well also to keepe from them such schoole-fellowes as be unhappie and given to doe shrowd turnes for such as they are enough to corrupt and marre the best natures in the world All these rules and lessons which hitherto I have delivered do concerne honestie vertue and profit but those that now remaine behinde pertaine rather to humanity and are more agreeable to mans nature For in no case would I have fathers to be verie hard sharpe and rigorous to their children but I could rather wish and desire that they winke at some faults of a yoong man yea and pardon the same when they espie them remembring that they themselves were sometimes yoong For like as Physitians mingling and tempering otherwhiles some sweetejuice or liquid with bitter drugs and medicines have devised that pleasure and delight should be the meanes and way to do their patients good Even so fathers ought to delay their eager reprehensions and cutting rebukes with kindnesse and clemencie one while letting the bridle loose and giving head a little to the youthfull desires of their children another while againe reigning them short and holding them in as hard but above all with patience gently to beare with their faults But if so be fathers cannot otherwise doe but be soone angrie then they must assoone have done and be quickly pacified For I had rather that a father should be hastie with his children so he be appeased anon then show to anger and as hard to be pleased againe For when a father is so hard harted that he will not be reconciled but carieth still in minde the offence that is done it is a great signe that he hateth his children And I hold it good that fathers somtime take not knowlege of their childrens faults and in this case make some use of hard hearing and dimme sight which old age ordinarily bringeth with it as if by reason of these infirmities they neither saw somewhat when they see well ynough nor heard that which they heare plainely We beare with the faults of friends what strange matter is it then to tolerate the imperfections of our owne children Many a time when our servants have overdrunke themselves surfeited therwith we search not too narrowly into them nor rebuke them sharply therefore keepe thy sonne one while short be franke another while and give him money to spend freely Thou hast beene highly offended and angrie with him once pardon him another time for it Hath he practised secretly with any one of thy houshold servants and beguiled thee Dissemble the matter and bridle thine yre Hath he beene at one of thy farmes met with a good yoke of oxen made money therof Commeth he in the morning to do his dutie and bid thee good morrow belching sowre and smelling strongly of wine which the day before he drunke at the taverne with companions like himselfe seeme to know nothing Senteth he of sweete perfumes and costly pomanders Hold thy peace and say nothing These are the means to tame and breake a wilde and coltish youth True it is that such as naturally be subject to wantonnesse or carnall lust and will not be reclaimed from it not give eare to those that rebuke them ought to have wives of their owne and to be yoked in marriage for surely this is the best and surest meanes to bridle those affections and to keepe them in order And when fathers are resolved upon this point what wives are they to seeke for them Surely those that are neither in blood much more noble nor in state farre wealthier than they For an old said saw it is and a wise Take a wife according to thy selfe As for those that wed women farre higher in degree or much wealthier than themselves I cannot say they be husbands unto their wives but rather slaves unto their wives goods I have yet a few short lessons to annexe unto those above rehearsed which when I have set downe I will conclude and knit up these precepts of mine Above all things fathers are to take heed that they neither commit any grosse fault nor omit any one part of their owne dutie to the end they may be as lively examples to their owne children who looking into their life as into a cleere mirrour may by the precedents by them given forbeare to do or speake any thing that is unseemely and dishonest For such fathers who reproove their children for those parts which they play themselves see not how under the name of their children they condemne their owne selves But surely all those generally who are ill livers have not the heart to rebuke so much as their owne servants much lesse dare they finde fault with their children And that which is woorst of all in living ill themselves they teach and counsell their servants and children to do the same For looke where old folke be shamelesse there must yoong people of necessitie be most graceles and impudent Endevour therfore we ought for the resormation of our children to do our selves all that our dutie requireth and heerein to imitate that noble Ladie Eurydice who being a Slavonian borne and most barbarous yet for the instruction of her owne children she tooke paines to learne good letters when she was well stept in yeeres And how kinde a mother she was to her children this Epigram which she her selfe made and dedicated to the Muses doth sufficiently testifie and declare This Cupid here of honest love a true Memoriall is Which whilom Dame Eurydice of Hierapolis To Muses nine did dedicate where by in soule and mind Conceiv'd she was in later daies and brought foorth fruit in kind For when her children were well growen good ancient Lady shee And carefull mother tooke the paines to learne the A. B. C. And in good letters did so far proceed that in the end She taught them those sage lessons which they might comprehend But now to conclude this Treatise To be able to observe and keepe all these precepts and rules together which I have before set downe is a thing haply that I may wish for rather than give advise and exhort unto Howbeit to affect and follow the greater part of them although it require a rare felicitie and singular diligence yet it is a thing that man by nature is capable of and may attaine unto HOW A YOONG MAN OVGHT TO HEARE POETS AND HOW HE MAY TAKE PROFIT BY READING POEMES The Summarie FOrasmuch as yoong students are ordinarily allured as with a baite by reading of poets in such sort as willingly they employ their time therein considering that Poësie hath I wot not what Sympathie with the first heats of this age therefore by good right this present discourse is placed next unto the former And albeit it to speake properly it pertaineth unto those onely who read ancient Poëts as well Greeke as Latin to take heede and beware how they take an impression of dangerous opinions in regard either of religion or manners yet a man may comprehend
