Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	king_n	lord_n	person_n	4,136	5	4.8948	4	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19072	Politique discourses upon trueth and lying An instruction to princes to keepe their faith and promise: containing the summe of Christian and morall philosophie, and the duetie of a good man in sundrie politique discourses vpon the trueth and lying. First composed by Sir Martyn Cognet ... Newly translated out of French into English, by Sir Edward Hoby, Knight.; Instruction aux princes pour garder la foy promise. English	Coignet, Matthieu, sieur de La Thuillerie, 1514-1586.; Hoby, Edward, Sir, 1560-1617.	1586 (1586)	STC 5486; ESTC S108450	244,085	262

of speech that will not holde his peace for feare of any when it should be time to speake and you shall finde in him such a courage and vertue as Diogenes the Cinike had that is to say a Dogge louer of mankind and this dogge shal be capable of reason that for your sake will barke against any other and against you to if you doe ought woorthy of blame euer for all that vsing prudence and discretion and hauing regarde to the time and season when he ought to performe his duetie Then Titus prayde him he would with speede bestowe that dogge vppon him that was so compagnable and loyall to whom he would giue leaue not only to barke when he should doe ought worthie of reprehension but also to bite him if he sawe him doe any thing vnworthy his aucthoritie He likewise neuer vsed such violence crueltie or tyrannie as did his brother Domitian For in trueth when the people of Rome and other nations yeelded the soueraigne power and right which they had vnto Monarches they neuer ment to put their liberty into their hands that would rather vse violence and passion then reason and equitie but to yeelde themselues to the tuition of such a one as would gouerne according to lawes reason and iustice And it is not possible that this first ordinance could be made without the consent of the subiectes for otherwise it could not be grounded vpon a lawfull Empire or kingdome but vpon an vnlawfull and tyrannicall vsurpation and it is necessarie that such a consent should retaine the nature of a contract in good fayth and a bonde counterchangable As wee see it in like sorte practised at this day in the greatest part of kingdomes and Empires that are in Christendom that it is the only foundation which mainteyneth them as Plutarke writeth the posts pillars which vpholde an estate Neither are Princes able without necessitie to dispence with the othe they take at their coronation and with the obligation which they owe to God and their subiects And according as Aristotle Herodotus Tacitus Demosthenes and Cicero haue written the first souerainitie proceeded from the good will and well liking of such as for their commoditie quiet and suertie submitted themselues to such as excelled in heroical prowes the better to be able to maintayne their ciuill societie thorough lawes And that he in whom was not founde the cause of this originall and image of safetie iustice clemencie and diuine bountie was a person vnworthie of such honour causing an infection to the body of the whole publicke weale And most notable is the saying of king Cyrus that it appertayned to none to coÌ„mand but such as excelled their subiects in bountie goods of the minde The great King of Sparta Agesilaus aunswered those that so highly commended the magnificence greatnesse of the K. of Persia VVherefore is he greater then I except he be more iust then I For a king ought to cause him selfe to be loued and admired of his subiectes thorough the vertuous examples of his good life And Plutarke in the life of Pirrhus writeth that the Kinges tooke an oth that they should gouerne according to their lawes and that in so doing the people would obey theÌ„ Now we must needes confesse that they are giuen of God who as Daniel witnesseth establisheth and putteth downe Kings And Ieremiah writeth that he will bestowe kingdomes on whom it him best liketh And God sayth in the Prouerbes Through me kings raygne and Princes iudge the earth and if they do not he threatneth them in Iob that he will loose their celer and guirde their loynes with a girdle And the Queene of Saba sayde to Salomon that God had set him in his throne as Kinge insteede of the Lorde God to execute iudgement and iustice The which more plainely Salomon speaketh in his booke of wisedome Lorde thou hast choosen me to rule ouer thy people and to iudge thy sonnes daughters And the people is called the heritage of the Lorde and the King the gouernour of this heritage the guide light of Gods people And Aristotle in the fift booke of his Politiques sheweth that kinges often times tooke certaine offycers to conteine them in their duetie as did the Ephores about the kinges of Sparta The which Caesar declareth was greatly obserued among the Gaulois yeelding an example of Ambiorix and Vercingentorix The oth the greatest part that the Christian kings toke was I will minister lawe iustice protection aright to euery one And Zonarus wrote after Xenephon that the kings of Persia shewed them selues more subiect to lawes theÌ„ Lords had more feare shame to breake the lawes then the people had to be punished what they had offended And God instructing Ioshua what he shuld do aboue all things coÌ„manded him that the booke of the lawe should not depart out of his mouth but that he shuld meditate therin day night that he might obserue and doe according to all that is written therein For then should hee make his way prosperous and haue good successe Then it followeth in the text that the people promised to obey him in all As Xenophon writing of the commonwealth of the Lacedemonians sayth that monthly the kings did sweare to guide theÌ„selues according to the lawes and the Ephores toke oth in the peoples behalfe that vpon that coÌ„dition they would maintaine theÌ„ And S. Paul saith that euery power is of God whose seruants they are for the benefit of their subiects consequently they are bound to follow his wil rule giueÌ„ by Moses And the meanes which are of succession or election depend of the diuine prouidence which causeth theÌ„ to prosper Dauid huÌ„bled himselfe to what was his dutie office making alliance with the deputies of the people and describeth the dutie of a good king in the 72.82 101. Psalmes And whilest he Salomon Ioas Ezechias other liued wel they continually prospered but falling from that fell into many miseries Pericles was coÌ„mended for that as often as he put on his gowne he saide vnto himselfe remember that thou dost coÌ„mand ouer a free nation ouer Athenians and ouer Greekes The which christian Princes haue more occasion to speak and obserue Agapet sayd of Iustinian that he maystred his pleasures being adorned with the crowne of temperaunce and clad with the purple of iustice And Ammian writeth that a Kingdome or Dukedome is nought else then the care of an others safetie and that where the lawe doth not gouerne there ruyne is at hande As Antiochus sayde to his sonne Demetrius that their kingdome was a noble slauerie And Plutarke in the life of Nicias reciteth the sayinge of Agamemnon in Euripides VVe liue to outwarde shew in greatnesse state and might Yet in effect we are you knowe but peoples seruants right Titus Liuius writeth that the Carthaginians punished their rulers

Iuno thorough her riches Mercury thorough his eloquence Venus thorough her nicenes Mars thorough his threats and the rest of the Gods hauing all conspired against Iupiter yet were not able to pull him out of heauen ment thereby that a man of vertue coulde by no meanes be turned a side from iustice It hath ben said of many that they which giue presents to iudges are most notably abused for the contrarye partye giueth likewise maketh the balance equall often time the veluet disgraceth the satyn the horse taketh away the force of the hacney and the chaine of gold couereth the ring And yet by the oth which iudges haue made to God to their king they are debtors of iustice without respect of persons so when they receaue presents they deceiue the pore suters and lie giuing them hope that their giftes shall preuaile with them For this cause Diodorus great estemed a picture which was within a chamber of the Palais of thirtye Iudges which were all without handes and the President loking onely vpon the image of truth which hÃ´g about this neck K. Philip said to his son Alexander that he deceiued himselfe if he loked for fidelitye at their hands whoÌ„ he had corrupted by mony And we must not maruel if the first day they be receiued in they be periured selling again what they haue bought exercising as it were the art of robbing throgh out the pallace presidial seats K. Agesilaus had once a custome to send a beuse to euery Senator of Lacedemon as soone as he was chosen in signe of his vertue The Ephores which were as ouerseers of euery one condeÌ„ned him in a fine to the publike vse adding that it was because throgh such fauors he weÌ„t practising gaining to himself alone those which ought to be coÌ„mon to al. For as Hesiodus said iustice is a virgin vndeflowred alwaies lodged with honor reuereÌ„ce temperance publike vtility and hating al presents There are certaine old ordinances euen in Bourgundy which forbid al kind of presents to gouernors iudges K. S. Lewis made a most rigorous law which it were well if it were reuiued And in the Alcoran it is forbidden vpon paine of death that iudges receiue no presents And if we receiue what Plutarque teacheth instructing suche as manage the affaires of state that he which enricheth himself by the handling of publike causes and taketh presents is a committer of sacrilege an vnfaithful councelor a periured iudge a magistrate polluted and defiled with all the wickednes which man can commit and that which was saide that he which firste gaue mony to the people taught the true waye to ruine and confusion of a popular estate The sayde Plutarque in the lyfe of Pompe sheweth what mischiefe hath ensued thorough presents It was not without a mistery contained therein that at Thebes the Iudges and councellors were drawne without hands and the President blindfold to giue to wit that iustice ought not to be defiled fauourable nor corrupted thorough presentes And as the eares when they are full of bussing and noyse are not able comprehende what is sayd as Marius excused him selfe that the sounde of trompets made him that he could not heare the lawes So if there be any present which soundeth backe hardlye shall truth and iustice take place but rather fauour and iniustice The lawyers in the treaties de officio praesidis de officio proconsulis legati expresly forbad all gouernours and Iudges to receaue any present And so doth the law Cincia Isaiah complained that the princes were rebellious and companions of theiues euery one loueth giftes and followeth after rewardes and pronounceth a wo to them that spoile for they shall be spoiled In ancient time as sone as it was knowne that a Iudge had taken anye thing all the honor that in his whole life he could gaine was now cleane stained and loste And if it were but knowne in the Cantons of Surich or Berne that one of the councell had taken were it neuer so litle the best bargaine he could make were banishment God in Exodus forbiddeth to take rewarde for the rewarde blindeth the eyes of the wise and peruerteth the wordes of the iust The which also is repeated in 16. of Deutronomy And Samuel rendring an account of his whole life insisted principally in that he neuer receiued bribe to blind his eyes therewith his children were blamed for receiuing and were the cause of the chaunge of the state Iudas went and hong him selfe And Iob sayde that fire shall deuoure the houses of bribes and he whose handes are pure shall increase his strength And S. Ambrose vpon S. Luke sayth that euen as they that are in a traunce can not discerne thinges in such sort as they indeed are but onely the illusions and fansies of their passioÌ„s so the thought of a gredy iudge wraped within the cordes of couetousnes fastened by the bonds of auarice neither seeth or thinketh of any thing but gold siluer and riches and all his study is but how to augment his wealth And Plato in his coÌ„mon wealth calleth them drones which mar the hony and Pikes which deuour the rest of the fish The desire of these bribes proceed from a greedines which repugneth his fill whereas all other yeeld thervnto For it exerciseth the appetite taketh away the pleasure the childreÌ„ of such corrupt iudges do often times folow their trace Plato gaue counsel to accustome yong men in their infancy to think that it was not lawfull to haue or weare any gold to be decke their body with to the ende that when they came to the maniging of affayres they should not seeke to enrich them selues nor receaue bribes knowing that the inward gold which is vertue is proper vnto them But now we may say that we are in the golden age where no account is made but of golde and siluer And as one finding fault with the corrupt maners of the Athenians sayde that at Athenes all was honest so may one affirme now that of vice is made vertue Our auncient fathers had great reason to thinke it fit that there shoulde be an exercise to meete with couetousnesse and the greedinesse of hauing and receauinge bribes which was to abstaine from anye lawfull gaine to the ende men mought be accustomed to estrange them selues from all vniustice and vnlawfull taking of monye and from long continuance mought tame and chasten that greedinesse to gayne and get which thorough inough of other habites and actions is nourished and exercised alwayes to bee willinge to gayne impudentlye and seeketh after vniustice hardlye abstaining from autraging of any if any profit may thereby ensewe vnto them ready to take at all handes For as Ecclesiasticus writeth He that contemneth small thinges shall fall by little and little And according to the opinion of Isocrates the couetouse man at all assaies forsweareth

