want no perils For in warres renoune is neuer sold but by weight or chaunged with losse of lyfe The yong Fabius son of my aunt the aged Fabia at the .iii. CaleÌ„des of March brought me a letter the whych you sent and truely it was more briefe then I would haue wyshed it For betwene so dere children and so louinge a mother it is not suffered that the absence of your parsonnes shoulde be so farre and the letters whyche you write so briefe By those that goe from hence thyther I alwayes do sende you commendations and of those that come from thence hyther I doe enquire of newes Some saye they haue sene you other tell me they haue spoken with you so that with thys my hart is somwhat quieted For betwene them that loue greatly it may be endured that â—he sight be seldome so that the health be certain I am sole I am a widow I 〈◊〉 aged and now all my kinred is dead I haue endured many trauailes in Rome and the greatest of all is my children of your absence For the paine is greater to be voide of assured frendes theÌ„ assault is daungerous of cruel enemies Since you are yong and not very ryche since you are hardy and brought vp in the trauailes of Afrike I do not doubte but that you doe desire to come to Rome to se and know that now you are men whiche you haue sene when you were children For men doe not loue their countrey so much for that it is good as they do loue it for that it is naturall Beleue me children ther is no maÌ„ liuing that hath sene or hard speake of Rome in times past but hath great griefe sorow and pitie to se it at this present For as their hartes are pitiefull and their eyes tender so they can not behold that without great sorow which in times past they haue sene in great glory O my children you shal know that Rome is greatly chaunged from that it was wont to be To reade that that we do reade of it in times past to se that whyche we se of it now present we must nedes esteme that whiche the auncientes haue writen as a gest or els beleue it but as a dreame Ther is no other thing now at Rome but to see iustice corrupted the commen weale oppressed lyes blowen abroade the truth kept vnder the satires silent the flatterers open mouthed the inflamed personnes to be Lordes and the pacient to be seruauÌ„tes and aboue al and worse then all to se the euil liue in rest contented and the good troubled displeased Forsake forsake my children that citie where the good haue occasioÌ„ to weape the euil haue liberty to laugh I can not tel what to say in this mater as I would say Truly the coÌ„mon weale is at this day such so woful that eche wise man without coÌ„parison wold haue greater pleasure to be in the warres of Affrik then in the peace at Rome For in the good war a man seeth of whom he shold take hede but in the euil peace no maÌ„ knoweth whom to truste Therefore my children since you are naturall of Rome I wil tel you what Rome is at this present I let you know that the vestall virgines are now dissolute the honour of the gods is forgotten the profit of the coÌ„mon weale no maÌ„ seketh of the excercise of chiualry ther is no memory for the orphanes widowes ther is no man that doth aunswere to ministre iustice thei haue no regard the dissolute vices of the youth ar without measure Finally Rome that in times past was a receypt of all the good vertuous is now made a denne of al theues vitious I feare me I feare me least our mother rome in shorte time wil haue some sodein great fal And I say not without a cause some great fall for both men Cities that fall froÌ„ the top of their felicity purchase greater infamy with those that shal com after theÌ„ the glory that they haue had of theÌ„ that be past Peraduenture my childreÌ„ you desire to se the walles buildinges of Rome for those thinges which childreÌ„ se first in their youth the same they loue kepe alwaies in memory vntill their age As the auncient buildinges of rome are destroyed the few that ar now builte so would I you should loose your earnest affection to come to se theÌ„ For in dede the noble hartes are ashamed to se that thing amisse which they caÌ„ not remedye Do not thynke my chyldren thoughe Rome be made worse in maners that therfore it is diminished in buildinges For I let you vnderstand if you know it not that if a wall doth decay there is no man that doth repaire it If a house fall ther is no man that wil rayse it vp again If a strete be foule ther is no man that wil make it cleane If the riuer cary awaye any bridge there is no man that will set it vp again If any antiquitie decaye ther is no man that wil amend it If any wood be cut ther is no man that wil kepe it If the trees waxe old ther is no man that will plant theÌ„ a newe If the pauement of the streates be broken ther is no man that wil ley it again Finally ther is nothing in Rome at this day so euil handled as those thinges whiche by the commoÌ„ voices ar ordered These thinges my childreÌ„ though I do greatly lament as it is reason yet you ought litle to esteme them al but this al only ought to be estemed with droppes of bloud to be lamented That now in Rome when the buildinges in many places fal downe the vices all wholy together are raised vp O wofull mother Rome since that in the the more the walles decay the more the vices increase Peraduenture my childreÌ„ since you are in those frountiers of Affrike you desire to se your parentes here in Rome And therat I meruaile not for the loue which our naturall countreye do gyue the straung countrey can not take awaye All those which come from those parties doe bring vs no other certaine newes but of the multitude of those which dye are slain in Afrik therfore since you send vs such newes froÌ„ thence loke not that we should send you any other then the like from hence For death hath such auctoritie that it killeth the armed in the warres sleyeth the quiet in peace I let you know that Licia your sister is dead Drusio your vnckle is dead Torcquatus your neyghbour is dead His wife our cousin her .iii. doughters are dead Fabius your great frend is dead Euander his childreÌ„ ar dead Bibulus which red for me in the chaire the last yere is also dead Finally ther are so many so good with al that be dead that it is a great shame pitie to se at this present so many euill as do liue Know ye my children that all
the beautie of the body knowing that most commonly thervpon ensueth the vnclennes of the soule Vnder the christall stone lyeth oftentimes a daungerous worme in the faier wal is nourisshed the venemous Coluber within the middell of the white tothe is ingendered great paine to the gummes in the fynest clothe the motes do most hurt and the most fruitful tree by wormes is sonest perisshed I meane that vnder the cleane bodyes faire countenaunces are hid many and abhominable vyces Truly not only to children which are not wise but to all other which are lyght and fraile beauty is nothing els but the mother of many vyces and the hinderer of all vertues Let princes and great Lords beleue me which thinke to be faire and wel disposed that where there is great aboundaunce of corporal goods and graces there ought to be great bones of vertues to be able to beare them For the moste highe trees by great windes are shaken I say that it is vanytie to be vaine glorious in any thinge of this world be it neuer so parfite and also I saye that it is a greate vanytie to be proude of the corporall beautye For amonge all the acceptable giftes that nature gaue to the mortalles there is nothinge more superfluous in man and lesse necessarie then the beautye of the body For truly whether we be faire or foule we are nothing the better beloued of God neyther thereby the more hated of men O blyndnes of the world O lyfe which neuer lyueth nor shal lyue O death which neuer hath end I know not why man through the accident of this beautye shoulde or durst take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption sith he knoweth that all the fairest and most parfitest of flesh must be sacrificed to the wormes in the graue And knowe also that all the propernes of the members shal be forfeited to the hongry wormes which are in the earth Let the great scorne the lytle asmuch as they will the faire mocke the foule at their pleasure the hole disdaine the sicke the wel made enuy the deformed the white hate the blacke and the Giantes dyspise the dwarfes yet in the end al shall haue an end Truly in myne opinion the trees beare not the more fruit for that they are streight only nor for being high neither for geuing great shadowe nor for being beautifull nor yet for being great By this comparison I meane that though a noble stout man be proper of parson and noble of linage shadowing of fauour comlye in countenaunce in renowne very high and in the common wealth puissaunt that therfore he is not the better in lyfe For truly the common wealthes are not altered by the simple labourers which trauaile in the fieldes but by the vicyous men which take great ease in their liues Vnlesse I be deceiued the swine and other beastes are fed vnder the okes with the acornes and amonge the pricking briers and thornes the swete roses do grow the sharpe beeche giueth vs the sauoury chesnutts I meane that the deformed and litle creatures oft times are most profitable in the common wealth For the lytle and sharpe countenaunces are signes of valiaunt and stout hartes Let vs cease to speake of men which are fleshely being eftsones rotten and gone and let vs talke of sumptuous buildinges which are of stone which if we should go to se what they were we may know the greatnes and the height of them Then we shal not know the maner of their beauty and that which semed to be perpetuall in shorte space we see it ende and loase the renowne in such sort that ther is neuer memory of them after Let vs also leaue the auncient buildinges and come to the buildings now a days and one shal see that there is no man that maketh a house be it neuer so strong nor so faire but liuing a lytle while he shal see the beauty therof decay For ther are a great nombre of auncient men which haue sene both the toppes of famous and stronge buyldings made also the foundacion and ground therof decayed And that this is true it appeareth manyfestly for that if the toppe decay or the walles fall or els if the tymber be weke or the ioyntes open or the windowes waxe rotten or the gates do breake the buildinges forth with do decay What shall we say of goodly haules and galleries well appointed the which within short space by coles or candels of childrē or by torches of pages or smoke of chimneys by cobwebbes of spyders become as dry foule as before they were freshe and faire Then if that be true which I haue said of these things I would now gladly know what hope man cā haue of the cōtinuaunce of his beauty since we se the like destruction of corporal beauty as of stones wood bricke and clay O vnprofitable Princes O children of vanity to folyshe hardy do you not remember that all your healthe it subiecte to sicknes as in the payne of the stomack in the heate of the lyuer in the inflamacion of the feete in the distemperaunce of humors the mocions of the ayre in the coniunctions of the Moone in the Eclipse of the sunne I say do not you knowe that you are subiect to the tedyous sommer and vntollerable winter Of a trouth I cannot tel how you can be among so many in perfections and corruptions so full of vaine glory by your beauty seing and knowinge that a litle feuer doth not only deface and marre the beauty but also maketh and couloureth the face al yelow be it neuer so wel fauoured I haue maruailed at one thing that is to wete that all men are desirous to haue all things about their body cleane their gownes brushed their coates nette the table handsome and the bedde fine and only they suffer their soules to be foule spotted and filthi I durst say and in the faith of a christian affirme that it is a great lacke of wisedome and a superfluitie of folye for a man to haue his house cleane and to suffer his soule to be corrupted I would know what preheminence they haue which are fayre aboue others to whom nature hath denyed beautye Peraduenture the beauteful man hath two soules and the defourmed creature hath but one peraduenture the most fayrest are the most healthful and the most deformed are the most sicklyest Peraduenture the most fayrest are the wysest and the most defourmed the most innocentes peraduenture the fairest are most stoute and the defourmed most cowardes peraduenture the fayre are most fortunate and the foule most vnluckyest peraduenture the fayre only are excepted from vyce and the foule depryued from vertue peraduenture those whych are fayre of ryght haue perpetuall lyfe and those whych are foule are bound to replenyshe the graue I say no certaynlye Then if this be true why do the great mocke the litle the fayre the foule the right the crooked and the whyte the blacke since they know
foure times Censor and in the end he was with much shame banished from Rome wherwith to reueng this iniury he came with a great power army against Rome for the proud hart wounded with iniury is neuer quiet in his life time vntyl he se his enemyes destroyed or that on them he hath taken vengeance Quintus Marcius being very nigh to the gates of Rome was most instantlye requyred that he wold not distroy his mother Rome but he toke no regard nor would condiscend to any request vntil such time that his mother issewed with a niece of his whom he loued entierly At whose intercession teares he left his anger raised his siege from Rome for many are ouercome soner wyth teares then wyth importunate reasonable requestes The ladies of Rome vsed much to haue their heares long and yellowe and to weare their wastes high and streight And as the Niece of Quintus Marcius was great bigge with child the day that the peace was made betwene Quintus Marcius Rome lacinge her selfe to hard in her attire to seme more proper comely she long before her time was delyuered of a creature the case was so woful vnfortunate that the creature deliuered dyed the mother lost her lyfe and the mother losyng her lyfe sodainlye her graundmother fel dead to the ground through which occasion al the ioy and mirth was turned into sorow sadnes For it is commenly sene when the world is in the greatest ioy then fortune sodainly turneth it into sorow The aucthors hereof are Tibulus and Porphirius both Grecians ¶ The aucthour foloweth and declareth other inconueniences and vnluckye chaunces which haue happened to women with child Chap. x. THe warres of Tarent being ended immedyatly begonne the warres of Carthage of whych so long tedious warres the possession of the Isles of Maiorica Minorica were occasion forsomuch as the one would take it and the other defend it This warre endured wel nyghe the space of 40. yeres for oft tymes the wastes and domages which are done in the warres are greater then the profite for which they contend The first captayne in this warre of the Romaines was Gaius Duellus and the fyrst of the Carthaginiens was Hammon the whych wyth their shyppes fought on the sea of Sicili the whych was very cruel for there they feared both the fury of the sea and also the cruelty of the pike the which two things put mans life in great daūger Of thys cruel battaile the Romaine captaine remayned victorious forasmuch as he drowned 14 shippes and toke other 30. he slew 3. thousande men and brought 3. thousand Carthaginiens prysoners and thys was the first victory that the Romaynes had by sea And that that the Romaynes most reioysed at was that by sea also they remained conquerers The captaine Gaius Duellus departyng from Sicili came to Rome wher he had a sister no lesse vertuous then rych and beautifull in whose house he lodged where he made a costly supper to al the senatours of Rome to al the captaines whiche came wyth hym from the warres for the vicious men knew not wherin to shew their loue to their frendes but by inuiting them to costly bankettes The sister of the captaine Gaius Duellus for ioye of his comming and for the pleasure of the banquet feast which was made in her house did eate more then she was accustomed also more then it behoued one in her case so that in the presence of al she began to annoy the bidden gestes for she not onely vomited out the meate of her stomake but also the bloud of her vaines and therwithal most vnluckely brought forth her fruite which she had in her intrailes wherwith immediatly after the soule departed from the body and so died Truly this case was no lesse lamentable then the others for so much as Gaius lost his sister the husband lost his wife his child the wife the child lost their liues and for that that Rome lost so noble and excellent a Roman aboue al for that it so chaunced in such a time of so great ioy and pleasure For there can come no vnluckier newes then in the time of much mirth to heare tel of any great mischaunce Of this matter mention is made in Blundus in the booke of the declination of the Empire The second warre of Afrike which was betwene Rome and Carthage was the. 540. yeres after the foūdation of Rome wherin were captaines Paulus Emilius and Publius Varro the which two consulles fought the great and famous battaile of Cannas in the prouince of Apulia I say famous because Rome neuer lost such nobilitie and Roman youth as she lost in that day Of these two coūsulles Paulus Emilius in the battaile was slaine and Publius Varro ouercome and the couragious Hannibal remained conquerour of the field wherin died .xxx. senatours and 300. officers of the senate and aboue .xl. thousand fotemen thre thousand horsemen finally the end of al the Romain people had bene that day if Hannibal had had the wit to haue folowed so noble a victory as he had the corage to giue so cruel a battaile A litle before that Publius Varro departed to goe to the warres he was maried to a faire young Romain called Sophia with in seuen monethes she was quicke as newes was brought her that Paulus Emilius was dead her husband ouercome she died sodenly the creature remaining aliue in her body This case aboue al was very pitiful in that that after he him selfe was vanquished that he had sene his compaignion the consul Emilius slaine with so great a numbre of the Romaine people fortune would that with his owne eies he should beholde the intrailes of his wife cut to take out the child likewise to se the earth opened to bury his wyfe Titus Liuius saith that Publius Varro remained so sorowful in his harte to see him self ouercome of his enemies to see his wife so sodainly so vnluckely strikē with death that al the time that his life endured he neither comed his beard slept in bed nor dined at the table hereat we ought not to marueile for a man in his hart may so be wounded in one houre that he shal neuer reioyce all the daies of his life If we put no doubtes in Titus Liuius the Romains had long tedious warres against the Samnites which indured for the space of .lxiii. yeres continually vntill suche time as the consull Ancus Rutillus which was a vertuous man did set a good appointment of peace betwene the Samnites the Romains for the noble stout harts ought always by vertue to bring their enemies to peace These warres therefore being so cruell obstinate Titus Venurius Spurius Posthumius which were Romain captains were ouercom by Pontius the valiant captain of the Samnites who after the victory did a thing neuer sene nor hard of before That is to
in dede that youre tonges are none other but the stynges of serpentes for ye doe condempne the good men and defame the Roman women And thynke not yf you speake euill of other women to excuse your owne for the man that by his tonge dyshonereth straunge women doeth not so much iuel as he doeth by defamyng his owne wyfe by suspytion For the husbande that suspectith hys wyfe geueth all men licence to accompt her for noughte Sythe we women goe lytell oute of the house we trauayle not farre and sithe we see fewe thinges thoughe we woulde we cannot be euill tonged but you menne heare muche you see muche you know muche you wander abrode muche and continually you murmure All the euill that we selye women can do is to listen to our frendes when they are vexed to chide oure seruauntes when they are necligent to enuye our neighbours if they be faier and to cursse those that doeth vs iniurye finallye thoughe wee speake euill we cannot murmure but at those that dwelleth in the same streate where wee dwell But you menne defame youre wyues by suspition you dyshonoure youre neyghbours in youre wordes you speake agaynste straungers wyth crueltye you neyther keape faythe nor promyse to youre wyues you shewe youre selues extreme agaynste youre enemyes you murmoure bothe at those that bee presente and also at them that be absente finally on the one parte you are so doble and on the other parte you are so vnthankefull that to those whom you desire you make faire promyses those whose bodyes you haue enioyed you littel esteame I confesse that the woman is not so good as she oughte to be and that it is necessarye that she should be kepte in the house and so she shall leade a good lyfe and beyng of good lyfe she shall haue good renowme and hauing good renowme she shal be wel willed but if perchaunce any of those do want in her yet for all that she oughte not to be reiected of her husbande For the frailenes that menne finde in women is but litell but the euils that women tast in men is veraye great I haue talked lenger then I thought and haue sayed more boldly then I ought but pardon me my lord for mine intentioÌ„ was not to vexe the but to perswade the. For in the end he is a foole that taketh that for iniury whiche passeth betwene the man and the wyfe in secreat I sticke alwayes to my first poynt and if it neade once againe I require the that thou wilte geue me the key of thy studye if thou do otherwise as thou mayst thou shalt do such a thyng as thou oughtest not to doe I am not angry so much for that thou doest as for the occasioÌ„ thou geuest me Therefore to auoyde the peril of my deliuery and to take from me all susspition I praye the my lorde deliuer me the key of thy study for otherwise I cannot be perswaded in my harte but that you haue a woman locked in your study For men that in their youth haue bene vnconstant thoughe the apparell that they haue be not worne yet notwitstandynge they desire to haue new Therfore once againe to preserue me from perill in my deliuery and to lyghten my hart of this thought it shal be well done that you let me enter into your studie The aunswere of the Emperour to Faustine concerning her demaunde of the key of the studdie Chap. xv THe Emperour hearing the wordes of Faustine and seyng that she spake them so ernestly that she bathed her wofull wordes with bitter teares determined also to aunswere her as ernestlye and sayd vnto her these wordes Wife Faustine thou hast told me all that thou wouldest and I haue heard al thy complaint Therfore I desire the now to haue asmuch pacience to here my aunswer as I haue had paine to heare thy demaunde And prepare thy eares to here my wordes as I haue listned mine to heare thy folly For in like matter when the tong doth applie it selfe to speake any word the eares ought immediatly to prepare them to heare it for to make aunswere For this is most sure that he that speaketh what he would shall here what he would not Before I tell the what thou arte and what thou oughtest to be I will first tel what I am and what I ought to be For I wil thou vnderstaÌ„d Faustine that I am so euil that that the which mine enemyes doth report of me is but a trifle in respect of that which my familiers frendes woulde say if they knew me To the end the prince be good he ought not to be couetous of tributes neither proud in commaundementes nor vnthanckefull of seruices nor to be forgetfull of the temples he ought not to be deaffe to here griefes coÌ„plaints quarells nor cruel to orphanes nor yet necligeÌ„t in affaires And the man that shall want these vices shall be both beloued of men fauoured of the gods I confesse first of all that I haue bene couetous For in dede those which with troubles annoy princes lest with money serue them most are of all other men beloued best Secondarily I confesse that I am proude For there is no prince at thys day in the world so brought vnder but when fortune is most lowest he hath hys harte very haughtie Thirdly I confesse that I am vnthankful for amongest vs that are princes the seruices that they doe vnto vs are greate and the rewardes that we geue vnto them are litell Forthly I do confesse that I am an euill founder of temples or amoÌ„ngest vs princes we do not sacrifice vnto the gods very oft vnlesse it be when wee see our selues to be inuironned with enemies Fiftly I confesse that I am necligent to heare the plaintes of the oppressed for flatterers haue towardes their princes more easy audience by their flattery then the poore pleadyng to declare their complaintes by truth Sixtly I confesse that I am carelesse for the orphanes for in the courtes and pallaces of princes the riche and mightie are most familiar but the miserable and poore orphanes are scarcely hearde Seuenthly I confesse that I am necligent in dispatching poore mens causes for princes ofte times not prouidyng in time for their affaires many and great perilles ensueth to their Realmes Mark here Faustyne how I haue told the what according to reason I ought to be what accordyng to the sensualitie I am and meruayle not thoughe I confesse mine errour For the man that acknowlegeth his faulte gyueth hope of amendement Let vs now come to talke of the and by that I haue spoken of me thou maiest iudge of thy selfe For we men are so euill coÌ„ditioned that we behold the vttermost the offences of an other but we wil not heare the faultes of our selues It is a true thing my wife Faustine that when a woman is mery she always speaketh more with her â—ong then she knoweth in her harte For women light of tong
and I besech the Gods that thou mayest vnderstande it whiche is If the beastly motions of the fleashe dyd not force men to wyll and also to desyre women I doubte whether there should be any woman in the worlde beloued or suffered For though nature geueth them giftes worthy to be beloued yet they through their small discretion cause them selues to be hated If the Gods had made this loue voluntarie as they made it natural so that we might haue loued as we would and lefte agayne at our pleasure that man ought worthely to haue ben punyshed whiche for the loue of any woman would putte his life in daunger The gods haue kept this great secret vnto them selues and the mysery that they gaue vnto men is very great since that vnto so weake fleshe he gaue so strong a harte the whiche doth procure that whiche doth vs harme and foloweth that whiche we ought to abhorre This is an other secrete that all men knowe when they offende but I see no man that seketh amendement for I heare all complaine of the fleshe and yet I see all like Bochers folowe the fleshe and when it can doe least good then it is moste gredy I enuye not the Gods liuing nor the men that be dead saue onely for twoo thinges whiche be these First I enuy the Gods because they liue without feare of the malicious Secondarely I enuie the dead for that they liue without nede of women For women are so corrupte that they corrupte all and they be suche mortall plagues that both fleshe and harte by them are brought to ende O Faustine the loue of the fleshe is so naturall to the fleshe that when from you the body flieth in sport we then leaue our hartes engaged to you in earnest And though reason as reason putteth desire to flight yet the flesh as fleshe yeldeth it selfe as prysoner ¶ The Emperour folowyng his matter admonisheth men of the great daungers whiche ensue vnto them by excessiue haunting the company of women And reciteth certaine rules for maried men which if they obserue maye cause them to liue in peace with their wyues Cap. xvi I Remember that in my youth as I was of fleshe I trembled for feare of the fleshe with mynde neuer to retourne agayne and I doe confesse that ofte tymes I reuolued in my harte many holy and chaste meditations but yet notwithstanding I gaue my body immediatly to sondrie filthy vices It is a naturall thing that when man hath committeth any vice forthwith he repenteth him of his dede and so againe after his newe repentaunce he turneth to his olde vyces For during the time that we liue in the house of this frayle fleshe Sensualitie beareth so great a rule that she will not suffer reason to enter in at the gate There is no man in Rome if a man doeth aske him but wil marueile to declare with his tongue the thoughtes that he hath had in his hart in especially to be chaste to be true to be pacient to be vertuous and peraduenture ye talke with those that somewhat communicate with them let a man inquire of his neighbours they shall finde that he is a deceiuer a lier and a blasphemour Finally they deceiue men by their faire wordes offended the gods by their euil workes It profiteth litle to blase vertues with wordes if the hand be negligent to worke them in dede for a man is not called iust only desiring to be good in name but for to labour to be vertuous in workes The trayterous worlde in no one thinge beguileth worldlings so much as by feading them with vaine hope saiyng that they shall haue time enough to be vertuous so that these blinde men when they are once depely rooted in vices whiles they hope for this light of amendement then sodainly assaulteth thē the dreadful dart of death Oh how many haue promised vnto men vowed vnto the gods determined with them selues that before so many daies they would beginne to be vertuous whom in short space after we haue sene to engage thē selues to the hūgry wormes of the earth The gods wil that we be vertuous for the cōtrary the world and the fleshe willeth that we be vitious Me thinketh that it is better to obey the gods then to doe that the world the fleshe desireth for the praise of vertue is honour the paine of vice is infamie If thou doest consider Faustine thou shalt see that the gods are on the one parte which procureth vs to vertues and on the other part is the world the flesh which inticeth vs vnto vices My opinion is we should saye vnto the gods that we desire to be vertuous that we should say to the world the flesh that from henceforth we wil geue our selues no more to be vitious We ought in suche case to satisfie the gods with workes to enterteine the world the flesh with words that we imploy so much time in leading a good life that we haue no time vacant to speake an idle worde I let the wete Faustine that al that I haue told thee I haue spoken it against my selfe for always from my youth I had a good minde yet for al that I haue ben ouerthrowen with vices Oh how many times in my youth I knew womē I accōpanied with womē I talked with women beleued women that which in the ende haue deceiued me misused me defamed me At the last I withdrew my self forsoke thē but I do confesse that if reason kept me frō their houses .x. daies sensualitie kept me with thē .x. wekes Oh cruel gods oh wicked world oh fraile flesh tel me what it meaneth that reason leadeth me voluntarely to vertues that sensualitie against my wil draweth me vnto vices Doest thou not thinke Faustine that I cōsider what a great good it is for to be good what an euill it is to be euill But what shall I doe wofull man since at this daye there is not so cruell a scourge of my honoure nor so great an enemy of my renowme as myne owne fleshe is the which against me doth make such cruell warres Wherfore I beseche the immortall gods sithe my beynge here is against my wyll that they doe defende me in this so cruell warre The frayle fleshe is somewhat to blame but muche more is the foolishe and lyght woman in faulte For if men were certaine that women were chast shamefaste and solitary they would not dispose their hartes their bodies nor bende their bowes to shoote at their buttes they would not consume their time to folowe them loose their goodes to serue them neither would they suffer so many shames to sclaunder them For where the harte hath no hope to obteine there he wil geue ouer his sute But what shal we doe now Faustine I praie thee tel me since thou knowest better then I that the shame of the Romaine women is nowe gone and the
vertues their children are moste inclined and this ought to be to encourage them in that that is good and contrary to reproue them in all that is euill For men are vndone for no other cause when they be olde but for that they had so much pleasures when they are younge Sextus Cheronensis in the seconde booke of the saiynges of the auntientes saieth that on a daye a citezen of Athens was byenge thinges in the market and for the qualitie of his persone the greatest parte of them were superfluous and nothing necessary And in this case the poore are no lesse culpable then the ryche and the ryche then the poore For that is so litle that to susteyne mans lyfe is necessary that he which hath lest hath therunto superfluous Therfore at that tyme when Athens and her common wealth was the lanterne of all Grece there was in Athens a lawe long vsed and of great tyme accustomed that nothing should be bought before a philosopher had set the pryce And truly the lawe was good and would to God the same lawe at this present were obserued for there is nothing that destroyeth a cōmon wealth more then to permitte some to sell as tyrauntes and others to buye as fooles When the Thebane was buying these thinges a philosopher was there present who sayed vnto him these wordes Tell me I praye thee thou man of Thebes wherefore doest thou consume and waste thy money in that whiche is not necessary for thy house nor profitable for thy persone the Thebane aunswered him I let the knowe that I doe buye all these thynges for a sonne I haue of the age of .xx. yeares the whiche neuer did thinge that seamed vnto me euill nor I neuer denayed hym any thing that he demaunded This philosopher aunswered O howe happy were thou if as thou arte a father thou were a sonne and that which the father saieth vnto the sonne the sonne would saye vnto the father but I am offended greatly with that thou hast tolde me For vntill the childe be .xxv. yeares olde he ought not to gaynesaye his father and the good father ought not to condescende vnto the appetites of the sonne Nowe I call the cursed father since thou arte subiect to the wyll of thy sonne and that thy sonne is not obedient to the wyl of his father so that thou alterest the order of nature For so muche as the father is sonne of his sonne and the sonne is father of his father But in the end I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that when thou shalt become old thou shalt weape by thy selfe at that whiche with thy sonne thou diddest laughe when he was younge Though the wordes of this philosopher were fewe yet a wyse man wyll iudge the sentences to be many I conclude therfore that princes and great lordes ought to recōmende their children to their maisters to th ende they may teache them to chaunge their appetites and not to folowe their owne wil so that they withdrawe them from their own will and cause them to learne the aduise of an other For the more a man geueth a noble man sonne the brydle the more harder it is for them to receiue good doctrine ¶ Princes ought to take hede that their children be not brought vp in vayne pleasures and delightes For oftetimes they are so wicked that the fathers would not only haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buried Chap. xxxiii BY experience we see that in warre for the defence of men rampiers fortes are made according to the qualitie of the enemies those which sayle the daungerous seas doe chose great shippes whiche may breake the waues of the raging Sea so that all wyse men according to the qualitie of the daunger doe seke for the same in time some remedy Oftetymes I muse with my selfe and thynke if I coulde finde any estate any age any lande any nation any realme or any worlde wherein there hath bene any man that hath passed this life without tasting what aduersitie was for if suche a one were founde I thinke it should be a monstrous thing throughout all the earth and by reason both the dead and liuing should enuie hym In the ende after my counte made I finde that he whiche yesterdaye was ryche to daye is poore he that was hole I see hym to daye sicke he that yesterdaye laughed to daye I see hym wepe he that had his hartes ease I see hym nowe sore afflicted he that was fortunate I see hym vnlucky finally hym whom we knewe aliue in the towne now we see buried in the graue And to be buried is nothing els but to be vtterly forgotten for mans frendshyp is so frayle that when the corps is couered with earth immediatly the dead is forgotten One thinge me thinketh to all men is greuous to those of vnderstandyng no lesse payneful whiche is that the miseries of this wicked worlde are not equally deuided but that oftetymes all worldly calamities lieth in the necke of one man alone For we are so vnfortunate that the world geueth vs pleasures in sight troubles in profe If a man should aske a sage man now a daies who hath liued in meane estate that he would be contented to tel him what he hath paste since three yeares that he began to speake vntill fifty yeares that he began to waxe olde what thinges thinke you he would tel vs that hath chaunced vnto him truly al these that here folowe The grefes of his children the assaultes of his enemies the importunities of his wife the wantonnes of his doughters sicknes in his person great losse of goods general famine in the citie cruel plagues in his coūtrey extreme colde in wynter noysome heate in sommer sorowful deathes of his frendes enuious prosperities of his enemies finally he wil say that he passed such so many thinges that oftimes he bewailed the wofull life desired the swete death If the miserable man hath passed such things outwardly what would he saye of those which he hath suffred inwardly the whiche though some discrete men may know yet truly others dare not tell For the trauailes which the body passeth in fifty yeres may wel be counted in a day but that which the hart suffereth in one day cannot be counted in a hundred yeres A man cannot denay but that we would coūte him rashe which with a rede would mete an other that hath a sword him for a foole that would put of his shoes to walke vpō the thornes But without cōparison we ought to esteame him for the most foole that with this tender fleshe thinketh to preuaile against so many euil fortunes for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate passeth his life with much paine O how happy may that mā be called which neuer tasted what pleasure meaneth For men whiche from their infancy haue bene brought vp in pleasures for want of wisdome know not how to
only they are made euil This worthy woman kepyng alwaies such a faythful gard of her chyld that no flatterers should enter in to flatter him nor malicious to tel hym lyes bychaunce on a day a Romaine sayd vnto her these words I thinke it not mete most excellente princesse that thou shoulde be so dyligente aboute thy sonne to forget the affaires of the common wealth for prynces ought not to be kept so close that it is more easye to obtaine a sute at the gods then to speake one word with the prince To this the Empresse Mamea aunswered and said They which haue charge to gouerne those that do gouerne withoute comparison oughte to feare more the vyces of the kinge thenne the ennemyes of the Realme For the ennemyes are destroyed in a battaile but vyces remayne durynge the life and in the end enemyes do not destroy but the possessions of the land but the vycious prince destroyeth the good maners of the comon wealth These wordes were spoken of this worthye Romaine By the histories which I haue declared and by those which I omitte to recite al verteous men may know how much it profiteth them to bring vp their children in trauailes or to bring them vp in pleasures But now I ymagine that those which shall read this will praise that which is wel writen and also I trust they wil not giue their children so much their owne willes For men that read much worke litle are as belles the which do sound to cal others and they theim selues neuer enter into the church If the fathers did not esteame the seruice they do vnto God their owne honour nor the profite of their owne children yet to preserue them from disseases they ought to bring them vp in vertue withdraw them from vices For truly the children which haue bene brought vp daintely shal alwayes be diseased and sikely What a thinge is it to se the sonne of a labourer the cote without pointes the shyrte tottered and torne their feete bare their head without a cappe the body withoute a girdle in sommer without a hat in winter without a cloke in the day ploughing in the night driuing his herd eating bread of Rye or Otes lyeng on the earth or els on the strawe and in this trauaile to se this yong man so holy vertuous that euery man desireth and wisheth that he had such a sonne The contrarie commeth of noble mens sonnes the which we se are nourished brought vp betwene two fine holland sheetes layed in a costly cradel made after the new fashion they giue the nourse what she wil desire if perchaunce the child be sicke they chaunge his nource or els they appoint him a diet The father and the mother slepe neither night nor daye all the house watcheth they let him eate nothing but the broth of chyckins they kepe hym diligentely that he fal not downe the stayres the child asketh nothing but it is geuen him immediatly Finally they spend their time in seruyng them they waste their riches in geuyng them their delights they occupie their eyes but to behold them they imploye not their harts but to loue them But I sweare that those fathers whiche on this wise do spend their riches to pomper theim shal one day water their eyes to bewaile theym What it is to se the wast that a vaine man maketh in bringinge vp his child specially if he be a man sumwhat aged that at his desire hath a child borne He spendeth so muche goodes in bringing his vp wantonly whyles he is yong that oft times he wanteth to mary him when he commeth to age And that which worst of al is that that which he spendeth and employeth he thynketh it wel bestowed and thinketh that to much that he geueth for gods sake Though the fathers are very large in spendinge the mothers very curious and the norces ful of pleasures and the seruauntes very dilygente and attentiue yet it foloweth not that the children should be more hole then others For the more they are attented the more they be disseased the more they eate the more they are weake the more they reioyce the worse they prosper the more they wast and spend soo muche lesse they profite And all this is not without the secret permission of God For God wil not that the cloutes of children be of greater value then the garments of the poore God without a greate misterie toke not in hande the custodye of the poore and doth not suffer that the children of the rich men should prosper For the good bringeth vp his children without the preiudyce of the rich and to the profit of the comon wealth but the rich bringeth vp his children wyth the swet of the poore and to the domage of the common wealth Therfore if this thyng be true as it is it is but reason that the wolfe whych deuoureth vs do dye and the shepe which clotheth vs do lyue The fathers oft times for tendernes wyl not teach nor bryng vp their children in doctrine sayeng that as yet he is to yong and that there remayneth time enough for to be learned and that they haue leysure enough to be taught and further for the more excuse of their error they affirme that when the chyld in his youth is chastned he ronneth in daunger of his health But the euil respect which the fathers hath to their chyldren God suffereth afterwards that they come to be so slaunderous to the common wealth so infamous to their parents so disobedient to their fathers so euyl in their condicions so vnaduised and light in their behauiour so vnmeate for knowledge so vncorrigible for disciplyne so inclined to lies so enuyeng the truth that their fathers would not only haue punished them with sharpe correction but also they woulde reioyce to haue them buryed with bytter teares An other thyng ther is in this matter worthy to be noted and much more worthyer to be commended that is that the Fathers and mothers vnder the couller that their chyldren should be somewhat gracious they learne them to speake to bable to be great mockers and scoffers the which thing afterwards redoundeth to the great infamye and dishonour of the Father to the great peril of the sonne and to the greatest griefe and displeasure of the mother For the child which is brought vp wantonly without doctrine in his youth of necessity must be a foole when he is old If this which I haue sayd be euil this which I wil say is worse that the Fathers and mothers the gouernours or nources do teach them to speake dishonest things the which are not lawful and therfore ought not to be suffered to be spoken in that tender age nor the grauitie of the auncients ought not to lysten vnto them For there are no men vnlesse they be shamelesse that wil permit their children to be great bablers Those which haue the charge to gouerne good mens children ought to be very
