eche of them beheld other with their eyes without speaking of any worde when they returned to their tentes their fiercenesse was turned into swéete wanton words Ex Marco Aurelio Cleopatra in the Prouince of Bithinia in the wood Sehin made a goodly baÌ„ket and solemne feast to Marcus Anthonius hir louer And though she were not very honest hir self yet had she with hir right chast women And thus the banket endured a great part of the night and the wood béeing thicke the yong damselles were not so wilie to hide them but the yong men Romanes found them so that of sixtie daughters of the Senators 55. were gotten with childe Which thing made great slauÌ„der to the people sorow to the Senatours infamie to Cleopatra and dishonestie to Anthonius Ex eodem When Pirrhus the faythfull defendour of the Tarentines and renowmed king of Epyrotes was in Italie hée came to Naples and hadde not bene there but a day the same season there was a Lady in that same citie named Gamalice of a highe linage and greatly estéemed in beautie the very same day she was gotten with childe shamed throughout all Jtalie thrust out of the citie and slayne by hir owne brother Ex Marco Aurelio Nero Domicius was a monster of so horrible vncleannesse that he absteined not from his owne mother his naturall sister nor any degrée of kinred And that more horrible is to speake he vsed hys filthy buggerie with Porus a boy whom by magike and sorcerie he endeuoured to traduce vnto the nature of a woman Bruso li. 3. cap. 9. Letus declareth howe that Maxentius béeing at a time farre in loue with a noble and chaste gentlewoman of Rome sente vnto hir suche courtiers of his as were most fitte for that purpose whom also he had in greater estimation than any others and with suche was wonte to consulte about matters for the common wealth These first fell vpon hir husbande and murthered him in hys owne house then when they by no meanes neither with feare of the tyraunt nor threatning hir death pull hir from him at length she desired leaue of them to goe into hir chamber and after hir prayers she woulde accomplishe their request And when she was gone into hir chamber vnder this pretence she slue hir selfe But the rakehelles when they sawe the woman farrie so long béeing therewith displeased brake vp the doore and founde hir lying dead wherefore they returned and declared this heauie happe vnto their vnhappie maister Who was so farre past shame that in steade of repentaunce he was the more set on fire to attempt the like Ex domino Fox Also Tarquine the proude béeing a right goodly man in gesture right valiaunt in armes and of a noble bloud as an vnhappie Prince defiled all his vertues with vicious liuing in suche wise that he conuerted his heautie into lecherie and his power into tyrannie for dooing the lyke villanie vnto Lucrecia the chast Lady of Rome Whereby he loste not onely his realme but also caused the name of Tarquine to be banished out of Rome for euer after Liuius li. 1. 2. Of Liberalitie MYcippa in Salust said vnto Iugurtha that neither an armie of men nor yet abundance of treasure were so firme to retayne a kingdome as a sure and trustie friende whom neither golde can winne nor sworde compell to forsake his friende And suche friends saide he by beneficence liberalitie thou mayest easily finde At the siege of newe Carthage there was a proper yong woman who was the wife of one Lucius prince of the Celtibrians taken captiue and brought vnto Scipio as a bootie worthy of so valiant a captaine But he no lesse curteous liberall than he was valiaunt and martial did in most honest maner restore hir agayne Wherfore hir father hir friendes gaue him righte condigne thankes and offred him a great summe of money for hir raunsome Which summe Scipio willed them to deliuer vnto him and faking it in his hands he deliuered it vnto hir husbande and said besides the dourie which hir father had bestowed with hir he woulde giue that to hir mariage Abundantly declaring his liberal gentle disposition both in restoring the damsell and refusing the raunsome Who on another time hauing taken Hasdruball king Masinisâ—a his cosin captiue gently intertayned him and sente him home with other greate presentes vnto the king his cosin Shewing hereby that a valiaunt captayne oughte aswell to excell in liberalitie and other domesticall vertues as in warlyke affayres and prowesse Cymon was so gentle and liberall that whereas he had farmes orchardes and gardeynes in many