aliue as after their death by refusing to ouer-liue them Queene Hipsicrates the wife of king Mithridates cōmeth first to mind who bare such loue towards hir husband that polling hir selfe for his sake although she was yong and very faire she acquainted hir selfe with the wearing of armour and rode with him to the war And when he was ouercome by Pompey she accompanied him in his flight through all Asia whereby she mollified the griefe and sorow which he receiued by his losse Triara wife to Lucius Vitellus brother to the emperour Vitellus seeyng hir husband in a daungerous battell thrust hir selfe amongst the souldiours to beare him company and to helpe him both in death and life and fought as well as the valiauntest amongst them When king Admetus his wife sawe hir husband very sicke and heard the answere of the oracle which was That he could not recouer except one of his best friendes died for him she slew hir selfe When the wife of Ferdinando Gonçales a prince of Italy knewe that hir husband was prisoner and in daunger of death she went to visite him and putting on his apparell abode in his place whilest he beyng clothed in hir garmentes saued him-selfe Zenobia Queene of Armenia seeing hir husband Radamisus flie from a battell and not beyng able to follow him bicause she was great with childe besought him to kill hir Which when he thought to haue done she was striken downe with the blowe of a sworde but being taken of the enimie and throughly healed Tyridates the king who had vanquished hir husband maried hir afterward for the great loue that was in hir The princesse Panthea loued hir husband Abradatus so well that when he died in Cyrus campe she slue hir selfe vpon his bodie Artemisia Queene of Caria for the great loue she bare to hir husband that was dead dranke all the ashes of his bodie meanyng thereby to be his sepulchre When Iulia the wife of Pompey sawe a gowne of hir husbande 's all bloodie wherewith he had offered some sacrifice she imagined that he was slayne and so died presently after When Porcia the wife of Brutus heard of hir husbandes death and perceiued that hir kinsfolkes tooke away all meanes of killing hir self she drew hote burning coles out of the fire and threw them into hir mouth which she closed so fast that shee was choked thereby Sulpitia beyng carefully restrained by hir mother Iulia from seeking hir husband Lentulus in Sicilia whither hee was banished shee went thither beyng apparelled like a slaue banishing hir selfe voluntarily rather than she would forsake hir husband Octauia sister to Augustus and wife to Antonius notwithstanding the iniurie that hir husband offered vnto hir in preferring before hir a Queene that was nothing so yong or faire as she bare such great loue towards him that setting aside al intreatie of hir brother she would neuer leaue hir husbands house but stil brought vp his children by his first mariage as carefully as if they had been hir owne Moreouer she sought by all means to reconcile those two emperors saying that it was an vnworthy thing that two so mightie princes the one for the euil intreatie of his sister the other bicause he was bewitched by a wicked woman should warre one against another As this vertuous princes had taken hir iourney as far as Athens where she ment to take shipping to seeke out hir husband being then in war with the Parthians bringing with hir souldiers mony furniture other munitions he sent hir word that she should passe no farther but stay for him at Rome This she performed and sent him all the aboue named things not seeming at all to be offended with him Wheras he in the mean while skorned hir sporting himself with Cleopatra in the sight and knowledge of all men and afterward delt worse with hir when the warre was begunne between him and Augustus For he sent a commandement to Octauia at Rome to go out of his house which she presently obeied albeit she would not therefore forsake any of hir husbands children but wept and bewailed hir mishap which had brought hir to be a principal cause of that ciuill warre Aria the wife of Cecinna followed in a little boate vnto Rome hir husband who was taken prisoner bicause he had borne armes against the emperour Claudius Being there condemned to die she would haue borne him companie but that hir sonne in lawe and hir daughter stayed hir When she sawe that she strake hir head so hard agaynst the wall that she fell downe amazed and beyng come to hir selfe agayne sayde vnto them You see that you can not hinder me from dying cruelly if ye stay mee from a more gentle death They being astonished at the fact and at hir words suffered hir to do what she would who then ran to the place where hir husband was and slewe hir selfe first after she had spoken thus courageously vnto him I am not Cecinna sorie for that which is done but bicause the race of thy life must end When Seneca was condemned to die by Nero and had libertie to chuse what kind of death he would he caused his veines to be opened in a bath His wife Paulina of hir owne accord did the like to hir self in the same bath mingling togither their blood for a greater vnion and coronation of their long and perfect loue Whereof Nero being aduertised presently commanded that hir veines should be stopt constraining hir thereby to liue a little longer in continuall griefe Hipparchia a very faire rich woman was so farre in loue with the Philosopher Crates who was hard-fauoured and poore that she maried him against all hir kinsfolks minde and followed him throughout all the countrie being poorely apparelled barefoote after the Cynick fashion Pisca seeing hir husband pine away daily through a great and strange discase which he had concealed from hir of long time hauing at the length knowledge thereof and perceiuing it to be incurable she was mooued with pitie for the euill which he suffered whom she loued better than hir selfe and therevpon counselled him with great courage to asswage his griefe by death and the better to stirre him vp thereunto she offered to beare him companie Whereunto hir husband agreeing they imbraced each other and cast themselues headlong into the sea from the top of a rocke The king of Persia taking prisoner the wife of Pandoërus whom he had vanquished and slaine would haue maried hir But she slew hir selfe after she had vttered these words God forbid that to be a Queene I should euer wed him that hath beene the murderer of my deere husband Pandoërus Camma a Greekish woman of the countrie of Galatia bare such loue to hir husband euen after his death that to be reuenged of a great Lorde called Synorix who had put hir husband to death that he might marrie hir she gently
die with him to vexe himselfe through impatiencie what meanest thou poore man quoth he to him doest thou not thinke thy selfe happie that thou maist die with Phocion The feare and appreheusion of death doth astonish as we commonly say the stoutest but not the most vertuous For they know as Plautus saith that he dieth not who for vertues sake is put to death Callicratides Generall of the Lacedemonians being readie to giue battell to his enimies the soothsaier after sacrifice done to the gods said vnto him that the intrals of the sacrifices promised victorie to the armie but death to the captaine Whereunto he answered as one without all feare although he beleeued it as an oracle from heauen Sparta consisteth not in one man For when I shal be dead my countrie shall be nothing lessened but if I recule now and draw backe the reputation thereof will be diminished Whereupon substituting in his place Cleander as successor in his office he gaue battell wherein it happened vnto him as the soothsaier had told him If we desire infinite such examples histories are ful of them euen of those who loued rather to kill themselues which a Christian neuer ought to do but onely to suffer death patiently if it be offered vnto him than to commit any thing vnwoorthie their vertue Themistocles being vniustly banished from Athens retired to the king of Persia whose great fauour and benefits receiued caused to say to his children We had beene vndone if we had not beene vndone as also to promise that he would imploy himselfe in his seruice Notwithstanding when he saw the war begun againe betweene this king and the Athenians wherein he was offered a great charge he chose rather to hasten his death by a poison which he tooke than to seeme to be pricked or prouoked with malice against his vngratefull countrie-men least thereby he should obscure and blot the glorie of so many goodly exploites triumphes and victories which he had obtained Nowe if death can not stoppe the course of vertue how much lesse can any other weaker accident do it Old-age which diminisheth and consumeth all the strength of the bodie coulde not weaken the great vertue of Agesilaus king of Lacedemonia who being fower-score yeeres of age and seeing the glorie of his countrie brought to nothing by that victorie which the Thebanes had obtained against him withdrewe himselfe into the seruice of a king of Egypt and tooke the charge of a captaine vnder him that through the good seruice he should do him he might deserue whereof he assured himselfe to haue succour of him for his owne countrey affaires Enuie saith Thucidides is heard to be ouercome and followeth great estates and potentates Honour glorie and riches are but firebrandes to kindle it Notwithstanding the excellencie of vertue oftentimes triumpheth ouer it so that the enuious are constrained to speake well of vertuous men We see then cleerely and haue better experience thereof in our selues if we be decked with vertue that she is of an inuincible force and that all things are tamed by hir For who can doubt that through hir great empires monarchies commonwealths estats and cities haue much more florished than through force and might of armes The sequele of our discourses shall furnish vs with examples hereof Now to conclude our present matter knowing that vertue deserueth so great praise in regarde of hir fruits and of hir woonderfull great effects we say that she is the onely good both for honestie profite and pleasure between which there is such a coniunction that they cannot be seperated one from another as hereafter we may intreat more at large so that the seuering of these three things to attribute them to other earthly and perishing goods is the fountaine of all vice deceit and mischiefe If then trouble losse hazard or danger are to be found in the practise and exercise of this holie and sacred vertue as euen the greatest worldly happines is counterpoised with euill and difficultie ought we not to dispise all such things yea death it selfe for that happie recompence which is assured vnto vs not onely of immortall glorie and praise which the men of old time promised to themselues but also of life euerlasting whereof the most of them were ignorant Let vs not be like to a little child for he that is a child in minde differeth nothing from a childe in age who seeing a trifle wherewith he plaieth taken out of his hand casteth away for anger that which he holdeth in his other hand although it be some daintie thing and good to eate But let vs with feruent zeale and burning affection alwaies imbrace this so precious and chaste beautie I meane vertue which alone filleth the life of man with true sound and perfect contentation Let all things come behinde vertue after the example of so many excellent and ancient personages who ought to make vs blush for shame when we consider that the care of earthly goods hath the first place amongst vs. Anacharsis a Barbarian being led with the onely loue of vertue left the kingdome of Scythia to his yoonger brother went into Graecia where he profited so well with Solon that he deserued to be placed in the number of the seauen Sages Now if three things after we haue asked them of him who only can and will giue them vnto vs meete togither in vs namely Nature Reason and Vse we may by them being directed illuminated and guided by the spirit of God attaine to the top of humane perfection in this rich vertue which being thus grounded like to a strong and liuely plant will take sure footing and roote within vs. If she meet with a good and well disposed nature that is able to endure labor that is tilled by reason with the precepts of philosophie whereby it is made firme mightie and fruitfull then vse and exercise will bring foorth the fruits thereof as well for our owne as for the common profit of men Of Vice Chap. 6. ACHITOB AS he that is ignorant of goodnes cannot loue it or boast except it be falsly that he seeketh after it and if he should find it yet he could not acknowledge it or reape any profit thereby so he that knoweth not euill can neuer hate it sufficiently much lesse shun it or keepe himselfe from falling into the snares and ambushes thereof where it lieth in continuall watch to surprise and ouertake men Ye shall haue very few but say that they are enimies to euill and that they labour to driue it as far from them as they can But what As they neuer knew what goodnes meant so they knowe as little of the contrarie Now hauing by our last speech declared sufficiently that vertue is the onely true good of the soule it is out of question that vice which is altogither contrarie vnto it is the onely euill thereof and the fountaine of al the miseries of man
when themselues shal be vngently handled by thē when they shal endure reproch when they shal be polled or afflicted with any kind of iniurie their comfort in al these euils will be to haue the last day before their eies in which they know that the lord wil gather his faithful ones togither into the rest of his kingdom that he wil wipe away the teares frō their eies crown thē with glory clothe thē with gladnes satisfie them with the exceeding sweetnes of his delicacies exalt them vnto his high mansion in a word make them partakers of his happines In the meane time going on in their course with all tranquillitie ioy of spirit they are cheerfully to giue vnto God that homage worship that is due vnto him submitting themselues wholy to his greatnesse receiuing with all reuerence his cōmandements Next they must put that trust hartie assurance in him which they haue receiued by knowing him aright attributing to him all wisdom iustice goodnes vertue truth making this account that all their happines is in communicating with him Inuocation foloweth wherby their soules must haue recourse vnto him as to their only hope whē they are pressed with any necessity In the last place is thanksgiuing which is that acknowledgement wherby all prayse is giuē vnto him Vnder these 4. points of worship trust prayer and thanksgiuing all those innumerable duties which we owe to God may well be comprehended Moreouer the contempt of this present life and the meditation of that which is immortal heauenly will teach vs the right vse of earthly goods created of God for the seruice of man as necessary helpes for this life Which things we must not neglect in such sort that we neuer vse them but vpon constraint necessity taking no delight in them as if we were sencelesse blocks Much lesse may we abuse them by ouer-great lust in superfluity delights but apply them to that end for which God hath created appointed thē for our good not for our hurt namely that they should sustain nourish preserue delight our nature vsing thē in al temperance mediocritie with thanksgiuing So that we are to vse these goods as though we vsed them not that is to say our chief affection and desire must be so smally set vpō them as if we were wholy depriued of them and we must be disposed and affected as well to sustaine pouertie patiently with a quiet mind as to vse abundance moderately Especially let vs referre the true and holy vse of all our earthly commodities to the works of charitie as we haue already touched knowing that all things are so giuē vnto vs by the goodnes of God appointed for our commoditie as things cōmitted to our trust of which we must one day giue account before his maiestie For the conclusion therfore of our speech we learn that thelife of a Christian is a perpetuall studie and exercise of the mortification of the flesh vntil it be so throughly dead that the spirit of God may raigne fully in his soule We learn also that our whole life ought to be a meditation and exercise of godlines bicause we are called to sanctification that true happines of life in this world consisteth therein namely when being regenerated by baptisme and the spirit of God we haue the loue of righteousnes throughly imprinted in our harts and follow the diuine rule thereof by framing and directing all our actions to the glory of our God and profit of our neighbors Wherfore euery one of vs must take his vocation and calling for a principle and ground for a station assigned of God vnto which we must direct our leuell withdrawing our mindes from the yoke and bondage of those naturall perturbations that are in vs. Wee must not be led with ambition and desire to take hold of many sundry matters at once being assured that euery worke done according to our calling how contemptible soeuer it be among men shineth before God and shall be rewarded by him beyng accounted very precious in his sight Of Death Chap. 72. AMANA NO man ought to be ignorant of this that after God had created man in the beginning he placed him in a garden and paradise ful of al pleasures and delights and gaue him leaue to vse all things contained therin the fruit of the knowledge of good and euill onely excepted which was expresly forbidden Neuerthelesse being vnable to keepe himselfe in that high degree and great dignitie he fell by disobedience so that thinking to make choice of life he chose the fruit of death as God had foretold him saying Whensoeuer thou eatest of this fruit of the knowledge of good and euil thou shalt die the death which thing fell vpon him and vpon all his posteritie Whereby we see that the reward and recompence of sinne is death not onely bodily death but which is more spirituall whereby we are banished and shut out of the heauenly kingdome and inheritance if we apprehend not that great grace and mercy of the father offered to all that draw neere vnto him by true confidence in Iesus Christ to the ende as the Apostle saith that as sinne raigned vnto death so grace might raign by righteousnes vnto eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. And this is the onely way wherby to passe from death to life when we shall be subiect to no condemnation or afflictiō Moreouer neither sworde famine nor any other miserie can hurt vs no not temporal death which according to mās iudgement is the extreamest of all miseries shall in any sort confound vs but rather be a meane and pleasant way for vs to passe by from prison and bondage to ioyfull liberty and from miserie to happinesse Therfore my companions as death is the end of all men happy to the elect and vnhappy to the reprobate so let vs finish our discourses with the handling thereof ARAM. Nothing but death and the end of this bodily life is able to accomplish the wish and desire of a faithful christian For the spirit being then deliuered as it were out of a noisome and filthie prison reioyceth with freedom and libertie in those pleasant places which it seeketh after and desireth so earnestly ACHITOB. It is decreed that all men must once die And therfeore as the Wiseman saith whatsoeuer thou takest in hand remember the end and thou shalt neuer do amisse Now ASER as thou beganst to lay the foundation of our Academie so make thou an end of it with the treatise of Death that endeth all things ASER. It is no maruell if natural sense be mooued astonished when we heare that our body must be separated from the soule But it is in no wise tollerable that a Christian hart should not haue so much light as to surmount suppresse this feare whatsoeuer it be by a greater comfort and consolation For if
And who is not content to depart out of an olde ruinous house What pleasure haue wee in this world which draweth neere to an end euery day which selleth vnto vs so deere those pleasures that wee receiue therein What other thing is this life but a perpetual battell and a sharpe skirmish wherein we are one while hurt with enuie another while with ambition and by and by with some other vice besides the suddaine onsets giuen vpon our bodies by a thousand sorts of diseases and fluds of aduersities vpō our spirits Who than will not say with S. Paul I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Why do we daily pray that the kingdom of God should come if it be not for the desire which we ought to haue to see the fulfilling therof in the other life We haue a thousand testimonies in the scripture that the death of the body is a certaine way by which we passe into that true and eternal life and into our owne countrey Flesh and bloud saith Saint Paul cannot inherite the kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherite incorruption For this corruptible must put on incorruptiō and this mortali must put on immortalitie then shall bee fulfilled that which is written Death is swallowed vp in victory They that beleeue in Iesus Christ haue already ouercome death sin and hell And therefore contemning death they may say O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law but thanks be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. He which hath raised vp the Lord Iesus shall raise vs vp also Our conuersation is in heauen from whence also we looke for the sauiour euen the Lord Iesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able euen to subdue all things-vnto himselfe Ye are dead saith he to the Colossians and your life is hid with Iesus Christ in God When Christ which is our life shall appeere then shall ye also appeere with him in glory My brethren saith he to the Thessalonians I would not haue you ignorant concerning them which are a sleepe that ye sorow not euen as other which haue no hope For if we beleeue that Iesus is dead and is risen euen so them which sleepe in Iesus will God bring with him Iesus Christ saith he to the Hebrewes was partaker of flesh and bloud that is to say was truly man that he might destroy through death him that had the power of death that is the deuill And that he might deliuer all them who for feare of death were all their life time subiect to bondage God hath saued vs and called vs with an holy calling as he saith to Timothie not according to our works but according to his owne purpose and grace which was giuen to vs through Christ Iesus before the world was but is now made manifest by the appeering of our Sauiour Iesus Christ who hath abolished death hath brought life immortalitie vnto light through the Gospel I am sure saith Iob that my redeemer liueth and he shall stand the last on the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh Whom I my selfe shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for me Iesus Christ is our head and we are his members This head cannot be without his members neither can forsake them Where Christ is there shall we be also He that considereth diligently these places of Scripture and infinite others contained therein it cannot be but he should haue great ioy and comfort in his hart against all feare and horror of death And then comming to compare the miseries which neuer leaue this life with that vnspeakable happines and felicitie which eye hath not seene neyther eare hath heard neyther came into mans hart which God hath prepared in the second and eternall life for all faithfull beleeuers a christian will not onely passe ouer this mortall life with ease and without trouble but will euen contemne and make no account of it in respect of that which is immortall But to whome is death sweete if not to them that labour The poore hireling is well at ease when hee hath done his dayes woorke So death is alwayes sweete to the afflicted but to them that put their trust in wordly things the remembrance thereof is bitter Now then the children of God are not afrayd of death but as Cyprian writeth in an Epistle sent to the Martyrs of Christ hee that hath once ouercome death in his owne person doth daily ouercome him in his members so that we haue Iesus Christ not onely a beholder of our combates but also an assistant and fighter with vs. And by his grace abounding in the harts of the faithfull they are so much the more bent to meditate vpon the benefites of the future and eternall life as they see that they are inuironed with greater store of miseries in this fading and transitorie life Then comparing both togither they find nothing more easie than to finish sweetly their race and to value the one as litle as they account the other absolute in all felicitie Moreouer seeing heauen is our countrey what is the earth else but a passage in a strange land And bicause it is accursed vnto vs for sinne it is nothing else but the place of our banishment If our departure out of this world be an entrance to life what is this world but a sepulcher And to dwell heere what is it else but to be plunged in death If it be libertie to be deliuered out of this bodie what is this bodie but a prison And if it be our chiefe happines to enioie the presence of our God is it not a miserie not to enioie it Now vntill we go out of this world we shal be as it were separated from God Wherefore if this earthlie life be compared with the heauenlie no doubt but it may be contemned and accounted as it were doung True it is that we must not hate it but so far foorth as it keepeth vs in subiection to sinne And yet whilest we desire to see the ende of it we must not be carelesse to keepe our selues in it to the good pleasure of God that our longing may be far from all murmuring and impatiencie For our life is as a station wherein the Lord God hath placed vs that we should abide in it vntill he call vs backe againe Saint Paul indeed bewailed his estate bicause he was kept as it were bound in the prison of his body longer than he would groned with a burning desire vntill he was deliuered but withall to shew his obedience to the wil of God he protested that he was ready for both bicause he knew
