were partly founded to this ende But how carefull are we at this day to imitate those auncients in this earnestnesse of good bringing vp of children in the studie of sciences and good discipline Haue we not very good occasion to say with Crates the Philosopher that it is most necessarie that one should ascend vp into the highest place of this kingdome and cry aloude Oh ye men whither doe ye throwe your selues headlong in taking all the paynes that may be to heape vp goodes and treasures that perish and in the meane while make no reckoning of your children but suffer them to continue long and to grow old in ignorance which destroyeth them both body and soule and turneth to the confusion and ouerthrow of your country For it is most certaine that a good nature ill brought vp waxeth very pernitious and that the mindes and hartes of men that are corruptly instructed become most wicked Doe you thinke saith Plato that execrable villanies and horrible vices proceede rather of a naughtie nature than of a noble nature corrupted with euill education In like maner a good nature well tilled will attaine to the toppe of vertue but if it be negligently looked vnto it will be nothing but vice But let vs see what goodly instructions the auncients haue giuen concerning this matter The same Plato was so carefull and searched out so exactly the good education of children as that which is as precious and necessarie a thing as any can be in the life of man that hee taketh them euen from their mothers wombe yea before they are begotten First hee willeth that the husband and wife that are desirous of children should keepe them-selues from drunkennesse and from entring into the bedde when they are cholerike and full of trouble bicause that many times is the cause of vices in children Next he requireth that great bellied women should giue themselues to walking and beware of liuing either too delicately or too sparingly that they should haue quiet mindes with many other things which he alleageth to that purpose He saith also that children being in their mothers wombe receiue good and ill as the fruites of the earth doe After they are borne he carefully recommendeth their education Wee will not here stande vpon many pointes to be obserued therein as namelie vpon the choice of Nurses whereof fewe are ignoraunt seeing it belongeth to the true and naturall office of euerie mother to nourish that with hir teate which she hath brought into the world except there be some great and lawfull impediment But let vs go on with the sayings of Plato He chargeth nurses to lead their children oftentimes on their feete vntil they be 3. yeeres old bicause this moouing is very profitable for them He forbiddeth much crying in children bicause it breedeth in them a habite and custome of sadnesse From 3. yeeres to six he would haue them moderately corrected when they commit a fault forbidden aboue all things to accustome them from that time forward vnto daintines or to ouer-great seueritie saying that delicatenes maketh them froward hard to please cholerike soone mooued and that seueritie maketh them hard-harted cruell abiect base-minded very blocks and fooles and haters of men At sixe yeeres of age he would haue them put apart from the daughters and begin to learne to ride a horse to shoote to practise all kind of feates of Armes both with the right hand and with the left to put in vre all other exercises of moderate labor that they may waxe strong and be acquainted with labour and therefore to vse such laborious pastimes But he expresly forbiddeth to change euery day for new this age being very apt thervnto saying that nothing is more pernitious than to acquaint youth to despise antiquitie But aboue all things he commandeth that children should be so brought vp that they be not constrained to any thing whatsoeuer they shall take in hand but as it were in sport that so euery ones nature may be knowne Neither would he haue them beaten without great discretion bicause it is not seemely that a free man should learne liberall sciences by seruitude and compulsion And in truth no science forced vpon a man will continue stedfast with him Moreouer he would haue them apply themselues to Musicke both to sing hymnes and songs to the praise of God to laud and magnifie him and to hope for all good successe from him as also to recreate their spirits He greatly misliketh in them slouth and too much sleepe saying that much sound sleepe is good neither for the bodie nor for the soule that it is nothing profitable for him that desireth to bring any good thing to passe bicause as long as a man sleepeth he doth nothing more than if he liued not Therefore whosoeuer desireth to liue and to come to knowledge let him watch as much as he may hauing regard notwithstanding to his health which is contented with a little when a man is once acquainted therewith Now bicause a child as he saith is more vnruly than a sauage beast he would neuer haue him left without a wise and vertuous maister It is no lesse necessarie saith he to consider what teachers a man hath than what parents For as children doe in a manner carie away the spirits of their forefathers so the vices of teachers are deriued vnto their schollers Therefore let such be chosen as teach vs their vertue by their workes and not such as onely vtter and speake many goodly words studied out of it At ten yeeres this diuine Philosopher would haue children to learne letters vntill fifteene But bicause we are to learne languages that differ from ours it were good to beginne sooner and to end a little after I thinke it were very profitable for youth to begin at the aboue named age of sixe yeeres to teach him his moother toong perfectly that he may read pronounce and write it well After at eight yeeres to teach him the rudiments of the Latine toong and to let him follow that vntil it be as familiar vnto him or little lesse than his natural speech At fourteene yeeres the same Plato would haue children learne Arithmetike saying that it is very necessary both for a souldior and for a Philosopher next Geometrie and that part of Astronomie that is necessarie for Cosinographie which he would haue likewise learned He commandeth also that youth should practise hunting bicause it is as it were an image of warre and an exercise that maketh men apt to sustaine all labour and trauell This institution of youth is surely woorthie of that diuine spirite of Plato and that partie were very vnhappie and of a froward and corrupt nature who being thus diligently brought vp would not growe to be a vertuous and good man He putteth small difference betweene the education and bringing vp of daughters and that of sonnes not depriuing women
Of the Harmonie and agreement that ought to be in the dissimilitude or vnlike callings of subiects by reason of the duty and office of euery estate 743 67 Of Peace and of Warre 754 68 Of the ancient Discipline and order of Warre 764 69 Of the office and duty of a Generall 772 70 Of the choise of Souldiors of the maner how to exhort them to fight and how victory is to be vsed 783 71 Of a happie Life 794 72 Of Death 804 THE FIRST DAIES WORKE of this Academie with the cause of their assemblie WHen GOD by his infinite and vnspeakable goodnes beholding with a fatherly bountifull and pitifull eie our poore France which most cruel against it selfe seemed to run amain most furiously to throw it self headlong into the center of some bottomlesse gulfe had sent from heauen the wished-for newes of peace in the midst of ciuill and domesticall armies which a man might say were of purpose prepared for the finall ouerthrow of this French Monarchie that hath florished so long time sparing by his heauenlie grace and fauor and that in despite of them the bloud of those men who held foorth their right hand to cut off the left among manie who touched with the loue of their countrie and with true zeale to pietie reioiced at this so well liking and healthfull newes fower yong gentlemen of Aniou who came togither to serue their Prince and to sacrifice their liues if need required for the welfare and safetie of the Common wealth were none of the last that sought out one another and met togither to testifie ech to other as their mutuall kindred and sworne frendship did inuite them the ioy which filled their souls arising of so happie and vnlooked for successe and alteration of affaires to the end also that they might giue glorie and praise to him who for the benefit of his knoweth wel how to take order euen in those things which according to the iudgement of men are desperate and past recouery And that which gaue them greater occasion to reioice for this peace and so diligently to seeke out one another was this bicause contratie to hope they saw the meanes offered them to returne home and to continue an exercise that greatly pleased them which not long before the last fal of France into troubles they had happily begun Now to let you readers vnderstand what this exercise was these fower gentlemen being of kin and neere neighbors and in a maner of one age were by the care and prudence of their fathers brought vp and nourished togither from their yoong yeeres in the studie of good letters in the