aduise ought wel to bee assured that in al or the most part hee shall erre O my lord Mark sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and auncient didst not thou think that as thou hadst buried many so like wise some should burie thee What imaginacions were thine to think that seeing the end of their days others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rych honourably accompanied old and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the common wealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast always beene a frend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Sins thou hast proued what honors and dishonors doo deserue ryches and pouerty prosperity and aduersity ioy and sorow loue and feare vices pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remayneth to know but that it is necessarye to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble lord that thow shalt learn more in one hour what death is then in a hundreth years what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to bee good and hast lyued as good is it not better that thow dye goe with so many good then that thow scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doo maruail that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discrete Many things doo the sage men feele which inwardly doo oppresse their hart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honor If all the poyson which in the sorowfull hart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the walles woold not suffice to rubbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore where with to shut the shop wherein all the miseries of this wofull lyfe are vendible What wrong or preiudice doo the gods vnto vs whē they cal vs beefore them but from an old decaied house to chaunge vs to a new builded pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherein wee shut our selues from the assaults of lyfe broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee fynd in death then of that wee leaue in lyfe If Helia Fabricia thy wife doo greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doo not care For shee presently hath litle care of the perill wherein thy lyfe dependeth And in the end when shee shall know of thy death shee will bee nothing greued Trouble not thy self for that shee is left widow For yong women as shee is which are maried with old men as thou when their husbands dye they haue their eies on that they can robbe and their harts on them whom they desire to mary And speaking with due respect when with their eies they outwardly seeme most for to beewaile then with their harts inwardly doo they most reioyce Deceyue not thy self in thinking that the empresse thy wife is yong and that shee shal fynd none other Emperor with whom agayn shee may mary For such and the like will chaunge the cloth of gold for gownes of skynnes I mean that they woold rather the yong shepeheard in the field then the old emperour in his royall pallace If thou takest sorow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shooldst do so For truely yf it greeue thee now for that thou dyest they are more displeased for that thow lyuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may bee counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that hee is not maintained if hee bee rich hee desireth his death to enherit the sooner Sins therefore it is true as in deede it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing thou weepe If it greue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces these sūptuous buildings deceiue not thy self therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death dooth finish thee at the end of .lxii. yeares tyme shal consume these sūptuous buildings in lesse then xl If it greeue thee to forsake the cōpany of thy frends neighbors for them also take as litle thought sins for thee they wil not take any at all For amongst the other compassions that they ought to haue of the dead this is true that scarcely they are buryed but of their frends neighbors they are forgotten If thou takest great thought for that thou wilt not dye as the other emperors of Rome are dead mee seemeth that thou oughtst allso to cast this sorow from thee For thou knowst ryght wel that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankful to those which serue her that the great Scipio also woold not bee buryed therein If it greeue thee to dye to leaue so great a seignory as to leaue the empire I can not think that such vanity bee in thy head For temperat reposed men when they escape from semblable offices do not think that they lose honor but that they bee free of a troblesome charge Therefore if none of al these things moue thee to desire lyfe what should let thee that through thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dye for one of these two things eyther for the loue of those they leaue beehynd them or for the feare of that they hope Sins therefore there is nothing in this lyfe worthy of loue nor any things in death why wee shoold feare why doo mē feare to dye According to the heauy sighs thou fetchest the bitter tears thou she dest according also to the great payn thou shewest for my part I think that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods shoold cōmaund thee to pay this debt For admit that al think that their life shal end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soone For that men think neuer to dye they neuer beeginne their faults to amend so that both life fault haue end in the graue togethers Knowst not thou most noble prince that after the long night cōmeth the moist morning Doost thou not know that after the moyst morning there commeth that cleere sunne Knowst not thou that after the cleare sunne cōmeth the cloudy element Doost thou not know that after the dark myst there commeth extream heat And that after the heat cometh the horrible thunders after the thunders the sodeyn lightnings that after the perilous lightnings commeth the terrible hayle Fynally I say that after the tempesteous troublesome time commonly commeth cleare faire weather The order that time hath to make him self cruel gentill the self same ought men to haue to liue dye For after the infancy cōmeth chyldhod after chyldhod commeth youth after youth cōmeth age after age cōmeth the fearfull death Finally after the fearful death cōmeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read of thee not seldome hard that
mye letter wherewithe thou mayest comfort thy sorowfull harte I saye no more to thee in this case but that thoroughe the gods thou maiest haue contentacion of all that thou enioyest healthe of thy person and comfort of thy frindes the bodely euels the cruel enemies the perilous destenies be farre from me Marke In the behalfe of thy wife Rufa I haue saluted my wyfe Faustyne she and I both haue receiued with ioye thy salutaciōs and withe thankes we sent them you agayne I desire to see thy person here in Italye and wyshe my feuer quartene there with thee in Scicile ¶ An exhortacion of the autcour to Princes and noble men to embrace peace and to eschewe the occasions of warre Cap. xij OCtauian Augustus seconde Emperour of Rome is commended of all for that he was so good of his persone so welbeloued in al the Romayne Empire Suetonius Tranquillus saieth that whē any man dyed in Rome in his time they gaue greate thankes to the gods for that they toke theire life from them before theire Prince knewe what deathe ment And not contēted onely with this but in their testaments they commaunded their heires children that yearely they should offer great sacrifices of their propre goodes in al the temples of Rome to the end the goddes shoulde prolong the daies of theire prince That time in deede myghte be called the golden age and the blessed land where the prince loued so well his subiectes and the subiectes so muche obeyed their prince For seldome times it happeneth that one will bee content with the seruices of all neyther that all wil be satisfyed withe the gouernement of one The Romaines for none other cause wished for that good prince more thē for thē selues life but because he kepte the cōmon wealth in peace The vertue of this prince deserued muche praise and the good will of the people merited no lesse commendation he for deseruinge it to them and theye for geuinge it to him For to saye the truethe there are fewe in nomber that so hartely loue others that for their sakes will hate them selues There is no mā so humble but in thinges of honour will be content to goe beefore saue onelye in deathe where hee can be content to come behinde And this semethe to bee verye cleare in that that nowe dyethe the father nowe the mother nowe the husbande nowe the wyfe nowe the sonne and nowe his neigheboure in the ende euerye man is content withe the deathe of an other so that he with his owne life maye escape him selfe A prince whiche is gentle pacient stout sober pure honest and true truelye hee of righte oughte to be commended but aboue all and more then all the prince whiche keepeth his common wealthe in peace hathe greate wronge if hee be not of all beloued What good can the common wealthe haue wherein there is warre and discencion Let euery man saye what hee will wytheoute peace noe man can enioye hys owne noe man can eate wytheoute feare noe man sleapeth in good reste noe man goethe safe by the waye noe man trustethe his neighboure finallye I saye that where there is noe peace there we are threatened daylye withe deathe and euerye houre in feare of oure lyfe It is good the prince doe scoure the realme of theeues for there is nothynge more vniuste thenne that whyche the poore wythe toyle and laboure doe gette shoulde wyth vacabondes in idlenesse bee wasted It is good the prince do weede the realme of blasphemers for it is an euidente token that those whiche dare blaspheme the kynge of heauen will not let to speake euill of the princes of the earthe It is good the prynce dooe cleare the common wealthe of vacaboundes and players for playe is so euill a mote that it eatethe the newe gowne and consumethe the drye woode It is good that the prynce doe forbydde his subiectes of prodigall bankettes and superfluous apparell for where men spende muche in thynges superfluous it chaunseth afterwardes that they want of their necessaries But I aske nowe what auailethe it a prynce to banishe al vices from his common wealthe if otherwise he keepeth it in warre The end whye prynces are prynces is to folowe the good and to eschewe the euill What shall we saye therefore sins that in the time of warre prynces cannot refourme vyces nor correcte the vycyous O yf Prynces and noble men knewe what domage theye doe to theire countreye the daye that they take vppon them warre I thinke and also affyrme that theye woulde not onelye not beginne it nor yet anye pryuate persone durste scarsely remember it And hee that dothe counsaile the prynce the contrarye oughte by reason to be iudged to the common wealthe an ennemy Those whiche counsayle prynces to seke peace to loue peace to keepe peace wythout doubte they haue wronge yf they be not hearde yf they be not beeloued and yf they be not credited For the counsailer whyche for a lyghte occasyon counsayleth hys prince to begynne warre I say that vnto hym eyther color surmountethe or els good conscience wanteth It chaunsethe oftentymes that the prynce is vexed and troubled beecause one certyfyethe hym that a prouynce is rebelled or some other prince hathe inuaded his countrey and as the matter requirethe the counsaile is assembled There are some to rashe counsailours whyche immediatelye iudge peace to be broken as lyghtlye as others doe desire that warres shoulde not begynne Whan a prynce in suche a case asketh counsayle they oughte forthewithe not to aunswere hym sodaynely for thinges touchinge the warres oughte withe greate wysedome firste to be considered and then withe as muche aduisement to be determined Kynge Dauid neuer toke warre in hande thoughe he weare verye wyse but fyrste he counsayled withe Godde The good Iudas Machabee neuer ētred into battaile but firste he made his prayer vnto almightye godde The Greekes and Romaynes durste neuer make warre againste theire enemies but first they would do sacrifice to the goddes and consulte also withe their Oracles The matters of iustice the recreacions of hys persone the reward of the good the punishment of the euill and the deuydynge of rewardes a Prince maye communicate wythe anye pryuate man but all matters of warre he oughte fyrste to counsayle withe God For the prynce shall neuer haue perfyte vyctorye ouer his enemies vnlesse he firste committe the quarell thereof vnto Godde Those whiche counsaile princes whyther it bee in matters of warre or in the affaires of peace oughte allwayes to remember thys sentence that theye geeue hym suche counsayles allwayes when hee ys whole in hys chamber as theye woulde if theye sawe hym at the poynte of deathe verye sycke For at that instaunte noe manne dare speake with flatterye nor burden hys conscience thoroughe bryberye Whenne theye entreate of warre theye whyche moue it oughte to considre that if it came not well to passe all the blame shall bee imputed to they re coūsaile And if that
children bee sick the death of their husbands then is renued imagining that it wil happen so vnto them as it hath doon vnto others And to say the trueth it is not maruel yf they doo fear For the vyne is in greater peril when it is budded then when the grapes are rype Other troubles oftentymes encrease to the poore widows the which amongst others this is not the least that is to weete the lytle regard of the frends of her husband and the vnthankfulnes of those which haue been brought vp wyth him The which since hee was layd in his graue neuer entred into the gates of his house but to demaund recompence of their old seruices and to renew and beegin new suits I woold haue declared or to say better breefly touched the trauels of wydows to perswade princes that they remedy them and to admonish iudges to heare them and to desire all vertuous men to comfort them For the woork of it self is so godly that hee deserueth more whych remedyeth the troubles of one only then I which write their miseries all together ¶ Of a letter whych the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote to a Romayn Lady named Lauinia comforting her for the death of her husband Cap. xxxvii MArcus of mount Celio Emperor of Rome cheef consull tribune of the people high Bishop appointed against the Daces wisheth health and comfort to thee Lauinia noble and woorthy Romayn matron the late wyfe of the good Claudinus According to that thy person deserueth to that which vnto thy husband I ought I think well that thou wilt suspect that I way thee litle for that vnto thy great sorows complaints lamentacions are now aryued my negligent consolaciōs When I remēber thy merits which can not fail imagin that the wilt remember my good will wherwith always I haue desired to serue thee I am assured that if thy suspitiō accuse mee thy vertu and wisedome will defend mee For speaking the trueth though I am the last to comfort thee yet I was the first to feele thy sorows As ignoraunce is the cruell scourge of vertues and spurre to all vyces so it chaunceth oft times that ouer much knowlege putteth wise men in doubt sclaundereth the innocent For asmuch as wee see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome are those which fall into most perilous vices Wee fynd the latins much better with the ignoraunce of vyces then the Greekes with the knowledge of vertues And the reason hereof is for that of things which wee are ignorant wee haue no payn to attayn vnto them and lesse grief also to lose them My intention to tell thee this was because I knew that which I woold not haue known and haue hard that which I woold not haue hard that is to weete that the days and troubles of Claudinus thy husband are ended now thy sorows Lauinia his wife doo begin It is now a good whyle that I haue known of the death of the good Claudinus my frend thy husband though I did dissemble it And by the god Mars I swere vnto thee that it was not for that I woold not beewayl him but because I woold not discōfort thee For it were extreme cruelty that shee which was so comfortlesse sorowful for the absence of so long time shoold bee killed with my hand through the knowledge of the death of her so desired husband It were to vnkynd vnseemly a thing that shee of whom I haue receiued so many good woorks shoold receiue of mee so euil news The auncients of Carthage held for an inuiolable law that if the father did tel the death of his sonne or the sonne the death of the father or the woman the death of her husband or the husband the death of his wife or any other semblable woful lamentable death that hee shoold bee cast into the prison among them which were condemned to dye It seemed to those of Carthage that hee which sayd vnto an other that his brother kinsman or frend was dead immediatly they shoold kil him or hee ought to dye or at the least hee shoold neuer bee seene in his presence If in this case the law of the Carthagians was iust then I ought to bee excused though I haue not told thee this heauy news For as oft as wee see him who hath brought vs any euill tydings our sorows by his sight is renued agayn Since Claudinus thy husband dyed I haue not had one hower of rest for to passe thy tyme away for feare lest such woful sorowful news shoold come to thy knowlege But now that I know thou knowst it I feele double payn For now I feele his death my care and thy want of consolation the domage by his death shal folow to the romayn Empire Thou hast lost a noble Romayn valyant in blood moderat in prosperityes pacient in aduersities coragious in dangers diligent in affaires wyse in counsels faithful to his frends subtill ware of his enemies a louer of the common wealth very honest in his person aboue all whereof I haue most enuy is that hee neuer offended man in his life nor hurt any with his tong Wee fynd seldom times so many vertues assembled in one man For saying the trueth if a man did narowly examin the vyces of many which presume to bee very vertuous I swere that hee shoold fynd more to reproue then to praise Since thou hast lost so good a husband I so faithful a frend wee are bound thou to beewayl so great a losse I to sigh for so good a cōpanion And this I doo not desire for Claudine who now resteth among the gods but for vs others which remayn in danger of so many euils For the dead doo rest as in the sure hauen wee others doo saile as yet in raging sea O thou heauy hart how doo I see thee beetweene the bell the clappers that is to weete that thou wantest the company of the good art enuironed with the flock of euil For the which occasion I doubt often times whether I may first bewaill the euil which liue or the good which are dead beecause in the end the euill men doo offend vs more which wee fynd then dooth the good men which wee lose It is a great pity to see the good vertuous men dye but I take it to bee more sorow to see the euill vicious men liue As the diuine Plato saith the gods to kill the good which serue them to geeue long life to the euill which offend them is a mistery so profound that dayly wee doo lament it and yet wee can neuer attayn to the secrets therof Tell mee I pray thee Lauinia knowst thou not now that the gods are so merciful with whom wee go when wee dye that men are so wicked with whom wee bee whiles wee liue that as the euill were born to dye so the good dye to lyue for the good man though hee
taketh away fear from death The deuine Plato demaūded Socrates how hee beehaued him self in life and how hee woold beehaue him self in death hee aunswered I let thee weete that in youth I haue traueled to liue wel and in age I haue studied to dye well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shal bee ioyful And though I haue had sorow to lyue I am sure I shall haue no payn to dye Truely these woords were woorthy of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruelously when the swet of their trauel is not rewarded when they are faithful and their reward answereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their frends beecome vnthankful to them when they are woorthy honor and that they preferre them to honorable rome and office For the noble and valyant harts doo not esteeme to lose the reward of their labor but think much vnkindnes when a man dooth not acknowledge their trauel O happy are they that dye For without inconuenience and without payn euery man is in hys graue For in this tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place wee merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall bee iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpryght that geeueth reward by weight payn by measure but somtimes they chastice the innocent and absolue the gylty they vex the faultlesse and dissemble with the culpable For litle auayleth it the plaintif to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that shoold minister Truely it is not so in death but all ought to count them selues happy For hee which shall haue good iustice shal bee sure on his part to haue the sentence When great Cato was censor in Rome a famous Romayn dyed who shewed at his death a merueylous courage and when the Romayns praised him for that hee had so great vertu and for the woords hee had spoken Cato the Censour laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And hee beeing demaunded the cause of his laughter aunswered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel For the perils and trauels considered wherein wee liue and the safety wherein wee dye I say that it is no more needful to haue vertue strength to liue then courage to dye The aucthor heereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censour spake as a wise man since dayly wee see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thrist trauel pouerty inconuenience sorows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the end in one day then to suffer them euery hour For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable lyfe O how small cōsideration haue men to think that they ought to dye but once Since the trueth is that the day when wee are born and comen in to the world is the beeginning of our death and the last day is when wee doo cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of lyfe then reason perswadeth vs to think that our infancy dyeth our chyldhod dyeth our manhod dyeth our age shall dye whereof wee may consequently conclude that wee dye euery yere euery day euery hour and euery moment So that thinking to lead a sure lyfe wee tast a new death I know not why men fear so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanted to any man to dye neither I knew any man that euer failed of this way Seneca in an epistle declareth that as a Romain woman lamented the death of a child of hers a philosopher said vnto her Woman why beewaylest thou thy child she aunswered I weepe beecause hee hath liued .xxv. yeres I woold hee shoold haue liued till fyfty For amongst vs mothers wee loue our children so hartely that wee neuer cease to beehold them nor yet end to beewayl them Then the Philosopher said Tell mee I pray thee woman why doost thou not complayn of the gods beecause they created not thy sonne many yeres beefore hee was born as well as thou complaynest that they haue not let him liue .l. yeres Thou weepest that hee is dead so soone and thou doost not lament that hee is borne so late I tel thee true woman that as thou doost not lament for the one no more thou oughtst to bee sory for the other For wythout the determination of the gods wee can not shorten death and much lesse lengthen life So Plinie sayd in an epistle that the cheefest law whych the gods haue geeuen to humayn nature was that none shoold haue perpetuall life For with disordinat desire to liue long wee shoold neuer reioice to goe out of this payn Two philosophers disputyng beefore the great Emperor Theodose the one sayd that it was good to procure death and the other lykewise sayd it was a necessary thing to hate lyfe The good Theodose takyng hym by the hand said All wee mortalles are so extreem in hatyng and louyng that vnder the colour to loue and hate lyfe wee lead an euyll lyfe For wee suffer so many trauels for to preserue it that sometymes it were much better to lose it And further hee sayd dyuers vayn men are come into so great follies that for fear of death they procure to hasten death And hauing consideration to this mee seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue lyfe nor with desperation to seeke death For the strong and valiaunt men ought not to hate lyfe so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that whych Theodose spake as Paulus Diaconus sayth in his lyfe Let euery man speak what hee will and let the philosophers counsell what they list in my poor iudgement hee alone shal receiue death without payn who long before is prepared to receiue the same For sodayn death is not only bitter to hym which tasteth it but also it feareth him that hateth it Lactantius sayd that in such sort man ought to liue as if from hence an hour after hee shoold dye For those men which will haue death beefore their eies it is vnpossible that they geeue place to vain thoughts In my oppinion and also by the aduyse of Apuleius it is as much folly to fly from that which wee cannot auoyd as to desire that wee cannot attain And this is spoken for those that woold flye the vyage of death which is necessary and desire to come agayn which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long ways if they want any thing they borow it of their company If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or els they write vnto their frends a letter But I am sory that if wee once dye they will not let vs return agayn wee cannot speak and they will not agree
wee shall write but such as they shal finde vs so shall wee bee iudged And that which is most fearfull of all the execucion and sentence is geeuē in one day Let princes and great lords beeleeue mee in this Let them not leaue that vndoon till after their death which they may doo during their lyfe And let them not trust in that they commaund but in that whiles they liue they doo Let them not trust in the woorks of an other but in their own good deedes For in the end one sigh shal bee more woorth then all the frends of the world I counsel pray and exhort all wise and vertuous men and also my self with them that in such sort wee liue that at the hour of death wee may say wee liue For wee cannot say that wee lyue whē wee liue not well For all that tyme which without profit wee shall liue shall bee counted vnto vs for nothing ¶ Of the death of Marcus Aurelius the Emperor and how there are few frends which dare say the truth to sick men Cap. xlix THe good Emperor Marcus Aurelius now beeing aged not only for the great yeres hee had but also for the great trauels hee had in the warres endured It chaunced that in the .xviii. yere of his Empire and .lxxii. yeres from the day of his birth and of the foundation of Rome .v. hundreth xliii beeing in the warre of Pannony which at this tyme is called Hungary beeseeging a famous citie called Vendeliona sodaynly a disease of the palsey tooke him which was such that hee lost his life and Rome her Prince the best of lyfe that euer was born therein Among the heathen princes some had more force then hee other possessed more ryches then hee others were as aduenturous as hee and some haue knowē as much as hee but none hath been of so excellent and vertuous a lyfe nor so modest as hee For his life beeing examined to the vttermost there are many princely vertues to follow few vices to reproue The occasion of his death was that going one nyght about his camp sodeinly the disease of the palsey tooke him in his arme so that from thence forward hee coold not put on his gown nor draw his sword and much lesse cary a staffe The good emperor beeing so loden with yeres and no lesse with cares the sharp winter approching more and more great aboundance of water and snow fell about the tenis so that an other disease fell vppon him called Litargie the which thing much abated his courage and in his hoast caused great sorow For hee was so beeloued of all as if they had been his own children After that hee had proued all medicins and remedies that coold bee found and all other things which vnto so great and mighty princes were accustomed to bee doon hee perceiued in the end that all remedy was past And the reason hereof was beecause his sicknes was exceeding vehement he him self very aged the ayer vnholsom aboue al beecause sorows cares oppressed his hart Without doubt greater is the disease that proceedeth of sorow then that which proceedeth of the feuer quartain And thereof ensueth that more easely is hee cured which of corrupt humors is full then hee which with profound thoughts is oppressed The emperor then beeing sick in his chamber in such sort that hee coold not exercise the feats of arms as his men ranne out of their camp to scirmidge the Hungarions in lyke maner to defend the fight on both parts was so cruell through the great effution of blood that neither the hungarion had cause to reioyce nor yet the romayn to bee mery Vnderstanding the euil order of his specially that .v. of his captains were slain in the conflict that hee for his disease coold not bee there in person such sorows persed his hart that although hee desired foorthwith to haue dyed yet hee remained two days three nights without that hee woold see light or speak vnto any man of his So that the heat was much the rest was small the sighs were continuall and the thirst very great the meat lytle and the sleepe lesse and aboue all his face wrynkled and his lips very black Sometimes hee cast vp his eyes and another tyme hee wrong his hands always hee was sylent and continually hee sighed His tong was swollen that hee coold not spit and his eyes very hollow with weeping So that it was a great pity to see his death and no lesse compassion to see the confusion of his pallace and the hinderaunce of the warre Many valiant captains many noble Romayns many faithfull seruaunts and many old frends at all these heauines were present But none of them durst speak to the Emperor Marke partly for that they tooke him to bee so sage that they knew not what counsel to geeue him and partly for that they were so sorowfull that they coold not refrayn their heauy tears For the louing and true frends in their lyfe ought to bee beeloued and at their death to bee beewailed Great compassion ought men to haue of those which dye not for that wee see them dye but beecause there are none that telleth them what they ought to doo Princes and great lords are in greater perill when they dye then the Plebeyans For the counsaylour dare not tell vnto his Lord at the hour of death that which hee knoweth and much lesse hee will tell him how hee ought to dye and what things hee ought to discharge whiles hee is aliue Many goe to visit the sick that I woold to god they went some other where And the cause heereof is that they see the sick mans eyes hollow the flesh dryed the arms without flesh the colour enflamed the ague continuall the payn great the tong swollen nature consumed and beesydes al this the house destroyed and yet they say vnto the sick man bee of good cheere I warrant you you shall liue As yong men naturally desire to liue and as death to all old men is dredfull so though they see them selues in that dystresse yet they refuse no medicine as though there were great hope of lyfe And thereof ensueth oftentymes that the miserable creatures depart the world without confessing vnto god and making restitutions vnto men O if those which doo this knew what euil they doo For to take away my goods to trouble my person to blemish my good name to sclaunder my parentage and to reprooue my lyfe these woorks are of cruell enemyes but to bee occasion to lose my soul it is the woorke of the deuill of hell Certeinly hee is a deuyll whych deceiueth the sick with flatteries and that in steede to healp hym to dye well putteth him in vayn hope of long lyfe Heerein hee that sayth it winneth lyttle and hee that beeleeueth it aduentureth much To mortall men it is more meete to geeue counsels to reform their consciences with the truth then to hasard their houses
space of an hour Considering the omnipotency of the diuine mercy it suffiseth ye and I say that the space of an hour is to much to repent vs of our wicked lyfe but yet I woold counsell all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one hour that that bee not the last hour For the sighs and repentaunce which proceed from the bottom of the hart penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessity dooth not perse the seeling of the house I allow and commend that those that visit the sick doo counsell them to examin their conscienses to receiue the communion to pray vnto god to forgeeue their enemiez and to recommend them selues to the deuout prayers of the people and to repent their sinnes fynally I say that it is very good to doo all this but yet I say it is better to haue doon it beefore For the diligent and carefull Pirate prepareth for the tempest when the sea is calm Hee that deepely woold consider how little the goods of this lyfe are to bee esteemed let him goe to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what hee dooth in his bed And hee shall fynd that the wife demaundeth of the poore husband her dower the doughter the third part the other the fift the child the preheminence of age the sonne in law his mariage the phisition his duity the slaue his liberty the seruants their wages the creditors their debts and the woorst of all is that none of those that ought to enherit his goods wil geeue him one glasse of water Those that shall here or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene doon at the death of their neighbors the same shall come to them when they shal bee sick at the point of death For so soone as the rych shutteth his eyes foorthwith there is great strife beetweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but whych of them shall inherit most of his possessions In this case I will not my penne trauel any further since both rich and poore dayly see the experience hereof And in things very manyfest it suffyseth only for wyse men to bee put in memory without wasting any more tyme to perswade them Now the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a secretary very wise and vertuous through whose hands the affairs of the Empire passed And when this secretary saw his lord and maister so sick and almost at the hour of death and that none of his parents nor frends durst speak vnto him hee plainly determined to doo his duity wherein hee shewed very well the profound knowledge hee had in wisdom and the great good will hee bare to his lord This secretary was called Panutius the vertues and lyfe of whom Sextus Cheronensis in the lyfe of Marcus Aurelius declareth ¶ Of the comfortable woords which the Secretary Panutius spake to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius at the hour of his death Cap. l. O My lord and maister my tong cannot keepe silence myne eies cannot refrayn from bitter tears nor my hart leaue from fetching sighes ne yet reason can vse his duity For my blood boyleth my sinnews are dryed my pores bee open my hart dooth faint and my spirit is troubled And the occasion of all this is to see that the wholsom counsels which thou geeuest to others either thou canst not or wil not take for thy self I see thee dye my lord and I dye for that I cannot remedy thee For if the gods woold haue graunted mee my request for the lengthning of thy lyfe one day I woold geeue willingly my whole life Whether the sorow bee true or fained it nedeth not I declare vnto thee with woords since thou mayst manyfestly discern it by my countenaunce For my eies with tears are wet and my hart with sighs is very heauy I feele much the want of thy company I feele much the domage which of thy death to the whole common wealth shal ensue I feele much thy sorow which in thy pallace shal remaine I feele much for that Rome this day is vndoon but that which aboue al things dooth most torment my hart is to haue seen thee liue as wise and now to see thee dye as symple Tell mee I pray thee my lorde why doo men learn the Greek tong trauel to vnderstand the hebrew sweat in the latin chaunge so many maisters turn so many bookes and in study consume so much money and so many yeres if it were not to know how to passe lyfe with honor and take death with pacience The end why men ought to study is to learn to liue well For there is no truer science in man then to know how to order his life well What profiteth it mee to know much if thereby I take no profit what profiteth mee to know straunge languages if I refrain not my tong from other mens matters what profiteth it to study many books if I study not but to begyle my frends what profiteth it to know the influence of the starres and the course of the elements if I cannot keepe my self from vyces Fynally I say that it lytle auayleth to bee a maister of the sage if secretly hee bee reported to bee a folower of fooles The cheef of all philosophy consisteth to serue god and not to offend men I ask thee most noble prince what auaileth it the Pilot to know the art of sayling and after in a tempest by neglygence to perish What auayleth it the valyaunt captayn to talk much of warre and afterwards hee knoweth not how to geeue the battayl What auaileth it the guyde to tell the neerest way and afterwards in the midst to lose him self All this which I haue spoken is sayd for thee my Lord. For what auayleth it that thou beeing in health shooldst sigh for death since now when hee dooth approch thou weepest because thou wooldst not leaue life One of the things wherein the wise man sheweth his wisedom is to know how to loue and how to hate For it is great lightnes I shoold rather say folly to day to loue him whom yesterday wee hated and to morow to sclaunder him whom this day wee honored What Prince so hygh or what Plebeyan so base hath there been or in the world shall euer bee the whych hath so lyttle as thou regarded lyfe and so hyghly commended death What thyngs haue I wrytten beeing thy Secretary with my own hand to dyuers prouynces of the world where thou speakest so much good of death that sometymes thou madest mee to hate lyfe What was it to see that letter which thou wrotest to the noble Romayn Claudines wydow comforting her of the death of her husband which dyed in the warres Wherein shee aunswered That shee thought her trouble comfort to deserue that thou shooldst write her such a letter What a pitifull and sauory letter hast thou written to Antigonus on the death of thy child Verissimus thy sonne so much desired Whose death
oke Ryches youth pride and lyberty are fower plagues which poison the prince replenysh the common wealth with filth kill the lyuing and defame the dead Let the old men beeleeue mee and the yong men mark well what I say that where the gods haue geeuen many gyfts it is necessary they haue many vertues to susteyn them The gentle the peaceable the couÌ„terfait the simple and the fearful doo not trouble the common wealth but those whoÌ„ nature hath geeuen most gyfts For as experience teacheth vs with the fayrest weomen the stews are furnyshed the most proper personages are vnshamefast the most stout and valiaunt are murderers the most subtill are theeues and men of clearest vnderstanding oft times beecome most fooles I say and say again I affirm and affirm agayn I sweare and sweare agayn that if two men which are adorned with naturall gyfts doo want requisyt vertues such haue a knife in their hands wherewith they doo strike and wound them selues a fyer on their shoulders wherewith they burn them selues a rope at their necks to hang them selues a dagger at their breast wherewyth they kyll them selues a thorn in their foote wherewith they prick them selues and stones whereat they stumble so that stumbling they fall and falling they fynd them selues with death whom they hate and without lyfe which so much they loued Note well Panutius note that the man which from his infancy hath always the feare of the gods beefore his eyes and the shame of men sayeth trouth to all and lyueth in preiudice to none and to such a tree though euil fortune doo cleaue the flower of his youth doo wither the leaues of their fauors drye they gather the fruits of hys trauailes they cut the bough of hys offices they bow the highest of his braunches downwards yet in the end though of the winds hee bee beaten hee shall neuer bee ouercome O happy are those fathers to whom the Gods haue geeuen quick children wyse faire able lyght and valiaunt but all these gifts are but means to make them vicious And in such case if the fathers woold bee gouerned by my counsayl I woold rather desire that members shoold want in them then that vyces shoold abound Of the most fairest chyldren which are born in the Empire my sonne Commodus the Prince is one But I woold to the immortal gods that in face hee resemble the blackest of Ethiope in maners the greatest philosopher of Greece For the glory of the father is not nor ought not to bee in that his childe is faire of complexion and handsome of person but that in his lyfe hee bee very vpryght Wee will not call hym a pytifull father but a great enemy who exalteth foorth his childe for that hee is faire and dooth not correct him though hee bee vicious I durst say that the father which hath a chyld endued with many goodly gyfts and that hee dooth employ them all to vices such a chyld ought not to bee born in the world and if perchaunce he were born hee ought immediatly to bee buried ¶ The Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth his matter and sheweth that sundry yong princes for beeing vicious haue vndoone them selues and impoueryshed their Realmes Cap. liij O What great pyty is it to see how the father buyeth his chyld of the gods with sighs how the mother deliuer them with payn how they both nourish them with trauailes how they watch to susteyn them how they labor to remedy them and afterwards they haue so rebelled and bee so vicious that the myserable fathers oftentimes doo dye not for age but for the greeues wherewith their children torment theÌ„ I doo remember that the prince CoÌ„modê° my sonne beeing yong I aged as I am with great payns wee kept him froÌ„ vices but I fear that after my deth hee wil hate vertues I remeÌ„ber many yong princes which of his age haue enherited theÌ„pire of Rome who haue beene of so wicked a life that they haue deserued to lose both honor and life I remember Dennis the famous tyraunt of Scicil of whom is sayed that as great reward hee gaue to those that inuented vices as our mother Rome dyd to those which conquered realmes Such woork could not bee but of a Tyrant to take them for most famyliar which are most vicious I remember fower yong princes which gouerned the empire but not with such valyauntnes as the great Alexander that is to weete Alexander Antiochus Siluius and Ptholomeus to whom for their vanyty and lightnes as they called Alexander the great Emperour in Greece so likewise doo they call these yong men tiraunts in Asia Very happy was Alexander in life they vnhappy after his death For all that which with glorious triumphs hee wanne with vile vices they lost So that Alexander deuided between them fower the world and afterwards it came into the hands of mo then fower hundreth I doo remember that kyng Antigonus litle exteemed that which cost his lord Alexander much Hee was so lyght in the beehauior of his person and so defamed in the affaires of the common wealth that for mockry and contempt in the steede of a crown of gold hee bare a garland in the steede of a scepter hee caryed neitels in hys hand of this sort and maner hee sat to iudge among his counsailours and vsed to talk with straungers This yong prince dooth offend mee much for the lightnes hee coÌ„mitted but much more I marueyl at the grauity of the sages of Greece which suffred him It is but meete hee bee partaker of the payn which condescended to the fault I doo remember Calligulus the fowerth Emperour of Rome who was so yong and foolysh that I doubt of these two thyngs which was greatest in his time That is to weete the dysobedyence which the people beare to their lord or the hate which the lord beare to hys people For that vnhappy creature was so dysordered in his maners that if all the Romayns had not watched to take life from him hee woold haue watched to take life from them This Caligula ware a brooche of gold in his cap where in were writen these woords Vtinam omnis populus vnam precise ceruicem haberet vt vno ictu omnes necarem Whych is to say woold to god all the people had but one neck to the end I might kyll them all at a stroke I remember the Emperour Tiberius thadoptiue sonne of the good Cesar Augustus whych was called Augustus beecause hee greatly augmented the empire But the good Emperour did not so much augment the state of hys common wealth duryng hys lyfe as Tiberius dyd dymynish it after hys death The hate and mallyce which the Romayn people bare to Tiberius in hys lyfe was manyfestly dyscouered after the tyme of hys death For the day that Tiberius dyed or better to say when they kylled him the Romayn people made great processyons and the Senators offred great presents to the Temples and the priests
