hee would receyue him into his seruice And certainely the Emperour had great reason for good graue Princes ought not to be serued with light shamelesse children I would now demaund Fathers which loue their children very well and would they should bee worthy what it auayleth their children to be faire of countenance wel disposed of body liuely of spirit white of skinne to haue yellow hayres to bee eloquent in speech profound in science if with all these graces that nature giueth them they bee too bolde in that they doe and shameles in that they say The Author hereof is Patritius Senensis in the first booke De Rege et regno One of the most fortunate princes was the great Theodosius the which amongst all other vertues had one most singular the which was that hee was neuer serued in his pallace with any young man that was vnshamefast or seditious nor with any olde man which was dishonest for he sayde oft times that Princes shall neuer bee well beloued if they haue about them lyers or slaunderers This good Emperour spake as a man of experience and very sage for if the Councellers and familiars of Princes bee euill taught and vnpatient they offend many and if they bee lyers they deceyue al and if they be dishonest they slaunder the people And these offences bee not so great vnto them that commit them as they bee vnto the Prince which suffereth them The Emperour Theodose had in his palace two Knights the one called Ruffinus and the other Stelliconus by whose prudence and wisedome the Common wealth was ruled and gouerned And as Ignatius Baptista sayeth they two were the Tutours and Gouernours of the children of Theodose whose names were Archadius and Honorius for as Seneca saith When good Princes doe die they ought to bee more carefull to procure Masters and Tutours which shall teach their children then to procure realmes or kingdomes for to enrich them The two Masters Stelliconus and Ruffinus had in the palace of Theodose each of them a sonne the which were maruellous well taught and very shamefast and for the contrary the two Princes Honorius and Arcadius were euill mannered and not very honest And therefore the good Emperour Theodose tooke these children oft times and set them at his Table and contrary hee would not once behold his owne Let no man maruel though a Prince of such a grauity did a thing of so small importance for to say the truth the shamefast children and well taught are but robbers of the hearts of other men Fourthly the Tutors and Masters of Princes ought to take good heed that when the young princes their Schollers waxe great that they giue not themselues ouer to the wicked vice of the flesh so that the sensuality and euill inclination of the wanton child ought to bee remoued by the wisedome of the chaste Master For this cursed flesh is of such condition that if once by wantonnes the wicket be opened death shall sooner approch then the gate shall be shut againe The trees which budde and cast leaues before the time our hope is neuer to eate of their fruit in season I meane that when children haunt the vice of the flesh whiles they be yong there is small hope of goodnesse to bee looked for in them when they be olde And the elder we see them waxe the more wee may be assured of their vices And where wee see that vice encreaseth there wee may affirme that vertue diminisheth Plato in his second booke of laws ordayneth and commaundeth that young men should not marry before they were 25. yeares of age and the young maydens at 20. becaust at that age their fathers abide lesse dangers in begetting them giuing of them life and the children also which are borne haue more strength against the assaults of death Therefore if it bee true as it is true indeed I aske now if to bee married and get children which is the end of marriage the Philosophers doe not suffer vntill such time as they bee men then I say that Masters ought not to suffer their schollers to haunt the vices of the flesh when they bee children In this case the good fathers ought not alone to commit this matter to their Tutors but also thereunto to haue an eye themselus For oft times they will say they haue been at their deuotions in the Temples when in deed they haue offered veneriall sacrifice to the Curtezan The vice of the flesh is of such condition that a man cannot giue himselfe vnto it without grudge of Conscience without hurt of his renowne without losse of his goods without shortning of his life and also without offence to the Common-wealth for oft times men enclined to such vice doe rebell trouble and slaunder the people Seneca satisfied me greatly in the which he writeth in the second booke De Clementia to Nero where hee sayeth these words If I knew the Gods would pardon me and also that men would not hate mee yet I ensure thee for the vilenes therof I would not sinne in the flesh And truly Seneca had reason for Aristotle sayeth That all Beastes after the act of Venerie are sorry but the Cocke alone O Gouernours and Masters of great Princes and Lords by the immortal Gods I sweare which created vs I coniure you and for that you owe to the Nobility I desire you that you will bridle with a sharpe snafle your charge and giue them not the reine to follow vices for if these young children liue they will haue time ynough to search to follow to attaine and also to cast off those yokes for through our frailety this wicked vice of the flesh in euery place in all ages in euery estate and at all times bee it by reason or not is neuer out of season What shall I say to you in this case if the children passe the furiousnes of their youth without the bridle then they bee voyde of the loue of God they follow the trumpet of sensuality after the sound whereof they runne headlong into the yoake and loose that that profiteth to win that which hurteth For in the carnall vices he that hath the least of that which sensuality desireth hath much more therof then reason willeth Considering that the Masters are negligent the children bolde their vnderstandings blinded and seeing that their appetites do accomplish beastly motions I aske now what remayneth to the childe and what contentation hath hee of such filth and naughtinesse Truly since the fleshly and vicious man is ouercome with his appetite of those that escape best I see none other fruit but that their bodies
crooked To the end Iustices be vpright they ought much to trauell to bee liberall I meane in things wherein they ought to giue sentence It is vnpossible that those which haue respect in theyr sentences to fauour their Friendes should not accustomably vse to bee reuenged of theyr enemyes Truely such a Iudge ought not to bee called iust but a priuate tyrant Hee that with affection iudgeth and passion punisheth is greatly deceyued Those in like manner which haue authority to gouerne and doe thinke that for borrowing a little of Iustice they should therby encrease and multiplie friends in the common wealth are much abused For this acte before men is so heynous and before GOD so detestable that though for a space he refraine his hands yet in the ende hee will extend his power For the Redeemer of the world onely Father of Trueth will not permit that such doe take vppon them the title of Iustice which in their Offices do shew so extreame wrong Helius Spartianus in the life of Anthonius saith that the good Emperour going to visite his Empire as he was in Capua and there demaunding of the state of the Censours whether they were vniust or rightfull A man of Capua saide in this wise By the immortall Gods most noble Prince I sweare that this Iudge who presently gouerneth here is neither iust nor honest and therefore mee thinks it necessarie that wee depriue him of his dignitie and I will recount vnto thee what befell betweene him and mee I besought him that for my sake hee would graunt me foure things which were all vniust and hee willingly condescended therevnto wherof I had no lesse maruell in my hart then vexation in my bodie For when I did desire him I thought nothing lesse then to obtaine them but only for the contentation of those which instantly desired me to doe it And further this Capuan saide By the God Genius I sweare likewise that I was not the more friendly vnto him for that he sayde he did it for my sake more then for another For hee that to mee would graunt these foure it is to bee beleeued that vnto others hee would graunt them foure hundreth For the which thou oughtest to prouide most noble Prince because good Iudges ought to be patient to heare and iust to determine By this notable example Iudges ought to haue a great respect not to those which doe desire them but to that which they demaund For in doing their duty their enemyes will proclaime them iust and contrary wise if they doe that they should not doe their nearest friends wil account them as tyrants Iudges which pretend fauour vnto the common-wealth and to bee carefull of their consciences ought not to content themselues simply to doe Iustice but that of themselues they should haue such an opinion that none durste presume to come and require at their hands any vile or dishonest thing For otherwise if we note the demaunder to bee vnshamefaste we must needes somewhat suspect the Iudge in his iustice Princes ought also to bee very circumspect that the Iudges be not onelie contented to bee iust honest and true but also in them there ought to remaine no auarice nor couetousnes For Iustice and Auarice can seldome dwell in one house Those that haue the charge of the gouernement of the people and to iudge causes ought to take great heed that with bribes and presentes they be not corrupted For it is vnpossible but that the same day that Riches and Treasures in the houses of Iudges begin to increase that the same day the true administration of Iustice should not decay Lycurgus Prometheus and Numa Pompylius did prohibite nothing in their Law so much neyther for any other cause they ordained so many punishments but to the intent Iudges should not bee so couetous nor yet thieues And of truth they had great consideration to foresee and forbid it For the iudge that hath receyued parte of the Thefte will not giue sentence against the stealers thereof Let not iudges be credited for saying they receyue no siluer nor golde neyther silkes nor iewells but that they take onely small presentes as fruites fowles and other trifles For oftentimes it chaunceth that the iudges doe eate the fruite and the poore Suter doeth feele the morsell Cicero in the booke of lawes saith that Cato the Censor beeing very aged the Senators said vnto him one day in the Senate Thou knowest now Cato that presently wee are in