dishonest what is just and generally what to choise and what to refuse how we ought to beare our selves towards the gods and towards our parents what our demeanour should bee with our elders what regard we are to have of lawes what our cariage must be to strangers to superiours how we are to converse with our friends In what sort we ought to demeane our selves towards our children and wives and finally what behaviour it beseemeth us to snew unto our servants and familie For as much as our duetie is to worship and adore the gods to honour our parents to reverence our ancients to obey the lawes to give place unto our superiors and betters to love our friends to use our wives chastely and with moderation to be and affectionate to our children and not to be ouragious with our servants nor to tyrannize over them But the principall and chiefe of all is this not to shew our selves over joious and merrie in prosperitie nor yet exceeding heavie and sad in adversitie not in pleasures and delight dissolute nor in anger furious and transported or rather transformed into brutish beasts by choler And these I esteeme to be the foveraigne fruits that are to be gathered and gotten by Philosophie For to carrie a generous and noble heart in prosperitie is the part of a brave minded man to live without envie and malice is the signe of a good and tractible nature to overcom pleasures by the guidance of reason is the act of wise and sage men and to bridle and restraine choler is a mastry that every one cannot skill of But the height of perfection in my judgement those onely attaine unto who are able to joine and intermingle the politicke government of weale publike with the profession and studie of Philosophie For by this meanes I suppose they may enjoy two of the best things in the world to wit the profit of the common weale by managing State affaires and their owne good living so as they doc in tranquilitie and repose of mind by the meanes of Philosophie For whereas there be amongst men three sorts of life namely Active Contemplative and Voluptuous this last named being dissolute loose and thrall to pleasure is bruitish beastly base and vile The contemplative wanting the active is unprofitable and the active not participating with the speculation of Philosophie committeth many absurde conormities and wanteth ornaments to grace and beautifie it In which regard men must endevour and aslay as much as lieth in them both to deale in government of the State and also to give their mindes to the studie of Philosophie so farre foorth as they have time and publike affaires will permit Thus governed in times past noble Pericles thus ruled Archytas the Tarentine thus Dion the Syracusian and Epaminondas of Thebes swaied the State where they lived and both of them aswell the one as the other conversed familiarly with Plato As touching the Institution of children in good literature needlesse I suppose it is to write any more This onely will I adde unto the rest that hath beene said which I suppose to be expedient or rather necessarie namely that they make no small account of the workes and bookes of the ancient Sages and Philosophers but diligentlie collect and gather them together so as they do it after the maner of good husbandmen For as they doe make provision of such tooles as pertaine to Agriculture and husbandrie not onely to keepe them in their possession but also to use them accordingly so this reckoning ought to be made that the instruments and furniture of knowledge and learning bee good bookes if they be read and perused For from thence as from a fountaine they may be sure to maintaine the same And here we are not to forget the diligence that is to be imployed in the bodily exercise of children but to remember that they bee sent into the schooles of those masters who make profession of such feats there to be trained and exercised sufficiently aswell for the streight and decent grouth as for the abilitie and strength of their bodies For the fast knitting and strong complexion of the bodie in children is a good foundation to make them another day decent and personable old men And like as in time of a calme faire season they that are at sea ought to make provision of necessarie meanes to withstand foule weather and a tempest even so verie meete it is that tender age be furnishd with temperance sobrietie and continencie and even betimes reserve and lay up such voyage provision for the better sustenance of old age Howbeit in such order ought this labour and travell of children to be dispensed that their bodies be not exhaust and dried up and so by that meanes they themselves be overwearied and made either unmeet or unwilling to follow their booke afresh and take their learning For as Plato said very well Sleepe and lassitude be enemies to learning But why do I stand hereupon so much being in comparison so small a matter Proceed I will therefore and make haste to that which is of greatest importance and passeth all the rest that hath beene said before For this I say that youth ought to be trained to militarie feats namely in launcing darts