in nothing delighted so much as by straunge hands to put men to death and to dryue away flies wyth his owne hands Smal is the nomber of those that I haue spoken in respect of those which I could recite of whom I dare say affirme that if I had bene as they I cannot tel what I would haue done or what I should haue desired but this I know it would haue bene more paynes to me to haue wonne the infamy that they haue wonne then to haue lost the lyfe that they haue lost It profyteth hym lytle to haue his ponds ful of fish his parkes ful of deere whych knoweth neyther how to hunte nor how to fysh I meane to shew by this that it profiteth a man lytle to be in great authority if he be not estemed nor honored in the same For to attayne to honour wysedome is requisite to kepe it pacience is necessarye Wyth great consyderacions wyse men ought to enterpryse daungerous thyngs For I assure them they shal neuer winne honour but wher they vse to recouer slaunder Returnyng therfore to our matter Puisaunt prynce I sweare durst vndertake that you rather desyre perpetual renowne through death then any idell rest in this life And hereof I do not merueile for ther are some that shal alwayes declare the prowesses of good prynces others which wyl not spare to open the vyces of euyl tiraunts For although your imperial estate is much your catholike person deserueth more yet I beleue wyth my hart se with these eyes that your thoughts are so highly bent vnto aduenturous dedes your hart so couragious to set vpon them that your maiestie litle estemeth the inheritaunce of your predecessours in respect of that you hope to gaine to leaue to your successours A captaine asked Iulius Cesar as he declareth in his commentaries why he trauailed in the winter in so hard frost in the sommer in such extreme heate He aunswered I wyl do what lyeth in me to do and afterward let the fatal destinies do what they can For the valiaunt knyght that gyueth in battayle thonset ought more to be estemed then fickle fortune wherby the victory is obtayned sins fortune gyueth the one aduenture gydeth the other These words are spoken like a stout valyaunt captayne of Rome Of how many prynces do we read whom trulye I muche lament to see what flatteries they haue herd wyth their eares being aliue and to redde what slaunders they haue susteyned after their death Prynces and great lords shold haue more regard to that whych is spoken in their absence then vnto that which is done in their presence Not to that whych they heare but to that whych they would not heare not to that whiche they tel them but to that which they would not be told of not to that is wryten vnto them being aliue but to that which is wryten of them after their death not to those that tell them lyes but to those whych if they durst would tel them trouth For men manye times refrayne not their tongues for that subiects be not credited but because the prince in his auctority is suspected The noble vertuous prince shold not flit from the trouth wherof he is certified neyther with flateryes lyes should he suffer himselfe to be deceiued but to examine himselfe se whether they serue him with trouth or deceiue hym with lyes For ther is no better witnes iudge of truth lyes then is a mans owne conscience I haue spoken al this to thintent your maiesty myght know that I wil not serue you wyth that you should not be serued That is to shew my selfe in my wryting a flaterer For it wer neither mete nor honest that flateries into the eares of such a noble prynce shold enter neither that out of my mouth which teach the deuine truth such vaine tales should issue I say I had rather be dispraysed for trew speaking then to be honoured for flatery lieng For of truth in your highnes it shold be much lightnes to heare them in my basenes great wickednes to inuent them Now againe folowing our purpose I say the historyes greatly commend Licurgus that gaue lawes to the Lacedemonians Numa Pompilius that honoured and adourned the churches Marcus Marcellus that had pitye on those whych were ouercome Iulius Cesar that forgaue his enemyes Octauius that was so welbeloued of the people Alexander that gaue rewards and giftes to al men Hector the Troyane because he was so valiaunt in warres Hercules the Thebane because he emploied his strength so wel Vlisses the Grecian because he aduentured himselfe in so many daungers Pirrhus king of Epirotes because he inuented so many engins Catullus Regulus because he suffered so many torments Titus the Emperour because he was father to the Orphanes Traianus because he edified sumptuous goodly buildings The good Marcus Aurelius because he knew more thē al they I do not say that it is requisyte for one prynce in these dayes to haue in him all those qualyties but I dare be bold to affirme this that euen as it is vnpossible for one prince to folow al so likewise it is a great slaunder for him to folow none We do not require princes to do al that they can but to apply themselues to do some thing that they ought And I speake not without a cause that whych I haue sayd before For if princes did occupy themselues as they ought to do they shoulde haue no tyme to be vycious Plynie saith in an epistle that the great Cato called Censor did were a ring vpon his fynger wherin was wryten these wordes Esto amicus vnius inimicus nullius which is be frend to one enemy to none He that would depely consider these few words shal find therin many graue sentences And to apply this to my purpose I saye the prince that would wel gouerne his common weal shew to al equal iustyce desire to possesse a quiet lyfe to get among al a good fame that coueteth to leaue of hymselfe a perpetual memory ought to embrace the vertues of one and to reiect the vices of al. I alow it verye wel that princes should be equal yea surmount many but yet I aduise theym not to employ their force but to folow one For oftētimes it chaunseth that many which suppose themselues in their life to excel al when they are dead are scarcely found equal to any Though man hath done much blased what he can yet in the ende he is but one one mind one power one byrth one life and one death Then sithen he is but one let no man presume to know more then one Of al these good princes which I haue named in the rowle of iustice the last was Marcus Aurelius to thintent that he should weaue his webbe For suppose we read of many prynces that haue compyled notable things the whych are to be redde and knowen
they ought to eschew Cap. xxvi The Emperour concludeth his letter parswadeth his frend Cincinatus to dispise the vanities of the world sheweth though a man be neuer soo wise yet he shall haue nede of a nother mans counsel chap. xxvii The auctor perswadeth princes great lordes to fly couetousnes and auarice and to become liberal which is a vertue semely for a Royal parson Cap. xxviii The auctor parswadeth gentlemen and those the professe armes not to abase them selues by taking vpoÌ„ them any vile offices for gaine sake Cap. xxix Of a letter themperoure wrote to his neighbour Marcurius wherin men maye learne the daungers of those whyche trafficke by sea see the couetousnes of them that trauaile by land Cap xxx The Emperour foloweth his matter concludeth his leter rebuking his frende Marcurius for that he toke thought for the losse of his goods He sheweth the nature of fortune the conditions of the couetous man Cap. xxxi That princes and noble men ought to consider the misery of mans nature that brute beasts are in some points reason set a part to be preferred vnto man cap. xxxii The auctor compareth the misery of meÌ„ with the liberty of beasts Cap. xxxiii The Emperoure wryteth his letter to Domicius to comfort him being banyshed for a quarrel betwixte him and another about the running of a horse verye comfortable to al them that haue bene in prosperitye and are now brought into aduersity Cap. xxxiiii That princes noble men ought to be aduocattes for widowes fathers of orphanes and helpers of al those whych are comfortles xxxv That the troubles gréefes sorowes of women are much greater thenne those of men wherfore prynces noble men ought to haue more compassion vpon womeÌ„ then on men Cap. xxxvi Of a letter which the Emperour wrote to a Romane lady named Lauinia comforting her for the death of her husband which is a great consolation for all those that are sorowfull for the dissease of their frendes Chap. xxxvii The Emperour perswaded widâ—es to put their wylles vnto the will of god exorteth them to liue honestly Chap. xxxviii That princes noble men ought to dispise the world for that ther is nothing in the world but plaine disceyte Chap. xxxix The emperour speaketh vehemently against th disceytes of the world Chap. xl Of a letter whych the Emperour Mar. Aure. wrot to Torquatus to comfort him in his banishement whyche is notable for all menne to learne the vanities of thys worlde Chap. xli The Emperour perswadeth al men by strong highe reasoÌ„s not to trust the world nor any thing therin Chap. xlii Princes and noble men oughte not to beare with Iuglers iesters parasites minstrelles loyterers nor with any such kynd of raskals And of the lawes which the Romains made in this behalfe Chap. xliii How some loyterers were punished by the auncientes and of these raskalles of our time Chap. xliiii Of a letter whiche the Emperour wrot to a frende of his certifieng him that he hadde banished from Rome the iesters iuglers conterfet fooles parasytes ruffiaÌ„s minstrels vacabondes and al other loyterers a notable letter for such as kepe couÌ„terfait foles in their houses Chap. xlv Howe the Emperour founde the sepulchres of many lerned Philosophers in Helespont whereunto he sent all these loyteres Chap. xlvi The emperour declareth the cause why these iesters and iuglers were admytted into Rome Chap. xlvii That Princes and noble men ought to remember that they are mortall and muste dy wher are sondry notable consolations against the feare of death Chap xlviii Of the death of the Emperour Mar. Aur. and how they are few frendes whiche dare say the truth vnto sickmen Chap. xlix Of the confortable wordes whiche the secretarye Pannutius spake to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius at the houre of hys death Chap. l. Pannutius the secretary exorteth al men wyllingly to accept death and vtterly to for sake the world his vanity Chap. li. The aunswere of the Emperour Marcus to Panutius his secretary wherin he declared that he toke no thought to forsake the world but all hys sorowe was to leaue behynde him an vnhappy childe to enherite the Empyre Chap. lii The Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth his matter and sheweth that sondrye yong Princes for beyng vitious haue vndone theÌ„ selues and impouerished their Realmes Chap. liii Of the wordes which the emperour M. Arelius spake vnto his sonne Commodus necessary for all noble yonge gentlemen to vnderstand Chap. liiii The emperour Mar. aur among other holsome counsels exorteth his son to kepe wise sage meÌ„ about him for to giue him counsell in all his affaires Chap. lv The emperour foloweth his matter and exorteth his sonne vnto certain particuler thinges worthy to be engraued in the hartes of men Char. lvi The good Marcus Aurelius Emperour of Rome endeth his purpose life And of the last wordes whiche he spake to his son CoÌ„modus of the table of counsels whiche he gaue him Chap. lvii The end of the Table of the third boke The table of the fourth booke The Epistle to the Reader The Prologue The Argument That it is more necessary for the courtier abidyng in court to bée of lyuely spirite audacitie theÌ„ it is for the souldiour that goeth to serue in the warres Chap. i. Of courtiers brawles quarels with the harbingers for ill lodging Chap. ii How the courtier shoulde entreate hys hoste or mayster of the house wheare he lyeth Chap. iii. What the Courtier must doo to wynne the Princes fauour Chap. iiii What maners and gestures becom the courtier when he speaketh to the Prince Chap. v. How the courtier should behaue himself to knowe and to visite the noble men and gentle men that bée great with the Prince and contynuing still in court Chap. vi Of the good countenaunce modestie the courtier should haue in behauing himselfe at the prince or noble mans table in that time of his meale Cap. vii What companye the courtier shoulde kepe and how he should apparel hymselfe Chap. viii Of the wyse maner the courtier should haue to serue and honour the Ladyes and gentlewomen and also to satisfye please the vsshers porters of the kyngs house Chap. ix Of the greate paynes and troubles the courtier hath that is toild in sutes of lawe and howe he must suffer and behaue himselfe with the Iudges Chap. x. The auctor speaketh of the beloued of the court admonishing them to be pacient in their troubles and that they be not partial in th affayres of the common weale Chap. xi That thofficers and beloued of the court should be very diligent and careful in the dispatche of the affayres of the prynce and common weale and in correctynge and reformyng their seruaunts they should also be very circumspct and aduised Chap. xij That the déerlings of the court beware they be not proude and hyghe minded for lightlye they neuer fal but
the tiraunt which was in Cicilia asking him why he possessed the Realme so longe by tirannye Phalaris aunswered hym agayne in another Epystle in these fewe wordes Thou callest me tyraunt bicause I haue taken this realme kept it this .32 yeres I graunt the quod he that I was a tiraunte in vsurpyng it For no manne occupyeth another mannes ryght but by reason he is a tyraunte But yet I will not agree to be called a tyraunte sithe it is nowe .xxxii. yeares sins I haue possessed it And though I haue atcheued it by tyrannie yet I haue gouerned it by wisedome And I let thee to vnderstande that to take an other mans goods it is an easie thing to conquer but a hard thing to kepe an easy thing but to kepe them I ensure the it is very hard The Emperour Marcus Aurelius maried the doughter of Antonius Pius the 16. Emperour of Rome and she was named Faustina who as sole heire had the Empire so through mariage Marcus Aurelius came to be Emperour this Faustine was not so honest and chast as she was faire and beautifull She had by him two sonnes Commodus and Verissimus Marcus Aurelius triumphed twise once when he ouercame the Perthians and an other time when he conquered the Argonantes He was a man very wel learned and of a deepe vnderstanding He was as excellent both in the Greke and latin as he was in his mother tongue He was very temperate in eating and drinking he wrote many thinges ful of good learning swete sentences He dyed in conquering the realme of Pannonia whiche is now called Hongarie His death was asmuch bewayled as his lyfe was desired And he was loued so intierlye in the citye of Rome that euery Romane had a statue of him in his house to th ende the memorie of him among them should neuer decay The which was neuer red that they euer did for any other king or Emperoure of Rome no not for Augustus Cesar who was beste beloued of all other Emperours of Rome He gouerned the empire for the space of 18. yeres with vprighte iustice and dyed at the age of 63 yeres with much honour in the yere clymatericke which is in the 60. and 3. yeres wherein the lyfe of man ronneth in great peril For then are accomplyshed the nine seuens or the seuen nynes Aulus Gelius writeth a chapiter of this matter in the boke De noctibus Atticis Marcus Aurelius was a prince of lyfe most pure of doctrine most profound of fortune most happie of all other princes in the world saue only for Faustine his wife and Commodus his sonne And to the ende we maye see what Marcus Aurelius was from his infancie I haue put here an epistle of his which is this ¶ Of a letter whych Marcus Aurelius sent to his frend Pulio wherein hee declareth the order of hys whole lyfe and amongest other thinges he maketh mencion of a thyng that happened to a Romaine Censor with hys host of Campagna Cap. ii MArcus Aurelius only Emperour of Rome greteth the his old frend Pulio wisheth health to thy parson and peace to the commen wealth As I was in the temple of the vestall virgens a letter of thine was presented vnto me which was writen long before and greatly desired of me but the best therof is that thou wryting vnto me briefly desirest that I should writ vnto the at large Which is vndecent for the authoritie of him that is chiefe of the empire in especial if such one be couetous for to a prince there is no greater infamy then to be lauishe of words and scant of rewards Thou wrytest to me of thy griefe in thy legge and that thy wounde is great and truly the payne thereof troubleth me at my hart and I am righte sory that thou wantest that which is necessarie for thy health and that good that I do wishe the. For in the ende all the trauailes of the life may be endured so that the body with diseases be not troubled Thou lettest me vnderstande by thy letters that thou art arriued at Rhodes and requireste me to write vnto the howe I lyued in that place when I was younge what time I gaue my minde to studie likewise what the discourse of my life was vntil the time of my being Emperoure of Rome In this case trulye I meruell at the not a lytle that thou shouldest aske me such a question and so muche the more that thou diddest not consider that I cannot without great trouble and paine answere thy demaunde For the doinges of youthe in a younge man were neuer so vpright and honest but it were more honesty to amend them then to declare them Annius Verus my father shewing vnto me his fatherly loue not accomplishing yet fully 13 yeres drew me from the vices of Rome and sent me to Rhodes to learne science howbeit better acccompanyed with bookes then loden with money where I vsed suche dilygence and fortune so fauoured me that at the age of 26. yeres I red openly natutall and moral philosophy and also Rethoricke and ther was nothing gaue me such occasion to study and read bookes as the want of moneye for pouertie causeth good mens children to bee vertuous so that they attaine to that by vertue which others come vnto by riches Trulye frende Pulio I found great want of the pleasures of Rome specially at my first comminge into the I le but after I had redde philosophie 10 yeares at Rhodes I toke my selfe as one borne in the countrey And I thinke my couersacion among them caused it to seme no lesse For it is a rule that neuer faileth that vertue maketh a straunger grow natural in a straunge country and vyce maketh the natural a straūger in his owne country Thou knowest wel how my father Annius Verus was 15. yeres a captaine in the frontiers against the Barbarous by the commaundement of Adrian my lorde and maister and Antonius Pius my father in law both of theym prynces of famous memorie which recōmended me ther to his old frendes who with fatherly counsel exhorted me to forget the vyces of Rome and to accustome me to the vertues of Rhodes And trulye it was but nedeful for me for the naturall loue of the countrye oft tymes bringeth domage to him that is borne therein leadinge his desier stil to retourne home Thou shalt vnderstand that the Rhodians are men of much curtesy requyting beneuolence whych chaunseth in few Iles because that naturally they are personnes deceitful subtile vnthankeful and ful of suspiciō I speake this bycause my fathers frends alwaies succoured me wyth counsayle and money which two thinges were so necessarie that I could not tell which of them I had most nede of For the straunger maketh his profit with moneye to withstand disdainfull pouertie and profitteth him selfe with counsell to forget the swete loue of his country I desired then to reade philosophy in Rhodes so long as my father continued
and burned 680. villages and slew so many in battaile schermidge and by Iustice that amounted to the nombre of .5000 persons For vnto the prowde and cruell captaines victory can neuer be glorious vnlesse they water the ground with the bludde of their enemies And furthermore in the cities and townes besieged the children olde men and women whiche died throughe hunger and pestilence were more in nombre than those whiche were slain in the warres For in warres the sworde of the enemies lighteth not vpon all but pestilēce and famine hath no respecte to any After this warre of the Palestines was ended immediatly after arose a more crueller betwixte the Allaynes and Armenians For there are many that se the beginninge of the troubles and miseries which aryse in Realmes but there are fewe that consider the ende and seke to remedye the same The occasion of this warre was as they came to the feast of the mount Olimpus they fell in disputacions whither of their gods were better whiche of them ought to bee preferred before other Whereof there sprange suche contradictions and suche mortall hatred that on euerye parte they were furiouslye moued to warres and so vnder a colour to mainteine the gods which they honoured both the common wealthes were brought into great pouertie and the people also into muche miserie The Emperoure Helius Adrianus seyng suche cruell warres to aryse vppon so lyghte occasion sente thither the captayne aboue named Iulius Seuerus to pacifye the Allaines and Armenians and commaunded hym that he should persecute those with warres whiche woulde not be ruled by his arbitrement and sentence For those iustlye deserue the sworde which with no reasonable condicions wil condescende vnto peace But Iulius Seuerus vsed suche pollicye that he made them good frendes and neuer touched them nor came nere them Whyche thynge was no lesse acceptable to the Emperour then profitable to the realmes For the captayne whyche subdueth the countrey by entreatye deserueth more honoure then he which ouercommeth it by bataile The agrement of the peace was made vpon suche condicion that the Allayns should take for their gods the Armenians gods and the Armenians on the contrarye the gods of the Allains and further when the people should imbrace and reconcile them selues to the senate that then the gods should kysse the one the other and to be reconciled to the temple The vanitie of the auncientes was suche and the blindnes of mortall men so greate and so subiect were they to deuillishe deuises that as easely as the eternall wisedom createth a true man now a dayes so easelye then a vaine man might haue inuented a false god For the Lacedemonians had this opinion that men had no lesse power to inuent goddes then the gods had to create menne ¶ Howe the Philosopher Bruxellus was greatly estemed amongest the auncientes for his lyfe and the woordes whyche he spake vnto the Romaines at the houre of hys death Cap. v. PHarasmaco in hys 20. booke De libertate deorum whereof Cicero maketh mencion in his booke De natura deorum saythe that when the Gothes toke Rome and besiged the highe capitoll there came amongest them a philosopher called Bruxellus the which after the Gothes were repulsed out of Italy remained with Camillus at Rome And because at that time Rome wanted Phylosophers this Bruxellus was had in great veneracion amongest all the Romaynes so that he was the first straūger of whom beyng alyue a statue was euer made in the Senate The Romaines vsed to make a statue of the Romains being aliue but not to strangers til after their death The age of this Bruxellus was 113. wherof .65 he had bene an inhabitaunt of Rome And among other things they recite .7 notable things of his lyfe 1 The first that in .60 yeres no man euer saw him issue oute of the walles of Rome For in the olde tyme the Sages were lytle estemed if in their behauiours they were not vpright 2 The second that in 60 yeres no man heard him speake an idel word for the words that are superfluous do greatly deface the authoritye of the person 3 The third that in al his time they neuer saw him loase one hower of time For in a wise man there is no greater follye then to see hym spende a moment of an houre idelly 4 The fourth that in al his tyme he was neuer detected of any vyce And let no man thinke this to be a smal matter For few are they of so longe life which are not noted of some infamy after their death 5 The fifthe that in all the 60. yeres he neuer made quarel nor striued with anye man and this thinge oughte to be no lesse estemed then the other For truly he that lyueth a long tyme without offering wrong to another may be called a monsture in nature 6 The sixt that in thre or foure yeres he neuer issued out of the temple and in this case this philosopher shewed himself to be a good man For the vertuous man ought not to content him selfe onlye to be voyde of vyces but he ought also to withdrawe hym selfe from the vycious 7 The seuenth last that he spake more often with the gods then with men This philosopher now drawinge nere to the houre of deathe al the Senate came to vysite him and to thanke him for that he had lyued so long amongest them in so good conuersaciō that so willingly he cared and watched for the wealth of Rome And likewise al the people of Rome wer right sorye for his sicknes that they should lose the company of so excellent and vertuous a man The good philosopher in the presence of theym all spake these words vnto the Senate ¶ Of that the sage Philosopher Bruxellus spake to the Senate of Rome at the hower of his death Cap. vi SInce you are wise o worthy senatours me thinketh you should not lament my death sithens I my selfe so ioyfully do receiue it For we ought not to lament the death we take but the wicked life we lead That man is very simple that dreadeth deathe for feare to loase the pleasures of life For death ought not to be feared for losse of life but because it is a sharp scourge of the wicked lyfe I dye noble Senatours in ioy pleasure First because I do not remember that euer I did any euil in all my life or displeasour to any of the common wealth And I am certaine that the man which dyd no euil to men in his life the gods wil do him no harme at the houre of his death Secōdarily I dy ioyfully to se al Rome lament the losse of my life For the man is very wicked and vnhappy whose life the people lament at whose death they do reioyce Thirdly I dye ioyfully only to remember that the 60 yeres which I haue bene in Rome always I haue trauailed for the cōmon wealth For the iust gods told me that ther is no
an auncient malediction on riches hydde and treasours buried which Epimenides casteth out sayinge these words All the treasours hurded vp by the couetous shal be wasted by the prodigall You say through that I wast in few dayes you shall haue neither to giue to wast nor yet to eate at the yeres ende To this I aunswere most gracious princesse that if you had bene as ready to releue the poore as you Iustinian were dilygent to robbe the riche then you should iustly haue complayned and I worthely might haue repented Tyll now we haue not sene but that of the riche you haue made poore notwithstanding this yet you haue not gotten enoughe to buyld an Hospital for the poore You say the Princes to resist their enemyes haue neede of greate treasours To this I aunswere if Princes be proud gready and of straunge realmes ambicious it is most certaine that they nede great treasours to accomplishe their disordinate appetites For the end of a tyraÌ„nous prince is by hooke or by crooke to make him selfe riche in his lyfe But if the Prince be or wil be a man reposed quyte vertuous paciente peaceable and not couetous of the good of an other man what nede hath he of great treasours For to speake truly in princes houses ther is more offence in that that auaunceth then in that that wanteth I wil not wast many words in aunsweringe sithe I am muche more liberal of dedes then of wordes but I conclude that ther is no Prince which in vertuous dedes wasteth so much but if he wil he may spend much more For in the end princes become not poore spending their goodes vpon necessaries but for wasting it vpon things superfluous And take this word for al that for this he shal not be the porer but rather the richer For it is a general rule in Christian reglion the god wil giue more to his seruaunts in one houre theÌ„ they wil wast in 20. yeres Iustinian was Emperour .11 yeres who being a foole and obstinate in the heresye of Pellagien died to the great offence of the Romaine people whose death was asmuch desired as his life abhorred For the tirannous prince that maketh many wepinge eyes in his life shall cause many reioysing harts at his death Iustinian being dead Tiberius was elected Emperour who gouerned the empire through so great wisedom and iustice that no maÌ„ was able to reproue him if the histories in his time did not deceiue vs. For it seldoÌ„ hapeneth to a prince to be as he was vpright in iustice pure in life clene in conscience For few are those princes which of some vices are not noted Paulus Diaconus in his 18 boke of the Romain gestes declare a thing merueilous which be fell to this emperour at that time and very worthy to know at this present And it is that in the Citie of Constantinople the Romaine Emperours had a palace very sumptuous and besemyng the auctoritie of the imperiall maiesty which was begonne in the time of Constantine the greate and afterwardes as the succession of good or euyll Emperours was so were the buildings decayed or repayred For it is the deede of a vertuous Prince to abolyshe vices of the common wealth and to make greate and sumptuous buildinges in his country This Emperour Tiberius hadde spent treasours to redeme poore captiues to build hospitalles to erect monasteries to marie and prouide for the Orphanes and widowes in this he was so prodigall that it came almost to passe that he had nothing to eate in his palaice And truly this was a blessed necessitie For catholike Princes ought to thinke that well employed which in the seruice of Christ is bestowed And hereof the Emperoure was not ashamed but thought it a great glory and that which onely greued him was to see the Empresse reioyce so much at his miserye For the high and noble hartes which feele them selues wounded do not so much esteme their owne paine as they do to see their enemyes reioyce at their griefe God neuer forsoke theym that for his sake became poore as it appeareth by this It chaunced one day that euen as the Emperour Tiberius walked in the middest of his palace he saw at his feete a marble stone whiche was in fourme of the crosse of the reademer of the world And because it had bene to vniuste a thing as he thoughte to haue spurned that with his feete wherwith we trust from our enemyes to be defended he caused the stone to be taken vp not thinking any thing to be ther vnder and immediatly after they found an other wherin likewise was the forme of the crosse and this beyng taken vp they founde an other in lyke maner and when that was pluct vp from he bottome there was found a treasor which conteyned the some of 2. millions of Duckettes for the which the good Emperour Tiberius gaue vnto all mighty god most high thankes and wheras before he was lyberal yet afterwardes he was much more bountiful For all those treasours he distrybuted amongest the poore and needye people Let therfore mighty princes and great lords see reade and profit by this example and let them thinke them selues assured that for geuing almes to the poore they nede not feare to become poore for in the end the vycious man caÌ„not cal him self rich nor the vertuous man can counte him selfe poore ¶ How the Chefetaine Naâ—setes ouercame manye battailes only for that his whole confidence was in god And what happened to him by the Empresse Sophia Augusta wherin may be noted the vnthankefulnes of Princes towardes their seruauntes Cap. xvi IN the yere of the incarnacion of Christ 528 Iustinian the great being Emperour who was the sonne of Iustines sister his predecessour in the Empyre the histories say in especially Paulus Diaconus in the 18. booke Degestis Romanorum that ther was a knighte of Greece in Rome who from hys tender yeres hadde bene broughte vppe in Italye He was a man of meane stature of a colericke complexcion and in the Lawe of Christe verye deuoute whyche was no small thinge For at that tyme not onelye manye knightes but almoste all the Bishoppes of Italye were Arrians This knightes name was Narsetes and because he was so valliant in armes and so aduenturous in warres he was chosen Chefeteyne generall of the Romane Empire For the Romaines had this excellency that when they had a valiaunt and stoute captaine although they might haue his weighte of gold giuen them they would neuer depart from his person He enterprised so great thinges he ouercame such mighty realmes and had suche notable victories ouer his enemyes that the Romaines said he had in him the strength of Hercules the hardinesse of Hector the noblenes of Alexander the policye of Pirrus and the fortune of Scipio For many of the vaine gentils held opinion that as the bodyes dyd distribute their goodes in the lyfe so did the soules parte their giftes after the deathe This
to breake the good auncient customes We ordeine and commaund that the gouernour of the Prienenses do worship and honour the gods and that he be a louer of the sacred temples For otherwise he that honoreth not god wil neuer mynister equal iustice vnto men We ordeine commaund that the prince of Prienenses be contented with the warres which his auncetours lefte him and that he do not forge new matters to inuade any other straunge countreis and if perchaunce he would that no man in this case be bounde neyther with money nor in person to follow or serue him For the god Apollo tolde me that that man whiche will take another mans goods from hym by force shall lose his owne by iustice We ordeine and commaunde that the gouernor of the Prienenses go to pray and worship the gods twise in the weeke and lykewise to visite them in the temples and if he do the contrarie he shal not only be depriued of the gouerment but also after his death he shal not be buried For the prince that honoreth not god in time of his lyfe deserueth not his bones should be honored with sepulture after his death ¶ How god from the beginning punished men by his iustyce and speciallye those Princes that dispise his Churche and howe all wicked Christians are parishioners of hell Cap. xxii WHen the eternall creator who measureth the thinges by his Omnipotencye and wayeth them by his effectuall wisedome created al things aswel celestiall as terrestial vysible as inuisible corporate as incorporate not only promised to the good whyche serued him but also threatened the euyll with plagues whych offended hym For the iustice and mercy of god go alwayes together to thintent the one should encourage the good and the other threaten the euyl This thinge semeth to be true for that we haue but one god which hath created but one word wherin he made but one gardeine in the whiche garden ther was but one fountaine and neare to that fountayne he appointed only one man one woman and one serpente nere vnto which was also one tre only forbidden which is a thinge meruelous to speake and no lesse feareful to see how god dyd put into the terrestial paradyse the same daye that the creacion of the worlde was finyshed booth a sword and gibet The gibet was the tree forbidden wherof they dyd eate wherfore our fathers were condemned And the sword was the punishment wherwyth we al as miserable chyldren at this day are beheaded For truly they dyd eate the bytternes of their fault and we do feele the griefe of the paine I meane not to shewe howe our God by hys power doothe raise vppe that whyche is beaten downe howe wyth his wysedome he guideth those which are blind how by his wyl he dissembleth wyth the euyll doers neyther wil I tel how he through his clemency pardoneth the offences and through his light lyghtneth the darknes nor how through his ryghteousnes he amendeth that whych is broken and through hys liberality paieth more then we deserue But I wyll here declare at large howe our omnipotente God through his iustice chastiseth those whiche walke not in his pathes O Lorde god howe sure may thy faithfull seruauntes be for their small seruices to receiue great rewardes and contrary the euill ought alwayes to lyue in as great feare lest for their heynous offences thou shouldest geue them cruel punishmentes For though god of his bounty will not leaue any seruice vnrewarded nor of his iustice will omitte any euill vnpunished yet for all that we ought to knowe that aboue all and more than all he wil rigorously chastise those which maliciously despise the holy catholyke faith For Christe thinketh him selfe as much iniuried of those whiche persecute his church as of those that laide handes on his persone to put him to death We rede that in times past god shewed sondry greuous and cruel punishmentes to diuerse high lordes and princes besides other famous and renowmed men But rigour had neuer such power in his hande as it had against those whiche honoured the infamed Idoll and violated the sacred temples For to god this is the most heinous offence to forsake the holy catholike faith in his life and to dispaire in his mercy at the houre of his death Woulde to god we had so much grace to acknowledge our offences as god hath reason to punishe our sinnes For if it were so thē we would amend in time to come god would graunt vs a generall pardon for al that is past I see one thing wherin as I thinke I am not deceiued which is this that the frailnes miseries which we commit we thinke them naturall and in the satisfaction and amendement of the same we say they are straunge so that we admit the fault condemne the paine which therby we do deserue The secret iudgements of god do suffer it and our offences do deserue it I do not deny but that the euyll may hold possesse this life at their pleasour but I sweare vnto them when they shal lest thinke of it they shal lose their life to their great displeasour for the pleasurs of this life are so vnconstant that we scarce begin to taste thē when they vade out of their sight It is a rule infallible whiche bothe of the good euill hath bene proued that all naturally desire rather to abound than to want and all that which greatly is desired with great diligēce is serched and through great trauaile is obteined and that thing which by trauaile is attained with loue is possessed that which by loue is possessed with much sorow is lost bewailed lamented For in th end we can not deny but that the watry eies do manifestly shewe the sorowfull hartes To the fine wittes and stout harts this is a continuall torment and endlesse paine a worme that alway gnaweth to cal to mind that he must lose the ioyfull life whiche so entierly he loued and taste the fearfull death whiche so greatly he abhorred Therfore to proue this matter which I haue spoken of before it is but reason that princes know if they do not know that euen as the diuine prouidence exalteth them to high estates they not deseruing thē so likewise his rigorous iustice will bring them to nought if they be vnthankeful for his benefites For the ingratitude of benefittes receiued maketh the man not worthy to receiue any mo The more a man through benefits is bound the more greuous punishment if he be vnthankefull he deserueth Al wyse men shuld finde if thei apply their mindes therunto that in chastising god calleth those offences first to his mind which are furthest from the thoughtes of men For before the tribunal of god our secret faultes are alwaies casting out bloud to th end he should execute of our persons open iustice And further I saie that in this case I doe not see that the prince is exempted more though he liue
