and burned 680. villages and slew so many in battaile schermidge and by Iustice that amounted to the nombre of .5000 persons For vnto the prowde and cruell captaines victory can neuer be glorious vnlesse they water the ground with the bludde of their enemies And furthermore in the cities and townes besieged the children olde men and women whiche died throughe hunger and pestilence were more in nombre than those whiche were slain in the warres For in warres the sworde of the enemies lighteth not vpon all but pestilēce and famine hath no respecte to any After this warre of the Palestines was ended immediatly after arose a more crueller betwixte the Allaynes and Armenians For there are many that se the beginninge of the troubles and miseries which aryse in Realmes but there are fewe that consider the ende and seke to remedye the same The occasion of this warre was as they came to the feast of the mount Olimpus they fell in disputacions whither of their gods were better whiche of them ought to bee preferred before other Whereof there sprange suche contradictions and suche mortall hatred that on euerye parte they were furiouslye moued to warres and so vnder a colour to mainteine the gods which they honoured both the common wealthes were brought into great pouertie and the people also into muche miserie The Emperoure Helius Adrianus seyng suche cruell warres to aryse vppon so lyghte occasion sente thither the captayne aboue named Iulius Seuerus to pacifye the Allaines and Armenians and commaunded hym that he should persecute those with warres whiche woulde not be ruled by his arbitrement and sentence For those iustlye deserue the sworde which with no reasonable condicions wil condescende vnto peace But Iulius Seuerus vsed suche pollicye that he made them good frendes and neuer touched them nor came nere them Whyche thynge was no lesse acceptable to the Emperour then profitable to the realmes For the captayne whyche subdueth the countrey by entreatye deserueth more honoure then he which ouercommeth it by bataile The agrement of the peace was made vpon suche condicion that the Allayns should take for their gods the Armenians gods and the Armenians on the contrarye the gods of the Allains and further when the people should imbrace and reconcile them selues to the senate that then the gods should kysse the one the other and to be reconciled to the temple The vanitie of the auncientes was suche and the blindnes of mortall men so greate and so subiect were they to deuillishe deuises that as easely as the eternall wisedom createth a true man now a dayes so easelye then a vaine man might haue inuented a false god For the Lacedemonians had this opinion that men had no lesse power to inuent goddes then the gods had to create menne ¶ Howe the Philosopher Bruxellus was greatly estemed amongest the auncientes for his lyfe and the woordes whyche he spake vnto the Romaines at the houre of hys death Cap. v. PHarasmaco in hys 20. booke De libertate deorum whereof Cicero maketh mencion in his booke De natura deorum saythe that when the Gothes toke Rome and besiged the highe capitoll there came amongest them a philosopher called Bruxellus the which after the Gothes were repulsed out of Italy remained with Camillus at Rome And because at that time Rome wanted Phylosophers this Bruxellus was had in great veneracion amongest all the Romaynes so that he was the first straūger of whom beyng alyue a statue was euer made in the Senate The Romaines vsed to make a statue of the Romains being aliue but not to strangers til after their death The age of this Bruxellus was 113. wherof .65 he had bene an inhabitaunt of Rome And among other things they recite .7 notable things of his lyfe 1 The first that in .60 yeres no man euer saw him issue oute of the walles of Rome For in the olde tyme the Sages were lytle estemed if in their behauiours they were not vpright 2 The second that in 60 yeres no man heard him speake an idel word for the words that are superfluous do greatly deface the authoritye of the person 3 The third that in al his time they neuer saw him loase one hower of time For in a wise man there is no greater follye then to see hym spende a moment of an houre idelly 4 The fourth that in al his tyme he was neuer detected of any vyce And let no man thinke this to be a smal matter For few are they of so longe life which are not noted of some infamy after their death 5 The fifthe that in all the 60. yeres he neuer made quarel nor striued with anye man and this thinge oughte to be no lesse estemed then the other For truly he that lyueth a long tyme without offering wrong to another may be called a monsture in nature 6 The sixt that in thre or foure yeres he neuer issued out of the temple and in this case this philosopher shewed himself to be a good man For the vertuous man ought not to content him selfe onlye to be voyde of vyces but he ought also to withdrawe hym selfe from the vycious 7 The seuenth last that he spake more often with the gods then with men This philosopher now drawinge nere to the houre of deathe al the Senate came to vysite him and to thanke him for that he had lyued so long amongest them in so good conuersaciō that so willingly he cared and watched for the wealth of Rome And likewise al the people of Rome wer right sorye for his sicknes that they should lose the company of so excellent and vertuous a man The good philosopher in the presence of theym all spake these words vnto the Senate ¶ Of that the sage Philosopher Bruxellus spake to the Senate of Rome at the hower of his death Cap. vi SInce you are wise o worthy senatours me thinketh you should not lament my death sithens I my selfe so ioyfully do receiue it For we ought not to lament the death we take but the wicked life we lead That man is very simple that dreadeth deathe for feare to loase the pleasures of life For death ought not to be feared for losse of life but because it is a sharp scourge of the wicked lyfe I dye noble Senatours in ioy pleasure First because I do not remember that euer I did any euil in all my life or displeasour to any of the common wealth And I am certaine that the man which dyd no euil to men in his life the gods wil do him no harme at the houre of his death Secōdarily I dy ioyfully to se al Rome lament the losse of my life For the man is very wicked and vnhappy whose life the people lament at whose death they do reioyce Thirdly I dye ioyfully only to remember that the 60 yeres which I haue bene in Rome always I haue trauailed for the cōmon wealth For the iust gods told me that ther is no
After the thre daies are past and eche thing according to my saiynges before accomplished in euery point as behoueth then let god dispose thinges as he shall see good for nowe I am fully determined to aduenture my life in battaile Wherfore my valiaunt and stout warriers doubt not at all for this day I must either vanquishe mine enemies or els suffer death and if I die I doe that whiche nedes I must Wherfore I will now cease to exhorte you any more desiring you to consider that wherunto your dutie leadeth you remembring that you are come as knightes and in the defence of your countrey you wage battayle for nowe we are come to that pinche that dedes must more auayle vs then wordes For peace ought to be mainteyned by the tongue but warres ought to be atchieued by the sworde All these wordes then ended and the three dayes past the emperour Gracian in parsone gaue the battayle where the conflicte and slaughter on both sides was marueilous terrible yet in the end the emperour Gracian had the victory ouer his enemies and there died in that conflicte .xxx. thousande Gothes and Almaines and of the Romaines there were not slaine but fiue thousande For that army onely is preserued whiche to the deuine will is conformable Let all other princes take example by this noble prince let thē consider howe muche it auayleth them to be good Christians and that in great warres conflictes they nede not feare the great nombre of their enemies but they ought greatly to se that the wrath of god be pacified For the harte is more dismayde with the secrete sinnes then it is feared with the opē enemies ¶ That the captaine Theodosius which was father of the great Emperour Theodosius died a good Christian And of the king Hismarus and the bishop Siluanus and of a councell that was celebrated with the lawes whiche they made and established in the same Cap. xxvii THe two brethren being emperours that is to wete Valentinian Valent in the costes of Affryke and the realme of Mauritania a tyraunt vsurped the place of a kinge against the Romains Who was named Thyrmus a man hardy in trauailes in daungers stout For the aduenturous hartes oftimes doe commit many tyrannyes This tyran Thyrmus by much crueltie came possessed of the realme of Mauritania not contented therwith but also by tyrāny possessed a great part of Affrike prepared as Hānibal did an huge army to passe into Italy to die in chalēging the empire of Rome This was a renowmed tyraunt that neuer toke pleasure in any other thing so muche as to spoyle robbe others of their goodes The Romaines that in all their doinges were very sage of the tyranny of tyrauntes sufficiently monished immediatly prepared a great army to passe into Affryke to spoyle the realme and to destroy the tyrante by the cōmaundement and decre of the Senate and that for no pacte or couenaunt the tyraunt shoulde lyue And without doubte this commaundement was iust For to him that is a destroyer of the common wealth it is not punishement enough to take awaye his lyfe At that tyme there was a knyghte in Rome whose name was Theodosius a man well stryken in yeares and yet better approued in warres but he was not the richest howbeit he vaūted him self as truth was to be of the bloud of Traian the great Emperour vpon which occasion he was greatly honoured and feared in Rome for the commons were so noble and gracious towards their princes that all those whiche from the good and vertuous Emperour descended were of the whole common wealth greatly estemed This noble Theodosius was of yeares so auncient and so honoured in his olde age for his graye heares so noble of linage and so approued in warres that he was by the authoritie of the Emperour Valentinian by the consent of all the Senate and by the good wylles of the whole people chosen to goe to the conquest of Afrike and truly their reason was good For Theodosius desired much to fight against that tyraunt Thirmus and all the people were glad that such a captaine led the armie So this Theodosius imbarked with his armie departed from Rome and in fewe dayes arryued at Bona whiche was a citie greatly replenished with people situated in a hauen of the sea in Afrike And as he and his armie were landed the tyran Thirmus forthwith encamped his armie in the fielde in the face of the Romaines and so all beinge planted in the plaine the one to assaulte and the others to defend immediatly the two armies ioyned and the one assaulting the other fiercely on bothe sydes was great slaughter So that those whiche to daye were conquered to morowe did conquere and those whiche yesterday were conquerours afterward remained conquered For in long warres fortune chaungeth In the prouince of Mauritania there was a strong citie called Obelista and as the captaine Theodosius by his force occupied all the field the tyran Thirmus fortified him selfe in that citie the which valiauntly being assaulted of the captaine Theodosius almost with his men entring into the same the tyranne Thirmus because he would not commit hym selfe vnto the faith of other men slew him self with his proper handes For the propertie of proude and disdainfull hertes is rather to die in libertie then to liue in captiuitie At that tyme the Emperour Valent by the arte of Nigromancie wrought secretly to knowe what lucke should succede in the Romaine Empire And by chaunce a woman being an enchauntresse had aunswere of the deuill that the name whiche with these letters should be wrytten should be successour to the Empire and the letters were these T.E.O.D. The Emperour Valent diligently enquired of all the names which with these foure letters could be named and they found that those signified the Theodotes the Theodores and the Theodoses wherfore Valent furthwith put all those to the sworde that were of that name Suche was the wickednes of the Emperour Valent supposing thei would haue taken the Empire from him being alyue For the tyranous Prince lyueth euer in gelousie and suspition The excellent captaine Theodosius the tyranne Thirmus being dead and hauing subdued all Affrike to the Romaine Empire was burdened that he was a secret traytour to the Empyre and that he compassed to wynne the same by tyrannie for this cause therefore the Emperour Valent gaue sentence he shoulde be beheaded And this was done he neuer hearyng of it and muche lesse culpable thereof for all Prynces that be wylfull in their doynges are very absolute of their sentence This come to the eares of Theodosius and seyng that he was condemned to be beheaded he sent incontinent for the Byshoppe of Carthage to whome he demaunded the water of the holy Baptisme and so being baptised and in the fayth of Christ instructed was by the hangeman put to execution Of this so greuous outtragious and detestable facte euery man iudged this Theodosius to suffer
thee if they toke the prysoner though perchaunce in times past they vsed thy father Philip euill and haue now disobeied thee his sonne It were better counsell for thee to make them thy frendes by gentlenes then to confirme them ennemies by crueltie For the noble and pitifull hartes when they are reuenged of any make of them selues a bucherye Wee can not with trouthe saye that thy trauayles are well imployed to wynne suche honour sythe thy conuersation and lyfe is so vnconstaunt For trulye honour consisteth not in that flatterers saye but in that whiche Lordes doe For the great familiaritie of the wycked causeth the lyfe to be suspected Honour is not gotten by lyberall geuinge of treasoures at hys death but by spendynge it well in his lyfe For it is a sufficient profe that the man whiche esteameth renowme dothe lytle regarde money and it is an apparaunte token that man who lytle esteameth money greatlye regardeth his renowme A man wynneth not honour by murdering innocentes but by destroying tyrauntes for all the armonie of the good gouernement of princes is in the chastising of the euill and rewarding the good Honour is not wonne in taking and snatching the goodes of an other but in geuing and spendinge his owne For there is nothing that beautifieth the maiestie of a prince more thē to shewe his noblenes in extending mercy and fauour to his subiectes and geuing giftes and rewardes to the vertuous And to conclude I will let the know who he is that winneth both honour in this life and also a perpetuall memory after his death and that is not he whiche leadeth his lyfe in warres but he that taketh his death in peace O Alexander I see thou arte younge and that thou desirest honour wherfore I let thee vnderstande that there is no man farther from honour then he whiche procureth and desireth the same For the ambicious mē not obteining that which they desire remayne alwayes defamed and in wynning and getting that whiche they searche honour notwithstanding will not followe them Beleue me in one thynge Alexander that the true honour ought through worthy deades to be deserued and by no meanes to be procured for all the honour that by tyranny is wonne in the ende by infamy is lost I am sory for thee Alexander for I see thou wantest iustice since thou louest tyranny I see thou lackest peace because thou louest warre I see thou art not ryche because thou hast made all the worlde poore I see thou lackest rest because thou sekest contention and debate I see thou hast no honour because that thou winnest it by infamy I see thou wantest frendes because thou haste made them thyne ennemies Finally I see thou doest not reuenge thy selfe of thy ennemies because thou arte as they would be the scourge to thy selfe Then since it is so why arte thou alyue in this world sithe thou lackest vertues for the which life ought to be desired For truly that man whiche without his owne profite and to the domage of another leadeth his life by iustice ought forthwith to lose his breath For there is nothing that soner destroieth the weale publyke then to permit vnprofitable men therein to liue Therefore speaking the trouthe you lordes and princes are but poore I beleue thou conquerest the worlde because thou knowest not thy superiour therein and besydes that thou wylte take lyfe from so many to the ende that by their death thou maiest wynne renowme If cruell and warrelike princes as thou arte should inherite the liues of them whome they slaye to augmente and prolonge their liues as they doe inheritie goodes to maintayne their pryde although it were vnmeate then warre were tollerable But what profiteth the seruaunt to lose his life this day and his maisters death to be differred but vntil the morowe O Alexander to be desirous to commaunde muche hauinge respite to liue but litle me thinketh it were a great foly and lacke of wysedome Presumptuous and ambicious men whiche measure their workes not with the fewe daies they haue to liue but with the arrogant and haughty thoughtes they haue to commaunde They leade their lyfe in trauayle and take their death with sorowe And the remedy hereof is that if the wyse man cannot obtayne that which he would he should content him selfe with that which he may I let thee knowe Alexander that the perfection of men is not to see much to heare much to knowe much to procure much to come to much to trauayle much to possesse much and to be able to doe much but it is to be in in the fauour of the gods Finally I tell thee that that man is perfecte who in his owne opinion deserueth not that he hath and in the opinion of another deserueth muche more then that he possesseth We are of this opinion amonge vs that he is vnworthy to haue honour who by suche infamous meanes searcheth for it And therfore thou Alexander deseruest to be sclaue to many because thou thinkest to deserue the signorie ouer all By the immortall gods I sweare I can not imagine the great mischiefe which entred into thy breast so vnrighteously to kill kyng Darius whose vassale and frende thou wert onely because thou wouldest possesse the Empire of the whole worlde For truly seruitude in peace is more worth then signorie in warre And he that shall speake against that I haue spoken I saye he is sicke and hath loste his taste ¶ The sage Garamante continueth his oration shewing that perpetuitie of life can not be bought with any worldly treasure Among other notable matters he maketh mention of the seuen lawes which they obserued Cap. xxxiiii THou wilt not deny me Alexander that thou wert more healthfull when thou waste kyng of Macedonia then thou art nowe being lorde of all the earth for the excessiue trauayle bryngeth menne out of all order Thou wilt not denye me Alexander that the more thou gettest the more thou desirest for the hart which with couetousnes is set on fier cannot with wood and bowes of riches but with the earth of the graue be satisfied and quenched Thou wilt not denie me Alexander but the aboundaunce that thou thy selfe hast semeth vnto thee litle and the litle whiche an other man possesseth semeth vnto thee muche for the gods to the ambicious couetous hartes gaue this for penaunce that neither with enough nor with to muche they should contente them selues Thou wilt not denie me Alexander if in dede thy harte be couetous that first the pleasures of life shall ende before thy couetousnes for where vices haue had power long time in the harte there death onely and none other hath authoritie to pluck vp the rootes Thou wilt not denie me Alexander that though thou hast more then all yet thou enioyest least of any for the prince that possesseth muche is alwayes occupied in defending it but the prince that hath litle hath time and leasure in quiet to enioye it Thou wilt not denie me
Alexander though thou callest thy selfe lorde of all yet thou hast but onely the name thereof and others thy seruauntes subiectes haue all the profites for the gredy and couetous hartes do trauaile and toyle to get and in wasting that whiche they haue gotten they pyne awaye And finally Alexander thou wilt not denie me that all that whiche thou hast in the longe conquest gotten is litle and that whiche of thy wysedome and quietnes thou hast lost is much For the Realmes whiche thou hast gotten are innumerable but the cares sighes and thoughtes whiche thou hast heaped vpon thy harte are infinite I let the knowe one thing that you princes are poorer then the poore subiectes for he is not ryche that hath more then he deserueth but he that desireth to haue lesse then that he possesseth And therfore princes you haue nothing for though you abound in great treasures yet you are poore of good desires Nowe Alexander let vs come to the pointe and caste accompte and let vs see to what ende thy conquest wil come Eyther thou arte a man or thou arte a God And if thou be any of the gods commaunde or cause that we be immortall and if thou canst doe any suche thing then take vs and our goods withall For perpetuitie of the lyfe by no riches can be boughte O Alexander I let thee vnderstande that therefore we seke not to make warre with thee for we see that bothe from thee and also from vs death will shortly take away the life For he is a very simple man that thinketh alway to remayne in an other mans house as in his owne If thou Alexander couldest geue vs as god euerlastinge life eche man would trauayle to defende his owne house but sithe we knowe we shal die shortly we care litle whether to thee or any other our goods riches remaine For if it be folly to dwell in an other mans house as in his owne it is a greater folly to him that loseth his life in taking thought and lamenting for his goodes Presuppose that thou art not god but a man I coniure the then by the immortal gods and do require the that thou lyue as a man behaue thy selfe as a man and couet no more then an other man neither desyre more nor lesse then a man for in the end thou shalt die as a mā and shal be buried as a man and throwen into the graue then there shal be no more memorie of thee I tolde thee before that it greued me to see thee so hardy couragious so apte and so younge and nowe it greueth me to see thee so deceiued with the world and that which I perceiue of thee is that then thou shalt knowe thy folly when thou shalt not be able to finde any remedy For if the proude younge man before he feleth the wound hath all redy the oyntment You whiche are Grecians call vs Barbarous because we enhabite the mountaines But as touching this I say that we reioyce to be Barbarous in our speache and Greekes in our doinges and not as you which haue the Grecians tongue and doe Barbarous workes For he that doth well speaketh rudely is no barbarous man but he which hath the tongue good and the life euill Sithe I haue begonne to that ende nothing remaynd vnspoken I will aduertise thee of our lawes and life and marueile not to here it but desire to obserue and kepe it for infinite are they whiche extolle vertuous workes but fewe are they whiche obserue the same I let thee wete Alexander that we haue short life we are fewe people we haue litle landes we haue litle goodes we haue no couetousnes wee haue fewe lawes we haue fewe houses wee haue fewe frendes and aboue all we haue no enemies For a wyse man ought to be frende to one and enemy to none Besides all this we haue amongest vs great frendshippes good peace great loue much reste and aboue all we holde our selues contented For it is better to enioy the quietnes of the graue then to liue a discontented life Our lawes are fewe but in our opinions they are good and are in seuen wordes onely included as here foloweth We ordaine that our children make no more lawes then we their fathers doe leaue vnto them for newe lawes maketh them forget good and olde customes We ordayne that our successours shall haue no mo Gods then twoo of the whiche the one god shal be for the life and the other for the death for one God well serued is more worth then many not rewarded We ordaine that all be appareled with one cloth and hosed of one sorte and that the one haue no more apparell then the other for the diuersitie of garmentes edgendreth folly among the people We ordeine that whan any woman which is maried hath had thre childrē that then she be separated from her husband for the aboundaunce of children causeth men to haue couetous hartes And if any woman hath broughte forth any mo children then they should be sacrificed vnto the gods before her eies We ordeine that all men and women speake the truthe in all thinges and if any be taken in a lie committing no other fault that immediatly he be put to death for the same For one lyer is able to vndo a whole multitude We ordeine that no woman liue aboue .xl. yeres and that the man lyue vntill fiftie and if they die not before that time that then they be sacrifised to the gods for it is a great occasion for men to be vicious to thinke that they shal lyue many yeares ¶ That princes ought to consider for what cause they were made princes and what Thales the philosopher was of the .xii. questions asked him and of his aunswere he made vnto them Cap xxxv IT is a commen and an old saiyng whiche many times by Aristotle the noble prince hath bene repeted that in the ende all thinges are done to some purpose for there is no worke neither good nor euill but he that doth it meaneth it to some end If thou demaundest the gardener to what ende he watereth so oft his plantes he wil aunswere thee it is to get some money for his herbes If thou demaundest why the ryuer runneth so swift a man wil aunswere thee that his ende is to the sea from whence it came If thou demaundest why the trees budde in the spring time they will aunswere to the ende they may beare frute in haruest If we see a trauayler passe the mountaines in the snow the ryuers with perill the woodes in feare to walke in extreme heate in sommer to wander in the night time in the colde wynter if by chaunce a man doth aske one of them saiyng frend whether goest thou wherfore takest thou such paines and he aunswereth truly syr I know no more then you to what ende neither can I tell why I take so much paines I aske thee now what would a wyse man aunswere to
