vs hauing beene hitherto verie yl considered of the Spaniardes who for hauing exercised all their crueltie and inhumanitie which they were able to imagine against the poore Indians for the most part haue ended their liues most miserably as such as haue entreated of this historie more at large declare and that the same Spaniards counterfaiting as though they would instruct them in the trueth thorough their wicked life and excesse haue most estranged them from it and of a most populous countrie made a most horrible desert This trueth is called a vertue because they that vse to tel the trueth doe loue it and shee hath such a force that wheresoeuer shee is seene shee causeth her selfe to be the rather desired and loued Now since that our Creator of his pure grace performeth all the promises which he hath made vnto vs in the trueth whereof consisteth our assurance and saluation wee likewise ought to make good whatsoeuer in our christian professiō we haue promised to him seruing for nought els then our owne good quiet and happinesse And leauing all togither the Philosophers dalyings touching the true marke and knowledge of the trueth nor respecting their opinions who haue doubted of all things and helde for certaine that no man knew ought seeing how senselesse they were we wil wholie cleaue to common sense the onely meane betweene the senses and vnderstanding and will thinke that reasonable which we haue seene heard tasted and felt and so haue recourse to ech one in his science as Lawyers and others yeeld to Phisitions in their arte and runne to Astrologians when they woulde vnderstande by what meanes the Sunne is one hundred threescore sixe times greater than the earth and sixe thousande fiue hundred and fiue and fourtie times greater than the Moone albeit there be no appearance thereof at all And wil wholly followe the rules and maximes of Diuines who thorough the verie worde of God declare his will infallible trueth And herein it behoueth vs to shunne two faults which S. Augustine doeth thinke greatly hindereth the knowledge of the trueth to wit desperation presumption But most especially to haue a great desire to knowe it as a treasor and true science according to the exhortation of Salomon And humby beseeche at Gods handes that wee may learne and vnderstande it and let vs bende our selues thereto by readinge of good bookes and frequenting of Sermons and honest companie not imagininge wee see more then in deede wee doe see following the lesson of our Sauiour to the Scribes and Pharisees in the ninth of Saint Iohn and in the Chapter going before where he sayde to his disciples If you continue in my worde you verilie are my disciples and shall knowe the trueth So must wee heare the worde of God as beleeuing it and perseuering therein For thorough faith is our entrance thereto In this respect spake Saint Peter in the name of the whole in the sixth of Saint Iohn Master to whome shall wee goe thou hast the wordes of eternall life And wee beleeue and knowe that thou art the Christe the sonne of the liuinge God Saint Augustine likewise is of opinion that mans minde giuen to vice cannot be capable of the trueth Some haue writen that Saint Peter sayde that God did not couer nor hyde the trueth vnder a mountaine to the ende that none but such as toyled farre for her might finde her But as with the heauens he hath enuironed the earth and the hilles so hath he couered the trueth with the vayle of his charitie whereby whosoeuer will knocke at the heauenly dore might easily enter in Therefore it is a matter necessarie that who so will loue the trueth must first knowe her and louing her search her out and searching her must knocke at the gate of the heauenly loue our Sauiour hauing promised that Aske and it shalbee giuen you Seeke and you shall finde knocke and it shalbe opened vnto you And those of olde time haue set downe two principall partes to be especiall in man to wit his vnderstanding and his will which beeing once corrupted turne him cleane from the waye of trueth and leadeth him into an infinite number of discommodities and errours And all good things haue this nature and propertie that they be desirous not onely to bee knowen but likewise to bee beloued and coueted and the vnderstanding doth serue as a meanes to affection to shewe what it shoulde most of all pursue as hereafter wee will more at large declare CHAP. II. The definition of the trueth and faith CIcero writeth that the trueth causeth vs to speake assuredlie without chaunging of oughte which hath beene is or shall bee and that it is a vertue thorough which wee are enclined to speake no otherwise then as wee thinke The which definition Sainct Augustine followed in his Booke of true Religion addinge it further to bee a true signification of the voyce it is taken for the Gospel and the woorde of God the which as Dauid and Sainct Peter saieth is A lanterne to our feete and a light that shineth in a darke place And our Sauioure saieth that this trueth shall deliuer vs from the Worlde sinne and Diuell through faith which wee haue in him beeing giuen vs from God for righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption who came into the worlde to accomplishe the trueth of the promises of God who is as Sainct Paul saieth A light that none can attaine vnto to the which Christe Iesus doeth guide vs being the cleerenesse of the worlde and his reconciliation It is likewise taken for an inwarde integritie and a rule teachinge to liue well accordinge to the holye will of God And when Ezekias desired there might bee trueth in his dayes it is interpreted that thereby hee meant the continuaunce of a quiet and peaceable state And as the trueth conformeth wordes according to the meanyng of the hearte so doeth faith in the promises beeing a vertue which maketh our deedes aunswerable to our promises and a habite through which wee are enclined to perfourme whatsoeuer wee haue promised And our Sauiour in the Gospel of Sainct Matthewe saying that the weightie matters of the Lawe consisted in iudgement mercie and fidelitie by this word of fidelitie meant a trueth farre from anie disguising and treacherie And the Romanes in old time dedicated a temple to Faith the better to cause the people to keepe and reuerence it I leaue to the Diuines the definition of Faith which consisteth in the substance of that we hope for and in the knowledge of the good will of God towards vs of our reconciliatiō iustification founded vpon the promises freely giuen vnto vs in Christ Iesus which quickneth the soule and purifieth the heart maketh vs the children and sonnes of God causeth in vs a desire to walke holie and vnblamable taketh away the poyson abateth the sting of death
that he neuer saide what he would do and pleased themselues in counterfaiting and dissembling to deceaue and falsefie their faith And when the sonne had caused certaine Princes to be murthered contrarie to his othe the father laughing saide that he plaide a right Spaniardes parte They both dyed most miserably Fredericke the Emperour desyred that his counselors would at the entring in of his court laye aside al counterfaiting and dissembling I haue learned of some persons worthie to be beleeued that Paulus Iouius demaunded why in his Chronicle hee fained manie thinges as false and dissembled the true which thereby might breede his hystorie to be suspected aunswered that he did it to please his friends and those from whome hee receiued pensions and rewardes and that the posteritie mought easily giue credite to the same It is called fayning to make that to be which is not or that which is not to bee or to be greater than in deede it is And it is dissembling to make that which is not to bee or lesse then it is Aristotle imputed counterfaitinge to an excesse of trueth and dissembling to the defect The Lawyers calleth that couin when to deceaue another a man maketh semblance of one thing and perfourmeth cleane contrarie Saint Peter in his first Epistle exhorteth vs to lay aside all malice guile and dissimulation It is not meant for al that that euerie one nor at al times nor of euerie matter should speake what he thinketh For it is wisedome not to discouer but for some good respect what we would not haue knowen as if a man woulde preach all the giftes hee hath receiued from God or the vice or fault which by infirmitie hee is fallen vnto or discouer to euerie one the secrete of his minde he shoulde bee counted but a dizard Euerie counterfaiting done to the ende to deceiue an other is reprooued but if it bee to conceale a good counsell fearinge least it might bee preuented then is it not to bee blamed neither is it alwayes requisite to make manifest what wee doe conceaue Which hath caused some Emperours and Kinges to saye that hee who cannot dissemble shall neuer raigne prosperously And the olde prouerbe meaneth the same that whatsoeuer is in the heart of a sober man is founde in the tongue of a drunkarde Our Sauiour in the gospell made as though he would haue gon further but it was to stir vp the burning desire of his disciples And Dauid faygned himselfe mad to escape the handes of King Achys And so haue they written of Solon Brutus and other verie great personages CHAP. 6. That the deede ought to be correspondent to the worde and to flie hypocrisie SInce therefore that speech is but a shadow of deedes there must be such an vnitie as that there be founde no difference at al for it is a verie great guile to speake otherwise then the heart indeede thinketh The Emperours Tiberius Calligula Nero Domitian Commodus and some others among an infinite number of vices wherwith they were possessed were most of al blamed because their heart was double doing cleane contrarie to that they sayd and making a shewe in the beginning of their raigne to loue the trueth did most of all corrupt it by their vices and enormities The Emperour Pertinax was likewise surnamed Chrestologus that is to say wel speaking but ill doing And Dion wrote of the saide Tiberius who was so called of a streame defiled and stayned with bloud that he was wont to say that one ought not to knowe the will of a Prince and that he should shewe good countenance to such whose death he ment to practise These men resemble those which rowe in a galley who albeit that they looke towardes the hinder part beate the waue towards it yet doe they altogither driue forwards the nose And the Diuines vpon the 32. Psalme and other places shew that the analogie of this worde Speake in the Hebrewe phrase importeth a signification both of speaking and thinking to declare that we ought not to speake otherwise then we thinke as Homer did write of Vlysses that his speach proceeded from his heart At what time Othon the fourth and Frederic the second contended for the Empire Pope Innocent the thirde made faire wether with them both and neuer the lesse made a verie solemne and eloquent oration of the agreement and vnitie which ought to be among Christian Princes but a citizen of Rome presumed to aunsweare him Holie father your wordes seeme to be of God but your deedes and practises which thereto are so contrarie surely proceede from the diuell Guychardin and others write of certaine Popes that they bended al their forces to nourish thorough sundrie sleightes and dissimulations the Princes in dissention and that they were more politique then good and vnder a colour of procuring peace set them worse together by the eares As Cicero saide of Augustus when hee made as though he would not accept the Empire that his honest orations were not correspondent to his dishonest deliberation And if the speech of a Philosopher as it is written is a lawe which men voluntarilie set before themselues to make their life conformable and aunswerable to his doctrine we Christians which professe the true Philosophie and holinesse as S. Peter hath written ought to shun the two extremities of too much or too little and followe the meane which is to doe well and speake accordingly vsinge our wordes as garments well besytting the bodie The Lacedemonians banished one Chesiphon for that hee vaunted that hee could discourse a whole day long of anie theame that was put vnto him because that speech ought to be so precious a treasure as Hesiodus sayde that it is not to be vsed but for necessitie Hereupon will I not forget to declare howe daungerous an enemie hypocrisie is to the truth For yeelding an apparaunce and opinion of all truth and holinesse it is inwardly cleane contrarie and disguysing and cloaking it selfe with a shewe of truth it is within full of all wickednesse cosinage and deceite And as Plato wrote it is a most extreeme iniustice of him who maketh shewe to be iust and is not so And Saint Augustine writeth that dissembled equitie is double iniquitie For this cause the Lacedemonians condemned one that did open pennance wearing hearecloth vppon his skin for that thereby they discouered his hypocrisie in as much as it was wouen with pourpure As Alexander saide to Antipater that outwardly hee ware a white garment but it was lyned with purple And it seemeth that such men woulde make God a meane of their deceite who beholdeth the heart and the purenesse thereof And for this cause are they often punished The holie Scripture doth oft times call them paynted sepulchers deceauers wolues and esteemeth worse of them then of publicans and sinners A man might compare them to the Pottes of the Apothicaries
Psalmes 25.36.45.117 and 138. S. Augustine in his booke of confessions writeth that accursed is all our righteousnes if it should be examined and iudged without Gods mercie And saint Ambrose faith that a man should not glorifie himselfe as iust but in that he hath beene redeemed not in that he was without sinne but in that he hath pardon for it not that I shoulde aduaunce my selfe ouer other but in that Iesus Christ is my aduocate towardes his father hauing shed his precious bloud for me for he came into the worlde to destroye the workes of the Diuell to regenerate and iustifie vs not to the end we should be vnprofitable and without fruite but to exercise our selues in all good workes First to the ende that thorough them and the shyning of our light as our sauiour sayde Matth. 5. God might be glorified we stande more assured of our vocation and election and our fayth the more strengthned exercised and embrased as Paul wrote to Timothe 1. Cap. 1. that likewise our neighbours by our good example may bee mooued and prouoked to liue well 2. Cor. 9. and that we minister to the necessities of poore Orphanes Widowes and such as haue neede of our succour as members of one bodie Mat. 10. 25. and since that faith purifieth the heartes as S. Peter sayth Acts. 10. what faith I praye you can they pretende that are full of filthinesse enmitie and corruption and which are puffed vp with passions and disordinate affections This faith ought to regenerate vs and make vs newe creatures exempting vs from condemnation and clothing vs with the righteousnesse and spirit of Iesus Christ The which spirite can not abide in our heartes but it must worke that is to saye that it lighteth vs quickneth and guideth all our counselles thoughtes wordes and actions What is faith except we shewe it by our holy conuersation mortifying our concupiscences eschewing all vice and applying our selues to all vertue not onely abstayning from that which is euill but from whatsoeuer carieth any shew thereof Perseuering in this exercise euen vntill the ende of our life Nowe if we haue the feare of God and a good conscience how commeth it to passe that wee doe not abhorre any more to defile our selues hauing beene once clensed I haue washed my feete sayth the faithfull soule how shall I againe defile them For God hauing made an alliance with vs mutually requireth of all his children seruants and creatures an integritie of life And we must discouer a melodie and accord betweene the righteousnesse of God and our obedience And by this meanes we ratifie the adoption through which God hath receiued vs for his children And holinesse is the chaine of our coniunction which tyeth vs to God to whome wee ought to dedicate all our life as to the aucthor thereof And to say the trueth wee abandon our creator wantonly and disloyally and renownce him for our sauiour when wee deforme our selues in sinne where wee ought alwayes to aspire to a heauenly life and laye aside all earthly affections being raysed vppe with Christ Iesus as Saint Paule writeth and euen wee denye with Ieremie that hee hath receaued the trewe knowledge of God except we put of the olde man which is corrupt in his disordinate desires to put vppon vs the newe And to the Philippians hee requireth that our patient minde be knowen vnto all men The Lorde is at hande let not vs take care for ought but that in all thinges our requestes may be made knowen to God by prayers and supplications with giuing of thankes And the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding shall keepe our heartes and senses in Christ Iesus Moreouer whatsoeuer thinges are true whatsoeuer thinges are honest whatsoeuer thinges are pure whatsoeuer thinges pertaine to loue whatsoeuer thinges are of good reporte if there be anye vertue or if there bee any prayse let vs thinke of these thinges And hee wrote to the Corinthians in his seconde Epistle Since wee haue receaued the promisses let vs clense our selues from all fylthinesse of the fleshe and spirite and growe vppe vnto full holinesse in the feare of God And to the Ephesians yee haue not so learned if you haue beene taught by him as the trueth is in Iesus And hee complayned greatly to Titus howe they professed to knowe God but by their abhominable workes denie him And our Sauiour sayeth in S. Matthewe that by their worke ye shall knowe them For such as followe not the good which they speake resemble monsters which haue but one mouth and one tongue but no feete nor handes at all He doth therefore falsly boast to knowe the truth if his life be not good and correspondent For the doctrine of trueth is not a doctrine of the tongue but of life And if for good cause the Philosophers were woont to be angrye with such as made profession of their art which they called the mystresse of life and in the meane time turned it but to a sophisticall babling and did euer esteeme wicked liuers and such as were couetous not worthye to speake as the Emperours Dioclesian and Maximian wrote that their profession and inwarde desire belide themselues howe muche greater reason haue wee to detest these bablers which onely content them selues to haue the Gospell at their fingers endes and in their life rebellious and seditious cleane despise the same Considering that the power and efficacie thereof ought to pearce the verie bottome of our heart and from thence to bee shewed in all our behauiours grace garmentes and all other our actions and comportmentes as Tertullian did wright We haue heretofore declared howe we ought to haue this ende before our eyes to tende to that perfection which God hath commaunded vs to wit an integritie which signifieth a pure simplicitie of the heart voyde of all faynednesse and contrarie to a double heart Euerie one ought thus farre to walke according to his might And it shall auayle much if to daye surmount yesterdaye And beeing entered into the listes we should enforce our selues to goe out to the verie ende assured to obtaine a verie greate prise To declare perticularlie euerie vertue would be too tedious in this Chapter but I will adde that which doeth most entertaine and delight some men in lying that is that they be too much louers of themselues and are verie forwarde for their particular profitte which doeth altogether blemishe their sight and hindereth them so as they can not consider the will of GOD nor his promisses For whatsoeuer wee deliberate couet and poursue ought to be ioyned with the good and profitte of our neighbour And wee must not be stirred vppe nor mooued with anie picke against the lawe of Charitie Saint Augustine in his first booke of Christian doctrine writeth that hee liueth excellently well which the least hee is able liueth to himselfe because the obseruaunce of