Prince a house should abounde for his pleasours and to the immortall God there should wante a temple for his relickes The daye therefore appointed when they should carie the relicke of Gibeah to Bethleem there mette thirty thousand Israelites with a great nombre of noble men which came with the king besyds a greater nombre of straungers For in such a case those are no which come of their owne pleasure then those which are commaunded Besides al the people they say that all the nobilitie of the realme was there to thend the relicke should be more honoured his persone better accompanied It chaunced that as the lordes and people wēt singing and the king in persone dauncing the whele of the chariot began to fall and goe out of the waye the whiche prince Oza seing by chaunce set to his hand and his shoulder against it because the Arcke wher the relick was should not fall nor breake yet notwithstanding that sodainly and before thē all he fell downe dead Therfore let this punishmēt be noted for truly it was fearfull and ye ought to thinke that since god for putting his hande to the chariot to holde it vp stroke him with death that a prince shoulde not hope seking the destruction and decaye of the churche that god will prolong his life O princes great lordes and prelates sith Oza with suche diligence loste his life what do ye hope or loke for sith with such negligence ye destroy and suffer the churche to fall Yet once againe I doe retourne to exclaime vpon you O princes and great lordes syth prince Oza deserued such punishement because without reuerence he aduaunced him selfe to staye the Arke which fell what punishement ought ye to haue whiche through malice helpe the churche to fall ¶ Why kyng Balthasar was punished DArius kyng of the Perses and Medes besieged the auncient citie of Babilon in Chaldea wherof Balthasar sonne of Nabuchodonosor the great was kinge and lorde Who was so wicked a childe that his father being dead he caused him to be cut in .300 pieces gaue him to .300 haukes to be eaten because he should not reuiue againe to take the goodes and riches from him which he had left him I knowe not what father is so folishe that letteth his sonne liue in pleasures afterwardes the intrelles of the hauke wherewith the sonne hauked should be the wofull graue of the father which so many men lamented This Balthasar then being so besieged determined one night to make a great feast and banket to the lordes of his realme that came to ayde him and in this he did like a valiaunt and stoute prince to th ende the Perses and Medes might see that he litle estemed their power The noble and high hartes do vse when they are enuironed with many trauayles to seeke occasions to inuent pleasours because to their men they may giue greater courage and to their enemies greater feare He declareth of Pirrus kynge of the Epirotes when he was besieged very streightly in the citie of Tharenta of the Romain captaine Quintus Dentatus that then he spake vnto his captaines in this sort Lordes frendes be ye nothing at al abashed since I neuer here before sawe ye afraide though the Romaines haue compassed our bodies yet we haue besieged their hartes For I let you to wete that I am of such a cōplexion that the streighter they kepe my body the more my hart is at large And further I say though the Romains beate down the walles yet our harts shall remaine inuincible And though there be no wall betwene vs yet we wyll make them knowe that the hartes of Greekes are harder to ouercome then the stones of Tarentine are to be beaten downe But retourninge to king Balthasar The banket then being ended and the greatest parte of the night spent Balthasar the kyng being very well pleased that the banket was made to his cōtentation though he was not the sobrest in drynking wyne commaunded all the cuppes of golde and siluer with the treasour he had to be brought and set on the table because all the bidden gestes shoulde drinke therin King Balthasar did this to that ende the princes and lordes with all his captaines shoulde manfully helpe him to defende the siege and also to shewe that he had muche treasour to pay them for their paynes For to saye the truthe there is nothing that encourageth men of warre more than to see their rewarde before their eies As they were drinking merily at the banket of these cups which Nabuchodonosor had robbed from the temple of Hierusalem sodenly by the power of God and the deserte of his offences there appeared a hand in the wal without a body or arme which with his fingers wrote these wordes Mane Thetel Phares which signifieth O kinge Balthasar god hath sene thy life and findeth that thy malice is nowe accomplished He hath commaunded that thou and thy realme shoulde be wayed and hath found that ther lacketh a great deale of iust weight wherfore he comaundeth that thy life for thine offences be taken from thee and that thy realme bee put into the handes of the Perses and Medes whiche are thine enemies The vision was not frustrate for the same night without any lenger delay the execution of the sentence was put in effect by the enemies The king Balthasar died the realme was lost the treasours were robbed the noble men takē and al the Chaldeans captiues I would nowe knowe sith Balthasar was so extreamely punished only for geuing his concubines and frindes drinke in the sacred cuppes what payne deserueth princes and prelates then which robbe the churches for prophane thinges How wicked so euer Balthasar was yet he neuer chaunged gaue sold nor engaged the treasours of the Sinagoge but wat shall we say speake of prelates whiche without any shame wast chaunge sell and spende the churche goodes I take it to be lesser offence to giue drinke in a chalice as king Balthasar did to one of his concubines then to enter into the churche by symony as many do nowe a daies This tyraunt was ouercome more by folie than by couetousnes but these others are vanquished with foly couetousnes and simony What meaneth this also that for the offence of Nabuchodonosor in Hierusalem his sonne Balthasar shoulde come and be punished For this truly me thinke not consonaunt to reason nor agreable to mans lawe that the father should commit the theft and the sonne should requite it with seuen double To this I can aunswere that the good child is bounde to restore all the good that his father hath lefte him euill gotten For he that enioyeth the thefte deserueth no lesse punishement then he that committeth the theft For in th end both are theues and deserue to be hanged on the galowes of the deuine iustice ¶ Why Kyng Ahab was punished IN the first booke of Malachie that is to wete in the third booke of kinges the .viii. chap. It is
of lyfe constant in the defence of the Church and pacient in persecutions For he is a true relygious man that in tyme of peace is charitable to teache the ignorant and bold in the time of Scismes to confound the heretyques The Emperour Valente was not only not a frend to the Arrians an enemye to the Christians but also he was a persecutour of the deuoute and religious fryers For he commaunded proclamacyons to be had through all his realmes and domynions that all the relygious that were yonge in yeares hole of their bodyes and sound of their lymmes should immedyately cast of their cowles and hoodes leauyng their monasterye and take souldiers wages in the campe For he said Monasteryes were inuented for nothynge els but to maintaine those that were deformed blynde lame and maymed and vppon this occasion he shewed great tyrannye For many monasteryes were left naked many notable constitucions were broken manye hermites were martyred manye friers whypped many notable barons banyshed and many good men robbed of their goodes For the vertuous men desired rather the bytter lyfe of the monastery then the swete and pleasaunt lybertie of the world This Emperour yet not contented with these thinges as by chaunce his wife commended vnto him the beautye of a Romaine called Iustina without any more delaye he maried her not forsaking hys first wyfe and immedyatly made a lawe throughout all his Empire that without incurring any daunger eche Christian myght haue two wyues and mary with them by the lawe of matrymony For the tyrannous Princes to cloake their vyces make and enstablyshe the lawes of vices The shame was not litle that the Emperoure Valente against the commaundement of the Churche would marie wyth two women at one time but the lesse shame he had the greater was his iniquytye to put it in excucion and to cause it to be publyshed through hys realme as a law For a perticuler vyce corrupteth but one alone but a general law distroyeth al. At that tyme the puissaunt Gothes were in the parties of the orient the whych were in feates of armes very valyaunt and couragious but in thynges of faith they were euyl broughte vp althoughe the greateste part of them were baptysed For then the Churche was very poore of prelates howbeit those that they had were very notable men After the Gothes were baptysed and the furie of the warres somewhat appeased they sente Embassadours to the Emperour Valente desyring hym that immedyatlye and forthwith he would sende them holy catholyke Bishoppes by whose doctrine they myght be instructed and brought to the christian fayth For it was thought that the Emperoures of Rome coulde haue no byshoppes in their countryes vnlesse they were vertuous This wicked Emperour sythe he was now entangled with heresye and that he had peruerted the customes of the good Emperours that is for hauing about hym euil Bishoppes as he was enuyronned with all euills and myscheues so he sent to the Gothes a bishoppe called Eudoxius the whych was a ranke Arrian and brought with hym many Bishoppes which were heretyques by the whych the kynges and Princes of the Gothes were Arrians for the space of 200 yeares The catholyke Princes ought to take great care to watch and in watching to be ware and circumspect that they their Realmes neyther their subiects should in their time be defiled with heresie For the plague of heretykes and heresyes is not of lyght occasion bannished the place wher ons it hath reigned We haue declared of the small fayth that thys Emperoure had in Iesus Christe and of the greate myscheues he dyd to the Churche Let vs now see what was the ende of hys myserable life For the man of wycked lyfe seldome commeth to good ende The matter was this that as the Gothes were dryuen out of the Realme by some of the Hunnes they came immedyately to the Realme of Thracia which then was subiecte to the Romaynes And the Emperour Valente without anye couenaunte receyued theym into hys lande wherin he commytted great folye and vsed lytle wisedome For it is a generall rule wher rebelles vacabondes and straungers come to inhabyte there alwayes the Realme and dominions is destroyed The Gothes remayned certaine yeres amonge them without any discencion or quarrellynge against the Romaynes but afterwardes through the couetousnes of Maximus chiefe Captaine of the Romaines that denied the Gothes of their prouysion whyche so longe tyme remayned frendes arose betwene them so cruell warres that it was the occasion of the losse and vtter vndoing both of Rome and of all Italye For truly ther is no enmetye doth so much hurte as that of frendes when they fawle out once at dyscorde The warre now being kindeled the Gothes were scatered throughe the Realme of Thrace and they left no forte but they battered they came to no villagyes nor cytyes but they sacked they toke no women but they forced they entred into no house but they robbed Finally the Gothes in short time shewed the poyson that they had agaynst the Romaynes And let no man maruel that the Gothes committed so many cruell and heynous factes sith we that are Chrystians do commyt dayly greater offences For among rebelles it is a common errour that that whyche they robbe in the warres they saye they are not bound to restore in peace The Emperour Valente was then in the cytie of Antioche and sith he had assembled there a great army had greate ayde out of Italy he determyned hymselfe in person to go into the campe of the Romaynes and to gyue thonset against the Gothes wherin he shewed himselfe more bold then wise For a Prince in battaile can doo no more then one man nor fighte more then one man and if he die he is the occasion of the death and destruction of them all When both the hostes of the Romaynes and the Gothes ioyned ther was betwene theym a cruell and mortall fight so that in the first brunt the Gothes shewed them selues so valiaunte that they put to flight the Romaines horsemen leauing their fotemen alone in great ieopardy the which in short space after were discomfited and slaine not one left aliue For the barbarous sware that that day the Gothes should al dye or els vtterly they would destroy the name of the Romaynes And in this first charg the Emperour Valente was mortally woūded who perceiuing he had his deaths wound that the battaile was lost he determined to fire and saue himselfe But when fortune beginneth to persecute anye man she leaueth hym not vntill she se him dead or beaten downe without recouer Therfore as this wicked Emperour thincking to saue himselfe came into a shepecotte the enemyes seyng him in the end set fier on the shepecote and burnt him alyue So in one day he lost his person his lyfe his honoure and his empire It is mete that princes and great lordes should lift vp their eyes to consyder well thys historie of Valente that they straye not from
if the father had not bene vertuous and the childe sage But the Senate would haue done this and more also for Valentinian because he did deserue it well of the Romaine people For it is reason in distributing of the offices that princes haue more respecte to the desertes of the fathers then to the tender age of the children This young Gracian began to be so temperate and was so good a Christian in fauouring the churche that it was muche quiete and great pleasure to the Romaine people to haue chosen him and greater ioye to the father being aliue to haue begotten hym so that he lefte for him after his death an immortall memorie of his life For the childe that is vertuous is always the memory of the father after his death In the yeare of the foundation of Rome a thousand a hundreth thirtie and two she said Gracian the younger was created sole heire of the whole empire his vncle Valent and his father being departed the worlde After Gracian came to the empyre many Byshoppes whiche were banished in the t me of his vncle Valent were restored to the curche againe and banished al the sect of the Arrians out of his region Truly he shewed him selfe to be a very religious and catholike prince For there is no better iustice to confounde humaine malice then to establishe the good in their estate In the first yeare of the reigne of Gracian emperour all the Germaines and the Gothes rebelled against the Romaine empire for they would not only not obey him but also they prepared an huge army to enuade his empire Imagining that sithe Gracian was young he neither had the wytte nor yet the boldnes to resiste them For where the prince is young there oftimes the people suffred muche wrong and the realme great misery Newes come to Rome howe that the Gaules and Germaines were vp the emperour Gracian wrote to all the catholike byshoppes that they should offer in their churches great sacrifices with prayers vnto God and in Rome likewyse it was ordeined that generally processions should be had to the ende almighty god shoulde moderate his ire against his people For good Christians first pacifie god with praiers before they resiste their enemies with weapons This good prince shewed him selfe to be no lesse warlike in his outward affaires then a good Christiā in his religion For god geueth victories vnto princes more through teares then through weapons These thinges thus finished and his affaires vnto god recommended the noble emperour Gracian determined to marche on and him selfe in persone to giue the battaile And truly as at the first he shewed him selfe to be a good christian so nowe he declared him selfe to be a valiaunt emperour For it were a great infamie and dishonour that a prince by negligence or cowardnes shoulde lose that whiche his predecessours by force of armes had gotten The army of the enemies exceaded far the Romain army in nombre and when they met togethers in a place called Argentaria the Romaines being inferiour to their enemies in numbre were afraide For in the warres the great multitude of ennemies and their puissaunte power maketh oft times the desired victorie to be doubtfull This thing seene of the Romaines and by them considered importunatly they besought the Emperour not to charge the battayle for they saide he had not men sufficiente And herein they had reason For the sage prince should not rashely hazarde his person in the warre nor yet should lightely put his life in the handes of fortune The Emperour Gracian not chaunging coūtenaunce nor stopping in his wordes to al his knightes which wer about him answered in this wise ¶ Of the godly Oration which the Emperour Gracian made to his souldiours before he gaue the battaile Cap. xxvi VAliaunt knightes and companions in warre moste thankefully I accept your seruice in that you haue solde your goodes and doe offer your liues here to accompanie me in the warres and herein you shewe your duties for of right you ought to lose your goodes and to venture your liues for the defence suertie of your countrie But if I geue you some thankes for your company knowe you that I geue much more for your good counsell which presently you geue me for in great conflictes seldome is founde together both good counsell and stoute hartes If I haue enterprised this battaile in hope of mans power then you had had reason that we shoulde not geue the battaile seing the great multitude that they haue and the smal numbre that we are for as you say the weightie affaires of the publike weale should not vnaduisedly be committed to the incertaintie of fortune I haue taken vpon me this daungerous and perillous warres firste trusting that on my part iustice remaineth and sith god is the same onely iustice I truste assuredly he will geue me the victorie in this perillous conflict For iustice auaileth princes more that they haue then the men of warre do whiche they leade Wherfore sith my cause is iuste and that I haue god the onely iudge thereof on my side me thinketh if for any worldly feare I shoulde cease to geue the battayle I should both shew my selfe to be a prince of small fayth and also blaspheme god saying he were of small iustice For god sheweth moste his power there where the fraylenes of man hath leste hope Then sithe I beginne the warre and that by me the warre is procured and for me you are come to the warre I haue determined to enter into the battaile and if I perishe therein I shal be sure it shal be for the memory of my personne and the saluation of my soule For to die through iustice is not to die but to chaunge death for life And thus doing if I lose my life yet therefore I lose not my honour and all this considered I doe that whiche for the common wealth I am bounde For to a prince it were great infamy and dishonour that the quarell being his owne should by the bloud of others be reuenged I wyll proue this day in battaile whether I was chosen Emperour by the deuine wyll or not For if god this day causeth my life to be taken from me it is a manifest token he hath a better in store for me and if through his mercy I be preserued it signifieth that for some other better thing he graunteth me life For in the ende the sword of the enemie is but the scourge of our offences The best that I see therfore in this matter to be done is that til three daies be passed the battayle be not geuen and that we confesse our selues this night and in the morning prepare our selues to receiue our redemer besides this that euery man pardon his christian brother if he haue had any wrong or iniury done him For oftimes though the demaunde of the warre be iust yet many mishaps befall therin through the offences of those which pursue and followe the same
he geueth theÌ„ one which robbeth theÌ„ they require one to deliuer them from boÌ„dage he ordaineth one to kepe them as slaues And finally the Hebrues trusting to be deliuered of their iudges which ruled not according to theyr appetites god shal geue them a king that shal take they â–ª goodes from them by force O how many times ought we to pray vnto god to giue vs princes in our comon wealth prelates in our churches which do know how to gouerne vs and minyster vnto vs not accordynge to the weyght of our soule but accordyng to the measure of hys mercy Plato sath in the first booke of lawes that one of the most excellent lawes which the Siciones had in their prouince was to kepe the Cities that they shoulde not chaunge nor alter any thing therin Truly those Barbarous were sage in doing and Plato was very discrete to commend them therin For nothing destroyeth a common wealth soner then to suffer chaunges oftetimes therin Al these things semed to be true in the Hebrues the which in their gouernment were very rashe and vndiscrete For first they gouerned theym selues by Patriarches as Abraham was After they were gouerned by prophetes as Moyses by captaynes as Iosue by iudges as Geâ—eo by kynges as Dauid after they gouerned theymselues by Byshoppes as Abdias was and in the end the Hebrues not contented with all these God suffered that they should fall into the handes of Antiochus Ptolomeus and Herodes all tyrauntes This punishment fell accordyng to the iust iudgement of God vppon theym for their offeÌ„ces for it was euen mete that they that would not enioy the pleasauÌ„t lybertie of Iudea should tast the cruell seruitude of Babylone The condicion whych chaunced in the gouernement to the vnconstant Hebrues the same happened vnto the proude Romaines The which in the beginning of theyr Empire were gouerned by kinges afterwardes by tenne men then by the Consulles soo by the dictators by the Censours and afterwardes by the Tribu nes and Senatours and in the ende they came to be gouerned by Emperours and tirannous princes The Romaynes inuented all these alteracions in their gouernments for none other cause but to see whether they could be deliuered from the commaundement of an other For the Romaynes in this case were so proude harted that they had rather dye in lybertie then liue in captiuitie God had so ordeyned it and their wofull case dyd soo promyse it when they were aboue al other kyngs and realmes of the earth that then the slaue should be obedyent to his yronnes and the subiect should acknowledge the homage to hys maister And though the subiects do moue warres though kinges also do wynne Realmes and Emperours conquere Empyres yet wyl they or nyl they both great small should acknowledge them selues for seruauntes For duringe the tyme of oure fleshlye lyfe wee canne neuer withdrawe oure selues frome the yooke of seruitude And saye not you Princes for that you are puyssaunte princes that you are excepted from seruitude of menne For withoute doubte it is a thinge more vntollerable to haue their hartes burdened with thoughtes then their neckes loden with yrons If a slaue be good they take from him some yrons but to you that are prynces the greater you are they greater cares you haue For the prynce that for hys common wealthe taketh care hath not one momente of an houre quyete A slaue hopeth to be delyuered in hys lyfe but you can not looke to be delyuered tyl after youre death They laye yrons on the slaue by weyghte but thoughtes burdenne you wythoute measure For the wofull heart is more burdened with one houre of care thenne the bodye is pressed wyth twentye pounde of yrone A slaue or prysonner if he bee alone manye tymes fylethe of hys yrons but you Princes that are alone are more greuouslye tormented wythe thoughtes for soletarye places are Arbours and Gardeyns to woofull and heauye hartes A slaue hath nothing to care for but himselfe alone but you that be Princes haue to satisfie please al men For the prince shuld haue a time for himself also for those which are aboue him The deuine Plato saide wel that he that shold haue the lest part of a prince belonging to a prince oughte to be the prince himselfe For to the end the prince should be al his owne he ought to haue no part in himselfe Though a slaue worke trauaile in the day yet he slepeth without care in the night but you princes passe the daies in hearing importunate suetes the night in fetching innumerable sighes Finallye I say that in a slaue be it wel or be it euil al his paine is finished in one yere or is ended at his death but what shal a woful prince do when he dyeth If he were good ther is but a short memorie of his goodnes and if he hath bene euil his infamy shal neuer haue end I haue spoken these things to the ende that great small lordes and seruauntes should confesse and acknowledge the true signory to be onely vnto him who for to make vs lords aboue became a seruaunt here beneath ¶ When the tirannes beganne to reigne and vpon what occasion commaunding and obeying first began And how the auctorytie which the prince hath is by the ordenaunce of God Cap xxx CEasing to speake any further of the poetical histories auncieÌ„t feynings and speaking the truth according to the deuine histories the first that did loue in this world was our father Adam who did eate of the fruit forbidden that not so much for to trespasse the commaundement of one as for not to displease his wife Eue. For many now a dayes had rather suffer their coÌ„science a long time to be infected then one only day to se their wiues displeased The first homicyde of the world was Cayn The first that died in the world was Abel The first that had .ii. wiues in the world was Lamech The first citie of the world was by Enoch built in the fields of Edon The first musitian was Tubalcaim The first which sayled in that world was Noe. The firste tirant of the world was Nembroth The first priest was Melchysedech The first king of the world was Anraphel The first duke was Moyses The first which was called Emperour in the world was Iulius Cesar For vntil this time they which gouerned wer called CoÌ„sulles Censors Dictators And from Iulius Cesar hitherto haue bene called Emperours The first battaile that was giuen in the world as we rede was in the wild valleis which now they cal the dead salt sea For a great part of that that then was the maine land is now the dead sea The holy scriptures cannot deceue vs for it is ful of al truth by them it is declared that a thousand eyght hundred yeres after the world began there was no battaile assembled nor company that met to fight in the field for at that tyme
to be blamed for those which haue credit for their euil are many and those whych haue power to do well are very fewe ¶ Of the golden age in times past and worldly miserie which we haue at this present Cap. xxxi IN the first age golden world al liued in peace ech man toke care for his owne lands euery one planted sowed their trees corne eueryone gathered his frutes and cut his vynes kned their breade and brought vp their children and finally all liued by their owne proper swette trauaile so that they all liued without the preiudice or hurt of any other O worldly malice O cursed wicked world that thou neuer sufferest things to remaine in one estate and thought I cal the cursed maruaile not therat for when we are in most prosperitie then thou with death persecutest vs most cruelly Without teares I say not that I wil say that 2000 yeres of the world wer past before we knew what the world ment god suffering it and worldly malice inuenting it ploughes were turned into weapons oxen to horses goades to lances whippes to arrowes slinges to crosbowes simplycitye into malice trauaile into Idlenes rest to paine peace to warre loue to hatred charitie to crueltie Iustice to tyranny profite to domage almes to theft aboue al fayth into Idolatrie And finallye the swete they had to profite in their owne goods they tourned to bloud sheading to the domage of the comon wealth And herein the world sheweth it selfe to be a world herein worldly malice sheweth it selfe to be malicious in somuch as the one reioyceth the other lamenteth the one reioceth to stomble to the end the other may fall breake his necke the one reioyceth to be poore to the end the other maye not be riche the one reioyseth to be dispraised to the end the other may not be honored the one delighteth to be sad to the ende the other shoulde not be merye to conclude we are so wicked that we banishe the good from our owne house to the end that the euill might enter in at the gates of an other man When the creator created the whole world he gaue to eche thinge immediatly his place that is to wete he placed intelligence in the vppermoste heauen he placed the starres in the firmament the planettes in the orbes the byrdes in the ayre the earth on the center the fyshes in the water the serpentes in the holes the beastes in the mountaines and to al in generallye he gaue place to reste them selues in Now let princes and great Lordes be vaine glorious sayenge that they are Lords of the earth for truly of all that is created god only is the true Lord therof because the miserable man for his part hath but the vse of the fruit for if we thinke it reasonable that we should enioy the profite of that which is created then were it more conuenient we should acknowledge god to be the Lord therof I do not deny but confesse the God created al things to the end they should serue man vpoÌ„ condicion that maÌ„ shold serue God likewise but wheÌ„ the creature riseth against god immediatly the creator resisteth against man For it is but reason that he be disobeyd who one only coÌ„maundemeÌ„t wil not obey O what euil fortune hath the creature only for disobeying the comaundement of his creator For if man had kept his coÌ„maundement in Paradise god had conserued to the world the signorie but the creatures whome he created for his seruice are occasion to him of great troubles for the ingratitude of benefit heapeth great sorow to the discret hart It is great pitie to behold the man that was in paradise that might haue bene in heauen now to se him in the world aboue al to be interred in the intrailes of the earth For in terrestiall paradise he was innocent in heauen he had bene blessed but nowe he is in the worlde enuirouned with cares and afterwardes he shal be throwen into hys graue and gnawen of the wormes Let vs nowe see the disobedience wee hadde in the commaundemente of GOD and what fruite we haue gathered in the world For he is very simple that dare commit any vice taking no delight nor pleasure therof in his body In my opinion through the sinnes whiche our forefathers committed in paradise the seruitude remaineth in vs their children which are on the earth For so much as if I entre into the water I drowne if I touche the fire I burne if I cone neare a dog he biteth me if I threaten a horse he casteth me if I resiste the wynde it bloweth me downe if I persecute the serpent he poysoneth me if I smite the beare he destroieth me and to be brief I saie that the man that without pitie eateth men in his life the wormes shal eate his intrailes in the graue after his death O princes great lordes lode your selues with cloth of gold heape vp your great treasours assemble many armies inuente Iustes Torneis seke your pastimes reueÌ„ge your selues of your enemies serue your selues with your subiectes marrye your children to mighty kinges set them in great estate cause your selues to be feared of your enemies imploye your bodies to al pleasures leue great possessions to your heires rayse sumptuous buildinges to leaue memory of your persons I sweare by him that shal iudge me that I haue more compassion to see your sinfull soules then I haue enuy to see your vicious liues For in the end all pastimes will vanishe away and they shal leaue you for a gage to the hungry wormes of the earth O if princes did consider though they haue bene borne princes created norished in great estates that the day thei are borne death immediatly commeth to seke the end of their life and taketh them here and there when they are whole when they are sicke now tombling then rising he neuer leaueth them one houre vntill their woful burial Therfore sith it is true as in dede it is that that whiche princes possesse in this life is but small that which they hope in the other is so great truly I marueile why princes the which shal lie so straight in the graue dare liue in such so great largenes in their life To be riche to be lordes to haue great estates men should not therof at al be proude since they see how fraile mans condicion is for in th end life is but lone but death is enheritage Death is a patrimonie heritage which successiuely is inherited but life is a righte which daily is surrendred For death counteth vs somuche his owne that oftimes vnwaâ—es he coÌ„meth to assault vs life taketh vs such straungers that oftetimes we not doubting therof it vanisheth away If this thing theÌ„ be true why wil princes great lordes presume to coÌ„maunde in a straunge house which is this life as in their own house which is the
this innocent trauayler Truly hearing no more he would iudge him to be a foole for he is muche infortunate that for all his trauaile loketh for no rewarde Therfore to our matter a prince which is begotteÌ„ as an other man borne as an other man lyueth as an other man dieth as an other man and besides al this commaundeth all men if of suche one we should demaunde why god gaue him signory and that he should answere he knoweth not but that he was borne vnto it in such case let euery man iudge how vnworthy suche a kyng is to haue such authorie For it is vnpossible for a man to minister iustice vnlesse he knowe before what iustice meaneth Let princes and noble men heare this worde and let them imprinte it in their memory whiche is that when the liuing god determined to make kinges and lordes in this worlde he did not ordeyne theym to eate more then others to drynke more then others to sleape more then others to speake more then others nor to reioyce more then others but he created them vpon condition that sithe he had made them to commaunde more then others they shoulde be more iuste in their lyues then others It is a thinge moste vniuste and in the common wealth very sclaunderous to see with what authoritie a puissaunt man coÌ„maundeth those that be vertuous and with how much shame himselfe is bounde to all vices I knowe not what lorde he is that dare punishe his subiecte for one onely offence committed seing him selfe to deserue for euery deede to be chastised For it is a monsterous thing that a blynd man should take vppon him to leade him that seeth They demaunded great Cato the Censor what a king ought to do that he should be beloued feared and not despysed he answered The good prince should be compared to hym that selleth tryacle who if the poyson hurte hym not he selleth his triacle well I meane thereby that the punyshement is taken in good parte of the people which is not ministred by the vicious man For he that maketh the triacle shall neuer be credited vnlesse the profe of his triacle be openly knowen and tried I meane that the good lyfe is none other then a fine triacle to cure the coÌ„mon wealth And to whome is he more lyke whiche with his tongue blaseth vertues and imployeth his deades to all vyces then vnto the man who in the one hand holdeth poyson to take away lyfe and in the other tryacle to resiste deathe To the ende that a lorde be wholy obeyed it is necessary that all that he coÌ„maundeth be obserued firste in his owne persone for no lorde can nor may withdrawe him selfe from vertuous workes This was the aunswere that Cato the Censor gaue whiche in mine opinion was spoken more like a Christian then any Romaine When the true god came into the worlde he imployed thirtie yeares onely in workes and spente but two yeres and a halfe in teaching For mans harte is perswaded more with the worke he seeketh then with the worde whiche he heaâ—eth Those therefore whiche are lordes let them learne and knowe of him which is the true lorde and also let princes learne why they are princes for he is not a Pylot which neuer sayled on the seas In mine opinion if a prince will know why he is a prince I would saye to gouerne well his people to commaunde well and to mainteyne all in Iustice and this should not be with wordes to make them afrayde neyther by workes whiche should offende them but by swete wordes whiche should encourage them and by the good workes that shoulde edifie them For the noble and gentle harte can not resiste hym that with a louynge countenaunce commaundeth Those whiche wyll rule and make tame fierce and wylde beastes doe threaten and rebuke them a hundred tymes before they beate them once and if they keape them tied they shewe them sondrie pleasures So that the wyldenes of the beaste is taken away onely by the gentyll and pleasaunt vsage of the man Therefore sithe we haue this experience of brute and sauage beastes that is to wete that by their wel doing and by the gentle handling of them they voluntarely suffer them selues to be gouerned muche more experience we reasonable men ought to haue that is to knowe that being right and well gouerned we shoulde huÌ„blye and willingly obey our soueraigne lordes For there is no man so harde harted but by gentyll vsage will humble him selfe O princes and noble men I will tell you in one worde what the lorde oughte to doe in the gouernement of his commoÌ„ wealth Euery prince that hath his mouth full of troth his handes open to geue rewardes and his eares stopped to lyes and his hert open to mercy such a one is happy and the realme which hath him may wel be called prosperous and the people maye call them selues fortunate For where as truth liberalitie and clemency ruleth in the harte of a prince there wronges iniuries and oppressions doe not reigne And contrariwyse where the prince hath his harte flesshed in crueltie his mouthe full of tyrannies his handes defyled with bloude and enclineth his eares to heare lyes suche a prince is vnhappy and muche more the people the whiche by suche one is gouerned For it is vnpossible that there is peace and iustice in the common wealthe if he whiche gouerneth it be a louer of lyes and flatterers In the yere foure hundreth and fourty before the incarnatioÌ„ of Christ whiche was in the yere .244 of the foundation of Rome Darius the fourthe being kyng of Persia and Brutus and Lucius at Rome Counsulles Thales the great Phylosopher floryshed in Greece who was prince of the seuen renowmed sages by the whiche occasion all the realme of Greece had and recouered renowme For Greece boasted more of the seuen sages whiche they had then Rome did of all the valiaunt captaines whiche she nouryshed There was at that tyme muche contention betwene the Romaynes and the Greekes for so muche as the Greekes sayde they were better because they had mo sages and the Romaines sayde the contrary that they were better because they had alwayes mo armies The Greekes replied againe that there were no lawes made but in Grece And the Romaines to this answered that though they were made in Greece yet they were obserued at Rome The Greekes sayde that they had great vniuersities to make wyse men in And the Romaines sayde they had many great temples to worship their Gods in for that in the ende they oughte to esteme more one seruice done to the immortall goddes then all the other commodities that myghte come vnto men A Thebane knight was demaunded what he thoughte of Rome and Greece and he aunswered me thynkes the Romaines are no better then the Greekes nor the Greekes than the Romaines For the Greekes glorie in their tongues and the Romaines in their lances But we referre it to vertuous workes For one good worke
