many was lamented for it was a long time that Rome had neuer heard of so honest and vertuous a Romane wherefore at the petition of all the Romane people and by the commaundement of all the sacred Senate they set on her Tombe these verses The worthy Macrine resteth here in graue Whom wise Torquatus lodg'd in Iunos bed Who reckoned not a happy life to haue So that for aye her honest name was spred BEhold therefore Faustine In my opinion the law was not made to remedie the death of this Noble Romane since she was already dead but to the end that you Princesses should take example of her life and that through all Rome there should bee a memory of her death It is reason since the law was ordayned for those women which are honest that it should be obserued in none but vpon those that are vertuous let the women with childe marke the words of the lawe which commaund them to aske things honest Wherefore I let thee know Faustine that in the seuenth Table of our lawes are written these words We will that where there is corruption of manners the man shall not be bound to obserue their liberties CHAP. XVIII That Princesses and Noble Women ought not to bee ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne brests ALl Noble men that are of hauty courage watch continually to bring that to effect which they couet and to keepe that which they haue for by slrength one commeth to honour and by wisedome Honour and life are both preserued By these words I meane That she that hath born nine months through trauaile the creature in her wombe with so much paine and that afterwards is deliuered with so great peril and by the grace of God from so many dangers escaped me thinks it is not well that in this point which for the nourishment of the babe is most expedient the Mothers should shew them so negligent for that wanteth no folly that by extreame labour is procured and with much lightnesse afterwards despised The things that women naturally desire are infinite among the which these are foure chiefely The first thing that women desire is to be very fayre for they had rather bee poore and fayre then to be rich and foule The second thing which they desire ◠is to see themselues marryed for vntil such time as the woman doe see her selfe marryed from the bottome of her heart she alwayes sigheth The third thing that women desire is to see themselues great with childe and herein they haue reason for vntill such time as the woman hath had a childe it seemeth that shee taketh him more for a Louer then for a Husband The fourth thing that they desire is to see themselues deliuered and in this case more then all the rest they haue reason for it is great pittie to see in the prime time a young tree loaden with blossomes and afterward the fruit to bee destroyed through the abundance of Caterpillers Then since God sussereth that they are borne fayre that they see themselues marryed that they bee with childe and that they are deliuered why be they so vnkinde as to send them out of their houses to bee nourished in other rude Cottages In my opinion the woman that is vertuous ought as soone as she is deliuered to lift vp her eyes and with her heart to giue God thankes for her fruit for the woman that from her deliuery is escaped ought to acount her selfe as one newly borne The woman likewise seeing her selfe deliuered of her creature ought to giue it sucke with her owne brests for it is a monstrous thing that she that hath brought forth the creature out of her owne proper wombe should giue it to bee nourished of a strange dugge In speaking more plainely it is all one to mee whether she be a Noble woman or a woman of meane condition I say and affirme that GOD hath deliuered her of all her trauaile shee her selfe ought with her owne pappes to nourish and giue sucke to their babes for nature did not onely make women able to beare men but also besides that prouided milke in their brests to nourish their children We haue neither read vntill this present nor seene that any beasts wilde or tame after they had young would commit them to any other to be nourished This which I haue spoken is not so worthy of noting as that which I will speake and it is That many beasts new borne before they open their eyes to know their fathers haue now already taken nourishment in the teates of their mothers and more then that to see some of those little beasts haue tenne little whelpes the which without the ayde of any others nourished them all with the substance of their owne teates and the woman that hath but one childe disdayneth to giue it sucke All that shall reade this writing shall find it true and if they will they may see as I haue seene it by experience that after the she Ape hath had her yonglings she alwaies hath them in her armes so long as they sucke so that ofentimes there is such strife betweene the male the female which of them shall haue the younglings in their armes that the beholders are enforced to part them with bats Let vs leaue the Beasts that are in the Fields and talke of the Birds that are in the nests the which doe lay egges to haue young yet haue they no milke to bring them vp What thing is so strange to see as a small Bird that hath vnder her wings fiue or sixe little naked Birds the which when he hath hatched she hath neither milk to nourish thē nor corne to giue them they haue neyther wings to flye fethers to couer them nor any other thing to defend them yet in all this weakenesse and pouertie their mother forsaketh them not nor committeth them to any other but bringeth them vp all her selfe That which nature prouided for the Swannes is no lesse maruellous in especially when they nourish their young Signets in the water for as much as during the time that they cannot swimme the mothers alwaies in the day are with their yong Signets in theis nests and in the night the fathers carry them vnder their proper wings to refresh them vnto the water It is therefore to be thought since these Swannes so louingly beare their younglings vnder their wings that they would carry them in their armes if they were men and also giue them sucke with their owne brests if they were women Aristotle sayeth in his fift booke De animalibus that the Lyons the Beares the Wolues the Eagles and Griffins and generally all Beasts neuer are were nor shall be seene so fierce nor so cruell as when they haue younglings and this thing seemeth to bee true for at that time we see that many beasts might escape the hunters yet to saue their younglings they turne backe and put their proper liues in
profound which the Philosopher spake and great reason had the king to esteeme it so much For if wee doe prepare our selues to consider whereof wee are and what we shall be that is to say That wee are of earth and that we shall returne to earth We would not cease to weepe nor sigh One of the greatest vanities which I finde among the children of vanity is that they employ themselues to consider the influences of the starres the nature of the Planets the motion of the heauens and they will not coÌ„sider themselues of which consideration they should take some profite For man giuing his mind to thinke on strange things commeth to forget his owne proper Oh if we would consider the corruption whereof wee are made the filth whereof wee are engendred the infinit trauell wherewith we are born the long tediousnes wherewith we are nourished the great necessities and suspitions wherein wee liue and aboue all the perill wherein wee dye I sweare and affirme that in such consideration wee finde a thousand occasions to wish death and not one to desire life The children of vanity are occupyed many yeares in the Schooles to learne Rethorike they exercise themselues in Philosophy they heare Aristotle they learne Homere without booke they study Cicero they are occupied in Xenophon they hearken Titus Liuius they forget not Aulus Gelius and they know Ouid yet for all this I say that we cannot say that the man knoweth little which doth know himselfe Eschines the Philosopher sayde well that it is not the least but the chiefest part of Philosophy to know man and wherefore he was made for if man would deepely consider what man is he should finde more things in him which would moue him for to humble himselfe then to stirre him to be proud If we doe behold it without passion and if we doe examine it with reason I know not what there is in man O miserable and fraile nature of man the which taken by it selfe is little worth and compared with an other thing is much lesse For man seeth in brute beastes many things which hee doth enuy and the beasts doe see much more in men whereon if they had reason they would haue compassion The excellencie of the soule layde aside and the hope which we haue of eternall life if man doe compare the captiuity of men to the liberty of beasts with reason we may see that the beasts doe liue a peaceable life and that which men doe lead is but a long death If we prepare our selues to consider from the time that both man and beast come into this world vntill such time as they both dye and in how many thinges the beasts are better then men with reason we may say that nature like a pittifull mother hath shewed her selfe to beasts and that she doth handle vs an vniust stepmother Let vs beginne therefore to declare more particularly the originall of the one and the beginning of the other and wee shall see how much better the brute beasts are endowed and how the miserable men are disinherited CHAP. XXXIII The Author followeth his purpose and excellently compareth the misery of men with the liberty of beasts WE ought deeply to consider that no wilde nor tame beast is so long before hee come to his shape as the miserable man is who with corruption of bloud and vile matter is nine moneths hid in the wombe of his mother Wee see the beast when shee is great if neede require doth labour all exercises of husbandrie so that shee is as ready to labour when she is great as if shee were empty The contrary hapneth to women which when they are big with child are weary with going trobled to be laid they ride in Chariots through the market places they eate little they brooke not that they haue eaten they hate that which is profitable and loue that which doth them harme Finally a woman with childe is contented with nothing and shee fretteth and vexeth with her selfe Sithence therefore it is truâ—â—hat we are noysome and troubleâ—â—â—e to our mothers when 〈◊〉 beare vs in theyr wombes why doe we not giue them some safe conduct when they are in deliuering O miserable state of maÌ„ since the brute beasts are borne without destroying their mothers but the miserable men before they are born are troublesome and carefull and in the time of their birth are both perillous to themselues and dangerous to their mothers which seemeth to be very manifest for the preparation that man maketh when he wil die the selfe same ought the woman to doe when shee is ready to bee deliuered Wee must also consider that though birdes haue but two feete they can goe moue and runne immediately when it commeth foorth but when man is borne hee cannot goe nor moue and much lesse runne So that a Popingey ought more to bee esteemed which hath no hands then the man which hath both hands and feet That which they do to the little babe is not but a prognostication of that which he ought to suffer in the progresse of his life that is to say That as they are not contented for to put the euill doer in prison but they lode his hands with yrons and set his feete in the stockes so in like manner to the miserable man when hee entreth into the Chaâ—ter of his life immediately they binde both his hands and his feete and lay him in the Cradell So that the innocent babe is first bound and rolled before hee bee embraced or haue sucke of the mother We must note also that the houre wherein the beast is brought foorth though it know not the Sier which begate it at the least it knoweth the damme which brought it forth which is apparant for so much as if the mother haue milke the youngling forthwith doth seeke her teates and if perchaunce the haue no milke they goe afterwards to 〈◊〉 themselues vnder her wings Of the miserable man it is not so but the day that hee is borne he knoweth not the Nurse that giueth him sucke neyther the Father which hath begotten him the mother which hath borne him nor yet the Mid-wife which hath receyued him moreouer hee cannot see with his eies heare with his eares nor iudge with the taste and knoweth neyther what it is to touch or smell so that wee see him to whome the Seigniory ouer all brute beasts and other things that are created partayneth to bee borne the most vnable of all other creatures We must consider also that thogh the beast be neuer so little yet it can seeke for the teates of his mother to sucke or to wander in the fieldes to feede or to scrape the dunghilles to eate or else it goeth to the fountains and riuers to drinke and that he learneth not by the discourse of time or that any other beast hath taught it but as soone as it is borne so soone doth it know what thing is necessarie for
How Cresus King of Lidia was a great friend and louer of Wise men Of a letter which the same Cresus wrote to the Philosopher Anacharsis and an other letter of the Philosophers answer to him chap. 45 162 Of the wisdome and sentences of Phalaris the tyrant And how hee put an artezan to death for deuising new torments chap. 46 166 The letter of Phalaris the tirant which was sent to Popharco the Philosopher 169 Of seuerall great and powerfull Kinges who were all of them true friends and louers of the Sages chap. 47. 170 The letter of King Philip to Aristotle the Philosopher 172 The second Booke Of what excellency marriage is and whereas common people marry of free-will Princes and noble men ought to marry vpon necessity and vrgencie chap. 1 177 How the Author prosecuting his purpose of marriage declareth that by means thereof many mortall enemies haue been made good and perfect friends c. 2. f. 180 Of diuers and sundry lawes which the Ancients had in contracting matrimony not onely in the choyce of women but also in the manner of celebrating marriage chap. 3 183 How princesses and great Ladies ought to loue their husbands and that loue ought not to be procured by coniurations and enchantments but by wisedom honesty and vertue desired ch 4. 187 Of the reuenge which a woman of Greece tooke on him that had killed her husband as hoping to enioy her in marriage chap. 5. 189 That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be obedient to their husbands and how great shame it is to the husband that his wife should command him ch 6. 194 That women especially princesses great Ladies should be very circumspect in going abroad out of their houses and that they should not deserue to be ill spoken of by such as resort to their houses chap. 4 198 Of the commodities and discommodities which follow princes and great Ladies that go abroad to visite or abide in their houses chap. 8 200 That women great with child especially princesses and great Ladies ought to be circumspect for the danger of creatures wherin is shown many misfortunes happening to women with child in olde time chap. 9 202 Of other inconueniences and vnluckie mischances which haue happened to women with child chap. 10 207 That women great with child especially princesses and great Ladies ought to be gently vsed of their husbands c. 11. 209 What the philosopher Pisto was and of the rules hee gaue concerning women with child chap. 12 212 Of three counsels which Lucius Seneca gaue vnto a Secretary his friend who serued the Emperour Nero And how the Emp. M. Aurelius spent the houres of the day chap. 13 214 The importunity of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour concerning the keye of his closet chap. 14 219 The answere of the Emperour to Faustine concerning her demaund for the key of his study chap. 15 223 Of great dangers ensuing to men by excessiue haunting the company of women And of certaine rules for married men which if they obserue may cause them to liue in peace with their wiues chap. 16 228 A more particular answer of the Emperour to Faustine concerning the key of his study chap. 17 235 That Princesses and noble women ought not to be ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breasts chap. 18 239 A further continued perswasion of the Author that women should giue their owne children sucke chap. 19 242 That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be very circumspect in choice of theyr Nurses and of seuen especiall properties which a good Nurse should haue cha 20 249 Of three other especiall conditions which a good Nurse ought to haue that giueth sucke chap. 21 254 Of the disputations before Alexander the Great concerning the time of the sucking of babes chap. 22 259 Of sundry kinds of Sorceries charmes and witchcrafts which they in old time vsed in giuing their children suck which in Christians ought to be auoided ch 23. fol. 260 Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Dedalus inueighing against such women as vse to cure children by sorceries charms enchantments ch 24 264 How excellent a thing it is for gentlemē to haue an eloquent tong ch 25 270 Of a letter which the Athenians sent to the Lacedemonians chap. 26 273 That Nurses which giue sucke to the childrē of Princes ought to bee discreete and sage women chap. 27 275 That women may be no lesse wise then men though they be not it is not thorow the defect of nature but rather for want of good bringing vp chap. 28. 279 Of a letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Theoclea he being in Rhodes and she in Samcthrace both studying Philosophy chap. 29 281 A further perswasion of the Authour to Princesses and other great Ladies to endeauour themselues to be wise like as the women in elder times were c. 30. 282 Of the worthines of the Lady Cornelia and of a notable Epistle which she wrote to her two sons seruing in the warres Tiberius and Caius disswading them from the pleasurs of Rome exhorting them to endure the trauels of war chap. 31. 288 The Letter of Cornelia to her two sons Tiberius and Caius 289 Of the education and doctrine of children while they are young with a declaratiō of many notable histories c. 32. 294 Princes ought to take heede that their children bee not brought vp in pleasures and vaine delights because oftentimes they are so wicked that the fathers would not onely haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buried chap. 33 302 How Princes and great Lords ought to be careful in seeking wise men to bring vp their children Of ten conditions which good Schoolmasters ought to haue chap. 34. 309 Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the best wherof dyed And of the masters he prouided for the other chap. 35. 317 Of the words which Marcus Aurelius spake to 5. of the 14. masters which hee had chosen for the education of his son And how he dismissed them from his pallace because they behaued thēselus lightly at the feast of their god Genius c. 36. 322 That Princes and noble men ought to ouersee the tutors of their children least they should conceale the secrete faultes of their scholler chap. 37. 326 Of the determination of the Emperour when he committed his childe to the tutors chap. 38 331 Tutors of Princes and noble mens children ought to bee very circumspect that their schollers do not accustom themselus in vices while they be yong but especially to be kept frō 4. vices chap. 39 343 Of two other vices perillous in youth which their masters ought to keepe them from chap. 40 348 The third Booke How Princes and great Lords ought to trauell in administring iustice to all men equally chap. 1 353 The way that Princes ought to vse for choyse of Iudges and Officers in theyr Countreyes chap. 2 fol 357 A villaine argueth in an Oration
God neyther themselues nor their Realms can prosper For the Felicitie or miserie of Realms proceedeth not of the paines and trauells that the Kings and people doe take but of the merits which the Kings Realms deserue In great perill liueth that Realm whose Prince is an euill Christian Happie sure is that cōmonwealth wherof the Prince hath a good conscience For the man that is of a good conscience will not do any euil thing to the cōmonwelth CHAP. XI Of sundry Gods which the ancients worshipped Of the office of those Gods how they were reuenged of them when they displeased them and of the twentie elect Gods THough to men of cleare iudgement the works of God are great of themselues without any comparison to others yet that the white may be better knowne from the blacke I will satisfie somwhat the curious reader in reckoning vp a flocke of false Gods that by them and theyr power men shall see how much the Princes are bound to the true God The ancient Painyms had gods of diuers sortes howbeit the chiefe of all were these which they called Diis electi They would haue said gods of heauen which gods as they thought sometime descended from Heauen to earth These gods were xx in number as Ianus Saturnus Iupiter Genius Mercurius Apollo Mars Vulcanus Neptunus Sol Orcus Vibar Tellus Ceres Iuno Minerna Luna Diana Venus Vesta These viii last rehearsed were goddesses and xii of the first were gods No man might take any of those as his owne god but as common and indifferēt to al. Their office was to profit all I mean al of any one Realm one Prouince singular or one noble citie And first note they had one god whō they called Candus whom they honoured much and offred vnto him manie sacrifices to the ende that God might giue them wise children And this if they had demanded of the True GOD they should haue had reason For the impostumation of humane malice is swelled in such wise that that man is in great jeopardie whome God hath not indued with wise iudgement They had also an other Goddesse whom they named Lucina to whom they did commend women quicke and great with Childe to sende them safe deliuery And without the walles of Rome in a streete called Salaria she had a great Church wherein all the Romane women conceiued with childe did sacrifice to their goddesse Lucina and as Fronten declareth De veneratione Deorum there they remayned nine dayes and nine nightes making their vowe Numa Pompilius built the church of this Goddesse which was plucked downe by the Consull Rutilius because a Daughter of his great with childe made her vow kept her nine vigilles and vpon more deuotion was desirous to bee deliuered in the saide Temple Such was her mishap that her deliueric was not onely euill but her death worse Whervpon Rutilius in his rage caused the tēple secretly to be burned For we read many times that whē the Gentiles saw they were distressed and in great necessity they recommended themselues to their Gods and if they did not then succour them in their necessitie immediately they tooke from them their sacrifice beate downe their temples or chaunged their Gods And further the Gentiles had another God called Opis which was called the God of the Babe-newborne euen as Lucina was Goddesse of the Mother which bare it The custome was that during all the nine monethes that the Woman was quicke with childe shee carryed the image of the God Opis hanging vpon her belly tyed to her gyrdle or sowed to her Garments and at the houre of her deliuerie the Mid-wife tooke in her handes the layde Image and euen in the very byrth before herselfe layde handes vpon it shee first of all touched the Childe with the Idoll If the childe were well borne the parents that day made great Oblations to the Idoll but if it were euill or dead borne straight-wayes the Parents of the Childe did beate the Image of the poore God Opis to powder or else burned it or drowned it in the riuer Also the Gentiles worshipped an other God called Vaginatus and vnto him they did great Sacrifice because theyr Children should not weepe much and therefore they carryed the image of this god Vaginatus hanged about their neckes for the Gentiles thought it an euil signe and token when the Babe wept much in his infancie he should haue very euill fortune in his Age. They had also another God called God Guninus him they honoured with Sacrifices to the ende that hee should be their Patrone for the safetie of theyr Children in their cradels And those which were poore had the God Guninus hanged vpon the cradels but the Rich had very sumptuous cradels wherein were painted manie Gods Gunini Herodian and Pulio declareth in the life of Seuerus how that when the Emperour Seuerus was in the warre against the Gaules his wife whose name was Iulia was deliuered of a Daughter which was his first And it happened that a Sister of this Iulia named Mesa natiue of Persia and of the Cittie of Mesa sent vnto her Sister at Rome a Cradell all of an Vnicorns horne and fine gold and about the same was paynted many images of the God Cuninus The cradle was of so great value that many yeares after it was kept in the treasurie of Rome Though indeed the Romanes kept those things more for the desire of memorie then for the loue of riches The Romaines had likewise an other god whome they called god Ruminus which was as much to say as god of sucking-babes and to him the Matrones of Rome offred diuers sacrifices to the end he would keepe their breasts frō corruption and giue them milke enough for their little children And all the while they gaue the child sucke they had the image of this God about their necks hanging downe to their breasts And euery morning before she gaue the child sucke the mother sent a dishful of milk to offer the god Ruminus and if she happened to bee in such place where there was no Church dedicated to the god Ruminus then she bathed her god Ruminus which she daily carryed with her in milke They had also another God whom they called god Stellinus and him they impropered to their Children when they began to goe To this god the matrones offred many gifts that their children might not be lame dwarfes nor impotent or decrepite but that they might be able to goe well For among the Romanes those that were criples or dwarfs were had in such cōtempt that they could neyther beare office in the Senate nor be admitted Priests in the Temples Hercules in his third Booke De repub saith that Cornelia that worthy woman and Mother of the Gracchi had her two first sonnes the one Lame and the other a Dwarfe Wherevpon supposing the God Stellinus had beene wrath with her shee built him a temple in the twelfth region neere to the fieldes Gaditanus
noble courages Of Antisthenes the Philosopher ANtisthenes the Philosopher put al his felicity in renowne after his death For sayeth hee there is no losse but of life that flitteth without fame For the Wise man needeth not feare to die so he leaue a memory of his vertuous life behinde him Of Sophocles the Philosopher SOphocles had al his ioy in hauing children which should possesse the inheritance of their Father saying that the graft of him that hath no children surmounteth aboue all other sorrowes for the greatest felicity in this life is to haue honour riches and afterwardes to leaue children which shall inherite them Of Euripides the Philosopher Euripides the Philosopher had all his ioy in keeping a fayre woman saying his tongue with wordes could not expresse the griefe which the hart endureth that is accombred with a foule woman therefore of of truth hee which hapneth of a good vertuous woman ought of right in his life to desire no more pleasure Of Palemon the Philosopher PAlemon put the felicity of men in eloquenee saying and swearing that the man that cannot reason of all things is not so like a reasonable man as he is a brute beast for according to the opinions of many there is no greater felicity in this wretched world then to be a man of a pleasant tongue and of an honest life Of Themistocles the Philosopher THemistocles put all his felicity in discending from a Noble lynage saying that the man which is come of a meane stocke is not bound to make of a renowmed fame for truly the vertues and prowesses of them that are past are not but an example to moue them to take great enterprises which are present Of Aristides the Philosopher ARistides the Philosopher put all his felicity in keeping temporal goods saying that the man which hath not wherwith to eate nor to sustaine his life it were better coūsell for him of his free will to goe into the graue then to do any other thing For he onely shall bee called happy in this world who hath no neede to enter into an other mans house Of Heraclitus the Philosopher HEraclitus put al his felicity in heaping vp treasure saying that the prodigall man the more begetteth the more he spendeth but he hath the respect of a wise man who can keep a secret treasure for the necessitie to come Thou hast now sufficiently vnderstood my friend Pulio that 7. moneths since I haue been taken with the feuer quartaine and I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that at this present instant writing vnto thee my hand shaketh which is an euident token that the colde doth take mee wherefore I am constrained to conclude this matter which thou demaundest mee although not according to my desire For amongst true friendes though the workes doe cease wherewith they serue yet therefore the inward parts ought not to quaile wherwith they loue If thou doest aske mee my friend Pulio what I thinke of all that is aboue spoken and to which of those I doe sticke I answere thee That in this World I doe not graunt any to bee happy and if there be any the gods haue them with them because on the one side chosing the plaine and drye way without clay and on the other side all stony and myerie wee may rather call this life the precipitation of the euill then the safegard of the good I will speake but one word onely but marke well what thereby I meane which is that amongst the mishaps of fortune wee dare say that there is no felicitie in the World And hee onely is happy from whom wisdome hath plucked enuious aduersity and that afterwards is brought by wisedome to the highest felicitie And though I would I cannot endure any longer but that the immortall Gods haue thee in their custody and that they preserue vs from euill fortune Sith thou art retired now vnto Bethinie I know well thou wouldest I should write thee some newes from Rome and at this present there are none but that the Carpentines and Lusitaines are in great strife dissention in Spaine I receiued letters how that the barbarous were quiet though the Host that was in Ilium were in good case yet notwithstanding the Army is somwhat fearefull and timorous For in all the coast and borders there hath beene a great plague Pardon me my friend Pulio for that I am so sickly that yet I am not come to my selfe for the feuer quartane is so cruel a disease that he which hath it contenteth himselfe with nothing neyther taketh pleasure in any thing I send thee two of the best horses that can be found in al Spaine and also I send thee two cups of gold of the richest that can bee found in Alexandria And by the law of a good man I sweare vnto thee that I desire to send thee two or three howers of those which trouble mee in my feuer quartane My wife Faustine saluteth thee and of her part and mine also to Cassia thy olde mother and noble Widdow we haue commended Marcus the Romane Emperour with his own hand writeth this and againe commendeth him vnto his deere friend Pulio CHAP. XLI That Princes and great Lords ought not to esteeme themselues for being fayre and well proportioned IN the time that Ioshua triumphed amongst the Hebrewes and that Dardanus passed from great Greece to Samotratia and when the sons of Egenor were seeking their sister Europe and in the time that Siculus raigned in Scicil in great Asia in the realme of Egypt was builded a great City called Thebes the which K. Busiris built of whom Diodorus Siculus at large mentioneth Plinie in the 36. Chapter of his naturall history and Homer in the second of his Iliades Statius in al the booke of his Thebiade doe declare great maruels of this City of Thebes which thing ought greatly to bee esteemed for a man ought not to thinke that fayned which so excellent authours haue written For a truth they say that Thebes was in circuit forty miles and that the walles were thirty stades hie and in bredth sixe They say also that the City had a hundred gates very sumptuous and strong and in euery gate two hundred Horsemen watched Through the midst of Thebes passed a great riuer the which by milles and fish did greately profite the City When Thebes was in his prosperity they say that there was two hundred thousand fires and besides all this all the Kings of Egypt were buried in that place As Strabo sayeth De situ orbis when Thebes was destroyed with enemies they found therein seuenty seuen Tombes of Kings which had bin buried there And here is to bee noted that all those tombes were of vertuous kings for among the Aegyptians it was a law inuiolable that the King which had beene wicked in his life should not bee buried after his death Before the noble and worthy Numantia
shee displeased him For they sayde that it was vnpossible for Men and Women to liue long together without much trouble contentions and brawles Dyodorus Siculus sayde one thing where hee speaketh of this matter which as yet I neuer read in any book nor heard of the ancients past which was that amongst the Egiptians there was no difference in Children For they accounted them as legitimate though they were children of slaues For they said that the principall doer of the generation was the Father and not the mother and that therfore the Children which were borne among them tooke only the flesh of the mother but they did inherite their honour and dignitie of the part of the Father Iulius Caesar in his Commentaries saith that in Great Brittaine now called England the Brittons had an vse that one Woman was marryed vnto fiue men the which beastlinesse is not read to haue beene in any Nation of times past For if it bee slaunder for one man to haue diuers Wiues why should it not also bee a slaunderous and shamefull thing for one woman to haue many Husbands The noble and vertuous Women ought to bee marryed for two causes The first is to the end God should giue them children and benediction to whom they may leaue their goods and their memorie The second to the end they should liue euery one in their owne house accompanyed and honoured with their husbands For otherwise I say for a truth that the woman that is not contented and satisfied with her own proper husband will not bee contented nor satisfied with all men in the world Plutarch in his Apothegmes saith that the Cymbres did vse to marrie with their proper and natural daughters the which custome was taken from them by the Consull Marius after that hee did ouercome them in Germanie and that of them he had triumphed at Rome For the Childe which was borne of such Marriage was Sonne of the Daughter of one sole Father and was Sonne and Brother of one onely Mother and they were also Cousins Nephews Brothers of one only Father and mother Truely such custome proceedeth rather of wilde beasts then of reasonable creatures For manie or the more part of brute Beasts after the females haue brought forth males within one yeare after they doo accompany with their dammes which brought them forth Strabo in the situation of the world and Seneca in an Epistle say That the Lydes and the Armenians hadde a custome to send their Daughters to the Riuers and Hauens of the Sea to get their Marriages selling their bodyes to straungers so that those which would Marrie were first forced to sell heyr virginitie The Romaines which in all their affaires and businesses were more Sage and modest then other Nations vsed much circumspection in all their mariages For they kept it as an ancient lawe and vse accustomed that euery Romaine should marrie with one woman and no moe For euen as to keepe two wiues among the Christians is a great charge of conscience so was it deemed amongst the Romaines much infamie Amongst the auncient and renowmed Orators of Rome one was called Metellus Numidicus the which one day making his Oration to the Senate sayd these words Worthie Senatours I let you vnderstand that I haue greatly fludyed what the counsels shuld be that I ought to giue yee touching marriage For the counsel rashand sudden oftentimes is not profitable I doe not perswade you at all to marrie neyther yet doe say that yee shall not marrie but it is true that if ye can liue without a woman yee shall bee free from manie troubles But what shall wee doe O yea Romains since that Nature hath made vs such that to keepe women it is a great trouble and to liue without them it is more danger I dare say if in this case my opinion might bee accepted that it should not bee euill done to resist the lust since it commeth by fits and not to take Wiues which are continuall troubles These were the wordes which Metellus Numidicus spake the which were not very acceptable nor pleasant to the Fathers beeing in the Senate for they would not that hee should haue spoken such wordes against Mariage For there is no estate in this life wherein Fortune sheweth her force more then in this state of Matrimonie A man may proue them in this sort that if the fashions and vsages of the ancients were diuers as concerning ordinance truely there was no lesse contrarietie in theyr contracts and ceremonies Boccace the Florentine in a Booke that he made of the Marriages of the auncients reciteth manie and sundrie customs that they vsed in making the Marriages whereof hee telleth some not for to follow or maintaine them but to reproue and condemne them For the writers did neuer write the vices of some but onely to make the vertues of others more cleerely to be knowne The Cymbres had a custome that when they would Marrie after the marriage was agreed vpon hee that was made sure should pare his nayles and send them to his wife that should bee and she in like sort sent hers vnto him And then when she of him and hee of her had receyued the nayles the one of the other they betooke themselues Marryed for euer and did afterwardes liue together as man and wife The Theutonians had a ceremony that the man that was sure rounded the hayre of her to whome hee was made sure and shee did the like vnto him and when the one suffered the other to doe so immediately they celebrated Marriage The Armenians had a law that the Bridegroom shuld pinch the right eare of the Bride and the Bride should likewise pinche the left eare of the Bride-groome and then they tooke themselues marryed for euer The Elamites had a custome that both parties which were made sure pricked one the others little finger vntill they bledde the which bloud they did sucke naturally this done they were marryed The Numidians vsed that the Bryde-groome and the Bryde should gather together a piece of Earth and with theyr spittle they tempered it and therewith the one annointed the forehead of the other so that the Marriage betweene them was to annoynt the one and the other with a little clay When those of Dace would be marryed the Bride-groome and the Bryde each one of themselues were brought in Charryots the one meeting the other and when they came together the Bryde-groome gaue a newe name to the Bride and shee likewise to him and from that time forwardes they liued as in lawfull Matrimonie When they of Hungarie would marrie the one sent vnto the other a familiar god made of siluer whom they called Lares and when they had receyued the God of each other the marriage was finished and they liued as man and wife The Siconians had a custome and lawe that when they should marrie the one sent to the other a shooe and that receyued of both they agreed
procure to be hated of God Truely to loue to serue and content God it is not hurtful to the woman for that she should bee the better beloued of her husband but yet God hath suffered and doth permit oftimes that the women being feeble deformed poore and negligent should bee better beloued of their husbands then the diligent fayre and rich And this is not for the seruices they doe to their husbands but for the good intention they haue to serue and loue GOD which sheweth them this speciall fauour for otherwise God doth not suffer that he being with her displeased she should liue with her husband contented If womē would take this counsel that I giue them in this case I will teach them furthermore a notable enchauntment to obtayne the loue of their husbands which is that they bee quiet meeke patient solitary and honest with which fine herbes they may make a confection the which neither seene nor tasted of their husbands shall not onely cause them to be beloued but also honoured For women ought to know that for their beautie they are desired but for their vertue only they are beloued CHAP. VI. That Princesses and great Ladyes ought to be obedient to their Husbands and that it is a great shame to the Husband that his wife should command him MAny ancient Historiographers trauailed greatly consumed long time in writng to declare what authoritie the man ought to haue ouer the woman and what seruitude the woman oweth to the man and some for to aduance the dignitie of the man and others to excuse the frailtie of the woman alleadged such vaine things that it had beene more honour for them not to haue written at all then in such sort as they did for it is not possible but the Writers should erre which write not as reason teacheth but rather as their fantasie leadeth Those that defend the frailtie of the woman sayd that the woman hath a body as a man she hath a soule as a man shee hath reason as a man dyeth as a man and was as necessary for generation as man she liueth as a man and therefore they thought it not meete that shee should bee more subiect to man then man to her for it is not reason that that which nature hath made free should by any lawes of man be made bond They said furthermore that God created not the creatures but to augment the generation of mankinde and that in this case the woman was more necessarie then the man for the man engendereth without paine or trauaile but the woman is deliuered with perill and danger and with paine and trauaile nourisheth vp the childe Wherefore it seemeth great vnkindnesse and crueltie that the women which are deliuered with perill and danger of their liues and bring vp their children with labour and toyle of their bodies should bee vsed of their husbands as slaues They sayd further that men are those that curse that moue seditions that make warres that maintaine enmitie that weare weapons that shed mans bloud and commit sundry other mischiefes which the women do not but in stead of killing men shedding bloud and other notorious euils that men do they imploy themselues to encrease men And since it is so then women rather then men ought to haue dominion and command in the Common-wealth for women increase the Cōmon-wealth and men diminish it for neyther diuine nor humane law commaundeth that the foolish man should bee free and gouerne and that the wise woman should bee bond and serue Those of Achaia affirmed this opinion and groundeth themselues vpon this reason and obserued it as a custome That the husbands should obey and the wiues commaund And so they did as Plutarch sayth in the Booke of Consolation for the husband swept made cleane the house made the bed washed the buck couered the table dressed the dinner and went for water And of the contrary part his wife gouerned the goods answered the affayres kept the money and if shee were angry shee gaue him not onely foule words but also oftimes laid her hands on him to reuenge her anger And heereof came this ancient Prouerb the which of many is read and of few vnderstood that is to say Vita Achaiae The life of an Achaian When in Rome the husband suffered to be ruled and commanded of his wife the neighbours would say vnto him in manner of a reproach Vita Achaia which is as much as if a man would say Goe goe as thou art since thou liuest after the law of Achaia where men haue so little discretion that they suffer themselues to bee gouerned bee it well or euill of their Wiues and that euery woman commandeth her Husband Plinie in an Epistle that hee wrote reprooued greatly his friend Fabatus for that hee kept in his house a wife the which in all his doings ruled and commanded him wherein hee told him that hee durst doe nothing without her commaundement And to make the matter to seeme more heynous in the latter ende of his Epistle he sayd these words Me valde poenitet quod tu solus Rome polles vita Achaia which is It grieueth mee much that thou alone in Rome shouldest leade the life of one of Achaia Iulius Capitolinus saith that Anthonius Caracalla being in loue with a faire Lady of Persia and seeing that he could not enioy her nor obtayne his desire promised to marrie her according to the law of Achaia and truly shee shewed her selfe more wise in her answere then hee did in his demand telling him that shee would not nor might not marry for because shee had promised her selfe to the goddesse Vesta and that she had rather be a seruant of the gods then a Mistresse of men The Parthes had a law contrary to them and likewise those of Thrace the which so little esteemed women that their husbands vsed them none otherwise then like seruants And in this case men had so great liberty or to say better lightnesse that after a woman had borne and brought foorth twelue children the children remained in the house and the husbands sold their wiues to them that would giue most or else they changed them for others that were more young And the children agreed to the selling of their owne mother to the intent that their father might refresh himselfe with another that was more young and the olde and barren woman should eyther be buried quicke or else serue as a slaue Dionisius Halicarnaseus saith that the Lides had a law and the Numiaians in like manner that the woman should command things without the house and the man should prouide for those that were within but according to my poore iudgement I cannot tell how this law was kept nor how they could fulfill it for by reason the wife should not goe out of the house but very little and therefore me thinks that they ought not to command any thing abroad nor the husband should enter