house of an ancient wise gentleman of great calling who was the principall stocke and roote of these fruitfull buds This man by reason of his manifold experience and long abode in strange countries knew that the common corruption of French youth of it selfe inclined to pleasure proceeded chiefly from the ouer great licence and excessiue libertie granted vnto them in the Vniuersities of this Realme as well through the fault and negligence of the gouernors and tutors in them as also bicause of the euill gouernment of the townes at this day He knew also that they were no lesse abused who thinking to auoide this dangerous downe-fall at home did send their children to studie abroad amongst strangers where the traffike and merchandise of mischiefs is more common and easie to be made bicause they feare not that newes will presently or so speedily be caried to their parents as if they were neere vnto them Oh how well woorthie of eternall praise is the prudence of this gentleman bringing to my remembrance Eteocles one of the most noble Ephories of Lacedemonia who freely answered Antipater asking fiftie pledges that he would not giue him children least if they were brought vp farre from their fathers they should change the ancient custome of liuing vsed in their owne countrie and become vicious but of olde men and women he would giue him double the number if he would haue them Wherevpon being threatened by this king if he speedily sent him not of the youth we care not quoth he for threatenings For if thou command vs to do things that are more greeuous than death we will rather choose death so carefull were the men of old time that the dressing and trimming of these yoong plants should not be out of their presence But let vs go on with our matter This good and notable old man hauing spent the greater part of his yeeres in the seruice of two kings and of his country and for many good causes withdrawen himselfe to his house thought that to content his mind which alwaies delighted in honest and vertuous things he could not bring greater profit to the Monarchie of France than to lay open a way and meane to preserue and keepe youth from such a pernicious and cancred corruption by offering himselfe for example to all fathers and shewing them the way to haue a more carefull eie in the instruction of their children and not so lightly to commit them to the discipline of vices by the hands of mercenarie and hired strangers And this was begun vpon these fower yoong gentlemen whom he tooke to his owne house by the consent of their parents offering himselfe to the vttermost of his power to helpe their gentle nature which appeered in them woorthie their ancestors by training it vp first in the feare of God as being the beginning of al wisedome secondly in humane learning and knowledge which are necessarie helps to liue well and happily to the benefit of the societie of men To this end after that he himselfe had shewed them the first grounds of true wisedome and of al things necessarie for their saluation according to the measure of grace giuen him from aboue and as their age could conceiue them he labored earnestly to haue in his house some man of great learning and wel reported of for his good life and conuersation vnto whom he committed the instruction of this yoong Nobilitie Who behaued himselfe so wel in his charge that not greatly staying himselfe in the long degrees of learning which being ordinarie and vsuall in our French Colledges are often more tedious besides losse of time than profitable to youth after he had indifferently taught his schollers the Latine toong and some smackering of the Greeke he propounded for the chiefe part and portion of their studies the morall philosophie of aucient Sages and wise men togither with the vnderstanding searching out of histories which are the light of life therein following the intent and will both of him that set him on worke and also of the parents of this Nobilitie who desired to see their children not great Orators suttle Logitians learned Lawiers or curious Mathematicians but onely sufficiently taught in the doctrine of good liuing following the traces and steps of vertue by the knowledge of things past from the first ages vntill this present that they
fifteene dayes he had gotten with child a hundred virgins of Sarmatia which he had taken prisoners in the warre Chilpericus the first king of France to the end he might the better enioy a whore called Fredegonda whō afterwards he maried compelled his first wife named Andeuora to become a religious woman and put to death two children which he had by her through the counsaile of his sayd concubine Then hauing in his second mariage taken to wife Galsonda daughter to the king of Spaine he caused her to be strangled and maried Fredegonda who perceiuing afterward that he noted in himselfe this loosenesse of life and offensiue kind of gouernment caused him to be slain A iust punishment suffred by God for his intemperance Xerxes monarch of the Persians was so intemperate and giuen to lust that he propounded rewards for those that could inuent some new kind of pleasure And therfore comming into 〈…〉 infinit number of men to subdue it he was ouercome and repulsed by a small number as being an effeminate and faintharted man Epicurus a learned philosopher was so intemperate that he placed the soueraigne Good and Felicitie in pleasure Sardanapalus monarch of Babylon the first of the foure Empires was so addicted to lust and intemperance that he stirred not all day long from the company of women being apparelled as they were and spinning purple Whereby he became so odious that two of his lieutenants iudging him vnworthy to command ouer Asia and ouer so many good men as were vnder his Empire raised his subiects against him and ouercame him in battell Wherupon dispairing of his safetie he caused a great Tabernacle of wood to be set vp in a sure place within the cloister of his palace and compassed it round about with great store of dry wood Then he caused his wife and his concubines whom he loued best to enter into it and all the wealth he had to be brought thither This done shutting himselfe within it his Eunuches and seruants according to the othe which he had taken of them put fire to the said frame and so this miserable king of the Chaldeans and Assyrians with all that was with him was suddenly consumed with fire and ended his monarchie which his victorious lieutenants diuided betwixt them the one taking himself for king of Babylon the other of Medea Antonius one of Caesars successors in the Empire procured his own ruine through intemperance loosenes and stirred vp against himselfe the enuie and murmuring of the Romans for his retchlesnesse of feats of Arms in that warre ouer which he was generall against the Parthians For to the end he might quickly return to his concubine Cleopatra Queene of Egypt he hazarded all in such sort that without doing any thing worthy his first reputation he lost more than twentie thousand of his own men Afterward Octauius his companion in the Empire beyng armed against him that he might reuenge the iniurie which he had done him in forsaking his sister whom he had wedded to liue in his vncleannes gaue him battell wherein Antonius seeing his friend Cleopatra flie who had born him company in that warre folowed her with three skore of his owne gallies albeit the fight was yet equal the victorie doubtful Thus he betraied those that fought for him to follow her who already had begun his destruction to the end she might accomplish the same as in deed it fel out after For being besieged within Alexandria by the said Octauius and without hope of safetie he thrust himself through the body with his sword wherof he died and Cleopatra also procured her own death by the biting of the serpent Aspis Boleslaus the second king of Polonia being giuen to all vncleannes and filthines made no dout to take women by violence from their husbands Whereupon the bishop of Cracouia often admonished him therof and when by reason of his obstinate perseuerance he proceeded against him euen with excommunication he was caried headlong with such fury that he killed this holy man After that his subiects comming against him he was constrained to flie into Hungarie where falling mad he slew himself The emperor Adrian tooke such glory and pride in al execrable vices that he commanded a Temple with a sumptuous tombe to be made for a naughtie man named Antinoüs whō he had miserably abused in his life In our time Iohannes a Casa Archbishop of Beneuento and Legate in Venice wrote a booke in praise of the abominable vice of Sodomitrie Sigismundus Malatesta lord of a part of Romaignola a prouince of Italy striued to haue carnal knowledge of his sonne Robert who thrusting his poinado into his fathers bosom reuenged that great wickednes By these examples and infinit others whereof histories are full it appeereth sufficiently that man burning with intemperance careth not at what price with what shame hurt or hinderance he may come to the execution and practise of all such pleasure delight as he propoundeth to himselfe As if he purpose to haue his fame continue for euer he will not stick to do it although