and we perceiue not how we liue therein Of mercie pitie helpe and compassion towards the poore HAppy not once but an hundred times is he that will remember the poore afflicted and open his hart to comfort them and doth not shut his cofers from helping them to him at the straight day of iudgement the processe of his life shall be iudged with mercie and pitie The pitifull hart which is not fleshed in crueltie hath as much pitie to see another man suffer as of the sorow and torment which he himselfe feeleth If a man behold himselfe from top to toe he shal find not one thing in him to mooue him to crueltie but he shall see in himself many instruments to exercise mercie For he hath eyes to behold the needie feete to goe to the church eares to heare Gods word hands to be stretched to the poore a toong to vtter good things an hart to loue God and to conclude he hath vnderstanding to know the euil and discretion to follow the good God hath not giuen him scratching nails as to the cat nor poison as to the serpent nor perilous feete as to the horse to strike withall nor bloodie teeth as to the Lion but hath created vs to be pitifull and commanded vs to be mercifull Obedience AS the element of the fire the element of the aire and the element of water do obey and the element doth commaund of the earth or that against their nature he bringeth them to the earth and al the noble and most chiefest elements obedient to the most vile onely to forme a body mixt it is great reason that all obey one vertuous person that the common wealth therby might be the better gouerned The second reason is of the body and soule The soule is the mistres that commaundeth and the body the seruant which obeyeth for the body neither seeth heareth nor vnderstandeth without the soule but the soule doth these without the body In that common wealth where one hath care for all and all obey the commandement of that one there God shall be serued the people shall profit the good shall be esteemed the euill despised and besides that tyrants shall be suppressed How many people and realms bicause they would not obey their prince by iustice hath sithence by cruell tyrants been gouerned with tyrannie for it is a iust plague that those which despise the scepter of righteous princes should feele and prooue the scourge of cruel tyrants O happy common wealth wherein the prince findeth obedience in the people and the people in like maner loue of the prince for of the loue of the prince springeth obedience in the subiects and of the obedience in the subiects springeth the loue of the prince Patience LOoke howe much wee offend through the offence so much doe we appease through patience The patience which God vseth in not punishing our faultes is greater than that which men haue in suffering the chastisement bicause we iustly offend and iustly are punished I account all in me at the disposition of fortune as wel riches as other prosperities and I keep them in such a place that at any hower in the night when she listeth she may cary them away and neuer awake me so that though she cary those out of my cofers she should neuer rob me of my patience Patience in aduersitie pleaseth God where as wrath prouoketh his indignation We see in a mans bodie by experience that there are sundry diseases which are not cured with words spoken but with the herbes thereunto applied and in other diseases the contrary is seen which are not cured with costly medicines but with comfortable words When the diseases are not very olde rooted nor dangerous it profiteth more oftentimes to abide a gentle feauer than to take a sharpe purgation The impatient hart especially of a woman hath no rest till she see her enimie dead No patience can endure to see a man obtaine that without trauel which he could neuer compasse by much labor He is most vnhappy which is not patient in aduersity for men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impatience which they suffer Though wise men leese much they ought not therfore to dispaire but that they shall come to it againe in time for in the end time doth not cease to do his accustomed alterations nor perfect friends cease not to do that which they ought That man onely in this life may be called vnhappy to whom God in his troubles hath not giuen patience Peace HE alone doth knowe howe precious a thing peace is which by experience hath felt the extreeme miserie of war The life of a peaceable man is none other then a sweete peregrination and the life of seditious persons is no other than a long death Euerie prince which loueth forraine wars must needs hate the peace of his common wealth Aristotle doth not determine which of these two is the most excellēt either stoutnes to fight in the wars or policie to rule in peace That peace is more woorth that is honest than is the victorie which is bloodie In the good war a man seeth of whom he should take heed but in the euill peace no man knoweth whom to trust Where peace is not no man enioieth his owne no man can eate without feare no man sleepeth in good rest no man safe by the way no man trusteth his neighbor and where there is no peace we are threatned daily with