but without comparison the gods whom they worshipped and inuented were greater in multitude then the Realmes and Prouinces which they conquered and possessed For by that folly the auncient Poets durst affirme in their writings that the Gods of one Nation and Country were mortall enemies vnto the Gods of another Prouince So that the Gods of Troy enuied the Gods of Greece more then the Prince of Greece enuied the Prince of Troy What a strange thing was it to see the Assyrians in what reuerence they worshipped the God Belus The Egyptians the God Apis. The Caldeans the God Assas The Babilonians the deuouring Dragon The Pharaones the statue of gold The Palestines Belzebub The Romans honoured the God Iupiter The Affricans the God Mars The Corinthians the God Apollo The Arabians God Astaroth The Arginians the Sun Those of Acaia the Moone The Cidonians Belphegorn The Amonites Balim The Indians Baccus The Lacedemonians Osiges The Macedonians did sacrifice to Mercurie The Ephesians to their goddesse Diana The Greekes to Iuno The Armenians to Liber The Troians to Vesta The Latines to Februa The Tarentines to Ceres The Rhodians as sayth Apolonius Thianeus worshipped the God Ianus and aboue all things wee ought to maruell at this That they striued oftentimes amongst themselues not so much vpon the possessions and seignories of Realmes as vpon a certaine obstinacie they had to maintaine the Gods of the one to bee of greater power then the others for they thought if their gods were not esteemed that the people should be empouerished vnfortunate and persecuted Pulio in his second booke De dissolatione regionum Orientarum declareth that the first Prouince that rebelled against the Emperour Helius Adrianus which was the fifteenth Emperour of Rome was the land of Palestine against which was sent a Captaine named Iulius Seuerus a man of great courage and very fortunate and aduenturous in Armes This Captaine did not onely finish the warres but hee wrought such an outragious destruction in that land that he besieged 52. Cities and razed them to the ground and burned 680. Villages and slew so many in battell skirmish and by Iustice that amounted to the number of 5000. persons For vnto the proud and cruell Captaines victory can neuer bee glorious vnlesse they water the ground with the bloud of their enemies And furthermore in the Cities and Townes besieged the children olde men and women which dyed through hunger and pestilence were more in number then those which were slaine in the wars For in wars the sword of the enemies lighteth not vpon all but pestilence and famine hath no respect to any After this warre of the Palestines was ended immediately after arose a more crueller betwixt the Alleynes and Armenians For there are many that see the beginning of the troubles and miseries which arise in Realmes but there are few that consider the end and seeke to remedie the same The occasion of this warre was as they came to the feast of the Mount Olimpus they fell in disputations whether of their Gods were better and which of them ought to bee preferred before other Whereof there sprang such contradictions and such mortall hatred that on euery part they were furiously moued to warres and so vnder a colour to maintaine the gods which they honoured both the common wealthes were brought into great pouerty and the people also into great misery The Emperour Helius Adrianus seeing such cruell warres to arise vpon so light occasion sent thither the Captaine aboue named Iulius Seuerus to pacifie the Allaines and Armenians and commaunded him that he should persecute those with warres which would not be ruled by his arbitremēt sentence For those iustly deserue the sword which with no reasonable conditions will condiscend vnto peace But Iulius Seuerus vsed such policy that he made thē good friends and neuer touched them nor came neare them Which thing was no lesse acceptable to the Emperour then profitable to the Realmes For the Captaine which subdueth the Country by entreatie deserueth more honor then he which ouercommeth it by battell The agreement of the peace was made vpon such condition that the Allaines should take for their Gods the Armenian Gods and the Armenians on the contrary the Gods of the Allaines And further when the people should embrace and reconcile themselues to the Senate that then the Gods should kisse the one the other and to be reconciled to the temple The vanity of the Ancients was such and the blindnesse of mortall men so great so subiect were they to diuelish deuises that as easily as the eternall wisedome createth a true man now a dayes so easily then a vain man might haue inuented a false God For the Lacedemonians had this opinion that men had no lesse power to inuent gods then the gods had to create men CHAP. V. How the Philosopher Bruxellus was greatly esteemed amongst the Ancients for his life and the words which hee spake vnto the Romanes at the houre of his death PHarasmaco in his 20 booke De libertate Deorum whereof Cicero maketh mētion in his booke De natura Deorum sayth that when the Gothes tooke Rome and besieged the high Capitoll there came amongst 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 Philosophers this Bruxellus was had in great veneration amongst all the Romanes so that hee was the first stranger of whom being aliue a statue was euer made in the Senate the Romanes vsed to make a statue of the Romanes being aliue but not to strangers till after their death The age of this Bruxellus was 113. whereof 65. hee had been an inhabitant of Rome And among other things they recite 7. notable things of his life 1 The first that in 60. yeeres no mā euer saw him issue out of the wals of Rome For in the olde time the Sages were little esteemed if in their behauiours they were not iust and vpright 2 The second that in 60. yeares no man heard him speake an idle word For the words that are superfluous doe greatly deface the authoritie of the person 3 The third that in all his time they neuer saw him lose one houre of time For in a wise man there is no greater folly then to see him spend a moment of an houre idely 4 The fourth that in all his time hee was neuer detected of any vice And let no man thinke this to bee a small matter For few are they of so long life which are not noted of some infamy after their death The fifth that in all the 60. years he neuer made quarrell nor striued with any man and this thing ought to be no lesse esteemed then the other For truly hee that liueth a long time without offering wrong to another may be called a monster in nature 6 The sixt that in 3. or 4. yeares hee neuer issued out of the
defile them nor sell them but caused them to bee apparrelled and safely to bee conducted to their owne natiue Countries And let not this liberty that he did be had in litle estimation to deliuer the captiues and not to defloure the virgins For many times it chaunceth that those which are ouercome with the weapons of the Conquerours are conquered with the delights of them that are ouercome This deede amongst the Greekes was so highly commended and likewise of their enemies so praysed that immediatly the Metinences sent Ambassadors to demaund peace of the Prienenses And they concluded together a perpetuall peace vpon condition that they should make for Bias an immortall Statue sith by his hands and also by his vertues hee was the occasion of the peace and ending of the wars betweene them And truely they had reason for hee deserueth more prayse which winneth the hearts of the enemies in his tents by good example then hee which getteth the victory in the field by shedding of bloud The hearts of men are noble and wee see dayly That oftentimes one shal sooner ouercome many by good then many ouercome one by euill And also they say that the Emperour Seuerus spake these words By goodnesse the least slaue in Rome shall leade mee tyed with a hayre whether hee will but by euill the most puissant man in the world cannot moue mee out of Italy For my heart had rather bee seruant to the good then Lord to the euill Valerius Maximus declareth that when the City of Priene was taken by enemies and put to sacke the wife of Bias was slaine his children taken prisoners his goods robbed the City beaten downe and his house set on fire but Bias escaped safe and went to Athens In this pittifull case the good Philosopher Bias was no whit the sadder but rather sang as he went by the way and when hee perceyued that men maruelled at his mirth hee spake vnto them these words Those which speake of mee for wanting my City my wife and my children and loosing all that I had truely such know not what Fortune meaneth nor vnderstand what Philosophie is The losse of children and temporall goods cannot bee called losse if the life bee saued and the renowne remaine vndefiled Whether this sentēce be true or no let vs profoundly consider if the iust God suffer that this City should come into the hands of the cruell Tyrants then this prouision is iust For There is nothing more conformable vnto Iustice then that those which receiue not the Doctrine of the Sages should suffer the crueltite of the Tirants Also though my enemies haue killed my wife yet I am sure it was not without the determination of the Gods who after they had created her body immediately appointed the end of her life Therfore why shuld I bewayle her death since the Gods haue lent her life vntill this day The great estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death seemeth vnto vs sodayne and that the life vnwares with death is ouertaken but these are words of the children of vanitie for that by the will of the Gods death visiteth vs and against the willes of men life for saketh vs. Also my Children bee vertuous Philosophers and albeit they be now in the hands of tirants we ought not therefore to call them captiues for a man may not call him a captiue which is laden with yrons but him which is ouerwhelmed with vices And although the fire haue burnt my house yet I know not why I ought to be sad for of truth it was now olde and the winde did blowe downe he tiles the wormes did waste the wood and the waters that ranne downe perished the walles and it was olde and like to fall and perchaunce would haue done greater displeasure For most commonly enuie malice and old houses suddenly without any warning or knocking at the dore assaulteth men Finally there came the fire which quited mee of many troubles First of the trouble that I should haue had in repayring ◠Secondarily it saued mee money in plucking it downe Thirdly it saued me and mune heyres frō much cost and many daungers For ofentimes that which a man consumeth in repayring an old house would with aduantage buy him a new Also those which say that for the taking away of my goods I lacke the goods of Fortune such haue no reason so thinke or say for fortune neuer giueth temporall goods for a proper thing but to those whom shee list when shee will dispose them therefore when Fortune seeth that those më whom shee hath appointed as her distributers do hoarde vp the same to them and to theyr heyres then shee taketh it from them to giue it to another Therfore by reason I should not complaine that I haue lost any thing for Fortune recommendeth vnto any other the temporall goods but I carrie patience 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 fifth booke of the sayings of the Gretians That this Byas determined to goe to the Playes of the Mount Olympus wherevnto resorted people of all Nations and he shewed himselfe in this place of so high an vnderstanding that hee was counted supreame and chiefe of all Phylosophers and wonne the name of a true Phylosopher Other Philosophers then being in the same Playes called Olymp calles asked him many questions of diuerse and sundry matters where of I will make mention here onely of some of the chiefest The Questions demaunded of the Phylosopher Byas THE first Question was this Tell mee who is the vnhappiest man in the Worlde Byas answered Hee is most vnhappie that is not patient in aduersitie For men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impatience which they suffer The second was What is most hardest and most troublesome to iudge He aunswered There is nothing more difficult then to iudge a contention betwixt two Friends For to iudge between two enemyes the one remaineth a Friende but to iudge betweene two Friendes the one is made an enemie The third was What is most hardest to measure Wherevnto Byas answered There is nothing that needeth more circumspections then the measuring of Time For the Time should bee measured so iustly that no Time should want to doe well nor any time should abound to doe euill The fourth was What thing is that which needeth no excuse in the accomplishment thereof Byas answered The thing that is promised must of necessitie be performed For otherwise hee that doth loose the credite of his word should lose more then he that should lose the promise to him made The fifth was What thing that is wherein the men as well good as euill should take care Then Byas answered Men ought not in any thing to take so great care as in seeking counsell and counsellours For the prosperous Times cannot bee maintained nor the multitude of enemyes
Knights Companions in warre most thankefully I accept your seruice in that you haue solde your goods and do offer your liues here to accompany mee in the warres and herein you shew your duties for of right you ought to loose your goods and to venture your liues for the defence and surety of your Country But if I giue you some thanks for your company know you that I giue much more for your good counsell which presently you giue me for in great conflicts seldome is found together both good counsell and stout hearts If I haue enterprised this battell in hope of mans power then you had had reason that wee should not giue the battell seeing the great multitude that they haue and the small number that wee are for as you say the weighty affayres of the publike weale should not vnaduisedly bee committed to the incertainety of Fortune I haue taken vpon mee this daungerous and perillous warres first trusting that on my part iusticeremaineth and sith God is the same onely iustice I trust assuredly hee will giue mee the victory in this perillous conflict For iustice auayleth Princes more that they haue then the men of warre doe which they lead Wherfore sith my cause is iust and that I haue God the onely Iudge therof on my side me thinketh if for any worldly feare I should cease to giue the battell I should both shew my selfe to be a Prince of small faith and also blaspheme God saying hee were of small iustice For God sheweth most his power there where the frailenesse of man hath least hope Then sith I beginne the warre and that by mee the warre is procured and for mee you are come to the warre I haue determined to enter into the battell and if I perish therein I shall bee sure it shall bee for the memory of my person and the saluation of my Soule For to dye through iustice is not to dye but to change death for life And thus doing if I lose my life yet therefore I lose not my honour and all this considered I doe that which for the Common-wealth I am bound For to a Prince it were great infamy and dishonour that the quarrell being his owne should by the bloud of others be reuenged I will proue this day in battell whether I was chosen Emperour by the diuine will or not For if God this day causeth my life to bee taken frō me it is a manifest token he hath a better in store for me and if through his mercy I be preserued it signifieth that for some other better thing he granteth me life For in the end the sword of the enemy is but the scourge of our offences The best that I see therefore in this matter to bee done is that till three dayes be passed the battell bee not giuen and that wee confesse our selus this night in the morning prepare our selus to receiue our Redeemer and besides this that euery man pardon his Christian brother if he haue had any wrong or iniury done him for oft times though the demaund of the war bee iust yet many mishaps befall therein through the offences of those which pursue follow the same After that three dayes are past each thing according to my sayings before accomplished in euery point as behoueth then let God dispose all things as hee shall see good for now I am fully determined to aduenture my life in battell Wherefore my valiant and stout warriours doubt not at all for this day I must eyther vanquish mine enemies or else suffer death and if I dye I doe that which needes I must Wherefore I will now cease to exhort you any more desiring you to consider that whereunto your duties leadeth you remembring that you are come as knights and in the defence of your Country you wage battell for now we are come to that pinch that deedes must more auaile vs then words for peace ought to be maintained by the tongue but wars ought to be atchieued by sword Al these words then ended and three dayes past the Emperour in person gaue the battell where the conflict slaughter on both sides was very terrible yet in the end the Emperour Gracian had the victory ouer his enemies and there dyed in that conflict 30. thousand Gothes and Almaines and of the Romanes there were not slaine but fiue thousand For that Army only is preserued which to the diuine will is conformable Let all other Princes take example by this noble Prince let thē cōsider how it behoueth thē to be good Christians and that in great warres and conflicts they neede not feare the great number of their enemies but they ought greatly to see that the wrath of God bee pacified For the heart is more dismaied with the secret sinnes then it is feared with the open enemies CHAP. XXVII That the Captaine Theodosius which was Father of the Great Emperour Theodosius dyed a good Christian And of the King Hismarus and the Bishop Siluanus And of a Councell that was celebrated with the Lawes which they made and established in the same THe two brethren being Emperours that is to say Valentinian and Valente in the coastes of Africke the realme of Mauritania a Tyrant vsurped the place of a King against the Romanes who was named Thyrmus a man hardy in trauels and in daungers stout For the aduenturous hearts oftentimes doe commit many tyrannies This tyrant Thyrmus by much crueltie came possessed of the realme of Mauritania and not contented therewith but also by tyranny possessed a great part of Affricke and prepared as Hannibal did an huge armie to passe into Italy to dye in challenging the Empire of Rome This was a renowmed Tyrant that neuer tooke pleasure in any other thing so much as to spoyle and robbe others of their goods The Romaines that in all their doings were very sage and of the tyranny of tyrants sufficiently monished immediately prepared a great Army to passe into Affricke and to spoyle the realme and to destroy the Tyrant by the commandement and decree of the Senate and that for no pact or couenant the Tyrant should liue And without doubt this commaundement was iust For to him that is a destroier of the Common-wealth it is not punishment inough to take away his life At that time there was a Knight in Rome whose name was Theodosius a man well strucken in yeares and yet better approued in warres but he was not the richest howbeit hee vaunted himselfe as truth was to bee 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 gracious towards their Princes that all those which from the good and vertuous Emperour descended were of the whole Common-wealth greatly esteemed This noble Theodosius was of yeers so auncient and so honoured in his olde age for his gray hayres so noble of lynage and so approued in warres that he was
