represented I know right well that sometimes the contrary is seene through the inconstancy of humane things but if we consider what happeneth for the most part we shall find that good examples commonly are causes of good and bad examples causes of euill Since the child therfore is chiefly to learne of the father his forme of life it is the fathers part to be to him in his tender yeares a liuely patterne of vertue as we haue said wherby he may as it were ingraft into his childs mind that good and commendable kind of life which may bring him by vertuous actions to honour and estimation But because it cometh oftener to passe then were requisite that the father being busied about other matters concerning the order of his house and family or else in the managing of the affaires of the common-wealth he cannot attend the bringing vp of his child with that care that he ought therfore must he prouide for his education so as the same be not neglected For as the true images of vertue are easily imprinted in the minds of childrē whiles they be tender so do they quickly weare out and vanish if they be not refreshed and reuiued by the discretion and industry of some meet person appointed for that purpose and their contraries as soone ingraued in their places The father therefore ought in any wife to make choise of some such man to whom he may commit the charge and instruction of his child when he is past the age of three yeares as may be meet to giue him good example of life and season him with such doctrine as he may not degenerate or decline from that vertuous course of life which he hath endeuored to put into the babes mind euen whiles he was yet in his nurses armes and vnder the charge of women For if in those first dayes of infancy when yet he had almost no vnderstanding so great care was to be taken as we haue said to lay a good foundation how much more diligence is there now to be vsed when he beginneth to haue some knowledge and iudgement that the building may rise answerable to the same Wise men haue wisely said that nature is the best mistris we can haue and the custome of vertuous behauiour and wholsome doctrine being taken in tender yeares is conuerted not onely into an habite but euen into nature Wherefore let the father at those yeares giue his child in charge to some vertuous and godly man to be trained and instructed who must be neither too mild nor too seuere but such as may in some things agree with the manner of the nurses bringing vp to the end he may gently turne to other manners and behauiour then he had learned when he was most among women For to take a child from the brest and from his nurses bosome and to put him suddenly vnder the hard gouernment of a curst master would be too violent a change and force that tēder nature ouermuch But if he that shal then haue the ruling of him shall discreetly win him with mildnes from being fond after the nurse and by little and little draw him to a more firme kind of behauiour in such sort as he scarse perceiue that he hath forsaken his nurses lap the child wil quickly delight to be with him as much as with his nurse yea or with his father or mother and pratling or childishly crauing now one thing then another of him there wil soone spring in his mind a desire of knowledge which desire though indeed it be naturall borne with vs yet hath it need to be holpē and stirred vp to come forth and put it selfe in action for else will it lie hidden and couered with the vnworthiest part of the soule like to the fire which is couered with ashes which though it haue naturally vertue to giue light and heate yet vnlesse that impediment be taken away it wil do neither of both nor be apt to worke his naturall effect And therefore as before is said he which shall take the charge of the child after the nurse must be very discreet to win him to his discipline without bitternes or stripes which do rather dull and harden the childs mind then worke any good effect And the seruile feare which the ouer-sharpe and vnaduised vsage or beating of the child bringeth him vnto not fit for a generous mind maketh him to hate the thing he should learne before he can come to know it much lesse to loue it It is also a thing very profitable for his better instructing that there be others of like yeares in his company to learne with him for so will there arise a certaine emulation among them through which euery of them will striue to step before his fellow besides that the conuersation of such as are like in age and qualitie wel bred and brought vp is a very fit occasion to make them all wel mannered and of good behauiour those yong yeares being as before is sayd apt for the simplicitie thereof to take whatsoeuer forme is giuen vnto them And for this cause was Merides King of the Aegyptians greatly commended among the auncient wise men for that as soone as his sonne Sisostres was borne he caused all the children that were borne in the citie that same day to be gathered together and brought vp with his said son where they were instructed in all those disciplines and noble arts that in those dayes were in estimation and meet to direct to a commendable life And that the manner of good education is to proceed by degrees it appeared by the order which the Kings of Persia held in the bringing vp of those who were to succeed them in their Empire But because our discourse tendeth not to the instructing of Princes children but onely of such gentlemen of meaner qualitie as may be fit instruments for the seruice of their common-wealth or country it will be best to passe that ouer in silence Whiles in this place I was pawsing a while as to take some breath Captaine Carleil sayd in this sort I hope your author giueth not ouer so this matter For howsoeuer his purpose was to discourse of the ciuill life of priuate men yet the declaring of the order which was held in the instructing and training vp of the children of those Princes cannot but be as well profitable as delightfull Therefore let vs I pray you heare what is sayd by him touching the same That shal I willingly do said I for that the like request was made to him by one of that company and thus he proceedeth saying that though it might suffice to refer them to what Xenophon in his Ciropaedia hath left written of that subiect hauing learnedly and diligently vnder the person of Cirus framed an idaea or perfect patterne of an excellent Prince yet he meaning to follow Plato and Aristotle in his treatise will therefore report what he hath gathered out of Plato to that purpose and adde