and javelins in drawing a bow and shooting arrowes in chasing also and hunting wilde beasts Forasmuch as all the goods of those who are vanquished in fight be exposed as a prey and bootie to the conquerours neither are they fit for warfarre and to beare armes whose bodies having beene daintily brought up in the shade and within house are corpulent and of a soft and delicate constitution The leane and dry the raw bone soldiour fierce Who train'd hath beene in armes and warlike toile In field wholerankes of enemies will pierce And in the lists all his concurrents foile But what may some men say unto me Sir you have made promise to give us examples and precepts concerning the education of all children free borne and of honest parentage and now me thinkes you neglect the education of commoners and poore mens children and deliver no instructions but such as are for gentlemen and be sutable to the rich and wealthie onely To which objection it is no hard matter to make answere For mine owne part my desire especially is that this instruction of mine might serve all but in case there be some who for want of meanes cannot make that use and profit which I could wish let them lay the waight upon fortune and not blame him who hath given them his advise and counsell in these points And yet for poore men thus much will I say Let them endevour and straine themselves to the utmost of their power to bring up their children in the best manner and if they cannot reach unto that yet must they aime thereat and come as neere as their abilitie will give them leave I have beene willing to insert these points by the way into this present
argument and to charge my discourse over and above therewith that I might prosecute other precepts remayning behinde which concerne the education of yoong men Thus much therefore I say moreover that children must be trained and brought to their duety in all lenity by faire words gentle exhortations and milde remonstrance and in no wise pardie by stripes and blowes For this course of swinging and beating seemeth meete for bondslaves rather than persons of free condition And to say a truth by this meanes they become dull and senselesse nay they have all studie and labour afterwards in hatred and horrour partly for the smart and paine which they abide by such correction and in part by the contumely and reproch that they sustaine thereby Praise and dispraise be farre better and more profitable to children free borne than all the whips rods and boxes in the world the one for to drive them forward to well doing the other to draw them backe from doing ill but both the one and the other are to be used in alternative course One while they would be commended another while blamed and rebuked and namelie if at any time they be too jocund and insolent they ought to be snibbed a little and taken downe yea and put to some light shame but soone after raised up againe by giving them their due praises And herein we must imitate good nourses who when they have set their infants a crying give them the breast for to still them againe Howbeit a measure would be kept and great heed taken that they be not too highly commended for feare least they grow proude and presume overmuch of themselves For when they be praised exceedingly they waxe carelesse dissolute and enervate neither will they be willing afterwards to take more paines Moreover I have knowen certaine fathers who through excessive love of their children have hated them afterwards But what is my meaning by this speech Surely I will declare my minde and make my words plaine anon by an evident example and demonstration Some fathers I say there be who upon a hot and hastie desire to have their children come soone forward and to be the formost in every thing put them to immoderate travell and excessive paines in such sort that they either sincke under the waight of the burden and so fall into greevous maladies or else finding themselves thus surcharged and overladen they are not willing to learne that which is taught them And it fareth with them as it doth with yoong herbes and plants in a garden which so long as they be watered moderately are nourished and thrive very well but if they be overmuch drenched with water they take harme thereby and are drowned Even so we must allow unto children a breathing time betweene their continuall labours considering and making this account That all the life of man is divided into labor rest and for this cause Nature hath so this account That all the life of man is divided into labor rest and for this cause Nature hath so ordained that as there is a time to be awake so we finde a time also to sleepe One while there is warre and another while peace It is not alwaies winter and foule weather but sommer likewise and a faire season There be appointed not onely worke daies to toyle in but also feastivall holidaies to solace and disport our selves In sunne rest and appose is as it were the sance unto our travaile And this we may observe as well in senselesse and livelesse things as in living and sensible creature For we unbend our bowes and let slacke the strings of Lutes Harpes and such musicall instruments to the end that we may bend and stretch the same againe And in one word as the bodie is preserved and maintained by repletion and evacuation successively so the minde likewise by repose and travell in their turnes Furthermore there be other fathers also woorthy of rebuke and blame who after they have once betaken their children to Masters Tutors and Governors never deigne afterwards themselves either to see or heare them whereby they might know how they learne wherein they do faile verie much in their dutie For they ought in proper person to make triall how they profit they should ever and anon after some few daies passed betweene see into their progresse and proceeding and not to repose their hope and rest altogether upon the