be heard He that honoureth his father shall haue a long life and he that is obedient to the Lord shall comfort his mother He that feareth the Lord honoreth his parents and doth seruice vnto his parents as vnto Lordes Honor thy father and mother in deeds and in word and in all patience that thou mayest haue the blessing of God and that his blessing may abide with thee in the ende For the blessing of the father establisheth the houses of the children the mothers curse rooteth out the foundations Helpe thy father in his age and grieue him not as long as he liueth And if his vnderstanding faile haue patience with him and despise him not when thou art in thy full strength For the good intreatie of thy father shall not be forgotten but it shall be a fortresse for thee against sinnes In the day of trouble thou shalt he remembred thy sinnes also shall melt away as the ice in faire weather He that for saketh his father shall come to shame and he that angreth his mother is cursed of God By these holy speeches we see how we ought to loue honor reuerence and feare our parents This is comprehended vnder the first commandement of the second table and this only of all the ten articles of the Decalogue beareth his reward with him albeit no recompence is due to him that is bound to do any thing namely by so strȧight a bond as this wherof all lawes both diuine and humane are full and the law of nature also doth plentifully instruct vs therein as it hath been diligently obserued of very Infidels Ethnikes and Pagans Amongst the Lacedemonians this custome tooke place that the younger sort rose vp from their seates before the aged Whereof when one asked the cause of Teleucrus It is quoth hee to the ende that in dooing this honour to whom it belongeth not they should learne to yeeld greater honour to their parents The arrogancie of a childe was the cause that one of the Ephories published the law of Testaments whereby it was permitted to euery one from that time forward to appoint whom he would his heire This lawe serued well to make children obedient and seruiceable to their parents and to cause them to be afraid of displeasing them Among the Romanes the child was not admitted to plead his fathers will after his death by way of action but onely by way of request vsing very humble honourable and reuerent speech of his dead father and leauing the whole matter to the discretion and religion of the Iudges Contend not with thy father said Pittacus the wise although thou hast iust cause of complaint And therefore Teleucrus aunswered aptly to one who complained vnto him that his father alwayes spake ill of him If quoth he there were no cause to speake ill of thee he would not do it So that it belongeth to the duetie of a childe to beleeue that his father hath alwayes right and that age and experience hath indued him with greater knowledge of that which is good than they haue that are of yoonger yeeres Philelphus said that although we could not possibly render the like good turnes to our parents nor satisfie those obligations by which we stand bound vnto them yet we must doe the best we can vnto them we must intreate them curteously and louingly and not go farre from them we must harken vnto their instructions and be obedient to their commaundementes wee must not gaine-say their deliberations and wils no more than the will of God whether it be that we are to depart from them or to tary still or to enter into some calling agreeable to the will of God we must not stand in contention with them wheÌ„ they are angry but suffer and beare patiently if they threaten or correct vs. And if they be offended with vs when we thinke there is no cause why yet we must not lay vs down to rest before we haue by all kind of honest submissions appeased them Humilitie is always commendable but especially towards our parents The more we abase our selues before them the more we encrease in glory and honor before God and men This is very badly put in vre at this day when the sonne doth not onely not honor his father but euen dishonoreth him and is ashamed of him He is so farre from louing him that he rather hateth him so farre from fearing him that contrarywise he mocketh and contemneth him and in stead of seruing and obeying him he riseth vp and conspireth against him If he be angry he laboureth to anger him more brieflie scarce any dutie of a child towards his father is seene now a daies And if some point therof be found in any towards his father yet is it cleane put out in regard of the mother as if he that commanded vs to honour our father did not presently say and thy mother vnto whoÌ„ in truth we owe no lesse honor respect and obedience than to our father as well in regard of the commaundement of God as of the vnspeakable paines and trauell which she suffered in bearing and bringing vs into the world in giuing vs sucke in nourishing vs. But alas what shall we say of those that spoile their parents of their goods houses and commodities and desire nothing more than their death that they may freely enioy euen that which oftentimes their parents haue purchased for them O execrable impietie It is vnwoorthy to be once thought vpon amongst vs the iudgement of God doth of it selfe sufficiently appeere vpon such cursed children Whose behauiour that it may be more odious vnto vs let vs learn of Pittacus that our children will be such towards vs as we haue been towards our parents But let vs be more afraid to prouoke our fathers in such sort through our default vnto wrath that in stead of blessing vs they fall to curse vs. For as Plato saith there is no prayer which God heareth more willingly than that of the father for the children And therfore special regard is to be had vnto the cursings and blessings which fathers lay vpon their childreÌ„ Which was the cause as the scripture teacheth vs that children in old time were so iealous one of another who should â—ary away the fathers blessing and that they stoode in greater feare of their curse than of death it selfe Torquatus the yonger being banished from his fathers house slue himselfe for grief thereof And to alleage another example out of the writings of auncient men of the loue which they bare to their fathers that of Antigonus the second sonne of Demetrius is most woorthy to be noted For when his father beyng prisoner sent him worde by one of his acquaintaunce to giue no credite nor to make account of any letters from him if it so fell out that Seleucus whose prisoner he was should compell him thereunto and therefore that he should not deliuer vp any of those
little and little may growe and waxe ripe with age and hauing once taken roote may abide stedfast and firme to his liues ende For there is no time better and fitter to frame and to correct a prince in than when he knowes not that he is a prince For if he learne to obey from his infancie when hee commeth to the degree of commaunding he applieth and behaueth himselfe a great deale better with his subiectes than they that from their youth haue been alwayes free and exempted from subiection For by such education or bringing vp a Prince addeth to his royall greatnesse and to those fashions which great men haue by nature curtesie and gentle behauiour which cannot but bee very acceptable to his people and containe them more willingly in their duetie of obedience Therefore the prince in his yong and tender yeeres must bee diligently imployed not onely in with-drawing him from dishonest things but also in causing him to taste of vertue and to haue some preceptes thereof ingrauen in his brayne vntill in the ende he vnderstand all that belongeth to his duetie and whatsoeuer else may helpe him forward to leade a good and happie life If wise fathers with great care bring vp and instruct their children who shall succeed them but in the gouernment of some litle house in the countrey how much greater care and labor ought to be taken in teaching him well wisely who is to succeed in the Empire ouer much people and whose life ought to be the discipline of their maners conditiōs For this cause a good prudent prince must take pains in causing his children to be brought vp that he remember he hath begotten them for the Common-wealth not to serue his priuate affections Let him knowe that although he erect a great number of images builde sumptuous houses establish good and holesome Ordinaunces yet hee cannot leaue a more excellent marke of his than a sonne who degenerating in nothing representeth the goodnesse of his father by vertuous actions For he dieth not that leaueth behinde him a liuely image of himselfe And truely it is the perfection of an excellent prince to rule in such sorte as if hee would striue that his like for goodnesse and iustice coulde not succeed him and so to bring vp his children as if hee desired that they shoulde surmount him in vertue To this ende therefore let him make choice of all his subiectes yea from what place so euer and gather together vertuous and sincere men vncorrupted graue and such as are learned not onely through preceptes but also through the experience of manye thinges to whome their age breedeth reuerence their good lyfe authoritie and their mildenesse and gentle behauiour loue and good-will that the tender spirite of the yong prince offended with the rough dealyng of his teachers may not beginne to hate vertue before he know it nor yet corrupted through their ouer-great gentlenesse degenerate and starte aside where it ought not Wherefore Seneca sayde that a Prince his teacher must haue these two properties Hee must know how to chide without shaming of him and howe to prayse hym without flatterie Moreouer great care must bee had in making choice of all such persones whether they are men women children or seruauntes as come neere about him eyther to gouerne or to serue him or to keepe him companie For seeing the most part of mens mindes incline to euill and no childe is so happily borne but hee may bee corrupted through wicked education what may a man looke for but verie great euils from that Prince who of what nature and spirite soeuer he be presently after he is out of his cradle is stuffed with foolish and false opinions nourished among fonde women brought vp in the middest of lasciuious maidens of lost children vile and abiect flatterers of iuglers and plaiers of drunkards of dice-plaiers and inuenters of pleasures briefly in the midst of such caitifes amongst whom he heareth and learneth nothing but pleasure delight pride arrogancie couetousnesse choler and tirannie and so departing from this schoole takes vnto him the scepter and gouernment of his Empire Now he that is elected and chosen to vndertake such a great and difficult charge as is the education and instruction of the prince must bring with him a will woorthie the same considering with himselfe not how many benefices and bishoprikes