Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	child_n	parent_n	speak_v	1,843	5	5.6475	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68475	Essays vvritten in French by Michael Lord of Montaigne, Knight of the Order of S. Michael, gentleman of the French Kings chamber: done into English, according to the last French edition, by Iohn Florio reader of the Italian tongue vnto the Soueraigne Maiestie of Anna, Queene of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, &c. And one of the gentlemen of hir royall priuie chamber; Essais. English	Montaigne, Michel de, 1533-1592.; Florio, John, 1553?-1625.; Hole, William, d. 1624, engraver.	1613 (1613)	STC 18042; ESTC S111840	1,002,565	644

many rare things and which would very neerely approch the honour of antiquity for especially touching that part of natures gifts I know none may be compared to him But it was not long of him that ever this Treatize came to mans view and I believe he never sawe it since it first escaped his hands with certaine other notes concerning the edict of Ianuarie famous by reason of our intestine warre which haply may in other places finde their deserved praise It is all I could ever recover of his reliques whom when death seized he by his last will and testament left with so kinde remembrance heire and executor of his librarie and writings besides the little booke I since caused to be published To which his pamphlet I am particularly most bounden for so much as it was the instrumentall meane of our first acquaintance For it was showed me long time before I sawe him and gave me the first knowledge of his name addressing and thus nourishing that vnspotted friendship which we so long as it pleased God have so sincerely so entire and inviolably maintained betweene vs that truely a man shall not commonly heare of the like and amongst our moderne men no signe of any such is seene So many partes are required to the erecting of such a one that it may be counted a wonder if fortunce once in three ages contract the like There is nothing to which Nature hath more addressed vs than to societie And Aristotle saith that perfect Law-givers have had more regardfull care of friendship then of iustice And the vtmost drift of it's perfection is this For generally all those amities which are forged and nourished by voluptuousnesse or profit publike or private neede are thereby so much the lesse faire and generous and so much the lesse true amities in that they intermeddle other causes scope and fruit with friendship then it selfe alone Nor doe those foure auncient kindes of friendships Naturall sociall hospitable and venerian either particularly or conjointly beseeme the same That from children to parents may rather be termed respect Friendship is nourished by communication which by reason of the over-great disparitie cannot bee found in them and would happly offend the duties of nature for neither all the secret thoughts of parents can be communicated vnto children lest it might engender an vnbeseeming familiaritie betweene them nor the admonitions and corrections which are the chiefest offices of friendship could be exercised from children to parents There have nations beene found where by custome children killed their parents and others where parents slew their children thereby to avoide the hindrance of enter-bearing one another in after times for naturally one dependeth from the ruine of another There have Philosophers beene found disdaining this naturall conjunction witnesse Aristippus who being vrged with the affection he ought his children as proceeding from his loynes began to spit saying That also that excrement proceeded from him and that also we engendred wormes and lice And that other man whom Plutarke would have perswaded to agree with his brother answered I care not a straw the more for him though he came out of the same wombe I did Verily the name of Brother is a glorious name and ful of loving kindnesse and therefore did he and I terme one another sworne brother but this commixture dividence and sharing of goods this joyning wealth to wealth and that the riches of one shall be the povertie of another doth exceedingly distemper and distract all brotherly aliance and lovely conjunction If brothers should conduct the progresse of their advancement and thrift in one same path and course they must necessarily oftentimes hinder and crosse one another Moreover the correspondencie and relation that begetteth these true and mutually-perfect amities why shall it be found in these The father and the sonne may very well be of a farre differing complexion and so many brothers He is my sonne he is my kinsman but he may be a foole a bad or a peevish-minded man And then according as they are friendships which the law and dutie of nature doth command-vs so much the lesse of our owne voluntarie choice and libertie is there required vnto it And our genuine libertie hath no production more properly her owne then that of affection and amitie Sure I am that concerning the same I have assaied all that might be having had the best and most indulgent father that ever was even to his extreamest age and who from father to sonne was descended of a famous house and touching this rare-seene vertue of brotherly concord very exemplare ipse Notus in fratres animi paterni To his brothers knowne so kinde As to beare a fathers minde To compare the affection toward women vnto it although it iproceed from our owne free choise a man cannot nor may it be placed in this ranke Her fire I confesse it neque enim est de● nescta nostri Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem Nor is that Goddesse ignorant of me Whose bitter sweetes with my cares mixed be to be more active more fervent and more sharpe But it is a rash and wavering fire waving and diverse the fire of an ague subject to fits and stints and that hath but slender hold-fast of vs. In true friendship it is a generall vniversall heat and equally tempered a constant