discretion and disposition of a mercenarie master And verily this carefull regard of the fathers will worke also greater diligence in the master themselves seeing that by this meanes they are called estsoones as it were to account and examine how much they plie their schollers and how they profit under their hands To this purpose may be well applied a prety woord spoken sometimes by a wise estugry of a stable Nothing quoth he feedeth the steede so fat as doth the masters eie But above all things the memorie of children ought daily to be exercised for that it is as a man would say the Treasury Storehouse of all learning Which was the cause that the ancient Poëts have feigned That Lady Mnemosyne that is to say Memorie was the mother of the Muses Whereby they would seeme under an aenigmaticall and darke speech to give us to understand that nothing availeth so much either to breed or to feed and nourish learning as Memorie And therefore great diligence would be used in the exercise thereof everie way whether the children be by nature good of remembrance and retentive or otherwise of a fickle memorie and given to oblivion For the gift of nature in the one by exercise we shall confirme and augment and the imperfection or default in the other by diligence supplie and correct in such sort that as they shall become better than others so these shall proove better then themselves For verie wisely to this purpose said the Poët Hesiodus If little still to little thou do ad a heape at length and mickle will be had Over and besides I would not have fathers to be ignorant of another point also as touching this memorative part faculty of the mind namely that it serveth much not onely to get learning and literature but also is a meanes that carieth not the least stroke in wordly affaires For the remembrance of matters past furnisheth men with examples sufficient to guide and direct them in their consultatious of future things Furthermore this care would be had of yoong children that they be kept from filthie and unseemely speeches For words as Democritus saith are the shadowes of deeds Trained also they must be to be courteous affable faire spoken aswell in intertainment of talke with every one as in saluting and greeting whomsoever they meete for there is nothing in the world so odious as to be coy and surly of speech to make it strange and to disdaine for to speake with men Againe yoong students shall make themselves more lovely and amiable to those with whom
their children fall to gaming revelling masking and banquetting to drunkennesse wanton whooring love and such like misdemeanors So as in these regards this one Mot of Euenus in an Epigram of his deserveth to be praised and remembred See bow great paines all fathers undergo What daily griefes their chieldren put them to And yet for all this fathers cease not still to nourish and bring up children and such most of al who stand least in need of their children another day for a meere mockery it were and a ridiculous thing if a man should suppose that rich wealthy men do sacrifice unto the gods and make great joy at the nativitie and birth of their children because that one day they shall feede and susteine them in their old age and interre them after they be dead unlesse perhaps it may be said they rejoice thus and be so glad to have and bring up children for that otherwise they should leave none heires behind them as who would say it were so hard a matter to finde out and meet with those that would be willing to inherite the lands and goods of strangers Certes the sands of the sea the little motes in the sunne raised of dust the feathers of birds together with their variable notes be not so many in number as there be men that gape after heritages and be ready to succeed others in their livings Danaus who as they say was the father of 50. daughters if his fortune had beene to be childlesse I doubt not but he should have had more heires than so to have parted his goods and stare among them and those verily after another sort than the heires of his owne body For children yeeld their parents no thanks at all for being their inheritours neither in regard thereof do they any service dutie or honour unto them for why they expect and looke for the inheritance as a thing due and of right belonging unto them but contrariwise you heare how those strangers that hang and hunt about a man who hath no children much like to those in the comaedies singing this song O sir no wight shall do you any harme I will revenge your wrongs and quarrels ay Hold heare three-halfe-pence good to keepe you warme Purse it drinke it sing wo and care away As for that which Euripides saith These worldly goods procure men friends to chuse And credit most who then will them refuse It is not simply and generally true unlesse it be to those as have no children for such indeed are sure to be invited and feasted by the rich lords and rulers will make court and be serviceable to such for them great oratours and advocates will plead at the bar without fee and give their counsell gratis How mightie is a rich man with each one So long as his next heire is knowne to none where as you shall see many in the world who before time having a number of friends and honour enough and no sooner had a little childe borne unto them but they lost all their friends credit and reputation at once so that by this reckoning the having of children maketh nothing at all to the authoritie of their parents so that in regard thereof it is not that they doe so love their children but surely the cause of this their kindnesse and affection proceedeth altogether from nature and appeereth no lesse in mankind than in wilde beasts Howbeit otherwhiles this naturall love aswell as many other good qualities in men are blemished and obscured by occasion of vice that buddeth up afterwards like as we see wilde briers bushes and brambles to spring