that now a daies the vicious and vices reigneth so as they doe ¶ Of the Philosopher Eschilus ARtabanus being the sixte king of Persians and Quintus Cincinatus the husbandman being onely dictatour of the Romaines in the prouince of Tharse there was a philosopher named Aeschylus who was euil fauoured of countenaunce defourmed of body fierce in his lookes and of a verye grosse vnderstandinge but he was fortunate of credite for he had no lesse credite amongest the Tharses then Homere had amonge the Greekes They saye that though this philosopher was of a rude knowledge yet otherwyse he had a very good natural wytte and was very diligent in harde thinges and very paciente with those that dyd hym wrong he was exceading couragious in aduersities and moderate in prosperities And the thyng that I moste delighted in hym was that he was curteous and gentyll in his conuersation and bothe pithie and eloquente in his communication For that man onely is happie where all men prayse his lyfe and no man reproueth his tongue The auncient Greekes declare in their histories that this phylosopher Aeschylus was the first that inuented Tragedies and that gotte money to represente them and sythe the inuention was newe and pleasaunt many dyd not onely folowe hym but they gaue hym muche of their goods And marueyle not thereat my frende Pulio for the lightnes of the common people is suche that to see vayne thinges all wyll ronne and to heare the excellencie of vertues there is not one that wyll goe After this phylosopher Aeschylus had wrytten many bookes specially of tragedies and that he had afterwarde trauayled through many countreys and realmes at the last he ended the residue of his lyfe nere the Iles whiche are adioyning to the lake of Meatis For as the deuine Plato saieth when the auncient philosophers were younge they studied when they came to be men they traueyled and then when they were olde they retyred home In myne opinion this phylosopher was wyse to doe as he did and no lesse shall men nowe a dayes be that wyll imitate hym For the fathers of wysedome are science and experience and in this consisteth true knowledge when the man at the laste returneth home from the troubles of the worlde Tell me my frende Pulio I praye thee what doth it profite hym that hath learned much that hath heard muche that hath knowen much that hath seene muche that hath bene farre that hath bought much that hath suffred much that hath proued much that had much if after great trauaile he doth not retire to repose him selfe a litle truly he can not be counted wyse but a foole that willingly offreth him selfe to trauaile and hath not the witte to procure him selfe reste For in myne opinion the lyfe withoute reste is a longe death By chaunce as this auncient phylosopher was sleaping by the lake Meotis a hunter had a hare with him in a cage of woode to take other hares by wheron the egle seased which toke the cage with the hare on hig and seing that he could not eate it he cast it downe againe which fell on the head of this phylosopher and killed him This phylosopher Aeschylus was demaunded in his life tyme wherin the felicitie of this life consisted whereunto he aunswered that in his opinion it consisted in steaping and his reason was this that when we sleape the entisementes of the fleshe doe not prouoke vs nor the enemy persecute vs neither the frendes doe importune vs nor the colde wynter oppresse vs nor the heate of the longe Sommer doth annoye vs ne yet we are not angry for any thing we see nor we take any care for any thing we heare Finally when we sleape we fele not the anguishes of the body neyther suffer the passion of the mynd to come To this end ye must vnderstande that when they were troubled he gaue them drinkes which caused them immediatly to sleape so that so sone as the man did drinke it so sone he was a slepe Finally al the study wherin the Epicurians exercised thē selues was in eating seking meates and the chiefe study of this Aeschilus was in sleaping hauing softe beddes ¶ Of the philosopher Pindarus IN the yeare of the foundation of Rome .262 Darius the seconde of that name kinge of Persia who was the sonne of Histapsie and in the image of kinges the fourth king of Persia Iunius Brutus and Lucius Collatinus being cōsulles in Rome which were the firste consulles that were in Rome There was in the great citie of Thebes in Egipt a philosopher named Pindarus who was prince of that realme They write of this philosopher that in philosophy he excelled al those of his time and also in touching singing and plaiyng of musike he was more excellent then any of all his predecessours for the Thebanes affirmed that there was neuer any sene of suche aptenes in speaking so excellent deliuering of his fingers in playing as Pindarus was and more ouer he was a great moral philosopher but not so excellent in naturall philosophie For he was a quiet and vertuous man and could better worke than teache which thing is contrary now a daies in our sages of Rome For they know litle and speake much and worst of all in their wordes they are circumspect and in their deedes very negligent The deuine Plato in his booke that he made of lawes mencioneth this philosopher Iunius Rusticus in his Thebaide shewed one thing of him and that is that an Embassadour of Lides being in Thebes seing Pindarus to be of a vertuous life very disagreable in his wordes he spake vnto him such wordes O Pindarus if thy wordes were so limed before men as thy workes are pure before the gods I sweare vnto thee by those gods thē selues that are immortal that thou shouldest be as much estemed in life as Promotheus was shouldest leaue as much memory of thee after thy death in Egipt as the great Homere left of his life in Grece They demaunded of this Pindarus wherin felicitie consisted he answered in such sorte ye ought to knowe that the in warde soule foloweth in many thinges for the moste parte the outward body the which thing presupposed I say that he that feleth no griefe in his body may well be called happy For truly if the flesh be not wel the harte can haue no rest Therefore according to the counsaile of Pindarus the Thebanes were aboue all other nations and people moste diligent to cure the diseases of their bodyes Annius Seuerus sayth that they were let bloude euery moneth for the great aboundance of bloude in their bodyes They vsed euery weeke vomitacions for the full stomackes They continued the bathes for to auoide opilacions They caried swete sauours aboute them against the euyll and infected ayres And finally they studied nought els in Thebes but to preserue and kepe their bodyes as diliciously as they could inuent Of the philosopher Zeno. IN the Olimpiade .133 Cneus
fynde that the more I eate the more I dye for hunger the more I drinke the greater thirste I haue the more I rest the more I am broken the more I slepe the more drousier I am the more I haue the more I couet the more I desire the more I am tormēted the more I procure the lesse I attaine Fynally I neuer hadde so greate paine through want but afterwarde I had more trouble with excesse It is a great follye to thinke that as longe as a man lyueth in this fleshe that hee can satisfye the fleshe for at the last cast she may take from vs our lyfe but wee others can not take from her her disordynate couetousnes Yf men dyd speake with the goddes or the gods were conuersant with men the first thing that I woold aske thē shoold be why they haue appointed an end to our woful dayes and wyl not geue vs an end of our wicked desires O cruel Gods what is it you do or what do you suffer vs it is certain that we shal not passe one good day of life only but in tasting this and that life consumeth O intollerable life of man wherin there are such malices from the which we ought to beware and such perils to fal in and also so many thinges to cōsyder that then both she and we do end to know our selues when the houre of death approcheth Let those knowe that knowe not that the world taketh our wil and we others like ignorauntes cannot denay it hym and afterwardes hauing power of our wil doth constraine vs to that which we would not so that many times we would do vertuous workes and for that we are now put into the worldes handes we dare not doe it The world vseth another subtiltye with vs that to the end wee should not striue with it it prayseth the times past because we should liue according to the time present And the worlde saieth further that if we others employ our forces in his vices he geueth vs licence that we haue a good desire of vertue O woulde to god in my dayes I myghte see that the care whiche the worlde hath to preserue vs the wordlyngs would take it to withdraw thē from hys vyces I sweare that the gods shoulde then haue more seruauntes and the world and the fleshe should not haue so many slaues ¶ The Emperoure procedeth in his letter proueth by good reasons that sithe the aged persons wyl be serued and honored of the yong they oughte to bee more vertuous and honest then the yonge Cap. xxi I Haue spoken al this before rehersed for occasion of you Claude and Claudine the which at .3 score and 10. yeares wyl not kepe out of the prison of the world You I say which haue your bodies weake and corrupted what hope shale wee haue of young men which are but .25 yeares of age if my memorye deceiue mee not when I was there you had nephewes maried and of their children made sure and two of the children borne and since that is true mee thinketh when the frute is gathered the leafe is of no value and after the meale is taken from the mylle euil shal the mil grinde I meane that the old man ought to desire that his daies might be shortned in this worlde Do not thinke my frendes that a man can haue his house full of nephewes and yet say that he is very yong for in lodīge the tree with frutes the blossomes immediately fall or els they become wythered I haue imagined with my selfe what it is that you might do to seme yonge and cut of some of your yeares and in the end I know no other reason but when you maried Alamberta your doughter with Drusus and your neere Sophia the faire with Tuscidan which were so yonge that the daughters were scarce 15. yeres olde nor the yonge mē .20 I suppose because you were ritche of yeares and poore of money that hee gaue to euery on of them in steede of money for dowrye 20. yeares of yours hereof a man may gather that the money of your nephews haue remained vnto you and you haue geuen vnto them of your own yeares I vnderstand my frendes that your desire is to bee yonge and very yong but I greatly desire to see you old and very old I do not meane in yeares which in you doeth surmount but in discrecion which in you doth want O Claud Claudine note that which I will say vnto you and beare it alwaies in youre memorie I let you wete that to mainteine youth to deface age to lyue contented to be free from trauayles to lengthen lyfe and to auoyde death these thinges are not in the handes of men whiche doe desire them but rather in the handes of those which geueth them the which accordinge to their iustice and not to our couetousnes doe geue vs lyfe by weight and death withoute measure One thinge the olde men do which is cause of slaunderinge manye that is that they wyl speake firste in coūsels they wylbe serued of the yonge in feastes they will bee fyrste placed in all that they saye they wyll bee beleued in churches they wil be hygher then the resydue in distributinge of offyces they wyll haue the moste honoure in there opinyons they wyll not bee gayne sayde fynallye they will haue the credite of old sage men and yet they wyl leade the lyfe of yonge dotynge fooles All these premynences and pryuileges it is verye iuste that old men shoulde haue spent their yeares in the seruice of the common wealthe but with this I dooe aduyse and require them that the auctority geuen them with their white heares bee not dyminyshed by their euil workes Is it a iust thinge that the humble and honest yonge man doe reuerence to the aged man proude and dysdaynefull is it a iust thinge that the gentyll and gratious yonge man doe reuerence to the enuious and malycious old man is it a iust thing that the vertuous and pacyent yonge man doe reuerence to the foolishe and vnpacyente olde man is it a iust thinge that the stoute and liberall yonge man doe reuerence to the myserable and couetous olde man is it iuste that the dylygente and carefull yonge man doe reuerēce to the neglygente olde man Is it iuste that the abstynent and sober yonge man doe reuerence to the greedye and gluttonous old man Is it iuste that the chaste and contynente yonge man do reuerence to the lecherous and dyssolute olde man Mee thinketh these thinges shoulde not bee such that therby the olde man should bee honored but rather reproued and punyshed For olde men offende more by the euel example they geue then by the faulte which they doe commit Thou canste not denaye me my frende Claude that it is thirtye and thre yeares sythe we bothe were at the Theathers to beholde a playe when thou camest late and found no place for thee to sit in thou sayedst vnto mee who was
which teacheth and correcteth their lyfe The Emperor condescended to the request of the people on such condiciō that they should geeue a mayster and tutor to Pilas that shoold chastice and correct him as a foole Saieng that since sages tooke fooles to bee their maysters that the fooles also shoold haue sages for maisters The case was that one day hee that had the charge of Pilas did rebuke him for certain lightnes that hee had doon or for some dishonesty that hee had sayed wherat Pilas was exceading wrath with him The which the emperor vndestāding cōmaunded hee should bee whipt and banished for euer When Augustus gaue this sentence they say hee sayd these words Rome hath been mighty and puisaunt inough to make her enemyes stoupe and now shee is not able to banish iesters and fooles And that that is woorse of al they haue presumption to vexe vs and wee haue not courage to reproue them The Lacedemonians had great reason and also the Romayns to ryd their common wealth of iesters For they are idel vitious dishonest malycious and preiudyciall to the common wealth These iesters and iuglers are idell seeing that more then others they eat the swette of others They are vicious for they can not excercise their offices but in vices and in treatyng with vicious men They are dishonest for they get not to eat by dooing good woorks but by speaking dyshonest woords They are malicious for they haue accustomed whē they loue not a mā immediatly to speak euyll of hym They are vnprofitable for the common wealth for they mock vs and sel vs vaine woords and wee pay them good money The world is come to so great folly and corruption that euē as graue and wyse men think it great inconuenience to bee conuersaunt with vayne and fond men so the Lords of estate think it an honor to haue in their house some foolysh iesters yea better to say with reuerence of speache raylyng knaues which speake not to please and shew pastyme but to offend the present and rayl at the absent aswell of the high as the low and that that is more yet then this is that they are not contentyd to haue gyuen this enterteinment and welcome to the noble men and Ientlemen that are at their lords boord but they must needs haue a cast at my lord hym selfe to chere him with all which intollerable abuse ought not onely not to bee suffered but with most sharpe correction punished But what shall wee say that for the most part the lords are so vaine and the iesters so presumptuous and arrogant that the Lords haue more care to contente them then they haue to please the lords In the house of a lord a foole at the end of the yere will ask more then any other of those which are most auncient so that the follyes of one are more acceptable then the seruyces of all It is shame to speake it and no lesse to wryte it that the Children of vanity are so vayne that they brybe a foole or a iester no lesse in these days to thintent hee may bee a meane for them vnto the Prince then they did in times past desire Cicero to make an oration for them beefore the Senat. It is for want of vnderstanding and through the vilety of person oppression of the hart and disprayse of renowme to bee desirous by the mean of fooles too attayne to any thing For hee can haue no great wysedōe which putteth hys hope in the fauor of a foole What remayneth for mee to say when I haue sayd that which I will say And it is that if a iester or foole say openly to some lord God saue your lyfe my good lord Oh hee is a noble man in deed hee will not stick to geeue hym a gowne of silk and entring into a church hee would not geeue a poore man a halpeny O what negligence is there of princes O what vanity of Lords since they forsake the poore and wise to enrych the iesters and fooles They haue enough for the world and not for Ihesus Christ they geeue to those that ask for his louers sake and not to those which ask for the health of the soule Hee ought not to doo so for the knyght which is a Christian and not a worldlyng ought rather to will that the poore doo pray for hym at the hower of death then that the fooles and iesters should prayse him in his lyfe What dooth it profit the soule or the body that the iesters doo prayse thee for a cote thou hast geeuen them and that the poore accuse thee for the bread thou hast denayed them Peraduēture it wil profyt thee asmuch that a foole or a flaterer goe beefore a Prince apparayled with a new lyuery of thine as the poore men shall doo thee damage beefore God to whome thou hast denyed a poore ragged shirt All gentlemen and noble parsonages in the name of our sauiour Iesus Christ I admonysh exhort and humbly require that thei consyder well what they spend and to whom they geeue for the good Princes ought to haue more respect of the necessityes of the poore then of the follyes of counterfayts Geeue as yee wyl deuide as ye list for at the houre of death as much as yee haue laughed with the fooles for that ye haue geeuen them so much shall ye weepe with the poore for that ye haue denayed them At the houre of death it shal bee greeuous paynes to him that dyeth to see the flesh of the orphanes all naked and to beehold counterfaite fooles loden with their garments Of one thing I am amased that indifferently euery man may beecome a foole and no man let him and the woorst of al is if once a foole beecome couetous al the world afterwards cannot make him to to bee in his right senses Truly such one which hath no reasō to bee a foole at the least hee hath good occasion since hee getteth more to eat playeng thē the others doo woorking O what negligence of the princes and what smal respect of the gouernours of the common wealth is this that a yong man whole stout strong and valiaunt should bee suffred to goe from house to house from table to table and only for babbling vayne words and telling shamefull lyes hee should bee counted a man of an excellent tong Another foly there is in this case that their woordes are not so foolish as their deedes are wicked And though they haue a good or euel grace yet in the end they bee counted in the common wealth as loyterers and fooles I know not whether in this case is greater either their folly or our lyghtnes for they vse as fooles in telling vs lyes and wee pay them good mony The Romaynes dyd not permit in their common wealthes old stale iesters nor wee Christyans ought to retayne into our houses idel loyterers Ye ought to know that more offendeth hee which sinneth with a defourme woman then hee which
taketh away fear from death The deuine Plato demaūded Socrates how hee beehaued him self in life and how hee woold beehaue him self in death hee aunswered I let thee weete that in youth I haue traueled to liue wel and in age I haue studied to dye well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shal bee ioyful And though I haue had sorow to lyue I am sure I shall haue no payn to dye Truely these woords were woorthy of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruelously when the swet of their trauel is not rewarded when they are faithful and their reward answereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their frends beecome vnthankful to them when they are woorthy honor and that they preferre them to honorable rome and office For the noble and valyant harts doo not esteeme to lose the reward of their labor but think much vnkindnes when a man dooth not acknowledge their trauel O happy are they that dye For without inconuenience and without payn euery man is in hys graue For in this tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place wee merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall bee iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpryght that geeueth reward by weight payn by measure but somtimes they chastice the innocent and absolue the gylty they vex the faultlesse and dissemble with the culpable For litle auayleth it the plaintif to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that shoold minister Truely it is not so in death but all ought to count them selues happy For hee which shall haue good iustice shal bee sure on his part to haue the sentence When great Cato was censor in Rome a famous Romayn dyed who shewed at his death a merueylous courage and when the Romayns praised him for that hee had so great vertu and for the woords hee had spoken Cato the Censour laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And hee beeing demaunded the cause of his laughter aunswered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel For the perils and trauels considered wherein wee liue and the safety wherein wee dye I say that it is no more needful to haue vertue strength to liue then courage to dye The aucthor heereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censour spake as a wise man since dayly wee see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thrist trauel pouerty inconuenience sorows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the end in one day then to suffer them euery hour For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable lyfe O how small cōsideration haue men to think that they ought to dye but once Since the trueth is that the day when wee are born and comen in to the world is the beeginning of our death and the last day is when wee doo cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of lyfe then reason perswadeth vs to think that our infancy dyeth our chyldhod dyeth our manhod dyeth our age shall dye whereof wee may consequently conclude that wee dye euery yere euery day euery hour and euery moment So that thinking to lead a sure lyfe wee tast a new death I know not why men fear so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanted to any man to dye neither I knew any man that euer failed of this way Seneca in an epistle declareth that as a Romain woman lamented the death of a child of hers a philosopher said vnto her Woman why beewaylest thou thy child she aunswered I weepe beecause hee hath liued .xxv. yeres I woold hee shoold haue liued till fyfty For amongst vs mothers wee loue our children so hartely that wee neuer cease to beehold them nor yet end to beewayl them Then the Philosopher said Tell mee I pray thee woman why doost thou not complayn of the gods beecause they created not thy sonne many yeres beefore hee was born as well as thou complaynest that they haue not let him liue .l. yeres Thou weepest that hee is dead so soone and thou doost not lament that hee is borne so late I tel thee true woman that as thou doost not lament for the one no more thou oughtst to bee sory for the other For wythout the determination of the gods wee can not shorten death and much lesse lengthen life So Plinie sayd in an epistle that the cheefest law whych the gods haue geeuen to humayn nature was that none shoold haue perpetuall life For with disordinat desire to liue long wee shoold neuer reioice to goe out of this payn Two philosophers disputyng beefore the great Emperor Theodose the one sayd that it was good to procure death and the other lykewise sayd it was a necessary thing to hate lyfe The good Theodose takyng hym by the hand said All wee mortalles are so extreem in hatyng and louyng that vnder the colour to loue and hate lyfe wee lead an euyll lyfe For wee suffer so many trauels for to preserue it that sometymes it were much better to lose it And further hee sayd dyuers vayn men are come into so great follies that for fear of death they procure to hasten death And hauing consideration to this mee seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue lyfe nor with desperation to seeke death For the strong and valiaunt men ought not to hate lyfe so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that whych Theodose spake as Paulus Diaconus sayth in his lyfe Let euery man speak what hee will and let the philosophers counsell what they list in my poor iudgement hee alone shal receiue death without payn who long before is prepared to receiue the same For sodayn death is not only bitter to hym which tasteth it but also it feareth him that hateth it Lactantius sayd that in such sort man ought to liue as if from hence an hour after hee shoold dye For those men which will haue death beefore their eies it is vnpossible that they geeue place to vain thoughts In my oppinion and also by the aduyse of Apuleius it is as much folly to fly from that which wee cannot auoyd as to desire that wee cannot attain And this is spoken for those that woold flye the vyage of death which is necessary and desire to come agayn which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long ways if they want any thing they borow it of their company If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or els they write vnto their frends a letter But I am sory that if wee once dye they will not let vs return agayn wee cannot speak and they will not agree
aduise ought wel to bee assured that in al or the most part hee shall erre O my lord Mark sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and auncient didst not thou think that as thou hadst buried many so like wise some should burie thee What imaginacions were thine to think that seeing the end of their days others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rych honourably accompanied old and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the common wealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast always beene a frend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Sins thou hast proued what honors and dishonors doo deserue ryches and pouerty prosperity and aduersity ioy and sorow loue and feare vices pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remayneth to know but that it is necessarye to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble lord that thow shalt learn more in one hour what death is then in a hundreth years what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to bee good and hast lyued as good is it not better that thow dye goe with so many good then that thow scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doo maruail that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discrete Many things doo the sage men feele which inwardly doo oppresse their hart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honor If all the poyson which in the sorowfull hart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the walles woold not suffice to rubbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore where with to shut the shop wherein all the miseries of this wofull lyfe are vendible What wrong or preiudice doo the gods vnto vs whē they cal vs beefore them but from an old decaied house to chaunge vs to a new builded pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherein wee shut our selues from the assaults of lyfe broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee fynd in death then of that wee leaue in lyfe If Helia Fabricia thy wife doo greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doo not care For shee presently hath litle care of the perill wherein thy lyfe dependeth And in the end when shee shall know of thy death shee will bee nothing greued Trouble not thy self for that shee is left widow For yong women as shee is which are maried with old men as thou when their husbands dye they haue their eies on that they can robbe and their harts on them whom they desire to mary And speaking with due respect when with their eies they outwardly seeme most for to beewaile then with their harts inwardly doo they most reioyce Deceyue not thy self in thinking that the empresse thy wife is yong and that shee shal fynd none other Emperor with whom agayn shee may mary For such and the like will chaunge the cloth of gold for gownes of skynnes I mean that they woold rather the yong shepeheard in the field then the old emperour in his royall pallace If thou takest sorow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shooldst do so For truely yf it greeue thee now for that thou dyest they are more displeased for that thow lyuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may bee counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that hee is not maintained if hee bee rich hee desireth his death to enherit the sooner Sins therefore it is true as in deede it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing thou weepe If it greue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces these sūptuous buildings deceiue not thy self therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death dooth finish thee at the end of .lxii. yeares tyme shal consume these sūptuous buildings in lesse then xl If it greeue thee to forsake the cōpany of thy frends neighbors for them also take as litle thought sins for thee they wil not take any at all For amongst the other compassions that they ought to haue of the dead this is true that scarcely they are buryed but of their frends neighbors they are forgotten If thou takest great thought for that thou wilt not dye as the other emperors of Rome are dead mee seemeth that thou oughtst allso to cast this sorow from thee For thou knowst ryght wel that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankful to those which serue her that the great Scipio also woold not bee buryed therein If it greeue thee to dye to leaue so great a seignory as to leaue the empire I can not think that such vanity bee in thy head For temperat reposed men when they escape from semblable offices do not think that they lose honor but that they bee free of a troblesome charge Therefore if none of al these things moue thee to desire lyfe what should let thee that through thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dye for one of these two things eyther for the loue of those they leaue beehynd them or for the feare of that they hope Sins therefore there is nothing in this lyfe worthy of loue nor any things in death why wee shoold feare why doo mē feare to dye According to the heauy sighs thou fetchest the bitter tears thou she dest according also to the great payn thou shewest for my part I think that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods shoold cōmaund thee to pay this debt For admit that al think that their life shal end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soone For that men think neuer to dye they neuer beeginne their faults to amend so that both life fault haue end in the graue togethers Knowst not thou most noble prince that after the long night cōmeth the moist morning Doost thou not know that after the moyst morning there commeth that cleere sunne Knowst not thou that after the cleare sunne cōmeth the cloudy element Doost thou not know that after the dark myst there commeth extream heat And that after the heat cometh the horrible thunders after the thunders the sodeyn lightnings that after the perilous lightnings commeth the terrible hayle Fynally I say that after the tempesteous troublesome time commonly commeth cleare faire weather The order that time hath to make him self cruel gentill the self same ought men to haue to liue dye For after the infancy cōmeth chyldhod after chyldhod commeth youth after youth cōmeth age after age cōmeth the fearfull death Finally after the fearful death cōmeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read of thee not seldome hard that