great Ladies which of their patrimonie and heritage possesse manie Townes and Citties for to such I wil not take away the seruices which are due vnto them by their Subiects but I doe perswade them to the obedience which they ought to beare to theyr Husbandes It is not maruell though that women of meane estate haue sometimes quarrelled with their Husbands For they haue small Riches to loose and lesse honour to aduenture then the Princesses and great Dames haue the which since they do aduenture to commaund manie why wil not they humble themselues to obey one speaking with due reuerēce It is for aboundance of follie and want of wisedome that a Woman should haue presumption to gouerne a whole Realm and that she hath not grace to obey one Husband Seneca in a Tragedie saieth thus that in the time of the warre of Mithridates it chanced in Rome that the Consulls sent to the olde Knightes and commanded that they should all be in a readinesse to go with Silla the Consull into the warres And it happened that when they came into ones house in Rome to publish the Edict to warne him to bee ready they found not the husband but the wife who made answere and sayd That her husband ought not nor could not goe to the warres and though hee would hee should not neither would see giue him licence for hee was an old and ancient Knight and therefore hee ought to be exempted from the warres With this answer those that heard it were greatly abashed and the whole Senate no lesse offended wherefore they commaunded that the husband should bee banished Rome and the wife to bee carryed to the Prison Mamortine not for that he excused himselfe for going to the warres but because she commanded her husband and because he suffered himselfe to be commanded of her The Senate did this to that end that from that time forwards no woman should presume or contend with her husband and that no husband should giue his wife any occasion to be bold with him CHAP. VII That Women and especially Princesses and great Ladyes should be very circumspect in going abroad out of their houses and that through the resort of them that commeth to their houses they bee not euill spokenof AMong all the counsels that may or ought to be giuen to Princesses and great Ladies this is the first that they do what they can to haue rest in their houses and that they goe not as strayes to the mansions of other men for if such Ladyes are good they get much reputation and if perchance they bee euill they take from men all occasion Whether the husband be present or absent it is a most necessary and honest thing that the wife be for the most part in the house for by this meanes the household shal be well gouerned and from the heart of the husband shall bee withdrawne all kinde of suspitions Sithens the office of the husband is to gather goods and riches and the office of a wife to keepe and preserue them the houre that she goeth out of the house she ought to thinke that her Maydens will stray abroad the Children will runne out to play the Varlats and Seruants will bee out of order the Neighbours wil take occasions to speake euill and that which is worste of all some will steale the goods out of the house and the others will speake euill of the reeowne of the wife Oh God giueth a goodly gift and grace to that man which hath such so good a wife that of her own nature loueth to keepe her selfe within the house And truely I say that such a one doeth excuse many griefes and saueth much mony for she spendeth not the goods in Apparel nor giueth occasion to men to iudge euill of her person The greatest debate that is betweene man and wife is for that hee desireth to get and keepe his goods to bring vp his children and to maintayne his familie and on the other part that she desireth to spend all vpon apparrell for women in this case are so curious in louing of themselues that they would abstaine from meates that should maintaine their life onely to buy a new Gowne to set out their pride Women naturally do loue to keepe and will not spend any thing except it be in apparrell for euery houre that is in the day and the night they desire to haue a new Gowne to change My intention is not to speake of Apparrell only but to perswade Princesses and great Ladyes that they would keepe themselues in their houses and in so doing they should excuse these superfluous wastes and expences for her neighbour seeing her better apparrelled then shee is looketh vpon her husband as she were a Lyon It chanceth oftentimes I would to God I had no cause to speake it that if by chaunce there commeth any great or solemne Feast or Marriage shee will neuer looke louingly on his face before he hath giuen her a newe gowne to her backe and when the poore Gentleman hath no money to pay of necessitie hee must runne in credite And when the vanity of the woman is past then the time of payment draweth neere and they come to arrest all his goods so that they haue cause to lament one whole yeare for that which they haue spent in one houre VVomen seldome contend for that one is fairer more nobler of linage better married or more vertuous then another but only that another goeth better apparelled then shee For touching apparell there is no woman can endure that another meaner woman should make comparison with her nor that in like manner her equall should excell her Lycurgus in the lawes that he gaue to the Lacedemonians commaunded that their Wiues should not goe out of their houses but at diuers solemne Feasts in the yeare For he saide that the women ought to be making their prayers in the Temples to the Gods or else in their houses bringing vppe their children For it is not honest nor cōmendable that the wife should passe her time abroade trotting from street to streete as common women I say that the Princesses and great Ladyes are much more bound to keepe themselues at home in their Houses then other women of meaner degree and without a cause I speak it not for thereby they shall get them more reputation For there is no vertue whereby the woman winneth more reputation in the Common-wealth then alwaies to be seen resident in her house I say also that a Wife ought the most part of her time to keepe her house because she hath lesse occasion then others haue to goe abrode For if the poore wife the Plebian goe out of her house shee goeth for no other cause but for to seeke meat but if the rich and Noble-woman goeth out of her house it is for nothing but to take her pleasure Let not Princesses maruell nor let not great Ladyes wonder if they dispose their feete to trotte and occupie
one and the Husband ingage his heart to another Plutarche in the booke of his pollitikes saith That a woman after shee is marryed hath nothing proper For the day that shee contracteth Marriage shee maketh her Husband the only Lord of her goods her libertie and of her person So that if the wife willeth any other thing then that which her Husband willeth if shee would loue any other thing then that her Husband loueth we will not call her a true-louer but an open theefe for thieues doe not so much harme to robbe the husband of his mony as the wife doth in withdrawing from him her heart If the woman will liue in peace with her Husband shee ought to obserue whervnto he is inclined for so much as if hee be merrie shee ought to reioyce and if he be sad shee must temper herselfe if he be couetous shee should keepe if hee be Prodigall she should spend if he be vnpatient she should dissemble For the Woman which is wise and sage if shee cannot as she would she ought to wil what shee may VVell whether the Husband bes euill inclined or in his conditions well mannered I sweare he cannot suffer that his wife should haue any other louers For though the man be of a meane stocke he had rather alwayes that his VVife should loue him alone then the best of the nobilitie in the towne One thing I cannot dissemble because I see that God is therwith offended Which is that maine Ladyes make their excuses throgh sicknes because they wold not passe once in the weeke come to heare Seruice and yet wee see them busie daylie trotting about to visite their Friendes and the worst of all is that in the morning for colde they will not rise to go the Churches and yet afterwardes in the heate of the day they goe a gadding from house to house whereas they are oftentimes vntill night I would that the Ladies would but consider with themselues before they goe out of their houses on visitation to what end they goe abroad And if perchaunce they goe abroade to be looked on let them know for a suretie that there be fewe that will praise their beautie but there be manie that will discommend their gadding And wherefore doe these Dames assemble together for some graue matter I warrant you Shall I tell ye It is eyther to banquette with some daintie dishes to talke of theyr Petigrees to deuise of their Husbands to see who hath the best Gowne to note who is euill attired to flatter the faire to laugh to scorne the Foule to murmure at their Neighbours and that which is the worste of all that euen they themselues which speake euill of them that are absent doe gnawe the one the other with enuie Seldom times it chaunceth that the Dames chide not with theyr Husbands after that in this sort they haue bene togither for so much as the one noteth the euill Apparell the other babbling they note the one to bee a Foole and the other to be simple so that it seemeth not that they are meete to visite the one the other but to look and accuse the one the other It is a strange thing for the sage woman to thinke that sheee should take pleasure abroade since shee hath her Husband at home to whom she may talke and hath her children to learne her Daughters to teach her Familie to order and her goods to gouerne shee hath her house to keepe and her Parents whome shee ought to please then since shee hath within her house such pastime why do they accept the companie of straunge men That Marryed women should haue priuate friends and loue to be visited it followeth oftentimes that GOD is offended the Husband iniuried and the people slaundered and the woman that is married taketh little profite and it hindereth the marriage of her that is to marrie For in such a case although some desire her for her Riches yet moe will forsake her for her euill fame CHAP. IX That Women great with childe specially the Princesses and great Ladyes ought to be very circumspect for the danger of the creatures wherein is shewed many misfortunes happened to Women with childe in the olde time for suffering them to haue their wills ONe of the most necessary things for him that taketh in hand anie great iourney ouer any dangerous Count eyes is that at the beginning he ought to learne the way which he vndertaketh to goe For it is a thing no lesse troublesome then perillous that when hee should come to rest of necessitie hee should be enforced to trauell None can denie but that mans life is a long and tedious iourney the which beginneth at our birth and endeth at our death For in the end to haue a long or short life is none other but to come sooner or later to the graue The chiefest folly of all in mine opinion is this that some in their owne conceits thinke they haue counsell enough for others and to all others it seemeth that they want for themselues For of right he may be called a foole that condemneth all others for Fooles and aduaunceth himselfe to be wise Euery man ought to let his neighbour liue in peace and though he doe esteeme himselfe to be wise yet hee ought not to thinke his neighbour a Foole for there is none so wise but that he may occupie it all For we neuer yet saw any man so wise of himselfe but that hee needed the counsel of an other And if this want be in those that be very olde truely it is much more in them that be young whose flesh is not drie but greene the bloud not colde but hote no deadly heate but very liuely the beastial motions not mortified but quickened and heereof ensueth that young men loue their owne rash aduise and opinions and despise the graue counsells of others When the Trees are tender they binde them together because they may grow right they bridle the horse when as yet they are but coltes to the end they may be easie hereafter to the bridle They take the Hawkes in the nest to make them more familiar and when the beasts are litle they take thē to teache them I meane that a man ought to instruct his children to the ende they may grow to liue well hereafter I admonish and tell the Mothers that haue Daughters that there is no remedie to reforme the euill inclinatiō of their childrē but to teach them and to bring them vp well in their youth For there is no wound but is dangerous if in time the plaster be not layde therevnto Returning now to our purpose since that in all thinges there is order and measure We will declare presently how the Male Childe ought to bee taught and first of all we will treate how a man ought to prouide whē the infant is begotten and when as yet it is aliue in the Mothers wombe To the intent Princesses and great Ladyes should
liue very circumspectly when they know they are conceyued with childe I should bee excused to speake of this matter since it is not my profession and that as yet I was neuer marryed but by that I haue read of some and by that I haue heard of others I will and dare be so bolde to say one word For the Sage oft times giueth better account of that he hath read then the simple doth of that hee hath proued This thing seemeth to bee true betweene the Physitian and the Patient For where the patient suffereth the euill hee oft times demaundeth the physitian what his sicknes is and where it holdeth him and what it is called and what remedie there is for his disease So the Physitian knoweth more by his science then the patient doth by his experience A man ought not to denie that the women and in especially great Ladies know not by experiēce how they are altered when they are quicke and the great paines they suffer when they are deliuered wee could not denie but that there is great danger in the one and great perill in the other but they shall neuer know frō whence all commeth and frō whence all proceedeth and what remedie is necessarie For there are manie which complaine of robberyes but yet they knowe not what the thieues are that haue robbed them First according to my iudgement opinion that which the woman quicke with childe ought to doe is that they go softly and quietly and that they eschue running eyther in comming or going for though she little esteem the health of her person yet shee ought greatly to regarde the life of the creature The more precious the liquor is and the more weaker the vessell is which containeth it so much the more they ought to feare the danger lest the liquor shead and the vessell breake I meane that the complexion of Women beeing with Childe is very delicate and that the soule of the creature is more pretious and therefore it ought with great diligence to be preserued For all the treasure of the Indies is not equall in value to that which the woman beareth in her bowells When a man planteth a vineyard forthwith he maketh a ditche or some Fence for it to the ende that Beastes should not crop it whiles it is young nor that Trauellers should gather the Grapes when they are ripe And if the Labourer doeth this thing for to get a little wine onely the which for the soule and bodie is not always profitable How much more circūspection ought the woman to haue to preserue her childe since she shall render an accosit to the Creator of her creature vnto the Church of a christian and vnto her Husband of a childe In mine opinion where the account at the houre of death is so streight it is requisite for her that in the time of her life she be very circumspect For GOD knoweth euery thing so well in our life that there is none that can beguile him in rendring his account at his death There is no wight can suffer nor hart dissemble to see a man haue his desire that is to say to haue his Wife great with chllde and ready to bring forth good fruite and afterwards to see the wofull Mother by or throgh some sudden accident perish the innocent babe not to be borne When the VVoman is healthfull and big with childe she is worthie of great reproach if eyther by running leaping or dauncing any mischaunce hap vnto her And truly the Husband hath great cause to lament this case For without doubt the Gardener feeleth great griefe in his heart when in the Prime-time the tree is loden with blossomes and yet by reason of some sharpe and bitter Frost it neuer beareth fruite It is not onely euill that women should runne and leape when they are bigge and great with childe but it is also dishonest specially for great Ladyes For alwayes women that are common dauncers are esteemed as light houswiues The Wiues in generall Princesses and great Ladyes in particular ought to goe temperately and to be modest in theyr mouings For the modest gate argueth discreetnesse in the person All women naturally desire to be honoured and reuerenced and touching that I let them know that there is nothing which in a commonwealth is more honour for a woman then to be wise and warie in speaking moderate and quiet in going For it is vnpossible but that the woman which is light in her going and malicious in her talking should bee despised and abhorred In the yeare of the Foundation of Rome 466. the Romaines sent Curius Dentatus to make warre against King Pyrrus who kept the citie of Tharent and did much harme to the people in Rome For the Romaines had a great courage to conquer strange Realmes and therefore they could haue no patience to suffer any stranger to inuade theirs This Curius Dentatus was he which in the end ouercame King Pyrrus and was the first that brought the Elephants to Rome in his triumphe wherfore the fiercenesse of those Beasts astonished the Romane people much for they weighed little the sight of the Kings loden with yrons but to see the Elephants as they did they wondred much Curius Dentatus had one onely Sister the which he entierly loued They were seuen children two of the which died in the warres and other three by pestilence So that there were none left him but that sister wherefore hee loued her with all his heart For the death of vnthrifty children is but as a watch for children vnprouided of fauors This sister of Curius Dentatus was marryed to a Roman Consull and was conceyued and gone 7. moneths with childe and the day that her brother Triumphed for ioy of her Brothers honour she leaped and daunced so much that in the same place shee was deliuered and so vnluckely that the Mother tooke her death and the Childe neuer liued wherevpon the feast of the Triumph ceased and the Father of the infant with sorrowe lost his speech For the heart which suddenly feeleth griefe incontinently loseth vnderstanding Tibullus the Grecian in the 3. booke De casibus Triumphi declareth the hystorie in good stile how and in what sorte it chaunced Nine yeares after that the Kings of Rome were banished for the rape that Tarquine did to the chaste Lucretia the Romaines created a dignitie which they called Dictatura and the Dictator that had this office was aboue all other Lord and chiefe For the Romaines perceyued that the Commonwealth could not be gouerned but by one head alone And because the Dictatour had so great authoritie as the Emperour hath at this present and to the end they shold not become Tyrants they prouided that the office of the Dictatorship should last no longer then vi moneths in the yeare the which past and expired they chose another Truely it was a good order that that office dured but 6. moneths For oft times Princes thinking
dyed Truely this case was no lesse to be lamented then the other for so much as Gaius lost his Sister the Husband lost his Wife and his Childe and the wife and the childe lost their liues and for that that Rome lost so Noble and excellent a Romane and aboue all for that it chaunced in such a time of so great ioy and pleasure For there can come no vnluckier newes then in the time of much myrth to heare tell of any great mischance Of this matter mention is made in Blandus in the book of the declinatioÌ„ of the Empire The second warre of Affrike which was betweene Rome and Carthage was in the 540. yeares after the Foundation of Rome wherein were Captaines Paulus Emilius and Publius Varro the which two Consulls fought the great and famous bloudy Battell of Cannas in the Prouince of Apulia I say famous because Rome neuer lost such Nobilitie and Romaine youth as shee lost in that day Of these two Consulles Paulus Emilius in the Battell was slayne and Publius Varro was ouercome and the most couragious Hanniball remained conquerour of the Field wherein dyed xxx Senatours and 300. officers of the Senate and aboue xl thousand footmen and three thousand horsemen Finally the end of all the Roman people had been that day if Hannibal had had the witte to haue followed so noble a victory as he had the courage to giue so cruell a Battell A litle before that Publius Varro departed to goe to the warres hee was married to a faire and young Romaine called Sophia and within seuen moneths shee was quicke and as newes was brought her that Paulus Aemilius was dead and her husband ouercome she died suddenly the creature remaining aliue in her bodie This case aboue all was very pittifull in that that after he himselfe was vanquished and and that he had seene his companion the Consull Emilius slaine with so great a number of the Romane people Fortune would that with his own eyes he should behold the entrailes of his wife cut to take out the Childe and likeewise to see the Earth opened to burie his wife Titus Liuius saith that Publius Varro remained so sorrowfull in his heart to see himselfe ouercome of his enemyes and to see his wife so suddenly and so vnluckely stricken with death that all the time that his life endured he neyther combed his beard slept in bed nor dined at the Table and hereat we ought not to maruel for a man in his hart may be so wounded in one houre that hee shall neuer reioyce all the dayes of his life If wee put no doubts in Titus Liuius the Romaines had long and tedious warres against the Samnites which endured for the space of lxiii yeares contiually vntill such time as the Consull Ancus Rutilius who was a vertuous man did set a good appointment of peace between the Samnites and the Romanes For the noble stout harts ought alwaies by vertue to bring their enemies to peace These warres therfore being so cruell and obstinate Titus Venurius and Spurius Posthuminus which were Romaine Captains were ouercome by Pontius the valiant Captaine of the Samnites who after the victorie did a thing neuer seene nor heard of before That is to say that all the Romaine prisoners whom hee tooke hee put about theyr necks a yoke wherein was written In spight of Rome the Romaines shall be subtects to the yoke of the Samnites Wherewith indeed the Romains were greatly iniuried wherefore they sought stoutto be reueÌ„ged of the Samnites for the harts that are haughty proud caÌ„not suffer that others haue theyr mindes lofty and high The Romaines therefore created to bee Captaine of the Warre one named Lucius Papirius who had Commission to goe against the Samnites This Lucius was more Fortunate in his doings then comely of his person for he was deformed of his face notwithstanding hee did so good seruice in the warre and Fortune fauoured him so well that he did not onely ouercome and vanquish but also destroyed them and though the iniurie which the Samnites did to the Romaines was great yet truely the iniurie which the Romaines did to the Samnites was much greater For Fortune is so variable that those which yesterday we saw in most prosperitie too day wee see in greatest aduersitie This Lucius Papirius therfore did not only vanquish the Samnites kept them prisoners and made yokes for theyr neckes but also he bound them with cords together in such sort that they made them plough the ground drawing two and two a plough And yet not herewith conteÌ„ted but with gads they pricked and tormented them If the Samnites had had pitie of the Romaines beeing ouercome the Romaines likewise would haue taken compassion of them when they were Conquerours And therefore the prosperous haue as much neede of good counsell as the miserable haue neede of remedie For the man which is not merciful in his prosperitie hee ought not to maruel though he finde no friendes in his necessitie This Lucius Papirius had a Daughter maried to a Senator of Rome who was called Torquatus and she was called Ypolita And about that time that she should haue bene deliuered shee went forth to receiue her Father the which she ought not to haue don for the throng of the people in receiuing him being great and she herselfe being great with child by a most heauie chaunce as she would haue passed in at a narrow gate shee was so prest in the throng that she chaunged her life for death and her Father turned his mâ—th and ioy into sorrow and sadnes For he tooke the death of his daughter very heauilie and so much the more because it was so suddenly I say hee tooke it heauily since he was so stoute a man and so Sage withall that all Rome thought much that any such sudden chaunce should haue dismayed so worthie a man that of his wisedome he could take no benefite but heereat let no man maruell For ther are many that haue harts to shed the bloud of their enemies and yet caÌ„not withholde the teares of their eyes Annius Seuerus in the third booke De infelieitate Fortuna saith that the day that this wofull mishap chaunced to Lucius Papirius hee lift vp his eyes to the Heauens and weeping saide Oh Fortune deceiuer of all mortall men thou madest mee to conquere in warre to the intent to ouercome me in peace My mind was to declare vnto you all these ancients hystories to the end that al may know how tender women with childe are and how diligent their Husbands ought to bee to preserue them since there is nothing so tender to be kept nor any glasse so easie to be broken For there is much glasse that thogh it fall to the ground yet it doeth not breake but a woman with Childe onely for treading her foote awry we see with daunger to be deliuered CHAP. XI That Women great with childe and especially Princesses great
ladyes ought to be gently vsed of theyr Husbands IF wee vnderstand the Chapter before wee shall finde that women with childe haue bin in great dāgers some through leaping some by dauncing others by eaung others by banquetting others throgh gadding others by straight lacing and all this proceedeth throgh their own follies that seeke to bee destroyers of theyr owne bodyes Truly herein Princesses and great Ladyes are worthie of much rebuke when throgh their own follies they are not safely deliuered of their creatures And I would gladly they toke example not only of reasonable men but also of brute beasts for there is no beast so brute in the wilde mountains but escheweth that which to his life and death will be hurtfull The Beares the Lyonnesse and the Wolfes neuer issue out of their caues and dennes so long as they be bigge and this they doe to auoyde the dangers of the Hunters because at that time they would not be coursed Then seeing these things are done by the brute beastes whose younglings are alwayes hurtfull vnto men to the intent theyr rauening greedie Whealpes might safely bee brought foorth to deuoure our innocent Cattell How much more then ought the Woman to be carefull for her fruite which is the increase of christian congregation If Women brought not forth and Children were not borne though there be earth yet there should bee none to people it For GOD created all things to serue the creature and created the creatures to serue their Creator Let VVomen that are with childe take example by the Chesse-nuts and Wal-nuts how and in what sort they defend their fruite after that of theyr blossoms they are depriued for the chessenuttree defendeth his fruit with a rough and hard huske the wall-nut keepeth her fruite with a thicke shale in like maner so that the water cannot wet them nor the winde shake them Now since that the Trees which haue but a vegetatiue life and the Beasts but a Sensitiue life take such heede to themselues when they feele them ready to bring forth their fruite much more women with child ought to take heede to themselues since they haue reason and vnderstanding lest through theyr negligence the creature should perish Let euery man iudge how little he loseth when he loseth nuttes and chessenuts and for the contrarie let euery men iudge what the Church looseth when the women with child do not bring forth their fruit into the light of baptisme For our mother the holy Church bewaileth not for that the vines are frozen but for the soules that are lost To the ende that the man may see fruitfull blessing which hee desireth that the woman with child may see her selfe well deliuered the Husband ought to beware that hee enforceth her not much to labour and the woman likewise ought to be circumspect that shee take not too much idlenes For in women with child this is a generall rule that too much trauell causeth them before theyr time to deliuer and too much idlenesse putteth them in daunger The man is cruell that will haue his Wife trauell and take as much paines when shee is big as he would at another time when she is not with childe for the man which is clothed can not runne so swifte as hee that is naked Aristotle in the sixt booke de Animalibus saith When the Lyonnesse is bigge with whelp the Lyon doth not only hunt for her himselfe but also both night day he wandreth cōtinually to watch her I meane that Princesses and great Ladyes when they be with Childe should bee of theyr Husbands both tended and serued For the man cannot do the woman so great a pleasure before her lying down as she doth to him when she bringeth forth a sonne Considering the daunger that the woman abideth in her deliueraunce and beholding the paines that the Husband taketh in her seruice without comparison that is greater which she suffereth then that which hee endureth For when the woman deliuereth she doth more then her power and the Husband though hee serueth her well doeth lesse then his duetie The gentle and louing Husband ought not one moment to forsake his wife specially when hee seeth shee is great For in the law of a good Husband it is written that hee should set his eyes to beholde her his handes to serue her he shold spend his goods to cherish her and should giue his heart to content her Let not men thinke it paines to serue their wiues when they are with childe for their labour consisteth in their strength but the trauell of their wiues is in their entrails And that which is most pitiful is that when the sorrowfull women will discharge their burden on the earth they often times bring thēselues vnto the graue The meane women of the Plebians ought no lesse to be reproued for that when they are with child they would be exempted from all businesse of the house the which neyther they themselues ought to desire nor yet their husbands to suffer for idlenesse is not onely an occasion not to deserue heauen but also it is a cause whereby women oft times haue ill successe in their trauaile for considering both the daintie Lady with childe that hath her pleasure and doth little and on the other side the poore mans wife which moderately laboureth you shall see that the great Ladyes for all their pleasures abideth more danger then the other doth with all her labour The husband ought to keepe his wife from taking too much paynes for so ought he to doe and the wife likewise ought to flee too much pleasure for it behoueth her For the meane trauell is no other but occasion of a safe deliuerie The women with childe also ought to take heede to themselues and in especially noble great ladies that they be not too greedy hasty in eating For the woman being with child ought to be sober and the woman which is a great eater with great pains shal liue chaste Women with child oft times doe disorder themselues in eating licorous meats and vnder the colour of feeding themselues their infant they take too excessiuely which is not onely vnholsome for the Childe but also dishonour for their mothers For truely by the excesse of the Mother being with child commeth many diseases to the infant whē it liueth The Husbands also ought neyther to displease nor grieue their Wiues especially when they see them great with childe for of truth oftentimes she deliuereth with more daunger by reason of the offences that men doe vnto them then by the aboundance of meates which they doe eate Though the Woman when shee is with Childe in some things doth offend her Husband yet hee like a wise man ought to forbeare her hauing respect to the childe wherewith she is great and not to the iniuries that she hath committed For in the end the Mother cannot bee so great an offender but the child is much more innocent For
the proofe of this it needeth not books to read but onely our eyes to see how the brute Beasts for the most part when their females are bigge do not touch them nor yet the Females suffer them to be touched I meane that the Noble and high Estates ought to absent thēselues from their wiues carnally being great with childe and hee that in this case shall shewe himselfe most temperate shall of all men be deemed most vertuous I doe not speake this to the ende it should binde a man or that it were an offence then to vse the companie of his wife but vnto men that are vertuous I giue it as a counsell For some things ought to bee done of necessitie and others ought to be eschued for honestie Dyodorus Siculus saieth that in the Realme of Mauritania there were so few men and so many women that euery man had fiue wiues where there was a law among them that no man should marrie vnder three wiues furthermore they had a wonderfull and foolish custome that when any Husband died one of those women shuld cast herselfe quicke into the graue and be buried with him And if that within a moneth she did it not or that she dyed not by iustice shee was openly put to death saying that it is more honestie to bee in companie with her Husband in the graue then it is to be alone in her house In the Isles of Baleares the contrary is seene for there increase so many men and so few women that for one woman there was seuen men and so they had a custome especially amongst the poore that one woman should bee marryed with fiue men For the rich men sent to seeke for women in other strange Realmes wherfore then Merchants came heauie loaden with women as now they doe with marchandize to sell Vpon which occasion there was a custome in those Isles that for as much as there were so few women when any woman with childe drew neere the seuen monethes they were seperated from their husbands and shutte and locked vp in the Temples where they gaue them such things as were necessary for them of the common treasure For the ancients had their Gods in such veneration that they would not permit any person to eate that which he brought but of that which vnto the Gods of the Temple was offered At that time the Barbarous kept theit wiues locked in the Church because the Gods hauing them in their Temples should bee more mercifull vnto them in their deliuerie and also to cause them to auoyde the dangers at that time and besides that because they tooke it for a great villany that the women during that time should remaine with their husbands The famous and renowmed Philosopher Pulio in the fift Booke De moribus antiquorum said That in the Realme of Pannonia which now is Hungarie the women that were great with childe were so highly esteemed that when any went out of her house all those which mette with her were bound to returne backe with her and in such sort as wee at this present doe reuerence the holy Communion so did these Barbarous then the women with childe The women of Carthage being with childe when Carthage was Carthage had as great priuileges as now our Sanctuaries haue for the safegard of misdoers for in times past all such offenders as could enter into the house where a woman lay in child-bed should haue beene free from correction of Iustice As Fronto saith in his Booke of the Veneration of the Gods the Gallois Transalpins did not only honor reuerence the women with childe but also with much care and diligence watched her deliuery for it little auaileth the Shippe to haue passed safe the dangerous Seas if at the Shore she be cast away The case was in this sort that al the ancient Gentiles honored some gods in their Temples and kept other in their houses the which were called Lares and Penates and when any woman began to labour each neighbour brought his familiar god vnto her to present her with all because they thought that the more gods there were of so much more power they were to keepe her from perills Speaking like a Christian Truely those gods were of small value since they could not helpe the woman safely to be deliuered that was in trauaile CHAP. XII What the Philosopher Pisto was and of the Rules hee gaue concerning women with childe IN the time of Octauian the Emperour was a Philosopher called Pisto which was of the sect of Pithagoras and when Rome flourished he was very familiar with the Emperour Octauian and well beloued of all the people which ought not to be a little esteemed for he which of the Prince is most fauored commonly of the people is much hated This Emperour Octauian was a Prince very desirous of all vertuous things so that when he dined with his Captaines he spake of Warre when he supped with the Sages hee reasoned of the Sciences and he that vttered any dishonest or idle word in his presence hee alwaies afterward tooke him as his enemie This Pisto was very graue in waightie affaires very pleasant in slents and jests and oft times he was demanded many questions of the Emperour whereof the answeres of some according to the demands and questions here followeth The Emperour sayd to Pisto Of all these that liueth whom takest thou to be most Foole To whom the Philosopher answered In my opinion I take him to be most foole of whose word there commeth no profite for truely he is not so very a foole that flingeth stones into the winde as he that vttereth vaine words Tell me Pisto Whom ought wee of right to desire to speake whom of right to command to be silent He answered It is good when speech doth profite and good to keepe silence when speech is hurtfull for the one desiring to maintaine the good and the other to defend the euill warres begin throughout all the world Tell mee Pisto from what thing ought the fathers most to keepe their children He sayd In my opinion parents ought in nothing to watch so much as to keepe them from being vicious for the father ought rather to haue his sonne dye well then to liue euill Tell me Pisto What shall man do if hee be brought to this extremitie That if he speake truth hee condemneth himselfe and if hee make a lye he saueth himselfe The vertuous man said he ought rather to choose to be ouercome by truth then to ouercome by lyes for it is vnpossible that a man which is a lyer should continue long in prosperity Tell me Pisto What shall men do to obtaine rest He answered As I thinke the man cannot haue rest vnlesse he forsake worldly affayres for the men that are occupied with weightie affaires cannot be without great cares or alwaies accompanied of great troubles Tell me Pisto wherein a man sheweth himselfe to be most wise He answered
There is no greater proofe to know a wise man then if he be patient to suffer the ignorant for in suffering an iniurie the heart is more holpen by wisedome then by knowledge Tell mee Pisto What is that thing that the vertuous man may lawfully desire He answered All that is good so that it be not to the preiudice of any other may honestly be desired but in my opinion that onely ought to bee desired which openly without shame may bee demanded Tell me Pisto What shall men do with their wiues when they are great with childe to cause that the child in safetie may be deliuered He answered In the world there is nothing more perillous iben to haue the charge of a woman with childe for if the husband serue her hee hath paine and trauaile and if perchance hee doe not content her she is in danger In this case the wiues of Rome and their husbands also ought to be very diligent and to the things following more carefull the which I shew them more for counsell then for commandement for good counsell ought to haue as much authoritie in the vertuous as the commandement hath in the vicious Thou Octauian as thou art a mercifull and a pittifull Emperour and that thou keepest thy Neece Collucia great with childe I know thou desirest that shee had presently good and lucky deliuery and that shee were deliuered of her paine all the which thou shalt see if thou dost marke these things that I will shew thee heere following First the woman ought to beware of dancing leaping and running for leaping oftentimes maketh man to lose his speach and women with childe to lose their life wherefore it is not reason that the folly of the mother should bee permitted to put in hazzard the life of the child The second the woman being with childe ought to beware that shee be not so hardy to enter into Gardens where there is much fruit and that for eating too many shee bee not ill deliuered for it is no reason that the lycorousnes of the mother be punished with the death of the childe The third the woman with childe ought to beware of ouer hard lacing her selfe about the middle for many Romane Dames for to seeme proper doe weare their Gownes so straite that it is an occasion to kill their creatures which is a heynous matter that the young babe should lose his life because his mother should seeme pretty The fourth the women with childe ought to beware of eating in a great Banquet for oft times there commeth a suddaine deliuerance onely through eating without measure and it is not meete that for tasting a thing of little value the mother and the childe should both lose their liues The fift the woman being with child ought to beware that she giueth no eare to any sudden newes for shee is in more danger for hearing a thing that grieueth her then for suffering long sicknesse that payneth her and it were vniust that for knowing of a trifling matter the mother that is to be deliuered and the child that is to be borne should both in one moment perish The sixt the woman with childe ought to beware that she goe not by any meanes to any Feasts where there shall bee any great assembly of people for oft times the woman with childe seeing her to bee much thrust and prest being not able to say I am here may immediately dye in the place and it is not reason but an vniust thing that the woman for the desire to see the children of others should make of her owne Orphanes The seuenth the husband ought to beware that she being with childe bee not deneyd any honest thing that shee doth minde for ingranting her it cannot cost him much but in denying her hee may lose much and it would not bee iust that since in her bringing foorth she honoreth and increaseth the Common-wealth of Rome that Rome should condiscend that any woman with child should receiue any hurt or dishonour These bee the answeres that Pisto made the Emperour Octauian the which hee gaue as Rules to women with childe which being so kept I do assure you that the great Ladyes should deliuer themselues from many perils the husbands also should escape from many sorrowes Concluding therefore that which aboue all is spoken I say that Princesses and great Ladies when they are with childe ought to bee more warie and circumspect then other meane women for where man hopeth to haue most profit there ought he most to be carefull The Authour of this is Pulio in his third Booke De moribus antiquorū Sextus Cheronsnsis in his fift booke De legibus domesticis CHAP. XIII Of three Counsels which Lucius Seneca gaue vnto a Secretarie his friend who serued the Emperour Nero and how the Emperour Marcus Aurelius disposed all the houres of the day THe Emperour Nero had a Secretary called Emilius Varro the which being in Rome builded a sumptuous house ioyning vnto the Gate of Salaria whereunto hee inuited one day Lucius Seneca to a banquet to the end the house might bee more fortunate for the Romanes had a prophecie That according to the good or ill lucke of him that first entred into a new house so should it continually be luckie or vnluckie Lucius Seneca graunted to the request of his friend Emilius Varro and when they had well eaten they went both to see this new building shewing vnto Lucius Seneca all things at the last the Secretary sayd thus vnto Seneca Those betweene both are for Guests those Halles are for Merchants Suitors these Secrets are for Women those Chambers are for Knights those Galleries which are couered are to auoide the Sunne this lowest part here is for Horses the Sellers are for the Buttry in the end he shewed him the whole house for the furnishing whereof they lacked not one jot After the Secretarie Emilius Varro had shewed him all his house hee looked when his Guest Seneca would greatly praise and commend it but he as though hee knew nothing sayd vnto Emilius Varro as he went out of the dores Whose house is this Wherevnto Emilius answered How now Seneca canst thou not tell I haue employed all my goods in building this house and haue led thee all about to see it and I haue told thee that it is mine and yet dost thou aske me againe whose it is Lucius Seneca answered Thou hast shewed vs the house for strangers the house for sleues the house for women the house for horses and in all this house thou hast not shewed me one little part for thy selfe but that another man doth enter into it for if thou hast any interest therein they haue the best thereof which is the possession I account thee a wise man I doe account thee a man of vnderstanding and allso I know that with all thy heart thou art my friend and since I haue beene bidden to day by the it is but reason that