the Calendes of Ianuary wherein wee vse to deuide the Offices among the people Wherefore wee haue determined to create Manlius and Calidanus Censors for this yeare wherefore tell vs as thou thinkest if they be able and sufficient to supplye the rowme Cato the Censour answered them in this wise Fathers conscript I let you knowe that I do not receyue the one nor admit the other For Manlius is very rich and Calidanus the citizen extream poore and truly in both there is great perill For we see by experience that the rich Officers are too much subiect to pleasures and the poore Officers are too much giuen to auarice And further hee said in this case me thinketh that your Iudges whom yee ought to chuse should not bee so extreame poore that they should want wherewith to care neither so rich that they should surmount in superfluity to giue themselus too much to pleasurs For men by great aboundance become vitious and by great scarcitie become couetous The Censor Cato beeing of such authoritie it is but reason that wee giue credite to his words since hee gouerned the Romane Empire so long space though in deed all the poore bee not couetous nor all the rich vitious yet hee spake it for this intent because both those Romans were noted of these two vices For the poore they desire to scrape and scratch and the rich to enioy and keepe Which of those two sortes of men Princes should chuse I cannot nor dare not rashly determine And therefore I doe not counsell them eyther to despise the poore or to chuse the rich but that they giue the authoritie of iustice to those whom they know to bee of good conscience and not subiect to couetousnesse For the iudge whose Conscience is corrupted it is vnpossible hee should minister equall iustice A man may giue a shrewde guesse of suspition in that iudge whether hee bee of brittle conscience or no if hee see him procure the office of iustice for himselfe For that man which willingly procureth the charge of conscience of another commonly little regardeth the burthen of his owne CHAP. VII Of a Letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to Antigonus his friend answering another which hee sent him out of Scicile wherein hee aduertised him of the cruelty of the Romane Iudges and this Letter is diuided into v. Chapters MArcus Aurelius companion in the Empire Tribune of the people presently being sicke wisheth vnto thee Antigonus health comfort in the
more sure when by white hayres they seemed to bee olde when they retired to the Aultars of the Temples Oh what goodnesse Oh what wisedome what valiantnesse and what innocencie ought the aged men to haue in the auncient time since in Rome they honoured them as Gods and in Greece they priuiledged those whyte haires as the temples Plinie in an Epistle he wrote to Fabarus saith that Pyrrus king of the Epyrotes demaunded of a phylosopher which was the best citie of the world who aunswered him thus The best Citie of the world is Molerda a place of three hundreth Fyres in Achaia because all the walles are of blacke stones and all those which gouerne haue hoary heads And further he saide Woe bee vnto thee Rome Woe be vnto thee Carthage Woe be vnto thee Numantia Wo be vnto thee Egipt and woe bee vnto thee Athens Fyue Cittyes which count themselues for the best of the Worlde whereof I am of a contrary opinion For they auaunte themselues to haue whyte Walles and are not ashamed to haue young Senatours This phylosopher saide very well and I thinke no man will say lesse then I haue saide Of this word Senex is deriued the name of a Senatour For so were the gouernours of Rome named because the first King that was Romulus chose an hundred aged men to gouerne the Common-wealth and commaunded that all the Romane youth should employ themselues to the warres Since wee haue spoken of the honour which in the old time was giuen to the auncient men it is reason wee know now from what yeares they accounted men aged to the end they should reuerently bee honoured as aged men For the makers of lawes when they hadde established the honours which ought to be done to the Aged did as well ordain from what day and yeare they should beginne Diuers auncient phylosophers did put six ages from the time of the birth of man vntill the houre of his death That is to say Childe-hood which lasteth vntill seuen yeares Infancie which lasteth vntill seuenteene yeares Youth which continueth till thirtie yeares Mans estate which remaineth till fiftie and fiue yeares Age which endureth till three-score and eighteene yeares Then last of all Crooked-age which remaineth till death And so after man had passed fiue and fifty yeares they called him aged Aulus Gelius in his tenth booke in the 27 Chapter sayth that Fuluius Hostilius who was King of the Romanes determined to count all the olde and yong which were amongst the people and also to know which should be called Infants which yong and which old And there was no little difference among the Romane Philosophers and in the end it was decreed by the King and the Senate that men till seuenteene years should bee called Infants and till sixe forty should be called young and from sixe and forty vpwards they should be called olde If wee will obserue the Law of the Romanes wee know from what time we are bound to call and honor the aged men But adding hereunto it is reason that the olde men know to what prowesses and vertues they are bound to the end that with reason and not with fainting they bee serued for speaking the truth if wee compare duty to duty the olde men are more bound to vertue then the young to seruice Wee cannot deny but that all states of Nations great small young and old are bound to bee vertuous but in this case the one is more to bee blamed then the other For oftentimes if the young men doe offend it is for that hee wanteth experience but if the old man offend it is for the aboundance of malice Seneca in an Epistle sayde these words I let thee know my friend Lucillus that l am very much offended and I doe complaine not of any friend or foe but of my selfe and none other And the reason why I thinke this is that I see my selfe old in vices so little is that wherein I haue serued the Gods and much lesse is that I haue profited him And Seneca sayeth further Hee which prayseth himselfe most to bee aged and that would bee honoured for being aged ought to bee temperate in eating honest in appartell sober in drinking soft in words wise in counsell and to conclude he ought to be very patient in aduersity and far from vices which attempt him Worthy of prayse is the greate Seneca for those wordes but more worthy shall the olde men if they wil conforme their workes according to these words For if wee see them for to abandon vices and giue themselus to vertues we will both serue them and honour them CHAP. XVIII That Princes when they are aged should be temperate in eating sober in drinking modest in apparrell and aboue all true in communication IT is consonant to the counsell of Seneca that the aged should bee temperate in eating which they ought to doe not onely for the reputation of their persons but also for the preseruation of theyr liues For the olde men which are drunke and amorous are persecuted with their owne diseases and are defamed by the tongues of other That which the ancient men should eate I meane those which are noble and vertuous ought to bee very cleane and well dressed and aboue all that they doe take it in season time for otherwise too much eating of diuers things causeth the young to bee sicke and enforceth the olde to die Young men though they eate dishonestly very hastily and eate speaking we can doe no lesse but dissemble with them but the olde men which eate much and hastily of necessitie we ought to reproue them For men of Honour ought to eate at table with a great grauitie as if they were in any counsell to determine causes It is not mine intention to perswade the feeble olde men not to eate but onely to admonish them to eate no more then is necessarie We doe not prohibite them to eate delicate things but to beware of superfluous things We doe not counsell them to leaue eating hauing need but to withdraw themselues from curiositie For though it bee lawfull for aged men to eate sufficient it is not honest for them to eate to ouercome theyr stomacks It is a shame to write it but more shame ought they to haue which doe it which is that the goods which they haue wonne and inherited by their predecessours they haue eaten and drunken so that they haue neyther bought House not vyne nor yet marryed any Daughter but they are naked and their poore children goe to the Tauernes and Innes and the miserable Fathers to the Hospitalles and Churches When any man commeth to pouertie for that his house is burned or his shippe drowned or that they haue taken all from him by Lawe or that hee hath spent it in pleading against his enemies or any other in conueniēce is come vnto him me thinketh we are all bound to succor him and the hart hath cōpassion to behold him
but he that spendeth it in Apparel not requisite to seeke delitious Wines and to eate delicate meates To such a one I would say that the pouertie which he suffereth is not sufficient for his deserts For of all troubles there is none so great as to see a man suffer the euil whereof hee himselfe hath bin the occasion Also according to the counsell of Seneca the Auncients ought to be wel aduertised in that they should not only be temperate in eating but likewise they should be sober in drinking and this both for the preseruation of theyr health as also for the reputation of their honestie For if the olde physitians doe not deceyue vs humaine bodyes doe drye and corrupt because they drinke superfluously and eate more then Nature requireth If I should say vnto the olde men that they should drinke no wine they might tell mee that it is not the counsell of a Christian But presuppose they ought to drinke and that for no opinion they should leaue it yet I admonish exhorte and desire them that they drinke little and that they drinke very temperate For the disordinate and immeasurate drinking causeth the young men to be drunke and the olde men both drunke and foolish Oh howe much authoritie lost they and what grauitie doe honorable and ancient men lose which in drinking are not sober Which seemeth to be true forasmuch as the man being loden with wine although he were the wisest in the world he should bee a very foole that would take counsel of such one in his affaires Plutarche in a booke which he made of the Fortunes of the Romaines saied that in the Senate of Rome there was an Auncient man who made great exclametions that a