Selected quad for the lemma: master_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
master_n	father_n	king_n	servant_n	3,226	4	6.7708	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

and licentiousnes is beastly and proper to men of basest condition That which resteth in action vnlesse it be also accompanied with wisedome and vertue proueth improfitable and is subiect to great vices and imperfections That which is imployed in contemplation not beieng ioyned with some action becommeth vaine and without effect For as men that earnestly behold the brightnes of the sunne with the vehement heat and light thereof are made blinde Euen so the minde of man continually wrought with imagimations speculation of hie mysteries doth become dull heauy and languishing Who so therefore desireth to liue vertuously and happely must participate both of the ciuill and philosophicall liues which are action and contemplation The mixture of which two doth make man to be like vnto GOD blessed and fortunate For hee that vseth his minde to the cogitation of thinges diuine is thereby made moste acceptable to GOD who doth greatelye esteeme of those men that liue according to the spirite and reason because it appeareth thereby that they labour to bee like vnto him who is also a spirite and thinges of one nature doe willinglye conioyne in loue They that vnto speculation doe adde honest action may also bee called diuine and happye There is nothing more apparante then that GOD among manie other graces hath giuen reason vnto men as a gifte most singular to the ende that through vertue thereof hee may beholde the nature of all thinges aswell coelestiall as terrestriall and therewith honour reuerence and loue him Who so therefore beeing mindefull of GOD and natures benefites doth well employe this heauenlie gifte of reason and both in action and contemplation imitate the eternall GOD doth thereby become as his childe and is holden as a God among men Contrariwise such as doe forget nature and humanitie delighting onelye in sensualitie neclecting or vtterlye forsaking reason are accounted to haue of men nothing but the face and name because the true and proper nature of man is in them wanting Heereof proceedeth the diuersitie of men that through the exercise of reason and vertue some are borne free noble wise and fitt to gouerne others slaues rusticall and witlesse destined to seruitude and bondage Euerye societie of men doth also willinglie obeye the wisest aduauncing them to offices and honours with greate respecte and reuerence Plato writeth that God in the creation of mens natures hath taken such order as in the generation of those that are apte to gouerne hee hath mixed golde To them that are destined to assiste the gouernours hee hath put siluer And with the nature of Plowe-men and Artizanes Brasse and Iron is compounded Which similitude Aristotle doth applye to the manners vertues and capacities of men For albeit that euerie man naturally desireth his children might resemble himselfe Yet doth it often happen that of golde commeth siluer and of siluer some mettell of other nature God hath therefore commaunded Princes to vndestande the nature of their thildren to the ende tha● they whose disposition is like vnto Iron should be conuerted to gold or that prouing impossible he hath willed the gouerment shoulde be to others allotted It hath beene also oraculously prophycied that those Cities which are gouerned with Brasse and Iron shoulde perish and come to confusion Xenocrates appointeth the first parte of mans life to the exercise of vertue the second to good health the third to honest pleasure and the fourth to the gathering of riches iustly As without vertue mans life is vile so is it without health weake and feeble For the minde shut vp within a sickly bodie doth languish and become disable to performe his owne duetie All men therefore through force of good lawes ought be trained vnto happy life for by such meanes common-weales become good and blessed Let vs nowe consider with which of these three states first remembred the diuine and happy life doth best agree which beeing knowen the face and forme of a perfect common-weale is easily discerned To the election of kinges men are induced by their vertue and beholding their egregious actes For whensoeuer we see a man to excell in those thinges wee accounte him as a God among men and forthwith consent to make him king following the common prouerbe Rexeris sirecte facies Because that gouerment is iust where the gouernour is vertuous commaunding himselfe and ruling his subiectes not as as Maister gouerneth his seruantes but as a father ruleth his children The Athenians as Demosthenes in his oration against Neaera writeth when Theseus had framed their commonweale were wonte to choose some one of the vertuous number and by holding vp their handes elected him Kinge In olde time the election of kinges was among all people holden a thing diuine and holy Romulus after the sight of twelue Rauens as Liuius sayeth or rather because the lightning had pearced his bodie from the lefte to the right side as Dionisius writeth was by diuination chosen king which was the respecte that by lawe it was prouided that no man shoulde take vppon him any magistracie or be