World beside peraduenture it is not folly to winne with the tears of the poore and comfortlesse widdowes so great and bloudy victories peraduenture it is no folly willingly to wet the earth with the bloud of Innocents onely to haue a vaine glorie in this World Thou thinkest it no folly peraduenture God hauing diuided the World into so many people that thou shouldest vsurpe them to thee alone O Alexander Alexander truly such workes proceede not from a creature nourished among men on the earth but rather of one that hath beene brought vp among the infernall Furies of Hell for wee are not bound to iudge men by the good nature they haue but by their good and euill works which they do The man is cursed if hee haue not been cursed hee shal be cursed that liueth to the preiudice of all others in this world present onely to be counted couragious stoute and hardie in time to come For the gods seldome suffered them to enioy that quietly in peace which they haue gotten vniustly in the warres I would aske thee what insolencie moued thee to reuolte against the lord K. Darius after whose death thou hast sought to conquer all the world and thus thou doest not as a King that is an inhertitor but as a tyrant that is an oppressor For him properly we cal a tirant that without iustice reason taketh that which is another mans Eyther thou searchest iustic or thou searchest peace or else thou searchest riches and our honor Thou searchest rest or els thou searchest fauour of thy frends or thou searchest vengeance of thine enemies But I sweare vnto thee Alex that thou shalt not find any of all these things if thou seekest by this meanes as thou hast begun For the sweet Sugar is not of the nature of the bitter gumbe How shall wee belieue thou searchest iustice sith against reason and iustice by Tiranny thou rulest al the earth how shal we belieue thou searchest peace sith thou causest them to pay tribute which receiue thee and those which resist thee thou handlest thē like enemies How can we belieue that thou searchest rest sith thou troublest all the world How can wee belieue thou searchest gentiles sith thou art the scourge and sword of humaine frailnes how can we belieue that thou searchest riches sith thine owne Treasures suffiseth thee not neyther that which by thee vāquished cōmeth into thy hands nor that which the conque rors offer thee How shall we belieue thou searchest profit to thy friēds sith that of thy old friends thou hast made new enemies I let thee vnderstand Alex that the greatest ought to teache the least the least to obey the greatst And Friendship is onely amongst equalls But thou sith thou sufferest none in the World to bee equall and like vnto thee looke not thou to haue any Friend in the world For Princes oftentimes by ingratitude loose faithfull Friends and by ambition winne mortall enemies How shall we belieue thou searchest reuēge of thine enemies sith thou takest more vengeance of thy selfe beeing aliue then thine enemyes would take of thee if they tooke thee prisoner though perchance in times past they vsed thy Father Philip euill and haue now disobeyed thee his Sonne It were farre better counsel for thee to make them thy Friends by gentlenes then to confirme them Enemyes by crueltie For the Noble and pitifull harts when they are reuenged of any make of themselues a butcherie Wee cannot with truth say that thy Trauells are well employde to winne such honor sith thy conuersation and life is so vnconstant For truely honour consisteth not in that Flatterers say but in that which Lords doe For the great Familiaritie of the wicked causeth the life to be suspected Honour is not gotten by liberall giuing of Treasours at his death but by spending it well in his life For it is a sufficient profe that the man which esteemeth renowme doth little regard Money and it is an apparant token that man who little esteemeth Money greatly regardeth his renowme A man winneth not honor by murdering Innocents but by destroying Tyrants for all the harmony of the good gouernment of princes is in the chastising of the euil rewarding the good Honour is not wonne in taking and snatching the goods of an other but in giuing and spending his owne For there is nothing that beautifieth the Maiestie of a Prince more then for to shew his noblenes in extending mercie and fauour vnto his subiects and giuing gifts and rewards to the vertuous And to conclude I will let thee know who hee is that winneth true honour in this life and also a perpetuall memorie after his death and that is not hee which leadeth his life in Warres but hee that taketh his death in peace O Alexander I see thou art young and that thou desirst honour wherefore I let thee vnderstand that there is no man farther from true honor then hee which greedily procureth and desireth the same For the ambitious men not obtaining what they desire remaine alwaies defamed and in winning and getting that which they search true honour notwithstanding will not follow them Belieue mee in one thing Alexander that the most truest honor ought through worthie deedes to bee deserued and by no meanes to bee procured For all the honour which by tyrannie is wonne in the ende by infamy is lost I am sorrie for thee Alexander For I see thou wantest Iustice since thou louest Tyrannie I see thou lackest peace because thou louest warre I see thou art not Rich because thou hast made all the world poore I see thou lackest rest because thou seekest contention and debate I see thou hast no honour because thou winnest it by infamie I see thou wantest friends because thou hast made them thine enemies Finally I see thou doest not reuenge thy selfe of thine enemyes because thou art as they wold be the scourge to thy selfe Then since it is so why art thou aliue in this World sith thou lackest vertues for the which life ought to be desired For truely that man which without his owne profite and to the dammage of an other leadeth his life by Iustice ought forthwith to lose his breath For there is nothing that sooner destroyeth the Weale publike then to permit vnprofitable men therein to liue Therefore speaking the truth you Lords and Princes are but poore I beleeue thou conquerest the World because thou knowest not thy superiour therein and besides that thou wilt take life from so many to the end that by their death thou mayest win renowne If cruell and warlike Princes as thou art should inherite the liues of them whom they slay to augment prolong their liues as they doe inherite goods to maintaine their pride although it were vnmeete then warre were tollerable But what profiteth the seruant to lose his life this day and his Masters death to bee differred but vntill the morrow O Alexander to be desirous to
commaund much hauing respite to liue but little mee thinketh it were a great folly and lacke of wisdome Presumptuous and ambitious men which measure their works not with the few dayes they haue to liue but with the arogant and haughty thoughts they haue to command They leade their life in trauell and take their death with sorrow And the remedy hereof is that if the wise man cannot obtaine that which hee would hee should content himselfe with that which hee may I let thee to know 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 trauell much to possesse much and to bee able to do much but it is to bee in the fauour of the Gods Finally I tell thee that that man is perfect who in his owne opinion deserueth not that hee hath and in the opinion of another deserueth much more then that hee possesseth Wee are of this opinion amongst vs that hee is vnworthy to haue honour who by such infamous meanes searcheth for it And therefore thou Alexander deseruest to be slaue vnto many because thou thinkest to deserue the signory ouer all By the immortall Gods I sweare I cannot imagine the great mischiefe which entred into thy brest so vnrighteously to kill King Darius whose vassall and friend thou wast onely because thou wouldest possesse the Empire of the whole World For truly seruitude in peace is more worth then Signiory in warre And hee that shall speake against that I haue spoken I say he is sicke and hath lost his taste CHAP. XXXIIII The sage Garamante continueth his Oration shewing that perpetuitie of life cannot be bought with any worldly treasure Among other notable matters hee maketh mention of the seuen lawes which they obserued THou wilt not deny me Alexander but that thou werte more healthfull when thou wast King of Macedoâ—â—â— then thou art now being Lord of all the earth for the excessiue trauell bringeth men out of all order Thou wilt not deny me Alexander that the more thou gettest the more thou desirest for the heart which with couetousnesse is set on fire cannot with wood and bowes of riches but with the earth of the graue be satisfied and quenched Thou wilt not deny me Alexander but the aboundance that thou thy selfe hast seemeth vnto thee litle and the little which an other man possesseth seemeth vnto thee much For the Gods to the ambitious and couetous harts gaue this for penance that neyther with inough nor with too much they should content them selues Thou wilt not denie mee Alexander if in deed thy heart bee couetous that first the pleasures of life shall end before thy couetousnesse for where vices haue had power long time in the heart there death onely and none other hath authority to plucke vp the rootes Thou wilt not deny mee Alexander that though thou hast more then all yet thou enioyest least of any for the Prince that possesseth much is alwayes occupied in defending it but the Prince that hath little hath Time and leasure in quiet to enioy it Thou wilt not deny me Alexander though thou callest thy self Lord of all yet thou hast but onely the name thereof and others thy seruants and subiects haue all the profites for the greedy and couetous hearts doe trauel and toyle to get and in wasting that which they haue gotten they pine away And finally Alexander thou wilt not deny me that all that which thou hast in the long conquest gotten is little and that which of thy wisedom and quietnes thou hast lost is much For the Realms which thou hast gotten are innumerable but the cares sighes and thoughts which thou hast heaped vpon thy heart are innumerable I let thee know one thing that you Princes are poorer then the poore Subiects for hee is not rich that hath more then hee deserueth but he that desireth to haue lesse then possesseth And that therefore Princes you haue nothing For though you abound in great Treasurs yet notwithstanding you are poore of good desire Now Alexander let vs come to the poynt and cast account and let vs see vs see to what ende thy Conquest will come Either thou art a man or thou art a god And if thou bee anie of the gods commaunde or cause that wee be immortall and if thou canst doe any such thing then take vs and our goods withall For perpetuity of the life can by no riches be bought O Alexander I let thee vnderstand that therefore wee seeke not to make warre with thee For we see that both from thee and also from vs death will shortly take away the life For hee is a very simple man that thinketh alwayes to remaine in another mans house as in his owne It thou Alexander couldst giue vs as God euerlasting life eache man would trauell to defend his owne house But sith we know we shall dye shortly we care little whether to thee or any other our goods and riches remaine For if it be follie to dwell in an other mans house as his owne it is a greater follie to him that loseth his life in taking thought and lamenting for his goods Presuppose that thou art not god but a man I coniure thee then by the immortall gods and doe require thee that thou liue as a man behaue thy selfe as a man and couet no more then an other man neyther desire more nor lesse then a man for in the ende thou shalt dye as another man and shalt be buryed as another man and thou shalt bee throwne into the graue and then there shal be no more memorie of thee I tolde thee before that it greeued mee to see thee so hardy and couragious so apt and so young and now it grieueth mee to see thee so deceyued with the world and that which I perceyue of thee is that then thou shalt know thy folly when thou shalt not be able to finde any remedy For the proude Young man before hee feeleth the wound hath alreadie the ointment You which are Grecians call vs Barbarous because wee enhabite the mountaines But as touching this I say that we reioice to be barbarous in our speech and Greekes in our doings and not as you which haue the Grecian tong and doe barbarous workes For hee that doth well and speaketh rudely is no barbarous man but he which hath the tongue good and the life euill Sith I haue begun to that end nothing remaine vnspoken I will aduertise thee of our laws and life and maruell not to heare it but desire to obserue and keepe it for infinite are they which extoll vertuous workes but few are they which obserue the same I let thee know Alexander that wee haue short life wee are few people wee haue little lands wee haue little goods wee haue no couetousnes we haue few lawes we haue few houses and we haue few friends and aboue all we haue no enemies for a Wise man
your bodies weake and corrupted what hope shall wee haue of young men which are but 25. yeeres of age if my memorie deceiue mee not when I was there you had Nephewes married and of their children made sure and two of the children borne and since that is true mee thinketh when the fruite is gathered the fruit is of no value and after the meale is taken from the mill euil shal the mill grinde I meane that the olde man ought to desire that his daies might be shortened in this world Do not thinke my friends that a man can haue his house full of Nephewes and yet say that he is very yong for in loding the tree with fruites the blossoms immediately fall or else they become withered I haue imagined with my selfe what it is that you might doe to see me yong and cut of some of your yeares and in the end I know no other reason but when you married Alamberta your daughter with Drusius and your Neece Sophia the faire with Tuscidan which were so yong that the daughters were scarce 15. veares old nor the young men 20. I suppose because you were rich of yeares and poore of money that he gaue to euery one of them in stead of money for dowry ten yeares of yours hereof a man may gather that the money of your Nephewes haue remayned vnto you and you haue giuen vnto them of your owne yeares I vnderstand my friends that your desire is to bee yong and very yong but I greatly desire to see you old and very old I doe not meane in yeares which in you doth surmount but in discretion which in you doth want O Claude and Claudine note that which I wil say vnto you and beare it alwayes in your memory I let you know that to maintaine youth to deface age to liue contented to be free from trauels to lengthen life and to auoyde death These things are not in the hands of men which doe desire them but rather in the hands of those which giueth thē the which according to their iustice and not according to our couetousnesse doe giue vs life by weight and death without measure One thing the old men do which is cause of slaundering many that is that they will speake first in counsels they will bee serued of the young in feasts they will bee first placed in all that they say they will be beleeued in Churches they will bee higher then the residue in distributing of offices they will haue the most honour in their opinions they will not be gainesayde Finally they will haue the credite of old sage men and yet they will leade the life of young doting fooles All these preheminences and priuiledges it is very iust that olde men should haue spent their yeares in the seruice of the common-wealth but with this I do aduise require them that the authoritie giuen them with their white haires bee not diminished by their euill works Is it a iust thing that the humble honest yong mā do reuerence to the aged man proud and disdainefull Is it a iust thing that the gentle and gracious yong man do reuerence to the enuious and malitious old man is it a iust thing that the vertuous and patient young man do reuerence to the foolish and vnpatient old man is it a iust thing that the stout and liberal yong man doe reuerence to the miserable couetous old man is it iust that the diligent and carefull young man do reuerence to the negligent old man is it iust that the abstinent and sober yong man do reuerence to the greedy and gluttonous old man is it iust that the chast and continent yong man do reuerence to the lecherous and dissolute olde man Mee thinketh these things should not bee such that thereby the old man shold be honored but rather reproued and punished For old men offend more by the euill example they giue then by the fault which they cōmit Thou canst not deny me my friend Claude that it is 33. years since we both were at the Theaters to behold a play whē thou camest late and found no place for thee to sit in thou saydest vnto mee who was set Rise my sonne Mark and sithens now thou art yong it is but iust that thou giue mee place which am aged If it bee true that it is three and thirty yeares sithence thou askedst place in the Theaters as an olde man Tell me I pray thee and also I coniure thee with what oyntment hast thou annoynted thy selfe or with what water hast thou washed thy selfe to become young O Claude if thou hadst found any medicine or discouered any herbe wherwith thou couldest take white haires from mens heades and from women the wrinccles of their face I sweare vnto thee and also I doe assure thee that thou shouldest be more visited and serued in Rome then the God Apollo is in his Temple at Ephesus Thou shouldest well remember Annius Priscus the old man which was our Neighbour and somewhat a kinne to thee the which when I tolde him that I could not be filled with his good words and to behold his auncient white haires he said vnto me Oh my Sonne Marke it appeareth well that thou hast not bin aged because thou talkest as a young man For if white haires do honour the person they greatly hurt the hart For at that houre when they see vs aged the strangers doe hate vs and ours do not loue vs. And he told me more I let thee know my sonne Marke that many times my wife and I talking of the yeares of another particularly when shee beholdeth mee and that I seeme vnto her so aged I say vnto her and sweare that I am yet young and that these white hayres came vnto mee by great trauells and the age by sicknes I doe remember also that this Annius Priscus was Senatour one yeare and because he would not seem aged but desired that men shold iudge him to be young he shaued his beard and his head which was not accustomed among the Senatours nor Censors of Rome And on a day among the other Senators he entred into the high Capitoll one saide vnto him thus Tell me man from whence comest thou What wilt thou and why commest thou hither How durst thou being no Senatour enter into the Senate Hee answered I am Annius Priscus the aged How chaunceth it now you haue not knowne me They replyed vnto him if thou wert Annius Priscus thou wouldest not come hither thus shauen For in the sacred Senate can none enter to gouerne the commonwealth vnlesse his person be endued with vertues and his head with white hayres and therefore thou art banished and depriued of thy Office For the olde which liue as the young ought to bee punished Thou knowest well Claude and Claudine that that which I haue spoken is not the faynings of Homer neyther a Fable of Ouide but that you your selues saw it with your eyes and in his
their Lordes boorde but they must needs haue a cast at my Lord himselfe to cheare him withall which intollerable abuse ought not to be suffred 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 content them then they haue to please the Lords In the house of a Lord a foole at the end of the yeare will aske more then any other of those which are most auncient so that the follies of the one are more acceptable then the seruices of all It is shame to speake it and no lesse for to write it that the children of vanity are so vaine that they bribe a foole or a Iester no lesse in these dayes to the entent he may bee a meane for them vnto the Prince then they did in times past desire Cicero to make an Oration for them before the Senate It is for want of vnderstanding and through the vilety of the person oppression of the heart and disprayse of renowne to be desirous by the means of fooles to attaine to any thing For he can haue no great wisdom which putteth his hope in the fauour of a foole What remaineth for me to say when I haue sayde that which I will say And it is that if a Iester or foole say openly to some Lord God saue your life my good Lord. Oh hee is a Noble man indeed he will not sticke to giue him a gowne of silke and entring into a Church hee would not giue a poore man a halfe penny O what negligence is there of Princes O what vanity of Lordes since they forsake the poore and wise to enrich the Iesters and fooles they haue enough for the world and not for Iesus Christ they giue to those that aske for his Louers sake and not to those which aske for the health of the soule Hee ought not to doe so for the Knight which is a Christian and not a worldling ought rather to will that the poore doe pray for him at the houre of death then that the fooles and Iesters should prayse him in his life What doth it profite the soule or the body that the Iesters do praise thee for a cote thou hast giuen them and that the poore accuse thee for the bread thou hast denied them Peraduenture it will profite thee as much that a foole or a flatterer goe before a Prince apparrelled with a new liuerie of thine as the poore man shall do thee damage before God to whom thou hast denyed a poore ragged shirt All Gentlemen and Noble Parsonages in the name of our Sauiour Iesus Christ I admonish exhort and humbly require that they consider well what they spend and to whom they giue for the good Princes ought to haue more respect of the necessities of the poore then of the follyes of counterfeytes Giue as yee will diuide as yee list for at the houre of death as much as yee haue laughed with the fooles for that yee haue giuen them so much shall yee weepe with the poore for that you haue denyed them At the houre of death it shall bee grieuous paines to him that dyeth to see the flesh of the Orphanes all naked and to he holde counterfaite fooles loden with their garments Of one thing I am amazed that indifferently euery man may become a foole and no man let him and the worst of all is if once a foole become couetous all the world afterwards cannot make him to bee in his right sences Truely such one which hath no reason to bee a foole at the least he hath good occasion since hee getteth more to eat playing then the others doe by working O what negligence of the Princes and what smal respect of the Gouernours of the Common wealth is this that a yong man whole stoute strong and valiant should be suffered to goe from house to house from table to table and onely for babling vaine wordes and telling shamefull lyes hee should bee counted a man of an excellent tongue Another folly there is in this case that their words are not so foolish as their deedes are wicked though they haue a good or euill grace yet in the end they be counted in the Common wealth as loyterers and fooles I know not whether in this case is greater eyther their folly or our lightnesse for they vse vs as fooles in telling vs lyes and wee pay them good money The Romanes did not permit in their Common wealthes olde stale Iesters nor wee Christians ought to retaine into our houses idle loiterers Yee ought to know that more offendeth hee which sinneth with a deformed woman then hee which sinneth with a beautifull Lady And he which is drunke with sowre Ale offendeth more then hee which is drunke with sweet wine And so in like manner greater offence commit they which lose their times with fooles that haue no grace then with Iesters which haue good wits for it may be permitted sometime that the Sage man for the recreation of his Spirits doe frequent the company of some pleasant man CHAP. XLIV Of a Letter which the Emperour wrote to Lambertus his friend Gouernour of Hellespont certifying him that he had banished from Rome all fooles and loytering Players and is diuided into three Chapters a notable Letter for those that keepe counterfeyte fooles in their houses MArcus Aurelius onely Emperour of Rome Lord of Asia confederate with Europe friends of Affricke and enemy of the wars wisheth health to thee Lambert Gouernor of the Isle of Helespont With the furres which thou didst send mee I haue caused my gowne to be furred and am girded with the girdle which thou didst present me and am greatly contented with thy hounds For all is so good that the body doth reioyce to possesse it and the eyes to beholde it and also the heart to render thanks for it Where I did aske a few things of thee in iest thou hast sent me many in earnest wherein not as a seruant but as a friend thou hast shewed thy selfe For the office of noble and worthy hearts is to offer to their friends not onely that which they demaund but that also which they doe thinke they will demaund Truly thou hast better measured thy seruices by thy noblenesse then I thee demaund by my couetousnesse For if thou doest remember I did demaund of thee onely 12. skinnes and thou hast sent mee 12. dozen I tolde thee that I desired 6. hounds for to hunt thou hast sent mee 12. of the best that can bee found in the Isle In such sort that I had honour and thou hast wonne renowne For in the little I haue demaunded thou shalt see my little couetousnesse and in the much thou hast sent mee they shall perceiue thy great liberalitie I esteeme highly that which thou hast sent mee and I beseech the Gods send thee good lucke For thou knowest wee may