death and euery houre in feare of our life Seeing Christ left to vs his peace and commanded vs to keepe the same we should not condiscend for reuenging iniuries to shed mans blood for the good christians are commanded to bewaile their own sins but they haue no licence to shed the blood of their enimies and therefore I wish all princes for his sake that is prince of peace they loue peace procure peace keepe peace liue in peace for in peace they shall be rich and their people happie Pleasure WHat commeth of vaine pleasure nothing but the time euill spent famine in way of perdition goods consumed credit lost God offended and vertue slandered Of pleasure we get the names of brute beasts and the surnames of shame I would the eies were opened to see how we liue deceiued for all pleasures that delight the bodie make vs beleeue that they come to abide with vs continuallie but they vanish away with sorrow immediately on the contrary the infirmities that blinde the soule say that they come to lodge as guests and remaine with vs continually as housholders Death is a miserable lake wherein all worldly men are drowned for those men that thinke most safely to passe it ouer remaine therin most subtilly deceiued During the time that we liue in the house of this fraile flesh sensualitie beareth so great a rule that she wil not suffer reason to enter in at the gate Reason leadeth
gaue vnto man was to know and be able to speake for otherwise the soule reserued the brute beasts are of more valew than dombe men Pythagoras commanded that all men which are dombe and without speech should immediatly and without cōtradiction be banished and expulsed from the people and the cause why he commāded this was that he said that the toong is mooued by the motions of the soule and that he which had no toong had no soule The toong which is noble ought to publish the goodnes of the good to the end that all know it the frailnes of the wicked ought to be dissembled and kept secret that it be not followed If the body of a man without the soule is little regarded I sweare vnto thee that the toong of a man without truth is much lesse esteemed As the sword pierceth the body so the toong destroieth the renowme There are many which are of a goodly toong and wicked life Wise men ought to feare more the infamie of the litle pen than the slander of the babling toong All corporall members in a man waxeth olde sauing the inward hart and outward toong for the hart is always greene to beare the fruit of euil and the toong always fruitfull to tell lies Time THere is nothing needeth more circumspection than the measuring of Time for that Time should be measured so iustly that by reason no Time should want to do well nor any time abound to doe euill That time may be accounted lost which is spent without the seruice of God or profite of our neighbor Time in all things bringeth such change and alteration that those we haue once seen to be great lords within a while after we haue seene slaues Deceiue not your selfe to say there is time for all amendement for time is in the hand of God to dispose Warres IN time of war princes cannot reforme vices nor correct the vicious They which mooue war or intreat it ought to consider that if it come not well to passe all the blame shall be imputed to their counsell and if his substance be not able presently to recompence the losse let him assure himselfe that his soule hereafter shall endure the paine In examining of histories we shall finde more defamed for beginning of wars than renowmed for vanquishing of their enimies In wars they do naught else but kill men spoile the people destroy innocents giue libertie to theeues seperate friendes raise strife all which cannot be done without hinderaunce of iustice and scrupulositie of conscience Before wars be begun it would be considered what losse and what profite may ensue None are fit for the wars but such as little esteeme their liues and much lesse their consciences If war were onely the euil against the euill there were no thought nor care to be taken but where honor fame glory and riches are taken prisoners it is a lamentable matter that so many wise good and vertuous be lost Iust war is more woorth than fained peace for looke how much his enimie offendeth for taking it so much he offendeth his common wealth for not defending it Women in times past were led to the wars to dresse meate for the whole and to cure the wounded but now to the end that cowards should haue occasions to be effeminate and the valiant to be vicious Men which in peace seeme most fierce in time of war shew themselues most cowards and likewise men full of words are for the most part cowards in deeds Women ANd sith God hath commanded and our face doth permit that the life of men can not passe without women I aduise the youth and beseech the aged I awake the wise and instruct the simple to shunne women of euill name more than the common pestilence Shee that will be accounted honest let hir not trust to the wisedome of the wise nor commit hir fame to the wanton youth let her take heede what he is that promiseth ought for after that the flames of Venus is set on fire