The Lord Marques idlenes conteining manifold matters of acceptable deuise; as sage sentences, prudent precepts, morall examples, sweete similitudes, proper comparisons, and other remembrances of speciall choise. No lesse pleasant to peruse, than profitable to practise: compiled by the right Honorable L. William Marques of Winchester that now is.

THE LORD MARQVES IDLENES .

The beginning of beginnings .

THE first homicide of the world was Cain .

The first that died in the world was Abel .

The first that was blind in the world was Lamec , as some learned haue collected .

The first that builded was Enoc in the fields of Edon .

The first musitian was Tubalcain .

The first sailer was Noe.

The first tyrant was Nemrod .

The first priest was Melchisedec .

The first Duke ( as some affirme ) was Moises .

The first that was called by the name of Emperor was Iulius Caesar.

Thales was the first that found out the pole called the North star to saile by : and the first that found out the diuision of the yeere , the quantitie of the sunne and moone : and also said that soules were immortall . He would neuer marrie for the care to content his wife , and the thought to bring vp his children .

He was asked what God was . A definition of God . He answered ; Of al antiquitie God is the most ancient thing : for all the ancients past neuer sawe him take beginning , nor those that shall come after shall neuer see him haue ending .

He was asked what thing was most beautifull . He answered ; The world , bicause no artificiall painting could make the like .

Againe , what was the greatest thing . He answered ; Place , wherein all things do stand : for the place which containeth all must needs be greater than all .

Againe , he was demanded what knew most . He answered ; Time : bicause time was the inuentor of new things , and that which reneweth the old .

What was the lightest thing He answered : The wit of man , bicause without danger it passed the sea to discouer and compas the whole earth .

Againe , what was the strongest . He answered ; The man that is in necessitie : for necessitie reuiueth the vnderstanding of the rude , and causeth the coward to be hardie in perill .

What was the hardest thing to know . He answered ; For a man to know himselfe : for there should be no contentions in the world if man did know himselfe .

What was the sweetest thing to obtaine . He answered ; Desire ; for a man reioiceth to remember the pains past , and to obtaine that which he desireth present .

The life of Philosophers .

THe Philosophers liued in so great pouertie , that naked they slept on the ground : their drinke was cold water : none amongst them had any house proper : they despised riches as pestilence : and labored to make peace where discord was : they were onely defenders of the common wealth : they neuer spake any idle thing , and it was a sacrilege among them to heare a lie : and finally it was a law inuiolable amongst them , that the Philosopher should be banished that did liue idlely : and he that was vicious should be put to death .

Onely Epicurus gaue himselfe to a voluptuous and beastly kind of life , wherein he put his whole delite , affirming there was no other felicitie for slothfull men , than to sleepe in soft beds : for delicate persons to feele neither heate nor cold : for fleshly men to haue at their pleasures amarous dames : for drunkards not to want any pleasant wine , and the gluttons to haue their fill of all delicate meate : for heerin he affirmed to consist all worldlie felicitie .

A principalitie of things . THe taste of all tasts is bread . The sauor of all sauors is salt . The loue of all loues is from the father to the child .

The histories and liues of priuate men , togither with the report of countries and townes .

PHalaris was deformed of face , purblind , Ouid. and exceeding couetous : neuer obserued any thing that he promised : he was vnthankfull to his friend , and cruell to his enimy . Finally , A tyrant . he was such a one that the tyrannies that were seuerally scattered in others , in him alone were altogither assembled : one onelie good thing was there in him ; that he was a fauorer of wise men . And in 36. yeeres they neuer found that any man sate at the table with him , spake vnto him , or slept in his bed : nor that any man saw in his countenance any mirth , vnles it were some Philosophers or sage men , with whom and to whom he liberally put his bodie in trust .

Perillus being borne in Athens , Perillus. and also being very excellent in mettals , came to Phalaris the tyrant , saieng : that he would make such a torment , that his hart should remaine reuenged , and the offender well punished . This workman made a bull of brasse , wherin there was a gate by the which they put the offender in , and putting fire vnder the bull , it rored in maner as it had beene a liue bull , which was not onely a horrible and cruell torment to miserable creatures that endured it , but also it was terrible to him or those that saw it . Phalaris therfore seeing the inuention of this torment , whereof the inuentor had hoped great reward , prouided that the inuentor of the same should be put within the bull : and that the cruelty of the torment should be experimented on none other , sauing in the inuentor : shewing himselfe therein rather a mercifull prince than a cruell tyrant .

Rome that in times past was a receit of all the good and vertuous , Rome . is now made a den of all theeues and vicious , I feare me least in short time will haue some sudden and great fall .

Cornelia of Rome said ; A report of Rome long since , and found true now . You shal see iustice corrupted ; the common weale oppressed ; lies blowne abrode ; the truth kept vnder ; the Satires silent ; flatterers open mouthed ; the infamed persons to be Lords , and the patient to be seruants : and aboue all and woorse than all to see the euill liue in rest and contented , and the good troubled and despised .

If thou wilt enioie rest in thy daies , Diogenes declaration . and keepe thy life pure and cleane , thou must obserue these three things .

First honor God : Honor God . for he that doth not honor him in all his enterprises shall be infortunate .

Secondly , be diligent to bring vp thy children well : Bring vp thy children wel . for a man hath no enimie so troublesome as his owne sonne , if he be not well brought vp .

Thirdly , Gratitude . be thankfull to thy good benefactors and friends : for the man that is vnthankfull , of all the world shal be abhorred . And the most profitable of these three ( although most troublesome ) is for a man to bring vp his children well .

Rome neuer decaied vntill the senate was replenished with wise serpents , Decaie of Rome . and destitute of simple doues .

As thou hast by tyrannie made thy selfe Ladie of Lords : Rome . so by iustice thou shalt returne to be the seruant of seruants . Why art thou at this day so deere of merchandise , and so cheape of follie ?

Marcus to his schoolmaister said ; A schoolmaister his office . My dutie is to see that you be good , and your dutie is to trauell that your disciples be not euill : for yoong men on the one part being euill inclined , and on the other euill taught , it is impossible but in the end they should be vicious and defamed : for there is no man so weake , nor child so tender , but the force which he hath to be vicious , is ynough ( if he will ) to be vertuous . For there is more courage required in one to be euill , than strength is required in an other to be good : for to the maister it is greater treason to leaue his scholler amongst vices , than to deliuer a fort into the hands of enimies : for the one yeeldeth the fort which is but of stones builded , but the other aduentureth his sonne , which is of his owne bodie begotten .

Aduersitie .

IF there could be found any estate , any age , any lande , any nation , realme or world , wherein there hath been any man that hath passed this life without tasting what aduersitie was , it should be so strange to heare of , that by reason both the dead as liuing should enuie him .

In the end I find , that he that was yesterday rich , Miserie in mans life . to morow is poore : he that was yesterday whole , is to day sicke : he that yesterday laughed , to day weepeth : he that had his hartes ease , I see him now sore afflicted : he that was fortunate , is now vnluckie : he that was yesterday aliue , is this day buried in the graue .

One thing there is that to all men is grieuous , and to those of vnderstanding no lesse painfull . Which is , That the miseries of this wicked world are not equally deuided , but that oftentimes the calamities and miseries of this world lieth on one mans necke onely : for we are so vnfortunate , that the world giueth vs pleasures in sight , and troubles in proofe .

These are the miseries incident to man . The griefe of his children , Outward miseries . the assaults of his enimies : the oportunitie of his wife : the wantonnes of his daughters : sicknesse in his person : great losse of his goods : generall famine in the citie : cruell plagues in his countrey : extreme cold in Winter : noisome heat in Sommer : sorowful death of his friends : the enuious prosperitie of his enimies . Finally , man passeth so many miseries , that somtimes bewailing the wofull life , he desireth the sweet death . If man hath passed such things outwardly , what may be said of those which he hath suffred inwardly : Inward miseries . for the trauels which the body passeth in 50. yeeres , may be well accounted in a day , but that which the hart suffreth in one day cannot be counted in an hundred yeeres .

It is not to be denied but that we would account him rashe which with a reed would meete one with a sword , Rashnes . and him for a foole that would put off his shooes to walke vpon thornes : so without comparison he ought to be esteemed the most foole that with his tender flesh thinketh to preuaile against so many euil fortunes : for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate , passeth his life with many miseries .

The wounded harts oftentimes vtter the pains which they feele without any hope to receiue comfort of that which they desire .

He is no man borne in the world but rather a furie bred vp in hell , that can at the sorow of another take any pleasure .

Ambition .

IT chanceth often to ambitious men that in their greatest ruffe , Careles of life . when they thinke their honor spoon and wouen , that their estate with the webbe of their life in one moment is broken .

The desire of men considered what things they procure , and whereunto they aspire , I maruell not though they haue so few friends ; but I much muse they haue no more enimies . Blind that they see not their friend . In things of weight they marke not who hath been their friend , they consider not that they are their neighbours , neither do they regard that they are Christians , but their conscience layd apart , and honestie set aside , euery man seeketh for himselfe and his own affairs , though it be to the preiudice of another .

Captains and valiantmen .

CAptaines that goe to the warres should not be cowards , for there is no like danger to the common wealth , nor no greater slander to the prince , than to commit charge to such in the field which will be first to command & last to fight .

As captains should shew themselues in the beginning cruel , so after victory had of their enimies , they should shew themselues pitiful and meeke .

That captaine is more to be praised which winneth the harts of his enimies in his tents by good example , than he which getteth the victory in the field with shedding of blood .

The stout and noble hart for little fauor shewed vnto him , Fauor encorageth forward . bindeth himself to accomplish great things .

He ought to be called valiant that with his life hath won honor , Valiant . and by the sword hath gotten riches .

What greater vanitie can there be than that captains for troubling quiet men , For euil acts they are gloriously receiued . destroying cities , beating down castels , robbing the poore , enriching tyrants , carying away treasures , shedding of blood , making of widowes , taking of noble mens liues , should in reward & recompence be receiued with triumph ?

Couetousnes , and Couetous men .

THat couetousnes is great which the shame of the world doth not oppresse , neither the fear of death doth cause to cease .

The couetous man seeketh care for himselfe , What the couetous man procureth . enuie for his neighbors , spurs for strangers , baite for theeues , troubles for his bodie , damnation for his renowme , vnquietnes for his life , annoiance for his friends , occasion for his enimies , maledictions for his name , and long sutes for his children .

All naturally desire rather to abound , than to want , and all that which is greatly desired , with great diligence is searched , and through great trauell is obtained ; and that thing which by trauell is obtained , with loue is possessed ; and that which by loue is possessed , with as much sorow is lost , bewailed , and lamented .

The hart that with couetousnes is set on fire , cannot with woods and bowes of riches , but with the earth of the graue be satisfied and quenched .

God to the ambitious and couetous harts gaue this for a paine , that neither with enough nor with too much they should content themselues .

Thales being demanded what profite he had that was not couetous , Riches tormenteth . he answered ; Such a one is deliuered from the torments of his desire ; and besides that he recouereth friends for his person , for riches torment him bicause he spendeth them not .

Greedie and couetous hartes care not though the prince shutteth vp his hart , so that he open his cofers : but noble and valiant men little esteem that which they lock vp in their cofers , so that their harts be opened to their friends .

Periander had in him such liuelines of spirite on the one side , Gouernor in Greece . and such couetousnes of worldly goods on the other side , that the Historiographers are in doubt whether was greater the Philosophie that he taught in the schooles , or the tyrannie that he vsed in robbing the common wealth .

I am in doubt which was greater the care that vertuous princes had in seeking out of Sages to counsel them , or the great couetousnes that others haue at this present to purchase themselues treasures .

Libertie of the soule , and care of goods in this life , neuer agree togither .

The prince which is couetous , is scarce of capacitie to receiue good councel .

When couetousnes groweth , Iustice falleth ; force and violence ruleth ; snatching raigneth ; lecherie is at libertie ; the euil haue power , and the good are oppressed . Finally , all do reioice to liue to the preiudice of another , and euery man to seek his own priuate commoditie .

What loue can there be betwixt couetous persons , Loue betwixt couetous persons . seeing the one dare not spend , and the other is neuer satisfied to hoord and heape vp ?

The hart that is ouercome with couetousnes wil not feare to commit any treason . Treason .

If the couetous man were as greedie of his owne honor , as he is desirous of another mans goods , the little worme or moth of couetousnes would not gnaw the rest of their life , nor the canker of infamie should not destroy their good name after their death .

It is as hard to satisfie the hart of a couetous man , Insatiable . as it is to dry the water of the sea .

Counsell .

NOtwithstanding thou being at the gate of care , reason would that some should take the clapper to knocke thereat with some good counsell : for though the rasor be sharpe , yet it needeth somtimes to be whet . I meane , though mans vnderstanding be neuer so cleare , yet from time to time it needeth counsell . Vertue straieth where counsell faileth . Vertuous men oftentimes do erre , not bicause they would faile , but bicause the things are so euil of digestion that the vertue they haue , suffiseth not to tell them what thing is necessarie for their profite . For the which cause it is necessarie that his will be kindled ; A remedie . his wit fined ; his opinion changed ; his memorie sharpned ; & aboue all now and then , that he forsake his owne aduise and cleaue to the counsell of another .

The world at this day is so changed from that it was woont to be in times past , that all haue the audacitie to giue counsell , and few haue the wisedom to receiue it .

If my counsell be woorth receiuing , prooue it ; if it doth harme , leaue it ; if it doth good , vse it ; for there is no medicine so bitter that the sicke doth refuse to take , if thereby he thinke he may be healed .

I exhort and aduise thee that thy youth beleeue mine age ; An exhortation . thine ignorance , my knowledge ; thy sleepe , my watch ; thy dimnes , my cleernes of sight ; thine imagination , my vertue ; thy supicion , mine experience : otherwise thou maist hap to see one day thy selfe in some distresse , where small time thou shalt haue to repent , and none to find remedie .

If thou wilt liue , Gouernment as yoong ; thou must gouerne thy selfe , as olde .