with ones disaduantage and not to giue place to the importunate 24 Examples of euils hapned to breakers of promise and of that which dependeth thereupon 26 Effects of the truth with exhortation not to change the statutes or lawes and not to daunce vpon holy dayes prayse of Frenchmen and a solution of that for which they are blamed 29 Of the meanes to withstande inconstancie and lightnesse and not to take in hande warre or fight without necessitie of the point of honour that one ought not to deferre a good purpose that the reading of good bookes giueth hardinesse and prudence that one ought not too hastely proceed in criminal iudgement that one ought to flie euill and seducing companies with other instructions to nobilitie worthie to be noted 42 That the truth findeth good that which many feare and flye and giueth contentment 51 Of the care which men haue had that youth might be instructed in the truth 60 Howe requisite it is to speake little and not to blase a secrete with aduise vppon newes inuented and of that which is to be spoken 61 That aswell of friendes as enemies one should learne the truth 68 That it is needefull to reade hystories there to see the trueth which one is a frayde to speake with aduise vppon the reading of all bookes and of the conquestes of Frenchmen of the meanes to keepe them and to assure a victorie of the dutie of a captayne and of that which is to be considered in examples and alterations 69 That one ought not to suffer himselfe to be deceiued by prayses nor be carryed away from modestie and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and howe much it is requisite to commaunde ones selfe 74 That without the truth there is nought else but darknesse and confusion and howe much the philosophers haue laboured to finde it out and howe farre wide they haue beene of it 80 Of disguisinges done to Princes and what is their dutie for their honour and quiet of their subiectes and of the miseries of the wicked of the obseruation of ordinances and of that which mainteineth or altereth an estate 83 That Princes ought to haue about them good councellours which may not spare to tell them the trueth and that their lyfe ought to serue as a rule and instruction to their subiectes not to graunt to any vniust thinge of excessiue giftes an aduertisement to such as are in fauour of warnings and that in all actions of importance one ought to take councell without trusting to his owne sufficiencie 95 That one ought not to iudge too readely of another 108 Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a description of detraction 109 That anger hindereth the truth of the euils which it bringes with it and of the meanes to resist it 113 Of the error of some authors which haue praysed promise breakers and the cruell of punishments of such what our gettinges and dealing with the great ought to be aduertisements to the readers and of pardonings 119 The definition of lying 127 The effectes of lying 128 The punishments of lying 129 That the periured and plasphemers are detestable lyers and the paynes for them 130 That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth 134 That those which defer their amendment doe wrappe themselues in a daungerous lye 142 That ignorance is a lye and the gappe of great inconuenience 148 That one ought not rashly to borrowe money nor answere for another man for feare of lying 153 Of lying ingratitude 155 That lying hath made Poets and painters to be blamed and of the garnishing of houses 159 Of backebiters mockers and euill speakers and why the Comedians stage players and iuglers haue beene reiected 161 That accusers talebearers false pleaders and curious persons are of the same brotherhoode of lying 165 Of flatterers 168 That enuie is a miserable lye and of the meanes to remedy it 171 Howe pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and howe all passions leade cleane contrarie to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meane which conteyneth vs therein 174 That painting is lying 183 That witches southsayers sorcerers and vserers are replenished with lying and how a man may exempt himselfe from them 185 Of the punishmentes which haue befallen vnto such as haue giuen eare vnto malitious surmises reiecting the truth 190 That we must auoyde sutes in lawe because of the lying and cawtell of the practisioners 192 That it is a lying in Iudges to receiue presents and what exercise is to be required to be meete with auarice buying of offices and couetousnesse 198 That it is a lye to be intemperate drunke excessife whoremonger player and ydle and to say that one would be in health of musicke Phisicke as wel for the bodie as the soule 209 What we ought to iudge of certaine examples of lying 225 Of the meanes howe to render a nation true and happie and of the bringing vp of youth 227 Of certaine pointes which might be added to this discourse 236 The conclusion 245 Politique discourses vpon Trueth and Lying CHAP. I. That the trueth is a vertue most praiseworthie by what it may be discerned and of that which hindereth the knowledge therof AMong the vertues contained in moral Philosophie the Trueth hath euer been esteemed as one of the moste praise worthie The which Plato called the fountaine of all goodnes and S. Augustine in his booke of the Citie of God ordaineth it as the King and faith as the foundation and piller of Iustice and all commen wealthes for so much as there is nothing more proper to man being formed according to the image of God than in his words and manners to approche him the nearest that he is able to make his words serue for no other ende than to declare his good intent meaning whereby he may be better able to informe his neighbour Agathius hauing written of the manners religion of the Persians saith that they had two gods as Marcion Manichaeus the heretikes haue heretofore helde the one good creator and aucthor of all good and of the light whome they called by the name of truth the other wicked aucthor of al euil resembling him to darkenes and ignorance And Martir intreating of the West Indies declareth that a certaine old man of the same countrie praying the first discouerer of them to behaue himself courteously shewed him that the soules of men departing their bodies passed by two wayes as also Philemon and Plato in his Phedon and tenth booke of his Common wealth hath written The one darke and obscure thorough which the soules of all cruell men wade grieuously tormented The other shining cleare full of all happinesse ordained for those that loue peace trueth and quietnes This the holie scripture ought more deepely to impresse into

and engendreth within vs an amendment of life readie obedience and loue towardes God and our neighbour giueth vnto vs the hope of eternal life and of obtaining what we ask at Gods hands rendreth our conscience peaceable maketh vs to perseuere in the good giueth vnto vs a boldnes to addresse our selues to the throne of grace bringeth with it selfe a constancie and pacience in all aduersities and comforteth vs cleane remouing away all feare anguish vexation of minde For this cause God is called by S. Paul in the beginning of his second Epistle to the Corinthians The God of mercie and consolation And in the sixth to the Ephesians he doth exhort vs to take vpon vs the shielde of faith wherewith we may quench all the fierie dartes of the wicked CHAP. 3. Properties of the truth and how much it is requisite in a Prince and Clergie SAint Paul recommendeth this trueth vnto vs as an especiall and principall part of the armour required to be worne by a Christian Knight and as a bulwarke against all assaults And most excelent is that saying in the 8. chapter of the prophesie of Zecharie where hee exhorteth Euerie man to speake the trueth vnto his neighbour and as the bodie bereft of the soule is nought else then stinking carrion so man depriued of this trueth is no better then a verie infection and filthie carkasse For this cause Plato in his commonwealth ordained for a lawe that aboue all thinges the truth might be preserued And Xenophon bringing in a good Prince vnder the person of K. Cyrus requireth especialy that he be founde true This was also the first lesson which Aristotle taught Alexander the great And Isayah setteth downe a King to reigne in Iustice and a Prince to rule in Iudgement being as an hiding place from the winde and as a refuge for the tempest And a byshop of Cologne declared to Fredoric the Emperour that the bare worde of a Prince ought to be of as great weight as other mens othes and that the trueth ought to bee his chiefest ornament The aunsweare which Charles the fift Emperour made vnto such as would haue perswaded him by no meanes to sende backe Luther being come vnto him vnder his safe conduit is greatly praised saying that though the performance of promises were cleane banished the face of the earth yet it should be kept by an Emperour Our Sauiour also in manie places of the Euangelistes commaundeth vs in any wise to keepe truth and nameth himselfe the sonne of Iustice and the essentiall truth On the other side the Diuell is called a lyer and the father thereof to the end that euerie one abyding in God who is the soueraigne good and hauing him for a father Lorde Sauiour and Protectour might be founde true and that we should not serue so wicked a murtherer and cruell deceauer as Sathan and that we shoulde abhor lying with which he onely serueth his turne to extinguish the light of the truth the onely life of the soule And Iob sayth that the wicked abhor the light they knowe not the wayes therof nor continue in the pathes thereof The Catholique Church is likewise called of S. Paul The pillar and grounde of trueth And Lactantius calleth it the fountaine of trueth house of faith and temple of God into which who so doth not enter is cleane shut vp from anie hope of eternall life For out of her is there no saluation to be found but euen as it fared with them that were without the Arke of Noah in the time of the flood And our religion hath beene founded vppon faith which dependeth of this truth which alone hath much more vertue than Cicero would attribute to Philosophie as in casting out of spirits remouing vaine solitarinesse deliuering vs from lusts and chasing away all feare For she teacheth vs the true seruice of God how to worshippe his mightinesse admire at his wisedome loue his bountie trust vnto his promises and rule our life according vnto his holie will She cleareth and giueth light vnto the course of reason thorough the knowledge of thinges and guideth our will vnto the true good and taketh away the clowdes of our vnderstanding as it is saide the North winde doth in the ayre And wee daylie see that the afflicted and wretched innocent taketh his greatest comfort in that the trueth is of his side And this truth causeth that parte of our vnderstanding wherein reason lyeth to rule and our will affections and like partes willingly obey thereto and suffer themselues to be gouerned therby And we may the rather be termed men in neare approching to God our patron For all the doctrine of the lawe tendeth to ioyne man through holinesse of life vnto his God as Moyses in Deutronomy sayth to make him leane vnto him For neither the worlde nor anie other creature can make man happie but he alone which made him man And thorough this truth are we deliuered from false opinions and ignorance and in al actions she is the light to guide vs froÌ„ stumbling and bringeth foorth all vertues And since that the end of Grammer is to speake aptly and agreeably and the end of speech societie of Rhethoricke to carrie all mens mindes to one opinion And of Logicke to finde out a truth amidst manie falshoodes all other artes doe likewise tende to this trueth And let vs make our senses to serue our vnderstanding and that vnderstanding of ours to serue him by whom it is and doth vnderstand And since this truth is a light her propertie is to chase away the darkenesse blindnesse and ignorance of our vnderstandings and to reioyce and comfort vs as the sunne rising doth to Pilgrims except they be such as our Sauiour spoke of who loue darkenesse more then the light which maketh vs to perceaue what hath beene hidden from vs. And men are more afraide to do amisse by day then by night and we are better able to guide our selues and can yeelde a better testimonie of what we haue seene as our Sauiour sayde in S. Iohn we speake that we knowe and testifie that we haue seene CHAP. 4. Extremities in the truth and how men may speake of themselues and of that which they vnderstande and that men ought not to publish anie writing but of their owne inuention and to some purpose nor to attribute to themselues the honour of a thing well done SInce that this trueth is approued to be a vertue she ought to hold a mediocritie to be set betweene two vitious extremities of either too little or too much as it is saide of the rest of the vertues which make them selues more apparaunt in gayning vnto themselues by those actions which consist in the middest of two contrarie vices as doeth the true tune among discords The excesse and ouerplus shal proceede of arrogancie pride vaunting disdain insolencie

crownes to whosoeuer would present him with one that was the ringleader of certain theeues the same man presented him selfe obtained both the crownes his pardon Wee reade in sundrie places of Titus Liuius how the Romanes were euer verie curious in maintaining their promise Polibius being a Greeke writeth of them that their verie word was ynough among the Romans and in Greece although they had Notaries and seales oftentimes they broke their faith for which they were grieuously punished And in Iosua it is written that he kept his faith with the deceitfull Barbarians to the end saith he that the wrath of God should not be vpoÌ„ his people because of the othe which they sware vnto him as it afterwards fel vpon al them of the house of Saul who were hanged for hauing vyolated their owne And the Prophet writing in his Psalmes of such conditions as the faithfull ought to be endued with insysteth greatly vpon this that they keeepe their promise yea though it were to their owne hinderance Cicero in his offices sheweth by many examples that ones faith is broken if one doe ought to the detriment therof what colour soeuer he will set vpon it But that we should not runne further hedlong into these inconueniences Seneca wrote that he which was not able to set light a sottish shame is no disciple of Philosophie Which opinion Brutus was likewise of as Plutarque writeth And it is an ouergreat fault in Princes either not to dare to refuse or too lightly to agree to whatsoeuer is demaunded of them which they ought to endeuour to refourm by custome proceeding from lesser things refusing greater It is also required that we promise not ought which proueth not to our aduantage or ought els that lyeth not in our power but diligently to take heede that we suffer not our selues to be enforced or led with a nyce shamefastnes which manie haue when they dare not contrarie or refuse to graunt what they are required for which oft times they much repent themselues as Zeno wisely did reprehend him who was not ashamed to require a matter both vniust vnreasonable And Rutilius to one that found fault that his friendship was so light set by as not to bee able to obtaine his request made answere But what haue I to do with thine if thou wouldest enforce me to do contrarie to al iustice And king Agesilaus said to certain importunate persons that a man ought not to demaund at a Kings hands ought that were vniust and being intreated by his father to giue iudgement in a cause contrarie to right he aunswered him you haue taught me from my youth to follow the lawes I wil yet now obey you in ought not iudging against them Alexander the great made the like aunswere to his mother adding further that shee asked to great a recompence for hauing borne him nine monethes and because of her yl cariage of her selfe when Antipater to whom Macedonia fel dyed he prayed his subiectes as Diodorus wrote neuer to leaue the managyng of affaires in the hands of a womaÌ„ The Emperour Frederick said to certaine his minions about him that were verie importunate to get into their hands some of the auncient Domaine of the Empire that he rather chose to be accounted of smal liberalitie then periured They write as much of Sygismond CHAP. X. Examples of euils happened to breakers of promise and of that which dependeth thereupon THE examples of such miseries as they haue runne into which haue not performed their promises ought to make vs thinke their faultes more strange then we win for Titus Liuius recyteth of a Dictator of Albany who was drawne in peeces with foure horses for that he had broken his faith the citie of Albe was rased cleane downe and Carthage dissolued into ashes and the people of Capua murthered and kept in bondage He maketh likewise mention of sundrie ostages giuen in pledge for the better assurance of such treaties as passed thorough the Volsques Tarentines and others who were executed for the breache of promise their people made Zedechiah king of Iuda hauing rebelled contrarie to his promise was led captiue after that his sonnes were flaine before his eyes and had his owne eyes put out Caracalla the Emperour hauing pursued the king of Persia contrary to his promise was himselfe afterward slaine Iustinian hauing falsified his faith to the Bulgares was sent into banishment Cleomenes hauing made a league with the Argiens seeing that vnder the assurance therof they were lulled a sleepe murthered and imprisoned some of them neuertheles not being able to surprise the towne which was defended by the women ran mad killed himselfe The king of Hungarie Ladislaus after certaine victories obtained against Amurates made a most honorable truce during which hee suffered himselfe to be persuaded by the Cardinal Iulian Embassadour from Pope Eugenes to break it which was the cause why the said turke had a most memorable conquest and the said Ladislaus togither with the chiefe of his armie the said Cardinal were either slaine outright or stifeled within the marishes And after such time as he had thus falsified his faith there ensued an infinit number of mischiefes thorough out all Christendome And euen so went it with vs after we had conquered Milan and Naples for that we obserued not duelie the treatise which wee there promised And for the like cause before that happened the Scicilian Vespers and for that we rather gaue credite to Pope Clement the fourth then to the counsel of the Erle of Flanders Pope Adrian tooke a solemne othe to obserue the peace concluded with the Emperour Frederick and afterwardes breaking it as he dranke he was choaked with a flye It came in like sort to passe with Pope Alexander the sixth who tooke himselfe such poyson as he had prepared for the Cardinals he had inuited to supper And to Iulius the second who was wont to say that the treaties he concluded was but to abuse and ruine the one through the other Andronicus Conneus cleane contrarie to his faith giuen to the infants of Emanuel and to them of Nice vsurped the Empire but after sundrie other yll happes hee was soone after hung by the feete and hewen in peeces Loys Sforce vncle to Iohn Galleace inuested himselfe in the Duchie of Milan Hee likewise broke his promise made to King Francis He was afterwards carryed prisoner into France Michael Paleologue beeing chosen Emperour of the Greekes promised swore that he would render vp the Empire into the hands of Iohn Lascaris when he shoulde come of age but notwithstanding he stil helde it He died miserably to his posteritie ensued an infinite number of mischiefs was occasion of the first beginning of the Turkish Monarchie Charles duke of Burgondie hauing violated his faith promised to the Suissers and