himselfe indebted for the glorifieng of his name whether it were by death or by life For it belongeth to him to determine what is expedient for his glorie Wherefore if it behooueth vs to liue and die vnto him let vs leaue both our life death to his good pleasure but yet so that we alwaies desire rather to die than to liue be ready cheerfully to renounce this life whensoeuer it pleaseth the Lord bicause it holdeth vs vnder sin And let vs hold this Maxime that no man hath throughly profited in the school of Christ Iesus but he that with ioy gladnes expecteth the day of death and of the last resurrection S. Paul in his epistle to Titus describeth al the faithful by this mark the scripture when it propouÌ„deth vnto vs matter of reioicing calleth vs backe thither Reioice saith the Lord in Luke and lift vp your heads for your redemption draweth neere It were absurd that that thing should breed nothing but sorow and astonishment in vs which Christ thought was fit matter to worke ioy in vs. Now than seeing death is dead to them that beleeue in him there is nothing in death which a maÌ„ ought to feare It is true that the image thereof is hideous and terrible bicause that besides the violent taking away of life it representeth vnto vs the wrath of God which biteth like a serpent but now the venome of it is taken away and can not hurt vs. And as through the brasen serpent which Moses lift vp in the wildernesse the liuing serpents died and their venome hurt not the Israelites so our death dieth and is not able in any sort to hurt vs if we behold with the eyes of faith the death of Iesus Christ Briefly it is nothing but an image and shadow of death and the beginning and entrance vnto true life Wherefore concluding our present speech let vs learne that as our miserable nature had brought vs to the like condition of death so the grace of God maketh this difference that some namely the wicked die to their destruction and others which are the children of God led by his spirit and word die to liue more happily so that their very death is precious in the sight of God And although the lust of our fleshe beyng blind and earthly striueth continually against the desires of the spirit seeking to separate vs as far as it can from our soueraigne Good yet let vs haue this ingrauen in our harts that they are happy that know the vanitie of this world more happy that set not their affections vpon it and they most happy that are taken out of it to be with GOD in the kingdome of heauen The ende of this Academie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist lib. 2. Eth. cap. 2. Aug. lib. 2. de doct chr cap. 40. Aug. lib. 8. de ciuit Dei cap. 6. 7. 8. c. Aristotle de Mundo Lib. 6. Strommat This commendation of vertue is chiefly to be vnderstood of faith the roote of all good vertues Hebr. 1. Psalm 8. All things were created for man To knowo our selues is true wisedome The soule is truly man Socrates was called the father of Philosophie Socrates said that the knowledge of God and of our selues must be ioined together Wherin the dutio of man consisteth Ignorance of our selues the cause of much euill What man is Gen. 1. Col. 3. The ende of mans being There is a double reason in man Heraclitus wept continually Democritus alwaies laughed The iudgement of Philosophers concerning the nature of man Pindarus Homer Timon Plinie The custome of the Scythians The presumptuous opinion of the Stoiks The end of the knowledge of our selues The wilfull fall of man The restoring of man All men naturally haue some loue and liking of the truth Effects of Christian regeneration The perfection of a wise mans life The wonderfull coniunction of the bodie and soule All things are preserued by agreeing discords The definition of a bodie Gen. 6. Rom. 8. Gal. 5. The works of the flesh Man is a little world Gen. 3. Of the conception and fashioning of man Of the excellencie of the bodie and of all the parts thereof Great secrets of nature The diuersitie of mens voices and writings The soule is infused not 〈◊〉 The definition of the soule Pythagoras was the first that was called a Philosopher The diuision of the soule Plato maketh sixe parts of the soule Aristotle diuideth it in two parts Foure parts of the soule The best diuision of the soule The soule cannot be diuided but is made subiect to two parts Both parts of the soule are corrupted Rom. 7. 23. The properties of the soule The actions of the soule The beautie of the soule Gal. 5. 22. 23. The true delight of the sense Phil. 4. 4. Luke 10. 20. How a man ought to vse both body and soule Nothing woorse to man than man himselfe Rom. 7. 18. 19. There is no good thing in the flesh of man Man is a mutable creature Pleasure and griefe the cause of passions Manis more carefull of his body then of his soule The ende cause and remedie of bodily diseases Naturall passions The definition of passion The diuision of passions All men haue naturally a desire of happines No man by nature can finde out the right way that leadeth to happines The word of God sheweth vs the right way to happines Of the perturbations of the soule The scope of our passions The ancient heathen may rise vp in iudgement against many Christians in these daies The originall nature and effects of perturbations All perturbations are contained vnder these foure heads Desire Ioy Feare Griefe An excellent comparison The cause of the diseases of the soule Reason is the medicine of the soule A sound soule correcteth the naughtines of the bodie The passions of the soule are headstrong and hard to be cured The passions of men commonly bring foorth effects contrarie to their purposes Reason is wisedome inspired from heauen A remedie against passions Examples of death by ouer-great ioy Herennus died for feare Plautius through griefe The effects of desire Vertue is alwais without excessiue passion The nature of worldly goods A wise soule gouerneth the affections What it is to liue happilie The common drife of men What men ought chiefly to leuell at The worke of philosophie The proper end and scope of Philosophie Why the philosophers could neuer attaine to the souereigne good in this life The definition of philosophie The diâ—ision of philosophie Of diuine philosophie How we must behaue out selues in searching our the secrets of God Of naturall philosophie Aâ—ule to be kept in naturall philosophie Against sorcerers magitians and birth-gazers The issue of all things is to be referred to the prouidence of God Of morall philosophie God the Idea of all good The benefit that commeth by philosophie Philosophie is the art of life What it is to play the philosopher Where and how philosophie is
might refer all to the glorie of the diuine maiestie and to the profit and vtilitie as well of themselues as of their country And yet in the meane while these noble toward youths were not depriued of other exercises meete for them which as the diuine Plato saith are very profitable for this age and helpe much to quicken the spirits of yoong men and to make their bodies which are weake by nature more strong and apt to sustaine trauell as namely to ride horses to run at the ring to fight at barriers to applie themselues to all kind of weapons and to followe the chace of beasts All which exercises this wise and ancient Knight did intermingle with their earnest studies by way of recreation himselfe standing them in steade of a maister For in such exercises he was as fully furnished as is to be wished in a man of valure and actiuitie insomuch that he was more expert than many of our time who make no other profession Now this schoole hauing been continued for the space of sixe or seauen yeeres to the great profit of this nobilitie of Aniou the fower fathers on a day tooke their iournie to visite this good old man and to see their children And after the vsuall welcome which is betweene kinsfolks and friends they discoursed togither of the corruption which then was in all estates of France wherevpon they foresawe as they said some great storme at hand if euerie one did not put to his helping hand for the correction and reformation of them but chiefly the secular power authorised of God for this purpose They alledged for witnes of their saying many examples of ancient estates common-wealths and kingdoms which were fallen from the height of glorie and excellencie into a generall subuersion and ouerthrow by reason of vices raigning in them vnpunished And thus continuing their speech from one thing to another they fell in talke of the corrupt maners that might particularly be noted in all and those maintained by authoritie and with commendation insomuch that both great and smal endeuored to disguise vice with the name of vertue In fine they were of opinion to heare their children discourse heervpon that they might know and iudge whether they had profited so wel in the institution of good maners the rule of good life by folowing of vertue and by the knowledge of histories the patterne of the time past for the better ordering of the time present as their maister who was present at the discourses of these ancient gentlemen did assure them by intermingling the praises of his schollers in the midst of their graue talke and vaunting that they were well armed to resist the corruption of this age For truly vertue purchased and gotten by practise is of no lesse power against all contagion of wickednes than preseruatiues well compounded are of force in a plague time to preserue in good helth the inhabitants of a countrie and as heeretofore that famous physicion Hippocrates preserued his citie of Coos from a mortalitie that was generall throughout all Grecia by counselling his countrymen to kindle many fires in all publike places to the end thereby to purifie the aire euen so whosoeuer hath his soule possessed and his hart well armed with the brightnes and power of vertue he shal escape the dangers of corruption and eschew all contagion of euill maners But returning to the intent and desire of our good old men bicause they had small skil in the Latine tong they determined to haue their children discourse in their owne naturall toong of all matters that might serue for the instruction and reformation of euerie estate and calling in such order and method as themselues with their foresaid maister should thinke best For this purpose they had two howers in the morning granted vnto them wherein they should be heard and as much after dinner which was to each of them one hower in a day to speake in You may ghesse gentle readers whether this liuely youth did not bestow the rest of the day yea oftentimes the whole night vpon the well studying of that which they purposed to handle and with what cheerfulnes of hart and willingnes of mind they presented themselues before the honorable presence of their fathers who were so greatly delighted in hearing them that for the most part in stead of fower howers a day before mentioned they bestowed sixe or eight For after they had heard the two first discourse one morning they had not the patience to refer the rest of that matter vnto the afternoone when the other twain of their children should be heard but commonly commanded them presently to enter the lists and to proceed as being iealous ouer their glorie in regard of their companions In this commendable maner of passing their time they continued certaine daies But the sudden and sorrowfull newes of the last frantike returne of France into ciuill war brake vp their happie assemblie to the end that these noble youths betaking themselues to the seruice due to their prince and to the welfare and safetie of their countrie might make triall of their first feates of armes wherein they wanted neither readines nor valure of hart which being naturally in them was also increased by the knowledge of philosophie The studie whereof resembling as Plato saith to a separation of the soule from the bodie standeth wise men in stead of an exercise to die without feare when dutie requireth it and causeth them to esteeme of death as of the cause of the true and perfect good of the soule For which reason Socrates Xenophon Architas Thucidides Thales Epaminondas and a million of other famous men learned philosophers and historiographers hauing charge of armies neuer doubted or feared in any sort to offer themselues cheerfully vnto all perils and dangers when the question and contention was for publike benefit and safetie and in a iust war without which a wise man neuer ought to fight Yea I dare boldly say that the greatest and most famous exploits of warfare were atchieued for the most part by them and their like Which serued well for a spurre to our yoong Angeuins to cause them to vndertake this iournie with ioy and cheerfulnes of spirit being resolued to follow with all their might the examples of such great and notable personages as histories the treasurie of time did call to their remembrance When they were in the campe each of them according to his particular affection ranged himselfe vnder sundry cornets of great Lords and good captaines But as we said in the beginning after news of the peace proclaimed which was so greatly looked for and desired of all good men they labored foorthwith to meete togither knowing that their ioint-returne would be acceptable to their friends especially to that good olde-man by whome they were brought vp Moreouer they deliberated with themselues as soone as they were arriued at the old mans house to giue their fathers to vnderstand thereof to the end
as he is man and according to his habilitie and maner of life he imitateth and followeth is diuers from that which by speciall grace from aboue commeth to the elect accompanieth them and helpeth them in all their actions This is full of faith and of vndeceaueable assurance of eternal promises the other weake troubled and woonderfully hindred wherin a man can neuer haue any certaine resolution This is that which caused Aristotle who was Platoes disciple and prince of the Peripatetike schoole to say that the more knowledge a man hath the greater occasion of doubting was offred Neither can we iudge otherwise but that the same reason of trouble and doubting mooued the aboue named Heraclitus that great Philosopher to spend his life in continuall weeping howsoeuer he alleageth wisely that it was for the compassion he had of mans nature both for that the life of men consisted in nothing but in miseries as also because all the labours wherein they exercised themselues seemed vnto him to be woorthy of great commiseration and pitie namely seeing that they being farre wide of iustice did yet through too greedie desire make themselues slaues vnto all couetousnes and vainglorie This also was an argument of inconstancie and wauering in Democritus who neuer came abroad amongst men but he laughed vnmeasurably at all their works and deeds Howbeit herein he said truely that the life of man was vanitie and follie and that all their lustes and desires were fonde and woorthy to be laughed at But such extremities of laughter and weeping are not seemely in him who is well instructed in the studie of Philosophie and in the certaine knowledge of himselfe which thing these Philosophers so earnestly laboured to attaine vnto as we shall see anon after we haue learned what other ancient men haue thought of the nature and state of man What other thing saith Pindarus is man than the shadow of a dreame in ones sleepe Whereby he sheweth the vanitie of man by an excellent manner of speaking verie significantly vttering his meaning For what thing is lesse than a dreame yea than the shadow of a dreame Homer hauing compared mortall creatures together both in respect of their continuance as of the maintenance of their life crieth out that of all those which walke on the earth and draw breath there is not one more miserable than man Timon the Athenian detesting much more than al these the imbecility of mans nature vsed and imploied all his skill to perswade his countrimen to abridge and shorten the course of their so miserable life and to hasten their end by hanging themselues vpon gibbets which he had caused to be set vp in great number in a fielde that he bought for the same purpose vnto whose perswasions many gaue place Plinie rehearsing the great miseries wherewith man commeth into this world and the manifold labors wherin he liueth saide that it were good for a man not to be borne at all or else so soone as he is borne to die It was a custome amongst the Scythians to weepe at the birth of their children and to reioice and make a solemne feast at the death of their parents Now as the opinions of these philosophers heere named by vs who being destitute of the light of God and of true religion had no other foundation but their owne humane and weake discourses are to be reiected for inclosing all mankind in such a vile and abiect estate so on the other side we must take heed that we enter not into that presumptuous opinion of many others who endeuour to lead man to the consideration of his dignitie and excellencie as being endewed with infinite graces For they persuade him that through the quicknes of his vnderstanding he may mount vp to the perfect knowledge of the greatest secrets of God and nature and that by the only studie of philosophie he may of himselfe following his owne nature become maister of all euill passions and perturbations and attaine to a rare and supreme kinde of vertue which is void of those affections that being thus exempted and freed from all vice he may lead a most happy and perfect life This did the Stoike philosophers with one consent maintaine and teach saying Whosoeuer receiued their doctrine if in the morning he were very wicked in the euening he should become a very good man if he laid himselfe downe to sleepe being ignorant vicious poore the next morning he should arise wise vertuous rich happie and iust Zeno Seneca Diogenes Chrysippus and infinite mo otherwise endewed with most fruitful doctrine as we shall vnderstand heerafter were of this opinion Insomuch that Chrysippus said that Dion the chiefest man for knowledge in Syracusa was no lesse vertuous than his god Iupiter to whom they attributed perfect diuinitie Seneca also boasted that he had receiued life by the benefit of God but to liue wel from himselfe Thus whilest they granted to mans power such an excellent and diuine disposition they lift him vp in a vaine presumption in pride and trust in himselfe and in his owne vertue which in the end cannot but be the cause of his vtter vndoing We therefore holding the meane betweene these two contrarie opinions as the perfection and goodnes of all things consisteth in mediocritie and continuing to speake of man as we haue alreadie begun do say that the knowledge of himselfe is very necessarie for him and that hauing perfectly attained therunto he hath cause both to be humbled greatly as also to glorie and reioice First to humble himselfe through the sence and feeling of his vanitie peruersnes corruption in which respect he ought to hate and be displeased with himselfe bicause he beholdeth his destruction and condemnation ingrauen in his conscience Secondly he is to glorie in the knowledge of God which inseparably followeth the other after he hath learned this that in the mercie of God he may recouer that which is wanting in himselfe hauing once beene made and fashioned of God who is altogither pure wise true good and almightie to the end he might be partaker of his glorie For the obtaining heerof he had giuen vnto him from the beginning as trustie guides godlines holines and religion godlines to the end he might knowe thereby that he had God for his father holines to yeeld vnto him continuall glorie and praise and religion to keepe him in a continuall meditation of his grace and benefits and to serue him for an indissoluble bond to knit him to his Creator who threatened him with death if he did the contrarie But our first father through ingratitude and disobedience forsaking those heauenlie guides to follow his owne free-will depriued himselfe and all his posteritie of that promise of eternall life that was made vnto him Whereupon being dead to his first life which was most happie and innocent through his offence and peruersnes of his sin he began from that