rather an accidentall then a sound and true friendship For among many such few will be found that will expose themselues to perils or dangers for their friends or in respect of their friends safetie will set light by their goods yea their owne liues as these few recorded in auncient writings haue done This made Demetrius Falareus to say that true friends went willingly to be partakers of their friends prosperity if they were called therunto but that if aduersitie or misfortune did befal them they taried not then to be called but ran of themselues to offer their helpe and comfort And Anacarsis esteemed one good friend worth many common ordinary such as we dayly see called friends either for countries sake or because they keepe company together in trauell by land or sea or traffike or serue together in the warres or such like occasions all which are in truth but shadowes rather of friendship then friendship indeed A friend is not so easily to be discerned but that a man must as the prouerbe saith eate a bushell of salt with him before he account him a true friend Wherupon followeth that there can be no perfect friendship but after long experience and conuersation Plato respecting this said that friendship was an habit gotten by loue long time growne and in another place that it was an inueterate loue which is all one to wit that it must be purchased and confirmed by long tract of time Neuertheles though loue be the meane to knit friendship yet is it not friendship it selfe but the roote rather of the same And as without the root nothing can prosper nor grow so without loue no friendship can prosper Thus then you may vnderstand that true friendship is not gotten by publike meetings walkings or trading nor in one day or two and that all sorts of beneuolence or mutuall offices of courtesie and ciuilitie or euery shew of loue maketh not vp a friendship For once againe I will tell you that friendship is so excellent a thing as it cannot be in perfection but onely betweene two good and vertuous men of like commendable life and behauiour That it is the greatest externall good that can be purchased in this life and that it is the same which Aristotle said was more needfull then iustice and therefore highly to be prised of the man that laboured for ciuill happinesse Who although he haue all those exteriour goods which appertaine to ciuil life as wealth health children and such like without which Aristotle holdeth that no man can be perfectly happie in this world yet if he want friends he lacketh a principal instrument for his felicitie not only in respect of the many benefits which friends bring with thē but chiefly for the delight of his own vertuous operatiōs and the exercise of the like with them when they shall be induced by him to vertuous actions which breedeth an vnspeakable contentment Besides that solitarinesse bereaueth a man of the sweetest part of his life that is the conuersation among friends increasing the contentation of a happie man as he is to be a ciuill man for of that other solitarinesse which appertaineth to contemplation this place serueth not to speake Wee may therefore right well conclude that without friendship a man cannot haue his ciuill felicitie accomplished But if I should say all that might be said concerning friendship I should be too long neither would I haue said so much thereof had it not bin to shew you how solitarinesse cannot serue the turne of him that would be happie in this life Wherfore companie being necessary to felicitie will minister vnto the happie man occasions to vse his liberalitie for sweete and pleasing conuersation and to supply the wants necessities of friends is the true comfortable sauce to friendship It will make him to shew the greatnes of his courage in great things guided alwayes by iudgement and reason and to direct all his actions to the mark of honour a thing esteemed as we haue said among all others the greatest externall good not that he shal set honor for his end for that he knoweth would be vnfitting but honorable and vertuous actions contenting himselfe that honor be the reward of them and vertue be the hire for her selfe For to her others will giue honour as to a diuine thing wheresoeuer they shall see her But Magnanimitie is not a vertue fit for euery man but for such onely as are furnished with all other vertues and among vertuous men are esteemed in the highest degree And he that is not such a man and will yet make a shew of Magnanimitie will be but laughed at and scorned because vice and Magnanimitie for the contrarietie that is betweene them cannot dwell together in any wise the one deseruing all honour and the other all reproch blame For Magnanimitie produceth effects agreeable to all the rest of the vertues which is the cause that so singular a gift of the mind is not attained but with great difficultie but the more trauell is taken in getting it the greater is the praise to him that hath purchased the same He that is adorned with this vertue ioyeth when great honours fall vpon him he little esteemeth any perill when honestie inuiteth him thereunto and not anger nor fury nor desire of reuenge nor onely respect of honour In matter of riches he alwayes obserueth a due temper as wel as the liberall man whom he excelleth in this that the Magnanimous man exerciseth his vertue in high matters that beare with them dignitie and importance whereas the liberall man is busied in things of lesse moment He hath also a due regard concerning honours in the purchase whereof he is not iniurious or threatning nor puffed vp with pride or ambition but knowing right well that who so offereth iniury to another cannot be rightly called Magnanimous he abstaineth from doing any and if any man haue offered him iniurie he holdeth it for the greatest and honorablest reuenge to forgiue though he haue the partie in his power may satisfie himselfe and thinketh that the greatest displeasure he can worke to his enemy is to shew himselfe euermore garnished with vertue Moreouer he is alwayes higher then his fortune be it neuer so great and be she neuer so contrary she cannot ouerthrow him He will neuer refuse to spend his life though it be deere vnto him knowing his owne worth for the defence of his countrey of his friends of his parents of his religion or for Gods cause with whom he is continually in thought though he be bodily here below on earth conuersant among men neuer busied in base conceits or imaginations His reputation is so deere vnto him as he wil sooner loose his life then spot it by any vile act wherefore if he be in the field with his armes for any the causes before said he neuer turneth his backe to flie but fighteth with a firme resolution either to ouercome or die He is much more
A DISCOVRSE OF CIVILL LIFE Containing the Ethike part of Morall Philosophie Fit for the instructing of a Gentleman in the course of a vertuous life By LOD BR Virtute summa Caetera Fortunâ ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed for EDVVARD BLOVNT 1606. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE HIS SINGVLAR GOOD LORD ROBERT Earle of Salisbury Vicount Cranborne Lord Cecill Baron of Essenden Principall Secretarie to his Maiestie Knight of the most noble order of the Garter c. THis booke treating of the Morall vertues being now to come vnder the censure of the world doth summon me of it self to craue protection from your Lordships honorable fauour as the personage who knowing best their worth may best protect him from the iniury of any that should attempt to carpe the same And my priuate obligations for your manifold fauours among which the great benefite of my libertie and redeeming from a miserable captiuitie euer fresh in my remembrance doth make me hope not onely of your Honors willingnesse to patronize both my selfe and my labour but also that you wil be pleased therein to accept of the humble and deuoted affection wherwith most reuerently I present it vnto your Lordshippe Vouchsafe therefore my most honored good Lord to yeeld me the comfort of so gracious an addition to your former fauors and benefits and to giue to all the yong Gentlemen of England encouragement to embrace willingly that good which they may receiue by reading a booke of so good a subiect the title whereof bearing in front your noble name shall giue them cause to think it worthy to be passed with the approbation of your graue iudgement VVhich being the most desired frute of my endeuour I will acknowledge as none of the least of your great graces and euer rest