and Cupid shot his arrowes the rich offereth all that he hath and the poore all that he may the wise man will be for euer hir friend and the simple man for euer hir seruant the wise man will loose his life for hir and the simple man will accept his death for hir It is great perill to wise women to be neighbored with fooles great perill to the shamefast to be with the shamlesse great peril to the chaste to be with the adulterers for the honorable to be with the defamed there is no slandered woman but thinketh euery one like hirselfe or at least desireth so procureth so and saieth so in the ende to hide their infamie they slander the good Diuers things ought to be borne in the weakenes of women which in the wisedome of men are not permitted I know not what iustice this is that they kill men for robbing and stealing of money and suffer women to liue that steale mens harts Women haue more neede of remedie than of good counsell The beautie of women setteth strangers on desire and putteth neighbours on suspection to great men it giueth feare to meane men ennie to the parents infamy to themselues perill with great paine it is kept that is desired of manie The most laudable and holy company in this life is of the man and woman especially if the woman be vertuous the wife withdraweth all the sorrowes from the hart of hir husbande and accomplisheth his desires whereby he liueth at rest A man of vnderstanding ought not to keepe his wife so short that she should seeme to be his seruant nor yet to giue hir so much libertie that she becommeth therby his mistres The good wife may be compared to the phesant whose feathers we little esteeme and regarde much the bodie but the euill woman to the Marterne whose skinne we greatly account of and vtterly despise the bodie The complexion of women with childe is very delicate and the soule of the creature is very precious and therefore it ought with great diligence to be preserued for all the treasure of the Indies is not so pretious or in value equal to that which the woman beareth in hir bowels when a man planteth a vineyarde foorthwith he maketh a ditch or some fence about it to the end beasts should not crop it while it is yoong nor that trauellers should gather the grapes when they are ripe if the laborer to get a little wine onely which for the bodie and soule is not alwaies profitable doth this how much more circumspection ought the woman to haue to preserue hir childe since she shall render account vnto the creator of a creature vnto the church of a christian vnto hir husband of a childe The birds when they haue hatched hauing but six little ones haue neither milke to nourish them nor corne to giue them neither haue they
blinde bayards The shameles man Beautie sinneth Beautie superfluous Sensualitie Quarrellers How men shall leaue a good memorie behinde them Adulterers Man a beast Liers and deceiuers Illworks Eloquent men Priuie fornication or carnall pilgrimage What is required in good tutors 40. yeers old Honest. True Liberall Moderate Wise. Learned Continent Good conditions Renowme He that decaieth loseth goodes and friends Happie Misfortune Aristotle Grief to be reuealed to none but to faithfull friends Ioy. What a true friend is displaid Conuersation Open our secrets Helpe necessities Protectors God impartiall God will punish malefactors They are vnwise that desire offices bicause they are burthens The chusing of a Iustice. Lightnes in offenders Hatred the reward of correction Discipline Negligence in iustice Cause of offences Of iudges The poore mans sute for iustice Euerie member ought to joine with his head Wicked iudges Offices The gate whereinto euill entereth Parents do hatch idlenes in youth Foresight is good in all things In trust is treason Ignorance and ouer-much knowledge The vse of studie Vertue Wise men Wise men Wisedome is pastime Fooles esteemed more than wise men Boldnes of fooles admitted Craesus Anacharsis to Craesus Too soone too late Too hastie Pleasure reuealed is folly Two contraries do make one the more perfit Circumspection necessarie Achaians Romanes auoided lawes Athens Which are fit louers Torments of loue Loue in age The nature of loue A couetous womans loue The slauerie of loue Operation of loue Inconueniences of loue Valiantnes vanquished by loue Loue of parents Matrimoniall loue Marriage What lone is like Wherefore women are desired and loued Mans nature considered is nothing Man bound hand and foot at first comming and last going The apparell of beasts The care of man Danger in our safetie Sorrowes of man The making of costly sepulchres is vaine A painted case for a stinking carkase Mans ende is in the hand of God Man described as a tree The fruits of this tree Beautie Cleanlines in body and filthines in soule Bignes maketh not strength Caesar described Hannibal We feele an others death by lamenting our own life Thine owne estimation nothing Mans life Fortune with hir force Age compared The beautie of man changeth Beautie of man An hundred times happy Anatomie of man Offices of the body and soule A happy cōmon wealth The phrase is heathenish for God rueth and not blind chance Comfortable words