If any old man fall for age ; Old age should not despise the counsell of youth . and if thou find a yoong man sage , despise not his counsell : for bees do drawe more honie out of the tender flowers , than of the hard leaues .

Plato commandeth that in giuing politike counsell it be giuen to them that be in prosperitie , to the intent that they decay not : and to them that be in heauines and trouble , to the intent that they despaire not .

Happie is that common wealth , and fortunate is that prince that is Lord of yoong men to trauell , and ancient persons to counsell . Manie things are cured in time , which reason afterward cannot helpe .

No mortall man take he neuer so good heede to his works , nor reason so well in his desires ; but that he deserueth some chastisement for some cause , or counsell in his doings .

The examples of the dead do profit good men more to liue well , than the counsell of the wicked prouoketh the liuing to liue euill .

Men ought not in any thing to take so great care , as in seeking of counsell and counsellers : for the prosperous times cannot be maintained , nor the multitude of enimies resisted , if it be not by wise & graue counsellers .

Thales being demanded what a man should do to liue vprightly , Spendals that leaue none for themselues are bankrupts in the end . he answered ; To take that counsell for himselfe which he giueth to another : for the vndoing of all men is , that they haue plentie of counsell for others , and want for themselues .

He shall neuer giue to his prince good nor profitable counsell , Note . which by that counsell intendeth to haue some proper interest .

He is not counted sage that hath turned the leaues of manie bookes : but he which knoweth and can giue good and wholsome counsell .

Anacharsis said ; Corruption to be shunned . Thou shalt promise me not to be importune with me to receiue any thing of thee : for the day thou shalt corrupt me with gifts , it is necessarie that I corrupt thee with euil counsell .

It is easie to speake well , and hard to worke well : for there is nothing in the world better cheape than counsell .

By the counsell of wise men that thing is kept and maintained , which by the strength of valiant men is gotten .

Ripe counsels proceed not from the man that hath trauelled into many countries , but from him that hath felt himselfe in manie dangers .

It is impossible that there should any misfortune happen whereas ripe counsell is . Good counsell auoideth mishap .

To giue counsell to the wise man , it is either superfluous , One wise to counsell an other . or commeth of presumption though it be true : yet I say in like maner , that the diamond being set in gold looseth not his vertue , but rather increaseth in price : so the wiser that a man is , so much the more he ought to know and desire the opinion of others , certainly he that doth so cannot erre : for no mans owne counsell aboundeth so much , but that he needeth the counsell and opinion of others .

We ordaine that none be so hardie to giue counsell , vnlesse therewith he giue remedie : for to the troubled hart words comfort little , when in them there is no remedie .

The woman is hardie that dare giue counsel to a man ; Womens counsell . and he more bold that taketh it of a woman : It is meant but of the common sort . but I say he is a foole that taketh it ; and he is a more foole that asketh it ; but he is most foole that fulfilleth it .

Children and youth .

IT is better to leaue vnto children good doctrine whereby they may liue , Childrens inheritance . than euill riches wherby they may perish . And the cause is that manie mens children haue beene through the hope they had to inherit their fathers goods , vndone , and afterward gone a hunting after vices : for they seldome do any woorthie feats , which in their youth inherit great treasures .

It is better to haue children poore and vertuous , than rich and vicious .

To be poore or sick is not the greatest miserie , A great felicitie to parents to see vertuous children . neither to be whole and rich is the chiefest felicitie : for there is no such felicitie to fathers to see their children vertuous .

It is an honor to the countrie that fathers haue such children that will take profit with their counsell : and contrariwise , that the children haue such fathers as can giue it them .

The father ought to desire his sonne onely in this cause , that in his age he may sustaine his life in honor : and that after his death he may cause his same to liue . Duty of children . If not for this , at the least he ought to desire him , that in his age he may honor his head , and that after his death he may inherit his goods . But we see few do this in these daies , except they be taught of their parents the same in youth : for the fruit doth neuer grow in the haruest , vnlesse the tree doth beare blossoms in the spring .

Too much libertie in youth is no other but a prophesie , Libertie in youth . and manifest token of disobedience in age .

It is a griefe to see , Parents great care quickly wasted and a monstrous thing to declare the cares which the fathers take to gather riches , & the diligence that children haue to spend them .

There can be nothing more vniust , than that the yong and vicious sonne should take his pleasure of the sweate of the aged father .

The father that instructeth not his sonne in vertue in his youth , is lesse blamewoorthie if he be disobedient in age .

It is a good token when youth before they know vices , haue beene accustomed to practise vertue .

It is pitifull to see , Sensualitie in children . and lamentable to behold a yoong child how the blood doth stir him ; the flesh prouoke him to accomplish his desires ; to see sensualitie go before , and he himselfe to come behind ; the malicious world to watch him ; and how the diuel doth tempt him ; and vices blind him ; and in all that is spoken to see the father so negligent , as if he had no children : where indeede the old man by the few vertues that he had in his youth might easily haue knowen the infirmities , as vices wherewith his sonne was compassed .

If the expert had neuer been ignorant ; if the fathers had neuer been children ; if the vertuous had neuer been vicious ; if the fine wits had neuer been deceiued ; it had been no maruel though fathers were negligent to bring vp their children .

Little experience excuseth men of great offences ; but since thou art a father , Experience the best schoole . maister . and first a sonne ; since thou art old , and hast been yoong : and besides all this , pride hath inflamed thee ; lecherie hath burned thee ; wrath hath wounded thee ; negligence hath hindered thee , and gluttonie surfeited thee : tel me since so manie vices hath raigned in thee , why hast thou not an eie to the child of thine owne blood begotten ?

It is impossible that the child which with many vices is assaulted , and not succored , but in the end he should be infamed : and to the dishonor of the father most wickedly ouercome .

It is not possible to keepe meate well sauored , vnlesse it be first salted : it is impossible that fish should liue without water : it is not vnlikely , but the rose which is ouergrowen with the thorne should wither : so is it impossible that fathers should haue any comfort in their children , vnlesse they instruct them in vertue of their youth .

The Lydes ordained a law , Inheritance belonged not to the eldest , but to the most vertuous . that if a father had manie children , that the most vertuous should inherite the goods and riches , and if they be vicious no one to inherit : for the goods gotten with trauel of vertuous fathers ought not by reason to be inherited with vicious children .

I do not maruel that the children of princes and great Lords be adulterers , and bellie gods : for that on the one part youth is the mother of idlenes , and on the other little experience is the cause of great offences : and which more is , the fathers being dead , the children inherit the fathers goods being with vices loden , as if they were with vertues endued .

The instructors and teachers of youth ought to be informed what vices or vertues their children are most inclined vnto , and this ought also to be to incourage them in that that is good , and contrarie to reprooue them in all that is euill .

The more a man giueth a noblemans sonne the bridle , the more hard it is for them to receiue good doctrine .

Augustus the Emperor said to the senate ; If my children wil be good , they shal sit heerafter where I do now : but if they be euill , I will not their vices be reuerenced of the senators : for the authoritie and grauitie of the good ought not to be imploied in the seruice of those that be wicked .

What a thing it is to see the sonne of a laborer , Difference betwixt the poore mans sonne and the rich . their coate without points ; their shirt torne ; their feet bare ; the head without a cap ; the bodie without a girdle ; in sommer without a hat ; in winter without a cloke ; eating course bread ; lieng on straw or on the earth : and in this state so well giuen and vertuous , that diuers do wish to haue such a sonne .

On the other side , to behold noble mens sonnes brought vp and nourished betweene Holland sheetes laid in a costly cradle , shaped after the new fashion ; they giue the nurse what she wil desire ; if perchance the child be sicke they change the nurse , or appoint him a diet ; the father and mother so carefull and diligent , that they sleepe neither night nor day : all the house watcheth : eateth nothing but the broth of chickens ; asketh nothing but it is giuen him immediately . It is a world to see the waste that a vaine man maketh in bringing vp his child ; specially if he be a man somwhat aged , and that hath at his desire a child borne : he ceaseth not to spend so much of his goods in bringing vp of him wantonly while he is yoong , that oftentimes he wanteth to marrie him when he commeth to age .

The poore bringeth vp his children without the preiudice of the rich , and to the profit of the common welth ; but the rich bringeth vp his children with the sweate of the poore , & to the dammage of the common wealth : it is reason therefore that the Wolfe that deuoureth vs should die , and the sheep which clotheth vs should liue .

Oftentimēs parents for tendernes wil not haue their children brought vp in learning ; Negligence in educating children . saying , there is time ynough and leisure to be taught . And further to excuse their error , they affirme if the child should be chastened , it would make him both sicke and foolish . But what is their end , they become slanderous to the common welth : infamous and disobedient to their parents : so euill in conditions : so light and vnaduised in behauior : so vnmeet for knowledge : so enclined to lies : so enuying the truth , that their fathers would not onely haue punished them with sharpe correction , but also would reioyce to haue them buried out of the way .

Whilest the Palme tree is but yoong and little , a frost doth easily destroy it : so whilest the child is yoong if he haue not a good tutor , he is easily deceiued with the world .

It is impossible that in any citie there be a good common wealth , except they be carefull for the well bringing vp of children .

The cause is the couetousnes of the master , Why many noble mens children are wicked . who suffreth their pupils to run at their owne wils when they be yong , to the end to win their harts when they be old , so that their extreme couetousnes causeth rich and good mens sonnes to be euill and vicious .

The father is bound no more towards his childe but to banish him from his pleasures , Dutie of parents . and to giue him vertuous masters .

All the vertues that yoong men do learne , doth not them so much profite , as one onely vice doth them hurt if they do thereto consent .

Children ought not to vse any pastime except there be therein contained some commendable exercise : Play in youth . for if in youth he dare play a point , it is to be feared when he commeth to yeeres he will play his coate .

Play is not forbidden yoong children for the money that they lose , but for the vices they win thereat , & corrupt maners which therof they learne .

Of yong men light and vnconstant , commeth oftentimes an olde man fond and vnthriftie : What is laid in youth is hatched in age . of too hardie , commeth rebellious and seditious persons : and of vnshamefastnes , slanderous persons .

What auaileth children to be faire of countenance ; well disposed of bodie ; liuely of spirite ; white of skin ; to haue yealow haires ; to be eloquent in talking ; profound in science : if with all these that nature giueth them they be bold in that they do , and shameles in that they say ?

Sensualitie and euill inclination of the wanton child , Sensualitie remedied . ought to be remedied by the wisedome of the chaste master .

The trees that bud and cast leaues before the tyme come , hope is neuer to eate of their fruit in season : so when children haunt the vice of the flesh whilest they be yong , there is small hope of goodnes to be looked for in them when they be old : for the older they waxe , the riper be their vices .

Masters would correct the childe , but fathers and mothers forbid them . Little auaileth one to pricke the horse with the spurre , when he that sitteth vpon him holdeth backe with the bridle .

Of Death .

O If we would consider the corruption wherof we are made ; the filth wherof we are engendred ; the infinite trauell whereunto we are borne ; the long tediousnes wherwith we are nourished ; the great necessities and suspicions wherein we liue ; and aboue all the great peril wherein we die ; we find a thousand occasions to wish death , & not one to desire life .

The excellencie of the soule laid aside , and the hope which we haue of eternall life , if man do compare the captiuitie of men to the libertie of beasts : with reason we may see that the beasts do liue a peaceable life , and that which man doth lead , is but a long death .

I had rather chuse an vnfortunate life and an honorable death , What death is better than life . than an infamous death and an honorable life .

That man which will be accounted for a good man , & not noted for a brute beast , ought greatly to trauell to liue well , and much more to die better : for that euill death maketh men doubt that the life hath not been good , and the good death is an excuse of an euill life .

The dead do rest in a sure hauen , and we saile as yet in raging seas .

If the death of men were as beasts , that is to wit , that there were no furies nor diuels to torment them , & that God should not reward the good : yet we ought to be comforted to see our friends die if it were for none other cause , but to see them deliuered from the thraldome of this miserable world .

The pleasure that the Pilote hath to be in a sure hauen ; the glory that the captaine hath to see the day of victory ; the rest that the traueller hath to see his iorney ended ; the contentation that the workman hath to see his worke come to perfection ; all the same haue the dead , seeing themselues out of this miserable life .

If men were born alwaies to liue , it were reason to lament them when we see them die : Whom we should mourne for . but since it is truth that they are borne to die , we ought not to lament those which die quickly : but those which liue long , since thou knowest he is in place where there is no sorrow but mirth ; where there is no paine but ease ; where he weepeth not but laugheth ; where he sigheth not but singeth ; where he hath no sorowes but pleasures ; where he feareth not cruel death but enioyeth perpetuall life .

The true widow ought to haue hir conuersation among the liuing , and hir desire to be with the dead .

Death is the true refuge ; the perfite health ; the sure hauen ; the whole victory : finally after death we haue nothing to bewaile , and much lesse to desire .

Death is a dissolution of the body ; A definition of death . a terror to the rich ; a desire of the poore ; a thing inheritable ; a pilgrimage vncertain ; a theefe of men ; a kind of sleeping ; a shadow of life ; a separation of the liuing ; a company of the dead ; a resolution of all ; a rest of trauels ; and the end of all idle desires .

If any dammage or feare be in him who dieth , it is rather for the vice he hath committed , than feare of death .

There is no prince nor knight , rich nor poore , whole nor sicke , luckie nor vnluckie , with their vocations contented , saue onely the dead which are in their graues at rest and peace .

If in youth a man liue well , and in age studie to die well , and his life hath been honest ; his hope is that death will be ioyfull : and although he hath had sorow to liue , he is sure he shall haue no paine to die .

This equal iustice is distributed to all , that in the same place where we haue deserued life , in the same we shal be assured of death .

Cato being praised of the Romanes for his courage at his death ; laughed : they demaunded the cause why he laughed ; A woorthie saying . he answered , Ye maruell at that I laugh , and I laugh at that you maruel : for the perils and trauels considered wherein we liue , and the safetie wherein we die , it is no more needfull to haue vertue and strength to liue , than courage to die .