the lawe consisteth in the loue towardes God and our neighbour And wee reade in manie places of Cicero and others that the better a man is the lesse he tendeth al his actions to his owne profit and the more he doth studie to serue God and his commonwealth Plato himselfe wrote to Architas that man was borne for his parents friends and countrey in sort that the least part of him remaineth to himselfe and for this cause man is named a ciuill and communicatiue creature And as S. Paule wrote Iesus Christ was borne for vs to the ende that they which liue should not liue anie more vnto themselues but to him which dyed for them And exhorteth vs no more to purchase after our owne profitte but that which may concerne our neighbour and that we be made rich in good workes which he calleth a treasure and foundation to come In which doing we shall followe the pathes of truth and shalbe counted most happie especially if wee retire our affections from vncleannesse from whence Nilus an auncient byshop sayde a smooke proceeded which blacked the soule with sowte There be then two sorts of Christians the one in name and profession only the other in effect The first care not but for their bodie honours riches and pleasure without ought regarding the feare of God The other with all their affection dedicate themselues to God at whose hand they take all in good parte and despise the worlde louing God and his woorde and commaundementes and of these Isayah writeth that they which shall see them shall knowe they are the blessed seede of the Lord and in another place he calleth a naughtie conscience a narrowe bed in which a man cannot well stretch out his bodie nor lie at ease for he which hath a wounded conscience can neuer finde out anye condition place or state that is not too little for him and which may anye wayes content him This is the cause why Dauid requireth at Gods hande to set at large his imprisoned heart that is to say that he will do him the grace to cause him to haue a sound and neate conscience I will not here forget that as God is honoured by the good life of the faithfull according as the holy scripture witnesseth so is he blasphemed and dishonoured thorough wickednesse And there is no doubt but the behauiour of Christians haue caused the Turkes and Infidels euen to detest the true religion Lopes a Spaniard and Beuzo a Millannese and other that haue written of the historie of America and the West Indies haue beene constrayned to confesse that the crueltie couetousnesse blasphemies and wickednesse of the Spaniardes hath altogether alienated the poore Indians from the religion which the said Spaniards gaue out they held for true who did not long enioye those goods which by detestable meanes they had there gathered And all men write that they were lesse worthe then the Idolatrous Indians The cruell handling of those Indians and that which the Turke did to them of Asia Africa and part of Europe who liued as we doe the Turke notwithstanding being the farther are set before our eyes as an example to the end that we should change our selues and seeing the behauiour of Christians and their obstinacie to vice wee shoulde looke but euen for such cursednesse and miseries as we reade they haue beene enwrapped and fallen into And wee may well say that we touch euen neare the end of the worlde alreadie quaking and doting thorough old age and full of the wrincles of lying which notwithstanding can not obscure the sonne of trueth nor take away the light of them which feare God which see and loue the way which we ought to follow to attaine to life eternal And that we neede not further wander wee must exercise our selues in reading of good bookes in prayer fasting and workes of godlinesse And as Xenophon writing of the dewtie and office of an esquire warneth him aboue all thinges to beseeche at Gods hande to make his thought speech and deedes such as shall be agreeable vnto him and contentment to all his friendes and honourable and profitable to his commonwealth without molesting of anie man by farre greater reason the Christians ought to praye vnto God without intermission that he will teach them his will and dresse their pathes to loue and feare his name When a man speaketh of good woorkes it is thereby meant such as are furthest from all superstition and hypocrisie and proceede from a fayth woorking thorough charitie and a pure heart witnessing the great bountie and excellencie thereof and profiting our neighbours referring all to the glorie goodnesse and grace of God which bringeth foorth in vs good fruites and giueth vnto vs both to will and to performe as saint Paul sayth and crowneth in vs his owne workes CHAP. 8. How much true men haue beene esteemed and that all magistrates ought to be so and of the riches of princes IN Exodus Iethro counselled Moses to appoint rulers ouer the people men of courage fearing God men dealing truely hating couetousnesse and in Egypt the chiefe magistrate euer carried a picture of truth hanging at his necke The which Amian writeth also of the Druydes shewing that a Iudge ought to carie it in his heart his Iudgements and all other his actions And the tablet hanging with two chaines vpon the heart of the high priest whereof mention is made in Exod. 28. and Numbers 3. was called VRIM which signifieth light For the kings in all their actions of importance demaunded counsell of God by his high priest or prophets Pythagoras and Demosthenes esteemed to be trewe and to doe good to another the two most excellent thinges that were giuen from heauen to mankinde And the same Pythagoras being demaunded wherein men were likest vnto God aunswered in trueth And it was a sufficient reason for any thing he said to say He saide it And the great Thebane captaine Epaminondas was most especially praysed because he loued the truth and neuer made lie And Pyndarus praysed him as he did before one Pyttacus a Tarentine for that knowing much he spake little And albeit Pyrrhus was an enimie to the Romaines yet neuerthelesse did he giue this prayse vnto Fabritius that a man might assoone turne him from the truth and honestie as the sunne out of his course And the chiefest prayse which hystoriographers giue to Byshops in time past is that they neuer lyed and in the Psalmes and Apocalyps the saintes were euer honored with this title that a lye was neuer founde in their mouth And Zacharie praysing Ierusalem calleth it the citie of trueth And in the holy scripture this woorde of thinke say or promise is interpreted in God to doe because all which he thinketh sayth or promiseth is surely executed and put in effect Pomponius a friende of Ciceroes was extolled for
before that to the Earle of S. Pol was vanquished and all yl hap accompanied him euer after Hildebran otherwise named Gregorie the seuenth sware an accorde with the Emperour Henrie the fourth from whome as soone as he was departed he created Rodolph Emperour who afterwards was ouercome by the said Henrie and seeing his hand cut off said vnto the Bishops Beholde the hande which I did lift vp when I made the othe of fidelitie to the Emperour And anon after he dyed the said Pope was deposed put to flight Which ought to serue for an example to great personages to hold their promises I will not here forget what we haue seene of our time happen to Christierne king of Danemarke who for hauing broken his faith giuen to his subiectes was depriued his realme and afterwardes liued miserably for al the succours which he receiued from Charles the fift Emperour As also the histories recite of one Richard who caused his nephewes to be murthered and his neaces to be declared bastardes to make him selfe king of England but he was afterwarde vanquished and put to flight by one as then scarce knowen I omit sundrie examples set foorth by Boccace in nine bookes which hee wrote touching the misaduentures of notable personages which euerie one may reade And could here touch that which Plutarch writeth of Catoes opposing him selfe to the sacrifices which they would make for the victorie obtained by Caesar against the Almaines meaning that they ought to had deliuered it for them whome he had outragiouslie wronged and contrarie to the peace they had made with the people of Rome to the ende to cast vppon him alone the fault they had committed in violating their faith And without searching of any further examples thorough the folliciting of Cardinall Caraffe sent from Pope Paul the thirde thorough other mens ambition was there broken a most honorable truce and thereby a great warre vndertaken which had verie yll successe I passe ouer in scilence the great calamities ruynes dissipations disorders excesse losses dissolutions subuersions of states rauishments mischiefes happened in Christendome since thirtie yeres past thorough a dispensation which men take to vyolate their faith promise and Edictes And wee haue verie great occasion to beseeche God that hee will giue remedie thereto and hinder these defiances euill fortunes diuisions and stormes which as yet are like to happen And albeit that according to Bias opinion no excuse is to be receiued to make one able to breake his promise neuerthelesse he ought not to bee accused for a lyar who maye not lawfully keepe it for some iust occasion afterwardes happened vnto him As if a mad man shoulde demaunde the sworde which hee had giuen another to keepe or if a more mightie man shoulde oppose him selfe or if by that means another would attempt against his person or estate which did promise or if thee keeping of his promise should turne him to any great dishonor mischiefe errour fraude or any other preiudice not to be recouered For matters not alreadie in practise strange and newe require a newe counsell according to the saying of the lawers who euen dispense with a promise after an oth taken And often times men promise with an intent to accōplish that which lyeth not in their power through an indispositiō or matter fallen out of more great importance As the vowe and promise which Iephthe made ought to be otherwise interpreted And as Alexander did hauing promised he woulde slaye the first that should come out of the town killed an asse in lieu of him that led her as by equitie the rigour of a lawe is often times moderated And auncient men haue saide that Necessitie is the mother of dispensation It is likewise excusable if any preiudice or interest happen not thorough the not accomplishing of a promise CHAP. XI Effects of the truth with exhortation not to change the statutes or lawes and not to daunce vpon holydayes praise of French men a solution of that for which they are blamed IF the light of the truth take frō vs the vaile which blemisheth our iudgement wee shall modestly behaue our selues without any colour or disguising in our wordes habites or anie other our actions We shal knowe how we ought to render vnto God al reuerence obedience trust prayers actions of thankesgiuing and praise with peace in our spirits and how we ought to honour loue serue and succour all kind of persons We shal be readie to obey our King his lawes and Magistrates and wisely to commaund ouer subiectes wee shall haue sufficient of little magnanimitie easie accesse humanitie a nature not dissembling nor fained constancie in our counsels and enterprises with a resolution alwayes to do that which our duetie commaundeth we shall not be dissolute in pleasures nor insolent in prosperitie nor too much carried away with our passions wee shal contemne death and the dangers thereof in respect of a better life we shal lose no hart in aduersitie we shall rightfully followe what either is to be chosen or left treading vpon the thornes of this life without pricking vs and vpon Scorpions without feeling their venome as it is written in Ezekiel And would to God that al French men might so know the beautie of this trueth that they might become amorous thereof altogither cast off their lying vnconstancie to the end they might no more be cast in the teeth with not performing their promises that the citie of Paris might of euerie one be called the citie of truth as the Prophet Zecariah called the citie of Ierusalem and according to his vision God placed a woman in the middest of the Ephah named Iniquitie vpon the mouth whereof he cast a weight of lead because she should not escape Or as Philip king of Macedon assembled togither the most wicked persons and furthest from correction of al his subiects and put them into a town which he builded of purpose and named it Poneropolis that is the citie of wicked persons So that there mought be sent inclosed in some one place in France al such as do delight in inconstancie lightnes falshod against promise and trueth seditions lyings pilling extortion knauerie cousinage pernitious inuentions murthers reproches and periuries to the ende that the rest might liue in greater honor peace reputation credit Nowe standing not at all vpon the praise which proceedeth from the beginning auncestors of Frenchmen not being pertinent hereunto may easily be seen in the hystoriographers I wil thus much say for Frenchmē that if we consider their antiquitie pietie valour manhod courage humanitie mercie gentlenes dexteritie quicknesse of spirit and al other their vertues and perfections they giue place to no nation vnder the Sunne whatsoeuer but rather excelleth it as a Frenche man said to the Embassadours of Rome in Titus Liuius And there be diuers graue writers
of the minde proceeding thence thorough his grace which communicateth so great a good as it is written in the booke of Wisedome I doe reioyce in all thinges because wisedome goeth before And it receaueth no griefe but such as our selues are content to yeelde vnto as Possidonius sayde to Pompey And there is an other sauour giuen and an other kinde of face set vpon that which they call euill And vertue valor force patience magnanimitie can no waies play their part without griefe paine And as Diamans other precious stones haue either a more high or dimme colour according to the foile in which they are set so fareth it with the euil happes griefe which taketh place as a man is eyther strong or weake And as all thinges in this worlde in the ende referreth it selfe wholly to the glorie of God so doth all thinges turne to good to such as are good Plato and Terence compareth our life to a game at draughtes where the player must euer marke well what shal befall vnto him and dispose euery thing eyther to profit him or little to hurt him And they which care least for to morrowe following the commandement of our sauiour ariue there most ioyfully hauing not the will vnproportionate to the might nor their minde afflicted Homer maketh two vessels to be in heauen full of destinies the one of good the other of bad he accounteth him happie which equally partaketh as well of the one as the other as much hony as gaul And Seneca writeth that the destinies leade gently such as consent drawe by force such as refuse Notwithstanding the wise do temper and turne the euill into good drawing out of their good aduentures what naught soeuer is there mingled by this meanes passe away the more easily the course of this life To which the old prouerbe agreeth that euery man is the workman of his owne fortune and fashioneth her according to his maners And if we doe contemne honours riches pleasures banishmentes griefes and sickenesse we shall be cleane exempt from all couetous desires passions and tormentes of the minde As Xenophon in his Pedia reciteth of one Pheraulas to whō Cirus gaue a Lordship of a very great reuenewe but hauing well considered the ease contentment which he toke during his pouertie and the care which he must then needes take for his reuenewe and domesticall affayres hee put all againe into the handes of a friende of his As Anacreon hauing had fiue talents worth three thousande crownes giuen him by Policrates after he saw that he had passed two nights togither studying what he shold do with it he sent them backe againe saying that they were not worth the care he had taken for thē And when newes was brought vnto Zeno and certaine other that their shipps goods and marchandise were loste they reioysed because it was a cause to make them apply themselues to Philosophie which yeelded them farre greater contentment Philoxenes hauing purchased a farme wherby he might liue the better at ease quitted it againe and returned to Athens saying These goods shall not loose me but I them As Seneca wrote to a friend of his if thou hadst not lost thy goods it might be they might haue lost thee And the bricklenesse of the aduised serueth them as it were to be shodde with showes of yce against sinne Anacharsis left the kingdome of Scithia to his younger brother to growe to be a Philosopher in the sayde Citie of Athenes Aristides chose likewise to remaine in his pouertie though it laye in his power to haue made himselfe a Lorde of greate riches Scipio hauing by force taken Cartharge touched no whit of the sacking or spoyle thereof Epaminundas and Camillus amonge all the victories they obtayned neuer carried anie thing else away then honour An infinite number of other as well Captaines as Philosophers haue contemned goods albeit this moderation which was so greatly praysed in them was neuer ioyned together with a hope of eternall life as the Christians is who knowe that the creator of heauen and earth is their father and Lord almightie that he loueth them and knoweth ful well the way they ought to holde the medicines which they ought to vse and whatsoeuer is most expedient to bring them to the promissed blisse after this their pilgrimage and exile Therfore they suffer thēselues to be cōducted by him without murmuring approuing for good whatsoeuer proceedeth from his fatherly hande and by this meane remaine in the peace of the spirit and calmenesse what winde soeuer blowe without being tossed in the troubles stormes of this life They know likewise that if God doe stricke them downe with the left hande he rayseth them vp with the right againe according to the promisse he made by his Prophet Ose And as all meates are agreeing with a good stomach and to a bad the most delicate seeme corrupt as it is written in the Prouerbes that to a hungrye soule all bitter things seeme sweete so all things turne to good to the faithfull as S. Paul hath written And in Ecclesiasticus all thinges are turned into good to such as feare God but to the sinners they are turned into euill who turne light into darkenesse and good into euill And money is to good men a cause of good to the wicked of euill and crueltie And as the showe is fashioned according to the foote so his disposition which is wise moderate leadeth a life like vnto it to wit peaseable and without passion coueting nothing vnpossible and contenting it selfe with the present That is it which Cicero writeth that vertue in trouble doth euer remaine quiet and being cast into banishment neuer departeth from her place For the goods of fortune reioyce those most which least doubt their contraries and the feare of loosing them maketh the pleasure of the enioying of them more feeble and lesse assured Plato gaue counsell not to cōplaine in aduersitie for that we know not whether it happen vnto vs for our hurt or no. And in his Phedon hee writeth that looke what beautie riches honour and kinred we here desire it is so farre off from being good that indeede they doe rather corrupt and impayre vs. But a Christian man ought to esteeme all good and for his health whiche perswasion serueth vnto him as the meale did which Elisha cast into the pot which tooke cleane away all the bitternesse of the pottage and as the tree with which Moses made the waters sweete From thence ensueth that Christian Parradoxe so often times verified that there neuer happeneth euill to the good nor good to the wicked whose nature is changed by blessing As it is sayde of a diseased bodie that the more it is nourished the more it is offended And as strange dreames shewe that there be grosse and clammie humors and perturbation of
piller defence And that which Dauid song that he whose heart is fixed beleeueth in the Lord wil not be afraide of any euill tydings Aristotle Pindarus Tacitus Salustus Cato were wont to say that it was a harder matter to gouerne a mans selfe wel in prosperitie then in aduersitie because often times prosperitie is accompanied with pride ignorance wantonnesse contempt of others licentiousnes intemperance and other vices which prouoke the wrath of God wheras aduersitie doth quicken our slepie spirites incourageth vs to modestie to feare praise cal vpon God to take better counsell reforme our life as a French Poet wrote that aduersitie and contrarie fortune did profit men more and do them more good then the sweet pleasant for by the latter they learn but ignorance through aduersitie are taught knowledge Which also Isocrates most learnedly intreated of in his Areopagitique thinking it a verie hard matter to iudge which of the two either pouertie or riches a man ought to leaue behind him to couet for his children The which made Aristides Curius an infinite number of other to liue in a verie base condition the which Demosthenes Lucain called a singuler gift of God and vnknown of men And Plutarque had reason to write that Lisander did more hurt the Lacedemonians in sending them store of riches and pretious mouables then Sylla did the Romanes in consuming the reuenues of their treasor And Plinie in his seuenth booke declareth what a number of men haue beene euen lost thorough too much wealth And the wise man sayeth in the Prouerbs that fooles are clean ruined through prosperitie and the end of all ioy is sorrow And the said Isocrates entreating of peace is of opinion that it is a most hard matter to gouerne ones selfe well in great estates and dignities the which he compareth to a courtisan and strumpet who entiseth to her loue the vnwise as a bait to the ruine both of their bodie soule and declareth that men are often times more sharpe addicted to euil matters superfluous rather then to the good necessarie And in what is to be desired they haue want of iudgement He likewise describeth how much more pleasant happie their life is which are accustomed to litle then other to great riches And Seneca aloweth the saying of Demetrius that nothing is more vnhappie then him who neuer knewe what euil fortune or aduersitiement and that the more torments be endured the more honor and that the more yll that happeneth vnto vs the more God is mindfull of vs as the Psalmist saieth In this life fewe are exempted from affliction be it in minde body or goods And albeit that God delighteth to doe good as Ieremias sayeth Chapter 32. yet doeth hee sometime what is not proper vnto him as to afflict to finish his worke and what good hee pretendeth to doe sayeth Esay Chap. 21. Saint Paul 1. Cor. 11. Heb. 12. And Osea writeth Chap. 2. that God wil stop the waye with thornes and make a hedge which leadeth to destruction to make vs returne vnto him Afflictions instruct vs to patience hope Rom. 5. They make vs humble incline vs to obey God Psalm 119. they retaine vs back from pleasures worldly things make vs haue recourse to God Which hath moued some to name affliction the saulce of prayer as appetite is of meate Moreouer we perceiue thereby that God hath a care of vs and doeth not account vs vnworthie of his visitations often times doth recompense vs doubly as we read in Ioseph Iob others And S. Paul saieth that they are not to bee compared to the glorie promised vs. It is not to be doubted but a sensible man will carrie him selfe euen in eche fortune promising no certaintie at all vnto himselfe in matters of this worlde beeing by nature so vncertaine And hauinge considered the vnstablenesse of humane things and the fatherly care which it hath pleased God to take of his hee cannot bee surprised at vnawares as in a suddaine incursion of the enimie And knowing hee holdeth all thinges from God as borowed ware hee rendreth them voluntarily and without griefe when hee which lent them doeth redemaunde them giuing him thankes for the time it hath pleased him to suffer him to enioy them that hee might not be founde vngratefull They also which desire but little cannot want much leading their barbarous and coueting passions by reason as the maisters voyce maketh the dogge to couche Sainct Chrisostome intreating of couetous desires sayeth that as the forme of the shooe is the foote and if it bee greater then it shoulde bee bee it of veluet or of cloth of golde yet is it vnfit so the bodie ought to bee the forme of whatsoeuer wee possesse And if wee swarne from this forme and vsage then is there nought els but a confusion disorder superfluitie abuse and excesse And oftentimes lacke of experience and want of good discourse and not knowing wel how to apply our selues to the present state causeth vs to wrap our selues in an infinite number of passions and tormentes Wee ought then earnestly to desire this trueth to the ende wee should not bee dismayde if God doe not suffer vs to wallowe and tumble in too much ease Besides wherefore doeth wealth serue but onely as a testimonie of his fauour and an occasion to acknowledge it from him well to vse it to his honour and releaue of our neighbour And Apollonius had reason to saye that vertue and riches were two contrarie thinges and that the one encreasing the other was euer diminished And as the greater wee see our shadowe the nearer we draw towards night so must we feare least the more that we see our selues charged with honors wealth the further off trueth the light estrange themselues from vs. And Platon in the fourth of his lawes thinketh it a matter vnpossible for a man to bee both honest and riche Diogenes was wont to say that vertue neuer found any place in a rich citie or house and that it was a great happines to haue both wealth and vnderstanding Seneca wrote that he was a mightie man who esteemed himself poore amidst plentie of riches and did not in respect of them carry himselfe more loftely but that he who had none at all went a great deale more surely and in greater safetie following that which our Sauiour taught vs when he called the poore in spirit blessed And as men in olde time euer helde in suspition the ende of their fortune so haue they done in great prosperitie as King Amisias saied to Policrates seeing that one had brought him backe againe his ring which he flong into the maine sea These good happes do not please me because I feare me they wil turne into calamities miseries as afterwards it befel