one that hath proued it it is reason that I bee beloued in this case and that is That the entent of Princes to conquere strange Realmes and to permit their owne to suffer wrongs is for no other thing but because that the commendations which they speake of the Princes past they should likewise talke the same of them that bee to come Concluding therefore my minde and declaring my intention I say that the Prince that is Noble and desireth to leaue off himselfe from fame let him consider and see what it is that those can write of him which write his history for it profiteth little that hee atchieue great affayres by the sword if there bee no Writer to set them forth with the pen and afterwards to exalt them with the tongue These words thus spoken by the Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius he gaue the key of his Studie to the Honourable olde man Pompeianus that tooke all the Writings and put them in the high Capitoll where the Romanes honoured them as the Christians the holy Scriptures All these Writings besides many others perished in Rome when by the barbarous it was destroyed for the Gothes vtterly to extinguish the name of Rome destroyed not onely the walles thereof but also the Bookes that were therein And truely in this case the Gothes shewed more crueltie to the Romanes then if they had slayne the children of their bodyes or beate downe the walles of their Cities For without doubt the liuely Letter is a more sweeter witnesse of renowme that alwayes speaketh then eyther the Lime Sand or Stone wherewith Fortresses are builded CHAP. XIIII Of the importunate suite of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius concerning the Key of his Closet WE haue declared how the Emperour Marcus Aurelius had his Study in the secretst place of all the Palace and how that he himselfe did keepe the key It is to be vnderstood that hee would neuer let his wife his children nor any other of his familiar friends come into it for he sayd I had rather suffer that they should take from mee my treasures then that any man should turne the leaues of my Bookes It chanced that on a day the Empresse Faustine being great with childe importuned the Emperour much by all the meanes shee could that he would be so fauourable vnto her as to giue her the key of his Studie and it is no maruell for naturally women despise that which is giuen thē lust for that that is denied them Faustine instantly besought him not once but many times not onely with faire words but with abundant teares alleadging vnto him these reasons I haue required thee sundry times that thou wouldest giue mee the key of thy chamber and thou hast by iesting made frustrate my request the which thou my Lord oughtest not to haue done considering that I am with childe for oftentimes it chanceth that that wherefore the husband reioyceth this day to morrow he doth lament Thou oughtest to remember that I am that Faustine the renowmed the which in thy eyes am the fayrest and of thy tongue haue beene most commended of thy person I was best beloued and of thy heart I am most desired then since it is true that thou hast me so deepely in heart why then doubtest thou to shew mee the Writings of thy Studie Thou dost communicate with mee the secrets of the Empire and thou hidest from me the books of thy study Thou hast giuen me thy tender heart of flesh and now thou denyest mee the hard key of iron now I must needs thinke that thy loue was fayned that thy words were double and that thy thoughts were others then they seemed for if they had been otherwise it had been vnpossible thou shouldest haue denyed mee the key that I doe aske thee for where loue is vnfayned though the request bee merrily asked yet it is willingly graunted It is a common custome that you men vse to deceiue vs simple women you present vs with great gifts you giue many fayre words you make vs faire promises you say you will doe maruels but in the ende you doe nothing but deceiue vs for we are persecuted more of you thē of any others When men in such wise importune the women if the women had power to deny and withstand wee should in short space bring yee vnder the yoke and leade you by the noses but when we suffer our selues to be ouercome then you beginne to forsake vs and despise vs. Let mee therefore my Lord see thy Chamber consider I am with childe and that I dye vnlesse I see it If thou dost not to doe me pleasure yet doe it at least because I may no more importune thee for if I come in danger through this my longing I shall but lose my life but thou shalt lose the childe that should be borne and the mother also that ought to beare it I know not why thou shouldest put thy noble heart into such a dangerous fortune wherby both thou I at one time shuldperish I dying so yōg and thou in losing so louing a wife By the immortall Gods I doe beseech thee and by the mother Berecinthia I coniure thee that thou giue me the key or that thou let me enter into the Study and stick not with me thy wife in this my small request but change thy opinion for al that which without consideration is ordayned by importunate suite may bee reuoked We see daily that mē by reading in Bookes loue their children but I neuer sawe heart of man fall in such sort that by reading and looking in Bookes hee should despise his children for in the ende Bookes are by the words of others made but children are with their own proper bloud begotten Before that any thing of wisedome is begunne they alwaies regard the inconueniences that may follow therefore if thou wilt not giue mee this key and that thou art determined to be stubborne still in thy will thou shalt lose thy Faustine thou shalt lose so louing a wife thou shalt lose the creature wherewith she is bigge thou shalt lose the authoritie of thy Palace thou shalt giue occasion to all Rome to speake of thy wickednesse and this griefe shall neuer depart from thy heart for the heart shall neuer bee comforted that knoweth that he only is the occasion of his owne griefe If the Gods doe suffer it by their secret indgements and if my wofull mishappes deserue it and if thou my Lord desirest it for no other cause but euen to doe after thy will for denying me this key I should dye I would willingly dye But of that I thinke thou wilt repent for it chanceth often times to wise men That when remedy is gone the repentance commeth suddenly and then it is to late as they say to shutte the Stable doore when the Steede is stolne I maruell much at thee my Lord why thou shouldest shew thy selfe so froward in this case since thou knowest that
all the time wee haue beene together thy will and mine hath alway beene one If thou wilt not giue me thy key for that I am thy welbeloued Faustine if thou wilt not let mee haue it since I am thy deare beloued wife if thou wilt not giue it me for that I am great with childe I beseech thee giue it mee in vertue of the ancient law for thou knowest it is an inuiolate lawe among the Romanes that a man cannot deny his wife with child her desires I haue seene sundry times with mine eyes many women sue their husbands at the lawe in this behalfe and thou my Lord commandest that a man should not break the priuiledges of women Then if this thing bee true as it is true indeede why wilt thou that the lawes of strange children should bee kept and that they should be broken to thine owne children Speaking according to the reuerence that I owe vnto thee though thou wouldest I will not though thou doest it I will not agree therunto though thou dost command it in this case I will not obey thee for if the husband doe not accept the iust request of his wife the wife is not bound to obey the vniust commaundement of her husband You husbands desire that your wiues should serue you you desire that your wiues should obey you in all and ye will condiscend to nothing that they desire You men say that wee women haue no certaintie in our loue but indeede you haue no loue at all For by this it appeareth that your loue is fayned in that it no longer continueth then your desires are satisfied You say furthermore that the women are suspitious and that is true in you all men may see and not in vs for none other cause there are are so many euill marryed in Rome but because their husbands haue of them such euill opinions There is a great difference betweene the suspition of the woman and the jealousie of the man for a man will vnderstand the suspition of the woman it is no other thing but to shew to her husband that she loueth him with all her heart for the innocent women know no others desire no others but their husbands onely and they would that their husbands should know none others nor search for any others nor loue any others nor will any others but them onely for the heart that is bent to loue one only would not that into that house should euter any other But you men know so many means and vse so many subtilties that you praise your selues for to offend them you vaunt your selues to deceiue them and that it is true a man can in nothing so much shew his noblenes as to sustaine and fauour a Curtizan The husbands please their wiues speaking vnto thē some merry words and immediately their backes being turned to another they giue both their bodies and their goods I sweare vnto thee my Lord that if women had the libertie and authoritie ouer men as men haue ouer women they should finde more malice deceitfulnesse and craft by them committed in one day then they should find in the women all the dayes of their life You men say that women are euill speakers it is true indeede that your tongues are none other but the stings of Serpents for yee doe condemne the good men and defame the Romane women And thinke not if you speake euill of other women to excuse your owne for the man that by his tongue dishonoureth strange women doth not so much euill as he doth by defaming his owne wife by suspition for the husband that suspecteth his wife giueth all men licence to account her for naught Sith wee women goe little out of the house wee trauaile not farre and sith wee see few things though wee would wee cannot bee euill tongued But you men heare much you see much you know much you wander abroad much and continually you murmure All the euill that wee silly women can doe is to listen to our friendes when they are vexed to chide our seruants when they are negligent to enuy our neighbours if they be fayre and to curse those that doe vs iniurie finally though wee speake euill wee cannot murmure but at those that dwell in the same Streete where wee dwell But you men defame your wiues by suspition you dishonour your neighbours in your words you speake against strangers with crueltie you neyther keepe faith nor promise to your wiues you shew your selues extreme against your enemies you murmure both at those that bee present and also at them that be absent finally on the one part you are so double and on the other part you are so vnthankefull that to those whom you desire you make fayre promises and those whose bodies you haue enioyed you little esteeme I confesse that the woman is not so good as shee ought to bee and that it is necessary that she should be kept in the house and so shee shall leade a good life and being of good life she shall haue good renowme and hauing good renowme shee shall bee well willed but if chaunce any of those doe want in her yet for all that shee ought not to bee reiected of her husband For the frailenesse that men finde in women is but little but the euils that women taste in men is very great I haue talked longer then I thought and haue saide more boldly then I ought but pardon me my Lord for my intention was not to vex thee but to perswade thee for in the end he is a foole that taketh that for iniury which passeth betweene the man and the wife in secret I stick alwaies to my first point if it neede once againe I require thee that thou wilt giue me the Key of thy studie and if thou doe otherwise as thou mayest thou shalt doe such a thing as thou oughtest not to doe I am not angry so much for that thou doest as for the occasion thou giuest me Therefore to auoyde the perill of my deliuerie and to take from me all suspition I pray thee my Lord deliuer me the key of thy studie for otherwise I cannot be perswaded in my hart but that you haue a woman locked in your studie For men that in their youth haue beene vnconstant though the apparell that they haue be not worne yet notwithstanding they desire to haue new Therefore once againe to preserue mee from perill in my deliuery and to lighten my heart of this thought it shall be well done that you let mee enter into your studie CHAP. XV. ¶ The Aunswere of the Emperour to Faustine concerning her demand of the key of the Studie THe Emperor hearing the wordes of Faustine and seeing that shee spake them so earnestly that shee bathed her woefull words with bitter teares determined also to answere her as earnestly and saide vnto her these wordes Wife Faustine thou hast tolde mee all that thou wouldest and I haue hearde all thy
Husband bee vicious you restraine him immediately for you burden his heart with so manie thoughts that his bodie hath no delight to vse any pleasure Finally I say that if the husband be peaceable within short space you make him vnquiet for your paines are such so many and so continuall that there is no heart can wholly dissemble them nor Tongue that vtterly can keepe them secret Naturally women haue in all things the spirite of contradiction for so much as if the Husbands will speake they will holde their peace If he go forth they will tarrie at home if he will laugh they will weepe if hee will take pleasure they will vexe him If he be sorrowfull they will be merie If he desire peace they would haue war If he would eate they will fast if hee would fast they would eate If hee would sleepe they will watche and if hee will watche they will sleepe Finally I say that they are of so euill a condition that they loue all that we despise and despise all that we loue In mine opinion the men that are wise and will obtaine that which they desire of their wiues Let them not demaunde of them that which they would obtaine if they will come to obtaine their desire For vnto them which are diseased the letting of Bloud is most profitable when the veyne in the contrary side is opened It is no other thing to be let bloud in the cōtrary side but to ask of the woman with his mouth the contrarie of that which he desireth with his heart for otherwise neyther by faire words of his mouth nor by the bitter teares of his eyes he shal neuer obtaine that which his heart desireth I confesse Faustine it is a pleasant sport to behold the young babes and thou canst not denie mee but it is a cruell torment to endure the importunities of their Mothers Children now and then minister vnto vs occasions of pleasures but you that are theyr Mothers neuer doe any thing but that which turneth vs to trouble It is much pleasure to the Husband when he commeth home to finde the house cleane swept to find the Table couered and to finde the meate ready dressed this is to be vnderstood if all other things be well But what shall we say when he seeth the contrarie and that he findeth his children weeping his neighbours offended his Seruants troubled and aboue all when hee findeth his Wife brawling Truly it is better to the wofull Husband to goe his way fasting then to tarrie and eate at home with brawling I durst take vppon mee to cause that all marryed men would be content to forbeareal the pleasures of the Children with condition that they might be Free from the annoyance of the Mothers for in the ende the pleasures of the children endeth quickly with laughter but the griefes of the mothers endureth all their life with sorrow I haue seene one thing in Rome wherein I was neuer deceyued which is that though men commit great offences in this World yet God deferreth the punishment thereof vntill another But if for any womans pleasure we commit any faulte God permitteth that by the same woman in this world we shall suffer the paine There is no crueller enemy to to man nor more troublessome to liue withall then the woman is that hee keepeth in his house for if hee suffer her once to haue her owne will then let him be assured neuer after to bring her vnto obedience The young men of Rome follow the Ladies of Capua but they may well repent them For there was neuer man that haunted of any long time the company of womē but in the end to their procurement either by death or with infamie he was defaced For the Gods esteeme the Honour aboue all things and as they suffer the wickednesse of the euill men so wee see the sharpe punishments that they ordaine for them I am well assured Faustine of one thing and I do not speake it by heare say but because continually I haue prooued it and it is that the Husband which condiscendeth to all that the Wife desireth causeth his wife to do nothing of that her husband commaundeth For there is nothing that keepeth a woman more vnder obedience to her Husband then when oftētimes he denyeth with sharpe words her vnlawfull request In my opinion it is much crueltie of the barbarous to keepe as they doe theyr wiues like slaues but it is much more follie of the Romaines to keepe them as they doe like Ladies The flesh ought not to bee so leane that it be in eating drie nor yet so fatte that there be no leane but it would participate both of the fatte and of the leane to the intent it might giue the more nourishment I meane that the man of vnderstanding ought not to keepe his Wife so short that shee should seeme to be his seruant nor yet to giue her so much libertie that she becometh his Mistresse For the Husband that suffereth his Wife to commaund more then shee ought is the cause why hee himselfe afterwardes is not esteemed as he should be I Behold Faustine you women are in all things so extreame that for a little fauour you waxe proude and for a little displeasure you become great enemies There is no Woman that willingly can suffer to haue any superiour nor yet scarcely can endure to haue any equall for we see that you loue not the highest nor desire to be loued of the lowest For where the louers bee not equall there their loue cannot be perfect I knowe well Faustine that thou doest not vnderstand mee therefore harken what I doe tell thee more then thou thinkest and more then thou wouldest O what and how many women haue I seene in Rome the which thogh they had two thousand pound of Rent in their heads yet they had three thousand follyes in their heads and the worst of all is that oft times her Husband dyeth and she looseth her Rent yet for all that ceaseth not her follie Now listen Faustine and I wil tell thee more All women will speake and they will that others be silent All wil commaund and will not that they be commanded and they will that all be captiues to them All will gouerne and will not be gouerned Finally they all in this one thing agree and that is that they wil cherish them that they loue reuenge them of those that they hate Of that which before is said it may be gathered that they make Fooles and Slaues of the young and vaine men which followe them and persecute the Wise men as enemies that flye them For in the ende where they loue vs moste their loue may bee measured but where as they hate vs least their hate exceedeth reason In the Annales of Pompeius I remember I haue read and do note one thing worthie of knowledge that when Pompeius the Great passed first into Asia as by chaunce hee came by the
she seeth him who after her death ought to haue the charge of her affayres and businesse Concluding therefore that which aboue is spoken I say that which the great Plutarch saide from whom I haue drawn the most part of this chapter that the mother to bee a good Mother ought to haue and keepe her Childe in her armes to nourish him and afterwards when he shal be great she ought to haue him in her hart to helpe him For we see oft times great euills ensue to the Mother and to the Childe because she did not bring him vp her selfe and to put him to nourish to a straunge breast there commeth neither honour nor profite CHAP. XX. ¶ That Princesses great Ladyes ought to bee very circumspect in choosing of their Nurses Of seuen propertyes which a good Nurse should haue THose which ordayned Lawes for the people to liue were these Promotheans which gaue lawes to the Egyptians Solon Solinon to the Greekes Moyses to the Iewes Lycurgus to the Lacedemonians and Numa Pompilius to the Romains for before these Princes came their people were not gouerned by written lawes but by good auncient customes The intention of these Excellent Princes was not to giue lawes to their predecessors for they were now dead neyther they gaue theÌ„ onely for those which liued in their time being wicked but also for those which were to come whome they did prestippose would not be good For the more the World increaseth in yeares so much the more it is loaden with vices By this that I haue spoken I meane that if the Princesses and great Ladies euery one of them would Nourish their owne childe I neede not to giue them counsell But since I haue supposed that the women which shall be deliuered hereafter will be as proude and vaine-glorious as those which were in times past We will not let to declare here some Lawes and aduises how the Ladie ought to behaue her selfe with her Nurce and how the Nurce ought to content her selfe with the creature For it is but iust that if the mother be cruell and hardie to forsake the creature that she be sage pitifull and aduised to chose her Nurce If a man finde great treasure and afterwards care not how to keepe it but doeth commit into the hands of suspected persons truly we would call him a foole For that which naturally is beloued is alwayes of all best kept The Woman ought more wisely to keepe the treasure of her own bodie then the treasure of all the Earth if she had it And the Mother which doth the contrarie and that committeth her Childe to the custodie of a straunge Nurce not to her whome shee thinketh best but whom she findeth best cheape we will not call her a foolish beast for that name is too vnseemly out we will call her a sotte which is somewhat more honester One of the things that doth make vs most belieue that the ende of the world is at hand is to see the little loue which the mother doth beare to the childe being young and to see the want of loue which the Childe hath beare to his Mother being aged That which the childe doeth to the Father and Mother is the iust iudgement of God that euen as the Father would not nourish the child in his house being young so likewise that the sonne should not suffer the Father in his house he being olde Returning therefore to the matter that sith the woman doth determine to drie and shut vp the fountaines of milke which Nature hath giuen her shee ought to bee very diligent to search out a good nurse the which ought not only to content herselfe to haue her milke whole but also that shee be good of life For otherwise the childe shal not haue so much profite by the which hee sucketh as the nurse shall doe it harme if shee bee a woman of an euill life I doe aduise Princesses and great Dames that they watch diligently to knowe what their Nurses are before they commit their children to them for if such Nurses be euill and slaundered they are as Serpents which doe byte the Mother with their mouth and do sting the childe with her taile In my opinion it were lesse euill the Mother should suffer that her Childe should perish in deliuering it then for to keepe in her house an euill woman For the sorrow of the death of the Childe is forgotten and brought to nought in time but the slaunder of her house shall endure as long as shee liueth Sextus Cheronensis sayeth that the Emperor Marcus Aurelius commanded his Sonne to be brought vp of a woman the which was more faire theÌ„ vertuous And when the good Emperour was aduertised thereof he did not onely send her from his Pallace but also hee banished and exiled her from Rome swearing that if she had not nourished his Sonne with her pappes he would haue commaunded her to haue been torne in pieces with Beasts For the woman of an euill renowme may iustly bee condemned and put to death Princesses and great Ladyes ought not greatly to passe whether the nurses be faire or fowle For if the milke be sweete white and tender it little skilleth though the face of the Nurse be white or blacke Sextus Cheronensis saith in the booke of the nurture of children that euen as the black Earth is more fertile then is the white earth So likewise the Woman which is browne in countenance hath alwayes the most substantiall milke Paulus Dyaconus in his greatest Hystorie saieth that the Emperour Adocerus did Marrie himselfe with the daughter of another Emperour his predecessor called Zeno and the Empresse was called Arielna The which in bringing forth a Sonne had a woman of Hungarie maruellous faire to nourish it and the case succeeded in such sort that the Nurse for beeing faire had by the Emperor iij. children the one after the other and his wofull Wife neuer had any but the first alone A man ought to belieue that the Empresse Arielna did not only repent her selfe for taking into her house so faire a Nurse but also was sorry that euer shee had any at all sith the Ribalde thereby was Mistresse in the house and she remained without husband all her life I doe not say it for that there are not many foule women vicious nor yet because there are not many faire women vertuous but that Princesses and great Ladyes according to the qualities of their Husbands ought to bee profitable and tender Nurses to bring vp their Children For in this case there are some men of so weake a complexion that in seeing a little cleane water immediately they die to drinke thereof Let therefore this be the first counsell in choosing Nurses that the Nurse before shee enter into the house be examined if shee be honest and vertuous For it is a trysâ—e whether the Nurse be faire or foule but that she be of a good life and of an honest behauiour
Secondarily it is necessary that the Nurse which nourisheth the child be not onely good in behauiour of her life but also it is necessary that she be whole as touching the bodily health For it is a rule vnfallible that of the milke which we do sucke in our infancie dependeth all the corporal health of our life A childe giuen to the Nurse to nourish is as a Tree remoued from one place to another And if it be so as in deed it is it behoueth in all points that if the Earth wherein it shall be newe put were no better that at the least it be not worse For this should bee a great crueltie that the Mother beeing whole strong and well disposed should giue her Childe to a leane woman to nurse which is feeble sore and diseased Princesses and great Ladyes doe chose leane women weake and sicke for to nourish their Infants And in that they doe faile it is not for that they would erre But it is because that such feeble and weake Nurses by a vaine desire they haue to be Nurses in a Gentlemans house on the one part they say they will little money and on the other part they doe make great suites What thing it is when a Princesse or a noble-Noble-woman is deliuered of a Childe to see the deuises of other women among themselues who shall be the Nurse and how those which neuer nourished their owne children doe preserue the milke to nourish the children of others To procure this thing for women me thinketh it proceedeth of aboundance of follie and to condescend to their requests mee thinketh it is for want of wisedome They looke not alwayes to the manners and abilitie of the Nurse how apt shee is to nurse their childe but how diligent shee is to haue to nourish They eare not greatly whether they be good or no For if the first be not good they wil take the second and if the second pleaseth them not they will haue the third and so vpwards vntil they haue found a good Nurse But I let you to know you Princesses and great Ladyes that it is more daunger for the Children to chaunge diuers milkes then vnto the olde men to eate diuers meates Wee see daily by experience that without comparison there dyeth more children of noble-Noble-women thē children of women of the meaner estate And wee will not say that it is for that they do flatter their children more nor for that the wiues of labourers doe eate fine meates but that it chaunceth oft times that the children of a poore woman doth neither eate nor drinke but of one kinde of meat or milke in two yeares and the child of a Ladie shal change and alter three Nurses in two moneths If Princesses and great Ladyes were circumspect in choosing their nurses and that they did looke whether they were whole without diseases and honest in their manners and would not regarde so much the importunitie of their suites the Mothers should excuse themselues from many sorrowes and the children likewise should bee deliuered from many diseases One of the most renowmed Princes in times past was Titus the Sonne of Vespasian and Brother of Domitian Lampriains saieth that this good Emperour Titus the most part of his life was subiect to grieuous diseases infirmities of his person and the cause was for that when hee was young he was giue to a sicke Nurse to be nourished So that this good Emperour sucking her Dugge but a while was constrayned to passe all his life after in paine Thirdly Princesses and great Ladyes ought to know and vnderstand the complexion of their children to the ende that according to the same they might seeke pitifull Nurses that is to say if the childe were Cholerick Flegmatcke Sanguine or Melancholie For looke what humor the childe is of of the same qualitie the milke of the Nurse should be If vnto an old corrupted man they minister medicins conformable to his diseases for to cure him why then should not the Mother seeke a wholesome Nurse to the tender Babe agreable to his complexion to nourish him And if thou sayest it is iust that the flesh olde and corrupted bee sustained I tell thee likewise that it is much more necessary that the Children should bee curiously and well nourished to multiplie the world For in the ende wee doe not say it is time that the Young leaue the bread for the Aged but contrarie it is time that the olde leaue the bread for the young Aristotle in the booke De secretis secretorum and Iunius Rusticus in the tenth booke De gestis Persarum say that the vnfortunate king Darius who was ouercom by Alexander the great had a Daughter of a maruellous beauty And they say that the Nurse which gaue suck to this daughter all the time that shee did nourish it did neyther eate nor drinke any thing but poyson and at the ende of three yeares when the Childe was weyned and plucked from the dugge she did eate nothing but Colubers and other venomous wormes I haue hearde say many times that the Emperors had a custome to nourish their Heyres and Children with poisons when they were young to the intent that they should not be hurt by poyson afterwarde when they were old And this error cometh of those which presume much and know little And therefore I say that I haue heard say without saying I haue read it For some declare hystories more for that they haue hearde say of others then for that they haue read themselues The truth in this case is that as wee vselat this present to weare chaines of golde about our neckes or iewells on our fingers so did the gentils in times past a Ring on their fingers or some iewell in theyr bosome replenished with poyson And because the Paynims did neither feare hell nor hoped for heauen they had that custome for if at any times in Battell they should finde themselues in distresse they had rather ende their liues with poyson then to receyue any iniurie of theyr enemyes Then if it were true that those Princes had bin nourished with that Poyson they would not haue carryed it about them to haue ended their liues Further I say that the Princes of Persia did vse when they had any child borne to giue him milke to sucke agreable to the Complexion hee had Since this daughter of Darius was of melancholy humor they determined to bring her vp with venom and poyson because all those which are pure melancholie do liue with sorrow and die with pleasure Ignatius the Venetian in the life of the fiue Emperours Palleolus which were valiant Emperours in Constantinople sayeth that the second of that name called Palleolus the hardie was after the xl yeares of his age so troubled with infirmities and diseases that alwayes of the twelue moneths of the yeare he was in his bed sick nine moneths and being so sicke as he was the affayres and businesse of the
our time and that wee hadde deserued to haue beene in their time although our time for being Christians is better they had saued vs from this trauell For they were so temperate in eating meates and so abstinent in drinking wines that they did not only refraine the drinking thereof but also they would not abide to smell it For it was counted a greater shame vnto a Romane Woman to drinke wine then to be diuorced from her Husband Dyonisius Alicarnaseus in his booke of the lawes of the Romaines said that Romulus was the first founder of Rome and that hee occupyed himselfe more in buylding faire Houses to amplifye Rome then in constituting Lawes for the gouernement of the Common-wealth But amongst fifteene Lawes which hee made the seuenth thereof was that no Romaine woman on paine of death should be so hardie to drinke wine within the walls of Rome The same Hystorian sayth that by the occasion of this Law the custome was in Rome that when any Romane Ladie would drinke wine or make any solemne feast she must needs goe out of Rome where euery one had theyr Gardens and dwelling place because the smel also of Wine was prohibited and forbidden women within the circuit of Rome If Plinie do not deceiue vs in his 24. booke of his natural historie it was an ancient custom in Rome that at each time that Parents met both men and women they did kisse the one the other in the face in token of peace and this ceremonie beganne first for that they would smell whether the woman had drunke any wine And if perchance she sauored of wine the Censor might haue bannished her from Rome And if her kinsman found her without Rome hee might freely without any daunger of law put her to death because within the Circuit and walles of Rome no priuate man by Iustice could put any Romaine to death as aboue is rehearsed Romulus was he which ordained the paine for Drunkardes and Ruptilius was hee which ordained the penaltie for Adulterers And betweene Romulus and Ruptilius there was xxxii yeares So that they ordyaned this streight Law for Drunkardes a long time before they did the law for adulterers For if a woman be a drunkard or Harlot truely they are both great faultes and I cannot tell whether of them is worst For being a harlot the woman loseth her name and for being a drunkarde shee loseth her fame and the Husband his goods Then if women for the honestie of their pesons onely are bound to bee temperate in eating and drinking the woman which nourisheth and giueth the Childe sucke ought to bee much more corrected and sober in this case For in her is concurrant not only the grauity of their own persons but the health and life also of the Creature which she nourisheth Therefore it is meete that the Nurse bee kept from wine since the honor of the one and the life of the other is in perill Sixtly the Princesses and great Ladyes ought to take heede that theyr Nurses be not gotten with child And the reason hereof is that in that time when the woman is with Childe her naturall course is stopped and that corruption is mingled with the pure bloud So that shee thinking to giue the childe milke to nourish it giueth it poyson to destroy it And nothing can bee more vniust then to put the childe which is alreadie borne and aliue in danger for that which is as yet vnborne and dead It is a wonderfull thing for a man that will curiously note and mark things to see the brute beasts that all the time they bring vp theyr little ones they will not consent to accompanie with the Males nor the males will follow the females And that which is most to hee noted it is to see what passeth betweene the Byrds for the she Sparrow will not suffer the Male in any wise to touch nor to come neere her vntill her little ones be great able to flie and much lesse to sit vpon any Egges to hatche them till the other be fled and gone Plutarch in the seuenth of his Regiment of Princes saith that Gneus Fuluius Couzin germaine of Pompeyus beeing Consull in Rome fell in loue with a young maidē of Capua being an orphā whether he fled for the plague This Mayden was called Sabina and when she was great with child by this Consull shee brought forth a daughter whom they called faire Drusia truely she was more commended for her beautie then shee was for her honestie For oft times it happeneth that the fayre and dishonest women leaue their Children so euill taught that of their Mothers they inherite little goods and much dishonour This Sabina therefore beeing deliuered as it was the custome of Rome she did with her own breasts nourish her daughter Drusia During the which time shee was gotten with childe by one of the Knights of this Consul to whome as to his Seruant hee had giuen her to keepe Wherefore when the Consull was heereof aduertised and that notwithstanding she gaue her daughter suck he commanded that the knight shold be immediatly beheaded his louer Sabina forthwith to be cast into a wel The day of Execution came that both these parties should suffer wherfore the wofull Sabina sent to beseech the Consull that it would please him before her death to giue her audience of one sole worde that shee would speake vnto him the which beeing come in the presence of them all shee said vnto him O Gneus Fuluius know thou that I did not call thee to the ende thou shouldest graunt me life but because I would not die before I had seene thy face though thou of thy selfe shouldest remember that as I am a frayle Woman and fell into sinne with thee in Capua so I might fall now as I haue done with another here in Rome For wee Women are so fraile in this case during the time of this our miserable life that none can keepe herselfe sure from the assaultes of the weake Flesh The Consull Gneus Fuluius to these words answered The Gods immortall know Sabina what griefe it is to my wofull hart that I of my secret offence should be an open scourge For greater honestie it is for men to hyde your frailnesse then openly to punish your offences But what wilt thou I should doe in this case considering the offence thou hast committed By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee and again I sweare that I had rather thou shouldest secretly haue procured the death of some man thē that openly in this wise thou shouldst haue slaunderd my house For thou knowest the true meaning of the common prouerbe in Rome It is better to die in honour then to liue in infamie And think not Sabina that I do condemne thee to die because thou forgotest thy Faith vnto my person and that thou gauest thy selfe vnto him which kept thee For since thou wert not my wife the liberty thou haddest
to come with me from Capua to Rome the selfesame thou hadst to goe with another from Rome to Capua It is an euill thing for vicious â—eâ— to reprooue the vices of others wherein themselues are faulty The cause why I condemn thee to dye is onely for the remembrance of the old Law the which commandeth that no nurse or woman giuing sucke should on paine of death be begotten with childe truly the Law is very iust For honest women do not suffer that in giuing her child sucke at her breast she shold hide another in her entrails These words passed between Gneus Fuluius the Consul and the Ladie Sabina of Capua Howbeit as Plutarche saith in that place the Consull had pitie vpon her and shewed her fauour banishing her vpon condition neuer to returne to Rome againe Cinna Catullus in the fourth booke of the xxij Consulls saith that Caius Fabricius was one of the most notable Consulles that euer was in Rome and was sore afflicted with diseases in his life onely because hee was nourished foure moneths with the milke of a Nurse being great with Childe and for feare of this they locked the nurse with the Childe in the Temple of the Vestall virgines where for the space of iij. yeares they were kept They demaunded the Consul why he did not nourish his children in his house He answered that children being nourished in the house it might bee an occasion that the Nurse should begotteÌ„ with child and so she should destroy the children with her corrupt milke and further giue me occasion to do iustice vpon her person wherefore keeping them so shut vp wee are occasion to preserue their life and also our children from perill Dyodorus Siculus in his librairy and Sextus Cheronensis saith in the life of Marc. Aurelius that in the Isles of Baleares there was a custom that the nurses of young children whether they were their owne or others should be seuered from their Husbands for the space of two yeares And the woman which at that time though it were by her husband were with child though they did not chasten her as an adulteresse yet euery man spake euill of her as of an offender During the time of these two yeares to the ende that the Husband should take no other wife they commanded that hee should take a concubine or that hee should buye a Slaue whose companie hee might vse as his wife for amongst these barbarous hee was honoured most that had two Wiues the one with child and the other not By these Examples aboue recited Princesses and great Ladyes may see what watch care they ought to take in choosing their Nurses that they be honest since of them dependeth not onely the health of their children but also the good fame of their houses The seueÌ„th condition is that Princesses and great ladies ought to see their nurses haue good conditions so that they be not troublesome proud harlots liars malicious nor flatterers for the viper hath not so much poyson as the woman which is euil coÌ„ditioned It little auaileth a man to take wine from a woman to entreate her to eate little and to withdrawe her from her husband if of her owne nature she be hatefull and euill mannered for it is not so great daÌ„ger vnto the child that the nurse be a drunkard or a glutton as it is if she be harmfull malitious If perchaunce the Nurse that nourisheth the child be euil conditioned truly she is euill troubled the house wherin she dwelleth euil coÌ„bred For such one doth importune the Lorde troubleth the Lady putteth in hazard the childe aboue all is not contented with her selfe Finally Fathers for giuing too much libertie to their nurses oft times are the causes of manie practises which they doe wherewith in the ende they are grieued with the death of their childreÌ„ which foloweth Amongst all these which I haue read I say that of the ancient Roman Princes of so good a Father as Drusius Germanicus was neuer came so wicked a son as Caligula was being the iiij Emp of Rome for the Hystoriographers were not satisfied to enrich the praise the excellencies of his Father neyther ceased they to blame and reprehend the infamies of his Sonne And they say that his naughtines proceedeth not of the mother which bare him but of the nurse which gaue him sucke For often times it chaunceth that the tree is green and good when it is planted and afterwardes it becometh drie and withered onely for being carryed into another place Dyon the Greeke in the second book of Caesars saieth that a cursed woman of Campania called Pressilla nourished and gaue suck vnto this wicked child Shee had against all nature of women her breasts as hayrie as the beardes of men and besides that in running a Horse handling her staffe shooting in the Crosse-bowe fewe young men in Rome were to bee compared vnto her It chaunced on a time that as shee was giuing sucke to Caligula for that shee was angrie shee tore in pieces a young child and with the bloud therof annoynted her breasts and so she made Caligula the young Childe to sucke together both bloud and milke The saide Dyon in his booke of the life of the Emperour Caligula saieth that the women of Campania whereof the saide Pressilla was had this custom that wheÌ„ they would giue their Teat to the childe first they did annointe the nipple with the bloud of a hedge-hog to the ende their children might be more fierce and cruell And so was this Caligula for hee was not contented to kill a man onely but also hee sucked the bloud that remained on his Sworde and licked it off with his tongue The excellent Poet Homer meaning to speake plainely of the crueltyes of Pyrrus saide in his Odisse of him such wordes Pyrrus was borne in Greece nourished in Archadie and brought vp with Tygers milke which is a cruell beast as if more plainely he had saide Pyrrus for being borne in Greece was Sage for that hee was brought vp in Archadie he was strong and couragious for to haue sucked Tygars milke he was very proud and cruell Hereof may be gathered that the great Grecian Pyrrus for wanting of good milke was ouercome with euill conditions The selfe same Hystorian Dyon saith in the life of Tiberius that hee was a great Drunkard And the cause hereof was that the Nurse did not onely drinke wine but also she weyned the childe with soppes dipped in Wine And without doubt the cursed Woman had done lesse euill if in the stead of milke she had giuen the child poyson without teaching it to drinke wine wherefore afterwardes he lost his renowne For truely the Romane Empire had lost little if Tiberius had dyed being a childe and it had wonne much if he had neuer knowne what drinking of Wine had meant I haue declared all that which before is mentioned to the intent that Princesses and great Ladyes might