We see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger , cold , thirst , trauel , pouertie , inconuenience , sorow , enmities and mishaps , of the which things we were better to see the end in one day , than to suffer them euery hower : for it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death , than to endure a miserable life .

The day when we are born , is the beginning of death ; and the day wherein we die , is the beginning of life .

If death be no other but an ending of life , and that whiles we liue we carrie death ; than reason perswadeth vs to thinke that our infancie dieth , An excellent reason . our childhood dieth , our manhood dieth , and our age shall die ; whereof we may conclude that we are dying euery yeere , euery day , euery houre , and euery moment .

Diuers vaine men are come into so great follies , that for feare of death they procure to hasten death . Hauing thereof due consideration , me seemeth that we ought not greatly to loue life , nor with desperation to seeke death : for the strong and valiant man ought not to haue life so long as it lasteth , nor to be displeased with death when it commeth . In such sort therefore ought men to liue as if within an houre after they should die .

If we trauell by long wayes and want any thing , we borow of our company ; if they haue forgotten ought , they returne to seek it at their lodging , or els they write vnto their friends a letter : but if we once die , they will not let vs returne againe , we cannot , and they will not agree that we shall write , but such as they shall find vs , so shall we be iudged ; and that which is most fearful of all , the execution and sentence is giuen in one day .

Let not men leaue that vndone till after their death , which they may do during their life ; nor trust in that they command , but in that they do whilest they liue ; nor in the good works of an other , but in their owne good deeds : for in the ende one sigh shall be more woorth , than all the friends of the world . I exhort therefore all wise and vertuous men , and also my selfe with them , that in such sort we liue , that in the end we liue for euer .

Those that visite the sicke , Good counsel at the houre of death . ought to perswade them that they make their testaments , confesse their sinnes , discharge their conscience , receiue the sacraments , and reconcile themselues to their enimies .

Many in our life time do gape after our goods , & few at our death are sory for our offences .

The wise and sage before nature compelleth them to die , of their own wils ought to die ; that is to say , before they see or feele the pangs of death , they haue their consciences ready prepared .

What loseth a wise man to haue his wil wel ordained ; what loseth he of his credite ; who in his life time restoreth , which at his death he shall be constrained to render ? Wherein may a man shew his wisedom more , than willingly to be discharged of that which otherwise by processe they will take from him ?

How many lordes which for not spending one day about their testament , The inconniences for not making a wise will . haue caused their heires all the days of their life after to be in trauerse in the law , so that in supposing to haue left them wealthie , haue left them but attorneis in the law ?

The true christian and vnfained ought euery morning so to dispose his goods and correct his life , as if he should die the same night , and so to commit himselfe to God at night , as if he hoped for no life vntil the morning .

Princes and Lords ought to be perfect before they be perfect ; to end before they end ; to die before they die ; to be mortified before they be mortified : if they do this they shal as easily leaue their life , as if they changed from one house to another .

The most part of men delight to talke with leisure ; to drinke with leisure ; to eate with leisure ; and to sleepe with leisure ; but they die in haste : for we see them send for their ghostlie father in haste ; to receiue the sacrament in haste ; to make their wils by force ; to vse conference so out of season , that oftentimes the sicke hath lost his senses , and giuen vp the ghost before any thing be perfectly ordered .

What auaileth the shipmaister after the ship is sunke ; what do weapons auaile after the battell is done ; what pleasure after men are dead : likewise what auaileth the godlie instructor when the sicke is heauie and bereft of his senses ; or to vnlocke his conscience , when the key of his toong is lost ?

Let vs not deceiue our selues , thinking in age to amend , and to make restitution at our death : for it is not the point of wise men , nor of good Christians to desire so much time to offend , and yet will neuer spie any time to amend .

Would to God that the third part of time which men do occupie in sinne were imploied about the meditation of death ; and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshlie lusts were spent in bewailing their filthie sinnes .

All worldlings do willingly sinne vpon hope onely in age to amend , and at death to repent : but they that in this hope sinne , what certaintie haue they of amendement , and assurance to haue long warning ere they die , sith in number there are more yoong than old which die ?

The omnipotencie of the diuine mercie considered the space of an hower sufficeth , Repentance . yea too much to repent vs of our wicked life : but yet I counsell all , sith the sinner for his repentance taketh but one hower , that it be not the hower too late .

The sighes and repentance which proceedeth from the bottom of the hart , Repentance . do penetrate the high heauens : but those which come of necessitie do not pearce the seeling of the house .

What wrong doth God offer vnto vs when he calleth vs away : The benefite of death . seeing from an olde decaied house he is to change vs to a new builded pallace ?

What other thing is the graue but a strong fort , The graue . wherin we shut our selues from the assalts of life , and broiles of fortune : for we ought to be more desirous of that we find in death , than of that we leaue in life .

Two things cause men loth to die : the loue they haue to that they leaue , or else the feare of that they deserue .

Now I enter into the field , not where of the wilde beasts I shall be assalted : but of the hungrie woorms deuoured .

We ought not to lament the death allotted , but the life that is wicked : that man is very simple that dreadeth death , for feare to lose the pleasures of life .

There is nothing that shorteneth more the life of man , than vaine hope and idle thoughts .

The great estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death seemeth to vs sudden , and that the life is ouertaken by vnwarie death , but this is a practise of the children of vanitie : for that by the will of God death visiteth vs , and against the will of man life forsaketh vs .

To the stout harts and fine wits this is a continuall torment and endlesse paine , and a woorme that alwaie gnaweth , to call to mind that he must lose the ioifull life which he so entirely loued , and taste the fearfull death that he so greatly abhorred .

O cursed and wicked world , thou that sufferest things neuer to remaine in one state ! for when we are in most prosperitie , then thou with death dost persecute vs most cruelly .

Death is a patrimonie which successiuely is inherited ; but life is a right which daily is surrendred : for death accounteth vs so much his owne , that oftentimes vnwares he commeth to affalt vs : and life taketh vs such strangers , that oftentimes we not doubting thereof vanisheth away .

When death hath done hir office , what difference is there between the faire and the fowle in the graue ?

The man which is loden with yeers ; When death is to be desired . tormented with diseases ; pursued with enimies ; forgotten of his friends ; visited with mishaps ; charged with euill will and pouertie , is not to demand long life , but rather to imbrace death .

Death is that from whence youth cannot flie a foot , and from whence age cannot escape on horsebacke .

Discord , Enimitie , and Variance .

FOr all that we can see , heare , or trauell , and all that we can do , we did neuer see nor heare tel of men that haue lacked enimies . For either they be vicious or vertuous : and if they be vicious and euill , they are hated of the vertuous ; if they be good and vertuous , they are continually hated and persecuted of the euill .

In great armies the discord that among them arise doth more harme , Discord in armies . than the enimies against whom they fight .

Manie vaine men do raise dissentions and quarrels among people , thinking that in troubled water they should augment their estate , whereas in short space they do not onely lose their hope of that they sought , but are put out of that they possessed . Dispossessed . For it is not onely reasonable but also most iust , that they by experience feele that , which their blind malice will not suffer them to knowe .

Enuie .

AGainst enuie is no fortresse , nor caue to hide , nor high hil to mount on , nor thicke wood to shadow in , nor ship to scape in , nor horse to beare away , nor monie to redeeme vs .

Enuie is so venemous a serpent , that there was neuer mortall man among mortals that could scape from the biting of hir tooth ; the scratching of hir nailes ; defiling of hir feete ; and the casting of hir poison .

Enuie is so enuious , that to them which of hir are most denied and set fardest off , she giueth most cruell strokes with hir feete .

The maladie of enuie rankleth to death , Stingeth to death . and the medicine that is applied will not assure life .

I cannot determine which is the best , or to say more properly , which is the woorst ; extreme miserie without the danger of fortune , or extreme prosperitie that is alwaies threatened to fall .

I had rather mine enimies had enuie at my prosperitie , than my friends at my pouertie .

It is hard to giue a remedie against enuie , sith all the world is full therof .

We see that we be the sonnes of enuie , & we liue with enuie , and he that leaueth most riches , leaueth the greatest enuie .

The riches of rich men is the seede of enuie to the poore ; and bicause the poore man lacketh and the rich hath too much , causeth discord among the people .

There were two Greekes , Homer . the one Achilles , the other Thiestes ; the which Achilles being extreme rich , was persecuted with enuie ; the other which was Thiestes sore noted of malice , but no man enuied at him .

I had rather be Achilles with his enuie , than Thiestes without it .

And in case all do vs dammage with enuie , yet much more harme doth a friend than an enimie : for of mine enuious enimie I will beware , and for feare I will withdraw , but my friend with his amitie will beguile me , and I by my fidelitie shall not mistrust it .

Among all mortall enimies there is none worse than a friend that is enuious of my felicitie .

Honor , vertue , and riches in a man are but a brand to light enuie to all the world .

Thales being asked when the enuious man was quiet ; he answered , When he seeth his enimie dead , or vtterly vndone : for truly the prosperitie of a friend is a sharpe knife to the enuious hart .

The outward malicious word is a token of the inward enuious hart .

What friendship can there be amongst enuious men , seeing the one purchaseth , and the other possesseth .

Euill and wicked men , with their vices .

THe euill men doe offend vs more which we find , than doth the good men which we lose : for it is great pitie to see the good and vertuous men die , but I take it to be more sorow to see the euill and vicious men liue . The good man though he die , liueth ; the euill though he liue , dieth .

Let vs compare the trauels which we suffer of the elements , with those which we endure of the vices , and we shall see that little is the perill we haue in the sea and the land , in respect of that which encreaseth of our euill life .

Is not he in more danger that falleth through malice into pride , than he which by chance falleth from a high rocke : is not he who with enuie is persecuted in more danger , than he that with a stone is wounded : are not they in more peril that liue among vicious men , than others that liue among brute and cruell beasts ? Do not those which are tormented with the fire of couetousnes suffer greater danger than those which liue vnder mount Etna ? Finally they be in greater perils which with high imaginations are blinded , than the trees which with importunate winds are shaken .

Traian the emperor demanding of Plutarke why there were more euill than good , and more that embraced vices , than followed vertues ; The reason why vice is more followed than vertue . answered , As our natural inclination is more giuen to lasciuiousnes and negligence , than to chastitie and abstinence ; so the men which do enforce themselues to follow vertue are few , and those which giue slack the reines to vices , are many . And this proceedeth that men do follow men , and that they suffer not reason to follow reason .

The remedies which the world giueth for the troubles , certainly are greater trauels than the trauels themselues : so that they are salues which do not heale our wounds , but rather burne our flesh .

Doe you not know that extreme hunger causeth heasts to deuour with their teeth the thing that was bred in their intrals : As Herennius did by his master Tullie by experience we see that the wormes deuour the timber wherein they were bred , and the mothes the clothes wherein they were bred : and so somtimes a man beingeth him vp in his house which afterwards taketh his honor and life from him .

As the shamefast man should not be denied in any his requests being honest , so the shameles and importunate man should be denied whatsoeuer he demandeth .

The ill rest and conuersation of them that liue , cause vs to sigh for the company of them that be dead .

Vniuersally the noble hart can endure all trauels of mans life vnlesse it be to see a good man decay , and the wicked to prosper , the which no valiant hart can abide , neither toong dissemble .

Of right ought that common wealth to be destroied which once hath been the flower of all vertues , Vices . and afterward becommeth most abhominable and defiled with all vices .

If the euill liue , he is sure to fall ; if the good die not , we doubt whether euer he shall come to honor .

The wickednesse of children are swordes that passe through the harts of their fathers .

Proud and stout harts obtaining that which they do desire , Pride . immediately begin to esteem it as nothing .

Tyrannous harts haue neuer regard to the honour of another , Tyrannie . vntill they haue obtained their wicked desires .

The harts that be proud are most commonly blinded , Proud harts . proud and ambitious harts know not what will satisfie them .

If thou be giuen to ambition , Ambition , prodigalitie , and pride . honor may and will deceiue thee ; if to prodigalitie , couetousnes often begnileth thee ; if to pride , all the world will laugh thee to scorne in such fort ; that they will say , thou followest will and not reason ; thine owne opinion rather than the councell of another ; embracing flatterers rather than repelling the vertuous , for that most sorts had rather be commended with lies , than reprooued with truth .

That man which is brought vp in debates , A quarrelles . dissentitions and strife , all his felicitie consisteth in burning , destroying and bloudshedding : such works for the most part proceed not from a creature nourished among men on the earth , but rather of one that hath been brought vp among the infernall furies of hell .

Where vices haue raigned long time in the hart , Vices . there death onely and no other hath authoritie to plucke vp the rootes .

To whom is he more like which with his toong blaseth vertues , and imploieth his deeds to all vices , than to the man that in one hand holdeth poison to take away life ; and in the other treakle to resist death .

I haue mused which of these two are greater ; None bolder than blinde bayards . the dutie the good haue to speake against the euill , or else the audacitie the euill haue to speake against the good : for in the world there is no brute beast so hardie , as the euill man is that hath lost his fame .

I would all men would call this to memorie , that among euill men the chiefest euill is , that after they haue forgotten themselues to be men , and exiled both truth and reason , with all their might they go against truth with their words , and against good deedes with their toongs .

Though it be euill to be an euill man , yet it is much woorse not to suffer another to be good , which aboue all things is to be abhorred , and not to be suffered .

Truly the shameles man feeleth not so much a great stripe of correction , The shameles man . as the gentle hart doth a sharp word of admonition .

In the man that is euill there is nothing more easier than to giue good counsell , and there is nothing more harder than to worke well .

Vnder the cristall stone lieth oftentimes a dangerous woorme ; in the faire wall is nourished the venemous coluber ; within the middle of the white tooth is engendred griefe to the gums ; in the finest cloth is the moth soonest found ; and the most fruitfull tree by woorms doth soonest perish : so vnder the cleane bodie and faire countenance are hid manie and abhominable vices .

Truly not onely to children that are not wise , Beautie sinneth . but to all other wich are light and fraile , beautie is nothing els but the mother of all vices , and the hinderer of all vertues .

There is nothing more superfluous in man and lesse necessarie than the beautie of the bodie : Beautie superfluous . for whether we be faire or fowle , we are nothing the more beloued of God , or hated of wise men .

