great eyes a soft skinne colour baye and aboue all of courage maruellous fierce This horse being yet but a colt they came from Asia from Palestina from Thebes from Pentapolis and from all Greece by the meane of his fame some to sée him others to buy him and other some to praise him and set him a sale to the people for there was no person that desired not to sée him and much more to haue him And in this world as there is not a thing so perfit in whiche there is not some imperfection the destiny of this horse was so accursed for all they that bred him bought him and did ride him died miserable and infamed And for that it shall not séeme that wée speake at large and doe recounte an historie very suspicious briefly we will touche who were they that bought this horse and did possesse him and also the great misfortunes that came vnto them by the same In the yeare CCCCxiij from the foundation of Rome Quintus Cincinatus the Dictator being dead the Romanes did sende a Romane Consull into Grecia that was named Cneius Saianus a man in bloud holden famous and for gouernement in the common wealth very wise When the Consull Cneius Saianus went into Greece that horse was a Colt of thirtie monethes the which he cheapened bought and brake and was the first that did ryde him And for that this Cneius Saianus being in Rome did follow the partialitie of Octauius Augustus a yeare after hée went into Greece and not six moneths after hée had bought that horse Marcus Antonius commaunded his head to be cut off and also his body to be vnburied This maye it appeare that Cneius Saianus was the first that bought and brake this horse and also did experiment by death his vn happy destenie They named him then and from thence forwarde Saianus horse Cneius Saianus being beheadded there succéeded him in the office of Consulship a certayne Romaine named Dolabella whiche immediatly being Consull did buy that horse for an hundreth thousand Sestercios and surely if hée had knowen the euill that hée bought vnto his house I think hée would haue giuen an other hundreth thousand not to haue bought him Within a yeare after the Consull Dolabella had bought that horse there arose in the Citie of Epirus were hée was resident a popular sedition in whiche the sorowfull Dolabella was slaine and also drawen throughe the streates The Consull Dolabella being dead another Consull was desirous to buy that horse whose name was Caius Cassius a manne whome Plutarch writeth to haue borne great office in Rome and to haue done great déedes in Africa Not two yeares after the Cōsul Cassius had bought that vnhappy horse they gaue him suche herbes at his dinner that within an howre hée his wife and children lost their liues not hauing time to speake one word The Consull Caius Cassius being dead the famous Romane Marcus Antonius desired to buy that horse and hée was so pleased with the forme and shape thereof when they brought him that hée gaue as great reward to the bringer as hée paid vnto him that solde the same not twoo monethes after that Marcus Antonius had bought this horse a batell was fought at Sea betwixt him and his enemy Octauius Augustus In whiche bataill his onely beloued Cleopatra would be present to hir greate infamie and greater losse of him selfe What vnfortunate ende Marcus Antonius had and what an hastye death his Cleopatra did suffer is notorious to all men that haue reade Plutarch Marcus Antonius being dead yet still that vnfortunate horse remained aliue whiche came to the handes of a Knight of Asia who was named Nigidius and for that the horse as now was somewhat olde at that present he bought him good cheape although afterwards he cost him very deare for within one yeare after he bought him at the passage of the Riuer Marathon the horse stumbled and fell in suche wise that both master and horse were drowned and were neuer more seene These are the fiue Knightes that are throwen downe at the foote of Sayans horse to wit Saian Dolabella Cassius Marcus Antonius and Nigidius The whiche history although it bée delectable to reade on the other part it is lamentable to heare Afterwardes whē in Asia they fell in reckoning and to remēber the euill fortune that the horse had alway with him there arose amongest them a common prouerbe to saye vnto the man that was vnhappy or vnfortunate That he had ridden vpon Sayans horse The like chaunce happened when Scipio did robbe the Temples of Tolosa in France in that of all those which caried away any golde and riches to their houses none did escape but within one yeare died and all his familie and house destroyed To this daye it is a custome in France to saye vnto the man that is vnfortunate That he hath Tolouze golde in his house Laertius saith that in Athenes there was an howse where all were borne fooles and there was another house where they were all borne doltish and as by discourse of time the Senators fell into the reckoning therof they commāded that those houses shoud not bée inhabited but pulled downe Herodianus sayeth that in the Marcian field in Rome there was a Gentlemans house in whiche all the owners died sodainly And as the neighbourhod made relatiō thereof vnto the Emperour Aurelianus he did not onely commaund it to bée threwen downe but also that all the tymber shoulde be burned Solon Solonius forbiddeth in his Lawes to the Aegyptians that nothing of the dead should be sold but that all should bee parted amongst his heyres saying If the dead had any vnfortunate or vnluckie thing it should remayne in his family and kinred and should not passe vnto the common wealth Incontinent vpon the death of the infamouse Romane Princes Caligula and Nero the Senate prouided that all the riches and houshold stuffe should be burned and buried in welles fearing that in their tyrānicall goods ther might be hid some euill fortune by the couetousnesse whereof Rome might be lost and the common wealth impoysoned Sir I thought good to write all these examples and straūge chaunces not that you shoulde béeleue in Augureis but to the ende you should think that there be in this world some things so infortunate as they séeme to draw or bring with them the selfe same or other mishaps No more but that our Lord bée your protector c. A letter vnto the Duke of Alba Sir Frederique of Toledo in the whiche is entreated of infirmities and the profites of the same REnoumed and most magnificēt Lorde at the time that Palome your seruaunt came to visit me on your behalf and gaue me your letters I was in a furious feuer in suche wise that I could neither read your letter or speake a word vnto the bearer thereof After that the feuer begā to cease that I had reade your letter I vnderstood the desire you had of my
to be credited Phisick is to be praised when the Phisition is so wise that he doth heate a great repletion or heat of bloud by washing the megrim with a fume a griefe of the stomake with a sacket a heate of the liuer with an oyntment bleared eyes with colde water a constupation of the belly with a Glister and a plaine Feuer with good diet Phisicke is to be praised when I shal sée the Phisition that cureth profite more with simple medcines that nature hath created than with compoundes which Ipochras hath inuentedâ— in such wise that hauing power to cure me with cleare water he force me not to drinke stilled Endiue Medicine is to be praised when the phisition is expert that knoweth the times to be considered in a sicke man that is to wet when they haue their beginning increasing and also their declinations ordering the rule and remedie according to the disease and the estate therof trauelling to know the complexion of his pacient inquiring his estate past and iudging aforehand what may happen in time to come giuing order for the case present alwaies hauing regard to the strength and puissance of the pacient Phisick is commendable when the phisition séeth a sicke man in great perill and stricken with a doubtfull sicknes doth delite that they shal call an other vnto him and more if the pacient desire vpoÌ„ such condicioÌ„ that euery one of theÌ„ do giue themselues to studie to consult for the recouering of health not that they prepare to argue and contend The phisition that with these conditions doth vse to cure we may safely call and put our trust in him and also with our purses pay him bycause the effect of phisicke consisteth to haue ability to vnderstand the griefe and experience to minister Of nine pernicious euilles that Phisitions doe commit I Lament me vnto you Maister Doctor of many filthy Phisitions idiotes rashe and vnexpert that which hauing heard a little of Auicene or for that they haue bene resideÌ„t at Gadulupe or seruauntes to the Quéenes Doctor they transporteth mselues to the vniuersitie of Merida or else with a rescript from Rome they take degrée of Bachelers Licentiates and Doctors of whoÌ„ the olde prouerbe may iustly take place which saith Phisitions of Valence long robes and small science I complayne me vnto you Maister Doctor of many common phisitions and inexpert the whiche if they take in hand any straunge or perillous diseases after they haue purged the sorowfull patient let him bloud oynted giuen him Sirope they know not to apply any other remedie either practise any other experience but to commaunde him after supper to receiue a culesse prepared and in the mornings tisan clarifyed I complaine me vnto you maister Doctor of many yong and childish phisitions and without iudgement which to an ague that is simple ordinarie common not furious neither daungerous they make their receiptes as large and déepe froÌ„ the Apoticarie as if it were an inflamed pestilence in suche wise that it shall be lesse hurt vnto the sorowfull patient to endure the euill he possesseth than to abide the remedy that such prouide I complaine me vnto you maister Doctor of many of your companions that presume of learning and of trouth they be no fooles which doe neuer cure vs with simple medicines either doe minister vnto vs that which is plain gentle and not furious but to giue vs to vnderstand that they knowe that which others knowe not they make their receipts of things so straunge and out of vse that at the preseÌ„t they be very difficill to bee founde and afterwardes more difficult to be receyued I complayne me vnto you maister Doctor of many of your seruantes and doltish batchelers in consideration that aâ—… infirmities hauing their chreticke or determinatiue dayes going froÌ„ day to day making their course that they haue no care to consider therof and much lesse to recken on what daye the disease began either the houre wherein the accesse did firste offend to behold whether the disease goeth increasing or diminishing bycause to applie or minister a medcine in one howre or in an other there dependeth no more but the life of the man. I complaine me vnto you maister Doctor that generally all you that be Phisitions doe wish eche other euill being different in condition and contrary in opinions wherein it appeareth most cleare that some follow Ipochras some Auicen some Galen some Rasis some the Counseller some Ficine and other some none at al but their owne iudgemeÌ„t that which is most to be lamented is that all the mischief lieth not but vpon the sorrowfull patient bycause at the time you should cure him you giue your selues to disputing I complayne me vnto you maister Doctor of many phisitions that be childish in age new in office rude in iudgemeÌ„t and not well stayed in their wittes which in any experience that they haue séene read or heard be it neuer so difficult to be done or perillous to take presently they commaunde