he may get into his hands but how he may deliuer vp a vertuous prince vnto his countrey which putteth all hir trust and confidence in him Let him know that they do good to all the people who make them good mē whom the people cannot want as contrarywise they that marre and corrupt princes and kings ought to be an abomination to all men and punished no lesse than they that put poison not into a cup but into a common fountaine of which they see euery bodie drinke First then he that hath taken this charge vpō him must narowly note whereunto the nature of the prince is inclined seeing it may be knowen by some signes euen in his yong yeeres as whether he be not giuen to anger to ambition to desire of renowne to riot to play to couetousnes to reuenge to war or to tiranny After when he knoweth to what vice he is enclined he must fortifie his mind against the same with good opinions and with holie resolutions and labor to change his hart which is yet tender into a habite that is contrary to his nature And when he perceiueth that his tender nature inclineth to honest and commendable things or to such vices as will easilie change into vertues in princes well brought vp as to ambition and prodigalitie he must pricke him forward and helpe his good nature by diligent trauel Neither must he vse precepts onely to withdraw the prince from dishonest things to procure in him a longing desire to doe those things that are vertuous but he must labor to imprint and to roote them in his memory by diuers formes now by sentences another while by fables after by comparisons then by examples or by some notable sayings ingrauen in rings and painted in tables Briefly if there be any other thing wherein this age taketh pleasure let that be a meane to worke in him a taste of vertue Aboue al things speciall regard is to be had what opinions are ingrauen in the prince his braine For the whole order of his life proceedeth from that fountaine And therfore he must labor immediately to imprint in his mind holy and good opinions which may serue for a counter-poison against the cōmon errors of the ignorant people but chiefly to instruct him throughly in gods truth in that which concerneth his saluation He must perswade him that whatsoeuer is taught in the law of God belongeth to none so much as to the prince and that as he is to raign by him so likewise it belongeth to his office to raigne
shun the other Vnto profit we referre riches to honor magistracie publike offices charges to losse pouertie to dishonor coÌ„tinual iniurie contempt such like means Which things although they are reckoned among the motiues or efficient causes of seditions so farre foorth as they prouoke men to stirre vp seditions yet they may bee endes also bicause men conspire togither either to obtaine or to eschew them Thereore let vs handle the causes which mooue the people to murmure and lead them from priuate and secret grudging to publike and open sedition from which the changes alterations and finall ruines of estates and monarchies proceed The couetousnes of magistrates and gouernors seemeth to be a chief cause therof when they lay vpon their subiects great exactions taxes loanes and other intollerable subsides whereby their patience is oftentimes turned into furie and their hartes set vpon reuolting are driuen forward to imitate them that forsooke Roboam for the same cause as the scripture rehearseth But forasmuch as all ciuill societie is appointed to the end that men might keep their goods safely vnder the protection and guiding of good gouernors they that beare chief rule in estates ought especially to prouide that not onely publike goods may be distributed and imploied according to common necessitie and profit but also that euery mans priuate goods may be in safetiâ— Publike goods are the reuenues of Seignories kingdoms and empires demeans taxes tributes confiscations exchetes subsidies graunts and impositions brought in for the supply of publike necessitie A man may say that couetousnes which is a wrongfull desire of another mans goods is committed in these publike reuenues wheÌ„ the mony that commeth of them is conuerted rather to priuate than to publike vse by those that haue the disposing therof which fault the Romans called peculatus and the iudgement giuen against it Repetundarum Now wheÌ„ such goods are wasted vnprofitably or superfluously princes magistrates vse to lay immoderate and strange exactions vpon their subiects Couetousnes also is vsed in priuate goods when the poorer or weaker sort are spoiled of their owne by the mightier The people will hardly beare this kind of vsurping when they consider that they are tormeÌ„ted by those that should defend them this dealing is subiect to restitution before God Histories are ful of changes seditions and destructions of commoÌ„-wealths arising of these causes of couetousnes wherof we haue alleaged many examples in our discourses Vnder Charles the 6. king of France great seditions and robberies were practised by the Parisians by reason of imposts and subsidies that were leuied of the subiects The occasion of these commotions was bicause the farmers exacted a halfpeny of a poore woman that sold Water cressets The couetousnes briberie and polling vsed by the lords nobles of Switzerland caused the common people to fall to mutinie and to deliuer theÌ„selues out of their slauery bondage by horrible massacres which they made of them Vnder Ioel and Abiah the sonnes of Samuel iudges ouer the Israelites the people oppressed through their couetousnes asked a king wherupon the estate of their gouernment was changed The second cause that breedeth the alteration ruine of Common-wealths is ambition or desire of honor which then especially mooueth men to murmure when the vnworthy are aduanced preferred before men of desert Honor is the only reward of vertue that which is more esteemed of euery loftie noble hart than all worldly goods Therfore it is meet that in the distribution of publike charges rewards and honors regard be had to the qualitie merite and sufficiencie of men that they may be giuen to woorthy persons and that such as are vnfit may be put backe Let vertue only diligence open the gates of honor and not mony or fauor We saw before many examples of the fruits of ambition we taste daily of some that are very bitter The third cause that changeth and ouer-turneth estates monarchies is iniurie which hapneth when they that are highest in authoritie through too much insoleÌ„cie pride offer wrong to the honor or person of their inferiors A kingdom saith the wife man is translated froÌ„ one nation to another through the iniustice iniuries contumelies offred by superiors Cyrus the great reuolted froÌ„ his grandfather Astyages ouercame him in battell translated the monarchie of the Medes vnto the PersiaÌ„s bicause of that iniurie which he offered vnto him in casting him out into the fields as soone as he was borne Coriolanus being vniustly banished his countrey tooke armes conquered a great part of the Romane dominion and burned all to the gates of Rome bringing their estate to such an extremitie that it was readie to be destroyed had not the women come towards him to pacifie him Childeric king of Fraunce caused Bodilus to be whipped with rods wherupon he slew him aâ—d his wife great with child Iustine the third emperour was slayne by Atelius generall of his armie whose sonne he had murdred and abused his wife to despite him there-with Feare also is many times the cause of alteration and daunger to a Common-wealth when guiltie and conuicted persones mooue sedition and rebell against the Magistrates to preuent and auoyd the punishment that is due to their faultes Catiline vrged with the consideration of his manifold wicked prankes and with the feare of iudgement conspired against his countrey beyng assisted by Lentulus Cethegus with many sacrilegious persones murderers adulterers bankrupts and other naughtie liuers that stoode in feare of iustice by reason of their misbehauiour Neither may any man doubt but wicked men will rather trouble the estate than stand in daunger of their liues or hazard their goodes For besides the assuraunce which they haue conceiued to escape the iudgement of men by this meanes they haue this further aduauntage to fish in troubled waters so that they are no lesse afrayd of peace than of the plague hauing in all euentes the same resolution before their eyes that Catiline had who sayd that he could not quench the fire begun in his house with water and therefore would pull it downe and so quench it This was one reason that mooued Caesar to lay hold of the estate bicause his enimies threatned that as soone as he was out of his offices they would cause him to giue an accouÌ„t how he had discharged theÌ„ I would to god we had not bought as deerly the same causes of our ciuil warres Likewise too much authoritie and power both for wealth friendship is dangerous in euery kinde of gouernment so that great heede is to be taken that none grow to be vnmeasurable great For men are subiect to corruption neither can euery one sustaine wisely the prosperitie of fortune which causeth some to seeke the alteration of popular and Aristocraticall Common-wealths into monarchies others
