declareth that he was more valiaunte in feates of warre then comely of personage For though he was lame of one foote bleamished of one eye lackyng one eare and of bodye not muche bygger than a dwarfe yet for all thys he was a iuste manne verye constant stoute mercyfull couragious and aboue all he was a great enemy to the ignoraunt and a specyall frende to the sage Of thys Kynge Cresus Seneca speaketh in hys booke of clemencie and sayeth that the sages were so entierly beloued of hym that the greekes whyche hadde the fountaine of eloquence dyd not call hym a louer but entitled hym the loue of sages For neuer no louer dyd so muche to attayne to the loue of hys ladye as he dyd to drawe to hym and to hys countreye sage menne Thys kynge Cresus therefore beyng lorde of many Barbarous nations the whiche loued better to drinke the bloude of the innocent then to learne the science of the wise lyke an excellent Prince determined for the comfort of his person and remedye of his common wealth to searche out the greaetst sages that were in Grece At that tyme flourished the famous and renowmed philosopher Anacharsis who though he was borne brought vp amonges the Scithies yet he was alwaies resident notwithstāding in Athens For the vniuersitie of Athens dyd not despise those that were Barbarians but those that were vitious The king Cresus sent an embassatour in great auctoritie with riches to the Phylosopher Anacharsis to perswade and desire him and with those giftes and presentes to present him to the end it myght please him to come and see his person and to sette an order in his common wealth Cresus not contented to send him giftes which the imbassatour caried but for to let him vnderstande why he dyd so wrote hym a letter with hys owne hand as hereafter foloweth The letter of kyng Cresus to Ancharsis the Philosopher CResus kyng of Lydes wysheth to the Anacharsis great Philosopher which remainest in Athens health to thy person and encrease of vertue Thou shalte see howe well I loue the in that I neuer saw the nor knew the to write vnto the a letter For the thinges whiche with the eyes haue neuer bene sene seldome times with the hart are truly beloued Thou doest esteme litle as truth is these my small giftes and presentes which I send the yet I praye the greatly esteme the will and hart wherwith I doe visite the. For noble hartes receyue more thankefully that whych a man desireth to gyue them then that which they doe giue them in dede I desire to correcte thys my Realme and to see amendement in the common wealth I desire some good order for my person and to take order touchyng the gouernement of my palace I desire to communicate with a sage som thinges of my lyfe and none of these thinges can be done without thy presence For there was neuer any good thyng made but by the meane of wisdom I am lame I am crooked I am balde I am a counterfeyte I am black and also I am broken finally amongest all other men I am a monster But all these imperfections are nothyng to those that remayne that is to wete I am so infortunate that I haue not a Philosopher with me For in the world ther is no greater shame than not to haue a wyse man about him to be conuersaunt withall I count my selfe to be dead though to the symple fooles I seme to be alyue And the cause of my death is because I haue not with me some wyse person For truly he is only aliue amongest the lyuyng who is accompanied wyth the sages I desire the greatly to come and by the immortall gods I coniure the that thou make no excuse and if thou wilt not at my desire do it for that thou art bound For many men oftentimes condescend to do that whych they would not more for vertues sake then to satisfye the demaunde of any other Thou shalt take that which my embassatour shal giue the and beleue that which he shall tell in my behalfe and by this my letter I do promise the that when thou shalt ariue here I wil make the treasourer of my coffers only coūsailour of mine affaires secretary of my coūsail father of my childrē refourmer of my realm maister of my person gouernour of my cōmō wealth finally Anacharsis shal be Cresus because Cresus may be Anacharsis I saye no more but the gods haue the in their custodie to whome I praye that they may hasten thy commynge The imbassatour departed to goe to Athens bearyng with him this letter and many iewels and bagges of gold and by chaunce Anacharsis was reading in thuniuersity at the arriual of the imbassatoure to Athens Who openly said and dyd his message to Anacharsis presenting vnto hym the giftes and the letter Of whiche thinge all those of the vniuersitie marueiled for the barbarous princes were not accustomed to seke philosophers to gouerne their cōmon wealth but to put them to death and take from them their liues After the great philosopher Anacharsis had hard the embassage sene the giftes and receiued the letter without alteryng his countenaunce or elacion of his person impedimente in his tong or desire of the riches immediately before all the philosophers said these wordes which heare after are writen The letter of the Philosopher Anacharsis to the king Cresus ANacharsis the least of the philosophers wisheth to the Cresus most mightye and puissaunt king of Lides the health whiche thou wisshest hym and the increase of vertue which thou sendest him They haue told vs many thinges here in these parties aswel of thy realme as of thy person and there in those parties they say many thinges as wel of our vniuersity as of my selfe For the harte taketh greate pleasour to knowe the condicions and liues of all those in the world It is wel done to desier and procure to know all the liues of the euill to amend our owne It is wel done to procure and knowe the liues of the good for to follow them but what shall we do since now a dayes the euill doe not desire to knowe the liues of the euil but for to couer them and kepe them secrete and do not desier to know the liues of the good for to followe them I let the know king Cresus that the philophers of Greece felte not so muche payne to be vertuous as they felte in defendyng thē from the vicious For if a man once behold vertue immediatly she suffreth to be taken but the euil for any good that a man can doe vnto them neuer suffereth them selues to be vanquished I beleue well that the tirannye of the Realme is not so great as they talke of here neyther oughtest thou lykewyse to beleue that I am so vertuous as they reporte me to be there For in mine opinion those whiche declare newes of straunge countries are as the poore which were their garmentes al to
gaue great sacrifyces to their Gods and all to the end their Gods shoold not receyue the soule of thys tiraunt amongst them but that they woold send it to bee kept among the furies of hell I remember Patrocles second kyng of Corinthe inheryted the realme at two twenty years of his age who was so dysordered of hys flesh so vndyscreete in hys doings so couetous of goods and such a coward of hys person that where hys father had possessed the realme forty yeares the sonne dyd not possesse it thyrty moneths I remember Tarquine the proud who though among eyght knyghts of Rome was the last and comlyest of gesture valyaunt in armes noblest of blood and in geeuyng most lyberall yet hee employed all hys gyfts and graces which the Gods had geeuen hym euyll For hee employed hys bewty to ryot and hys forces to tyranny For through the treason and vyllany whych hee commytted with the Romayn Lucretia hee dyd not onely lose the realme and flying saued hys lyfe but allso for euer was banyshed and all hys lynage likewise I remember the cruell emperor Nero who lyued enherited and dyed yong and not without a cause I say that hee lyued and dyed yong For in him was graffed the stock of the noble and worthy Cesars and in him was renewed the memory of those Tyraunts To whom thinkest thou Panutius this tiraunt woold haue geeuen lyfe since hee with his own hands gaue his mother her death Tel mee I pray thee who thinkest thou hath made that cursed hart who slew hys mother out of whose womb hee came opened her breasts which gaue hym suck shed the blood whereof hee was born tore the armes in which hee was caryed saw the intrails wherein hee was formed The day that the emperour Nero slew his mother an orator said in the senat Iure interficienda erat Agrippina que tale portentum peperit in populo romano Which is to say iustly deserued Agrippina to bee put to death which brought foorth so straunge a monster amongst the Romayn people Thou oughtst not therefore to marueil Panutius at the nouelties whych thou hast seene in mee for in these three days that I haue beene troubled in my mynd and altered in my vnderstandyng all these things are offred vnto mee and from the botom of my hart I haue digested them For the carefull men are not blynded but with their own ymaginacions All these euil condicions which these Princes had scattered amongst them of whom I haue spoken doo meete togethers in my sonne Commodus For if they were yong hee is yong If they were rych hee is rych If they were free hee is free If they were bold hee is bold If they were wilde hee is wilde If they were euill certaynly I doo not think that hee is good For wee see many yong princes which haue been well brought vp and well taught yet when they haue inherited and come to their lands they beecome immediatly vitious and dissolute What hope haue wee of those which from their infancy are dissolute and euill enclined of good wyne I haue made oft times strong vineger but of pure vineger I haue neuer seene good wine This childe keepeth mee beetwene the sayles of feare the anker of hope hopyng hee shal bee good since I haue taught him wel fearing hee shall bee euill beecause his mother Faustine hath norished him euil And that which ys the woorst that the yong childe of his own nature is inclined to al euil I am moued to say this much for that I see his naturall inclinacion increase and that which was taught him dimynish for the which occasyon I doubt that after my death my sonne shal return to that wherin his mother hath norished him not to that wherein I haue taught him O how happy had I been if neuer I had had childe for not to be boūd to leaue him thempire for I woold chose then among the children of the good fathers woold not bee bound to such a one whom the gods haue geeuen mee One thing I ask thee Panutius whom wooldst thou cal most fortunat Vespasian which was naturall father of Domitius or Nerua the adopted father of the good Traiane both those two Vespasian Nerua were good princes but of children Domitian was the head of al mischief Traiane was the mirrour of al goodnes So that Vespasian in that hee had children was vnhappy Nerua in that hee had none was most fortunat One thing I wil tel thee Panutius the which by thee considered thou wylt litle esteeme life and shalt lose the feare of death I haue lyued lxii years wherein I haue read much hard much sene desired attained possessed suffred I haue much reioysed my self And in the end of al this I see my self now to dye and I must want my pleasures and my self allso Of all that I haue had possessed attained whereof I haue enioyed I haue only two things to weete payn for that I haue offended the gods and sorow for the time which I haue wasted in vices There is great difference beetweene the rych and the poore in death and more in lyfe For the poore dyeth to rest but yf the rich dye it is to their great payn So that the gods take from the one that which hee had putteth the other in possession of that hee desired Great care hath the hart to seeke the goods and they passe great troubles to heap vp them togethers and great diligence must bee had in keeping them and also much wyt to encrease them but without comparison it is greater grief to depart from them O what payn intollerable and grief it is to the wise man seeing hym self at the poynt of death to leaue the swet of his famyly the maiesty of his empire the honor of his present the loue of his frends the payment of his debts the deserts of his seruaunts and the memory of hys predecessours in the power of so euill a chyld the which neither deserueth it nor yet wil deserue it In their table of our auncyent laws were writen these woords Wee ordeyn and commaund that the father which shall bee good according to the oppinion of all may disheryt his sonne who according to the opinion of all is euill The law sayd further The chyld which hath dysobeyed hys father robbed any holy Temple iniuryed any wyddow fled from any battaile and committed any treason to a straunger that hee shoold bee banished from Rome and dysenherited from his fathers goods Truely the law was good though by our offences it bee forgotten If my breath fayled mee not as it dooth fayle mee for of trouth I am greatly payned I woold declare vnto thee how many Parthes Medians Egiptians Assirians Caldeans Indians Hebrues Greekes and Romains haue left their children poore beeing able to haue left them rych for no other cause but for that they were vicious And to the contrary other beeyng poore haue left them rych
For euery man that is wedded to Faustine there is no villany but he shall doe it I sweare to thee that sithe the daye we were wedded me seameth that I haue no wit I leaue wedding for this tyme retourne to speake of offices Surely a peacible man ought to be in offices though it be painfull for as the offices are assured among them that be vertuous so perillously goeth the vertuous folke among offices And for the troth hereof recken what they wynne then thou shalt see what they loose Say that is good if thou knowest it heare the euil if thou desire to know it He that wyl take the charge to gouerne other seketh thought and trouble for him selfe enuy for his neighbours spurres for his enemies pouertie for his rychessee a waking of theues perill for his body ende of his dayes torment for his great renoume Finally he seketh a waye to reiecte his frendes and a repeale to recouer his enemies O an vnhappy man is he that taketh on him the charge of children of many mothers for he shal be alwayes charged with thoughtes how he should content them all full of sighes because one hath to geue hym feare that one should take from him weping if he lese and feare that they infame him He that knoweth this without long tariing ought to set a bridle in his head But I saye of one as I say of another For I wyl sweare and thou wilt not deny it that we may finde some nowe a daies that had rather be in the parke to fight against the bulles than be in suertie vpon the scaffold Oftentimes I haue heard say Go we to the Theaters to renne at the Bulles go we to chase the Hartes and wilde Bores and when they come there they renne away not the beastes from them but they from the beastes In such wise as they went running they retourne agayne fleing I saye these ambicious persones procure to gouerne and are gouerned they commaunde and are commaunded they rule and are ruled and finally thinking to haue diuerse vnder their handes these wretches put them selues vnder euery mans foote For the remedy of al these perilles my thought is comforted with one thing and that is without procuring or offering my selfe the senate of their owne wyl hath commaunded me In the .viii. table of our auncient lawes be these wordes We commaunde that in our sacred senate charge of iustice be neuer geuen to him that willingly offreth him self to it but to suche as by great deliberation are chosen This is certainly a iust lawe For men now be not so vertuous nor so louing to the cōmon wealth that they wil forget their own quietnes rest doing domage to them selfe to procure another mans profite There is none so folish that wil leaue his wife children and his own swete countrey to goe into straunge countreis but if he see him selfe among straunge people thinking vnder the colour of iustice to seke for his own vtilite I say not this without weping that the princes with their smal study and thought and the iudges with their couetise haue vndermined and shaken downe the high walles of the pollicy of Rome O my frende Catullus what wilt thou that I should saye but that our credence so minisheth our couetise so largely stretcheth our hardines so boldeth our shamefastnes so shameles that we prouide for iudges to go rob our neighbours as captaines against our enemies I let thee to wit wher as Rome was beloued for chastising the euil now it is as much hated for spoyling the good I do remember that I red in the time of Dennis Siracusan that ruleth al Sicile ther came an Embassadour fro Rhodes to Rome being of a good age wel learned valiant in armes right curious to note al thinges He came to Rome to se the maiesty of the sacret senate the height of the high Capitol enuironned with the Colliset the multitude of senatours the wisedome of the counsailours the glory of triumphes the correction of the euil the peace of the inhabitauntes the diuersitie of nations the aboudaunce of the maintenaunce the order of the offices and finally seing that Rome was Rome he was demaunded howe he thought thereby He aunswered and sayed O Rome at this present worlde thou art full of vertues and wyse men hereafter thou shalt be furnished with fooles Loe what highe and very hyghe wordes were these Rome was seuen hundred yeares without any house of fooles and nowe it hathe bene three hundred yeares without one wyse or vertuous man Loke what I say it is no mockerie but of trouth if the pitiful Gods now a days did reise our predecessours from death to lyfe either they would not know vs for their children or els they would attached vs for fooles These be things vsed in Rome but thou sendest no word of that is vsed in Agripine I wil write nothing to the to put the to paine write to me some thinge to reioyce me if thy wife Dinisila chaunced wel of the flote that came out of Cetin with salt oyle and hony I haue wel prouided for her Wilt thou know that Flodius our vncle was cast downe by the rage of his horse is deceassed Laercia Colliodorus are frendes together by occasion of a mariage I do send the a goune I pray to the gods to send the ioy therof My wife Faustine saluteth the. Recomend me to Iamiro thy son The gods haue the in keping and sinister fortune be fro me Marcus thy frend to thee Catullus his owne ¶ Marcus Aurelius writeth to the amorous ladyes of Rome Chap. x. MArke oratour Reading in Rhodes the art of humanity to you amorous Ladyes of Rome wisheth health to your parsons amendmente of your desired liues It was written to me that at the feast of the mother Berecinthia al you being present together made a play of me in which you layed my life for an example slaundered my renowme It is told me that Auilina composed it Lucia Fuluta wrote it thou Toringua did sing it and you altogether into the Threatre did present it You broughte me forth painted in sondry formes with a booke in my hand tourned contrarie as a fained philosopher with a long tongue as a bold speaker with our measure with a horne in my head as a common cuckold with a nettel in my hand as a tremblying louer with a banner fallen downe as a cowarde captaine with my berd halfe shauen as a feminate man with a cloth before my eyes as a condemned foole yet not content with this another day ye brought me forth portracted with another new deuyse Ye made a figure of myne with feete of strawe the legges of amber the knees of wood the thighes of brasse the belly of horne the armes of pitche the hands of mace the head of Iron the eares of an asse the eyes of a serpent the heres of rotes iagged the teeth of a cat the tongue
reproueth him of his small reuerence towardes the temples Chap. xvii The Emperour procedeth in his letter to admonishe Princes to be feareful of their gods and of the sentence whyche the senate gaue vpon this kynge for pullinge downe the churche Chap. xviii How the Gentiles honored those whiche were deuoute in the seruyce of the goddes Chap. xix For fiue causes Princes ought to be better Christians then their subiectes Chap. xx Of the Philosopher Bias and of the .x. Lawes whyche he gaue worthie to be had in mynde Chap xxi How God from the beginning punysshed euill men by his Iustice and specially those Princes that despise his churche and mansion house Chap. xxii The auctour proueth by .xii. examples that Princes are sharpely punyshed when they vsurpe boldlye vpon the churches and violate the temples Chap. xxiii How Valentine the Emperour because he was an euill christian loste in one daye both the Empire and his lief and was burned aliue in a shepecoote Chap. xxiiii Of the Emperour Valentinian Gratian his sonne whiche because they were good Christians were alwayes fortunate and that God geueth victories vnto Princes more throughe teares of them that praye then throughe the weapons of those that fyght Chap. xxv Of the godlye Oration which the Emperour Gratian made to his souldiours before he gaue the battaile Chap. xxvi That the captayne Theodosius which was father of the great Emperour Theodosius died a good Christian of the kynge Hysmarus and the byshop Siluanus and the holye lawes whiche they made and established Chap. xxvii What a goodly thing it is to haue but one prince to rule in the publike weale for theyr is no greater enemye to the comon weale then he whyche procureth many to commaunde therin Chap. xxviii That in a publike weale there is no greater destruction then wher Princes dayly consent to new orders and change old customes Chap. xxix When Tyrauntes begame to reigne and vpon what occasion coÌ„maunding and obeing fyrst began and how the authoritie the Prince hathe is by the ordinaunce of God Chap. xxx Of the golden age in tymes past and worldly myserie at this present Chap. xxxi What the Garamantes sayed vnto king Alexander the great when he went to coÌ„quer India and how that the puritie of lief hath more power then any force of warre Chap. xxxii Of an Oration which one of the sages of Garamantia made vnto king Alexander a goodlye lesson for ambitious menne Chap. xxxiii The sage Garamante continueth hys Oration and amonge other notable matters he maketh mencyon of seuen lawes which they obserued Chap. xxxiiii That Princes ought to consider for what cause they were made Princes and what Thales the Philosopher was and of the questions demaunded him Chap. xxxv What Plutarke the philosopher was the wise words he spake to Traâ—an the emperour how the good Prince is the head of the publyke weale Chap. xxxvi The Prince ought to heare the complayntes of all his subiectes and to knowe them all to recompence theyr seruice Chap. xxxvii Of a solempne feaste the Romaynes celebrated to the God Ianus and of the bountie of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius the same daye Chap. xxxviii Of the Emperours answer to Fuluius the senatour wherin he peynteth enuious men Chap. xxxix Of a letter the emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to hys frend Pulio wherin he declareth the opinions of certayne Philosophers concernynge the felicitie of man Chap. xl That Princes and great Lordes ought not to esteme them selues for beyng fayer and well proportioned of bodye Chap. xli Of a letter whiche Marcus Aurelius wrote to his neuew Epesipus worthie to be noted of all yonge Gentlemen Chap. xlii Howe Princes and noble menne in olde tyme were louers of sages Chap. xliii Howe the Emperour Theodosius prouided wyse menne at the hower of hys deathe for the education of his sonnes Chap. xliiii Cresus kynge of Lidya was a great louer of sages of a letter the same Cresus wrote to the Philosopher Anacarses and of the Philosophers answer agayne to the kyng Chap. xlv Of the wisdome and sentence of Phalaris the Tyraunte and howe he put an Artisan to death for Inuenting newe tormentes Chap. xlvi That sondrye myghtye and puyssant Princes were louers and frendes of the sages Chap. xlvii The ende of the Table of the firste Booke The table of the seconde Booke OF what excellencye mariage is and wher as common people mary of frée wil princes and noble men ought to marye of necessitie Chap. i. Howe by meanes of mariage manye mortall ennemyes haue béene made parfitte frendes Chap. ii Of the sondry lawes the auncients had in contracting matrimony of the maner of celebrating mariage Chap. iii. How princesses great ladyes ought to loue their husbandes and that must be without any maner of witchcraft or sorcerye but onlye procured by wysedome and obedience Chap. iiii The reuenge of a Greciane Ladye on him that had slayne her husbande in hope to haue her to wyfe Chap. v. That pryncesses and greate Ladyes should be obedient to their husbands and that it is a greate shame to the husband to suffer to bee commaunded by his wyfe Chap vi That women especiallye princesses and great ladies shold be very circumspect in goinge abrode out of their houses and that throughe the resort of them that come to their houses they be not ill spoken of Chap. vii Of the commodities and discomodities which folow princesses and great Ladies that goe abroade to visite or abide in the house cap viii That women great with childe namely princesses and great Ladyes ought to bée very circumspect for the danger of the creatures they beare wherein is layed before you manye knowen sorowful mysfortunes hapned to women in that case Cap ix A further rehersal of other inconueniences and vnlucky chaunces happened to women great with child Chap. x. That women great with child chieflye princesses great ladies ought to be gently entreated of their husbands Chap. xi What the Philosopher Pisto was and of the rules he gaue concerning women with child Chap. xii Of thre couÌ„sels which Lucius Seneca gaue vnto a secretary his frende who serued the emperour Nero. And how Marcus Aurelius dsposed al the howers of the day Cap. xiii Of the Importunate sute of the empresse Faustine to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius her husband concerning the key of his closet Chap. xiiii The Emperours aunswere to Faustine touchinge the demaunde of the key of hys closet Chap. xv The Emperour followeth his matter admonishinge men of the plagues great daungers that follow those whych haunt to much the company of women And reciteth also certayne rules for maried men which if they be matched with shrowes and do obserue them maye cause them liue in quyet with their wiues Chap. xvi The Emperour aunswereth more particularly concerning the key of hys closet Chap. xvii That princesses noble women oughte not to bée ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breasts