certaine young man hadde in such heinous sort dishonoured him that for the iniuryes hee had spoken he deserued death And when the yong man was called for to answere to that he had said vnto him he answered Fathers conscript though I seeme young vnto you yet I am not so young but that I knew the Father of this olde man who was a vertuous and noble Romane and somewhat a kinne to mee And I seeing that his Father had gotten much goods fighting in the warres and also seeing this oldeman spending them in eating and drinking I sayde vnto him one day I am very sorry my Lord and vncle for that I heare of thy honour in the market place and am the more sorry for that I see done in thy house wherein we saw fifty men armed before in our houre and now wee see a hundred knaues made drunke And worse then that as thy Father shewed to all those that entered into his house the Ensignes hee had wonne in the Warres so now to those that enter into thy house thou shewest them diuers sorts of Wines My vncle complayned of mee but in this case I make the Plaintife iudge against mee the defendant And I would by the immortall Gods hee deserued no more paine for his workes then I deserue by my words For if hee had been wise he would haue accepted the correction which secretely I gaue him and had not come openly to declare his faults in the Senate The complaint of the old man being heard by the Senate and the excuse in like manner of the yong-man they gaue iudgement that they should take all the goods from the olde man and prouide him of a Tutour which should gouerne him and his house And they commaunded the Tutour That from hence forward hee should not giue him one cuppe of Wine since hee was noted of drunkennesse Of truth the sentence which the Senate gaue was very iust For the olde man which giueth himselfe to wine hath as much neede to haue a Gouernour as an Infant or a foole Laertius made a booke of the Feasts of Philosophers and declareth sundry auncient banquets among the which hee putteth one where were assembled many great Philosophers And admit that the meates were meane and simple yet the bidden guests were sage And the cause why they did assemble was not to eate but to dispute of some graue doctrines whereof the Philosophers did somewhat doubt For in those dayes the greater the Stoyckes and the Peripatetikes were in number so much the more were the Philosophers diuided amongst themselues When they were so assembled truly they did not eate nor drinke out of measure but some pleasant matter was moued betweene the masters and the schollers betweene the young and the olde that is to say which of them could declare any secret of Philosophy or any profounde sentence O happy were such feasts and no lesse happy were they that thether were bidden But I am sorry that those which now bidde and those that are bidden for a truth are not as those Ancients were For there are no feastes now a dayes of Philosophers but of gluttons not to dispute but for to murmure not to open doubtfull things but to talke of the vices of others not to confirme auncient amities but to beginne new dissentions not to learne any doctrines but to approue some nouelty And that which worst of all is the old striue at the table with the yong not on him which hath spoken the most grauest sentence but of him which hath drunke most wine and hath rinsed most cups Paulus Diaconus in the history of the Lumbards declareth that foure olde Lumbards made a banquet in the which the one dranke to the others yeares and it was in this manner They made defyance to drinke two to two and after each man had declared how many yeares olde hee was the one dranke as many times as the other was yeeres olde and likewise his companion pledged him And one of these foure companions had at the least 58. yeares the second 63 the third 87. the fourth 92. so that a man knoweth not what they did eate in this banquet eyther little or much but wee know that hee that dranke least dranke 58. cups of wine Of this so euill custome came the Gothes to make this Law which of many is read and of a few vnderstood where it sayeth We ordaine and commaund on paine of death that no olde man drinke to the others yeares being at the table That was made because they were so much giuen to Wine that they dranke more oft then they did eate morsels The Princes and great lords which now are old ought to be very sober in drinking since they ought greatly to be regarded honoured of the yong For speaking the truth and with liberty when the olde man shall be ouercome with wine hee hath more necessity that the young man leade him by the arme to his house then that hee should take off his cappe vnto him with reuerence Also Princes and great Lordes ought to bee very circumspect that when they become aged they bee not noted for young in the apparrel which they weare For although hat for wearing a fine and riche garment the Prince
a perpetuall memorie What contempt of world what forgetfulnesse of himselfe what stroke of fortune what whippe for the flesh what little regard of life O what bridle for the vertuous O what confusion for those that loue life O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those here haue willingly despised their owne liues it is not to be thought that they dyed to take the goods of others neither yet to thinke that our life should neuer haue end nor our couetousnesse in like manner O glorious people and ten thousand fold happy that the proper sensuality being forsaken haue ouercom the naturall appetite to desire to liue not beleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall Destenies By the way they assaulted fortune they changed life for death they offered the body to death and aboue all haue wonne honour with the Gods not for that they shoulde hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluous of life Archagent a Surgeon of Rome and Anthonius Musus a Physition of the Emperour Augustus and Esculapius father of the Phisicke should get little money in that Countrie Hee that then should haue sent to the barbarous to haue done as the Romanes at that time did that is to say to take sirrops in the mornings pils at night to drinke milke in the morning to annoint themselues with gromeâ—seed to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eate of one thing and to abstaine from many a man ought to thinke that hee which willingly seeketh death will not giue money to lengthen life CHAP. XXII The Emperour concludeth his letter and shewed what perils those olde men liue in which dissolutely like young children passe their dayes and giueth vnto them wholesome counsell for the remedy thereof BVt returning to thee Claude and to thee Claudine me thinketh that these barbarous men beeing fifty yeares of age and you others hauing aboue threescore and tenne it should be iust that sithence you were elder in yeares you were equall in vertue and though as they you wil not accept death patiently yet at the least you ought to amend your euill liues willingly I doe remember that it is many yeares sithens that Fabritius the young sonne of Fabritius the olde had ordayned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told me great inconueniences had happned and sithens that you did me so great a benefite I would now requite you the same with another the like For amongst friends there is no equal benefite then to deceiue the deceyuer I let you know if you do not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are sunke into your heads the nostrels are shut the haires are white the hearing is lost the tongue faultereth the teeth fall the face is wrinkled the feete swolne and the stomacke cold Finally I say that if the graue could speake as vnto his Subiects by iustice he might commaund you to inhabite his house It is great pitty of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorance for then vnto such their eies are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth them to the graue Plato in his booke of the Common wealth sayde that in vaine wee giue good counsels to fond and light young men for youth is without experience of that it knoweth suspitious of that it heareth incredible of that is tolde him despising the counsell of an other and very poore of his own For so much as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the young haue of the good is not so much but the obstination which the olde hath in the euill is more For the mortall Gods many times doe dissemble with a thousand offences commited by ignorance but they neuer forgiue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doe not maruell that you doe forget the gods as you doe which created you and your Fathers which begot you and your parents which haue loued you and your friends which haue honoured you but that which I most maruell at is that you forget your selues For you neuer consider what you ought to bee vntill such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to returne backe againe Awake awake since you are drowned in your dreames open your eyes since you sleepe so much accustome your selues to trauels sithence you are vagabonds learne that which behoueth you since now you are olde I meane that in time conuenient you agree with death before he make execution of life Fifty two yeeres haue I knowne the things of the world and yet I neuer saw a Woman so aged thorough yeares nor old man with members so feeble that for want of strength could not if they list doe good nor yet for the same occasion should leaue to bee euill if they list to be euill It is a maruellous thing to see and worthy to note that all the corporall members of Man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tongue For the heart is alwayes giuen to inuent euills and the tongue is alwayes able to tell Lyes Mine opinion is that the pleasaunt Summer beeing past you should prepare your selues for the vntemperate winter which is at hand And if you haue but fewe dayes to continue you should make hast to take vp your lodging I meane that sith you haue passed the dayes of your life with trauell you should prepare your selues against the night of death to be in the hauen of rest Let mockeryes passe as mockeries and accept trueth as truth that is to say that it were a very iust thing and also for your honour necessarie that all shose which in times past haue seen you young and foolish should now in your age see you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnesse and follyes of youth as doth grauity and constancie in Age. When the Knight runneth his carriere they blame him not for that the Horses mane is not finely combed but at the end of his race he shold see his horse amended and looked vnto What greater confusion can be to any person or greater slaunder to our mother Rome then to see that which now a dayes therein we see That is to say that the old which can scarcely creepe through the streetes to beholde the playes and games as young men which search for nought else but onely pompe and vanitie It grieueth mee to speake it but I am much more ashamed to see that the olde Romaines do daylie cause the white haires to be plucked out of their heads because they would not seeme old to make their beard small to seem yong wearing their hosen very close their shyrts open before the gowne of the Senatour embrodered the Romane signe richly enamelled the