it be by some notable wickednesse And thus we read of him that burnt the Temple of Diana which was accounted the fift wonder of the world was two hundred eight and twentie yeeres in building by the Amazones within the citie of Ephesus in Asia The planks thereof were all of Cedar wood and the doores and garnishing of the wals of Cypres This wretched caitife confessed that he put fire to that sumptuous building for no other cause than to leaue his fame and renowne behind him in the world but commandement was giuen that none should fet down his name in writing Neuerthelesse he is named Erostratus by Solinus and Strabo from whence came that prouerb This is the renowne of Erostratus vsed when any man seeketh to be famous by a wicked act which we may also apply to all intemperate men As touching the defect of Temperance wherof mention was made in the beginning of our present discourse and which hath no proper name but vnproperly is called by some Stupiditie orsencelesnes it is rarely found amongst men who by nature are giuen to pleasure and caried away with all kinds of desires lusts For where shal we find any so dul blockish that hath no feeling of pleasure and that is not mooued with glory and honor Such a man may be truly taken and accounted as one void of sence and feeling like to a blocke Neither doth it belong to temperāce to be depriued of all desires but to master them For that man as Cicero saith that neuer had experience of pleasures and delights neither hath any feeling of them ought not to be called temperate as he that hath done nothing which may testifie his continencie and modestie Thus ye see we haue no matter offred wherabout to bestow time in reproouing this vice of defect frō which men are
amongst the guests about this proposition What kind of death was best euen that said this Monarch which is least looked for True it is which may be said that destinie may possibly be better foreseene than auoided But this were an euill conclusion thereupon that we must let goe all care of keeping those Goods which God giueth vs as a blessing proceeding from his grace For it is the dutie of a good and sound iudgement to conferre that which is past with the present time to the end to foresee in some sort and to determine of that which is to come which is alwaies doubtfull and vncertaine vnto vs. Moreouer to resume our former matter of honest shame and shamefastnes which is the guide of our life to decencie and vertue we may see amongst the an ients infinite examples how it hath been recommended and precisely obserued and what strength it hath had in right noble mindes The Persians brought vp their youth in such sort that they neither did nor spake any thing that was dishonest putting him to death that stripped himself starke naked in the presence of another Yea they iudged euery vnciuill action how litle soeuer committed before others to be great wickednes The Parthians would neuer suffer their wiues to come among their feastes least wine should cause them to doe or to speake any dishonest thing in their presence Hippocratides as he was walking met with a yong man in a wicked mans company perceiuing that he began to blush said thus vnto him My sonne thou must goe with such as will not cause thee to blush but be of good cheere for thou maiest yet repent thee Blind Eutichus was set without the aray of the battel by Leonidas but being ashamed to leaue his fellowes in danger he caused a slaue to lead him to the place where they fought and there wonderfully doing his endeuor he was slain The Romans were so shamefast amongst themselues that the father would not bathe himselfe with his sonne nor the sonne in law with the father in law They so greatly esteemed honest shame and bashfulnes that when Philip king of Macedonia was accused before the Senate of many crimes the shamefastnes of yong Demetrius his sonne who blushed and held his peace stood him in greater stead than the shamelesse boldnes of the eloquentest Orator in the world could haue done The sonne of Marcus Cato the Censor beyng at that battell wherein Perses was discomfited and fighting with a iaueline his sword fell out of his scabberd wherof he was so ashamed that alighting on foote in the midst of his enemies doubling his courage and strength he tooke it vp and mounted againe fighting on horsebacke as before The sonne of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus hauing abandoned and giuen ouer the keeping and defence of the countrey of Trenta committed to his charge was so ashamed thereof that not daring to returne againe to his father he slew himself Parmenides taught his Disciples that nothing was terrible to a noble mind but dishonor and that none but children and women or at least men hauing womens harts are afraid of griefe When speech was ministred at the banket of the seuen Sages concerning that popular gouernment which was happiest wherein all haue equall authoritie Cleobulus affirmed that that citie seemed vnto him best guided by policie wherein the Citizens stood in greater awe of dishonor than of the law Plutark rehearseth a very noteable historie of the force of honest shamefastnes in the Milesian maidens who were fallen into such frenzie and perturbation of spirite that without any apparant cause to be seene they were suddenly ouertaken with a longing to die and with a furious desire to hang themselues Which thing many of them had alreadie put in practise so that neither reasons nor teares of fathers and mothers no comfort of friends no threatnings pollicies or deuices whatsoeuer could preuaile with them vntill such time that a wise Citizen by his aduice procured an edict to be made by the Councell that if any heerafter hung hir selfe she should be caried starke naked in the sight of all men through the market place This edict being made and ratified by the Councell did not onely represse a little but wholy staied the fury of these maidens that longed to die Insomuch that a simple imagination and conceit of shame and dishonor which yet could not light vpon them before they were dead did preuaile more with them than all other deuised meanes could do yea than death it selfe or griefe which are two of the horriblest accidents which men commonly stand in feare of To conclude therefore our present discourse that honest shame and shamefastnes are alwaies commendable and beseeming all persons that purpose to obserue modestie in their words gestures countenances and actions We learne also that spirits well brought vp are more easily wonne by shame than by feare according to that saying of Quintilian that shamefastnes is the propertie of a free man and feare of a bondman Further we learne that euery temperate man ought to be more ashamed of himselfe when occasion of doing ill is offered than of any other that he must shun all euil excessiue and pernitious shame proceeding from the want of discretion bicause it hindereth men from effecting all good wholesome and honest things insomuch that of it selfe it is able to procure vnto vs losse dishonor and infamie The ende of the sixt daies worke THE SEVENTH DAIES WORKE Of Fortitude Chap. 25. ASER. MAN endued with reason seeking to imitate asmuch as lieth in him the author of his being who albeit simply absolutely he standeth not in neede of any thing whatsoeuer yet doth woonderfull workes without ceasing for the benefit of his creatures feeleth himselfe touched to the quicke in his soule with a desire to profit all those among whome he liueth by all high great laudable and laborious meanes not fearing any perill nor forcing any paine Moreouer meditating weighing the dignitie of the immortalitie of his soule he careth not for earthly and mortal goods nor standeth in feare of the contrarie and whether it be for the hauing or not hauing of them his minde is nothing at all the lesse quiet neither doth he thinke that any good vpon earth can be taken from him All which great and rare excellencies flowe into him from the third riuer of the fountaine of Honesty whereof we are now to speake namely of the vertue of Fortitude which as Cicero saith cannot be forced by any force AMANA This vertue saith Seneca is very great being able to resist and to fight against extreame miseries Which is the propertie of Fortitude that guideth a noble nature through hard and difficult things that he may attaine to the end of his iust deuices ARAM. Fortitude is the cause that neither for feare nor danger we turne aside from the way of vertue and iustice And as Plato