which did all intreat of vertue out of which men may reape infinite profite especially out of those that intreat of a common-wealth or of lawes In these books that he might not seeme vngratefull towarde his master Socrates who would neuer write any thing he bringeth him in rehearsing that which at other times he had heard him speake Stilpo the philosopher being in his citie of Megara when it was taken spoiled by Demetrius king of Macedonia who fauouring him asked if he had lost any thing that was his made this answer No sir quoth he for war cannot spoile vertue And indeede this is that riches wherwith we ought to furnish our selues which can swim with vs in a shipwrack and which caused Socrates to answere thus to one who asked him what his opinion was of the great king whether he did not thinke him very happy I cannot tell quoth he how he is prouided of knowledge vertue Who may iustly doubt whether vertue alone is able to make a man happie seeing it doth not onely make him wise prudent iust good both in his doings sayings but also commonly procureth vnto him honor glorie and authoritie It was through hir meanes that Alexander deserued the surname of Great by that experience which she gaue him in warre by his liberalitie in riches by his temperance in all his sumptuous magnificence by his hardines and constancy in fight by his continency in affections by his bountie and clemencie in victorie and by all other vertues wherein he surpassed all that liued in his time Yea the fame and renowme of his vertues procured a greater number of cities countries and men to submit themselues willingly vnto him without blowestriking than did the power of his armie Wherein this sentence of Socrates is found true that whole troupes of souldiers and heapes of riches are constrained oftentimes to obey vertue What said Darius monarche of the Persians when he vnderstoode both what continencie Alexander his enimie had vsed towards his wife who being exceeding beautifull was taken prisoner by him and what humanitie he shewed afterward in hir funerals when she was dead The Persians quoth he neede not be discouraged neither thinke themselues cowards and effeminate because they were vanquished of such an aduersarie Neither do I demand any victorie of the gods but to surmount Alexander in bountifulnes And if it be so that I must fall I beseech them to suffer none but him to sit in the royall throne and seat of Cyrus Will we haue testimonies of the inuicible force of vertue and of hir powerfull and praisewoorthy effects in most sinister and vntoward matters Histories declare vnto vs that amongst all the vertuous acts which procured praise and renowme to the men of old time those were the notablest most commended which they shewed foorth at such time as fortune seemed to haue wholy beaten them downe Pelopidas generall captaine of the Thebans who deliuered them from the bondage of the Lacedemonians is more praised and esteemed for the great and notable vertue which he shewed being prisoner in the hands of Alexander the tyrannous king of the Phereans then for all his victories gotten before For at that time his vertue was so farre from yeelding any iot to his calamitie that contrariwise with an vnspeakeable constancie he recomforted the inhabitants of the towne that came to visite him exhorting them to be of good courage seeing the houre was come wherin the tyrant should be at once punished for his wickednes And one day he sent him word that he was destitute of all iudgement and reason in that he vexed his poore citizens caused them to die in torments who neuer offended him and in the meane time suffered him to liue in rest of whom he could not be ignorant that escaping his hands he would be reuenged of him The tyrant maruelling at his great courage asked why he made such great haste to die To this end quoth he that thou being yet more hated of God and men than thou art mightest the sooner be destroied Philocles one of the most famous Athenian captaines of his time who caused this law to be made that the right thombe of all prisoners taken in war from that time forward should be cut off that they might not handle a pike any more but yet might serue to rowe with an oare being taken prisoner with three thousand Atheniens in one battell which Lysander admirall of the Lacedemonians obtained against him and al of them being condemned to die was demanded of Lysander what paine he iudged himselfe worthie of for counselling his country-men to so wicked and cruell a thing To whom he made this onely answere with an vnmoueable vertue Accuse not those who haue no iudge to hear know their cause But seeing the gods haue shewed thee this fauour to be conqueror deale with vs as we would haue done with thee if we had ouercome thee Which being said he went to wash and bath himselfe and then putting on a rich cloke as if he should haue gone to some feast he offered himselfe first to the slaughter shewing the way of true constancie to his fellow citizens Anaxarchus the philosopher being taken prisoner by the commandement of Nero that he might know of him who were the authors of a conspiracie that was made against his estate and being led towards him for the same cause he bit his toong in sunder with his teeth and did spit it in his face knowing well that otherwise the tyrant would haue compelled him by all sorts of tortures and torments to reueale disclose them Zeno missing his purpose which was to haue killed the tyrant Demylus did asmuch to him But what is more terrible than death Notwithstanding when did vertue better shew hir greatnes and power then when death laboured most to ouerthrow hir as being resolued of that saying of Cicero that all wise men die willingly and without care but that the vnwise ignorant are at their wits ende for feare of death If many who haue not knowne the true and perfect immortalitie of the soule and some onely led with a desire of praise worldly glorie others touched with duty and kindled with a loue towards their countrey haue shewed the increase of their vertue in the horrors and pangs of death what ought they to do who expect certainely an euerlasting life Phocion after he had beene chosen generall captaine of the Athenians foure and fortie times and done infinite seruices to the common-wealth being at length through certaine partakinges and diuisions ouercome with the weakest side which he had mainetained and being condemned to drinke poison was demaunded before he dranke whether he had no more to saye Whereupon speaking to his sonne he saide I commaunde thee to beare the Athenians no rancor and malice for my death And a little before this speech beholding one of those that were condemned to
and impietie as well of the monarks themselues as of their people Now if fortune turne hir selfe about and set hir selfe neuer so little against an ignorant person he is straightway ouercome with a thousand perturbations and vrged with despaire as being only grounded before vpon the vaine and weake hope and confidence in externall and vncertaine goods Perses king of Macedonia and one of the successors of Alexander the great in his great conquests but not in his vnspeakable vertues was ouercome in battel by Paulus Emilius chiefe captain of the Romans was led towards him Emilius as soon as he saw him arose from his seate and went forward to receiue and honor him as being a great personage and fallen into that mishap by the hazard of fortune But Perses being wholie beaten downe through faintnes and basenes of mind cast himselfe at his feete vpon the ground with his face downeward vsing such abiect requests and supplications and so vnbeseeming the vertue of a king that the Conqueror could not abide them but said thus vnto him Alas poore ignorant man as thou art how dost thou by discharging fortune accuse thy selfe in this sort to be the onely cause of this ill successe that is befallen thee seeing thou neuer deseruedst that honor which thou hast had heeretofore bicause of thy base mind within thee which hath made thee an vnwoorthy aduersary of the Romans And truly a man cannot iustly be called through the benefit of fortune but by knowing how to vse hir well and wisely both in prosperitie aduersitie As for an ignorant baseminded man the higher that fortune lifteth him vp in great estate where he shal be viewed of many so much the more shee discouereth descrieth dishonoreth him For great calling riches are no more able to lift vp the hart of a base minded fellow than pouerty can abate and lessen the great courage of a noble hart I could here alleadge many mo examples of the pernicious effects that are as we haue said wrought in the soule by ignorāce but hereafter they will come in more fitly when we shall discourse particulerly of vices Onely I say here with Plato that arrogant ignorance hath now more than euer seazed vpon the minds of men filled them with euils as being the roote and spring of them that it peruerteth al things causeth him that possesseth hir to taste in the ende of a most bitter fruite Nowe to come to malice and crafte which is the excesse of prudence it is that which leadeth a man through wilfull ignorance to oppose himselfe against that which he knoweth to be dutifull and honest causing him vnder the counterfaite name of prudence to seeke to deceiue those that will beleeue him This vice is the chiefe cause of ambition and couetousnes which most men serue in these daies but aboue all things it is an enimie to iustice causing all their actions to tende to the ouerthrow thereof To this purpose Cicero saith that the craftier and subtiler a man is the more he is to be suspected and hated as one that hath lost al credite of goodnes All knowledge seuered from iustice ought rather to be called craft and malice than science and prudence Neither is the onely act of malice as the same author saith euill wicked but also the deliberation therof although it take no effect yea the onely thought thereof is vile and detestable so far is it that any couering or cloake can excuse a fault committed of malice Also he saith that in deliberating all hope of concealing and hiding the fact must be taken away forasmuch as vertuous men ought to seeke after honest not secret things Moreouer it is the propertie of a malicious man to choose hypocrisie and dissimulation for his companions Besides he hath for his first author and father sathan who by his subtiltie and craft abused the simplicitie of our first mother to the ouerthrow of all mankind Amongst many we may note here the example of Nero a most cruell emperor who being instructed from his youth by that wise man Seneca his schoolemaster in the beginning of his empire counterfaited so great bountifulnes and clemencie that when he was to set his hand to the condemnation of one adiudged to die he cried out and said Would to God I had no learning then should I be excused from subscribing to any mans death Notwithstanding within a while after he disclosed his detestable impiety and cruelty by putting to death his mother his tutor and a great number of honest men against all right and iustice Moreouer he purposely caused fire to be put into all quarters of Rome forbidding vnder paine of death that any should quench it insomuch that more then halfe the citie was cleane consumed Afterward to the ende he might haue some coulor to persecute the christians he laid to their charge the kindling of the fire so put a great number of them to death Tiberius also in the beginning of his raigne behaued himselfe so wisely vertuously and gently that he seemed to be saith Suetonius a simple and plaine citizen And yet soone after he became as detestable a tyrant as euer was for crueltie and filthy pleasures True it is that one may attribute the cause of such sodaine alteration of humors to the soueraigne authoritie and power of commanding which commonly hath his propertie to make him that seemed good to become wicked the humble to be arrogant the pittifull cruell the valiant a coward But it is alwaies more likely that a prince changing his nature so quickly vseth to counterfeit and to dissemble and to put a goodly vizard vpon his face as historiographers write that Tiberius could behaue himselfe cunningly in that sort Now that we may profite by this discourse let vs learne to be prudent and simple as the scripture speaketh eschuing all shameles and damnable malice and deceit al want of prudence and ignorance which procure the losse of soule and bodie whereof a man may accuse none but himselfe For ignorance saith Menander is a voluntarie mischeefe And although the knowledge of good euill is most necessarie of all others yet is it most easie For the obtaining whereof and auoiding through the grace of God of that condemnation which is to fall vpon the blinde and vpon the guides of the blinde let vs neuer be ashamed to confesse our ignorance in those things whereof we want instruction following therein that precept of Plato That we must not be ashamed to learne least happily we be hit in the teeth to our confusion with that saying of Diogenes to a yoong man whom he espied in a tauerne who being ashamed to be seene there speedilie fledde further into the same The more thou runnest in quoth this wise man to him the further thou art in the tauerne Euen so we shall neuer cure our ignorance by denying or hiding it but the wiser we seeke to be
bicause he discouereth manifesteth and sheweth vnto them from what they are to beware and what to correct and yet in the mean while he seeth not the most part of that which is within himself so greatly is he dazeled by beholding that which is without in other men He openeth all euen to the very wals of strange houses and pearceth like a wind into the midst of those things that are most secret His mind is both vpon the pallaces of the rich and cotages of the poore He ferretteth out euerie thing and inquireth many times after the affaires of the greatest which is the cause of his ouerthrow when he busieth himself too far in them This was wisely noted by Philippides when Lysimachus the king asked him what part of his goods he would haue imparted vnto him What you please sir quoth he so it be no part of your secrets Now if we desite to diuert and to quench the heate of this vicious passion of curiositie which is too familiar amongst vs and vnseemlie in a prudent and vertuous man we must sometimes abstaine from inquiring after lawfull things though otherwise not necessarie In the exercise and practise of iustice it is expedient sometime to leaue vntaken that which a man may lawfully take thereby to accustome himselfe to abstaine more easily from taking any thing vniustly Likewise it is good for a man sometime to abstaine from his owne wife that he may attaine to the vertue of temperancie and so be neuer mooued to desire another mans wife In like maner if in stead of shewing our selues to be of the number of these diligent and curious inquirers after vnprofitable newes we signifie rather to him that commeth to tell vs of some newes that he should please vs better if he had some good and profitable matter to speake than should we thereby giue testimonie of a staied and setled nature despising curiositie This was noted in Alexander the great who seeing a messenger running apace towards him with a smiling countenance said vnto him not shewing himselfe to bee mooued at all or desirous to vnderstand what he would speake what good newes canst thou bring me my friend vnles thou didst come to tel me that Homer is risen again And truly he had great reason to thinke that no more excellencie could be added to his valiant acts and deeds except it were to haue them consecrated to immortalitie by the writings of some learned and notable wit The example of Phocion deserueth well to be heere alledged against curious folks who are commonly light of beliefe For as soone as the Athenians receiued newes of Alexanders death they purposed presently to alter their estate and to shake off the yoke of the Macedonian alliance But Phocion being of a contrarie opinion said vnto them If this newes be true to day it will be true also to morow And therfore my Lords Athenians make no haste but deliberate leisurely and looke safely to that which ye haue to do It is certaine that if we vse in this sort to shew our selues staied in such things and in all other things of smal importance wherein our naturall inclination would prouoke vs to be curious as namely to breake off good communication begun vpon the receit of a letter to forsake companie to run and meet a messenger onely to know what newes he bringeth and a thousand such like sudden motions proceeding of lightnes and curiositie I say by auoiding such things we should prepare a way to the restraining of al curiositie in greater matters which otherwise may procure blame As for example to open another bodies letter to intrude our selues into the secret counsels of our neighbors to seeke out their faults and imperfections to inquire busily after that which may greeue our familiar friends or to aske them of that which they like not of neither is grounded vpon any good cause or reason least peraduenture the answer of some wise man should turne more to our shame than be framed according to our desire Thus dealt Demaratus with a curious importunate fellow that had oftentimes asked of him who was the honestest man in Sparta He that resembleth thee lest quoth he vnto him The answer also of an Egyptian was not vnfitly made to one that asked him what he caried there folded It is wrapped vp quoth he bicause thou shouldst not know what it is Now by that which hath been hitherto discoursed it appeereth sufficiently that al kind of curiositie is hurtful hateful and greatly to be blamed in euerie one if it be not bounded and limited by the reason of true prudence which guideth and stirreth vs vp to seeke after good honest and profitable things either in heauen in earth in the aire or in the sea according to the gift and capacitie of our vnderstanding and iudgement which may be necessarie for vs to know or may helpe vs to liue well and happily For whatsoeuer is more we ought to account it vnprofitable and superfluous Let vs learne then not to know more than we ought but vnto sobrietie containing our spirits within the limits of mediocritie simplicitie and modestie Let vs forsake all sophisticall curiositie and worldlie wisedome which is meere foolishnes before God that we may imbrace a simple popular and Academicall kind of knowledge which will teach vs to know our selues and our dutie whereby we shall be led to that happy end which we seeke for and desire Let vs not admire any more the merchandise and outward shewes wherewith strangers feed the eies of curious folks but let vs wonder at vertue onely saying with the comicall poet where he speaketh of those that couered their bedsteads with gold and siluer what great follie is it to make sleepe so deere which God hath freely giuen vnto vs So to seeke for that of strangers with such great expences which we may haue at our owne hauen better more cōmodiously were all one as if we shuld leaue the substance run after the shadow or that which is certain for an vncertaintie We may haue in France if our blockishnes stay vs not Vniuersities and schooles for all honest exercises meet for our nobilitie without strangers And if we think that in some places amongst them they haue better teachers than we haue let vs first seeke amongst our selues for those instructions that are most necessarie namely for the knowledge of good letters and institution of vertue and then if we thinke good we may heare their teachers and maisters without infecting our behauiour with the corruption of their maners Besides by the same studie we shal learne to shun al curious inquiry into other mens imperfections that we may diligently looke into our owne Of Nature and Education Chap. 16. AMANA SEeing that in the entrance of our former treatise we began with that naturall instinct of man which mooueth and disposeth him to desire and to seeke after his good we may in continuing
fifteene dayes he had gotten with child a hundred virgins of Sarmatia which he had taken prisoners in the warre Chilpericus the first king of France to the end he might the better enioy a whore called Fredegonda whō afterwards he maried compelled his first wife named Andeuora to become a religious woman and put to death two children which he had by her through the counsaile of his sayd concubine Then hauing in his second mariage taken to wife Galsonda daughter to the king of Spaine he caused her to be strangled and maried Fredegonda who perceiuing afterward that he noted in himselfe this loosenesse of life and offensiue kind of gouernment caused him to be slain A iust punishment suffred by God for his intemperance Xerxes monarch of the Persians was so intemperate and giuen to lust that he propounded rewards for those that could inuent some new kind of pleasure And therfore comming into 〈…〉 infinit number of men to subdue it he was ouercome and repulsed by a small number as being an effeminate and faintharted man Epicurus a learned philosopher was so intemperate that he placed the soueraigne Good and Felicitie in pleasure Sardanapalus monarch of Babylon the first of the foure Empires was so addicted to lust and intemperance that he stirred not all day long from the company of women being apparelled as they were and spinning purple Whereby he became so odious that two of his lieutenants iudging him vnworthy to command ouer Asia and ouer so many good men as were vnder his Empire raised his subiects against him and ouercame him in battell Wherupon dispairing of his safetie he caused a great Tabernacle of wood to be set vp in a sure place within the cloister of his palace and compassed it round about with great store of dry wood Then he caused his wife and his concubines whom he loued best to enter into it and all the wealth he had to be brought thither This done shutting himselfe within it his Eunuches and seruants according to the othe which he had taken of them put fire to the said frame and so this miserable king of the Chaldeans and Assyrians with all that was with him was suddenly consumed with fire and ended his monarchie which his victorious lieutenants diuided betwixt them the one taking himself for king of Babylon the other of Medea Antonius one of Caesars successors in the Empire procured his own ruine through intemperance loosenes and stirred vp against himselfe the enuie and murmuring of the Romans for his retchlesnesse of feats of Arms in that warre ouer which he was generall against the Parthians For to the end he might quickly return to his concubine Cleopatra Queene of Egypt he hazarded all in such sort that without doing any thing worthy his first reputation he lost more than twentie thousand of his own men Afterward Octauius his companion in the Empire beyng armed against him that he might reuenge the iniurie which he had done him in forsaking his sister whom he had wedded to liue in his vncleannes gaue him battell wherein Antonius seeing his friend Cleopatra flie who had born him company in that warre folowed her with three skore of his owne gallies albeit the fight was yet equal the victorie doubtful Thus he betraied those that fought for him to follow her who already had begun his destruction to the end she might accomplish the same as in deed it fel out after For being besieged within Alexandria by the said Octauius and without hope of safetie he thrust himself through the body with his sword wherof he died and Cleopatra also procured her own death by the biting of the serpent Aspis Boleslaus the second king of Polonia being giuen to all vncleannes and filthines made no dout to take women by violence from their husbands Whereupon the bishop of Cracouia often admonished him therof and when by reason of his obstinate perseuerance he proceeded against him euen with excommunication he was caried headlong with such fury that he killed this holy man After that his subiects comming against him he was constrained to flie into Hungarie where falling mad he slew himself The emperor Adrian tooke such glory and pride in al execrable vices that he commanded a Temple with a sumptuous tombe to be made for a naughtie man named Antinoüs whō he had miserably abused in his life In our time Iohannes a Casa Archbishop of Beneuento and Legate in Venice wrote a booke in praise of the abominable vice of Sodomitrie Sigismundus Malatesta lord of a part of Romaignola a prouince of Italy striued to haue carnal knowledge of his sonne Robert who thrusting his poinado into his fathers bosom reuenged that great wickednes By these examples and infinit others whereof histories are full it appeereth sufficiently that man burning with intemperance careth not at what price with what shame hurt or hinderance he may come to the execution and practise of all such pleasure delight as he propoundeth to himselfe As if he purpose to haue his fame continue for euer he will not stick to do it although it be by some notable wickednesse And thus we read of him that burnt the Temple of Diana which was accounted the fift wonder of the world was two hundred eight and twentie yeeres in building by the Amazones within the citie of Ephesus in Asia The planks thereof were all of Cedar wood and the doores and garnishing of the wals of Cypres This wretched caitife confessed that he put fire to that sumptuous building for no other cause than to leaue his fame and renowne behind him in the world but commandement was giuen that none should fet down his name in writing Neuerthelesse he is named Erostratus by Solinus and Strabo from whence came that prouerb This is the renowne of Erostratus vsed when any man seeketh to be famous by a wicked act which we may also apply to all intemperate men As touching the defect of Temperance wherof mention was made in the beginning of our present discourse and which hath no proper name but vnproperly is called by some Stupiditie orsencelesnes it is rarely found amongst men who by nature are giuen to pleasure and caried away with all kinds of desires lusts For where shal we find any so dul blockish that hath no feeling of pleasure and that is not mooued with glory and honor Such a man may be truly taken and accounted as one void of sence and feeling like to a blocke Neither doth it belong to temperāce to be depriued of all desires but to master them For that man as Cicero saith that neuer had experience of pleasures and delights neither hath any feeling of them ought not to be called temperate as he that hath done nothing which may testifie his continencie and modestie Thus ye see we haue no matter offred wherabout to bestow time in reproouing this vice of defect frō which men are
