vnwoorthy as a wife honoureth or dishonoureth her selfe by that husband that she hath taken Experience teacheth vs that three things do sharpen our will Difficultie Raritie and Absence or feare to lose the thing as the three contrary dull it Facilitie Abundance or Satietie and dayly presence or assured fruition The three former giue price and credit to things the three latter ingender contempt Our will is sharpened by opposition it opposeth it selfe against deniall On the other side our appetite contemneth and letteth passe that which it hath in possession and runnes after that which it hath not permissum fit vile nefas quod licet ingratum est quod non licet acrius vrit yea it is seene in all sorts of pleasures omnium rerum voluptas ipso quo debet fugare periculo cresit insomuch that the two extreames the defect and the abundance the desire and the fruition do put vs to like paine And this is the cause why things are not truely esteemed as they ought and that there is no Prophet in his owne countrey How we are to direct and rule our willes shall be sayd heereafter PASSIONS and AFFECTIONS An aduertisement THe matter of the passions of the minde is very great and Lib. 2. cap. 6. 7. lib. 3. in the vertues of fortitude and temperance plentifull and takes vp a great roome in this doctrine of Wisdome To learne how to know them and to distinguish them is the subiect of this booke The generall remedies to bridle rule and gouerne them the subiect of the second booke The particular remedies of euery one of them of the third booke following that method of this booke set downe in the Preface Now that in this first booke we may attaine the knowledge of them we will first speake of them in generall in this first Chapter afterward in the Chapters following particularly of euery one of them I haue not seene any that painteth them out more richly and to the life than Le Sieur du Vair in his little morall books whereof I haue made good vse in this passionate subiect CHAP. XVIII Of the passions in generall PAssion is a violent motion of the Soule in the sensitiue 1 The description of passions part thereof which is made either to follow that which the Soule thinketh to be good for it or to flie that which it takes to be euill But it is necessarie that we know how these motions are made how they arise and kindle themselues in vs which a man may represent by diuers meanes and comparisons first in regard of their agitation and violence The Soule which 1. Their agitation is but one in the bodie hath many and diuers powers according to the diuers vessels wherein it is retained the instruments whereof it maketh vse and the obiects which are presented vnto it Now when the parts wherein it is inclosed doe not retaine and occupie it but according to the proportion of their capacitie and as farre forth as it is necessarie for their true vse the effects thereof are sweet benigne and well gouerned but when contrariwise the parts thereof haue more motion and heat than is needfull for them they change and become hurtfull no otherwise than the beames of the Sunne which wandering according to their naturall libertie do sweetly and pleasingly warme if they be recollected and gathered into the concauities of a burning glasse they burne and consume that they were woont to nourish and quicken Againe they haue diuers degrees in their force of agitation and as they haue more or lesse so they are distinguished the indifferent suffer themselues to be tasted and digested expressing themselues by words and teares the greater and more violent astonish the soule oppresse it and hinder the libertie of it actions Curae leues loquuntur ingentes stupent Secondly in regard of the vice disorder and iniustice that is in these passions we may compare man to a Common-weale 3 2. Of their vice and irregularitie and the state of the soule to a state royall wherein the Soueraigne for the gouernment of so many people hath vnder-magistrates vnto whom for the exercise of their charges he giueth lawes and ordinances reseruing vnto himselfe the censuring of the greatest and most important occurrents Vpon this order dependeth the peace and prosperitie of the state and contrariwise if the magistrates which are as the middle sort betwixt the Prince and the people shall suffer themselues either to be deceiued by facilitie or corrupted by fauour and without respect either of their Soueraigne or the lawes by him established shall vse their owne authoritie in the execution of their affaires they fill all with disorder and confusion Euen so in man the vnderstanding is the Soueraigne which hath vnder it a power estimatiue and imaginatiue as a magistrate both to take knowledge and to iudge by the report of the senses of all things that shal be presented and to moue our affections for the better execution of the iudgements thereof for the conduct and direction whereof in the exercise of it charge the law and light of Nature was giuen vnto it and moreouer as a helpe in all doubts it may haue recourse vnto the counsell of the superiour and soueraigne the vnderstanding And thus you see the order of the happie state heereof but the vnhappie is when this power which is vnder the vnderstanding and aboue the senses whereunto the first iudgement of things appertaineth suffereth it selfe for the most part to be corrupted and deceiued whereby it iudgeth wrongfully and rashly and afterwards manageth and mooueth our affections to ill purpose and filleth vs with much trouble and vnquietnesse That which molesteth and corrupteth this power are first the senses which comprehend not the true and inward nature of things but only the face and outward forme carrying vnto the soule the image of things with some fauourable commendation and as it were a fore-iudgement and preiudicate opinion of their qualities according as they finde them pleasing and agreeable to their particular and not profitable and necessarie for the vniuersall good of man and secondly the mixture of the false and indifferent iudgement of the vulgar sort From these two false aduisements and reports of the Opinion Senses and vulgar sort is formed in the soule an inconsiderate opinion which we conceiue of things whether good or ill profitable or hurtfull to be followed or eschewed which doubtlesse is a very dangerous guide and rash mistresse for it is no sooner conceiued but presently without the committing of any thing to discourse and vnderstanding it possesseth it selfe of our imagination and as within a Citidell holdeth the fort against right and reason afterwards it descendeth into our hearts and remooueth our affections with violent motiues of hope feare heauinesse pleasure To be briefe it makes all the fooles and the seditions of the soule which are the passions to arise I will likewise declare the same thing by another
Now this popular facilitie though it be in truth weakenesse and imbecillitie yet it is not without presumption For so lightly to beleeue and hold for truth and certaintie that which we know not or to enquire of the causes reasons consequents and not of the truth it selfe is to enterprise to presume too much For from what other cause proceeds this If you shall answere from a supposition that it is true why this is nothing a man handleth and stirreth the foundations and effects of a thousand things which neuer were whereby both pro and contra are false How many fables false and supposed miracles visions reuelations are there receiued in the world that neuer were And why should a man beleeue a miracle a thing neither humane nor naturall when he is able by naturall and humane meanes to confute and confound the truth thereof Truth and lying haue like visages like cariage relish gate and we behold them with one and the same eye it a sunt finitima falsa veris vt in praecipitem locum non debeat se sapiens committere A man ought not to beleeue that of a man which is not humane except he be warranted by supernaturall and superhumane approbation which is only God who is only to be beleeued in that he saith only because he saith it The other contrary vice is an audacious temeritie to condemne and reiect as false all things that are not easily vnderstood and that please not the palat It is the propertie of those that haue a good opinion of themselues which play the parts of men of dexteritie and vnderstanding especially heretikes Sophists Pedanties for they finding in themselues some speciall point of the spirit and that they see a little more cleerely than the common sort they assume vnto themselues law and authoritie to decide and determine all things This vice is farre greater and more base than the former for it is an enraged folly to thinke to know as much as possiblie is to be knowne the iurisdiction and limits of nature the capacitie of the power and will of God to frame vnto himselfe and his sufficiencie the truth and falshood of things which must needs be in so certaine and assured resolution and definition of them for see their ordinarie language that is false impossible absurd and how many things are there which at one time we haue reiected with laughter as impossible which we haue been constrained afterwards to confesse and approue yea and others too more strange than they And on the other side how many things haue wee receiued as articles of our faith that haue afterwards prooued vanities and lies The second degree of presumption which followeth and commonly proceedeth from the former is certainly and obstinatelie 2 To affirme and condemne to affirme or disprooue that which he hath lightly beleeued or misbeleeued So that it addeth vnto the first obstinacie in opinion and so the presumption increaseth This facilitie to beleeue with time is confirmed and degenerateth into an obstinacie inuincible and vncapable of amendment yea a man proceeds so farre in this obstinacie that he defends those things that he knowes and vnderstands least Maiorem fidem homines adhibent ijs quae non intelligunt cupiditate humani ingenij lubentius obscura creduntur he speaks of all things with resolution Now affirmation and opinatiue obstinacie are signes of negligence and ignorance accompanied with follie and arrogancie The third degree which followeth these two and which 8 3. To perswade is the height of presumption is to perswade others to receiue as canonicall whatsoeuer he beleeueth yea imperiously to impose a beleefe as it were by obligation and inhibition to doubt What tyranny is this Whosoeuer beleeueth a thing thinks it a worke of charitie to perswade another to beleeue the same and that he may the better do it he feareth not to adde of his owne inuention so much as he seeth necessarie for his purpose to supplie that want and vnwillingnes which he thinks to be in the conceit of another of that he tels There is nothing vnto which men are commonly more prone than to giue way to their owne opinions Nemo sibi tantùm errat sed alijs erroris causa author est Where the ordinarie meane wanteth there a man addeth commandement force fire sword This vice is proper vnto dogmatists and such as will gouerne and giue lawes vnto the world Now to attaine to the end heereof and to captiuate the beliefs of men vnto themselues they vse two meanes First they bring in certain generall and fundamentall propositions which they call principles and presuppositions wherof they say we must neither doubt nor dispute vpon which they afterwards build whatsoeuer they please and leade the world at their pleasure which is a mockerie whereby the world is replenished with errours and lies And to say the trueth if a man should examine these principles he should finde as great or greater vntrueths and weaknesses in them than in all that which they would haue to depend vpon them and as great an appearance of trueth in propositions quite contrarie There haue Copernicus Paracelsus beene some in our time that haue changed and quite altered the principles and rules of our Ancients and best Professors in Astronomie Phisicke Geometrie in nature and the motion of the windes Euery humane proposition hath as much authoritie as another if reason make not the difference Trueth dependeth not vpon the authoritie and testimonie of man there are no principles in man if Diuinitie haue not reuealed them all the rest is but a dreame and smoake Now these great masters will that whatsoeuer they say should be beleeued and receiued and that euery man should trust them without iudging or examining what they teach which is a tyrannicall iustice God onely as hath beene sayd is to be beleeued in all that he saith because he saith it Qui a semetipso loquitur mendax est The other meane is by supposition of some miraculous thing done new and celestiall reuelation and apparition which hath beene cunningly practised by Law-makers Generals in the field or priuate Captaines The perswasion taken from the subiect it selfe possesseth the simpler sort but at the first it is so tender and fraile that the least offence mistaking or imprudencie that shall happen vndoeth all for it is a great maruell how from so vaine beginnings and friuolous causes there should arise the most famous impressions Now this first impression being once gotten doth woonderfully grow and increase in such sort that it fasteneth euen vpon the most expert and skilfull by reason of the multitude of beleeuers witnesses yeeres wherewith a man suffereth himselfe to be carried if he see not well into it and be not well prepared against it for then it is to small purpose to spurne against it or to enquire farther into it but simply to beleeue it The greatest and most powerfull meane to perswade and the best touch-stone of
a wise man 4 Wisely to examine all things whom I heere endeuour to describe to examine all things to consider apart and afterwards to compare together all the lawes and customes of the world which shall come to his knowledge and to iudge of them not to rule his obedience by them as hath beene said but to exercise his office since he hath a spirit to that end faithfully and without passion according to the rule of truth and vniuerfall reason and nature whereunto he is first obliged not flattering himselfe or staining his iudgement with error and to content himselfe to yeeld obedience vnto those whereunto hee is secondly and particularly bound whereby none shall haue cause to complaine of him It may fall out sometimes that wee may doe that by a second particular and municipall obligation obeying the lawes and customes of the country which is against the first and more ancient that is to say vniuersall nature and reason but yet we satisfie nature by keeping our iudgements and opinions true and iust according to it For wee haue nothing so much ours and whereof we may freely dispose the world hath nothing to do with out thoughts but the outward man is engaged to the publicke course of the world and must giue an account thereof so that manie times wee doe iustlie that which iustly we approoue not There is no remedie for so goes the world After these two mistresses Law and Custome comes the 8 Of Ceremonies third which hath no lesse authority power with many yea is more rough tyrannicall to those that too much tie themselues thereunto This is the ceremony of the world which to say the truth is for the most part but vanity yet holdeth such place and vsurpeth such authority by the remisnesse and contagious corruption of the world that manie thinke that wisedome consisteth in the obseruation thereof and in such sort do voluntarilie enthrall themselues thereunto that rather than they wil contradict it they preiudice their health benefit businesse libertie conscience and all which is a very great follie and the fault and infelicity of manie Courtiers who aboue others are the idolaters of ceremonie Now my will is that this my Wise-man do carefullie defend himselfe from this captiuity I doe not meane that out of a kind of loose inciuilitie he abuse a ceremonie for we must forgiue the world in some thing and as much as may be outwardlie conforme our selues to that which is in practise but my will is that he tie not and enthrall himselfe thereunto but that with a gallant and generous boldnesse hee know how to leaue it when he will and when it is fit and in such maner as that he giue all men to know that it is not out of carelesnes or delicacie or ignorance or contempt but because he would not seeme ignorant how to esteeme of it as is fit not suffer his iudgement and will to be corrupted with such a vanitie and that he lendeth himselfe to the world when it pleaseth him but neuer giueth himselfe CHAP. IX To carie himselfe well with another THis matter belongeth to the vertue of iustice which teacheth how to liue well with all and to giue to euery one that which appertaineth vnto him which shall be handled in the booke following where shall be set downe the particular and diuers opinions according to the diuersitie of persons Heere are only the generall following the purpose and subiect of this booke There is heere a two-fold consideration and consequently two parts in this Chapter according to the two maners of conuersing with the world the one is simple generall and common the ordinarie commerce of the world whereunto the times the affaires the voyages and encounters do daily leade and change acquaintance from those we know to those we know not strangers without our choice or voluntarie consents the other speciall is in affected and desired companie and acquaintance either sought after and chosen or being offered and presented hath beene embraced and that either for spirituall or corporall profit