for that they were vertuous By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee that when they came from the warre of Parthia triumphed in Rome confirmed the Empire to my sonne if then these nat nat had not withstoode mee I had left Commodus my sonne poore wyth hys vices and woold haue made heire of all my realmes some vertuous man I let thee to weete Panutius that fyue thyngs oppresse my hart sore to the which I woold rather see remedy my self then to commaund other to remedy it The first for that in my lyfe time I can not determyn the proces that the vertuous wydow Drusia hath with the senat Beecause since shee is poore and deformed there is no man that will geeue her iustice The second beecause I dye not in Rome And this for none other cause then that with the sound of the trumpet shoold bee proclaymed that all those which haue any quarell or debt against mee and my famyly should come thither to bee payd or satisfyed of their debts and demaunds The thyrd that as I made fower tyraunts to bee put to execucion which commytted tyranny in Asia and Italy so it greeued mee that I haue not also punished certayn Pyrats which roued on the seas The fowerth for that I haue not caused the Temple to bee fynished which I dyd beegynne for all the gods For I might haue sayd vnto them after my death that since for all them I haue made one house it were not much that any of them shoold receiue one into his which passe thys lyfe in the fauor of gods and wythout the hatred of men For dying after this sort men shal susteyn our honours and the gods shall prouide for our soules The fyfth for that I leaue in life for my onely heire Commodus the prynce yet not so much for the destruction which shall come to my house as for the great domage which shall succeede in the common wealth For the true princes ought to take the domages of their persons lyght and the domages of the common wealth for the most greeuous O Panutius let therefore thys bee the last woord which I will say vnto thee that is to weete that the greatest good that the Gods may geeue to the man that is not couetous but vertuous is to geeue hym good renowne in lyfe and afterwards a good heire at our death Fynally I say that if I haue anything to doo with the gods I require and beeseech them that if they should bee offended Rome slaundered my renowme defamed and my house demynished for that my sonne bee of an euill lyfe that they wyll take from hym lyfe beefore they geeue mee death ¶ Of the woords which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius spake vnto his sonne Commodus at the hower of death necessary for all yong gentlemen to vnderstand Cap. liiij SInce the dysease of Marcus Aurelius was so extream that in euery hower of his lyfe hee was assaulted with death after hee had talked a long tyme with Panutius his secretary hee commaunded his sonne Commodus to be wakened who as a yong man slept soundly in his bed And beeing come beefore his presence al those which were there were moued immediatly with cōpassion to see the eies of the father all swollen with weeping and the eies of the chylde closed with ouermuch sleepe They could not waken the chylde hee was so careles and they could not cause the goodfather sleape hee tooke so great thought All those which were there seeing how the father desired the good lyfe of the sonne and how lytel the sonne wayed the death of his father had compassion of the old man and bare hate to the wicked chylde Then the good Emperour casting his eies on high and directing his woords to his sōne sayd When thou were a chylde I told thy maisters how they ought to bring thee vp after that thou dydst waxe greater I told thy gouernors how they shoold counsaile thee And now will I tel thee how thou with them which are few and they with thee beeing one ought to gouern and maintayn the common wealth If thou esteeme much that which I wil say vnto thee my sonne know thow that I will esteeme it much more that thow wilt beeleue mee For more easely doo wee old men suffer your iniuryes then yee other yong doo receyue our counsailes Wysedome wanteth to you for to beeleeue vs yet yee want not boldnesse to dishonor vs. And that which is woorst the aged in Rome were wont to haue a chayr of wysedome and sagenes but now a days the yong men count it a shame and folly The world at this day ys so chaunged from that it was wont to bee in tymes past that all haue the audacity to geeue counsaile and few haue the wisedome to receyue it so that they are a thowsaund which sell counsailes there is not one that buyeth wisedom I beleeue wel my sōne that according to my fatal destinies thy euill manners litle shal that auaile which I shal tel thee For since thou wooldst not credyt these woords which I spake vnto thee in my life I am sure that thou wilt litle regard them after my death But I doo this more to satisfy my desyre and to accomplish that which I owe vnto the common wealth than for that I hope for any amendment of thy lyfe For there is no grief that so much hurteth a person as when hee him self is cause of his own payn If any man dooth me an iniury if I lay my hands vppon him or speak iniurious woords vnto him my hart is foorthwith satisfyed but if I doo iniury to my self I am hee which wrongeth am wrōged for that I haue none on whom I may reuenge my wrōg and I vexe chafe with my self If thou my sonne bee euill after that thou hast enheryted the empire my mother Rome wil complain of the gods which haue geeuen thee so many euil inclinacions Shee wil cōplayn of Faustine thy mother which hath brought thee vp so wantonly shee will complayn of thee which hast no will to resist vice but shee shall haue no cause to complayn of the old man thy father who hath not geeuen thee good counsailes For if thou hadst beeleeued that which I told thee men woold reioyce to haue thee for their lord and the gods to vse thee as their minister I cannot tel my sonne if I bee deceiued but I see thee so depriued of vnderstanding so vncertayn in thy woords so dissolute in thy maners so vniust in iustice in that thou desirest so hardy in thy duty so negligent that if thou chaunge alter not thy maners men wil hate thee and the gods will forsake thee O if thou knewst my sonne what thyng it is to haue men for enemies and to bee forsaken of the gods by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that thou wooldst not onely hate the seignory of Rome but with thy hands also thou wooldst
vertuous man sustaineth to bee a frend and coÌ„panyon of so shamelesse and horrible a lyer For to bee playn I was brought to this passe by means of this frend of myne that I coold not tell what I shoold doo but when I hard him begin to speak to fly from him and leaue him beecause I woold not bee reputed a lyke of reputacioÌ„ with him Howbeit in th end I was forced to vse this pollycy that what hee had openly auouched mee a witnes in secretly agayn I woold excuse my self and deny yt But now returning to our matter agayn I say That these courtiers and familiers of princes ought to exyle and banish from them this abhominable cryme of lyeng For if a mean gentleman or simple plebeyan happen some tymes to tell one thing for an other it is but taken of the hearers streight for a simple ly But beyng spoken by one of the fauored of the court or other gentleman of reputation it is thought a kynd of treason For lyke as betwixt god and the sinner our sauior Ihesus Christ is our only meane and mediatour being called vpon by the priest euen so betwixt the king and his subiects that are suters to his maiestie those that are in fauour with the prince are mediatours for them Now therfore if these priests be double in their words and dissemblers in that they speak how shall the sinnes of the one bee pardoned and the busines of the other dispatched O wofull and vnhappy sinner that putteth his sinnes into the hands of a naughty and wicked prist and lyke wise vnfortunat and miserable is the poore suter that committeth his affaiers to the trust and dispatch of a lying and dissembling officer There are many officers in Princes courts that telleth the poore suters still they will dispatch them but when it commeth to the push to folow the matter al his fair woords are then but wynd and in dede they make an art of it to speak all men fayer to promis much and to performe nothing weaning with their swete flattering woords to winne the harts and good willes of all little regarding the great expence and losse of tyme of the poor suter much lesse also respecting their own honor honesties and credyt Sure it were lesse dishonor for them to bee counted rough and churlish then to bee bruted for lyers and breakers of their promys The officer of the princes pallace that is a dissembler and lyer in his woords dooings hee may for a time maintain his suits and goe through with his matters but in the end his tretcheries perceiued him self his fautor and all his dealing lye in the dust and are vtterly ouerthrowen O how many haue I seene ryse in court of nothing to great matters and offyces and this not through their painfull seruice but altogeethers by means of their deceipt flattery they cunningly vsed not exalted also for their merits but only by a subtil meane policy they had to draw water to their myll not for any good coÌ„science they had but only for their gret diligeÌ„ce vsed in their practises And al this not wtout the preiudice of others but rather to the gret hurt vtter vndooing of their neighbor not for any bounty they had to geue liberally but a gredy couetous desire to get not for any needful busines but to haue those that are suê‘fluous not for to reliue the poore needy but only to satisfy their insatiable apetits infyne their accouÌ„t cast wee haue seen after their deth their goods coÌ„fiscated their seruaÌ„ts dysê‘sed gone away their childreÌ„ for euer vndoon So that in brief ther was no more memory of theÌ„ in this world god grant also that in the other lyfe their soules were not damned Courtiers may easely with their fauor and credit attaine to great possessions as the Iudges may also in robbing the counsellers in pleading and maintaining naughty causes the captains in powling the prince of the soldiers wages the marchants in their false weights measures their brokers in telling lyes out of all measure But in th end of their iorney pilgrimage they may bee assured that the soules of the fathers shal not only bee damned in hel but the goods also shal bee taken from their children And that that is truely and iustly gotten by the honest industry trauel of the man with a good zeal holy intent to a good iust end it is written that it shal bee of long continuaunce by the permission of god praier of the people it shall also prosper increase For the true gotten goods achiued by swet labor of man god dooth always prosper augment and therefore continuing our matter I say that the princes officers ought to determine with them selues to bee vpright in all their accions dooings aboue all true iust of their woords which dooing they shal bee sure to bee beloued of all not alone of them that passe vnder their lee but also of those whom they haue denyed fauor And also they neede not to bee afraid to speak boldly in all places where they come besides that they shal be reuerenced of all men Where to the contrary if hee bee a lyar a babler and dissembler there are few that wil fear them much lesse loue them least of all do them reuereÌ„ce or honor And although wee cannot deny but that these officers of the court other men of auctority bee wayted vpon visited accompanied reuerenced and honored of much sort of men yet it were a folly for vs to beleeue that their trayn attendants doo them all that honor reuerence for any desire they haue to doo them any seruice but only they vse all that curtesy capping to get them selues their sutes quickly dispatched And this to bee true wee see it dayly in experience For wheÌ„ these suters haue atchiued their suit desire they doo not only leaue to accompany him attend vppon him but more ouer they gett theÌ„ home wtout either thanking of them or once taking their leaue of him If all those that haue function or office of estate or dignity hauing charge of the dispatch of great weighty matters beeing also lyers dissemblers in their dooings knew that yll reports that goe of them how they condeÌ„pne their corrupt naughty coÌ„scieÌ„ces mee thinketh it impossible if they bee not altogether graceles but they must needs either change coÌ„dition estate or els quyte geeue vp their roomes offices For they are in euery mans mouth called bablers liers disseÌ„blers traitors periurers miserable auaricious vicious And yet a worser thing then all this that is whylest they lyue a thousand coÌ„playns of him and after they are dead buried they take vp their bones out of the graue to hang theÌ„ vp vpon a gybbet For thus saith the prouerb Such lyfe such end So that wee may say that to these
ende of her lyfe Therfore why should I bewayle her death synce the gods haue lent her life but vntyll this daye The greate estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death semeth vnto vs sodayne and that the lyfe vnwares with death is ouertaken but these are wordes of the children of vanitie for that by the wyl of the gods death visiteth vs and against the wylles of men lyfe forsaketh vs. Also my chyldren be vertuous philosphers and albeit they be nowe in the handes of tyrauntes we oughte not therefore to call them captiues for a man may not call him a captiue whiche is laden with irons but him whiche is ouerwhelmed with vices And although the fire haue burnt my house yet I knowe not why I ought to be sad for of truthe it was now olde and the wynde did blowe downe the tyles the wormes did waste the woode and the waters that ran downe perished the walles and it was old and lyke to fall and perchaunce would haue done greater displeasure For most commonly enuy malice and olde houses sodainely without any warning or knocking at the doore assaulteth menne finally there came the fire whiche quited me of many troubles First of the trouble that I should haue had in repairing it secondarely it saued me money in pluckinge it downe thirdly it preserued me and myne heires from muche coste and many daungers For oftentimes that whiche a man consumeth in repayring an olde house would with auauntage by hym a newe Also those whiche saye that for the taking away of my goodes I lacke the goodes of fortune such haue no reason so to thinke or saye For fortune neuer geueth temporall goodes for a proper thing but to those whome she list and when she will dispose them therfore when fortune seeth that those men whome she hath appointed as her distributers doe hourde vp the same to them and to their heires then she taketh it from them to geue it to an other Therefore by reason I should not cōplayne that I haue lost any thing for fortune recommendeth vnto an other the temporall goodes but I cary pacience and Philosophie with me so that they haue discharged me from all other and haue no more charge but for my selfe alone Laertius declareth in his fift boke of the sayings of the Gretians That this Bias determined to goe to the playes of Mounte Olimpus whereunto resorted people of all nations and he shewed hym selfe in this place of so highe an vnderstanding that he was counted supreame and chiefe of all other philosophers and wonne the name of a true philosopher Other philosophers then beinge in the same playes Olimpicalles asked him many questions of sondry matters whereof I wyll make mention here of the chiefest ¶ The questions demaunded of the Philosopher Bias. THe first question was this Tell me who is the vnhappiest man in the worlde Bias aunswered He is moste vnhappy that is not paciente in aduersities For men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impacience whiche they suffer The second was what is most hardest troublesome to iudge he answered There is nothing more difficulte then to iudge a contention betwixte two friendes For to iudge betwene two enemies th one remaineth a frend but to be iudge betwene two friendes the one is made an enemy The third was what is moste hardest to measure whereunto Bias aunswered Ther is nothing that needeth more circumspection then the measuring of time for the time shold be measured so iustly that by reason no time should want to do wel nor any time should abound to do euill The fourth was what thing is that that nedeth no excuse in the accomplishment therof Bias answered the thing that is promised must of necessity be parformed for otherwise he that doth lose the creadite of his word shoulde lose more then he that should lose the promise to him made The 5 was what thinge that is wherin the men aswell good as euill should take care Bias aunswered men ought not in any thinge to take so greate care as in sekinge counsayle and counselours for the prosperous times cannot be maintayned nor the multitude of enemyes resisted if it be not by wise men and graue counsayles The sixte was what thing that is wherin men are praised to be negligent he aunswered in one thinge only men haue lycence to be neglygente and that is in chosing of frendes Slowly ought thy frendes to be chosen and they neuer after for any thing ought to be forsaken The seuenth what is that which the afflyeted man doth most desire Bias aunswered It is the chaunge of fortune and the thing which the prosperous man doth most abhorre is to thinke that fortune is mutable For the vnfortunate man hopeth for euery chaunge of fortune to be made better and the wealthye man feareth through euery chaunge to be depriued of hys house These wer the questions which the philosophers demaunded of Bias in the playes of the mount Olimpus in the 60 Olimpiad The philosopher Bias liued 95. yeres and as hee drew nere his death the Prienenses shewing them selues to be maruelous sorofull for the losse of suche a famous man desired him earnestly to ordeine some lawes wherby they myght know howe to chose captaynes or some Prince whiche after hym mighte gouerne the Realme The phylosopher Bias vnderstandinge their honeste requestes gaue theym certaine lawes in fewe woordes whiche folowe Of the whyche the deuine Plato maketh mencion in his booke De legibus and lykewise Aristotle in the booke of Occonomices ¶ The Lawes whych Bias gaue to the Prienenses WE ordeine and commaunde that no man be chosen to be prince amonge the people vnlesse he be at least 40 yeres of age For gouernours ought to be of such age that nether youth nor small experience should cause theym to erre in their affaires nor weakenes through ouermuch age should hinder them from taking paines We ordeine and commaund that none be chosen amongest the Prienenses gouernour if he be not wel learned in the greke letters For there is no greater plague in the publik weale then for him to lack wisedome whych gouerneth the same We ordeine and commaunde that ther be none amongest the Prienenses chosen gouernour vnlesse he hath bene brought vp in the warres 10. yeres at the leaste For he alone dothe knowe how precious a thing peace is whych by experience hath felte the extreme miseryes of warre We ordeine and commaund that if any haue bene noted to be cruel that he be not chosen for gouernour of the people For that man that is cruel is likely to be a tyrant We ordeine comaund that if the gouernor of the Prienenses be so hardy or dare presume to breake the aunciēt lawes of the people that in such case he be depriued from thoffice of the gouernour and lykewise exiled from the people For there is nothing that destroyeth soner a publike weale then to ordeine new and fond lawes and
Prince a house should abounde for his pleasours and to the immortall God there should wante a temple for his relickes The daye therefore appointed when they should carie the relicke of Gibeah to Bethleem there mette thirty thousand Israelites with a great nombre of noble men which came with the king besyds a greater nombre of straungers For in such a case those are no which come of their owne pleasure then those which are commaunded Besides al the people they say that all the nobilitie of the realme was there to thend the relicke should be more honoured his persone better accompanied It chaunced that as the lordes and people wēt singing and the king in persone dauncing the whele of the chariot began to fall and goe out of the waye the whiche prince Oza seing by chaunce set to his hand and his shoulder against it because the Arcke wher the relick was should not fall nor breake yet notwithstanding that sodainly and before thē all he fell downe dead Therfore let this punishmēt be noted for truly it was fearfull and ye ought to thinke that since god for putting his hande to the chariot to holde it vp stroke him with death that a prince shoulde not hope seking the destruction and decaye of the churche that god will prolong his life O princes great lordes and prelates sith Oza with suche diligence loste his life what do ye hope or loke for sith with such negligence ye destroy and suffer the churche to fall Yet once againe I doe retourne to exclaime vpon you O princes and great lordes syth prince Oza deserued such punishement because without reuerence he aduaunced him selfe to staye the Arke which fell what punishement ought ye to haue whiche through malice helpe the churche to fall ¶ Why kyng Balthasar was punished DArius kyng of the Perses and Medes besieged the auncient citie of Babilon in Chaldea wherof Balthasar sonne of Nabuchodonosor the great was kinge and lorde Who was so wicked a childe that his father being dead he caused him to be cut in .300 pieces gaue him to .300 haukes to be eaten because he should not reuiue againe to take the goodes and riches from him which he had left him I knowe not what father is so folishe that letteth his sonne liue in pleasures afterwardes the intrelles of the hauke wherewith the sonne hauked should be the wofull graue of the father which so many men lamented This Balthasar then being so besieged determined one night to make a great feast and banket to the lordes of his realme that came to ayde him and in this he did like a valiaunt and stoute prince to th ende the Perses and Medes might see that he litle estemed their power The noble and high hartes do vse when they are enuironed with many trauayles to seeke occasions to inuent pleasours because to their men they may giue greater courage and to their enemies greater feare He declareth of Pirrus kynge of the Epirotes when he was besieged very streightly in the citie of Tharenta of the Romain captaine Quintus Dentatus that then he spake vnto his captaines in this sort Lordes frendes be ye nothing at al abashed since I neuer here before sawe ye afraide though the Romaines haue compassed our bodies yet we haue besieged their hartes For I let you to wete that I am of such a cōplexion that the streighter they kepe my body the more my hart is at large And further I say though the Romains beate down the walles yet our harts shall remaine inuincible And though there be no wall betwene vs yet we wyll make them knowe that the hartes of Greekes are harder to ouercome then the stones of Tarentine are to be beaten downe But retourninge to king Balthasar The banket then being ended and the greatest parte of the night spent Balthasar the kyng being very well pleased that the banket was made to his cōtentation though he was not the sobrest in drynking wyne commaunded all the cuppes of golde and siluer with the treasour he had to be brought and set on the table because all the bidden gestes shoulde drinke therin King Balthasar did this to that ende the princes and lordes with all his captaines shoulde manfully helpe him to defende the siege and also to shewe that he had muche treasour to pay them for their paynes For to saye the truthe there is nothing that encourageth men of warre more than to see their rewarde before their eies As they were drinking merily at the banket of these cups which Nabuchodonosor had robbed from the temple of Hierusalem sodenly by the power of God and the deserte of his offences there appeared a hand in the wal without a body or arme which with his fingers wrote these wordes Mane Thetel Phares which signifieth O kinge Balthasar god hath sene thy life and findeth that thy malice is nowe accomplished He hath commaunded that thou and thy realme shoulde be wayed and hath found that ther lacketh a great deale of iust weight wherfore he comaundeth that thy life for thine offences be taken from thee and that thy realme bee put into the handes of the Perses and Medes whiche are thine enemies The vision was not frustrate for the same night without any lenger delay the execution of the sentence was put in effect by the enemies The king Balthasar died the realme was lost the treasours were robbed the noble men takē and al the Chaldeans captiues I would nowe knowe sith Balthasar was so extreamely punished only for geuing his concubines and frindes drinke in the sacred cuppes what payne deserueth princes and prelates then which robbe the churches for prophane thinges How wicked so euer Balthasar was yet he neuer chaunged gaue sold nor engaged the treasours of the Sinagoge but wat shall we say speake of prelates whiche without any shame wast chaunge sell and spende the churche goodes I take it to be lesser offence to giue drinke in a chalice as king Balthasar did to one of his concubines then to enter into the churche by symony as many do nowe a daies This tyraunt was ouercome more by folie than by couetousnes but these others are vanquished with foly couetousnes and simony What meaneth this also that for the offence of Nabuchodonosor in Hierusalem his sonne Balthasar shoulde come and be punished For this truly me thinke not consonaunt to reason nor agreable to mans lawe that the father should commit the theft and the sonne should requite it with seuen double To this I can aunswere that the good child is bounde to restore all the good that his father hath lefte him euill gotten For he that enioyeth the thefte deserueth no lesse punishement then he that committeth the theft For in th end both are theues and deserue to be hanged on the galowes of the deuine iustice ¶ Why Kyng Ahab was punished IN the first booke of Malachie that is to wete in the third booke of kinges the .viii. chap. It is
