thy selfe happie to suffer ten thousand deathes to be separated from her companie for as there is no payne to bee compared to the stinging of an Aspick so there is no such plague as to be troubled with a strumpet And with that such sorrow surcharged his molested minde as he was not able to vtter any more complaints While thus Pharicles lay languishing in dispaire there was a Merchant of Padua named Signor Rhamberto who being newly arriued in Saragossa and hearing of the late mishap of Pharicles durst not bewray what countreyman he was for feare of further daunger but conueyed himselfe out of Sicillia with as much spéede as might be and being come to Padua thought good to shewe Signor Gonzaga in what distresse Pharicles lay in Saragossa but being come to the house he found the Gentleman at the point of death and all the Senatours of Padua lamenting the extremitie of his sickenesse and therefore sate downe among the rest and helde his peace when as Gonzaga scarse able to vtter one worde for weakenesse taking his daughter Mamillia by the hande gaue her this fatherlie aduertisement As daughter quoth he the man which hath the stone Agathes about him is surely defenced against aduersitie so he which is forewarned by counsell if he be wise is sufficiently armed against future mishap and miserie I therefore Mamillia hauing such fatherly affection and care for thy future state as duetie bindes mée by instinct of nature seeing I lye looking euerie minute when my sillie soule shall leaue my carefull carckasse thought good to giue thée this fatherly farewell as the onely treasure which I charge thée by the lawe of duetie most carefully to kéepe Virginitie Mamillia is such a precious Iewell to a vertuous Gentlewoman as Euphronia being demaunded of one of her suters what dowrie shée had to the aduauncement of her marriage aunswered such wealth as coulde not be valued for quoth shée I am a virgine meaning that no wealth doeth so enrich a mayden nor no dowrie of what price so euer so adorne a Damsell as to be renowmed for inuiolable virginitie Sith then Mamillia it ought to be more deare than life and more estéemed than wealth as thou hast béene carefull in my dayes to keepe it without spot and thereby hast reaped renowne so I charge thée after my death to be as charie of such precious chaffer least thy sorepassed fame turne to thy greater discredit Yea Mamillia and when the time commeth that thou meanest to match thy selfe in Marriage bestowe not that careleslie in one moment which thou hast kept carefully all thy life but looke before thou leape trie before thou trust hast makes wast hotte loue soone colde and then too late commeth repentance contemne not the counsell of thy friends nor reiect not the aduise of thy kinsemen preferre not thine own wit before the wisedome of thine Auncestours nor leane not to wilfulnesse least had I wist come too late Be not secure least want of care procure thy calamitie nor be not too carefull least pensiue thought oppresse thée with miserie Build not thy loue vpon the outward shape of beautie least thou trie thy foundation was laide on the fickle sands of vanitie Vow not thy selfe to his wealth whome thou meanest to loue nor wed not thy selfe to his wit but let thy fansie growe so farre as thou hearest the report of his vertue Choose not by the eye Mamillia but by the eare and yet be not delighted with his faire words least if thou takest pleasure in hearing the Syrens sing thou dash thy ship against most dangerous rockes I néede not I hope Mamillia stand so much vppon these points for a burnt childe will dread the fire and thou hast béene too sore canuased in the nettes to be allured to the scrap thou hast béene too sore sowsed in the waues to venter in an vnknowen foorde and the treacherie of Pharicles is sufficient to cause thée take héede of others flatterie Well Mamillia after thou hast chosen howsoeuer thy choice be séeke to cherish thy husband with loue and obey him with reuerence be not too sad least he thinke thou art sollempe nor too light least he condemne thée of leaudnesse and aboue all haue a regard to thy good name and a care to the safe kéeping of thy honour Let not too much familiaritie bréede any suspition nor shewe no such countenance as may giue occasion of mistrust but so behaue thy selfe as thou maist be a credite to thy husband and a comfort to thy friendes Vpon these considerations Mamillia I haue left thée by my last will and testament onely heire and sole executor of all my landes and moueables yet with this prouiso that if thou marrie with faithlesse Pharicles that then thou shalt be disinherited of all my goods and lands and that the Citie of Padua shal as mine heire enter into all my possessions and for the performance of my will I leaue the whole Senate as superuisors Gonzaga had scarselie spoken these last words but his breath was so short that he could speake no longer and within thrée houres after he departed leauing Mamillia a sorrowfull child for the losse of so good a Father Well after that Mamillia had by the space of a wéeke worne her mourning wéede and the dayly resort of her friends had something redressed her sorrow Signor Rhamberto though verie loath reuealed vnto her the whole estate of Pharicles distresse how he was put in prison for a spie and that he was accused as one that sought