coller of golde at the necke as those of Dace Fringes in their gownes as those of Saphire hoops in their hattes as the Greekes and pearls on their fingers as those of India What wilt thou I tell thee more then I haue tolde thee but that they weare theyr Gownes long and large as those of Tharento and they weare them of the colour as men of warre and euery weeke they haue change as players and the worste of all is that they shew themselues as doating with loue now in their Age as others haue done heretofore in their youth That old men are ouercome by yong desires I doe not maruel for that brutish Lust is as naturall as the daylie foode but the olde men being olde men should be so dissolute herewith men iustly ought to be offended For the olde men couetous and of Flesh vicious both offend the Gods and slaunder the commonwealth Oh how many I haue knowne in Rome who in their youth haue been highly praysed and esteemed and after wardes through giuing themselues to very much lightnes in their age haue bin of all abhorred And the worst of all is that they haue lost all theyr credite their parents their fauour and their poore innocent Children theyr profit For many times the Gods permit that the Fathers committing the offences the paines should fall vpon their owne children The renowmed Gaguino Cato who discended from the hie linage of the sage Catoes was fiue yeares Flamen priest and administrator to the Vestall virgins three yeers Pretor two yeeres Censor one yeere Dictator fiue times Consull being 75. yeares olde he gaue himself to follow serue and to desire Rosana and daughter of Gneus Cursius a Lady of truth verie young and faire and of many desired and much made of time afterwards passing away and God Cupid doing his office the loue was so kindled inwardly in the heart of this olde man that hee ranne almost mad So that after hee had consumed all his goods in seruing her dayly he sighed and nightly hee wept onely for to see her It chaunced that the saide Rosana fell sicke of a burning ague wherewith shee was so distempered that shee could eate no meat but greatlie desired to eates grapes and sithens there were none ripe at Rome Gaguino Cato sent to the riuer of Rheyn to fetch some being farre and many miles distant from thence And when the thing was spredde through Rome and that all the people knew it and the Senate vnderstanding the folly of him the Fathers commaunded that Rosana should be looked vp with the Vestall Virgins the olde man banished Rome for euer to the end that to them it should be a punishment and to others an example Truely it grieued mee sore to see it and also I had great paines in writing it For I saw the Father dye in infamie and his children liue in pouertie I beleeue that all those which shall heare this example and all those which shall reade this writing shall finde the fact of this amorous olde man both vile and filthy and they will allow the sentence of the Senate which they gaue against him for good and iust I sweare that if Gaguino Cato had had as manie young men in his banishment as he left olde men Louers that followed his example in Rome there should not be cast away so many men neyther so many women euill married It chanceth oft times that when the olde men specially being noble and valiant are aduertised of their seruants are rebuked of their parents are prayed of their friends and accused of their enemies to bee dishonest in such a place they answere That they are not in loue but in iest When I was very young no lesse in wisedome then in age one night in the Capitoll I met with a neighbour of mine the which was so old that hee might haue taken me for his nephew to whom I sayde these words Lord Fabritius are you also in Loue he answered me You see that my age suffereth me not that I should be a louer if I should bee it is but in sport Truly I maruelled to meete him at that houre and I was ashamed to haue such an answere In olde men of great age and grauity such request cannot be called loue but griefe not pastime but losse of time not mocrie but villanie for of loue in iest ensueth infamy indeed I aske you Claude and Claudine what a thing is it to see an olde man bee in loue Truely it is no other but as a garland before the Tauerne doores where al men think that there is wine and they sell nought else but vineger They are egges white without rotten within they are golden pilles the tast wherof are very bitter and as emptie boxes in shops which haue newe writings on them or as a new gate and within in the house is full of filth and cobwebs Finally the old Louer is a knight of Exchetes which helpeth to lose money and can deliuer no man from perill Let this word be noted and alwayes in your memory committed That the olde man that is vitious is but as a Leeke which hath the head white and the tale greene Mee thinketh that you ought to breake the wings of time since that you haue feathers to flye withall deceyue not your selfe nor your friends and neighbours saying that there is time for all For the amendment is in your hands but time is in the hands of God to dispose Let vs come now to remedy this great dammage doe what you can by the day of youth and deferre it not vntill the night of age for ill cutteth the knife when the edge thereof is dulled and ill can hee gnawe the bones which is accustomed to eate the flesh I tell you and aduertise you that when the olde and rotten houses beginne to fall vnderset not them with rotten wood but with hard timber I meane with the vpright thoughts of accounts which we ought to giue the Gods of our life and to men of our renowne For I say that if the Vine bee gathered of our vertues wee ought to graffe againe the amendment and if the shreds of our gatherings be drye and withered through our peruerse workes wee ought to set them againe with new mould and good desires The Gods are so gentle to serue and so good to content that if for all the seruices we owe them and for the gifts which they giue vs we cannot pay them in good works they demaund no more in pauement but good wils Finally I say that if thou Claude and Claudine haue offered the meale of youth to the world offer now the bloud of age to the Gods I haue written longer then I had thought to haue done Salute all my neighbours specially Drusio the Patrician and noble Roman widow I remember that Gobrine your neece did mee a pleasure that day of the Feast of the mother Berecinthia wherfore I send two thousand Sesterces one
for admit the pillers be of gold the beames of siluer and that those which ioyne them bee kings those which build them noble in that mining they consume a 1000. yeares before they can haue it out of the ground or that they can come to the bottomes I sweare vnto them that they shall finde no stedy rocke nor liuely mountain where they may build their house sure nor to cause their memory to bee perpetuall The immortall Gods haue participated all things to the mortal men immortality onely reserued therefore they are called immortall for so much as they neuer dye and wee others are called mortall because dayly we vanish away O my friēd Cincinnatus men haue an end thou thinkest the Gods neuer ought to ende Now greene now ripe now rotten fruit is seuered from this life from the tree of the miserable flesh and esteem this as nothing for so much as this is naturall But oftentimes in the leafe or flower of youth the frost of some disease or the perill of some mishap doth take vs away so that when wee thinke to be aliue in the morning we we are dead in the night It is a tedious and long worke to weaue a cloth yet whē in many daies it is wouen in one moment it is cut I meane that it is much folly to see a man with what toyle hee enricheth himselfe and into what perill he putteth himself to win a state of honour and afterwards when wee thinke litle we see him perish in his estate leauing of him no memory O my friend Cincinnatus for the loue that is betweene vs I desire thee and by the immortall Gods I do coniure thee that thou giue no credit to the world which hath this condition to hide much copper vnder little gold vnder the colour of one truth hee telleth vs a thousand lyes and with one short pleasure he mingleth tenne thousand displeasures He beguileth those to whom he pretendeth most loue and procureth great damages to them to whom he giueth most goods hee recompenseth them greatly which serue him in iest and to those which truly loue him he giueth mockes for goods Finally I say that when wee sleepe most sure he waketh vs with greatest perill Eyther thou knowest the world with his deceit or not if thou knowest him not why dost thou serue him if thou dost know him why dost thou follow him Tell mee I pray thee wouldest not thou take the theefe for a foole which would buy the rope wherewith hee should bee hanged and the murtherer that would make the sword wherewith hee should bee beheaded and the robber by the hie-way that would shew the well wherein hee should be cast and the traytor that should offer himselfe in place for to be quartered the rebel that shold disclose himselfe to be stoned Then I swear vnto thee that thou art much more a foole which knowest the world and will follow it and serue it One thing I will tell thee which is such that thou neuer oughtest to forget it that is to say that we haue great need of faith not to beleeue the vanities which we see then to beleeue the great malice which with our eares we heare I returne to aduise thee to read and consider this word which I haue spoken for it is a sentence of profound mistery Doest thou thinke Cincinnatus that Rich men haue little care to get great riches I let thee know that the goods of this world are of such condition that before the poore man doth locke vp in his chests an 100. crownes hee feeleth a thousand griefes and cares in his heart Our predecessors haue seen it we see it presently our successors shall see it that the money which wee haue gotten is in a certaine number