places he neuer set any man to kéepe them but suffered who so woulde to enioy the fruits thereof Accustoming alwayes whersoeuer he wente to haue one followe him with a purse of money that if any one asked his almes he might straightwayes bestowe his liberalitie vppon him And if he sawe any one want clothing he would do off his own apparell and bestow it vpoÌ„ him And though this kinde of liberalitie be in these our dayes very rare yet by reporte good master Foxe dothe to his power resemble this good Cymon When a certayne Macedonian was driuing a Mule laden wyth the kinges coyne it happened that wyth the weight of the money the Mule was tyred Wherefore the man tooke it on his owne shoulders and beganne with greate payne to carrye it But the weighte thereof was so heauie that the poore man was forced to fall vnder it Whiche when Alexander the kyng espied he sayde bicause thou shalte not be wearie to carrie so tedious a burthen I giue it thée take it and carrie it to thy owne house When Ptolome had subdued Demetrius he not onely spared his lyfe but also lefte his tente vntouched and gaue him 8000. of his captiue souldiers without any raunsome saying that valiant men striue not for the death of men but for honour and glory Whose regall beneficence Demetrius wondering at desired God to giue him occasion to requite him with the like And so it came to passe For Demetrius tooke Cilla a notable aptayne of Ptolomeis captiue and with lyke humanitie restored hym agayne Amongest infinite foreine examples which I might here insert I thoughte good not to forget a domesticall example of an English captayne in beneficence and liberalitie inferiour to none In the reigne of king Edwarde the thirde the yere of grace 1 3 4 5. the king of England waging warre into Fraunce sente thither Henry Earle of Lancaster as generall captayne of his armie who albeit he were a man famous and notable for his prowes in marciall affayres yet in curtesie and liberalitie he surmouÌ„ted all others and almoste passed himselfe In so muche that at the siege of Briers wheras he had graunted euery man for his bootie the house with the implemeÌ„ts therein which he by victorie should obtayne amongest other his souldiers to one named Reth fell a certayne house wherein
father who abhorring all pride rebuked hir for hir ouer nicenesse Wherfore the nexte day shee attyred hir selfe more soberly and came and saluted hir father Who sayde vnto hir is not this attyre better than yesterdays yea quoth shee For to day I indeuoure to satisfie my fathers by yesterday my husbande his eyes Ex Macrobio Satur. lib. 2. cap. 3. An other tyme when one tolde hir that she was a great deale more proude than hir father Caesar She answered my father forgetteth that he is Emperour but I remember wel that I am an Emperours daughter Ibidem When one demaunded Phitons wife why she was not attired in gold as other princes wiues were she answered bicause my husbands vertue is a sufficient ornament for me Ex Stobeo ser 72. Tharsius Amphius béeing exalted from the state of a gardener vnto great honor and dignitie beganne to forget his olde friends Wherfore one of them saide vnto him if ye remēber sir we also sprang vp of the same séede that you did Of Princes and principalitie PYthagoras sayde that a Prince ought so to rule that he may be more beloued than feared of his subiects For loue causeth reuerence but feare causeth hatred and treason Ex Stobaeo ser 46. Edwarde surnamed the Confessour somtimes king of Englande describeth the office of a prince in this sort A king saith he ought aboue al things to feare God to loue obserue his commaundements to cause thē be obserued throgh his whole kingdome He ought also to kéepe cherish maintayne gouerne the church within his kingdome according to the institution of his auncientes and predecessors to defend the same agaynst al his enimies so the god aboue al thinges be honoured euer be before his eyes He ought also to set vp good lawes and customes suche as be holsome approued such as be otherwise to repel and put out of his kingdome Item he ought to do iudgement and iustice in his kingdome by the counsel of the nobles of the Realme Also thrée seruauntes a king ought to haue vnder him as vassals fleshly lust auarice and gréedy desire Whō if he kéepe vnder him as slaues he shall reigne well and honorably in his kingdome Al things are to be done with good aduisement and premeditation that properly belongeth vnto a king For