those that are vnwoorthie of them to commit many follies Amongst which we may note superfluitie for a verie pernitious vice hauing this propertie in it to draw the wils of men secretly to induce them to couet delights Wherunto after they haue once addicted themselues they busie their mindes with nothing but to make prouision of friuolous exquisite and sumptuous things taking smal care yea forgetting easily those things that are profitable and necessarie whereof afterwards they perceiue themselues to stand in great need Now the end of all superfluities wherein men plung themselues after diuers manners is pleasure which chiefly and for the most part they seeke in such a riotous and delicate life as causeth the bodie without labor to enioy all his desires lustes and delights or else in the fruition of worldlie glorie wherein through vnprofitable and superfluous expences they striue to excell or at leastwise to match those that are greater than themselues Concerning the marke whereat they aime there is nothing more hurtfull to man than pleasure and delight which as Plato saith serueth for a baite and allurement to draw him to commit wickednes as hereafter we may discourse in more ample manner thereof as also of that luxurious life whose desire and contentation is in whoredome And that I may begin to handle the other two general points wherein they that are giuen to superfluitie and costlines seeke delight namely the delicate life and curiositie of expences let vs consider of the fruites that issue and proceed from them First when men suffer themselues to be ouertaken with the Epicures doctrine and appeere so carefull to serue their bellie nourishing it in excesse daintines gluttonie and dronkennes is it not from this headspring from whence diseases and euill dispositions of the bodie proceed We are sicke saith Plutark of those things wherewith we liue neither is there any proper and peculiar seed of diseases but the corruption of those things within vs which we eate and the faults and errors which we commit against them Homer going about to prooue that the gods die not groundeth his argument vpon this bicause they eate not as if he would teach vs that drinking and eating do not only maintaine life but are also the cause of death For thereof diseases gather togither within our bodies which proceed no lesse of being too full than of being too emptie And oftentimes a man hath more to do to consume and digest meat put into his bodie than he had to get it Phisitions saith Seneca cry out that life is short and art long and complaint is made of nature bicause she hath graunted to beasts to liue fiue or six ages appointed so short a time of life for men who are borne for many great things We haue no smal time but we lose much time and life is long enough if it be well imploied But when it passeth away through excesse and negligence and no good is done therein in the end through constraint of extreame necessitie although we perceiue it not going yet we feele it is gone Moreouer a man may reckon greater store of griefs than pleasures that come to him frō his nourishment or to speake better the pleasure of eating is but small but the toile and trouble that men haue in prouiding it is great It were hard to repeate the shamefull paines and toilesome labors wherewith it filleth vs. Many a mans soule saith Solon is ouerwhelmed and as it were clothed with feare least it should stand in need within the bodie as it were in a mill and turning alwaies about like a milstone it seeketh after nourishment Heereupon it remaineth void and destitute of feeling and desire of all honest things and attendeth onely to the insatiable lustes of the flesh which is neuer contented bicause need and necessitie are alwaies ioined with desire of superfluitie The ancient Egyptians vsed this custome to cleaue in sunder the bodie of a dead man to shewe it to the sunne and to cast the guts and intrailes into the riuer and being thus clensed to imbaulme the rest And in very deede those inward parts are the pollution and defiling of our flesh and are properly the veric Hell of our bodies But which is worse is it not the stuffing and filling of the bellie that maketh the mind for the most part dull and vncapeable of any science or reason whereby the diuine part of man is oppressed and ouerwhelmed through the waight and force of that part which is mortall A wise soule is a cleare brightnes said Heraclitus O how hard a matter is it saith Cato to preach to the bellie which hath no eares and which will take no deniall howsoeuer the case standeth And as when we behold the sunne through thicke clouds and vndigested vapours we see it not cleare but with a pale and wannish light and as it were plunged in the bottome of a cloud so through a troubled and defiled bodie heauily loaden with food strang meates the brightnes and clearnes of the soule must needes become pale troubled and dimmed not hauing such forceable light as to be able thereby to pearce through vnto the contemplation of those things that are great heauenlie subtil exquisite and hard to discerne I thought in my hart saith the wise man to withdrawe my flesh from wine that I might bend my mind to wisedome and eschew follie vntill I knew what was profitable for the children of men It is not for kings it is not for kings to drinke wine nor for princes strong drinke least he drinke and forget the decree and change the iudgement of all the children of affliction To whom is woe To whom is sorow To whom is strife To whom is murmuring To whom are wounds without cause And to whome is the rednes of the eies Euen to them that tarie long at the wine to them that go and seeke mixt wine which in the beginning is pleasant but in the end pricketh like a serpent and poisoneth like a Cockatrice And in another place the wise man speaking of gluttonie faith that it drieth the bones and that more die by it than by the sword We see that beasts fatted vp languish through sloth and idlenes neither do beasts faint through labor onely but also by reason of the masse and heauie weight of their owne bodies Furthermore the vice of gluttonie and drunkennes is neuer alone but draweth with it a thousand other excessiue and dissolute fashions For as Plato saith it stirreth vp lust griefe anger and loue in extremitie and extinguisheth memorie opinion and vnderstanding Brieflye it maketh a man twise a childe And in another place the same Philosopher saith that gluttonie fatteth the bodye maketh the minde dull and vnapt and which is worse vndermineth reason Wine hath as much force as fire For as soone as it hath ouertaken any it dispatcheth him And as the North or Southwind tormenteth the Lybian sea so
with two of his friends and with seuen slaues Cato the elder visiting the prouinces of his gouernment tooke but three seruants with him Nowe a daies we see that the least accounted gentleman amongst vs thinketh it a cracking of his credite to ride so ill furnished And yet the most part euen of the greatest neuer make any great inquirie how their traine defray their charges But howsoeuer they may say that they know not of the excesse and riot committed vnder their authoritie and in their seruice yet they are not thereby excused For we ought carefully to beware that no man abuse our name Now if princes and gouernours of Commonwealths in steede of abridging superfluous charges take delight therein themselues from thence proceedeth the necessitie of charging and ouercharging their people with imposts and subsidies to maintaine their excesse and in the end commeth the ouerthrow and subuersion both of the one and the other But they ought rather both to abstaine from such vanities themselues and also to seeke by all meanes to banish them from their subiects and where their owne example and bodilie punishments are not sufficient for this purpose there ought they to lay great imposts vpon all such things as serue but to spill and corrupt their subiects Such things are all exquisite dainties and prouocations of appetite all sorts of toies and trifles perfumes cloth of gold and siluer silkes sypers networks lace wouen works all works of gold siluer and inammell all kind of superfluous apparel with colours of skarlet crimson and such like the forbidding whereof hitherto hath profited little For the nature of men is such that they find nothing more sweete and acceptable than that which is straightly forbidden them so that the more superfluities are prohibited the more they are desired especially of foolish men of such as are vainely brought vp Therefore it were good to raise the price of these things so high by meanes of imposts that none but rich men and daintie folks may vse them And such subsidies would asmuch set forward the glorie of God the profite of the common wealth the desire of good men and reliefe of the poore as many others now vsed are quite contrary hereunto Then these speeches would no more be so common amongst vs as now we heare them daily vttered by our Courtiers We will say they keep company and be seen amongst the greatest be esteemed thereafter If we spend not freely men will make no account of vs. It is our honor and greatnes and the way to procure glory and renowne to our houses and families But I would gladly tell a great number of them that they would be very much troubled to make answer to a law made by Amasis king of Egypt and after established in Athens by Solon whereby it was enacted that euery one should yeerely make it appeere vnto his Prouost or Bailie how he liued and if he approoued not his maner trade of life to be iust and reasonable he was condemned to die If in like case these great spenders were to giue an account from whence they receiue wherewith to satisfie their pride and vanities a man should find that their purchase as we say is far better vnto thē than their rents that they commit a thousand wrongs and detestable vices to make supply to their lauish expences As for them that haue goods lawfully gotten yet in spending of them wastfully they giue sufficient testimonie that they care seeke for nothing but a vaine and vanishing glory which oftentimes contrary to their expectation is waited vpon with great infamie and with the certaintie of perpetual punishment And in the meane while they neglect that glorie which is eternall and always profitable which they should enioy by well vsing and not by mispending their goods whereof they are but Gardians and Stewards must one day yeeld vp an account of them O witlesse man sayd one of the ancient Sages what will the remembraunce of vaine glory profite thee if thou art tormented and vexed where thou art and praised where thou art not This deserueth a longer continuance of speech but we may hereafter discourse thereof more at large In the meane tyme let vs note an other mischief which commonly followeth superfluitie of expences namely pouertie whereinto many rich men fall before they be aware and are then verie much grieued therewith and not able to beare it But the shame and reproch thereof is yet greater because they fell into it by their own folly and misgouernment Therefore to the end we walke not in such a slipperie way which in the beginning is large and pleasant but yet leadeth the trauailer vnto a down-fall frō which he can neuer escape let vs leaue and forsake the discipline and life of Epicures and beware that our pallate and toong be not more sensible than our hart Let vs lead a life woorthy an honest Academie and beseeming the doctrine of the ancient Sages that is a simple sober and modest life adorned with temperance and continence knowing that diet and decking of the body ought as Cicero saith to be referred to health and strength not to pleasure and delight and that all outward excesse is a witnesse of the incontinencie of the soule And for the perfection of all that lasting and ineuitable miserie which belongeth to them that are giuen to voluptuousnes and superfluitie let vs heare that sentence of scripture and feare least we be comprehended vnder the iudgement thereof Continuall miserie and mourning be vpon you that haue liued in pleasure on the earth and in wantonnesse and haue nourished your harts as in a day of slaughter The ende of the fift daies worke THE SIXT DAIES WORKE Of Ambition Chap. 21. ASER. AS often as I remember the strāge tragedie of the Romane Emperors since the time that the Empire was mounted vp to the verie top height of hir greatnes vntill hir declination according to the vncertaintie of all humane things and how within the space of one hundred yeeres wherein there were three skore and thirteene emperors onely three of them died of sicknesse in their beds all the rest by violent death I cannot sufficiently admire considering the inconstancie and short continuance of so great a gouernment which cannot but be well known to euery one the folly of men which commonly affecteth them with an vnmeasurable desire to rule whereby they are all their life time slaues to ambition which is one point of the vice of intemperance whereof we spake yesterday And thus in my opinion we are to begin our days worke with the description of this pernitious passion AMANA It is natural in man the greater his stomack is the more to labor to excel others which is accompanied with an exceeding desire to rule whereupon he is easily driuen forward to do vniustly if by wisdom he be not moderated ARAM. Ambition and contention for honour saith
such as wil cause thē to buy the violating of so holy a thing very deerly seeing they spare not him who calleth himself equitie iustice it selfe Further if as histories teach vs some haue been so wretched miserable as to giue themselues to the Art of Necromancie and to contract with the deuill that they might come to soueraigne power and authoritie what other thing how strange soeuer it be will not they vndertake that suffer themselues to be wholy caried away with this vice of ambition It is ambitiō that setteth the sonne against the father and imboldeneth him to seeke his destruction of whom he holdeth his life Henry the fift by force depriued his father from the Empire caused him to die miserably in prison Fredericke the third after he had raigned thirtie yeeres was miserably strangled by Manfroy his bastard sonne whom he had made prince of Tarentum And after he had committed this Parricide he poisoned his brother Conradus lawfull inheritor to Fredericke that he might make himselfe king of Naples Antoninus Geta brothers successors in the Empire to Seuerus their father could not suffer one another to enioy so large a Monarchie for Antoninus slew his brother Geta with a dagger that himself might rule alone Solyman king of the Turkes grandfather to him that now raigneth when he heard the loud acclamations and shoutes for ioy which all his armie made to Sultan Mustapha his sonne returning out of Persia after he had caused him to be strangled in his outward chamber and presently to be cast out dead before his whole armie he made this speech to be published with a loud voice that there was but one God in heauen and one Sultan vpon earth Within two dayes he put to death Sultan Soba bicause he wept for his brother and Sultan Mahomet his third sonne bicause he fled for feare leauing one onely aliue to auoid the inconueniencie of many Lordes These are but of the smaller fruits of this wild plant of ambition in respects of those that cause men to put innocents to death that themselues may take surer footing to growe vp and encrease And no doubt but for the most part iust punishment for example to mē foloweth such an ambitious passion whereof there are infinite examples both in the Greeke and Latin histories Marcus Crassus a Romane Consul and the richest man in his time not contenting himself with many goodly victories gotten by him but burning with an excessiue ambition and desire of new triumphes and being iealous of Caesars glory obtained by his great feats of armes presumed at the age of three score yeeres to vndertake the warre agaynst Arsaces king of the Parthians contrary to the will of the Senate feeding himselfe with vaine hope which led him to a shameful death ioyned with publike losse and calamitie For being ouercome and his armie discomfited he was miserably slaine with twentie thousand of his men tenne thousand taken prisoners Marius hauing passed through al the degrees of honor and been six times Consul which neuer any Romane before was not content with all this would notwithstanding take vnto himselfe the charge of the warre against Mithridates which fell to Sylla by lot euen then when he was weakened with olde age thinking with himselfe to get the Consulship the seuenth time and to continue that soueraigne authoritie in his owne person But this was the cause of his vtter ouerthrow of that slaughter wherby all Italy Spaine were imbrued with bloud by Sylla the popular estate brought in the end to extreme tyrannie Spurius Melius a Senator of Rome was murthered for his ambition and his house rased by Cincinnatus the Dictator because he sought by meanes of a certain distribution of wheate to make himself king of Rome Marcus Manlius was also vpon the like occasion throwen downe headlong from the toppe of a rocke Therefore it appeereth sufficiently vnto vs how pernitious this vice of ambition is in the soules of great men and worthy of perpetuall blame And although the matter be not of so great waight when they that follow this vicious passion are but meane men and of small account yet we are to know that all they depart farre from dutie and honestie who for the obtaining of glorie and renowne shew themselues inflamed and desirous to excel others in all those things which they ought to haue common together for the mutuall aide and comfort of euery one Onely we must seeke without pride and enuie after excellencie and preferment in that which is vertuous and profitable for humain societie contenting our selues notwithstanding with that which we are able to performe so we shall neuer be blamed but iustly may we be condemned if we vndertake that which is aboue our strēgth Especially let our desires and passions giue place to the benefit of the Common-wealth as heretofore Cretes and Hermias two great men of Magnesia delt one towards an other Their citie being besieged by Mithridates themselues hauing before been at great strife for honor preheminence Cretes offered Hermias to let him haue the charge of captaine generall in the meane time he would depart the citie or if he had rather depart that he should leaue that office to him This offer he made lest if both of them should be together their ielousie might breed some mischief to their countrey Hermias seeing the honest offer of his companion and knowing him to be more expert in feats of war willingly surrendred the authority of cōmanding vnto him Now to end our present discourse let vs learne to know their outragious folly who for imaginarie honors and those of so smal continuance that the wise mā compareth them to smoke dispersed of the wind desire nothing more than to run out the race of their days in continuall miseries and calamities trauels and cares depriuing themselues of all libertie and which is worse pawning their soules to an eternall and most miserable thraldome Thus let vs detest ambition which is an infinite euil and companion of pride so much hated of God and men Let vs consider a little that point of Philosophy which we find written by Traian to Plutarke I enuie sayd this good prince Cincinnatus Scipio Africanus and Marcus Portius more for their contempt of offices than for the victories which they haue gotten bicause a conqueror is for the most part in fortunes power but the contempt and refusall of offices and honours consisteth onely in prudence Let vs marke well the example of the emperor Flauius Vespasianus who being admonished by his friends to beware of one Metius Pomposianus bicause it was a common rumor that he should one day be emperor was so farre from procuring him any harme or displeasure or from hating or enuying him as it is the propertie of ambitious men to feare aboue all things least their estate be touched bicause they would raigne alone that
amongst the guests about this proposition What kind of death was best euen that said this Monarch which is least looked for True it is which may be said that destinie may possibly be better foreseene than auoided But this were an euill conclusion thereupon that we must let goe all care of keeping those Goods which God giueth vs as a blessing proceeding from his grace For it is the dutie of a good and sound iudgement to conferre that which is past with the present time to the end to foresee in some sort and to determine of that which is to come which is alwaies doubtfull and vncertaine vnto vs. Moreouer to resume our former matter of honest shame and shamefastnes which is the guide of our life to decencie and vertue we may see amongst the an ients infinite examples how it hath been recommended and precisely obserued and what strength it hath had in right noble mindes The Persians brought vp their youth in such sort that they neither did nor spake any thing that was dishonest putting him to death that stripped himself starke naked in the presence of another Yea they iudged euery vnciuill action how litle soeuer committed before others to be great wickednes The Parthians would neuer suffer their wiues to come among their feastes least wine should cause them to doe or to speake any dishonest thing in their presence Hippocratides as he was walking met with a yong man in a wicked mans company perceiuing that he began to blush said thus vnto him My sonne thou must goe with such as will not cause thee to blush but be of good cheere for thou maiest yet repent thee Blind Eutichus was set without the aray of the battel by Leonidas but being ashamed to leaue his fellowes in danger he caused a slaue to lead him to the place where they fought and there wonderfully doing his endeuor he was slain The Romans were so shamefast amongst themselues that the father would not bathe himselfe with his sonne nor the sonne in law with the father in law They so greatly esteemed honest shame and bashfulnes that when Philip king of Macedonia was accused before the Senate of many crimes the shamefastnes of yong Demetrius his sonne who blushed and held his peace stood him in greater stead than the shamelesse boldnes of the eloquentest Orator in the world could haue done The sonne of Marcus Cato the Censor beyng at that battell wherein Perses was discomfited and fighting with a iaueline his sword fell out of his scabberd wherof he was so ashamed that alighting on foote in the midst of his enemies doubling his courage and strength he tooke it vp and mounted againe fighting on horsebacke as before The sonne of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus hauing abandoned and giuen ouer the keeping and defence of the countrey of Trenta committed to his charge was so ashamed thereof that not daring to returne againe to his father he slew himself Parmenides taught his Disciples that nothing was terrible to a noble mind but dishonor and that none but children and women or at least men hauing womens harts are afraid of griefe When speech was ministred at the banket of the seuen Sages concerning that popular gouernment which was happiest wherein all haue equall authoritie Cleobulus affirmed that that citie seemed vnto him best guided by policie wherein the Citizens stood in greater awe of dishonor than of the law Plutark rehearseth a very noteable historie of the force of honest shamefastnes in the Milesian maidens who were fallen into such frenzie and perturbation of spirite that without any apparant cause to be seene they were suddenly ouertaken with a longing to die and with a furious desire to hang themselues Which thing many of them had alreadie put in practise so that neither reasons nor teares of fathers and mothers no comfort of friends no threatnings pollicies or deuices whatsoeuer could preuaile with them vntill such time that a wise Citizen by his aduice procured an edict to be made by the Councell that if any heerafter hung hir selfe she should be caried starke naked in the sight of all men through the market place This edict being made and ratified by the Councell did not onely represse a little but wholy staied the fury of these maidens that longed to die Insomuch that a simple imagination and conceit of shame and dishonor which yet could not light vpon them before they were dead did preuaile more with them than all other deuised meanes could do yea than death it selfe or griefe which are two of the horriblest accidents which men commonly stand in feare of To conclude therefore our present discourse that honest shame and shamefastnes are alwaies commendable and beseeming all persons that purpose to obserue modestie in their words gestures countenances and actions We learne also that spirits well brought vp are more easily wonne by shame than by feare according to that saying of Quintilian that shamefastnes is the propertie of a free man and feare of a bondman Further we learne that euery temperate man ought to be more ashamed of himselfe when occasion of doing ill is offered than of any other that he must shun all euil excessiue and pernitious shame proceeding from the want of discretion bicause it hindereth men from effecting all good wholesome and honest things insomuch that of it selfe it is able to procure vnto vs losse dishonor and infamie The ende of the sixt daies worke THE SEVENTH DAIES WORKE Of Fortitude Chap. 25. ASER. MAN endued with reason seeking to imitate asmuch as lieth in him the author of his being who albeit simply absolutely he standeth not in neede of any thing whatsoeuer yet doth woonderfull workes without ceasing for the benefit of his creatures feeleth himselfe touched to the quicke in his soule with a desire to profit all those among whome he liueth by all high great laudable and laborious meanes not fearing any perill nor forcing any paine Moreouer meditating weighing the dignitie of the immortalitie of his soule he careth not for earthly and mortal goods nor standeth in feare of the contrarie and whether it be for the hauing or not hauing of them his minde is nothing at all the lesse quiet neither doth he thinke that any good vpon earth can be taken from him All which great and rare excellencies flowe into him from the third riuer of the fountaine of Honesty whereof we are now to speake namely of the vertue of Fortitude which as Cicero saith cannot be forced by any force AMANA This vertue saith Seneca is very great being able to resist and to fight against extreame miseries Which is the propertie of Fortitude that guideth a noble nature through hard and difficult things that he may attaine to the end of his iust deuices ARAM. Fortitude is the cause that neither for feare nor danger we turne aside from the way of vertue and iustice And as Plato
