this fearefull dreame he asked 〈◊〉 friend of his whether he knew in all his domâ—…on 〈◊〉 man called Phocas He answered that there was a 〈◊〉 man of that name in his army in Illyria And desirous to know the cause why hee enquired so 〈◊〉 for such a man the Emperour told him his dreame You 〈◊〉 not quoth the other feare any such matter in him for besides that hee is a man of meane estate and 〈◊〉 condition hee is also taken for a cowâ—…d Hee will bee quoth the Emperour the more cruell for that It chaâ—…ced that this phoâ—… was advanced from one degâ—… to another untill hee became the principall man of the whole army at such time as the people of Constantinople other places were in greâ—… mislike with the Emperour for his covetousnes By which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Illyria chose phâ—…cas for their generall to condust them to Constantinople against their Emperour where according to his dreaâ—…e he killed the Emperouâ—… his wife his five children and was his 〈◊〉 in the Empire And afterward being 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 for so horrible a murder Phocas sent to the Bishop of Rome that if he would abâ—…olve him of that crime hee would give him the Supremacy over all other Bishops and make him head of the Church which the Bishop did and here began his authoritie over other Bishops But this high title added to the large possessions great riches of that Church hath wrought that effect as all men know and was notably presaged by some supernaturall power as it seemeth in a prodigious sort For at the time that Constantine the great if it bee true that some authours report gave to Sylvester the first then Bishop of Rome and to his Successors the City of Rome with the Emperours Palace called Lateran and divers other Cities and Provinces in Italie there was seene an hand without any body writing upon the wall of the Lateran much people being present reading it these words Hodie venenum Eâ—…lesie infusurus est Some say a voyce was heard from heaven This day he will powre poyson into the Church Sithence which time the Popes have usurped such soveraignty over the Emperours that they pronounce themselves to bee greater than the Emperours and so much greater as the Sunne is greater than the Moone that is sixe thousand sixe hundred fortie and five times and somwhat more pretending also a title to the Empire in the vacancie saying That the Emperour holdeth the Imperial crown of men but the Pope holdeth of God as though they knew not that all power coÌ„meth from God And what was it but the love and desire of riches that made the Popes kindle the fire of Purgatorie knowing that money cannot be coined without fire and a furnace They that thinke externall goods saith Aristotle to be the cause of happinesse deceive themselves no lesse than if they supposed cunning playing on the Herpe came from the instrument and not from the art For as a body is not said to bee perfect because it is richly arrayed but rather because it is well proportioned and healthfull so the mind well instructed is the cause that both her selfe and the body are happy Which cannot be said of a man because he is rich in gold and silver It is not possible saith Plato that a man should bee good indeed and very rich both at one time but he may wel be happy good both together And to say that a rich man is happy because he is rich is foolish and childish and unhappy are they that beleeve it Beleeve me saith Seneca thou canst not be rich and happy And this propertie is joyned to the riches and possessions of this world that seldome it happeneth to men long to enjoy those goods which with much travel they have gotten The labour to get them is long but their use short And he that taketh greatest pains to gather them hath oftentimes least use and pleasure of them And hee it is that thinketh himselfe most happy by having them whose body is charged with vice and heart laden with cares They bring pride to those that have them covetousnesse to get them care to keepe them and finne to enjoy them And those goods that are gotten by shift are for the most part lost with shame For it falleth out by daily experience that what the wicked father getteth with care and sorrow the unthrifty sonne wasteth with pleasure and negligence And the wicked children inher it the worst of the fathers that is Riches and are dis-inherited of the best which are Vertnes Riches saith one and honestie seldome dwell together under one roofe And yet what is more coÌ„monly said He is an honest man for he is worth five hundred pounds or a thousand pounds as though it were a strong argument to prove a man honest because hee is rich Which by the opinion of these and other wise and learned men and by daily experience falleth out for the most part cleane contrary I have great possessions saith Menander all men call me rich but no man calleth me happy but hee that is rich Men said Thales are by nature inclined to vertue but riches allure them to vice and in stead of happinesse they bring care and sorrow And as they that are sicke of the dropsie the more they drinke the thirstier they are so the more men abound in riches the more they desire to have Povertie is the nurse of vertues and riches of vices Democritus was wont to say to him that desireth not riches a little wil seeme much for the desire of small matters maketh men rich Which agreeth with the Poet Qui nibil affectat mirum omnia possidet ille He that covets nothing possesseth all things For no man ought to esteeme himselfe happy for that he hath more than others or that for the same hee is esteemed more worthy of honour though hee bee lifted up with a wind of vaine glorie by men of little vertue for his power and patrimonie if he look throughly into the matter he shall find himselfe the slave of his own riches For little availeth it to happinesse to have large territories great store of land and sumptuous houses richly furnished and to have his minde oppressed with cares and his desires corrupted with coverousnesseâ—… which bringeth infamy to the owner and little goodnes to the necessitie of life Socrates to one that said It were a great thing if a man might have all things that he desired answered But it were much greater not to desire at all He that will make himselfe rich must not adde more money to that he hath but must decrease and diminish his desire of having and thinke that it is all one to have and not to desire For it is no paine to lacke but to him that hath a desire to have And this among other evils is incident to rich men who having gotten reputation or honour by their riches