passions of sundrie men which report nothinge of certayne Notwithstandinge they are to bee excused if they keepe a libertye and write not to the ende to deceaue But in the holye historie they oughte to feare no such thinge since that it proceedeth of the holye Ghoste and thence a man maye take out certayne witnesses and soueraigne arrestes Now that wee may the better reape our profite out of Historyes we must consider the beginning and motyfe cause of all enterprises the meanes which therin they haue held and afterwardes the issue thereof which cannot possibly be good proceeding from an euil beginning And after hauing known the root and causes therof we must iudge what may happen in like cases and consider other circumstances which bewtifie the actions and referre all to the glory of God through whose bountie the euents haue succeeded well and gloriously to the ende wee may render prayses and thankesgeuing vnto him which are due vnto him for asmuche as by weake and vyle persons hee oftentimes compasseth high and mightie things And because that whatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning We ought to apply vnto our selues whatsoeuer we read and to behold as in a looking glasse our own affections to the end we might follow good and eschew euill and cleane remoue from vs all disguising and corruption and aboue all things we ought to acknowledge the iudgementes of God against the wicked and contemners of his law And for because that great dangers ensue those which indifferently gouerne them selues by examples I thought good to aduertise that it is diligently to be considered whether there be a concurrence of lyke reasons not onely in generall but also in particular It is also necessary to rule ones selfe as prudently as they did whom we would imitate and to demaund of God like successe And in our enterprises we must not onely consider the superficies and beginnyng of thinges but to looke more inwardly what may happen in time We must not likewise take too exactly what is written by ancient Historiographers but conferre them with the newe hauing regard to the great chaunges which happen in all countreyes and that there are fewe Cities or Nations which hold theyr former name nor their auncient seates and fashions otherwise we should wander awry and iudge amisse And this consideration of the vnstablenesse subuersions dissipations and lamentable chaunges of sundry peoples and families ought to prepare vs to beare all accidentes sent from God knowing that this life is but a sorrowfull exile subiect to stormes and continuall tempestes and that there is no seate nor hauen sure but in the heauenly and eternall lyfe to the which the sonne of God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath prepared the way for vs and let vs humbly beseeche him to guide vs therein CHAP. 18. That one ought not to suffer him selfe to be deceiued by praises nor be carried away from modesty and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and how much it is requisite to commaund ones selfe WHo so woulde not swarue from the truth ought not to be mooued with praises which for the most part are disguised for as Sainct Augustin hath written He which often praiseth one abuseth him self confirmeth an errour and proueth in the end a lyer and he which is praised becommeth thereby a great deale more vaine And Dion sayd the ouer great praises and honours out of measure carrie with them a misknowledge lightnes and insolensie yea among such persons as of them selues are modest ynough because they are perswaded that they deserue them and euery man pleaseth them and puffeth them vp as Xenophon wryteth though in deed they might well be termed mockeries And such excessiue honours are neither more nor lesse then as portractures ill proportioned which fall to the grounde of them selues as the three hundred statuas of Demetrius which neuer engendred either rust or filth beeing in his owne life tyme broken in peeces And those likewise of Demades were bruysed made to serue for chamberpots and basins in close stooles and so haue sundry other princes their monuments beene serued The inhabitants of the city of Pilles in their counsels ordained moste mightie honours for Theopompus he wrote backe vnto them that time was accustomed to increase honours moderately bestowed and to deface the immoderate When Niger was chosen Emperour they recited certayne verses in his praise but hee sayde that they ought rather to prayse Hanniball or the prowesse of some other great captaynes to the ende they might be imitated and that it was a mockery to prayse men while they liued which peraduenture might alter And that there was great presumption that either they did it for feare or for hope to obtayne somwhat of them and that for his part he rather desired to be fauoured and loued during his life and praysed after his death Other were wont to saye that they neuer acknowledged such prayses but wished to God that they were worthye of them Bracidas his mother was highly commended for aunswearing the embassadours of Thrace comforting her for the death of her sonne affirminge that he had not left his like behinde him that shee knew well ynough that the citye of Sparta had manye Citizens a great deale more worthie and valiaunt then him As Antigonus sayde vnto a Poet who called him the sonne of the sunne that hee whiche emptied his close stoole knew well ynough there was no such matter The shadow shunneth those which follow it and followeth those which shunne it and so fareth it with prayse Sigismond the Emperour stroke one that praysed him too much saying that he bitte him So was it likewise reported by Iustinian When they offered to Titus a crowne of golde togeather with great praises for his taking of Ierusalem he aunsweared that he himselfe was not the authour thereof but that GOD serued him selfe thorough his handes in that he made manifest his anger agaynste the Iewes As much is sayde of Fabritius for the deliuerie of Greece and of Timoleon for restoring Sicilie to libertye And Antistenes commaunded his children neuer to conne any thankes for praysing of them for often tymes it is with men as with an number of beastes which suffer a man to doe with them what he will yea to tumble and drale them on the grounde as long as hee tickleth them Galien entreating howe the sickenesse of the minde might be discerned wryteth that he learned of his father to despise glorye as an intisement to euill and ennemye to truth And Iosephus wryteth that honours bestowed on young men are as matches of follie and rashnes And in our french tongue we call offices and dignities charges And Varro in his fourth booke of the Latin tongue writeth that this name of honour proceedeth from a name which
things concerning the vertues yet haue they not declared at whose handes they ought to be demaunded nor whither they ought to bee referred neither haue they knowen the beginning of the corruption of mans nature nor the remedie of al euils which is reuealed in the Gospel by the knowledge of the trueth and the adoption of the Christians the remission of sinnes and the promises which giue vs a certaintie of the fauour blessing and good will of our good God whereof ensueth a good conscience hope and peace in the spirite which consumeth all the greefe and sorrowe as the Sunne doth the morning dewe And there is none of the said Philosophers except Plato which was able to set downe that the soueraigne good of man was to be ioyned with God but he had no tast at all what this coniunction meant nor the meane to attaine vnto it And as touching the comfortes of the Philosophers the complaint which Cicero made in his Epistle to Atticus is true that the medicine is not of force enough for the disease that neither the discipline learning nor bookes ought profited him Which a body cannot auerre by the holy scriptures as Dauid saide that hee was quickened comforted instructed that they gaue light to idiots And there is another manner of efficacie then the drougg which Homer called Nepenthes which he said was able to keep one from smelling yll sauours charme greefe vnderstanding therby a discreate speaker one able to apply himself to the present affections times affaires as more at large we haue before declared Which maketh me to disproue the opinion of Seneca which attributeth it to god in that we liue but in that we liue wel to Philosophie which in deede ought rather to be referred to God the aucthor of all good Horace spoke as ignorantly writing that God gaue him life riches but that he furnished himselfe with a good and right vnderstanding For God causeth the eye to see the eare to heare and giueth the right iudgement both to will and to perfourme as S. Paul sayth and he disposeth the pathes intentions of men This word Philosophie hath beene interpreted for the loue of wisedome and Aristotle in his second booke of his Metaphisicks taketh it for the knowledge of the trueth Many haue noted great varietie ambiguitie vncertaintie in the doctrine of Aristotle and that he was ignorant of the most excellent things of nature vsed verie necessarie demonstrations The which men in time past wel marked picturing behind his portracture a woman which had her face couered with a vayle named Physis that is to say Nature And it is no maruaile at al if all of them were not able to attaine to those supernaturall things since that the most excellent treasors of nature were concealed from them The which ought to make vs admyre at Gods speach in the fiue last Chapters of Iob discoursing of the mouings of the heauens force of the starres of the earth founded vpon the waters of the waters hanging in the middle of the worlde and sundry other wonders which a body may perceiue able to declare the knowledge of man to be verie ful of ignorance S. Augustine compared the life of the ancient Pagans which were accounted so wise vertuous to a wandring course their argumēts to a glasse which is shining but verie brickle Concluding it better to halt in the way of truth then to runne lightly without it He wrote likewise that their vertues were impure imperfect because there is nothing good without the soueraigne good And where there is defect of the knowledge of eternal life there vertue is false mens intentions go awrie And there is no man that can haue any quietnes of conscience but through the promises of God from which they were shut out also by the inward obedience required of God by trusting in him by repentance righteousnes iustification of the faithful by the free forgiuenes of our sinnes by hope patience confidence in aduersitie confession giuing of thanks by referring al things to the glorie of God to charitie And S. Chrisostom vpon the first to the Corinthians fourth Homelie cōpareth the subtile disputations of the Philosophers to cobwebbes which breake rent asunder with the wind speaking of a happy life were neuer able to attaine vnto it and as S. Paul writeth professing themselues to be wise they became fooles And not without cause Socrates in Plato lamented that the Philosophers studyed more the contemplation of nature knowledge then to liue well or giue good precepts And towards the end of the treatise of his lawes as through a diuine inspiration he giueth hope of the comming of one more excellent more redoubted and more holy then any man whose office was to open the secrete places of truth and the hidden fountaines who should be folowed honored of al men which surely could not be vnderstood but by our Lord Iesus Christ which is the waie the truth and the life S. Chrisostome setteth downe in the ranke of Philosophers Aristides Cato Solon Lycurgus Epaminundas sundrie other who besides their knowledge were excellent in matters of state gouernement as was our lawyer Vlpian and studied more to do good to euery one then to bee conuersant in contemplation For the Sophisters counterfait to be wise in deed their ende is but glorie and proud boasting And S. Augustine thought that all Philosophers were rather giuen to the seruice and searching out of the intelligences seperate which we call angels diuels and which they called gods and spirites then of the true God albeit they confessed there was one only almightie father of the Gods and men And it is easie to gather out of their writings how they confessed one only God in three persons the Father the Sonne the holy ghost and other Articles contained in the Apostles Creede to conuict Atheists and Epicures withal CHAP. XX. Of disguisings done to Princes and what is their duetie for their honour and quiet of their subiects and of the miseries of the wicked of the obseruation of ordinances and of that which maintaineth or altereth an estate PRinces were ordained of God to be fathers protectors and shephardes ouer the people cōmitted to their charge to serue to maintaine their libertie and to defende them against all iniuries and to shewe them good example to entertaine iustice and peace to cause vertue learning sciences and good lawes to flourish to prouide for the instruction of youth to esteeme of the good and chastice the wicked Plato did write following the fixion of Homer that children born of Kings were composed of a pretious masse to be seperate from the common sort And it is saide of Scipio and certaine other great personages that they were descended from a
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 thēselues 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 thē but cōtrariwise saith he you ought not to be about thē except you euer tel thē 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 frō 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 whō 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
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 cōmand 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 thē 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 thē 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 cōmanded 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 thēselues according to the lawes and the Ephores toke oth in the peoples behalfe that vpon that cōdition they would maintaine thē 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 giuē by Moses And the meanes which are of succession or election depend of the diuine prouidence which causeth thē to prosper Dauid hūbled 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 cōmended for that as often as he put on his gowne he saide vnto himselfe remember that thou dost cōmand 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
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
rebuked vice Sundry Emperours haue done the like We haue sundry examples in the scriptures of Baasha for killing the Prophet Iehu because he tolde him the truth Likewise of Achab Asa Ioas and Ozias 1. King 22.2 Paral. 18.16.24 26. of Sedichias of Ioachim and of the princes of Iuda Ierem. 23.32 38. But as the wise man saith in the Prouerbes in the end he shall be conned more thanke which rebuketh then he that deceaueth by flattery Notwithstanding euery man according as his vocation the times the persons and places will permit him ought to declare the truth to such as he seeth neede with an intention to profit instruct thē without any choler disdain immodesty or other passiō mingling with the bitternes of reprehension the sweetnes of some praises A man ought likewise to consider that the egernes and sharpnes of biting wordes especially spoken to one that is in aduersity profiteth nothing being a kinde of incontinencie of a tong mingled with malignitye and a will to iniury carrying a very declaration of enmitye which is the cause that they which vse it hurt them selues As did Antiphon about Dyonisius the tyraunt where a dispute beeing helde betweene them what brasse was best he aunswered that whereof the Athenians made the statuas of Armodius and Aristogiton for this soure aunswer caused him to be put to death And as Plutarque sayde in the life of Phocion euen as the honye which is sweete of his owne nature engendreth greefe and payne beeing applyed to partes infected so doe true admonitions the more prouoke such as are in misery if they bee not well sweetned and mingled with pitye and consolation Clytus an auncient Captaine of Alexanders maye serue for an example who was slayne for vsinge too arrogant an admonition In lyke sort one ought not at the boarde to vse such reprehensions as make men knitte the browes forgetting the occasion and place of pleasure and there is required a dexteritie as it is written of Socrates who beeinge desired at a feaste to speake and discourse of his arte it is not now time sayde he to discourse of what I knowe and in that for which the tyme now serueth I am no whit skilfull in And when Damaratus was arryued in Macedonia during the time that king Philip was fallen out with his Wyfe and Sonne the kinge hauinge saluted and embraced him demaunded of him if the Greekes agreed well one with an other Demaratus who was verye familiar with him aunsweared it becommeth you very well O kinge to enquire of the concorde of the Athenians and Peloponesians in the meane time suffer your owne house to be so full of discord and diuision A captiue which the sayde Philip caused to be solde to him that woulde giue moste bad him in his eare to let downe the fore part of his robe because hee shewed what was not comelye to bee discouered the whiche was the cause of his deliuerie An other beeing taken for a spie sayde vnto him that he came to espie his follye in that without necessity he put both his realme and life in hasard Some haue compared reprehensions to the remedies of the splene which ought to be souer and sharpe so truth told in fit oportunitie is profitable and is of such force as Eschines saide that shee surpassed all the cogitations of man And Menander wrote that shee commeth into light although shee be not sought for and defendeth her selfe easely against all the deceates craftinesse and wilines of men And in the disputation that was held before Darius truth was found the greatest and most strong for euer S. Augustin in the citie of God lib. 2. c. 19 calleth her an eternall victorye and in the question 108 ex vtr he sayth that It is better to be ouercome of the truth then to be willing to surmount her in vaine To which purpose may very well serue the summarie description of the table which Apelles painted after he was eschaped out of a false accusation and an extreame daunger He had pictured a Iudge with the eares of an Asse hauing on the one side two Ladies Ignoraunce and Suspition before him stood false accusation with a countenaunce full of rage and furie holding in the left hande a burning torche and with the right pulled a young man by the heare lifting vp his eyes and handes to heauen neare vnto whome was a man painted looking pale earthly and a squint which was enuie two damsels followed false Accusation named Treason and Deceat behind whome stoode a Ladye all wailing and mourning which was Repentaunce which fastened her eye sight vppon a verye fayre Lady intituled Truth declaring by this picture to all Princes and Iudges that they ought not too lightly to beleeue As Alexander closing one of his eares to an accuser sayde he kept the other for him which was accused And it was commaunded Moyses straightlye to forbid the children of Israell lying false accusation and malitious detraction and cause them to keepe iustice equalitie and truth I will not heare omit the aduertisement giuen by wise Plato commended so much by Plutarque that when one founde anye committing anye fault he ought to discende into him selfe and say priuatelye vnto him selfe Am not I such a one To the ende wee may auoyde the like errours When in like sort we woulde iustifie our selues for anye reprehension we mought praye him that did it to reserue that freedome of speach againste he committed a fault him selfe And it was not sayde amisse of them of olde time that the beginning to liue well and repulse ignoraunce was to be reprehended mocked and blamed Sainct Basyl for this cause named reprehension the healing of the soule and in the Prouerbes 25. it is called an ornament of fine gold And in the 29. it is written a man that hardeneth his neck when he is rebuked shall suddainly be destroyed can not be cured And Dauid Psal 41. sayd that it was like the precious baulme We read euen of the Emperours Philip Theodosius and Valentinian that they did great penitence after they were admonished as also did Dauid and other kinges being reprehended by the Prophetes And Sainct Augustine in his booke of recantations acknowledged how he had erred But as Plato sayd that Speusippus corrected other by the example of his owne life so men ought to esteeme those reprehensions that are made without a word speaking thorough a single life irreprehensible and vertuous CHAP. 24. That anger hindereth the truth of the euilles which it bringes with it and of the meanes to resist it PHisitions esteeme the sicknesse very daungerous when the face is disfigured The which we maye saye of choler which altereth the countenaunce speach and all the sences of man It hath beene termed a fury darkning iudgement And as in the darke a man is not able to discerne his kinsman or friende from his enemye so amidst the