in his actions then couragious It were very expedient that were practised which happened in our time in the yeare of our Lord one thousand fiue hundred fiftie and one betweene Gonstaue King of Sweden and the Moscouite where all those that were occasioners of the warre they had so lightly vndertaken were executed and put to death And not without cause did Pausanias call all the Captaines in the warre both Peloponesians and Greekes murtherers and destroyers of their countrey It is to be desired that the nobilitie of France would accustome themselues to modestie rule order constancie and to mortifie this their great heate to armes and warre vnnecessarie And as the Phisition preuenteth sickenesse thorough small preparatiues and apostumes so beginning with their lesser inclinations choler and passions they may the easilyer attaine to the ende of the more strong and consider that which is written in the life of Saint Augustine that hee would neuer pray for such as of their owne voluntarie motion had beene at a strange warre and greatly reproued as saint Cyprian did Donatus and others that killing of a priuate man was in perticuler punished but he who had slaine manie in warre was greatly praysed In Titus Liuius Scipio sheweth to King Masinissa that a man ought not so muche to doubt his enemies armed as those pleasures which render a man effeminate and vnconstant It was wisely sayde of an auntient man that the foundations of all counsels and actions ought to leane to pietie iustice and honestie without vsing of anie headinesse I woulde willingly giue that counsell to French men which Archidamus gaue vnto the Aeoliens meaning to ayde the Argians in their warre within a letter contayning onely these woordes Quietnesse is good And sayde vnto suche as praysed him for the victorye hee had obtayned agaynst the Argiens it had beene more worthe to haue ouercome them by wisedome then by force Xenophon writing of the actes of the Greekes sheweth that all wise men abstayne the moste they are able from warre albeit they haue thereunto iust occasion And that sayinge of sundrye Emperours was verye famous that warre ought not to bee taken in hande without great neede And the Emperour Augustus was woont to say that a warre which were good must be commaunded by the Goddes and iustified by Philosophers and wise olde men For the time seruing for lawes for armes is diuerse as Caesar sayd to Metelius And we haue had too good experience howe much God the weale publicke order and iustice hath beene offended herewith And warre hath beene called a gulfe of expence and a cruell tyrant ransacking the people and peace ordred with good pollicie as a good king moderating charge and excesse And as Horace feygneth that the place into which Eolus shut his windes being open the sea is troubled in euerie part so by the opening of warre partialitie insolencie and all vices manifest themselues And warres are nought else then a horrible punishment of a whole people a ruine of a whole countrey state and discipline And wisely did Spartian write howe Traian was neuer vanquished because he neuer vndertooke warre without iust cause The very which Titus Liuius declareth of the Romaines in the ende of the first Decade Otho the Emperour chose rather to die than to rayse a ciuill warre For which men likewise prayse Zeno the Emperour and Cicero in his Philippiques calleth him which is desirous thereof a detestable citizen I am also of opinion that the conuersation with the Muses and studie of good letters would render the nobilitie more aduised and constant as we haue well marked else where And am not of the Swissers minde which thinketh too much studie marreth the braine nor of the Almaynes who in the time of Galienus the Emperour after that the citie of Athenes was taken kept them from setting a fire a great heape of bookes they had there made saying let vs leaue them to the Greekes to the ende that applying themselues to them they may be lesse proper for the warre For the reading of good bookes as Alexander the great and diuerse other of the most valiant captaines sayde maketh the nobilitie more hardie and wise and contayneth them within the boundes of their dutie And what good nature soeuer a captaine be of he falleth into an infinite number of faults for want of reading of good books And that being true which diuerse haue written of Xenocrates that he did so pearce the heart of his auditors that of dissolute persons they became temperate and modest what ought wee to iudge of the instructions taken out of the holy letters And as some haue counselled before they sleepe they are to demaund of themselues a reason and account of that which they shall haue gayned of modestie grauitie constancie and facilitie of complexions It is written of Socrates that when he was drye he would neuer drinke but first he wold cast out the first bucket ful of water that he drew out of the well to the ende sayde he that he might accustome his sensuall appetite to attende the fit time and oportunitie of reason Theophrastus sayd that the soule payd well for her hyer to the bodie considering what shee there suffred But Plutarke writeth that the body hath good cause to coÌ„plaine of the noyses which so greuous and troublesome a guest maketh him which notwithstanding is within the body as in a sepulcher or den which she ought to guide being before lightned by the truth and ruling her selfe according to it both in respect of her owne safetie and of her hostes I would also counsell them to shunne all dissolutenes be it in bitter or vilanous wordes vncomely garmentes and vnshamefast countenance For it is all one in what part soeuer of the bodie a man shew his vnshamefastnes vanitie pride and lightnesse And the Lacedemonians were highly commended because they banished a Milesian out of their citie for going too sumptuously appareled We ought also rather to desire to be vertuous then to seeme to vse wisedome and descretion in all assayes auoyding debates and selfewill without witnessing whether it be true or false not hurtfull following the precept of Epictetus in yeelding vnto the greater sort perswading the inferiours with sweetenesse and modestie consenting to the equall to the end to auoyde quarelles Aboue all thinges wee ought to enforce our selues to tame our couetous desires and concupiscences especially where libertie to take and enioye them is offred vnto vs and to accustome our selues to patience meekenesse in keeping vnder the desire of reuenge knowing as the great Monarch Alexander was woont to saye that it is a signe of a more heroycall heart and prayse worthye for a man that hath receaued an iniurie to pardon his enemie then to kill him or reuenge himselfe vpon him And that reuenge proceeded of a basenesse of minde and vertue consisted in matters hardly reached vnto And it

and neere vnto Constantinople receaue yearely almes froÌ„ him The Princes of Italie support the Iewes ranke enemies to our religion In Polognia both the Greekish and Romish religion hath each had their course time out of minde yea and in sundry cities as well of Germanie as Swyserlande there bee Churches of two religions and since certaine yeares the nobilitie make profession there of the religion of the Protestantes The Emperour Charles the fift so puissant and wise after sundrie deliberations had of this matter agreed gaue consent by an order made at Ausbourge in the yeare 1530 to the peace named of religion And in the yeare 1555. a perpetuall edicte was to that ende established Ferdinando his successour endured the change of religion in diuerse prouinces of his kingdome of Bohemia and certayne places of Austria And since Maximilian his sonne permitted the like to his nobles and gentlemen of Austria as likewise did the late Duke of Sauoye to diuerse of his subiectes And the counsell of the King of Spayne so greatly Catholike was yet constrayned to suffer the like in sundrie places in Flanders And in the time of our sauiour and before there were in Ierusalem sundrie sectes whereof some cleane impugned the principall articles of our fayth Whereupon I am not of the mind to founde any certaine rule knowing we ought to liue according vnto lawes not examples as Demosthenes was wont to say but considering the mischeifes and disorders of times and that the sweetnesse of religion and iustice is impatient of crueltie of the excesse and vnworthinesse of troubles hauing too feeble a voyce to bee vnderstoode amidsts the horrible clatteringes of blouddie weapons as Marius sayde I desire that they maye not stirre vppe a mischiefe nowe lying quiet and that each one prayse the kinge for the constancie and equalitie which hee hath kept in his promises rather attending a more milde and fit remedie for a greater vnitie esteeming the counsell which Gamaliel gaue to the Pharises as trewe that no force nor practise of man can destroye what is of God and if it be of men it will come to nought and perish of it selfe The lawes of the twelue tables required that the safety of the people were the most soueraigne lawe and esteemed that patron as abhominable that would defraude his subiect or freed bondman So ought subiects to bee entreated without oppression Princes ought likewise to beware of two thinges which Aristotle in his Politiques saieth subuerteth Empires to wit hatred and disdaine rather making themselues to be beloued and esteemed and abstayning from all kinde of iniustice and violence and whatsoeuer else deserueth blame As the Emperours Titus Nerua and sundrie other boasted of themselues that they were able to say that they euer behaued themselues towardes their subiectes euen as they would haue their subiectes doe towardes them selues if they were in their place And to preserue peace amonge subiectes they ought to take order that euerie one bee occupyed and followe his vocation honestly and leaue to giue excessiue pensions to straungers and vnwoorthie subiectes following the maxime of Alexander Seuerus that men are not to be nourished which are neyther necessarie nor profitable for a common wealth And Anthonie the Emperour gaue charge his trayne by no meanes should presse the people Galba often sayde that a Prince ought to prouide that they of his court should offer wronge to no man and that their gardes that offended herein should bee rigorously punished or they which in hunting would marre eyther corne or fruites And as Seneca sayeth the good renowne of seruauntes encreaseth the glorie of their maysters It were also to be desired that the ordinaunce of taxes were obserued and that the men of armes and souldiers were well payde without marringe of the plaine countrey attending other meanes of remedie vntil they be cleane remoued For as king Theodoric wrote the army which is not entertayned with pay furniture munition can by no means keepe discipline as likewise Alexander Seuerus the Emperour was wont to say The Emperour Tiberius the 2. accounted for counterfaite coine that money which was leuied with the teares cryings out of the people And Pertinax the Emperour was highly extolled for his liberalitie for that he did abolish all taxes customes subsedies other imposts which he said were the inuentioÌ„ of tyrany restored all to the former libertie It were also a very great commodity if the matter whereof they make money were not so mingled but either were pure gold siluer or brasse For the delaying is a most pernitious inuention as it is in like sort to haue so manye officers about the mint Aboue al things the key of the reuenewes ought to be put in suer handling The last will testament of the King Saint Lewys may not be here omitted in which he commanded his sonne successour to preserue the good lawes to be charitable towards the poore to take great regard that he might haue wise counsellours and of ripe age in no wise to sell his estates that he shuld make choise of seruants prudent and peaceable not couetous giuen to speake ill or quarellers that hee minister iustice alike to all thorough which Kings raigne that he should not be too light of beliefe nor rayse taxes or releife of his subiectes without verye vrgent necessitie the which we may saye to be able to support an infinite number of charges and businesse the better to administer iustice to preserue the publicke weale from all daungers to suppresse the wicked and maintaine all his countrey and subiectes in quietnesse and to bee able to paye what is dew to strangers and his owne subiects which cannot be brought to passe without great meanes and expenses It is written of Iulian the Emperour that he pardoned the people of Alexandria who had trayled their Byshoppe thorough the citie and killed him because that he had giuen counsell to Constance his predecessour to rayse certaine newe taxes vpon them By the bull of the supper on holy thursday the Pope doth excommunicate all such as leuie new subsides or exact what is not their dewe I will not in like sort passe ouer with a dry pen the remembrances which Basill the Emperour of Constantinople left vnto Leo his sonne that he should be a vertuous Emperour not becomming slaue to his owne affections that he should remember what sins himselfe committed against God to the ende he might pardon such as were committed against his person that he should be more careful to adorne his wordes with good manners then his manners with words that he should giue himselfe to learning which beutifieth the spirite shewing himselfe worthy to be the Image and lifetenant of the king of heauen For subiectes rule their manners according to the paterne of their Prince That he should get nothing vniustly for feare

of loosing all that he should be courteous gratious and graue that he should banish from his court all lewde counsellours such as charge the people with newe inuentions that his life should serue for an vnwritten lawe that he be such towardes his owne subiectes as hee would require of God to bee towardes him that hee manifest not him selfe eyther to sorrowefull or to ioyefull that by no meanes he sell his offyces for he that selleth them maketh sale of his owne subiectes Me thinketh wee ought in no wise to forget the commendation which Xenophon gaue to Kinge Agesilaus comparing him as contrarye to many tyrauntes that he euer measured his expenses with his reuenewe fearing least for the furnishing thereof he should doe ought that were vniust greatly delighting to see his subiectes rich and that they being valiant he commanded ouer valiant people that he esteemed it a greater prayse not to be ouercome with money pleasures and feare then to take by assault most strong cities that he shewed himself much to the people and courteously entreated euery one that had any supplycation or suite to make vnto him and as soone as he was able gaue order for the dispatch of whatsoeuer was proposed vnto him with reason The ordinance of Anthonye the Emperour was holy for his time that no tribute should bee exacted without the consent of the Senate and the people and also that it should not be employed to any vse but by their especiall aucthoritie For there must bee a Geometricall proportion kept betweene the King and the people And when he would wrest all vnto himselfe it is as the Emperours Traian Adrian were wont to say that when the spleene is swolne all the rest of the members waxe dry Among the othes which the Emperours make at their coronation one is that they shall lay no taxe or tribute without the consent of the estates of the Empire The which the kings of Polognia Hungary Inglande and Danemarc doe in like sort Thence proceeded the ordinance made by Philip de Valois and other of our Kinges And if such as are charged by vertue of their offyce to see the buildinges of Churches to be repayred the poore to be well vsed to hinder the excessiue fellings of Tymber to cause the good lawes to be put in execution to hold the Mercurials to controle each one would performe their dutie euery thing would prosper better The lawe which Titus Liuius and Plutarke writeth was practised at Rome were very profitable to be put in vre within the citie of Paris that all fountaynes which were drawne into particuler houses thorough fauour corruption or otherwise might be cleane stopped and placed in publicke places or out of the same houses that particuler persons might not be able to withdrawe the water in abusing the publicke benefite as they doe The saying of King Agis Agasicles and Titus the Emperour is worthy to be well coÌ„sidered that a Prince may easily raigne without any guarde or weapons when he commaundeth ouer his subiectes as a father ouer his children vsinge them withall meekensse sweetenesse and clemencie For if a Prince tende to nought else then to maintayne him selfe and bring his people into slauerie there is no more anye name lefte of citie or people as Saint Augustine sayeth And it is not ynough that a Prince knoweth what establysheth preserueth or destroyeth seignuries if he doe not withholde or reiecte awaye cleane the cause and preuent troubles or if they doe chaunce to happen presently quench them with small dammage It were besides to be desired that they had a care to the mayntenaunce of godlinesse and religion of hospitales and schooles and that they put in execution what Kinge Philip de Valois sayde to the Archbyshoppes Byshoppes and Prelates of his Realme whome he had caused to assemble togeather that if they woulde correcte what were woorthie of amendment hee would alter nothing in the state of the Church but if they differred to doe it he would remedie it in such sorte as God thereby should be better serued the people contented and the nobilitie which so much complained thereof without cause giuen of offence It woulde also breede a verye great benefite if according to the ordinance of Charlemagne Lewys 12. Otho the first of Councels Decrees Cannons and the aduise of sundrie good Popes Diuines and Doctours they would institute into benefices the most learned men and of best life and which mought bee founde more agreeable to Ecclesiasticall functions and to the people not depending of one alone which careth for nought but to put in his coffers the yearely reuenewe which appertayneth according to the Cannons and meaning of such as were founders to other as well as to the poore and by this reformation would iustice be maintayned and a better order established thorough out For if the dewtie of a Magistrate bee to see that the people liue well and vertuously according to Aristotle his opinion in his Politiques religion is one of the greatest vertues As in like sorte Moses Iosua Samuel Dauid Salomon Aza Iosophat Ioab Ezechias Iosias and other greatly trauayled to refine the seruice of God And Saint Ambrose writeth that Theodosius when he dyed had a greater care of the Church then of his sickenesse And Socrates in the Proeme of the fifte booke of the Ecclesiasticall hystorie sheweth the great care that the Emperours euer since they became Christians tooke touching Ecclesiasticall affayres And the Diuines are of opinion that the name of Melchisedech King of Salem sheweth what kinges ought to be to wit kinges of iustice and peace And the worde Abimilech signifieth my father the kinge Sundrye haue likewise wished for the quiet of the commonwealth that Princes woulde ofte set before their eyes the causes by meanes whereof an estate is turned topsie turuie and chaunged according to the rules in the holye scripture and hystories thorough vice hatred which God carryeth to impietie idolatrie vniustice tyrannie sorcerie and whoredome And often times the enuie of such as gouerne their ambition desire of reuenge choler rashnesse obstinacie despite couetousnesse trust in their owne strength accompanied with hautinesse foolishe imitation and curiositie corrupteth their counselles and prouoketh them to stirre vp out of season what they should let lie in quyet And we in our owne time haue seene what troubles haue ensued hereon For which a good Prynce ought to prouide and if hee chaunce to forgette him selfe he ought to bee brought backe agayne thorough the gnawinges and bytinges of the sharpe teeth and smarting prickes of his conscience And hee ought well to weigh the threatninges conteyned and set foorth in the holy scripture and that which Seneca writeth that there is no tempest vpon the sea so soddaine nor waue that followeth one an other sooner then the condition of Princes is variable for that they are subiecte to dreadfull faules and chaunges And