prohibite children their milke which hereafter should bee made Priestes of the temples mee thinketh it a tricke rather of superstitious sorcerers then of religious Priests For there is neyther diuine nor humane Law that will forbid or prohibite any such thing without the which mans life cannot endure These were the maners and customes that the Ancients had in the nourture of their children And indeede I maruell not at that they did for the Gentiles esteemed this cursed Idol as a great God as wee Christians doe the true and liuing God I was willing to declare all these antiquities to the end that Princesses and great Ladies shoulde haue pleasure in reading them and knowing them but not to that end they should imitate and follow them in any kind of thing For according to the faith of our Christian Religion as sure as wee be of the offences that those did vnto God through following those superstitions so sure wee are of the good seruices which wee doe vnto God in forsaking them How long time the mothers ought to giue their children sucke and what age they ought to weine them not for that which I haue read nor for that which I haue demaunded in this case I am able to answere but forasmuch as Aristotle sayeth in the booke aboue named that the child at the most ought to sucke but two yeares at the least one yeare and a halfe for if hee sucke lesse he is in danger to be sicke and if hee sucke more he shall be alwayes tender I will not omit that which Sextus Cheronensis sayeth in the fourth booke of his common-wealth And hereof Bocohas also maketh mention in the third booke De natura Deorum that when Alexander the Great passed into India amongst other renowmed Philosophers there was one with him called Arethus who as by chance he was in Nissa an ancient City of India there came a mā of the Countrey to shew him such antiquities as were there Arethus the Philosopher beheld them as a sage and wise man for the simple man onely beholdeth the doings and how they seeme but the sage man enquireth and demandeth of the causes and from whence they came Among other things he shewed this good Philosopher a great house being in the end of the City therin were many women whereof euery one of them had a chamber and in euery chamber there was two beds and adioyning to the one herbs were sowen in maner of nettles and adioining to the other there was kind of twigges as of Rosemary and in the midst of the house there were many graues of small children The Phylosopher Arethus asked why that house was so great and the Indian answered This house is to nourish the Children which are Orphanes when they bee of their Parents and friendes abandoned For it is a custome in this City that immediately when the Father of one chelde dyeth the City then taketh him for her sonne And from that time forward he is called the child of the City which nourisheth him and not the childe of the Father which begot him Arethus the Philosopher secondarily asked him why there were so many women in that house without any man among them whereunto the Indian answered In this Country there is a custome that the women are seuered from their husbands all the time they giue their children sucke For the will of our God is that the woman be not in company with her husband after shee is with child and this not onely vntil such time as shee is deliuered but also vntill such time as the childe be wayned from the brest The Philosopher Arethus thirdly demaunded him why euery one had her chamber seuerally The Indian answered Thou knowest that now naturally raigneth so much malice in the woman that shee alwayes enuyeth the felicity of another And if they were altogether they would haue amongst them such quarrels debates that they would corrupt the milke which they should giue to the child Fourthly the Philosopher Arethus asked why in euery chamber there was a great bed and a little pallet since there was but one woman and one child whereunto the Indian answered In this India they doe not consent that the Nurses should sleepe together in one bed with the young childe whom they nourish for when the women are heauy a sleepe not taking heede to the childe they many times ouerlay the poore infant and so smother it aliue Fiftly the Philosopher asked why ioining to the beds there was nettles which are without fauour in eating and dangerous in touching The Indian answered I let thee know that in this India against al nature the childrē weepe not whiles they are young and therefore they haue growing by the beddes nettles to make them weepe for our Philosophors tell vs that if dayly the childe doth weepe two houres it profiteth him not onely for the health of his body but also for to prolong his life Furthermore the Philosopher for the sixt asked why there were so many twigges like Rosemary by the bed side whereunto the Indian aunswered Know thou that in India there is an olde plague that wee cannot defende our selues from these witches the which by their sorceries and with the onely lookes of their eies destroy many children and they say that all the children which shall bee perfumed with those hearbes can take no hurte through the lookes of those witches CHAP. XXIIII Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Dedalus in the ende whereof he enuaieth against those women which cure children by sorceries charmes and enchantments PRincesses and great Ladyes ought to take heed that their nurses be not Witches and that they doe not suffer the babes whiles they are yet young to take any charmes or sorceries for the medicine putteth the life of the creature in perill and those sorceries doe not onelie harme to the body of the child but also to the soule of her selfe which vseth it To prayse more them that are past and to confound more the present I will that those which shall reade this doe reade a letter of Marcus Aurelius which he sent to a friend of his in the end whereof it appeareth how great enemies the Auncients were to Witches Charmers to all kind of Sorcerers for truely I know not which was greater eyther the temperance that they had in nourishing their children being Gentiles or the foolish hardinesse which wee haue being Christians Here followeth therefore the Letter in the ende of the which hee speaketh against Witches and euill women The letter of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius MArcus Aurelius the Romane Emperour fellow with his brother Annius Verus in the same Empire wisheth to thee Dedalus his speciall friend health to thy person and good fortune against all euill Since the day that thou diddest take shipping at the Hauen of Ostia I read no letter of thine neyther haue I seen as yet any man of thy house yea and moreouer they could not tell
and suspition By this comparison I mean that since I haue much perswaded that the Fathers do learne and teach their children to speake well it is but reason that they doe seeke them some good Masters For the counsell hath no authority if hee which giueth it seeketh not speedily to execute the same It is much for a man to bee of a good nature or else to bee of an euill inclination to bee rude in vnderstanding or else to bee liuely in spirit and this not onely for that a man ought to doe but also for that hee ought to say For it is no small thing but a great good benefite when the man is of a good nature of a good vnderstanding and of a cleare iudgement This notwithstanding I say that all the good and cleare iudgements are not alwayes eloquent nor all the eloquentest of liuely spirites and vnderstanding Wee see many men which of a small matter can make much and for the contrarie wee see many men which haue great knowledge and yet no mean s to vtter it So that nature hath giuen them high vnderstanding and through negligence of bringing vp it is hid Oftentimes I doe maruell that the soule of the Babe when it is borne for the one part is of no lesse excellencie then the soule of the olde man when hee dyeth And on the other side I muse at the babe which hath the members so tender wherewith the soule doth worke his operations that they little seeme to participate with reasonable creatures For where the soule doth not shewe her selfe mistresse it wanteth little but that the man remaineth a beast It is a wonder to see the Children that as yet being two yeares of Age they lifte heir feete for to goe they holde themselues by the walls for falling they wil open their eyes to know and they fourme a defuzed voyce to speake So that in that age a creature is none otherwise then as a tree at the first spring For the Tree two moneths beeing past beareth leaues immediatly and the childe after ij years beginneth to frame his words This thing is spoken for that the Fathers which are wise should begin to teache their children at that Age For about that time the Vynes beare grapes and other trees their fruite For the perils of this life are such that if it were possible the Father before he see his Sonne borne ought to admonish him how he should liue In mine opinion as they conueigh the water about to turne the Mill So from the tender youth of the Infant they ought to shewe and teach him to bee eloquent and affable For truely the Childe learneth distinctly to pronounce his words when he doth sucke the milke of his Nurse We cannot denie but that the children beeing but two or three yeares olde it is too soone to giue them maisters or correcters For at that Age a Nurse to keepe them cleane is more necessarie then a maister to correct their speech On the one part the children are very tender for to learne to speake well and on the other part it is necessarie that when they are very young and little they should be well taught and instructed I am of that opinion that Princesses and great Ladyes should take such Nurses to giue theyr Children sucke that they should bee sound to giue them their milke and sage for to teach them to speake For in so young and tender Age they doe not suffer but that shee which giueth them sucke doth teach them to speake their first words As Sextus Cheroner sis in the booke of the diuersitie of the Languages saith That the Toscanes were the first which called the natural tongue of the countrey the Mother tongue which is to say the tongue of our Mother to the ende we should take it of the Mother which bringeth vs forth and of the Nurse which giueth vs sucke And in this case we haue lesse neede of the Mother then of the Nurse For the children before they know their Mothers which brought them into the world doe call the Nurse mother that gaue them sucke Plutarche in the second booke of the Regiment of Princes saith that one of the greatest thinges the Romaines had in their Commonweale was that of all the Languages and manners which they spake thoroughout the whole earth they had Colledges and Scholes in Rome so that were he neuer so barbarous that entered into Rome immediately hee found that vnderstood him The Romaines vsed that craft and subtiltie to the ende that when Rome sent Embassadors into strange Countreys or that some strange Countreys came to Rome they would that the Entâ—rpretours and brokers should be of theyr owne Nation and not of a strange tongue or Countrey And truely the Romaines had reason for the affaires of great importance are oftentimes craftely compassed by a straungetongue A man will maruell greatly to read or heare this that I speake which is that the Women which nourish the children of Princes be eloquent And truly he that at this doth maruell hath seen little and read lesse For I cannot tell which was greater the glory that the Ancients had to enjoy so excellent women or the infamy of them that are present to suffer dishonest Harlots I will not denie when I drew neere this matter that my spirits were not in great perplexitie First to see in this my writing of what women my Pen should write that is to say the dissolute vices of Women which I haue sâ—â—n or else the prowesses and vertues of women whereof I haue read Finally I am determined to intreate of our Graine and Corne and to leaue the rotten strawe on the Earth as without profite For the tongue which is noble ought to publish the goodnes of the good and honest women to the ende that all know it for the contrarie the frailenesse of the wicked ought to bee dissembled and kept secret to the ende that no man follow it Men which are sage and noble treating of Women are bound to visite them to preserue them and to defend them but in no wise they haue licence to slaunder them For the man which speaketh of the frailenes of women is like vnto him that taketh a sworde to kill a flie Therefore touching the matter Princesses and great Ladies ought not to cease to teach their young children all that they can sonnes or daughters And they ought not to deceyue themselues saying that foras much as their daughters are Women they are vnable to learne sciences for it is not a generall rule that all men children are of cleane vnderstanding nor that all the daughters are of rude spirite and wit for if they and the others did learne together I thinke there would bee as many wise women as there are foolish men Though the world in times past did enioy excellent women there was neuer any Nation had such as the Greekes had For though the Romanes were glorious in weapons the Greekes
this coate The poore Poet answered him I let thee know my friend that I cannot tell which is greater thy euill lucke or my greate felicitie The Romane Calphurnius replyed Tell me Cornificius How canst thou call thy selfe happy since thou hast not a loafe of bread to eate nor a gowne to put on thy backe and why sayest thou that I am vnhappy since thou and thy family may be fed with that alone which at my table remayneth To this the poet answered I will that thou know my friend and neighbour that my felicitie is not for that I haue little but for that I desire lesse then I haue And thy euill lucke is not for that thou bast much but for that thou desirest more and doest little esteem that that thou hast And if thou be rich it is for that thou neuer spakest truth and if I he poore it is because I neuer tolde lye For the house that is stuffed with riches is commonly voyd of the truth And I tell thee further that I call my selfe happie because I haue a sister which is the best esteemed in all Italie and thou hast a Wife the most dishonest in all Rome And sith it is so betweene thee and mee I referre it to no mans iudgement but to thine which is better eyther to be poore as I am with honour or else to bee rich as thou art and liue with infamte These wordes passed betweene the Romane Calphurnius and the Poet Cornificius I desire to declare the excellencie of those few auncient women as well Greekes as Latines and Romanes to the intent that Princesses and great Ladyes may knowe that the auncient women were more esteemed for their sciences then for their beauties Therefore the Princesses and great Ladies ought to thinke that if they be womē the other were also in like māner and if they bee fraile the others were also weake If they be marryed the others also had Husbands if they haue theyr willes the others had also what they wanted If they be tender the others were not strong Finally they ought not to excuse themselues saying that women are vnmeete for to learne For a woman hath more abilitie to learne Sciences in the scholes then the Parate hath to speake words in the cage In my opinion Princesses and great Ladyes ought not to esteeme themselues more then another for that they haue fairer hayres then others or for that they are better Apparrelled then another or that they haue more riches then another But they ought therfore to esteeme themselues not for that they can doe more then others To say the trueth the faire and yeallow hayres the rich and braue Apparel the great treasurs the sumptuous Pallaces and strong Buildings these and other like pleasures are not guydes and leaders vnto vertues but rather Spyes and Scowtewatches to vices Oh what an excellent thing were it that the noble Ladyes would esteeme themselues not for that they can doe but for that they knowe For it is more commendations to know how to teach two Philosophers then to haue authority to commaund a hundred knightes It is a shame to write it but it is more pittie to see it that is to say to reade that wee read of the wisedome and worthinesse of the auncient Matrons past and to see as we do see the frailenes of these yong ladies present For they coueted to haue Disciples both learned and experimented and those of this present desire nothing but to haue seruants not only ignorant but deceitfull and wicked And I doe not maruell seeing that which I see that at this present in Court she is of little value least esteemed amōg Ladies which hath fairest Seruants is least entertained of Gentlemen What shall I say more in this matter but that they in times past striued who shold write better and compile the best books and these at this present doe not striue but who shall haue the richest and most sumptuous Apparrell For the Ladyes thinke it a jolyer matter to weare a Gowne of a new fashion then the ancients did to read a lesson of Phylosophie The ancient Ladyes striued which of them was wisest but these of our dayes contend who shal be fairest For at this day the Ladyes would choose rather to haue the face adorned with beautie then the heart endued with wisedome The Auncient Ladyes contended which should bee best able to teach others but these Ladyes now a dayes contend how they may most finely apparrell themselues For in these dayes they giue more honour to a Woman richly Apparrelled then they giue to another with honesty beautified Finally with this word I doe conclude and let him marke that shall reade it that in the olde time women were such that their vertues caused all men to keepe silence and now their vices bee such that they compell all men to speake I will not by this worde any man should be so bold in general to speake euill of all the Ladyes for in this case I sweare that there are not at this day so many good vertuous women in the world but that I haue more enuie at the life they lead in secrete then at all the sciences which the auncient women read in publike Wherefore my pen doth not shew it selfe extreame but to those which onely in sumptuous Apparrell and vaine words doe consume their whole life and to those which in reading a good Booke would not spend one onely houre To proue my intention of that I haue spoken the aboue written sufficeth But to the ende Princesses and great Ladyes may see at the least how much beter it shal be for them to know little then to haue and possesse much and to be able to do more I wil remēber them of that which a Romain woman wrote to her children wherby they shal perceiue how eloquent a woman she was in her sayings and how true a mother in her coūsel For in the end of her letter she perswadeth her children to the trauels of the warre not for any other cause but to auoyde the pleasures of Rome CHAP. XXXI Of the worthinesse of the Lady Cornelia and of a notable Epistle shee wrote to her two sonnes which serued in the warres Tiberius and Caius disswading them from the pleasures of Rome and exhorting them to endure the trauels of warre ANNius Rusticus in the booke of the Antiquities of the Romanes sayeth that in Rome there were fiue principall Iynages that is to say Fabritii Torquatii Brutii Fabit and Cornelii though there were in Rome other new lynages whereof there were many excellent personages yet alwayes these which came of the fiue lynages were kept placed and preferred to the first Offices of the common wealth For Rome honoured those that were present in such sort that it was without the preiudice of those that are gone Amongst those v. linages the Romaines alwayes counted the Cornelii most fortunate that which were so hardy and couragious in fight
the high wayes And after that he was forty yeares of age he became King of the Lusitaines and not by force but by election for when the people saw themselues enuironed and assaulted on euery side with enemies they chose rather stout strong and hardy men for their Captaines then noble men for their guides If the ancient Historiographers deceyue me not when Viriatus was a thiefe hee ledde with him alwayes at the least a hundred theeues the which were shod with leaden shooes so that when they were enforced to runne they put off their shooes And thus although all the day they went with leaden shooes yet in the night they ranne like swift buckes for it is a generall rule that the looser the ioynts are the more swifter shall the legges be to runne In the booke of the iests of the Lumbardes Paulus Diaconus sayeth that in the olde time those of Capua had a Law that vntill the children were married the fathers should giue them no bed to sleepe on nor permit them to sit at the table to eate but that they should eate their meate in their hands and take their rest on the ground And truly it was a commendable law for rest was neuer inuēted for the yong man which hath no beard but for the aged being lame impotent and crooked Quintus Cincinatus was second Dictator of Rome and indeed for his deserts was the first Emperour of the earth This excellent man was brought vp in so great trauell that his handes were found full of knots the plough was in his armes and the swette in his face when hee was sought for to bee Dictator of Rome For the Ancients desired rather to bee ruled of them that knew not but how to plough the ground then of them that delighted in nothing else but to liue in pleasures among the people Caligula which was the fourth Emperour of Rome as they say was brought vp with such cost and delicatenesse in his his youth that they were in doubt in Rome whether Drusius Germanicus his father employed more for the Armies then Caligula his sonne spent in the cradle for his pleasures This rehearsed againe I would now know of Princes and great lords what part they would take that is to say whether with Cincinatus which by his stootenes wan so many strange Countries or with Caligula that in his filthy lusts spared not his proper sister In mine opinion there needeth no great deliberation to aunswere this question that is to say the goodnesse of the one and the wickednesse of the other for there was no battell but Cincinatus did ouercome nor there was any vice but Caligula did inuent Suetonius Tranquillus in the second Booke of Caesars sayeth That when the children of the Emperour Augustus Caesar entred into the high Capitoll where all the Senate were assembled the Senatours rose out of their places and made a reuerence to the children the which when the Emperour Augustus saw hee was much displeased and called them backe againe And on a day beeing demaunded why bee loued his childrē no better he answered in this wise If my children will bee good they shal sit hereafter where I sit now but if they bee euill I will not their vices should bee reuerenced of the Senators For the authoritie and grauitie of the good ought not to bee employed in the seruice of those that be wicked The 26 Emperour of Rome was Alexander the which though he was young was as much esteemed for his vertues amongst the Romanes as euer Alexander the great was for his valiantnes amongst the Greekes Wee cannot say that long experience caused him to come to the Gouernment of the common-wealth for as Herodian saieth in his sixth booke The day that the Senatours proclaymed him Emperour hee was so little that his owne men bare him in theyr armes That fortunate Emperour had a Mother called Manea the which brought him vp fowel and diligently that she kept alwayes a great guard of men to take heed that no vicious man came vnto him And let not the diligence of the Mother to the childe be little esteemed For Princes oft times of their owne nature are good and by euill conuersation only they are made euill This worthie woman keeping alwayes such a faithfull guarde of her childe that no Flatterers should enter in to flatter him nor malicious to tell him lyes By chaunce on a day a Romane saide vnto her these wordes I thinke it not meete most excellent princesse that thou shouldest be so diligent about thy Sonne to forget the affaires of the commonwealth for Princes ought not to be kept so close that it is more easie to obtaine a suite at the Gods then to speake one word with the Prince To this the Empresse Manea answered and saide They which haue charge to gouerne those which do gouern without comparison ought to feare more the vices of the King then the enemyes of the realme For the enemyes are destroyed in a Battell but vices remaine during the life and in the end enemies doe not destroy but the possessions of the Land but the vicious prince destroieth the good māners of the commonwealth These words were spoken of this worthy Romane By the Hystories which I haue declared and by those which I omitte to recite all vertuous men may knowe how much it profiteth them to bring vppe their children in trauels or to bring them vp in pleasures But now I imagine that those which shall reade this will prayse that which is well written and also I trust they will not giue their childrē so much their owne wils for men that reade much and worke little are as belles which doe found to call others and they themselues neuer enter into the church If the fathers did not esteeme the seruice they doe vnto God their owne honour nor the profite of their owne children yet to preserue them from diseases they ought to bring them vp in vertue withdraw them from vices for truly the children which haue beene brought vp daintily shall alwayes be diseased and sickly What a thing is it to see the sonne of a Labourer the coate without points the shirt tattered and torne the feet bare his head without a cap his body without a girdle in summer without a hat in winter without a cloke in the day plowing in the night driuing his heard eating bread of Rye or Otes lying on the earth or else on the straw and in this trauell to see this yong man so holy and vertuous that euery man desireth and wisheth that hee had such a sonne The contrary commeth of Noble mens sonnes the which wee see are nourished and brought vp betweene two fine Holland sheetes layed in a costly cradell made after the new fashion they giue the Nurse what she will desire if perchance the child be sicke they change his Nurse or else they appoint him a dyet The father and the mother sleepe neyther night nor day all
weale iustice in theyr owne house the king troth in their mouthes and fidelity in their hearts the good and honest men grace in their fauour and that the ill and wicked boast themselues no more of their authority and office and that the poor shall praise them for their good works and the King also finde them faithfull seruants I will at this present with mine owne hand giue them such faith and assurance that they shall neede neuer to feare that God will forsake them nor that men can hurt them that they shall neuer bee detected of any infamy ouerthrown by any misfortune neither put out of fauour and credit with their prince at any time HERE FOLLOWETH CERTAINE OTHER LETTERS WRITTEN BY Marcus Aurelius Selected out of the Spanish Copie not written in the French Tongue CHAP. I. Of the huge Monster seene in Scicilie in the time of Marcus Aurelius and of the Letters hee wrote with bloud vpon a gate IN the yeare of the foundation of Rome 720. and xlii of the age of Marcus Aurelius and two yeares before hee tooke possession of the empire the twenty day of August about the going downe of the Sunne in the Realme of Scicill in the City of Palermo a port of the sea there chanced a thing perillous to them that saw it then and no lesse dreadfull to those which shall heare it now Whiles they of Palermo were celebrating a great feast with much ioye that they had vanquished the Nauy of the Numedians the Pirates diuiding their bootie were preuented by the Magistrates of the City who cōmaunded the whole spoyle to be laide vp till the warres were finished for such was the Law of the Isle And truly it was a iust law for oftentimes the onely let why the peace is not made betweene Princes is because there wanteth riches to satisfie the damage done in wars When all the people were returned home vnto their houses to Supper for it was in the Summer there appeared an huge Monster in the Citie in this forme Hee seemed to be of the length of three cubites his head was balde so that his skul did appeare Hee had no eares saue onely two holes in the necke whereby men iudged that hee heard he had two writhen hornes like a Goate his right arme was longer then his left his hands were much like the feete of horses without throte his shoulders and his head were both of one height his shoulders shone as doeth the scales of fishes his brest was all rough of haire his Face in all things was much like vnto a man saue that hee had but one Eye which was in the middest of his fore-head In his Nose there was but one nosethrill From the middle downwards there was nothing seen because it was all couered he sate on a charyot with fowre wheeles which was drawn with fowre beasts That is two Lyons before and two Beares behind No man can tell of what wood the Charriot was made In fashion it differed nothing from those which other men do accustomably vse Within this Chariot stood a great Chauldron with eares wherein the Monster was wherefore it could not be seene but from the middle vpward It wandred a great space in the Cittie from one gate to another casting out sparkes of fire The feare and terror hereof was so great throughout all the Cittie that some Women with childe were with great daunger deliuered and others beeing weake and fainte hearted fell downe dead And all the people both men and women great and small ranne to the Temples of Iupiter Mars and Februa with dolefull clamours and cryes making their importunate prayers At the same time all these Rouers were lodged in the Gouernours Pallace of the Cittie whose name was Solyno borne at Capua where also the riches was kept After the Monster had beene in all patts of the Cittie or in the most part thereof it came to the pallace where the Pyrates were and cut one of the Lyons eares off and with the bloud therof wrote these Letters vppon the pallace gate which was shut R. A. S. P. I. P. These Letters were of diuers men diuersly interpreted so that the interpretations were moe then the letters And in the end a woman-prophetesse greatly esteemed for her science vnto whome God had giuen this secrete knowledge opened the true meaning of these Letters saying R. signifieth Reddite A aliena S sivultis P. propria I. in Pace P. possidere Which altogether is to say Render vnto others that which is theirs if you in quyet will possesse your owne Truly the pyrates were wonderfully afrayd of this sudden commaundement and he Woman was highly commended for her exposition This being done the Monster went the same night out of the City vnto a high hill called Iamicia there stood for the space of 3 dayes in the sight of the City the Lions with terrible voyces roaring the Beares with no lesse fearefull cries raging and finally the monster most dreadful flames casting During all this time there was neither bride seene in the aire nor beast in the fields And the people offered such great sacrifices vnto their Gods that they brake the veines of their handes and feet and offered the bloud therof to see if they coulde appease theyr wrathes These three dayes being passed there appeared in the Element a maruellous darke cloud which seemed to darken the whole earth and therewith it beganne to thunder and lighten so terrible that sundry houses fell to the ground and infinite men ended their liues And last of all there came such a flame of fire from the Monster that it burned both the Pallace where the Rouers were and all other thinges that were therein so that all was consumed with fire yea the very stones themselues The tempest was so great that there fell aboue two thousand houses and there dyed more then tenne thousand persons In this place where this Monster was on the toppe of the Hill the Emperour edified a sumptuous temple to the God Iupiter in perpetuall memory of the same Whereof afterwards Alexander Emperour hauing warre with the people of the Isle made a strong Castle CHAP. II. Of that which chaunced vnto Antigonus a Citizen of Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius AT the same time when this woefull chaunce happened in the Isle there dwelled a Romane in the same City called Antigonus a man of a noble bloud and well strucken in age who with his wife and daughter were banished two yeares beefore from Rome The cause of this banishment was this There was an olde laudable custome in Rome instituted by Quintus Cincinnatus the Dictator that two of the most auncient Senators should go with the Censour newly created in the moneth of December to visite al Rome and to examine seuerally euery Romane declaring vnto him the 12. Tables and also the particular Decrees of the Senate demaunding of of them if they knew any man that had not obserued these lawes and if they
entent that afterwardes suddenly and at vnawares shee may bring vs into some great aduersity By experience dayly we see that the Sea is seldome times calme but immediately there followeth some perillous Tempest The extreame heate of the day doth prognosticate that terrible thunder is the Euentide I meane when Fortune doth flatter vs with her golden pilles it is a token that shee intendeth to catch vs in her snares The Mylner before the banke broken repayreth the dammes The husband man before it raineth thacketh his house fearing the snow and raine that is to come So likewise the sage man ought to cōsider that during this life he hath prosperitie but by leaue and aduersity as by patrimony Marcus Aurelius among all other men was hee that knew how to enioy prosperity and also to preuaile of aduersity Though fortune gaue him much prosperitie yet he neuer trusted therein nor for any troubles that euer he receyued in this life he was at any time abashed CHAP. V. Of the sharpe words which Marcus Aurelius spake to his wife and to his daughter WHen the triumphes before named were finished this good Emperour then beeing willing to vnburden his heart and to aduise Faustine and to teach the yong damosell his daughter and to the end that no man should heare it he called them a part and sayde vnto them these words I am not content Faustine with that thy daughter did nor yet with that which thou hast done being her mother The daughters if they will bee counted for good Children must learne to obey their fathers and the mothers if they will be counted good mothers must learn to bring vp their daughters well When the mother is honest and the daughter shamefast the father is excused in giuing counsell It is great shame to the Father being a man that the Mother beeing a woman should chastife his sonne And this is a great reproach to the mother that the daughter should bee chastised by the hands of any man There was a Law enacted amongst the Rhodians that neyther the Fathers should haue to do with the daughters nor the mothers with the Sonnes but the men vsed to bring vp the men and the women the women And in such wise that they abiding all in one house it seemeth vnto the fathers that they had no daughters and vnto the mothers that they had no sonnes Oh Rome Rome I bewaile thee not to see thy streets vnpaued nor to see thy houses so decayed nor to see thy battlements so fallen downe nor thy timber hewed downe not for the diminishing of the inhabitants for all this Time bringeth and Time taketh away but I weepe for thee againe to see thee vnpeopled of good-fathers and vnprouided in the nourishing of their children Rome beganne to decay when the discipline of Sonnes and Daughters was enlarged and that their bridle was set at libertie For there is now such boldnes in Boyes and so little shamefastnes in Gyrles with dishonestie of the Mothers that whereas one Father sufficed for xx Sonnes and one Mother for xx daughters now xx fathers dare scarcely vndertake to bring vp well one Sonne and xxx Mothers one daughter I say this to you Faustine you remember not how you are a Mother For you giue more libertie to your Daughter then ought to bee suffered And now Lucilla remember not how you are a daughter for you shew to haue more libertie then requireth for a young Maiden The greatest gift that the Gods haue giuen to the Matrones of Rome is because that they are women they keepe themselues close and secret because they are Romanes they are shamefast The day when the women want the feare of the Gods secretlie and shame of men openly beleeue me they shall either faile the world or the world them The common wealth requireth it of great necessity that the women which therein inhabite should bee as honest as the Captaines valiant for the Captaines going to warre defend them and the women which abide at home conserue them As now foure yeares passed you saw this great pestilence and I demaunded then to haue account of the people and I found that of a C. and xl M. honest women lxxx M. dyed and of x. M. dishonest women in a manner they scaped all I cannot tell for which I should weep eyther for the lacke that wee haue of the good and vertuous Women in our common wealth or else for the great hurt and dammages that these euill and wicked women doe to the youth of Rome The fire that burneth in Mount Ethna doth not so much endamage those that dwell in Scicill as one euill woman doth within the walls of Rome A fierce beast and a perillous enemie to the Common wealth is an evill woman for shee is of power to commit all euils and nothing apt to doe any good O how many realmes and Kingdomes reade wee of which by the euill behauiours of one woman haue been lost and to resist against them there hath beene neede both of wisedome perils money and force of many men The vices in a woman is as a green Reede that boweth euery way but the lightnes and dishonesty is as a dry Kyxe that breaketh in such wise that the more euill they vtter the more vnlikely is the amendment therof Beholde Faustine there is no creature that more desireth honour and worse keepeth it then a Woman and that this is true wee see by Iustice by Orations by writing and other Trauells man getteth fame and renowm but without it bee by flattering and faire speaking this houre by auncient wryters we can read of few women or none which eyther by writing reading working with Needle spinning or by weauing haue gotten them any great renowme But euen I say of one so I say of another certainly of diuers we reade by keeping themselues closed in their houses being well occupyed in their busines temperate modest in their wordes faithfull to their Husbandes well-ordered in theyr persons peaceable with their Neighbours and finally for beeing honest amongst their owne Familie and shamefast amongst strangers they haue obtained great renown in their life time and left perpetuall memorie of them after their death I will tell you an ancient history as profitable to restraine your vices as it did then augment vertues which is this The Realme of the Lacedemonians saieth Plato was a long time as dissolute through the vnthriftines of the women-kinde as infamed by the vices of the men So that of all Nations they were both called and esteemed barbarous what time Greece of the Phylosophers was called The Mother of Phylosophers Lycurgus a moste wise Phylosopher in knowledge and a right iust king concerning his gouernāce partly with his doctrine very profitable and partly with his life most pure ordayned Lawes in the said Realm whereby hee expelled all vices and planted all vertues I cannot tell which of these two were most happyest the King hauing so obedient people or else the
60. daughters of the Senators 55. were goten with child among the thicke bushes which thing made a great slaunder in the people and augmented the infamy of Marcus Anthonius Thus as I haue shewed of a small number I could say of many other All men are not men nor all women are not women I speake it because I would it should bee saide let it touch them that it toucheth and let them that come vnderstand me There are som ships which are so light that they will sayle with a little winde And there bee other some milles that will grinde with a little water I say there bee some women so brickle that as a glasse with a philip will breake and will slippe with a little mire Tell mee Faustine haue you suffered your daughter to speake but with her vncles and keepe company but with her cousins I say in this case that the mother is in as much blame as the daughter in perill Doe you not know that the hote fire doth not forbeare the wood bee it wet or drie but in like manner it consumeth the hard stones Doe you not know that the extreame hunger causeth beasts to deuoure with their owne teeth the thing that was bredde in their entrals Doe you not know that the gods made a Law ouer all things except ouer Louers because they may not abide it and doubtles much more then I haue sayde And diuers times mee thinkes I should fall downe because I dare not weepe with mine eyes yet I feele it inwardly in my heart I would faine commune with thee in diuers things Come I pray thee to Briette to the entent that wee may speake together And sith it hath pleased the Gods to take my child from mee that I loued so well I would counsell with thee that art my louing friend But fewe dayes passed there came thither an Ambassadour from the Rhodes to whom I gaue the most part of my horses and from the farthest part of Spaine there were brought me eight of the which I send thee foure I would they were such as might please thee The Gods be thy safeguard and send mee and my wise some comfort Marcus Aurelius right sorrowfull hath written this with his owne hand CHAP. VI. A Letter sent by Marcus Aurelius Emperour to Catullus Censorius of the newes which were at that time in Rome MArcus the new Censor to thee Catullus now aged sendeth salutations There are ten dayes past that in the temple of God Ianus I receyued thy Letter and I take the same God to witnesse that I had rather haue seene thy person Thou desiredst that my letters may belong but the shortnesse of time maketh mee to aunswere thee more briefly then I would Thou willest mee to giue thee knowledge of the newes here Thereto I aunswere that it were better to demaund if there were any thing remayning here in Rome or Italy that is old For now by our euill destinies all that is good and olde is ended and new things which bee euill now beginne The Emperour the Consull the Tribune the Senators the Ediles the Flamines the Pretours and Centurions all things be new saue the vertues which be old Wee passe the time in making new officers in deuising new counsels and in raysing new Subsidies In such wise that there hath beene now more nouelties within these 4. yeares then in times passed in 400. yeares we now assemble together 300. to counsell in the Capitoll and there wee bragge and boast sweare and promise that wee will exalt the vertuous and subdue the vitious fauour the right not winke at the wrong punish the euil and reward the good repaire old and edifie new plucke vices vp by the rootes and to plant vertues to amend the olde and follow the good reproue tyrants and assist the poore and when that wee are gone from thence they that speake best words are often taken with the worst deedes O wicked Rome that now a dayes hath such Senators which in saying we will doe we will doe passe their I for so euery man seeking his owne profit forgetteth the weale publike Oftentimes I am in the Senate to beholde others as they regarde mee and I do maruell much to heare the eloquence of their words the zeale of iustice and the iustification of their persons and after that I come thence I am ashamed to see their secret extortioÌ„s their damnable thoughts and their euill workes And yet there is another thing of more maruell and not to be suffered that such persons as are most defamed and vse most wicked vices with their most damnable intentions make their auowes to doe most extreame iustice It is an infallible rule and of humane malice most vsed that hee that is most hardy for to committe greatest crimes is most cruell to giue sentence against an other for the same offence Wee thinke that wee behold our owne faults as through small nettes which cause things to seeme the lesse but we beholde the faultes of others in the water that causeth them to seeme greater Oh how many haue I seene condemned by the Senate for one small fault done in all their life and yet they themselues commit the same euery houre I haue read in the time of King Alexander the great there was a renowmed Pyrate on the Sea called Dyonides the which robbed and spoiled al the shipping that hee could get and by commaundement of this good King Alex there was an armie sent foorth to take him And when he was taken and presented to K. Alexander the King saiâ—e vnto him Shew me Dyonides why dost thou so spoyle on the Sea that no ship can sayle out of the East into the west for thee The pyrate aunswered and sayde if I spoyle the Sea why doest thou Alexander rob both the Sea and Land also O Alexander because I fight with one shippe in the Sea I am called a thiefe and because thou robbest with two hundreth ships on the Sea and troublest all the world with 200000. men thou art called an Emperour I sweare vnto thee Alexander if Fortune were as fauourable to me and the Gods as extreame against thee they would giue mee thine Empyre and giue thee my little shippe and then peraduenture I should bee a better king then thou art and thou become a worse Thiefe then I am These were high words and well receyued of Alexander and of truth to see if his wordes were correspondent to his promises hee made him of a pyrate a great captaine of an Armie and hee was more vertuous on Land then he was cruell on the Seas I promise thee Catullus Alexander did right well therein and Dyonides was to bee praised greatly for that hee had saide Now-adayes in Italie they that robbe openly are called Lords and they that robbe priuilie are commonly called theeues In the Annales of Liuius I haue read that in the second troublous warre punicke between the Romanes and the Carthagenians there came an Ambassadour Lusitaine sent