but the cares and trauels which it bringeth are infinit We haue few painted houses and few noble estates in Rome that within a litle time haue not great cares in theyr hearts cruell enmityes with their neighbours much euill will of theyr heyres disordinate importunities of their frends perilous malices of their Enemies and aboue all in the Senate they haue innumerable proces and oft times to locke vp a little good in their chests they make tenne thousand blots in their honour Oh how manie haue I knowne in Rome to whom it hath chaunced that all that they haue gotten in Rome to leaue vnto their best beloued Childe another heyre with little care of whom they thought not hath enioyed it There can bee nothing more iust then that all those which haue beguyled others with deceyte in their life should bee found deceyued in their vaine imaginations after theyr death Iniurious should the Gods be if in all the euils that the euill propound to doe they should giue them time and place to accomplish the same But the gods are so iust and wise that they dissemble with the euill to the ende they should beginne and follow the things according to theyr owne wills and fantasies and afterwardes at their best time they cut off their liues to leaue them in greater torment The Gods should bee very cruell and to them it should bee great griefe to suffer that that which the euill haue gathred to the preiudice of many good they shold enioy in peace many yeres Mee thinketh it great follie to knowe that we are borne weeping and to see that wee dye sighing and yet for all this wee dare liue laughing I would aske of the world and his worldlings sithens that we enter into the world weeping and go out of the world sighing why wee should liue laughing For the rule to measure all parts ought to be equall Oh Cincinnatus who hath beguyled thee to the ende that for one bottle of water of the Sea of this worlde for thy pleasure thou wilt blister thy hand with the rope of cares and bruse thy bodie in the anckor of troubles and aboue all to aduenture thine own honour for a glasse of water of another man By the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that for all that great quantitie of Water thou drawest for that great deale of money thou hast thou remainest as much deade for thyrste drinking of that water as when thou wert without water in the cup. Consider nowe thy yeares if my counsell thou wilt accept thou shalt demaund death of the Gods to rest thee as a vertuous man and not riches to liue as a Foole. With the teares of mine eyes I haue bewayled manie in Rome when I saw them depart out of this worlde and thee I haue bewayled and do bewaile my friend Cincinnatus with drops of bloud to see the return into the world The credite thou hadst in the Senate the bloud of thy predecessours my Friendship the authoritie of thy person the honour of thy parentage the slaunder of thy Common-wealth ought to withdraw thee from so great couetousnesse Oh poore Cincinnatus consider the white honored haires which
the winds haue caused much raine and the much raine hath caused great moystures the which engendreth in me sundrie diseases Among the which the gowt of my hands is one and the Statica in my legges is another Eschines the Philosopher sayde that the liberty of the soule and the health of the body cannot bee esteemed too much and much lesse also bought for money Tell mee I pray thee what can hee doe or what is hee worth that hath neyther liberty nor health The diuine Plato in his bookes of his common wealth reciteth three things The first that the man which oweth nothing cannot say that hee is poore For the day that I owe money to another another and not my selfe is Lord of mine owne The second the man which is no seruant nor captaine hath not reason to say that any thing makes him vnhappy For Fortune in nothing sheweth her selfe so cruell as to take from vs the liberty of this life The second which Plato sayde is that among all temporall goods there is none more greater nor greater felicity then the treasure of health For the man which is persecuted with sicknes with riches can haue no contentation In the time of our olde Fathers when Rome was well corrected they did not onely ordaine the things of their Common-wealth but also they prouided for that which touched the health of euerie person So that they watched to cure the body and they were circumspect to destroy vices In the time of Gneus Patroclus and Iulius Albus they say that the City of Rome was ordinarily visited with sicknesse Wherefore first they did forbid that in the moneth of Iuly and August there should bee no stewes for Women For the bloud of the young was corrupted in Veneriall acts The third that no man shoulde bring any fruit from Salon or Campania to sell during these two moneths in Rome For the delicate Ladies of Rome for extreame heate and the poore for their pouerty did not eate in sommer but fruites and so the market places were full of fruites and the houses full of Agues The thirde they did defend that no inhabitant should bee so hardy to walke after the Sunne was set For the young men through the lightnesse they vsed in the nights took diseases which vexed them in the dayes The fourth they did prohibit that no man should bee so hardy to sell openly in Rome wine of Candie or Spaine For in the great heate of the summer as the Sunne is very hote so the wine as poyson doth kill young men The fifth that they should purge the priueyes and make cleane the streetes and Houses For of the corruption of the ayre is engendred the plague among the people When Rome was rich when Rome prospered all these things were obserued in the common-wealth But since Catilina the tyraunt did rebell since Scylla and Marius did slaunder it since Caesar and Pompeyus did playe the Tyrants since Octauius Augustus and Marcus Antonius did robbe it since Caligula and Nero did defame it they cared little whether they entred into Rome to sell the wine of Spaine or Candia For they feared more the knife of the enemyes then the heate of the summer Great reason had the Auncients to forbid those things in Rome For to say the trueth they are not healthfull When I was young in Rome my head did not ake with talking in the night nor I did feele my bloud chased with drinking wine Then I was not troubled to ieatte in the heate in the summer nor I was annoyed to go bare-legged in the winter But nowe that I am olde there is no heate but offendeth me nor colde but pearseth mee For men through much euill rule in their youth come to grieuous diseases in their age Oh if mortall men after that they be olde could at any time worke with the Gods that they should become young againe I sweare vnto thee by the faith of a good man that they would behaue themselues so well that the world should not againe deceyue them Since men haue been vicious in their youth I do not maruell thogh they are full of diseases when they are old For how can he loue his health which hateth vertue All that which I haue spoken here before is to the end you may knowe and belieue that I am sicke and that I cannot write vnto thee so long as I would and as thou desirest so that hereof it followeth that I shall bewayle thy paine and thou shalt be grieued with my gowt I vnderstod here how at the feast of the God Ianus through the running of a horse great strife is raised betweene thee and thy neighbor Patricius And the brute was such that they haue confiscated thy goods battered thy house banished thy children and depriued thee from the Senate for tenne yeares And further they banished thee out of Capua for euer and haue put thy fellow in the prison Mamortine so that by this little furie thou hast cause to lamet al the dayes of thy life Al those which come from thence do tell vs that thou art so woefull in thy heart and so chaunged in thy person that thou doest not forget thy heauie chaunces nor receiuest consolation of thy faithfull friends Thinke not that I speake this that thou shouldest be offended for according to the often chaunges which fortune hath shewed in mee it is long since I knew what sorrow meant For truly the man which is sorowful sigheth in the day watcheth in the night delyteth not in companie and with onely care hee resteth The light he hateth the darknes he loueth with his bitter teares hee watereth the Earth with heauy sighs he pierceth the Heauens with infinit sorrowes he remembreth that that is past and foreseeth nothing that which is to come He is displeased with him that doeth comfort him and hee taketh rest to expresse his sorrowes Finally the vnfortunate man is contented with nothing and with himselfe continually hee doeth chafe Beleeue mee Domitius that if I haue wel touched the conditions of the sorrowfull man it is for no other cause but for that my euill fortune hath made me taste them all And hereof it commeth that I can so well discribe them for in the end in things which touch the sorrowes of the spirite and the troubles of the body there is great difference from him that hath read them frō him that hath felt them If thou diddest feele it there as I doe feele it here it is sufficient to giue thee and thy friendes great dolour to thinke that for so small a trifle thou shouldst vndoe thee and al thy parentage and speaking with the truth I am very sorry to see thee cast away but much more it grieueth me to see thee drow ned in so little water When men are noble and keepe their hearts high they ought to take their enemies agreeable to their Estates I meane that when a Noble man shall aduenture to hazard his