their trauell and with a good will it should be granted for the gods vse for a little seruice to giue a great reward Triphon and Agamendo aunswered vnto the god Apollo that for their good will for their trauell and for their expences they demaunded no other reward but that it would please him to giue them the best thing that might bee giuen vnto man and that vnto them were most profite saying That the miserable men haue not the power to eschew the euill nor wisedome to chuse the good The god Apollo answered that he was contented to pay them their seruice which they had done and for to grant them that which they had demaunded By reason whereof Triphon and Agamendo hauing dined suddenly at the gates of the temple fel down dead so that the reward of their trauel was to plucke them out of their miserie The reason to declare these two examples is to the ende that all mortall men may knowe that there is nothing so good in this worlde as to haue an ende of this life and though to lose it there be no sauour yet at the least there is profite For wee would reproue a traueller of great foolishnes if sweating by the way he would sing and after at his iourneyes ende hee should beginne to weepe Is not hee simple which is sorry for that hee is come into the Hauen is not hee simple that giueth the battell and fighteth for that hee hath got the victorie Is not he stubborne which is in great distresse and is angry to be succoured Therefore more foolish simple and stubborn is hee which trauelleth to dye and is loath to meete with death For death is the true refuge the perfect health the sure Hauen the whole victorie the flesh without bones Fish without scales and corne without slrawe Finally after death wee haue nothing to bewayle and much lesse to desire In the time of Adrian the Emperour a Phylosopher called Secundus being meruellously learned made an oration at the funerall of a Noble Romaine Matrone a Kins-woman of the Emperours who spake exceedingly much euill of life and maruellous much good of death And when the Emp demanded him what death was The phylosopher aunswered thus Death is an eternall sleepe a dissolution of the bodie a terror of the rich a desire of the poore a thing inhetitable a pilgrimage vncertaine a Theefe of men a kinde of sleeping a shadow of life a separation of the liuing a companie of the dead a resolution of all trauels and the end of all ydle desires Finally Death is the scourge of all euill and the chiefe reward of the good Truely this Phylosopher spake very well and hee should not doe euill which profoundly would consider that hee had spoken Seneca in an Epistle declareth of a Phylosopher whose name was Bessus to whom when they demanded what euill a man can haue in Death since men feare it so much Hee aunswered If any damage or feare is in him who dyeth it is not for the feare of death but for the vice of him which dyeth Wee may agree to that the Phylosopher saide that euen as the deafe cannot iudge harmony nor the blind colours so likewise they cannot say euill of death especially he which neuer tasted it For of all those which are dead none returned again to complaine of Death and of these fewe that liue all complaine of life If any of the dead returned hither to speak vvith the liuing and as they haue proued it so they vvould tell vs. If there were any harme in secrete death it were reason to haue some feare of death But though a man that neuer saw heard felt nor tasted death doeth speake euill of Death should wee therefore feare Death Those ought to haue done some euill in their life which doe feare speake euill of death For in the last houre in the streight iudgement the good shal be known the euill discouered There is no Prince nor Knight rich nor poore whole nor sicke lucky nor vnluckie which I see with their vocations to be contented saue onely the dead which in theyr graues are in peace rest and are neither couetous proud negligent vain ambicious nor dissolute So that the state of the dead ought to bee best since wee see none therein to bee euill contented And since therefore those which are poore â—oe seek the meanes wherwith to endch themselues those which are sad rio seeke wherby to reioyce and those which are sicke to seeke to be healed why is it that those which haue such feare of Death doe seeke remedie against that feare In this case I would say that he which will not feare to die let him vse himself well to liue For the guyltles taketh away feare from death The diuine Plato demaunded Socrates how hee behaued himselfe in life and how he would behaue himselfe in death He answered I let thee know that in youth I haue trauelled to liue well and in age I haue studyed to die well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shall be ioyfull And although I haue had sorrow to liue I am sure I shall haue no paine to dye Truely these wordes are worthie of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruellously when the swear of theyr trauell is not rewarded when they are faithful and their rewards aunswereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their Friends become vnthankefull to them when they are worthy honour and that they preferre them to honorable room and office For the noble and valiant harts doe not esteeme to loose the rewarde of their labour but thinke much vnkindenesse when a man doeth not acknowledge theyr trauells Oh happie are they that dye For without inconuenience and without paine euery man is in his 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 we merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall be iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpright that giueth reward by weight and paine by measure but that somtimes they chasten the innocent absolue the guiltie they vexe the faultlesse and they dissemble with the culpable For little auaileth it the playntife to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that should minister it Truely it is not so in Death but all ought to account themselues happie For he which shall haue good iustice shall bee sure on his parte to haue the sentence When great Cato was Censor in Rome a famous Romaine dyed who shewed at his death a maruellous courage and when the Romains praised him for that hee had so great vertue and for the words he had spoken Cato the Censor laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And he being demanded the cause of his laughter annswered Yee maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that yee maruell For the perills
and trauells considered wherein wee liue and the safetie wherein wee dye I say that it is more needefull to haue vertue and strength to liue then courage to dye The Authour hereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censor spake as a wise man since daylie we see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thyrst trauell pouerty inconuenience sorrows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the ende in one day then to suffer them euery houre For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable life Oh how small consideration haue men to thinke that they ought to dye but once Since the truth is that the day when wee are born and come inthis worlde is the beginning of our death and the last day is when we do cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of life then reason perswadeth vs to thinke that our infancie dyeth our childhood dyeth our manhoode dyeth and our Age shall dye wherof we may consequently cōclude that we dye euery yeare euery day euery houre and euery moment So that thinking to leade a sure life we taste a new death I know not why men feare so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanteth for any man to dye neyther I knew any man that euer fayled of this way Seneca in an Epistle declareth that as a Romaine Woman lamented the death of a Childe of hers a Phylosopher saide vnto her Woman why bewaylest thou thy childe She aunswered I weepe because hee hath liued xxv yeares and I would he should haue liued till fiftie For amongst vs mothers wee loue our Children so hartily that we neuer cease to behold them nor yet ende to bewaile them Then the Phylosopher said Tell me I pray thee woman Why doest thou not complame of the Gods because they created not thy Sonne manie yeares before he was borne as well as thou complavnest that they haue not let him liue fiftie yeares Thou weepest that hee is deade so soone and thou dost not lament that he is borne so late I tell thee true Woman that as thou doest not lament for the one no more thou oughrest to bee sorrie for the other For without the determination of the Gods we cannot shorten death and much lesse lengthen our life So Plinie saide in an Epistle that the chiefest law which the Gods haue giuen vnto humane nature was that none shold haue perpactual life For with dis-ordinate desire to liue long wee should reioyce to goe out of this paine Two Phylosophers disputing before the great Emperor Theodose the one saide that it was good to procure death and the other likewise sayde it was a necessary thing to hate life The good Theodose taking him by the hand sayd All wee mortalles are so extreame in hating and louing that vnder the colour to loue and hate life wee leade an euill life For we suffer so many trauells for to preserue it that sometimes it were much better to loose it And further hee sayde Diuers vaine men are come into so great follyes that for feare of Death they procure to hasten death And hauiwg consideration to this me seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue life nor with desperation to seeke Death For the strong and valiant men ought not to hate Life so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that which the Emperour Theodose spake as Paulus Dyacon saith in his life Let euery man speake what he will and let the Phylosophers counsell what they lift in my poore iudgment hee alone shall receyue death without paine who long before is prepared to receyue the same For sudden death is not onely bitter vnto him which tasteth it but also it seareth him that hateth it Lactantius saide that in such sorte man ought to liue as if from hence an houre after he should dye For those men which will haue Death before their eyes it is vnpossible that they should giue place to vaine thoughts In my opinion and also by the aduise of Apuleius It is as much follie to flie from that which we cannot auoyd as to desire that wee can not attaine And this is only spoken for those that would flye the voyage of death which is necessarie and desire to come againe which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long wayes if they want any thing they borrow it of their companie If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or else they write vnto their friends a letter But I am sorrie that if wee once dye they will not let vs returne again we cannot speake and they will not agree we shall write but such as they shall finde vs so shall wee bee iudged And that which is most fearfull of all the execution and sentence is giuen in one day Let Noble Princes and great Lords beleeue mee in this Let them not leaue that vndone til after their death which they may doe during their life And let them not trust in that they commaund but in that whiles they liue they doe Let them not trust in the workes of an other but in theyr owne good deedes For in the end one sigh shall be more worth then all the friendes of the world I counsell pray and exhort all wise and vertuous men and also my selfe with them that in such a sort wee liue that at the houre of death wee may say we liue For wee cannot say that wee liue when we liue not well For all that time which without profite wee shall liue shall be counted vnto vs for nothing CHAP. XLIX ¶ Of the death of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour and how there are fewe Friendes which dare say the truth to sicke men THe good Emperor Marcus Aurelius now beeing aged not onely for the yeares he had but also for the great trauells hee had in the warres endured It chaunced that in the xviii yeare of his Empire and lxxij yeares from the day of his birth and of the foundation of Rome fiue hundreth xliii beeing in the warre of Pannonie which at this time is called Hungaria besieging a famous cittie called Vendeliona suddenly a disease of the palsey tooke him which was such that hee lost his life and Rome her Prince the best of life that euer was borne therein Among the Heathen princes some had more force then he others possessed more riches then hee others were as aduenturous as hee and some haue knowne as much as hee but none hath bin of so excellent and vertuous a life nor so modest as hee For his life being examined to the vttermost ther are many princely vertues to follow and fewe vices to reproue The occasion of his death was that that in going one Night about his Campe suddenly the disease of the palsey tooke him in
faithfull friend about them to helpe them to passe that paine And not without a cause I say that he ought to be a faithfull friend For many in our life do gape after our goods few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wise and sage men before nature compelleth them to die of their owne will ought to die That is to say that before they see themselues in the pangs of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if we count him a foole which wil passe the sea without a ship truely we will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparation before What losest a wisest man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenuenture of honour is any man before death to reconcile himselfe to his enemies and to those whom he hath borne hate and malice What loseth he of his credite who in his life time restoreth that which at his death they will command him to render wherein may a man shew himselfe to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by processe they will take from him O how many Princes and great Lords are there which onely not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heires all the dayes of their life to bee in trauerse in the Law So that they supposing to haue left their children wealthy haue not left them but for Atturneyes and Counsellers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dispose his goods and correct life as if he shold dye the same night And at night in like manner he ought to commit himselfe to GOD as if he hoped for no life vntill morning For to say the truth to sustaine life there are infinite trauels but to meete with death there is but one way If they will credite my wordes I would coūsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the worlde he should vndoe himselfe The Riche and the poore the great and the smal the Gentlemen and the Plebeyans all say and sweare that of death they are exceeding fearefull To whome I say and affirm that he alone feareth death in whome we see amendment of life Princes and great Lords ought also to be perfect to ende before they ende to dye before they die and to be mortified before they bee mortified If they doe this with themselues they shall as easily leaue their life as if they channged from one house to another For the most parte of men delight to talke with leysure to drinke with leysure to eate with leysure and to sleepe with leysure but they die in haste Not without cause I say they die in haste since wee see them receiue the sacrament of the Supper of the Lord in haste male their willes by force and with speede to confesse and receyue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue loste their Sences and are readie to giue vp the spirite when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the Ship-master after the ship is sunke what doe weapons after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By this which I haue spoken I will demaund what it auayleth the sicke being heauie with sleepe and berefte of their sences to call for Confessors vnto whome they confesse their sinnes Euill shall hee bee confessed which hath no vnderstanding to repent himselfe What auaileth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secrets of his Conscience when the sicke man hath lost his speech Let vs not deceyue our selues saying in our age we will amend hereafter and make restitution at our death For in mine opinion it is not the poynt of wise men nor of good Christiās to desire so much time to offend and they will not espie any to amend Would to GOD that the third parte of the precious time which men occupie in sinne were employed about the meditations of Death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their Fleshly lusts were spent in bewayling their filthie sinnes I am very sorrie with my heart that they so wickedly spend and passe their-life in vices and pleasures as if there were no GOD vnto whom they shold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doe sinne vpon a vaine hope onely in Age to amend and at death to repent But I would demaund him that in this hope sinned what certainty he hath in age of amendment and what assurance he hath to haue long warning before hee die Since we see by experience there are moe in number which dye young then olde it is no reason wee should commit so many sinnes in one day as that wee should haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our life And afterwards to bewayle the sins of our long life we desire no more but one space of an houre Considering the the Omnipotencie of the Diuine mercie it sufficeth yea and I say that the space of an houreis to much to repent vs of our wicked life but I would counsel all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one houre that that be not the last houre For the sighes and repentance which proceed from the bottome of the heart penetrate the high Heauens but those which come of necessity doeth not pierce the bare seeling of the House I allow and commende that those which visit◠the sick do counsell them to examin their consciences to receiue the Communion to pray vnto GOD to forgiue their enemyes and to recommend themselues to the deuoute prayers of the people and to repent them of their sinnes Finally I say that it is very good to doe all this But yet I say it is better to haue done it before For the diligent and careful Pyrate prepareth for the Tempest when the Sea is calme Hee that deepely would consider how little the goods of this life are to be esteemed Let him go to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what he doeth in his bed And he shall finde that the wife demandeth of the poore husband her dowrie the Daughter the third parte the other the fifth the childe the preheminence of age the Sonne in law his Marriage the physition his duetie the Slaue his libertie the Seruaunts their wages the creditours their debtes and the worst of all is that none of those that ought to inherite his goods will giue him one glasse of water Those that shall heare or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene done at the death of their neighbours the same shall come vnto them when they shall be sicke at the poynt of death For so soone as the Rich shutteth his eyes forthwith there is great strife betweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but which of them shall inherite most of his possessions In this case I will not my pen trauell any