smoke and mystes of choler truth can not be discerned from falsehood Alexander ouertaken with choler caused Parmenio Chalistenes Philotas and other to be put to death and with his owne hande slew Clytus one of his chiefest fauorites And after that his choler was apeased would haue killed him selfe For this cause Anthenodorus counselled the Emperour Augustus the which Sainct Ambrose did since to Theodosius that when they felt them selues enter into choler they should take heed of speaking or doing anye thinge vntill they had repeated the twenty foure letters of the Alphabet The which gaue the occasion of making that holy law Si vindicari and of the chapter Cum apud to temper and slacke the heady commandementes of Princes And the sayd Augustus for hauing iniured a gentleman whose daughter he had brought to his pleasure and was cast in the teeth with what he had done and sawe that him selfe had broken the law Iulia which condemneth the adulterers he was so mad with him self that for a time he abstayned from eating Sainct Paule counselleth vs That the Sonne go not down vpon our wrath The maner of the Pythagoriens was much commended that when they had once vttered their choler they would take one an other by the hande and embrase one an other before it was euening And Plato beeinge demaunded how he knew a wise man answered when beeing rebuked he would not be angry and being praised he would not be too proude Seneca wryteth that such as taught to play at fence and to exercise the bodye commanded their schollers in no wise to be cholerick because that cleane marred the arte and he which is not able to bear a little iniurie shall in the end haue one mischiefe heaped on an other And against this it is thought an excellent remedy not to be delicate nor too light of beliefe nor to thinke one may contemne iniury one as he listeth nor to haue a will thereto and to vse delayes and protraction of tyme. As Plutarque wryteth that the carryinge of bundels of stickes bound togeather vpon pollaxes was to shew that the wrath of a Magistrate ought not to bee prompt and lose for that while leasurelye those bundels so bounde togeather were losed it brought some delaye space to choler which buyeth her pleasure with perill of lyfe as sundry Poets haue written And there is nothing that men dare not aduenture and cōmit when they are inflamed with anger except they retaine thē selues vnder the obedience of reason For as Socrates sayd it is lesse daunger to drinck intemperately of puddle or troubled water then to glut ones appetite with reuenge when mans discourse and reason is occupied with furye and besides him selfe before that he be setled and purified And Archytas sayde to one that had offended him I woulde punishe you for this geare if I were not in choler And to brydle such choler it is not euerye mans skill except hee haue beene vsed to it of a long time consideringe that nothing can be comelye nor honest if it be spoken sharply and in choler The Pythagoriens in lyke sort by the allegoricall commaundement that they should not leaue the bottome of the pot or caudern imprinted in the ashes would teach according to Plutarques opinion that no marke or apparent shewe of choler shoulde remaine the which as S. Chrisostome saith is a fire a hangman a most difformed drunkennes and a mad dog that knoweth noman Therfore it was that they of old time by the difformed monster of Chymera which spit fire described choler and as they which are possessed with vncleane spirites some at the mouth and swell so the spirit and speach of cholerike persons fometh and often times dangerous discourses scape thē Which was the cause that Alexander Menander Seneca others haue written how choler proceedeth of basenes of minde as also we see it more incident to weomē then to men to the sick more then to the whole And the fault is so measured as he to whom the offence is committed is perswaded But by how much more the fault is greater so much is his humanity the more to be cōmended when he pardoneth without being moued the offender by so much the more bounde in that he seeth his submissiō accepted for reuenge satisfaction The destruction of 15. thousand soules was attributed to the choler of Theodosius which afterward he greatly repented him selfe of It was likewise the death of Aurelian and of the cruelty of the Emperour Valentinian as Macellinus wrot the which so raigned in him that if one had spokē but one word that had misliked him he wold chāge his coulor voyce he committed much vniustice in hinderinge true iudgement in the end it was the cause of his death and his intrals were so terribly burned that there was not found so much as a drop of bloud Others were of opiniō that he broke a vaine in crying Yet Salust thinketh that that which in priuate persons is termed choler in great ones is called fury cruelty Plutarque likewise attributed the ruine of Sertorius to that he was so cholericke which made him so vnaccōpanable vnmeet to liue among the society of mē As also did Valerius the death of Caesar Sueton greatly blamed for the same Tiberius Nero. In like sort to those which had armes so insolently of themselues that they would cōmand the very lawes to cease the administratiō of iustice was euer denied And for the maintenaunce of both iustice was reserued to the Iudges and to such as force was committed it was straightly commanded them to obey iustice and that she aide force with good counsell of which if it bee once destitute greater harme ensueth then good And amonge all estates it is required that they assemble a counsell to aduise what may be profitable But as the goodnesse of shippes is best perceiued in a storme so doth a good vnderstanding moste discouer it selfe when hauing iust cause to be angrye the minde is for all that quiet and the iudgement setled And it is the property of a magnanimous hart to despise iniuries which we read was euer don by great personages And Dauid made no account of the words of Semey nor the kings Antigonus Philip and Pericles of those whom they heard reuile them Salomon sayth in his Prouerbes that A man inclyned to wrath shall quickly be destroyed And compareth a cholericke man to a City ouerthrowne and Solon maketh him like to one that neither cared how he loste friendes nor how he procured enemies And in the first of Ecclesiasticus it is written that rashnesse in anger breedeth destruction the which proceedeth not but of the inflammation of the bloud about the heart of too great a heate and sodainnes the which by no meanes yeeldeth the leasure to vnderstande the circumstaunces which reason teacheth which a man that hath
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
The Aegyptians ordained death it selfe for a punishment to periured persons and to such as declared not the verie trueth in their declaration which of necessitie eche one was to make yearely both touching his name and the meanes he had to nourish his familie The Scithians and Garamanthes followed the same lawe and there was he condemned that had prognosticated any false thinges to come The Persians and Indians depriued him of all honour and farther speache which lyed The Gimnosophistes Chaldeans barred them al companies dignities condemned to remaine in perpetual darknes without speaking And Nicephorus reciteth how the verie wormes did eat the toung of the cosener Nestorius in his life time Monstrelet writeth of Popiel k. of Pologne who had euer this word in his mouth If it be not true I would the Rattes might eat mee that he was so assailed by rattes in a banquet that neither his gards nor fire nor water could preserue him from them Other do assure vs that an Archbishop of Magence died of the like death K. Artexerxes made one of his souldiers toungs to be nailed with iij nailes that had made a lie The lawes of Solon imposed great pains vpon such for that cause did the Gabaonites lose their libertie The emperour Traian surnamed the good Prince took away frō the sonne of Cebalus the kingdom of Dace which we terme at this day Trāsiluania Valachia only because he caught him in a lye told him that Rome the mother of truth could not permit a lyar to possesse a kingdom Cirus in like sort told the k. of Armenia that is was most manifest a lye was not capable of pardō as Xenophon writeth in his 3. booke of his Pedia After that one had red vnto Alexander the great a historie out of Aristobulus wherin he had intermingled certaine counterfait praises he flong the booke into the riuer saying the said writer deserued to haue bin flung in himself because men ought to studie to serch out the truth without which nothing can be wel don that it was a shame great damage when a lye shold put good wordes out of credit And he found fault with another when he compared him to Hercules If he had in this sort remained al the rest of his life that prosperitie flatterie had not rendred himself more insolent he had bin worthy of much greater honor I could here verie wel alledge how in Almanie the lye hath bin alwayes extremely hated shunned as it were a plague bastardes could neuer obtain the prise of any ocupatiō whatsoeuer nor take degree in any art or science as also in the olde testament they were excluded both out of the church sanctuarie For they are euer in doubt which of the sundrie mignions that their mother entertained was their father For this cause Philo Alexandrin compareth those with Idolaters who through ignorance of their creator and his bountie cal vpon many declareth that a multitude as much to say as a pluralitie of gods is very athisme the grounde of lying banishing for euer from thence life euerlasting CHAP. XXIX That the periured and blasphemers are detestable lyers and the paines for them CIcero was of opinion that there was no difference betweene the lyar and the periured person and that God had ordained to eche like punishment and that he which was accustomed to lye did easily periure himselfe The which opinion sundry doctors of the church haue in like sort helde Others notwithstanding haue thought that they haue offended more deepely which abuse the name of God to confirme their lying the which sort of people deserued death by the lawes of Plato Aegypt as committers of sacriledge And the Prophet Ezechiel calleth it the prophaning of the name of God the spoyling him of his trueth He saieth also that he which despiseth his othe shall neuer escape And it is written in Ecclesiasticus that A man that vseth much swearing shalbe filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer goe from his house Saint Chrisostom made sundrie homilies sermons to the end we should hate leaue all othes that there mought neuer be among men folowing the cōmandement of our sauiour but yea yea nay nay without blaspheming the name of God by swearing And he greatly marueiled to see vs so ready to obey the lawes ordinances of Princes albeit they be very hard vnreasonable that of Gods commandemēt so expressely giuen vnto vs not to sweare at al we make so litle account wherof also Plato greatly complaineth and that men couer themselues with a lewd custom which euery man ought to enforce himselfe vtterly to abolish The saide doctor in like sort writeth that it is vnpossible that he which much sweareth should not forsweare himselfe As wee reade of the othe rashly made by King Saul whereby he was constrained either to put to death his innocent sonne or to remaine periured And God reuenged vpon his race and people the great slaughter that he made of the Gabaonites contrarie to the othe sworne vnto them by his predecessours And the other tribes of Israel hauing sworne that they would not giue their daughters in marriage to that of Beniamin because they woulde not breake their othe chose rather to councell them to rauish their saide daughters And Titus Liuius sheweth that the Petelins in Calabria the Sagontines in Spaine chose rather to dye a most miserable death then to breake the faith they had plighted It is written in Zechariah I sawe a flying booke the length thereof is 20 Cubites and the bredth 10. the curse whereof shall enter into the house of him that falsely sweareth and it shall remaine in the middest of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and stones thereof Now that all is full of blasphemies othes and periuries wee greatly ought to feare a most sharpe chastisement of the wrath of God for so ordinarie a contempt of his holy name and followe the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Keepe thy mouth from being accustomed to sweare for that carryeth great at ruyne withall K. Agesilaus hauing vnderstoode that Tisaphernes K. of Persia had broken the promise which he had sworne vnto him aunswered that therein he had done him a verie great pleasure because that by his periurie he had rendred himselfe odious and enimie both to the Gods and men And truely all policies and matches are cleane turned topsie turuie if the promise be not obserued Titus Liuius in the beginning of his historie greatly commendeth the common wealth of Rome because it was gouerned by faith and simple oth not by feare of lawes or chastisements It was also the principall charge of the Censors of Rome as Cicero writeth to punish the periured against whome there is great threates in the holie scripture and in Leuiticus not onely the periured man is
this worlde We must remember howe Saint Paule prayeth vs to be reconciled to God to watch and be sober and to liue well whyle we haue the light and while it is called to daye not being able to assure our selues thereof in time to come And that wee may the better be brought thereto we must shunne all lewde companies and euill liuers and acquaint our selues with persons which haue the feare of God as Saint Paule warneth vs yea in no case to medle with men of euill life Let vs not then be Christians in name onely as we haue before declared and let vs be patient in aduersitie modest in prosperitie in our dewtie temperate in our life iust charitable towardes our neighbours towardes the poore sweete and tractable in our conuersation louing peace integritie and truth beseeching to this ende by earnest prayers the ayde of God thorough his holy spirite and imagining that wee are alwayes in the presence of God his holy saintes and Angels And since that we are the heires of God and coheyres with Christ Iesus the temple of the holy Ghost and fellowe Bourgeses with the saintes and seruantes of God let vs be ashamed to defile that temple and holy companie thorough the lewdenesse of our life And call to minde ouer and besides that we finde so much marked in the holy scriptures the excellent vertues of the heathen as the innocencie and abstinence of Aristides the integritie of Phocion the holinesse of Socrates the charitie of Cymon the tēperance of Camillus the thriftinesse of Curius the vprightnesse grauitie iustice and fayth of the Catoes yea the sobrietie of the very Turkes and an infinite number of examples so much recōmended vnto vs the which may make vs blush as our Sauiour said vnto the Iewes that they of Sodome Tyre and Sidon shalbe better entreated then they except they repented and amended their liues I knowe that therein lyeth great difficultie but a man must surmount all for the good that ensueth theron and as Cursius writeth Phisitions cure the greeuousest diseases by bitter and sharpe remedies And Cicero wrote vnto Octauian that men neuer applye salues to greeuous woundes but such as doe as much smart as profite And there is no good without paine Cicero likewise in some places and Plato in his Phedon in Gorgias and in Axiochus describe the strange kinde of punishmentes that are prepared for the wicked in the gayle of vengeance which he calleth Tartarus a place of darkenesse and torments and that the good are heaped vp with all happines prosperitie and sent to paradise or a garden which he setteth foorth to be the most pleasant that may be and termed to be the place of iudgment and the field of truth And in the tenth of his commonwealth he writeth that neither the paines nor rewardes in this world are ought either in number or greatnes in respect of what ech of thē are in an other life Whereof we are better certified in the holy scriptures to the end we should be reconciled vnto God without differring or longer wallowing in the filth of sinne for which we ought most earnest to beseech of him pardon disposing our selues wholy to obey him since that he is our father rendring vnto him all homage fealtie for whatsoeuer we hold of him in cheife calling vpō him in all our busines And since that he hath pomised to heare and prouide for all let vs not abuse his bountie but in dewe time reconcile our selues vnto him as Saint Paul exhorteth vs. I will not here forget the exhortation which our Sauiour maketh in Saint Luke Cap. 12. howe wee should haue our loynes guirde about and our lightes burning to be readie at the instant to performe what hee commaundeth vs our fayth being alwayes accompagned with this readie obedience as we see by experience in Abraham the father of the faythfull and in sundrie other whose names are celebrated in the 11. to the Hebrewes howe they left all respect of commoditie as soone as they were called This is that which we beseech at Gods handes in the Lords prayer that his will may be done in earth as it is in heauen as much to say as that he giue vs grace to be so prompt and ready to do his will as are the Angels that are in heauen who no sooner receiue any cōmandement from god but at the instant put it in execution For since that God is our soueraygne Lord which cōmandeth nothing that is not reasonable for their profit whom he will imploy in his seruice we ought not to cōsult or descant if we shuld obey what he cōmaundeth nor be more slacke or slowe to accomplish his will then are his creatures without soule which as it is written in sundry of the Psalmes and Prophetes leaue no one iot to doe in whatsoeuer their creator commaundeth them Our Sauiour Christ in Saint Luke sayde vnto him that was so readie to followe him marie vppon condition that he mought first goe vnto his owne house and take his leaue of such his friendes as were there No man which putteth his hande to the plough and looketh backe is apt for the kingdome of God And we must not as we haue sayde let slippe the oportunitie to doe well or receiue that good which God presenteth vnto vs when it is offred but to serue him readily for feare least if it be once lost it be no more possible to recouer it being as olde writers report bawlde behinde and not able to haue any fast holde layde thereon This is that which our Sauiour sayde speaking vnto the Iewes Yet a little whyle is the light with you walke while you haue light least the darkenesse come vppon you for he that walketh in the darke knoweth not whether he goeth Which afterwardes they had by experience good proofe of For by reason that they did not receiue this light which was then offered vnto them they were thereby depriued therof became most miserable not knowing the time of their visitatiō hauing reiected those benefits which God was willing to haue bestowed on them We reade in S. Matth. cap. 22. that such as were inuited to the marriage of the kings sonne excused themselues some alleadging their marchandise other their domesticall affaires other hinderances to be the cause The king being extremely angry with them for that they so little regarded the fauour honour which he had offred thē pronounced thē vnworthy of his liberality neuer after to be receiued into his house And in the 24. chap. of that gospel mention is made of the euil seruant which saide in his heart My Master doeth differ his comming let vs drinke eate and be merrie and in the meane time that hee was so carelesse came his maister and put him in the ranke of hipocrites where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth the which teacheth vs by no meanes to be slothfull as we haue in Ieremiah
learning he hath And Alexander saide that those discourses which hee had learned in Philosophie made him much more valiant aduised and assured as wel in warres as all other enterprises And not without cause Menander called ignorance a voluntarie misfortune and Seneca esteemed the vnwise man to be vnthankful of small assurance and angrie with his owne selfe One tolde Alphonsus that a King of Spaine saide that a Prince ought not to bee endued with learning then hee cryed out that it was the voyce of a beafe and not of a man And termed ignorant Kinges crowned Asses saying that by bookes men learned armes and shoulde thereby knowe more then their experience woulde teache them in a thousande yeares And the Emperour Sigismonde perswaded a Countie Palatine that was alreadie well stricken in yeares to learne Latin Petrarque rehearseth of one Robert King of Sicile that he was wont to saye hee had rather bee depriued of his Realme then of his learning And wee read in sundrie hystories that it hath beene inflicted to manie as a punishment that they shoulde not bee admitted to learning And it was not without cause saide of them in olde time that nothing was more pernitious then an ignorant man in aucthoritie as I coulde shewe by many examples and the deliberations of the ignorant can not bee but verie ambiguous slowe and without effecte Sundrie haue blamed Leonce the Emperour for that hee coulde neither write nor reade and Pope Paul the seconde for that hee hated such as were learned Pope Celestine the fifte deposed himselfe by reason of his ignorance And the Emperour Iulian to the ende hee mought molest the Christians forbad them the reading of all good bookes But the good Emperours and Kinges haue founded Colleges and Traian founde fiue thousande children at schoole thereby to driue awaye and banish the vice of ignorance And for the moste parte al Princes haue ayded themselues by learning or at the least made shewe of esteeming it Aristotle sayde that it were better to begge and be needie then vnlearned because the one hath neede of humanitie the other of money which may more easily bee recouered Hee sayde likewise as Plato and Demanes that there was as much difference betweene a learned man and an ignorant as betweene a liue and a dead a whole and a sicke a blinde and one of cleere sight or as betweene the Gods and men This made Menander to write that learning encreased and doubled the sight Yet men ought not to esteeme one that hath red much except he waxe the better thereby no more then as a bath which serueth to nothing except it bee cleansed And if wee bee accustomed in a Barbers chaire to beholde our selues in a glasse much more ought wee by a lesson sermon or lecture to examine our selues and see how our spirite is purged of sinne and howe much we thereby grow better And we must togither with a good nature ioyn the contemplation of learning the better to informe vs of our dutie afterwards to put in vse practise that good which we haue learned for as Plato wrote The end of Philosophie and of our studies is that by the searche which we haue made of naturall things wee may bee lead to the knowledge of God and vse that light which is bestowed vpon vs to conduct our life to pietie all good workes and vertue Euen Demosthenes wrote to a friend of his that he was glad hee followed Philosophie which detested all vnhonest gaine and deceite and whose finall scope was vertue and iustice The which with much more certaintie wee may auerre of the holy scripture wherein we ought to exercise our selues for feare of falling into that threatening which God pronounced by his Prophet because thou hast reiected knowledge therefore I wil cast thee off S. Augustin handling that place of S. Paul to the Romanes where he speaketh of the ignorance of the Iewes writeth that in them which would not vnderstand or knowe ignorance was a sinne but in them which were not able nor had the meanes how to knowe or vnderstand it was the paine of sinne So the not knowing of God or of our selues before wee were instructed by the worde of God was the payne of sinne vnto condemnation but after we haue hearde the word ignorance is of it selfe a most grieuous sinne For as S. Bernard writeth they which are ignorant and either for negligence or slothfulnes doe not learne or for shame enquire not out the trueth are voide of all excuse And if the Aegyptians counted it a moste intollerable calamitie to endure but for three dayes the darknesse which God sent vnto them by Moses how much more ought wee to be afraide when we remaine all our life long in the night of ignorance I could to this ende alledge sundrie examples of inconueniences that haue ensued through ignorance of the natural causes of the Eclipse of the Moone and Sunne of the impressions which are fashioned in the aire and of a superstitious feare of the Celestial signes and how by the ignorance of the Mathematikes of Cosmographie Chorographie and Geographie they haue not beene able to knowe their way nor to iudge of the heighth of a wall to be scalled nor of the passages riuers marishes and proper places to pitch a campe or retire themselues into and howe much sundrie historiographers haue failed herein but that I may not bee too tedious I wil referre the reader to the Greeke Latine and Frenche histories For this cause wee ought to enforce our selues to learne and to profit in the knowledge of the trueth that that in Ieremiah may not be reproched vnto vs You haue eyes see not and haue eares and heare not CHAP. XXXIII That one ought not rashly to borrowe money nor aunswere for another man for feare of lying IT is greatly to be presumed that the principal cause which moued them of olde time to councel a man not to be suretie for an other nor to borrowe money without verie vrgent necessitie or good pawne for the repaiment was for feare one should be founde a lyar which is a vice accompanied with impudencie and vniustice The Persians in like sort as Herodotus witnesseth blamed greatly two sinnes the one of owing the other of lying The which also moued Alexander the great after the victorie which he obtained against Darius to pay and aquite his souldiers debtes and Sophie the wife of Iustin to answere sundrie debts of the subiects of the Empire out of her owne coffers and Solon at Athens to establish an abolishing of al debtes which he termed by a word which signified a diminutiō of charge and sundrie other to doe the like in Lacedemon and Nehemiah to restore againe the burthens exactions And in Deuteronomie euerie seuenth yeare called the yeare of freedome debts could no more be demaunded to the ende this vice of