up and grow among good and kind seeds for otherwise we might as well collect and say that men love not themselves because many cut their owne throates or wilfully fall down headlong from steepe rocks and high places For Oedipus With bloudy hand his owne eie-lids did force And plucked out his eies upon remorce Hegesias disputing and discoursing upon a time of abstinence caused many of his auditours and scholars to pine themselves to death Such accidents of many sorts there be Permitted by the gods we daily see But al of them like as those other passions and maladies of the mind before named transport a man out of his owne nature and put him beside himselfe so as they testifie against themselves that this is true and that they do amisse heerein for if a sow having farrowed a little pigge devoure it when she hath done or a bitch chance to teare in peeces a puppie or whelpe of her own litter presently men are amazed at the sight thereof and woonderfully affrighted whereupon they sacrifice unto the gods certaine expiatorie sacrifices for to divert the sinister praesages thereof as taking it to a prodigious woonder as confessing thereby that it is a propertie given to all living creatures even by the instinct and institution of nature To love foster and cherrish the fruit of their owne bodies so farre is it from them to destroy the same And yet notwithstanding her corruption and depravation in this behalfe Like as in mines the gold although it be mixed with much clay and furred all over with earth shineth glittereth thorow the same and is to be seene afarre off even so nature amid the most depravate maners and corrupt passions that we have sheweth a certeine love and tender affection to little ones To conclude wheras the poore many times make no care at all to nourish and reare up their children it is for nothing els but because they feare left having not so good bringing up nor so civill education as they ought they should proove servile in behavior untaught unmanerly rude and void of all good parts and judging as they do povertie to be the extremity of all miseries that can befall to man their heart will not serve them to leave unto their children this hereditarie calamity as a most grievous and dangerous disease OF THE PLVRALITY OF FRIENDS The Summarie IN certeine discourses going before it appeareth what a benefit and good thing friendship is And now Plutarch addeth thereto a certaine correction very necessary in regard of our nature which is given alwaies to bend unto extremities and not able long to holde the golden-meane Like as therefore it bewraieth a miserable wretched and cursed mind to be desirous for to leade a life without acquaintance and familiarity with any person even so to make friends as they say hand over head and upon every occasion is peradventure unpossible but surely not expedient Our authour therefore willing to reforme this disordinate affection that is in many who because they would have a number of friends often-times have not one assured sheweth that it is farre better for a man to get one fast and faithfull friend than a great multitude of whom he can not make any certaine account propounding as aremedie for this covetous minde of entertaining such a plurality of friends the examples of those who are contented
beene miraculously and beyond all hope expectation saved from death and among the rest he gave instance of Cypselus the father of Periander whom being but a yoong babe and infant new borne certeine bloudie murderers were sent to kill and upon the sight of him for verie pittie turned away and forbare to commit so bloudy afact but afterwards bethinking themselves and repenting such foolish compassion they returned backe againe to seeke him out but could not finde him for that his mother had hidden him within a little corne flasket or twiggen hamper called in Greek Cypsels in remembrance whereof Cypselus afterwards when he was a man dedicated a chappell within the temple of Apollo in Delphos as beleeving how at that time hee had beene miraculously preserved and by the hand of God kept from crying which might have bewraied him to the murderers Then Pittacus addressing his speech to Pertander said thus Chersias hath done me a great pleasure to mention this chapell or cell for many a time desirous I was to know of you what should be the meaning of those frogs which are seene graven round about the foot of the palme tree therein and what they did concerne either the said God Apollo or the man himselfe who built and dedicated the said house And when Periander willed him to aske Chersias that question who wist well enough what it was for that he was with Cypselus at the dedication thereof Chersias smiled and said I will not expound the mysterie thereof unlesse I may know first of them that be heere what is meant by these olde said sawes Nothing too much Know thy selfe and that other mot which hath caused some to continue single and unmaried others to forbeare sureti-ship and many to be distrustfull to be mute and silent to wit Give thy word and pay Be surely and be sure of a shrewd turne And what need is there quoth Pittacus that we should interpret and declare these sentences considering you so greatly praise the fables that Aesope hath composed which shew the substance of every one Aesope answered So saith Chersias indeed when he is disposed to jest and be merry with me but when he speaketh in good earnest he affirmeth that Homer was the first author of these sentences saying that Homer knew himselfe well enough who advancing forward to set upon other captaines of the Greeks Refused well and wisely for to fight With Ajax sonne of Telamon that knight He saith moreover that Ulysses approoved and commended this sentence Nothing too much when he admonished Diomedes in these tearmes Sir Diomede praise not me overmuch Ne yet dispraise I love no doings such And as for sureti-ship others