Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	beauty_n	fair_a	love_v	2,781	5	5.8271	4	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02296	The dial of princes, compiled by the reuerend father in God, Don Antony of Gueuara, Byshop of Guadix, preacher, and chronicler to Charles the fifte, late of that name Emperour. Englished out of the Frenche by T. North, sonne of Sir Edvvard North knight, L. North of Kyrtheling; Relox de príncipes. English	Guevara, Antonio de, Bp., d. 1545?; North, Thomas, Sir, 1535-1601?; Guevara, Antonio de, Bp., d. 1545? Aviso de privados. English.; Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, 121-180.	1568 (1568)	STC 12428; ESTC S120709	960,446	762

keapyng their doughters I sweare that there was neyther grape nor cluster but it was either eaten or gathered by the. Thou diddest eate me grene for the which I promise the it hath set thy teeth on edge Thou sayest I was riped by power of heat and straw It greueth me not so much that thou saiest it as that thou geuest me occasion to say to the thy shame is so shamelesse and thy euil so malicious that I cannot make aunswere to thy purpose onlesse I rubbe the on the quycke I aske the when thou mariedst Faustine whether thou foundest them grene or ripe thou knowest wel and so do I also that other gaged the vessel and thou drankest the lyees other had the meate and thou the huskes other did eate them being grene and with the refuge set thy teath on edge O cursed Marke behold how great thy euels are and how the goddes haue iustly punished the that beinge yonge thou couldest not deserue to be beloued of thy louers nor yet now in thy age thy wife kepe her faith to the. For me to be reuenged of thy parson I nede no more but to se the maried to Faustine By the mother Berecinthia I promise the that if thy smal wisedome mighte attaine to know at the ful what they say of the and her in Rome thou wouldest wepe both day and night for the life of Faustine and not leaue the woful Boemia O Marke litle care is taken for the and how farre is our vnderstanding vncoupled from thy thoughtes For through thy great learninge thy house in the day tyme is a schole of philosophers and the wantonnes of thy wife Faustine in the night maketh it a receite of ruffians It is a iust iudgement of the goddes sith that thy malice onely sufficeth to poison many that be good the euilnes onely of one woman shal be enough to spoile and take away thy good renowm One difference ther is betwene the and me and thy Faustine which is that my facts are in suspect and yours done in deed mine be in secret but yours knowen openly I haue but stombled but you haue fallen For one onely fault I deserue punishment but you deserue pardon for none My dishonour dyed with my fact and is buried with my amendmeÌ„t but your infamy is borne with your desires nourished with your malices stil with your works Finally your infamy shal neuer dye for you liued neuer wel O Marke malicious with al that thou knowest dost not thou knowe that to dye wel doth couer an euil fame and to make an end of an euyl life doth begin a good fame Thou ceasest not to say euil onely of suspect which thy false iudgements geueth and yet wouldest thou we shold conceale that we se with our eyes Of one thing I am sure that neyther of the nor of Faustine ther are hath bene any false witnes For ther are so many true euilles that ther neadeth no lyes to be inuented Thou saiest it is an old custome with the amorous ladies in Rome though they take of many yet they are the porest of al because we want credite we are honored for siluer It is most certaine that of holly we loke for pricks of acorns huskes of nettels stinginge and of thy mouth malices I haue seriously noted I neuer heard the say wel of any nor I neuer knew any that would the good What greater punishmeÌ„t can I desire for thy wickednes nor more vengeaunce for my iniuries then to se al the amorous ladies of Rome discontented with thy life and ioy to thinke on thy death cursed is the man whose life many do bewaile and in whose death euery one doth reioyce It is the propertie of such vnthankeful wretches as thou art to forget the great good done to them to repent that litle they geue How muche the noble harts do reioyce in geuing to other so much they are ashamed to take seruice vnrewarded For in geuing they are lords in taking they become sclaues I aske what it is thou hast geuen me or what thou hast receiued of me I haue aduentured my good fame and geuen thee possession of my persone I haue made thee lord of me and mine I banished me from my countrey I haue put in perill my life In recompence of this thou dost detect me of misery Thou neuer gauest me ought with thy harte nor I toke it with good will nor it euer did me profite As all thinges recouer a name not for the worke we openly see but for the secrete intention with which we worke Euen so thou vnhappy man desirest me not to enioye my parsonne but rather to haue my money We ought not to call thee a cleare louer but rather a thefe a wily persone I had a litle ring of thine I minde to throwe it into the riuer a gowne thou gauest me which I haue burnt And if I thought my body were increased with the bread I did eate of thine I would cut my fleshe being whole let out my bloud without feare O malicious Marke thy obscured malice wyl not suffer thee to vnderstande my cleare letter For I sent not to thee to aske money to relieue my pouertie and solitarines but only to acknowledge satisfie my willing hart Such vayne couetous men as thou are coÌ„tented with giftes but the hartes incarnate in loue are not satisfied with a litle money For loue is rewarded alway with loue The man that loueth not as a maÌ„ of reason but like a brute beast the woman that loueth not where she is beloued but onely for the gaine of her body such ought not to be credited in wordes nor their persones to be honored For the loue of her endes when goods faileth and his loue when her beautie decaieth If the beautie of my face did procure thy loue they riches only allured my good wyl it is right that we should not be called wyse louers but rather folishe persons O cursed Marke I neuer loued thee for thy goodes although thou likedst me for that I was faire Then I loued with my hart now I abhorre thee with all my hart Thou saiest the gods vsed great pitie on me to geue me fewe children them many fathers The greatest faulte in women is shameles the greatest villany in men is to be euill sayers Diuers thinges ought to be borne in the weakenes of women which in the wisedome of men are not permitted I say this for that I neuer saw in the teÌ„perance to cloke thine own maliciousnes nor wisedome to shadow the debilitie of others Thou saiest my children haue many fathers but I sweare to thee that the children of Faustine shal not be fatherles although thou die And if the gods as thou saiest haue ben pitifull to my childreÌ„ no lesse art thou to straunge children For Faustine kepeth the but to excuse her faultes to be tutor to her children O cursed Marke thou nedest not take thought for

and proud entreprise for a man to take vpon him with a penne to gouerne the coÌ„mon wealth with a prince to reasoÌ„ of his life For in dede men are not perswaded to liue wel by faire words but by vertuous dedes And therfore not with out cause I say that he is not wise but very arrogaÌ„t that dare presume vnasked to giue a priÌ„ce counsail For princes in many thinges haue their mindes occupied haughtely bent som of them also are affectioned where as we peraduenture thinke to haue them mercifull we finde theÌ„ more angry heauy against vs. For counsaile doth more harme than profite if the giuer therof be not very wise he also which receiueth it very pacient I haue not ben a prince to know the trauailes of princes nor am not as president to counsel princes yet I was so bolde to coÌ„pile this booke it was not vppon presumption to counsaile a prince so much as by an humble sorte to giue mine aduise For to giue counsel I confesse I haue no credite but to giue theim aduise it suffiseth me to be a subiecte What the order is that I haue taken in this boke how profitable it is to all men how vnpleasaunt to no man how holsome profound doctrine in it is conteined how the histories be herin applied I wil not that my pen do write but they theÌ„ selues shal iudge which shal reade this worke We se it oft com to passe that diuers bokes do lose their estimation not for that they are not very good excelleÌ„t but because the auctour hath ben to presumptuous vainglorious For in my opinion for a man to praise his owne writinges much is nothing els but to giue men occasion to speake euil both of him of his worke Let no man thinke that I haue written thys which is written without great aduisement and examination I do confesse before the redemer of the whole world that I haue coÌ„sumed so many yers to seke what I shold write that this .ii. yers one day hath scarsely escaped me wherin my pen hath not don his dutie to write or correct in this worke I confesse that I toke great paine in writing it for of trueth it hath ben written twise with mine owne hand and thrise with another mans hand I confesse I haue red searched in diuers sondrie partes many and good strange bokes to th end I might finde good and pleasant doctrine besydes that I trauailed much to set apply the histories to the purpose For it is an vnsemely thing to apply an history without a purpose I had great respecte in that I was not so briefe in my writinges that a man might note me to be obscure nor yet in anye thing so long that a man shold sclaunder me with to much talke For al the excelleÌ„cie of writing consisteth where many goodly sentences are declared in few apte wordes For oft times the long stile is lothsom tedious both to the hearers readers Nero that emperour was in loue with a lady in Rome named Pompeia that which in beauty to his faÌ„tasie exceded all other In the end partely with intreaty partely with money preseÌ„tes he obteined of her the he desired For in this case of loue wher prayers importunities be pacieÌ„tly hard resistance doth lacke The inordinate loue that Nero bare to Pompeia proceded of the yelow here 's she had which wer of the colour of amber in prayse of them he coÌ„piled diuers sondry songes in heroical meter with an instrument sang theÌ„ himself in her presence Nero was a sage prince wise excelleÌ„tly well learned in the latin tong also a good musiciaÌ„ yet Plutarche in his boke of the gests of noble womeÌ„ to declare the vaniti lightnes of Nero reciteth this history describiÌ„g PoÌ„peia said the her body was smal her fingers loÌ„g her mouth proper her eye lyds thin her nose soÌ„what sharpe her tÃ©eth smal her lips red her neck white her forhead brod finally her eies great rowlin her brest large wel propocioned what thinke you wold Nero haue don if he had so affectionatly set his faÌ„tasy vpoÌ„ al other her beautiful properties sins that for the loue alonly of her yelow locks he was depriued both of his wisdom also sences For vain light meÌ„ loue coÌ„meÌ„ly not that which reasoÌ„ coÌ„mauÌ„deth but that which their appetite desireth The loue of the emperor encreased with foly so much that not only he couÌ„ted seuerally al that hÃ©ere 's that his louer PoÌ„peia had on her head but also gaue to euery heere a proper name in praise of euery one of theÌ„ made a song in somuch that this effeminat prince speÌ„t more time in baÌ„ketting plaieng with his louer PoÌ„peia thaÌ„ he did to reforme amend the faultes of the coÌ„mon welth Yea his foly so much surmouÌ„ted al reasoÌ„ that he coÌ„maunded a coÌ„be of gold to be made therw t he himself coÌ„med her yelow locks And if it chauÌ„sed that any one here in kemiÌ„g fel of he by by caused it to be set in gold offred it vp in the teÌ„ple to the goddes Iuno For it was an ancieÌ„t custome amoÌ„g the Romains that the things which they entierly loued whether it wer good or euil should be offred vp to their gods And whan it was once knowen that Nero was so in loue with these hÃ©ere 's of Pompeia which wer of the colour of amber al the ladies endeuoured theÌ„ selues not only to make artificially their here of that colour but also to were their garmentes and other attyres of the same colour in somuche that bothe men and women did vse collers of amber brooches ringes set with amber al their other Iewels were of amber For alwayes it hath ben sene euer shall be that those things wherunto the prince is most addicted the people folow aboue al other couet the same Before this Emperour Nero plaied this light part in Rome the amber stone was had in little estimacion after that he set so muche by it there was no precious stone in Rome so much estemed Yea furthermore the marchant gained nothinge so much whether it were in gold or silke as he did in the amber stones nor brought any kind of marchaundise to Rome more precious or more vendible than that was I doe meruelle at this vanitie forasmuch as the children of the world do loue desire labor more to folow the straunge foly of an other than to furnish supply their own proper necessitie Therefore retourning againe to my purpose most excellent prince by this example you may coniecture what I would say that is that if this writing were accepted vnto princes I am assured it woulde be refused of no man And if any man would slaunderously talke of it he durst not remembring that your maiestie hath receiued it For those things which princes

merite The contrary ought and may be saied of those whych are euill maried whom we wil not cal a compaigny of sayntes but rather a house of deuylles For the wife that hath an euil husbande may say she hath a deuyl in her house and the husband that hath an euil wife let him make accompt that he hath hel it selfe in his house For the euyl wyues are worse then the infernal furyes Because in hel ther are none tormented but the euil only but the euil woman tormeÌ„teth both the good and the euyl Concluding therfore this matter I say also and affirme that betwixt the busband and the wife which are wel maryed is the true and very loue and they only and no others may be called perfite and perpetuall frendes The other parentes and frendes if they do loue and praise vs in our presence they hate vs and dispise vs in our absence Yf they giue vs faire wordes they beare vs euill hartes finally they loue vs in our prosperitye and forsake vs in our aduersity but it is not so amongest the noble and vertuous maried personnes For they loue both within and without the house in prosperity and in aduersitie in pouertie and in riches in absence and in presence seing them selues mery and perceiuing them selues sad and if they do it not trulye they ought to doo it for when the husband is troubled in his foote the wyfe ought to be greued at her hart The fourth commodity of mariage is that the men and women maryed haue more aucthority and grauity then the others The lawes whych were made in old time in the fauour of mariage were many and diuerse For Chapharoneus in the lawes that he gaue to the Egiptians commaunded and ordeyned vpon greuous paynes that the man that was not maried should not haue any office of gouernment in the common wealth And he sayd furder that he that hath not learned to gouerne his house can euil gouerne a commoÌ„ wealth Accordyng to the lawes that he gaue to the Athenians he perswaded al those of the comon wealth to marie themselues voluntarily but to the heddes and captaines which gouerne the affaires of warre he commaunded to marye of necessity sayeng that to men which are lecherous God seldome giueth victories Licurgus the renowmed gouernour and geuer of the lawes of the Lacedemonians commaunded that al captaines of the armyes and the priestes of the Temples should be maried sayeng that the sacrifyces of maried men were more acceptable to the gods then those of any other As Plynie sayth in an epistle that he sent to Falconius his frende rebuking him for that he was not maried where he declareth that the Romaynes in old time had a law that the dictatoure and the Pretor the Censour and the Questor and al the knightes should of necessity be maried for the man that hath not a wife and children legittymate in his house cannot haue nor hold greate aucthority in the common wealth Plutarche in the booke that he made of the prayse of mariage sayth that the priestes of the Romaynes dyd not agre to them that were vnmaried to come and sytte downe in the Temples so that the yong maydens prayed without at the church dore and the yonge men prayed on their knees in the temple only the maried men were permitted to sitte or stande Plynie in an epistle that he wrote to Fabatus hys father in law sayth that the Emperour Augustus had a custome that he neuer suffered any yonge man in his presence to sitte nor permitted any man maried to tel his tale on foote Plutarche in the booke that he made in the prayse of women sayth that since the realme of Corinthe was peopled more with Bachelours then with maried men they ordeyned amongest theym that the man or woman that had not bene maried and also that had not kept chyldren and house if they lyued after a certaine age after their death shoulde not be buried Â¶ The aucthoure folowing his purpose declareth that by meanes of maryage many mortal enemyes haue bene made good and parfite frendes Cap. iii. BY the sundry examples that we haue declared and by al that whych remayneth to declare a man may know wel enoughe of what excellency matrimony is not only for the charge of conscience but also for the thinges touching honour for to say the truth the men that in the common wealth are maried giue smal occasion to be sclaundered haue more cause to be honored We cannot denay but that matrimony is troublesome chargeable to them that be maried for two causes The one is in bringing vp their children and the other in suffering the importunityes of their mothers Yet in fiâ—e we caÌ„not deny but that the good vertuous wife is she that setteth a stay in the house and kepeth her husband in estimacion in the common wealth for in the publike affaires they giue more faith and credit vnto those that are charged with children then vnto others that are loden with yeres The fifth commodity that ensueth matrimony is the peace and reconciliacions that are made betwene the enemyes by meanes of mariage MeÌ„ in this age are so couetous so importune and malicious that there are very few but haue enemyes wherby groweth contencion and debate for by our weaknes we fall dayly into a thousande occasions of enimities and scarcely we can find one to bring vs againe into frendship CoÌ„sidering what men desire what thinges they procure and wherunto they aspire I meruaile not that they haue so few frendes but I much muse that they haue no moe enemyes For in thinges of weight they marke not who haue bene their frendes they consider not they are their neighbours neyther they regard that they are christians but their conscience layd a part and honesty set a side euery man seketh for himselfe and his owne affaires though it be to the preiudice of all his neighbours What frendship can ther be amongest proud men since the one wil go before and the other disdayneth to come behind What frendship can ther be amongest enuyous men â–ª since the one purchasseth and the other possesseth what loue can there be betwene two couetous men since the one dare not spend and the other is neuer satisfyed to hourd and heape vp For al that we can reade se go and trauaile and for al that we may do we shall neuer se nor here tell of men that haue lacked enemyes for eyther they be vycious or vertuous Yf they be euil and vycious they are alwayes hated of the good and if they be good and vertuous they are continually persecuted of the euill Many of the auncient philosophers spent a great part of their time lost much of their goodes to serche for remedies and meanes to reconcile them that were at debate contencion to make them by gentlenes good frends and louers Some said that it was good and profitable to forget the enimities for a time for many things