thy malice onely sufficeth to poyson many that bee good the euilnes only of one woman shal be enogh to spoile take away thy good renowm One difference there is betwen thee and me thy Faustine which is that my facts are in suspect yours done in deede mine bee secrete but yours known openly I haue but stumbled but ye haue fallen For one only fault I deserue punishment but you deserue pardon for none My dishonor dyed with my fact and is buryed with my amendment but your infamie is borne with your desires nourished with your malices and still with your works Finally your infamie shall neuer dye for you liued neuer well Oh Marke malicious with all that thou knowest doest thou not know that to dye well doth couer an euill fame and to make an ende of an euill life doth beginne a good fame Thou ceasest not to say euill onely of suspect which thy false iudgements giueth and yet wouldest thou wee should conceale that wee see with our eyes Of one thing I am sure that neither of thee nor of Faustine there are or haue been any false witnesses For there are so many true euils that there needeth no Lyes to be inuented Thou sayest it is an olde custome with the amorous Ladies in Rome though they take it of many yet they are the poorest of all because we want credit we are honoured for siluer It is most certaine that of holly wee looke for prickes of acornes husks of netles stinging and of thy mouth malices I haue seriously noted I neuer heard thee say well of any nor I neuer knew any that would thee good What greater punishment can I desire for thy wickednenes nor more vengeance for my iniuries then to see al the amorons Ladies of Rome discontented with thy selfe and ioy to think on thy death cursed is the man whose life many doe bewayle and in whose death euery one doth reioyce It is the property of such vnthankefull wretches as thou art to forgette the great good done to them and to repent the little they giue How much the noble hearts do reioice in giuing to other so much they are ashamed to take seruice vnrewarded For in giuing they are lords and in taking they become slaues I aske what it is thou hast giuen me or what thou hast receyued of mee I haue aduentured my good Fame and giuen thee possession of my person I haue made thee lorde of mee and mine I banished mee from my countrey I haue put in peril my life In recompence of this thou doest detect mee of miserie Thou neuer gauest mee ought with thy heart nor I tooke it with good will nor it euer did me profit As all things recouer a name not for the workes wee openly see but for the secret intention with which we work Euen so thou vnhappie man desirest mee not to enioy my person but rather to haue my money Wee ought not to call thee a cleere Louer but rather a Theefe and a wily person I had a little Ring of thine I minde to throw it into the riuer and a gowne thou gauest me which I haue burnt And if I thought my bodie were increased with that Bread I did eate of thine I would cut my flesh being whole and let out my bloud without feare Oh malicious Marke thy obscured malice will not suffer thee to vnderstand my cleare letter For I sent not vnto thee to aske mony to relieue my pouertie and solitarines but onely to acknowledge and satisfie my willing hart Such vaine and couetous men as thou are contented with gifts but the harts incarnate in loue are not satisfied with a little money For Zoue is rewarded alwayes with loue The man that loueth not as a man of reason but like a brute beast and the woman that loueth not where she is beloued but onely for the gaine of her bodie Such ought not to bee credited in words nor their personages to be honoured For the loue of her ends when their goods faileth and his loue when her beautie decayeth If the beautie of my face did procure thy loue and thy riches onely allured my good will it is right that wee should not bee called wise Louers but rather foolish persons O cursed Mark I neuer loued thee for thy goods although thou likedst me for that I was faire Thou sayedst the Gods vsed great pittie on me to giue me few children and them manie Fathers The greatest fault in women is shamelesse and the greatest villany in men is to be euill sayers Diuers things ought to bee borne in the weaknesse of women which in the wisedome of men are not permitted I say this for that I neuer saw in thee temperance to cloke thine owne maliciousnes nor wisdome to shadow the debilitie of others Then I loued with my hart and now I abhorre thee with all my heart Thou sayest my Children haue many Fathers but I sweare vnto thee that the children of Faustine shall not be fatherles although thou dye And if the Gods as thou sayest haue beene pittifull to my Children no lesse art thou vnto straunge children For Faustine keepeth thee but to excuse her faultes and to bee tutor to her Children Oh cursed Marke thou needest not to take thought for thy children haue no need to be marryed For one thing wee are bound to thee that is the example of thy patience for since thou sufferest Faustine in so manie open infamyes it is no great neede wee suffer any secretes in thee For this present I say no more I ende my Letter desiring shortly to see the ende of thy life CHAP. X. ¶ Marcus Aurelius writeth to the Ladie Macrine the Romane of whome beholding her at a window he became enamored Which declareth what force the beautie of a faire woman hath in weake man MArke the verie desirous to the Ladie Macrine greatly desired I knowe not well whither by euill chaunce or by hap of my good aduenture not long agoe I saw thee at a window where thou haddest thy arms as close is I mine Eyes displayed that cursed be they for euer for in beholding thy Face forthwith my heart abode with thee as prisoner The beginning of thy knowledge is the ende of my reason and falling in shunning one euil come infinite trauells vnto men I say it for this if I had not bin idle I had not gone out of my house and not gone out of my house I had not passed by the streete And not going through the street I had not not seen thee at the windowe and not seeing thee at the window I had not desired thy person and not desiring thy person I had not put thy fame in so great peril nor my life in doubt nor we had giuē no occasion to Rome to speake of vs. For of truth Lady Macrine in this case I condemne my selfe For very willingly I did behold thee I did not salute thee thogh thou desiredst to be seene Sith thou wert set vp as
but without comparison the gods whom they worshipped and inuented were greater in multitude then the Realmes and Prouinces which they conquered and possessed For by that folly the auncient Poets durst affirme in their writings that the Gods of one Nation and Country were mortall enemies vnto the Gods of another Prouince So that the Gods of Troy enuied the Gods of Greece more then the Prince of Greece enuied the Prince of Troy What a strange thing was it to see the Assyrians in what reuerence they worshipped the God Belus The Egyptians the God Apis. The Caldeans the God Assas The Babilonians the deuouring Dragon The Pharaones the statue of gold The Palestines Belzebub The Romans honoured the God Iupiter The Affricans the God Mars The Corinthians the God Apollo The Arabians God Astaroth The Arginians the Sun Those of Acaia the Moone The Cidonians Belphegorn The Amonites Balim The Indians Baccus The Lacedemonians Osiges The Macedonians did sacrifice to Mercurie The Ephesians to their goddesse Diana The Greekes to Iuno The Armenians to Liber The Troians to Vesta The Latines to Februa The Tarentines to Ceres The Rhodians as sayth Apolonius Thianeus worshipped the God Ianus and aboue all things wee ought to maruell at this That they striued oftentimes amongst themselues not so much vpon the possessions and seignories of Realmes as vpon a certaine obstinacie they had to maintaine the Gods of the one to bee of greater power then the others for they thought if their gods were not esteemed that the people should be empouerished vnfortunate and persecuted Pulio in his second booke De dissolatione regionum Orientarum declareth that the first Prouince that rebelled against the Emperour Helius Adrianus which was the fifteenth Emperour of Rome was the land of Palestine against which was sent a Captaine named Iulius Seuerus a man of great courage and very fortunate and aduenturous in Armes This Captaine did not onely finish the warres but hee wrought such an outragious destruction in that land that he besieged 52. Cities and razed them to the ground and burned 680. Villages and slew so many in battell skirmish and by Iustice that amounted to the number of 5000. persons For vnto the proud and cruell Captaines victory can neuer bee glorious vnlesse they water the ground with the bloud of their enemies And furthermore in the Cities and Townes besieged the children olde men and women which dyed through hunger and pestilence were more in number then those which were slaine in the wars For in wars the sword of the enemies lighteth not vpon all but pestilence and famine hath no respect to any After this warre of the Palestines was ended immediately after arose a more crueller betwixt the Alleynes and Armenians For there are many that see the beginning of the troubles and miseries which arise in Realmes but there are few that consider the end and seeke to remedie the same The occasion of this warre was as they came to the feast of the Mount Olimpus they fell in disputations whether of their Gods were better and which of them ought to bee preferred before other Whereof there sprang such contradictions and such mortall hatred that on euery part they were furiously moued to warres and so vnder a colour to maintaine the gods which they honoured both the common wealthes were brought into great pouerty and the people also into great misery The Emperour Helius Adrianus seeing such cruell warres to arise vpon so light occasion sent thither the Captaine aboue named Iulius Seuerus to pacifie the Allaines and Armenians and commaunded him that he should persecute those with warres which would not be ruled by his arbitremēt sentence For those iustly deserue the sword which with no reasonable conditions will condiscend vnto peace But Iulius Seuerus vsed such policy that he made thē good friends and neuer touched them nor came neare them Which thing was no lesse acceptable to the Emperour then profitable to the Realmes For the Captaine which subdueth the Country by entreatie deserueth more honor then he which ouercommeth it by battell The agreement of the peace was made vpon such condition that the Allaines should take for their Gods the Armenian Gods and the Armenians on the contrary the Gods of the Allaines And further when the people should embrace and reconcile themselues to the Senate that then the Gods should kisse the one the other and to be reconciled to the temple The vanity of the Ancients was such and the blindnesse of mortall men so great so subiect were they to diuelish deuises that as easily as the eternall wisedome createth a true man now a dayes so easily then a vain man might haue inuented a false God For the Lacedemonians had this opinion that men had no lesse power to inuent gods then the gods had to create men CHAP. V. How the Philosopher Bruxellus was greatly esteemed amongst the Ancients for his life and the words which hee spake vnto the Romanes at the houre of his death PHarasmaco in his 20 booke De libertate Deorum whereof Cicero maketh mētion in his booke De natura Deorum sayth that when the Gothes tooke Rome and besieged the high Capitoll there came amongst them a Philosopher called Bruxellus the which after the Gothes were repulsed out of Italy remained with Camillus at Rome And because at that time Rome wanted Philosophers this Bruxellus was had in great veneration amongst all the Romanes so that hee was the first stranger of whom being aliue a statue was euer made in the Senate the Romanes vsed to make a statue of the Romanes being aliue but not to strangers till after their death The age of this Bruxellus was 113. whereof 65. hee had been an inhabitant of Rome And among other things they recite 7. notable things of his life 1 The first that in 60. yeeres no mā euer saw him issue out of the wals of Rome For in the olde time the Sages were little esteemed if in their behauiours they were not iust and vpright 2 The second that in 60. yeares no man heard him speake an idle word For the words that are superfluous doe greatly deface the authoritie of the person 3 The third that in all his time they neuer saw him lose one houre of time For in a wise man there is no greater folly then to see him spend a moment of an houre idely 4 The fourth that in all his time hee was neuer detected of any vice And let no man thinke this to bee a small matter For few are they of so long life which are not noted of some infamy after their death The fifth that in all the 60. years he neuer made quarrell nor striued with any man and this thing ought to be no lesse esteemed then the other For truly hee that liueth a long time without offering wrong to another may be called a monster in nature 6 The sixt that in 3. or 4. yeares hee neuer issued out of the
ought to be friend to one and enemie to none Besides all this wee haue amongst vs great friendshippes good peace great loue much rest and aboue all wee holde our selues contented for it is better to enioy the quietnesse of the graue then to liue a discontented life Our Lawes are few but in our opinions they are good and are in seuen words onely included as here followeth Wee ordaine that our children make no more Lawes then wee their Fathers doe leaue vnto them for new Lawes maketh them to forget good and ancient customes We ordaine that our Successors shall haue no moe Gods then two of the which the one God shall bee for the life and the other for the death for one God well serued is more worth then many not regarded Wee ordaine that all bee apparrelled with one cloath and hosed of one sort and that the one haue no more apparrell then the other for the diuersity of garments engendreth folly among the people Wee ordaine that when any woman which is maried hath had three children that then shee bee separated from her husband for the aboundance of children causeth men to haue couetous hearts And if any woman hath brought forth any mo children then they should bee sacrificed vnto the Gods before her eyes We ordaine that all men and women speake the truth in all things and if any bee taken in a lye committing no other fault that immediately hee bee put to death for the same For one lyer is able to vndoe a whole multitude We ordaine that no woman liue aboue forty yeares and that the man liue vntil fifty and if they dye not before that time that then they be sacrificed to the Gods for it is a great occasion for men to bee vicious to thinke that they shall liue many yeares CHAP XXXV That Princes ought to consider for what cause they were made Princes and what Thales the Philosopher was of the 12. questions asked him and of his answere he made vnto them IT is a common and olde saying which many times by Aristotle the noble and vertuous Prince hath beene repeated That in the end all thinges are done to some purpose for there is no worke neyther good nor euil◠but he that doth it meaneth to some end If thou demaundest the Gardener to what end he watereth so oft his plants hee will answere thee it is to get some money for his hearbes If thou demaundest why the riuer runneth so swift a man will answere thee that it his to the end it should returne from whence it came If thou demaundest why the trees budde in the spring time they will answere to the end they may beare fruite in haruest If wee see a traueller passe the mountaines in the snow the riuers with perill the woods in feare to walke in extreame heate in Sommer to wander in the night time in the colde winter and if by chance a man doth aske one of them saying Friend whether goest thou wherefore takest thou such paines And hee aunswereth Truly sir I know no more then you to what end neyther can I tell why I take such paines I aske thee now what a wise man would answere to this innocent Traueller Truly hearing no more hee would iudge him to bee a foole for he is much infortunate that for all his trauell looketh for no reward Therefore to our matter a Prince which is begotten as an other man borne as an other man liueth as an other man dyeth as an other man And besides all this commaundeth all men if of such a one wee should demaund why God gaue him signiory and that he should answere hee knoweth not but that he was borne vnto it In such case let euery man iudge how vnworthy such a King is to haue such authority For it is vnpossible for a man to minister iustice vnlesse hee knew before what iustice meaneth Let Princes and noble men heare this word imprint it in their memory which is that when the liuing God determined to make Kings and Lords in this world hee did not ordaine them to eate more then others to drinke more then others to sleepe more then others to speake more thē others nor to reioyce more then others but hee created them vpon condition that sith he had made thē to commaund more then others they should be more iust in their liues thē others It is a thing most vniust and in the Common wealth very slaunderous to see with what authority a puissant man commandeth those that bee vertuous and with how much shame himselfe is bound to all vices I know not what Lord he is that dare punish his subiect for one onely offence committed seeing himselfe to deserue for euery deede to bee chastised For it is a monstrous thing that a blinde man should take vpon him to leade him that seeth They demaunded great Cato the Censor what a King ought to doe that he should be beloued feared and not despised he answered The good Prince should be compared to him that selleth Tryacle who if the poyson hurteth him not hee selleth bis Triacle well I mean therby that the punishment is takē in good part of the people which is not ministred by the vitious man For hee that maketh the Tryacle shall neuer bee credited vnlesse the proofe of his Triacle bee openly knowne and tryed I meane that the good life is none other then a fine Triacle to cure the Common-wealth And to whome is he more like which with his tongue blazeth vertues and imployeth his deedes to all vices then vnto the man who in the one hand holdeth poyson to take away life and in the other Triacle to resist death To the end that a Lord bee wholy obeyed it is necessary that all that he commaundeth bee obserued first in his owne person for no Lord can nor may withdraw himselfe from vertuous works This was the answere that Cato the Censor gaue which in mine opinion was spoken more like a Christian then any Romane When the true God came into the World he employed 30. yeares onely in workes and spent but two yeares and a halfe in teaching For mans heart is perswaded more with the worke hee seeketh then with the word which hee heareth Those therfore which are Lords let them learne and know of him which is the true Lord and also let Princes learne why they are Princes for he is not a Pylot which neuer sayled on the seas In mine opinion if a Prince will know why he is a Prince I would say to gouern well his people to command well and to maintaine all in iustice and this should not bee with words to make them afrayde neyther by works which should offend them but by sweet words which should encourage them and by the good workes that should edifie them for the noble and gentle heart cannot resist him that with a louing countenance commaundeth Those which will rule and make tame fierce and wilde beasts do
was founded in Europe the rich Carthage in Affricke and the hardy Rome in Italy the goodly Capua in Campaigne and the great Argentine in Germanie and the holy Helia in Palestine Thebes onely was the most renowmed of all the World For the Thebanes amongst all Nations were renowned as well for their riches as for their buildings and also because in their lawes and customes they had many notable and seuere things and all the men were seuere in their works although they would not bee knowne by their extreame doings Homer saith that the Thebanes had fiue customes wherein they were more extreame then any other Nation 1 The first was that the children drawing to fiue yeeres of age were marked in the forehead with a hot Iron because in what places soeuer they came they should be knowne for Thebanes by the marke 2 The second was that they should accustome their children to trauaile alwayes on soote And the occasion why they did this was because the Egyptians kept their beasts for their Gods and therefore whensoeuer they trauelled they neuer rid on horsebacke because they should not seeme to sit vpon their god 3 The third was that none of the Citizens of Thebes should marry with any of strāge nations but rather caused thē to mary parents with parents because the friendes marrying with friends they thought the friendship and loue should be more sure 4 The fourth custome was that no Thebane should in any wise make a house for himselfe to dwell in but first hee should make his graue wherein hee should bee buried ◠Mee thinketh that in this point the Thebanes were not too extreame nor excessiue but that they did like sage and wise men yea and by the law of verity I sweare that they were sager then wee are For if at least we did imploy our thought but two houres in the weeke to make our graue It is vnpossible but that wee should correct euery day our life 3 The fift custome was that all the boyes which were exceeding fayre in theyr face should be by them strangled in the cradell and all the gyrles which were extreame foule were by them killed and sacrificed to the Gods Saying that the Gods forgot themselues when they made the men fayre and the women foule For the man which is very fayre is but an vnperfect woman and the woman which is extreame foule is but a sauage and wilde beast The greatest God of the Thebanes was Isis who was a red bull nourished in the riuer of Nile and they had a custome that all those which had red haire immediate should be sacrifised The contrary they did to the beasts for sith their God was a Bull of tawny colour none durst bee so bold to kill any beasts of the same colour In such forme and maner that it was lawful to kill both men and women and not the brute beasts I doe not say this well done of the Thebanes to slay their children nor yet I do say that it was well done to sacrifise men and women which had red or tawny haire nor I thinke it a thing reasonable that they should doe reuerence to the beasts of that colour but I wonder why they should so much despise foule women and faire men sith all the world is peopled both with with faire and foule Then sith those barbarous liuing as they did vnder a false law did put him to death whom the gods had adorned with any beautie we then which are Christians by reason ought much lesse to esteeme the beauty of the body knowing that most commonly thereupon ensueth the vncleannesse of the soule Vnder the Christall stone lyeth oft-times a dangerous worme in the faire wall is nourished the venomous Coluler within the middle of the white tooth is ingendred great paine to the gummes in the finest cloth the moths do most hurt and the most fruitfull tree by wormes is soonest perished I meane that vnder the cleane bodyes and faire countenances are hid many and abominable vices Truly not onely to children which are not wise but to all other which are light and frayle beutie is nothing else but the mother of many vices and the hinderer of all vertues Let Princes and great Lords beleeue me which thinke to be fayre and well disposed that where there is great aboundance of corporall goods and graces there ought to be great bones of vertues to bee able to beare them For the most high trees by great winds are shaken I say that it is vanity to bee vaine glorious in any thing of this world be it neuer so perfit and also I say that it is a great vanitie to bee prowd of corporall beautie For among all the acceptable gifts that nature gaue to the mortals there is nothing more superfluous in man and lesse necessary then the beauty of the body For truly whether be we faire or foule we are nothing the better beloued of God neither thereby the more hated of men O blindnesse of the world O life which neuer liueth O death which neuer shall end I know not why man through the accident of this beauty should or durst take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption sith he knoweth that all the fairest and most perfitest of flesh must be sacrificed to the wormes in the graue And know also that all the propernesse of the members shall be forfeited to the hungrie wormes which are in the earth Let the great scorne the little as much as they will the fayre mocke the foule at their pleasure the whole disdaine the sicke the well made enuy the deformed the white hate the blacke and the Giants despise the Dwarfes yet in the ende all shall haue an ende Truly in my opinion the trees beare not the more fruit for that they are straight onely nor for being high neither for giuing great shadow nor for being beautifull nor yet for being great By this comparison I meane that though a noble and stout man be proper of person and noble of linage shadowing of fauor comely in countenance in renowne very high and in the commonwealth puissant that therefore he is not the better in this life For truely the common wealthes are not altered by the simple laborers which trauell in the fields but by the vicious men which take great ease in their liues Vnlesse I be deceiued the Swine and other beasts are fed vnder the Oakes with the Acornes and among the pricking briers and thorns the sweet Roses doe grow the sharpe Beech giueth vs the sauory chestnuts I meane that deformed and little creatures oft times are most profitable in the commonwealth For the litle and sharpe countenances are signes of valiant and stout hearts Let vs cease to speak of men which are fleshly being eftsoons rotten and gone and let vs talke of sumptuous buildings which are of stone which if we should goe to see what they were we may know the greatnesse and the height of them Then
shee represented her selfe before me remembring that she liued I was sorry to remember her death Life was so grieuous vnto me that I would haue reioyced to haue beene put in the graue with her For truly hee feeleth assuredly the death of another which alway is sorrowfull and lamenting his owne life Remembring therefore the great loue which my sister Milena bare vnto me in her life and thinking wherein I might requite the same after her death I imagined that I could not by any meanes doe any thing that was more acceptable for her then to bring thee vp thou which art her childe and left an Orphane so yong For of all trauells to a woman this is the chiefest to leaue behinde her children to bring vp My sister being dead the first thing I did was that I came to Rome and then sent thee to Capua to be brought vp there in the which place hard at my nose they gaue thee sucke two yeares For thou knowest right well that the mony which by reading Rethorike I gate scarcely satisfied for thy dayly feeding but that in the night I reade some extraordinare lecture and with that I payed for the milke which thou suckedst on the dugge so that thy bringing vp depended vpon the labour of my life After that thou wert weined and and brought from the teate I sent thee to Bietro to a friend and kinsman of mine named Lucius Valerius with whom thou remainedst vntill fiue yeares were fully accomplished where I found both him and thee all things necessary For he was in great pouertie and a great blabber of his tongue in such sort that he troubled all men and angred me much For truely a man should as willingly giue mony to cause him to be silent which is talkatiue as to giue a wise man to heare him to speake The fiue yeares accomplished I sent thee to Toringue a citie of Campaignia to a Maister which taught children there called Emilius Torquates of whom to the end hee should teach thee to reade and to write three yeares I tooke a sonne of his whom hee gaue mee to reade to him Greeke foure yeares so that thou couldest not haue any profite in thee without the increase of great trauell and augmenting paine to my heart And after thou wert seuen yeares old that thou couldest reade and write wel I sent thee to study in the famous city of Tareth where I kept thee foure yeares paying to the masters a great summe of money Because now a dayes through our euill fortunes there is none that will teach without great stipend Without lamenting I doe not tell thee that in the time that Cincinos which were after the death of Quintus Cincinatus vntill Cyna and Catulus the phylosopher and maisters were by the sacred Senate payde and none ceased to study for lacke of money For in those dayes they which would apply themselues to vertue and sciences were by the common treasure maintained As our fathers were well ordered in their things so they did not deuide offices by order onely but also by order they payed their money in such sort that they paide first with the common treasure the priests of the Temples Secondly the maisters of schooles and studies Thirdly the poore widowes and Orphanes Fourthly the strange knights which of their owne free wills voluntarily were made citizens of Rome Fiftly all the old souldiesr which had serued 35. yeares continually in the warres For those which were retired home to their owne houses were honourably found of the common-wealth The twelue yeares past I my selfe was in Tarenthe and carryed thee to Rome where I read vnto thee Rhetorike Logike and phylosophy and also the Mathematicall sciences keeping thee in my house in my company at my table and in my bed and further more I had the in my heart and in my minde The which thing thou shouldest esteeme more then if I gaue thee my house and al my goods For the true benefites is that onely which is done without any respect of profite or interest I kept thee with meanes in this sort in Laurence in Rhodes in Naples and in Capua vntill such time as the gods created me Emperor of Rome And then I determined to send thee to Greece because thou shouldest learne the Greeke tongue and also to the end thou shouldest accustome thy selfe to worke that which true phylosophy requireth For the true and vertuous phylosophers ought to conforme their workes to that they say and publish their words with their deeds There is nothing more infamous then to presume to be sage and to be desirous to be counted vertuous principally for him that speaketh much and worketh little For the man of a pleasant tongue and euill life is hee which with impostumes vndoeth the commonwealth When I sent thee to Greece and withdrew thee from Rome it was not to exile thee out of my company so that thou hauing tasted of my pouertie shouldest not reioyce at my prosperitie but it was that considering thy youthfull disposition and lightnesse I was afrayde to vndoe thee in the pallace chiefely least thou wouldest haue presumed to haue bin too bold and familiar because thou wert my nephew For truely Princes which take pleasure that their children be familiar with them they giue occasion that men shall not count them wise and cause also the young men to bee esteemed for light I haue tolde thee that I did for thee in Italie I will now let thee know what thou hast done and doest in Greece so that I will shew thee to bee notorious that is to know that thou taking and esteeming thy selfe to bee well disposed in thy youth thou hast forsaken thy study and despised my counsayles thou art accompanyed with vaine and light men and hast most viciously employed the money which I had sent thee to buy books All the which things to thee being hurtfull are to me no lesse dishonor shame For it is a generall rule when the childe is foolish and ill taught and the blame and fault is layd on the masters necke who hath taught him and brought him vp It greeueth me not for that he brought thee vp neither for that I haue taught thee to reade and cause thee to study neither likewise to haue kept thee in my house to haue set thee at my table nor also to haue suffered thee to lie with me in my bed neither it greeueth mee to haue consumed so much on thee but with all my heart it greeueth me that thou hast not giuen me occasion to do thee good For there is nothing that greeueth a noble Prince more then not to find persons able of capacity to do them any good They tell me that thou art well made of thy body and faire in countenance and that thou presumest also in those things wherefore to enioy the pleasures of thy person thou hast forsaken Phylosophy wherewith I am not contentented For in the end the corporall beautie carely or
liue honest and temperate the which cannot well bee done vnlesse they bee marryed or that they see themselues to bee conquerors of the flesh and being so they are satisfyed but if they be not marryed and the flesh doth assault them then they liue immediately conuered Wherefore of necessitie they must goe by their Neighbours houses or else by some other dishonest places scattered abroad to the reproach and dishonor of them and their kindred and oftentimes to the great perill and danger of their Persons CHAP. III. Of sundry and diuers Lawes which the Ancients had in Contracting Matrimony not onely in the choyse of Women but also in the manner of celebrating Marriage IN all Nations and in all the Realmes of the World Marriage hath alwayes beene accepted and marueilously commended for otherwise the world had not beene peopled nor yet the number of men multiplyed The ancients neuer disagreed one from another in the approbation and acception of Marriage but there was amongst them great difference and strife vpon the contracts ceremonies and vsages of the same For they vsed as much difference in contracting Matrimony and choosing their wiues as these Epicures do desire the varietie of sundry delicate meates The diuine Plato in his Booke hee made of the Common-wealth did counsell that all thinges should be common and that not onely in bruit beasts in moueables and heritages but also that womē should be common for he sayd that if these two words thine and mine were abolished and out of vse there should not bee debates nor quarels in this world They cal Plato Diuine for many good things which he spake but now they may call him Worldly for the counsel profane which he gaue I cannot tell what beastlinesse it may be called nor what greater rudenes may be thought that the apparrell should be proper and the wiues common The bruite beast doth not know that which came out of her belly longer then it sucketh of her brests And in this sort it would chance to men yea and worse too if women were common in the Common-wealth for though one should know the Mother which hath borne him hee should not know the Father which hath begotten him The Tharentines which were wel renowmed amongst the ancients and not a little feared of the Romanes had in their Citie of Tharente a law and custome to marry themselues with a legitimate wife to beget children but besides her a man might yet chuse two others for his secret pleasures Spartianus sayd that the Emperour Hellus Verus as touching women was very dissolute and since his wife was young and faire and that she did complaine of him because he led no honest life with her hee spake these words vnto her My wife thou hast no cause to complayne of me since I remaine with thee vntill such time as thou art quicke with childe for the residue of the time we husbands haue licence and priuiledge to seek our pastimes with other women For this name of a wife containeth in it honour but for the residue it is a grieuous burden and painefull office The like matter came to Ptolomeus King of Egipt of whom the Queene his wife did greatly complaine Admit that all the Greekes haue beene esteemed to bee very wise amongst all those the Athenians were esteemed of most excellent vertue for the Sages that gouerned the Common-wealth remained in Athens with the Philosophers which taught the Sciences The Sages of Athens ordeyned that all the neighbours and inhabitants might keepe two lawfull wiues and furthermore vpon paine of grieuous punishments did commaund that none should presume nor be so hardy to maintain any concubine for they sayd when men haunt the companie of light women comonly they misuse their lawfull Wiues As Plutarch saith in his Politiques the cause why the Greekes made this lawe was considering that man could not nor ought not to liue without the companie of a woman and therefore they would that a man should marrie with two wines For if the one were diseased and lay in yet the other might serue in bed waite at the Table and doe other businesses in the house Those of Athens had another great respect and cōsideration to make this law which was this that if it chanced the one to be barren the other should bring forth children in the Common-wealth and in such case shee that brought forth Children should be esteemed for Mistresse and the other that was barren should be taken for a seruant When this law was made Socrates was marryed to Xantippa and to accomplish the law hee tooke another called Mirra which was the daughter of the Phylosopher Aristides and sith those two women had great quarrells and debates together and that thereby they slaundered their Neighbours Socrates saide vnto them My wiues yee see right well that my eyes are hollow my legges are withered my hāds are wrinckled my head is balde my bodie is little and the haires are white Why doe yee then that are so faire stand in contention and strife for mee that am so deformed Though Socrates saide these wordes as it were in ieast yet such words were occasion that the quarrells and strifes betweene them ceased The Lacedemonians than in the time of peace and warre were always contrary to the Athenians obserued it for an inuiolable lawe not that one man should marry with two wiues but that one woman should marrie with two husbands and the reason was that when one Husband should goe to the warre the other shold tarry at home For they saide that a man in no wise should agree to leaue his Wife alone in the common-wealth Plinie writing an Epistle vnto his friend Locratius and Saint Hierome writing to a Frier called Rusticus saith That the Atbenians did vse to marry Bretheren with the Sisters but they did not permitte the Auntes to marrie with their Nephewes neither the Vnckles with their Nieces For they sayd that brothers and sisters to marrie together was to marry with their semblables but for vnckles to marry Nieces Aunts with Nephews was as of fathers to daughters and of mothers to sonnes Melciades which was a man of great renowme amongst the Grecians had a sonne called Cimonius who was marryed to his owne sister called Pinicea and being demaunded of one why hee tooke his sister in marriage hee answered My sister is faire sage rich and made to my appetite and her Father and mine did recommend her vnto mee and since by the commaundement of the Gods a man ought to accomplish the behests and requests of Fathers I haue determined since Nature hath giuen mee her for my sister willingly to take her for my lawfull Wife Dyodorus Siculus saith that before the Egiptians receyued any Lawes euery man had as manie Wiues as hee would and this was at the libertie of both partyes for as much as if she would goe shee went liberally and forsooke the man and likewise hee left her when