temeritie and rashnesse wil bring a kingdome soone to desolation and decay Dominus Fox Ex libro regum antiq in praeto Londinensi Agesilaus would oftē say that a prince ought to excell his subiectes not in nicenesse and wantonnesse but in fortitude and temperaunce Also he sayde that a prince oughte to learne this lesson to be stoute and cruell agaynst traytours and rebels and to be gentle and louing vnto his citizens and subiectes And he was wont muche to reioyce in this that where as he was Prince and ruler of his people yet he coulde aswell indure to take paynes as any of them Yea when vs woulde haue his souldiers attempte any enterprise he hym selfe would be the first that should set on it and so for shame they woulde followe him in dooing the like Ex Plutarch in Lacon When one sayde vnto Theopompus king of the Lacedemonians that then it should be well with the Lacedemonians when the Prince knewe howe to rule the subiectes as he ought to doo he replied that that shoulde rather come to passe when the subiectes knewe howe to obey their Princes Meaning that the citie shall be beste gouerned where the citizens will be obedient and ruled by their gouernour For as the Gospell sayth euery citie deuided within it selfe shall be broughte to desolation Ex Fulgocio li. 7 ca. 2. Cyrus king of Persia sayde that no man shoulde be a Prince which were not better than the people whom he ruled and did not excell them in valiauntnesse and prowesse aswel as in wisdome and knowledge Brus li. 3. ca. 33. Fredericke the Emperour béeing demaunded whom he loued best of his subiects he answered that he loued thē best which would so please him that in no case they would displease god A christian prince and spoken right christianlike Ex Aenea Siluio Alphonsus king of Arragon sayde that those princes ought especially to be beloued feared which were louers and imbracers of iustice and equitie Which Princely vertues who so euer is indued withall theyr behest all men loue reuerence and feare As we reade of Cyrus who not only in iustice but also in all other princely vertues was him selfe an example vnto his subiectes and whose woorde was of as great a force as the oth of any priuate person Ex Panormi lib. 1. de rebus gestis Alphonsi When one tolde him that the king of Spaine should say that it was not comely for a Prince to be learned he said that those were woords of an Oxe and not of a man. For quoth he a Prince wythout learning is nothing else but as it were an Asse with a crowne Also whē it was tolde him that he was not apparelled like a Prince he answeared that he had rather be princelike in manners and authoritie rather than in his scepter and crowne Boso the last king of Araletensis commaunded the Bishop that he shoulde not goe to Euening prayer on Christmasse euen before that he came thether But when the Bishop with the rest of hys companie had taryed somewhat longer than his accustomed time and sawe that the king came not he went to seruice Wherfore whē the king came in he began to chide with the Bishop and was so moued that before all the people he gaue him a blowe Whereof the Bishop thincking to be reuenged complained to Otho the Emperoure who immediatly commanded that the Bishop should be beheaded And when the Archbishop intreated for him he woulde not forgiue him but sayde that no woorde that came from the mouthe of a Prince shoulde be spoken in vaine When one sayd vnto Antigonus that all things were honest and iust what so euer the Prince did he answeared yea amongst the Barbarike Princes it is so but we account nothing honest which is not honest in déede nor any thing iuste which is not iust in déede Alexander Seuerus the adopted sonne of Heliogabalus was a wise valiant and vertuous Prince who bare suche affection to learning and learned men that he would do nothing without their cousel and assistence From his Courte he dismissed all superfluous and vnnéedefull seruantes and sayd that he was no good pupill which fedde idle seruauntes with the bowels of his common wealth And amongste his other good vertues which was a rare thing in those dayes he was fréendly and fauourable vnto the Christians In so muche that when the Christians hadde occupied a certaine publike place to some good vse belike for the assembling and conuenting togither of the congregation the companie of the cookes or tiplers made chalenge thereto The matter being