or pleasure wherein there is conference communication priuitie and familiaritie each of them haue their aduisements apart But before we enter into them it shall not be amisse by way of preface to giue you some generall and fundamentall aduice of all therest It is a great vice whereof this our Wise-man must take heed and a defect inconuenient both to himselfe and to another 3 Facilitie and vniuersalitie of humours to be bound and subiect to certaine humours and complexions to one only course that is to be a slaue to himselfe so to be captiuated to his proper inclinations that he cannot be bent to any other a testimonie of an anxious scrupulous mind and ill bred too amorous and too partiall to it selfe These kind of people haue much to endure and to contest and contrariwise it is a great sufficiencie and wisdome to accommodate himselfe to all I stud est sapere qui vbicunque opus sit animum possis flectere to be supple and manaiable to know how to rise and fall to bring himselfe into order when there is neede The fairest minds and the best borne are the more vniuersall the more common appliable to all vnderstandings communicatiue and open to all people It is a beautifull qualitie which resembleth and imitateth the goodnes of God it is the honor which was giuen to old Cato huic versatile ingenium sic pariter adomnia fuit vt natum ad id vnum diceres quodcunque ageret Let vs see the aduisements of the first consideration of the simple and common conuersation I wil heere set downe some 4 The first part Aduice touching simple and common conuersation whereof the first shall be to keepe silence and modestie The second not to be ouer-formall in not applying himselfe to the follies indiscretions and lightnesses which may be committed in his presence for it is an indiscretion to condemne all that pleaseth not our palat The third to spare and thriftily to order that which a man knoweth and that sufficiencie that he hath attained and to be more willing to heare than to speake to learne than to teach for it is a vice to be more readie and forward to make himselfe knowne to talke of himselfe and to shew all that is in him than to learne knowledge of another and to spend his owne stock than to get new The fourth not to enter into discourse and contestation against all neither against great men to whom we owe a dutie and respect nor against our inferiours where the match is not equall The fift to be honestlie curious in the enquirie of all things and knowing them to order them frugallie to make profit by them The sixt and principall is to employ his iudgement in all things which is the chiefe part which worketh ruleth and doth all without the vnderstanding all other things are blind deafe and without a soule it is least to know
THe goods of the body are Health Beauty Cheerfulnes 1 The praise of Health Srength Vigor a prompt readinesse and disposition but of all these Health is the first and passeth all the rest Health is the most beautifull and rich present that Nature can bestow vpon vs and aboue all other things to be preferred not only Science Nobility Riches but Wisdome it selfe which the austerest amongst the wise doe affirme It is the only thing that deserueth our whole imploiment yea our life it selfe to attaine vnto it for without it life is no life but a death vertue and wisdome grow weake and faint What comfort can all the wisdome of the world bring to the greatest man that is if he be thorowly stricken with an Apoplexie Doubtlesse there is nothing to be preferred before this bodily health but Honestie which is the health of the Soule Now it is common vnto vs with beasts yea many times it is greater and far more excellent in them than in vs and notwithstanding it be a gift of Nature gaudeant bene nati giuen in the first formation yet that which afterward followeth The milke Good gouernment which consisteth in sobrietie and moderate exercises lightnesse of heart and a continuall auoidance of all passions do preserue it much Griefe and sickenesse are the contraries vnto it which are the greatest if not the only euils that follow man whereof we shall speake hereafter But in the preseruation hereof beasts likewise simply following nature which hath giuen them health do farre exceed men they often times forgetting themselues though afterwards they pay dearly for it Next followeth Beautie a good of great account in the society 2 Beautie of men It is the first meane of reconciling or vniting one to another and it is very likely that the first distinction that hath beene of one man from another and the first consideration that giueth preheminence to one aboue another hath beene the aduantage of beauty It is likewise a powerfull quality there is none that surmounteth it in credit or that hath so great a part in the societie of men for there is none so barbarous none so resolute that hath not been beaten by it It presenteth it selfe vnto the view it seduceth and preoccupateth the iudgement it makes deepe impressions and presseth a man with great authority and therefore Socrates called it a short tyranny and Plato the priuiledge of Nature for it seemeth that he that carieth in his countenance the fauours of Nature imprinted in a rare and excellent beautie hath a kinde of lawfull power ouer vs and that we turning our eies towards him he likewise turneth our affections and enthrawleth them in despight of our selues Aristotle sayth that it apperteineth to those that are beautifull to command that they are venerable next to the gods themselues that there are none but such as are blinde but are touched with it Cyrus Alexander Caesar three great Commanders haue made great vse thereof in their greatest affaires yea Scipio the best of them all Faire and good are neere neighbours and are expressed by the selfe same words both in Greeke and in the Scriptures Many great Philosophers haue attained to their wisdome by the assistance of their beauty It is likewise considerable and much required in beasts themselues 3 The distinction of Beauty There are in Beauty diuers things to be considered That of men is properly the forme and feature of the bodie as for other beauties they belong vnto women There are two sorts of beauties the one setled which moueth not at all and it consisteth in the due proportion and colour of the members a body that is not swolne or puffed vp wherein the sinewes and veines appeare not from far nor the bones presse not the skin but full of bloud and spirits and in good state hauing the muscles eleuated the skin smooth the colour vermillion the other moueable which is called a good grace and is the true guiding or cariage of the motion of the members and aboue all the eyes The former beauty of it selfe is as it were dead this actiue and full of life There are beauties that are rude fierce sowre others that are sweet yea though they be fading Beauty is properly to be considered in the visage There 4 Of the visage is nothing more beautifull in man than his soule and in the body of man than his visage which is as it were the soule abreuiated that is the paterne or image of the soule that is her Escuchion with many quarters representing the collection of all her titles of honour planted and placed in the gate and forefront to the end that men may know that heere is her abode and her palace By the countenance it is that we know the person of a man and therefore arte which imitateth nature takes no care to represent the person of man but only to paint or carue the visage There are many speciall singularities in the visage of man which are not in beasts for to say the truth they haue no visage 5 Seuen singularities in the visage of man nor in the rest of the body of man As the number and diuersitie of the parts and formes of them in beasts there is neither chin nor cheeks nor forehead much lesse any forme or fashion of them Variety of colours as in the eye onely there is blacke white greene blew red crystaline Proportion for the senses are there double answering the one to the other and in such a maner that the greatnesse of the eye is the greatnesse of the mouth the largenesse of the forehead the length of the nose the length of the nose that of the chin and lips An admirable diuersitie of countenances and such that there are hardly found two faces in all respects like one another this is a chiefe point of workmanship which in no other thing can be found This variety is very profitable yea necessary for humane society first to know one another for infinite euils yea the dissipation of humane kinde must needs follow if a man should mistake himselfe by the semblance and similitude of diuers visages yea it would be a confusion worse than that of Babel A man would take his daughter for his sister for a stranger his enemy for his friend If our faces were all alike we should not discerne a man from a beast and if they were not all vnlike one another we could not know how to discerne a man from a man Besides it was an excellent arte of Nature to place in this part some secret that might giue contentment to one another thorow the whole world for by reason of this varietie of faces there is not a person that in some part is not beautifull The dignity and honour of it round figure forme vpright and eleuated on high naked and vncouered without haire feathers scales as in other creatures looking vp vnto heauen Grace sweetnesse a pleasant and decent comlinesse euen to the
consisteth in this that the husband hath power ouer the wife and the 8 Inequalitie wife is subiect to the husband This agreeth with all lawes and policies but yet more or lesse according to the diuersitie of them In all things the wife though she be far more noble and more rich yet is subiect to the husband This superioritie and inferioritie is naturall founded vpon the strength and sufficiencie of the one the weaknes and insufficiencie of the other The Diuines ground it vpon other reasons drawen from the Bible Man was first made by God alone and immediatly expresly for God his head and according to his image and perfect for nature doth always begin with things perfect The woman was made in the second place after man of the substance of man by occasion and for another thing mulier est vir occasionatus to serue as an aide and as a second to man who is her head and therefore imperfect And this is the difference by order of generation That of corruption and sinne proueth the same for the woman was the first in preuarication and by hir own weakenes and will did sinne man the second and by occasion of the woman the woman then the last in good and in generation and by occasion the first in euill and the occasion thereof is iustly subiect vnto man the first in good and last in euill This superioritie and power of the husband hath beene in some places such as that of the father ouer life and death as 9 The power of the husband Dion Halicar l. 2. Lib. 2. Lib. 6. bel Gal. with the Romans by the law of Romulus and the husband had power to kill his wife in foure cases Adulterie Suborning of children counterfeiting of false keyes and drinking of wine So likewise with the Greeks as Polybius and the ancient French as Caesar affirmeth the power of the husband was ouer the life and death of his wife Elswhere and there too afterwards this power was moderated but almost in all places the power of the husband and the subiection of the wife doth inferre thus much That the husband is master of the actions and vowes of his wife and may with words correct her and hold her to the stocks as for blowes they are vnworthy a woman of honour or honestie saith the Law and the wife is bound to holde the condition follow the qualitie countrey familie habitation and rancke of her husband she must accompanie and follow him in all things in his iourneys if need be his banishment his imprisonment yea a wandring person a vagabond a fugitiue The examples heereof are many and excellent of Sulpitia who followed her husband Lentulus being banished into Cicilie Erithrea her husband Phalaris Ipsicrates the wife of King Mithridate vanquished by Pompey who wandred thorow the world Some adde vnto this That wiues are to follow their husbands euen in the warres and into those prouinces whither the husband is sent with publike charge Neither can the wife bring any thing into question of law whether she be plaintiffe or defendant without Corn. Tacit the authority of her husband or of the Iudge if he refuse neither can she call her husband into iudgement without the permission of the Magistrate Marriage is not carried after one and the same fashion neither 10 The diuers rules of mariage hath it in euery place the same lawes and rules but according to the diuersitie of religions and countreys it hath rules either more easie or more streight according to the rules of Christianitie of all others the streightest marriage is more subiect and held more short There is nothing but the entrance left free the continuance is by constraint depending of some thing els than our owne willes Other nations and religions to make marriage more easie free and fertile haue receiued and practised Polygamie and repudiation libertie to take and leaue wiues they accuse Christianitie for taking away these two by which meanes amity and multiplication the principall ends of marriage are much preiudiced inasmuch as amitie is an enemie to all constraint and they doe better maintaine themselues in an honest libertie and multiplication is made by the woman as Nature doth richly make knowen vnto vs in wolues of whom the race is so fertile in the production of their yoong euen to the number of twelue or thirteene that they farre excell all other profitable creatures of these there are great numbers killed euery day by which meanes there are but few and they though of all others the most fertile yet by accident the most barren the reason is because of so great a number as they bring there is one only female which for the most part beareth not by reason of the multitude of males that concurre in the generation of which the greatest part die without fruit by the want of females So likewise we may see how much Polygamy helpeth to multiplication in those nations that receiue it Iewes Turks and other Barbarians who are able to raise forces of three or foure thousand fighting men fit for warres Contrariwise in Christendome there are many linked together in matrimony the one of which if not both are barren which being placed with others both the one and the other may happely leaue great posteritie behinde them But to speake more truly all his fertilitie consisteth in the fertilitie of one only woman Finally they obiect That this Christianlike restraint is the cause of many lasciuious pranks and adulteries To all which we may answer That Christianitie considereth not of marriage by reasons purely humane naturall temporall but it beholds it with another visage and weigheth it with reasons more high and noble as hath beene said Adde vnto this That experience sheweth in the greatest part of marriages that constraint increaseth amitie especially in simple and debonaire mindes who doe easily accommodate themselues where they finde themselues in such sort linked And as for lasciuious and wicked persons it is the immodestie of their maners that makes them such which no libertie can amend And to say the truth Adulteries are as common where Polygamie and repudiation are in force witnesse the Iewes and Dauid who for all the wiues that hee had could not defend himselfe from it and contrariwise they haue beene a long time vnknowen in policies well gouerned where there was neither Polygamie nor repudiation witnesse Sparta and Rome a long time after the foundation And therefore it is absurd to attribute it vnto religion which teacheth nothing but puritie and continencie The libertie of Polygamie which seemeth in some sort naturall 11 Polygamie diuers is caried diuersly according to the diuersitie of nations and policies In some all the wiues that belong to one husband liue in common and are equall in degree and so are their children In others there is one who is the principall and as the mistresse whose children inherit the goods honours and titles of the husband the rest
