infringe the decrees of the Senate Since that time according to the sundry alterations of their estate and gouernment the councell varied in forme Augustus established a particular councell of the wisest Senators those but few in number and after that another strict councell of Mecaenas and Agrippa with whom he decided the chiefest matters In Turkie the councell is kept foure daies in a week by the Bassaes wheresoeuer the prince soiourneth If it be in time of peace at Constantinople or in some other towne within his dominion if in warre it is kept within his pauilion In this councell called Diuan where audience is open to euery one they consult of embassages and of answers to be made vnto them of matters of estate and of soueraigntie of the meanes how to prouide for decaied prouinces of murders and condemnations The suppliant complainant or suter speaketh without an aduocate and is forced to answer presently to the obiection of his aduersarie if he be present or to prooue his sayings by witnesses and foorthwith the definitiue sentence is giuen which may not be reuoked When the councell hath continued 7. or 8. houres the Bassa Visir maketh true relation to the prince of all that hath been handled if he lie it is present death For the prince oftentimes listeneth at a window called daungerous right against the Diuan which is made in such sort that he may heare and see and not be perceiued and although he were neuer there yet they thinke that he is alwayes there After he hath heard the discourse and aduise of his councell he seldome gainsaieth but confirmeth or moderateth the same These things being thus ordered they are written and registred by officers appointed thereunto Concerning his treasure the Bassaes meddle not there-with but two generall treasurers are ouer-seers and chiefe dealers therein the one being of Romania the other of Anatolia Two Cade lisquers haue the administration of all iustice who sit with the Bassaes in the Diuan neither doth any other sit there but the twelue Bellerbeis the Prince his children beyng Presidents in their fathers absence The Muphtie is chief of the religion and looketh vnto matters of conscience At Venice the generall assemblie of Lordes and gentlemen is called the great councell which hath the soueraigne power of the estate and of which the Senate and the authoritie of all their magistrates dependeth Besides this great councell and Senate compounded of threeskore persons there are foure other councels that is the councell of Sages for sea matters the councell of Sages for land matters the councell of tenne and the councell of seuen where the Duke maketh the seuenth and this is called the Seignorie If there arise any hard matter among the Sages it is referred to the councell of tenne and if they be diuided the councell of seuen is ioyned to the councel of tenne But if the matter be of great waight the Senate is called and sometime also albeit rarely the great councell of all the Venetian Gentlemen in which the last resolution is made At Rhagusium they create a President from moneth to moneth who dwelleth in the pallace and hath twelue counsailors which assembly is called the little councell There is also an other councell called the councell de Pregadie into which a hundreth of the ancientest citizens may enter Next there is the great councell at which all the nobilitie aboue twentie yeeres of age are present At Genes the whole common-wealth is gouerned by them that are borne of eight and twentie families neither is any man called to beare any office whatsoeuer vnlesse he be of this assemblie which they call an Aggregation Out of this are taken foure hundreth which make the great councell that hath all the power and authoritie of the estate and is chosen from yeere to yeere They create the Duke and the eight gouernours of the Common-wealth who are renued from two yeeres to two yeeres In Switzerland there are two councels in euery Canton a little one and a great one But if any great matter fall out that is common to all the leagues they hold their generall councell called a Iourney or a Diet. The like is vsed in Almaigne where the Emperour can ordaine nothing that concerneth the common benefite of Germanie or the authoritie and preseruation of the Empire without the counsell and consent of all the estates especially of the seuen Electors Hee may not of him-selfe vnder-take any warre at his pleasure neither leuie tributes nor rayse souldioures of that nation nor call in any forraine souldioures They haue also a councell established at Spira which is called the Imperiall chamber beyng as it were a Parliament of Almaignes for the administration of iustice among them In Polonia there is an assemblie of estates euery yeere especiallie for these two causes the one to administer iustice in soueraigntie vnto which are brought appeales from all the iudges of the countrey the other to prouide for the defence and safetie of the Countrey against their next enimies namelie the Tartares who make often incursions vppon them None is receyued for a Senatour amongst them if hee bee no Palatine Bishop Gouernour of some Forte or other Captaine or hath not beene Embassadour In Spayne there are seuen councels besides the priuie councell which are alwayes neere the King in seuerall Chambers vnder one roofe that the king may be the better infourmed of all affaires Their names are these the councell of Spayne of the Indies of Italie of the lowe Countreys of Warre of the Order of Saint Iohn and of the Inquisition In the Realme of Englande there is a priuie Councell which neuer exceeded the number of twentie persones The first establishment thereof was but of fifteene although it appeareth by the conclusion of a peace made betweene Lewes the ninth and Henry king of England that seuenteene of the priuie Councell sware vnto it namelie one Archbishop Chauncellour one Bishop six earles and six other lordes