the Psalmist sayth that the Lorde powreth contempt vppon Princes and causeth them to erre in desearte places out of the waye The which Iob setteth foorth more at large And the alterations which we see happen in our age in so many countryes might serue for a notable table to beholde the iudgementes of God cleane abolyshinge whole empires for cause of our sinnes And God declared that he cast the people out of the lande of Palestina for the sorceries which they vsed And threatned that he would not onely roote out sorcerers but those likewise that suffereth them to liue And in Ieremie he sayth that he will scatter them in all kingdomes of the earth because of Manasses for that which he did in Ierusalem Which ought to mooue all Princes to detest them and cause them to bee punished according to the lawe of God Sundry histories doe witnesse that vpon the image of Sennacharib in Aegypt was written Learne by me to feare God CHAP. XXI That Princes ought to haue about them good counsellours which may not spare to tell them the truth and that their life ought to serue as a rule and instruction to their subiectes not to graunt to any vniust thing of excessiue gifts an aduertisement to such as are in fauour of warnings and that in all actions of importance one ought to take councell without trusting to his owne sufficiencie MAlice and vice taking their full swyng through the carier of the power libertie which wicked Princes yeelde vnto them do push forward euery violent passion making euery litle choler occasioned vpon some false reporte to turne anon eyther to murther or banishment euery regard and loue to a rape or adultery and couetousnes to confyscation The sight of what is precious causeth a mischeuous desire of making warre is the occasion that a million of swordes are naked which peace would keepe within the scabbard The importunitie of a flatterer driueth away a good counseller a light beleefe or suspition causeth the innocent often times to loose his life as the Prophet Mycheas describeth Through inequalitie iniustice or ambition an entrie is made to seditions troubles And a wicked counsell causeth the ruyne of a whole estate the order of iustice affaires is cleane turned vpside down and as Isocrates writeth the amities of Tyrants through a false report are often turned into most deadly enmities They proceed rather with a headines then counsell without resisting their appetites they are insolent and impatient imagining that with a looke they are able to remedie al hinderances and to surmount the nature of thinges not taking counsell of wisedome and reason but of their owne wil their woordes euer differing from their workes and preferring profit before sayth Caligula the Emperour wished that all the people of Rome had but one head that he might cut it off at a blowe And one day hauing two Senators at dinner with him that asked him what made him to laugh it is aunswered hee because in the twinckling of an eye I am able to hange you both The which other Emperours both haue sayde and put as much in execution And as Saluste writeth Tyrantes rather suspect the good then the wicked and stande in feare of such as are vertuous and are many As Horace after other historiographers reciteth of one Dionisius a Tyrant that he caused a friend of his to sit in a place abounding with all kinde of delicacies and delightes but ouer his heade he had a naked sworde hanging by a threede thereby to shewe him the estate in which all tyrantes stoode The Emperour Alexander Seuerus did as it were the like to a delicate Senator named Ouinius And in truth if iustice reason lawes and the feare of God did not conteyne and keepe within boundes suche power and might and that they were not accustomed to demand account of theÌ„selues condemnations would goe before profes and all iustice pollicie and order should lie vnder feete Varus the Emperour was wont to say after Marius in Saluste diuers other of old time that it was a most hard matter for one in great power and aucthoritie to temper himselfe or not to be corrupted and to put a bridle to his desires Herodotus sheweth how easely royal gouernement is degenerated into tyrannye whereof Samuel aduertised the people of GGD so playnely by the example of Deioces who beeing greatly renowned and loued of euerye one for his vertue and iustice was choosen as Bayleife amonge the Medes and in the ende crowned their Kinge and to the ende he should haue greater aucthoritie and be the better able to maintayne iustice and to oppose himselfe to any harme they gaue him a guarde and a verye stronge place of defence But hee seeing himselfe so assuredly establyshed changed his manners cleane accordinge to the fashion of tyrauntes and thought of nothing else but howe hee mought be reuenged and contemned and oppressed euerie one for his owne greatnesse and pleasure And not without cause Theodosius the Emperour exhorteth his children Arcadius and Honorius to put a bridle to such licentiousnesse as neuer regarded what was iuste and to moderate their first motions and choler without trusting too much to fortune which is like vnto a glasse the more it is shining the more is it brickle Wherefore Plato Xenephon Aristotle and Plutarke counselled all good Princes to prouide about them men learned well aduised modest and of good vnderstanding to conferre with and to vnderstande of them what their dewtie is Isocrates wrote vnto Nicocles that he should procure friends not such as should be euer readie to shewe him pastime but such as should assist him in well gouerning of his kingdome and that euer would tell him the truth And he addeth that it is a greater felicitie to obeye a good King then to raygne Theopompus made aunswere vnto him that demaunded how a King with safety might gouerne his kingdom in giuing libertie vnto his friends frankly to speake the truth and in taking heede that he oppresse not his subiects Plutark sheweth that Philosophers ought especially to conuerse with Princes alleaging the aunswere of Solon to him which said that one ought not to approch neere Princes except he purpose to do al things to plese theÌ„ but coÌ„trariwise saith he you ought not to be about theÌ„ except you euer tel theÌ„ the truth As he did in visiting K. Craesus And Plato in Sicilie to Dionisius Dion Philostratus reciteth in the life of Apollonius that when Titus returning froÌ„ Iudea was inuested in the Empire he required the sayd Apollonius to giue him certain politicke instructions the better to be able to gouern his Empire to whoÌ„ he answered that he would giue him a certaine disciple of his that should teach him the manner a good Prince ought to vse And being demanded what qualities he had He is sayth he a man franke

when they followed any euill counsell albeit it succeeded wel the which was long time obserued in the kingdome of Persia For as Brutus wrote vnto Cicero a man once placed in great dignitie hath more to do to mainetaine the grace and reputation which he hath alreadie gotten then he which doth but beginne to get Euen as King Philip aunswered Arpalus who greatly did importunate him to reuerse a suite that a kinsman of his had in the law it were better that thy Cosen in the estate which he is in be defamed through his owne outragiousnesse then that I who am a King commaunding ouer so great a countrey should giue cause to my subiects to speake euill of me for hauing done so great iniustice eyther in fauour of him or thee As also the great Kinge Artaxerxes gaue a great summe of money to a gentleman of his chamber in steede of a suyte he besought at his handes which well hee mought not graunt saying that for giuing that he should not be the lesse rich but if he had yeelded to what he vniustly craued hee should haue beene lesse esteemed and not haue performed the dutie of a good King which aboue all thinges ought to haue in price iustice and equitie For as Pliny declared vnto Traian his Master The life of a Prince is a censure that is to saye the rule the square the frame and forme of an honeste life according to which their subiectes frame the manner of their life and order their families and rather from the life of Princes doe subiectes take their paterne and examples then from their lawes This was it which moued Isocrates to write vnto Nicocles it serueth to proue that thou hast wel gouerned if thou see thy subiectes become more modest and riche vnder thy Empire For the subiectes followe the example of their Princes as certaine flowers turne according to the Sunne And Theodoric the K. of the Goths wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that the course of nature would fayle before the people would bee other then their Prince And Claudian was of opinion that the edictes and lawes were not so well able to amende and temper the maners and hearts of the people as did the good life of their gouerners And in Hosea it is written that there shalbe like people like Priest Xenophon in the eight of his Pedion writeth that subiectes are as it were enforced to doe well when they see their Princes temperate not giuen to vniustice and for the most parte fashion themselues according to their moulde For this cause great personages haue the more neede to haue good counsellours about them whose vnderstanding mouthes eyes and eares maye serue them to make them better able to acquite themselues of their charge as Aristotle saith And it were to be wished that they were not corrupt but wel remember what Plinie the yonger wrote vnto Traian that a Prince ought onely to wil that which he may Quintus Cursius writeth that a Prince rather ought to imploy his time and to spende in getting and maintaining a wise counseler about him then in conquests Anthonie the Emperour onely amended his manners by the report of those as he had sent about the citie to vnderstande what was saide of him And the Emperour Theodosius the second copyed out with his owne hande al the new testament and red euery day one Chapter and made his prayers and soung Psalmes togither with his wife and sisters And many haue commended the custome of diuers of our Kinges and especially saint Lewes who when they rose out of their bed kneeled downe thanking God that he had preserued them that night beseeching him to pardon them their sinnes for his mercies sake and to continue them in his holie custodie and fauour to the ende that without offending of him they might employ all the daye to his honour and acquite themselues of the charge which he had bestowed on them And they caused a Chapter of the Bible or some other good booke to be red while they apparelled them selues the better to teache them to gouerne For to rule is as much to saye as to amende what is amisse or awrie And in Deutronomie it is commaunded the King to haue the booke of the lawe and to read therin al the dayes of his life as aboue wee haue noted was enioyned to Iosua And it is written in Iob that wee shoulde enquire of the former age and search of our fathers because of our ignorance And in the Prouerbes Where no Councell is the people fall but where manye Councellors are there is health And that health commeth from manie Councellors but good councel proceedeth from God And wee see by sundrie histories that such Emperours as haue contemned the Senate haue had a verie euil ende And that some of our Kinges though they were but of meane capacitie yet so guyded themselues thorough Counsell that they atchieued great matters And Thucidides called them bondmen slaues and of verie base mindes that were led by lewde Councell Edward King of Englande saide of King Charles the fifth surnamed the wise that hee feared more the learning and remembrances of that wise King then he did the puissant armies of his predecessour And K. Lewys the eleuenth sayde it was as much as to fish with a hook of golde to sende an armie beyonde the mountaines where the losse is assuredly greater then can be the profit Agamemnon said in Homer that hee had rather choose two like vnto his old counsellor Nestor then so manye Achilles or Aiax Darius King of the Persians and Medes made great account of Daniel Pericles had about him Anaxagoras Cato Anthenodorus Scipio hauing in charge and beeing appointed to goe looke and sounde out what iustice raigned through the worlde presently sent to fetch Panetius and oftentimes serued his turne through the councel of Lelius Iulius Caesar tooke aduise of Aristo Augustus of Mecenas Pompeye of Cratippus Nero al the fiue first yeres of his Empire wisely conducted him selfe through the counsell of Seneca Marcus Antonius had Apollodorus Demetrius Crates of whome he was wont to say that hee conned small thankes to his businesse and affaires which so much hindered him from sooner hauinge attained to knowledge Pyrrhus sayde likewise of Cineas his councellor that hee more esteemed his eloquence then the valour of all his Captaines Alexander the great had in high estimation Anaxarques and Aristotle to whome he confessed that hee owed no lesse vnto them then to his owne father hauing of the one receiued life but of the other to be able to liue well and that the best munition weapons and maintainance of warre that he had were the discourses hee had learned of Philosophie and the preceptes touching the assurance of fearing nought and the diligence in differring nothing that was to be done Cyrus vsed the counsell of Xenophon Craesus King of Lydia