The man of a pleasant toong and euill life is he , which with impostumes vndoeth the common wealth .

Sensualitie maketh vs inferior to beasts , Sensualitie . and reason maketh vs superior to men .

He that knoweth most the course of the elements is not called wise ; but he which knoweth least the vices of this world : for the good philosopher profiteth more by not knowing the euill , than by learning the good .

Quarrellers and malicious persons will haue their words by weight and measure , Quarrellers . but the vertuous and patient men regard the intentions .

Men naturally desire honor in their life , How men shall leaue a good memorie behinde them . and memorieis after death ; therefore I say as they come and attaine thereunto by high , noble , and heroicall facts : so memorie left by the good and legitimate children . For the children that are borne in adulterie are begotten in sin : and that memorie is infamous .

Adulterers are not only taken among Christians for offenders , Adulterers . but also among the gentils they are counted infamous . If the gentils feared infamie , the Christians ought to feare both infamie and paine .

Men are so euill and wicked , that they behold to the vttermost the offences of an other , but wil not heare the faults of himselfe .

It is a naturall thing , that when a man hath committed any vice , foorthwith it repenteth him of his deede , and so againe after his new repentance he turneth to his old vices .

Where the soule doth not shew hir selfe mistres , Man a beast . it wanteth but little , but that the man remaineth a beast .

The euill do refraine more from vice for feare of punishment , than for any desire they haue of amendment .

The Romans did not permit that liers nor deceiuers should be credited by their othes , Liers and deceiuers . neither would they permit or suffer them to sweare .

The simple man slaieth but one man with his sword of wrath , Illworks . but the sage killeth manie by the il example of his life .

There is no man by his eloquence may haue such renowme , Eloquent men . but in the end may lose it by his euill life : for he is vnwoorthie to liue amongst men , whose words of all are approoued , and his works of all are condemned .

There is no beard so bare shauen , but that it will grow againe : I meane there is no man of so honest a life , but if a man make inquisition he may find som spots therein .

Oftentimes they say they haue been on pilgrimage at some deuout Saint that is dead , Priuie fornication or carnall pilgrimage . when indeed they haue been imbracing the bodie of some faire harlot aliue .

Of Fame and Infamie .

THe infamie of the slanderous shall neuer die : for he neuer liued to die well .

To die well doth couer an evill fame , and to make an ende of an euill life doth begin a good fame .

When a noble man shal aduenture to hazard his person and his goods , he ought to do it for a matter of great importance : for more defamed is he that ouercommeth a poore laborer , than he which is ouercome of a sturdie knight .

The losse of children and temporall goods cannot be called losse , if the life be safe , and renowme remaine vndefiled .

Of the good man there is but a short memorie of his goodnes : if he be euill his infamie shal neuer haue end .

If he deserue great infamie which worketh euil in his life , truly he deserueth much more , which trauelleth to bring that euill in vre , that shal continue after his death : for mans malice doth rather pursue the euill , which the wicked do inuent , than the good which vertuous man do begin .

Noble harts ought little to efteeme the increase of their riches , and ought greatly to esteeme the perpetuitie of their good name .

The good life of the child that is aliue keepeth the renowme of the father that is dead .

The glorie of the scholler alwaies redoundeth to the honor and praise of the maister .

First , What is required in good tutors . 40. yeers old . that he be fortie yeeres of age , bicause the maister that is yoong is ashamed to command : if he be aged he is not able to correct .

Secondly , Honest. he ought to be honest , and that not onely in purenes of conscience , but in the outward appeerance and cleannes of life : for it is impossible that the child be honest , if the maister be dissolute .

Thirdly , True . they ought to be true in words and deedes : for the mouth that is alwaies full of lies ought not by reason to be a teacher of the truth .

Fourthly , Liberall . they ought of nature to be liberall : for oftentimes the couetousnes of maisters maketh and causeth the harts of princes to be greedie and couetous .

Fiftly , Moderate . they ought to be moderate in words , and verie resolute in sentences : so that they ought to teach the children to speake little , and to harken much : for it is a great vertue in a prince or noble man to heare with patience , and to speake with wisedome .

Sixtly , Wise. they ought to be wise and temperate , so that their grauitie may restraine the lightnes of their schollers : for there can be no greater plagues to a realme than princes to be yoong , and their maisters light .

It behooueth also that they be learned both in diuine and humane letters , Learned . in such sort that that which they teach princes by word , they may shew it by writing , to the end they may put the same in vre : for mens harts are sooner moued by the example of those that are past , than by the words of them that are present .

Also he ought not to be giuen to vices of the flesh : Continent . for as they are yoong and naturally giuen to the flesh , they haue no strength to abide chaste , neither wisedome to beware of the suares : it is necessarie therefore that the maister be pure and honest ; for the disciple shall hardly be chaste , if the maister be vicious .

They ought to haue good conditions , Good conditions . bicause noble mens children being daintily brought vp , are more prone to learne euill than good conditions : the which their maisters ought to reforme more by good conuersation than by sharpe correction : for it chanceth oftentimes where maisters be cruell , the schollers be not mercifull .

Noble men neuer wan renowme for the pleasures they had in vices , Renowme . but for the trauels they tooke in vertue .

Follie and foolish men , with their vanities .

IT is a signe of little wisdome and great follie for a man to answere suddenly to euery question .

As the wise man being demanded maketh a slow and graue answere : so the simple and foolish man being asked , answereth quickly and lightly .

The vanitie of the common people is of such a qualitie that it followeth new inuentions , and despiseth ancient customs .

Fortune .

IF all fals were alike , all would be cured with one salue ; but som fall on their feet ; some on their sides ; others stumble and fall not ; and others fall downe right , but some do giue them a hand : I mean som to fall from their estate , and lose no more but their substance ; others fall , and for verie sorow lose not only their goods , but their life withall ; others there are which neither lose their life nor their goods , but their honor onely , and so according to the discretion of fortune , the more they haue , the more still they take from them .

It is greatly to be mused at , He that decaieth loseth goodes and friends . that fortune when shee doth begin to ouerthrow a poore man , doth not onelie take all that he hath from him , but also those which succor him , so that the poore man is bound more to lament his friends hurt than his owne lost .

The afflicted man doth most desire the change of fortune , and the thing which the prosperous man doth most abhorre , is to thinke that fortune is mutable : for the vnfortunate man hopeth for euerie change of fortune to be made better , and the wealthie man feareth through euerie change to be depriued of his house and liuings .

The sage prince and captaine in the wars should not rashly hazard his person , nor lightly or vnaduisedly put his life in the hands of fortune .

Sith fortune is a mistres in all things , and that to hir they do impute both good and euill works ; he alone may be called a princely man , who for no contrarietie of fortune is ouercome ; for truly that man is of a stout courage , whose hart is not vanquished by the force of fortune .

Sith all men naturally desire to be happie , Happie . he alone amongst others may be called happie , of whom they may truly say ; He gaue good doctrine to liue , and least good example to die .

Gentle harts do alter greatly , when they are aduertised of any sudden mishap .

I thinke him happie , who hath his bodie healthfull , and his hart at ease .

The misfortunes that by our follie do chance if wee haue cause to lament them , Misfortune . we ought also to haue reason to dissemble them .

I thinke him happie , who hath his bodie healthfull , and his hart at ease .

Vbi multum de intellectu , Aristotle . ibi parum de fortuna : Whereas is much knowledge , commonly there is little wealth .

It is not good for a man to hazard that in the hands of fortune , which a man may compas by friendship .

The vnluckie man were better be with the dead , than remaine heere with the liuing .

It is commonly seene , that when fortune exalteth men of low estate to high degree , they presume much , and know little , and much lesse what they are worth .

Of Friendship and Friends .

THat only is true friendship where the bodies are two , and the wils one .

I account that suspicious friendship where the harts are so diuided , that the wils are seuered : for there are diuers great friends in wordes which dwell but ten houses asunder , and yet haue their harts tenne miles distant .

The man that with words onely comforteth ( in effect being able to remedie ) declareth himselfe to haue been a fained friend in times past , and sheweth that a man ought not to take him for a faithfull friend in time to come .

If hitherto thou hast taken me for thy neighbor , I beseech thee from hencefoorth take me for an husband in loue ; for a father in counsell ; for a brother in seruice ; for an aduocate in the Senate ; for a friend in hart .

In the inconueniences of our friends if we haue no facultie or might to remedie it , at the least we are bound to bewaile it .

Thy anguish and griefe doth so torment me , that if God had giuen power to wofull men to depart with their sorowes , as he hath giuen power to the rich to depart with their goods ; by the faith I owe vnto God , as I am the greatest of thy friends , so would I be he that should take most part of thy griefs .

I see not why mishaps ought patiently to be suffered , but bicause in those we are to trie our faithfull friends .

In battell the valiant man is known ; in tempestuous stormes , the Pilote ; by the touchstone gold is tried ; and in aduersitie a friend is knowen .

If true friends cannot do that which they ought , yet they accomplish it in doing that which they can .

He that promiseth and is long in fulfilling , is but a slack friend : he is much better that denieth forthwith , bicause he doth not deceiue him that asketh .

There is nothing more noisome than to iudge a contention betwixt two friends : for to iudge between two enimies , the one remaineth a friend ; but to iudge between two friends , the one is made an enimie .

In one thing onely men haue licence to be negligent , that is , in chusing of friends . Slowly ought thy friends to be chosen , and neuer after for any thing to be forsaken .

The griefs that lie buried in the woful hart , Grief to be reuealed to none but to faithfull friends . ought not to be communicated but to a faithful friend .

I do not giue thee licence that thy thought be suspicious of men , sith thou of my hart art made a faithfull friend : for if vnconstant fortune do trust me to gather the grape , be thou assured thou shalt not want of the wine .

Two things are to be respected , not to reuenge thy selfe of thine enimies , neither to be vnthankfull to thy friend .

He possesseth much which hath good friends : for many aid their friends when they would haue holpen them more if they could , for the true loue is not wearied to loue , nor ceaseth not to profit .

One friend can do no more for an other , than to offer him his person and to depart with his goods .

It is a generall rule among the phisitions that the medicines do not profit the sicke , vnlesse they first take away the opilation of the stomacke ; euen so no man can speake to his friend as he ought , vnlesse before he shew what thing greeueth him .

The hart neuer receiueth such ioy Ioy . as when he seeth himself with his desired friend .

Friends for their true friends ought willingly to shed their blood , and in their behalfe without demaunding , they ought also to spend their goods .

The paine is greater to be void of assured friends , than assault is dangerous of cruell enimies .

Our chests and harts ought always to be open to our friends .

Friendship that is earnest requireth daily communication or visitation . A man ought not in any affaires to be so occupied that it be a lawfull let not to communicate or write vnto his friend .

Where perfit loue is not , there wanteth always faithfull seruice : and for the contrary , he that perfectly loueth , assuredly shall be serued . I haue been , am , and will be thine , therfore thou shalt do me great iniurie if thou be not mine .

I haue not seen any to possesse so much ; to be woorth so much ; to know so much ; nor in all things to be so mightie , but that one day he shall need his poore friend .

The man that loueth with his hart , What a true friend is , displaid . neither in absence forgetteth , nor in presence becommeth negligent ; neither in prosperitie he is proud , nor yet in aduersitie abiect ; he neither serueth for profit , nor loueth for gaine : and finally , he defendeth the cause of his friend , as if it were his owne .

We ought to vse friends for 4. causes .

1 We ought to haue the company of friends to be conuersant Conuersation withall : for according to the troubles of this life there is no time so pleasantly consumed , as in the conuersation of an assured friend .

2 We ought to haue friends to whom we may disclose the secrets Open our secrets . of our hart : for it is much comfort to the wofull hart to declare to his friend his doubts , if he doth perceiue that he doth feele them indeed .

3 To help Helpe necessities . vs in our aduersities ; for little profiteth my hart in teares to bewaile , vnles that afterward in deed he will take paines to ease him .

4 We ought to seeke and preserue friends , to the end they may be protectors Protectors . of our goods , and likewise iudges of our euils : for the good friend is no lesse bound to withdraw vs from vices whereby we are slandered , than to deliuer vs from our enimies by whom we may bee slaine .

The Iustice and punishment of God , togither with his mercie , goodnes , and purpose .

WHen man is in his chiefest brauerie , and trusteth most to mens wisdom ; then the secret iudgement of God soonest confoundeth and discomforteth him .

The mercie and iustice of God goeth always togither , to the intent the one should encourage the good , and the other threaten the euill .

I would to God we had so much grace to acknowledge our offences , as God hath reason to punish our sinnes .

The great mercy of God doth suffer much , yet our manifest offences deserue more .

With God God impartiall . there is no acception of persons , for he maketh the one rich , the other poore ; the one sage , the other simple ; the one whole , the other sicke ; the one fortunate , the other vnluckie ; the one seruant , the other master ; and let no man muse thereat , for that such are his ordinances .

We see daily that it is impossible for mans malice to disorder that which the diuine prouidence hath appointed , but that which man in a long time decreeth , God otherwise disposeth in one moment .

It is requisite that God should order his purpose : for in the ende sith man is man , in few things he cannot be either certaine or assured ; and sith God is God , it is impossible that in any thing he should erre .

Things that are measured by the diuine iudgement , man hath no power with rasor to cut them .

As it is meet we should trust in the greatnes of Gods mercie , so likewise it is reason we should feare the rigor of his iustice .

It is the iust iudgement of God that he that committeth euil shal not escape without punishment , God will punish malefactors . and he that counselleth the euill shall not liue vndefamed .

What the euill with their tyrannie haue gathered in many dayes , God shall take from them in one hower . Likewise what the good haue lost in many yeeres , God in one moment may restore .

God doth not put vs vnder good or euill fortune , but doth gouerne vs with his mercy and iustice .

Iustice and Iusticers .

IT is an infallible rule and of humane malice most vsed , that he that is most hardie to commit greatest crimes , is most cruel to giue sentence against another for the same offence .