to betray Saragossa where he soiourned into the hands of the Italians and that in liew of this his treacherie he should vpon the fortith day for this so haynous a fact be executed Mamillia hearing into what miserie Pharicles was fallen although his vniust dealings had deserued reuenge yet she remitted all forepassed iniuries and began to take compassion of his mishap yéelding forth such sobbing sighes and scalding teares as they were witnesses of her distressed minde and earnestlie intreating Signor Rhamberto for Pharicles credite to conceale the matter as secretly as might be who hauing promised to kéepe the matter as secrete as she could request tooke his leaue departed but Mamillia seeing her selfe solitarie fell into these contrarie passions Well now I sée it true by experience that where the hedge is lowest there euery man goeth ouer that the weakest is thrust to the wall and he that worst may holdes the candle that the slendrest twig is oftimes laden with most fruite the smallest stalke of corne hath the greatest eare and he that hath most néede of comfort is oftime most crossed with calamitie Alas iniurious fortune is it not sufficient for thée to depriue me of my Father which was more deare vnto me than mine owne life but also to heape care vpon care and sorrowe vpon sorrowe I meane to murther that man whome in all the world I chiefly estéeme Pharicles I meane who is the fountaine of my ioy the hauen
grant them If then it be a womans wish to haue her owne will and as the common prouerbe saith to rule the rost after her owne diet you shall in taking my master to your mate haue so much your hearts ease as either you can desire or imagine For my maister will whollie be led by your lyne and you shal be the starre by whose aspect hée will direct his course your yea shal be his yea and your nay his deniall Thus although his follie be preiudiciall in one respect it shal be most profitable in another so that his incomparable beautie shall sufficiently delight your fancie and his follie be a meanes that without restraint you may enioy frée will and libertie Thus mistresse Sylua you haue heard what I in my maisters behalfe can alledge If therefore you meane to repaie his good will with loue he promiseth not onely to make you sole mistresse of his heart but of all his lands and lordships Iacques hauing finished this tale master Petronius as one betwixt feare hope gaue the Fort the sorest assault with this Alarme Plato the wise and graue Philosopher was wont to say that as man differeth from brute beasts in reason so one man excelleth another by wisedome and learning estéeming him that wanted knowledge science and nourture but the shape of a man though neuer so wel beautified with the gifts of nature supposing that although he were indewed with the outward shadow of beautie as iustly he might compare with Paris or so stored with treasure and riches as he might cast his countes with Craesus yet if he wanted learning to enlarge his beautie or wisedome to direct his wealth he was to be counted no other but a beautifull picture burnished with golde He that enioyeth wealth without wisedome sayeth Anaxagoras possesseth care for himselfe enuie for his neighbours spurres for his enimies a praie for théeues trauaile for his person anguish for his spirite a scruple for his conscience perill for his loue sorrow for his children and a cursse for his heires because although hée knowes how to gather he wanteth skill to dispose Alexander the Great made so great account of knowledge and wisedome that he was oft woont to say he was more bound to Aristotle for giuing him learning than to his father Philip for his life sith the one was momentarie and the other neuer to be blotted out with obliuion Nestor was more honoured and estéemed for his learning and wisedome at the siege of Troye than either Achilles for his strength Aiax for his valour or Agamemnon for his stout courage Cyrces was not enamoured with the beautie of Vlisses but intangled with his wisedome Aeneas when as Dido sate in Parliament tolde his tale with such wit and discretion so seasoned with the salt of learning and swéete sap of science that not onely she was snared in his loue but also saide surely thou art come of the offspring of the Gods alluding to this saying of Empedocles that as we in nothing more differ from the Gods than when we are fooles so in no thing we do come neare them so much as when we are wise Socrates thanked the Gods onely for three things first that they made him a man and not a woman that he was borne a Grecian and not a Barbarian thirdly that he was a Philosopher and not vnlearned estéeming the gifts of nature and fortune of no value vnlesse they be beautified with the gifts of the mind Byas the Philosopher being reproued by a certain iniurious person that he was poore and ilfauoured answered that he was greatly deceiued both in his beautie and his riches for quoth he how can I be poore when I am wise hard fauoured when I am learned thinking it the chiefest beautie to be indued with learning the greatest treasure to be enriched with wisedome The Philosopher Critolaus being verie deformed as hauing a crooked backe and verie poore as begging with a staffe a wallet was notwithstanding so well beloued of a certaine Gentlewoman of great wealth and worshipfull parentage as she would