and burned 680. villages and slew so many in battaile schermidge and by Iustice that amounted to the nombre of .5000 persons For vnto the prowde and cruell captaines victory can neuer be glorious vnlesse they water the ground with the bludde of their enemies And furthermore in the cities and townes besieged the children olde men and women whiche died throughe hunger and pestilence were more in nombre than those whiche were slain in the warres For in warres the sworde of the enemies lighteth not vpon all but pestilēce and famine hath no respecte to any After this warre of the Palestines was ended immediatly after arose a more crueller betwixte the Allaynes and Armenians For there are many that se the beginninge of the troubles and miseries which aryse in Realmes but there are fewe that consider the ende and seke to remedye the same The occasion of this warre was as they came to the feast of the mount Olimpus they fell in disputacions whither of their gods were better whiche of them ought to bee preferred before other Whereof there sprange suche contradictions and suche mortall hatred that on euerye parte they were furiouslye moued to warres and so vnder a colour to mainteine the gods which they honoured both the common wealthes were brought into great pouertie and the people also into muche miserie The Emperoure Helius Adrianus seyng suche cruell warres to aryse vppon so lyghte occasion sente thither the captayne aboue named Iulius Seuerus to pacifye the Allaines and Armenians and commaunded hym that he should persecute those with warres whiche woulde not be ruled by his arbitrement and sentence For those iustlye deserue the sworde which with no reasonable condicions wil condescende vnto peace But Iulius Seuerus vsed suche pollicye that he made them good frendes and neuer touched them nor came nere them Whyche thynge was no lesse acceptable to the Emperour then profitable to the realmes For the captayne whyche subdueth the countrey by entreatye deserueth more honoure then he which ouercommeth it by bataile The agrement of the peace was made vpon suche condicion that the Allayns should take for their gods the Armenians gods and the Armenians on the contrarye the gods of the Allains and further when the people should imbrace and reconcile them selues to the senate that then the gods should kysse the one the other and to be reconciled to the temple The vanitie of the auncientes was suche and the blindnes of mortall men so greate and so subiect were they to deuillishe deuises that as easely as the eternall wisedom createth a true man now a dayes so easelye then a vaine man might haue inuented a false god For the Lacedemonians had this opinion that men had no lesse power to inuent goddes then the gods had to create menne ¶ Howe the Philosopher Bruxellus was greatly estemed amongest the auncientes for his lyfe and the woordes whyche he spake vnto the Romaines at the houre of hys death Cap. v. PHarasmaco in hys 20. booke De libertate deorum whereof Cicero maketh mencion in his booke De natura deorum saythe that when the Gothes toke Rome and besiged the highe capitoll there came amongest them a philosopher called Bruxellus the which after the Gothes were repulsed out of Italy remained with Camillus at Rome And because at that time Rome wanted Phylosophers this Bruxellus was had in great veneracion amongest all the Romaynes so that he was the first straūger of whom beyng alyue a statue was euer made in the Senate The Romaines vsed to make a statue of the Romains being aliue but not to strangers til after their death The age of this Bruxellus was 113. wherof .65 he had bene an inhabitaunt of Rome And among other things they recite .7 notable things of his lyfe 1 The first that in .60 yeres no man euer saw him issue oute of the walles of Rome For in the olde tyme the Sages were lytle estemed if in their behauiours they were not vpright 2 The second that in 60 yeres no man heard him speake an idel word for the words that are superfluous do greatly deface the authoritye of the person 3 The third that in al his time they neuer saw him loase one hower of time For in a wise man there is no greater follye then to see hym spende a moment of an houre idelly 4 The fourth that in al his tyme he was neuer detected of any vyce And let no man thinke this to be a smal matter For few are they of so longe life which are not noted of some infamy after their death 5 The fifthe that in all the 60. yeres he neuer made quarel nor striued with anye man and this thinge oughte to be no lesse estemed then the other For truly he that lyueth a long tyme without offering wrong to another may be called a monsture in nature 6 The sixt that in thre or foure yeres he neuer issued out of the temple and in this case this philosopher shewed himself to be a good man For the vertuous man ought not to content him selfe onlye to be voyde of vyces but he ought also to withdrawe hym selfe from the vycious 7 The seuenth last that he spake more often with the gods then with men This philosopher now drawinge nere to the houre of deathe al the Senate came to vysite him and to thanke him for that he had lyued so long amongest them in so good conuersaciō that so willingly he cared and watched for the wealth of Rome And likewise al the people of Rome wer right sorye for his sicknes that they should lose the company of so excellent and vertuous a man The good philosopher in the presence of theym all spake these words vnto the Senate ¶ Of that the sage Philosopher Bruxellus spake to the Senate of Rome at the hower of his death Cap. vi SInce you are wise o worthy senatours me thinketh you should not lament my death sithens I my selfe so ioyfully do receiue it For we ought not to lament the death we take but the wicked life we lead That man is very simple that dreadeth deathe for feare to loase the pleasures of life For death ought not to be feared for losse of life but because it is a sharp scourge of the wicked lyfe I dye noble Senatours in ioy pleasure First because I do not remember that euer I did any euil in all my life or displeasour to any of the common wealth And I am certaine that the man which dyd no euil to men in his life the gods wil do him no harme at the houre of his death Secōdarily I dy ioyfully to se al Rome lament the losse of my life For the man is very wicked and vnhappy whose life the people lament at whose death they do reioyce Thirdly I dye ioyfully only to remember that the 60 yeres which I haue bene in Rome always I haue trauailed for the cōmon wealth For the iust gods told me that ther is no
apparayle whych he weare and aboue all he made as solempne a funeral to Euripides as if they had buried Vlisses And not contented wythal these thyngs he was neuer mery vntil such tyme he had done cruel execuciō of the malefactours For truly the iniury or death whych is done vnto him whom we loue is no other but as a bath and token of our owne good willes After iustice was executed of those homycides and that some of the bones all gnawen of the dogges were buryed a Grecian knight sayd vnto kyng Archelaus I let the know excellent kyng that all Macedonia is offended with the because that for so small a losse thou haste shewed so greate sorow To whom kynge Archelaus aunswered Among sages it is a thinge sufficientlye tried that noble hartes oughte not to shewe theymselues sadde for mishappes and sodaine chaunces For the king being sadde his realme can not and though it might it ought not shew it selfe mery I haue heard my father say once that princes should neuer shedde teares vnlesse it were for one of these causes 1 The first the Prince should bewaile the losse and daunger of his common wealth for the good Prince ought to pardon the iniuryes done to his parson but to reuenge the least act done to the common wealth he ought to hasarde himselfe 2 The second the good prince ought to lamente if any man haue touched his honour in any wise for the Prince which wepeth not droppes of bloud for the thinges touchinge hys honoure deserueth to be buryed quycke in his graue 3 The third the good Prynce ought to bewayle those whych can lytle and suffer muche For the Prynce whych bewayleth not the calamities of the poore in vaine and without profite lyueth on the earth 4 The fourth the good Prince ought to bewayle the glory and prosperity wherin the Tiraunts are For that prince whych wyth tyrannye of the euil is not displeased wyth the hartes of the good is vnworthye to be beloued 5 The fift the good Prynce ought to bewayle the death of wise men For to a Prynce there can come no greater losse then when a wyse man dyeth in his common wealth These were the words which the king Archelaus aunswered the Grecian knight who reproued him because he had wept for the death of Euripides the phylosopher The auncient Historiographers can say no more of the estimacyon whych the Phylosophers and wyse men had as well the Greekes as the Latynes but I wyl tell you one thinge worthy of noting It is wel knowen through all the world that Scipio the Ethnicke was one of the worthyeste that euer was in Rome for by hys name and by hys occasion Rome gotte such a memorye as shall euermore endure And this was not only for that he cōquered Affrycke but for the great worthynes of hys person Men ought not to esteme a lytle these two giftes in one man that is to wete to be happie and aduentures For many of the auncientes in times past wanne glory by their swords after lost it by their euil liues The Romaynes historographers say that the first that wrote in heroical meeter in the Latin tongue was Ennius the poete the workes of whom was so estemed of Scipio the Ethnicke that when this aduenturous so lucky Romaine dyed he commaunded in hys wil and testament that they should hange the image of thys Ennius the Poet ouer his graue By that the great Scipio did at his death we may wel coniecture how great a frend he was of sages in his life since he had rather for his honor set the statue of Ennius on his graue thā the banner wherwith he wanne and conquered Affricke In the time of Pirrus which was king of the Epirotes great enemy of the Romaines florished a philosopher named Cinas borne in Thessalie who as they say was the disciple of Demosthenes The historiographers at that time did so much esteme this Cinas that they sayd he was the maister measure of mans eloquence For he was very pleasaunt in words profound in sētences This Cinas serued for 3. offices in the palace of king Pyrrus 1 First he made pastime at his table in that he dyd declare for he had a good grace in thinges of laughter 2 Secondarily he wrote the valyaunt dedes of his history for in his stile he had great eloquence and to write the truth he was a witnes of syght 3 Thirdly he went for embassadoure in affaires of great importaunce for he was naturally subtyle and wittie and in dispatching busines he was very fortunate He vsed so many meanes in his busines and had so great perswasion in his wordes that he neuer toke vpon him to speake of thinges of warre but either he set a longe truce or els he made a perpetual peace The king Pyrrus sayd to this Cynas O Cinas for thre thinges I thanke the immortal gods 1 The first for that they created me a king and not a seruaunt for the greatest good that mortal men haue is to haue lyberty to commaund many and not to be bound to obey any 2 The second I thanke the immortal gods for that they naturaly made me stout of hart for the man which wyth euery tryfle is abashed it were better for him to leaue his life 3 The third I giue the immortal gods thankes for that in the gouernment of my common wealth and for the great affaires and busines of my real me as wel in warres as in other thinges they gaue me such a man as thou art in my company For by thy gentle speach I haue conquered and obtained many Cyties which by my cruell sword I could neuer wynne nor attayne These were the wordes which Pyrrus sayd to his frend Cinas the Poete Let euery Prince know now how great louers of wise men those were in tymes past and as vppon a sodaine I haue recyted these few examples so with smal study I could haue heaped infynite Historyes FINIS The ende of the firste Booke The Seconde booke of the Diall of princes vvherein the Authoure treateth howe Princes and greate Lordes shoulde behaue theym selues towardes their wyues And howe they ought to noryshe and brynge vp their Children ¶ Of what excellencye mariage is and wheras common people marie of free will Princes and noble men oughte to marye of necessitie Cap. i. AMonge all the frendships and companyes of this lyfe ther is none so naturall as that betwene the husbande and the wife lyuing in one house for all other compagnies are caused by free wil only but this procedeth both by wil necessity Ther is at this day no Lion so fierce no Serpent so venimous no Viper so infectiue no Aspicke so mortall neyther any beast so tirrible but at the least both male female do once in the yere mete conioyne and thoughe that in brute beastes there lacketh reason yet notwithstandynge they haue a naturall instinction to assemble themselues for the
wyfe and children as that I cannot carye my bookes into the graue Yf the Gods had geuen me the choyse I had rather chose to be in the graue inuyroned with bookes then to lyue accompanyed wyth fooles for if the dead doe rede I take them to be alyue but if the lyuing doe not reade I take them to be deade Vnder this key which I gyue the remayneth many Greke Hebrue latine and Roman bookes and aboue all vnder this key remayneth al my paynes swet and trauayles al my watchinges and labours where also thou shalte fynde bokes by me compyled so that though the wormes of the yearth doe eate my body yet men shall fynde my harte hole amongest these bokes Once againe I doe require the and saye that thou oughtest not a lytell to esteame the key which I giue the for wise men at the hower of their death alwayes recommed that whiche they best loue to them which in their liues they haue most loued I doe confesse that in my studie thou shalte fynd many thinges with myne owne hand written and wel ordered and also I confesse that thou shalte find many thinges by me left vnpersit In this case I thinke that though thou couldest not wryte them yet thou shalt worke thē wel notwithstandynge and by these meanes thou shalte get reward of the Gods for workyng them Consyder Pompeian that I haue ben thy lorde I haue ben thy father in law I haue bene thy father I haue bene thy aduocate and aboue all that I haue bene thy speciall frend which is most of all for a man ought to esteme more a faithful frend then all the parentes of the world Therfore in the faith of that frendshyp I require that thou kepe this in memory that euen as I haue recommended to others my wife my children my goods and ryches So I do leaue vnto the in singular recommendacion my honoure For prynces leaue of them selues no greater memorye then by the good learning that they haue wrytten I haue bene .18 yeares emperour of rome and it is .lx. and .iii. yeares that I haue remayned in thys wofull life during whiche time I haue ouercome many battailles I haue slayne many pirattes I haue exalted many good I haue punished manye euil I haue wonne many realmes I haue distroyed many tirauntes But what shal I do woful man that I am sithe all my compagnions which were witnesses with me of al these worthy feates shal be my compagnions in the graue with the gredy wormes A thousand yeares hence when those that are now alyue shal then be dead what is he that shal say I saw Marcus Aurelius triumphe ouer the Parthians I saw him make the buildings in Auentino I saw him welbeloued of the people I saw him father of the orphanes I saw him the scourg of tiraūtes truly if al these thinges had not ben declared by my bookes or of my frendes the dead would neuer haue rysen agayn to haue declared them What is it for to se a prince from the time he is borne vntil the time he come to dye to se the pouerty he passeth the perilles he endureth the euil that he suffereth the shame that he dyssembleth the frendeshyp that he fayneth the teares which he sheaddeth that sighes that he fetchith the promises that he maketh and doeth not endure for any other cause the mysteries of this life but onely to leaue a memorye of him after his death There is no prince in the worlde that desireth not to keape a good house to keape a good table to aparrel him selfe rychely to pay those that serue hym in his house but by this vaine honour they suffer the water to passe thorough their lippes not drinking therof As one that hath proued it it is reason that I be beloued in this case and that is that the entent of princes to conquere straunge Realmes and to permit their owne to suffer wronges is for no other thyng but because that the commendacions which they speake of the princes past they should lykewyse talke the same of them that be to come Concluding therfore my mynde and declaring my intencion I say that the Prince that is noble and desireth to leaue of him selfe some fame let hym consider and se what it is that those can write of him which writ his history for it profiteth litel that he atchieue greate affayers by the swerde if there be no writer to sette them fourth with the penne and afterwardes to exalte them with the tonge These wordes thus spoken by the noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius he gaue the key of his studye to the honourable old man Pompeianus that toke all the wrytinges and put them in the high Capitol where the Romans honored them as the christians the holye Scriptures all these writynges besydes many others peryshed in rome when by the Barbarous it was dystroyed For the Gothes vtterly to extinguishe the name of rome distroyed not onely the walles therof but also the bokes that were therein and trulye in this case the Goothes shewed more crueltye to the Romans then if they had slayne the children of their bodies or bet downe the walles of their Cities For without doubte the lyuelye letter is a moresewerer wytnes of renowme that alwayes speaketh then eyther the lyme sand or stone wherwith fortresses are buylded Of the importunate suete of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour Marke Aureille Concerning the key of his closet Chap. xiiii VVe Haue declared howe the Emperoure Marcus Aurelius had his studie in the secretest place of al the palace and how that he him selfe did kepe the key It is to be vnderstande that he would neuer let his wife hys children nor any other of his familier frendes come into it for he said I had rather suffer that they shoulde take from me my treasoures then that any man should turne the leaues of my bookes It chaunced that on a daye the Empresse Faustine being great with child importuned the Emperour muche by all the meanes she could that he would be so fauourable vnto her as to gyue her the key of his studye and it is no meruaile for naturallye women dispise that which is geuen them and lust forth at that is denayed them Faustine instantly besoughte him not once but manye times not onely with fayer wordes but with aboundaunt teares alleagynge vnto him these reasons I haue requyred the sondrye tymes that thou wouldest gyue me the key of thy chamber and thou haste by iestinge made frustrate my request the whych thou my Lorde oughte not to haue done consyderynge that I am with childe for oftetimes it chaunceth that that wherfore the husbande reioyceth this daye tomorow he doeth lamente Thou oughtest to remember that I am that Faustine the renowmed the which in thy eyes am the fairest and of thy tonge haue bene most commended of thy parson I was best beloued and of thy harte I am most desired then since it is true that thou hast
taketh away fear from death The deuine Plato demaūded Socrates how hee beehaued him self in life and how hee woold beehaue him self in death hee aunswered I let thee weete that in youth I haue traueled to liue wel and in age I haue studied to dye well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shal bee ioyful And though I haue had sorow to lyue I am sure I shall haue no payn to dye Truely these woords were woorthy of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruelously when the swet of their trauel is not rewarded when they are faithful and their reward answereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their frends beecome vnthankful to them when they are woorthy honor and that they preferre them to honorable rome and office For the noble and valyant harts doo not esteeme to lose the reward of their labor but think much vnkindnes when a man dooth not acknowledge their trauel O happy are they that dye For without inconuenience and without payn euery man is in hys graue For in this tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place wee merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall bee iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpryght that geeueth reward by weight payn by measure but somtimes they chastice the innocent and absolue the gylty they vex the faultlesse and dissemble with the culpable For litle auayleth it the plaintif to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that shoold minister Truely it is not so in death but all ought to count them selues happy For hee which shall haue good iustice shal bee sure on his part to haue the sentence When great Cato was censor in Rome a famous Romayn dyed who shewed at his death a merueylous courage and when the Romayns praised him for that hee had so great vertu and for the woords hee had spoken Cato the Censour laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And hee beeing demaunded the cause of his laughter aunswered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel For the perils and trauels considered wherein wee liue and the safety wherein wee dye I say that it is no more needful to haue vertue strength to liue then courage to dye The aucthor heereof is Plutarch in his Apothegmes Wee cannot say but that Cato the Censour spake as a wise man since dayly wee see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thrist trauel pouerty inconuenience sorows enmities and mishaps of the which things wee were better to see the end in one day then to suffer them euery hour For it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death then to endure a miserable lyfe O how small cōsideration haue men to think that they ought to dye but once Since the trueth is that the day when wee are born and comen in to the world is the beeginning of our death and the last day is when wee doo cease to liue If death bee no other but an ending of lyfe then reason perswadeth vs to think that our infancy dyeth our chyldhod dyeth our manhod dyeth our age shall dye whereof wee may consequently conclude that wee dye euery yere euery day euery hour and euery moment So that thinking to lead a sure lyfe wee tast a new death I know not why men fear so much to dye since that from the time of their birth they seeke none other thing but death For time neuer wanted to any man to dye neither I knew any man that euer failed of this way Seneca in an epistle declareth that as a Romain woman lamented the death of a child of hers a philosopher said vnto her Woman why beewaylest thou thy child she aunswered I weepe beecause hee hath liued .xxv. yeres I woold hee shoold haue liued till fyfty For amongst vs mothers wee loue our children so hartely that wee neuer cease to beehold them nor yet end to beewayl them Then the Philosopher said Tell mee I pray thee woman why doost thou not complayn of the gods beecause they created not thy sonne many yeres beefore hee was born as well as thou complaynest that they haue not let him liue .l. yeres Thou weepest that hee is dead so soone and thou doost not lament that hee is borne so late I tel thee true woman that as thou doost not lament for the one no more thou oughtst to bee sory for the other For wythout the determination of the gods wee can not shorten death and much lesse lengthen life So Plinie sayd in an epistle that the cheefest law whych the gods haue geeuen to humayn nature was that none shoold haue perpetuall life For with disordinat desire to liue long wee shoold neuer reioice to goe out of this payn Two philosophers disputyng beefore the great Emperor Theodose the one sayd that it was good to procure death and the other lykewise sayd it was a necessary thing to hate lyfe The good Theodose takyng hym by the hand said All wee mortalles are so extreem in hatyng and louyng that vnder the colour to loue and hate lyfe wee lead an euyll lyfe For wee suffer so many trauels for to preserue it that sometymes it were much better to lose it And further hee sayd dyuers vayn men are come into so great follies that for fear of death they procure to hasten death And hauing consideration to this mee seemeth that wee ought not greatly to loue lyfe nor with desperation to seeke death For the strong and valiaunt men ought not to hate lyfe so long as it lasteth nor to bee displeased with death when hee commeth All commended that whych Theodose spake as Paulus Diaconus sayth in his lyfe Let euery man speak what hee will and let the philosophers counsell what they list in my poor iudgement hee alone shal receiue death without payn who long before is prepared to receiue the same For sodayn death is not only bitter to hym which tasteth it but also it feareth him that hateth it Lactantius sayd that in such sort man ought to liue as if from hence an hour after hee shoold dye For those men which will haue death beefore their eies it is vnpossible that they geeue place to vain thoughts In my oppinion and also by the aduyse of Apuleius it is as much folly to fly from that which wee cannot auoyd as to desire that wee cannot attain And this is spoken for those that woold flye the vyage of death which is necessary and desire to come agayn which is vnpossible Those that trauell by long ways if they want any thing they borow it of their company If they haue forgotten ought they returne to seeke it at their lodging or els they write vnto their frends a letter But I am sory that if wee once dye they will not let vs return agayn wee cannot speak and they will not agree