Your Lordships most bounden and humbly deuoted LOD BRYSKETT TO THE GENTLE and discreet Reader RIght well saith the Wise man that there is nothing new vnder the Sunne and further that there is no end of writing books For howsoeuer in a generalitie the subiect of any knowledge be declared yet the particulars that may be gathered out of the same be so many as new matter may be produced out of the same to write thereof againe so great is the capacitie of mans vnderstanding able to attaine further knowledge then any reading can affoord him And therefore Horace also affirmeth that it is hard to treate of any subiect that hath not bene formerly handled by some other Yet do we see dayly men seeke partly by new additions and partly with ornaments of stile to out-go those that haue gone before them which haply some atchieue but many moe rest farre behind This hath bred the infinitenesse of bookes which hath introduced the distinction of good from bad vsed in best Common-weales to prohibite such as corrupt manners and to giue approbation to the good For that the simpler sort by the former drinke their bane in steed of medicine and in lieu of truth the proper obiect of mans vnderstanding they introduce falshood decked in truths ornaments to delude the vnheedful Reader Whereas on the other side the benefite which we receiue by the reading of good books being exceeding great they deserue commendation that offer their endeuours to the benefiting of others with books of better matter Which hath made me resolue to present vnto thy view this discourse of Morall Philosophie tending to the wel ordering and composing of thy mind that through the knowledge and exercise of the vertues therein expressed thou mayst frame thy selfe the better to attaine to that further perfection which the profession of a Christian requireth and that euerlasting felicitie which assisted with Gods grace neuer refused to them that humbly and sincerely call for the same thou mayst assuredly purchase As my meaning herein is thy good chiefly so let thy fauourable censure thankfully acknowledge my labor and goodwil which may moue me to impart after vnto thee another treating of the Politike part of Morall Philosophie which I haue likewise prepared to follow this if I shall find the fauourable acceptation hereof such as may encourage me thereunto The booke written first for my priuate exercise and meant to be imparted to that honorable personage qui nobis haec otia fecit hath long layne by me as not meaning he being gone to communicate the same to others But partly through the perswasion of friends and partly by a regard not to burie that which might profit many I haue bin drawne to consent to the publishing thereof Gather out of it what good thou canst and whatsoeuer thou mayst find therein vnperfect or defectiue impute charitably to my insufficiencie and weaknesse and let not small faults blemish my trauell and desire to benefite thee But say to thy selfe with that worthy bright light of our age Sir Philip Sidney Let vs loue men for the good is in them and not hate them for their euill Farewell A DISCOVRSE CONTAINING THE ETHICKE PART OF MORALL PHILOSOPHIE FIT TO INstruct a Gentleman in the course of a vertuous life Written to the right Honorable ARTHVR late Lord Grey of Wilton By LOD BRYSKETT WHen it pleased you my good Lord vpon the decease of maister Iohn Chaloner her Maiesties Secretarie of this State which you then gouerned as Lord Deputie of this Realme to make choice of me to supply that place and to recommend me by your honorable letters to that effect I receiued a very sufficient testimonie of your good opinion and fauourable inclination towards me And albeit your intention and desire in that behalfe tooke not effect whether through my vnworthinesse or by the labour and practise of others yet because your testimonie was to me instar multorum Iudicum and because that repulse serued you as an occasion to do me after a greater fauor I haue euermore sithens caried a continual desire to shew my selfe thankfull to your Lordship For when at my humble sute you vouchsafed to graunt me libertie without offence to resigne the office which I had then held seuen yeares as Clerke of this Councell and to withdraw my selfe from that thanklesse toyle to the quietnes of my intermitted studies I must needes confesse I held my selfe more bound vnto you therefore then for all other the benefits which you had bestowed vpon me and all the declarations of honorable affection whereof you had giuen me many testimonies before And therefore being now freed by your Lordships meane from that trouble and disquiet of mind and enioying from your speciall fauour the sweetnesse and contentment of my Muses I haue thought it the fittest meanes I could deuise to shew my thankfulnes to offer to you the first fruites that they haue yeelded me as due vnto you from whom onely I acknowledge so great a good That they will be acceptable vnto you I make no doubt were it but in regard of the true and sincere affection of the giuer who in admiring and reuerencing your vertues giueth place to no
Supposing as men blinded in their owne conceits that they exceed all other writers and that from them only others that write in that kind shold take their rules and example So drowning their corrupted iudgements in their ignorance that where they be worthy blame they esteeme themselues comparable to the most famous and excellent Poets that euer wrote and that they ought to be partakers of their glory and greatest honors But to men of iudgement and able to discerne the difference betweene well writing and presumptuous scribling they minister matter of scorne and laughter when they consider their disioynted phrases their mis-shapen figures their shallow conceits lamely expressed and disgraced in stead of being adorned with vnproper and vnfit metaphors well declaring how vnworthy they be of the title of Poets Such are they who being themselues ful of intemperance and wantonnes write nothing but dishonest and lasciuious rimes and songs apt to root out all honest and manly thoughts out of their mindes that are so foolish as to lose their time in reading of them These indeed ought to be driuen out and banished frō al Commonweales as corrupters of manners and infecters of young mens mindes who may well be compared to rocks that lie hidden vnder water amid the sea of this our life on which such yong men as chance to strike are like to suffer shipwracke and sinking in the gulfe of lust and wantonnesse to be drowned and dead to all vertue But true Poesie well vsed is nothing else but the most ancient kind of Philosophie compounded and interlaced with the sweetnesse of numbers and measured verses A thing as saith Musaeus most sweet and pleasing to the mind teaching vs vertue by a singular maner of instruction and couering morall sences vnder fabulous fictions to the end they might the sooner be receiued vnder that pleasing forme and yet not be vulgarly vnderstood but by such onely as were worthy to tast the sweetnesse of their inuentions For so did the Philosophers of old write their mysteries vnder similitudes to the end they might not be straight comprehended by euery dul wit and lose their reputation by being common in the hands and mouth of euery simple fellow This maner first began among the wiser Aegiptians and was afterwards followed by Pythagoras and Plato And Aristotle though he wrote not by similitudes and allegories yet wrapt he vp his conceits in so darke a maner of speech and writing as hardly were they