willingle haue accepted him for her husband which Critolaus perceiuing laid down his staffe and his wallet and put off his cloake the more to shew his crookt back wishing her with more diligence to marke his deformed shoulders to whom she answered O Critolaus thy deformitie cannot quench that which thy wisdome and learning hath set on fire It is learning in déede which allureth when euerie word shall haue his waight when nothing shall procéede but either it shall sauour of a sharpe conceite or a secret conclusion It is wisedome that flourisheth when beautie fadeth that waxeth yoong when age approacheth resembling the sea huluer leafe which although it be dead still continueth gréene Beautie withereth with age and is impaired with sicknesse be the face neuer so beautifull the least skarre or mole maketh it most deformed but learning and knowledge by tract of time encreaseth like to the Cygnets which being young are verie blacke but in their age most perfectly white like the birdes that build in the rockes of the Sea whose feathers grow most glistering in their age As for riches it is momentarie subiect to the chance of inconstant fortune it may be consumed with fire spent with follie wasted with riot and stolne away by théeues but wisedome is a treasure so certaine as no mishap can diminish neither be impaired by any sinister frowne of fortune Artemisia the Quéene being demanded by a certain gentlewomā what choice she shuld vse in loue marrie quoth she imitate the good Lapidaries who measure not the value of the stone by the outwarde hue but by the secret vertue so choose not a husband for the shape of the bodie but for the qualities of his minde not for his outward perfectnesse but for his inward perfection For if thou like one that hath nothing but a little beautie thou shalt séeme to be in loue with the counterfeit of Ganimedes and if thou fancie onely riches thou choosest a woodden picture with a golden coate Learning is the Iemme which so decketh a man and wisedome the Iewel which so adorneth the minde that she which chooseth a wise man to her mate though neuer so poore saith Themistocles maketh a good match Thus mistresse Syluia you haue heard my opinion though not so wisely as I would yet as learnedly as I could not daring to be too bold lest in wading too farre in an vnknowne foord I sodeinly slip ouer my shooes Lands I haue none to offer you large feoffements nor liuings to assigne you a great dowrie but if it please you to accept of a poore gentleman I shall be bound by det dutie to be yours for euer Syluia hauing giuen attentiue héed to these thrée gentlemen as one of a verie quicke wit and sharpe conceit returned them these answeres Signor Gradasso quoth she it was a law among the Caspians that he which married after he had passed fiftie yéeres
consumed the lampe goeth out the Sunne being set the day cannot tarry the flower being falen there is no hope of fruite and old age being once come life cannot be lasting You knowing therefore that nothing is so certaine in old age as euerie day to looke to die hauing shewed your self both to be wise and warie in that hauing but one only daughter you both sée her brought vp in your life and that which is more most worshipfully married before your death yea and to such a mate as shée cannot but loue for his person and you like for his parentage and patrimonie I meane our friend neighbor Pharicles whose wit wealth and exquisite perfection both of minde and bodie hath made all Padua astonished Staie there quoth Gostyno thinke not much though I interrupt your talk so rashly for as I receiue both comfort and consolation by your good aduise and counsaile so your strange news hath driuen me into a quandary whether I should take your wordes in earnest or iest for I am sure my daughter Publia is as far from a husband as I am from a wife or else I am greatly beguiled And with that he called Publia which stoode at the window talking with her cousin Mamillia and began to sift her on this wise If the newes daughter be true that your vncle Gonzaga hath told me I may iustly be accused of folly you be condemned of disobedience for in that I alwaies left you the raines of libertie being yong to vse your wil as a law and to leade your life after your owne lust I may be counted a foole and in that you haue abused this law of libertie wedding your self to your own wil despising my fatherly care counsel as of none effect you may be thought a disobediēt child Why was my nature euer so strange or your nourture so straight was I so vnwilling that you shuld match or so wilfull to kéepe you from marriage as you shoulde choose without my aduise yea and that which is more marrie without my consent Well I knowe I haue alwayes had such a care to pleasure you as a father and you such a feare to displease me as a daughter that I both thinke the newes vntrue and thée vnworthy of such a report But if the case be so thou art not the first nor shalt be the last which haue slipt awrie in this point yet since thou hast heere such a care of thy choice as to looke before thou leape and to loue such a one as is to be liked for his liuing both for his person and vertue thou deseruest the lesse to be blamed and I haue the lesse cause to be offended to put mée therefore out of doubt and to satisfie thine vnckle Gonzaga I charge thée by the law