We behold our owne faults as through small nets , which causeth things to seeme the lesser : but we behold the faults of others in the water , which causeth them to seeme greater .

There is no God commandeth , nor law counselleth , nor common wealth suffereth , that they which are admitted to chastise liars , should hang them which saith truth .

I am of the opinion that what man or woman withdraweth their eares from hearing truth , impossible it is for them to apply their harts to loue any vertues , be it Senator that iudgeth ; or Senate that ordaineth ; or emperor that commandeth ; or Consul that executeth ; or Orator that pleadeth .

The opinion of all wise men is ; They are vnwise that desire offices , bicause they are burthens . that no man except he lacke wit , or surmount in follie , will gladly take on him the burden and charge of other men .

A greater case it is for a shamefast man to take vpon him an office to please euery man , for he must shew a countenaunce outward , contrary to that he thinketh inward .

He that will take charge to gouern other , seeketh care and trouble for himselfe ; enuie for his neighbors ; spurs for his enimies ; pouertie for his wealth ; danger for his body ; torment to his good renowme ; and an end of his days .

The charge of Iustice should not be giuen to him that willingly offreth himself to it , The chusing of a Iustice . but to such as by great deliberation are chosen .

Men now a dayes be not so louing to the common wealth , that they will forget their owne quietnes and rest , and annoy themselues to do others good .

Iudges should be iust and vpright : for there is nothing decaieth more a common wealth , than a iudge who hath not for all men one ballance indifferent .

There are many in common wealths that are expert to deuise new orders , but there are few that haue stout harts to put the same in execution .

It is impossible for any man to minister iustice , vnles he know before what iustice meaneth .

It is impossible that there be peace and iustice in the common wealth , if he which gouerneth it be a louer of liers and flatterers .

That common wealth is greatly slandered , wherin the euill are not punished , nor the good honored .

The desire of commandement is become so licentious , Lightnes in offenders . that it seemeth to the subiect that the weight of a feather is lead ; and on the contrarie it seemeth to the commanders , that for the flieng of a flie they should draw their swords .

There is no woorse office among men , than to take the charge to punish the vices of another ; Hatred the reward of correction . and therfore men ought to flie from it as from the pestilence : for in correcting of vices , hatred is more sure to the corrector than amendement of life is to the offendor .

Reason it is that he or she which with euill demeanor haue passed their life , should by iustice receiue their death .

Matters of iustice consisteth more in execution than in commanding or ordaining .

That common wealth cannot decay where iustice remaineth for the poore ; Discipline . punishment for the tyrants ; weight and measure plentifull ; and chiefly , if there be good doctrine for the yoong , and little couetousnes in the old .

Correction executed after a good sort hath this propertie , that it incourageth the good to be good , and feareth the wicked from their wickednes .

If men were not endued with reason , and gouerned by iustice ! among all beasts none were so vnprofitable .

Iustice being taken away what are realms but dennes of theeues : for , to affirme that men can liue without iustice , is as much to say as fishes can liue without water .

Do iustice thy selfe if thou wilt be a minister thereof : for the good iudge with the right yarde of his owne life , ought to measure the whole state of the common welth .

O to how much is he bound that hath taken vpon him to minister iusticel If such an one be an vpright man he accomplisheth that wherunto he is bound ; but if vniust , iustly of God he ought to be punished , and likewise of men to be accused .

No man neglecteth iustice , Negligence in iustice . but for want of knowledge and experience ; or else through abundance of affection and malice .

Musing with my selfe wherin so many dammages of the common wealth did consist ; Cause of offences . such disobedience , such contrarieties , so many theeues : in the end I find that all or the most part proceed , in that they prouide for ministers of iustice , not for conscience sake , but for couetousnes and ambitions sake .

The vertuous and Christian iudge ought rather to shed teares in the Church , Of iudges . than by affection of men to shed blood in the seate of iudgement .

There are many iudges , which imploy their studie more to get friends , to maintaine their state proudly , than for to read bookes to iudge mens causes vprightly .

Great shame ought they to haue , which take vpon them to correct others , when they haue more neede to be corrected themselues : for the blind man ought not to take vpon him to lead the lame .

If the poore come to demand iustice hauing no monie to giue ; The poore mans sute for iustice . no wine to present ; no friend to speake : after his complaint he receiueth faire words , & promises of speedie iustice : but in the end he consumeth that he hath ; spendeth his time ; looseth his hope , and is voide of his sute although his cause be neuer so honest and good .

If wee sigh with teares to haue good princes , wee ought much more to pray , that we haue not euill officers .

What profiteth it the knight to be nimble , if the horse be not readie ? Euerie member ought to joine with his head . What auaileth it the owner of the ship to be sage and expert , if the pilot be a foole and ignorant ? What profiteth the king to be valiant and stout , and the captaine in the war to be a coward ? I meane what profiteth it a prince to be honest , if those that minister iustice be dissolute ? What profiteth vs that the prince be true , if his officers be liers ? What to be louing and gentle , and his officers cruell and malicious ? What to be liberall , if the iudge that ministreth iustice be a briber and an open theefe ? What to be carefull and vertuous , if the iudge be negligent and vicious ? What auaileth it if he in his house be secret iust , if he trust a tyrant and an open theefe with the gouernement of the common-wealth ?

Iudges ought to be iust in their words ; honest in their works ; mercifull in their iustice ; and aboue all , not corrupted with bribes .

It sufficeth not that iudges be true in their words ; but it is very necessary that they be vpright in their dealings .

Iudges ought not to haue respect to those which desire them , but to that which they demand : for in doing their dutie their enimies will proclaime them iust ; and contrariwise if they do that which they should not , their neerest friends will count them tyrants .

Lycurgus made a law , whereby he inioined iudges not to be couetous , nor yet theeues : for the iudge that hath receiued part of the theft will not giue sentence against the stealers thereof .

Oftentimes it chaneeth that iudges do eate the fruit , and the poore suter doth feele the morsell .

Sith frailtie in men is naturall , and the punishment they giue vs is voluntarie ; let iudges shew in ministring of iustice that they do it for the zeale of the common wealth , and not with a mind to reuenge .

The beginning of iudges are pride and ambition , Wicked iudges . their meanes is enuie and malice , and their end is death and destruction : for the leaues shall neuer be greene where the roots are drie .

Offices are somtimes giuen to friends in recompence of friendship ; Offices . somtimes to seruants to acquit their seruice ; somtimes to their sollicitors , to the end they shall not importune them : so that few remaine to the vertuous , which onely for being vertuous are prouided .

Idlenes .

EVerie lightnes done in our youth breaketh downe a loope of our life ; The gate whereinto euill entereth . but idlenes whereby our enimie entreth is it , which openeth the gate to all vice .

Of idle motions and outragious thoughts the eies take licence without leaue , the mind altereth , and the will is hurt : and finally , thinking to be the white that amarous men shoote at , they remaine as a burt full of vices .

In conclusion there is nothing that more chaseth the ball of the thought in this play , than the hand set a worke .

There is nothing breedeth vice sooner in children , Parents do hatch idlenes in youth . than when the fathers are too negligent , and the children too bold , as do not keepe the same from idlenes .

The prince that occupieth himselfe to heare vaine and trifling things , in time of necessitie shall not imploy himselfe to those which be of weight and importance : for idlenes and negligence are cruell enimies to wisedome .

Of knowledge , wisedome , foresight , and vertue .

WE cannot say that the man knoweth little , which doth know himselfe .

Man giuing his minde to seeke strange things , commeth to forget his owne proper .

We see by experience that in the fistula that is stopped , Foresight is good in all things . and not that which is open the surgeon maketh doubt ; in the shalow water , and not in the deepe seas the pilot despaireth ; the good man of arms , is more afeard of the secret ambushment , than in the open battell . I meane that the valiant man ought to beware not of strangers , In trust is treason . but of his owne ; not of enimes , but of friends ; not of the cruell war , but of fained peace ; not of the open dammage , but of the priuie perill .

How manie haue we seene whom the mishaps of fortune could neuer change , and yet afterward hauing no care she hath made them fall .

Asignorance is the cruell scourge of vertues , Ignorance and ouer-much knowledge . and spur to all vice : so it chanceth oftentimes that ouer-much knowledge putteth wise men in doubt , and slandereth the innocent : forasmuch as we see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome , are those which fal into most perilous vices .

The end why men ought to studie is to learne to liue well : for there is no truer science in man than to know how to order his life well .

What profiteth it me to know much , The vse of studie . if thereby I take no profit ; what to speake strange languages , if I refrain not my toong from other mens matters ; what to studie many books , if I studie not but to beguile my friends ; what to know the influence of the stars and course of the elements , if I cannot keepe my selfe from vices ?

In all things we are so doubtfull , and in all our works so disordered , that at some times our vnderstanding is dull and loseth the edge ; and at another time it is more sharpe than it is necessarie .

Pouertie causeth good mens children to be vertuous , so that they attain to that by vertue which others come vnto by riches .

It is a rule that neuer faileth , that vertue maketh a stranger grow naturall ; and vice maketh a naturall a stranger in his owne countrie .

It is impossible a yoong child should be vicious , if with due correction he had been instructed in vertues .

Noble men enterprising great things , ought not to imploy their force as their noble heart willeth , but as wisedome and reason teacheth .

There is no man so wise and sage , but erreth more through ignorance , than he doth good by wisedome : and there is no man so iust , but wanteth much to execute true iustice .

The vertuous do so much glorie of their vertue , Vertue . as the euill and malicious haue shame and dishonor of their vice : for vertue maketh a man to be temperate and quiet , but vice maketh him dissolute and wretchles .

The lacke of a physition may cause danger in mans person , Wise men . but the lacke of a wise man may set discord among the people .

Marcus Aurelius at his meate ; Wise men . at his going to bed ; at his vprising ; in his trauell ; openly nor secretly suffered at any time that fooles should communicate with him , but only wise and vertuous men , whom he alwaies entirely loued : he had reason therein ; for there is nothing , be it in iest or earnest , but is better liked of a wise man than of a foole .

If a prince be sad , cannot a wise man by the sayings of the holy scriptures counsell him better , than a foole by foolish words ?

If the prince will passe the time away , Wisedome is pastime . shall not he be more comforted with a wise man that reckoneth vnto him the sauorie histories done in times past , than harkening to a foole speaking foolishly , and declaring things dishonestly , and ripping vp the saiengs of the malicious of the time present ?

That which I most maruell at is not so much for the great authoritie that fooles haue in the pallaces of princes and great nobles ; Fooles esteemed more than wise men . as for the little credit and succor that wise men haue among them .

It is a great iniurie that fooles should enter into the chamber of princes vnto their bed side , Boldnes of fooles admitted . and that one wise man may not , nor dare not enter into the hall ; so that to the one there is no gate shut , and to the other no gate open .

Now in these daies there is no wise man alone that trauelleth to be wise ; but it is necessarie for him to trauell how to get his liuing : for necessitie inforceth him to violate the rules of true philosophie .

Whether he be prince , prelate , or priuate , let him haue about him sage and wise men , and to loue them aboue all treasure : for of good counsell there commeth profit , and much treasure is a token of danger .

Croesus said ; Craesus . I account my selfe to be dead , though to the simple folks I seeme to be aliue : and the cause of my death is , bicause I haue not about me some wise person : for he is only aliue amongst the liuing , who is accompanied with the wise .

Euill princes do seeke the companie of wise men for no other intent , but onely bicause through them they would excuse their faults .

We learne not to commaund , Anacharsis to Craesus . but to obey ; not to speake , but to be silent ; not to resist , but to humble our selues ; not to get much , but to content vs with litle ; not to reuenge offences , but to pardon iniuries ; not to take from others , but to giue our owne to others ; not to be honored , but to trauell to be vertuous : finally we learn to despise that which other men loue , and to loue that which other men despise , which is pouertie .

To a man that hath gouernment , Too soone , too late . two things are dangerous , that is to wit , too soone , or too late ; but of these two , the worst is too soone , for if by determining too late a man looseth that which he might haue gotten , by determining too soon , that is lost which is now gained , and that which a man might haue gained .

To men which are too hastie , Too hastie . chanceth many euils & dangers : for the man being vnpatient , and his vnderstanding high , afterwards commeth quarels and brawlings , displeasures , varieties , and also vanities , which looseth their goods and putteth their person in danger .

It chanceth oftentimes to wise men that when remedie is gone , repentance commeth sodenly : and then it is too late to shut the stable dore when the steed is stolne .

He is wisest that presumeth to know least , and among the simple he is most ignorant that thinketh he knoweth most .

Science profiteth nothing else but to keep thy life wel ordered , and thy toong well measured .

Vaine and foolish men by vaine and foolish words , Pleasure reuealed is folly . do publish their vaine and light pleasures , and wise men by wise words do dissemble their grieuous sorowes .

Profound science and high eloquence , seldome meet in one person .

There is no man in the world so wise , but may further his doings with the aduise of an other .

There is nothing more easie than to know the good , and nothing more common than to folow the euil .

As the fine gold defendeth his purenes among the burning coles , so the man endued with wisedom sheweth himself wise , yea in the midst amongst many fooles : for as the gold in the fire is proued , so among the lightnes of fooles is the wisdom of the wise discerned .

The wise is not knowen among the wise , Two contraries do make one the more perfit . nor the foole among fooles ; but that among fooles the wise man doth shine , and that among the wise fooles are darkened , for there the wise sheweth his wisedome , and the foole his follie .

He onely ought to be called wise who is discreet in his works , and resolute in his words .

It is a rule that euill works doe cary away the credite from good words .

There is nothing destroyeth sooner princes , than thinking to haue about them wise men to counsel them , find them malicious , and such as seek to deceiue them .

It is not the part of wise and valiant men to enlarge their dominions , and diminish their honor .

Wise men ought circumspectly to see what they do , to examine that they speake , Circumspection necessarie . to prooue that they take in hand , to beware whose company they vse , and aboue all to know whom they trust .

The lawe and ordinances .

THe law which by will is made and not of right ordained , deserueth not to be obeied .

