child Wherevpon he made the said Leideric knight and created him Earle of Flanders Now saith the historie that the eldest sonne of the said Earle being old inough to court ladies did meet before the court gates with a woman that had a small basket of fruit to sell which he tooke from her and carried vp vnto the gentlewomen The poore woman staied for money for her said fruit so long vntill it grew towards night and then departing homeward she lost her selfe in the forrest so as she could not find her house vntill the next morning when comming home she found her child dead for want of the teat Wherevpon she complained vnto the Earle he fained to carrie his said sonne abroad to tourney but passing thorow the forrest he caused him to be hanged Wherefore let vs suppose that the people accused the Earle vnto the king in this sort EVery cruelty if it may please your Maiestie is assuredly very odious but that which the father committeth against his owne child is most execrable for the father his kindnesse ought to exceed all other loue imitating therein the loue which God did beare vnto man for the saluation of whom he hath not spared his only begotten son our Lord and Redeemer whose example they are more bound to follow that are chosen to rule others then those which are more base in condition because the people for the most part doe conforme themselues to immitate their actions which command and especially the bad before the good Wherevpon it followeth that he which commandeth ouer a Commonwealth or prouince cannot offend in any meane sort especially if his offence be publike more if the cause be not ouer great but most of all if it be such a vice as degenerateth from the nature of man all which said faults are found in this detestable deed of our Earle hauing wrongfullie put to death his owne son and what sonne Euen his eldest sonne and the same which should haue succeeded him and bene our Earle But what offence can bee more publike then to cause his sonne to die by the most shamefull death in the world For by the halter are theeues executed and yet he had no such cause to put him to death seeing that notwithstanding his fault was remedilesse moreouer there is no â—ice thought more vnbeseeming a man then crueltie and there is no greater cruelty theÌ„ that which is committed against a mans owne blood the which crueltie is not only done against himselfe against his sonne and against vs in putting our Prince to death but also against the mother and brethren of the Prince and that which worst is against your Maiestie hauing executed the sonne of your daughter your nephew and your subiect who in processe of time might haue done good seruice vnto your crowne and state Wherefore this tyrant hath not only shewed crueltie vnto all these aboue named but he hath further manifested his ingratitude vnto his king and soueraigne vnto your Maiestie I say who hath made him noble by knighting him creating him Earle of this countrie and accepting him for your sonne in law What punishment deserueth not a crime so manifest committed against the person of such a monarch But who is so ignorant that will not affirme that in this action froward fortune hath rather beene the cause of the mischeife happened vnto this woman than the prince himselfe or els it was her negligence or ill hap or the desteny of the infant What meant she to stay so long Did not she know where to haue found the Prince the next day Had she lost her money by staying for it But to be short this woman did shew her selfe to be both cruell and obstinate as their sex are for the most part and it may be she staied so long tatling with some of her gossips and boasting that the Prince had bought her fruit as night ouertooke her before she was aware for the prattle of a woman is oftentimes without measure But were it that the Prince his fault were farre more manifest and hainous then it is yet is the cause to be iudged by none but by the king only or by such as should by his Maiestie be deputed and appointed for iudges and it is more vnfit that the father should be iudge of his child then any other because either too exceeding loue or too extreame rage may ouerrule him for when he is angry with those whome he loueth his anger proueth more vehement and dangerous towards them then against others Likewise no iudgement ought to be pronounced without counsell and due informations But what proofes was brought against our prince Where are those which were called to consult vpon iudgement or to giue aduice that he ought to die Alas the father and the hangman were both Iurie Iudge and Executioner Well God graunt this mischiefe proceed not from some other ground that is to say least some old malice long since conceiued hath not made the father to find this occasion to destroy his son it may be chiefely to aduance his second sonne whom he loued better I passe ouer in silence how hee hath secretly endeuoured to haue the world suppose that the same was none of his son therby meaning to slander your daughter for those which know themselues inferiour to their wiues doe neuer loue them heartily but seeke all the meanes they can to make them lesse esteemed and especially such as are ingratefull of whom this Tyrant sheweth himselfe to be the chiefest It may be said that it is not lawfull to accuse any man by coniecture but what vilenesse may not a man imagine by such a one seeing that like as vertues are knit together so do vices follow one another To conclude dread soueraigne we doe better feele this wrong done to your Maiestie to your daughter to her children and to our selues then we are able to expresse the same in words but our iust teares together with our silence demand iustice of your highnesse The answere of the Earle AS nothing surely can be more odious or degenerating from the nature of man then crueltie so also is nothing more necessarie for humane conuersation then iustice ioined with wisedome for indeed without it iustice seemeth to bee no better then crueltie as wisedome also without iustice is esteemed no other then meere malice yet holding these two vertues linked together a man may put his owne child to death and not be taxed of crueltie but rather praised for his pietie and loue towards them and Common-wealth And such were the Numantines accounted for slaying their children rather then they would leaue them for slaues So was Virginius who killed his daughter to saue her chastitie I passe ouer Manlius Torquatus Posthumius and diuers others who put their owne children to death onely for the zeale they had vnto the obseruation of militarie discipline yet for all that not any of all these haue beene iudged to be cruell or worthy of blame but on the
contrarie haue thereby gained immortall praise and glorie Likewise there is no doubt at all but that the fathers kindnesse ought to exceed all other loue following the example of our maker who leaueth not to exercise his mercy together with his iustice and that it is so he many times punisheth sinnes both in this world and in the world to come moreouer we must not thinke any father so cruell to hurt his sonne in the little finger without feeling the griefe thereof himselfe in the middest of his heart and therefore it is a meere folly to teach fathers how they ought to loue their children since nature who is the mistresse of all humane creatures instructeth them therein sufficiently and as it is most certain that princes or such as rule are aboue all others bounden to be vertuous and that they are constituted as guides and examples for all their subiects to follow so can it not also be denied but that seueritie of iustice is more requisit in them then any of the other vertues if vertues may be feperated and he which will well consider my deed without passion shall find all the foure principall vertues therein to be obserued For first of all I haue done iustice in putting him to death who was not onely the death of an innocent or at the least the same that caused the mother to suffer her child to die but also such a one who defrauded a poore woman of part of her liuing in that he paied her not for the same which she brought to sell for her reliefe My prudence was shewed in putting him to death without any commotion of the people and in terrifieng all others from offending as also to take from euery malefactor all hope to escape iust punishment for their misdeeds My temperance I declared in causing the offender to die by the shortest and secretest maner of death that I could deuise thereby ridding him from the shame to be a spectacle vnto many And my fortitude was manifest in that I was able to ouercome the desire which I had to pardon him both the same and all other offences But in the end considering that the first princes are bound by their examples to stirre vp and prouoke their successors to execute iustice without partialitie I haue for that end sacrificed my will together with the life of my best beloued sonne because the euill customes of the former princes are turned into lawes by those which succeed them and those which are good are quite forgotten if they be not confirmed by verie memorable examples Therefore Saule did not amisse when hee would haue put his sonne Ionathas to death seeing law is to be administred vnto all alike for where exception of persons is respected there must needs corruption of iustice follow which marreth all for nothing can be permament which is corrupted True it is that he was my eldest sonne but being such a one as he was he neither ought to succeed me nor yet to liue any longer and accuse me no more of crueltie since to punish an euill doer is a deed of mercie for pittie without iustice is follie or rather iniquitie and the greater he is that offendeth the more seuere punishment he deserueth For the poore wretch or hee which is of base condition may excuse himselfe by his pouertie by want of instruction by ignorance by his lewd education and such other like reasons both vaine and friuolous but the offences of great personages is to bee attributed to nothing but to pride malice Neither is one death more shamefull then another but only that death where the partie is made a spectacle to the standers by for it is not the death but the offence that is shamefull And therefore in executing iustice I cannot be tearmed cruell vnto mine owne blood or my sonne nor vnto your Prince vnto the Kings daughter neither vnto our children for he not being such a one as hee ought to be was now no more to be regarded by any of vs but was no better then a thiefe and a murtherer Who is then so mad as to be called a grandfather father mother brother or a subiect to so vild a man Neither must these be the meanes to begin those good seruices that ought to be done vnto the crowne of France which was institituted and preserued hetherto by vertue It is a vaine thing to goe about to persuade fathers of the valor or worthinesse of their children seeing that for the most part they beleeue it more then is requisite and alwaies doe excuse their faults more then they ought of which sort I confesse my selfe haue beene one so long as there was any hope of amendment I assure you that a long time was my heart most greeuously perplexed before I could consent vnto the punishment death of my sonne But omitting all other circumstances I will shew you the reasons which moued me to put my sonne to death for the sonnes discredite must needes bee the fathers disgrace because they doe alwaies cocker their children but too much and therefore it was not without cause that the Romanes from whence all good lawes haue their beginning did giue vnto fathers all power ouer the life and death of their children knowing that without most iust occasion they would neuer put them to death No sonne could be more dear vnto me then mine eldest but equitie commandeth me to loue the Common wealth better which in no sort can be regarded when he which ruleth the same is not vertuous because none therein should be in safety if the prince were vicious My life and death is in the mercie of the kings Maiestie but to die I would not haue failed to doe that which I haue done being as we are mortall and death may only be delaied but not escaped Our life also is not to be measured by our years but by our deeds for he hath liued long inough who is by good men deemed most worthie of long life and he cannot die too soone who spendeth his life in wickednesse Wherefore it was no reason that my sonne should haue liued any longer and I would to God that so his reproch might die with him as I wish my renowne may liue after me Touching iudgement he which gouerneth the Commonwealth must needs be iudge in the same Such were the Dictators or Consuls amongst the Romanes and such at this day are kings and princes And Plato saith Happie is that countrie where Philosophers are kings and kings be Philosophers whereby it appeareth that rulers ought to bee iudges as you your selues doe confesse in saying that the king ought to haue iudged my son which indeed had ben reasonable if his Maiestie by his prerogatiue had not giuen me free authority in matter of iustice in such sort then as I am subiect to the iudgement of the king is my sonne subiect vnto mine and I am not to yeeld an account of my actions vnto any other then vnto his Maiestie
any man and besides it was not only hurtfull to himselfe but also Hanniball did thereby know the cowardlinesse of the whole Senat and Citizens of Capua since that before their faces they suffered one of the noblest amongst them to be bound and carried away vnto his campe It was then that they should haue resolued or taken occasion to haue run altogether vpon Hanniball and to haue massacred him as my selfe and sonne were desirous to doe if we had seene any likelihood to haue ben seconded by any but there was then no show of such courage in you the more you accuse me to haue brought you in bondage the more vnworthie are you to be beleeued Yet if it were so why did you endure it you will say for feare of the people why could not you win or keepe the people in obedience as well as I Surely because your ambition and pride was more great to grieue them then was your wisdome or pollicie to gouerne them You will impute me for fauoring more the Plebeians then Patrician faction so was the like heretofore obiected to the Fabians who afterwards enterprised particularly to defend Rome from the Veians at Cremera where they all died sauing one who hath raised vp again their race which is at this day so profitable to the Common wealth To conclude miserie is alone without enuie wherefore it is not to bee wondered at if thou doest vomit a thousand leasings against my vertue long time guided by good fortune yet for all that canst thou not say that I haue aspired Tirantlike to rule nor called the stranger but the greatest hurt that I haue done is that I haue saued you and others like vnto you amongst the good and faithfull friends such as my selfe of the Romane Common-wealth Declamation 4. Of him which would vsurpe the inheritance of a Prince that went to the warres against his fathers will THere was a Prince who forbad his sonne to goe on a certaine iourney to the warres threatning if he went to desherite him The sonne for all that went thether wherefore the Prince made a nephew which he had his heire leauing notwithstanding a great reuenue for his son which is augmented by the new Prince Neuerthelesse shortly after he redemanded the principality saying I Hauing done nothing vnworthy for a Prince or a gentleman my father could not disherite me Wherefore it is as fit for the father in commanding to be wise as it is for the sonne in obeieng to be willing What if my father fearing to lose me had forbidden me to defend the Church or my countrie Ought I to obey him in this commaundement being no lesse dishonorable and preiudiciall vnto himselfe then to me and our posteritie Verily I confesse that fathers ought to bee obeied in all reasonable things but when their commandements are to no end nor reason they must bee neglected and after as they may obtaine pardon if of themselues they confesse not their fault besides it must bee distinguished what the matter is and what it importeth Indeed I will confesse that I should greatly haue misdone my father or countrie being in war or in any danger if then I should haue forsaken them for any thing that might happen but when there was not so much as any shew of daunger what hurt haue I done if in the wars els where I haue serued to learne the better how to defend our owne countrie or rather if I made knowne abroad to strangers and our borderers that they should not so much as thinke to offend me and not looke for requitall therof since that I did voluntarily vpon mine owne pleasure goe to defend others Tell mee then wherein I haue either offended my father or countrie by this gentlemanlike act or whether you ought not your selues to haue accompanied me if you had beene as valiant as you should haue beene but it is alwaies the custome of dastards to couer their owne cowardise either with the shadow of a certaine obedience towards their parents or by a shew of wisdome as sometimes also by a signe of their innocencie more superstitious then religious saying they ought not to kill any man or if they should as often haue their hearts and courage conformable to their wicked wils there could not bee more cruell people in the world then they Is there any in the world more desirous of reuenge then women and yet is there no creatures liuing more base and fearefull then they for as impossible is it for a noble heart to be cruell as it is for a cruell man to be couragious if you had not bewitched my fathers vnderstanding he could not chuse but haue beene very desirous to haue left his principalitie to such a sonne of his owne as had made proofe of his skill in keeping as also in augmenting the same if need were and especially being bound vnto his people to leaue them such a ruler for princes are not or should not be other then fathers or tutors at the alest vnto their people whome they should after their edath leaue to be guided by such a one as should maintaine their laws and rights and which should defend them from such as would offend them wherefore not without reason did Pirrhus king of the Epirotes answer his children who asked him to which of them hee would leaue his kingdome that he would leaue it vnto him that should haue the sharpest and best edged sword amongst them al. This valiant king did very wel know that such realmes where the king is not held for a souldiour are alwaies molested by their neighbours or by strangers Haue not we seene as much by proofe that whilest the Macedonians were vnder Philip Alexander and other valiant kings yea euen vnto the last Philip they were alwaies in prosperitie but after Perseus was their king they were subdued by the Romans and Perseus being vanquished was carried in triumph to Rome by Paulius Emilius But why stand I vpon such needlesse examples seeing they are infinit and without number Whether had the Romans euer finished their new citie amongst so many enuious and euill disposed neighbors without the valor of Romulus their king Finally if my deceased father had well considered of these reasons and that hee had not beene badly counselled by you and such as you are he had not disherited me but should greatly haue reioiced to see that during his life I endeuoured to make my selfe worthie to succeed him in his seat I need not to make a doubt whether hee might for any cause giue the principalitie to you or to any other since himselfe hauing receiued it by inheritance from my grandfather and I being borne vnto it and not vnworthie of it ought to enioy it as my due and lawfull succession for hee was no other then gardian and protector thereof how could hee then take it from me and giue it vnto you who deserue the same in no sort neither by reason nor by valor Had you bene
so wise as you thinke your selfe to be to gaine a dignitie or an assured principalitie you should haue immitated some such as it may be being lesse cowardly but more wise then you and knowing themselues not valiant enough by armes to winne any authoritie doe become first begging friers and so well behaue themselues therin as afterwards they become cardinals yea and oftentimes obtaine the Papall seat in such sort should you haue become a Prince You I say who haue neither vertue nor valor but in your tongue by the which you could so well persuade my deceassed father to dishonour himselfe and to wrong his onlie sonne preferring you before him But I haue such an assured hope in the Emperour his sacred Maiestie who is our iudge as that shall be restored which of right belongeth vnto me and I assure that but for the respect I beare to the same Maiestie I would doe that as you should know you ought not to vsurpe my gouernement but thinke your selfe verie happie in surrendring the same ouer to me not receiue the punishment due for your rashnesse The Answere RAsh and vnaduised may he be tearmed who in the end of his reasons addeth threatnings in the presence of his imperiall Maiestie whom he faineth to respect vpon whom such an iniurie redoundeth rather then vpon me who am here vnder the protection of his said Maiestie But to answere vnto this your deed I say that it is not the act of a gentleman to disobey his father either whilest hee liueth or after his death in desiring to take that from me which he charged me to keepe by his last Will. Touching the first disobedience Durst you be so presumptious to vnderstand the cause why your father did forbid you to goe vnto the wars You were ouerbold therein since he knowing your indiscretion and wauering mind would not trust you with such a secret matter How manie things seeme aduantagious honourable and profitable vnto yong men which old men doe foresee to be a manifest ruin What doe you know what they doe keepe in store for you whom you haue offended in this war Or if he who euen by your aid is become more mightie shall vse the same his power to your preiudice For so did the Romans who being succoured by their confederats did first vanquish other nations and then afterwards subdued those their confederats likewise what do you know if your father foresaw the same or a greater danger If we are bound to beleeue old men how much more then ought euery one to beleeue his father of whom next to God he holdeth his life and his being And therefore they are double in fault which do not onlie giue no credit to their words but also do disobey their commandements as you haue done for if one way you shall lay the fault vnto your frailtie which hindered you from beleeuing the truth and shall say it is mans nature so to doe Yet your disobedience added therevnto doth another way make the same vnpardonable How manie are there that haue put their children to death for lesse fault then yours It may easelie be seene by the Hebrew Greeke and Latine histories As for example Saule the first King of the Hebrewes would not he haue put his sonne Ionathas to death for tasting a little honie against the commandement of his said father although he did it ignorantlie Epaminondas the Theban did not he cause his sonne to die for fighting coÌ„trarie to his coÌ„mandement did not Aulus Posthumius and Manlius Torquatus Romans do the like what would they then thinke you haue done if their children contrarie their wil and commandment had gone to the wars as you haue done Teaching them who were with you to disobey their prince as you did your lord and father and not content to haue offended him during his life will confirme and ratifie your disobedience after his death in resisting his last Will and testament and to his great dishonor accuse him with want of wit For lesse fault was Cham the sonne of Noe not onlie disherited but also cursed of his father for euer yea and his posteritie after him who could not do with the faults of their father and grandfather The Romans had not the power ouer the life and death of their children So that but for such men as you that law at this law had not beene inuented for from the vniustice and wickednesse of men do good holy and righteous laws proceed Wherefore it is a true Prouerbe that offences beget laws and afterwards those laws doe discouer and punish offences for where no fault is there law is not requisit and where no law is there can be no breach thereof Wherevpon S. Paule saith That the law onlie made me know that to desire is sinne Your father did not prohibite you from the defence of your countrie or the church therefore you need not make a question of that which he did not but of that which hee did which was his dissuading you from this war and for the same cause hee added threatnings vnto his commandement And notwithstanding for all this you would not obey him but it may bee the great griefe which your father tooke for this your obstinacie hath procured his death and yet you say although he hath not wholly disherited you that he did you wrong to giue the principalitie vnto him whom he knew to bee best able to keepe it see how farre the loue of the father exceedeth all the malice that the sonne can imagine for notwithstanding after this your fault hee thought vpon your profit more then you deserued and therefore he had a desire to leaue you wherewithall to liue like a Prince but not the power to loose your selfe and your people Doe you thinke the good Prince did not know that in the warres vices are sooner learned then vertues And that you were more inclined to wickednesse then wisedome For how can he be a louer of vertue which despiseth both his father his commandements Moreouer hee knew very well that the countrie whose Prince is accustomed to the wars is neuer in peace and not being in peace it cannot prosper Also he said that as countâ—ies had long ben kept so they should be maintained because euerie alteration or change is dangerous and if there come any profit thereby it is not in their daies to bee expected who are then liuing Wherefore knowing that his predecessors and himselfe had more encreased and conserued their gouernement by wisedome equitie and iustice then by armes it seemed nothing reasonable vnto him to leaue for successor such a one who only seeking to be counted valiant would forsake all vertue which takes her beginning froÌ„ the feare of God and he which feareth him is another manner of man to his father then you haue beene to yours Now since your father had all these reasons on his part can you say he was not a good protector both of his people and also of you