vs to a new builded Pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherin we shut our selues from the assaults of life and broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee finde in death then of that wee haue in life If Helia Fabricia thy wife doe greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doe not care for shee presently hath little care of the perill wherein thy life dependeth And in the end when she shall know of thy death shee will be nothing greeued Trouble not thy selfe for that she is left a widdow for yong women as shee is which are married to olde men as thou when their husbands die they haue their eyes on that they can robbe and their hearts on them whom they desire to marrie And speaking with due respect when with their eyes they outwardly seeme most for to bewayle then with their hearts inwardly doe they most reioyce Deceiue not thy selfe in thinkeing that the Empresse thy wife is yong and that she shall finde none other Emperor with whom again she may marrie For such and the like will change the cloth of gold for gownes of skinnes I meane that they would rather the young shepheard in the field then the olde Emperour in his royall pallace If thov takest sorrow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shouldst do so For truely if it greeue thee now for that thou diest they are more displeased for that thou liuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may be counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that he is not maintained and if hee rich he desireth his death to enherite the sooner Since therefore it is true as indeed it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing and thou weepe If it greeue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces and these sumptuous buildings deceiue not thy selfe therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death doth finish thee at the end of threescore and two yeeres time shall consume these sumptuous buildings in lesse then 40. If it greeue thee to forsake the company of thy friends and neighbors for them also take as little thought since for thee they will 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 buried but of their friends and neighbours they are forgotten If thou takest greatest thought for that thou wilt not die as the other Emperours of Rome are dead me seemeth that thou oughtest also to cast this sorrow from thee for thou knowest right well that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankefull to those which serue her that the great Scipio also would not be buried therein If it greeue thee to die to leaue so great a Seignory as to leaue the Empire I cannot thinke that such vanity be in thy head for temperate and reposed men when they escape from semblable offices doe not thinke that they lose honour but that they be free of a trouble some charge Therefore if none of all these things moue thee to desire life what should let thee that throgh thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dy for one of these two things either for the loue of those they leaue behinde them or for feare of that they hope Since therefore there is nothing in this life worthy of loue nor any thing in death why we should feare why doe men feare to die According to the heauy fighes thou fetchest the bitter teares thou sheddest and according also to that great paine thou shewest for my part I thinke that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods should commaund thee to pay this debt For admit that all thinke that their life shall end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soon For that men think neuer to die they neuer begin their faults to amend so that both life and fault haue end in the graue together Knowest not thou most noble Prince that the long night commeth the middest morning Doest thou not know that after the moist morning there cometh the cleare Sun Knowest not thou that after the cleare Sun commeth the cloudy Element Doest thou not know that after the darke myst there commeth extreme heate And after the heate commeth the horrible thunders and after the thunders the sodaine lightnings and after the perilious lightnings commeth the terrible haile Finally I say that after the tempestuous and troublesome time commonly commeth cleare and faire weather The order that time hath to make himselfe cruell and gentle the selfe same ought men to haue to liue and die For after the infancy commeth childhood after childhood commeth youth after youth commeth age and after age commeth the feareful death Finally after that feareful death commeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read and of thee not seldome heard that the gods onely which had no beginning shall haue also no ending Therefore mee thinketh most noble Prince that sage men ought not to desire to liue long Formen which desire to liue much either it is for that they haue not felt the trauels past because they haue bene fooles or for that they desire more time to giue themselues to vices Thou mightest not complaine of that since they haue not cut thee in the flower of the herbe nor taken thee greene from the tree nor cut thee in the spring tide and much lesse eate thee eager before thou wert ripe By that I haue spoken I meane if death had called thee when thy life was sweetest though thou hadst not had reason to haue complayned yet thou mightest haue desired to haue altered it For it is a greater griefe to say vnto a yong man that he must die and forsake the world What is this my Lord now that the wall is decaied ready to fall the flower is an hered the grape doth rot the teeth are loose the gowne is worne the lance is blunt the knife is dull and dost thou desire to returne into the world as if thou hadst neuer knowne the world These threescore and two yeeres thou hast liued in the proportion of this body and wilt thou now that the yron fetters haue rot thy legges desire yet to lengthen thy daies in this so wofull prison They that will not be contented to liue threescore yeeres and fiue in this death or to die in this life will not desire to liue threescore thousand yeeres The Emperour Augustus Octauian saide That alter men had liued fiftie yeeres either of their owne will they ought to dye or else by force they should cause themselues to bee killed For at that time all those which haue any humaine felicitie are at the best Those which liue aboue that age passe their daies in grieuous torments As in the death of children in the losse of goods and importunitie of
Princes ought to take the dammages of their persons light and the dammages of the commonwealth for the most grieuous O Panutius let therefore this be the last word which I will say vnto thee that is to say that the greatest good that the gods may giue to the man that is not couetous but vertuous is to giue him good renowme in life and afterwardes a good heire at our death Finally I say that if I haue any thing to do with the gods I require and beseech them that if they should be offended Rome slandered my renowme defamed and my house diminished for that my sonne be of an euill life that they will take from him life before they giue me death CHAP. LIIII Of the words which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius spake vnto his sonne Commodus at the houre of death necessary for all young gentlemen to vnderstand SInce the disease of Marcus Aurelius was so extreme that euery houre of his life he was assaulted with death after he had talked a long time with Panutius his Secretarie he commanded his sonne Commodus to be wakened who as a yong man slept soundly in his bed And being come before his presence all those which were there were moued immediatly with compassion to see the eyes of the father all swollen with weeping and the eyes of the childe closed with ouermuch sleepe They could not waken the childe he was so carelesse and they could not cause the good father sleepe he tooke so great thought All those which were there seeing how the father desired the good life of the sonne and how little the sonne wayed the death of his father had compassion of the olde person and bare hate to the wicked childe Then the good Emperour casting his eyes on high and directing his words to his sonne sayde When thou wert a childe I tolde thy masters how they ought to bring thee vp and after that thou diddest waxe greater I tolde thy Gouernors how they should counsell thee And now I will tell thee how thou with them which are few and they with thee beeing one ought to gouerne and maintaine the Common-wealth If thou esteeme much that which I will say vnto thee my sonne Know thou that I will esteeme much more then thou wilt beleeue me for more easily doe wee olde men suffer your iniuries then yee other young men doe receyue our counsels Wisdome wanteth to you for to beleeue vs yet wee want not boldnesse to dishonour you And that which is worst the aged in Rome were wont to haue a chayre of wisdome sagenesse but now a dayes the young men count it a shame and folly The world at this day is so changed from that it was wont to bee in times past that all haue the audacity to giue counsell and few haue the wisedome to receyue it so that they are a thousand which tell counsels and there is not one that buyeth wisedome I beleeue well my sonne that according to my fatall Destenies and thy euill manners little shall that auayle which I shall tell thee for since thou wouldest not credit these words which I spake vnto thee in my life I am sure that thou wilt little regard them after my death But I doe this more to satisfie my desire and to accomplish that which I owe vnto the Common-wealth then for that I hope for any amendment of thy life For there is no griefe that doth so much hurt a person as when hee himselfe is cause of his owne paine If any man doth mee an iniurie if I lay my hands vpon him or speake iniurious words vnto him my heart is forthwith satisfied but if I doe iniurie to my selfe I am he which wrongeth and am wronged for that I haue none on whom I may reuenge my wrong and I vexe and chase with my selfe If thou my sonne bee euill after that thou hast enherited the Empire my mother Rome wil complaine of the gods which haue giuen thee so many euill inclinations Shee will complaine of Faustine thy mother which hath brought thee vp so wantonly she will complaine of thee which hast no will to resist vice but shee shall haue no cause to complaine of the olde man thy Father who hath not giuen thee good counsels For if thou hadst beleeued that which I tolde thee mē would reioyce to haue thee for theyr Lord and the Gods to vse thee as their Minister I cannot tell my sonne if I bee deceyued but I see thee so depriued of vnderstanding so vncertaine in thy words so dissolute in thy manners so vniust in iustice in that thou desirest so hardy and in thy duty so negligent that if thou change and alter not thy manners men will hate thee and the Gods will forsake thee O if thou knewest my sonne what a thing it is to haue men for their enemies and to be forsaken of the gods by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that thou wouldest not onely hate the Seigniorie of Rome but with thy handes also thou wouldest destroy thy selfe For men which haue not the Gods mercifull and the men friendly doe eate the bread of griefe and drinke the teares of sorrow I am sure thy sorrow is not so great to see the night doth end my life as is that pleasure which thou hast to see that in short space thou shalt bee Emperour of Rome And I do not maruell hereat for where sensuality raigneth reason is banished and constrained to flye Many loue diuers things because of truth they know them not the which if they did know without doubt they would hate them Thogh men loue in mockerie the Gods and men hate vs in earnest In all things wee are so doubtfull and in all our works so disordred that at some time our vnderstanding is dull and loseth the edge and another time it is more sharpe then it is necessary Thereby I meane that the good we will not heare and much lesse wee will learne it but of the euill wee know more then behoueth vs or necessitie requireth I will counsell thee my sonne by words that which in sixtie two years I haue learned by science and experience And since thou art as yet so young it is reason that thou beleeue him which is aged For since wee Princes are the mirrour of all euery man doth behold vs and wee other doe not behold our selues This day or to morrow thou shalt enherite the Romane Empire and thinke that inheriting the same thou shalt bee Lord of the world Yet if thou knewest how many cares and perils commaunding bringeth with it I sweare vnto thee that thou wouldest rather choose to obey all then to command one Thou thinkest my sonne that I leaue thee a great Lord for to leaue thee the Empire which is not so for all they haue neede but of thee and thou alone hast neede of all Thou thinkest I leaue thee much treasure leauing thee the great reuenues of the Empire that which also is
the sinner our Sauiour Iesus Christ is our onely meane and Mediatour being called vpon by the Priest euen so betwixt the king and his Subiects that are suiters to his Maiesty those that are in fauour with the prince are mediators for them Now therefore if these Priestes bee double in their wordes and dissemblers in that they speake how shall the sinnes of the one be pardoned the businesse of the other dispatched Oh wofull and vnhappy sinner that putteth his sinnes into the hands of a naughty and wicked Priest and likewise vnfortunate and miserable is the poore suiter that comitteth his affaires to the trust dispatch of a lying and dissembling Officer There are many officers in princes Courts that tell the poore suiters still they will dispatch them but when it commeth to the push to followe the matter all his faire words are then but winde and indeede they make an arte of it to speake all men faire to promise much and to performe nothing weening with their sweete flattering wordes to winne the hearts and good wills of all little regarding the great expence and losse of time of the poor suter much lesse also respecting their owne honour honesties and credite Sure it were lesse dishonour for them to bee counted rough and churlish then to be bruted for Lyers and breakers of their promise The officer of the Princes pallace that is a dissembler and a Lyer in his words and doings hee may for a time maintaine his suites and goe through with his matters but in the ende his trecheries perceiued himselfe his fautor and all his dealings lye in the dust and are vtterly ouerthrowne Oh how many haue I seene rise in Courte of nothing to great matters and offices and this not through their painefull seruice but altogether by meanes of their deceipt and flatteries they vsed not exalted also for theyr merites but onely by a subtill meanes and pollicie they had to drawe water to their Mill nor for any good conscience they had but onely for theyr great diligence vsed in their practises And all this not without the preiudice of others but rather to the great hurt and vtter vndoing and ruine of theyr Neighbour and not for any bountie they had to giue liberally but a greedy and couetous a desire to get not for any needefull businesse but to haue those that are superfluous and not for to relieue the poore and needie but onely to satisfie their insatiable apetites and in fine their account cast wee haue seene after theyr death their goods confiscated their seruants dispersed and gon away and their Children vtterly vndone So that in briefe there was no more memorie of them in this world and GOD graunt also that in the other life their soules were not for euerdamned Courtyers may easilie with their fauour and credite attaine vnto great possessions as the Iudges may also in robbing the counsellers in pleading and maintaining naughtie causes the captaines in powling the Prince of the Souldyers wages the Merchaunts in their false weights and measures and their Brokers in telling lyes out of all measure But in the end of their journy pilgrimage they may be assured that the soules of the Fathers shall not only be damned in hell but the goods shall bee taken from their Children And also that that is truely and iustly gotten by the honest industry and trauell of the man with a good zeale and holie intent and to a good and iust ende it is written that it shall bee of long continuance by the good permission of GOD prayers of the people it shall also prosper and increase For the true gotten goods atchieued by the sweat and labour of man GOD doth alwayes prosper and augment And therefore continuing our matter I say that the princes officers ought to determine with themselues to bee vpright in all their actions and doings and aboue all true iust of their words which so performing they shall be sure to be beloued of all not alone of them that passe vnder their Lee but euen also of those whom they haue denyed fauour And also they need not to beafraid to speak boldly in all places where they come besides that they shal be reuerenced of all men Where to the contrarie if he be a lyer a babbler dissembler there are few that wil feare them much lesse loue them and least of all do them reuerence or honour And although wee cannot denie but that these officers of the Courte and other men of authoritie be wayted vpon visited accompanyed reuerenced and honoured of diuerse sortes of men yet it were a follie for vs to belieue that their traine and attendaunts doe them all that honour and reuerence for any desire they haue to doe them any seruice but only they vse all that curtesy and capping to get themselus their suites quickly dispatched And this to be true we see it daily by experience For when these suters haue at chiued their suite and desyre they doe not onely leaue off and giue ouer to accompanie him and to attend vpon him but moreouer they get them home without eyther thanking of him or once taking their leaue of him If all those that haue Function or Office of estate or dignitie hauing charge of the dispatch of great and weightie matters beeing also Lyers and dissemblers in their doings knew the yll reports that goe of them and how they condemn their corrupt and naughtic consciences me thinketh it impossible if they bee not altogether gracelesse but they must needs eyther change condition and estate or else quite giue vp their rooms and offices For they are in euery mans mouth called Bablers liers dissemblers traitors perjurers miserable auaricious and vicious And yet a worser thing then all this and that is whilest they liue a thousand complain of them and after they are dead and buried they take vp their bones out of the graue to hang them vp vpon a gibbet For thus saith the olde prouerbe Such life such ende So as we may say that to these officers aboue recited resteth nothing but only these goodly titles And herevnto we may adde also that Officers of like conditions to them need not to haue any to accuse them neyther yet to punish them For a time will come one day that they will plunge themselues so deepe into a Sea of troubles that it cannot be chosen but they must needs at last drown and vtterly perish or at the least bee driuen into the hauen of their greatest Enemyes so that they shall carrie the burden of their owne wickednes and bee condignely chastised with their owne follie Therefore I pray all those that shall read these writings of mine for to obserue them in their heart and imprint them well in minde beeing a matter of such Moralitie and wisdome that it can hardly be vnderstood of anie but of such as first haue had some proofe thereof Helius Sparthianus writeth that there was somtimes a
Azotes carryed away the Arke full of Relickes vnto their temple in the Cittie of Nazote and set it by Dagon theyr cursed Idoll The most High true God which will not suffer any to be coequall with him in comparison or in anie thing that hee representeth caused this Idol to be shaken thrown downe and broken in pieces no man touching it For our God is of such power that to execute his Iustice he needeth not worldly helpe God not contented thus though the Idoll was broken in pieces but caused those to bee punished likewise which worshipped it in such sort that al the people of Azotes Ascalon Geth Acharon and of Gaza which were fiue auncient and renowmed Citties were plagued both man and woman inwardly with the disease of the Emerodes So that they could not eate sitting nor ride by the wayes on horse-backe And to the end that all men might see that their offences were grieuous for the punishment they receyued by the diuine Iustice he replenished their Houses Places Gardens Seedes and Fields full of Rats And as they had erred in honouring the false Idol and forsaken the true God So hee would chastice them with two Plagues sending them the Emerodes to torment their bodyes and the Rats to destroy their goods For to him that willingly giueth his soule to the diuel it is but a small matter that God against his will depriue him of his goods This then being thus I would now gladly knowe whether of them committed most offence Eyther the Azotes which set the Arke in the Temple which as they thought was the most holiest or the false Christians which with a Sacrilegious boldnesse dare attempt without anie feare of GOD to robbe and pill the Church goods to theyr owne priuate commoditie in this world Truely the Law of the Azotes differed as much frō the Christians as the offence of the one differeth from the other For the Azotes erred not beleeuing that this Arke was the Figure of the True God but we beleeue it and confesse it and without shame cōmit against it infinite vices By this so rare and seuere a sudden punishment mee thinks the Princes great Lords should not only therefore acknowledge the True God but also Reuerence and honour those things which vnto him are dedicated For mans lawes speaking of the reuerence of a Prince doe no lesse condemne him to die that robbeth his house then him which violently layeth hands on his person ¶ The cause why Prince Oza was punished IN the booke which the sonne of Helcana wrote that is the second booke of the Kings and the vi Chapter hee saith That the Arke of Israel with his Relikes which was Manna the rodde and two stones stood in the house of Aminadab which was the next neighbour to the citie of Gibeah the sonne of Esay who at that time was King of the Israelites determined to transpose the Relikes into his Cittie and house For that it seemed to him a great infamy that to a mortal Prince a house should abound for his pleasures to the immortall God there should want a Temple for his reliques The day therefore appointed when they should carrie the Relique of Gibeah to Bethlehem there met thirty thousand Israelites with a great number of Noble men which came with the King besides a greater number of strangers For in such a case those are more which come of their owne pleasure then those which are commaunded Besides all the people they say that all the Nobility of the Realme was there to the end the relique should bee more honoured and his person better accompanied It chanced that as the Lords and people went singing and the King in person dancing the wheele of the Chariot began to fall and go out of the way the which prince Oza seeing by chance set to his hand and his shoulder against it because the Arke where the Relique was should not fall nor breake yet notwithstanding that suddenly and before them all hee fell downe dead Therefore let this punishment be noted for truly it was fearefull and ye ought to thinke that since God for putting his hand to the Chariot to holde it vp stroke him with death that a Prince should not hope seeking the destruction and decay of the Church that God will prolong his life O Princes great Lords and Prelates sith Oza with such diligence lost his life what doe yee hope or looke for sith with such negligence yee destroy and suffer the Church to fall Yet once againe I doe returne to exclaime vpon you O Princes and great Lords sith Prince Oza deserued such punishment because without reuerence hee aduanced himselfe to stay the Arke which fell what punishment ought yee to haue which through malice helpe the Church to fall Why King Balthasar was punished DArius King of the Perses and Medes besieged the auncient City of Babylon in Chaldea whereof Balthasar sonne of Nabuchodonozar the great was King and Lord who was so wicked a child that his father being dead hee caused him to be cut in 300. peeces gaue him to 300. hawkes to be eaten because hee should not reuiue againe to take the goods riches from him which he had left him I know not what father is so foolish that letteth his Son liue in pleasures and afterwards the entralles of the Hauke wherewith the sonne hawked should be the wofull graue of the Father which so many men lamented This Balthasar then beeing so besieged determined one night to make a great feast and banquet to the Lords of his Realme that came to ayde him and in this he did like a valiant and stout Prince to the end the Perses and Medes might see that hee little esteemed their power The noble and high hearts do vse when they are enuironed with many trauels to seeke occasions to inuent pleasures because to their men they may giue greater courage and to their enemies greater feare He declareth of Pirrus King of the Epirotes when hee was besieged very straightly in the City of Tharenta of the Romane Captaine Quintus Dentatus that then hee spake vnto his Captaines in this sort Lordes and friendes bee yee nothing at all abashed since I neuer here before saw ye afraid though the Romans haue compassed our bodies yet we haue besiged their harts For I let you to know that I am of such a complection that the straighter they keepe my body the more my heart is at large And further I say though the Romanes beate downe the walles yet our hearts shall remaine inuincible And though there bee no wall betweene vs yet wee will make them know that the hearts of Greekes are harder to ouercome then the stones of Tarentine are to be beaten downe But returning to King Balthasar The banquet then being ended and the greatest part of the night beeing spent Belthasar the King being very well pleased that the banquet was made to his contentation though he