those that are vnwoorthie of them to commit many follies Amongst which we may note superfluitie for a verie pernitious vice hauing this propertie in it to draw the wils of men secretly to induce them to couet delights Wherunto after they haue once addicted themselues they busie their mindes with nothing but to make prouision of friuolous exquisite and sumptuous things taking smal care yea forgetting easily those things that are profitable and necessarie whereof afterwards they perceiue themselues to stand in great need Now the end of all superfluities wherein men plung themselues after diuers manners is pleasure which chiefly and for the most part they seeke in such a riotous and delicate life as causeth the bodie without labor to enioy all his desires lustes and delights or else in the fruition of worldlie glorie wherein through vnprofitable and superfluous expences they striue to excell or at leastwise to match those that are greater than themselues Concerning the marke whereat they aime there is nothing more hurtfull to man than pleasure and delight which as Plato saith serueth for a baite and allurement to draw him to commit wickednes as hereafter we may discourse in more ample manner thereof as also of that luxurious life whose desire and contentation is in whoredome And that I may begin to handle the other two general points wherein they that are giuen to superfluitie and costlines seeke delight namely the delicate life and curiositie of expences let vs consider of the fruites that issue and proceed from them First when men suffer themselues to be ouertaken with the Epicures doctrine and appeere so carefull to serue their bellie nourishing it in excesse daintines gluttonie and dronkennes is it not from this headspring from whence diseases and euill dispositions of the bodie proceed We are sicke saith Plutark of those things wherewith we liue neither is there any proper and peculiar seed of diseases but the corruption of those things within vs which we eate and the faults and errors which we commit against them Homer going about to prooue that the gods die not groundeth his argument vpon this bicause they eate not as if he would teach vs that drinking and eating do not only maintaine life but are also the cause of death For thereof diseases gather togither within our bodies which proceed no lesse of being too full than of being too emptie And oftentimes a man hath more to do to consume and digest meat put into his bodie than he had to get it Phisitions saith Seneca cry out that life is short and art long and complaint is made of nature bicause she hath graunted to beasts to liue fiue or six ages appointed so short a time of life for men who are borne for many great things We haue no smal time but we lose much time and life is long enough if it be well imploied But when it passeth away through excesse and negligence and no good is done therein in the end through constraint of extreame necessitie although we perceiue it not going yet we feele it is gone Moreouer a man may reckon greater store of griefs than pleasures that come to him frō his nourishment or to speake better the pleasure of eating is but small but the toile and trouble that men haue in prouiding it is great It were hard to repeate the shamefull paines and toilesome labors wherewith it filleth vs. Many a mans soule saith Solon is ouerwhelmed and as it were clothed with feare least it should stand in need within the bodie as it were in a mill and turning alwaies about like a milstone it seeketh after nourishment Heereupon it remaineth void and destitute of feeling and desire of all honest things and attendeth onely to the insatiable lustes of the flesh which is neuer contented bicause need and necessitie are alwaies ioined with desire of superfluitie The ancient Egyptians vsed this custome to cleaue in sunder the bodie of a dead man to shewe it to the sunne and to cast the guts and intrailes into the riuer and being thus clensed to imbaulme the rest And in very deede those inward parts are the pollution and defiling of our flesh and are properly the veric Hell of our bodies But which is worse is it not the stuffing and filling of the bellie that maketh the mind for the most part dull and vncapeable of any science or reason whereby the diuine part of man is oppressed and ouerwhelmed through the waight and force of that part which is mortall A wise soule is a cleare brightnes said Heraclitus O how hard a matter is it saith Cato to preach to the bellie which hath no eares and which will take no deniall howsoeuer the case standeth And as when we behold the sunne through thicke clouds and vndigested vapours we see it not cleare but with a pale and wannish light and as it were plunged in the bottome of a cloud so through a troubled and defiled bodie heauily loaden with food strang meates the brightnes and clearnes of the soule must needes become pale troubled and dimmed not hauing such forceable light as to be able thereby to pearce through vnto the contemplation of those things that are great heauenlie subtil exquisite and hard to discerne I thought in my hart saith the wise man to withdrawe my flesh from wine that I might bend my mind to wisedome and eschew follie vntill I knew what was profitable for the children of men It is not for kings it is not for kings to drinke wine nor for princes strong drinke least he drinke and forget the decree and change the iudgement of all the children of affliction To whom is woe To whom is sorow To whom is strife To whom is murmuring To whom are wounds without cause And to whome is the rednes of the eies Euen to them that tarie long at the wine to them that go and seeke mixt wine which in the beginning is pleasant but in the end pricketh like a serpent and poisoneth like a Cockatrice And in another place the wise man speaking of gluttonie faith that it drieth the bones and that more die by it than by the sword We see that beasts fatted vp languish through sloth and idlenes neither do beasts faint through labor onely but also by reason of the masse and heauie weight of their owne bodies Furthermore the vice of gluttonie and drunkennes is neuer alone but draweth with it a thousand other excessiue and dissolute fashions For as Plato saith it stirreth vp lust griefe anger and loue in extremitie and extinguisheth memorie opinion and vnderstanding Brieflye it maketh a man twise a childe And in another place the same Philosopher saith that gluttonie fatteth the bodye maketh the minde dull and vnapt and which is worse vndermineth reason Wine hath as much force as fire For as soone as it hath ouertaken any it dispatcheth him And as the North or Southwind tormenteth the Lybian sea so
them next we will behold some examples of these famous personages that we may be induced thereby to contemne such pernitious goods Men ought to make great account of riches said Socrates if they were ioined with true ioy but they are wholy separated from it For if rich men fall to vsing of them they spoile themselues with ouergreat pleasure if they would keepe them care gnaweth and consumeth them within and if they desire to get them they become wicked and vnhappie It cannot be saith Plato that a man should be truly good and very rich both togither but he may well be happie and good at one time And it is a verie miserable saying to affirme that a rich man is happy yea it belongeth to children and fooles to say so making them vnhappy that beleeue and approoue it Slouth and slug gishnes grow of riches and they that are addicted to heape them vp more and more the greater account they make of them the lesse they esteeme vertue So that if riches and rich men are greatly set by in a Common-wealth vertue and good men will be much lesse regarded and yet great matters are brought to passe and Common-wealths preserued by vertue and not by riches Riches saith Isocrates serue not so much for the practise of honestie as of wickednes seeing they draw the libertie of men to loosenesse and idlenesse and stirre vp yong men to voluptuousnes Men said Thales are by nature borne to vertue but riches draw them backe vnto them hauing a thousand sortes of sorceries to allure them to vices and through a false opinion of good to turne them from those things that are truly good They suffer not him that hath them to be able to know any thing but draw him to external goods They are passing arrogant most feareful If they vse themselues they are riotous if they abstaine miserable They neuer content their Owners nor leaue them void of sorow and care but as they that are sicke of the dropsie the more they drinke become the thirstier so the more that men abound in wealth the more they desire to haue Riches of themselues breed flatterers who helpe to vndoe rich men They are the cause of infinite murders and hired slaughters they make couetous persons to contemne the goods of the soule thinking to become happy without them They prouoke them also to delicacies and to gluttony whereby their bodies are subiect to diseases and infirmities Briefly riches greatly hurt both bodie and soule They stirre vp domesticall sedition and that among brethren They make children worse in behauiour towards their fathers and cause fathers to deale more hardly with their children Through them it commeth that friends suspect each other for a true friend is credited no more by reason of a flatterer Besides rich mē are angry with good men saying that they are arrogant bicause they will not flatter them and in like maner they hate such as flatter them thinking that they keepe about them onely to robbe them and to diminish their wealth These are the cuils which may be said to be commonly in riches But these also accompany them being execrable diseases namely presumptiō pride arrogancie vile and abiect cares which are altogether earthly naughtie desires wicked pleasures and an insatiable coueting Besides if they were not pernitious of thēselues so many mischiefs would not take their beginning from them For men commit a thousand murders for gaine They robbe churches fidelitie is lost and broken friendship is violated men betray their country maidens are loosely giuen brieflie no euils are left vnexecuted through the desire of riches They that giue them selues said Bion to gather riches are verie ridiculous seeing fortune giueth them couetousnes keepeth them and liberalitie casteth them away Men must haue rich soules saith Alexides as for siluer it is nothing but a shew and vaile of life It is a naughtie thing saith Euripides but common to all rich men to liue wickedly The cause thereof as I take it is this bicause they haue nothing but riches in their mind which being blind seele vp likewise the eies of their vnderstanding I pray God neuer to send me a wealthy life which hath alwaies sorow and care for hir Companions nor riches to gnaw my hart Speake not to me of Pluto that is to say of riches for I make no great reckoning of that God who is alwaies possessed of the most wicked vpon the earth O riches you are easie to beare but infinite cares miseries and griefs keepe you companie He saith Democritus that woondereth at such as haue great riches and are esteemed of the ignorant multitude to be happie will surely through a desire of hauing commit and vndertake wicked things and those oftentimes against the lawes As drunkennes saith Aristotle begetteth rage and madnes so ignorance ioined with power breedeth insolencie and furie And to those whose minds are not well disposed neither riches nor strength nor beautie can be iudged good but the greater increase ariseth of them the more harme they procure to him that possesseth them Moreouer do we not see that the most part of rich men either vse not their riches bicause they are couetous or abuse them bicause they are giuen ouer to their pleasures and so they are all the seruants either of pleasures or of trafficke and gaine as long as they liue But he that would be as Plato saith truly rich ought to labor not so much to augment his wealth as to diminish his desire of hauing bicause he that appointeth no bounds to his desires is alwaies poore and needie For this cause the libertie of a wise mans soule who knoweth the nature of externall goods belonging to this life is neuer troubled with the care of them being assured as Plutark saith that as it is not apparell which giueth heate to a man but only staieth and keepeth in naturall heate that proceedeth from the man himselfe by hindring it from dispersing in the aire so no man liueth more happily or contentedly bicause he is compassed about with much wealth if tranquillitie ioy and rest proceed not from within his soule Heape vp saith the same Philosopher store of gold gather siluer togither build faire galleries fill a whole house full of slaues and a whole towne with thy debtors yet if thou doest not maister the passions of thy soule if thou quenchest not thy vnsatiable desire nor deliuerest thy soule of all feare and carking care thou doest asmuch to procure thy quietnes as if thou gauest wine to one that had an ague Life of it selfe saith Plato is not ioyfull vnles care be chased away which causeth vs to waxe gray-headed whilest we desire but meane store of riches For the superfluous desire of hauing alwaies gnaweth our hart Whereupon it commeth to passe that oftentimes amongst men we see pouertie to be better than riches death than life And truly there is great madnes in the greedy coueting of