abundance yet hee is never satisfied So as his riches and over-great plentie breeds him extreme penurie and maketh him leade a miserable life A Knight of Malta despising riches and delighting in a solitarie life caused this to bee written before his garden He is rich enough that needeth not bread Of power enough that is not compelled to serve Ye civill cares get ye farre from hence Sabbas Cast a solitarie man being content with himselfe doth dwel in these little secure gardens Whether he be poore or rich if thou be of an upright judgment consider Farewell The greatest wisedome saith one and felicitie in this world is to live quietly and deale in his owne matters rather than in other mens Then in both fortunes whether thou must doe or suffer to have regard rather to God than men and upon him only to depend To despise the world to despise none to despise himselfe to despise that he is despised these foure things saith one maketh a man happie Celius saith it is a great gladnesse and rejoycing to the soule when thou dost not oncumber thy selfe with the care of many things but art perswaded that thou mayst live quietly with a little and hast cast under thy feete the world and all the pompe thereof Take away luxuriousnesse and excesse of earing and drinking and the lusts of the slesh no man will seeke for riches Pope Alexander the fifth was so liberall to the poore that hee left nothing to himselfe whereupon hee would often take occasion to say merrily That he was a rich Bishop a poore Cardinall and a beggerly Pope God will not suffer him to live in lacke that is bountifull to the poor and useth mony to that end for which it was ordained The Emperour Tiberius Constantine spent upon the poore and other good uses great store of treasure which his Predecessor Iustinian had hoorded up Insomuch that the Empresse seeing his povertie blamed him greatly and laughed him to scorne for his exceeding great expences that were imployed to so good uses It chanced him on a time as he walked in his Palace to see at his feet a marble stone in forme of a crosse and because he thought it unfit that men should tread upon that stone which had the figure and forme of that upon which our Saviour suffered hee caused the stone to bee taken up under which there was another of like forme and under the same a third which being taken up hee found under it great store of treasure for the which he gave God great thankes and imployed it as before to relieve the necessitie of them that had need and lacke A covetous man falling grievously sicke and perceiving hee must dye and that hee could carry nothing with him into another world turned to his friends and kinsfolkes that were about him and said Take you example by me my deare friends to the end that in heaping up of riches you trouble not your selves more than honestie requireth For I that have spent all my time in scraping goods and treasure together must now leave this life and of so much land and costly apparell that I have I shall possesse nothing else but five foote of ground and one old sheete To this purpose serveth Ausonius epigram wherein Diogenes is fained to see the rich King Croesus among the dead and thus to mocke him for his great riches that then profited him nothing being in no better estate than Diogenes himselfe Effigiem Rex Craesetuam ditissime Regum Vidit apud manes Diogenes Cynicus Constitit ut que procul solito majore cachinno Concussus dixit quid tibi divitiae Nunc prosunt Regum Rex O ditissime cum sis Sicut ego solus me quoque pauperior Nam quaecunque habuâ—… mecum feâ—…o cum nihilipse Ex tantis tecum Crase fer as opibus Amongst the ghosts Diogenes beheld Thee Cresus of all Kings with most wealth swel'd All which he said and finding thee lesse proud Than â—…arst hee call'd to thee laughing aloud And said O Cresus richest once of Kings Speake to this place below what profit brings All thy late pompâ—… for ought that I now 〈◊〉 We are alike and thou as poore as I. I that alive had nothing brought my store And thou of all thy wealth canst shew no more Hee that loveth money saith Ecclesiastes will never bee satisfied with money and who so delighteth in riches shall have no profit thereof And what pleasure more hath hee that possesseth them saving that hee may looke upon them with his eyes A labouring man sleepeth sweetly whether it be little or much that hee eateth but the abundance of riches will not suffer him to sleep I have scene saith he riches kept to the hurt of him that hath them in possession For oftentimes they perish with his great miserie and trouble And it is a generall thing among men when God giveth man riches goods and honour so that hee wanteth nothing of all that his heart can desire and yet God giveth him not leave to enjoy the same but another spendeth them Vincentio Pestioni an Italian Gentleman being asked how old hee was answered that hee was in health And to another that asked how rich hee was he answered that he was not in debt As if hee should say that he is young enough that