to haue perpetuall authoritie become negligent in vsing iustice The first Dictator in Rome was Largius Mamillus who was sent against the Volces the which at that time were the greatest enemies to the Romaines For Rome was founded in such a signe that alwayes it was beloued of fewe and abhorred of manie As Titus Liuius saieth this Largius Mamillus vanquished the Volces and triumphed ouer them and in the end of that warre destroyed their mightie citie called Curiola and also destroyed and ouerthrew many places and Fortresses in that Prouince for the cruell harts do not only destroy the persons but also take vengeaunce of the stones The hurtes which L Mamillus did in the Countrey of the Volces were maruellous and the men which he slew were many and the treasories he robbed were infinite and the captiues which hee had in his Triumphe were a great number amongst whom in especiall he brought captiue a Noble mans daughter a beautiful gentlewomā the which he kept in his house for the recreation of his person For the ancient Romaines gaue to the people all the treasures to maintaine the warre and they took to themselues all the vicious thinges to keepe in theyr houses The case was that this damsel beeing with childe Largius Mamillus brought her to solace her selfe in the orchard wher were sundry yōg fruits and as then not ripe to eate whereof with so great affection shee did eate that forthwith shee was deliuered in the same place of a creature so that on the one part she was deliuered and on the other part the childe dyed This thing chaunced in the gardens of Vulcan two dayes after the triumph of Largius Mamilius a ruefull and lamentable case to declare forasmuch as both the childe that was borne the Mother that was deliuered and also the Father that begat it the self-same day dyed and were buryed all in one graue and this thing was not without great wayling and lamenting thoroughout all Rome For if with teares their liues might haue been restored without doubt none of them should haue bene buryed The first Sonne of Rome which rebelled against Rome was Tarquine the proude The second that withstoode Rome beeeing as yet in Lucanta was Quintus Marcius The third that went against Rome was the cruell Sylla The dammages which these three did to their Mother Rome were such and so great that the three seuerall warres of Affrike were nothing to be compared to these three euill children for those enemyes could scarcely see the walles of Rome but these vnnaturall children had almost not left one stone vppon another A man ought not greatly to esteeme those buyldings which those Tyrants thre we to the ground nor the buildings which they destroyed neyther the men that they slewe nor the women that they forced nor yet the Orphanes which they made but aboue all things we ought to lament for that which they brought into Rome For the Common-wealth is not destroyed for lacke of wealth riches and sumptuous buyldings but euen because all vices abound and vertues are wanting Of these three Romaines hee whose name was Quintus Marcius had beene Consull thrice once Dictator and foure times Censor and in the ende hee was with much shame bannished from Rome wherewith to reuenge this iniurie hee came with a great power and Armie against Rome For the proude hart wounded with iniurie is neuer quyet in his life time vnill hee see his enemyes destroyed or that on them he hath taken vengeance Quintus Marcius being very nigh to the Gates of Rome was most instantly required that hee would not destroy his Mother Rome but hee tooke no regarde nor would condiscend to any request vntill such time that his Mother issued with a Niece of his whom hee loued entierly At whose intercession teares he left his anger and raised his siege from Rome For manie are sooner ouercome with teares then with importunate and reasonable requests The Ladyes of Rome vsed much to haue their haires long and yellow and to weare their wastes high streight And as the Niece of Quintus Marcius was great and big with childe the day that the peace was made between Q Marcius and Rome lacing herselfe too hard in her attire to seeme more proper and comely shee long before her time was deliuered of a creature and the case was so woefull and vnfortunate that the creature deliuered died the Mother lost her life and the mother loosing her life suddainly her grandmother fel dead to the ground throgh which occasion all the ioy and mirth was turned into sorrowe sadnes For it is commonly seene when the World is in the greatest ioy then Fortune suddainly turneth it into sorrow The Authors heereof are Tibulus and Porphyrius both Grecians CHAP. X. ¶ The Authour followeth and declareth other inconuemences and vnlucky chaunces which haue happened to Women with Childe THe wars of Tarent beeing ended immediately begūne the warres of Carthage of which so long and tedious warre the possession of the Isles of Maiorica and Minorica were occasion Forsomuch as the one would take it and the other defend it This warre endured wel nigh the space of 40 yeares for oft times the wastes and dammages which are done in the Warres are greater then the profite for which they contend The first Captaine in this Warre of the Romaines was Gaius Duellus and the first of the Carthaginians was Hammon the which with their Ships fought on the Sea of Scicile the which was very cruell for there they feared both the fury of the Sea and also the crueltie of the Pike the which two things put mans life in great danger Of this cruell Battell the Romaine Captaine remained victorious forasmuch as he drowned 14. Sippes and tooke other 30. hee slew three thousand men and broght three thousand Carthaginians prisoners and this was the first victory that the Romaines had by Sea And that that the Romaines most reioyced at was that by Sea also they remained Conquerours The Captaine Gaius Duellus departing from Scicile came to Rome where he had a Sister no lesse vertuous then rich and beautifull in whose house hee lodged where hee made a most costly Supper to all the Senatours of Rome and to all the Captains which came with him from the warres for the vicious men knewe not wherin to shew their loue to their Friendes but by inuiting them to costly Banquets The Sister of the Captain Gaius Duellus for ioy of his comming and for the pleasure of the Banquet and Feast which was made in her house did eate more then shee was accustomed and also more then it behoued one in her case so that in the presence of all shee began to annnoy the bidden Guests For shee not onely vomited out the meate of her stomacke but also the bloud of her veines and therewithall most vnluckely brought forth her fruit which she had in her entrailes wherewith immediately after the Soule departed from the bodie and so
then to thinke that her husband forsaketh her for being foule The fifteenth The husband ought to put his wife in remembrance of the infamy that they speake of them that bee euill in the Citie for women are glorious and because they would be loth that men should talke such things by them as they talke of others peraduenture they will refrayne from those vices that others commit The sixteenth the husband ought to take heede that his wife accept no new friends for through accepting of new friends there grow commonly betweene them great discention The seuenteenth The husband ought to take heede that his wife beleeue that he loueth not them whome shee hateth for women are of such a condition that if the husbands loueth all them that they hate immediately they will hate all those which they loue The eighteenth The husband ought sometime in matters which are not preiudiciall vnto him confesse himselfe to be ouercome for women desire rather to be counted the best in reasoning though it be of no value then to haue otherwise a greater Iewell giuen them In this sort Faustine I will say no more to thee but wish that thou shouldest see what I see and feele what I feele and aboue all that my dissimulation should suffice to amend thy life CHAP. XVII The Emperour answereth more particularly concerning the Key of his Studie NOw Faustine since I haue the olde venome from my heart expelled I will answere to thy present demand for vnto demaunds and answeres that passeth betweene the Sages the tong ought neuer to speake word but that first he aske the heart licence And it is a generall rule amongst the Phisitians that the medicines doe not profite the sicke vnlesse they first take away the opilations of the stomacke I meane by this that no man can speake to his friend as he ought vnlesse before hee sheweth what thing grieueth him for it is better to repayre the roufes of the houses that be old then to goe about to build them new Thou requirest Faustine that I giue thee the key of my Studie and thou dost threaten mee that if I giue it not vnto thee that thou shalt forthwith bee deliuered I maruell not at that thou sayest neyther am I abasht of that thou demaundest nor yet of that that thou wouldest doe for you women are very extreame in your desires very suspicious in your demands very obstinate in your willes and as vnpatient in your sufferings I say not without a cause that women are extreame in their desires for there are thinges whereof women are so desirous that it is wonder though neuer liuing creature saw them nor heard speake of them I haue not sayd without a cause that women are suspicious in their demands for the Romane women are of such a condition that as soone as a woman desireth any thing she forthwith commandeth the tong to aske it the feete to seeke it the eies to see it the hands to feele it and likewise the heart to loue it I say not without a cause that women are obstinate in their willes for if a Romane woman beareth any malice to any man shee will not forbeare to accuse him for any slaunder nor faile to pursue him for any pouertie nor feare to kill him for any Iustice I say not without a cause that women are vnpatient to suffer for many are of such condition I say not all that if a man giue not speedily that which they desire they change their colour their eyes looke redde their tongues runne quicke their voyces are sharpe they frette with themselues they trouble their neighbours abroad and are so out of order that no man dare speake vnto them within You haue this good trade among yee women that vnder colour of being with childe you will that your husbands grant yee all your desires When the sacred Senate in the time of the valliant Camillus made a law in the fauour of the Romane Matrons with childe the women at that time longed not so much as they doe at this present but I cannot tell what this presently meaneth that all ye are anoynted with that that is good and that yee are all desirous of that that is euill I will tell thee Faustine the occasion why this lawe was made in Rome and thereby thou shalt see if thou deseruest to enioy the priuiledge thereof or no for the lawes are but as yokes vnder the which the euill doth labour and the wings wherewith the good doe flye The case thereof was such that Camillus the valiant Captaine went forth to the warres hee made a solemne vow to the mother Berecinthia that if the Gods gaue him the victory hee would offer vnto her an Image of siluer and after Camillus wanne the victory and that he would haue accomplished his vow to the mother Berecinthia neyther had he any riches nor Rome had any siluer for at that time Rome was rich of vertues and poore of money And know thou Faustine that our ancient Fathers were deuout towards the Gods and curious in repayring the Temples the which they esteemed to be great deuotions and they were in such sort obserued of their vowes that neither for sloth nor pouertie they would omit their promises towards their Gods And in these things they were so precise that they graunted to no man any triumph vnlesse he did sweare that he had vnto the Gods made a vow and afterwards also proued how he performed it At that time flourished in Rome many vertuous Romanes and many Greeke Philosophers many hardie Captaines and many sumptuous Buildings and aboue all things Rome was vnpeopled of malicies and adorned with vertuous Ladies The Historiographers made and not without a cause great account of these vertuous Matrons for the Common-wealth hath as much need of vertuous Women as the Warres haue of valiant Captaines They being therefore as they were so vertuous and so Noble Matrons without the motion of any woman determined all to goe into the high Capitoll and there to offer all their Iewels and Treasures that they had their Chains their Rings their Garments their Bracelets their Girdles their Buttons and Hangers of Gold Siluer and precious Stones of all sorts with all their Tablets The Annales of this time say that after the Romane women had layd so great a multitude of riches at the feet of the sacred Senate in the name of of them all one of them spake whose name was called Lucina and sayd in this sort Fathers conscript esteeme not much these our Iewels which we giue you to make the Image of the mother Berecinthia but esteeme much this that wee willingly put in ieopardie our husbands and children to winne you the victorie And in this case you accept our poore seruice haue no respect to the little which wee doe offer but to the great which if we were able we would giue Truely the Romanes though the treasure which their wiues offered was great yet notwithstanding
they did more esteeme the good will wherewith they gaue it then they did the gifts themselues for there was so much indeed that sufficed both to make the Image of the Goddesse Berecinthia and also for a long time to maintaine the Warres Therefore from that day that those Matrons presented their Iewels in the high Capitoll the Senate forthwith in remembrance of the gentlenesse graunted them these fiue things as a priuiledge for at that time Rome neuer receiued seruice or benefite of any person but Shee rewarded it with double payment The first thing that the Senate granted the Romane Women was That in the day of their buriall the Oraters might openly make Orations in the prayse of their liues for in olde time men vsed neyther to exalt them when they were dead nor yet to accompany them to their graues The second thing that was graunted vnto them was That they might sit in the Temples for in the olde time when the Romanes did offer Sacrifices to their Gods the aged did alwayes sit the Priests kneele the marryed men did leane but the women though they were of Noble and high linage could neyther be suffered to talke sit nor leane The third thing that the Senate granted the women of Rome was That euery one of them might haue two rich Gownes and that they should not aske the Senate leaue to weare them for in the old time if any woman were apparelled or did buy any new Gowne without asking licence of the Senate she should immediately lose her Gowne and because her husband did condiscend vnto the same he was banished the Common-wealth The fourth thing which they granted them was That they should drinke Wine when they were sicke for there was in Rome a custome inuiolable that though their life was in hazard they durst not drinke wine but water for when Rome was well corrected a woman that drunke wine was as much slandered among the people as if she had committed Adultery towards her husband The fith thing granted by the Senate vnto the women was That a man might not deny a Romane being with childe any honest and lawfull thing that she demanded I cannot tell why the Ancients of Rome esteemed more of women with childe then others that had no children All these fiue thinges were iustly granted to the Matrons and Noble Romane Ladyes And I can tell thee Faustine that they were of the Senate most willingly granted for it is reason that women which in vertues doe excell should with all meanes be honoured I will tell thee Faustine the especiall cause that mooued the Romanes to grant vnto you Matrones this last priuiledge that is to say That a man cannot deny them any thing being with child Thou oughtest to know that the others as well Greekes as Latines did neuer giue Lawes nor Institutions vnto their people without great occasions for the great multitude of lawes are commonly euill kept and on the other part are cause of sundry troubles We cannot deny but that the Ancients did well auoyde the great number of Institutions for it is better for a man to liue as reason commandeth him then as the lawe constraineth him The case therefore was that in the yeere of the foundation of Rome 364. Fuluius Torquatus then being Consull in the warre against the Volces the Knights of Mauritania brought to Rome an huge Monster with one eye called Monoculus which he had found in the Desarts of Aegipt at the time the wife of Torquatus called Macrina should haue beene deliuered of child for the Consull did leaue her great This Macrina amongst all was so honest that they spent as much time in Rome to praise her for her vertues as they did set foorth her husband for his Victories They read in the Annalles of that time That the first time that this Consull Torquatus went into Asia he was eleuen yeeres out of his Country and his found for a truth that in all the time that Torquatus was absent his wife was neuer seene to looke out at the window which was not a thing smally esteemed for though it was a custome in Rome to keepe the doore shut it was lawfull notwistanding to speake to women at the windowes Though men at that time were not so bold and the women were so honest yet Macrina wife to Torquatus liued so close solitary to her selfe that in all these eleuen yeeres there was neuer man that saw her goe through Rome or that euer saw her doore open neither that shee consented at any time from the time that shee was eight yeeres of age that any man should enter into her house and moreouer there was neuer man saw her face wholly vncouered This Romane Ladie did this to leaue of her a memorie and to giue example of her vertue She had also three children whereof the eldest was but fiue yeeres olde and so when they were eight yeeres of age immediately shee sent them out of her house towards their Parents lest vnder the colour to visite the children others should come to visite her O Faustine how many haue I heard that haue lamented this excellent Romane and what will they thinke that shall follow her life Who could presently restrain a Romane woman from going to the window eleuen yeeres since things now adayes are so dissolute that they doe not onely desire to see them but also run in the Streetes to babble of them Who should cause now adayes a Romane woman that in the eleuen yeeres she should not open her dores since it is so that when the husband commaunded her to shut one doore she will make the whole house to ring of her voyce Hee that now would commaund his wife to tarry at home and let her of her vagaries into the Towne shall perceiue that there is no Basiliske nor Viper that carryeth such poison in her taile as she will spit with her tongue Who could make a Romane woman to bee eleuen yeeres continually without shewing her face to any man since it is so that they spend the most part of their time in looking in a Glasse setting their Ruffes brushing their Cloathes and painting their faces Who would cause a Romane woman to keepe her selfe eleuen yeeres from being visited of her Neighbors and Friends since it is true that now women thinke them greatest enemies which visite them most seldome Returning therefore to the Monster As they led this Monster before the doore of Torquatus his house she being great with childe and her husband in the warre by chance a Mayde of his told her how that this Monster passed by wherefore so great a desire tooke her to see the Monster that for to keepe that she had begun suddenly for this desire she dyed Truely I tell thee Faustine that this Monster had passed many times by the Streete where she dwelt and she would neuer notwithstanding go to the window and much lesse out of her doore to see it The death of this Romane of
danger Plato saith in his booke of Lawes that the children are neuer so wel beloued of their mothers as when they are nourished with their proper brests that their fathers danceth them on their knees The which thing is true for the first loue in all things is the truest loue I was willing to shew the bringing vp of bruit beasts to shew the women with childe how pittifull parents they are in nourishing their younglings with their owne brests and how cruell Mothers Women are in committing their children to strangers It is a maruellous thing to heare the mothers say that they loue their children and on the contrary side to see how they hate them In this case I cannot tell whether they loue more eyther the childe or the money for I see that they couet greatly to hourd vp riches into their Chests and likewise they desire as much to cast out their children out of their houses There are diuers reasons whereby the mothers ought to bee moued to nourish their children which they bare in ther wombs with their owne proper brests The first reason is that the mother ought to haue respect how the yong babe was borne alone how little hee was how poore delicate naked tender and without vnderstanding and since that the mother brought it forth so weake and feeble it is neither meet nor conuenient that in time of such necessitie shee should forsake it and commit it into the hands of a strange Nurse Let women pardon me whether they bee Ladyes brought vp in pleasures or other of meaner estate accustomed with trauels I force not but I say that those which forsake their children in such extremities are not pittifull mothers but cruell enemies If it bee crueltie not to cloath him that is naked who is more naked then the childe new borne if it bee crueltie not to comfort the sad who is more sad desolate and sorrowfull then the childe which is borne weeping If it be vngentlenes not to succour the poore needy who is more needy or more poore then the innocent childe newly borne that knoweth not as yet neyther to goe nor to speake If it bee crueltie to doe euill to the innocent that cannot speake who is more innocent then the infant that cannot complaine of that which is done vnto him The mother that casteth out of her house the children borne of her owne body how can we beleeue that she will receiue in any other of strangers when the infant is now great when hee is strong when he can speake when he can goe when hee can profite himselfe and get his meate the mother maketh much of him and leadeth him about with her but is little thanke vnto her for then the mother hath more neede of the childe to bee serued then the childe hath of the mother to be cherished If the children were born of the nailes of the fingers of the feete or of the hands it were a small matter though their mothers sent them forth to nourish but I cannot tell what heart can endure to suffer this since the child is borne of their proper intrailes that they do cōmit it to be broght vp into the hands of a stranger Is there peraduenture at this day in the world any Lady that hath so great cōfidence in any of her friends parents or neighbours that she durst trust any of them with the key of her coffer wherin her lewels money and riches lyeth truely I thinke none O vnkind mothers my pen had almost called you cruell stepmothers since you lay vp in your heart the cursed mucke of the ground and send out of your houses that which sprang of your bloud And if women should say vnto mee that they are weake feeble and tender and that now they haue found a good Nurse to this I answere that the Nurse hath smal loue to the child which she nourisheth when she seeth the vngentlenesse of the mother that bare it for truly she alone doth nourish the childe with loue that heeretofore hath borne it with paine The second reason is that it is a thing very iust that women should nourish their children to the ende they may bee like vnto their conditions for otherwise they are no children but are enemies for the childe that doeth not reuerence his mother that bare him cannot enioy a prosperous life Since the intention of the parents in bringing vp their children is for none other purpose but to bee serued of them when they are olde they shall vnderstand that for this purpose there is nothing more necessary then the milke of the proper mother for where the childe sucketh the milke of a stranger it is vnlikely that it should haue the conditions of the mother If a Kid sucke a Sheepe they shall perceiue it shall haue the wooll more faire the nature more gentle then if he had sucked the Goat which hath the wooll more hard and of nature is more wilde wherein the Prouerbe is verified Not from whence thou commest but whereof thou feedest It auayleth a man much to haue a good inclination but it helpeth him much more from his infancy to bee well taught for in the end we profite more with the customes wherewith we liue then we doe by nature from whence we came The third reason is that women ought to nourish their owne children because they should bee whole mothers and not vnperfect for the woman is counted but halfe a mother that beareth it and likewise halfe a mother that nourisheth it but she is the whole mother that both beareth it and nourisheth it After the duetie considered vnto the Father that hath created vs and vnto the Sonne that hath redeemed vs mee thinketh next we owe the greatest dutie vnto the Mother that hath borne vs in her bodie and much more it is that wee should beare vnto her if she had nourished vs with her owne brests for when the good child shall behold his mother hee ought more to loue her because shee nourished him with her milke then because shee hath borne him in her body CHAP. XIX The Authour still perswadeth women to giue their owne children sucke IN the yeere of the foundation of Rome fiue hundred two after the obstinate and cruell warre betweene Rome and Carthage where the renowmed Captaines were Hanibal for the Carthaginians and Scipio for the Romanes Soone after that warre followed the warre of Macedonia against King Philip. The which when it was ended that of Syria began against Antiochus King of Syria for in sixe hundred and thirty yeeres the Romanes had alwaies continuall warres in Asia in Affrick or in Europe The noble Romanes sent the Consull Cornelius Scipio brother to the great Scipio the Affrican for Captaine of that warre And after many battailes Fortune shewed her force in a Citie called Sepila the which is in Asia the great where King Antiochus was ouercome and all his Realme discomfited for trees that haue their roots plucked vp must
proper pappes and when thou diddest cast mee from thee out of thy sight shee receiued mee and nourished mee in her proper armes Fifthly Women ought to enforce themselues to nourish their children to the end they may keepe them the better and that in their cradles they be not changed for others Aristotle sayth that the Cuckow commêth to the nest of another bird when she hath laid her eggs and sucketh them and layeth in the same place her owne egges so that the other birde thinking that they are her owne hatcheth and nourisheth them vp as her owne vntill such time as they are able to flye then the Cuckow killeth and eateth the silly bird that hath nourished her through the which occasiō the males of those birds are at so great contention that they haue beene so deceiued that the one of them killeth the other the which they might let if euery bird did nourish her owne In the same time that Philip raigned in Macedonia which was the father of Alexander the great Arthebanus was King of the Epirotes who in his age had a child borne the which was stolne out of the Cradle and another put in his stead The Nurse which did nourish it through couetousnes of mony consented to that treason for the heart that is with couerousnes ouercome will not feare to commit any treason It chanced not long after that King Arthebanus dyed and left as hee thought his owne sonne for his heire but within few dayes after the Nurse her selfe which had consented vnto the robberie discouered the theft and sayd that shee could tell where the lawfull childe of the good King Arthebanus was and that that child which now was Heire was but the sonne of a meane Knight but indeed it had beene better for those of the miserable Realme that the woman had neuer discouered the secret for it chanceth oft times that a man maketh such haste off his horse that he hurteth his leg and through that occasion afterwards falleth and breaketh his necke But what shall we say to the Plebeicall women of base and meane estate I doe not meane the Noble Gentle and vertuous Ladies whereof they are many that though in great secret their chiefest friend telleth them any thing yet before they drinke they will vtter it to another Thus when the treason was discouered cruell warres betweene these two Princes beganne so that in the end in a great battaile they were both slayne the one in defending and the other in assaulting At that time Olimpias raigned who was the fayre and worthy wife of Philip and mother of Alexander Shee had a Brother named Alexander who was both pollitike hardy and hearing the Epirotes were in conrouersie and that two Kings were slaine in the field he placed himself in the Realme more of wil then of right And let no man maruell that this King occupyed the Realme for in the old time all the tyrrannous Princes thought that all that which they could obtaine without resistance did vnto them belong by Iustice This King Alexander was he which came into Italy in the fauour of the Tarentines when they rebelled against the Romanes who afterward was slaine in battel at Capua where his body was vnburied And truly it was a iust sentence that the tirant which beteaueth many of their liues should himselfe taste some shamefull death I haue declared this Historie to this end that Princesses and great Ladies should see that if the wife of King Arthehanus had nourished his sonne they could not haue robbed it in the Cradle nor these two Princes had not beene slayne in battaile nor the Common-wealth had not beene destroyed nor Alexander had not entred into the Land of another nor had not come to conquer the Country of Italy nor the dead corps had not wanted his graue for oft times it chanceth for not quenching a little coale of fire a whole Forrest and house is burned The diuine Plato among the Greeks and Licurgus among the Lacedemonians commanded and ordayned in all their lawes That all the Plebeica women and those of mean estate should nourish all their children and that those which were Princesses great Ladyes should at the least nourish their eldest and first begotten Plutarch in the booke of The raigne of Princes saith That the sixth King of the Lacedemonians was Thomistes the which when hee dyed left two children of which the second inherited the Realme because the Queene her selfe had brought it vp and the first did not inherite becaue a strange Nurse had giuen it sucke and brought it vp And hereof remained a custome in the most part of the Realmes of Asia that the childe which was not nourished with the papps of his mother should inherite none of his mothers goods There was neuer nor neuer shall be a mother that had such a Sonne as the Mother of God which had Iesus Christ nor there was neuer nor neuer shall be a sonne which had such a mother in the world But the Infant would neuer sucke other milke because hee would not bee bound to call any other mother nor the mother did giue him to nourish to any other mother because that no other woman should call him sonne I do not maruell at all that Princesses and great Ladies doe giue their children foorth to nourish but that which most I maruell at is that shee which hath conceiued and brought foorth a childe is ashamed to giue it sucke and to nourish it I suppose that the Ladies do think that they deserue to conceiue them in their wombs that they sinne in nourishing them in their armes I cannot tell how to write and much lesse how to vtter that which I would say which is that women are now adayes come into such folly that they thinke esteeme it a state to haue in their armes some little dogs and they are ashamed to nourish and giue their children sucke with their owne brests O cruell mothers I cannot thinke that your harts can bee so stony to endure to see and keepe fantastic all Birds in cages vnhappy Monkeys in the windowes fisting Spaniels betweene your armes and so neglect and despise the sweete Babes casting them out of your houses where they were borne and to put them into a strange place where they are vnknowne It is a thing which cannot be in nature neither that honestie can endure conscience permit nor yet consonant either to diuine or humane lawes that those which GOD hath made Mothers of children should make themselues Nurses of dogges Iunius Rusticus in the third booke of the sayings of the Ancients saith that Marcus Porcio whose life and doctrine was a lanthorne and example to the Romane people as a man much offended said on a day to the Senate O Fathers conscript O cursed Rome I cannot tel what now I should say sith I haue seene in Rome such monstrous things that is to say to see women carry Parrots on their fists to see
womē to nourish dogs giuing them Milke from theyr owne breasts They replyed in the Senate and saide Tell vs Marcus Porcia What wouldest thou wee should doe which liue now to resemble our Fathers which are dead Marcus Portio aunswered them The woman that presumeth to be a Romain Matrone ought to be found weauing in her house and out of that to bee found in the Temple praying to God and the Noble and stoute Romaine ought to be found in his House reading Bookes and out of his house fighting in the plaine Field for the honor of his countrey And surely these were wordes worthie of such a man Annius Minutius was a Noble Romaine and captaine of great Pompeius who was a great friend to Iulius Caesar after the battell of Farsalie For hee was an Auncient and one that could giue good counsell wherfore hee neuer scaped but that hee was chosen in Rome for Senatour Consull or Censor euery yeare For Iulius Caesar was so mercifull to them that hee pardoned those which had been his most enemies in the warres were of him in peace best beloued This Annius Minutius then beeing chosen Censour within Rome which was an Office hauing charge of Iustice by chaunce as hee went to visite the wife of another Friend of his the which lay in Child-bed because she had great aboundance of milke hee found that a little prettie Bitche did sucke her Vpon the which occasion they say hee saide these wordes to the Senate Fathers conscript a present mischiefe is now at hand according to the token I haue seen this day that is to say I haue seene a Romaine woman denie her owne Children her milke and gaue suck to a filthy bitche And truly this Annius had reason to esteeme this case as a wonder For the truest and sweetest loues are not but betweene the Fathers and Children and where the mother embraceth the brute beast and forsaketh her natural child which she hath brought forth it cannot bee otherwise but there either wisdome wanteth or follie aboundeth for the Foole loueth that hee ought to despise and despiseth that which he ought to loue Yet though the mothers will not giue their children sucke they ought to do it for the danger which may come to the health of their persons ' for as the women which bring forth Children doe liue more healthfull then those which beare none so these which doe nourish them haue more health then those which doe not nourish them For although the bringing vp of children be troublesome to women yet it is profitable for their health I am ashamed to tell it but it is more shame for Ladyes to do it to see what plaisters they put to theyr Breasts to drie vp their milke and hereof commeth the iust iudgements of God that in that place ofte times where they seeke to stoppe their milke in the selfe same place they themselues pocure theyr sudden death I aske now if women do not enioy their children being young what pleasure hope they to haue of them when they be olde What a great comfort is it for the Parents to see the young Babe when hee will laugh how hee twinckleth his little eyes when he will weepe how he will hang the pretie lippe when he would speake how he will make signes with his litle fingers when hee would goe how hee casteth forward his feete and aboue all when he beginneth to babble how he doubleth his words What thing is more pleasant to the Father then to see them and to the mother to agree to it when the children doe sucke they plucke forth the Breasts with the one hand and with the other they plucke their cradle and further they beat their feete together and with their wanton eyes they cast on theyr Parents a thousand louing lookes what is it to see them when they are vexed and angrie how they will not be taken of the Fathers how they strike their Mother they cast away things of gold and immediately they are appeased with a little apple or rushe What a thing is it to see the innocents how they answere when a man asketh them what follies they speake when they speak to them how they play with the dogges and runne after the Catts How they dresse them in wallowing in the dust how they make litle houses of Earth in the streetes how they weepe after the birdes when they flie away All the which things are not to the Eyes of the Fathers and Mothers but as nightingales to sing and as Bread and meate to eate The Mothers peraduenture will say that they will not bring vp their children because when they are young they are troublesome but that after they shold be nourished and brought vppe they would be glad To this I answer them that the mothers shal not deny me but that some of these things must needes meete in their children that when they be olde they shal be eyther proud enuious couetous or negligent that they shal be Lecherous or else Theeues that they shal be Blasphemers or else gluttons that they shal be rebells or fooles and disobedient vnto their Fathers I belieue that at this day there are manie Mothers in the world which did hope to be honoured and serued with the Children which they hadde brought vp and afterwards perceyuing their manners would willingly forgoe the pleasures which they hoped for so that they might also be deliuered from the troubles which for their euill demeanours are like to ensue For that time which the Parents hoped to passe with their Children in pleasures they consume seeing their vnthriftie life in sorrowfull sobbes and sighes I counsell admonish and humbly require Princesses and great Ladyes to nourish and enioy their Children when they are young and tender for after that they are great a man shall bring them newes euery day of diuers sorts and māners they vse for asmuch as the one shall say that her sonne is in prison and another shall say that hee is sore wounded another that he is hid others that hee hath played his cloke others that hee is slaundered with a common harlot another that he stealeth his goods from him another that his enemies doe seeke him another thet hee accompanieth with vnthrifts And finally they are so slurdie vnhappie and so farre from that which is good that oftentimes the fathers would reioyce to see them die rather then to see them liue so euill a life Mee thinketh that the knot of loue between the mother and the childe is so great that not onely she ought not to suffer them to be nourished out of the house one whole yeare but also she ought not to suffer them to be out of her presence one onely day For in seeing him shee seeth that which is borne of her entrailes she seeth that which shee hath with so great paines deliuered she seeth him who ought to inherite all her goods shee seeth him in whome the memorie of their Auncestors remaineth and
Empire were but slenderly done and looked vnto For the Prince cannot haue so small a Feuer but the people in the common-wealth must haue it double This Emperour Palleolus had a wife whose name was Huldonina the which after she had brought all the Physitions of Asia vnto her Husband and that shee had ministred vnto him all the medicines shee could learne to helpe him and in the end seeing nothing auaile there came by chaunce an old woman a Grecian borne who presumed to haue great knowledge in hearbes and sayd vnto the Empresse Noble Empresse Huldouina If thou wilt that the Emperour thy husband liue long see that thou chafe anger and vexe him euery weeke at the least twise for hee is of a pure melancholy humour and therefore hee that doth him pleasure augmenteth his disease and hee that vexeth him shall prolong his life The Empresse Huldouina followed the counsell of this Greeke woman which was occasion that the Emperour liued afterwardes sound and whole many yeeres so that of the nine monethes which hee was accustomed to be sicke euery yeere in twenty yeeres afterwards he was not sicke three monethes For where as this Greeke woman commaunded the Empresse to anger her husband but twice in the week she accustomably angred him iiii times in the day Fourthly the good mother ought to take heede that the nurse be very temperat in eating so that she should eate little of diuers meates and of those few dishes she should not eate too much To vnderstand the thing yee must know that the white milke is no other then bloud which is sodden that which causeth the good or euill bloud commeth oft times of an other thing but that eyther the person in temperate or else a glutton inâ—ating and therefore it is a thing both healthful and necessary that the nurse that nourisheth the child doe eate good meates for among men and women it is a generall rule that in litle eating there is no danger and of too much eating there is no profite As all the Phylosophers say the wolfe is one of the beasts that denoureth most and is most greedyest and therefore hee is most feared of all the Shepheards But Aristotle in his third booke De Animalibus saith That wheÌ„ the wolfe doeth once feele her selfe great with young in all her life after shee neuer suffereth herselfe to bee coupled with the wolfe againe For otherwise if the wolfe shold yearely bring forth vij or viij whelps as commonly she doth and the Sheepe but one lambe there would be in short space more wolues theÌ„ sheepe Beside all this the wolfe hath an other propertie which is that although she be a Beast most deuouring and greedie yet when she hath whelped she feedeth very temperately and it is to the ende to nourish her whelps and to haue good milke And besides that she doth eate but once in the day the which the dogwolfe doth prouide both for the Bitch whelps Truly it is a monstrous thing to see and noysome to heare and no lesse slaunderous to speake that a Wolfe which giueth sucke to viij whelps eateth but one only kinde of meate and the woman which giueth sucke but to one Childe alone will eate of vii or viii sortes of meates And the cause hereof is that the Beast doth not eate but to sustain nature a womaÌ„ doth not eate but to satisfie her pleasure Princesses and great Ladyes ought to watche narrowly to know when how much the Nurses do eate which doe nourish their children For the child is so tender and the milk so delicate that with eating of sundry meats they become corrupt and with eating much they waxefat If the childreÌ„ suck those which are fat grosse they are coÌ„monly sicke and if they sucke milke corrupted they oft times goe to bed whole in the morne be found dead Isidor in his etimologies saith that the men of the prouince of Thrace were so cruell that the one did eate the other and they did not onely this but also further to shew more their immanity in the sculs of those that were dead they dranke the bloud of him that was lately aliue Though men were so cruell to eate mens flesh and to drinke the bloud of the veines yet the Women which nourished their children were so temperate in eating that they did eate nothing but netles sodden and boiled in Goates milk And because the women of Thrace were so moderate in eating the Phliosopher Solon Solynon brought some to Athens for the Auncients sought no lesse to haue good women in the common-wealth then to haue hardy and valiant Captaines in the warre CHAP. XXI The Author addeth three other conditions to a good nurse that giueth sucke that they drinke no wine that shee be honest and chiefly that shee bee well conditioned THe Princesses and great Ladies may know by this example what difference there is between the women of Thrace which are fedde with nettles only and haue brought forth such fierce men and the womeÌ„ of our time which throgh their delicate and excessiue eating bring forth such weake and feeble children Fiftly the Ladies ought to bee very circumspect not onely that Nurses eate not much and that they bee not greedy but also that they be in wine temperate the which in olde time was not called wine but venom The reason hereof is apparant and manifest enough For if wee doe forbid the fatte meates which lyeth in the stomacke wee should then much more forbid the moyst Wine which washeth all the veynes of the bodie And further I say that as the Childe hath no other nourishment but the milke only and that the milke proceedeth of bloud and that bloud is nourished of the wine and that wine is naturally hote from the first to the last I say that Woman which drinketh wine and giueth the child sucke doth as shee that maketh a great Fire vnder the panne where there is but a little milke so that the pan burneth and the milke runneth ouer I will not denie but that somtimes it may chaunce that the childe shal be of a strong complexion and the Nurse of a feeble and weake nature and then the childe would more substantial milke when the woman is not able to giue it him In such a case though with other things Milke may be conferred I allow that the nurse drinke a little wine but it should bee so little and so well watered that it should rather bee to take away the vnsauorinesse of the water then for to taste of any sauour of the wine I do not speake this without a cause for the nurse being sicke and feeble of herselfe and her milke not substantial it oftentimes moueth her to eat more then necessity requireth and to drinke wine which is somewhat nutritiue So that they supposing to giue the Nurse Triacle doe giue her poyson to destroy her childe Those excellent and Auncient Romaines if they had been in