of the wiues are kept apart and carrie in some places the titles of lawfull wiues in others of concubines and their children are onely pensioners The vse of repudiation in like sort is different for with 12 Repudiation diuers some as the Hebrewes Greeks Armenians the cause of the separation is not expressed and it is not permitted to retake the wife once repudiated but yet lawfull to marry another But by the law of Mahumet the separation is made by the Iudge with knowledge taken of the cause except it be by mutuall consent which must be adulterie sterilitie incompatibilitie of humours an enterprise on his or hir part against the life of each other things directly and especiallie contrarie to the state and institution of mariage and it is lawfull to retake one another as often as they shall thinke good The former seemeth to be the better because it bridleth proud women and ouer-sharp and bitter husbands The second which is to expresse the cause dishonoureth the parties discouereth many things which should be hid And if it fall out that the cause be not sufficientlie verified and that they must continue together poysonings and murthers doe commonly ensue many times vnknowne vnto men as it was discouered at Rome before the vse of repudiation where a woman being apprehended for poysoning of her husband accused others and they others too to the number of threescore and ten which were all executed for the same offence But the worst law of all others hath beene that the adulterer escapeth almost euery where without punishment of death and all that is laid vpoÌ„ him is diuorce separation of companie brought in by Iustinian a man whollie possessed by his wife who caused whatsoeuer lawes to passe that might make for the aduantage of women From hence doth arise a danger of perpetuall adulterie desire of the death of the one partie the offender is not punished the innocent iniured remaineth without amends The dutie of maried folke See Lib. 3. Cap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are many sorts and degrees of authoritie and humane power Publicke and Priuate but there is none 1 Fatherly power more naturall nor greater than that of the father ouer his children I say father because the mother who is subiect vnto hir husband cannot properly haue hir children in hir power and subiection but it hath not been alwayes and in all places alike In former times almost euery where it was absolute and vniuersall ouer the life and death the libertie the goods the honor the actions and cariages of their children as to plead to marie to get goods as namely with the Romans by the expresse law of Romulus parentum in liberos omne ius esto relegendi vendendi occidendi except only children vnder Dion Halic li 2. antiq Rom l. in â—uis ff de lib. post Aul. Gell. lib. 20. Lib. 8. Eth. cap. 20. Lib 6. Bel. Gal. Prosper Aquitan in Epist Sigism the age of three yeares who as yet could not offend either in word or deede which law was afterwards renued by the law of the twelue tables by which the father was allowed to sell his children to the third time with the Persians according to Aristotle the ancient French as Caesar and Prosper affirme with the Muscouits and Tartars who might sell their children to the fourth time And it should seeme by that fact of Abraham going about to kill his sonne that this power was likewise vnder the law of nature for if it had been against his dutie and without the power of the father he had neuer consented thereunto neither had hee euer thought that it was God that commanded him to do it if it had beene against nature And therefore we see that Isaac made no resistance nor alledged his innocencie knowing that it was in the power of his father which derogateth not in any sort from the greatnesse of the faith of Abraham because he would not sacrifice his sonne by vertue of his right or power nor for any demerit of Isaac but only to obey the commandement of God So likewise it was in force by the law of Moyses though somewhat Deut. 21. moderated So that we see what this power hath been in ancient times in the greatest part of the world and which endured vnto the time of the Romane Emperours With the Greeks it was not so great and absolute nor with the Egyptians neuerthelesse if it fell out that the father had killed his sonnes wrongfully and without cause he had no other punishment but to be shut vp three daies together with the dead bodie Now the reasons and fruits of so great and absolute a power 2 The reasons and fruits thereof of fathers ouer their children necessarie for the culture of good maners the chasing away of vice and the publike good were first to holde the children in awe and dutie and secondly because there are many great faults in children that would escape vnpunished to the great preiudice of the weale publike if the knowledge and punishment of them were but in the hand of publike authoritie whether it be because they are domesticall and secret or because there is no man that will prosecute against them for the parents who know them and are interessed in them will not discredit them besides that there are many vices and insolencies that are neuer punished by iustice Adde heereunto that there are many things to be tried and many differences betwixt parents and children brothers and sisters touching their goods or other matters which are not fit to be published which are extinct and buried by this fatherly authoritie And the law did alwayes suppose that the father would neuer abuse this authoritie because of that great loue which he naturally carrieth to his children incompatible with crueltie which is the cause that in stead of punishing them with rigour they rather become intercessours for them when they are in danger of the law and there can be no greater torment to them than to see their children in paine And it falleth out very seldome or neuer that this power is put in practise without very great occasion so that it was rather a scarcrow to children and very profitable than a rigour in good earnest Now this fatherly power as ouer-sharpe and dangerous is almost of it selfe lost and abolished for it hath rather hapned 3 The declination by a kinde of discontinuance than any expresse law and it beganne to decline at the comming of the Romane Emperours for from the time of Augustus or shortly after it was no more in force whereby children became so desperate and insolent against their parents that Seneca speaking to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. sayd That hee had seene more paricides punished in fiue yeeres past than had beene in seuen hundred yeeres before that is to say since the foundation of Rome In former times if it fell out that the father killed his
that for small losses terme themselues vnfortunate in all things and forget that they euer receiued any good in such sort that an ounce of aduersitie brings them more hartie griefe then ten thousand of prosperitie pleasure or delight We must likewise cast our eyes vpon those that are of a 16 It is little in comparison far worse condition than our selues who would thinke themselues happie if they were in our place Cum tibi displiceat rerum fortuna tuarum Alterius specta quo sis discrimine peior It were good and necessarie that these complainers did practise the saying and aduice of a wiseman that if all the euils that men suffer should be compared with the blessings they enioy the diuision being equallie made they may see by the ouerplus of that good they enioy the iniustice of their complaint After all these opinions we may conclude that there are two great remedies against all euils and aduersities which may be reduced almost to one Custome for the vulgar and baser sort and meditation for the wiser Both of them haue their force from time the common and strongest salue against all euils but the wise take it before hand this is foresight and the feeble and vulgar sort after hand That Custome preuaileth much it doth plainly appeare in that those things that are most tedious and offensiue are made thereby easie and pleasing Natura calamitatum mollimentum consuetudinem inuenit Slaues weepe when they enter into the gallies and before three months be ended they sing They that haue not beene accustomed to the sea are afeard though it be at the calmest when they wey anckor whereas the mariners laugh in the middest of a tempest The wife groweth desperate at the death of hir husband and before a yeare be expired she loues another Time and Custome brings all things to passe that which offendeth vs is the noueltie of that which happeneth vnto vs omnia nouitate grauiora sunt Meditation performeth the same office with wise men and by the force thereof things are made familiar and ordinarie 18 Foresight or prouidence quae alij diu patiendo leuia faciunt sapiens leuia facit diu cogitando Hee considereth exactly the nature of all things that may offend him and presenteth vnto himselfe whatsoeuer may happen vnto him most grieuous and insupportable as sicknesse pouerty exile iniuries and examineth in them all that which is according to nature or contrary to it For foresight or prouidence is a great remedy against all euils which cannot bring any great alteration or change hapning to a man that attendeth them whereas contrarily they wound and hurt him greatly that suffereth himselfe to bee surprised by them Meditation and discourse is that which giueth the true temper to the soule prepareth it confirmeth it against all assaults makes it hard steely impenetrable against whatsoeuer would wound or hurt it Sudden accidents how great soeuer can giue no great blow to him that keepes himselfe vpon his guard and is alwaies readie to receiue them praemeditati mali mollis ictus venit quicquid expectatum est diu leuiùs accidit Now to attaine this foresight we must first know that nature hath placed vs heere as in a thorny and slipppery place that that which is happened vnto another may also light vpon vs that that which hangeth ouer all may fall vpon euery one of vs and that in all the affaires that wee vndertake wee premeditate the inconueniences and euill encounters which may happen vnto vs to the end wee bee not surprised vnawares O how much are wee deceiued and how little iudgement haue we when wee thinke that that which hapneth to others cannot likewise fall vpon vs When wee will not bee wary and prouident for feare lest wee should bee thought fearefull Contrariwise if wee take knowledge of things as reason would haue vs we would rather wonder that so few crosses happen vnto vs and that those accidents that follow vs so neare haue staied so long before they catch vs and hauing caught vs how they should handle vs so mildly He that taketh heede and considereth the aduersitie of another as a thing that may happen vnto himselfe before it shall happen is sufficiently armed We must thinke of all and expect the worst they are fooles and ill aduised that say I had not thought it It is an old saying that he that is suddenly surprised is halfe beaten and he that is warned is halfe armed nay is two against one A wise man in time of peace makes his preparation for warre A good mariner before hee goe foorth of the hauen makes prouision of what is necessarie to resist the violence of a tempest it is too late to prouide against an euill when it is already come In whatsoeuer we are prepared before hand wee finde our selues apt and admirable what difficultie soeuer it haue and contrariwise there is not any thing so easie that doth not hurt and hinder vs if wee bee but nouelists therein Id videndum ne quid inopinaium sit nobis quia omnia nouitate grauiora sunt Doubtlesse it seemeth that if we were so prouident as we should and may be we should wonder at nothing That which thou sawest before it came is hapned vnto thee why then wonderest thou Let vs then take a course that accidents doe not surprise vs let vs euer stand vpon our gard and foresee what is to come Animus aduersus omnia firmandus vt dicere possimus non vlla laborum O virgo noua mi facies inopináue surgit Omnia percepi atque animo mecum ipse peregi Tu hodie ista denuntias ego semper denuntiaui mihi hominem paraui ad humana CHAP. VIII To obey and obserue the Lawes Customes and Ceremonies of the Country how and in what sense EVen as a sauage and vntamed beast will not suffer himselfe to be taken led and handled by man but either flieth 1 The beginning institution and authoritie of the lawes and hideth himselfe from him or armeth himselfe against him and with furie assaulteth him if he approch neere vnto him in such sort that a man must vse force mingled with Art and subtiltie to take and tame him So follie will not be handled by reason or wisedome but striueth and stirreth against it and addeth follie vnto follie and therefore it must bee taken and led like a wilde beast that which a man is to a beast a wise man is to a foole astonished feared and kept short that with the more ease it may be instructed and won Now the proper meane or helpe thereunto is a great authoritie a thundring power and grauitie which may dazell it with the splendor of his lightning Sola authoritas est quae cogit stultos vt ad sapientiam festinent In a popular fight or sedition August if some great wise ancient and vertuous personage come in presence that hath wonne the publike reputation of honour and vertue presently
the mutinous people being strucken and blinded with the bright splendor of this authoritie are quieted attending what he will say vnto them Veluti magno in populo cùm saepe coorta Seditio est saeuit que animis ignobile vulgus Iamque faces sax a volant furor arma ministrat Tum pietate grauem ac meritis si fortè virum quem Conspexêre silent arrectisque auribus astant Ille regit dictis animos pectora mulcet There is nothing greater in this world than authoritie which is an image of God a messenger from Heauen if it be souereigne it it is called maiestie if subalterne authoritie and by two things it is maintained admiration and feare mingled together Now this maiestie and authoritie is first and properly in the person of the soueraigne prince and lawmaker where it is liuely actuall and mouing afterwards in his commandements and ordinances that is to say in the law which is the head of the worke of the prince and the image of a liuely and originall maiestie By this are fooles reduced conducted and guided Behold then of what weight necessitie and vtilitie authoritie and the law is in the world The next authoritie and that which is likest to the law is custome which is another powerfull and Emperious mistris 2 Of Custome It seaseth vpon this power and vsurpeth it traiterously and violently for it planteth this authoritie by little and little by stealth as it were insensibly by a little pleasing and humble beginning hauing setled and established it selfe by the helpe of time it discouereth afterwards a furious and tyrannicall visage against which there is no more libertie or power left so much as to lift vp ones eies It taketh it authoritie from the possession and vse thereof it increaseth and ennobleth it selfe by continuance like a riuer it is dangerous to bring it back to his originall fountaine Law custome establish their authoritie diuersly custome by little and little with long time sweetly and without force 3 A comparison of them both by the common consent of all or the greater part and the authour thereof are the people The law springeth vp in a moment with authoritie and power and taketh his force from him that hath power to command all yea many times against the liking of the subiects whereupon some compare it to a tyrant and custome to a king Againe custome hath with it neither reward nor punishment the law hath them both at least punishment neuerthelesse they may mutuallie help and hinder one another For custome which is but of sufferance authorized by the soueraigne is better confirmed and the law likewise setleth it owne authoritie by possession and vse and contrariwise custome may be caschiered by a contrarie law and the law loseth the force thereof by suffering a contrarie custome but ordinarily they are together that is law and custome wise and spirituall men considering it as a law idiots and simple men as a custome There is not a thing more strange than the diuersitie and strangenes of some lawes and customes in the world Neither 4 Their diuersitie and strangenesse is there any opinion or imagination so variable so mad which is not established by lawes and customes in some place or other I am content to recite some of them to shew those Of lawes and customes in the world that are hard of beleefe heerein how farre this proposition doth go Yet omitting to speake of those things that belong to religion which is the subiect where the greatest wonderments and grossest impostures are but because it is without the commerce of men and that it is not properly a custome and where it is easie to be deceiued I will not meddle with it See then a brief of those that for the strangenes are best worth the noting To account it an office of pietie in a certaine age to kill their parents to eate them In Innes to pay the shot by yeelding their children wiues and daughters to the pleasure of the hoste publike brothelhouses of males old men lending their wiues vnto yong women common an honor to women to haue accompaned with many men and to cary their locks in the hembes of their garments daughters to go with their priuie parts vncouered and maried women carefullie to keepe them couered to leaue the daughters to their pleasures and being great with child to enforce an obort in the sight and knowledge of all men but maried women to keepe themselues chaste and faithfull to their husbands women the first night before they companie with their husbands to receiue all the males of the estate and profession of their husbands inuited to the mariage and euer after to be faithfull to their husbands yong maried women to present their virginitie to their prince before they he with their husbands mariages of males women to go to warre with their husbands to die and to kill themselues at the decease of their husbands or shortly after to permit widowes to marie againe if their husbands die a violent death and not otherwise husbands to be diuorced from their wiues without alledging any cause to sell them if they be barren to kill them for no other cause but because they are women and afterwards to borrow women of others at their neede women to be deliuered without paine or feare to kill their children because they are not faire well featured or without cause at meate to wipe their fingers vpon their priuities and their feete to liue with mans flesh to eate flesh and fish raw many men and women to lie together to the number of tenne or twelue to salute one another by putting the finger to the ground and afterwards lifting it towards heauen to turne the back when they salute and neuer to looke him on the face whom a man will honor to take into the hand the spittle of the prince not to speake to the king but at a peepe-hole in a mans whole life neuer to cut his haire nor nailes to cut the haire on one side and the nailes of one hand and not of the other men to pisse sitting women standing to make holes and pits in the flesh of the face and the dugs to hang rings and iewels in to contemne death to receiue it with ioy to sue for it to pleade in publike for the honor thereof as for a dignitie and fauour to account it an honorable buriall to be eaten with dogs birds to be boyled cut in peeces and pounded and the powder to be cast into their ordinarie drinke When we come to iudge of these customes that is the complaint and the trouble the vulgar sot and pedante are 5 ExaminatioÌ„ and iudgement not troubled heâ—ewith for euery seditious rout condemneth as barbarous and beastly whatsoeuer pleaseth not their palat that is to say the common vse and custome of their countrie And if a man shall tell them that others do speake and iudge the same of ours