is in health and rich enough that is not in debt The rich man is compared to a Peacocke that climbeth up to the highest places as the rich man aspireth to honour and preheminence And as the Peacocke is decked with faire feathers and so delighteth to bee seene and to behold his taile that hee discovereth his filthy parts behinde So the rich man rejoyceth in his wealth and precious attire and delighteth in flatterie in pride and vaine glorie And whilest hee goeth about to shew his bodie well fed and set out with costly ornaments hee sheweth a brutish minde voyd of vertue and full of vice and vanitie The more saith Boccace that riches is had in estimation the more is vertue had in contempt This rule saith Plato will seldome faile that when the fathers have too much riches the sonnes have no vertue at all because betweene ease and superfluitie of riches vices and not vertue are wont to bee nourished A Philosopher said that the gods are so just in dividing their gifts that to whom they give contentation from them they take riches and to those they give riches they take from them contentation Anacâ—…con a Philosopher having received of King Polycrates the value of tenne thousand duckets for a gift entred into so many conceits and fantasies that hee passed three dayes and three nights without sleepe which sudden change and alteration put him in such a feare of some great evill to follow that hee carried forthwith the money to the King and told him that hee restored his gift to him againe because it did let him from sleepe Epictetus the Philosopher was wont to say
scumme of the sea men without fathers and restlesse men that could stay no where to labor for their living Though the pretence of the Spaniards travell into these new found lands were to plant Christianitie among these rude people and to reduce them to the knowledge of God yet the infinit number of thousands of people which through their cruelty and covetousnesse they have there destroied in eight and forty yeere twentie millions as appeareth by their owne histories argueth plainely and is confirmed by this example following that the greedy unsatiable desire of gold and riches was the cause that drew them to undertake those painefull and dangerous travailes Which covetousnesse crueltie of theirs was a great hinderance to the planting of Religion there â—…Ferdinando Sotos a Spaniard went to Florida to seeke gold but being in a great rage and griefe because he could not there find that hee looked for he exercised great cruelty among those barbarous people It chanced that a Prince of that country came to see him presented him with two Parrots and plumes of feathers after their first salutations ended the Prince asked the Spaniard who he was and from whence he came and what he sought in these countries committing dayly so many and so great cruelties and wicked acts Sotos answered him by an interpreter that hee was a Christian the sonne of God the creatour of heaven and earth that his comming thither was to instruct those people in the knowledge of his law If thy God sayd the Prince command thâ—… to run over other mens countries robbing burning killing and omitting no kind of wickednesse we tell you in few words that we can neither beleeve in him nor in his lawes Of these greedy covetous men the Prophet Esay speaketh thus Wâ—…e be to you that joyne house to house and field to field till there be no more ground Will you dwell upon the earth alone The love of money made the French king 〈◊〉 the eleventh subject to obloquie by his niggardly sparing unseemely for a Prince without respect to his estate For having driven almost all the Gentlemen out of his Court hee was served with his taylor for all his Horaulds of armes his Barbor was his Ambassador his Physician was his Chancellour and for a mockerie of other kings he would weare a greazy cap of very course cloth and in his accounts were found twenty soâ—…s for two new sleeves to his old doublet and fifteene deniers for grease to greaze his bootes Horace reporteth of a man at Rome called Ovid so rich in money that hee might measure his gold by the bushell and yet he went almost starke naked for niggardlinesse never would fill himselfe halfe full of meat Insomuch that he lived poorely to dye rich Of such the Poet cryeth out not without cause Sed quò divitias tbt per torment a coactâ—… Cum furor haud dubius cum sit manifesta phrenesis Vt locuples moriare egenti vivere viverefato What meane these Riches by such torments got And infinite paines A madnesse is 't not A phrensey manifest it doth implye Penuriously to live richly to dye By this which hath bin sayd it is manifest that mans felicitie and his summoâ—… bonum or greatest good consisteth not in riches For who if hee be not senselesse desireth riches for it selfe but for some other thing Some for lascivious some for sumptuous others for profitable and necessary expences Which things if they might bee had without money no man would desire or care for riches Neither can riches be the common end of men seeing some have great plenty and others extreme want and poverty which have also their estimation by opinion Some calling gold and silver others pearles and precious stones others trifling things riches like little children that set their riches in pinnes and puppets But he that putteth not mans felicitie in himselfe and â—…nis nis owne matters doth like unto him that estimatethâ—… sword by his scabbard or a horse by his saddle and furniture Neither can we call that Summum bonum or the greatest good which is no good at all and is common both to good men and wicked which also make more men worse than better And how can riches be the principall end of man that withdraweth men for the most part from the true end of all things which is God For we see plainly that there is