made kinge without diuination In so much as that ordinance called Ius Auspiciorum was obeyed and religiouslye obserued The authoritie of kinges hath euer beene accounted a thing diuine for Homer and Isocrates affirme that hee who gouerneth alone doth reprepresent a diuine maiesty The kinges of Persia were honoured as Gods and the people beleeued their authoritie to be the onelie defendour and mainteynour of the commonweale The anciente Latines called their Kinges Indigetes that is to saye deified as Eneas and Romulus were whose bodies after death coulde neuer be founde The election of kinges was in time paste proper to the moste vertuous people vnto whome the gouernment of Tyrantes was odious Yea the ancient lawe of God doth as it were allowe or rather commende the gouernment of one An Optimatie consisteth of vertuous Citizens who deserue commendation in respecte of vertue because they gouerne the commonweale as becommeth good men in no wise digressing from the rule and line of lawe In popular commonweales all thinges be contrarilie handled for libertie beeing the ende thereof the state is ruled according to will and popular furie most commonly without vertue and reason In such Cities men are called good because they are profitable to the commonweale not for that they are indued with honestie which confisteth in action of vertue So as vertue is measured not by honestie but by common profite and libertie For popular iustice called Ius populare is where the honours are giuen not according to vertue of him that receiueth them but the number of those that giue them who thinke those thinges not to bee iust which by iustice ought be but that which to the greatest number doth seeme iust esteeming that also to be honourable which by popular fame is accounted glorious Therefore although in all sortes of commonweales the lawes of vertue are sometimes peruerted yet doth the same most commonly

them was giuen absolute power to reuenge iniuries preserue liberty and beiudges of each mans vertues and vices A good king ought therefore to haue no lesse care of those he gouerneth then hath the shepheard of his flocke that is to make them blessed and happy Homer calleth king Agomemnon the sheepheard of people whom Plato doth imitate calling him sheepheard and keeper of mankinde Moreouer a king ought to gouerne his people Not as maisters doe their seruants but as the father ruleth his children Wherefore as it is the part of good parents sometimes to rebuke their children sometimes to admonish and cherish them and sometimes also to correct and punish them So shoulde a Prince behaue himselfe towardes his subiectes as well for the peoples preseruation as the safetie of the commonweale shewing himselfe sometimes seuere sometimes gentle and placable defending and enlarging the common profit with no lesse care then a father prouideth for the sustentation of his children Thus appeareth the difference betwixt kinges and Tyrantes the one doth care for the common commoditie the other studieth onely for priuate profitte The ende of the Tyrants indeuour is voluptuousnes but the ende of a kinges studie is honour To excell in riches is proper to Tyrants but a kings chiefe desire is honour A Tyrant desireth the ayde of strangers but a king is garded with his owne subiectes Alfonsus king of Arragon being asked which of his subiectes he helde most deare answered I loue them better that wish me well then those that feare me which seemeth reasonable because feare is accompanied with hatered A King therefore should be no more safe by defence of Armes then loue good will and fidelitie of subiectes He is also to be honored as the minister of publique Counsell the defender of lawes and conseruer of common right and liberty For better performing of all which offices he shall doe well to harken to the aduise of his Counsellors and as his parentes loue and honour them Traianus that great Emperour of the world vsed continually to call the Senate his father For like as the father doth foretell his sonne of those things he thinkes profitable so doth a Senate Counsell the king howe the state may be preserued and by what lawes and orders it shoulde be gouerned Of these and other thinges appertayning to the office of a king or that haue beene receiued by lawe vse or custome a Counsellor ought to be fully enformed The popular sorte of men is for the most parte mutable by reason of the diuersitie of their ages For of them some being young some olde and some of middle age it must needs be that great dissentions should arise euery man hauing a will and opinion diuers from others and because they are all free men each man frameth his life and manners according to his owne fancie supposing there is libertie where all men doe that which they lust and like The diuersitie of manners doth breede among them varietie of mindes and thereof doth followe sundry iudgementes touching the state lawe and liberty whereof hate displeasure and seditions doe ensue so as all men are not equallie affected to the common-weale Those that be honestlie brought vp naturally good and well trained in learning not surious nor voluptuous not womannish or licentiously giuen are most willing obseruers of lawes rights concord and ciuill society not sweruing