he knoweth the one to be honest and the other vile and wicked Hauing now seene that vice which is cleane contrary to Fortitude and knowing that euery vertue hath a counterfeit follower thereof no doubt but rashnesse is that vice which falsly shrowdeth it selfe vnder the title of Fortitude and valure For this vertue easily ouerthroweth it selfe if it be not vnderpropped with good counsaile and the greater abilitie it supposeth to haue in it selfe the sooner it turneth aside to wickednesse if prudence gouerne it not This is that which Isocrates saith that Fortitude ioined with Prudence is auaileable but otherwise it procureth more euill than good to the possessors thereof If Fortitude saith Lactantius without necessarie constraint or for a dishonest matter hazardeth hir selfe into daungers she chaungeth into rashnesse He that doth anie thing at all aduentures saith Aristotle not considering how well he doth it ought not to be called vertuous but onely if he put it in execution after knowledge consultation and election Therefore as it is a noble acte to make such account of vertue as for the loue thereof not to feare the losse of life otherwise very deare so is it a point of rashnesse and follie to contemne life vpon a small and light occasion Rashnesse than is that which causeth a man with ioy of hart and for a vaine and friuolous matter to cast himselfe into certaine vndoubted daungers and to desire earnestly to fall into them to vndertake all things vnaduisedly and vnconstrained to expect those perils which he knoweth will fall vpon him The Elder Cato hearing certaine men to commend one openly who desperately hazarded himselfe and was bold without discretion in perils of warre said vnto them That there was great difference betweene much esteeming of vertue and little waighing of life as if he would haue said that it is a commendable thing to desire life to be vertuous And truely to liue and die are not of themselues good but to do both of them rightly and in a good matter So that to shunne death if it proceed not from a faint hart is not to be reprehended But rashnesse is especiallie to be condemned in Captaines and Heads of Armies as that which procureth great dammage to kingdomes and monarchies and to so manie as march vnder their conduct This is that which Iphicrates an Athenian captaine would haue vs learne who compared in an armie the Scoutes lightly armed to the handes the Horsemen to the Feete the battaile of Footemen to the Stomacke and breast and the Captaine to the Head of a Mans bodie For sayde he the Captaine that hazardeth himselfe too much and throweth himselfe into daunger without cause is not retchlesse of his own life onely but also of all those whose safetie dependeth vpon him and contrarywise in taking care for the safegard of his owne person he careth therewithall for all those that are vnder him Isadas the Lacedemonian seeyng Epaminondas with the Thebane armie at hand agaynst the Spartanes readie to force and take their Citie vnclothed himselfe starke naked puttyng off his Shirte and all and taking a Partisane in one hand and a sworde in the other he went with might and mayne agaynst his enemies where he shewed great prowesse and valure For which behauiour although he had a Crowne giuen him by the Seignorie according to the custome that was amongst them yet he was fined bicause he hazarded his lyfe so rashly We see daylie among vs but too manie examples of great mischiefes which befall men through their rashnesse led with ambition and desire of vayne-glorie Therefore to conclude and to drawe some profite out of our present discourse we say that we ought to feare the incurring of blame and dishonour for filthie and vnhonest matters and for euill deeds and are to shun all feare proceeding of want of courage of pusillanimitie and of a depraued and corrupted nature this last as proper and peculiar to the wicked and the other as that which maketh a man vnapt to all good and commendable thinges And as it is an acte of Prudence and Fortitude to prouide for a tempest and for stormes to come when the shippe is still in the Hauen and yet not to be afrayd in the middest of stormes so is it a point of rashnesse for a man to throw himselfe wittingly into an euident danger which might be auoyded without any breach of Vertue and Iustice Therefore Plato saith that timorous and rash men feare enterprise vnaduisedly whatsoeuer they take in hand but that noble minds do all things with prudence This also is that which Seneca saith thou maist be valiant if thou cast not thy selfe into perils nor desirest to fall into them as timorous men do neither abhorrest or standest in feare of them as being timorous But following the sage aduice of Cicero before we enterprise any thing we must not onely consider whether it be honest and commendable but also whether there be any like meane to execute it that neither throgh cowardlines we giue it ouer nor through greedie desire and presumption we purchase to our selues the reputation of rash men obseruing moreouer in euery matter of importance this Maxime of estate that before we begin any thing we must diligently prepare and foresee whatsoeuer is necessarie thereunto Of Magnanimitie and Generositie Chap. 27. ARAM. WHen that saying of Aristotle cōmeth to my remembrance that Fortitude isa mediocritie in fearing enterprising but that Magnanimitie consisteth in great things I am somewhat troubled in the vnderstāding of this sentēce bicause it semeth he would put a difference betweene Fortitude and Magnanimitie as if this latter had more excellencie and perfection in it than the other For this cause my Companions hauing intreated this morning of the vertue of Fortitude I propound now vnto you to discourse vnto vs what Magnanimitie is ACHITOB. Among mortall and perishing things there is nothing as the Philosophers say that ought to trouble the Magnanimitie of a noble hart But I find that they propound vnto vs in this word such a wisedome as cannot be in him that remaineth all his life time subiect to affections and perturbations For this they would not haue in true Magnanimitie which notwithstanding is wel able to bring foorth infinite wonderfull effects out of a noble mind causing it to be neuer vnprouided of a good resolution to be put in execution according to the ouerthwarts that happen vnto him ASER. The propertie of a noble spirit saith Cicero is not to be turned aside through ingratitude from the desire of doing good to all men euen to his enemies as also to leaue carking for that which is mortall that he may imbrace celestiall things But we shall vnderstand more at large of thee AMANA how these marueilous effects are works of true magnanimitie AMANA Although the vertue of Fortitude be neuer perfected without Magnanimitie which is as much to say as generositie or noblenes of
recouering any victuals were taken from them To whome they made this onely answer that forasmuch as they had liued for the space of 338. yeeres in freedom they would not die slaues in any sort Whereupon such as were most valiant assembled togither and slew those that were most growne in yeeres with women and children Then they tooke all the riches of the citie and of the temples and brought it into the midst of a great hall and setting fire to all quarters of the citie each of them tooke the speediest poison they could find so that the temples houses riches and people of Numantia ended all in one day leauing to Scipio neither riches to spoile neither man or woman to triumph withal For during the whole time wherin their citie was besieged not one Numantine yeelded himselfe prisoner to any Romane but slew himselfe rather than he would yeeld Which Magnanimitie caused Scipio to bewaile the desolation of such a people in these words O happie Numantia which the Gods had decreed should once end but neuer be vanquished Now albeit these examples and infinite other like to these are set foorth vnto vs by Historiographers as testimonies of an excellent Magnanimitie whereby they would teach vs both to be neuer discouraged for the most tedious trauels and irkesome miseries of mans life and also to stand so little in awe of death that for feare thereof much lesse for any other torment or griefe we neuer commit any thing vnbeseeming a noble hart yet notwithstanding no man that feareth God and is willing to obey him ought to forget himselfe so much as to hasten forward the end of his daies for any occasion whatsoeuer This did Socrates knowe very well when he said that we must not suffer our soule to depart from the Sentinell wherein she is placed in this bodie without the leaue of hir Captaine and that so waightie a matter as death ought not as Plato saith to be in mans power But if it be offred vnto vs by the will of God then with a magnanimious hart void of al starting aside in any thing against dutie we must set free this passage being staied and assuredly grounded vpon that consolation which neuer forsaketh a good conscience not onely through the expectation of a naked and simple humane glorie which most of the Heathen propounded to themselues but of that life which abideth for euer following therein the constancie of Alcibiades a great Captaine of Grecia who hearing the sentence of his condemnation to death pronounced said It is I that leaue the Athenians condemned to die and not they me For I go to seeke the Gods where I shall be immortall but they shall remaine still amongst men who are all subiect to death Socrates also hauing a capitall accusation laid against him wrongfully directed his speech to the Iudges and said vnto them that his accusers by their false depositions might wel cause him to die but hurt him they could not adding further that he woulde neuer leaue his profession of Philosophie for feare of death I â—m per swaded quoth he in Plato that this my opinion is very good namely that euery one ought to abide constantly in that place and trade of life which either he hath chosen himselfe or is appointed him by his superior that he must account that for the best and hazard himselfe therein to all dangers without feare either of death or of any other thing whatsoeuer And therfore I should erre greatly if obeying the Generall of warre which ye appointed vnto me in Potidaea Amphipolis and Delos and abiding in that place wherein he set me without feare of death I should now for feare of death or of any other thing forsake that rancke wherein God hath placed me and would haue me remaine in as I alwaies beleeued thought namely that I should liue a student in Philosophie correcting mine owne and other mens vices Now if I should do otherwise I might iustly be accused for calling my selfe a wise man not being so indeed seeing to feare death is to thinke that to be which is not But neither I nor any other man ought to do all that we may either in iudgement or in warre to the end to auoid death For it is very certaine that he who would in time of battell cast downe his armour and flie away might by that meane auoid death and the like is to be vnderstood in al dangers perils if he were not afraid of infamie But consider O countreymen that it is no very hard matter to auoid death but farre more difficult to eschew wickednes and the shame therof which are a great deale swifier of foote than that is O speech woorthie of eternal praise and such a one as instructeth a Christian notably in a great and noble resolution namely to run the race of his short daies in that vocation wherunto God hath called him and that in the midst of tortures torments all agonies of death From which whilest we expect a happie passage we ought to be no more destitute of an apt remedie in all those things which according to the world are most irkesome and desperate but sustaine them with like constancie and woorthines not departing from the tranquillitie and rest of our soules which is a more noble act than to hasten forward the end of our daies that we may be deliuered of them But howsoeuer it be let vs alwaies preferre a vertuous and honest death before any kind of life be it neuer so pleasant And seeing that one and the same passage is prepared aswell for the coward as the couragious it being decreed that all men must once die the louers of vertue shall do well to reape to themselues some honor of common necessity and to depart out of this life with such a comfort Now to come to the second commendable effect of this vertue of Magnanimity wherof Heroical men were so prodigall heeretofore for the benefit and safetie of their enemies we can bring no better testimonie than the courteous fact of Fabritius the Romane Consul towards Pyrrhus who warred against him and whose Physition wrote vnto him that he offered himselfe to murder his maister by poison and so to end their strife without danger But Fabritius sent the letter vnto him and signified withall that he had made a bad choice of friends aswell as of enemies bicause he made warre with vpright good men and trusted such as were disloiall and wicked whereof he thought good to let him vnderstand not so much to gratifie him as least the accident of his death should procure blame to the Romanes as if they had sought or consented to end the warre by meanes of treason not being able to obtaine their purpose by their vertue Camillus a Romane Dictator is no lesse to be commended for that which he did during the siege of the citie of the Fallerians For he that was Schoolemaister to
the meane time we will heere note that the deniall of Iustice hath procured to many their death or vndoing Phillip the first king of Macedonia was slaine by Pausanias a meane Gentle-man bicause he would not let him haue Iustice against Antipater who had offered him wrong Demetrius the besieger hauing receiued many requests and supplications of his subiects threw them all into the water as he went ouer the bridge of a riuer whereupon his subiects conceiued such hatred against him that within a while after his army forsooke him and yeelded themselues to Pyrrhus his enimie who draue him out of his kingdome without battell In our time Henrie king of Sweathland striking with a dagger a Gentle-man that asked Iustice of him stirred vp the Nobilitie and people in such sort against him that putting him into prison where he is at this present they elected his yoonger brother to be their king who nowe raigneth But for a more woonderfull matter we might heere rehearse how God to shew vnto vs his detestation of Iniustice hath sometimes suffered his iudgement to fal out in that very howre and time which such as were vniustly condemned did assigne to their vniust Iudges In the liues of the kings of Castile we finde that Ferdinando the fourth of that name putting two knights to death more through anger than iustly one of them cried aloud in this sort O vniust king we cite thee to appeere within thirtie daies before the tribunall seate of Iesus Christ to receiue iudgement for thy Iniustice seing there is no other Iudge in earth to whome we can appeale from thy vniust sentence Vpon the last of which daies he died likewise True it is some man may say that death is so naturall and the hower thereof so vncertaine although determined that no other cause thereof ought to be supposed but onely necessitie But yet when it followeth so neerely some notable wickednes committed and some disquietnes and torment of mind is mingled therewith in the soule as it commonly falleth out we may take such a death for a testimonie and beginning of the Iustice of God who will not suffer the vniust man to rule any longer but exerciseth his iudgements diuersly in due time and season vpon those that are not to giue an account of their doings to men like themselues And as for such as are of meaner estate and lower in degree God suffreth also many times their punishment to be notorious and that sometime by such as are not much better than themselues Heereupon Apollonius that great Philosopher said that in his peregrination ouer three parts of the world he maruelled most at two thinges whereof the first was that he alwaies sawe the greater theeues hang the lesse and oftentimes the innocent And thus it fell out in the time of king Phillip the long wherein a Prouost of Paris named Henrie Lapperell caused a poore man that was prisoner in the Chastelet to be executed by giuing him the name of a rich man who being guiltie and condemned was set at libertie by him But his reward followed him hard at the heeles being for the same accused conuicted hanged and strangled Not long after a President of the Parliament named Hugues of Crecy met with the same fortune for a certaine corrupt iudgement giuen by him Therefore let euery one of vs learne to flie from this pernitious vice of Iniustice namely from euery action repugnant to the dutie of christian charitie and destroying the bond of humane societie through the vtter spoiling of the riuers that flow from the fountaine of honestie And let vs be afraid through such impietie to fal into the indignation and wrath of the Almightie to whome onely as to the author of Iustice and to whome all time is as nothing it belongeth to define and to determine thereof when after what sort and how farre it standeth with reason all which things are vnknowne to vs. If he deferre sometime the punishment of Iniustice let vs know that it is for their greater and more greeuous condemnation who multiplie and heape vp daily vpon their heads iniquitie vpō iniquitie And for an example which great men ought to follow and not suffer Iniustice to be practised according to euery mans fancie or vnder any other pretence whatsoeuer we wil propound vnto them the fact of a Pagan king who shall rise vp in iudgement against them if they do otherwise The Prince I meane is Artaxerxes surnamed Longhand and king of the Persians who being requested by a Chamberlaine of his whome he greatly fauoured to do some vniust thing hauing by his diligence found out that he vndertooke this suit for another who had promised him thirty thousand Crownes called of them Dariques he commanded his Treasurer to bring the like summe vnto him and then said vnto his Chamberlaine Take this mony which I giue thee For in giuing it vnto thee I shall be neuer the poorer whereas if I had done that which thou requiredst of me I should haue beene more vniust Alexander Seuerus the Emperour handeled after another fashion yea more iustly a seruant of his who vsed like a horse-leech of the court to sucke their bloud that had to deale with his master by thrusting himselfe forward and profering his means to fulfill their request for a good reward by reason of the fauour which he bare him which turned to the great dishonor of his imperiall maiestie bicause a Prince ought not to make greater account of any thing than of the grace and fauor of his gifts and benefites This monarch caused him to be tied to a post and choked with smoke making this proclamation by sound of trumpet That they which sell smoke should so perish with smoke Now to enter into the last point of that matter which is here propounded vnto vs we must diligently note that as it is the dutie of all Magistrates and of such as haue authoritie ouer others to chastice to punish euery malefactor so likewise they must beware lest vnder pretēce of exercising Iustice they fall into another kind of Iniustice through ouer-much rigor which is as hurtfull or rather more than that vice whereof we discoursed euen now namely into Seueritie which causeth them to be misliked for crueltie and belongeth rather to a beastly and sauage nature than to the nature of man For clemencie and compassiō neuer ought to be separated from a good iust sentence which is to hold smal faults excused or but lightly to punish thē prouided alwayes that Iustice be not violated Clemencie saith the wise man is the true preseruation of the roial throne And therefore one of the ancients said that it was ill to be subiect to a prince vnder whom nothing was tolerated but worse when all things were left at randon We may alleage here for an example of ouer-great seueritie the fact of Manlius Torquatus a Consull of Rome who caused his
