Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	believe_v	life_n	love_v	3,607	5	5.8693	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02237	The counsellor Exactly pourtraited in two bookes. VVherein the offices of magistrates, the happie life of subiectes, and the felicitie of common-weales is pleasantly and pithilie discoursed. A golden worke, replenished with the chiefe learning of the most excellent philosophers and lawgiuers, and not onely profitable, but verie necessarie for all those that be admitted to the administration of a well-gouerned common-weale. Written in Latin by Laurentius Grimaldus, and consecrated to the honour of the Polonian empyre. Newlie translated into English.; De optimo senatore. English	Goślicki, Wawrzyniec, 1530-1607.	1598 (1598)	STC 12372; ESTC S106731	134,196	158

rest in men of such vertue and thinketh it a thing honest and iust to obey them Among all sortes of men there is not any so wise and of such perfect and absolute vertue as is the Senator because all others eyther through want of yeares lacke of experience or inconstancie are for the most parte withdrawen from the best course of life but a Counsellor is not by any affections troubled by appetites transported nor by youth inueigled but by reason gouerned by Counsell directed and by ag● made perfect Counsellors also in respect of their capacities reason Counsell iudgement and ripenes may be called Senators because in them all youthfull appetites and furies be decayed and the force of reason increased which being growen to perfection in men doth make them like vnto Gods Furthermore for somuch as there are as the Philosophers affirme in all things three degrees Great Small and Indifferent that is thought most perfect which doth participate of eyther So the Senator being as it were a meane betwixt the king and people may the better finde the perfection of all things and consider what are the offices of Kinges and what the dutie of people with the right liberties and lawes apperteyning to eyther least the people for want of good gouernment do coue● immoderate liberty or the King lacking aduise doe fall into tyr●n●y It behoueth the Counsellor to be of high wisedome great vnderstanding and much experience endeuouring himselfe to ●e carefull and vigilant for the well doing quiet and happinesse of all the commonweale which ought be the study of him that is of high capacity and supernaturall vnderstanding Scipio saith that as the ende of the Saylors endeuour is good passage the Physitions trauell tendeth to health and the captaynes labour to victorie so the happy life of subiectes their wealth their glory and vertue ought to be the endeuour of our Counsellor and from him as one amongst the rest of most singularity and perfection the same proceedeth We shall now therfore discourse what foundation of great wisedome hath and what exercises knowledge and vertue ought to be in a Counsellor which being knowen the waies and degrees wherby he may attayne to so excellent qualities shall be the more easie For as much as the foundation and roote of euery commonweale is the inhabitants thereof we will first aboue all thinges determine that our Councellor shall be naturally borne within that state where he gouerneth Because that birth and being doth not onely binde him but also leade him to beleeue it is honourable iust and necessary to spend his blood in defence of his country for the onely loue which men doe beare vnto their country doth exceede all other pietie And how is it possible that any man should not loue that country wherein he hath his parentes his children his neighbours and friends and that which hath freely giuen him life name and honour with euery other thing requirable eyther for delight or necessity Surely Nature hath so deepely and firmely planted in the mindes of men the loue to their country as neuer any good subiect did feare at necessary occasions to aduenture his life Yea we haue found the force therof to haue beene such as euen the wicked and most vnnaturall subiectes attempting the subuertion of their country at the onely sight of their naturall soyle haue stayed their handes from performing so wicked an enterprise Did not Veturia disswade her sonne Martius beseging Rome only by reducing to his memory the loue he ought to haue vnto his naturall country calling him impious and audacious for daring to disturbe that Citie wherein he was begotten and bred forgetting that within the walls thereof his mother wife children famelie and friendes liued Greate was the loue of Veturia towardes her country and no lesse was the pietie of Martius in pardoning his country which through the crueltie of the Tribunes at that time persecuting the Nobilitie had beene to him vnthankefull Sertorius in like manner desired Pompeius and Metellus to procure his reuocation saying he desired rather to be called an obscure Citizen of Rome then else where an Emperour Therfore Ouidius Naso the Poet saith truely Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit immemores non sinit esse sui Great is the obligation which bindeth vs to our country whereunto our goods and persons are as it were impawned Pythagoras as Plato saith beeing asked in what sorte a man shoulde be vngratefull to to country answered as to his mother because all iniuries are to be pardoned for our countries sake neyther is there anye offence so greate which the loue of our country ought not delaye and diminish Let our Councellor therefore be a subiect naturally borne sith no man of forraine birth ought be preferred to that dignitie because the Councell of strangers is accounted suspicious perilous and dangerous The Athenians