crueller enemy to man nor more troublesome to liue with all then the woman is that he kepeth in his house for if he suffer her once to haue her owne wyll then let him be assured neuer after to bring her vnto obedience The younge men of Rome folowe the Ladies of Capua but they may well repente them for there was neuer man that haunted of any longe tyme the company of women but in the ende to their procurement either by death or with infamie he was defaced For the Gods esteme the honour aboue all thinges and as they suffer the wickednes of the euyll men so we see the sharpe punishementes that they ordeine for them I am well assured Faustine of one thing and I doe not speake it by heare saye but because continually I haue proued it and it is that the husband which condiscendeth to all that the wyfe desireth causeth his wife to doe nothing of that her husband commaundeth For there is nothing that kepeth a womā more vnder obedience to her husband then when oft times he denieth with sharpe wordes her vnlawfull request In my opinion it is muche crueltie of the barbarous to kepe as they do their wiues like sclaues but it is muche more folly of the Romaines to kepe them as they doe like Ladies The fleshe ought not to be so leane that it be in eating drie nor yet so fat that there be no leane but it would participate both of the fat and of the leane to the intent it might geue the more nourishement I meane that the man of vnderstanding ought not to kepe his wyfe so shorte that she should seme to be his seruaunt nor yet to geue her so muche libertie that she becommeth his mistresse For the husbande that suffereth his wife to commaunde more then she ought is the cause why he him selfe afterwardes is not estemed as he should be Beholde Faustine you women are in all thinges so extreame that for a litle fauour you waxe proude and for a litle displeasure you become great enemies There is no woman that willingly can suffer to haue any superiour nor yet scarcely can endure to haue any equal for we see that you loue not the highest nor desire to be loued of the lowest For where as the louers be not equal there their loue can not be perfite I knowe well Faustine that thou doest not vnderstande me therefore harken what I doe tell thee more then thou thinkest and more then thou wouldest O what and howe many women haue I sene in Rome the which though they had two thousand pound of rent in their houses yet they had thre thousand follies in their heades and the worste of all is that oftetimes her husbande dieth and she looseth her rente yet for all that ceasseth not her folly Nowe listen Faustine and I will tell thee more All women will speake and they will that others be silent All wil commaunde and will not that they be commaunded All wil haue libertie and they wil that al be captiues to them Al wil gouerne and wil not be gouerned Finally they al in this one thing agree and that is that they will cherishe theym that they loue and reuenge theym of those that they hate Of that whiche before is saide it may be gathered that they make fooles and sclaues of the young vaine men which folow them and persecute the wise men as enemies that flie them For in the end where as they loue vs moste their loue may be measured but where as they hate vs leaste their hate exceadeth reason In the Annales of Pompeius I remember I haue redde doe note one thinge worthy of knowledge that when Pompeius the great passed first into Asia as by chaūce he came by the mountaines of Rypheos he founde in those places a Barbarous nation that liued in the sharpe mountaines as wilde beastes and doe not marueile that I doe call them beastly that liue in those mountaines For as the sheepe cowes that feade on the fine grasse haue their wolle softe and fine so the men which are brought vp in the sharpe wylde mountaines vse themselues after a rude behauiour These Barbarous had therfore a lawe among them that euery neighbour had in those mountaines two caues for the sharpnes of the hylles permitted not that they should haue any houses Therefore in one caue the husbandes the sonnes and the seruauntes were and in the other his wife his doughters and his handemaydes abode they did eate togethers twise in the weeke they slept togethers other twyse in the weeke and al the residue of the time they were seperate the one from the other The great Pompeius asked them what the cause was why they liued so sithe it was so that in all the world there was neuer sene nor redde such extreme lawe nor so straunge a custome The historie saith in that place that an auncient man aunswered him saying beholde Pompeius that the gods haue geuen short life vnto vs that be present in respect of that whiche he gaue to our fathers that are past and since we lyue but fourty or fiftie yeres at the vttermost we desire to enioye those daies in peace for the life is so shorte and oure trouble so longe that we haue small tyme to reioyce in peace after we retourne from the warres It is true that amongest you Romaines whiche enioye pleasure and richesse life seameth to short but vnto vs that haue toyle with pouertie lyfe semeth to longe For through out all the yeare we neuer keape suche solempne feastes as when one passeth out of his life Consider Pompeius that if men liued many yeares there should be time to laugh weepe to be good and to be euill to be poore and to be ryche to be mery and sadde to lyue in peace and warre but why wyll men seeke contention in their lyfe synce it is so shorte In keping with vs as you doe our owne wyues in liuing we should die for the nightes should passe in hearing their cōplaintes and the dayes in suffering their brawlinges but keping them as we doe we see not their heauy countenaunce we heare not the cryeng of our chyldren we heare not their greuous complaintes nor listen vnto their sorowefull wordes neyther we are troubled with their importunate sutes and yet the chyldren are nouryshed in peace and the father foloweth the warre so that they are well and we are better This was the aunswere that this olde man gaue at the requeste of the great Pompeius Truly Faustine I saye that though we call the Messagetes Barbarous in this case they knowe more then the Latynes For he that is free from a brawling woman hath escaped no small pestilence I ask thee nowe Faustine synce those barbarous coulde not agree nor would not haue their wyues with them in those sharpe mountaines howe shall we other agree and please you that lyue in these pleasures in Rome One thing I wil tel thee Faustine
doth not amend hys lyfe that the father do disinherit him When good wil doth want and vicious pleasures abounde the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being .52 yeres old by chaunce this chylde Verissimus which was the glory of Rome the hope of the father at that gate of Hostia of a sodayne sicknes dyed The death of whom was as vniuersallye lamented as his lyfe of al men was desired It was a pitiful thynge to see how wofully the father toke the death of his intierly beloued son no lesse lamētable to behold how the senat toke the death of their prince beinge the heire For the aged father for sorow did not go to the Senate and the senat for few daies enclosed themselues in the high Capitol And let no man meruaile though the death of this yong prince was so taken through Rome For if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewaile and lament hys death When a knight a gentleman a squyre an offycer or when any of the people dyeth ther dyeth but one but when a prince dieth which was good for all and that he lyued to the profit of al then they ought to make account that al do dye they ought al greatly to lament it For oft times it chaunseth that after ii or iii. good Princes a foule flocke of tyraunts succedeth Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperour as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely parsonne though the inward sorow from the rootes of the hart could not be plucked yet he determined to dissemble outwardly and to burie his greues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shew extreame sorow vnlesse it be that he hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good prince as one that hath his vineyard frosen wherin was al hys hope contented with him selfe with that whych remaineth his so derely beloued sonne being dead comaunded the prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his only heyre Iulius Capitolinus whych was one of those that wrote of the tyme of Marcus Aurelius sayd vpon this matter that when the father saw the disordinate fraylenes and lightnes and also the litle shame whych the prince Comodus his sonne brought with him the aged man began to weape and shed teares from his eyes And it was bycause the symplenes and vertues of his deare beloued sonne Verissimus came into hys mynd Though this Emperour Marcus for the death of hys sonne was very sorowful yet notwithstanding this he prouided how his other sonne Comodus should be gouerned this before that eyther of age or body he wer greater For we cānot deny but when Princes are mē they wil be such as in their youth they haue bene brought vp The good father therfore knowing that the euil inclinacions of his sonne should do him domage the empire in like maner he sent throughout al Italy for the most sagest expert men to be gouernours Tutors of Comodus the prince He made them seke for the most profoundest in learning the most renowmed of good fame the most vertuous in dedes and the most depest in vnderstandyng for as the dust is not swept with fyne cloth but with dry bromes so the lightnes follies of yong mē are not remedied but by the hard disciplyne of the aged Thys commaundement being published and proclaimed in Rome the bruit scattered through Italye there came and ranne thither dyuerse kinde of sages whom he commaunded to be examyned He being informed of the bloud of thier predicessours of the age of their persones of the gouernment of their houses of the spendyng of their goodes of their credit amongest their neighbours of the sciences they knew aboue al they were no lesse examined of the purenes of their lyues then of the grauitie of their personnes for ther are many men whych are graue in open wordes very light in secret works Speakyng therfore more particularly he commaunded they should examyne the Astronomers of Astronomy the phylosophers in philosophie the musitines in musike the Orators in oracions And so forth of other sciences in order wherin euery one sayd he was instructed The good emperour was not so contented to do this once but sondry times not al in one day but in many not only by an other man but also by him selfe Finally they were al examyned as if they had bene al one and that the same one shold haue remayned bene kept for al to be only master tutor of the young child and prince Comodus To acquire a perfect knowledge and to be sure not to erre in choyce of thinges in my opinion is not onely required experience of him selfe and a cleare vnderstanding but also the aduyse of an other For the knowledge of thinges wholly together is easy but the choyce of them particularly is harde This thing is spoken because the good Emperour sent and commaunded to chose gouernours and maisters of his children Of many he choose fewe and of fewe the most wysest of the most wysest the most expert of the most expert the best learned of the best learned the most temperate of the most temperate the most auncient and of the most auncient the moste noble Certainely such election is worthy prayse because they be true maisters and teachers of princes which are noble of bloud auncient in yeares honeste in life men of litle folly and of great experience According to the seuen liberal sciences two maisters of euery one were chosen so that the prince was but one and the others were .xiiii. but this notwithstanding the workes of this prince Comodus were contrary to the expectation of his father Marcus Aurelius because the intention of the good father was to teache his sonne all sciences and the study of the sonne was to learne all vices At the bruite of so great a thing as this was that the Emperour sought to prouide tutors for the prince Comodus and that they should not be those which were best fauoured but those whiche were found the most wysest in shorte space there came so many philosophers to Rome as if the deuine Plato had bene reuiued againe in Grece Let vs not marueile at all if the sages desired the acquaintaunce familiaritie of this good Emperour For in the ende there is no man so sage nor so vertuous in this life but sometime wyll seke after the fauours of the world Since there were many sages and that of those he chose but fourtene It was necessary he should honestly and wisely dispatche and geue the others leaue as did behoue him And herein the good emperour shewed him selfe so wyse that shewing to some a mery coūtenaunce to others speaking gently and to others by a certaine hope to others by giftes presentes al the good company of the sages departed the good emperour dispatched them not
ignominy Seldome times we se the sunne shine bright al the day long but first in the sommer there hath ben a mist or if it be in the winter thâ—t hath ben a frost By this parable I meane that one of the miseries of this worlde is that we shall se fewe in this worlde which nowe bee prosperous but beefore haue had fortune in some cases very malitious For we see by experience some come to be very poore and other chaunce to atteine to greate riches so that thoroughe the impouerishing of those the other become riche and prosperous The weping of the one causeth the other to laugh so that if the bucket that is emptye aboue doth not go downe the other whiche is full beneathe can not come vp Speaking therefore according to sensuallyty thou wouldest haue bene glad that day to haue sene our triuÌ„phe with the abundance of riches the great nomber of captiues the dyuersitie of beasts the valiantnes of the captaines the sharpnes of wittes which we brought from Asia eÌ„tred into Rome wherby thou mightest wel know the dauÌ„gers that we escaped in that warre Wherefore speakynge the truth the matter betwene vs our enemies was so debated that those of vs that escaped best had their bodies sore wounded their vaines also almost with out bloud I let thee wete my Cornelius that the Parthes are warlike men in daungerous enterprises verye hardy bolde And when theye are at home in their couÌ„trey euery one with a stout hart defendeth his house surely they do yt like good men valiaunt captaines For if we other romaines without reasoÌ„ through ambition do go to take another mans it is mete iuste that theye by force do defend their own Let no man through the abundaunce of malice or want of wisedome enuy the Romaine Captaine for any triumphe that is geuen him by his mother Rome for surely to get this only one daies honor he adueÌ„tureth his life a M. times in the fielde I wil not speak al that I myght say of them that we lede forth to the warres nor of them which we leaue here at home in Rome which be al cruell iudges of our fame for theire iudgement is not vpright accordinge to equitye but rather procedethe of malice and enuye Though they take me for a pacient man not farre out of order yet I let thee know my Cornelius that there is no pacience can suffer nor hart dissemble to see many romains to haue such great enuy which thorough their malicious tongues passe not to backebite other mens triumphes For it is a olde disease of euil men through malice to backebite that with their tong which through their cowardnes they neuer durst enterprise with their hands Notwithstanding al this ye must know that in the warre you must first ofteÌ„ hazard your life afterwardes to the discrecion of suche tonges commit your honour Our follye is so folishe the desires of men so vaine that more for one vaine worde then for any profyte we desire rather to get vaine glorye withe trauaile then to seeke a good life withe reste And therefore willinglye wee offer oure liues nowe to great trauaile and payne onelye that amonge vaine men hereafter we maye haue a name I sweare by the immortall gods vnto thee mye Cornelius that the daye of mye triumphe where as to the seemynge of all those of this worlde I went triumphinge in the chariote opeÌ„ly yet I ensure thee my hart wepte secreatly Such is the vanitie of men that though of reason we be admonished called and compelled yet we flye froÌ„ her and contrary though we be â—â—â—ked euil handled despised of the worlde yet we will serue it If I be not deceiued it is the prosperitie of foolishe men wante of good iudgementes that cause the men to enter into others houses by force rather then to be desiroâ—â—â— be quiet in their owne with a good will I meane that we shoulde in folowinge vertue soner be vertuous then in haunting vices be vicious For speaking the troth men which in all and for all desire to please the worlde must nedes offer them selues to great trauaile and care O Rome Rome cursed be thy folly and cursed be he that in thee brought vp so muche pryde and bâ— he cursed of men and hated of gods which in thee haâ—â—uented this pompeâ— For verye fewe are they that worthely vnto it haue aâ—â—â—â—d but infinite are they which thorough it haue perished What greater vnâ—â—â—or what equall lightnes can be then that a Romaine captaine because he â—â—h conquered realmes troubled quiet men destroied cities beaten downe castels robbed the poore enriched tiraunts caried away treasours shed much bloud made infinite widdowes takeÌ„ manye noble mens liues should be afterwardes with great triumphe of Rome receiued in recompence of al this domage Wilt thou now that I tel thee a greater follye which aboue al other is greatest I let thee wete infinite are theye that dye in the warres and one onely carieth away the glorye thereof so that these wofull miserable men though for their carcase they haue not a graue yet one captaine goeth triumphing alone thorough Rome By the immortall gods I sweare vnto thee let this pas secretly as betwene frindes that the day of my triumphe when I was in my triumphaunt chariot beholdinge the miserable captiues loden with yrons and other men cariynge infinite treasures which we had euill gotten and to se the carefull widdowes weepe for the death of their husbandes and remeÌ„bred so many noble Romaines whych lost their liues in Affrike though I semed to reioice outwardly yet I eÌ„sure thee I did wepe droppes of bloud inwardly For he is no maÌ„ borne in the world but rather a fury bred vp in hel among the furies that ran at the sorow of another take any pleasure I knowe not in this case what reputacion the prince or captayn should make of him selfe that commeth from the warre and desireth to enter into Rome for if he thinke as it is reason on the woundes he hath in his body or the tresures which he hathe wasted on the places that he hath burnt on the perils that he hath escaped on the iniuries which he hath receiued the multitude of men which vniustlye are slaine the frindes whiche he hath lost the enemies that he hath gotten the litle rest that he hathe enioied and the greate trauaile that he hath suffred in such case I say that such a one with sorowful sighs ought to lament and with bitter teares oughte to be receiued In this case of triumphinge I neither commende the Assirians nor enuy the Persians nor am content with the Macedonians nor allowe the Caldians or content mee with Grekes I curse the Troians and condempne the Carthagiens because that they proceded not according to the zeale of iustice but rather of the rage of pride to set vp triumphes endomaged their countreys and lefte an occasion
if thou be euill lyfe shal bee euyl imployd on thee and if thou bee good thou oughtest to die imediatly and because I am woors thē all I liue lōger then all These woordes which Adrian my lord sayed doe plainely declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruel death doth assaulte the good and lēgthneth life a great while to the euil The opinion of a philosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their misteryes and so iust in their woorks that to men which least profit the common wealth they lengthen lyfe longest and though he had not sayd it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale and frendship to the common wealth either the gods take him from vs or the enemies do sley him or the daungers doe cast him away or the the trauailes do finish him When great Pompeius Iulius Cesar became enemyes from that enmite came to cruel warres the cronicles of that time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in the fauour of Iulius Cesar and the mightiest most puisaunte of al the oriental parts came in the ayd of great Pompeius beecause these two Princes were loued of few and serued and feared of al. Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the oriental part into the host of the great Pompeius one nation came maruelous cruel barbarous which sayd they dwelled in the other side of the mountayns Riphees which go vnto India And these barbarous had a custome not to liue no longer then fifty years therfore when thei came to that age they made a greater fier and were burned therin aliue and of their owne willes they sacrificed them selues to the gods Let no man bee astoined at that wee haue spoken but rather let them maruel of that wee wyl speak that is to say that the same day that any man had accomplished fifty years immediatly hee cast him self quick in to the fier and the parents children and his freends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eat the fleash of the dead half burned and drank in wyne and water the asshes of his bones so that the stomak of the children beeing aliue was the graue of the fathers beeing dead All this that I haue spoken with my toung Pompeius hath seen with his eies for that some beeing in the camp did accomplish fifty years bycause the case was straunge hee declared it oft times in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what hee will and condemne the barbarous at his pleasure yet I wyll not cease too say what I think O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the world to come shal bee a perpetuall memory What contēpt of world what forgetfulnes of him self what stroke of fortune what whip for the flesh what litell regard of lyfe O what bridell for the veruous O what confusion for those that loue lyfe O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those heeare haue wyllingly dispised their own liues it is not to bee thought that they died to take the goods of others neither to think that our life shoold neuer haue end nor our couetousnes in like maner O glorious people and .10 thousand sold happy that the proper sensuallyty beeing forsaken hath ouercome the natural appetyte to desire to liue not beeleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall destines By the way they assalted fortune they chaunged life for death they offred the body to death and aboue al haue woon honor with the gods not for that they should hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluus of life Archagent a surgiō of Rome and Anthonius Musus a phisition of the Emperor Augustus and Esculapius father of the phisick shoold get litel mony in that country Hee that thē shoold haue sēt to the barbarous to haue doone as the Romaynes at that tyme did that is to wete to take siroppes in the mornings pylls at night to drynk mylk in the morning to noynt them selues with gromelsede to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eat of one thing and to abstein from many a man ought to think that hee which willingly seeketh death wil not geue mony to lengthen lyfe ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and sheweth what perilles those old men lyue in which dissolutely like yong children passe their days and geeueth vnto them holsome counsell for the remedy therof Cap. xxii BVt returning now to thee Claude to thee Claudine mee thinketh that these barbarous beeing fifty years of age and you others hauing aboue thre score and 10. it should bee iust that sithens you were elder in years you were equal in vertue and though as they you wyl not accept death paciently yet at the least you ought to amend your euel liues willingly I do remember that it is many years sithens that Fabritius the yong sonne of Fabritius the old had ordeyned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told mee great inconueniences had hapned and sithens that you did mee so great a benefit I woold now requite you the same with an other like For amongst frends there is no equal benifit then to deceyue the deceyuer I let you know if you doo not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are soonk into your heads the nostrels are shutt the hears are white the hearing is lost the tonge faltreth the teeth fall the face is wrincled the feete swoln the stomak cold Finally I say that if the graue could speak as vnto his subiects by iustice hee myght commaund you to inhabit his house It is great pity of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorante for then vnto such their eyes are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth thē to the graue Plato in his book of the common wealth sayd that in vaine wee geeue good counsels to fond light yongmen For youth is without experiēce of that it knoweth suspicious of that it heareth incredible of that is told him despising the counsayl of an other and very poore of his own Forsomuch as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the yong haue of the good is not so much but the obstinacion which the old hath in the euel is more For the mortal gods many times do dissemble with a .1000 offeces committed by ignorance but they neuer forgeeue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doo not meruel that you doo forget the gods as you doo which created you and your fathers which beegot you and your parēts which haue loued you and your frends which haue