came vnto Athens with great plentie of golde where when he had intised many vnto him through his great gifts be sent also 70. talentes vnto Photion Who turning him about vnto the bringers away quoth he you naughtie-packes with this geare and tell Harpalus in my name that it shall be to his great gréefe and paine onlesse he abstaine his handes from corrupting the citie Diomedon Cizecenus promised Artaxerxes the great king of Persia that he woulde corrupte Epaminundas with money and so béeing well furnished therewith he repaired to Thebes where when he hadde corrupted Michitus a yong man he thoughte likewise to haue dealte with Epaminundas But he answeared Diomedon it was néedelesse for thée to bring me this money For if the kings pleasure tende to the weale publike I promisse thée I will doe it francke and fréely if not no worldlye wealthe shall cause me to accorde thereto And as for thée Diomedon bicause not knowing me thou déemedst me like thy selfe I forgiue thée but I charge thée gette thée hence leaste that when thou canste not preuaile with me thou corruptest others Héereat when Diomedon gan to feare that he shuld not escape Epaminundas willed him not to feare For I will quoth he dismisse thée safe not only for thy sake but also for my owne honestie least some suppose that whereas I would not take the mony of thée I should now take it from thée When Aetolis sawe earthen vessels on Q. Tuberius table at his retourning home he sente him plate of siluer but Tuberius neglecting suche pompe sente them vnto him againe The Ambassadors of king Alexander bringing vnto Xenocrites 50. talentes which in those days specially amōgst the Atheniens was coumpted a greate summe of money Xenocrites broughte them to supper into the colledge intertaining them homely and with his ordinarie fare On the morowe they asked him who shuld receiue the mony wherto he answeared why did you not perceiue by yesterdays supper that we lack no money At which woordes when he sawe them sory he tooke of them thirtie poundes to the intent they shoulde not thinke that he despised the kings liberalitie and so dismissed them When Alexander hadde taken king Darius wife captiue albeit shée wer the fairest Quene liuing yet he neuer medled with hir But shutting hir and hir daughters in the Temples he suffered them to liue vnséene of any and woulde say in iest that the Persian damsels were eyesores Xenocrates Plato his scholler was a man of wonderous continencie In somuche that whereas Phryne a passing faire strumpet had laide a wager with certain yongmen that shée would allure him vnto hir pleasure shée coulde by no whorishe trickes prouoke him thereto But when the yongmen required the wager shée answered that hir wager was laide of a man and not of an image Valentinus the Emperor at the houre of his death sayd that one conquest only reioyced him and being asked what that was He answered that nowe I haue subdued my fleshe the wickedst greatest enimie that euer I had S. Ierome telleth of a certaine yongman which by the commaundement of Decius Valerianus was laide in a pleasant garden and there brought vnto him a faire faced harlot who with hir dalying indeuored to prouoke him to sinne but such was his continencie that when shée went aboute to kisse him he bitte of his tong and spit it in hir face As Alexander trauailed by the way and thereby had gotten a great thirst it happened that one presented vnto him a helmet full of water who receiuing the helmet in his hande and beholding his horsemen aboute him he bowed downe his head beheld the drinke and restored the drinke not tasting thereof but sayde vnto his chéefe men if I alone shoulde drinke all these would be a thirst Remembring well the Ouidian verse Est virtus placitis abstinuisse bonis Great vertue t' is from present pray mans fansie to refrayne When Pompei was sicke and therby had no appetite vnto his meat his Phisitian commaunded them to dresse him a thrushe but such either was the time of the yere or else the scarcitie of things that for money none could be had only they tolde him that Lucullus had one in his cage but he would none of him saying and can I not liue onlesse I haue Lucullus his wanton toyes Of accusing and speaking euill of others A Certayne Sophist called Zoilus indyted many rayling commentaries which he presented to Ptolomie king of Egypt hoping to haue had some greate rewarde of the king for his paynes but when the kyng gaue him nothing he was so néedie that he procured some to demaunde the kinges liberalitye whereat the