Censour being very aged the Senatour sayed vnto him one day in the Senate Thou knowest now Cato that presentlye we are in the Calendes of Ianuarie wherein we vse to deuide the offices amonge the people Wherefore we haue determined to create Manlius Calidanus Censours for this yeare wherefore tell vs if they be as thou thinkest able and sufficient to supply that rome Cato the Censour aunswered them in this wise Fathers conscripte I let you were that I doe not receiue the one nor admit the other For Manlius is very riche and Calidanus the citizeine extreame poore and truely in bothe there is greate perill For we see by experience that the riche officers are to muche subiect to pleasures and the poore officers are to muche geuen to auaryce And further he saide in this case me thinketh that your Iudges whom ye ought to choose should not be so extreame poore that they shoulde wante wherewith to eate neither so riche that they shoulde surmount in superfluity to geeue them selues to muche to pleasures For menne by greate aboundaunce become vicious and by great scarsitie become couetous The Censor Cato being of suche aucthoritie it is but reason that wee geeue credite to his woords since he gouerned the romaine Empire so long space though indede all the poore be not couetous nor all the riche vicious yet hee spake it for shys intent because bothe those Romaynes were noted of these ii vices For the poore desire to scrape and scratche and the riche to enioye and kepe Whiche of those twoe sortes of men princes should chose I cannot nor dare not rashely determine And therefore I doe not counsaile them either to despise the poore or to choose the riche but that they geue the auctoritie of iustice to those whom they knowe to be of good conscience and not subiect to couetousnes For the iudge whose conscience is corrupted it is vnpossible he should minister equall iustice A man maye geue a shrewed gesse of suspicion in that iudge whether he be of a britell conscience or no yf he see him procure the office of iustice for him selfe For that manne whiche willinglye procureth the charge of conscience of another commonlye lyttle regardeth the burthen of his owne ¶ Of a letter which themperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to Antigonus his frend answering an other which he sent hym out of Scicile wherin he aduertised him of the crueltie of the romaine Iudges and this letter is deuyded into .5 Chapters Cap. vii MArcus Aurelius companion in the empire tribune of the people present lye being sicke wissheth vnto thee Antigonus healthe and comforte in thy banishement To flye the extreame heate of Rome and to reade some bookes which are brought me from the realme of Palestine I am come hether to Capua and forthe haste I made to ryde greate iourneis the ague hath ouertaken mee whiche is more troublesome then perillous For it taketh me wyth colde and plucketh my appetite from me The .20 daye of Ianuary I receiued thy second letter and it hapned that thy letter and my feuer tooke me bothe at one instaunt but the feuer greued me in suche wise that I coulde not longe endure to reade thy letter Mee thinketh we haue no staye nor meane thou being so briefe and I so longe for my longe letter hath taken thy greauous sorowes from the but thy shorte letter coulde not take my feuer from me Now that my mynd is beating of thy trauaile the desire whyche I haue to remedy it is enflamed I woulde tell the one thinge and succour thee with some counsaile but I fynde that the consolation whiche thou wantest I cannot geue the and that whiche I can geue the thou nedest not In this letter shal not be written that which was in the firste but herein I will trauaile the best I can to aunswere thee I will not occupye my selfe to comfort thee because I am so out of course with this dysease that I haue neither wil to write ne yet an◠fauoure in anye pleasant thinges If perhappes this letter bee not sauory so compendious neither so comfortable as those which I was woase to write vnto thee attribute not the blame vnto my good will which desireth to serue the but to the sickenes that geueth no place thereunto For it suffiseth the sicke to be contented with medecynes without satisfyinge theire fryndes If thy comfort consisted in writing many letters offering the many worde truelye I woulde not sticke to doe that for all my feuer But it neither profiteth the nor satisfieth me since I haue lyttle to profer the muche Talkinge nowe of this matter I doe remember that the auncient lawes of the Rhodians saide these wordes Wee desire admonishe all menne to visite the captiues the pilgrimes and the comfortlesse and further we ordeine comaund that none in the common wealth be so hardye to geue counsaile vnlesse therwith he geue remedy For to the troubled harte wordes comforteth litle whē in them there is no remedye Of a truthe the lawe of the Rhodians is good the Romaine whiche shall obserue them much better Assure thy self that I am very desirous to see thee also I knowe that thou wouldeste as gladlye speake vnto me to recount me all thy griefes Truelye I doe not meruayle because the wounded hart quieteth him self more declaring his owne griefes then hearinge another mannes consolations Thou writest vnto mee of sondrye thinges in thy letter the effecte whereof that thou certifiest mee is that the iudges and officers in that realme be verye rygorous and extreame and that therefore the Cicilians are greatlye displeased with the Senate Hitherto thou hast neuer tolde me lye the whiche moueth mee to beleue all that thou writest nowe in thy letter Wherefore I take it for a thinge moste true that for asmuch as all those of Cicil are malicious and enuyous they geue the iudges iust occasion to be cruell For it is a generall rule where men are out of order the ministers of iustice ought to be rygorous And thoughe in other realmes it chaunsed not it is to be beleued that it is true in this realme wher of the auncient prouerbe saieth All those whiche enhabite the Iles are euill but the Cicillians are worste of all At this daye the wicked are so mightye in theire malices and the good are so much diminished in theire vertues that if by iustyce there were not a brydel the wicked woulde surmount all the world and the good shoulde vanishe immediatlye But retourninge to our matter I saye that consideringe with what and howe manye euylles we are enuiroined and to howe manye miseries wee are subiecte I doe not meruaile at the vanities that menne committe but I am ashamed of the crueltie whiche our iudges execute So that we maye rather call them tyrauntes which kill by violence then iudges which minister by iustice Of one thing I was greatly astonyed and almost past my sence which is that iustice of right
not geeuen thee nor neuer will geeue thee For the goddes are so iuste in deuydynge theire giftes that to them to whom theye geue contentacion theye take from them ryches and to those whom theye geeue riches they take their contentacion Plutarche in the fyrste of hys pollytike puttethe this example and he declareth not the name of thys phylosopher O howe greate a benefyte is that whiche the goddes geeue to prynces and greate lordes in geeuinge them theire healthe in geeuynge them ryches and in geuinge them honour but if besides those hee geueth them not contentacion I saye that in geeuynge them the goodes hee geuethe them trauaile and daunger For if the trauaile of the poore bee greater thenne the trauayle of the riche wytheoute comparison the discontentacion of the ryche is greater then the discontentacion of the poore Menne lytle regardynge theire healthe beecome sicke lytle esteeminge theire riches beecome poore and beecause theye knowe not what honoure is theye become dishonoured I meane that the rashe prynces vntill suche time as theye haue benne well beaten in the warres will alwayes lytle regarde peace The daye that yowe prynces proclayme warres agaynste youre enemies you set at lybertye all vyces to your subiectes Yet yowe saye youre meanynge is not theye shoulde bee euyll I saye it is true Yet all thys ioyned togethers ye geeue them occasion that theye bee not good Let vs knowe what thynge warre is and then we shall see whyther it bee good or euill to followe it In warres theye doe noughte els but kyll menne robbe the temples spoyle the people destroye the innocentes geeue lybertie to theeues seperate friendes and rayse stryfe all the whiche thynges cannot bee done wytheoute greate hurte of iustyce and scrupulosytie of conscyence The sedycious manne hym selfe canne not denaye vs that if twoe Prynces take vppon them warres beetweene them and that bothe of them seeme to haue ryghte yet the one of them onelye hathe reason So that the prynce whyche shall fyghte agaynste iustice or defende the vniuste cause shall not escape oute of that warre iustifyed Not issuynge oute iustifyed hee shall remayne condempned and the condemnation shall be that all the losses murders burnynges hangynges and robberies whiche were done in the one or other common wealthe shall remayne vppon the account of hym whyche tooke vppon hym the vniuste warre Allthoughe hee dothe not fynde an other prynce that will demaunde an accoumpte of hym heare in thys lyfe yet hee shall haue a iuste iudge that will in another place laye it to hys charge The prince whiche is vertuous and presumethe to be a christian beefore hee beeginne the warre oughte to considre what losse or profyte will ensue thereof Wherein if the ende bee not prosperous hee loseth his goodes and honoure and if hee perchaunce attaine to that he desyred peraduenture his desire was to the domage of the common wealthe and then hee oughte not to desire it For the desire of one should not hurte the profite of all When GOD oure lorde dyd create prynces for prynces and people accepted them for their lordes it is to beleue that the goddes neuer commaunded suche things nor the men would euer haue excepted such if they had thought the princes would not haue done that they were boūd but rather that whereunto they were enclined For if men follow that whereunto theire sensualitie enclinethe them they do alwaies erre Therefore if they suffer them selues to bee gouerned by reason they are always sure And besides that princes should not take vppon them warres for the burdening of theire conscience the mispendinge of their goodes and the losse of their honour they ought also to remember the dutie that they owe to the common wealth the which they are bounde to kepe in peace and iustice For we others nede not gouernours to search vs enemies but princes which may defend vs from the wicked The diuine Plato in his .4 booke de legibus sayeth that one demaunded him why he did exalt the Lidians so much and so muche dispraise the Lacedemonians Plato aunswered If I cōmend the Lidians it is for that they neuer were occupied but in tilling the field and if I do reproue here the Lacedemonians it is because theye neuer knewe nothinge els but to conquere realmes And therefore I saye that more happie is that realme where men haue their handes with labouring full of blysters then where theire armes in fightinge are wounded withe sweordes These wordes whiche Plato spake are verye true and woulde to god that in the gates and hartes of princes they were written Plinius in an epistle sayethe that it was a prouerbe muche vsed amongest the Grekes that he was kyng whiche neuer sawe kynge The lyke maye we saye that he onelye maye enioye peace whiche neuer knewe what warre meant For simple innocent though a man be there is none but will iudge him more happye whiche occupyeth his handekerchiefe to drye the sweate of his browes then he that breakethe it to wipe the bloude of his heade The princes and greate lordes which are louers of warre ought to consider that they do not onelye hurte in generall all men but also specially the good and the reason is that allthoughe they of their own willes do abstaine from battaile doe not spoile do not rebell nor sleye yet it is necessarie for them to endure the iniuries and to suffer theire owne losse and damages For none are meete for the warre but those whiche litle esteeme theire life and muche lesse theire consciences If the warre weare onely with the euill againste the euill and to the hurte and hinderaunce of the euill litle shoulde theye fele whiche presume to be good But I am sory the good are persecuted the good are robbed and the good are slaine For if it were otherwyse as I haue sayde the euill againste the euill we would take litle thought both for the vanquishinge of the one and muche lesse for the destruccion of the other I aske nowe what fame what honoure what glorye what victorie or what riches in that warre can be wonne wherein so manye good vertuous wyse men are loste There is suche penurye of the good in the worlde and such nede of them in the common wealthe that if it weare in oure power wee wythe oure teares oughte to plucke them oute of theire graues and geeue them lyfe and not to leade them into the warres as to a shambles to be put toe deathe Plinie in one epistle and Seneca in an other saye that when theye desyred a Romayne captain that with his army he should enter into a greate daunger whereof greate honoure shoulde ensue vnto hym and lytle profyte to the cōmon wealthe He aunswered For nothynge woulde I enter into that daunger if it were not to geue life to a romayn citizē For I desire rather to go enuironed with the good in Rome then to go loden with treasures into my coūtreye Comparinge prince to prince and lawe
set ryse my sonne Marke and sithens nowe thou arte yong it is but iust that thou geue me place whiche am aged If it bee true that it is xxxiii yeares sithens thou askedst place in the theathers as and old man tell mee I praye thee and also I coniure thee with what oyntement hast thou anoynted thy selfe or with what water hast thou wasshed thy selfe to become yonge O Claude if thou hadst founde anye medicyne or dyscouered anye herbe where with thou couldest take whyte heares from mens heades and from women the wrincles of theire face I sweare vnto thee and also I doe assure thee that thou shooldest be more vysyted and serued in Rome then the god Apollo is in his Temple at Ephesus Thou shouldest wel remember Annius priscus the old man whiche was our neighbour and somewhat a kinne to thee the whiche when I tolde him that I coulde not bee filled with his good woordes and to behold his auncient white heares he saied vnto me O my soone Mark it appereth wel that thou hast not byn aged because thou talkest as a yong maÌ„ for if white heares do honour the ê‘son they greatlye hurt the harte For at that houre when they se vs aged the straungers do hate vs ours do not loue vs. And he told me more I let the wete my sonne Marke that many times my wyfe and I talking of the yeares of another perticularly when she beholdeth mee and that I seeme vnto her so aged I saye vnto her and swere that I am yet yoÌ„ge and that the white heares came vnto me by great trauailes and the age by sicknes I do remember also that this Annius Priscus was senatour one yeare and bycause he woulde not seeme aged but desired that men shoulde iudge hym too bee yonge he shaued his bearde and hys heade which was not accustomed amonge the senatours nor Censours of Rome And as one day amongest the other Senatours he entred into the hyghe Capitolle one sayde vnto hym Tell me man from whence comest thou What wylte thou and why comest thou hither howe durste thou being no senatour enter into the Senate he aunswered I am Annius priscus the aged howe chauÌ„ceth it that nowe you haue not knowen me they replyed vnto hym if thou werte Annius Priscus thou woldest not come thus shauen For in this sacred senate can none enter to gouerne the coÌ„mon wealth vnlesse his parsoÌ„ be endued with vertues and his heade with white heares and therfore thou art banished and depriued of thy office For the olde which lyue as the yong ought to be punished Thou knowest wel Claude and Claudine that that which I haue spoken is not the faynyng of Homere neither a fable of Ouide but that you your selues saw it with your eyes and in his banishment I dyd helpe him with money and more ouer he was banished another time for the lightnes he dyd commit in the nighte in the citye and I meruaile not hereof for we see by experyence that old men whiche are fleashed in vices are more obstinate to correct then the yong O what euill fortune haue the olde men which suffered them selues too waxe olde in vyces for more daungerous is the fier in an old house then in a new and a greate cut of a sworde is not so perilous as a rotten fistule Though old men were not honest and vertuous for the seruice of the gods and the common wealth for the saieng of the people nor for the example of the yong yet he ought to be honest yf it weare but for the reuerence of their yeares If the pore old man haue noe teeth how shall he eate If he haue no heate in his stomacke howe can he dysgest If he haue no taste how can he drinke if hee be not strong howe can he be an adulterer If hee haue no feete howe can he goe If hee haue the palsy howe can hee speake if hee haue the goute in his handes howe can hee play Fynally suche lyke wordlye and vicyous men haue employed their forces beinge yonge desirous to proue al these vices and when they are old it greueth them extreamelye that they can not as yet accoÌ„pplishe their desiers Amongest all the faultes in old men in my opinion this is the chefest that since they haue proued al thiÌ„ges that they shoold stil remaine in their obstinat folly There is no parte but they haue trauailed no villany but they haue assayed no fortune but they haue proued no good but they haue persecuted no euyl but hath chaunced vnto theÌ„ nor there is any vice but they haue attempted These vnhappy men which in this sorte haue spent all their youth haue in the end their combes cut with infirmities diseases yet they are not somuch greued with the vices which in them do abound to hinder them froÌ„ vertues as they are tormented for wante of corporall courage to further them in their lusts O if wee were gods or that they would geeue vs licence to know the thoughts of the old as wee see with our eies the deeds of the yong I swear to the God Mars and also to the mother Berecinthe that without comparison we woold punishe more the wicked desiers which the aged haue to be wicked then the light deeds of the yong Tel mee Claude and thou Claudine do you think though you behaue your selues as yong you shall not seme to bee old know you not that our nature is the corruption of our body and that our body hindereth our vnderstandings and that the vnderstandyngs are kept of our soule that oure soule is the mother of desiers that our desiers are the scourge of our youth that our youth is the ensigne of our age age the spye of death that death in the end is the house where life taketh hys herber and from whence youth flyeth a fote and from whence age can not escape a horsback I woold reioyce that you Claude and Claudine woolde tell me what you fynde in lyfe that somuche therwith you should bee contented since now you haue passed foure score yeares of lyfe duryng the which tyme either you haue been wycked in the world or els you haue been good Yf you haue been good you ought to think it long vntil you be with the good gods if you haue been euil it is iust you dye to the end you bee no worse For speaking the truth those which in .3 score 10 yeares haue been wicked in woorks leaue smal hope of their ameÌ„dment of lyfe Adrian my lord being at Nola in Campania one brought vnto him a nephew of his from the study where as the yong child had not profyted a lytel for hee became a great Gretian and latinest and more ouer he was faire gratious wise honest And this Emperor Adrian loued his nephew so much that hee saied vnto him these woords My nephew I know not whither I ought to say vnto thee that thou art good or euil for
And wylde forests where swarmed heards of dere thousands of sheepe no cattal could not want with new encrease to store the wasted yere VVhole rowts I kept of seruile wights to sarue Defauts of princely courts with yrkesom toyle whose skilful hand from conning coold not swarue their sway was most to deck my daynty soyle The learned wights of musikes curious art I trayned vp to please mee with their play whose sugred tunes so sayled to my hart As flowing greef agreed to ebbe away The tender maides whose stalk of growing yeres yet reached not to age his second rayn whose royall fames were swalowed in no cares But burnt by loue as beauties lot doth gayn Lo I enioyed to feede my dulled spirite with strayned voice of sweete alluring song but yet to mount the stage of more delight I ioyed to see their comly daunces long The hilles of massy gold that I vpheapt So hugie were by hoord of long excesse That clottered clay with prouder price was kept In sondry realmes when ruthfull need did presse In some I say my bodies roling guyde did gase for nought but subiect lay to sight My iudge of sounds wisht nothing to abyde but was instild to kindle more delight The clother of my corps yet neuer felt that pleasde him ought but ay it toucht agayn my sycher of sauours if ought bee smelt that might content his woold was neuer vayn The greedy sighes of my deuoured brest Trauailed in thought to conquer no delight but yelded straight as wyer to the wrest to office such as wanton will be hight But when the doores of my abused eyen were hoysed vp with lookes and lookes agayn And that my egre hands did ay enclyne to touch the sweete that seasond still their payn VVhen wanton tast was fed with eche conceit That strange deuise brought forth froÌ„ flowing wit when restlesse will was ballast with the waight of princely reach that did my compasse fit I saw by serch the sory vnstable bloome the blasted fruit the flitting still delight The fyckle ioy the oft abused doome the slipper stay the short contented syght Of such as set their heauen of lingring lyfe In pleasures lappe that laughes at their abuse whose froward wheele with frowning turn is ryse to drown their blisse that blyndly slept with vse For lo the course of my delighting years that was embraste in armes of fansies past when wisdoms sonne through follies clouds aperes doth blush to here the count that pleasure cast So now I see the masse of huge delight with flattering face dooth promise but decay whose flitting foot entysed once to flight his restles wings doo seeke to sore away Lo thus hee slips reclaimd with endles payn Possest a while departing soone agayn This sayeth the sage Salomon talking of the things of the world the which as hee spake of the world so had hee proued it in deede in his parson Crediting as it is reason to such high doctrin I cannot tell what my pen can write more in this case since hee saith that after hee had all proued experimented possessed and tasted hee found that all that wee procure haue in this world is vanity O princes and great lords I beesech yee and in the name of Iesus christ I exhort you with great discretioÌ„ to enter into this deepe seas since thys order is so disordered that it bringeth all disorders euil customs For al those which shall trauail by the way when they shal think to goe most sure in the midst of their iourney they shal finde them selues to bee lost None ought to agree with the world for that hee might liue sure in his house for day night to all worldlings hee hath his gate open making their entry large sure But let vs beeware wee enter not and much more that wee lode not our selues with his vices and bee delighted with his pleasures For since wee doo waxe worse and that wee are entered therein though wee doo repent by no way wee fynd the sure comming out but the first wee must wel pay for our lodging I maruell not though the worldlings at euery moment bee deceiued sins superfyciously they beehold the world with their eies loue it profouÌ„dly with their harts But if they desyred as profoundly to consider it as they do vaynly follow it they shoold see very plain that the world did not flatter them with prosperity but threaten them with aduersity So that vnder the greatest point of the dye which is the vi is hyd the least which is the ase I woold counsel princes great lordes that they woold not beeleeue the world nor his flatteries and much lesse beeleeue them selues nor their vayn ymaginacions The which for the most part doo think that after they haue trauailed and heaped vp great treasure they shall enioy but their own trauail without the trouble of any man or that any man doo goe again them O how vayn is such thought and how oft dooth it chaunge contrary The world is of such an euill condicion that if hee let vs rest our first sleepe as well vs as that which wee haue gotten immediatly in the morning yea oftentimes an hower from thence hee waketh vs with a new care now hee hath prepared for vs some mean to occupy our selues about some other trouble ¶ The autour followeth his intencion and speaketh vehemently against the dysceyts of the world Cap. xl THemperor Traian sayd one day to his maister which was Plutarche the great phylosopher tell mee master why there are commonly moe euill then good and why without comparison there are mo which follow vices than those which embrace vertue The great Plutarche aunswered As our naturall inclinacion is more geeuen to lasciuiousnes and neglygence then to chastity and abstinence so the men which doo enforce them selues to follow vertue are few and those which geeue slack the reyns to vices are many And know thou if thou knowst it not most noble Prince that all thys euill proceedeth that men doo follow men and that they suffer not reason to follow reason Feeble and myserable is our nature but in the end wee caÌ„ not denâ—y that for all our trauailes wee may fynd remedy in it which seemeth to bee true For so much as if the sunne dooth annoy vs wee doo retire to the shadow If wee are greeued goyng on foot wee doo remedy it goyng on horseback If the sea bee daungerous wee saile with shyps If the cold doo vexe vs wee approch neere the fyer If thurst dooth trouble vs wee doo quench it with drink If rayn dooth wet vs wee go into houses If the plague bee in one place wee fly into another If wee haue enemies wee comfort our selues wyth our frends Fynally I say that there is no sorow nor trauaile but that a maÌ„ hath found some rest remedy This presupposed to bee true as it is trouth in deede now I ask all the worldlings if they haue found any remedy against
wherwith eche parte proued his purpose For the good emperour attributed the whole laude for a perpetual memory vnto the people because of the great obediēce diligent seruice and faithful loue which he had found in them And on the other part the fortunat people gaue the glory vnto the emperour for his clemency mercifulnes for his vprightuous gouerninge for his honestie of liuing for his stout courage in conquering It was a thing worthy of noting to se how the people gaue the honour to their emperour and howe the emperour attributed the prayse to his people These matters were deliuered in truste to the straunge Embassadours to th end that all people might learne to obey their princes and also princes learne to loue their people to th ende that by such examples as it was reason the good should be encouraged and the euil discomforted Thus the emperour prepared al thinges ready with his capitaines and captiues for his entring and the people of Rome made as great preparation for to receiue him It was a meruailous thing to see what people came forth of Rome to mete him what an infinite numbre were at Salon to behold him They that were at Salon had their eies there and their hartes at Rome and they that were at Rome had their hartes at Salon in suche sorte that their eies daseled with that they sawe and their hartes also reioyced for that they hoped to see For there is no greater tormente to the harte then when it is deferred from that which it greatly desireth ¶ How at the intercession of many whiche the Empresse had sent the Emperour graunted his doughter Lucilla licence to sporte her selfe at the feastes Cap. lxi YOu shal vnderstande that the Romaines vsed alwayes in the moneth of Ianuary to permit that their emperoures should triumphe And it chaunced that at that time when they prepared for the triumphe Faustine the empresse caused diuers noble barons to demaunde licence of the emperoure that her doughter might come from her mistres where she was taught to the feastes Her name was Lucilla who was elder then the prince Comodus her brother She had a goodly gesture she was well made in the body derely beloued of her mother whom she resembled not only in beauty but also in liuing Though the request semed to be reasonable and those that made it his counsellers great about him though him whom they asked was the father and she that demaunded it was the mother and she for whom this request was made was the doughter yet the emperour would not graunt it but halfe against his wil. Faustine when she had obteined licence was exceading glad and so sone as she might possible she brought her doughter home vnto the pallace And when the daye of the great feast solempne triumphe came the young damoisel perceiuing her selfe at large without any gouernour trusting in the innocencie of her selfe estemed not the malice of any other man but reioyced with those that reioyced talked with them that talked behelde them that behelde her and she thought because she mente euyll to no man that no man wylled euyll to her In those dayes it was as great an offence for a mayde of Rome to laughe in the company of men as it was for a woman of Grecia to be taken in adultery with a priest So greatly was the honestie at that tyme of the Romaine Matrones regarded and the lyghtnes of the maydens was so detested that they gaue more sharper punishement for one offence done openly then for twoo other whiche were committed in secreat Amonge all other thinges from these seuen the Romaine Matrones did marueilously refrayne that is to wete from talkyng muche at feastes from gready eating amonge straungers From drynkyng wyne whyles they were whole From talkyng in secreate with any man From lyfting vp their eyes in the temples From gasyng muche out at the wyndowes And from wandryng abroade without their husbandes For the woman that was apprehended in any of these thynges was alwayes after counted as one defamed There are many thynges suffred in persones of meane estate whiche can not be endured in those of hygher degree For Ladies of highe renowme can not kepe the reputation of their estates vnlesse they are marueilous circumspecte in all their doynges All thynges that degenerate from their kynde deserue blame but the dishonest woman meriteth infamy If ladies wylbe counted ladies in dede let them knowe howe muche they excell others in ryches so muche lesse lycence haue they then other to goe gaddinge in the streates For of a suretie the aboundaunce of their ryches and the lybertie of their personnes should not be a spurre to prouoke them to gadde abroade but rather a brydle to keape them within All this is spoken for this cause that Lucilla as a mayde tender and younge and Faustine her mother as one not very olde sometymes on foote and sometymes ryding sometymes openly and nowe and then secreatly Sometymes with company and at other tymes alone Sometymes by day and ofttymes by night vsed to foote the streates of Rome to view the fieldes of Vulcane To sport them by the ryuer of Tiber to gather the fruites in the Ortechardes of Saturne to suppe at the conduites of Nero and suche other vagaries they vsed The whiche thinges though their age did desyre and their idlenes allure them vnto yet the grauitie of suche ladies ought to haue withdrawen them from it I wyll speake one thing to th ende that other ladies and gentlewomen may take warning thereby whiche is that I can not tell whiche was greater either the small discretion whiche moued Faustine and Lucilla to wander in suche sorte aboute the streates or the audacitie that euyll men tooke thereby to talke of their personnes and doubte of their honesties The keaping of women in their houses is lyke vnto a brydle to holde styll euyll mens tongues The woman that is a strayer abroade putteth her good name in muche daunger Of trouth it were better for a woman neuer to be borne then to lyue with an euyll name Amonge all the families of the auncient Romaines that of the Cornelians was counted moste fortunate for among the men there was neuer anye founde a cowarde nor among the women any that was defamed The historiographers saye that there was one woman of that lynage onely for beyng light in her behauiour was by the handes of her owne parentes executed and put to death Surely it was well done of the Romaines to thintent that the lightnes of one woman alone should not defame the whole family Where as is noblenes and honestie there the matters that touche the honor ought not to tary whyles they be remedied by iustice but from that man or woman which among al hath lost his good name from the nombre of the liuing he also ought to be taken It is not sufficient for one to him selfe to be good but it is requisite that he geue no
forsake vs oftentimes some holsome fleshe corrupteth in an euill vessel and good wine sometime fauoreth of the foist I say though that the workes of our life be vertuous yet shal we fele the stench of the weake flesh I spake this Faustine sith that age cannot resist these hot appitites howe can the tender members of youth resist them vnlesse you that are the mother go the right way how should the doughter that foloweth you find it the Romaine matrons if they wil bringe vp their doughters wel oughte to kepe these rules when they se that they would wander abrode that they breake their legges and if they should be gasing then put out their eyes and if they wil lysten stoppe their eares if they wil geue or take cut of their hands if they dare speake sow vp their mouthes if they wyl pretende any lightnes burye them quycke death ought to be geuen to an euyl doughter in stede of her dowry for gyftes geue her wormes and for her house a graue Take hede Faustine if you wil haue much ioy of your doughter take from her the occasions wherby she shal be euyl To vnderset a house behoueth diuers proppes and if the principalles be taken away it wil fal downe I saye you women are so fraile that with kepers with great paine they can keape them selfe and for a smal occasion they wil lose altogether O how many euyl hath there bene not because they would be so but because they folowed such occasions the which they ought to haue eschewed It is at my pleasure to enter into this battaile but yet it is not in my power to attaine the vyctorie it is for me to enter into the sea yet it lyeth not in my handes to escape the peril it is in the hands of a woman to enter into the occasion and after that she is therin it is not in her power to escape from euill to delyuer her from tongues Peraduenture Faustine thou wilt say to me none can speake to your doughter Lucil vnlesse thou hearest it nor se her but thou seest him nor conuey her but thou knowest where nor make any appointment withoute thy consent and yet thou knowest that those whych wil her euyl seke wyth their tongues to dyshonour her and those that with their hartes loue her speake only in their harts We loue in yong bloud in the springing tyme and floryshing youth is a poyson that forthwith spreadeth into euery vaine it is a herbe that entreth into the entrayles a swowning that incontinently mortyfieth al the members and a pestilence that sleeth the harts and finallye it maketh an end of al vertues I know not what I saye but I fele that which I would say for I would neuer blase loue with my tongue except I were sore wounded therwith in my hart Ouide saith in his boke of the art of loue loue is I wot not what it commeth I know not from whence who sent it I wot not it engendreth I know not how it is satisfied I wot not wherwith it is felt I wot not how oft it sleeth I wot not wherfore and finally without breakyng the flesh outwardly loue taketh roote and molesteth the hart inwardly I know not what Ouide meaneth hereby but I trowe when he said these words he was as farre banyshed from him selfe as I am at this tyme from my selfe O Faustine they that loue together vtter the secretes of theyr harts by dyuers wayes and in sleaping they reason speake by sygnes they vnderstand ech other The many words outwardly declare smal loue inwardly and the feruent inward loue kepeth silence outward The entrayles within imbraced with loue cause the tongue outward to be mute he that passeth his lyfe in loue ought to kepe his mouth close And to thintent that ye shal not thinke that I speake fables I wil proue this by auncient histories we find aunciently that in the yere .cclxx. after the foundacion of Rome Etrasco a yong Romaine that was dombe and Verona a fayre Lady of the Latines which was dombe also these two saw ech other on the mount Celâ—o at the feastes and ther fel in loue togethers and their hartes were as sore fixed in loue as their tongues were tyde from speach It was a maruailous thing to se then fearful to note now that this yonge lady came from Salon to Rome he went from Rome to Salon sundry times by the space of 30. yeres without the knowledge of any parson and neuer spake together It chaunced at the last that the husband of the lady Verona died the wife of Etrasco also and then they discouered their loue and treated a mariage betwene them And these two dombe parsons had issue a sonne of whom descended the noble linage of our Scipions which were more famous in the feates of armes then their father mother were troubled for want of words Then Faustine marke thys thing it had litle auailed to haue cut out the tongues of the two dombe persons to haue remedyed their loue and not to haue cut out their harts And I shal tel you of Masinissa a worthy knight of Numidie and Sophonissa a famous lady of Carthage al only by one sighte as they sawe eche other on a ladder he declareth his desyre vnto her and shee knowyng hys lust breakynge the oores of feare and lyftyng vp the ankers of shame incontinente raysed the sayles of their hartes and wythe the shippes of their persones they ioyned ech to other here may we see how the first sight of their eyes the knowledge of their parsons the consent of their harts the copulacion of their bodyes the decay of their estates and the losse of their names in one day in one houre in one moment and in one step of a ladder were lost what wil you that I say more to this purpose do you not knowe what Heleyne the Greke and Paris the Troyan of two straunge nacions and of farre countreis with one only sight in a temple their willes wer so knit together that he toke her as his captiue and she abode his prisoner In Paris appeared but smal force and in Heleyne but litle resistence so that in maner those two yong persons the one procuring to vanquyshe and the other suffring to be vanquished Paris was cause of his fathers death and they both of their owne deaths losse to their realmes scaunder to al the world Al this loue grew of one onely sight When great kinge Alexander woulde haue geuen battaile to the Amosones the quene captaine of theym no lesse faire then strong and vertuous came to a riuer side the space of an houre eche of theym behelde an other with their eyes withoute vtteringe of anye worde And when they retourned to their tentes their fiersnes was turned into swete wanton amorous wordes When Pirius the faithfull defender of the Tharrentines and renowmed king of Epirotes was in Italy he came into Naples and had not