freedome and libertie to all those that were of their religion in such sort that about the twelue hundred yeare there were almost no slaues in the world but where these two religions had no authoritie But as the number of slaues diminished the number of beggers and vagabonds increased for so many slaues being 7 The increase of poore people and vagabonds set at libertie come from the houses and subiection of their Lords not hauing wherewithall to liue and perhaps hauing children too filled the world with poore people This pouertie made them returne to seruitude and to become 8 Returne to seruitude voluntarie slaues paying changing selling their libertie to the end they might haue their maintenance and life assured and be quit of the burthen of their children Besides this cause and this voluntarie seruitude the world is returned to the vse of slaues because the Christians and Turks alwaies mainteining warres one against the other as likewise against the Gentiles both orientall and occidentall although by the example of the Iewes they haue no slaues of their owne nation yet they haue of others whom though they turne to their religion they hold slaues by force The power and authoritie of masters ouer their seruants is not very great nor imperious and in no sort can be preiudiciall to the libertie of seruants only they may chastise and correct them with discretion and moderation This power is much lesse ouer those that are mercenarie ouer whom they haue neither power nor correction The dutie of Masters and Seruants See lib. 3. cap. 15. CHAP. XLIX Of the State Soueraigntie Soueraignes HAuing spoken of priuate power we come to the publicke 1 The description and necessitie of the state that of the state The state that is to say Rule dominion or a certaine order in commanding and obeying is the prop the cement and the soule of humane things It is the bond of societie which cannot otherwise subsist It is the vitall spirit whereby so many millions of men doe breath and the whole nature of things Now notwithstanding it be the piller and prop of all yet it is a thing not so sure very difficult subiect to changes arduuin 2 The nature of the state Tacit. subiectum fortunae cuncta regendi onus which declineth and sometimes falleth by hidden and vnknowne causes and that altogether at an instant from the highest step to the lowest and not by degrees as it vseth to be long arising It is likewise exposed to the hatred both of great and small wherby it is gauled subiect to ambushments vnderminings and dangers which hapneth likewise many times by the corrupt and wicked manners of the soueraignes and the nature of the soueraigntie which we are about to describe Soueraigntie is a perpetuall and absolute power without constraint either of time or condition It consisteth in a power 3 The description of soueraigntie to giue lawes to all in generall and to euery one in particular without the consent of any other or the gift of any person And as another saith to derogate from the common law Soueraigntie is so called and absolute because it is not subiect to any humane lawes no not his owne For it is against nature to giue lawes vnto all and to command himselfe in a thing that dependeth vpon his will Nulla obligatio consistere potest quae a voluntate promittent is statum capit nor of another whether liuing or of his predecessors or the countrie Soueraigne power is compared to fire to the sea to a wilde beast it is a hard matter to tame it to handle it it will not be crost nor offended but being is very dangerous potestas res est quae moneri docerique non vult castigationem aegrè ferat The marks and properties thereof are to iudge the last appeales to ordaine lawes in time of peace and warre to create 4 The properties and appoint magistrates and officers to giue graces and dispensations against the law to impose tributes to appoint money to receiue homages ambassages oathes But all this is comprehended vnder the absolute power to giue and make lawes according to their pleasure Other marks there are of lesse weight as the law of the sea and shipwracke confiscation for treason power to change the tongue title of Maiestie Greatnes and Soueraigntie is so much desired of all because all the good that is in it appeareth outwardly and all the ill is altogether inward As also because to commaund others is a thing as beautifull and diuine as great and difficult and for this cause they are esteemed and reuerenced for more than men Which beliefe in the people and credit of theirs is very necessarie and commodious to extort from the people due respect and obedience the nource of peace and quietnes But in the end they prooue to be men cast in the same mould that other men are and many times worse borne and worse qualified in nature than many of the common sort of people It seemeth that their actions because they are weightie and important doe proceed from weightie and important causes but they are nothing and of the same condition that other mens are The same occasion that breeds a brawle betwixt vs and our neighbour is ground enough of a warre betwixt Princes and that offence for which a Lackey deserues a whipping lighting vpon a King is the ruine of a whole prouince They will as lightly as we and we as they but they can do more than we the selfe-same appetites moue a flie and an elephant Finally besides these passions defects and naturall conditions which they haue common with the meanest of those that doe adore them they haue likewise vices and discommodities which their greatnes and soueraigntie beares them out in peculiar vnto themselues The ordinarie maners of great personages are vntamed 6 The maners of Soueraignes pride durus est veri insolens ad recta flecti regius non vult tumor violence too licentious id esse regni maximum pignus putant si quicquid alijs non licet solis licet quod non potest vult posse qui nimium potest Their mott that best pleaseth them is Senec. Tacit. quod libet licet suspition icalousie suapte natura potentiae anxij yea euen of their owne infants suspectus semper inuisusque dominantibus quisquis proximus destinatur adeo vt displiceant etiam ciuilia filiorum ingenia whereby it falleth out that they are many times in alarum and feare ingenia regum prona ad formidinem The aduantages of Kings and soueraigne Princes aboue 7 The miseries and discommodities their people which seeme so great and glittering are indeed but light and almost imaginarie but they are repayed with great true and solid disaduantages and inconueniences The name and title of a soueraigne the shew and outside is beautifull pleasant and ambitious but the burthen and the inside is hard difficult and yrksome There
14 7 Ignorance of things more dangerous to the weale-publicke is that they are not free in the choice of men nor in the true knowledge of things They are not suffered truly to know the state of their affaires and consequently not to call and employ such as they would and as were most fit and necessarie They are shut vp and beset with a certaine kind of people that are either of their own bloud or by the greatnes of their houses and offices or by prescription are so farre in authoritie power and managing of affaires before others that it is not lawfull without putting all to hazard to discontent or in any sort to suspect them Now these kind of people that couer and hold as it were hidden the Prince do prouide that all the truth of things shall not appeare vnto him and that better men and more profitable to the state come not neere him lest they be knowne what they are It is a pitifull thing not to see but by the eyes not to vnderstand but by the eares of another as Princes doe And that which perfecteth in all points this miserie is that commonly and as it were by destinie Princes and great personages are possessed by three sorts of people the plagues of humane kinde Flatterers Inuenters of imposts or tributes Informers who vnder a faire and false pretext of zeale and amitie towards the Prince as the two first or of loyaltie and reformation as the latter spoile and ruinate both Prince and State The eight miserie is that they are lesse free and masters of their owne wills than all other for they are inforced in their 15 8 Not maesters of their wills proceedings by a thousand considerations and respects whereby many times they must captiuate their designments desires and wills in maxima fortuna minima licentia And in the meane time in stead of being plaintiffes they are more rudely handled and iudged than any other For men will not stick to diuine of their designes penetrate into their hearts and inuentions which they cannot doe Abditos principis sensus si quid occultius parat exquirere illicitum anceps nec ideo assequare and looking into things with another visage where they vnderstand not sufficientlie the affaires of the state they require of their Princes what they thinke should be done blame their actions refusing to submit themselues to what is necessarie they commonly proceed in their businesse rudely enough Finally it falleth out many times that they make a miserable end not only tyrants and vsurpers for it belongs to 16 9 A miserable end them but such as haue a true title to their Crowne witnes so many Romane Emperours after Pompey the Great and Caesar and in our time Mary Queene of Scotland who lost her life by the hand of an executioner and Henry the third wilfullie murthered in the middle of fortie thousand armed men by a little Monke and a thousand the like examples It seemeth that as lightning and tempests oppose themselues against the pride and height of our buildings so there are likewise spirits that enuie and emulate greatnes below vpon earth Vsque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saeuasque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur To conclude the condition of Soueraignes is hard and dangerous Their life if it be innocent is infinitly painefull 17 The conclusion of their miseries if it be wicked it is subiect to the hate and slaunder of the world and in both cases exposed to a thousand dangers for the greater a Prince is the lesse may he trust others and the more must he trust himselfe So that we see that it is a thing as it were annexed to soueraigntie to be betrayed Of their duty See the third booke Chap. 16. CHAP. L. Magistrates THere are diuers degrees of Magistrates as well in honor as power which are the two things to be considered in 1 The distinction the distinction of them and which haue nothing common the one with the other and many times they that are more honorable haue lesse power as Counsellors of the priuie Counsell the Secretaries of the state Some haue but one of the two others haue both and that of diuers degrees but they are properly called Magistrates that haue both The Magistrates that are in the middle betwixt the Soueraigne the particulars in the presence of their Soueraignes haue no power to command As riuers lose both their name and power at the mouth or entrance into the sea and the starres their light in the presence of the sunne so all power of Magistrates is but vpon sufferance in the presence of their Soueraigne as also the power of inferiours and subalternate Magistrates in the presence of their superiours Amongst equals there is neither power nor superioritie but the one may hinder the other by opposition and preuention All Magistrates iudge condemne and command either according to the law and then their sentence is but the execution of the law or according to equitie and such iudgement is called the office or dutie of the Magistrate Magistrates can not change nor correct their iudgements except the Soueraigne permit it vnder paine of iniustice they may reuoke their commands or make stay of them but not that which they haue iudged and pronounced with knowledge of the cause Of the dutie of Magistrates See lib. 3. CHAP. LI. Lawyers Doctours Teachers IT is one of the vanities follies of man to prescribe lawes and rules that exceed the vse and capacitie of men as some Philosophers and Doctors haue done They propose strange and eleuated formes or images of life or at leastwise so difficult and austere that the practise of them is impossible at least for a long time yea the attempt is dangerous to manie These are castles in the aire as the Common-wealth of Plato and More the Oratour of Cicero the Poet of Horace beautifull and excellent imaginations but he was yet neuer found that put them in vse The soueraigne and perfect Lawgiuer and Doctor tooke heed of this who both in himselfe his life and his doctrine hath not sought these extrauagancies and formes diuided from the common capacitie of men and therefore he calleth his yoke easie and his burden light Iugum meum suaue onus meum leue And they that haue instituted and ordered their companie vnder his name haue very wisely considered of the matter that though they make speciall profession of vertue deuotion and to serue the weale-publike aboue all others neuerthelesse they differ very little from the common and ciuill life Wherein there is first great iustice for there must alwaies be kept a proportion betwixt the commandement and the obedience the duetie and the power the rule and the workmaster and these binde themselues and others to be necessarilie in want cutting out more worke than they know how to finish and many times these goodly Law-makers are
that wisdome and sottish simplicitie do meete in one and the same point touching the bearing and suffering of humane actions It is then very dangerous to iudge of the probitie or improbitie of a man by his actions we must sound him within from what foundation these motions doe arise wicked men performe many times many good and excellent actions and both good and euill preserue themselues alike from doing euill oderunt peccare boni mali To discouer therefore and to know which is the true Honestie we must not stay in the outward action that is but the signe the simplest token and many times a cloke and maske to couer villanie we must penetrate into the inward part and know the motiue which causeth the strings to play which is the soule and the life that giueth motion to all It is that whereby we must iudge it is that wherein euery man should prouide to be good and entire and that which we seeke That honestie which is commonly accounted true and so much preached and commended of the world whereof they 3 Vulgar honestie and according to the stile of the world make expresse profession who haue the title and publike reputation to be men of honestie and setled constancie is scholasticall and pedanticall seruant to the lawes enforced by hope and feare acquired learned and practised out of a submission too a consideration of the religion lawes customes commaunds of superiors other mens examples subiect to prescript formes effeminate fearefull and troubled with scruples and doubts sunt quibus innocentia nisi metu non placet which is not only in respect of the world diuers and variable according to the diuersitie of religions lawes examples formes for the iurisdictions changing the motions must likewise alter but also in it selfe vnequall wauering deambulatorie according to the accesse recesse and successe of the affaires the occasions which are presented the persons with whom a man hath to do as a ship driuen with the winds and the oares is caried away with an vnequall tottering pase with many blowes blasts and billows To be breefe these are honest men by accident and occasion by outward and strange euents and not in veritie and essence they vnderstand it not and therefore it is easie to discouer them and to conuince them by shaking of a little their bridle and sounding them somewhat nearer but aboue all by that inequalitie and diuersitie which is found in them for in one and the same action they will giue diuers iudgements and cary themselues altogether after a diuers fashion going sometimes a slow pase sometimes running a maine gallop This vnequall diuersitie proceedeth from this that the outward occasions which moue and stirre them do either puffe them vp multiplie and increase them or make them luke-warme and deiect them more or lesse like accidents quae recipiunt magis minus Now that true honestie which I require in him that will be wise is free manly and generous pleasant and cheerefull equall 4 The description of true honestie vniforme and constant which marcheth with a stayed pase stately and hawtie going alwaies his owne way neither looking on this side or behind him without staying or altering his pase or gate for the wind the times the