may seeme hard to conceiue how two vices so disagreeing by nature may be found to agree in the same subiect we will soone beleeue it if we say with the ancients that it is the point of couetousnesse to gripe and to take Where and When it ought not and that this dealing is put in practise necessarilie vpon one of these two occasions eyther of niggardlinesse and sparing or for prodigalitie as they do that vniustly seeke for meanes to satisfie their fond desires and their vnprofitable and superfluous expences The common opinion is that they who put to no vse the richesse which they gette so couetously are more miserable than those that abuse them after they haue obtayned them by ill meanes bicause manye maye reape profite by these but of the other none no not their onely heires receiue more benefit than they do of hogs which is after their death But it falleth not out so altogither with kings and princes whose couetousnes ioined with prodigalitie is more hurtfull to their subiects than that which is ioined with sparing For this latter althogh it maketh them commit much iniustice and polling of their people to fil their treasuries yet when any need hapneth to the common-wealth either of forraine warre or of any other calamitie a good ground-work is laid in the bottome of their cofers for to redresse the same But the other maintained with the like iniustice leaueth nothing behind for prodigall princes wherewith to helpe themselues in time of necessitie Whereupon oftentimes proceedeth the finall subuersion of their estate weakened by exactions to the ouerthrow and vndoing of many who would haue been the sinewes of their strength and all to inrich a few who then will stand them in small stead or els bicause they wasted it vpon riot and superfluities wherby the warlike vertues both of themselues and of their subiects become degenerate bastardlike Of this we note that after a prince groweth to be prodigall and desirous of superfluitie and foolish expences no riches he hath will euer suffice him so that to satisfie his spending he must needs become couetous and vniust The like happeneth many times to the meaner sort and to men of all estates that they are couetous and prodigal both togither namely when they gather wealth by vnlawfull meanes spare to spend it in the workes of pietie that they may sowe it plentifully vpon delights and pleasures But the humor of niggardlines and neernesse is most common in couetous men whom Plutarke compareth to rats and mice that are in gold mines which eate the golden oare and yet nothing can be gotten from them but after their death Likewise he compareth them to pipes through which water being conueied into a cesterne nothing remaineth for them So couetous men heape vp treasures to leaue them to their heires that they also may afterward leaue them to their heires as their predecessors did and so neither the one nor the other reape any good or benefit by them vntill in the end either some Tyrant take all away by violence from that hold-fast or els some one that is the worst of the race succeedeth spending all dissolutely vpon pleasures This caused Diogenes iesting at couetous men to say that he had rather be their sheepe than their sonne bicause they are very carefull to giue their cattell meete pasture but in steede of feeding their youth with conuenient and profitable nourishment through good and vertuous education they marre spill corrupt them by grafting couetousnes in the soules of their children as if they ment to build within them a strong fort wherein to keepe their succession safely Whereas contrariwise they should learne of Cicero that the glory of vertue and of praisworthie and honorable deeds is the greatest riches which fathers can leaue to their children and more excellent than any other patrimonie whatsoeuer Socrates called a yoong man brought vp in ignorance and rich withall a golden slaue And that seruant answered not vnfitly when being demanded what his maister did who was a couetous man and one that hauing great quantitie of good wine sold it to others and sought for sowre wine in Tauernes for his owne drinking he said Albeit he hath great store of good yet he seeketh for euill But let vs now consider of some notable examples shewing foorth the pernitious effects which as we said proceed from these two vices Couetousnes and Prodigalitie Muleasses king of Thunes had his eies put out by his sonne that he might seaze vpon his treasures Priamus king of Troy fearing the taking of his citie sent Polydorus his yoongest sonne to his sonne in law Polymestor with a great quantitie of gold and siluer but he being desirous to possesse the same slew the child his brother in law for which afterward he receiued his deserued hire For Queene Hecuba comming vnto him and taking him aside into a chamber not shewing countenance of any discontentment with the helpe of hir women put out his eies The Emperor Caligula was so much touched with couetousnes that there was no kind of lucre or meane to get monie by how vnlawfull and wicked soeuer it were which he sought not out insomuch that he laid a tribute vpon vrine and sold his sisters gownes whome he had violated and sent into banishment And yet in one yeere of his â—aigne he spent prodigally 67. Millions of gold which Tiberius his predecessor had gathered togither Nero vsing great crueltie polling exaction and confiscation towards his subiects gaue to the ministers of his tyrannie in those fifteene yeeres wherein he raigned the value of 55. Millions of Crownes He caused a very stately gilt pallace to be built which tooke in compasse a great part of Rome but it was ouerthrown after his death that the memorie of such a cruell tyrant might be rooted out of the earth A notable example for such as thinke to get a vaine glorie by buildings that are more stately than necessarie and yet leaue behind them a notorious marke of their tyrannie and a perpetuall testimonie to posteritie that they haue raised their houses with the blood of their subiects Henrie the seuenth Emperour a Prince indewed with most excellent vertues was poisoned with an Host which an Italian Monke corrupted with monie caused him to take But what neede we seeke for such examples of ancient men to know the fruites of couetousnes when as the vnhappines of our age daily affoordeth vs new before our eies wherein we heare nothing almost spoken of but poisonings and murders hired with monie and all committed to this ende that the authors of them may haue their goods whome they kill for the satisfieng of their insatiable couetousnes Amongst many other who hath not heard of the cruell wilfull murder of a Gentlewoman of a good house and of hir men and maides by hir owne brethren in law done a few daies past A crueltie exceeding that of
are to consider heereafter The originall and antiquitie of this societie called Mariage is especially woorthie of memorie bicause God himselfe was the author thereof For he had no sooner created the first man but he purposed to giue him a wife for a faithful companion a comfortresse of his life and a helpe like vnto himselfe Which he performed as soone as he thought vpon it forasmuch as with him to will is to be able and to do as likewise to be able and to do is to will Furthermore he instituted this diuine mysterie for the generall increase of mankind and lawfull propagation of nature euen in the time of innocencie before man had sinned sanctifieng it at the same time with his blessing Vnto which necessitie of mariage man had made himselfe a great deale more subiect through the curse of sinne which hath giuen place in his soule to the concupiscences of the flesh Whereby it appeereth that we haue need of this remedy in two respects namely in regard of the end and condition of our first nature as also by reason of sin which came in afterward except in those to whome God hath granted the speciall grace and gift of continencie which is as rare a thing as any other whatsoeuer Notwithstanding there hath alwais been a thousand contrary opinions as touching this matter namely whether mariage is to be desired sought after or rather to be hated and eschewed neither part wanting reasons oftentimes more glorious in shew than forceable to conclude for the defence of their saying Among the Philosophers Pythagoras the first of them was one of the greatest enimies of mariage as may be proued by that which is written of him For being requested to be at the mariage of a friend of his he excused himselfe saying that he was neuer desirous to go to such a feast or to be at such a funerall iudging that it was all one for a man to marrie a wife and to wed a coffin and to put himself into a tomb or to take a sheet for the beginning of his burial Many other Philosophers were of his opinion yea they said that nature appointing a contrary to euery liuing creature hath also giuen to man to whom all other things are subiect the woman for his contrary whose malice is a sworn enimie to the reason of man Secundus was of this sect who being demanded what a wife was the contrary quoth he of a husband Moreouer they said that a womans nature was such that although she had continued 30. yeeres with hir husband yet he should daily find in hir new fansies and sundry sorts of behauior so that nature seemed a stepmother to men rather than to beasts bicause these know and shun their contraries but man is naturally led to loue and to seek after his enimie His miserie therfore is very great in that so weake flesh is able to force a hart that is at libertie causing a man oftentimes to procure to himselfe that which doth him hurt and to make great account of that which he conteÌ„neth as experience sheweth the same in regard of womeÌ„ Thales one of the Sages of Graecia minding to shew that it was not good for a man to marry wheÌ„ one asked him why he maried not being in the flower of his age said that it was not yet time Afterward being growen