therefore did not onely seclude all strangers from their Councels but also suffered them not to dwell within their Citie leaste by such meanes they might aspyre vnto the magistracie and induce the Citizens mindes to innouation whereby change of lawes customes manners and seditions might growe Which manner of proceeding we see the Venetians haue carefully obserued For among them greate heede is taken least anye vnder false tide shoulde intrude himselfe into that number which is capable of the gouerment Whereby all forenners and strangers bee vtterly excluded But happelye it may seeme considerable who those are which ought be called Citizens This worde Citizen hath beene aswell among Phylosophers as lawe-makers diuerselye defined Some haue called the whole number of Inhabitantes by the name of Citizens Others onely those that are descended of Noble and free Citizens Others haue called them Citizens who haue one of their parentes free borne within the Citie And some woulde that the Citizen shoulde fetch his Pedigree from his ancient grandfathers Some doe also thinke that strangers receiued into the societie of Citizens and naturallized shoulde be called Citizens Aristotle doth call them by the name of Citizens that are capable of the offices in the state and are descended of free and honest parentage Surelye the opinion of euerye of these touching the name of Citizen is not to be thought strange seeing that custome and lawe doth in euerye place giue direction what is to be done framing their reasons according to the qualitie of the state wherein they liue In popular states all they are commonly called Citizens that doe inhabite the Citie aswell poore as rich bad as good wise as learned not beeing bonde men for euerye one is capable of the gouernmente and liue all in one equalitie Of this nature was the Athenian commonweale so long as it was popularlye gouerned and in our dayes the Cantons of Switserlande doe obserue the same customes Diuers other cities in Germanie are called free where the inhabitantes doe liue popularly secluded from gentlemen noble citizens

and continually to thinke of them for he is the man at whose hand the people and countrie doe looke for their welfare and he fayling of his endeuor or refusing to worke the weldoing thereof doth commit an error not onely reproueable but also impious The chiefe duetie of our loue and fidelitie next vnto God is due vnto our countrie which who so loueth not is perhaps to be holden inferior to beastes many of which kinde drawen onely with loue to their naturall soyle as captiues to their countrie doe choose rather to die then abandon the place wherein they had their birth and education This loue to our country ioyned vnto high wisedome doth make such an vniuersall agreement among men as nothing can be in counsell saide or done offensiuely vnwisely or vniustly but euery thing in the ballance of perfect iudgement equally and indifferently examined Thus we see the force of wisedome is great sith through it as by a gate we passe vnto all the other vertues and without it no vertue can defend it selfe because onely by benefit of it we become iust temperate and valiant Also by it we are instructed where when and how to vse all other vertues Prudence hath also vnder her certaine other vertues which are as it were followers and companions by which meane her power becommeth enlarged and ornified which if the Counsellor doth carefully remember and diligently obserue he shall thereby in his actions and counsell gaine great praise and glory worthy the wisedome of so great a personage Wherfore first it behoueth him to be witty docible of good memory of sound vnderstanding circumspect prouident warie and wilie For these vertues as Plato and the Peripatetickes affirme are the followers and seruants of Prudence Witt is a certaine naturall force by nature incident to reason hauing power to cōceiue things proceeding from reason which although many times it be not nourished by industrie art and memory yet is it alone of force and without vse or learning doth make many men very commendable Lot the Counsellor therfore know his owne wit and become sharpe in the excogitation of reasons eloquent in delating and ornifying his speach and firme in memory This wisedome whereby we first conceiue all things doth spring from the quicknes of wit and is increased by memory and aptnes to learning of which two men are called ingenious and is confirmed by learning and experience That witt is most laudable which is constant strong sharpe immutable noble pleasant gallant and liberall The sharpnes of witt is much ornified by docilitie and memory by the one we be taught to conceiue those things which are laid before vs by the other we retaine in minde whatsoeuer is eyther by our selues inuented or by others vttered In the exercise of those things it behooueth a Counsellor to be most diligent for not to conceiue quickly and remember what hath beene spoken of others is the propertie of a dull and foolish witt which was the cause that Demostines Alcibiades Mithridates and diuers others most notable men haue beene as we read in those things much practised Furthermore we must know that as witt is the grace of euery Counsellor so vnderstanding is the light of wit by vertue whereof thinking and vnderstanding we conceiue all things or their Ideas as well true as false For by common vnderstanding we comprehend the knowledge of things and through it iudge that euery thing honest ought be referred to vertue and whatsoeuer is dishonest must be included in vice which vnderstanding is not disioyned from the sences who are as it were interpreters and reporters of knowledge