blush to heare the count that pleasures cast So now I see the masse of huge delight With flattering face doth promise but decay Whose flitting foote entyced one to flight His restles wings doe seeke to sore away Loe thus he slippes reclaimde with endles paine Possest a while departing soone againe Thus sayeth the sage Salomon talking of the things of the world the which as he spake of the world so had hee proued it in deede in his owne person Crediting as it is reason to such high doctrine I cannot tell what my pen can write more in this case since hee saith that after he had all proued experimented possessed and tasted he found that al we procure and haue in this worlde is vanitie Oh Noble Princes and great Lords I beseeche you and in the Name of IESVS CHRIST I exhort you with great discretion to enter into this deepe Sea since this order is so disordered that it bringeth all disorders and euill customs For all those which shall trauell by the way when they shall thinke to goe moste sure in the midst of their iourney they shal finde themselues to be lost None ought to agree with the world for that hee might liue secure in his house for day and night to all worldlings hee hath his gates open making their entrie large and sure But let vs beware we enter not and much more that wee loade not our selues with his vices and be delighted with his pleasures For since we doe waxe worse and that wee are entred therein though wee doe repent by no way wee finde the sure comming out but that first wee must well pay for our lodging I maruell not though the Worldlings at euery moment be deceyued since superficiously they beholde the world with their eyes and loue it profoundly with their hearts But if they desired as profoundly to consider it as they doe vainely followe it they should see very plaine that the world did not flatter them with prosperitie but threaten them with aduersitie So that vnder the greatest poynt of the Dye which is the vi is hidden the least which is the Ase I would counsell Noble-Princes and great Lords that they would not beleeue the world nor his Flatterers and much lesse beleeue themselues nor their vaine imaginations The which for the most part doe thinke that after they haue traueled heaped vp great treasure they shal enioy but their own trauel without the trouble of any man or that any man doe go againe them Oh how vaine is such thought and how often doth it change contrarie The world is of such an euill conditition that if hee let vs rest our first sleepe as well vs as that which wee haue gotten immediately in the morning yea oftentimes an houre from thence he awaketh vs with a new care and now he hath prepared for vs some meane to occupie our selues about some other trouble CHAP. XL. ¶ The Authour followeth his intention and speaketh vehemently against the deceyts of the World THe Emperor Traiane said one day to his maister which was Plutarche the great philosopher Tell mee maister why there are commonly more euill then good why without comparison there are moe which follow vices then those which embrace vertue The great Plutarch aunswered As our naturall inclination is more giuen to lasciuiousnes and negligence then to chastity and abstinencie so the men which doe enforce themselues to follow vertue are fewe and those which giue slacke the reynes vnto vices are manie And know thou if thou knowest it not moste Noble Prince that all this euill proceedeth that men doe followe men and that they suffer not reason to folow reason Feeble and miserable is our nature but in the ende wee cannot deny that for our trauells we may finde remedie in it which seemeth to be true For so much if the sunne doth annoy vs we retire to the shadow If we are grieued going on foote wee doe remedy it going on Horsebacke If the sea be dangerous we sayle with ships If the colde doe vexe vs we approche neere the Fire If thyrst doth trouble vs we do quench it with drinke If the raine doth wet vs wee goe into houses If the plague be in one place wee flie into another If we haue enemies we comfort ourselues with our friēds Finally I say that there is no sorrow nor trauell but that a man hath found some rest and remedie This presupposed to be true as it is truth indeed now I aske al the worldlings if they haue found any remedie against the troubles and deceytes of this world If I be not deceyued and if I vnderstand any thing of this world the remedie which the worlde giueth for the troubles certainly are greater trauells then the trauels thēselues so that they are salues that doe not heale our wounds but rather burn our flesh When the diseases are not very olde rooted nor daungerous it profiteth more oftentimes to abide a gentle feauer then to take a sharpe purgation I mean that the world is such a deceiuer and so double that he doeth contrary to that he punisheth That is to say that if hee doe perswade vs to reuenge an iniurie it is to the end that in reuenging that one wee should receiue a thousand inconueniences And wheras we thinke it taketh from vs it increaseth infinite So that this cursed guyde maketh vs to belieue it leadeth vs vpon the drye land among our friends causeth vs to fall into the Ambushments of our enemyes Noble Princes great Lords in the thoughts they haue and in the words that they speake are greatly esteemed and afterwardes in the workes which they doe and in the affayres they trauell are as little regarded The contrarie of all this doeth the wicked world who with all those hee acompanyeth in his promises hee is very gentle and afterwardes in his deedes hee is very prowd For speaking the trueth oft times it costeth vs deere and wee others doe sell it good cheape I say much in saying that wee sell it good cheap but in a maner I shold say better that wee giue it willingly For fewe are those in number which carrie away wages of the world and infinite are those which doe serue it onely for a vaine hope Oh Noble Princes and great Lordes I counsell and require you that you doe not trust the world neither in word deed nor promise though hee sweare and sweare againe that he will keepe all he hath promised with you Suppose that the world doth honor you much flatter you much visite you oft offer you great treasures and giue you much yet it is not because hee will giue it you by little and little but that afterwards he might take it all frō you againe in one day For it is the olde custome of the world that those which aboue all men hee hath set before now at a turne they are furthest behind What may wee haue in this world and
no lesse doe they trauell which goe alwayes in the plaine way then those which mount on the sharpe craggy mountaine According to that I haue gathered of thy letter mee seemeth that when we hope most rest greatest trauel hath succeeded to thee And hereof I doe not maruell nor thou oughtest not be offended for as experience teacheth vs when the trees haue the blossoms then they are most subiect to the frost and when glasses are drawne out of the furnace they breake The Captaines hauing won the victorie doe die When they will put the key in the dore the house doth fall The Pirates perish within the kenning of land By that I haue spoken I meane that when wee thinke to haue made peace with fortune then shee hath a new demaund ready forged All new changes of Fortune causeth all wayes new paine to the person but often times it is cause of more great fortresse for the tree beareth not so much fruit where it first grew as there where againe it is planted and the sauours are more odoriferous when they are most chafed I meane that men of high thoughts the more they are wrapped in the frownings of Fortune the more valiant and stout they shew themselues The man vtterly is foolish or hath great want of vnderstanding who hopeth at any time to haue perfect rest imagining that the World will giue no assault vpon him but that the time shall come wherein hee shall bee without care and feare This miserable life is of such condition that dayly our yeares doe diminish and our troubles encrease O Torquatus by the immortall Gods I doe desire thee and in the faith of a friend I doe require thee thou being borne in the world nourishing thy selfe in the world liuing in the world being conuersant in the world being a child of the world and following the world what didst thou hope of the world but things of the world Peraduenture thou alone wilt eate the flesh without bones giue battell without perill trauell without paine and sayle by the sea without daunger I meane that â—s vnpossible for mortall men to liue in the world vnlesse they will become subiect to the sorrowes of the world The world hath alwayes been the world and now the world shall be after vs and as a world shall handle the worldlings The wise men and those which of their estates are carefull are not contented to see nor superficialy to know the things but rather waigh them profoundly I say this because if thou knewest thy debelity and knewest fortune and her chaunge if thou knewest the men and their malices if thou knewest the world and his flatteries thou shouldest winne no little honour where as otherwise thou mayes chance to get infamie Wee are now come to so great folly that wee will not serue the Gods which haue created vs nor abstaine from the World which persecuteth vs And the best is that hee not willing vs but rather reiecting vs we say that of our owne willes wee will loue and serue him and yet knowing that those which longest haue serued the world do goe out of his house most bitterly lamenting Oftentimes I stay for to thinke that according to the multitude of men which follow the world beeing alwayes euill handled of the World if the World did pray them as hee doth annoye them if hee did comfort them as he doth torment them if he kept them as he banisheth them if he exalted them as he abuseth them of he receyued them as he expelleth them if he did continue them as he consumeth them I thinke that the Gods should not be honoured in heauen nor the temples worshipped in the earth O Torquatus my friend that which I will now say of thee thou mayest say of mee that is to say how much wee put our confidence in fortune how lewdly wee passe our dayes and how much wee are â—inded in the world yet for all that we credite his word as much as though hee had neuer mocked any CHAP. XLII Marcus Aurelius goeth on with his Letter and by strong and high reasons perswadeth all that line in the world not to trust the world nor any thing therein TEl l mee I pray thee Torquatus what wilt thou hear more What wilt thou see more and what wilt thou know more to know the world seeing how vntill this present thou hast beene handled of the world thou demaundest rest and he hath giuen thee trouble thou demaundest honour and he hath giuen thee infamie Thou demaundest riches and he hath giuen thee pouerty thou demaundest ioy and hee hath giuen thee sorrow Thou demaundest to be his and hee hath giuen thee his hand Thou demandest life and hee hath giuen thee death Therefore if it be true that the world hath handled thee in this wise why doest thou weepe to returne againe to his wicked house O filthy worlde how farre art thou from iust and how farre ought they to bee from thee which desire to be iust For naturally thou art a friend of nouelties and enemie of vertues One of the Lessons which the world readeth to his children is this that to be true worldlings they should not bee very true The which experience plainely sheweth vs for the man which medleth much with the world leaueth alwayes suspition of him that hee is not true The World is an Ambassadour of the euill a scourge of the good chiefest of vices a tyrant of the vertuous a breaker of peace a friend of warre a sweete water of vices the gawle of the vertuous a defendor of lyes an inuentor of nouelties a trauellour of the ignorant a hammer for the malitious a table of gluttons and a furnace of concupiscence Finally it is the perill of Charibdes where the harts doe perish and the danger of Scylla where the thoughts doe waste Presuppose that these he the conditions of the world The truth is that if there bee any worldling who complayneth to be euill content with the world shall he therefore chaunge his stile Truly no and the reason is that if perchaunce one worldling should goe out the house of the world there are x. thousand vanityes at his Gate I know not what wise man will liue in the World with such conditions since the vices wherewith wee doe reioyce our selues are very fewe in respect of the torments which we suffer I say not that we doe heare it by heare-say and reade them in bookes but wee see with our owne eyes the one to consume and wast the goods others by misfortune to fall and lose their credite others to fall and loose their honour and others to loose their life and all these miseryes seene yet neuertheles euery man thinketh to be free by priuiledge where there is none priuiledged Oh my deare Friend Torquatus of one thing I assure thee which is that the men which are born of women are so euill a generation and so cruell is the world wherein we liue and Fortune