together they were both left or lost together because I knew that being twinnes the one could not liue without the other thou foundest them together thou hast fostered them vp together and I haue found them together againe wherfore then in the restoring should they be sundred especially seeing fortune which once seperated them from their Parents would neuer sunder them one from another how could I chuse the one and leaue the other seeing that because I could not chuse I did leaue them both if the martiall law which is the cruellest doth not suffer that two brethren being taken in the warre should bee sundred how doth the Ciuil law allow it in these here who are not onelie brethren but may well bee tearmed the halfe of one another each of them loseth his grace and worth if he be absent from the other I should doe a wrong in desiring thy children but not in retaining mine why wouldest thou haue acquaintance to sunder that which abandoning to the world could not seperate I would giue al for my child except my child onely I made the bargain weeping and trembling as much as when I departed from them for I was constrained by force and necessitie because I could not find the one without promising the other It is inough of the first wrong that I did vnto my children in expulsing and leauing them through necessitie without adding thereunto a second iniurie which would bee in seperating them willinglie seeing the law my dutie and the equitie of the iudges may be my warrantise for euery agreement made by feare or force is nothing worth but only those which are willingly made or according to the lawes The Answere IF thou wilt not seperate them reason commandeth thee to leaue me both twain seeing thou haddest not onely the heart to leaue them at all aduentures but further also thou hast beene accustomed to liue without them but I leauing the one shall neuer be but in perpetuall greefe and anguish for the other seeing I haue ben accustomed to haue them both doest thou thinke that he vseth force or constraint that maketh thee a father when thou neuer hopedst to be one I haue freed them from the danger to be deuoured of brute beasts or to die with hunger I haue nursed and fostered them I doe restore one vnto thee yea and giue thee thy choice wherefore no man is a loser but I although the iudges should be neuer so righteous and fauorable to my most iust demand Declamation 45. Of him which stroke his father by the compulsion of a Tyrant whom he afterwards did slay and requireth a reward therefore THe law appointed that whosoeuer did strike his father should haue his hands cut off Wherevpon it chanced that the King being a Tyrant caused a man and his two sonnes to be sent for vnto his pallace and hauing brought them vp vnto the top of a high tower hee commanded the sonnes vpon paine to be throwne headlong downe to strike their father and he would defend them from the punishment which by the law was appointed one of them because he would not strike his father threw himselfe downe the other did giue his father a blow with his fist wherevpon the Tyrant who did greatly fancie and daily sought such men as were wicked entertained him into his seruiâ—e and loued him so deerely as he wholy put his trust in him but as Treason doth oftentimes spring of too much trust so this man took an occasion to slay the Tyrant as well to reuenge his brothers death and the iniurie done vnto his father and him as also to winne honour and gaine the reward promised secretly by the Citizens to him that should kill the Tyrant who hauing slaine him demanded the said reward but the ingratefull people accused him for striking his father for the which they wold haue his hands chopt of Whervnto the poore father would in no sort consent but gainsaied him thus I Should be more happie if I did rather defend many malefactors then one onely innocent will you cut off those hands which hath slaine the Tyrant restored you your libertie what doe you meane why did you not cut off the Tyrants hands that constrained my son to transgresse our laws so that it was as necessarie for him to strike his father as it was lawfull for others to rob Temples and to rauish the Virgins and wiues O how much doe we owe vnto those hands by the which such crueltie is brought vnto an end the tyrant did trust that by the same hands he might shame some and slay others but they haue depriued him of the means to performe either the one or the other but how much more am I indebted vnto this my sonne then vnto the other that brake his owne necke For he did not that to spare his father but himselfe because hee cared not though I had died with sorrow which no doubt I should haue done if this here had done as much and in smiting me hath he not onlie saued my life so much as hee hath afterwards likewise preserued the Commonwealth Alasse my poore children what great extremitie haue you both endured by the crueltie of a Tyrant The one hath broken his necke and the other to his most great griefe too was inforced to beat his father but farre greater praises doth he deserue that hath slaine the Tyrant then the other doth which did murther himselfe What offence hath this my son and your protector committed Saue only that in lifting vp his fist and gently letting it fall againe he fained to strike his father who in like sort seemed as though he were aggreeued therewith but both the one and the other did it to escape a worser mischiefe and to performe a greater good necessitie in all doth greatly excuse humane weakenesse and therefore the Saguntines were not only excused but exalted for slaying their fathers which is more then a light stroke His brother in leauing me at the Tyrants mercie did worse then he who without hurting me hath saued me You say that hee had no respect vnto the law I know well that the law is strict but the interpretation is large if one being mad chance to strike another he is not punished Neither yet is the little child which striketh his father condemned For the mad man hath more need of pittie then punishment and is rather to bee holpen then hurt and the child hath neither strength nor vnderstanding to offend these two points in such an extremitie are found in my sonne for in striking me hee endured a greater paine then I if those women who were defloured by the Tyrant are not esteemed vnchast Nor those Priests which through force or feare haue brought the treasures of the Temple vnto the tyrant are not deemed culpable Wherfore then should my sonne bee blamed who fained to strike his father Thereby not only to saue his life but to kill the Tyrant reuenge the rauished women and to restore both
and especially because the witnesse of a father against his sonne is more sufficient then all other testimonies according to the reasons aboue said and sauing my dutie vnto his roiall maiestie and this noble assistance this is most false which you obiect against me touching my ladie the Countesse who hath thought me worthie to bee her husband and the king accepting me for his son inlaw I haue euermore loued and honored and so far am I from causing her to bee ill accounted of as with the price of my life I would seeke to defend and increase her honour which being so it may please his highnes not to suffer him to be vnpunished who hath spoken so slanderously as thou hast done as if any person liuing might doubt of her chastitie In saying that I thinke my selfe to be inferiour vnto her thou doest therein also shew thy ignorance together with thy malice for besides the difference of the sex which maketh euery man better then a woman it is most manifest that loue and marriage doth alwaies make the man and the wife equall It is likewise to bee considered that they are no lesse noble which attaine therevnto by desert then those which come vnto it by descent for which the heires are the more beholding vnto their ancestors and to say that I deserue not the dignitie which I enioy it should be a reproch vnto the king who of his grace respecting my deserts hath himselfe thought me worthy of what he hath bestowed vpon me Lastly I appeale vnto your maiestie for the wrong which my subiects doe offer me in accusing and slanderidg me vniustly and consequently I demand iustice vpon the same Declamation 3. Of Pacuuius who hauing by his subtilty saued the Senators of Capua is accused of Treason AFter the ouerthrow of Cannas many cities yeelded vnto Hanniball and in some of them the people rebelled against the Senators as those of Capua did where the Senate were in great danger to be cut in peeces by the communaltie the which Pacuuius foreseeing being a subtile man and of the number of the Senators but better beloued and esteemed amongst the people then with the Senat he determined to appease the people by a wile Whereof consulting with the rest of the Senators and they finding no better meanes for their safeties they consented therevnto Wherevpon Pacuuius fained to detaine all the Senators as prisoners in the pallace appointing certaine Ploebeians there to guard them then he said vnto the people which were already assembled before the pallace I haue the Senators our enemies in prison and am of the opinion that all of them should be put to death but to the end that the citie may not be destitute of Magistrates it behooueth that you your selues doe chuse amongst you new Senators in the steed of the others which we shal kill to the end that we may not be surprised vnawares either by the Romans or any other of our enemies and haue not such as may command and gouerne vs. Then hauing a Catalogue in writing of the names of all the Senators he said First such a one must be killed who was a mā of great authoritie name one amongst you who may be thought worthy to succeed in his place Then the people began to looke one vpon another and there was not found any that was deemed sufficient to take that charge vpon him Wherefore they began to accuse Pacuuius of crueltie and in the end they confessed that there was not men enough to be found amongst them worthie to be Senators and therefore they concluded to leaue the Senate euen as it was Wherevpon the Senators were both deliuered and confirmed in their former authoritie Yet let vs suppose that it happened that one amongst the Senat no lesse enuious of Pacuuius his authoritie then ioifull that he was saued by his subtiltie did long time after accuse him at Rome affirming that hee onely induced the people vnto this sedition and that his intention was not to saue but rather to slay the Senators and began his accusation in this manner VNdoubtedly such as suffer a wicked or vicious man to liue in a citie doe either first or last repent it yet is it rather commonly too late How much more then ought they to be sorrie that suffer such men to obtaine the gouernement of the Commonwealth and the honors only due to righteous and vertuous men who for the most part doe shun such authorities because it is a hard matter to execute so waightie a charge well For since the weaknesse of man is such as euen the wisest doe mistake bad things for good and good things for bad vntill the effect of that which afterward happeneth doth make thē know their error How can vitious or wicked men be able to doe any thing that is good Surely honours are the true touchstone whereby the vertue or goodnesse of a man is knowne for in authority vertuous men do manifest their goodnesse as wicked men do lay open their badnesse as Aristides Epaminundus Licurgus and others in all their authority did shew that vertue was incorruptible And Periander Pisistratus Lisander and others declared how much ambition preuaileth ouer such as are not perfectly vertuous whose example Pacuuius was desirous to imitate for being born in Capua a wicked man and seeing that he was there in such sort suffered to remaine he durst wel make claime vnto dignities and obtaining the same did afterwards aspire to be tyrant For by how much they which are vnworthie of authoritie and yet doe attaine there vnto by so much the more doth their insolencie thereby increase and that in such sort as they not only doe presume the same to be due vnto them but also that there is no gouernement great inough for them and therefore such oppresse euen those who haue most fauoured them which truly is a iust punishment which the Gods sendeth vpon those who fauour the wicked that euen by the same themselues are oftentimes destroied And so is it iustly fallen vpon our Senators who knowing the vices of this man haue not only permitted him to attaine the most principall honors but also by their negligence haue suffered him to tirannise ouer the Senate and people euen to the danger of the liues of the said Senators being so audacious as to affirme vnto them that he only was able to defend them from being hewed in peeces by the people and afterwards by his rashnesse put all their liues in danger of the peoples insolencie But what had it bene if the people had resolued to doe that which he counselled them vnto what assurance had he that such his folly should haue come vnto a good end Truly that was euen the least of his caro seeing that it could not happen amisse vnto him for if the people slew the Senat he should remaine the prince of the people and the matter falling out as it did hee should remaine lord of the people and Senat together
Likewise he knew that Numa Pompilius did more conserue and increase Rome by his religion and good lawes then Romulus did in the building thereof by his wars the which to speak truth are verie necessarie in euerie new gouernement but where the people doe honour their Prince and he is in loue and peace with his neighbours there warlike men are more dangerous then defensiue the which we may see by the Romanes who neuer were ouercome but by their own proper forces also the souldiors which were in the citie were the destruction of the same Therfore those princes do wel who haue the means to send such people to exercise their furie in strange countries for armes are alwaies hurtfull in a countrie vnlesse it be for the defence thereof You say that because you haue beene in the warres your neighbours and strangers will stand in feare of you better were it for you to bee beloued of them for euerie one desireth their death of whom they stand in dread I would haue followed you to the wars my selfe if you had gone thether by commandement or consent of your father vnto whom it was griefe enough to bee disobeied by his son without encreasing the same by the like offences of his nephew for if I had followed your course I should haue thought that I might haue giuen him iust cause to think me none of his subiect much lesse his kinsman God graunt that this your ingratitude caused him not to doubt whether you were his sonne or not Touching Pirrhus his answere was as wicked as the end of his life was wretched And Perseus was ouerthrowne onlie because he trusted in his forces prouoking by his presumption the Romanes against him You say that I deserue not the gouernement 〈◊〉 your father being farre more wise hath iudged me worthie and you vnfit I will no further answere to your assertions which do as much discouer your impudencie together with your contempt of God and good things as also the malice which aboundeth in you but will leaue you to your owne discretion and will onelie conclude thus that all those reasons aboue said and it may bee the least onelie more then al the rest ioined together haue incited your father to giue me that which I deserue and I praie you compel me not to take that frō you which of my own liberalitie I haue bestowed vpon you Touching that which I possesse I doe so much trust in the sacred Maiestie of the Emperour as I am assured that hee will maintaine me in my right who am his most humble most faithfull seruant Declamation 5. Of Spurius Seruilius who defended himselfe against the people being by them accused for his cowardly fighting at the hill of Janicola NOt long time after that the Kings were banished Rome and that the death of Tarquin the last king thereof was made manifest the Consuls and Senat began to grow more prowd and couetous then they were accustomed and the people being on the one side ouerburdened with taxes and on the other side ouerlaid with vsurie and imprisoned for debts they began to rise against the Senat in such sort that they being in armes vpon the holy mountaine they would in no wise be persuaded to depart before there was granted vnto them that they might haue two Tribuns for the people by meanes whereof their insolencie grew to that heigth that when they had not warre abroad they troubled the Senat at home intending t◠set new lawes abroch and amongst others the law called Agraria and on the other side the Senat resisting their demands in that behalfe they were cited before the Tribuns and condemned sometimes into exile and otherwhiles great fines set vpon them by reason whereof some of them did voluntarily banish themselues before that iudgement was pronounced against them and others made themselues away by some kind of death before the pronunciation of the sentence amongst whom was Coriolanus who died in exile and Menemus the sonne of Agrippa who died with anger being condemned in 200 asses because in the time of his consulship he aided not the Fabians who were slaine at Cremera Afterwards Spurius Seruilius was accused that he was the cause that the Romans lost the batiaile at the foot of the mountaine Ianicola against the Tuscanes who defended himselfe courageously against the Tribuns saying after this maner NOt in vain did Plato say that the common people are like vnto the beast Polipus which hath many feet wanteth a head by reason whereof not seeing the way which he holdeth he ouerthroweth himselfe in like maner the ignorant people doe go on forward without anie consideration seeking their owne ouerthrow whilest they imagine to giue the Senate a fall and that which is worst of all they who ought to guide those blind men in a better course are such as by force would bring them into the bottomelesse pit of confusion or headlongdowne fall of rashnesse It is vnto you that I speak O you Tribuns yet no Tribuns but rather seducers of the poore people and scourges of the Common-wealth Surelie the Senat and people doe now receiue worthie punishment of their faults the one hauing desired the other hauing suffered you to be promoted to such authoritie Trulie worthie Agrippa did neuer doe other harme to the Commonwealth thinking to doe good then in appeasing the people with this cōdition that they should haue Tribuns appointed them as if at the length the people knowing the confusion of their weakenesse would not by the same meanes haue acknowledged their fault for without you they would haue vnderstood that the Senat executing right and iustice as it doth is inuincible as depending onlie vpon the lawes and the gods O Romans know you not that the kings haue honoured and in a manner submitted themselues vnto them And so long as they held that course they were like vnto the gods in honour and prosperitie but after that Tarquin the prowd would haue put downe the Senat he himselfe was exiled with perpetual shame to the confusion of all his posteritie O blessed people who then knowing what was needful for them did endeuour themselues to hold vp the Senat not suffering so much as that any kinsman or fauorer of the name of a king should remaine in Rome whervnto Collatin the rooter out of kings and one of the first Consuls who was banished onlie because he was by name a Tarquin was a witnesse they hauing no desire to suffer neither king nor Consull of his race Shall we then indure the tirannie of the Tribuns Doe you not say O you people that they would if it were possible abolish the Senat that they might afterwards tirannise ouer you for such is the manner of those who of nothing doe rise vnto some dignitie as through pride and ingratitude they doe make themselues intollerable which is to bee seene by these Tribuns who when they could not shew their pride ingratitude to Agrippa for the short
those which euen now called him their God and preseruer of their liues a matter illbeseeming the Citizens of Rome who ought rather to reward me for hauing rooted from amongst them such a one who like vnto the fisher and fouler that with a little bait deceaueth both the fish and birds depriuining the one of their libertie the other of their liues would also doe the like by them but it is commonly seen that as the belly hath no eares so also hath the stomacke no discretion the which is apparently prooued by the confederats of Spurius wherefore it belongeth to you noble citizens that are not bounden vnto him and which haue not sold your libertie for a morcell of bread to you I say it belongeth to consider what I haue deserued hauing slaine him who with the helpe of a few faint hearted fooles would captiuate your sweet libertie as for that which the Tribun saith of the peoples mourning against the Senat if he himselfe be not the inuenter thereof yet it is a signe at the least that the people which vse such conference with him doe very well know that he taketh pleasure therein for if there were no eares that delighted in hearing slanderous speeches there would be few slanderous tongues but how could I bring him aliue seeing the people do yet so greatly affect him because time which changeth all thinges hath not as yet changed their minds but rather increased the same If that be true which the Tribun doth rashly say against the Senat A man may easily tearme Spurius another manner of man then you say he is although the crime had beene lesse dangerous then it is but when the matter concerneth the preseruation of our libertie seeing there was no respect had vnto the sonnes of Brutus being faultie nor vnto Collatin being innocent and partly the author of the said freedome why should Spurius be respected And as you say that the Dictator is not chosen but in great extremitie his election doth sufficiently witnesse the extremity wherein the Commonwealth remained true it is that I told him wherein he was accused to the end that if he were guiltlesse he might be lesse afraid to appeare before the Dictator and being guiltie haue the better meanes to thinke vpon his excuse but he had no desire to take the benefit of my aduertisement but as one alreadie condemned by his owne conscience he endeuoured to flie away for a true signe that he is a malefactor which distrusteth as much in himselfe as in the iudges if he had not beene faultie why was he so fearefull Seeing that innocencie dooth alwaies assure those that imbrace her but we may see by him that Tyrannie is like vnto a faire and pleasant pallace that is high enough but yet without staires or steps to come downe without breaking ones necke euen so those which by pride and ambition thinke to attain vnto honour and profit doe for the most part meet with shame and confusion he needed not to feare that he should not haue had time and place to excuse himselfe seeing that there was neuer anie Citizen condemned in Rome if his cause were but only doubtful if his meaning were good in distributing the corne why did he not come to declare the same vnto the Dictator Finally if he had beene as innocent as he was culpable I am not in any sort to be blamed seeing the Dictator hath not only allowed but also publickely lauded my deed I list not therefore further to dispute of his innocencie or his offence but rather the accuser that did accuse him And it appertaineth vnto the Dictator to defend me hauing performed my charge according to his commandements seeing that euen when I had done it he allowed my fact to be good and worthie for a maister of the knights as I was But who will any more obey the Dictators if when after their authoritie is expired it may be lawfull for any man to sue those which doe accomplish their commandements Declamation 11. Of the wife of a Tyrant who hauing slaine her husband required his sonne for a recompence THe law appointed that whosoeuer killed a Tyrant should obtaine of the Commonwealth whatsoeuer he demandeth except onely the gouernement thereof Moreouer the same law saith that after the death of the Tyrant all such as were neerest of kinne vnto him must likewise die although they be nothing culpaple Whervpon it happened that the wife of the Tyrant not knowing any cause why did slay her husband and required for recompence of her fact that her sonnes life might be saued and exempted from the foresaid law but the Citizens declared that the same could not bee done saying THe same law that promiseth you a reward doth denie you him whom you demand seeing that it commandeth expressely that all the kindred of the Tyrant should die wherefore if any other then your selfe had slaine him you should haue beene one of the same number yea and the first of all as she that was neerer vnto him then any other of his kinne and so consequently the chiefest partaker of his Tyrannie but yet to fauour you we will not now dispute vpon the cause of your killing of him whether the same was done through hate anger or for some other particular reason without anie regard at all of the common good for although no act be it neuer so good is to be performed by any wicked meanes yet do we allow your fact for good and laudable and you may induce vs to beleeue that you haue done it in a good zeale and for our benefit so that you will not desire to saue the Tyrants sonnes life for in preseruing it you shall not haue slaine but reuiued the Tyrant neither yet ended but prolonged the Tyrannie because it is more likely that a yoong man will liue longer then an old for surely although the Tyrants sonne be neuer so well disposed yet shall we alwaies suspect him can there be anie greater tyrannie then to stand in doubt of it continually seeing that of all euils feare is the cruellest part for without it death it selfe should be a soueraigne good Truly a knowne Tirannie were farre lesse greeuous then a daily feare to fall into it would be for the Prouerb saith That much better is a knowne mischiefe then a doubtfull pleasure how much then ought we to preferre a certaine good before a manifest euill of the which good we can neuer be assured so long as the tyrants sonne doth liue for the desire of reuenge is so whot and the couetousnesse to commaund and rule so vehement that hardly may he forget who was his father also it is to be feared that you would neuer haue slaine the fire if you had not thereby hoped one day to see the sonne in his seat which would be worse for vs then if the father were yet liuing You will say that the banishment of him whom we feare might very well put vs out of doubt the which can
in no sort be so because our enemies which might helpe him with their fauour and counsell are abroad Coriolanus being banished would haue destroied Rome had not his mother by her wise persuasions preuented him so also would this our enemie not be the first that of an exile would aspire to be king for such as are farre from their countrie experience and want maketh them much more industrious and resolute so that so long as he liueth wee shall be like him that holdeth the wolfe by the eares who no sooner is let lose but he doth mischiefe and to hold him still is both ircksome and dangerous for as the wolfe hurteth those whom he seeth before he be spied euen so this race of aspiring Tirants infect the righteous minds of those which are not well acquainted with their nature But would you willingly incurre this blame to haue slaine your husband for some other cause rather then for the good of the Commonwealth we haue no such bad opinion of you yet let your good deed then be sound and without spot rather then to demand such a thing whereof vnto you there would come exceeding mischiefe and vnto vs most great danger like as you know that the law saith that the Tyrant killer should be rewarded so you may remember as wel as the reward that it also saith that all the Tirants kindred ought to be put to death If you haue slaine your husband neither for loue of the law nor for the good of the land you are greatly to be blamed and to be punished for murthering your husband but if your zeale be good suffer then that good may come therof You will say my sonne is yoong true it is and therefore he may the more easily grow worse then better as those doe who are by nature borne vicious and they are such for the most part as are borne of tyrannous parents as his father hath ben prooued and so shall you likewise be if you obey not the law Finally the father and the mother haue ben both very resolute the one to vsurpe the other either to suppresse or desirous to renue the tirannie vntill now we doe not know whether of the twain was meant but we know very well how dangerous the preseruing of a son borne of such parents is whose qualities he may very well follow resolue you then to put vs out of doubt in asking such a reward as may be graunted that to a good and vertuous end you murthered the tirant or els prepare you to receiue such punishment as a woman deserueth that for her owne particular passions hath slaine her husband The Answere HOw now my good lords and friends Are you desirous that in you this detestable Prouerbe should bee verefied which saith That there is nothing more vnconstant vnthankful and more exceeding insolent then the common people so soon as they perceiue themselues free from feare It should seeme then by this that tyrannie keeping you in awe and so consequently in obedience would be more profitable for you then libertie but God forbid that so it should be said of my countriemen I had rather die a thousand times if it were possible and seeing I haue not spared mine owne husband for the good of the Common-wealth neuer thinke that I would spare my sonnes life yea or mine owne vnto your preiudice But I feare that we thinking to doe well both you and I shall be blamed I of crueltie and you of crueltie and ingratitude together for greater crueltie is it to slay an innocent then to pardon an hundred offenders consider then that her sonne who hath set you at libertie hath neuer offended the Common-wealth but as yoong as he is he hath alwaies seemed to abhorre the cruelties of his father who being put to death by my hands the child hath verie constantly showne himselfe to be more glad for the benefit of the Commonwealth then sorrie for the death of his father and with a great contentment hath he left off his gorgeous apparell and his accustomed delicacie to conforme himselfe after my will like vnto the rest of the Citizens Why then my very good lords doe you desire the death of an innocent which sheweth himselfe so affectioned towards you And such a one as may one day do you good seruice wherfore doe you not as well consider the good which he may doe vnto you as the mischiefe which you imagine to be done alreadie by him But the hate which you did beare vnto the father you turn vpon the son when you say that he is the sonne of a Tirant why doe you not as well say that he is her sonne that slew the tirant If you wil not loue him for my sake at the least let your hate be as little as your loue and condemne him not before he haue offended let him liue a while and if he commit the least offence in the world punish him with death loe then the gift which I doe craue for the reward of my desert not the life of my sonne but the delay of his death you say that it is not you but the law which requireth his death it is to be considered that all the interpretations or gloses of the laws ought rather to tend vnto clemencie then vnto rigour and principally when the effect thereof tendeth vnto crueltie for this law which saith that all the kinne and adherents of the tirant must die ought to be vnderstood of those which haue aided and assisted him to exercise his tirannie or that haue beene his partakers therein but wherein might this poor innocent haue offended who knoweth not as yet what tirannie meaneth you must then remember my lords that he is her son who hath made the zeale of her countrie striue and triumph ouer the name of a Princesse ouer the delights of the world ouer soueraigntie so greatly desired of women the which they themselues are vnapt to obtaine ouer wealth the which they so much esteeme and finally ouer a husbands loue and a vowed faith and that which is not the least esteeming all impartial pleasures as base in respect of your generall profit Remember that I haue depriued my self of my husband that I haue slain my child his father what zeale would you haue more great towards our fellow countrymen But if there were the least shew in the world that he would euer be preiudiciall vnto you I would not let for any thing to sacrifice him by and by for your safetie but seeing I am certaine that he will become a very good Citizen and a faithfull louer of his countrie following the same example which I haue giuen beleeue me sirs that I had rather die then he should as also I will not liue any longer after his death Will you iustlie deserue this infamie O you Citizens not onelie to haue beene vnwilling to giue the promised reward vnto her that redeemed you But also to haue ben the cause that she suffered a death more