contract matrimony leuied an impost by way of a fine vpon their legacies windfals coÌ„ming by the death of others that did not marry after 25. yeeres of age or that had no children Wherby he greatly chastised whoredoms adulteries sodomitrie furnished Rome with good citizens which then was greatly destitute of them by reason of ciuil warres What is the cause saith Vlpianus the lawyer that womens dowries had such great priuiledges It was for no other reason then bicause of the profit that commeth to al common-wealths by mariages He that had 3. childreÌ„ amongst the Romans could not be coÌ„pelled to cary a message or publike embassage he that had 5. was exempted froÌ„ personal charge he that had 13. from al charge And in our time in the common-welth of Florence as Raphael Volateraniâ— reherseth in his Philologie Euery citizen that is father of 5. children either males or females is exempted freed discharged of all publike taxe loane subsidie If nothing be more blessed nor happines more to be desired than immortalitie line all propagation maketh vs immortal through the continuing of kind Wherupon we may inferre by way of conclusion that no greater happines can come to man wife in this world than to leaue issue as a testimony to posteritie that once they were in the world haue left behind them a token of their life It was enacted by Lycurgus lawes that no citizen preferring the estate of continencie before that of mariage should be at publike playes which at that time was a note of great ignominie We account not him a good gardiner that painfully dresseth those fruitfull trees which he hath in his garden or orchard if he haue no care to plant and graft new therby to substitute others in their place which by succession of time waxe old die And how shal we take him for a good citizen and such a one as zealously seeketh the good of the common-welth that â—ontenteth himselfe with those citizens that are aliue and neglecteth the ing endring of new in good and lawfull matrimonie wherby to supply the want of such as daily decay Further if I should go about to reherse here the happines pleasure contentatioÌ„ which maÌ„ wife liuing holily togither according to the duty of their vocation do mutually receiue one of another who doubteth that a whole day would not suffice me What greater solace in the whole world can be found than for a man to liue with hir vnto whom he is coupled not by good wil only but also by a mutuall coÌ„munication of bodies If we take great delight to conferre with our friends familiar acquaintance about our secret affaires shall we not receiue greater ioy without coÌ„parison to disclose our thoughts to hir vnto whom we speake as safely as to our selues who is also partaker as wel of our aduersity as prosperity and accounteth our weale or woe to be hir owne We are ioined to our friends by good will and liking onely but to our wife we are conioined and linked by soueraigne charitie by bodily commixtion by sacred confederacy by an inseparable felowship society in al weathers If the man abound in teÌ„poral goods the wife wil keep them faithfully for him and encrease them by hir industrie and labor If he be poore persecuted by fortune she will comfort him If through feare sicknes or any other mishap he be constrained to shut vp himselfe in his house his wife will take away that irkesomnes from him which otherwise would seaze vpon him being solitarie If he go abroad he is glad that he hath left that partie in his house which he most trusteth In youth she is a sweete and amiable companion in old age a very conuenient comforter and solace Moreouer by mariage a man encreaseth his friends allies kinsfolks neighbours which is a very great benefit and inuincible strength Brethren sisters nephews nieces are doubled Peace is many times procured between monarchs princes by mariages and infinit quarels dissentions appeased But what vnspeakable pleasure doth euery father take to see his liuely picture ingrauen in the face of his children and that so neere the quick as neither Lysippus Mentor Polycletus Phidias Praxiteles Zeuxis Apelles nor Parrhasius had euer the skil to graue or paint so wel Againe what ioy receiueth he by hoping that when his children shall waxe great they will be the staffe of his age the stay of his weakenes the pillar of his house and that ouerliuing him according to the course of nature they shall close vp his eies and cause such funerals ceremonies to be done for him as are requisite in that case For the conclusion therefore of this present matter we say that no man can iustly blame mariage vnto which all lawes both diuine and humane exhort vs nature prouoketh vs honestie draweth vs infinite commodities inuite vs all nations shew vs the way thither and lastly necessitie of continuing our kind constraineth vs. And briefly to answere the grounds alleaged to the contrary they may be ouerthrowen by one onely dictinction which is that most of them that dispraised mariage were heathens and blinded in their vain wisedom or to speake better in their folly wanting then that knowledge of the truth which God of his grace hath since reuealed vnto vs. And no maruell if they erred in dispraising Mariage seeing they could neuer attaine to the knowledge of the true and soueraigne good of man as we haue handled already But yet it can neuer be found that Socrates Plato and such as were most excellent amoÌ„g the Philosophers blamed it but rather honoured commended it the most of them also being maried as namely Socrates Plato Aristotle Seneca Plutarke and others As for their strongest reason that mislike mariage namely the deceiuing of men by women the fault ought to be imputed rather to the men than to the women bicause men according to the perfection of their sexe ought to be wiser than women who are by nature more changeable by will and more fraile in counsell although all are not so So that if there be any imperfection it ought not to be obiected to them by way of reproch but rather to nature than to them And they that vpbraid them therewith shew that they wander out of the path of reason are destitute of all good sence and are vnworthie that women should haue conceiued them brought them into the world giuen them sucke and nourished them Of a house and familie and of the kinds of mariage of certaine ancient customes obserued in mariage Chap. 46. ACHITOB IN the beginning of my present speech of mariage I noted this that the communion of the husband and wife extendeth it selfe vnto all the parts that depend of their house Therefore I suppose my Companions that for the sequele and vnderstanding of that matter which we haue propounded to
our selues to intreate of I meane Oeconomie or gouernment of a familie we must seeke after a more ample and large declaration of a house which consisteth not in many stones and long peeces of timber ioined togither with great cunning but in stones that haue life and are partakers of reason tending to the benefite and profite of the house as to their end Also if you thinke it good and our howre giue vs leasure we may enter into the consideration of the sundry sorts of mariages and of certaine ancient customes obserued therein which I touched not in my discourse bicause I would not be ouer-long ASER. First it is necessarye saith Aristotle to ioine those togither which can not be the one without the other as the male and female for generation Next he that is able to execute the commandements of his maister by the strength of his bodie is a subiect and slaue by nature And of these two assemblies a house or familie is first instituted AMANA A familie or house is an assemblye framed by nature to communicate daily togither and they are called of the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as liue of the same prouision or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as vse the same Chimney But we shall vnderstād of thee ARAM the whole discourse of that which is heere propounded vnto vs. ARAM. When I consider of the excellencie greatnes of Plato his skil who was greatly admired of the Grecians as he that for vertue honesty of life for eloquence of speech perswasion by true and learned Philosophie went far beyond all other Philosophers I cannot sufficiently wonder how amidst so many good lawes profitable statuts for a common-wealth which we haue receiued from him he imagined to establish therein the communitie of goods wiues children amongst his Citizens not suffring them to haue any thing proper peculiar to the end as he said to banish from his citie these two words Thine Mine which in his opinion were the cause of all euils desolations that befall Common-wealths The Nicholaites reuiued the same error in the primitiue Church many others haue labored by friuolous reasons to defend maintaine it chiefly to roote out as they say vtterly frō within the soule those humane affections which commōly cary men rather towards their wiues children goods than to other things Which affections so long as they beare sway amongst the Citizens cause them oftentimes to turne aside from their duty towards the common-wealth whereby it is made weaker of lesse continuance Now among many grounds confuting this error which being receiued would fil all with disorder confusion to the ouerthrow of humane societie this is most certain cannot be impugned that forasmuch as the lawful distributiō of goods maner of mariages are the ordinance of God as it is manifest seeing the ordinance of God may not be altered by any counsell of man it followeth that aswell the diuision of goods as of wiues and children are immutable and consequently that the communitie of goods wiues children is a thing flatly gainsaying the institution of God therfore to be reproued Moreouer if goods were common an infinite multitude of do-litles of idle negligent persons borne as Horace saith onely to deuoure to consume the benefits of