sought by great presents to recouer Anacharsis and that little which hee learned of Solon saued his life And Dionisius the tyrant of Syracusa had Aristippus and Plato Ptolomeus Stilpo and Aristophanes Antigonus Bias Attalus Lycon Marcus Aurelius Apollonius Mithridates so farre adored the saide Plato that hee caused his image to be erected to do him the greater honour And Antiochus marueilously mourned for the death of Zeno because hee saide hee spake his minde vnto him more frankely then did either Byas or Demetrius Epaminundas was instructed by Lysias Agesilaus by Xenophon Theodosius the Emperour was greatly assisted by the councel of Saint Ambrose and learned of him to bee readie to heare what any one had to declare vnto him and to repeate ouer all the letters of the Alphabet before he shoulde commaunde any thing when hee found himselfe mooued with choler which before that time Augustus was warned of who one day being in his throne readie to condemne certaine persones the sayd Mecenas not beeing able to come neare him for the presse cast vnto him a little scroll wherein was contayned these wordes Arise Hangman which caused him to aryse and goe awaye without further execution of his passion The saide Theodosius likewise and Valentinian wrote in a certaine lawe that it was a speache woorthie of a prince and a royall maiestie to saye he was a subiect and submit himselfe to the lawes because the aucthoritie of a Prince dependeth on the preseruatioÌ„ of iustice The which Valerius recyteth of Zaleueus the gouernour of Locres who caused one of his owne eyes and another of his sonnes who was founde in adulterie to bee put out for that the people so much besought him that hee woulde not put out both his sonnes eyes according to the lawe The like Diodorus witnesseth to haue beene done by Charondas and Titus Liuius by Manlius who caused his owne sonne to bee beheaded the better to maintaine the discipline of warre Wee reade likewise that Antigonus made aunswere to one of his councellours who sayde it was lawfull for Kinges to doe what best listed themselues Nay that which you saye I thinke bee verie true among Kinges of barbarous nations nourished in ignoraunce and voyde of learning and which knowe not the difference betweene honour and dishonour betweene equitie and inequitie but to vs who haue an vnderstandinge both political and morall thorough the instinct of learning capable of wisedome and iustice hauing euer beene thereto brought vp and instructed there is nothinge honest and lawfull that is not so in his owne nature The which in like sort Traian learned of Plinie and to guide himselfe in such manner as though hee shoulde bee euer readie to render an account of all his actions The which Plato setteth downe in the fourth of his lawes Tacitus discoursing of the originall of the ciuil lawe sayeth that Seruius the thirde King of Romanes established manie lawes to which the Kinges were subiect and Diodorus recyteth of the kinges of Aegypt that without any dispensation they executed and followed the ordinances of the lawes For as Cicero saide in his oration for Cluens the heart vnderstanding and counsel in a publike weale are within the good lawes and ordinances and a political estate is not able to vse his owne partes without lawes no more then the bodie of man can exercise his due operations without reason and vnderstanding nor the hogshed keepe his liquor if you take away the hoopes The sayde Emperour Traian highly esteemed those frinds councellors whoÌ„ he found true faithful and loyal And when he was desired to tel how he made so good choyce Marrie quoth he because it was euer my good fortune to choose those that were neither couetous nor lyers because that they in whome couetousnes and lying haue once taken deepe roote can neuer perfectly loue Princes ought in like sort to consider the malignitie lack of wisedome in such as they put in trust vnder them who either through negligence not attending their busines or for lacke of capacitie do not discerne of themselues the good counsell from the wicked And it were necessarie that they shoulde not bee permitted to receiue any pension or benefite from any other Prince or Lord. One of the Hebrewes which translated the Byble answered Ptolome that he might assuredly trust him who was not withdrawen from his amitie neither by feare gifts or any other gaine Celius writeth that the Emperour Charles the fifte when hee was at Naples sent for one Nyphus a verie great Philosopher and demaunded of him the way to gouerne well an Empire To which he aunswered if you will keepe neere your person such councellors and men of vertue as you O Emperour make shewe to thinke I am For this cause Isocrates and Tacitus haue written that there is no instrument so good for an Empire nor so profitable as the vertuous and well aduised friends of a Prince Xenophon in his Pedion bringeth in Cyrus saying to Cambises that friendes are the verie scepter and bulwarke of kingdomes It were to be desired that euerie one were as wel aduised as was that vertuous King Charles the eight who oftentimes of would tel his fauorites that he had chosen them for the opinion he had that they were of the most vertuous and of whome hee mought assuredly trust fearing but one fault in them that they would suffer themselues to be spotted with couetousnes hauing easie meanes to be drawen and tempted thereto in respect of the great credit they had about him But if he mought once perceiue that for their profite they would cause ought to be commaunded that were vniust and vnhonest they should lose his fauour for euer That they mought haue iust occasion to content themselues with the goods of this worlde since God had made him rich ynough for them all He prayed them to make profession of honor the onely meanes that brought them and coulde preserue them in his good fauour whereof he did admonish them to the ende to take heede that neither he nor they might fall into any mischief which he willingly would eschewe And as Marcellinus wrote speaking of the vnsatiable couetousnes of the officers of the Emperours Constance and Iulian that they were the nurcerie of al the vices that infected the common wealth in their time And from this desire of riches proceedeth the riotousnes superfluitie of expenses in all estates the which Cicero in like sort lameÌ„ted in his time certainly we may wel bewaile the same at this present And to meete herewith it were very good to put that in practise which hath bin vsed after the decease of some of our Kings to resume froÌ„ such as haue receiued too excessiuely The which likewise Basile Emperor of Constantinople ordained by edict that they which had receiued money without reason huge gifts of the Emperor Michael his predecessor should

to the ende that if ought had inconsideratly escaped their mouth or that their letters had beene rashly signed and passed the signet by reason of their great busines and affaires or for not hauing beene fully infourmed how matters stoode it mought the more easily be moderated and remedied They willed likewise all their letters to bee examined by the soueraigne Courts and ordinarie Iudges of their realme Ecclesiasticus also admonisheth vs To praye vnto the most high that he will direct our waye in trueth and that reason goe before euerie enterprise and councell before euerie action Hence proceedeth the ordinarie clauses had by the counsell aduise and ripe deliberation of our councell There are likewise some that haue wel vnderstood the saying of the wisemaÌ„ Where there is no vision the people decay to bee meant of a good gouernement ruled by good councel And the foundations of good counsels and actions ought to be laide vppon pietie iustice and honestie and to be executed with diligence and prudence otherwise they are altogither vnprofitable These two discourses concerne in especiall the greatnes safetie profit of Princes because that of the comfort of their subiects ensueth amitie and of this amitie proceedeth a readie will to expose their persons and goods for the affaires of their soueraigne CHAP. XXII That one ought not to iudge too readily of another IT was not sayde without cause in the olde time that he which beleeued a backebyter committed no lesse offence then hee did And Symonides complained of a friend of his that had spoken yll of him of his eares and lightnes of beleefe which ought not to haue place in any before they be throughly informed of the trueth For by how much by speache a man approcheth nearer to the seate of vnderstanding reason which is in the braine by so much doth it the more hurt marre him which beleeueth if a man take not verie diligent heed and the hearer partaketh halfe with the speaker It is also verie strange to see what care wee haue to keepe the gates of our houses shut and yet howe wee leaue our eares open to raylers and euen as Homer praised them which stopped their eares sayling on the sea neare vnto the Syrenes for feare of being heald entised by their melodie singing and so fal into the daungers that ensued thereon so should not we giue audience to tale carriers and detractors of mens good name and if they chance to prate in our presence we should examine the whole and take thinges in the beste part without giuing too light credence therto Thucidides the historiographer in his preface greatly blamed such as would report of credite sundry thinges of olde time founding their beliefe vppon an vncertaine brute without taking paines to enquire further The which Caesar in like sort writeth of the Gaulois which caused a lie often times to be put in stead of the truth And Aristotle hauing giuen this precept to Alexander to be founde true addeth that he shoulde not beleeue too lightly And it was euer esteemed an act of a wise man to retaine his iudgement without discouering it especially in matters vncertaine and to consider all the circumstances and consequence thereof And we ought to be as it were gardiens of the renowne and good of our neighbour fearing least being men we shoulde fall into that euill which is reported of an other And we ought to put in vre the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Blame no man before thou haue enquired the matter vnderstande first and then reforme Giue no sentence before thou hast heard the cause The which principallye we ought to practise in the wonderfull and vnsearchable workes of God and rather to thinke our selues short in our owne vnderstanding then to suspect that God fayled in his prouidence and in the gouernment of the vniuersall world and by no meanes to controle the worke whereof we haue no skill at all CHAP. 23. Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a discription of detraction MAny haue sayde that it is a great corsey to a man of courage to be barred libertye of free speach And the Emperours Augustus and Tiberius and Pope Pius the seconde haue saide that in a citie that is not bonde tongues ought to be free And S. Ambrose writeth to Theodosius the Emperour that nothing better beseemed a Prince then to loue libertye of speach nor nothing worst for a Priest then not to dare to speake what hee feeleth And as Socrates writeth free speach and discourse is the principall remedye of the afflicted and greeued minde And Pyndarus made aunswere to a king of Sparta that there was nothing more easie for a man to doe then to reprehend an other nor harder then to suffer him selfe to be reprehended The custome of the Lacedemonians was very commendable to punishe him that saw one offende without reprehendinge him for it and him likewise that was angry when he was tolde of his fault For a man is bound to them that tell him of his faultes and admonishe him of the right way that he should hold And a man ought not to suffer his friende to vndoe him selfe though he would as Phocion sayth Salomon describeth in his Prouerbes the profite that it yeeldeth and how necessary a thing it is to the amendement of ones life and one ought not tarrye till the faulte be committed but to preuent it by admonition The which caused certaine of our kinges of France and some other common wealthes haue endured the same that in publike playes men should reprehend such notable faultes as were committed And in Alexandria certain were appointed to go some time in a coch through out the citye blaming such persons as they saw do any fault to the end they might be more afrayde to doe ill and that shame might be of more force then the law And if at anie time anye mislike to haue the truth tolde them as Comicus hath written it proceedeth of the corruption of men of their haughtinesse and ignoraunce As Ptolomeus put Aristomenes his tutor in prison because that in the presence of an Ambassadour he waked him out of his sleepe that he mought be more attentiue to what was sayde vnto him Pope Boniface the seuenth beeing returned home againe to Rome from whence he was driuen away for his dissolutenes caused the eyes of Cardinal Iohn who had told him of his faultes to be put out Fulgosus writeth of Pope Innocent that hauing beene reprehended by some of the citizens of Rome because he prouided not sufficiently against Schismes he sent them backe to his nephew for answere which was that he made them all be caste out of windowes albeit the sayde Innocent before he came to that dignitie often times vsed towardes his predecessours Vrbain and Bennet lâ—ke reprehension In the time of Honorius the seconde they put Arnulphe to death because he so liberally

goods melt away as snowe This is it which Salomon meaneth in the ende of his first chapter of Prouerbs that the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them I will not here forget what S. Chrisostome writeth of vppon the fift of the first to the Corinthians that a little gayne fraudulently gotten is often times the occasion of the losse of great wealth though well come by And in vaine do men locke their chestes with cheynes springes padlockes when they haue enclosed therein deceat a most violent theife which desperseth what euer it findeth within the coffer We read in histories and in Daniel the miserable ende of manye and among other of Nabuchodonosor and of Alexander the great who left nothing to their heyres but their wickednes We read likewise in the Prouerbes that the riches of the wicked auaile not in the day of wrath and that the breade of deceat is sweet to a man but afterwarde his mouth shal be filled with grauell And that the roberie of the wicked shal destroy them For iustice beeinge remoued euery state falleth to ruine and an inheritaunce hastely purchased shall not be blessed And God sayth by Ieremie that as the Partrich gathereth the young which she hath not brought foorth so he that getteth riches and not by right shal leaue them in the middest of his dayes and at his ende shalbe a foole And he pronounceth a cursse on his head that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnesse And in Tobie and some of the Psalmes a little is more worth with right then much heaped vp in iniquitye And it hath not without cause beene saide in auncient time that whatsoeuer vice buildeth it destroyeth Which beeing well considered it ought to stirre vp all maner of persons who wil not degenerate from the auncient nobilitie which hath taken foot and sure foundation vpon vertue to be true and kepe their promises what soeuer should chaunce to happen and not to seeke ought but by honest meanes For if you will exempt iustice and truth out of a gouernment it is then no more then a very robbing as Sainct Augustin affirmeth And for as much as the inconstancy of Princes and almost of al other kind of men is sufficiently apparant and sundry inconueniences haue ensewed where too much trust hath bin yeelded the wiser sort and best aduised haue stoode vppon their garde haue not been too light of beliefe and haue so prouided that men shall not easelie breake their faith with them or surprise them I thinke likewise that they haue heald a verye absurde opinion that commende crueltie in gouernours For he which delighteth in taxing can neuer be beloued or esteemed of I coulde answere them as king Alphonsus did that such men deserued to be gouerned by Lions Beares Dragons and such like beastes For as Salomon writeth the Kinges throne shal be established with mercie the which togeather with subiectes loue and iustice is the very chaine that holdeth togeather and maintaineth an estate and not force feare or great gardes as Dion declareth in Plutarque God beeing willing to make him knowne to Moyses calleth him selfe the Lord the Lord strong mercifull and gratious slow to anger and aboundaunt in goodnes and truth And the Grecians called the king of their Gods Melchins that is to say sweete as hony And the Athenians called him Memactis that is to say succourable And the holy scripture and sundrye Philosophers calleth him a Father a shepheard a refuge and protectour of his people For to murther and torment is the office of a Diuell of furie of a hangman not of a king or honest man And subiects ought otherwise to be accounted of then as slaues as Bartole in his treatise de regimine ciuitatis declareth it vpon the seuenth of Deutronomy where kinges are exhorted not to lift their harts vp aboue their brethren amonge which God had made choyce of them For the puissance of a father as Martian the Lawyer wrote l. s de paracid consisteth in pietie and mercy no whit at all in rigor It is written in the second of the kings how the cruell Senacherib after the angell had put to death 155000. of his men was himselfe slaine by his owne children And in the same booke he writeth of sundry kings and queenes abandoned of God pilled and murthered for their cruelty Like ende had Ptolome surnamed the lightning Ptolome Lamious that is to say the babler Cambises killed him selfe with his owne swoorde Xerxes was slaine by his vncle Seleucus Nicanor killed by Ptolome Kerapnos Antiochus Ierax surnamed the sacre because he liued vppon pillage was in like sort slaine as also was Seleucus surnamed the lightning because of his violence Antiochus the great pilling of the temple was slaine of his people as were Epiphanes and Eupator the histories are full of an infinite number of others which had like ende for their crueltye and couetousnes A man may see in an apology of Saint Ciprian against Demetrian the names of those which persecuted the church and how they haue beene punished holding it for a maxime that there was neuer no crueltye vsed against the Christian church that was not in shorte tyme after reuenged Aristotle exhorted Alexander to doe good to euery one and not to be cruell rather to be praised for his clemency then conquestes It is written of Theodosius that when he deliuered his swoord to his Constable he willed him to vse it only against malefactours and if he commaunded any thing cruell or vniust then hee should draw it againste him selfe As also the kinges of Aegipt would sweare their Iudges that they shoulde not obeye them in ought they demaunded of cruell vniust or against the lawes The like did Antiochus also write to the Cities vnder his obedience that they should obey and keepe such his commaundementes as oppressed none Antonius Pius held opinion of Scipio Africane that he rather chose to preserue one of his subiects then slay one thousand of his enemies Which I greatly wish all kinges would obserue Marecellinus termeth the vice of crueltye the boche of the soule proceedinge from the feeblenes and basenes of the hart And the sayd Antoninus sayd that nothing rendreth an Emperor more famous among al natioÌ„s then clemency vpon this and graciousnes is the assurance of the publike weale founded as Valerius Publicola repeateth in Titus Liuius and Plutarque And Antigonus was wont to say that Clemency worketh more then violence One of the interpreters of the Bible councelled Ptolome to vse patience and longe sufferinge imitatinge the sweetnesse of God to the ende hee mought reigne well And Marrinus the Emperour wrote to the Senate what good is there in Nobilitye if a Princes hart be not replenished with bountye and sweetnesse toward his subiectes Plutarque mentioneth of the great captaine Pericles that when his friendes came to visite him in his sickenesse and had put him in minde