earth how could I then better honor my father then hauing compassion to see him so importuned to deliuer him from such a paine according to his good commandement If you had taken as great care to the patient as you did to the Notarie you should verie well haue perceiued how he made a signe with his head that the same should be done which I did though not so soon as I ought because I would first be informed what his will was which so soone as I vnderstood I suddenly put it in effect without suffering it to be set downe in writing for feare least others seeing this testament should also put in practise this last point whē you gaue them the like occasion could I then offend you when I thought vpon you chiefest benefite Also I cannot beleeue that I haue slaundered my father in yeelding such obedience as was due vnto him and giuing him the means to apply his last thoughts vnto his true saluation if there be anie fault done it proceedeth of this that I did not exactly vnderstād the progression of your dignitie for I did thinke that men so worthie ought to approch more neere the perfection of him whom you say they doe represent This is all wherein I may haue failed for the rest I referre me to the iudgement of those which are of more knowledge then either you or I am Declamation 13. Of him that would disherit his brother because he had smitten his father IT was an ancient law that whosoeuer did smite his father should be disherited wherevpon it chaunced that a certaine yoong man being drunken did strike his father who imputing the fault vnto the wine both dissembled the matter and pardoned the offence but the father being dead without making anie will the yoonger brother would haue his elder brother to lose his inheritance because he had offended the law saying YOu know O you iust iudges that which the law hath appointed for those that strike their father I require the execution thereof and it must not serue his turne to say that the wine made him to doe it for such an answere in steed of an excuse would make him double in fault and he is as well worthie to be excluded from anie part of his mothers good as he is to lose euerie whit of his fathers inheritance the one because he did beat his father and the other because he vseth to be drunken for the drunkard is more worse then a brute beast which neuer drinketh but to maintaine life but it seemeth that the drunkards liueth to no other end but onely to drinke What mischiefe happeneth not thorow this vice of drunkennesse The Partriarke Noe was the first that planted the vine so also he was the first that was drunke therewith what happened vnto him thereby Nothing but onelie shame anger and displeasure Lot also being drunken committed incest with his daughters Cambisses being reprooued by one of his faithful counsellors because he was commonlie drunk did with an arrow strike through the heart of the said counsellors sonne saieng can he be drunke that shoots so faire a shot That great conqueror Alexander slew his Foster brother Clitus comming from his banquet and afterwards being sober he would haue slaine himselfe for sorrow but who knowes not that such fruits come of drunkennesse Wherefore they being double in fault which commit wickednesse thorow that vice deserue double punishment And now to returne vnto our first matter who will not say that my brother ought to lose his inheritance seeing that he hath strooken our father because the same maketh a doubt whether he be his sonne or no and if he be his sonne as I beleeue he is the greater is his ingratitude wherefore there is no need to stand vpon my fathers dissembling or pardoning of the wrong for as much as I should likewise haue consented therevnto but I will still say that it is fit to hang vp the vessels which doe containe such pestiferous licquor and that there is too much fauor shown vnto those who for drinking ouermuch and afterwards beating their father are but onlie disherited The Answere YOu blame me for an offence the which I know not whether I did it or not or if I did it at the least it was against my wil but were the matter as you say it is Yet were it not to be attributed to my fault because I did not know him whom I offended Trulie I confesse that I haue misdone in drinking too much but you do most wickedlie sinne through malice in going about to alter the meaning of your deceassed father and to disherite your brother that neuer did you anie wrong Wherefore do you desire that a fathers kindnes should be abused Why doe you make the world to doubt whether you be his sonne and my brother That he is my father his pittie hath declared but your ambition and extreame auarice makes me doubt whether you be my brother for brethren ought to loue together and helpe one another yea if need were to die one for another as did Castor and Pollux Agamemnon and Menalaus with diuers others whose fame shall be immortall for this affection wanting vndoubtedly they are no more brethren but far greater enemies then strangers can be I confesse also that wine is the cause of great mischiefes and therefore I will keepe me from it but you your selfe do bring in a sufficient excuse for me in saying that so manie great parsonages being ouercome with wine haue committed verie great faults as well as I as touching the double punishment which you would haue your passion maketh you to giue that counsell which neuer heretofore hath been allowed for currant but tell me who hath made you more wise then our father and those that sit in iudgement that you will make new lawes Seeing that you haue receiued no offence thereby and that our father hath made no complaint thereof at all It is manifestlie to be seene that couetousnesse and not a sonnes loue inciteth you against me for if such a zeale did stirre you vp why made you not your request during our fathers life But you knowing verie well that he was not or at the least thought himself not offended haue staied for his death to ouerthrow your brother Declamation 14. Of one that to escape his enemies took away a Priests horse byforce A Crtaine man flying from his enemies that would haue slaine him met with a Priest on horsebacke whom he praied to sell or lend him his horse in that extremitie the Priest flatly denied him the other tooke the horse by force and afterwards hauing escaped he sent home the horse againe together wtth a good reward neuerthelesse the Priest accused him of theft and said THe chiefest point of iustice by the which the Common-wealth ought to be maintained in peace is that euerie one may quietlie possesse without anie let or disturbance that which he hath iustlie gotten As for me I will prooue verie
incouraged him he then which seeketh for that which he would not find ought not to complaine if he find that which he would not haue sought but it is verie likely that your selfe was verie certain that she would neuer haue performed her promise seeing you had no will to see the triall thereof for what could you haue lost thereby if shee bee such a one as you say she is But you know verie well that she is better then you deserue therefore because you hated her vertue you would be rid of her surely you alleage Salomon verie well for your aduantage as you thinke and you say not amisse when you affirme that the wife ought to be the better halfe of her husband for certainlie the same is seene in our kinswoman seeing that you are of no account at all wherefore you doe not deserue that shee should be your crowne Lastly were she lesse honest she might denie that which you cannot proue but seeing that she hath made no promise but to quite her selfe and to saue your reputation and her owne we require that you may first make amends for slandering her and afterwards we will not refuse to take her away from such a wicked man as you are Declamation 29. Of a bastard who demanded the performance of his fathers will although the house and the goods were burned A Man making his last Will and testament left all his goods vnto two of his sonnes lawfully begotten vpon condition that they should giue a thousand crowns vnto his bastard Now it chanced that during the funerals the house and the most of the best stuffe therein was burned so that the remainder of all the goods and mooueables that were left amounted not to three thousand crowns Neuerthelesse the bastard demandeth a thousand thereof the eldest sonne consented the yoonger resisted it saying VVHat reason is there to giue a greater portion vnto a bastard then is left for the lawfull children Seeing the mischance that is happened moreouer it is to be doubted whether our father might or ought to make a will in such sort seeing that reason bindeth the fathers so soone as they haue children to beleeue that they being no other then true administrators of their goods ought to leaue them vnto their children at the least in such quantitie as they haue receiued them from their fathers but let vs inquire of this claiming bastard that with so great instance demandeth the accomplishment of our fathers last Will that if he had bequeathed him an hundred blowes with a staffe whether he would willinglie receiue them I beleeue he would not or if he had imposed him to doe some great pennance for him or to accomplish some great vow or pilgrimage a man shold then haue seene how readie he would be to performe it but for the most part it is a custome that those which haue stood the dead in no stead except it be to discredit them will neuerthelesse desire the best part of their goods before those that haue better deserued them but what is he Vnlesse he bee such a one as he saith That is a manifest witnesse of our fathers shame and if he be not such a one what is that which he requireth and wherfore doth he claime it Especiallie seeing that such a mischance is happened as the best part of our goods is lost before that anie part of the Testament could be performed As for my brother if he will giue away his goods I will not hinder him but I will keepe mine if I can and the rather because that if the worst doe happen yet cannot he claime anie further part in our goods but onlie such a reasonable portion according to the value of it now considering our losse as may proportionablie answere the value of that which it was worth at the same time when the Wil was made and yet if I doe bestow this liberalitie vpon him it is for the loue of our late deceassed father and not for his owne sake The Answere THe iudges are too iust to allow your saying and yet more righteous should they be if they caused him to be chastised that maketh a doubt whether his father may dispose his goods at his owne pleasure hauing as he had a good vnderstanding and a perfect memorie so that he remembring me how obedient and seruiceable I was alwaies vnto him was desirous to shew that he knew thereby that I was vndoubtedly his sonne and for such a one was he willing to acknowledge me giuing me a certaine portion of those goods which were his and none of yours wherefore it must no more be demanded who I am what I require or why For I tell you that I am son to the testator which you say was your father I doe demand a thousand crowns because that his Will declareth that you should giue them vnto me but as for the blowes with a staffe whereof you speake I thinke they are rather due vnto you in that you desire to abuse your fathers soule what doe you know if by this meanes he was desirous to vnburthen his soule of the sinne that he hath committed in begetting me lesse in reputation then you concerning the vows and pilgrimages if they had ben enioined me I would haue acquited my selfe therein more willingly then you doe in that wherevnto you were inioined but you would iudge my heart by the malice of your owne wherefore not I but your selfe serue for a discredit vnto our father for some may think that for want of good education and chastisement you are become so mischeeuous moreouer I neither can in anie thing nor for anie thing be partaker of your losse seeing that since the deceasse of our father you haue had the goods in your possession if you had giuen them me to keepe I should haue ben bound to answere it but not being so I will not forgiue you anie thing and like as you say that you will keep your own euen so will I get mine owne if I can and if I ought to forgiue any part thereof it shal be rather vnto your brother then to you because he will not deceiue me but as the worst wheele in the cart maketh the greatest noise and vildest beast in the Heard is most stubborn and vntoward to rule euen so the example of your brother manifesteth your iniquitie and sheweth that you are contrarie to his iust meaning the which neuerthelesse by the helpe of God and the righteous fauour of the iudge shal but redound to your shame and hinderance Declamation 30. Of a knight of Rhodes that would enter into Religion again after that he had giuen ouer his Order to take a wife WHilest the Knights were yet remaining in Rhodes a certaine knight amongst them gaue ouer his charge vnto the great maister of that order and by vertue of a dispensation did betroth himselfe vnto a yong gentlewoman but vpon the marriage day he vnderstood that she was his cousâ—â—â— Germaine whereupon he leauing
euerie action it is odious to erre but in the warres it is most hurtfull so that to doe amisse therein but one time onlie is far too much We doe not depose you at all for henceforth you are king no more neither yet ought you to bee anie thing if wee should iustlie proceed against you but we refer that vnto the discretion of the king which shall be chosen As concerning contrition and good works to make satisfaction for our sinnes it cannot chuse but be a good deed to root out him from amongst vs which is the cause of our mischiefe To affirme that God will neuer suffer vs to obtain the victorie vnder anie other but you You onlie saie it and the opinion of all the wisest is quite contrarie wherefore it is best to follow the opinion of manie which haue not as yet erred then the iudgement of one onlie man which hath brought vs into this miserie wherein wee now remaine through his fault Declamation 33. Of the Athenians who denied to pay vnto the Thebans that which they ought THe Athenians did owe sixe hundred thousand talents of pure siluer vnto the Thebans It chanced that Alexander did by force of Armes take the cittie of Thebes and amongst other riches hee found the Athenians obligation wherwith to gratifie the said debtors he restored it vnto them but after the death of Alexander the Thebans demanded the said summe of the Athenians who aunswered That seeing they had recouered their obligation they were not in anie sort indebted vnto them with these reasons hereafter ensuing YOu saie worthie Thebans that wee doe owe you sixe hundred thousand talents the proofe thereof is verie hard seeing that it is well knowne of old that you neuer lent anie such summes without good assurance and taking sufficient bands of the debtors shew vs then if you haue anie bond of ours and then we shall thinke vpon the meanes to satisfie it You saie we had one but Alexander tooke it from vs and restored it to you if it be so consider what he was that took it from you and redeliuered it vnto vs was it not Alexander sent from the gods not onlie to subdue you and vs but almost al the world At that time were not your goods onlie in his power but also your liues Do you greeue that a part is lacking seeing that the whole might as well haue ben lost Doe you not know that he came to leaue you what he thought good and to take from you that which he knew to bee superfluous Seeing that superfluitie is not onelie troublesome and painefull but also hurtfull for inciting the hearts of such as possesse it vnto pride and insolencie it is oftentimes the cause of their miserie in like sort such is the iudgement of the gods that they which haue flocked together to afflict manie should afterwards be afflicted themselues by one alone and all that which they haue in manie yeares purloined from others should afterwards in one daie be takē away from them by the same man in like manner hath it befallen you noble Thebans euen as you saie Alexander hath taken away our obligation from you to restore it to vs it is the will of the gods who in processe of time haue wrought such alterations wherfore it may so fall out in time to come that you owing vnto vs so much siluer or more you may likewise paie vs after the same sort That wee are quit from you it cannot be denied seeing that you haue no bond of ours for to what end are bonds made but to compell such as will not paie Constraine vs then by our obligation to paie you or ceasse from demanding anie thing of vs but although it were so as you saie that Alexander had yeelded vp our obligation what doe you know whether wee haue paied it vnto him Who then was Lord not onlie of your gooods but also of your liues If we haue paied it him why should we paie it againe And if he haue liberallie bestowed it vpon vs We haue both thanked him and are also yet beholding vnto his posteritie yea vnto his ashes for the same why would you or how can you thē bind vs twice for one onlie debt That cannot be don Thebans wherefore it shall bee but well that you surceasse to importune vs anie further considering that those which wearie others take small rest themselues and especiallie that labour is lost which profiteth nothing at all as yours hath been and alwaies wil be concerning this matter and although you take herein what course you shall thinke most expedient yet you must beleeue that wee are able to yeeld you a reason for anie thing that you shall demand at our hand but see that you remember this that he which de sireth to molest another doth oftentimes worke his owne ouerthrow The Answere THere is nothing more true you ingratefull Athenians then our speech when we saie that you doe owe vs sixe hundred thousand talents and that it is so the prosperitie wherein we haue placed you and the miserie wherein you were are two witnesses verie sufficient to prooue our reason and your ingratitude which truelie is a pernicious vice but in the end more hurtfull vnto those that vse it then vnto anie other wherefore it is a follie in you to looke for anie aduancement thereby but although it were not so what proofe would you haue more plaine then your owne conscience if you would beleeue that which is able to testifie vnto you And thinke not but that the same obligation which Alexander hath restored vnto you will bee a witnesse against you Yea and to bring a greater mischiefe vpon you being in your hands then when it was in ours for seeing that it was possible for vs to lose that which we had gained iustlie what thinke you will become of that which you doe detaine and possesse wrongfullie Assure you that this iniquitie will bring you vnto an extreame necessitie more great then that from which wee haue freed you by our courtesie lending you that which you now doe wickedlie denie vs. As for Alexander hee had no power ouer vs when we lent you the siluer therefore he could in no sort acquite you thereof If then the fire by mischance had burned your bond or if a theefe hauing stolen it should haue restored it vnto you should you for all that bee freed of the debt It seemeth no Make account that there is no other difference betwixt a theefe and Alexander but onelie that the one stealeth by subtiltie and the other by force as that Pirate whom hee had taken said vnto the same Alexander Because saith hee that I haue but one ship I am called a theefe but because thou art able to steale more then I thou art called a king But whie are you not ashamed to bee beholding for a shrewd turne vnto one whose father and he haue been alwaies mortall enemies to the libertie of Greece take example by the
that due punishment which he deserued wherfore the Prouerb may be trulie verified by him which saith That the gallows is not so much made for the theeues as for the vnfortunate for if he had not ben dead the witnesses of his iniquitie would haue proceeded as they ought who as mine aduersaries saie doe forsake me in my need yet not for those reasons which they alleage but because they are corrupted as well by the bribes of the widdow and kindred of the malefactor as also by the importunate requests and threats of others more mightie then they for such is the miserie of our age that men are now more easie to bee corrupted then euer they were moreouer I cannot but suspect that his kindred fearing least the truth should come to light haue poisoned him in prison yea and it maie be by his owne consent doubting that although all the witnesses might be verie well corrupted yet if I my selfe would haue ben bound vnto the racke against him to haue prooued to his face that my accusation was most true I was not then the cause either of his imprisonment his discredit nor yet of his death but his offence was the occasion of all yea and by his death he hath depriued me of the means to prooue the same thereby to bring my reputation in question and that it is so if anie of these stout fellowes my aduersaries who now thinke to face me out at their pleasure will maintaine the innocencie of their dead kinsman against me vpon the racke I will not onelie there aduenture my credite but also my life the like will I also doe against the prowdest of those witnesses who being corrupted with bribes are become dumbe But let a nie one shew me some reason whie I should accuse him wrongfullie seeing that twixt him and mee there was neuer anie malice quarrel or other occasion whereby it may clearelie appeare that the true and onelie zeale of iustice inforced me to accuse him for otherwise I had no reason to procure so manie and so mightie enemies against me To conclude by the foresaid reasons it maie appeare whether he himselfe hath not ben the cause of his owne mischiefe therfore none but himselfe deserueth to be blamed or harmed for it Declamation 35. Of the sonne of abondwoman which would disinherit his brother THe law of bondmen or slaues is yet in Spain that those which haue bought them be they Christians or no they may kill them or make them doe what they will Wherevpon it chanced that a man bought a maiden slaue and hauing lien with her shee bare him a sonne some few daies after shee died wherefore the foresaid man bought another bondwoman to nurse vp his sonne and he did so much also with her that shee likewise brought him forth another sonne shee liued with him and ruled his house till that the children were great and that the father happened to die who by his Will appointed that the eldest brother should part the goods and the yoongest should chuse He made no mention at all of the woman so that she still remained a slaue and the eldest sonne tooke occasion thereby to defraud his brother of his inheritance or pretended patrimony for to make his partition he placed the mother of his brother on the one side and the goods on the other saying chuse take thy mother and leaue me the rest of the goods or take the goods and leaue me thy mother the other seeing this extremitie would not chuse but accused his brother of deceit or punishable cousenage saying THe law commandeth and the Will appointeth that thou oughtest to part and I ought to chuse but thou neither hast parted nor yet can I chuse for the dutie and loue which I beare vnto my mother compelleth me not to leaue her and especiallie at the discretion of so wicked a man as thou art seeing that thou inforcest me to three extreames the one is to forsake my mother or to disherit my brother or lastlie to compell mee and my mother to liue continuallie in pouertie Great is thy malice to inforce mee to become as wicked as thou art callest thou this a partition to place all the care on the one side and all the goods on the other My mother is growne old in the keeping and increasing those goods which thou wouldst vsurpe and now being weake and vnprofitable thou wouldest haue her to die for hunger with me or els that she shold abide in extreame miserie at thy discretion doest not thou know that thou art the sonne of a bondwoman as well as I Yea and that thy mother neuer got thee anie good toward houshold but my mother gaue thee suck and nursed thee what ingratitude can then bee more great then thine Make such a partition at the least as I maie remaine without blame in the chusing and yet not quite without liuing If deceit or punishable cousenage is distinguished by taking from any maÌ„ that which is his then thou doest worse for thou not onlie leauest me nothing but thou increasest my miserie this is not the first time wherein the deceiuers doe seeke to cloake or coulor their deceits with some law or statute vnhappilie wrested but I hope that the Iudges will haue a respect vnto my integritie and reprooue thy detestable iniquitie The Answere I Haue parted better then thou canst chuse wherfore there is no abuse in the partition but in the election For on the one side I doe set thee riches and on the other side immortal honor for louing thy mother best which shall serue for an eternall memorie and glory How manie are there that would buy such a felicitie with the price of their liues As Curtius who for the good of the Commonwealth leaped headlong into a burning gulfe Sceuola burned his hand because he missed the killing of Porcenâ—a Horatius fought alone against the whole armie of the Tuscanes and defended the bridge which he caused to bee broken downe behind his backe Hercules and Alexander fought for glorie not onlie against men but also with lions and other beasts why wilt not thou then gain this glorie when thou maist obtaine it without anie danger of thy person Lastlie seeing that profit and honor cannot goe together and that thou shunnest honor leaue it to me and take thou the profit I had rather haue the renoune to loue my stepmother better then thou dost thine owne mother then to haue all the goods in the world moreouer he carrieth away no small portion of the patrimonie which shall haue her who hath long time gouerned the whole as thou confessest I am of the mind that our father left her still a bondwoman to the end that thou shouldst haue no other thing but her or at the least that by the same it might bee knowne which of vs is most worthie I doe not say that I will not giue any other thing vnto thee but I would first see if thou deseruest it and that thou