to further age and demaunded the same question he answered that the time was past Marius the Roman asked Metellus being a maÌ„ also of great credit why he would not take his daughter to wife seeing she was beautifull in body staied in countenance eloquent in speech noble by race rich in dowrie happy in good name adorned with vertues To whom he replied That he knew all this to be true yet quoth he I had rather be mine own than hirs They that folow this opinion now touched abhorre mariage alleage coÌ„monly these or the like reasons that although the name of husband be sweet and honorable yet whosoeuer wil wel consider of it shal find it ful of great and intollerable burthens that the time is yet to come wherin many thorns are not found amidst the roses of mariage and wherein great store of haile falleth not togither with that sweet raine Who is able say they patiently to abide the charges of mariage the care of children the want which is sometimes in the house the imperfections of seruants but especially the insolencie and arrogancie of Wiues and the yoke of so vnperfect a sexe Who is able fully to satisfie either their fleshly lust or their insatiable pompe Doth not the olde prouerbe say that women and shippes are neuer so well rigged but that still there remaineth something to be amended Whereupon I would conclude willingly that if a maried man neuer loath his estate yet he tireth himselfe at the least Riches breede care pouertie griefe sayling terrifieth eating hindreth walking wearieth All these troubles are we see dispersed or diuided amongst many but maried men haue them altogither For if we marke a maried man we shall seldom see him but either pensiue or sadde or wearie or hindered and sometime amazed or afrayd of that which may befall him or may peraduenture be committed by his wife Concerning good aduise and choice for the obtaining of a good mariage If thou takest a poore wife she will be contemned and thy selfe lesse esteemed if thou takest hir rich she wil looke to commaund thee and of a free man to make thee a slaue So that wheÌ„ thou thinkest to take an equall companion to wife thou shalt wed an intollerable mistres I know not whether I should say a she deuil If thou mariest a faire woman thou puttest thy selfe in great danger lest thy round head become forked which would be a fearefull metamorphosis and alteration if it were visible and apparant Euery castle is hard to keep how wel soeuer it be watched when it is assaulted by many and his victory is in a desperate case who being alone is compelled to fight against many What shall I say more Wealth maketh a woman proud beautie suspected and hardnes of fauor lothsom Is there any thing as Plutarke saith more light than the toong of an vnbrideled woman more nipping than hir iniuries more rash than hir boldnes more execrable than hir naughtie disposition more dangerous than hir fury These euil speakers of women further inrich their sayings with a thousand histories examples as testimonies of the infinite miseries inconueniences which haue been procured by them First they alleage the deceiuing of the first man by his wife wherupon sin death and through them all miseries entred into the world Samson betraied by Daliâ—a Salomon became brutish through his concubines Achab rooted out through Iesabel Marcus Antonius slue himself for the loue of Cleopatra the destruction of Troy bicause of Helena the Pandora of Hesiodus the pitifull death
contract matrimony leuied an impost by way of a fine vpon their legacies windfals coÌ„ming by the death of others that did not marry after 25. yeeres of age or that had no children Wherby he greatly chastised whoredoms adulteries sodomitrie furnished Rome with good citizens which then was greatly destitute of them by reason of ciuil warres What is the cause saith Vlpianus the lawyer that womens dowries had such great priuiledges It was for no other reason then bicause of the profit that commeth to al common-wealths by mariages He that had 3. childreÌ„ amongst the Romans could not be coÌ„pelled to cary a message or publike embassage he that had 5. was exempted froÌ„ personal charge he that had 13. from al charge And in our time in the common-welth of Florence as Raphael Volateraniâ— reherseth in his Philologie Euery citizen that is father of 5. children either males or females is exempted freed discharged of all publike taxe loane subsidie If nothing be more blessed nor happines more to be desired than immortalitie line all propagation maketh vs immortal through the continuing of kind Wherupon we may inferre by way of conclusion that no greater happines can come to man wife in this world than to leaue issue as a testimony to posteritie that once they were in the world haue left behind them a token of their life It was enacted by Lycurgus lawes that no citizen preferring the estate of continencie before that of mariage should be at publike playes which at that time was a note of great ignominie We account not him a good gardiner that painfully dresseth those fruitfull trees which he hath in his garden or orchard if he haue no care to plant and graft new therby to substitute others in their place which by succession of time waxe old die And how shal we take him for a good citizen and such a one as zealously seeketh the good of the common-welth that â—ontenteth himselfe with those citizens that are aliue and neglecteth the ing endring of new in good and lawfull matrimonie wherby to supply the want of such as daily decay Further if I should go about to reherse here the happines pleasure contentatioÌ„ which maÌ„ wife liuing holily togither according to the duty of their vocation do mutually receiue one of another who doubteth that a whole day would not suffice me What greater solace in the whole world can be found than for a man to liue with hir vnto whom he is coupled not by good wil only but also by a mutuall coÌ„munication of bodies If we take great delight to conferre with our friends familiar acquaintance about our secret affaires shall we not receiue greater ioy without coÌ„parison to disclose our thoughts to hir vnto whom we speake as safely as to our selues who is also partaker as wel of our aduersity as prosperity and accounteth our weale or woe to be hir owne We are ioined to our friends by good will and liking onely but to our wife we are conioined and linked by soueraigne charitie by bodily commixtion by sacred confederacy by an inseparable felowship society in al weathers If the man abound in teÌ„poral goods the wife wil keep them faithfully for him and encrease them by hir industrie and labor If he be poore persecuted by fortune she will comfort him If through feare sicknes or any other mishap he be constrained to shut vp himselfe in his house his wife will take away that irkesomnes from him which otherwise would seaze vpon him being solitarie If he go abroad he is glad that he hath left that partie in his house which he most trusteth In youth she is a sweete and amiable companion in old age a very conuenient comforter and solace Moreouer by mariage a man encreaseth his friends allies kinsfolks neighbours which is a very great benefit and inuincible strength Brethren sisters nephews nieces are doubled Peace is many times procured between monarchs princes by mariages and infinit quarels dissentions appeased But what vnspeakable pleasure doth euery father take to see his liuely picture ingrauen in the face of his children and that so neere the quick as neither Lysippus Mentor Polycletus Phidias Praxiteles Zeuxis Apelles nor Parrhasius had euer the skil to graue or paint so wel Againe what ioy receiueth he by hoping that when his children shall waxe great they will be the staffe of his age the stay of his weakenes the pillar of his house and that ouerliuing him according to the course of nature they shall close vp his eies and cause such funerals ceremonies to be done for him as are requisite in that case For the conclusion therefore of this present matter we say that no man can iustly blame mariage vnto which all lawes both diuine and humane exhort vs nature prouoketh vs honestie draweth vs infinite commodities inuite vs all nations shew vs the way thither and lastly necessitie of continuing our kind constraineth vs. And briefly to answere the grounds alleaged to the contrary they may be ouerthrowen by one onely dictinction which is that most of them that dispraised mariage were heathens and blinded in their vain wisedom or to speake better in their folly wanting then that knowledge of the truth which God of his grace hath since reuealed vnto vs. And no maruell if they erred in dispraising Mariage seeing they could neuer attaine to the knowledge of the true and soueraigne good of man as we haue handled already But yet it can neuer be found that Socrates Plato and such as were most excellent amoÌ„g the Philosophers blamed it but rather honoured commended it the most of them also being maried as namely Socrates Plato Aristotle Seneca Plutarke and others As for their strongest reason that mislike mariage namely the deceiuing of men by women the fault ought to be imputed rather to the men than to the women bicause men according to the perfection of their sexe ought to be wiser than women who are by nature more changeable by will and more fraile in counsell although all are not so So that if there be any imperfection it ought not to be obiected to them by way of reproch but rather to nature than to them And they that vpbraid them therewith shew that they wander out of the path of reason are destitute of all good sence and are vnworthie that women should haue conceiued them brought them into the world giuen them sucke and nourished them Of a house and familie and of the kinds of mariage of certaine ancient customes obserued in mariage Chap. 46. ACHITOB IN the beginning of my present speech of mariage I noted this that the communion of the husband and wife extendeth it selfe vnto all the parts that depend of their house Therefore I suppose my Companions that for the sequele and vnderstanding of that matter which we haue propounded to