manie times helpeth maladies Vnhappie Wars abrod is an enimie to peace at home Christs peace Fruits of pleasure Pleasure vanisheth away with sorrow Sensualitie 50. yeeres Pleasure the cause of many offences Vanitie of vanities Why vices in princes pallaces Plaies Carnall pleasure Carnal pleasure shamefast Reason alloweth not sensualitie therefore Tully said pareat appetitus rationi Fruits of carnall pleasure The fame of conquest The loue of Princes is better sometimes than Iustice. The riches of Princes Some hunger after strāge realms Damnation of soule People like affected Theodosius Imp. The care of princes in chosing their protector captaie and embassador and treasurer counsellers A princes well ordered house is a welfare to the publike weale Officers about the prince A great incontinencie when princes loue one before another Wherein princes should glory Why princes commit follie A miserable land In doubtful matters Punishment in princes necessarie The definitiō of a prince Glorie of a prince Lords of all things sauing iustice Dissimulatiō Octauian The toong Backbite Auoide the taste of euill The haruest of a long life Hard to cure the disease engendred by thoughts Eyes see not the harts grief Grief of mind incomparable Mery women Pythagoras Hart and toong Time lost A confusion Foresight in wars is necessary Women in wars The valure of men A friendly exhortation A looking glasse for a woman If you be a lambe take heed of the woolfe if you be a woolfe deuour not the seely lambe Womens weaknes pardonable A vertuous woman A woman with childe A similitude An other similitude A nurse How long children should sucke A womans contentatiō in marriage A blacke swan Ingenio pollet cui vim natura negauit Praise but not practise Saying and doing should be maried without deuorce The world full of deceits Our ancestors riches A description of the foure elements A description of the world Deceit of the world The world a Cater for all kind of people In seruing the world we are made changelings Note Note Riches ruleth The elder the world is the worse are the people Burden All worldly vices Commendation A good nature Reason ruleth Frailtie of man To him that is ouercome with anie follie Diuersities of gifts The father dieng waxeth yoong in his childe Youthly desires Teachers and not followers A iuell nothing woorth to the ignorant
Alcibiades from Dorobella Demophon from Phillis Hannibal from Sabina and Marcus Antonius from Cleopatra from whom they could neuer onelie depart but also in the end for them and with them were cast away In case of loue let no man trust any man and much lesse himselfe for loue is so naturall to man or woman and they desire to be beloued that where loue amongst them doth once begin to cleaue it is a sore that neuer openeth and a bond that neuer vnknitteth Many words outwardly declare small loue within and the feruent inward loue keepeth silence outward the intrals within imbraced with loue causeth the tong outward to be mute he that passeth his life in loue ought to keepe his mouth close The loue of the mother is so strong though the child be dead and laid in the graue yet alwaies she hath him quicke in hir hart Amongst the well married persons is true loue and perfect friendship as for parents and friends if they praise vs in presence they hate vs in absence if they giue faire words they carrie hollow harts if they loue vs in prosperitie they hate vs in aduersitie but it is not so among the noble and well married persons In prosperitie and aduersitie pouertie and riches absence and presence in mirth and sadnes do they loue and if not ought to do for when the husband is troubled in his foote the wife ought to be grieued in hir hart We see by experience that loue in marriage is seldom broken through pouertie nor yet continued with riches The loue betwixt the husband and wife ought to be such that she by hir patience ought to suffer the imperfections of him and likewise he by his wisedome ought to dissemble the importunities of hir that they may the rather loue and agree togither The dart of loue is like a stroke with a clod of earth which being throwen amongst a companie doth hurt the one and blind the other The hart which is intangled with loue dare boldly aduenture himselfe in many kind of dangers to accomplish that which he desireth Women ought to know that for their beautie they are desired but for their vertue onely they are beloued The loue of the flesh is so naturall to the flesh that when from you the bodie flieth in sport we leaue our harts to you engaged in earnest and though reason as reason putteth the desire to flight yet the flesh as flesh yeeldeth it selfe a prisoner The man that willingly goeth into the briers must thinke before to endure the pricks What Man and his life is with fortune and hir frailtie IF man would deepelye consider what man is he should finde more things in him to mooue him to humilitie than to stir him to be proud O miserable and fraile nature of man which taken by it selfe is little woorth and compared with another thing is much lesse Man seeth in brute beasts many things which reioiceth him and if beasts had reason