mightest also acknowledge my liberalitie but as for the Iudges they are too righteous to force the laws and to alter the last Will of our father Declamation 36. Of Simon who put himselfe into prison to redeem his father thence being dead afterwards how he slew his wife being daughter vnto him that had made him his heire and paied his debt THe law saith that if anie man take his wife in adulterie hee may kill them both and not offend the law Wherevpon it chanced that a noble Senator named Milciades a man of honest reputation was through malice accused for some offence and condemned to a great fine of monie so as not hauing wherewith to pay the same hee was imprisoned and there dieth and because the law commanded that those which died in prison should not be buried els where but in the same prison vnlesse anie man paied his debts Simon the sonne of the deceassed Milciades yeelded himselfe a prisoner in his fathers place to the end that hee might bee buried with his ancestors Hee remaining in that sort a prisoner without anie means or hope euer to come foorth one named Callies a man verie rich but of bad reputation offered to pay his debt and to make him his heire if he would take his only daughter in marriage Simon consented thervnto he was deliuered and married with the daughter of Callias within a while after hee tooke her in adulterie he therefore causeth Callias to be called who intreateth for his daughter that could not denie her fault Simon slew her in the presence of Callias who afterwards acused him of ingratitude which amongst the Athenians was a punishable vice The accusation of Callias I Had made thee double bounden vnto me therefore is thy ingratitude the more manifest I did redeeme thee from prison where thou shouldest haue rotted and being poore I made thee both my sonne in law and mine heire I do affirme that thou hast induced thy thy wife to commit adulterie that therby thou mightst haue an occasion to kill her wherefore thou hast not kept her as thou oughtest and thou hast not onlie suffered her to fall from her former manners vnto vice but thou hast likewise furthered her therein and when occasion serued thou hast not failed to rid thy selfe from her to our great preiudice and dishonor and thou hast further showne thy crueltie in calling to the father to behold the slaughter of his daughter to the end that he might alwaies carrie this greefe that he had been both an eie witnesse of her miserie and that he was reiected or refused of his request by him whom he had succored and redeemed from extreame miserie before he was therevnto intreated and neuerthelesse being ashamed to bee sonne in law vnto the man that had so greatlie bounden thee vnto him hast caused the bodie soule and renoune of his daughter to be lost if then one alone ingratitude is punishable what punishment shall be worthie for thy infinit vnthankfulnesse ioined with an extreame crueltie Simons Answere THe shame of thy daughters adulterie was more ircksome vnto me then anie prison wherefore I haue likewise vsed that instrument which hath by the law beene giuen vnto me not for anie desire that I had to displease thee to rid me from thy kindred or to kill thy daughter but to reuenge her shamelesse immodestie to diminish my discredit If thou hast released me from prison to the end that I should be base minded thou hast lost thy monie because thou diddest not aduise me thereof before hand for I should surely haue told thee that as a noble heart could neuer be changed so also could it neuer endure a reproch alasse the difference betwixt my fathers disgrace and mine is that his ended in comming dead out of prison and mine but began in comming aliue forth of the same Milciades hath had the onlie honour in the Common-wealth to haue beene redeemed being dead by his sonne liuing who afterwards being redeemed aliue by another to his great misfortune was constrained to displease his redeemer because he required an vnlawfull matter I will neuer be vnthankfull when thou shalt request a good turne as honest as that which I haue receiued of thee but thou intreatest me to let the adulterers escape what could I do more if I had had my hands yet bound fast in prison where at the least the dishonour should neuer haue ben imputed vnto me Wouldst thou then thinke to keepe me so bound as I should be therby hindered from doing but my dutie Both of vs in doing a good turne haue receiued a farre greater I in taking my father foorth of prison dead and thou in fetching me forth aliue for the same hath beene vnto vs a great honour and it would not bee lawfull for vs to suffer adulters without the losse of that honor which we haue gotten moreouer it behoueth him that hath ben a true and a faithfull sonne vnto his father to haue the like children my father was trulie worthie to haue such a sonne as I was so also was I not vnworthie to haue the like which I could neuer haue had by thy daughter for whom thou hast bought me Thou saist I haue brought thee forth of prison I answere that I willinglie put my selfe therein and I will neuer beleeue that euer I got so great credit by being redeemed from thence by thee as I haue gained honour by entring therein for my father of mine owne accord I dare say that thou diddest neuer redeeme me thence for mine owne sake but onely to honour thee and thy daughter double vnworthy of so great honor which was the cause also that she could not long continue in the same wherein I desired not to imitate her likewise I can neither be reprooued condemned nor punished hauing done nothing against the law That is a good turne or a fauour which tendeth onlie to the profit of him that receiueth it but when he that doth it looketh also for some commoditie thereby the fauour loseth both his force and name euen so is thine so that I am in no sort beholding vnto thee and so consequentlie thou canst not twit me with ingratitude If Virginius slew his daughter because hee would not see her forced to bee vnchast what oughtest thou to do vnto thine who had neuer anie desire to be chast at all Declamation 37. Of him who is forsaken of his father for relieuing his ouncle who also doth afterwards forsake him for succouring his father TWo brethren are enemies the one hath a sonne the other hath no children neuerthe lesse by misfortune he becommeth poore his nephew taketh his fathers goods secretly and releiueth his ouncle therewith the father perceiueth it and forbiddeth him to doe so any more yet he ceassing not from releeuing him his father disheriteth him and driues him out of his house he goeth vnto his poore ouncle who adopteth him for his son and at the last chansing by succession to be
desire of reuenge that staied her from making her choise according to her wicked intention Thou wouldest know where she hath bestowed that which she stole I beleeue that shee hath giuen it thee and that thou wouldst saue her life to haue some more by the like means Neuerthelesse we will punish her alone that confesseth the fact vntill that thy sinnes doe induce thee vnto the like confession or that thou bee conuinced by more apparent testimonie and in so doing we shall appease the gods fulfill the laws performe our duties and cleare our consciences which commandeth vs to root out the wicked forth of the Common-wealth by publike punishmēt because there is nothing that doth better maintaine the world in equitie then rewarding the good and punishing the bad Declamation 40. Of the wife that would not forsake her husband although he went about to procure her death IT happened that a man and his wife made an oath vnto each other that if one of them chanced to die the other should not suruiue aboue three daies after Vpon a certaine time the man went vpon a long iourney and being on his way he sent a false message vnto his wife which certified her that her husband was dead she to keepe her promise threw her selfe downe from the top of her house neuerthelesse she died not with the fall wherefore her father caused her hurts to be healed and kept her vntill certaine newes came how her husband was not dead but had sent her word of his death only because he was desirous of his wiues death Whereupon her father would haue cōpelled her to forsake her husband she would not he renounceth her for his child and disheriteth her for which she complaineth saying O Immortall God which by thy prouidence gouernest all mankind thou hast not permitted that this fact should be for our hurt or destruction but onelie for a triall and proofe of the loue which I beare vnto my husband yet my father would seperate those whom death could not put asunder neither is that which I haue done to be thought strange seeing that I had both cause to doe it the example of diuers women which haue done the like to allow it for some haue burned themselues with the dead bodies of their husbands others haue by their death redeemed their husbands life I am therefore happie to bee accounted one of the same number being yet liuing and my husband safe and sound who it may be would trie whether I were worthy to be beloued of him and now knowing it he will loue me better then euer he did The loue which is ouergreat is cause of suspitions and iealousies and therefore my husband was desirous not onelie to trie whether I did not loue some other but also whether he was beloued of me and I am verie glad that with the danger of my life hee hath found me such a one as he desired What wrong shall I then both doe vnto my selfe and vnto him if when I should reape the fruit of my loialtie and most constant loue I should depart from him God forbid I should so doe Moreouer I should neuer bee well able to liue without him for it was partlie the cause that I threw my selfe headlong down because I would not languish without the hope and comfort of his presence which I shall now possesse with more pleasure then euer I did To conclude I cannot leaue him and if I could I would not wherefore it is lost labour to speake any more thereof The fathers Answere IT cannot be denied but that he which went about to procure my daughters death is mine enemie wherefore there is no reason that she which loueth mine enemie better then her owne father should be my heire thou saiest I cannot nor I ought not to forsake him Why cannot or may not she so doe that cannot onely determine to die but to be her owne butcher Hauing no sooner heard a fained report of the death of thine enemie thou soughtest thine owne death in good earnest if thou couldest endure his abscence being gone on a long voiage when thou haddest occasion to loue him why canst thou not now doe the like hauing iust cause to hate him Thou art quite freed from all former oath or promise which thou hast made him in shewing the desire which thou hadst to accomplish that which he caused thee to sweare thereby not onely to abuse thee but to make thee die Thou saiest that all is fallen out for the best I know not how that should bee for as no bad act can be tearmed the author of any good so ought we not to iudge things by the euent but by the intent hardlie can hee euer loue thee who as oft as hee seeth thee shall be either ashamed of his fact or aggreeued that it tooke not such successe as he wished likewise the triall of loue is not made by a danger so euident Declamation 41. Of the prodigall sonne who being forsaken of his father redeemeth his brother whom his father had neglected THe law was such that when the children were thirtie yeares of age they might require their father to giue them their portion Wherevpon it chanced that a man had two sonnes the one of them was prodigall and the other a good husband He gaue the prodigall sonne his portion who demanded the same by vertue of the law and did wholy disherit him from anie of the rest of his lands or goods the other who was the good husband made a voiage by sea and fell into the hands of Pyrats he writ vnto his father for his ransome his father was deafe and could not heare on that side Wherevpon his prodigall brother redeemed him who when hee was returned home made his said brother his heire in recompence of his release by him wherewith the father being displeased disinheriteth the thirstie son of his patrimonie who withstandeth him thus ALl those which doe know what I haue done doe praise me for it except you How true an example of pittie and brotherly loue hath my brother shewed when sailing to seeke me hee hath aduentured great dangers trauailing ouer many lands and seas neuer giuing ouer his enterprise vntill he had brought mee home againe vnto my fathers house wherefore if you did loue me as both my obedience and seruices deserue and as nature doth bind you you could not denie but to haue receiued at his hands seruice most acceptable And in recompence thereof to haue acknowledged him for your heir as I haue done for if for his prodigalitie you did disherit him he hath shewed himselfe both towards you and me not to bee prodigall but indeed verie liberall If you did disher it him because he was vnprofitable hee cannot now bee tearmed so Seeing he could make so long a voiage and when all fatherly loue was in you forgottē he yet could performe the dutie both of a good sonne and a better brother You say that age hindered you from
comming to redeeme me at the beginning of my captiuitie what man is so old that could not saile so small a way as I was from you wherefore seeing you did it not you ought to thinke well both of him and me for he hath restored me vnto you and I would also make him yours If you disherited him because hee was wicked hee is no such man seeing that he hath ben so charitable towards his father brother and vnto all those that loue vs. Lastly as I cannot compell you to giue me more then the law appointeth so cannot you take that from me which you giue me not but it appertaineth vnto me presently after your death euen as you receiued it from our grandfathers seeing that I neuer offended you in anie sort vnlesse you will account the dutie which I vse towards your sonne and my brother for an offence The fathers Answere I Am constrained against my will to disherit you both twaine seeing that you both take pleasure in displeasing me wherefore I must imitate the phisitions who in extreamest diseases vse most dangerous remedies and as the Chirurgions do oftentimes cut off the members to preserue the rest of the bodie so must I seperate my sonnes from me who are agreed together to anger me thou wouldest haue mee take him for my heire who hath tried the law against his father for his patrimonie what will not hee attempt then to abridge my life for the rest of my goods But thou must consider that the law doth allow thee only for a minister or administrator of the patrimonie but not for lord thereof and therefore thou canst not adopt thy brother For the same law which condemned me to giue him his part restraineth thee to adopt him seeing that hee is aboue the age of thirtie yeares for children also and such as are in their minoritie ought to be adopted moreouer he is thy brother no more seeing he hath let to bee my sonne But how canst thou adopt anie one for thine heire seeing thou art yet belonging to me Or if thou art not mine how canst thou inherit my goods How wouldest thou haue power ouer thy brother seeing thou wilt not suffer mee to haue the like ouer thee If he haue deserued anie good at thy hands thou oughtst to intreat me for him and not to vse your owne authoritie Want of means and oportunitie hath hindred me from redeeming thee and thou wouldest against my will giue that vnto mine enemie which in spight of his teeth he was inforced to leaue me O worthie Iudges I beseech you see vnto what extremity I am brought seeing that one hath taken away part of my patrimonie and the other would that hee should haue the whole Declamation 42. Of the husband who gaue two children vnto his wife without telling her which of them was her owne A Certaine woman died in childbirth of a sonne whom the father sent to nurse into the countrie and within a few daies after hee married a yoong wench which he had alreadie got with child shee about a month after did also beare him a son whome he in like sort did send abroad to be nursed handling the matter so well that not any besides himselfe did know which was the first or the last child About three yeares after he made the children to be brought home to his house and would not tell his wife which of them was hers Moreouer they were both of them so like the father and so little like the mothers that shee could not that way discerne them whereupon she accused her husband of bad vsage who denied it thus saying WHerefore doest thou weepe for thy child seeing thou art sure to kisse him and see him euery day if thou wilt I would long since haue tould thee which of them is thine if I had not knowne that thou art as desirous to shew thy selfe a stepdame to the one as a mother to the other Consider only that the one is thy son and the other is his brother and thy husbands son loue them then for their owne sakes or els neither loue nor hate them but I perceiue that whilest thou desirest to be a mother to the one thou art a stepdame to them both If thou doest constraine me to tell thee neuer imagine that I will tell thee the troth wherefore I will not deceiue thee as a mother but as a stepdame Nature her self determined that they should be like each other to the end that they should be both thy children Thou mightest very well know which of them is thine if the desire which thou hast to hate the one did not hinder thee wherefore behold the one or the other with the eie of a mother in law and it may bee the same will bee thine owne Long since should I haue told thee the troth if thou hadst ben lesse importunate to enquire it I will that thou alone shouldst inioy this benefit either to haue one sonne in law without being a mother in law or els to haue two children without hauing suffered for the birth of more then one of them When they are of more age marke which of them will be more obedient vnto thee and the same shall bee thy sonne or at the least shall deserue that thou shouldest so account him and giue ouer henceforth to bewaile thy sonne seeng thou art not onely certaine that thou hast him but also that thou canst not lose him vnlesse they doe both die The wiues answere YOu doe me great wrong for how can my son loue honor and obey me aright if hee be not sure that I am his mother so that desiring to make me a mother of two you make both the one the other to be my sons in law You doe well know both your children haue the ioy thereof but you depriue me of mine or rather make me partaker of nothing but greefe and sorrow and being willing to giue a mother to your owne you depriue me of mine You say well that I am a stepdame to them both but you are the cause thereof and are worse then a stepfather vnto mine seeing that you take his mother from him or at the least will not suffer him to know her Declamation 43. Of him who drunke poyson with his wife wherwith she died and he made claime vnto hir heritage by her Testament WHen Octauius Marc Anthonie and Lepidas did part the Romane Empire betweene them many of the Nobles were slaine others fled and were banished or els fined in a great summe of money paiable vnto those which were appointed to kill them Amongst whom there was a Roman exile who was followed by his wife that was verie rich whose chance was that vpon a certaine time she found her husband in a secret place holding a cup in his hand she asked him what he had in the cup he answered that it was poison and that he wold poyson himselfe because he desired to liue no longer in this miserie the
the treasure vnto the Temples and also to purchase freedome vnto all I did commaund him to strike me wherefore he should haue sinned more in disobeying me then in obeying the Tyrant therein so that he hath not offended me but spared me Moreouer the reuenge or punishment of a sonnes offence against the father lieth in the will and discretion of the father if anie other had stroken me and I had no desire to complaine no man could compell me therevnto or pursue him for me what doe you meane then by this Seeing that he which hath giuen the blow hath endured the greatest griefe and hurt thereby and that hee which receiued the same commanded the other to giue it him The Answere THe more you defend your sons cause the more you make him culpable for you shewing your selfe louing and pittifull vnto him doe likewise shew that hee ought rather to haue died a thousand times then to haue strooken so good and louing a father what doth hee then deserue that hath smitten such a one to please a Tyrant Whose seruant he afterwards became You say hee did it to profit the Common-wealth and wee doubt it for wee cannot begin to doe good by performing a mischiefe and he hath offended the Commonwealth more by his wicked example thē can well bee expressed for neuer was it found before that anie was so bold to strike his father If hee would not preuent his brother yet should he at the least haue followed him Who chused to die rather then to see his father stroken so should they both haue beene an example of pittie where now one of them loseth part of his glorie by being brother vnto a man so wicked for the one cannot bee mentioned without the other You say that you pardon the wrong which hee hath done you But the law pardoneth him not for transgressing it You say I would needs be stroken but wee say that his brother would not that you should It seemeth by your speech that euen as the Tyrant iudged him a fit man to commit a vilanous act so you likewise had the same opinion and seeing that you could not escape you fained that you were willing to bee stroken for feare of being slaine altogether Lastlie hee hath smitten his father knowing that it was against his brothers will and against the decree of the law so that hee being guiltie is likewise worthy of punishment Declamation 46. Of the bondman who hauing saued his Maister his sonne and goods together with his daughters honor pretendeth to marry her A Tyrant standing in doubt that his Citizens would attempt some conspiracie against him tooke the bondmen of all the cittie into his fauour giuing them freedome and inciting them to murther their maisters they fearing the effect thereof did suddainly flie forth of the cittie leauing their houses wiues and children in danger at the mercie of the Tyrant who to take away al means and hope from the Citizens and from the slaues all possibilitie euer to be reconciled vnto their masters suffered and commanded the said slaues to rauish their wiues daughters Shortly after the Tyrant died suddainly by mischance wherevpon the Citizens returned by force into the cittie and caused all the slaues to be executed or hanged except one who hauing fained that he had rauished his masters daughter did faithfully preserue and keepe her with all his goods and restored her a virgin vnto his Maister moreouer he did forewarne the Citizens of the dangers which would follow wherwith his Maister receiued such contentment that he gaue him his daughter in marriage But the said Citizen had a sonne who opposed himselfe therevnto accusing his father to bee void of vnderstanding and said thus OVr griefe would be the lesse if the Tyrant and not the father had made such marriages Can anie man say that he hath not lost his wits which seeketh rather to immitate the Tyrant his enemie then his bondman Who hath at the least shown more loue vnto him then he doth either to sonne or daughter seeing that he maketh himselfe like vnto the Tyrant If the bondman had lien with my sister I had caused him to be hanged as well as the rest and now you your selfe would haue him to lie with her you say that it is by marriage I denie that for marriage is meant betwixt those which are worthie one of another either in deed or opinion Then seeing none besides you who are mad of that opinion that a slaue may be worthie to be your sonne in law and my brother in law it can bee no marriage and were it otherwise I say that this mariage bringeth more shame then if she were rauished or abused by a Noble man for then at the least the child which should so bee borne should be more worthie and be better respected then the child of a bondman Who would euer haue thought that the Lord or Maister would haue suffered his slaue further then the Tyrant would his friend It may therefore verie well bee said that whosoeuer maketh such marriages is either a foole or a Tyrant of whom the one deserueth death and the other to lose al authoritie O what a faire sonne in law hath he chosen who hath nothing of anie worth in him but that he hath kept himselfe from being hanged with the rest of his fellowes Alasse my sister shall then being vnder the power of her father lose hir virginitie which was so carefully preserued when shee was vnder the power of the Tyrant and he shall be thought worthie of such a marriage which was not deemed worthie of the gibbet Farre more happie are those which were defloured for they neuerthelesse doe now take such other husbands as are worthy of them It is a goodly matter whē the father maketh such a match for his owne daughter as the Tyrant did for those of his enemies Ah vnfortunate sister who being vnder the tyrants power diddest desire thy father and vnder thy fathers power thou desirest the Tyrant who would yet defend thee from this iniurie Is this a small reward for a bondman to see all his fellowes on the gallows yet himselfe to bee free from the like you say that he hath not rauished his mistris say likewise that he hath not slaine his maister nor vsed poyson nor sorcerie doe you say that hee dooth a good act that keepeth himself from crime for fear of punishment Our miserie is as great now as the shame which the other maids and wiues haue suffered during the Tyrannie for this is done during our freedome the others shame was in the absence of their Parents but this is in the presence of hers the others shame was called deflouring but this here cannot be called constraint but a voluntary consent It was not vertue that kept him from doing as much as the others but the feare to be hanged with the others hee knew very well that God would not suffer so cruel a tyranny to indure and when the
Citizens returned the slaues should bee punished But why will you marrie your daughter to one so vild and base who hauing her in his power both esteemed and knew himselfe to bee vnworthy of her Wherein onely he deserueth some recompence which may bee done in giuing him freedome and meanes to liue but you must not giue him her for whose sake chiefly you would reward him The Answere I Doe now know very well that thou art ignorant how true nobilitie proceedeth from vertue or els you would not iudge this man to be ignoble who is truly vertuous seeing neither the greedy desire of welth was able to win him nor the prouoking of lust could entice him nor yet the feare of punishment and cruel death might once terrifie him to swarue from his dutie Who dooth not know if the tyrant should haue had but the least inckling of his fidelitie towards me that he alone should haue suffered the same death which hath been inflicted vpon all the rest Wherefore I cannot bestow too much vpon him who hath not spared his owne life for my honour alone but for the honour of all our linage from the which hee ought not to be excluded But where doe you find that marriage consisteth in the equalitie of persons doe you not know that M. Cato married a pore Plebeians daughter as also a number of other like examples might be rehearsed And if you stand vppon worthinesse you shall find that your sister deserueth to haue but an honest man and such a one you cannot denie him to be vnlesse you speake vntrulie Nature hath not made any bond or free but it is fortune that imposeth such names both on the one and the other wherefore Plato hath not said in vaine that Kings are born of bondmen and bondmen of Kings Finally if my daughter will not take him for her husband she will as well cause me to suspect that she is aggreeued or displeased with him in that he tooke not his pleasure with her so soone as hee might as I doe alreadie beleeue that you would haue her to die without children because you might be the sole heire of all my liuing Declamation 47. Of him that would not deliuer his brother that had accused him falsly to haue slaine his father IT was an ancient law that whosoeuer did beare false witnesse being conuinced thereof he should remaine his bondman against whom hee was a witnesse Wherevpon it chanced that a certaine man which had two sonnes carried one of them abroad into the countrie with him within a small time after the sonne came home againe alone the other sonne accused his brother that he had slaine his father and added such apparent likelihood vnto his sayings that the other being vpon the rack confessed the offence which he had not committed so that he is condemned to a cruell death but a certaine solemne feast drawing neere at hand some of his friends found the means to reprieue him vntill the said feast should be ended in the mean time the father returned home to his house safe and sound wherevpon he which was condemned accused his brother of false witnesse and hauing conuinced him thereof put him in prison but the father intreated his son to deliuer his brother the which the other refused to doc so that his father threatened to disherit him saying VVHat canst thou say saue only thy brother hath produced or born false witnesse against thee I say that he thought he had said the truth for the loue which he did beare vnto me and the fear that he had of my death did make him beside himselfe but if thou desirest to prooue him more faultie then I say be thou mercifull and euery one will say that hee did much amisse to offend so kind a brother Art thou abashed that thou foundest thy brother so cruell against thee seeing that hee beleeued or thought that thou haddest slaine thy father and his Why wilt not thou suffer me to haue two children wilt thou torment thy brother to procure my death thereby If it bee so hee hath not altogether accused thee wrongfullie Alasse one of my sonnes was in prison because I did not returne and the other is in prison because I am returned If thou dost not set him at libertie I wil liue no longer whereby it shall be knowne that thou wantedst not the will but the meanes or occasion to murther me and it will be said that thy brothers meaning was not so bad against thee as it was good towards me seeing that hee inwardly perceiued thine iniquitie and in forsaking me or returning without me thou thy selfe wert the cause that he accused thee Doest thou not perceiue that I am fastened euen amidst the selfe same chaines wherewith my son is fettered and that the same bond which bindeth his hands doth burthen my heart Churlish and vngratious as thou art wherefore doest thou keepe thy brother in prison and thy father in thraldome who by his returne hath saued thy life The which if otherwise he should haue done thou couldest next vnto God neuer hold of any other then of him The Answere WHerefore should I pardon him who not onelie sought my death but indeuoured to procure my perpetuall defamation It was to my great danger that I was imprisoned condemned deliuered wherefore no man but my selfe can rightlie iudge of my passion He falslie alleadged that I had slaine my father thereby to cause me to die forwith me I say who was euer a most kind brother vnto him who knoweth not that the greater the loue is the more vehement is the hate when it is once iustlie conceiued The hangman being more pittifull then hee was the first that brought me news of my fathers returne If I had euer ben wickedly minded I should not haue had so iust a cause to be angry Is it to be wondered at if I detaine him prisoner that sought to bring me to a shamefull end it may be to murther you afterwards secretlie It is not only a hate but a feare which I haue least he should complot some other Treason against me that hindereth me from deliuering him What is hee that did not verie plainly perceiue that the only prolonging of my punishment procured his paine although the daily expecting thereof did more displease me then the present suffering the same could haue daunted me seeing the hangman alwaies before me who was himselfe affrighted at those torments which were prepared for me If my father do loue me as well as he doth my brother I would know why he died not at his returne for sorrow seeing mee at the gibbet It is hee then for whose sake hee would disherit me that by one onely treason did thinke to murther both his father and his brother that he might as well be sole heire as also possesse the whole inheritance the sooner Declamation 48. Of a father that would renounce his son for marrying a maid that had freed him from her fathers prison