not a more compendious way to alienate a mans minde from God than to wallow in worldly wealth So that mans felicitie or Summum bonum must bee sought in some other thing than in riches For God placed not man in this world to seeke after earthly things neither that he should find the end of his desires in the scurfe of the earth Which one remembreth thus Memento rebus vanidis diffidere Opes genus formâ—… decor caduca sunt Ad ossa nuda mors reducit omnia Coelo repostus optimus thesaurus est In vaine things see no confidence thou hast For neither wealth nor birth nor shape can last To strippe us to the bone Death followes fast 'T is the best treasure that in Heaven is plac't THE FELICITIE OF MAN OR HIS SUMMUM BONUM THE THIRD BOOKâ—… CHAP. I. Of Cineas the Philosopher and King Pyrrhus Ambition the subversion of Kingdomes and Empires It engenders Parricides Instanced by Adolphus Duke of Geldria Selim the great Turke Henry the first Emperour and Solyman The ambition of Snio King of Denmarke Semiramis Iane Queene of Naples The Empresse Irene Bassianns the sonnes of Pope Alexander the sixth with sundry Histories both domestical and forreigne to that purpose The death of Pertinax Emperour And Didius Iulianus who bought the Romane Empire Dâ—…uers chances and changes in warre Histories of others unmilling to undergâ—…e the Empire HOnour and glory is another thing which men labour to aâ—…taine as though felicitie or the greatest good should consist therein But this is an erronious opinion and they greatly deceived that hold it For men desire honour and glory because they would seeme to bee â—…cndued with vertue by which they confesse that vertue is to be preferred before glory honour And honour is given as we see by dayly experience by man many times taken away againe by them that gave it But that wherein felicitie consisteth is a thing more stedfast and not so easily removed nor subject to the variable accidents of fortune Honour is gotten with much labour maintained with great exponces and lost with intolerable griefe and sorrow It is likened to a mans shadow which the more hee runneth after the more it flieth away and when he flieth from his shadow it followeth him againe as one saith Qui fugit honorem eum sequitur honos Honour followeth him that flieth from it Who is more honoured now than Christs Apostles Saint Peter Saint Paul and the like that despised honour when they lived Of all the disordered passions where with mens minds
That there was but one God in Heaven and one Sultan upon Earth And within two dayes after hee killed Sultan Gobe because he wept for his brother and Sultan Mehemet his third sonne because hee went away for feare Abimelesh Athalia Ioram and others by the testimony of the Scripture murdered many to raigne alone Snio king of Denmarke not contented with his owne kingdome aspired also to the kingdome of Suecia and Gothland when he perceived his forces were not â—…ficient to bring his purpose to passe hee practised this device Biorâ—… king of Suecia and Gothland had married the daughter of the old king of that country which 〈◊〉 practised to steale away to marrie her though shee were the other Kings wife hoping by that 〈◊〉 to get the kingdome of Gothland hee made one goe 〈◊〉 the habite of a begger into the kings Court to come to the speech of the Queene if it were possible under colour of begging her almes This counterfeit begger having some friendship among the Danes that were in the kings court hid himselfe in a corner which way the Queene used to goe and when she passed by hee fell to his begging and desired her to have compassion upon him and withall steppeth to her as though it were to receive her charitie and speaketh softly Snio loveth you The Queen perociving the device passed by and at her returne the begger standing still in the same place as it were by importunacy to draw from her somthing towards his relief which before she had denied him she gave him comfortable words openly secretly whispering she said I love him that loveth me The begger being glad of this answer proâ—…eded further peaâ—…tiling with the Queene to forsake her husband and to passe the seas to Snio who expecting opportunitie when the Queene fained to goe forth to wash her selfe taking with her her husbands treâ—…re 〈◊〉 a ship ready and transported her into Denmarke which was the occasion of long and cruell warres and of wonderfull slaughter on both sides insomuch as the husbandâ—… being slaine the fields lay desolate and the people driven to seeke new countries to inhabite which also at last cost Snio his life semir 〈◊〉 Queene of the Assyrians desired the king her husband that she might raigne with soveraignty one onely day which being â—…ted she caused the king to be killed and became absolute Queen her selfe 〈◊〉 Queene of Naples caused three of her husbands to be put to death who sought to be advanced to honour by her marriage and at last 〈◊〉 the just judgement of God 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 herselfe Irenes mother to the Emperor Constantine the sixth entrapped him by policie and caused his eyes to be plucked out of his head that shee might raigne in his place such an unnaturall part as hath not beene knowne done by a woman Romulus the first founder of Rome slue his brother Rhemus for leaping over the wall of the City that he might raignâ—…alone 〈◊〉 and Geta brothers and successours in the Empire to their father Severus thinking so large a Monarchy not greatenough for them both Bassianus slue his brother Geta with a dagger in his mothers armes that himselfe might enjoy the soveraignty alone Nulla fides regni socijs omnisque potestas Impatiens consort is erit There is no trust in partners to a Crowne Power brookes no rivals but makes all his owne Pope Alexander the sixth had two sonnes the elder