of dutie to tell me what hath passed betwéene thée and Pharicles Sir quoth she as I haue alwaies found you to haue had a fatherly care to prouide for my welfare so I haue alwayes counted it religion to requite that fatherly affection with the dutie and obedience of a childe least happily I might séeme to be more void of nature than the brute beasts which want nurture The yoong lamb by méere instinct of Nature obeieth the bleating of the old shéepe The sucking fawne followeth the steps of the Doe The Cignets dare not resist the call of the old Swan the yong Tigre though neuer so wild runneth at the beck of the old Tygresse and should I then syr be so voide of grace as to be more lewd than the yong lambe more voide of Nature than the sillie Fawne more senselesse than the yong Cignets and more fierce than the cruell Tygres No no sir But when I so farre forget my selfe as to passe these vnreasonable creatures in carelesse disobedience then the Gods requite so lothsome a fact with most hellish misery Although the voyce of the common people be a great verdit to confirme a thing in question yet that which is spokē of many is not always true much lesse the rumour which is raised by some one tatling person doth followe by consequence as a thing necessarily to be beléeued And therefore mine vncle Gonzaga did verie ill in giuing credite to such a flying tale and did more ouershoote himselfe in blowing it into your eares vntill by further triall he had searched out the trueth of the matter In déede sir I confesse that Pharicles hath shewed mée some curtesie and I haue not altogither requited him with curiositie he hath made some shew of loue and I haue not wholie séemed to mislike least in louing lightly I might séeme lasciuious and in contemning churlishly I might be iudged very curious but for to contract I neuer meant without your consent nor neuer intended to set on the seales before you had strooke vp the bargaine And for the confirmation of these my wordes and the better satisfying of mine vnckle Gonzaga sée héere the letters which haue passed betwixt me and Pharicles Gostyno perceiuing by the tenure of these letters that this tale which was told of his daughter was wholy without troth woulde verie gladly haue knowen of Gonzaga who was the authour of such a report thinking himselfe ill dealt withal to haue so causelesse a slaunder raised vpon his daughter but Gonzaga not willing to bring the matter any surther in question made him this answere Brother Gostyno quoth he I know it is ill putting the hand betwéen the barke and the trée great folly to meddle in other mens matters neither was it my minde when I told you this tale to sowe any dissention betwéene your daughter Publia and you but I came to warne her as a friend and counsell her as a kinsman that she might take héede of the traine least she were taken in the trap that she might not strike at the stale least she were canuased in the nettes that she might not venter no father into the foord than she might easily retire without danger I meane that she shoulde not lay her loue no surer vppon Pharicles but that she might plucke it off at her owne pleasure for Pharicles is betroathed and contracted long since to my daughter Mamillia so that there remaineth nothing but that at his returne home they consummate the marriage To cause therefore your daughter to take héed of such cogging copesmates was the cause of my comming least vnaduisedly shée might buy repentance too deare Gostyno séeing the danger whereinto his daughter had fallen if Gonzaga had not preuented it gaue him heartie thankes for his friendly counsell and counted both himself and his daughter greatly bound vnto him for preuenting so secret a mischiefe being to exclaime against the péeuish periurie and trothlesse trecherie of Pharicles had not Gonzaga broken off the talke with taking his leaue of his brother and Mamillia giuing the A dio to her coosin Publia departed leauing Gostyno and his daughter wholly counselled but not halfe comforted because they could not
should at the common assemblies and feastes sit in the lowest and vilest place as one that had committed a fact repugnant to the law of Nature calling him which was well strooken in yeeres yet enamoured that would frie in affection when he was wholie frozen in complexion not an old louer but a filthie foole and a doting old leacher and in my iudgement they had great reason so to tearme him For olde rotten strawes are more fit for doong than for the chamber withered flowers to be cast away than to be placed in a braue nosegay olde stickes more méete for the fire than for sumptuous building and aged men are more fit for the graue than to spende their time in loue Cupid Signor Gradasso alloweth none in his court but yoong men that can serue fresh and beautifull to delight wise that can talke secret to kéepe silence faithfull to gratifie and valiant to reuenge his mistresse iniuries He that is not indued priuiledged with these conditions may well loue but neuer be liked How can a yoong woman fixe her affection vppon an olde man who in the night time in stéed of talke telleth the clock crieth out of the gout complaineth of the Ciatica is combred with crampes and troubled with the cough hauing neither health to ioy himselfe nor youth to enioy her To the ende that loue be fixed sure perpetuall