are of opinion that he condemneth it as a leawd naughty and dangerous thing in these words Who sureties are for men distrest and in calamity Taste oftentimes for their kind heart much infortunity But this Poet Chersias here saith That the fiend Ate which is as much to say as Plague or Infortunitie was by Jupiter flung downe from heaven to earth for that she was present at the caution or warrantise which he interposed as touching the nativitie of Hercules whereby Jupiter was circumvented and overtaken Then Solon Seeing it is so quoth he I am of this minde that we should give eare and credit to the most wise Poet Homer whose counsell this is Since that the night comes on apace and hath suprised us Full meet it is her to obey and end our speeches thus After we have therefore given thanks in powring out wine and offering it to the Muses Neptune and Amphitrite let us if you thinke so good end this our assembly and banquet Thus Nicarchus this our mery meeting brake up and was for that time dissolved INSTRVCTIONS FOR THEM THAT MANAGE AFFAIRES OF STATE The Summarie TYrannie in any publike government be it of prince seignourie or people as it is dangerous and detestable so we are no lesse to feare anarchie and the horrible confusion of those States where every one is a lord master The wise man said very wel That a people or citie destitute of government is neere to ruine and publike affaires prosper well when there be store of good counsellers And on the other side experience sheweth that humane societie can not stand without magistrates the mainteiners of lawes good order which be the nerves or sinewes the cords and props of our life and conversation one with another But if there be any way in the world slipperie it is that of the management of State affaires by reason of the leawdnesse of some whom I may call Sage fooles who runne by heaps after publike offices not suffering men of honour to enter into them as fearing to be afterwards ranged and ordered by reason Since then that ambition is a mortall plague in the mind and understanding of him who would advance himselfe by crooked and indirect meanes it behooveth on the contrary side that those who have a sincere affection to serve in publike place take heed that they be not discouraged although otherwhiles they be kept under and put downe by such persons as by good right ought to serve and not command To holde therefore some meane in this case betweene mounting up unto vain-glory and falling into cowardise Plutarch for to content and satisfie a friend of his giveth good instructions to every man that entreth into the managing of State affaires and in the first place he requireth at his hands a good will free from vanitie and lightnesse void of avarice and delivered from ambition and envie afterwards his advice is that he endevour to know those well whom he must governe for to acquit him well in his owne dutie in case he be inducted unto any high degree in reforming himselfe and being furnished with a good conscience knowledge eloquence proper instruments for to go thorow all difficulties This done he teacheth a States-man to manage well his owne words also what way he ought to take for the entrance into the conduct of his weightie affaires what friends he is to chuse and how he is to demeane himselfe as well with them as his enemies afterwards he discusseth and handleth this question to wit Whether such a person as he whom he hath represented ought to intermeddle and deale in all offices and resolveth that he ought to manage none but that which is of greatest importance From this he proceedeth to speake of that discretion which is requisit for the ranging and bringing into order of slanderers and enemies and withall with what maner of affaires a politician should busic and 〈◊〉 himselfe and whereto his spirit and minde is to tend wishing above all that he should enterteine the amitie of other lords and rulers who are able to further and advance the publike good and in the meane time to be well advised that he doe not goe about to save or ruinate rather his owne countrey by forren meanes Heereupon he discourseth of those maladies
boord onely without worke of any other tooles or instruments at all unto whom he answered Because our citizens should be moderate in all things that they bring into their houses and have no furniture therein that might set other mens teeth on water or which other men do so much affect From this custome by report it came that king Leotychides the first of that name being at supper in a friends house of his when he saw the roofe over his head richly seeled with embowed arch-worke demanded of his host whether the trees in that countrey grew square or no When he was asked why he forbad to make warre often against the same enemies For feare quoth he that being forced estsoones to stand upon their owne guard and put themselves in defence they should in the end become well experienced in the warres in which regard Agesilaus afterwards was greatly blamed for being the cause by his continuall expeditions and invasions into Boeotia that the Thebans were equall in armes unto the Lacedaemonians Another asked also of him why he enjoined maidens marriageable to exercise their bodies in running wrestling pitching the barre flinging coits and lancing of darts For this purpose quoth he that the first rooting of their children which they are to breed taking fast and sure holde in able bodies wel set and strongly knit might spring and thrive the better within them and they also themselves being more firme and vigorous beare children afterward the better be prepared and exercised as it were to endure the paines and travels of child-birth easily and stoutly over and besides if need required be able to fight in defence of themselves their children and countrey Some there were who found fault with the custome that he brought in that the maidens of the city