occasions which are changed but that is not I meane in iudgement and will that is in the soule where honestie resideth and hath it seate For outward actions especiallie the publike haue another iurisdiction as shall be said in his place This honestie I will describe in this place giuing you first to vnderstand that following the designment of this booke declared in the Preface I speake of humane honestie and wisdome as it is humane whereby a man is called an honest man and a wise and not of Christian though in the end I may chaunce to speake a word or two thereof The iurisdiction of this honestie is Nature which bindeth 5 Nature enioyneth honestie euery man to be and to make himselfe such as he ought that is to say to conforme and rule himselfe according vnto it Nature is together both a mistris which enioyneth and commaundeth honestie and a law and instruction which teacheth it vnto vs. As touching the first there is a naturall obligation inward and vniuersall in euery man to be honest iust vpright following the intention of his author and maker A man ought not to attend or seeke any other cause obligation instinct or motiue of this honestie and he can neuer know how to haue a more iust and lawfull more powerfull more ancient it is altogether as soone as himselfe borne with himselfe Euery man should be or should desire to be an honest man because he is a man and he that takes no care to be such is a monster renounceth himselfe belieth destroyeth himselfe by right he is no more a man and in effect should desist to be a man It is necessarie that honestie grow in him by himselfe that is to say by that inward instinct which God hath put in him and not from any other outward and strange cause any occasion or induction A man will not out of a iust and regular will any thing that is depraued or corrupt or other than it owne nature requireth it implieth a contradiction to desire or accept a thing and nothing to care whether it be worth the caring for a man would haue all his parts good and sound his bodie his head his eies his iudgement his memorie yea his hose and shooes and why will he not like wise haue his will and his conscience good that is to say be whollie good and sound I will therefore that he be good and haue his will firme and resolued to equity and honesty for the loue of himselfe and because he is a man knowing that he can be no other without the renouncing and destruction of himselfe and so his honesty shall be proper inward essentiall euen as his owne essence is vnto him and he vnto himselfe It must not then be for any outward consideration and proceeding from without whatsoeuer it bee for such a cause being accidentall and outward may happen to faile grow weake and alter and consequently all that honesty that is grounded thereupon must doe the like If he be an honest man for honour or reputation or other recompence being in a solitary place where he hath no hope to be knowen hee either ceaseth to be honest or putteth it in practise very coldly and negligently If for feare of the lawes magistrates punishments if he can deceiue the lawes circumuent the iudges auoid or disprooue the proofes and hide himselfe from the knowledge of another there is an end of his honesty And this honestie is but fraile occasioned accidentall and miserable and yet it is that which is in authoritie and vse no man knowes of any other there is not an honest man but such as is enforced or inuited by some cause or occasion nemo gratis bonus est Now
after another the younger doth alwayes build vpon the more ancient and next precedent 5 The latter are built vpon the former which from the toppe to the bottome it doth not wholly disproue condemn for then it could not be heard or take footing but it only accuseth it either of imperfection or of the end and that therfore it commeth to succeed it and to perfect it and so by little and little ouerthroweth it and inricheth it selfe with the spoiles therof as the Iudaicall which hath retained many things of the Gentile Egyptian religion the elder the Hebrewes not being easily purified of their customes the Christian built vpon the verities and promises of the Iudaicall the Turkish vpon them both retaining almost all the verities of Christ Iesus except the first and principall which is his Diuinity so that if a man will leape from Iudaisme to Mahumatisme he must passe by Christianity and such there haue beene among the Mahumatists as haue exposed themselues to torments to maintaine the trueth of Christian religion as a Christian would do to maintaine the truth of the Old Testament But yet the elder and more ancient doe wholly condemne the yonger and holde them for capitall enemies All religions haue this in them that they are strange and 6 All are strange to nature horrible to the common sense for they propose and are built and composed of parts whereof some seeme to the iudgement of man base vnworthy and vnbefitting wherewith the spirit of man somwhat strong and vigorous iesteth and sporteth it selfe others too high bright wonderfull and mysticall where he can know nothing wherewith it is offended Now the spirit of man is not capable but of indifferent things it contemneth and disdaineth the small it is astonished and confounded with the great and therefore it is no maruell if it be hardly perswaded at the first onset to receiue all religion where there is nothing indifferent and common and therefore must be drawen thereunto by some occasion for if it be strong it disdaineth and laugheth at it if it be feeble and superstitious it is astonished and scandalized praedicamus Iesum crucifixum Iudaeis scandalum gentib us stultitiam Whereof it comes to passe that there are so many mis-beleeuers and irreligious persons because they consult and hearken too much to their owne iudgements thinking to examine and iudge of the affaires of religion according to their owne capacitie and to handle it with their owne proper and naturall instruments We must be simple obedient and debonaire if we will be fit to receiue religion to beleeue and liue vnder the law by reuerence and obedience to subiect our iudgement and to suffer our selues to be led and conducted by publike authoritie Captiuantes intellectum ad obsequium fidei But it was required so to proceed otherwise religion should not be respected and had in admiration as it ought now it is necessarie that it be receiued and sworne to as well authenticallie and reuerentlie as difficultlie If it were such as were whollie pleasing to the palat and nature of man without strangenes it would be thought more easily yet lesse reuerently receiued Now the religions and beliefs being such as hath been said strange vnto the common sense very farre exceeding all the 7 Why they are not to be gottē by humane means reach and vnderstanding of man they must not nor cannot be gotten nor setled in vs by naturall and humane meanes for then among so many great minds as there haue been rare and excellent some had attained thereunto but it must needs be that they be giuen vs by extraordinarie and heauenlie reuelation gotten and receiued by diuine inspiration and as sent from heauen In this maner likewise all do affirme that they hold their religion and beleeue it not from men or any other creature but from God But to say the truth and not to flatter or disguise this is 8 And yet they are gotten by humane meanes nothing they are whatsoeuer some say held by humane hands and meanes which is true in euery respect in false religions being nothing but prayers and humane or diabolicall inuentions the true as they haue another iurisdiction so are they both receiued and held by another hand neuerthelesse we must distinguish As touching the receiuing of them the first and generall publication and installation of them hath beene domino cooperante sermonem confirmante sequentes signis diuine and wonderfull the particular is done by humane hands and meanes the nation countrie place giues the religion and that a man professeth which is in force in that place and among those persons where he is borne and where he liueth He is circumcised baptised a Iew a Christian before he knowes that he is a man for religion is not of our choyce or election but man without his knowledge is made a Iew or a Christian because he is borne in Iudaisme or Christianitie and if he had been borne elsewhere among the Gentiles or Mahumetans he had beene likewise a Gentile or a Mahumetan As touching the obseruation the true and good professors thereof besides the outward profession which is common to all yea to misbeleeuers they attribute to the gift of God the testimonie of the Holy Ghost within but this is a thing not common nor ordinarie what faire colour soeuer they giue it witnes the liues and maners of men so ill agreeing with their beleefe who for humane occasions and those very light goe against the tenor of their religion If they were held planted with a diuine hand nothing in the world could shake vs such a tye would not be so easily broken If it had any touch or ray of diuinitie it would appeare in all it would produce wonderfull effects that could not be hid as Truth it selfe hath said If you haue but as much faith as a mustard seed you should remoue mountaines But what proportion or agreement is there betwixt the perswasion of the immortalitie of the soule and a future reward so glorious and blessed or so inglorious and accursed and the life that a man leadeth The only apprehension of those things that a man saith he doth firmely beleeue wil take his senses from him The only apprehension and feare to die by iustice and in publike place or by some other shamefull and dishonorable action hath made many to lose their senses and cast them into strange trances and what is that in respect of the worth of that which religion teacheth vs is to come But is it possible in truth to beleeue to hope for that immortalitie so happie and yet to feare death a necessarie passage thereunto to feare and apprehend that infernall punishment and liue as we do These are things as incompatible as fire and water They say they beleeue it they make themselues beleeue they beleeue it and they will make others beleeue it too but it is nothing neither do they know what it is to beleeue For
vs in such sort that it maketh vs beleeue that what is without the bounds thereof is without the bounds of reason and there is nothing good and iust but what it approueth ratione non componimur Senec. sed consuetudine abducimur honestius putamus quod frequentius recti apud nos locum tenet error vbi publicus factus This is tolerable with idiots and the vulgar sort who wanting sufficiencie to looke into the depth of things to trie and to iudge do well to hold and settle themselues to that which is commonlie held and receiued but to wise men who play another part it is a base thing to suffer themselues to be caried with customes Now the aduice which I heere giue vnto him that would be wise is to keepe and obserue both in word and deede the 7 An aduice lawes customes which he findeth established in the countrie where he is and in like maner to respect and obey the magistrates and all superiors but alwaies with a noble spirit and after a generous maner and not seruilely pedanticallie superstitiously and withall not taking offence nor lightly condemning other strange lawes and customes but freely and soundly iudging and examining the one and the other as hath been said and not binding his iudgement and beleefe but vnto reason only Heereof a word or two In the first place according to all the wisest the rule of rules and the generall law of lawes is to follow and obserue 1 Lawes and customes are to be obserued the lawes and customes of the countrie where he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auoyding carefullie all singularitie and strange extrauagant particularitie different from the common and ordinarie for whatsoeuer it be it alwaies hurteth and woundeth another is suspected of follie hypocrisie ambitious passion though perhaps it proceede from a sicke and weake soule Non conturbabit sapiens publicos mores nec populum in se nouitate vitae conuertet We must alwaies walke vnder the couert of the lawes customes superiours without disputation or tergiuersation without vndertaking sometimes to dispence with the lawes sometimes like a frugall seruant to enhaunce the price But that it be which is the second rule out of a good mind and after a good maner nobly and wisely neither for the loue 2 Not for their iustice and equity nor feare of them nor for the iustice or equitie that is in them nor for feare of that punishment that may follow for not obeiing them to be briefe not of superstition nor constrained scrupulous fearefull seruitude eadem quae populus sed non eodem modo nec eodem proposito faciet sapiens but freely and simply for publike reuerence and for their authoritie Lawes and customes are maintained in credit not because they are iust and good but because they are lawes and customes this is the mysticall foundation of their authoritie they haue no other and so is it with superiours because they are superiours quia supra Cathedram sedent not because they are vertuous and honest quae faciunt nolite facere Hee that obeyeth them for any other cause obeyeth them not because hee should this is an euill and a dangerous subiect it is not true obedience which must be pure and simple vnde vocatur depositio discretionis mera executio abnegatio sui Now to goe about to measure one obedience by the iustice and goodnesse of lawes and superiours were by submitting them to our iudgement to serue them with processe and to call our obedience into doubt and disputation and consequently the state and the policie according to the inconstancie and diuersitie of iudgements How many vniust and strange lawes are there in the world not only in the particular iudgements of men but of vniuersall reason wherewith the world hath liued a long time in continuall peace and rest with as great satisfaction as if they had beene very iust and reasonable And he that should goe about to change or mend them would be accounted an enemie to the weale-publike and neuer bee admitted The nature of man doth accommodate it selfe to all with the times and hauing once caught his fish it is an act of hostilitie to goe about to alter any thing we must leaue the world where it is these trouble-houses and newfangled spirits vnder a pretext of reformation marre all All change and alteration of lawes beleefes customes and Against innouatours obseruances is very dangerous and yeeldeth alwaies more euill than good it bringeth with it certaine and present euils for a good that is vncertaine and to come Innouatours haue alwaies glorious and plausible titles but they are but the more suspected and they cannot escape the note of ambitious presumption in that they thinke to see more cleerely than others and that to establish their opinions the state policie peace and publike quiet must be turned topsy turuy I will not say for all this that hath beene said before that 3 Strange things are not lightly to be condemned we must absolutely obey all lawes all commandements of superiours for such as a man knoweth euidently to be either against God or nature hee is not to obey and yet not to rebell and to trouble the state how he should gouerne himselfe in such a case shall be taught heereafter in the obedience due vnto princes for to say the truth this inconuenience and infelicitie is rather and more common in the commandements of princes than in the lawes neither is it sufficient to obey the lawes and superiours because of their worth and merrit nor seruilely and for feare as the common and prophane sort doe but a wise man doth nothing by force or feare soli hoc sapienti contingit vt nil faciat inuitus recta sequitur gaudet officio he doth that which he should and keepes the lawes not for feare of them but for the loue of himselfe being iealous of his dutie he hath not to doe with the lawes to doe well that is that wherein he differeth from the common sort who cannot do well nor know what they ought to do without lawes at iusto sapienti non est lex posita By right a wise man is aboue the lawes but in outward and publike effect he is their voluntarie and free obedient subiect In the third place thereof it is an act of lightnesse and iniurious presumption yea a testimonie of weakenesse and insufficiencie to condemne that which agreeth not with the law and custome of his countrie This proceedeth either from want of leasure or sufficiencie to consider the reasons and grounds of others this is to wrong and shame his owne iudgement whereby he is enforced many times to recant and not to remember that the nature of man is capable of all things It is to suffer the eie of his spirit to be hood winked and brought asleepe by a long custome and prescription to haue power ouer iudgement Finally it is the office of a generous spirit and