he made Duke of Candia the other Cardinall of Valentia who being of a disposition fitter for a man of war than a Priest could not â—…adure that his brother the Duke should bee preferred before him in this principalitie being the more impatient because his brother had a greater part than hee in the favour of a yong Gentlewoman with whom they were both in love and therefore stirred up by lust and ambition mighty ministers as Guicciardin sayth to all manner of mischiefe he caused his brother to be slaine as hee rode alone in the night through Rome and to bee cast into the river of Tiber. Examples of this kinde our owne Chronicles will yeeld us Richard the third most unnaturally caused his owne brothers sonnes to be cruelly murdered through the inordinate desire to reigne upon whom fell the just jâ—…dgement of God as all men know The desire of rule glorie was the cause of the civill wars between 〈◊〉 Caesar and Pompey and of the overthrow of the Romanes Common-wealth and at last of their owne confusion Pompey being overthrowne by Caesar fled to Alexandria where hee thought to have found succour of the young King of Egypt for the benefits which he before had â—…eceived at his hands But his Councel having deliberated upon the matter sent a boat under colour of friendship to him to fetch him to land and caused his head to be striken off to gratifie Caesar who not long after was killed in the Senate with three and twentie wounds These men were of such lofty minds that the one could abide no superiour nor the other no equall Alexander the Great through ambition and desire of glory without any right or title entred into Darâ—…us possessions made conquest of Asia And the like desire of rule made Antipater send his son to poyson Alexander with the water of the river called Styx whose propertie was to breake all the vessels wherein it should bee carried whether it were silver or pewter or any other thing saving the hoofe of a mule And what was it but ambition that stirred up and continued the controversie of the Supremacie betweene the Churches of Hierusalem Antioch Constantinople and Rome the space almost of three hundred yeares untill at last Phocas adjudged the Supremacie to the Bishop of Rome which brought forth horrible tumults deadly hatreds and shamefull Schismes among the Churches Yet notwithstanding this sentence the Church of Millan opposed it selfe against the Church of Rome for the Supremacie and would have nothing to doe with it for the space of two hundred years King Henrâ—…e of France upon the marriage of his sister with the King of Spaine was puffed up with such pride and desirous of more increase of glorie that besides his ambitious conceits and imaginations of new enterprises he gave himsâ—…lfe a new title tres heureuseroye the most happy King But God to whom pride and vaine-glorie is alwaies offensive would not suffer this happines long to continue For in solâ—…mnizing this marriage with great triumph and joy after hee had run at the Tilt two or three dayes being perswaded and intreated by the Qâ—…eene his wife who had dreadfull dreames of him to run no more and also by his Councell he would needs runne againe the last day and being well mounted and armed rather better than any time before after he had broken many staves and the day well spent and the pastime drawing to an end some being gone from the Tilt-yard home-ward others being alighted from their horses the King would not
being left alive worthy of that name Such search must bee made in these dayes for such a man under the ground among the dead being hardly to be found above among the living We are not to say with him Our civill warres and pestilence have consumed all our good men but the iniquity of this time having turned the vertue and simplicity of former ages into vice and dissimulation and the traducing and counterfeiting of strangers manners and fashions hath as a pestilence infected and corrupted our manners left to us of our forefathers that hardly a faithfull friend or an honest man is any where to bee found but Seneca saith It is very good to follow the steppes of our forefathers if they have led the way well for lands and riches and other vanities have gotten away the reputation vertue and honesty is out of request whatsoever is had in reputation encreaseth but that which is had in contempt and not regarded diminisheth In pretio pretium nunc est dat census honores Census amicitias paâ—…per ubique jacet Price is held precious wealth doth honour buy Wealth begets friends the poor doth each where ly If a man unknowne be named the question is by and by whether hee be rich what living or lands he hath and thereafter he is had in reputation or in contempt no man asketh whether he be honest whether hee hath vertue learning or knowledge as though they were things of none account not worth the inquiring for which maketh men so carefull to get the one and so negligent to come by the other Riches and possessions have afflicted the manners of the world and so overwhelmed the common wealth that is 〈◊〉 in her vices as it werein a sinke Vertue is supplanted and vice sowne in her place the name of vertue and honesty is of many desired but of very few deserved and they that bee worthy of that name except they have great store of goods and land they have no grace among men Callimachus the Poet said that riches without vertue doth never give reputation to a man but vertue without riches giveth him some credit but now wee see it fall out cleane contrary for riches without vertue giveth great reputation and vertue without riches giveth none at all Et genus formam regina pecunia donat Queen mony gives both birth and beauty And again quidvis nummis presentibus opta Et venâ—…et Wish what thou wilt present mony wil purchaseâ—… In no time it could be more truly