all perill and daunger The Romaines being aduertised of their gentlenes by the messengers which were come safe aliue did so muche reioyce that they ordeined in Rome that the nobles of Liparie shuld be made Senatours of Rome all the others shoulde be confederate of aliaunce vnto theÌ„ And they caused further that two priestes of Lipari should always remain in the temple of Iupiter whiche priuilege was neuer graunted to any other straungers but to them only For the Romaines had so great zeale loue to their gods that in the seruices of the temples they trusted none but those which were natiue auncient of Rome and also were both wyse and vertuous When Quintus Fabius Publius Decius were in the warres against the Samnites Toscanes and likewyse against the Vmbres many marueilous terrible signes were sene in Rome which thinges did not onely feare those that sawe them but also those which heard of theÌ„ Vpon which occasion the Romaines and the Romaine matrones both night and daye offered great sacrifices to the gods For they saide if we can once pacifie the wrath of the gods in Rome we shall neuer neade to feare our enemies in the fielde The thing was this that as the Romaine matrones went visiting the temples to appease the ire of the gods many Senatours wyues came to the temple of chastitie to offer sacrifice For in the time of the puissant power of the Romaines the women did sacrifice in the temples of the gods At that tyme came Virginea the daughter of Aureus Virgineus the Consul Plebeian the which was forbiddeÌ„ to do sacrifice for that she was none of the Senatours wiues but a Plebeian as much to saie as a craftes womaÌ„ no gentilmans daughter borne For the noble women were had in so great veneration so highly estemed that al the other semed in respect of theÌ„ but handmaides sclaues The noble Romaine Virginea seing her to be so repulsed disdained of the other matrons made of her own propre house a seÌ„ple to the goddesse of chastitie and with much deuotion reuerence honoured her The whiche thing being published abroade throughout Rome many other women came thither to doe sacrifice likewise For fortune is so variable that oftentimes those which of pryde haue forbidden vs their houses come after by humilitie to serue vs at ours For this cause this Virginea the foundresse was so greatly praysed that the Romaines in her life made her patrice that is a noble Romaine and after her death caused her image and statue to be made and set vp in the high Capitoll and aboue this image were grauen certaine Greeke letters the effecte whereof was this Patrice the great this Image doth present That in her life did giue with mynde deuout The Gods her house and therfore to them went When liuely breth by death was chased out Of all these hystories aboue named Titus Liuius maketh mencion in his first decade the seconde fift and ninth booke though he declareth theÌ„ more at large yet this shal suffice for my purpose I haue sought among the gentils these few exaÌ„ples to reproue christiaÌ„ princes to th end they might se how studious feruent our fathers were in the seruice of their Idols coÌ„trariwise how cold negligeÌ„t we are to honour serue our true liuing god It is a shame to tell how the auncient Romains with all their hartes did serue the gods without any vnderstanding how those which are christiaÌ„s for the most part serue the true God not in truthe but with hypocrisie and dissimulation Fo the children of this worlde will take no paynes but for to prouoke the pleasures of the body Many wondred for what occasion God did so muche for them and they did nothing for God To this may be aunswered that if they had knowen one true God all the sacrifices they hadde done to their other gods they would haue done to him only and as God is iust so he rewarded them in their temporall prosperities not for that they did well but for that they desired to doe well For in our deuine lawe God doth not regard what we are but what we desire to be Christian princes maruayle muche what the occasion should be that they are not so fortunate as the Gentils were To this may be answered that either they be good or euill If they be good truly God should do them wrong if for the paiment of their faithful seruices he should recompence theÌ„ with those worldly vanities For without doubt one onely louing countenaunce of god in the worlde to come is more worth then all the temporall goods of this world present But if these suche great lordes be euil in their personnes ambitious in gouerning their dominions not pitifull to wydowes and fatherlesse not fearfull of god nor of his threatninges and moreouer neuer to haue mynde to serue him but only when they see them selues in some great ieopardie in suche case God will not heare them and muche lesse fauour them For without doubt the seruice is more acceptable whiche of free wyll proceadeth than that whiche of necessitie is offred Â¶ For fiue causes princes ought to be better Christians then their subiectes Cap. xx IN myne opinion Princes ought and are bounde to be vertuous for fiue causes I saye vertuous in that they should loue and feare God For he onely may be called vertuous which in the catholique faith of the church and in the feare of God hath alwayes remayned constant First princes should feare loue serue and loue one onely god whom they worshippe for that thei acknowledge him onely and none other to be the head both of heauen and earth For in the ende there is nothing so puissaunt but is subiecte to the diuine power And truly the prince is is great perill of damnation of his soule if in his gouernemeÌ„t he hath not alwayes before his eies the feare and loue of the supreme prince to whom we must render of all our doynges an accoÌ„pt For the prince hath great occasion to be vicious thinking that for the vice he shall not be chastised I haue redde in diuerse sundry writinges and I neuer founde one auncient prince to be contented with one only god but that they had serued many gods Iulius Caesar caried fiue gods painted in a table and Scipio the great caried seuen portered in mettall And furthermore they were not contented to haue many but yet in sacrifices and seruices they offred vnto them all The Christian princes whiche kepe and haue but one very true and omnipotent god are so vnthankefull that they thinke it muche to serue and giue acceptable seruice vnto him And though peraduenture some saie that it is more painefull to serue one true god then all these false gods to this I aunswere That to serue them it is both trauaile paine but to serue our god it is both ioye and felicitie For in seruing those it

declareth that he was more valiaunte in feates of warre then comely of personage For though he was lame of one foote bleamished of one eye lackyng one eare and of bodye not muche bygger than a dwarfe yet for all thys he was a iuste manne verye constant stoute mercyfull couragious and aboue all he was a great enemy to the ignoraunt and a specyall frende to the sage Of thys Kynge Cresus Seneca speaketh in hys booke of clemencie and sayeth that the sages were so entierly beloued of hym that the greekes whyche hadde the fountaine of eloquence dyd not call hym a louer but entitled hym the loue of sages For neuer no louer dyd so muche to attayne to the loue of hys ladye as he dyd to drawe to hym and to hys countreye sage menne Thys kynge Cresus therefore beyng lorde of many Barbarous nations the whiche loued better to drinke the bloude of the innocent then to learne the science of the wise lyke an excellent Prince determined for the comfort of his person and remedye of his common wealth to searche out the greaetst sages that were in Grece At that tyme flourished the famous and renowmed philosopher Anacharsis who though he was borne brought vp amonges the Scithies yet he was alwaies resident notwithstaÌ„ding in Athens For the vniuersitie of Athens dyd not despise those that were Barbarians but those that were vitious The king Cresus sent an embassatour in great auctoritie with riches to the Phylosopher Anacharsis to perswade and desire him and with those giftes and presentes to present him to the end it myght please him to come and see his person and to sette an order in his common wealth Cresus not contented to send him giftes which the imbassatour caried but for to let him vnderstande why he dyd so wrote hym a letter with hys owne hand as hereafter foloweth The letter of kyng Cresus to Ancharsis the Philosopher CResus kyng of Lydes wysheth to the Anacharsis great Philosopher which remainest in Athens health to thy person and encrease of vertue Thou shalte see howe well I loue the in that I neuer saw the nor knew the to write vnto the a letter For the thinges whiche with the eyes haue neuer bene sene seldome times with the hart are truly beloued Thou doest esteme litle as truth is these my small giftes and presentes which I send the yet I praye the greatly esteme the will and hart wherwith I doe visite the. For noble hartes receyue more thankefully that whych a man desireth to gyue them then that which they doe giue them in dede I desire to correcte thys my Realme and to see amendement in the common wealth I desire some good order for my person and to take order touchyng the gouernement of my palace I desire to communicate with a sage som thinges of my lyfe and none of these thinges can be done without thy presence For there was neuer any good thyng made but by the meane of wisdom I am lame I am crooked I am balde I am a counterfeyte I am black and also I am broken finally amongest all other men I am a monster But all these imperfections are nothyng to those that remayne that is to wete I am so infortunate that I haue not a Philosopher with me For in the world ther is no greater shame than not to haue a wyse man about him to be conuersaunt withall I count my selfe to be dead though to the symple fooles I seme to be alyue And the cause of my death is because I haue not with me some wyse person For truly he is only aliue amongest the lyuyng who is accompanied wyth the sages I desire the greatly to come and by the immortall gods I coniure the that thou make no excuse and if thou wilt not at my desire do it for that thou art bound For many men oftentimes condescend to do that whych they would not more for vertues sake then to satisfye the demaunde of any other Thou shalt take that which my embassatour shal giue the and beleue that which he shall tell in my behalfe and by this my letter I do promise the that when thou shalt ariue here I wil make the treasourer of my coffers only couÌ„sailour of mine affaires secretary of my couÌ„sail father of my childreÌ„ refourmer of my realm maister of my person gouernour of my coÌ„moÌ„ wealth finally Anacharsis shal be Cresus because Cresus may be Anacharsis I saye no more but the gods haue the in their custodie to whome I praye that they may hasten thy commynge The imbassatour departed to goe to Athens bearyng with him this letter and many iewels and bagges of gold and by chaunce Anacharsis was reading in thuniuersity at the arriual of the imbassatoure to Athens Who openly said and dyd his message to Anacharsis presenting vnto hym the giftes and the letter Of whiche thinge all those of the vniuersitie marueiled for the barbarous princes were not accustomed to seke philosophers to gouerne their coÌ„mon wealth but to put them to death and take from them their liues After the great philosopher Anacharsis had hard the embassage sene the giftes and receiued the letter without alteryng his countenaunce or elacion of his person impedimente in his tong or desire of the riches immediately before all the philosophers said these wordes which heare after are writen The letter of the Philosopher Anacharsis to the king Cresus ANacharsis the least of the philosophers wisheth to the Cresus most mightye and puissaunt king of Lides the health whiche thou wisshest hym and the increase of vertue which thou sendest him They haue told vs many thinges here in these parties aswel of thy realme as of thy person and there in those parties they say many thinges as wel of our vniuersity as of my selfe For the harte taketh greate pleasour to knowe the condicions and liues of all those in the world It is wel done to desier and procure to know all the liues of the euill to amend our owne It is wel done to procure and knowe the liues of the good for to follow them but what shall we do since now a dayes the euill doe not desire to knowe the liues of the euil but for to couer them and kepe them secrete and do not desier to know the liues of the good for to followe them I let the know king Cresus that the philophers of Greece felte not so muche payne to be vertuous as they felte in defendyng theÌ„ from the vicious For if a man once behold vertue immediatly she suffreth to be taken but the euil for any good that a man can doe vnto them neuer suffereth them selues to be vanquished I beleue well that the tirannye of the Realme is not so great as they talke of here neyther oughtest thou lykewyse to beleue that I am so vertuous as they reporte me to be there For in mine opinion those whiche declare newes of straunge countries are as the poore which were their garmentes al to

chaunseth but that one of the parties are deceiued Â¶ Of the wysedome and sentences of Phalaris the tyraunt and howe he putte an Artisan to death for inuentinge newe tormentes Cap. xlvi IN the laste yeare of the Latines and in the firste yeare of the Romaynes Ezechias beinge kyng of the Iewes and Azarias great Bysshoppe of the holy temple Abacuck Prophet in Iewry and Merodach beyng kynge in Babilon and when the Lacedemonians buylte Bizaunce whiche nowe is Constantinople Phalaris the famous tyraunt was then lyuinge Of this Phalaris Ouide saieth that he was deformed in his face spoore blynde of his eyes and exceading couetous of riches and neuer obserued any thynge that he promysed He was vnthankefull to his frendes and cruell to his ennemies finally he was such a one that the tyrannies which seuerally were scattered in others in hym alone were altogethers assembled Amongest all the iniquities that he inuented and amongest all the tyrannies that he committed he hadde one vertue very great whiche was that euen as he was onely head of all tyrannies so was he chiefe louer and frende of al philosophers and sage men And in all those sixe and thirty yeares whiche he gouerned the realme by tyranny they neuer founde that any man touched his bearde nor that any man satte at the table with him spake vnto him or slepte in his bed nor that any man sawe in his countenaunce any mirthe vnlesse it were some philosopher or sage man with whome and to whom he liberally put his body in truste And they sayde that this Phalaris saide oftentimes The prince that absenteth him selfe from sage men and accompanieth with fooles I saye vnto him though he be a prince of his common wealth he is a cruell tyraunt of his person For it is a greater paine to lyue among fooles then to die amongest sages Pulio in the sixte booke De gestis Romanorum saieth that a worthy and excellent painter presented a table to Octauian the Emperour wherein were drawen all the vertuous princes and for their chefetaine Octauian the Emperoure was drawen at the foote of this table were all the tyranous Princes paynted of the whiche Phalaris was chiefe and captaine This table vewed by Octauian the Emperour he commended the worke but he disalowed the intention thereof saiyng me thinketh it not mete that I beinge aliue should be set chiefe and princicipall of all the vertuous menne that are deade For during the time of this wicked lyfe we are all subiecte to the vices of weake and feble fleshe Also it seameth vnto me an vniuste thing that they should put Phalaris for principall and captaine of all the tyrauntes since he was a scourge and enemy to fooles and ignoraunt men and so earnest a louer and frende of sages and wyse philosophers The fame of this cruell tyraunte Phalaris beinge knowen and his extreame cruelties he vsed spred through all Greece A neighbour and artificer of Athens called Perillus a man very excellent in metalles and a great worker in works of fountaines came to Phalaris the tyraunt saying that he would make suche a kinde of torment that his harte should remayne reuenged and the offender well punished The matter was that this workeman made a bull of brasse wherein there was a gate by the whiche they put the offender and in putting the fier vnder the bul it roared and cried in maner as it had bene aliue whiche thing was not onely a horrible and cruell tormente to the myserable creature that endured it but also it was terryble to hym or those that sawe it Let vs not marueile neyther at the one nor at the other for truely the pitefull harte whiche is not fleshed in crueltie hath as muche pitie to see an other man suffer as of the sorrowe and tormente whiche he hym selfe feeleth Phalaris therfore seing the inuention of this tormente whereof the inuentour hoped great rewarde prouided that the inuentoure of the same should be put within the bull and that the crueltie of the tormente shoulde be experimented in none saue onely on the inuentour Truly in this case Phalaris shewed him self not a cruel tyrauÌ„t but rather a mercifull Prince and a sage Philosopher for nothyng can be more iuste then that the inuention of the malice be executed on the frayle fleshe of the inuentoure Nowe because Phalaris was a great frende of sages the philosophers of Grece came oftentymes to see hym whiche were verye gently receiued of hym Though to saye the truthe they profited more with his goodes then he did with their phylosophie This tyraunte Phalaris was not onely a frende of sages but also he was very well learned and depelye seene in morall philosophie The whiche thing appeareth well in the epistles whiche he wrote with his owne hande I can not tell wherein he shewed hym selfe greater either in the sentences and doctrines whiche he wrote with his penne or in the slaughter and cruelties whiche he did with his sworde O howe many companions had Phalaris the tyraunt in this case in tymes passe and that as I woulde there were none also at this time present whiche in their pleasaunte wordes did not resemble the Emperoure Nero. I neuer reade other thynge of those that are gone neyther haue I seene otherwyse of those that are present but many they are that blase vertues and infinite whiche runne after vices For of truth we are very lighte of tongue and to feble of fleshe The Epistles whiche this Phalaris wrote are knowen to all men I meane of those which knowe Greke or laten and for those that knowe them not I was wylling to drawe these that are present and to put them in our vulgare tongue for twoo causes The one to the ende princes myght see howe good a thynge it is to be sage and howe tyrauntes were praysed for being Sages and geuing good counsayles The other to the ende the people mighte see howe easie it is to speake well and howe harde it is to woorke well For there is nothyng better cheape in the worlde then counsayle The sentences therefore of the Epistles of Phalaris are these whiche followe in such sorte as I could moste briefly gather them to reduce them in good and profitable stile to wryte them The particuler loue whiche princes shew to one more then an other breadeth oftentimes muche enuie in their Realmes For the one being loued and the other hated of this commeth hatred of hatred coÌ„meth euil thoughtes of euyll thoughtes proceadeth malice and of malice commeth euyl wordes the whiche breake out into worse deedes Finally when a prince sheweth not to equalles his fauoure indifferently he setteth fyre in his coÌ„mon wealth Princes ought to forbidde and Sages ought not to consente that rebelles and quarellers should trouble those whiche are quiet and peace makers for when the people rise immediatly couetousnes is awaked When couetousnes groweth iustice falleth force and violence ruleth snatchynge reigneth lecherie is at lybertie the euyll haue power