was founded in Europe the rich Carthage in Affricke and the hardy Rome in Italy the goodly Capua in Campaigne and the great Argentine in Germanie and the holy Helia in Palestine Thebes onely was the most renowmed of all the World For the Thebanes amongst all Nations were renowned as well for their riches as for their buildings and also because in their lawes and customes they had many notable and seuere things and all the men were seuere in their works although they would not bee knowne by their extreame doings Homer saith that the Thebanes had fiue customes wherein they were more extreame then any other Nation 1 The first was that the children drawing to fiue yeeres of age were marked in the forehead with a hot Iron because in what places soeuer they came they should be knowne for Thebanes by the marke 2 The second was that they should accustome their children to trauaile alwayes on soote And the occasion why they did this was because the Egyptians kept their beasts for their Gods and therefore whensoeuer they trauelled they neuer rid on horsebacke because they should not seeme to sit vpon their god 3 The third was that none of the Citizens of Thebes should marry with any of strāge nations but rather caused thē to mary parents with parents because the friendes marrying with friends they thought the friendship and loue should be more sure 4 The fourth custome was that no Thebane should in any wise make a house for himselfe to dwell in but first hee should make his graue wherein hee should bee buried ◠Mee thinketh that in this point the Thebanes were not too extreame nor excessiue but that they did like sage and wise men yea and by the law of verity I sweare that they were sager then wee are For if at least we did imploy our thought but two houres in the weeke to make our graue It is vnpossible but that wee should correct euery day our life 3 The fift custome was that all the boyes which were exceeding fayre in theyr face should be by them strangled in the cradell and all the gyrles which were extreame foule were by them killed and sacrificed to the Gods Saying that the Gods forgot themselues when they made the men fayre and the women foule For the man which is very fayre is but an vnperfect woman and the woman which is extreame foule is but a sauage and wilde beast The greatest God of the Thebanes was Isis who was a red bull nourished in the riuer of Nile and they had a custome that all those which had red haire immediate should be sacrifised The contrary they did to the beasts for sith their God was a Bull of tawny colour none durst bee so bold to kill any beasts of the same colour In such forme and maner that it was lawful to kill both men and women and not the brute beasts I doe not say this well done of the Thebanes to slay their children nor yet I do say that it was well done to sacrifise men and women which had red or tawny haire nor I thinke it a thing reasonable that they should doe reuerence to the beasts of that colour but I wonder why they should so much despise foule women and faire men sith all the world is peopled both with with faire and foule Then sith those barbarous liuing 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 esteeme the beauty of the body knowing that most commonly thereupon ensueth the vncleannesse of the soule Vnder the Christall stone lyeth oft-times a dangerous worme in the faire wall is nourished the venomous Coluler within the middle of the white tooth is ingendred great paine to the gummes in the finest cloth the moths do most hurt and the most fruitfull tree by wormes is soonest perished I meane that vnder the cleane bodyes and faire countenances are hid many and abominable vices Truly not onely to children which are not wise but to all other which are light and frayle beutie is nothing else but the mother of many vices and the hinderer of all vertues Let Princes and great Lords beleeue me which thinke to be fayre and well disposed that where there is great aboundance of corporall goods and graces there ought to be great bones of vertues to bee able to beare them For the most high trees by great winds are shaken I say that it is vanity to bee vaine glorious in any thing of this world be it neuer so perfit and also I say that it is a great vanitie to bee prowd of corporall beautie For among all the acceptable gifts that nature gaue to the mortals there is nothing more superfluous in man and lesse necessary then the beauty of the body For truly whether be we faire or foule we are nothing the better beloued of God neither thereby the more hated of men O blindnesse of the world O life which neuer liueth O death which neuer shall end I know not why man through the accident of this beauty should or durst take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption sith he knoweth that all the fairest and most perfitest of flesh must be sacrificed to the wormes in the graue And know also that all the propernesse of the members shall be forfeited to the hungrie wormes which are in the earth Let the great scorne the little as much as they will the fayre mocke the foule at their pleasure the whole disdaine the sicke the well made enuy the deformed the white hate the blacke and the Giants despise the Dwarfes yet in the ende all shall haue an ende Truly in my opinion the trees beare not the more fruit for that they are straight onely nor for being high neither for giuing great shadow nor for being beautifull nor yet for being great By this comparison I meane that though a noble and stout man be proper of person and noble of linage shadowing of fauor comely in countenance in renowne very high and in the commonwealth puissant that therefore he is not the better in this life For truely the common wealthes are not altered by the simple laborers which trauell in the fields but by the vicious men which take great ease in their liues Vnlesse I be deceiued the Swine and other beasts are fed vnder the Oakes with the Acornes and among the pricking briers and thorns the sweet Roses doe grow the sharpe Beech giueth vs the sauory chestnuts I meane that deformed and little creatures oft times are most profitable in the commonwealth For the litle and sharpe countenances are signes of valiant and stout hearts Let vs cease to speak of men which are fleshly being eftsoons rotten and gone and let vs talke of sumptuous buildings which are of stone which if we should goe to see what they were we may know the greatnesse and the height of them Then
Husband bee vicious you restraine him immediately for you burden his heart with so manie thoughts that his bodie hath no delight to vse any pleasure Finally I say that if the husband be peaceable within short space you make him vnquiet for your paines are such so many and so continuall that there is no heart can wholly dissemble them nor Tongue that vtterly can keepe them secret Naturally women haue in all things the spirite of contradiction for so much as if the Husbands will speake they will holde their peace If he go forth they will tarrie at home if he will laugh they will weepe if hee will take pleasure they will vexe him If he be sorrowfull they will be merie If he desire peace they would haue war If he would eate they will fast if hee would fast they would eate If hee would sleepe they will watche and if hee will watche they will sleepe Finally I say that they are of so euill a condition that they loue all that we despise and despise all that we loue In mine opinion the men that are wise and will obtaine that which they desire of their wiues Let them not demaunde of them that which they would obtaine if they will come to obtaine their desire For vnto them which are diseased the letting of Bloud is most profitable when the veyne in the contrary side is opened It is no other thing to be let bloud in the cōtrary side but to ask of the woman with his mouth the contrarie of that which he desireth with his heart for otherwise neyther by faire words of his mouth nor by the bitter teares of his eyes he shal neuer obtaine that which his heart desireth I confesse Faustine it is a pleasant sport to behold the young babes and thou canst not denie mee but it is a cruell torment to endure the importunities of their Mothers Children now and then minister vnto vs occasions of pleasures but you that are theyr Mothers neuer doe any thing but that which turneth vs to trouble It is much pleasure to the Husband when he commeth home to finde the house cleane swept to find the Table couered and to finde the meate ready dressed this is to be vnderstood if all other things be well But what shall we say when he seeth the contrarie and that he findeth his children weeping his neighbours offended his Seruants troubled and aboue all when hee findeth his Wife brawling Truly it is better to the wofull Husband to goe his way fasting then to tarrie and eate at home with brawling I durst take vppon mee to cause that all marryed men would be content to forbeareal the pleasures of the Children with condition that they might be Free from the annoyance of the Mothers for in the ende the pleasures of the children endeth quickly with laughter but the griefes of the mothers endureth all their life with sorrow I haue seene one thing in Rome wherein I was neuer deceyued which is that though men commit great offences in this World yet God deferreth the punishment thereof vntill another But if for any womans pleasure we commit any faulte God permitteth that by the same woman in this world we shall suffer the paine There is no crueller enemy to to man nor more troublessome to liue withall then the woman is that hee keepeth in his house for if hee suffer her once to haue her owne will then let him be assured neuer after to bring her vnto obedience The young men of Rome follow the Ladies of Capua but they may well repent them For there was neuer man that haunted of any long time the company of womē but in the end to their procurement either by death or with infamie he was defaced For the Gods esteeme the Honour aboue all things and as they suffer the wickednesse of the euill men so wee see the sharpe punishments that they ordaine for them I am well assured Faustine of one thing and I do not speake it by heare say but because continually I haue prooued it and it is that the Husband which condiscendeth to all that the Wife desireth causeth his wife to do nothing of that her husband commaundeth For there is nothing that keepeth a woman more vnder obedience to her Husband then when oftētimes he denyeth with sharpe words her vnlawfull request In my opinion it is much crueltie of the barbarous to keepe as they doe theyr wiues like slaues but it is much more follie of the Romaines to keepe them as they doe like Ladies The flesh ought not to bee so leane that it be in eating drie nor yet so fatte that there be no leane but it would participate both of the fatte and of the leane to the intent it might giue the more nourishment I meane that the man of vnderstanding ought not to keepe his Wife so short that shee should seeme to be his seruant nor yet to giue her so much libertie that she becometh his Mistresse For the Husband that suffereth his Wife to commaund more then shee ought is the cause why hee himselfe afterwardes is not esteemed as he should be I Behold Faustine you women are in all things so extreame that for a little fauour you waxe proude and for a little 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 equall for we see that you loue not the highest nor desire to be loued of the lowest For where the louers bee not equall there their loue cannot be perfect I knowe well Faustine that thou doest not vnderstand mee therefore harken what I doe tell thee more then thou thinkest and more then thou wouldest O what and how many women haue I seene in Rome the which thogh they had two thousand pound of Rent in their heads yet they had three thousand follyes in their heads and the worst of all is that oft times her Husband dyeth and she looseth her Rent yet for all that ceaseth not her follie Now listen Faustine and I wil tell thee more All women will speake and they will that others be silent All wil commaund and will not that they be commanded and they will that all be captiues to them All will gouerne and will not be gouerned Finally they all in this one thing agree and that is that they wil cherish them that they loue reuenge them of those that they hate Of that which before is said it may be gathered that they make Fooles and Slaues of the young and vaine men which followe them and persecute the Wise men as enemies that flye them For in the ende where they loue vs moste their loue may bee measured but where as they hate vs least their hate exceedeth reason In the Annales of Pompeius I remember I haue read and do note one thing worthie of knowledge that when Pompeius the Great passed first into Asia as by chaunce hee came by the
weight and measure plentifull and chiefly if there be good doctrine for the young and little couetousnesse in the old Affro the Historiographer declareth this in the tenth booke De rebus Atheniensium Truly in my opinion the words of this philosopher were few but the sentences were many And for none other cause I did bring in this history but to profite mee of the last word wherein for aunswere hee sayeth that all the profite of the Common wealth consisteth in that there be princes that restraine the auarice of the aged and that there bee Masters to teach the youthfull We see by experience that if the brute beasts were not tyed and the corne and seedes compassed with hedges or ditches a man shold neuer gather the fruit when they are ripe I meane the strife and debate will rise continually among the people if the yong men haue not good fathers to correct them and wise masters to teach them Wee cannot deny but though the knife be made of fine steele yet sometimes it hath neede to bee whet and so in like manner the young man during the time of his youth though he doe not deserue it yet from time to time hee ought to bee corrected O Princes and great Lords I know not of whom you take counsell when your sonne is borne to prouide him of a Master and gouernour whom you chuse not as the most vertuous but as the most richest not as the most sagest but as the most vile and euill taught Finally you doe not trust him with your children that best deserueth it but that most procureth it Againe I say O princes and great Lords why doe you not withdraw your children from their hands which haue their eyes more to their owne profite then their hearts vnto your seruice For such to enrich themselus doe bring vp princes viciously Let not Princes thinke that it is a trifle to know how to finde and chuse a good Master and the Lord which herein doth not employ his diligence is worthy of great rebuke And because they shall not pretend ignorance let them beware of that man whose life is suspitious and extreame couetous In my opinion in the pallace of princes the office of Tutorshippe ought not to be giuen as other common offices that is to say by requests or money by priuities or importunities eyther else for recompence of seruices for it followeth not though a man hath beene Ambassadour in strange Realms or captaine of great Armies in warre or that hee hath possessed in the royall pallace Offices of honour or of estimation that therefore he should bee able to teach or bring vp their children For to bee a good Captaine sufficeth onely to be hardy and fortunate but for to bee a Tutour and gouernour of Princes hee ought to be both sage and vertuous CHAP. XXXV Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour of the which the best beloued dyed And of the Masters he prouided for the other named Comodus MArcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour of Rome in the time that hee was married with Faustine onely daughter of the Emperour Antonius Pius had onely two sonnes whereof the eldest was named Comodus and the second Verissimus Of these two children the heyre was Comodus who was so wicked in the 13. yeares he gouerned the Empire that hee seemed rather the Disciple of Nero the cruell then to discend by the mothers side from Antonius the mercifull or sonne of Marcus Aurelius This wicked child Comodus was so light in speech so dishonest in person and so cruell with his people that oft-times hee being aliue they layed wagers that there was no vertue in him to bee found nor any one vice in him that wanted On the contrary part the second sonne named Verissimus was comely of gesture proper of person and in witte very temperate and the most of all was that by his good conuersation of all hee was beloued For the fayre and vertuous Princes by their beauty draweth vnto them mens eyes and by their good conuersation they winne their hearts The child Verissimus was the hope of the common people and the glory of his aged Father so that the Emperor determined that this child Verissimus should bee heyre of the Empire and that the Prince Commodus should bee dishenherited Wherat no man ought to maruell for it is but iust since the childe dooth not amend his life that the father doe dishenherite him When good will doth want and vicious pleasures abound the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being 52. yeares old by chance this childe Verissimus which was the glory of Rome and the hope of the Father at the gate of Hostia of a sodaine sicknesse dyed The death of whom was as vniuersally lamented as his life of all men was desired It was a pittifull thing to see how wofully the Father tooke the death of his entirely beloued son and no lesse lamentable to beholde how the Senate tooke the death of their Prince being the heyre for the aged Father for sorrow did not go to the Senate and the Senate for a few dayes enclosed themselues in the hie Capitoll And let no man maruell though the death of this young Prince was so taken through Rome for if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewayle and lament his death When a Knight a Gentleman a Squire an Officer or when any of the people dyeth there dyeth but one but when a Prince dyeth which was good for all and that he liued to the profite of all then they ought to make account that all do dye they ought all greatly to lament it for oft times it chanceth that after 2. or 3. good Princes a foule flocke of Tyrants succeede Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperor as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely person though the inward sorrow from the rootes of the heart could not bee plucked yet hee determined to dissemble outwardly to bury his grieues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shewe extreame sorrow vnlesse it be that hee hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good Prince as one that hath his vineyarde frozen wherein was all his hope contented with himselfe with that which remaineth his so deerly beloued sonne being dead and commaunded the Prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his onely heire Iulius Capitolinus which was one of those that wrote of the time of Marcus Aurelius saide vpon this matter that when the Father saw the disordinate frailenesse and lightnes and also the little shame which the prince Comodus his Sonne brought with him the aged man beganne to weepe and shed teares from his eyes And it was because the simplenesse and vertues of his deere beloued Sonne Verissimus came into his minde Although this Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius for the death of