and setled heat all pleasure and smoothnes that hath no pricking or stinging in it which the more it is in lustfull love the more is it but a ranging and mad desire in following that which flies vs Come segue la lepre il cacciatore Al freddo al caldo alla montagna al lito Ne piu l'estima poiche presa vede E sol dietro a chi sugge affrettail piede Ev'n as the huntsman doth the hare pursue In cold in heate on mountaines on the shore But cares no more when he her tan'e espies Speeding his pace onely at that which flies As soone as it creepeth into the termes of friendship that is to say in the agreement of wils it languisheth and vanisheth away enioying doth loose it as having a corporall end and subject to sacietie On the other side friendship is enjoyed according as it is desired it is neither bred nor nourished nor encreaseth but in jovissance as being spirituall and the minde being refined by vse and custome Vnder this chiefe amitie these fading affections have sometimes found place in me lest I should speake of him who in his verses speakes but too much of it So are these two passions entred into me in knowledge one of another but in comparison never the first flying a high and keeping a proud pitch disdainfully beholding the other to passe her points farre vnder it Concerning marriage besides that it is a covenant which hath nothing free but the entrance the continuance being forced and constrained depending else-where then from our will a match ordinarily concluded to other ends A thousand strange knots are there

we see them following vs at our heeles supposing they solicite vs to be gone hence And if we were to feare that since the order of things beareth that they cannot indeede neither be nor live but by our being and life we should not meddle to be fathers As for mee I deeme it a kind of cruelty and injustice not to receive them into the share and society of our goods and to admit them as Partners in the vnderstanding of our domesticall affaires if they be once capable of it and not to cut off and shut vp our commodities to provide for theirs since we have engendred them to that purpose It is meere injustice to see an old crazed sinnow-shronken and nigh dead father sitting alone in a Chimny-corner to enjoy so many goods as would suffice for the preferment and entertainment of many children and in the meane while for want of meanes to suffer them to loose their best daies and yeares without thrusting them into publike service and knowledge of men whereby they are often cast into dispaire to seeke by some way how vnlawfull soever to provide for their necessaries And in my daies I have seene divers yong-men of good houses so given to stealing and filching that no correction could divert them from it I know one very well alied to whom at the instance of a brother of his a most honest gallant and vertuous Gentleman I spake to that purpose who boldly answered and confessed vnto me that onely by the rigor and covetise of his father he had beene forced and driuen to fall into such lewdnesse and wickednesse And even at that time he came from stealing certaine jewels from a Lady in whose bed-chamber he fortuned to come with certaine other Gentlemen when she was rising and had almost beene taken He made me remember a tale I had heard of an other Gentleman from his youth so fashioned and inclined to this goodly trade of pilfering that comming afterward to be heire and Lord of his owne goods resolved to giue over that manner of life could notwithstanding if he chanced to come neere a shop where he saw any thing he stood in neede of not chuse but steale the same though afterward he would ever send mony and pay for it And I have seene diverse so inured to that vice that amongst their companions they would ordinarily steale such things as they would restore againe I am a Gascoine and there is no vice wherein I have lesse skill I hate it somewhat more by complexion then I accuse it by discourse I doe not so much as desire another mans goods And although my Country-men be indeed somewhat more taxed with this fault then other Provinces of France yet have we seene of late daies and that sundry times men well borne and of good parentaeg in other parts of France in the hands of justice and lawfully convicted of many most horrible robberies I am of opinion that in regard of these debauches and lewd actions fathers may in some sort be blamed and that it is onely long of them And if any shall answer mee as did once a Gentleman of good worth and vnderstanding that he thriftily endevored to hoard vp riches to no other purpose nor to have any vse and commodity of them then to be honoured respected and suingly sought vnto by his friends and kinsfolkes and that age having bereaved him of all other forces it was the onely remedy he had left to maintaine himselfe in authority with his houshold and keepe him from falling into contempt and disdaine of all the world And truely according to Aristotle not onely old-age but each imbecility is the promoter and motive of couetousnesse That is something but it is a remedie for an evill whereof the birth should have beene hindered and breeding a voyded That father may truely be said miserable that holdeth the affection of his children tied vnto him by no other meanes then by the neede they have of his helpe or want of his assistance if that may be termed affection A man should yeeld himselfe respectable by vertue and sufficiency and amiable by his goodnesse and gentlenesse of maners The very cinders of so rich a matter have their value so have the bones and reliques of honourable men whom we hold in respect and reverence No age can be so crazed and drooping in a man that hath lived honourably but must needes prove venerable and especially vnto his children whose mindes ought so to be directed by the parents that reason and wisedome not necessity and neede nor rudenesse and compulsion may make them know and performe their duty errat longè mea quidem