of the great exploites he had made of his victories eloquence wisedome and other singular vertues wherewith he was endewed hee then made them aunswere you cleane forget the principall and which is to me the most proper that hetherto I neuer in my life caused any man to weare a mourning garment Which was in like sort reported of Phocion in respect of his great clemency With this agreeth that article of the aunswere made by the late great kinge Francis of famous memory to the supplication of those of Rochel of the Isles adioyning which greatlye deserueth not to bee forgotten Let others do and rigorously exercise their power I will be alwayes as much as in me shall lye prone to pitie and mercy and will neuer vse my subiectes as the Emperour did them of Gaunt for a lesse offence then you haue committed which causeth him at this instant to haue blody handes and I thanke God mine are as yet without any stayne of my peoples bloud also he hath togeather with the effusion of his subiectes bloud and the losse of so manye heades and soules lost likewise their good willes and hartes for euer And after the king had thoroughly forgiuen them he caused the prisoners to be deliuered the keies and armes of the city to be rendred all his garrisons to be voyded and their ancient liberty and priuileges to be againe fully restored vnto them If I were not afraid I shoulde be too tedious I coulde shew a number of miserable endes that chanced to other Emperors and kinges for their crueltie Tales the chiefe of the seuen wise men of Grece being demanded what in all his life seemed most strange vnto him answered an olde Tyraunt Which agreeth with the saying of Ecclesiasticus that all tyranny is of small indurance And in the rest of the history of Hester Artaxerxes said that he purposed with equity alway and gentlenes to gouerne his subiectes thereby to bring his kingdome vnto tranquillity that might safelye liue in peace And Pittacus said that a Prince by nothing becometh more glorious then when he maketh his subiects to fear not him but for him the which was alwaies in time paste reported of the french men And not only the tyrants them selues haue beene hated and defeated but what soeuer they haue besids taken pleasure in as after that they of Ariginta were deliuered from Phalaris that great tirant they by and by published an Edict that from that day forwarde it shall bee lawfull for no man to weare any garment of blewe because his garde were euer wont to weare cassockes of the same colour And after the death of Domitian they defaced his name in all places And the moneth of October was no more called by his name as hee had ordayned it nor April by Neroes nor May by Claudus nor September by Tiberius cleane defacing their tyrannicall and vnfortunate names Philip aunswered such as aduised him to plant garrisons in the cities of Greece which hee had conquered that hee rather chose to be called for a long time curteous then for a short time Lorde And as the wise man writeth in his Prouerbes In the multitude of the people is the honour of a King and for the want of people commeth the destruction of the Prince Sundrie haue sayde that as hee which diminisheth his troupe can neuer be termed a good heardman or shepheard so hee which causeth his subiectes to be vniustly murthered can neuer bee accounted a good Prince The Emperour Rodolph was wont to saye that hee greatly repented that euer hee had beene a seuere Prince but neuer in that hee had beene gratious or bountiful Martian and sundrie other Emperours haue beene of opinion that a Prince ought neuer to enter into warres if conueniently he mought auoyde it and retaine peace For this cause wee ought not to read Machiauel and such like authors cleane voide of conscience foresight religion but with great iudgement and discretion without trusting too much vnto them and to confront their writinges and whatsoeuer else they haue taken of tyrants qualities with Cannon rules and honestie trying all things and keeping that which is good according vnto the councell of S. Paul in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians and of S. Ierom in his Epistle to Minerius by following the example of exchangers which trie their good money from the counterfait The which Saint Augustine in his seconde booke de Doctrina Christiana Chap. 3. applyeth vnto the Philosophers bookes to the ende they mought serue to good vse takinge them backe againe of them as of vnlawfull possessors It is also verie requisite as I before mentioned wee should obserue how sundrie hystoriographers and in especiall the Italians do neuer measure their actions by the intention and conscience or accordinge vnto the infallible rule of the worde of God but by the euents and their owne ablenesse cunnings and subtleties euer in applyinge their vaine discourses to their ende which they pretende without any consideration whether it bee vertuous and lawfull or no. And in this respect haue they giuen the name of Prudence vnto some which haue beene moste wicked and miserablye haue ended their liues and to strangers which haue been endued with a good conscience magnanimitie and haue dyed happely do they yelde most reprochfull names And wee must confront their reproches with other aucthors more worthie of trust and with the times circumstances and behauiours of those whome they write of I do not for all that any whit allowe the vniustice which is committed in not punishing such as are lewde For as the King S. Louis was wont to saye A Prince which may punish a fault and will not is as much culpable thereof as if hee had committed it him selfe And that it is a worke of pitie and not of crueltie to doe iustice and that he which iustifieth the wicked is not in lesse abhomination before God then he which condemneth the iust as Salomon sayde Homer writeth that the scepter and the lawes were giuen by God to Agamemnon to the ende hee shoulde minister right to eache one and that Iupiter had Themis that is to saye right and iustice set by his side And it is commaunded that the murtherer shoulde bee pulled awaye from the verie alter that hee may dye and bee punished without remission The which is marueilousstraitly obserued in Suitzerlande And God is alwayes like vnto him selfe executinge righteousnes and iudgement vppon the earth and hating all iniquitie and vice Sigismond the Emperour hauing pardoned one of a murther which afterward committed another saide that it was he that had committed the seconde and that Princes ought not to dispense or pardon without verie vrgent cause any which hath deserued punishment And if he cannot quite the ciuil interest of his subiect how can he quite the paine which God hath ordained by his lawe And often times too great meekenes causeth the magistrates

and lawes to runne in contempt And both the one and the other is to be founde fault with if it be not tempered Saul was reprehended of God because hee slewe not Amelec And the Prophet sayd to Achab that he should die because hee had pardoned Benadad the King of Siria who had deserued death as also because he caused Naboth to be murthered The holie scripture doth also teache vs that the wrath of God is appeased by the punishment of the wicked and that his vengeance extendeth ouer all people for their iniquitie and contrariewise his blessing doeth spreade it selfe vppon whome soeuer hee chasteneth The wicked shalbe afraide and kept backe but the righteous shal bee preserued from the contagion of them that worke iniquitie For this cause the booke of the lawe founde againe in the time of Iosias is called the booke of the alliance of the Lorde the which hee commaunded the Priestes to deliuer to the King Samuel followinge this rule put it into the handes of Saul and according vnto the tenure thereof Iosias yeelded himselfe the feodarie and vassal of the Lorde Likewise the lawe which was giuen in the Arke was called the couenant of the Lorde And Salomon saide vnto God Lord thou hast chosen mee to raigne ouer thy people and to iudge ouer thy sonnes and daughters For this cause our Kings were euer willing that none should regarde the pardones they yeelded if they were grounded vppon so yll a foundation As also Micheas the Prophet detesteth and curseth in the name of God all such as obey the wicked ordinances of Kinges who for this cause haue had especiall care and commaundement to administer iustice esteeming themselues rather armed with the sworde to chastise the wicked then to repulse their enimies and are the ministers of God for the peoples benefite as the Apostle sayeth And to this ende they establish good and learned Iudges in all places that are voyde of passions if they followe the lawes otherwise they shoulde bringe into the flocke the Wolfe which they ought to chase away and render themselues culpable of the death of those innocentes that such pardoned men shoulde kill and so grace should neuer be without crueltie CHAP. XXVI The definition of Lying THE Philosophers were neuer wont to content themselues in declaring the propertie of vertues except they opposed vnto them their contrarie vice to the ende that the lothsomnes thereof being wel regarded the other mought be found more agreable So haue we of purpose discoursed of the trueth before we com to shew the vice of lying the which we may define by a contrary significatioÌ„ vnto the truth wheÌ„ one speaketh of things vncertain contrarie to that which one knoweth making theÌ„ seeme other then they are S. Augustin writeth to CoÌ„sentius that it is a false significatioÌ„ of spech with a wil to deceiue And when one speaketh more or lesse then is in deede it is a member of iniustice turning topsie turuie all humane societie and the amitie due vnto our neighbour for since that speach is giuen vnto vs to make manifest what we thinke and to instruct his vnderstanding of whome wee speake It is a foule fault to abuse it and to behaue our selues in other sort towardes our neighbour then we willingly woulde he shoulde towardes vs for as much as hee which desireth and expecteth from vs the trueth is deceiued and led into an errour and hauing afterwardes in time discouered the lye he will no more beleeue vs and wee shal lose the meanes to be able to instruct for euer For lyars only gaine this that albeit they say and speake the trueth yet shal they neuer be beleeued And in the holy scripture idolatrie hipocrisie superstition false weights false measures and al cosinages are called lying to the end that by so disformed a name we should the rather eschewe them The lyar is detested of God and called double of heart and toung because he speaketh one thing and doeth an other And for verie good respect sundrie of the auncient doctors haue written that the trueth being depraued there are ingendred an infinite number of absurdities heresies scismes and contentions And Socrates was wont to saye that it proceeded from a good will to enforce it selfe to remoue the foolish opinions of men and that it was not possible for him to approue a lye nor to dissemble the trueth And Homer writeth of the great and valiant Captaine Achilles that he did more hate and abhorre lying then hell or death And it is written in the olde and newe testament that God doeth abhorre all lying and that the true are gratious in his sight yea that a theefe is better than a man that is accustomed to lye And lying is contrarie to nature ayded by reason and seruaunt or handmayd to the trueth It is writen in Leuiticus Yee shall not steale neither deale falsly neither lye one to another CHAP. XXVII The effectes of Lying PHilo in his first booke of the contemplatiue life setteth downe all kind of wickednes to proceede from lying as all good doth from the trueth And if wee wel consider the causes of the seditions troubles heresies and quarels which alter whole estates publike quiet and mans conuersation we shall finde all to proceede from the infected fountaine of lying And that Achab and the most part of the Kings of Israel the Emperours Nero Commodus Maximinus Iulius Valencius and sundrie other as well of olde time as of ours haue thereby beene ruyned Gehazi the seruant of Elisha was stroken with a leprosie Ananias Saphira fell downe dead Haman was hanged on the tree he had prepared for Mardocheus The hande of Ieroboam was dryed vp Craesus King of Lidia draue awaye Solon reiecting the trueth he had tolde him which for all that afterwardes saued his life and Dionisius the tyrant of Sicil not being able to make his profite of that which Plato had declared vnto him nor to wash away the stayne of tyrannie was constrained in his banishment to confesse that that which he had hearde of Plato made him the better able to carrie so great a change Thorough a lye Ioseph was cast in prison and S. Chrisostome sent into banishment and an infinite number of other holy and great personages haue beene maruelously afflicted and manie realmes and common wealthes haue euen had the verie beginning of their ruine from thence The saide Chrisostome in the 28. Homelie vppon Iohn sayeth that nothing is so vnfirme or vnconstant as lying for what ayde or piller so euer it can come by it weakeneth so as it causeth it to fall of it selfe CHAP. 28. The punishments of Lying IT is written in the Prouerbs He that speaketh lyes shal not escape and in the booke of wisedome The mouth that speaketh lies slayeth the soule and in Ecclesiasticus The condition of liars are vnhonest and their shame is euer with them