whereby they may beare and suffre quietly suche great troubles For at this daye there is no husbande so louing nor so vertuous in whom the wife shall not finde some euill conditions First of al wiues ought to endeuour them selues to loue their husbandes vnfainedly if they desire their husbandes should loue them without dissimulation for as we see by experience mariage is seldome broken through pouertie nor yet continued with riches For the euill maried folkes through debate and strife be separated in on week where as by good and true loue they are preserued all the dayes of their life To eate drie and vnsauory meates they vse to take salte for to amende it I meane that the burdens of matrimonie are many and troublesome the whiche all with loue onely maye be endured For as Plato the deuine philosopher sayeth one thinge oughte not to be called more painefull then an other for the labour we thereunto employ but for the great or small loue that thereunto we haue Though some sondry thyngs be troublesome and tedious yet when with loue it is begonne it is easely folowed and ioyefully achieued for that trauayle is nothyng noysome where loue is the mediatour I knowe right well and doe confesse that the counsell whiche I geue to women is sharpe that is for an honest woman to loue a dissolute man for a sage wyfe to loue a foolishe husbande for a vertuous wyfe to loue a vitious husbande For as dayly experience sheweth there are some men of so foolish conditions other women of so noble conuersation that by reason apparant they ought to take them for mistresses rather then they should accepte them for husbandes Although this in some particuler cases is true I saye and affirme that generally all women are bounde to loue their husbandes since that willingly and not by compulsion they were not enforced to take them for in like manner if the mariage pleased not the woman she hath not so much cause to complaine of her husbande for asking her as she hath reason to complayne of her owne selfe that accepted hym For the misfortunes that by our folly doe chaunce though we haue cause to lamente them we ought also to haue reason to dissemble them Be the man neuer so wylde and euill brought vp it is impossible if the wife loue him but he must nedes loue her againe And though perchaunce he can not force his euill condition to loue her yet at the leaste he shall haue no occasion to hate her The whiche ought not to be litle estemed for there are many wyues not onely of the Plebeians but also of the noble dames that coulde be content to forgeue their husbandes all the pleasure they should doe them and also all the loue that they ought to shewe if they would refraine their tongues from speaking iniurious wordes and kepe their handes from dealinge lothsome stripes We haue many notable examples in histories of manye noble and stoute Ladies as well Grekes as Romaines whiche after they were maried had so great faithfulnes and bare suche loyaltie to their husbandes that they not onely folowed them in their trauailes but also deliuered them in their daungers Plutarche in the booke of noble women declareth that the Lacedemonians keping many nobles of the Athenians prisoners whiche at that tyme were their cruell and mortall enemies and beinge iudged to die their wyues concluded to goe to the pryson where they laye and in the ende they obtayned of the Gayler thereof that they myght goe in and talke with their husbandes for in dede the teares were many that before them were shed the giftes were not fewe whiche vnto them were offered The wiues therefore entring into the pryson did not onely chaunge their apparell with their husbandes but also the libertie of their personnes for they went out as women and the women in their steades remained there as men And when they brought out these innocent wyues from pryson to execute iustice supposing they were men the Lacedemonians vnderstandinge the faithfulnes of the women determined that they should not only be pardoned but also that they should be greatly rewarded and honoured for the good examples of other women to whom they were maried The auncient and great renowmed Panthea when newes was brought her that her husbande was dead in the battayle she her owne selfe determined to goe seke him out with hope that as yet he was not vtterly dead and fynding him dead with the bloud of him she washed all her body and likewyse her face stryking with a knife her selfe to the harte and imbracing her husbande she yelded vp the ghost so togethers they were caried to the graue Porcia the doughter of Marcus Porcia the great when she hearde that her husband Brutus was taken and slayn she felte for that newes so great sorowe that all her frendes seinge her take the matter so greuously hidde from her all Irone where with she might kill her selfe and did laboure to kepe and preserue her from daungers wherein she might fall and shorten her life For she was so excellent a Romaine and so necessary to the common wealth that if they had lamented the death of Brutus her husband with teares of their eies they ought to bewayle the losse of his wife Porcia with droppes of bloud in their hartes Porcia therefore feeling in her selfe a wofull and afflicted harte for the death of her entierly beloued husband to declare that that whiche she did was not fained nor for to please the people but to satisfie her great marueilous loue since she founde neither sworde nor knife to kill her selfe nor corde to hange her selfe neither welle to drowne her in she went to the fire and with as great pleasure did eate the hote firie coales as an other would haue eaten any delicate meates We may say that such kinde of death was very straunge and newe whiche the Romaine founde to encrease augmente and manifest her loue Yet we can not denie but that she wanne to the posteritie of her name a perpetuall memorie For as a noble dame she would quenche with coles of fire her burning harte that enflamed was with firie brondes of loue As Diodorus Siculus saith it was a lawe custome amongest the Lidians to mary them selues with many wiues and whan by chaunce their husbande 's died the wiues which they had met together and fought in some plaine place And the women which remained only aliue and of the conflict had the victory cast them selues into the graue of their husbande so that those women then fought for to die as men nowe fight for to liue Â¶ Of the reuenge a woman of Grece toke of him that had killed her husband in hope to haue her in mariage Cap. v. PLutarche in the booke that he made of the noble and worthy women declareth a thing worthy of rehersall and to be had in memory In the citie of Galacia were two renowmed citezens whose names

were Sinatus Sinoris whiche were by bloud cosins in familiaritie frendes and for the loue of a Grekes doughter being very noble beautifull and exceading gratious they both striued to haue her in mariage and for to attain to their desires they both serued her they both folowed her they both loued her and for her both of them desired to die For the dart of loue is as a stroke with a clod of earth the which being throwen amongest a company dothe hurte the one and blinde the others And as the fatal destinees had ordeined it Sinatus serued this lady called Camma in suche sorte that in the ende he obteined her in mariage for his lawfull wife whiche thing when Sinoris perceiued he was ashamed of his doinges was also wounded in his harte For he lost not only that which of so long time he had sought loued and serued but also the hope to attaine to that which chiefly in his life he desired Sinatus therfore seing that his wife Camma was noble meke gratious faire and louing and that in all thinges she was comely and well taught decreed to offer her to the goddesse Diana to the end that she would preserue her from peril and keape her from infamie Truly we cannot reproue the knight Sinatus for that he did nor we ought to note him for rashe in his counsel for he sawe that his wife was very faire and therfore much desired For with great difficultie that is kepte whiche of many is desired Though Camma was nowe married and that she was in the protectioÌ„ of the goddesse Diana yet notwithstanding her olde frend Sinoris died for her sake and by all meanes possible he serued her continually he importuned her daily he folowed her howerly he required her And all this he did vppon certayne hope he had that suche diligent seruice should suffice to make her chaunge her sacred mynde and as she had chosen Sinatus for her husbande openly so he thought she shoulde take him for her frend secretly For many women are as men without tast through sickenes the which eate more of that that is hurtful and forbidden then of that whiche is healthsome and commaunded Not without a cause Camma was greatly renowmed throughout all Galatia for her beautie and much more among the vertuous esteamed for her honestie The which euidently in this was sene that after she was maried Sinoris could neuer cause her to receiue any iewell or other gifte nor that she would heare him speake any worde nor that she would shew her selfe in the wyndowe either to him or to any other to the ende to be sene in the face For it is not sufficient for Ladies to be pure good but also to geue no occasion for men to iudge that if they durste they would be euill As it is true in dede that the harte which is intangled with loue dare boldely aduenture him selfe in many kynde of daungers to accomplishe that whiche he desired so Sinoris seing that with faire wordes he could not flatter her nor with any giftes wynne her determined to kyll Sinatus her husbande vpon hope that when she should be wydowe he might easely obteine her in matrimonie For he thought although Camma was not euyll it was not for that she wanted desier to do it but because she had no commodious place to accomplishe it And to be shorte Sinoris would neades execute and bryng to effect his deuellyshe and damnable intente so that sone after he vylie slewe his saide compaignion Sinatus After whose death the noble lady Camma was of Sinoris greatly desired and by his parentes muche importuned that she would condiscende to take and mary him and that she would forgyue him the death of her husband Sinatus whiche then was buried And as she was in all her doinges suche a princely woman she imagened with her selfe that vnder the pretence of mariage she might haue opportunitie to accomplishe her desiers wherfore she aunswered vnto his parentes that she did accepte their counsel and saide to Sinoris that she did choose him for her husbande speakyng these woordes more for to comforte him then with intente to pardon him And as amongest those of Galatia there was a custome that the newe maried folkes shoulde eate togethers in one dishe and drynke in one cuppe the daye that the mariage was celebrated Camma determined to prepare a cuppe with poyson and also a lute wherewith she began to playe and singe with her propre voyce before the goddesse Diana in this maner TO thÃ©e Dian whose endles reigne doth stretche Aboue the boundes of all the heauenly route And eke whose aide with royall hande to reche Chiefe of all gods is moste proclaimed oute I sweare and with vnspotted faith protest That though till nowe I haue reserud my breth For no entent it was but thus distrest With waylefull ende to wreke Senatus deth Â¶ And if in mynde I had not thus decreed Wherto should I my pensife daies haue spent With longer dewle for that forepassed dede Whose ofte record newe sorowes still hath bent But oh synce him their kindled spite hath slaine With tender loue whom I haue waide so dere Synce he by fate is rest from fortunes rayne For whose decaye I dredelesse perishe here Synce him by whom my only lyfe I ledd Through wretched handes the gaping earth nowe haue Ought I by wyshe to lyue in eny stedd But closde with him togither in the graue O bright Dian synce senceles him I see And makeles I here to remaine alone Synce he is graude where greedy wormes nowe bee And I suruiue surmounted with my fone Synce he is prest with lumpes of wretched soyle And I thus chargd with flame of frosen care Thou knowest Dian howe harde with restles toyle Of hoote abhorring mynde my life I spare For howe can this vnquiet brest resarue The fainting breth that striues to drawe his last Synce that euen then my dieng harte did starue When my dead phere in swalowyng earth was cast The first black daye my husbande slept in graue By cruell sworde my lyfe I thought to spende And synce a thousande times I sought to haue A stretching corde my sorowes wrath to ende And if till nowe to wast my pining daies I haue deferde by slaughter of my hande It was but loe a fitter cause to raise Whereon his sharpe reuenge might iustly stande Now since I may in full suffising wyse Redeme his breath if waywarde will would let More depe offence by not reuenge might rise Then Sinoris erst by giltles bloud did get Thee therfore mightie Ioue I iustly craue And eke thy doughter chast in thankefull sorte That loe the offering whiche of my selfe ye haue Ye wil vouchesafe into your heauenly forte Synce Sinatus with soone enflamed eies Amongest the Achaian routes me chiefly â—ewed And eke amidst the prease of Grekes likewyse Chose for his phere when swetely he had sewed Synce at my will the froth of wasting welth With

gladsome mynde he trained was to spend Synce that his youth which slippeth loe by stelth To waite on me he freely did commend Since he such heapes of lingring harmes did wast Aye to contente my wanton youthly wil And that his breath to fade did passe so fast To glut their thrust that thus his bloud did spill Though great the dutie be which that I owe Vnto his graued ghost and â—indred moulde Yet loe me seames my duetie well I showe Perfourming that my feble power coulde For since for me vntwined was his threede Of giltles life that ought to purchase breath Can reasons doome conclude I ought to dreede For his decaye to clyme the steppes of death In wretched earth my father graued lyes My deere mother hath ronne her rase of life The pride of loue no more can dawnt mine eies My wasted goodes ar shronke by fortunes strife My honours sone eclipsed is by fate My yong delight is loe fordone by chaunce My broken life these passed happes so hate As can my graued hart no more aduaunce And nowe remaines to duetie with my phere No more but refuse loe my yrkesome life With willing mynde followed eke with drere Whiche I resigne as sitteth for a wife And thou Sinoris whiche Iunos yoke doest craue To presse my corps to feede thy liking lust The route of Homers gods the graunt to haue In steade of roiall feates a throne of dust In chaunge of costlie robes and riche araie A simple winding sheete they deigne the giue And eke in stede of honest wedlockes staie They singe thy dirge and not vouchsaue the liue In place of himens hie vnfiled bedde They laie thÃ©e vp in closure of thy graue In steed with precious meates for to be fedde They make the wormes for fitter praie thee haue In steed of songe and musikes tuned sowne They waite on thÃ©e with loude lamenting voice In chaunge of ioyfull life and hie renowne Thy cruell death may sprede with wretched noise For you great gods that stalled be on hie Should not be iust ne yet suche titles clame Vnles this wretche ye ruthles cause to die That liueth nowe to sclaunder of your name And thou Dian that haunted courtes doost shonne Knowst with what great delight this life I leaue And when the race of spending breath is donne Will perse the soile that did my phere receaue Â¶ And if perchaunce the paled ghostes despise Suche fatall fine with grudge of thankeles minde Yet at the least the shamefast liuing eies Shall haue a glasse rare wysely giftes to finde Wherein I will that Lucres secte shall gase But none that lyue like Helens line in blase AND when the praier was ended that this faire and vertuous Camma made she dranke and gaue to drynke to Sinoris of this cuppe of poyson who thought to drynke no other but good wyne and water and the case was suche that he died at noone daies and she likewyse in the eueninge after And truly her death of all Grece with as great sorowe was lamented as her life of all men was desired Princesses and great Ladies may moste euidently perceiue by the examples herein conteyned howe honest and honourable it is for them to loue and endeuoure them selues to be beloued of their husbandes and that not onely in their lyfe but also after their deathe For the wyfe to serue her husbande in his life seameth oft tymes to proceade of feare but to loue and honour him in his graue proceadeth of loue Princesses and great Ladies ought not to doe that which many other women of the common people doe that is to wete to seke some drinkes and inuente some shamefull sorceries to be beloued of their husbandes for albeit it is a great burden of conscience and lacke of shame in lyke maner to vse such superstitions yet it should be a thing to vniust and very slaunderous that for to be beloued of their husbandes they should procure to bee hated of God Truly to loue to serue and contente God it is not hurtefull to the woman for that she should be the better beloued of her husbande but yet God hathe suffered and doth permitte oftetymes that the women beinge feble deformed poore and negligent should be better beloued of their husbandes then the diligent faire and ryche And this is not for the seruices they doe to their husbandes but for the good intention they haue to serue loue God whiche sheweth them this especiall fauour for otherwyse God doth not suffer that he being with her displeased she should lyue with her husbande contented If women would take this councell that I geue them in this case I wil teache them furthermore a notable enchauntement to obteine the loue of their husbandes whiche is that they be quiet meke pacient solitary and honest with which fiue herbes they may make a confection the which neither seene nor tasted of their husbands shal not onely cause them to be beloued but also honoured For women ought to knowe that for their beautie they are desyred but for their vertue onely they are beloued Â¶ That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be obedient to their husbandes and that it is a great shame to the husbande that his wyfe should commaunde him Cap. vi MAny auncient historiographers trauailed greatly and consumed long tyme in wryting to declare what authoritie the man ought to haue ouer the woman and what seruitude the woman oweth to the man and some for to auaunce the dignitie of the man and others to excuse the frailtie of the woman alleged such vayne thinges that it had bene more honour for them not to haue written at all then in suche sorte as they did For it is not possible but the wryters should erre whiche wryte not as reason teacheth but rather as their fantasie leadeth Those that defende the frailtie of the women saied that the woman hath a body as a man she hath a soule as a man she hath reason as a man dieth as a man and was as necessarie for generation as man she liueth as a man and therefore they thought it not mete that she should be more subiect to man then man to her for it is not reason that that whiche nature hath made free should by any lawes of man be made bond They saide furthermore that God created not the creatours but to augmente the generation of mankinde and that in this case the woman was more necessary then the man for the man engendreth without payne or trauayle but the woman is deliuered with perill and daunger and with payne and trauayle norysheth vp the childe Wherfore it seameth great vnkindnes and crueltie that the women whiche are deliuered with peryll and daunger of their lyues and brynge vp their chyldren with laboure and toyle of their bodyes should be vsed of their husbandes as sclaues They sayed further that men are those that cursse that moue seditions that make warres that mayntayne enmytie that weare weapons that sheade mans bloude