render thankes for the benefits receiued but we haue not the power to requite the gentlenesse shewed For the man which dare receiue of another any gift doth bind himselfe to be his slaue I cannot bee thy slaue for I am thy friend and thereof thou oughtest to reioyce more then another For being a seruant I should serue thee with feare but being a friend I will profite thee with friendship Therefore to declare the chiefe occasion wherefore I write vnto thee at this present I say I send thee three ships loden with Iesters and Iuglers Loyterers Vacabondsand fooles and yet I do not send vnto thee all the vacabonds which are in Rome for then thy Ile should be peopled with strangers The office that they had was that some of them iested and rayled at the table some sang sundry malicious songs at mariages others told lies and newes for their dinners at the gates others played common playes in the streetes other entertained the Romaine matrons with follish nouels and tales others set forth vaine and light bookes of rymes and ballets yet I sweare vnto thee by the God Hercules these Loyterers wanted no fooles to heare them I let thee know my friend Lambert that these Loiterers are such and their Schollers in number so many that though the Masters may be in 3. ships carried yet the Schollers could not be in an hundred transported Of one thing I maruell much and also I affirm that the Gods be offended since the earthquakes ouerthrew the houses the great waters carry away the bridges the frost freese the vines the corrupt ayre infecteth the Wise men and yet there is no plague that consumeth the fooles O how vnhappy art thou Rome vnto him that shall well behold thee and diligently search thee For in thee wanteth valiant Captaines honest Senators iust Censors faithfull officers and vertuous Princes and onely there aboundeth fooles Iesters Players Dicers Loyterers and vagabonds O what seruice thou shouldst do to the Gods and profite to our mother Rome if for three ships of fools thou didst send vs one barke onely of wise men I would not say but I will not cease to say that I haue seene fooles that I haue heard many follies but I neuer saw so great fooles nor heard such extreme folly as that of some noble Romanes and Italians who thinke it a great act to keepe a foole in their house I iudge him to be a greater foole that desireth to keepe a foole then the foole himselfe for a foole hath a sēblance of the sage after hee accompanieth with a Sage but the Sage sheweth himselfe a foole after hee accompanieth with a foole Why doe men seeke things of mockerie since all that is in the World is mockerie Why seeke wee fooles since all that we say is nothing but folly Why doe wee reioyce with those that flatter vs since there are none that say one onely truth Why doe we seeke fained fooles since that all or the most part of vs all are very fooles I see diuers in Rome the which though they company with honest men are dissolute companying with Sages they are simple treating with wise men they are without consideration and being conuersant with fooles they thinke to be sage if we keepe company with pittifull wee shall be pittifull If wee be conuersant with the cruell wee shall bee cruell If wee communicate with lyers we shall be lyers If wee haunt the true we shall be true and if wee desire the foolish we shall be fooles for according to the masters and doctrines we haue such shal be the sciences which we shall learne and the works which wee shall follow The famous tyrant Dionysius the Syracusane which was in Scicill sayde vnto the Philosopher Diogenes Tell mee Diogenes what kinde of men ought we to haue in our houses and with what persons ought wee to diuide our goods Diogenes answered him The wise man which will liue in peace with the Common wealth and that will not see his goods euill employed ought not to giue to eate nor to accompany with any but with the aged persons which should counsell them with the young which should serue them with friends which should fauour them and with the poore to the end they should prayse them Dennis the tirant greatly commended that which Diogenes the Philosopher told him but hee could neuer profit with that counsell for as he shewed himself a tyrant in robbing so he shewed himselfe also vndiscreet in spending Presuppose that which Diogenes the Philosopher spake were true that is to say that we ought to feede the aged seruants friends and poore Wee see by this answere it is not iust to giue to eate eyther to Iesters Parasites Flatterers Loyterers or fooles First mee seemeth that a man ought not to thinke that fooles are capable to giue counsell since they haue it not for themselues for it should bee great folly to vse men as Sages which of their owne will haue made themselues fooles The second mee seemeth that it is a vaine thing to thinke that the Iesters should serue as seruants For these vnhappy people to flye trauel onely haue taken vpon them this office so slaunderous Thirdly it seemeth to bee a shamefast thing and of great inconuenience that any Noble and sage man should determine to haue any Flatterer or Iester for his familiar friend for such ought not nor cannot be counted among the true friends since they loue vs not for the vertue we possesse but for the goods which we haue Fourthly me thinketh it a vaine thing to thinke that vnder the colour of pouerty it should be iust to giue meate to Iesters or Loyterers for we cannot say that such are poore for that they want riches but that folly aboundeth in them Since therfore a man is defamed to haue such Iesters Flatterers for friends and that for beeing seruants they are vnable and without witte to aske them counsell mee thinketh it a great folly to spend his goods on such loyterers For as their intentions to the Gods onely are manifest and to men secret so there is nothing wherein the good do approue and manifest their intentions to bee good or euil more then in the words which they speake and in the Companies which they keepe CHAP. XLVI Marcus Aurelius goeth forward with his letter and declareth how he found the sepulchres of many learned Philosophers in Helespont whereunto hee sent all these Loyterers I Will thou know Lambert that thy Isle is consecrated with the bones of many excellent men the which were banished by sundry tyrannous Princes of Rome The Ancients greatly commend that Isle because there are therein stones called Amatists tame Deere faire women familiar wolues swift dogs of feet pleasant fountaines Yet notwithstanding I will not cease to commend these things which reioyce those that bee present and also comfort those that bee to come For I esteeme more the bones which the earth do
say they are faithfull for oftentimes greater are the theeues which are receiuers and treasurers then are they that doe rob among the people I leaue thee my sonne expert and ancient men of whom thou maiest take counsell and with whom thou maiest communicat thy troubles for there can bee fourmed no honest thing in a Prince vnlesse hee hath in his company auncient men for such giue grauitie to his person and authoritie to his pallace To inuent Theaters to sish ponds to chase wilde beasts in the forrests to runne in the fields to let thy haukes flye and to exercise weapons al these things we can denie thee as to a yong man and thou being yong mayest reioice thy selfe in all these Thou oughtest also to haue respect that to ordaine armes inuent warres follow victories accept truces confirm peace raise bruites to make lawes to promote the one and put down the others to punish the euill and first to reward the good the counsell of all these things ought to bee taken of cleare iudgements of persons of experience and of white heads Thinkest thou not that it is possible to passe the time with the yong and to counsell with the old The wife and discreet Princes for all things haue time enough if they know well how to measure it Beware my sonne that they note thee not to vse great extremities for the end and occasion why I speake it is because thou shouldst know if thou knowest not that it is as vndecent a thing for a Prince vnder the colour of granitie to bee ruled and gouerned wholie by olde men as vnder semblance of pastime alwaies to accompanie himselfe with the yong It is no generall rule that all young men are light nor all old men sage And thou must according to my aduise in such case vse it thus if any old man lose the grauity of his age expulse him from thee if thou finde any young men sage despise not their counsell For the Bees doe drawe more honey out of the tender flowers then of the hard leaues I do not condemne the aged nor I doe commend the young but it shall bee well done that alwayes thou choose of both the most vertuous For of truth there is no company in the Worlde so euill ordered but that there is mean to liue with it without any suspition so that if the young are euill with solly the olde are worse through couetousnesse Once againe I returne to aduertise thee my sonne that in no wise thou vse extremitie for if thou beleeue none but young they will corrupt thy manners with lightnesse and if thou beleeue none but the old they will depraue thy iustice through couetousnesse What thing can bee more monstrous then that the prince which commaundeth all