against the state and the head of his souereigne when it pleaseth him To take by authoritie the riches of the richest in a great necessitie and pouertie of the state To weaken and cancell the lawes and priuiledges of some subiects who hold them to the preiudice and diminution of the authoritie of the souereigne To take by preuention and to possesse himselfe of a place city or prouince very commodious for the state rather than to suffer another strong and fearefull neighbour to take and possesse it to the great hurt subiection and perpetuall alarum of the said state All these things are approued as iust and lawfull by many great and wise men prouided that they succeede well and happily of whom these are the sayings and sentences To doe iustice in great matters a man may sometimes goe astray Plutarch in small and To execute iustice in grosse it is permitted to doe wrong by retaile for commonly the greatest actions Tacit. and examples haue some iniustice which satisfieth particular men by the profit which ariseth to all in generall Omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod aduersus singulos vtilitate publica rependitur That a prudent and wise prince Plutarch in flam should not only know how to command according to the lawes but also the lawes themselues if necessitie require and they must make the lawes to will it when they cannot doe that they would In confused and desperate affaires a prince must not follow that which may be well spoken of but that Sence which is necessarie to be executed Necessitie a great support and excuse to humane fragility infringeth all law and therefore he is not very wicked that doth ill by constraint Necessitas magnum imbecillitatis humanae patrocinium omnem legem frangit non est nocens quicunque non sponte est nocens If a Aristot in Politico Democrit prince cannot be wholly good it sufficeth if he be halfe good and that he be not wholly wicked That it cannot possibly be that good princes should commit no iniustice To all this I would adde for their iustification or diminution of their faults that princes finding themselues in such extremities they ought not to proceed in such actions but with great vnwillingnesse and griefe of mind acknowledging that it is an infelicity and a disfauour from heauen and so carrying themselues therein as a father when hee is enforced to cauterise or cut off a member of his childe to saue his life or to plucke out a tooth to purchase ease As for other speeches more bolde which referre all to profit which they either equall or preferre before honestie an honest man must euer abhorre them Wee haue staied long vpon this point of the vertue of iustice because of the doubts difficulties that arise from the accidents and necessities of states and which doe many times hinder the most resolute and best aduised After iustice commeth valour I meane that militarie vertue wisdome courage and sufficiency to play the warriour 11 Valour necessarie in a Prince for the defence and safetie of himselfe the state his subiects of the publicke peace and libertie and without which hee can hardly deserue the name of a prince But let vs come to the fourth princely vertue which is clemency a vertue which enclineth the Prince to a sweet kinde 12 Clemency of mildnesse and lenity whereby he lesseneth and qualifieth the rigor of iustice with iudgement and discretion It moderateth and sweetly manageth all things deliuereth those that are faulty relieueth those that are fallen saueth those that are like to be lost It is that in a prince which humanity is in a common person It is contrary to cruelty and extreame rigour not to iustice from which it differeth not much but it sweetneth and moderateth it It is necessarie by reason of our humane infirmity the frequency of offences the facilitie to offend for an ouer great and continuall rigour and seueritie ruinateth all and maketh chastisements contemptible Seuerit as amittit assiduitate authoritatem It stirreth malice and Senec. rancor moueth rebellions and men by despite are made wicked For feare that keepeth men in their dutie must be sweete and temperate if it be too sharp and continuall it is changed into rage and reuenge Temperatus timor est qui cohibet assiduus acer in vindictam excitat It is likewise very profitable Senec. to a Prince and a State it winneth the loue and good willes of his subiects and consequently confirmeth and assureth the state firmissimum id imperium quo obedientes gaudent as shall be said heereafter It is likewise very honorable to a Tit. Liuius ca. 3. in the beginning soueraigne for his subiects will honour and adore him as a god as their tutor their father and in stead of fearing him they will feare all for him lest any ill happen vnto him This then shall be the lesson of the Prince to know all that passeth not to beleeue all yea many times to dissemble wishing rather Tacit. in Agricol to be thought to haue found good subiects than to haue made them such to pardon light faults to lessen the rigour of the great not to be ouer-streight and exact in punishing which is as great a dishonor and infamie to a Prince as to a Physitian many patients that die vnder his hand to content himselfe many times with repentance as a sufficient chastisement ignoscere pulchrum I am misero poenaeque genus vidisse precantem And let him not feare that which some obiect very vntruly that it debaseth vilifieth and weakneth the authoritie of the soueraigne and of the state for contrarily it fortifieth it and giues credit and vigour thereunto And a Prince beloued shall do more by loue than by feare which makes men feare and tremble but not obey and as Salust discoursed to Caesar Salust ad Caesar those states that are gouerned with feare are neuer durable No man can be feared by many but he must likewise feare many and that feare which he would put vpon all falleth vpon his owne head That life is doubtfull wherein a man neither before nor behind nor on any side is couered but is alwaies in agitation in danger in feare It is true as hath been said in the beginning that it must be with iudgement for as tempered and well conducted it is very venerable so being too loose too remisse it is very pernicious After these foure principall and royall vertues there are 13 After which are required also liberalitie also others though lesse worthie and necessarie yet in a second place very profitable and requisit in a soueraigne that is to say liberalitie so fit and necessarie for a Prince as it is lesse befitting him to be vanquished by armes than by magnificence But yet there is heerein required a great discretion otherwise it will be more hurtfull than commodious There is a two-fold
Tacit. It is the part of wisdome to temper this neither seeking to be feared by making himselfe terrible nor loued by too much debasing himselfe The second meane to attaine beneuolence is beneficence 3 Beneficence I meane first towards all especiallie the meaner people by prouidence and good policie whereby corne and all other necessarie things for the sustenance of this life may not be wanting but sold at an indifferent price yea may abound if it be possible that dearenesse and dearth afflict not the subiect For the meaner sort haue no care for the publike good but for this end vulgo vna ex republica annonae cura Tacit. The third meane is liberalitie beneficence more speciall 4 Liberality which is a bait yea an enchantment to draw to winne and captiuate the willes of men So sweet a thing is it to receiue honorable to giue In such sort that a wise man hath said That a state did better defend it selfe by good deeds than by armes This vertue is alwaies requisite but especiallie in the entrance and in a new state To whom how much and how liberalitie must be exercised hath beene said before The meanes of beneuolence haue beene wisely practised by Augustus Chap. 2. act 23. Tacit. qui militem donis populum annona cunctos dulcedine otij pellexit Authoritie is another pillar of state maiestas imperij salutis 5 Authority tutela The inuincible fortresse of a prince whereby he bringeth into reason all those that dare to contemne or make head against him Yea because of this they dare not attempt and all men desire to be in grace and fauor with him It is composed of feare and respect by which two a prince and his state is feared of all and secured To attaine this authoritie besides the prouision of things aboue named there are three meanes which must carefully be kept in the forme of commaunding By what it is acquired The first is seueritie which is better more wholsome assured durable than common lenitie and great facilitie 6 Seuerity which proceedeth first from the nature of the people which as Aristotle saith is not so well borne and bred as to be ranged into dutie and obedience by loue or shame but by force and feare of punishment and secondly from the generall corruption of the maners and contagious licentiousnes of the world which a man must not thinke to mend by mildnes and lenitie which doth rather giue aid to ill attempts It ingendreth contempt and hope of impunitie which is the plague of Common-weales and states Illecebra peccandi maxima spes Cicero impunitatis It is a fauour done to many and the whole weale-publike sometimes well to chastice some one And he must sometimes cut off a finger lest the Gangreene spread it selfe through the whole arme according to that excellent answere of a king of Thrace whom one telling that he played the mad man and not the king answered That his madnes made his subiects sound and wise Seueritie keepeth officers and magistrates in their deuoire driueth away flatterers courtiers wicked persons impudent demaunders and petytyrannies Whereas contrariwise too great facilitie openeth the gate to all these kind of people whereupon followeth an exhausting of the treasuries impunitie of the wicked impouerishing of the people as rheumes fluxes in a rheumatike diseased bodie fall vpon those parts that are weakest The goodnes of Pertinax the licentious libertie of Heliogabalus are thought to haue vndone and ruinated the Empire The seueritie of Seuerus and afterwards of Alexander did reestablish it and brought it into good estate But yet this seueritie must be with some moderation intermission and to purpose to the end that rigour towards a few might hold the whole world in feare vt poena ad paucos metus ad omnes And the more seldome punishments serue more for the reformation of a state saith an ancient writer than the more frequent This is to be vnderstood if vices gather not strength and men grow not opinatiuely obstinate in them for then he must not spare either sword or fire crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit The second is constancie which is a stayed resolution whereby the prince marching alwaies with one and the same 7 Constancy pase without altering or changing mainteineth alwaies and enforceth the obseruation of the ancient lawes and customes To change and to be readuised besides that it is an argument of inconstancie and irresolution it bringeth both to the lawes and to the soueraigne and to the state contempt and sinister opinion And this is the reason why the wiser sort do so much forbid the change and rechange of any thing in the lawes and customes though it were for the better for the change or remoue bringeth alwaies more euill and discommoditie besides the vncertaintie and the danger than the noueltie can bring good And therefore all innouators are suspected dangerous and to be chased away And there cannot be any cause or occasion strong and sufficient enough to change if it be not for a very great euident and certaine vtilitie or publike necessitie And in this case likewise he must proceed as it were stealingly sweetly and slowly by little and little and almost insensiblie leuiter lentè The third is to hold alwaies fast in the hand the sterne of the state the raines of gouernment that is to say the honour and power to commaund and to ordaine and not to trust or commit it to another referring all things to his counsell to the end that all may haue their eye vpon him and may know that all dependeth vpon him That soueraigne that loseth neuer so little of his authoritie marreth all And therefore it standeth him vpon not ouer-much to raise and make great any person Communis custodia principatus neminem vnum magnum facere And if there be alreadie any such he must Aristot draw him backe and bring him into order but yet sweetly and gently and neuer make great and high charges and offices perpetuall or for many yeares to the end a man may not get meanes to fortifie himselfe against his master as it many times falleth out Nil tam vtile quà m breuem potestatem esse Senec. quae magna sit Behold heere the iust and honest meanes in a soueraigne to maintaine with beneuolence and loue his authoritie and to 9 Against vniust authority and tyraunie make himselfe to be loued and feared altogether for the one without the other is neither secure nor reasonable And therefore we abhorre a tyrannicall authoritie and that feare that is an enemy to loue and beneuolence and is with a publike hate oderint quem metuant which the wicked seeke after abusing their power The conditions of a good prince and of a tyrant are nothing alike and easily distinguished They may be all reduced to these two points the one to keepe the lawes of God and of nature or to
take vpon it the guardianship protection of the bodie So farre should it be from seruing the bodie which is the most base vniust shamefull and burthensome seruitude that is that it should assist counsell it and be as a husband vnto it So that it oweth thereunto care not seruice It must handle it as a lord not as a tyrant nourish it not pamper it giuing it to vnderstand that it liueth not for it but that it cannot liue heere below without it This is an instruction to the workeman to know how to vse and make vse of his instruments And it is likewise no small aduantage to a man to know how to vse his bodie and to make it a fit instrument for the exercise of vertue Finallie the bodie is preserued in good estate by moderate nourishment and orderly exercise How the spirit must haue a part and beare it companie in those pleasures that belong vnto it hath been said before and shall heereafter be set downe in the vertue of temperance Touching goods and the dutie of euery man in this case there are many and diuers offices for to gather riches to keep them to husband them to employ them to yeeld vnto them all that is fit are different sciences One is wise in the one of them that in the other vnderstandeth nothing neither is it fit he should The acquisition of riches hath more parts than the rest The employment is more glorious and ambitious The preseruation and custodie which is proper to the woman is the arbour to couer them These are two extremities alike vitious to loue and affect riches to hate and reiect them By riches I vnderstand that which is more than enough and more than is needfull A wise man will do neither of both according to that wish and praier of Salomon Giue me neither riches nor pouertie but he will hold them in their place esteeming them as they are a thing of it selfe indifferent matter of good and euill and to many good things commodious The euils and miseries that follow the affecting and hating of them haue been spoken of before Now in fiue words we set downe a rule touching a mediocritie therein 1. To desire them but not to loue them sapiens non amat diuitias sed mauult As a little man and weake of bodie would willinglie be higher and stronger but this his desire is without care or paine vnto himselfe seeking that without passion which nature desireth and fortune knoweth not how to take from him 2. And much lesse to seeke them at the cost and dammage of another or by arte and bad and base meanes to the end no man should complaine or enuie his gaines 3. When they come vpon him entring at an honest gate not to reiect them but cheerfullie to accept them and to receiue them into his house not his heart into his possession not his loue as being vnworthie thereof 4. When he possesseth them to employ them honestlie and discreetlie to the good of other men that their departure may at the least be as honest as their entrance 5. If they happen to depart without leaue be lost or stollen from him that he be not sorrowfull but that he suffer them to depart with themselues without any thing of his si diuitiae effluxerint non auferent nisi semetipsas To conclude he deserueth not to be accepted of God and is vnworthie his loue and the profession of vertue that makes account of the riches of this world Aude hospes contemnere te quoque dignum singe deo Of the iustice and dutie of man towards man An aduertisment THis dutie is great and hath many parts we will reduce them to two great ones In the first we will place the generall simple and common duties required in all and euery one towards all and euery one whether in heart word or deed which are amitie faith veritie and free admonition good deeds humanitie liberalitie acknowledgement or thankfulnes In the second shall be the speciall duties required for some speciall and expresse reason and obligation betweene certaine persons as betweene a man and his wife parents and children masters and seruants princes and subiects magistrates the great and powerfull and the lesse The first part which is of the generall and common duties of all towards all and first CHAP. VII Of loue or friendship AMitie is a sacred flame kindled in our breasts first by nature and hath expressed it first heate betweene the husband 1 The description and the wife parents and children brothers and sisters and afterwards growing cold hath recouered heate by arte and the inuention of alliances companies fraternities colleges and communities But forasmuch as in all this being diuided into many parts it was weakned and mingled with other profitable pleasant considerations to the end it might restrengthen it selfe and grow more feruent it hath recollected it selfe and vnited it owne forces into a narrower roome betwixt two true friends And this is perfect amitie which is so much more feruent and spirituall than other by how much the heart is hotter than the liuer and the bloud than the vaines Amitie is the soule and life of the world more necessarie say the wise than fire and water amicitia necessitudo amici necessary it is the summe the staffe the salt of our life for without it all is darknes and there is no ioy no stay no taste of life amicitia iustitiae consors naturae vinculum ciuitatis praefidium senectutis solatium vitae humanae portus ea omnia constant discordia cadunt And we must not thinke that friendship 3 How necessary to the weale-pub is profitable and delightfull to priuat men only for it is more commodious to the weale-publike it is the true nursing mother of humane societie the preseruer of states and policies Neither is it suspected nor displeaseth any but tyrants and monsters not because they honor not it in their hearts but because they cannot be of that number for only friendship sufficeth to preserue the world And if it were euery where in force there would be no need of a law which hath not been ordained but as a help and as a second remedie for want of friendship to the end it might enforce and constraine by the authoritie thereof that which for loue and friendship should be freelie and voluntarie but howsoeuer the law taketh place farre below friendship For friendship ruleth the heart the tongue the hand the will and the effects the law cannot prouide but for that which is without This is the reason why Aristotle said That good law-makers haue euer had more care of friendship than of iustice And because the law and iustice do many times lose their credit the third remedie and least of all hath been in armes and force altogether contrarie to the former which is friendship Thus we see by degrees the three meanes of publike gouerment But loue or friendship is worth more than the