Lido of whom the Atheniens demaunded what they shoold doo with the treasure and dead body mee thinketh quod thys philosopher that if those which are lyuing did know any siluer or gold which the tyraunt tooke from them it shoold bee restored again immediatly and doo not meruell that I doo not require it to bee put in the common treasure For god will not permit that the commonwealth bee enriched with the theft of Tyraunts but with the swet of the inhabitants If any goods remayn which doo not appere from whom they haue beene taken mee thinketh that they ought to bee distributed among the poore for nothing can bee more iust then that which the goods wherewyth the tyraunt hath enpouerished many wyth the self same wee shoold enrich some As touching his buriall mee thinketh hee ought to be cast out to the 〈…〉 to bee eaten and to the dogs to bee gnawen And let no man thynk this sentence to bee cruell for wee are bound to doo no more for him at his death then hee did for him self in his lyfe who beeing so ouercome with auaryce that hee woold neuer disburse so much money as shoold buy him seuen foote of earth wherin his graue shoold bee made And I will you know that the gods haue doon a great good to all Greece to take lyfe from this tyrant First it is good because much goods are dispersed which heeretofore lay hid and serued to no purpose Secondly that many tongues shall rest for the treasours of this tirant made great want in the common welth and our tongues the greatest part of the day were occupied to speak euill of his parson Mee thinketh this philosopher hath touched two things which the couetous man dooth in the common wealth that is to wete that drawing much gold siluer to the hid treasure hee robbeth the marchandise wherwith the people doo liue The other dommage is that as hee is hated of all so hee causeth rancour malice in the harts of all for hee maketh the rych to murmour and the poore to blasphem One thing I read in the laws of the Lombards woorthy of truth to bee noted and knowen and no lesse to bee folowed which is that all those which shoold haue gold siluer money silks clothes euery yere they shoold bee registred in the place of iustice And this was to the end not to consent nor permit them to heap much but that they shoold haue to buy to sell and to trafik wherby the goods were occupyed among the people So that hee which did spend the money to the profit of his house it was taken for good of the common wealth Yf christians woold doo that now adays which the Lombardes did there shoold not bee so many treasures hid nor so many couetous men in the commonwealth for nothing can bee more vniust then that one rych man shoold heap vp that which woold suffise ten thousand to liue wyth all Wee can not deny but that the cursed auarice and disordinat couetise to al states of men is as preiudiciall as the moth which eateth all garments Therfore speaking the truth and wyth lyberty ther is no house that it dooth not defyle for it is more perilous to haue a clod of earth fall into a mans eye then a beam vppon his foot Agesilaus the renowmed king of the Lacedemonians beeing asked of a man of Thebes what woord was most odible to bee spoken to a king and what woord that was that coold honor him most hee aunswered The prince with nothing so much ought to bee annoied as to say vnto him that hee is rich and of nothing hee ought so much to reioice as to bee called poore For the glory of the good prince consisteth not in that hee hath great treasures but in that hee hath geeuen great recompences Thys woord without doubt of all the world was one of the most royallest and worthiest to bee committed vnto memory Alexander Pirrhus Nicanor Ptolomeê° Pompeius Iulius Cesar Scipio Hanniball Marcus Portius Augustus Cato Traian Theodose Marcus Aurelius all these princes haue beene very valiant and vertuous but addyng heereunto also the writers which haue writeÌ„ the deedes that they did in their lyues haue mencioned also the pouerty which they had at their death So that they are no lesse exalted for the riches they haue spent then for the prowesses they haue done Admit that men of meane state bee auaricious and princes and great lords also couetous the fault of the one is not equall with the vice of the other though in the end all are culpable For if the poore maÌ„ keepe it is for that hee woold not want but if the knight hoord it is beecause he hath to much And in this case I woold say that cursed bee the knight which trauaileth to the end that goods abound and dooth not care that betweene two bowes his renowmsall to the ground Sithens princes and great lords will that men doo count them noble vertuous valyaunt I woold know what occasion they haue to bee nigards and hard Yf they say that that which they keepe is to eat heerein there is no reasoÌ„ for in the end where the rich eateth least at his table ther are many that had rather haue that which remaineth then that which they prouide to eat in their houses If they say that that which they keepe is to apparel them heere in also they haue as lytle reason for the greatnes of lords consisteth not in that they shoold bee sumptuously appareled but that they prouide that their seruaunts go not rent nor torne If they say it is to haue in their chambers precious iewels in their halles rich Tapestry as little woold I admit this answer for all those which enter into princes palaces doo beehold more if those that haunt their chambers bee vertuous then that the tapestries bee rych If they say that it is to compasse their cities with walles or to make fortresses on their fronters so lykewise is this aunswer amongst the others very cold For good princes ought not to trauel but to bee well willed and if in their realms they bee welbeeloued in the world they can haue no walles so strong as the harts of their subiects If they tell vs that that they keepe is to mary their children as little reason is that for sithens princes and great lords haue great inheritaunces they neede not heap much For if their children bee good they shall encrease that shal bee left them and if by mishap they bee euill they shall aswell lose that that shal bee geeuen them If they say vnto vs that that which they heap is for the warres in like maner that is no iust excuse For if such warre bee not iust the prince ought not to take it in hand nor the people therunto to condescend but if it bee iust the common wealth then not the prince shal bere the charges therof For in iust warres it is not sufficient that they geeue
that is hurtful for them For wee see this that the sheepe flyeth the wolf the catt flyeth the dog the ratt flyeth the catt and the chicken the kyte so that the beasts in opening the eyes doo immediatly know the frends whō they ought to folow and the enemies whom they ought to fly To the miserable man was vtterly denyed this so great priuilege For in the world there hath been many beastly men who hath not onely attained that which they ought to know whiles they lyued but also euen as like beasts they passed their daies in this life so they were infamed at the tyme of their death O miserable creatures that wee are which lyue in this wicked world for wee know not what is hurtfull for vs what wee ought to eat from what wee ought to abstain nor yet whom wee shoold hate wee doo not agree with those whom wee ought to loue wee know not in whom to put our trust from whom wee ought to fly nor what it is wee ought too choose nor yet what wee ought to forsake Finally I say that when wee think oft times to enter into a sure hauen within .3 steps afterward wee fall headlong into the deepe sea Wee ought also to consider that both to wild and tame beasts nature hath geeuen armes or weapons to defend them selues and to assault their enemies as it appeareth for that to birds shee hath geeuen wings to the harts swiftfeete to the Elephants tushes to the serpents scales to the Eagle tallons to the Faucon a beake to the lyons teeth to the bulles hornes and to the bears pawes Finally I say that shee hath geeuen to the Foxes subtilty to know how to hyde them selues in the earth and to the fishes lyttle finnes how to swim in the water Admit that the wretched men haue few enemies yet in this they are none otherwise priuileged then the beasts for wee see without teares it cannot bee told that the beasts which for the seruice of men were created with the self same beastes men are now adays troubled and offended And to the end it seeme not wee should talk of pleasure let euery man think with him self what it is that wee suffer with the beasts of this life For the Lyons do fear vs the wolfes deuoure our sheepe the dogges doo bite vs the cattes scratche vs the Bear doth tear vs the serpents poysō vs the Bulles hurt vs with their horns the birds do ouerfly vs the ratts doo trouble vs the spiders do annoy vs and the woorst of all is that a litel flye sucketh our blood in the day the poore flea doth let vs from slepe in the night O poore and miserable mā who for to sustein this wretched life is enforced to begge al things that hee needeth of the beastes For the beasts do geeue him wool the beast do draw him water the beasts do cary him him from place to place the beasts do plough the land and carieth the corn into their barnes Finally I saye that if the mā receiue any good he hath not wherwith to make recompēce if they doo him any euill he hath nought but the tong to reuenge Wee must note also that though a man lode a best with stripes beate her driue her by the foule wayes though he taketh her meat from her yea though her yonglings dye yet for none of all these things shee is sad or sorowfull and much lesse doth weepe though shee should weepe shee cannot For beasts little esteame their life much lesse feare death It is not so of the vnhappy and wretched mā which can not but bewayle the vnthankfullnes of their frends the death of their children the want which they haue of necessityes the case of aduersitie which doo succede theim the false witnes which is brought against theym and a thousād calamities whice doo torment their harts Fynally I say that the greatest cōfort that men haue in this life is to make a riuer of water with the teares of their eyes Let vs inquire of princes and great lords what they can doo whē they are borne whether they can speak as oratours if they can ronne as postes if they can gouerne them selues as kinges if they can fyght as men of warre if they can labor as laborers if they can woork as the masons if they knew to teach as maisters these litell children would aunswer that they are not onely ignoraunt of all that wee demaund of them but also that they can not vnderstād it Let vs retourne to ask them what is that they know since they know nothing of that wee haue demaunded them they wil aunswer that they can doo none other thing but weepe at their byrth and sorow at their death Though al those which sayle in this so perillous sea doo reioyce and take pleasure and seeme too sleap soundly yet at the last there cometh the winde of aduersity which maketh them al to know their foly For if I bee not deceyued and if I know any thing of this world those which I haue seene at the time of their birth take shipp weeping I doubt whether they will take land in the graue laughing O vnhappy life I shoold say rather death which the mortalls take for life wherein afterwards wee must cōsume a great time to learn all arts sciences and offices and yet notwithstanding that whereof wee are ignorante is more thē that which wee know Wee forget the greatest part saue only that of weeping which no man needeth to learn for wee are borne and liue weeping and vntill this present wee haue seene none dye inioy Wee must note also that the beasts doo lyue and dye with the inclinations where with they were borne that is to weete that the wolfe foloweth the sheepe and not the birds the hounds follow the hares and not the ratts the sparrow flyeth at the birds and not at the fish the spider eateth the flyes and not the herbs Finally I say that if wee let the beast search hys meat quietly wee shall not see hym geeuen to any other thing The contrary of al this happeneth to men the which though nature hath created feeble yet Gods intētiō was not they should bee malitious but I am sory since they cannot auoyde debilyty that they turne it into malice The presumption which they haue to bee good they turne to pryde and the desire they haue to bee innocent they tourne into enuy The fury which they should take against malice they turne into anger and the liberality they ought to haue with thee good they conuerte into auaryce The necessity they haue to eat they turne into gluttony and the care they ought to haue of their conscience they turne into neglygence Finally I say that the more strength beasts haue the more they serue and the lesse men are worth somuch the more thanks haue they of god The innocency of the brute beast consydered and the malice of the malitious man marked without comparison the
sodein death and to thee his wife haue lent so long lyfe The gods beeing as they are so mighty and so sage what is hee that can bee iudge of their profound iugements The gods know right well those which serue them and those which offend them those that loue them and those which hate them those that praise them and those that blaspheme them those that yeeld them thanks and those which are vnthankfull And I tel thee further that oftentimes the gods are serued more with them which are buried in the graues then with those which go weeping through the temples Wilt thou now enter into account with the gods thou oughtst to note cōsider that they haue left thee childrē to comfort thy self they haue left thee goods wherwith thou maist auoid pouertie they haue left thee frends by whom thou shalt bee fauored they haue left thee parentz of whom thou art beeloued they haue left thee a good name for to bee esteemed and health wherwith thou mayst liue Fynally I say that small is that which the gods take from vs in respect of that they leaue vs. After one sort wee ought to beehaue our selues with men and after an other wee ought to serue the gods For to men some times it is requisite to shewe a countenaunce for to humble them but to the gods it is necessary to lye flat on the ground with thy stomack to honor them And if the Oracle of Apollo doo not deceiue vs the gods are sooner with humility wherewith wee woorship them appeased then with presumptuous sacrifices which wee offer vnto them contented Since thou art wydow Lady Lauinia and art a wise and vertuous woman beesech the gods to preserue thy children to defend thy renowm and not to seuer thy frends from thee and that thou scatter not thy goods to preserue thy person in health and aboue all to bee in their fauour Thou canst not winne nor lose somuch in all thy lyfe as the gods can geeue or take from thee in one hower Woold to god the wydow knew how little shee winneth among men and how much shee loseth amōg the Gods when shee is not pacient in aduersitie for impacience oftentymes prouoketh the gods to wrath Wee see it in mans body by experience that there are sundrye dyseases which are not cured with woords spoken but with the herbs thereunto applyed And in other diseases the contrary is seene which are not cured with costly medicynes but wyth comfortable woords The end of this comparison tendeth to this effect that all the afflicted harts shoold know that sometymes the hart is more comforted with one benefyte which they doo then with a hundred woords which they speak And at an other tyme the sorowfull hart is better lyghtned with one woord of his frends mouth then with all the seruice of others in the world O wretch that I am for as in the one and in the other I am destitut So in all I doo want For considering thy greatnes and waying my lytle knowledge I see my self very vnable For that to comfort thee I want science and for to help thee I neede ryches But I cease not to haue great sorow if sorow in paiment may bee receiued That which with my person I can doo neither with paper or ynk I wil requite For the man which with woord only cōforteth in effect beeing able to remedy declareth him self to haue been a fayned frend in tymes past and sheweth that a man ought not to take him for a faithful frend in tyme to come That which the Romains with the wydows of Rome haue accustomed to doo I will not presently doo with thee Lady Lauinia that is to weete that thy husband beeing dead all go to visite the widow all comfort the wydow and all weepe with the wydow and within a few days after if the wofull wydow haue neede of any small fauor with the Senat they withdraw them selues togeether as if they had neuer knowen her husband nor seene her The renowm of the Romayn wydows is very daynty for of their honesty or dishonesty dependeth the good renowm of their person the honor of their parents the credit of their children and the memory of the dead For this therfore it is healthfull counsayl for wyse men to speak few woords to wydows and to doo infinite good woorks What auayleth it woful wydows to haue their coffers fylled with letters and promyses and their eares stuffed wyth woords and flatteries If hitherto thou hast taken mee for thy neighbor and parent of thy husband I beeseech thee henceforth that thou take mee for a husband in loue for father in counsell for brother in seruyce and for aduocat in the Senat. And all this so truely shal bee accomplished that I hope thou wilt say that which in many I haue lost in Marcus Aurelius alone I haue found I know well as thou doost in lyke maner that when the harts with sorows are ouer whelmed the spirits are troubled the memory is dulled the flesh dooth tremble the spirit dooth chaunge and reason is withdrawn And since that presently sorrow and care in thy house doo remayn let the gods forsake mee if I abandone thee let them forget mee if I remember thee not But as Claudine remayned thyne wholly till the hour of death so Marcus Aurelius will euermore bee thyne duryng his lyfe Since I loue thee so intierly and thou trustest mee so faithfully and that thou with sorrows art so replenished and my hart with care so oppressed let vs admit that thou Lady Lauinia hast the auctority to commaund mee in thy affayrs and I lycence to counsell and aduertyse thee of thyngs touching thy honor and person For often tymes the wydows haue more neede of a mean remedy then of a good counsell I earnestly desyre thee to leaue the lamentacion of the Romayn wydows that is to weete to shutt the gates to tear their hears to cutt their garments to go bare legged to paynt the vysage to eat solitarily to weepe on the graues to chyd her Chamberlayns to poure out water wyth tears to put Acorns on the graues and to byte theyr nayls wyth the teeth For these thyngs and such other semblable lightnes beehoueth not the grauitie of Romayn Matrons eyther to see thē or els to know them Since there is no extremity but therunto vice is annexed I let thee weete lady Lauinia if thou bee ignoraunt thereof that the widows which are so extreme doo torment them selfes doo trouble their frends doo offend the gods doo forsake theirs and in the end they profit not the dead to the enuious people they geeue occasion to talk I woold think and mee seemeth that the women which are matrons and widows ought to take vppon them such garment and estate the day that the gods take lyfe from their husbands as they entend to wear during their lyfe What auaileth it that a wydow bee one moneth shut vp in her house that afterwards
wee shall write but such as they shal finde vs so shall wee bee iudged And that which is most fearfull of all the execucion and sentence is geeuē in one day Let princes and great lords beeleeue mee in this Let them not leaue that vndoon till after their death which they may doo during their lyfe And let them not trust in that they commaund but in that whiles they liue they doo Let them not trust in the woorks of an other but in their own good deedes For in the end one sigh shal bee more woorth then all the frends of the world I counsel pray and exhort all wise and vertuous men and also my self with them that in such sort wee liue that at the hour of death wee may say wee liue For wee cannot say that wee lyue whē wee liue not well For all that tyme which without profit wee shall liue shall bee counted vnto vs for nothing ¶ Of the death of Marcus Aurelius the Emperor and how there are few frends which dare say the truth to sick men Cap. xlix THe good Emperor Marcus Aurelius now beeing aged not only for the great yeres hee had but also for the great trauels hee had in the warres endured It chaunced that in the .xviii. yere of his Empire and .lxxii. yeres from the day of his birth and of the foundation of Rome .v. hundreth xliii beeing in the warre of Pannony which at this tyme is called Hungary beeseeging a famous citie called Vendeliona sodaynly a disease of the palsey tooke him which was such that hee lost his life and Rome her Prince the best of lyfe that euer was born therein Among the heathen princes some had more force then hee other possessed more ryches then hee others were as aduenturous as hee and some haue knowē as much as hee but none hath been of so excellent and vertuous a lyfe nor so modest as hee For his life beeing examined to the vttermost there are many princely vertues to follow few vices to reproue The occasion of his death was that going one nyght about his camp sodeinly the disease of the palsey tooke him in his arme so that from thence forward hee coold not put on his gown nor draw his sword and much lesse cary a staffe The good emperor beeing so loden with yeres and no lesse with cares the sharp winter approching more and more great aboundance of water and snow fell about the tenis so that an other disease fell vppon him called Litargie the which thing much abated his courage and in his hoast caused great sorow For hee was so beeloued of all as if they had been his own children After that hee had proued all medicins and remedies that coold bee found and all other things which vnto so great and mighty princes were accustomed to bee doon hee perceiued in the end that all remedy was past And the reason hereof was beecause his sicknes was exceeding vehement he him self very aged the ayer vnholsom aboue al beecause sorows cares oppressed his hart Without doubt greater is the disease that proceedeth of sorow then that which proceedeth of the feuer quartain And thereof ensueth that more easely is hee cured which of corrupt humors is full then hee which with profound thoughts is oppressed The emperor then beeing sick in his chamber in such sort that hee coold not exercise the feats of arms as his men ranne out of their camp to scirmidge the Hungarions in lyke maner to defend the fight on both parts was so cruell through the great effution of blood that neither the hungarion had cause to reioyce nor yet the romayn to bee mery Vnderstanding the euil order of his specially that .v. of his captains were slain in the conflict that hee for his disease coold not bee there in person such sorows persed his hart that although hee desired foorthwith to haue dyed yet hee remained two days three nights without that hee woold see light or speak vnto any man of his So that the heat was much the rest was small the sighs were continuall and the thirst very great the meat lytle and the sleepe lesse and aboue all his face wrynkled and his lips very black Sometimes hee cast vp his eyes and another tyme hee wrong his hands always hee was sylent and continually hee sighed His tong was swollen that hee coold not spit and his eyes very hollow with weeping So that it was a great pity to see his death and no lesse compassion to see the confusion of his pallace and the hinderaunce of the warre Many valiant captains many noble Romayns many faithfull seruaunts and many old frends at all these heauines were present But none of them durst speak to the Emperor Marke partly for that they tooke him to bee so sage that they knew not what counsel to geeue him and partly for that they were so sorowfull that they coold not refrayn their heauy tears For the louing and true frends in their lyfe ought to bee beeloued and at their death to bee beewailed Great compassion ought men to haue of those which dye not for that wee see them dye but beecause there are none that telleth them what they ought to doo Princes and great lords are in greater perill when they dye then the Plebeyans For the counsaylour dare not tell vnto his Lord at the hour of death that which hee knoweth and much lesse hee will tell him how hee ought to dye and what things hee ought to discharge whiles hee is aliue Many goe to visit the sick that I woold to god they went some other where And the cause heereof is that they see the sick mans eyes hollow the flesh dryed the arms without flesh the colour enflamed the ague continuall the payn great the tong swollen nature consumed and beesydes al this the house destroyed and yet they say vnto the sick man bee of good cheere I warrant you you shall liue As yong men naturally desire to liue and as death to all old men is dredfull so though they see them selues in that dystresse yet they refuse no medicine as though there were great hope of lyfe And thereof ensueth oftentymes that the miserable creatures depart the world without confessing vnto god and making restitutions vnto men O if those which doo this knew what euil they doo For to take away my goods to trouble my person to blemish my good name to sclaunder my parentage and to reprooue my lyfe these woorks are of cruell enemyes but to bee occasion to lose my soul it is the woorke of the deuill of hell Certeinly hee is a deuyll whych deceiueth the sick with flatteries and that in steede to healp hym to dye well putteth him in vayn hope of long lyfe Heerein hee that sayth it winneth lyttle and hee that beeleeueth it aduentureth much To mortall men it is more meete to geeue counsels to reform their consciences with the truth then to hasard their houses
with lyes With our frends wee are shamelesse in their life and also bashfull at their death The which ought not to bee so For if our fathers were not dead and that wee did not dayly see these that are present dye mee thinketh it were a shame and also a fear to say to the sick that hee alone shoold dye But since thou knowst as well as hee and hee knoweth as well as thou that all doo trauell in this perillous iurney what shame hast thou to say vnto thy frend that hee is now at the last point If the dead shoold now reuyue how woold they complayn of their frends And thys for no other cause but for that they woold not geeue them good counsell at their death For if the sick man bee my frend and that I see peraduenture hee will dye why shall not I counsell him to prepare him self to dye Certeinly oftentimes wee see by experyence that those which are prepared and are ready for to dye doo escape and those which think to liue doo perish What shoold they doo which goe to vysit the sick perswade them that they make their testaments that they confesse their sinnes that they discharge their conscience that they receiue the Communion and that they doo reconcile them selues to their enemies Certeinly all these things charge not the launce of death nor cut not the threed of lyfe I neuer saw blyndnes so blynd nor ignoraunce so ignorant as to bee ashamed to counsell the sick that they are bound to doo when they are whole As wee haue sayd heere aboue Princes and great Lords are those aboue all other that liue and dye most abusedly And the cause is that as their seruaunts haue no harts to perswade them when they are mery so haue they no audacity to tell them trueth when they are in peril For such seruaunts care lytle so that their maisters beequeath them any thing in theyr willes whether they dye well or lyue euyll O what misery and pity is it to see a Prince a Lord a gentleman and a rych person dye if they haue no faythfull frend about them to help them to passe that payn And not wythout a cause I say that hee ought to bee a faythfull frend For many in our lyfe doo gape after our goods and few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wyse and sage men before nature compelleth them to dye of their own will ought to dye That is to weete that beefore they see them selues in the pangues of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if wee count him a foole whych will passe the sea without a shippe truely wee will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparacion beefore What loseth a wise man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenture of honor is any man beefore death to reconsile him self to his enemies and to those whom hee hath born hate and malyce What loseth hee of his credit who in his lyfe tyme restoreth that which at his death they will commaund him to render wherein may a man shew him self to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by proces they will take from him O how many princes great lords are there which only not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heirs all the days of their life to bee in trauerse in the law So that they supposing to haue left their children welthy haue not left them but for atturneis and counselers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dyspose his goods and correct his lyfe as if hee shoold dye the same night And at night in like maner hee ought so to commit him self to god as if hee hoped for no lyfe vntill morning For to say the truth to sustein life there are infinit trauels but to meete death there is but one way If they will credit my woords I woold counsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the world hee shoold vndoo him self The rich and the poore the great and the small the gentlemen and the Plebeians all say and swear that of death they are exceeding fearfull To whom I say and affirm that hee alone feareth death in whom wee see amendment of lyfe Princes and great lords ought also to bee perfect beefore they bee perfect to end beefore they end to dye beefore they dye and to bee mortified beefore they bee mortified If they doo this with them selues they shall as easely leaue their lyfe as if they chāged from one house to an other For the most part of men delight to talk with leisure to drink with leisure to eat with leisure to sleep with leisure but they dye in haste Not without cause I say they dye in haste since wee see thē receiue the sacrament of the supper of the lord in haste make their willes by force with speed to confesse and receiue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue lost their senses and are ready to geeue vp the spirit when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the ship maister after the ship is sonk what doo weapons auayl after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By that I haue spoken I will demaund what it auaileth the sick beeing heuy with sleep and beereft of their senses to call confessors to whom they confesse their sinnes Euill shal hee bee confessed whych hath no vnderstandyng to repent him self What auayleth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secret of his conscience when the sick man hath lost his speach Let vs not deceiue our selues saying in our age wee will amend heereafter make restitution at our death For in myne oppinion it is not the poynt of wyse men nor of good christians to desire so much tyme to offend and they wil neuer espy any to amend Woold to god that the third part of tyme which men occupy in sinne were employed about the meditations of death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshly lusts were spent in beewayling their filthy sinnes I am very sory at my hart that thei so wickedly passe their life in vyces and pleasures as if there were no God to whom they shoold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doo sinne vppon hope only in age to amend and at death to repent but I woold demaund him that in this hope sinned what certeinty hee hath in age of amendment and what assuraunce hee hath to haue long warning beefore hee dye Since wee see by experience there are mo in nomber which dye yong then old it is no reason wee shoold commit so many sinnes in one day that wee shoold haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our lyfe And afterwards to beewail the sinnes of our long life wee desire no more but one