lying might bee met with which accompanieth the disabilitie of restoring The which likewise was the cause of the aunswere which Phocion made vnto them which demaunded of him to contribute where euerie man had verie franckly giuen Nay I should be much ashamed to giue vnto you and not to restore vnto him pointing vnto a creditor of his owne And Seneca writeth that often times he which lendeth money vnto his friend loseth both money and friend Aulus Gellius l. 7. c. 18. l. 16. c. 7. telleth of one which tearmed an othe a playster of them which borrowed And to the ende the Boetiens and sundry other mought be kept from borowing they tyed a coller of yron about such as payde not at their day and they stoode long time open to the reproche of such as passed by The father of Euripides was in like sort handled And Sueton writeth that Claudus was so serued before he was chosen Emperour And Hesiodus parents to auoid that shame were constrained to quitte their countrey That is worthie of marking which Pausanias writeth that the Athenians before they gaue charge to any Captaine either by sea or by lande acquited their debts otherwise no account was made of him And according to the disposition of the law one that is endebted ought not to take vppon him the office of an Embassador I haue seene this same lawe of the collar obserued in certain Cantons of Zuizerland to make men thereby the better to keepe their promise In Saxe they made them prisoners which did not acquite themselues The lawe of the twelue tables was farre more seuere for if one did not pay what he borowed they would giue vnto him a short peremptorie day in which time if he did not acquite himselfe they solde him or he was giuen to his creditour to serue him as his slaue if hee had many creditors they mought dismember him take euery one a peece Such a lawe notwithstanding was not long since in vse as Titus Liuius and Aulus Gellius haue written and was repealed at the request of the tribunes of the people afterwarde by Dioclesian Among the Indians likewise if the debtor did not discharge himselfe in his prefixed time they mought take from him either a hand or an eye and if he dyed indebted they would not suffer him to be buried vntil his children or friendes had answered it Wee read in the seconde booke of the Kinges the miracle which Eliseus did to pay the debte of a widowe from whom her creditor woulde haue taken away her two children to haue serued him for want of payment And it is written in the Prouerbs that the borower is seruant to the man that lendeth and so is it in the lawe 3. C. de Nouatio Titus Liuius and Plutarque in the liues of Coriolanus and Sertorius describeth the sedition which fell out at Rome which was abandoned of manie because the creditoures lead as slaues their debtors and detained them in most cruell bondage Aluare which wrote the historie of the Abissius setteth downe that debtors were deliuered as bondmen to their creditours and some others haue written that in the realme of Calicut vpon complaint made to the Bramains against the debtor they gaue the creditour an instrument wherewith hee mought make a circle in the earth and therein enclose his debtor commaunding him in the Kings name not to depart from thence vntil he were satisfied and so was he constrained either to pay or dye there for hunger At Athens there was a Iudge which had no other charge then to see debtes payde the Tribunes likewise at Rome had the like charge against the greater sort And by the ciuil lawe if a man called one his debtor which in deede was not he mought lawfully haue an action of the case against him so odious was that name As touching the inconueniences of suretiship Salomon setteth them down in the Prouerbes He shalbe sure vexed that is suretie for a stranger and he that hateth suertiship is sure Be not among them that are suretie for debtes if thou hast nothing to paye why causest thou that hee shoulde take thy bed from vnder thee And in Ecclesiasticus Suretiship hath destroied manie a riche man and remoued them as the waues of the sea For the condition of the suertie is sometime worse then his that borroweth because not making account to pay it he is prosecuted and put in execution and often times constrained to helpe himselfe by verie sinister means to his great disaduantage The which agreeth with the olde Prouerbe Be suertie and thy paine is at hande And according to the opinion of Bias he which loseth the credit of his worde loseth more then he which loseth his debte I doe not for all that meane by this that charitie shoulde therefore waxe colde nor that there shoulde be any let why both in worde and deede wee should assist and helpe the necessitie of our neighbour according vnto such meanes as God hath bestowed vpon vs. CHAP. XXXIIII Of lying ingratitude THE vnthankfull man hath euer beene accounted a more daungerous lyer then the debtor for as much as he is onely bounde by a naturall obligation to acknowledge the benefite which hee hath receiued and notwithstanding impudently dissembleth the same thinking it a sufficient excuse for that he can not be by lawe constrained therunto as the debtor shunneth him whom he ought to seeke breaking that conuersation humanitie which preserueth the societie of men He despiseth God his kinne and friends And through this impudencie he is euen driuen to al vilanie and mischiefe and maketh him selfe a slaue and ought to be grieuously chastised as Xenophon writeth And Plutarque interpreteth Pithagoras symbole of not receiuing of swalowes that a man ought to shunne vngratefull persons The which hath been an occasion that many haue refused great presents fearing that they shoulde not haue meanes to requite the same and thereby to auoid the suspition of ingratitude which hath alwayes beene condemned for a most manifest iniurie and vniustice and vnder the worde vngratefull haue all vices with a curse beene comprehended The Romanes likewise in the middle of their citie caused a temple to be builded and dedicated it to the Graces thereby to admonish euery man to loue peace detest ingratitude and to render to euery one according to Hesiodus rule a man famous among the Philosophers with encrease and greater measure whateuer we haue receiued imitating therein as Cicero sayeth the fertile landes well laboured and sowne which bringeth forth more then foure folde increase For this cause Xenophon among the praises which he gaue vnto Agesilaus reputeth it a parte of iniustice not onely not to acknowledge a good turne but also if more be not rendred then hath ben receiued And if we bee naturally inclined to do good to them of whome we conceiue good hope howe much
al things to detest it to vse liberalitie to the ende they may prouoke drawe euerie man to embrase the good happines of their estate holde men still diligent in their seruice in the duetie of good men And as Salust rehearseth Bocchus the king of the Getules had reason to tell Sylla that it was a lesse shame for a king to be ouercome by armes then by courtesie And before hee wrote of the same Sylla that hee neuer willingly woulde receiue a pleasure at the handes of any except he mought verie speedily requite them and neuer asked his owne of any studying aboue all thinges to make multitudes of nations fast bound vnto him CHAP. XXXV That lying hath made Poets and Painters to be blamed and of the garnishing of houses PLato wrote that Poetrie consisted in the cunning inuention of fables which are a false narration resembling a true and that therein they did often manifest sundrie follies of the gods for this cause he banished and excluded them out of his common wealth as men that mingled poyson with honie Besides thorough their lying and wanton discourses they corrupt the manners of youth and diminish that reuerence which men ought to carrie towards their superiors and the lawes of God whom they faine to be replenished with passions vice And the principall ornament of their verses are tales made at pleasure foolish disorderly subiectes cleane disguising the trueth hystorie to the end they might the more delight and for this cause haue they bin thrust out of sundry cities Among other after that Archilocus came into Sparta he was presently thrust out as soon as they had vnderstood how he had writtē in his poemes that it was better to lose a mans weopens then his life forbad euer after al such deceitful poesies Hence grew the common prouerb that al Poets are lyers And it was written of Socrates that hee was yl brought vp to poesie because he loued the truth And a man mought say that this moued Caligula to cōdemne Virgils Homers books because of their prophane fables which S Paul exhorted Timothie to cast away Plutarque telleth of a Lacedemonian who when he was demanded what he thought of the Poet Tirteus answered that he was very good to infect yong mens wits And Hieron of Siracusa condemned Epicarinus the Poet in a great fine because in his wiues presence he had repeated certaine lasciuious verses And Viues writeth that Ouid was most iustly sent into banishment as an instrument of wantonnesse He which first inuented the Iambique versifying to byte and quippe was the first that felt the smart And Archilocus the Poet fell into confusion through his own detractions as Horace and sundry other haue written and Aulus Gellius reporteth that Orpheus Homer and Hesiodus gaue names honours to the gods And Pithagoras saide that their soules hong in hel vpon a tree still pulled of euery side by serpents for their so damnable inuention And Domitian banished Iuuenal and Pope Paul 2. and Adrian 6. held them as enimies to religion Eusebius in his 8. booke first Chapter de Preparatione Euangelica setteth down an example of a Poet who for hauing lewdly applyed a peece of Scripture to a fable suddenly lost his naturall sight and after that he had done penance it was restored to him againe And as touching Painters they haue beene greatly misliked of for representing such fictions Poetical deceits For as Simonides saide Painting is a dumme Poesie and a Poesie is a speaking painting the actions which the Painters set out with visible colours and figures the Poets recken with wordes as though they had in deede beene perfourmed And the ende of eche is but to yeeld pleasure by lying not esteeming the sequele and custome or impression which hereby giue to the violating of the lawes and corruption of good manners For this cause the Prophets called the statuas images and wanton pictures the teachers of vanitie of lyes deceite abhomination And Lactantius writeth that a counterfait tooke the name of counterfaiting and all deceit as wee before declared springeth from falshood and lying This was it which mooued S. Iohn in the ende of his first Epistle to warne men to keepe themselues from images for an image doeth at their fansie counterfait the bodie of a man dead but is not able to yeelde the least gaspe of breath And idolatrie is properly such seruice as is done vnto Idoles Wee reade howe God especially forbad it in the first table and how long the Romanes and Persians liued without any vse thereof and howe the Lacedemonians coulde neuer abyde that an image should stand in their Senate There hath beene in sundrye councels mention made thereof S. Athanasius more at large discoursed thereof in a sermon he made against Idols and S. Augustin in his booke de fide Simbolo and vppon 150. Psalm in his eighth book of the citie of God Damascene in his 4. book 8. C. The occasion of so free passage giuen to Poets is for that their fables slyde awaye easily and cunningly turne them selues to tickel at pleasure whereas the trueth plainly setteth downe the matter as it is in deede albeit the euent thereof bee not verie pleasant Plato in like sort compared the disputes in Poetrie to the banquets of the ignorant who vse Musike in steede of good discourse and in his thirde booke of his commonwealth he forbiddeth Poets or painters to set downe or represent any thinge dishonest or wanton for feare of corrupting of good manners And Aristotle in his Politiques the third booke and 17. Chapter woulde haue all vyle wordes to be banished And Saint Paul to the Ephesians that any vncleannesse foolish iesting or talking shoulde bee once named among them And Tertullian an auncient doctor of the Church called Poets and certaine Philosophers the Patriarches of heretiques This which I haue spoken of must not be vnderstood of Poesies wherein much trueth and instruction is contained nor of pictures which represent the actes of holye and vertuous personages nor of fables taken out of hystories whereof there maye growe some edifying but onely of that which is lasciuious and grounded vpon naughtie argument rendring youth effeminate and men more giuen to wantonnesse pleasures passion vayne opinions then to vertue cleane turning away the honour that is due vnto God or to good edifying for according vnto the commaundement of God Cherubyns were made The admonition which Epictetus gaue to such as were too curious in pictures ought by no meanes to be here forgotten Trim not thy house saith hee with tables and pictures but paint it and guild it with Temperance the one vainely feedeth the eyes the other is an eternall ornament which cannot be defaced The same doeth Plutarque teache in the life of Dion that more
care is to bee taken for the hanging and adorning of the palace of the soule then of the outwarde And the same Philosopher did not muche out of the waye warne vs that wee shoulde take heede that the skirt of our garments shoulde not carrie a stinche of life CHAP. XXXVI Of backebyters mockers and euill speakers and why the Comedians stage players and Iugglers haue beene reiected WE haue heretofore shewed that our mouth ought to serue our neighbour as wel to preserue him in honor as in profit and for that our Lord God commaundeth that wee should neither deale falsly nor lye one to another He forbiddeth vs either to depraue or deceiue any for deprauing backbiting is an enimie vnto the trueth to the weale honour of our neighbor forbidden by God in the commandement of not bearing false witnes hath euer bin accounted as manslaughter stealing away of the renowne which we ought to esteeme according to the saying of the wise man aboue great riches Plato in his common wealth greatly praised the lawes of Lidia which punished backbiters as murtherers neither doe wee want sundrie examples which shew what mischiefe hath ensued through backbyting Wee haue one in Hester c. 3. of the mischiefe which Haman pursued against the Iewes which K. Ahashueroh of Doeg which through his backbiting was the cause of the death of 85. persons that did wear a lynen Ephod sundrie other myseries And Dauid did attribute vnto slanderers al the euil which Saul had wrought against him The backbiter is in degree neare vnto the flatterer hurteth three persons the absent of whom he speaketh the present which giueth eare vnto him himselfe And it is written in Ecclesiast that hatred enmitie reproch attendeth the backbiter And S. Paul writeth that railers shal not inherit the kingdome of God to the Ephesians Let al bitternes anger wrath crying euil speaking be put away from you with al malitiousnes Be ye courteous one to another tender harted forgiuing one another euen as God for Christes sake forgaue you Solon being demanded what was more cutting then a knife answered a slaunderous toung the which Dauid calleth a sharpe razor and hot burning coales The same writeth S. Iames in his Epistle more at large And as it is taken for a signe of health so is it a signe of a sound vnderstanding to be exempt from al words that may do harme And not without cause said Salomon that death life are in the power of the tongue more perish thereby then by the sword And addeth that he which keepeth his tongue keepeth his life S. Augustin sheweth that the truth hath written in our hearts this commandement Do vnto an other as thou wouldst be done vnto thy selfe And S. Ierom vppon Isaiah in like sort saith euen as wee woulde not that men shoulde speake euil of vs no more ought we to depraue our neighbour S. Paul willeth vs not so much as to eat or drink with the railers and so did S. Iames. Al kind of mockerie ought also to be shunned which is a reproch couered with some fault and which accustometh the mocker to raile lie moueth more then an iniurie when it proceedeth from a wil to outrage a malice without necessitie The which moued some to terme it an artificial iniurie Salomon writeth in his prouerbs that God doth abhorre al mockers the which Isaiah comprehendeth C. 38. 57. The lieutenant of K. Darius put to death one of his soldiars which had railed vpon Alexander saiing that the part of a soldiar was to fight not to raile Antigonus caused one to dye for the like cause and they of Alexandria were well chastised by Vespasian and diuers children were torne in peeces for mockinge of Elisha with wylde beares At the least wee ought to resemble the Phisitiōs which Hipocrates made to sweare that they shoulde not bewraye the secrete and hidden faultes and euils And Saint Gregorie in his Morals compareth the backebiter vnto him which bloweth the powder that flasheth into his owne eyes and hindereth his seeing For this cause ought wee to followe the councel giuen vnto vs by Saint Peter that laying aside all malitiousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and enuie and all euil speaking as newe borne babes wee desire the milke of the worde that wee may growe thereby And aboue all thinges followinge the councell of Demosthenes wee must take heede of speaking yll of the absent or giuing eare vnto the backebiters as Alexander Seuerus was wont to saye and doe And for as much as comedies are compounded of fixions fables and lyes they haue of diuers beene reiected As touchinge Playes they are full of filthie wordes which woulde not become verie lacqueys and courtisanes and haue sundrie inuentions which infect the spirite and replenish it with vnchaste whorishe cosening deceitfull wanton and mischeeuous passions Atheneus writinge of the inuention of a Comedie and tragedie sayeth that they haue euer been inuented in a time of vintage drunkennesse And for that besides all these inconueniences Comedians and stage players doe often times enuie and gnawe at the honor of another and to please the vulgar people set before them sundrie lies teach much dissolutenes and deceit by this meanes turning vpside downe all discipline and good manners many cities wel gouerned would neuer at any time intertaine thē And the citie of Marseilles hath beene maruelously praised in auncient time for that she alwaies reiected such kind of people And the Emperours Augustus Anthony Frederick the first and Henry the thirde caused them to be driuen out of their Empire And the Tribunes banished one Neuius out of Rome And S. Chrisostome in his 17 homilie vpon S. Matth. saith that there is no peril vppon the sea so dangerous as are the Theaters and places of Commedies playes and declareth at large what dissolutenes disorder factions mischiefes inconueniences haue ensued thereby The like doth Seneca declare in his first Epistle of the first booke Caelius Rodiginus in his 5. booke 7. Chapter And S. Augustine in his Citie of God commendeth Scipio for that he forbad the vse of any such pastimes as an enimie to al vertue honesty And saieth that the diuels vnder the similitude of false gods erected them The Lacedemonians also would neuer permit such playes acts for feare somewhat might be imprinted into the peoples brest cōtrary to the lawes truth For as the Apostle writeth Euil words corrupt good manners And this caused the good king S. Louis to banish them out of his court And S. Ierom towards the end of his first booke against Iouinian writeth that tragedies are ful of contempt of mariage good lawes And Seneca wisely wrote in his Epistles that it is verie daungerous