yet must we take heede not to be deceiued by sensuall iudgement and therefore all feblenes dulnesse and insensibilitie ought be eschewed For it often happeneth that eyther by art or subteltie we become shamefully deceiued which error in all things and chiefly in the knowing and iudging of good and true from bad and false is to be auoyded We will also that our Counsellor should be ciscumspect not onely in those things which doe happen priuately but also in euery other that may be hurtfull to the commonweale For he must endeuor himselfe in the safetie of subiects to foresee all stormes that can happen vnto the state and prouide for the preseruation of euery member thereof This vertue called circumspection is a carefull consideration of things to be done and both in warre and peace of much importance because through wise circumspection the force and furie of fortune is diuerted and we yeeld rather to reason and counsell then trust to the rashnes and fiercenes of fortune In this vertue Quintus Fabius did excell for he as is reported by delaies and protracting time saued the Romain state but contrariwise Flaminius incircumspectilie trusting to his courage strength assalted Hanibal to his owne great disaduantage I omit to tell how Q. Scipio the Consull with diuers others was through want of circumspection by the Cimbri distressed In time of peace it is also most needfull profitable that the Counsellor should vse circumspection and be as an Argus or Lynceus in the common-weale to spie out those things which appertaine to the concord peace and welfare of the people for not so being he cannot foresee what seditions wars and vnlooked for accidents do daily happen to the preiudice of the commonweale Some there are so ignorant so vnwise or blinded with abundance of pleasure as scarsely they can discerne things before their faces much lesse foresee them which by the euent of things and time become perilous to the commonweale are an occasion of many misaduentures which kind of men as more carefull of their owne priuate then the publique commodity might deseruedly be remoued from gouernment For notwithstanding they see the threatnings of war the people caried away captiue the countrie spoyled women and children sold for slaues townes burnt fieldes wasted and temples profaned and moreouer behold the commonweale with most extremitie affected by barbarous enemies yet vse they no circumspection counsell nor medicine wherewith so great a furie of miserie may be cured or cooled For perhaps they more willingly behold the people troubled and weakened with sedition the meaner sort of the more mightie oppressed and the religion of God neglected But the good Senator with all his force embracing the commonweale studieth by what meanes the common saueftie and welfare may be made happy and perpetuall He prouideth that the furie of enemies may by garrisons and fortresses be restrained that castles and bulwarkes may be builded the places of defence may be repayred and that passages may be stopped all which things are commonly great obstacles and impeachments to enemies It is also requisite to haue some subiects well trained reddie and exercised for by such preparation the cōmonweale being as it were fortified disdaineth the force of forraine enemies and diuerteth their mindes from offering violence The Lacedemonians were wont to call the bodies

hath giuen to euery thing a firme stable and constant course which of it selfe cannot be changed but by a certaine and determined way doth passe and returne First we behold the celestiall orbes the Elements beastes foules and creeping creatures haue their properties not receiued by chance but by such naturall instinct as leaue them they will not or if they would they cannot What should I say of men doe not we see a certaine way to felicitie prepared of GOD for good men and likewise destruction made for euill men Also the path which leadeth to vertue is narrowe wrong and hard to be disoerned but the waie vnto vice on the left hand to be large plaine and open to manie But to speake of the gouernment of Cities and states if their courses of life and administration be certaine perfect and absolute of nature that is to say proceeded from God or reason they doe neuer abandon them but are of long continuance but otherwise become of no force weake and decaying I speake not of all Let it suffice that nature hath made all things we see to be good certaine perfect and in all respects absolute which moued the Stoicks to affirme that to liue according to nature was the chiefe felicitie of man for nature is in deede the Conductrix and Tutresse of perfect life whereby we follow and obey the Author thereof This harmonie of nature may righty be called Iustice For this is that vertue which defendeth lawe and consent of nature sith whatsoeuer consenteth with nature is iust and whatsoeuer dissenteth with it is called vniust Such men then as liue according to nature and in all things obey her are of all others most iust For it is a thing contrarie to nature to doe or thinke against God or man Whereupon Iustice is thought to be of three kindes naturall diuine and humaine The first foundation of Iustice naturall proceedeth from nature it selfe which doth informe vs what to embrace and what to eschue Naturall equitie commaundeth vs to abstaine from iniuries and therefore we ought to doe nothing whereby an other may be offended By this vertue men are so fast bound one vnto another as euerie man wisheth well to all mankinde In that antient age which the Poets called golden through the benefit of Iustice no deceipt fraude or iniurie was knowen Then were no seditions no tumult no hate