said thaâ—… in these dayes Virtus post 〈◊〉 Vertue after money For he that is of great lands or riches though he have no vertue nor learning yet hee is wondred at as if hee were some Heroes or divine thing and yet in time past among the ancient Romanes povertie was a sound prayse and true vertue Riches and possessions are preferred to honorable places and are set at the upper end of the table but vertue and learning is thrust downe behind the screene ubi multum de intellectu ibi parum de fortuna as if he should say They that be most rich in the goods and gifts of the minde are commonly most poore in the goods of the world to no time the Poets saying could be more aptly applyed Non facile emergunt quâ—…rum virtutibus obstat Res augusta domi They doe not easily rise that have small meanes Our manners are so contrary to those of former ages that the world seemeth to bee turned upside downe which wil easily be perceived by comparing some few examples of other ages with our time A Lacedaemoniâ—… was sent Ambassadour to make league with the king of Persia and finding his great estates playing at dice he returned home leaving his ambassage undone and being asked at his returne why he had left those things â—…done which were given him in charge by the common-wealth he answered that he thought it would be ignominious to his countrey to enter into league with dice-players And this is no lesse to be noted that a Censor of the Romanes put a Senator of Rome out of the Senate because he kissed his wife in the sight of his daughter But where is this modesty become among Christians that was looked for of this Heathen The severity of such a Magistrate was never more necessary than now who should finde plenty of other maner of matters to reprehend In China at this day if any man bring into their country any new fashions of garments or manner of â—…tire other than hath been used of antiquitie he suffereth death In the countrey of Licaonia none might weare but one garment in one whole yeare and if any need a new garment hee must not only have leave but also shew wherewith he would buy the same In that countrey there must bee no new inventions if any devised any new fashions that differed from the ancient manner of their countrey the deviser was banished and the device abolished neither would they suffer any perfumes among them affirming it to be no lesse in famie to a man to be perfumed than to a woman to bee manifestly â—…chast of her body As there was wont to bee contention of vertue and modesty so now is it of quaffing of pride of vaine attires and gestures When Agesilam king of Sparta sometime the most flourishing common-wealth of the world went into Asia saw their timber square that was in their buildings he asked whether their 〈◊〉 did grow square and when answer was made that dry grow round but were made square by art And would yee quoth hee make them round if they grew squareâ—… noting their superfluous curiositie What would these men say if they lived in these dayes not to see the excessive sumptuousnesse of buildings onely and houses which should not bee decked and set foorth with stones and pictures and such like toyes but with the 〈◊〉 of the inhabitants but also the pride and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 varietie of fashions in attires and maners not 〈◊〉 some round things square but rather by their vaine â—…riosity and nicenesse bringing all things out of squareâ—… The Thebaâ—…es had a Law that no man should make a house for himselfe to dwell in but he should first make his grave If they saw the quaffing and carowsing commonly used untill they be ready to rumble under the table the licentious covetousnesse blasphemica and all manner of luxuriousnesse all allowed for good as things commendable that beget a reputation to those that exceede the rest The Emperour Adrian would say that there is not any thing that more doth offend a Common-wealth than to infect the same same with strange and unaccustomed manners which occasioned him to make a law of reformation both for eating superfluous meats and also for wearing of garments eyther too many or too costly The Reâ—…sians had a law that whosoever brought into their country any strange or new manners and fashions hee should lose his head
of this disease was so great that there was no roome in the Church-yards to bury the dead and many finding themselues infected with this disease being out of all hope of recouery would presently sow themselues in sheetes looking when death would come to separate the soule from the body These were the whips that God vsed in a generalitie for punishment of sinnes But what would we speake of diseases when Plinie and others write that in two thousand yeeres to their time they haue discouered aboue three hundred diseases to which men are subiect we may say with the Poet Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus 〈◊〉 Prima fugii subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor durae rapit inclementia mortis The best dayes of vs miserable men The first are that make haste from vs and then Diseases come with sorrowfull old age Labour and lust Deaths implacable rage Let vs descend to some particular matter which hath happened to men either by the secret iudgement of God or by some rare accidents Popyelus King of Polonia a man of euil life would often wish that he might be deuoured of mice At last as he was sitting at dinner banquetting and 〈◊〉 a company of great mice set vpon him which came from the carkasses of his vncles which he and the Queene his wife had killed with poyson These mice in great heapes assaulted him his wife and children as they sate feasting and neuer left gnawing vpon them day and night though his guard and souldiers did all they could to driue them away great fires were made and the King