they should see in man many things which they would shame at Man being borne can neither go mooue or stand where all other beasts assoone as they are disclosed can do and performe all these As the euil doer is imprisoned with his hands bound and his feete in the stocks so likewise to the miserable man when he entereth into the charter of this life immediately they bind both his hands and feete and lay him in the cradle and so they vse him at his departure out of this world It is to be noted that at the hower wherein the beast is brought foorth though it know not the father yet it findeth the mother for that it presently sucketh the teats if it haue milke if not it shrowdeth it selfe vnder hir wings it is not so with man for the day wherein he is borne he knoweth not the nurse that giueth him milke the father that begat him nor mother that bare him nor the midwife that receiued him Moreouer cannot see with his eies heare with his eares iudge with his taste and knoweth not what it is to taste or smell so that we see him to whom the seigniorie of all things doth appertain to be borne the most vnable of all other beasts To beasts nature hath giuen clothing wherwith they may keepe them from the heate in sommer and defend the cold in winter as to sheepe wooll to birds fethers to horses haire to trees barke to fishes scales to snails shelles Of all this man is depriued who is borne all naked and dieth all naked not carrieng with him one onely garment and if in the time of his life he vseth any garments he must demand it of the beast both leather and wooll and thereto must put his labour and industrie What care and trauell had man beene discharged of if the trauel to apparel himselfe and to search for things to eate had been taken from him before he eateth he must till sow reape and thresh he must winnow grind and bake and this cannot be done without the care of mind and sweat of browes We see the sheepe flieth the wolfe the cat flieth the dog the rat flieth the cat and the chicken the kite O miserable creatures that we are we know not how to flie our enimies bicause they are in our owne shape When man thinketh oftentimes tht he hath entered a sure hauen within three steppes afterwards he falleth headlong into the deepe sea O poore and miserable man who for to sustaine this wretched life is inforced to craue the beasts helpe they draw him water they soile his lande they plough his lande they carrie his corne and beare himselfe from place to place What state liueth man in that cannot but bewaile the vnthankfulnes of his friends the death of his children the want of necessaries the case of aduersity that succeedeth them the false witnes that is brought against thē and a thousand calamities that do torment their harts The innocencie of the brute beasts considered and the malice of the malicious man marked without comparison the companie of the brute beast is lesse hurtfull than the conuersation of euill men for in the end if yee be conuersant with a beast ye haue not but to beware of him but if yee be in companie with a man there is nothing wherein yee ought to trust him Treasure consumed in making a mans graue is verie vaine for there is no greater lightnes or vanitie in man than to be esteemed much for his sumptuous graue and little for the life he hath led It profiteth little the bodie to be among the painted and carued stones when the miserable soule is burning in the firie flames of hell The man that presumeth to be sage in all things and well prouided goeth not so fast that at euerie step he is in danger of falling not so softly that in long time he cannot arriue at his iourneies ende for false fortune gawleth in steede of striking
voluntarily to vertue and sensualitie draweth men against their wils to vices Vices are of such a qualitie that they bring not with them so much pleasure when they come as they leaue sorow behind them when they go for the true pleasure is not in the daily vice which sodenly vanisheth but in the truth which euermore remaineth Wise men after 50. yeeres ought rather seeke how to apply their mindes how to receiue death than to seeke pleasure how to prolong life How happy may that man be called that neuer tasted what pleasure meaneth Men that from their infancie haue bin brought vp in pleasure for want of wisedome know not how to chose the good and for lacke of force cannot resist the euill which is the cause that noble mens sons oftentimes cōmit sundry hainous offences It is an infallible rule that the more a man giue himselfe to pleasure the more he is intangled with vices The rich men win with their labor and watching and their sonnes brought vp in pleasure do consume it sleeping Where there is youth libertie pleasure and mony there will all the vices of the world be resident The greatest vanitie that ragineth among the children of vanitie is that the father cannot shewe vnto the sonne his loue but in suffering him to be brought vp in the pleasures and vanities of this life I wish no greater penance to delicate men than in winter to see them without fire and in the sommer to want fresh shadow Why are there so many vices nourished in the pallace