sententia Qui imperium credat esse gravius aut stabilius Vi quod fit quàm illud quod amicitia adiungitur In mine opinion he doth much mistake Who that command more graue more firme doth take Which force doth get then that which friendships make I vtterly condemne all maner of violence in the education of a yong spirit brought vp to honour and liberty There is a kinde of slavishnesse in churlish-rigor and servility in compulsion and I hold that that which can not be compaessed by reason wisedome and discretion can never be attained by ●orce and constraint So was I brought vp they tell mee that in all my youth I never felt rod but twice and that very lightly And what education I have had my selfe the same have I given my children But such is my ill hap that they die all very yong yet hath Leonora my onely daughter escaped this misfortune and attained to the age of six yeares and somewhat more for the conduct of whose youth and punishment of hir childisn faults the indulgence of hir mother applying it selfe very mildely vnto it was never other meanes vsed but gentle words And were my desire frustrate there are diverse other causes to take hold-of without reproving my discipline which I know to be just and naturall I would also have beene much more religious in that towards male-children not borne to serve as women and of a freer condition I should have loved to have stored their minde with ingenuity and liberty I have seene no other effects in rods but to make childrens mindes more remis●e or more maliciously head-strong Desire we to be loved of our children Will we remove all occasions from them to wish our death although no occasion of so horrible and vnnaturall wishes can either be just or excusable nullum scelus rationem habet no ill deede hath a good reason Let vs reasonably accommodate their life with such things as are in our power And therfore should not we marry so yoong that our age doe in a maner confound it selfe with theirs For this inconvenience doth vnavoidably cast vs into many difficulties and encombrances This I speake chiefly vnto Nobility which is of an idle disposition or lo●tering condition and which as we say liveth onely by hir lands or rents for else where life standeth

resolving that whatsoever should present it selfe vnto his enemic must necessarily be vtterly defeated On the other side deeming it vnwoorthy both his vertue and magnanimitie and the Lacedemonian name to ●a●le or faint in his charge betweene these two extremities he resolved vpon a meane and indifferent course which was this The yoongost and best disposed of his troupe he reserved for the service and defence of their countrie to which hee sent them backe and with those whose losse was least and who might best be spared hee determined to maintaine that passage and by their death to force the enemie to purchase the entrance of it as deare as possibly he could as indeed it followed For being suddenly environed round by the Arcadians After a great slaughter made of them both himselfe and all his were put to the sword Is any Trophey assigned for conquerours that is not more duly due vnto these conquered A true conquest respecteth rather an vndanted resolution and honourable end then a faire escape and the honour of vertue doth more consist in combating then in beating But to returne to our historie these prisoners howsoever they are dealt withall are so farre from yeelding that contrariwise during two or three moneths that they are kept they ever carry a cheerefull countenace and vrge their keepers to hasten their triall they outragiously defic and injure them They vpbraid them with their cowardlinesse and with the number of battels they have lost againe theirs I have a song made by a prisoner wherein is this clause Let them boldly come altogether and flocke in multitudes to feed on him for with him they shall feed vpon their fathers and grandfathers that heeretosore have served his bodie for food and nourishment These muscles saith he this flesh and these veines are your owne fond men as you are know you not that the substance of your forefathers limbes is yet tied vnto ours Taste them well for in them shall you finde the relish of your owne flesh An invention that hath no shew of barbarisme Those that paint them dying and that represent this action when they are put to execution delineate the prisoners spitting in their executioners faces and making mowes at them Verily so long as breath is in their bodie they never cease to brave and defie them both in speech and countenance Surely in respect of vs these are very savage men for either they must be so in good sooth or we must be so indeed There is a woondrous distance betweene their forme and ours Their men have many wives and by how much more they are reputed valiant so much the greater is their number The maner and beautie in their marriages is woondrous strange and remarkable For the same jealousie our wives have to keepe vs from the love and affection of other women the same have theirs to procure it Being more carefull for their husbands honour and content then of any thing else They endevour and apply all their industrie to have as many rivals as possibly they can forasmuch as it is a testimonie of their husbands vertue Our women would count it a woonder but it is not so It is vertue properly Matrimoniall but of the highest kinde And in the Bible Lea Rachell Sara and Iacobs wives brought their fairest maiden servants vnto their husbands beds And Livia seconded the lustfull appetites of Augustus to her great prejudice And Stratonica the wife of king Dei●tarus did not onely bring a most beauteous chamber-maide that served her to her husbands bed but very carefully brought-vp the children he begot on her and by all possible meanes aided and furthered them to succeed in their fathers roialtie And least a man should thinke that all this is done by a simple and servile or awefull dutie vnto their custome and by the impression of their