Paule we speake the truth euery one to his neighbour who is euery one that needeth our helpe and let all faining and dissimulation be banished from vs and all roundnes and integritie of hart and manners appeere in all our actions let vs hate periurie and treason periured and traiterous persons knowing that faith being taken away the whole foundation of Iustice is ouerthrowne al bonds of friendship broken and all humane societie confounded Of Ingratitude Chap. 40. AMANA AS the remembrance of an euil is kept a long time bicause that which offendeth is very hardly forgotten so we commonly see that the memorie of benefits receiued is as suddenly vanished lost as the fruite of the good turne is perceiued Which thing doth so ill beseeme a man well brought vp and instructed in vertue that there is no kind of Iniustice which he ought more to eschew And therefore my Companions I thinke that according to the order of our discourse we are nowe to speake of the vice of Ingratitude that knowing the ignominie therof and the pernitious effects which flowe from it we may beware of spotting our life therewithall ARAM. An vngratefull person can not be of a noble mind nor yet iust And therefore as Sophocles said a man is to remember him often of whome he hath receiued curtesie and pleasure For one good turne begetteth another and euery gentle hart easily pardoneth all iniuries except vnthankfulnes which it hardly forgetteth ACHITOB. Ingratitude maketh men impudent so that they dare ioine togither to hurt those that haue been their friends and them to whom they are bound both by blood and nature Let vs then heare ASER discourse more amply of this pernitious vice ASER. If man had not shewed himselfe vnthankfull for the vnspeakeable benefits which he had receiued of his Creator by eating of the fruite of the tree of life at the perswasion of Satan contrarie to his expresse commandement to whome he owed all obedience it is certaine that neither sinne nor death neither through them any kind of miserie and calamitie should haue had any power ouer him But as by his Ingratitude he neglected his obedience to his Lord and Creator so it seemeth also that his punishment was according to the manner of his offence For his owne members which before were in subiection to the will of his spirite rebelled against it and that with such force that they led him often captiue into the bondage of sinne Now although we are necessarily and iustly made inheritors of the same curse both of sinne death yet how become we so dull of vnderstanding as to desire with cheerefulnes of hart and without constraint to succeede him in the cause therof I meane Ingratitude which we ought to hate in greater measure and to slie from it more than from death it self by reason of the euils which it hath brought vpon vs Notwithstanding if we looke narrowly into the iustest mans life that is it will be a hard matter yea altogither vnpossible to find it purged and exempted of this detestable vice aswell towards God as towards his neighbours But this is farre woorse to behold the greatest part of men to nourish and feede their soules with Ingratitude as if they tooke singular delight therein by accustoming their mindes to keepe very diligently the memorie of the aduersities and iniuries which they suffer and to let the remembrance of those graces and benefits which they receiue slip away incontinently euen as soone as the pleasure of them is past Whereas dutie bindeth all persons to esteeme as a great benefit all fauour how little soeuer it be which the heauens or mer impart vnto them and to preserue it in perpetuall memorie as in a most safe Treasurie wherein they may keepe lay vp those good things which they receiue But contrariwise vnthankefull men suffer the remembrance of their greatest felicities to slide away suddenly which is the cause that they are alwaies void of happines of rest and tranquillitie and full of vnquietnes vncertaine desires which is an argument of the imperfection of their reason and of their ignorance of that which is good This is that which Seneca saith that the life of the ignorant is vnthankful wauering vnstaied in things present through the desire of things to come And as it is the propertie of an ignorant man to be alwaies troublesome to himselfe so from Ingratitude and the forgetfulnes of our prosperitie proceede cares melancholie passions to no purpose which consume men pull on age vpon them more than yeeres For it is vnthankfulnes that causeth vs to be neuer contented with our present estate but to complaine and murmure in steede of giuing praise as it becommeth vs to him that sendeth vs far better things than we deserue Vpon the least touch of affliction the Ingratitude for a million of graces receiued before causeth vs to cry out that we neuer had any thing but mishap whereas rather we ought to take aduersitie for a blessing and testimonie of the loue of God towards vs being assured that by Iustice rightly ordeined he dispenseth pouertie and riches health sicknes honor and contempt according as he seeth it expedient for euery one of vs. Yea it is necessarie by reason of the intemperancie of our flesh which is redie to cast off the yoke of the Lord when he handleth vs ouergently that he should reiue vs in hard with the bridle and keep vs within the compasse of some discipline least we wholy giue ouer that seruice obedience which we owe vnto him But to vexe our selues vpon euery occasion and as often as things fal out contrary to our inconstant rebellious will which for the most part is ignorant of that which belongeth vnto it is that which Pythagoras sayd To eat our hart or to offend wound our soule and spirit by consuming them with cares griefs as also not to know that one cause which most of all troubleth this miserable life is the suddain entrance of sorowes and irksomnes into the hart which afterward will not depart out of it but by litle and litle These are melancholy passions voyd of reason which as Plato saith proceed from naughty fumes and bitter vapors gathered togither within vs and which ascend and mingle themselues amidst the passages of the soule Euen as our strange and vnwoonted dreams testifie signifie that there is within vs repletion of grosse gluish humors perturbations of the vital spirits so are those euil vapors which darken our senses dim the eies of our soule namely ignorance rebellion arrogancie murmuring vnsatiable desires other inward corruptions which ingratitude stirreth vp and nourisheth and which hinder vs from acknowledging the benefits that God bestoweth vpon vs either towards him by thanksgiuing or towards his creatures by good deeds which he accepteth as done to himself For only God needeth nothing neither asketh any thing for
the Lord shal smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battel and perish The Lord keepe me from laying my hand vpon the Lords annointed This word is directed to vs all it ought to teach vs not to sift out the life of our soueraign prince but to content our selues with this knowledge that by the wil of God he is established set in an estate that is ful of an inuiolable maiestie Moreouer we read in Iosephus that the holiest men that euer were among the Hebrewes called Essaei that is to say true practisers of the lawe of God maintained this that soueraigne princes whatsoeuer they were ought to be inuiolable to their subiectes as they that were sacred and sent of God Neither is there any thing more vsuall in all the holy scriptures than the prohibition to kill or to seeke the life or honour not onely of the prince but also of inferiour magistrates although saith the scripture they be wicked And it is said in Exodus Thou shalt not raile vpon the iudges neither speake euill of the ruler of thy people Now if he that doth so is guiltie of treason both against the diuine and humane maiestie what punishment is sufficient for him that seeketh after their life According to mens lawes not onely that subiect is guiltie of high treason that hath killed his soueraigne prince but he also that attempted it that gaue counsell that consented to it that thought it Yea he that was neuer preuented nor taken in the maner in this point of the soueraigne the law accounteth him as condemned alreadie and iudgeth him culpable of death that thought once in times past to haue seazed vpon the life of his prince notwithstanding any repentance that folowed And truly there was a gentleman of Normandie who confessed to a Franciscan frier that he once minded to haue killed king Francis the first but repented him of that euill thought The frier gaue him absolution but yet afterward told the king thereof who sent the gentleman to the parliament of Paris there to be tried where he was by common consent condemned to die and after executed Amongst the Macedonians there was a law that condemned to death fiue of their next kinsfolks that were conuicted of conspiracie against their prince We see then the straight obligation wherby we are bound vnto our princes both by diuine and humane right Wherfore if it so fall out that we are cruelly vexed by a prince voyd of humanitie or els polled and burthened with exactions by one that is couetous or prodigall or despised and ill defended by a carelesse prince yea afflicted for true pietie by a sacrilegious and vnbeleeuing soueraigne or otherwise most vniustly and cruelly intreated first let vs call to mind our offences committed against God which vndoubtedly he correcteth by such scourges Secondly let vs thinke thus with our selues that it belongeth not to vs to remedie such euils being permitted onely to call vpon God for helpe in whose hands are the harts of kings and alterations of kingdoms It is God who as Dauid saith sitteth among the gods that shal iudge them at whose onely looke all those kings and iudges of the earth shall fall and be confounded who haue not kissed his sonne Iesus Christ but haue decreed vniust lawes to oppresse the poore in iudgement and to scatter the lawfull right of the weake that they may praie vpon the widowes and poll the orphans Thus let all people learne that it is their duetie aboue all things to beware of contemning or violating the authoritie of their superiours which ought to be full of maiestie vnto them seeing it is confirmed by God with so many sentences and testimonies yea although it be in the hands of most vnwoorthy persons who by their wickednes make it odious as much as in them lieth and contemptible Moreouer they must learne that they must obey their lawes and ordinances and take nothing in hand that is against the priuiledges and marks of soueraigntie Then shall we be most happy if we consecrate our soules to God only and dedicate our bodies liues and goods to the seruice of our prince The ende of the fourteenth daies worke THE FIFTEENTH DAIES WORKE Of a Monarchie or a Regall power Chap. 57. ASER. WHen we began yesterday to intreat of the sundry kinds of estates and gouernments that haue been in force amongst men and of the excellencie or deformitie of them we reserued to a further consideration the monarchie or kingly power vnder which we liue in France This forme of regiment by the common consent of the woorthiest philosophers and most excellent men hath been always taken for the best happiest and most assured common-wealth of all others as that wherein all the lawes of nature guide vs whether we looke to this little world which hath but one bodie and ouer al the members one only head of which the wil motion and sense depend or whether we take this great world which hath but one soueraigne God whether we cast vp our eyes to heauen we shall see but one sunne or looke but vpon these sociable creatures belowe we see that they cannot abide the rule of many amongst them But I leaue to you my Companions the discourse of this matter AMANA Among all creatures both with and without life we alwais find one that hath the preheminence aboue the rest of his kind Among al reasonable creatures Man among beasts the Lion is taken for chiefe among birds the Eagle among graine wheate among drinks wine among spices baulme among all mettals gold among al the elements the fire By which natural demonstrations we may iudge that the kingly and monarchicall gouernment draweth neerest to nature of all others ARAM. The principalitie of one alone is more conformable and more significant to represent the diuine ineffable principalitie of God who alone ruleth al things than the power of many ouer a politicall body Notwithstanding there hath been many notable men that haue iudged a monarchie not to be the best forme of gouernment that may be among men But it is your duetie ACHITOB to handle vs this matter ACHITOB. This controuersie hath always been very great among those that haue intreated of the formes of policies and gouernments of estates namely whether it be more agreeable to nature and more profitable for mankind to liue vnder the rule of one alone than of many neither side wanting arguments to prooue their opinion Now although it be but a vaine occupation for priuate men who haue no authoritie to ordain publike matters to dispute which is the best estate of policie and a greater point of rashnesse to determine therof simply seeing the chiefest thing consisteth in circumstances yet to content curious mindes and to make them more willing to beare that yoke vnto which both diuine humane nature and equitie hath subiected them I purpose here to waigh
their strongest reasons that haue misliked a monarchy to the end that by contrary concluding arguments which maintaine defend it both they and we may be so much the more stirred vp to range our selues willingly vnder the happy lawful rule of our king considering the agreement participation which it hath with al the good policies that can be named as also the happines certain benefit that commeth to vs as well in respect of this our priuate life as of the cōmon prosperitie of the whole publike body vnto which we owe our selues First we wil note that a monarchie a kingdome or royall power signifie one and the same thing namely one kind of Common-wealth wherein the absolute soueraigntie consisteth in one onely Prince who may not be commanded by any but may command all If there be two Princes of equall power in one estate neither the one nor the other is soueraigne But a man may well say that both togither haue the soueraignty of the Estate which is comprehended vnder this word Oligarchye and is properly called a Duarchy which may continue so long as those two Princes agree otherwise it must needes be that the one will ouerthrow the other Therefore to auoid discord the Emperours diuided the Estate into two parts the one taking himselfe for Emperour of the East the other of the West and yet the edicts and ordinances were published by the common consent of both Princes to serue both their empires But as soone as they fell in debate both the Empires were in deede diuided both for power for lawes and for estate He therefore may be called a Monarch that of himselfe alone hath power to prescribe lawes to all in generall and to euery one in particular And vnder this power are comprehended all the other rights and marks of soueraigntie which the Lawyers call regall rights and handle them seuerally which neuertheles we may comprehend vnder eight soueraigne marks namely to make and to abrogate a lawe to proclaime warre or to make peace to take knowledge in the last appeale of the iudgments of all Magistrates to appoint or to disappoint the greatest officers to charge or to discharge the subiects of taxes and subsidies to grant tollerations and dispensations against the rigour of lawes to inhaunce or to pull downe the title value and constant rate of monie to cause subiects and liege people to sweare that they will be faithfull without exception to him vnto whome the oath is due Now to enter into that matter which we purposed especially to handle namely whether a Monarchie be more profitable than any other forme of estate many haue maintained that it is a dangerous thing to liue vnder the rule of one onely king or prince bicause it is a very hard matter to find one perfect in all points as euery King or Prince must of necessity be if he will deserue that name according to that which Cyrus Monarch of the Persians sayd That it belonged to none to command if he were not better than all those ouer whome he commanded Moreouer although it were possible to finde one of that perfection which is required yet were it a thing alwaies to be greatly feared that by reason of humane frailtie and of the great licence that kings haue to execute their wils he would change both condition and nature and of a King become a Tyrant of which there are infinite examples set downe in histories Yea it is certaine and granted by the greatest part of them that haue written of state matters that euery kind of Common-wealth that is established simply and alone by it selfe quickly degenerateth into the next vice if it be not moderated and held backe by the rest As a kingdome is soone changed into a tyrannie an Aristocraty into an Oligarchy and so of the other But this danger is greater in a Monarchy as they say that mislike it than vnder the rule of many bicause it is vnlikely that all of them should be wicked and if any one be so the good men may bridle him And so they conclude that it is not so dangerous a matter to liue vnder the gouernment of many as of one who may more easily corrupt his nature being a Monarch than many can doe that are elected in an Aristocraty as the Areopagiticall Lordes in Athens the Ephoryes in Lacedemonia and the Senate in Rome After the death of Cambyses Monarch of the Persians when the chiefe Lords of the kingdome had slaine that Magus who vnder the name of Smerdis had vsurped the rule of the Estate they deliberated of the affaires and helde a generall Councell wherein as Herodotus writeth many very woorthie and memorable speeches were vttered Otanes mooued this that the affaires might be gouerned in common by the Persians speaking vnto them in this manner I am not of opinion that one of vs from hence forward should be sole Monarch ouer all bicause it is neither pleasant nor good to haue it so For ye know to what insolencie Cambyses was growne ye haue also throughly seene the boldnes of the Magus and ye may thinke with your selues how perilous a thing it is to haue a Monarchy which may do what it list not being subiect to correction The best man in the world placed in this estate will soone be caried away with his woonted thoughts Insolencie possesseth him bicause of present prosperitie and hatred is soone bred in such a man Now hauing these two vices he aboundeth in all iniquitie and committeth great iniustice one while through insolency another while of hatred Although a Tyrant hauing abundance of all good things should be farre from enuy yet the contrary falleth out in him towards his subiects For he hateth good men that liue and prosper well he delighteth in the wicked and gladly heareth euill reports of other men And which becommeth him very il if you admire and praise him moderately he is angry that you do it not excessiuely yet if you doe so he will mislike it thinking that you flatter him Besides which is woorst of all he changeth the lawes and customs of the countrie forceth women killeth good men not taking knowledge of their cause Thus did this Persian Lord conclude that a Monarchy was to be left a Democraty to be chosen Megabyses one of his companions liked well the abolishing of a Monarchy but perswaded the Oligarchical gouernmēt saying that nothing was more ignorant or more insolent than an vnprofitable multitude Therefore it was in no wise tollerable that eschewing the insolencie of a Tyrant they should fall into the handes of an vnbrideled and disordered people Many others haue noted great dangers and discommodities in a Monarchy especially in the change of the Monarch whether it be from ill to good or from good to better For we commonly see at the changing of Princes new deuices newe lawes newe officers newe friends newe forme of
passe to the detriment of the realm notwithstanding any letters of commandement whatsoeuer Among other things the king may not alienate his crowne reuenues without some cause knowen to the sayd officers of accounts and to the parliaments And which is more publike treaties with neighbour states edicts and decrees haue no authoritie before they are published in the high courts By which moderation his power is not lessened but made surer more durable and lesse burthensome to his subiects being wholy separated from tiranny which is hated of God and men as we may haue further knowledge by discoursing thereof particularly So that ouer and besides those fiue kindes of monarchies mentioned of vs tiranny may be put for the sixt which we may call that wherein the monarch treading vnder foote the lawes of nature abuseth the libertie of free subiects as if they were slaues and other mens goods as his owne Among the auncients the name of tyrant was honourable and signified nothing else being a Greeke worde but a prince that had gotten the gouernment of the estate with out the consent of his subiects and of a companion had made himselfe a master whether he were a wise and iust prince or cruel and vniust And in deed most of them became wicked to make sure their estate life goods knowing that they were fallen into many mens hatred bicause they had inuaded the soueraigntie In this respect therfore was this dominion rule called tyrannical bicause it gouerned in lord-like maner without right ouer free men compelled and forced to obey But generally we may call that a tirannie when the prince accounteth all his will as a iust law and hath no care either of pietie iustice or faith but doth all things for his owne priuate profite reuenge or pleasure And as a good king conformeth himselfe to the lawes of God and nature so a tyrant treadeth them vnder foote the one striueth to enriche his subiects the other to destroy them the one taketh reuenge of publike iniuries and pardoneth his owne the other cruelly reuengeth iniuries done to himselfe and forgiueth those that are offered to others the one spareth the honour of chaste women the other triumpheth in their shame the one taketh pleasure to be freely admonished and wisely reprooued when he hath done amisse the other misliketh nothing so much as a graue free and vertuous man the one maketh great account of the loue of his people the other of their feare the one is neuer in feare but for his subiects the other standeth in awe of none more than of them the one burtheneth his as little as may be and then vpon publike necessitie the other suppeth vp their bloud gnaweth their bones and sucketh the marrow of his subiectes to satisfie his desires the one giueth estates and offices to meete with briberie and oppression of the people the other selleth them as deare as may bee and careth not for the oppression of his subiectes the one in time of warre hath no recourse but to his subiects the other warreth against none but them the one hath no garde or garrison but of his owne people the other none but of straungers the one reioyceth in assured rest the other languisheth in perpetuall feare the one is honoured in his life tyme and longed for after his death the other is defamed in his lyfe and rent in pieces after his death Examples hereof are in euery mans sight And therefore Diogenes the Sinopian meeting one day in the citie of Corinth with Dionysius the younger tyraunt of Syracusa who was then brought into the estate of a priuate man banished from his countrey and fallen from his dignitie spake thus vnto him Truely Dionysius thou art nowe in an estate vnwoorthie of thee The tyraunt standing still withall made him this answere I like thee well Diogenes bicause thou hast compassion of my miserable fortune What replied the Philosopher doest thou thinke that I pitie thee I am rather grieued to see such a slaue as thou who deseruest to growe olde and to die in that cursed estate of a tyraunt as thy father did to take thy pleasure in suche safetie and to passe away thy tyme freely amongst vs without feare And to say truth tirannie is suche a miserable condition that euen they that practise it and glorie therein are constrained manie tymes to confesse with their owne mouth that no kinde of life is so wretched as theirs This selfe tyrant Dionysius when hee was in the greatest glorye of his estate declared as much to Democles one of his familiar friendes who had sayd that he was most happie Wilt thou quoth Dionysius to him enjoy my felicitie but for one day onely Whereunto when Democles agreed hee caused him to be serued at the table as himselfe was woont to be with all the magnificence that could be deuised hanging in the meane while a sworde right ouer his head which was tied to the roofe aloft onely by one haire of a horse taile When Democles perceiued that he was well contented to make a short dinner and to passe away the rest of the day in his former estate Loe quoth the tyraunt then vnto him how happie our life is which with all our armed garde hangeth but by a little threed Moreouer the raigne of tyraunts beyng without measure and reason and guided onely by violence cannot be of any long continuaunce This is that which Thales the wise man sayde that there was nothing so straunge or rare as an olde tyrant And albeit they liue miserablie in perpetuall distrust of euery one yea of their neerest kindred yet their ende is more wretched For there were fewe of them that died not a cruell and extraordinarie death most of them being slayne and murdered and others persecuted with straunge griefes died like mad and desperate men through the remembraunce of their corrupt life and of the cruelties which they had committed In auncient time tyrannie was so detestable that euen scholers and women sought to winne the reward of honour by killing tyraunts as Aristotle the Logitian did who slew a tyraunt of Sycionia and as Thebe who killed hir husband Alexander tyrannt of the Phereans Thirtie tyraunts were slayne in one day in the Citie of Athens by Theramenes Thrasibulus and Archippus who had but three-score and tenne men to execute that enterprise Leander tyraunt of Cyrena was taken aliue and being sewed into a leather bagge was cast into the sea Aristodemus tyraunt of Cumes tooke Xenocrita by force beyng a wealthie citizens daughter whome he had banished and keeping hir with him as his wife shee stirred vp Thymoteles and others to recouer the libertie of their countrey who beyng safelie let into the tyrants chamber by hir slew Aristodemus Besids the auncientes had appoynted great rewardes and recompences for the murderers of tyrauntes namelie titles of Nobilitie of Prowesse of Chiualrie images and honourable titles to bee shorte the goodes