and I besech the Gods that thou mayest vnderstande it whiche is If the beastly motions of the fleashe dyd not force men to wyll and also to desyre women I doubte whether there should be any woman in the worlde beloued or suffered For though nature geueth them giftes worthy to be beloued yet they through their small discretion cause them selues to be hated If the Gods had made this loue voluntarie as they made it natural so that we might haue loued as we would and lefte agayne at our pleasure that man ought worthely to haue ben punyshed whiche for the loue of any woman would putte his life in daunger The gods haue kept this great secret vnto them selues and the mysery that they gaue vnto men is very great since that vnto so weake fleshe he gaue so strong a harte the whiche doth procure that whiche doth vs harme and foloweth that whiche we ought to abhorre This is an other secrete that all men knowe when they offende but I see no man that seketh amendement for I heare all complaine of the fleshe and yet I see all like Bochers folowe the fleshe and when it can doe least good then it is moste gredy I enuye not the Gods liuing nor the men that be dead saue onely for twoo thinges whiche be these First I enuy the Gods because they liue without feare of the malicious Secondarely I enuie the dead for that they liue without nede of women For women are so corrupte that they corrupte all and they be suche mortall plagues that both fleshe and harte by them are brought to ende O Faustine the loue of the fleshe is so naturall to the fleshe that when from you the body flieth in sport we then leaue our hartes engaged to you in earnest And though reason as reason putteth desire to flight yet the flesh as fleshe yeldeth it selfe as prysoner Â¶ The Emperour folowyng his matter admonisheth men of the great daungers whiche ensue vnto them by excessiue haunting the company of women And reciteth certaine rules for maried men which if they obserue maye cause them to liue in peace with their wyues Cap. xvi I Remember that in my youth as I was of fleshe I trembled for feare of the fleshe with mynde neuer to retourne agayne and I doe confesse that ofte tymes I reuolued in my harte many holy and chaste meditations but yet notwithstanding I gaue my body immediatly to sondrie filthy vices It is a naturall thing that when man hath committeth any vice forthwith he repenteth him of his dede and so againe after his newe repentaunce he turneth to his olde vyces For during the time that we liue in the house of this frayle fleshe Sensualitie beareth so great a rule that she will not suffer reason to enter in at the gate There is no man in Rome if a man doeth aske him but wil marueile to declare with his tongue the thoughtes that he hath had in his hart in especially to be chaste to be true to be pacient to be vertuous and peraduenture ye talke with those that somewhat communicate with them let a man inquire of his neighbours they shall finde that he is a deceiuer a lier and a blasphemour Finally they deceiue men by their faire wordes offended the gods by their euil workes It profiteth litle to blase vertues with wordes if the hand be negligent to worke them in dede for a man is not called iust only desiring to be good in name but for to labour to be vertuous in workes The trayterous worlde in no one thinge beguileth worldlings so much as by feading them with vaine hope saiyng that they shall haue time enough to be vertuous so that these blinde men when they are once depely rooted in vices whiles they hope for this light of amendement then sodainly assaulteth theÌ„ the dreadful dart of death Oh how many haue promised vnto men vowed vnto the gods determined with them selues that before so many daies they would beginne to be vertuous whom in short space after we haue sene to engage theÌ„ selues to the huÌ„gry wormes of the earth The gods wil that we be vertuous for the coÌ„trary the world and the fleshe willeth that we be vitious Me thinketh that it is better to obey the gods then to doe that the world the fleshe desireth for the praise of vertue is honour the paine of vice is infamie If thou doest consider Faustine thou shalt see that the gods are on the one parte which procureth vs to vertues and on the other part is the world the flesh which inticeth vs vnto vices My opinion is we should saye vnto the gods that we desire to be vertuous that we should say to the world the flesh that from henceforth we wil geue our selues no more to be vitious We ought in suche case to satisfie the gods with workes to enterteine the world the flesh with words that we imploy so much time in leading a good life that we haue no time vacant to speake an idle worde I let the wete Faustine that al that I haue told thee I haue spoken it against my selfe for always from my youth I had a good minde yet for al that I haue ben ouerthrowen with vices Oh how many times in my youth I knew womeÌ„ I accoÌ„panied with womeÌ„ I talked with women beleued women that which in the ende haue deceiued me misused me defamed me At the last I withdrew my self forsoke theÌ„ but I do confesse that if reason kept me froÌ„ their houses .x. daies sensualitie kept me with theÌ„ .x. wekes Oh cruel gods oh wicked world oh fraile flesh tel me what it meaneth that reason leadeth me voluntarely to vertues that sensualitie against my wil draweth me vnto vices Doest thou not thinke Faustine that I coÌ„sider what a great good it is for to be good what an euill it is to be euill But what shall I doe wofull man since at this daye there is not so cruell a scourge of my honoure nor so great an enemy of my renowme as myne owne fleshe is the which against me doth make such cruell warres Wherfore I beseche the immortall gods sithe my beynge here is against my wyll that they doe defende me in this so cruell warre The frayle fleshe is somewhat to blame but muche more is the foolishe and lyght woman in faulte For if men were certaine that women were chast shamefaste and solitary they would not dispose their hartes their bodies nor bende their bowes to shoote at their buttes they would not consume their time to folowe them loose their goodes to serue them neither would they suffer so many shames to sclaunder them For where the harte hath no hope to obteine there he wil geue ouer his sute But what shal we doe now Faustine I praie thee tel me since thou knowest better then I that the shame of the Romaine women is nowe gone and the

women of Italie are so dissolute that though men doe not regarde them yet they doe entyse them If men flie they call them If men goe backe they approche If men are sadde they make them mery If men are silente they force them to speake and finally men begynne the loue in sporte and they temper it in suche sorte that they tourne it all into earnest I let thee wete Faustine that the meanes whereby nature worketh in man is very straunge but the shame whiche the Gods put in women is more marueilous And if it be true as it is true in dede that the men doe loose the stynge of the fleshe and that the women doe not loose the shame of the visage I thynke it is impossible that there should be a chaste or vertuous woman in Rome For there is no common wealth more vndone then that where the women haue lost their shame O women what reason haue they whiche flie form you whiche are wery of you whiche forsake you whiche forget you whiche make them selues straungers and furthermore whiche are dead and buried For the hungrie wormes gnawe in the graue onely the frayle and slymie fleashe of the dead but you women destroy the goodes honoure and lyfe of the liuing Oh if the noble hartes knewe what euill doth folowe them for dallieng with women I sweare vnto them that they would not serue them continually as they doe serue them but also they would haue no luste nor desier to beholde them What wilt thou I saye any more to thee Faustine but that some scape out of your handes for effeminate and sclaundered others hurte by your tongues others persecuted with your workes other deceiued with your countenaunces others despysed through your hatred others desperate through your inconstancie others condempned by your light iudgementes others troubled through your vnkyndnes finally those that escape beste are of your hartes abhorred and through your folly destroyed Then since the man knoweth that he muste passe all those daungers I can not tel what foole he is that wyll either loue or serue you For the brute beaste that once hath felte the sharpe teethe of the dogge wil vnwillingly euer after come nere vnto the stake Oh vnto what perils doth he offer him selfe whiche continually doth haunte the company of women For as much as if he loue them not they despise him and take him for a foole If he doth loue them they accompt him for light If he forsake theÌ„ they esteme him for no body If he followe them he is accompted loste If he serue them they doe not regarde him If he doe not serue them they despyse hym If he wyll haue them they wyll not If he will not they persecute him If he doe aduaunce him selfe forth they call hym importunate If he flie they saye he is a cowarde If he speake they saye he is a bragger If he holde his peace they saye he is a dissarde If he laughe they saye he is a foole If he laughe not thei say he is solempne If he geueth them any thing they say it is litle worth he that geueth them nothing he is a pinchpurse Finally he that haunteth them is by them sclaundered and he that doth not frequent them is esteamed lesse then a man These thinges so sene so harde and so knowen what shall the poore and miserable man doe inespecially if he be a man of vnderstanding For though he would absent him selfe from women the flesh doth not geue him licence though he would folow womeÌ„ wisedom wyl not condiscende Some men thinke in al their thoughts that by seruices and pleasures they may content women But I let them knowe if they know it not that the woman is neuer contented though maÌ„ doth what he can as maide that he do al that he ought to do as a husbaÌ„d though he taketh paines for her sake aboue his force though with the swet of his browes he releaueth her neade though euery houre he putteth him self in daunger yee in the end she wil geue him no thankes but will say that he loueth an other that he doth but that to please and satisfie her It is a long time since I desired to tel thee this Faustine but I haue deferred it vntil this present houre hoping thou wouldest not geue occasion to tel it thee For among wise men those wordes ought chiefly to be esteamed which fittely to the purpose are declared I remember that it is sixe yeres since Anthonius Pius thy father chose me to be his sonne in law and that thou chosest me for thy husband I thee for my wife all the which thinges were done my wofull aduentures permitting it Adrian my lord commaunding it The good Anthonius Pius gaue his onely doughter in mariage vnto me and gaue me likewyse his noble Empire with great treasures he gaue me also the gardeÌ„s of Vulcanali to passe the time therin But I thinke that on both sides we were deceiued He in chosing me for his sonne in lawe I in taking thee for my wife O Faustine thy father and my father in law was called Anthonius Pius because to al he was merciful saue only to me to whom he was most cruel for with a litle flesh he gaue me many bones And I confesse the truthe vnto thee that nowe I haue no more teethe to byte nor heate in my stomake to digeaste and the worste of all is that many tymes I haue thought to rage on my selfe I wyll tell thee one worde though it doth displease thee whiche is that for thy bewtie thou art desyred of many and for thy euil conditions thou arte despysed of all For the fayre women are lyke vnto the golden pylles the whiche in sighte are very pleasaunte and in eatinge veray noysome Thou knowest well Faustine and I also that we sawe on a daye Drusio and Braxille his wife which were our neighbours and as they were brauling togethers I spake vnto Drusio suche wordes what meaneth this lorde Drusio that being nowe the feaste of Berecinthia and being as we are adioyninge to her house and presente before so honourable assemblie and furthermore thy wyfe beinge so faire as she is howe is it possible there shoulde bee any stryfe betweene you Men which are maried to deformed personnes to the end that they might kil them quicly should alwaies fal out with their wiues but those that are maried to fayer women they oughte alwayes to liue togethers in ioy and pleasure to the end they may liue long For when a fayre woman dyeth though she haue lyued a hundreth yeres yer she dyeth to sone and though a deformed woman lyueth a smal time yet not withstandyng she dieth to late Drusio as a man being vexed lifting vp his eyes into the heauens fetchinge a greuous sighe from the bottome of his hart sayed these wordes The mother Berecinthia pardon me and her holy house also and al the companye besides forgeue me for by

of kyng Arthebanus had nourished his sonne they coulde not haue robbed it in the cradell nor these twoo princes had not bene slayne in battayle nor the common wealth had not bene destroied nor Alexander had not entred into the lande of another nor had not come to conquere the contrey of Italy nor the dead corps had not wanted his graue for oftetimes it chaunceth for not quenching a litle coale of fier a whole forest house is burned The deuine Plato among the Grekes and Licurgus among the Lacedemonians commaunded and ordeined in all their lawes that al the Plebeical women those of meane estate should nourishe al their children and that those which were princesses and great ladies should at the least nourishe their eldest and first begotten Plutarche in the booke of the reigne of princes saieth that the sixt kyng of the Lacedemonians was Thomistes the whiche when he died lefte two children of which the second inherited the realme because the Quene her selfe had brought it vp and the first did not inherite because a strauÌ„ge nource had geuen it sucke and brought it vp And hereof remained a custome in the moste parte of the realmes of Asia that the childe whiche was not nourysshed with the pappes of his mother shoulde inherite none of his mothers goodes There was neuer nor neuer shal be a mother that had suche a sonne as the mother of God which had Iesus Christe nor there was neuer nor neuer shal be a sonne which had suche a mother in the worlde But the infante would neuer sucke other milke because he would not be bounde to call any other mother nor the mother did geue him to nourish to any other mother because that no other woman should call him sonne I doe not marueile at al that princesses and great ladies doe geue their children forth to nourishe but that which moste I marueile at is that she whiche hath conceiued and brought forth a child is a shamed to geue it sucke and to nourishe it I suppose that the ladies doe thinke that they deserue to conceiue them in their wombes and that they sinne in nourishing them in their armes I can not tell how to wryte and much lesse howe to vtter that which I would say which is that women are now a daies come into such folly that they thinke and esteme it a state to haue in their armes some litle dogges they are ashamed to nourish geue the childreÌ„ sucke with their own breastes O cruel mothers I cannot thinke that your hartes can be so stony to endure to see and keape fantasticall birdes in the cages vnhappy Monkeis in the wyndowes fisting spaniels betwene your armes and so neglect and despise the swete babes casting them out of your houses where they were borne and to put them into a straunge place where they are vnknowen It is a thing which cannot be in nature neither that honestie can endure conscience permit nor yet consonant either to deuine or humaine lawes that those which God hath made mothers of children shoulde make them selues nourses of dogs Iunius Rusticus in the third booke of the sayings of the auncientes saith that Marcus Porcio whose life and doctrine was a lanterne and example to al the Romain people as a man much offended saied on a day to the senate O fathers conscripte O cursed Rome I can not tell what nowe I shoulde saye sithe I haue sene in Rome suche monsterous thinges that is to wete to see women cary Parrottes on their fistes and to see women to nourishe dogges geuing them mylke from their owne breastes They replied in the senate and sayde Tell vs Marcus Porcio what wouldest thou we should doe whiche lyue nowe to resemble our fathers whiche are dead Marcus Portio aunswered them The woman that presumeth to be a Romaine Matrone ought to be founde weauing in her house and out of that to be found in the temple praying to God and the noble and stoute Romane ought to be fouÌ„d in his house reding bookes and out of his house fighting in the playn fielde for the honour of his countrie And suer these were wordes worthy of suche a man Annius Minutius was a noble Romaine and captaine of great Pompeius who was a great friende to Iulius Caesar after the battaile of Farsaliae for he was an auncient and on that could geue good councell wherefore he neuer scaped but that he was chosen in Rome for Senatour Consul or Censor euery yeare for Iulius Caesar was so mercifull to them that he pardoned that those whiche had bene his moste enemies in the warres were of hym in peace best beloued This Annius Minutius then beinge chosen Censor within Rome which was an office hauing charge of iustice by chaunce as he went to visite the wyfe of an other frende of his the whiche laye in child bedde because she had great aboundaunce of mylke he founde that a litle pretie bitche did sucke her vpon the whiche occasion they saye he said these wordes to the Senate fathers conscripte a present mischiefe is nowe at hande according to the token I haue sene this daye that is to wete I haue seene a Romaine woman denie her owne chyldren her mylke and gaue to sucke to a filthy bitche And truly Annius had reason to esteme this case as a wonder for the true and swete loues are not but betwene the fathers and children and where the mother embraceth the brute beaste and forsaketh her naturall childe whiche she hath brought foorth it cannot be otherwyse but there either wysedome wanteth or folly aboundeth for the foole loueth that he ought to despise and despiseth that whiche he ought to loue Yet thoughe the mothers wyll not geue their children sucke they oughte to doe it for the daunger whiche may come to the helthe of their personnes for as the womeÌ„ which bryng forth children do lyue more healthful then those which beare none so these which do nourish them haue more health then those which doe not nourishe them For although the brynging vp of children be troublesome to women it is profitable for their healthe I am ashamed to tell it but it is more shame for ladies to do it to see what plasters they put to their breastes to drie vp their milke and hereof commeth the iust iudgement of God that in that place ofte tymes where they seke to stoppe their mylke in the selfe same place they them selues procure their sodaine death I aske now if women doe not enioye their children being younge what pleasure hope they to haue of them when they are olde What a great comforte is it for the parentes to see the younge babe when he wyll laughe howe he twincleth his litle eies when he wyll weape how he wyll hange the prety lippe when he woulde speake howe he wyll make signes with his lytle fyngers when he wyll goe howe he casteth forwarde his feete and aboue all when he beginneth to bable howe he doubled in his

honnye and she wrote two others the one of the vanities of youth and the other of the miseries of age This woman dyd read openly natural morall Phylosophye in the Scholes of Athens for the space of fiue twenty yeres she made forty bookes she had a hundred tenne philosophers to her Scholers she dyed being at the age of seuentie and seuen yeres the Athenians after her death engraued on her graue these words THe slised stones within their bowels keape Wise Aretha the great and only wight That forceth enuie gentle teares to weape For Grekes decay on whom the losse doth light The eye of fame the hart of vertues life The head of Grece lie here engraued lo more heauenly forme then had that heauenly wife Which vndermind the phrigies ioyes with woe Within the chest of her vnspotted minde Lay Thirmas troth and eke her honest faith Within her hande as by the gods assinde Stoode Aristippus penne that vertue wayeth Within the dongeon of her body eke Imprisonde was wise Socrates his soule That liude so well and did so wisely speke That follies brest he could to wisdome toule Within her head so ouer heapt with witt Lay Homers tongue to stayne the poetes arte Erst was the golden age not halfe so fitt For vertues Impes as when her life did parte As Marcus Varro sayeth the sectes of the philosophers were more then .lxx. but in the ende they were reduced into seuen and in the ende they were brought into thre sects chiefly That is to wete Stoicques Peripaeticques and Pithagoricques Of these pithagoricques Pithagoras was the prince Hyzearcus Annius Rusticus and Laertius with Eusebius and Boccace all affirme one thinge whereunto I did not greatly geue credite which is that this philosopher Pithagoras had a sister not onely learned but if it be lawfull to speake it excellently learned And they saye that not she of Pithagoras but Pithagoras of her learned philosophie And of truthe it is a matter whereof I was so greatly abashed that I can not tell who could be maister of such a woman since she had Pithagoras the great philosopher to her scholler The name of the woman was Theoclea to whom Pithagoras her brother wrote sent a letter when he red philosophie at Rhodes and she at Samothracia doinge the like The Pistle was thus as foloweth Â¶ Of a letter whiche Pithagoras sent to his sister Theoclea he being in Rhodes she in Samothracia reading both philosophie Cap. xxix PIthagoras thy brother and disciple to thee Theoclea his sister health and increase of wisedome wysheth I haue red the booke whiche thou diddest sende me of fortune and misfortune from the beginning to the end and nowe I knowe that thou art no lesse graue in making then gracious in teaching The which doth not chaunce very oft to vs which are men and much lesse as we haue sene to you women For the philosopher Aristippus was rude in speaking profound in writing Amenides was briefe in wryting and eloquent in speaking Thou hast studied and written in such sorte that in the learning that thou shewest thou seamest to haue read all the philosophers and in the antiquities that thou doest declare it semeth that thou hast sene all the time past Wherein thou beinge a woman shewest thy selfe more then a woman because the nature of women is to caste their eies only in that that is present and commonly to forget that that is past They tell me that thou doest occupye thy selfe nowe in writing of our countrey And truly in this case I can not say but that you haue matter enough to wryte on For the warres and trauayles of our tymes haue bene suche and so great that I had rather reade them in bookes then see them with my eyes And if it be so as I suppose it is I beseche thee hartely and by the immortall Gods I coniure thee that in writing the affaires of thy couÌ„trey thou doest vse thy penne discreatly I meane that thou doe not in this case bleamyshe thy wryting by putting therein any flatterie or lesinge For oftetimes Historiographers in blasinge more then trouth the giftes of their countrey cause worthely to be suspected their wryting Thou knowest very well how that in the battayle paste the Rhodians were ouercome and that ours remained victorious Me thinketh thou shouldest not in this case greatly magnifie extolle or exalt ours because in the ende they fought to reuenge their iniury neither thou oughtest to blame the Rhodians for they did not fight but in the ayde of Rome I speake this my Syster because for to defende their own women shewe them selues Lyons and for to defende the thinges of an other man men shew them selues chickens For in the ende he onely maye be counted strong the whiche defendeth not his owne house but which dieth defending his and another mans I wyll not denie the naturall loue of my countrey nor I wyll not denie but that I loue them that wryte and speake well thereof but me thinketh it is not reason that they should disprayse the goodnesse and truthe of other countries nor that they should so highly comend the euill and vilenes of their owne For there is not in the world this daye so barren a Realme but maye be commended for some thing therein nor there is so perfite a nation but in some thinges maye be reproued Thou canst not deny me but that amongest thy brethren I am the eldest and thou canste not deny but that amongest all thy disciples I am the yongest and since that for being thy disciple I ought to obey thee thou like wyse for that I am thy eldest brother oughtest to beleue me By the fayeth of a people I doe councell thee my syster that thou doe trauayle muche to be profound in thy words vpright in thy life and honest of thy persone and besides al this true in thy writing For I let thee vnderstande that if the body of the man without the soule is litle regarded I sweare vnto thee that the mouthe of a man without truthe is muche lesse esteamed Â¶ The authour foloweth his purpose perswading princesses and other ladies to endeuour them selues to be wyse as the women were in olde tyme. Cap. xxx THis therefore was the letter the whiche Pithagoras sente to his syster Theoclea whereby is shewed the great humilitie of him and the hyghe eloquence of her Hiarcus the Greke and Plutarche also in the booke of the gouernement of princes saye that Pithagoras had not onely a sister whiche was called Theoclea of whom he learned so muche philosophie but also he had a doughter the wisedome and knowledge of whome surmounted her aunte and was equall to her father I thinke it no lesse vncredible which is spoken of the doughter then that whiche is spoken of the aunte whiche is that those of Athenes did reioyce more to heare her speake in her house then for to heare Pithagoras reade in the schole And it ought to