space of an hour Considering the omnipotency of the diuine mercy it suffiseth ye and I say that the space of an hour is to much to repent vs of our wicked lyfe but yet I woold counsell all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one hour that that bee not the last hour For the sighs and repentaunce which proceed from the bottom of the hart penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessity dooth not perse the seeling of the house I allow and commend that those that visit the sick doo counsell them to examin their conscienses to receiue the communion to pray vnto god to forgeeue their enemiez and to recommend them selues to the deuout prayers of the people and to repent their sinnes fynally I say that it is very good to doo all this but yet I say it is better to haue doon it beefore For the diligent and carefull Pirate prepareth for the tempest when the sea is calm Hee that deepely woold consider how little the goods of this lyfe are to bee esteemed let him goe to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what hee dooth in his bed And hee shall fynd that the wife demaundeth of the poore husband her dower the doughter the third part the other the fift the child the preheminence of age the sonne in law his mariage the phisition his duity the slaue his liberty the seruants their wages the creditors their debts and the woorst of all is that none of those that ought to enherit his goods wil geeue him one glasse of water Those that shall here or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene doon at the death of their neighbors the same shall come to them when they shal bee sick at the point of death For so soone as the rych shutteth his eyes foorthwith there is great strife beetweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but whych of them shall inherit most of his possessions In this case I will not my penne trauel any further since both rich and poore dayly see the experience hereof And in things very manyfest it suffyseth only for wyse men to bee put in memory without wasting any more tyme to perswade them Now the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a secretary very wise and vertuous through whose hands the affairs of the Empire passed And when this secretary saw his lord and maister so sick and almost at the hour of death and that none of his parents nor frends durst speak vnto him hee plainly determined to doo his duity wherein hee shewed very well the profound knowledge hee had in wisdom and the great good will hee bare to his lord This secretary was called Panutius the vertues and lyfe of whom Sextus Cheronensis in the lyfe of Marcus Aurelius declareth ¶ Of the comfortable woords which the Secretary Panutius spake to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius at the hour of his death Cap. l. O My lord and maister my tong cannot keepe silence myne eies cannot refrayn from bitter tears nor my hart leaue from fetching sighes ne yet reason can vse his duity For my blood boyleth my sinnews are dryed my pores bee open my hart dooth faint and my spirit is troubled And the occasion of all this is to see that the wholsom counsels which thou geeuest to others either thou canst not or wil not take for thy self I see thee dye my lord and I dye for that I cannot remedy thee For if the gods woold haue graunted mee my request for the lengthning of thy lyfe one day I woold geeue willingly my whole life Whether the sorow bee true or fained it nedeth not I declare vnto thee with woords since thou mayst manyfestly discern it by my countenaunce For my eies with tears are wet and my hart with sighs is very heauy I feele much the want of thy company I feele much the domage which of thy death to the whole common wealth shal ensue I feele much thy sorow which in thy pallace shal remaine I feele much for that Rome this day is vndoon but that which aboue al things dooth most torment my hart is to haue seen thee liue as wise and now to see thee dye as symple Tell mee I pray thee my lorde why doo men learn the Greek tong trauel to vnderstand the hebrew sweat in the latin chaunge so many maisters turn so many bookes and in study consume so much money and so many yeres if it were not to know how to passe lyfe with honor and take death with pacience The end why men ought to study is to learn to liue well For there is no truer science in man then to know how to order his life well What profiteth it mee to know much if thereby I take no profit what profiteth mee to know straunge languages if I refrain not my tong from other mens matters what profiteth it to study many books if I study not but to begyle my frends what profiteth it to know the influence of the starres and the course of the elements if I cannot keepe my self from vyces Fynally I say that it lytle auayleth to bee a maister of the sage if secretly hee bee reported to bee a folower of fooles The cheef of all philosophy consisteth to serue god and not to offend men I ask thee most noble prince what auaileth it the Pilot to know the art of sayling and after in a tempest by neglygence to perish What auayleth it the valyaunt captayn to talk much of warre and afterwards hee knoweth not how to geeue the battayl What auaileth it the guyde to tell the neerest way and afterwards in the midst to lose him self All this which I haue spoken is sayd for thee my Lord. For what auayleth it that thou beeing in health shooldst sigh for death since now when hee dooth approch thou weepest because thou wooldst not leaue life One of the things wherein the wise man sheweth his wisedom is to know how to loue and how to hate For it is great lightnes I shoold rather say folly to day to loue him whom yesterday wee hated and to morow to sclaunder him whom this day wee honored What Prince so hygh or what Plebeyan so base hath there been or in the world shall euer bee the whych hath so lyttle as thou regarded lyfe and so hyghly commended death What thyngs haue I wrytten beeing thy Secretary with my own hand to dyuers prouynces of the world where thou speakest so much good of death that sometymes thou madest mee to hate lyfe What was it to see that letter which thou wrotest to the noble Romayn Claudines wydow comforting her of the death of her husband which dyed in the warres Wherein shee aunswered That shee thought her trouble comfort to deserue that thou shooldst write her such a letter What a pitifull and sauory letter hast thou written to Antigonus on the death of thy child Verissimus thy sonne so much desired Whose death
to deny that I feare not death shoold bee to deny that I am not of flesh Wee see by experience that the elephants doo feare the Lyon the Beare the Elephant the woolf the Beare the lamb the woolf the ratte the catte the catte the dogge and the dogge the man fynally the one and the other doo feare for no other thyng but for feare that one kylleth not the other Then since brute beasts refuse death the which though they dye feare not to fyght with the furies nor hope not to rest with the gods so much the more ought wee to feare death which dye in doubt whither the furies wyll teare vs in pieces with their torments or the gods will receyue vs into their houses with ioy Thinkest thou Panutius that I doo not see well that my vine is gathered and that it is not hyd vnto mee that my pallace falleth in decay I know well that I haue not but the kirnel of the raison and the skinne and that I haue not but one sygh of all my lyfe vntill this time There was great difference beetweene mee and thee and now there is great difference beetwixt mee and my self For about the ensigne thow doost place the army In the ryuers thow castest thy nettes within the parks thou huntest the bulles In the shadow thow takest cold By this I mean that thow talkest so much of death beecause that thou art sure of thy life O myserable man that I am for in short space of all that in this lyfe I haue possessed with mee I shall cary nothing but onely my wynding sheete Alas now shall I enter into the field not where of the fierce beasts I shal bee assaulted but of the hungry woorms deuoured Alas I see my self in that dystresse from whence my frayl flesh cannot escape And yf any hope remayn it is in thee o death When I am sick I woold not that hee that is whole shoold comfort mee When I am sorowfull I woold not that hee which is mery shoold cōfort mee When I am banished I woold not that he which is in prosperity shoold comfort mee When I am at the hour of death I woold not that hee shoold comfort mee which is not in some suspicion of lyfe But I woold that the poore shoold comfort mee in my pouerty the sorowfull in my sorows the banyshed in my banishment and hee which is in as great daunger of his life as I am now at the poynt of death For there is no counsayle so healthfull nor true as that of the man which is in sorow when hee counsayleth an other whych is likewise tormented him self If thow consyderest well this sentence thow shalt fynd that I haue spoken a thyng very profound wherein notwithstanding my tongue is appeased For in my oppinion euill shall hee bee comforted which is weeping with him that continually laugheth I say this to the end thow know that I know it and that thou perceiue that I perceyue it And beecause thou shalt not lyue deceyued as to my frend I wil disclose the secret and thow shalt see that small is the sorow which I haue in respect of the great which I haue cause to haue For if reason had not stryued wyth sensuality the sighs had ended my lyfe and in a pond of teares they had made my graue The things which in mee thow hast seene which are to abhorre meat to banysh sleepe to loue care to bee annoyed with company to take rest in sighs to take pleasure in tears may easely declare vnto thee what torment is in the sea of my hart when such tremblings doo appeare in the earth of my body Let vs now come to the purpose and wee shall see why my body is without consolation and my hart so ouercome with sorows for my feelyng greatly exceedeth my complaynyng beecause the body is so delycat that in scratchyng it it complayneth and the hart is so stout and valiaunt that though it bee hurt yet it dyssembleth O Panutius I let thee weete that the occasion why I take death so greeuously is beecause I leaue my sonne Commodus in this life who lyueth in this age most perillous for hym and no lesse daungerous for the Empire By the flowers are the fruits knowen by the grapes the vines are knowen and by the face men are knowen by the colt the horse is iudged and by the infant youth is knowen This I say by the Prince my sonne for that hee hath been euill in my life I doo ymagyn that hee will bee woorse after my death Since thou as well as I knowst the euill condicions of my sonne why doost thou maruell at the thoughts and sorows of the father My sonne Commodus in years is yong and in vnderstanding yonger Hee hath an euill inclynation and yet hee wil not enforce him self against the same hee gouerneth him self by hys own sence and in matters of wisedome hee knoweth lytel of that hee shoold bee ignoraunt hee knoweth too much and that which is woorst of all hee ys of no man esteemed Hee knoweth nothing of things past nor occupyeth hym about any thing present Fynally for that which with myne eyes I haue seene I say and that which with in my hart I haue suspected I iudge that shortly the person of my sonne shall bee in hazard and the memory of hys father perysh O how vnkyndly haue the Gods vsed them selues toward vs to commaund vs to leaue our honor in the hands of our children for it shoold suffice that wee shoold leaue them our goods and that to our frends we shoold commyt our honor But yet I am sory for that they consume the goods in vices and lose the honor for to bee vitious The gods beeyng pityful as they are since they geeue vs the authoryty to deuyde our goods why doo they not geeue vs leaue to make our wills of the honor My sonnes name beeing Commodus in the Romayn tongue is as much to say as profyt but as hee is wee will bee content to bee without the lytle profyt which hee may doo to some so that wee may bee excused of the great domage which hee is lykely to doo to all For I suppose hee wyll bee the scourge of men and the wrath of Gods Hee entreth now into the pathway of youth alone without a guide And for that hee hath to passe by the hygh and daungerous places I feare lest hee bee lost in the wood of vices For the children of Princes and great Lords for so much as they are brought vp in lyberty wantonnes doo easely fall into vices and voluptuousnes and are most stubborn to bee wythdrawen from their folly O Panutius geue attentiue eare to that I say vnto thee Seest thow not that Commodus my sonne is at lyberty is rych is yong and is alone By the fayth of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the least of these wynds woold ouerthrow not onely a yong tender ash but also a mighty strong
onely desireth to bee a courtier that as yet hath not tasted the sweetenes and pleasure of his own house nor hath yet prooued and seen the troubles and payns of the court For hee that knoweth them sygheth when hee is called to the court and weepeth when hee is kept long there I haue studyed in tymes past in the vniuersities preached in the court praying in relygion and now I dwell vppon my byshopryck teachyng and Instructyng my dyocessans but I dare say of all these fower states recyted there is none so streight and paynfull as is to follow the court If I studyed at the vniuersyty I dyd yt of free wyll to bee wyser but onely in the court I spent my tyme to bee more woorth then I was But the greatest tyme I consumed in religyon was to say my prayers and to beewayle my greeuous synnes In the court I onely gaue my self to suspect my neyghbor and inuented to buyld great castells of wynd wyth thought in the ayer And therefore I retorn once agayn to say that it is a greater trouble to beecome a courtier then to bee a relygious person For in religion it sufficeth to obey one but in the court hee must serue all And in relygion also they are appareled wyth lesse cost and charges and to the greater contentacion of the person then they are in the court For a poore gentleman courtyer ys bound to haue more chaunge and sutes of apparell then the falcon feathers The religious persons goe allways to dynner and fynd their meat on the table ready prepared for them wythout any thought taken of their part what they shall haue but fyne courtiers many times rise out of their bed without euer a peny in their purse And allbeeit relygious persons all their lyfe take great payns in rysyng at mydnyght to serue god yet haue they great hope after their death of the heauenly rest and comfort but poore courtyers alas what should I say hard is their lyfe and more peryllous their death into greater daunger truely putteth hee hym self that beecommeth a courtyer then dyd Nasica when hee was wyth the serpent then kyng Dauid wyth the Phylistiens then the Southsayers wyth Euah then Hercules wyth Antheon then Theseus wyth the Minotawre then kyng Menelaus wyth the wylde bore then Corebus wyth the monster of the marysh and then Perseus wyth the monsterous whale of the sea For euery one of these valyaunt men were not afrayed but of one but the myserable courtyer standeth in feare of all For what is hee in court that seeyng hys neere kynsman or deerest frend more in fauor or credyt then hym self or rycher then hee that wysheth not hys frends death or at the least procureth by all means hee can hee shall not equal nor goe euen with him in credyt or reputacyon One of the woorst thyngs I consyder and see in courtyers is that they lose much tyme and profyt lyttell For the thyng wherein they spend their days and beestow the nyghts for the more part is to speak yll of those that are their betters or excell them in vertues and to vndoo those that are their equalls and compaignyons to flatter the beeloued and among the inferior sort to murmure one agaynst an other and allways to lament and sygh for the tymes past And there is nothyng that prouoketh courtyers more to complayn then the dayly desire they haue to see sundry and new alteracions of tyme. For they lyttle way the ruyn of the common weale so they may enlarge and exalt their own estates Also it is a thyng of cours in court that the reiected and fauorlesse couctyers shole togethers murmuryng at their prynces and backbytyng their councellers and offycers saying they vndoo the realme and bryng all to nought And all thys presupposed for that they are not in the lyke fauor and estimacion that they bee in whych beareth offyce and rule in the common weale And therefore when it commeth in questyon for a courtyer to aduaunce hym self and to come in credyt in the court one courtyer can scarsly euer trust an other On thother syde mee thynketh that the life of the court is not the very lyfe in deede but rather an open penaunce And therefore in my oppinion wee should not recken courtyers alyue but rather dead buryed in their lyfe For then the courtier euer fyndeth him self panged with deaths extream passions when hee perceyueth an other to bee preferred and called beefore hym Alas what great pyty it is to see a haplesse and vnfortunat courtier for hee seely soule awaketh a thowsand tymes in the nyght tosseth from syde to syde of hys bed sometyme vpright hee lyeth lamentyng his Iron happe now hee sigheth for his natiue soyle and sorroweth then for hys lost honor so that in manner hee spendeth the whole night in watch and cares imaginyng wyth him self all ways hee can to come in credyt and fauor agayn that he may attain to wealth and prefarment beefore others which maketh mee think that it is not a pain but a cruel torment no seruice but tribut not once only but euer that the body of the poore miserable courtier abideth and that in despyte of him his wretched hart dooth beare By the law of the court euery courtyer is bound to serue the kyng to accompany the beeloued of court to visit noble men to wayt vpon those that are at the prynces elbow to geeue to the vsshers to present the auditors to entertaigne the wardens and captayns of the ports to currey fauor with the herbingers to flatter the treasorers to trauayl and speak for their frends to dyssemble amongst their enemies What legges are able to doo all these things what force sufficient to abide these brunts what hart able to endure them and more ouer what purse great ynough to supply all these deuyses I am of opinion there was neuer any so foolysh nor marchaunt so couetous that hath sold hym self in any fayre or corst him self for any other marchaundise but onely the vnhappy courtier who goeth to the court to sell his lyberty for a lytle wynd and vayn smoke of the court I graunt that a courtier may haue in the court plenty of gold and siluer sumptuous apparell fauor credyt and autority yet with all this abundaunce yee can not deny mee but hee is as poore of lyberty as rych of substaunce or credyt And therefore I dare boldly say this woord agayn that for one time the courtier hath his desire in court a thowsand times they will enforce him to accomplish others desires which neither please nor lyke him Surely it commeth of a base and vyle mynd and no lesse cowardly for any man lightly to esteeme his lyberty and fondly to embrace bondage and subiection beeing at others commaundement And if the courtier woold aunswer mee to this that though hee serue yet at least hee ys in his prynces fauor I woold reply thus though hee bee in fauor with the prynce yet is hee
another beside her self for shee ceaseth not to defaÌ„e him to follow the other to rayse a sclauÌ„der amoÌ„gst her neighbors to coÌ„plaine to his freÌ„ds to bewray the matter to the iustice to quarel with officers alwayes to haue spies for hym in euery place as if hee were one of her mortal enemyes O I woold to god the courtier would as much esteeme of his coÌ„scieÌ„s as his louer maketh accoÌ„pt of his parsoÌ„ happy were hee For I dare assure him if he know it not that shee spieth out al the places hee goth so couÌ„ts euery morsel of meat hee eateth becoÌ„meth ielious of al that hee dooth of all those whose coÌ„pany hee frequeÌ„teth yea shee deuiseth imagineth all that hee thinketh So that hee that seeketh a cruel reueÌ„ge of his enemy cannot doo better theÌ„ ê‘swade induce him to loue one of these wel coÌ„ditioned womeÌ„ Now let him think that hee hath great warres that by his euil hap hath made her his enemy which heretofore hee so eÌ„tierly loued For any maÌ„ that exteemeth his honor reputacioÌ„ dooth rather feare the euil tongue of such a womaÌ„ theÌ„ the sweord of his enemy For an honest maÌ„ to striue coÌ„teÌ„d with a womaÌ„ of such quality is eueÌ„ asmuch as yf hee woold take vpon him to wash an asses head Therefore hee may not set me to make accoÌ„pt of those iniuries doon him or euel words shee hath spoken of him but rather seeke to remedy it the best hee caÌ„ that shee speak no more of him For womeÌ„ naturaly desire to enioy that persoÌ„ they loue wtout let or interruption of any to pursue to the death those they hate I woold wysh therfore the fauored of priÌ„ces such as haue office dignity in the court that they beware they incurre not into such like errors For it is not sitting that meÌ„ of honor such as are great about the prince shoold seeme to haue more lyberty in vice theÌ„ any other neither for any respect ought the beloued of the prince to dare to keepe coÌ„pany much lesse to haue freÌ„dship with any such coÌ„moÌ„ defamed womeÌ„ syth the least euel that can coÌ„e to theÌ„ they caÌ„not bee auoided But at the least hee must charge his coÌ„scieÌ„s trouble his freÌ„ds wast his goods coÌ„sume his ê‘son lose his good fame ioyning with al these also his coÌ„cubine to bee his mortal enemy For there is no womaÌ„ liuiÌ„g that hath any measure in louiÌ„g neither end in hatiÌ„g Oh how wareli ought al meÌ„ to liue specialy wee that are in the court of princes for many womeÌ„ vnder the color of their autority office goe oft tymes to seek theÌ„ in their chaÌ„bers not only as huÌ„ble suters to sollycyte theire causes but also liberaly to offer theÌ„ their ê‘soÌ„s so by that colour to coÌ„clude their practises deuyses So that the decisioÌ„ coÌ„clusioÌ„ of processe which they fain to solycite shal not goe with him that demaunds there goods of theÌ„ but rather with him that desires but their parsoÌ„s to spoile theÌ„ of their honor Now the princes officers must seeke to bee pure clene froÌ„ al these practises of these comoÌ„ struÌ„pets much more froÌ„ those that are suters to theÌ„ haue maters beefore theÌ„ For they should highly offeÌ„d god coÌ„mit great treasoÌ„ to the King if they should send those weomeÌ„ froÌ„ theÌ„ that sued vnto theÌ„ rather dishonored defamed theÌ„ honestly dispatched of their busines And therfore hee bindeth him self to a maruelous inconuenieÌ„ce that falleth in loue with a woman suter For euen froÌ„ that instant hee hath receued of her the sweete delights of loue eueÌ„ at the present hee byâ—deth him self to dispatch her quickly to end al her sutes not wtout great greefe I speake these woords There are many women that come to the court of princes to make vnreasonable dishonest sutes which in the end notwtstaÌ„ding obtaine ther desire And not for any ryght or reasoÌ„ they haue to it saue only they haue obtained that thorough the fauor and credit they haue won of the fauored courtier or of one of his beloued So as wee see it happeÌ„ many tymes that the vniust fornication made her sute iust resonable I should lye and doo my selfe wrong mee thinks yf I should passe ouer with silence a thing that happened in the emperors court touching this matter in the which I went one day to one of the princes cheefe officers best beeloued of hym to sollycyte a matter of importauÌ„ce which an hostes of myne should haue before him And so this fauored courtier great officer after hee had hard of mee the whole discourse of the matter for full resolution of the same hee axed mee yf shee were yong fayre I auÌ„swered hym that shee was reasonable fayre of good fauor Well than sayth hee bed her com to mee I wil doo the best I can to despatch her matter with speade for I wyl assure you of this that there neuer caÌ„e fayre woman to my hands but shee had her busines quickly dispatcht at my haÌ„ds I haue knowne also many womeÌ„ in the court so vnhonest that not conteÌ„ted to folow their owne matters would also deale with others affayrs gaine in soliciting their causes so that they with their fyne words franke offer of there parsons obtayned that which many tymes to men of honor great autorytye was denyed Therfor these great officers fauored of priÌ„ces ought to haue great respect not only in the coÌ„uersatioÌ„ they haue with these womeÌ„ but also in the honest order they ought to obserue in hering theyr causes And that to bee done in such sort that what so euer they say vnto theÌ„ may bee kept secret prouided also the place where they speake with them bee open for other suters in like case ¶ That the nobles beloued of princes exceede not in superfluous fare that they bee not too suÌ„ptuous in their meates A notable chapter for those that vse too much delicacye and superfluity Chap. xviii ONe of the greatest cares and regard the nature layd vpon her self was that men could not lyue wtout sustinaÌ„ce so that so long as wee see a maÌ„ eat yea if yt were a thousaÌ„d yeares wee might bee bold to say that hee is certainly alyue And hee hath not alone layd this burdeÌ„ vpon meÌ„ but on brute bests also For wee see by experience that some feedeth on the grasse in the fyelds some liues in the ayre eating flyes others vpon the wormes in carin others with that they fynd vnder the water And finally ech beast lyueth of other and afterwards the wormes feede of vs al. And not oÌ„ly reasonable meÌ„ brute beasts lyue by eating but the trees are norrished therby wee see it thus that they in stede of meat receyue into theÌ„ for nutriture the heate of the sunne the teÌ„perature of the ayre the moysture