besides the high Treasurer and the two magistrates whom they call the chiefe iustices of England Frō three yeeres to three yeeres they hold a parliament where all the estates are called togither to deliberate about the affaires of the kingdom But enough of strangers Let vs now come to the establishment and institution of the councell in this French Monarchie where we shal see that it is not inferior if it go not beyond them in excellencie and good order to all that are alreadie set downe or that euer were First we know that the king hath all soueraigntie by right of the estate as heretofore we haue discoursed The first councell neere about him is the strict or secret councell called the councell of state affaires which is commonly held in the morning after his maiestie is vp None haue entrance into this but a fewe whom the king iudgeth wisest of greatest experience and most trustie to his maiestie with whome
continuall trouble Now the foundation of all dueties here mentioned by vs of the husband towards the wife and of all others which daily communication may require is that true and vnfained loue that ought to be the vnseparable bond of euery good mariage We haue handled heretofore the great effects of friendship which if they be required among common friends no doubt but they are much more between those whom God nature the lawes and loue haue so straightly ioined togither Also let husbandes know that they ought to reuerence their wines more than any other person and perceiuing them to be wise and vertuous as they may make them if they be not altogither forlorne and corrupted let them neuer seeme to distrust them in any respect The Romanes when they returned from a voiage or from a farre countrey or onely out of the countrey into the citie if their wiues were at home they sent word before to giue them intelligence of their comming to the end they should not conceiue this opinion that they meant to deale craftily or maliciously with them Forasmuch therfore as loue and friendship is the fountain of euery good dutie of the husband towards his wife and that which as it were stealeth away and maketh the will of his half-partner to be wholy his owne let vs consider for the conclusion of our speech of some notable examples of great loue in the behalfe of men to the end we may be drawen on to loue and to honor them that are in the same place towards vs that the church is towards God which he so loued that he sent his only sonne to die for the redemption thereof Tiberius Gracchus a noble man of Rome finding two serpents in the chamber wherein he slept inquired for the meaning thereof by sooth-saying wherunto he gaue absolute credite Answer was made him that if he slue the male first he should die before his wife but if the female his wife before him As soone as he vnderstood therof he slue the male and within a litle while after he died Whereupon Historiographers doubt whether his wife Cornelia were more happy in finding a husband that loued hir so well than miserable in loosing him Baptista Fregosa maketh mention of a Neapolitane whose wife being taken on the sea coast by the Moores he presently cast himself after hir into the sea and following their foist besought thē to take him also Which they did so that both of them were brought before the king of Thunis to whom the vessail belonged who hearing the discourse of the fact and being moued with compassion ouer such perfect friendship deliuered them both Orpheus as the Poets write loued his wife so entirely that she dying on the wedding day he kept his loue inuiolable and would neuer set it vpon any other Ninus king of the Assyrians falling in loue with Semiramis the wife of Menon a vassaile of his besought him to let him haue hir to wife in recompence wherof he offred him his daughter in mariage But Menon bare such great loue towards hir that he would not yeeld therunto Wherupon the king being mooued with wrath and threatning to plucke out his eies and to take hir away by force as he did in deed Menon for very griefe sorow hung himselfe Periander king of Corinth loued his wife so tenderly that after she was dead he caused hir to be laid by him certaine daies Marcus Lepidus being driuen into banishment heard that his wife was maried to another whereupon he died for sorow When word was brought to Plautius Numidius a Romane Senator that his wife whom he loued as himselfe was dead he thrust himself into the bosome with a dagger whereof he died Sylanus a Romane slue himselfe after his wife whom he singularly loued was taken from him and giuen to Nero the Emperor Dominicus Catalusius prince of Lesbos loued his wife so wel that although she grew very leprous yet he neuer depriued hir therefore of his boord or bed We read of a great lord of Spaine called Roderigo Sarmiento that through griefe which he receiued for the losse of his wife he slept for a yeeres space in his clothes did neuer eate vpon a table cloth nor sate him downe in any chaire but afflicted himselfe diuersly Therefore let vs learne by our present discourse to loue our wiues perfectly yeelding due beneuolence vnto them and behauing our selues discretly towards thē without offending them or going beyond the boundes of our duetie And as nature mingleth vs togither by our bodies to the ende that taking part of the one and part of the other and putting all togither she may make that which commeth thereof common to both and that in such sort that neither partie can discerne or distinguish that which is proper to it selfe from that which belongeth to the other so let vs haue all things common togither euen our will affection and authoritie Neuerthelesse this must be done in such sort that as in one cup although there be as much or more water than wine yet we call it wine so in the authoritie of the wife the husbands name must be written as he that directeth the same But in the meane while let these wordes Mine and