that the doughters should inherit the goodes for to mary them selues with all Truly this law was very iust for the sonne that hath alwayes respect to the enheritaunce will not haue to his father any great confidence For he ought to be called a valiant Romaine knight that with his life hath wonne honour and by the sword hath gotten riches Since you are in straung realmes I praye you hartely that you be conuersaunt with the good as good brethren remeÌ„bring alwayes that you wer my children and that I gaue you both sucke of myne owne propre breastes And the daye that I shall here of your disagrement the same day shal be the end of my life For the discord in one citie of parentes doth more harme then a hole armie of enemys It is good for you my childreÌ„ to liue in loue concord togethers but it is more requisit to kepe you with the Romaine knightes The which with you you with theÌ„ if you do not loue together in the warres you shall neuer haue the vpper hand of your enemies For in great armies the discordes which rise emongest theÌ„ do more harme then the enemys do against whoÌ„ they fight I think wel my children that you wold be very desirous to know of my estate that is to wete whether I am in health whether I am sick whether I am poore whether I am pleased or whether I am miscontented In this case I know not why you shold desire to know it since you ought to presuppose that accordyng to the troubles which I haue passed the miseries that with mine eyes I haue sene I am filled with this world for wise men after .50 yeres and vpwarde ought rather to apply their mindes how to receiue death theÌ„ to seke pleasurs to prolong life When mans flesh is weake it always desireth to be wel kept euen vnto the graue And as I am of flesh bone so I do feale the troubles of the world as al mortal men do But for al this do not think that to be pore or sick is the greatest misery neither thinke that to be hole riche is the chefest felicity for ther is none other felicity of the old fathers but for to se their childreÌ„ vertuous In my opinioÌ„ it is an honour to that countrey that the fathers haue such children which wil take profit with their counsell contrary wyse that the children haue such fathers which can giue it them For the child is happy that hath a wise father more happy is the father that hath not a folish sonne I do write oft times vnto you my children but there is a law that none be so hardy to write to men of war in the field except first they inrowle the letters in the senate Therfore since I write vnto you more letters then they would they do send lesse then I desire Thoughe this law be painefull to mothers which haue children yet we must confesse it is profitable for the weale publik For if a man should write to one in the warre that his family is not well he would forsake the warres to remedye it Yf a man wryte vnto him that it is prosperous he hath then a desire to enioye it Be not displeased my children thoughe all the letters I do sende vnto you come not to your handes For all that I do not cease to visite the temples for your owne health nor yet to offre sacrifices to the Gods for your honour For if we do please the gods we haue not cause to feare our enemies I say no more in this case my children but that I beseche the immortall Gods that if your lyues maye profyte the common wealth then they shorten my dayes and leÌ„gthen your yeres but if your lyues should be to the domage of the common wealth then those immortall gods I desire that first I may vnderstand the end of your dayes before that the wormes should eate my flesh For rather then by your euill lyfe the glory of our predecessours should be bleamished it were much better both your liues wer ended The grace of the Gods the good renowme amongest men the good fortune of the Romains that wisedom of the greekes the blessing of Scippio of al other your predecessours be alwayes with you my children Of the education and doctrine of children whiles they are yong Wherein the auctour declareth many notable histories Chap. xxxii ALl mortall men which will trauell and see good fruite of their trauell ought to do as the chefe artificer did that painted the world For the man that maketh god the head of his workes it is vnpossible that he should erre in the same That whych we beleue and reade by wrytinge is that the eternall created the world in short space by his mighte but preserued it a loÌ„g time by his wisedome Wherof a man may gather that the time to do a thing is short but the care and thought to preserue it is long We see daily that a valiaunt captaine assaulteth his enemies but in the end it is god that giueth the victorye but let vs aske the conquerour what trauell it hath bene vnto him or wherin he hath perceaued most daunger that is to wete either to obteine the victory of his enemies or els to preserue them selues amongest the enuious and malicious I sweare and affirme that such a knight wil swere that ther is no comparison betwene the one and the other for by the bloudy sweard in an houre the victorye is obteined but to kepe it with reputation the swete of al the life is required Laertius in the booke of the lyfe of the philophers declareth and Plato also hereof maketh mention in the bookes of hys common wealth that those of Thebes vnderstandyng that the Lacedemonians hadde good lawes for that whych they were of the godes fauoured and of menne greatly honoured determined to send by common assent and agreement a wise philosopher the beste esteamed amongest them whose name was Phetonius to whome they commaunded that he should aske the lawes of the Lacedemonians and that he shoulde be verye circumspecte and ware to see what their rules and customes were Those of Thebes were then very noble valliant and honest so that their principal end was to come to honour renowme to erect buildinges to make them selues of immortall memory for beyng vertuous For in buildyng they were very curious and for vertues they had good Philosophers The philosopher Phetonius was more theÌ„ a yeare in the realme of the Lacedemonians beholding at sondry times all thinges therin for simple men do not note thinges but onely to satisfye the eyes but the wise menne beholdeth them for to know and vnderstand their secrettes After that the philosopher had well plainely sene and behelde all the thinges of the Lacedemonians he determined to returne home to Thebes and beyng arriued all the people came to see him and here him For the vanitie of the common people is

my seconde sonne such an estate and duchye and to my doughter suche landes and to all I recommend iustice to the ende they doe obserue it and cause it to bee obserued euerye one in his owne countrey It is muche to note that the father dothe not saie that he leaueth vnto his sonne iustice but that he doth recommend it vnto hym so that the good princes ought to thinke that they haue not inherited iustyce of theire predecessoures in fourme of a patrimonie but that God gaue it vntoo them of truste Prynces of all thinges maye bee called lordes saue onelye of iustice wherof they are but onely ministers We dare boldly saye that the prince or gret lord which iudgeth causes not according to the diuine wil but accordiÌ„g to theire owne affection we will not call him a iuste iudge but a rouing theefe For the prince is muche worse whiche robbeth god of iustice then the theefe whiche stealeth the goods from menne Suetonius Tranquillus reciteth much wickednes of Domician and the greatest of all was the poore the Orphans and those whiche coulde doe little he alwaies punished the other that were riche and of aucthoritie he pardoned He compounded with some for money and with other he dissembled for fauour Lampridius saide of Alexander Seuerus the .25 Emperour of Rome that he neuer kepte in his courte anye euyll man or suffered any of his parentes to be vicious And when he was demanded on a time why he banished one of his cosyns since he was yong a child he aunswered them whiche entreated him for him and alleged That though he was yonge his cosin yet Charior est mihi respub as if more plainly he had said I haue none other nerer of kinne to me in my palace then the common wealth O high and muche more higher woordes worthy for a truthe to bee written in princes hartes whereby they ought to be aduertised that he said not I take for my kynne one parte of the common wealthe For the prince whiche feareth god and desired to be founde iust as he will indifferentlye bee obeyed of all so ought he equally to administer iustice to all If they wyll not credite me nor my penne let them credit Plato in the bookes of his common wealth who geueth libertie and lycence to all the Plebeyans to the end that euery one doe loue his wife his children and his parentes And this sorte of loue he will not that princes haue to whome he perswadeth that first aboue all thinges they loue theire common wealthe for if the Prince doe loue anye other thinge aboue his common wealth it is vnpossible but that one daye for the loue of that he wil writhe iustice When Plato gaue not lyceÌ„ce to Princes not to enlarge their loue on diuers thinges peraduenture he woulde counsaile them that they shoulde doe some wronges It chaunseth ofte tymes that princes doe omitte iustice not for that they will not administer it but because they will not be enfourmed of thinges whyche they ought to remedye and looke vnto And thys is vnexcusable where he hurteth hys honour and burdeneth hys conscience For at the daye of iudgement thoughe he bee not accused for malyce yet he shal bee condemned for neglygence The prince which is carefull to see and enquire the dominages of his realmes we maye saye that if he doth not prouyde for them it is because he can doe no more but hee whiche is neglygent to see them and knowe them we cannot saye but if hee leaue to prouyde it is for that hee will not The prince or greate lorde whych dare take vppon him suche thynges what name or renowme maye we geue him I woulde not we shoulde call suche a one father of the common wealth but destroyer of hys countrey For there can be no tirannye greater nor more vnequall then for the Phisicion to aske his duetye for hys cure before he hath begone to minister the medicine That Princes and greate lordes desyre to knowe theire reuenewes I alowe them but in that they care not to knowe the dommages of theire common wealthes I doe discommende them For the people paye tribute to theire Princes to the ende they shoulde delyuer them from theire enemies and defende them from tyrauntes For the iudges whyche wil bee euill thoughe I saye muche it will profite lytle but to those whyche desyre to be good that whiche is spoken as I thinke suffyseth Notwithstandinge that whiche is spoken I say that iudges and gouernours ought to consider well with them selues and see if they wil be counted for iust ministers or cruell tirauntes For the office of a tyraunt is to robbe the common wealth and the office of the good Prince is to refourme the people Princes and greate lordes haue more busynes then they thinke they haue to see all those whiche will see them and to heare all those whiche will coÌ„plain vnto them And the cause hereof is admitte that whiche the subiect demaundeth he presentlye cannot geue nor that whereof he complaineth he cannot remedye yet notwithstandynge they remaine after a sorte contented sayeng that they haue nowe shewed all theire complaintes and iniuries to their princes For the wounded hartes often tymes vtter their inward paines whiche they feele without any hope to receiue comfort of that which they desyre Plutarche in his Apothegmes sayeth that a poore and aged woman desired kyng Philipe of Macedonie whiche was the father of kinge Alexander the greate that he woulde heare her with iustice and sithe she was verye importunate vppon him kyng Philip saied on a daye vnto her I praye the woman be coÌ„tented I swere by the gods I haue no leasure to heare thy complainte The olde woman aunswered the kinge Beholde king Phillyppe if thou hast not time to heare me with iustice resigne thy kingdome another shall gouerne thy common wealthe Â¶ Of an oracion whiche a villayne dwellinge neere to the ryuer of Danuby made before the Senatours of Rome concerning the tyranies and oppressions which their officers vsed in his countrey And the oracion is deuyded into three Chapters Cap. iii. IN the .x. yeare of the reigne of the good emperour Marcus Aurelius there happened in Rome a generall pestilence the whiche being so outragious the good emperour went into Campaigne whiche at that tyme was verye healthfull and without diseases thoughe it was very drye and wanted much of that which was necessarie yet notwithstanding the good Emperour was there with all the principall Senatours of Rome For in tyme of pestilence men doe not seeke where they should reioice their parsonnes but where they maye saue theire lyues Marcus Aurelius being there in Campania was sore vexed with a feuer And as his condicion was alwaies to be amongest Sages so at that tyme hys sickenes required to be visited of phisicions The resorte that he had in hys pallace was verye greate as well of Philosophers for to teache as of phisitions for to dispute For this

neuer had any one thought of their dead fathers Hee which of pure couetousnes and misery suffreth him self to dye for hunger and cold I think hee hath small deuotioÌ„ to geeue almes and much lesse to doo any man good If the couetous man say vnto vs that that which hee keepeth is for no other cause but to buyld a sumptuous chappell and to leaue of them some memory to this I aunswer That if such one doth it with his own proper swet and maketh restitucion of all the euill that hee hath doon it shal bee sanctified of all good men commended but if the couetous will that many liue in great pouerty only to make a rich tomb god doth not commaund that neither doth the church admit it for sacrifice done to god with the cryes and swet of others is not acceptable If the couetous tell vs that though they heap treasures it is not but at their death to distribute it to the poore and to bee brought honestly to the ground I say that I commend this purpose so his intent bee accordingly performed but I am sory the couetouse man shoold think hereby to merit and that hee shoold thus discharge the wickednes of his lyfe for the distribution of a lytle mony after his death I woold think it more sure that princes and great lords shoold spend their goods to mary poore maydens beeing orphans in their lyfe then to commaund money to bee dealt after their death For oft tymes the heirs or their executors the body interred doo little performe the will of the testator and much lesse obserue the legacyes beequethed though it bee to the vtter vndooing of the poore orphans O what guerdon and commendacion deserueth hee that iustly and truely dischargeth the legacies of the dead and of the surplus if any bee or with their own releeue the orphans and mary the poore maydens keeping them from the vyces of this world Suppose that a couetous man chaunceth to traffique at Medine in Spaine at Lions in Fraunce at Lisbone in Portingal at London in England at Andwarp in Flaunders at Millain in Lombardy at Florence in Italy at Palermo in Scicil at Prage in Boeme and at Buda in Hungary finally with his eies hee hath seene all Europe and by trafique hee hath knowledge of all Asia Admit now that in euery place hee hath gotten goods and that which hee hath gotten was not with whole coÌ„science but according to the companies so hath the offences been dyuers In this case if at the hour of death when the couetous man deuydeth hys money beetweene the children hee might also deuyd his offences so that hee dispossessing him self of the goods might therby bee free from the offences then it were well But alas it is not so for the wicked children lyue tryumphing on the earth with the goods and the miserable father goeth weepyng to hell wyth his sinnes Â¶ Of a letter which the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrot to his frend Cincinatus who beeing a Romayn knight became a marchaunt of Capua wherin hee toucheth those gentlemen whych take vpon them the trade of marchandise against their vocation It is deuyded into .iii. Chapters Cap. xxv MArck the Emperor with his brother Annius Verus fellow in the Empire wisheth to thee Cincinatus of Capua health to thy person and grace against thy euill fortune From the feast of our mother Berecinthe I haue seene neither seruaunt of thy house nor read any letter of thy hand which thing maketh mee suspect greatly that thy health is in daunger or that thou mistrustest our frendship for earnest frendship requireth dayly communication or visitation I pray thee bee not so careles from henceforth and doo not forget vs in such wise I mean that thou wilt come and see vs or at the least that thou wilt write vnto vs often for the letters of faithful frends though vtterly they doo not take from vs the desire of the presence yet at the least they make vs hope for a meeting I know that thou maist answer mee that in the common wealth of Capua thou art so busyed that it is impossible thou shooldst write vnto mee heereto I answer thee That in no affaires thou canst bee so occupied that it bee a lawful let not to communicat or write vnto thy frend For wee may wel call the tyme which wee liue to bee wel employed which is spent in the seruice of god and in the conuersation of our frends All the residue that wee wast in talking traueling sleeping eating and resting wee ought not to write it in the booke of lyfe but in the register of death For al bee it that in such semblable woorks the body is refreshed yet therwith the heart cannot bee comforted I swere vnto thee therfore my frend that it is impossible the man take any contentation of any worldly thing where the hart is not at rest for our comfort is not in the sinnues or in the bones of the body but in the liuely power of the soul It is long sithens that you and I haue knowen togethers it is long time likewise that I loued thee and thou mee and sith wee are so true old frends it is but reason that with good woorks wee doo renew our frendship For falsly they vsurp the name of frendship which are not coÌ„uersant one wyth the other no more then if they were straÌ„gers The man which speaketh not to mee which wryteth not to mee which seeth mee not which visiteth mee not which geeueth mee not to whom I geeue not I woold not hee were my enemy but it litle auaileth mee that hee call mee frend for perticuler frendship consisteth not in aboundance but that frends doo open their harts and talk with their persons PeradueÌ„ture thou wilt say that the great distaunce which is from Rome to that countrey hath beene occasion to deminish our frendship for the noble harts are on fier with the presence of that they loue and haue great paine with the absence of that they desire I aunswer that the farder the delicious wines are sent from the place where they grow the greater strength they haue I mean that heerein true frends are knowen wheÌ„ their persons are furthest seuered for then are their willes most conioined Tell mee I pray thee Cincinnatus sithens always thou hast found mee a diligent frend in thy seruice why doost thou mistrust my faithfull good will The greene leaues outwardly doo shew that the tree inwardly is not dry I mean that the good woorks outwardly do declare the feruentnes of the hart inwardly If thou Cincinnatus presumest to bee a true frend of thy frend I will thou know this rule of frendship which is Where perfect loue is not there waÌ„teth alway faithful seruice for the contrary hee the perfectly loueth assuredly shal bee serued I haue been am wil bee thyne therfore thou shalt doo mee great iniury if thou art not myne Â¶ The Emperor proceedeth in his letter and declareth what