ancient customes authoritie without discourse or judgement and because they are so blockish and dull-spirited that they can take no other resolution it is not amisse wee alleadge some evidence of their sufficiencie Besides what I have said of one of their warlike songs I have another amorous canzonet which beginneth in this sence Adder stay stay good adder that my sister may by the patterne of thy partie-coloured coate drawe the fashion and worke of a rich lace for me to giue vnto my love so may thy beautie thy nimblenesse or disposition be ever preferred before all other serpents The first couplet is the burthen of the song I am so conversant with Poesie that I amy judge this invention hath no barbarisme at all in it but is altogether Anacreontike Their language is a kinde of pleasant speech and ●ath a pleasing sound and some affinitie with the Greeke terminations Three of that nation ignorant how deare the knowledge of our corruptions will one day cost their repose securitie and happinesse and how their ruine shall proceed from this commerce which I imagine is already well advanced miserable as they are to have suffered themselves to be so cosoned by a desire of new-fangled novelties and to have quit the calmenesse of their climate to come and see ours were at Roane in the time of our late King Charles the ninth who talked with them a great while They were shewed our fashions our pompe and the forme of a faire Citie afterward some demanded their advise and would needes know of them what things of note and admirable they had observed amongst vs they answered three things the last of which I have forgotten and am very sorie for it the other two I yet remember They saide First they found it very strange that so many tall men with long beards strong and well armed as it were about the Kings persen it is very likely they ●ent the Switzers of his guard would submit themselues to obey a beardlesse childe and that we did not rather obuse one amongst them to command the rest Secondly they have a maner of phrase whereby they call men but a moytie one of another They had perceived there were men amongst vs f●ll gorged with all sortes of commodities and others which hunger-starved and bare with neede and povertie begged at their gates and found it strange these moyties so needie could endure such an iniustice and that they tooke not the others by the throte or set fire on their houses I talked a good while with one of them but I had so bad an interpreter and who did so ill apprehend my meaning and who through his foolishnesse was so troubled to conceive my imaginations that I could draw no great matter from him Touching that point wherein I demaunded of him what good he received by the superioritie he had amongst his countriemen for he was a Captaine and our Marriners called him King he told me it was to march formost in any charge of warre further I asked him how many men did follow him hee shewed me a distance of place to signifie they were as many as might be contained in

poetae confugiunt ad Deum cùm explicare argumenti exitum non p●ssunt As Poets that write Tragedies have recourse to some God when they cannot vnfold the end of their argument Since men by reason of their insufficiencie cannot well pay themselves with good lawfull coyne let them also employ false mony This meane hath beene practised by all the law-givers And there is no common-wealth where there is not some mixture either of ceremonious vanitie or of false opinion which as a restraint serveth to keepe the people in awe and dutie It is therefore that most of them have such fabulous grounds and trifling beginnings and enriched with supernaturall mysteries It is that which hath given credite vnto adulterate and vnlawful religions and hath induced men of vnderstanding to favour and countenance them And therefore did Numa and Sertorius to make their men have a beter beliefe feede them with this foppery the one that the Nimph Egeria the other that his white Hinde brought him all the counsel she tooke from the Gods And the same authoritie which Numa gave his Lawes vnder the title of this Goddesses patronage Zoroastres Law giver to the Bactrians and Persians gave it to his vnder the name of the God Orom●zis Trismegistus of the Aegyptians of Mercurie Zamolzis of the Scithians of Vesta Charondas of the Chalcid onians of Saturne Minos of the Candiots of Iupiter Lycurgus of the Lacedemonians of Apollo Dracon and Solon of the Athenians of Minerva And every common wealth hath a God to her chief all others falsly but that truly which Moses instituted for the people of Iewry desceded from Aegypt The Bedoins religion as saith the Lord of Iovinuile held among other things that his soule which among them al died for his Prince went directly into another more happy body much fairer and stronger than the first by means wherof they much more willingly hazarded their live for his sake In ferrum mens pronavir●● animaque capaces Mortis ignavum est rediturae parcerevitae Those men sword minded can death entertaine Thinke base to spare the life that turnes againe Loe-heere although very vaine a most needefull doctrine and profitable beliefe Everie Nation hath store of such examples in itselfe But this subject would require a severall discourse Yet to say a word more concerning my former purpose I doe not counsell Ladies any longer to call their duty honour vt enim consuetudo loquitur id solum dicitur honestum quod est populari famâ gloriosum For as custome speakes that onely is called honest which is glorious by popular report Their duty is the marke their honour but the barke of it Nor doe I perswade them to give vs this excuse of their refusall in payment for I suppose their intentions their desire and their will which are parts wherein honor can see nothing forasmuch as nothing appeareth outwardly there are vet more ordred then the effects Quae quia non liceat non facit illa facit She doth it though she doe it not Because she may not doe 