merite to suffer many troubles if we haue not pacience therin During the time of this our miserable life we cannot denay but in euery estate there is bothe trouble and daunger For then onely our estate shal be perfit when we shal come gloriously in soule and body without the feare of deathe and also whan we shall reioyce without daungers in life Retourninge agayne to our purpose mightie Prince although we all be of value little we all haue little we all can attaine little we all know little we al are able to doe little we all do liue but little Yet in all this little the state of Princes semeth some great and high thing For that worldely men say there is no such felicitie in this life as to haue authoritie to commaunde many to be bounde to obey none But if either subiectes knewe how dere Princes by their power to commaunde or if Princes knewe howe swete a thinge it is to liue in quiet doutelesse the subiectes would pitie their rulers and the rulers would not enuy theyr subiectes For ful few are the pleasures which Princes enioy in respecte of the troubles that they endure Sithe then the estate of Princes is greater than al that he may doe more than all is more of value than all vpholdeth more than all and finally that from thence procedeth the gouernement of all it is more nedefull that the house the person and the life of a Prince be better gouerned and ordred than all the reste For euen as by the yard the marchante measureth al his ware so by the life of the Prince is measured the whole common weale Many sorowes endureth the woman in nourishing a waywerde childe great trauaile taketh a scholemaister in teaching an vntowarde scholler much paine taketh an officer in gouerning a multitude ouergreate howe greate than is the paine and peril whereunto I offer my selfe in takinge vpon me to order the life of such a one vpon whose life hangeth all the good state of a common weale For Princes and great Lords ought of vs to be serued and not offended we ought to exhort them not to vexe them we ought to entreate them not to rebuke them we ought to aduise them and not to defame them finally I say that right simple recken I that surgiō which with the same plaisters he layed to a hard héele séeketh to cure the tender eyes I meane by this cōparison that my purpose is not to tel princes and noble men in this booke what they be but to warne them what they ought to be not to tell them what they doe but to aduise them what they ought to doe For that noble man which will not amende his lyfe for remorse of his owne conscience I doe thinke that he wil amende it for the writing of my penne Paulus diaconus the historiographer in the second booke of his commentaries sheweth an antiquitie right worthy to remember and also pleasaunt to reade Although in dede to the hinderaunce of my selfe I shall reherse it It is as of the henne who by longe scraping on the donghill discouereth the knife that shall cut hir owne throte Thus was the case Hannibal the moste renowmed Prince and captayne of Carthage after he was vainquished by thaduenturous Scipio fled into Asia to kinge Antiochus a Prince then liuinge of great vertue who receiued him into his realme tooke him into his protectiō and right honourably enterteyned him in his house And certes king Antiochus did herein as a pitefull Prince for what can more beautifie the honor of a Prince than to succor nobilitie in their nedefull estate These two Princes vsed diuers exercises to spende the time honorably thus they diuided tyme. Sometime to hunt in the mountaines otherwhile to disporte them in the fieldes oft to vewe their armies But mostly they wente to the scholes to heare the Philosophers And truly they did like wise skilfull men For there is no hower in a daye otherwise so well employed as in hearinge a wise pleasaunt tonged man There was at a time in Ephesus a famous philosopher called Phormio which openly red and taught the people of that realme And one day as these twoo Princes came into the schoole the philosopher Phormio chaunged the matter whereupon be red and of a sodayne began to talke of the meanes and wayes that Princes ought to vse in warre of thorder to be kepte in geuing battaile Such so straunge and high phrased was the matter which he talked of that not onely they merueiled which neuer before sawe him but euen those also that of longe tyme had dayly hearde him For herein curious and flourisshing wittes shewe their excellency in that they neuer wante fresh mater to entreate vpon Greatly gloried the king Antiochus that this philosopher in presence of this straunge prince had so excellentlye spoken so that straungers might vnderstand he had his realme stored with wise mē For couragious and noble princes esteme nothing so precious as to haue men valiāt to defend their frontiers and also wise to gouerne their commō weales The lecturered king Antiochus demaunded of the prince Hannibal howe he liked the talke of the philosopher Phormio to whome Hannibal stoutely aunswered and in his aunswere shewed him self to be of that stoutnes he was the same day whā he wanne the great battayle at Cannas For although noble harted and couragious princes lose all their estates and realmes yet they will neuer confesse their hartes to be ouerthrowen nor vaynquisshed And these were the words that at that time Hannibal said Thou shalt vnderstande kinge Antiochus that I haue séene diuers dotinge olde men yet I neuer sawe a more dootarde foole than Phormio whom thou causest such a great philosopher For the greatest kinde of foly is whan a man that hath but a little vaine science presumeth to teach not those which haue only science but also such as haue most certeine experience Tel me kinge Antiochus what harte can brooke with pacience or what tonge can suffer with silence to sée a sely man as this philosopher is nourished all his life time in a corner of Grece studieng philosophie to presume as he hath done to talke before the prince Hannibal of the affaires of warre as though he had bene either lorde of Affrike or captayne of Rome Certes he either full little knoweth him self or els but little estemeth vs. For it appeareth by his vaine words he would seme to know more in matters of warre by that he hath red in bookes than doth Hannibal by the sundry and great battayles which he hath fought in the fieldes O king Antiochus how far and how great is the difference betwene the state of philosophers the state of captaynes betwene the skill to reade in schole and the knowledge to rule an armie betwene the science that these wise men haue in bookes and thexperience that thothers haue in warre betwene their skil to write with the penne and ours to fight
with the sword betwene one that for his pastime is set round with deskes of bookes and an other in perill of life compassed with troupes of enemies For many there are which with great eloquence in blasing dedes done in warres can vse their tongs but few are those that at the brunt haue hartes to aduenture their liues This sely philosopher neuer saw man of warre in the field neuer saw one army of men discomfeited by an other neuer heard the terrible trumpet sound to the horrible cruel slaughter of men neuer saw the treasons of some nor vnderstode the cowardnes of other neuer saw how fewe they be that fight nor how many there are that ronne away Finally I say as it is semely for a philosopher and a learned man to praise the profites of peace euē so it is in his mouth a thing vncomely to prate of the perils of warre If this philosopher hath sene no one thing with his eyes that he hath spoken but onely red them in sondry bokes let him recounte them to such as haue neither sene nor red them For warlike feates are better learned in the bloudy fields of Afrike than in the beautifull scholes of Grece Thou knowest right wel king Antiochus that for the space of 36. yeres I had continuall and daungerous warres aswell in Italy as in Spayne in which fortune did not fauor me as is alwaies her maner to vse those which by great stoutnes manhodde enterprise things high and of much difficultie a witnes wherof thou séest me heare who before my berde began to grow was serued nowe whan it is hore I my selfe begin to serue I sweare vnto the by the God Mars kinge Antiochus that if any man did aske me how he should vse and behaue him selfe in warre I would not answere him one word For they are things that are learned by experiēce of déedes not by prating in words Although princes begin warres by iustice and folow them with wisedome yet the ende standeth vpon fickle fortune and not of force nor policie Diuers other things Hannibal saide vnto Antiochus who so wil sée thē let him reade the Apothemes of Plutarche This example noble prince tēdeth rather to this end to condempne my boldnes not to cōmende my enterprise saying that thaffaires of the cōmon wealth be as vnknowen to me as the daungers of the warres were to Phormio Your maiestie may iustely say vnto me that I being a poore simple man brought vp a great while in a rude countrey do greatly presume to describe howe so puissant a prince as your highnes ought to gouerne him self and his realme For of trueth the more ignoraunt a man is of the troubles and alteracions of the worlde the better he shal be coūted in the sight of God The estate of princes is to haue great traines about them the estate of religious men is to be solitarye for the seruaunt of God ought to be alwayes voyde from vaine thoughtes to be euer accompanied with holy meditations The estate of princes is alwayes vnquiet but the state of the religious is to be enclosed For otherwise he aboue all others may be called an Apostata that hath his body in the sell and his hart in the market place To princes it is necessary to speake common with all men but for the religious it is not decente to be conuersaunt with the world For solitary men if they do as they ought should occupy their hands in trauaile their body in fasting their tonge in prayer their harte in contemplacion The estate of princes for the most part is employed to warre but the state of the religious is to desire procure peace For if the prince would study to passe his boundes and by battaile to shed the bloud of his enemies the religious ought to shede teares pray to God for his sinnes O that it pleased almighty God as I know what my boūden dutie is in my hart so that he would giue me grace to accomplish the same in my dedes Alas whan I ponder with my selfe the waightines of my matter my penne through slothe and negligence is ready to fall out of my hand I half minded to leaue of mine enterprise My intent is to speake against my selfe in this case For albeit men maye know thaffaires of princes by experience yet they shall not know howe to speake nor write thē but by science Those which ought to counsaile princes those which ought to refourme the life of princes that ought to instruct them ought to haue a clere iudgement an vpright minde their words aduisedly considered their doctrine holesom their life without suspiciō For who so wil speake of high things hauing no experēce of them is like vnto a blinde man that woulde leade teach him the way which séeth better thā he him self This is the sentēce of Xenophon the great which saith There is nothing harder in this life than to know a wise mā And the reason which he gaue was this That a wise man cānot be knowen but by an other wise mā we maye gather by this which Xenophon saieth that as one wise man cannot be knowen but by an other wise man so lykewise it is requisite that he should be or haue ben a prince which should write of the life of a prince For he that hath ben a mariner sailled but one yere on the sea shall be able to giue better counsaile and aduise than he that hath dwelled .x. yers in the hauen Xenophō wrote a boke touching the institucion of princes bringeth in Cambises the kyng how he taughte and spake vnto kyng Cirus hys sonne And he wrote an other booke likewise of the arte of cheualrye and brought in kyng Phillip how he oughte to teache his sonne Alexander to fight For the philosophers thought that writting of no auctoritie that was not intituled set forth vnder the name of those princes which had experience of that they wrate O if an aged prince would with his penne if not with worde of mouth declare what misfortunes haue happened sins the first time he began to reigne howe disobedient his subiectes haue ben vnto him what griefe his seruauntes haue wrought against him what vnkindnes his frendes haue shewed him what subtile wiles his enemies haue vsed towardes hym what daunger his person hath escaped what tarres haue ben in his palace what faultes they haue said against him how many times they haue deceiued straungers finally what grefes he hath had by day what sorrowful sighes he hath fetched in the night truly I thinke in my thought I am nothing deceaued that if a prynce wold declare vnto vs his hole lif that he wold particularly shew vs euery thing we wold both wōder at that body which had so much suffered also we wold be offended with that hart that had so greatly dissembled It is a troublesom thing a daungerous thing an insolent
drinketh when he commeth vnto it and vnles he be compelled he doth nothing he taketh no care for the common welth for he neither knoweth how to folow reason nor yet how to resist sensualitie Therfore if a man at al times should eate when he desireth reuenge himselfe when he is moued commit adultrie when he is tempted drinke when he is thristie and slepe when he is drousey we might more properly cal such a one a beaste nourished in the mountaines than a man brought vp in the common wealth For him properly we maye cal a man that gouerneth him self like a man that is to say conformable vnto such things as reason willeth and not wher sensuality leadeth Let vs leaue these vaine men whyche are aliue and talke of them that be dead against whom we dare say that whyles they were in the world they folowed the world liued according to the same It is not to be marueiled at that sins they were lyuing in the worlde they were noted of some worldlye point But seing their vnhappy and wicked life is ended why wil they then smel of the vanities of the world in their graues It is a great shame and dishonor for men of noble stout harts to se in one minut thend of our life and neuer to see the end of our folye We neither read heare nor se any thing more common then suche men as be most vnprofitable in the comon wealth and of life most reprobate to take vpon them most honour whiles they liue and to leaue behind them the greatest memorye at their death What vanity can be greater in the world then to esteme the world whych estemeth no man and to make no compt of god who so greatly regardeth al men what a greater foly can ther be in man then by muche trauaile to encrease his goodes and with vaine pleasours to lose his soule It is an olde plague in mannes nature that many or the most parte of menne leaue the amendment of their life farre behind to set their honor the more before Suetonius Tranquillus in the first booke of the Emperours sayth that Iulius Cesar no further thenne in Spaine in the Citye of Cales nowe called Calis sawe in the temple the triumphes of Alexander the great paynted the whyche when he hadde wel vewed he sighed marueilous soore and beinge asked why he dyd so he aunswered What a wofull case am I in that am now of thage of .30 yeres and Alexander at the same yeres had subdued the whole worlde and rested him in Babilon And I being as I am a Romaine neuer dyd yet thyng woorthy of prayse in my lyfe nor shal leaue any renoume of me after my death Dion the Grecian in the second boke de Audacia saythe that the noble Drusius the Almayne vsed to visite the graues and tombes of the famous and renowmed which were buried in Italy and did this alwaies especially at his going to warfare and it was asked him why he did so he aunswered I vysite the sepulchers of Scipio and of diuers others which are dead before whom al the earth trembled when they were alyue For in beholdyng their prosperous successe I dyd recouer both strength and stoutnes He sayth furthermore that it encourageth a man to fight against hys enemies remembring he shal leaue of him a memory in time to come Cicero sayth in his Rhethorike and also Plynie maketh mencion of the same in an epistle that there came from Thebes in Egipt a knight to Rome for no other purpose but onelye to see whether it were true or no that was reported of the notable thinges of Rome Whom Mecenas demaunded what he perceyued of the Romaynes and what he thought of Rome He aunswered the memorye of the absente dooth more content me then the glory of the present doth satisfye me And the reason of this is The desire which men haue to extol the lyuing and to be equal vnto the dead maketh thinges so straunge in their lyfe that they deserue immortal fame after their death The Romaynes reioysed not a litle to heare such wordes of a straungers mouth wherby he praysed them whych were departed and exalted them that yet lyued O what a thing it is to consider the auncient heathens whych neyther feared hel not hoped for heauen yet by remembraunce of weakenes they toke vnto them strength ▪ by cowardnes they were boldened through feare they became hardy of daungers they toke encouragement of enemies they made frendes of pouertye they toke pacience of malyce they learned experience finally I say they denied their owne willes folowed thopinions of others only to leaue behind them a memory with the dead and to haue a lytle honor with the lyuing O how many are they that trust the vnconstauntnes of fortune only to leaue some notable memorye behind them Let vs cal to mynd some worthy examples wherby they may se that to be true which I haue spoken What made king Ninus to inuent such warres Quene Semiramis to make such buildings Vlisses the Grecian to sulke so many seas king Alexander to conquere so many landes Hercules the Thebane to set vp his pillers where he did Caius Cesar the Romayne to giue .52 battailes at his pleasure Cirus king of Persia to ouercome both the Asiaes Hannibal the Carthagian to make so cruel warres against the Romaines Pirrhus king of Epirotes to come downe into Italy Atila king of the Huns to defye al Europe truly they woulde not haue taken vppon them such daungerous enterprises only vppon the words of theym whych were in those dayes present but because we should so esteme them that should come after Seing then that we be men and the chyldren of men it is not a lytle to bee marueiled at to see the diuersity betwene the one and the other and what cowardnes ther is in the harts of some and contrarywise what courage in the stomakes of others For we se commonly now a daies that if there be 10. of stout courages whych are desirous with honour to dye there are 10. thousand cowards whiche throughe shamefull pleasurs seke to prolong their life The man that is ambitious thinketh him most happy who with much estimacion can kepe his renowme and with litle care regarde his lyfe And on the other side he that wil set by his lyfe shal haue but in small estimacion his renowme The Sirians the Assirians the Thebanes the Caldes the Grekes the Macedonians the Rodians the Romaines the Huns the Germaines and the Frenchmen if such noble men as among these were most famous had not aduentured their lyues by such daūgerous enterprises they had neuer got such immortal fame as they had don to leaue to their prosperity Sextus Cheronensis in his third boke of the valiaunt deedes of the Romaines saith that the famous captaine Marcus Marcellus which was the first of al men that sawe the backe of Hannibal in the fielde was demaunded of one how he durst enter into
but al that Marcus Aurelius sayd or dyd is worthy to be knowen necessary to be folowed I do not meane this prynce in his heathen law but in hys vertuous dedes Let vs not staye at hys belyef but let vs embrace the good that he did For compare many chrystians wyth some of the heathen loke howe farre we leaue them behynd in faith so farre they excel vs in vertuous works Al the old prynces in times past had som phylosophers to their familiars as Alexander Aristotle King Darius Herodotus Augustus Pisto Pompeius Plauto Titus Plinie Adrian Secundus Traian Plutarchus Anthonius Apolonius Theodotius Claudius Seuerus Fabatus Fynally I say that philosophers then had such authority in princes palaces that children acknowledged them for fathers and fathers reuerenced them as maysters These sage meÌ„ wer aliue in the coÌ„pany of princes but the good Marcus Aurelius whose doctrine is before your maiestie is not aliue but dead Yet therfore that is no cause why his doctrine shold not be admitted For it may be paraduenture that this shal profit vs more which he wrate with his hands then that which others spake with their tongues Plutarche sayth in the time of Alexander the great Aristotle was aliue and Homere was dead But let vs see how he loued the one reuerenced the other for of truth hee slept alway with Homers booke in his hands waking he red the same with hys eyes alwayes kept the doctrine therof in his memory layed when he rested the booke vnder his head The which priuiledge Aristotle had not who at al times cold not be heard much lesse at al seasons be beleued so that Alexander had Homere for his frend and Aristotle for a maister Other of these phylosophers wer but simple men but our Marcus Aurelius was both a wyse phylosopher and a valiaunt prynce and therfore reason would he should be credited before others For as a prince he wyl declare the troubles as a phylosopher he wil redresse them Take you therefore Puisaunt Prince this wise phylosopher and noble emperour for a teacher in your youth for a father in your gouernment for a captayne general in your warres for a guide in your iourneys for a frend in your affayres for an example in your vertues for a maister in your sciences for a pure whyte in your desyres and for equal matche in your deedes I wil declare vnto you the lyfe of an other beinge a heathen and not the lyfe of an other being a chrystian For how much glory this heathen prince had in this world being good and vertuous so much paynes your maiestie shal haue in the other if you shal be wicked and vycious Behold behold noble prince the lyfe of this Emperour you shal se how clere he was in his iudgement how vpright in hys iustyce howe circumspect in hys life how louing to his frends how pacient in his troubles how he dissembled with hys enemies how seuere agaynst Tyraunts how quyet among the quiet how great a frend to the sage and louer of the simple how aduenturous in his warres and amyable in peace and aboue al thinges how high in words and profound in sentences Many tymes I haue bene in doubt with my selfe whether the Eternal maiesty which gyueth vnto you princes the temporal maiestie to rule aboue al other in power and authorytie did exempt you that are princes more from humaine frayltye then he did vs that be but subiects and at the last I knew he did not For I see euen as you are chyldren of the world so you do lyue according to the world I see euen as you trauaile in the world so you can know nothing but things of the world I se because you liue in the fleshe that you are subiect to the myseryes of the fleshe I see though for a tyme you prolong your lyfe yet at the last you are brought to your graue I see your trauaile is great and that within your gates there dwelleth no rest I se you are cold in the wynter and hote in the sommer I se that hunger feeleth you and thirst troubleth you I se your frendes forsake you and your ennemyes assault you I se that you are sadde and lacke ioy I se you are sicke and be not wel serued I see you haue muche and yet that which you lacke is more What wil ye se more seyng that princeâ— die O noble princes great Lordes syns you must die and become wormes meat why do you not in your lyfe tyme serche for good counsayle If the prynces and noble men commit an â—rroure no man dare chastice them wherfore they stand in greater nede of aduyse counsaile For the trauailer who is out of his waye the more he goeth foreward the more he errethe If the people do amisse they ought to be punyshed but if the prince erre hee shoulde bee admonished And as the Prynce wyl the people shoulde at his handes haue punyshment so it is reason that he at their hands should receyue counsayle For as the wealthe of the one dependeth on the wealthe of the other soo trulye if the prince bee vycious the people can not be vertuous If youre maiestie wyl punyshe your people with words commaund them to prynt this present worke in their harts And if your people would serue your hyghnes with their aduise let them likewyse beseche you to reade ouer this booke For therin the subiectes shal fynd how they may amende and you Lordes shal se al that you ought to do wdether this presente worke be profytable or noo I wyll not that my penne shal declare but they whyche reede it shall iudge For we aucthours take paines to make and translate others for vs vse to giue iudgement and sentence From my tender yeres vntil this present I haue liued in the world occupieng my selfe in reading and studieng humaine deuyne bookes and although I confesse my debilitie to be such that I haue not reade so much as I might nor studied so much as I ought yet not withstandinge al that I haue red hath not caused me to muse so muche as the doctrine of Marcus Aurelius hath sith that in the mouth of an heathen god hath put such a great treasor The greatest part of al his workes were in Greke yet he wrote also many in latin I haue drawen this out of greke throughe the helpe of my frends afterwards out of latin into our vulgare tongue by the trauaile of my hands Let al men iudge what I haue suffred in drawing it out of Greke into latin out of the latin into the vulgar and out of a plaine vulgar into a swete and pleasaunt style For that banket is not counted sumptuous vnlesse ther be both pleasaunt meates and sauory sauces To cal sentences to mynd to place the wordes to examine languages to correct sillables what swette I haue suffred in the hote sommer what bytter cold in the sharpe wynter what
throughe thys wicked vice Chap. xiii That it is not fit for courtiers to bée to couetous if they meane to keape themselues out of many troubles and daungers Chap. xiiii That the fauoured of the courte shoulde not trust to muche to their fauour and credit they haue nor to the great prosperity of their lyfe a worthy chapter and ful of good doctryne Chap. xv The auctor admonysheth those that are in fauour and great with the prince that they take hede of the deceipts of the world and learne to liue and dye honourably and that they leaue the court before age ouertake them Chapter xvi Of the continencie of fauoured courtiers and how they ought to shonne the company and conuersacion of vnhonest women to be careful quickly to dispatch al suche as sue vnto them Chap. xvii That the nobles and beloued of princes excede not in superfluous fare that they be not to sumptuous in their meates A notable chapter for those that vse to much delicacye and superfluity Chap. xviii That the fauoured of princes ought not to be dishonest of their tongues nor enuious of their words Chap. xix A comendacion of trouth which professed courtiers ought to imbrace and in no respect to be found defectiue in the contrarye tellynge one thinge for another Chap xx The end of the table of the fourth Booke Heare beginneth the table of the letters translated out of Spanishe vvhich vvere not in the Frenche Copye OF a huge monster whych was sene in Scicilli in the tyme of Marcus Aurelius Chap. i. Of that whych chaunced vnto a neighboure of hys in Rome in the tyme of his Empyre Chap. ii How Marcus Aurelius the Emperoure soughte the wealth of hys people and how hys people loued hym Chap. iii. How at the intercession of many which the Empresse hadde sent the Emperoure graunted hys doughter Lucilla lycence to sport her selfe at the feastes Chap. iiii Of the sharpe woordes whyche Marcus Aurelius spake to hys wyfe and too hys doughter Chap. v. The Emperour exhorteth hys wyfe to take awaye all occasions of euil from her doughter wher in is declared the frailetye of the tender fleshe Chap. vi Of the wysedom of Marcus Aurelius in procuryng husbandes for his doughters Chap. vii Of a letter whych the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to hys especial frend to comfort hym in his troubles Chap. viii A letter sent by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to Censorius that was so sorowful for the death of his sonne worthy to be red and noted Chap. ix A letter sent by Marcus Aurelius Emperour to Censorius of the newes whych at that tyme were at Rome Chap. x. Of a sharpe letter full of reprehensions sent by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to the amourous ladyes of Rome because in his absence they deuised a playe of hym Cap. xi Of a letter which he sente to his louer Bohemia for that she desired so earnestlye to go wyth hym to the warres wherein is to be noted the great folly of yong men the lytle shame of euyl women Cap. xii The aunswere of Bohemia to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wherin is expressed the great malyce and litle pacience of an euyl woman Chap. xiii Of a letter whych the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the lady Macrine the Romayne of whom beholdyng her at the window he became enamoured which declareth what force the beauty of a fayre woman hath in a weake man Chap. xiiii Of an other letter whyche the Emperour sent to the lady Macrine wherein he expresseth the firie flames which consume sonest the gentle harts Chap. xv Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the beautiful ladye of Lybia wherin he reproueth that loue is natural and that the most part of the philosophers and men haue bene by loue ouercome Chap. xvi The ende of the table The first booke of the Diall of princes vvith the famous Booke of Marcus Aurelius wherein be entreateth what excellencie is in the prince that is a good Christian and contrariwyse what euils do folowe him that is a cruell tyrante ¶ Where the Authour speaketh of the birth and lynage of the wyse Philosopher and Emperour Marcus Aurelius And he putteth also at the beginning of this Booke thrée Chapters wherin he entreateth of the discourse of his life for by his Epistles and doctrine the whole of this presente woorke is proued Cap. i. AFter the death of the Emperoure Antonius Pius in the 695. yeares from the foundation of Rome and in the 173. Olimpiade Fuluius Cato Gneus Patroclus then being consulles the fourth daie of October in the highe Capitoll of Rome at sute of the whole Romaine people with thassent of the sacred Senate Marcus Aurelius Antonius was proclaymed Emperoure vniuersall of the whole Romaine monarche This noble prince was naturally of Rome borne in the mount Celio on the sixt daye before the Kalendes of May which after the Latines accounte is the .xxvi. day of April His Graundefather was called Annius Verus and was chosene senatoure in the tyme of the Emperours Titus and Vespasian hys greate graunde fathere was named Annius Verus whiche was borne in Spayne in the free towne of Gububa whenne the warres were moste cruel betwene Caesar and Pompeius at what time many Spanyardes fled to Rome and manye Romaynes ranne into Spayne By this meanes this Emperour had a greate graundfather a Romayne and a greate graundmother a Spanyard Hys father was named Annius Verus after his grandfather and great grandfather by reason wherof the auncient historiographers call him Marcus Antonius Verus And true it is that the Emperour Adrian called him Marcus Verissimus for that he neuer forged lie nor swarued at anye tyme from the trueth These Annij Veri wer a kinred in Rome as Iulius Capitolinus reporteth which vaunted themselues to come of Numa Pompilius and Quintus Curtius the famous Romaine which to worke the Romaine people safetie and his owne person euerlasting memorie willingly threw him selfe into the lake which afterwards was called Curtius That as then was sene in Rome This Emperours mother was called Domitia Camilla as recounteth Cinna in the bookes that he wrote of Romain pedigrees That stocke of Camilli was in those dayes highly honoured in Rome for that they conueighed their dissent from that Camillus whych was the renowmed and valiaunt Romain captayne who deliuered Rome when the Gavvles had taken it and besieged the Capitoll The men that sprange of this linage bare the name of Camilli for remēbrance of this Camillus And the woman that came of the same stocke kepte the name of Camille in memorie of a doughter of the sayde Camillus Thys Camilla refused mariage and chose to liue amonge the vessall virgines and ther longe space remayned enduring a sharpe and hard lyfe And she was so vertuous a Romayne and precise in her life that in the time of Seuerus Emperour of Rome her tombe was honoured as a relique whereon was engraued this Epitaphe Camilla lo doth
there captaine But that could not be for Adrian my lord sent for me to returne to Rome which pleased me not a lytle albeit as I haue said they vsed me as if I had ben borne in that Iland for in theend although the eyes be fedde with delyght to see straunge thinges yet therefore the hart is not satisfyed And this is al that toucheth the Rhodians I will now tel the also how before my going thether I was borne and brought vp in mount Celio in Rome with my father from mine infancie In the common wealthe of Rome ther was a law vsed by custome wel obserued that no citizē which enioyed any lybertie of Rome after their sonnes had accomplyshed .10 yeares should be so bold or hardy to suffer them to walke the streates like vacabondes For it was a custome in Rome that the chyldren of the senatours should sucke til two yeres of age til 4. they should liue at theyr own wylles tyl 6. they should reede tyl 8 they should wryte tyll 10. they should study gramer 10. yeares accomplished they should then take some craft or occupacion or gyue them selues to study or go to the warres so that throughout Rome no man was idell In one of the lawes of the 12 tables weare written these wordes We ordeine and commaund that euery cytizen that dwelleth wythin the circuite of Rome or lybertyes of the same from 10 yeres vpwardes to kepe hys sonne well ordered And if perchaunce the chyld being ydel or that no man teacheth hym any craft or scyence should therby peraduenture fal to vyce or commyt some wycked offence that then the father no lesse then the sonne should be punyshed For ther is nothing so much breadeth vyce amongest the people as when the fathers are to neclygent and the chyldren to bold And furthermore another law sayd We ordeine and commaunde that after 10. yeares be past for the fyrst offence that the chyld shal commyt in Rome that the father shal be bound to send hym forth some where els or to be bound suertye for the good demeanour of hys son For it is not reason that the fonde loue of the father to the sonne should be an occasion why the multytude shuld be sclaundered because al the wealth of the Empyre consisteth in kepyng and mayntaynyng quyet men and in banishyng and expellyng sedycious personnes I wyll tell the one thyng my Pulyo and I am sure thou wylt meruell at it and it is thys When Rome tryumphed and by good wysedom gouerned all the worlde the inhabitantes in the same surmounted the nomber of two hundreth thousand parsonnes which was a maruelouse matter Amongeste whom as a man maye iudge ther was aboue a hundreth thousand chyldren But they whych had the charge of them kept them in such awe and doctryne that they banyshed from Rome one of the sonnes of Cato vticensis for breakyng an erthen pot in a maydens handes whych went to fetche water In lyke manner they banyshed the sonne of good Cinna onlye for entrynge into a garden to gather fruyte And none of these two were as yet fyftyne yeares olde For at that tyme they chastised them more for the offences done in gest then they doo now for those which are don in good earnest Our Cicero saith in his booke De legibus that the Romaynes neuer toke in any thing more paynes then to restreine the chyldren aswel old as young from ydlenes And so long endured the feare of their lawe and honour of theyr common wealthe as they suffered not their children lyke vacabondes idelly to wander the streates For that countrey may aboue all other be counted happye where eche one enioyeth hys owne laboure and no man lyueth by the swette of another I let the know my Pulio that when I was a chylde althoughe I am not yet very olde none durste be so hardy to go commonly throughe Rome wythout a token about hym of the crafte and occupacion he exercysed and whereby he lyued And if anye man had bene taken contrary the chyldren dyd not onlye crie out of hym in the streates as of a foole but also the Censour afterwardes condemned hym to trauayle wyth the captynes in common workes For in Rome they estemed it no lesse shame to the child which was idle then they dyd in Grece to the phylosopher whych was ignorant And to th ende thou mayest se thys I write vnto the to be no new thynge thou oughtest to know that the Emperour caused to be borne afore hym a brenning brand and the counsel an axe of armes the priestes a hat in maner of a coyfe The Senatours a crusible on their armes the Iudges a lytle balance the Tribunes Maces the gouernours a scepter the Byshoppes hattes of floures The Oratours a booke the cutlers a swerd the goldsmithes a pot to melt gold and so forth of al other offices strangers excepted which went al marked after one sort in Rome For they woulde not agree that a stranger shoulde be apparailed marked according to the childrē of Rome O my frend Pulio it was suche a ioye then to beholde the discipline and prosperitie of Rome and it is now at this present suche a grefe to see the calamitie thereof that by the immortall gods I sweare to the and so the god Mars guyde my hande in warres that the man which now is best ordered is not worthe so much as the most dissolute person was then For then amongest a thousande they could not finde one man vicious in Rome and nowe amonges twentie thousande they cannot finde one vertuous in all Italye I know not why the gods are so cruel againste me and fortune so contrary that this 40. yeares I haue done nothynge but wepe and lamente to see the good men die and immediatly to be forgotten and on the other side to see the wicked liue and to be alwayes in prosperitye Vniuersallye the noble harte maye endure al the troubles of mans life vnlesse it be to see a good man decay and the wicked to prosper which my harte cannot abyde nor yet my tonge dissemble And touchynge this matter my frende Pulio I will write vnto the one thynge whiche I founde in the bookes of the highe Capitoll where he treateth of the time of Marius and Sylla whiche trulye is worthy of memorye and that is this There was at Rome a custome and a lawe inuiolable sith the time of Cinna that a Censour expressely commaunded by the senate should goe and visite the prouinces whyche were subiecte vnto it throughe out all Italye and the cause of those visitacions was for three thinges The firste to see if any complained of iustice the second to see in what case the common wealthe stode The thirde to th ende that yearelye they should render obedience to Rome O my frende Pulio how thinkest thou if they visited Italye at this presente as at that time they surueyed Rome how ful of errous should they fynd it And what decaye
Annius Verus my father in thys case deserueth as much prayse as I doe reproche For whiles I was yonge he neuer suffered me to slepe in bed to syt in chayre to eate with him at hys table neyther durst I lyfte vp mine eyes to loke hym in the face And oftentymes he sayde vnto me Marcus my sonne I had rather thou shoudest be an honest Romayne than a dissolute Philosopher Thou desyrest me to wryte vnto the how manye masters I had and what scyences I learned in my youth Knowe thou that I had manye good masters though I am become an euyll scoller I learned also dyuerse scyences though presently I knowe lyttle not for that I forgote them but because the affayres of the empyre of Rome excluded me from them and caused me to forsake them For it is a general rule that science in that place is neuer permanent where the personne is not at libertie I studyed grammer with a mayster called Euphermon who sayed he was a Spaniard borne and his head was hore for age In speache he was very temperate in correction somwhat seuere and in life exceadyng honeste For there was a law in Rome that the childrens masters should be very old so that if the disciple were .10 yeres of age the master should be aboue fiftie I studied a long time Rethorick and the lawe vnder a greeke called Alexander borne in Lycaony which was so excellent an Oratour that if he had had as great a grace in writing with his pen as he hadde eloquence in speakynge with hys tong truly he had bene no lesse renowmed among the Gretians then Cicero was honored amonge the Romains After the death of this my master at Naples I went to Rhodes and hearde rethoricke again of Orosus of Pharanton and of Pulio whiche trulye were men expert and excellent in the arte of oratorie and especially in makyng comedies tragedies and enterludes they were very fyne and had a goodly grace Commodus Calcedon was my firste master in naturall Philosophie He was a graue man and in greate credite with Adrian he translated Homere out of greeke into latin After this man was dead I toke Sextus CheroneÌ„sis for my master who was nephewe to Plutarche the greate whych Plutarche was Traianus master I knewe this Sextus Cheronensis at .35 yeares of age at what time I doute whether there hath bene any Philosopher that euer was so well estemed throughout the Romain empire as he I haue him here with me and although he be foure score yeres olde yet continually he writeth the Histories and gestes done of my time I let the know my frend Pulio that I studied the law .2 yeres and the seekyng of the lawes of many nacions was occasion that I knew many antiquities and in this science Volucius Mecianns was my master a man whiche could reade it well and also dispute of if better So that on a time he demaunded of me merily and sayde Tell me Marke doest thou thinke there is any lawe in the world that I know not and I aunswered him Tell me master is there any lawe in the world that thou obseruest The fyfte yere that I was at Rhodes there came a marueilous pestilence whiche was occasion of the dissolution of our scoole which was in a narowe and litle place and beynge there a certaine painter paintinge a riche and exellent worke for the Realme of Palestine I then for a truth learned there to drawe and painte and my master was Diogenetus who in those dayes was a famous painter He painted in Rome .6 worthy Princes in one table and 6. other tirannous Emperours in an other And amongest those euill Nero the cruell was painted so lyuely that he semed a lyue to all those that sawe him and that table wherein Nero was so liuelye drawen was by decrees of the sacred senat commaunded to be burnt For they saide that a man of so wycked a life deserued not to be represented in so goodly a table Others saide that it was so naturall and perfect that he made all men afrayde that beheld him and if he had bene lefte there a fewe daies that he would haue spoken as if he had bene aliue I studied the arte of Nigromancie a while with al the kyndes of gyromancye and chiromancye In this science I had no particuler master but that somtymes I went to heare Apolonius lecture After I was maried to Faustine I learned Cosmographye in the citie of Argeleta which is the chiefeste towne of Illyria and my masters were Iunius Rusticus and Cyna Catullus Croniclers and counsaylers to Adrian my master and Antonius my father in lawe And because I would not be ignorant in any of those thynges that mans debilitie myght attaine to beyng at the warres of Dalia I gaue my selfe to musicke was apte to take it and my master was named Geminus Câ—modus a man of a quicke hand to play and of as pleasaunte a voice to singe as euer I hearde Romayne tonge prompte to speake This was the order of my lyfe and the tyme that I spente in learning And of good reason a man so occupyed can not chose but be vertuous But I sware and confesse to the that I did not so much geue my selfe to studye but that euery day I lost time enoughe For youth and the tender fleshe desyreth libertie and althoughe a man accustome it with trauailes yet he findeth vacant time also for his pleasours Although al the auncient Romans were in dyuerse thinges very studious yet notwithstandinge amongest all ouer and besides these there were fyue things wherunto they had euer a great respect to those that therin offended neyther requestes auayled rewards profited nor law old nor new dispensed Truly their good willes are to be comended and their dyligence to be exalted For the princes that gouerne great Realmes ought to employe their hartes to make good lawes and to occupie their eyes to se them dulye executed throughoute the common wealthe These fiue thinges weare these 1 The firste they ordeyned that the priestes shoulde not be dishoneste For in that Realme where priestes are dyshonest it is a token that the gods against the people are angrye 2 The seconde it was not suffered in Rome that the Virginnes vestalles should at their pleasoure stray abroad For it is but reason that she whiche of her owne fre wil hath heretofore promised openly to be good should now if she chaunge her mind be compelled in secret to be chast 3 The third they decreed that the iudges should be iuste and vprighte For there is nothing that decayeth a common wealthe more then a iudge who hath not for all men one ballaunce indifferent 4 The fourth was that the Captaines that should go to the warres should not be cowardes for there is no lyke daunger to the common wealthe nor no like sclaunder to the Prince as to committe the charge of men to hym in the fielde who wylbe firste to commaunde and laste to fighte