adulterer who am the only cause that your wiues need not stand in feare to be anie more rauished I did warily consider seeing the strong fortification of the castle what meanes there might bee to kill the Tyrant but hauing tried the souldiors the seruants and the maids I could find no fitter occasion then by the means of his wife who long before had been liberall inough of her honor vnto others furthermore it can bee no more tearmed adulterie to cuckold a Tyrant then it is reputed murther to kill a Tyrant but it is rather worthie of reward Moreouer it was verie dangerous to carrie a sword secretly into the castle but very easie to find one there for my purpose was that if I could meet with the Tyrant euerie thing should serue me for a sword likewise I was sure that hee neuer went without a sword and that when two striue for one sword it remaineth vnto him that is the strongest or worthiest Also I was not ignorant how God doth alwaies resist such wicked persons as hee was and doth fauour such lawfull enterprises as mine and you cannot say that I went not to seeke the Tyrant seeing I staied of purpose for him euen in his bed chamber whether I was sure that he vsed to come all alone Take not then that from me by your malice which is due vnto me by my vertue and manhood Declamation 51. Of the father that adopted for his heire the sonne of his forsaken sonne THere was a man which had two sonnes the one whereof he did vtterly denounce and forsake in that hee had married with a woman of lose life by her had a son and afterwards fell sicke Whervpon he sent to intreat his father to come at the least to visit him once before hee died who being come vnto him his forsaken sonne commended his little child vnto his care and then died suddainly Wherefore the grandfather was so greatly moued with compassion that he adopted the child for his owne and made him coheire with his other sonne who being therewithall displeased accused his father to bee void of his sences but he gainsaid him thus THis were a verie new manner of losing a mans wits seeing that by your saying I should bee verie wise if I did not know those which were mine owne Truly I did expect that some bodie should haue intreated or requested mee to haue reuoked this my poore forsaken sonne but no man durst be so bold seeing thou which wert his brother diddest neuer doe thine indeuor therein wherefore it is to bee supposed that all men knowing thy ambition to bee fole heire they feared to displease thee Alasse this poore mans life was onely prolonged but vntil he might speak with me and when hee had once heard me he opened his eies shut vp in a manner alreadie to see me retaining his fleeting soule but only whilest hee bad me farewell so that I may rightlie say hee left both life and child in my bosome To conclude I well perceiued by his end but alasse too late that he was truly my sonne but thy rigorous crueltie towards him and thy great ingratitude towards me maketh mec in doubt whether thou art his brother or no. The Answere THe father of this child is vnknowne and although he were yet doe your owne deeds sufficiently testifie that you are not well in your wits if you forsooke my brother without a cause but if he were worthie of your displeasure he did yet further deserue it in marrying with a lewd woman and if he by this mariage were the more vnworthie to be reuoked much more vnworthy then is this bastard and vnknowne child to be your heire so that I know not whether of the two iniuries you do vnto my brother is the greater either in taking away part of his brothers inheritance from him or in adopting him a false heire Being persuaded and importuned by this dishonest woman hee recommended vnto you his sonne which he did very wel know he neuer begat but what cannot such women persuade Or what will he refuse to doe for a whore that was not ashamed to giue himselfe vnto her How then can you be iudged wise in adopting another mans sonne to disherit your owne Declamation 52. Of the vnchast woman that was adiudged to be throwne headlong down more then one time A Woman that was attainted of whoredome and for the same condemned to be cast headlong downe from the top of an high tower being readie to bee throwne downe did pray vnto God that he would declare her innocency in preseruing her from death her praiers being ended she fell from the top downe to the ground without receiuing any hurt at all Neuerthelesse the Marshall would haue throwne her downe againe Wherevnto she replied in this sort VVHerefore wil you resist the wil of God which hath preserued me And were it not so yet is the iudgement accomplished I was though wrongfullie condemned to bee throwne headlong downe I haue so ben my iudgement and execution being accomplished what would you els doe Am I not acquited Seeing that it was not said that I should bee executed anie more then once Neither is any man euer executed two times especially because euery iudgement ought rather to be mittigated by clemencie then aggrauated by crueltie If you would punish me for the offence which you suppose I haue committed against God seeing he hath declared me to be innocent why would you offend him in punishing me It is the vsuall place from whence others are throwne downe wherefore it is verie likely that if I had ben guiltie I should no doubt haue died as well as they The Answere THou shewest thy selfe to be as shamelesse at thy punishment as thou wert when thou diddest commit the offence which thou wouldst now denie Knowest thou not that deniall after sentence is once past is nothing auaileable The meaning of which sentence must be interpreted which is that thou must die likewise it is either a chance that thou art not dead or els thou vsest some charmes or witchcraft for were it as thou saiest that God would haue thee saued for thine innocencie he would rather haue defended thee before thou haddest been condemned falsely then sheilded thee from death after thy fall but it is more likely that he would prolong thy paine because so short a death is too easie for so hainous a crime as thine is or els because thou hast committed other offences he would haue thee cast down more times then once for God is not so slacke to helpe the innocents He saued Susanna before she was stoned not suffering the stones to touch her bodie Finally if it be his diuine will that thou shouldest be vnpunished thou shalt haue as little hurt at the second or third throwing downe as thou haddest at the first Declamation 53. Of her who hauing killed a man being in the stewes claimed for her chastity and innocencie to be an Abbesse THe order of the religious
women is such as they must be pure chast and free from all crime but the Abbesse must be the chastest of all the rest Wherevpon it chanced that a certaine yoong Nunne of Naples was to saile into Sicilie to be an Abbesse there but her misfortune was such that she was taken vpon the sea by Pyrats they sould her vnto a bawd in Barbarie who put the said Nunne into a Brothelhouse to get monie by her but she declaring her misfortune vnto such men as came to take their pleasure of her did so win them by her persuasions that they giuing her the accustomed reward left her a virgin vntill that on a time there came vnto her an insolent souldior who would in no sort regard her speech but hauing paied his monie would by force haue had his will of her and as he was striuing with her she drew his dagger forth of his sheath and slue him for the which she was put in prison but being before the Iudges shee was not onely acquited of the murther but also they sent her back vnto Sicilie vnto the place whether shee was determined to goe She being there arriued they would not receiue her for Abbesse but said THis woman here which would be an Abbesse should yet haue ben in the Brothelhouse if she had not murthered a man but can she be chast comming from such a place Nay let vs see whether it be lawfull to receiue such into monasteries whom the stewes and the prison forsaketh Seeing the order of religion may very lawfully be denied euen vnto those as doe but onely passe by such places she saith fortune constrained mee vnto these inconueniences therefore ought euery one to haue compassion vpon me but wee say that those which are worthie of pittie are vnworthie of a prelateship neither is it a custome amongst vs that such places as are of greatest honours should be bestowed in recompence of sustained harms seeing that the only freeing them from their said harms may serue for a sufficient recompence of their passed miseries Likewise we may consider how smally she deserued by the little care her parents took of her distresse not onely in suffering her to be lost or taken away but being taken neuer sought either to recouer her or once to seeke her out and what did the Pyrats see in her that they rather sold her vnto a pandor then to a Princesse or to some other honourable ladie If she knew how to persuade so manie men to leaue her a Virgine as she saith wherefore could she not persuade her mistresse to suffer her to gaine her liuing by some other means rather then to put her forth to so vild a vse or els why did she not as Hippo the faire Grecian did who leaped into the sea so soone as she perceiued that she was taken by Pyrats Alasse if this woman obtaine the Abbesseship greatlie are the Nunnes of this order to be pittied if amongst them there cannot bee found one more chast then an harlot or more innocent then a murtherer She cannot be chast inough to rule ouer vs especiallie seeing she saith I knew how to persuade all those that came vnto me the which sheweth a certain token of her immodestie for otherwise how could she haue pratled so well in that place where such as were modest would haue burst into teares and without being able to speake one onlie word would haue died for shame Let vs then take the case thus that in her there are three do claime to be Abbesse the first is one taken by Pyrats the second such a one as hath liued in the stewes the third she that murthered a man of whom the best is farre vnworthie of anie honour The Answere GOd herein was minded to shew his power by making this woman free in bondage chast in a dishonest place and most innocent in committing murther to defend her chastitie I know not whether anie did euer deserue the place of Abbesse so well as she but I am sure there would bee somewhat to doe to depose all the Abbesses that are lesse worthie then shee How chast she is the blood of the slaine souldior doth testifie how innocent she is the Iudges doe declare how happie she is her returne doth shew Wherefore it is verie manifest that God would neuer haue preserued her from so manie perrils if it had not ben to serue him in some worthie place Therefore the same God which hath protected her is himselfe alone a further testimonie of her chastitie and he onely is able to comprehend her admirable valor Declamation 54. Of him who against his fathers mind persuaded his sister to cause him to die that had forced her THe law is that whosoeuer killeth a man by chance he should be banished or put to exile for fiue yeares likewise euerie maid that is forced or rauished may chuse whether she will haue the ranisher die or whether she will haue him to be her husband Wherevpon it chanced that a certaine man which had a son and a daughter was exiled for the cause aforesaid his daughter that remained with her brother in the house was rauished by another yong man who after his fault committed fled vnto the maidens father with whom hee so much preuailed that he obtained letters from him wherein he commanded his daughter to chuse her said rauisher for her husband and not to require his death the father likewise writ vnto his sonne intreating him to persuade his sister to consent therevnto who on the contrarie constrained his sister to demand his death so that the father at his returne did cast off and disherit his sonne saying A Lasse my misfortune is intollerable seeing that I being as alwaies I haue been a louer of the Commonwealth haue notwithstanding bereaued her of two men and both against my will yet not without being culpable therefore in the one manslaughter I was abused by fortune in the other by him who is in name yet not indeed my sonne that hath inforced his sister to disobey her father as well as he in a iust commandement and caused her to obey him in a cruell reuenge some may say that it is incident vnto man to offend it had ben a sufficient excuse if I had not both aduertised and intreated him the contrarie and also if hee had not knowne the griefe which I alreadie sustained for being the cause of a mans death and that I did therefore owe a citizen vnto the commonwealth whom I might haue satisfied in sauing the life of this same man by whom manie others might haue ben begotten so that hauing slaine the other vnaduisedly I might haue saued this circumspectly but thou because thou wouldst haue no nephewes by thy sister and that thou mightest cause me die with sorrow hast broken my purpose wherefore I iudge thee vnworthie of the heritage which so plainlie thou seekest to obtain by so many vnreasonable means The Answere THe death of a good Citizen cannot be
repaired by sauing the life of a wicked caitife for that is no satisfaction but rather a double offence vnto the Commonwealth Moreouer those children which should bee borne by the marriage of a rauisher would serue but for witnesses of their fathers shame and the wrong done vnto our stocke the which ought not to bee increased by him that had doublie wronged them hauing not onelie iniuriouslie assailed the house of an exile although the affliction of the afflicted ought not to bee increased but also after hee had wronged him without anie shame at all comming before him he first made him priuie to the iniurie and in a manner both constrained him to consent vnto it and to allow thereof wherein then haue I offended By complaining of the iniurie done to my absent father I cannot be either forsakeÌ„ or disherited becaus I haue done but according vnto law Likewise my father who was so far off from the place where the wrong was committed could not well iudge thereof seeing that his griefe being absent could not be like ours that were present and also thee state wherein he was together with his age made him to indure wrong better then I could Furthermore the adulterer knowing the horriblenesse of his crime went to make his agreement with him who was ignorant of the truth and returning hether hee renued the iniurie prowdly commanding vs to like of his marriages by vertue of certain letters that it may be he either obtained by force or at the least gained by frawd No man is vndone too late at anie time but a manifest vndoing is it to giue ones daughter vnto such a one as with the helpe of such wicked impes as himselfe hath both defloured her and dishonoured her breaking into our house by force of armes I beleeue he would neuer tell you all this father or if he did tell you and you were content therewith or that you bewaile his death anie more you are no lesse faultie then he Declamation 55. Of him who gaue ouer his betrothed wife vnto his sicke son A Certaine man had two sonnes neuerthelesse hee was betrothed or made sure vnto a yoong maiden with whom one of his sonnes became so far in loue that he fell sicke and no doubt he had died if the Phisition had not told his father that his sonnes disease proceeded of loue wherevpon the father came vnto his son praied him coniured him and lastly threatned not only to curse him but also to kill him holding his sword in his hand if he would not manifest vnto him the cause of his sicknesse and what she was whom he loued wherfore the sonne seeing himselfe in such an extremitie trembling and weeping confessed that hee was in loue with his mother in law the father to saue his sonnes life yeelded her whom he had betrothed vnto him and caused them to be married together The other sonne who was enuious against his brother accused his father to haue lost his wits the which the father denied saying IT is thou that hast lost thy wits or at the least art vtterlie blinded with passion and ill will so that thou wilt be the cause that euerie man will bee amased at such an act as was neuer seene that a mother in law should bee more pittifull vnto her sonne in law then thou art vnto thine owne brother Callest thou that want of vnderstanding when by my wisedome I saue my son in granting him her who in no sort was aggreeable for me I say that in keeping her from him I should haue lost my wits seeing that she might haue done ill I might not haue done well and my sonne should haue died I am sure that he loued her better and more feruently then I did therefore is she due vnto him what wrong do I thee Art thou angrie to haue thy brother and not a mother in law I did draw the sword before his face the which no man could take foorth of my hands but only himselfe in confessing the truth Lastlie all that a father doth to saue his sonnes life is not onlie very excusable but to be accounted for exceeding great wisdome and iust pittie The Answere IT had been better for my brother to haue died then to haue caused his concupiscence so apparently to be disclosed Seeing the best that can bee said of him is that hee was healed by adulterie that you haue saued him by execration and she hath holpen him by abhomination Why may not that bee tearmed worse then adulterie which is done chieflie by the commandemeÌ„t of the husband I know not whether you haue shewed your selfe more mad in betrothing this woman or in forsaking her or els in marrieng her againe with your sonne But how farre besides himselfe is hee that thinketh it a good deed or a good turne to commit whoredome A wise man no doubt that drew his sword not to punish adulterie or to eschew the slander thereof but rather to inforce his wife and sonne to commit adulterie together My brother ought rather to haue perished then to bee cured so perniciouslie but suppose that if he had lusted after his sister or his mother ought hee to haue had either of them These remedies are more dangerous and more greeuous then danger mischiefe or death it selfe But all this hath ben compacted betwixt the son the betrothed woman and the Phisition who likewise claimed an interest therein And thus the disease the cure and the adulteries proceeded of your follie Declamation 56. Of a man that is found dead in his bed his wife wounded and the accusations together with the witnesse of a child IT chanced that a certaine man being a widdower that had a sonne married his second wife by whom hee had another son and because his first sonne did but badly agree with his mother in law the father gaue him part of his house which was neuerthelesse diuided with a wall so that they were seuerall likewise this old man had a receauer or factor which was a yoong man and a faire so that this man was somewhat suspicious that he loued his wife which iealousie was not a little increased by the sonnes persuasions so that therby oftentimes there chanced such braules betweene them that his â—actor and he were vpon tearmes of parting Wherevpon it happened that shortly after the nieghbors through the wiues exclamatioÌ„s ran into the house where they found the goodman slaine in his bed his wife wounded and so much of the common wall broken downe that a man migh teasily passe thorow it wherefore not only the sonne but also the factor was suspected to be guiltie of this murther and hauing apprehended them both they brought them before the child being of three yeares old who did lie in the same bed and asked him which of them it was that had beate his father the child pointed with his singer vnto the factor wherefore the son accused him for murthering his master but the factor through the breaking of the
wall accused the son for murthering his father saying O How wicked this world of ours is seeing that it hath brought foorth so cursed a man that hath at one instant both murthered his father would haue don the like to his mother in law so that I beleeue the feare of missing did in some sort hinder or stay his murtherous hand from giuing so great a stroke as hee intended and she fained her selfe dead least his purpose should haue been effected or to saue her husbands life whom this traitor hath murthered least he should haue been a witnesse against him for the fact as also because he did most vnnaturallie hate him for the kind and honest loue the man did beare vnto his wife and therfore he sought the means to expell me from hence that hee might better accomplish his wicked enterprise for two are more easilie slaine then three and it may be that he did put on such like apparell as mine to abuse this poor infant and to corrupt his innocencie by false testimonie but what witnesse can be more manifest then the breaking of the wall the which is likewise pulled down for the desire he had to murther his mother in law The Answere IT is verie apparent that thou commest neither vnprouided of sophistical arguments long before premeditated nor that thou art anie whit abashed of this murther seeing that the horror there of doth nothing hinder thy tongue from babling O miserable man that I am hearing the noise I ranne thether thinking to haue seene the adulterers taken but alasse I found my father killed which doth astonish me in such sort as I will onely answere that I doe not onely rest vpō the childs demonstration but vpon his further affirmation although thou hast of long time kept him in awe so that in pointing to thee with his finger hee hath both declared thee to bee the murtherer and also that thou hast oftentimes forbidden him to accuse thee for the lasciuious kisses proffered in his presence there is not anie witnesse more sufficient then the pointing of this innocent child who is of sufficient age to be able to know and discerne although not subtile inough to deceiue faine or lie If thou saiest that one witnesse is not sufficient then wil I stand vnto the peoples censure and will not refuse that thou she and I may bee all three examined by torments for God the right and fortitude shall be for the innocent Declamation 57. Of him that would compell his sonne to marry with his sister in law that was by him accused of adultery A Man had two sonnes to the one whereof hee gaue a wife who being married made a certain very long voiage into a far countrie during his absence his brother tooke such an hatred against his sister in law that hee accused her of adultery but yet not before the Iudges wherevpon her husband being returned took a bondwoman that was his wiues seruant and caused her to bee tortured so extreamely to know the truth that shee died with the torment not confessing anie thing wherefore his father that loued his daughter in law did sharpely reprooue him that hee would so lightly conceiue an ill opinion of her He as well for greefe that he had wrongfully suspected his wiues honestie and vniustly killed her bondwoman as also to perceiue his brothers malice and to haue procured his fathers displeasure did dispaire and either hanged or killed himselfe wherfore the father willed that according to the Iewish law the other sonne should marrie his brothers widdow or if otherwise he refused hee would vtterly forsake him and renounce him for his heire against the which his sonne pleaded in this sort YOu would haue me to marrie with my brothers widdow whom I haue accused for an adultresse as in sooth she is who caused both my brother to kill himselfe for griefe and compelleth you to disherit me I beleeue that you tempt me to take her to trie whether I did accuse her wrongfully or no for you your selfe would neuer giue mee an adultresse to wife but you might thinke if I did take her that she is chast and I am false truly if you could make mee to marrie her that both hateth me mortallie and I know to bee a dishonest woman one might then assuredlie beleeue that nothing would bee euer impossible for you to effect But why would you compell me to make her my bedfellow that hath made mee brotherlesse Her I say that is the cause of her husbands death of the discord twixt you and me of the scandale to our linage and of the peoples murmuring I haue alreadie chosen a wife that loueth me that will follow me if I will that wil neuer forsake me either in aduersitie or prosperitie and finallie that will bee such a one vnto me as a wife ought to be vnto her husband which will be more worth vnto me then a most great inheritance whereas if on the contrary I should marrie this woman euery one might suppose that I loued my brother but little to wed her that was the cause of his losse The Answere THere is nothing more reasonable seeing thy brother was desirous by his death to acquite the wrong which he had don vnto his wise by giuing credit to thy false accusation then that thou by marrying her mightest also declare her innocencie for the shortest follies are best wherefore it were better for thee to confesse and blot out thy fault by doing well then in perseuering alwaies in thine obstinacie to shew thy selfe in a double fault for thou art the onely cause of all these chances and slanders which thou obiectest therefore in not making amends for thy fault I may lawfully disinherit thee for thy follie Declamation 58. Of the sorceresse which poysoned her son in law and accused her owne daughter to haue ben consenting therevnto THe law appointeth that euery woman which vseth poysoh being conuinced of the crime should be tortured vntill she accused such as were partakers or consenting vnto her wicked act Whervpon it happened that a man hauing but one sonne married a second wife of whom hee had one daughter who being of reasonable yeares the sonne died of poyson and the mother in law is not onely suspected for his death but accused and conuinced thereof wherefore she being laied vpon the racke to make her confesse such as were consenting to her fact she accused her owne daughter so that shee was adiudged to bee burned with her mother but the poor father gainsaid it thus AH miserable child seeing thy mother hateth thee as much as thy father loueth thee O mischeeuous woman that euen vnto thine owne daughter thou art worse then a stepdame art thou not sufficiently glutted with thy passed murthers but thou must further gorge thee with thy daughters massacre But who knoweth not that such kind of people desire not to die without slaughter Wherefore amongst the fencers or souldiors that combat is most cruell which is fought
against a desperate man that is sure to die no doubt but they that may not liue will procure any murther if they can for the death of others maketh them the lesse to bewaile the life which they are readie to lose and where despaire is there doth rage abound because the horror of death filleth their courage with furie they resemble certaine beasts that bite those weapons wherewith they are wounded being thrust through they make their wound the greater that they might approch neere him that hath gored them But how should she feare to belie one that taketh a pleasure to poyson anie Why will not she effect my daughters death that without anie cause wrought my sonnes decay But what sonne Truly euen he that might haue been beloued of euerie stepdame that had been lesse wicked then she that cannot so much as loue her owne husband But to do him a dispight she hateth her owne daughter to death and remembring that she was a mother in law forgetteth that euer she was a mother indeed let then the truth of the innocēt father be of more estimatiō thē the leasings of the guiltie mother seeing that in the extremitie of death or torments the wicked doe neuer speake truth For proofe whereof a bondman that Cato had being conuinced of theft and tortured therefore affirmed that Cato was accessarie to the theft who was then better to be beleeued the bondman and the torture or Cato In like sort you are more to credit the innocencie of the daughter then the malice of the mother The Answere THere are some beasts so raging mad that their yong ones are no sooner brought forth but they become as fierce as their dames wherefore it is best to strangle them while they are yoong likewise the venomous hearb taketh his poyson from the root how much more then may this girle be wicked being born of a mother so execrable and so much the rather because the daughters doe alwaies resemble the mother more then the father how greatly then hath her wicked nature ben furthered by lewd counsell with hope and ambition to be her selfe the sole heire Which was the principall occasions that this stepmother poysoned your sonne and that the daughter consented therevnto wherefore it were no reason that shee should escape punishment Declamation 59. Of the Praetor that caused the head of a malefactor to be cut off at the request of a whore FLaminius the Romane Praetor gouerning in France sitting at the table with a comman woman whom he deerely loued shee said vnto him that she had of long time desired to see some man executed by iustice but shee was ashamed to goe vnto the common place of execution Wherevpon he forthwith commanded a condemned prisoner to bee brought and in the hall where he supped hee caused him to bee beheaded in his presence the which deed was reported at Rome wherefore a long time after Cato accused him of Treason against the Common-wealth saying THe enterludes comedies flatteries whoredomes and other trickes farre vnworthie a Romane Praetor might verie well haue sufficed without further adding therevnto a spectacle so cruel for the recompence of a banquet so lasciuious It may be one only kisse of a minion bought all the whole blood life of a man so that he might be iustlie termed a worse hangman which sat at the table to behold the same with pleasure then was he which smit of the head perchance not without pittie I doe not seeke to rip vp all the faults of so many yeares past to accuse him but that one onely night his act It is more likely that he which bestoweth much vpon a woman would denie her the slaughter of a man thē it is possible for him which granteth her the slaughter of a man to denie her any thing if thou wouldest whip a slaue wouldest thou not carrie him forth of the banqueting hall But who would euer haue beleeued that a whoore should haue desired to behold the hangmans sword vpon the cupbord and the table to be stained with humane blood but yet who would haue thought that euer any Romane Praetor could haue granted such a matter Oh what an abhominable act is this But what shall I say seeing the Romane Empire hath ben in such sort blemished and the law rather polluted then the offender thereof punished Forsake your graues O you Bruti Horatij Fabritij and all the rest of you who were the ornament of this Empire alasse behold how your rods axes and other signes of office haue ben abandoned vnto dishonest damsels onely to please them and to make them sport euery offence that is committed by a Magistrate vnder coulor of his authoritie is more punishable then anie other fault for the Magistrate is a spectacle for all other men because all men doe marke and cast their eies vpon his acts and this man whilest the beholders the hangman and the poore prisoner stoood all looking vpon him suffered both his owne eies and vnderstanding to bee rauished by the lookes of an harlot O earth couer this abhomination to the end that it may be no more remembred The Answere IF hipocrisie or secret ambition did not more prouoke thee then doth the zeale of the Commonwealth I suppose thou wouldest haue ben as slacke in accusing me as thou knowest the same hath in no sort ben wronged by me because the Commonwealth can no more bee disgraced by one mans folly then it may be dignified by one alone mans forwardnes but as nothing is well said which is not rightly vnderstood so is nothing well done that is wrongfullie interpreted otherwise I should be vntouched of crime and you not vntaxed of slander For the Commonwealth is able inough to reprooue that which is not done according to reason and equitie but also to reprehend whatsoeuer is vnprofitable for it Haue not the Senat and people refused to hold those agreements which were made by their Emperors or Generals and sent them bound vnto the enemies If they haue not allowed the faults of two Emperors together wherefore should the fault of one onlie Praetor be laid vnto their charge If to execute a man by iustice may be termed a fault But what need you to inquire where or when such a one did die that was worthie to die You say that I haue slaine one It is true but whome haue I slaine saue only a condemned man You aske when and where I answer that it was in the night and in the common hall And I doe aske you if anie time or place is limited wherein or where a malefactor ought to suffer and although there were yet who knoweth not that in the presence or companie of a lose woman there is alwaies little good performed and that the common hall or the prison is no other then a place of horror and miserie for offenders But it hath beene an ancient custome at Rome that against such as they cannot charge with any great crime they