then that of thy merits Thou hast taken on thee an office wherwith that which thy coÌ„paignions in many days haue robbed thou in one hour by disceit doost get afterwards the time shal come when all the goods which thou hast gotten both by trueth falshod shal be lost not only in an hour which is long but in a momeÌ„t which is but short Whether wee geeue much wee haue much wee may doo much or wee liue much yet in the end the gods are so iust that all the euill wee doo coÌ„mit shal bee punished for all the good wee woork wee shal bee rewarded so that the gods oftentimes permit that one alone shall scourge many and afterward the long time punisheth all Â¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and perswadeth his frend Cincinnatus to despise the vanities of the world and sheweth though a man bee neuer so wyse yet hee shall haue need of an other mans counsell Cap. xxvii IF I knew thy wisdom esteemed the world vanities therof so much as the world doth possesse thee and thy days as by thy white hears most manyfestly doth appeere I neede not take the payns to perswade thee nor thou shooldst bee annoied in hearing mee Notwithstanding thou beeing at the gate of great care reason woold that some shoold take the clapper to knock therat with some good counsell for though the raser bee sharp it needeth sometimes to bee whet I mean though mans vnderstanding bee neuer so cleere yet from time to time it needeth counsel Vertuous men oft times do erre not because they woold fail but for that the thiÌ„gs are so euil of digestioÌ„ that the vertu they haue suffiseth not to tell them what thing is necessary for their profit For the which cause it is necessary that his will bee brydled his wit fyned his oppinion changed his memory sharpned aboue all now and then that hee forsake his own aduise and cleaue vnto the counsell of an other Men which couet to make high sumptuous fair and large buildings haue grete care that the foundacion therof be surely layd for where the foundacions are not sure there the whole buyldings are in great daunger The maners and conditions of this world that is to weete the prosperous estates whervpon the children of vanity are set are founded of quick sand in that sort that bee they neuer so valyaunt prosperous and mighty a litle blast of wynd dooth stirre them a little heat of prosperity doth open them a showre of aduersity doth wet them and vnwares death striketh them all flatt to the ground Men seeing they cannot bee perpetuall doo procure to continue theÌ„ selues in raising vp proud buyldings and leauing to their children great estates wherin I count them fooles no lesse then in things superfluous For admit the pillers bee of gold the beams of siluer and that those which ioyn them bee kings and those which buyld them are noble and in that mining they consume a thousand yeres beefore they can haue it out of the ground or that they can come to the bottoms I swere vnto them that they shall fynd no stedy rock nor lyuely mountain wher they may buyld their house sure nor to cause their memory to bee perpetuall The immortall gods haue participated all things to the mortall men immortality only reserued and therfore they are called immortall for so much as they neuer dye and wee others are called mortall bycause dayly wee vanish away O my frend Cincinnatus men haue an end and thou thinkest that gods neuer ought to end Now greene now rype now rotten fruit is seuered from this lyfe from the tree of the miserable flesh esteem this as nothing forsomuch as death is naturall But oft times in the leaf or flower of youth the frost of some disease or the peril of some mishap dooth take vs away so that wheÌ„ wee think to bee aliue in the morning wee are dead in the night It is a tedious long woork to weue a cloth yet when in many days it is wouen in one moment it is cut I mean that it is much folly to see a man with what toil hee enricheth him self into what perill hee putteth him self to win a state of honor afterwards wheÌ„ wee think litle wee see him perish in his estate leauing of him no memory O my frend Cincinnatus for the loue that is between vs I desire thee by the immortal gods I coniure thee that thou geeue no credit to the world which hath this condicioÌ„ to hide much copper vnder little gold vnder the colour of one truth hee telleth vs a thousand lyes with one short pleasure hee mingleth ten thousand displesures Hee beegyleth those to whom hee pretendeth most loue and procureth great domages to them to whom hee geeueth most goods hee recompenseth them greatly which serue him in iest and to those which truely loue him hee geeueth mocks for goods Finally I say that when wee sleepe most sure hee waketh vs with greatest perill Eyther thou knowst the world with his deceyt or not if thou knowest him not why doost thou serue him if thou doost know him why doost thou follow him Tell mee I pray thee wooldst not the take that theef for a foole which woold buy the rope wherwith hee shoold bee hanged the murtherer that woold make the swoord wherwith hee shoold bee beheaded the robber by the high way that woold shew the well wherin hee shoold bee cast the traitor that shoold offer him self in place for to bee quartered the rebel that shoold disclose him self to bee stoned Then I swere vnto thee that thou art much more a foole which knowest the world will folow it serue it One thing I wil tel thee which is such that thou oughtest neuer to forget it that is to weete that wee haue greater need of faith not to beliue the vanities which wee see then to beeleue the great malices which with our ears wee here I retorn to aduise thee to read coÌ„sider this woord which I haue spoken for it is a sentence of profound mistery Doost thou think Cincinnatus that rych men haue litle care to get great riches I let thee weet that the goods of thys world are of such condicion that beefore the poore man dooth lock vp in hys chests a .100 crowns hee feeleth a thousaÌ„d greefes cares in his heart Our predecessors haue seen it wee see it presently our successors shal see it that the money which wee haue gotten is in a certein nomber but the cares trauails which it bringeth are infinit Wee haue few paynted houses few noble estats in Rome the wtin a litle time haue not great cares iÌ„ their harts cruel enmities with their neighbors much euil wil of their heirs disordinat importunities of their frends perilous malices of their enemies aboue al in the Senate they haue innumerable proces oft times to lock a litle good in their chests

aduertise thee my sonne that when thou takst counsayle thou beehold with thy eyes the inconuenience as wel as the remedyes which they shal offer vnto thee For the true couÌ„saile consisteth not to tel what they ought to doo but to declare what therof is like to succeede When that shalt enter prise my sonne great weighty affayres asmuch oughtst thou to regard the litle damages for to cut theÌ„ of in time as the great mishaps to remedy them For oftentymes it chaunceth that for the negligeÌ„ce of taking vp a gutter the whole house falleth to the ground Notwithstanding I tell thee thou take counsayl I meane not that thou oughtst to bee so curious as for euery trifle to cal thy couÌ„sayle For there are many things of such quality that they would bee immediatly put in execution they doo endomage theÌ„selues attending for couÌ„sayle That which by thine owne aucthority thou maist dispatch with out the domage of the common wealth referre it to no other person here in thou shalt bee iust shalt doo iustice confourmable For considering that thy seruice dependeth onely of them the reward which they ought to haue ought to depeÌ„d onely on thee I remember that when Marius the CoÌ„sul came from the warres of Numidia hee deuided all the treasour hee brought amongst his souldyers not putting one iewell into the common treasour And when heere of hee was accused for that hee had not demauÌ„ded licence of the senat hee aunswered them It is not iust I take counsayle with others for to geeue recompeÌ„ce to those which haue not taken the opinions of others to serue mee Thou shalt fynde my sonne a kinde of meÌ„ which are very hard of money and exceeding prodigall of counsaile There are also dyuers lenders which without demauÌ„ding them doo offer to giue it With such lyke men thou shalt haue this counsaile neuer looke thou for good couÌ„saile at that man whose counsaile tendeth to the preiudice of another For hee offreth woords to thy seruice trauaileth thy busines to his owne profyt As the gods gaue mee long life of these things haue I had great experience wherin I let thee know that for the space of .xv yeares I was consull Senator Censor Pretor Questor Edil Tribune after al this I haue been .18 yeares emperor of Rome wherin al those which haue spoken most against mee touched the profit or damage of another The chief intencion of those which folow the courts of Princes are to procure to augment their houses And if they cannot com to that they seeke to dimynish the of another not for that any profit should folow vnto them therof bee it neuer so litle but beecause mans malyce is of such condicion that it esteemeth the profit of another his own domage They ought to haue great compassion of the Prince for the most that follow him serue him not for that they loue him but for the gyfts rewards which they hope to haue of hym And this seemeth to bee true for the day that Princes shal cease to geeue theÌ„ the self same day beegyn they to hate hym So that such seruaunts wee cannot call frends of our persons but couetous of our goods That thou loue my sonne the one aboue the other thou mayst ryght well but I aduertyse thee that thou nor they doo make any semblaunce in such sort that al doo know it For if thou doost otherwyse they wil murmure at thee wyll all persecute thee Hee incurreth into no smal peryll nor hath no lytle trouble which is aboue al of the Prince beeloued of the people hated For then hee is hated persecuted of all And yet more domage ensueth vnto him of the enmyty of al then dooth of the loue of the prince alone For sometimes the gods permitting it and his beehauiour deseruing it the Prince dooth cease to loue him therewith his enemyes beegyn to persecute hym From the tyme I knew what meaned to gouerne a coÌ„mon weale I haue always determined neuer to keepe man in my house one day after I know him to bee an enemy to the common wealth In the yeare of the foundacion of Rome 649. Lucius Lucullus the Senator going to the warres agaynst Mithridate by chauÌ„ce found a tablet of copper in the city called Triganie the which was at the gate of the kyng of that prouynce And on that same was engrauen certayne Caldean letters the which in effect sayed these wordes The prince is not sage who wyll put in hazard the state of his common wealth for the onely commoditye of one alone For the seruyce of one cannot auayle against the loue of al. The prince is not sage the for to enrich one alone seeketh to empouerish all For it is a thing vntollerable that the one doo labour the fyelds and the other doo gather the fruit The Prince is not iust which wil satisfy the couetousnes of one more then the seruice of all for there is meane to pay the seruices of the good and there is no ryches to satisfy the couetousnes of the euyl The Prince is a foole that despyseth the counsaile of all and trusteth in the opinyon of one For though there bee in a great shippe but one Pilot yet it needeth manye Marryners Bold is the Prince which to loue one onely wylbee hated of al for noble Princes ought to think it much profyt to bee beeloued and much more displeasure to bee hated These were the woords which were wrytten in that tablet worthy of eternal memory And I wil tel thee further in this case that Lucullus the Senator sent on the one part the tablet of copper where these woords were and on the other part the coffers where in hee had brought the ryches to the end the senat should choose one and leaue the other The senate despysing the riches and treasours choose the tablet of counsayles Â¶ The Emperor foloweth his matter and exhorteth his sonne vnto certain particuler things woorthy to bee engraued in the harts of men Cap. lvi VNtil now I haue spoken as a father to his sonne that which toucheth thy profit Now I will tel thee what thou shalt doo after my death for my seruice And if thou wilt bee the true sonne of thy father the things which I haue loued in my life shal bee of thee esteemed after my death doo not reseÌ„ble many children which after their fathers haue closed their eyes doo remember them no more For in such case though in deed the fathers bee dead buried yet they are alwayes liuing to coÌ„plaine to the Gods of their children Though it seemeth not to bee sclaunderous yet it is more perilus to contend with the dead then to iniure the lyuing And the reason is for that the lyuing may reuenge are for to aunswere but the dead cannot make aunswer much lesse they can bee reuenged And in such case the Gods doo take their cause in protection some times they execute such

cruel punyshment of those that liue that rather theÌ„ they would endure it they wysh to bee dead Thou oughtst to think my sonne that I haue beegot thee I haue nouryshed thee I haue taught thee I haue trymmed thee I haue chastised thee and I haue exalted thee And for this consyderation though by death I am absent it is not reasoÌ„ that thou euer forget mee For the true not vnthaÌ„kfull chyld ought the same day to bury his father in his tender hart when others haue layd hym in the hard graue One of the visible chastisements which the gods geeue to men in this world is that the children obey not their fathers in their life For the self same fathers did not remeÌ„ber their owne fathers after their death Let not yong Princes think after they haue inherited after they see theyr father dead after they are past correction of their masters that al things ought to bee doone as they theÌ„ selues wil it for it will not bee so For if thei want the fauour of the Gods haue maledyction of their fathers they liue in trouble and dye in daunger I require nought els of thee my sonne but that such a father as I haue been to thee in my life such a sonne thou bee to mee after my death I commend vnto thee my sonne the veneracion of the gods and this cheefely aboue al thing For the prince with maketh accompt of the gods neede not to feare any storme of fortune Loue the gods thou shalt bee beeloued Serue them thou shalt bee serued Feare them thou shalt bee feared Honor them thou shalt bee honored Doo their commauÌ„dements they will geeue thee thy harts desire For the gods are so good that they doo not onely receiue in accompt that which wee doo but also that which wee desire to doo I commend vnto thee my sonne the reuerence of the Temples that is to weete that they bee not in discorde that they bee cleane renewed that they offer therin the sacrifices accustomed For wee doo not this honor to the substauÌ„ce wherwith the temples are made but to the Gods to whome they are consecrated I commend vnto thee the veneration of priestes I pray thee though they bee couetous auaricious dissolute vnpacient negligeÌ„t vicious yet that thei bee not dishonored For to vs others it apperteineth not to iudge of the life they leade as meÌ„ but wee must consider that they are mediators beetwene the gods vs. Beehold my sonne that to serue the gods honor the temples reuerence the priestes it is not a thing voluntary but very necessary for Princes For so long endured the glory of the Greekes as they were worshippers of their Gods carefull of theyr Temples The vnhappi realme of Catthage was nothing more cowardly nor lesse rych then that of the Romaynes but in the ende of the Romaynes thei were ouercome beecause they were great louers of their treasours and litle worshippers of their Temples I commend vnto thee my sonne Helia thy stepe mother remember though shee bee not thy mother yet shee hath been my wyfe That which to thy mother Faustine thou oughtst for bringing thee into the world the selfe same thou oughtst to Helia for the good entertainmeÌ„t which shee hath shewed thee And in deede often tymes I beeing offended with the shee mainteined thee caused mee to forget so that shee by her good woords did winne againe that which thou by thy euill woorks didst loose Thou shalt haue my curse yf thou vsest her euyll thou shalt fall into theire of the gods if that agreest that other doo not vse her wel For all the domage which shee shal feele shal not bee but for the inconuenience of my death iniury of thy persoÌ„ For her dowrye I leaue her the tributes of Hostia the orchyardes of Vulcanus which I haue made to bee planted for her recreation Bee thou not so hardy to take them from her for in taking them from her thou shalt shewe thy wickednes in leauing them her thy obedyence in geeuing her more thy bounty liberalyty Remember my sonne that shee is a Romaine woman yong a wydow of the house of Traiane my lord that shee is thy mother adoptatiue my naturall wyfe aboue al for that I leaue her recommended vnto thee I commend vnto thee my sonne in laws whome I will thou vse as parents and frends And beeware that thou bee not of those which are brethern in woords cousins in woorks Bee thou assured that I haue willed somuch good to my doughters that the best which were in al the countries I haue chosen for their persons And they haue beene so good that if in geeuing them my doughters they were my sonne in laws in loue I loued them as chyldren I commend vnto thee my Systers doughters whome I leaue thee al maryed not with strauÌ„ge kings but with natural senatours So that al dwel in Rome where they mai doo thee seruices and thou maist geue them rewards gifts Thy sisters haue greatly inheryted the beauty of thy mother Faustine haue taken lytle nature of their father Marke But I sweare vnto thee that I haue geeuen them such husbands and to their husbands such and so profitable counsailes that they would rather loose their lyfe then agree to any thing touching their dishonor Vse thy sisters in such sort that they bee not out of fauor for that their aged father is dead and that they beecome not proud for to see their brother Emperor Women are of a very tender condicion for of small occasion they doo complayne of lesse they wax proud Thou shalt keepe them preserue them after my death as I did in my lyfe For otherwise their conuersacion to the people shal bee very noisome to thee very importunate I comend vnto thee Lipula thy yongest Sister which is inclosed with in the virgine vestalles who was doughter of thy mother Faustine whome so derely I haue loued in life whose death I haue beewailed vntil my death Euery yeare I gaue to thy sister sixe thousand Sexterces for her necessyties in deede I had maryed her also if shee had not fallen into the fire burnt her face For though shee were my last I loued her with all my hart All haue esteemed her fal into the fire for euyll luck but I doo couÌ„t the euil luck for good fortune For her face was not so burned with coles as her renowme suffred peryl among euill tongs I sweare vnto thee my sonne that for the seruice of the gods for the renowme of men shee is more sure in the Temple with the vestal Virgins then the art in the Senate with thy Senatours I suppose now that at the end of the iourney shee shal find her selfe better to bee enclosed then thou at liberty I leaue vnto her in the prouynce of Lucania euery yeare six