an auncient malediction on riches hydde and treasours buried which Epimenides casteth out sayinge these words All the treasours hurded vp by the couetous shal be wasted by the prodigall You say through that I wast in few dayes you shall haue neither to giue to wast nor yet to eate at the yeres ende To this I aunswere most gracious princesse that if you had bene as ready to releue the poore as you Iustinian were dilygent to robbe the riche then you should iustly haue complayned and I worthely might haue repented Tyll now we haue not sene but that of the riche you haue made poore notwithstanding this yet you haue not gotten enoughe to buyld an Hospital for the poore You say the Princes to resist their enemyes haue neede of greate treasours To this I aunswere if Princes be proud gready and of straunge realmes ambicious it is most certaine that they nede great treasours to accomplishe their disordinate appetites For the end of a tyraÌ„nous prince is by hooke or by crooke to make him selfe riche in his lyfe But if the Prince be or wil be a man reposed quyte vertuous paciente peaceable and not couetous of the good of an other man what nede hath he of great treasours For to speake truly in princes houses ther is more offence in that that auaunceth then in that that wanteth I wil not wast many words in aunsweringe sithe I am muche more liberal of dedes then of wordes but I conclude that ther is no Prince which in vertuous dedes wasteth so much but if he wil he may spend much more For in the end princes become not poore spending their goodes vpon necessaries but for wasting it vpon things superfluous And take this word for al that for this he shal not be the porer but rather the richer For it is a general rule in Christian reglion the god wil giue more to his seruaunts in one houre theÌ„ they wil wast in 20. yeres Iustinian was Emperour .11 yeres who being a foole and obstinate in the heresye of Pellagien died to the great offence of the Romaine people whose death was asmuch desired as his life abhorred For the tirannous prince that maketh many wepinge eyes in his life shall cause many reioysing harts at his death Iustinian being dead Tiberius was elected Emperour who gouerned the empire through so great wisedom and iustice that no maÌ„ was able to reproue him if the histories in his time did not deceiue vs. For it seldoÌ„ hapeneth to a prince to be as he was vpright in iustice pure in life clene in conscience For few are those princes which of some vices are not noted Paulus Diaconus in his 18 boke of the Romain gestes declare a thing merueilous which be fell to this emperour at that time and very worthy to know at this present And it is that in the Citie of Constantinople the Romaine Emperours had a palace very sumptuous and besemyng the auctoritie of the imperiall maiesty which was begonne in the time of Constantine the greate and afterwardes as the succession of good or euyll Emperours was so were the buildings decayed or repayred For it is the deede of a vertuous Prince to abolyshe vices of the common wealth and to make greate and sumptuous buildinges in his country This Emperour Tiberius hadde spent treasours to redeme poore captiues to build hospitalles to erect monasteries to marie and prouide for the Orphanes and widowes in this he was so prodigall that it came almost to passe that he had nothing to eate in his palaice And truly this was a blessed necessitie For catholike Princes ought to thinke that well employed which in the seruice of Christ is bestowed And hereof the Emperoure was not ashamed but thought it a great glory and that which onely greued him was to see the Empresse reioyce so much at his miserye For the high and noble hartes which feele them selues wounded do not so much esteme their owne paine as they do to see their enemyes reioyce at their griefe God neuer forsoke theym that for his sake became poore as it appeareth by this It chaunced one day that euen as the Emperour Tiberius walked in the middest of his palace he saw at his feete a marble stone whiche was in fourme of the crosse of the reademer of the world And because it had bene to vniuste a thing as he thoughte to haue spurned that with his feete wherwith we trust from our enemyes to be defended he caused the stone to be taken vp not thinking any thing to be ther vnder and immediatly after they found an other wherin likewise was the forme of the crosse and this beyng taken vp they founde an other in lyke maner and when that was pluct vp from he bottome there was found a treasor which conteyned the some of 2. millions of Duckettes for the which the good Emperour Tiberius gaue vnto all mighty god most high thankes and wheras before he was lyberal yet afterwardes he was much more bountiful For all those treasours he distrybuted amongest the poore and needye people Let therfore mighty princes and great lords see reade and profit by this example and let them thinke them selues assured that for geuing almes to the poore they nede not feare to become poore for in the end the vycious man caÌ„not cal him self rich nor the vertuous man can counte him selfe poore ¶ How the Chefetaine Naâ—setes ouercame manye battailes only for that his whole confidence was in god And what happened to him by the Empresse Sophia Augusta wherin may be noted the vnthankefulnes of Princes towardes their seruauntes Cap. xvi IN the yere of the incarnacion of Christ 528 Iustinian the great being Emperour who was the sonne of Iustines sister his predecessour in the Empyre the histories say in especially Paulus Diaconus in the 18. booke Degestis Romanorum that ther was a knighte of Greece in Rome who from hys tender yeres hadde bene broughte vppe in Italye He was a man of meane stature of a colericke complexcion and in the Lawe of Christe verye deuoute whyche was no small thinge For at that tyme not onelye manye knightes but almoste all the Bishoppes of Italye were Arrians This knightes name was Narsetes and because he was so valliant in armes and so aduenturous in warres he was chosen Chefeteyne generall of the Romane Empire For the Romaines had this excellency that when they had a valiaunt and stoute captaine although they might haue his weighte of gold giuen them they would neuer depart from his person He enterprised so great thinges he ouercame such mighty realmes and had suche notable victories ouer his enemyes that the Romaines said he had in him the strength of Hercules the hardinesse of Hector the noblenes of Alexander the policye of Pirrus and the fortune of Scipio For many of the vaine gentils held opinion that as the bodyes dyd distribute their goodes in the lyfe so did the soules parte their giftes after the deathe This
but also before them he did dishonour hym and shame him to his power whiche thinge made him vtterly to dispaire For there is nothing that spiteth a man more then to haue before hys enemies any iniurie or dishonoure done vnto him of his superiour The empresse Sophia therfore deserued great reproche for speakinge suche dishonest wordes to Narsetes to send him to thread the nedels in that occupacion where the damsels wrought For it is the duty of a noble princesse to mitigate the ire of Princes when they are angry and not to prouoke them further to anger Narsetes then alwaies dowting the empresse Sophia neuer after retourned into Naples where she was but rather came from Naples to Rome a yeare before the Lumbardes came into Italy where he receiued all the sacramentes and like a deuout ChristiaÌ„ dyed His body was caried to Alexandria in a coffine of siluer al sette with precious stones and ther was buried And a man cannot tel whither the displeasour were greater that all Asia had not to see Narsetes aliue or the pleasour that Sophia had to see him deade For the vnpacient hart especially of a woman hath no rest vntill she see her enemye dead ¶ Of a letter the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sente to the Kynge of Scicile in which he recordeth the trauailes they endured togethers in their youth and reproueth him of his small reuerence towardes the temples Chapter xvii MArcus Aurelius sole Emperour of Rome borne in mouÌ„te Celio called the old tribune wisheth health and long lyfe to the Gorbin Lord kynge of Sicile As it is the custome of the Romaine Emperoures the firste yeare of my reigne I wrate generallye to all that I le the seconde yeare I wrate generallye vnto thy courte and palace and at this presente I write more particulerlye to thy parsone And although that Princes haue greate Realmes yet they ought not therfore to cease to coÌ„municate with their old frendes Since I toke my penne to write vnto the I stayed my hande a great while from writing and it was not for that I was slouthfull but because I was a shamed to see all Rome offended with the. I let the to weâ—e most excellent prince that in this I say I am thy true frend for in my hart I fele thy trouble and so sayd Euripides that whiche with the harte is loued with the hart is lamented But before I shew thee the cause of my writing I will reduce into thy memory some thinges past of our youth and therby we shall see what we were then and what we are now for no man dothe so muche reioyce of his prosperitie present as he whiche calleth to minde his miseries past Thou shalt call to minde most excellent Prince that we two togethers did learne to reade in Capua and after we studyed a litle in Tarentum and from thense we went to Rhodes where I redde Rhethorike and thou hardest philosophie And afterwardes in the ende of x. yeres we went to the warres of Pannonia where I gaue my selfe to musike for the affectioÌ„s of yong men is so variable that daily they would know straunge realmes and chaunge offices And in all those iourneis with the forse of youth the swete company with the pleasaunte communicacion of sciences and with a vaine hope we did dissemble our extreme pouerty which was so great that many times and ofte we desired not that whiche manye had but that litle which to few abounded Doest thou remember that when we sayled by the goulfe Arpin to goe into Helesponte a long and tempestuous torment came vpon vs wherin we were taken of a pirate and for our raunsome he made vs rowe about .ix. monethes in a gally wheras I cannot tell whiche was greater either the wante of bread or the abundaunce of stripes whiche we alwaies endured Hast thou forgotten also that in the citie of Rhodes when we were beseged of Bruerdus puissaunt kyng of Epirotes for the space of fourtene monethes we were tenne withoute eatyng fleshe saue onely .ii. cattes the one whiche we stole and the other whiche we bought remember that thou and I being in Tarent were desired of our host to go to the feast of the great goddesse Diana into the whiche temple none coulde enter that day but those which were new apparelled And to say the trouthe we determined not to go thither thou because thy garmentes were torne and I because my shoes were broken and that bothe the tymes we were sicke in Capua they neuer cured vs by dyet for our dyseases neuer proceded of excesse but of extreame hunger An often times Retropus the phisician for his pleasour spake to vs in the vniuersitie and sayd Alas children you dye not through surfeting and muche eatinge And truly he sayde trouth for the contrey was so dere and our mony so scarse that we did neuer eate vntyl the time we could endure no lenger for famine Dost thou not remember the great famine that was in Capua for the which cause we were in the warre of Alexandria wherin my fleshe dyd tremble remembring the great perilles whiche we passed in the goulfe of Theberynthe What snowes all wynter what extreme heate all sommer what general famine in the fieldes what outragious pestilence amongest the people and worste of all what persecution of straungers and what euill will we had of ours remember also that in the citie of Naples when we made our prayer to the profetesse Flauia she told vs what shoulde become of vs after we lefte our studies She tolde me that I should be an Emperour and sayde that thou shouldest be a kynge To the whiche aunswere we gaue suche credite that we toke it not onelye for a mocke but also for a manifest iniurye And nowe I doe not merueile in that then we bothe marueled wonderfull muche For enuyous fortune practised her power more in pluckyng downe the ryche then in setting vp the poore Beholde excellente Prince the greate power of the goddesse the whele of fortune the variety of times who would haue thought when I hadde my handes all rough and scuruy with rowing in the galley that betwene those handes the scepter of the Romayne Empire should haue ben put who would haue thoughte when I was so sicke for lacke of meat I should euer haue surfited by to muche eating who would haue thought when I could not be satisfied with cattes fleshe that I shoulde haue then glutted with to moch dainty meates who wold haue thought at that time when I left going into the temple because my shoes were broken that another tyme should come when I shoulde ryde triumphyng in chariotes and vppon the shoulders of other menne who woulde haue thought that that which with my eares I hard of the prophetesse in Campagnia I should see here with my eyes in Rome O how many dyd hope at the time we were in Asia to be gouernours of Rome and lords of Sicille which not only fayled of the honour that they desired
but also obtayned the death which they neuer feared for oftentimes it chaunceth to ambitious men that in their greatest ruffe and when they thinke their honoure sponne and wouen then their estate with the webbe of their lyfe in one moment is broken If at that time one had demaunded the Tiraunt Laodicius aspiring to the kingdome of Sicille Ruphus Caluus who loked to be Emperour of Rome what they thought of them selues assuredly they wolde haue sworne their hope to haue bene as certaine as ours was doubtful For it is naturall to proude men to delight them selues and to set their hole mynd vpon vaine deuises It is a straunge thing and worthy memory that they hauing the honour in their eyes fayled of it we not thinking therof in our harts should obtaine it But herein fortune shewed her mighte that she prouided hope for those whiche loked for least and dispaire for others that hoped for most which thing greaued them at the very hart For no pacience can endure to se a man obtaine that without trauaile which he could neuer compasse by much laboure I cannot tell if I should say lyke a simple Romaine that those thinges consist in fortune or if I should say like a good philosopher that all the gods do ordeine them For in the ende no fortune nor chaunce can do any thing without the gods assent Let the proude and enuious trauaile asmuche as they will and the ambicious take asmuch care as they can I say and affirme that lytle auayleth humaine dilygence to attaine to great estates if the gods be their ennemyes Suppose that euil fortune do ordeine it or that the god and gods do suffer it I see those which haue their thoughtes highe oftentimes are but of base estate and so in fine to come to mischiefe or extreme pouertie and those that haue their thoughtes low are humble of hart and for the more part are greatly exalted by fortune For many oftentimes dreame that they are lords and men of great estate which when they are awake fynd them selues slaues to all men The condicion of honor is such as I neuer read the lyke and therfore such as haue to do with her ought to take good hede For her conditions are such she enquireth for him whom she neuer saw she renneth after him that flyeth from her she honoreth him that estemeth her not and she demaundeth him which willeth her not she geueth to hym that requyreth her not she trusteth him whom she knoweth not Finally honor hath this custome to forsake him that estemeth her and to remaine with him whych litle regardeth her The curious trauellers aske not what place this or that is but do demaund what way they must take to lead them to the place they goe I meane that princes noble men ought not directly to cast their eyes vpon honour but in the way of vertue which bringeth them to honour For dayly we se many remaine defamed only for seking honour and others also exalted and extemed for flying from her O myserable world thou knowest I know the wel and that which I know of the is that thou art a sepulcher of the dead a pryson of the lyuyng a shop of vyces a hangeman of vertues obliuion of antiquitye an enemye of thinges presente a pitfall to the riche and a burden to the poore a house of pilgrames and a denne of theues Finally O world thou art a sclaunderer of the good a rauenour of the wicked and a deceuer and abuser of al and in the O world to speake the truth it is almost impossible to liue contented and muche lesse to lyue in honour For if thou wilt geue honor to the good they thnke them selues dishonored esteme thy honour as a thing of mockerie And if perchaunce they be euyl light thou suffrest them to come to honour by way of mockery meaning infamy and dishonour vnto them O immortal gods I am oftentimes troubled in my thought whose case I should more lament eyther the euyl man auaunced with out deserte or the good mā ouerthrowen without cause And trulye in this case the pitiful man wil haue compassiō on them both For if the euil liue he is sure to fal and if the good fal we doubt whether euer he shall rise againe If al falles were alike al woulde be healed and cured with one salue but some fal on their feete some on their sides others stumble and fall not and other fal downe right but some do giue them a hād I meane some ther are which fal from their estate loase no more but their substaunce others fal and for very sorow loase not onely their goodes but their life with all Other ther are that fal who neither loase their life nor goodes but their honor onely So according to the discreciō of fortune the more they haue the more stil he taketh from them and I greatly muse why the gods do neuer remedy it for whē fortune once beginneth to ouerthrow a poore mā she doth not only take al he hath from hym but all those which may wil succoure him So that the poore man is bound more to lament for another mans euil then for his owne proper There is a great dyfference betwene the mishappes of the good and aduentures of the euill For of the ill we cannot saye that he discendeth but that he falleth and of the good we may only say that he discendeth and falleth not For in the end the true honour doth not consist in the perfection and dignity that a man hath but in the good life that he leadeth It is a miserie to se the vaine men of this worlde when they go about to get any thing and to compasse any great matter of importaunce to marke their earely rysing in a morning their late going to bed at night and the loke which they cast vpon other men to note howe importunate they are to some and how troublesome they are to others and afterward notwithstandinge their longe sute and great paine an other man whiche lyttle thought thereof commeth to that honour reioysing and without trauaile which he before by so greate paines and with soo greate expenses of money hath sought so that in seeking honour by trauaile he commeth to infamye with shame For I my selfe haue sene sondry things lost by negligence and many moe by to much dilygence ¶ The Emperour procedeth in his lettter to admonishe princes to be feareful of their gods and of the sentence which the Senate gaue vppon this king for pulling downe the Churche Cap. xviii AL these things most excellēt prince I haue told the for none other cause but to agrauate this case to shew the peril therof For the good phisition to take away the bytternes of the pille ministreth some swete suger to delight the pacient withal The xx day of the moneth of Ianuary here before the Senate was presēted a long large informaciō of the
knewe howe small a thing it is to be hated of men and howe great a comfort to be beloued of god I sweare that you woulde not speake one worde although it were in ieste vnto men neither woulde you cease night nor day to commende your selues vnto god for god is more mercifull to succour vs then we are diligent to call vppon hym For in conclusion the fauour whiche men can giue you other men can take from you but the fauour that god will giue you no man can resiste it All those that possesse muche should vse the company of them whiche can doe muche and if it be so I let you princes wete that all men can not thynke so muche togethers as god him selfe is able to doe alone For the crie of a LyoÌ„ is more fearefull then the howling of a woulfe I confesse that princes and great lordes maye sometimes gayne and wynnne of them selfes but I aske them whose fauoure they haue neade of to preserue and kepe them we see oftentymes that in a short space many come to great authoritie the whiche neither mans wisedome suffiseth to gouerne nor yet mans force to kepe For the authoritie whiche the Romaines in sixe hundred yeares gayned fighting against the Eothes in the space of three yeares they loste We see dayly by experience that a man for the gouernement of his owne house onely nedeth the councell of his friendes and neighbours and doe princes great lordes thinke by their owne heades onely to rule and gouerne many realmes and dominions ¶ What the Philosopher Byas was of his constancie whan he lost all his goodes and of the ten lawes he gaue worthy to bée had in memorie Cap. xxi AMong all nations and sortes of men whiche auaunt them selues to haue had with them sage men the Gretians were the chiefest whiche had and thought it necessary to haue not onely wyse men to reade in their scholes but also they chose them to be princes in their dominions For as Plato saith those whiche gouerned in those daies were Philosophers or els they sayde and did like Philosophers And Laertius wryteth in his second booke De antiquitatibus Grecorum that the Gretians auaunted them selues muche in this that they haue had of all estates persons moste notable that is to wete seuen women very sage seuen Queenes very honest seuen kings very vertuous seuen Captaines very hardy seuen cities verie notable seuen buildinges very sumptuous seuen Philosophers well learned whiche Philosophers were these that folowe The first was Thales Milesius that inuented the Carde to sayle by The seconde was Solon that gaue the first lawes to the Athenians The thirde was Chilo who was in the Orient for Embassadour of the Athenians The fourth was Pittacus Quintilenus who was not only a philosopher but also Captaine of the Mitelenes The fifth was Cleobolus that descended froÌ„ the auncient linage of Hercules The sixte was Periander that long tyme gouerned the realme of Corinth The seuenth was Bias Prieneus that was prince of the Prieneans Therfore as touching Bias you muste vnderstande that when Romulus reigned at Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was great warres in Grecia betwene the Metinenses and the Prieneans and of these Prieneans Bias the philosopher was prince and Captaine who because he was sage read in the vniuersitie and for that he was hardy was chiefetaine in the warre and because he was wyse he was made a Prince and gouerned the common wealth And of this no man ought to marueile for in those dayes the Philosopher that had knowledge but in one thing was litle estemed in the common wealth After many contentions had betwene the Metâ—nenses and Prienenses a cruell battayle was fought wherof the philosopher Bias was captaine and had the victorie and it was the first battayle that euer anye Philosopher gaue in Greece For the whiche victorie Greece was proude to see that their Philosophers were so aduenturous in warres and hardy of their handes as they were profound in their doctrine and eloquente in their toungues And by chaunce one brought him a nomber of women and maydens to sell or if he listed to vse them otherwyse at his pleasure but this good philosopher did not defile them nor sell them but caused them to be apparailed and safely to be conducted to their own natiue countries And let not this liberalitie that he did be had in litle estimation to deliuer the captiues and not to defloure the virgins For many times it chaunseth that those whiche are ouercome with the weapons of the conquerours are conquered with the delightes of them that are ouercome This deede amongest the Grekes was so highly commended and likewyse of their enemies so praysed that immediatly the Metinenses sent Embassadours to demaunde peace of the Prienenses And they concluded perpetuall peace vpon condition that they shoulde make for Bias an immortall statue sith by his handes and also by his vertues he was the occasion of the peace and ending of the warres betwene them And trulye they had reason for he deserueth more prayse which wynneth the hartes of the enemies in his tentes by good example then he whiche getteth the victorie in the fielde by shedding of bloud The hartes of men are noble and we see daily that oftentyme one shal soner ouercome many by good then many ouercome one by euyll and also they saye that the Emperour Seuerus spake these wordes By goodnes the least slaue in Rome shall leade me tied with a heere whether he wyll but by euill the most puissaunt men in the worlde can not moue me out of Italy For my harte had rather be seruaunt to the good then Lorde to the euill Valerius Maximus declareth that when the citie of Priene was taken by enemies put to sacke the wyfe of Bias was slayne his children taken prysoners his goodes robbed the citie beaten downe and his house set on fire but Bias escaped safe and went to Athens In this pytiful case the good philosopher Bias was no whit the sadder but rather sang as he went by the way and when he perceiued that men marueiled at his mirthe he spake vnto them these wordes Those whiche speake of me for wantinge my citie my wife and my children and losing al that I had truly such know not what fortune meaneth nor vnderstande what philosophie is The losse of children and temporall goodes cannot be called losse if the life be safe and the renowne remaine vndefiled Whether this sentence be true or no let vs profoundly consider if the iust god suffer that this citie should come into the handes of the cruell tyrauntes then this prouision is iuste for there is no thing more conformable vnto iustice then that those whiche receyue not the doctrine of the Sages shoulde suffer the cruelties of the Tyrauntes Also thoughe my ennemies haue kylled my wyfe yet I am sure it was not withoute the determynation of the Gods who after they created her bodye immediately appoynted the
if the father had not bene vertuous and the childe sage But the Senate would haue done this and more also for Valentinian because he did deserue it well of the Romaine people For it is reason in distributing of the offices that princes haue more respecte to the desertes of the fathers then to the tender age of the children This young Gracian began to be so temperate and was so good a Christian in fauouring the churche that it was muche quiete and great pleasure to the Romaine people to haue chosen him and greater ioye to the father being aliue to haue begotten hym so that he lefte for him after his death an immortall memorie of his life For the childe that is vertuous is always the memory of the father after his death In the yeare of the foundation of Rome a thousand a hundreth thirtie and two she said Gracian the younger was created sole heire of the whole empire his vncle Valent and his father being departed the worlde After Gracian came to the empyre many Byshoppes whiche were banished in the t me of his vncle Valent were restored to the curche againe and banished al the sect of the Arrians out of his region Truly he shewed him selfe to be a very religious and catholike prince For there is no better iustice to confounde humaine malice then to establishe the good in their estate In the first yeare of the reigne of Gracian emperour all the Germaines and the Gothes rebelled against the Romaine empire for they would not only not obey him but also they prepared an huge army to enuade his empire Imagining that sithe Gracian was young he neither had the wytte nor yet the boldnes to resiste them For where the prince is young there oftimes the people suffred muche wrong and the realme great misery Newes come to Rome howe that the Gaules and Germaines were vp the emperour Gracian wrote to all the catholike byshoppes that they should offer in their churches great sacrifices with prayers vnto God and in Rome likewyse it was ordeined that generally processions should be had to the ende almighty god shoulde moderate his ire against his people For good Christians first pacifie god with praiers before they resiste their enemies with weapons This good prince shewed him selfe to be no lesse warlike in his outward affaires then a good Christiā in his religion For god geueth victories vnto princes more through teares then through weapons These thinges thus finished and his affaires vnto god recommended the noble emperour Gracian determined to marche on and him selfe in persone to giue the battaile And truly as at the first he shewed him selfe to be a good christian so nowe he declared him selfe to be a valiaunt emperour For it were a great infamie and dishonour that a prince by negligence or cowardnes shoulde lose that whiche his predecessours by force of armes had gotten The army of the enemies exceaded far the Romain army in nombre and when they met togethers in a place called Argentaria the Romaines being inferiour to their enemies in numbre were afraide For in the warres the great multitude of ennemies and their puissaunte power maketh oft times the desired victorie to be doubtfull This thing seene of the Romaines and by them considered importunatly they besought the Emperour not to charge the battayle for they saide he had not men sufficiente And herein they had reason For the sage prince should not rashely hazarde his person in the warre nor yet should lightely put his life in the handes of fortune The Emperour Gracian not chaunging coūtenaunce nor stopping in his wordes to al his knightes which wer about him answered in this wise ¶ Of the godly Oration which the Emperour Gracian made to his souldiours before he gaue the battaile Cap. xxvi VAliaunt knightes and companions in warre moste thankefully I accept your seruice in that you haue solde your goodes and doe offer your liues here to accompanie me in the warres and herein you shewe your duties for of right you ought to lose your goodes and to venture your liues for the defence suertie of your countrie But if I geue you some thankes for your company knowe you that I geue much more for your good counsell which presently you geue me for in great conflictes seldome is founde together both good counsell and stoute hartes If I haue enterprised this battaile in hope of mans power then you had had reason that we shoulde not geue the battaile seing the great multitude that they haue and the smal numbre that we are for as you say the weightie affaires of the publike weale should not vnaduisedly be committed to the incertaintie of fortune I haue taken vpon me this daungerous and perillous warres firste trusting that on my part iustice remaineth and sith god is the same onely iustice I truste assuredly he will geue me the victorie in this perillous conflict For iustice auaileth princes more that they haue then the men of warre do whiche they leade Wherfore sith my cause is iuste and that I haue god the onely iudge thereof on my side me thinketh if for any worldly feare I shoulde cease to geue the battayle I should both shew my selfe to be a prince of small fayth and also blaspheme god saying he were of small iustice For god sheweth moste his power there where the fraylenes of man hath leste hope Then sithe I beginne the warre and that by me the warre is procured and for me you are come to the warre I haue determined to enter into the battaile and if I perishe therein I shal be sure it shal be for the memory of my personne and the saluation of my soule For to die through iustice is not to die but to chaunge death for life And thus doing if I lose my life yet therefore I lose not my honour and all this considered I doe that whiche for the common wealth I am bounde For to a prince it were great infamy and dishonour that the quarell being his owne should by the bloud of others be reuenged I wyll proue this day in battaile whether I was chosen Emperour by the deuine wyll or not For if god this day causeth my life to be taken from me it is a manifest token he hath a better in store for me and if through his mercy I be preserued it signifieth that for some other better thing he graunteth me life For in the ende the sword of the enemie is but the scourge of our offences The best that I see therfore in this matter to be done is that til three daies be passed the battayle be not geuen and that we confesse our selues this night and in the morning prepare our selues to receiue our redemer besides this that euery man pardon his christian brother if he haue had any wrong or iniury done him For oftimes though the demaunde of the warre be iust yet many mishaps befall therin through the offences of those which pursue and followe the same
In this case lette no manne saye I am excepted for vntyll thys daye there hath noo Prynce nor Knyghte beene seene but hathe trauayled vnder thys yooke I warne and praye and importunatelye requyre you all that you be loyall and faythefull seruauntes to the ende you may deserue to haue louing Lords For generally the prince that is wicked causeth his subiects to rebel the sedicious subiect maketh his lord to become a tiraunt It is a great thing to the people that their Princes be good or euil For there are no Princes so stable nor so temperate that alwayes will dissemble the euil nor there is no gouernor so very a tyraunte but sometimes wil acknowledge the good Oftimes god suffereth that ther be Emperours in the Empire kinges in realmes and gouernors in the prouinces Lordes in the cities and prelates in the churches not al only as that common wealth desireth nor as the good gouernmente requyreth but as the offence of the multitude deserueth For now a dayes we se many the haue the charge of soules in the church which deserue not kepe the sheape in the field That to be true plainly it doth appeare For such do not gouerne but disorder they do not defend but offend they do not resist the enemyes but ingage sel the innocent they are no iudges but tirannes they are not gentil pastores but cruel hangmen they are not incre asers of the common wealthe but distroyers of iustice they are not ordeynors of lawes but inuentors of trybutes their hartes wake not to good but to inuent and worke al mischefe and finally God sendeth vs such prelates and gouernors not for that they shoulde be mynisters of his lawes but for that they should be scourges for oure offences ¶ That in a publike weale there is no greater destruction then where princes dayly consent to new orders and chaunge olde customes Cap. xxix IN the first booke of the Kinges the viii Chapter of the holye and sacred scripture is sayde that Samuel when he was old in his steade placed his two sonnes to gouerne the people whose names were Iohel and Abiah for that naturally the fathers are desirous to aduaunce their children to honor The sonnes of Samuell were residente and helde the iudgemente in the citye of Beersheba whyche was the fortheste parte of Iudea and the olde Samuel wente to dwell in the citie Ramah The honorable and moste aunciente menne amonge the people of Ierusalem assembled togither and decreed to send Embassadors to Samuel which should be the wisest men of all the Sinagoge For the auncientes in those dayes were so circumspect that they neuer committed any affayres of the common wealthe into the handes of yonge men The auncientes then being arriued at Ramah spake these wordes vnto Samuel Samuel thou art now old and for thy yeres thou canst not gouerne the people therfore thou lyke a pytefull father hast committed the gouernmente of the people into the handes of thy children Wherfore we let the know in this case that thy children are couetous First they do receiue brybes of the suters And secondarilye they do great iniurie to the people Therfore we are come to require the to giue vnto vs a king that may gouerne vs and that might leade vs in battaile For we wil no more iudges to iudge vs but kinges for to gouerne vs. The aged Samuel hearinge the imbassage was ashamed of that the auncientes of Iudea had told him First seing his children to be euill Secondarily because they would take their offices from them And truly herein Samuell had iust occasion both to be ashamed also sorye For the vyces wickednes of the yong children are swords that passe throughe the hartes of the old and aunciente fathers Samuel seing that the Hebrues were determined to depriue theym of their office and gouernement of the people had none other remedye but euen to make his mone to god of his griefe god hearing his complaintes said vnto him Samuel be not sad nor lament not for their demaunding a kinge as they do they do not mislike thy parson but they dispraise my prouydence maruel not though they forsake thy children for they are somwhat to yong sith they haue forsaken me their god worship false idolles Syth they demaund a king I haue determined to giue them one but first tel tow thē the cōdicions of the king which are these The king whom I wil geue you shall take your chyldren with your chariottes beastes shal sende them loden with burdens And yet therwith not contented he shall make your children postes by the wayes tribunes cēturions in his battailes shal make them laborers and gardyners in his gardins he shal make them sowe his sedes past his bread and furbishe his harnes and armour You shal haue besides delicate tender doughters the which you shal litle enioy for the king that I wil geue you shal commaund them to kepe attend those that are wounded in the warres he shal make them cookes in his pallace and caters of his expences The king that I wil geue you if he hādel your sonnes and doughters euil much worse he wil handle your goods For on the beastes fertile feldes that you haue his herd shal fede he shal gather the best grapes of your vines he shall chose of your oliue trees the best olyues oyles and if anye fruit afterwards remaine in your feilds he wil they shal be gathered not by you but of his workemen afterwards the king that I wil geue you shal oppresse you much more For of euery pecke of corne you shal geue him one of tenne shepe you must nedes geue him one so that of al things which you shal gather against your wylles you shal giue the tenth of your slaues the king shal be serued soner then you and he shal take al your Oxen that labour and trauaile in your owne possessions shal bring them to ploughe in his owne ground and tenements So that you shal pay tribute and the king shal take his owne profite for the wealth and commoditie of his pallace And al thys which I haue rehersed before the King shal haue whom I wil geue you The historye which here I haue declared is not Ouide neither yet the Eglogges of Virgil ne yet the fayninge of Homer but it is the sentence the very worde of god O mortal ignoraunce that we demaund and know not why nor wherfore to whom nor wher neyther when we demaund which causeth vs to fall into sondry errors For few men are so wise that they offend not in chosing that they can aske with reason The Hebrues asked as they thinke the better and god geueth them the worse they aske one to gouerne them and god gyueth them a Tiraunt to destroy them they aske one that should maintayne them in iustice and he threatneth them with tiranny they require one that should geue them
commaundeth al the eyes wherby we se are the good men in the commonwealth whom we folow the eares that heare what we say are the subiects which do what we commaund them the tongue wherwith we speake are the sages of whom we here the lawes doctrines the heere 's which groweth on our heads are those which are vexed greued and that demaund iustice of the kinge the hands the armes are the knightes which resist the enemyes the feete which susteineth the membres are the tillers of the ground which geueth meate to al estates the hard bones that susteineth the feble soft flesh are the sage mē which endure the trauaile of the common wealthe the harts which we see not outwardly are the priuye councellours Finally the necke that knitteth the bodye with the head is the loue of the kinge and of the Realme whiche make a common wealth All the wordes aboue named spake Plutarche the greate to Traian the Emperoure And trulye the inuencion and grace of him proceaded of a hygh and deape vnderstanding for the heade hath thre properties whiche are verye necessarye for the gouernoure of the common wealth The first is that euen as the head is of al other members of the body the hyghest so the aucthoritie of the prince exceadeth the estates of al others For the prince only hath aucthoritie to commaund and al others are bound to obey Admyt therbe many stout rich noble men in the comon wealth yet al ought to know and acknowledge seruice to the Lord of the same For the noble and worthy princes do dayly ease many of dyuerse seruices but they wil neuer except anye from their loyaltie and allegeaunce Those which are valiaunt and mightie in a Realme should contente themselues with that wherwith the battilments doe vpon a castel that is to wete that they are higher then the rampers wherin men walke on the walles and lower then the pinakelles which are in the toppe For the wise man of highe estate ought not to regard the prince which is the highe pinacle but ought to loke on the alleys which are the poore comfortles I would speake a worde and it greueth me that is wheras great lordes desire in the common wealthe to commaund is like vnto him that holdeth his armes and handes ouer his head For al that I haue herde and for all that I haue redde and also for al that hath chaunced in my time I counsell admonishe and warne all those which shal come after this time that if they wil enioy their goodes if they will liue in safegard and if they wil be deliuered from tirannye and liue quiete in the common wealth that they do not agre to haue in one realme aboue one king and one lord For it a general rule where there are manye rulers in a common wealth in the end both it and al must perishe We se by experience that nature fourmed vs with many synewes many bones with muche fleshe with many fingers and with many teeth and to all this one onely body had but one head wherfore though with many estates the common wealth is ordained yet with one prince alone it ought to be ruled If it consisted in mens handes to make a prince they would then also haue the auctoritie to put him downe but being true as it is most true in dede that the prince is constituted by God none but god alone oughte to depriue and depose him of his estate but thinges that are measured by the deuine iudgement man hath no power with rasor to cut them I know not what ambicion the meane can haue neyther what enuie the lowest can haue nor what pride the highest can haue to commaund and not to obey since we are sure that in this misticall bodye of the common wealth he which is most worth shal be no more estemed then the fingers or paringe of the nayles or the falling of an heere from the heade Let euery man therefore liue in peace in his common wealth and acknowledge obedience vnto his prince he that wil not do so away with him for euen as the onely offence procedeth of hym so let the only paine rest vpon him For it is an old saying that he that taketh vp the sworde againste his maister wil shortlye after lay his heade at his feete The seconde condicion is to compare the kinge to the hed because the hed is the beginning of mans life The moste part of thinges that euer god created accordinge to their natures worke their operacions as in growing highe and towardes the heauens We se the vapors ascend high the plantes groweth highe the trees budde out on height the sourges of the sea mount highe and the nature of fier is alwayes to ascend and mount on highe only the miserable man groweth downeward and is brought low by reasone of the feble and fraile flesh which is but earth and commeth of earth and liueth on earth in the end returneth to earth againe from whēce he came Aristotle saith well that man is but a tre planted with the rootes vpward whose roote is the head and the stocke is the bodye the braunches are the armes the barcke is the flesh the knottes are the bones the sappe is the hart the rottennes is malice the gumme is loue the flowers are words and the frutes are the good workes To make the man to go vprightlye his heade should be wher his feete are and the feete wher the head is syth the head is the roote the feete are the bowes but in this case I sweare that we are correspondaunte to our beginning for if our fleshe be planted contrarywise so much more contrary we haue our life ordered Therfore concerning our matter I say that the Realme hath no lesse his beginning of the kinge then the kinge of the realme whiche thinge is plainlye seene for that the king giueth lawes and institucions to a Realme and not the Realme to the kyng The giftes and benefites which the king geueth commeth to the Realme not from the realme to the king To inuent warres to take trewse to make peace to reward the good and to punish the euyl proceadeth from the king to the Realme and not to the contrary For it apperteineth onlye to the maiestie of a prince to commaund and ordeine and to the common wealth to autorise and obey him As in a great sumptuous bylding it is more daungerous wher one stone of the foundacion doth fall then when .x. thousand tyles faule from the top so he ought more to be blamed for onely disobedience commytted and done to the king and his iustice then for fiue thousand offences against the common wealth For we haue sene of a lytle disobedience a great slaunder aryse in a common wealthe O it is a goodly matter for a prince to be beloued of his subiectes and a goodly thing also for the realme to be feareful of their king For the king that is not