I doe appeale thee if thou hast dreamed that thou hast wrytten I saye beleue not in dreames and if thou wylt not it shoulde auayle to glorifie me as a frende yet thou mightest wryte it aduertising and repreuing me as the father to the sonne younge vertuous persones are bounde to honour auncient wyse men and no lesse olde wyse men ought to endoctrine the younge people and very young as I am A iust thing it is that the new forces of youth supplie and serue them that are worne by age For their longe experience instructeth our tender age and naturall ignoraunce Youthe is euill applied when it aboundeth in force of the body wanteth the vertues of the mind and age is honoured wherein the force dieth outwarde whereby vertues quickeneth the more inwarde We may see the tree when the fruite is gathered the leaues fall and when flowers drie then more grene and perfecte are the rootes I meane that when the first season of youth is passed whiche is the Sommer time then commeth age called Wynter and purifieth the fruite of the fleshe and the leaues of fauour fal the flowers of delite wither and the vynes of hope drye outwarde then it is ryght that much better are the rootes of good workes within They that be olde and auncient ought to prayse their good workes rather then their white heares For honoure ought to be geuen for the good life and not for the whyte head Glorious is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is lord of young men to trauaile and auncient persones to councell As to regarde the sustaininge of the naturalitie of the lyfe in likewyse ought to be considered the policy of gouernaunce the whiche is that al the fruites come nor drye not al at once but when one beginneth another faileth And in this maner ye that be auncient teaching vs and we be obedient as olde fathers and young pullettes being in the neste of the Senate Of some their fethers fallinge and other younge fethered and where as the olde fathers can not flie their trauayles are mainteined by their tender children Frende Catullus I purposed not to wryte one lyne this yeare because my penne was troubled with thy slouthe but the weakenes of my spirite and the great peril of myne offices alwayes called on me to demaunde thy councell This priuiledge the olde wyse men holde in their houses where they dwell They are alwayes lordes ouer them that be simple and are sclaues to them that be wyse I thinke thou hast forgotten me thinking that sithe the death of my dere sonne Verissimus the time hath bene so long that I should forget it Thou hast occasion to thinke so for many thinges are cured in time which reason can not helpe But in this case I can not tell which is the greatest thy trūpery or my dolour I sweare to thee by the gods immortall that the hungry wormes are not so puissaunt in the entrales of the vnhappy chylde as the bitter sorowes are in the heauy hart of the wofull father And it is no comparison for the sonne is dead but one tyme and the heauy father dieth euery momente What wylt thou more that I should saye But that one ought to haue enuy of his death and compassion of my lyfe because in dyeng he lyueth and in the lyuing I dye In the mischaunces of lyfe and in the great vnconstancie of fortune whereas her gyles profiteth but litle and her strengthe lesse I thinke the best remedy is to fele it as a man and dissimule it as discrete and wyse If all things as they be felt at heart should be shewed outward with the tongue I thynke that the wyndes shoulde breake the hearte with syghinges and water all the earth with weping O if the corporal eyes sawe the sorowe of the heart I sweare to thee they should see more of a drop of bloud sweatinge within then all the wepyng that appeareth without There is no comparyson of the great dolours of the body to the least greife of the mynde For all trauayle of the body men may finde some remedy but if the heauy heart speake it is not heard if it wepe it is not sene if it complaine it is not beleued What shal the poore harte doe Abhorre the lyfe wherwith it dieth and desire death wherwith it liueth The highe vertues among noble vertuous people consiste not all onely to suffer the passions of the body but also to dissimule them of the soule They be suche that alter the humours and shewe it not outward they brynge a feuer without altering of the poulce they alter the stomacke they make vs to knele to the earth to suffer the water vp to the mouthe and to take death without leauing of the lyfe and finally they length our life to the intente that we should haue no more trauayle and denieth vs our graue to the intent that we should not reste But considering as I am troubled with sorowes so am I voyde of consolations for when I haue either desire of the one or werynes of the other I vse alwayes this remedy to dissimule with the tongue to wepe with the eyes and to fele it with my heart I passe my lyfe as he that hoped to lese all that he hath neuer to recouer that that is loste I saye this though ye see me not nowe make funeral wepinges and waylinges as I did at the death of my sonne yet thinke not but it doeth bren my heart so that with the great heate inward is consumed the humiditie of the eyes for it brenneth al my spirites within Thou mayest knowe what an honorable father suffereth to lese a good childe in all thinges the gods be liberal except in geuing vs vertuous children Where there is aboūdaunce of great estates there is greatest scarsitie of good inheritours It is a dolefull thing to heare and greater pitie to see howe these fathers clime to haue rychesse and to see their children descende to haue viciousnes To see the fathers honoure their children and the children to infame their fathers yea and the fathers to geue reste to the chyldren and the chyldren to geue trouble to their fathers yea and sometyme the fathers die for sorowe that their children die so sone and we see their childrē wepe because their fathers die so late What should I saye more but that the honoure and ryches that the fathers haue procured with great thought the chyldren consume with litle care I am certayne of one thing that the fathers may gather ryches with strengthe and crafte to susteyne their children but the Gods wyll not haue durable that that is begonne with euyll intention as that is whiche is wonne to the preiudice of other and possessed with an euyll heyre And though the heauy destinies of the father permit that the ryches be lefte to their children to serue them in all their vyces for their pastime at last yet according to their merites the
knewe howe small a thing it is to be hated of men and howe great a comfort to be beloued of god I sweare that you woulde not speake one worde although it were in ieste vnto men neither woulde you cease night nor day to commende your selues vnto god for god is more mercifull to succour vs then we are diligent to call vppon hym For in conclusion the fauour whiche men can giue you other men can take from you but the fauour that god will giue you no man can resiste it All those that possesse muche should vse the company of them whiche can doe muche and if it be so I let you princes wete that all men can not thynke so muche togethers as god him selfe is able to doe alone For the crie of a LyoÌ„ is more fearefull then the howling of a woulfe I confesse that princes and great lordes maye sometimes gayne and wynnne of them selfes but I aske them whose fauoure they haue neade of to preserue and kepe them we see oftentymes that in a short space many come to great authoritie the whiche neither mans wisedome suffiseth to gouerne nor yet mans force to kepe For the authoritie whiche the Romaines in sixe hundred yeares gayned fighting against the Eothes in the space of three yeares they loste We see dayly by experience that a man for the gouernement of his owne house onely nedeth the councell of his friendes and neighbours and doe princes great lordes thinke by their owne heades onely to rule and gouerne many realmes and dominions ¶ What the Philosopher Byas was of his constancie whan he lost all his goodes and of the ten lawes he gaue worthy to bée had in memorie Cap. xxi AMong all nations and sortes of men whiche auaunt them selues to haue had with them sage men the Gretians were the chiefest whiche had and thought it necessary to haue not onely wyse men to reade in their scholes but also they chose them to be princes in their dominions For as Plato saith those whiche gouerned in those daies were Philosophers or els they sayde and did like Philosophers And Laertius wryteth in his second booke De antiquitatibus Grecorum that the Gretians auaunted them selues muche in this that they haue had of all estates persons moste notable that is to wete seuen women very sage seuen Queenes very honest seuen kings very vertuous seuen Captaines very hardy seuen cities verie notable seuen buildinges very sumptuous seuen Philosophers well learned whiche Philosophers were these that folowe The first was Thales Milesius that inuented the Carde to sayle by The seconde was Solon that gaue the first lawes to the Athenians The thirde was Chilo who was in the Orient for Embassadour of the Athenians The fourth was Pittacus Quintilenus who was not only a philosopher but also Captaine of the Mitelenes The fifth was Cleobolus that descended froÌ„ the auncient linage of Hercules The sixte was Periander that long tyme gouerned the realme of Corinth The seuenth was Bias Prieneus that was prince of the Prieneans Therfore as touching Bias you muste vnderstande that when Romulus reigned at Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was great warres in Grecia betwene the Metinenses and the Prieneans and of these Prieneans Bias the philosopher was prince and Captaine who because he was sage read in the vniuersitie and for that he was hardy was chiefetaine in the warre and because he was wyse he was made a Prince and gouerned the common wealth And of this no man ought to marueile for in those dayes the Philosopher that had knowledge but in one thing was litle estemed in the common wealth After many contentions had betwene the Metâ—nenses and Prienenses a cruell battayle was fought wherof the philosopher Bias was captaine and had the victorie and it was the first battayle that euer anye Philosopher gaue in Greece For the whiche victorie Greece was proude to see that their Philosophers were so aduenturous in warres and hardy of their handes as they were profound in their doctrine and eloquente in their toungues And by chaunce one brought him a nomber of women and maydens to sell or if he listed to vse them otherwyse at his pleasure but this good philosopher did not defile them nor sell them but caused them to be apparailed and safely to be conducted to their own natiue countries And let not this liberalitie that he did be had in litle estimation to deliuer the captiues and not to defloure the virgins For many times it chaunseth that those whiche are ouercome with the weapons of the conquerours are conquered with the delightes of them that are ouercome This deede amongest the Grekes was so highly commended and likewyse of their enemies so praysed that immediatly the Metinenses sent Embassadours to demaunde peace of the Prienenses And they concluded perpetuall peace vpon condition that they shoulde make for Bias an immortall statue sith by his handes and also by his vertues he was the occasion of the peace and ending of the warres betwene them And trulye they had reason for he deserueth more prayse which wynneth the hartes of the enemies in his tentes by good example then he whiche getteth the victorie in the fielde by shedding of bloud The hartes of men are noble and we see daily that oftentyme one shal soner ouercome many by good then many ouercome one by euyll and also they saye that the Emperour Seuerus spake these wordes By goodnes the least slaue in Rome shall leade me tied with a heere whether he wyll but by euill the most puissaunt men in the worlde can not moue me out of Italy For my harte had rather be seruaunt to the good then Lorde to the euill Valerius Maximus declareth that when the citie of Priene was taken by enemies put to sacke the wyfe of Bias was slayne his children taken prysoners his goodes robbed the citie beaten downe and his house set on fire but Bias escaped safe and went to Athens In this pytiful case the good philosopher Bias was no whit the sadder but rather sang as he went by the way and when he perceiued that men marueiled at his mirthe he spake vnto them these wordes Those whiche speake of me for wantinge my citie my wife and my children and losing al that I had truly such know not what fortune meaneth nor vnderstande what philosophie is The losse of children and temporall goodes cannot be called losse if the life be safe and the renowne remaine vndefiled Whether this sentence be true or no let vs profoundly consider if the iust god suffer that this citie should come into the handes of the cruell tyrauntes then this prouision is iuste for there is no thing more conformable vnto iustice then that those whiche receyue not the doctrine of the Sages shoulde suffer the cruelties of the Tyrauntes Also thoughe my ennemies haue kylled my wyfe yet I am sure it was not withoute the determynation of the Gods who after they created her bodye immediately appoynted the
that amongest the myshappes of fortune we dare saye that ther is no felycitie in the world And he only is happie from whom wisedom hath plucked enuious aduersitie and that afterwards is brought by wisedome to the highest felycitye And thoughe I would I cannot endure any lenger but that the immortall gods haue the in their custoditye and that they preserue vs from euyl fortune Sith thou art retired now vnto Bethinie I know well thou wouldest I should write the some newes from Rome and at this presente there are none but that the Carpentines and Lusitaines are in great strife and dissension in Spayne I receiued letters how that the barbarous were quyet though the host that was in Illiria were in good case yet notwistanding the army is somwhat fearefull and timerous For in all the coaste and borders ther hath bene a great plague Pardon me my frend Pulio for that I am so sickely that yet I am not come to my selfe For the feuer quartaine is so cruel a disease that he which hath it contenteth himselfe with nothinge neither taketh pleasure in any thing I send the .ii. of the best horses that can be found in al Spayne also I send the ii cuppes of gold of the richest that can be founde in Alexandria And by the lawe of a good man I swere vnto the that I desire to sende the ii or .iii. howers of those which trouble me in my feauer quartaine My wife Faustine saluteth the and of her part and mine also to Cassia thy olde mother and noble widowe we haue vs commended Marcus the Romaine Emperour with his owne hande writeth this and againe commendeth him vnto his dere frend Pulio ¶ That princes and great Lordes ought not to esteme them selues for being fayre and wel proportioned Cap. xli .. IN the time that Iosue triumphed amongest the Hebrues and that Dardanus passed from great Grece to Samotratia and when the sonnes of Agenor were seking their sister Europe and in the time that Siculus reigned in Scicil in great Asia in the Realme of Egipt was buylded a great cytie called Thebes the which king Busiris built of whom Diodorus Sicculus at large mencioneth Plynie in the .36 chapter of his naturall historie and Homere in the second of his Iliade and Statius in al the booke of his Thebiade do declare great meruelles of this citye of Thebes which thing ought greatly to be estemed for a man oughte not to thinke that fayned whiche so excellente auctours haue writen For a truth they say that Thebes was in circuite .40 myles and that the walles were .30 stades hye and in breadthe .6 They say also that the citie had a hundreth gates very sumptuous and strong and in euery gate .ii. hundreth horsemen watched Through the middest of Thebes passed a great riuer the which by mylles and fishe dyd greatly profite the citie When Thebes was in his prosperity they say that there were two hundreth thousand fiers and besydes all this al the kynges of Egipt were buried in that place As Strabo sayth De situ orbis when Thebes was destroyed with enemies they found therin lxxvii tombes of kings whych had bene buried there And here is to be noted that al those tombes were of vertuous kings For among the Egiptians it was a law inuiolable that the king which had bene wicked in his lyfe should not be buried after his death Before the noble and worthy Numantia was founded in Europe the riche Carthage in Affricke and the hardye Rome in Italy the goodly Capua in Campaigne and the great Argentine in Germanie and the holy Helia in Palestine Thebes onlye was the most renowmed of all the world For the Thebanes amongest al nacions were renowmed aswel for their riches as for their buyldings and also because in theyr lawes customes they had many notable seuere things al the men were seuere in their workes although they would not be knowen by their extreame doinges Homere sayth that the Thebanes had v. customes wherein they were more extreme then any other nacion 1. The first was that the children drawing to v. yeres of age were marked in the forehead with a hoote yron because in what places so euer they came they should be knowen for Thebanes by that marke 2. The second was that they should accustome their children to trauaile alwayes on foote And the occasion why they dyd this was because the Egiptians kept their beastes for their gods and therfore when so euer they trauayled they neuer rydde on horsebacke because they should not seme to sitte vpon their god 3. The third was that none of the citizens of Thebes shold mary with any of straunge nacions but rather they caused them to marrye parentes with parentes because that frendes maryeng with frendes they thoughte the frendshippe and loue should be more sure 4. The fourthe custome was that no Thebane should in any wise make a house for himselfe to dwel in but first he should make his graue wherin he should be buryed Me thinketh that in this point the Thebanes were not to extreme nor excessiue but that they did lyke sage and wise men yea and by the law of veryte I sweare that they were sager then we are For if at the least we dyd imploye our thought but two howers in the weke to make our graue it is vnpossible but that we should correcte euerye daye our life 5. The fift custome was that all the boies which were excedinge faire in their face shoulde be by theym strangled in the cradell and all the girles whiche were extreame foule were by them killed sacrifised to the godds Sayeng that the gods forgotte themselues when they made the men faire and the women foule For the man which is very faire is but an vnparfite woman and the woman which is extreme foule is but a sauage and wilde beast The greatest God of the Thebaines was Isis who was a red bull nourisshed in the riuer of Nile and they had a custome that all those which had red heere immediately should be sacrifyâ—ed The contrarye they did to the beastes for sithe their God was a bul of tawnye couloure none durst be so bold to kyl any beasts of the same coloure In such fourme and maner that it was lawfull to kyll both men and women and not the brute beastes I do not say this was wel done of the Thebaines to sley their children nor yet I do say that it was wel done to sacrifice men women which had red or taunye heere nor I thinke it a thinge reasonable that they should do reuerence to the beastes of that coloure but I wonder why they should so much dispise foule women and faire men sith all the world is peopled bothe with faire and foule Then sith those barbarous lyuyng as they did vnder a false law did put him to death whom the Gods had adorned with any beautie we then which are Christians by reason ought much lesse to esteme
the beautie of the body knowing that most commonly thervpon ensueth the vnclennes of the soule Vnder the christall stone lyeth oftentimes a daungerous worme in the faier wal is nourisshed the venemous Coluber within the middell of the white tothe is ingendered great paine to the gummes in the fynest clothe the motes do most hurt and the most fruitful tree by wormes is sonest perisshed I meane that vnder the cleane bodyes faire countenaunces are hid many and abhominable vyces Truly not only to children which are not wise but to all other which are lyght and fraile beauty is nothing els but the mother of many vyces and the hinderer of all vertues Let princes and great Lords beleue me which thinke to be faire and wel disposed that where there is great aboundaunce of corporal goods and graces there ought to be great bones of vertues to be able to beare them For the moste highe trees by great windes are shaken I say that it is vanytie to be vaine glorious in any thinge of this world be it neuer so parfite and also I saye that it is a greate vanytie to be proude of the corporall beautye For amonge all the acceptable giftes that nature gaue to the mortalles there is nothinge more superfluous in man and lesse necessarie then the beautye of the body For truly whether we be faire or foule we are nothing the better beloued of God neyther thereby the more hated of men O blyndnes of the world O lyfe which neuer lyueth nor shal lyue O death which neuer hath end I know not why man through the accident of this beautye shoulde or durst take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption sith he knoweth that all the fairest and most parfitest of flesh must be sacrificed to the wormes in the graue And knowe also that all the propernes of the members shal be forfeited to the hongry wormes which are in the earth Let the great scorne the lytle asmuch as they will the faire mocke the foule at their pleasure the hole disdaine the sicke the wel made enuy the deformed the white hate the blacke and the Giantes dyspise the dwarfes yet in the end al shall haue an end Truly in myne opinion the trees beare not the more fruit for that they are streight only nor for being high neither for geuing great shadowe nor for being beautifull nor yet for being great By this comparison I meane that though a noble stout man be proper of parson and noble of linage shadowing of fauour comlye in countenaunce in renowne very high and in the common wealth puissaunt that therfore he is not the better in lyfe For truly the common wealthes are not altered by the simple labourers which trauaile in the fieldes but by the vicyous men which take great ease in their liues Vnlesse I be deceiued the swine and other beastes are fed vnder the okes with the acornes and amonge the pricking briers and thornes the swete roses do grow the sharpe beeche giueth vs the sauoury chesnutts I meane that the deformed and litle creatures oft times are most profitable in the common wealth For the lytle and sharpe countenaunces are signes of valiaunt and stout hartes Let vs cease to speake of men which are fleshely being eftsones rotten and gone and let vs talke of sumptuous buildinges which are of stone which if we should go to se what they were we may know the greatnes and the height of them Then we shal not know the maner of their beauty and that which semed to be perpetuall in shorte space we see it ende and loase the renowne in such sort that ther is neuer memory of them after Let vs also leaue the auncient buildinges and come to the buildings now a days and one shal see that there is no man that maketh a house be it neuer so strong nor so faire but liuing a lytle while he shal see the beauty therof decay For ther are a great nombre of auncient men which haue sene both the toppes of famous and stronge buyldings made also the foundacion and ground therof decayed And that this is true it appeareth manyfestly for that if the toppe decay or the walles fall or els if the tymber be weke or the ioyntes open or the windowes waxe rotten or the gates do breake the buildinges forth with do decay What shall we say of goodly haules and galleries well appointed the which within short space by coles or candels of childrē or by torches of pages or smoke of chimneys by cobwebbes of spyders become as dry foule as before they were freshe and faire Then if that be true which I haue said of these things I would now gladly know what hope man cā haue of the cōtinuaunce of his beauty since we se the like destruction of corporal beauty as of stones wood bricke and clay O vnprofitable Princes O children of vanity to folyshe hardy do you not remember that all your healthe it subiecte to sicknes as in the payne of the stomack in the heate of the lyuer in the inflamacion of the feete in the distemperaunce of humors the mocions of the ayre in the coniunctions of the Moone in the Eclipse of the sunne I say do not you knowe that you are subiect to the tedyous sommer and vntollerable winter Of a trouth I cannot tel how you can be among so many in perfections and corruptions so full of vaine glory by your beauty seing and knowinge that a litle feuer doth not only deface and marre the beauty but also maketh and couloureth the face al yelow be it neuer so wel fauoured I haue maruailed at one thing that is to wete that all men are desirous to haue all things about their body cleane their gownes brushed their coates nette the table handsome and the bedde fine and only they suffer their soules to be foule spotted and filthi I durst say and in the faith of a christian affirme that it is a great lacke of wisedome and a superfluitie of folye for a man to haue his house cleane and to suffer his soule to be corrupted I would know what preheminence they haue which are fayre aboue others to whom nature hath denyed beautye Peraduenture the beauteful man hath two soules and the defourmed creature hath but one peraduenture the most fayrest are the most healthful and the most deformed are the most sicklyest Peraduenture the most fayrest are the wysest and the most defourmed the most innocentes peraduenture the fairest are most stoute and the defourmed most cowardes peraduenture the fayre are most fortunate and the foule most vnluckyest peraduenture the fayre only are excepted from vyce and the foule depryued from vertue peraduenture those whych are fayre of ryght haue perpetuall lyfe and those whych are foule are bound to replenyshe the graue I say no certaynlye Then if this be true why do the great mocke the litle the fayre the foule the right the crooked and the whyte the blacke since they know
After that the wife doth see her louing husband in the graue I woold ask her what good could remayne with her in her house Since wee know that if her husband were good he was the hauē of al her trobles the remedy of al her necessitys the inuentour of all her pleasours the true loue of her hart the true lord of her parson and the idoll whom shee honored finally he was the faithfull steward of her house and the good father of her children and familye Whether family remayneth or not whyther children remayneth or not in the one and in the other trouble and vexation remaineth most assuredly to the poore widow If perchaunce shee remayne poore and haue no goods let euery man imagine what her life can bee For the poore miserable vnhappy woman eyther wil aduenture her parson to get or wil lose her honesty to demaund An honest woman a noble worthy womā a delicat woman a sweete woman a woman of renowme a woman that ought to maynteyne children and family ought to haue great reason to bee full of anguishe and sorow to see that if shee wil mainteyne her self which the needle shee shal not haue sufficiently to find her self bread and water If shee gaine with her bodie shee loseth her soule If shee must demaund others shee is sahamed If shee fulfill the testament of her husband shee must sell her gowns If shee will not pay his detts they cause her to be brought beefore the iudge As women naturaly are tender what hart will suffer theym to suffer such inconueniēces and what eyes can absteine to shed infinite tears If perchaūce goods doo remaine to the miserable widow she hath no litel care to keepe thē Shee is at great charges and expences to sustain and maintayn her self in long suit about her lands much trouble to augment them and in the end much sorow to depart from them For all her children and heirs doo occupy them selues more to think how they might inherit then in what sort they ought to serue her When I came to this passage a great while I kept my pen in suspence to see whither I ought to touch this matter or no that is to weete that oftentimes the poore wydows put openly the demaund of their goods and the iudges doo secretly demaund the possession of their parson So that first they doo iniury to her honor beefore they doo minister iustice to her demaunds Though perchance shee hath no child yet therfore shee remaineth not without any comfort and for that the parents of her husband doo spoyl her of her goods For in thys case their heirs often times are so disordered that for a worn cloke or for a broken shirt they trouble and sore vexe the poore wydow If perchaunce the miserable wydow haue children I say that in this case shee hath double sorow For if they are yong shee endureth much payn to bring them vp so that ech hour and moment their mothers lyue in great sorows to think onely of the lyfe and health of their children If perhaps the children are old truely the griefs whych remayn vnto them are no lesse For so much as the greatest part of them are eyther proud disobedient malycious negligent adulterers gluttons blasphemers false lyers dull headed wanting wit or sickly So that the ioy of the wofull mothers is to beewayl the death of their welbeeloued husbands and to remedy the discords of their youthfull children If the troubles which remain to the mothers with the sonnes bee great I say that those which they haue with their doughters bee much more For if the doughter bee quick of witt the mother thinketh that shee shal bee vndoon If shee bee simple shee thinketh that euery man will deceiue her If shee bee faier shee hath enough to doo to keepe her If shee bee deformed shee cannot mary her If shee bee well manered shee wil not let her go from her If shee bee euil manered shee cānot endure her If shee bee to solitary shee hath not wherewith to remedy her If shee bee dissolute shee wil not suffer her to bee punished Fynally if shee put her from her shee feareth shee shal bee sclaundeted If shee leaue her in her house shee is afrayd shee shal bee stollen What shal the wofull poore wydow doo seeing her self burdened with doughters enuironed with sonnes and neither of them of such sufficient age that there is any tyme to remedy them nor substāce to maintein them Admit that shee mary one of her sonnes and one doughter I demaund therfore if the poore widow wil leaue her care and anguish Truely I say no though shee choose rich personages and wel disposed shee cannot escape but the day that shee replenisheth her self with doughters in law the same day shee chargeth her hart with sorows trauels and cares O poore wydows deceiue not your selues and doo not immagin that hauing maried your sonnes doughters from that time forward yee shal liue more ioyful and contented For that laid aside which their nephews doo demaund them and that their sonnes in law doo rob them when the poore old woman thinketh to bee most surest the yong man shall make a claym to her goods What doughter in law is there in this world who faithfully loueth her stepmother And what sonne in law is there in the world the desireth not to bee heir to his father in law Suppose a poore widow to bee fallen sick the which hath in her house a sonne in law and that a man ask him vppon his oth which of these two things hee had rather haue either to gouern his mother in law wyth hope to heal her or to bury her with hope to inherit her goods I swear that such woold swere that hee coold reioyce more to geeue a ducket for the graue then a penny to the phisition to purge and heal her Seneca in an epistle saith that the fathers in law naturally loue their doughters in law the sonnes in law are loued of their mothers in law And for the contrary hee saith that naturally the sonnes in law doo hate their mothers in law But I take it not for a generall rule for there are mothers in law whych deserue to bee woorshipped and there are sonnes in law which are not worthy to bee beeloued Other troobles chance dayly to these poore wydows which is that when one of them hath one only sonne whom shee hath in the steed of a husband in steed of a brother in steed of a sonne shee shall see him dye whom sith shee had his lyfe in such great loue shee cannot though shee woold take his death with pacience So that as they bury the dead body of the innocent chyld they bury the lyuely hart of the wofull mother Let vs omit the sorows whych the mothers haue when their children dye and let vs ask the mothers what they feele when they are sick They will aunswer vs that always and as often tymes as their