to be vnderstood by those that heard himselfe teach and expound his writings But to make an end with Poets he that marketh those fictions which Homer hath written of their Gods like as those of Virgil and other of the heathen Poets though at the first they seeme strange and absurd yet he shall find vnder them naturall and diuine knowledge hidden to those that are not wise and learned which neither time nor occasion would that I should here insist vpon Let it suffice that yong men are to make great account of that part of Musike which beareth with it graue sentences fit to compose the mind to good order by vertue of the numbers and sound which part proceedeth from the Poets whom Plato himself called the fathers and guides of those that afterwards were called Philosophers But this that by varietie of tunes and warbling diuisions confounds the words and sentences and yeeldeth onely a delight to the exterior sense and no fruit to the mind I wish them to neglect and not to esteeme Indeed said captain Carleil I agree with you that our musike is far different from the ancient musike and that well may it serue to please the eare but I yeeld that it effeminateth the minde and rather diuerteth it from the way of blisse and felicitie then helpeth him thereunto But are there not other disciplines besides these two which you haue specified last wherein yong men are to be instructed to further them to the attaining of that end about which all this our discourse is framed Yes marry said I and so far as youth is capable it might well be wished that he had knowledge of them all But of these our author hath first spoken supposing that from Grammer and such other the liberall Arts as those first yeares could reach to vnderstand he should be straight brought to the excercise of the body and to Musike Neuertheles it is requisite withal that as his yeares increase he should apply himselfe without losse of time to learne principally Geometry and Arithmetike two liberal arts and of great vse and necessitie for all humane actions in this life because they teach vs measure and numbers by which all things mans life hath need of are ordered and ruled For by them we measure land we build we deuise Arts and set them forth all things are directed by number and measure as occasions serue and without the help of these two faculties all would be confused and disordered And therefore did the Aegyptians set their children carefully to learne them for that by them they decided the discords and differences growing among the dwellers along the banks of the riuer of Nyle which with her inundations and breaking of their meares and limits did giue them often cause to fall at variance and strife among themselues For nauigation likewise how needfull they are all men do know that know the necessitie of the vse thereof for humane life since all that nature produceth to all people and nations in the world particularly is thereby made common to all with the helpe of commutation and of coyne From these two also cometh the exact knowledge not onely of the earth and of the sea but of the heauens likewise and of their motions of the starres and course of time of the rising and setting of the plannets and to conclude all in few words of the whole frame and order of nature and of her skill by which she knitteth and vniteth together in peace and amitie things in themselues most contrary All done so cunningly by number and measure as a whole yeares discourse would not serue to display the same at large The Art of warre in like maner so needful for States and Commonweales to keepe in due obedience stubborne and rebellious subiects and to repell the violence of forreine enemies if it were not directed by measure and number what would it be but a confusion and a most dangerous and harmfull thing which would soone fall from the reputation it hath and euer had For these considerations therefore and others is youth that bendeth his course to vertue to exercise it selfe in Geometry and Arithmetike which in ancient times men would acquaint their children withall euen from their childhood as Arts that haue more certainty then any other But they are not to be attained without Logike because from it are gotten the instruments and the maner to deuide to compound to inuent and find out reasons and arguments and finally to discerne and iudge of truth and
souldiers besides that their peaceable maner of coming freed me from doubt of cesse thanked be God the state of the realme was such as there was no occasion of burthening the subiect with them such had bin the wisedome valour and foresight of our late Lord Deputie not onely in subduing the rebellious subiects but also in ouercoming the forreine enemie whereby the garrison being reduced to a small number and they prouided for by her Maiestie of victual at reasonable rates the poore husbandman might now eate the labors of his owne hands in peace and quietnes without being disquieted or harried by the vnruly souldier We haue said sir Robert Dillon great cause indeed to thanke God of the present state of our country and that the course holden now by our present Lord Deputie doth promise vs a continuance if not a bettering of this our peace and quietnesse My Lord Grey hath plowed and harrowed the rough ground to his hand but you know that he that soweth the seede whereby we hope for haruest according to the goodnesse of that which is cast into the earth and the seasonablenesse of times deserueth no lesse praise then he that manureth the land God of his goodnesse graunt that when he also hath finished his worke he may be pleased to send vs such another Bayly to ouersee and preserue their labours that this poore countrey may by a wel-ordered and setled forme of gouernement and by due and equall administration of iustice beginne to flourish as other Common-weales do To which all saying Amen we directed our course to walke vp the hill where we had bene the day before and sitting downe vpon the little mount awhile to rest the companie that had come from Dublin we arose againe and walked in the greene way talking still of the great hope was conceiued of the quiet of the countrey since the forreine enemie had so bin vanquished and the domesticall conspiracies discouered met withall and the rebels cleane rooted out till one of the seruants came to call vs home to dinner Where finding the table furnished we sate downe and hauing seasoned our fare with pleasant and familiar discourses as soone as the boord was taken vp they sollicited me to fetch my papers that I might proceede to the finishing of my last discourse of the three by me proposed But they being ready at hand in the dining chamber I reached them and layd them before me and began as followeth Hitherto hath bin discoursed of those two ages which may for the causes before specified be wel said to be void of election and without iudgement because of their want of experience For which cause haue they had others assigned to them for guides to leade them to that end which of themselues they were not able to attaine that is their felicitie in this life And now being to speake of that age which succeeds the heate of youth we must a litle touch the varietie of opinions concerning the same Tully saith that a citizen of Rome might be created Consul which was the highest ordinary dignitie in that citie when he was come to the age of 23. yeares Plinie in his Panegyrike saith that it was decreed lege Pompeia that no man might haue any magistracie before he were thirtie yeeres old And Vlpian