Thine be banished far from them vnlesse it be in this respect that according to the opinion of the Phisitians as blowes giuen on the left side are felt on the right so the wife must through compassion feele the harmes of hir husband and the husband much more those of his wife to the ende that as knots haue their strēgth by interlacing the ends one within another so the societie of mariage is preserued and strengthened when both parties affoord a mutuall affection of good will being assured that both togither shall be made heires of grace and life Of the dutie of a Wife towards hir Husband Chap. 48. AMANA NAture hauing honored woman with a gracious alluring of the eyes with a sweete speech with a beautifull countenance and modest behauior hath giuen hir great means to win the good liking and loue of hir husband if she be honest and shamefast as likewise she may easily deceiue man by offring him pleasure if she be wickedly minded This did Olympias wife to king Phillip know full well when she tooke the Thessalonian woman by the hand whom hir husband loued so well and by whom as they said he was charmed and bewitched But the Queene seeing hir so faire and of so good a grace and as hir speech declared a woman of a good house and well brought vp Away quoth she with all slander for I see wel that your charms are in your selfe And let vs not thinke that the power of a lawfull wedded wife is lesse if by taking all things vnto hir hir wealth hir nobilitie hir charmes and the whole web of Venus she studie by meeknes good behauiour and vertue to obtaine
general end be to set an order and policie amongst vs and not dispute of their reason and cause as long as their iurisdiction extendeth not to our soules to lay vpon them a new rule of iustice Of the People and of their obedience due to the Magistrate and to the Law Chap. 56. AMANA WE haue hitherto seene that the preseruation of policies dependeth of the obseruation of the law that the soueraigne magistrate ruleth thereby and vseth it as a bond to reduce to vnitie and agreement all the citizens of one Common-wealth being vnlike in calling and liuing vnder his dominion at which marke euery good politike gouernor ought chiefly to aime Now my companions we are to intreat of this third part of a citie which maketh the politike body perfect and absolute namely of the people and of that obedience which they ought to yeeld to the magistrate and to the law ARAM. The whole Common-wealth fareth well or ill as all hir parts euen to the least are ruled and containe themselues within the compasse of their duetie For all of them togither make but one body whereof the magistrate is the head and the lawe the soule that giueth life vnto it Wherefore it is needefull that these should commaund and the other obey ACHITOB. Whatsoeuer profiteth the whole profiteth the part and that which is commodious to the part is also commodious to the whole and so contrarywise Wherefore to obey well which is necessarily required of the people is greatly auaileable to the whole political bodie Now let vs heare ASER handle this matter vnto vs more at large ASER. In euery discipline the beginning is commonly taken from the least partes thereof Grammer taketh his beginning from letters which are the least things in it Logike from the two least partes thereof namely the Nowne and the Verbe Geometrie from the point Arithmetick from Vnitie Musick from the Minnem and Sembrief which are likewise the least parts therof Therefore hauing seene that Policie is the order and life of the citie and that the citie is a multitude of citizens before we speak of the whole bodie of them we must as I think intreat first of a citizen who although he differ according to the diuersitie of common-wealths yet to take him properly may be said to be euery one that hath right to iudge in his citie hath a deliberatiue voyce in the generall or common councell thereof This definition of a citizen cannot fitly be applied to all citizens of all Common-wealths but only to those that are ruled popularly wherin they are all equall and gouerne themselues by assemblies in which euery one hath libertie to speake his aduise Some define a citizen to be he whose parents are citizens or els to be a free subiect holding of the soueraigntie of an other wherin they adde this word Free to distinguish him from slaues and strangers But generally we may say that whosoeuer may beare offices or magistracie in what forme of gouernment so euer is reputed taken for a citizen and such are all the naturall Frenchmen in this monarchie amongst whom there is not one how base soeuer he be that may not be made noble by vertue or that may not by skill and integritie of life attaine to the greatest estates of iustice of treasurie and of other publike charges This is not seen in all common-wealths For in the Seignorie of Venice it seemeth that none are truely citizens but the lordes and nobles who onely enioy the office of magistracie and may enter into the great councell after they haue attained the age of fiue and twentie yeeres As for the people they intermeddle not with any matter of gouernment this only excepted that they may be Secretaries and Chancellors as Contarenus reporteth The citie of Rome hauing many times sundry gouernments the appellation of a citizen was likewise diuers therein For as long as the first kings rules the common people were altogither excluded from publike honors offices But after when the regall power was changed into the gouernment of a certaine number of men chosen by suffrages and common voyces the people were admitted to magistracies and to the managing of affairs being present at the publike assemblie had in Mars his field which was distributed by tribes wardes companies and centuries to deliberate of the common estate to create magistrates and to decree new lawes where he was reputed for a citizen in deed that was a free man that had both