Prince whereby it seemeth he thought that there was lesse to do in well ordering ruling and preseruing a great Empire once entirely gotten than in conquering the same And surely to speake truth there is nothing more difficult than to raigne well Moreouer it is better for a Prince to gouerne prudently and to rule according to his estate than to inuade possesse another mans countrie namely if he consider that God being so gratious vnto him as to bring innumerable persons vnder his obedience hath chiefly established him to keepe them in the knowledge and obseruation of true religion to rule them by good lawes to defend them by armes and in all things to be so carefull of their good that they may esteeme of him as of their father and sheepeheard Now seeing we haue summarily intreated of the education and institution of a prince vnder the charge of a teacher and gouernour let vs in this place my Companions consider of his office and dutie when he raigneth with full authoritie ouer his subsubiects ARAM. Forasmuch as integritie of religion and the good will of the people are two principall pillers vpon which the safetie of euery Estate standeth the king ought to procure the first being therefore appointed by God ouer so many millions of men and the second without doubt dependeth of the former which is the onely difference betweene a king and a tyrant who ruleth by constraint ACHITOB. In a king is seene the ordinance of God who is the author and preseruer of policies and of good order Therefore his feare and reason must neuer depart out of his mind to the end that seruing God he may profite all those that liue vnder his dominion But from thee ASER we looke for the discourse of this matter ASER. The seuen Sages of Grecia being inuited to a feast by Periander prince of Corinth were requested by him to enter into the discourse of the estate of great men Solon speaking first said That a soueraigne king or prince cannot any way procure greater glorie to himselfe than by making a popular Estate of his Monarchy that is to say by communicating his soueraigne authoritie with his subiects Bias speaking next said By submitting himselfe first of all to the lawes of his countrie Thalcs I account that Lord happie that attaineth to old age and dieth a naturall death Anacharsis If he be the onely wise man Cleobulus If he trust none of those that are about him Pittacus If he be able to preuatle so much that his subiects feare not him but for him Chilon A Prince must not set his mind vpon any transitorie or mortall thing but vpon that which is eternall and immortall Periander concluding vpon these opinions said that all these sentences seemed to him to disswade a man of good iudgement from desiring at any time to command ouer others The Emperour Traian writing to the Senate of Rome among other things vsed these very words I freely confesse vnto you that since I began to taste of the trauels and cares which this Imperiall Estate bringeth with it I haue repented me a thousand times that I tooke it vpon me For if there be great honor in hauing an Empire there is also very great paine and trauell in gouerning the same But ouer and besides to what enuie is he exposed and to how many mislikings is he subiect that hath others to gouerne If he be iust he is called cruell if pitifull he is despised if liberall he is thought to be prodigall if he laie vp monie he is taken for couetous if he be addicted to peace he is supposed to be a coward if he be courageous he is iudged ambitious if graue they will call him proud if affable and courteous he is termed simple if solitarie an hypocrite and if he be merrie they will say he is dissolute After many other speeches this good Emperour concluded that although he willingly accepted of his estate at the first yet he was very sorowful afterward that he had so great a charge bicause the sea and the Empire were two pleasant things to looke vpon but perilous to tast Diuine Plato wrote also that none was fit to gouerne an Empire and to be a Prince but he that commeth vnto it through constraint and against his will For whosoeuer desireth the charge of a Prince it must needes be that he is either a foole not knowing how dangerous and full of care the charge of a King is or if he be a wicked man that he mindeth nothing but how he may raigne to satisfie his pleasure and priuate profite to the great hurt of the Common-wealth or else if he be ignorant that he considereth not how heauie the burthen is which he taketh vpon him Therefore a wise Prince will not thinke himselfe the happier bicause he succeedeth in a greater Empire and kingdome but remember rather that he laieth so much the more care and paine vpon his shoulders and that he beginneth then to haue lesse leasure lesse rest and happines in passing away his time In other persons a fault is pardoned in youth and growing old they are suffered to take their ease But he that is Head of a Common-wealth bicause he is to trauell for all must be neyther yoong nor old For he can-not commit a fault how small soeuer it be without the hurt of many men nor yet rest from his dutie but it will turne to the miserie of his subiects This caused the Philosophers to say that a Prince ought not to dedicate the Common-wealth to himselfe but to addict himself to the Common-wealth and for the profit thereof alwaies to be diligent vertuous and wise so to gouerne his Empire that he may be able easily to giue a reason of his charge And bicause no man asketh an account of him in this life he ought to be so much the more stirred vp to demand a straighter reckoning of himselfe being assured that the time wil come and that speedily wherein he must yeeld it vp before him with whome there is no respect of Princes except in this that they shal haue the Iudge more rigorous against them that haue abused greater power and authority To begin therfore to handle the duty and office of a Prince first he must haue the lawe of God continually before his eies he must engraue it in his soule and meditate vpon the wordes and ordinances thereof all the dayes of his life desiring of God to graunt him the spirite of vnderstanding to conceiue them well and according to that diuine rule to direct all his intents and actions to the glorie of that great eternall and Almightye Kinge of Kinges aswell for the saluation of his owne soule which he ought to preferre before the rule of the whole worlde as for the good of those that are committed to his charge to gouerne teach and iudge them For it is moste certaine that of the knowledge of the truth in
otherwise thou shalt not be accounted a king but a tyrant c. I leaue the rest of the clauses in his Testament Moreouer liberalitie wel vsed as we haue els-where handled the same is a very comely ornament for a Prince Socrates said that it was the dutie of a good king to be beneficiall to his friends and of his enemies to make good friends to which purpose nothing will helpe him more than liberalitie Neither must he be only liberal but magnifical also and sumptuous prouided alwaies that of magnifical he become not prodigal which would soone make him an exactor and in the end a tyrant But a soueraigne Prince must especially haue an eie to this that the rewards of vertue due to woorthy men be preferred before all his gifts and good turnes and that he recompence such as haue deserued any thing before he giue to them that haue deserued nothing For an vngratefull Prince will hardly retaine an honourable and vertuous man any long time in his seruice Neither is the estimation of a reward and of a good-turne all one bicause a reward is giuen for desert and a benefite by grace Besides a Prince must be alwaies true and as good as his promise that men may giue greater credite to his bare word than to another mans oath For it ought to bee as an Oracle which looseth his dignitie when men haue conceiued such an euill opinion of him that he may not be beleeued vnles he sweare And if he pawne his faith at any time he must account it sacred and inuiolable bicause faith is the foundation and staie of iustice vpon which the estate of great men is grounded as we discoursed else-where That saying of Theopompus King of Sparta is also to be well noted by the Prince When a friende of his asked him how a king might keepe his kingdome in safetie he answered By granting libertie to his friends freely to tell him the truth He must take their aduice in doubfull matters that he may gouern his estate more assuredly waighing and iudging of their opinions with great prudence Neither must he thinke them his best seruants that praise all his sayings and dooings but those that with modestie reprooue his faults he must discerne wisely betweene them that cunningly flatter him and those that loue and serue him faithfully that wicked men may not be in greater credite with him than good men For this cause also he must carefully enquire after his houshold seruants and familiar friends that he may knowe them well bicause all other men will take him to be such a one as they are with whome he conuerseth ordinarily Osiris King of Egypt had for his Armes a Scepter with an eye in the toppe of it noting thereby the wisedome that ought to be in a king namely that it belongeth not to one that wandereth out of his way to direct others that seeth not to guide that knoweth nothing to teach and that will not obeye reason to command Likewise in all his actions he must vse reason as a heauenlie guide hauing chased away the perturbations of his soule and esteeme it a greater and more royall matter to command himselfe than others He must thinke that it is the true and proper office of a king not to submit him-selfe to his pleasures but to containe his owne affections rather than his subiects Further he must vse to take pleasure in those exercises which may procure him honour and cause him to appeere better to the worlde He must not seeke for reputation in vile things which men of base estate and naughtie behauior commonly practise but follow after vertue onely wherein wicked persons haue no part Let him remember alwaies that he is a King and therefore that he must striue to doe nothing vnwoorthie so high a dignitie but continue his memorie by valiant and noble acts This is that wherein one of the wise Interpreters knew wel how to instruct K. Ptolemy who demanded of him how he might behaue himselfe that neither idlenes nor pleasures might distract him It is said he in thine owne power as long as thou commandest ouer a great kingdome and hast so many great affaires to manage continually which will not suffer thee to distract thy mind vpon other matters If priuate men borne to vertue are willing many times to die that they may purchase honour much more ought kinges to doe those thinges which will procure them honour feare and estimation euery where during their life also through their brightnes shine a great while after their death Moreouer a prince must be warlike and skilfull in warfare prouiding carefully all things necessarie for warre and yet he must loue peace and vsurpe nothing that belongeth to another man contrary to right nor enter into warre but to repell violence in extreame necessitie Aboue all things he must feare ciuill dissentions as most pernitious to his Estate and take aduice prudently concerning the meanes wherby all occasions of their entrance may be taken from his people Heerein learning will helpe him well and the knowledge of histories which set before his eies the aduentures that haue befallen both small and great and cal to his remembrance the times past whereby he may better prouide for the time to come Vnto which if he adde the counsell of wise men as we haue already touched he shall knowe more perfectly whatsoeuer concerneth the good of his estate But aboue all he must knowe howe to make choice of men and not thinke them wise that dispute curiously of small things but those that speake very aptly of great matters Neither let him account those men best and worthiest of credite that haue gotten most authoritie but trie and indge them by their profitable works namely if he see that they giue him wise and free counsell according as occasions concurre and affaires require and then let him alwaies with speed execute those things which by their counsell he findeth good and necessary For the conclusion therefore of our present discourse we will comprehend the office and dutie of a good Prince in fewe words namely if he serue God in sinceritie and puritie of hart if he inquire diligently after the truth of his word and cause his subiects to liue thereafter if he prouide for their profit redresse their miseries and ease them of oppression exaction and polling If he be pliable to heare the requests complaints of the lest indifferent and moderate in answering them ready to distribute right to euery one by propounding reward for vertue and punishment for vice If he be prudent in his enterprises bold in his exploits modest in prosperitie cōstant in aduersitie stedfast in word wise in counsail briefly if he gouerne in such sort and raigne so well that all his subiects may haue what to imitate and straungers to commend The ende of the fifteenth daies worke THE SIXTEENTH DAIES WORKE Of a Councell and
children of Fraunce or to prouide for the gouernement of the kingdome or for other matters The kinges sate amongst them and were Presidentes except at one assemblie wherein was debated the noblest cause that euer was namelie to whome the kingdome of Fraunce belonged after the death of Charles the faire whether to his cosin Phillip de Valois or to Edward king of England his brother in lawe King Phillip was not President not beyng at that time king and besides a partie No doubt but the people receiue great benefit by this assemblie of estates For this good commeth vnto them that they may drawe neere to the kings person to make their complaints vnto him to present him their requests and to obtaine remedie and necessary prouision for redresse Whereby we may easily iudge that many who haue written of the duetie of magistrates and such like treatises are greatly deceiued in maintaining this That the estates of the people are aboue the prince which laieth open a gappe to the rebellions of subiects against their soueraign so that this opinion can haue no reason or good ground to leane vpon For if this were true the commō-wealth would not be a kingdom or monarchy but a pure Aristocratie as we haue declared heretofore Yea what shew of reason is there to maintaine this error seeing euery one in particular al in general bowe their knees before the king vse humbly requests supplications which his maiestie receiueth or reiecteth as it seemeth best vnto him But in this case we except a king that is captiue beside himself or in his infancie For that which is thē decreed by the estates is authorized as from the soueraign power of the prince Moreouer we may see what great good commeth to the king by the assemblie of his estates in the first speech which master Michael de l' Hospital Chauncellor of France made at the last assemblie of estates at Orleans Where he confuteth at large their opinion that say that the king after a sort diminisheth his power by taking aduise and counsell of his subiects seeing he is not bound so to doe as also that he maketh himselfe too familiar with them which breedeth contempt and abaseth his roiall dignitie But we may aunswere them as Theopompus king of Sparta did his wife who obiected this vnto him by way of reproch that by bringing in the Ephories and minglyng their gouernement with his he would leaue his authoritie and power lesse to his children than hee receiued it from his predecessours Nay said this Prince vnto hir I will leaue it greater bicause it shall be more assured The Emperour Aurelius sayd as much to his mother bicause hee freely heard euery one Besides as we see that in any great perill of sea or fire kindled to the daunger of publike profite no mans seruice or succour is reiected how base soeuer his calling is so it cannot but be profitable for the Estate when it is threatned with ruine and the affaires therof are of greatest importance to receiue the counsell of all that haue interest therein laying the opinions in the balance rather than the persons from whom they come And hereby the soueraigne maiestie and prudence of a Prince is knowen when he hath both power and skill to waigh and to iudge of their aduice that giue him counsel and to conclude with the soundest not the greatest side But to go forward with that which remaineth let so many as haue this honour to be ordinarie counsellors to Princes remember the saying of Solon the wise That they are not called thither to please and to speake to their liking but to vtter the truth and to giue them good counsell for common safetie that they must bring with them for an assured and certaine foundation of their conference about state-affaires a good intent mooued with reason and iudgement to profite him not with passions or desires of vain-glory of couetousnesse of emulation of any other imperfection that leadeth them to their priuate profite that they must at the entrie of the councell chamber vnclothe themselues of fauour towardes some of hatred towardes others and of ambition in themselues and aime at no other marke than at the honour of God and safetie of the Common-wealth To this ende they must necessarilie be furnished with wisedome iustice and loyaltie As for skill and knowledge although it be requisite in counsellors of estate namely the knowledge of the lawes of histories and of the estate of Common-wealths yet sound iudgement integritie and prudence are much more necessarie Aboue all things they must hold nothing of other Princes and Seignories that may binde them to their seruice And yet now a dayes to receiue a pension of them is so common a matter but very pernitious in any estate that it is growen to a custome Agesilaus would not so much as receiue a letter which the king of Persia wrote vnto him but sayd to his messenger that if the king were friend to the Lacedemonians he need not write particularly to him bicause he would also remaine his friend but if he were their enimie neyther letter nor any thing else should make him for his part otherwise affected To bee short let counsellors of estate learne of Plutarch that it is necessarie for them to be free from all passions and affections bicause in giuing of counsell the mind hath most force towards that wherunto the will is most enclined As for feare danger or threatnings they must neuer stay them from doyng their duetie but let them constantly propound and maintaine that which they iudge to be good and profitable for the Common-wealth We read that the Thasiens making warre with great vehemencie against the Athenians published a decree that whosoeuer counselled or spake at any time of concluding a peace between them should die the death Within a while after one of the citizens considering what great hurt his countrey receiued by that warre came one day into the assembly of the people with a halter about his necke and cried with a loud voyce that he was come thither to deliuer the Common-wealth by his death that they should put him to death when they would and that for his part he gaue them counsell to abrogate that law and to make peace which was done and he pardoned Considius a Romane Senatour would neuer be from the Senate no not when Caesar ruled all by violence and did what pleased him and when none of the other Senatours came any more through feare of his force And when Caesar asked him how he durst be there alone to stand against him bicause quoth he my age taketh all feare from me For hauing from hence forward such a short time to liue in I am not greatly carefull to saue my life If kings did correct all those that giue them ill counsell as Solyman did one of his Bassaes who was his kinsman they would not so readily