king had greate wonder that Homer so many yeares after his death could féed so many thousand men and Zoilus who professed him selfe better learned than Homer shoulde stande in so great néede And on that occasion caused him to be punyshed for hys labour Memnon a capitayne of Darius fighting agaynst Alexander and hearing one of his souldiers rayling agaynst the king his enimie stroke him with his speare and sayde I kéepe thée to fight agaynst Alexander and not to rayle on him When Antigonus his souldiers reuiled hym not thynking that he was present he opening his tente with hys rodde sayde go further to rayle on vs or else it shall be to your payne But Seneca in his third booke of Ire sayth that he sayde Stande further sirs least the king heare you Also the same king Antigonus hearing his souldiers curse him bicause that in a darke nighte he had broughte them into suche a mierie place that they could hardly go out he came him selfe they not knowing him and holps them euery one out And now quoth he curse Antigonus which broughte you into the mire but pray for him which pulled you out When a certaine drunken gest had railed on the crueltie of Pesistratus king of Athens and his frends willed the king to punishe him therefore he answered that he was no more offended with him therefore than he woulde be if a blindefolde man shoulde vnawares runne against him Pirrhus the king hearing that some wihtoute cause had railed on him he caused the parties accused to be sent for demaunding them whether they had saide of him as the reporte wente they did Wherto one of them answeared yea O king and should haue said muche more had we had more wine to haue prouoked vs thereto Whereat king Pirrhus laughing suffred thē to depart in peace It was tolde Augustus that Aemilius spake euill of him who turning him aboute vnto the accusers as thoughe he were in a great chafe sayd I would you could proue it on him Aemilius shoulde then knowe that I haue a tong too For I would say as muche of him Philip king of Macedome being railed on by one Nicander beganne to bestowe many giftes on him after this Nicander changing his note began now as faste to praise him Wherefore Philip turning
wilde beastes The Hircanians kéepe dogs to deuoure them after they be dead The buriall of the Parthians as Iustin recordeth is first to haue the flesh deuoured of beastes and foules and then to cast the bones into the earth The Megarenses when they interre the corpse turne them to the East and the Atheniens to the West c. When any of the Egiptians domesticall fréendes departe the women smeare their heade and their visages with durte then leauing the deade carcase at home they gadde aboute the streates with their garmentes rent and theyr haire hanging aboute their eares and pitifully yall and bewaile the deade The like kinde of lamentation the men likewise vse When they returne to the corpse they take a crooked iron and therwith pul the braine oute of the nostrelles of the deade and stuffe it with herbes Afterwardes they take a sharpe Ethiopian stone and therewith cutte his belly and take oute his paunch which when they haue emptied made cleaue they stuffe it with swéete odors sow it vp againe suffring the haire on their heads to growe but vse to shaue their beardes Diognit ' Emperor of Erithraea taking Policrita of Naxus captiue delt not with hir as meÌ„ vse to do with captiues but retained kept hir as his wife It hapned whilest shée abode with him that the Erithreans otherwise called the Milesians kéeping solemne feast were all ouercomen with wine Which thing shée perceiuing desired Diogâ—â—tus to giue hir leaue to sende some of the festiuall cakes vnto hir brethren at Naxus and being permitted shée folded a shéete of lead and couered it ouer with dowe wherin shée declared the drunken case of the Milesians and exhorted them with spéede to come thether Which they accordingly accomplishing came and set on them and returned with great spoile and no lesse victorie bringing home Polycreta their sister with them who being commended saluted and iuyfully receyued of all men euen in the middest of this their ioy gaue vp the Ghost It is wrytten that Philarchus in the middest of a battaile died with straining his voice Or as some wryte after he had attained a great victorie crying oute O ioyful and happie day he was taken with a sodaine feuer which brake his vaines and killed him The signes of death in a sick man are these If he haue the rauing