and true there must be equalitie betwéen the enamoured For if the louer be olde and shée be yoong he ouergrowne with age and she in flourishing youth assure your selfe that of fained louers they shal be euer professed and vnfained enemies For it is not loue but sorrow not mirth but displeasure not taste but torment not delight but despight not ioy but annoy not recreatiō but confusion when in the louer there is not both youth and libertie yea the withered straw is soone set on fire and easily quenched the olde and drie wood easily inflamed and quickly put out age soone doteth and soone detesteth now swimming in loue and presently sinking in hate like to the stone Draconites that no sooner commeth out of the flame but it is vehemently cold What a foolish motion nay what a frantike madnesse is it for him whom nature denieth any longer to liue to intangle himselfe in the snares of loue whose naturall heate is turned to frost with the match of fancie to kindle a new fire when sicknesse sommons him and age warnes him that death draweth nye than to become a clyent vnto Cupid to pleade for bountie at the cruell barre of beautie knowing that the hearbe Adiaton cannot abide to touch the withered grasse that the trées in the mount Vernese detest to be clasped of the olde Iuie and that youth greatly abhorreth to be coupled with age Further whosoeuer being yoong faire and beautifull matcheth her with a doting old louer be she as chaste as Lucretia as trustie as Penelope as honest as Turia as faithfull as Artemisia as constant as Cornelia yet her honor honestie and good name shall not onely be suspended but greatly suspected yea in so much that the olde man himselfe to kéepe his doting wits warme will couer his head with a ielous cap being very credulous to beléeue ech flying tale and suspicious euermore to iudge the woorst If his young wife be merie she is immodest if sober sullen and thinkes of some louer whom she likes best if pleasant inconstant if she laugh it is leaudly if she looke it is lightly yea he casteth beyond the Moone iudgeth that which neither she would nor could imagine restraining her from all libertie watching as the craftie Cat ouer the sillie Mouse should I than Gradasso seeing the trap follow the train spying the hooke swallow the baite and séeing the mischiefe runne wholie into miserie No no I meane not to be so foolish as the birdes of Cholchos which although they sée the nettes yet willingly strike at the stale or like the Tortuse which desireth the heat of the Sunne that notwithstanding bréedeth his destruction nor so sottish as with frée consent to crosse my selfe with perpetuall calamitie Sith then Signor Gradasso I count you being so olde not a fit match for my tender youth I pray you at this time be cōtent to take my nay for an answere And as for you Iacques which haue said so well in your masters behalf I commend you for a faithfull seruant though your reasons were to small effect I confesse Iacques that nothing sooner delighteth the eye contenteth the sense or allureth the minde of a young maide than beautie but as the stone Topason is not more loued for the outward hue than hated for the poison which secretly is hid within it or as the hearbe Nepenthes is not more liked for the pleasant shape than loathed for the poysoned sap so beautie cannot inflame the fancie so much in a moneth as ridiculous follie can quench in a moment nay as of all things wit soonest setteth the fancie on edge sharpeneth affection so follie cooleth desire and forceth loue in the lowdest gale to strike saile and be quiet What ioy can that Gentlewoman haue whose husband hath neither modestie to moderate his affection nor manner to be haue himselfe well in companie who can neither be constant because hée is a foole nor secret sith he is without sence but as the Dolphin hath nothing to couer his deformitie but a few glistering scales or as the clownish Poet Cherillus had nothing to be praised in his verses but the name of Alexander so he hath nothing to shadow his follie but a faire face nor nothing to be commended but a litle fading beautie Wheras you alledge that Venus was intangled with the beautie of Anchises and Luna with the feature of Endymion Dido with the braue shape of Aeneas I answere that Anchises was neither a foole Endymion a sot nor Aeneas witlesse for if they had they might assoone haue perswaded olde Sylenus to despise the rytes of god Bacchus as haue procured any of these thrée to yéeld to their alluremēts sith they knew that beautie in a foole is as a ring of gold in a swines snout We read that a Consull in Rome married a daughter of his to a faire foole because he was endued with great possessions who was not long married to his wife Iulia for so was the Consuls daughter called but for want of wit and lacke of wisedome he so burned in ielousie and surged in the seas of suspicious follie that as the poore Gentlewoman was stooping to pull on her shooe he espying her faire and christall necke entred into such a suspicious furie that presently he thrust her through with his sword verifying the saying of Castymachus that a foole depriued of reason is no other but a mad man bereaued of his sence Whereas you say that soueraintie and rule is the chiefest thing a woman doth desire and that by marrying a foole I shall haue the readie meanes to