the guiding of them be giuen to good vertuous and expert Captaines ledde onely with a desire to doe their dutie to their King and Countrie this kingdome will be feared of strangers and without feare it selfe of their assaults and enterprises Especially if in the Prince his absence the soueraigne authoritie of commanding absolutely in the armie be committed into the hands of a Captaine woorthy his charge as we haue discoursed who is able to win the harts of men and to prouoke them to their dutie by liuely and learned reasons as namely That all men must die and therefore that it were too great follie in a man to refuse to die for publike profit which bringeth vnto vs immortall glorie seeing he must once of necessitie yeeld vp his life that a glorious death is alwaies to be preferred before a shamefull life stained with reproch briefly if he can ground his exhortations vpon the occasion of taking armes of time place estate and condition of the enimies and of the good that will come to them if they obtaine the victorie But in all these things the iustice and equitie of the cause of war is that which most of all maketh good men courageous who otherwise neuer ought to fight We may read a million of goodly Orations made in time of warre set forth in one volume with which euery wise and prudent Captaine may helpe himselfe according as occasion is offred Now if that ancient order discipline of which we haue hitherto discoursed and which may be learned more at large in their excellent writings were renued imitated by our armies as the late vse and practise of Armes exercised at this day is apt and fit for the same being more terrible than that of the Ancients who had no gun-powder no doubt but great obedience of souldiors towards their Captaines would arise of it whereas now a daies in steede of commanding they haue nothing left but an humble request to be vsed towards their souldiours who neuertheles turne it into contempt and want of courage But if true obedience were ioined with good order the hope of prosperous successe in our enterprises would be farre greater Nowe when our affaires succeede happily so that wee haue our enimies at aduantage or haue gotten some victorie wee must beware least insolencie blind vs in such sort that trusting to our good happe we goe beyond our bounds and loose the occasion of a certaine and sure benefite through hope of some greater good as yet vncertaine Hannibal after the discomfiture of the Romanes at Cannas sent men to Carthage to carie newes of his victorie and withall to demand a newe supplie Whereupon the Senate was long in deliberating what was to be doone Hannon a prudent old man was of opinion that they were to vse the victorie wisely and to make peace with the Romanes which they might obtain of them with honest conditions and not to expect the hazard of another battell He said that the Carthaginians ought to bee satisfied with this declaration alreadie made to the Romanes that they were such men as could stand against them and therfore seeing they had woonne one victorie of them they should not venture the losse of it in hope of a greater This prudent counsell was not followed although afterwarde the Senate did acknowledge it for the best when that occasion was lost Alexander the Great had already conquered all the East when the Common-wealth of Tyrus being great and mightie bicause the Citie was situated in the water as Venice is and astonished at the greatnes fame of that Monarches power sent their Embassadors vnto him to offer what obedience subiection he would require vpon condition that neither he nor his men would enter into the Citie Alexander disdaining that one citie would shut their gates against him to whō the whole world was open sent them backe again without accepting their offer went thither to pitch his Campe against it After he had continued the siege 4. moneths he thought with himself that one onely Towne would shorten his glorie more than all his other conquests had done before wherupon he purposed to try an agreement by offering that vnto them which thēselues had required before But then the Tyrians were waxen so lustie and bold that they did not only refuse his proffers but also executed as many as came to conclude with them Whereupon Alexander being mooued with indignation caused an assault to be made with such heate and violence that he tooke and sacked the towne put some of the Inhabitants to the edge of the swoord and made the residue seruants and slaues Agreement and composition is alwaies to be preferred before continuance of warre And howsoeuer a man may seeme to be assured and as it were certaine of the victorie yet ought he to doubt the vncertaintie of humane things That courageous and valiant Hannibal being called out of Italy by his Countriemen to succour them against the Romaines by whome they were besieged when his armie was yet whole demanded peace of them before he would enter into battel bicause he saw that if he lost it he brought his Countrie into bondage What then ought another to do that hath lesse vertue and experience than he But men fall into the error of vnmeasurable hope vpon which staying them selues without further consideration they are ouerthrowne Sometimes when we contemne our enimie too much and bring him into a desperat estate we make him more venturous to vndertake and violent to execute any dangerous matter Despaire said Tubero is the last but the strongest assault and a most inuincible tower For this cause the ancient Romane Captaines were very diligent and carefull to lay all kind of necessitie to fight vpon their men and to take it from their enimies by opening vnto them passages to escape which they might haue shut vp against them K. Iohn bicause he would not make peace with the English host which desired to escape onely with life was taken and caried prisoner into England and his armie consisting of fortie or fiftie thousand men was discomfited by ten thousand Englishmen some say more some lesse Gaston de Foix hauing woonne the battell at Rauenna and following after a squadron of Spaniards that fled lost his life and made all that a praie vnto the enimie which he had conquered before in Italy Ancient histories are full of such examples and namely of small armies that ouercame those that were great and mightie Darius against Alexander Pompey against Casar Hannibal against Scipio Marcus Antonius against Augustus Mithridates against Sylla had greater forces without comparison than their enimies Therefore good Traian said that to accept of warre to gather a great number of men to put them in order to giue battell appertaineth to men but to giue victorie was the worke of God onely so that great armies preuaile but litle against the wrath of the Highest If
we consider that this tabernacle of our body which is weake vicious corruptible casuall and inclining to putrefaction is dissolued and as it were pulled downe by death that it may afterward be restored to a perfect firme incorruptible and heauenly glory shal not this certain assurance compel vs to desire earnestly that which nature flieth and abhorreth If we consider that by death we are called home from a miserable exile to dwel in our countrey yea in our celestial coūtrey shall we not conceiue singular consolation thereby But some man may say that al things desire to continue in their being For the same cause I say we ought to aspire to the immortalitie to come where we haue a setled estate which is not seene at all vpon earth How commeth it to passe that the bruite beasts and sencelesse creatures euen wood and stones hauing as it were some feeling of their vanitie corruption are in expectation of the iudgement day that they may be deliuered from their corruption and yet we that haue some light of nature boast that we are illuminated by the spirit of God lift not vp our eies aboue this earthly putrefaction when we talk of our beeing But what shal we say of those men whose number alas is very great who quenching all natural light opposing themselues directly against the testimonies of truth which presse their consciences sound daily in their eares dare yet doubt of yea impudently deny this day of iudgement and the change of this mortall life into a second which is immortal If the word of god so expresly set down for our assurance be of so litle credit that it wil not satissie them yet how is it that they are not conuinced by the writings of so many Ethnike and heathen Philosophers who make the immortalitie of the soule out of doubt by the consideration of the being of this life conclude a iudgemēt to come which bringeth perpetuall happines and felicitie to the soules of the blessed euerlasting miserie paine to them that are vnhappy Plato vnder the name of Socrates may serue for a fit teacher for such Epicures and Atheists that wil not heare the heauenly word of the almighty Frō whence commeth it saith he that we see so many wicked mē passe the course of their days in worldly happines and fclicitie and die in great rest quietnes whereas on the other side so many good men liue die in great afflictions most hard calamities The reason is bicause God doth not punish and chastise all the wicked vpon the earth to the end men may know that there is a iudgement to come wherin the vngodlines of such men shal be corrected Neither doth he recompence all good men with blessings in this world to the ende they may hope that there is a place in the other life where the vertuous shal be rewarded Likewise he doth not punish all the wicked nor reward al good men here beneath least men should thinke that the vertuous folowed vertue in hope of a carnal earthly reward or eschewed vice for feare of punishmēts torments in this world For so vertue should be no more vertue seing there is no action that may cary the surname of vertuous if the intent of him that doth it be in hope of some earthly carnal recompence not for the loue of vertue it self that he may be accepted of God and so conceiue hope of eternal rewards in the other life Also he punisheth and correcteth some wicked men vpon earth rewardeth some good men least if good men only were afflicted the wicked suffred in quiet men might be brought to beleeue that there were no prouidence that the diuine nature had no care of vs so all men would giue ouer themselues to folow iniustice By the sequele of this speech Plato inferreth proueth that there is one God that hath care ouer his cretures that naturally euery spirit loueth him better that striueth to resemble him in manners fashiōs of liuing that reuerēceth honoreth him thā those that feare him not but despise him whose conditions are altogither vnlike his Moreouer he prooueth euidētly that good men in feare reuerence of the Deitie striue to imitate it by good works done to the benefit and safetie of others and contrarywise that the wicked despise God and all lawes both diuine and humane whereupon it followeth that God loueth good men and hateth the wicked And bicause we see that good mē are subiect to calamity ignominy in this world we must therfore vndoubtedly confesse that there is another life after this wherein good men are eternally rewarded the wicked punished Otherwise it would folow that God cared more for the wicked than for the good which were too absurd to graunt From hence that diuine Philosopher draweth this conclusion that the life of a wise man ought to be a perpetual meditation of death and that the very feare to die not any desire to liue is that which maketh death fearefull to them that know not the immortalitie of the soule Now then ought not these men to blush for shame that dare doubt of the second life and future iudgement when they heare this discourse of an Ethnike and Pagan destitute of that true light of God and sincere religion which is manifested to vs in Iesus Christ Truly nothing is more cleere in all the holy scripture than that as before the first day mētioned in Genesis all things were possessed of Eternitie so that there was neither time nor yeere nor moneth nor season but all things were in that Eternitie so when the last day shal come all shall be eternall for the felicitie of the good torment of the wicked But to returne to our speech of death the worde of God giueth vs to vnderstand of three kinds of death the one is the separation of the soule from the body with the dissolution of the body vntill the resurrection and of this is our present discourse The second is the death of sinne as it is said oftentimes that they are dead that nourish themselues in sinne The third is called in the Apocalyps the second death and sometimes eternal death vnto which the wicked shal be condemned in the last iudgemēt Therfore to cōtinue our speech of corporal temporal death if the doctrine of the sonne of God be neuer so little apprehended of vs by faith we shall see cleerely enough that the faithful ought to haue that in great request which to humane sense seemeth neither happie nor to be desired seeing it turneth to their saluation It belongeth to him that will not goe vnto Iesus Christ to feare death and to be vnwilling to goe to Christ is a badge of such a one as wil not raign with him What traueller hauing passed many dangerous wayes reioyceth not when he draweth neer to his countrey
learned True philosophy is to be found in the word of God How much we owe to good authors The chiefe foundation of al philosophie Necessarie points for a philosopher We must learne alwaies Against presumption and selfe liking A fit comparison Antisthenes an example of great loue to knowledge Plato How we may know whether we profit in philosophie A good way to ouercome great faults When we may be called Philosophers The perfection of Philosophie The contempt of worldly goods necessary in a Philosopher Crates Notable examples of loue to Philosophie Anaxagoras Democritus Euclide Philosophie only teacheth vs to know our chiefe good The true cause of ioy and tranquillitie in a Christian soule What this word Philosopher meaneth There were three chiefe sects of philosophers Who are happie and who vnhappie Worldlie goods are of no force Two sorts of goods Vertue is the effect of regeneration The definition of vertue Socrates called religion the greatest vertue The dutie of prudence The foundation and spring of all vertue Wherein humane happines consisteth The gifts and graces of God are diuers in men The excellencie and propertie of vertue Euerie thing is made profitable through vertue Vertue compared to a palme tree The reward of vertue in the life to come is of the free mercie of God Comparison of worldly goods with vertue Nothing hath power ouer vertue Vertue cannot be valued Why Plato in his works bringeth in Socrates speaking Wherein the happines and greatnes of a king consisteth What it was that procured to Alexander the surname of Great Examples of the force and effects of vertue in aduersitie Pelopidas Philocles A most constant death Anaxarchus A woonderfull magnanimitie A wise man dieth willingly The feare of death doth not astonish the vertuous Callicratides Themistocles loue to his countrie Age hath no power ouer vertue Agesilaus Vertue causeth kingdoms to florish Vertue is the onely honest profitable and pleasant good Anacharsis forsooke a kingdome that he might the better obtaine vertue Three things necessarie for the obtaining of vertue The knowledge of goodnes must go before the loue of it Vice is the onely euil of the soule What we ought to call euill Vertue is the health and vice the sicknes of the soule Vice is like a dropsie When we begin to hate vice The definition of vice The effects of vice Vice is of an endles stocke Although we are to hate vice with a perfect hatred yet we must not kill our selues to be 〈◊〉 of it The vicious man onely is a captiue Nothing more hurtfull than vice Vice ioined with authoritie is more hurtfull A good lesson for great men The propertie of the wicked The alteration of kingdoms commeth of vice Offences are neuer without paine How a man may haue continuall quietnes The force of conscience in the wicked Leuit. 26. 36. Esay 66. 24. Examples of tormented consciences in the wicked A wise man is ashamed to attend before himselfe Why God deferreth his vengeance vpon the wicked Custome in sinning is dangerous How we should fortifie our selues against vice The humanitie of Pythagoras euen towards brute beasts An excellent comparison teaching vs not to suffer any vnlawfull thing We must neuer harken to the heralds of vice How vice deceiueth men The prudence of the serpent Why Diogenes asked his almes of images The speeches of ignorant men touching the studie of sciences Why many fathers set not their children to schoole Man was created to vnderstand and to do The benefits which come by knowledge The proper worke of the spirit of man It is long ere men without knowledge become good magistrates The praise of wisedome The diuision of sciences Grammer Rhetorick Logick Physick Metaphysick Mathematick and the parts thereof as Arithmetick Geometry Cosmography Geography Astronomy Musicke Poetry Those sciences are first to be learned that are most necessarie What kinde of knowledge is especially required in a philosopher Anacharsis letter to Craesus touching the studies of Graecia The praise and prosite of 〈◊〉 How a man may become happie Wherein kings ought most to exercise themselues The saving of Philip at the birth of Alexander Alexanders letter to Aristotle His loue to learning Iulius Caesar Xenophon Nicias Archimedes Socrates conclusion drawen out of 24. howers contemplation Charles 4. Robert king of Sicilia Ptolemie Philadelphus Charlemaine Francis 1. Antisthenes saying touching a flute plaier The modestic of Socrates touching his owne skill Quicke wits commonly want memorie Psal 102. 26. It is very hard for a man to know himselfe Socrates opinion concerning man The soule is 〈◊〉 man Socrates answer touching his burâ—all Periander Empedocles Of the generation of the soule The soule is diuided into the spirit and the flesh The spirit of the godlie both by creation and regeneration is enimie to vice The fight betweene the spirit and the flesh Rom. 8 7. What we are being left to our selves The difference betweene the 〈◊〉 and the spirit The three parts of the spirit Of Memorie Mithridates Frederick Genusbey P. Crassus From whence iudgement proceedeth Iulius Caesar Seneca A good â—se of memorie Reasons why quick est wits haue woorâ—t memories and conâ—â—â—wise 1. Cor. 12. Rom. 8. 1. The end of the creation of all things What homage we owe to God Which is the cheefe end of our being What â—uâ—ie is The diuision of dutie What dutie we owe to God and therefore Obedience to Gods law is the mother of all vertues What our dutie towards our neighbour is Man created for man Profit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be separated from honestie Two things requisite in euerie good worke Fower riuers issue out of the fountaine of dutie Examples of the zeale of the ancients in the seruice of there god Calanus The zeale of the Iewes to their law Of the loue which a man oweth to his countrie Cato of Vtica In what case a good man may sue for an office Metellus Lycurgus Marcus Otho The couragious mind of a soldier A notable example against ciuill war Codrus M. Curtius Dutie and honestie are to be propounded in all our actions Ecclus. 1. 18. Ecclus. 1. 23. What prunence is The effects of the vertue of prudence The difference betweene science and prudence Prudence compared to the sight Prudence hath three eies The praise-worthy effects of prudence The coniunction of all the vertues Of the prudence of Alexander Of the prudence of Pulius Caesar Caesar noted two faults in Pompey Agesilaus The losse of a captâ—â—â—e is commonly cause of the ruine of an amâ—e The prudence of Solon The prudence of Lycurgus Phocion The prudence of Demosthenes in defending the innocencie of a poore woman How a prudent man may reape benefit by his enimies and by mishaps Anaxagoras The prudent foresight of 〈◊〉 The prudence of Scipio in answering to an vniust accusation Emilius Scaurus The sports of prudent men Pleasant sayings ful of doctrine A prudent man doth not ouerlightly beleeue any thing How none can be hurt but by himselfe Vertuous actions are to
of it What the law of nature is The diuision of the written law The diuision of the law of God Of the Morall law Of the Ceremoniall law Of the Iudiciall law Of ciuill or positiue lawes The diuision of ciuill lawes What ciuill lawes may not be changed The Salick law immutable What ciuill lawes may be changed A Prince may deny the request of his three Estates hauing reason and iustice on his side The change of lawes in a well setled Estate is dangerous A seuere decree of the Locrians against such as would bring in new lawes Mischiefs in a commonwealth must be resisted in the beginning The law is the foundation of ciuill societies Bias. We must not iudge of the law but according to the law Why the Lacedemonian lawes might not be changed The ancient law-makers No law before the law of God The necessitie and profit of a law The vpright and equall distribution of the law maketh a good gouernment To dispence with good statuts and daily to make new is a token of the decay of a common-wealth Examples therof in Caligula in Claudius How lawes may be kept inuiolable Two things required in the keeping of euery law Equitie is alwayes one and the same to all people The equitie of the morall law ought to be the end and rule of all other lawes Their opinion confuted who would tie all nations to the policie of Moses Theft punished diuersly in diuers nations How false witnes was punished among the Iewes Ciuil ordinances depend only of the soueraign ruler The end wherunto all lawes are to be referred The magistrate is the head the law the soule and the people the body of the common-welth The Nowne and Verbe are no parts of Logike but of Grammer The definition of a citizen in a popular state Other definitions of a citizen A general definition of a citizen Of the state of Venice Of the ancient estate in Rome Who are truly citizens The diuision of the whole people into three orders or estates The diuision of citizens in Venice and Florence In Egypt and among the ancient Gaules These gardes were the Senate and councell for state affaires consisting of 400. Burgesses Of the agreement that is to be kept between the estates of a common-wealth One cause of the â—â—serie of France at this present The office and dutie of subiects The soueraign magistrate compared to the Sunne Against them that thinke the magistrate to be a necessarie euil Prou. 24. 21. What is ment by honouring the King Rom. 13. 5. Subiects must obey their prince for the feare of God Of the seruice due to the prince Rom. 13. 1. 2. Tit. 3. 1. 1. Pet. 2. 13. 14. 1. Tim. 2. 1. 2. Priuate men must not busie themselues in publike affairs The counsailors of a prince are his eies eares and his officers are his hands Two kinds of publike power The difference between the prince the magistrate and the priuate man How farre subiects are bound to obey their prince and his lawes The titles of a good magistrate The behauiour of euil princes Tirants are naturally hated We must obey and reuerence vniust princes a well as iust Dan. 1. 21. 4. 14. Nebuchadnezzer Eze. 29. 18. 19. Dan. 2. 37. 1. Sam. 3. Iere. 27. 5. c. A tyrant called the seruant of God Ier. 29. 7. 1. Sam. 24. 7. 26. 9. 10. Dauid would not lay viosent hands vpon Sauls person These Essaei or Esseni were a superstitious sect among the Iewes that pretended to lead a most perfect kind of life Exod. 22. 28. A gentleman iudged to die bicause he once thought to haue killed his prince A sâ—uâ—râ— law against treason How we must behaue our selues vnder a tyrant Psal 82. 1. 2. 12. Esay 10. 1. The lawes of nature lead vs to a monarchie In euery kind of thing one excelleth A monarchie most significantly representeth the diuine regiment What a Monarchie or kingly power is Of a Duarchy that is of the rule of two The diuision of the Empire 8. Marks of soueraigntie Their reasons who mislike a Monarchie What excellencie is required in him that ruleth others The Persian Councell held for the establishing of their Estate Otanes oration The effects of a Tyrant Megabyses oration for an Aristocraty The dangers of a Monarchy A child Prince is a token of Gods wrath Darius oration for a Monarchy Against an Oligarchy A Monarchy concluded vpon in the Councell of the Persians of Romulus and of Augustus The commodities of a Monarchy Italy a praie to all hâ—r neighbours and â—â—y Of the antiquitie of a kingdome Ninus was the first that extended the limits of his kingdom What Estates were ruled Monaâ—chically The Dukedome of Venice is electiue What this word Emperour importeth Vpon what occasion the name of Emperour was first giuen to a Monarch The reasons alleadged against a Monarchie answered One iust Princ better than many good Lords and many Tyrants woorse than one Monarchies haue continu longest The opinion of many Politicks touching a mixt estate of a Common wealth The Lacedemonian estate mingled The Carthaginian Common-wealth was mixt The Romane estate mingled The estate of Venice compounded What agreemeÌ„t the French Monarchy hath with euery good policie Why men are diueisly affected vnto diuers formes of gouernments The praise of the French nation for their loue to a Monarchy The difference betweene the rule of a king and of a tyrant Fiue kinds of Monarchies How the first Monarchy came vp Gen. 10. 8. of the raigne of Nimrod Nimrod was the first king that warred vpon his neighbours Of the happie raigne of the king of Egypt They vsed the seruice onely of Noble mens children â—nd they wel learned The Priests of Egypt vsed to praise their Princes in the Temple before the people The diet of the ancient kings of Egypt Of the second kind of Monarchy The difference betweene a Lord-like Monarchy and a tyranny Marks of a tyrannicall gouernment Of the estate of the Turke The death of Hibrahim Bascha The Turke disposeth of all Lordships at his pleasure Of the Estate of Moscouia Of the king of Ethiopia The king of Ethiopia whipped his Lords like slaues Of the kingdom of Peru. Of the third kind of Monarchy What kings took vpon them soueraigntie in religion Of the 4. kind of monarchie which is electiue The dangerous state of an electiue kingdom when the prince is dead Examples therof in the kingdoms of Thuâ—es of Egâ—pt The great disorder in Rome vpâ—n the death of the Pope In the empire of Germanie In the Popedome All electiue princes are either taken indefinitely or out of certaine estates The Souldans of Cayre chosen out of the Mammelucks The great mastership of Malta electiue and that also of Prussia Of the fift kind of Monarchie which is hereditarie The Salick law excludeth daughters and their sonnes Kingdoms left by will Of the happy gouernment of the estate of France The Chancellor of France must approoue all