at certeine festivall daies should dance naked in solemne shewes and pomps that were set demanding the cause thereof to whom hee rendred this reason That they performing the same exercises which men do might be no lesse enabled than they either in strength and health of body or in vertue and generosity of minde and by that meanes checke and despise the opinion that the vulgar sort had of them And from hence it came that Gorgo the wife of Leonidas as we finde written when a certeine dame and ladie of a forren countrey said unto her There be no other women but you Laconian wives that have men at command answered in this wise For why we onely are the women that beare men Moreover he debarted and kept those men who remained unmarried from the sight of those shewes where the yoong virgins aforesaid danced naked and that which more is set upon them the note of infamie in depriving them expresly of that honour and service which yonger solke are bound to yeeld unto their elders in which doing he had a great foresight and providence to move his citizens to marriage and for to beget children by occasion whereof there was never any man yet who misliked and complained of that which was said unto Dercillidas by way of reproch though otherwise he was a right good and valiant captaine for when he came upon a time into a place one of the yonger sort there was who would not deigne to rise up unto him nor give him any reverence and this reason he gave Because quoth he as yet you have not begotten a childe to rise up and doe his duety likewise to me Another asked of him wherefore he had ordeined that daughters should be married without a dowrie or portion given with them Because quoth he for default of marriage-money none of them might stay long ere they were wedded nor be hearkened after for their goods but that every man regarding onely the maners and conditioins of a yoong damosell might make choise of her whom he meaneth to espouse for her vertue onely which is the reason also that he banished out of Sparta all maner of painting trimming and artificiall embelishments to procure a superficiall beauty and complexion Having also prefixed and set downe a certeine time within the which aswell maidens as yoong men might marrie one would needs know of him why he limited forth such a definite terme unto whom he answered Because their children might be strong and lustie as being begotten and conceived of such persons as be already come to their full growth Some woondered why hee would not allow that the new married bridegrome should lie with his espouse but expresly gave order that the most part of the day hee should converse with his companions yea and all the nights long but whensoever hee went to keepe company with his new wedded wife it should be secretly and with great heed and care that hee be not surprized or found with her This quoth he is done to this end that they may be alwaies more strong and in better plight of body also that by not enjoying their delights and pleasures to the full their love might be ever fresh and their infants betweene them more hardie and stout furthermore hee remooved out of the citie all precious and sweete persumes saying That they were no better than the verie marring and corruption of the good naturall oile the art also of dying and tincture which he said was nothing else but the slatterie of the senses to be briefe he made the citie Sparta inaccessible as I may say for all jewelers and fine workmen who professe to set out and adorne the body giving out that such by their lewd artificiall devices do deprave and marre the good arts and mysteries in deed In those daies the honestie and pudicitie of dames was such and so far off were they from that tractable facilitie and easie accesse unto their love which was afterwards that adulterie among them was held for an unpossible and uncredible thing And to this pupose may well be remembred the narration of one Geradatas an ancient Spartane of whom a stranger asked the question What punishment adulterers were to suffer in the citie of Sparta for that he saw Lycurgus had set downe no expresse law in that behalfe Why quoth he there is no adulterie among us but when the other replied againe Yea but what and if there were even the same answere made Geradatas and none other For how quoth he can there be an adulterer in Sparta wherein all riches all superfluous delights and dainties all outward trickings and embelishings of the bodie are despised and dishonoured and where shame of doing ill honestie reverence and obeisance to superiors carrie away all the credit and authoritie One put himselfe forward and was in hand with him to set up and establish the popular State of government in Sparta unto whom hee answered Begin it thy selfe first within thine owne house And unto another who demaunded of him why he ordained the sacrifices in Lacedaemon so simple and of smal cost To the end quoth he that we should never cease and give over to worship and honour the gods
to begin againe to learne True it is that long since I was discontented in my heart to heare Euripides speake in this wise He putteth off from day to day Gods nature is thus to delay For it were not meet and decent that God should be slow in any action whatsoever and least of all in punishing sinners who are themselves nothing slothfull nor make delaie in perpetrating wicked deeds but are caried most speedily and with exceeding violence of their passions pricked forward to do wrong and mischiefe And verily when punishment ensueth hard after injury and violence committed there is nothing as Thucydides saith that so soone stoppeth up the passage against those who are most prone and ready to runne into all kinde of wickednesse for there is no delay of paiment that so much enfeebleth the hope and breaketh the heart of a man wronged and offended nor causeth him to be so insolent and audacious who is