it to be perfourmed although it be not requisit but hurtful to the disease wherof ryseth many tymes that one foolish experience doth cost the sick mans life I complayne me vnto you and also of you mayster Doctor that generally all you Phisitions doe make your receites for such things as you commaunde vs to take in darke latin in blind cypherings and in termes vnused with great and large receyptes which I know not wherefore nor to to what ende you vse it for if it be euill that you commaund you ought not to doe it and if it be good let vs vnderstande it for that wée and not you must take them and also paye the Apoticarie for them The Authors iudgement of Phisick BEhold here master Doctor delicately touched not onely the commodities that good Phisitions do performe but also the great hurts that the euill Phisitions do commit And to saye the troth for my part I do beléeue it that notwithstanding my complayntes be many your faults be much more since to the cost of our liues you winne greate fame and obtayne greate wealth With the rule and Lordship of the Phisition no maÌ„ may compare for at the instant they enter our dore we do not only put theÌ„ in trust with our persons but also we part with them our substance in such wise that if the barber draw foorth three ounces from the vaine of the head they draw foorth ten from the vayne of the chest After the charitable exercise of almes giuing ther is nothing better imployed thaÌ„ that which is giuen to the Phisition that hapneth to performe hys cure on the other part there is nothing in this world so euill spent as that whiche the Phisition getteth that erreth in his cure which doth deserue not only to be vnpayde but also for the same to be well chastised It was a law much vsed and also a long time obserued amongst the Gothes that the sick man
let him liue The matter beyng searched and examined it was founde that he came to sue for his twoo fellowes that were taken sleeping in the watche which after whipping shoulde haue bin deliuered vnto the enimies And so it came to passe that the souldier escaped death his fellowes deliuered from punishment and the Emperor of clemencie obteined immortall renoune Of all which premisses me thinketh I gather vnto my selfe a safetie and protection from all iniurie bothe of worde and deede of all manner of men not vnreasonable which in this matter haue vsed but the office of messenger interpreter soliciter but to my owne payne and thy profite beeing vtterly without doubt to be requited with thy ingratitude And whereas but with suche time as was rather stretched vnto the liking of him that myght command them mete for the matter I haue not onely corrected but also performed the translation of the firste booke of the familiar Epistles of Gueuara that were not translated and further finding certaine Epistles and disputations of the sayde auctor by no man as yet translated wādring and as it might seeme taking leaue I thought it more conuenient to entertaine the same with my simple English speach thā to hazard the losse of so rare singular diuine most necessary doctrine therin cōteyned although but with my poore abilitie flatly confessing that I want both glosse hew of rare eloquence vsed in the polishing of the rest of his workes neuerthelesse most certaynely affirming that it goeth agreable vnto the author thereof For due commendations whereof for want of tyme I shall yeelde no other wordes than be conteyned in my former Preface as followeth Being furnished so fully with syncere doctrine so vnvsed eloquence so high a stile so apte similitudes so excellent discourses so conuenient examples so profounde sentences so old antiquities so ancient histories such varietie of matter so pleasant recreations so strange things alledged certaine parcelles of Scripture with such dexteritie hādled that it may hardly be discerned whether shal be greater either thy pleasure by reding or profit by following the same Like as in a most curious shop furnished with incōparable drugs most precious spices both to preserue health as also to expell most pestilent diseases euen so heerein is plentifully to be founde things not only precious to conserue but also to remedy the contagion of any estate both in peace warre As rules for Kings to rule counsellers to counsell magistrates to gouerne prelates to practise captaines to execute souldiers to performe the married to follow the prosperous to prosecute and the poore in aduersitie to be cōforted wherein he delicately toucheth with most curious sayings no lesse philosophie how to write or talke with all men in all matters at large with matter so apte so learned so merry and also so graue with instruction of behauiour with thy better with thy equal with thy friend with thy foe with thy wife seruaunte and children That for prayse and aduancement thereof wordes most certainly and also tyme may want but not matter and iust occasion to commend the same Commending the rest vnto thy good consideration and yeelding my selfe vnto thy mildnesse grace and fauour I commit thee to the liuing God to whome be prayse for euermore ¶ The familiar Epistles of Sir Antony of Gueuara Bishop of Mondonedo Preacher and Chronicler to Charles the fifth ¶ An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a Sermon at the triumphs when the French King was taken VVherin the Author doth perswade to vse his clemency in recompence of so great a victory S.C.C.R.M. SOlon Solonio cōmanded in his lawes to the Athenians that on the day they had ouercome any battayle they should offer vnto the Gods great Sacrifices and giue vnto men large rewards to the end that against other warres they might finde the Gods fauourable and men of willing mindes Plutarch sayth that when the Greekes remayned Conquerours in that renowmed battaile of Marathon they sent vnto the temple of Diana in Ephesus to offer so much Siluer that it was to be doubted whether there remayned so much more in all Greece When Camilius ouercame the Etrurians and Volsians mortall enemies to the Romaines all the women of Rome did not forget to sende to the Oracle of Apollo which stoode in Asia as much Golde and Siluer as they had in possession without reseruing any one iewell When the Consull Silla was Conquerour of the valiant King Mithridates he conceyued so great pleasure in his hart that not contented to offer to the God Mars all the spoyle gotten of the enemies he offered also a viall of his owne bloud The famous and glorious Iephthah Duke of the Hebrewes made a solempne vowe that if God gaue him victorious returne frō the warres he then had in hand he would offer in the temple both the bloud and life of his onely daughter the which vow as he promised so he accomplished Of these examples it may be gathered what and how many thanks Princes ought too giue vnto God for the triumphes victories and bounties hée giueth them for though it be in the hands of kings to begin warre it is in the hands of God only to giue victory There is nothing that moueth god to be lesse carefull for vs than the ingratitude of a good turne receiued For the good things wée receiue of men they will wée recompence or deserue them but God will that wée gratifie and not forget them Princes moste chiefly haue cause to beware they forgette not benefites receiued of GOD bycause the ingratitude of a benefite receiued maketh them incapable and vnworthy of diuine fauour in time to come The forgetfull ingrate or vnkind Prince neither God doth delight too helpe or men so serue All this haue I sayde vnto your imperial Maiestie by occasion of this great victory ye haue obtained at Pauia where your armye hath taken Fraunces the Frenche King who in his owne galleys was brought prisoner into Spayne A case so graue a newes so new a victorie so seldom heard of a fortune so accomplished is both terrible to the world and brings your Maiesty in debt which debt is to giue God thankes for the victory and to recompence the conquerours of the battayle By this it may be apparant to your Maiesty that there is nothing wherin fortune is lesse constant than in martiall affayres since the French king being present and also taken in his owne person with all the potentates of Italy did lose the battayle where dyed all the nobles of Fraunce Much shold your Maiesty erre once to thinke the victory to be gotten by your pollicy or obtayned by your power or els to haue happened by chaunce For a déede so famous an act so glorious and a case so heroicall as this is doth not fall out vnder fortune but is only giuen by diuine prouidence Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi If Dauid being a
King a Prophet a Sainct and with God so priuate vnderstoode not what to present vnto God for the good things hée had receiued what shall we doe that are miserable that vnderstand not what to say nor haue not what to giue of our selues wée are so weake and our abilitie so small our valure so little and haue so few things that if God do not giue wherwith to giue of our selues we haue not what to giue And what we haue to craue or els that he should giue is his grace to serue him and not licence to offend him In remuneration of so great victory I would not counsell your Maiesty too offer iewels as the women of Rome eyther Siluer or Gold as the Greekes eyther your owne blud as Silla neyther your childrē as Iephtha but that ye offer the inobedience and rebellion against your Maiesty by the commons of Castile For before GOD there is no Sacrifice more accepted than the pardoning of enemies The iewels that we might offer vnto God procéede from our Cofers the Gold from our Chests the bloud from our Veynes but the pardoning of iniuries from our hartes and entrayles where enuie lyeth grinding and perswading reason to dissemble and the hart to be reuenged Much more sure is it for Princes to be beloued for their clemency than to be feared for their chastisements For as Plato sayeth the man that is feared of many hath cause also too feare many Those that offended your Maiestie in those alterations paste some of them bée deade some bée banished some hidden and some be fledde Most excellent Prince it is great reason that in reward of so great victory they maye boast themselues of your pietie and not complaine of your rigor The wiues of these vnfortunate men bée poore their daughters vpon the poynt to be lost their Sonnes are Orphans their kinsfolkes blushe and are ashamed In so muche as the pitie that yée shall vse towardes a fewe redoundeth to the remedie of manie There is no estate in this worlde whiche in case of iniury is not more sure in pardoning than in reuenging for that many times it dothe happen that a man séeking occasion too bée reuenged doth vtterly destroy him selfe The enemies of Iulius Caesar did more enuie the pardoning of the Pompeyans than the killing of Pompeyus himselfe For excellencie it was written of him that he neuer forgot seruice or euer did remember iniurie Two Emperours haue bene in Rome vnlike in name and much more in maners the one was named Nero the Cruell the other Antony the Méeke The which ouernames the Romaines gaue them the one of Méeke bycause he could not but pardon the other of Cruell bicause he neuer ceased to kill A Prince although he be prodigall in play scarce in giuing vncertaine of his woorde negligent in gouernement absolute in cōmaunding dissolute in liuing disordinate in eating and not sober in drinking is termed but vicious but if he be cruel and giuen to reuenge he is named a tyrant As it is sayde by Plutarch He is not a tyrant for the goods he taketh but for the cruelties he vseth Foure Emperours haue bene