another drawes a greater trouble vpon him than he dreams of for besides the care that he takes vnto himselfe to keepe them well hee bindes himselfe to faine and to deny his owne thoughts a thing very irksome to a noble and generous heart Neuerthelesse hee that takes that charge vpon him must keepe it religiously and to the end he may do it well and play the good secretary he must be such a one by nature not by arte and obligation CHAP. IX Verity and free admonition FRee and hearty admonition is a very wholesome and excellent 1 An excellent thing medicine and the best office of amity For to wound and offend a little to profit much is to loue soundlie It is one of the principall and most profitable Euangelicall commandements Si peccauerit in te frater tuus corripe illum c. All haue sometimes need of this remedy but especially all 2 To whom profitable those that are in prosperity for it is a very hard thing to bee happie and wise together And princes who lead a life so publicke and are to furnish themselues with so many things and haue so many things hid from them cannot see nor vnderstand but by the eies and eares of another And therefore they haue great need of aduertisements otherwise they may chaunce to runne strange and hard fortunes if they be not very wise This office is vndertaken by very few There are required thereunto as the wise affirme three things iudgement or discretion 3 Rare difficult dangerous couragious libertie amitie and fidelitie These are tempered and mingled together but few there are that do it for feare of offending or want of true amitie and of those that do it few there are that know how to do it well Now if it be ill done like a medicine ill applied it woundeth without profit and produceth almost the same effect with griefe that flattery doth with pleasure To be commended and to be reprehended vnfittinglie and to small purpose is the selfe-same wound and a matter alike faultie in him that doth it Veritie how noble soeuer it be yet it hath not this priuiledge to be imployed at all houres and in all fashions A wholsome holie reprehension may be vitiouslie applied The counsels and cautions for a man well to gouerne himselfe heerein it is to be vnderstood where there is no great 4 The rules of true admonition inwardnesse familiaritie confidence or authoritie and power for in these cases there is no place for the carefull obseruation of these rules following are these 1. To obserue place and time that it be neither in times nor places of feasting and great ioy for that were as they say to trouble the feast nor of sorrow and aduersitie for that were a point of hostilitie and the way to make an end of all that is rather a fit time to succour and comfort a man Crudelis in re aduersa obiurgatio damnare est obiurgare cùm auxilio est opus King Perseus seeing himselfe thus handled by two of his familiar friends killed them both 2. Not to reprehend all faults indifferentlie not small and light offences this were to be enuious and an importunate ambitious reprehender not great and dangerous which a man of himselfe doth sufficientlie feele and feares a worse punishment to come this were to make a man thinke he lies in wait to catch him 3. Secretlie and not before witnes to the end he make him not ashamed as it hapned to a young man who was so much abashed that he was reprehended by Pythagoras that he hanged himself And Plutarch is of opinion that it was for this cause that Alexander killed his friend Clitus because he reprehended him in companie but especiallie that it be not before those whose good opinion he that is reprehended desireth to retaine and with whom he desires to continue his credit as before his wife his children his disciples 4. Out of a simple carelesse nature and freedome of heart without any particular interest or passion of the mind be it neuer so little 5. To comprehend himselfe in the same fault and to vse generall termes as We forget our selues What do we thinke of 6. To begin with commendations and to end with proffers of seruice and help this tempereth the tartnesse of correction and giues a better entertainment Such and such a thing becomes you well but not so well such and such a thing 7. To expresse the fault with better words than the nature of the offence doth require as You haue not been altogether well aduised in steed of You haue done wickedlie Receiue not this woman into your companie for she wil vndoe you in steed of Allure hir not perswade hir not to yeeld to your desires for thereby you will vndoe your selfe Enter not into dispute with such a man in steed of Quarrell not enuie not such a man 8. The admonition being ended be not presentlie gone but stay and fall into some other common and pleasant discourse CHAP. X. Of Flattery lying and dissimulation FLatterie is a very dangerous poison to euery particular person and almost the only cause of the ruine of a prince 1 Flattery a pernicious and villanous thing and the state it is worse than false witnesse which corrupteth not the Iudge but deceiueth him only causing him to giue a wicked sentence against his will and iudgement but flattery corrupteth the iudgement enchanteth the spirit and makes him vnapt to be farther instructed in the truth And if a prince be once corrupted by flattery it necessarily followeth that all that are about him if they will liue in grace and fauour must be flatterers It is therefore a thing as pernicious as truth is excellent for it is the corruption of truth It is also a villanous vice of a base beggerlie mind as foule and ill beseeming a man as impudencie a woman Vt matrona meretrici dispar erit atque discolor infido scurrae distabit amicus Flatterers are likewise compared to harlots sorcerers oyle-sellers to woolfes and another saith That a man were better fall among crowes than flatterers There are two sorts of people subiect to be flattered that is to say such as neuer want people to furnish them with this 2 Especially to two sorts of people kind of merchandize and easily suffer themselues to be taken by it that is to say princes with whom wicked men get credit thereby and women for there is nothing so proper and ordinarie to corrupt the chastitie of women than to feede and entertaine them with their owne commendations Flattery is hardlie auoided and it is a matter of difficultie to be preserued from it not only to women by reason of their 3 Hardly avoided weaknesse and their natures full of vanitie and desirous of praise and to princes because they are their kinsfolke friends principall officers whom they cannot auoid that professe this mysterie Alexander that great king and philosopher could not
penalties and punishments that the religion be neither changed troubled nor innouated This is a thing that highly redoundeth to his honour and securitie for all doe reuerence and more willingly obey and more slowly attempt or enterprise any thing against him whom they see feareth God and beleeue to be in his protection and safegard vna custodia pietas pium virum Mercur. Trism nec malus genius nec fatum deuincit Deus enim eripit eum ab omni malo And also to the good of the state for as all the wisest haue said Religion is the band and cement of humane societie The Prince ought also to be subiect and inuiolablie to obserue 2 To obserue the lawes of superiors and cause to be obserued the lawes of God and nature which are not to be dispensed with and he that infringeth them is not only accounted a tyrant but a monster Concerning the people he ought first to keepe his couenants 3 To keepe his promise and promises be it with subiects or others with whom he is interessed or hath to do This equitie is both naturall and vniuersall God himselfe keepeth his promise Moreouer the prince is the pledge and formall warrant of the law and those mutuall bargaines of his subiects He ought then aboue all to keepe his faith there being nothing more odious in a prince than breach of promise and periurie and therefore it was well said that a man ought to put it among those casuall cases if the prince do abiure or reuoke his promise and that the contrarie is not to be presumed Yea he ought to obserue those promises and bargaines of his predecessors especiallie if he be their heire or if they be for the benefit and welfare of the common-wealth Also he may relieue himselfe of his vnreasonable contracts and promises vnaduisedlie made euen as for the selfe-same causes priuat men are releeued by the benefit of the prince He ought also to remember that although he be aboue the law I meane the ciuill and humane as the Creator is aboue 4 To obserue the lawes the creature for the law is the worke of the prince and which he may change and abrogate at his pleasure it is the proper right of the soueraigntie neuerthelesse though it be in force and authoritie he ought to keepe it to liue to conuerse and iudge according vnto it and it would be a dishonor and a very euill example to contradict it and as it were falsifie it Great Augustus hauing done something against the law by his owne proper acte would needs die for griefe Lycurgus Agesilaus Seleucus haue left three notable examples in this point and to their cost Thirdly the prince oweth iustice to all his subiects and he ought to measure his puissance and power by the rule of 5 To do iustice iustice This is the proper vertue of a prince trulie royall and princelike whereof it was rightlie said by an old man to king Philip that delayed him iustice saying he had no leisure That he should then desist leaue off to be king But Demetriu sped not so well who was dispossest of his realme by his subiects for casting from a bridge into the riuer many of their petitions without answere or doing them iustice Finally the prince ought to loue cherish to be vigilant and carefull of his state as the husband of the wife the father of 6 To take care and affect the common good his children the shepheard of his flock hauing alwaies before his eies the profit and quiet of his subiects The prosperitie and welfare of the state is the end and contentment of a good prince vt respub opibus firma copijs locuples gloria ampla virtute Senec. honesta sit The prince that tieth himselfe to himselfe abuseth himselfe for he is not his owne man neither is the state his but he is the states He is a Lord not to domineere but to defend Cui non ciuium seruitus tradita sed tutela to attend to watch to the end his vigilance may secure his sleeping subiects his trauell may giue them rest his prouidence may maintaine their prosperitie his industrie may continue their delights his businesse their leisure their vacation and that all his subiects may vnderstand and know that he is as much for them as he is aboue them To be such and to discharge his dutie well he ought to demeane and carie himselfe as hath bin said at large in the second and third chapter of this booke that is to say to furnish himselfe of good counsell of treasure and sufficient strength within his state to fortifie himselfe with alliance and forraine friends to be readie and to command both in peace and war by this meanes he may be both loued and feared And to conteine all in a few words he must loue God aboue all things be aduised in his enterprises valiant in attempts faithfull and firme in his word wise in counsell carefull of his subiects helpfull to his friends terrible to his enemies pitifull to the afflicted gentle and curteous to good people seuere to the wicked and iust and vpright towards all The dutie of subiects consisteth in three points to yeeld due honor to their princes as to those that carie the image of 9 The dutie of subiects God ordeined and established by him therfore they are most wicked who detract or slaunder such were the seed of Cham and Chanaan 2. To be obedient vnder which is conteined Exod. 12. many duties as to goe to the warres to pay tributes and imposts imposed vpon them by their authoritie 3. To wish them all prosperitie and happinesse and to pray for them But the question is Whether a man ought to yeeld these 10 Whether it be lawfull to lay violēt hands vpon the person of a tyrant A double tyrant The entrāce three duties generallie to all princes if they be wicked or tyrants This controuersie cannot be decided in a word and therefore wee must distinguish The prince is a tyrant and wicked either in the entrance or execution of his gouernmēt If in the entrance that is to say that he treacherouslie inuadeth and by his owne force and powerfull authoritie gaines the soueraigntie without any right be he otherwise good or euill for this cause he ought to be accounted a tyrant without all doubt we ought to resist him either by way of iustice if there be opportunitie place or by surprise and the Grecians saith Cicero ordeined in former times rewards and honors for those that deliuered the common-wealth from seruitude and oppression Neither can it be said to be a resisting of the prince either by iustice or surprise since he is neither receiued nor acknowledged to be a prince If in the execution that is to say that his entrance be rightfull 2 In the execution three waies and iust but that he carieth himselfe imperiouslie cruellie wickedlie and according to the