wise heads and beeloued courtiers greatly esteemed and reputed of And this for their own good demerits and by meanes also of the others wicked abuse and disorder Suetonius tranquillus reciteth that Scilla the consull beeing mortall enemy of the Marians of which faction was also Iulius Cesar sayde that from Cesars infancy his wisdome made him more to bee feared and wondered at then euer his stoute and valiaunt corage hee showed Plutarke writing to Traian sayd I assure thee Soueraigne prince I doo more esteeme honor thy parson then I doo care for al thy empire beesyds For I haue seen thee doo a thousand good things to deserue yt but I neuer saw thee once desirous to haue yt And suer in my opinion I think there is no better alchemye in court to grow to sodeyne wealth and to acquire the princes fauor theÌ„ that the same of his good life should rather resound his prayse to the prince therby to make him knowen vnto him then the respect of his noble house or progenye That courtier also that craueth his princes grace must take heede in any wise hee bee not consorte or companion with rashe hasty persones whose vnstable heads mislike of euery state still deprauing all others vertues Such felow mates and compagnions the wise courtier must in any case refuse to bee conuersant with I must aduise him also hee beeware hee bee not rash of speche nor that hee speake ill of any man For it is a right kynd of tresoÌ„ to detrect and backbyte our frends and much more the prince to whom wee wholly owe our duty and allegeance And therfor the wyse and vertuous courtier must fly from this company as farre as hee can that are possessed with such vaine humors and passions of mynde For such kynde of meÌ„ wil neuer councell vs to sarue well nor to beeware of liberal speaking but will rather infect vs and bring vs to their naughty vaine humor and make vs to bee demed as bad as them selues though wee bee not so only for keeping them company Like as in comon weales there are seditious heads which moue and stirre the poore comons to rebellion euen so in princes courtes there are the like factious heads that seeke to wynne good wil of courtiers so to stirr vp their mynds also to tumult sedition which beecause they haue no way to come vp and grow in fauor doo detract and speake ill of those that are in fauor and autority One of these abiects inferior sorte shall go to the howse of an other in like disgrace and discredit that him selfe is in and there these companions shall open theire throtes against the prince and his court saiyng the king careth not for his subiects talking of the high minds and countenances of the beeloued and fauored of court of the affections of the counsell of the parciality and enmyty of the court of the want of munition for warres and of the fall and decay of the comon wealth and thus with theys lewde and vncomly discorses they spend the long and dolefull nights of wynter season and ther withall also the long and whot sunny days of sommers tyme. Adrian the emperor beeing once informed that there met and assembled togethers daily at the house of one Lucius Turbon a nomber of the seditious and factious sort of Rome which were offended with him and conspired against him to preuent them of insurrection proclaymed presently through Rome and enacted yt for a law that all courtiers that assembled there should lose their heads and al the Romaines should bee banished All this wee haue spoken to banish vice from princes courts if yt may bee for now a dayes as there are many houses of ordinary tables and nombers of disyng houses for all maner of play so is there also in the court beesides the groome porters other chambers where they meete to murmure at ech mans dooings And as there are some that say gowe let vs go to such a mans house and there wee shall fynd play enowgh and good fellowshipp to passe the tyme away as wee will euen so these others say gow wee will go to such a chamber and there wee shall meete with our compaignions and good fellowes wheare wee may talke liberally and at our pleasure without check or controll of any Infamous bee that house wheare there is no other exercyse but play and ryot and accursed bee that wheare they can not occupy them selues but in defamyng and backbiting theyr breethern and neighbors For to conclude it were lesse euel to play and lose theyr mony then to robb and spoyle his neyghbor of his good name Now to get into the princes fauor it helpeth much to consider wherin the prince takethe cheefe delyght and wherto hee is best affected whether to musick hunting fliyng riding of horses or fishing running or leaping or any other actiuity what so euer it bee And his affect and desier once knowen and obserued hee must geeue him selfe wholy to loue that the prince loueth and to follow that that hee followeth And as princes comonly are geeuen to theyr willes to leeke soome pastymes better then others so doo they shew them selues more fauorable and gratious to soome of their seruants then others and rather to those whome only they see conforme and agreeable with their affections then to such as are alwey most dilygent and paynefull about them to doo them the best seruice they can The curious courtier may account him selfe happy if hee can frame him selfe to comend that the prince alloweth and lykewyse to dissalow of that the prince mislyketh and though perhappes hee were many tymes of the contrary opinyon hee may well thinke and beeleeue to him selfe what hee lyketh best but in no case to vtter that hee thinketh nor to make any countenance to the contrary The emperor Aurelius neuer dranke other then redd wyne and beecause hee was infourmed that Torquatus the Roman for his sake dyd not onely refrayne from drinkyng white wyne but did also plant all his vynes with red grapes hee made him censor of Rome and gaue him the warde of the gate Salaria in the sayd city In eating and drinking in hunting and tilting in peace and in warre in youthfull sportes and graue matters the wise courtier must alweyes follow the steppes and will of the prince and imitate him in the same the best hee can And if yt bee beneficiall for the courtier to haue the princes fauor and to bee esteemed of him let him in no wise enterprise to talke too much to him For by continuall frequenting the prince yt can not otherwise fall out but hee shall both troble him and bee thought a proud arrogant and an importunat foole of him And if the courtier hath no graue and weyghty matters to moue the prince in to what purpose dooth hee seeme to molest and importune the kyng Wee say in weighty matters to communicate with him For to talke with the prince and to

that those that will commaund many things in the court of princes shoold alwais doo their things so but they shoold sometime tread awry And admit their faults bee but light and of small moment yet they may bee assured there wil bee enow that will both open them to the comon weal and tell them also secretly to the prince alone For those that seeke to deuorce the fauored of the court from the prince doo not complayn or fynd fault for that they are more in fauor with the prince thaÌ„ others but they will shew they take it in yll part they haue more aucthority and commaund more then others in the comonweal Saying that by mean of their place autority vnder colour of good zeal to minister Iustice they geeue comonly foul iniurious woords farre vnfitt for the aucthority of the person woorthynes of the place So that it cannot bee otherwise chosen but that continuing this disorder they must needes make the king suspect them besides that bring a great discord betwixt the king those that hee fauoreth make him meruelously offended with them For in th end princes woold alwais bee serued obeyed but not ruled commaunded And yt is a most true saying Ouer much familiarity bredeth contempt which although yt may bee borne betweene men of lyke degree equality yet is it not tollerable betweene the prince the beliked of the prince But rather euery day hower moment that the fauored courtier entreth into the princes palace or into his priuy chamber hee ought euer to doo it with as great curtesy reuerence humility honor in speaking to the king as if hee had neuer spokeÌ„ with him nor seene him So that hee shoold let all men see that though it please the kings maiesty to make of him and to accept him into his fauor yet that hee leaue not to serue him doo him that duity that all other seruants doo are bound to doo The suerest and most certain way to maintain those that are sublimed exalted in the court of princes to raise bring those to auctority that are low of base condition is that the esteemed repute him self euer a seruaunt that the seruant neuer vaunt nor bost him self to bee fauored or esteemed The familiers of princes ought euer to be ware that there come no complaints of them to the princes ears For as a drop of water by tyme continuall fall cometh to perce the hardest stone so it myght happen that the nombers of complaints might bee occasion for the prince to wtdraw his fauor loue from the courtier again If his only seruyces were sufficient to induce the prince to fauor loue him so the nomber of his subiects coÌ„plaints against him were occasion enough to make him mislike him put him out of fauor clean changing his loue fauor to hate discredit it For it a certeyn thing that when the prince dooth looke well into his own dooings hee had rather bee beloued of all then serued of one alone The honored of the court may not regard so much the honor credit hee is called to by his prince as the basenes pouerty hee was in when it pleased the king to lyke of him that hee came first acquainted with the king For if hee did otherwise it myght happen that like as fortune had brought him to that high estate hee had So pryde might ouerthrow him agayn bryng him as low as hee was before For I shoold haue said more truely a great deal saying that it woold haue made him fall down right beeing the right property of fortune to suffer the baser sort whom shee had called to honor only to returne them to their mean estate call they were of at the first neuer to leaue the fauored of the prince men of auctority nor neuer satisfied till shee haue throwen them down hedlong into extreme misery neuer to ryse againe Agathocles first the sonne of a Potter afterwards made king of Scicillia whilest hee liued hee euer vsed this maner that in his tresory or iewel house yea and also at his table amongst all his cupps and dishes of gold siluer hee had some also of earth amongst them and beeing asked the occasion why in so great a treasure and masse of gold siluer hee had so vyle a thing as earth aunswered thus I drink in golden cupps and eat in earthen dishes to geeue thanks to the gods which of a potters sonne that I was brought mee to this royall state of a mighty king And I doo it also to haue euermore cause to bee huÌ„ble to fly pryde For it is an easier thing and more lyker for a king to become a potter then for a potter to attayn to the greatnes and state of a king These woords of Agathocles were euer woorthy to bee noted had in memory since wee see plainly that to geeue a man a fall a little stone sufficeth to make vs stumble and fall to the ground but to raise vs vp again wee must needes help vs with power of hands and feete It may well bee that this braue courtier fauored of the court before hee came to this degree of honor was but of a mean house and basely borne and besydes that esteemed of few for his nobility of blood of an vnknowen contrey of poore parentage of small substance and no better nor otherwise fauored of fortune in his birth or lynage of all which things hee hath no cause to bee ashamed but rather to glory and praise god For hee shall euer bee more esteemed in the court well thought of to remember from whence hee came and to regard his first estate then hee shall if hee wax glorious and hygh mynded by reason of the fauor hee is in at this present vtterly forgetting his first rysing Titus Liuius reciteth that the renowmed Romayn Quintus Cincinatus before hee came to bee made captain of Rome hee was taken out of the feelds a laboring man plowing tilling the ground And this so noble person being occupied in great affairs of the common weal either in prouisions or munitioÌ„ or in expeditions of warre was woont to sygh before all the captains and say Alas who coold tell mee now any newes how my beefes doo in my graunge my sheepe in the mountains and whether my seruaunts haue prouided them of hay and pasture to keepe them the next yere Surely it is to bee thought that who so euer speaks these woords with his mouth must needes haue lytle pryde in his hart And vndoubtedly hee proued his woords true and shewed that hee spake as hee thought and in good earnest wtout intent of iest since afterwards hee returned home again to folow the plough to plant his vynes to see his own things gouerned leuiÌ„g behind him a perpetual testimony of his noble worthy dooings And his comon weal also gretly

Rhodian iesting wyth Eschines the philosopher sayd vnto hym By the immortall gods I swere to thee O Eschines that I pity thee to see thee so poore to whom he aunswered By the same immortall gods I swere to thee agayn I haue compassion on thee to see thee so rytch Syth ryches bring but payn and trouble to gett them great care to keepe them displeasure to spend them peryll to hoard them and occasion of great daungers and inconuenyences to defend them and that that greeueth mee most is that where thou keepest thy treasure fast lockt vp there also thy hart is buryed Surely Eschines woords seemed rather spoken of a christian then of a philosopher In saying that wher a mans treasure is there is also his hart For there is no couetous man but dayly hee thinks vpoÌ„ his hid treasure but hee neuer calleth to mind his sinns hee hath coÌ„mitted CoÌ„paring therfore those things wee haue spokeÌ„ with those things wee wil speak I say that yt becoÌ„meth the fauored of princes to know that it is lesse seemly for theÌ„ to bee couetous then others For the gretnes of their fauor ought not to be shewed only in beiÌ„g rich but also in beiÌ„g noble worthy Plutark sheweth that Denis the Siracusan commyng one day into the chamber of the prince hys sonne and fyndyng gryat ryches of gold and siluer that hee had geeuen hym hee spake very angerly to hym and sayd thou hadst beene farre fytter for a marchaunt of Capua then to bee as thou art the kynges sonne of Scicilla syth thou hast a wyt to gather but not to spend Which is not fyt nor lawfull for thee if thou wylt succeede mee after my tyme in my kyngdome And therefore I doo remember thee that kyngdomes and hygh estates are not maynteyned with keepyng of ryches but onely wyth geeuing and honorably bestowyng them well And to this purpose also recyteth Plutarke that Ptholomeus Philadelphus was demaunded why hee was so slow and with so great difficulty receyued the seruices of others and was so liberall and noble in geeuing and grauntyng fauors hee aunswered I wil not get reputacion amongst the gods nor good renowne amongst men for beeyng rych but onely I will bee praysed and esteemed for makyng of others rych and hauyng vnder mee rich subiects These woords that Tholomee sayd to a frend of his those that Denis spake to his sonne mee thynks the beloued of the court should not onely bee contented to read them but to seeke to keepe them styll in mynd syth by them wee may manifestly see that ryches are euer more profytable for a man that oweth them and geeueth them bountifully then to haue them and with couetousnes to hoord lock them vp in their coffers And the fauored of prynces should not bee enuyed for the goods that they can get by their fauor and credit but onely for the good that thereby they may doo to their frends and kynsfolk For they are those that wyth others goods make the people slaues to theÌ„ What greater nobility can there bee in thys world then to make others noble what greater ryches then to make others rich and what more lyberty then to make others free The glory that the princes and those that they esteeme and haue in their sauor ought to haue should not consist in getting together much goods but in winnyng many seruaunts and frends Great are the priuileges that the noble and lyberall men haue for their chyldren are obedient to them their neyghbors loue them their frends doo accompaigne them their seruaunts serue them faythfully straungers vysyt them and the enemies they haue dare not speak against them for although they spight at their greatnes and fauor yet they dare not once presume to rebuke or reproue their lyberalyty Phalaris the Agrigentine Denis the Siracusan Catelyne the Romayn and Iugurth the Numidian These fower famous tyraunts dyd not mayntayn their states and roial kingdoms with the vertues they had by only but force ample gifts they gaue So that wee may well say that in the world there is no stone so phylosophicall nor hand so liberal as treasor riches syth that in geeuing it good men become great tyraÌ„ts therby are supported I would those that are princes familiars woold note wel this woord that is that great fauor ioined with much couetousnes is a thing vnpossible to continew long in any For if hee mean to keepe him self in fauor he must needes flye auarice and if hee wil needes stick to auarice hee must of necessitie lose his fauor There is no better means for hym that seekes the princes fauor to get into fauor then to serue him dilygently and to trouble him seldomly The kyngs officer that serueth him in his house must endeuor to make the kyng know that hee serueth him more for the loue hee beareth him then for any gayn or profyt he hopeth at his hands For in dooing so the king wil not only with his fauor benefits bestowed on him treat handle him as one hee loueth maketh account of but also loue hym as if hee were his own sonne It is most iust the beloued of the prince loue honor the prince with al his hart sence hee loueth him needeth not Those that are beloued made of fauored in princes courts should make great account of yt therefore they shayld serue willingly For the loue wee beare to princes cometh coÌ„monly rather of the necessity wee haue of them then of our own proper willes But the loue of princes to vs coÌ„meth of meere good will not of necessitie If any man doo company mee speak to mee serue mee yt ys onely in that respect that I euer geeue him for that hee hopeth I wil geeue him in tyme to come And to such a man I might truely say hee rather flaterith then loueth mee The esteemed of the court must note if it please theÌ„ that though the prince haue others about him whoÌ„ hee fauoreth loueth as well as him self that hee bee not therefore offended nor displeased a whit For els all those hee seeth accepted into fauor with the prince hee woold make theÌ„ his enemies because they may auoid this incoÌ„uenieÌ„ce they must take it in very good part For albeit the prince geeue his fauor to one alone yet hee imparteth his gifts to diuers Those that newly begun to rise in the court to doo much may not euen vpon a soden show them selues to bee rich but onely study dayly to increase in fauor For euery time that the courtier dooth assure mee hee dooth not diminish in fauor I will bee bound to him hee shal neuer bee poore The way they must obserue in the court to bee great to bee able to doo is this That is to visit oft to suffer to present to ê‘seuer to bee beloued to continew in the princes fauor Which I assure you is a great secret right alchimyne of court