of this name The first was called Charles the great the second Charles the Bohemian the third Charles the Balde the fourth Charles the grosse the fifth which is your maiestie we wishe to be called Charles the Méke in following the Emperoure Antony the Méeke which was the Prince of all the Romaine Empire best beloued And bicause Calistines would that Princes should be persuaded by few things those very good and woordes well spoken I cōclude and say that Princes with their pietie and clemencie be of God pardoned and of their subiects beloued An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a sermon on the day of Kings wherein is declared howe the name of Kings was inuented and howe the title of Emperours was first found out A matter very pleasaunt S. C. C. R. M. THis present day being the day of Kings in the house of Kings and in the presence of Kings it is not vnfitte that wée speake of Kings though Princes had rather be obeyed than counselled And seing we preache this day before him that is the Emperour of the Romains King of the Spaniards it shal be a thing very séemly also very necessary to relate here what this woorde King doth mean and from whence this name Emperor doth come to the end we may al vnderstand how they ought to gouerne vs and we to obey them As concerning this name of King it is to be vnderstood that according to the varietie of nations so did they diuersly name their Princes that is to saye Amongest the Aegyptians they were called Pharaones the Bythinians Ptolomaei the Persians Arsicides the Latines Murrani the Albans Syluij Sicilians Tyrants the Argiues Kings The fyrste king of this world the Argiues doe saye was Foroneus and the Greekes do report to bée Codor Laomor Whiche of these opinions is most true hée only knoweth that is moste high and only true Although we know not who was the first King neither who shal be the laste king of the worlde at the least we know one thing that is that al the Kings past are dead and al those that now liue shal die bicause death doth as wel cal the King in his throne as the laborer at his plow. Also it is to bée vnderstood that in olde time to be a King was no dignitie but onely an office as Maior or Ruler of a common wealth After this maner that euery yeare they did prouide for the office of King to rule as nowe they do prouide a Viceroy to gouerne Plutarke in his booke of Common wealth dothe reporte that in the beginning of the worlde all Gouernours were called tyrantes and after the people did perceiue what difference was betwéene the one and the other they did ordeyn amongst thēselues to name the euill gouernors tyrāts and the good they intituled Kings By this it may be gathered most excellent Prince that this name King is consecrated vnto persons of good deserning and that be profitable vnto the common wealth for otherwise he doth not deserue to bée called King that doth not knowe to gouern When God did establish an houshold for himself did constitute a Common Wealth in the land of the Aegyptians he would not giue thē kings to gouerne but Dukes to defend them that is to say Moses Gedeon Iephtha and Sampson This God did to deliuer them from paying of tributes and that they might be vsed as brethren not as vassals This maner of gouernment amōg the Hebrues did cōtinue vnto the time of Helie the high priest vnder whose gouernance the Israelites required a King to gouerne their cōmon welth and to lead them in their warres Then God gaue them Saul to be their King much against his will so that the last Duke of Israell was Helie and the firste king was
that Numantine warre Caius Crispus Trebellius Pindarus Rufus Venustus Eskaurus Paulus Pilos Cincinatus and Drusius nine Consuls that were very famous and Captaines of much experience These nine Consuls being slaine with an infinite number of Romanes it happened in the twelfth yere of the siege of Numantia that a Romane Captaine named Cneius Fabricius did ordaine and capitulate with the Numantins that they and the Romanes for euermore should be friendes and in perpetual confederation And in the meane time while they sent aduertisement therof to Rome they confirmed a long truce But the Romanes vnderstaÌ„ding the whole order to be greatly to the honour of the Numantins and to the perpetuall infamie of the Romanes they commaunded the Consulles throte to bée cut and to prosecute the warres Then in the yere following which was the thirtenth of the siege the Romans did sende the Consull Scipio with a newe armie to Numantia the whiche being come the first thing he did was to deliuer the Campe from all maner men that were vnprofitable and women that were leude of disposition saying that in greate armies more hurte is done with prepared vices than with determined enimies A yere and seuen monethes was Scipio at the siege of Numantia all which time he neuer gaue battaile or skirmish but only gaue order that no succour might come at them or vitayles might enter to them When a certain Captaine demaunded of Scipio why he did not skirmish with those that came foorth neither fight with them within He made answer Numantia is so fortunate the Numantins so luckie that we must rather think their fortune to come to an end than hope to ouercome them Many times the Numantins did sallie to fight wyth the new Romaines and it hapned one daye that there passed betwixt them so bloudie a skirmishe that in an other place it might be counted for a battaile And in the end the Romanes receyued suche foyle that if the fortune of Scipio had not holpen that day the name of Rome had ended in Spaine Scipio considering the Numantins to encrease in pride and the Romaines to discourage aduised to retire his campe more than a myle from the citie bicause they should giue no attempt vpon the sodaine and to auoyde by the néernesse of the place the hurts that might happen But in the end the Numantins waÌ„ting vitayles and hauing lost many of their men did ordeyn amongst themselues and did make a vowe vnto their gods no day to breake their faste but with the fleshe of Romaines neither to drinke water or wyne before they had tasted and dronken the bloud of some enimie they had slayne A monstrous thyng then to sée as it is nowe to heare that euen so the Numantins euery daye went in chase of Romanes as hunters doe in hunting Coneys and with as great apetite they did eate and drinke the flesh and bloud of enimies as if it had bin shoulders and loynes of mutton Verie greate were the hurtes that euery day the Consul Scipio receiued in the stege bicause the Numantins like most fierce beastes with Romanes bloud imbrued did not fighte as enimies but as men desperate Among the Numantines hée was holden excused that tooke any Romane alyue and muche lesse to giue him a buriall For at the houre that anye were slaine they did take hym slay him quarter him and in the shambles did waigh him In suche wise that a Romane was more being dead than alyue and raunsomed Verie manie tymes Scipio was perswaded prayed and importunated of his captaines to raise his siege and to â—…urue to Rome but hée would neuer doe it neyther could in any wise abide to heare of it for at his comming out of Rome a Nigromantik priest did aduertise him that he should not dismay neither retyre from that conquest although in the same he shoulde passe immeasurable perilles bicause the goddes had determined that ende of the fortunate Numantia shoulde be the beginning of all his glorie Howe Scipio dyd take Numantia SCipio perceiuyng the Numantins not to be ouercome by prayers neyther by armes he caused to be made in compasse of the citie a stately ditche the which was in depth seueÌ„ fadoms and in bredth fiue in such sorte that to the discomfortable Numantins neither mighte there any vitayles enter that they mighte eate neither they come out with the enimies to fighte Many times did the Consull Scipio requeste the Numantines to commende themselues to the clemencie of Rome and that they shoulde credit and giue faithe vnto his words to which thyngs they made answere that since they had liued thrée hundred and thirtie eight yeres free they would not now die slaues Great cryes did the women giue within the citie greate clamoures did the Priestes make vnto their Gods with great and loude voyces did the men exclame vpon Scipio that he should lette them out to fight as men of worthynesse and not to kill them with hunger like wretches And said more thou oh Scpio being a yong man of Rome valiant and bolde considerest not what thou dost neyther do they counsel thée what thou oughtest to doe For to kéepe vs in as thou doest is but a pollicie of warre but if thou shouldest ouercome vs in battel it shold be for thée an immorall glorie But in the ende the Numantins séeing them selues so infamously and miserably inclosed and that now their vitayles fayled them the moste strongest did ioyne themselues together and killed al the old men children and women and did take all the riches of the Citie and of the temples and heaped them vp in the market place and gaue fire to all partes of the Citie and poysoned themselues in suche wise that the Temples the houses the riches and the persons of NumaÌ„tia ended all in one day A monstrous thing it was to sée that which the Numantins did while they were aliue and a thing no lesse fearefull whiche they dydde when they were a dying Bicause they left to Scipio neyther goods to spoile neyther man or woman of whom to triumph During the tyme that Numantia was besieged no Numantin entred into prison or to any Romane was prisoner but suffered death before he consented to yelde When the Consul Scipio did sée the Citie burne and entred the same founde all the Citizens dead and burned there came ouer his heart great heauines and out of his eyes he poured out many teares and sayde O righte happie Numantia whyche the goddes willed to haue an ende but not to bée ouercome Foure hundreth threescore and syxe yeares endured the prosperitie of the Citie of Nmantia For so manye yeares had passed since the foundation thereof by Numa Pompilius vntill it was destroyed by Scipio the Affricane In those old tymes there were thrée Cities verie enemies and rebelles to Rome that is to wit Helia in Asia Carthage in Africa and Numantia in Europa the whiche thrée were vtterly destroyed but by the