house and tribe and possibilitie to attaine to honor enioying besides many other priuiledges and prerogatiues But when the soueraigntie came into the emperors hands those assemblies continued onely vnder Iulius and Octautus and after were abrogated by Tyberius and translated to the Senate and to the absolute power of the prince taking away al authoritie frō the people in publike matters Now to returne to our former assertion we say that all they are citizens to whom the gate that leadeth to the gouernment of the citie lieth open I mean the whole company of them that liue vnder the same lawes and soueraigne magistrates Such are all the subiects and naturall vassals of our king of whom the people and the nobilitie are the two orders or estates and of them is the estate of the church compounded which maketh one part of the common-wealth of France This self-same distinction of citizens is obserued almost throughout all Europe But besides this general diuisiō there are some more special in many common-welths as at Venice into the Gentlemen Burgesses Common people at Florence before it was brought in subiectiō to a Prince there were the greater sort the middle sort the vulgar or common sort of people And our ancient Gaules had the Druides the Horsemen the inferior people In Egypt were the Priests the Souldiors the Artificers And although Plato labored to make all the citizens of his common-welth equal in rights prerogatiues yet he diuided them into three estates into Gardes Souldiers and Labourers Whereupon we must necessarilie inferre this conclusion that there neuer was nor can be Common-wealth wherein the citizens were equall in all rights and prerogatiues but that some had more or lesse than others and yet so that wise Politikes haue carefully prouided that the meanest should haue no cause to complaine of their estate Moreouer the conueniencie and proportionable agreement of our French estates hath been the cause why this kingdome vntill this our infortunate age hath continued prospered so long amongst other kingdoms both of auncient and late times namely when Goodes Honours and publike charges were ordinarily distributed according to the condition of euery estate and their rightes and priuiledges preserued especially when it was carefully prouided that one estate should not grow too great aboue the other I meane that the nobilitie should not keep the people too much vnder and bring them to a
kings in old time which kind of rule was at the first bestowed vpon most inst men And it hath greatly profited our common-wealth that from the beginning therof it hath been ruled by a kingly gouernment The first name of Empire and rule knowne in the earth saith Salust was the royall Estate but then men liued without couetousnes euery one being content with his own From the beginning as Trogus Pompeius writeth of countries and nations the gouernment was in the hands of kings who were not lift vp to that high degree of maiesâ—ie by popular ambition but for their modestie which was knowne approoued of good men Then the people were not kept in awe by any lawes but the pleasure will of Princes stood for all lawes They were more giuen to keepe the frontiers of their Empire than to inlarge them Kingdomes were bounded by his countrie that raigned therein Ninus king of the Assyrians whome the Scripture calleth Nimrod that is a rebell and a mightie hunter was the first that changed the ancient custome of the nations through greedie desire of ruling and that beganne to warre vpon his neighbours For finding that the people knew not as yet how to resist he subdued them al from his kingdome to the end of Lybia Almost all the ancient nations of greatest renowne liued vnder the royall gouernment as the Scythians Ethiopians Indians Assyrians Medes Egyptians Bactrians Armenians Macedonians Iewes and Romanes after they were wearie of other gouernements Those also that are moste famous at this daie liue after the same sort as the Frenchmen Spaniards Englishmen Polonians Danes Moscouites Tartares Turkes Abissines Moores Agiamesques Zagathians Cathains Yea the sauage people newly discouered are in a manner all vnder kings And they that liue in other kinds of Common-wealths as the Venetians do retaine an outward shewe of a king whome they call a Duke who is electiue and to continue his estate as long as he liueth In other places they haue Gonfalonners as at Lucques the like whereof they were woont to haue at Florence and at Sienna In some places they haue Aduoyers or Bourg-maisters as in the Cantons of Switzerland and in the free townes of Germany which acknowledge an Emperour Vpon which name we will note by the way that it importeth no more than the name of a king although amongst the Lawyers and others there haue beene infinite questions as touching the authoritie and preheminence of both namely that the Emperours haue vsurped ouer other kings vntill this present albeit the power and maiestie of the Empire is greatly diminished so that nothing else remaineth in a manner but the name and shadow of it within Germany As for this title of Emperor which the Romane Monarks tooke to themselues before vsed to call their Generals in warre by that name it was vpon this occasion taken vp After they had depriued Tarquine of the kingdome of Rome by reason of his pride and insolencie this name of king became so odious amongst the Romanes that it was forbidden to be vsed by an edict and solemn oath Whervpon when their popular Estate was changed into a Monarchie they would not call their Monarch by the name of King by reason of their ancient oath but called him Emperour as Appian writeth But to continue the discourse of our principall matter and to answer briefly to the reasons alleadged against a Monarchye we haue first to note that the most part of the dangers mentioned do cease where the Monarchy goeth by succession as it doth in ours For there is no cause