condemned but they which are consenting thereto and knowe him do not reueale him to the end that the holye name of God be not prophaned contrarie to the first table of commandements which forbiddeth vs to take it in vaine The which hath beene the cause that some diuines haue esteemed it a greater and more haynous sinne then murther forbidden by the second table the rather for that if proofes be wanting against the murtherer men haue recourse to his othe Salomon in his prayer that hee made at the dedication of the temple demaunded the punishment of such as should periure themselues The Aegyptians and Scithians put them to death the Indians cut off the toppes of their feete and handes for an example to shewe the offence they had committed against God and their neighbour Saint Lewys the King caused their lips to be feared with a hote yron in Zuiserland they fasten their tong with two nayles and in some Cantons they make them dye like felons or pul out their tongue And against them there are sundrie ordinances made by the Kings of France which we ought to obserue especially against blasphemers the which God in Leuiticus woulde should be stoned vnto death It is written in the Prouerbs The toung of the frowarde shalbe cut off And Iustinian the Emperour ordained by sundrie lawes that such should be executed And not without cause haue the diuines accounted blasphemie much more worthie of punishment then any other fault wickednesse which as Samuel sayth are chiefely committed against men whereas blasphemies are directly against the honour of God and in despite of him And by some decrees of the Court they haue beene condemned to a most greeuous fine and to haue their tongue perced thorough with a hot yron and after to be hanged and strangled It is worthy to be considered what Iohn Viet a Phisition in his historie of the deceites of diuels and sundry other writers haue testified of some that haue beene visibly carryed away by diuels in calling vpon them or giuing themselues vno them Pope Iohn the 12. was deposed and afterwardes put to death for hauing broken his othe made to Otho touching Berangare Iustinian the sonne of Constantine the fourth for hauing violated his faith giuen to the Bulgares and periured himselfe in assailing of the Sarazins was deposed from his imperiall crowne and banished I omit an infinite number of other who haue receiued like punishmentes for their periuries Pericles being required by a certaine friende of his to sooth a certain matter for his sake aunswered I am thy friende as farre as the aultar that is to say so farre as not to offende God To which that which is written of Hercules may be very well referred that he was so religious and vertuous that hee neuer swore in all his life but once and it was one of the first thinges that children were forbid as Fauorinus testified and the better to retayne and keepe them from this vice there is a very auntient ordinance at Rome that expressely forbiddeth them to sweare And the Prophetisse of Delphos made aunswere vnto the Lacedemonians that euery thing should prosper better and better if they forbad all othes Also it was in no case permitted to the Priestes of Iupiter to sweare for that often times an othe endeth in cursing and periurie And Stobeus writeth that for this cause the Phrigians did neuer sweare They which periure themselues as an auncient father sayth very well shewe suffycient testimony howe they despise God and feare men And if one thoroughly examined all estates and whereto euery offycer is bound to God to the king and to iustice by his othe hee should finde a maruelous number of periured Cicero in his oration which hee made for Balbus sayth that what oth soeuer he that is alreadie periured can take yet must one not beleeue him and in the end shall carrie his own paine For what shal remaine to God if he be spoyled of his truth making him a witnesse and approuer of fashood Therefore Iosua when he would haue had AchaÌ„ to confesse the truth vnto him sayde My sonne I beseech thee giue glorie vnto the Lord God of Israel declaring that God is greatly dishonored if one periure him selfe by the like coniuration that the Pharises were wont to vse in the Gospell it appeareth that they commonly accustomed this kind of speech If we will then liue with quietnes of minde without destroying our selues we must eschewe all lying periurie folow our vocation obserue whatsoeuer we haue promised to God men CHAP. XXX That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth EVery man confesseth yea the very Pagan Philosophers that men were created for the seruice of God and that aboue all thinges they should make accouÌ„t of religion which giueth the only meanes to vnite and reconcile man to God for his saluation Cicero and Lactantius in sundry places declare besides that we find written in the old new testament that onely by seruing of god men differ from brute beasts and the good froÌ„ wicked and that the aucthoritie of Philosophie consisteth in the searching out of the principall end soueraine good of man And since that godlinesse is the scope of the rest it is requisite that it be fixed vnmoueable yet ther is nothing wherin meÌ„ erre so much as in that which ought to be most knowen The cause of the error proceedeth as in sundry places S. Augustin writeth by the testimonie of the scriptures for that the most part measure the said seruice rather according vnto their own blind braine then by the rule giueÌ„ in the word of god according to our corrupt reason through the hereditary fal of our prime pareÌ„ts who were not able to coÌ„prehend as the Apostle saith the diuine heaueÌ„ly things FroÌ„ thence hath proceeded the multitude of Gods when they haue thought that one was not able to suffice prouide for all so were sundry kind of seruices in shew inueÌ„ted which might plese the coÌ„moÌ„ people the creature taken in place of the creator nothing in steed of infinit S. Basil in a proeme writing of the iudgements of God greatly lamenteth that the church was so seuered in diuisions And searching into the cause therof he remeÌ„bred that passage in the booke of Iudges where it is written that Euery man did that which was good in his owne eies Since then that no error is so dangerous as that which is coÌ„mitted in religion for as much as our saluation quietnes and happines dependeth theroÌ„ it is very requisite that we apply therto what sense or vnderstaÌ„ding soeuer is within vs according to the opinioÌ„ of S. Augustin if it be a leude part to turne the waifaring maÌ„ out of his right waye then are such as teach false doctrine much more to bee

first precept of eloqueÌ„ce answered to pronounce wel being demaÌ„ded what was the 2. answered the like so to the 3. In like sort sayth he if I be asked of the precepts of religion I will answere that the 1.2 and 3. is humilitie And S. Chrysostome in the homely of the perfection of the Gospell sayth that the very foundation of our Philosophie is humilitie For arrogancy is alwayes accoÌ„panied with folly audacitie rashnesse insolencie as Plato writeth solitarinesse as if one would saye that the proude is abandoned of all the world euer attributing to himselfe that which is not neuer measuring his will according to his force hauing much more bragge then matter of woorth S. Augustine compareth him to a ship tossed with windes without a pylote And an auncient father writeth that presumption is the mother of all vices is like vnto a great fire which maketh euery one retyre backe Wee read in the works of antient Phisitions how some that were of a melancolicke or sadde humour thought their owne selues to be some sencelesse thing or beast Aristotle and Gallen yeelde vs sundry examples therof how some in their own fancies imagining wonderful matters through the illusions of wandering transported wits constantly affyrmed that they sawe and did that which indeede was not as he which beleeued al the ships that came into the haueÌ„ to be his own and other that thought they sawe and heard players vppon a wide stage as Horace writeth Such are the Proude which delight them selues in their owne foolish inuentions There is in Daniel a notable example of Kinge Nabugodonozur and of Sennacharib that was slayne of his owne children after that the Angell had discomfited his armie And likewise of AntiÃ¶chus and sundry other which proueth that most true which our sauiour saith that he which exalteth himselfe shalbe brought lowe and he which humbleth him selfe shalbe exalted And that which is written in Ecclesiasticus The beginning of mans pride is to fall away froÌ„ God to turne away his heart froÌ„ his maker For pride is the originall of sinne and he that hath it shall powre out abhominatioÌ„ till at last he be ouerthrowen I touch no whit at all here the Licantropie wheÌ„ as sundry certainly perceiue a change of humane shape their minde and reason remayning in their accustomed order referring my selfe to that which many haue written therof All wits in like sort that are giueÌ„ to preiudice opinioÌ„s iudge otherwise then they ought Salomon saith in his Prouerbes that al that are proude in hart are an abhomination to the Lord that among the proud is nothing but strife counselleth vs not to haunte theÌ„ nor to be too conuersant with ouer far reaching heads adding that the pride of a maÌ„ shall bring him lowe In Ieremiah God sayth The proude shall stumble fall and none shal raise him vp I wil kindle a fire in his cities and it shal deuour al round about him And in Isaiah they are sore threatned he saith that the magnificence shalbe brought low that pride destroieth all coÌ„monwealth states As also in Ezechiel in the 1. of Abdias it is writteÌ„ the pride of thy hart hath deceiued thee And in Tobit In pride is destruction much trouble and in fiercenes is scarcitie and great pouertie The sonne of Agesilaus wrote vnto K. Philip who much gloried in some of his victories that if he measured his shadow he should find it no greater then it was before the victory The same poore king was slaine of one to whom he refused to minister iustice and histories declare how his successors through their disloyaltie fell into great calamities And yet was he praised amonge the rest of his vertues for that one of his people saide vnto him 3. times euery morning to the end he should not waxe too haughtie Remember thy selfe Philip that thou art a man Theodosius the Emperour had often times the like warning giuen him by his wife Arrian in the 7 of his historie reciteth how Alexander demanded of certain wise men of the Indies why as soone as they had espied him they stamped vpon the ground with their feete they answered him that no man held ought sauing the ground vpon which he trod that they esteemed him like other men saue only that he came so far to put him selfe other to much more paine that when he should die he should enioy no more earth then of necessitie to couer his bodie but ambition cleane turned him from following of anie good councell and for a good time was he afterwarde depriued of any buriall Nicanor when he went about to assayle the Iewes sold them before he came neere them but in the end he was ouercome as in like sort the Marquisse of Gast in our time at Cerisoles deuided among his fauorites the spoile of the French and prepared sundry ropes to lead them prisoners and to put them to ransome and yet in the end his selfe was vanquished Herod glorying in his rayment the honor which was done him was shortly after eaten vp with wormes Like vnto this pride was the vanitie of Caligula of diuers other which must in any wise haue their feet to be kissed Sigibert found fault with Charlemagne because that after he was chosen Emperour he dispised the fashions of France For the same cause was Alexander reprehended K. Lewys the 11. was wont to say that wheÌ„ pride was on horseback mischief shame was on the croper And as husbandmeÌ„ rather allow of those eares which bow down waxe croked then such as growe streigh as thinking least store of graine to be in them as it is written that if a stone be hunge vpon the bough of a tree to weigh it downe it shall carie the more frute and as valleys are commonly more fertile then mountaines and as the more liquor a man putteth into a vessell the more vayne ayre goeth out and the emptie hogsheade carrieth a greater sound then the full so the more that men arme theÌ„selues with vertue vanitie hypocrisie and lying doth depart not seeking preferment before other but in honest actions and the more that a man shall thinke of his vices and imperfections the more shall his wings fall from presumption Experience teacheth vs that infancie is but a foolish simplicitie full of lamentations filthines and harmes as it were layde open to a mayne sea without a sterne and youth but an indiscreate heate outragious blinde headie violent and vaine mans estate trouble and vexation of minde full of repentance and plunged in care Olde age a noysome languishing and full of greefe still feeling the excesse of immoderate youth and all mans life consumed in teares trouble and griefe where pleasures are the feuers of the spirite goods tormentes honours heauie charges and rest vnquietnesse it selfe and to passe from one age

Simmachus two very honorable personages shortly after he was serued at the table with a head of a fish which seemed vnto him to be the head of the same Simmachus loking a squint vpon him grinning with his teeth so with this fright conceit fel he sick and died Thrasibulus K. of the Iewes coÌ„ceiued such a greif in that he had slaine his brother without hearing his excuse that he died The like also befell to Aristobulus for murthering his brother Antigonus for sorow vomited vp his own bloud which was caste in the place where his brothers was spilt with a remorse of conscience died as Iosephus writeth And in thend of his history he telleth of a gouernor of Libia vnder the Romanes who with false surmises hauing made many be put to death to get their wealth was surprised with a sudden fright astonishment often cried out that the shadowes of such as he had caused to bee murthered apeared vnto him cast him self vpon his bed as if he had bin in tormeÌ„ts fire in thend died his intrals gushing out of his body They which by wrong accusatioÌ„ caused Socrates to die not being able any longer to abide the publike hate which was carried vnto theÌ„ hong strangled theÌ„selues The great Lord Soliman made his own son be strangled K Herod did the like vnto his and after that the truth was discouered they both too late sorrowed There is as much written of a K. of Spaine and of Cambises the K. of Persia who put his brother to death wherof ensued great alteration of state Mary of Aragon accused an Earle before the Emperor Otho her husband faining that he wold haue defiled her he was beheaded but the truth being afterwards discouered she was publikly burned Nicephorus writeth as much of the wife of Constantine the gret Sedechias caused Ieremy to be imprisoned who had told him the truth to keep him froÌ„ breaking his faith was led away captiue after his eyes were thrust out his childreÌ„ beheaded Conrad that writeth the chronicles of Magence saith of one Henry Archb. of the same Sea who to purge him selfe of a certaine charitie which was lent vnto him sent to Rome one Arnold whom he had highly aduanced but instead of excusing him hee aggreuated the matter to the ende that thorough presentes he might attaine vnto his maisters seat which he did compasse with his maisters owne monye and there vpon carried home with him as farre as Vnormes two Cardinals from Rome where he caused the sayde Archbishop to be deposed from his sea who appealed vnto God the most iust iudge Anon after one of those Cardinals miserably burst a two the other as franticke tore his handes in peeces with his teeth and so dyed And the sayde Arnold who had compassed the Archbishopricke by so lewd meanes was murthered by them of the Citie Ferdinand the fourth kinge of Castile caused twoo of his greatest Lordes of Spaine which had beene falsely accused to haue conspired againste him to leape downe from the top of a high towre they appealed before God before whom within thirty dayes they adiourned him to appeare and at the ende of thirty dayes the same king when men thought he was a sleepe was found dead It is also written of the great M. of the Templers that when he was vpon the point to be burned at Bourdeaux he adiourned Pope Clement the fift and king Philip the fayre to appeare before the throne of God to receaue iustice shortly after they both dyed So hath God alwaies beene accustomed to reuenge periuries and such as will shut their eares to the truth which ought to be consecrated onelye to heare what is iust good true and appertaining to his glory CHAP. 44. That we must auoide suites in law because of the lyinge and cautell of the practisers THe knowledge of the truth holdeth manye backe and keepeth them from embarking them selues amid the floudes of suites and seates of Petefoggers which are but the shoppes of falsehood deceat and counterfait lying thorough disguising and formality peruerting the vprightnes of a cause For as Demosthenes Anacharses sayd wisedom and eloquence without truth and iustice are a Panurgie that is to say a guyle or sleight such as we reade the slaues to vse in Comedies which still turneth to their owne domage and confusion And in truth the fashion which they hold in manye soueraigne and baser Courtes is but a kind of Sophistrie which casteth smooke and duste into the eyes of the iudges to the ende to couer lying and pilferie And we may say with Ecclesiasticus I haue seene the place of iudgement where was wickednes and the place of iustice where was iniquity It were also very requisite that Lawyers besides that God doth especiallye commaund them woulde obserue the preceptes of Plato repeated in Thucidides that in pleading they should not so much regarde to please men as to speake the truth to the end they shoulde neither charge their own consciences nor their clients knowing that wealth gotten with lying will neuer profite Salomon saide that the beginning of a controuersie is as when waters soking thorough a banke by little and little make a great breach or like Hidra who for euery head which was stroke off brought out seuen other Seneca found fault with the Lawyers of his time as also Tacitus did because they sold their lyes The Emperour Licinius termed them the plagues of a common wealth Apuleus named them Cormorantes because of their gredines Other termed them Harpies And Florus wryteth that when Varus was vanquished in Germany they put out the eyes of all the Lawyers which they could find and from some pulled out their tongue Frederic the third sayde thy defiled the place of iustice and equity making it a banke of deceat and cosinage S. Augustin in one of his sermons writeth that there is nothing so impudent as arrogancie and the babling of a Lawyer And Saint Ambrose saith that they deceaue the Iudges and gaine them by falshood and that they ought to repaye whatsoeuer they take againste the truth And S. Bernard sayde that they were the enemies of iustice ouerthrew the truth and gnawed like ratts And Origen called them swolne froggs which sell euen their very scilence rather encrease the charge more then the profit will auaile when they haue gained their cause And Ammian thought that it was as vnpossible to find out in all Asia a true Lawyer as a white Crow Tacitus writeth that there is nothing so saleable Cicero likewise complained that thorough them good lawes were corrupted And it is too notorious to see how many of them giue rashe and vncertaine counsell verye lewdly acquite them selues of their charge pleading onely vpon the superscription of their bagges or not loking halfe waye into them whence much iniustice hath proceeded Pausanias writeth that in