they shal remember they were subiectes to our Caesar for so much as I finde in old Histories that this linage of Marshalls of Nauarre is auncient generous and valyant And for my parte I doe firmely beléeue that the Marshall had rather serue Caesar his lord than folow the French king his master The good Scipio the Affricane did vse to say that al things in the warrs ought to be assayed before the sworde be drawne And surely he did speake most truely Bicause there is not in all this world so greate a victorie as that which is obtayned withoute bloud Cicero to writing to Atticus dothe saye and affirme that the deuise that vanquisheth the enimyes with counsell is of no lesse worthynesse than he that ouercommeth by the sworde Sylla Tyberius Caligula Nero neuer could but cōmaund kill and on the other side the good Augustus Titus and Traianus coulde not but pray and pardon in suche maner that they ouercame praying as the other fighting The good Surgion oughte to cure with swéete oyntments and the good Captaine with discrete persuasions For as for yron God rather made it to eare fieldes than to kill men Plutarch dothe saye that Scipio being at the siege of Numantia when they were importunate that he should besiege the Citie and destroy the Numantins answered I had rather conserue the life of one Roman than kill all those in Numantia If these words of Scipio were wel considered of the Captains of warre peraduenture they woulde leaue to bée soo rashe in hazardyng theyr armyes in so greate and many perils Wherof doth folow oftentimes that thinking to be reuenged of their enimies they execute vengeance of their owne proper bloud All this haue I sayde noble Constable to the ende that sith Caesar hath iustified the warre of Founterabie your noblenesse of your parte should also iustifie the same And the iustification whiche you haue to make is First persuade thē before you come to besiege them bicause it doth many times happen that the prayers of a friend may doe more than the sworde of the enimie Of the good Emperoure Theodosius the historie writers recount that vntill ten dayes were past after he had besieged any Citie he did not permit his souldiours to make warre neyther to misuse the neighbors therof Saying and proclayming euery daye that those tenne dayes space hée gaue them to the ende they shoulde profite themselues by his clemency before they should make proof of his power When the greate Alexander did sée the deade bodie of Darius and Iulius Caesar the heade of Pompeius and Marcus Marcellus Syracusa burne and the good Scipio Numantia destroyed They coulde not detaine their eyes from wéeping althoughe they were mortall enimies For if the tender hearted and noble mynded reioyce of the victorie they are grieued with others spoyle Beleeue me noble Constable that pitie and clemencie doe neuer blunt the launce in tyme of warre And on the other side the Captaine that is blouddie and reuenging eyther the enimies doe kill him or else his owne doe sell hym Iulius Caesar not vndeserued shall hold the supremacie amongst the Princes of the world and not bycause hée was more fayre stronger valyanter or more fortunate than the rest but for that without comparison muche more were the enimies hée pardoned than those he ouercame or killed We doe reade of that famous Captaine Narsetes that he did subdue the Frenche ouercame the Bactrians and did conquere and gouerne the Germains and with all thys dyd neuer gyue battayle to the enimies but hée wepte in the Temples the night before The kingdome wherein the Emperour Augustus moste delighted and ioyed was that of the Mauritanes whyche is nowe called the kyngdome of Marrewcos And the reason that he gaue for this was bycause all other kingdomes he got by the sword and this kingdome he obtained by entreatance If vnto my wordes it please you to giue credite trauayle that Founterabye maye bée yéelded rather by composition than by force For that in graue and doubtefull cases firste men oughte to profite themselues with their pollicie before they make proofe of Fortune All the rest that your Lordship dothe commaunde mee I will perfourme with greate good will Whiche is to witte that I praye vnto our God for your Lordships victorie And that hée giue vnto mée of hys glorie From the towne of Victoria the .xiij. of Ianuary .1522 A letter for Sir Antonie of Cuniga Priour of Saint Iohn in the which is said that although there be in a Gentleman to bee reprehended there ought not to be cause of reproch FAmous and moste valiaunt Captayne yesterday béeyng Sainct Luces day Lopes Osorius gaue mée a letter from your woorship made at the siege of Toledo And of a truthe I didde muche reioyce therein and no lesse estéeme the same to bée written of suche a hande and sente from suche a place For in the tyme of rebellion as nowe the Knyght ought not to write from his house resting but from the Campe fightyng The Priest oughte to boaste hymselfe of his studie the husbandman of his plough and the Knyght of his launce In suche wyse that in a good common wealth the priest prayeth the husbandman ploweth the Knight fighteth He is not to be accounted a knight that is extract of noble blud in power great in iewels rich in seruāts mighty for al these things in marchauntes is many times found and also of a Iewe many tymes obtained But that whiche maketh the Knight to be a perfect gentleman is to be measured in his words liberal in giuing sober in diet honest in lyuing tender in pardoning and valiant in fightyng Notwithstanding any one be noble in bloud and mightie in possessions yet if hee bée in his talke a babbler in eating a glutton in condition ambicious in conuersation malicious in getting couetous in trauells impatient and in fightyng a coward of such we shal rather say to haue more abilitie for a carle than for a Knight vilenesse sluggishnesse nigardship maliciousnesse lying and cowardnesse did neuer take repast with knighthoode For in the good knight although there may be founde wherewith to be reprehended there ought not to be conteyned wherfore to be reproued In our age there hath bin no tyme wherin the good knight mighte better shewe his ablenesse or to what ende hee is than at this instant bicause the King is out of his kingdom the Quéene is sicke the royall Counsell is fledde the people rebell the gouerners are in Camp and all the kingdome out of quiet nowe or neuer they ought to trauaile and die to appease the kingdome and euery man to serue his king The good Knight doth now turne his gloues into gantlets Mules into horsses his buskins into greues his hattes into Helmets his doublets into Harnesse his sylke into mayle his golde into yron his hunting into fighting In such wise that the valiant knight ought not to boaste himselfe
the one that you liue onely with your own and in the other that also you take profit of other mennes 8 In the one that alwaies you remember to dye in the other that for nothing you leaue to lead an ill life 9 In the one that alwaies you occupie your self in knowledge in the other that you giue your self to be of much power 10 In the one that you impart of that you haue with the poore and friends and in the other that alwaies you keepe for deare yeares 11 In the one that you vse much silence and in the other that you presume to be very eloquent 12 In the one that you beléeue onely in Christ and in the other that you procure to haue money If you my Lord Embassador with these xy conditions wil be a Romane much good may it do you For vpon the day of accoumpt you would rather haue bin a laborer in Spaine than an Embassadour at Rome No more but that our Lord be your protector and to you and to me he giue good endings From Granado in the yeare 1525. the daye and moneth aforesaid A letter vnto the said Sir Ierome Vique in whiche is declared an Epitaph of Rome RIght magnificent Embassadour to Caesar by your letter that I haue receiued I was certified that to you was deliuered an other of mine wherein I haue vsed no curious care For vnder your good condicion there is no place for any thing to be dispraysed much lesse to be condemned Mosen Rubine aduertised me that by sléeping in an ayry place you haue bin very reumatike which I certainly béeleue hath procéeded of the great heate of the moneth of August but by my aduise you shall not vse it neither others so giue counsell for that it is lesse euill in sommer to sweate than to cough You write and also send vnto me certaine Gothicke letters that you haue foūd written in an aunciēt place in Rome whiche you can neither reade or they in Italy can declare Sir I haue very well séene considered and also reconsidered them and to him that is not acquainted with this Romish cyphringes they séeme illegible and not intelligible and that to vnderstand and read them well it were necessary that the men that bée a liue shoulde deuine or those that wrote them shoulde rise from death to life But to expound these letters no dead man shall bée raysed either am I a soothsayer or diuine I haue tyred my wittes and called to remembrance I haue ouerturned my Bookes and also haue ouerloked meruailous and many histories to see and to know who it was that did write them and wherefore they were written and in the ende as there is nothing that one man doth that another can not do or that one man knoweth and an other knoweth not your good luck wold and my great diligence that I met with that whiche you desired and I sought for And for that it shall not séeme that I speake without Booke in few wordes I will recite the history In the times of Octauius Augustus the Emperour there was in Rome a Romane Knight named Titus Annius verely a man of great experience in causes of warre and right wise in the gouernment of the common wealthe There was in Rome an office that was called Tribunus Scelerum this had the charge of all criminall causes whiche is to wit to hang to whip to banish to cut throates and to drowne in wels in such maner that the Censor did iudge the Ciuill and the Tribune the Criminall This office amongst the Romanes was of great preheminence and of no lesse confidence they neuer incommended the same but to a man of noble bloud auncient in yeares learned in the lawes in life honest and in iustice very moderate for that all these condicions did concurre in Titus Annius hée was by the Emperour Augustus in the office of Tribune named by the Senate confirmed and of the people allowed Titus Annius liued and was resident in this office xxv yeres in all whiche time hée neuer spake to man any iniurious word either did any iniustice In remuneration of his trauell and in reward of his bountie they gaue him for priuilege that hée shoulde bée buried within the walles of Rome and that hée should bury by him selfe some money and that in that sepulcher there shoulde not any other bée buried For a man to bée buried in Rome was amongst the Romanes a great preheminence the one was bycause the priests did consecrate the sepulcher and the other for that malefactors to flie vnto sepulchers were more worth than the temples But now these letters woulde saye that Titus Annius Iudge of the faultie by him in his sacred sepulcher did hide certaine money whiche is to wit ten foote off and that in the same sepulcher the Senate doth commaund that none of his heyres be buried This Titus Annius when hée died left his wife aliue that was named Cornelia whiche in the sepulcher of hir husband did set this Epitaphe The aucthors of this history are Vulpicius Valerius Trebellius And bycause the declaration of the history shall appeare more cleare let vs set the exposition ouer euery letter and these be the letters Titus Annius Tribunus Scelerum Sacro T. A. T. Sce. S. Suo Sepulcro Pecuniam Condidit Non. S. S. P. Con. N. Longe Pedes Decem. Hoc Monumentum Lon. P. X. H. M. Heres Non. Sequitur Iure Senatus H. N. S. I. S. Cornelia Dulcissima Eius Coniux Posuit Cor. D. E. Con. P. Behold here my Lord Embassador your letters expounded and not dreamed and in my iudgement this that we haue said they would say and if you be not satisfied with this interpretation let the dead expound them that did write them or those bée whiche aline that gaue them No more but that our Lord be your protector and giue vs grace that we ende in his seruice From Toledo the third of April 1526. A letter vnto the Bishop of Badaios in whiche there is declared the auncient lawes of Badaios RIght magnificent and Caesars Precor I receaued a letter from your Lordshippe with the whiche I did much reioyce my selfe before I did read it and after that I had reade it I remained no lesse offended not for that whiche you had written vnto me but for that you commaunded me and also demaunded of me If Plutarch do not deceaue vs into the chamber of Dionisius the Siracusan none did enter in the librarye of Lucullus no man sate down Marcus Aurelius with the key of his study no not with his Faustine did vse any trust and of a troth they had great reason bycause there be things of such qualitie that not only they ought not to be dealt withall neither yet to be looked vppon Aeschines the Philosopher said that for very great frendship that might be betwixt one and other he ought not to shew him all thinges in his house nor to communicate