the earth being vnwilling to labor resembling waspes that eate the honie of the Bees would feede and cloath themselues with their goods who get their liuing with great sweate of their bodies vexation of their minds Which is against the expresse commandement of God who will haue vs eate our bread in the sweat of our face But what greater shame offēce vtterly defacing all honesty of life can there be amongst men than the community of wiues whereby all fornications adulteries would be maintained by authority This sheweth plainly that we are not to loose time in confuting such an opinion of theirs who seeke to take away from amongst men all marks of a Cōmon-wealth For there would not be any publike thing if nothing were priuate nor cōmon if nothing were peculiar Yea Plato afterward did wisely leaue that opiniō quietly renounced his first Cōmon-wealth to giue place to a second And the Heralds of Gods word condēned this error when it was raised vp in the Apostles time by an arch-heretik called Nicholas of Antioch who maintained this opiniō that goods wiues childrē ought to be cōmon amōg christians for example to others cōmunicated his wife to whosoeuer would albeit she was yoong and very beautifull Thus following the order established of God and continued alwaies through so many ages vntill our time and hauing seene the first institution of mariage we must also containe it within the house which is a societie and communion of life betweene the husband and the wife the maister and the seruant for daily profit Hesiodus putteth the Oxe in steede of the seruant so farre foorth faith Aristotle as the Oxe being fit to labour is to poore men in the place of a slaue This house thus described is simple but when children are contained therein it is absolute and compleate Therefore a house that is perfect and accomplished may be diuided according to the saying of Philosophers into these foure parts into Matrimoniall Parentall Lordly or Maisterlie and Possessorie part The Matrimoniall part comprehēdeth the husband the wife the Parentall containeth the father mother children the Lordlie hath vnder it the maister men-seruants and maid-seruants the Possessorie part includeth within it mooueables immooueables and chattels Now to follow our matter already begun and to discourse of things in order we haue heere to handle and to obserue diligently this first part of a house called the coniugall or wedlocke part and the sequele of our discourses shall instruct vs in the other parts He that hath tasted of learning and beene well instructed in the studie of wisedome shall find that there are foure kinds of coniunctions and mariages namely the mariage of honour the mariage of loue the mariage of labour and the mariage of griefe The mariage of honour is diuided into the highest middlemost and lowest degree The highest is that supernaturall mariage whereby God and mans nature meete togither euen by a mysterie which ouerpasseth the vnderstanding of all humane capacitie We saw the effect and truth therof in the incarnation and natiuitie of the eternall sonne of God The middlemost mariage of honour is when God and the soule meete and are ioined togither by grace and glorie The lowest degree of the mariage of honour is when God and the Church are coupled togither and are made one mysticall bodie These three sortes of mariages are supernaturall and appointed of God after an vnspeakeable manner but the cause of our assemblie requireth not that we should speake any more of them Now to come to the other kinds of
aliue as after their death by refusing to ouer-liue them Queene Hipsicrates the wife of king Mithridates cōmeth first to mind who bare such loue towards hir husband that polling hir selfe for his sake although she was yong and very faire she acquainted hir selfe with the wearing of armour and rode with him to the war And when he was ouercome by Pompey she accompanied him in his flight through all Asia whereby she mollified the griefe and sorow which he receiued by his losse Triara wife to Lucius Vitellus brother to the emperour Vitellus seeyng hir husband in a daungerous battell thrust hir selfe amongst the souldiours to beare him company and to helpe him both in death and life and fought as well as the valiauntest amongst them When king Admetus his wife sawe hir husband very sicke and heard the answere of the oracle which was That he could not recouer except one of his best friendes died for him she slew hir selfe When the wife of Ferdinando Gonçales a prince of Italy knewe that hir husband was prisoner and in daunger of death she went to visite him and putting on his apparell abode in his place whilest he beyng clothed in hir garmentes saued him-selfe Zenobia Queene of Armenia seeing hir husband Radamisus flie from a battell and not beyng able to follow him bicause she was great with childe besought him to kill hir Which when he thought to haue done she was striken downe with the blowe of a sworde but being taken of the enimie and throughly healed Tyridates the king who had vanquished hir husband maried hir afterward for the great loue that was in hir The princesse Panthea loued hir husband Abradatus so well that when he died in Cyrus campe she slue hir selfe vpon his bodie Artemisia Queene of Caria for the great loue she bare to hir husband that was dead dranke all the ashes of his bodie meanyng thereby to be his sepulchre When Iulia the wife of Pompey sawe a gowne of hir husbande 's all bloodie wherewith he had offered some sacrifice she imagined that he was slayne and so died presently after When Porcia the wife of Brutus heard of hir husbandes death and perceiued that hir kinsfolkes tooke away all meanes of killing hir self she drew hote burning coles out of the fire and threw them into hir mouth which she closed so fast that shee was choked thereby Sulpitia beyng carefully restrained by hir mother Iulia from seeking hir husband Lentulus in Sicilia whither hee was banished shee went thither beyng apparelled like a slaue banishing hir selfe voluntarily rather than she would forsake hir husband Octauia sister to Augustus and wife to Antonius notwithstanding the iniurie that hir husband offered vnto hir in preferring before hir a Queene that was nothing so yong or faire as she bare such great loue towards him that setting aside al intreatie of hir brother she would neuer leaue hir husbands house but stil brought vp his children by his first mariage as carefully as if they had been hir owne Moreouer she sought by all means to reconcile those two emperors saying that it was an vnworthy thing that two so mightie princes the one for the euil intreatie of his sister the other bicause he was bewitched by a wicked woman should warre one against another As this vertuous princes had taken hir iourney as far as Athens where she ment to take shipping to seeke out hir husband being then in war with the Parthians bringing with hir souldiers mony furniture other munitions he sent hir word that she should passe no farther but stay for him at Rome This she performed and sent him all the aboue named things not seeming at all to be offended with him Wheras he in the mean while skorned hir sporting himself with Cleopatra in the sight and knowledge of all men and afterward delt worse with hir when the warre was begunne between him and Augustus For he sent a commandement to Octauia at Rome to go out of his house which she presently obeied albeit she would not therefore forsake any of hir husbands children but wept and bewailed hir mishap which had brought hir to be a principal cause of that ciuill warre Aria the wife of Cecinna followed in a little boate vnto Rome hir husband who was taken prisoner bicause he had borne armes against the emperour Claudius Being there condemned to die she would haue borne him companie but that hir sonne in lawe and hir daughter stayed hir When she sawe that she strake hir head so hard agaynst the wall that she fell downe amazed and beyng come to hir selfe agayne sayde vnto them You see that you can not hinder me from dying cruelly if ye stay mee from a more gentle death They being astonished at the fact and at hir words suffered hir to do what she would who then ran to the place where hir husband was and slewe hir selfe first after she had spoken thus courageously vnto him I am not Cecinna sorie for that which is done but bicause the race of thy life must end When Seneca was condemned to die by Nero and had libertie to chuse what kind of death he would he caused his veines to be opened in a bath His wife Paulina of hir owne accord did the like to hir self in the same bath mingling togither their blood for a greater vnion and coronation of their long and perfect loue Whereof Nero being aduertised presently commanded that hir veines should be stopt constraining hir thereby to liue a little longer in continuall griefe Hipparchia a very faire rich woman was so farre in loue with the Philosopher Crates who was hard-fauoured and poore that she maried him against all hir kinsfolks minde and followed him throughout all the countrie being poorely apparelled barefoote after the Cynick fashion Pisca seeing hir husband pine away daily through a great and strange discase which he had concealed from hir of long time hauing at the length knowledge thereof and perceiuing it to be incurable she was mooued with pitie for the euill which he suffered whom she loued better than hir selfe and therevpon counselled him with great courage to asswage his griefe by death and the better to stirre him vp thereunto she offered to beare him companie Whereunto hir husband agreeing they imbraced each other and cast themselues headlong into the sea from the top of a rocke The king of Persia taking prisoner the wife of Pandoërus whom he had vanquished and slaine would haue maried hir But she slew hir selfe after she had vttered these words God forbid that to be a Queene I should euer wed him that hath beene the murderer of my deere husband Pandoërus Camma a Greekish woman of the countrie of Galatia bare such loue to hir husband euen after his death that to be reuenged of a great Lorde called Synorix who had put hir husband to death that he might marrie hir she gently