loued of his subiectes cannot liue in peace nor quyet and the realme that is not feareful of their king can not be wel gouerned The realme Sicilia had alwayes mightye Princes and gouernours for in auncient time it was gouerned by vertuous princes or els by cruel malicious tirauntes In the time of Senerus the Emperour ther reigned in Cecil a king called Lelius Pius who had so many good things in him that throughout al the empire he was very wel estemed and chiefly for foure lawes amongeste others hee ordayned in that Realme whiche were these folowing We ordaine that if amongeste equall persones there bee anye iniuries offered that they be punished or els that they be dissembled for wher enuye is roted betwene two it profiteth more to reconsile their good willes then to punish their persones We ordaine that if the greatest be offended by the least that such offence be litle reproued wel punished for the audacite litle shame also the disobedience of the seruaunt to the maister ought not to be reformed but by greuous punishment We ordaine that if any resist or speake against the comaundement of a prince that presently without delay he suffer death before them al for they may boldly by the way of supplycacion reuerently declare their grieffes and not by slaunder rebellyously dysobeye their lordes We ordaine that if anye rayse the common wealthe agaynste the Prince hee that canne fyrste strycke of hys heade maye lawefullye wythe oute fearynge anye daunger of punyshemente for hys heade is iustelye taken frome hym that woulde there shoulde be manye heades in the common wealthe Of all this before spoken Herianus is the authoure in hys fourthe booke of the kynges of Sicille where hee putteth manye and singuler lawes and customes which the auncientes had to the great confusion of these that be present For truly the auncientes did not onlye exceade these that be present in their workes and doings but also in speaking profound wordes Therfore returning to our matter mans life greatly trauaileth alwayes to defend the head in such sort that a man would rather suffer his hand to be cut of then to suffer a wound to be made in his head By this comparison I meane that a fault in a common wealth is a cut which cankereth festereth but the disobedyence to a prince is a wound which forthwith killeth Yf a man did aske me what vnion princes shoulde haue with their common wealth I would answere them in this sort that the wealth of the king realme consisteth herein That the king shold accompany with the good bannishe the euil For it is vnpossible that the king should be beloued of the common wealth if the companye he hath about him be reputed vicious He should also loue his Realme without dissymulacion the realme should serue him vnfainedly for the common wealth which knoweth it to be beloued of their Prince shal not find any thing to hard for his seruice Further that the kinge vse his subiectes as his children and that the subiectes serue him as a father for generallye the good father can not suffer his children to be in daunger neyther the good children wil dissobeye their father Also the king ought to be iust in his commaundementes and the subiectes faithful For if it be a good thinge in their seruices to liue vnder a iust law it is much better to lyue vnder a iust king Also the king ought to defende his subiectes from enemies they ought wel to pay him his tribute for the Prince who defended his people from enemyes and tirannye worthely deserueth to be lord of al their goodes Also the king ought to kepe his common wealth in quiet and ought not to be presumptous of his persone so the prince whych is not feared wel estemed shal neuer be obeyed in his commaundement Finally I say that the good king ought to do his Realme pleasure and the faithfull subiectes ought to endeuour them selues neuer to displease their kinge For that prince cannot be called vnfortunate who of his common wealthe is loued and obeyed ¶ As there are two sences in the head smelling and hering So likewise the prince whiche is the heade of the common weale oughte to here the complaintes of al his subiectes and should knowe them al to recompence their seruices Cap. xxxvii WE haue shewed how the prince is the common wealthe and nowe we wil let you vnderstand another notable thing which is this that as all sences are in the heade so oughte all estates to be in princes For the verues which are in many spred and skattered should be in one prince founde and gathered The office of the feete is not to se but to goe the handes office is not to heare but to labour the shoulders not to feele but to beare all these offices are not semely for the membres which are his subiectes but apperteineth to the king alone to exercise them For the head to haue eyes and no other members meaneth nought els but that onlye to the prince and to none other apparteyneth to know all for Iulius Cesar knewe all those of his host and named them by their proper names I counsel and admonishe you O you princes which shal heare see or read this thing that you do reioyce to visite and to be visited to see to be sene to talke to be talked with for the thinges whych wyth your eyes you se not you cannot perfectly loue A man ought also to know that the head only hath eares to note that to the king and to none other apperteyneth to here all and to kepe the gates open for them that haue any sewtes for it is no small matter to a common wealth to haue and obtaine of the prince easye audyence Helius Spartiahus commendeth highly Traian the Emperour that when he was on horsebacke to go to the warres alyghted againe to here the complainte of a poore Romaine which thing was meruelously noted amongest al the Romaines for if men were not vaine they should geue a Prince more honoure for one worke of iustice then for the victorye of many battayles Truly to a king it is no pleasure but rather paine and griefe and also for the common people auoyaunce that the prince alwayes should be enclosed and shut vp For the prince which shutteth hys gates agaynste his subiectes causeth theym not to open there hartes wyllynglye to obey hym How many and great slaunders doth their arise in the common wealth only for that the prince somtime wil not speake Iulius Cesar was Emperoure and the heade of all the empyre and because he was musing of weighty matters would not herken to him which would haue reueled the treason conspired agaynst him was that same day with .33 wondes in the Senate murdered The contrarye is red of Marcus Aurelius the Emperoure who was so famyliar with all men that howbeit he was chiefe of al and that the affaires which
compassiō vpon their griefes Princes also should endeuour them selues to be loued well willed because at their death they maye of all their seruauntes and frendes be lamented For princes ought to be suche that they may be prayed for in their life and lamented and remembred after their death Howe cursed is that prince and also howe vnhappy is that common wealth where the seruauntes wyll not serue their Lorde but for rewarde and that the Lorde doth not loue them but for ther seruices For there is neuer true loue where there is any particuler intereste With many stones a house is buylded and of many men and one prince whiche is the head of all the common wealth is made For he that gouerneth the common wealth may be called a prince and otherwyse not and the common wealth can not be called nor sayde a common wealth if it hath not a prince whiche is the head thereof If Geometrie doe not deceiue me the lyme whiche ioyneth one stone with an other suffereth well that it be myngled with sande but the corner stone that lyeth on the toppe ought to be medled with vnslekyd lyme And it soundeth vnto good reason For if the nether stones seperate the wall openeth but if the corner should slippe the buylding incontinently falleth I suppose fathers conscript you vnderstande very well to what ende I applie this comparison The loue of one neighbour with an other may suffer to be cold but the loue of a prince to his people should be true and pure I meane that the loue amongest frendes may well passe sometymes though it be colde but the loue betwene the kyng and his people at all tymes oughte to be perfect For where there is parfite loue there is no fained wordes nor vnfaithfull seruice I haue seene in Rome many debates among the people to haue bene pacified in one day and one onely which betwene the Lord and the common wealth aryseth can not be pacified vntyll death For it is a daungerous thing for one to stryue with many and for many to contende against one In this case where the one is proude and the other rebelles I wyll not excuse the prince nor let to condemne the people For in the end he that thinketh himself moste innocent deserueth greatest blame From whence thinke you cōmeth it that Lordes nowe a daies doe commaunde vniust thinges by fury that subiectes in iuste matters wyll not obey by reason I will tell you The Lorde doing of will and not of right would caste the willes of all in his owne braine and deriue from him selfe all counsayle For euen as princes are of greater power then all the reste so they thinke they knowe more then all the reste The contrary happeneth to subiectes who beinge prouoked I can not tel you with what frenesy despising the good vnderstanding of their Lord will not obey that that their princes willeth for the health of them all but that whiche euery man desireth for him selfe particularly For men nowe a dayes are so fonde that euery man thynketh the prince should loke on him alone Truely it is a straunge thing though it be muche vsed among men that one should desire that the garmentes of all other should be mete for him whiche is as impossible as one mans armour shoulde arme a multitude But what shall we be Fathers conscripte and sacred senate sith our fathers lefte vs this worlde with suche foly and that in these debates stryfes we their children are alwayes in dissention and controuersie and in this wilfulnes we shall also leaue our children and heires How many princes haue I seene and read of in my time of my predecessours whiche were vtterly vndone by to muche pryde and presumption But I neuer read nor heard of any whiche were destroyed for being courteous and louing to his subiectes I will declare by some examples whiche I haue read in bookes to the ende that the Lordes may see what they wynne by their good conuersation and what they loase by being to haulty The realme of the Sydonians was greater then that of the Caldeans in weapons and inferiour in antiquitie vnto that of the Assirians In this realme there was Debastia whiche was called a linage of kinges that endured two hundreth and .xxv. yeares because all those kinges were of a commendable conuersation And an other of Debastia endured no longer then fourty yeares And our auncientes tooke pleasure of peace whereof we are destitute and were ignoraunt of the warres whiche we nowe vse so muche Alwayes they desired to haue kinges whiche should be good for the common wealth in peace rather than valiaunt and couragious for the warre As Homere in his Iliade saieth the auncient Egiptians called their kinges Epiphanes and had a custome that Epiphanes alwaies should enter into the temples barefoote And because it chaūsed the Epiphane on a time to come into the churche hoased he was immediatly for his disobedience depriued and expulsed from the realme and in his steade an other created Homere declareth here that this king was proude euill conditioned wherefore the Egiptians depriued him and banished hym the realme taking occasion that he did not enter into the temple barefoote For truly when Lordes are euil willed and not beloued for a litle trifle and occasion the people will arise and rebell against them The saide Homere saide also that the Parthes called their kynges Assacides that the sixte of that name was depriued and expulsed the realme for that of presumption he had hym selfe to the mariage of a knight and being bidden and desired would not go to the mariage of a poore Plebeyan Cicero in his Tusculanes saith that in olde time the people perswaded their princes to communicate with the poore that they should abstaine and flye from the ryche For among the poore they may learne to be mercifull and with the ryche they shall learne nothing but to be proude Ye knowe right well Fathers conscript howe this our countrey was first called great Grece afterwarde it was called Latium and then Italie And when it was called Latium they called their kynges Marrani and truly though their borders were but narrowe yet at the leaste their stoutnes was great The Annales of those times say that after the thirde Siluius succeded a Marrane who was proude ambitious and euill cōdicioned in such sorte that for feare of the people alwaies he slept locked vp and therfore they depryued and banished him the Realme For the auncientes saide that the king should locke his dores at no houre of the nighte against his subiectes neither he should refuse in the daie to geue them audience Tarquine whiche was the last of the seuen kinges of Rome was very vnthankefull towards his father in lawe he was an infamie to his bloud a traytour to his countrey and cruell of his persone who also enforced the noble Lucretia and yet notwithstanding this they doe not call him vnthankefull infamous cruell traytour
for in the ende tyme is of such power that it cause the renowmed men to be forgotten and all the sumptuous buildinges to decaye and fall to the earth If thou wilt knowe my frende Pulio in what tyme the tyraunt this philosopher was I wyll thou knowe that when Catania the renowmed citie was builded in Cicilia neare the mount Ethna and when Perdica was the fourth kyng of Macedonia and that Cardicea was the thirde kyng of the Meedes and when Candare was fift king of Libeans and that Assaradoche was ninth king of the Assirians and when Merodache was twelft king of Caldeans and that Numa Pompilius reigned second king of the Romaines in the time of those so good kinges Periander reigned amonges the Assirians And it is meete thou knowe an other thyng also whiche is this That this Periander was a tyraunt not only in dede but also in renowme so that thei spake of no other thing thorowe Greece but it tended hereunto Though he had euill workes he had good wordes procured that the affaires of the cōmon wealth shuld be wel redressed For generally there is no man so good but a mā may finde somwhat in him to be reproued neither any man so euill but he hath some thing in him to be cōmended I doe yet remēber of my age being neither to young nor to old that I saw the emperour Traian my lord suppe once in Agrippine it so chaunced that wordes were moued to speake of good euil princes in times past as wel of the Grekes as of the Romains that al those which were present there cōmended greatly the emperour Octauian they al blamed the cruel Nero. For it is an aūcient custome to flatter the princes that are present to murmure at princes that are past When the good emperour Traian was at dinner when he praied in the tēple it was maruel if any mā sawe him speake any word that day since he sawe that thei excessiuely praised the emperour Octauian that the others charged the emperour Nero with more then neded the good Traian spake vnto them these wordes I am glad you cōmende the emperour Octauian but I am angry you should in my presence speake euil of the emperour Nero of none other for it is a great infamy to a prince being aliue to heare in his presence any prince euill reported after his death Truly the emperour Octauian was very good but ye will not denye me but he might haue bene better and the emperour Nero was very euil but yet you will graunt me he might haue ben worse I speake this because Nero in his first fiue yeares was the best of all and the other nyne folowyng he was the worste of all so that there is bothe cause to disprayse him and also cause to commende him When a vertuous man will speake of princes that are dead before princes whiche are aliue he is bounde to prayse onely one of their vertues which they had hath no licence to reuyle the vices whereof thei were noted For the good deserueth rewarde because he endeuoreth him selfe to folowe vertue the euill likewyse deserueth pardon because through frayltie he hath consented to vyce All these wordes the emperoure Traian spake I being present and they were spoken with suche fiercenes that all those whiche were there present bothe chaunged their colour and also refrained their tongues For truly the shamelesse man feeleth not so muche a great strype of correction as the gentill harte doth a sharpe worde of admonition I was willing to shewe thee these thinges my frende Pulio because that since Traian spake for Nero and that he founde in hym some prayse I doe thynke no lesse of the tyraunte Periander whome thoughe for his euyll workes he dyd we doe condemne yet for his good wordes that he spake for the good lawes whiche he made we doe prayse For in the man that is euill there is nothing more easier then to geue good counsayle and there is nothing more harder then to worke well Periander made dyuerse lawes for the common wealth of the Corinthians whereof here folowing I wil declare some We ordeyne and commaunde that if any by multipliyng of wordes kyll an other so that it were not by treason that he be not therefore condemned to die but that they make hym slaue perpetuall to the brother of him that is slayne or to the nexte of his kynne or frends for a shorte deathe is lesse payne then a longe seruitude We ordeyne and commaunde that if any these be taken he shall not dye but with a hotte iron shal be marked on the forehead to be knowen for a thefe for to shammefaste men longe infaime is more payne then a short lyfe We ordeyne and commaunde that the man or woman whiche to the preiudice of an other shall tell any lye shall for the space of a moneth carie a stone in their mouthe for it is not meete that he whiche is wonte to lye should alwayes bee authorysed to speake We ordeyne and commaunde that euery man or woman that is a quareler and sedicious persone in the common wealth be with great reproche bannished frome the people for it is vnpossible that he shoulde bee in fauoure with the Gods which is an enemie to his neighbours We ordeyne and commaunde that if there be any in the common wealth that haue receiued of an other a benefite and that afterwardes it is proued he was vnthankefull that in suche case they put hym to death for the man that of benefites receiued is vnthankefull oughte not to lyue in the worlde amonge menne Beholde therefore my frende Pulio the antiquitie whiche I declared vnto thee and howe mercifull the Corinthians were to murtherers theues and Pirates And contrarie howe seuere they were to vnthankefull people whome they commaunded forthwith to be putte to deathe And truly in myne opinion the Corinthians had reason for there is nothinge troubleth a wyse man more then to see him vnthankefull to him whome he hath shewed pleasure vnto I was willing to tel thee this historie of Periander for no other cause but to the end thou shouldest see and know that forasmuch as I doe greatly blame the vice of vnthankefulnes I will laboure not to be noted of the same For he that reproueth vice is not noted to be vertuous but he which vtterly flieth it Count vpon this my worde that I tel thee which thou shalt not thinke to be fained that though I be the Romain Emperour I wil be thy faithfull frend wil not faile to be thankefull towardes thee For I esteme it no lesse glory to know how to keape a frend by wysedom then to come to the estate of an emperour by philosophie By the letter thou sentest thou requiredst me of one thing to answere thee for the whiche I am at my wittes end For I had rather open my treasures to thy necessities then to open the bookes to answere to thy
younge Epesipus was of a good and cleare iudgement well made of his body and fayre of countenaunce and sithe in his youth he estemed his beautie more then his learninge the Emperour his vncle wrote him a letter into Grece whiche sayde this Marcus Aurelius the Romaine Emperoure firste tribune of the people and Byshop wysheth to thee Epesipus his nephew and scholler health and doctrine In the thirde Calendes of December came thy cosyn Annius Verus at whose comming all our parentage reioyced and so muche the more for that he brought vs newes of Gretia For truly when the harte hath the absence of that he loueth it is no one minute of an houre without suspition After that thy cosyn Annius Verus had spoken in generally to all bryngyng newes from their frendes and chyldren we talked together and he gaue me a letter of thyne whiche is contrary to that was wrytten me out of Grece because thou wrytest to me that I shoulde sende thee money to continue the in studye and they wrote vnto me from thence that thou arte more youthful and geuen to the pleasures of the worlde than becommeth thee Thou art my bloude thou arte my Nephewe thou werte my scholler and thou shalte bee my sonne if thou arte good But God wyll neuer that thou be my Nephew nor that I call thee my sonne duryng the tyme that thou shalt be younge fonde lyght frayle For no good man should haue parentage with the vicious I can not denye but that I loued thee from the bottome of my stomack and so lykewyse thy vnthriftynes greaueth me with all my harte For when I redde the letter of thy follyes I lette thee knowe that the teares ranne downe my cheekes but I wyll contente my selfe For the sage and wyse men though againste their wylles they heare of suche thynges paste yet it pleaseth them to redresse other thynges that maye come hereafter I knowe well thou canst not call it to mynde though perhappes thou haste it that when thy vnlucky mother and my sister Annia Milena died she was then young enough for she was no more but .xviii. yeares of age and thou haddest not then foure houres For thou were borne in the morning and she died at nonetide so that when the wycked childe possessed life the good mother tasted death I can tell that thou hast lost such a mother and I suche a sister that I beleue there was no better in Rome For she was sage honest and fayre the whiche thinges are seldome seene nowe a daies For so muche as thy mother was my sister and that I had broughte her vp and maried her I loued her tenderly And when she died here at Rome I redde then Rethorike at Rhodes because my pouertie was so extreme that I had no other thing but that whiche by reading Rethorike I did gette When newes came vnto me of the death of thy mother and my sister Annia Milena al comforte layde on syde sorowe oppressed my harte in suche wyse that all my mēbers trembled the bones sheuered myne eies without reste did lamente the heauy sighes ouercame me at euery minute my harte vanished awaye from the bottome of my harte I inwardly lamented and bewayled thy vertuous mother and my dere syster Finally sorowe executing his priuilege on me the ioyfull company greued me and onely with the louely care I quieted my selfe I knowe not nor can not expresse vnto the howe and in what sorte I tooke the death of my sister Annia Milena thy mother for in sleaping I dreamed of her and dreaming I sawe her when I was awake she represented her selfe before me remembring then that she liued I was sory to remember her death Life was so greuous vnto me that I woulde haue reioyced to haue bene put in the graue with her For truly he feeleth assuredly the death of an other whiche alway is sorowefull and lamenting his owne life Remembring therefore the great loue whiche my sister Milena bare vnto me in her life and thinking wherein I might requite the same after her death I imagined that I could not by any meanes doe any thing more acceptable for her then to bryng thee vp thou whiche arte her chylde and lefte an orphane so young For of all trauayles to a woman this is chiefest to leaue behinde her children to bring vp My sister being dead the firste thing I dyd was that I came to Rome and then sent thee to Capua to be broughte vp there in the whiche place harde at my nose they gaue the sucke two yeares For thou knowest right well that the money which by reading Rethorike I gate scarcely satisfied for thy dayly finding but that in the night I reade some extraordinary lecture and with that I payed for the mylke which thou suckedst on the dugge so that thy bringing vp depended vpon the labour of my lyfe After that thou wer weyned and brought from the teate I sent the to Bietro to a frende and kinsman of mine named Lucius Valerius with whom thou remainedst vntill fiue yeares were fully accomplished where I founde both him and thee all thinges necessary For he was in great pouertie and a great babler of his tongue in suche sorte that he troubled al men and angred me muche For truly a man should as willingly geue money to cause him to be silente whiche is talkatiue as to geue to a wyse man to heare him speake The fiue yeares accomplished I sente thee to Toringue a citie of Campagnia to a maister whiche taught children there called Emilius Torquates of whom to the end he should teache thee to reade and wryte three yeares I tooke a sonne of his whom he gaue me to reade to him Greke foure yeres so that thou couldest not haue any profite in thee without the encrease of my great trauayle and augmenting paine to my harte After thou were seuen yeares olde that thou couldest reade and wryte well I sente thee to studie in the famous citie of Tarenthe where I kept thee foure yeares paying to the maisters a great summe of money Because nowe a dayes through our euyll fortunes there is none that will teache without great stipende Without lamenting I doe not tell thee that in the time of the Cincinos whiche were after the death of Quintus Cincinatus vntill Cyna and Catullus the philosophers and maisters of Rome did neuer receiue one peny to teache sciences to any that would learne them For all the philosophers and maisters were by the sacred Senate payde and none ceased to study for lacke of money For in those dayes they whiche woulde applie them selues to vertue and sciences were by the common treasure mainteined As our fathers were wel ordered in their thinges so they did not deuide offices by order onely but also by order they paide their money in suche sorte that they paied first with the common treasure the priestes of the temples Secondly the maisters of scholes and studies Thirdly the poore wydowes and orphanes Fourthly the
apparayle whych he weare and aboue all he made as solempne a funeral to Euripides as if they had buried Vlisses And not contented wythal these thyngs he was neuer mery vntil such tyme he had done cruel execuciō of the malefactours For truly the iniury or death whych is done vnto him whom we loue is no other but as a bath and token of our owne good willes After iustice was executed of those homycides and that some of the bones all gnawen of the dogges were buryed a Grecian knight sayd vnto kyng Archelaus I let the know excellent kyng that all Macedonia is offended with the because that for so small a losse thou haste shewed so greate sorow To whom kynge Archelaus aunswered Among sages it is a thinge sufficientlye tried that noble hartes oughte not to shewe theymselues sadde for mishappes and sodaine chaunces For the king being sadde his realme can not and though it might it ought not shew it selfe mery I haue heard my father say once that princes should neuer shedde teares vnlesse it were for one of these causes 1 The first the Prince should bewaile the losse and daunger of his common wealth for the good Prince ought to pardon the iniuryes done to his parson but to reuenge the least act done to the common wealth he ought to hasarde himselfe 2 The second the good prince ought to lamente if any man haue touched his honour in any wise for the Prince which wepeth not droppes of bloud for the thinges touchinge hys honoure deserueth to be buryed quycke in his graue 3 The third the good Prynce ought to bewayle those whych can lytle and suffer muche For the Prynce whych bewayleth not the calamities of the poore in vaine and without profite lyueth on the earth 4 The fourth the good Prince ought to bewayle the glory and prosperity wherin the Tiraunts are For that prince whych wyth tyrannye of the euil is not displeased wyth the hartes of the good is vnworthye to be beloued 5 The fift the good Prynce ought to bewayle the death of wise men For to a Prynce there can come no greater losse then when a wyse man dyeth in his common wealth These were the words which the king Archelaus aunswered the Grecian knight who reproued him because he had wept for the death of Euripides the phylosopher The auncient Historiographers can say no more of the estimacyon whych the Phylosophers and wyse men had as well the Greekes as the Latynes but I wyl tell you one thinge worthy of noting It is wel knowen through all the world that Scipio the Ethnicke was one of the worthyeste that euer was in Rome for by hys name and by hys occasion Rome gotte such a memorye as shall euermore endure And this was not only for that he cōquered Affrycke but for the great worthynes of hys person Men ought not to esteme a lytle these two giftes in one man that is to wete to be happie and aduentures For many of the auncientes in times past wanne glory by their swords after lost it by their euil liues The Romaynes historographers say that the first that wrote in heroical meeter in the Latin tongue was Ennius the poete the workes of whom was so estemed of Scipio the Ethnicke that when this aduenturous so lucky Romaine dyed he commaunded in hys wil and testament that they should hange the image of thys Ennius the Poet ouer his graue By that the great Scipio did at his death we may wel coniecture how great a frend he was of sages in his life since he had rather for his honor set the statue of Ennius on his graue thā the banner wherwith he wanne and conquered Affricke In the time of Pirrus which was king of the Epirotes great enemy of the Romaines florished a philosopher named Cinas borne in Thessalie who as they say was the disciple of Demosthenes The historiographers at that time did so much esteme this Cinas that they sayd he was the maister measure of mans eloquence For he was very pleasaunt in words profound in sētences This Cinas serued for 3. offices in the palace of king Pyrrus 1 First he made pastime at his table in that he dyd declare for he had a good grace in thinges of laughter 2 Secondarily he wrote the valyaunt dedes of his history for in his stile he had great eloquence and to write the truth he was a witnes of syght 3 Thirdly he went for embassadoure in affaires of great importaunce for he was naturally subtyle and wittie and in dispatching busines he was very fortunate He vsed so many meanes in his busines and had so great perswasion in his wordes that he neuer toke vpon him to speake of thinges of warre but either he set a longe truce or els he made a perpetual peace The king Pyrrus sayd to this Cynas O Cinas for thre thinges I thanke the immortal gods 1 The first for that they created me a king and not a seruaunt for the greatest good that mortal men haue is to haue lyberty to commaund many and not to be bound to obey any 2 The second I thanke the immortal gods for that they naturaly made me stout of hart for the man which wyth euery tryfle is abashed it were better for him to leaue his life 3 The third I giue the immortal gods thankes for that in the gouernment of my common wealth and for the great affaires and busines of my real me as wel in warres as in other thinges they gaue me such a man as thou art in my company For by thy gentle speach I haue conquered and obtained many Cyties which by my cruell sword I could neuer wynne nor attayne These were the wordes which Pyrrus sayd to his frend Cinas the Poete Let euery Prince know now how great louers of wise men those were in tymes past and as vppon a sodaine I haue recyted these few examples so with smal study I could haue heaped infynite Historyes FINIS The ende of the firste Booke The Seconde booke of the Diall of princes vvherein the Authoure treateth howe Princes and greate Lordes shoulde behaue theym selues towardes their wyues And howe they ought to noryshe and brynge vp their Children ¶ Of what excellencye mariage is and wheras common people marie of free will Princes and noble men oughte to marye of necessitie Cap. i. AMonge all the frendships and companyes of this lyfe ther is none so naturall as that betwene the husbande and the wife lyuing in one house for all other compagnies are caused by free wil only but this procedeth both by wil necessity Ther is at this day no Lion so fierce no Serpent so venimous no Viper so infectiue no Aspicke so mortall neyther any beast so tirrible but at the least both male female do once in the yere mete conioyne and thoughe that in brute beastes there lacketh reason yet notwithstandynge they haue a naturall instinction to assemble themselues for the
gladsome mynde he trained was to spend Synce that his youth which slippeth loe by stelth To waite on me he freely did commend Since he such heapes of lingring harmes did wast Aye to contente my wanton youthly wil And that his breath to fade did passe so fast To glut their thrust that thus his bloud did spill Though great the dutie be which that I owe Vnto his graued ghost and â—indred moulde Yet loe me seames my duetie well I showe Perfourming that my feble power coulde For since for me vntwined was his threede Of giltles life that ought to purchase breath Can reasons doome conclude I ought to dreede For his decaye to clyme the steppes of death In wretched earth my father graued lyes My deere mother hath ronne her rase of life The pride of loue no more can dawnt mine eies My wasted goodes ar shronke by fortunes strife My honours sone eclipsed is by fate My yong delight is loe fordone by chaunce My broken life these passed happes so hate As can my graued hart no more aduaunce And nowe remaines to duetie with my phere No more but refuse loe my yrkesome life With willing mynde followed eke with drere Whiche I resigne as sitteth for a wife And thou Sinoris whiche Iunos yoke doest craue To presse my corps to feede thy liking lust The route of Homers gods the graunt to haue In steade of roiall feates a throne of dust In chaunge of costlie robes and riche araie A simple winding sheete they deigne the giue And eke in stede of honest wedlockes staie They singe thy dirge and not vouchsaue the liue In place of himens hie vnfiled bedde They laie thée vp in closure of thy graue In steed with precious meates for to be fedde They make the wormes for fitter praie thee haue In steed of songe and musikes tuned sowne They waite on thée with loude lamenting voice In chaunge of ioyfull life and hie renowne Thy cruell death may sprede with wretched noise For you great gods that stalled be on hie Should not be iust ne yet suche titles clame Vnles this wretche ye ruthles cause to die That liueth nowe to sclaunder of your name And thou Dian that haunted courtes doost shonne Knowst with what great delight this life I leaue And when the race of spending breath is donne Will perse the soile that did my phere receaue ¶ And if perchaunce the paled ghostes despise Suche fatall fine with grudge of thankeles minde Yet at the least the shamefast liuing eies Shall haue a glasse rare wysely giftes to finde Wherein I will that Lucres secte shall gase But none that lyue like Helens line in blase AND when the praier was ended that this faire and vertuous Camma made she dranke and gaue to drynke to Sinoris of this cuppe of poyson who thought to drynke no other but good wyne and water and the case was suche that he died at noone daies and she likewyse in the eueninge after And truly her death of all Grece with as great sorowe was lamented as her life of all men was desired Princesses and great Ladies may moste euidently perceiue by the examples herein conteyned howe honest and honourable it is for them to loue and endeuoure them selues to be beloued of their husbandes and that not onely in their lyfe but also after their deathe For the wyfe to serue her husbande in his life seameth oft tymes to proceade of feare but to loue and honour him in his graue proceadeth of loue Princesses and great Ladies ought not to doe that which many other women of the common people doe that is to wete to seke some drinkes and inuente some shamefull sorceries to be beloued of their husbandes for albeit it is a great burden of conscience and lacke of shame in lyke maner to vse such superstitions yet it should be a thing to vniust and very slaunderous that for to be beloued of their husbandes they should procure to bee hated of God Truly to loue to serue and contente God it is not hurtefull to the woman for that she should be the better beloued of her husbande but yet God hathe suffered and doth permitte oftetymes that the women beinge feble deformed poore and negligent should be better beloued of their husbandes then the diligent faire and ryche And this is not for the seruices they doe to their husbandes but for the good intention they haue to serue loue God whiche sheweth them this especiall fauour for otherwyse God doth not suffer that he being with her displeased she should lyue with her husbande contented If women would take this councell that I geue them in this case I wil teache them furthermore a notable enchauntement to obteine the loue of their husbandes whiche is that they be quiet meke pacient solitary and honest with which fiue herbes they may make a confection the which neither seene nor tasted of their husbands shal not onely cause them to be beloued but also honoured For women ought to knowe that for their beautie they are desyred but for their vertue onely they are beloued ¶ That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be obedient to their husbandes and that it is a great shame to the husbande that his wyfe should commaunde him Cap. vi MAny auncient historiographers trauailed greatly and consumed long tyme in wryting to declare what authoritie the man ought to haue ouer the woman and what seruitude the woman oweth to the man and some for to auaunce the dignitie of the man and others to excuse the frailtie of the woman alleged such vayne thinges that it had bene more honour for them not to haue written at all then in suche sorte as they did For it is not possible but the wryters should erre whiche wryte not as reason teacheth but rather as their fantasie leadeth Those that defende the frailtie of the women saied that the woman hath a body as a man she hath a soule as a man she hath reason as a man dieth as a man and was as necessarie for generation as man she liueth as a man and therefore they thought it not mete that she should be more subiect to man then man to her for it is not reason that that whiche nature hath made free should by any lawes of man be made bond They saide furthermore that God created not the creatours but to augmente the generation of mankinde and that in this case the woman was more necessary then the man for the man engendreth without payne or trauayle but the woman is deliuered with perill and daunger and with payne and trauayle norysheth vp the childe Wherfore it seameth great vnkindnes and crueltie that the women whiche are deliuered with peryll and daunger of their lyues and brynge vp their chyldren with laboure and toyle of their bodyes should be vsed of their husbandes as sclaues They sayed further that men are those that cursse that moue seditions that make warres that mayntayne enmytie that weare weapons that sheade mans bloude
a man haue hys desire that is to say to haue his wife great with child and redy to bring forth good fruite afterward to se the woful mother through some sodeine accident peryshe the innocent babe not to be borne When the woman is healthful bigge with child she is worthy of great reproch if eyther by runnyng leaping or dauncing any mischaunce hap vnto her And truly the husband hath great cause to lament this case for without doubt the gardiner fealeth great grefe in his hart when in the prime time the tre is loden with blosomes and yet by reason of some sharpe and bitter froste it neuer beareth fruit It is not only euyl that women should runne leape when they are bigge great with chyld but it is also dishonest and specially for great Ladies for alwayes women that be common dauncers are esteamed as light housewiues The wiues in general princesses and great ladies in particuler ought to go temperately to be modest in their mouinges for the modeste gate argueth discretnes in the person Al women naturally desire to be honoured reuerenced touching that I let them know that ther is nothing which in a common wealth is more honor for a woman then to be wise ware in speaking moderate quyet in going For it is vnpossible but that the woman which is lyght in her going and malycious in her talking should be dispised and abhorred In the yere of the foundacion of Rome .466 the romaines sente Curius Dentatus to make warre agaynst king Pirrus who kept the city of Tharent did much harme to the people in Rome for the Romaines had a great corage to conquere straunge realmes therfore they could haue no pacience to suffer any straunger to inuade theirs This Curius Dentatus was he which in the end ouercame king Pirrus was the fyrst that brought the Oliphantes to Rome in his tryumphe wherfore the fiercenes of those beasts astonyed the Romaine people much for they weyed lytel the sight of the kyngs loden with irons but to se the Oliphants as they did they wondered much Curius Dentatus had one only sister the which he intierly loued They wer seuen children two of the which dyed in the warres other thre by pestilence so that ther were none left him but that sister wherfore he loued her with al his hart For the death of vnthriftye children is but as a watch for childrē vnprouided of fauoures This sister of Curius Dentatus was maried to a Romaine consul was conceiued gone .7 moneths with child and the day that her brother triumphed for ioy of her brothers honor she leaped daunced so much that in the same place she was deliuered so vnluckely that the mother toke her death the chyld neuer lyued wherupon the feast of the triumphe ceased and the father of the infant for sorow lost hys speach For the hart which sodainly feleth grefe incontinently loseth vnderstanding Tibullus the Grecian in the third booke De casibus triumphi declareth the hystorie in good stile how and in what sorte it chaunced Nyne yeares after that the kings of Rome weare bannyshed from the rape that Tarquine dyd to the chast Lucretia the Romaine created a dignytie whiche they called DICTATVRA and the Dictatoure that hadde this office was aboue al other lord chiefe for the Romaines perceiued that the common wealth could not be gouerned but by one head alone And because the Dictatour had so great aucthority as the Emperour hath at this present to th end they should not become tirauntes they prouided that the office of the Dictatoursship should last no longer then vi moneths in the yeare the which past and expired they chose another Truly it was a good order that that office dured but vi moneths For oft tymes princes thinkinge to haue perpetual aucthority become necligent in vsing iustice The first dictatour in Rome was Largius Mamillus who was sent against the Volces the which at that time were the greatest enemies to the Romaines for Rome was founded in such a signe that alwayes it was beloued of fewe and abhorred of many As Titus Liuius saith this Largius Mamillus vanquished the Volces triumphed ouer theym in the end of the warre distroyed their mighty citye called Curiola and also distroyed and ouerthrewe many places and fortresses in that prouince for the cruel hartes do not only distroy the personnes but also take vengeaunce of the stones The hurtes which Largius Mamillus did in the country of the Volces were maruelous and the men which he slewe were many and the treasories he robbed were infinite and the captiues which he had in his triumphe were a great nomber amongest whom inespecial he brought captiue a noble mans doughter a beautiful gentlewoman the which he kept in his house for the recreacion of his person for the aunciente Romaines gaue to the people al the treasours to maintayne the warre they toke to them selues al the vycious things to kepe in their houses The case was that this damsel being with child Largius Mamillus brought her to solace herselfe in his orchard wher were sondry yonge fruites and as then not ripe to eate wherof with so great affection she did eate that forthwith she was delyuered in the same place of a creature so that on the one part she was delyuered and on the other part the chylde died This thinge chaunsed in the gardeins of Vulcan two dayes after the triumphe of Largius Mamillus a ruful and lamentable case to declare forasmuch as both the child that was borne the mother that was delyuered and also the father that begat it the selfe same day dyed and were buried all in one graue and this thing was not wythout great waylyng lamenting throughout al Rome For if with teares their lyues myght haue bene restored wythout doubt none of them should haue ben buried The first sonne of Rome which rebelled against rome was Tarquin the proud The second that wythstode Rome being as yet in Lucania was Quintus Marcius The third that went agaynst Rome was the cruel Silla The domages which these thre did to their mother Rome were such and so great that the thre seueral warres of Affricke were nothing to be compared to those thre euil children for those enemyes could scarcely se the walles of Rome but these vnnatural chyldrē had almost not left one stone vpon another A man ought not greatly to esteme those buildings that these tirauntes threw to the ground nor the buildings that they distroyed neither the men that they slew nor the women that they forced ne yet the orphanes which they made but aboue al things we ought to lament for that that they brought into Rome For the comon wealth is not distroyed for lacke of riches sumpteous buildings but because vices abound vertuous want Of these thre Romaynes he whose name was Quintus Marcius had ben consul thrise once Dictatour