should suffer him to be commaunded of one alone Beleeue me sonne in this case that the gouernements of many are seldome times gouerned well by the head of one alone The Prince which hath to rule and gouerne many ought to take the aduise and counsell of many It is a great inconuenience that thou beeing Lord of many Realmes shouldst haue but one gate wherein all doe enter into to doe their businesse with thee For if perchance he which shall be thy familiar be of his owne nature good and be not mine enemy yet I would be afraid of him because hee is a friend of mine enemies And though for hate they doe me no euill yet I am afraide that for the loue of another he will cease to do me good I remember that in the Annalles of Pompeius I found a little booke of memories which the great Pompeius bare about him wherein were many things that he had reade and other good counsels which in diuers parts of the world he had lerned and among other wordes there were these The Gouernour of the Common-wealth which committeth all the gouernment to old men deserueth very little and hee that trusteth all young is light Hee that gouerneth it by himselfe alone is beyond himselfe and he which by himselfe and others doth gouerne it is a wise Prince I know not whether these sentences are of the same Pompeius or that hee gathered them out of some book or that any Philosopher had told him them or some friend of his had giuen him them I meane that I had them written with his hands and truly they deserued to bee written in letters of gold When thy affayres shall bee waighty see thou dispatch them alwayes by counsell For when the affaires be determined by the counsell of many the fault shall be diuided among them all Thou shalt finde it for a truth my sonne that if thou take counsell of many the one will tel the inconuenience the other the perill other the feare the other the damage the other the profite and the other the remedy finally they will so debate thy affayrs that plainly thou shalt know the good and see the danger thereof I aduertise thee my son that when thou takest counsel thou behold with thy eyes the inconuenience as well as the remedies which they shall offer vnto thee for the true counsell consisteth not to tell what they ought to doe but to declare what thereof is like to succeede When thou shalt enterprise my son great and weighty affayres as much oughtest thou to regard the little dammages for to cutte them off in time as the great mishaps to remedy them For oftenttmes it chanceth that for the negligence of taking vp a gutter the whole house falleth to the ground Notwithstanding I tell thee thou take counsell I meane not that thou oughtest to be so curious as for euery trifle to cal thy counsell for there are many thinges of such quality that they would bee immediately put in execution and they doe endammage themselues attending for counsell That which by thine own authority thou mayest dispatch without the dammage of the Common-wealth referre it to no other person and herein thou shalt be iust and shalt doe iustice conformable for considering that thy seruice dependeth onely of them the reward which they ought to haue ought to depend onely on thee I remember that when Marius the Consull came from the warres of Numedia he diuided all the treasure hee brought among his souldiers not putting one jewell into the common Treasurie And when hereof hee was accused for that he had not demaunded licence of the Senat he answered them It is not iust I take counsell with others for to giue recompence to those which haue not taken the opinions of others to serue me Thou shalt find my sonne a kind of men which are very hard of money and exceeding prodigal of counsell There are also diuers lenders which without demaunding them doe offer to giue it With such like men thou shalt haue this counsell neuer looke thou for good counsell at that man whose counsell tendeth to the preiudice of another for he offereth words to thy seruice and trauelleth thy businesse
and iudgeth of his sound It is but reason hee should be so much the more circumspect before hee choose his Friend to examine his life and condition since all the other things wee haue spoken of may bee put in diuers houses and corners but our Friend we lodge and keepe deerely in our proper be wells Those that write of the Emperour Augustus say that he was very strange and scrupulous in accepting Friends but after hee had once receyued them into his friendship hee was very constant and circumspect to keepe them For hee neuer had any friend but first he had some proofe and tryall of him neyther would hee euer after forsake him for any displeasure done to him Therefore it shold alwayes be so that true friends should beare one to an other such loue and affection that the one beeing in prosperitie should not haue occasion to complaine of himselfe in that hee did not relieue his friends necessitie being in aduersitie nor the other being poore and needy should grudge or lament for that his friend being rich and wealthie would not succour him with all that hee might haue done for him For to say the trueth where perfect friendship is there ought no excuse to be made to doe what possible is the one for the other The friendship of young men commeth commonly or for the most part at the least by beeing companions in vice and follie and such of right ought rather to be called vacabonds then once to deserue the name of true friends For that cannot bee called true friendship that is continued to the preiudice or derogation of vertue Seneca writing againe to Lucillus saith these words I would not haue thee thinke nor once mistrust O my Lucillus that in all the Romaine Empire I haue any greater Friende then thuo but with all assure thy selfe that our Friendship is not so straight between vs that I would take vpon mee at any time to doe for thee otherwise then honesty should lead mee For though that loue I beare thee hath made thee Lord of my libertie yet reason also hath left mee vertue free The Authour proceedeth on Applying that wee haue spoken to that wee will now declare I say I will not acknowledge my selfe your seruant for so should I bee compelled to feare you more then loue you much lesse will I vaunt my selfe to bee your Kins-man for so I should importune and displease you and I will not brag that heretofore wee haue beene of familiar acquaintaunce for that I would not make any demonstration I made so little account of you and lesse then I am bound to doe neyther will I boaste my selfe that I am at this present your familiar and welbeloued For indeed I should then shew my selfe to bee too bolde and arrogant but that that I will confesse shall be that I loue you as a Friend and you mee as a Kins-man albeeit this friendship hath succeeded diuersly till now For you being Noble as you are haue bountifully shewed your friendship to mee in large and ample gifts but I poore and of base estate haue onely made you sure of mine in wordes Plutarch in his politikes sayd That it were far better to fell to our friends our workes and good deedes whether they were in prosperitie aduersitie or necessitie then to feede them with vaine Flattering wordes for nothing Yet it is not so generall a rule but that sometimes it happeneth that the loftie and high words on the one side are so profitable and the workes so few and feeble on the other side that one shal be better pleased and delighted with hearing the sweete and curteous wordes of the one then he shall be to be serued with the colde seruice and workes of the other of small profite and value Plutarche also in his booke De animalibus telleth vs that Denis the Tyrant beeing one day at the Table reasoning of diuers and sundrie matters with Chrysippus the Phylosopher it chaunced that as hee was at dinner one brought him a present of certaine Sugar-cakes wherefore Chrysippus ceasing his former discourse fell to perswade Denis to fall to his cakes To whome Denis aunswered on with your matter Chrysippus and leaue not off so For my heart is better contented with thy sweete and sugred wordes then my Tongue is pleased with the delicate taste of these mountain-cakes For as thou knowest these cakes are heauie of digestion and doe greatly annoy the stomack but good workes doe meruellously reioyce and comfort the heart For this cause Alexander the great had the poet Homer in greater veneration beeing dead then all the other that were aliue in his time not for that Homer euer did him seruice or that hee knew him but onely because of his learned Bookes hee wrote and compiled and for the graue sentences he found therein And therefore he bare about him in the day time the booke of the famous deedes of Troy called the Illyades hanged at his neck within his bosome and in the night hee layde it vnder his bolster at his beds-head where hee slept In recompence therefore Syr of the many good turnes I haue receyued at your hands I was also willing to compyle and dedicate this my little Treatise to you the which I present you with all my desires my studyes my watches my sweatte and my troubles holding my selfe fully satisfyed for all the paines I haue taken so that this my simple trauell be gratefull vnto you to whom I offer it and to the publike weale profitable Being well assured if it please you to trust me and credite my wryting you shall manifestly know how freely I spake to you and like a friend and not deceyue you as a flatterer For if the beloued and Fauourites of Princes chaunce to bee cast out of fauour it is because euery man flattereth him and seeketh to please him and no man goeth about to tell him trueth nor that that is for his honour and fittest for him Salust in his booke of the warres of Iugurtha sayth that the high heroycall facts and deedes were of no lesse glorie to the Hystoriographers that wrote them then they were to the captaine that did them For it happeneth many times that the Captaine dying in the battell hee hath wonne liueth afterwardes notwithstanding by the Fame of his noble attempt And this proceedeth not only of the valiant deeds of Arms he was seene doe but also for that wee read of him in worthy Authors which haue written thereof Wee may well say therefore touching this matter that as well may wee take him for a true friend that giueth good counsell as hee which doeth vs great pleasure and seruice For according to the opinion of the good Emperor Marcus Aurelius who who saide to his Secretarie Panutius that a man with one pay may make full satisfaction and recompence of many pleasures and good turns shewed but to requite a good counsell diuers thankes and infinite seruices are requisite If we