lege S. Digest treating of honours writeth that vnder the age of 25. yeares no man was capable of any magistracie Among these three opinions the last of the ciuill lawyer holdeth the medium and is therefore the fittest to be followed for then is a young mans mind setled and he is become fit being bred and instructed as hath bin before declared to be at his owne guiding and direction and then doth the ciuill law allow him libertie to make contracts and bargaines for himselfe which before he could not do being in pupillage and vnder a tutor Howbeit our common law cutteth off foure yeeres of those and enableth a yong man at 21. yeeres of age to enter into his land and to be as we terme it out of his wardship Which time being I know not for what respect assigned by our lawes may well be held not so well considered of as that which the ciuill law appointeth if we marke how many of our yong men ouerthrow their estates by reason of their want of experience and of the disordinate appetites which master them all which in those other foure yeares from 21. to 25. do alter to better iudgement and discretion Whereby they are the better able to order their affaires Why said Captain Dawtry I haue knowne and know at this day some young men who at 18. yeeres of age are of sounder iudgement and more setled behauiour then many not of 25. yeeres old onely but of many moe yea then some that are grey-headed with age Of such said I there are to be seene oftentimes as you say some that beyond all expectation and as it were forcing the rules of nature shew themselues stayed in behauiour and discreete in their actions when they are very yong to the shame of many elder men Of which companie I may well of mine owne knowledge and by the consent I thinke of all men name one as a rare example and a wonder of nature and that is sir Philip Sidney who being but seuenteene yeeres of age when he began to trauell and coming to Paris where he was ere long sworne Gentleman of the chamber to the French King was so admired among the grauer sort of Courtiers that when they could at any time haue him in their companie and conuersation they would be very ioyfull and no lesse delighted with his ready witty answers thē astonished to heare him speake the French language so wel and aptly hauing bin so short a while in the countrey So was he likewise esteemed in all places else where he came in his trauell as well in Germanie as in Italie And the iudgement of her Maiestie employing him when he was not yet full 22. yeeres old in Embassage to congratulate with the Emperour that now is his comming to the Empire may serue for a sufficient proofe what excellencie of vnderstanding and what stayednesse was in him at those yeeres Whereby may well be said of him the same that Cicero said of Scipio Africanus to wit that vertue was come faster vpon him then yeeres Which Africanus was chosen Consull being absent in the warres by an vniuersal consent of all the tribes of Rome before he was of age capable to receiue that dignitie by the law But these are rare examples vpon which rules are not to be grounded for Aristotle so long ago said as we do now in our common prouerbe that one swallow makes not summer Among young men there are some discreete sober quicke of wit and ready of discourse who shew themselues ripe of iudgment before their yeeres might seeme to yeeld it them so are there among aged men on the other side some of shallow wit and little
iudgement of whom the wisest men of al ages haue esteemed that to be old with a yong mans mind is all one as to be yong in yeeres For it is not grey haires or furrowes in the face but prudence and wisedome that make men venerable when they are old neither can there be any thing more vnseemly then an old man to liue in such maner as if he begā but then to liue which caused Aristotle to say that it imported little whether a man were young of yeeres or of behauiour Neuerthelesse because dayly experience teacheth vs that yeares commonly bring wisedome by reason of the varietie of affaires that haue passed thorough old mens hands and which they haue seene managed by other men and that commonly youth hath neede of a guide and director to take care of those things which himselfe cannot see or discerne Therefore haue lawes prouided tutors for the ages before mentioned vntill they had attained the yeers by them limited thenceforth left men to their owne direction vnlesse in some particular cases accidentall as when they be distraught of their wits or else through extreme olde age they become children againe as sometimes it falleth out Knowledge then is the thing that maketh a man meete to gouerne himselfe and the same being attained but by long studie and practise wise men haue therefore concluded that youth cannot be prudent For indeed the varietie of humane actions by which from many particular accidents an vniuersall rule must be gathered because as Aristotle sayth the knowledge of vniuersalities springeth from singularities maketh knowledge so hard to be gotten that many yeares are required thereunto And from this reason is it also concluded that humane felicitie cannot be attained in yong yeares since by the definition thereof it is a perfect operation according to vertue in a perfect life which perfection of life is not to be allowed but to many yeers But the way vnto it is made opē by knowledge and specially by the knowledge of a mans selfe To which good education hauing prepared him and made him apt when he is come to riper iudgement by yeares he may the better make choise of that way which shall leade him to the same as the most perfect end and scope of all his actions And this by cōsidering wel of his own nature which hauing annexed vnto it a spark of diuinitie he shal not only as a meere earthly creature but also as partaker of a more diuine excellency raise himself haue perfect light to see the ready way which leadeth to felicitie To this knowledge of himselfe so necessary for the purchasing of humane felicitie is Philosophie a singular helpe as being called the science of truth the mother of sciences and the instructor of all things appertaining to happie life and therefore should yong men apply themselues to the studie thereof with all carefulnesse that thereby they may refine their mindes and their iudgements and find the knowledge of his wel-nigh diuine nature so much the more easily And as this knowledge is of all other things most properly appertaining to humane wisedome so is the neglecting thereof the greatest and most harmefull folly of all others for from the said knowledge as from a fountaine or well head spring all vertues and goodnes euen as from the ignorance thereof slow all vices and euils that are among men But herein is one special regard to be had which is that self loue cary not away the mind from the direct path to the same for which cause Plato affirmed that men ought earnestly to pray to God that in seeking to know themselues they might not be misled by their selfe loue or by the ouer-weening of themselues M. Spenser then said If it be true that you say by Philosophie we must learne to know our selues how happened it that the Brachmani men of so great fame as you know in India would admit none to be their schollers in Philosophy if they had not first learned to know them selues as if they had concluded that such knowledge came not from Philosophie but appertained to some other skill or science Their opinion said I differeth not as my author thinketh from the opinion of the wise men of Greece But