so swift as he that is naked Aristotle in the sixt booke de Animalibus saith when the Lionesse is bigge with whelpe the Lyon doth not only hunt for her him self but also both night daye he wandreth continually about to watche her I meane that princesses great Ladies when they be with child should be of their husbande 's both tended serued for the man can not do the woman so great a pleasure before her lieng down as she doth to him when she bringeth forth a sonne Considering the daunger that the woman abideth in her deliuerance beholding the paines that the husbād taketh in her seruice without cōparison that is greater which she suffereth then that which he endureth For when the womā deliuereth she doth more then her power and the husband though he serueth her well doth lesse then his dutie The gentle and louing husband ought not one moment to forsake his wife specially when he seeth she is great for in the law of a good husbād it is written that he should set his eies to behold her his handes to serue her he should spende his goods to cherishe her should geue his harte to cōtent her Let not men thinke it paines to serue their wiues when they are with childe for their labour consisteth in their strengthe but the trauell of their wiues is in their intrailes And that whiche is moste pitifull is that when the sorowfull women will discharge their burden on the earthe they often times bryng them selues vnto the graue The meane women of the Plebeians ought no lesse to be reproued for that when they are with childe they would be exempted from all busines of the house the whiche neither they them selues ought to desire nor yet their husbandes to suffer For idlenesse is not only an occasion not to deserue heauen but also it is a cause whereby womē ofte times haue ill successe in their trauaile For considering bothe the deintie Ladie with childe that hath her pleasure and doth litle and on the other side the poore mans wyfe whiche moderatly laboureth you shall see that the great Ladies for all their pleasures abydeth more daunger then the other doth with all her labour The husbande ought to keape his wyfe from takyng to muche paines for so ought he to doe and the wyfe lykewyse ought to flee to much pleasure for it behoueth her For the meane trauaile is no other but occasion of a safe deliuerie The women with childe also ought to take hede to them selues and in especially noble and great ladies that they be not to gredy nor hasty in eating For the woman being with childe ought to be sobre and the woman whiche is a great eater with great paines shall liue chaste Women with childe ofte times doe disordre them selues in eating licorous meates and vnder the colour of feedinge them selues and their infant they take to excessiuely which is not onely vnholsome for the childe but also dishonour for their mothers For truly by the great excesse of the mother being with child commeth many diseases to the infant when it liueth The husbande 's also ought neither to displease nor greue their wiues specially when thei see them great with child for of truth ofte times she deliuereth with more daunger by reason of the offences that mē do vnto them then by the abondaunce of meates which they doe eate Though the woman when she is with childe in some thinges doth offend her husband yet he like a wise man ought to forbeare her hauing respect to the child wherwith she is great and not to the iniurie that she hath committed for in th end the mother can not be so great an offender but that the childe is muche more innocent For the profe of this it neadeth not bookes to reade but only our eies to see how the brute beastes for the moste parte when the females are bigge doe not touche them nor yet the females suffer thē to be touched I meane that the noble and high estates ought to absent them selues from their wiues carnally beyng great with child and he that in this case shal shewe him selfe moste temperate shall of all men be deamed most vertuous I do not speake this to thend it should bind a man or that it were an offence then to vse the company of his wyfe but vnto men that are vertuous I geue it as a counsel For some things ought to be done of necessitie others ought to be eschewed for honestie Diodorus Siculus saith that in the realme of Mauritania there were so few men so many women that euery man had fiue wiues where there was a law amōgest them that no man should mary vnder thre wiues furthermore they had a wonderful folishe custome that when any husband died one of these women should cast her selfe quick in to the graue be buried with him And if that within a moneth she did it not or that she died not by iustice she was then openly put to death saiyng that it is more honestie to be in company with her husband in the graue then it is to be alone in her house In the Isles of Baliares the cōtrary is sene for there increase so many men and so few women that for one woman there was seuen men and so they had a custome specially amongest the poore that one woman should be maried with fiue men For the ryche men sent to seke for women in other straunge Realmes wherfore then marchauntes came heuie loden with women as now they do with marchaundise to sell Vpon which occasion there was a custome in those Isles that for as muche as there were so fewe women when any woman with chylde drewe nere the seuen monethes they were seperated from their husbandes and shut and locked vp in the Temples where they gaue them suche thinges as were necessary for them of the commen treasure For the auncientes had their goodes in suche veneration that they would not permitte any personne to eate that whiche he brought but of that whiche vnto the goddes of the Temple was offered At that tyme the Barbarous kepte their wyues locked in the churche because the gods hauing them in their Temples should be more mercifull vnto them in their deliuery and also to cause them to auoyde the daungers at that tyme and besydes that because they tooke it for a great vilany that the women during that tyme should remaine with their husbandes The famous and renowmed philosopher Pulio in the fift booke De moribus antiquorum said that in the Realme of Paunonia whiche nowe is Hongarie the women that were great with childe were so highly estemed that when any went out of her house al those which met with her were bounde to returne backe with her in such sorte as we at this present do reuerence the holy Comunion so did these Barbarous then the women with child The women of Carthage being with child whē Carthage was
one eye called Monoculus which he had found in the desertes of Egipt At that time the wife of Torquatus called Macrina shold haue bene deliuered of child for the Consul did leaue her great This Macrina amongest al was so honest that they spent as much time in Rome to prayse her for her vertues as they did set forth her husband for his victories They rede in the Annalles of that time that the first time that this Consul Torquatus went into Asia he was eleuen yeres out of his countrey and it is found for a truth that in al the time that Torquatus was absente his wife was neuer sene loke out at the windowe whiche was not a thinge smally estemed for though it was a custome in Rome to kepe the dore shut it was lawfull notwithstandinge to speake to women at the windowes Though men at that time were not so bold the women were so honest yet Macrina wife to Torquatus lyued so close and solitary to her selfe that in all these 11. yeres ther was neuer man that saw her go through Rome nor that euer saw her dore open neither that she consented at any time from the time that she was viii yeres of age that any man should enter into her house more ouer ther was neuer man saw her face wholy vncouered This Romaine Lady did this to leaue of her a memory to giue example of her vertue She had also iii. children whereof the eldest was but v. yeres old and so when they were viii yeres of age immediatlye she sent them out of her house towards their parentes lest vnder the coullour to vysite the children others should come to visite her O Faustine howe many haue I hard that haue lamented this excellent Romaine and what wil they thinke that shal folow her life Who could presently restraigne a Romaine woman from going to the window .11 yeres since thinges nowe a daies are so dissolute that they do not only desire to se them but also runne in the streates to bable of them Who should cause now a dayes a Romaine woman that in the 11. yeres she should not open her dores since it is so that when the husband commaunded her to shut one dore she wil make the hole house to ringe of her voyce He that now would commaund his wife to tary at home and let her of her vagaries into the towne shal perceiue that ther is no Basilie nor Viper that carrieth suche poison in her tayle as she wil spitt with her tongue Who could make a Romaine women to be 11. yeres continually without shewing her face to any man since it is so that they spend the most part of their time in loking in a glasse setting their ruffes brushing their clothes and painting their faces who would cause a Romaine womā to kepe her selfe xi yeres from being vysited of her neighbours and frends since it is true that now women thinke them greatest enemyes whych vysite them most seldom Retournyng therfore to the monstre as they led this monstre before the doore of Torquatus house she being great wyth child her husbande in the warre by chaunce a maide of his tolde her how that this monstre passed by wherfore so great a desire toke her to see the monstre that for to kepe that she had begon sodeinly for this desier she dyed Truly I tel the Faustine that this monstre had passed many times by the streat wher she dwelt she would neuer notwithstandyng go to the window and muche lesse go out of her doore to see it The death of this Romaine of many was lamented for it was a long time that Rome had neuer heard of so honest vertuous a Romaine wherfor at the peticion of al the Romayne people and by the commaundement of al the sacred senate they set on he◠tombe these verses ¶ The worthy Macrine resteth here in graue Whom wyse Torquatus lodged in Iunos bedde Who reked not a happy lyfe to haue So that for aye her honest fame was spredde BEhold therfore Faustine in my opinyon the law was not made to remedye the death of this noble Romayne since she was alredy dead but to the end that you Princesses shoulde take example of her lyfe and that through al Rome ther should be a memorye of her death It is reason synce the law was ordeyned for those women which are honest that it should be obserued in none but vppon those that are vertuous let the women with chyld marke the words of the law which commaund them to aske things honest Wherfore I let the know Faustine that in the seuenth table of our lawes are wryten these wordes We wil that wher ther is corruption of manners the man shal not be bound to obserue their liberties ¶ That princesses and noble women ought not to be ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breastes Cap. xviii AL noble men that are of hault courages watch continually to bringe that to effect which they couet and to kepe that which they haue For by strength one commeth to honour and by wisedom honor life are both preserued By these wordes I meane that she that hath borne .9 monethes through trauaile the creature in her wombe with so much paine that afterwards is delyuered with so greate perill by the grace of god from so many daungers escaped me thinke it is not wel that in this point which for the norishment of the babe is most expedient the mothers should shew them so negligent For that wanteth no foly that by extreame labour is procured and with much lightnes afterward despised The thinges that women naturaly desire are infinite among the whych these are foure cheafely The first thing that women desire is to be very faire For they had rather be poore and faire then to be riche and foule The second thing which they desire is to se them selues maried for vntill such time as the woman doth see her selfe maried from the bottome of the hart she alwayes sigheth The third thing that women desire is to se them selues great with child herein they haue reason For vntil such time as the woman hath had a child it semeth that she taketh him more for a louer then for a husband The fourth thing that they desire is to se them selues deliuered and in this case more then all the rest they haue reason For it is greate pitie to see in the pryme time a yong tre loden with blosomes and afterward the fruite to be destroyed throughe the abondaunce of caterpillers Then since god suffereth that they are borne faire that they se them selues maried that they be with child and that they are deliuered why be they so vnkind as to send them out of their houses to be nourished in other rude cotages In my opinion the womā that is vertuous ought assone as she is deliuered to lift vp her eyes and with her hart to giue god thankes for her frute For the
is as yet vnborne and dead it is a wonderfull thinge for a man that wil curiously note and marke thinges to see the brute beastes that all the tyme they bryng vp their litell ones they will not consent to accompanie with the males nor the males wil follow the females and that that is most to be noted yet is to see what passith betwene byrdes for the she sparrowe will not suffer the male in any wise to towche or come nere her till her litle ones be great and able to flye and moch lesse to sit apon any egges to hatch them till the other be fled and gone Plurarche in the .vii. of his regiment of princes saieth that Gneus Fuluius Cosin germain of Pompeius beyng consull in Rome fell in loue with a yong mayden of Capua being an orphane whether he fled for the plague This maiden was called Sabina when she was great with child by this consull she brought forth a doughter whom they called faire Drusia and truly she was more coÌ„mended for her beautie theÌ„ for her honesty For oftetimes it happeneth that the faire and dishonest women leue their children so euyll taught that of their mothers they inherite litel goods much dishonour This Sabina therfore being deliuered as it was the custome of Rome she did with her owne brestes nourish her doughter Drusia during that which time she was gotten with chyld by one of the knightes of this Consul to whom as to hys seruaunt he had geuen her to kepe Wherfore when the Consull was hereof aduertised and that notwithstandyng she gaue her doughter sucke he commaunded that the knight should be immediatly beheded his louer Sabina forthwith to be cast into a wel The day of execution came that both these parties should suffer wherfore the wofull Sabina sent to beseche the consul that it would please him before her death to geue her audience of one sole word that she would speake vnto hym the which being come in the presence of them all she sayed vnto him O Gneus Fuluius knowe thou I did not cal the to th ende thou shuldest grauÌ„t me lyfe but because I would not dye before I had sene thy face thoughe thou of thy selfe shuldest remember that as I am a fraile woman and fel into sin with the in Capua so I might fal now as I haue done with another in Rome For we women are so fraile in this case during the time of this our miserable life that none can keape her selfe sure from the assaultes of the weake fleash The coÌ„sul Gneus Fuluius to these wordes aunswered the gods immortal knoweth Sabina what grefe it is to my wofull harte that I of thy secret offence shuld be an open scourge For greater honesty it is for men to hyde your frailnes then openly to punyshe your offences But what wilt thou I should do in this case considering the offence thou hast comitted by the immortal gods I sweare vnto the againe I sweare that I had rather thou shouldest secreatly haue procured the death of some man then that openly in thys wise thou should haue slaundered my house For thou knowest the true meaning of the common prouerbe in rome It is better to die in honour then to liue in infamie And thinke thou not Sabina that I do codemne the to die because thou forgotest thy faieth vnto my person and that thou gauest thy self to hym whiche kepte the for sinse thou werte not my wyfe the libertie thou haddest to come with me froÌ„ Capua to Rome the selfe same thou haddest to go with another froÌ„ rome to Capua It is an euil thing for vitious men to reproue the vices of others wherin they theÌ„ selues are faultie The cause why I coÌ„dempne the to die is for the remeÌ„braunce of the old law the which coÌ„maundeth that no nourse or woman geuyng sucke should on paine of death be begotten with child truly the law is veray iust For honest women do not suffer that in geuyng her child sucke at her breast she should hide another in her intrailes These wordes passed betwene Gneus Fuluius the consul and the ladye Sabina of Capua Howbeit as Plutarche saieth in that place the consul had pitie vpon her shewed her fauoure banishyng her vpon condicion neuer to retourne to Rome againe Cinna Catullus in the forth boke of the .xxii. consulles saieth that Caius Fabricus was on of the most notable consulles that euer was in rome was sore afflicted with disseases in his life onely because he was nouryshed .iiii. monethes with the milke of a nource being great with child for feare of this they locked the nource with the child in the teÌ„ple of the vestal virgines wherfor the space of .iii. yeres they wer kepte They demauÌ„ded the consul why he did not nourish his children in his house he aunswered the children being nourished in the house it might be an occasion that the nource should be begotten with child and so she should distroye the children with her corrupt milke furder should geue me occasion to doe iustice vpon her person wherfore keaping them so shut vp we are occasion to preserue their lyfe and also oure children from peril Diodorus Siculus in his librarie and Sextus Cheronensis sayth in the life of Marcus Aurelius that in the Isles of Baleares ther was a custome that the nources of yong children whether they were their owne or others should be seuered from their husbandes for the space of .ii. yeares And the woman whych at that tyme though it were by her husbande were with child though they did not chastice her as an adultresse yet euery man spake euill of her as of an offender Duryng the tyme of these ii yeres to the end the husband should take no other wife they commaunded that he shold take a concubine or that he should bye a slaue whose companye he myghte vse as hys wyfe for amongest these barbarous he was honoured most who had .ii. wyues the one with childe and thother not By these examples aboue recyted Princesses and great Ladies may see what watche and care they ought to take in chousyng their nources that they be honest sinse of theÌ„ dependeth not onlye the healthe of their chyldren but also the good fame of their houses The seuenth condicion is that princesses and great Ladyes ought to see their nources haue good condicions so that they be not troblesome proude harlots lyers malicious nor flatterers for the viper hath not so muche poyson as the woman whyche is euell conditioned It litell auayleth a man to take wyne from a woman to entreate her to eate litel and to withdraw her from her husband if of her owne nature she be hatefull and euell maâ—â—red for it is not so great daunger vnto the child that the nource be a dronckard or a Glutton as it is if she be harmefull and malicious If perchaunce the nource that nourisheth the chylâ—e be euell conditioned trulye she is euell troubeled
honnye and she wrote two others the one of the vanities of youth and the other of the miseries of age This woman dyd read openly natural morall Phylosophye in the Scholes of Athens for the space of fiue twenty yeres she made forty bookes she had a hundred tenne philosophers to her Scholers she dyed being at the age of seuentie and seuen yeres the Athenians after her death engraued on her graue these words THe slised stones within their bowels keape Wise Aretha the great and only wight That forceth enuie gentle teares to weape For Grekes decay on whom the losse doth light The eye of fame the hart of vertues life The head of Grece lie here engraued lo more heauenly forme then had that heauenly wife Which vndermind the phrigies ioyes with woe Within the chest of her vnspotted minde Lay Thirmas troth and eke her honest faith Within her hande as by the gods assinde Stoode Aristippus penne that vertue wayeth Within the dongeon of her body eke Imprisonde was wise Socrates his soule That liude so well and did so wisely speke That follies brest he could to wisdome toule Within her head so ouer heapt with witt Lay Homers tongue to stayne the poetes arte Erst was the golden age not halfe so fitt For vertues Impes as when her life did parte As Marcus Varro sayeth the sectes of the philosophers were more then .lxx. but in the ende they were reduced into seuen and in the ende they were brought into thre sects chiefly That is to wete Stoicques Peripaeticques and Pithagoricques Of these pithagoricques Pithagoras was the prince Hyzearcus Annius Rusticus and Laertius with Eusebius and Boccace all affirme one thinge whereunto I did not greatly geue credite which is that this philosopher Pithagoras had a sister not onely learned but if it be lawfull to speake it excellently learned And they saye that not she of Pithagoras but Pithagoras of her learned philosophie And of truthe it is a matter whereof I was so greatly abashed that I can not tell who could be maister of such a woman since she had Pithagoras the great philosopher to her scholler The name of the woman was Theoclea to whom Pithagoras her brother wrote sent a letter when he red philosophie at Rhodes and she at Samothracia doinge the like The Pistle was thus as foloweth ¶ Of a letter whiche Pithagoras sent to his sister Theoclea he being in Rhodes she in Samothracia reading both philosophie Cap. xxix PIthagoras thy brother and disciple to thee Theoclea his sister health and increase of wisedome wysheth I haue red the booke whiche thou diddest sende me of fortune and misfortune from the beginning to the end and nowe I knowe that thou art no lesse graue in making then gracious in teaching The which doth not chaunce very oft to vs which are men and much lesse as we haue sene to you women For the philosopher Aristippus was rude in speaking profound in writing Amenides was briefe in wryting and eloquent in speaking Thou hast studied and written in such sorte that in the learning that thou shewest thou seamest to haue read all the philosophers and in the antiquities that thou doest declare it semeth that thou hast sene all the time past Wherein thou beinge a woman shewest thy selfe more then a woman because the nature of women is to caste their eies only in that that is present and commonly to forget that that is past They tell me that thou doest occupye thy selfe nowe in writing of our countrey And truly in this case I can not say but that you haue matter enough to wryte on For the warres and trauayles of our tymes haue bene suche and so great that I had rather reade them in bookes then see them with my eyes And if it be so as I suppose it is I beseche thee hartely and by the immortall Gods I coniure thee that in writing the affaires of thy coūtrey thou doest vse thy penne discreatly I meane that thou doe not in this case bleamyshe thy wryting by putting therein any flatterie or lesinge For oftetimes Historiographers in blasinge more then trouth the giftes of their countrey cause worthely to be suspected their wryting Thou knowest very well how that in the battayle paste the Rhodians were ouercome and that ours remained victorious Me thinketh thou shouldest not in this case greatly magnifie extolle or exalt ours because in the ende they fought to reuenge their iniury neither thou oughtest to blame the Rhodians for they did not fight but in the ayde of Rome I speake this my Syster because for to defende their own women shewe them selues Lyons and for to defende the thinges of an other man men shew them selues chickens For in the ende he onely maye be counted strong the whiche defendeth not his owne house but which dieth defending his and another mans I wyll not denie the naturall loue of my countrey nor I wyll not denie but that I loue them that wryte and speake well thereof but me thinketh it is not reason that they should disprayse the goodnesse and truthe of other countries nor that they should so highly comend the euill and vilenes of their owne For there is not in the world this daye so barren a Realme but maye be commended for some thing therein nor there is so perfite a nation but in some thinges maye be reproued Thou canst not deny me but that amongest thy brethren I am the eldest and thou canste not deny but that amongest all thy disciples I am the yongest and since that for being thy disciple I ought to obey thee thou like wyse for that I am thy eldest brother oughtest to beleue me By the fayeth of a people I doe councell thee my syster that thou doe trauayle muche to be profound in thy words vpright in thy life and honest of thy persone and besides al this true in thy writing For I let thee vnderstande that if the body of the man without the soule is litle regarded I sweare vnto thee that the mouthe of a man without truthe is muche lesse esteamed ¶ The authour foloweth his purpose perswading princesses and other ladies to endeuour them selues to be wyse as the women were in olde tyme. Cap. xxx THis therefore was the letter the whiche Pithagoras sente to his syster Theoclea whereby is shewed the great humilitie of him and the hyghe eloquence of her Hiarcus the Greke and Plutarche also in the booke of the gouernement of princes saye that Pithagoras had not onely a sister whiche was called Theoclea of whom he learned so muche philosophie but also he had a doughter the wisedome and knowledge of whome surmounted her aunte and was equall to her father I thinke it no lesse vncredible which is spoken of the doughter then that whiche is spoken of the aunte whiche is that those of Athenes did reioyce more to heare her speake in her house then for to heare Pithagoras reade in the schole And it ought to
be beleued for the saying of the graue authours on the one parte and by that we dayly see on the other parte For in the ende it is more pleasure to heare a man tell mery tales hauing grace and comlines in his wordes then to heare a graue man speake the truthe with a rude and rough tongue I haue founde in many wrytinges what they haue spoken of Pithagoras and his doughter but none telleth her name saue only in a pistle that Phalaris the tyraunt wrate I fouÌ„d this word written where he saith Polichrata that was the doughter of the philosopher Pithagoras was young and exceading wyse more faire then riche and was so much honoured for the puritie of her life and so high estemed for her pleasaunt tongue that the worde which she spake spinning vpon her distaffe was more estemed then the philosophy that her father red in the schole And he sayd more It is so great a pitie to see and heare that women at this present are in their life so dishonest in their tongues so malicious that I haue greater pleasure in the good renowme of one that is dead then in the infamie of all them which are aliue For a good woman is more worth with her distaffe spinning then a hundred euel queenes with their roiall scepters reigning By the wordes which Phalaris saied in his letter it seamed that this doughter of Pithagoras was called Polichrate Pithagoras therefore made many commentaries as wel of his owne countrey as of straungers In the end he died in Mesopotamia where at the houre of his death he spake vnto his doughter Polichrate saied these wordes I see my doughter that the houre wherein I must ende my life approcheth The Gods gaue it me and nowe they wil take it from me nature gaue me birth now she geueth me death the earth gaue me the body and now it retourneth to ashes The woful fatall destinies gaue me a litle goodes mingled with manie trauailes so that doughter of all thinges which I enioyed in this world I cary none with me for hauing all as I had it by the waye of borowyng nowe at my death eche man taketh his owne I die ioyfully not for that I leaue thee riche but for that I leaue thee learned And in token of my tender harte I bequethe vnto the al my bookes wherin thou shalt finde the treasure of my trauailes And I tel thee that that I geue thee is the riches gotten with mine owne sweat and not obtained to the preiudice of an other For the loue I beare vnto thee doughter I pray thee and by the immortall gods I coniure thee that thou be such so good that althoughe I die yet at the least thou mayst kepe my memory for thou knowest wel what Hoâ—ere saieth speaking of Achilles and Pirrus that the good life of the childe that is aliue keapeth the renowme of the father that is dead These were the wordes which this philosopher spake vnto his doughter lieng in his death bed And though perhaps he spake not these wordes yet at the least this was the meaning As the great poet Mantuan saieth king Euander was father of the giant Pallas and he was a great frende of king Eneas he vaunted him selfe to discend of the linage of the Troyans and therfore when king Eneas prince Turnus had great warres betwene them which of them should haue the princesse Lauinia in mariage the which at that time was only heire of Italy king Euander ayded Eneas not only with goodes but also sending him his owne sonne in persone For the frendes ought for their true frendes willingly to shed their bloud in their behalfe without demauÌ„ding thei ought also to spend their goods This king Euander had a wyfe so well learned that that which the Grekes saied of her semeth to be fables That is to say of her eloquence wisdome for they say that if that which this woman wrote of the warres of Troye had not bene through enuy cast into the fire the name of Homere had at this day remained obscure The reason hereof is because the woman was in the time of the destruction of Troy and wrate as a witnes of sight These wordes passed betwene the Romaine Calphurnius and the poet Cornificius I desire to declare the excellency of those fewe auncient women as wel Grekes as Latines Romaines to thintent that princesses and great ladies may knowe that the auncient women were more esteamed for their sciences then for their beauties Therefore the princesses and great Ladies ought to thinke that if they be women they were also in lyke maner and if they be frayle the others were also weake If they be maried the other also had husbandes if they haue their wylles the other had also what they wanted if they be tender the others were not strong Finally they ought not to excuse them selues saying that for to learne women are vnmete For a woman hath more abilitie to learne sciences in the scholes then the Parate hath to speake wordes in the cage In my opinion princesses great ladies ought not to esteame theÌ„selues more then an other for that they haue fairer heares then other or for that they are better appareled then an other or that they haue more ryches then an other But they ought therfore to esteame them selues not for that they can doe more then others To say the truth the faire and yelow heares the riche and braue apparel the great treasures the sumptuous palaces and strong buildinges these and other like pleasures are not guides and leaders to vertues but rather spies scout watches for vices O what a noble thinge were it that the noble ladies would esteme them selues not for that they can doe but for that that they knowe For it is more commendation to knowe howe to teache twoo philosophers then to haue authoritie to commaunde a hundred knightes It is a shame to write it but it is more pitie to see it that is to wete to read that we read of the wisdome and worthines of the auncient matrones paste and to see as we doe see the frailenes of these younge ladies present For they coueted to haue disciples both learned and experimented and these of this present desire nothing but to haue seruauntes not only ignoraunt but deceitful and wicked And I do not marueile seing that which I se that at this present in court she is of litle value lest estemed among ladies which hath fairest seruauntes is lest enterteined of gentlemen What shall I say more in this matter but that they in times past striue who should write better compile the best bookes and these at this presente doe not striue but who shal haue the richest and most sumptuous apparel For the ladies thinke it a iolier matter to weare a gown of a new fachion then the auncientes did to read a lesson of philosophie The auncient ladies striue whiche of them was
want no perils For in warres renoune is neuer sold but by weight or chaunged with losse of lyfe The yong Fabius son of my aunt the aged Fabia at the .iii. CaleÌ„des of March brought me a letter the whych you sent and truely it was more briefe then I would haue wyshed it For betwene so dere children and so louinge a mother it is not suffered that the absence of your parsonnes shoulde be so farre and the letters whyche you write so briefe By those that goe from hence thyther I alwayes do sende you commendations and of those that come from thence hyther I doe enquire of newes Some saye they haue sene you other tell me they haue spoken with you so that with thys my hart is somwhat quieted For betwene them that loue greatly it may be endured that â—he sight be seldome so that the health be certain I am sole I am a widow I 〈◊〉 aged and now all my kinred is dead I haue endured many trauailes in Rome and the greatest of all is my children of your absence For the paine is greater to be voide of assured frendes theÌ„ assault is daungerous of cruel enemies Since you are yong and not very ryche since you are hardy and brought vp in the trauailes of Afrike I do not doubte but that you doe desire to come to Rome to se and know that now you are men whiche you haue sene when you were children For men doe not loue their countrey so much for that it is good as they do loue it for that it is naturall Beleue me children ther is no maÌ„ liuing that hath sene or hard speake of Rome in times past but hath great griefe sorow and pitie to se it at this present For as their hartes are pitiefull and their eyes tender so they can not behold that without great sorow which in times past they haue sene in great glory O my children you shal know that Rome is greatly chaunged from that it was wont to be To reade that that we do reade of it in times past to se that whyche we se of it now present we must nedes esteme that whiche the auncientes haue writen as a gest or els beleue it but as a dreame Ther is no other thing now at Rome but to see iustice corrupted the commen weale oppressed lyes blowen abroade the truth kept vnder the satires silent the flatterers open mouthed the inflamed personnes to be Lordes and the pacient to be seruauÌ„tes and aboue al and worse then all to se the euil liue in rest contented and the good troubled displeased Forsake forsake my children that citie where the good haue occasioÌ„ to weape the euil haue liberty to laugh I can not tel what to say in this mater as I would say Truly the coÌ„mon weale is at this day such so woful that eche wise man without coÌ„parison wold haue greater pleasure to be in the warres of Affrik then in the peace at Rome For in the good war a man seeth of whom he shold take hede but in the euil peace no maÌ„ knoweth whom to truste Therefore my children since you are naturall of Rome I wil tel you what Rome is at this present I let you know that the vestall virgines are now dissolute the honour of the gods is forgotten the profit of the coÌ„mon weale no maÌ„ seketh of the excercise of chiualry ther is no memory for the orphanes widowes ther is no man that doth aunswere to ministre iustice thei haue no regard the dissolute vices of the youth ar without measure Finally Rome that in times past was a receypt of all the good vertuous is now made a denne of al theues vitious I feare me I feare me least our mother rome in shorte time wil haue some sodein great fal And I say not without a cause some great fall for both men Cities that fall froÌ„ the top of their felicity purchase greater infamy with those that shal com after theÌ„ the glory that they haue had of theÌ„ that be past Peraduenture my childreÌ„ you desire to se the walles buildinges of Rome for those thinges which childreÌ„ se first in their youth the same they loue kepe alwaies in memory vntill their age As the auncient buildinges of rome are destroyed the few that ar now builte so would I you should loose your earnest affection to come to se theÌ„ For in dede the noble hartes are ashamed to se that thing amisse which they caÌ„ not remedye Do not thynke my chyldren thoughe Rome be made worse in maners that therfore it is diminished in buildinges For I let you vnderstand if you know it not that if a wall doth decay there is no man that doth repaire it If a house fall ther is no man that wil rayse it vp again If a strete be foule ther is no man that wil make it cleane If the riuer cary awaye any bridge there is no man that will set it vp again If any antiquitie decaye ther is no man that wil amend it If any wood be cut ther is no man that wil kepe it If the trees waxe old ther is no man that will plant theÌ„ a newe If the pauement of the streates be broken ther is no man that wil ley it again Finally ther is nothing in Rome at this day so euil handled as those thinges whiche by the commoÌ„ voices ar ordered These thinges my childreÌ„ though I do greatly lament as it is reason yet you ought litle to esteme them al but this al only ought to be estemed with droppes of bloud to be lamented That now in Rome when the buildinges in many places fal downe the vices all wholy together are raised vp O wofull mother Rome since that in the the more the walles decay the more the vices increase Peraduenture my childreÌ„ since you are in those frountiers of Affrike you desire to se your parentes here in Rome And therat I meruaile not for the loue which our naturall countreye do gyue the straung countrey can not take awaye All those which come from those parties doe bring vs no other certaine newes but of the multitude of those which dye are slain in Afrik therfore since you send vs such newes froÌ„ thence loke not that we should send you any other then the like from hence For death hath such auctoritie that it killeth the armed in the warres sleyeth the quiet in peace I let you know that Licia your sister is dead Drusio your vnckle is dead Torcquatus your neyghbour is dead His wife our cousin her .iii. doughters are dead Fabius your great frend is dead Euander his childreÌ„ ar dead Bibulus which red for me in the chaire the last yere is also dead Finally ther are so many so good with al that be dead that it is a great shame pitie to se at this present so many euill as do liue Know ye my children that all