't God wot The offence both toward God and in conscience would be as great to desire it as to effect the same Besides they are in themselves actions secret and hid it might easily be they would steale some one from others knowledge whence honor dependeth had they no other respect to their duty and affection which they beare vnto chastity in regard of it selfe Each honorable person chuseth rather to loose his honour then to forgoe his conscience The seuenteenth Chapter Of Presumption THere is another kinde of glorie which is an over-good opinion we conceive of our worth It is an inconsiderate affection wherewith wee cherish our selves which presents-vs vnto our selves other then wee are As an amorous passion addeth beauties and lendeth graces to the subject it embraceth and maketh such as are therewith possessed with a troubled conceite and distracted Iudgement to deeme what they love and finde what they affect to bee other and seeme more perfect then in trueth it is Yet would I not have a man for feare of offending in that point to misacknowledge himselfe nor thinke to bee lesse then hee is A true Iudgement should wholy and in every respect maintaine his right It is reason that as in other things so in this subject hee see what truth presenteh vnto him If hee be Caesar let him hardly deeme himselfe the greatest Captaine of the world We are nought but ceremonie ceremonie doth transport vs and wee leave the substance of things wee hold-fast by the boughs and leave the trunke or body We have taught Ladies to blush onely by hearing that named which they nothing feare to doe Wee dare not call our members by their proper names and feare not to employ them in all kinde of dissolutenesse Ceremonie forbids vs by words to expresse lawfull and naturall things and we believe it Reason willeth vs to doe no bad or vnlawfull things and no man giveth credite vnto it Heare I find my selfe entangled in the lawes of Ceremonie for it neither allowes a man to speake ill or good of himselfe Therefore will wee leave her at this time Those whom Fortune whether wee shall name her good or bad hath made to passe their life in some eminent or conspicuous degree may by their publike actions witnesse what they are but those whom she never emploied but in base things and of whom no man shall ever speake except themselves doe it they are excusable if they dare speake of themselves to such as have interest in their acquaintance after the example of Lucilius Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim Credebat libris neque si malè cesser at vsquam Decurre●s ali● neque si benè quo fit vt omnis Votivâ pateat veluti descripta tabellâ Vita s●nis He trusted to his booke as to his trusty friend His secrets nor did he to other refuge bend How ever well or ill with him his fortune went Hence is it all the life is seene the old man spent As it were in a Table noted Which were vnto some God devoted This man committed his actions and imaginations to his paper and as he felt so he pourtraied himselfe Nec id Rutili● Scauro citra fidem aut ob●rectationifuit Nor was that without credit or any imputation to Rutilius or Scaurus I remember then that even from my tenderest infancy some noted in me a kind of I know not what fashion in carrying of my body and gestures witnessing a certaine vaine and foolish fiercenesse This I will first say of it that it is not inconvenient to have conditions so peculiar and propensions so incorporated in vs that we have no meane to feele or way to know them And of such naturall inclinations vnknowne to vs and without our consent the body doth easily retaine some signe or impression It was an affectation witting of his beauty which made Alexander to bend his head

and the onely payment neuer faileth vs. To ground the recompence of vertuous actions vpon the approbation of others is to vndertake a most vncertaine or troubled foundation namely in an age so corrupt and times so ignorant as this is the vulgar peoples good opinion is iniurious Whom trust you in seeing what is commendable God keepe mee from beeing an honest man according to the description I dayly see made of honour each one by himselfe Quae fuerant vitia mores sunt What earst were vices are now growne fashious Some of my friendes have sometimes attempted to schoole me roundly and sift mee plainely either of their owne motion or envited by me as to an office which to a well composed minde both in profit and lovingnesse exceedeth all the duties of sincere amity Such have I euer entertained with open armes of curtesie and kinde acknowledgement But now to speake from my conscience I often found so much false measure in their reproches and praises that I had not greatly erred if I had rather erred then done well after their fashion Such as wee especially who live a private life not exposed to any gaze but our owne ought in our hartes establish a touchstone and thereto touch our deedes and try our actions and accordingly now cherish and now chastise our selues I haue my owne lawes and tribunall to iudge of mee whether I adresse my selfe more then any where els I restraine my actions according to other but extend them according to my selfe None but your self knowes rightly whether you be demisse and cruel or loyall and deuout Others see you not but ghesse you by vncertaine coniectures They see not so much your nature as your arte Adhere not then to their opinion but hold vnto your owne Tuo tibi iudicio est vtendum Virtutis viciorum graue ipsius conscientiae pondus est qua sublata iacent omnia You must vse your owne iudgement The weight of the very conscience of vice and vertues is heauy take that away and all is downe But where as it is said that repentance nearely followeth sinne seemeth not to emplye sinne placed in his rich aray which lodgeth in vs as in his proper mansion One may disavowe and disclaime vices that surprise vs and whereto our passions transport vs but those which by long habite are rooted in a strong and ankred