of feare in regard of any that might aspire to the Crowne or of the treaties and alliances which are not broken by the Prince his death but renued and confirmed by his successor and heire vnles before they were greatly preiudiciall to the Estate That new Princes seeke after nouelties it may be said of some but it is much more vsuall in Aristocraticall and Popular Estates For Magistrates that are renued so often would be very sorowfull that their yeere should run out before they had done something that might cause men to speake either good or euill of them As for the troubles about the gouernment of a yoong king peraduenture it falleth not out once in a hundreth yeeres whereas if a Gonfalonner of Genes be chosen but onely for two yeeres the Common-wealth will be all on fire To put into the ballance the cruelties and robberies of a tyrant whereby to counterpeaze many good Princes there is no shew of reason in so dooing For we know well enough that a peaceable Aristocratie wisely guided if it may be so is better than a cruell tyrannie But the chiefe matter subiect of our discourse is to knowe whether it be not better to haue one iust and perfect king than many good Lords and by the contrary argument whether the tyrannie of 50. tyrants is not more perillous than of one only tyrant Now if many Maisters Pilots how wise soeuer they are hinder one another when euery one desireth to hold the Rudder then surely many Lords wil do the like when they seeke al togither to gouerne the Common-wealth albeit they are wise and vertuous And truly no Aristocratical or Popular Estate can be named that hath lasted aboue 600. yeeres togither and few haue endured so long but many Monarchies haue continued 1000. and 1200. yeeres in the same estate Moreouer they are agreeable to the vpright lawes of nature which as we haue before discoursed do al lead vs to a Monarchy But there is more to be considered of in our French kingdome which ought to mooue all French harts very much to desire the preseruation therof and to thinke themselues happy that they may liue vnder it I meane that which we touched in the beginning of our speech namely the agreement participation which it hath with all good policies Many Politicks haue giuen this out that no Common-wealth instituted to continue long ought to be simple or of one only kind but that the vertues properties of the other Estates must meete togither in it to the end that nothing grow out of proportion which might cause it to degenerate to the next euill and so consequently ouerthrow it This was first obserued by Lycurgus who in ordaining the Lacedemonian Common-wealth mingled the Senate with the Kings after the Ephories were established aboue the Kings insomuch that they were mingled and weighed so equally togither that a man could not wel discerne vnder what kind of gouernment it was erected The Carthaginian coÌ„monwealth also most florishing for a long time was so instituted in the beginning thereof It had kings the Aristocratical power of Senators the common people who had their preheminence in things belonging vnto them The Romane Common-wealth during the time of hir greatest glorie had these 3. parts so equally proportionably tempered that a man could not tell whether it
Counsailors of estate Chap. 61. ASER. DIoclesian the Emperor said That the condition of Princes was miserable and dangerous bicause they were commonly deceiued by them whome they trusted most being themselues almost alwayes shut vp in their pallaces and vnderstanding no more of their affaires thaÌ„ their ministers would declare vnto them who consult many times togâ—ther how they may disguise the truth of their estate For this cause although it be necessarie for a prince to haue many eyes and eares for which intent we say that his counsellors serue yet he must looke himselfe as much as he can euen to the depth of his affaires And truly it belongeth to the dombe blind and deafe to speake see and heare nothing but by the mouth eies and eares of other men But in those things wherein the prince is constrained to relie vpon an other mans report he must vse great prudence to discerne flatterers and disguisers of matters who are not touched but only with their priuate profite from those that are mooued with the zeale of publike benefite and of his seruice and vse these men in matters of counsell which is most necessarie for the sound preseruation of al estates And in deede there was neuer any estate but vsed counsell and counsellors in the establishing and gouernment thereof as we may vnderstand more of you my companions if you thinke good to discourse of this matter AMANA Counsell sayd Socrates is a sacred thing and as Plato calleth it the anchor of the whole city wherby it is fastned and stayed as a shippe in the water Yea all the great and goodly exploites of armes and lawes are nothing else but the execution of a wise councell ARAM. Counsell saith the same Plato hath the self-same place in a common-wealth that the soule and head hath in liuing creatures For the vnderstanding is infused into the soule and sight and hearing are placed in the head so that the vnderstanding being ioined to these two goodly senses and reduced into one preserueth euery thing But of thee ACHITOB. we expect a whole discourse vpon this matter ACHITOB. All Common-wealths consist chieflie of two things of counsell of iudgement according to the disposition of which the affaires of the estate are well or ill handled Therefore to enter into this matter here propounded and to leaue iudgements to be considered of hereafter we must first know that the ordinarie Councell of an estate which the Ancients commonlie called a Senate is the lawfull assemblie of counsellors of estate to giue aduise to them that haue soueraigne power in euery Common-wealth When we say a lawfull assemblie it is to be vnderstood of that power which is giuen vnto them by the soueraigne to