that same desire vpon their owne faults to amend them shutting their windowes lopeholes that looke vpō their neighbour to the end they may haue better sunne and more holesome winde from some other part and thereby better informe thēselues of the priuate gouernment of their owne familie and of matters fitter for them to knowe They shall finde enough at home to passe awaye their time withal without resēbling the Lady faries that some say do neuer vse the aide of their eies but abroad out of their owne houses It was neuer lawfull for stage players among the Turiens to talke of any citizen except he were either an adulterer or curious And by the law of Locres if any man cōming out of the countrey should aske what newes were sturring he was by and by greatly fined to the end curiositie mought not haue too much place Sundrie write that Antonie the Emperour going one daye to the house of one Ouilius a Senator demaunded of him howe it was possible for him to recouer so great store of Pillers of Porphire to whome hee made aunswere that when you enter into an other mans house you must learn to bee deafe and dumme The which the Emperour tooke in very good parte And as wee feare those windes which blowe about our eares our clothes and customers farmers when they prie too neere into smal trash and priuate busines so ought euery one to looke to such curious persons and when they once accost thē to answere them that the retreate is sounded the hens haue espied the Kite and so shift frō them as soone as they may be able For nothing can enter into their eares but what euill so euer they can heare like vnto cupping glasses which draweth nothing from the skinne but the naughtie bloud that is within it and manie times they interprete all to the worst Ecclesiasticus admonished vs not without great cause to take heede of beeing ouer-curious in matters superfluous and sayth that A foole will peepe in at a doore into the house but he that it well nurtered will stande without And S. Paule in the ende of his seconde Epistle to the Thessalonians and in his first to Timothie blameth such as are curious S. Augustine teacheth vs to change this curiositie into a care to amend our life and to knowe that which appertayneth vnto our saluation and Tertullian wrote that it ought to take no place at all with vs since that Iesus Christ was manifested vnto vs in the gospell And according to the Greeke prouerbe alleadged by Cicero each man ought to busie himselfe in the art which he knoweth and in his owne vocation Of this vice Bartole writeth vpon the lawe Doli mali de Nouatio nu 5. chap. 17. I could here impute to curiositie a great part of the art of nauigation and voyages into farre countryes whence nothing is brought home but strange customes and corruption of manners in like sort the death of Aristotle not being able to comprehende the secrete of Euripus nor why the sea in the straight of Negrepont euery 24. houres flowed and ebbed apace 7. times and of Plinie smothered in the flames and vapors of Montgibel and the heresies of sundry other persons And that we may the better keepe our selues from sinning herein wee must accustome our selues not to be too muche inquisitiue after matters that are lawefull nor make account of inuenters and coyners of newes As Phocion aunswered vppon the brute of Alexanders death deliberate of your affayres for if the newes bee true to daye then will they be true to morrowe The aunswere which Socrates made to him which asked him what the worlde was seemeth worthy to be here remembred that euer since he came to any iudgement hee applyed his time to search his owne selfe thereby to knowe himselfe the better which as yet he could not attayne vnto and when he should then would hee imploye himselfe to other thinges which might serue him for nought or not import him so much He was wont likewise to say that it was enough to learne so much geometrie as mought make him knowe and maintayne his owne lande from his neighbours and so much arithmeticke as to keepe the account of his owne money moueables and marchandise And in the auncient time they were greatly seased which vnprofitably consumed their braine in the superfluous search of matters buried in obscure darkenesse vncertaine and friuolous CHAP. XXXVIII Of Flatterers WE haue before declared how necessary a matter it is for one to haue neere unto him such entire friendes as will always tell him the truth without flattery For flatterers as S. Augustine sayth do poyson mens vnderstanding and still driue them into further errour making of a Thersites an Achilles and of a little flie an Elephant hauing no other scope in the world but deceite And that which yeeldeth vnto them so large a fielde is selfe loue and ouer winning of ones selfe which cleane taketh away right iudgement and is blind in regarde of what it loueth except it fall out among such as haue of long time beene accustomed and taugh more to esteeme honestie then that which naturally springeth vp with it Plato his followers would euer counterfeit his high sholders Aristotles his stammering Alexanders his double chinne and shrilnes of speech the Poet Ennius his drunkennes And in the time of Tiberius the Emperour a flatterer sayde vnto him that since his pleasure was that euery free citie should be free of speech a man ought not to be silent in that which he knewe would prooue profitable and after he had prepared sundry mens eares readie to giue him hearing he began in this sort Hearker O Caesar wherein we finde our selues agreeued with thee and there is no man which dareth openly to tell thee thereof It is for that thou makest no accont of thy selfe but abandonest thy owne person and afffictest thy body with the continuall care and trauaile which thou takest for vs neuer yeelding vnto thy selfe thy dewe rest eyther by daye or night And as he went on further with the same discourse one cryed out The libertie which this man vseth will cause him to die other sayde he will marre the Emperour Princes haue alwayes beene subiect to flatterers for as the bigger the tree is the mor fat there is for wormes to remayne in so the more wealth a man is of the more is he sought of flatterers which addresse themselues to that part of the soule which is most vnreasonable The Emperours Augustus Titus Niger Alexander Seuerus Frederic the seconde and sundry other helde them in great hatred yea Augustus being come into the Theater when one that was present cryed out O good and iust Lord shewed himselfe highly displeased therewith and forbad that any should call him any more Lord as Sueton writeth And Philip surnamed Gods gift Constantine and sundry other
breake the couenaunt of our fathers And it was wisely set downe by an auncient father that vppon whatsoeuer wee possesse we ought to engraue this title It is the gift of God And S. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that Loue enuieth not and if ye bite and deuour on an other take heede least yee be consumed one of an other Notwithstanding whosoeuer he be that is already possessed and replenished with this mischeuous vice of enuie he violateth the dispensation of God is himselfe mightily afflicted at the prosperity good of his neighbour whereas he ought to haue reioysed thereat as though hee had beene partaker thereof and euen as if hee were greeuouslie payned in the eyes he is alwayes offended not able to abide any clearenesse or light but gnaweth consumeth himselfe as the rust doth yron This moued Socrates to terme this vice the filth slime impostume of the soule and a perpetuall torment to him in whom it abideth a venum poyson or quicke siluer which consumeth the marow of the bones taking away all pleasure of the light of rest of meate And the wise man in his prouerbs writeth that enuie is the rotting of the bones and in Iob that it slaieth the idiote and in Ecclesiasticus that it shortneth the life and there is nothing worse then the enuious man And in the Pro. that he shalbe filled with pouerty through enuie man is made incōpatible And Plutarke writeth that it filleth the body with a wicked pernitious disposition and charmeth it selfe bewitching darkning the body the soule the vnderstanding For this cause Isocrates wrote to Enagoras that enuie was good for nothing but in that it tormēted thē which were possessed therwith which euil the enuious do no whit at al feele but contrariwise make it an argument of their vertue As Themistocles in his youth said that as then he had neuer done any thing worthy of memory in that there was no man whom he mought perceiue did any ways enuie him And Thucidides was of opinion that a wise man was euer content to be enuied This passion doth often engender enmitie mislike which is flatly forbidden of God except it be against sinne This was the very cause why the Philosophers did giue vs councell to praise our enemies when they did wel and not to be angry when any prosperitie befell them to the ende we mought thereby be the further off from enuiyng the good fortune of our friends And can there be any exercise in this worlde able to carie a more profitable habite to our soules then that which cleane taketh away this peruerse emulation of ielousie and this inclination to enuie a sister germaine to curiositie reioysing in the harme of an other And yet this is still tormented with an others good Both which passions proceede from a wicked roote and from a more sauage and cruell kinde of passion to wit malice And not without cause did Seneca stande in doubt whether enuie were a more detestable or deformed vice And Bion on a time seeing an enuious man sadde demanded of him whether any euill had betide him or good to an other Neither was enuie amisse described by a Poet imagined to be in a darke caue pale leane looking a squint abounding with gall her teeth blacke neuer reioysing but at an others harme still vnquiet and carefull and continually tormenting her selfe And the same Poetes haue written that the enuious were still tormented by Megera one of the Eumenides and furies Megarein likewise in Greeke is as much to saye as to enuie We ought then to consider that a great part of these thinges which we commonly enuie is attayned vnto by diligence prudence care vertuous actions to the end we should exercise sharpen our desire to honor seeke by al means to attaine to the like good without enuie Some report howe Agis K. of Lacedemon when it was tolde him that he was greatly enuyed by his competitors made aunswere They are doubly plagued for both their owne lewdnes doth greatly torment them and besides are greeued at that good which they see in me mine For enuie both maketh the body to be very ill disposed chaungeth the colour of the countenance therefore was it termed the wiche feuer hepticke of the spirite And as Aristotle Pliny wrote that in the mountaine of Care and in Mesopotamia there is a kind of scorpions and small serpents which neuer offende or harme strangers but yet do deadly sting the natural inhabitants of the place so enuie neuer doth exercise it selfe but vpon such as it most frequenteth and is most priuate with And most wisely was it saide of the auncient fathers that the enuious man is fedde with the most daintie meat for he doth continually gnawe on his owne heart and shorten his life and often times is the cause of great sedition and ruyne Hannibal often times complained that he was neuer vanquished by the people of Rome but by the enuie of the Senate of Carthage as also did that great Captaine Bellisare beeing thereby brought to extreme beggerye I doe not exempt hence their fault who when they haue attayned to any science or perticular knowledge that might be profitable and seruiceable to the common wealth will neuer impart the same to any but choose rather to die and let such a gift receiued from God bee buried with them defrauding their successours and posteritie thereof who shall in the end receiue dewe chastisement therefore the only cause of the losse of so many and excellent inuentions CHAP. XXXX How pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and how all passions leade cleane contrary to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meanes which contayneth vs therein DIuers haue set down two impediments as chiefe hinderers of the truth to wit despaire presumption And the wise Bion saide that pride kept men frō learning profit And Ecclesiasticus termeth it the beginning of sinne And Philo in his booke of the contemplatiue life sheweth that the spring of pride is lying as the truth is of humblenesse And Aristotle wrote in his morales that the proud boasting man doth faine things to be which indeed are not or maketh thē appeare greater then they are wheras the desebler contrariwise doth deny that which is or doth diminish it but the true mā telleth things as they are indeede holding a middle place between the presūptuous the desēbler as we haue before touched S. Augustine shewed how pride was the beginning of al mischeif vpō S. Mat. entreting of the words of our sauiour he maketh pride the mother of enuie saieth that if one be able to suppresse it the daughter shalbe in like sort And in the 56. Epistle which he worte to Dioscorides he sayth As Demosthenes the Greeke orator being demaunded what was the
the pleading place of Atheues were two benches the one of contumely the other of impudency It was also vncouered as that at Rome was which Cato made be paued with sharp flintes and wished that it might be flowred with yron caltrops to the end the Romans shoulde haue no delight to plead He forbad any to be called to the bar whō he knew eloquent in a bad cause And said as Plutarque reciteth that it was meet for a prince or iudge to giue no eare to the persuasiō of an Orator or lawyer making a motion for any matter vniust For as Cicero writeth which was also attributed to the Emperor Valentinian if he ought to be punished which corrupteth a iudge with mony or presents how much more ought he which coseneth thē with his faier speech babling because a vertuous man will not suffer himself to be corrupted with presents but he may be deceiued thorough their cunning tales lies And Cicero in his Oratiō which he made for Murena discourseth at large of the vanity deceit of practisioners We proue by the ciuil law that in sundry places the nūber of lawyers hath bin limited how K Ptolome conferring with an embassadour which the Siciones had sent vnto him inquired of him of the state forme of their cōmon wealth he answered that his Lords maintained no inuentors of new things nor receiued any phisitians which alter health much lesse lawiers because they disguise the truth prolong suites Pope Nicolas the 3 thrust al practisers in the lawes out of Rome saying that they liued by the bloud of the poore people And it was a vse in most holy France that no proctor should be appointed but by licence frō the K. all procurations ended togeather with the yeare which was a great cause of dispatch of suits Domitian in like sort banished some Galeace duke of Milan caused one to bee hanged for his delatory pleas delaying of a suit against a manifest and cleare debt And Pope Pius 2. compared pleaders to birdes the place of pleading to the fielde the iudge to the net the proctors aduocates to fowlers birders A man may say that the cause why Caligula would haue burned al law bookes although himself were very ill giuē was to haue suits soner dispatched to meete with the cautels and delaies which men toward the law study by their boke practise And herevpon I will not let passe a tale of Mathias Coruinus K. of Pannonia who hauing maried the daughter of Ferdinand K. of Naples brought a lōg in his traine out of Italy certaine lawiers and aduocates of great practise who as sone as they were ariued in his realme by litle litle changed the course which they had found in maner that an infinite nūber of suits were bred therby And the K. perceiuing how euery day the number encreased he was constrained to send thē back againe that he might establish the ancient custome simplicity quiet In like sort they write that Ferdinand themperor sending a viceroy into the Indies which had bene newly discouered forbad him by no meanes to carry ouer any lawier with him to the end he should not sow there the seeds of suits There are some which attribute this infection contagiō of petifoggers brought into France in the time of Philip the faier to Pope Clement 5 whē as he transported his seat frō Rome to Auignon together with al his bullistes practisers petifoggers by frequenting of whō french men first learned this braue piratical art as it were neuer once dreamed of before And sundry authours as well french as Italians and Germanes haue written that since that french men haue suffred them selues to be gouerned by the Popes which were retired to Auignon and haue intermingled their affaire and practises together they haue euer waxed worse and worse and their delicatenes hath euen abastarded the good warlike discipline wherof there was forewarninges when as the saide Pope Clement made his entry into Lyons We read in the time of Charlemagne and before him how the Druides in France tooke notice of all differentes and processe in law and Caesar in his commentaries reciteth the like And if there were any which wold not stād to their award they straightly forbad him their sacrifices which of all other was the most grieuous punishment because thē they were held in the ranke of men abhominable and accursed euery one abhorred their company or to talke with them for feare least some misfortune might ensew after such comunication which were to bee wished might now take place for the dispatching and abolishing of suites And Paulus Emilius writeth that the french men in matter of triall and law did so simply behaue them selues that they stucke to their firste iudgement and neuer appealed further But since deceit was the cause of a soueraigne iurisdiction which held once a yeare for a few daies and afterward the said Philip the fayre caused the palace to be builded which suffiseth not for all that to satisfie the heat of pleading Eschines in that famous Oration which he made against Cthesiphon reprehending the maners corruptiō of his time calling to remēbrance the ancient customes good laws saith that if they were wel obserued al things would go wel and there should be few suites or pleas at al as if the cōmennes of thē were one of the greatest mischiefes could happē to a cōmōwealth as Plato was of opiniō in his discourses And Socrates shewing how good lawes neuer engēdred suits said the multitude of thē to be a sign of corruption Strabo commended the Indians because they were no pleaders and euer in their lawes and barganes vsed great simplicity kept their word without vsing of any witnes or seales The Poets in their verses wishe for seates and triales without pleaders and esteeme that mā happy which hath no processe in law And the Germane prouerb sheweth it that if a mā haue two kine he were better giue awayone then not to enioye the other quietly or go to iudgement in which place it seemeth that many turmoiles troubles meet a multitude of people throng them selues together For this cause the said Isocrates in an Oration which he made being of the age of 80. yeres and two said that he had al his life shunned processe benches of pleading that men accounted him an vnworthy aduocate to haue any disciple and he was ill accounted of at Athenes which haunted the said benches and was often seene there And the principal doctors which haue written vpon our ciuil law haue alwaies bin of opiniō that euery good man ought to abhor suites that such as loued them ought to be accounted cauillers and exception to be taken to their witnes Vpon the contention question which grew before Sforce Duke of Milan who ought to take place the lawyer or
of Sparta to put out their Samien guest out of Peloponese for feare he should entise any Spartians to become naught The saide Ephores giuing eare to this aduise bannished him the very selfe same day And Demosthenes was bannished by the Senate of Areopage for hauing receiued a present from Arpalus Curius and Fabritius refused the presentes of the Samnites and Pirrhus As also did Daniell of king Baltazard and the sayd Fabritius sayd that as long as he coulde commaund his owne members he should neuer haue neede of much mony Lysander would not receaue the apparell and iewels which was sent vnto his daughter frō Dionisius the tyrant sayinge that his presents more dishonoured then honoured his daughters Sophocles before sayde the like The which was the very cause that Alexander Seuerus so grieuously punished such of his officers as hee knew had taken bribes And according vnto that most excellent saying of our sauiour Christ Iesus recorded by S. Paule it is a blessed thing to giue rather then to take Which also king Ptolome Philadelphus was wont to repeate and that it was better to enrich an other then him selfe Euen the very Epicuriens helde that it was more excellent and pleasaunt to doe good to an other then to receaue a benefite And Cicero in his Oration which he made for Plancius declareth that it is an inhumane thing and brutish to suffer ones selfe to be ouercome thorough benefites And as king Cyrus was wont to saye that hee heaped vp great treasures when he enriched his friendes and subiectes And Constance the Emperour had often in his mouth that it were better that publike riches and appertayning to a king were possessed by priuate men then kept in a coffer or treasury And for the ease of the Empire he vsed onelye earthen vessell and was content with little for as Seneca writeth he is as great which vseth earthen vessell as siluer and siluer as if they were earth Cato Cicero and Titus Liuius teacheth vs a meanes to meete with auarice in taking away all riotousnesse and superfluous expence as sundry common weales and Empires haue done Pluto was called Dis that is to say the God of riches and hell as if too great wealth made the way more easie for vs. And the Poets faine that the Furies were the daughters of Pluto and Proserpina allotted to great reuenewes as if the aboundaunce thereof tooke away our vnderstanding except God enclined vs to vse it better And with great consideration did Lycurgus king of Sparta abolishe the vse of all gold and siluer as the very occasion and subiect of the wickednesse which man committed And Plinie wished that gold mought be cleane rooted out as if it had beene first found out for the ruine and destruction of mans life esteeming that age happye in which those things changed Artaxerxes was wont to saye that it was farre more royall to adde then to take away And Isocrates wrote to Nicocles that he shoulde bee more esteemed of in giuing then taking for these respectes one ought not easily to receiue a present and to charge himselfe hereby with a further recompense except hee wilbee polluted with that vilanous vice of ingratitude heretofore described If we consider the intents of the most parte of men we shal find they tend to the heaping vp of wealth to ioyn stone and wood one vpon another without once thinking of the life of the soule as though we had none at all The which causeth me to remember an aphorisme of Hipocrates They saith he which in their sicknes feele no paine at al tosse tumble their clothes teare their hayre and pill strawe it is a verie yll signe and no apparance at all that they shall liue For it is lesse decent to settle our wittes vppon heaping vp of riches then to drawe a peece of cloth of golde through a sinke And such as are giuen thereto are cleane out of taste as they are which haue the greene sicknes who loue to eate coales and ashes which is a strange cacochimie and corruption of nature And riches do not consist but in opinion and estrange vs from God Themistocles said that it was verie requisite for the chiefe of an armie to knowe the enemies councel yea aunswered Aristides but it is more decent and praise worthie to haue pure hands As Pericles was also wont to saie And if wee shoulde put in practise the iudgements of K. Cambises who caused a Iudge to bee fleade which was corrupted with brybes and fastened his skinne to the seat which afterwarde he caused his sonne to holde that of Darius who for the like cause caused one to be hanged and of a Bishop of Cologne who caused the eyes of sixe of his counsellors to be put out and left one to the seuenth which had taken least of any to the ende he mought guide the rest through the citie thereby shewing how much himselfe detested to bee corrupted with bribes there would be an infinite number at this time flead hanged made blind I could here discourse howe great miseries auarice breedeth how much it ought to be detested resembling the diuel from whence it is sprong which deliuereth vp his followers to the hangman breaketh their necke after that hee hath a while colled thē but ynough of others haue entreated therof And the holy scripture causeth vs often times to flye it as a plague and roote of al euil a bottomles pit making vs sustaine much euil to attaine vnto euil to turmoile toyle ones selfe to pleasure his heire who is often time vnknowen And the better hap a man hath to attaine therunto the more is he accursed in being more tormēted with the feuers of the mind vnquietnes Not without cause do they compare a couetous man to one in a dropsie or to him which hath bin stong by that dangerous serpēt Dipsas both which are neuer satisfied with drinke vntil they dye therwith And it was wisely saide that the poore man wanteth but a litle and the wise man al things that he neuer doth good vntil he dye the longer he liueth the more he tormenteth himselfe S. Chrisostome often times preached that the more money a man heaped togither the more he coueted that with great welth pouertie encreased And Salomon writeth He that is greedie of gaine troubleth his owne house but he that hateth gifts shal liue the couetous are excluded out of the kingdō of God 1. Cor. 6. Ephes ◠2. Tim. 6. Seneca writeth that if couetousnes do once surprise youth she wil strangle it before she wil leaue it It is a strange matter to see how many are withdrawn from the feare of God through riches wealth which notwithstanding proceed but frō his liberalitie therfore ought rather to make the possessors of thē more deuout affectionate vnto his seruice And