space of an hour Considering the omnipotency of the diuine mercy it suffiseth ye and I say that the space of an hour is to much to repent vs of our wicked lyfe but yet I woold counsell all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one hour that that bee not the last hour For the sighs and repentaunce which proceed from the bottom of the hart penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessity dooth not perse the seeling of the house I allow and commend that those that visit the sick doo counsell them to examin their conscienses to receiue the communion to pray vnto god to forgeeue their enemiez and to recommend them selues to the deuout prayers of the people and to repent their sinnes fynally I say that it is very good to doo all this but yet I say it is better to haue doon it beefore For the diligent and carefull Pirate prepareth for the tempest when the sea is calm Hee that deepely woold consider how little the goods of this lyfe are to bee esteemed let him goe to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what hee dooth in his bed And hee shall fynd that the wife demaundeth of the poore husband her dower the doughter the third part the other the fift the child the preheminence of age the sonne in law his mariage the phisition his duity the slaue his liberty the seruants their wages the creditors their debts and the woorst of all is that none of those that ought to enherit his goods wil geeue him one glasse of water Those that shall here or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene doon at the death of their neighbors the same shall come to them when they shal bee sick at the point of death For so soone as the rych shutteth his eyes foorthwith there is great strife beetweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but whych of them shall inherit most of his possessions In this case I will not my penne trauel any further since both rich and poore dayly see the experience hereof And in things very manyfest it suffyseth only for wyse men to bee put in memory without wasting any more tyme to perswade them Now the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a secretary very wise and vertuous through whose hands the affairs of the Empire passed And when this secretary saw his lord and maister so sick and almost at the hour of death and that none of his parents nor frends durst speak vnto him hee plainly determined to doo his duity wherein hee shewed very well the profound knowledge hee had in wisdom and the great good will hee bare to his lord This secretary was called Panutius the vertues and lyfe of whom Sextus Cheronensis in the lyfe of Marcus Aurelius declareth ¶ Of the comfortable woords which the Secretary Panutius spake to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius at the hour of his death Cap. l. O My lord and maister my tong cannot keepe silence myne eies cannot refrayn from bitter tears nor my hart leaue from fetching sighes ne yet reason can vse his duity For my blood boyleth my sinnews are dryed my pores bee open my hart dooth faint and my spirit is troubled And the occasion of all this is to see that the wholsom counsels which thou geeuest to others either thou canst not or wil not take for thy self I see thee dye my lord and I dye for that I cannot remedy thee For if the gods woold haue graunted mee my request for the lengthning of thy lyfe one day I woold geeue willingly my whole life Whether the sorow bee true or fained it nedeth not I declare vnto thee with woords since thou mayst manyfestly discern it by my countenaunce For my eies with tears are wet and my hart with sighs is very heauy I feele much the want of thy company I feele much the domage which of thy death to the whole common wealth shal ensue I feele much thy sorow which in thy pallace shal remaine I feele much for that Rome this day is vndoon but that which aboue al things dooth most torment my hart is to haue seen thee liue as wise and now to see thee dye as symple Tell mee I pray thee my lorde why doo men learn the Greek tong trauel to vnderstand the hebrew sweat in the latin chaunge so many maisters turn so many bookes and in study consume so much money and so many yeres if it were not to know how to passe lyfe with honor and take death with pacience The end why men ought to study is to learn to liue well For there is no truer science in man then to know how to order his life well What profiteth it mee to know much if thereby I take no profit what profiteth mee to know straunge languages if I refrain not my tong from other mens matters what profiteth it to study many books if I study not but to begyle my frends what profiteth it to know the influence of the starres and the course of the elements if I cannot keepe my self from vyces Fynally I say that it lytle auayleth to bee a maister of the sage if secretly hee bee reported to bee a folower of fooles The cheef of all philosophy consisteth to serue god and not to offend men I ask thee most noble prince what auaileth it the Pilot to know the art of sayling and after in a tempest by neglygence to perish What auayleth it the valyaunt captayn to talk much of warre and afterwards hee knoweth not how to geeue the battayl What auaileth it the guyde to tell the neerest way and afterwards in the midst to lose him self All this which I haue spoken is sayd for thee my Lord. For what auayleth it that thou beeing in health shooldst sigh for death since now when hee dooth approch thou weepest because thou wooldst not leaue life One of the things wherein the wise man sheweth his wisedom is to know how to loue and how to hate For it is great lightnes I shoold rather say folly to day to loue him whom yesterday wee hated and to morow to sclaunder him whom this day wee honored What Prince so hygh or what Plebeyan so base hath there been or in the world shall euer bee the whych hath so lyttle as thou regarded lyfe and so hyghly commended death What thyngs haue I wrytten beeing thy Secretary with my own hand to dyuers prouynces of the world where thou speakest so much good of death that sometymes thou madest mee to hate lyfe What was it to see that letter which thou wrotest to the noble Romayn Claudines wydow comforting her of the death of her husband which dyed in the warres Wherein shee aunswered That shee thought her trouble comfort to deserue that thou shooldst write her such a letter What a pitifull and sauory letter hast thou written to Antigonus on the death of thy child Verissimus thy sonne so much desired Whose death
sodeinly to rise in fauor and to bee rich al in short time By thys I inferre that the wise man euer desireth first to bee in fauor before hee couet to bee rich but the foole Ideot desireth first to bee rich then in fauor last Not few but many wee haue seen in princes courts which though fortune in short time hath exalted to the first degree of riches made theÌ„ cheefe in fauor yet wtin short space after shee hath made theÌ„ also lose their riches fal from the top of their honor It is most certain that if one haue enemies in the court onely for that hee is infauor hee shal haue as many moe if beeing in fauor hee bee also rich For wee are al of so ill a condicion in things that touch our particular profyt that all that wee see geeuen to others wee think sodeinly taken away from our selues Wee haue heretofore sayd that it is not fit for the courtier and those that are in fauor to coÌ„maund for his profit al that hee list neither al those that hee may And wee now at this present also aduise them to take heede that they doo not accept take al that is offered preseÌ„ted although they may lawfully doo it For if hee bee not wise in coÌ„mauÌ„ding moderatin taking a day might come that he should see himself in such extremity that hee should bee inforced to cal his frends not to couÌ„sel him but rather to help succor him It is true that it is a natural thing for a courtier that hath 20. crownes in his purse to desire sodeinly to multiply it to a .100 from a .100 to .200 froÌ„ 200. to a .1000 froÌ„ a .1000 to 2000. and from .2000 to 10000. So that this poore wretched creature is so blinded in couetousnes that hee knowth not nor feeleth not that as this auar ce ê¯tinually increaseth augmenteth in him so his life dayly diminisheth and decreaseth beesides that that euery man mocks scornes him that thinketh the true coÌ„tentacion consisteth in commaunding of many in the faculty of possessing much riches For to say truly it is not so but rather disordinat riches troubleth greeueth the true contentacion of men and awaketh euer in them dayly a more appetite of couetousnes Wee haue seen many courtiers rich beloued but none in deede that euer was contented or wearied with commaunding but rather his life should faile him then couetousnes O how many haue I seene in the court whose legges nor feete haue ben able to cary them nor their body strong inough to stand alone nor their hands able to wryte nor their sight hath serued them to see to read nor their teeth to speak neither their iawes to eat nor their eares to heare nor their memory to trauaile in any suyt or matter yet haue not their tongue fayled them to require presents and gifts of the prince neither deepe and fyne wit to practise in court for his most auaile and vantage So incurable is the disease and plague of auarice that hee that is sick of that infirmity can not bee healed neither with pouerty nor yet bee remedied with riches Sence this contagious malady and apparant dauÌ„ger is now so commonly knowen and that it is crept into courtiers and such as are in high fauor and great autoritie by reason of this vile sinne of auarice I would counsell him rather to apply him self to bee well thought of and esteemed then to endeuor to haue inough Albeit Queene Semiramis was wife to king Belius and mother of king Ninus and although by nature shee was made a woman yet had shee a hart neuer other wise but valiaunt and noble For after shee was wyddow shee made her self lord by force of armes of the great India and conquered all Asia and in her life time caused a goodly tombe to bee made wheare shee would lyfe after her death and about the which shee caused to bee grauen in golden letters these woords VVho longs to swell with masse of shining gold and craues to catch such wealth as few possest This stately tomb let him in haste vnfold where endles hopes of hatefull coyne doo rest Many days and kings reignes past before any durst open this sepulker vntill the comming of the great Cyrus who commaunded it to bee opened And beeing reported to him by those that had the charge to seeke the treasure that they had sought to the bottomles pyt and wolrds end but treasure they coold fynd none nor any other thing saue a stone wherein were grauen these woordes Ah haples knight whose high distraughted mynd by follies play abused was so â—ych that secret tombs the care as could not bynd but thow wouldst reaue them vp for to be rich Plutarke and also Herodotus which haue both writen this history of Semiramis doo shew affirm that Queene Semiramis got great honor by this gest kyng Cyrus great shame dishonor If courtiers that are rych think beleeue that for that they haue money inough at their wil that therefore they should bee farre from al troubles miseries they are farre deceiued For if the poore soul toile hale his body to get him only that that hee needeth much more dooth the rich maÌ„ torment burn his hart til he bee resolued which way to spend that superfluous hee hath Ihesu what a thing is it to see a rich man how hee tormenteth him self night day imagyning deuising with him self whether hee shal with that money that is left buy leases mills or houses aÌ„nuities vines or cloth laÌ„ds tenemeÌ„ts or pastures or some thing in fee or whether he shal eÌ„rich his soÌ„ne with the thirdes or fifts after al these vain thoughts gods wil is to stryke him with deth sodeinly not onely before he haue determined how hee should lay out or spend this money but also before hee haue made his will I haue many times told it to my frends yea preached it to them in the pulpit and wrytten yt also in my bookes that it is farre greater trouble to spend the goods of this world wel and as they ought to bee spent then it is to get them For they are gotten wyth swet and spent with cares Hee that hath no more then hee needeth it is hee that knoweth wel how to part from them to spend theÌ„ but hee that hath abundaÌ„s more then needeful dooth neuer resolue what hee should doo Whereof followeth many times that those which in his life time were enemies to hym shall happeÌ„ to bee heires after his death of all the goods money hee hath It is a most suer certain custome among mortal men that commonly those that are rych men while they are aliue spend more money vaynly in things they would not that they haue no pleasure in where in they would least lay it out and after their death they leaue the most part of their inheritance
in nothing delighted so much as by straunge hands to put men to death and to dryue away flies wyth his owne hands Smal is the nomber of those that I haue spoken in respect of those which I could recite of whom I dare say affirme that if I had bene as they I cannot tel what I would haue done or what I should haue desired but this I know it would haue bene more paynes to me to haue wonne the infamy that they haue wonne then to haue lost the lyfe that they haue lost It profyteth hym lytle to haue his ponds ful of fish his parkes ful of deere whych knoweth neyther how to hunte nor how to fysh I meane to shew by this that it profiteth a man lytle to be in great authority if he be not estemed nor honored in the same For to attayne to honour wysedome is requisite to kepe it pacience is necessarye Wyth great consyderacions wyse men ought to enterpryse daungerous thyngs For I assure them they shal neuer winne honour but wher they vse to recouer slaunder Returnyng therfore to our matter Puisaunt prynce I sweare durst vndertake that you rather desyre perpetual renowne through death then any idell rest in this life And hereof I do not merueile for ther are some that shal alwayes declare the prowesses of good prynces others which wyl not spare to open the vyces of euyl tiraunts For although your imperial estate is much your catholike person deserueth more yet I beleue wyth my hart se with these eyes that your thoughts are so highly bent vnto aduenturous dedes your hart so couragious to set vpon them that your maiestie litle estemeth the inheritaunce of your predecessours in respect of that you hope to gaine to leaue to your successours A captaine asked Iulius Cesar as he declareth in his commentaries why he trauailed in the winter in so hard frost in the sommer in such extreme heate He aunswered I wyl do what lyeth in me to do and afterward let the fatal destinies do what they can For the valiaunt knyght that gyueth in battayle thonset ought more to be estemed then fickle fortune wherby the victory is obtayned sins fortune gyueth the one aduenture gydeth the other These words are spoken like a stout valyaunt captayne of Rome Of how many prynces do we read whom trulye I muche lament to see what flatteries they haue herd wyth their eares being aliue and to redde what slaunders they haue susteyned after their death Prynces and great lords shold haue more regard to that whych is spoken in their absence then vnto that which is done in their presence Not to that whych they heare but to that whych they would not heare not to that whiche they tel them but to that which they would not be told of not to that is wryten vnto them being aliue but to that which is wryten of them after their death not to those that tell them lyes but to those whych if they durst would tel them trouth For men manye times refrayne not their tongues for that subiects be not credited but because the prince in his auctority is suspected The noble vertuous prince shold not flit from the trouth wherof he is certified neyther with flateryes lyes should he suffer himselfe to be deceiued but to examine himselfe se whether they serue him with trouth or deceiue hym with lyes For ther is no better witnes iudge of truth lyes then is a mans owne conscience I haue spoken al this to thintent your maiesty myght know that I wil not serue you wyth that you should not be serued That is to shew my selfe in my wryting a flaterer For it wer neither mete nor honest that flateries into the eares of such a noble prynce shold enter neither that out of my mouth which teach the deuine truth such vaine tales should issue I say I had rather be dispraysed for trew speaking then to be honoured for flatery lieng For of truth in your highnes it shold be much lightnes to heare them in my basenes great wickednes to inuent them Now againe folowing our purpose I say the historyes greatly commend Licurgus that gaue lawes to the Lacedemonians Numa Pompilius that honoured and adourned the churches Marcus Marcellus that had pitye on those whych were ouercome Iulius Cesar that forgaue his enemyes Octauius that was so welbeloued of the people Alexander that gaue rewards and giftes to al men Hector the Troyane because he was so valiaunt in warres Hercules the Thebane because he emploied his strength so wel Vlisses the Grecian because he aduentured himselfe in so many daungers Pirrhus king of Epirotes because he inuented so many engins Catullus Regulus because he suffered so many torments Titus the Emperour because he was father to the Orphanes Traianus because he edified sumptuous goodly buildings The good Marcus Aurelius because he knew more thē al they I do not say that it is requisyte for one prynce in these dayes to haue in him all those qualyties but I dare be bold to affirme this that euen as it is vnpossible for one prince to folow al so likewise it is a great slaunder for him to folow none We do not require princes to do al that they can but to apply themselues to do some thing that they ought And I speake not without a cause that whych I haue sayd before For if princes did occupy themselues as they ought to do they shoulde haue no tyme to be vycious Plynie saith in an epistle that the great Cato called Censor did were a ring vpon his fynger wherin was wryten these wordes Esto amicus vnius inimicus nullius which is be frend to one enemy to none He that would depely consider these few words shal find therin many graue sentences And to apply this to my purpose I saye the prince that would wel gouerne his common weal shew to al equal iustyce desire to possesse a quiet lyfe to get among al a good fame that coueteth to leaue of hymselfe a perpetual memory ought to embrace the vertues of one and to reiect the vices of al. I alow it verye wel that princes should be equal yea surmount many but yet I aduise theym not to employ their force but to folow one For oftētimes it chaunseth that many which suppose themselues in their life to excel al when they are dead are scarcely found equal to any Though man hath done much blased what he can yet in the ende he is but one one mind one power one byrth one life and one death Then sithen he is but one let no man presume to know more then one Of al these good princes which I haue named in the rowle of iustice the last was Marcus Aurelius to thintent that he should weaue his webbe For suppose we read of many prynces that haue compyled notable things the whych are to be redde and knowen
throughe thys wicked vice Chap. xiii That it is not fit for courtiers to bée to couetous if they meane to keape themselues out of many troubles and daungers Chap. xiiii That the fauoured of the courte shoulde not trust to muche to their fauour and credit they haue nor to the great prosperity of their lyfe a worthy chapter and ful of good doctryne Chap. xv The auctor admonysheth those that are in fauour and great with the prince that they take hede of the deceipts of the world and learne to liue and dye honourably and that they leaue the court before age ouertake them Chapter xvi Of the continencie of fauoured courtiers and how they ought to shonne the company and conuersacion of vnhonest women to be careful quickly to dispatch al suche as sue vnto them Chap. xvii That the nobles and beloued of princes excede not in superfluous fare that they be not to sumptuous in their meates A notable chapter for those that vse to much delicacye and superfluity Chap. xviii That the fauoured of princes ought not to be dishonest of their tongues nor enuious of their words Chap. xix A comendacion of trouth which professed courtiers ought to imbrace and in no respect to be found defectiue in the contrarye tellynge one thinge for another Chap xx The end of the table of the fourth Booke Heare beginneth the table of the letters translated out of Spanishe vvhich vvere not in the Frenche Copye OF a huge monster whych was sene in Scicilli in the tyme of Marcus Aurelius Chap. i. Of that whych chaunced vnto a neighboure of hys in Rome in the tyme of his Empyre Chap. ii How Marcus Aurelius the Emperoure soughte the wealth of hys people and how hys people loued hym Chap. iii. How at the intercession of many which the Empresse hadde sent the Emperoure graunted hys doughter Lucilla lycence to sport her selfe at the feastes Chap. iiii Of the sharpe woordes whyche Marcus Aurelius spake to hys wyfe and too hys doughter Chap. v. The Emperour exhorteth hys wyfe to take awaye all occasions of euil from her doughter wher in is declared the frailetye of the tender fleshe Chap. vi Of the wysedom of Marcus Aurelius in procuryng husbandes for his doughters Chap. vii Of a letter whych the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to hys especial frend to comfort hym in his troubles Chap. viii A letter sent by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to Censorius that was so sorowful for the death of his sonne worthy to be red and noted Chap. ix A letter sent by Marcus Aurelius Emperour to Censorius of the newes whych at that tyme were at Rome Chap. x. Of a sharpe letter full of reprehensions sent by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to the amourous ladyes of Rome because in his absence they deuised a playe of hym Cap. xi Of a letter which he sente to his louer Bohemia for that she desired so earnestlye to go wyth hym to the warres wherein is to be noted the great folly of yong men the lytle shame of euyl women Cap. xii The aunswere of Bohemia to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wherin is expressed the great malyce and litle pacience of an euyl woman Chap. xiii Of a letter whych the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the lady Macrine the Romayne of whom beholdyng her at the window he became enamoured which declareth what force the beauty of a fayre woman hath in a weake man Chap. xiiii Of an other letter whyche the Emperour sent to the lady Macrine wherein he expresseth the firie flames which consume sonest the gentle harts Chap. xv Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the beautiful ladye of Lybia wherin he reproueth that loue is natural and that the most part of the philosophers and men haue bene by loue ouercome Chap. xvi The ende of the table The first booke of the Diall of princes vvith the famous Booke of Marcus Aurelius wherein be entreateth what excellencie is in the prince that is a good Christian and contrariwyse what euils do folowe him that is a cruell tyrante ¶ Where the Authour speaketh of the birth and lynage of the wyse Philosopher and Emperour Marcus Aurelius And he putteth also at the beginning of this Booke thrée Chapters wherin he entreateth of the discourse of his life for by his Epistles and doctrine the whole of this presente woorke is proued Cap. i. AFter the death of the Emperoure Antonius Pius in the 695. yeares from the foundation of Rome and in the 173. Olimpiade Fuluius Cato Gneus Patroclus then being consulles the fourth daie of October in the highe Capitoll of Rome at sute of the whole Romaine people with thassent of the sacred Senate Marcus Aurelius Antonius was proclaymed Emperoure vniuersall of the whole Romaine monarche This noble prince was naturally of Rome borne in the mount Celio on the sixt daye before the Kalendes of May which after the Latines accounte is the .xxvi. day of April His Graundefather was called Annius Verus and was chosene senatoure in the tyme of the Emperours Titus and Vespasian hys greate graunde fathere was named Annius Verus whiche was borne in Spayne in the free towne of Gububa whenne the warres were moste cruel betwene Caesar and Pompeius at what time many Spanyardes fled to Rome and manye Romaynes ranne into Spayne By this meanes this Emperour had a greate graundfather a Romayne and a greate graundmother a Spanyard Hys father was named Annius Verus after his grandfather and great grandfather by reason wherof the auncient historiographers call him Marcus Antonius Verus And true it is that the Emperour Adrian called him Marcus Verissimus for that he neuer forged lie nor swarued at anye tyme from the trueth These Annij Veri wer a kinred in Rome as Iulius Capitolinus reporteth which vaunted themselues to come of Numa Pompilius and Quintus Curtius the famous Romaine which to worke the Romaine people safetie and his owne person euerlasting memorie willingly threw him selfe into the lake which afterwards was called Curtius That as then was sene in Rome This Emperours mother was called Domitia Camilla as recounteth Cinna in the bookes that he wrote of Romain pedigrees That stocke of Camilli was in those dayes highly honoured in Rome for that they conueighed their dissent from that Camillus whych was the renowmed and valiaunt Romain captayne who deliuered Rome when the Gavvles had taken it and besieged the Capitoll The men that sprange of this linage bare the name of Camilli for remēbrance of this Camillus And the woman that came of the same stocke kepte the name of Camille in memorie of a doughter of the sayde Camillus Thys Camilla refused mariage and chose to liue amonge the vessall virgines and ther longe space remayned enduring a sharpe and hard lyfe And she was so vertuous a Romayne and precise in her life that in the time of Seuerus Emperour of Rome her tombe was honoured as a relique whereon was engraued this Epitaphe Camilla lo doth