would faine find out some small occasion of quarrell like as they sought to condemne Brutus who did afterwards recouer their libertie and so did they accuse Manlius of inhumanity Silla of crueltie Marius of ambition Lucullus of superfluitie and manie others of couetousnesse But touching my deed what art thou more theÌ„ the other Censors that haue ben euer since the fault which thou chargest me withall who haue neuer accused me therfore not that they are any whit thy inferiors in wisdome or equitie or that they are lesse louers of the Common-wealth then thou but because they could better then thou consider that it was not lawfull and lesse reasonable to blemish so many worthie actions of our linage for a small vanitie of one alone who cannot yet bee said to haue done any act either contrarie to dutie or against iustice Declamation 60. Of a man without hands that renounced his sonne because he would not kill his mother being found in adulterie THe law saith that if any man doe take his wife committing adulterie it is lawfull for him to slay them both her and the adulterer but yet it must be without deceit likewise it saith that the sonne may reuenge the adulterie for his father Whervpon it happened that a martiall man lost his two hands in the wars and as one mischance doth neuer happen alone within a small time after he surprised his wife in adulterie and finding himselfe vnable he commanded his sonne to slay them the sonne would not wherevpon hee renounced him for his heire saying I Shall then by thy fault amongst all men bee he alone that hath neither pardoned nor punished adulterie but who in this case will not imagine that either I had no sonne or that my sonne had no hands Yet my greatest griefe consisteth in this that I know the contrary Alasse in finding the adulterers I felt in good earnest how great a misse I had of my hands alacke I lost them in the warres and my sonne could not find his in the house wherefore I may say that he stood mee in as little stead as my sword which I could not vse How shall he either vanquish the enemy or defend his countrie which hath denied the helpe of his hands vnto his father When will he sight for vs that could not fight for himselfe Get thee packing then with the adulterers whom thou hast suffred to escape and leaue me rather alone then so badly accompanied Thou saiest thy heart would neuer serue thee to kill thy mother why doest thou not also say that the adulterer is thy father as I doe verily beleeue and thou doest shew he is Seeing thou soughtest rather to please him in a matter vniust and execrable then me in that wherin by the gods law and reason thou wert commanded Wherefore it cannot bee said that I doe either renounce or disinherit thee without a cause A very notable answere of the sonne ALas me thought it was in a maner all one to murther my father as to kill my mother in his presence and as it was neuer allowable in a reasonable man to be cruell so were rigorous laws made more to terrifie all theÌ„ to torment anie for if the law be strict the interpretation thereof is large and they ought to tend rather vnto clemencie then crueltie a great mischiefe can neuer be appeased in coÌ„mitting two others Moreouer the pleasure of reuenge doth suddainlie vanish but the contentment of mercie dooth neuer vade so likewise dooth euery pittifull heart melt in thinking vpon the horriblenesse of murther wherefore with the spectacle of a misfortune so suddaine all my bodie became sencelesse You good father did lacke your hands but before I could recouer my spirits I lost al my members yet was the mischiefe which you commanded more great then all the miserie which had happened was greeuous pardon me then if I did not accomplish your commandement in a thing which farre exceeded my strength and courage A father pardoneth his son if he refuse to faile because hee cannot brooke the seas that his heart doth faint as mine did the like happeneth if his heareserueth not to goe vnto the warres although he bee the sonne of a warlike father for euerie man is not borne to manage armes And it is to be considered for what intent the law saith that it is lawful for the father or the sonne to slay the adulterers Truly it was because the lawmakers were not ignoraÌ„t that there were some men which either could not or would not kill one another what can I doe with all if we are both of the same number you made by the warre vnapt and I by nature vnable wherein then can you blame me sauing that the adulterers are escaped because you were maimed and I amased or almost in a swound If the fault then be common why should I for the same bee onely condemned Declamation 61. Of two maidens rauished by one man for the which the one required his death and the other desired him for her husband THe law permitteth a maiden that is rauished to chuse either the death of the rauisher or to take him for her husband Wherevpon it chanced that one man defloured two maidens in one night so that the next morning the one required that he might die and the other requested to haue him for her husband wherfore she that desired his death said thus VVHo did euer see anie man saued for one offence by the meanes of another fault farre more hainous For if sinne proceed from humane frailtie to perseuere in the â—anâ—e is a diuelish obstinacie one defloured maid accuseth him the other defendeth him reuenge you our cause then O you iudges let the seueritie of your discipline bee redoubled seeing the crime is double the people doe already secretly desire it for he hath not onlie forced or rauished twaine but I alone haue ben defloured by twaine that is to say by him that did the deed by her that would preserue him from death must he be suffred to liue that hath deserued to die twise Had hee but deserued one death onlie he should not liue anie longer because no bodie would haue defended him but this woman would vnto our shame verifie the Prouerb which men do impose vpon our sex saying That women are selfe-willed and that they do alwaies chuse the worst If thou haddest ben the first that had ben forced I doe hardlie beleeue that thou wouldest haue desired him for thy husband To conclude as thou canst not sue anie further in his behalfe saue onely that thou maiest not bee depriued of thy choice so also canst thou not abridge me of my request it is in thy choice to saue his life for the fault he hath coÌ„mitted against thee but thou canst not command his life for the iniurie done against mee seeing that I was first wronged let me be first reuenged and afterwards thou shalt wed him if thou wilt The Answere THou saiest that thou wert
the first that was wronged I doe not know so much and therefore affirm that it was I or if I were the last theÌ„ was mine the greater wrong for that which hee did vnto thee may bee excused either by loue or necessitie but what hee offered vnto me can be no better tearmed then insolencie malice or disdain seeing that then his greatest heat was past neuerthelesse considering that clemencie is more naturall vnto our sex then crueltie I say that where the prerogatiues or claimes are of equal force there is more respect to be had vnto humanitie then rigor and if you alleage vnto mee the examples of Lucrece and Virginia I will in like sort alleage vnto you the Sabines and others no lesse honest but more discreet and the greater number from whoÌ„ hath proceeded greater good witnesse so many worthy Romanes issued from them His death can serue to no other end but to eternise the memorie of our infamie either by the publick or secret reuenge of his kindred neuer did any mans death profit a woman Lastlie if thou thinkest that thy honour deserueth his death I answere that mine is not vnworthie of his life and I beleeue that the iudges will affirme my wish to be more iust then thy will Declamation 62. Of him that his father did disherit because he went vnto the wars THe priuiledge of the war was that he which had ben thrise a conqueror should bee freed from going to the warres any more Wherevpon it happened that a certaine Romane which had beene thrise a conqueror would returne vnto the warres against his fathers will Who seeing that hee would needs goe did for his obstinacie disherit him wherevnto the sonne pleaded in this sort FIrst I am bound vnto God that hee hath made mee three times victorious and next vnto him am I bound vnto my countrie for the loue which I haue born vnto it hath ben the cause that I did fight and got the victorie wherefore after I haue performed my duty vnto these twaine I will obey my father in all things who ought not to be against the publick good and my glorie it may be that he himselfe hath not ben thrise a conqueror wherefore it is requisit that I should supplie his default or my childrens defect who peraduenture shall neuer be of such desert but why would you dissuade me from sighting after the obtaining of three victories Seeing that they doe yet fight whome I haue thrise vanquished As the Senator which is past threescore years of age may chuse whether he will come to Counsell yee or no and yet such as are much older do notwithstanding come thether so long as they liue so is it 〈◊〉 for me to goe vnto the warres when honor commandeth me as oft as list In that which is past I 〈…〉 no more then my dutie and therefore I 〈…〉 reward but that which hereafter I shall doe of free will shall merit a recompence You would haue him to be idle that neuer loued ease you see the danger wherein we stand all the Citizens doe fixe their eies vpon me and to speake the truth the Commonwealth doth yet owe me nothing for my passed victories seeing that it could not excuse me from the battaile but now the same law shall allow it to be desert which before did appoint it a dutie Seeing then that what I do is but for your profit and honour why should you disauow me for your heire mee I say which will fight to maintaine your life your house and the inheritance which you will take from me The Answere THou doest acquit thy selfe towards God and thy countrie in obeying thy father in a matter both lawfull and reasonable for the Commonwealth hath as great need of pittifull and obedient men vnto the lawes and their Parents as it hath of such as are valiant wherefore thou art bound to be both the one and the other thou art alreadie knowne to bee valiant bee thou then likewise knowne to be pittifull obedient and louing towards thy poore father who shall die if thou shouldest miscarrie by thy ouer boldnesse Doest thou thinke to be victorious in fighting against the law and the will of thy father No for God is too iust Aâ—neas was not so much praised for all his heroicall deeds as he was commended for louing his aged father and for preseruing him from the Troian site Doest thou wonder if thy father be no lesse carefull for the 〈◊〉 of thy person then the law is which forbiddeth 〈…〉 hazard thy selfe anie more in the like perill I had rather to renounce thee suddainlie then hauing lost thee in the warres to be attached with a double sorrow it is therefore in thy choice to remaine my sonne or no. It is a far greater vertue to bee able to containe thy selfe within thy bounds then to perish in this battaile thou shalt go in greater danger to lose thy gotten reputation then to inlarge thy future renowne therefore thou being my sonne no longer my griefe shall be the lesse Declamation 63. Of him that appeased the father of a maiden whom he had rauished and yet could not pacify his own father THe law commandeth that if any man do rauish a virgin that he should die therefore vnlesse that within thirtie daies hee doe both pacifie or appease the next of kin vnto the said damsell likewise the neerest of kin vnto himselfe Whervpon it fell out so that a certaine yoong man rauished a yoong virgin and before the prefixed tearm he had thorowly appeased the maidens father but yet his owne father would by no means be satisfied wherefore he accused his father to haue lost his wits saying HOw can that man bee said to haue his vnderstanding that is more cruell vnto his owne son then is he that hath been offended There is no beast in the world so fierce that seeketh not to preserue that which it hath it hath engendered whereby it appeareth that those which do otherwise may be iudged to haue lesse vnderstanding then brute beasts If you thinke that I haue wronged you in not comming rather vnto you as to him whom I was most bounden vnto then vnto the virgines father You must consider that it was because he was more wronged then you and that I iudged you more pittifull then he and hee harder to bee entreated then you But alasse infortunate that I am I haue found mine enemie more fauourable then mine owne father so that I know not what els to say but that amongst such men as haue their wits the loue of the father doth alwaies exceed the sonnes follie If it please you to saue my life or if your crueltie bee such as you loath to see me liue speake for the time is at hand But I grieue not so much to die if you haue lost your wits as I sorrow for the perpetuall mone that you will make in that you haue ben the abridger of my daies when as time more then reason shal haue
mittigated your choler and restored your vnderstanding whereof now I may well say you are depriued or at the least that the same is mightily deminished The Answere THou saiest that the maidēs father was more wronged then was I I graunt it yet canst thou not likewise deny but that I haue greater cause of offence thē he for thy force did take away the maidens shame but I shall bee euer dishonoured to haue begotten a son so dissolute that hath displeased his father wronged a Cittizen defloured a virgin defamed his stocke and giuen cause of offence vnto the Commonwealth It is thou that wantedst thy wits seeing thou couldest not know that at one instant thou shouldest not haue committed so many mischiefes together and most mad thou wert if in knowing the same thou couldest not shun the same but heaping one offence vpon another thou wouldest slander me to haue lost my wits whereby it appeareth that as vertues so are vices linked together Thou accusest me before I haue condemned thee the tearme is not yet expired I do very well know that thy life and death are yet in my choice Haue I then lost mine vnderstanding wherfore doest thou tremble why doth thy tongue faulter For what cause are thine eies troubled The thirtieth day is not yet come but wherefore wouldest thou that anie man should pittie thee seeing thou wert pittilesse vnto the damsell who when thou diddest rauish her shewed no lesse sorrow then thou doest now Wherefore couldest not thou consider what vice is at the first as well as at the last which is alwaies a present pleasure but a parting paine leauing alwaies either some scourge or at the least a moste sound sorrow accompained with a horrible fear but although I should leaue thee thy life dost thou thinke to remain vnpunished will not thin own consience torment thee far worse then any hangman would Nay why should I graunt that vnto mine enemie which I haue denied vnto my sonne For seeing thou accusest me thou canst not be rightly tearmed my friend much lesse my sonne Is it to be wondered at if I rest doubtfull seeing that the law it selfe hath neither determined thy death nor concluded thy marriage Thou hast alwaies behaued thy selfe as if thou haddest ben allowed to doe anie sinne thou hast not yet intreated me as thou oughtest but hast rather requested the other his friendship then my fauour and hauing first appeased his furie thou afterwards thoughtest assuredly to constrain me to winck at thy fault Would a foole consider thus much Tel me then wherin I am a foole Haue I liued badly or committed such follie as thou hast Haue I forgotten the lawes Haue I not counted thy daies Can I not prooue wherefore thou art vnworthie of my fauor demanding it after such a fashion I haue consulted with our kinred I haue deuised with our friends alasse what paines haue I taken to perform a fathers dutie Ah me most miserable seeing that my anger is so iust that I cannot yet forget it I do not wonder although thou hast appeased the maidens father for it is easier to pardon an iniurie then a crime yea when he came to entreat for thee his kindnesse did the more harden my heart against thee for me thought that a man so honest ought in no sort to be harmed thou tellest me that the time is short how then couldest thou find so much leasure as to accuse me Doe men appease their misdeeds after such a manner Is that the way to obtaine fauour Doest thou now thinke it fit to entreat But tell me wherefore am I besides my wits Is it because I haue not pardoned thee The time is not yet past I may yet pardon thee although thou art vnworthie seeing thou accusest mee before I haue hurt thee Declamation 64. Of the husband that did put away his wife who being tortured did yet saue his life in not confessing that he pretended to murther the Tyrant A Tyrant being suspitious that a Cittizen pretended his death caused him to be apprehended and committed him to prison and there tortured him to cause him to confesse his conspiracie and who were his confederats but the Cittizen would not confesse any thing whereupon the Tyrant did also cause the Citizens wife to be tortured who in like sort would confesse nothing wherefore they were deliuered and set at libertie Within a short time after the said Cittizen killed the Tyrant and being greatly rewarded and honoured by the Commonwealth for the deed he put away his wife as one that was barren because she had ben fiue yeares with him and neuer conceiued anie child For which cause shee accused him of ingratiude saying THat which the Tyrant was vnwilling to doe hee that killed the Tyrant would doe to shew himself more vniust then was hee hee would frustrate our marriage which at his owne request and intreat was solemnized and to manifest his ingratitude the more hee would needs stay vntill he stood indebted vnto mee for his life if he ment to forsake me he should haue put me away before I had ben tortured for his loue the which torture is cause of my barrennesse O miserable woman that I am seeing that my kindnesse hath procured mee care and my good deeds turneth vnto my decay Is it not verie well knowne that the constancie of my courage and the silence of my tongue haue ben the onely ouerthrow of the Tyrant I then being the cause that the Tyrant can no more break the marriages of others why should mine be suffered to be broken But who is ignorant that during the Tyrants life the barren were esteemed most happie because they could not see their children rauished at the Tyrants pleasure True it is that I haue borne no children for the Commonwealth but I dare affirm that I am the cause that manie are and shall be borne and that henceforth there shall bee no more taken from it The Tyrant suspected my husband his intention because either hee had disclosed something or els his countenance or behauiour discouered his pretence but yet in anie sort hee cannot complaine of his wiues tatling no not when she was in her extreamest torments I had alwaies more respect vnto my husband that was absent then vnto the Tyrant who was present being more carefull of his health then fearefull of mine own hurt But who can expresse all the preparation that was made for instruments of crueltie able inough to daunt the courages of many men to terrifie the constancie of a feminine heart the whips tearing my flesh the fire the yron shoes the whot egs vnder mine armholes the buskins the trestles the pullies the cords the napkin water oile and the hangmen yet all these together could neuer draw one onely word from me to the preiudice of my husband but prouing by liuely reasons the contrarie of all that was of me demanded I was the cause of his deliuerance wherefore doth he vaunt that he hath slaine the Tyrant
they haue done vnto mee but yet ought not I to lose that which the law hath allotted mee if Democritus bee praised of many for pulling out his eies that hee might the better wade in the contemplation of Naturall Philosophie why should I be blamed although I had voluntarily suffered mine eies to be plucked forth that I might the better abstaine from vices Take it then which way you list I ought not to be denied the tenne ounces of gold seeing that I am a Cittizen and haue lost my sight either by force or willingly Declamation 67. Of the forsaken sonne who first would and could not and afterward might and would not returne vnto his father A Man forsaketh or disheriteth his son who went vnto the warres and returned home a conqueror wherefore he demandeth for his reward of the Commonwealth that his father might bee compelled to receiue him into fauour againe But the father being vnwilling to bee compelled to receiue his sonne defended himselfe so well that he was no more vrged therevnto Yet because he was very desirous to haue his sonne againe without being constrained but rather that his sonne might acknowledge it meerely to bee his beneuolence he went also vnto the wars and returning with conquest requesteth for his reward that his sonne might returne vnto him and if he refused that he should be inforced to come home againe and obeying his father receiue his inheritance the son would not Wherevpon the father summoned him to the law and in the presence of the iudges said thus MY victorie is more famous then thine for after that thou hadst vanquished wee had yet cause of further warre but my conquest was the vtter ouerthrow of our enemies the end of all our warres and the assurance of our Commonwealth But although it had not ben so yet what art thou who begot thee but I Say that I haue not made thee worthie to return home vnto me yet these eies these hāds this bodie these feet which thou hast haddest thou thē from anie other then me The courage wisedome yea and this stoutnesse which thou now shewest takest not thou the same from my nature For if a villaine had begotten thee thou shouldest be like vnto him as for example the Eagle engendereth not a doue nor doth a lion beget a hare wherefore one of these two must be granted either that I am worthie of reward or that I am vnworthie to haue anie at all If I bee worthie then my reward is that thou returne home againe If I deserue none restore vnto mee all those aboue rehearsed graces which thou holdest of me Thou wilt say I could not obtain the same reward which thou demandest in saying so thou wilt but renue the quarrell for which I did renounce thee which is that thou wouldst neuer acknowledge the preheminence that in al things I ought to haue ouer thee but if thou shouldest be beleeued thou wouldst take vpon thee the authoritie of thy father and yet thou knowest not how to loue me so well as a son O my child thou knowest not what it is to bee a father I would giue thee that which thou hast especiallie required for thy reward Thou maiest say I will not be at your discretion to bee cast off some other time when you list in saying so a man may iudge that thou desirest to giue me the like occasion Doest thou not know that a father neuer forsaketh his sonne without feeling far greater griefe then doth he which is forsaken But comming againe vnto both our deserts I haue behaued my selfe more valiantly in the wars from whence although the aged are especially exempted yet haue I ben therein imploied therefore it is a question whether thou hast ben a conqueror or no thou hast exercised thine age but I haue ouercome mine age thou hast made war but I haue finished the warre I did not onlie fight valiantlie my self but by my aged manhood did greatlie animate the courages of yoong men therefore it may be said that I deserued a double reward be thou then the recompence of my valor I haue foughten being old I haue aduentured that litle blood which I had left me to gain thee Alasse how farre besides our selues are we both twaine seeing that when wee are requested then we doe refuse being refused we would with all our hearts enioy that which wee are denied I had not so soone renounced thee but I did as speedilie desire to reuoke thee if I had not ben assured that thou wouldest neuer acknowledge anie good turne to come from me but doest not thou compell me to bee suspitious whē thou wilt not return vnto thy fathers house vnlesse it be by thine own authoritie or after a boasting manner Consider only how much more honorable it is for thee to return at mine instance then at thine own The Answere YOu are not to augment your victorie to the preiudice of mine in doing whereof you wrong your selfe and so much the rather by how much you confesse that the valor of men redoundeth to the glorie of those that ingendered them so as in like sort the vicious sonne can bee no other then a reproch to his father and mother wherefore it was said that Agrippina was worthie of that cruell death which she had onely because she brought forth so vild a sonne as Nero. Also it cannot bee died that my victorie was lesse famous then yours which by mine became the more easie because he is easilie vanquished which hath been once ouercome But setting all this apart because vnto the iudges I would not bee so troublesome as you haue beene tedious I will onelie say thus much that of a free man I desire not to become a bondman in as much as none can constraine a valiant man vnto anie thing against his mind and seeing that you haue renounced me I am no more your sonne but if you deeme mee so either there is no reason to reward you with that which you affirm to bee your owne or els it is more reason that my victorie which was the first should first rewarded by my return vnto you and afterwards demand what you think best for the recompence of yours Declamation 68. Of a maiden who being rauished did first require her rauisher for her husband and afterwards requested his death THe law is so that a maid being rauished may either demand to be married vnto the rauisher without bringing him anie marriage good at all or els she may cause him to die Wherevpon it happened that a yoong maiden being rauished accused him that rauished her and required him for her husband but he denied the fact and affirmed that hee neuer knew the maiden yet shee found the means to prooue him guiltie and hauing conuinced him thereof shee would not then marie with him but sued that he might die Against the which he pleaded thus THou canst make thy choice but once and the rather because I doe not yet know whether