children then verie necessitie requireth for they shal verie much esteem that which is sufficient if thou hast wel brought them vp and if they be ignorant then wil they haue lesse care feare and occasion to do euil The which Phocion practised refusing the presents of Alexander as Plutarque writeth Let vs then consider that knowledge is not laid open to fortune as are richesse the which are verie often possessed by the wicked nor mutable as glorie nor coÌ„meth by discent as nobilitie nor of smal lasting as beautie nor changeable as health nor decayeth diminisheth as strength but encreaseth with time is not vanquished by warre as Stilpon tolde K. Demetrius And the Laconien scholemaster aunswered verie well that he would make the noble gentleman which was his pupil to sport himself in things honest iust true and to be offended at vnhonest vniust lyes For maners being through discipline well composed within are the verie fountaine whence al contentment proceedeth And children are by custome trayned into the waye of vertue And the Pithagoriens lesson seemeth vnto mee to bee very wise Choose the best way custome shal make it agreeable pleasant vnto thee The Komanes had a good custome to place their children with those whom they would haue them to imitate And in France there is great account made of one which hath bin brought vp as a page to some valiant and wise gentleman Cirus in the end of the 7. booke of Xenophon desireth euery man to giue a good example to children because if they see no vncomlines they shalbe enforced to follow goodnes and vertue be fit for al things A King of Sparta answered him wisely which asked what children ought to learne That said he which they ought to doe when they are men he told another that they were to learne to knowe how to obey to commaund We must then more studie to fil the vnderstanding then the memorie not onely to haue a care to besprincle the soule with knowledge but to make it grow perfect and learne by studie not of the tongues but of wisedome courage and resolution to auoide the baytes of pleasure and to throwe downe with an inuincible courage the threates of Fortune and death to be sounde and short in discourse to render themselues and quite their force to trueth as soone as they shall perceiue it without beeing too stubborne that their conscience sinceritie and vertue be manifested in their wordes and deedes that in companie they cast their eyes rounde about and in themselues controll the manners of eche one to followe the good and contemne the wicked And they ought not to let one worde or sentence fall to ground without putting it in their tables to make their profite thereof as Bees drawe honye out of sundry flowers so learning the discourse of Phylosophie they shall cleare the tempestes of Fortune They must also take away strangenes and partialitie enimies to societie and apply the supple bodies to all kinde of fashions customes companies to bee able to doe all thinges but louing to doe but what is good And if they goe to the warre to feare nothing but God and an euil renowne To learne to combate with the enemie and aboue all things to obey their head as Caesar in his commentaries desired the French to doe To accustome themselues to endure paine colde and heate to lye harde to assault well and to keepe a forte The cheefe care which Kinges and gouernours ought to take is of the honour of God and maintainance of his Churche and nexte of pollicie and iustice followinge the lesson of our Sauiour in seekinge the kingdome of God and then whatsoeuer is necessarye for them shall bee giuen vnto them Nowe the kingdome of God is the Church of the faithfull the seede whereof is youth which is consecrated to God thorough baptisme vnder the Churche Then this seede ought to bee well husbanded and kept from weedes which might choake it that the eares may bee gathered full of graine It is an olde saying that hee which hath begunne well hath halfe ended The beginning is in the first youth whence the good Bourgesses Magistrates and gouernours doe spring And there is greate aduauncement and hope to bee looked for in that place where youth is well brought vppe in godlynesse and honestie For this cause Aristotle in the ende of the seuenth of his Politiques would haue them turne their eyes and eares from all iniuries fowle and vndecent actions and communication And the more that we see all thinges to impayre good manners subuerted wickednesse couetousnesse ignoraunce and vniustice not by stealth but publickely and without shame to runne their course of which our predecessours greatly complained and wee complaine of at this daye and it is verie likely that they which come after vs shall rewe it the more regarde ought we to haue that the nurcerie of our posteritie which is the youth may be taught to liue soberly and iustly not so much to speake well as to liue well to the ende that what the vessel beeing newe hath once beene seasoned with it may long keepe the sent thereof as Horace writeth And there is no doubt but that man being desirous to knowe and encline to vertue from his birth if by a good guyde he bee vntill the last yeare of his adolescencie kepte and defended from the snares which the delightes of sences and pleasures drawe with them his vnderstanding beeing once fortified thorough good instructions shall after of himselfe bee so well rooted in the loue of knowledge vertue and the feare of God that it shalbee verie harde euer after to withdrawe him The which was the cause that the Lacedemonians aunswered Antipater that they woulde rather dye then giue him their children whiche hee demaunded for hostages so great account made they of their education This felicitie and happinesse as Aristotle sheweth in the ende of his Ethickes dependeth principallye of the grace of God of a good reformation of the liberalitie magnâ—â—cence bountie and courtesie of Princes which heereby prouoke and pricke forwarde the aduauncement of Artes and of good wittes as contrariwise they languish and cleane decaye thorough the ignorance enuie couetousnesse tyrannie and stubbernesse of such as gouerne and thorough great disorder and corruption I haue before touched the inconueniences and mischiefes which happen in France by reason that the nobilitie is not trayned vp in learning And not without cause the greate King Francis said that it greatly grieued him that the gentlemen of his Realme gaue themselues no more to studie and learning to the ende he mought haue prouided for them the cheefe offices of the long robe thinking that thereby hee shoulde haue been better serued both in his gouernmentes and warres And that great Captaine Bayart aunswered him that asked him the difference betweene a learned man and an ignorant as much as betweene a Phisition and a patient

It is not founde likewise in anye part of this brittle and wretched lyfe but in the trust mercy puissance and bounty of God and remission of our sinnes as Dauid setteth it 32. Psalme and Saint Paule to the Romanes in the feare and loue of God and of his worde and to put oure whole confidence in him and in that which our Sauiour reciteth in the 6. of Sainct Mathew It had not likewise beene vnfruitfull to haue shewed how hurtfull impatience and murmuring are and how necessarye to be eschewed followinge the instruction of Salomon Prouerb 14. 19. and of Sainct Paule 1. Corrinth 10. 2. Phil. the example of Achitophel is in the 2. of Samuel cap. 17. I referre other greater reasons of the aboue sayde articles vntill an other season I coulde also haue discoursed at large of sundry other opinions which are in controuersie were it not for feare of beeing too long and ouer tedious The Conclusion CHAP. L. TO the end then that we may rest beloued of God and of good men and haue a good conscience a peaceable life a guide in all affaires with hope of eternall life and heape of blysse we must walke wisely and be founde true in all our thoughtes wordes and actions and so to accustome our selues thereto that we giue no place to any lye though it be the lightest which may be made Nowe for feare least we should fall hereunto to our great greife let vs be time thinke of what we would doe or say before we put it in execution beseeching God with Dauid that he will addresse vs in his trueth and that it may alwayes remayne in our heart and mouth that he will make vs to vnderstande howe short and vncertaine the course of this our life is to the ende that wee may retyre our heartes from the vanities and false apparances of this worlde and spende that little time which we haue to liue in learning of his wisedome that is to saye to beleeue and assure our selues vpon his promises to obey whatsoeuer it pleaseth him to commaunde vs and carefully to eschewe whatsoeuer he hath forbidden And as this contagion of lying hath well gayned place in many thorough custome and is growen by little and litle so let vs exercise our selues to followe truth though in tryfles and euery day before we sleepe examine and trie what we haue gotten by being true and vertuous and according to Seneca his counsell in all our actions howe secrete soeuer they be let vs imagine that God his saintes and Angels be present or some man of great aucthoritie and grauitie to the ende our countenances wordes and actions may be the better gouerned And of such as shall liue in this truth shunning lying we may say as Moyses prophesied and pronounced to the children of Israel to whom al christians haue succeeded that they shall be blessed in the citie and blessed also in the fielde blessed shalbe the fruite of their bodye and the fruite of their grounde and the fruit of their cattell God shall make an alliance with them he shall make them increase and multiply in abundance of whatsoeuer is necessarie But if contrariwise they followe lying and liue disorderly feare and trembling feauers burning agewes and all sorts of curses there set downe shall fall vpon them There is no question to be made which way is to be followed that wee may attayne to all felicitie and the inheritance promised to such as are sanctified of God and to those are thinges which neyther eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor came into mans heart which God hath prepared for them which loue him Saint Paul wrote to the Romaines that the wrath of God is reuealed from heauen against all vngodlinesse and vnrighteousnesse of men which withholde the truth in vnrighteousnesse And to them which by continuance in well doing seeke glory honour and immortalitie to giue euerlasting life but to them that are contentious and disobey the truth and obey vnrighteousnesse shal be indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shall be vppon the soule of euery man that doth euill but to euery man that doth good shalbe glory and honour and peace And seeing the chastisements miseries and afflictions so many tragicall euents sent from God to so many people Christians but in name which are set before our eyes for an example to reconcile vs to God we haue great occasion humbly to beseech by feruent prayers and groanes that he will bende our heartes to his obedience and so make other mens plagues and visitations to profit vs that we may not drawe through our vnthankfulnesse more greeuous paynes vppon vs and ours most humbly thanking him for that amidst so great darkenesse error and ignorance as couereth the worlde it pleaseth him to cast some beames of his grace and truth vpon vs beseeching him that he wil warme quicken and illuminate vs more and more attending the day of our deliuerie out of this world already vanquished by him Î¤Ï‰ Î¸ÎµÏ‰ Î´Ï‰Î¾Î± Î¤ÎµÎ»Î¿Ï‚ Trueth a vertue most praise vvorthie Marcion Manichaeus heresie The religion of the Indians touching the soules departure out of the bodie The crueltie of the Spanyardes Trueth called a vertue Common sense The Sunne 166 times greater than the earth 6545 times greater than the Moone l. 2. ca. 3. contra academ Prou. 2. Iohn 8.32 Iohn 6.68 S. Augustine Hovv the trueth appeareth Matth. 7.7 Tvvo principall partes in man VVhat truth is Psa 119.105 2. Pet. 2.19 Iohn 5.39 2. Cor. 1.30 2. Tim. 6.16 Iohn 3.16 Isaiah 39.8 Faith Math. 23.23 Iohn 6. 8. Heb. 11.1 Act. 15.9 Gal. 4.6 Ephes 1.4 Act. 19. Rom. 8.1 1. Cor. 13.2 2. Thes 1.3 Mat. 6.8 Ioh. 14.1 2. Cor. 1.3 Ephe. 6.16 Ephes 6.14 Zechar. 8.16 Ephes 4.15 Plato Zenophon A king to be faithfull Aristotle Isaiah 32.1 Fredericke emperoure Charles the 5 emperoure Christ Iesus the sonne shining of iustice Iohn 14.6 Iohn 8.45 The Diuell a father of lies Iob. 24.13 1. Tim. 3.15 Lactantius Gen. 7.21 Cicero To vvhat the doctrine of the lavve tendeth Deut. 6.14 Hovv man becommeth happie The ende of all artes Ioh. 3.19 Iohn 3.11 All vertues holde a meane Democritus speache Euripides Plato Methode Phocion Ecclesiast VVhat in speach is to be considered Prouerb 27.2 August vpon the Psalm 85 Not to be vnthankfull for benefites receiued Plin. in his nat hist The Lybrarie of Ptolomie Not to speake of vvhat a man doth not vnderstand 2. Chr. 25.17 Lavves and pollicy ordayned from God Pro. 16.2.9 Phil. 2.13 2. Cor. 3.8 Counterfayting Dissembling Alexander 6. Duke of Valentinois his sonne Fredericke emperoure Paulus Iouius Aristotle 1. Pet. 2.1 Luke 24.28 1. Sam. 21.13 Great personages haue fayned them selues madde Speache a shaddovve of deades Emperoures of dubble hearte Pertinax surnamed Chrestologus Tiberius Speake Homer Othon 4. Frederic 2. Innocent 3. Guychardyne Augustus VVhy the Lacedemonians banished Chesiphon Hipocrisie an enimie to the trueth Dissembled equitie double iniquitie 1.

Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Text snippets containing the quad