that the said Brachmani herein shewed the selfe same thing that Aristotle teacheth which is that a man ought to make some triall of himselfe before he determinate to follow any discipline that he may discerne and iudge whether there be in him any disposition wherby he may be apt to learne the same or no. And to the same effect in another place he affirmeth that there must be a custome of wel-doing in thē that wil learne to be vertuous which may frame in them an aptnesse to learne by making them loue what is honest and commendable and to hate those things that are dishonest and reprochfull For all men are not apt for all things neither is it enough that the teacher be ready to instruct and skilfull but the learner must also be apt of nature to apprehend and conceiue the instructions that shall be giuen vnto him And this knowledge of himselfe is fit for euery man to haue before he vndertake the studie of Philosophie to wit that he enter into himselfe to trie whether he can well frame himself to endure the discipline of this mother of sciences and the patience which is required in al those things besides which appertaine to honestie and vertuous life For he that will learne vertue in the schoole of Philosophie must not bring a mind corrupted with false opinions vices wickednesse disordinate appetites ambitions greedie desires of wealth nor wanton lusts and longings with such like which will stop his eares that he shall not be able to heare the holy voice of Philosophie Therefore Epictetus said very well that they which were willing to study Philosophie ought first to consider well whether their vessel be cleane and sweet lest it should corrupt that which they meant to put into it Declaring thereby withall that learning put into a vicious mind is dangerous But this maner of knowing a mans selfe is not that which I spake of before though it be that which the sayd Indian Philosophers meant and is also very necessary and profitable For to know a mans selfe perfectly according to the former maner is a matter of greater importance then so Which made Thales when he was asked what was the hardest thing for a man to learne answer that it was to know himselfe For this knowledge stayeth not at the consideration of this exteriour masse of our body which represents it selfe vnto our eyes though euen therein also may well be discerned the maruellous and artificiall handy-work of Gods diuine Maiestie but penetrateth to the examination of the true inward man which is the intellectuall soule to which this body is giuen but for an instrument here in this life And this knowledge is of so great importance that man guided by the light of
vnhappinesse of Princes this is no place to treate said I neither appertaineth it to our matter onely thus much I may remember by the way that Antigonus affirmed it to be but a kind of pleasing seruitude to be a King And Phalaris the cruell tyrant considering wel his estate said likewise that if he had knowne before he made himself tyrant of his country what trouble care and danger followed rule and Segnorie he wold rather haue chosen any state of life then to be a King Neuerthelesse no sort of men place their felicitie more in pleasure then Princes do when they haue not due regard to their charge for then they think that whatsoeuer may nourish their delight and pleasure is lawfull for them to do But miserable are the people ouer whom God hath set such to raigne as put their pleasure or their profit only before all respects as the end of their gouernement though Almightie God who is the King ouer Kings oftentimes in his iustice plagueth them euen with those things wherein they placed their greatest felicitie Dionysius the yonger being borne in wealth and plentie setting all his thoughts vpon his pleasures was therefore in the end driuen out of his kingdome For he thinking it lawfull for him to take all that he would haue euen in his fathers life time began to defloure certain virgins of honest families which thing his father vnderstanding sharpely reprehended him for the same and among other things told him that howsoeuer himselfe had taken vpon him by tyrannie the kingdome of Sicilie yet he neuer had vsed any such violences But his wanton sonne made him this answer It may well be quoth he for you were not the sonne of a King At which word the father grieuing replied vnto him Neither art thou like to leaue thy sonne a King vnles thou change thy conditions Which prognostication was verified in that the sonne following his lewd course of life shortly after his fathers death was chased out his kingdom by his subiects and driuen to get his liuing by keeping a schoole in Corinth where on a time one seeing him liue so poorely asked him what he had learned of his schoole-master Plato that he could no better behaue himselfe in his royaltie taxing him that for not applying himself to Plato his doctrine he had bin the cause of his owne ruine But his answer was better then his former cariage for he said that he had learned more then haply he could imagine And what is that quoth the other I pray you teach it me I haue said he learned to beare this my aduerse fortune patiently with a frank courage And had he learned to obserue that worthy sentence of Agesilaus who was wont to say that Kings and Princes ought to endeuor to exceed other mē in temperance fortitude and not in wantonnes pleasures he had neuer brought his high estate to so base a fortune as to keepe a schoole But omitting to speake of Kings I wil tel you that they are greatly deceiued that think that profite ioyned with delight may make men happie for the more that profite and delight are knit together the more doth wanton lust and vnruly desires swell and increase if they be not tempered by the rule of reason Which made Ouid to say From out the bowels of the earth is fet That cursed pelfe mens minds on ill to set And Plato in his books of lawes saith that a very rich man is seldome seene very good Which saying you know our Sauiour Christ confirmed when he sayed it was harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heauen then a cable to passe through a needles eye And though Aristotle in one place sayth that riches are necessary to make vp a perfect humane felicitie yet in another he calleth them but a foolish happinesse Yea Plato affirmeth that great riches are as harmeful in a citie as great pouertie by reason of the deliciousnes wantonnes which they breed For which reasons it may be very wel concluded that neither wealth nor pleasure nor yet they both together ought to draw any man to propose them to himselfe for his end but the more he hath of wealth and vseth it but for his pleasure the further he goeth astray from his felicitie and his proper end And that riches in a wanton lasciuious mans possession are like a sword in a mad mans hand Pythagoras said that as a horse cannot be ruled without a bit so riches are hardly wel vsed without prudēce which wil in no wise dwell with them who abādon themselues wholy to vaine delights If to the vulgar sort therefore such men seeme happie yet are they in very truth most miserable and vnhappie For these disordinate pleasures are intestine enemies which neuer cease working til they ouerthrow a man and breed him dishonour and shame neither do they faile to bring him to an euill end that suffers them to master him and vseth hs wealth to the pleasing of his appetites As by Dionysius aforesayd may appeere and also by Sardanapalus who being a mightie Monarke swimming in wealth and pleasures and sparing