his wife and children placed in the middest yet notwithstanding the Mice ran thorow the fire and fell to their gnawing againe Then they went into a ship and prooued what the water would doe the Mice followed them and gnawing continually vpon the Ship the Mariners seeing themselues in danger of drowning the water comming in at the holes which the Mice made brought the Ship to land where another companie of Mice ioyned with these and molested them more then before when his followers saw these things perceiuing it to be the Iudgement of God they all fled The King seeing himselfe left alone and those departed that should defend him he went vp into an high tower but the Mice climbed vp and deuoured him his wife and two sonnes By which it appeareth that there is no policie nor power to be vsed against God The Emperour Arnolphus was likewise eaten vp with Lice his Physicions being vnable to giue him any remedy Hotto Bishop of Ments in Germanie perceiuing the poore people in great lacke of victuals by the scarcitie of corne gathered a great many of them together and shut them into a barne and burnt them saying That they differed little from Mice that consumed corne and were profitable to nothing But God left not so great a crueltie vnreuenged for he made Mice assault him in great heapes which neuer left gnawing vpon him night nor day he fled into a Tower which was in the midst of the Riuâ—…r of Rhyne which to this day is called the Tower of Mice of that euent supposing hee should be safe from them in the midst of the Riuer But an innumerable companie of Mice swam ouer the riuer to execute the iust Iudgement of God and deuoured him The like happened to a Bishop of Strasbrough who was also deuoured with mice When Harold King of Denmarke made warre vpon Harquinus and was ready to ioyne battell there was a dart seene in the aire flying this way and that way as though it sought vpon whom to light And when all men stood wondering what would become of this strange matter euery man fearing himselfe at last the dart fell vpon Harquinus head and slew him An Italian Gentleman being vniustly condemned to die as it was thought by Pope Clement the fift at the request of Philip the faire King of France seeing them both out of a window speaketh to them aloud in this sort Thou cruell Clement for as much as there is no iudge in the world before whom a man may appeale from that vniust sentence which thou hast pronounced against me I appeale from thee as from an vniust Iudge to the iust Iudge Iesus Christ before whom I summon thee and likewise thee King Philip at whose suite thou hast giuen iudgement of death vpon me within one yeere to appeare before the Tribunall seat of God where I shall plead my cause which shall be determined without couetousnesse or any other passion as yee haue done It chanced that about the end of the time by him prefixed both the Pope and the King dyed The like happened to Ferdinando the fourth King of Castile who puttìng to death two knights rather through anger then iustice whose fauour could not be obtained neither by weeping and lamenting nor by any petitions they summoned the King to appeare before the Tribunall seat of Christ within thirtie daies the last of which the King died A Captaine likewise of the Gallies of the Genowayes tooke a vessell the Captaine whereof neuer did harme to the Genowayes yet for the hatred that the Captaine of the Genowayes did beare to his Nation he commanded him to be hanged And when no petitions nor prayers would be heard nor excuses allowed nor any mercy would be found hee said to this cruell Captaine that he did appeale to God that punisheth the vniust and summoned him to appeare at a certaine day appointed to render account before God of the wrong he had done him the very same day that he appointed the Captain of the Genowayes dyed of like went to yeeld his account A strange example likewise by a false accusation of an Archbishop of Mentz called Henry This man was indued with many vertues and had great care of his flocke and would punish seuerely publike sinners which procured the hatred of many wicked persons who accused him to the Pope as a man insufficient for his charge laying many faults against him The Pope holding a good opinion of the Bishop aduertised him of it who to purge himselfe and to declare his innocency made choise among all his friends of one Arnand whom he loued dearely and aduanced to many dignities to go to Rome This man being rich intending to depriue his master and to occupie his place suborned two wicked Cardinals with a great summe of money to fauour his practice when he came to answer for his master hee confessed how much bound he was to him yet he was more bound to God and to the truth then to men and said that the accusations laid against the Bishop were true By meanes whereof the Pope sent the two corrupted Cardinals to heate determine the Bishops cause when they came into Germanie they sent for the Archbishop and vpon hearing of his cause depriued him of his dignities and placed Arnand in his roome The Bishop being present at