meete togither in time and place appoynted And where as we call them counsellors of estate it is to distinguish them from other counsellors and officers who are often called to giue aduise to Princes euery one according to his vocation and qualitie and yet are neyther counsellors of estate nor ordinarie counsellours Of this councell all the rest of the publike gouernment dependeth and by this all the partes of the Common-wealth are tied vnited and knitte togither through that direction of religion iustice warre treasures lawes magistrates and maners which proceedeth from it Therefore the Senate is very well called by Cicero the soule reason and vnderstanding of a Common-wealth whereby he meaneth that it can no more bee maintained without a councell than a bodie with-out a soule or a man without reason The Hebrewes likewise called the councell a foundation where-upon all goodly and commendable actions are built and without which all enterprises are ouerthrowen Now forasmuch as there hath been and are at this day among sundry nations sundry sortes of gouernments and policies so there is no lesse difference in the establishment of a councell in them as also many alterations in the institution and power thereof And namely among the auncient Graecians beside the seuerall councell of euery Common-wealth there was the sacred councell of the Amphictions so called bicause it was instituted by Amphiction the sonne of Deucalion This councell was as it were the generall assemblie of the estates of all Graecia and was helde twise a yeere in Spring time and in Autumne at Delphos in the Temple of Apollo for the commoditie of the seate thereof beyng as it were in the middest of all Graecia The authoritie thereof was so great that whatsoeuer was concluded vpon there the Graecians obserued and kept it inuiolable whether it were in matters concerning religion and pietie towards their gods or peace and vnitie among themselues The Lacedemonians and Messenians met togither certaine dayes in the yeere at the temple of Diana vpon the borders of Laconia and there after sacrifice consulted of their waightiest affaires And yet both they and the rest of Graecia had certaine general councels concerning the gouernment of their estate besides those that were particular which they vsed daily The Senate of thirtie counsailors established by Lycurgus when he reformed the Lacedemonian estate obtained the soueraigntie not long after and of Senators became absolute lordes Solon ordained amongst the Athenians besides the Senate of 400. which was changeable euery yeere a priuie perpetual councell of the Areopagites compounded of three score of the wisest and of such as were blameles who had the managing of those affaires that were most secret Romulus the first founder of Rome compounded the Senate of 100. of the notablest citizens and hauing receiued the Sabines into his protection he doubled the number of Senators which afterward Brutus encreased with an other hundred As long as the happy popular gouernement of the Romanes lasted the Consuls albeit in dignitie they represented a royall person yet they had no other power but to lead the armies to assemble the Senate to receiue the letters of captains and of their allies and to present them to the Senate to heare embassadors before the people or before the Senate to assemble the great estates and to aske the people aduise concerning the creation of officers or publishing of lawes But the Senate disposed the reuenues of the Empire and the common expences appointed lieutenants to all gouernors of prouinces determined of the triumphs ordered religion receiued and licenced embassadors of kings and nations and tooke order for such as were sent to them The punishment of all offences committed throughout Italy which deserued publike execution as treason conspiracie poysoning wilfull murder belonged to the Senate If any priuate person or any citie stood in need of some speciall fauour or of reprehension or of succour and protection the Senate had all the charge thereof It was forbidden vnder paine of high treason to present any request to the people without aduise taken of the Senate Neuerthelesse the soueraigntie always belonged to the people who might confirme or
too carefull to keep themselues But to come to the conclusiō of our discourse we say with Aristotle that concupiscences and desires change the bodie and make the soule outragious that so many as are infected with such a pernicious and damnable vice as intemperance is are no mē but monsters in nature leading a life altogether like to that of brute beasts which being destitute of all reason know nothing better or more honest than pleasure hauing no knowledge of the iustice of God neither reuerencing the beautie of vertue bestow al the courage craft force that nature hath giuen them to satisfie and to accomplish their desires So that if death brought with it an end of all sence and feeling and an vtter abolishing of the soule as well to men as to beasts intemperate folks should seeme to gaine much by enioying their desires and lusts during their life time and to haue good cause to waxe old and euen to melt in their foule filthie pleasures But seeing we know for truely he that doubteth hereof is very ignorant most miserable that sence and feeling remaine after death and that the soule dieth not with the body but that punishment yea euerlasting payne is prepared for the wicked let vs be careful to do the will of our father which is in heauen whilest we haue time that in the triumphing day of his eternal sonne we may not heare to our confusion that sentence of his mouth Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie At which time the iust shall shine as the sunne in the kingdome of God and the wicked shall be cast headlong into euerlasting fire where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Of Sobrietie and Frugalitie Chap. 19. ARAM. SOcrates