of lyfe constant in the defence of the Church and pacient in persecutions For he is a true relygious man that in tyme of peace is charitable to teache the ignorant and bold in the time of Scismes to confound the heretyques The Emperour Valente was not only not a frend to the Arrians an enemye to the Christians but also he was a persecutour of the deuoute and religious fryers For he commaunded proclamacyons to be had through all his realmes and domynions that all the relygious that were yonge in yeares hole of their bodyes and sound of their lymmes should immedyately cast of their cowles and hoodes leauyng their monasterye and take souldiers wages in the campe For he said Monasteryes were inuented for nothynge els but to maintaine those that were deformed blynde lame and maymed and vppon this occasion he shewed great tyrannye For many monasteryes were left naked many notable constitucions were broken manye hermites were martyred manye friers whypped many notable barons banyshed and many good men robbed of their goodes For the vertuous men desired rather the bytter lyfe of the monastery then the swete and pleasaunt lybertie of the world This Emperour yet not contented with these thinges as by chaunce his wife commended vnto him the beautye of a Romaine called Iustina without any more delaye he maried her not forsaking hys first wyfe and immedyatly made a lawe throughout all his Empire that without incurring any daunger eche Christian myght haue two wyues and mary with them by the lawe of matrymony For the tyrannous Princes to cloake their vyces make and enstablyshe the lawes of vices The shame was not litle that the Emperoure Valente against the commaundement of the Churche would marie wyth two women at one time but the lesse shame he had the greater was his iniquytye to put it in excucion and to cause it to be publyshed through hys realme as a law For a perticuler vyce corrupteth but one alone but a general law distroyeth al. At that tyme the puissaunt Gothes were in the parties of the orient the whych were in feates of armes very valyaunt and couragious but in thynges of faith they were euyl broughte vp althoughe the greateste part of them were baptysed For then the Churche was very poore of prelates howbeit those that they had were very notable men After the Gothes were baptysed and the furie of the warres somewhat appeased they sente Embassadours to the Emperour Valente desyring hym that immedyatlye and forthwith he would sende them holy catholyke Bishoppes by whose doctrine they myght be instructed and brought to the christian fayth For it was thought that the Emperoures of Rome coulde haue no byshoppes in their countryes vnlesse they were vertuous This wicked Emperour sythe he was now entangled with heresye and that he had peruerted the customes of the good Emperours that is for hauing about hym euil Bishoppes as he was enuyronned with all euills and myscheues so he sent to the Gothes a bishoppe called Eudoxius the whych was a ranke Arrian and brought with hym many Bishoppes which were heretyques by the whych the kynges and Princes of the Gothes were Arrians for the space of 200 yeares The catholyke Princes ought to take great care to watch and in watching to be ware and circumspect that they their Realmes neyther their subiects should in their time be defiled with heresie For the plague of heretykes and heresyes is not of lyght occasion bannished the place wher ons it hath reigned We haue declared of the small fayth that thys Emperoure had in Iesus Christe and of the greate myscheues he dyd to the Churche Let vs now see what was the ende of hys myserable life For the man of wycked lyfe seldome commeth to good ende The matter was this that as the Gothes were dryuen out of the Realme by some of the Hunnes they came immedyately to the Realme of Thracia which then was subiecte to the Romaynes And the Emperour Valente without anye couenaunte receyued theym into hys lande wherin he commytted great folye and vsed lytle wisedome For it is a generall rule wher rebelles vacabondes and straungers come to inhabyte there alwayes the Realme and dominions is destroyed The Gothes remayned certaine yeres amonge them without any discencion or quarrellynge against the Romaynes but afterwardes through the couetousnes of Maximus chiefe Captaine of the Romaines that denied the Gothes of their prouysion whyche so longe tyme remayned frendes arose betwene them so cruell warres that it was the occasion of the losse and vtter vndoing both of Rome and of all Italye For truly ther is no enmetye doth so much hurte as that of frendes when they fawle out once at dyscorde The warre now being kindeled the Gothes were scatered throughe the Realme of Thrace and they left no forte but they battered they came to no villagyes nor cytyes but they sacked they toke no women but they forced they entred into no house but they robbed Finally the Gothes in short time shewed the poyson that they had agaynst the Romaynes And let no man maruel that the Gothes committed so many cruell and heynous factes sith we that are Chrystians do commyt dayly greater offences For among rebelles it is a common errour that that whyche they robbe in the warres they saye they are not bound to restore in peace The Emperour Valente was then in the cytie of Antioche and sith he had assembled there a great army had greate ayde out of Italy he determyned hymselfe in person to go into the campe of the Romaynes and to gyue thonset against the Gothes wherin he shewed himselfe more bold then wise For a Prince in battaile can doo no more then one man nor fighte more then one man and if he die he is the occasion of the death and destruction of them all When both the hostes of the Romaynes and the Gothes ioyned ther was betwene theym a cruell and mortall fight so that in the first brunt the Gothes shewed them selues so valiaunte that they put to flight the Romaines horsemen leauing their fotemen alone in great ieopardy the which in short space after were discomfited and slaine not one left aliue For the barbarous sware that that day the Gothes should al dye or els vtterly they would destroy the name of the Romaynes And in this first charg the Emperour Valente was mortally woūded who perceiuing he had his deaths wound that the battaile was lost he determined to fire and saue himselfe But when fortune beginneth to persecute anye man she leaueth hym not vntill she se him dead or beaten downe without recouer Therfore as this wicked Emperour thincking to saue himselfe came into a shepecotte the enemyes seyng him in the end set fier on the shepecote and burnt him alyue So in one day he lost his person his lyfe his honoure and his empire It is mete that princes and great lordes should lift vp their eyes to consyder well thys historie of Valente that they straye not from
graue Leauing aside the said opinions I say that for sinne only seruitude came to dwell in vs entered into the world for if there had ben no sinners we ought to beleue there had bene no lordes nor seruauntes For as much as seruitude generally entred into the world through sinne I say that the signorie of princes is by the deuine commaundement for he saith by me the king doth gouerne and by me the prince doth minister iustice I conclude in this sorte with this reason that since it is true princes are sent by the handes of god for to gouerne vs we are bounde in all and for all to obey them for there is no greater plague in a publike weale then to be disobedient to the prince ¶ Howe king Alexander the great after he had ouercome king Darius in Asia went to conquere the great India and of that whiche happened vnto him with the Garamantes and howe the good life hath more power then any force of warre Cap. xxxii IN the yeare of the creation of the worlde .4970 in the firste age of the worlde and in the .4027 yeares of the foundation of Rome Iaâ—o being highe priest in Hierusalem Decius and Mamilius at Rome consulles in the thirde yeare of the monarchie of the Greekes Alexander the great sonne to Philipe of Macedonia king gaue the laste battayle to Darius kinge of Persia wherein kyng Alexander escaped very sore wounded Darius slayne so that the whole Empire of the Perses came vnder the gouernaunce of the Grekes For the vnfortunate princes doe not onely lose their lyues with which they came into the worlde but also the realmes whiche they did inherite After that Darius was dead and Alexander sawe him selfe lorde of the fielde that the Perses and Medes were become subiecte to the Gretians thoughe manye kynges and lordes died in those cruell battayles yet it semed to Alexander a trifle to be gouernour of all Asia wherefore he determined in persone to goe conquere the great India For proude and stoute hartes obteining that which they desire immediatly begin to esteme it as litle All his armies repaired placing gouernours in all the realmes of Asia Alexander departed to conquer the great India for he had promised and sworne to his gods that through al the world there should be but one Empire and that that shoulde be his and more ouer that he would neuer passe through any straunge realme or countrey but it should geue obedience vnto him or els forthwith he woulde destroye it For tyrannous hartes haue neuer any regarde to the domage of another vntill they haue obtained their wicked desiers Alexander then going to conquere realmes and destroye prouinces by chaunce one said vnto him that on the other syde of the mountaines Riphei towardes the partes of India was a barbarous nation whiche were called Garamantes as yet neuer coÌ„quered neither by the Perses Medes Romaines nor Grekes neither any of theÌ„ euer triumphed ouer them For they had no weapons nor estemed them not sithe they had no ryches Kinge Alexander who for to subdue realmes and straunge countries was very diligente and hardy and to see newe thinges very desyrous determined not onely to sende to see that countrey but also to go him selfe in persone and in that place to leaue of him some memorye which thing forthwith he accomplished For he left them Alters as Hercules left in Gades pillars For mans harte is so stoute that it trauayleth not onely to compare with many but also to excell all The Embassadours of Alexander were sent to Garamantes to aduertise them of the comming of kyng Alexander the great and of the terrible and cruell battayles whiche he in warres had ouercome and to declare vnto them howe the puissaunt kynge Darius was slayne and that all Asia was vnder his subiection and howe euery citie did yelde them selues against whome he neither lifted spere nor sworde because all yelded to his commaundement With these and suche other lyke thynges they would haue feared them for wordes oftimes maketh menne more afraide specially when they are spoken of stoute menne then doe the swordes of cowards Lucius Bosco saith in his thirde booke of the antiquities of the Gretians of whom the originall of this historie is drawen that after the Embassadours of Alexander had spoken to the Garamantes they were nothyng at all troubled for the message neither did they flie from Alexander nor they prepared any warre neither toke they in hande any weapons nor yet they did resiste him Yea and the chiefest of all was that no man of all the countrey euer departed out of his house finally they neither aunswered the Embassadours of Alexander to their message nor yet spake one worde vnto them And truly the Garamantes had reason therin and did in that right wysely for it is a folly for a man to perswade those men with wordes whiche enterpryse any thing of will It is a marueilous matter to heare tell of the histories of those Garamantes that is to saye that all their houses were of equall height all men were appareled a lyke the one had no more authoritie then another in fedyng they were no gluttons in drynking wyne they were temperate of plees and debates they were ignoraunt they would suffer no idle man to lyue among them they had no weapons because they had no ennemies and generally they spake fewe wordes but that whiche they spake was alwayes true Kyng Alexander being somewhat informed of those Garamantes and their lyfe determined to sende for them and called them before his presence and instantly desired them if they had any wyse men amonge them to bryng them vnto hym and by wrytinge or by worde of mouthe to speake somewhat vnto him For Alexander was suche a frende to sage men that all the realmes whiche he ouercame immediatly he gaue to his men excepting the sages whiche he kepte for his owne persone Quintus Curtius by kyng Alexander sayeth that a prince doeth well spende his treasours to conquere many Realmes onely to haue the conuersation of one wyse man And truly he had reason for to princes it is more profite in their lyfe to be accompanied with sages then after their death to leaue great treasures to their heires Certayne of those Garamantes then beinge come before the presence of Alexander the greate one amonge them as they thought the moste auncientest him selfe alone the residue keapynge silence in the name of them all spake these wordes ¶ Of an oration whiche one of the sages of Garamantia made vnto kyng Alexander A goodly lesson for al ambitious men Cap. xxxiii IT is a custome king Alexander amongest vs Garamantes to speake seldome one to another and scarsely neuer to speake with straungers especially if they be busy and vnquiet men for the tongue of an euyll man is no other but a playne demonstration of his enuious harte When they tolde vs of thy comming into this countrie immediatly we determined not
demaundes although it be to my cost I confesse thy request to be reasonable and thou deseruest worthy prayse for in the end it is more worth to knowe how to procure a secrete of antiquities past then to heape vp treasures for the necessities in time to come As the philosopher maketh philosophie his treasour of knowledge to liue in peace to hope to loke for death with honour so the couetous being suche a one as he is maketh his treasure of worldly goodes for to keape preserue life in this world in perpetuall warres and to end his life and take his death with infamie Herein I sweare vnto thee that one daie emploied in philosophy is more worth then ten thousand which are spent in heaping riches For the life of a peaceable man is none other then a swete peregrination and the life of sedicious persones is none other but a long death Thou requirest me my frend Pulio that I write vnto thee wherin the auncientes in times past had their felicitie knowe thou that their desires were so diuerse that some dispraised life others desired it some prolonged it others did shorten it some did not desire pleasures but trauailes others in trauailes did not seke but pleasures the whiche varietie did not proceade but of diuerse endes for the tastes were diuerse and sondry men desired to taste diuerse meates By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee that this thy request maketh me muse of thy life to see that my phylosophie answereth thee not sufficiently therein For if thou aske to proue me thou thinkest me presumptuous if thou demaunde in mirth thou countest me to be to light if thou demaundest it not in good earnest thou takest me for simple if thou demaūdest me for to shew it thee be thou assured I am ready to learne it if thou demaundest it for to knowe it I confesse I can not teache it thee if thou demaundest it because thou maiest be asked it be thou assured that none wylbe satisfied with my aunswere and if perchaunce thou doest aske it because thou sleapinge haste dreamed it seing that nowe thou art awake thou oughtest not to beleue a dreame For all that the fantasie in the nighte doth imagine the tongue doth publishe it in the morning O my frende Pulio I haue reason to complayne of thee for so muche as thou doest not regarde the authoritie of my persone nor the credite of thy phylosophie wherefore I feare leaste they wyll iudge thee to curious in demaundinge and me to simple in aunsweringe all this notwithstanding I determine to aunswere thee not as I ought but as I can not according to the greate thou demaundest but according to the litle I knowe And partely I doe it to accomplyshe thy requeste and also to fulfyll my desire And nowe I thinke that all whiche shall reade this letter wyll be cruell iudges of my ignoraunce ¶ Of the Philosopher Epicurus IN the Olimpiade the hundreth and thre Serges being king of Perses and the cruel tyraunt Lysander captaine of the Peloponenses a famous battayle was fought betwene the Athenians and Lysander vpon the great ryuer of Aegcon whereof Lysander had the victory and truly vnles the histories deceiue vs the Athenians tooke this conflicte greuously because the battayle was loste more through negligence of their captaines then through the great nombre of their enemies For truly many winne victories more through the cowardlynesse that some haue than for the hardinesse that others haue The philosopher Epicurus at that tyme florished who was of a liuely wytte but of a meane stature and had memorie fresh being meanely learned in philosophie but he was of much eloquence and for to encourage and counsell the Athenians he was sent to the warres For whan the auncientes tooke vpon them any warres they chose first sages to geue counsaile then captaines to leade the souldiours And amongest the prisoners the philosopher Epicurus was taken to whom the tyraunt Lysander gaue good entertainement and honoured him aboue all other and after he was taken he neuer went from him but redde philosophie vnto him and declared vnto him histories of times paste and of the strengthe and vertues of many Greekes and Troyans The tyraunt Lysander reioysed greatly at these thinges For truly tyrauntes take great pleasure to heare the prowesse vertues of auncientes past to folow the wickednes vices of them that are present Lysander therefore taking the triumphe hauing a nauy by sea a great army by land vpon the ryuer of Aegeon he and his captaines forgotte the daunger of the warres gaue the brydel to the slouthfull flesh so that to the great preiudice of the cōmon wealth they led a dissolute and ydle life For the maner of tyrannous princes is to leaue of their owne trauaile to enioy that of other mens The philosopher Epicurus was alwaies brought vp in the excellent vniuersitie of Athens wher as the philosophers liued in so great pouertie that naked they slept on the groūd their drinke was colde water none amongest them had any house propre they despised riches as pestilēce labored to make peace where discord was they were only defenders of the common wealth they neuer spake any idle worde it was a sacrilege amōgest thē to heare a lie finally it was a lawe inuiolable amongst thē that the philosopher that shuld be idle shuld be banished he that was vicious shuld be put to death The wicked Epicurus forgetting the doctrine of his maisters not esteming grauitie wherunto the sages are bound gaue him self wholy both in words deedes vnto a voluptuous beastly kinde of life wherin he put his whole felicitie For he said ther was no other felicitie for slouthful men then to sleape in soft beds for delicate persons to fele neither heat nor cold for fleshly mē to haue at their pleasur amorous dames for drōkardes not to wāt any pleasaunt wines gluttons to haue their filles of all delicate meates for herein he affirmed to consiste all worldly felicitie I doe not marueile at the multitude of his scholers which he had hath shal haue in the world For at this day ther are few in Rome that suffer not thē selues to be maistred with vices the multitude of those which liue at their owne willes and sensualitie are infinite And to fell the truthe my frend Pulio I doe not marueile that there hath bene vertuous neither I do muse that there hath bene vicious for the vertuous hopeth to reste him selfe with the gods in an other worlde by his well doing and if the vicious be vicious I doe not marueile though he will goe and ingage him selfe to the vices of this world since he doth not hope neither to haue pleasure in this nor yet to enioy rest with the gods in the other For truly the vnstedfast belefe of an other life after this wherin the wicked shal be punished the good rewarded causeth