but beneuolence fidelitie and loue Then needed not they any law-maker any iudge or pleader For equitie and goodnesse determined all things and euery man thought his owne things to appertaine as much to his friends as himselfe By which instinct we loue our parents our children our alliance and kindred The Iustice due vnto our Parents is called pietie with which vertue we reade that aboue others the daughter of Cymon was indued For she by giuing her owne milke vnto her father in prison condemned to die thereby saued his life and wonne her selfe immortall fame This propertie also is with men common to other creatures that euery kind do naturally conspire to defend themselues Iustice doth also require at our hand that ech man should nourish defend and gouerne himselfe for he that by wilfull hunger negligence or death is distroyed ought be iudged iniust and an enemie to nature We are also bound by nature to relieue our friends with our goods and by generation of children to continue a posteritie In fine those that obey nature are reputed iust and those that do thecontrarie are iudged vniust for nature abhorreth euill and embraceth that which is good Socrates and his schollers defined this naturall Iustice saying it was the science of good and euill according to nature which if a man doth exercise alone following nature as guide he ought be called a good man and communicating it with others deserueth the name of a good Citizen because then he is not onely profitable for himselfe but others also To be iust after this manner in liuing according to nature doth not only become a Counsellor but also euery other man Moreouer they that by nature are indued with more singuler gifts ought to be aboue others most iust And therefore sith nature hath aduanced a Counsellor before other men it behoueth him to excell in Iustice for being inferiour herin is reputed dishonorable ignominious These are those things which in the cōuersation maners of men ought tobe obserued That Iustice which belongeth vnto God and whereby we are by nature bound to acknowledge worship reuerence loue and honour him is onely proper to men And it hath pleased nature the mother of all things that in the minde of man onely the knowledge of God should be impressed leauing all other creatures to eate feede and pamper their bodies Man onely is that creature among enumerable others to whom the honour reuerence ad worship of God is committed No people therefore inhabiting the circle of the earth but honoureth some God which they thinke a thing honest iust and necessarie The societie of God and men is by a certaine naturall necessitie and beneuolence conioyned and cannot be broken as though men were borne of God and therefore him they worship and reuerence as a father It behoueth that the honour giuen to God should be most pure most holy and full of pietie that is we should honour him with a chast intire and incorrupt minde All the substance and force of holines and pietie consisteth in religion which is a vertue conteyning the knowledge how God should be honoured By it we are also enformed how to render vnto him thanks with true honour and holy minde Hereof men are called religious and holy because they loue and as it were binde themselues to do deuine honour God fauoureth pietie and faith and in respect of them extolleth kingdomes All things doe prosper with those that obey God and euerie thing decayeth in the handes of others that honour him not Moreouer religion is of such force as through it men are indued with all vertues and in retaining them are made no lesse constant then religious In him that honoureth God there groweth a constant true and inuentable hermonie of vertues For whosoeuer doth honour him religiously is prudent and temperate which vertues are so tyed vnto religion as by no possible meanes they may be sundered A constant religion doth worke a firme continuance of lawes customes vertues and commonweale it selfe It behooueth our Counsellor therefore to haue no wauering or mutable but a stable and certaine beliefe of God and religion for that is the foundation of his wisedom vertue and dignitie Neither should any Senator be admitted to counsell whose religion is inconstant or vnsetled For in counsell nothing ought be done contrarie to religion or a-against God but euerie thing performed with constancie synceritie holinesse and religious meaning Therefore a Senate is called sacred because all things in it done are reputed holy not onely among men but before God also The place also wherein

is reputed a great reuenew yet ought we not be so sparing as to seeme void of liberalitie couetous miserable carelesse both of others and ourselues also we must not only be fillers of bagges or hoorders of coyne as men that studie more to enrich a lasciuious heire then profit the commonweale friendes or kinsfolkes Surely couetousnes is a sicknes incurable which as Salustius saith doth effeminate both body and minde And it taketh delight in two things that is to giue nothing and receiue much Money therefore is to be vsed liberally moderately and in good and honest vses alwaies reseruing somewhat not onely for friends phisitions and foes but also for our countrey the necessitie whereof is to be preferred before all other They that are delighted in feasting glotenie and play therein consuming their substance the memorie wherof lasteth but one onely daie are deuourers not onely of priuate but also of publique riches they are also holden men of light minde and prodigall not onely of mony but also of their fame reputation and honour Truely it behoueth the state to prouide that no man should abuse his owne riches and therfore I