lickt his handes fauned with his tayle helde downe hys head and couched downe vpon the ground shewing signes of old acquaintāce and that he was in his det and beholding vnto him The slaue séeing the fawnings and the curtesies that the Lion vsed with him cast himselfe downe vpon the groūd and créeping to the Lion and the Lion comming to the slaue they began one to imbrace the other and to faune as mē that had bin of old acquaintāce that had not séene in many yéeres To sée a thing so monstrous and strange at the sodain which the eyes of man had neuer séene neither in old Bookes had euer bin read the good Emperour Titus was amased and all the Romane people grewe astonied and did not presently imagine that the man and the Lion had bin of olde acquaintance and there knew ech other but that the slaue shoulde be a nigromantike and had inchaunted the Lion. And after the Lion and the slaue had played together renued their olde acquaintance and the people of Rome beholding a greate space the Emperour Titus commaunded the slaue to be cald before him the which comming to accomplish his commaundemēt the cruell Lion came after him so quiet and so gentle as if it had bin a house lamb brought vp by hand The Emperour Titus said vnto him these words tell me man what art thou of whence art thou what is thy name to whome didst thou belong what hast thou done what offence hast thou committed wherefore wast thou brought hither and cast vntoo the beastes may it happen that thou hast bred this most cruell Lion or hast thou known him by chaunce in times past wa st thou present when he was taken or hast thou deliuered him from any mortall perill perchaunce thou art a Nigromantike and hast enchaunted him I commaund thée that thou say vnto vs the truth what hath passed and deliuer vs of thys dout for I sweare vnto thée by the immortall gods this matter is so mōstrous so strange that it séemeth rather that we dreame it than behold it With a good courage with a hygh cleare voyce the slaue made aunswer to the Emperour Titus as followeth the Lion being layd at his foote and all the people in admiration Andronico recompteth by discourse all his life IT may please thée to vnderstande most victorious Caesar that I am of the countrey of Slauonia of a certayne place that is called Mantuca the which when they dyd rise and rebell against the seruice of Rome we were there al taken condemned to seruitude bondage My name is Andronico and my father was named Andronicus and also my grandfather This linage of Andronicos wer in our Countrey so noble and generous as Quintus Fabius and Marcus Marcellus be nowe in Rome But what shall I wretche do vnto fortune which do sée the sonnes of seruants there to be knightes and my selfe that was there a Gentleman in Rome become a slaue It is twentie six yeares since I was taken in my Countrey and so long agoe since I was brought vnto this Citie and also other twētie six since I was sold in the field of Mars and bought of a sawyer which when he perceyued that my armes were better giuen to handle a launce than to pull at a sawe he sold me to the Consull Dacus father to the Censor Rufus that is now aliue This Consull Dacus was sent by thy father Vespasian to a certain prouince in Affrica whiche is called Numidia as Proconsull to minister Iustice and as Captayne of the horsemen to vnderstande in causes of warre for that in verie trouth in the warres he had great experience and in gouernment muche wisedom Also great Caesar it may please thée to vnderstād that my maister the Consull Dacus ioyntely with the experience and wisedom that he had was on the other side proude in commaundemente and couetous in gathering together And these two things be brought to passe that he was yll serued in his house and abhorred in the common wealth and his principall entente was to gather money to make hym selfe riche so that although he had many offices and muche businesse he had no more in his house but my selfe and an other to do all the same in so muche I gathered and caste abroade did grynde fift and bake the breade And besides all this I dressed the meate I washed the clothes I swepte the house I dressed the cattel and also made beddes What wilt thou that I shal say more O most victorious Caesar but that his couetousnesse was so great and his pitie so little that he gaue me neither coate shoes or shirt and moreouer beside al this euery nighte he made mée to weaue two baskettes of Palmes which he made me to sell for eight Sextertios towardes his dispences And that night that I had not performed the same he gaue me nether to eate either left me vnwhipt But in the end séeing my master so continually to chide me so oft to whippe me to kéepe me so naked so to ouer worke me and so cruelly to deale with me I will confesse the troth vnto thée oh inuincible Caesar whiche is that séeing my selfe in so desperat a state and in a life so miserable I desired hym oftentimes that it mighte please him to sell me or else to giue order to kill me Eleuen yéeres continually I passed this wretched life with him without receyuing at his handes any rewarde or at his mouth any milde word And farther séeing in the Proconsul my master that euery day his anger increased and vnto me there was no trauell diminished and ioyntly with this féeling age cōming vpon me and my head to be hore mine eyes blinde my strength weake my health wanting and my hart desperat I determined with my selfs to runne away vnto the cruell deserts of Aegipt to the intent that some rauenous beast mighte eate me or that by pure hunger I might die And for that my master did not eate but what I drest him or drinke but what I broughte him wyth great suertie I might haue killed him and reuenged my selfe but that hauing more respect to the noblenesse of bloud from whence I was descended than to the seruitude that I suffered I thought it better to put my life in perill than to do treason to my noblenesse In the end my master the proconsull going to visite a certaine Countrey named Tamatha which is in the confines of Aegipt and Affrica when on a night he had supped and I saw him a bed I departed without knowing any high way but that I tooke care that the nighte might be very darke and did beholde the daye before whiche mountayne was most sharpe where I myght be most hidden and least sought for I caried with me but a payre of sandalles to weare a canuas shirt to put on a bottell of water to drinke and a little bunch of grapes to eate with whiche prouision I might haue bin
Lordship hath much may do muche deserueth much and therefore we all estéeme you very muche For me to be ignorant of the great estate of your persone of bloud so vnspotted of iudgement so delicate in letters of so great exercise and of so greate dexteritie in armes the cause were to great foolishnesse or to much lacke of wit. But let the cace rest let vs deuide all this vnkindnesse amongst vs whiche is to wit that your Lordship from hence forward deferre or put off your choler pardon Mansilla for forgetting his letter and also kind me to expound your doubts and after this maner we will giue amends to that which is past and vse silēce for the time to come Your honour demaundeth that I declare wherefore the Patriarch Abraham in the vale of Mambre and the Prophete Ezechiel neare vnto the riuer Cobar as holy scripture saith of them fell to the ground vpon their faces and contrariwise Heli the Prophet and the Iewes that tooke Christe fell backwards Your Lordship hath to consider that it is not so light or easie whiche you doubt of for if I be not deceyued it is a question that few men do moue and in a manner none dothe expound For notwithstanding I haue séene much and read much I can not remember me to haue considered or doubted neither at anytime to haue preached thereof I dare bée bold to say that by these two maners of fallings the one back wards and the other forwards do signifie two kindes of sinning For euen as to fall after the one manner or the other in the end all is falling so in like manner to sinne after the one sort or the other all is sinning Those that do fall vppon the backe and backwards we sée them haue their faces discouered and looking vp to heauen by these are to be vnderstood those which do sinne without the feare of God afterwardes haue no shame to haue sinned We sée by experience that he that falleth forwardes may helpe hym selfe to rise with hys hands with hys elbowes with his knées and with hys féete by this I woulde say that then we haue hope to come out of sinne when we shall be ashamed to haue sinned The contrary happeneth in him that falleth backwards that whych can neuer help him selfe with his handes or lift him selfe or stay with his féete By this I would say that the man that is not ashamed to be a sinner late or neuer shall we sée hym come out of sinne Plutarch and Aulus Gellius doe saye that no yong man of Rome might enter amongst the common women but wyth their faces very wel couered If ther hapned any so vnshame-fast that durst enter or come foorth discouered so openly was he chastised as if he had committed some forcible adultery It is to be noted that all those that fell forward were saints as Abraham and Ezechiel and on the contrary those that fell backwardes as Hely the priest of the temple and the Iewes that sold Christ were sinners Out of all this there may bée gathered how much and how greatly we haue to regard not only that we fall either so much as to stumble for we knowe not whether we shall fall forward as Abraham or backward as the vnfortunate Hely Considering we discend of sinners liue amongst sinners be conuersant amongst sinners and this world being in so great want of iust men we cannot deliuer our selues from all sinnes ioyntly therefore with thys let vs pray vnto the Lord that if he take away his grace that we do fall that he take not away shamefastnesse wherewith to arise Much is God offended with vs to sée how little we estéeme to sinne but he is muche more offended to sée howe slowly we remember to repent for they be very few that do leaue to sinne but at the time when they cannot more sinne Oh how many moe be they that fal backward with Hely thā forward with Abraham for if there be one that is ashamed of sinne there is an hundreth that account sinne but pastime Let euery man estéeme himselfe as he list and let euery man say what he supposeth but for my part I hold none for a greater sinner than he that accompts himselfe for very iust neyther do I conceyue for very iust but he that acknowledgeth himselfe to be a great sinner God doth well knowe what wee can do and he vnderstandeth very well the strength that we haue and thereof it is that he is not offended for that we bée not iust but bycause we doe not confesse to be sinners I returne to say that God doth not maruell that we be humane in sinning but that which doth offēd him is for that being as we are so great sinners we would well make the world beléeue that we be very iust Let the conclusiō be in this matter that they only fall backwards with Hely and with the Hebrewes that so without remorse sit downe to sinne as they would sit downe to eate and lie downe to sléepe Of that whiche I doe most maruell in this matter is that being as we are fallen into most grieuous sinnes we do so liue and go so contented as though we had receyued of God a safeconduit to be saued Behold here my Lord your letter answered Beholde youre doubt absolued Beholde here my fault excused And also behold here your choler remoued No more but that our Lorde giue you his grace and vnto me his glory From Madrid the xj of Nouember 1528. A letter vnto the Abbot of Monserrate wherein is touched the oratories that the Gentiles vsed that it is a better life to liue in Monserrate than at the Court. MOst reuerend and blessed Abbot in the eleuenth Calends of May your Monke brother Roger gaue me a letter of yours which I receyued with gladnesse and read with pleasure for that it was from your fatherhoode and brought by the hands of that graue Father Of Aurelianus the Emperour it is read that the letters which Domitius sent vnto him were so tedious that he heard them but did not answer them and the letters that the Censor Turinus sent him he himselfe did read them and with his owne hand aunswered them Of a troth there be men so tedious in their spéech and so without grace in writing that a man would rather be sicke of a feuer than heare their talke either reade their letters No man of any man ought to maruell since men be so diuers in complexion and so variable in condition that many times against our will the hart doth loue which were muche better to be abhorred and doth abhorre that which were better to be beloued I say this father Abbot to the ende you shall vnderstand that as oft as they say here is one of Monseratte my heart reioyceth to heare some newes from thēce and the eyes he quickened in readyng your letters Father you write vnto me that I aduertise you if in the olde tyme