preferred before the other let vs see what is sufficient in a ciuill life to make contentment To liue in pleasures is rather beastly then agreeable with humanity and as hath beene said before hath beene the destruction of them that haue beene addicted to them for the more a man giueth himselfe to pleasures the more he subiecteth himselfe to vices and as the Poet saith Delicias mundi fragiles qui mente sequetur Perdidit aterni certissima gaudi coeli Who the fraile pleasures Of the world will choose The certaine Ioyes of Heauen Are sure to lose And yet honest pleasures or rather delights for by this name I would distinguish betweene the pleasures of the flesh and those of the minde for recreation and healths sake ioyned with sobriety and modestie are not denied a Christian nor any hinderance but rather a furtherance to felicity Aristippus saith That man moderateth pleasure not which abstaineth vtterly from it but which vseth it in such sort as he is not carried away with it as we gouerne a ship or a horse when we leade them whither we list The immoderate desire of riches as appeareth by that which hath bin said hath beene the ouerthrow and confusion of many and cryed out vpon not only by the Philosophers as a most pestiferous passion but also by the Prophets and holy Fathers and by Christ himselfe with sharpe and bitter threatnings of extreme miserie to those that possesse them For he is not in the right path that leadeth to happinesse who runneth after the goods of the world but he that flyeth from the vices of the world and nothing bringeth more care and vnquietnesse of minde then the loue of riches which is neuer satisfied with that he hath but alwayes desireth more and therefore neuer contented For liberty of the mind and care of worldly goods will neuer agree together and yet riches well gotten and well spent is to be accounted the blessing of God and may be a furtherance to felicity as one saith Eaelix opes qui cum sapientia tenet Happy is he that inioyes Wealth with Wisedome But as it is now commonly gotten and vsed it may rather be taken for the blessing of the diuell Rich men for the most part are said to haue riches as men are said to haue an ague when indeed an ague hath them And so riches possesseth them and not they their riches being slaues many times to that should serue their vse Riches with a wise man doe serue but with a foole they rule If thou content thy selfe with that which is sufficient to serue thy necessity thou canst neuer be poore but if thou goe about to satisfie thy couetous desires thou canst neuer be rich Endeuour therefore to make thy desires equall with thine estate but not thine estate equall with thy desires There is not more beautifull nor more honest riches for a man especially for a Prince then vertue and iustice He ought to giue more thanks to God to whom he hath giuen wisedome and a contēted mind then for that he made him rich Vnto whom soeuer God giueth riches saith the Preacher goods and power he giueth it him to enioy it to take it for his portion and to be refreshed of his labour this is now the gift of God Seneca aduiseth lest fortune should find vs vnprouided to make pouerty familiar to vs. He shall be rich with more security who knoweth that it is not painefull to be poore For he that agreeth well with pouerty is rich because nature desireth but a little but opinion would haue without measure and a man may be poore in the middest of great riches And so much the more excellent is honest pouerty then hatefull couetousnesse by how much the poore man is contented with little where to the rich man a great deale seemes nothing for he is not rich that possesseth much goods but he whose desires are satisfied and his mind content with a little And what a madnesse is it to seeke to exchange contentment for care mirth for sorrow liberty for bondage pleasure for paine and watching for sleeping It is giuen for a penance to ambitious and couetous men neuer to content themselues with enough nor yet with too much Seneca speaking of the measure of riches saith Primus modus habere quod necesse est proximus quod sat est The first is to haue so much as is necessarie the next that which is sufficient That which is necessarie hath respect to the maintenance of himselfe and his family for euery man is bound by nature to prouide for his off spring and that child hath a great aduantage to be an honest man that is prouided for in his cradle That which is sufficient hath respect to his estate or calling to which he is either borne or hath attained by his industrie or vertue but not by scraping together riches and possessions by vngodly or vnhonest meanes wherein respect must be had to decency by an vpright iudgement of reason not by the common custome of men For the common error in estimation of riches and possessions bringeth infelicity to many that otherwise would bee happy Midas had an Asses eares as it is said fastened to his head for his extreme foolish desire of gold Pythius had good counsel giuen him by his wife by an apt deuice to disswade him from ouermuch loue of gold for when there was found out mynes of gold he commanded all men of his City to digge for gold and to doe no other worke by sea nor by land Which when all men tooke grieuously because they hadho fruits out of the earth to sustaine themselues nor could doe any thing for the maintenance and necessitie of their liues they complained to his wife shee willed them to vse patience for a time and gathering together all the Goldsmythes shee commanded them to make fishes of gold fowle all other things that men vse to eate When Pythius was returned from his iourney and called for his supper his wife caused a table of gold to bee set before him with diuers dishes wherein was no meate but all things made of gold like vnto meat When Pythius had praised the workmanship and called for something to eate shee caused other things of gold to bee set before him likewise whereat when he waxed angry and said he was very hungry Yehaue said his wife caused all husbandry and ◅llage to be laid downe and all other arts that were necessary to sustaine mans life and ye haue commanded to digge vnprofitable gold which serueth to no vse except they may also sowe and plant the ground and reape the fruit thereof Thus by his wiues wisedome Pythius was taught to leaue digging for metals willed his citizens to returne to tilling the ground and to fall to their occupations to the exercise of their trades as they did before To him that esteemeth riches for a good thing the false