coniunctions which respect onely the estate of mankind the mariage of loue is that which is betweene an honest man and a vertuous woman linked togither by God for the preseruation of the linage of man It may be called a charitable coniunction vnitie and societie of them that are good being made by grace peace concord Of this mariage spake that wise lewe saying that three things among others were approoued of God and men the concord of brethren the loue of our neighbour and the husband and wife that agree well togither And to say truth it is one of the greatest benefits yea one of the rarest felicities in the world when a mariage is well and duly kept when both the husband wife feare God and keepe their promise one to another according to that saying of the wise man Blessed is the man that hath a vertuous wife the wife also being no lesse happy that hath a good husband The other kind of mariage namely of labour is that which is commonly practised in our daies wherein many yea almost all marie for couetousnes not for the vertue chastity or good report which they heare of women and maidens Plautus the comicall Poet said that in mariage a man must take his wife by the eares and not by the fingers that is to say for hir good report not for hir dowrie which is told with hands Lycurgus being desirous that his Citizens should put the same in practise established a law which forbad all giuing of dowries with maidens in mariage to the end that euery maide should labour to endow hir selfe with vertue for loue wherof and not of riches they should be demanded in mariage The same reason mooued Themistocles when two men required his daughter in mariage to preferre the honest man before the wealthie saying that he had rather haue a man to his sonne in lawe without goods than goods without a man We read that Olympias the mother of Alexander hearing of one that had maried a very faire woman but scarce chast being rauished with bi r loue said that he was a braineles man otherwise he would not haue maried by heare-say nor by the lust of his eies We may say asmuch of them that marie by the report of their fingers counting vpon them howe much their wiues bring to them by mariage not considering before whether they bee so qualified that they may liue with them But let vs know that euery mariage made through couetousnes especially where there is inequalitie of riches as namely when the husband is poore and the wife rich will be alwaies riotous and very hardly will there be any peace betweene them Which thing Menander desirous to teach vs said that when a poore man marieth a rich wife he giueth himselfe in mariage to the woman which he weddeth and not the woman to him And the Satyricall Poet saith that nothing is more intollerable than a rich wife This caused a yoong man to go to Pittacus one of the Sages of Grecia and to aske his counsell saying I haue two wiues offered me the one is equall to me in goods and parentage the other goeth farre beyond me which of them shal I take Marke said this wise man where children are readie to play at fence go to them and they will counsell thee He did so and as he drew neere they began to set themselues one against another to skirmish And when they saw this yoong man comming who exceeded them in strength and bignes and supposed that he would make one amongst them they said aloud let euery one go to his match Whereby he learned what he was to doe concerning his mariage Martia a noble widow being demanded why she maried not againe seeing she was rich and as yet in the floure of hir youth made this answer I can find none said she that loueth not my goods more than my person The same reason moued Venda Queene of Ruscia to throw hir selfe into the water thereby to reuenge hir selfe of them that made warre with hir to haue hir in mariage seeing they could not win hir by gentlenes For she knew well that they desired hir for hit kingdome and not of any good wil they bare vnto hir as it is the custome of Princes to respect onely their alliance and profite marying often-times by substitutes and proxies those whome they neuer saw but by picture But I finde that Elizabeth that wise Queene of England was of a better iudgement when she wrote to Henrie Prince and since king of Sweathland who demanded hir in mariage that he was the onelie Prince in the world whome she ought to loue most bicause he required hir when she was a prisoner but she was resolued neuer to marie any man before she had seene him The like answere she sent to the Archduke of Austria which was in part the cause why neither of them would come vnto hir fearing belike that if they were not well liked they should be sent backe againe into their countrie Of this that hath beene hitherto discoursed togither with the experience which is daily seene we may infer that mariages made through couetousnes are in deed mariages of labor And of this number may those be reckoned wherein bodilie beautie and other outward graces are only regarded For it seldome falleth out but that the spirite of dissention troubleth all in those houses and that all loue and liking vanisheth togither with age which causeth the liuely hue of colour to wither away Likewise amongst these mariages of labour we place those wherein there is disparitie of age especially of maners Therfore Dionysius the elder said to his mother who being very old would needes marie a yoong man that it was in her power to violate the lawes of Syracusa but not the lawe of nature Aristotle sayth that men and women ought to marie togither in such an age that both of them should leaue of to beget and to conceiue children at the same tyme. According to this rule the husband must be twentie yeeres or there abouts elder than his wife bicause naturally women conceiue and beate children vntil fiftie yeeres and men may beget children vntil 70. Lycurgus also forbad that any man should marie before he were â—7 yeeres old a woman before 17. Whereof this reason may rather be rendred that the wife may more easily acquaint hir self with hir husbands manners he being then of ripe iudgement and she comming into his power from hir tender yeeres For as the same Aristotle saith diuersitie of manners and callings hindereth friendship and true loue But bicause of the shortnes of mans daies I thinke it were good for him to marie at thirtie yeeres of age taking a wife of twentie yeeres old to the ende that hir age may not be too much vnlike his that so liuing according to the common course of nature they may
leaue their children prouided at the same yeeres and such as might be well able to liue without them A maiden also of that age is able to iudge a great deale better what is meete for hir and what dutie she oweth to hir husband and of his commandements than if she were yoonger Now seeing we are about this matter I thinke I shall not digresse from the same if I speake of the mariage of widowes It is certaine that those women that haue already learned the disposition of their former husbands are often-times very hardly altered Whereupon some alleadge the example of Timotheus the best plaier on the flute of his time who when he tooke a scholler vsed to demand of him whether he had made any entrance in that plaie Which if he had he tooke a greater reward by halfe than he did of them that knew nothing saying that his paines were greater in taking away from his schollers that which was naught and vnskilfull than in teaching that which was good to such as vnderstood nothing at all thereof Chilon one of the wise men of Grecia said that he accounted him a very foole who hauing saued himselfe from a perilous shipwracke by painful swimming would returne to sea againe as though a tempest had not power ouer all barks Platoes Androgyna teacheth that second mariages can neuer be fitly made Concerning this matter we can haue no better counsell than that of S. Paule whether I referre the solution of this matter But experience daily teacheth vs what infinite miseries quarrels suites and ouerthrow of houses proceed from such mariages through the donations and profits which those yoong men craue that marie widowes who forgetting all naturall dutie doubt not to inrich strangers with the goods of their owne children Valeria of Rome may serue for a notable example to women who said that hir husband died for others but