common saying tyrannicallie it is then also to be distinguished for it may be so three waies and euery one requireth particular consideration The Heerof see aboue Chap. 4. in Chap. of tyrannie and rebellion one is in violating the lawes of God and nature that is to say against the religion of the countrie the commaundement of God inforcing and constraining their consciences In this case he ought not to yeeld any dutie or obedience following those diuine axiomes That we ought rather obey God than men and feare him more that commaundeth the intire man than those that haue power but ouer the least part Yet he ought not to oppose himselfe against him by violence or sinister meanes which is another extremitie but to obserue the middle way which is either to flie or suffer fugere aut pati these two remedies named by the doctrine of veritie in the like extremities 2. The other lesse euill which concerneth not the consciences but only the bodies and the goods is an abuse to subiects denying them iustice imprisoning their persons and depriuing them of their goods In the which case he ought with patience and acknowledgement of the wrath of God yeeld these three duties following honor obedience vowes and prayers and to be mindfull of three things that all power and authoritie is from God and whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God principi summum rorum indicium dij dederunt Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est bonos principes voto expetere quale scunque tolerare And Tacit. he ought not to obey a superior because he is worthie and worthilie commaundeth but because he is a superior not for that he is good but because he is true and lawfull There is great difference betweene true and good euery one ought to obey the law not because it is good and iust but simplie because it is the law 2. That God causeth an hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people though he reserue him for a day of his furie that the wicked prince is the instrument of his iustice the which we ought to indure as other euils which the heauens do send vs quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mala sic luxū auaritiam dominantium tolerare Tacit. 3. The examples of Saul Nabuchodonoser of many Emperours before Constantine and others since him as cruell tyrants as might be towards whom neuerthelesse these three duties haue been obserued by good men and enioined them by the Prophets and learned men of those daies according to the oracle of the great Doctour of truth which inferreth an obedience to them which sit in the seate of gouernment notwithstanding they oppresse vs with insupportable burthens and their gouernment be euill The third concerneth the whole state when he would change or ruinate it seeking to make it electiue hereditarie or of an Aristocracie or Democracie a Monarchie or otherwise And in this case he ought to withstand and hinder their proceedings either by way of iustice or otherwise for he is not master of the state but only a gardian and a suertie But these affaires belong not to all but to the tutours and mainteiners of the state or those that are interessed therein as Electours of electiue states or Princes apparent in hereditarie states or states generall that haue fundamentall lawes And this is the only case wherein it is lawfull to resist a tyrant And all this is said of subiects who are neuer permitted to attempt any thing against a soueraigne Prince for what cause L. Cogitationis ff de poen L. Si quis non dicam c. de sacros Eccles soeuer and the lawes say that he deserueth death who attempteth or giueth counsell and which intendeth or only thinketh it But it is honorable for a stranger yea it is most noble and heroicall in a prince by warlike means to defend a people vniustlie oppressed and to free them from tyrannie as Hercules did and afterward Dion Timoleon and Tamberlaine prince of the Tartars who ouercame Baiazeth the Turkish Emperour and besieged Constantinople These are the duties of subiects towards their liuing soueraignes 12 Examinations of Soueraignes after their death But it is a point of iustice to examine their life after they are dead This is a custome iust and very profitable which benefiteth much those nations where it is obserued and which all good Princes doe desire who haue cause to complaine that a man handleth the memorie of the wicked as well as theirs Soueraignes are companions if not masters of the lawes for seeing iustice cannot touch their liues there is reason it taketh hold of their reputation and the goods of their successours We owe reuerence and dutie equallie to all kings in respect of their dignitie and office but inward estimation and affection to their vertue We patientlie indure them though vnworthie as they are We conceale their vices for their authoritie and publike order where we liue hath neede of our common help but after they are gone there is no reason to reiect iustice and the libertie of expressing our true thoughts yea it is a very excellent and profitable example that we manifest to the posteritie faithfullie to obey a Master or Lord whose imperfections are well knowne They who for some priuat dutie commit a wicked prince to memorie do priuat iustice to the publike hurt O excellent lesson for a successour if it were well obserued CHAP. XVII The dutie of Magistrates GOod people in a common-wealth would loue better to 1 For what cause Magistrates are allowed of inioy ease of contentment which good and excellent spirits know how to giue themselues in consideration of the goods of nature and the effects of God than to vndertake publike charges were it not that they feare to be ill gouerned and by the wicked and therefore they consent to be magistrates but to hunt and follow publike charges especiallie the iudgement seat is base and vile and condemned by all good lawes yea euen of the heathen witnesse the law Iulia de ambitu vnworthie a person of honour and a man cannot better expresse his insufficiencie than by seeking for it But it is most base and vile by briberie or money to purchase them and there is no merchandize more hatefull and contemptible than it for it necessarily followeth that he which buieth in grosse selleth by retaile Whereupon the Emperour Seuerus speaking against the like inconuenience saith Lamprid. That a man can not iustly condemne him which selleth that he bought Euen as a man apparrelleth himselfe and putteth on his 2 How a magistrate ought to prepare himself before he take the charge best habit before he departeth his house to appeare in publike so before a man vndertake publike charge he ought priuately to examine himselfe to learne to rule his passions and well to settle and establish his minde A man bringeth not to the turney a raw
the fourth vertue CHAP. XXXVI Of Temperancie in generall TEmperancie is taken two waies generallie for a moderation and sweet temper in all things And so it is not a speciall 1 Temperancie two-fold Generall vertue but generall and common the seasoning sauce of all the rest and it is perpetuallie required especiallie in those affaires where there is controuersie and contestation troubles and diuisions For the preseruation thereof there is no better way than to be free from particular phantasies and opinions and simple to hold himselfe to his owne deuoire All lawfull intentions or opinions are temperate choler hatred are inferior to dutie and to iustice and serue only those that tie not themselues to their dutie by simple reason Speciallie for a bridle and rule in things pleasant delightfull 2 Speciall which tickle our senses and naturall appetites Habena voluptatis inter libidinem stuporem naturae posita cuius duae partes verecundia in fuga turpium honestas in obseruatione decori We will heere take it more at large for a rule and dutie in all prosperitie as fortitude is the rule in all aduersitie and it shall be the bridle as fortitude the spurre With these two we shall tame this brutish sauage vntoward part of our passions which is in vs and we shall carry our selues well and wisely in all fortunes accidents which is a high point of wisdome Temperancie then hath for the subiect and generall obiect thereof all prosperitie pleasant and plausible things but especiallie 3 The description of temperancie and properlie pleasure whereof it is the razor and the rule the razor to cut off strange and vitious superfluities the rule of that which is naturall and necessarie Voluptatibus imperat alias odit abigit alias dispensat ad sanum modum redigit nec vnquam ad illas propter illas venit scit optimum esse modum cupitorum non quantum velis sed quantum debeas This is the authoritie and power of reason ouer concupiscence and violent affections which carrie our willes to delights and pleasures It is the bridle of our soule and the proper instrument to cleare those boyling tempests which arise in vs by the heate and intemperancie of our bloud that the soule may be alwaies kept one and appliant vnto reason that it applie not it selfe to sensible obiects but that it rather accommodate them vnto it selfe and make them serue it By this we weane our soule from the sweet milke of the pleasures of this world and we make it capable of a more solid and soueraigne nourishment It is a rule that sweetlie accommodateth all things vnto nature to necessitie simplicitie facilitie health constancie These are things that goe willinglie together and they are the measures and bounds of wisdome as contrarily arte lust and superfluitie varietie and multiplicitie difficultie maladie and delicatenesse keepe companie together following intemperancie and follie Simplici cura constant necessaria in delitijs laboratur Ad parata nati sumus nos omnia nobis difficilia facilium fastidio fecimus CHAP. XXXVII Of Prosperitie and counsell thereupon THat prosperitie which sweetly falles vpon vs by the common course and ordinarie custome of the world or by our own wisdome and discreet cariage is farre more firme and assured and lesse enuied than that which commeth from heauen with fame and renowne beyond and against the opinion of all and the hope euen of him that receiueth these bounties Prosperitie is very dangerous whatsoeuer there is that is vaine and light in the soule of man is raised and caried with the first fauorable winde There is nothing that makes a man so much to lose and forget himselfe as great prosperitie as corne lodgeth by too great abundance and boughs ouercharged with fruit breake asunder and therefore it is necessarie that a man looke to himselfe and take heed as if he went in a slipperie place and especiallie of insolencie pride and presumption There be some that swimme in a shallow water and with the least fauour of fortune are puffed vp forget themselues become insupportable which is the true picture of follie From thence it commeth that there is not any thing more fraile and that is of lesse continuance than an ill aduised prosperitie which commonly changeth great and ioyfull occurrents into heauy and lamentable and fortune of a louing mother is turned into a cruell step-dame Now the best counsell that I can giue to a man to carrie himselfe heerein is not to esteeme too much of all sorts of prosperitie and good fortunes and in any sort not to desire them If they shall happen to come out of their good grace and fauour to receiue them willingly and cheerefully but as things strange and no way necessarie but such as without which a man may passe his life and therefore there is no reason he should make account of them or thinke himselfe the woorse or better man for them Non est tuum fortuna quod fecit tuum Qui tutam vitam agere volet ista viscata beneficia deuitet nil dignum putare quod speres Quid dignum habet fortuna quod concupiscas CHAP. XXXVIII Of Pleasure and aduice thereupon PLeasure is an apprehension and sense of that which is agreeable to nature it is a pleasant motion and tickling The description and distinction of pleasure as contrarilie griefe or sorrow is vnwelcome and vnpleasing to the senses neuerthelesse they that place it in the highest degree and make it the soueraigne good as the Epicures take it not so but for a priuation of euill and displeasure in a word Indolence According to their opinion the not hauing of any euill is the happiest estate that man can hope for in this life Nimium boni est cui nihil est mali This is as a mid-way or neutralitie betwixt pleasure taken in the first and common sense and griefe it is as sometime the bosome of Abraham was said to be betwixt paradise and the hell of the damned This is a sweete and peaceable state and setling a true constant and staied pleasure which resembleth in some sort the tranquillitie of the soule accounted by Philosophers the chiefe and soueraigne good the other first kinde of pleasure is actiue and in motion And so there should be three estates the two extreame opposites Griefe and Pleasure which are not stable nor durable and both of them sickly and that in the middle stable firme sound wherunto the Epicures gaue the name of pleasure as indeed it is in regard of griefe and sorrow making it the chiefe and soueraigne good This is that which hath so much defamed their schoole as Seneca hath ingenuously acknowledged and said that their euill was in the title and words not in the substance hauing neuer had either doctrine or life more sober temperate and enemie to wickednesse and vice than theirs And it is not altogether without reason that they called this Indolence and peaceable state
the bosome and lap of a woman or being spent about young children But is it not a goodly sight nay a great losse that he that is able for his wisdome and policie to gouerne the whole world should spend his time in the gouernment of a woman and a few children And therefore it was well answered by a great personage being sollicited to marry That he was borne to command men not a woman to counsell Kings and Princes not little children To all this a man may answere that the nature of man is 3 The answere to the aforesaid obiections Cap. 4. not capable of perfection or of any thing against which nothing may be obiected as hath elsewhere beene spoken The best and most expedient remedies that it hath are in some degree or other but sickly mingled with discommodities They are all but necessarie euils And this is the best that man could deuise for his preseruation and multiplication Some as Plato and others would more subtillie haue inuented meanes to haue auoided these thornie inconueniences but besides that they built castels in the aire that could not long continue in vse their inuentions likewise if they could haue been put in practise would not haue been without many discommodities and difficulties Man hath been the cause of them and hath himselfe brought them forth by his vice intemperancie and contrarie passions and we are not to accuse the state nor any other but man who knowes not well how to vse any thing Moreouer a man may say that by reason of these thornes and difficulties it is a schoole of vertue an apprentiship and a familiar and domesticall exercise and Socrates a doctor of wisdome did once say to such as hit him in the teeth with his wiues pettish frowardnes That he did thereby learne euen within his owne dores to be cōstant and patient euery where else and to thinke the crosses of fortune to be sweet and pleasant vnto him It is not to be denied but that he that can liue vnmaried doth best but yet for the honour of mariage a man may say that it was first instituted by God himselfe in Paradise before any other thing and that in the state of innocencie and perfection See heere foure commendations of mariage but the fourth passeth all the rest and is without replie Afterwards the Sonne of God approued it and honored it with his presence at the first miracle that he wrought and that miracle done in the fauour of that state of mariage and maried men yea he hath honored it with this priuiledge that it serueth for a figure of that great vnion of his with the Church and for that cause it is called a mysterie and great Without all doubt mariage is not a thing indifferent It is either wholly a great good or a great euill a great content or 4 Wholly good or wholly ill a great trouble a paradise or a hell It is either a sweet and pleasant way if the choice be good or a rough and dangerous march and a gauling burthensome tye if it be ill It is a bargaine where truly that is verified which is said Homo homini deus aut lupus Mariage is a worke that consisteth of many parts there must be a meeting of many qualities many considerations 5 A good mariage a rare good besides the parties maried For whatsoeuer a man say he marieth not only for himselfe his posteritie familie alliance and other meanes are of great importance and a greeuous burthen See heere the cause why so few good are found and because there are so few good found it is a token of the price and value thereof it is the condition of all great charges Royaltie is full of difficultie and few there are that exercise it well and happily And whereas we see many times that it falleth not out so luckely the reason thereof is the licentious libertie and vnbridled desire of the persons themselues and not in the state and institution of mariage and therefore it is commonly more commodious and better fitted in good simple and vulgar spirits where delicacie curiositie and idlenesse are lesse troublesome vnbridled humours and turbulent wauering minds are not fit for this state or degree Mariage is a step to wisdome a holie and inuiolable band an honorable match If the choyce be good and well ordered 6 A simple description and summary of mariage there is nothing in the world more beautifull It is a sweet societie of life full of constancie trust and an infinite number of profitable offices and mutuall obligations It is a fellowship not of loue but amitie For loue and amitie are as different as the burning sick heate of a feuer from the naturall heate of a sound bodie Mariage hath in it selfe amitie vtilitie iustice honor constancie a plaine pleasure but sound firme and more vniuersall Loue is grounded vpon pleasure only and it is more quicke piercing ardent Few mariages succeede well that haue their beginnings and progresse from beautie and amorous desires Mariage hath neede of foundations more solid and constant and we must walke more warily this boyling affection is worth nothing yea mariage hath a better conduct by a third hand Thus much is said summarily and simplie but more exactly to describe it we know that in Mariage there are two 7 A descriptiō more exact things essentiall vnto it and seeme contraries though indeed they be not that is to say an equalitie sociable and such as is betweene Peeres and an inequalitie that is to say superioritie and inferioritie The equalitie consisteth in an entire and perfect communication and communitie of all things soules wills bodies goods the fundamentall law of Mariage which in some places is extended euen to life and death in such sort that the husband being dead the wife must incontinently follow This is practised in some places by the publick lawes of the countries and many times with so ardent affection that many wiues belonging to one husband they contend and publicklie pleade for the honor to goe first to sleepe with their spouse that is their word alleaging for themselues the better to obtaine their suite and preferment heerein their good seruice that they were best beloued had the last kisse of their deceased husband and haue had children by him Et certamen habent lethi quae viua sequatur coniugium pudor est non licuisse mori Ardent victrices flammae pectora praebent Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris In other places it was obserued not by publicke lawes but priuate compacts and agreements of mariage as betwixt Marc. Antony and Cleopatra This equalitie doth likewise consist in that power which they haue in commune ouer their family whereby the wife is called the companion of her husband the mistris of the house and family as the husband the master and lord And their ioint authoritie ouer their family is compared to an Aristocracie The distinction of superioritie and inferioritie