Prince be prosperous shall it not be better to kepe him in the same prosperity to associate him selfe with a wyse man rather then to put his trust in a foole and malicious person Yf a prince be destitute of money cannot perchaunce a wise man find him better meanes to get it theÌ„ a foole which doth nothing but aske If a prince wil passe the time away shall not he be more comforted with a wise man that rekeneth vnto him the sauorye histories done in times past then harkening a foole speakyng folishely declaring thinges dishonestly with the sayenges of the malicious of the tyme present That that I speake of surgians the selfe same I speake of foles For I do not say that they keape them for their pastime though truly we might better say to loase their time then to passe their time For that may iustly be called time lost which is spent without the seruice of God profite of theyr neighbours That which I most maruel at is not so much for the great authority the fooles haue in the pallaces of princes great lordes as for the litle succour credite which wise men haue among them For it is a great iniury the fooles should enter into the palace of princes euen vnto their bed side and that one wise maÌ„ may not nor dare not enter into the halle So that to the on there is no dore shut and to the other there is no gate open We which are at this present of right do commend those that were before vs for no other cause but that in times past though the sages were few in nomber the world was replenished with barbarous people yet the sages of those barbarous people were greatly estemed and had in reuerence And this custome endured long tyme in Grece that when a philosopher passed by a Greke he rose and spake vnto hym and he might not sit for the contrary al those which shal liue here after will reproue vs which are at this presente Forasmuch as we haue so great a multitude of sages and do not liue amongest barbarous but amongest Christians and it is a grefe to see and shame to write how litle wise meÌ„ are estemed For at this day throughe oure offences not those which haue most science but those which haue most ryches in the common wealthe doe commaund I know not whether the deuine wisdom hath depriued theÌ„ or that the worldly malice hath lost the tast of them For now a dayes ther is no sage that liueth al alone to be wise but it is necessary for him to trauaile how to gaine his liuing for necessitie enforceth him to violate the rules of true philosophy O world world I know not how to escape thy handes nor how the simple man ideote defendeth him selfe out of thy snares when the sage and wyse men yea with al their wisdome can scarsely set their foote sure on the ground For al that wise men of this world know is litle ynough to defend them from the malitious Readyng that which I read of time past and seing that which I se of time present I am in doubte which was greater the care that vertuous princes had in seekyng out sages to counsell theÌ„ or the great couetousnes that others haue at this present to discouer mynes and treasures Speaking therfore in this matter as I thinke I desire that those which haue the charge of gouernement whether he be prince prelate or priuate parson I passe not that they once may haue about them sage meÌ„ that be wise in dede and that they would loue them aboue all the treasour they had heaped For in the end of good counsaill there commeth profite and much treasour is a token of great daunger In the old time when vertuous Princes died and that they lefte their children for successours in their Realmes besides that forasmuch as they saw their children yong euill instructed in the affaires of their realmes they committed them to tutours that should teache theÌ„ good workes doctrine rather than they would giue them surueyours whych should encrease augment their cofers and rentes For truly if the common wealth be defended with great treasures it is not gouerned with good counsayles The princes which are yong accustomely are giuen to vyces for in the one part youth reigneth on the other part honesty wanteth And to such truly vices ar very daungerous specially if they want sages to counsaile theÌ„ to keape them from euil company For the couragious youth will not be brydeled nor their great libertie can be chastysed Princes without doubt haue more nede of wyse men about them to profyte them in their counsailes then any of all their other subiectes For synce they are in the view of all they haue lesse licence to commyt vice than any of all For if they doe behold all and that they haue auctoritie to iudge all will they nill they they are beholden and iudged of all Princes ought to be circuÌ„spect whom they trust with the gouernemeÌ„t of their realmes and to whom they commytte the leading of their armies whom they send as embassatours into straunge countreys and whom they trust to receiue and keape their treasurs but much more they ought to be circumspecte in examinyng of those whom they choose to be their counsalours For looke what he is that counsaileth the Prince at home in his palace so likewyse shall his renowne â—e in straunge countreis and in his owne common wealthe Why should they not then willingly examin and correct their own proper palace Let princes know if they doe not know that of the honestie of their seruauntes of the prouidence of their counsayles of the sagenes of their personnes and of the order of their house dependeth the welfare of the common wealth For it is impossible that the braunches of that tree whose rootes are dried vp should be sene to beare grene leaues How the Emperour Theodosius prouided wise men at the houre of his death for the edification of his .2 sonnes Archadius and Honorius xliiii Chap. IGnatius the Hystorian in the boke that he made of the .2 Theodosij of the .3 Archadij and of the .4 Honorii declareth that the first and great Theodosius being fyftie yeares old and hauing gouerned the Empire .11 yers lyenge on his death bed called Archadius and Honorius his .2 sonnes and committed them to Estilconus and Ruffinus to be instructed and ordeined them lykewise for gouerners of their estates and signories Before that the father dyed he had now created his children Cesars beyng then of the age of .17 yeares Therfore the father seynge them not as yet rype nor able to gouerne their Realmes and signories he committed them vnto maisters and tutours It is not alwayes a generall rule though one be of .25 yeares of age that he hath more discretion to gouerne realmes then another of .17 For dayly we see that we allow and commend the .10 yeares of one
one eye called Monoculus which he had found in the desertes of Egipt At that time the wife of Torquatus called Macrina shold haue bene deliuered of child for the Consul did leaue her great This Macrina amongest al was so honest that they spent as much time in Rome to prayse her for her vertues as they did set forth her husband for his victories They rede in the Annalles of that time that the first time that this Consul Torquatus went into Asia he was eleuen yeres out of his countrey and it is found for a truth that in al the time that Torquatus was absente his wife was neuer sene loke out at the windowe whiche was not a thinge smally estemed for though it was a custome in Rome to kepe the dore shut it was lawfull notwithstandinge to speake to women at the windowes Though men at that time were not so bold the women were so honest yet Macrina wife to Torquatus lyued so close and solitary to her selfe that in all these 11. yeres ther was neuer man that saw her go through Rome nor that euer saw her dore open neither that she consented at any time from the time that she was viii yeres of age that any man should enter into her house more ouer ther was neuer man saw her face wholy vncouered This Romaine Lady did this to leaue of her a memory to giue example of her vertue She had also iii. children whereof the eldest was but v. yeres old and so when they were viii yeres of age immediatlye she sent them out of her house towards their parentes lest vnder the coullour to vysite the children others should come to visite her O Faustine howe many haue I hard that haue lamented this excellent Romaine and what wil they thinke that shal folow her life Who could presently restraigne a Romaine woman from going to the window .11 yeres since thinges nowe a daies are so dissolute that they do not only desire to se them but also runne in the streates to bable of them Who should cause now a dayes a Romaine woman that in the 11. yeres she should not open her dores since it is so that when the husband commaunded her to shut one dore she wil make the hole house to ringe of her voyce He that now would commaund his wife to tary at home and let her of her vagaries into the towne shal perceiue that ther is no Basilie nor Viper that carrieth suche poison in her tayle as she wil spitt with her tongue Who could make a Romaine women to be 11. yeres continually without shewing her face to any man since it is so that they spend the most part of their time in loking in a glasse setting their ruffes brushing their clothes and painting their faces who would cause a Romaine womā to kepe her selfe xi yeres from being vysited of her neighbours and frends since it is true that now women thinke them greatest enemyes whych vysite them most seldom Retournyng therfore to the monstre as they led this monstre before the doore of Torquatus house she being great wyth child her husbande in the warre by chaunce a maide of his tolde her how that this monstre passed by wherfore so great a desire toke her to see the monstre that for to kepe that she had begon sodeinly for this desier she dyed Truly I tel the Faustine that this monstre had passed many times by the streat wher she dwelt she would neuer notwithstandyng go to the window and muche lesse go out of her doore to see it The death of this Romaine of many was lamented for it was a long time that Rome had neuer heard of so honest vertuous a Romaine wherfor at the peticion of al the Romayne people and by the commaundement of al the sacred senate they set on he◠tombe these verses ¶ The worthy Macrine resteth here in graue Whom wyse Torquatus lodged in Iunos bedde Who reked not a happy lyfe to haue So that for aye her honest fame was spredde BEhold therfore Faustine in my opinyon the law was not made to remedye the death of this noble Romayne since she was alredy dead but to the end that you Princesses shoulde take example of her lyfe and that through al Rome ther should be a memorye of her death It is reason synce the law was ordeyned for those women which are honest that it should be obserued in none but vppon those that are vertuous let the women with chyld marke the words of the law which commaund them to aske things honest Wherfore I let the know Faustine that in the seuenth table of our lawes are wryten these wordes We wil that wher ther is corruption of manners the man shal not be bound to obserue their liberties ¶ That princesses and noble women ought not to be ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breastes Cap. xviii AL noble men that are of hault courages watch continually to bringe that to effect which they couet and to kepe that which they haue For by strength one commeth to honour and by wisedom honor life are both preserued By these wordes I meane that she that hath borne .9 monethes through trauaile the creature in her wombe with so much paine that afterwards is delyuered with so greate perill by the grace of god from so many daungers escaped me thinke it is not wel that in this point which for the norishment of the babe is most expedient the mothers should shew them so negligent For that wanteth no foly that by extreame labour is procured and with much lightnes afterward despised The thinges that women naturaly desire are infinite among the whych these are foure cheafely The first thing that women desire is to be very faire For they had rather be poore and faire then to be riche and foule The second thing which they desire is to se them selues maried for vntill such time as the woman doth see her selfe maried from the bottome of the hart she alwayes sigheth The third thing that women desire is to se them selues great with child herein they haue reason For vntil such time as the woman hath had a child it semeth that she taketh him more for a louer then for a husband The fourth thing that they desire is to se them selues deliuered and in this case more then all the rest they haue reason For it is greate pitie to see in the pryme time a yong tre loden with blosomes and afterward the fruite to be destroyed throughe the abondaunce of caterpillers Then since god suffereth that they are borne faire that they se them selues maried that they be with child and that they are deliuered why be they so vnkind as to send them out of their houses to be nourished in other rude cotages In my opinion the womā that is vertuous ought assone as she is deliuered to lift vp her eyes and with her hart to giue god thankes for her frute For the
wisest but these of our daies cōtend who shal be fairest For at this day the ladies would chose rather to haue the face adorned with beautie then the heart endued with wisedome The auncient ladies contented which should be better able to teache others but these ladies nowe a daies contend how they may moste finely apparel them selues For in these daies they geue more honour to a woman richely appareled then they geue to an other with honestie beautified Finally with this worde I doe conclude and let him marke that shall reade it that in the olde time women were such that their vertues caused al men to kepe silence and now their vices be such that they cōpell al men to speake I will not by this my word any man should be so bolde in generally to speake euil of all the ladies for in this case I sweare that there are not at this day so many good vertuous women in the world but that I haue more enuy at the life they lead in secreat then at al the sciences whiche the auncient women red in publike Wherfore my pen doth not shewe it selfe extreme but to those which onely in sumptuous apparell and in vayne wordes do consume their whole lyfe and to those whiche in readyng a good boke wold not spend one only houre To proue my intencion of that I haue spoken the aboue written suffiseth But to the ende princesses and great ladies maye se at the lest howe muche better it shal be for them to know litel then to haue and possesse much and to be able to do more I will remembre thē of that whych a Romaine woman wrate to her children wherby they shal perceyue how eloquent a woman she was in her sayinges and how true a mother in her counsel For in the end of her letter she perswadeth her children to the trauailes of the warre not for any other cause but to auoyd the pleasures of Rome Of the worthines of the ladye Cornelia and of a notable epistle she wrote to her .ii. sonnes which serued in the warres Tyberius and Caius diswadyng them from the pleasures of rome and exorting them to endure the trauailes of warre Chap. xxxi ANnius Rusticus in the boke of the antiquities of the Romaines saith that in Rome ther wer .v. principal linages that is to wete Fabritij Torquatij Brutij Fabij and Cornelij thoughe there were in Rome other newe linages wherof ther were many excellent personages yet alwayes these which came of the .v. linages were kept placed and preferred to the first offices of the common wealth For Rome honored those that were present in such sort that it was without the preiudice of those that are gone Amongest those .v. linages the romaines alwayes counted the Cornelij most fortunat the which were so hardy and couragious in fight and so modest in lyfe that of theyr familie there was neuer found any cowardly man in the feld nor any defamed woman in the towne They saye of this linage of the Cornelij amonge many other there were .iiii. singular and notable women among the whiche the chiefe was the mother of Gracchi whose name was Cornelia and liued with more honour for the sciences she red in Rome then for the conquestes that her children had in Affricke Before her children wer brought into the empire they talked of none other thing but of their strēgth hardines throughout all the worlde and therfore a Romaine one daye asked this woman Cornelia wherof she toke most vaine glory to se her selfe mistres of so many disciples or mother of so valiant children The lady Cornelia aunswered I doe esteme the science more whiche I haue learned then the Children whyche I haue brought forth For in the end the children kepe in honour the lyfe but the disciples continue the renowne after the death And she sayd further I am assured that the disciples dayly will waxe better and better and it maye bee that my Children wil waxe worse and worse The desyres of yong men are so variable that they daily haue newe inuentions With one accord all the wryters do greatly commende this woman Cornelia inespecially for being wyse and honest and furthermore bycause shee red philosophy in Rome openlye And therfore after her death they set vp in Rome a Statue ouer the gate Salaria whereupon there was grauen this Epigrame This heape of earth Cornelie doth encloose Of wretched Gracches that loe the mother was Twyse happye in the sckollers that she choose Vnhappye thrise in the ofspringe that she has AMong the latines Cicero was the Prince of al the Romaine rethorike and the chiefest with his pen inditing of Epystles yet they say that he did not only se the writinges of this Cornelia but red them and did not onely read them but also with the sentences therof profited him selfe And hereof a man ought not to meruaile for there is no man in the world so wise of him selfe but may furder his doynges with the aduice of another Cicero so highly exalted these writinges that he said in his rethorike these or such other like wordes If the name of a woman had not bleamyshed Cornelia truly she deserued to be head of all philosophers For I neuer sawe so graue sentences procede from so fraile flesh Since Cicero spake these wordes of Cornelia it can not be but that the writinges of such a woman in her time were very liuely and of great reputacion yet notwithstāding there is no memory of her but that an author for his purpose declareth an epistel of this maner Sextus Cheronensis in his booke of the prayse of women reciteth the letter whiche she sente to her children She remaynyng in Rome and they beyng at the warres in Affrike The letter of Cornelia to her .ii. sonnes Tiberius and Caius otherwise called Gracchi COrnelia the Romaine that by thy fathers side am of the Cornelij one the mother syde of the Fabij to you my .ii. sonnes Gracchii which are in that warres of Affrik such health to you do wish as a mother to her childrē ought to desire Ye haue vnderstode right well my children how my father died I being but .iii. yeres of age and that this .xxii. yeares I haue remained wydow and that this .xx. yeares I haue red Rethorike in Rome It is .vii. yeres sins I sawe ye and .xii. yeares sins your bretherne my children dyed in the great plage You know .viii. yeres ar past since I left my study and came to se you in Cicilia bycause you should not forsake the warres to come se me in rome for to me could come no greater paine thē to se you absent from the seruice of the common welth I desire my children to shew you how I haue passed my life in labour trauaill to the intent you should not desire to spēd youres in rest and idlenes For if to me that am in rome there can want no trobles be ye assured that vnto you which are in the warres shall
that the doughters should inherit the goodes for to mary them selues with all Truly this law was very iust for the sonne that hath alwayes respect to the enheritaunce will not haue to his father any great confidence For he ought to be called a valiant Romaine knight that with his life hath wonne honour and by the sword hath gotten riches Since you are in straung realmes I praye you hartely that you be conuersaunt with the good as good brethren remēbring alwayes that you wer my children and that I gaue you both sucke of myne owne propre breastes And the daye that I shall here of your disagrement the same day shal be the end of my life For the discord in one citie of parentes doth more harme then a hole armie of enemys It is good for you my childrē to liue in loue concord togethers but it is more requisit to kepe you with the Romaine knightes The which with you you with thē if you do not loue together in the warres you shall neuer haue the vpper hand of your enemies For in great armies the discordes which rise emongest thē do more harme then the enemys do against whō they fight I think wel my children that you wold be very desirous to know of my estate that is to wete whether I am in health whether I am sick whether I am poore whether I am pleased or whether I am miscontented In this case I know not why you shold desire to know it since you ought to presuppose that accordyng to the troubles which I haue passed the miseries that with mine eyes I haue sene I am filled with this world for wise men after .50 yeres and vpwarde ought rather to apply their mindes how to receiue death thē to seke pleasurs to prolong life When mans flesh is weake it always desireth to be wel kept euen vnto the graue And as I am of flesh bone so I do feale the troubles of the world as al mortal men do But for al this do not think that to be pore or sick is the greatest misery neither thinke that to be hole riche is the chefest felicity for ther is none other felicity of the old fathers but for to se their childrē vertuous In my opiniō it is an honour to that countrey that the fathers haue such children which wil take profit with their counsell contrary wyse that the children haue such fathers which can giue it them For the child is happy that hath a wise father more happy is the father that hath not a folish sonne I do write oft times vnto you my children but there is a law that none be so hardy to write to men of war in the field except first they inrowle the letters in the senate Therfore since I write vnto you more letters then they would they do send lesse then I desire Thoughe this law be painefull to mothers which haue children yet we must confesse it is profitable for the weale publik For if a man should write to one in the warre that his family is not well he would forsake the warres to remedye it Yf a man wryte vnto him that it is prosperous he hath then a desire to enioye it Be not displeased my children thoughe all the letters I do sende vnto you come not to your handes For all that I do not cease to visite the temples for your owne health nor yet to offre sacrifices to the Gods for your honour For if we do please the gods we haue not cause to feare our enemies I say no more in this case my children but that I beseche the immortall Gods that if your lyues maye profyte the common wealth then they shorten my dayes and lēgthen your yeres but if your lyues should be to the domage of the common wealth then those immortall gods I desire that first I may vnderstand the end of your dayes before that the wormes should eate my flesh For rather then by your euill lyfe the glory of our predecessours should be bleamished it were much better both your liues wer ended The grace of the Gods the good renowme amongest men the good fortune of the Romains that wisedom of the greekes the blessing of Scippio of al other your predecessours be alwayes with you my children Of the education and doctrine of children whiles they are yong Wherein the auctour declareth many notable histories Chap. xxxii ALl mortall men which will trauell and see good fruite of their trauell ought to do as the chefe artificer did that painted the world For the man that maketh god the head of his workes it is vnpossible that he should erre in the same That whych we beleue and reade by wrytinge is that the eternall created the world in short space by his mighte but preserued it a lōg time by his wisedome Wherof a man may gather that the time to do a thing is short but the care and thought to preserue it is long We see daily that a valiaunt captaine assaulteth his enemies but in the end it is god that giueth the victorye but let vs aske the conquerour what trauell it hath bene vnto him or wherin he hath perceaued most daunger that is to wete either to obteine the victory of his enemies or els to preserue them selues amongest the enuious and malicious I sweare and affirme that such a knight wil swere that ther is no comparison betwene the one and the other for by the bloudy sweard in an houre the victorye is obteined but to kepe it with reputation the swete of al the life is required Laertius in the booke of the lyfe of the philophers declareth and Plato also hereof maketh mention in the bookes of hys common wealth that those of Thebes vnderstandyng that the Lacedemonians hadde good lawes for that whych they were of the godes fauoured and of menne greatly honoured determined to send by common assent and agreement a wise philosopher the beste esteamed amongest them whose name was Phetonius to whome they commaunded that he should aske the lawes of the Lacedemonians and that he shoulde be verye circumspecte and ware to see what their rules and customes were Those of Thebes were then very noble valliant and honest so that their principal end was to come to honour renowme to erect buildinges to make them selues of immortall memory for beyng vertuous For in buildyng they were very curious and for vertues they had good Philosophers The philosopher Phetonius was more thē a yeare in the realme of the Lacedemonians beholding at sondry times all thinges therin for simple men do not note thinges but onely to satisfye the eyes but the wise menne beholdeth them for to know and vnderstand their secrettes After that the philosopher had well plainely sene and behelde all the thinges of the Lacedemonians he determined to returne home to Thebes and beyng arriued all the people came to see him and here him For the vanitie of the common people is