vsed to dispute earnestly and grauely of the manner of liuing as of a thing of great importance For he said that continencie in meate and drinke was as it were the foundation and beginning of skill And truely the minde is much more prompt to comprehend all good reason when the operations of the braine are not hindered by vapours which the superfluitie of meates send vp thither I am of opinion therefore that we handle this vertue of sobriety which dependeth of temperance and is contained vnder the first part thereof namely vnder continencie ACHITOB. To liue well and frugally saith Plato is to liue temperately and as Epictetus saith there is great difference betweene liuing well and liuing sumptuously For the one commeth of temperance frugalitie discipline honestie and moderation of the soule contented with her owne riches and the other of intemperance lust and contempt of all order and mediocritie In the end the one is followed with shame and the other with true and lasting praise ASER. We can not well vse our spirite saith Cicero when we are stuffed with meate Neither must we gratifie the belly and intrailes only but also the honest ioy of the mind For that which is contained in the other parts perisheth but the soule separated from the body abideth for euer Let vs then harken to AMANA of whome we may vnderstand howe necessary sobrietie is for a happie life AMANA If we set before our eies the long and happy life of the Ancients so long as they obserued sobrietie and frugalitie out of doubt we will attribute one principall cause of our so short life and so full of infirmities to the riot superfluitie and curiositie of diet which at this day are seene amongst vs. The life of our first Fathers was it not maintained a long time with fruits milke honie and water Who euer came neere their long and happie daies since those times What preparation of exquisite victuals did those six hundred thousand Israelites thinke to find that came out of Egypt to go into a new land walking fortie yeeres through the wildernes drinking nothing but water and many times wanting that After those first ages the Grecians and Romanes loued sobrietie more than all other nations And as the Hebrewes vsed to eate but once a daye which was at dinner so the Grecians onely supped For this cause we read that Plato being demanded whether he had seene any new or strang thing in Sicilia answered that he had found a monster of nature which did eate twice a day This he spake of Dionysius the tyrant who first brought vp that custome in his countrey In the time of Iulius Caesar the Germaines a strong and warlike people liued onely of milke cheese and flesh not knowing what wheate and wine were nor yet what it was to labour the ground or to sowe Yea how many millions of men are there at this day in the West regions and Ilands who know not what all this superfluitie and daintines of fare meaneth and yet liue long and healthie in all frugalitie the greatest part of them vpon herbs and rootes whereof they make cakes in steede of wheate and others of raw flesh Whereby it is easie to iudge that sobrietie is the preseruation and maintenance of health and of naturall strength and vigor and so consequently of the life of man But when we looke higher and with the eies of our mind marke the excellent glorie and immortall praise deserued by so many Camilli Scipiones Fabriti◠Metelli Catones and by a thousand other famous families which executed so many woorthy acts by their owne vertue and yet in the meane while kept such a simple and sober diet that the most of them were contented with bread herbs and water endured and tolerated cheerefully all iniuries of weather went but homely araied and altogither contemned gold and siluer out of question we will iudge those men very blind and farre from the white of such glorie and honour who imbrace nothing but dissolutenes superfluitie lust dronkennes pride and all such like imperfections that beare sway amongst vs who behold Vice mounted so high that men must in a manner blush as much to speake of Vertue or to be vertuous in a thousand companies as in that happy time of the Ancients they were ashamed of vice or to be vitious And truly I thinke that these men being past shame care but little for the glorie that hath beene in many ages seeing they liue for the body onely after a brutish impietie without all regard of the foule or of the second life What say I for the body Nay rather they are the destroiers thereof seeing it cannot be denied but that sobrietie is a great benefit and helpe to preserue health and bodily strength and to expell diseases and is to be vsed as a good foundation to attaine to a happy old age The experience heereof is well knowne to euery one although there were no other proofe but this that we see the simple sort of people that labor and trauell to liue with bread and water grow old in health whereas our Princes and great Lords being delicately brought vp in idlenes die yoong men tormented with infinite diseases especially when they