sicknesse to laughe Otherwise if he be carefull for mending his apparell or delight to folde his bedde clothes If after sléepe he moue not himselfe or continually vse to lie vpright If he vse to stretch out his handes and answer to them which inquire of his discease Celsius saythe that it is a token of death to rise vp in the very pange immoderate sléepe or ouer watching to fetche breth thicke to voide sneuill hardly to spit to wéepe when he hath no wil to haue slime slicke on his tongue Of Discorde and Variance WHen the fathers conscript and the Romane people were at variance betwene themselues the fathers thought good to send one Menenius Agrippa an eloquent Orator and well be loued of the people to make them if it mighte be at one again who being admitted into their tentes made his Oration in this wise On a time quoth he when the partes of men did not consent as nowe they doe but euery part folowed their owne counsell saying doing as they thought good the residue of the members complained and saide that by the care laboure and seruice of the other parts was pampered and nourished and so the rest tooke the paines and the belly enioyed all the pleasure Wherfore they concluded amongst themselues that neither the hands shuld reache the meat vnto the mouth neither the mouthe receiue it nor yet the téethe deuide it But héereby whilest they thoughte to tame the belly they broughte not only it but also them selues to extreme penurie This tale of Agrippa so preuailed wyth the people that he caused them to reconcile them selues wyth the Senate Likewise Plutarch wryting of the life of Agis by a like tale declareth what mischéefe commeth by discorde It happened saythe he that the taile of the Serpent raised sedition against the head desiring that he might another while haue the guiding of the body and not alwayes to be guided by the head Wherin obtaining his request and hauing no eyes to guide him and going he wotte not whether not onely hurte him selfe but also bicause the heade contrary to the lawe of nature was content to obey and folowe so blinde a guide he was made partaker of the same mischéefe Leontius Bishop of Antioche in that great Sinode which was kept there concerning the establishing of Christian faithe séeing their controuersie to be like to growe vnto a sedition fearing plainly to expresse his minde he stroked his head being full of white haires and said After this snowe is thawed we are like to haue muche durte by which woordes as it wer in a riddle he foretold that that discorde woulde growe to dissention and that the authors of that brabbling should neuer consente with the residue of the multitude Lycosthenes pag. 252. Amongste the Lacedominians when two brethren fell at discorde the officers mersed their father bicause he dissembled the matter thincking good to beare with the yong men and to impute the faulte which through theyr hote age they committed vnto the negligence of the father in whose power it stoode to forsée that no suche controuersie should arise betwéene his children Of Desire of knowledge Discipline and the duetie of Schollers to their Masters LVcius comming to Rome chaunced to méete with Anthonius the Emperor of whom demaunding whether he went and what businesse he had that way Anthonius answeared him I knowe it is no dishonestie for an olde manne to learne whiche causeth me to goe to Xextus the Philosopher that of him I maye learne the things which yet I knowe not At which wordes of his Lucius wondering helde vp his handes and sayde Good Lorde this olde man like a childe goeth to schole vvith a table in his handes vvhereas oure king Alexander beeing but thirtie yeres olde is already dead Héerein muste I néedes more commend this Emperors studie and modestie than Lucius his licence and libertie Salinus Iulianus the Emperor being famous as well for his studie in the ciuill lawe as also for the greate fréendshippe which was betwéen him and diuers other Princes was woont to say that he would be glad to learne albeit one of his féete were in the graue Which saying of his was commended as it well deserued of all good men But in these dayes we haue an other sentence common in most mens mouthes I am nowe too olde to learne Wheras in dede it is a shame that being so olde thou haste not already learned all such things as are worthy to be learned Lycost pa. 248. Solon of Athens hearing Sapphus his brothers sonne singing a song as he was tippling amongst his pottes desired