The Achaians obserued this for a law and custome , Achaians . that the husbands should obey , and the wiues commaund : for the husbands swept and made clean the houses , made the bed , washed the buck , couered thetable , dressed the dinner , and went for water . On the contrary part his wife gouerned the goodes , answered the affaires , kept the money : and if she were angry , she gaue him not onely foule words , but also oftentimes laid hir hands on him to reuenge hir anger , whereof came this prouerbe , vita Achaiae .

Where men haue so little discretion that they suffer themselues to be gouerned ( be it well or euill ) of their wiues , and that euery woman commandeth hir husband , there can be nothing more vaine or light , than by mans law to giue that authoritie to a woman , which by nature is denied hir .

The lawes are as yokes vnder the which the euill do labor , and they are wings vnder the which the good do flie .

The great multitude of lawes are commonly euill kept , and are on the other part cause of sundry troubles .

The Romanes did auoid the great number of lawes and institutions : Romanes auoided lawes for that it is better for a man to liue as reason commaundeth him , than as the law constraineth him .

Lawes are easily ordained , but with difficultie executed , and there be thousands that can make them , but not one that will see the execution of them .

The law of Athens was that nothing should be bought before a Philosopher had set the price : Athens . I would the same law at these daies were obserued ; for there is nothing that destroieth a common wealth more , than to permit some to sell as tyrants and others to buy as fooles .

Of Loue .

BEleeue not that loue is true loue , but rather sorow ; not ioy , but perplexitie ; not delite , but torment ; not contentment , but griefe ; not honest recreation , but confusion ; seeing that in him that is a louer must be looked for , youth , libertie , and liberalitie .

Strawe that is rotten is fitter for the land than the house , so in a broken body and aged , sorow and infirmities are fitter passions than loue : for to Cupid and Venus no sort of people is acceptable , Which are fit louers . but yong men to serue them . The liberall which spares for no cost ; the patient to endure ; discreet to speake ; secret to conceale ; faithfull to deserue ; and constant to continue to the end .

It is a miserie to be poore and proud ; Torments of loue . to be reuengefull , and dare not strike ; to be sicke and farre from succor ; to be subiect to our enimies ; and lastly to suffer perill of life without reuenge : but for an old man to be in loue , Loue in age . is the greatest wretchednes that can occupy the life of man : for the poore sometimes findeth pitie , but the old man standeth always reiected .

The coward findeth friends to beare out his quarell , but the amorous old man liueth always persecuted with passions .

The sicke liues vnder the climate of Gods prouidence , and is relieued by hope , but the old amorous man is abandoned all succor .

He that is subiect to his enimies , is not somtimes without his seasons of consolation and quiet , where to the old louer is no time of truce , or hope of reconcilement .

There is nothing more requireth gouernment than the practise of loue , seeing that in cases of hunger , thirst , cold , heat , and all other natural influences they may be referred to passions sensible only to the body , but the follies , imperfections , and faults in loue , the hart is subiect to suffer , feele , and bewaile them , since loue more than all other things natural , retaineth always this propertie , to exercise tyrannie always against the hart of his subiects .

There is no doubt but vnperfit loue will resolue into iarres , contention , and continuall disquietnes : for that where is not conformitie of condition , there can be no contented loue , no more than where is no true faith can be no true operation of good life and maners .

Say what you will , and surmise the best to please fancie , but according to experience , the best remedie in loue is to auoid occasion , and to eschew conuersation : for that of the multitude that follow him , there are few free from his bondage , where such as abandon him liueth alwaies in libertie .

Behold how deerly I loued thee ; The nature of loue . in thy presence I alwaies behold thee ; and absent I alwaies thought of thee ; sleeping I dreamed of thee ; I haue wept at thy sorowes , and laught at thy pleasures : finally , all my wealth I wished thee , and all thy misfortunes I wished to me .

I feel not so much the persecution thou hast done to me , as I do the wailing forgetfulnes thou hast shewed to me .

It is a great griefe to the couetous man to lose his goods ; but without comparison , it is a greater torment for the louer to see his loue euill bestowed : for it is a hurt alwaies seene ; a paine alwaies felt ; a sorow alwaies gnawing ; and a death that neuer endeth .

As the loue of a couetous woman endeth when goods faileth : A couetous womans loue . so doth the loue of the man when beautie decaieth .

That woman which neuer loued for goods , but was beloued for beautie , did then loue with all hir hart , and now abhor with all hir hart .

The gallowes is not so cruell to the euill doer , The slauerie of loue . as thou art to me , which neuer thought otherwise than well : they which suffer there do endure but one death , but thou makest me to suffer a thousand : they in one day and one hower do end their liues , and I euery minute do feele the pangs of death : they die guiltie , but I innocently : they die openly , and I secretly . What wilt thou more I say ; they for that they died , and I shed hartie teares of blood for that I liue ; their torments spreadeth abrode through all the bodie , but I keepe mine altogither in my hart .

O vnhappie hart of mine , that being whole thou art diuided ; Operation of loue . being in health thou art hurt ; being aliue , thou art killed ; being mine owne , thou art stolen ; and the woorst of all , thou being the onely helpe of my life , dost onely consent vnto my death .

Loue bewitcheth the wisest , and blindfoldeth reason , as appeereth in many wise philosophers : as for example ; Gratian was in loue with Tamira .

Solon Selaminus was in loue with a Grecian .

Pitacus Mitelenus left his owne wife , and was in loue with a bond woman that he brought from the war . Inconueniences of loue .

Periander prince of Achaia , and chiefe philosopher of all Greece , at the instance of his louers slew his owne wife .

Anacharsis the philosopher , a Scithian by his father , and a Greeke by his mother , loued so deerly a friend of his called Thebana , that he taught hir all that he knew : in so much that he being sicke on his bed , she read for him in the schooles .

Tarentinus the maister of Plato and scholler of Pithagoras occupied his mind more to inuent new kinds of loue than to imploy his mind to vertue and learning .

Borgias Cleontino borne in Cicill had more concubines in his house than bookes in his studie .

All these were wise , and knowen for no lesse : Yet in the end were ouercome with the flesh .

O how many times did Hercules desire to be deliuered from his loue Mithrida ; Valiantnes vanquished by loue . Menelaus from Dortha ; Pyrrhus from Helena ; 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 , Loue of parents . 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 : Matrimoniall loue . 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 , Marriage . 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 , What lone is like . 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 , Wherefore women are desired and loued . 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 , Mans nature considered , is nothing . 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 , Man bound hand and foot at first comming and last going . 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 , The apparell of beasts . 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 , The care of man . 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 , Danger in our safetie . 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 , Sorrowes of man . the death of his children , the want of necessaries , the case of aduersity that succeedeth them , the false witnes that is brought against them , 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 , The making of costly sepulchres is 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 . A painted case for a stinking carkase . 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 , and in steede of gawling striketh .

What euill happened to Hercules that after so manie dangers , came to die in the armes of an harlot ; Alexander after his great conquest ended his life with poison ; Agamemnon that woorthie Greeke , after ten yeeres wars against the Troians , Mans ende is in the hand of God . was killed entring into his owne house ; Iulius Caesar after two and fiftie battels was killed in the Senate house with xxiij . wounds ; Hanniball slew himselfe in one moment , bicause he would not become a pray to his enimies . What mishap is this after so many fortunes ; what reproch after such glorie ; what perill after such suretie ; what euill lucke after such good successe ; what darke night after so cleare day ; what euil entertainment after so great labor ; what cruell sentence after so long proces ; what inconuenience of death after so good beginning of life ?

The miserable life of man is of such condition that dailie our yeeres do diminish , and our troubles encrease ; life is so troublesome that it wearieth vs , and death is so doubtefull that it feareth vs .

The philosopher Appollonius being demanded what he woondered most at in al the world , answered but at two things , the one was , that in all parts wherein he had trauelled he saw quiet men troubled by seditious persons ; the humble subiect to the proud ; the iust obedient to the tyrant ; the cruell commanding the mercifull ; the coward ruling the hardie ; the ignorant teaching the wise ; and aboue al , I saw the most theeues hang vp the innocent .

The other was that in all the places and circuite that he had bin in , I know not , neither could finde anie man euerlasting , but that all are mortall ; and that both high & low haue an end , for many enter the same night into the graue which the day ensuing thought to be aliue .

Aristotle saith , that man is but a tree planted with the rootes vpward , whose roote is the head , Man described as a tree . and the stock is the bodie , the branches are the armes , the barke is the flesh , the knots are the bones , the sap is the hart , the rottennes is malice , The fruits of this tree . the gum is loue , the flowers are words , and the fruits are good woorks .

We see the vapors to ascend high ; the plants growe high ; the trees budde out on high ; the sourges of the sea mount high ; the nature of the fire is alwaies to ascende vpwarde ; onelie the miserable man groweth downewarde , and is brought lowe by reason of the feeble and fraile flesh , which is but earth , and commeth of earth , and liueth on earth , and in the end returneth to the earth from whence it came .

Generallie there is no man so good but a man may find in him somwhat reprooueable , nor any man so euill but he hath in him something commendable .

What man and his life is .

O Blindnes of the world ; Beautie . ô life which neuer liueth , nor shall liue ; ô death which neuer hath end : I know not why man through the accident of his beautie should take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption , sith he knoweth that all the perfitest and most faire , must be sacrificed to the worms in the graue .

It is to be maruelled at that all men are desirous that all things about them should be cleane ; Cleanlines in body , and filthines in soule . their gownes brushed ; their coats neat ; the table handsome ; and the bed fine ; and onely they suffer their soules to be spotted and filthie .

The faire and well proportioned man is therfore nothing the more vertuous : he that is deformed and euill shapen , is nothing therfore the more vicious .

Corporall beautie early or late perisheth in the graue , but vertue and knowledge maketh men of immortall memorie .

Although a man be great , Bignes maketh not strength . it followeth not that he is strong : so that it is no generall rule that the bigge body hath always a valiant and couragious hart , nor the little man a faint and false hart .

Iulius Caesar was big of body , Caesar described . yet euill proportioned : for he had his head bald , his nose sharp , one hand more shorter than the other , and being yoong , had a riueled face , yealow of colour , went crooked , and his girdle half vndone .

Hannibal was called monstrous both for his deeds and euil proportion : Hannibal . for of his two eies he lacked the right , and of the two feet he had the left foote crooked , fierce of countenance , and little of body .

Truly he feeleth the death of another which always is sorowfull and lamenting his own life . We feele an others death by lamenting our own life .

To esteeme thy selfe to be handsome and proper of person , Thine owne estimation nothing . is no other thing but to esteeme thy selfe , that dreaming thou shalt be rich and mightie , and waking , thou findest thy self poore and miserable .

What shall we say to this little flower that yesterday florished on the tree whole without suspicion to be lost , Mans life . and yet one little frost wasteth and consumeth it ; the vehement wind ouerthroweth it ; the knife of enuy cutteth it ; the water of aduersitie vndoeth it ; the heate of persecutions pineth it ; the putrifaction of death decayeth it , and bringeth it down to the ground .

O mans life that art alwayes cursed , Fortune with hir force . I count fortune cruel , & thee vnhappy , since she wil not that thou stay on hir , which dreaming , giueth thy pleasures , and waking , giueth thy displeasures ; which giueth into thy handes trauell to taste , and suffereth thee to listen after quiet ; which will that thou approoue aduersitie , and agree not that thou haue proseritie , but after hir will , she giueth thee life by ounces , and death without measure .

The yoong man is but a new knife , Age compared . the which in processe of time cankereth in the edge ; one day he breaketh the point of vnderstanding ; another he looseth the edge of cutting ; and next the rust of diseases taketh him , and afterwards by aduersities he is writhen , and by infirmities diseased ; by riches he is wheted ; by pouerty he is dulled againe ; and oftentimes it chanceth , that the more sharpe he is whetted , so much the more the life is put in hazard .

It is a true thing that the feet and hands are necessary to clime to the vanities of youth , and afterwards stumbling a little , immediatly rowling the head downwards , we descend into the miseries of age .

What thing is more fearfull or more incredible , The beautie of man changeth . than to see a man become miserable in short space ; the fashion of his visage changeth ; the beautie of the face lost ; the beard waxe white ; the head bald ; the cheeks & forehead full of wrinkles ; the teeth as white as Iuorie becommeth blacke as a cole ; the light feete by the goute are crepeled ; the strong arme with palsey weakened ; the fine and smooth throte with wrinkles plaited ; and the body that was straite and vpright , waxeth crooked .

The beautie of man is none other but a veile to couer the eyes , Beautie of man . a paire of fetters for the feete , manacles for the hands , a lime rod for the wings , a theese of time , an occasion of danger , a prouoker of trouble , a place of lecherie , a sinke of all euill ; and finally it is an inuenter of debates , and a scourge of the affectioned man .

O simple , simple and ignorant persons , how our life consumeth and we perceiue not how we liue therein .

Of mercie , pitie , helpe , and compassion towards the poore .

HAppy not once , An hundred times happy . 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 , Anatomie of man . 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 : Offices 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 , A happy common wealth . 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 , The phrase is heathenish ; for God rueth , and not blind chance 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 , Comfortable words manie times helpeth maladies . 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 . Vnhappie .

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 , Wars abrod is an enimie to peace at home . must needs hate the peace of his common wealth .

Aristotle doth not determine which of these two is the most excellent , 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 , Christs peace . 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 , Fruits of 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 , Pleasure vanisheth away with sorrow . 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 . sensualitie beareth so great a rule , that she wil not suffer reason to enter in at the gate .

Reason leadeth 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. 50. yeeres . 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 , Pleasure the cause of many offences . 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 commit 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 , Vanitie of vanities . 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 ? Why vices in princes pallaces . bicause pleasure aboundeth and counsell wanteth .

Play as Seneca saith , Plaies . 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 , Carnall pleasure . 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 , Carnal pleasure shamefast . all beasts after the deeds of the flesh are sorie , sauing onely the cocke .