is murmuring to whome are wounds without cause and to whome is the rednes of eyes Euen to them that tarrie long at wine to them that go seeke mixt wine And S Paul exhorteth vs to walke honestly as in the day not in gluttonie drunkennes neither in chambering wantonnes nor in strife enuying because ther is euer great dissolutenes riotousnes losenes in al such excesse The gluttō the drunkard shal be poore saith Salomon especially forbiddeth it to Princes as both Eccl. Isaiah doe And it was not amisse saide that wine hath drowned more then the sea Plutarque in the life of Cleomenes writeth that Ptolome Philopater so named in mockerie saith Zonarus because hee put to death both his father and mother was destroyed through Wine and Weomen and dyed like a beast Another Ptolome was tearmed the bellie man because of his gluttonie Callicratidas being sent to Cyrus after that he had remained certaine dayes not had any audience by reason the King was retired occupied in continual banquets feastings it was thought meete he should returne without doing any thing saying that as there was great reason they shoulde haue consideration of their weale so ought they to commit nothing vnworthie of Sparta Caesar writeth in his commentaries that the Almanes would not suffer any wine to be brought Men in olde time set downe three most necessarie pointes to continue health to eat without being ful to labour without sparing ones self and to preserue his seede There hath beene also certaine Priestes which woulde neuer vse salt with their meate because it sharpened appetit and prouoked to eate drinke more fearing to be fat and least that diuine part which was in them shoulde be pressed downe and kept vnder by the mortall And thereunto that the extremitie in good point according to the opinion of Physitions is verie dangerous the excellencie of too much welfare enclineth towarde the opposite Iosephus describing the manner of liuing of three sortes of Philosophers or sects in Iudea especially of the Esseniens highly commended them because they loued trueth neuer did eat or drink ought whereby nature mought be offended by reason of their great sobrietie they liued long in health some vnto a hundred yeares And truely it is a great meane to liue happily when a mans bodie is wel disposed and in good temper not drowned with wine nor grieued with meates readie to be imployed in any actiō he desireth The which also moued Plato to call intemperancie a roote proper to euery disease And Gorgias being demanded how he attained to so great yeres of a hundred eight aunswered in neuer hauing eaten or done any thing through pleasure The old prouerb saith much meate much maladie And verie wisely was Socrates wont to say that such as were accustomed to frugalitie continencie enioy great pleasure delight aswel for the quiet of their conscience as good disposition of their body And for as much as in ancient time fish was accounted a more deintie exquisite kind of meat then flesh they which often fed theron were called by an infamous name Opsophagi gluttons wantons This is the reason why in Titus Liuius barrennesse is preferred before frutefulnes because that men in a fat soyle are often times cowards lubberly fellowes in a hungrie they are more industrious sober and painfull as experience teacheth vs. And whensoeuer wee haue a mynde to eate let vs consider that we haue to banquit both the soule and body togeather following the aduise of Epictetus After that Alexander had vanquished Darius he caused a goodly pillar to be hewen downe and burst in peeces wherein was engrauen the order and quantitie of such meates as were euery daye set before the Kinges of Persia saying that it was not fitte for kings to learne to suppe so prodigally and sumptuously And Diodorus the Sicilian writeth that there were lawes set down to the kinges of Aegypt not onely to shewe what they ought vnto their subiectes but also to serue as a rule and dyet of their owne perticular And Zonarus after Xenophon in his Pedia writeth that all the youth of Persia at schooles and places where they learned and exercised were neuer nourished but with bread and water some time for better cheere sayth Cordamus they added a fewe Cresses And they neuer eate vntill they had done their ordinarie taske The which in his second booke he writeth was also enioyned to souldiars and in that countrey it was a very great dishonour for one to shewe himselfe subiect to naturall eiections which they neuer knew to doe but with abstinence moderatenesse and good diet thorough which togeather with their exercise they consumed and diuerted such superfluities and humors as proceeded from too great nourishment Socrates in Xenophon wisheth such as would liue in health to beware of meates which entised them to eate when they had no appetite and of drinkes which prouoked them to drinke when they had no thirst teaching vs onely to vse that which wee haue neede of in ioyning pleasure togeather with necessitie Iulius Caesar Augustus Titus Vespatian Traian Tacitus Alexander Seuerus and Charlemagne grew most famous for that they vsed so great sparing and their table talke was more accounted of then great fare And they made ordinances vpon expenses for the preseruation of health and sparing of the giftes of God It is written of Vespasian that once a moneth he would fast one whole daye And of Cato that for the most part he neuer eate but of breade and beefe and neuer dranke but water with which sometime he mingled a little vineger The like is sayde of Scipio Fabritius was founde by the Samnite Embassadors feeding of Turnups which he rosted between the cenders Massinissa King of the Numides neuer did eate but of rauell bread and very simple meate without sauce and that but once a day according to the auncient order Hannibal neuer vsed other ordinarie then the worst of his souldiers And Cicero alleadgeth the saying of Plato that it was verye strange to see one feede twise on one day And he which sayth that the life of a sober man and one that is content with litle resembleth him which maketh a voyage in the spring time by little iourneys through a pleasant fertill countrey cōpareth it very fitly and ought to withdrawe vs Frenchmen frō so great wantonnes for which the very Turkes haue founde fault with vs as Paulus Iouius writeth At Rome in old time wine was forbid vnto womē the which the inhabitants of Marseilles long time obserued We see likewise that vessels when they are more frayght then they are able to cary do sinke euen so fareth it with such as eate drinke too much As it is written in Eccl. Excesse of meates bringeth sickenes gluttony cōmeth into cholericke diseases By surfet many perisheth but he
that dieteth himselfe prolongeth his life And Socrates was wont to say that there is no differēce between a cholericke man a beast As also Xenophon declareth in his Pedia cōmending k. Cyrus for his sobriety for that he exercised vntill he sweat And in the 2. booke of the deeds sayings of Socrates he aduised a mā neuer to contract amity with any that is too much addicted to their belly to drinking eating sleeping drowsines couetousnes Who will haue pittie on the charmer that is stinged with the serpent As Eccl. writeth lesse pittie then ought ther to be had of him which suffreth himselfe to be throwen down hedlong through pleasure which is said to resēble the theeues of Aegypt called Philistes which euer made much of the people embrased such as they had a mind to strangle And Isocrates called her a traytor deceiuer hangmā cruel beast and tyrant God by his prophet Amos greatly threatned those that loue to liue delicately as also did our sauiour by the example of the wicked rich man And S. August vpon the 41. Psalme alledgeth the old saying that the incontinent mā calleth vpon death As also the prouerbe carieth of a short pleasure cōmeth a long displeasure And there lyeth poyson euer hiddē the hooke is couered with a baite And we must behold thē behind not before as Aristotle coūselleth vs. For plesures seeme very beautiful before as do the Sirenes sundry other monsters but behind they traine a long vgly serpents taile Whordome is also forbidden by god the immoderate vse of the act of venery ought to be shunned as altering drying marring the body weakning all the ioynts mēbers making the face blobbed yellow shortning life diminishing memory vnderstanding and the very heart as Hosea sayth S. Paul in the first to the Thessalonians writeth that the will of God is our sanctification and that we should abstaine from fornication that euerie one should knowe howe to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour and not in the lust of concupiscence In the first to the Corinthians he exhorteth vs to flye it because he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne bodie that is to say he doth iniurie it profaning and defileth the pouertie and holinesse thereof he sayth further that of the members of Christ we make them the members of an harlot and profane the temple of the holy Ghost and that being bought with great price we are not our owne but Gods and therefore should glorifie him in our bodie and spirite Publicke honestie lyeth there violate and as Cupid was made blinde so do they which are bewitched with this foolish loue stayne and abandone their owne honour wealth libertie and health For this cause Salomon compared the whoremonger to an oxe that goeth to the slaughter and to a foole to the stockes for correction and to a byrde that hasteneth to the snare not knowing that he is in daunger We reade what happened to Dina the Beniamites and Dauid And histories are full of examples of mischiefes which haue ensued thereon And he which committeth that sinne wrappeth and setteth an other as far in and sinneth not alone By Gods lawe adulterie was punished by death Gen. 20. Leu. 22. and according to the ciuill lawe Instit de pub iud Sicut lib. Iulia. de adult lib. in ius C. But to cast off so daungerous a vipor we must craue at Gods hand that he wil bestowe of vs a pure and chast hart that we may liue soberly auoide idlenesse all foule and filthy cōmunication be it by mouthe writing or picture Ezechiel attributeth the sinne of Sodom to fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenes Dauid prayed to God to turne his eyes from vanitie Psalm 119. and Iob said I made a couenant with my eyes why then should I thinke on a mayde And in Gen. 6. the children were blamed that kept not their eyes but looked on fayre women as also did Sichem Gen. 34. and Putifer his wife Gen. 39. and Ammon 2. Sam. 13. Notwithstanding as Isocrates sayde that a lesse labour and greefe is made not to be left through a greater so doe those pleasures which proceede from vertuous and honourable actions as from temperance continencie and other vertues cleane mortifie with their ioye and greatnesse such as come only from the body which engender nothing but gowtes sciaticas cholicques palsies greefes of the stomacke tremblinges leprosies panges vomits inflammations and other daungerous accidents And when we feele heauinesse and wearisomnesse in our members head akes or stitches in our side which for the most part proceed frō crudities lacke of digestion we must not perswad our selues to doe as before and as they say to cach heare from a beast but rest quietly and obserue good dyet and long before to foresee the storme that is at hande And when we goe to visite such as are sicke and vnderstand the cause of their diseases we ought to looke into our selues according to Plato his councell and see whether we commit not the like excesse to the ende we may take heede by an other bodies harme and to stande vppon our gardes and consider howe precious a thing health is And let vs thankefully receiue at Gods hande such instructions as by chastising of vs he sendeth by reason of our intemperancie to the end we may learne to preuent such as may happen vnto vs. And as king Antigonus sayd that sicknesse had warned him not to waxe proude so ought wee to learne to humble our selues and to liue better for that God sendeth that as a meanes as well to vs as other to awake vs and keepe vs within the boundes of our dewetie For vices are as the very proper inheritance of man which wee must seeke to correct taking awaye from goods a vehement couetousnesse and vnbridled greedinesse and from euils feare and sorrowe which come but from conceite the very cause of vnquietnesse and perturbation which putteth me in minde often times of the saying of an auncient father that as the body in health easely endureth both colde and heate and maketh his profit of all kinde of meates so doth the Christian which hath his soule well compounded moderate anger ioye and all other affections which offende both body and soule Hippocrates aboue all thinges recommendeth to a Phisitian that he should well aduise himselfe if in plagues and ordinary diseases he founde nothinge which was diuine that is to saye whether the hande of God were not the proper causes of the sickenesse of the partie diseased For truely he often times sendeth sickenesse for remedies and meanes to withdrawe those whome he loueth from eternall ruyne And to punish such excesse he armeth grashoppers noysome flies wormes frostes windes plagues warre dewes and vapors of the earth As before we declared those thinges which they call euils are as great helpes to
Agesilaus certaine refreshinges of corne foule comfits baked meates and other exquisite fare and most daintie wine He tooke the corne only and commanded such as brought it to carry away the rest as a thing which hee had no neede of but in the end thorough the great instancie which they made vnto him he tooke them and willed them to make diuision thereof among the slaues telling them that it was not meete for such as made profession of valor and prowesse to receiue such nice daynties and that which is proper and serueth to a seruile nature ought not to agree with such as are of a franke free courage A Lacedemonian answered one that wondered howe he could liue so sparingly considering he was of such wealth that it was an honest matter when one hauing great store of riches could notwithstanding liue according vnto reason and not appetite And Archidamus tolde one that had promised to giue him excellent wine that that would serue but to make one drinke more and become lesse man Too much sleeping also fatteth and diminisheth the spirits of life and of time And not without cause sayd a Philosopher that it annoyed the bodie the minde and all businesse except it were moderated to suffice nature egalling our felicitie with an other miserie and that like vnto a tole gatherer it tooke away the halfe part of our life And if as Plutarke Varro and Plinie wrote to liue is to watch then they which sleepe doe not properly liue as they write of Epaminondas who after that he had killed one of his souldiers that was set to watch because he founde him sleepinge aunswered that he left him in the same estate he founde him in Frō whence I imagine the custome first grewe of which I spake before to awake the Kinges of Persia and Macedonia earely to put them in minde to take care of that which God had committed vnto their charge Hesiodus describeth vertue vnto vs to be enuironed with sweate watching and great trauaile And we see that sluggishnesse maketh both mind and bodie to languish And if the ayre in which we liue and the waters were not tossed with windes there would be nought else but corruption Quintus Cursius writeth of Alexander and of the Lacedemonians and Titus Liuius of Hannibal and the Carthaginians that they which were not able to be ouercome and vanquished by their enemies and infinite harmes which they endured were notwithstanding cleane destroyed through delights and pleasures And the Poets wrote of Perseus that through the ayde of Minerua he cut off Gorgons head which turned men into stones vnderstanding therby that Princes through wisedome haue surmounted pleasures which make men as blockish as images And we see by experience that the poore hath this aduantage ouer the rich that they are exempt frō pleasure The which Curius Corancanus wel knowing when it was told thē that some referred all to plesure said wold to god that the Samnites Pirrhus had bin as wel perswaded herein to the end that giuing thēselues to pleasure they mought more easely haue bin vanquished And many haue sayd that all pleasure was followed by enemies it is to be coniectured that it was not thorough folly that sundry emperors haue made al the spider cobwebs through out the citie of Rome to be gathered heaped togeather created a Senate of weomen led their armies to the sea shore to gather cockles as though there were want of enimies to stand catching of flies but it was to auoide idlenes rather to occupie their souldiers in such trifles toyes then quarels to sel smoke rather thē to do worse which likewise as Plinie wrote moued thē which builded those so wonderfull Pyramides where about one of thē 300. and threescore thousand men wrought the space of 20. yeares yet he writeth that their remēbrance was clean lost which spent so much treasure and time in such vanities And it had bin much more commendable to haue bestowed that time expence in matters profitable to the common wealth Gelon after that he had vanquished the Carthaginians led the Siracusians often times into the field to labour and plant as well as to warre to the end to enrich their lande and that they should not waxe worse in doing nothing The auncient prouerbe carieth that the Gods sell riches vnto men for their trauayle So following Galens counsell who so would be in health ought to liue soberly and to take paynes except he will cosen him selfe as we see that all thinges alter except they be put in vse A great Lorde tolde Kinge Alphonsus that hee toyled too much to whome hee aunswered thinkest thou that God and nature haue giuen handes vnto Kinges in vayne And if they desire to liue in health why should they seeke the contrarie thorough idlenesse and delightes As Salomon teacheth in his Prouerbes Ease slayeth the foolishe and the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them Our forefathers counselled vs to exercise our bodie and minde equally togeather as a couple of horses sette in a coach togeather And Zenon was woont to saye that the life of schoolers that is to saye of such as are giuen to idle studie dyffereth not from the voluptuous and Epicurians For knowledge and studie ought as well to profitte other as ones owne selfe And for as muche as idlenesse draweth to vnprofytable and dishonest games heere were a verye good place to shewe the mischiefes noysomnesse blasphemies and cosonage that they carie with them and to prayse Chilon the Lacedemonian who returned from Corinth without deliuering what he had in charge because he found the gouernors playing at dice. And it were very requisite that the good ordinaunces which are made therefore were well obserued The which Alphonsus forbad to those in his court and to all his subiectes not permitting them to playe vnder a great forfaiture And in Turkie he was noted of great infamie which played for money and greeuous paines are appointed if he returne to it againe Sundrye haue written that King Cyrus to punish them of Sardes commanded them to passe away their time in playes and banquets therby to render them lesse men and keepe thē from rebellion It were very requisite that all playing at chance and hazard were banished out of France as well in deed as they are by the edictes by the lawe Martia sundry other Euery man may see how many young gentlemen haue beene cleane vndon by playing at cardes and dice by gluttonie drunkennesse whordome expences and excesse which proceede thereof I will not for all that mislike honest pastime and yet we ought to be sorrie with Apelles if we scape a day without drawing a line or with Cato the Censor if through negligence we haue neyther done nor learned any thing that is good and at night call all our actions to account and see what losse we haue made of the
a liue man and one dead Aristippus aunswered likewise sende them into a farre countrey and then you shall knowe and there is nothing but knowledge which causeth a man to bee esteemed And the oracle giuen vnto the Greeks of the doubling of the house was interpreted by the wise men that it was ment thereby that they should leaue armes and conuerse with the Muses and learning which would mollifie their passions and driue away ignorance and procure courage and good councell as Agesilaus maintained that the lawes of Lycurgus bread a contempt of pleasures To accustome youth in like sorte to followe vertue to brydle passions and choler to shunne vice and lying to enter into consideration how good and vertuous personages haue in all times behaued themselues to remember the harmes happened to the wicked and the blessings and honours which haue accompanied the good bredeth a great quiet al the life long because such a custom hath a maruailous efficacie in aduauncing of a man And betimes is the iudgement that proceedeth from an euil custome to be corrected the which in a vile nature doeth ofte by processe of time throwe downe and abase our mindes and render vs contemptible The which may be helped and amended through vertuous exercises For if that resistance which reason maketh to the appetite of eating and drinking forceth verie often hunger thirst much more easie shal it be for one to cut off couetousnes ambition pride enuie choler curiositie lying and other vices by refraining and abstaining from those things which he coueteth so as in the end they shall al remaine cleane discomfited To abstain also from pleasures which are permitted is a good exercise to meete with such as are forbidden I leaue here to declare howe much France was dishonored when as the Polakes made their entrie into Paris accompanied with the French gentlemen who for the most parte were dome not able to speake or vnderstand Latine and were rather brought vp to wear a rapiar be their syde ryde a horse danse and playe at fense then to haue skill in languages and artes with which the verie Barbarians in old time were adorned honoured became more valiant in the warres As Alexander and sundry other great Captaines and Princes haue confessed Yea him selfe grew extreme angry that Aristotle had published his Metaphisicks because he said he had rather a desire to passe all others in learning and knowledge then in armes and force And wee before haue noted that he attributed all his victories to what hee had learned of Philosophie The Emperour Antonin the Philosopher went himselfe to seeke out learned men in their owne houses saying that it verie well became a man yea though he were olde to learne what hee was ignorant of The which Cato and other of our lawyers haue affirmed And Paulus Iouius writeth of Charles the fifth that his schoolemaster Adrian who since was Pope did with verie greate cause often times foretell him that hee woulde greatly repent that in his youth hee had not learned the Latine tongue For it is verie requisite that youth be brought vp in that parte of learning which is called humanitie because that without the discipline thereof the worlde shoulde liue but brutishly And that it bee accustomed to make account of lawes and superiours and to keepe a straight discipline in the manner of life which it chooseth be it in warre and defence of their countrie And a man followeth all his life longe his first addressinge in his youth As if a tree blossome not in the spring it will hardly beare fruit in the Autumne The which ought to stirre parents to chastise their children and to make them to bee diligently taught and not to pamper them As Plinie writeth of Apes which choak their little ones in imbrasing them too harde And wee ought greatly to weigh the saying of Origen that the sinnes which the euill nurtured and vnchastised children commit shalbee layde to the fathers charge as it is sayde in Samuel of Ely And if it be written of Xenocrates that his auditours of dissolute became temperate and modest what fruite are wee to thinke that youth will beare through the sweetenesse and benignitie of the Muses That is through the knowledge of learning which as Plutarque writeth in the life of Sertorius causeth them to tame and sweeten their nature which before was wylde and sauage holdinge the meane by the compasse of reason and reiectinge the extreame And Lycurgus the lawgiuer sayde that hee neuer vsed to set downe his lawes in writinge because such as had beene well nourished woulde approoue and followe whatsoeuer were moste expedient for the time Which was the cause of the lawes so muche commended by Diodorus that children shoulde bee brought vp in learninge at the publicke expense To bee shorte good bringing vp of youth maketh it to bee true constant and ioyfull For hauing a good conscience true comforte and resolution which sweeteneth all the bitternesse of this life and knowinge the causes why God hath alwayes beene accustomed to punish his maketh them carrie all thinges cheerefully not doubtinge but that hee loueth and hath a fatherly care ouer them So doe they repose themselues vppon the assurance of this good will and endeuour to obey him and dye with a good hope acquitinge them selues of their duetie Sundrie haue greatly commended the lawes of the Lydes because they depriued such children as were not vertuous from their enheritaunce which caused them to correcte their naughtie inclinations and to shunne vice as also they had certaine officers in sundrye prouinces which tooke care of youth and punished the parentes which did not well bringe vp their children And for as much as it is a great happinesse vnto a countrey when the Prince hath beene well instructed Plato in his Alcibiades and Xenophon doe write that out of the whole realme of Persia were foure moste sufficient men chosen to bringe vp the Kinges children the one in learninge the seconde to teache them all their life to bee true the thirde to instruct them to commaunde their passions and not to addicte themselues to pleasures the fourth to make them hardie and couragious Wee ought to make our profite of the lamentation which the Prophet Baruche made in that the young sought after wisedome vppon the earth and became expounders of fables and knewe not the waye of wisedome which was the cause of their destruction Dauid also founde no meanes for a young man to redresse his waye but in takinge heede thereto according to Gods worde The Apostle admonished Timothie to flye from the lustes of youth and to humble the fleshe to the spirite to the ende no aduauntage bee giuen vnto the enimie which will bee an euill token for the rest of the course which is to bee runne all our life longe And Saint Peter commaundeth young men to bee wise modest and humble