of princes bicause pleasure aboundeth and counsell wanteth Play as Seneca saith is compared to the propertie raging of a mad dog with whom if a man be once bitten vnles he hath present remedie foorthwith he runneth mad and the disease continueth with him vntil the houre of death for those that vse it hurt their consciences lose their time and consume their substance Marcus Aurelius saith if I knew the gods would pardone me and also that men woulde not hate me yet I assure you for the vilenes therof I would not sin in the flesh Aristotle saith all beasts after the deeds of the flesh are sorie sauing onely the cocke In carnall vices he that hath the least of that that sensualitie desireth hath a great deale more than reason alloweth I see no other fruits of carnall pleasure but that the bodie remaineth diseased the vnderstanding blinded memory dulled sence corrupted will hurt reason subuerted their good name lost and woorst of all the flesh remaineth alwaies flesh therefore fire is not quenched with drie wood but with cold water In the war honor by tarrieng is obteined but in the vices of the flesh the victory by fleeing is wonne Pride THe proud and disdainfull man for the most part falleth into some euill chaunce therefore it is a commendable medicine somtimes to be persecuted for aduersitie maketh a wise man to liue more mery and to walke in lesse danger What friendship can there be among the proud since the one wil go before and the other disdaineth to come behind Of Princes with their actes and sayings A Poore woman comming before Claudius the Emperour with weeping eies to craue Iustice the good prince being mooued with compassion did not onely weep as she did but with his own hands dried vp the teares Oftentimes those that come before princes do return more contented with the loue they shew them than with the Iustice they minister vnto them Antonius Pius was such a fauourer of poore widowes and Orphans that the porters which he kept within his pallace were not to let the entrie of the poore but to let and keep back the rich To a prince there can be no greater infamie than to be long in words and short in rewarding his seruants Couetous princes do not onely suspect their subiects but also themselues The diseases which God oftentimes sendeth to princes commeth not through the fault of humours but through the corruption of maners the which no medicine can resist nor any other thing remedy It is the chiefest thing that can belong to a prince or other person to be beloued for their gentle conuersation and for their vpright iustice to be feared It is necessary for Princes to be stout and rich for by their stoutnes they may gouerne their own and by their riches they may represse their enimies The prince which is too liberall in giuing his owne is afterward compelled by necessitie to become a tyrant and take from others If princes be proude greedie and ambitious after strange realmes it is most certaine that they need great treasures to accomplish their inordinate appetites but if they be reposed quiet vertuous patient peaceable not couetous of the good of another man what need haue they of great treasures Princes become not poore for spending of their goods vpon necessaries but wasting it vpon things superfluous High and noble harts that feele themselues wounded do not so much esteeme their owne paine as to see their enimies to reioice at their griefe It is better for a Prince to defend his countrey by Iustice than to conquere an other by tirannie The prince is in great danger of damnation of soule if in his gouernment he haue not always before his eyes the feare and loue of the supreme prince to whome we must render account of all our doings for there is nothing so puissant but tis subiect to the diuine power That prince hath great occasion to be vicious which for his vice thinketh not to be chastised Princes fearing neither God nor his commandemēts do cause their realme and subiects to fall into great miserie for if the fountain be infected it is impossible for the streame therof to be pure We see by experience that as a bridle mastreth an horse a sterne the ship so a prince be he good or bad will after him lead all his people If they serue God the people will also serue him if they blaspheme God the subiects will do the like for it is impossible that a tree should bring foorth other fruits than those that are agreeable to the roote Princes ought to resemble God more by vertuousnes than others Princes WHat shall vnhappy princes do which shall render al their account to God only who will not be deceiued with words corrupted with giftes feared with threatnings nor answered with excuses That prince is more to be magnified which reformeth two vices amongst his people than he which conquereth ten realms of his enimies O princes if ye knew how small a thing it is to be hated of men and loued of God ye would not cease night nor day to commend your selues vnto God for God is more mercifull in succouring vs than we are diligent in calling vpon him God did neuer create high estates to worke wickednes but placed them in that degree to the ende they should thereby haue more