thinke it good that such men were compelled by lawe to spare their mony from vaine expences matters of no momēt In Rome it was prouided by law that no Senator should be indebted aboue a certaine summ prescribed Which order was taken to remooue excesse and superfluous charges P. R●finus was deposed from the Senate by the Censores for hauing ten pounds waight of siluer Also Aemelius Lepidus hauing built a house which cost six thousand pound was for that cause depriued from the Senate A Counsellor ought therfore to liue so as he may be magnificent and liberall not onely of mony but also of reputation counsell and good will which vertues doe conioyne the peoples mindes breeding friendship and concord wherewith all Cities and common places be vnited Furthermore nature hath so ordained as without friendship no man hath euer liued notwithstanding he were so abundantly furnished with riches as he wanted nothing to lead a desired life For seeing man is a ciuill creature and louer of societie he cannot in any wise want the vse of other mens couersation From this fountaine all naturall amities as mariages consanguinities and affinities doe proceed Nature is a louer of men conioyning them not onely in conuersation and good will but also binding them with obligation of bloud We see that all lawmakers haue studied for nothing more then that by the benefit of lawes men might liue in loue friendship because wheresoeuer the rights of amitie are esteemed their iniurie sedition and hatred cannot haue force sith in all such places peace tranquilitie loue and affection doe raine by which meanes the inhabitantes are made happy and blessed Who so taketh away friendship from the commonweale doth as it were remooue the Sunne from the world Therfore commonweales receiue great good by friēdship for where it is no ciuill dissention can arise and all men with one assent as it were one particuler man louing his wife will as Pythagoras saith ioyne in loue and become as it were one man for so much is the force of friendship as of many it maketh one onely minde Which friendship is by Leliu● defined to be a perfect consent of things di●●ne and humaine in all loue cha●itie and affection Diuerse kindes of amitie there are whereby men are drawne to loue one another some do loue in respect of confanguimitie some for allyance some for a●f●it● But of ciuill amitie wherof vertue is the foundation and groweth among men vnacquainted the obseruation is not easie for the diuersitie of delights doth cause that good men doe seldome concurre in friendship sith therunto time and conuersation is required because the manners of men are often altered through aduersitie or prosperitie age profit losse and honour Each man at the first meeting is not to be receiued into friendship for as the prouerbe saith men must eare manie bushels of salt together before they become true and perfect friendes The honest manners of men are to be diligently considered and what sidelitie and loue we finde in our selues must be bestowed vpon our friends The Philosophers thinke that amitie is most assured which is bred by likenes of conditions for where mens delights be one there desires cannot be diuerse Such friends were Theteus and Pericheu● Achilles and Patroclus Orestes and Pilades Damon and Pythias Of which two the loue was so great as Diontsi●s desired he might ioyne therein and become a third In choosing friends chiefe respect is to be had vnto vertue for the nature of vertue is such as vertuous men doe not onely refuse the friendship of euill men but also deeme them vnworthy to be looked on Few friends are better then many for perfect friendship cannot remaine in the minde of great numbers They that are delighted with familiaritie of many are not accounted friends but men compinable and faire conditioned for it is one thing to be conuersable and gentle in the entertainment of all men and an other thing to be a friend to one whom we make a perpetuall fellow and continuall companion of our cogitations and life Epaminondas was wont to say a man ought not go from court till such time as he had wonne some new friend to be ioyned vnto the number of his old Which rule seemeth to serue better to gaine the common goodwill of men then perfect friendship Those things which for the loue of friends ought be done should be iust not hauing more respect to loue then honesty True friendship requireth three things first vertue from which we may neuer be remoued then pleasure which consisteth in familiaritie and s●●ce●e coni●er sation of life and lastly profit wherby one friend helpeth an other with things necessarie Peri●●● being desired by a friend to and him with false witnes answered he would friend him as high as the heauens 〈…〉 that men should aide their friends so farse as Iustice equi●ie land the lawes of God doe permit Also it is more 〈…〉 friends from euils things then therin to incou●rage them So●●ime also concentions doe happen betweene friends because the one c●●tente 〈◊〉 the other and each of them doth ●o 〈◊〉 for more respect at the others hand then reason requireth which things doe vitterly 〈…〉 amitie Wherefore in friendship let ●his be sp●ci●●ly 〈…〉 that we require of our friend not that which would 〈…〉 that which he may lawfully doe for 〈◊〉 Which obsegua●i●● is ●●●●ned in the honour due to God and pare●ts vnto ●hom we 〈…〉 meanes able to render honour and tha●●s equall to 〈◊〉 desarts yet he that doth honour them to his power is commonly called 〈◊〉 and godly Moreouer the friendship of fooles is 〈◊〉 to be desired for the familiaritie of such men breedeth contemp● The ●●seruations as Counsellor ought hau● in the chois● 〈◊〉 friends whereunto