as men say one inch from the rules of vertue fidelity glory of their ancestors because they keepe and retaine all those things as inheritance descended from their forefathers That sorte of men is in the commonweale to be reputed good subiectes But they whose follie hath bene nourished by domesticall libertie being borne at home and not trained vp abroad wherby they haue neuer seene done or heard any thing notable magnificent or noble are to be thought persons seditious crastie and perilous subiectes yet would they be called and thought good honest quiet and modest notwithstanding the contempt they haue to imitate honestmen And to the ende they shoulde not be thought blockheades and fit for nothing deuise some new practise to gaine themselues fame glory and commendation And it commeth many times to passe that pretending the patronage of liberty by publique perswasion and furie they take matters in hande in apparance godlie but in trueth profane And if any of them be by birth or education apt for sedition and excell the rest in witt and eloquence they offer themselues vnto the ignorant sort to be captaines and reformers of lawes religion and order conspiring against the King the Counsell and all good subiectes as men that had taken in hand the renouation of the whole commonweale Such men were of the Romanes called Plebicolae who to saue themselues from some punishment which before they deserued doe take vpon thē the name of defending libertie stirring newe troubles and alterations in the state eyther else moued by some sodaine furie of minde doeperswade the people to discorde and sedition or else hauing intangled or rather prodigally consumed their inheritance and substance desirous to haue fellowes in miserie and perish rather publiquely then alone were alwaies wont to attempt rebellion Of such disposition were the Romaines called Gracchus Clodius Catiline And in Athens Calistines with many others As the bodie of our commonweale consisteth in the coniunction of three estates whose vniuersall consent and temperature doth make it most perfect and happy so if the same bodie be deuided or dismembred that state becommeth of all others the mostlame imperfect and infortunate For all other commonweales are subiect to one onely mutation because they rest vpon one onely simple gouernment But our state being mixed and made of three must of force be subiect to as many conuersions and inclinations If the king abuseth his office the state hath one Tyrant if the Senate so doe there are diuers Tyrants But if the power of people doth surpasse the authority and force of both the other then the commonweale is afflicted with an infinite number of most pernicious Tyrants Wherefore if in such a State the office libertie dignitie authoritie and iurisdiction of euery of them be not confined and bound by lawes certaine so as both by feare and punishment they be compelled to obserue lawe and liue honestlie all good men shall there in vaine looke for quietnes The proper office of a Consellor as Cicero saith is to imagine he beareth the person of the state the reputation whereof he is bound to maintaine to obserue the lawes set forth the proceedinges and be mindfull of things committed to his fidelitie Also it becommeth him as a priuate man to liue in equality with other subiects neither debasing nor extolling him selfe and to desire onely those things in the common-weale which be peaceable and honest so shall euerie one performe the true duetie of a good and loyall subiect It also becommeth subiects moderately to vse their libertie For as Quintius saide temperate

in vice and vncleannes A counsellor therefore ought to be carefull that the life of subiectes be not tombled into this myre of voluptuousnes and soule delights but that all things may be done with shamefastnes and honestie All dishonest and vnlawfull delightes should be extirped and likewise all occasions and opportunities whereby the people are trained to liue dishonestly shamelesly wickedly and imtemperately ought be remoued The Lacedemonians were wont to shew their dronken seruants vnto their children to the ende that they lothing their vile gestures and beastialitie might auoide the vice of much drinking But would God we were as willing to follow as remember those ancient customes Great was the moderation and temperance which our ancestors vsed in their diet for they liued not to eate but did eate to liue In these daies the plague of intemperance is growne so great as more men perish by incontinencie and gluttonie then by force or fury of warre Also in some nations men take no delight but onely in drinking Who would not then commend M. Curius the Romaine Senator that was content the embassadours sent by the Samnits should finde him homely set at supper by his fire drinking in a cup of wood and there refused the golde which they did present him saying I had hather command rich men then be a rich man my selfe I speake not of Fabricius Tubero Fabius Cato and Scipio whose temperate and sober life hath beene by immortall fame preserued Hortentius was much reprooued for that he at a supper prepared for the Auguri set before his gests a boyled peacocke likewise Cassius was deemed intemperate because publiquelie he dranke water and could not