Saint Paul ioyneth shamefastnesse and grauitie of which hee desireth Titus to bee the patrone And Ecclesiasti cus willeth them to giue no eare vnto the enchauntrise for feare-of beeing surprised And as wee haue before mentioned offices and riches which are lefte vnto children are sometime the verie cause of their destruction except the knowledge and feare of God bee imprinted within them For this cause Ecclesiastes writeth Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth whiles the euill dayes come not And Ieremiah in his Lamentations sayeth It is good for a man that he beare the yoke in his youth because young men become vnruely except they be helde short God also sayd of Abraham I know that hee wil command his sonnes and his housholde after him that they keepe the way of the Lord to do rightuousnes and iudgement And in Deuteromie I will cause them heare my wordes that they may learne to feare mee all the dayes that they shal liue vpon the earth and that they may teache their children And euery Christian is commaunded to followe al things that are honest towards al men and to auoide all apparances of euil referring all to the glorie of God and betimes to accustome himselfe thereunto to the end that more easily he may broke the stormes of this life and without any trouble wade out of all businesse And to this ende is euery man to beseeche at Gods handes that hee will lighten him through his word and bend his hart therein to obey him From this good education proceedeth great happines obedience to God their King and superiors choyse of vertuous men without money rewardes or offices and euery man perfourmeth his duetie the better in that vocation to which he is called and followeth other lessons and reformations noted at large before CHAP. XLIX Of certaine points which might be added to this discourse THis matter which we haue vndertaken to discourse of is so frutefull and ample that I were able to heap sundrie Chapters one vppon another containing summarily what the office of Kings Prelates Clergie Captaines soldiars merchants and artificers maisters seruants fathers children Iudges counsellers practisers at the law is therein to discouer the abuse and periurie which is vsed in this time There were also verie great meanes to dilate at large of the inconuenience which sophistrie bringeth the which the lawiers terme cauilling when from trueth through some alteration the disputation is brought to that which is most euidently false In old time it was terribly detested for it corrupted all artes and disciplines and bread sundrie heresies and false opinions I were able likewise to set downe howe many cosin themselues which in mariage respect more the wealth and beautie then modestie good education of a mayde and are not so much husbandes vnto their wiues as slaues vnto their wealth for which they abandon that commaundement and authoritie which God and all lawes haue aforded vnto them ouer their wiues ouer whome they ought to rule not as the lorde ouer his seruant but as our Lorde and sauiour Iesus Christ doeth ouer his Church and the soule ouer the bodie through a mutuall loue and reciprocrate affection wherewith he is tyed vnto it And Salomon calleth the contract of marriage the contract of God as more excellent than any other Lycurgus Solon and the twelue lawes ordained that maydens should be marryed without dower for the causes before specified And some haue written of the Aegiptians that if any receiued money with his wife he remained as a slaue vnto her And in Plautus he which was cast in the teeth that he had nothing with his wife aunswered that if euerie one would do like him there would be better agreement and amitie among the citizens and their wiues woulde honour them much more and be lesse chargeable vnto them Strabo commended the lawes of the Massiliens which forbad him which was richest to giue with his daughter aboue one hundred crownes and ten for her apparel and iewels And it were verie requisite that the good lawes in France made to this ende mought be better obserued And likewise as a matter depending hereunto there were ministred verie great occasion of reprehending and detesting such as they terme tyers of pointes which oppose themselues against that holie contract and ordinance of God and his commaundement and are the cause of diuorces enmities whoredomes and other euils combating with the Maiestie of God and damning themselues through a secret alliance which they make with Sathan It were not also much out of the way to shewe what a pernitious lye they incurre which from the byrth of their daughter bring her vp so delicate that shee is lesse fit to performe the part of a good houswife and is alwayes more sickely seruing rather as a picture or dead image then fit to holde that place which shee ought And to declare withall the great iniurie which weomen offer vnto their children in denying that milke vnto them with which they were nourished within their wombe with great paine and greefe drying vp that holy fountaine of their breastes giuen of God to that ende bannishing their children into the handes of a strange nource often times a whore drunke pockie and euill conditioned of which the saide children sauour all their life long as wee see by experience too much Lampidius writeth that Titus was subiect to sundrie diseases by reason of his Nurce And Dion that Caligula was the more cruell by the nature of his Nurce and that shee rubbed the end of her teat with bloud And that Tiberius sundrie other were giuen to wine hauing bin weaned with sops steped in wine The which we see in lambs nourished by goats in seeds fruits which hold of the earth I leaue al other reasons recited by Aulus Gellius And for as much as an Embassadour sent from a Prince is as his eye his eare his tongue bindeth him by what he promiseth it had not bin impertinent to haue discoursed how in choise to be made of him his honestie age experience integritie learning dexteritie grauitie ought to be considered because by his carryage of himself traine strangers do oftē time iudge of the whole nation as if he had bin chosen out of the moste excellent And it were verie conuenient to send with him some nūber of yong gētlemē wel brought vp to make them capable of the like charges to learn the passages fashions alliances maners of the countrie to fyle pollish their own brayne with strangers I coulde also describe the inconueniences which arise by Masques which disguise both the bodie minde causeth great impudencie the verie cause of so manylyes vncomly speaches of the execution of so great wickednes S. Ciprian entreating of the apparell of virgins alleageth to this purpose the exāple of Iudges who whē he saw Thamar iudged her a
whore for she had couered her face And God in Zephaniah threateneth that he will visit the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparel And it was forbidden to men to weare weomens garments to weomen to wear mens And an account must be rendred of euery idle word And as S. Paul alleaged of Menander euil wordes corrupt good manners The which moued sundry wel gouerned common wealths to forbid masques vpon great paines in England of death It had bin no ways impertinent to haue shewed how much Princes haue abused themselues rather in taking care giuing themselues to conquer cities countries make great buildings then to preserue wel gouerne what they haue alreadie gotten and to maintaine those houses which haue beene left vnto them verie commodious As Augustus the Emperour greatly wondered to see that Alexander did not esteeme it so great a matter and honour to gouerne wel an Empire alreadie conquered left as to conquer a greate countrye and preferre necessarie and profitable expenses before voluptuous According to the disposition of the law likewise the legacie or gifte that is appointed for to be employed about a newe buylding ought to be conuerted to the repairing and amending of the olde in the latter lawe D. de operibus publ l. decuriones de administr re ad ciu pert I mought also speake howe Idolatrie the gods of the Pagan first began and how they were left according vnto the prophesie of Ieremie that The gods which haue not made the heauens and the earth shall perish I coulde also blame the condition of hucksters sellers by retayl in that as Cicero writeth they gain nothing except they lye which was before confirmed by Ecclesiasticus I mought also amplifie howe deepely they lye which liue wickedly dishonor and periure themselues that they may leaue their heires riche which often times are such as loue them not The dissolutenesse which is too much spread throughout France woulde haue required a discourse vpon the law which was made to forbid Tauernes and playing at dyce and cardes considering the inconueniences which daily happen thereby and that in Turkie all playe is punished by infamie great penalties as Cuspinien writeth One might also shew how much they deceiue themselues which couet to come to extreme old age because that the long life is not the better but the more vertuous And as it is written in the book of wisdom the honorable age is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And many haue esteemed them most happy which haue changed this miserable life with an immortal before such time as the discōmodities wearisomnes of old age hath crept vpon them And besides the assured testimonie which we haue out of the holye scriptures Aristotle wrote that when Silenus was taken he saide the condition of dead men was better then of the liuing And Pliny after that he had in the beginning of his seuenth booke shewed at large the miseries of mē concluded that nature gaue nothing better then a short life Notwithstanding to the faithful no estate of liuing cōmeth amisse since they wholy refer themselues to the wil of God taketh euery thing in good part as a blessing proceedinge from his hand We mought also shew how pernitiously they lye which clippe washe and delaye coyne as the Poet Dante called Philip the fayre a falsefier of coyne because by reason of his affayres hee was constrayned to delaye his siluer And very wisely did the Emperour Tacitus forbid the mingling of mettalles in his coyne where there ought to be a correspondance and proportion betweene the gold and siluer or other metall in which now a dayes sundry pernitious faults are committed Consequently I could describe the vanitie of alquemie which hath empouerished those which haue vsed it and turned the golde which they haue put therto into smoke whereof we dayly see but too many examples the which gaue occasion to Domitian to cause all the bookes to be burned which he was able to finde out I could also set forth the fault which they commit who put too much trust in dreames according as Ecclesiasticus hath written that Dreames haue deceiued many and they haue fayled which haue put their trust therein And Lucian in the citie of sleepe which he describeth in which dreams do dwell saith that they are all cosenners and lyers It were also a very large matter to write of to shewe howe albeit that blinde men choose some one to leade them yet an infinite number of persons which haue their iudgement and wit blinded and goe groping at all their businesse wandering without knowing the way which they ought to holde doe not for all that seeke ether councell or guide and are meruelously polluted with the same fault which they finde in an other and in their owne ignoraunce become Censors ouer other mens manners It were not likewise vnprofitable to declare howe daungerous a matter superstition is the which is so fruitefull that of one error or lye it engendreth a great number and thorough a kinde of sleight simplicitie or false apparence it cleane chooketh the truth and is for this cause termed in the holy scripture whoredome and adulterie violating the promise which we haue before made vnto God We mought likewise extoll the saintes in all ages which haue taken paines to maintayne the truth agaynst lying and to make a register of all vertues and abuses which are committed I could likewise enlarge sundrye Chapters in shewing howe daungerously they doe lye who after so many examples and experiences ruynes defacinges desolations and mischiefes happened in Fraunce desire for all that that men woulde yet the fifth time cast themselues hedlong into a ciuill warre couering their passion with a cloake of religion which is setled in the vnderstanding the which can not be gayned but thorough a perswasion founded vpon the holy and canonicall scriptures and not by violence or constraynt as Saint Augustine in sundrie places and other auncient fathers haue maintayned And the warre which is not necessarily vndertaken is an enimie to religion iustice order reformation and good manners and as the Emperour Iustinian writeth it carrieth great greefe to euerie good man it is brutish dissolute and without all ho especiall the ciuil which is miserable and moste pernitious as well in regarde of the victorers as of the vanquished as Cicero affirmeth in sundry places and in his Philippiques he adiudgeth him which desireth it to be a most detestable citizen It were not also a matter much different from that which we now discourse of if I should set downe the opinion of Plinie which affirmeth that there are no lyes more dearely solde nor more daungerous then those of the
is written in the Prouerbes that it is a greater honour for a man to ouercome him selfe and commaunde his passions then to rase cities and castles It is that which God requireth by his Prophetes to cut off the forskinne of the heart The which Saint Paul to the Romaines recōmended to the end we should cut off the bad thoughts and desires of reuenge And the Platonists sayde that the shortest way to returne vnto God was to mortifie our affections and that vertue was a victorie of reason ouer passions I thinke they longe a goe that wrote so much of monsters perils tyrants and theues vanquished by Hercules Theseus Vlysses and Iason ment thereby to teach vs that men vertuously disposed and well taught haue subdued their pleasures desire of reuenge inconstancie lightnes intēperancie other passions and vices Which also the Poetes figureth by Eolus which moderateth keepeth in his winds The most valiant Lacedemonians highly extolled him that endureth an iniury And a Philosopher gaue counsell if he which harmed vs were weaker then our selues to pardon him if more mightie to pardon our selues And by the lawe of God and man all wayes of reuenge are forbidden and reconciliation atonement commanded by God the King and the lawes and the peacemakers are called the heires and children of God who will neuer pardon vs if we pardon not those offences which other haue committed towards vs. S. Augustine calleth the obedience which we render to God the mother and garden of all vertues And when our sauiour in S. Mathew calleth the meeke blessed some haue reduced to them that are not mooued with iniuries And S. Paul commaundeth vs to liue peaceably one with an other The which we haue handled else where and deserueth to be againe repeated for that point in which the nobilitie iudgeth all honour to consist but amisse and being carryed without the barres of reason they hazard themselues to the peril both of their corporall and spirituall life willing to be the accuser and slayer of themselues the witnesse iudge and hangman of such as they pretende to haue offended them And it is not possible to reuenge themselues but thorough a thousande perturbations which causeth them cleane to depart from tranquillitie which an auncient writer termed to eate out ones heart to offend ones selfe more then his enimie And often times thorough a little miscontentment which we coyne to our selues we enter into choler and melancholy forgetting the pleasures we receiue else where and as if we were bewicthed suffer our selues to be so transported S. Iohn in his first epistle calleth him a lyar that sayth he loueth God and hateth his brother and we ought not to haue respect to a corrupt custome or opinion but to that which God and the King commaundeth For as Demosthenes was wisely wont to say VVe liue and rule by lawes not by examples We reade in good aucthors that in olde time that wordes were neuer reuenged but by wordes and neuer came to handstrokes I counsell the nobilitie likewise not to differ anie resolution in a good matter For slacknesse doth often time make that harde which is most easie to be brought to passe in his time As the losse of the Romane legions was attributed to the negligence of Varus And it is a very easie matter to note an infinite number of losses happened through such slackings The answere which Alexander the great made to him which asked him how he had gayned subdued al Asia in so short a time is to be recommended to all Captaines following Homers precept neuer to differre or omit what was to be done Which was in like sort reported by Iulius Caesar and the olde prouerbe is very notable He that will not when he may deserueth when he would to haue a nay and to abide the smart of it The sayde Caesar sheweth likewise howe much quicknesse and diligence is profitable to the ende wee should not giue time to our enemies astonied to assemble themselues but to vse the victorie not tarying about the pillage I will not here forget to exhort them to shunne all inconstancie in religion fayth and doctrine not to varie nor suffer themselues to be carryed about with euerie winde of doctrine as Saint Paule teacheth vs and Saint Iames Chap. 1. and 3. Constancie is preserued by patience as Tertullian declared in the booke hee made and Impatience is the cause of all mischeiues It is also necessarie to prouide for that which they so much reprooch French men with that is that they commence and pursue manie thinges happely enough but for lacke of constancie staydenesse and discretion they neuer come to the ende of their enterprises and neuer consider that they which doe not so lightly runne about their businesse proceeding with a ripenesse of iudgement and a more stayde brayne carryeth away the honour and profitte of their enterprises wisely vndertaken and couragiously executed CHAP. 13. That the truth findeth good that which many feare and flie and giueth contentment IT were no small happinesse if in life we put in practise that which we haue marked in sundrie Philosophers who albeit they were destitute of the light of the Gospell and the certaintie of the promisses of God yet haue they discouered the maske of this worlde contemning the honours riches and pleasures thereof delighting in their pouertie patience sobrietie and temperaunce carrying meekely all losses mocking at the foolish opinions which driue men into passions condemning false apparaunces and vanities themselues remayning in great tranquillitie and calme in all perturbations and hauing nought but their wallet and certaine vile garmentes did nothing but laugh all their life as if they had beene at a feast and eaten as they saye of a bride cake And wee which haue so greate pleadges of eternall life and an assuraunce of the diuine promises bountie and more then a fatherly affection of our God towardes vs haue much more occasion not to esteeme these corruptible thinges and to liue ioyfully in respect of that which hath beene giuen vnto vs without beeing desirous or coueting anye other thinge then that which proceedeth from the will of the almightie Seneca in the seconde of his Epistles writeth that suche as liue according to nature are neuer poore and according to the opinion of men they are neuer riche because nature contenteth her selfe with little and opinion doth infinitely couet And in his 4. booke he counselleth a friende of his to despise all that which other so hotly pursue For that which men esteeme as great aduancement in honor goods or pleasures when they once approch to the truth to vertue and heauenly goodnesse it looseth cleane his apparance and lustre euen as the starres when they are neere the sunne beames For the dispositions of such as are moderated and instructed in the truth rendreth a life peaseable and like vnto her selfe the occasion of the quietnesse