children bee sick the death of their husbands then is renued imagining that it wil happen so vnto them as it hath doon vnto others And to say the trueth it is not maruel yf they doo fear For the vyne is in greater peril when it is budded then when the grapes are rype Other troubles oftentymes encrease to the poore widows the which amongst others this is not the least that is to weete the lytle regard of the frends of her husband and the vnthankfulnes of those which haue been brought vp wyth him The which since hee was layd in his graue neuer entred into the gates of his house but to demaund recompence of their old seruices and to renew and beegin new suits I woold haue declared or to say better breefly touched the trauels of wydows to perswade princes that they remedy them and to admonish iudges to heare them and to desire all vertuous men to comfort them For the woork of it self is so godly that hee deserueth more whych remedyeth the troubles of one only then I which write their miseries all together ¶ Of a letter whych the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote to a Romayn Lady named Lauinia comforting her for the death of her husband Cap. xxxvii MArcus of mount Celio Emperor of Rome cheef consull tribune of the people high Bishop appointed against the Daces wisheth health and comfort to thee Lauinia noble and woorthy Romayn matron the late wyfe of the good Claudinus According to that thy person deserueth to that which vnto thy husband I ought I think well that thou wilt suspect that I way thee litle for that vnto thy great sorows complaints lamentacions are now aryued my negligent consolaciōs When I remēber thy merits which can not fail imagin that the wilt remember my good will wherwith always I haue desired to serue thee I am assured that if thy suspitiō accuse mee thy vertu and wisedome will defend mee For speaking the trueth though I am the last to comfort thee yet I was the first to feele thy sorows As ignoraunce is the cruell scourge of vertues and spurre to all vyces so it chaunceth oft times that ouer much knowlege putteth wise men in doubt sclaundereth the innocent For asmuch as wee see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome are those which fall into most perilous vices Wee fynd the latins much better with the ignoraunce of vyces then the Greekes with the knowledge of vertues And the reason hereof is for that of things which wee are ignorant wee haue no payn to attayn vnto them and lesse grief also to lose them My intention to tell thee this was because I knew that which I woold not haue known and haue hard that which I woold not haue hard that is to weete that the days and troubles of Claudinus thy husband are ended now thy sorows Lauinia his wife doo begin It is now a good whyle that I haue known of the death of the good Claudinus my frend thy husband though I did dissemble it And by the god Mars I swere vnto thee that it was not for that I woold not beewayl him but because I woold not discōfort thee For it were extreme cruelty that shee which was so comfortlesse sorowful for the absence of so long time shoold bee killed with my hand through the knowledge of the death of her so desired husband It were to vnkynd vnseemly a thing that shee of whom I haue receiued so many good woorks shoold receiue of mee so euil news The auncients of Carthage held for an inuiolable law that if the father did tel the death of his sonne or the sonne the death of the father or the woman the death of her husband or the husband the death of his wife or any other semblable woful lamentable death that hee shoold bee cast into the prison among them which were condemned to dye It seemed to those of Carthage that hee which sayd vnto an other that his brother kinsman or frend was dead immediatly they shoold kil him or hee ought to dye or at the least hee shoold neuer bee seene in his presence If in this case the law of the Carthagians was iust then I ought to bee excused though I haue not told thee this heauy news For as oft as wee see him who hath brought vs any euill tydings our sorows by his sight is renued agayn Since Claudinus thy husband dyed I haue not had one hower of rest for to passe thy tyme away for feare lest such woful sorowful news shoold come to thy knowlege But now that I know thou knowst it I feele double payn For now I feele his death my care and thy want of consolation the domage by his death shal folow to the romayn Empire Thou hast lost a noble Romayn valyant in blood moderat in prosperityes pacient in aduersities coragious in dangers diligent in affaires wyse in counsels faithful to his frends subtill ware of his enemies a louer of the common wealth very honest in his person aboue all whereof I haue most enuy is that hee neuer offended man in his life nor hurt any with his tong Wee fynd seldom times so many vertues assembled in one man For saying the trueth if a man did narowly examin the vyces of many which presume to bee very vertuous I swere that hee shoold fynd more to reproue then to praise Since thou hast lost so good a husband I so faithful a frend wee are bound thou to beewayl so great a losse I to sigh for so good a cōpanion And this I doo not desire for Claudine who now resteth among the gods but for vs others which remayn in danger of so many euils For the dead doo rest as in the sure hauen wee others doo saile as yet in raging sea O thou heauy hart how doo I see thee beetweene the bell the clappers that is to weete that thou wantest the company of the good art enuironed with the flock of euil For the which occasion I doubt often times whether I may first bewaill the euil which liue or the good which are dead beecause in the end the euill men doo offend vs more which wee fynd then dooth the good men which wee lose It is a great pity to see the good vertuous men dye but I take it to bee more sorow to see the euill vicious men liue As the diuine Plato saith the gods to kill the good which serue them to geeue long life to the euill which offend them is a mistery so profound that dayly wee doo lament it and yet wee can neuer attayn to the secrets therof Tell mee I pray thee Lauinia knowst thou not now that the gods are so merciful with whom wee go when wee dye that men are so wicked with whom wee bee whiles wee liue that as the euill were born to dye so the good dye to lyue for the good man though hee
mother in the chariot to the temple So after that the feast was ended the mother not knowyng how to requite the benefite of her children with many teares beesought the goddesse Iuno that shee with the other gods woold bee contented to geeue her .ii. children the best thing that the gods coold geeue to their frends The goddesse Iuno aunswered her that shee was contented to require the other gods and that they woold doo it And the reward was that for this noble fact the gods ordeyned that Cleobolus and Biton shoold sleepe one day well and in the morning when they shoold wake they shoold dye The mother pitifully beewayling the death of her children and complaining of the gods the goddesse Iuno sayd vnto her Thou hast no cause why to complayn sins wee haue geeuen thee that thou hast demaunded and hast demaunded that which wee haue geeuen thee I am a goddesse and thou art my seruaunt therefore the gods haue geeuen to thy children the thing which they count most deare which is death For the greatest reuenge which amongst vs gods wee can take of our enemies is to let them liue long and the best thing that wee keepe for our frends is to make them dye quickly The auctor of this history is called Hisearchus in his politikes and Cicero in his first book of his Tusculanes In the I le of Delphos where the Oracle of the god Apollo was there was a sumptuous temple the which for want of reparacion fell down to the ground as often times it chaunceth to high sumptuous buyldings which from tyme to tyme are not repayred For if the walles dungeons castels and strong houses coold speak as well woold they complayn for that they doo not renew them as the old men doo for that wee doo not cherish them Triphon and Agamendo were two noble personages of Greece and counted for sage and rich men the which went vnto the temple of Apollo and buylt it new agayn as well with the labor of their persons as with the great expenses of their goods When the buylding was atchiued the god Apollo said vnto them that hee remembred well their good seruice wherefore hee woold they shoold demaund him any thing in reward of their trauail and with a good will it shoold bee graunted For the gods vse for a little seruice to geeue a great reward Triphon and Agamendo aunswered vnto the god Apollo that for their good will for their trauell and for their expenses they demaunded no other reward but that it woold please him to geeue them the best thing that might bee geeuen vnto man and that vnto them were most profit saying that the miserable men haue not the power to eschew the euill nor wisedom to choose the good The god Apollo aunswered that hee was contented to pay them their seruice which they had doon and to grant them that which they had demaunded By reason whereof Triphon and Agamendo hauing dyned sodeinly at the gates of the temple fell down dead So that the reward of their trauell was to pluck them out of their misery The end to declare these two examples is to th end that al mortal men may know that there is nothing so good in this world as to haue an end of this lyfe and though to lose it there bee no sauor yet at the least ther is profit For wee woold reproue a traueler of great foolishnes if sweating by the way hee woold sing and after at his iorneys end hee shoold beegin to weepe Is not hee simple which is sory for that hee is comen into the hauen is not hee simple that geeueth the battell and fighteth for that hee hath got the victory Is not hee stubbern which is in great distresse and is angry to bee succored Therefore more foolish simple and stubbern is hee which traueleth to dye and is loth to meet with death For death is the true refuge the perfect health the sure hauen the whole victory the flesh wythout bones fysh wythout scales and corne without straw Fynally after death wee haue nothing to beewail and much lesse to desire In the tyme of Adrian the emperor a philosopher called Secundus beeing marueilously learned made an oration at the funerall of a noble Romayn matrone a kinswoman of the emperors who spake exceeding much euill of lyfe marueilous much good of death And when the emperor demaunded him what death was the philosopher answered Death is an eternal sleepe a dissolucion of the body a terror of the rich a desire of the poore a thing inheritable a pilgrymage vncertain a theef of men a kynde of sleaping a shadow of lyfe a seperacion of the lyuing a company of the dead a resolution of all a rest of trauels and the end of all ydle desires Fynally death is the scourge of all euyll and the cheef reward of the good Truely this philosopher spake very well hee shoold not doo euill which profoundly woold consider that hee had spoken Seneca in an epistle declareth of a philosopher whose name was Bassus to whom when they demaunded what euil a man can haue in death since men feare it so much hee aunswered If any domage or fear is in him who dyeth it is not for the fear of death but for the vyce of him which dieth Wee may agree to that the philosopher sayd that euen as the deaf can not iudge harmony nor the blynd colours so lykewise they cannot say euill of death in especially hee which neuer tasted it For of all those which are dead none returned again to complayn of death and of these few that lyue all complayn of lyfe If any of the dead returned hyther to speak with the liuing and as they haue proued it so they woold tel vs. If there were any harm in secret death it were reason to haue some fear of death But though a man that neuer saw hard felt nor tasted death dooth speak euil of death shoold wee therefore fear death Those ought to haue doon some euil in their life whych doo fear and speak euill of death For in the last hour in the streight iudgement the good shal bee knowen and the euill discouered There is no prince nor knight rich nor poore whole nor sick lucky nor vnlucky whych I see with their vocacions to bee contented saue only the dead which in their graues are in peace and rest and are neyther couetous proud negligent vayn ambitious nor dissolute So that the state of the dead ought to bee best since wee see none therin to bee euil contented And since therefore those which are poore doo seeke wherewith to enrich them selues those which are sad doo seeke wherby to reioice and those which are sick doo seeke to bee healed why is it that those which haue such fear of death doo seeke some remedy against that fear In this case I woold say that hee which will not fear to dye let him vse him self well to liue For the giltles
oke Ryches youth pride and lyberty are fower plagues which poison the prince replenysh the common wealth with filth kill the lyuing and defame the dead Let the old men beeleeue mee and the yong men mark well what I say that where the gods haue geeuen many gyfts it is necessary they haue many vertues to susteyn them The gentle the peaceable the couÌ„terfait the simple and the fearful doo not trouble the common wealth but those whoÌ„ nature hath geeuen most gyfts For as experience teacheth vs with the fayrest weomen the stews are furnyshed the most proper personages are vnshamefast the most stout and valiaunt are murderers the most subtill are theeues and men of clearest vnderstanding oft times beecome most fooles I say and say again I affirm and affirm agayn I sweare and sweare agayn that if two men which are adorned with naturall gyfts doo want requisyt vertues such haue a knife in their hands wherewith they doo strike and wound them selues a fyer on their shoulders wherewith they burn them selues a rope at their necks to hang them selues a dagger at their breast wherewyth they kyll them selues a thorn in their foote wherewith they prick them selues and stones whereat they stumble so that stumbling they fall and falling they fynd them selues with death whom they hate and without lyfe which so much they loued Note well Panutius note that the man which from his infancy hath always the feare of the gods beefore his eyes and the shame of men sayeth trouth to all and lyueth in preiudice to none and to such a tree though euil fortune doo cleaue the flower of his youth doo wither the leaues of their fauors drye they gather the fruits of hys trauailes they cut the bough of hys offices they bow the highest of his braunches downwards yet in the end though of the winds hee bee beaten hee shall neuer bee ouercome O happy are those fathers to whom the Gods haue geeuen quick children wyse faire able lyght and valiaunt but all these gifts are but means to make them vicious And in such case if the fathers woold bee gouerned by my counsayl I woold rather desire that members shoold want in them then that vyces shoold abound Of the most fairest chyldren which are born in the Empire my sonne Commodus the Prince is one But I woold to the immortal gods that in face hee resemble the blackest of Ethiope in maners the greatest philosopher of Greece For the glory of the father is not nor ought not to bee in that his childe is faire of complexion and handsome of person but that in his lyfe hee bee very vpryght Wee will not call hym a pytifull father but a great enemy who exalteth foorth his childe for that hee is faire and dooth not correct him though hee bee vicious I durst say that the father which hath a chyld endued with many goodly gyfts and that hee dooth employ them all to vices such a chyld ought not to bee born in the world and if perchaunce he were born hee ought immediatly to bee buried ¶ The Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth his matter and sheweth that sundry yong princes for beeing vicious haue vndoone them selues and impoueryshed their Realmes Cap. liij O What great pyty is it to see how the father buyeth his chyld of the gods with sighs how the mother deliuer them with payn how they both nourish them with trauailes how they watch to susteyn them how they labor to remedy them and afterwards they haue so rebelled and bee so vicious that the myserable fathers oftentimes doo dye not for age but for the greeues wherewith their children torment theÌ„ I doo remember that the prince CoÌ„modê° my sonne beeing yong I aged as I am with great payns wee kept him froÌ„ vices but I fear that after my deth hee wil hate vertues I remeÌ„ber many yong princes which of his age haue enherited theÌ„pire of Rome who haue beene of so wicked a life that they haue deserued to lose both honor and life I remember Dennis the famous tyraunt of Scicil of whom is sayed that as great reward hee gaue to those that inuented vices as our mother Rome dyd to those which conquered realmes Such woork could not bee but of a Tyrant to take them for most famyliar which are most vicious I remember fower yong princes which gouerned the empire but not with such valyauntnes as the great Alexander that is to weete Alexander Antiochus Siluius and Ptholomeus to whom for their vanyty and lightnes as they called Alexander the great Emperour in Greece so likewise doo they call these yong men tiraunts in Asia Very happy was Alexander in life they vnhappy after his death For all that which with glorious triumphs hee wanne with vile vices they lost So that Alexander deuided between them fower the world and afterwards it came into the hands of mo then fower hundreth I doo remember that kyng Antigonus litle exteemed that which cost his lord Alexander much Hee was so lyght in the beehauior of his person and so defamed in the affaires of the common wealth that for mockry and contempt in the steede of a crown of gold hee bare a garland in the steede of a scepter hee caryed neitels in hys hand of this sort and maner hee sat to iudge among his counsailours and vsed to talk with straungers This yong prince dooth offend mee much for the lightnes hee coÌ„mitted but much more I marueyl at the grauity of the sages of Greece which suffred him It is but meete hee bee partaker of the payn which condescended to the fault I doo remember Calligulus the fowerth Emperour of Rome who was so yong and foolysh that I doubt of these two thyngs which was greatest in his time That is to weete the dysobedyence which the people beare to their lord or the hate which the lord beare to hys people For that vnhappy creature was so dysordered in his maners that if all the Romayns had not watched to take life from him hee woold haue watched to take life from them This Caligula ware a brooche of gold in his cap where in were writen these woords Vtinam omnis populus vnam precise ceruicem haberet vt vno ictu omnes necarem Whych is to say woold to god all the people had but one neck to the end I might kyll them all at a stroke I remember the Emperour Tiberius thadoptiue sonne of the good Cesar Augustus whych was called Augustus beecause hee greatly augmented the empire But the good Emperour did not so much augment the state of hys common wealth duryng hys lyfe as Tiberius dyd dymynish it after hys death The hate and mallyce which the Romayn people bare to Tiberius in hys lyfe was manyfestly dyscouered after the tyme of hys death For the day that Tiberius dyed or better to say when they kylled him the Romayn people made great processyons and the Senators offred great presents to the Temples and the priests
gaue great sacrifyces to their Gods and all to the end their Gods shoold not receyue the soule of thys tiraunt amongst them but that they woold send it to bee kept among the furies of hell I remember Patrocles second kyng of Corinthe inheryted the realme at two twenty years of his age who was so dysordered of hys flesh so vndyscreete in hys doings so couetous of goods and such a coward of hys person that where hys father had possessed the realme forty yeares the sonne dyd not possesse it thyrty moneths I remember Tarquine the proud who though among eyght knyghts of Rome was the last and comlyest of gesture valyaunt in armes noblest of blood and in geeuyng most lyberall yet hee employed all hys gyfts and graces which the Gods had geeuen hym euyll For hee employed hys bewty to ryot and hys forces to tyranny For through the treason and vyllany whych hee commytted with the Romayn Lucretia hee dyd not onely lose the realme and flying saued hys lyfe but allso for euer was banyshed and all hys lynage likewise I remember the cruell emperor Nero who lyued enherited and dyed yong and not without a cause I say that hee lyued and dyed yong For in him was graffed the stock of the noble and worthy Cesars and in him was renewed the memory of those Tyraunts To whom thinkest thou Panutius this tiraunt woold haue geeuen lyfe since hee with his own hands gaue his mother her death Tel mee I pray thee who thinkest thou hath made that cursed hart who slew hys mother out of whose womb hee came opened her breasts which gaue hym suck shed the blood whereof hee was born tore the armes in which hee was caryed saw the intrails wherein hee was formed The day that the emperour Nero slew his mother an orator said in the senat Iure interficienda erat Agrippina que tale portentum peperit in populo romano Which is to say iustly deserued Agrippina to bee put to death which brought foorth so straunge a monster amongst the Romayn people Thou oughtst not therefore to marueil Panutius at the nouelties whych thou hast seene in mee for in these three days that I haue beene troubled in my mynd and altered in my vnderstandyng all these things are offred vnto mee and from the botom of my hart I haue digested them For the carefull men are not blynded but with their own ymaginacions All these euil condicions which these Princes had scattered amongst them of whom I haue spoken doo meete togethers in my sonne Commodus For if they were yong hee is yong If they were rych hee is rych If they were free hee is free If they were bold hee is bold If they were wilde hee is wilde If they were euill certaynly I doo not think that hee is good For wee see many yong princes which haue been well brought vp and well taught yet when they haue inherited and come to their lands they beecome immediatly vitious and dissolute What hope haue wee of those which from their infancy are dissolute and euill enclined of good wyne I haue made oft times strong vineger but of pure vineger I haue neuer seene good wine This childe keepeth mee beetwene the sayles of feare the anker of hope hopyng hee shal bee good since I haue taught him wel fearing hee shall bee euill beecause his mother Faustine hath norished him euil And that which ys the woorst that the yong childe of his own nature is inclined to al euil I am moued to say this much for that I see his naturall inclinacion increase and that which was taught him dimynish for the which occasyon I doubt that after my death my sonne shal return to that wherin his mother hath norished him not to that wherein I haue taught him O how happy had I been if neuer I had had childe for not to be boūd to leaue him thempire for I woold chose then among the children of the good fathers woold not bee bound to such a one whom the gods haue geeuen mee One thing I ask thee Panutius whom wooldst thou cal most fortunat Vespasian which was naturall father of Domitius or Nerua the adopted father of the good Traiane both those two Vespasian Nerua were good princes but of children Domitian was the head of al mischief Traiane was the mirrour of al goodnes So that Vespasian in that hee had children was vnhappy Nerua in that hee had none was most fortunat One thing I wil tel thee Panutius the which by thee considered thou wylt litle esteeme life and shalt lose the feare of death I haue lyued lxii years wherein I haue read much hard much sene desired attained possessed suffred I haue much reioysed my self And in the end of al this I see my self now to dye and I must want my pleasures and my self allso Of all that I haue had possessed attained whereof I haue enioyed I haue only two things to weete payn for that I haue offended the gods and sorow for the time which I haue wasted in vices There is great difference beetweene the rych and the poore in death and more in lyfe For the poore dyeth to rest but yf the rich dye it is to their great payn So that the gods take from the one that which hee had putteth the other in possession of that hee desired Great care hath the hart to seeke the goods and they passe great troubles to heap vp them togethers and great diligence must bee had in keeping them and also much wyt to encrease them but without comparison it is greater grief to depart from them O what payn intollerable and grief it is to the wise man seeing hym self at the poynt of death to leaue the swet of his famyly the maiesty of his empire the honor of his present the loue of his frends the payment of his debts the deserts of his seruaunts and the memory of hys predecessours in the power of so euill a chyld the which neither deserueth it nor yet wil deserue it In their table of our auncyent laws were writen these woords Wee ordeyn and commaund that the father which shall bee good according to the oppinion of all may disheryt his sonne who according to the opinion of all is euill The law sayd further The chyld which hath dysobeyed hys father robbed any holy Temple iniuryed any wyddow fled from any battaile and committed any treason to a straunger that hee shoold bee banished from Rome and dysenherited from his fathers goods Truely the law was good though by our offences it bee forgotten If my breath fayled mee not as it dooth fayle mee for of trouth I am greatly payned I woold declare vnto thee how many Parthes Medians Egiptians Assirians Caldeans Indians Hebrues Greekes and Romains haue left their children poore beeing able to haue left them rych for no other cause but for that they were vicious And to the contrary other beeyng poore haue left them rych