endure thirst for a short time Duronius was also remoued from the Senate for that he being Tribune he cassed the lawe concerning the restrainte of feasting Surely the Romaine state was happy in hauing such Senators as were not onely princes of Counsell but also masters of good manners and vertues Whereof may be coniectured how temperate the people of Rome were in those daies It is reported that when the presents which Pirrus king of Epirus after his ouerthrow were brought vnto Rome and shewed about the streats hoping thereby to winne good will of the people there was nor one man seene to put out his hand towards them fo as that king found himselfe no lesse vanquished with continencie then force of armes But when excesse after the victorie of Asia had entred Rome and that through plentie and idlenes the peoples mindes began to grow wanton sodainly that ciuill discipline of temperancie parcimonie and societie were extinguished and in liew therof couetuonsnes accompanied with all mischiefes possessed the Citie which as Salust saith way the very cause that destroyed the Romain empyre The Counsellor therefore must foresee that in the common-weale excesse may not long indure because it peruerteth publique peace and maketh the subiects soft effeminate miserable and needy Diogenes hearing that the house of a certaine prodigall man was offred to sale said I knew well that house was so full of meate and wine as or long it would vomit out the master The Counsellor shall also eschew nothing more in his owne person then immoderate eating and drinking because it consumeth the force both of bodie and minde Notable is that lawe of Solon which iudgeth a drunken prince worthie of death Philip king of Macedon being disguised with drinke gaue iudgement against a woman she furthwith appealed and being asked to whom answered to king Philip when he is sober Certainly the force of wine taketh away all iudgement in man in so much as thereby kings are made seruants olde men become children wise folkes are turned to fooles and fooles changed to mad men The Counsellor therefore shall obserue measure and drinke for necessitie not for sacietie following the counsell of Anacharsis who said that the first draught was of necessitie the second of superfluitie and the third of madnes It were most vnseemely in a Senator to haue a countenance full of furie eyes full of anger and speech full of pride all which doe accompanie dronkennes and as euill it will become him being ouercharged with meate and wine to consume the whole night in sleaping But how much good diet helpeth to preserue health prepare the bodie to action we may learne by experience For by moderate diet we finde not onely the minde but the bodie also more obedient but sacietie and fulnes of belly is no other then a sepulture to a liuing minde It therfore beseemeth a Senator not onely priuately but also publiquely to obserue parcimonie and frugalitie Yet heed must be taken least he seeme ouersparing hard or straight in expence for it is the propertie of a bace and abiect minde to abuse comlines and honour in his liuing Therefore priuate excesse shalbe banished and publique magnificence retained needlesse delicacy but much more misery and nigardlines must be auoided For as immoderate expences be hurtfull so necessarie and conuenient fare is honest and wholsome Respect is also to be had to the place the time and persons waying therewithall what belongeth to priuate and publique honestie dignitie and profit not neglecting the change of exercises and honest pleasures L. Tubero making a publique feast couered all his beds with the skins of kids and for so doing was thought indiscrete and ignorant in things belonging to publique honour and reputation also for the same was deposed from the office of Pretor But of Temperancy let this suffice which we haue hitherto spoken Let vs now sith the time and order of our matter so requireth intreat of the goods of bodie and fortune wherewith the felicitie of a Counsellor is not onely ornified but also made perfect For so much as the bodie of man is as it were a dwelling place and tabernacle of his mind it behoueth vs and our liues to be furnished no lesse with the perfections of minde then of bodie For as the actions of vertue cannot be exercised by a weake bodie so the bodie wanteth power to performe his duetie being gouerned by an imperfect minde These two are so coopled and conioyned together that as the Master without a seruant so the minde may not execute his duetie without obedience of the bodie Therefore the philosophers writing of pollicy doe conioyne the exercises of bodie and minde as though men imperfect eyther in bodie or mind were improfitable in the societie of men Euen as ciuill discipline and good lawes doe worke the perfection of minde so nature chiefly ioyned with exercise doth make the soundnes of bodie which is conserued by phisicke Therefore in commonweales well gouerned certaine lawes and ages for mariage ought be prescribed likewise education ordained for children to theende they may be informed in ciuill discipline So as by nature and art the people may become both of minde and bodie most perfect But sith heretofore we haue discoursed of the qualities of mind and the perfections thereof