sleightlie regarded there is no reason that thy pettie losse should be in anie sort recōpenced especially because thou canst not say that thy hurt came by me but by the Tirant and no way better canst thou excuse thy fault then in accusing thine owne hard fortune which was the onely cause of thy harme by bringing the tyrant vnto thy house The Answere HE which hath all the profit and honor ought likewise to be partaker of the hurt as I doe not vniustlie reprooue thee for the wrong which thou hast done me so also dare I aduouch that thou hast not killed the Tyrant seeing thou diddest neither see him nor once touch him but my house was it that slew him therefore it is not against reason if for the losse thereof I doe at the least demand some part of the reward The tyrant did not make anie speciall choise of my house much lesse was it offered or prepared for him but as he could he entered therein because I was not at home to hinder him likewise thou mightedst as wel haue follow him in and killed him but thy heart serued thee not and therefore thou didst rather chuse to fire my house then otherwise to slay him and in danger thy selfe to be hurt thou then hast the reward but deseruedst it not and yet thou wouldest haue mee lose my house which was his ouerthrow Who can tel but that he might well haue escaped if therein he had not entered If then my house did keepe him and receiue the fire that burned him why ought it not as I haue said bee likewise partaker of the reward Declamation 70. Of the grandfather that did secretly steale away his deceased daughters child for feare least it should be poysoned by the stepmother as two other before had ben wherevpon the said childs father accused his father in law of violence IT happened that a man had three children whereof two died not without suspition that the stepmother had beene the cause of their death The father of the said childrens mother did secretly steale away the third child least it might come to the like end as the rest did Neither had the said grandfather visited the other children during their sickenesse because he could not be suffered to come in but was kept out of dores The father caused his child to be cried the grandfather said that he had him wherevpon the father accused the grandfather of violence saying that he had stolen his child the good old man made his excuse saying SEeing that this is all the sonnes that my daughter hath aliue suffer me to bring him vp What doest thou feare That I will not let thee enter in when thou commest to visit him as I was serued at thy house thou art deceiued I am not so ingratefull fond foolish man as thou art thou seekest not those two children which thou hast lost nor once hearkenest after them which haue ben wilfullie made away but seekest him that is not lost that he might likewise be lost as the rest were Thou askest one of me whose life I will charilie protect and I doe require two of thee whom thou hast careleslie suffered to perish Why is not a grandfather better to be trusted then a stepmother I came to visite my little nephewes being sick yet might not see them that was violence and not this which I haue done For therein hath neither beene vsed weapons combat resistance nor force but such as was too friendly Let al the assistance bee iudge of this controuersie which is between a yoong man and an old Thou saiest that I haue stolen thy sonne I answere that I doe keepe my daughters sonne thou saiest that I haue taken him away from thee and I denie it but true it is that when hee came vnto mee I would not driue him away from me and I am the cause that he is yet liuing So doe the Phisitions and Chirurgions oftentimes bind vs and whether wee will or no applie such medicines as are most needfull for the recuring of our maladies That which I haue done is no strangers deed Nature hath her right this difference is there betwixt the father and the grandfather that it is lawfull for the grandfather to preserue his children in safetie but not for the father to suffer his to be slaine Whence proceedeth this thy ouerlate pittie to begin to seek thy lost sons of this which is here in safetie Seest thou not that all those that fauor the child do desire that thou mightest not find him The Answere HE hath not taken away the child to keepe him or for anie feare he had of his safetie but onelie to slander my wife with sorcerie and to make mee suspected to be therevnto consenting What haue I to do with this man O you Iudges who while his daughter liued did neuer beare me anie loue and now after her deceasse dooth hate me deadlie and hauing scantlie visited my children when they were sound he came crieng out and lamenting during their sicknesse prophesieng that which hath since happened and would but haue increased their griefe to haue heard it He was kept foorth because his comming was well knowne to be more hurtfull to all then helpfull to anie and that he should neither by his needlesse exclamations shorten the liues of the poor infants nor steale this other child which now appeareth was his onlie intent Declamation 71. Of him that being accused for intending his fathers death is thervpon renounced of him although that in open Iudgement he was clearely acquited by equall sentence YOu must consider tbat in times past when in iudgement there were as many voices on the one side as on the other in any criminall cause the partie accused was acquited because that iustice ought to regard clemency more then cruelty Whervpon it happened that a father accused his sonne of paricide saying that hee intended to murther him wherefore he being imprisoned and the informations made on either side the proofe was found so vncertaine that the partie accused had as manie voices in iudgement on his side as the accuser whereby the accused is acquited Notwithstanding the father being displeased forsaketh and disheriteth his sonne though hee were acquited by iustice saying My request is now lesse then it was for I doe not desire to be reuenged of thee but only that I may be rid of him that would haue slaine me I do no more accuse him but shun him Do you thinke that hee will spare me being his foe that would not spare me being his father No surely For because hee would no difference betweene my testament and my death He is not acquited of his offence but onlie freed of his punishment because the sentences were alike To prooue him innocent hee ought to haue had manie voices but to condemne him there needed no more then one The Iudges haue not found him faultlesse but onlie spared the punishing of his fault wonderfull is the mercie of the law of this
countrie seeing that the equalitie of voices may acquite malefactors Thou maiest then thanke the law not thine innocencie for thine escape Thou saiest I am acquited and therefore you can neither account me nor call me a paricide I allow it so to be neither will I disherit thee therefore but for thy other vices which are the cause that there are as manie that beleeue thou wouldest haue murthered mee as there bee that doe stand in doubt thereof But who knoweth not that it is a greife for a father to accuse his son to bring him in danger of death although it be his desert What is he then that would be so cruel to accuse him wrongfullie I take God to witnes that as I am verie glad because thou hast escaped punishment so likewise would I take away all occasion to accuse thee anie more and in putting thee away I would take all occasion from thee to murther thy father The sonnes Answere AS there needeth but one voice to condemne me which God hath withheld to defend mine innocencie so is my ioy exceeding great in that I am freed from crime and disgrace as well as from punishment and a verie likelie matter is it that some of the Counsell beleeuing it to bee impossible that a father would euer accuse his sonne wrongfullie haue ben on your side but the other s who considering all men bee subiect to passion and that manie fathers doe imagine that the liues and deaths of their sons ought to be doomed by them and at their choice onelie haue equallie taken my part especiallie because there was no proofe or witnesse against mee And notwithstanding you disherit me because I should alwaies be secretly suspected of infamie wherby it appeareth that your meaning was neuer good towards mee or at the least it is corrupted by such as pretend to bee your heires so that although I am now oppressed by your authoritie I hope that by my patience all men shall know and your selfe wil confesse what a son I both haue ben am and euer shall be and it may bee that time may cause you change your euill opinion if God so please who neuer forsaketh the innocent Declamation 72. Of the sonne who striuing against his father obtained the dignity of Emperor afterwards being taken in the wars and crucified his father is accused to haue betraied him IT is to be considered that amongst our ancestors the dignitie of Emperour was no other then that which we at this day doe call Generall of an armie or Commonwealth the which dignitie was once demaunded by an ancient and valiant man But his sonne resisted him in such sort as hee obtained the place for himselfe and as the Prouerbe saith Mowed the grasse vnder his fathers feet Neuerthelesse they went to the wars together where it chanced the Emperor to be taken by the enemies Whervpon the Commonwealth sent fortie Embassadors to redeeme him vpon any condition whatsoeuer These Embassadors met the Emperors father who told them that he had brought gold to saue his sonnes life but it was too late because he was crucified before he came The Embassadors notwithstanding passed on further they found their Emperor according to his report crucified yet not so thorowly dead but that he said thus vnto them Beware of Treason Who at their returne vpon these words of the sonne accused his father to haue betraied him saying OVr Emperor hath suffered a shamefull death and the traitor hath receiued monie for the reward of his Treason We haue seen this same man more sad to see his sonne pronounced Emperour then sorrie to behold him taken of his enemies How was it possible that thou couldest returne alone being old and ouerladen with monie seeing they did take the Emperor Thou hast receiued more monie then thou couldest well hide but that is no great wonder seeing that in one person thou hast sold both a sonne and an Emperor together Who said vnto vs Beware of Treason but alasse he said it too late Trulie if the enemies had not giuen thee this gold they would haue taken it from thee as well as from others This sentence of the Emperor being readie to die was short and euen for shame verie hardly vttered seeing that thereby he accused his father Why diddest thou escape leauing thy sonne behind thee who was borne to be an Emperour Surelie for no other cause but that hee hindered thee from being one His proceeding against his father by lot and electiue voices was done to no other end but onelie thereby modestlie to shew that from henceforth hee would neither trust thee with the gouernement of the Commonwealth neither yet ought the same trust thee to gouerne it Our Embassadors carried gold thether to redeeme our Emperor and his father brought gold hether which hee receiued for selling him vnto the enemies How happeneth it that thou art not dead or at the least without motion and as it were crucified with thy sonne why diddest thou return so speedilie seeing he was aliue and did yet speake Certainlie his speech bewraied the Treason but his silence indeuoring to conceale the same did better decipher the Traitor that would not once stay the comming of the Embassadors nor yet returne with them againe This good Emperor although hee were crucified yet left not to bee carefull for the Commonwealth And therefore he said take you heed of Treason Behold how he could not conceale the Treason but like a child hee would not name the traitor Thou wilt say that compassion vrged thee to depart so quicklie We would know seeing thou couldest not haue him aliue why thou diddest not at the least redeeme him when hee was dead For neuer was anie enemie so cruell but that he would be moued with a fathers teares and so great a summe of gold together This word Take heed of Treason signifieth beware least anie without the priuitie of your towneguards doe come foorth of your cittie or without the knowledge of the Commonwealth doe goe vnto the enemie or least anie one doe returne from the General of the enemies loden with gold Nothing of this wanteth in all mens iudgement thou hast done al this thou wentest forth of the cittie thou hast ben in the enemies campe thou art returned thence loden with gold the Emperor warned vs of Treason the Embassadors haue disclosed the traitor all doubt is taken away consider onlie O Iudges who did speake who now speaketh and who speaketh not The fathers Answere I Did demand the Empire to saue my sonne from the danger whereinto himselfe hath fallen I know not whether there be anie Treason but you may thinke that if I were culpable therein my sonne would haue as little respect to accuse me as he had to striue with me for the Empire I did carrie monie thether which I haue brought backe againe for seeing my sonne taken I took all the gold which of long time I had hidden in my Nay who will doubt that shee hath not
if a man ouercome with a iealous care of his countrie should goe forth of the cittie without leaue to doe some exploit for the benefit therof Ought he to die Are not the lawes made for the profit and safetie of the Commonwealth Let vs consider to what end the King leaped ouer was it to goe seeke the enemies No but rather thereby secretly to shew that as he could leape foorth of the cittie at one iumpe so might the enemies as easilie passe our such low wals wherefore as hee would neither flatter the workemen so without gaining their ill will hee would prouoke them to be more diligent in their labour and for the same purpose he indeuoured to please both thē also the assistants in shewing the agilitie of his bodie O how worthie of commendation is that man which ioineth profit with pleasure as he did but wee may say that he in steed of receiuing honour by the people for his reward obtained cruell death at his brothers hands for his recompence Seeing the law was by the Senat inuented why were not they acquainted with his execution that so his integritie might haue ben made manifest For that which a king doth cannot bee said to bee done without leaue so that the people be not hurt therby for in euery lawful act he may take leaue by his own authoritie wherfore you haue no other excuse but that the onlie ambition to raigne alone incited you to kill your brother murther our King hurt the Common-wealth whereby it appeareth that the greedie desire to rule is void of all pittie or remorse if we say that hee which parteth from his friend parteth from himselfe what may be said of him that hath by death sundred his brother from him Which at one instant was conceaued with him who hath remained in his mothers wombe vntill his procreation with him who was cast forth vnto the beasts fostered vp together with him who hath holpen him to build this citie to appoint the Senat and was created King with him what iudge wil bee then so ignorant which will not say that you ought to die with him And that you doe wrongfullie vsurpe the time wherein you doe liue longer then hee Giue rightfull doome then O you Senators to the end that he which hath killed his brother without your consent may no longer tyrannise ouer the Commonwealth The Answere of Romulus AL happinesse ought to be hoped for graue fathers when in the Commonwealth the laws are not onelie good but when they be obserued and kept and by the punishment of a great one all the rest are threatened if they misse in their dutie mine integritie is sufficientlie declared in submitting me vnto the lawes yea euen in the not sparing of mine owne brother as in like sort I would not exempt mine owne person for the obseruation thereof If Minus Radamanthus and Eocus had not ben iust and somewhat seuere in the performance of their lawes they should not haue obtained that immortall renowne which they now haue neither should bee held as Iudges of the infernall mansions like as it is manie times not onlie lawfull but necessarie for one hand to chop of another to preserue the rest of executing one of the enemies therof not without your iudgement but by you both condemned and adiudged euer since the law was by you made allowed for you haue added no exception therevnto Consider then most graue Senators and you couragious people that if I receiue anie hurt it is for doing good beseeching you also to beleeue that what mischiefe or good soeuer shall happen vnto me cannot happen vnto anie that is more affected vnto you or more carefull of your welfare then I. Romulus escaped at this time and raigned a long time after very cruellie but finallie at a sacrifice which was made out of the cittie there fell great store of rain with horrible thunder and lightening wherevpon the Senators tooke occasion to kill Romulus and afterwards hauing hewed him in an hundred peeces euery man carried away a peece and made the people beleeue that he was taken vp into heauen aliue whilest they were offering their sacrifice and hee was placed in the temple amongst the gods and named Quirinus Declamation 75. Of him who being found with a poysoned potion is thereby accused to haue gone about to poyson his father A Certaine rich man had one onlie sonne who was of such bad behauiour that he renounced him and receiued him againe three times Lastly he found him at vnawares in a very secret place of his house where he was brewing a poysoned potion the father asked him what drinke that was hee not being able to denie it said that it was poyson the which he thought to drinke because hee was wearie of his life afterwards he threw the poyson on the ground the father knowing his malice long before accused him that hee had prepared that poyson for him saying IT is far vnlike that he which in three times being forsaken did neuer make anie shew to bee desirous of death would now poyson himselfe being both in the good fauour and in the house of his aged father whose inheritance hee did dailie expect but it is rather most certaine that he being vnwilling to stay for it vntill my death was desirous to attempt the abridging of my daies What likelihood was there that he would willinglie die who being suddainly taken threw the poyson downe for feare least he should haue been compelled to drinke it Why should you think that such a one is wearie of his life that dooth now defend himselfe as much as he can because he would not bee condemned to death Those which desire to die doe goe vnto the warres or trauell by sea and so die with honor in denieng thy crime thou proouest thy selfe culpable canst thou denie that thou diddest seeke find buy and bring the poyson into thy fathers house Vnto whom thou shewing thy selfe an enemie more then a thousand times hast compelled him against his will to reiect and disherit thee three times and thinking alwaies by my exceeding mildnesse to ouercome thine extreame maliciousnesse I haue thrice returned to receiue thee with more then a fatherly kindnes but I perceiue that all the good which is done vnto the wicked is not onlie lost but also increaseth their wickednesse for thou canst THe law is that whosoeuer killeth any man should not be buried at all Wherevpon a certain rich man of a good stocke happened by some occasion to kill himselfe So that thereby the Magistrate accounted him for a murtherer and therefore would not suffer him to be buried but the kinared of the dead man stood against him therein and said IF this poore man had slaine anie one your reason were of some worth for it might haue ben supposed that malice hatred enuie or some other vice had procured him to commit manslaughter but alasse he hath slaine himselfe being ouercome with miserie or els because
thereof and they which will liue after their owne mind haue neuer inough of which number thou art one and that hath caused thee to cast away my son so miserablie for the which I demand iustice The Merchants Answere WHy doest thou persecute me O thou woman for a mischance that displeaseth mee no lesse then it doth thee If it were otherwise might not I haue kept this gold and haue made thee beleeue that thy son had ben run away from me Yea and that he had robbed me or els that hee had died by some other accident then couldest thou well haue indured thy sonnes losse together with thy poore life but indeed thou verifiest the old Prouerb which saith That a woman is extream in all things and that likewise shee commonly chuseth the worst whereby I might haue been better aduised when I told thee of this mishap being therfore no lesse sorrowfull then thy selfe for to say the truth it was a great lamentable mischance and now I doe verie well know how vnseemely it is for anie man to say I had not thought because euery wise man thinketh vpon euerie thing before hee doe anie thing Notwithstanding I dare affirme that few men would euer haue supposed that of a child there might be poyson made to kill men and surely I doubt whether thou art to bee blamed or no for bearing such a one for such children are begotten by vnlawfull coniunction when the woman is in her wicked disposition Furthermore if my son should haue persuaded mee to leaue him with that Turke I know not whether I should haue done it yea or no. Lastly I suffered him to doe what he would thinking it should haue beene for his profit and thine our deedes ought to bee measured by our good or bad meaning and not according to the euent therof and say not that a Turke dooth neuer buy a Christian to doe him anie good for manie slaues doe there become great lords and gouernors of Prouinces thy sonne would not credit my counsell and although I had not consented vnto his request yet would he haue left me to accomplish it the couetousnesse was in him and not in me hardlie may he bee either counselled or corrected that is naturallie enclined to wickednesse as hee was and I beleeue that hee had that from thee seeing that to the death of thy sonne thou wouldest ad the destruction of the dearest friend that thou hast in the wortd and who in stead of thy sonne and husband would bee the stay of thine age and alwaies helpefull vnto thee But it is trulie said women naturallie can neuer forgiue a fault nor acknowledge anie seruice or fauour that is done vnto thē Declamation 80. Of him that agreed to behead his father after his father refused to doe the like by him IT chanced that a father his son were both conuinced of treason for the which they were condemned to die neuertheles as they were readie to bee executed the Iudges being inclined to mercie rather then rigor were willing to saue one of them saying that the griefe which hee should haue that might see his kinsman die would serue for a sufficient punishment and to encrease the same they feigned that the one of them should be the others executioner they put it vnto their choice who should be the executioner and who the partie to be executed wherefore either of them striued a great while who should be the partie to be executed but in the end the son agreed to the death of his father and according to the decree would haue beheaded him the which the Iudges perceiuing they caused the execution to bee staied and pardoned the father and sent for the hangman to behead the sonne but the father defended him saying YOu ought not O you Iudges to pronounce your sentences in manner of a mockerie or by the ambiguitie or reuocation of them to increase the affliction of the afflicted vnder a coulour of moderating iustice with mercie if mine offence be not worthie of death why will you make me suffer many That is to say one in seeing the extremitie of the choice wherevnto you haue put vs another in contemning my life and offering vp my necke at naught to be cut of by my son and the third in seeing him to be condemned for being willing to accomplish your sentence If it bee a cruell deed to see a sonne execute his father that thereby hee might haue his owne life saued a greater cruelty would it be for the father to kill the sonne Wherefore O you Iudges you should not haue giuen so cruell a sentence but can you blame a child if to saue the prime time of his youth he doe not spare the withered age of his father whose yeares are not manie and they miserable For to say the truth age is an incurable maladie but although it were not yet sure griefe and dispaire would be my destruction if you haue anie children consider then what our miserie is And if you haue none learn of those which haue them what the affection of fathers towards their children is And then may you know that the extremitie of the choice which we haue beene put vnto without encreasing our miserie is sufficient to make vs seem more worthie of present pittie thē of further punishment Not in vain did Lisander of Sparta say vnto him that found him childishlie playing with his children I pray thee quoth hee doe not disclose this my follie at anie time vnlesse it be when thou hast children as wel as I for that discreet personage did very wel know that those which haue no children doe neuer know how great the father and childrens loue is one vnto another the which doth wax more feruent as our years and age increaseth wherefore it is no great wonder if my son hath consented to doe that which I could neuer agree vnto seeing that his yeares are all too yong as yet to vnderstand so wel as I what true affection meaneth therefore I cannot beleeue that he whom Manlius Torquatus caused to be beheaded to manifest his care in obseruing militarie discipline could assuredlie be his own son the which perchance himselfe did well vnderstand for that cause hee found occasion at one stroke to be both reuēged of the mother in grieuing her with the slaughter of her sonne the cause and witnesse of his sorrow and also by the same means to gaine an immortall memorie I say memorie because such kind of crueltie is not to be tearmed glorie But how many are there who for want of yeares and discretion haue conspired their fathers death and yet haue not beene compelled therevnto as this my sonne was but onlie either for the desire of rule or greedinesse of goods notwithstanding there was neuer anie father so cruell as to punish his sonne for all that except Herod that abhominable monster more cruell then anie brute beast But Dauid did not he weepe for his sonne Absolon by whom
he had receaued so manie detestable persecutions and iniuries Must there then be a quarrell taken because I haue ben more pittiful then my sonne who neuerthelesse would not do anie thing without my commandement by the dutie whcih he ought vnto me which hath chieflie induced him heretofore to commit that offence for which we are both condemned Lastlie reason willeth that your last sentence be not reuoked for no sentēce ought euer to be reuoked to the hinderance or preiudice of such as are to suffer if one of vs must die it is I that ought so to doe seeing that I was first born and being the elder I haue offended through malice but he through ignorance I willinglie and he in obeying me I then being the onlie cause that both hee and I haue offended it is requisit that I onlie should die for both our misdeeds and neuer imagine that my sonne doth for all that escape vnpunished for as all my miserie shall in my death haue an end so shall his calamitie in liuing together with his yeares dailie more and more increase as well in grieuing that hee hath offended the Commonwealth as that he hath ben constrained to kill his father by their commandement who ought to abhorre the onelie thought of so execrable a crueltie The answere of the Iudges OVr sentence was not pronounced by way of mockerie neither was it reuoked to encrease your miseries but onlie to know seeing you are both twaine worthie to die whether of you is most vnworthie to liue for mercie which assuageth Iustice ought alwaies to be extended towards him that is least culpable Wherefore finding your sonne more faultie then you we haue appointed him to die yet not by your hands for we know that the same were rather crueltie then iustice but we haue hereby made a certaine triall whether there were anie vertue remaining in him when in consenting vnto your death he hath bewraied his vngraciousnesse so that except you bee yet an enemie to your countrie you ought not to bewaile the death of a man so wicked or a sonne so worthlesse but we plainlie perceiue that euerie one fauoureth such as himselfe is and that you will neuer surceasse to hate the Commonwealth so that it will bee no great losse although you should as you say die with griefe for such a losse shall be more profitable to all then hurtfull to anie likewise of two wicked men we had rather saue him that by course of nature will die the soonest and which hath little time and lesse strength to accomplish his wicked purpose We haue children but if wee did know that they would euer bee like vnto you or your sonne wee would presentlie doe with them as wee will with him and as wee ought to doe with you they are to bee pittied which are poore and miserable not such as are wicked and malefactors for as to afflict the good it is an act of crueltie so to punish the bad is a deed of charitie we doe not cause your sonne to die for being willing to accomplish our sentence as you say but because he being alreadie worthie of death the same doth make him more worthie and wee doe saue you by our speciall grace because you would not kill him shewing your selfe at the least a better father then he is a sonne and the dutie which he ought vnto you can bee no excuse for him for it is verie apparent that he would hardlie euer haue obeied you had you commanded him to doe anie good true it is that neuer anie sentence is to bee reuoked to the hinderance of the good but as wee haue moderated the first to saue the life of one of you so is it lawful for vs now to applie the other in such sort that he may die which is most wicked Also the choice which we doe put you vnto cannot bee called crueltie seeing that it was not to that end that it should be so effected neither was the same anie suddaine inuention of our owne thoughts but it is to bee considered that the wickednes of malefactors causeth the iudges to inuent new extraordinary punishments thereby to represse vice the sooner To conclude if you thinke that we do you any wrong you may appeale vnto those who haue as great authoritie ouer vs as ouer you Declamation 81. Of a Chirurgion who murthered a man to see the mouing of a quicke heart THere was in Padua a most cunning Chirurgion excelling all others of his time who hauing made wonderfull experiences of his art for no lesse is the desire of cunning then is couetous of coine had also a wonderfull great desire to open a liue man that he might perfectly know the motion of the heart wherevpon hee made diuers and sundrie requests vnto the Senat of Venice that they would grant vnto him some condemned malefactor to make therewith this his desired experience but he could neuer obtaine the same at their hands for the Venetians are by nature not only pittifull but also somewhat supersticious But these refusals did but the more encrease the longing of this Chirurgion for to say the truth euery haulty spirit are in that like vnto women who doe for the most part couet after that which they are forbidden to touch So that hee being still in this rauing or rather longing there came vnto his doore a poore souldiour very well proportioned and of a sound bodie comming newly from the wars and demanded his almes of the Chirurgion who caused him to come in and cherished him secretly some three daies after his owne fantasie afterwards hauing brought him downe into a caue he caused him by certaine fellows hired for that purpose to be bound vnto a post and opening him aliue he saw that in him which he so greatly desired but as no murther can euer remaine vndisclosed long so it happened that one of his confederats was taken for some other crime and being vpon the racke he amongst other matters reuealed the murther which he his companions and the Chirurgion had committed wherevpon they were all taken and the Chirurgion confessed the fact saying TRue it is most iust Iudge and you worthie Senators that I haue ben the death of one man to saue the liues of an infinit number of others not onelie by the cures which I hope to performe during my life but by that which I will leaue behind mee in writing after my death wherefore it may bee said that hauing made an experience so notable and profitable I haue done worthilie but hauing killed a guiltles man I haue done wickedly I confesse it and would confesse to haue offended more hainouslie if I had not more then once intreated that to preuent a further mischiefe I might haue beene allowed to make this triall vpon some condemned malefactor the which I was neuer permitted to doe some one may answere must you therefore kill an innocent Or doe that by your owne authoritie which a whole Senate would neuer