nothing that might glut his lasciuious appetites grew so effeminate thereby that as soone as he was assaulted by contrary fortune he was driuen to consume himselfe his treasure and all his filthy lustes at once in the fire Which two examples among infinite moe that might be mentioned shall for this time suffice to verifie that which hath bin said to wit that Gods iudgements light for the most part vpon such Princes as forgetting the great care and charge which is layd vpon them giue themselues to care for nothing but their owne vaine appetites and delights To whō Antisthenes spake when he said that riches were no goods if they were not accompanied with vertue that might instruct men how to vse them well And Chilo the Lacedemonian likewise who was the first author of that graue sentence Magistratus virum indicat whereunto he added riches also because they both together draw him the more easily to discouer himselfe Socrates wisely wished that he might haue the grace to esteem no man rich but him that was giuen to the studie of wisedome and knowledge for such he said had the true gold which is vertue a thing much more precious then all the golde in the whole world and that which leadeth man the right way to his felicitie Then said Captaine Norreis since by your discourse all they are vnhappie that tread the steps which leade to either of those two ends before mentioned of profite or pleasure or to them both ioined together it must of force follow that happy be they that direct their actions to that end which is proper to man whereof I hope your next speech will be So must it said I for there remaineth nothing else to be treated of And if mine author mistrusted his eloquēce as he doth in a matter meete to be set forth so effectually as this what
man aliue Howbeit there will be other respects also I doubt not to moue your liking and acceptance of the same For if the trauell and industrie of those men be commendable who curiously seeke to transport from farre and forraine countries either for the health and vse of the bodie or for the pleasing of the exterior senses the strange grafts plants and flowers which excell either for any medicinable qualitie or for delight of the eye the taste or the smell how much more will you esteeme of my endeuour and be delighted with my translation of these choice grafts and flowers taken from the Greeke and Latine Philosophie and ingrafted vpon the stocke of our mother English-tongue Especially being such as will not onely promise delight and pleasing to the senses but assuredly yeeld health and comfort to the mind oppressed and diseased Neither is it vnlikely but that the receiuing of so vnlooked for a present out of this barbarous countrie of Ireland will be some occasion to hold it the dearer as a thing rare in such a place where almost no trace of learning is to be seene and where the documents of Philosophie are the more needfull because they are so geason Perhaps the want of that same sweeter tast relish which those Clymes of Athens and Rome could giue vnto them and ours here of England and Ireland cannot affoord may make them seem vnto your Lordship at the first somewhat harsh and vnpleasing But the wholsomnesse of their fruite will easily supply the desire of the pleasing taste and satisfie you rather with that it hath then mislike you for lacke of that it cannot haue For although our English tongue haue not that copiousnesse and sweetnes that both the Greeke and the Latine haue aboue all others yet is it not therefore altogether so barren or so defectiue but that it is capable enough of termes and phrases meete to expresse all those conceits which may be needfull for the treating and the discoursing of morall Philosophie And the doctrine and consent of the wisest and best learned Philosophers being truly set downe and declared though it be not done with that flowing eloquence wherewith Plato and Tullie did vtter their learning hauing the vse of two such noble and flourishing languages yet will not the appearing of this faire virgin-stranger in her homely weeds and attire be any impediment I presume why she should not be as welcome and as willingly embraced as if she had come decked in all her gorgeous ornaments and apparell For of her nakednes I do not feare she shall need to be ashamed though of her pompe and garnishments shee haue no cause to be proud and haughtie That your Lordship will not reiect her but courteously entertaine her though she be but the hand-maide of the doctrine of Grace I do the rather assure my selfe because I haue bene an admitted testimonie how often and very willingly you were pleased to recreate your selfe with her companie at such times as either the waightie affaires of this your gouernement would spare you or that you foūd cause to refresh your mind by drawing it from the depth of your other studies For if I did perswade my self that you wold as soone as you saw her frowne and auert your countenance from her as some men of this our age do and say that where her Ladie and mistris is she is not onely needlesse but also perillous I would truly haue kept her from your presence contenting my selfe alone with her companie and presuming that my familiaritie with her should neither inueigle me to like the lesse of her said Ladie and mistris or to vse her otherwise then as the seruant and hand-maide fit to make her Ladie the more reuerenced and the more honored To your Lordship therefore I now direct her that vnder your honorable fauour and patronage she may be denizened For I nothing doubt but that the example of your courteous entertaining of her will easily draw many others to delight in her conuersation and to feele the true taste of the healthfull and delicious fruites which she hath brought with her to furnish this our English soile clime withal Whereby we may with the lesse labour and cost henceforth haue them to delight and nourish our minds since we shall not be constrained to fetch them from Athens or from Rome but may find them growing at home with our selues if our owne negligence and sloth cause vs not to foreslow the culturation and manuring of the same The course which I hold in this treatise is by way of dialogue which I haue chosen as best pleasing my minde to discourse vpon the morall vertues yet not omitting the intellectuall to the end to frame a gentleman fit for ciuill conuersation and to set him in the direct way that leadeth him to his ciuill felicitie Wherein though I haue I feare me hazarded my selfe to be reprehended by such as looke after formalitie in all things yet because my intention is to giue light as well to the meaner learned whose iudgements can be content to busie it selfe rather to learne what they know not then to find faults as to the learneder critiques that spend their eyes to find a haire vpon an egge I haue the more boldly followed mine owne liking making account that if I may purchase your liking and allowance of my labour to whose satisfaction I do most recommend it I shall the lesse esteeme the censure of any that may hap to carpe or mislike whatsoeuer part of the same For as I can be content to acknowledge my infirmitie and weaknes and to confesse and take vpon me those faults which I may haue committed when they are ciuilly and without malice discouered and made knowne vnto me euen so shall the ouer-curious searcher of errors or escapes to make them faults very little molest me being resolued to content mine own mind with the good that I hope wil be found in the work rather then to dismay my selfe or be grieued because I cannot do a thing in that high degree of excellencie that there were no fault to be found by any man in the same The occasion of the discourse grew by the visitation of certaine gentlemen comming to me to my little cottage which I had newly built neare vnto Dublin at such a time as rather to preuent sicknesse then for any present griefe I had in the spring of the yeare begunne a course to take some physicke during a few dayes Among which Doctor Long Primate of Ardmagh Sir Robert Dillon Knight M. Dormer the Queenes Sollicitor Capt. Christopher Carleil Capt. Thomas Norreis Capt. Warham S t Leger Capt. Nicolas Dawtrey M. Edmond Spenser late your Lordships Secretary Th. Smith Apothecary These coming of their curtesie to passe the time with me and chauncing to meete there one day when M. Smith the Apothecary was come to visit me also and to vnderstand what successe the physick he had prepared for me did take Sir