his children For in vaine sayth Plato doth he hope for a haruest that hath beene negligent in sowing I say he must be passing carefull and imploie all possible labour that his children and youth may be well instructed bicause they are the seede-corne of the citie insomuch that carefull heed is to be had euen of their words gestures sportes and other actions that nothing may leade them vnto vice For otherwise if no reckoning be made of this age a man shall labour no lesse in vaine to prescribe good lawes for them afterward than the Phisition doth that ministreth plentie of medicines to a diseased partie that keepeth no diet at all The best giftes of nature if they be not well trimmed and looked vnto become naught at the first and afterward passing euill Therefore a father of a familie ought not to be more carefull of anie thing than of the bringing vp of his children according to whose good or euill education the whole house will be gouerned This first institution of their life from the first age is called discipline which by little and little leadeth the spirite of the childe to the loue of vertue euen of that vertue whereby beeing come to mans estate he knoweth both howe to command and howe to obeie and to followe after nothing but that which the lawe commandeth and affirmeth to be good The vices of children are swordes which passe through the hartes of their Fathers who are for the moste parte the cause of them through their negligence in correcting them and ouer-great libertie which they graunt to this age that needeth a staye and bridle yea spurres whereby to bee broken and made tractable as men vse to deale with yoonge Coltes Therefore PLATO sayde that it is not in our owne power to cause our children to bee borne suche as wee woulde haue them but yet that it lieth in vs to make them good Whereunto this will be a good meane if from their yong yeeres we imprint in their harts a loue feare reuerence of vs. For if these thinges concurre not togither in the childes hart he will neuer yeeld due obedience to his father Pythagoras said that a prudent father was better to be liked than a cholerike bicause prudence serueth to procure loue and good will in those that ought to obey whereas choler maketh them odious that command and causeth their admonitions to profite but little For this cause Aristotle requireth perfection of Morall vertue in a father of a familie saying that his office is a kind of building that reason is as it were the builder by whome he guideth bringeth that Oeconomical worke to his perfection And in deede the Ancients tooke great paines in teaching their children themselues not suffering them to be farre from their presence during their youth bicause they iudged and that vpon good reason that son-like respect loue were good pricks to driue them forward to the studie of vertue And no doubt but if a skilfull father would execute this dutie of instructing his child in knowledge and learning he would conceiue and take it a great deale better of him than of any other Therefore Marcus Portius Cato would needs beschoole-maister to his owne children which institution did greatly auaile them not so much bicause he was Cato as bicause he was their father whose vertue they imitated Iulius Caesar adopted his nephew Octauian brought him vp himselfe Which did him so much good that being come to the empire he was called Augustus for his goodnes He also performed as much afterward to his nephews Lucius Caius whome in like maner he had adopted Noah Lot Iacob and all the fathers instructed their children themselues and God commanded the Israelites in the wildernes to teach their children the lawe which themselues had receiued from their fathers To this purpose an ancient man said that it was the greatest sloth that could be for a man to be negligent towards his children to teach them nothing Great heede therefore must be taken that they be not left to the gouernment of their owne fantasie considering that youth is very tender to resist vice and of it selfe vncapable of counsell With-hold not saith the Wise man correction from the child for in smiting with the rod thou shalt deliuer his soule from hell He that spareth his rod hateth his sonne but he that loueth him chasteneth him betime As an vntamed horse becommeth fierce so a child suffred to do what he list waxeth rebellious If thou bring vp thy son delicately he shall make thee afraid if thou play with him he shall bring thee to heauines Giue him no libertie in his youth and winke not at his follie Bow downe his necke while he is yoong and beate him on the sides while he is a child least he waxe stubborn be disobedient vnto thee so bring sorowe to thine hart And yet I would not that fathers should be ouer-sharpe hard to their children not bearing with any fault in them But as Phisitions mingling steeping their bitter drugs with some sweete iuice haue found the meanes to make a passage for profite through the middest of pleasure so must fathers intermingle the sharpnes of their reprehensions corrections with the facilitie of elemencie somtime let loose a little the bridle to the desires of their children so that they wander not far from that which becommeth them Againe they must by by let downe the button hold them hard in with the bridle but yet supporting gently and patiently their faults committed through youth not of malice And if it be so that they cannot but be angry at the least let their anger be presently appeased For it is better that a father should be quickly angry although that be an imperfection so that he be soone pacified than slowe to anger and hardly brought to forgiue But if a father be so seuere that he wil forget nothing be neuer reconciled it is a great argument that he hateth his children And then he maketh himselfe vnwoorthy of so excellent diuine a name shewing foorth effects cleane contrary therunto wheras parents commonly loue their children too much vse towards them rather too much lenitie than iust seueritie Oh how the father saith Seneca speaking of one that thrust his son out of his house cutteth off his lims with great griefe how many sighes he fetcheth in cutting them off how earnestly he wisheth to haue thē againe in their place Moreouer fathers must haue a special care that they commit no fault nor omit any thing appertaining to their dutie to the end they may be liuely examples to their children that looking into their life as into a cleare glasse they may abstaine after their example frō speking any thing that bringeth shame Againe we know that all those fathers which lead an euill life leaue not to themselues any
courage so much as to reprooue their slaues onely so far off are they that they can frankly chide their children And which is woorst of al by their naughty life they are vnto them in steed of maisters counsellors of il-doing For where old men are shameles there it must needs be that yoong men become impudent graceles Fathers therfore must striue to do whatsoeuer their dutie requireth that their children may waxe wise and well qualified This we may comprehend in fewe words namely if they bring them vp wel in their infancy let them haue due correction in their youth Which two things being neglected of fathers the faults of their children are for the most part iustly imputed vnto them Hely the Priest was not punished for any sin which himselfe had committed but bicause he winked at the sins of his children We read in the storie of the Heluetians or Switzers of the iudgement of a tyrant condemned to death where order was taken that the execution thereof should be done by the father who was the cause of his euill education that he might come to his death by the author of his life and that the father might in some sort be punished for his negligence vsed towards his child Moreouer they that haue many children must be passing careful to bring them vp in mutuall friendship causing them to giue each to other that honor and duty vnto which nature bindeth them and sharpely chastising those that in any respect offend therin The Ephoryes of Lacedemonia long since cōdēned a notable citizen in a very great sum when they vnderstood that he suffred two of his childrē to quarel togither The best meane which I find to auoid so great an euill is to loue and intreat them all alike and to accustom them to giue honour dutie and obedience one to another according to their degrees of age They must remoue from them al partialities and not suffer them to haue any thing seueral or diuided one from another that as it were in one hart and will all things may be common amongst them Example heerof was that good father of a familie Aelius Tubero who had sixteene children of his owne bodie all of them maried and dwelling all in one house with their children and liuing with him in all peace and concord For the conclusion therefore of our present discourse we learne that a father of a familie must begin the gouernment of his house with himselfe and become an example to his of all honestie vertue That he must not neglect the care of prouiding goods necessarie meanes for the maintenance of his familie remembring alwaies that in nothing he go beyond the bounds of that seemelines and decencie which dutie hath limited prescribed vnto him That he ought to loue to intreat his seruants curteously putting away threatnings as it is said in the Scripture and knowing that both their and his maister is in heauen with whom there is no respect of persons And for the last point that it belongeth to his dutie to bring vp his children in the holie instruction and information of the Lord not prouoking them to wrath that God may be glorified and he their father may reioice in the presence of his friends and that his countrie generally may receiue benefit profit and commoditie Of the dutie of children towards their parents of the mutuall loue that ought to be among brethren of the dutie of seruants towards their maisters Chap. 50. ACHITOB VPon a day when one said in the hearing of Theopompus king of Sparta that the estate of that citie was preserued in such flourishing maner bicause the kings knew how to command wel the prince replied that it was not so much for that cause as bicause the citizens knew how to obey well And to speake the truth to obey wel as also the vertue of commanding is a great vertue and proceedeth from a nature which being noble of it selfe is holpen by good education Therefore Aristotle said that it was necessarie that he which obeieth should be vertuous as wel as he that commandeth Now seeing we haue intreated of the dutie of a father and head of a familie exercising his office vpon all the parts of his house let vs now consider of the dutie and obedience that is requisite in seruaunts and children and of the mutuall and reciprocall amitie which ought to be betweene brethren desirous to preserue the bond of Oeconomical societie in a happie estate ASER. Children saith the Scripture obey your parents in all things for that is well pleasing vnto the Lord Honor thy father and mother which is the first commaundement with promise that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest liue long on earth AMANA Who so honoreth his father his sinnes shall be forgiuen him and he shall abstaine from them and shall haue his daily desires And he that honoureth his mother is like one that gathereth treasure And you seruaunts be subiect to your masters with all feare not onely to the good and curteous but also to the froward Let vs then heare ARAM