doth not amend hys lyfe that the father do disinherit him When good wil doth want and vicious pleasures abounde the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being .52 yeres old by chaunce this chylde Verissimus which was the glory of Rome the hope of the father at that gate of Hostia of a sodayne sicknes dyed The death of whom was as vniuersallye lamented as his lyfe of al men was desired It was a pitiful thynge to see how wofully the father toke the death of his intierly beloued son no lesse lamētable to behold how the senat toke the death of their prince beinge the heire For the aged father for sorow did not go to the Senate and the senat for few daies enclosed themselues in the high Capitol And let no man meruaile though the death of this yong prince was so taken through Rome For if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewaile and lament hys death When a knight a gentleman a squyre an offycer or when any of the people dyeth ther dyeth but one but when a prince dieth which was good for all and that he lyued to the profit of al then they ought to make account that al do dye they ought al greatly to lament it For oft times it chaunseth that after ii or iii. good Princes a foule flocke of tyraunts succedeth Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperour as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely parsonne though the inward sorow from the rootes of the hart could not be plucked yet he determined to dissemble outwardly and to burie his greues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shew extreame sorow vnlesse it be that he hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good prince as one that hath his vineyard frosen wherin was al hys hope contented with him selfe with that whych remaineth his so derely beloued sonne being dead comaunded the prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his only heyre Iulius Capitolinus whych was one of those that wrote of the tyme of Marcus Aurelius sayd vpon this matter that when the father saw the disordinate fraylenes and lightnes and also the litle shame whych the prince Comodus his sonne brought with him the aged man began to weape and shed teares from his eyes And it was bycause the symplenes and vertues of his deare beloued sonne Verissimus came into hys mynd Though this Emperour Marcus for the death of hys sonne was very sorowful yet notwithstanding this he prouided how his other sonne Comodus should be gouerned this before that eyther of age or body he wer greater For we cānot deny but when Princes are mē they wil be such as in their youth they haue bene brought vp The good father therfore knowing that the euil inclinacions of his sonne should do him domage the empire in like maner he sent throughout al Italy for the most sagest expert men to be gouernours Tutors of Comodus the prince He made them seke for the most profoundest in learning the most renowmed of good fame the most vertuous in dedes and the most depest in vnderstandyng for as the dust is not swept with fyne cloth but with dry bromes so the lightnes follies of yong mē are not remedied but by the hard disciplyne of the aged Thys commaundement being published and proclaimed in Rome the bruit scattered through Italye there came and ranne thither dyuerse kinde of sages whom he commaunded to be examyned He being informed of the bloud of thier predicessours of the age of their persones of the gouernment of their houses of the spendyng of their goodes of their credit amongest their neighbours of the sciences they knew aboue al they were no lesse examined of the purenes of their lyues then of the grauitie of their personnes for ther are many men whych are graue in open wordes very light in secret works Speakyng therfore more particularly he commaunded they should examyne the Astronomers of Astronomy the phylosophers in philosophie the musitines in musike the Orators in oracions And so forth of other sciences in order wherin euery one sayd he was instructed The good emperour was not so contented to do this once but sondry times not al in one day but in many not only by an other man but also by him selfe Finally they were al examyned as if they had bene al one and that the same one shold haue remayned bene kept for al to be only master tutor of the young child and prince Comodus To acquire a perfect knowledge and to be sure not to erre in choyce of thinges in my opinion is not onely required experience of him selfe and a cleare vnderstanding but also the aduyse of an other For the knowledge of thinges wholly together is easy but the choyce of them particularly is harde This thing is spoken because the good Emperour sent and commaunded to chose gouernours and maisters of his children Of many he choose fewe and of fewe the most wysest of the most wysest the most expert of the most expert the best learned of the best learned the most temperate of the most temperate the most auncient and of the most auncient the moste noble Certainely such election is worthy prayse because they be true maisters and teachers of princes which are noble of bloud auncient in yeares honeste in life men of litle folly and of great experience According to the seuen liberal sciences two maisters of euery one were chosen so that the prince was but one and the others were .xiiii. but this notwithstanding the workes of this prince Comodus were contrary to the expectation of his father Marcus Aurelius because the intention of the good father was to teache his sonne all sciences and the study of the sonne was to learne all vices At the bruite of so great a thing as this was that the Emperour sought to prouide tutors for the prince Comodus and that they should not be those which were best fauoured but those whiche were found the most wysest in shorte space there came so many philosophers to Rome as if the deuine Plato had bene reuiued againe in Grece Let vs not marueile at all if the sages desired the acquaintaunce familiaritie of this good Emperour For in the ende there is no man so sage nor so vertuous in this life but sometime wyll seke after the fauours of the world Since there were many sages and that of those he chose but fourtene It was necessary he should honestly and wisely dispatche and geue the others leaue as did behoue him And herein the good emperour shewed him selfe so wyse that shewing to some a mery coūtenaunce to others speaking gently and to others by a certaine hope to others by giftes presentes al the good company of the sages departed the good emperour dispatched them not
as if it were his owne To thys I aunswere that I am not myghtye ynough to remedy it except by my remedye there shoulde spring a greater inconuenience And since thou hast not bene a Prince thou couldest not fall into that I haue nor yet vnderstand that whych I saie For princes by theire wisedome knowe manye thinges the whych to remedy they haue no power So it hath beene so it is so it shal be so I founde it so I keepe it so wil I leaue it them so I haue read it in bookes so haue I seene it with my eyes so I heard it of my predecessours and finallye I saye so our fathers haue inuented it and so wyll wee theire children sustaine it and for this euyll wee will leaue it to our heires I wyll tell thee one thinge and imagine that I erre not therein whych is consideringe the great dommage and lytle profyte which the men of warre doe bringe to our common wealth I thynk to doe it and to sustaine it either it is the folly of menne or a scourge geuen of the gods For there can be nothinge more iust then for the goddes to permit that we feele that in our owne houses whiche we cause others in straunge houses to lament All those thinges I haue written vnto thee not for that it skilleth greatly that thou knowe them but that my harte is at ease to vtter them For as Alcibiades saide the chestes and the hartes ought alwaies to bee open to theire frendes Panutius my secretary goeth in my behalfe to visite that land and I gaue him this letter to geue the with two horses wherewith I think thou wilt be contented for they are gennettes The weapons and ryches whyche I tooke of the Parthes I haue nowe deuyded notwtstanding I doe sende thee .2 Chariottes of them My wyfe Faustine greeteth thee and I sende a riche glasse for thy doughter and a Iewell with stones for thy sister No more but I beseche the Gods to geeue thee a good lyfe and mee a good death ¶ The admonition of the Aucthour to Princes and greate Lordes to thintent that the more they growe in yeares the more they are bounde to refraine from vyces Cap. xvii AVlus Gelius in hys booke De noctibus Atticis sayeth that there was an auncient custome amongest the romaynes to honour and haue in great reuerence aged men And this was so inuiolate a law amongest them that there was none so noble of bloode and lynage neyther so puissaunt in ryches neither so fortunate in battayles that should goe before the aged men which were loden with whit heares so that they honoured them as the gods and reuerenced them as theire fathers Amongest other the aged menne had these preheminences that is to wete that in feastes they sate highest in the triumphes they went before in the temples they did sitte downe they spake to the Senate before all others they had their garments surred they might eat alone in secrat and by theire onlye woorde they were credited as witnesses Fynally I saye that in all thinges they serued them and in nothinge they annoyed them After the people of Rome began warre wyth Asia they forsooke all theire good Romayne customes immediatlye And the occasyon hereof was that since they had no menne to sustaine the common wealth by reason of the great multytude of people which dyed in the warre they ordeyned that al the yong menne should mary the yong maides the wydowes the free and the bonde and that the honour whyche hadde bene done vntyll that tyme vnto the olde menne from henceforthe shoulde be done vnto the maried menne though they were yong So that the moste honoured in Rome was hee not of moste yeares but he that had most children This lawe was made a little before the firste battaile of Catthage And the custome that the maried menne were more honoured then the old menne endured vntill the tyme of the Emperour Augustus whiche was such a frende of antiquyties that hee renewed all the walles of Rome with newe stones and renewed all the auncient customes of the common wealth Licurgus in the lawes whiche hee gaue to the Lacedemonians ordayned that the young menne passinge by the olde shoulde doe them greate reuerence whē the olde dyd speake then the younger shoulde bee sylent And he ordained also that if any olde man by casualtye dyd lose hys goods and came into extreame pouertie that he shoulde bee sustained of the comon wealth and that in suche sustentacion they shoulde haue respecte not onely to succour him for to sustaine hym but further to geue him to lyue competently Plutarche in hys Apothegmes declareth that Cato the Censoure visitinge the corners of Rome founde an olde manne sittinge at his doore weepinge and sheddinge manye teares from hys eyes And Cato the Censoure demaundynge hym why hee was so euyll handeled and wherefore he wepte so bitterlye the good olde manne aunswered hym O Cato the Gods beinge the onelye comfortours comforte thee in all thy tribulations since thou arte readye to comforte mee at this wofull hower As well as thou knowest that the consolations of the harte are more necessarye then the phisike of the bodye the whiche beeynge applyed sometymes doeth heale and an other tyme they doe harme Beholde my scabbed handes my swollen legges my mouth without teethe my peeled face my white beard and my balde heade for thou beinge as thou arte descreete shouldest be excused to aske mee why I weepe For menne of my age thoughe they weepe not for the lyttle they feele yet they ought to weepe for the ouermuche they lyue The manne which is loden with yeares tormented with diseases pursued with enemyes forgotten of his frendes visited with mishappes and with euill wyll and pouertie I knowe not why hee demaundeth long life For there can be no sharper reuengemēt of vyces whych we commit then to geue vs long lyfe Though now I am aged I was yong and if any yong manne should doe me anye iniurye truelye I would not desire the gods to take his lyfe but that they woulde rather prolonge his lyfe For it is a great pitie to heare the man whyche hath lyued longe account the troubles whiche he hath endured Knowe thou Cato if thou doest not knowe it that I haue lyued .77 yeares And in thys tyme I haue buried my father my graundefather twoe Auntes and .5 vncles After that I had buried .9 systers and .11 Brethren I haue buried afterwardes twoe lawfull wyfes and fyue bonde women whyche I haue hadde as my lemmans I haue buryed also .14 chyldren and .7 maryed doughters and therewith not contented I haue buryed .37 Nephues and .15 Nieces and that whyche greaueth me moste of all is that I haue buryed two frendes of myne one which remained in Capua the other which was residente here at Rome The death of whom hath greued me more then all those of my aliaunce and parentage For in the worlde there is no
so much the more were the philosophers deuided amongest them selues When they were so assembled truely they did not eate nor drinke out of measure but some pleasaunt matter was moued betwene the masters and the scollers betwene the yong and the olde that is to wete which of them coulde declare any secrete of phylosophye or anye profound sentence O happy were such feastes and no lesse happy were they that thether were bidden But I am sory that those whiche nowe byd and those that are bidden for a trouth are not as those auncients were For there are noe feastes now adays of phylosophers but of gluttons not to dispute but to murmour not to open doubtfull things but to talke of the vices of others not to confirme aunciente amities but to begynne newe dissensions not to learne any doctrines but to approue some nouelty And that whiche worste of all is that the olde striue at the table with the yonge not on hym whiche hathe spoken the moste grauest sentence but of hym whyche hathe dronke moste wyne and hathe rinsed most cuppes Paulus Diaconus in the historye of the Lumbardes declarethe that foure olde Lumbardes made a banket in the whiche the one dranke to the others yeres and it was in this manner Theye made defyaunce to drinke two to twoe and after eche man had declared howe many yeres olde he was the one drāke as manye times as the other was yeares olde and likewise his companion pledged him And one of these foure companions had at the leaste 58. yeares the second .63 the thyrde .87 the fourthe .812 so that a man knowethe not what they did eate in this banket eyther litle or muche but we knowe that hee that dranke least dranke 58. cuppes of wine Of this so euill custome came the Gothes to make this lawe which of manye is reade and of fewe vnderstanded where it sayeth We ordeyn and commaūd on payne of deathe that no olde man drinke to the others yeres being at the table That was made because they were so muche geuen to wyne that they dranke more ofte thenne they did eate morselles The Prynces and greate Lordes whyche are nowe olde oughte to bee verye sober in drinkynge synce theye oughte greatlye to be regarded and honoured of the yonge For speakinge the truthe and withe libertie whan the olde man shall bee ouercome with wine he hath more necessitie that the yong man leade him by the arme to his house then that hee shoulde take of his cappe vnto hym or speake vnto hym with reuerence Also prynces and greate lordes oughte to be verye circumspecte that whenne theye become aged theye bee not noted for yonge in the apparayle whiche theye weare For althoughe that for wearinge a fyne and riche garmente the prynce dothe not enriche or enpouerishe his common wealthe yet we cannot denye but that it dothe much for the reputacion of his persone For the vanytie and curiositie of garments dothe shewe great lightnes of minde According to the varietye of ages so ought the diuersitie of apparaile to bee whiche semethe to bee verye cleare in that the yonge maydes are attyred in one sorte the maried women of an other sorte the widdowes of an other And lykewise I woulde saye that the apparayle of children oughte to be of one sorte those of yonge men of an other and those of olde men of an other whyche oughte to bee more honester then all For men of hoarye heades oughte not to be adourned withe precious garmētes but withe verteous workes To goe cleanlye to be well apparayled and to be well accompanied we doe not forbydde the olde especiallye those whych are noble and valyaunt men but to goe to fine to go with great traynes and to goe verye curious wee doe not allowe Let the olde men pardon mee for it is not the office but of yonge fooles For the one sheweth honestye and the other lightnes It is a confusion to tell it but it is greater shame to doe it that is to weete that manye olde men of oure time take noe small felicitye to put caules on theire heades euerye manne to weare iewels on theire neckes to laye theire cappes withe agglettes of golde to seeke oute dyuers inuencions of mettall to loade theire fingers wythe riche ringes to goe perfumed wythe odiferous fauoures to weare newe fashioned apparayle and fynallye I saye that thoughe theire face bee full of wrincles they can not suffer one wrincle to be in theire gowne All the auncient historiens accuse Quintus Hottensius the Romayne for that euerye tyme when hee made hym selfe readye he hadde a glasse beefore hym and as muche space and tyme had hee to streyghten the plaites of his gowne as a woman hadde to trymme the heares of her heade This Quintus Hortensius beinge Consul goynge by chaunce one day through Rome in a narrowe streat met wythe the other Consul where throughe the streightnes of the passage the plaightes of his gowne weare vndone vppon whych occasion hee complayned to the senate of the other Consull that he had done hym a greate iniurye sayinge that he deserued to lose hys lyfe The authoure of all this is Macrobius in the thyrde booke of the Saturnales I can not tell if I be deceiued but we maye saye that al the curiositye that olde men haue to goe fine wel appareled and cleane is for no other thinge but to shake of age and to pretende righte to youthe What a griefe is it to see dyuers auncient men the whiche as ripe figges do fal and on the other side it is a wonder to see howe in theire age they make them selues yonge In this case I saye woulde to god we might see them hate vices and not to complaine of the yeares which theye haue I praye and exhorte princes and greate lordes whom oure soueraigne lorde hathe permitted to come to age that theye doe not despise to be aged For speaking the truthe the man whiche hathe enuye to seeme olde doth delight to liue in the lightnes of youthe Also man of honour oughte to be verye circumspecte for so muche as after theye are beecome aged theye bee not suspected of theire friends but that both vnto their friends foes they be counted faythfull For a lye in a yonge mannes mouthe is but a lye but in the mouthe of an olde manne it is a heynous blasphemye Prynces and great lordes after they are become aged of one sorte they oughte to vse them selues to geue and of thother to speake For good prynces oughte to sell woordes by weighte and geeue rewardes withoute measure The auncient oftentymes complayne sayinge that the yonge will bee not conuersaunt with them and truely if there be anye faulte therin it is of them selues And the reason is that if sometimes theye doe assemble togethers to passe awaye the tyme if the olde man set a talkinge he neuer maketh an ende So that a discrete man had rather go .xii. miles on foote then to heare an olde man
moue mee to speake and the faythe whyche I owe vnto you dothe not suffer mee that I shoulde keepe it close For manye thinges oughte to be borne amonge friendes thoughe theye tell them in earnest whiche ought not to be suffered of others thoughe theye speake it in gest I come therefore to shewe the matter and I beseche the immortall goddes that there bee noe more then that whiche was tolde mee and that it bee lesse then I suspecte Gaius Furius youre kinsman and my especiall friende as hee went to the realme of Palestyne and Hierusalem came to see mee in Antioche and hathe tolde mee newes of Italy and Rome and among others one aboue al the residewe I haue committed to memorye at the whiche I coolde not refraine laughinge and lesse to bee troubled after I hadde thought of it O how manye thinges doe wee talke in gest the whiche after wee haue well considered geeue occasion to be sorye The emperoure Adrian mye good lorde had a Iester whose name was Belphus yonge comelye and stoute allbeeit hee was verye malicious as suche are accustomed to bee and whiles the imbassadours of Germaine supped with the Emperour in greate ioye the same Belphus beeganne to iest of euery one that was present according to his accustomed manner with a certeine malicious grace And Adrian perceiuing that some chaunged colour others murmured and others weare angrye hee saide vnto thys Iester frinde Belphus if thou loue mee and mye seruice vse not these spytefull iestes at our supper which being considered on may turne vs to euil rest in our beddes Gaius Furius hath tolde me so many slaunders chaunced in Italy such nouelties done in Rome such alteracion of our Senate such contentiō strife betwene our neighbours suche lightnes of yow twoo that I was astonied to here it ashamed to writ it And it is nothing to tell after what sort he told thē vnto me onlesse you had sene how earnestly he spake them imagining that as he told thē without taking anye paine so did I receiue them as he thought with out any griefe though in deede euerye woorde that he spake seemed a sharpe percinge arrowe vnto my hart For oft times some telleth vs thynges as of small importaunce the whiche do pricke our hartes to the quicke By the oppynion of all I vnderstande that you are verye olde and yet in your owne fantasies you seame verye yonge And further theye saye that you apparell youre selues a newe nowe as thoughe presentlye you came into the worlde moreouer they saye that you are offended with nothinge so muche as when theye call you olde that in theaters where comedies are played and in the fieldes where the brute beastes do runne you are not the hindmost and that there is no sport nor lightnes inuented in Rome but first is registred in youre house And finally they say that you geue your selues so to pleasures as thoughe you neuer thought to receiue displeasures O Claude and Claudine by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto you that I am a shamed of your vnshamefastnes am greatly abashed of your maners and aboue all I am excedingly greeued for your great offence For at that time that you ought to lift vp your handes yow are returned againe into the filth of the world Many thinges men commyt which though they seme graue yet by moderacion of the person that committeth them they are made light but speaking according to the trouthe I fynde one reason wherebye I mighte excuse youre lightnes but to the contrarye I see tenne wherebye I maye condempne youre follyes Solon the phylosopher in hys lawes sayde to the Athenians that if the yonge offended hee shoulde bee gentlye admonished and grieuouslye punished beecause hee was strong and if the olde dydde erre he shoulde be lightlye punished and sharpelye admonished sithe he was weake and feble To this Licurgus in his lawes to the Lacedemonians sayde contrarye that if the yonge did offende hee shoulde bee lightly punished and greuously admonished sins through ignoraunce he dyd erre and the olde manne whiche did euill shoulde be lightly admonished and sharpely punished sins through malice he did offend These two phylosophers being as theye haue bene of suche authoritie in the worlde that is paste and consideringe that their lawes and sentences were of suche weighte it shoulde be muche rashenesse in not admittinge the one of them Nowe not receyuyng the one nor reprouynge the other mee thynketh that there is greate excuse to the yonge for theire ignoraunce and greate condempnacion o the aged for theire experience Once agayne I retourne to saye that you pardone me mye friendes and you oughte not greatlye to weye it thoughe I am somewhat sharpe in condempnation since you others are so dissolute in youre liues for of youre blacke lyfe mye penne dothe take ynke I remember well that I haue harde of thee Claude that thou haste bene lusty and couragious in thye youthe so that thye strengthe of all was enuyed and the beauty of Claudine of all men was desired I will not write vnto you in this letter mye frindes and neigheboures neither reduce to memorye howe thou Claude haste imployed thy forces in the seruice of the common wealth and thou Claudine hast wōne muche honoure of thy beautye for sundrye tymes it chaunced that men of manye goodlye gyftes are noted of greuous offences Those whiche striued with thee are all dead those whom thow desiredst are dead those which serued thee Claudine are deade those whiche before thee Claudine sighed are deade those which for thee died are nowe dead and sins all those are dead withe they re lightnesse do not you others thinke to dye your follyes allso I demaunde nowe of thy youthe one thinge and of thy beauty another thinge what do you receiue of these pastimes of these good interteinmentes of these abundances of these great contentacions of the pleasures of the worlde of the vanytye that is paste and what hope you of all these to carye into the narrowe graue O simple simple and ignoraunt persones howe oure life consumeth and we perceiue not howe we liue therein For it is no felicitie to enioy a short or long life but to knowe to employe the same well or euill O children of the earthe and disciples of vanytie nowe you knowe that tyme flyethe without mouing his wynges the life goeth without liftinge vppe hys feete the worlde dispatcheth vs not tellinge vs the cause men beegile vs not mouinge theire lippes our flesh consumeth to vs vnwares the heart dieth hauing no remedy finally our glory decayeth as if it had neuer bene and death oppresseth vs wythoute knockinge at the doore Thoughe a man be neuer so simple or so very a foole yet he can not denaye but it is impossible to make a fier in the botome of the sea to make a waye in the ayre of the thinne bloude to make roughe sinewes and of the softe vaines to make harde bones I
if thou be euill lyfe shal bee euyl imployd on thee and if thou bee good thou oughtest to die imediatly and because I am woors thē all I liue lōger then all These woordes which Adrian my lord sayed doe plainely declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruel death doth assaulte the good and lēgthneth life a great while to the euil The opinion of a philosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their misteryes and so iust in their woorks that to men which least profit the common wealth they lengthen lyfe longest and though he had not sayd it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale and frendship to the common wealth either the gods take him from vs or the enemies do sley him or the daungers doe cast him away or the the trauailes do finish him When great Pompeius Iulius Cesar became enemyes from that enmite came to cruel warres the cronicles of that time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in the fauour of Iulius Cesar and the mightiest most puisaunte of al the oriental parts came in the ayd of great Pompeius beecause these two Princes were loued of few and serued and feared of al. Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the oriental part into the host of the great Pompeius one nation came maruelous cruel barbarous which sayd they dwelled in the other side of the mountayns Riphees which go vnto India And these barbarous had a custome not to liue no longer then fifty years therfore when thei came to that age they made a greater fier and were burned therin aliue and of their owne willes they sacrificed them selues to the gods Let no man bee astoined at that wee haue spoken but rather let them maruel of that wee wyl speak that is to say that the same day that any man had accomplished fifty years immediatly hee cast him self quick in to the fier and the parents children and his freends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eat the fleash of the dead half burned and drank in wyne and water the asshes of his bones so that the stomak of the children beeing aliue was the graue of the fathers beeing dead All this that I haue spoken with my toung Pompeius hath seen with his eies for that some beeing in the camp did accomplish fifty years bycause the case was straunge hee declared it oft times in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what hee will and condemne the barbarous at his pleasure yet I wyll not cease too say what I think O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the world to come shal bee a perpetuall memory What contēpt of world what forgetfulnes of him self what stroke of fortune what whip for the flesh what litell regard of lyfe O what bridell for the veruous O what confusion for those that loue lyfe O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those heeare haue wyllingly dispised their own liues it is not to bee thought that they died to take the goods of others neither to think that our life shoold neuer haue end nor our couetousnes in like maner O glorious people and .10 thousand sold happy that the proper sensuallyty beeing forsaken hath ouercome the natural appetyte to desire to liue not beeleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall destines By the way they assalted fortune they chaunged life for death they offred the body to death and aboue al haue woon honor with the gods not for that they should hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluus of life Archagent a surgiō of Rome and Anthonius Musus a phisition of the Emperor Augustus and Esculapius father of the phisick shoold get litel mony in that country Hee that thē shoold haue sēt to the barbarous to haue doone as the Romaynes at that tyme did that is to wete to take siroppes in the mornings pylls at night to drynk mylk in the morning to noynt them selues with gromelsede to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eat of one thing and to abstein from many a man ought to think that hee which willingly seeketh death wil not geue mony to lengthen lyfe ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and sheweth what perilles those old men lyue in which dissolutely like yong children passe their days and geeueth vnto them holsome counsell for the remedy therof Cap. xxii BVt returning now to thee Claude to thee Claudine mee thinketh that these barbarous beeing fifty years of age and you others hauing aboue thre score and 10. it should bee iust that sithens you were elder in years you were equal in vertue and though as they you wyl not accept death paciently yet at the least you ought to amend your euel liues willingly I do remember that it is many years sithens that Fabritius the yong sonne of Fabritius the old had ordeyned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told mee great inconueniences had hapned and sithens that you did mee so great a benefit I woold now requite you the same with an other like For amongst frends there is no equal benifit then to deceyue the deceyuer I let you know if you doo not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are soonk into your heads the nostrels are shutt the hears are white the hearing is lost the tonge faltreth the teeth fall the face is wrincled the feete swoln the stomak cold Finally I say that if the graue could speak as vnto his subiects by iustice hee myght commaund you to inhabit his house It is great pity of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorante for then vnto such their eyes are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth thē to the graue Plato in his book of the common wealth sayd that in vaine wee geeue good counsels to fond light yongmen For youth is without experiēce of that it knoweth suspicious of that it heareth incredible of that is told him despising the counsayl of an other and very poore of his own Forsomuch as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the yong haue of the good is not so much but the obstinacion which the old hath in the euel is more For the mortal gods many times do dissemble with a .1000 offeces committed by ignorance but they neuer forgeeue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doo not meruel that you doo forget the gods as you doo which created you and your fathers which beegot you and your parēts which haue loued you and your frends which haue
neuer had any one thought of their dead fathers Hee which of pure couetousnes and misery suffreth him self to dye for hunger and cold I think hee hath small deuotiō to geeue almes and much lesse to doo any man good If the couetous man say vnto vs that that which hee keepeth is for no other cause but to buyld a sumptuous chappell and to leaue of them some memory to this I aunswer That if such one doth it with his own proper swet and maketh restitucion of all the euill that hee hath doon it shal bee sanctified of all good men commended but if the couetous will that many liue in great pouerty only to make a rich tomb god doth not commaund that neither doth the church admit it for sacrifice done to god with the cryes and swet of others is not acceptable If the couetous tell vs that though they heap treasures it is not but at their death to distribute it to the poore and to bee brought honestly to the ground I say that I commend this purpose so his intent bee accordingly performed but I am sory the couetouse man shoold think hereby to merit and that hee shoold thus discharge the wickednes of his lyfe for the distribution of a lytle mony after his death I woold think it more sure that princes and great lords shoold spend their goods to mary poore maydens beeing orphans in their lyfe then to commaund money to bee dealt after their death For oft tymes the heirs or their executors the body interred doo little performe the will of the testator and much lesse obserue the legacyes beequethed though it bee to the vtter vndooing of the poore orphans O what guerdon and commendacion deserueth hee that iustly and truely dischargeth the legacies of the dead and of the surplus if any bee or with their own releeue the orphans and mary the poore maydens keeping them from the vyces of this world Suppose that a couetous man chaunceth to traffique at Medine in Spaine at Lions in Fraunce at Lisbone in Portingal at London in England at Andwarp in Flaunders at Millain in Lombardy at Florence in Italy at Palermo in Scicil at Prage in Boeme and at Buda in Hungary finally with his eies hee hath seene all Europe and by trafique hee hath knowledge of all Asia Admit now that in euery place hee hath gotten goods and that which hee hath gotten was not with whole cōscience but according to the companies so hath the offences been dyuers In this case if at the hour of death when the couetous man deuydeth hys money beetweene the children hee might also deuyd his offences so that hee dispossessing him self of the goods might therby bee free from the offences then it were well But alas it is not so for the wicked children lyue tryumphing on the earth with the goods and the miserable father goeth weepyng to hell wyth his sinnes ¶ Of a letter which the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrot to his frend Cincinatus who beeing a Romayn knight became a marchaunt of Capua wherin hee toucheth those gentlemen whych take vpon them the trade of marchandise against their vocation It is deuyded into .iii. Chapters Cap. xxv MArck the Emperor with his brother Annius Verus fellow in the Empire wisheth to thee Cincinatus of Capua health to thy person and grace against thy euill fortune From the feast of our mother Berecinthe I haue seene neither seruaunt of thy house nor read any letter of thy hand which thing maketh mee suspect greatly that thy health is in daunger or that thou mistrustest our frendship for earnest frendship requireth dayly communication or visitation I pray thee bee not so careles from henceforth and doo not forget vs in such wise I mean that thou wilt come and see vs or at the least that thou wilt write vnto vs often for the letters of faithful frends though vtterly they doo not take from vs the desire of the presence yet at the least they make vs hope for a meeting I know that thou maist answer mee that in the common wealth of Capua thou art so busyed that it is impossible thou shooldst write vnto mee heereto I answer thee That in no affaires thou canst bee so occupied that it bee a lawful let not to communicat or write vnto thy frend For wee may wel call the tyme which wee liue to bee wel employed which is spent in the seruice of god and in the conuersation of our frends All the residue that wee wast in talking traueling sleeping eating and resting wee ought not to write it in the booke of lyfe but in the register of death For al bee it that in such semblable woorks the body is refreshed yet therwith the heart cannot bee comforted I swere vnto thee therfore my frend that it is impossible the man take any contentation of any worldly thing where the hart is not at rest for our comfort is not in the sinnues or in the bones of the body but in the liuely power of the soul It is long sithens that you and I haue knowen togethers it is long time likewise that I loued thee and thou mee and sith wee are so true old frends it is but reason that with good woorks wee doo renew our frendship For falsly they vsurp the name of frendship which are not cōuersant one wyth the other no more then if they were strāgers The man which speaketh not to mee which wryteth not to mee which seeth mee not which visiteth mee not which geeueth mee not to whom I geeue not I woold not hee were my enemy but it litle auaileth mee that hee call mee frend for perticuler frendship consisteth not in aboundance but that frends doo open their harts and talk with their persons Peraduēture thou wilt say that the great distaunce which is from Rome to that countrey hath beene occasion to deminish our frendship for the noble harts are on fier with the presence of that they loue and haue great paine with the absence of that they desire I aunswer that the farder the delicious wines are sent from the place where they grow the greater strength they haue I mean that heerein true frends are knowen whē their persons are furthest seuered for then are their willes most conioined Tell mee I pray thee Cincinnatus sithens always thou hast found mee a diligent frend in thy seruice why doost thou mistrust my faithfull good will The greene leaues outwardly doo shew that the tree inwardly is not dry I mean that the good woorks outwardly do declare the feruentnes of the hart inwardly If thou Cincinnatus presumest to bee a true frend of thy frend I will thou know this rule of frendship which is Where perfect loue is not there wāteth alway faithful seruice for the contrary hee the perfectly loueth assuredly shal bee serued I haue been am wil bee thyne therfore thou shalt doo mee great iniury if thou art not myne ¶ The Emperor proceedeth in his letter and declareth what
Lido of whom the Atheniens demaunded what they shoold doo with the treasure and dead body mee thinketh quod thys philosopher that if those which are lyuing did know any siluer or gold which the tyraunt tooke from them it shoold bee restored again immediatly and doo not meruell that I doo not require it to bee put in the common treasure For god will not permit that the commonwealth bee enriched with the theft of Tyraunts but with the swet of the inhabitants If any goods remayn which doo not appere from whom they haue beene taken mee thinketh that they ought to bee distributed among the poore for nothing can bee more iust then that which the goods wherewyth the tyraunt hath enpouerished many wyth the self same wee shoold enrich some As touching his buriall mee thinketh hee ought to be cast out to the 〈…〉 to bee eaten and to the dogs to bee gnawen And let no man thynk this sentence to bee cruell for wee are bound to doo no more for him at his death then hee did for him self in his lyfe who beeing so ouercome with auaryce that hee woold neuer disburse so much money as shoold buy him seuen foote of earth wherin his graue shoold bee made And I will you know that the gods haue doon a great good to all Greece to take lyfe from this tyrant First it is good because much goods are dispersed which heeretofore lay hid and serued to no purpose Secondly that many tongues shall rest for the treasours of this tirant made great want in the common welth and our tongues the greatest part of the day were occupied to speak euill of his parson Mee thinketh this philosopher hath touched two things which the couetous man dooth in the common wealth that is to wete that drawing much gold siluer to the hid treasure hee robbeth the marchandise wherwith the people doo liue The other dommage is that as hee is hated of all so hee causeth rancour malice in the harts of all for hee maketh the rych to murmour and the poore to blasphem One thing I read in the laws of the Lombards woorthy of truth to bee noted and knowen and no lesse to bee folowed which is that all those which shoold haue gold siluer money silks clothes euery yere they shoold bee registred in the place of iustice And this was to the end not to consent nor permit them to heap much but that they shoold haue to buy to sell and to trafik wherby the goods were occupyed among the people So that hee which did spend the money to the profit of his house it was taken for good of the common wealth Yf christians woold doo that now adays which the Lombardes did there shoold not bee so many treasures hid nor so many couetous men in the commonwealth for nothing can bee more vniust then that one rych man shoold heap vp that which woold suffise ten thousand to liue wyth all Wee can not deny but that the cursed auarice and disordinat couetise to al states of men is as preiudiciall as the moth which eateth all garments Therfore speaking the truth and wyth lyberty ther is no house that it dooth not defyle for it is more perilous to haue a clod of earth fall into a mans eye then a beam vppon his foot Agesilaus the renowmed king of the Lacedemonians beeing asked of a man of Thebes what woord was most odible to bee spoken to a king and what woord that was that coold honor him most hee aunswered The prince with nothing so much ought to bee annoied as to say vnto him that hee is rich and of nothing hee ought so much to reioice as to bee called poore For the glory of the good prince consisteth not in that hee hath great treasures but in that hee hath geeuen great recompences Thys woord without doubt of all the world was one of the most royallest and worthiest to bee committed vnto memory Alexander Pirrhus Nicanor Ptolomeê° Pompeius Iulius Cesar Scipio Hanniball Marcus Portius Augustus Cato Traian Theodose Marcus Aurelius all these princes haue beene very valiant and vertuous but addyng heereunto also the writers which haue writeÌ„ the deedes that they did in their lyues haue mencioned also the pouerty which they had at their death So that they are no lesse exalted for the riches they haue spent then for the prowesses they haue done Admit that men of meane state bee auaricious and princes and great lords also couetous the fault of the one is not equall with the vice of the other though in the end all are culpable For if the poore maÌ„ keepe it is for that hee woold not want but if the knight hoord it is beecause he hath to much And in this case I woold say that cursed bee the knight which trauaileth to the end that goods abound and dooth not care that betweene two bowes his renowmsall to the ground Sithens princes and great lords will that men doo count them noble vertuous valyaunt I woold know what occasion they haue to bee nigards and hard Yf they say that that which they keepe is to eat heerein there is no reasoÌ„ for in the end where the rich eateth least at his table ther are many that had rather haue that which remaineth then that which they prouide to eat in their houses If they say that that which they keepe is to apparel them heere in also they haue as lytle reason for the greatnes of lords consisteth not in that they shoold bee sumptuously appareled but that they prouide that their seruaunts go not rent nor torne If they say it is to haue in their chambers precious iewels in their halles rich Tapestry as little woold I admit this answer for all those which enter into princes palaces doo beehold more if those that haunt their chambers bee vertuous then that the tapestries bee rych If they say that it is to compasse their cities with walles or to make fortresses on their fronters so lykewise is this aunswer amongst the others very cold For good princes ought not to trauel but to bee well willed and if in their realms they bee welbeeloued in the world they can haue no walles so strong as the harts of their subiects If they tell vs that that they keepe is to mary their children as little reason is that for sithens princes and great lords haue great inheritaunces they neede not heap much For if their children bee good they shall encrease that shal bee left them and if by mishap they bee euill they shall aswell lose that that shal bee geeuen them If they say vnto vs that that which they heap is for the warres in like maner that is no iust excuse For if such warre bee not iust the prince ought not to take it in hand nor the people therunto to condescend but if it bee iust the common wealth then not the prince shal bere the charges therof For in iust warres it is not sufficient that they geeue