in a powerfull will are not subiect to contradiction Repentance is but a denying of our will and an opposition of our fantasies which diuerts vs here and there It makes some disauow his former vertue and continencie Quae mens est hodie cur eadem non puero fuit Vel cur his animis incolumes non redeunt genae Why was not in a youth same minde as now Or why beares not this minde a youthfull brow That is an exquisite life which euen in his owne priuate keepeth it selfe in awe and order Euery one may play the jugler and represent an honest man vpon the stage but within and in bosome where all thinges are lawfull where all is concealed to keepe a due rule or formall decorum that 's the point The next degree is to bee so in ones owne home and in his ordinary actions whereof we are to giue accoumpt to no body wherin is no study nor arte And therefore Bias describing the perfect state of a family whereof saith hee the maister be such inwardly by himselfe as hee is outwardly for feare of the lawes and respect of mens speaches And it was a worthy saying of Iulius Drusus to those worke-men which for three thousande crownes offered so to reforme his house that his neighbours should no more ouer looke into it I will giue you sixe thousand said hee and contriue it so that on all sides euery man may looke into it The custome of Agesilaus is remembred with honour who in his trauaile was wont to take vp his lodging in churches that the people and Gods themselues might pry into his priuate actions Some haue beene admirable to the world in whom nor his wife nor his seruant euer noted any thing remarkeable Few men haue beene admired of their familiars No man hath beene a Prophet not onely in his house but in his owne country saith the experience of histories Euen so in things of nought And in this base example is the image of greatnesse discerned In my climate of Gascoigne they deeme it a iest to see mee in print The further the knowledge which is taken of mee is from my home of so much more woorth am I. In Guienne I pay Printers in other places they pay mee Vpon this accident they ground who liuing and present keepe close-lurking to purchase credit when they shall be dead and absent I had rather haue lesse And I cast not my selfe into the world but for the portion I draw from it That done I quit it The people attend on such a man with wonderment from a publike act vnto his owne doores together with his roabes hee leaues-of his part falling so much the lower by how much higher hee was mounted View him within thereall is turbulent disordered and vile And were order and formality found in him a liuely impartiall and well sorted iudgement is required to perceiue and fully to discerne him in these base and priuate actions Considering that order is but a dumpish and drowsie vertue To gaine a Battaile perfourme an Ambassage and gouerne a people are noble and woorthy actions to chide laugh sell pay loue hate and mildely and iustly to conuerse both with his owne and with himselfe not to relent and not gaine-say himselfe are thinges more rare more difficult and lesse remarkeable Retired liues sustaine that way what euer som say offices as much more crabbed and extended then other liues doe And priuate men saith Aristotle serue vertue more hardly and more highly attend her then those which are magistrates or placed in authority Wee prepare our selues vnto eminent occasions more for glory then for conscience The nearest way to come vnto glory were to doe that for conscience which wee doe for glory And me seemeth the vertue of Alexander representeth much lesse vigor in her large Theater then that of Socrates in his base and obscure excercitation I easily conceiue Socrates in the roome of Alexander Alexander in that of Socrates I cannot If any aske the one what hee can doe hee will answere Conquer the world let the same question bee demaunded of the other he will say leade my life conformably to it 's naturall condition A science much more generous more important and more lawfull The woorth of the minde consisteth not in going high but in marching orderly Her greatnesse is not excercised in greatnesse in mediocritye it is As those which iudge and touch vs inwardely make no great accoumpt of the brightnesse of our publique actions and see they are but streakes and poyntes of cleare Water surging from a bottome otherwise slimie and full of mud So

and as they doe with such as they find neere vnto a murthered body so they should bee compelled to give an account of this mischance to their vtter vndooing having neither friends nor mony to defend their innocency What should I have said vnto them It is most certaine that this Office of humanity had brought them to much trouble How many innocent and guilt-lesse men have wee seene punished I say without the Iudges fault and how many more that were never discovered This hath hapned in my time Certaine men are condemned to death for a murther committed the sentence if not pronounced at least concluded and determined This done The Iudges are advertised by the Officers of a sub-alternall Court not far-off that they have certaine prisoners in hold that have directly confessed the foresaid murther and thereof bring most evident markes and tokens The question and consultation is now in the former Court whether for all this they might interrupt or should deferre the execution of the sentence pronounced against the first They consider the novelty of the example and consequence thereof and how to reconcile the judgement They conclude that the condemnation hath passed according vnto Law and therefore the Iudges are not subject to repentance To be short these miserable Wretches are consecrated to the prescriptions of the Law Philip or some other provided for such an inconvenience in this manner He had by an irrevocable sentence condemned one to pay another a round summe of money for a fine A while after the truth being discovered it was found he had wrongfully condemned him