In carnall vices he that hath the least of that , Reason alloweth not sensualitie , therefore Tully said , pareat appetitus rationi . Fruits of carnall pleasure . 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 ; The fame of conquest . 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 , The loue of Princes is better sometimes than Iustice . 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 , The riches of Princes . 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 , Some hunger after strange realms 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 , Damnation of soule . to whome we must render account of all our doings , for there is nothing so puissant , but t is 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 commandements , 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 , People like affected . & 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 occasion to do him seruice .

Princes take great pains to winne other countries by crueltie , and little regard to maintaine their owne by Iustice .

All princes that be wilfull in their doings be absolute of their sentence .

The prince that is wicked causeth his subiect to rebel , and the seditious subiect maketh his lord to become a tyrant .

Without all doubt it is more intollerable to haue the harts burdened with thoughts , than the necks with irons .

God did not ordaine princes and lords in this world , to eate more and drinke more , sleepe or reioyce more than others ; but he created them vpon condition , that as he had made them to command more than others , so should they be more iust in their liues than others .

The prince that hath his mouth full of truth ; his hands open to giue rewards ; and his eares stopt to lies ; and his hart open to mercy ; such a one may well be called happy , and the people fortunate that hath him .

Thales being demaunded what a prince should do to gouerne others ; he answered , First to gouerne himselfe , and then afterward others : for it is impossible the wood should be right where the shadow is crooked .

As the office of the feete is not to see , but to goe ; the office of the hands is not to heare , but to labour ; the shoulders not to feele , but to beare , euen as these offices are not seemly for the members , but for the head : euen so should not subiects haue to doe with that which appertaineth onely to the prince which is our head .

To a king it should be no pleasure but a pain & grief , and to the common people annoyance , that the prince should alwayes be enclosed and shut vp : for the prince that shutteth his gates against his subiects , causeth them not to open their harts willingly to obey him .

Cursed is that prince , and also vnhappy is that common weale where the seruants will not serue their lord but for reward , and the lord loue them but for their seruice : for there is neuer true loue where there is any particular interest .

Cicero in his Tusculanes saith , that in old time the people perswaded their princes to communicate with the poore , and that they should flie the rich , for among the poore they may learne to be mercifull , and among the rich nothing but to be proud .

Princes and gouernors .

THe Prince for one vice cannot endammage the people , but for being too hautie and presumptuous he may destroy the common wealth .

If lordes and princes giue many occasions of euill will , afterwards one onely sufficeth to stirre the subiects to destroy them : for if the lord shew not his hatred , it is bicause he will not ; if the subiect do not reuenge , it is bicause he cannot .

When a man will speake of princes that are dead before a prince aliue , he is bound to praise one onely vertue which they had , and hath no licence to reueale the vices whereof they were noted .

The good deserueth reward , bicause he endeuoreth himselfe to follow vertue : the euill likewise deserueth pardon , bicause through frailtie he consented to vice .

What princes ought to do to be good : Theodosius Imp. when sage princes shall walke they ought to haue with them wise men , and when he is at meat to reason how to order his life & the common wealth ; and at vacant times to counsell with the sage .

For the knight that entreth into the field to giue battell without weapon , is as hardie as the prince that will gouerne the common wealth without the counsell of wise men .

Princes that are yoong are giuen most commonly to vices : for in the one part youth raigneth , and on the other honestie wanteth ; to such truly vices are dangerous , specially if they want the wise to counsell them , to keepe them from euill companie : for the couragious youth will not be brideled , nor the great libertie chastised .

Princes no doubt haue great need of wise men to counsell them neere about them : for since they are in the view of all , they haue lesse licence to commit vice than any of all .

Princes ought to be circumspect whom they trust with the gouernment of the realme , The care of princes in chosing their protector , captaie , and embassador , and treasurer , & counsellers . and to whom they commit the leading of their armies ; whom they do send as embassadors into strange countries ; and whom they trust to receiue and keep their treasures : but much more circumspect ought they to be in examining of those whom they choose to be their counsellors : for looke what he is that counselleth the prince at home in his pallace , so likewise shal his renowme be in strange countries , and in his owne common wealth .

Let princes know if they do not know , that of the honestie of their seruants ; A princes well ordered house , is a welfare to the publike weale . of the prouidence of their counsellers ; of the sagenes of their persons ; & of the order of their house dependeth the welfare of the common welth , for it is impossible for that tree whose rootes are dried vp , should be seene to beare greene leaues .

The fault that princes haue , is , that they are prompt and bolde to talke of vertues , and in executing them they are fearefull and verie slacke .

And although we haue licence to praise their vertues , yet are we bound to dissemble their vices .

Counsellors and officers of princes ought to be so iust , Officers about the prince . that sheares cannot finde what to cut away in their liues , nor that there needeth any needle or threed to amend their fame .

Wo , wo , be to the land where the lord is vicious , the subiect seditious , the seruant couetous , and the counseller malicious .

The prince that is a friend to flatterers , of necessitie must be an enimie of the truth .

The particular loue of princes in that they shew more to one than to another , A great incontinencie when princes loue one before another . breedeth oftentimes much enuie in their realmes : for the one being loued , the other hated , of this commeth hatred ; and of hatred commeth euill thoughts ; and of euill thoughts proceedeth malice ; of malice commeth euill words , which breake out in to woorse deeds .

Princes ought to forbid ; and sages ought not to consent , that the quarrellers should trouble the peacemakers : for when the people do rise , immediately couetousnes is awaked .

The noble and valiant princes when they see themselues with other princes , Wherein princes should glory . or that they are present in great actes , ought to shewe the franknes of their harts ; the greatnes of their realmes ; the loue of their common wealth ; and the preheminence of their person : and aboue all the discipline of the court ; and the grauitie of their counsell ; for the sage and curious men should not behold the prince in the apparell which he weareth , but the men which he hath to counsell him .

Princes oftentimes of their own nature be good : and by euill conuersation onely they are made euill .

They which haue charge to gouerne those that doe gouerne , without comparison ought to feare more the vices of a king , than the enimies of the realme : for the enimies are destroied in a battell , but vices remaine during life , and in the end enimies do not destroy but the possessions of the land , but the vicious prince destroieth the good manners of the common wealth .

Why do princes commit folly ? bicause flatterers aboundeth that deceiueth them , Why princes commit follie . and true men wanteth that shoulde serue them .

Princes deserueth more honor for the good meanes they vse in their affairs , than for the good successe whervnto it commeth : for the one is guided by aduenture , and the other aduanced by wisedome .

The land is with much miserie compassed , A miserable land . where the gouernance of the yoong is so euill , that all wish for the reuiuing of the dead .

It is impossible that the people be well gouerned if the magistrates that gouerne them be in their liues dissolute .

Princes in doubtfull matters ought not onely to demaunde counsell of all the good that be aliue , In doubtful matters . but also to take paines to talke with the dead , that is , to read the deeds of the good in their writings .

To a prince that shall be an inheritor , Punishment in princes necessarie . one yeeres punishment shal be better woorth then xx . yeeres pleasure .

A prince is as the gouernor of the ship , The definition of a prince . a standerd of a battell , a defence of the people , a guid of the waies , a father of the orphanes , a hope of pupils , and a treasure of all .

The glorie of a prince is that in his works he be vpright , Glorie of a prince . and in his words he speake verie discreet .

The vertues of princes should be so manie , that al men might praise them , and their vices so fewe that no man might reprooue them .

Princes are lords of all things , Lords of all things sauing iustice . sauing of iustice , wherof they are onely but to minister .

I would to God that princes did make an account with God in the things of their conscience touching the common wealth , as they do with men touching their rents and reuenewes .

Many crouch to princes with faire words , Dissimulation . as though they ment good seruice to him , their entent being by deceit to get some office , or to seeke some profite .

Seruants .

I Councell those that be seruaunts to great lordes , that their labours be accounted rather honest than wise : for the wise man can but please , but the honest man can neuer displease .

Of the toong , and of the slanderer or backbiter .

IT is most certaine , that of Hollie we looke for pricks ; of Acrons husks ; of Nettels stinging , and of thy mouth malice . I haue seriously noted , I neuer saw thee say well of any , nor I neuer knew any that would thee good .

Octauian the Emperor being demaunded why doing good to all men he suffered some to murmure against him ; Octauian . he answered , He that hath made Rome free from enimies , hath also set at libertie the toongs of malicious men .

That is a cruell thing that the life and honor of those that be good , should by the toong of the euill be measured .

As in the forge the coales cannot be kindled without sparkes , The toong . nor as corruption cannot be in the sinkes without ordure , so he that hath his hart free from malice , his toong is always occupied in sweet and pleasant sayings : and contrarywise , out of his mouth whose stomacke is infected with malice , proceedeth always wordes bitter , and full of poison .

It is an olde disease of euill men through malice to backbite with their toong , Backbite . which through their cowardnes they neuer durst enterprise with their hands .

Of sorow and griefe .

GRiefe is a friend of solitude , enimie of companie , a louer of darknes , strange in conuersation , & heire to desperation .

Sith fortune is knowen of all , she suffreth not hir selfe to be defamed of one ; and it is better to thinke with fortune how thou maiest remedy thy self , than to thinke with grief how to complaine .

There are diuers men which to publish their grief are very carefull , but to seek remedy are very negligent .

We suffer griefs & know them not ; with the hands we touch them & perceiue them not ; we go ouer them and see them not ; they sound in our eares & we heare them not ; they daily admonish vs , & we do not beleeue them : finally , we feele the wound , and see not the remedy .

Experience doth teach vs , Auoide the taste of euill . with a little blast of winde the fruit doth fall ; with a little sparke of fire the house is kindled ; with a little rocke the ship is broken ; at a litle stone the foote doth stumble ; with a litle hooke they take great fish ; and with a little wound dieth a great person : I meane that our life is so fraile , and fortune so fickle , that in that part where we are best harnessed , we are soonest wounded and grieued .

The heauy and sorowfull harts of this world feele no greater grief than to see others reioyce at their sorowes .

To men of long life without comparison the diseases are more which they suffer , The haruest of a long life . than the yeeres are which they liue .

If the days be few wherein we see the elements without cloudes , fewer are the howers wherein we feele our harts without cares .

As much difference as is betweene the barke and the tree ; the marow and the bone ; the corne and the straw ; the gold and the drosse ; the truth and dreames , so much is there to heare the trauels of an other , and taste his owne .

Greater is the disease that proceedeth of sorow , Hard to cure the disease engendred by thoughts . than that which proceedeth of the feuer quartane : and therof ensueth , that more easily he is cured which of corrupt humors is full , than he which with profound thoughts is oppressed .

There is no griefe that so much hurteth a person , as when he himself is cause of his own paine .

Men which haue not God mercifull , and men friendly ; do eate the bread of griefe , and drinke the teares of sorow .

There is no greater torment to the hart , than when it is differred from that which it greatly desired .

If all things as they be felt at hart , shoulde be shewed outward with the toong , I thinke that the winds should breake the hart with sighings , and water all the earth with teares .

If the corporall eies sawe the sorow of the hart , Eyes see not the harts grief . I beleeue they should see more blood sweating within , than all the weeping that appeereth without .

There is no comparison of the great dolors of the bodie , Grief of mind incomparable . with the least grief of the mind .

For all trauell of the body men may find some remedie ; but if the heauy hart speake , it is not heard ; if it weepe , it is not seen ; if it complaine , it is not beleeued .

I know no remedy but this , to abhorre the life wherewith it dieth , and to desire death wherewith it liueth .

The toong .

NOble & stoute personages though they would be esteemed and iudged true in their sayings , hauing seene many wonders with their eies , yet when they make report of them , they ought to be very moderate in their toongs : for it is a very shame to an honest man to declare any thing wherein may be any doubt whether it be true or not .

When a woman is mery , Mery women . she alwayes babbleth more with the toong , than she knoweth in hir hart .

Men do not vtter half their grief , bicause their wofull and heauie hart commandeth the eyes to weep , and the toong to be silent .

The chiefest thing which God 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 , Pythagoras . should immediatly and without contradiction be banished and expulsed from the people : and the cause why he commanded 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 , Hart and toong . 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 , Time lost . 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 , A confusion . 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 , Foresight in wars is necessary . 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 , Women in wars . 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 : The valure of men . 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 , A friendly exhortation . 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 , A looking glasse for a woman . 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 ; If you be a lambe , take heed of the woolfe , if you be a woolfe deuour not the seely lambe . 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 , Womens weaknes pardonable . 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 , A vertuous 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 , A woman with childe . 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 , A similitude 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 , An other similitude . hauing but six little ones , haue neither milke to nourish them , nor corne to giue them ; neither haue they wings to flie ; nor feathers to couer them ; nor any other thing to defende them ; and yet the mother in all this weaknes and pouertie forsaketh them not , nor committeth them to any other , but bringeth them vp hir-selfe ; how much more ought a christian woman to nourish and bring vp that with hir breasts which she once carried in hir wombe , rather than commit it into the handes of another woman , who bicause she bare it not , can not haue the like tender care ouer it .

Children are neuer so wel beloued of their mothers , as when they be nourished of their owne brests .

If women for excuse should say that they are weake , tender , and that they haue found a good nurse ; A nurse . I answer , that the nurse hath small loue to the childe which she nurseth , when she seeth the vngentlenes of the mother that bare it , for she alone doth nourish the childe with loue , which did beare it with paine .

Aristotle saith that a childe at the most ought to sucke but two yeeres ; How long children should sucke . and at the least one yeere and a halfe ; for if he sucke lesse he is in danger to be sicke , and if he sucke more he shall be alwaies tender .

All women are bounde to loue their husbandes , A womans contentation in marriage . since that willingly and not by compulsion they were not enforced to take them . In like maner if the marriage please not the woman she hath not so much cause to complaine of hir husbande for asking hir , as she hath reason to mislike with hirselfe that accepted him .

The wife to serue hir husband in his life time proceedeth oftentimes of fear , A blacke swan . but to loue him and honor him in his graue proceedeth of loue .

A woman cannot say euill of hir husband , but she doth witnes dishonor to hirselfe .

I would counsell women not to presume to command their husbands , and admonish husbands not to suffer themselues to be ruled by their wiues : for in so doing I account it no otherwise than to eate with the feete , and trauell with the hands , to go with their fingers , and to feed themselues with their toes .