disposed to mischiefe as the deferring of justice and punishment whereas contrariwise the corrections chastisements that follow immediately upon leud acts and meet with the malefactours betimes are a meanes both to represse all future outrage in offenders and also to comfort and pacifie the heart of those who are wronged For mine owne part the saying of Bias troubleth me many times as often as I thinke upon it for thus he spake unto a notorious wicked man I doubt not but thou shalt one day smart for this geere and pay for thy leudnesse but I feare I shall never live to see it For what good unto the Messenians being slaine before did the punishment of Aristocrates who having betraied them in the battell of Cypres was not detected and discovered for his treason in twentie yeeres after during which time he was alwaies king of Arcadia and being at the last convicted for the said treacherie suffred punishment for his deserts meane while those whom he had caused to be massacred were not in the world to see it Or what comfort and consolation received the Orchomenians who lost their children kinsfolke and friends through the treason of Lyciscus by the maladie which long after seized upon him eating consuming al his bodie who ever as he dipped and bathed his feet in the river water kept a swearing and cursing that he thus rotted and was eaten away for the treachery which most wickedly he had committed And at Athens the childrens children of those poore wretches who were killed within the privileged place of sanctuarie could never see the vengeance of the gods which afterwards fell upon those bloudie and sacrilegious caitifes whose dead bodies and bones being excommunicate were banished and cast out beyond the confines of their native countrey And therefore me thinkes Euripides is very absurd when to divert men from wickednesse he useth such words as these Justice feare not will not thee overtake To pierce thy heart or deepe wound ever make In liver thine nor any mortall wight Besides though leud he be and doe no right But slow she goes and silent to impeach And chastise such if ever them she reach For I assure you it is not like that wicked ungracious persons use any other perswasions but even the very same to incite move and encourage themselves to enterprise any leud and wicked acts as making this account and reckoning that injustice will quickly yeeld her frute ripe in due time and the same evermore certaine whereas punishment commeth late and long after the pleasure and fruition of the said wickednesse When Patrocleas had discoursed in this wise Olympiacus tooke the matter in hand and said unto him Marke moreover ô Patrocleas what inconvenience and absurditie followeth upon this slownesse of divine justice and prolonging the punishment of malefactors for it causeth unbeliefe in men and namely that they are not perswaded that it is by the providence of God that such be punished the calamitie that cōmeth upon wicked ones not presently upon every sinful act that they have committed but long time after is reputed by them infelicitie and they call it their fortune and not their punishment whereupon it commeth to passe that they have no benefit thereby nor be any whit better for howsoever they grieve and be discontented at the accidents which befall unto them yet they never repent for the leud acts they have before commitred And like as in punishment among us a little pinch stripe or lash given unto one for a fault or error presently upon the dooing thereof doth correct the partie and reduce him to his dutie whereas the wrings scourgings knocks and sounding thumps which come a good while after seeme to be given upon some occasion beside and for another cause rather than to teach and therefore well may they put him to paine and griefe but instruction they yeeld none even so naughtinesse rebuked and repressed by some present chastisement every time that it trespasseth and transgresseth howsoever it be painfull at first yet in the end it bethinketh it selfe learneth to be humbled and to feare God as a severe justicier who hath an eie upon the deeds and passions of men for to punish them incontinently and without delay whereas this justice and revenge which commeth so slowly and with a soft pace as Euripides saith upon the wicked and ungodly persons by reason of the long intermission the inconstant and wandring incertitude and the confused disorder resembleth chance and adventure more than the desseigne of any providence insomuch as I cannot conceive or see what profit can be in these grindstones as they call them of the gods which are so long a grinding especially seeing that the judgement and punishment of sinners is thereby obscured and the feare of sinne made slight and of no reckoning upon the deliverie of these words I began to studie and muse with my selfe then Timon Would you quoth he that I should cleere this doubt once for all and so make an end of this disputation or permit him first to dispute and reason against these oppositions And what need is there answered I to come in with a third wave for to overflow and drowne at once our speech and discourse if he be not able to refute the former objections nor to escape and avoid the chalenges alreadie made First and formost therefore to begin at the head and as the manner is to say at the goddesse Vesta for the reverent regard and religious feare that the Academick philosophers professe to have unto God as an heavenly father we utterly disclaime and refuse to speake of the Deitie as if we knew for certaintie what it is for it were a greater presumption in us who are but mortall men to enterprise any set speech or discourse as touching gods or demi-gods than for one who is altogether ignorant in song to dispute of musick or for them who never were in campe nor saw so much as a battell fought to put themselves forward to discourse of armes and warfare taking upon