nature of louers is to thinke euerie minute a month and fearing to lose the good so much of them desired they can hardlie beleeue that which they both see and touch I will willinglie submit my selfe to the law but I will not that thou shouldest haue the credit to compel me in anie sort Thou hast no cause to complaine of thy shipwracke seeing that from the same two holie actions haue proceeded that is to say hospitalitie and mariage I offered thee the one and intreated thee for the other Thou art deceiued if thou thinkest that I will loue thee or thy daughter anie whit the more my life hauing ben once in your power the loue which I doe beare vnto her is great inough without bringing me vnto such an ouergreat extremitie far better is a free and voluntarie loue then is that which proceedeth from anie bond my affection cannot be increased because it is alreadie perfect My marriage declareth that I neither rauished nor constrained thy daughter at all vnlesse it be because I married her without anie substance at all if thou art not content that I haue so done giue mee her portion and I will accept it If thou hast no goods vse mine as the goods of thy daughter and let vs liue in peace Declamation 83. Of a blind woman that would haue detained her sonne from redeeming his father out of prison THe law appointeth that euery child which was old inough to serue and releeue his father or mother and would not indeuour himselfe so to doe ought to bee imprisoned or kept in bonds as a bondslaue Wherevpon it chanced that a man made a long voiage by sea leauing his wife and sonne at home being vpon the sea he fortuned to be taken by Pyrats so that he was constrained to write vnto his wife and son that they might find the means to ransome him out of captiuitie The wife wept so much as she became blind therewith the sonne would needes depart to redeeme his father but his mother would detain him demanding that seruice at his hands wherevnto the law did bind him and would haue caused him to be laid in bonds because he would not tarrie the sonne pleaded against her thus IT is sufficient that two remaine in bondage without desiring that the third should likewise bee laid in bonds the prison detaineth my father in thraldome and your bondage mother is your blindnesse Wherefore will you heape miserie vpon calamitie in bringing me also in captiuitie what wrong doe I vnto you in leauing you a little while for so good an intent as to releiue my father Will you haue the world to doubt that you are not so louing a wife towards your husband as alwaies hetherto they haue esteemed you Will you that for your sake a man may say that all women are in their extremities Doe you not know that vertue consisteth in a meane Will you haue me to forsake my father do you not perceiue that his captiuitie summoneth mee to trauell for his libertie Doe you not consider that the chiefest part belongeth to the father and the second vnto the mother He is abroad you are at home he is in bondage you are free you are amongst pittifull Cittizens hee in the hands of pittilesse Pirats his feet are fettered but thanks to God yours are at libertie true it is that you are blind but alasse he is farre more miserable then you for your blindnesse hindereth you from beholding an infinite number of things which would vex you but he continuallie seeth his enemies vieweth his chaines whippes and bastinadoes which he often feeleth and hourly feareth and looketh vpon the oare and other instruments wherewith he is euermore tired You say the voiage is too dangerous for me how manie are there that to win the loue of some gay ladie will not sticke to aduenture anie daunger whatsoeuer Why then should I feare to deliuer my father Consider that such as hinder others from well doing doe amisse themselues and that hee which giueth not all the aid he can vnto those that are afflicted may be well said to bee the onlie cause of their affliction Wherefore deare mother I beseech you not to be one of that number or if you will needs bee yet suffer me not so to be The mothers Answere IT is thou that desirest vnto my husbands losse to ad my sonnes lacke and so finallie to procure my vtter desolation leauing mee here alone blind and poore If thy father being old subtle could not escape from being taken by Pirats How wilt thou being yong and simple shun the like perils Doest thou say that thou shalt leaue me for a small time when I know thou canst neuer return If thy father had beleeued me he should not now haue ben in that calamitie wherein he remaineth and into that which thou wouldest cast thy selfe neither yet should I haue beene constrained to haue brought that loue in question which thou saiest thou bearest vnto vs both in that which I require there is no extremitie at all for being bound vnto twaine he or she that is present may command as being the nearest thy death or thy losse will not anie whit deminish but rather double thy fathers miserie when he shal know it if he be not dead alreadie as I fear he is For yong men may die too soone but old men cannot liue anie long time if he were aduertised of my blindnesse I am sure he would command thee not to forsake me how wouldest thou then haue thy voiage to prosper when thou vndertakest it contrarie to thy fatherrs meaning and against thy mothers mind Where is thy true obedience Is this the recompence for my bringing thee forth with so great pain And for nursing and bringing thee vp with such exceeding care In seruing me thou doest well in leauing me thou doest ill so that thou canst not saie that I hinder thee from well doing But I would rather persuade and compell thee therevnto if I could likewise I haue as much need of helpe as thy father hath who did himself command thee not to forsake me when he departed from hence and then being not blind I had no such need of thee as now I haue Neuer imagine that God will euer fauour thee if thou now forsakest me Declamation 84. Of a rich man who thinking to burne the tree of a poore man did also burne his house THe law appointeth that whosoeuer harmeth another man vnaduisedly he must but onely recompence the hurt that is done but if anie doe a mischiefe of set purpose or maliciously hee must make satisfaction for the same fourefold Wherevpon it happened that a rich man dwelt next house vnto a poore man that had in his small garden a great tree growing which did take away a great part of the prospect from the rich mans house who did oftentimes intreat the poore man to sell him the said tree but hee would in no sort consent therevnto affirming that it ought
may say that I speake with small respect vnto my lord but we protest that from henceforth we will neuer so account him and if wee cannot obtaine from the King the hoped remedie of our due reparation we make a vow that we our children parents kindred alies friends and whosoeuer els dependeth vpon vs will rather goe dwell amongst the Scithians or anie other more cruell nation then we will remain any longer vnder the gouernment of a man so infamous The earles Answere THe same Iustice mercie and Maiestie of the King which you imploy against me shall yeeld mee reason against all you and shall in my behalfe punish you for your no lesse vain then outragious and vnreuerent speeches wherefore I doe not refuse the iudgement of his Maiestie although the matter concerneth his highnes nothing at all in as much as those whom you speak of were no Gentlemen but robbers and theeues and for such haue I punished them and if anie would know why I did it not after the vsuall manner as there shall no reasons be wanting so am I not bound to tell them vnto anie but vnto such as it shall please my selfe therfore I will only say that they being in that sort put to death their ingrateful kindred towards me haue receiued lesse dishonour thereby then if they had beene made a publike spectacle to the people Likewise the nobilitie of Flanders are become so insolent as they stand in no aw at all of Iustice wherefore this Iustice no lesse suddaine then iust will make them to bethinke themselues twice before they will commit the like offence againe Moreouer you were resolued to saue them either by intreaties or otherwise therefore I desired to take away all occasion to ad vnto their death not onlie yours but also other mens destructions for he may be tearmed wise and vertuous which by one smal mischiefe can eschew farre greater mischances but he that dooth neuer so great good vnto the ingratefull receiueth nothing but hate and reproch for his reward euen so hath it happened to me herein If you who say that you are noble did know what nobilitie is and wherein it consisteth you would say that these robbers were no Gentlemen seeing that gentilitie cannot be grounded but only vpon vertue and as thereby the base borne attaine to nobilitie euen so he which continueth not therein loseth that nobilitie which his father hath left him to the intent that hee should bee vertuous for nothing is more pernicious in a Commonwealth then he who dooth falselie vsurpe the title of Nobility I do demand of you whether the sonne of a good musition may inherit his fathers cunning renoume chieflie to be a good musition without learning and thorowly exercising of musicke It seemeth not if then in an art of so small consequence a man cannot attaine vnto the fame or facultie of his father without he be the same in effect although it should not preiudice the Commonwealth in any sort how then can they inherit nobility who make no proofe therof by vertue by the which our ancestors haue gained it If nobility came but by descent it would be no lesse weake then of small continuance considering the multitude of those that die in the wars but vertue which doth thereby nobilitate others doth still maintain the same I haue then caused these villains to die secretly for the respect I had vnto their kindred who desired to remaine noble in following vertue for those which doe swarue from it a man may rightly say that nobility doth end in them and they which follow it cannot chuse but be noble indeed the which Cicero knew very well how to applie when Claudius said vnto him that he was no gentleman Truly said he in me doth the nobilitie of my race begin to bud as in you the gentrie of your stocke is alreadie blasted And since that I being so exceedingly bound vnto vertue as God hath made me by birth more noble and greater then any other of my countrie I haue done but my dutie in executing good speedie and short Iustice for Iustice surely is not the least kind of vertue and not to execute Iustice were cruelty wherefore I am not cruell much lesse a coward neither doe they speake the truth which doe say that I am an enemie to gentlemen or that I fear them but I am indeed an enemie to the vicious and I fear least they should hurt the good or that they should be corrupted by them now haue I been their executioner or hangman as you affirme but they themselues according to their deserts haue ben the butchers of their owne liues and were it otherwise yet is he rather a hangman which robbeth or killeth an honest man thē is he which executeth malefactors This Spanish pittie proceedeth of no other cause but onely for that they would not execute those which are of their profession yet to betray or murther good men they are nothing scrupulous The Prince of a countrie cannot shew anie better example then in performing Iustice the which I haue done And know you that the Iudges are not necessary but where the Prince is not present for proofe whereof Salomon himselfe iudged causes yet no other but the King can iudge me As for Flaminius he put a condemned man to death vpon pleasure onely to content an harlot but I haue executed foure to obserue Iustice But for any seruice that they might haue done for the King a man may as well say the like of all other theeues for such people can easilie assemble a great number of such worthlesse lewd fellows as they are Likewise it is not a small mischiefe that prodigalitie is wrongfully held for liberalitie as if the prodigall did not commit a thousand mischiefes to get wherewith to performe their follies as these foure did who by their prodigality became theeues Wherefore it may be affirmed that they and such as would maintaine them are those that esteeme vice to be vertue and villaines to be Gentlemen As for the small respect that you haue vsed in slandering me it is therein that I may shew my clemencie for it is true Magnanimitie to pardon great faults especially when none is offended therby by only he which pardoneth the same as I doe not only pardon you but also doe further beseech the King not to punish you because it may bee at your owne choice either to remaine in your countrie or to forsake the same not for that I care for such subiects as you are which disdaine me to be their lord but because I would not against my custome shew my selfe rigorous towards those who being ouercome by passiō do but offend me in words the rather because they which speake more then they should doe thereby but procure their owne shame And to conclude there is no reason that you should be beleeued concerning the dead But it may please the Kings Maiestie to bee better informed vpon this matter if it
bringeth an example saieng that in such a case he would not spare his owne sonne by that meanes indeuouring to persuade thē to stone me hauing once imprinted it in your hearts he faineth himself desirous to saue me knowing verie well that all his counterfait speeches tend to no other end but onlie to animate you against me neuerthelesse fearing least he had moued you vnto some pittie he first setteth downe the chastisement before hee nameth me then he somewhat doubtfullie affirmeth his saieng to be true vrging me to confesse that which neuer was Whereof I take to witnesse both the celestiall and infernal gods iust reuengers of committed treasons imploring their most iust vengeance against him that did neuer before this present houre know that anie gold sent from the Troians was in our campe But you may beleeue O you Grecians that Vlisses to be reuēged of me for discouering his deceit when he fained himselfe mad because he would not come vnto the warres that he I say as himselfe affirmeth hauing beene oftentimes within the cittie of Troy where he hath his intelligences did bring this gold from thence and whilest I was in the battaile he did burie the same vnder my pauillion the which as it is not the first treason which he hath plotted so will it not be the last that he intendeth to performe if you do but suffer him therein for sure he is one of those who in doing euill doe imagine their euill deeds will neuer be espied because he hath so great a confidence in his foxlike sleights that there is no wickednesse which he dare not attempt and the gods grant O Grecians that he doe not one day commit the same treason which he falselie obiecteth against me To conclude I pray you worthie Grecians thorowlie to consider all my passed actions and to beleeue that I had rather endure the cruellest death that might be imagined then I should euer haue had the thought to commit anie Treason Be you then assured that what good or hurt soeuer you shall doe vnto me it shall be done vnto such a one as neuer thought vpon anie thing but what was for the common good of our countrie the which I haue euermore preferred before mine own cōmoditie Notwithstanding the deniall of Palamedes hee was stoned Declamation 97. Of the Romane Dictator who would haue put the master of the horsemen to death because he fought against his commandement LVcius Papirius Cursor being created the two and fortith Dictator in Rome to make warre against the Samnites Quintus Fabius Rutilianus was made Maister of the horse being a yoong and valiant gentleman It chanced after a certaine battaile and the taking of some citties that the Dictator went to Rome to marke the disposition of the aire thereby to know what lucke they should haue leauing the said Maister of the horse in the campe with expresse commaundement that he should not attempt any thing vntill his returne But he being departed there was so faire an occasion offered as Fabius gaue the battaile and won it wholy afterwards hauing caused all the armes of the dead enemies to be burned hee wrot vnto the Senat of his victorie neglecting the Dictator who being returned vnto the campe hee deliuered him into the hands of the Lictor to bee beaten with rods and to strike off his head but as his apparrell was pulling off hee escaped hiding him amongst the souldiours and afterwards by night fled vnto Rome whether the Dictator followed him and hauing caused him to bee brought before his iudgement seat hee would haue condemned him againe but the father of Fabius accompanying him in mourning weeds and hauing recommended him vnto the people tooke vpon him the defence of his sonne saying HOw great the miserie of man is may appeare by the linage of the Fabij who haue ben euermore troubled for the zeale which they had vnto the Commonwealth First Quintus Fabius hauing done manie worthie acts as well at home with his Counsell as abroad in the wars by his courage died in fighting against the Tuscanes where all the Fabians were noted to be famous and especiallie Marcus Fabius who caused the Romane souldiors to sweare not to giue ouer fighting vnlesse they were conquerors and being seconded by Ceson Fabius making head against his enemie brought the Romans backe againe who contrarie to their oath were readie to turne their backs which in the end was the cause of the victorie and because all that linage was carefull to cherish and heale the wounded souldiors they were esteemed and suspected to bee Plebeians I ceasse to report what they did both before and after but I will onelie tell how they tooke vpon them an enterprise that they alone would defend Rome frō the insolencie of the Veians and there issued forth together three hundred and six kinsmen who died all in the said defence and there remained no more of all the Fabians aliue but my father that was in Rome who alasse hath since that time replenished the world and restored vnto the Commonwealth this no lesse miserable then noble linage How much better had it ben for him to haue died with the rest if we must alwaies for our good seruice be subiect to the reproches of some or to the persecution of other or rather since we are no lesse troubled in resisting the malice of the Cittizens then wee are in fighting against our enemies behold my sonne here who hauing vanquished the enemie is adiudged to die by the Dictator and wherefore Because hee hath done that which the Commonwealth not onlie desired but also that which it most stood in need of He is the conqueror now alas it is thought expedient that a shamefull and violent death should be a reward of his conquest at the wil and pleasure of one onlie man The Patricians and people reioice at his victorie enioying the benefit thereof the souldior is partaker of the same and the Dictator alone would haue him to die as if the Commonwealths good were his hurt or as if a Patricians renoume were his reproch or as if the glory of the master of the horse did not increase the worthinesse of the Dictator Surely if the Romans take this course which the gods forbid they need no other enemies but themselues Marcus Furius Camillus that great protector of Rome did not onelie succour Lucius Fuluius who fought against his intention but also made him partaker of his victorie and shortlie after did chuse him for his companion in the warres of Tuscula such was the magnanimitie of this great Roman redeemer of his countrie to excuse the faults which are committed by youth for he did verie well know that there was no lesse courage in him to pardon a great offence then to combat and ouercome a great armie of enemies Doe you then noble Dictator imitate that most worthie man Dispise not the whole Senat that requesteth you refuse not the Patricians the Tribuns the people also that
Colleagues as being equall with them in authoritie But who can denie that I had not the power and that I did not command him not to fight during my absence The yoong Torquatus was iudged to die by his father onelie for hazarding his owne person and you would excuse Fabius who by his rashnesse did indanger all the campe yea the whole Commonwealth for the more you prise his victorie the more is the danger apparent wherevnto he brought the Commonwealth If such faults may bee borne withall who will not henceforth sticke to runne from his Ensigne Who will haue care to come when he is commanded Wherefore shall not the souldiour fight against his captaines will when the maister of the horse hath not onlie foughteÌ„ contrarie to the commandement of the Dictator but also in contempt of his authoritie hath burned the enemies and did not once aduertise him of anie thing thereof after the deed But hath indeuoured to animate the souldiours to defend him against the Dictator and afterwards did by force escape from the Lictor and would not obey anie summons but fled vnto Rome stirring vp the People Tribunes and Patricians to fauour him I know not what els to say sauing that manifest tyrannie excepted there could not a more hainous crime haue ben committed So that to conclude I will say that you may by force saue him from death but as for me I declare and protest that I neither will nor may acquite him Know that at these words all the people began to intreat the Dictator for his life wherefore without pardoning the fault he frankly gaue him vnto the people Declamation 98. Of the disherited sonne who claimed to haue his inheritance againe of the heires of him vnto whom his father had giuen them A Certaine man disherited his sonne vpon a iust cause and gaue his lands vnto another man who lying dead sick said that he would haue the inheritance which was giuen him to return to the disherited son WhervpoÌ„ some few daies after he died before the notarie which he had sent for was come so as although there was nothing left in writing yet did not there want witnesses to testifie for the said sonne who demanded his inheritance saying WHo is he so ignorant which will beleeue that my father would euer haue disheÌ„rited mee in good earnest but that he rather made this deceassed man to promise that hee should restore my land vnto me after a certaine time for the kindnes of fathers doth alwaies exceed the malice of the children because that naturall loue is more readie to descend then to ascend as well for the instabilitie of youth as for the constancy that remaineth in age who knoweth doth well remember that hee hath done amisse in his youth and like as God naturallie loueth man farre more then man loueth him the which is knowne by his deuine bountie towards vs and our ingratitude towards him so the father may well be angrie with his son but what show soeuer he maketh therof yet can he not hate him for it should be contrarie to the law of nature who wil then imagine that my father being by nature mild and courteous towards all men could euer haue ben so cruell against his owne sonne All these reasons abouesaid are most manifest but were it so that my father had absolutely giuen away his possessions and mine inheritance vnto this dead man yet did he before his death restore the same againe vnto me being either in conscience or kindnesse mooued therevnto but had hee not more reason and libertie to giue it to me theÌ„ my father had to take it from me You say that nothing appeareth in writing for what end shold writings serue without witnesses Doe we not know that the paper endureth all things and the parchment much more wherefore the word of the testator and the authoritie of the witnesses is sufficient What if the Notarie after he had made the Will were dead must we not then haue had our recourse vnto witnesses Wherefore seeing the notary did not come time inough it may be because some of you staied him shal not the witnesse of such persons as are worthie to be beleeued serue the turne who did heare the deceassed man say that he would haue the said land to returne vnto me and for that effect did he send for the Notarie It is at the end of the life that a man doth chieflie seek to discharge his conscience and then or els neuer is the truth spoken wherefore it is most euident that this inheritance doth infalliblie appertaine vnto me and therefore I do demand to haue the same by friendship and if so it may not be then must I request it by Iustice The Answere YOur father is not the first that hath disherited his sonne it may be because he was more honest then you and there is no likelihood and lesse certaintie that hee hath caused this man to restore vnto you the inheritance but if it bee so as you say then prooue it for there is no reason to credit your words being such an one as you haue compelled your father to doe that which you cannot beleeue yet to prooue that this is so the effect maketh mention Wee beleeue that your fathers clemencie was great which it may be was the chiefest cause why hee desired to depriue you of all meanes to become anie more vicious for some such as you are doe liue better when they are poore then when they are rich wherefore you father in this was desirous to imitate our God who doth all things for the best although our nature is so corrupt as wee cannot comprehend the same Likewise wee must consider that the father is not easilie brought to hate his sonne but when he is inforced therevnto then is he more hard to be intreated or reconciled then a stranger the more slow men are to become angrie the more great and terrible is their wrath when it happâ—eth euen so hath it beene with your father whom you affirme to bee naturallie mild and courteous thinke then what violence he did vnto himself before he had taken this irreuocable resolution against you So that your reasons seeme verie friuolous and chieflie when you say that this deceassed man being prouoked by the foresaid reasons or by his owne conscience hath restored vnto you those lands and goods which your father gaue vnto him his conscience could not be burdened seeing that nothing can bee more trulie gotten then that which commeth by gift likewise therein he should but alter the meaning of your father and his benefactor for it is verie likely that he did giue those goods vnto him and his heires why then should he seeke to defraud them to giue it vnto such a one who by his owne father was iudged vnworthie thereof His ingratitude thereby would bee too manifest but had he therin ben so aduised yet hath not the effect therof insued whether it were Gods doing or his