There is an olde disease that happeneth to beautifull women , that there be manie that defie them , and mo that slander them .

It little auaileth man and wife that their goods be common , and their wils priuate , for if the man and wife in loue doe differ , in their liues they shall neuer be quiet .

The want of magnanimitie in the female sexe , Ingenio pollet cui vim natura negauit . is supplied with the excellencie of quicke conceite and inuention .

The reason why women for the more part exceed men in beautie , and good complexion is for that they are an effect of a pure cause , namely of man , a creature polished , and not formed as man immediately out of grosse earth .

After the creation of the worlde and mankind , God preferred the companie of a woman as a comfort vnto man exceeding all others .

Good workes .

THey that be old and ancient , ought to praise their good workes rather than their white haires : for honor ought to be giuen for the good life , and not for the white head .

To praise vertuous workes we greatly desire , Praise but not practise . but to put them in vre we are very slow .

If I haue committed any euill , it is impossible to find any that will do me good : but if I haue done well , no man shall be able to do me wrong .

Men are not bound to iudge others by the good nature they haue , but by the good and euill workes which they do .

That man is perfite who in his own opinion deserueth not that he hath , and in the opinion of an other deserueth much more than that he possesseth .

The vertuous ought to conforme their works to that they say , Saying and doing should be maried without deuorce . and publish their words with their deeds .

There is nothing more infamous than to presume to be wise , and desirous to be counted vertuous : chiefly , for him that speaketh much , and worketh little .

Our euil worke sufficeth to deface many good works .

The world and worldly prosperitie .

THe prosperous estate whereupon the children of vanitie are set , are founded of quicke sande , in that sort that be they neuer so valiant , prosperous and mightie , a little blast of wind doth stirre them , a litle calme of prosperitie doth open them , & sodenly death doth confound them .

Men seeing that they cannot be perpetual , do procure to continue themselues in raising vp proud buildings , & leauing to their children great estates , wherin I account them fooles no lesse than in things superfluous . Admit the pillars be of gold , the beames of siluer , & that those that ioyne them be kings , and those which build them are nobles , in which they consume a thousand yeers before they can haue it out of the ground , or come to the bottom ; I sweare they shall find no steadie rocke where they may build their house sure , not cause their memory to be perpetuall .

If men knew the world with his deceit , why doe they serue him , if they do not , why do they follow him .

The world hath this condition , The world full of deceits . to hide much copper vnder a litle gold ; vnder the color of one truth he telleth vs a thousand lies , and with one short pleasure he mingleth ten thousand and displeasures .

Would ye not take the thiefe for a foole that would buy the rope wherewith he should be hanged : and the murtherer the sword wherwith he should be beheaded : and the traitor that should offer himselfe in place for to be quartered : the rebell that should disclose himselfe to be stoned : than are they I sweare more fooles that know the world and will follow it .

The ancients in times past did striue which of them could furnish most men ; Our ancestors riches . haue most weapons ; and keep most horses : but now a days they contend who hath the finest wit ; who can heape vp greatest treasure ; and who can keep most sheep . They striued who should keep most men , but in these days who can haue most reuenues .

Now it is so , that one hauing mony to buy a lordship , immediately he is made a knight ; and when he is made knight , it is not to fight against the enimies in the field ; but more freely to commit vices , and oppresse the poore at home .

What profiteth vs to desire much , to procure much , to attaine to much sith our days are so briefe , and our person so fraile .

Men are deceiued that thinke that temporall goods shall remaine with them during life .

I see no greater mishaps to fall to any , than vnto them which haue the greatest riches : so that we may boldly say , that he alone which is shut in the graue , is in safegard from the inconstancie of fortune .

The earth is cold and drie ; A description of the foure elements . the water cold and moist ; the aire hote and moist ; the fire hote and dry .

The wicked world is the euill life of the worldlings , where the earth is the desire ; fire the couetice ; water the inconstancie ; aire the folly ; the stones are the pride ; the flowers of trees the thoughts ; the deep sea the hart .

The worldlings and their worldly liues , are called the world : for sinnes they be called the seruants of sinne , & must be subiects of the deuill .

Pride , auarice , enuie , blasphemie , pleasures , lecherie , negligence , gluttonie , ire , malice , vanitie , and folly : this is the world against which we fight all the days of our life ; and where the good are princes of vices , and vices are lords of the vicious .

This world is our cruell enimie : A description of the world . A deceitfull friend that always keepeth vs in trauell , and taketh from vs our rest , he robbeth vs of our treasure , and maketh himselfe to be feared of the good , and is greatly beloued of the euill . It is that which of the goods of others is prodigal ; of his own very miserable ; the inuenter of all vices ; and the scourge of all vertues : it is he which entertaineth all his in flattery and faire speach ; bringeth men to dissolution ; robbeth the renowme of those that be dead ; and sacketh the good name of those that be aliue . This cursed world is he which to all ought to render acccount , and of whom none dare to aske account .

He should beare false witnes that would say : that in this world there is any thing assured , healthfull , & true : as he that would say in heauen there is any thing vnconstant , variable , or false .

I maruell not though the worldlings at euery moment be deceiued , since superficiously they behold the world with their eies , and loue it profoundly with their harts , ( but if they desired as profoundly ) to consider it as they do vainely follow it , they should see very plainly that the world did not flatter them with prosperitie , but threaten them with aduersitie ; fo that vnder the greatest point of the Die which is the sise , is hid the least which is the ase .

The world is of such a condition , that if he let vs rest our first sleep , that commonly ere the morning , yea somtimes within an hower after , he waketh vs with a new care .

Suppose that the world doth honor you much , Deceit of the world . flatter you much , visite you oft , offer you great treasures , and giue you much : yet it is not bicause he will giue you litle and little , but that afterwards he might take it all from you in one day : for it is the custome of the world , that those men which aboue all men are set before , now at a turne they are farthest behind .

O filthie world , that when thou doest receiue vs , thou doest cast vs off ; when thou doest assemble vs , thou doest separate vs ; when thou seemest to reioice vs , thou makest vs sad ; when thou pleasest vs , how quickly thou doest displease vs ; when thou exaltest vs , how thou humblest vs ; and when thou doest chastise vs , how thou doest reioyce .

As men be diuers in gestures , The world a Cater for all kind of people . so are they much more variable in their appetites : & sith the world hath experience in many yeeres , it hath appetites prepared for all kind of people : for the presumptuous he procureth honors ; to the auaricious , he procureth riches ; and to those which are gluttons , he presenteth diuers meats ; the carnall he blindeth with women ; the negligent , he feedeth with rest ; and thus he doth baite them as fish , and in the end will catch them in the nets of all vices .

If at the first temptations we had resisted the world , it were impossible that so oftentimes it durst assault vs , for of our small resistance , commeth his so great boldnes .

The world hath made vs now so ready to his law , In seruing the world we are made changelings . that from one hower to another it changeth the whole estate of our life : so that to day he maketh vs hath that which yesterday we loued : he causeth vs to complaine of that which we commended : he maketh vs to be offended with that which before we did desire : and to account those our mortall enimies , which before we accepted as our speciall friends .

If he did giue any perfect or certain thing , we were the rather to serue him : but he giueth them with such condition , that they shall render it to him againe , when he shall demaund it , and not at the discretion of him that doth possesse it .

The world hath no good thing to giue vs , but only by lending or by vsurie : if it be by vsurie , there is no gaine of money , but rather returne with restitution of vices : if ye aske whether he hath any vertuous thing in his gouernance , he will answer that he doth sell such merchandise in his shop , and therefore cannot giue that which he hath not for himself .

If ye exchange any thing with it , he is so subtile to sel , and so curious to buy , that that which he taketh shall be of great measure , and that which he selleth shall want waight .

They which are in prosperitie haue no lesse neede of good counsell , than the vnhappy hath of remedy .

When euery man thinketh he hath made peace with fortune , than she hath a new demaund ready forged .

Man being born in the world ; nourished in the world ; liuing in the world ; being a child of the world ; & folowing the world ; what is man to hope for of the world , but things of the world ?

Man alone thinketh to eate the flesh without bones ; to giue battell without perill ; to trauell without pain , & saile by the seas without danger : but it is impossible for mortal men to liue in the world vnlesse they wil become subiects to the sorowes of the world .

We are now come to so great folly , that we forget and will not serue God that created vs , nor abstaine from the world that persecuteth vs .

O filthy world how far art thou from iust ; and howe far ought they to be from thee which desire to be iust , for naturally thou art a friend of nouelties and an enimie of vertues .

How much do we put our trust in fortune ; how lewdly do we passe our dais ; how much blinded in the world ; yet for all that we giue him so much credit , as though he had neuer deceiued vs .

The world is an embassador of the euill , and a scourge of the good ; a nurse to vices ; and a tyrant to vertues ; a breaker of peace ; a maintainer of war ; a table of gluttons ; and a fornace of concupiscence ; it is the danger of Charybdis where the harts do perish , and the perill of Scylla where the harts do waste .

The men that are borne of women are so euill a generation , and so cruell is the worlde wherein we liue , and fortune so empoisoned with whom we frequent , that we cannot escape without being spurned with his feete ; bitten with his teeth ; torne with his nailes ; or empoisoned with his venime .

If a stranger or neighbor yea our proper brother doe enuie vs , Note . we will neuer pardon him though he earnestly request it , yet cease we not to follow the world , though he continually persecute vs , thus we see that we drawe our swords against flies , and will kill the Elephants with needles .

Some I see which willingly fall ; Note . and some which would recouer themselues . I finde that all do complaine but few that will amend .

Riches , youth , pride , and libertie , are fowre plagues which poison princes , replenish the common wealth with filth , kill the liuing , and defame the dead .

How vnhappie are they which are in prosperitie , for iustly they that be set vp in high estate cannot flee from the peril of Scilla , without falling into the danger of Charybdis .

O miserable world , thou art a sepulchre of the dead ; a prison of the liuing ; a shop of vices ; a hangman of vertues ; an obliuion of antiquitie ; an enimie of things present ; a snare of the rich ; a burthen to the poore ; a house of pilgrims ; and a den of theeues .

O world , thou art a slanderer of the good ; a rauener of the wicked ; a deceiuer ; and an abuser of ail ; and to speak the truth , it is impossible to liue contented , much lesse to liue in honor , in the which is most to be lamented , either the euil man aduanced without desart , or the good man ouerthrowen without cause .

The tokens of a valiant captaine are wounds of weapons : and the signe of a studious person is the despising of the world .

Not those that haue most knowledge , Riches ruleth . but those that haue most riches in the common welth do command , I doubt whether the diuine power hath depriued them , or that the wordly malice hath lost the taste of them .

O world , world , I know not how to escape thy hands , not howe the simple men and idiot defendeth himselfe out of thy snares , when the sage and wise men withall their wisedome can scarsely set their foote sure on earth , for al that the wise men know , is little enough to defend them from the wicked .

He onely passeth without trauell the dangers of life , which banisheth from him the thought of the temporal goods of this world .

The traiterous world in no one thing beguileth the worldly so much as by feeding them with vain hope , saieng , that they shall haue time enough to be vertuous .

The more the world encreaseth in yeeres , The elder the world is , the worse are the people . so much the more it is loden with vices .

The world hath alwaies bin in contention , and rest hath alwaies bin banished : for if some sigh for peace , others be as desirous of wars .

O world for that thou art the world , so small is our force , and so great is our debilitie , that thou willing it , & we not resisting it , thou dost swallow vs vp in the most perilous gulfe , and in the thornes most sharpe , thou dost pricke vs , by the priuie waies thou dost leade vs , and by the most stonie waies thou cariest vs , thou bringest vs to the highest fauorers , to the ende that afterward with a push of thy pike thou mightest ouerthrow vs .

What , Burden . I thinke I haue somewhat in the world , I finde that all that I haue is but a burthen .

I haue prooued all the vices of the world for no other intent but to prooue if there be any thing wherin mens malice might be satisfied ; All worldly vices . and in proouing I finde , that the more I eate the more I hunger ; the more I drinke the greater I thirst ; the more I rest the more I am broken ; the more I sleepe the more drowsie I am ; the more I haue , the more I couet ; the more I desire the more I am tormented ; the more I procure the lesse I obtaine ; finally , I neuer had so great paine through want , but afterward I had more trouble with excesse .

Pretie saiengs in common places .

THou art such a one as neuer deserued that one should begin to loue , Commendation . or ende to hate .

How much the noble harts do reioice in giuing to other , A good nature . so much they are ashamed to take seruice vnrewarded , for in giuing they become lords , and in taking they become slaues .

The rashnes of youth is restrained with the raines of reason . Reason ruleth .

Although we be wise , Frailtie of man . we leaue not therefore to be men , dost not thou know that all that euer we learne in our life , sufficeth not to gouerne the flesh in one houre ?

I am sorie to see thee cast away : To him that is ouercome with anie follie . and it greeueth me to see thee drowned in so small a water .

A brother in words , and a cosen in works .

I rest betweene the sailes of feare , and anker of hope .

Though we praise one for valiantnes with the sword , Diuersities of gifts . we will not praise him therfore for excellencie with the pen ; although he be excellent with the pen , he is not therefore excellent with the toong ; though he haue a good toong , he is not therefore well learned ; & though he be learned , he hath not therefore good renowme ; and though he haue good renowme , he is not therefore of a good life ; for we are bound to receiue the doctrines of many which do write , but we are not bound to followe the liues which they lead .

When a father passeth out of this present life , and leaueth behinde him a childe being his heire , they cannot say to him that he dieth ; but that he waxeth yoong in his childe , The father dieng , waxeth yoong in his childe . bicause the childe doth inherite the flesh , the goods , and memory of the father .

The desires of yoong men are so variable , Youthly desires . that they daily haue new inuentions .

Men that reade much and worke little ; Teachers and not followers . are as bels which do sounde to call others , and they themselues neuer enter into the church .

It is an olde saieng , A iuell nothing woorth to the ignorant . that a pretious iuell is little regarded , when he that hath it knoweth not the value of it .

FINIS .