to moch aboundaunce and libertie of youth is no other but a prophesie manifest token of disobedience in age I knowe not why princes and great lordes do toile and oppresse so much and scratche to leaue their children great estates and on the other syde we see that in teachyng them they are and shew theim selues to negligent for princes great lordes ought to make account that all that whych they leaue of their substaunce to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their coÌ„sciences are vpright and of their honours carefull oughte to be very diligent to bring vp their children chiefly that they consyder whether they be mete to inherite their estates And if perchaunce the fathers se that their children be more giueÌ„ to follie then to noblenes and wysdome then should I be ashamed to se a father that is wise trauaile al the dayes of his life to leaue much substaunce to an euill brought vp child after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thyng to se the cares whych the fathers take to gather ryches and the diligence that children haue to spende them And in this case I saye the sonne is fortunate for that he doeth inherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeth In my opinion Fathers ar bound to enstructe theyr Children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also bycause they ought to be theyr heyres For truely with great greyfe and sorow I suppose he doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrifte the toile of all his life Hyzearcus the Greeke hystorien in the booke of his antiquities and Sabellyquus in his generall history sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complaine to the famous phylosopher and auncient Solon Solinon the sonne complayned of the father and the father of the sonne First the son informed the quarel to the Phylosopher sayeng these wordes I complayne of my father bycause he beyng ryche hath dysheryted me and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the whyche thyng my father oughte not nor cannot doe For sence he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason he geue me hys goods to maintayne my feblenes To these wordes aunswered the father I complayne of my sonne bycause he hathe not bene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemye for in all thynges since he was borne he hath bene disobedient to my will wherfore I thought it good to dysheryte hym before my death I woulde I weâ—e quite of all my substaunce so that the goddes hadde quyte hym of hys lyfe for the earthe is very cruell that swalloweth not the chyld alyue whyche to hys father is dysobedyent In that he sayeth I haue adopted another chyld for myne heyre I confesse it is true and for somuche as he sayeth that I haue dysinheryted hym and abiected hym from my herytage he beynge begotten of my owne bodye hereunto I aunswere That I haue not disinheryted my sonne but I haue disinheryted his pleasure tothentent he shal not enioy my trauaile for there can be nothing more vniust then that the yonge and vitious sonne should take his pleasure of the swette and droppes of the aged father The sonne replyed to his father and sayd I confesse I haue offended my father and also I confesse that I haue lyued in pleasures yet if I maye speake the trueth thoughe I were disobedient and euill my father oughte to beare the blame and if for this cause he doeth dysherite me I thynke he doth me great iniurye For the father that enstructed not hys sonne in vertue in hys youthe wrongfullye dysheryteth hym though he be disobedient in hys age The father agayne replyeth and saieth It is true my sonne that I brought the vp to wantonly in thy youth but thou knowest well that I haue taughte the sondrye tymes and besydes that I dyd correcte the when thou camest to some discretion And if in thy youth I dyd not instructe the in learnyng it was for that thou in thy tender age dydest wante vnderstandyng but after that thou haddest age to vnderstand discrecion to receiue and strength to exercyse it I began to punyshe the to teache the and to instructe the. For where no vnderstandyng is in the chyld there in vaine they teache doctrine Sence thou arte old quoth the sonne and I yong sence thou arte my father and I thy sonne for that thou hast whyte heres of thy bearde and I none at all it is but reason that thou be beleued I condemned For in this world we se oftetimes that the smal aucthoryty of the parson maketh hym to lose hys great iustyce I grauÌ„t the my father that when I was a childe thou dydst cause me to learne to reade but thou wylte not denye that if I dyd coÌ„mit any faulte thou wouldest neauer agree I should be punyshed And hereof it came that thou sufferyng me to doe what I woulde in my youth haue bene dysobedient to the euer since in my age And I saye to the further that if in this case I haue offended trulye me thinketh thou canst not be excused for the fathers in the youthe of their children oughte not onely to teache them to dispute of vertues and what vertue is but they ought to inforce them to be vertuous in dede For it is a good token when youth before they know vyces hath bene accustomed to practice vertues Both parties thou diligentlie hard the good Philosopher Solon Solinon spake these wordes I geue iudgement that the father of thys child be not buried after hys death and I commaunde that the sonne bycause in hys youth he hath not obeyed his father who is olde should be dysinheryted whiles the father lyueth from all hys substaunce on suche condition that after hys death hys sonnes should inheryte the heritage and so returne to the heires of the sonne and line of the father For it were vniust that the innocencie of the sonne should be condempned for the offence of the father I doe commaunde also that all the goods be committed vnto some faithful parson to th end they may geue the father meate and drinke durynge hys lyfe and to make a graue for the sonne after hys death I haue not with out a cause geuen suche iudgement the which comprehendeth lyfe and death for the Gods wyll not that for one pleasure the punyshement be double but that we chastyse and punyshe the one in the lyfe takynge from hym hys honour and goods and that we punyshe others after there death takyng from them memorye and buriall Truly the sentence which the Philosopher gaue was graue and would to God we had him for a iudge of this world presentlye for I sweare that he should finde many children now a dayes for to disheryte and mo fathers to punishe For I cannot tell which is greater the shame of the children to disobey their fathers or
and that whereby he should profyte as I thynke is that he should eate Beares Lyons in his lyfe as now he shal be eatē of wormes after his death All the Poets that inuented fictions all the Oratours which made Orations al the Philosophers which wrote bookes al the sages which left vs their doctrynes and all the Princes which instituted lawes ment nothing els but to perswade vs to think how briefe vnprofitable this lyfe ys howe necessary a thing iustice is therein For the filth corrupcion which the body hath without the soule the selfe same hath the common welth wythout iustice We cannot deny but that the Romaynes haue bene proude enuyous aduouterers shamelesse ambicious but yet with all these faultes they haue bene great obseruers of iustice So that if god gaue the so many tryumphes beyng loden and enuironned with so manye vices it was not for the vertues they had but for the great iustice which they did administer Plinie in hys second booke saieth that Democritus affirmed there were two gods which gouerned the vniuersall worlde that is to wete Rewarde and Punishement Whereby we may gather that nothing is more necessary then true and right iustice For the one rewardeth the good the other leaueth not vnpunished the euill Saint Austyne in the fyrst booke De ciuitare dei sayeth these words Iustyce taken awaye what are realmes but dennes of theues truely he had great reason For if there were no whips for vacabondes gags for blasphemers fynes for periury fyre for heretiques sworde for murderers galouse for theues nor prison for rebelles we may boldly affirme that there woulde not be so manye beastes on the mountaines as there woulde be theues in the cōmon wealth In many thinges or in the greatest parte of the common welth we see that bread wyne corne fyshe woll and other thinges necessary for the lyfe of the people wanteth but we neuer sawe but malicious menne in euerye place dyd abounde Therefore I sweare vnto you that it were a good bargayne to chaunge all the wycked menne in the common wealth for one onlye poore sheepe in the sylde In the comon wealth we see naught els but whippyng dayly beheddyng slayinge drownyng and hanginge but notwithstandyng this the wicked whiche remayne styll are so many in nomber that if all those shoulde be hanged that deserue it by iustyce a man could not fynd hangmen sufficient nor gallowses to hange them vppon Admitte according to the varietie of realmes prouinces that dyuers lawes and customes haue bene instituted therein Yet for a truth there was neuer nor neuer shal be found any nation or common wealthe in the worlde so barbarous but hath bene founded of iustice For to affirme that menne can bee preserued wythout iustice is as muche as to saye the fishe can liue wythout water Howe is it possible that a common wealth may liue without iustice sith without her cannot bee ruled one onelye personae Plinie in an epistle saieth that he him selfe hauinge the charge of a prouince in Affrike demaunded an olde man and in gouernement experte what he myght doe to administer iustice well the aged manne aunswered Doe iustice of thy selfe yf thou wilt be a minister thereof For the good iudge wyth the ryght yarde of hys owne lyfe ought to measure the whole state of the common wealth And he sayde further if thou wylt be right wyth menne and clean before god beware of presumpcion in thyne offyce For the proude and presumptuous iudges often tymes doe contrary in their wordes and also exceade in theire deedes Plinie also saieth that he profited more with the counsayle thys olde man gaue hym then wyth all that euer he had reade in his bookes O to howe muche is he bounde that hath taken vppon him to administer iustice For if such one be an vpright man hee accomplisheth that whereunto he is bounde but if suche one of hym selfe bee vniuste iustlye of god he ought to bee punished and lykewyse of menne to bee accused When prynces commaund their seruaunts or subiectes any thing that they cannot accomplish them in such sorte as they had charge to do then he ought to haue them excused those excepted whiche gouerne realmes prouinces For no man leaueth to administer iustice but for want of knowledge or experience or els through aboundaunce of affection or malice If a captaine lose a battaile he may excuse hym self saying his men were fled when they shoulde haue assaulted their enemies A poast may excuse hi self for that the waters we◠so high A hunter may say the beast is escaped another way others such like but a gouernour of a common wealth what excuse can he haue that he dothe not iustice Conscience ought to burden hym also he ought to be ashamed to take vpon him the charge of any thing if he doute to bring it to effecte for the shamefast faces haute courages either ought to put that in execution which they take vpon them or els they ought to shew a lawful cause why it tooke no effect Let vs know first what iustice is then we shall knowe what is mete for the administracion therof The office of a good iudge is to defend the common welth to help the innocent to ayde the simple to correcte the offender to honour the vertuous to help the orphanes to do forthe poore to bridel the ambicious finallye by iustice he ought to geue eche one his owne to dispossesse those which hold any thing wrongfully of others When a prince commaundeth any man to take the charge of iustice such one doth not seeke it of him selfe if perchaunce afterwardes he did not in all points vprightly in the administracion therof he might haue some excuse saying that though he hath accepted it it was not with minde because he woulde erre but because with good will he would obey What shall we saye of manye which without shame without knowlege without experience without conscience do procure the office of iustice O if princes knew what they geue whē they geue the charge to any to gouerne the common wealth I sweare vnto you that they were better to giue them goods to fynd them for .20 yeres then for to trust them wyth the charge of iustice .20 daies What a thing is it to see some men shamelesse dishonest great talkers gluttons ambitious couetous the whiche wythout anye reasonable cause aucthority or knowledge demaunde of prynces an office of iustice as if by iustice they dyd demaund their own Would to god the geuer would haue an eye to those whych in this wyse do demaunde But what shal we say of those that doe sollicite thē procure thē importune them beseche them more then that euen as wythout shame they do demaund it so wythout conscience lykewyse they buy it There remayneth in this case more as yet that is that if those cursed men do not attayne to that whych they demaunde
great age and grauitie such request can not bee called loue but grief not pastime but losse of time not mockry but villany for of loue in iest ensueth infamy in deede I ask you Claude and Claudine what a thing is it to see an old man to bee in loue Trulye it is no other but as a garland before the tauern dores wher al men think that ther is wine and they sel nought els but vineger They are egges white without and rotten within they are golden pilles the tast wherof are very bitter and as ēpty boxes in shops which haue new writings on them or as a new gate and with in the house is full of filth and cobwebs finally the old louer is a knight of Exchetes which helpeth to lose mony and can deliuer no man from peril Let this woord bee noted and alwayes in your memory committed that the old man which is vitious is but as a leeke which hath the head white the tayle green Mee thinketh that you ought to break the wings of time since that you haue feathers to flye withal Deceiue not your self nor your frends and neighbours saying that ther is time for all For the amendment is in your hands but time is in the hands of god to dispose Let vs come now to remedy this great domage do what you can by the day of youth and deferr it not vntil the night of age for ill cutteth the knife when the edge therof is dulled and ill can hee knaw the bones which is accustomed to eat the flesh I tel you and aduertise you that when the old and rotten houses beeginneth to fall vnder set not them with rotten wood but with hard timber I mean with the vpright thoughts of accompts which wee ought to geue to the gods of our life and to mē of our renoume Forthe I say that if the vine bee gathered of our vertues we ought to graffe againe the amendment and if the shreds of our gatherings bee drye and withered through our peruers woorks wee ought to set them agayn with new mould and good desires The gods are so gentle to serue and so good to content that if for all the seruices wee ow them and for the gifts which they geeue vs wee can not pay them in good woorks they demaund nomore in payment but good willes Finally I say that if thou Claude and Claudine haue offred the meale of youth to the world offer now the blood of age to the gods I haue written longer then I had thought to do Salute all my neyghbours specially Drusio the patrician and noble Romayne widdow I remember that Gobrine your niece did me a pleasure the day of the feast of the mother Berecinthia wherfore I sēd 2. thou sand Sesterces one thousand to help to mary her and the other thousand to help to reliue your pouerty My wife Faustine is sick and I send you another .1000 Sesterces to geeue to the vestal virgines to pray to the gods for her My wife sendeth to thee Claudine a cofer by the immortal gods I swear vnto thee I can not tel what is in it I beeseech the godds sithens you are aged to giue you a good death and to mee Faustine they suffer vs to lead a good life Marcus of mount Celio with his owne hand writeth this ¶ Princes ought to take heede that they be not noted of auarice for that the coueious man is both of god and man hated Cap. xxiii THe great Alexander king of Macedony and Darius the vnfortunat king of the Persyes were not onely contrary in warres and conquests which they made but also in the conditions and inclinations which they had For Alexander naturally loued to geeue and spēd and Darius to the contrary to heape lock keepe When the fame of Alexander was spred abrode through out all the world to bee a prince of honor and not couetous his owne loued him entierly and straungers desyred to serue him faithfully The miserable kyng Darius as hee was noted of great auarice and of small liberality so his did disobey him and straungers hated him Whereof may bee gathered that princes and great lords by geeuing do make them selues rich in keeping they make theym selues poore Plutarche in his apothegmes declareth that after king Darius was dead Alexander had triumphed ouer al the oriental parts a man of Thebes beinge in the market place of Athenes setting foorth the fortune of Alexander for the sundry countreys which hee had conquered and describing the euel fortune of Darius for the great nomber of men which hee had lost a philosopher with a loude voice sayd O man of Thebes thou art greatly deceiued to think that one prince loseth many seignories and that the other Prince winneth many realmes For Alexander the great wanne nought but stones and couerings of cities for with his liberality he had alredie gotten the good willes of the cite sins And to the contrary the vnfortunat Darius did not lose but stones and the couertures of cities for with his couetousnes and auarice he had now lost al the hartes of those of Asia And farther this philosopher sayd vnto him that princes which wil enlarge their estates and amplify their realmes in their conquests ought first to winne the harts to bee noble and liberal and afterwards to send their armies to conquer the forts and walls for otherwise litel auayleth it to winne the stones if the hartes do rebell Wherby a man may gather that that which Alexander wan hee wan by liberalitye and stoutnes and that which king Darius lost he lost for beeinge miserable and couetous And let vs not meruail hereat for the princes great lordes which are ouercome with auarice I doubt whither they euer shal see theym selues cōquerors of many realmes The vice of auarice is so detestable so euel so odious so perilous that if a mā shoold ēploy hī self to write al the discōmodites therūto belongīg my penne should do nought elles then to presume to dry vp all the water in the sea For the stomake where auarice entreth causeth a man to serue vices worshippe Idolles If a vertuous man woulde prepare him selfe to think on the great trauaile and litell reste that this cursed vice beareth with him I thinke that none would be vicious therin Though the couetous man had no other trauaile but alwayes to go to bed wyth daunger and to rise vp with care Me thinketh it is a trouble sufficient for such one when he goeth to bed thinketh that he should be killed in his bed or that sleping his cofers should be rifled and from that time he riseth he is alwayes tormented with feare to lose that which he hath wonne and careful to augmēt that litel in to much The deuine Plato in the first boke of his common welth said these wordes the men be made riche because they neuer learned to bee riche for he which continually and truelye will become riche
pleasure of the shee geueth mee neither greefe of that shee taketh froÌ„ me nor I wyl haue respect when she telleth mee truth nor I doo not regard it though she tel mee a lye Finally I will not laugh for that shee asketh mee nor I wil weepe for that shee sendeth mee I wyll now tel thee my frend Domitiê° one thing and hartely I desire thee to keepe it in memory Oure lyfe is so doubtfull and fortune so sodaine that wheÌ„ shee thretneth she stryketh not always neyther doth shee threaten alwaies when shee stryketh The man which presumeth to bee sage and in all things well prouyded goeth not so fast that at euery steppe hee is in daunger of falling nor so softly that in long tyme hee cannot aryue at his iorneys end For the false fortune gauleth in steed of strikyng in steed of gauling striketh Therefore since in years I am older then thou and haue more experience of affairs if thou hast marked that I haue told thee thou wylt remember wel that which I will say vnto thee which is that that part of thy life is troublesome which vnto the seemeth to be most sure wylt thou that by example I tell thee al that which by woords I haue spoken Behold Hercules of Thebes who escaped so many daungers both by sea and by land and afterwardes came to dy in the armes of a harlotte Agamemnon the great Captaine of Greekes in the x. years which hee warred agaynst Troy neuer had any peryl and afterwards in the nyght they kylled hym entring into his own house The vnuincyble Alexander the great in al the conquests of Asia dyd not dye and afterwards with a lytle poyson ended hys life in Babilon Pompeius the great dyed not in the conquest of his enemys and afterwardes his frende Ptholomeus slew him The couragyus Iulius Cesar in .lii. battells could not be ouercom and afterwards in the Senate they slew him with xxiii wouÌ„ds Hannibal the terryble captaine of Carthage slew hym selfe in one moment which the Romaynes could not dooe in xvii years onelye bycause hee would not com into the hands of hys enemys Asclipius medius brother of great Pompeius in xx years that he was a rouer on the seas neuer was in any peryll afterwards drawyng water out of a well was drowned therin Tenne Captaynes whoÌ„ Scipio had chosen in the coÌ„quest of Affrike iestynge on a bridge fell into the water and ther were drowned The good Bibulê° going triuÌ„phing in his chariot at Rome a tile fel on his head so that his vayne glory was the end of his good lyfe What wylt thou more I saye vnto thee but that Lucia my sister hauynge a needel on her brest her childe betweene her armes the chyld layeng his hand vppon the needell and thrust it into her breast wherby the mother dyed Gneus Ruffirius Which was a very wyse man and also my kinseman one daye keamyng hys whyte heares strake a tooth of the comb in his head wherwith hee gaue him selfe a mortall wounde so that in short space after his lyfe had end but not his doctrine nor memory How thinkest thou Domitiê° by the immortal gods I swear vnto thee that as I haue declared to thee this small nomber so I coold recite thee other infinyte What mishap is this after so many fortunes what reproch after such glory What peril after such surety what euil luck after such good successe What dark night after so clere a day What so euil enterteinment after so great labour What sentence so cruel after so long proces O what inconuenience of death after so good beginnyng of lyfe Being in their steade I can not tel what I would but I had rather choose vnfortunat lyfe honorable death then an infamous death and honorable lyfe That man which wyll bee counted for a good man and not noted for a brute beast ought greatly to trauayle to lyue wel and much more to dye better For the euill death maketh men doubt that the lyfe hath not been good and the good death is the excuse of an euyl lyfe At the beeginnyng of my letter I wrate vnto thee how that the gowt troubleth mee euil in my hand I say it were to much to wryte any leÌ„ger though the letter bee not of myne owne hand these two days the loue that I bear thee and the grief that holdeth mee haue stryued together My wyll desireth to wryte and my fingers cannot hold the penne The remedy herof is that since I haue no power to doo what I would as thine thou oughtst to accept what I can as myne I say no more herein but as they tel mee thou buildest now a house in Rhodes wherfore I send thee a thousand sexterces to accomplysh the same My wife Faustine saluteth thee who for thy paine is sore dyseased They tell vs thou hast bene hurt wherfore shee sendeth thee a weight of the balme of Palestyne Heale thy face therwith to the end the scarres of that wound doo not appere If thou findest greene almonds and new nutts Faustine desyreth thee that thou wilt send her some By another man shee sendeth a gowne for thee and a kirtell for thy wyfe I conclude and doo beeseech thee immortall Gods to geeue thee all that I desire for thee and that they geeue mee all that thou wyshest mee Though by the hands of others I wryte vnto thee yet with my hart I loue thee ¶ That Princes and noble men ought to bee aduocates for widows fathers of orphanes and helpers of all those which are comfortles Cap. xxxv MAcrobius in the third book of the Saturnalles saieth that in the noble cyty af Athens there was a temple called Misericordia which the Athenians kept so well watched and locked that without leaue and lycence of the Senat no man might enter in There were the Images of pitifull princes onely and none entred in there to pray but pitefull men The Atheniens abhorred always seuere and cruel deeds beecause they would not bee noted cruell And therof cometh this maner of saying that the greatest iniury they could say vnto a man was that hee had neuer entred into the scoole of the philosophers to learne nor in to the temple of Misericordia to pray So that in the one they noted him for simple and in the other they accused him for cruell The historiographers say that the most noble linage that was at that time was of a king of Athens the which was exceeding rych and lyberall in geeuing and aboue all very pitifull in pardoning Of whom it is written that after the great treasours which hee had offered in the temples and the great riches hee had distributed to the poore hee tooke vppon him to bring vp all the orphans in Athens and to feede all the widows O how much more did that statut of the sayd pytyfull king shine in that temple who norished the orphanes then the ensignes which are set vp in the Temples of the captaines which