liued to hir for euer S. Hierome rehearseth a historie quite contrarie to this heere spoken of auouching that he saw at Rome a woman that had beene maried to 22. husbands who afterward marying one that had had 20. wiues died in his life time Whereupon the Romanes crowned him with Lawrell in token of victorie and caused him to carie a branch of Palme in his hand at his wiues funerall He maketh mention also of another widowe who of almes brought vp a little child and abused it at the age of ten yeeres by whome she became great with child contrarie to the order of nature God so permitting it to discouer the vile filthines of that woman Second mariages were a great deale more honourable for such widowes The fourth kinde of mariage remaineth yet which wee called the mariage of griefe which is nothing else but the assemblie and coniunction of the wicked and reprobate of whome that common prouerbe is spoken that it is better one house be troubled with them than twayne Their life can not but be full of wretchednes and miserie the griefe whereof will abide by them for euer But to returne to our first speech of the mariage of loue which is holie and lawfull guided by good reason and according to the ordinance of God mortall men beholding the holines and necessitie of this mysterie haue inriched and set foorth the same with all kind of ioy and delight with the assemblie of kinsfolkes and calling togither of friendes and guests with bankets feastes ornaments iewels Tragedies Comedies and such like pastimes vttering ioy and not to be misliked so that all dissolutenes and ouer-great superfluitie be set aside and honestie and comelines obserued But especially the wedding songs vsed by the Ancients both Greekes and Latines and made to beautifie and enrich their weddings are woorthie of eternall praise Moreouer they had amongst them infinite and sundrie customes kept at the knitting vp and celebration of mariages some being good others bad of which we will heere alleadge certaine bicause we may finde instruction in them The Assyrians had certaine Magistrats called Triumairs and Presidents of weddings approoued and graue men whose office was once a yeere in euerie Towne and Village to bring all the yoong maidens that were to be maried into one publike place and to cause them to be proclaimed one after another beginning with the fairest who were giuen to them that offered most and bad last With this monie that came by them they maried those that were hard-fauoured as good cheape as they could and otherwise than after this sort it was not lawfull for any bodie to contract matrimonie Wherein they shewed a maruellous care in prouiding equally for all their daughters The ancient Grecians had a custome to burne before the dore of the new maried wife the Axletree of that chariot wherein she was brought to hir husbands house giuing hir to vnderstand thereby that she was to dwell there with him whether she were willing or no and neuer to depart from thence Lycurgus would not haue the husband and wife to lye togither in the beginning of their mariage nor to see one another but by stealth and secretly to the ende sayde he that amitie and loue might be the better preserued betweene them that they might be healthie and that their children which shoulde come of them might be stronger The Romanes passed all other nations in pompe ceremonies and comlines of mariage They obserued this inuiolably that their maidens and widowes should not be constrained to marrie On the wedding daie they vsed that fashion which at this daie is verie common The newe maried wife was richly apparelled with hir haire hanging about hir shoulders and hir head crowned with a garland of flowers The mother of the Bride went before hir daughter bearing a cofer of trinkets iewels rings and other little ornaments belonging to women The maidens that came of wealthie houses had a chariot prepared for them drawne with two white horses to declare the puritie of bodie and innocencie of mind which the yoong woman ought to haue The newe maried wife was led from hir fathers house to hir husbands house alongst the broadest streetes in the citie to note thereby that a wife ought alwaies to passe by the greatest way and not be found at any time in suspected and secret places whereupon some suspition of euill may arise When she was come to the entrie of hir husbands house before she went ouer the threashold of the dore he tooke hir with both his armes by the wings and lift hir aloft in such sort that he stroke hir head and the dore post togither and so set hir within the dore before euer hir feete touched the ground This was done that the maried wife should remember through the griefe of the blow not to go often foorth out of hir husbands house if she would haue the report and name of an honest woman Hir garments behauiour gesture and gate were correspondent to all modestie
from publike administrations charges but onely that he would haue them imploied about such things as require least labour and not to beginne to meddle with publike affaires before they be fortie yeeres of age He alleadgeth these reasons bicause often-times many women haue beene more excellent than all the men of their countrie and such are dailie to be seene And seeing they haue a soule aswell as we as quicke a spirite and often-times more quicke than we whereof those women are witnesses who hauing giuen thēselues wholy to any thing whatsoeuer were not inferiour but rather went beyond many men it were great follie in men seeing God hath created man and woman with the like spirite to cut off as it were the one halfe of their strength and to helpe themselues but with a part thereof Nowe albeit these reasons are of great waight yet sure it is that men and women both by diuine and humane policie haue their distinct and seuerall offices It is very true that I like not the opinion of many who say that women ought to knowe nothing but to spinne and sowe which saying commeth neere to that of the Emperour who would not haue a woman to haue more witte than is needefull for hir to discerne hir husbandes shirt from his doublet Such opinions are fit for ignorant persons and proceede from a darke braine For it cannot but be very seemely and profitable for a woman to be able to render a reason of hir being aswell by the knowledge of the holie Scriptures as by the precepts of good life which we haue from the Ancients This ought parents to teach their daughters that they may be withdrawne from all other foolish loue through the loue of vertue and be desirous of all honestie and chastitie as also that when they are moothers in good and holie mariage they may be a principall cause of the good bringing vp of their children Yea histories reckon vp vnto vs a great many that haue beene in steede of Schoole-maisters in excellent sciences Aretia taught hir sonne Aristippus Philosophie Zenobia Queene of the Palmyrians being very well learned in the Greeke Latine and Aegyptian toongs taught them to hir two sonnes and wrote an Epitomie of the Easterne Histories Cornelia taught the Gracchyes hir two sonnes the Latine eloquence But let vs followe our discourse of the generall instruction of children Aristotle seemeth vnto mee to bee a good teacher and Maister where hee sayeth that there are two ages in which it is necessarie to diuide the institution of those disciplines which we would haue our children learne namely from seuen yeeres vntill foureteene which he calleth the age of pubertie and againe from this age vntill the one twentieth yeere He saith that in the institution of youth two things must be looked vnto the one wherin children are to be instructed the other how they ought to be instructed For all men are not agreed of this what things children are to learne neither yet is it decided or resolued vpon to what end their institution ought to be directed whether to profite or to manners or to vnderstanding and contemplation which proceedeth from the variable opinions of men who place their end in diuers things But how soeuer it is we must as we said before referre all our studies to the glorie of God and to the seruice of our neighbours in liuing well according to those charges and vocations whereunto we may be called We haue already seene the diuision of sciences and arts and spoken of those that are most necessarie for a happie life Aristotle following the custome then vsed in Grecia appointed that children should learne foure things Grammer bodilie exercise Musicke and painting for certaine commodities meete for the life of a man Grammer is the entire to all sciences whereby we learne to speake exactly also to read and to write And this is necessarie for all estates of life whether publike or priuate in peace or in warre in a quiet life or in multitude of busines for marchandice for the guiding of a house for the obtaining of knowledge for the continuance and perpetuitie of the memorie of man Briefly as nature is the cause of our being so the knowledge of letters which Grammar teacheth vs worketh in vs the knowledge how to liue well For this cause Charondas the law-maker as Diodorus the Sicilian writeth preferred Grammer before all other sciences as that which is most necessarie