discourse more at large of that which is here propounded vnto vs. ARAM. Nature saith Plutark and the law which preserueth nature haue giuen the first place of reuerence and honor after God vnto the father and mother and men can not do any seruice more acceptable to God than graciously and louingly to pay to their parents that begot thē and to them that brought them vp the vsurie of new and olde graces which they haue lent them as contrarywise there is no signe of an Atheist more certaine than for a man to set light by and to offend his parents The father is the true image of the great and soueraigne God the vniuersall father of all things as Proclus the Academike said Yea the child holdeth his life of the father next after God and whatsoeuer else he hath in this world Therfore a man is forbidden to hurt others but it is accounted great impietie and sacriledge for a man not to shew himselfe ready to doe and to speake all things I will not say whereby they can receiue no displeasure but wherby they may not receiue pleasure And in deed one of the greatest good turnes that we can do to those of whom we are descended is not to make them sad Which cannot possibly be done if God the leader and guide to all knowledge disposeth not the mind to all honest things The children of wisdome are the Church of the righteous and their ofspring is obedience and loue Children heare the iudgement of your father and do thereafter that you may be safe For the Lord will haue the father honored of the children and hath confirmed the authoritie of the mother ouer the children He that honoureth his father shall haue ioy of his owne children and when he maketh his prayer he shall
townes which he held Antigonus contrarywise wrote to Seleucus that he would yeeld vp vnto him all the landes he had vnder his obedience and would also himselfe become his pledge if he would deliuer his father We may not here passe ouer with silence the rare example of daughter-like pietie with which all the painters in the world haue set foorth their science I meane of the daughter that gaue sucke to hir father who was condemned to die of that auncient and vsuall punishment of famine which neuer suffereth a sound man to passe the seuenth day The iailour espying this acte of pietie gaue notice thereof to the magistrates which beyng knowen to the people the daughter obtained pardon for hir fathers life Moreouer seeyng we must labour to obey and to please our parentes in all things it is certaine that no action gift or disposition in vs is more acceptable or contenteth them better than to see good-will and an assured and certaine friendship among brethren Which may easily be knowen by these contrary signes For if parents are offended when their children offer wrong to a seruant whom they loue and if hartie old men are grieued when no account is made of a dog or horse bred in their house and are vexed whē they see their children mocke despise those pastimes stories and other such like things which they somtime loued is it likely that they could patiently abide to see their children whom they loue best of all to hate one another to be always quarelling one with another to speake ill one of an other and in all their enterprises actions to be diuided and set one against another and to seeke to supplant and defeat each other I think no man will affirme it Therefore contrarywise we may iudge that those brethrē which loue and cherish one another which ioine togither in one bond of self-same wils studies affections that which nature had disioined separated in bodies lastly which haue all their talke exercises playes pastimes common amongst them they I say vndoubtedly giue occasion to their parents of a sweete and happy contentation in their old-age for this brotherly loue friendship For no father saith Plutarke euer loued learning honour or siluer so much as he did his children And therefore they neuer took so great pleasure to see their children good orators rich or placed in great offices and dignities as to see the loue one another To this purpose one rehearseth that Apollonida mother to king Eumenes and to three other of his brethren accounted hir selfe happy as she said and gaue great thanks to God not for hir riches or principalitie but bicause she saw hir three yonger sons as it were a gard to their elder brother who liued freely and most safelie in the middest of them with their swordes by their sides and their iauelins in their handes Contrarywise when king Xerxes perceiued that his sonne Ochus lay in waite for his brethren to put them to death he died for displeasure thereof Therefore Euripides sayd that warres betweene brethren are grieuous but most of all to their parents bicause he that hateth his brother and cannot abide to looke vpon him must needes also be offended with him that begate him and hir that bare him Whereas good children that loue one another for the loue of their parents are so much the more prouoked to loue and honour them saying and thinking alwayes with themselues that they are bound vnto them for manie causes but chiefly in regard of their brethren who are vnto them as precious pleasaunt and gracious an inheritaunce as any they could receiue from them This ment Homer to teache vs when he brought in Telemachus reckoning this amongst his calamities that Iupiter had ended the race of his father in him and had not giuen him a brother Let vs not then doubt but that this is a certaine demonstration to the parents that their childe loueth them when he loueth his brethren And this also serueth for as great an example and instruction to his children to loue one an other as any can be Therefore let vs vtterly banish awaye all hatred of our brethren which is both condemned by God who commendeth aboue all things concord vnto vs and also a naughtie nurse for the olde age of fathers and mothers and a worse for the yong yeeres of children And seeing we are about this matter of brotherly loue so precious and excellent whereunto now adayes men haue so small regard I thinke we ought to insist and stand longer vpon it and alleage some precepts and examples of auncient men whereby to confirme vs in it more and more First nature hath bred from our birth in regard of vs the beginning and occasion of this amitie and hath taken away from our iudgement all former motions to procure loue Therefore we must beware that we seeke not too exactly after the faults and imperfections one of another but couer beare with them bicause they are of our own blood knowing that no mans life can be sincere clean frō all vice so that we were better to support the domestical imperfectiōs of our brethrē thā to make trial of those that are in strangers That brother saith Plutark that warreth with his brother seeketh to procure a stranger to friend seemeth to me to cut off voluntarily a mēber of his owne flesh belonging to him that he may apply and fasten to that place one taken from another mans body We note also that nothing more preserueth the loue of brethren than to haue the same common friends For seueral familiaritie conuersation company keeping turneth aside alienateth them one from another bicause thereby they acquaint themselues with diuers natures and take pleasure in things that are contrary But there is a further matter in it For as tinne doth soder ioine togither broken copper by touching both ends of the broken pieces bicause it agreeth as well with the one as with the other so a common friend serueth to confirm to preserue to encrease to reunite their mutual friendship and good-wil when vpon light occasion somtimes it is as it were in danger of breaking Which is so much the more to be feared as it is certain that all enmitie breedeth within our soules a thousand passions that torment vs but especially that enmitie which a man beareth towards his brother as that which is most prodigious and against nature And as bodies that were once ioined togither if the glew or bande waxe loose may be reioined and glewed againe but if a naturall bodie breake or rent asunder it is hard to find any soder that is able to reunite and knit them well togither againe so those mutual friendships which we contract voluntarily with such as are not of kinne or allied vnto vs if peraduenture they fall asunder sometimes may easily be vndertaken againe but when brethren
were partly founded to this ende But how carefull are we at this day to imitate those auncients in this earnestnesse of good bringing vp of children in the studie of sciences and good discipline Haue we not very good occasion to say with Crates the Philosopher that it is most necessarie that one should ascend vp into the highest place of this kingdome and cry aloude Oh ye men whither doe ye throwe your selues headlong in taking all the paynes that may be to heape vp goodes and treasures that perish and in the meane while make no reckoning of your children but suffer them to continue long and to grow old in ignorance which destroyeth them both body and soule and turneth to the confusion and ouerthrow of your country For it is most certaine that a good nature ill brought vp waxeth very pernitious and that the mindes and hartes of men that are corruptly instructed become most wicked Doe you thinke saith Plato that execrable villanies and horrible vices proceede rather of a naughtie nature than of a noble nature corrupted with euill education In like maner a good nature well tilled will attaine to the toppe of vertue but if it be negligently looked vnto it will be nothing but vice But let vs see what goodly instructions the auncients haue giuen concerning this matter The same Plato was so carefull and searched out so exactly the good education of children as that which is as precious and necessarie a thing as any can be in the life of man that hee taketh them euen from their mothers wombe yea before they are begotten First hee willeth that the husband and wife that are desirous of children should keepe them-selues from drunkennesse and from entring into the bedde when they are cholerike and full of trouble bicause that many times is the cause of vices in children Next he requireth that great bellied women should giue themselues to walking and beware of liuing either too delicately or too sparingly that they should haue quiet mindes with many other things which he alleageth to that purpose He saith also that children being in their mothers wombe receiue good and ill as the fruites of the earth doe After they are borne he carefully recommendeth their education Wee will not here stande vpon many pointes to be obserued therein as namelie vpon the choice of Nurses whereof fewe are ignoraunt seeing it belongeth to the true and naturall office of euerie mother to nourish that with hir teate which she hath brought into the world except there be some great and lawfull impediment But let vs go on with