and the Phisition betwixt them made bargayne the one to cure and the other to pay and if by chaunce he did not cure according to his promise and band in such a case the law commanded that the Phisition shoulde lose the trauell of his cure and also pay the Apoticary I assure you Master Doctor that if this lawe of the Gothes were obserued in these oure dayes that you and your companions would giue your selues more to study and would be better aduised in the things you shuld take in hand but for that you be very well payd whether the pacient be cured or not cured and if ye happen to performe the cure you attribute the glory vnto your selues but if not you lay all the fault in the poore pacient This appeareth most cleare for coÌ„monly you charge the pacient that either he is a glutton drinketh much water eateth much frute sléepes at noone doth not receyue that he is commaunded takes too much ayre or doth not endure to sweate in such wise that the sorowfull pacient which they cannot cure they do not forget to defame It séemeth not a little gracious vnto me that which your Ipochras affirmeth whiche is that the Phisition is not to be estéemed that of himselfe is not well fortunate whereof we may inferre that all our lift and health doth depende not in your medcines that you minister vnto vs but in the fortune good or bad that the Phisition holdeth He séemeth to haue small confidence in Phisicke that durst publish such a sentence for if we stay our selues by this rule of Ipochras we must flie the wise Phisition that is ill fortunate and séeke to be cured with him that is vnwise and fortunate In the yere of xviij I being sick in Osoruillo whiche is neare vnto your house of Melgar comming to visite me you sayd that I had to consider for that you had killed Sir Ladron mine Vncle Sir Beltram my Father Sir Iames my cosyn and the Lady Ynes my Sister and that if I had a mind to enter into that brotherhood you would rather vndertake to kill me than to cure me although Master Doctor you spake it in iest yet in déede it was most true for whiche cause since I heard you speake it and read that rule of Ipochras I determined in my heart neuer more to offer my pulse neither incommend my health vnto your counsell bycause in my linage of Gueuara your medcine is vnfortunate Of many famous phisitioÌ„s I haue séene performed diuers famous cures and of many foolish Phisitions I haue séene brought to passe many and great doltish follies I speak it for this cause master Doctor for in the hands of the Miller we lose but our meale in the Ferrar but our Mule in the Lawyer but our goodes in the Tayler but our garment but in the hands of the PhisitioÌ„ we lose our liues Oh how great necessitie ought he to haue how conuenient it is for him first to coÌ„sider that at his mouth hath to receyue a purgation or to consente that in his armes they let him bloud for many times it doth hapen that the sick would giue all that he hath to be deliuered of his purgation or to recouer his bloud into his arme In this whole world there be no men of more healthe than such as be of good gouernment and reck not to follow phisick for our nature craueth to be well ruled and very little to vnderstand with Phisicke The Emperour Aurelius died of the age of thréescore and sixe yeares in al which time he was neuer purged or let bloud neyther did vse Phisicke but euery yeare he entred the Bath euery moneth he did vomit euery wéeke he did forbeare to eate one day euery day dyd walke one hour The Emperour Adrian for that in his youth he was gréedy in féeding and disordered in drinking he came to bée in his age much gréeued and sickly of the goute with greate paine in the head whereby he went euer laden with Phisitions and of great experience of many medcines If any man be desirous to know the profit he found by phisick and the remedies be receyued of Phisitions he may easely vnderstand in that at the houre of his death he commaunded these words to be ingrauen vppon his tombe per â—… turba medicorum as if hée should speake more cleare mine enemies hauing no power to kill me am come to die by the hands of Phisitions They report a certain thing of the Emperour Galienus of a troth worthy to be noted and gracious in hearing whiche is that the Prince being sicke and very euill of a Sciatica a certayne famous Phisition had the cure of him which had vsed a thousaÌ„d experimeÌ„ts without any ease or profit on a certayn day the Emperour called and said vnto him take Fabatus two thousande sexter 〈◊〉 and also vnderstande that if I giue them it is not bycause it 〈…〉 hast cured me but for that thou shalte neuer more hereafter cure me To how many Phisitions might we say 〈…〉 those dayes as the Emperour Gabenus sayd vnto hys Phisition 〈◊〉 which although there be not named Fabates with greate reason we mighte tear me them Bobates for they neyther knowethe him 〈…〉 that offendeth the disease eyther 〈…〉 apply a necessary or conuenient medcine As God saiâ—… and master Doctor for my part I do firmely beléeue that it shuld be sounder counsel for vs for no cause to pay the ignorant Phisitions to the ende they shall not cure vs than for that they shoulde minister vnto vs for we â—…earely sée with our owne eyes that they kill more with their receipts froÌ„ the Apoticaries than their predecessors haue slayn fighting in the warres But this shall be the conclusion of my letter that I do accept approue praise and blesse medcine and on the other side I do curse reproue and condemne the Phisition that knoweth not to vse the same For according to that whiche youre Plinie sayeth speaking of medcine non rem antiqui damnabant sed artem As if Plinie should speake more cleare the auncient wise men and suche as banished Phisitions out of their common wealthes did not condempne medcine but the art of curing that men had inuented in the same for nature hauing layde vp the remedy of diseases in simple medcines they haue framed and shut it vp in things compound in suche wise that manye times it is lesse painefull to suffer the disease than to abyde the remedie No more but that our Lorde be youre protector and giue me grace to serue him From Madrid the xxvij of December 1525. A letter vnto Mosen Puche of Valentia wherein is touched at large how the husband with the wife and the wife with the husband ought to liue A letter for the new married YOng and new married GeÌ„tleman Mosen Puche to be married vnto the Lady Mary Gralla and the Lady Mary Gralla to be married with Mosen Puche from hence I
aunswere that they do it for pastime and to laugh and be mery to this I reply that of such iestes they vse to remaine all to be iested I aduise and readuise any Gentle woman or other Dame of Citie or towne that she do not venter with cosin or Vncle either with any other of hir kinsmen to encommend hir selfe or go alone for if to be alone with a straunger there is to be feared of that may chaunce with hir Cosin or kinsman let hir doubt what may be spoken Let no honest womā haue confidence in saying the kindred betwixt them is so neare that it is impossible that any may mistrust them for if the malice of mā wil venter to iudge the thoughts it is no credible that he will pardon that which he séeth with his eyes The Gentlewoman or others that shal heare or reade this my writing I would they shuld note this sentēce which is That to a man for that he is a man it is sufficient that hee bee good although it doth not appeare but the woman for that she is a woman it is not sufficient that she be good but that also it be manifest It is to be noted and noted againe that as the prouision of houshold dependeth onely on the husband euen so the honour of all dependeth onely of the woman In suche sorte that there is no honour within thy house longer than thy wife is honorable We do not here intitle honorable such as be onely faire of fare of gentle bloud of comely personage and a keper of goods but onely hir that is honest of life and temperat and aduised in hir spéech Plutarch reporteth that the wife of Thucides the Greeke being demaunded how she could endure the stench of hir husbandes breath aunswered As no other but my husband hath come neare mée I thought all other mens breath had bene of the very same sauor Oh example worthy to be knowne and much more to be followed which is taught vs by that most Noble Greeke that the honest woman is so muche to be aduised that she consent not the haunt of any vnhonest company so neare as to smell his mouth either so much as to touch his garments That the maried woman be not proud or cruell ALso is right worthy counsell that the wife be not cruel and ambitious but milde and suffring for they be two things that giue no small hindrance vnto a woman which is to wit hir much talke and little sufferance and thereof procéedeth that if she be silent all men do esteeme hir if she suffer hir husband she shal be very well maried Oh how vnfortunat is that man that is maried vnto a froward and a cruell woman the hill Aethna doth not whirle out fire so furiously as she throweth poyson out of hir month Without comparison muche more is the fury of a woman to be feared than the ire of a man for the angred man doth but discouer his minde but the fierce woman to scold yell and exclaime can finde no end The amused manne and the woman that presumeth of honestie ought not to contend with any other woman that is furious for at the instant that she loseth hir shamefastnes and kindleth hir choler she onely sayth not what she hath séene or hard but also what she hath dreamed It is vnto me not a litle gracious that when a woman is kindled with a furious rage neither heareth she hir selfe nor vnderstandeth others neyther doth admit excuse nor suffer worde neyther taketh counsell or cometh neare to reason And the worst of all is that many times she leaueth to quarell with whom she was first offended and spitteth hir malice against him that came to make peace When any furious woman brauleth with