the prince all their goods but also they must them selues in parson hazard their lyues If they tell vs that that they keepe is to geeue and dispose for their soules at their dying day I say it is not only want of wisdome but extream folly For at the hour of death princes ought more to reioyce for that they haue geeuen then for that at that time hee geeueth O how princes and great lords are euyll counsailed since they suffer them selues to bee slaundered for beeing couetous only to heap a lyttle cursed treasure For experience teacheth vs no man can bee couetous of goods but needs hee must bee prodigal of honor and abandon liberty Plutarche in the booke which hee made of the fortune of Alexander sayth that Alexander the great had a priuat seruaunt called Perdyca the which seeyng that Alexander liberally gaue all that which by great trauel hee attayned on a day hee said vnto him Tell mee most noble prince sithens thou geeuest all that thou hast to others what wilt thou haue for thy self Alexander aunswered The glory remaineth vnto mee of that I haue wonne gotten the hope of that which I wil geeue winne And further he said vnto him I wil tel thee true Perdyca If I knew that men thought that all that which I take were for couetousnes I swere vnto thee by the god Mars that I woold not beat down one corner in a town and to winne all the world I woold not go one days iourney My intention is to take the glory to my self and to deuyde the goods amongst others These woords so high were woorthy of a valyant and vertuous prince as of Alexander which spake thē If that which I haue read in books do not begyle mee that which with these eies I haue seene to become rych it is necessary that a man geeue for the princes and great lords which naturally are geeuen to bee liberall are alwaies fortunat to haue It chaunceth oft tymes that some man geeuing a little is counted liberall an other geeuing much is counted a nigard The which proceedeth of this that they know not that liberality nigardnes consisteth not in geeuing much or lytle but to know well how to geeue For the rewards and recompences which out of tyme are distributed do nother profit them which receiue them neither agree to him which geeueth them A couetous man geeueth more at one tyme then a noble and free hart doth in .20 thus saieth the common prouerb it is good comming to a niggards feast The difference beetwene the liberality of the one and the mysery of thother is that the noble and vertuous doth geeue that hee geeueth to many but the nigard geeueth that hee geeueth to one onely Of the which vnaduisement princes ought greatly to beware For if in such case one man alone shoold bee found which woold commēd his liberality there are ten thousand which woold condemne his couetousnes It happeneth oft times to princes and great lords that in deed they are free to recompence but in geeuing they are very vnfortunat And the cause is that they geeue it not to vertuous persons and well cōdicioned but to those which are vnthankfull and do not acknowledge the benefit receyued So that in geeuing to some they haue not made them their frends and in not geeuing to others they haue made them their enemies It suffyseth not to princes great lords to haue great desire to geeue but to know when how or where to whom they ought to geeue For if they bee accused otherwise to heap vp treasures they ought also to bee condemned for that they do geeue When a man hath lost all that hee hath in play in whoors in bankets and other semblable vyces it is but reason they bee ashamed but when they haue spent it like noble stout and liberal men they ought not to bee discontented for the wise man ought to take no displesure for that hee loseth but for that hee euil spendeth and hee ought to take no pleasure for that hee geeueth but for that hee geeueth not well Dion the grecian in the lyfe of the Emperor Seuerus saith that one day in the feast of the God Ianus when hee had geeuen dyuers rewards and sundry gifts as well to his own seruaunts as to strangers and that hee was greatly commended of all the Romains hee said vnto them Do you think now Romains that I am very glad for the gifts rewards and recompenses which I haue bestowed and that I am very glorious for the praises you haue geeuen mee by the god Mars I swere vnto ye and let the god Ianus bee so mercifull vnto vs all this yere that the pleasure I haue is not so great for the I haue geeuen as the grief is for that I haue no more to geeue ¶ The auctour foloweth his intencion and perswadeth gentlemen and those that professe armes not to abase them selues for gaines sake to take vpon them any vyle function or office Cap. xix PLutarche in his Apothemes declareth that king Ptolomeus the first was a prince of so good a nature and so gentle in conuersation that oft times hee went to supper to the houses of his familiar frinds and many nights hee remayned there to sleap And truly in this case hee shewed him self to bee welbeeloued of his For speaking according to the trueth a prynce on whose lyfe dependeth the hole state of the common wealth ought to credit few was the table and allso fewer in the bed Another thing this Ptolomeus did whych was when hee inuited his frends to dinner or supper or other straungers of soome hee desired to borow stooles of thothers napkins of others cups and so of other things for hee was a prodygall prince For all that his seruaunts in the morning had bought beefore the night folowing hee gaue it away One day al the nobles of his realm of Egipt assembled togethers and desired him very earnestly that hee woold be more moderat in geeuing for they said through his prodygality the hole realm was impouerished The king aunswered You others of Egipt are marueylously deceiued to think that the poore and needy prince is troubled In this case I dare say vnto you that the poore and needy prince ought to think him self happy for good princes ought more to seeke to enrich others then to heap vp treasures for them selues O happy is the common wealth whych deserueth to haue such a prince and happy is that tongue which coold pronounce such a sentence Certainly this prince to all princes gaue good example and counsel that is to weete that for thē it was more honor and also more profit to make others rich thē to bee rich them selues For if they haue much they shal want no crauers and if they haue lytle they shal neuer want seruaunts to serue them Suetonius Tranquillus in the booke of Cesars sayeth that Titus the Emperour one night after supper
doo not wee geeue them some safe conduct when they are in their deliuering O myserable state of man since the brute beasts are borne wtout destroying their mothers but the miserable men beefore they are born are troublesome and carefull and in the time of their birth are both perillous to them selues and daungerous to their mothers Which seemeth to bee very manyfest for the preparacion that man maketh when hee will dy that self same aught the woman to doo when shee is ready to bee delyuered Wee must also consider that though a beast hath but two feete as the birds haue hee can go moue and runne immediatly when it commeth foorth but when mā is born hee can not go nor moue much lesse ronne So that a popingey ought more to bee esteemed which hath no hands then the man which hath both hands and feete That which they doo to the lytle babe is not but a prognostication of that which hee ought to suffer in the progresse of hys lyfe that is to weete That as they are not contented to put the euil dooer in prison but they lode his hands with yrons set his feete in the stocks so in like maner to the miserable man when hee entreth into the charter of his life immediatly they bind both his hands his feete lay him in the cradel So that the innocent babe is first bound rolled beefore hee bee imbraced or haue suck of the mother Wee must note also that the hour wherein the beast is brought foorth though it know not the Sier which begat it at the least it knoweth the damme which brought it foorth which is apparant for so much as if the mother haue milk the yongling foorth with dooth suck her teats if perchaūce she haue no milk they go afterwards to hide thē selues vnder her wings Of the miserable man it is not so but the day that hee is born hee knoweth not the nurse that geeueth him suck neyther the father which hath beegotten him the mother which hath born him nor yet the midwife which hath receiued him moreouer hee can not see with his eies heare with his eares nor iudge with the tast and knoweth neither what it is to touch or smel so that wee see him to whom the seygnory ouer al brute beasts and other things that are created parteineth to bee born the most vnable of all other creatures Wee must also consyder that though the beast bee neuer so litle yet it can seeke for the teates of his mother to suck or to wāder in the fields to feede or to scrape the dūghilles to eat or els it goeth to the foūtayns riuers to drink that he lerneth not by the discours of time or that any other beast hath taught it but as soon as it is born so sone doth it know what thing is necessary for it The myserable man is not borne wyth so many present commodities hee can not eat drynk nor go make hym self ready ask nor yet complayn and that which is more hee knoweth not scarcely how to suck for the mothers oft tymes woold geeue to their children if they could the blood of their hart and yet they can not cause them to take the mylk of their breasts O great mysery of mans nature forsomuch as the brute beasts as soone as they are come foorth of theire mothers womb can know and seeke but when yt is offered vnto man hee can not know it Wee must note also that to brute beasts nature hath geeuen clothing wherewyth they may keepe them selues from the heat of Sommer and defend them selues from the cold of winter which is manyfest for that to lambs and sheepe shee hath geeuen wooll to byrds feathers to hoggs bristels to horses heare to fysh scales to snayles shells Fynally I say there is no beast which hath neede with his hands to make any garment nor yet to borow it of another Of all this the myserable man is depryued who is borne all naked and dyeth all naked not carying wyth him one only garment and if in the tyme of his lyfe hee will vse any garment hee must demaund of the beasts both leather and wooll and therunto hee must also put his whole labor and industry I woold ask princes and great lords if when they are borne they bryng wyth them any apparel and when they dy if they cary wyth them any treasour To this I aunswere no but they die as they are borne as well the rych as the poore and the poore as the rich And admit that in this life fortune doth make difference beetweene vs in estates yet nature in time of our birth and death doth make vs all equall Wee must also think and consider that forsomuch as nature hath prouyded the beasts of garments shee hath also taken from them the care of what they ought to eat for there is no beast that doth eyther plow sow or labor but doth content her selfe and passeth her lyfe eyther with the lytle flyes of the ayre with the corne that shee fyndeth in the high-ways with the herbs in the fyelds with the ants of the earth with the grapes of the vyne or with the fruits which are fallen Finally I say that without care all beasts take their rest as if the next day followyng they shoold haue no neede to eat O what a great benefit shoold god doo to the myserable man yf hee had taken from hym the trauaile to apparel him self and the care to search for things to eat But what shal the poore miserable man do that beefore hee eateth hee must till sow hee must reap and thresh the corne hee must clense it griend it paste it and bake it and it can not bee prouyded without care of mynd nor bee doon without the propre swet of the brows And yf perchaunce any man did prouide for him self with the swet of others yet shal hee liue with his owne offences Also in other things the beasts do excell vs for in the flowers in the leaues in the hearbs in the straw in the otes in the bread in the flesh or in the fruit whych they eat or in the water which they drink they feele no pain although it bee not sweete nor take any displeasure though their meates bee not sauory Fynally such as nature hath prouided them without disgysing or makyng them selues better they are contented to eat Man coold lose nothing if in this poynt hee agreed with beasts but I am very sory that there are many vicious proud men to whō nothing wanteth either to apparail or eat but they haue to much to maintein them selues and here with not contended they are such dronkardes to tast of diuers wines and such Epicures to eat of sundry sorts of meates that oft times they spend more to dresse them then they did cost the bying Now when the beastes are brought foorth they haue knowledge both of that that is profitable and also of that
mother in the chariot to the temple So after that the feast was ended the mother not knowyng how to requite the benefite of her children with many teares beesought the goddesse Iuno that shee with the other gods woold bee contented to geeue her .ii. children the best thing that the gods coold geeue to their frends The goddesse Iuno aunswered her that shee was contented to require the other gods and that they woold doo it And the reward was that for this noble fact the gods ordeyned that Cleobolus and Biton shoold sleepe one day well and in the morning when they shoold wake they shoold dye The mother pitifully beewayling the death of her children and complaining of the gods the goddesse Iuno sayd vnto her Thou hast no cause why to complayn sins wee haue geeuen thee that thou hast demaunded and hast demaunded that which wee haue geeuen thee I am a goddesse and thou art my seruaunt therefore the gods haue geeuen to thy children the thing which they count most deare which is death For the greatest reuenge which amongst vs gods wee can take of our enemies is to let them liue long and the best thing that wee keepe for our frends is to make them dye quickly The auctor of this history is called Hisearchus in his politikes and Cicero in his first book of his Tusculanes In the I le of Delphos where the Oracle of the god Apollo was there was a sumptuous temple the which for want of reparacion fell down to the ground as often times it chaunceth to high sumptuous buyldings which from tyme to tyme are not repayred For if the walles dungeons castels and strong houses coold speak as well woold they complayn for that they doo not renew them as the old men doo for that wee doo not cherish them Triphon and Agamendo were two noble personages of Greece and counted for sage and rich men the which went vnto the temple of Apollo and buylt it new agayn as well with the labor of their persons as with the great expenses of their goods When the buylding was atchiued the god Apollo said vnto them that hee remembred well their good seruice wherefore hee woold they shoold demaund him any thing in reward of their trauail and with a good will it shoold bee graunted For the gods vse for a little seruice to geeue a great reward Triphon and Agamendo aunswered vnto the god Apollo that for their good will for their trauell and for their expenses they demaunded no other reward but that it woold please him to geeue them the best thing that might bee geeuen vnto man and that vnto them were most profit saying that the miserable men haue not the power to eschew the euill nor wisedom to choose the good The god Apollo aunswered that hee was contented to pay them their seruice which they had doon and to grant them that which they had demaunded By reason whereof Triphon and Agamendo hauing dyned sodeinly at the gates of the temple fell down dead So that the reward of their trauell was to pluck them out of their misery The end to declare these two examples is to th end that al mortal men may know that there is nothing so good in this world as to haue an end of this lyfe and though to lose it there bee no sauor yet at the least ther is profit For wee woold reproue a traueler of great foolishnes if sweating by the way hee woold sing and after at his iorneys end hee shoold beegin to weepe Is not hee simple which is sory for that hee is comen into the hauen is not hee simple that geeueth the battell and fighteth for that hee hath got the victory Is not hee stubbern which is in great distresse and is angry to bee succored Therefore more foolish simple and stubbern is hee which traueleth to dye and is loth to meet with death For death is the true refuge the perfect health the sure hauen the whole victory the flesh wythout bones fysh wythout scales and corne without straw Fynally after death wee haue nothing to beewail and much lesse to desire In the tyme of Adrian the emperor a philosopher called Secundus beeing marueilously learned made an oration at the funerall of a noble Romayn matrone a kinswoman of the emperors who spake exceeding much euill of lyfe marueilous much good of death And when the emperor demaunded him what death was the philosopher answered Death is an eternal sleepe a dissolucion of the body a terror of the rich a desire of the poore a thing inheritable a pilgrymage vncertain a theef of men a kynde of sleaping a shadow of lyfe a seperacion of the lyuing a company of the dead a resolution of all a rest of trauels and the end of all ydle desires Fynally death is the scourge of all euyll and the cheef reward of the good Truely this philosopher spake very well hee shoold not doo euill which profoundly woold consider that hee had spoken Seneca in an epistle declareth of a philosopher whose name was Bassus to whom when they demaunded what euil a man can haue in death since men feare it so much hee aunswered If any domage or fear is in him who dyeth it is not for the fear of death but for the vyce of him which dieth Wee may agree to that the philosopher sayd that euen as the deaf can not iudge harmony nor the blynd colours so lykewise they cannot say euill of death in especially hee which neuer tasted it For of all those which are dead none returned again to complayn of death and of these few that lyue all complayn of lyfe If any of the dead returned hyther to speak with the liuing and as they haue proued it so they woold tel vs. If there were any harm in secret death it were reason to haue some fear of death But though a man that neuer saw hard felt nor tasted death dooth speak euil of death shoold wee therefore fear death Those ought to haue doon some euil in their life whych doo fear and speak euill of death For in the last hour in the streight iudgement the good shal bee knowen and the euill discouered There is no prince nor knight rich nor poore whole nor sick lucky nor vnlucky whych I see with their vocacions to bee contented saue only the dead which in their graues are in peace and rest and are neyther couetous proud negligent vayn ambitious nor dissolute So that the state of the dead ought to bee best since wee see none therin to bee euil contented And since therefore those which are poore doo seeke wherewith to enrich them selues those which are sad doo seeke wherby to reioice and those which are sick doo seeke to bee healed why is it that those which haue such fear of death doo seeke some remedy against that fear In this case I woold say that hee which will not fear to dye let him vse him self well to liue For the giltles
with lyes With our frends wee are shamelesse in their life and also bashfull at their death The which ought not to bee so For if our fathers were not dead and that wee did not dayly see these that are present dye mee thinketh it were a shame and also a fear to say to the sick that hee alone shoold dye But since thou knowst as well as hee and hee knoweth as well as thou that all doo trauell in this perillous iurney what shame hast thou to say vnto thy frend that hee is now at the last point If the dead shoold now reuyue how woold they complayn of their frends And thys for no other cause but for that they woold not geeue them good counsell at their death For if the sick man bee my frend and that I see peraduenture hee will dye why shall not I counsell him to prepare him self to dye Certeinly oftentimes wee see by experyence that those which are prepared and are ready for to dye doo escape and those which think to liue doo perish What shoold they doo which goe to vysit the sick perswade them that they make their testaments that they confesse their sinnes that they discharge their conscience that they receiue the Communion and that they doo reconcile them selues to their enemies Certeinly all these things charge not the launce of death nor cut not the threed of lyfe I neuer saw blyndnes so blynd nor ignoraunce so ignorant as to bee ashamed to counsell the sick that they are bound to doo when they are whole As wee haue sayd heere aboue Princes and great Lords are those aboue all other that liue and dye most abusedly And the cause is that as their seruaunts haue no harts to perswade them when they are mery so haue they no audacity to tell them trueth when they are in peril For such seruaunts care lytle so that their maisters beequeath them any thing in theyr willes whether they dye well or lyue euyll O what misery and pity is it to see a Prince a Lord a gentleman and a rych person dye if they haue no faythfull frend about them to help them to passe that payn And not wythout a cause I say that hee ought to bee a faythfull frend For many in our lyfe doo gape after our goods and few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wyse and sage men before nature compelleth them to dye of their own will ought to dye That is to weete that beefore they see them selues in the pangues of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if wee count him a foole whych will passe the sea without a shippe truely wee will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparacion beefore What loseth a wise man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenture of honor is any man beefore death to reconsile him self to his enemies and to those whom hee hath born hate and malyce What loseth hee of his credit who in his lyfe tyme restoreth that which at his death they will commaund him to render wherein may a man shew him self to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by proces they will take from him O how many princes great lords are there which only not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heirs all the days of their life to bee in trauerse in the law So that they supposing to haue left their children welthy haue not left them but for atturneis and counselers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dyspose his goods and correct his lyfe as if hee shoold dye the same night And at night in like maner hee ought so to commit him self to god as if hee hoped for no lyfe vntill morning For to say the truth to sustein life there are infinit trauels but to meete death there is but one way If they will credit my woords I woold counsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the world hee shoold vndoo him self The rich and the poore the great and the small the gentlemen and the Plebeians all say and swear that of death they are exceeding fearfull To whom I say and affirm that hee alone feareth death in whom wee see amendment of lyfe Princes and great lords ought also to bee perfect beefore they bee perfect to end beefore they end to dye beefore they dye and to bee mortified beefore they bee mortified If they doo this with them selues they shall as easely leaue their lyfe as if they chāged from one house to an other For the most part of men delight to talk with leisure to drink with leisure to eat with leisure to sleep with leisure but they dye in haste Not without cause I say they dye in haste since wee see thē receiue the sacrament of the supper of the lord in haste make their willes by force with speed to confesse and receiue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue lost their senses and are ready to geeue vp the spirit when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the ship maister after the ship is sonk what doo weapons auayl after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By that I haue spoken I will demaund what it auaileth the sick beeing heuy with sleep and beereft of their senses to call confessors to whom they confesse their sinnes Euill shal hee bee confessed whych hath no vnderstandyng to repent him self What auayleth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secret of his conscience when the sick man hath lost his speach Let vs not deceiue our selues saying in our age wee will amend heereafter make restitution at our death For in myne oppinion it is not the poynt of wyse men nor of good christians to desire so much tyme to offend and they wil neuer espy any to amend Woold to god that the third part of tyme which men occupy in sinne were employed about the meditations of death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshly lusts were spent in beewayling their filthy sinnes I am very sory at my hart that thei so wickedly passe their life in vyces and pleasures as if there were no God to whom they shoold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doo sinne vppon hope only in age to amend and at death to repent but I woold demaund him that in this hope sinned what certeinty hee hath in age of amendment and what assuraunce hee hath to haue long warning beefore hee dye Since wee see by experience there are mo in nomber which dye yong then old it is no reason wee shoold commit so many sinnes in one day that wee shoold haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our lyfe And afterwards to beewail the sinnes of our long life wee desire no more but one
thou tookest so that thou exceedest the limits of philosophy but in the end with thy princely vertues thou didst qualify thy wofull sorows What sentences so profound what woords so wel couched didst thou write in that booke entytuled The remedy of the sorowfull the which thou didst send from the warre of Asia to the Senators of Rome and that was to comfort them after a sore plague And how much profit hath thy doctrin doon since with what new kinde of consolation hast thou comforted Helius Fabatus the Sensour when his sonne was drowned in the ryuer where I doo remember that whē wee entred into his house wee found him weeping and when wee went from thence wee left him laughing I doo remember that when thou wentst to visit Gneus Rusticus in his last disease thou spakest vnto him so effectuously that with the vehemency of thy woords thou madest the tears to run down his cheeks And I demaunding him the occasions of his lamentacions hee said The emperor my lord hath told mee so much euils that I haue wonne and of so much good that I haue lost that if I weepe I weepe not for lyfe which is short but for death which is long The man whom aboue all thou hast loued was Torquatus whom thou didst obey as thy father and seruedst as thy maister This thy faithfull frend beeing ready to dy and desyring yet to liue thou sendst to offer sacrifices to the gods not for that they shoold graunt him lyfe but that they shoold hasten his death Herewith I beeing astonied thy noblenesse to satisfy my ignoraunce said vnto mee in secret these woords Maruel not Panutius to see mee offer sacrifyces to hasten my frends death and not to prolong his life For there is nothing that the faithfull frend ought so much to desyre to his true frend as to see him ridde from the trauels of this earth and to enioy the pleasures of heauen Why thinkest thou most noble prince that I reduce all these things to thy memory but for to demaund thee how it is possible that I which haue hard thee speak so well of death doo presently see thee so vnwilling to leaue life since the gods commaund it thy age willeth it thy disease dooth cause it thy feeble nature dooth permit it the sinfull Rome dooth deserue it and the fickle fortune agreeth that for our great misery thou shooldst dye Why therfore sighest thou so much for to dye The trauels whych of necessity must needes come wyth stout hart ought to bee receiued The cowardly hart falleth beefore hee is beaten down but the stout and valyaunt stomack in greatest perill recouereth most strength Thou art one man and not two thou oughtst one death to the gods and not two why wilt thou therefore beeyng but one pay for two and for one only lyfe take two deaths I mean that beefore thou endest lyfe thou dyest for pure sorow After that thou hast sayled and in the sayling thou hast passed such perill when the gods doo render thee in the safe hauen once agayn thou wilt run in to the raging sea wher thou scapest the victory of lyfe and thou dyest with the ambushements of death Lxii. yeres hast thou fought in the field and neuer turned thy back and fearest thou now beeing enclosed in the graue hast thou not passed the pykes and bryers wherein thou hast been enclosed and now thou tremblest beeing in the sure way Thou knowest what dommage it is long to liue and now thou doutest of the profit of death which ensueth It is now many yeres since death and thou haue been at defiaunce as mortall enemies and now to lay thy hands on thy weapons thou flyest and turnest thy back Lxii. yeres are past since thou were bent agaynst fortune and now thou closest thy eyes when thou oughtst ouer her to tryumph By that I haue told thee I mean that since wee doo not see thee take death willyngly at this present wee doo suspect that thy lyfe hath not in tymes past been very good For the man which hath no desire to appeere beefore the gods it is a token hee is loden with vyces What meanest thou most noble prince why weepest thou as an infant and complainest as a man in dispaire If thou weepest beecause thou diest I aunswer thee that thou laughedst as much when thou liuedst For of too much laughing in the life proceedeth much wayling at the death Who hath always for his heritage appropriated the places beeing in the common wealth The vnconstancy of the mynd who shal bee so hardy to make steddy I mean that all are dead all dye and al shal dye and among all wilt thou alone lyue Wilt thou obtayn of the gods that which maketh them gods That is to weete that they make thee immortall as them selues Wilt thou alone haue by priuiledge that which the gods haue by nature My youth demaundeth thy age what thing is best or to say better which is lesse euill to dye well or to lyue euill I doubt that any man may attayn to the means to lyue well according to the continuall variable troubles whych dayly wee haue accustomed to cary beetweene our hands always suffring hunger cold thirst care displeasures temptacions persecucions euil fortunes ouerthrows and diseases Thys cannot bee called lyfe but a long death and with reason wee will call this lyfe death since a thousand tymes wee hate lyfe If an auncient man did make a shew of his lyfe from tyme hee is come out of the intrailes of his mother vntill the tyme hee entreth into the bowels of the earth and that the body woold declare all the sorows that hee hath passed and the hart discouer all the ouerthrows of fortune which hee hath suffered I immagin the gods woold maruell and men woold wonder at the body whych hath endured so much and the hart whych hath so greatly dissembled I take the Greekes to bee more wise whych weepe when their children bee borne and laugh when the aged dye then the Romayns whych syng when the children are borne and weepe when the old men dye Wee haue much reason to laugh when the old men dye since they dye to laugh and with greater reason wee ought to weepe when the children are borne since they are borne to weepe ¶ Pannatius the secretary continueth his exhortatiō admonishing al men willingly to accept death and vtterly to forsake the world and all his vanities Cap. li. SIns lyfe is now condempned for euill there remaineth nought els but to approue death to bee good O if it pleased the immortall gods that as I oftentimes haue hard the disputacions of this matter so now that thow cooldst therewith profit But I am sory that to the sage and wise man counsaile sometimes or for the most part wanteth None ought to cleue so much to his own opinion but sometimes hee shoold folow the counsaile of the thyrd parson For the man which in all things will follow his own
the gods onely which had no beginning shall haue also no endyng Therefore mee thinketh most noble prince that sage men ought not to desire to lyue long For men which desire to liue much eyther it is for that they haue not felt the trauailes past beecause they haue been fooles or for that they desire more time to geeue them selues to vices Thou mightst not complayn of that sins they haue not cut thee in the flower of the herb nor taken thee greene from the tree nor cut in thee in the spring tide and much lesse eat the eager beefore thou were ripe By that I haue spoken I mean if death had called thee when thy lyfe was sweetest though thou hadst not had reason to haue complayned yet thou mightst haue desired to haue altered it For it is a great grief to say vnto a yong man that hee must dye and forsake the world What is this my lord now that the wall is decayed ready to fall the flower is withered the grape dooth rotte the teeth are loose the gown is worn the launce is blunt the knife is dull and doost thou desire to return into the world as if thou hadst neuer knowen the world These lxii yeares thou hast liued in the prison of thys body wilt thou now the yron fetters haue rot thy legges desire yet to length thy days in this so woful prison They that wil not be cōtented to lyue lx years fyue in this death or to dye in this lyfe will not desire to dye in lx thousand years The Emperour Augustus octauian sayd That after men had lyued .l. years eyther of their own will they ought to dye or els by force they shoold cause them selues to bee killed For at that time all those which haue had any humain felicity are at the best Those which liue aboue that age passe their days in greeuous torments As in the death of children in the losse of goods importunity of sōne in laws in mainteining processes in discharging debts in sighing for that is past in bewailing that that is present in dissēbling iniuries in hearing woful news in other infinit trauails So that it were much better to haue their eies shut in the graue then their harts bodies aliue to suffer so much in this miserable life Hee whom the gods take from this miserable life at the end of 50. years is quited from al these miseries of life For after that time hee is not weak but crooked he goeth not but rouleth hee stumbleth not but falleth O my lord Mark knowest thou not that by the same way whereby goeth death death cometh Knowst not thou in like maner that it is 52. years that life hath fled from death and that there is an other time asmuch that death goeth seeking thy life and death going from Illiria where hee left a great plague and thou departing from thy pallayce ye .ii. now haue met in Hungary knowst not thou that where thou leapedst out of thy mothers intrails to gouern the land immediatly death leaped out of his graue to seeke thy life Thou hast always presumed not onely to bee honored but also to bee honorable if it bee so synce thou honoredst the Imbassadours of Princes which did send them the more for their profyt then for thy seruice why doost thou not honor thy messenger whom the gods send more for thy profyt then for their seruices Doost thow not remember well when Vulcane my sonne in law poysoned mee more for the couetousnes of my goods then any desire hee had of my life thou lord diddest come to comfort mee in my chamber and toldst mee that the gods were cruell to slea the yong and were pytiful to take the old from this world And thou saydst further these woords Comfort thee Panutius For if thow were born to dye now thou diest to liue Sins therefore noble prince that I tell thee that which thow toldst mee and counsaile thee the same which thou coūsayledst mee I render to thee that which thow hast geeuen mee Fynally of these vines I haue gathered these clusters of grapes ¶ The aunswer of the emperour Marcus to Panutius his secretory wherein hee declareth that hee tooke no thought to forsake the world but all his sorow was to leaue beehynd hym an vnhappy chyld to enheryt the Empire Cap. lij PAnutius blessed bee the milk thou hast sucked in Dacia the bread which thou hast eaten in Rome the learning which thou hast learned in Greece the bringing vp which thou hast had in my pallace For thou hast serued as a good seruant in life and geeuest mee counsayl as a trusty frend at death I commaund Commodus my sonne to recompence thy seruice and I beseech the immortal gods that they acquite thy good counsayls And not wythout good cause I charge my sonne with the one and require the gods of the other For the payment of many seruices one man alone may doo but to pay one good counsayl it is requisyt to haue all the gods The greatest good that a frend can doo to his frend is in great wayghty affayres to geeue him good and holsome counsayl And not without cause I say holsome For commonly it chaunceth that those which think with their counsayl to remedy vs do put vs oftentimes in greatest perils All the trauayles of lyfe are hard but that of death ys the most hard and terrible Al are great but this is the greatest All are perillous but this is most perillous All in death haue end except the trauayl of death whereof wee know no end That which I say now no man perfectly can know but onely hee which seeth him self as I see my self now at the point of death Certainly Panutius thou hast spoken vnto mee as a wise man but for that thou knowst not my grief thow couldst not cure my disease for my sore is not there where thou hast layd the playster The fistula is not there where thou hast cut the flesh The opilation is not there where thou hast layd the oyntments There were not the right vayns where thou dydst let mee blood Thou hast not yet touched the wound which is the cause of all my grief I mean that thou oughtst to haue entred further with mee to haue knowen my grief better The sighes which the hart fetcheth I say those which come from the hart let not euery man thynk which heareth thē that he can immediatly vnderstand them For as men can not remedy the anguishes of the spirit so the gods likewise woold not that they shoold know the secrets of the hart Without fear or shame many dare say that they know the thought of others wherein they shew them selues to bee more fooles then wise For since there are many things in mee wherein I my self doubt how can a straunger haue any certayn knowledge therein Thow accusest mee Panutius that I feare death greatly the which I deny but to feare it as mā I doo confesse For