who was caled Affricane beecause hee ouercame and conquered the great and renowmed city of Carthage the which city in riches was greater then Rome in armes power it surmounted all Europe Many haue enuy at Scipio the Asian who was called Asian beecause hee subdued the proud Asia the which vntil his tyme was not but as a church yard of Romains Many haue great enuie at the imortall name of Charles who was called Charles the great beecause beeing as hee was a litle king hee did not only vanquish and triumph ouer many kings and straunge realmes but also forsake the royall sea of his own realme I doo not maruayl that the proud princes haue enuy agaynst the vertuous and valiant princes but if I were as they I would haue more enuy at the renowme of Antonius the emperor then of the name and renowme of all the princes in the world If other princes haue attayned such proud names it hath been for that they robbed many countreys spoyled many temples committed much tyranny dissembled with many tyraunts persecuted diuers innocents beecause they haue takē frō diuers good mē not onely their goods but also their liues For the world hath such an euel property that to exalt the nāe of one only he putteth down 500. Neither in such ēterprises nor with such titles wā the emperor Anthonius Pius his name and renowne But if they cal him Anotonius the pitefull it is beecause he knew not but to bee father of Orphans and was not praysed but beecause hee was aduocate of wydows Of this most excellent prince is read that he himselfe did here and iudge the cōplaints and processe in Rome of the orphans And for the poore and wydows the gates of his pallace were always open So that the porters which hee kept within his pallace were not for to let the entre of the poore but for to let and keepe back the rich The historiographers oftētimes say that this good prince sayd that the good and vertuous princes ought alwayes to haue their harts open for the poore and to remedy the wydows and neuer to shut the gates agaynst them The god Apollo sayth that the prince which will not speedely iudge the causes of the poore the gods will neuer permit that hee bee well obeyed of the rich O high and woorthy woords that it pleased not the god Apollo but our lyuing god that they were written in the harts of princes For nothing can bee more vniust or dishonest then that in the pallace of princes and great lords the rich and fooles shoold bee dispatched and the widows and orphans frinds should haue no audience Happy and not once but a hundreth times happy is hee that will remember the poore afflicted and open his hand too comfort them and dooth not shut his cofers from helping them vnto him I assure and promise that at the strayght day of iudgement the proces of his life shall bee iudged with mercy and pity ¶ That the troubles griefes and sorows of widdows are much greater then those of widdowers where fore princes and noble men ought to haue more compassion vpon the weemen then on men Cap. xxxvi IT is great pity to see a noble and vertuous man sorowfull alone and a widower if especially hee liued cōtented when hee was maryed For if hee will not mary hee hath lost his sweete company and yf hee think to mary an other let him bee assured hee shall scarcely agree with his second wife There is much sorow in that house where the woman that gouerned it is dead For immediatly the husband forsaketh him self the children doo lose their obedience the seruants beecome neglygent the hand maides beecome wantō the frēds are forgotten the house decayeth the goods wast the apparel is lost finally in the widowers house there are many to robbe few to labor Heauy lamentable are the thoughts of the widower for if hee thinketh to mary it greueth him to geeue his children a stepmother If hee can not bee maryed hee feeleth greater payne seeing him al the day to remayne alone so that the poore miserable mā sigheth for his wife hee hath lost weepeth for her whom hee desireth to haue Admit that this bee true there is great difference from the cares sorows of weemen to that of men A thing very clere for so much as the widower lawfully may goe out of his house hee may goe to the fields hee may talk with his neigbours he may bee occupied with his frēds hee may folow his sutes also hee may bee conuersant refresh him selfe in honest places For commonly men are not so sorowful in taking the death of their wyues as the wyues are in taking the death of their husbands All this is not spoken in the disfauour of wise and sage men whom wee see make small streames with the teares of their eyes for the death of their wiues But for many other vaine light men which the 9. dayes of the funeral past a mā dooth see without any shame to go thro ought the strets beeholding the ladies and damsells which are in the windows Truly the wofull women which are honest vse not such lightnesse For whyles they are widowes it is not lawfull for them to wander abrode to goe out of the house nor speake with straūgers nor practise with her own nor bee conuersant with her neighbours nor plead with their creditours but agreable to their wofull estate to hide and withdraw them selues in their houses and to lock them selues in their chambers and they think it their dutye to water theyr plāts with teares and importune the heauēs with sighes O how wofull o how greuous o how sorowfull is the state of wydowes for so much as if a widow go out of her howse they take her for dishonest If shee wil not come out of the house shee loseth her goods If shee laugh a litel they count her light If she laugh not they call her an hipocrit If shee goe to the church they note her for a gadder If shee go not to the churche they say shee is vnthākfull to her late husband If shee go il apparayled they coūt her to bee a nigard If she go clenly and handsome they say nowshee would haue a new husband If shee do mainteyne her selfe honestly they note her to bee presumptuous If shee keepe company immediatly they suspect her house Finally I say that the poore miserable widows shall find a thousand which iudge their liues and they haue not one that wil remedy their paynes Much loseth the woman who loseth her mother which hath borne her or her sisters which she loueth or the frīdes which shee knoweth or the goods which shee hath heaped vp but I saye and affirme that ther is no greater losse in the world vnto a woman then the losse of a good husband For in other losses there is but one onely losse but in that of the husband al are loste together
wee shall write but such as they shal finde vs so shall wee bee iudged And that which is most fearfull of all the execucion and sentence is geeuē in one day Let princes and great lords beeleeue mee in this Let them not leaue that vndoon till after their death which they may doo during their lyfe And let them not trust in that they commaund but in that whiles they liue they doo Let them not trust in the woorks of an other but in their own good deedes For in the end one sigh shal bee more woorth then all the frends of the world I counsel pray and exhort all wise and vertuous men and also my self with them that in such sort wee liue that at the hour of death wee may say wee liue For wee cannot say that wee lyue whē wee liue not well For all that tyme which without profit wee shall liue shall bee counted vnto vs for nothing ¶ Of the death of Marcus Aurelius the Emperor and how there are few frends which dare say the truth to sick men Cap. xlix THe good Emperor Marcus Aurelius now beeing aged not only for the great yeres hee had but also for the great trauels hee had in the warres endured It chaunced that in the .xviii. yere of his Empire and .lxxii. yeres from the day of his birth and of the foundation of Rome .v. hundreth xliii beeing in the warre of Pannony which at this tyme is called Hungary beeseeging a famous citie called Vendeliona sodaynly a disease of the palsey tooke him which was such that hee lost his life and Rome her Prince the best of lyfe that euer was born therein Among the heathen princes some had more force then hee other possessed more ryches then hee others were as aduenturous as hee and some haue knowē as much as hee but none hath been of so excellent and vertuous a lyfe nor so modest as hee For his life beeing examined to the vttermost there are many princely vertues to follow few vices to reproue The occasion of his death was that going one nyght about his camp sodeinly the disease of the palsey tooke him in his arme so that from thence forward hee coold not put on his gown nor draw his sword and much lesse cary a staffe The good emperor beeing so loden with yeres and no lesse with cares the sharp winter approching more and more great aboundance of water and snow fell about the tenis so that an other disease fell vppon him called Litargie the which thing much abated his courage and in his hoast caused great sorow For hee was so beeloued of all as if they had been his own children After that hee had proued all medicins and remedies that coold bee found and all other things which vnto so great and mighty princes were accustomed to bee doon hee perceiued in the end that all remedy was past And the reason hereof was beecause his sicknes was exceeding vehement he him self very aged the ayer vnholsom aboue al beecause sorows cares oppressed his hart Without doubt greater is the disease that proceedeth of sorow then that which proceedeth of the feuer quartain And thereof ensueth that more easely is hee cured which of corrupt humors is full then hee which with profound thoughts is oppressed The emperor then beeing sick in his chamber in such sort that hee coold not exercise the feats of arms as his men ranne out of their camp to scirmidge the Hungarions in lyke maner to defend the fight on both parts was so cruell through the great effution of blood that neither the hungarion had cause to reioyce nor yet the romayn to bee mery Vnderstanding the euil order of his specially that .v. of his captains were slain in the conflict that hee for his disease coold not bee there in person such sorows persed his hart that although hee desired foorthwith to haue dyed yet hee remained two days three nights without that hee woold see light or speak vnto any man of his So that the heat was much the rest was small the sighs were continuall and the thirst very great the meat lytle and the sleepe lesse and aboue all his face wrynkled and his lips very black Sometimes hee cast vp his eyes and another tyme hee wrong his hands always hee was sylent and continually hee sighed His tong was swollen that hee coold not spit and his eyes very hollow with weeping So that it was a great pity to see his death and no lesse compassion to see the confusion of his pallace and the hinderaunce of the warre Many valiant captains many noble Romayns many faithfull seruaunts and many old frends at all these heauines were present But none of them durst speak to the Emperor Marke partly for that they tooke him to bee so sage that they knew not what counsel to geeue him and partly for that they were so sorowfull that they coold not refrayn their heauy tears For the louing and true frends in their lyfe ought to bee beeloued and at their death to bee beewailed Great compassion ought men to haue of those which dye not for that wee see them dye but beecause there are none that telleth them what they ought to doo Princes and great lords are in greater perill when they dye then the Plebeyans For the counsaylour dare not tell vnto his Lord at the hour of death that which hee knoweth and much lesse hee will tell him how hee ought to dye and what things hee ought to discharge whiles hee is aliue Many goe to visit the sick that I woold to god they went some other where And the cause heereof is that they see the sick mans eyes hollow the flesh dryed the arms without flesh the colour enflamed the ague continuall the payn great the tong swollen nature consumed and beesydes al this the house destroyed and yet they say vnto the sick man bee of good cheere I warrant you you shall liue As yong men naturally desire to liue and as death to all old men is dredfull so though they see them selues in that dystresse yet they refuse no medicine as though there were great hope of lyfe And thereof ensueth oftentymes that the miserable creatures depart the world without confessing vnto god and making restitutions vnto men O if those which doo this knew what euil they doo For to take away my goods to trouble my person to blemish my good name to sclaunder my parentage and to reprooue my lyfe these woorks are of cruell enemyes but to bee occasion to lose my soul it is the woorke of the deuill of hell Certeinly hee is a deuyll whych deceiueth the sick with flatteries and that in steede to healp hym to dye well putteth him in vayn hope of long lyfe Heerein hee that sayth it winneth lyttle and hee that beeleeueth it aduentureth much To mortall men it is more meete to geeue counsels to reform their consciences with the truth then to hasard their houses
with lyes With our frends wee are shamelesse in their life and also bashfull at their death The which ought not to bee so For if our fathers were not dead and that wee did not dayly see these that are present dye mee thinketh it were a shame and also a fear to say to the sick that hee alone shoold dye But since thou knowst as well as hee and hee knoweth as well as thou that all doo trauell in this perillous iurney what shame hast thou to say vnto thy frend that hee is now at the last point If the dead shoold now reuyue how woold they complayn of their frends And thys for no other cause but for that they woold not geeue them good counsell at their death For if the sick man bee my frend and that I see peraduenture hee will dye why shall not I counsell him to prepare him self to dye Certeinly oftentimes wee see by experyence that those which are prepared and are ready for to dye doo escape and those which think to liue doo perish What shoold they doo which goe to vysit the sick perswade them that they make their testaments that they confesse their sinnes that they discharge their conscience that they receiue the Communion and that they doo reconcile them selues to their enemies Certeinly all these things charge not the launce of death nor cut not the threed of lyfe I neuer saw blyndnes so blynd nor ignoraunce so ignorant as to bee ashamed to counsell the sick that they are bound to doo when they are whole As wee haue sayd heere aboue Princes and great Lords are those aboue all other that liue and dye most abusedly And the cause is that as their seruaunts haue no harts to perswade them when they are mery so haue they no audacity to tell them trueth when they are in peril For such seruaunts care lytle so that their maisters beequeath them any thing in theyr willes whether they dye well or lyue euyll O what misery and pity is it to see a Prince a Lord a gentleman and a rych person dye if they haue no faythfull frend about them to help them to passe that payn And not wythout a cause I say that hee ought to bee a faythfull frend For many in our lyfe doo gape after our goods and few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wyse and sage men before nature compelleth them to dye of their own will ought to dye That is to weete that beefore they see them selues in the pangues of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if wee count him a foole whych will passe the sea without a shippe truely wee will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparacion beefore What loseth a wise man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenture of honor is any man beefore death to reconsile him self to his enemies and to those whom hee hath born hate and malyce What loseth hee of his credit who in his lyfe tyme restoreth that which at his death they will commaund him to render wherein may a man shew him self to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by proces they will take from him O how many princes great lords are there which only not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heirs all the days of their life to bee in trauerse in the law So that they supposing to haue left their children welthy haue not left them but for atturneis and counselers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dyspose his goods and correct his lyfe as if hee shoold dye the same night And at night in like maner hee ought so to commit him self to god as if hee hoped for no lyfe vntill morning For to say the truth to sustein life there are infinit trauels but to meete death there is but one way If they will credit my woords I woold counsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the world hee shoold vndoo him self The rich and the poore the great and the small the gentlemen and the Plebeians all say and swear that of death they are exceeding fearfull To whom I say and affirm that hee alone feareth death in whom wee see amendment of lyfe Princes and great lords ought also to bee perfect beefore they bee perfect to end beefore they end to dye beefore they dye and to bee mortified beefore they bee mortified If they doo this with them selues they shall as easely leaue their lyfe as if they chāged from one house to an other For the most part of men delight to talk with leisure to drink with leisure to eat with leisure to sleep with leisure but they dye in haste Not without cause I say they dye in haste since wee see thē receiue the sacrament of the supper of the lord in haste make their willes by force with speed to confesse and receiue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue lost their senses and are ready to geeue vp the spirit when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the ship maister after the ship is sonk what doo weapons auayl after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By that I haue spoken I will demaund what it auaileth the sick beeing heuy with sleep and beereft of their senses to call confessors to whom they confesse their sinnes Euill shal hee bee confessed whych hath no vnderstandyng to repent him self What auayleth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secret of his conscience when the sick man hath lost his speach Let vs not deceiue our selues saying in our age wee will amend heereafter make restitution at our death For in myne oppinion it is not the poynt of wyse men nor of good christians to desire so much tyme to offend and they wil neuer espy any to amend Woold to god that the third part of tyme which men occupy in sinne were employed about the meditations of death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshly lusts were spent in beewayling their filthy sinnes I am very sory at my hart that thei so wickedly passe their life in vyces and pleasures as if there were no God to whom they shoold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doo sinne vppon hope only in age to amend and at death to repent but I woold demaund him that in this hope sinned what certeinty hee hath in age of amendment and what assuraunce hee hath to haue long warning beefore hee dye Since wee see by experience there are mo in nomber which dye yong then old it is no reason wee shoold commit so many sinnes in one day that wee shoold haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our lyfe And afterwards to beewail the sinnes of our long life wee desire no more but one
thou tookest so that thou exceedest the limits of philosophy but in the end with thy princely vertues thou didst qualify thy wofull sorows What sentences so profound what woords so wel couched didst thou write in that booke entytuled The remedy of the sorowfull the which thou didst send from the warre of Asia to the Senators of Rome and that was to comfort them after a sore plague And how much profit hath thy doctrin doon since with what new kinde of consolation hast thou comforted Helius Fabatus the Sensour when his sonne was drowned in the ryuer where I doo remember that whē wee entred into his house wee found him weeping and when wee went from thence wee left him laughing I doo remember that when thou wentst to visit Gneus Rusticus in his last disease thou spakest vnto him so effectuously that with the vehemency of thy woords thou madest the tears to run down his cheeks And I demaunding him the occasions of his lamentacions hee said The emperor my lord hath told mee so much euils that I haue wonne and of so much good that I haue lost that if I weepe I weepe not for lyfe which is short but for death which is long The man whom aboue all thou hast loued was Torquatus whom thou didst obey as thy father and seruedst as thy maister This thy faithfull frend beeing ready to dy and desyring yet to liue thou sendst to offer sacrifices to the gods not for that they shoold graunt him lyfe but that they shoold hasten his death Herewith I beeing astonied thy noblenesse to satisfy my ignoraunce said vnto mee in secret these woords Maruel not Panutius to see mee offer sacrifyces to hasten my frends death and not to prolong his life For there is nothing that the faithfull frend ought so much to desyre to his true frend as to see him ridde from the trauels of this earth and to enioy the pleasures of heauen Why thinkest thou most noble prince that I reduce all these things to thy memory but for to demaund thee how it is possible that I which haue hard thee speak so well of death doo presently see thee so vnwilling to leaue life since the gods commaund it thy age willeth it thy disease dooth cause it thy feeble nature dooth permit it the sinfull Rome dooth deserue it and the fickle fortune agreeth that for our great misery thou shooldst dye Why therfore sighest thou so much for to dye The trauels whych of necessity must needes come wyth stout hart ought to bee receiued The cowardly hart falleth beefore hee is beaten down but the stout and valyaunt stomack in greatest perill recouereth most strength Thou art one man and not two thou oughtst one death to the gods and not two why wilt thou therefore beeyng but one pay for two and for one only lyfe take two deaths I mean that beefore thou endest lyfe thou dyest for pure sorow After that thou hast sayled and in the sayling thou hast passed such perill when the gods doo render thee in the safe hauen once agayn thou wilt run in to the raging sea wher thou scapest the victory of lyfe and thou dyest with the ambushements of death Lxii. yeres hast thou fought in the field and neuer turned thy back and fearest thou now beeing enclosed in the graue hast thou not passed the pykes and bryers wherein thou hast been enclosed and now thou tremblest beeing in the sure way Thou knowest what dommage it is long to liue and now thou doutest of the profit of death which ensueth It is now many yeres since death and thou haue been at defiaunce as mortall enemies and now to lay thy hands on thy weapons thou flyest and turnest thy back Lxii. yeres are past since thou were bent agaynst fortune and now thou closest thy eyes when thou oughtst ouer her to tryumph By that I haue told thee I mean that since wee doo not see thee take death willyngly at this present wee doo suspect that thy lyfe hath not in tymes past been very good For the man which hath no desire to appeere beefore the gods it is a token hee is loden with vyces What meanest thou most noble prince why weepest thou as an infant and complainest as a man in dispaire If thou weepest beecause thou diest I aunswer thee that thou laughedst as much when thou liuedst For of too much laughing in the life proceedeth much wayling at the death Who hath always for his heritage appropriated the places beeing in the common wealth The vnconstancy of the mynd who shal bee so hardy to make steddy I mean that all are dead all dye and al shal dye and among all wilt thou alone lyue Wilt thou obtayn of the gods that which maketh them gods That is to weete that they make thee immortall as them selues Wilt thou alone haue by priuiledge that which the gods haue by nature My youth demaundeth thy age what thing is best or to say better which is lesse euill to dye well or to lyue euill I doubt that any man may attayn to the means to lyue well according to the continuall variable troubles whych dayly wee haue accustomed to cary beetweene our hands always suffring hunger cold thirst care displeasures temptacions persecucions euil fortunes ouerthrows and diseases Thys cannot bee called lyfe but a long death and with reason wee will call this lyfe death since a thousand tymes wee hate lyfe If an auncient man did make a shew of his lyfe from tyme hee is come out of the intrailes of his mother vntill the tyme hee entreth into the bowels of the earth and that the body woold declare all the sorows that hee hath passed and the hart discouer all the ouerthrows of fortune which hee hath suffered I immagin the gods woold maruell and men woold wonder at the body whych hath endured so much and the hart whych hath so greatly dissembled I take the Greekes to bee more wise whych weepe when their children bee borne and laugh when the aged dye then the Romayns whych syng when the children are borne and weepe when the old men dye Wee haue much reason to laugh when the old men dye since they dye to laugh and with greater reason wee ought to weepe when the children are borne since they are borne to weepe ¶ Pannatius the secretary continueth his exhortatiō admonishing al men willingly to accept death and vtterly to forsake the world and all his vanities Cap. li. SIns lyfe is now condempned for euill there remaineth nought els but to approue death to bee good O if it pleased the immortall gods that as I oftentimes haue hard the disputacions of this matter so now that thow cooldst therewith profit But I am sory that to the sage and wise man counsaile sometimes or for the most part wanteth None ought to cleue so much to his own opinion but sometimes hee shoold folow the counsaile of the thyrd parson For the man which in all things will follow his own