grow a little in yeeres Further let such dissolute men as make pleasure the ende of their desire know that sobrietie leadeth those that follow her to farre greater and more perfect pleasures than incontinencie and superfluitie doe For these excessiue fellowes neuer expect hunger or thirst or any other pleasure of the bodye but through intemperance preuent them and so enioy scarce half the pleasure But sober and temperate men forbearing the fruition of their desire a long time haue a farre more perfect taste of them bicause as Cicero saith the pleasure of life consisteth rather in the desire than in the satietie thereof And if mediocrity be not obserued those things that are most acceptable and pleasant become most vnpleasant Do we not also see that when the body is not ouercharged with meate and wine it is better disposed and more temperate for euery good action And as for the spirite for which we ought chiefly to liue it is more ready and nimble to comprehend and conceiue what right reason and true honestie are For as Aristotle saith sobrietie causeth men to iudge better and according to truth of all things and in that respect is very necessary for the attaining of Philosophye Likewise sobrietie retaineth that in a wise mans thought which a foole without discretion hath in his mouth And therefore saith Cares we must striue by all meanes to restraine our belly bicause that only is alwaies vnthankfull for the pleasures done vnto it crauing continually and oftener than it needeth so that whosoeuer is not able to command ouer it wil daily heape vp mischiefe vpon mischiefe to himselfe But frugalitie and sobrietie are the mistresses of good counsell and the badges of chastitie For this cause Titus Liuius commendeth more the barrennes and sterilitie of a countrey than fertilitie and fruitfulnes saying that men borne in a fat fertile soile are commonly do-littles and cowards but contrariwise the barrennes of a countrey maketh men sober of necessitie and consequently carefull vigilant and giuen to labor as the Athenians were being situated in a very vnfruitfull place We make great account saith Paulonius of frugalitie not bicause we esteeme the creatures themselues vile and of small value but that by meanes thereof we may encrease the greatnes of our courage And if the greatest chiefest benefit that could come to man were said Solon to haue no need of nourishment it is very manifest that the next to that is to haue neede but of a little But amongst so many good reasons of such excellent mē the counsell of Epictetus is wel woorth the marking where he saith then when we would eate we must consider that we haue two guests to entertain the body and the soule and that whatsoeuer shall be put into the body departeth away quickly but what good thing soeuer entreth into the soule abideth for euer To this effect Timotheus a Grecian captaine hauing supped with Plato in the Academie at a sober and simple repast for the greatest festiual dainties were oliues cheese apples colewoorts bread wine said that they which sup with Plato feele the benefit therof the next day yea a long time after For these wise men met togither at bankets void of excesse not to fill their bellies but to prepare and dresse their minds to learne one of another by their goodly discourses of Philosophie whereof a vertuous soule hath better taste than the body of a well relished and delicate meale Such were the feasts of Pythagoras Socrates Xenocrates and of other Sages of Grecia where the discussing of good and learned matters there handled brought through the remembrance of them great pleasure and no lesse liked commoditie and that of long continuance to such as were present at them And as for the pleasures of drinking and eating they iudged the very remembrance thereof to be vnwoorthie and vnbeseeming men of honor bicause it was to passe away as the smell of a perfume Neither would they suffer that men should bring into their assemblies the vanitie of foolish delights as of the sound of instruments of enterludes or of any other pastime which a wise man ought rather to esteeme as a hinderance of delight than any pleasure at all For hauing within themselues sufficient matter of recreation and reioicing through their learned discourses it were meere follie to beg strange and friuolous delights from without them And Plutark saith that the brutish part of the soule depending of the feeding beast and vncapeable of reason is that which is pleased brought to order satisfied by songs and sounds which are sung and tuned vnto it euen as with the whistling of lips or hands or with the sound of a pipe sheepeheards cause their sheepe to arise or lie downe bicause they vnderstand not an articulate or distinct speech that hath some pith in it Therefore I commend Euripides for reprehending such as vse the harpe so long as a feast lasteth for quoth he musicke ought rather to be sent for when men are angrie or mourne than when they are feasting or making merry thereby to make them giue more libertie to all pleasure than before I suppose the Egyptians did better who vsed in the midst of their bankets to bring in the Anatomie of a dead bodie dried that the horror thereof might containe them in all modestie For this cause the memorie of the Emperour Henrie the third greatly recommendeth it selfe who banished all pompe and vanitie from his wedding and draue away the plaiers iesters causing a great number of poore folke to come in their place The custom which the Lacedemonians obserued when they liued vnder Lycurgus lawes is also worthie to be remembred which was that no torches or lights should be brought vnto them when they departed from feastes at night that it might be an occasion vnto them to feare drunkennes and so to auoid this shame that they onely could not find out their houses Now in those happie times vines were planted and dressed that wine might be drunke rather in time of sickenes than of health insomuch that it was not sold in Tauernes but onely in Apothecaries shops Those ancient Sages commonly measured their drinking by that saying of Anacharsis that the first draught which men drunke ought to be for thirst the second for nourishment and as for the third that it was of pleasure and the fourth of madnes Pythagoras being much more religious in this matter and liuing onely of herbs fruite and water said that the vine brought foorth three grapes whereof the first quencheth thirst the second troubleth and the third altogither dulleth He neuer dranke wine no more did that great Orator Demosthenes nor many other famous men of whome histories make mention The kings of Egypt were forbidden wine which they neuer dranke except on certaine daies and then by measure And truly it bringeth with it pernitious effects aswell to the soule as to