I wold not yester daye aunswere to that that the Senatour Fuluius spake vnto me because it was somewhat late and for that we were long in sacrifices I thought that neyther time nor place was conuenieÌ„t to aunswere therunto For it is a signe of a lytle wisedome of great folye for a man to aunswere sodainly to euerye question The libertie that vndiscret men haue to demaunde the selfe same priuiledge hath the sage for to aunswere For though the demaund procede of ignoraunce yet the aunswere oughte to procede of wysedome Trulye wise men were wel at ease if to euery demaund they shoulde aunswere the simple and malicious who for the most part demaund more to vexe other men then for to profyte themselues more for to proue than to know wherfore wise men ought to dissemble at such demaundes For the sages oughte to haue their eares open to heare and their tongue tyed because they should not speake I let you know auncyent fathers sacred senate that the lytle whyche I knowe I learned in the yle of Rhodes in Naples in Capua and in Tharente And al tutors told me that the Intencion and end of men to study was only to know to gouerne them selues amongest the malicious For scyence profiteth nothing els but to know how to kepe his lyfe wel ordered his tongue wel measured Therfore I protest to god that which I will say before your sacred preseÌ„ce I wil not speake it of any malice or ill wil but only to aunswere vnto that which toucheth the auctoritie of my person For the thynges which touch the honour ought first by word to be aunswered afterwards by sword to be reuenged Therfore now beginning my matter addressing my words to the Fuluius and to that which thou spakest vnto me asking why I shew my selfe so to all men I aunswere the. It is because al men shold giue themselues to me Thou knowest wel Fuluius that I haue bene a Consul as thou art and thou hast not bene an Emperour as I am Therfore beleue me in thys case that the prince being dispised caÌ„not be beloued of hys people The gods wil not nor the lawes do permyte neyther the common wealth wyllyngly should suffer that al princes should be lordes of many and that they should not communicate but with a few For princes which haue bene gentile in their lyues the auncients haue made them gods after their deathes The fisher to fish for many fishes in the riuer goeth not with one bote alone nor the Mariner to fish in the depe sea goeth with one net only I meane that the profounde willes which are deepely enclosed in the hartes oughte to be wonne some by giftes other by promises other by pleasaunt words and others by gentle enterteynement For princes should trauaile more to winne the hartes of their subiectes then to conquere the Realmes of straungers The gredy and couetous hartes care not thoughe the prince shutteth vp his hart so that he open his cofers but noble and valiaunt men litle esteme that which they locke vp in their cofers so that their hartes be open to their frendes For loue can neuer but with loue againe be requited Sith Princes are lords of many of necessitie they ought to be serued with many being serued with many they are bound to satisfie many and this is as generally as perticulerly they cannot dispence with their seruaunts For the prince is no lesse bound to pay the seruice of his seruaunte then the maister is to pay the wages of the hired laborer Therefore if thys thing be true as it is how shal poore princes do which kepe many Realmes in keping them they haue great expenses and for to pay such charges they haue lytle money For in this case let euery man do what he will and let them take what counsaile they like best I would counsaile all others as I my selfe haue experimented that is that the prince shold be of so good a conuersacion among those which are his and so affable and familiar with all that for his good conuersacion only they should thinke them selues wel paid For with rewardes princes recompence the trauaile of their seruantes but with gentle wordes they robbe the hartes of their subiectes We se by experience that diuers marchauntes had rather by dearer in one shoppe because the marchaunt is pleasaunte then to â—ye better chepe in an other wheras the marchaunt is churlishe I meane that there are many which had rather serue a prince to gaine nothing but loue only thaÌ„ to serue an other prince for money For there is no seruice better imployed then to him which is honest good and gracious and to the contrary none worse bestowed then on hym which is vnthankfull and churlyshe In princes pallaces there shall neuer want euil and wicked men malicious deuelishe flatterers which wil seke meanes to put into their Lords heades howe they shall rayse their rentes leauye subsidies inuent tributes and borow money but there are none that wil tel them how they shal winne the hartes and good willes of their subiectes though they know it more profitable to be wel beloued then necessarie to be enriched He that heapeth treasure for his prince and seperateth him from the loue of his people ought not to be called a faithfull seruaunt but a mortall enemy Princes and Lordes ought greatly to endeuour themselues to be so conuersant among their subiects that they had rather serue for good wil then for the payment of money For if moneye wante their seruice will quaile and hereof procedeth a thousand inconueniences vnto princes which neuer happen vnto those that haue seruauntes whiche serue more of good wil then for moneye for he that loueth with al his harte is not proude in prosperitie desperate in aduersitie neither complayneth he of pouertie nor is discontented being fauourlesse nor yet abashed with persecution finallye loue and life are neuer seperated vntill they come vnto the graue We see by experience that the rablemeÌ„t of the poore labourers of Scicil is more worth then the money of the knightes of Rome For the labourer euery time he goeth to the fielde bringeth some profit from thence but euery time the knight sheweth him selfe in the market place he returneth without money By that comparison I meane that princes should be affable easie to talke with all pleasaunt mercifull benigne and stoute and aboue all that they be gracious and louing to the end that through these qualities and not by money they may learne to wynne the hartes of their subiectes Princes should greately labour to be loued specially if they will finde who shall succour them in aduersitie and kepe them from euill will and hatred whiche those princes can not haue that are hated but rather euery man reioyceth at their fall and miserie For eche man enioyeth his own trauaile and truly the furious and sorowfull hartes taketh some reste to see that others haue pitie and
straunge knyghtes whiche of their owne free wylles voluntarely were made citezins of Rome Fiftly all the olde souldiours whiche had serued xxxvi yeares continually in the warres For those which were retired home to their owne houses were honourably founde of the common wealth The .xii. yeares paste I my selfe was in Tarenthe and caried thee to Rome where I redde vnto thee Rethorike Logike and Philosophie and also the Mathematicall sciences keping thee in my house in my company at my table and in my bedde and furthermore I hadde thee in my harte and in my minde The whiche thinge thou shouldest esteme more then if I gaue thee my house and all my goodes For the true benefite is that onely whiche is done without any respect of profite or interest I kepte thee with me thus in this sorte in Laurente in Rhodes in Naples and in Capua vntil such tyme as the gods created me Emperour of Rome And then I determined to sende thee to Grece because thou shouldest learne the Greeke tongue and also to the ende thou shouldest accustome thy selfe to worke that whiche true philosophie requireth For the true and vertuous philosophers ought to conforme their workes to that they say and publishe their wordes with their deades There is nothing more infamous then to presume to be sage and to be desirous to be counted vertuous principally for him that speaketh much worketh litle For the man of a pleasant tongue euil life is he which with impostumes vndoeth the cōmon wealth When I sent thee to Grece withdrew thee from Rome it was not to exyle thee out of my company so that thou hauing tasted of my pouertie shouldest not reioyce at my prosperitie but it was that considering thy youthfull disposition and lightnes I was afrayd to vndo thee in the palace chiefly least thou wouldest haue presumed to haue bene to bolde familiar because thou werte my nephew For truly princes which take pleasure that their children be familiar with thē thei giue occasion that men shal not count thē wise cause also the yoūg mē to be estemed for light I haue tolde thee that I did for thee in Italy I will nowe let thee knowe what thou hast done and doest in Grece so that I wyl shewe thee to be notorious that is to knowe that thou taking and esteming thy selfe to be wel disposed in thy youthe thou haste forsaken thy studie and despised my counsayles thou arte accompanied with vayne and light men and hast viciously employed the money which I had sent thee to bie bookes All the whiche thinges to thee being hurtfull are to me no lesse dishonour and shame For it is a generall rule when the childe is foolishe and ill taught the blame and fault is layde on the maisters necke who hath taught him and brought him vp It greueth me not for that I haue broughte thee vp neither for that I haue taught thee to reade and cause thee to study neither likewyse to haue kept thee in my house to haue set thee at my table nor also to haue suffred thee to lye with me in bedde neither it greueth me to haue consumed so muche money on thee but with all my harte it greueth me that thou haste not geuen me occasion to doe thee any good For there is nothing that greueth a noble prince more then not to finde parsons able of capacitie to doe them any good They tell me that thou art well made of thy body and fayre of countenaunce and that thou presumest also in those thinges wherefore to enioye the pleasurs of thy persone thou hast forsaken philosophie wherwith I am not contented For in the ende the corporall beautie earely or late perisheth in the graue but vertue and science maketh men to be of immortall memory The gods neuer commaunded it neither the studies and vniuersities of Italy suffred it to haue the body fine and trimme the visage fayre cleare and the harte full of philosophie for the true philosopher of all other thinges estemeth leste the setting forth of the body For that the demonstrations tokens of a true perfect philosopher is to haue his eies troubled his eiebries burnte the head bauld the bal of his eies sonke into his head the face yellow the body leane and feble the fleshe drie the feete vnhosed the garment poore the eating litle and the watching great Finally he ought to liue as a Lacedemonian and speake as a Grecian The tokens of a valiaunt and renowmed captaine are his woundes and hurtes and the signe of a studious philosopher is the despising of the world For the wyse man ought to thinke him selfe as muche dishonoured if they call him stoute and sturdy as a captaine when they call him a cowarde and negligent I like well that the phylosopher studie the auncient antiquities of his forefathers that wrote the profounde thinges for the time to come that he teache profitable and holsom doctrines to those whiche are nowe aliue that he diligently enquire of the mocion of the starres that he consider what causeth the alteration of the elementes But I sweare vnto thee Epesipus that neuer sage of Rome came to those thinges nor philosopher of Grece likewyse but in searching the quietnes of the soule and despising the pleasurs of the body Touching the body I am like to beastes but concerning the spirite I am partely like to the gods sithe that following the thinges of the fleshe I am made lesse than my selfe and in following the motions of the spirite I am made more then I am For truly sensualitie maketh vs inferiour to beastes and reason maketh vs superiour vnto men The worldly malice and presumption naturally desireth rather to mounte then to descende and to commaunde rather than to be commaunded And since it is so why doe we by vices abase our selues to doe lesse then beastes being possible for vs by vertues to doe more then men Amongest all the members which men can haue there is nothing more tender to breake nor any thing more easy to corrupte then is the handesomenes of the body wherof we are so proude For in mine opinion to esteme him self to be handsome propre of persone is no other thing but to esteme our selues that dreaming we shal be riche and mighty and afterwardes awaking we finde our selues to be poore and miserable And me thinketh this thing to be true because I will declare what it is to se a young man in his first age the hed litle the heere yeallowe the browe long the eies grene the chekes white the nose sharpe the lips coloured the bearde forked the face liuely the necke smal the body of good proportion the armes litle the fingers longe to conclude so wel proportioned in his members that mens eies shoulde alwayes desire to beholde him and the hartes alwaies seke to loue him If this young man so faire and wel proportioned remained long time in this beautie and disposition it were
good to desire it to procure it to kepe it to praise it and to loue it wel for in the end if we loue the beautie in beastes and buildinges by greater reason we should desire it in our selues But what shall we saye that when we doe not watche this litle floure whiche yesterday florisshed on the tree faire and whole without suspicion to be lost one litle hory frost sodainly wasteth and consumeth it the vehement wynde ouerthroweth it the knife of enuie cutteth it the water of aduersitie vndoeth it and the heate of persecutions pineth it and finally the worme of shorte life gnaweth it and the putrifaction of death decayeth and bryngeth it downe to the grounde O mannes lyfe that arte alwayes cursed I counte fortune cruell and thee vnhappy synce she will that thou tariest on her whiche dreaminge geueth the pleasures and wakinge woorketh the displeasures whiche geueth into the handes trauayle to taste suffreth thee not only to listen after quiet which wil thou proue aduersitie and agree not that thou haue prosperitie but at her will finally she geueth thee life by ounces and death without measure The wicked vicious say that it is a great pleasure to liue in ease but I protest vnto them that ther was neuer any mortal man had so much pleasure in vices but that he remained in great paine after that they were bannished frō him For the harte which of long time hath ben rooted in vice incontinently is subiect to some great alteration I would all would open their eies to see how we liue deceiued for al the pleasures which delighte the body make vs beleue that they come to abide with vs continually but they vanishe awaye with sorowe immediatly And on the contrary parte the infirmities and sorrowes that blynde the soule saye that they come onely to lodge as gestes and remayne with vs continually as housholders I marueyle of thee Epesipus why thou doest not consyder what shall become of the beautie of thy bodye hereafter sythe thou seest presently the beautie of those departed interred in the graue By the dyuersitie of fruites manne dothe knowe the dyuersytie of trees in the Orcharde that is to wete the Oke by the acornes the Date tree by the dates the vines by the grapes but when the roote is drie the body cut the fruite gathered the leafe fallen when the tree is laide on the fire and become asshes I would now know if this ashes could be knowen of what tree it was or howe a man might know the difference of the one from the other By this comparison I meane to saye that for somuche as the life of this death and the death of this life cōmeth to seke vs out we are all as trees in the orcharde whereby some are knowen by the rootes of their predecessours others by the leaues of their wordes others by the braunches of their frendes some in the floures of their beauty and other some by the barke of their foule skynne The one in their mercifulnes the other in their stoutnes others in their hardines being aged others in the hastines of their youthe others in their barronnes by their pouertie others by their fruitfulnes in ryches fynally in one onely thinge we are all alike that is to wete that all vniuersally goe to the graue not one remaining I aske nowe when death hath done his office executing all earthely men in the latter daies what differēce is there then betwene the faire and the foule whiche lie both in the narrowe graue certainely there is none and if there be any difference it shal be in the making of the graues whiche vayne men inuented And I doe not repent me for calling them vaine since there is no vanitie nor fondnes comparable to this for they are not contented to bee vaine in their liues but will also after their deathes eternise their vanities in sumptuous and stately sepulchres The coale of the Ceder in my opinion that is highe and faire is nothing more whither when it is burnte then the coale of the Oke which is litle and croked I meane oftentimes the gods do permitte that the bones of a poore Philosopher are more honoured then the bones of princes With death I will threathen thee no lenger for sithe thou art geuen to the vices of this life thou wouldest not as yet that with a word it should destroye thee but I will tell thee one worde more though it greue thee to heare it whiche is that the Gods created thee to die men begot thee to die women bare thee to die and thou camste into the worlde for to die to conclude I saye some are borne to daye on condition they die to morow and geue their places to others When the great and fruitfull trees begin to budde forth by the rootes it signifieth that time draweth on for them to cut the drie and wythered braunches I meane that to see children borne in the house is no other but to cite the grandfathers and fathers to the graue If a man would aske me what death is I woulde saye a miserable lake wherin all worldly men are taken For those that most safely thinke to passe it ouer remaine therein moste subtilly deceiued I haue alwayes redde of the auncientes past and haue seene of the younge men present and I suppose that the selfe same will be to come hereafter That when life most swetest semeth to any man then sodainly death entreth in at their dores O immortal gods I can not tell if I may call you cruell I knowe not if I may call you mercifull because you gaue vs fleshe bones honour goodes frendes and also ye geue vs pleasure finally ye geue to men all that they wante saue onely the cuppe of lyfe whiche to your selues you did reserue Since I may not that I would I will that I may but if it were referred to my will I woulde rather one onely day of life then all the ryches of Rome For what auayleth it to toyle and take paine to increase honour and worldly goodes since lyfe daily diminisheth Returning therfore to my first purpose thou must knowe that thou estemest thy selfe and glorifiest in thy personage and beautie I would gladly know of the and of others whiche are yonge and faire if you doe not remember that once ye must come to be olde and rotten For if you thinke you shall lyue but a lytle then reason woulde you shoulde not esteme youre beauties muche for by reason it is a straunge thinge that lyfe shoulde abate vs and folie trayne vs. Yf you thinke to become aged ye ought to remember and alwayes to thinke that the steele of the knyfe whiche dothe muche seruice at length decayeth and is lost for lacke of lokynge to Trulye the yong man is but a new knyfe the whiche in processe of tyme cankerethe in the edge for on one daye he breaketh the poynte of vnderstandynge another he loseth the edge of cuttyng and
declareth that he was more valiaunte in feates of warre then comely of personage For though he was lame of one foote bleamished of one eye lackyng one eare and of bodye not muche bygger than a dwarfe yet for all thys he was a iuste manne verye constant stoute mercyfull couragious and aboue all he was a great enemy to the ignoraunt and a specyall frende to the sage Of thys Kynge Cresus Seneca speaketh in hys booke of clemencie and sayeth that the sages were so entierly beloued of hym that the greekes whyche hadde the fountaine of eloquence dyd not call hym a louer but entitled hym the loue of sages For neuer no louer dyd so muche to attayne to the loue of hys ladye as he dyd to drawe to hym and to hys countreye sage menne Thys kynge Cresus therefore beyng lorde of many Barbarous nations the whiche loued better to drinke the bloude of the innocent then to learne the science of the wise lyke an excellent Prince determined for the comfort of his person and remedye of his common wealth to searche out the greaetst sages that were in Grece At that tyme flourished the famous and renowmed philosopher Anacharsis who though he was borne brought vp amonges the Scithies yet he was alwaies resident notwithstāding in Athens For the vniuersitie of Athens dyd not despise those that were Barbarians but those that were vitious The king Cresus sent an embassatour in great auctoritie with riches to the Phylosopher Anacharsis to perswade and desire him and with those giftes and presentes to present him to the end it myght please him to come and see his person and to sette an order in his common wealth Cresus not contented to send him giftes which the imbassatour caried but for to let him vnderstande why he dyd so wrote hym a letter with hys owne hand as hereafter foloweth The letter of kyng Cresus to Ancharsis the Philosopher CResus kyng of Lydes wysheth to the Anacharsis great Philosopher which remainest in Athens health to thy person and encrease of vertue Thou shalte see howe well I loue the in that I neuer saw the nor knew the to write vnto the a letter For the thinges whiche with the eyes haue neuer bene sene seldome times with the hart are truly beloued Thou doest esteme litle as truth is these my small giftes and presentes which I send the yet I praye the greatly esteme the will and hart wherwith I doe visite the. For noble hartes receyue more thankefully that whych a man desireth to gyue them then that which they doe giue them in dede I desire to correcte thys my Realme and to see amendement in the common wealth I desire some good order for my person and to take order touchyng the gouernement of my palace I desire to communicate with a sage som thinges of my lyfe and none of these thinges can be done without thy presence For there was neuer any good thyng made but by the meane of wisdom I am lame I am crooked I am balde I am a counterfeyte I am black and also I am broken finally amongest all other men I am a monster But all these imperfections are nothyng to those that remayne that is to wete I am so infortunate that I haue not a Philosopher with me For in the world ther is no greater shame than not to haue a wyse man about him to be conuersaunt withall I count my selfe to be dead though to the symple fooles I seme to be alyue And the cause of my death is because I haue not with me some wyse person For truly he is only aliue amongest the lyuyng who is accompanied wyth the sages I desire the greatly to come and by the immortall gods I coniure the that thou make no excuse and if thou wilt not at my desire do it for that thou art bound For many men oftentimes condescend to do that whych they would not more for vertues sake then to satisfye the demaunde of any other Thou shalt take that which my embassatour shal giue the and beleue that which he shall tell in my behalfe and by this my letter I do promise the that when thou shalt ariue here I wil make the treasourer of my coffers only coūsailour of mine affaires secretary of my coūsail father of my childrē refourmer of my realm maister of my person gouernour of my cōmō wealth finally Anacharsis shal be Cresus because Cresus may be Anacharsis I saye no more but the gods haue the in their custodie to whome I praye that they may hasten thy commynge The imbassatour departed to goe to Athens bearyng with him this letter and many iewels and bagges of gold and by chaunce Anacharsis was reading in thuniuersity at the arriual of the imbassatoure to Athens Who openly said and dyd his message to Anacharsis presenting vnto hym the giftes and the letter Of whiche thinge all those of the vniuersitie marueiled for the barbarous princes were not accustomed to seke philosophers to gouerne their cōmon wealth but to put them to death and take from them their liues After the great philosopher Anacharsis had hard the embassage sene the giftes and receiued the letter without alteryng his countenaunce or elacion of his person impedimente in his tong or desire of the riches immediately before all the philosophers said these wordes which heare after are writen The letter of the Philosopher Anacharsis to the king Cresus ANacharsis the least of the philosophers wisheth to the Cresus most mightye and puissaunt king of Lides the health whiche thou wisshest hym and the increase of vertue which thou sendest him They haue told vs many thinges here in these parties aswel of thy realme as of thy person and there in those parties they say many thinges as wel of our vniuersity as of my selfe For the harte taketh greate pleasour to knowe the condicions and liues of all those in the world It is wel done to desier and procure to know all the liues of the euill to amend our owne It is wel done to procure and knowe the liues of the good for to follow them but what shall we do since now a dayes the euill doe not desire to knowe the liues of the euil but for to couer them and kepe them secrete and do not desier to know the liues of the good for to followe them I let the know king Cresus that the philophers of Greece felte not so muche payne to be vertuous as they felte in defendyng thē from the vicious For if a man once behold vertue immediatly she suffreth to be taken but the euil for any good that a man can doe vnto them neuer suffereth them selues to be vanquished I beleue well that the tirannye of the Realme is not so great as they talke of here neyther oughtest thou lykewyse to beleue that I am so vertuous as they reporte me to be there For in mine opinion those whiche declare newes of straunge countries are as the poore which were their garmentes al to
chaunseth but that one of the parties are deceiued ¶ Of the wysedome and sentences of Phalaris the tyraunt and howe he putte an Artisan to death for inuentinge newe tormentes Cap. xlvi IN the laste yeare of the Latines and in the firste yeare of the Romaynes Ezechias beinge kyng of the Iewes and Azarias great Bysshoppe of the holy temple Abacuck Prophet in Iewry and Merodach beyng kynge in Babilon and when the Lacedemonians buylte Bizaunce whiche nowe is Constantinople Phalaris the famous tyraunt was then lyuinge Of this Phalaris Ouide saieth that he was deformed in his face spoore blynde of his eyes and exceading couetous of riches and neuer obserued any thynge that he promysed He was vnthankefull to his frendes and cruell to his ennemies finally he was such a one that the tyrannies which seuerally were scattered in others in hym alone were altogethers assembled Amongest all the iniquities that he inuented and amongest all the tyrannies that he committed he hadde one vertue very great whiche was that euen as he was onely head of all tyrannies so was he chiefe louer and frende of al philosophers and sage men And in all those sixe and thirty yeares whiche he gouerned the realme by tyranny they neuer founde that any man touched his bearde nor that any man satte at the table with him spake vnto him or slepte in his bed nor that any man sawe in his countenaunce any mirthe vnlesse it were some philosopher or sage man with whome and to whom he liberally put his body in truste And they sayde that this Phalaris saide oftentimes The prince that absenteth him selfe from sage men and accompanieth with fooles I saye vnto him though he be a prince of his common wealth he is a cruell tyraunt of his person For it is a greater paine to lyue among fooles then to die amongest sages Pulio in the sixte booke De gestis Romanorum saieth that a worthy and excellent painter presented a table to Octauian the Emperour wherein were drawen all the vertuous princes and for their chefetaine Octauian the Emperoure was drawen at the foote of this table were all the tyranous Princes paynted of the whiche Phalaris was chiefe and captaine This table vewed by Octauian the Emperour he commended the worke but he disalowed the intention thereof saiyng me thinketh it not mete that I beinge aliue should be set chiefe and princicipall of all the vertuous menne that are deade For during the time of this wicked lyfe we are all subiecte to the vices of weake and feble fleshe Also it seameth vnto me an vniuste thing that they should put Phalaris for principall and captaine of all the tyrauntes since he was a scourge and enemy to fooles and ignoraunt men and so earnest a louer and frende of sages and wyse philosophers The fame of this cruell tyraunte Phalaris beinge knowen and his extreame cruelties he vsed spred through all Greece A neighbour and artificer of Athens called Perillus a man very excellent in metalles and a great worker in works of fountaines came to Phalaris the tyraunt saying that he would make suche a kinde of torment that his harte should remayne reuenged and the offender well punished The matter was that this workeman made a bull of brasse wherein there was a gate by the whiche they put the offender and in putting the fier vnder the bul it roared and cried in maner as it had bene aliue whiche thing was not onely a horrible and cruell tormente to the myserable creature that endured it but also it was terryble to hym or those that sawe it Let vs not marueile neyther at the one nor at the other for truely the pitefull harte whiche is not fleshed in crueltie hath as muche pitie to see an other man suffer as of the sorrowe and tormente whiche he hym selfe feeleth Phalaris therfore seing the inuention of this tormente whereof the inuentour hoped great rewarde prouided that the inuentoure of the same should be put within the bull and that the crueltie of the tormente shoulde be experimented in none saue onely on the inuentour Truly in this case Phalaris shewed him self not a cruel tyraūt but rather a mercifull Prince and a sage Philosopher for nothyng can be more iuste then that the inuention of the malice be executed on the frayle fleshe of the inuentoure Nowe because Phalaris was a great frende of sages the philosophers of Grece came oftentymes to see hym whiche were verye gently receiued of hym Though to saye the truthe they profited more with his goodes then he did with their phylosophie This tyraunte Phalaris was not onely a frende of sages but also he was very well learned and depelye seene in morall philosophie The whiche thing appeareth well in the epistles whiche he wrote with his owne hande I can not tell wherein he shewed hym selfe greater either in the sentences and doctrines whiche he wrote with his penne or in the slaughter and cruelties whiche he did with his sworde O howe many companions had Phalaris the tyraunt in this case in tymes passe and that as I woulde there were none also at this time present whiche in their pleasaunte wordes did not resemble the Emperoure Nero. I neuer reade other thynge of those that are gone neyther haue I seene otherwyse of those that are present but many they are that blase vertues and infinite whiche runne after vices For of truth we are very lighte of tongue and to feble of fleshe The Epistles whiche this Phalaris wrote are knowen to all men I meane of those which knowe Greke or laten and for those that knowe them not I was wylling to drawe these that are present and to put them in our vulgare tongue for twoo causes The one to the ende princes myght see howe good a thynge it is to be sage and howe tyrauntes were praysed for being Sages and geuing good counsayles The other to the ende the people mighte see howe easie it is to speake well and howe harde it is to woorke well For there is nothyng better cheape in the worlde then counsayle The sentences therefore of the Epistles of Phalaris are these whiche followe in such sorte as I could moste briefly gather them to reduce them in good and profitable stile to wryte them The particuler loue whiche princes shew to one more then an other breadeth oftentimes muche enuie in their Realmes For the one being loued and the other hated of this commeth hatred of hatred cōmeth euil thoughtes of euyll thoughtes proceadeth malice and of malice commeth euyl wordes the whiche breake out into worse deedes Finally when a prince sheweth not to equalles his fauoure indifferently he setteth fyre in his cōmon wealth Princes ought to forbidde and Sages ought not to consente that rebelles and quarellers should trouble those whiche are quiet and peace makers for when the people rise immediatly couetousnes is awaked When couetousnes groweth iustice falleth force and violence ruleth snatchynge reigneth lecherie is at lybertie the euyll haue power
and the good are oppressed finally all doe reioyce one to lyue to the preiudice of an other and euery man to seeke his owne priuate commoditie Many vayne men doe rayse dissentions and quarelles amongest people thinking that in troubled water they shoulde augmente their estates who in shorte space doe not onely loose the hope of that they sought but also are put out of that they possessed For it is not onely reasonable but also moste iuste that those by experience fele that whiche their blynde malyce wyll not suffer them to knowe It is muche good for the people that the gouernours be not vnfortunate ▪ but that of their nature they were happy For to lucky Prynces fortune geueth many thinges euen as they demaunde yea and geueth them better then they looke for The noble and valiaunt princes when they see them selues with other princes or that they are present in great actes oughte to shewe the freenes of their harte the greatnes of their realme the preheminence of their persone the loue of their common wealthe and aboue all the discipline of their courte and the grauitie of their counsayle and palace For the sage and curious men shoulde not beholde the prince in the apparayle whiche he weareth but the men whiche he hath to counsayle him The sage men and those that be not couetous if they do employe their forces to heape vp treasures ought to remember in their hartes how to employ themselues to spende their money well Sithe fortune is maistres in all thinges and that to her they doe impute both good and euil workes he alone may be called a princely man who for no contrarietie of fortune is ouercome For truly that man is of a stoute courage whose harte is not vanquished by the force of fortune Though we prayse one for valiaunt with the sworde we wyll not therefore prayse him for excellent with the penne Although he be excellent with his penne he is not therefore excellent with his tongue Though he haue a good tongue he is not therefore well learned And thoughe he be learned he hath not therefore good renowme And though he hath good renowme he is not therefore of a good lyfe For we are bounde to receyue the doctrines of many whiche wryte but we are not bounde to folowe the lyues whiche they doe leade There is no worse office amongest men then to take the charge to punyshe the vices of an other and therefore men ought to flye from it as from the pestylence for in correctinge vyces hatred is more sure to the correctour then amendement of lyfe is to the offender He hath and possesseth muche that hath good frendes For many ayde their frendes when they woulde haue holpen them more if they coulde For the true loue is not weried to loue nor ceaseth not to profite Though sage men haue loste muche they oughte not therefore to dispayre but that they shall come to it agayne in tyme. For in the ende tyme doth not cease to doe his accustomed alterations nor perfecte frendes cease not to doe that which they oughte The proude and disdainefull man for the moste parte alwayes falleth into some euill chaunce therefore it is a commendable medecine some tymes to be persecuted for aduersitie maketh a wyse man lyue more safely and to walke in lesse daunger For so muche as we doe excuse hym whiche committeth the faulte there is neither the offender nor the offence but deserueth payne For suche a one that committeth the faulte through sodayne anger dyd euyll and if he dyd committe it by deliberation he did muche worse To desyre to doe all thynges by reason is good and lykewyse to laye them all in order is good but it is very harde For temperate men haue suche respecte in compassing their doynges and by weyght so cast all the inconueniences that scarcely they euer determyne to goe about it To the man whiche hath gouernement twoo thynges are daungerous that is to wete to sone or to late But of those twoo the worste is to sone For if by determining late a man loseth that whiche he myght haue gotten by determining to sone that is loste whiche is nowe gayned and that whiche a man might haue gayned To men whiche are to hasty chaunce dayly many euilles and daungers as saieth the prouerbe The hastie man neuer wanteth woe For the man being vnpacient and hauing his vnderstanding high afterward come quarels and brawlynges displeasures varieties and also vanities whiche looseth their goodes and putteth their personnes in daunger Sithe all naturally desire to be happy he alone amongest all others may be called happy of whome they maye truely saye he gaue good doctrine to lyue and lefte good example to die These and many other sentences Phalaris the tyraunt wrote in his letters whereof Cicero profited muche in his workes and Seneca also in his epistles and many other wryters besydes For this tyraunt was very brief in wordes and compendious in sentences This Phalaris beyng in his citie of Agrigente a Philosopher of Grece wrote hym a tauntinge letter chargynge hym with tyranny to whiche he aunswered with this letter followyng ¶ The letter of Phalaris the tyraunt to Popharco the Philosopher PHalaris Agrigentine wyssheth vnto thee Popharco the Philosopher healthe and consolation through the comfortable Gods I receyued thy letter here in Agrigentine and though it sauoured somewhat Satirlike I was not agreued therewith for of philosophers and sages as thou art we shuld not be greaued with the sharpe wordes you tell vs but to consider the intētion whereupon you speake them Quarellers and malicious persons wyll haue the wordes by weight and measure but the vertuous and pacient mē doe not regarde but the intentions For if we should goe about to examine euery worde they speake vnto vs we should geue our selues to much paine and we should alwaies set in the common wealth debate I am a tyraunt as yet am in tyrannie but I sweare vnto the immortall gods whether the worde were good or bad I neuer altered it For if a good man tell it me I take it for my pastime Thou wrytest vnto me that all Grece is offended with me there but I let them vnderstande that all Agrigentine is all edified with thee here And thereof thou maiste praise me For if the tyrauntes were not so muche dispraised the philosophers should not be so well loued Thou art counted for good art good and I am counted for euill and am euyll But in mine opinion thou shouldest not be proud for the one neither I shuld dispeire for the other For the day of the life is long and therein fortune doth many thinges it may wel be that from a tyraunt I shal be a philosopher thou from a philosopher shalt be a tyraunt Se my frend that the long tyme maketh oftentimes the earth to be turned to siluer the siluer gold becommeth nothing worth I meane that there neuer was a tyraūt in any