any man or womā and some other cōmes betwixt to make peace she will not onely afterwards geue him small thanks but also will rayse against him many quarrels Saying that if he had bene the man she thought of he would haue chidde on hir behalfe and also reuenged hir cause The woman that naturally is fierce and crabbed she neuer thinketh to be angry with out a cause neither skoldeth without reason and therfore it is muche better to leane hir than to resist hir I retourne to rectifie my saying whiche is that the house is vnfortunate where the wife is a brawler and quarellous for such a one is alwaies ready to chide and neuer to confesse hir fault The cruell brawling woman is very perillous for she causeth hir husbande to bee fierce she giueth offence vnto hir kinred she is hated of hir cosins and the neighbours flie from hir whereof followeth sometimes that hir husbande méeteth hir body with his féete and combeth hir haire with his fingers Vnto a furious brawling woman on the one side it is a pastim to heare hir chide and on the other part it is terrible to vnderstand what she will not let to speake for if a procession of people shall take in hand to aunswere hir she shall wearie thē al with a letanie of iniuries Vnto hir husbande shée saieth that he is negligent his seruants slothfull the mayds sluttish hir Sonnes glutonous hir daughters windowgazers that friendes be in grate that the enimies bée traitoures the neighboures malicious hir Gossippes enuious and aboue all the rest she sayth that no man dealeth truly with another either obserueth loyaltie with his wife I do lye if I did not sée two honorably maried separate themselues for no other occasion but for that the séely maried man was sometimes sadde at Table and other times did sigh at bed The woman sayd that hir husband had some treason against hir at the Table and for the beauty of some other that he loued hée did sigh in bed and the certaintie of the matter well knowen the troth was that the man was bound in a perillous suertiship and could not be mery but in the ende for any thing that I could intreate preach or chide I could neuer bring them agreed vntill he had sworne and giuen me his fayth not to bée sadde at the Table neither to sigh at bed The woman that is patient and suffering shall be blessed of hir husband well serued of seruants much honored of neighbours and in great reuerence with hir kinred And where it is otherwise let hir hold it for certain that they will all flie from hir house blisse them selues from hir tong When a woman is fierce proude and cruell smal delight hath hir husband that she is descended of gentle bloud of comely personage ritch of goodes and allied into his house but he curseth the day he was maried and blasphemeth the man that first moued the matter That Husbands be not rigorous chiefly when they be new maried IT is also an aceeptable counsell that the husbād be not fierce nor disorder with his wife for betwixt them there shal neuer be concord if the woman doe not learne to
of rich Merchantes they become poore Seruantes The Sonnes of Vesko Bello haue quartered their goodes as if they should haue quartered the same by iustice for the one part they haue giuen to women another to banquets another to dice and the other to wanton deuises in such wise that that which their fathers gate in Fayres they spend and consume in follies Sir also you write me to aduertise you of my iudgement of a certayne new marriage that they offer you in Villena with a woman that is rich yong fayre gentle and aboue all of good report and fame As concerning the first Sir I can say vnto you that such a marriage as this is of many desired and of few obtayned bycause there is not in this world a woman so perfect and accōplished the hath all in hir that of hir husband may be wished nothing found in hir to be remoued reiected There be some Gentlewomen the whiche if they on the one part be riche of gentle bloud yong and faire they hold on the other part a certaine ouerthwartnesse in condition and certain frowardnesse in conuersation that their husbāds hold it for lesse euill to dissemble that they sée thā to chide or grow angry for that which they féele Leauing this apart Sir you haue to consider that if she be yong you are old and if she be fayre you are hoare headed and that it is not sufficient that she doe content you but that she also of you haue very good liking for otherwise shée walking with a crooked face you shall passe with hir a very tedious life Amongst the married it is lesse euill that misliking do happen vnto the man than vnto the woman bycause the husband if he be wise can dissemble his griefe but the wife neyther can she dissemble it neyther yet kéepe silence If the wife which they giue you be rich I hold it for profitable if she be fayre I hold it for delectable if she be of gentle bloud I hold it for honorable but if she be yong I holde it for perillous bycause she shall haue wherefore to sigh to sée you so old and you shal not wāt wherfore to watch to sée hir so yong I cānot say in whether of you both I may lay the blame or rather which I may not blame you for choosing or she in accepting bycause a yong wench of twenty yeares with an old man of thréescore yeares is a life of two yeares Consider well what you doe and haue regard what you take in hande and be aduised with whome you marry for a man of so greate an age to marry with so tender yeares from henceforward I prophesy that either she shall hate you or else defame you eyther else finish or make an end of you Sir finally I say that if you will accept my counsell and escape anger and displeasure you shall kéepe your house and procure and follow your profit and if you wil néedes marry you shall marrie with the fatlings of Algezi with the lambs of Polop with the white wine of Monuiedro and with the Claret of Venicarlo the whiche shall yéelde you substance and enlarge your life No more but that I incommend my selfe to the grace of the Lady Leonora of Villa noua From Granado the xij of February Anno. 1526. A letter to the Chanon Osorius wherein is declared that we know not the things that profit or hurt vs in this life REuerende Chanon Cornelius Rufus in the late time of Omitus Cincinatus lying one night in his bed in good health dreamed that he had lost his sighte so as he was constrayned to be lead like a blind man which afterward was found true for awaking from sléepe he was so depriued of sight that he neuer after could sée either heauē or earth Phalaris the Theban being gréeuously sicke of a disease in hys lungs enterprised himselfe to enter into battell wherin he receyued a wound with a Speare and suche was his fortune that he was not only healed of the hurt which in the battel he receyued but was also discharged and cured of his former malady Mamilius Bubulus king of Hetruria receyuing in battaile a wound with an arrowe whiche entred his body vp to the feathers the same being drawen out the head thereof remayning still in hys fleshe had afterwardes by fortunes fauour this good chaunce one day going to chase in pursute of a Hart was cast downe Horse and man into a ditche out of which mishappe sprang his better lucke for by meanes of the same he voyded from him the arrow head before left and closed in his flesh and became afterwards more healthfull than euer he was before So as we may inferre by that which hath bin sayd that men full little know what is profitable or hurtfull to them sure it appeareth that Cornelius Rufus sléeping in his bed became blind Phalaris the Thebane by hurt of a speare recouered remedie of his former sicknesse and Mamilius by mishappe of a fall to receyue happie auoydance of the arrowe head whiche before lay closed in his flesh Wherefore I conclude and say that all the chaunces of this present life haue in themselues alone no more good or euill than according to their sequele and effect they bring so that if we find they haue conclusion to our liking we count them happie and good and if contrary to our desires and expectatiō they bring misfortune vnfortunate and euill which giueth me iust cause to say that we should not for any flatterie of fortune or of any good hap be proude nor yet for any hir frownings and contrary haps despaire I haue made all this recitall before to gratify your new recouered health and the departure of your sicknesse that is to say that hauing bin thrée yeares gréeuously sicke of a feuer quartan there hath hapned to your mind some so greate a griefe that the force thereof suffred to driue and beate the quartaine from your house which maketh me once twice and thrice to affirme that we know not what to require to be helping to vs bycause diuers times with greate care we séeke that we should flée and eschue and we flée from that we shuld with all diligence séeke and follow Amongst the high precepts of the diuine Plato this was one that we shuld not pray to the Gods to giue vs this or that but with importunat prayer to require that it would please them to giue vs that which stoode with deuine pleasures best to bestow and to our néede most commodious The Hebrewes being long time ruled by Iudges demaunded of God a King to gouerne them whome they might obey which God performed rather to satisfye their earnest petitiō than of any procéeding from his merciful pleasure he gaue them suche a person to their King as it had bin better for thē neuer to haue demanded or had any at all Now be it as it be may or happen what shall happen I returne agayne to reioyce
the name of Moores establed in Africa when the lawe of Mahomet was there first receyued Now resteth it to discouer vnto your Lordship wherefore this name Greate is attributed to the Turke seeing it is a title which none but he vseth other Princes being onely and simply called by the names of Kings or Emperours For better vnderstanding whereof knowe you that in the yeare 1308. when Michael Palealogos was Emperour of Constantinople and Bonifacius the 8. chiefe Byshop of Rome There sprang amōgst the Turkes a family of Othomans much fortunate famous ouer all Asia in such sort that those Turkes surnamed Othomans enlarged the limits of their rule and reuenewes of their crowne more in 200. yeares than any of their predecessors had in 800. These Othomans discended of base linage and were naturally of Prusea thrée dayes iorneys from Trapezoncia The first Prince of this nation called Othoman tooke this name vppon him at his erecting of a Castle in the cuntrey of Gallana which he did to perpetuate the memorie of the Othomans name This Othoman the first subdued many prouinces of the Kings his adioyning neighbours he wan all that which stretched from Bithynia vnto the Sea Cocsin He brought to his obedience many fortresses towardes the Sea Pontick and all the Cities standing on the Sea costs named Teutonica with the Towne of Sina aunciently named Sebastia Leauing to succeede him his only sonne named Orchanees second Emperour of the Turkes of the race of Othomans whiche conquered many prouinces from the Empyre of Palialogos but especially he obtained the countries of Lycaonia Phrygia Missina and Carye he tooke by force Prusia now called Bursia which was the abiding seate of the Kyngs of Bythynie in whiche he receyued his mortall wound in the firste yeare of the raigne of Iohn King of Fraunce To whome succeeded Amurathes his sonne who imitating the steppes of hys Father and Grandfather in passing an arme of the Sea Hellispont in Abidie to inuade the Greekes tooke Galiapolys with diuers other Townes and afterwardes suddaynely with a mightie power sette vpon the Emperor of Constantinople