hands Notwithstanding all this you you must know that in the warre you must first often hazard your life and afterwards to the discretion of such tongues commit your honour Our folly is so foolish and the desires of men so vaine that more for one vaine word then for any profite wee desire rather to get vaine glory with traue then to seeke a good life with rest And therefore willingly wee offer our liues now to great trauell and paine onely that among vaine men hereafter we may haue a name I sweare by the immortall Gods vnto thee my Cornelius that the day of my triumph whereas to the seeming of all those of this world I went triumphing in the chariot openly yet I ensure thee my heart wept secretly Such is the vanitie of men that thogh of reason wee be admonished called and compelled yet if we flie from her and contrarie though wee be rebuked euill handeled and dispised of the world yet we will serue it If I bee not deceyued it is the prosperitie of Foolish men and want of good iudgements that cause the men to enter into others Houses by force rather then to be desirous to be quiet in their owne with a good will I meane that wee should in following vertue sooner bee vertuous then in haunting vices be vicious for speaking the truth men which in all and for all desire to please the world must needes offer themselues to great trauell and care Oh Rome Rome cursed be thy folly and cursed be he that in thee brought vp so much pride and be he cursed of men and hated of Gods which in thee hath inuented such pompe For very fewe are they that worthily vnto it haue attained but infinite are they which through it haue perished What greater vanitie or what equall lightnes can bee then that a Romaine captaine because hee hath conquered Kingdomes troubled quyet men destroyed citties beaten downe castles robbed the poore enriched tyrants caried away treasors shed much bloud made infinite widowes and taken many Noble mens liues should be afterwardes with great triumph of Rome receyued in recompence of all this damage Wilt thou now that I tell thee a greater follie which aboue al other is greatest I let thee know infinite are they that dye in the wars and one only carieth away the glorie thereof So that these wofull and miserable men thogh for their carkas they haue not a graue yet one captaine goeth triumphing alone through Rome By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee and let this passe secretly as between friends that the day of my triumph when I was in my triumphant chariot beholding the miserable captiues loden with yrons and other men carrying infinite treasours which wee had euill gotten and to see the carefull widowes weepe for the death of theyr Husbandes and remembred so many noble Romans that lost their liues in Affrike thogh I seemed to reioice outwardly yet I ensure thee I did weepe drops of bloud inwardly For he is no man borne in the worlde but rather a Furie bred vp in hell among the Furies that can at the sorrowes of another take any pleasure I know not in this case what reputation the Prince or Captaine should make of himselfe that commeth from the Warres and desireth to enter into Rome For if hee thinke as it is reason on the wounds he hath in his bodie or the Treasors which he hath wasted on the places that he hath burnt on the perills that he hath escaped on the iniuryes which hee hath receiued the multitudes of men which vniustly are slaine the Friends which hee hath lost the enemies which he hath goten the litle rest that he hath enjoyed and the great trauels that he hath suffered in such case I say that such a one with sorowful sighs ought to lamēt with bitter teares ought to be receiued In this case of triumphing I neither commend the Assyrians nor enuie the Persians nor am content with the Macedonians nor allowe the Caldeans nor content me with the Greekes I curse the Troians and condemne the Cathagenians because that they proceeded not acording to the zeale of iustice but rather of the rage of pride to set vp triumphes endamaged their countries and left an occasion to vndoe vs. O cursed Rome cursed thou hast beene cursed thou art and cursed thou shalt be For if the fatall destenies doe not lye vnto mee and my iudgement deceiue me not and fortune fasten not the naile they shall see of thee Rome in time to come that which we others presently see of the Realmes past Thou oughtest for to know that as thou by tyranny hast made thy selfe Lady of Lords so by iustice thou shalt returne to bee the seruant of seruants O vnhappy Rome and vnhappy againe I returne to call thee Tell mee I pray thee why art thou at this day so dear of Marchandize so cheape of folly where are the ancient fathers which builded thee and with their vertues honored thee in whose stead presently thou magnifyest so manie tirants which with their vices deface thee Where are all those noble and vertuous Batons which thou hast nourished in whose stead thou hast now so many vicious and vagabonds Where are those which for thy liberty did shed their bloud in whose stead now thou hast those that to bring thee into subiection haue lost their life Where are thy valiant Captaines which with such great trauell did endeauour themselues to defend the walls from enemies in whose stead haue succeeded those that haue plucked them down and peopled them with vices and vicious where are thy great priests they which did alwayes pray in the temples in whose stead haue succeeded those that know not but to defile the churches and with their wickednesse to moue the gods to wrath where are those so many Philosophers and Oratours which with their counsell gouernd thee in whose stead haue now succeeded so many simple and ignorant which with their malice doe vndoe thee O Rome all those Auncients haue forsaken thee and wee succeeded those which now are new if thou knewest truely the vertue of them and diddest consider the lightnesse of vs the day that they ended their life the selfe same day not one stone in thee should haue beene lefte vpon another And so those fields should haue sauoured of the bones of the vertuous which now stinke of the bodies of the vicious Peraduenture thou art more auncient then Babylon more beautifull then Hierusalem more rich then Carthage more strōg then Troy more in circuite then Corinth more pleasāt then Tirus more fertile then Constantinople more high then Camena more inuincible then Aquileta more priuiledged then Gādes more enuironed with Towers then Capua and more flourishing then Cantabria We see that all those notable Cities perished for all their vertuous defenders and thinkest thou for to remaine being replenished with so much vice and peopled with so many vitious O my mother
a perpetuall memorie What contempt of world what forgetfulnesse of himselfe what stroke of fortune what whippe for the flesh what little regard of life O what bridle for the vertuous O what confusion for those that loue life O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those here haue willingly despised their owne liues it is not to be thought that they dyed to take the goods of others neither yet to thinke that our life should neuer haue end nor our couetousnesse in like manner O glorious people and ten thousand fold happy that the proper sensuality being forsaken haue ouercom the naturall appetite to desire to liue not beleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall Destenies By the way they assaulted fortune they changed life for death they offered the body to death and aboue all haue wonne honour with the Gods not for that they shoulde hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluous of life Archagent a Surgeon of Rome and Anthonius Musus a Physition of the Emperour Augustus and Esculapius father of the Phisicke should get little money in that Countrie Hee that then should haue sent to the barbarous to haue done as the Romanes at that time did that is to say to take sirrops in the mornings pils at night to drinke milke in the morning to annoint themselues with gromeâ—seed to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eate of one thing and to abstaine from many a man ought to thinke that hee which willingly seeketh death will not giue money to lengthen life CHAP. XXII The Emperour concludeth his letter and shewed what perils those olde men liue in which dissolutely like young children passe their dayes and giueth vnto them wholesome counsell for the remedy thereof BVt returning to thee Claude and to thee Claudine me thinketh that these barbarous men beeing fifty yeares of age and you others hauing aboue threescore and tenne it should be iust that sithence you were elder in yeares you were equall in vertue and though as they you wil not accept death patiently yet at the least you ought to amend your euill liues willingly I doe remember that it is many yeares sithens that Fabritius the young sonne of Fabritius the olde had ordayned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told me great inconueniences had happned and sithens that you did me so great a benefite I would now requite you the same with another the like For amongst friends there is no equal benefite then to deceiue the deceyuer I let you know if you do not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are sunke into your heads the nostrels are shut the haires are white the hearing is lost the tongue faultereth the teeth fall the face is wrinkled the feete swolne and the stomacke cold Finally I say that if the graue could speake as vnto his Subiects by iustice he might commaund you to inhabite his house It is great pitty of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorance for then vnto such their eies are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth them to the graue Plato in his booke of the Common wealth sayde that in vaine wee giue good counsels to fond and light young men for youth is without experience of that it knoweth suspitious of that it heareth incredible of that is tolde him despising the counsell of an other and very poore of his own For so much as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the young haue of the good is not so much but the obstination which the olde hath in the euill is more For the mortall Gods many times doe dissemble with a thousand offences commited by ignorance but they neuer forgiue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doe not maruell that you doe forget the gods as you doe which created you and your Fathers which begot you and your parents which haue loued you and your friends which haue honoured you but that which I most maruell at is that you forget your selues For you neuer consider what you ought to bee vntill such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to returne backe againe Awake awake since you are drowned in your dreames open your eyes since you sleepe so much accustome your selues to trauels sithence you are vagabonds learne that which behoueth you since now you are olde I meane that in time conuenient you agree with death before he make execution of life Fifty two yeeres haue I knowne the things of the world and yet I neuer saw a Woman so aged thorough yeares nor old man with members so feeble that for want of strength could not if they list doe good nor yet for the same occasion should leaue to bee euill if they list to be euill It is a maruellous thing to see and worthy to note that all the corporall members of Man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tongue For the heart is alwayes giuen to inuent euills and the tongue is alwayes able to tell Lyes Mine opinion is that the pleasaunt Summer beeing past you should prepare your selues for the vntemperate winter which is at hand And if you haue but fewe dayes to continue you should make hast to take vp your lodging I meane that sith you haue passed the dayes of your life with trauell you should prepare your selues against the night of death to be in the hauen of rest Let mockeryes passe as mockeries and accept trueth as truth that is to say that it were a very iust thing and also for your honour necessarie that all shose which in times past haue seen you young and foolish should now in your age see you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnesse and follyes of youth as doth grauity and constancie in Age. When the Knight runneth his carriere they blame him not for that the Horses mane is not finely combed but at the end of his race he shold see his horse amended and looked vnto What greater confusion can be to any person or greater slaunder to our mother Rome then to see that which now a dayes therein we see That is to say that the old which can scarcely creepe through the streetes to beholde the playes and games as young men which search for nought else but onely pompe and vanitie It grieueth mee to speake it but I am much more ashamed to see that the olde Romaines do daylie cause the white haires to be plucked out of their heads because they would not seeme old to make their beard small to seem yong wearing their hosen very close their shyrts open before the gowne of the Senatour embrodered the Romane signe richly enamelled the
doe fall ought to be occupied in the noble armies sithens thou art noble of bloud valiant in person auncient of yeares and not euill willed in the Common-wealth For thou oughtest to consider that more worth is reason for the pathway of men which are good then the common opinion which is the large high way of the euill For if it be narow to go on the one side there is no dust wherewith the eyes be blinded as in the other I will giue thee a counsell and if thou feelest thy selfe euill neuer count thou mee for friend Lust no more after the greasie fatte of temporal goods since thou hast short life For wee see daily manie before they come to thy age dye but wee see fewe after thy age liue After this counsell I will giue thee an aduise that thou neuer trust present prosperitie For then alway thou art in daunger of some euill Fortune If thou art mounted into such pricking thornes as a foole me thinketh thou oughtest to discend as a Sage And in this sort all will say amongst the people that Cincinnatus is descended but not fallen My Letter I will conclude and the conclusion thereof see well thou note that is to say That thou and thy Trade shall bee cursed where you other merchaunts will liue poore to dye rich Once againe I returne to curse you for the couetousnes of an euill man is alwayes accomplished to the preiudice of manie good My wife Faustine doeth salute thee and she was not a litle troubled when she knew thou wert a Marchaunt and that thou keepest a shop in Capua I send thee a Horse to ride vppon and one of the most richest Arras of Trypolie to hang thy house withall a precious ring and a a pommel of a sword of Alexandrie And all these things I do not send thee for that I know thou hast neede thereof but rather not to forget the good custome I haue to giue Pamphile thy aunt and my neighbour is dead and I can tell thee that in Rome dyed not a woman of a long time which of her left such renowme for so much as she forgot all enmities shee succoured the poore she visited the banished she entertained friends and also I hearde say that shee alone did light all the temples Prescilla thy cousin hath the health of body thogh for the death of her mother her heart is heauie And without doubt she hath reason for the onely sorrowes which the Mothers suffer to bring vs forth though with drops of bloud we shold bewaile them yet wee cannot recompence them The Gods be in thy custodie and preserue mee with my wife Faustine from all euill Fortune Marke of Mount Celio with his owne hand CHAP. XXVIII ¶ The Authour perswadeth Princes and great Lordes to flye couetousnes and Auarice and to become bountifull and liberall which vertue is euer pertinent to the royall person c. PIsistratus the renowmed Tyrant among the Athenians since his friends coulde not endure the cruelties that he committed eache one returned to his owne house and vtterly forsook him The which when the Tyraunt saw hee layd all his treasure and Garments on a heape together and went to visite his friends to whome with bitter teares hee spake these word All my Apparell and money here I bring you with determination that if you will vse my company we will go all to my house and if you will not come into my company I am determined to dwell in yours For if you bee weary to follow mee I haue great desire to serue you sithens you know that they cannot be called faithfull Friendes where the one cannot beare with the other Plutarchus in his Apothegmes saith that this Tyraunt Pisistratus was verie rich and extreame couetous so that they write of him that the golde and siluer which once came into his possession neuer man saw it afterwards but if hee had necessitie to buy anie thing if they would not present it vnto him willinglie hee would haue it by force When he was dead the Athenians determined to weigh him and his treasure the case was maruellous that the gold and siluer hee had weied more then his dead body sixe times At that time in Athens there was a Philosopher called Lido of whom the Athenians demaunded what they should doe with the treasure and dead body Mee thinketh qd this Philosopher That if those which are liuing did know any siluer or gold which the tyrant tooke from them it should bee restored againe immediately and doe not maruell hereat that I doe not require it to bee put in the common treasure For God will not permit that the Common wealth bee enriched with the theft of tyrants but with the swet of the Inhabitants If any goods remaine which doe not appeare from whom they haue beene taken me thinketh that they ought to bee distributed among the poore for nothing can bee more iust then that which the goods wherewith the tirant hath empouerished many with the selfe same wee should enrich some As touching his buriall me thinketh hee ought to bee cast out to the fowles to bee eaten and to the dogs to be gnawne And let no man thinke this sentence to bee cruell for we are bound to do no more for him at his death then hee did for himselfe in his life who being so ouercome with auarice that he would neuer disburse so much money as should buy him seuen foot of earth wherein his graue should bee made And will you know that the Gods haue done a great good to all Greece to take life from this tirant First it is good because much goods are dispersed which heretofore lay hid and serued to no purpose Secondly that many tongues shal rest for the treasures of this Tirant made great want in the Common-wealth and our tongues the greatest part of the day were occupied to speake euill of his person Me thinketh this Philosopher hath touched two things which the couetous man doth in the cōmon-welth that is to say that drawing much golde and siluer to the hidden Treasure hee robbeth the marchandize wherewith the people doe liue The other damage is that as hee is hated of all so he causeth rancour and malice in the hearts of all for he maketh the rich to murmur and the poore to blaspheme One thing I reade of in the lawes of the Lumbardes worthy of truth to bee noted and knowne and no lesse to be followed which is that all those which should haue gold siluer money silkes and clothes euery yeare they should bee registred in the place of iustice And this was to the ende not to consent nor permit them to heap much but that they should haue to buy sell and traffique wherby the goods were occupied among the people so that he which did spēd the money to the profit of his house it was taken for good of the common-wealth If Christians would do that which the Lūbards did there should not