merite The contrary ought and may be saied of those whych are euill maried whom we wil not cal a compaigny of sayntes but rather a house of deuylles For the wife that hath an euil husbande may say she hath a deuyl in her house and the husband that hath an euil wife let him make accompt that he hath hel it selfe in his house For the euyl wyues are worse then the infernal furyes Because in hel ther are none tormented but the euil only but the euil woman tormeÌ„teth both the good and the euyl Concluding therfore this matter I say also and affirme that betwixt the busband and the wife which are wel maryed is the true and very loue and they only and no others may be called perfite and perpetuall frendes The other parentes and frendes if they do loue and praise vs in our presence they hate vs and dispise vs in our absence Yf they giue vs faire wordes they beare vs euill hartes finally they loue vs in our prosperitye and forsake vs in our aduersity but it is not so amongest the noble and vertuous maried personnes For they loue both within and without the house in prosperity and in aduersitie in pouertie and in riches in absence and in presence seing them selues mery and perceiuing them selues sad and if they do it not trulye they ought to doo it for when the husband is troubled in his foote the wyfe ought to be greued at her hart The fourth commodity of mariage is that the men and women maryed haue more aucthority and grauity then the others The lawes whych were made in old time in the fauour of mariage were many and diuerse For Chapharoneus in the lawes that he gaue to the Egiptians commaunded and ordeyned vpon greuous paynes that the man that was not maried should not haue any office of gouernment in the common wealth And he sayd furder that he that hath not learned to gouerne his house can euil gouerne a commoÌ„ wealth Accordyng to the lawes that he gaue to the Athenians he perswaded al those of the comon wealth to marie themselues voluntarily but to the heddes and captaines which gouerne the affaires of warre he commaunded to marye of necessity sayeng that to men which are lecherous God seldome giueth victories Licurgus the renowmed gouernour and geuer of the lawes of the Lacedemonians commaunded that al captaines of the armyes and the priestes of the Temples should be maried sayeng that the sacrifyces of maried men were more acceptable to the gods then those of any other As Plynie sayth in an epistle that he sent to Falconius his frende rebuking him for that he was not maried where he declareth that the Romaynes in old time had a law that the dictatoure and the Pretor the Censour and the Questor and al the knightes should of necessity be maried for the man that hath not a wife and children legittymate in his house cannot haue nor hold greate aucthority in the common wealth Plutarche in the booke that he made of the prayse of mariage sayth that the priestes of the Romaynes dyd not agre to them that were vnmaried to come and sytte downe in the Temples so that the yong maydens prayed without at the church dore and the yonge men prayed on their knees in the temple only the maried men were permitted to sitte or stande Plynie in an epistle that he wrote to Fabatus hys father in law sayth that the Emperour Augustus had a custome that he neuer suffered any yonge man in his presence to sitte nor permitted any man maried to tel his tale on foote Plutarche in the booke that he made in the prayse of women sayth that since the realme of Corinthe was peopled more with Bachelours then with maried men they ordeyned amongest theym that the man or woman that had not bene maried and also that had not kept chyldren and house if they lyued after a certaine age after their death shoulde not be buried ¶ The aucthoure folowing his purpose declareth that by meanes of maryage many mortal enemyes haue bene made good and parfite frendes Cap. iii. BY the sundry examples that we haue declared and by al that whych remayneth to declare a man may know wel enoughe of what excellency matrimony is not only for the charge of conscience but also for the thinges touching honour for to say the truth the men that in the common wealth are maried giue smal occasion to be sclaundered haue more cause to be honored We cannot denay but that matrimony is troublesome chargeable to them that be maried for two causes The one is in bringing vp their children and the other in suffering the importunityes of their mothers Yet in fiâ—e we caÌ„not deny but that the good vertuous wife is she that setteth a stay in the house and kepeth her husband in estimacion in the common wealth for in the publike affaires they giue more faith and credit vnto those that are charged with children then vnto others that are loden with yeres The fifth commodity that ensueth matrimony is the peace and reconciliacions that are made betwene the enemyes by meanes of mariage MeÌ„ in this age are so couetous so importune and malicious that there are very few but haue enemyes wherby groweth contencion and debate for by our weaknes we fall dayly into a thousande occasions of enimities and scarcely we can find one to bring vs againe into frendship CoÌ„sidering what men desire what thinges they procure and wherunto they aspire I meruaile not that they haue so few frendes but I much muse that they haue no moe enemyes For in thinges of weight they marke not who haue bene their frendes they consider not they are their neighbours neyther they regard that they are christians but their conscience layd a part and honesty set a side euery man seketh for himselfe and his owne affaires though it be to the preiudice of all his neighbours What frendship can ther be amongest proud men since the one wil go before and the other disdayneth to come behind What frendship can ther be amongest enuyous men â–ª since the one purchasseth and the other possesseth what loue can there be betwene two couetous men since the one dare not spend and the other is neuer satisfyed to hourd and heape vp For al that we can reade se go and trauaile and for al that we may do we shall neuer se nor here tell of men that haue lacked enemyes for eyther they be vycious or vertuous Yf they be euil and vycious they are alwayes hated of the good and if they be good and vertuous they are continually persecuted of the euill Many of the auncient philosophers spent a great part of their time lost much of their goodes to serche for remedies and meanes to reconcile them that were at debate contencion to make them by gentlenes good frends and louers Some said that it was good and profitable to forget the enimities for a time for many things
were Sinatus Sinoris whiche were by bloud cosins in familiaritie frendes and for the loue of a Grekes doughter being very noble beautifull and exceading gratious they both striued to haue her in mariage and for to attain to their desires they both serued her they both folowed her they both loued her and for her both of them desired to die For the dart of loue is as a stroke with a clod of earth the which being throwen amongest a company dothe hurte the one and blinde the others And as the fatal destinees had ordeined it Sinatus serued this lady called Camma in suche sorte that in the ende he obteined her in mariage for his lawfull wife whiche thing when Sinoris perceiued he was ashamed of his doinges was also wounded in his harte For he lost not only that which of so long time he had sought loued and serued but also the hope to attaine to that which chiefly in his life he desired Sinatus therfore seing that his wife Camma was noble meke gratious faire and louing and that in all thinges she was comely and well taught decreed to offer her to the goddesse Diana to the end that she would preserue her from peril and keape her from infamie Truly we cannot reproue the knight Sinatus for that he did nor we ought to note him for rashe in his counsel for he sawe that his wife was very faire and therfore much desired For with great difficultie that is kepte whiche of many is desired Though Camma was nowe married and that she was in the protectioÌ„ of the goddesse Diana yet notwithstanding her olde frend Sinoris died for her sake and by all meanes possible he serued her continually he importuned her daily he folowed her howerly he required her And all this he did vppon certayne hope he had that suche diligent seruice should suffice to make her chaunge her sacred mynde and as she had chosen Sinatus for her husbande openly so he thought she shoulde take him for her frend secretly For many women are as men without tast through sickenes the which eate more of that that is hurtful and forbidden then of that whiche is healthsome and commaunded Not without a cause Camma was greatly renowmed throughout all Galatia for her beautie and much more among the vertuous esteamed for her honestie The which euidently in this was sene that after she was maried Sinoris could neuer cause her to receiue any iewell or other gifte nor that she would heare him speake any worde nor that she would shew her selfe in the wyndowe either to him or to any other to the ende to be sene in the face For it is not sufficient for Ladies to be pure good but also to geue no occasion for men to iudge that if they durste they would be euill As it is true in dede that the harte which is intangled with loue dare boldely aduenture him selfe in many kynde of daungers to accomplishe that whiche he desired so Sinoris seing that with faire wordes he could not flatter her nor with any giftes wynne her determined to kyll Sinatus her husbande vpon hope that when she should be wydowe he might easely obteine her in matrimonie For he thought although Camma was not euyll it was not for that she wanted desier to do it but because she had no commodious place to accomplishe it And to be shorte Sinoris would neades execute and bryng to effect his deuellyshe and damnable intente so that sone after he vylie slewe his saide compaignion Sinatus After whose death the noble lady Camma was of Sinoris greatly desired and by his parentes muche importuned that she would condiscende to take and mary him and that she would forgyue him the death of her husband Sinatus whiche then was buried And as she was in all her doinges suche a princely woman she imagened with her selfe that vnder the pretence of mariage she might haue opportunitie to accomplishe her desiers wherfore she aunswered vnto his parentes that she did accepte their counsel and saide to Sinoris that she did choose him for her husbande speakyng these woordes more for to comforte him then with intente to pardon him And as amongest those of Galatia there was a custome that the newe maried folkes shoulde eate togethers in one dishe and drynke in one cuppe the daye that the mariage was celebrated Camma determined to prepare a cuppe with poyson and also a lute wherewith she began to playe and singe with her propre voyce before the goddesse Diana in this maner TO thée Dian whose endles reigne doth stretche Aboue the boundes of all the heauenly route And eke whose aide with royall hande to reche Chiefe of all gods is moste proclaimed oute I sweare and with vnspotted faith protest That though till nowe I haue reserud my breth For no entent it was but thus distrest With waylefull ende to wreke Senatus deth ¶ And if in mynde I had not thus decreed Wherto should I my pensife daies haue spent With longer dewle for that forepassed dede Whose ofte record newe sorowes still hath bent But oh synce him their kindled spite hath slaine With tender loue whom I haue waide so dere Synce he by fate is rest from fortunes rayne For whose decaye I dredelesse perishe here Synce him by whom my only lyfe I ledd Through wretched handes the gaping earth nowe haue Ought I by wyshe to lyue in eny stedd But closde with him togither in the graue O bright Dian synce senceles him I see And makeles I here to remaine alone Synce he is graude where greedy wormes nowe bee And I suruiue surmounted with my fone Synce he is prest with lumpes of wretched soyle And I thus chargd with flame of frosen care Thou knowest Dian howe harde with restles toyle Of hoote abhorring mynde my life I spare For howe can this vnquiet brest resarue The fainting breth that striues to drawe his last Synce that euen then my dieng harte did starue When my dead phere in swalowyng earth was cast The first black daye my husbande slept in graue By cruell sworde my lyfe I thought to spende And synce a thousande times I sought to haue A stretching corde my sorowes wrath to ende And if till nowe to wast my pining daies I haue deferde by slaughter of my hande It was but loe a fitter cause to raise Whereon his sharpe reuenge might iustly stande Now since I may in full suffising wyse Redeme his breath if waywarde will would let More depe offence by not reuenge might rise Then Sinoris erst by giltles bloud did get Thee therfore mightie Ioue I iustly craue And eke thy doughter chast in thankefull sorte That loe the offering whiche of my selfe ye haue Ye wil vouchesafe into your heauenly forte Synce Sinatus with soone enflamed eies Amongest the Achaian routes me chiefly â—ewed And eke amidst the prease of Grekes likewyse Chose for his phere when swetely he had sewed Synce at my will the froth of wasting welth With
she goeth out of the house she ought to thinke that her maydens will stray abrode the children wil ronne out to play the varlettes and seruaunts wil be out of order the neighbours wil take occasions to speake euill and that which is worst of al some will steale the goodes out of the house and the others wil speake euyl of the renowne of the wife Oh god giueth a goodly gift grace to that man which hath such and so good a wife that of her owne nature loueth to kepe her selfe within the house And truly I say that such one doth excuse many griefes saueth much money For she spendeth not the goodes in apparel nor giueth occasion to men to iudge euil of her personne The greatest debate that is betwene man and wife is for that he desireth to get and kepe his goodes to bringe vp his chyldren and to maintaine his family and on the other part that she desireth to spend all vppon apparell For women in this case are so curious in louinge of themselues that they would absteine from meates that should mainteyne their life onlye to bye a new gowne to set out their pride Women naturally do loue to keape and wil not spend any thinge except it be in apparell For euery houre that is in the day and the night they desire to haue a new gowne to chaunge My entencyon is not to speake of apparell only but to perswade Princesses and great Ladyes that they would kepe themselues in their houses and in so doing they should excuse these superfluous wastes expenses For her neighbour seing her better apparelled then she is loketh vpon her husband as she were a Lyon It chaunceth oftentymes I would to god I had no cause to speake it that if by chaunce there commeth anye great or solempne feast or mariage she wil neuer loke louyngly on his face before he hath geuen her a new gowne to her backe and when the poore gentleman hath no money to paye of necessity he must runne in credit And when the vanytie of the woman is past then the time of payment draweth nere and they come to arest all his goodes so that they haue cause to lament one hole yeare for that whych they haue spent in one houre Women seldome contende for that one is fairer more nobler of lynage better maried or more vertuous then an other but onely for that an other goeth better apparailed then she For touching apparell there is no woman cā endure that an other meaner woman shoulde make comparison with her nor that in like maner her equal should excell her Lycurgus in the lawes that he gaue to the Lacedemonians commaunded that their wiues should not goe out of their houses but at dyuers solempne feastes in the yere For he sayde that the women ought to be makinge their prayers in the Temples to the gods or els in their houses bringing vp their children For it is not honest nor commendable that the wife shold passe her time abroade trotting from strete to strete as common women I say that the Princesses and great Ladies are much more bound to kepe them selues at home in their houses then other women of meaner degre without a cause I speake it not for therby they shal get them more reputacion For ther is no vertue wherby the woman winneth more reputacion in the common wealth then alwayes to be sene resident in her house I say also that a wife ought the most part of her time to keape her house bycause she hath lesse occasion then other haue to go abroade For if the poore wife the Plebian go out of her house she goeth for no other cause but for to seke meate but if the riche and noble woman goeth out of her house it is for nothing but to take her pleasure Let not princesses maruel nor let not great ladies wonder if they dispose their feete to trotte occupye their eyes to behold though their ennemyes and neighbours with cankered hartes doth iudge them and with euil tongues defame them for the fond dedes that women do maketh men to be rash of iudgement I like it wel that the husbands should loue their wiues that they should comfort them and make much of them and that they should put their trust in them but I do discommend that the women should go gadding abroad in visitacion from house to house that their husbands dare not gaine say them For admyt that they be good in their personnes yet in this doing they giue occasion for men to esteme them vaine and light Seneca saieth in an epistel that the great Romaine Cato the censor ordeyned that no woman shold go out of her house being alone if perhappes it were in the night she should not go alone without company that the company shold not be such as she would chose but such as her husband or parent would assigne so that with the same coūtenaunce we behold now a comen woman with the selfe same lookes then we beheld her that went oft out of her house Noble ladies which loue their honour ought greatly to consider way the great incōueniences that may ensue by often gadding abroad for they spend much to apparel them they lose much time in trimming them they kepe gentlewomen to wait vpon them they wil striue with their husbands to goe whiles she is out of the dores the house shal be euil kept and al the enemyes frendes therby haue matter wherupon to talke finally I say that the woman that goeth out of her house doth not wey the losse of her honour so much as she doth the pleasure she taketh abroad Presuming as I presume to write with grauitie I say that I am ashamed to speake it yet for al that I wil not refraine to write of the walkes of these dames that visite desire to be visited amongest whom ther is moued oftentimes such vaine cōmunication that it causeth their husbands to become ennemyes and on the other parte they remember more the gossippinges that they haue to go then their sinnes which they ought to lament ¶ Of the commodities and discommodities which folowe Princesses and great Ladyes that go abroade to vysite or abyde in the house Cap. viii LUcretia by the consent of all was counted the cheafest of all other Matrones of Rome and not for that that she was more faire more wise of greater parentage or more noble But because she did withdrawe her selfe from company and abode solitary For she was such a one that in the heroical vertues there could be nothing more desired nor in womens weakenes there was nothinge in her to be amended The historye of the chast Lucretia is euident in Titus Liuius that when the husbandes of diuers Romaines came home from the warres to their houses they founde their wiues in such sort that some were gasing out of the windowes others devising vainely at their doores others in the field wandering others
so swift as he that is naked Aristotle in the sixt booke de Animalibus saith when the Lionesse is bigge with whelpe the Lyon doth not only hunt for her him self but also both night daye he wandreth continually about to watche her I meane that princesses great Ladies when they be with child should be of their husbande 's both tended serued for the man can not do the woman so great a pleasure before her lieng down as she doth to him when she bringeth forth a sonne Considering the daunger that the woman abideth in her deliuerance beholding the paines that the husbād taketh in her seruice without cōparison that is greater which she suffereth then that which he endureth For when the womā deliuereth she doth more then her power and the husband though he serueth her well doth lesse then his dutie The gentle and louing husband ought not one moment to forsake his wife specially when he seeth she is great for in the law of a good husbād it is written that he should set his eies to behold her his handes to serue her he should spende his goods to cherishe her should geue his harte to cōtent her Let not men thinke it paines to serue their wiues when they are with childe for their labour consisteth in their strengthe but the trauell of their wiues is in their intrailes And that whiche is moste pitifull is that when the sorowfull women will discharge their burden on the earthe they often times bryng them selues vnto the graue The meane women of the Plebeians ought no lesse to be reproued for that when they are with childe they would be exempted from all busines of the house the whiche neither they them selues ought to desire nor yet their husbandes to suffer For idlenesse is not only an occasion not to deserue heauen but also it is a cause whereby womē ofte times haue ill successe in their trauaile For considering bothe the deintie Ladie with childe that hath her pleasure and doth litle and on the other side the poore mans wyfe whiche moderatly laboureth you shall see that the great Ladies for all their pleasures abydeth more daunger then the other doth with all her labour The husbande ought to keape his wyfe from takyng to muche paines for so ought he to doe and the wyfe lykewyse ought to flee to much pleasure for it behoueth her For the meane trauaile is no other but occasion of a safe deliuerie The women with childe also ought to take hede to them selues and in especially noble and great ladies that they be not to gredy nor hasty in eating For the woman being with childe ought to be sobre and the woman whiche is a great eater with great paines shall liue chaste Women with childe ofte times doe disordre them selues in eating licorous meates and vnder the colour of feedinge them selues and their infant they take to excessiuely which is not onely vnholsome for the childe but also dishonour for their mothers For truly by the great excesse of the mother being with child commeth many diseases to the infant when it liueth The husbande 's also ought neither to displease nor greue their wiues specially when thei see them great with child for of truth ofte times she deliuereth with more daunger by reason of the offences that mē do vnto them then by the abondaunce of meates which they doe eate Though the woman when she is with childe in some thinges doth offend her husband yet he like a wise man ought to forbeare her hauing respect to the child wherwith she is great and not to the iniurie that she hath committed for in th end the mother can not be so great an offender but that the childe is muche more innocent For the profe of this it neadeth not bookes to reade but only our eies to see how the brute beastes for the moste parte when the females are bigge doe not touche them nor yet the females suffer thē to be touched I meane that the noble and high estates ought to absent them selues from their wiues carnally beyng great with child and he that in this case shal shewe him selfe moste temperate shall of all men be deamed most vertuous I do not speake this to thend it should bind a man or that it were an offence then to vse the company of his wyfe but vnto men that are vertuous I geue it as a counsel For some things ought to be done of necessitie others ought to be eschewed for honestie Diodorus Siculus saith that in the realme of Mauritania there were so few men so many women that euery man had fiue wiues where there was a law amōgest them that no man should mary vnder thre wiues furthermore they had a wonderful folishe custome that when any husband died one of these women should cast her selfe quick in to the graue be buried with him And if that within a moneth she did it not or that she died not by iustice she was then openly put to death saiyng that it is more honestie to be in company with her husband in the graue then it is to be alone in her house In the Isles of Baliares the cōtrary is sene for there increase so many men and so few women that for one woman there was seuen men and so they had a custome specially amongest the poore that one woman should be maried with fiue men For the ryche men sent to seke for women in other straunge Realmes wherfore then marchauntes came heuie loden with women as now they do with marchaundise to sell Vpon which occasion there was a custome in those Isles that for as muche as there were so fewe women when any woman with chylde drewe nere the seuen monethes they were seperated from their husbandes and shut and locked vp in the Temples where they gaue them suche thinges as were necessary for them of the commen treasure For the auncientes had their goodes in suche veneration that they would not permitte any personne to eate that whiche he brought but of that whiche vnto the goddes of the Temple was offered At that tyme the Barbarous kepte their wyues locked in the churche because the gods hauing them in their Temples should be more mercifull vnto them in their deliuery and also to cause them to auoyde the daungers at that tyme and besydes that because they tooke it for a great vilany that the women during that tyme should remaine with their husbandes The famous and renowmed philosopher Pulio in the fift booke De moribus antiquorum said that in the Realme of Paunonia whiche nowe is Hongarie the women that were great with childe were so highly estemed that when any went out of her house al those which met with her were bounde to returne backe with her in such sorte as we at this present do reuerence the holy Comunion so did these Barbarous then the women with child The women of Carthage being with child whē Carthage was
as one but men do tourne from vice to vertue from vertue to vice The good Emperour Marcus Aurelius did deuid the time by time so that though he had time for him selfe he had time lykewise to dispatche his owne and others affaires for the man that is willing in a small time dispatcheth much busynes the man which is necligent in a longe tyme doth lytel This was the order that the Emperour Marcus Aurelius toke in spendyng his time He slepte .7 houres in the nighte and one hower reasted hym selfe in the day In dyning and suppynge he consumed onely .2 howers and it was not for that he toke great pleasure to be longe in eatinge but bycause the philosophers whyche disputed before his presence were occasion to prolonge the time For in .17 yeares they neauer saw hym at meate but one or other redde vnto him some booke or elles the philosophers reasoned before hym philophye As he hadde manye realmes and prouinces so he appointed one hower for the affaires of Asia for Affryke one hower and for Europe another hower and for the conuersacion of his wife children and family he appointed other .2 howers of time he had another hower for extraordinary affaires as to here the complaintes of the greued the quarrelles of the poore the complaintes of the widowes and the robberies done to the orphanes For the mercifull prince geueth no lesse eare vnto the poore which for want can doe lytell then to the riche which for aboundance can do much He occupyed all the residew of the day and night to rede bokes write workes to make meter and in studyng of other antiquities to practyse with the sage and to dyspute with the philosophers and fynally he toke no tast of any thing so muche as he dyd to talke of science Vnlesse the cruell warres dyd let hym or suche lyke affaires troubled him ordynarily in winter he went to bed at .9 of the clocke and awaked at .4 and bycause he would not be idle he had alway a boke vnder his beddes hed and the residue of the day he bestowed in readyng The romans had an auncient custome to beare fyer before them that is to wete a torche lyghte in the daye and a lampe burnyng in the night in their chambers so that wakyng they burned waxe and fleapyng they hourned oyle And the cause why the Romans ordeyned that the oyle should be made of olyue and the waxe made of bees which was vsed to be borne before the princes was to the end they should remember that they ought to be as gentell and louing as the oyle of Olyue is swete and as profytable to the common wealth as the Bees are He did rise at .6 of the clocke and made him selfe ready openlye and with a gentle countenaunce he asked them that were about hym wherin they had spente all the nyght and declared vnto them then what he had dreamed what he had thought and what he had red when he was readye he washed his face with odiferous waters and loued veray wel swete sauoures For he had so quycke a sent that he was much offended when he passed by any stincking place In the mornyng he vsed to eate .2 morsels of a lectuary made of Sticades and dranke .3 sponefulls of maluesey or els two droppes of Aqua Vite bycause he had a colde stomacke for that he gaue hym selfe so muche to studye in tymes past We se it by experience that the greate studentes are persecuted more with sycknes then any others for in the swetenes of the scyence they knowe not how their lyfe consumeth If it were in the sommer season he went in the mornyng to recreate him selfe to the ryuer of Tiber and walked there a fote for .2 howers and in this place they talked with hym that had busines and trulye it was a great policie for wher as the Prince doeth not syt the sewtour alwayes abridgeth his talke And when the day began to wax hot he went to the hight capitol where al the Senate taried for him from thence he went to the Coliseo wher the imbassadours of the prouinces wer there remained a great part of the day afterwardes he went to the chappel of the vestal virgines ther he hard euery nation by it selfe accordyng to the order which was prescribed He dyd eate but one meale in the daye it was veray late but he did eate wel not of many diuers sortes of meates but of fewe and good For the aboundaunce of diuerse and straunge meates breadeth sondry dysseases They sawe him once a weke go thoroughe Rome and if he wente anye more it was a wonder at the whyche tyme he was alwayes without companie both of his owne and also of straungers to thentente all poore men myghte talke with him of their busines or complaine of his officers for it is vnpossible to reforme the common wealthe if he which ought to remedy it be not informed of the iniuryes done in the same He was so gentle in conuersacion so pleasaunt in wordes so noble amongest the great so equall with the least so reasonable in that he dyd aske so persyte in that he dyd worke so patiēt in iniuries so thankefull of benefittes so good to the good and so seuere to the euill that all loued him for beyng good and all the euill feared him for being iuste A man oughte not lytell to esteme the loue that the people bare to this so good a Prince and noble Emperour forsomuch as the Romans haue bene thus that for the felicitye of their estate they offered to their gods greater sacryfyce then they dyd in any other prouinces And Sextus Cheronensis sayeth that the Romains offered more sacrifyces to the gods because they should lengthen the lyfe of the Emperour then they dyd offer for the profyte of the common wealthe Trulye their reason was good for the Prynce that leadeth a good lyfe is the harte of the common wealthe But I doe not maruaile that the Emperour was so well wylled and beloued of the Romayn empire for he had neuer porter to hys chamber but the .2 howers which he remained with his wyfe Faustine Al this beyng past the good Emperour went into his house into the secretest place he had accordyng to the councel of Lucius Seneca they key whereof he alone had in his custodye and neuer trusted any man therwith vntyll the hower of hys death and then he gaue it to an old auncient man called Pompeianus sayeng vnto hym these wordes Thou knowest ryght wel Pompeianus that thou beyng base I exalted the to honor Thou beyng poore I gaue the riches Thou being persecuted I drewe the to my pallas I beyng absente committed my hole honoure to thy trust thou beyng old I maryed the with my doughter and doe presently gyue the this key Behold that in geuing the it I giue the my harte lyfe For I will thou know that death greueth me not so much nor the losse of my
of kyng Arthebanus had nourished his sonne they coulde not haue robbed it in the cradell nor these twoo princes had not bene slayne in battayle nor the common wealth had not bene destroied nor Alexander had not entred into the lande of another nor had not come to conquere the contrey of Italy nor the dead corps had not wanted his graue for oftetimes it chaunceth for not quenching a litle coale of fier a whole forest house is burned The deuine Plato among the Grekes and Licurgus among the Lacedemonians commaunded and ordeined in all their lawes that al the Plebeical women those of meane estate should nourishe al their children and that those which were princesses and great ladies should at the least nourishe their eldest and first begotten Plutarche in the booke of the reigne of princes saieth that the sixt kyng of the Lacedemonians was Thomistes the whiche when he died lefte two children of which the second inherited the realme because the Quene her selfe had brought it vp and the first did not inherite because a straūge nource had geuen it sucke and brought it vp And hereof remained a custome in the moste parte of the realmes of Asia that the childe whiche was not nourysshed with the pappes of his mother shoulde inherite none of his mothers goodes There was neuer nor neuer shal be a mother that had suche a sonne as the mother of God which had Iesus Christe nor there was neuer nor neuer shal be a sonne which had suche a mother in the worlde But the infante would neuer sucke other milke because he would not be bounde to call any other mother nor the mother did geue him to nourish to any other mother because that no other woman should call him sonne I doe not marueile at al that princesses and great ladies doe geue their children forth to nourishe but that which moste I marueile at is that she whiche hath conceiued and brought forth a child is a shamed to geue it sucke and to nourishe it I suppose that the ladies doe thinke that they deserue to conceiue them in their wombes and that they sinne in nourishing them in their armes I can not tell how to wryte and much lesse howe to vtter that which I would say which is that women are now a daies come into such folly that they thinke and esteme it a state to haue in their armes some litle dogges they are ashamed to nourish geue the childrē sucke with their own breastes O cruel mothers I cannot thinke that your hartes can be so stony to endure to see and keape fantasticall birdes in the cages vnhappy Monkeis in the wyndowes fisting spaniels betwene your armes and so neglect and despise the swete babes casting them out of your houses where they were borne and to put them into a straunge place where they are vnknowen It is a thing which cannot be in nature neither that honestie can endure conscience permit nor yet consonant either to deuine or humaine lawes that those which God hath made mothers of children shoulde make them selues nourses of dogs Iunius Rusticus in the third booke of the sayings of the auncientes saith that Marcus Porcio whose life and doctrine was a lanterne and example to al the Romain people as a man much offended saied on a day to the senate O fathers conscripte O cursed Rome I can not tell what nowe I shoulde saye sithe I haue sene in Rome suche monsterous thinges that is to wete to see women cary Parrottes on their fistes and to see women to nourishe dogges geuing them mylke from their owne breastes They replied in the senate and sayde Tell vs Marcus Porcio what wouldest thou we should doe whiche lyue nowe to resemble our fathers whiche are dead Marcus Portio aunswered them The woman that presumeth to be a Romaine Matrone ought to be founde weauing in her house and out of that to be found in the temple praying to God and the noble and stoute Romane ought to be foūd in his house reding bookes and out of his house fighting in the playn fielde for the honour of his countrie And suer these were wordes worthy of suche a man Annius Minutius was a noble Romaine and captaine of great Pompeius who was a great friende to Iulius Caesar after the battaile of Farsaliae for he was an auncient and on that could geue good councell wherefore he neuer scaped but that he was chosen in Rome for Senatour Consul or Censor euery yeare for Iulius Caesar was so mercifull to them that he pardoned that those whiche had bene his moste enemies in the warres were of hym in peace best beloued This Annius Minutius then beinge chosen Censor within Rome which was an office hauing charge of iustice by chaunce as he went to visite the wyfe of an other frende of his the whiche laye in child bedde because she had great aboundaunce of mylke he founde that a litle pretie bitche did sucke her vpon the whiche occasion they saye he said these wordes to the Senate fathers conscripte a present mischiefe is nowe at hande according to the token I haue sene this daye that is to wete I haue seene a Romaine woman denie her owne chyldren her mylke and gaue to sucke to a filthy bitche And truly Annius had reason to esteme this case as a wonder for the true and swete loues are not but betwene the fathers and children and where the mother embraceth the brute beaste and forsaketh her naturall childe whiche she hath brought foorth it cannot be otherwyse but there either wysedome wanteth or folly aboundeth for the foole loueth that he ought to despise and despiseth that whiche he ought to loue Yet thoughe the mothers wyll not geue their children sucke they oughte to doe it for the daunger whiche may come to the helthe of their personnes for as the womē which bryng forth children do lyue more healthful then those which beare none so these which do nourish them haue more health then those which doe not nourishe them For although the brynging vp of children be troublesome to women it is profitable for their healthe I am ashamed to tell it but it is more shame for ladies to do it to see what plasters they put to their breastes to drie vp their milke and hereof commeth the iust iudgement of God that in that place ofte tymes where they seke to stoppe their mylke in the selfe same place they them selues procure their sodaine death I aske now if women doe not enioye their children being younge what pleasure hope they to haue of them when they are olde What a great comforte is it for the parentes to see the younge babe when he wyll laughe howe he twincleth his litle eies when he wyll weape how he wyll hange the prety lippe when he woulde speake howe he wyll make signes with his lytle fyngers when he wyll goe howe he casteth forwarde his feete and aboue all when he beginneth to bable howe he doubled in his
woordes What thing is more pleasaunt to the father then to see them and to the mother to agree to it when the chyldren doe sucke they plucke forth the brestes with the one hande and with the other they plucke their heere and further they beate their feete together and with their wanton eies they caste on their parentes a thousande louyng lookes what is it to see them when they are vexed and angry how they wyll not be taken of the fathers howe they stryke their mother they caste awaye things of golde and immediatly they are appeased with a litle apple or russhe what a thing is it to see the innocentes howe they aunswer when a man asketh them what follies they speake when they speake to them how they play with the dogges and runne after the cattes how they dresse them in wallowing in the dust how they make houses of earth in the streates how they weape after the birdes when they see them flie away Al the which thinges are not to the eies of the fathers and mothers but as Nitingales to sing and as bread and meate to eate The mothers peraduenture will saye that they will not bringe vp their children because when they are younge they are troublesome but that after they shoulde be nourished and brought vp they would be glad To this I answere them that the mothers shal not denay me but that some of these things must neades meate in their children that when they be old they shal be either proud enuious couetous or negligent that they shal be lecherous or els theues that they shal be blasphemours or els glottons that they shal be rebelles or fooles and disobedient vnto their fathers I beleue that at this daie there are many mothers in the worlde which did hope to be honoured serued with the children which they had brought vp and afterwarde perceiuing their maners would willinglye forgo the pleasures whiche they hoped for so that they might also be deliuered frō the troubles which through their euill demeanours are like to ensue For that time which the parentes hoped to passe with their childrē in pleasures they consume seing their vnthrifty life in sorowfull sighes I councel admonishe humbly require princesses great ladies to nourishe enioy their children when they are young and tender for after that they are great a man shal bring them newes euery day of diuerse sortes and maners they vse for as much as the one shal say that her sonne is in pryson another shal say that he is sore wounded another that he is hid others that he hathe plaied his cloke others that he is sclaundered with a cōmon harlot another that he stealeth his goodes from him another that his enemies do seke him another that he accompanieth with vnthriftes and finally they are so sturdy vnhappy and so farre from that which is good that oftentimes the fathers would reioyce to see them die rather then to see thē liue so euill a life Me thinketh that the knot of loue betwene the mother and the childe is so great that not onely she ought not to suffer them to be nourished out of the house one whole yere but also she ought not to suffer thē to be out of her presence one only day For in seing him she seeth that which is borne of her intrails she seeth that which she hath with so great paines deliuered she seeth hym who ought to inherite all her goodes she seeth him in who the memory of their auncestours remaineth and she seeth him who after her death ought to haue the charge of her affayres and busines Concludynge therefore that whiche aboue is spoken I saye that whiche the greate Plutarche saied from whom I haue drawen the moste parte of this chapter that the mother to be a good mother ought to haue kepe her chylde in her armes to nourishe him and afterwardes when he shal be great she ought to haue him in her harte to helpe him For we see oftentymes great euils ensewe to the mother and to the chylde because she did not bringe hym vp her selfe and to put hym to nouryshe to a straunge breaste there commeth neither honour nor profite ¶ That princesses and great Ladies ought to be very circumspecte in chosinge their nources Of seuen properties whiche a good nource should haue Chap. xx THose whiche ordeined lawes for the people to lyue were these Promotheus whiche gaue lawes to the Egiptians Solon Solmon to the Grekes Moyses to the Iewes Licurgus to the Lacedemonians and Numa Pompilius to the Romaines for before these princes came their people were not gouerned by written lawes but by good auncient customes The intention of those excellent princes was not to geue lawes to their predecessours for they were now dead neither they gaue them onely for those which lyued in their tyme being wicked but also for those which were to come whom they did presuppose would not be good For the more the worlde increaseth in yeares so muche the more it is loden with vices By this that I haue spoken I meane that if the princesses and great ladies euery one of them woulde nourishe their owne childe I neade not to geue them counsell But since I suppose that the women which shal be deliuered hereafter wil be as proude and vaine glorious as those whiche were in times past we will not let to declare here some lawes and aduises how the ladie ought to behaue her self with her nource and howe the nource ought to contente her selfe with the creature For it is but iuste that if the mother be cruell and hardy to forsake the creature that she be sage pitiefull and aduised to choose her nource If a man finde great treasoure and afterward care not how to kepe it but doth commit it into the handes of suspected persons truely we would call hym a foole For that which naturally is beloued is alwayes of al best kept The woman oughte more wysely kepe the treasure of her owne body then the treasure of all the earth if she had it And the mother which doth the contrary and that committeth her child to the custody of a straunge nource not to her whom she thinketh best but whom she findeth best cheape we will not call her a foolishe beaste for the name is to vnseamely but we will call her a sotte which is somewhat more honester One of the things that doth make vs moste beleue that the ende of the world is at hande is to see the litle loue which the mother doth beare to the child being young and to see the wante of loue which the childe hath to his mother beinge aged That whiche the childe doth to the father and the mother is the iust iudgement of God that euen as the father would not nourishe the childe in his house being younge so likewise that the sonne should not suffer the father in his house he beinge olde Retourning therefore to the matter that sith the woman