Robert Dillon with a smiling countenance asked of him to what intent I being to all their iudgements in health and well he with his drugs should make me sick and force me to keepe the house whereby neither I could come to the citie nor they being come to me might haue my company to walke about the grounds to take the pleasure of seeing how the workes of my hands did prosper now that the season of the yeare filling the plants and all other liuing things with the naturall humor which the sharpe cold of the winter had restrained and kept within the inwardest parts did bud and breake forth to giue proofe and tokens of their prospering To which M. Smith answered that he had ministred nothing to me but what my self had prescribed and that if I was sicke therewith it was mine owne doing and not his who by his trade and profession could not refuse to compound and minister such physick as should be required at his hands But to tell you the truth sir quoth he I could find in my heart to giue him a potion that should purge him of his melancholy humor because he hath no small need thereof in my opinion And whereby perceiue you any such humor to raigne in him replied sir Robert Dillon for in my iudgment neither his complexion accuseth him of any disposition thereunto nor his behauiour and manner of life giueth any token of sadnesse or desire of solitarinesse which commonly all melancholy men are much giuen vnto whereas he is not onely desirous of good companie but alwayes chearefull and pleasant among his friends Yea marry said M. Smith thereof he may thanke you and these other gentlemen his friends that by comming often to visit him do keepe from him those fits which otherwise it is likely enough he would fall into whether that his complexiō draw him to it or no which oft times deceiueth the most cunning Physitions or whether it proceed of any accidentall cause But I pray you for proofe of my words who but one more then halfe mad or in a frensie would of his owne accord not being compelled thereunto haue giuen ouer such an office as he hath resigned which besides that it was of good reputation and profit gaue him the meanes to pleasure many of his friends and kept him still in the bosome of the State whereby he might in time haue risen to better place and more abilitie to do himselfe and his friends both pleasure good All which in a melancholy mood he hath let slip or rather put from him for which I among other that loue him could find in my heart to disple him very well In troth quoth sir Robert Dillon turning to me master Smith seemeth to haue spoken more like a Physition or rather like a Counseller then like an Apothecary and it will behoue you to satisfie him wel lest we all begin to thinke of you as he doth and agree with him that it were expedient to giue you a dose of Ellebore which the Physitions say hath a peculiar property to purge the melancholy humour And therefore you shall do very well I think to declare vnto him what reasons induced you to resigne that office wherein I my selfe can testifie with how good contentment of all the table you did serue so many yeares For withall some of vs that haue not yet vnderstood vpon what foundation this resolution of yours is set and grounded shall in like sort rest the better satisfied if from your selfe they shall be made capable of some reasonable cause that might induce you thereunto And henceforth beleeue it hath bin well done not because you did it but because you haue done it with reason and iudgment which although we be all sufficiently perswaded you take to be your guides in al your actions yet these words of master Smiths and the like discourses which we heare very often among some that loue you and wish you wel doth make vs sometimes halfe doubtfull to allow of this retiring your selfe from the State Because we suppose that a man of your condition and qualities should rather seeke to be employed and to aduance himselfe in credit and reputation then to hide his talent and withdraw himselfe from action in which the chiefe commendation of vertue doth consist And to say truly what I thinke a man of your sort bred and trained as it seemeth you haue bin in learning and that hath thereto added the experience and knowledge which trauell and obseruation of many things in forraine countries must breed in him that hath seene many places and the maners orders and policies of sundry nations ought rather to seeke to employ his ability and sufficiency in the seruice of his Prince and country then apply them to his peculiar benefit or contentment For you that were in so good a way to raise your selfe to credite and better employment whereunto that office was but the first step and triall of what is in you to forsake suddenly so direct a path leading you to preferment and to betake your selfe to a solitary course of life or a priuate at the least seemeth a thing not agreeable to that opiniō which euery man that knoweth you had conceiued of your proofe and that of you it may be said Grauior est culpa clara principia deserentis quà m non incipientis Non enim magna aggredi sed perseuerare difficile What is the end of parents in the education of their children wherin they bestow so much care and spend their wealth to purchase them learning and knowledge but a desire to make them able to be employed and a hope to see them raised to credit and dignitie in the common-wealth Or who is he that doth not striue by all the meanes he can to aduance himselfe and to presse forward still euen to the highest places of authoritie and fauour vnder his Prince though oftentimes with no small hazard and danger if he may once lay hold vpon that locke which men say Occasion hath growing on her forehead being bald behind shewing thereby how foolish a thing it is to let her slip after she hath once presented her selfe to be apprehended No doubt but this folly will be layd to your charge by many and not without good apparance of reason since you hauing had the occasion offered vnto you as well to enrich your selfe as to rise in credite and reputation haue neuerthelesse let her go after you had fast hand in her foretop and abandoned so great a hope nay so assured a reward proposed to you for your labour and paines to be sustained some while in that place Sir quoth I to haue answered M. Smiths imputation I suppose would haue bin very easie since the greatest matter therein was the neglecting of my profit and the abandoning a meane to pleasure my friends For the first is rather a commendation though not so conceiued by him then any iust blame and the other is no more but a partiall