beasts doe drawe him water the beasts doe carrie him from place to place the beasts doe plough the Lande and carryeth the corne into their barnes Finally I say that if the man receyue any good hee hath not wherewith to make recompence and if they doe him any euill hee hath nought but the tongue to reuenge Wee must note also that though a man loade a beast with strypes beate her and driue her by the fowle wayes though hee take her meate from her yea though her younglings dye yet for none of all these she is sad or sorrowfull and much lesse doth weepe and though she should weep she can not For beasts little esteme their life and much lesse feare death It is not so of the vnhappy and wretched man which cānot but bewaile the vnthankfulnesse of theyr friendes the death of their Children the wants which they haue of necessaries the cases of aduersitie which doe succeed them the false witnes which is brought against them and a thousand calamityes which doe torment their hearts Finally I say that the greatest comforts that men haue in this life is to make a riuer of water with the teares of their Eyes Let vs enquire of Princes and great Lordes what they can doe when they are borne whether they can speake as Orators if they can runne as Postes if they can gouern themselues as kings if they can fight as men of Warre if they can labour as labourers if they can worke as masons if they knowe to teach as maisters These litle children would answer that they are not onely ignorant of all that wee demaund of them but also that they cannot vnderstand it Let vs returne to aske them what it is that they knowe since they know nothing of that we haue demaunded them They will answer that they can doe no other thing but weepe at their byrth and sorrow at theyr death Though all those which saile in this so perillous Sea doe reioyce and take pleasure and seeme to sleepe soundly yet at the last there cometh the winde of aduersitie which maketh them all know their follies For if I be not deceiued and if I know any thing of this world those which I haue seene at the time of their birth take ship weeping I doubt whether they will take Land in the graue laughing Oh vnhappy life I should say rather death which the mortalls take for life wherein afterwards we must spend and consume a great time to learne all Artes Sciences and offices and yet notwithstanding that whereof we are ignorant is much more then that which wee knowe Wee forget the greatest part saue only that of weeping which no man needeth to learne for wee are borne and liue weeping and vntill this present wee haue seene none to die in ioy Wee must note also that the beasts doe liue and dye with the inclinations wherwith they were borne that is to say that the Wolfe followeth the sheepe and not the birdes the hound followeth the hares and not the rattes the sparrow flyeth at the birdes and not at the fish the spider eateth the flyes and not the herbes Finally I say that if wee let the beast search his meate quietly we shall not see him giuen to any other thing The contrary of all this hapneth to men the which though nature hath created feeble yet Gods intention was not they should bee malitious but I am sorry since they cannot auoyd debility that they turne it into malice The presumption which they haue to bee good they turne to pride and the desire they haue to be innocent they turne into enuy The fury which they should take against malice they turne into anger and the liberality they ought to haue with the good they conuert into auarice The necessity they haue to eate they turne into gluttonie and the care they ought to haue of their conscience they turne into negligence Finally I say that the more strength beasts haue the more they serue and the lesse men are worth so much the more thankes haue they of God The innocency of the brute beastes considered and the malice of the malitious men marked without comparison the company of the brute beast is lesse hurtfull then the conuersation of euill men For in the end if hee bee conuersant with a beast yee haue not but to beware of her but if yee bee in company with a man there is nothing wherin yee ought to trust him Wee must note also that it was neyther seene or read that there was any beast that took care for the graue but the beasts being dead some were torne in peeces with Lions other dismembred by the bears others gnawn with dogs other remain in the fields other are eaten of men and other by the Ants. Finally the entrailes of the one are the graues of others It is not so of the miserable man the which consumeth no small treasure to make his Tombe which is the most vainest thing that is in this miserable life for there is no greater vanity nor lightnes in man then to be esteemed for his goodly and sumptuous sepulture and little to weigh a good Life I will sweare that at this day all the dead doe sweare that they care little if their bodies be buried in the deepe Seas or in the golden Tombes or that the cruell beasts haue eaten thē or that they remaine in the fieldes without a graue so that their soules may be among the celestiall Companies Speaking after the Lawe of a Christian I durst say that it profiteth little the body to be among the painted and carued stones when the miserable soule is burning in the fierie flames of hell O miserable creatures haue not wee sufficient wherewith to seeke in this life to procure to trauell to accomplish to sigh and also what to bewayle without hauing such care anguish to know where they shall bee buried Is there any man so vaine that hee dooth not care that other men should condemne his euil life so that they praise his rich tombe To those that are liuing I speake and say of those that are dead that if a man gaue them leaue to returne into the World they would bee occupied more to correct their excesse and offences then to adiourne and repayre their graues and tombes though they haue found them fallen downe I cannot tell what to say more in this case but to admonish men that it is a great folly to make any great account of the graues CHAP. XXXIIII The Emperour Marcus Aurelius writeth this letter to Domitius a Citizen of Capua to comfort him in his exile beeing banished for a quarrell betwixt him and another about the running of a horse very comfortable to those that haue beene in fauour and now fallen in disgrace MArke the Romane Emperour borne at Mount Celio to thee Domitius of Capua wisheth health and consolation from the gods the onely Comforters The bitter Winter in these partes haue raysed bosterous winds and
of her Husband doe spoyle her of her goods For in this case their heires oftentimes are so disordered that for a worne cloake or a broken shirt they wil trouble and vexe the poore widdowe If perchance the miserable widdow haue children I say that in this case shee hath double sorrow For if they are young shee endureth much paine to bring them vp so that each houre and moment theyr Mothers liue in great sorrows to bethinke them only of the life death of their children If perhaps the Children are olde truely the griefes which remaine vnto them are no lesse For so much as the greatest part of them are either proud disobedient malicious negligent Adulterers gluttons blasphemers false lyars dull-headed wanting witte or sickly So that the ioy of the woefull Mothers is to bewaile the deaths of their well beloued Husbands and to remedy the discordes of theyr youthfull children If the troubles which remaine vnto the careful mothers with their sonnes be great I say that those which they haue with their Daughters bee much more For if the Daughter be quicke of wit the Mother thinketh that shee shall be vndone If shee be simple she thinketh that euery man will deceyue her If she be faire shee hath enough to doe to keepe her If shee be deformed she cannot marrie her If she be well mannered she will not let her go from her If shee be euill mannered she cannot endure her If she be too solitary she hath not wherewith to remedy her If she be dissolute she will not suffer her to bee punished Finally if she put her from her she feareth she shal be slaundered If she leaue her in her house she is afraid she shal be stollen What shall the wofull poor widdow doe seeing herselfe burdened with daughters and enuironed with sonnes and neyther of them of sufficient age that there is any time to remedy them nor substance to maintaine them Admit that shee marrie one of her sonnes and one daughter I demand therfore if the poor widdow wil leaue her care anguish truly I say no thogh she chuse rich personages wel disposed she cānot scape but that day that shee replenished her selfe with daughters in law the same day she chargeth her heart with sorrows trauels and cares O poore widdowes deceyue not your selues and doe not imagine that hauing married your sonnes and daughters from that time forwardes yee shall liue more ioyfull and contented For that layde aside which their Nephewes doe demaund them and that their sonnes in Law do rob them when the poore olde woman thinketh to be most surest the young man shall make a claim to her goods what daughter in Law is there in this world who faithfully loueth her stepmother And what sonne in Law is there in the world that desireth not to bee heyre to his father in Lawe Suppose a poore widdow to be fallen sicke the which hath in her house a sonne in Law and that a man aske him vpon his oath which of these two things hee had rather haue eyther to gouerne his mother in Law with hope to heale her or to bury her with hope to inherite her goods I sweare that such would sweare that he could reioyce more to giue a ducket for the graue then a penny for a Physition to cure and heale her Seneca in an Epistle sayeth That the Fathers in Law naturally do loue their daughters in Law and the sons in Law are loued of the mothers in Law And for the contrary he saieth that naturally the sonnes in law doe hate their mothers in Law but I take it not for a generall rule for there are mothers in Law which deserue to be worshipped and there are sonnes in Law which are not worthie to be beloued Other troubles chaunce dayly to these poore widdowes which is that when one of them hath one onely sonne whom she hath in steade of a husband in stead of a brother in steade of a sonne shee shall see him dye whom sith shee had his life in such great loue shee cannot though she would take his death with patience so that as they bury the deade body of the innocent childe they burie the liuely heart of the woefull and sadde mother Then let vs omit the sorrowes which the mothers haue when their children dye and let vs aske the mothers what they feele when they are sicke They will aunswere vs that alwayes and as oftentimes as their children bee sicke the death of their husband then is renued imagining that it will happen so vnto them as it hath done vnto others And to say the truth it is no maruell if they doe feare For the vine is in greater perill when it is budded then when the grapes are ripe Other troubles oftentimes increase to the poore widdowes the which amongst others this is not the least that is to say the little regard of the Friendes of her Husband and the vnthankfulnes of those which haue been brought vp with him The which since hee was layde in his graue neuer ented into the gates of his house but to demaund recompence of their old seruices and to renew and beginne new suites I would haue declared or to say better briefly touched the trauells of widdowes to perswade Princes that they remedie them and to admonish Iudges to heare them and to desire all vertuous men to comfort them For the Charitable worke of it selfe is so Godly that hee deserueth more which remedyeth the troubles of the one onely then I which write their miseries altogether CHAP. XXXVII Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to a Romane Lady named Lauinia comforting her for the death of her husband MArcus of mount Celio Emperour of Rome chiefe Consull Tribune of the people high Bishop appointed against the Daces wisheth health and comfort to thee Lauinia noble and worthy Romane matron the late wife of the good Claudinus According to that thy person deserueth to that which vnto thy husband I ought I thinke well that thou wilt suspect that I weigh thee little for that vnto thy great sorrowes complaints and lamentations are now arriued my negligent consolations When I remember thy merites which cannot fayle and imagine that thou wilt remember my good will wherewith alwayes I haue desired to serue thee I am assured that if thy suspition accuse mee thy vertue and wisdome will defend me For speaking the truth though I am the last to comfort thee yet I was the first to feele thy sorrowes As ignorance is the cruell scourge of vertues and sputre to all vices so it chaunceth oft times that ouer much knowledge putteth wise mē in doubt and slaundereth the innocent For as much as wee see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome are those which fall into most perilous vices We find the Latines much better with the ignorance of vices then the Greekes with the knowledge of vertues And the reason hereof is for that of things
but with comfortable wordes The ende of this comparison tendeth to this effect that all the afflicted harts should know that somtimes the the hart is more comforted with one benefite which they doe then with an hundred words which they speake And at an other time the sorrowfull hart is more lightned with one worde of his friendes mouth then with all the seruice of others in the worlde Oh wretch that I am for as in the one and in the other I am destitute So in all I do want For considering thy greatnes and weyghing my little knowledge I see my selfe very vnable For that to comfort thee I want science and for to helpe thee I want riches But I cease not to haue great sorrow if sorrow in payment may be receyued That which with my person I can doe neyther with paper or iuke I will requite For the man which with word only comforteth in effect being able to remedy declareth himselfe to haue beene a fayned Friend in times past and sheweth that a man ought not to take him for a faithfull friend in time to come That which the Romaines with the widdowes of Rome haue accustomed to doe I will not presently doe with rhee Lady Lauinia that is to say that thy Husband being dead all goe to visite the Widdow all comfort the widdow and within a few dayes after if the wofull widdow haue neede of any smal fauor with the Senate they withdraw themselues together as if they had neuer knowne her Husband nor seene her The renowme of Romaine widdowes is very dayntie For of their honestie or dishonestie dependeth the good renowme of their person the honour of their parents the credite of their childreÌ„ and the memory of the dead For this therfore it is healthfull counsell for wise men to speake few words to widowes and to doe infinite good works What auaileth it wofull widowes to haue their Cofers filled with letters and promises and their eares stuffed with words and flatteries If hitherto thou hast taken mee for thy neighbour and parent of thy husband I beseech thee henceforth that thou take mee for a husband in loue for father in counsell for brother in seruice and for aduocate in the Senate And all this so truly shall be 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 like maner that when the hearts with sorrowes are ouerwhelmed the spirits are vexed and troubled the memory is dulled the flesh doth tremble the spirit doth change and reason is withdrawne And since that presently sorrow and care in thy house doe remaine let the gods forsake me if I abandon thee let them forget mee if I remember thee not But as Claudine remained thine wholly till the houre of death so Marcus Aurelius will euermore be thine during his life Since I loue thee so entirely and thou trustest me so faithfully and that thou with sorrowes art so replenished and my heart with care so oppressed let vs admit that thou Lady Lauinia hast the aucthority to command me in thy affaires and I licence to counsell aduertise thee of things touching thy honour and person For oftentimes the widowes haue more neede of a meane remedy then of a good counsell I earnestly desire thee to leaue the lamentation of the Romane widowes that is to know to shut the gates to teare their haires to cut their garments to goe bare legged to paint the visage to eate solitarily to weepe on the graues to chide her Chamberlaines to poure out water with teares to put Acornes on the graues and to bite their nailes with the teeth For these things and such other semblable lightnesse behooueth not the grauity of Romane Matrons either to see them or else to know them Since there is no extremity but therein vice is annexed I let thee know Lady Lauinia if thou bee ignorant thereof that the widowes which are so extreame doe torment themselues doe trouble their friends do offend the gods do forsake theirs in the end they profit not the dead and to the enuious people they giue occasion to talke I would thinke and me seemeth that the women which are Matrons and widowes ought to take vpon them such garment and estate the day that the gods take life from their husbands as they entend to weare during their life What auaileth it that a widow bee one moneth shut vp in her house and that afterwards within a yeare she is met in euery place of Rome what auaileth it that for few dayes she hideth her selfe from her parents and friends and afterwards shee is found the first at the theaters what profiteth it that widowes at the first doe mourne and goe euill attired and afterwards they dispute and complaine of the beauty of the Romane wiues what forceth it that widowes for a certaine time doe keepe their gates shut and afterwards their houses are more frequented then others What skilleth it that a man see the widowes weepe much for their husbands and afterwards they see them laugh more for their pastimes Finally I say that it little auaileth the woman to seeme to suffer much openly for the death of her husband if secretly she hath another husband already found For the vertuous and honest widow immediatly as she seeth another man aliue she renueth her sorrow for her husband that is dead I will shew thee Lady Lauinia a thing that befell in Rome to the end thou thinke not I talke at pleasure In the olde time in Rome there was a noble worthy Romane Lady wife of the noble Marcus Marcellus whose came was Fuluia And it happened so that this woman seeing her husband buried in the field of Mars for the great priese she had she scratched her face shee ruffled her haire shee tore her gowne and fell downe to the earth in a sound by the reason whereof two Senatours kept her in their armes to the end she should torment her selfe no more To whom Gneus â—lâ—uius the Censour said Let Fuluia goe out of your hands she will this day doe all the penance of widowes Speaking the truth I know not whether this Romane spake with the Oracle or that hee were a Diuine but I am â—ssured that all hee spake came to paile For that this Fuluia was the wise of so excellent a Romane as that good Marcus Marceilus was I would that so vnlucky a chance had not happened vnto her which was that whiles the bones of her husband were a burning she agreed to be married to another and which was more to one of the Senatours that lifted her vp by the armes she gaue her hand as a Romane to a Romane in token of a faithfull marriage The case was so abhominable that of all men it was dispraised that were present and gaue occasion that they neuer credite widowes afterwards I doe not speake it Lady Lauinia for that I
I am sorrowfull I would not that he which is merrie should comfort me When I am bannished I would not that hee which is in prosperitie should comfort mee When I am at the houre of death I would not that hee should comfort me which is not in suspition of life But I would that the poore should comfort me in pouertie the sorrowfull in my sorrowes the banished in my banishment and he which is in as great danger of his life as I am now at the point of death For there is no counsell so healthfull nor true as that of the man which is in sorrow when he counselleth another which is likewise tormented himselfe If thou considerest well this sentence thou shalt finde that I haue spoken a thing profound wherein notwithstanding my tongue is appeased For in my opinion euill shall hee be comforted which is weeping with him that continually laugheth I say this to the ende thou know that I know it and that thou perceiue that I perceiue it And because thou shalt not liue deceiued as to my friend I will disclose the secret and thou shalt see that smal is the sorrow which I haue in respect of the great which I haue cause to haue For if reason had not striued with sensualtie the sighes ended my life and in a pond of teares they had made my graue The things which in mee thou hast seene which abhore meate to banish sleepe to loue care to bee annoyed with company to take rest in sighes and to take pleasures in teares may easily declare vnto thee what torment is in the sea of my heart when such tremblings doe appeare in the earth of my body Let vs now come to the purpose and we shal see why my bodie is without consolation and my heart ouercome with sorrowes for my feeling greatly exceeds my complaining because the body is so delicate that in scratching it it complaineth and the heart is so stout and valiant that though it be hurt yet it dissembleth O Panutius I let thee know that the occasion why I take death so grieuously is because I leaue my sonne Commodus in this life who liueth in this age most perillous for him and no lesse dangerous for the Empire By the flowers are the fruits knowne by the grapes the vines are knowne and by the face men are knowne by the colt the horse is iudged and by the infant youth is knowne This I say by the Prince my sonne for that hee hath bene euill in my life I doe imagine that he will bee worse after my death Since thou as well as I knowst the euill conditions of my sonne why doest thou maruell at the thoughts and sorrowes of the father My son Commodus in yeares is yong and in vnderstanding yonger Hee hath an euill inclination and yet hee will not enforce himselfe against the same hee gouerneth himselfe by his owne sence and in matters of wisedome he knoweth little of that hee should be ignorant hee knoweth too much and that which is worst of all he is of no man esteemed Hee knoweth nothing of things past nor occupieth him about any thing present Finally for that which mine eyes haue seene I say and that which within my heart I haue suspected I iudge that shortly the person of my sonne shall be in hazard and the memory of his father perish O how vnkindely haue the gods vsed themselues toward vs to command vs to leaue our honour in the hands of our children for it should suffice that wee should leaue them our goods and that to our friends we should commit our honor But yet I am sorry for that they consume the goods in vices and lose the honour for to bee vitious The gods being pittifull as they are since they giue vs the authoritie to diuide our goods why do they not giue vs leaue to make our wils of the honor My sonnes name being Commodus in the Romain tongue is as much to say as profite but as he is wee will be content to bee without little profite which he may do to some so that we may bee excused of the great damage which he is likely to doe to all For I suppose hee will be the scourge of men and the wrath of God He entreth now into the pathway of youth alone without a guide And for that he hath to passe by the high and dangerous places I feare lest hee bee lost in the wood of vices For the children of Princes and great Lord◠for so much as they are brought vp in libertie and wantonnesse doe easily fal into vices and voluptuousnesse and are most stubborn to be withdrawne from folly O Panutius giue attentiue eare to that I say vnto thee Seest thou not that Commodus my sonne is at libertie is rich is yong and is alone By the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the least of these windes would ouerthrow not onely a young tender Ash but also a mightie strong Oake Riches youth pride and liberty are foure plagues which poyson the Prince replenish the common wealth with filth kill the liuing and defame the dead Let the olde men beleeue me and the young men marke mee well what I say that where the gods haue giuen many gifts it is necessary they haue many vertues to sustaine them The gentle the peaceable the coūterfeit the simple and the fearefull doe not trouble the common wealth but those whom nature hath giuen most gifts For as experience teacheth vs with the fairest women the stewes are furnished the most proper personage are vnshamefast the most stout and valiant are murderers the most subtill are theeues and men of clearest vnderstanding oft times become most fooles I say and say againe I affirme and affirme againe I sweare and sweare againe that if two men which are adorned with naturall gifts doe want requisite vertues such haue a knife in their hands wherewith they do strike and wound themselues a fire on their shoulders wherewith they burne themselues a rope at their neckes to hang themselues a dagger at theyr breast wherewith they kill themselues a thorne in their foote wherwith they pricke themselues and stones whereat they stumble so that stumbling they fall and falling they finde themselues with death whom they hate and without life which so much they loued Note well Panutius note that the man which from his infancy hath alwayes the feare of the gods before his eyes and the shame of men saieth truth to all and liueth in preiudice to none and to such a tree though euill fortune do cleaue the flower of his youth doe wither the leaues of theyr fauours drie they gather the fruites of his trauels they cut the bough of his offices they bow the highest of his branches downewards yet in the end though of the windes hee be beaten hee shall neuer be ouercome O happy are those Fathers vnto whom the Gods haue giuen quicke children wise fayre able light and