On one side was the right of the cause on the other the right of judiciary formes He is in some sort to satisfie both parties suffering the sentence to stand in full power and with his owne purse recompenced the interest of the condemned But hee was to deale with a reparable accident my poore slaves were hanged irreparably How many condemnations have I seene more criminall than the crime it selfe All this put me in minde of those auncient opinions That Hee who will doe right in grosse must needes doe wrong by retaile and iniustly in small things that will come to doe iustice in great matters That humane iustice is framed according to the modell of physicke according to which whatsoever is profitable is also just and honest And of that the Stoickes hold that Nature her selfe in most of her workes proceedeth against iustice And of that which the Cyreniaques hold that there is nothing just of it selfe That customes and lawes frame justice And the Theodorians who in a wise man allow as just all manner of theft sacriledge and paillardise so he thinke it profitable for him There is no remedy I am in that case as Alcibiades was and if I can otherwise chuse will never put my selfe vnto a man that shall determine of my head or consent that my honour or life shall depend on the industry or care of mine atturney more then mine innocency I could willingly adventure my selfe and stand to that Law that should as well recompence me for a good deed as punish me for a mis-deede and where I might have a just cause to hope as reason to feare Indemnitie is no sufficient coyne for him who doeth better than not to trespasse Our Law presents vs but one of hir hands and that is her left hand Whosoever goes to Law doth in the end but loose by it In China the policy arts and government of which kingdome having neither knowledge or commerce with ours exceed our examples in divers partes of excellency and whose Histories teach me how much more ample and diverse the World is than either we or our forefathers could ever enter into The Officers appointed by the Prince to visite the state of his Provinces as they punish such as abuse their charge so with great liberality they reward such as have vprightly and honestly behaved themselves in them or have done any thing more then ordinary and besides the necessity of their duty There all present themselves not onely to warrant themselves but also to get something Not simply to be paid but liberally to be rewarded No judge hath yet God be thanked spoken to me as a judge in any cause whatsoever either mine or another mans criminall or civill No prison did ever receive me no not so much as for recreation to walke in The very imagination of one maketh the sight of their outside seeme irkesome and loathsome to mee I am so besotted vnto liberty that should any man forbidde me the accesse vnto any one corner of the Indiaes I should in some sort live much discontented And so long as I shall finde land or open ayre elsewhere I shall never lurke in any place where I must hide my selfe Oh God how hardly could I endure the miserable condition of so many men confined and immured in some corners of this kingdome barred from entring the chiefest Citties from accesse into Courts from conuersing with men and interdicted the vse of common wayes onely because they have offended our lawes If those vnder which I live should but threaten my fingers end I would presently goe finde out some others wheresoever it were All my small wisedome in these civill and tumultuous warres wherein we now live doth wholly employ it selfe that they may not interrupt my liberty to goe and come where ever I list Lawes are now maintained in credit not because they are essentially just but because they are lawes It is the mysticall foundation of their authority they have none other which availes them much They are often made by fooles More often by men who in hatred of equality have want of equity But ever by men who are vaine and irresolute Authours There is nothing so grossely and largely offending nor so ordinarily wronging as the Lawes Whosoever obeyeth them because they are just obeyes them not justly the way as he ought Our French Lawes doe in some sort by their irregularity and deformity lend an helping hand vnto the disorder and corruption that is seene in their dispensation and execution Their behest is so confused and their commaund so inconstant that it in some sort excuseth both the disobedience and the vice of the interpretation of the administration and of the observation Whatsoever then the fruit is wee may have of Experience the same which we draw from forraine examples will hardly stead our institution much if we reape so small profit from that wee have of our selves which is most familiar vnto vs and truely sufficient to instruct vs of what wee want I study my selfe more than any other subject It is my supernaturall Metaphisike it is my naturall Philosophy Qua Deus hanc mundi temperet arte domum Qua venit exoriens qua deficit vnde coact is Cornibus in plenum menstrua luna redit Vnde salo superant venti quid flamine capt●t Eurus in nubes vnde perennis aequa Sit ventura dies