thee my deare Friende Dedalus that more Money shall issue out of Rome to buye wine in Candia then buttes of the cold water of that countrey shall enter into Rome Againe thou sayest that in that countrey there is such aboundance of fruites and that thou thinkest thou shalt neuer be satisfied therewith To that I answer That thing which I best like is a winter fruite yet neyther seeing it nor eating it I can content my selfe For the country where Fruits abound in winter is neuer without feuers and sicknesses in Summer Octauian Augustus that Noble Emperour of famous memorie seeing that Rome in Summer was very much subiect to diseases gaue commaundement vpon grieuous penalties that the fruites of Salon should not enter into Rome to be solde And this is a maruellous thing that the Citie of Rome by this meanes did not only finde her selfe sound and whole but also the Physitians went out of Rome of their owne wills and affections For it is a great token that the people is healthfull when the Phisitians are poore Thou sayest that in that Countrey there are many Iugglers and Players To this I aunswer thee That theyr pastimes shall not bee vnto thee such and so pleasaunt as the griefs and displeasures thou shalt haue when they cunningly and craftily shall picke thy purse For most commonly Iugglers and plaiers make Playes and sportes in jeast but they will be payde in good earnest Furthermore thou sayest in that Countrey there is great aboundance of Vines and that the wine is sauourie to smell and very sweete and pleasaunt for theyr taste whereunto I answer That there shall not bee so manie vynes in the Fieldes as Drunkardes amongst the people For as thou knowest the day that I marryed Torpina my Niece my vnckle Getellius had but onely one vine tree and yet with the Wine that came thereof he made himselfe his household and all those that were at the marriage drunke That which I will say is not without weeping in the olde time Mars was the God moste honoured and esteemed being the God of Battells but now Bacchus which is God of wine is the most honoured serued and exalted For the time that a Romane was wont to employ in the Martial Camp to handle Warlike weapons now they consume in playing and drinking in the rauernes Titus Liuius in his Annales sayeth that those of Gallia Transalpina vnderstanding how that the Italians had planted many vines came to conquer the Countety So that if they had neuer planted vines in Italie the French-men had neuer destrolyed the Countrey The auncient Romaines which were prouided against all inconueniences considering that Wine was the cause of their destruction commaunded to destroy all the Vynes of the Empyre through the which pollicie they were deliuered from all the French-men for when the Warres were ended there remained not one French-man in all Italie when they knewe that there were no more Vynes therein Thou sayest that in that Countrey there are many Gentlemen and honorable Senators with whom thou talkest and passest away the time To this I answere that if it be true there are many idle men and also few true talkers For those men which haue spent their youth in the warres when they are aged doe not employe their time but in hearing newes and telling lyes Thou sayedst that there are very faire women in that countrey of gesture seemely and of their persons comely To this I answere That if there be many which be faire there are as manie which are dishonest For if the woman with her beautie hath not wisdome and honestie in her selfe she putteth her selfe in perill and her husband in much care Thou sayest that in that Countrey there are women which are Soothsayers Sorcerers and Enchantours the which do boast and vaunt themselues that they will heale Infants and that they can weyne them better then others can doe To this I answere that I would iudge it much better that Children should neuer be healed by the hands of such euill women For the profite that they doe by their experience openly is nothing in respect of the danger wherin they put the creatures by their Sorceries secretly Torquatus Laertius my Vnckle had a Daughter of a maruellous beautie the which because he had none other Childe was heyre of all his Patrimonie The case therefore was such that as the Daughter one day cryed and wept a little too much the Nurse which gaue her sucke to appease and still her thinking to giue her sorceries to cast her in a sleepe gaue her poyson which destroyed her So that when the teares of the innocent babe ceased then the cryes of the woefull mother beganne Calligula which was the sonne of the good Germanicus the great though amongst the Caesars hee was the fourth and amongst the Tyrants the first when in Rome they vsed to giue little scrowles written which they saide to bee of such vertue that they could heale all manner of Agues and diseases of young children hee gaue commaundement by the consent of the sacred Senate that whosoeuer eyther man or woman which should make them should immediately by iustice be put to death and that he which would buye them and carrie them about to sell or giue them through the citie of Rome should be whipt and bashed for euer Thy seruant Fronton hath told me newes that thou hast a Sonne borne whereof I am very glad and moreouer he saide that a woman of Sannia did nourishit and gaue it sucke the which as by an euill chaunce hath a spice of Sorcerie Now by the immortall Gods I do conjure thee and for the loue which I beare thee againe I most earnestly desire thee that immediatly thou put her away out of thy house and suffer not that so wicked a woman should eate Bread there one day For euery creature which is nourished by sorceries and Charmes shal eyther haue his life short or else Fortune shall be contrarie vnto him I let thee know my friend Dedalus that I haue not maruelled a little at many Romains the which doe permit and also procure that their Children should bee healed and cured with charmes and sorceries For my part I take it to bee a thing certaine that the men which by the will of God fall sicke shall neuer heale for any diligence that man can do And whereas children are sicke by euill humors or that they are not very healthful because the gods wil take life from them in this case if their disease proceed of any euill humour let them aske Physitions for naturall medicines And if their diseases come because the Gods are prouoked then let their Fathers appease the Gods with sacrifices For in the end it is vnpossible that the diseases of the heart should be healed by the meanes of any Medicines of the bodie Doe not maruell my Friend Dedalus if I haue spoken more in this article then in others that is to say to perswade
thee so much to keepe thy children from witches For otherwise the cursed Women will doe them more harme then the good milke shal profite them I haue beene moued and prouoked to write thus much vnto thee for the great loue which I do beare thee and also calling to minde that which thou when we were in the sacred Senate oft times toldest me which was that thou diddest desire a sonne And since now thou hast thy petition I would not thou shouldst prouoke the Gods wrath by sorceries For in the faith of a good man I doe sweare vnto thee that when the Fathers are in fauour with the Gods there needeth no sorceries vnto the Children I had manie other things to write vnto thee Some of the which I will cōmunicate with thy seruant Fronton rather then to send them by letters And maruel not at this for letters are so perillous that if a man be wise hee wil write no more in a close letter thē he would declare openly in Rome Pardon me my friend Dedalus though indeede I write not vnto thee as thy appetite would nor yet as my will desireth For thou hast need to know many things and I haue not leaue by letter to put thee in trust therewith I cannot tell what I should write vnto thee of me but that alwayes the Goute doth take me and the worst of all is that the more I growe in yeares the more my health diminisheth For it is an old course of mans frailtie that where wee thinke to goe most surest there haue we most lets The Popinjay which thou didst send me as soone as I receyued it my wife did seaze it and truely it is a maruellous pleasure to heare what thinges it doth speak but in the end the women are of such power that when they wil they impose silence to the liuing and cause that in the graues the dead men speake According to that I doe loue thee and according to that I owe thee and as I haue vsed that which I doe sende thee is very little I say it because that presently I do send thee but two horses of Barbarie twelue swords of Alexandrie and to Fronton thy seruant for a new yeares gift for his good newes I haue giuen him an Office which is worth to him 20. thousand Sexterces of Rent in Cecyl Faustine did bid mee I should send thy wife Perusa a cofer full of odoriferous odours of Palestine and another cofer full of her owne Apparrel the which as I thinke thou wilt not a little esteeme For naturally Women are of theyr owne Goods niggardes but in wasting spending of others very prodigall The Almighty gods bee with thee and preserue thee from euill fortune The which I humbly beseech to graunt that vnto thee and mee and vnto my wife Faustine and to thy wife Pertusa that we all meete merily together in Rome for the heart neuer receyueth such ioy as when hee seeth himselfe with his desired friend Marcus of Mount Celio writeth to thee with his own hand CHAP. XXV How excellent a thing it is for a Gentleman to haue an eloquent tongue ONe of the chiefest things that the Creatour gaue to man was to know and be able to speake for otherwise the soule reserued the brute beasts are of more value then dumbe men Aristotle in his Aesconomices without comparison prayseth more the Pythagoricall sort then the Stoicall saying that the one is more conforme to reason then the other is Pythagoras commaunded that al men which were dumbe and without speech should immediately and without contradiction be banished and expulsed from the people The cause why this Phylosopher had commanded such things was for so much as he saide that the tongue is moued by the motions of the soule and that he which had no tong had no soule And hee which hath no soule is but a brute beast and he that is a beast deserueth to serue in the fieldes among brute beasts It is a good thing not to bee dumbe as bruite beasts are and it is a greater thing to speake as the reasonable men doe but it is much more worthy to speake wel as the eloquent Philosophers doe For otherwise if hee which speaketh doth not weigh the sentences more then the wordes oft times the Popingayes shall content thē more which are in the cage then the men which doe reade in Schooles Iosephus in the booke De Bello Iudaico sayeth That King Herod not onely with his person and goods but also with all his friends and parents followed and gaue ayde to Marcus Anthonius and to his louer Cleopatra howbeit in the end Octauian had the victory For the man which for the loue of a woman doth enterprise conquests it is impossible that eyther he lose not his life or else that hee liue not in infamy Herod seeing that Marcus Antonius was dead determined to go towards the Emperour Octauian at whose feet he layd his crowne and made a notable Oration wherein hee spake so pleasant words and so high sentences that the Emperour Octauian did not onely pardon him for that hee was so cruell an enemie but also hee confirmed him again vnto his realm and tooke him for his deare and speciall friend For among the good men and noble hearts many euill workes are amended by a few good works If Blundus in the booke intituled Roma triumphante do not deceiue me Pirrus that great King of the Epirotes was stoute and hardy valiant in armes liberall in benefices patient in aduersities and aboue al renowned to be very sweet in words and sage in his answeres They sayde that this Pirrus was so eloquent that the man with whome once hee had spoken remained so much his that from that time forward in his absence hee tooke his part and declared his life and state in presence The aboue named Blundus sayed and Titus Liuius declareth the same That as the Romaines were of all things prouided seeing that King Pyrrus was so eloquent they prouided in the Senate that no Romane Ambassadour should speake vnto him but by a third person for otherwise he would haue perswaded them through his sweet words that they should haue returned againe to Rome as his procurers and soliciters Albeit Marcus Tullius Cicero was Senatour in the Senate Consull in the Empire rich amongst the rich and hardy amongst men of warre yet truely none of these qualities caused him eternall memorie but onely his excellent eloquence This Tullius was so esteemed in Rome for the eloquence of his tongue onely that oft times they heard him talke in the Senate three houres together without any man speaking one word And let not this bee little esteemed nor lightly passed ouer for worldly malice is of such condition that some man may easily speake foure houres then another man shal haue patience to heare him one minute Antonius Sobellicus declareth that in the time of Amilcares the Affrican a Philosopher named Afronio flourished in
The intention whereupon I wrote these things was for no other but to admonish perswade and pray all princes and great Lords that whiles their children are young they should put them to wise and learned men to the end they should teach them not onely how they ought to liue but also how they ought to speake For to persons of estate it is a great infamy to doe or to inuent to doe a thing afterward not to know how to giue a reason thereof Polidorus in the third booke of his Commentaries sayth that when the Lacedemonians were put to flight by the Athenians In rota milina it is called Milina because the battell was in the riuer of Miline the Lacedemonians sent a Philosopher called Heuainus to treate of peace with the Athenians who made such an eloquent Oration to the Senate of Athens that he did nor onely obtaine the Peace which hee desired for his Countrey but for himselfe also hee wan perpetuall renowne At the Philosophers returne the Athenians gaue him a letter which sayd in this sort CHAP. XXVI Of a Letter which the Athenians sent to the Lacedemonians THe Senate people Sages of Athens wisheth health to the persons and peace to the Common wealth of you of the Senate and people of the Lacedemonians Wee take the immortall Gods to recorde that in the last battell we had no lesse displeasure to see you ouercome then on the contrary wee had pleasure to see vs remaine victorious for in the end the daungers and inconueniences of the cruell warres are so great that the euill and danger is certain to them that are vanquished and the profite is doubtfull to them that haue ouercommed We would gladly that that which now yee will yee would haue willed sooner and that which now yee require and demaund that before yee had required and demanded But what shall we doe since it was ordayned to your and our wofull destinies that hee should lose the battell and that wee of your losse can take no profite For it is a rule vnfallible that all that which the Gods haue ordayned no worldly wight can auoyde nor humane power resist Yee demaund that warre may leaue and cease off and that wee take truce for three monethes and that duriyg this time peace and concord may be concluded To this wee make answere That the Senate of Athens hath not accustomed to grant peace afterward for to returne to warre for amongst vs Athenians wee haue an ancient Law that freely wee doe accept the cruell warre and liberally we doe graunt perpetuall peace In our Schooles and Vniuersities we trauell to haue Sages in time of peace for to help vs with their counsels in the time of warre And they doe counsell vs that wee neuer take vpon vs truce vpon suspect condition And indeed they counsell vs well for the fayned and dissembled peace is much more perillous then is the manifest warre The Philosopher Heuxinus your Ambassadour hath spoken to vs so highly and eloquently in this Senate that it seemed to vs very vniust if wee should deny him and gaine-say that hee requireth vs. For it is much more honesty to grant him peace which by sweet and pleasant words doth demaund it then him which by force and sharpe sword doth require it Let the case therefore be that the Senate people and Sages of Athens haue ordained that warre doe cease with the Lacedemonians and that all discordes contentions dissentions and debates doe end and that perpetual peace bee granted vnto them And this thing is done to the end all the world should know that Athens is of such courage with the hardie and so very a friend to the Sages that she knoweth how to punish the foolish Captaines and suffereth to bee commanded and gouerned by sage Phylosophers Yee know right well that all our warre hath not been but onely for the possession of Cities and limits of the riuer Milina Wherefore by this letter wee declare vnto you and by the immortall Gods wee sweare that wee doe renounce vnto you al our right on such condition that you do leaue vs Heuxinus your Ambassadour and Philosopher The great Athens desireth rather a Philosopher for her Schooles then a whole Prouince of your Realmes And do not you other Lacedemonians thinke that that which wee of Athens doe is light or foolish that is to say that wee desire rather one man to rule then to haue a whole Prouince whereby wee may commaund many For this Philosopher shall teach vs to liue well and that land gaue vs occasion to dye euill and sith wee now of your old enemies do become your true friendes we will not onely giue you perpetuall peace but also counsell for to keepe it For the medicine which preserueth health is of greater excellency then is the purgation which healeth the disease Let the counsell therefore bee such that as yee will the young men doe exercise themselues in weapons that so yee doe watch and see that your children in time doe learne good letters For euen as the warre by the cruell sword is followed so likewise by pleasant words peace is obtained Thinke not yee Lacedemonians that without a cause we do perswade you that you put your children to learne when as yet they are but young and tender and that yee doe not suffer them to runne to vices for on the one part wise men shall want to counsell and on the other fooles shall abound to make debate We Atbenians in like manner will not that yee Lacedemonians doe thinke that wee bee friends to bablers For our Father Socrates ordained that the first lesson which should be giuen to the Scholler of the Vniuersity should be that by no meanes hee should speake any word for the space of two yeares for it is vnpossible that any man should be wise in speaking vnlesse he haue patience to be silent Wee thinke if you thinke it good that the Philosopher Heuxinus shall remaine in our Senate and thinke you if wee profite by his presence that yee may bee assuted that others shall not receyue any damage by the counsels hee shall giue vs For in Athens it is an ancient Law that the Senate cannot take vpon them wars but by the Philosophers first it must bee examined whether it be iust or not We write none other thing but that wee beseech the immortall gods that they bee with you and that it please them to continue vs in this perpetuall peace for that onely is perpetuall which by the Gods is confirmed CHAP. XXVII That Nurses which giue sucke to the children of Princes ought to be discreete and sage women THe Pilgrims which trauell through vnknowne Countries and strange mountaines wth great desire to goe forward and not to erre doe not onely aske the way which they haue to goe but also do importune those whom they meete to point them the way with their finger For it is a grieuous thing to trauell doubtfully in feare
often times it chanceth that the wisedome of the good child doth remedy the folly of the wicked Father The Historians say that this Lelya Sabina had not onely a great grace in reading but also shee had much excellency in writing for she wrote many letters and orations with her own hand which her Father Lucius Sylla afterwards learned by hart and as he was indeed quicke of spirite so he vsed to recite them to the Senate alwayes for his purpose And let no man maruaile hereat for there are some of so grosse vnderstanding that that which they write and studie they can scarcely vtter others againe are of such liuely wits that of that onely which they haue heard it seemeth maruellous to heare with what eloquence they will talke Because Sylla had such and so excellent a daughter in his house hee was esteemed for a sage and wise councellour throughout all the Common wealth He was counted very absolute in executing strong in maintaining for right eloquent in speaking Finally of this came this ancient prouerbe which sayth Lucius Sylla gouerneth his own countrey with the eloquence of his tongue and is Lord of strange nations by the force of his sword What the great Plato hath beene and what great authority he hath had amongst his countrey men and amongst the strangers it is apparant for so much as the Greekes do acknowledge him of all other Phylosophers to be the Prince and likewise the Latines by one consent call him diuine And me thinketh that in doing this they doe no Phylosopher iniurie for as Plato in his life time had great modestie so truely in his writing hee exceeded mans capacitie An Historian called Hyzearchus declareth that Lasterna and Axiothea were two Greekes very well Iearned and amongst the Schollers of Plato chiefly renowmed The one was of so perfect a memory and the other of so high an vnderstanding that Plato oft times beeing in the chayre and these two not readie hee would not beginne to reade And being demaunded wherefore hee reade not his Lecture hee answered I will not reade for that there wanteth here vnderstanding to conceyue and also memory to retaine Meaning that Lasterna was absent that Axiothe was not yet come The wisedome of these two women ought to bee much since Plato without them would not vtter one word vnlesse they were present in his Schoole For Plato esteemed more the vnderstanding and memory of those two women alone then hee did the phylosophy of his other Schollers together Aristippus the phylosopher was Scholler to Socrates and of the most renowmed of Athens Hee had a daughter called Aretha the which was so well learned in Greeke and Latine letters that the common renowme sayd the soule of Socrates was entred into Aretha and the cause that mooued them to say this was because shee read and declared the doctrine of Socrates in such wise that it seemed to most men shee had rather write by hand then learne by studie Bocchas in the second booke of the prayse of women sayeth that this Aretha was so excellent a woman that shee did not only learne for her selfe but also to teach others and did not onely teach in diuers Schooles but also shee wrote many and sundrie bookes one especially in the prayse of Socrates an other of the manner of bringing vp children an other of the Warres of Athens an other of the tyrannicall force an other of the Common Wealth of Socrates an other of the infelicity of Women an other of the tillage of the Auncients an other of the Wonders of the Mount Olimpus an other of the vaine care of the Sepulchre an other of the care of the Antes an other of the Workemanshippe of the Bees in honey and shee wrote two others the one of the vanities of youth and the other of the miseries of age This woman did reade openly naturall and morall Phylosophy in the Schooles of Athens for the space of fiue and twenty yeares she made fortie bookes she had a hundred and ten Phylosophers to her Schollers shee dyed being at the age of seuentie and seuen yeares and the Athenians after her death engraued on her graue these words THe slysed stones within their bowels keepe Wise Aretha the great and onely wight That forceth enuie gentle teares to weepe For Greekes decay on whom the losse doth light The eye of Fame the heart of vertues life The head of Greece lyes here engraued loe More heauenly forme then had that heauenlie wife Which vnderminde the Phrigies toyes with woe Within the chest of her vnspotted mind Lay Thyrmas truth and eke her honest faith Within her hand as by the gods assignde Stoode Aristippus penne that vertue wayeth Within the dungeon of her body eke Imprisoned was wise Socrates his soule That liued so well and did so wisely speake That follies brest he could to wisodome toule Within her head so ouer heapt with wit Lay Homers tongue to staine the Poets arte Erst was the golden age not halfe so fit For Vertues Impes as when her life did part As Marcus Varro sayth the sects of the Philosophers were more then seuenty but in the end they were reduced into seuen and in the end they were brought into three sects chiefly That is to say Stoickes Peripatetickes and Pythagoriques Of these Pythagoriques Pythagoras was the Prince Hizearcus Annius Rusticus and Laertius with Eusebius and Boccas all affirme one thing whereunto I did not greatly giue credite which is that this Phylosopher Pithagoras had a sister not onely learned but if it bee lawfull to speake it excellently learned And they say that not she of Pythagoras but Pythagoras of her learned phylosophy And of a truth it is a matter whereof I was so greatly abashed that I cannot tell who could bee maister of such a woman since shee had Pythagoras the great phylosopher to her Scholler The name of the woman was Thecclea to whom Pythagoras her brother wrot and sent her a letter when hee read phylosophy at Rhodes and she at Samothracia doing the like The Epistle was thus CHAP. XXIX Of a Letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Theoclea hee beeing in Rhodes and shee in Sam othracia reading both Philosophie PYthagoras thy brother and Disciple to thee Theoclea his sister health encrease of wisedome wisheth I haue read the book which thou diddest send mee of fortune and misfortune from the beginning to the end and now I know that thou art no lesse graue in making then gracious in teaching The which doth not chance very oft vnto vs which are men and much lesse as wee haue seene to you women For the Philosopher Aristippus was rude in speaking but profound in writing and Amenides was briefe in writing and eloquent in speaking Thou hast studyed and written in such sort that in learning that thou shewest thou seemest to haue read all the Philosophers and in the antiquities that thou doest declare it seemeth that thou hast seene all
and so modest in life that of their family there was neuer found any cowardly man in the field nor any defamed woman in the twone They say of this linage of the Cornenelii among many other there were 4. singular and notable women among the which the chiefe was the mother of Graccht whose name was Cornelia and liued with more honor for the sciences shee read in Rome then for the conquests that her children had in Affrike Before her children were brought into the Empire they talked of none other thing but of their strength and hardinesse throughout the world and therefore a Romain one day asked this woman Cornelia wherof she tooke most vain glory to see her selfe mistresse of so many Disciples or mother of so valiant children The Lady Cornelia answered I doe esteeme the science more which I haue learned then the children which I haue brought forth For in the end the children keepe in honour the life but the Disciples continue the renowme after death And she sayd further I am assured that the Disciples daily wil waxe better and better and it may be that my children will waxe worse and worse The desires of young men are so variable that they dayly haue new inuentions With one accord all the writers doe greatly commend this woman Cornelia in especiall for being wise and honest and furthermore because she read Phylosophy in Rome openly And therefore after her death they set vp in Rome a statue ouer the gate Salaria whereupon there was grauen this Epigram This heape of earth Cornelle doth enclose Of wretched Gracches that loe the mother was Twise happy in the schollers that shee chose Vnhappy thrise in the of spring that shee has AMong the Latines Cicero was the Prince of al the Romane Rethorike and the chiefest with his pen enditing Epistles yet they say that he did not onely see the writings of this Cornelia but read them and did not onely reade them but also with the sentences thereof profited himselfe And hereof a man ought not to maruell for there is no man in the world so wise of himselfe but may further his doings with the aduise of an other Cicero so highly exalted these writings that he sayde in his Rethorike these or such other like words If the name of a woman had not not blemished Cornelia truly she deserued to be head of al Philosophers For I neuer saw so graue sentences proceede from so fraile flesh Since Cicero spake these words of Cornelia it cannot be but that the writings of such a woman in her time were verie liuelesse and of great reputation yet notwithstanding there is no memory of her but that an author for his purpose declareth an Epistle of this maner Sextus Cheronensis in his booke of the prayse of women reciteth the letter which shee sent to her children Shee remaining in Rome and they being at the wars in Affricke The Letter of Cornelia to her two sons Tiberius and Caius otherwise called Gracchi Cornelia the Romane that by the fathers side am of the Cornelii on the mother side of the Fabii to you my two sonnes Gracchii which are in the warres of Affricke such health to you I doe wish as a mother to her children ought to desire You haue vnderstoode right well my children how my father dyed I being but three yeares of age and that this 22. yeares I haue remained widdow and that this 20. yeares I haue read Rethorike in Rome It is 7. yeeres since I saw you and 12. yeares since your brethren my children dyed in the great plague You know 8. yeeres are past since I left my study and came to see you in Cicilia because you should not forsake the wars to come to see me in Rome for to mee could come no greater pain then to see you absent from the seruice of the Common wealth I desire my children to shew you how I haue passed my life in labour and trauell to the entent you should not desire to spende yours in rest and idlenes For to me that am in Rome there can want no troubles be yee assured that vnto you which are in the wars shall want no perils For in warres renowne is neuer solde but by weight or changed with losse of life The young Fabius sonne of my aunt the aged Fabia at the third Calends of March brought mee a letter the which you sent and truly it was more briefe then I would haue wished it for betweene so deere children and so louing a mother it is not suffered that the absence of your persons should be so farre and the letters which you write so briefe By those that goe from hence thither I alwaies doe send you commendations and of those that come from thence hither I doe enquire of newes Some say they haue seene you others tell mee they haue spoken with you so that with this my heart is somwhat quieted for between them that loue greatly it may bee endured that the fight be seldom so that the health be certaine I am sole I am a widdow I am aged and now all my kindred are dead I haue endured many trauels in Rome and the greatest of all is my children of your absence for the paine is greater to be voyd of assured friends then assault is dangerous of cruell enemies Since you are young and not very rich since you are hardie and brought vp in the trauels of Affricke I do not doubt but that you do desire to come to Rome to see know that now you are men which you haue seen when you were children for men doe not loue their Country so much for that it is good as they doeloue it for that it is naturall Beleeue me children there is no man liuing that hath seene or heard speake of Rome in times past but hath great griefe sorrow and pitty to see it at this present for as their hearts are pittifull and their eyes tender so they cannot behold that without great sorrow which in times past they haue seene in great glory O my children you shall know that Rome is greatly changed from that it was wont to be To reade that wee doe reade of it in times past and to see that which wee see of it now present wee must needs esteeme that which the Ancients haue written as a iest or else beleeue it but as a dreame There is no other thing now at Rome but to see iustice corrupted the common-weale oppressed lies blown abroad the truth kept vnder the Satyres silent the flatterers open mouthed the inflamed persons to bee Lords and the patient to be seruants and aboue all and worse then all to see the euill liue in rest and contented and the good troubled and displeased Forsake forsake my Children that City where the good haue occasion to weepe and the euill haue liberty to laugh I cannot tell what to say in this matter as I would say truly the Common weale is at this day such and
remaine diseased and their vnderstanding blinded their memory dulled their sense corrupted their will hurted their reason subuerted and their good fame lost and worst of all the flesh remaineth alwayes flesh O how many young men are deceyued thinking that for to satisfie and by once engaging themselues to vices that from that time forwarde they shall cease to bee vicious the which thing not onely doth not profite them but also is very hurtfull vnto them For fire is not quenched with drye wood but with cold water But O God what shall wee doe since that now a dayes the Fathers doe as much esteeme their children for being fine and bolde minions among women as if they were verie profound in science or hardie in feates of Armes and that which is worst they oft times make more of their bastards gotten in adulterie then of their legitimate childe conceiued in matrimony What shall wee say then of mothers Truely I am ashamed for to speake it but they should bee more ashamed to doe it which is because they would not displease their husbands they hide the wickednesse of their children they put the children of their harlots to the Nurse they redeeme their gages they giue them money to play at dice they reconcile them to their fathers when they haue offended they borrow them money to redeeme them when they are indebted Finally they are makers of their bodies and vndoers of their soules I speake this insidently for that the masters would correct the children but the Fathers and mothers forbid them For it little auayleth for one to pricke the horse with the spurre when hee that sitteth vpon him holdeth him back with the bridle Therfore to our matter what shall we do to remedy this ill in the young man which in his flesh is vicious Truely I see no other remedie but with the moist earth to quench the flaming fire and to keepe him from the occasions of vice For in the warre honour by tarrying is obtained but in the vice of the flesh the victory by flying is obtayned The end of the second Booke THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE DIALL OF PRINCES WITH THE FAMOVS BOOKE OF MARCVS AVRELIVS WHERE HEE entreateth of the vertues which Princes ought to haue as Iustice Peace and Magnificence CHAP. I. How Princes and great Lordes ought to trauell to administer to all equall iustice EGidius Frigulus one of the most famous and renowmed Philosophers of Rome sayde that that betweene two of the Zodaicall signes Leo and Libra is a Virgine named Iustice the which in times past dwelled among men in earth and after that shee was of them neglected shee ascended vp to Heauen This Philosopher would let vs vnderstand that Iustice is so excellent a vertue that she passeth al mens capacitie since shee made heauen her mansion place and could finde no man in the whole earth that wold entertaine her in his house During the time they were chaste gentle pittifull patient embracers of vertue honest and true Iustice remayning in the earth with them but since they are conuerted vnto adulterers tyrants giuen to be proud vnpatient lyers and blasphemers shee determined to forsake them and to ascend vp into heauen So that this Philosopher concluded that for the wickednesse that men commit on earth Iustice hath leapt from them into Heauen Though this seeme to bee a Poeticall fiction yet it comprehendeth in it high and profound doctrine the which seemeth to be very cleare for where wee see iustice there are few theeues few murderers few tirants and few blasphemers Finally I say that in the house or Common wealth where Iustice remaineth a man can not committe vice and much lesse dissemble with the vicious Homer desirous to exalt justice could not tell what to say more but to call Kings the children of the great God Iupiter and that not for that naturalty they haue but for the office of iustice which they minister So that Homer concludeth that a man ought not to call iust Princes other but the children of God The diuiue Plato in the fourth booke of his common-wealth saieth that the chiefest gift God gaue to men is that they being as they be of such vile clay should bee gouerned by justice I would to GOD all those which reade this wryting vnderstoode right well that which Plato said For if men were not indued with reason and gouerned by iustice amongst all beasts none were so vnprofitable Let reason be taken from man wherwith he is indued and iustice whereby he is gouerned then shall men easily perceyue in what sort he will leade his life He cannot fight as the Elephant nor defend himselfe as the Tygre nor he can hunte as the Lyon neither labour as the Oxe and that wherby he should profite as I thinke is that he should eate Beares and Lyons in his life as now he shall be eaten of worms after his death All the Poets that inuented fictions all the Oratours which made Orations all the Philosophers which wrote books all the Sages which left vs their doctrines and all the Princes which instituted Lawes meant nothing else but to perswade vs to think how briefe and vnprofitable this life is and how necessary a thing iustice is therin For the filth and corruption which the bodie hath without the soule the selfe same hath the common-wealth without iustice Wee cannot denye but that the Romaines haue been prowde enuious adulterers shamelesse and ambicious but yet with all these faultes they haue beene great obseruers of iustice So that if God gaue them so manie Triumphs beeing loaden and enuironed with so many vices it was not for the vertues they had but for the great iustice which they did administer Plinie in his second booke saith that Democrites affirmed there were two gods which gouerned the vniuersall world that is to say Reward and Punishment Whereby wee may gather that nothing is more necessarie then true and right iustice For the one rewardeth the good and the other leaueth not vnpunished the euill Saint Austine in the first Booke De Ciuitate Dei saieth these words Iustice taken away what are Realmes but dennes of Theeues Truely hee had great reason For if there were no whips for vagabonds gags for blasphemers fines for periurie fires for heretiques sword for murderers galowes for theeues nor prisons for Rebells we may boldly say there would not bee so many Beasts on the mountains as there would be thieues in the Common-wealth In many things or in the greatest parte of the commonwealth wee see that Bread Wine Corn Fish Wool and other things necessary for the life of the people wanteth but we neuer saw but malicious men in euery place did abound Therefore I sweare vnto you that it were a good bargaine to chaunge all the wicked men in the commonwealth for one onely poore sheepe in the fielde In the Common-wealth wee see nought else but whipping daylie beheading slaying drowning hanging but notwithstanding this
and not once but an hundreth times treble happie is hee that will haue commiseration remembring the poore afflicted and oppressed and open his hande to comforte and relieue them and doeth not shutte his coffers from helping them vnto him I assure and promise that at the streight day of iudgement the proces of his life shall be iudged with mercie and pittie CHAP. XXXVI ¶ That the troubles griefes and sorrowes of Widdowes are much greater then those of Widowers wherefore Princes and Noble-men ought to haue more compassion vpon the Women then on men IT is great pity to see a Noble and vertuous man sorrowful alone and a widower if especially he liued contented when he was married For if hee will not marrie he hath lost his sweete companie and if he thinke to marrie another let him be assured hee shall scarcely agree with his seconde wife There is much sorow in that house where the woman that gouerned it is dead For immediately the Husband forsaketh himselfe the childrē do lose their obedience the seruants become negligent the hand-maydes become wanton the Friends are forgotten the house decayeth the goods waste the apparell is lost And finally in the widdowers house there are many to robbe and few to labour Both heauy and lamentable are the thoughtes of the widdower For if hee thinketh to marry it grieueth him to giue his children a stepmother If he cannot be marryed hee feeleth greater paine seeing him all the day to remaine alone so that the poore miserable man sigheth for his Wife hee hath lost and weepeth for her whome he desireth to haue Admit that this bee true there is great difference frō the cares and sorrows of womē to that of men A thing very cleare for so much as the widdower lawfully may go out of his house hee may go to the fields he may talke with his Neighbours hee may be occupyed with his friendes hee may follow his sutes and also he may be conuersant and refresh himselfe in honest places For commonly men are not so sorrowfull in taking the death of their wiues as the wiues are in taking the death of their Husbands All this is not spoken in the disfauour of wise and sage men whom we see make small streams with the teares of their eyes for the death of their wiues But for many other vaine and lightmen which the 9. dayes of the Funerall past a man doth see without any shame to goe throughout their streets beholding the ladies and Dam sells which are in the windowes Truely the wofull women which are honest vse not such lightnesse For whiles they are widdows it is not lawfull for them to wander abrode to go out of their houses nor to speake with strangers nor practise with her owne nor bee conuersaunt with her Neighbours nor plead with their creditors but agreable to their woefull estate to hyde and withdraw themselues within their houses and to lock themselues into their owne Chambers and they thinke it their dutyes to water theyr plants with teares and importune the Heauens with sobs and sighes Oh how wofull O how grieuous O how sorrowfull is the state of Widdows For somuch as if a Widdow goe out of her house they take her for dishonest If shee will not come out of her house she loseth her goods If she laugh a litle they count her light If shee laugh not they count her an hypocrite If she go to the Church they note her for a gadder If she go not to the Church they say she is vnthankfull to her late husband If she go ill apparelled they account her a niggard If she go cleanly handsom they say now she wold haue a new husband If she doe maintaine herselfe honestly they note her for presūptuous If she keepe company immediately they suspect her house Finally I say that the poore miserable Widdowes shall finde a thousand which iudge their liues and they haue not one that will remedie their paine Much looseth that Woman which loseth her Mother which hath borne her or her Sisters which shee loueth or the friends which she knoweth or the goods which she hath heaped vp But I say and affirme that there is no greater losse in the worlde vnto a woman then the losse of a good Husband For in other losses there is but one onely losse but in that of the Husband all are lost together After that the wife doth see her louing Husband in the graue I woulde aske her What good could remaine with her in her house Since wee know that if her husband were good hee was the Hauen of all her Troubles the remedie of all her necessities the inuētor of all her pleasurs the true loue of her heart the true lord of her person and idoll whom she honored Finally hee was the onely faithfull steward of her house and the good father of all her children and familie Whether Familie remaineth or not whether children remaineth or not in the one and in the other trouble and vexation remayneth most assuredly to the poore Widdow If perchaunce shee remaine poore haue no goods let euery man imagine what her life can bee For the poor miserable and vnhappy woman eyther will aduenture her person to get or will loose her honestie to demaunde An honest woman a Noble and worthy woman a delicate woman a sweete woman a woman of renowme a woman that ought to haue care to maintaine Children and familie ought to haue great reason to be full of anguish sorrow to see that if she will maintaine her selfe with the Needle shee shall not haue sufficiently to finde her bread and water If she gaine with her bodie shee looseth her soule If shee must demaund of others shee is ashamed If shee fulfill the testament of her Husband she must sell her Gownes If shee will not pay his debtes they cause her to bee brought before the iudges As women naturally are tender what heart will suffer them to endure such inconueniences and what Eyes can abstayne to shed infinite teares If perchaunce goods do remaine to the miserable widdow she hath no little care to keepe them She is at great charges and expences to sustaine and maintaine her selfe in long suite about her lands much trouble to augment them and in the end much sorrowe to depart from them For all her children and heyres doe occupie themselues more to bethinke them how they might inherit then in what sort they ought to serue her When I came vnto this passage a great while I kept my penne in suspence to see whither I ought to teach this matter or no that is to say that oftentimes the poore Widdowes put openly the demaund of their goods and the Iudges doe secretly demaund the possession of their person So that first they doe iniurie to her honor before they do minister iustice to her demaunds Though perchaunce shee hath no childe yet therefore shee remaineth not without any comfort and for that the parents