valiant but all these giftes are but meanes to make them vicious And in such case if the Fathers would bee gouerned by my counsell I would rather desire that members should want in them then that vices should abound Of the most fairest children which are borne in the Empire my sonne Commodus the Prince is one But I would to the immortall Gods that in face hee resemble the blackest of Ethiope and in manners the greatest Philosopher of Greece For the glory of the Father is not nor ought not to bee in that his child is fayre of complexion and handsome of person but that in his life hee bee very vpright Wee will not call him a pittifull Father but a great enemy who exalteth forth his child for that he is faire and doth not correct him though hee be vicious I durst say that the father which hath a child endued with many goodly gifts and that hee doth employ them all to vices such a child ought not to bee borne in the world and if perchance he were borne hee ought immediately to be buried CHAP. LIII The Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth his matter and sheweth that sondry young Princes for being vicious haue vndone themselues and empouerished their Realms O What great pitty is it to see how the father buyeth his child of the gods with sighes how the mother deliuers thē with pain how they both nourish them with trauels how they watch to sustain them how they labour to remedy them afterwards they haue so rebelled and be so vicious that the miserable Fathers oftentimes do die not for age but for the griefes wherewith their children torment them I doe remember that the Prince Commodus my sonne beeing young and I aged as I am with great paines we kept him from vices but I feare that after my death hee will hate vertues I remember many yong Princes which of his age haue inherited th' Empire of Rome who haue bin of so wicked a life that they haue deserued to loose both honour and life I remember Dennys the famous tyraunt of Scycile of whom is saide that as great reward hee gaue to those that inuented vices as our Mother Rome did to those which cōquered realms Such worke could not be but of a tyraunt to take them for most familiar which are most vicious I remember foure young Princes which gouerned the Empyre but not with such valiauntnes as the great Alexander that is to say Alexander Antiochus Syluius and Ptholomeus vnto whom for their vanity and lightnes as they called Alexander the Great Emperour in Greece so likewise do they call these young men tyrants in Asia Very happie was Alexander in life and they vnhappy after his death For all that which with glorious triumphs hee wanne with vile vices they lost So that Alexander deuided betweene them foure the worlde and afterwards it came into the handes of moe then foure hundreth I doe remember that king Antigonus little esteemed that which cost his Lorde Alexander much Hee was so light in the behauiour of his person and so defamed in the affayres of the Common-wealth that for mockerie and contempt in the steed of a crown of golde hee bare a garland in the steed of a scepter hee carryed nettles in his hand and of this sort and manner he sate to iudge among his counsellors vsed to talke with strangers This yong Prince doth offend me much for the lightnes he committed but much more I maruell at the grauitie of the Sages of Greece which suffered him It is but meete hee be partaker of the paine which condescended to the faulte I do remember Caligula the fourth Emperor of Rome who was so young and foolish that I doubt of these two things which was greatest in his time That is to say The disobedience that the people bare to their Lorde or the hate which the Lord bare to his people For that vnhappie creature was so disordered in his manners that if all the Romaines had not watched to take life from him hee would haue watched to take life from them This Caligula wore a brooche of gold in his cap wherein were written these wordes Vtinam omnis populus vnam precise ceruicem haberet vt vno ictu omnes necarem Which is to say would to God all the people had but one necke to the ende I might kill them all at a stroke I remember the Emperour Tiberius th'adoptiue sonne of the good Caesar Augustus which was called Augustus because hee greatly augmented the Empyre But the good Emperor did not so much augment the state of his Common-wealth during his life as Tyberius did diminish it after his death The hate and malice which the Romain people bare to Tiberius in his life was manifestly discouered after the time of his death For the day that Tyberius dyed or better to say when they killed him the Romaine people made great processions and the Senators offered great presents in the temples and the priests gaue great Sacrifices to their Gods and all to the end their gods shold not receiue the soule of this Tyraunt amongst them but that they would sende it to be kept among the Furyes of hell I remember Patrocles 2. K. of Corinth inherited the realm at xxii yeres of his age who was so disordred of his flesh so indiscret in his doings so couetous of goods such a coward of his person that wher his father had possessed the Realm 40. yeres the sonne did not possesse it thirtie moneths I remember Tarquine the prowde who though among eight Knights of Rome was the last and comlyest of gesture valiaunt in Armes Noblest of bloud and in giuing most liberall yet he employed all his gifts and grace◠which the Gods had giuen him euill For hee employed his beautie to ryot and his forces to tyrannie For through the treason villanie which hee committed with the Romaine Lucretia he did not only lose the realme and flying saued his life but also for euer was banished and all his Linage likewise I remember the cruell Emperour Nero who liued inherited and dyed young and not without a cause I say that hee liued and dyed young For in him was graffed the stocke of the noble worthie Caesars and in him was renued the memory of those tyrants To whom thinkest thou Panutius this Tyrant would haue giuen life since he with his owne hand gaue his Mother her death Tell mee I pray thee who thinkest thou hath made that cursed heart who slewe his Mother out of whose wombe he came opened the breasts which gaue him sucke Shedde the bloud wher of he was born Tore the armes in which hee was carryed saw the entrails wherin he was formed The day that the Emperour Nero slewe his mother an Orator said in the Senate Iure interficienda erat Agrippina qua tale portentum peperit in populo Romano Which is to say iustly deserued Agrippina to bee put to death which brought forth
rising at midnight to serue God yet haue they great hope after their death of the heauenly rest and comfort but poore Courtiers alas what should I say hard is their life and more perillous their death into greater danger truly putteth he himselfe that becommeth a Courtier then did Nasica when gee was with the Serpent then King Dauid with the Philistines then the Southsayers with Euah then Hercules with Antheon then Theseus with the Minocaure then King Menelaus with the wilde Bore then Corebus with the Monster of the marish and then Perseus with the monstrous whale of the sea For euery one of these valiant mē were not afraid but of one but the miserable Courtier standeth in feare of all For what is he in Court that seeing his neere Kinsman or deerest friend more in fauour or credit then himselfe or richer then he that wisheth not his friendes death or at the least procureth by all meanes he can he shall not equall nor goe euen with with him in credite or reputation One of the worst things I consider see in Courtiers is that they loose much time and profite little For the thing wherein they spend their dayes and hestow the nights for the most part is to speake ill of those that are their betters or excel them in vertues and to vndoe those that are their equals and companions to flatter the beloued and among the inferiour sort to murmur one against an other and alwayes to sigh and lament for the times past And there is nothing that prouoketh Courtiers more to complaine then the dayly desire they haue to see sundry and new alterations of time For they little weigh the ruine of the Common weale so they may enlarge and exalt their owne estates Also it is a thing of course in Court that the reiected and fauourlesse Courtiers meete together murmuring at their Princes and backbiting their councellers and officers saying they vndoe the Realme and bring all to nought And al this presupposed for that they are not in the like fauour and estimation that they be in which beareth office and rule in the Common-weale And therefore when it commeth in question for a Courtier to aduaunce himselfe and to come in credit in the Court one Gourtier can scarsly euer trust an other On the other side mee thinketh that the life of the Court is not the very life in deede but rather an open penance And therefore in my opinion wee should not reckon Courtiers aliue but rather dead buried in their life For then the Courtier euer findeth himselfe plunged with deaths extream passious when hee perceyueth an other to be preferred and called before him Alas what great pitty is it to see a haplesse and vnfortunate Courtier for hee seely soule awaketh a thousand times in the night tosseth from side to side of his bed sometime vpright hee lyeth lamenting his yron happe now he sigheth for his natiue soyle and sorroweth then for his lost honour so that in maner he spendeth the whole night in watch and cares imagining with himselfe all the wayes hee can to come in credite and fauour againe that he may attaine to wealth and preferment before others which maketh mee thinke that it is not a paine but a cruell torment no seruice but tribute and not once only but euer that the body of the poore miserable Courtier abideth that in despite of him his wretched heart doth beare By the Law of the Court euery Courtier is bound to serue the King to accompany the beloued of the Court to visite noble men to wayte vpon those that are at the Princes elbow to giue to the vshers to present the Auditors to entertaine the Wardens and captaines of the Ports to currey fauour with the Harbingers to flatter the Treasurer to trauell and speake for their friendes and to dissemble amongst their enemies What legges are able to doe all these things what force sufficient to abide these brunts what heart able to endure them and moreouer what purse great inough to supply all these deuises I am of opinion there was neuer any so foolish nor marchant so couetons that hath solde himselfe in any fayre or exchangde himselfe for any other Marchandize but only the vnhappy Courtier who goeth to the court to sell his liberty for a litle winde and vaine smoake of the court I graunt that a courtier may haue in the court plenty of golde and siluer sumptuous apparrell fauour cresite and authoritie yet withall this aboundance yee cannot deny me but he is as poore of liberty as rich of substance or credite And therefore I dare boldly say this word againe for one time the Courtier hath his desire in Court a thousand times they will enforce him to accomplish others desires which neyther please nor like him Surely it commeth of a base and vile minde and no lesse cowardly for any man lightly to esteeme his liberty and fondly to embrace bondage and subiection being at others commaundement And if the Courtier would aunswere mee to this that though hee serue yet at least hee is in his Princes fauour I would replye thus Though hee bee in fauour with the Prince yet is he notwithstanding slaue to all his other officers For if the Courtier will sell his horse his moyle his cloke his sworde or any other such like whatsoeuer hee shall haue ready money for all sauing for his liberty which hee liberally bestoweth on all for nothing So that hee seemeth to make more estimation of his sword or appaarrell hee selleth then he doth of his liberty which hee giueth For a man is not bound to trauell at all to make himselfe master of others more then pleaseth him but to recouer liberty or to maintaine it he is bound to dye a thousand deaths I speake not these things for that I haue read them in my bookes but because I haue seene them all with mine eyes and not by science but by experiennce and I neuer knew Courtier yet content in Court much lesse enioying any iot of his liberty which I so much esteeme that if al men were sufficient to know it and knew well how to vse it he would neuer for any Treasure on earth forgoe it neyther for any gage lendi◠were it neuer so precious Yet is there in Court besides this an other kind of trouble I haue not yet touched and that is not small For oft times thither commeth of our friends which be straungers whom of necessitie and for honesties sake the Courtier must Lodge with him at home the Court beeing already full pestered And this happeneth oft in such a time when the poore Courtyer hath neither Lodging of his owne to lodge them in nor happily six pence in his purse to welcome themwithall I would you would tell mee also what griefe and sorrowe the poore Courtyer feeleth at his heart when hee lodgeth in a blinde narrowe-lane eateth at a borrowed table sleepeth in a hyred bedde and perhaps his
his euill hap hath made her his enemie which heretofore hee so entirely loued For any man that esteemeth his honour and reputation doth rather feare the euill tongue of such a woman then the sword of his enemy For an honest man to striue and contend with a woman of such quality is eueÌ„ as much as if hee would take vpon him to wash an asses head Therefore hee may not seeme to make account of those iniuries done him or euill words shee hath spoken of him For women naturally desire to enioy the person they loue without let or interruption of any and to pursue to the death those they hate I would wish therefore the fauoured of Princes and such as haue office and dignity in the court that they beware they incurre not into such like errors For it is not fitting that men of honour and such as are great about the Prince should seeme to haue more liberty in vice then any other neyther for any respect ought the beloued of the Prince to dare to keepe company much lesse to haue friendshippe with any such common and defamed women sith the least euill that can come to them they cannot be auoided But at the least hee must charge his conscience trouble his friends waste his goods consume his person and lose his good fame ioining withall these also his concubine to bee his mortall enemy For there is no woman liuing that hath any measure in louing nor end in hating Oh how warily ought all men to liue and specially we that are in the Court of Princes for many women vnder the colour of their authority and office go ofttimes to seeke them in their Chambers not onely as humble suiters to solicite their causes but also liberally to offer them their persons and so by colour to conclude their practises and deuises So that the decision and coÌ„clusion of proces which they faine to solicite shall not goe with him that demaunds there goods of them but rather with him that desires but their persons to spoyle them of theyr honour Now the Princes officers must seeke to be pure and cleane from al these practises of these commoÌ„ strumpets much more from those that are suters to them and haue matters before them For they should highly offend God and commit great treason to the king if they should sende those Women from them that sued vnto them rather dishonored and defamed then honestly dispatched of their businesse And therefore he bindeth himselfe to a maruellous inconuenience that falleth in loue with a woman suter for euen from that instant hee hath receiued of her the sweet delights of loue euen at the present hee bindeth himself to dispatch her quickly and to end all her suites and not without great griefe I speake these words There are many women that come to the Court of Princes to make vnreasonable and dishonest sutes which in the end notwithstanding obtaine their desire And not for any right or reason they haue to it saue onely they haue obtained it through the fauour and credite they haue wonne of the fauoured Courtier or of one of his beloued So as wee see it happen many times that the vniust furnication made her suit iust and reasonable I should lye and doe my selfe wrong me thinkes if I should passe ouer with silence a thing that hapned in the Emperours Court touching this matter in the which I went one day to one of the princes chiefe officers and best beloued of him to solicit a matter of importaÌ„ce which an hostes of mine should haue before him And so this fauoured Courtier and great Officer after hee had hearde of men the whole discourse of the matter for full resolution of the same hee asked mee if shee were yong and fayre and I aunswered him that shee was reasonable fayre and of good fauour Well then sayth he bid her come to mee and I will doe the best I can to dispatch her matter with speede for I will assure you of this that there neuer came fayre woman to my handes but shee had her businesse quickly dispatcht at my hands I haue knowne also many women in the Court so dishonest that not contented to follow their owne matters would also deale with others affayres and gaine in feliciting theyr causes so that they with theyr fine wordes and franke offer of their persons obtayned that which many times to men of honour and great authority was denyed Therefore these great Officers fauoured of Princes ought to haue great respect not onely in the conuersation they haue with these Women but also in the honest order they ought to obserue in hearing their causes And that to bee done in such sort that whatsoeuer they say vnto them may bee secret prouided also the place where they speake with them bee open for other Suiters in like case CHAP. XVIII That the Nobles and Beloued of Princes exceede not in superfluous fare and that they bee not too sumptuous in their meates A notable Chapter for those that vse too much delicacy and superfluitie THe greatest care regard that Nature laide vpon her selfe was that men could not liue without sustinance so that so long as wee see a man eate yea if it were a thousande yeares wee might bee bolde to say that hee is certainely aliue And hee hath not alone layde this burden vpon men but on bruite beasts also For wee see by experience that some feedeth on the grasse in the fieldes some liues in the ayre eating flyes others vpon the wormes in carring others with that they finde vnder the water And finally each beast liueth of other and afterwardes the wormes feede of vs all And not onely reasonable men and brute beasts liue by eating but the trees are nourished thereby and wee see it thus that they in stead of meate receiue into them for nutriture the heate of the Sunne the temperature of the ayre the moisture of the earth any dewe of heauen so that the sustenance for men is called meate and that of plants and trees increase This beeing true therefore that wee haue spoken we must needes confesse that to liue wee must eate and yet withall wee must vnderstand that the sin of gluttony consisteth not in that that wee eate for necessity but only in that that is eaten with a disordinate appetite and desire And sure now a dayes men vse not to eate to content nature but to please their licorous and dainty mouthes Hee that giueth him selfe ouer to the desire of the throate doth not onely offend his stomacke and distemper his body but hurteth also his conscience for all gluttons and drunkards are the children or the brothers of sinne And I speake but little to say that the mouth and sinne are câ—sin Germanes together for by their effects and operations me thinketh them so knit and combined together as the Father and the Sonne Sith burning Leacherie acknowledgeth none other for her mother but onely the infatiable and gurmand throate And