from his other cares and walking of the round in al security to reade to note and to abbreviate Polibius It is for base and petty mindes dulled and overwhelmed with the weight of affaires to be ignorant how to leave them and not to know how to free themselves from them nor how to leave and take them againe O fortes peior áque passi Mecum s●pe viri nunc vino pellite curas Cras ingens iterabimus aequor Valiant compeeres who oft have worse endured With me let now with wine your cares be cured To morrow wee againe Wil launch into the maine Whether it be in jest or earnest that the Sorbo●icall or theologicall wine and their feasts or gaudy dayes are now come to bee proverbially jested-at I thinke there is some reason that by how much more profitably and seriously they have bestowed the morning in the exercise of their schooles so much more commodiously and pleasantly should they dine at noone A cleare conscience to have well employed industriously spent the other houres is a perfect seasoning and savory condiment of tables So have wise men lived And that inimitable contention vnto vertue which so amazeth vs in both Catoes their so strictly-severe humour even vnto importunity hath thus mildely submitted my selfe and taken pleasure in the lawes of humane condition and in Venus and Bacchus According to their Sects-precepts which require a perfectly wise man to bee fully-expert and skilfull in the true vse of sensualities as in all other duties or devoires belonging to life Cui cor sapiat ei sapiat palatus Let his palate be savory whose heart is savory Easie-yeelding and facility doth in my conceit greatly honour and is best befitting a magnanimous and noble minde Epaminondas thought it no scorne to thrust himselfe amongst the boyes of his citie and dance with them yea and to sing and play and with attention busie himselfe were it in things that might derogate from the honor and reputation of his glorious victories and from the perfect reformation of manners that was in him And amongst so infinite admirable actions of Scipio the grandfather a man worthy to be esteemed of heavenly race nothing addeth so much grace vnto him as to see him carelesly to dally and childishly to trifle in gathering and chusing of cockle-shells and play at cost castle alongst the sea-shoare with his friend L●lius And if it were fowle whether ammusing and solacing himselfe to represent in writing and commedies the most popular and base actions of men And having his head continually busied with that wonderfull enterprise against Hanniball and Affricke yet hee still visited the schooles in Cicilie and frequented the lectures of Philosophie arming his enemies teeth at Rome with envy and spight Nor any thing more remarkeable in Socrates then when being old and crazed hee would spare so much time as to be instructed in the arte of dancing and playing vpon instruments and thought the time well bestowed Who notwithstanding hath beene seene to continue a whole day and night in an extasie or trance yea ever standing on his feete in presence of all the Greeke armie as it were surprised and ravished by some deede and minde-distracting thought Hee hath beene noted to be the first amongst so infinite valiant men in the army headlong to rush out to helpe and bring-of Alcibiades engaged and enthronged by his enemies to cover him with his body and by maine force of armes and courage bring him off from the rout And in the Deliane battell to save and disingage Xenophon who was beaten from his horse And in the midst of all the Athenian people wounded as it were with so vnworthy a spectacle headlong present himselfe to the first man to recover Theramenes from out the hands of the officers and satelites of the thirty tyrants of A●hens who were leading him to his death and never desisted from his bold attempt vntill hee met with Theramenes himselfe though hee were followed and assisted with two more He hath beene seene provoked therevnto by a matchlesse beauty wherewith he was richly endowed by nature at any time of neede to maintaine severe continency Hee hath continually beene noted to march to the warres on foote to breake the ice with his bare feete to weare one same garment in summer and winter to exceede all his companions in patience of any labour or travell to eate no more or otherwise at any banquet then at his ordinary He hath beene seene seaven and twenty yeares together with one same vndismaide countenance patiently to beare and endure hunger poverty the indocilitie and stubbernesse of his children the frowardnes and scratchings of his wife and in the end malicious detraction tyranny emprisonment shakles and poison But was that man envited to drinke to him by duty of civility he was also the man of the army to whom the advantage thereof remained And yet he refused not nor disdained to play for nuts with children nor to run with them vpon a hob by-horse wherein he had a very good grace For all actions saith Philosophy doe equally beseeme well and honour a wise man We have good ground and reason and should never bee weary to present the image of this incomparable man vnto all patterns and forme of perfections There are very few examples of life absolutely full and pure And our instruction is greatly wronged in that it hath certaine weake defective and vnperfect formes proposed vnto it scarcely good for any good vse which divert and draw vs backe and may rather be termed Corrupters then Correctors Man is easily deceived One may more easily goe by the sides where extremitie serveth as a bound as a stay and as a guide then by the mid-way which is open and wide and more according vnto arte then according vnto nature but therewithall lesse nobly and with lesse commendation The greatnesse of the minde is not so much to drawe vp and hale forward as to knowe how to range direct and circumscribe it selfe It holdeth for great whatever is sufficient And sheweth her height in loving meane things better then eminent There is nothing so goodly so faire and so lawfull as to play the man well and duely Nor Science so hard and difficult as to knowe how to live this life well And of all the infirmities we have the most savage is to despise our being Whoso will sequester or distract his minde le● him hardily doe it if hee can at what time his body is not well at ease thereby to discharge it from that contagion And elsewhere contrary that shee may assist and favour him and not refuse to be partaker of his naturall pleasures and conjugally be pleased with them adding therevnto if shee bee the wiser moderation least through indiscretion they might be confounded with displeasure Intemperance is the plague of sensuality and temperance is not her scourge but rather her seasoning Eudoxus who thereon established his chiefe fecility and his companions