and trauells considered wherein wee liue and the safetie wherein wee dye I say that it is more needefull to haue vertue and strength to liue then courage to dye The Authour hereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censor spake as a wise man since daylie we see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thyrst trauell pouerty inconuenience sorrows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the ende in one day then to suffer them euery houre For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable life Oh how small consideration haue men to thinke that they ought to dye but once Since the truth is that the day when wee are born and come inthis worlde is the beginning of our death and the last day is when we do cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of life then reason perswadeth vs to thinke that our infancie dyeth our childhood dyeth our manhoode dyeth and our Age shall dye wherof we may consequently cōclude that we dye euery yeare euery day euery houre and euery moment So that thinking to leade a sure life we taste a new death I know not why men feare so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanteth for any man to dye neyther I knew any man that euer fayled of this way Seneca in an Epistle declareth that as a Romaine Woman lamented the death of a Childe of hers a Phylosopher saide vnto her Woman why bewaylest thou thy childe She aunswered I weepe because hee hath liued xxv yeares and I would he should haue liued till fiftie For amongst vs mothers wee loue our Children so hartily that we neuer cease to behold them nor yet ende to bewaile them Then the Phylosopher said Tell me I pray thee woman Why doest thou not complame of the Gods because they created not thy Sonne manie yeares before he was borne as well as thou complavnest that they haue not let him liue fiftie yeares Thou weepest that hee is deade so soone and thou dost not lament that he is borne so late I tell thee true Woman that as thou doest not lament for the one no more thou oughrest to bee sorrie for the other For without the determination of the Gods we cannot shorten death and much lesse lengthen our life So Plinie saide in an Epistle that the chiefest law which the Gods haue giuen vnto humane nature was that none shold haue perpactual life For with dis-ordinate desire to liue long wee should reioyce to goe out of this paine Two Phylosophers disputing before the great Emperor Theodose the one saide that it was good to procure death and the other likewise sayde it was a necessary thing to hate life The good Theodose taking him by the hand sayd All wee mortalles are so extreame in hating and louing that vnder the colour to loue and hate life wee leade an euill life For we suffer so many trauells for to preserue it that sometimes it were much better to loose it And further hee sayde Diuers vaine men are come into so great follyes that for feare of Death they procure to hasten death And hauiwg consideration to this me seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue life nor with desperation to seeke Death For the strong and valiant men ought not to hate Life so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that which the Emperour Theodose spake as Paulus Dyacon saith in his life Let euery man speake what he will and let the Phylosophers counsell what they lift in my poore iudgment hee alone shall receyue death without paine who long before is prepared to receyue the same For sudden death is not onely bitter vnto him which tasteth it but also it seareth him that hateth it Lactantius saide that in such sorte man ought to liue as if from hence an houre after he should dye For those men which will haue Death before their eyes it is vnpossible that they should giue place to vaine thoughts In my opinion and also by the aduise of Apuleius It is as much follie to flie from that which we cannot auoyd as to desire that wee can not attaine And this is only spoken for those that would flye the voyage of death which is necessarie and desire to come againe which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long wayes if they want any thing they borrow it of their companie If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or else they write vnto their friends a letter But I am sorrie that if wee once dye they will not let vs returne again we cannot speake and they will not agree we shall write but such as they shall finde vs so shall wee bee iudged And that which is most fearfull of all the execution and sentence is giuen in one day Let Noble Princes and great Lords beleeue mee in this Let them not leaue that vndone til after their death which they may doe during their life And let them not trust in that they commaund but in that whiles they liue they doe Let them not trust in the workes of an other but in theyr owne good deedes For in the end one sigh shall be more worth then all the friendes of the world I counsell pray and exhort all wise and vertuous men and also my selfe with them that in such a sort wee liue that at the houre of death wee may say we liue For wee cannot say that wee liue when we liue not well For all that time which without profite wee shall liue shall be counted vnto vs for nothing CHAP. XLIX ¶ Of the death of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour and how there are fewe Friendes which dare say the truth to sicke men THe good Emperor Marcus Aurelius now beeing aged not onely for the yeares he had but also for the great trauells hee had in the warres endured It chaunced that in the xviii yeare of his Empire and lxxij yeares from the day of his birth and of the foundation of Rome fiue hundreth xliii beeing in the warre of Pannonie which at this time is called Hungaria besieging a famous cittie called Vendeliona suddenly a disease of the palsey tooke him which was such that hee lost his life and Rome her Prince the best of life that euer was borne therein Among the Heathen princes some had more force then he others possessed more riches then hee others were as aduenturous as hee and some haue knowne as much as hee but none hath bin of so excellent and vertuous a life nor so modest as hee For his life being examined to the vttermost ther are many princely vertues to follow and fewe vices to reproue The occasion of his death was that that in going one Night about his Campe suddenly the disease of the palsey tooke him in
chamber dores to him There are in the Court such hare-braines and vnvndiscreet persons that haue so little regard and respect to their honest hosts that they doe nothing in their lodgings but reuell and keepe ill rule and do euen what they list as though the house were theirs to commaund and not giuen them onely for lodging Whereof springs two exceeding euils the one that they offend God and the other that the Prince is also il serued For the house is not giuen them to commaund but onely appointed for them to lodge in We reade in the life of the Emperour Seuerus that he ordained in Rome that if the owner of the house did intreate his guest and stranger ill or that he did him hurt or displeasure the stranger should accuse him before the Iustice but in no wise braule nor quarrell with him in his owne house Plutarch in his Politikes also reciteth that in the Temples of the gods in the Realme of Dace there was no liberty or safety for malefactors saue in their their owne proper houses which serued them for their only refuge and inuiolable assurance for they thoght that within the entry and gates of the same none other but the Lords and Masters of the house might pretend any iurisdiction or Segnory Now if among the Daces no officer or Iustice could lay hold or punish any man so long as hee kept his house mee thinketh it is against all reason and humanity that the Courtier should once offer his host an iniurious or vnseemely word Plato being one day reproued of his friends for that hee would not rebuke his host Denis the Siracusian who at the first receyued him very courteouslie and afterwards vsed him ill answered them thus My friend to be angry with fools that shew vs pleasure to take reuenge of children whom wee haue brought vs to beate a woman with whom we must bee familiar and to braue and braule with those in whose houses we are lodged neyther the Philosophers of Greece ought to counsell him nor the noble heart once to thinke to doe it I cannot deny but that there are some hostes very rude and vnciuill that it is in maner an impossible thing to bring him to any honesty or ciuilitie Howbeit notwithstanding I would wish the noble and worthy Courtier to take in iest all the wrongs and iniuries done or sayde to him by his host or at the least to seeme as though he heard them not at all otherwise from the day the Courtier falleth out with him hee may euen withall thinke presently to depart his house and to seeke him a new lodging for hee can neuer bee quiet in his lodging where the goodman of the house and hee cannot agree And wheresoeuer the fine Courtier shall lodge let him neuer sticke at the charges of a locke to his chamber-dore a hatch to the window a degree or two to the stayres a rope for the well a harth to the Chimney nor for a casemēt to the window for these are but trifles and they cost little though he leaue them to the house yet with these trifles hee bindeth his host and makes him beholding vnto him Also hee may not forget somtime to send home cates to his hoast and to inuite him to dinner to him and likewise if his hoast did present him with any thing hee must accept it in very good part and thanke him much for it For other while by small presents great friendshippe is obtained The discreete Courtier must also forbid his Pages and seruants to come into his Hosts garden to spoyle his fruit or to gather his flowers to steale his hennes or to breake any thing of his That they pull not vp the pauements of the house paint his walles with coles or chalke that they robbe not his Doue-house nor make any noyse to steale his Coneyes to breake his glasse windows and to hurt or marre any thing about his house For if many times they refuse to lodge strangers in their houses it is not for want of lodging or that the Masters should comber them but for the displeasures and shrewde turnes they receyue by their pages and seruants daily Yet shall chance many times that a Citizen that hath a faire new house goodly white wals and trimly painted shall haue a Courtier come to lodge in his house that shal haue such a traine with him of seruants young children and their Nephewes which are so foolish proud and so rechles that they breake the formes throw downe Tables paint and bedawd the walls beate downe dores runne thorough the seelings steale the birdes and doe a thousand other mischiefes and vnhappy turnes so that the poore owner of the house had rather lodge an other time Egyptians beggers then such rude and harmeful Courtiers And therefore I haue seene in the Court by reason of the seruants disorder and ill rule the masters commonly ill lodged lodgings denied them or after they had them to bee quite taken from them One of the necessariest things a Courtier should haue is to keepe quiet and well conditioned seruants otherwise it is to bee thought as indeed the common saying is the house to be ill gouerned where the family seruants are so ill conditioned and disordered And touching this matter Aulus Gelius De Noctibus Atticis sayth that when Cornelius Gracchus was returned to Rome after hee had been Consull a great while in the Isles Baleares hee sayde these wordes before all the Senate You know Fathers Conscript I haue beene Chiefe Iustice and Consull thirteene yeares during all which time I sweare to you by the immortall Gods that to my knowledge I neuer did wrong to any mā neyther any seruant of mine displeasure to any nor done any thing that was not lawfull to bee done in the house where I lay Phalaris the tyrant when he receiued any displeasure of the Agrigentines hee caused his seruants to lodge in their houses with them for the one and the other were so wicked so vnthrifty such quarrellers and brawlers that he could not worke them a greater spight nor displeasure then for to lodge them here and there in their houses There bee also in the Court some Courtiers that are esteemed of euery man to bee of so euill behauiour and demeanour their seruants and family of such lewd and naughty conditions that their hosts are throughly resolued eyther not to receyue them into their houses or if they bee compelled to it to absent themselues for the time of their being there rather then to suffer such iniuries and wronges as they are sure they must take at their hands The Courtier must consider that sometimes hee hath need of a bottell of water to drinke a broom to sweepe his chamber a platter or dish to serue him withall of a Table cloth and napkins and of a towell for his hands and his face of a stoole to sit on and some kettle for the kitchin and in such case he should
like vnto the bloud-hounds that follow the Deare now here now there smelling with their noses till they haue found the hurt Deare then they open and baye for their Master Therefore I counsell and exhortal wise and discreet men that they doe not accoÌ„pany with those whom they know are not secret for the hurt that commeth by them consisteth not only to tel that they know see and heare but with this they tell that they haue imagined of their owne wicked and malicious heads It cannot be otherwise but beeing men wee are also subiect to the frailtie of a man As for example To fall into the sinne of the Flesh and in that to forget the sinne of gluttonie and to haue small consideration of that of slouth to be assured of that of Auarice or with that to bee ouercome with passion and rage or to bee puffed vp in the sinne of Pride And if perhappes by misfortune any one chance into such mens company that hath but parte or all these conditions and such one as doe discouer and disclose both his own secrets and others too what other can there be hoped of then a fire enflamed in his good fame and reputation and a contagtous plague and pestilence in his house For that that I haue heard seen and read yea and also proued I say and affirme that there is no bread so ill spent as that that is giuen to the Seruaunts which open and reueale their Maisters secrets And sure it may be saide that such are not Seruaunts that serue them but Traytours that betray them and fell their Maisters libertie And it is of such importance for the Fauoured of Princes to keepe secret and not to reueale any parte of the Princes secrets that euery man must thinke that when the Prince telleth them any thing in secret he telleth it not alone to them but rather he confesseth it vnto them Princes being men as indeed they are and much busied with the cares of the Common-wealth it cannot bee but when they are withdrawne a part into their priuy chamber they wil both play talke sleyt sigh laugh be angry threaten and make much againe of some before others All which things though they doe before their seruants in secret it is not their pleasure neyther will they like it should be told abroad amongst theyr Subiects And sure they haue great reason for men of grauity and authority doe not lose their reputation for doing of things graue and of good example but they are iustly noted when publikely they will shew any lightnesse or folly how lightly soeuer it be Not only those that be in authority and fauor about the Prince but such other officers of the Court and Seruants of houshold of the prince also ought not to tell or reueale any thing they see their Prince do For they may be well assured that the prince will be more offended and displeased to haue that he doth in his priuie Chamber tolde abroad by those of the priuy Chamber or other whom it pleaseth him to make familiar with him then he would be if his tresurers and receiuers should rob him of his treasure It was tolde to Denys the Sir acusan on a time that Plato the Philosopher was at the chamber dore to speake with him and hee presently sent Bias of his priuy Chamber that hee loued well to him to know what hee would with the King and Plato aâ—ked Bias what Denys did and hee answered that hee laye starke naked vpon a Table which when Denys vnderstoode he was so offended with Bias that he commanded forthwith hee should bee beheaded saying first these words vnto him I will that like a traytor thou be beheaded sithence thou hast trayterously betrayed mee presuming to disclose the secretes of my Chamber For I sent thee not to Plato to tell him what I did but for to know what hee would of mee Now Princes familiars and Beloued of them as they must bee very circumspect and heedefull that they tell no man the Princes secretes so they must bee much careful that they tell it not chiefly to women yea though they were their owne wiues For as women are very good and profitable to looke to things of housholde and safely for to locke vp their husbands goods So are they on the other side very daungerous for man to commit any secrets to them For notwithstanding a woman know that in reueling the secrets of her husband she putteth her life in perill the honour of her husband the losse of her children the reputation of her house and kindred and peraduenture the peace and tranquility of the Common weale yet had shee rather dye then shee should not vtter that shee knoweth And many times for no other respect but to make these women beleeue that heareth her that she onely commaundeth her husband and all besides in her house Well I will enlarge my selfe no further of this matter for if I would but giue my penne leaue to write that I know I shoulde finde lime and sand enough to builde a Tower as high as Babylon But to end my purpose I will speake this one word and that is That I couÌ„sell and exhort and with all my heart request Princes Familiars or Seruants that they commit not their Princes secrets to any how great a friend or neere kinsman soeuer he be to them For they may bee assured that since they refuse to keepe secrete that the Prince commandeth them that much lesse their friend will keepe it secret for any request they make to him If thou cannot keepe the secret that to open it importeth the losse of thy fauour credite and happily thy life also how canst thou thinke an other will doe it that in telling it winneth both honor and credit CHAP. XX. A commendation of Truth which professed Courtiers ought to embrace and in no respect to be found defectiue in the contrary telling one thing for an other EPimenides the Philosopher being requested of the Rhodians to tell them what the vertue was they caled verity he answered them thus Verity my friends is a thing which the Gods aboue al other professe and her vertue is such that it warmeth the heauens lighteth the earth maintains iustice and gouerneth the Common-wealth and suffereth no euill thing in her making plain and cleare all doubtfull and hidden things The Corinthians asked the like question also of Chilo the Philosopher what verity was who aunswered that it was a perdurable pillar neuer diminishing nor decreasing a buckler or shield impassable a fayre time that is neuer troubled an army that neuer perisheth a flower that neuer withereth a Sea that neuer feareth fortune and a sure hauen where neuer was ship wracke Anaxarchus the Philosopher was also demaunded of the Lacedemonians what verity was who aunswered that it was a health without sicknesse a life without end a iuleppe and sirrop that healeth all a Sunne that neuer darkneth a Moone without Eclipse an herbe that neuer
if they will pretend any lightnes burie them quicke death ought to be giuen to an euill Daughter in steade of a dowrie for gyftes giue her wormes and for her house a graue Take heed Faustine if you will haue much ioy of your daughter take from her all the occasions wherby she shall be euil To vnderset a house behoueth diuers proppes and if the principalls be taken away it will fall downe I say you women are so fraile that with keepers with great paine they can keepe themselues and for a small occasion they will lose altogether Oh how many euill hath there bin not for that they would be so but because they followed such occasions the which they ought to haue eschewed It is at my pleasure to enter into this battel but yet it is not in my power to attaine the victorie it is for mee to enter into the Sea yet it lyeth not in my hands to escape the perill it is in the hands of a woman to enter into the occasion and after that shee is therin it is not in her power to escape from euill nor to deliuer her from tongues Peraduenture Faustine thou wilt say vnto mee none can speake to your daughter Lucilla vnlesse thou hearest it nor see her but thou seest him nor conuey her but thou knowest where nor make any appoyntment without thy consent and yet thou knowest that those which will her euill seeke with their tongues to dishonour her and those that with their heartes loue her speake only in their harts Wee loue in young bloud in the spring time and flourishing youth is a poyson that forthwith spreadeth into euery vaine it is an herbe that entreth into the entrailes a swouning that incontinently mortifieth all the members and a pestilence that slaieth the hearts and finally it maketh an end of all vertues I know not what I say but I feele that which I would say for I would neuer blaze loue with my tongue except I were sore wounded therewith in my heart Ouid sayeth in his booke of the art of loue Loue is I wot not what it it commeth I know not from whence who sent it I wot not it engendreth I know not how it is satisfied I know not wherewith it is self and I know not how oft it slayeth I know not wherefore and finally without breaking the flesh outwardly loue taketh roote and molesteth the heart inwardly I know not what Ouid meaneth hereby but I know when he sayde these words he was as farre banished from himselfe as I am at this time from my selfe O Faustine they that loue together vtter the secrets of their hearts by diuers wayes and in sleeping they reason and speake by signes they vnderstand each other The many wordes outwardly declare small loue inwardly and the seruent inward loue keepeth silence outward The entrailes within embraced with loue cause the tongue outward to be mute hee that passeth his life in loue ought to keepe his mouth close And to the entent that you shall not thinke that I speake Fables I will prooue this by auncient histeries we find anciently that in the yeare cclxx after the foundation of Rome Etrasco a young Romane that was dumbe and Verona a fayre Lady of the Latines which was dumb also These two saw each other on the mount Celio at the Feastes and there fell in loue together and their hearts were as sore fixed and entangled in Loue as their tongnes were tyed from speech It was a maruellous thing to see then and fearefull to note now that this young Lady came from Salon to Rome and he went from Rome to Salon sundry times by the space of 30. yeares without the knowledge of any person and neuer spake together It chanced at the last that the husbande of the Lady Verona dyed and the wife of Etrasco also and then they discouered their loue and treated a marriage betweene them And these two dumbe persons had issue a sonne of whom descended the noble lynage of our Scipions which were more famous in the seates of Armes then their Father and mother were troubled for want of words Then Faustine marke this thing it had little auayled to haue cut out the tongues of the two dumbe persons to haue remedied their loue and not to haue cut our their hearts And I shall tell you of Masinissa a worthy knight of Numidie and Sophonissa a famous Lady of Carthage all onely by one sight as they saw each other on a Ladder hee declareth his desire vnto her and she knowing his lust breaking the ores of feare and lifting vp the anchors of shame raysed incontinent the sayles of their hearts and with the shippes of their persons they ioyned each to other heere wee may see how the first sight of their eyes the knowledge of their persons the consent of their hearts the copulation of their bodies the decay of their estates and the losse of their names in one day in one houre in one moment and in one steppe of a Ladder were lost What will you that I say more to this purpose Doe you not know what Helen the Greeke and Paris the Troian of two straunge Nations and of farre Countries with the one onely sight in a Temple their willes were so knitte together that hee tooke her as his Captiue and shee abode his prisoner In Paris appeared but small sorce and in Helene but small resistance so that in a manner those two yong persons the one procuring to vainquish and the other in suffering to bee vanquished Paris was the causer of his Fathers destruction and both of their own deaths losse and damage to both their Realmes and slaunder to all the world All this loue grew of one onely sight When great King Alexander would haue giuen Battell to the Amazones the queene captaine of them no lesse faire then strong and vertuous came to a Riuers-side and the space of an houre each of them beheld the other with their eyes without vttering of any worde And when they returned to theyr Tents their fiercenes was turned into sweete amorous words When Pyrrus the faithfull defender of the Tharrentines and renowmed king of the Epyrotes was in Italie he came into Naples and had not beene there but one day but hee was enamoured of a faire lady named Gemelicia of a high linage and greatly esteemed for her beautie and the very same day she was gotten with childe and shamed throughout all Italie and cast out of the cittie and after that she was deliuered of childe she was slaine by one of her owne bretheren Also queene Cleopatra in the Prouince of Bythinia in the wood Sechin made a goodly banket to Marcus Anthonius her Louer and though shee was not very honest of her selfe yet had shee with her chast women And thus the Banket endured a great parte of the night Now the wood being thicke young damzels were not so wily to hide thē but the yōg men Romains found them so that of
of Cresus The liberal mind of Cresus The answer of the Philosopher Anacharsis Wherein consisteth true phylosophy How little the phylosophers desire riches Certaine points required to be performed by the physopher The description of Phalaris The speech 〈…〉 The frailtie of the flesh Couetousnes the ouer throw of Iustice What princes ought to doe Two things requisite in euery man The letter of Phalaris Cruelty wel rewarded The praise of Alexander the great The prayse of Alexander the Great The saying of Diogines The saying of Alexander Two notable things of K. Philip of Macedonie The prayse of Ptolome Alexander vnhappy in his death Pholosophers onely reioyce in pouertie A custome among the Egyptians The miserable death of Euripdes The worthy saying of Archelaus A saying worthy obseruation Sentences of Cinna No loue comparable to that of man and wife Fiue things follow marriage The loue of the Father to the child The saying of Solon A third coÌ„modity of Marriage What inconenience so loueth them that are not maryed in the feare of the Lord. The fourth commodity belonging to mariage The worthie sayings of Lycurgus The prayse of marriage The cares incident to maâ—â—age No man content with his owne estate Marriage the cause of loue and amitie Mariage a meanes of Peace betweene God and man What is required of euery vertuous Prince A law among the Tharentines A law among the Athenians A worthie saying of Socrates The spech of Cimonius A beastly custome in old time in England An ancient custome among the Romains A law among the Cymbrians The law of the Armenians A custome among the Hungarians The custom of the Scythians Good counsell for all sorts of women Women bound to loue their Husbands The tongue cause of debate The loue of women towards theyr Husbands The praise of Women The Law amongst the Lidians The loue of Sinoris Comma How good women ought to behaue themselues The death of Sinoris and Camma Good couÌ„sell for women The great dangers women sustaine The custome of the Achaians The Law of the Parthians The Law of the Lideans Women weake of nature The foolish opinion of some women A propertie of a wise discreete Husband Good counsell for Women The saying of 〈…〉 The office of the Husband and dutie of the wife The law of Lycurgus The propertie of good Houswifes What inconuenience coÌ„meth by gadding abroad The commendations of Lucretia The praises of the wiues of Numidia Where loue wanteth discord resteth A propertie of a good woman The quality of naughty House-wiues The Follie of man How the man childe ought to be brought vp How womeÌ„ ought to carry themselues in the time they goe with childe The desire of Women Tibullus de casibus triumphi The first Dictator in Rome The first rebell in Rome An auncient custome vsed by the Ladyes in Rome The first victorie the Romaines obtained by Sea The death of Sophia Titus Liuius The mutabilitie of Fortune The death of Ypolita The dangsâ— of women with childe A good warning for women with childe Aristotle de Animalibus The propertie of a good Husband Reasonable Creatures may take example by the vnreasonable A custome among the Mauritanians A custome in Hungary The false opinion of the Heathen The Commendation of the Emperour Octauian The saying of Pisto How good counsell ought to be regarded What is required of women with child Pulio de moribus antiq Lucius Seneca his counsell How vertuous Princes ought to be How the Emperour Marcus Aurclius spent his time A custome among the Romanes The speech of Marcus Aurelius at his death Rome destroyed by the Gothes The importunity of the Empresse A law a-among the Romane What euill commeth by the tong What is required in a Woman The Emperours answere What is required of euery Man What hurt commeth by not gouerning the tongue Crosses incident to Marriage What women naturally are inclined vnto Women can not endure to haue superiours Annales of Pompeyus A Law among the Barbarians The frailty of man The cause why men ought to endeauor to be vertuous How wee ought to to spend our time Reason leadeth to vertue Sensualitie to vice What dangers are incident to men by following women Women neuer contented Women coÌ„pared to golden pilles The speech of Drusio What inconuenience follow those that are discontented in marriage How euery man woman ought to behaue themselues What hurte cometh by misgouerning the tongue How marryed folkes ought to carry themselues Rules for euery man to followe that meanes to liue in peace Women extreame in their demands A froward Woman described Rome in ancient times rich in vertues Fiue things granted to the Matrones of Rome The commendation of a vertuous woman The Epitaph of Macrine Foure things which women naturally desire Women bound by Gods Law to giue her children sucke The example of dumb creatures may teach women to bring vp their owne children Arist de Animal The description of children in their infancie What loue women ought to beare their children The reward of the Roman Captain The speech of Scipio the AffricaÌ„ What dutie is required betweene the Parents and the childe The eruelty of Nero towards his Mother The reason that may moue women to giue their children sucke A custome of Asia The saying of Iunius Rustious How men and women ought to be stow theyr time What profit cometh to Women by giuing their childreÌ„ suck How women ought to spend the time about theyr children Pleasures that women may take in their children The lawes of the Auncients What care Women ought to haue of their children A good example for women A good example for all sorts of women What inconuenieÌ„ce cometh by changing Nurses Arist de secret secretorum How children ought to be nourished and brought vp Good counsell for one that would liue long Aristot De Animalib What Dyet Nurses ought to vse An example of the women of Thrace Women giuing sucke ought to abstaine from wine WomeÌ„ prohibited to drink wine in former times 〈…〉 The speech of Sabina The answer of the Consull Fuluius Wherefore the Consull would not haue his children nourished in his house What is required in euery good Nurse The description of Pressilla What is required of a Nurse for bringing vp of children What is required of a good Captaine How Alexander gouerned his armie A custome among the Persians What time it requisite for a man to eate Strabo de situ Orbis What order the Auncients vsed concerning marriage The custome of the Chaldeans How long women ought to giue their children sucke Questions demanded by the Philosopher Arethus When Rome flourished How circumspect a man ought to bee to speake the truth What property belongeth to the goute What inconuenieÌ„ce commeth by eating too much fruit What hurt commeth by Iugglers and players Titus Liuius The pollicy of the auncient Romaines God the onely Physitian The mutabilitie of mans life What difference there is betweene man and beast Ioseph de bello
Iudaic What caused Cicero to bee famous The opinioÌ„ of Plato The commendation of Iulius Caesar The ordinances of Socrates How euerie man ought to guide gouerne himselfe Children compared to Trees How to choose Nurses for children The glory of the Ancients to enioy vertuous women Greece euer famous for learned women Disputation betweene the women of Greece and Rome The wickednes of Heliogabalus The ancient women farre excelled these in our times The difference betweene one man and another The commendation of Aretha The Epitaph of Aretha The proty of women Man without truth is not worthie to be regarded The humilitie of Pythagoras The wife of King Euander a Prophetesse A custome among the Macedonians K. Alexanders answer concerning his mariage The prayse of Cornificia The speech betweene Calphurnius and Cornificius How great Ladies ought to to esteeme of theÌ„selues What difference there is betweene the women of our time the ancients Fiue Families in Rome chiefly were esteemed The Epitaph of Cornelia A letter of a Romane Lady to her two sons The wickednesse of Rome described The vncertainety of mans life 〈…〉 The commendations of warlike men A Law among the Tharentines How euery man women ought to spend their time What a good traueller in this worlde ought to seeke for The vanity and foolish opinion of the commoÌ„ people The Philosopher Phetonius his answere to the Thebaines The Philosophers counsell acceptable to the Thebanes The reason why parents are bound to instruct then children How childreÌ„ ought to bee brought vp What mischiefe commeth by giuing childreÌ„ their owne will in their youth Questions demaunded of Dyogenes the Phylosopher 2. Things to be obserued of all men What comfort parents may looke for of their children Ordinances and customes of the Rhodians What youth ought to obstaine from A Lawe among the Athenians The miserable estate of man What misfortunes are incident to man in this life Men ought to flie the pleasures vanities of this life Wholsome and warie lawes of the Lacedemonians The speech of 〈…〉 concerning the professe of the Lygures The stoute answere of the English Ambassadour to the Romanes The prowesse of Viriatus and his vntimely death An ancient Law obserued by the inhabitants of Capua The answer of the Emperour Augustus Caesar The prouidence of a careful mother The commendations of the labouring man The more teÌ„derly children are brought vp the more diseased they proue ChildreÌ„ the dishonor of their pareÌ„ts wheÌ„ they be not well brought vp Distastfull things vnfit for either young or olde Vide Genes c. Excellent comparison and forewarning c. Aduised caueats for the bringing vp of teÌ„der youth What conditions belong to a good schol master Like master like scholler What is required in a well gouerned CoÌ„mon welth The speech of Camillus Camillus loued of the Romanes and feared of his enemies A good law in Rome fitte to bee vsed all the world ouer A custome of the Carthagenians The carefulnes of Princes in times past to bring vp their chidren A custome among the Athemans Questions demaunded by the phylosophers of Athens Affro de rebus Atheniensium A great thing for parents to chuse good Tutors to their children The descrip of a cruell and wicked Prince The death of the Prince Verissimus greatly bewayled The tendernes of the Emperour toward his sonne How euery man ought to examine their tutors How circuÌ„spect the Emperour was in chusing teachers for his sonne With what vertues Princes ought to be adorned How princes shoulde giue credite to their seruants Three of offences neuer pardoned in Rome The greate loue of the Romanes to the Emperour A question demaunded of the Emperour and his answere The wisedome of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius The speech of the Emperour to the philosophers How a wiseman is discerned from a foole An ancient Law among the Romans worthy obseruation What Rome was in ancient time Rome in auncient times â—â—iled the Mother of good workes One badde worke marres many good speeches What is required in a sage Phylosopher WheÌ„ Rome flourished in vertue What moued the Emperour to put away the Phylosophers The counsell of the Emperour What is required in good Tutors The Phylosophers speeche to K. Seleucus King Seuleucus his answer What profit cometh to children by good counsell Tutors ought not to beare with the vices of theyr schollers Custome in sinning is hardly to be reclaimed Schoolemasters ought not to bee couetous The complaint of Apuleius Rufynus to the Emperour Seuerus The senteÌ„ce of the Emp Seuerus What euil followed covetousnesse The speech of the Emperour to the nine Masters of his sonne Comodus The duty of euery good Father to prouide good instructors for their children Good tutors compared to naturall Fathers What is required in a good instructor of children Difference betweene the Teachers of Princes children others What is required in a Scholler The earefulnes of the Emperour for the Common-wealth Children in their youth apt to entertain all vices What is required in the master towards his Schollers An ancient Law in Rome A cruell sentence vpon a lyer The speech of a Senator to the Emperour The Emperours answere How carefull masters ought to be to refraine their schollers from lying and gaming The speech of the Emperour Octauian The sentence of the Emperour vpon the Prince and his master What is required in great mens Children The reward of shamefastnes Commendation of the Empeperour The odosius A memorable thing of the Emperour Theodosius The ordinances of Plato Young meÌ„ ought to abstaine from the vice of the flesh What inconuenieÌ„ce followeth the fleshly minded man A good lesson for Parents The excellency of vertue How vile man were if Iustice were wanting Nothing mor profitable to the Common-wealth then true lustice No nation so barbarous but it founded of instice The office of euery Magistrate What a great thing it is to doe iustice vprightly Hee that in his life is vn iust cannot doe iustice to another Lawes giueÌ„ to the Egyptians What is required in a vertuous Iudge How circuÌ„spect Princes ought to be in chusing Iudges How Iudge ought to bestowe their time Difference betweene him that is iust and him that administreth iustice Ancient Lawes and customes ought nor to be broken Princes ought not to be partiall in iudgement Princes the ministers of God for Iustice An excelleÌ„t saying of Alexander Seuerus The Lawes of Plato concerning princes The difference betweene a tyrant and a good prince A great pestilence in Rome in the time of M Aurelius The description of the villaine The oration of the villaine to the Senators of Rome Hee that taketh away another mans goods putteth his life also in peril Euery man giuen to one sinne or other The villain continueth his Oration wherein hee layeth open the tyranny and oppression of the Romanes against the Germanes Man may giue the battell but God must giue the victorie Iniury done wher iustice is neglected An Apologie of the
men are to die Too much merriment in life breedeth woe in death A custome of the Grecians and Romains Wise men do outwardly dissemble inward griefes The custoÌ„e of many widowes There are two things that grieue men at their death The same order that Time keepeth man ought to follow This transitory life not worth the desiring Man neuer happy till death The trauell of death is harder then all the trauell of life The cause why men feare death He giues best counsel to the sorrowfull that is himselfe likewise tormented The occasion why Aurelius tooke his death heauily Children brought vp in liberty wantonnes easily fals into vices It is perillous to be adorned with naturall giftes to want requisite vertues What parents should glory of in their children Many yong vicious princes in Rome The cruell inscription in Coligulaes brooch The cruelty of Nero to his Mother They seldome mend that are vicious in youth The difference betweene the poore and the rich in death Vicious children by an ancient law disinherited Fiue things that oppressed Marcus Aurelius heart The counsell of the Emperour to his sonne Comodus What words cannot doe treason will The sinnes of a populous Cittie not to be numbred As vice intangleth the vicious so vertue cleaneth to the vertuous Disobedience of children is their vndoing Ripe counsell proceedeth from the aged The pastime that Princes should seeke Princes are to accompanie Ancient men All young men are not light nor all olde men sage Princes that rule many must take counsell of many Weighty affayres are to be dispatched by counsell Whose couÌ„sell is to be refused The marks of an vndiscreet prince or ruler It is more perillous to iniure the dead then the liuing The duty of a thankefull child Ministers are to bee honoured of all men A good admonition for children how to vse their stepmothers Women are of a tender condition Princes that doe iustice doe get enemies in the execution thereof The Emperour here concludeth his speech and endeth his life Death altereth all things Deferring of the punishment is not the pardoning of the fault The wisedome of God in disposing his gifts A Table of good counsell The painefull iourney the Philosophers booke to viâ—â—t good â—en The properties of a true friende What Loue is A remarkeable saying of Zenocrates Great eate is to bee had in choosing a friend The saying of Seneca touching frindship Good workes doe maruellously cheare the heart The times past better then the times present A question demaunded by the Emperour Augustus of Virgil and his answere Sinne is not so pleasaot in the committing as it is likesome in the remembraÌ„ce Good counsell for all men especially for Courtiets Christians are in all things to be prefered before all others What the Author or wryter of books should ayme at A wise man reserueth some time for his profite and recreation Leâ—rned men greatly honored in times past The letter of K. Phili to Aristol at the birth of his sonne Alexander The benefite that accreweth by companying with wise men They are oft times most known that least seeke acquaintaÌ„ce No misery comparable to that of the Courtier Why this name Court was adhibited to the Pallace of Princes It is more difficult to bee a Courtier then a religious person Many a Courtier spends his time all The life of aâ— Courtier an open penance The Courtier is abridged of his liberty An honest hart is more greeued to shew his misery then to suffer it The Courtyer subiect to much trouble What epences the Courtier is at The misery that Courtiers are subiect vnto How Courtyers ought to order their expences The trouble courtyers haue with Friends The griefe of thâ— courtyer that caÌ„not pleasure his friend The mishaps of the Court are more then the fauors The Courtier wanteth many things hee would haue Few purchase fauor in the court A speech of Lucullus and may well bee applyed to euery Courtier Courtiers are rather grieued then relieued with the princely pompes of the Court. The particular troubles of theÌ„ which follow the Court. The Ambition of the Courtyers Many rather glory to be right Courtiers tken good Christians The Courtyer of least calling proues most troublesom All Courtiers subiectto the authority of the Harbingers How a courtyer may make the Harbinget his friend How the Harbinger is to appoint his lodgings The Courtier must entrear his host well where hee lyeth â—ow the Courtier may make his host beholden to him It is necessary for Courtiers to keepe quiet seruants The Courtier is to commaund his seruants courteously to aske of his Host all needfull things Too many women about the Court. The care the Courtier ought to haue of his Apparell How the Courtier is to demeane himselfe at his departure from his lodging The troble of him that is in fauour in the court is great Want of audacity hinders good fortunes The reason why fortune rayseth some and throweth down others The course he must take that would bee in his Princes fauour The saying of Dionisius to Plato other Philosophers that came to visite him Backbyting is a kinde of treason especialâ—y against princes The law of A drian the Emperour againest sedicious persons Good seruice demaÌ„ds recompence though the tongue bee silent Things to be eschewed of him that would speake with the King In what sort the Courtier is to demand recompeuce of the prince The Courtier shoulde not be obstinate How princes are to be spoken to if they be in an error How the Courtier must demean himselfe when his Prince sporteth before him Where wise men are best known What disposition should be in a Princes Iester He that will come to fauour in the Court must be acquainted with all the Courtiers in the Court. A Prince hath alwais some fauourite The inconueniences that follow the needles reasoning of that the King allowes Betweene words spokeÌ„ the inteÌ„t with which they were spoken is great difference It is best for the Courtier to bee 〈◊〉 friendshippe with all if can possible There is no man but giues more credit to one then another Wherein true visitation of our betters or friends consisteth The indiscretion of some that are visited The discretion the Courtyer is to vse in his curtesie One gyft in necessitie is better then a thousand words Two things which a maÌ„ should not trust any with A custome wherein the Courtier may lauish hia reputation When a wise man may put himselfe in perill How hee that is biddeÌ„ to a feast may purchase thaÌ„kâ— of the bidder To what ende wee should desire riches Many not 〈◊〉 to serue God as their own bellies How he is welcome that is a common runner to other mens Tables How he is to demeane himself that will visite noble means Table Many loue to haue their cheere and attendance commended Wine tempered with water bringth 2. commodities No man ought to complaine of want at anothers table What talke should bee vsed at the