forsake vs oftentimes some holsome fleshe corrupteth in an euill vessel and good wine sometime fauoreth of the foist I say though that the workes of our life be vertuous yet shal we fele the stench of the weake flesh I spake this Faustine sith that age cannot resist these hot appitites howe can the tender members of youth resist them vnlesse you that are the mother go the right way how should the doughter that foloweth you find it the Romaine matrons if they wil bringe vp their doughters wel oughte to kepe these rules when they se that they would wander abrode that they breake their legges and if they should be gasing then put out their eyes and if they wil lysten stoppe their eares if they wil geue or take cut of their hands if they dare speake sow vp their mouthes if they wyl pretende any lightnes burye them quycke death ought to be geuen to an euyl doughter in stede of her dowry for gyftes geue her wormes and for her house a graue Take hede Faustine if you wil haue much ioy of your doughter take from her the occasions wherby she shal be euyl To vnderset a house behoueth diuers proppes and if the principalles be taken away it wil fal downe I saye you women are so fraile that with kepers with great paine they can keape them selfe and for a smal occasion they wil lose altogether O how many euyl hath there bene not because they would be so but because they folowed such occasions the which they ought to haue eschewed It is at my pleasure to enter into this battaile but yet it is not in my power to attaine the vyctorie it is for me to enter into the sea yet it lyeth not in my handes to escape the peril it is in the hands of a woman to enter into the occasion and after that she is therin it is not in her power to escape from euill to delyuer her from tongues Peraduenture Faustine thou wilt say to me none can speake to your doughter Lucil vnlesse thou hearest it nor se her but thou seest him nor conuey her but thou knowest where nor make any appointment withoute thy consent and yet thou knowest that those whych wil her euyl seke wyth their tongues to dyshonour her and those that with their hartes loue her speake only in their harts We loue in yong bloud in the springing tyme and floryshing youth is a poyson that forthwith spreadeth into euery vaine it is a herbe that entreth into the entrayles a swowning that incontinently mortyfieth al the members and a pestilence that sleeth the harts and finallye it maketh an end of al vertues I know not what I saye but I fele that which I would say for I would neuer blase loue with my tongue except I were sore wounded therwith in my hart Ouide saith in his boke of the art of loue loue is I wot not what it commeth I know not from whence who sent it I wot not it engendreth I know not how it is satisfied I wot not wherwith it is felt I wot not how oft it sleeth I wot not wherfore and finally without breakyng the flesh outwardly loue taketh roote and molesteth the hart inwardly I know not what Ouide meaneth hereby but I trowe when he said these words he was as farre banyshed from him selfe as I am at this tyme from my selfe O Faustine they that loue together vtter the secretes of theyr harts by dyuers wayes and in sleaping they reason speake by sygnes they vnderstand ech other The many words outwardly declare smal loue inwardly and the feruent inward loue kepeth silence outward The entrayles within imbraced with loue cause the tongue outward to be mute he that passeth his lyfe in loue ought to kepe his mouth close And to thintent that ye shal not thinke that I speake fables I wil proue this by auncient histories we find aunciently that in the yere .cclxx. after the foundacion of Rome Etrasco a yong Romaine that was dombe and Verona a fayre Lady of the Latines which was dombe also these two saw ech other on the mount Celâ—o at the feastes and ther fel in loue togethers and their hartes were as sore fixed in loue as their tongues were tyde from speach It was a maruailous thing to se then fearful to note now that this yonge lady came from Salon to Rome he went from Rome to Salon sundry times by the space of 30. yeres without the knowledge of any parson and neuer spake together It chaunced at the last that the husband of the lady Verona died the wife of Etrasco also and then they discouered their loue and treated a mariage betwene them And these two dombe parsons had issue a sonne of whom descended the noble linage of our Scipions which were more famous in the feates of armes then their father mother were troubled for want of words Then Faustine marke thys thing it had litle auailed to haue cut out the tongues of the two dombe persons to haue remedyed their loue and not to haue cut out their harts And I shal tel you of Masinissa a worthy knight of Numidie and Sophonissa a famous lady of Carthage al only by one sighte as they sawe eche other on a ladder he declareth his desyre vnto her and shee knowyng hys lust breakynge the oores of feare and lyftyng vp the ankers of shame incontinente raysed the sayles of their hartes and wythe the shippes of their persones they ioyned ech to other here may we see how the first sight of their eyes the knowledge of their parsons the consent of their harts the copulacion of their bodyes the decay of their estates and the losse of their names in one day in one houre in one moment and in one step of a ladder were lost what wil you that I say more to this purpose do you not knowe what Heleyne the Greke and Paris the Troyan of two straunge nacions and of farre countreis with one only sight in a temple their willes wer so knit together that he toke her as his captiue and she abode his prisoner In Paris appeared but smal force and in Heleyne but litle resistence so that in maner those two yong persons the one procuring to vanquyshe and the other suffring to be vanquished Paris was cause of his fathers death and they both of their owne deaths losse to their realmes scaunder to al the world Al this loue grew of one onely sight When great kinge Alexander woulde haue geuen battaile to the Amosones the quene captaine of theym no lesse faire then strong and vertuous came to a riuer side the space of an houre eche of theym behelde an other with their eyes withoute vtteringe of anye worde And when they retourned to their tentes their fiersnes was turned into swete wanton amorous wordes When Pirius the faithfull defender of the Tharrentines and renowmed king of Epirotes was in Italy he came into Naples and had not

neuer toke care for thy absence I alwaies iudged thy persoÌ„ safe TheÌ„ tel me Marke what dost thou now in thy age I thinke thou carieste thy lance not to serue thy tourne in thy warre but to leane on wheÌ„ the gout taketh the Thy head pece I iudge thou hast not to defend the from stroks of swords but to drinke withal in tauernes I neuer sawe the strike any man with thy sword but I haue sene the kil a thousand womeÌ„ with thy tongue O malicious Marke if thou wert as valiaunte as thou art spiteful thou shouldest be no lesse feared among the barbarous nacions then thou art abhorred with good reason amongest the Romaines Tel me what thou list but thou canst not deny but both thou hast bene arte a slacke louer a cowardly knight an vnknowen frend auaricious infamed an ennemy to all men frend to none Moreouer we that knew the a lyght yong maÌ„ condemne the now for an old doting foole Thou saiest that taking my letter into thy handes forthwith thy hart receiued the hearbe of malyce I beleue the wel vnsworne for any thing touching malyce doth streight find harber in thy brest The beasts corrupted do take poison which the sound of good complection refuseth Of one thing I am sure thou shalt not die of poison For seldom times one poison hurteth another but it driueth out the other O malicious Marke if al they in Rome knew the as wel as the vnhappie Boemia dothe they should se how much the words that thou speakest differ from the intencion of thy hart And as by the bookes thou makest thou meritest the name of a philosopher euen so for the ilnes thou inuentest thou dost deserue the name of a tiraunt Thou saist thou sawest neuer constancy in a womans loue nor end in her hate I ioy not a litle that other ladies in Rome as wel as I doo know thy smal wisedom Behold Marke I wil not mocke the For thou art such a one as neuer deserued that one shold begin to loue nor end to hate Wilt thou haue stabilite in loue and thou vnthankeful of thy seruyce wilte thou serue in mockerie and be beloued faithfully wilt thou enioy the parson without spending any of the goods wilt thou haue no complaints on the thou ceasest not thy malice Thou knowest the il of womeÌ„ I wil thou know that we be not so folishe as ye wene vs nor thou so wise as thou praisest thy selfe to be Hitherto we haue sene mo men folow the desire of women then women haue liked to folow men I haue sene a thousand times yea thou thy selfe that one man hath not so mighty a hart as to ouercome three wise womeÌ„ one woman holdeth her selfe strong inough to subdue .iii. C. lighte persons Thou saist thou art ashamed of my lightnes to se me forsake Rome come to the into the warres Great is the loue of the countrey and many leaue much goodes which they haue in straunge landes to lyue poorely in their owne but greater is thy loue sith I would leaue Rome with the delites therin come to seke the in straung lands amonge the rude souldiours O malicious Marke O straunge frend If I leaue Rome it were to goe seke my harte whiche is with thee in the warres And certainly oftentimes when I thinke of thy absence I fall into a swoune as one that hadde no harte but I neuer fynde remedy I thinke oure loue is not like to these beastes whiche haue their myndes only vpon sensual pleasures without the coÌ„ioyning of the louing hartes I sweare to the by the goddesse Vestal the mother Berecinthia that thou owest more to me for the loue I haue borne to thee in one day then for the seruice I haue done to thee in .xxii. yeres Behold vnhappy Marke howe much and dearly I loued thee In thy presence I alwayes behelde thee and absent I alwayes thought of thee sleping I dreamed on thee I haue wepte for thy sorowes and laught at thy pleasures and finally al my wealth I wished thee and al thy misfortunes I toke as mine I ensure thee of one thing that I fele not so much the persecution thou hast done to me as I doe the wayling forgetfulnes thou shewest to me It is a great griefe to a couetous man to lose his goodes but without comparison it is a greater torment for the louer to see his loue euill bestowed It is a hurt that is alwayes sore and a payne alwayes paynefull a sorowe always sorowfull and it is a death that neuer endeth O if men knewe howe dearly and faithfully women doe loue when they are bent to loue and with what malicious harte they hate being set to hate I sweare to you ye would neuer company with them in loue or if ye did loue them ye would neuer leaue for feare of their hate And as there is neuer great hate but where there was first much loue euen so thou shalt neuer be greatly hated for that thou wert neuer truly beloued of the ladies The sorowful Boeme hath loued thee xxii yeares of her life and nowe she onely hateth thee till after her deathe Thou sayst I may be eaten for veriuyce and yet would be solde for wyne I knowe I haue erred as one both young and light and when I founde me to straye out of the waye I was to farre gone and my mishappe coulde no other way nor remedy It is a great losse of all losses when there is no remedy I haue offended as a weake and frayle woman but thou as a man strong I erred by simple ignoraunce but thou of a purposed and wilful malice I sinned not knowyng that I did amisse but thou knewest what thou diddest I did credite thy wordes as a faithfull knighte and thou betraidest me with a .1000 lyes as a common lier Tell me diddest not thou seke occasion to come into my mothers house Getulia to entise me her doughter Boemia to thy mynde diddest not thou promise my father to teache me to reade in one yeare and readest me Ouide of the act of loue didest not thou sweare to mary me and after withdrewe thy hande as a false adulterer doest thou not knowe that thou neuer foundest in my persone any vyllany nor in thy mouthe any truthe At the least thou canst not deny but thou hast offended the gods thou art defamed amongest meÌ„ odious to the Romains a sclaunderer of the good folkes an example to the ill and finally a traitour to my father a breaker of thy faith to my mother and to me the vnhappy Boemia an vnkynde louer O malicious Marke hast thou not cut me in leaues offering to my father to kepe his vines safe Euell may the chicken truste the Kyte or the Lambes the Wolfe or the Doues the Faucon but thou arte worse to bring vp the doughters of good men O cursed Marke a hurtfull keaper of vines hath the Matrone of Rome founde thee in

suffrest me to enioye the fruite and geue to whom thou wilt the leaues By the immortal gods I sweare that I marueile not a litle for I thought that in the temple of the virgin Vestalles no temptation could haue come to man But nowe by experience I finde that that woman is easelier ouercome whiche is moste watched then the other that hath honest libertie All bodily diseases be first had or they be knowen and knowen or they be sene and sene or they be felte and felte or they be tasted and so in all thinges except this darte of loue whom they firste feale the stroke thereof before they knowe the waye howe it commeth The lightning commeth not so sodaine but it is knowen before by the thonder The wal falleth not sodeinly but first some stones fall downe The colde commeth not so faste but some small shiuering is sene before onely loue is not felt vntil he hath had power in the entrailes Let them know that are ignoraunt thou lady Liuia if thou wilt know Loue sleapeth when we wake waketh when we slepe laugheth wheÌ„ we weape wepeth wheÌ„ we laugh It assureth in taking taketh in assuring it speaketh when we be still is stil when we speake And finally it hath such a coÌ„dition that to geue vs our desire it causeth vs to liue in paine I sweare vnto the wheÌ„ my wil became thy seruaunt thy beautie made the my mistres when I was at the teÌ„ple and there found thee neither thou in thy praier didst mynde me nor I vnhappy man did thinke on thee O vnhappy hart of mine that being whole thou art deuided being in health thou art hurt being aliue thou art killed being mine thou art stolen the worst of al is that thou not helping to my lyfe consentest that death shal assault me Considering many times lady Liuia with my selfe my thoughtes to be high my fortunes base I would haue seperated my selfe from thee but knowing my trauaile to be wel emploied in thy seruice I say though I might I would not be seperated from thee I wil not deny one thing that is the cursed loue taketh away the tast of al thinges in those things only it geueth vs pleasure which are greatly against our profite This is the profe of him that loueth hartely that one frowne of her that he loueth doth more greue him then al the delightes of the rest of his life caÌ„ please I deme lady Lyuia thou arte abashed to se me openly as a philopher to know me secretly as a louer I besech thee hartely discouer me not For if the gods graunt me long life I am now a young foole yet in age I will be wyse The gods know what I desire and the force whiche doth enforce me thereunto And as the fleshe is weake the hart tender the occasions many the vertues fewe the world deceitfull the people malicious so I passe this springe time with floures in hope that in haruest I shall haue some fruite Thinkest thou lady Liuia that philosophers be thei neuer so wise are not touched with the sharp dartes of loue and that vnder their course clothes there is not soft fleshe white Certainly amonges hard bones is nourished softe fleshe within the pricking huskes growe the chesse nut I saye that vnder simple attire is the faithful loue I doe not deny but our fraile nature doeth withstande our vertues Nor I deny not but that the wanton desires are repressed with vertuous mindes Nor I deny not but that the rashenes of youth are restrained with the reynes of reason I deny not but many times wisedome doth withstand that that the fleshe procureth yet I confesse that he that is not amorous is a foole And dost not thou know although we be wise we leaue not therfore to be men dost not thou know all that euer we learne in our life suffiseth not to gouerne the fleshe one houre doest not thou know that to wise men in this case hath fallen many errours dost not thou know that there hath bene are many maisters of vertues and much more there are hath bene folowers of vices then why doest thou make suche a wonder only of me I wil not saye it without a trouth that I neuer had my iudgement so good perfite as when Cupide blewe winde on me with his winges There was neuer man vntil my time accompted wise but first he was entangled with Cupides snares Gratian was in loue with Tamira Solon Salaminus the geuer of the lawes was enamored with one Gretian Pittacus Mitelenus left his owne wife was in loue with a bond woman that he brought from the warre Cleobulus when he was .lxxx. yere olde had red philosophy lxv yeres climming vp a ladder to scale his neighbours house fel and of the bruse died Periander prince of Achaia chefe philosopher of Grece at the instaunce of his louers slew his owne wife Anacharsis a Philosopher a Sithian by his father and a Greeke by the mother side loued so dearely a woman of Thebes that he taught her al that he knew in so much that he being sicke on his bed she red for him in the scholes Epimenides of Crete that slept .xv. yeares without waking Although he was agreat worshipper of the Gods yet was he bannished Athens .x. yeres for the louing of women Architus Tarentinus the maister of Plato scholer of Pithagoras occupied his mynd more to inueÌ„t new kinds of loue then to employ his minde to vertues learning Gorgias Leontinus borne in Scycil had mo coÌ„cubines in his house then bookes in his study Al these were wise men we knew them wise yet at th end they were ouercome with the flesh Therfore blame me not alone for as I haue told thee of these few so could I of a whole army For of trouth he ought to haue many thinges that wil be accoÌ„pted a curious louer He must haue his eyes displayed on her that he loueth his vnderstanding much altered in that he thinketh his tongue troubled in that he should speake so that in seing he be blind in thinking dismaid in speaking troubled O lady Liuia the louing in mockery passeth by mockery but wheras true loue is there is grefe no mockerie there loue spitteth his poison cruel Cupide fixeth his arrowes vp to the feathers The eies wepe the harte sigheth the fleshe trembleth the senewes doe shrinke the vnderstaÌ„ding is grosse reason faileth so al falleth to the earth Finally the heauy louer abyding in himselfe holdeth nothing of himselfe Al this I saye because if I want knowledge to make me a louer yet am I sure that the workes faile not in me to worke thy seruice And though by mishap I sawe the yet by good chaunce I knew thee I aske nothing of thee but that thou loue me faithfully sith I loue the vnfainedly And if thou hearest that I am sicke from my hart I desire the to do me some good Sith it is only in the to help me it is reason thou only do seke for remedy I was greatly comforted wheÌ„ Fulius Carlinus desired me in thy behalfe to doe a pleasure which I did incontinent al that thou desiredst to the intent that thou another day shouldest doe frankly that I desire thee And behold lady Liuia the woman that is serued with seruices it is reason within a whyle she be sued vnto by prayer And though my strength cannot open the gates of the purpose or not agreing to thy demaund yet al my labours slake not to vphold thy renowme I praye the discouer not the one nor beguile me with the other For thou seest in graunting is remedy and in hoping is comfort But promise is deceiuable delayeng is perylous and the entertaining byndeth I se wel that the harty demaund requyreth a long aunswere but I would not thou shouldest do so But as I loue the so loue me as I desire of the so grauÌ„t thou me I will say once againe I am all thine nothing mine owne And note lady Liuia that it is as muche honour to thee as profitable for me that thou chaunge these thy desires put in order thy disordered will For thou seest it is muche better to heale shortly then to late with failing thy purpose All women obserue one euill opinion that is ye neuer receiue councel although it be geuen you in neuer so waighty a case And if it be not so then because thou arte estemed beautiful be likewyse honoured for taking of good counsel In this sorte though my losse be much thy pacience litle yet shall they accompt me wise in geuing counsel the most happy to folowe it One thing I will say to thee pardon me therin Women be much defamed in that they wil take no councel such as do assure their renowme so much on the iudgement of others as they condemne wel doing before I thinke good if it so like thee would if thou wilt that thou should doe in all pointes as I haue counsayled thee I will say no more lady Liuia but that I doe present to thee all my vnfortunate troubles my sighes as a desperate man my seruice as thy seruauÌ„t my troubled griefes my wordes of philosophy and my teares as a louer I sende thee here a girdle of golde on condition that thou alwayes fixe thy eies on that and thy harte on me I pray the gods geue me to thee thee to me Marke the open Philosopher wrote this in great secreate FINIS

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