the sayings of Plato He chargeth nurses to lead their children oftentimes on their feete vntil they be 3. yeeres old bicause this moouing is very profitable for them He forbiddeth much crying in children bicause it breedeth in them a habite and custome of sadnesse From 3. yeeres to six he would haue them moderately corrected when they commit a fault forbidden aboue all things to accustome them from that time forward vnto daintines or to ouer-great seueritie saying that delicatenes maketh them froward hard to please cholerike soone mooued and that seueritie maketh them hard-harted cruell abiect base-minded very blocks and fooles and haters of men At sixe yeeres of age he would haue them put apart from the daughters and begin to learne to ride a horse to shoote to practise all kind of feates of Armes both with the right hand and with the left to put in vre all other exercises of moderate labor that they may waxe strong and be acquainted with labour and therefore to vse such laborious pastimes But he expresly forbiddeth to change euery day for new this age being very apt thervnto saying that nothing is more pernitious than to acquaint youth to despise antiquitie But aboue all things he commandeth that children should be so brought vp that they be not constrained to any thing whatsoeuer they shall take in hand but as it were in sport that so euery ones nature may be knowne Neither would he haue them beaten without great discretion bicause it is not seemely that a free man should learne liberall sciences by seruitude and compulsion And in truth no science forced vpon a man will continue stedfast with him Moreouer he would haue them apply themselues to Musicke both to sing hymnes and songs to the praise of God to laud and magnifie him and to hope for all good successe from him as also to recreate their spirits He greatly misliketh in them slouth and too much sleepe saying that much sound sleepe is good neither for the bodie nor for the soule that it is nothing profitable for him that desireth to bring any good thing to passe bicause as long as a man sleepeth he doth nothing more than if he liued not Therefore whosoeuer desireth to liue and to come to knowledge let him watch as much as he may hauing regard notwithstanding to his health which is contented with a little when a man is once acquainted therewith Now bicause a child as he saith is more vnruly than a sauage beast he would neuer haue him left without a wise and vertuous maister It is no lesse necessarie saith he to consider what teachers a man hath than what parents For as children doe in a manner carie away the spirits of their forefathers so the vices of teachers are deriued vnto their schollers Therefore let such be chosen as teach vs their vertue by their workes and not such as onely vtter and speake many goodly words studied out of it At ten yeeres this diuine Philosopher would haue children to learne letters vntill fifteene But bicause we are to learne languages that differ from ours it were good to beginne sooner and to end a little after I thinke it were very profitable for youth to begin at the aboue named age of sixe yeeres to teach him his moother toong perfectly that he may read pronounce and write it well After at eight yeeres to teach him the rudiments of the Latine toong and to let him follow that vntil it be as familiar vnto him or little lesse than his natural speech At fourteene yeeres the same Plato would haue children learne Arithmetike saying that it is very necessary both for a souldior and for a Philosopher next Geometrie and that part of Astronomie that is necessarie for Cosinographie which he would haue likewise learned He commandeth also that youth should practise hunting bicause it is as it were an image of warre and an exercise that maketh men apt to sustaine all labour and trauell This institution of youth is surely woorthie of that diuine spirite of Plato and that partie were very vnhappie and of a froward and corrupt nature who being thus diligently brought vp would not growe to be a vertuous and good man He putteth small difference betweene the education and bringing vp of daughters and that of sonnes not depriuing women
children of Fraunce or to prouide for the gouernement of the kingdome or for other matters The kinges sate amongst them and were Presidentes except at one assemblie wherein was debated the noblest cause that euer was namelie to whome the kingdome of Fraunce belonged after the death of Charles the faire whether to his cosin Phillip de Valois or to Edward king of England his brother in lawe King Phillip was not President not beyng at that time king and besides a partie No doubt but the people receiue great benefit by this assemblie of estates For this good commeth vnto them that they may drawe neere to the kings person to make their complaints vnto him to present him their requests and to obtaine remedie and necessary prouision for redresse Whereby we may easily iudge that many who haue written of the duetie of magistrates and such like treatises are greatly deceiued in maintaining this That the estates of the people are aboue the prince which laieth open a gappe to the rebellions of subiects against their soueraign so that this opinion can haue no reason or good ground to leane vpon For if this were true the commō-wealth would not be a kingdom or monarchy but a pure Aristocratie as we haue declared heretofore Yea what shew of reason is there to maintaine this error seeing euery one in particular al in general bowe their knees before the king vse humbly requests supplications which his maiestie receiueth or reiecteth as it seemeth best vnto him But in this case we except a king that is captiue beside himself or in his infancie For that which is thē decreed by the estates is authorized as from the soueraign power of the prince Moreouer we may see what great good commeth to the king by the assemblie of his estates in the first speech which master Michael de l' Hospital Chauncellor of France made at the last assemblie of estates at Orleans Where he confuteth at large their opinion that say that the king after a sort diminisheth his power by taking aduise and counsell of his subiects seeing he is not bound so to doe as also that he maketh himselfe too familiar with them which breedeth contempt and abaseth his roiall dignitie But we may aunswere them as Theopompus king of Sparta did his wife who obiected this vnto him by way of reproch that by bringing in the Ephories and minglyng their gouernement with his he would leaue his authoritie and power lesse to his children than hee receiued it from his predecessours Nay said this Prince vnto hir I will leaue it greater bicause it shall be more assured The Emperour Aurelius sayd as much to his mother bicause hee freely heard euery one Besides as we see that in any great perill of sea or fire kindled to the daunger of publike profite no mans seruice or succour is reiected how base soeuer his calling is so it cannot but be profitable for the Estate when it is threatned with ruine and the affaires therof are of greatest importance to receiue the counsell of all that haue interest therein laying the opinions in the balance rather than the persons from whom they come And hereby the soueraigne maiestie and prudence of a Prince is knowen when he hath both power and skill to waigh and to iudge of their aduice that giue him counsel and to conclude with the soundest not the greatest side But to go forward with that which remaineth let so many as haue this honour to be ordinarie counsellors to Princes remember the saying of Solon the wise That they are not called thither to please and to speake to their liking but to vtter the truth and to giue them good counsell for common safetie that they must bring with them for an assured and certaine foundation of their conference about state-affaires a good intent mooued with reason and iudgement to profite him not with passions or desires of vain-glory of couetousnesse of emulation of any other imperfection that leadeth them to their priuate profite that they must at the entrie of the councell chamber vnclothe themselues of fauour towardes some of hatred towardes others and of ambition in themselues and aime at no other marke than at the honour of God and safetie of the Common-wealth To this ende they must necessarilie be furnished with wisedome iustice and loyaltie As for skill and knowledge although it be requisite in counsellors of estate namely the knowledge of the lawes of histories and of the estate of Common-wealths yet sound iudgement integritie and prudence are much more necessarie Aboue all things they must hold nothing of other Princes and Seignories that may binde them to their seruice And yet now a dayes to receiue a pension of them is so common a matter but very pernitious in any estate that it is growen to a custome Agesilaus would not so much as receiue a letter which the king of Persia wrote vnto him but sayd to his messenger that if the king were friend to the Lacedemonians he need not write particularly to him bicause he would also remaine his friend but if he were their enimie neyther letter nor any thing else should make him for his part otherwise affected To bee short let counsellors of estate learne of Plutarch that it is necessarie for them to be free from all passions and affections bicause in giuing of counsell the mind hath most force towards that wherunto the will is most enclined As for feare danger or threatnings they must neuer stay them from doyng their duetie but let them constantly propound and maintaine that which they iudge to be good and profitable for the Common-wealth We read that the Thasiens making warre with great vehemencie against the Athenians published a decree that whosoeuer counselled or spake at any time of concluding a peace between them should die the death Within a while after one of the citizens considering what great hurt his countrey receiued by that warre came one day into the assembly of the people with a halter about his necke and cried with a loud voyce that he was come thither to deliuer the Common-wealth by his death that they should put him to death when they would and that for his part he gaue them counsell to abrogate that law and to make peace which was done and he pardoned Considius a Romane Senatour would neuer be from the Senate no not when Caesar ruled all by violence and did what pleased him and when none of the other Senatours came any more through feare of his force And when Caesar asked him how he durst be there alone to stand against him bicause quoth he my age taketh all feare from me For hauing from hence forward such a short time to liue in I am not greatly carefull to saue my life If kings did correct all those that giue them ill counsell as Solyman did one of his Bassaes who was his kinsman they would not so readily