to deny that I feare not death shoold bee to deny that I am not of flesh Wee see by experience that the elephants doo feare the Lyon the Beare the Elephant the woolf the Beare the lamb the woolf the ratte the catte the catte the dogge and the dogge the man fynally the one and the other doo feare for no other thyng but for feare that one kylleth not the other Then since brute beasts refuse death the which though they dye feare not to fyght with the furies nor hope not to rest with the gods so much the more ought wee to feare death which dye in doubt whither the furies wyll teare vs in pieces with their torments or the gods will receyue vs into their houses with ioy Thinkest thou Panutius that I doo not see well that my vine is gathered and that it is not hyd vnto mee that my pallace falleth in decay I know well that I haue not but the kirnel of the raison and the skinne and that I haue not but one sygh of all my lyfe vntill this time There was great difference beetweene mee and thee and now there is great difference beetwixt mee and my self For about the ensigne thow doost place the army In the ryuers thow castest thy nettes within the parks thou huntest the bulles In the shadow thow takest cold By this I mean that thow talkest so much of death beecause that thou art sure of thy life O myserable man that I am for in short space of all that in this lyfe I haue possessed with mee I shall cary nothing but onely my wynding sheete Alas now shall I enter into the field not where of the fierce beasts I shal bee assaulted but of the hungry woorms deuoured Alas I see my self in that dystresse from whence my frayl flesh cannot escape And yf any hope remayn it is in thee o death When I am sick I woold not that hee that is whole shoold comfort mee When I am sorowfull I woold not that hee which is mery shoold cōfort mee When I am banished I woold not that he which is in prosperity shoold comfort mee When I am at the hour of death I woold not that hee shoold comfort mee which is not in some suspicion of lyfe But I woold that the poore shoold comfort mee in my pouerty the sorowfull in my sorows the banyshed in my banishment and hee which is in as great daunger of his life as I am now at the poynt of death For there is no counsayle so healthfull nor true as that of the man which is in sorow when hee counsayleth an other whych is likewise tormented him self If thow consyderest well this sentence thow shalt fynd that I haue spoken a thyng very profound wherein notwithstanding my tongue is appeased For in my oppinion euill shall hee bee comforted which is weeping with him that continually laugheth I say this to the end thow know that I know it and that thou perceiue that I perceyue it And beecause thou shalt not lyue deceyued as to my frend I wil disclose the secret and thow shalt see that small is the sorow which I haue in respect of the great which I haue cause to haue For if reason had not stryued wyth sensuality the sighs had ended my lyfe and in a pond of teares they had made my graue The things which in mee thow hast seene which are to abhorre meat to banysh sleepe to loue care to bee annoyed with company to take rest in sighs to take pleasure in tears may easely declare vnto thee what torment is in the sea of my hart when such tremblings doo appeare in the earth of my body Let vs now come to the purpose and wee shall see why my body is without consolation and my hart so ouercome with sorows for my feelyng greatly exceedeth my complaynyng beecause the body is so delycat that in scratchyng it it complayneth and the hart is so stout and valiaunt that though it bee hurt yet it dyssembleth O Panutius I let thee weete that the occasion why I take death so greeuously is beecause I leaue my sonne Commodus in this life who lyueth in this age most perillous for hym and no lesse daungerous for the Empire By the flowers are the fruits knowen by the grapes the vines are knowen and by the face men are knowen by the colt the horse is iudged and by the infant youth is knowen This I say by the Prince my sonne for that hee hath been euill in my life I doo ymagyn that hee will bee woorse after my death Since thou as well as I knowst the euill condicions of my sonne why doost thou maruell at the thoughts and sorows of the father My sonne Commodus in years is yong and in vnderstanding yonger Hee hath an euill inclynation and yet hee wil not enforce him self against the same hee gouerneth him self by hys own sence and in matters of wisedome hee knoweth lytel of that hee shoold bee ignoraunt hee knoweth too much and that which is woorst of all hee ys of no man esteemed Hee knoweth nothing of things past nor occupyeth hym about any thing present Fynally for that which with myne eyes I haue seene I say and that which with in my hart I haue suspected I iudge that shortly the person of my sonne shall bee in hazard and the memory of hys father perysh O how vnkyndly haue the Gods vsed them selues toward vs to commaund vs to leaue our honor in the hands of our children for it shoold suffice that wee shoold leaue them our goods and that to our frends we shoold commyt our honor But yet I am sory for that they consume the goods in vices and lose the honor for to bee vitious The gods beeyng pityful as they are since they geeue vs the authoryty to deuyde our goods why doo they not geeue vs leaue to make our wills of the honor My sonnes name beeing Commodus in the Romayn tongue is as much to say as profyt but as hee is wee will bee content to bee without the lytle profyt which hee may doo to some so that wee may bee excused of the great domage which hee is lykely to doo to all For I suppose hee wyll bee the scourge of men and the wrath of Gods Hee entreth now into the pathway of youth alone without a guide And for that hee hath to passe by the hygh and daungerous places I feare lest hee bee lost in the wood of vices For the children of Princes and great Lords for so much as they are brought vp in lyberty wantonnes doo easely fall into vices and voluptuousnes and are most stubborn to bee wythdrawen from their folly O Panutius geue attentiue eare to that I say vnto thee Seest thow not that Commodus my sonne is at lyberty is rych is yong and is alone By the fayth of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the least of these wynds woold ouerthrow not onely a yong tender ash but also a mighty strong
gaue great sacrifyces to their Gods and all to the end their Gods shoold not receyue the soule of thys tiraunt amongst them but that they woold send it to bee kept among the furies of hell I remember Patrocles second kyng of Corinthe inheryted the realme at two twenty years of his age who was so dysordered of hys flesh so vndyscreete in hys doings so couetous of goods and such a coward of hys person that where hys father had possessed the realme forty yeares the sonne dyd not possesse it thyrty moneths I remember Tarquine the proud who though among eyght knyghts of Rome was the last and comlyest of gesture valyaunt in armes noblest of blood and in geeuyng most lyberall yet hee employed all hys gyfts and graces which the Gods had geeuen hym euyll For hee employed hys bewty to ryot and hys forces to tyranny For through the treason and vyllany whych hee commytted with the Romayn Lucretia hee dyd not onely lose the realme and flying saued hys lyfe but allso for euer was banyshed and all hys lynage likewise I remember the cruell emperor Nero who lyued enherited and dyed yong and not without a cause I say that hee lyued and dyed yong For in him was graffed the stock of the noble and worthy Cesars and in him was renewed the memory of those Tyraunts To whom thinkest thou Panutius this tiraunt woold haue geeuen lyfe since hee with his own hands gaue his mother her death Tel mee I pray thee who thinkest thou hath made that cursed hart who slew hys mother out of whose womb hee came opened her breasts which gaue hym suck shed the blood whereof hee was born tore the armes in which hee was caryed saw the intrails wherein hee was formed The day that the emperour Nero slew his mother an orator said in the senat Iure interficienda erat Agrippina que tale portentum peperit in populo romano Which is to say iustly deserued Agrippina to bee put to death which brought foorth so straunge a monster amongst the Romayn people Thou oughtst not therefore to marueil Panutius at the nouelties whych thou hast seene in mee for in these three days that I haue beene troubled in my mynd and altered in my vnderstandyng all these things are offred vnto mee and from the botom of my hart I haue digested them For the carefull men are not blynded but with their own ymaginacions All these euil condicions which these Princes had scattered amongst them of whom I haue spoken doo meete togethers in my sonne Commodus For if they were yong hee is yong If they were rych hee is rych If they were free hee is free If they were bold hee is bold If they were wilde hee is wilde If they were euill certaynly I doo not think that hee is good For wee see many yong princes which haue been well brought vp and well taught yet when they haue inherited and come to their lands they beecome immediatly vitious and dissolute What hope haue wee of those which from their infancy are dissolute and euill enclined of good wyne I haue made oft times strong vineger but of pure vineger I haue neuer seene good wine This childe keepeth mee beetwene the sayles of feare the anker of hope hopyng hee shal bee good since I haue taught him wel fearing hee shall bee euill beecause his mother Faustine hath norished him euil And that which ys the woorst that the yong childe of his own nature is inclined to al euil I am moued to say this much for that I see his naturall inclinacion increase and that which was taught him dimynish for the which occasyon I doubt that after my death my sonne shal return to that wherin his mother hath norished him not to that wherein I haue taught him O how happy had I been if neuer I had had childe for not to be boūd to leaue him thempire for I woold chose then among the children of the good fathers woold not bee bound to such a one whom the gods haue geeuen mee One thing I ask thee Panutius whom wooldst thou cal most fortunat Vespasian which was naturall father of Domitius or Nerua the adopted father of the good Traiane both those two Vespasian Nerua were good princes but of children Domitian was the head of al mischief Traiane was the mirrour of al goodnes So that Vespasian in that hee had children was vnhappy Nerua in that hee had none was most fortunat One thing I wil tel thee Panutius the which by thee considered thou wylt litle esteeme life and shalt lose the feare of death I haue lyued lxii years wherein I haue read much hard much sene desired attained possessed suffred I haue much reioysed my self And in the end of al this I see my self now to dye and I must want my pleasures and my self allso Of all that I haue had possessed attained whereof I haue enioyed I haue only two things to weete payn for that I haue offended the gods and sorow for the time which I haue wasted in vices There is great difference beetweene the rych and the poore in death and more in lyfe For the poore dyeth to rest but yf the rich dye it is to their great payn So that the gods take from the one that which hee had putteth the other in possession of that hee desired Great care hath the hart to seeke the goods and they passe great troubles to heap vp them togethers and great diligence must bee had in keeping them and also much wyt to encrease them but without comparison it is greater grief to depart from them O what payn intollerable and grief it is to the wise man seeing hym self at the poynt of death to leaue the swet of his famyly the maiesty of his empire the honor of his present the loue of his frends the payment of his debts the deserts of his seruaunts and the memory of hys predecessours in the power of so euill a chyld the which neither deserueth it nor yet wil deserue it In their table of our auncyent laws were writen these woords Wee ordeyn and commaund that the father which shall bee good according to the oppinion of all may disheryt his sonne who according to the opinion of all is euill The law sayd further The chyld which hath dysobeyed hys father robbed any holy Temple iniuryed any wyddow fled from any battaile and committed any treason to a straunger that hee shoold bee banished from Rome and dysenherited from his fathers goods Truely the law was good though by our offences it bee forgotten If my breath fayled mee not as it dooth fayle mee for of trouth I am greatly payned I woold declare vnto thee how many Parthes Medians Egiptians Assirians Caldeans Indians Hebrues Greekes and Romains haue left their children poore beeing able to haue left them rych for no other cause but for that they were vicious And to the contrary other beeyng poore haue left them rych
I would not dye For life is so troublesome that it weareth vs death is so doubtfull that it feareth vs. If the gods deferred my death I doubt whyther I should reforme my life And if I doo not amend my lyfe nor serue the Gods better nor profit the common wealth more if that euery tyme I am sick it should greeue me to die I say it is much better for mee now to accept death then to wysh the lengthning of my life I say the life is so troublesome so fyckle so suspicious so vncertayne so importunat finally I say it is a life whithout lyfe that hee is an obstinat foole which so much desireth it Come that that may come for finally not withstanding that I haue spoken I willingly commit my selfe into the hands of the Gods since of necessity I am thereunto constreined For it proceedeth not of a lytle wisedom to receiue that willingly which to doo wee are constrayned of necessity I will not recommend my self to the priests nor cause the oracles to bee visited nor promise any thing to the temples nor offer sacrifices to the gods to the end they should warrant mee from death and restore mee to lyfe but I will demaund and require them that if they haue created mee for any good thing I may not loose it for my euyll lyfe So wise and sage are the gods in that they say so iust true in that they promise that if they geeue vs not that which wee others would it is not for that they wil not but beecause wee deserue it not For wee are so euyl and woorth so litel and wee may doo so lytel that for many good woorks wee deserue no meryt and yet with an euil worke wee bee made vnworthy of al. Since therfore I haue put my selfe in to the hands of the Gods let them doo with mee what they wil for their seruice for in the ende the woorst that they will doo is much better then the world wil doo For all that the world hath geeuen mee hath beene but mockry and deceyte but that which the gods haue geeuen mee I haue gouerned and possessed without suspicion For this last houre my sonne I haue kept the best the most noble and riches iewell that I haue possessed in my life tyme. And I doo protest vnto the immortal gods that if as they doo commaūd mee to dye they would geeue mee lycence to rede in the graue I would commaund it to bee buryed with mee Thou shalt know my sonn that in the .x. yeare of my Empire a great warr arose agaynst the vnruly people of Persia where by euyll luck it was appoynted for mee in person to geeue the battayle the which wonne and al their country destroyed I returned by the old city of Thebes in Aegipte to see if I could finde any antiquity of those in times past In the house of an Egiptian pryest I found a litel table which they hāged at the gate of the kynges pallace the day of his coronatiō And this poore pristes told mee that that which was in this table was writen by a king of Egypt named Ptholomeus Arsasides I beeseech the immortal Gods my sonne that such bee thy woorks as the woords of this table require As emperor I leaue thee heire of many realmes and as a father I geeue thee this table of counsayles The woords which the fathers doo teach vnto the chyldren at the last houre the children ought to keepe continually in their memorye Let this therefore bee my last woord with the Empire thou shalt bee feared through out all the world and with the counsayles of this table thou shalt bee loued of al nations This talk beeing ended and the table geeuen the Emperor turned his eyes lost his senses and for the space of a quarter of an houre lay languishing in extreame payne within a while after yelded vp the ghost In this table weare certain greeke letters which were in meeter and in our tonge signify thus ON honours stall I doo no tirant heaue nor yet the poore suppresse if hee weare iust For riches rule I nould to pardon cleaue For want of wealth nor folow rigours lust For naked loue I neuer spent reward nor would correct for onely enuies heate Of vertues imps I always had regard mischifs mates haue plagd with torment great To others doome I neuer would commit of open right the quarell to decide ne yet of doubtfull strifes in trust of witt The finall end alone I would deuide To them that sought for iustice equall sway her golden rule I neuer did deny ne yet to such for whom desert would lay Their sclender fautes might wel bee slipped by To feele the grife that waued in my minde With others smart I neuer could susteyne nor yet rewardes my princely woordes would binde VVhen sweete delight had chifest ioy to rayne In high estate when most blind fortune smild A reckles lyfe I restles ran not on nor yet when chaunge those happy dayes beegyld to cold despaier my quiet minde was gon By boiling heat of malice endeles fier to vices trayne I cast no egre eye ne yet for lust of pining welthes desire Vnlefull facts I rechles would apply The traitours brest I neuer could embrace nor lend mine eares to swalow flattring talke of vices slaues I wayed not the grace nor left vnsought good will in vertues walke Poore Irus band for that I did reliue VVhos 's needy state dooth stoope in Cresus swaie the greatest gods whose heauenly warck doth griue the proudest crownes was aymy present state FINIS ¶ The fourth booke of the Dyall of Princes Compyled by the right reuerend father in god Antony of Gueuara Byshop of Mondogueto preacher Chronicler and counceller to Charles the fift Emperor of Rome Contayning many instructions and rules for the fauored of the Court beyng once in fauor easely to keepe and continue them selues in fauor still Right necessary profitable for all princes and noble men gentlemen courtiers that seeke to continue them selues in honor and estimacion The Epistle to the Reader WHat detracting tongues report of mee and my first trauell in the translation of this Dyall enlarging them at pleasure to woork my defame disabling my dooing heerein by brute yt was no woork of myne but the fruit of others labor I neede not much force since by dayly proof wee see that yll disposed mynds can neuer frame an honest tongue in head For my obiect and reproofe of this their sclaunderous malignant speeche I can allege curteous reader two principall causes which thou reading and iudging with indifferency mayst easely approoue yf I shoold seeme to glose with thee First the basenes of my style the playn and humble woords couched in the same the mean rude and yll contryued sentences layd beefore thee togeether with the simple handelyng of the whole playnly sheweth to thee whence they are and easely acquainteth thee with the curious translator Who protesteth
footecloth more nete and clenly then the groomes and pages of the chamber haue his apparell and this proceedes of their great slouth negligēce And truely this passeth the bounds of shamefast degree yea and commeth much to charge the courtiers conscience the small account hee hath so to let his garments and apparell and other hys mouables to bee spoiled and lost And this happeneth very oft by the negligence of their pages and seruaunts which now throweth them about the chambers dragges them vpon the grownd now sweeps the house with thē now they are full of dust then tattered and torne in peeces here their hose seam rent there their shooes broken so that if a poore man come afterwards to buy them to sell agayn it will rather pity those that see them then geeue them any corage to buy them Wherefore the courtier ought not to bee so careles but rather to think vppon his own things and to haue an eye vnto them For if hee goe once a day to his stable to see his horses how they are kept and looked to hee may lykewise take an other day in the weeke when hee may fynd leisure to see his wardroppe how his apparell lyeth But what paciens must a poore man take that lendeth his implements and apparell to the courtiers that neuer laieth them abroad a sunning to beat out the dust of them nor neuer layth them in water to wash and white them bee they neuer so fowl And al bee it the beds and other implements lent to the courtier bee not of any great value yet it is not fitt they shoold bee thrown at theyr tayl kept filthyly For as charely and dayntily dooth a poore laboring and husband man keepe his wollen couerlet and setteth as much by it as dooth the iolly courtier by his quilt or couerpane of silk And it chaunceth oft tymes also that though at a neede the poore mans bed costeth him lesse money then the rich mans bed costeth him yet dooth it serue him better then the ritch and costly bedd serueth the gentleman or nobleman And this to bee true wee see it by experience that the poore husbandman or citizen slepeth commonly more quietly at his ease in his poor bed cabean with his sheets of tow then dooth the lord or ritch courtier lying in his hanged chamber bed of silk wrapped in his fynest holland shetes who still sigheth cōplayneth And fynally wee conclude that then when the court remoueth that the courtier departeth from his lodging where hee lay hee must with all curtesy thank the good man and good wife of the house for his good lodging curteous intertainment hee hath had of them must not stick also to geeue them somwhat for a remembrance of him and beesides geeue certein rewards among the maides men seruants of the house according to their ability that hee may recompence them for that is past win their fauor for that is to come ¶ What the courtier must doo to winne the Princes fauor Cap. iiij DIodorus Siculus saith that the honor and reuerence the Egiptians vsed ordinarily to their Princes was so great that they seemed rather to woorship them then to serue them for they coold neuer speak to them but they must first haue lycence geeuen them When it happened any subiect of Egipt to haue a sute to their prince or to put vp a supplication to thē kneeling to them they sayd these woords Soueraigne lord mighty prince yf it may stand with your highnes fauor pleasure I wil boldly speak yf not I will presume no further but hold my peace And the self reuerence custome had towards god Moyses Aaron Thobias Dauid Salomon and other fathers of Egipt making like intercession when they spake wyth god saying Domine mi rex Si inueni gratiam in oculis tuis loquar ad dominum meum O my lord and king yf I haue found fauor in thy sight I wil speak vnto thee yf not I will keepe perpetuall sylence For there is no seruyce yll when yt is gratefull acceptable to him to whom it is doon as to the contrary none good when it pleaseth not the party that is serued For if hee that serueth bee not in his maisters fauor hee serueth hee may well take pains to his vndooyng wtout further hope of his good will or recompence Wherefore touching that I haue sayd I inferre that hee that goeth to dwell abyde in the court must aboue all indeuer him self all hee can to obtayn the princes fauor and obtayning it hee must study to keepe him in his fauor For it shoold lyttle preuaile the courtier to bee beeloued of all others and of the prince only to bee mislyked And therefore Alcamidas the Grecian beeing once aduertised by a frend of his that the Athenians did greatly thirst for his death the Thebans desyred his life hee answered him thus If those of Athens thirst for my death them of Thebes likewise desyring my life I can but bee sory lament How bee it yet if King Phillip my soueraigne lord maister hold mee still in hys grace fauor repute mee for one of his beeloued I care not if all Greece hate and dysloue mee yea and lye in wayt for mee In deede it is a great thing to get into the princes fauor but when hee hath gotten it doubtles it is a harder matter to know how to keepe it For to make them loue vs and to winne their fauor wee must doo a thousand maner of seruyces but to cause them to hate and dislyke of vs the least dyspleasure in the world suffyseth And therefore the pain and trouble of hym that is in fauor in the court is great if hee once offend or bee in displeasure For albeeit the prince doo pardon him hys fault yet hee neuer after returneth into his fauor agayn So that to conclude hee that once only incurreth his indignation hee may make iust reckening neuer after or maruelous hardly to bee receiued agayn into fauor Therefore sayth the diuine Plato in his bookes De republica that to bee a king and to raigne to serue and to bee in fauor to fyght and to ouercome are three impossible things which neither by mans knowledge nor by any diligence can bee obtayned only remaining in the hands and disposing of fickle fortune whych dooth diuyde and geeue them where it pleaseth her and to whome shee fauoreth best And truely Plato had reason in his saying for to serue and to bee beeloued is rather happ and good fortune then industry or diligence Since wee see oft times that in the court of princes those that haue serued but three yeres only shal bee sooner preferred and aduaunced then such one as hath serued perhaps .xx. or .xxx. yeres or possible al his life tyme. And further hee shal bee both displaced and put out of seruice by means of thother And this proceeds not through his long and
chamber Adrian the Emperor hys onely fauored Ampromae Dioclesian hys frend Patritius whom hee loued as hym self and always called hym frend and compaignion Diadumeus Pamphilion hys great treasorer For whose death hee was so sorowfull that hee would haue made him self away beecause hee caused him to bee so cruelly slayn All these aboue named and infynyt others also some were maisters some lords some kyngs and some of great autority and fauor about princes by whose tragicall histories and examples wee may plainly see that they did not onely lose their goods fauor and credit but also vpon very light occasions were put to death by sweord Therefore mortall men should put no trust in worldly things syth that of lytle occasion they become soone great and of much lesse they sodeinly fall and come to woorse estate then before And therefore kyng Demetrius askyng one day Euripides the philosopher what hee thought of humayn debility and of the shortnes of this lyfe aunswered Mee thinks O Kyng Demetrius that there is nothyng certayn nor suer in this vnstable life syth all men liuing and al things also that serues them indure dayly some clipse and hereunto replied sodainly Demetrius sayd O my good Euripides thou hadst sayd better that all things vegitiue and sensitiue and ech other liuing thyng dooth not onely feele the eclipses efforce and chaunge from day to day but from hower to hower and minute to minute Meaning kyng Demetrius by these woords hee spake that ther is nothing so stable in this world bee it of what state or condicion yt will bee but in a twyinkling of an eye is ready to runne into a thousand daūgers and perils albeit wee bee all subiect of what state or degree so euer wee bee to sundry diuers thrales mishaps yet none are so neere neighbors to them as those that are in highest autority and greatest fauor with princes For there are many that shoots to hit down the white of their fauor but few that beyng down will once put it vp agayn and restore yt to his place For to lyue a contented life a man had neede to want nothing neither to haue any occasion to trouble him But the things that trouble vs in this vale of misery being so many and of such aboundaunce and those things contrarily so few rare to come by that wee neede and want wee may iustly account this life wofull and myserable aboue all others For sure farre greater are the greeues and dyspleasures wee receyue for one onely thing wee want then the pleasures are great wee haue for a hundreth others whereof wee haue aboundaunce Besides that the familiars of princes cannot think them selues so mighty and fortunat that any man may presume to cal them blessed or happy For if some serue and honor them others there are that persecute them and if in their houses they haue that flatter them and make much of them there wāt not in the court others that murmur at them and speak ill of them And yf they haue cause some times to reioyce that they are in fauor so haue they likewise continuall trouble and feare that they shal fall and bee put out of fauor And if they glory to haue great treasure they sorow also to haue many enemies And if the seruices and company they haue doo delight them the continuall buysines they haue doo vex them So that wee may say of thē as of plaistering of houses which are neuer so faire but they become black with some spot in time and woormes and other vermine do eat and wast them If there bee none that dare once admonish these great men in authority and tell them their faults by woord of mouth yet I will take vppon mee to doo yt wyth my wrytyng and say that they speake nothyng but it is noted their steps they tread are seene euery morsell of meat they eat ys marked they are accused for the pleasures they take and all thyngs that they haue are obserued All the pleasures that is doone them is regystred and all ill that that they know by them is published And fynally I conclude that the fauored of prynces are a game at tables whereat euery man playeth not wyth dyce nor cardes but onely with serpents tongues And therefore I haue sayd it and once agayn I returne to say That all those that are accepted of prynces must lyue contynually very wisely and aduysedly in all their dooyngs for it is trew and too trew that euery mans tongue runnes of them and much more yf they had tyme and opportunity like as they defame them with their tongues so would they offend them with their hands Wee doo not speak thys so much that they should looke to defend their lyfe but to foresee that they may preserue their honor and goods from perill and to geeue them by thys precept a good occasion to looke about them For to put them in disgrace wyth the Kyng all the days of they re lyfe to their vtter vndooyng and ouerthrow the kyng neede but onely geeue eare to his enemies ¶ The aucthor admonisheth those that are in fauor and great with the prynce that they take heede of the deceipts of the world and learne to lyue and dye honorably and that they leaue the court beefore age ouertake them Cap. xvi WHan kyng Alderick kept Seuerine the Romayn consull prisoner otherwise named Boetius that consull complayned much of fortune Saying alas fortune why hast thou forsaken mee in my age since thou dyddest fauor mee so much in myne youth and that I had serued thee so many years why hast thou left mee to the hands of myne enemyes To which complaynts fortune made aunswer thus Thou art vnthankfull to mee O Seuerius sith I haue vsed my things with thee in such maner as I neuer vsed the like with any other Romayn And that this ys trew I tell thee Consider O Seuerius that I made thee whole and not sick a man and no woman of excellent wyt and vnderstandyng and not grosse and rude rych and not poore wyse and not foolysh free and not bond a Senator and no plebeyan noble and valyaunt and not cowardly a Romayn and no barbarus or straunger born in great and not mean estate a graue man and no light nor vayn person fortunat and not vnlucky woorthy of fame and not obliuyon to conclude I say I gaue thee such part in the common weale that thou hadst good cause to haue pyty of all others and all others cause to haue spight and enuy at thee Agayn replyed Seuerius to this aunswer and sayd O cruell and spightfull fortune how liberall thou art in the things thou speakest and resolute in the things thou disposest sith always thou doost what thou wilt and seldome that thou oughtst And thou knowest there is no such myshap as to remember a man hath once been rich and fortunat in his tyme and to see him self now brought to extreame mysery Heare
I doe appeale thee if thou hast dreamed that thou hast wrytten I saye beleue not in dreames and if thou wylt not it shoulde auayle to glorifie me as a frende yet thou mightest wryte it aduertising and repreuing me as the father to the sonne younge vertuous persones are bounde to honour auncient wyse men and no lesse olde wyse men ought to endoctrine the younge people and very young as I am A iust thing it is that the new forces of youth supplie and serue them that are worne by age For their longe experience instructeth our tender age and naturall ignoraunce Youthe is euill applied when it aboundeth in force of the body wanteth the vertues of the mind and age is honoured wherein the force dieth outwarde whereby vertues quickeneth the more inwarde We may see the tree when the fruite is gathered the leaues fall and when flowers drie then more grene and perfecte are the rootes I meane that when the first season of youth is passed whiche is the Sommer time then commeth age called Wynter and purifieth the fruite of the fleshe and the leaues of fauour fal the flowers of delite wither and the vynes of hope drye outwarde then it is ryght that much better are the rootes of good workes within They that be olde and auncient ought to prayse their good workes rather then their white heares For honoure ought to be geuen for the good life and not for the whyte head Glorious is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is lord of young men to trauaile and auncient persones to councell As to regarde the sustaininge of the naturalitie of the lyfe in likewyse ought to be considered the policy of gouernaunce the whiche is that al the fruites come nor drye not al at once but when one beginneth another faileth And in this maner ye that be auncient teaching vs and we be obedient as olde fathers and young pullettes being in the neste of the Senate Of some their fethers fallinge and other younge fethered and where as the olde fathers can not flie their trauayles are mainteined by their tender children Frende Catullus I purposed not to wryte one lyne this yeare because my penne was troubled with thy slouthe but the weakenes of my spirite and the great peril of myne offices alwayes called on me to demaunde thy councell This priuiledge the olde wyse men holde in their houses where they dwell They are alwayes lordes ouer them that be simple and are sclaues to them that be wyse I thinke thou hast forgotten me thinking that sithe the death of my dere sonne Verissimus the time hath bene so long that I should forget it Thou hast occasion to thinke so for many thinges are cured in time which reason can not helpe But in this case I can not tell which is the greatest thy trūpery or my dolour I sweare to thee by the gods immortall that the hungry wormes are not so puissaunt in the entrales of the vnhappy chylde as the bitter sorowes are in the heauy hart of the wofull father And it is no comparison for the sonne is dead but one tyme and the heauy father dieth euery momente What wylt thou more that I should saye But that one ought to haue enuy of his death and compassion of my lyfe because in dyeng he lyueth and in the lyuing I dye In the mischaunces of lyfe and in the great vnconstancie of fortune whereas her gyles profiteth but litle and her strengthe lesse I thinke the best remedy is to fele it as a man and dissimule it as discrete and wyse If all things as they be felt at heart should be shewed outward with the tongue I thynke that the wyndes shoulde breake the hearte with syghinges and water all the earth with weping O if the corporal eyes sawe the sorowe of the heart I sweare to thee they should see more of a drop of bloud sweatinge within then all the wepyng that appeareth without There is no comparyson of the great dolours of the body to the least greife of the mynde For all trauayle of the body men may finde some remedy but if the heauy heart speake it is not heard if it wepe it is not sene if it complaine it is not beleued What shal the poore harte doe Abhorre the lyfe wherwith it dieth and desire death wherwith it liueth The highe vertues among noble vertuous people consiste not all onely to suffer the passions of the body but also to dissimule them of the soule They be suche that alter the humours and shewe it not outward they brynge a feuer without altering of the poulce they alter the stomacke they make vs to knele to the earth to suffer the water vp to the mouthe and to take death without leauing of the lyfe and finally they length our life to the intente that we should haue no more trauayle and denieth vs our graue to the intent that we should not reste But considering as I am troubled with sorowes so am I voyde of consolations for when I haue either desire of the one or werynes of the other I vse alwayes this remedy to dissimule with the tongue to wepe with the eyes and to fele it with my heart I passe my lyfe as he that hoped to lese all that he hath neuer to recouer that that is loste I saye this though ye see me not nowe make funeral wepinges and waylinges as I did at the death of my sonne yet thinke not but it doeth bren my heart so that with the great heate inward is consumed the humiditie of the eyes for it brenneth al my spirites within Thou mayest knowe what an honorable father suffereth to lese a good childe in all thinges the gods be liberal except in geuing vs vertuous children Where there is aboūdaunce of great estates there is greatest scarsitie of good inheritours It is a dolefull thing to heare and greater pitie to see howe these fathers clime to haue rychesse and to see their children descende to haue viciousnes To see the fathers honoure their children and the children to infame their fathers yea and the fathers to geue reste to the chyldren and the chyldren to geue trouble to their fathers yea and sometyme the fathers die for sorowe that their children die so sone and we see their childrē wepe because their fathers die so late What should I saye more but that the honoure and ryches that the fathers haue procured with great thought the chyldren consume with litle care I am certayne of one thing that the fathers may gather ryches with strengthe and crafte to susteyne their children but the Gods wyll not haue durable that that is begonne with euyll intention as that is whiche is wonne to the preiudice of other and possessed with an euyll heyre And though the heauy destinies of the father permit that the ryches be lefte to their children to serue them in all their vyces for their pastime at last yet according to their merites the
death with paine but wher life is without profit Fourthly I dye ioyfully not so much for the profit I haue don to men as for the seruice I haue done to the gods For regarding to how many profitable things we employ our life we maye say we liue onlye the time which is employed to the seruice of god Ceasinge to speake further of my person I wil worthy Senatours disclose vnto you a high secret which toucheth your comon welth this it is That our father Romulus founded Rome Numa Pompillius erected the high Capitol Aneus Marcius enclosed it with walles Brutus deliuered it from Tyraunts the good Camillus droue out the frenchmen Quintus Scicinnatus augmēted her power but I leaue it peopled with gods which shal defend Rome better then walles or men For in the end the feare of one god is more worth then the strength of al men When I came to Rome it was a confusion to se how it was peopled with men vnfurnished of gods For ther wer but 5. gods that is to wete Iupiter Mars Ianus Berecinthia and the goddess Vesta But now it is not so For ther remayneth for euery one a priuate god Me thinketh it an vniust thing that treasouries shold be ful of gold the temples void of gods As ther is 28000 housholdes so you may account your selues happie that I leaue you 28000. gods by the vertu of the which I cōiure you Romains that eche of you be contented with the god of his house and haue no care to applye to himselfe the gods of the common wealth For he that empropreth to him self that which ought to be cōmon to al is to be blamed of god and hated of mē This shal be therfore the order that you shal kepe and haue towards the gods if you wil not erre in their seruice That is to vnderstand ye shal kepe the mother Berecinthia to pacify the ire of the gods ye shal kepe the goddesse Vesta to turne from you the wicked destenies Ye shal kepe the god Iupiter shal commit vnto him the gouernment of your common wealth And also ye shal kepe him for the god aboue all the gods in heauen and earth For if Iupiter dyd not temper the ire which the gods aboue haue against you there shoulde be no memorye of men here beneth in earth Of other particuler gods which I leaue you vse your particuler profit But yet notwithstāding in the meane season Romaines take you hede to your selues and if at any time fortune should be contrary let no man be so hardy to speake euil of the god which he hath in his house For the gods tel me that it was sufficient inough to dissemble with theym whiche serue them not not to pardon those that offend them And do not deceiue your selues in sayeng that they are priuate gods and not able to help themselues For I let you know that ther is not so lytle a god but is of power sufficient to reuenge an iniurye O Romaynes it is reason that al from hensforth liue ioyfully and in peace and furthermore thinke your selues assured not to be ouercome by your enemyes because nowe youre neyghbours of you and not you of them shal desire to borow gods and because ye shall se me no more ye thinke I must dye and I thinke because I dye I shall beginne to liue For I go to the gods and leaue amonge you the gods because I departe ¶ Howe the Gentiles thoughte that one God was not able to defende them from their enemies and how the Romans sent throughout al the Empire to borow gods when they foughte agaynst the Gothes Cap. vii IN the yeare of the foundacion of Rome 1164. which accordynge to the count of the Latins was 402. from the incarnacion as Paulus Orosus in the sixte boke De machina mundi saieth Paulus Diaconus in the 12. boke of the Romaine histories The gothes which as Spartian sayeth wer called otherwise Gethules or Meslagethes wer driuen out of theyr countrey by the Huns came in to Italy to seke new habitacions and became natural built houses At this time there was an Emperour of Rome named Valentine a man of smal reputacion courage in warres and endued with few good cōdicions for that he was of Arian his secte The kynges of these Gothes wer two renowmed men whose names wer Randagagismus and Alaricus Of the which two Randagagismus was the chiefest and most puissaunt and he had a noble mynde and a very good wit He led with him at the leaste 2000000. Gothes the which all with him and he with them made an othe to shed asmuche bloude of the Romaines as they coulde and offer it to their gods For the barbarous people had a custome to noynte the god whiche was at that time in the tēple of Venus with the bloud of their enemys whom they had slaine The newes of the comming of this cruell tiraunt was published throughout all Italie Whose determinacion was not only to race the walles of Rome downe to the earth batter towers dungions houses walles and buildynges but also he purposed to abolyshe and vtterlye to brynge to noughte the name of Rome and likwyse of the Romaines Of this thing all the Italiens were in great and merueilous feare And the most puissaunt and couragious knightes and gentlemen agreed togethers to retire within the walles of Rome and determined to die in that place to defend the liberty therof For amōges the Romaines there was an aunciente custome that when they created a knyghte they made him sweare to kepe thre thinges 1 First he sware to spende all the dayes of his lyfe in the warres 2 Secoundarely he sware that neyther for pouerty nor ryches nor for any other thinges he shoulde euer take wages but of Rome onelye 3 Thirdly he sware that he woulde rather chuse to dye in libertye then to liue in captiuitie After all the Romaynes scatered abrode in Italie wer together assēbled in Rome they agred to sende letters by their pursiuantes not only to their subiectes but also to al their confederate Theffecte whereof was this ¶ Of a Letter sent from the senate of Rome to all the subiects of the Empire Chap. viii THe sacred Senate and all the people of Rome to all their faythfull and louing subiectes and to their deare frendes and confederates wysheth health victory against your enemies The varietie of time the negligence of you all the vnhappy successe of our aduentures haue broughte vs in prosses of tyme that wher as Rome conquered Realmes and gouerned so many straunge signoryes now at this day commeth straungers to conquere and destroye Rome in such sorte that the Barbarous people whom we were wont to kepe for sclaues sweare to become our lords and masters We let you know now how al the Barbarous nacion hath cōspired against Rome our mother and they with their king haue made a vowe to offer al the Romaines bloud to their