that nothing mistrusted him and wanne Seruia and Bulgaria but in the ende he was killed by a seruitor After Amurathes succéeded by succession two infants Solyman and Baiazeth which by treason murdred his brother Solyman whereby he alone enioyed the Empire of Turkie and to reuenge the murdering of his father hée attempted sharpe warres agaynst Marke the Lorde of Bulgaria whome he vanquished and flewe and subdued a greate parte more of his country Shortly after he ouercame the prouinces of Hungaria Albania and Valachia and there committing many spoyles and dammages he tooke diuers christian prisoners which he ledde in miserable captiuitie into Thracia to whiche Baiazeth succéeded in right of inheritance two infants one named Mahomet and the other Orchanees which by his vnnatural brother Mahomet was depriued of lyfe so as the gouernment of the Empire was wholly in Mahomet who by might conquered the Valachians and layde vpon them a gréeuous tribute after hée inuaded the Satrapes of Asia and recouered all the countries whiche the greate Tamberlens souldiers before had taken hée chased his owne kynred and aliaunce from Galacie Pontus Capadocia not sparing nor once pitying any noble personages or princes of his own bloud He alwaies kept himselfe in Drinople the Metropolike Citie of Thracia there placing his imperiall seate from thence exiling such Christians as were remayning and inhabiting there in the seuentéenth yeare of his Empire To this Mahomet succéeded his sonne called Amurathes hée ordayned first the Ianissayres runnagate christians to defend his person by whose valiancie hée togither with his successors haue subdued the East With force he inuaded Hungaria Bosina Albania Vallachia and Grecia he toke Thessalonia from the Venetians he obtayned victorie against Laodislaus king of Polonia against the Cardinall Iulian and against Huniades When Amurathes was deade his sonne named Mahomet succéeded in his place whiche with homicide entred his gouernement for bycause his father shoulde not be buryed alone hée slewe his yoonger broother to kéepe companie with his deade father This wicked Prince beleeued in no God hée affirmed Mahomet a false Prophete like vnto himselfe Hée also scorned all Saintes Patriarches and Prophetes This Mahomet was of hearte lyke Alexander the greate in good fortune a Cesar in trauell a Haniball in Iustice a Traian in vyces a Lucullus and in cruelties a seconde Nero. Hée was of greate courage well fauoured euyll coloured friend to Iustice and hyghly delyghted in martiall affayres Hée was in féeding a glutton and in the actes of Venus much impacient To hunting an enimie and to Musicke no friend Hée delyghted to exercyse him selfe sometymes with feates of armes and sometymes in reading histories This Mahomet conquered from the Christians the Empire of Constantinople and Trapezonda Hée wanne twoo hundred townes and twelue Realmes that is to saye Pontus Bythinia Capadocia Pamphilia Licia Sicilia Papblagonia Acbaria Lydia Phrygia Hellespont and Morea Hée also wanne the Segniories of Achaia Carcania and Epyrus and all the Fortes and Cities néere the ryuer Randabelo Hée likewyse obtayned a greate parte of Macedonia and of the Prouince of Bulgaria togyther with the lande of Roscia and the mountaynes Serbye euen to the lake Nicomante Moreouer bée conquered all the Cities Prouinces and Fortresses that were betwéene Andrinopolis and the famous ryuer Danubia and Balaquian also the Isle Mitilene and the foresayde Bosina These and muche more did this miscreaunt Mahomet vanquishe and subdue And yet notwithstanding as Historiographers reporte hée woulde amongest his wayghtie affayres consume muche tyme in abhominable vyces This was hée whiche firste acquyred to himselfe the glorious tytle and name of Greate Turke and Emperour of all the house and race of Othomans whose predecessoures before his tyme were alwayes intytuled Kings or Turkes He raygned thirtie twoo yeares and dyed of the Collicke foure dayes after hée syckened in the yeare of our sauiour Christ 1492. In whiche yeare of this Tirantes deathe was the Citie of Granado taken by the King Don Ferdinando To this Mahomet succéeded in Empyre and name of Greate Turke a seconde Baiazeth who in his Fathers lyfe by procurement of the Ianissayres and in the hope of theyr ayde purposed to vsurpe the state and Empyre to himselfe And as the father béeyng nowe verie olde coulde yéelde no remedie nor reuenge to his disloyall sonne dyed for thought so was his life whiche by enimies coulde not bée taken awaye loste by the enuyes of his children Now if your Lordshippe desire more amplie to reade the wryters of this historie I will when it please you bring them vnto you From Tolledo the .7 of Ianuarie 1533. A letter to Don Frances of Villoa expounding certayne straunge and auncient Epitaphes MAgnificent and curious Knyght for answere to the letter whiche Peter de Heredia maister of youre house deliuered mée at Carsares the 15. of
the rest The conditions of a good king Princes ought so to recreate themselues that thereof ryse none offence Princes ought to limite their recreations In the auncient times yron was vsed in coyne It is to be noted that all lawes are reduced from three lawes Seuen maner of auncient lawes Lawes onely for Romane Senators The lawes for warre they vsed in Rome The first that made lawes for warres The procurer of the people was most priuiledged in Rome We receiue liberalitie from the Prince when he commaundeth to serue Note the great vertues of the Philosopher Licurgus Of him that brought vp one dog fat in idlenesse and in the house the other in the field To be good it doth much profite to be well brought vp A notable proclamation daily made A right worthy search Bathes and oyntmēts forbidden The authoritie of old men The disobedient sonne both chastised and disinherited A friend by fraternitie New inuentiō and the inuentors banished An honour vsed to the dead that valiantly died in the warres Gentlemen may commen but not cōtend For what causes a Gentleman may be inflamed with choler Helia is nowe Ierusalē and Byzantio is Constantinople Numantia was named of Numa Pompilius The Numantins in the warres did rather die than flee Rome was enuious of the fortune of Numantia Nine Consulles were slaine at the siege of Numantia The good Captaine ought rather loose his life than make an infamous truce In the warres vice doth more hurt thā the enimies The Numātines did eate the fleshe of the Romains To fight with a desparate man is no small perill The noble minded had rather die free than lyue a slaue The Numantines did kill their wiues and children No Numantine taken prisoner The continuance of the prosperitie of Numantia In the warres it importeth dot to write with an euill pen. More is spent to maynteyne opinion than to defende reason No excuse may excuse the losse of a battayle A iust warre is loste by an vniust captaine An euill lyfe doth come to make repayment in one day The more noble victorie is that which is obtayned by counsel thā by the sword Iron was made to eare fields and not to kill men We ought rather to make tryall by perswasion than by sworde The bloudie Captain doth finishe his days with an euill ende Iulius Cesar pardoned more enimies than he kilde It is more loued that is obteyned by request than by the sworde In tyme of warre it besemeth not a knighte to write from his house Note the right conditions of a right gētleman Is a gentleman a fault is tolerable if it be not vile The good knight hath in possessiō more armour than bookes Iudas Machabeus had rather lose his his lyfe than his fame To cōmaund many wil cost muche Note the wordes of a valiant captain To demaunde how many not where the enimies be is a signe of fear Words wordthy to be engraued on his tombe Of more value is the noble mynded expert captain than a greate armie Who was the valiāt Viriato captain of Spayne Viriato was inuincible in the warres Fewe vices are sufficiente to darken many victories Note what is due betwixte friendes Ingratitude seldom or neuer pardoned The grace that is giuen in preaching is seldome giuen in writing The hearte is more moued hearing the word of God than by reading The old lawe gaue punishment to the euill but no glorie to the good Vntill Christ none proclaymed rest For what cause Christe saide my yoke is sweete and my burden is light The propertie of a faithfull louer Perfect loue endureth all trauell Christ did not commaund vs to doe that whiche he did not first experimēt himself The worlde doth more chastise than pardon but in the house of God more pardoned than chastised In all the lawes of the world vices be permitted Christes lawes excepted The Lawe of christ is sharp vnto the wicked but easie and light to the vertuouse Daughters are to be married before they grow old The Ipineās did write the date of their letters with the superscriptiō With what paper they were wont to write Note the inck of old time Famouse eloquence of the Auctor in a base matter Notable exāples of cōtinēcie in Princes Catiline a tyrant of Rome It ought not to be written that cannot be written The inuētion of the A.B.C. The rentes of great Lords ought to be agreeable to their titles Gamsters at dice play them selues to nothing Postes in old time made great speede Euill newes neuer cōmeth to late The auctor reporteth of his linage of Gueuara To descend of a noble bloud prouoketh to be vertuous The auncient and noble Linages in Rome were much esteemed In Rome they bare no office that descended of traitours The properties of a man born of a good linage A note of the Giants of the old time The differēce betwixt the great and litle men Of a little Frier of the Abbay of Guysando Little thinges giue more offence than profite A sise is obserued in nothing but in sermōs More grauitie is required in writing thā in talking Note the breuitie of ancient writing Twoo Romane Captaines would two manner of warres The warres against Numantia was vmust The nature of warres that is to be holden iust Warres betwixt christiās dependeth of the secretes God. Eight condicions meete to be performed by a captaine generall of the warres The good knight ought to imitate his good predecessors He is not to be intituled a knight that is rich but vertuous In the talke of warres not that I haue heard but that I haue scene is most commendable for a gentleman The armes of a knight are giuen him to fight and not to behold Age and abilitie be mothers of good counsell The generous and noble mind dothe more feare to flie than to abide In soden perils it needeth not to vse lōg and delayed counsels A fort ought to be the sepulchre of the defendant If many be married they are not fewe that be repentant No married man may liue without trauell That man is miserable that is maried vnto a foolish woman Worship is not blemished by answering of a letter A Prince did write vnto a bitmaker A noble Romane did write vnto a plough man. No man is so euill in whom there is not somwhat to be praysed Negligence presumptiō be two things that loseth friends Euill nurture is hurtfull in all estates Where is money there is dispatch God doth many times bring things to passe rather by the weake thā by the strong Amongst .xij. sonnes the yongest was most excellent To lacke friends is perillous And some friends be tedious We ought rather to bewaile the life of the wicked than the death of the iust A man is to be knowne but not to be vnderstood The battell of Rauenna for euermore shall be renoumed Lesse in the warres than many other thing we haue to beleue fortune With great eloquence the aucthor declareth the nature of