for mans life appointing that all the children of his citie should learne their letters at the charges of the common-wealth which was to maintaine publike maisters to teach both poore and rich Truly this law ought to be put in practise in all the townes of this kingdome to resist that pernitious Hydra of ignorance which the richer sort defend making no account of knowledge to the treading downe and oppression of the poore who would gladly haue the meanes whereby they might be instructed The Gymnastical part was that arte which as the Ancients affirmed did serue for health and strength preparing the bodies of children by honest and moderate exercises as fencing shooting throwing of a stone riding wrastling running leaping swimming and such like These according to Aristotles opinion are to be moderately practiced by children vntill they be foureteene yeeres old exercising them lightly not with forced labors that their growth be not hindred thereby This age being past after they haue bestowed three yeeres in other Morall disciplines and followed their studies in deeper sciences vntill the one and twentieth yeere then may they be exercised with more sharpe and hard labors of the body They must also be taught Musicke for the solacing and recreation of their mindes after trauels and painting that they may the better consider of the beautie of the bodie and vnderstand the symmetry and apt composition of all things to the ende that they may be the better aduised either in buying or selling them Let them also knowe howe to drawe platformes of publike and priuate buildings to set foorth countries townes and castels their height breadth and length for the warre liuing creatures of all sortes with their parts herbs trees rootes leaues flowres fruits for medicine for the knowledge of simples In this institution of children Aristotle had respect to that which was conuenient drew neerest to the forme of a happie Commonwealth established by him and to that which was necessary for the preseruation and maintenance thereof Nowe let vs apply to our vse that which we may learne both of him and of the rest of the Ancients for the framing of yoong men to honesty and vertue leauing to the libertie of Fathers to make choice of those arts and sciences wherein they purpose to bring vp their children hauing regard to that whereunto nature maketh them most apt and pliable We shall take a good way in the institution of
their husbands Men must not dally with their wiues in the presence of others What houshold affaires are to be diuided between the man and the wife There must be but one head in a familie Loue the band of mariage a hu band must not distrust his wife Examples of the loue of husbands towards their wiues T. Gracchus The great loue of a Neapoliâ—ane towards his wife Orpheus Menon Periander M. Lepidus P. Numidius Sylanus Dominicus Catahusius Roderigo Sarmiento All things must be common between the husband and the wife The naturall gifts of women Eph. 5. 23. 24. Wiues must be subiect to their husbands It is an honor to a woman to obey hir husband A wife compared to a looking glasse Notable similitudes Euil wiues resembled to the moone An ouerthwarting wife maketh hir selfe odious How a wife must deale with hir cholerike husband A woman must not disclose hir husbands imperfections to any body Maried couples must not make two beds for any iarre between them When is the best time and place to pacifie strife between man and wife A woman must be free from all suspicion of incontinencie She must not loue to gad abroad or to be seene She must be modest in hir attire The true ornaments of a woman Certain tokens of an adulterous hart Shamefastnes is the best dowrie of a woman An excellent vse of looking glasses A woman must be silent and secret A woman must auoid silthie speeches and iestes A short summe of the ductie of a wife A woman must be desirous of knowledge Exercises vnseemly for women What great loue the law of nations requireth in a wife towards hir husband Examples of the great loue of women towards their husbands Hipsicrates Triara The wife of Ferdinando Goncales Zenobia Panthea Artemisia Iulia. Porcia Sulpitia Octauia Aria The manner of Seneca his death Paulina Hipparchia Pisca Pandoërus wife Camma Macrina Men are inferior to women in perfecton of loue The definition of Oeconomie and of Policie Euery head of a familie must prouide for his houshold 1. Tim. 5. 8. What maketh a house to be called good All good order in a house proceedeth from the head of the familie Where a housholder must begin to rule his house well The progresse of a familie before it come to perfection What a housholder must first looke vnto Goods are instruments tending to the maintenance of life Two sorts of goods What interest a father of a familie hath in his goods Two sorts of getting goods The end of arts sciences and trafficke Biting vsurie a detestable gain Why monie was first inuented and vsed * The question of interest hath waightie reasons on both sides An ancient law against vsurie The law Genutia forbad all vsurie Exod. 22. 25. Deut. 23. 19. The praise of husbandrie What good husbandrie is Of the Maisterlie part of a house Instructions touching the dutie of a maister towards his seruants The poore and rich are both created to one end Against rigorous maisters Two properties requisite in a maister Seruants must not be defrauded of their pay Of the Parentall part of a house The difference betweene commanding ouer a wife and ouer children The word Father is a kinglâ— and sacred title Youth is the seede-corne of the Common-wealth The giftes of nature are soone corrupted A father must be loued feared reuerenced of his children The office of a father resembled to building A child will learne better of his father than of any other M. Cato I. Caesar Augustus Noah Lot Iacob c. God commandeth fathers to instruct their children Prou. 23. 13. 14. 13. 24. Correction necessarie for children Ecclus. 30. 8. 9. 11. 12. Seueritie must be mingled with elemencie in the correcting of children The fathers life must be a mirrour of vertue to the child When fathers may be iustly charged with their childrens faults 1. Sam. 3. 13. The storie of a father appointed to execute his owne child A father must bring vp his children in mutuall loue Aelius Tubero Eph. 6. 9. Obed great Col. 3. Eph. 6. 2. Obedience to parents commanded of God Ecclus. 3. 4. 5. 1. Pet. 2. 18. Obedience to masters coÌ„manded of God Reuerence to parents placed next to the honor due to God A token of an Atheist A father is the image of God Ecclus. 3. 1. 2. c. The fist commandement only hath a speciall promise annex ed vnto it Eph. 6. 2. The law of Testaments to keep children in aâ—e Children might not the out their liueâ—â—es by way of action but of request The dutie of children towards their parents Humilitie towards parents most commendable The description of a disobedient childe The mother is no lesse to be honoured than the father The blessings and cursings of parents towards their children is of great waight Torquatus An example of great loue in a child towards his father An other of a daughter towards hir father Children can not please their parents better than to loue one another Apollonida Xerxes He that hateth his brother hateth his parents Telemachus The beginning of brotherly loue is in our natiuitie The benefite that commeth to brethren by hauing common friends Enmitie between brethren is prodigious vnnaturall It is a hard matter to reconcile brethren once fallen at variance How brethren must behaue themselues in the partition of lands goods Examples of brotherly loue Ariamenes Xerxes Antiochus Athenodorus Pittacus Great loue of a Persian woman towards hit brother Agrippa Scilurus left 80. sonnes behind him The dutie of seruants comprehended in soure points Col. 3. 22. 23. 24. Tit. 2. 9. 10. Examples of the loue of seruants towards their masters Eros the seruant of Antonius The seruant of Mauritius duke of Saxonie The chief foundation of a happy life A father of a familie must be most carefull to bring vp his youth A fit comparison The spring of corruptions in common-welths Lawes that constrained fathers to see to their children instructed The law Falcidia A woorthy act of Traian and Adrian Crates proclamation most necessary for these times Euil education corrupteth a good nature Euil education corrupteth a good nature Of the excellent education of children required by Plato Women with child must walk much Euery mother ought to nurse hir own child Of the bringing vp of infants From 3. yeeres From six yeeres Youth must be taught as it were in sport and not by compulsion A commendable end of Musicke Great care is to be taken in the choice of schole-maisters From the tenth yeere From the foureteenth yeere Hunting animage of warre Of the education of daughters Reasons why women may intermeddle with publike affaires Against ignorance in women Women must be able to giue a reason of their being Example of learned women Aretia Zenobia Cornelia Of the institution of youth according to Aristotle Two things to be respected in the institution of youth The end of all studies Aristotle appointed that children should learne foure things Of Grammer The