this the good Emperour aunswered my frend I saye thou art much deceaued For to the sacred Senate wherein there are so many sages I would leade all the fooles to the ende they might become wise and to the Theaters where all the fooles are I would bring the sages to the ende to teache them wisedome Truly this sentence was fit for him that spake it I admonishe princes and great lordes that in steade to kepe company with fooles flatterers parasites they prouide to haue about them wyse and sage mē in especially if the fooles be malicious for the noble hartes with one malicious worde are more offended then if they were with a venemous arrow wounded Therfore returning to our matter as the emperour was in the feast of the god Genius that with him also were the .xiiii. sage philosophers maisters of the prince Comodus a iugler more conning then al the rest shewed sondry trickes as cōmonly such vaine loiterers are wont to doe For he that in like vanities sheweth most pastime is of the people most beloued As Marcus Aurelius was sage so he set his eies more to beholde these .xiiii. maisters then he did stay at the lightnes of the fooles And by chaunce he espied that fiue of those laughed so inordinatly at the folly of these fooles that they clapt their hands they bet their feete lost the grauitie of sages by their inordinat laughter the which was a very vncomly thing in such graue persons For the honest modestie of the body is a great witnes of the wisedome and grauitie of the mynde The lightnes and inconstancie of the sages sene by the Emperour and that al the graue Romaines were offended with them he toke it heauely as well to haue brought them thether as to haue bene disceiued in electing them Howe be it with his wysedom then he helped him selfe as muche as he coulde in not manifesting any griefe in his harte but he dessembled and made as though he sawe them not For sage princes muste nedes feale thinges as men but they ought to dissemble them as discrete The Emperour presently would not admonish them nor before any reproue them but he let the feaste passe on and also a fewe dayes after the whiche being passed the Emperour spake vnto them in secret not telling them openly wherein he shewed him selfe a mercifull prince for open correction is vniuste where secret admonition may take place The thinges whiche Marcus Aurelius saide to those fiue maisters when he put them out of his house he him selfe did wryte in the third booke and the first chapter vnder the title Ad stultos pedagogos And saide that he said vnto them these and suche other like wordes ¶ Of the wordes whiche Marcus Aurelius spake to fiue of the ▪ xiiii maisters whiche he had chosen for the education of his sonne and howe he sent them from his pallace for that they behaued them selues lightly at the feaste of the God Genius Chap. xxxvi MY will was not my frendes to forsee that whiche can not be excused nor I wyll not commaunde you that whiche I ought not to commaunde but I desire that the gods of their grace doe remaine with me and that with you the same iust gods may goe and that likewyse from me and from you the vnlucky and vnfortunate chaunces may be withdrawen For the vnlucky man were better be with the dead then remayne here with the liuing Since that nowe I had receiued you and with great diligence sought you to that ende you should be tutors to my sonne the prince Comodus I proteste to the immortall gods that I am sory and that of your shame I am ashamed and that of your paine the greatest part is mine And it can be no otherwyse for in the worlde there shoulde be no frendship so streight that a man therefore shoulde put his good name in daunger The sages that I haue sought were not prouided onely to learne the prince Comodus but also to refourme al those that liued euill in my pallace And nowe I see the contrary for where I thought the fooles should haue bene made wyse I see that those that were wyse are become fooles Knowe you not that the fine golde defendeth his purenes among the burning cooles and that the man endued with wysedome sheweth hym selfe wyse yea in the middest of many fooles For truely as the golde in the fire is proued so among the lightenes of fooles is the wisedome of the wyse discerned Do not you knowe that the sage is not knowen among the sages nor the foole among the fooles but that amonge fooles wyse men doe shyne and that amonge the sages fooles are darkened for there the wyse sheweth his wysedome and the foole sheweth his folly Doe not you knowe that in the sore woundes the surgian sheweth his cunning and that in the daungerous diseases the phisition sheweth his science And that in the doubtful battailes the captaine sheweth his stoutnes and that in the boysterous stormes the maister sheweth his experience So in like maner the sage man in that place where there is great ioye and solace of people ought to shewe his wisdome and discretion Do not you know that of a moderate witte there proceadeth a cleare vnderstandinge a sharpe memory a graue persone a quiet minde a good name and aboue all a temperate tongue For he only ought to be called wyse who is discreate in his workes and resolute in his wordes ▪ Doe not you knowe that it litle auaileth to haue the tongue experte the memory liuely the vnderstāding cleare to haue great science to haue profounde eloquence a swete style and ample experience if with all these thinges you be as maisters and in your workes as wicked men certainely it is a great dishonour to a vertuous emperour that he should haue for maisters of young princes those which are schollers of vaine Iuglers Doe not you know that if all the men of this worlde are bounde to leade a good life that those which presume to haue science are muche more bounde then others are whiche by their eloquence presume to confounde the worlde For it is a rule certayne that alwayes euill workes take awaye the credit from good wordes And to the ende it seame not vnto you that I speake of fauour I wyll brynge here into your memory an auncient lawe of Rome the whiche was made in the tyme of Cinna whiche saide We ordeine and commaunde that more greauous punishement be geuen vnto the sage for one folly onely committed by him openly then to the simple man for a greater offence cōmitted secretly O iuste very iust law O iust and happy Romaines I saye vnto all those that togethers did finde ordeine the law For the simple man sleyeth but one man with his swerde of wrath but the sage killeth many by the euil example of his life For according to the saiyng of the deuine Plato the princes and sage sinne more by the euill
shall esteme it more that when I doe geue you my sonne to teache I geue you more then if I gaue you all the ryches of the Realme For in him that hath the reformacion of the childes life dependeth the fame of the Father after he is deade So that the Father hathe no greater renowme then to see hys chylde leade an honeste lyfe I praye the Gods that they maye be so mercyful and the fatall destinies so fortunate that if tyll thys time you haue watched to teache the children of others that from hence forwarde you watche to teache thys my sonne Comodus whyche I truste shal be to the comforte of all For the thynge that is vniuersally good to all oughte to be preferred before that whyche tendeth but to the commoditie of some You see my frendes that there is a greate difference to teache the chyldren of Prynces and to teache the children of the people the cause hereof is that the greatest parte of those come to the scooles and vniuersities to learne to speake but I doe not geue you my sonne Comodus to the ende you should teache hym to speake many wordes but that you should learne him to do good workes For all the glorye of the Prynces is that in the workes whyche he doth he be vprighte and in the woordes that he speaketh he be very discrete After that the children haue spente manye yeares in scooles after their Fathers haue spente muche money vppon them yf perchaunce the chylde can dispute in Greeke or Latin anye thyng at all thoughe he be lyghte and vitious the Father thynketh hys goodes well imployed For in Rome nowe a dayes they esteme an Oratour more whyche can doe nought but bable then a philosopher whyche is vertuous O wofull men that now lyue in Rome and muche more wofull shall those be whyche hereafter shall succede For Rome is no more that Rome whyche it was wont to be that is to wete that the fathers in olde tyme sente their children to scooles and studies to learne them to be silent and nowe they sende them to learne to speake to muche They learned them then to be sage and temperate and nowe they learne them to be dissolute And the worste of all is that the scooles where the sage and pacient were wont to be and from whence issued the good and vertuous workes are nowe full of bablynge Oratours and none issue oute from thence at this present but the euill and vitious So that if the sacred Romain lawes are exalted once in a weeke with their tongues they are broken tenne tymes in the daye in their workes What will you I say more since I can not tel you any thing without hurting my mother Rome but that at this present al the pleasures of vain men is to see their children ouercome others by disputing but I let you vnderstand that all my glory shal be when my son shal surmount others not in wordes but in silence not to be troublesome but to be pacient not in speakyng subtill wordes but in doing vertuous workes For the glorie of good menne is in workyng muche and speakyng littell Consider my frendes and do not forget get it that this daye I committe my honour vnto you I put into your handes the estate of Comodus my sonne the glory of Rome the rest of the people which are my subiectes the gouernement of Italye which is your countrey and aboue all I referre vnto your discretions the peace and tranquillitie of the hole common wealth Therefore he that hath suche a charge by reason ought not to slepe For as the wise men say to great trust is required much diligence I will saye no more but that I would my sonne Comodus shoulde be so well taught that he should haue the feare of god and the science of philosophers the vertues of the auncient Romaynes the approued councell of the aged the corage of the Romaine youth and the constancy of you whiche are his masters Fynally I would that of al the good he shold take the good as of me he ought to take the heritage and succession of the Empyre For he is the true prince and worthy of the empyre that with his eyes doth beholde the great signories he ought to enherite and dothe employe his harte howe to gouerne it wherby he shal lyue to the great profit of the common wealth And I proteste to the immortall gods with whom I hope to goe and to the goodnes of my predecessours whose faith I am bound to kepe I proteste to the Romaine lawes the whyche I dyd sweare to obserue in the conquest of Asia wherein I bound my selfe to continue and to the frendeshyppe of the Rhodiens the whiche I haue offered my selfe to kepe to the ennemitye of the Affricans the whyche not for me but for the oth of my predecessours I haue bounde my selfe to mainteine And I proteste vnto the vessell of the hyghe Capitall where my bones ought to be burnt that Rome do not complaine of me beyng alyue nor that in the worlde to come she curse me after my death If perchaunce the prince Comodus my sonne by his wicked lyfe should be occasion of the losse of hinderaunce to the common wealth And thoughe you whych are his masters vndoe it for not geuyng hym dew punishement and he thoroughe hys wicked gouernement destroye it yet I discharge my selfe by all these protestations that I haue made whyche shal be witnesses of my will For the father is bound no more towardes his child but to banyshe hym from his pleasures and to geue him vertuous masters And if he be good he shal be be the glory of the father the honor of him selfe the wealth of you and the profite and comoditie of the hole common wealth That tutours of Princes and noble mens children ought to be very circumspect that their scollers doe not accustome them selues in vices whilles they are yonge and speciallye they must kepe them from foure vices Chap. xxxix THe good and experte Surgeons vnto greate and daungerous woundes do not onelye applye medycynes and oyntementes whyche doe resolue stop but also do minister other good playsters for to restraine and heale them And verelye they shewe them selues in the one no lesse sage then in the other experte for as greate dylygence ought to be had to preserue the weake fliesh and to purge the rotten wounde to the end it maye be healed so lykewise the wyse trauailers learne diligentely the waye before they take vppon them any iourney that is to wete yf there be any daungers in the waye eyther of robbynge or sleyinge wherein there is anye by pathe that goeth oute of the hyghe waye Truly he that in this point is circumspecte is woorthy to be counted a sage man For accordyng to the multitude of the perylles of the world none can be assured vnlesse he know first where the daunger is wherin he may fal To shew therfore that which by these parables I meane
And I saye that they doe not suffer them to be to light or vnconstant for of younge men inconstant and light commeth oftētimes an olde man fonde and vnthriftie I saie that they doe not suffer them to be to rashe for of to hardy young men commeth rebellious and seditious persones I say that they doe not consent they be shamelesse for of the vnshamefastnes commeth sclaunderous persones Princes and great lordes ought to haue much circumspection that their children be brought vp in shamefastnes with honestie For the crowne doth not geue so much glory to a kyng nor the head doth more set forth the man nor the iewell more adourne the breast nor yet the scepter more become the hande then shamefastnes with honestie beutifieth a younge man For a man of what estate so euer he be the honestie which he sheweth outwardly doth hide many secret vices wherewith he is endued inwardly In the time of the reigne of the emperour Helius Pertinax the nyntenthe Emperour of Rome two consulles gouerned the commō welth the one named Verus and the other Mamillus one daye they came to the Emperour and were humble suiters to his highnes besechinge him that it would please hym to receiue their two children into his seruice the eldest of the whiche passed not as yet twelue yeares of age the whiche request after the Emperour had graunted the fathers were not negligent to bryng them vnto hym and being come before his presence each of them made an oration the one in Latine and the other in Greke Wherewith the Emperour was greatly pleased and all the residue amased for at that time none serued the Romaine princes but that he were either very apte to cheualry or els toward in sciences As these two children in the presence of the Emperour made their orations the one of thē behelde the Emperour in suche sorte that his eies neuer went of him neither once moued his head to loke down to the earth and the other contrary behelde the earth alwayes neuer lift vp his head during his oration Wherewith the Emperour being a graue man was so highly pleased with the demeanours of this child that he did not onely admitte him to serue him at his table but also he suffred him to enter into his chambre and this was a preferment of great estimation For princes did not vse to be serued at their tables nor in their chambers with any vnlesse they were of his owne kynred or auncient seruauntes And concerning the other childe whiche was his compaignion the Emperoure retourned againe to his father saiynge that when hereafter he shoulde bee more shamefast he woulde receiue hym into his seruice And certainly the Emperoure had reason for good and graue princes ought not to be serued with light and shameles children I woulde nowe demaunde fathers whiche loue their children very well and woulde they shoulde be worthy what it auaileth their children to be faire of countenaunce well disposed of body liuely of sprighte whyte of skinne to haue yellowe heere 's to be eloquent in speache profounde in science if with all these graces that nature geueth them they be to bolde in that they doe and shamelesse in that they saye the authour hereof is Patritius Senesis in the firste booke De rege regno One of the moste fortunate princes was the great Theodosius the whiche amongest all other vertues had one moste singuler which was that he was neuer serued in his pallace with any young man that was vnshamefast or seditious nor with an olde man which was dishonest For he said oftetimes that princes shall neuer be well beloued if they haue about thē liers or sclaūderers This good emperour spake as a man of experience and very sage for if the counsellers and familiars of princes be euil taught and vnpacient they offende many and if they be liers they deceiue all and if they be dishonest they sclaunder the people And these offences be not so great vnto them that committe them as they be vnto the prince whiche suffreth them The emperour Theodose had in his pallace two knightes the one called Ruffinus and the other Stelliconus by whose prudence and wisdome the cōmon wealth was ruled and gouerned And as Ignacius Baptista saieth they twoo were the tutors gouernours of the children of Theodose whose names were Archadius and Honorius For as Seneca saieth when good princes do die they ought to be more carefull to procure maisters and tutors whiche shall teache their children then to procure realmes or kingdomes for to enriche them These twoo maisters Stelliconus and Ruffinus had in the pallace of Theodose eche of them a sonne the which were maruellous wel taught and very shamefast and for the contrary the two princes Honorius and Archadius were euill manered and not very honest And therfore the good emperour Theodose tooke these children oftetimes and set them at his table and contrary he woulde not once beholde his owne Let no man marueile though a prince of suche a grauitie did a thing of so smal importaunce for to say the truthe the shamefast children and wel taughte are but robbers of the hartes of other men Fourthly the tutors and maisters of princes oughte to take good heade that when the younge princes their schollers waxe great that they geue not them selues ouer to the wicked vice of the fleshe so that the sensualitie and euill inclination of the wanton childe ought to be remedied by the wisedom of the chaste maister For this cursed fleshe is of suche condition that if once by wantonnes the wicket be opened death shall soner approche then the gate shal be shut agayne The trees which budde and caste leaues before the time our hope is neuer to eate of their fruite in season I meane that when chyldren haunte the vice of the fleshe whyles they be young there is small hope of goodnes to be loked in them when they be olde And the elder we see them waxe the more we may be assured of their vices And where we see that vice encreaseth there we may affirme that vertue diminisheth Plato in his seconde booke of lawes ordeyneth and commaundeth that younge men shoulde not marye before they were .xxv. yeares of age and the younge maydens at .xx. because at that age their fathers abide lesse daungers in begetting them and geuing of them lyfe and the children also which are borne haue more strength against the assaultes of death Therefore if it be true as it is true in dede I aske nowe if to be maried and get children whiche is the ende of mariage the Philosophers doe not suffer vntill suche time as they be men then I say that maisters ought not to suffer their schollers to haunte the vices of the fleshe when they be chyldren In this case the good fathers oughte not alone to committe this matter to their tutors but also thereunto to haue an eye them selues For oftetimes they wyll saye they haue bene at their
perteineth to the gods and they being offended wil bee called pitifull wee others borowe iustice and not being offended do glorifie our selues to be called cruell I knowe not what manne wil hurte an other since we see that the gods forgeuing theire proper iniuries haue attained the renowme of mercifull and we others punishinge the iniuries done vnto an other doe remaine with the name of tyrauntes If the punishment of the gods were so seuere as our sinnes are filthye that they shoulde measure vs wyth this measure the onely desert of one offence is sufficient to take life from vs. With reason he cannot be called a manne amongest menne but a sauage amongest the sauages that forgetting to be of feble flesh tormenteth the flesh of his brother If a man beholde him selfe from toppe to toe he shal finde not one thinge in him to moue him to crueltie but he shall see in him many instrumentes to exercise mercye For he hath his eyes wherewith hee ought to beholde the neady and indigent he hath feete to goe to the church and sermons hee hath handes to helpe all he hath his tongue to fauoure the Orphane hee hath a harte to loue god and to conclude he hath vnderstanding to know the euyll and discretion to followe the good If menne owe much to the goddes for geuinge them these instrumentes to bee pitifull truelye they are bounde no lesse vnto them for takinge frō them all occasions to be cruell For he hath not geuen them hornes as to bulles neither nayles as to the catte nor yet he hath geuen them poyson as to the serpent Fynallye he hath not geeuen them so perilous feete as to a horse to strike nor he hath geeuen them such bloudye teethe as to the Lyon to byte Then sith the gods be pitefull and haue created vs pitifull and cōmaunded vs to be pitifull why do our iudges desire then to bee cruell O howe manye cruell and seuere iudges are there at this daye in the Romayne empire whiche vnder the coloure of good zeale to iustice aduenture to vndoe the common welth For not for the zeal of iustice but for the desire to attaine to renowne they haue bene ouercome with malyce and denied theire owne proper nature I do not meruaile that a Romaine censour shoulde enuye my house will euyll to my fryndes fauour myne enemies dispise my children with euyll eyes beholde my doughters couet my goods speke euyll of my parsone But that whiche I am ashamed of is that dyuers iudges are so gredye to teare mennes fleshe as if they were beares and mans fleshe were noynted with honye ¶ The Emperour continueth still his letter speakinge againste cruell iudges and reciteth two examples the one of a pitifull kinge of Cipres the other of a cruell iudge of Rome Cap. viii BY the faith of a good manne I swere vnto thee frende Antigonus that I being yong knewe a iudge in Rome whose name was Lycaronicus a mā of hygh stature his flesh neither to fatte nor to leane his eyes were some what bloudye and redde he was of the lynage of the Senatours and on hys face he had but a little bearde and on his heade he had manye whyte heares This Licaronicus of long tyme was iudge in Rome in the romaine lawes he was well learned and in customes and policies very experte of his owne nature he spake lyttle and in the aunswers he gaue he was verye resolute Amongest all those which were in Rome in his tyme he hadde this excellencye whiche was that to all he ministred equall iustice and to suters with greate speede he gaue briefe expedition and dispatched them immediatlye They coulde neuer withdrawe him by requestes neuer corrupt him with giftes nor begyle him with wordes nor feare him with threatninges neither would he receiue a brybe of anye that did offer it him And besydes this hee was verye seuere in condicion churlyshe in wordes vnflectible in requestes cruell in punishementes suspitious in affaires and aboue all he was hated of many and feared of all How muche this Lycaronicus was hated it cannot bee reported and of howe manye he was feared no man can thinke For in Rome when anye man was iniuried hee saide I praye god that Licaronicus may liue lōg When the children did crye the mothers immediatlye saide vnto them Take heede of Lycaronicus and streight waye they helde theire peace so that wyth the onelye name of Lycaronicus menne were astonied and chyldren kepte sylence Thou oughtest also to knowe Antigonus that when anye commotyon dyd aryse in a citye or in anye other prouince or that anye sclaunder rose and encreased therein they were wel assured and they saide that no other shoulde goe thither but onelye Lycaronicus And to saye the truthe when hee was arryued at that citie or prouynce the rebelles were not onelye fledde but also dyuers innocentes were for feare of his crueltye hyd For Lycaronicus was so resolute a parsonne that some for yll factes others for consentinge some for that they fauoured not the good right others for that they kept them secrete none escaped to be tormented of his parsonne or punyshed in goodes Thinkest thou Antigonus that they haue beene fewe whom this Iudge hath caused to bee whipte and carted cast into welles beheaded taken banished and put in the stockes during the tyme that the Romaines hadde him with them By the immortall gods I swere vnto thee and as Genius the god of nature maye helpe mee that the gallouses and gibbets were so furnished with feete handes and heades of menne as the shambles were with oxen sheepe and kyddes This Lycaronicus was so fleshely to shed humain bloud that he was neuer so conuersant nor had so merye a countenaunce as the same daye hee shoulde cause any manne to be drowned in Tyber hanged in mount Celio be headed in the strete Salario tormented or cast into the prison Marmortina O cruell o fyerse and vnspeakable condition that this iudge Lycaronicus hadde For it was not possible that he shoulde bee brought vp betweene the delicate armes of the Romaines but in the vile intrailes of you venemous serpents I retourne ones more to saye that it is vnpossible he shoulde be norished with the delicate milke of women but with the cruell bloude of Tigres If thys Licaronicus were cruell why did they geue him suche aucthoritie I curse suche auctoritie If he did it for that he had greate zeale to iustyce I curse such zeale of iustice If hee did it to winne more honour I curse that honour for that mā shal be cursed of the gods and hated of menne which taketh life from others thoughe it bee by iustice onelye to encrease his renowne The gods are muche offended and the people greatly domaged where the Senate of Rome calleth that Iudge gentle whiche is corrupted and him that is cruell iuste So that nowe amongest the Romayne people those whiche heale with oyle are not credited but those onelye whiche cure with
common wealthe and not with a mynde to reuenge To the ende the faultye maye haue occasion to amende the faultes past and not to reuenge iniuries present the diuine Plato in the bookes of his common wealth saide that iudges ought to haue two things alwaies present before their eyes that is to wete that in iudging thinges touching the goodes of others they shewe no couetousnes and in punishing anye man they shewe no reuenge For iudges haue lycence to chastice the bodye but therefore they haue not lycence to hurte theire hartes Nero the emperour was greatly defamed in his lyfe and verye cruell in his iustice and with all hys crueltyes i◠chaunced that as one on a daye brought him a iudgement for to subscribe to behead certeine murtherers He fetching a greate syghe said these woordes O howe happye were I that I had neuer learned to write onlye to be excused to subscribe this sentence Certaynly the Emperour Nero for speking such a pitifull worde at that tyme deserued immortall memorie but afterwardes his so cruell lyfe peruerted so notable a sentence For speaking the cruche one euil worke suffiseth to deface many good words O how manye realmes and countreys haue beene loste not so muche for the euilles whyche in those the wicked haue committed as for the disordinate Iustices whyche the ministers of iustice therein haue executed For they thinkinge by rigour to correct the dommages past haue raised vp present sclaunder for euer It is knowen to al men who and what the emperour Augustus hath beene whoe in all his doinges was exceadinge good For he was noble valyaunt stoute fyerse and a louer of iustice and aboue all verye pitiefull And for so muche as in other thinges he shewed his pitye and clemency he ordained that no prince should subscribe iudgementes of deathe with his owne hande neyther that he shoulde see iuystce done of anye wyth hys owne eyes Truelye the lawe was pitifullye ordeyned and for the cleannesse and purenes of Emperours verye necessarye For it semeth better for Prynces to defende theire lande with the sharpe sworde then to subscribe a sentence of deathe with the cruell penne Thys good Emperour Augustus was verye diligent to choose ministers of iustyce and verye carefull to teache them howe they shoulde behaue them selues in the common wealth admonishing them not onely of that they had to doe but also of that they ought to flye For the mynisters of iustyce oftentymes sayle of theire dutye In Capua there was a gouernour named Escaurus who was a iuste iudge thoughe he were somewhat seuere whome the Emperour Augustus sent to the realme of Dace to take charge of that prouince And amongest dyuers other thynges he spake these wordes vnto him to retayne theym in hys memorye Frynde Escaurus I haue determyned to plucke thee from Capua and to put into thy custodye the gouernement of the prouynce of Dace where thou shalt represent the roiall maiestye of my persone and thou oughtest also to consyder well that as I make thee better in honour and goodes so thou in like case shouldest make thy selfe better in lyfe and more temperate in iustice For hitherto in iustice thou hast bene a lyttle to rigorous and in thy lyfe somewhat to rashe I counsaile thee therefore I doe desire thee and further I commaunde thee that thou chaunge thy trade of lyfe and haue great respecte to my honour and good name For thou knowest right well that the onelye profite and honour of the common wealth of Romayne Princes consysteth in hauinge good or euyll ministers of theire iustyce If thou wylt doe that I woulde thou shouldest I let the vnderstande that I doe not commyt my honour in thy truste neyther my iustyce to thintente thou shouldest bee an enuyer of the innocent a scourge of transgressours but that onelye wyth the one hande thou helpe to sustanie the good and wyth the other thou healpe to amende the euyll And if thou wilt more perticulerly knowe my entencion I do send the to the end thou shouldest be graundfather to the Orphanes an aduocate for the wydowes a plaister for the greued a staffe for the blynde and a father to all Let therefore the resolution of all be to reioyce myne enemies to comfort my frindes to lift vp the weke to fauour the strōg so that thou be indifferent to all parcyall to none to the end that through thy vpright dealing myne may reioice to dwel there strangers desire to come serue me here This was the instruccion whiche the emperour Augustus gaue to the gouernour Escaurus And if a man wil consider way his words wel he shal synde them compendious enough that I would they were written in our iudges hartes By thy letter thou declarest that the iudges whom the Senate sent to that I le are not very honest nor yet without some suspicion of couetousnes O wofull cōmon wealth where the iudges therofare cruell dishonest couetous forthe cruell iudges seeke nought elles but the bloude of innocentes they couet the goods of the poore they sclaunder the good to suche so wicked a common welth I would saye that it were better to remaine in the mountains among the brute bestes then by such vniust iudges to be gouerned in a comō wealth For the firce Lyons which of all beasts are moste cruell if in his presens the hunter prostrate him self on the earth before him the Lyon wil neither touch him nor his garment O my frinde Antigonus dost thou thinke that if the cōmon welth be vnhappy which hath such iudges that therfore Rome may reioise which prouyded them By the faith of a good mā I swere vnto the that I count the Senatours worse which sent them than the Iudges which wēt thither It is a great griefe to a noble stoute harte to demaunde iustyce of a man which neither is true nor yet obserueth Iustice but it is a greater grief to see a Iudge that to many hath executed tyrāny to many poore men hath done sundry wronges afterwardes not with the lyfe he leadeth but with the authoritie he hath presumeth to correct diuers Iudges He that hath the offyce to punish the vicious ought him selfe to be voide of all vyces otherwyse he that hath that office by tyrāny executeth iustice furthermore he is a traitour to the common welth It is vnpossible that any Iudge shoulde be good vnlesse he hath the aucthoritie of his office for accessary and his pure lyfe for principall The ende why a iudge is sente in prouinces is to defyne doubtfull causes to refourme their maners to fauour those which can lytle by vyolēce to enforce those whiche can do muche And for the most parte there is no common welth so weake but may well hang a thefe on the gallouse though there came no Iudge from Rome to geue sentence O how many iudges are there now a dayes in Rome whiche haue caused dyuers to be hanged regardynge nothyng
to lawe and the christian wyth the pagan without comparison the soule of a christian oughte more to be estemed then the lyfe of a Romayne For the good Romaine obseruethe it as a lawe to dye in the warre but the good christian hathe this precepte to lyue in peace Suetonius Tranquillus in the seconde booke of Cesars sayethe That amonge all the Romayne prynces there was noe prynce so wellbeloued nor yet in the warres so fortunate as Augustus was And the reason hereof is beecause that prynce neuer beganne anye warre vnlesse by greate occasyon he was thereunto prouoked O of how many prynces not ethnicks but christians we haue hearde and reade all contrarye to thys whyche is that were of suche large conscience that theye neuer tooke vppon them anye warre that was iuste to whom I sweare and promyse that since the warre which they in thys worlde beeganne was vniuste the punishemente whiche in an other theye shall haue is moste righteous Xerxes kynge of the Perses beynge one dayeat dynner one broughte vnto hym verye faire and sauourye fygges of the prouince of Athens the whyche beeinge sette at the table he sweare by the immortal goddes and by the bones of his predecessours that he would neuer eate fygges of hys countreye but of Athens whych were the beste of all Greece And that whyche by woorde of mouthe kynge Xerxes sweare by valiaunt dedes withe force and shielde he accomplished and wente foorthwith to conquere Gretia for noe other cause but for to syll him selfe wythe the sygges of that countreye so that he beganne that warre not onelye as a lyghte prynce but also as a vicious man Titus Liuius sayethe that when the Frenche men did cast of the wine of Italy immediately they put them selues in armes and went to conquere the countreye witheout hauinge anye other occasion to make warre againste them So that the Frenchemen for the lycorousnes of the pleasaunt wynes loste the deare bloude of theire owne hartes Kyng Antigonus dreamed one nighte that he sawe kinge Methridates withe a fyeth in hys hande who lyke a mower dyd cut all Italy And there fell suche feare to kynge Antigonus that he determined to kyll kynge Methridates so that this wicked prince for credytinge a lighte dreame set all the worlde in an vprore The Lumberdes beeinge in Pannonia herde saye that there was in Italy sweete fruites sauowry fleshe odoriferous wynes faire women good fish litle colde and temperate heate the whyche newes moued them not onelye to desire them but also theye toke weapons to goe conquere Italye So that the Lombardes came not into Italye to reuenge them of theire enemies but to bee there more vicious and riotous The Romaynes and the Carthagiens were friendes of longe time but after they knew there was in Spaine great mynes of golde and of siluer immediatelye arose betweene them exceadynge cruell warres so that those twoe puissaunt realmes for to take eche from other their goods destroyed their own proper dominions The authors of the aboue said were Plutarchus Paulus Diaconus Berosus Titus Liuius O secret iudgements of god which suffreth such thyngs O mercyful goodnes of thee my Lord that ê‘mitteth such things that through the dreame of on price in his chaÌ„ber another for to robbe the treasures of Spayne another to fly the colde of Hungary another to drinke the wines of Italy another to eat figges of Grece shoulde put al the countrey to fire bloud Let not my pen be cruel against al princes which haue vniust warres For as Traianus said Iust warre is more worthe then fayned peace I commend approue and exalt princes whiche are carefull stout to kepe and defende that which their predecessours lefte them For admit that for dispossessing them hereof cometh all the breache with other Princes Loke how much his enemy offendeth his conscience for taking it so much offendeth he his common wealth for not defending it The wordes whiche the diuine Plato spake in the first booke of his laws dyd satisfye me greatly which were these It is not mete we should be to extreme in coÌ„mending those which haue peace nor let vs be to vehement in reprouing those whiche haue warre For it may be now that if one haue warre it is to the end to attaine peace And for the contrary if one haue peace it shal be to the ende to make warre In deede Plato sayde verye true For it is more worthe to desire shorte warre for longe peace then short peace for longe warre The philosopher Chilo being demauÌ„ded whereby a good or euil gouernour might be knowen he auÌ„swered There is nothing wherby a good and euill man maye be better knowen then in that for the which they striue For the tyranous Prince offrethe him selfe to dye to take from an other but the vertuous prince trauaileth to defend his own WheÌ„ the redemer of this worlde departed from this worlde he sayde not I geue ye my warre or leaue ye my warre but I leaue ye my peace and geeue you mye peace Thereof ensuethe that the good christian is bounde to keepe the peace which Christ so muche commaunded then to inuent warre to reuenge his proper iniurye which god so much hated If princes dyd that they oughte to doe and in this case woulde beleue me for no temporall thing they shoulde condescend to shed mans bloud if nothinge els yet at the leaste the loue of hym whiche on the crosse shed hys precious bloude for vs shoulde from that cleane disswade vs. For the good Christians are commaunded to bewaile theire owne sinnes but they haue no licence to shed the bloude of their enemies Fynally I desire exhorte and further admonishe al princes and great lordes that for his sake that is prince of peace they loue peace procure peace kepe peace and liue in peace For in peace they shal be rich their people happye ¶ Themperour Marcus Aurelius writeth to his friend Cornelius wherein he dyscribeth the discomodyties of warre and the vanitie of tryumphe Cap. xiiij MArcus Emperoure wysheth to thee Cornelius hys faithful frend helth to thye person and good lucke against all euill fortune Withein fiftene daies after I came from the warre of Asia whereof I haue triumphed here in Rome remembrynge that in times paste thou weare a companyon of my trauaile I sent immedyatly to certyfy thee of my triuÌ„phes For the noble harts do more reioice of their friÌ„ds ioy theÌ„ they do of their own proê‘ delights If thou wilt take pains to come wheÌ„ I seÌ„d to cal thee be thou assured that on the one part thou shalt haue much plesure to se the great abuÌ„daÌ„s of riches that I haue brought out of Asia to beeholde mye receiuinge into Rome on the other thou canst not kepe thy selfe from weepinge to se suche a sorte of captiues the which entred in before the triuÌ„phant chariotes bounde naked to augment to the coÌ„querours most glory also to them vanquished to be a greater