the gods onely which had no beginning shall haue also no endyng Therefore mee thinketh most noble prince that sage men ought not to desire to lyue long For men which desire to liue much eyther it is for that they haue not felt the trauailes past beecause they haue been fooles or for that they desire more time to geeue them selues to vices Thou mightst not complayn of that sins they haue not cut thee in the flower of the herb nor taken thee greene from the tree nor cut in thee in the spring tide and much lesse eat the eager beefore thou were ripe By that I haue spoken I mean if death had called thee when thy lyfe was sweetest though thou hadst not had reason to haue complayned yet thou mightst haue desired to haue altered it For it is a great grief to say vnto a yong man that hee must dye and forsake the world What is this my lord now that the wall is decayed ready to fall the flower is withered the grape dooth rotte the teeth are loose the gown is worn the launce is blunt the knife is dull and doost thou desire to return into the world as if thou hadst neuer knowen the world These lxii yeares thou hast liued in the prison of thys body wilt thou now the yron fetters haue rot thy legges desire yet to length thy days in this so woful prison They that wil not be cōtented to lyue lx years fyue in this death or to dye in this lyfe will not desire to dye in lx thousand years The Emperour Augustus octauian sayd That after men had lyued .l. years eyther of their own will they ought to dye or els by force they shoold cause them selues to bee killed For at that time all those which haue had any humain felicity are at the best Those which liue aboue that age passe their days in greeuous torments As in the death of children in the losse of goods importunity of sōne in laws in mainteining processes in discharging debts in sighing for that is past in bewailing that that is present in dissēbling iniuries in hearing woful news in other infinit trauails So that it were much better to haue their eies shut in the graue then their harts bodies aliue to suffer so much in this miserable life Hee whom the gods take from this miserable life at the end of 50. years is quited from al these miseries of life For after that time hee is not weak but crooked he goeth not but rouleth hee stumbleth not but falleth O my lord Mark knowest thou not that by the same way whereby goeth death death cometh Knowst not thou in like maner that it is 52. years that life hath fled from death and that there is an other time asmuch that death goeth seeking thy life and death going from Illiria where hee left a great plague and thou departing from thy pallayce ye .ii. now haue met in Hungary knowst not thou that where thou leapedst out of thy mothers intrails to gouern the land immediatly death leaped out of his graue to seeke thy life Thou hast always presumed not onely to bee honored but also to bee honorable if it bee so synce thou honoredst the Imbassadours of Princes which did send them the more for their profyt then for thy seruice why doost thou not honor thy messenger whom the gods send more for thy profyt then for their seruices Doost thow not remember well when Vulcane my sonne in law poysoned mee more for the couetousnes of my goods then any desire hee had of my life thou lord diddest come to comfort mee in my chamber and toldst mee that the gods were cruell to slea the yong and were pytiful to take the old from this world And thou saydst further these woords Comfort thee Panutius For if thow were born to dye now thou diest to liue Sins therefore noble prince that I tell thee that which thow toldst mee and counsaile thee the same which thou coūsayledst mee I render to thee that which thow hast geeuen mee Fynally of these vines I haue gathered these clusters of grapes ¶ The aunswer of the emperour Marcus to Panutius his secretory wherein hee declareth that hee tooke no thought to forsake the world but all his sorow was to leaue beehynd hym an vnhappy chyld to enheryt the Empire Cap. lij PAnutius blessed bee the milk thou hast sucked in Dacia the bread which thou hast eaten in Rome the learning which thou hast learned in Greece the bringing vp which thou hast had in my pallace For thou hast serued as a good seruant in life and geeuest mee counsayl as a trusty frend at death I commaund Commodus my sonne to recompence thy seruice and I beseech the immortal gods that they acquite thy good counsayls And not wythout good cause I charge my sonne with the one and require the gods of the other For the payment of many seruices one man alone may doo but to pay one good counsayl it is requisyt to haue all the gods The greatest good that a frend can doo to his frend is in great wayghty affayres to geeue him good and holsome counsayl And not without cause I say holsome For commonly it chaunceth that those which think with their counsayl to remedy vs do put vs oftentimes in greatest perils All the trauayles of lyfe are hard but that of death ys the most hard and terrible Al are great but this is the greatest All are perillous but this is most perillous All in death haue end except the trauayl of death whereof wee know no end That which I say now no man perfectly can know but onely hee which seeth him self as I see my self now at the point of death Certainly Panutius thou hast spoken vnto mee as a wise man but for that thou knowst not my grief thow couldst not cure my disease for my sore is not there where thou hast layd the playster The fistula is not there where thou hast cut the flesh The opilation is not there where thou hast layd the oyntments There were not the right vayns where thou dydst let mee blood Thou hast not yet touched the wound which is the cause of all my grief I mean that thou oughtst to haue entred further with mee to haue knowen my grief better The sighes which the hart fetcheth I say those which come from the hart let not euery man thynk which heareth thē that he can immediatly vnderstand them For as men can not remedy the anguishes of the spirit so the gods likewise woold not that they shoold know the secrets of the hart Without fear or shame many dare say that they know the thought of others wherein they shew them selues to bee more fooles then wise For since there are many things in mee wherein I my self doubt how can a straunger haue any certayn knowledge therein Thow accusest mee Panutius that I feare death greatly the which I deny but to feare it as mā I doo confesse For
euery man enuieth Certainly against enuy is no fortresse nor caue to hyde nor highe hyll to mounte on nor thicke woode to shadowe in nor shippe to scape in nor horse to beare away nor money to redeme vs. Enuy is so venemous a serpente that there was neuer mortall man among mortalles that could scape from the byting of her toothe scratching of her nayles defyling of her feete and the castinge of her poyson I sweare to thee my frend Piramon that such as fortune lifteth vp with great ryches she full of crueltie sonest ouerthroweth Enuy is so enuious that to them whiche of her are most denied and set farthest of she geueth most cruell strokes with her feete This vnhappy enuy prepareth poyson secretely for them that enioye great pleasures I haue red diuerse bookes of Hebrewe Greke Latine and Caldei And also I haue spoken with many excellent wyse men to see if there might be founde any remedy against an enuious man I confesse the truthe reade all that can be read and imagen all that can be demaunde all that can be demaunded and ye shall finde none other cure against this cursed enuy but to banishe vs fro all the prosperitie and to dwell in the house of aduersitie O howe vnhappy are they that be in prosperitie for iustly they that be set vp in high estate cannot flie from the peril of Scilla without falling into the daunger of Caribdis They cannot scape the peryll without casting their treasures into the sea I saye that the malady of enuy wyl not suffer them to scape from death and the medecine that is applied to them wyll not assure their life I cannot determine whiche is the best or to saye more properly the worste extreame misery without the daunger of fortune or extreame prosperitie that is alwayes threatned to fall In this case to be so extreame I wyl not determine sithe in the one is a perilous life and in the other renoume is sure I shall tell thee what wyse Cicero sayde when he was pursued with many at Rome Beholde you Romaines I holde you not for so good nor my selfe so euill to saye the trouth alwayes nor alwayes to make lies I am certaine that ye beare me no enuy for that I am not as ye be but it is because ye can not be as I am In this case I had rather that my enemies had enuy at my prosperitie then my frendes at my pouertie This Oratour spake after the appetite of them that be in prosperitie leauing to geue remedie to them that be sorowefull And after this Cicero had sene the fieldes of Farsale he tooke other councell and remedy suche as pleased him in Rome For though Caesar had graunted him his goodes yet that turned not his credence and renowme Surely frende Piramon I knowe no remedy to geue thee against enuy sith thou seest al the world ful therof We see how we be the sonnes of enuy we liue with enuy die with enuy he that leueth moste riches leueth the greatest enuy The auncient wyse men counsailed riche men that they should haue poore folkes nere them and they admonished the poore that they should not dwell nere to the riche And truly it is good reason For the riches of riche mē is the seede of enuy to the poore And because the poore man lacketh and the riche hath to muche causeth discorde among the people I sweare by the gods immortall frende Piramon though they that be euill would that I sweare falsely as muche as riches with thought nourisheth couetise so much the enuious nourisheth enuy therby I tel the one thing and that is that it is no good councell to flie enuy to auoyde the vertue contrary to the same Homer saith that in his time there were two Grekes extreame in all extremities the one was extreame in ryches and therefore he was persecuted by enuy that was Achilles and the other was sore noted of malice but no man had enuy at him and that was Thiestes Certainly I had rather be Achilles with his enuy then Thiestes without it Thou knowest wel that we Romaines searche not but for rest in our life for honor after death And sith it is so it is not possible but the mā that euery man enuieth his renowme ought to be exalted in the reste of his life And sithe I see those two thinges in thee such as be my frendes taketh litle thought for that thine enemies murmure against thee Thou wrytest to me how they of Lions doe well and are mery except thy selfe that art heuy and full of pensiuenes And sith they shew not to haue pleasure at thy displeasure shew not thy self displeased with their pleasure For it may chaunce one day they shal be sorowfull when that thou arte mery and so thou shalt be quite with them In an euil persone there can be no greater euill nor in a good mā a greater faulte then to be displeased with another mans wealthe to take pleasure af another mans harme And in case that all doe vs domage with enuy yet much more a frend then the enemy For of mine enemy I will beware for feare I wil withdrawe but my frende with his amitie may beguile me I by my fidelitie shall not perceiue Among all mortall enemies there is none worse then a frende that is enuious of my felicitie Piramon my frend I wil conclude if thou wilt withdraw thy self fro enemies then kepe cōpany with thine own familiar frendes I wote not what to write more to thee but with al my harte I lament thy heuines Thou knowest howe thy niece Brusia slew with a dagger her owne husband I was very sory for her death and for the renowme that she left behinde her Flauius Priscus thine vncle is newly made censoure The proces betwene thy brother Formio Britio is determined by the senate and it pleaseth me right well that they be frendes and euery man well contented The booke intituled the consolation of heauines I haue ended and layde it in the capitol I haue written it in Greke and that is the cause that I sent it not to thee But I doe sende thee a riche swerde a faire girdle Faustine my wyfe doth salute thee sendeth thy wife two sclaues The gods be my kepers comfort thee in thy present heuines Marke the man fortunate to Piramon sore discomforted ¶ A letter sent by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to Catullus Censorius that was so sorowefull for the death of Verissimus the Emperoures sonne worthy to be red and noted Cap. viii MArke the younge and newe Censour saluteth thee olde and aunciente Catullus I haue wrytten two letters to thee and thou hast made aunswere to none of them If it be because thou couldest not I holde my peace if it be because thou wouldest not then I complayne me if it be for forgetfulnes thē I accuse thee if it be because thou settest litle by me then
I doe appeale thee if thou hast dreamed that thou hast wrytten I saye beleue not in dreames and if thou wylt not it shoulde auayle to glorifie me as a frende yet thou mightest wryte it aduertising and repreuing me as the father to the sonne younge vertuous persones are bounde to honour auncient wyse men and no lesse olde wyse men ought to endoctrine the younge people and very young as I am A iust thing it is that the new forces of youth supplie and serue them that are worne by age For their longe experience instructeth our tender age and naturall ignoraunce Youthe is euill applied when it aboundeth in force of the body wanteth the vertues of the mind and age is honoured wherein the force dieth outwarde whereby vertues quickeneth the more inwarde We may see the tree when the fruite is gathered the leaues fall and when flowers drie then more grene and perfecte are the rootes I meane that when the first season of youth is passed whiche is the Sommer time then commeth age called Wynter and purifieth the fruite of the fleshe and the leaues of fauour fal the flowers of delite wither and the vynes of hope drye outwarde then it is ryght that much better are the rootes of good workes within They that be olde and auncient ought to prayse their good workes rather then their white heares For honoure ought to be geuen for the good life and not for the whyte head Glorious is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is lord of young men to trauaile and auncient persones to councell As to regarde the sustaininge of the naturalitie of the lyfe in likewyse ought to be considered the policy of gouernaunce the whiche is that al the fruites come nor drye not al at once but when one beginneth another faileth And in this maner ye that be auncient teaching vs and we be obedient as olde fathers and young pullettes being in the neste of the Senate Of some their fethers fallinge and other younge fethered and where as the olde fathers can not flie their trauayles are mainteined by their tender children Frende Catullus I purposed not to wryte one lyne this yeare because my penne was troubled with thy slouthe but the weakenes of my spirite and the great peril of myne offices alwayes called on me to demaunde thy councell This priuiledge the olde wyse men holde in their houses where they dwell They are alwayes lordes ouer them that be simple and are sclaues to them that be wyse I thinke thou hast forgotten me thinking that sithe the death of my dere sonne Verissimus the time hath bene so long that I should forget it Thou hast occasion to thinke so for many thinges are cured in time which reason can not helpe But in this case I can not tell which is the greatest thy trūpery or my dolour I sweare to thee by the gods immortall that the hungry wormes are not so puissaunt in the entrales of the vnhappy chylde as the bitter sorowes are in the heauy hart of the wofull father And it is no comparison for the sonne is dead but one tyme and the heauy father dieth euery momente What wylt thou more that I should saye But that one ought to haue enuy of his death and compassion of my lyfe because in dyeng he lyueth and in the lyuing I dye In the mischaunces of lyfe and in the great vnconstancie of fortune whereas her gyles profiteth but litle and her strengthe lesse I thinke the best remedy is to fele it as a man and dissimule it as discrete and wyse If all things as they be felt at heart should be shewed outward with the tongue I thynke that the wyndes shoulde breake the hearte with syghinges and water all the earth with weping O if the corporal eyes sawe the sorowe of the heart I sweare to thee they should see more of a drop of bloud sweatinge within then all the wepyng that appeareth without There is no comparyson of the great dolours of the body to the least greife of the mynde For all trauayle of the body men may finde some remedy but if the heauy heart speake it is not heard if it wepe it is not sene if it complaine it is not beleued What shal the poore harte doe Abhorre the lyfe wherwith it dieth and desire death wherwith it liueth The highe vertues among noble vertuous people consiste not all onely to suffer the passions of the body but also to dissimule them of the soule They be suche that alter the humours and shewe it not outward they brynge a feuer without altering of the poulce they alter the stomacke they make vs to knele to the earth to suffer the water vp to the mouthe and to take death without leauing of the lyfe and finally they length our life to the intente that we should haue no more trauayle and denieth vs our graue to the intent that we should not reste But considering as I am troubled with sorowes so am I voyde of consolations for when I haue either desire of the one or werynes of the other I vse alwayes this remedy to dissimule with the tongue to wepe with the eyes and to fele it with my heart I passe my lyfe as he that hoped to lese all that he hath neuer to recouer that that is loste I saye this though ye see me not nowe make funeral wepinges and waylinges as I did at the death of my sonne yet thinke not but it doeth bren my heart so that with the great heate inward is consumed the humiditie of the eyes for it brenneth al my spirites within Thou mayest knowe what an honorable father suffereth to lese a good childe in all thinges the gods be liberal except in geuing vs vertuous children Where there is aboūdaunce of great estates there is greatest scarsitie of good inheritours It is a dolefull thing to heare and greater pitie to see howe these fathers clime to haue rychesse and to see their children descende to haue viciousnes To see the fathers honoure their children and the children to infame their fathers yea and the fathers to geue reste to the chyldren and the chyldren to geue trouble to their fathers yea and sometyme the fathers die for sorowe that their children die so sone and we see their childrē wepe because their fathers die so late What should I saye more but that the honoure and ryches that the fathers haue procured with great thought the chyldren consume with litle care I am certayne of one thing that the fathers may gather ryches with strengthe and crafte to susteyne their children but the Gods wyll not haue durable that that is begonne with euyll intention as that is whiche is wonne to the preiudice of other and possessed with an euyll heyre And though the heauy destinies of the father permit that the ryches be lefte to their children to serue them in all their vyces for their pastime at last yet according to their merites the
day in hearing tydings another day in doing seruyces somtime liking darknes sometime lothing lyght being in company and solitary lyueth and finally the poore louer may that he wil not and would that he may not More ouer the counsel of his frends auayleth hym nothing nor the infamy of his enemyes not the losse of goodes the aduenture of honour the losynge of his lyfe nor the sekyng of death neyther commyng neare nor flyeng farre nor seing with his eyes ne hearing with his eares nor tasting with his mouth nor fealing with his hand to conclude to get vyctory he is alway at warre wyth hym selfe Then I would ye louers knewe from whence your loue doth come it is this The entrayles wherof we are bread be fleshe the breastes that we sucked are fleshe the armes wherin we be fastned be of flesh the thoughts which we thynke be fleshly the workes which we do are fleshly the men with whom we lyue are of flesh and the wonder for whom we dye are flesh by whych occasion commeth the reuerting of our flesh to flesh many fre harts are intangled with the snares of loue It semeth wel my ladies ye were gendered in puddels as before is mencioned of the Egiptians the puddels haue no cleare water to drincke nor fruite to eate nor fish to be taken nor shyppe to sayle in I meane that in your lyues ye be filthy your personnes wythout shame in aduersitye weake and feble in prosperity ful of deceite and guyle false in your woordes and doubteful in your doynges in hatynge without measure in loue extreame in gifts couetous in takyng vnshamefast finally I say ye are the ground of feare in whom the wise men find peril the simple men suffer iniury In you the wise men hold their renowne slaundered the simple men their lyfe in penury Let vs omit the opinion of the Egiptians and come to the Grekes which say that in the desertes of Arabia the sonne shineth hottest at the beginning ther was found one womaÌ„ with one bird called the Phenix which bird was created on the water and the woman engendered by the great heat of the sonne of the pouder of trees in this wise Ther was a tree sore eaten with wormes vpon a time a blast of lightning set it on fier burnt it so as amongest the ashes of that rotten tre the first woman was made found Although I be a Roman philosopher yet can I not disalow the opinion of the greke philosopher Of trouth ye amorous dames ye haue your tongues of the nature of fire and your condicions like the pouder of a rotten tre Accordyng to the dyuersity of beasts so nature hath in diuers parts of the body placed their strength as the Eagle in her byl the Vnicorne in the horne the serpent in the taile the bul in the head the beare in his pawes the horse in the breast the dogge in the teath the bore in the tuske the doues in the winges the women in their tongues For of trouth the flight of the doue is not so hyghe as the fantasy of your folyshnes is vaine the cat scratcheth not so sore with her nayles as ye scratch the folish men with your importunities The dogge hurteth not hym so much that he runneth after as ye do the sorowful louer that serueth you the life of him is not in so muche daunger that catcheth the bul by the hornes as the same of him that falleth in your hands To conclude the serpent hath not so much poison in his taile as ye haue in your tongues I accept the Romaine ladies a part for ther are many very noble whose lyues are not touched with complaint nor good fames had in suspect Of such neither my letter speaketh ought nor my penne writeth but of those women I speake that be such as al the venemous beastes in the world haue not so much poison in their bodyes as one of those hath in their tongues And sith the gods haue commaunded our fate doth permit that the life of men cannot passe without women I aduise the youth besech the aged I wake the wise instrucâ—â—â—mple to shonne women of euyl name more then the comon pestilence Râ—â—â—â—ng the auncient lawes of Plato I find written this We comaund that al women openly defamed bee openlye banished the citye to thintente that others seing the sinne punished may abhorre the same for feare to fal in the like paine The same law said further we comaund that they pardon a woman for al her faults she committeth bodely in case ye se amendment likewise in her but we wil that no fault be pardoned committed by the tongue For actual sinne done is the frailety of nature the tongue only of malyce O deuyne Plato maister measure of al knowledge science prince of al philosophers When thou in the golden world maydst such lawes in whiche time ther was such scarsitye of those women which were euil and so great plenty of them that were good what should we do now in Rome wher there be so many euil openlye and none good in secret women naturally oughte to be shamefast in their face temperate in wordes wise of wit sober in going honest in conuersacion pitiful in correction ware in their lyuyng auoyding companyes faithfull in their promyse constaÌ„t in loue Fynally she that wil be counted honest let her not trust to the wisedome of the wise nor commit her fame to the wanton youth let euery wise woman take hede what he is that promyseth her ought For after that the flames of Venus be set on fire and Cupide shotte his arrowes the rich offereth all that he hath and the poore al that he may The wise man wil euer be her frend and the simple man for euer her seruaunt The wise man wil lose his lyfe for her and the simple wil accept his death for her The old men say they wil be frendes to their frendes and the yonge man wil say he wil be enemy to their enemyes The aged promysing to pay her debtes the other to reuenge her iniuries Finally the one because to hide their pouertie and the other to publyshe their beautie leade these fooles losing their lyues bringinge their fame to ende I wil leaue to speake of the good women for I mind not to charge them with ought I aske you amorous ladyes yf Plato was amongest you when ye made a play of my lyfe drew my picture about Rome no surely for that I se in your act now I do suspect that to be true which hath bene sayd of others for there are fewe in Rome that execute the paine of Platoes law One thing ye cannot deny if I were the worst of al men at the last ye se the end of my vylanies but this you caÌ„not deny that she which is least euil of al you the naughtines of her life I could not sufficiently set out in my lyfe Yt