sober in drinkynge softe in wordes wyse in counsaile and to conclude hee oughte to be very pacient in aduersytye and farre from vices which attempt him Worthye of prayse is the greate Seneca for these wordes but more worthye shall the olde men be if they will conforme their workes according to those wordes For if wee see them abandon vices and geue them selues to vertues we wyll both serue them and honour them ¶ That princes when they are aged should be temperate in eating sober in drinkynge modest in apparell and aboue all true in communicacion Cap. xviii IT is consonaunt to the counsayle of Seneca that the aged shoulde bee temperate in eating whych they ought to do not only for the reputacion of their persons but also for the preseruacion of their liues For the olde men which are drunk and amarous are persecuted with their owne diseases and are defamed by the tonges of other That whiche the auncient men shoulde eate I meane those whiche are noble and vertuous ought to be verye cleane well dressed and aboue all that theye take it in ceason and time for otherwise to muche eatinge of diuers thinges causeth the yonge to bee sicke and enforceth the olde to dye Yong men though they eate dishonestly very hastely and eate speakinge we can do no lesse but dissemble withe them but the olde mē whych eate much and hastelye of necessitie we oughte to reproue them For men of honour ought to eate at the table with a great grauitie as if they were in anye counsaile to determine causes It is not my intention to perswade the feble olde men not to eate but to admonishe them to eate no more then is necessarye We doe not prohibite them to eate delicate thinges but to beware of superfluous thinges We doe not counsale them to leaue eatinge hauinge nede but to withdrawe them selues from curiosyties For thoughe it bee lawefull for aged men to eate sufficiente it is not honeste for them to eate to ouercome their stomakes It is a shame to wryte it but more shame ought they to haue whiche doe it whiche is that the goodes whiche theye haue wonne and inheryted by their predecessours theye haue eaten and dronken so that theye haue neyther bought house vyne nor yet maried any doughter but they are naked and theire poore children goe to the Tauernes and Innes and the myserable fathers to the Hospitalles and churches When anye man commeth to pouertye for that his house is burned or his shyppe drowned or that theye haue taken all from hym by lawe or that he hath spent it in pleadyng against hys enemye or anye other inconuenience is come vnto hym mee thinketh wee all are bounde to succoure him and the harte hathe compassion to beeholde hym but hee that spendeth it in apparaile not requysyte to seeke delitious wynes and to eate delicate meates to such one I woulde saye that the pouertye hee suffreth is not sufficiente for his desertes For of all troubles there is none so greate as to see a man suffer the euill whereof he hymselfe hathe bene the occasion Also according to the counsaile of Seneca the auncients ought to be wel aduertised in that they should not onely be temperate in eatyng but also they shoolde be sober in drinking and this both for the preseruacion of their health and allso reputacion of theire honestye For if the olde Phisitions doe not deceiue vs humaine bodies doe drye and corrupte beecause theye drinke superfluously and eate more then nature requireth If I shoulde saye vnto the olde menne that theye shoulde drynke no wyne theye myghte tell mee that it is not the counsayle of a Christian But presuppose theye oughte to drynke and that for noe oppynyon theye shoulde leaue it yet I admonyshe exhorte and desire them that theye drynke lytle and that theye drynke verye temperate For the disordynate and immesurate drynkynge causeth yonge men to bee drunke and the olde men bothe drunke and foolishe O howe muche authoritye loste theye and what grauytye doe honourable and auncient menne lose whiche in drynkinge are not sober Whyche semeth to bee true for asmuche as the man beeinge loden wyth wyne thoughe hee were the wysest in the worlde hee shoulde bee a verye foole that woulde take counsayle of suche one in hys affaires Plutarche in a booke whiche hee made of the fortune of the Romains sayed that in the senate of Rome there was an auncient manne who made greate exclamacions that a yonge man hadde in suche sorte dishonoured him that for the iniuries he hadde spoken hee deserued deathe And when the yonge manne was called for to aunswere to that hee hadde sayde vnto hym he aunswered Fathers conscripte thoughe I seeme yonge vnto you yet I am not so yonge but that I knewe the father of this olde manne who was a vertuous and noble Romayne and somewhat a kynne to mee And I seeynge that his father hadde gotten muche goodes fightynge in the warres and also seeinge this olde manne spending them in eatynge and drinkynge I sayde vnto him one daye I am verye sorye my lorde and vncle for that I heare of thye honour in the market place and am the more sorye for that I see done in thy house wherein we sawe fyftye men armed before in one houre and we nowe see a hundreth knaues made drunke And worse then that as thye father shewed to all those that entered hys house the ensignes hee hadde wonne in the warres so nowe to those that enter into thy house thou shewest them dyuers sortes of wynes My vncle complayned of mee but in this case I make the plaintife iudge againste mee the defendaunt And I woolde by the immortall goddes hee deserued noe more payne for hys woorkes then I deserue by my woordes For yf he had bene wyse hee woulde haue accepted the correction which secretlye I gaue him and had not come openly to declare his faults in the Senate The complaynte of the olde manne beeinge hearde by the Senate and the excuse in lyke manner of the yonge man they gaue iudgement that theye shoolde take all the goods from the olde manne and prouyde hym of a tutour whyche shoulde gouerne hym and hys house And theye commaunded the tutoure that from hence forwarde hee shoolde not geeue him one cuppe of wyne since hee was noted of drunkennesse Of truth the sentence whiche the Senate gaue was verye iuste For the olde manne whiche geeueth him selfe to wyne hathe asmuche neede to haue a gouernoure as an infaunte or a foole Laettius made a booke of the feastes of Phylosophers and declarethe sundrye auncyente bankettes amonge the which he putteth one where were assēbled many greate philosophers And admit that the meats were meane simple yet the bidden gestes were sage And the cause why they did assemble was not to eat but to dispute of some graue doctrines whereof the philosophers did somewhat doubte For in those daies the greater the Stoikes the Peripatetikes were in nomber
then that of thy merits Thou hast taken on thee an office wherwith that which thy cōpaignions in many days haue robbed thou in one hour by disceit doost get afterwards the time shal come when all the goods which thou hast gotten both by trueth falshod shal be lost not only in an hour which is long but in a momēt which is but short Whether wee geeue much wee haue much wee may doo much or wee liue much yet in the end the gods are so iust that all the euill wee doo cōmit shal bee punished for all the good wee woork wee shal bee rewarded so that the gods oftentimes permit that one alone shall scourge many and afterward the long time punisheth all ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and perswadeth his frend Cincinnatus to despise the vanities of the world and sheweth though a man bee neuer so wyse yet hee shall haue need of an other mans counsell Cap. xxvii IF I knew thy wisdom esteemed the world vanities therof so much as the world doth possesse thee and thy days as by thy white hears most manyfestly doth appeere I neede not take the payns to perswade thee nor thou shooldst bee annoied in hearing mee Notwithstanding thou beeing at the gate of great care reason woold that some shoold take the clapper to knock therat with some good counsell for though the raser bee sharp it needeth sometimes to bee whet I mean though mans vnderstanding bee neuer so cleere yet from time to time it needeth counsel Vertuous men oft times do erre not because they woold fail but for that the thīgs are so euil of digestiō that the vertu they haue suffiseth not to tell them what thing is necessary for their profit For the which cause it is necessary that his will bee brydled his wit fyned his oppinion changed his memory sharpned aboue all now and then that hee forsake his own aduise and cleaue vnto the counsell of an other Men which couet to make high sumptuous fair and large buildings haue grete care that the foundacion therof be surely layd for where the foundacions are not sure there the whole buyldings are in great daunger The maners and conditions of this world that is to weete the prosperous estates whervpon the children of vanity are set are founded of quick sand in that sort that bee they neuer so valyaunt prosperous and mighty a litle blast of wynd dooth stirre them a little heat of prosperity doth open them a showre of aduersity doth wet them and vnwares death striketh them all flatt to the ground Men seeing they cannot bee perpetuall doo procure to continue thē selues in raising vp proud buyldings and leauing to their children great estates wherin I count them fooles no lesse then in things superfluous For admit the pillers bee of gold the beams of siluer and that those which ioyn them bee kings and those which buyld them are noble and in that mining they consume a thousand yeres beefore they can haue it out of the ground or that they can come to the bottoms I swere vnto them that they shall fynd no stedy rock nor lyuely mountain wher they may buyld their house sure nor to cause their memory to bee perpetuall The immortall gods haue participated all things to the mortall men immortality only reserued and therfore they are called immortall for so much as they neuer dye and wee others are called mortall bycause dayly wee vanish away O my frend Cincinnatus men haue an end and thou thinkest that gods neuer ought to end Now greene now rype now rotten fruit is seuered from this lyfe from the tree of the miserable flesh esteem this as nothing forsomuch as death is naturall But oft times in the leaf or flower of youth the frost of some disease or the peril of some mishap dooth take vs away so that whē wee think to bee aliue in the morning wee are dead in the night It is a tedious long woork to weue a cloth yet when in many days it is wouen in one moment it is cut I mean that it is much folly to see a man with what toil hee enricheth him self into what perill hee putteth him self to win a state of honor afterwards whē wee think litle wee see him perish in his estate leauing of him no memory O my frend Cincinnatus for the loue that is between vs I desire thee by the immortal gods I coniure thee that thou geeue no credit to the world which hath this condiciō to hide much copper vnder little gold vnder the colour of one truth hee telleth vs a thousand lyes with one short pleasure hee mingleth ten thousand displesures Hee beegyleth those to whom hee pretendeth most loue and procureth great domages to them to whom hee geeueth most goods hee recompenseth them greatly which serue him in iest and to those which truely loue him hee geeueth mocks for goods Finally I say that when wee sleepe most sure hee waketh vs with greatest perill Eyther thou knowst the world with his deceyt or not if thou knowest him not why doost thou serue him if thou doost know him why doost thou follow him Tell mee I pray thee wooldst not the take that theef for a foole which woold buy the rope wherwith hee shoold bee hanged the murtherer that woold make the swoord wherwith hee shoold bee beheaded the robber by the high way that woold shew the well wherin hee shoold bee cast the traitor that shoold offer him self in place for to bee quartered the rebel that shoold disclose him self to bee stoned Then I swere vnto thee that thou art much more a foole which knowest the world will folow it serue it One thing I wil tel thee which is such that thou oughtest neuer to forget it that is to weete that wee haue greater need of faith not to beliue the vanities which wee see then to beeleue the great malices which with our ears wee here I retorn to aduise thee to read cōsider this woord which I haue spoken for it is a sentence of profound mistery Doost thou think Cincinnatus that rych men haue litle care to get great riches I let thee weet that the goods of thys world are of such condicion that beefore the poore man dooth lock vp in hys chests a .100 crowns hee feeleth a thousād greefes cares in his heart Our predecessors haue seen it wee see it presently our successors shal see it that the money which wee haue gotten is in a certein nomber but the cares trauails which it bringeth are infinit Wee haue few paynted houses few noble estats in Rome the wtin a litle time haue not great cares ī their harts cruel enmities with their neighbors much euil wil of their heirs disordinat importunities of their frends perilous malices of their enemies aboue al in the Senate they haue innumerable proces oft times to lock a litle good in their chests
dye lyueth the euill man though hee liue dyeth I swear vnto thee by the mother Berecinthia and so the god Iupiter doo preserue mee that I speak not this which I will speak fainedly which is that considering the reast that the dead haue with the gods and seeing the sorows troubles wee haue here with the lyuing I say and affirm once agayn that they haue greater compassion of our lyfe then wee others haue sorow of their death Though the death of men were as the death of beasts that is to weet that there were no furies nor deuils which shoold torment the euil that the gods shoold not reward the good yet wee ought to bee comforted to see our frends dye if it were for no other but to see thē deliuered from the thraldō of this miserable world The pleasure that the Pilot hath to bee in sure hauen the glory that the captaine hath to see the day of victory the rest that the traueler hath to see his iorney ended the contentation that the woork man hath to see his woork come to perfeccion all the same haue the dead seeing them selues out of this miserable lyfe If men were born alway to lyue it were reason to lament them when wee see them dye but since it is troth that they are borne to dye I woold say since needes dye wee must that wee ought not to lament those whych dye quickly but those whych lyue long I am assured that Claudine thy husband remembring that whych in this lyfe hee hath passed and suffered and seeing the rest that hee hath in the other though the Gods woold make him emperor of Rome hee woold not bee one day out of his graue For returning to the world hee shoold dye agayn but beeing with the gods hee hopeth to lyue perpetually Lady Lauinia most earnestly I desire thee so vehemently not to perse the heauens with thy so heauy sighes ne yet to wete the earth with thy so bitter teares since thou knowst that Claudine thy husband is in place where there is no sorow but mirth where ther is no payn but rest where hee weepeth not but laugheth where hee sigheth not but singeth where hee hath no sorows but pleasures where hee feareth not cruell death but enioyeth perpetuall lyfe Since therfore this is true it is but reason the wydow appease her anguish considering that her husband endureth no payn Often tymes wyth my self I haue thought what the widows ought to immagin when they see them selues in such cares and distresse And after my count made I fynd that they ought not to thynk of the company past nor wofull solitarynes wherin they are presently and much lesse they ought to think on the pleasures of this world but rather to remember the rest in the world to come For the true widow ought to haue her conuersacion among the lyuing and her desire to bee wyth the dead If til this present thou hadst paine and trouble to look for thy husband to come home haue thou now ioy that hee looketh for thee in heauen wherin I swere vnto thee that there thou shalt bee better vsed of the gods then hee was here of mē For in this world wee know not what glory meaneth and there they know not what payns are Licinius and Posthumius thy vncles told mee that thou art so sorowful that thou wilt receiue no comfort but in this case I think not that thou bewailest so much for Claudinus that thou alone doost think thou hast lost him For since wee did reioyce togethers in his lyfe wee are bound to weep togethers at his death The heauy and sorowful harts in this world feele no greater greef then to see others reioice at theyr sorows And the cōtrary hereof is that the wofull and afflicted hart feeleth no greater ioy nor rest in extreme mishaps of fortune then to think that others haue sorow and greef of their payn When I am heauy and comfortles I greatly ioy to haue my frend by mee and my hart dooth tell mee that what I feele hee feeleth So that all which my frend with his eyes dooth beewail and all that which of my greefes hee feeleth the more therwith hee burdeneth him self and the more therof hee dischargeth mee The Emperor Octauian Augustus the histories say on the riuer of Danuby found a kynd of people which had thys straunge custom that with eyes was neuer seene nor in books at any time euer read which was that two frends assembled and went to the aultars of the temples and there one frend confederat with an other so that their harts were maried as man and wife are maried touching their bodies swering and promysing there to the gods neuer to weepe nor to take sorow for any mishap that shoold come to their persons So that my frend shoold come to lament and remedy my troubles as if they had been his own I shoold lament and remedy his as if they had been mine O glorious world O age most happy O people of eternal memory wherin men are so gentle frendz so faithfull that their own trauails they forgot and the sorows of strangers they beewayled O Rome without rome O tyme euil spent O lyfe to vs others euil emploied O wretch that always art careles now adays the stomack and intrailes are so seuered from the good and the harts so ioyned with the euill that men forgetting them selues to bee men beecome more cruell then wyld beasts I labor to geeue thee lyfe and thou seekest to procure my death Thou weepest to see mee laugh and I laugh to see thee weepe I procure that thou doo not mount and thou seekest that I might fall Fynally without the profit of any wee cast our selues away and wythout gayn wee doo reioyce to end our lyues By the faith of a good man I swear vnto thee Lady Lauinia that if thy remedy were in my hands as thy grief is in my hart I woold not bee sory for thy sorows neither thou so tormēted for the death of thy husband But alas though I miserable man haue the hart to feele thy anguysh yet I want power to remedy thy sorows ¶ The Emperor proceedeth in his letter and perswadeth wydowes to put their willes to the will of god and exhorteth them to lyue honestly Cap. xxxviii SInce thy remedy and my desire cannot bee accomplished beecause it is a thing vnpossible to receiue and speak with the dead and not hauing power mee think that thou and I shoold referre it to the gods who can geeue much better then wee can ask O lady Lauinia I desire thee earnestly and as a frend I counsel and admonish thee and with all my hart I require thee that thou esteem that for wel doon which the gods haue doon that thou conform thy self to the will of the gods and that thou will nought els but as the gods will For they only know they erre not wherfore they haue assaulted thy husband with so
eyther to iesters minstrels parasites flaterers loiterers or fooles First mee seemeth that a man ought not to think that fooles are capable to geeue counsayle since they haue it not for them selues for it should bee great foly to vse men as sages which of their owne will haue made them selues fooles The second mee seemeth that it is a vaine thinge to think that the iesters should serue as seruants for these vnhappy people to fly trauayle onely haue taken vpon them this office so sclaunderous Thirdly it semeth to bee a shamefast thing and of great inconuenyence that any noble and sage man should determine to haue any flatterer or iester for his famylyar frend for such ought not nor cannot bee counted among the true frends since they loue vs not for the vertue wee possesse but for the goods which wee haue Fourthly mee thinketh it a vayne thing to think that vnder the colour of pouerty it should bee iust to geeue meat to iesters or loyterers for wee cannot say the such are poore for that they want ryches but that folly aboundeth in them Since therefore a man is defamed to haue such iesters flatterers and loyterers for frends and that for beeing seruants they are vnhable and with out witt to ask them counsayle mee thynketh it is a great folly to spend hys goods on such loyterers For as their intencions to the gods onely are manifest and to men secret so their is nothing wherin the good doo approue and manyfest their intencions to bee good or euyl more then in the woordes which they speake in the companies which they keepe ¶ Marcus Aurelius goeth forward with his letter and declareth how hee found the sepulchres of many learned Philosophers in Helespont whereunto hee sent all these loyterers Cap. xlvi I will thou know Lambert that thy Ile is consecrated with the bones of many excellent men the which were banyshed by sundry tirannous Princes of Rome The auncients greatly commend that I le beecause there are therein stones caled Amatistes tame deere faire womeÌ„ familiar wolfes swift dogges of foote and pleasaunt fountaines Yet notwithstanding I will not cease to commend these things which reioyce those that bee presente and also comfort those that bee to come For I esteeme more the bones which the earth doo couer then the riches which groweth theron If thou hast not lost the sence of smelling as that I le doth sauoure vnto mee of sages so doth Rome stynk of fooles For for the time it is lesse payne to endure the stink of the beast then to heare the woordes of a foole When the warres of Asia were ended I returned home by that yle wherin I visited al the lyuing people and al the graues of the dead philosophers And for a trueth I tel thee Lambert the that iourney was veri trublesome vnto mee for here in my person endured much payne on the land I suffered dyuers daungers and on the sea I saw my selfe in sondry perils In the city of Corinthe where thou art resident at this present in the middest of the market place thou shalt finde the graue of the philosopher Panimio to whom the streight frendship auayled litel which hee had with Ouide but the enmity greatly endomaged him which hee had with Augustus the emperor Two miles from Theadfonte at the foote of the mountains Arpines thou shalt finde the graue of the famous orator Armeno who was by the coÌ„sul Scilla vniustly banished And of troth as here was much blood lost beecause Scilla should not enter into Rome so there were not few tears shed in Italye for the banishment of this philosopher In the gate of Argonata hard by the water in the top of a high rock thou shalt finde the bones of Celliodorus the Philosopher who obserued all the auncient laws and was a great enemy of those which brought in new customes and statutes This good Philosopher was banyshed in the prosperitye fury of the Marians nor for the euils they found in him but for the vyces hee reproued in them In the fyldes Heliny there was a great tomb within the which were the bones of Selleno the philosopher who was aswel learned in the .vii. lyberall artes as if hee himselfe had first inuented them And hee was banished by the Emperor Nero for beecause hee perswaded this cruel Emperor to bee merciful pyteful In the same fyeldes Heliny out of the woods towards the west part thou shalt find the graue of the philosopher Vulturnê° a man in Astrology profoundly learned which litle auayled him in his banishmeÌ„t For hee was banished by Marcus Antonius not for that Marcus Antonius would haue banished hym for hee was not offended by him but beecause his loue Cleopatra hated him as her mortal enemy For women of an euyll lyfe reuenge commonly their angry harts with the death of their especiall frends Diuers other tombs in that I le I saw the names wherof though in writing I haue them yet at this present I cannot cal them to memory Wel by the faith of an honest maÌ„ I swere vnto thee that thou shalt fynde al true which I haue told thee Now I tell thee Lambert that I visiting those graues their disciples did not beare them greater obedience when they were alyue then I dyd reuerence now they are dead And it is true also that in all that time my eyes were as much wet with water as their bones were couered with earth These philosophers were not banyshed for myscheues by their persons committed nor for sclaunders they had doon in the common wealths but beecause the deeds of our fathers deserued that they shoold bee taken from their company and wee their chyldren were not woorthy to haue the bones of so famous and renowmed sages in our custody I cannot tell if the enuy I haue to that I le bee greater or the pyty I haue of this miserable Rome for the one is immortall by the graues of the dead and the other is defamed with the lyfe of the lyuing I desire thee hartely as a frend and doo commaund thee as a seruaunt that thou keepe the pryuyleges which I geeue to that I le without breakyng any one For it is very iust that such cyties peopled with such dead should bee priuileged of the lyuing By this Centurion thou shalt know al things which are chaunced amongst the prisoners For if I should wryte al the whole matter vnto thee as it was doon I eÌ„sure thee vnto mee it would bee much paine to write it to thee great trouble to rede it It suffyceth presently to say that the day of the great solempnitie of the mother Berecinthe a sclaunderer arose in Rome by the occasion of these iesters scoffers and loyterers and by the fayth of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the blood which was shed through the places surmounted the wine which was drunk at the feast And think not that which I say to bee lytel that the blood which
I doe appeale thee if thou hast dreamed that thou hast wrytten I saye beleue not in dreames and if thou wylt not it shoulde auayle to glorifie me as a frende yet thou mightest wryte it aduertising and repreuing me as the father to the sonne younge vertuous persones are bounde to honour auncient wyse men and no lesse olde wyse men ought to endoctrine the younge people and very young as I am A iust thing it is that the new forces of youth supplie and serue them that are worne by age For their longe experience instructeth our tender age and naturall ignoraunce Youthe is euill applied when it aboundeth in force of the body wanteth the vertues of the mind and age is honoured wherein the force dieth outwarde whereby vertues quickeneth the more inwarde We may see the tree when the fruite is gathered the leaues fall and when flowers drie then more grene and perfecte are the rootes I meane that when the first season of youth is passed whiche is the Sommer time then commeth age called Wynter and purifieth the fruite of the fleshe and the leaues of fauour fal the flowers of delite wither and the vynes of hope drye outwarde then it is ryght that much better are the rootes of good workes within They that be olde and auncient ought to prayse their good workes rather then their white heares For honoure ought to be geuen for the good life and not for the whyte head Glorious is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is lord of young men to trauaile and auncient persones to councell As to regarde the sustaininge of the naturalitie of the lyfe in likewyse ought to be considered the policy of gouernaunce the whiche is that al the fruites come nor drye not al at once but when one beginneth another faileth And in this maner ye that be auncient teaching vs and we be obedient as olde fathers and young pullettes being in the neste of the Senate Of some their fethers fallinge and other younge fethered and where as the olde fathers can not flie their trauayles are mainteined by their tender children Frende Catullus I purposed not to wryte one lyne this yeare because my penne was troubled with thy slouthe but the weakenes of my spirite and the great peril of myne offices alwayes called on me to demaunde thy councell This priuiledge the olde wyse men holde in their houses where they dwell They are alwayes lordes ouer them that be simple and are sclaues to them that be wyse I thinke thou hast forgotten me thinking that sithe the death of my dere sonne Verissimus the time hath bene so long that I should forget it Thou hast occasion to thinke so for many thinges are cured in time which reason can not helpe But in this case I can not tell which is the greatest thy trūpery or my dolour I sweare to thee by the gods immortall that the hungry wormes are not so puissaunt in the entrales of the vnhappy chylde as the bitter sorowes are in the heauy hart of the wofull father And it is no comparison for the sonne is dead but one tyme and the heauy father dieth euery momente What wylt thou more that I should saye But that one ought to haue enuy of his death and compassion of my lyfe because in dyeng he lyueth and in the lyuing I dye In the mischaunces of lyfe and in the great vnconstancie of fortune whereas her gyles profiteth but litle and her strengthe lesse I thinke the best remedy is to fele it as a man and dissimule it as discrete and wyse If all things as they be felt at heart should be shewed outward with the tongue I thynke that the wyndes shoulde breake the hearte with syghinges and water all the earth with weping O if the corporal eyes sawe the sorowe of the heart I sweare to thee they should see more of a drop of bloud sweatinge within then all the wepyng that appeareth without There is no comparyson of the great dolours of the body to the least greife of the mynde For all trauayle of the body men may finde some remedy but if the heauy heart speake it is not heard if it wepe it is not sene if it complaine it is not beleued What shal the poore harte doe Abhorre the lyfe wherwith it dieth and desire death wherwith it liueth The highe vertues among noble vertuous people consiste not all onely to suffer the passions of the body but also to dissimule them of the soule They be suche that alter the humours and shewe it not outward they brynge a feuer without altering of the poulce they alter the stomacke they make vs to knele to the earth to suffer the water vp to the mouthe and to take death without leauing of the lyfe and finally they length our life to the intente that we should haue no more trauayle and denieth vs our graue to the intent that we should not reste But considering as I am troubled with sorowes so am I voyde of consolations for when I haue either desire of the one or werynes of the other I vse alwayes this remedy to dissimule with the tongue to wepe with the eyes and to fele it with my heart I passe my lyfe as he that hoped to lese all that he hath neuer to recouer that that is loste I saye this though ye see me not nowe make funeral wepinges and waylinges as I did at the death of my sonne yet thinke not but it doeth bren my heart so that with the great heate inward is consumed the humiditie of the eyes for it brenneth al my spirites within Thou mayest knowe what an honorable father suffereth to lese a good childe in all thinges the gods be liberal except in geuing vs vertuous children Where there is aboūdaunce of great estates there is greatest scarsitie of good inheritours It is a dolefull thing to heare and greater pitie to see howe these fathers clime to haue rychesse and to see their children descende to haue viciousnes To see the fathers honoure their children and the children to infame their fathers yea and the fathers to geue reste to the chyldren and the chyldren to geue trouble to their fathers yea and sometyme the fathers die for sorowe that their children die so sone and we see their childrē wepe because their fathers die so late What should I saye more but that the honoure and ryches that the fathers haue procured with great thought the chyldren consume with litle care I am certayne of one thing that the fathers may gather ryches with strengthe and crafte to susteyne their children but the Gods wyll not haue durable that that is begonne with euyll intention as that is whiche is wonne to the preiudice of other and possessed with an euyll heyre And though the heauy destinies of the father permit that the ryches be lefte to their children to serue them in all their vyces for their pastime at last yet according to their merites the
wynne as your fathers did All their exercyse was in goodnes and ye that are their chyldren passe all your tyme in ceremonies I saye this ye Romaines because ye haue almoste killed me with laughing at you to see how ye doe all as muche your diligence to leaue your armure without the gate of the Senate as your predecessours did take to them to defende the Empire What profite is it to you to leaue of these armours which hurte the bodies and to put on them those which slea al the world What profiteth it to the careful suiter that the senatour entreth vnarmed into the senate without sweard or dagger his hart entreth into the senate armed with malice O Romains I wil ye know that in our ysle we esteme you not as armed captaines but as malicious senatours You feare vs not with sharpe grounden swoordes and daggers but with hard hartes venemous tongues If ye should in the senate put on harneis therwith take away your liues it were but a small losse seing that ye susteine not the innocentes nor dispatche not the businesse of suiters I can not suffer it I can not tell in what state ye stande here at Rome for in our isle we take armoure from fooles whether your armoures are taken away as from fooles or mad folkes I wot not If it be done for ambitiousnes it cometh not of Romaines but of tyrauntes that wranglers and ireful folke should be iudges ouer the peacible the ambicions ouer the meke the malicious ouer the simple If it be done because ye be fooles it is not in the lawes of the gods that three hundred fooles should gouerne three hundred thousand wise men It is a long season that I haue taried for mine aunswere and licence by your delaies I am nowe farther of then I was the first day We bring oyle hony saffron wood and timber salte siluer And sold out of our ysle into Rome ye wyl that we go els where to seke iustice Ye wil haue one lawe to gather your rentes and another to determine our iustice Ye wyl that we pay our tributes in one day ye wil not discharge one of our errandes in a whole yeare I require you Romaines determine your selues to take away our liues and so we shall ende or els heare our cōplaintes to the entent that we may serue you For in another maner it may be that ye know by hearing with your eares which peraduēture ye would not see with your eyes And if ye thinke my wordes be out of measure so that ye wyl remedy my countrey I set not by my lyfe And thus I make an ende Verely frende Catullus these be the woordes that he spake to the senate which I gate in wryting I say of trouth that the hardinesse that the Romaines were wont to haue in other countreis the same as now straungers haue in Rome There were that saide that this Embassadour should be punished but God forbid that for sayinge trouth in my presence he shoulde haue bene corrected It is enough to much to to suffer these euils though we slea not and persecute those that aduertise and warne vs of them The shepe are not in sucrtie of the wolfe but if the shepehearde haue his dogge with him I meane dogges ought not to leaue barkinge for to awake the shepeherdes There is no God commaundeth nor lawe counsayleth nor cōmon wealth suffereth that they whiche are committed to chastice lyers should hange them that saye trouthe And sithe the senatours shewe them selues men in their liuing and sometime more humaine than other that be Sclaues who els should deliuer theim from chasticement Oh Rome and no Rome hauing nothing but the name of Rome where is nowe become the noblenesse of thy triumphes the glory of thy children the rectitude of thy iustice and the honour of thy temples For as now they chastice him more that murmureth against one only senatour thā thei do them that blaspheme al the gods at once For it greueth me more to se a senatour or cēsore to be worst of al other than it displeaseth me that it should be said that he is the best of all other For of a trouth I saye to thee my frende Catullus that as nowe we nede not to seke to the Gods in the temples for the Senatours are made gods in our handes There is difference betwene them that be immortall and they that be mortall For the Gods neuer doe thing that is euill and the Senatours doe neuer any thinge well The Gods neuer lye and they neuer saye trouthe The gods pardon often and they neuer forgeue The gods are content to be honoured fiue times in the yeare and the Senatours would be honoured ten times a daye What wilt thou that I saye more but what so euer the Gods doe they ought to be praysed and the Senatours in all their workes deserue to be reproued Finally I conclude that the Gods are constant in euery thing and erre and faile in nothing and the Senatours assure nothing but erre in all thing Onely in one thing the Senatours are not of reason to be chasticed and that is when they intende not to amende their faultes they will not suffer the Oratours to wast their time to shewe them the trouth Be it as may be I am of the opinion that what man or woman withdraweth their eares from hearing of trouth impossible it is for them to applie their hartes to loue any vertues be it Censore that iudgeth or Senanatour that ordeineth or Emperour that commaundeth or Consul that executeth or Oratour that preacheth No mortall man take he neuer so good heede to his workes nor reason so well in his desires but that he deserueth some chasticement for some cause or counsayle in his doinges And sithe I haue written to thee thus of others I wyl somewhat speake of my selfe because of the words of thy letter I haue gathered that thou desirest to know of my persone Knowe thou for certaine that in the kalendes of Ianuary I was made Censore in the senate the which office I desired not nor I haue not deserued it The opinion of al wyse men is that no man without he lack witte or surmounteth in folly wil gladly take on him the burdein charges of other men A greater case it is for a shamefast man to take on him an office to please euery man for he must shewe a countenaunce outwarde contrary to that he thinketh inward Thou wilt say that the good are ordeined to take the charge of offices O vnhappy Rome that hath willed to take me in such wyse as to be the best in it Greuous pestilence ought to come for thē that be good sithe I am scaped as good amonge the euill I haue accepted this office not for that I had nede thereof but to fulfil the cōmaundement of Antonius my graundfather Haue no marueile of any thing that I do but of that I leaue to be done
keapyng their doughters I sweare that there was neyther grape nor cluster but it was either eaten or gathered by the. Thou diddest eate me grene for the which I promise the it hath set thy teeth on edge Thou sayest I was riped by power of heat and straw It greueth me not so much that thou saiest it as that thou geuest me occasion to say to the thy shame is so shamelesse and thy euil so malicious that I cannot make aunswere to thy purpose onlesse I rubbe the on the quycke I aske the when thou mariedst Faustine whether thou foundest them grene or ripe thou knowest wel and so do I also that other gaged the vessel and thou drankest the lyees other had the meate and thou the huskes other did eate them being grene and with the refuge set thy teath on edge O cursed Marke behold how great thy euels are and how the goddes haue iustly punished the that beinge yonge thou couldest not deserue to be beloued of thy louers nor yet now in thy age thy wife kepe her faith to the. For me to be reuenged of thy parson I nede no more but to se the maried to Faustine By the mother Berecinthia I promise the that if thy smal wisedome mighte attaine to know at the ful what they say of the and her in Rome thou wouldest wepe both day and night for the life of Faustine and not leaue the woful Boemia O Marke litle care is taken for the and how farre is our vnderstanding vncoupled from thy thoughtes For through thy great learninge thy house in the day tyme is a schole of philosophers and the wantonnes of thy wife Faustine in the night maketh it a receite of ruffians It is a iust iudgement of the goddes sith that thy malice onely sufficeth to poison many that be good the euilnes onely of one woman shal be enough to spoile and take away thy good renowm One difference ther is betwene the and me and thy Faustine which is that my facts are in suspect and yours done in deed mine be in secret but yours knowen openly I haue but stombled but you haue fallen For one onely fault I deserue punishment but you deserue pardon for none My dishonour dyed with my fact and is buried with my amendmēt but your infamy is borne with your desires nourished with your malices stil with your works Finally your infamy shal neuer dye for you liued neuer wel O Marke malicious with al that thou knowest dost not thou knowe that to dye wel doth couer an euil fame and to make an end of an euyl life doth begin a good fame Thou ceasest not to say euil onely of suspect which thy false iudgements geueth and yet wouldest thou we shold conceale that we se with our eyes Of one thing I am sure that neyther of the nor of Faustine ther are hath bene any false witnes For ther are so many true euilles that ther neadeth no lyes to be inuented Thou saiest it is an old custome with the amorous ladies in Rome though they take of many yet they are the porest of al because we want credite we are honored for siluer It is most certaine that of holly we loke for pricks of acorns huskes of nettels stinginge and of thy mouth malices I haue seriously noted I neuer heard the say wel of any nor I neuer knew any that would the good What greater punishmēt can I desire for thy wickednes nor more vengeaunce for my iniuries then to se al the amorous ladies of Rome discontented with thy life and ioy to thinke on thy death cursed is the man whose life many do bewaile and in whose death euery one doth reioyce It is the propertie of such vnthankeful wretches as thou art to forget the great good done to them to repent that litle they geue How muche the noble harts do reioyce in geuing to other so much they are ashamed to take seruice vnrewarded For in geuing they are lords in taking they become sclaues I aske what it is thou hast geuen me or what thou hast receiued of me I haue aduentured my good fame and geuen thee possession of my persone I haue made thee lord of me and mine I banished me from my countrey I haue put in perill my life In recompence of this thou dost detect me of misery Thou neuer gauest me ought with thy harte nor I toke it with good will nor it euer did me profite As all thinges recouer a name not for the worke we openly see but for the secrete intention with which we worke Euen so thou vnhappy man desirest me not to enioye my parsonne but rather to haue my money We ought not to call thee a cleare louer but rather a thefe a wily persone I had a litle ring of thine I minde to throwe it into the riuer a gowne thou gauest me which I haue burnt And if I thought my body were increased with the bread I did eate of thine I would cut my fleshe being whole let out my bloud without feare O malicious Marke thy obscured malice wyl not suffer thee to vnderstande my cleare letter For I sent not to thee to aske money to relieue my pouertie and solitarines but only to acknowledge satisfie my willing hart Such vayne couetous men as thou are cōtented with giftes but the hartes incarnate in loue are not satisfied with a litle money For loue is rewarded alway with loue The man that loueth not as a mā of reason but like a brute beast the woman that loueth not where she is beloued but onely for the gaine of her body such ought not to be credited in wordes nor their persones to be honored For the loue of her endes when goods faileth and his loue when her beautie decaieth If the beautie of my face did procure thy loue they riches only allured my good wyl it is right that we should not be called wyse louers but rather folishe persons O cursed Marke I neuer loued thee for thy goodes although thou likedst me for that I was faire Then I loued with my hart now I abhorre thee with all my hart Thou saiest the gods vsed great pitie on me to geue me fewe children them many fathers The greatest faulte in women is shameles the greatest villany in men is to be euill sayers Diuers thinges ought to be borne in the weakenes of women which in the wisedome of men are not permitted I say this for that I neuer saw in the tēperance to cloke thine own maliciousnes nor wisedome to shadow the debilitie of others Thou saiest my children haue many fathers but I sweare to thee that the children of Faustine shal not be fatherles although thou die And if the gods as thou saiest haue ben pitifull to my childrē no lesse art thou to straunge children For Faustine kepeth the but to excuse her faultes to be tutor to her children O cursed Marke thou nedest not take thought for