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The Boke named The Governour

Book I. | Book II. | Book III. | Glossary

Sir Thomas Elyot

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Note on the e-text: this Renascence Editions text is provided by Ben Ross Schneider, Jr., Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin (from the Dutton/Dent edition). It is in the public domain. Content unique to this presentation is copyright © 1998 The University of Oregon. For nonprofit and educational uses only. Send comments and corrections to the Publisher.

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The Boke named The Governour

Devised by Sir Thomas Elyot, Knight

LONDON: Published by J. M. Dent & Co

And in New York by E. P. Dutton & Co

 

THE TABLE OF THE FIRSTE BOKE OF THE GOUERNOUR.

I. The significacion of a publike weale, and why it is called in latyne Respublica II. That one souaraigne gouernour ought to be in a Publike weale, and what damage hath hapned by lackyng one soueraygne gouernour. III. That in a publyke weale oughte to be inferior gouernours called magistratis IV. The education or fourme of bryngynge up the chylde of a gentilman, which is to haue auctorite in the publike weale V. The ordre of lernynge before the child cometh to thage of vii yeres VI. Whan a Tutour should be Prouided, and what shall appertaine to his office VII. In what wyse musike may be to a noble man necessary VIII. That it is commendable in a gentilman to paynte or carue exactely, if nature do therto induce hym IX. What exact diligence shulde be in chosinge of maisters X. What order shulde be in lerninge and which autours shulde be first radde XI. The mooste necessarie studies succedynge the lesson of Poetes XII. Why gentyllmen in this present time be nat equall in doctrine to the auncient noble men XIII. The seconde and thirde decaye of lerninge XIV. Howe the studentes in the lawes of this realme may take excellent commoditie by the lessons of sondry doctrines XV. The causes why in Englande be fewe perfecte schole maisters XVI. Of sondrye fourmes of exercise necessarye for a gentilman XVII. Exercises whereof cometh both recreation and Profite XVIII. The auncient huntyng of Greekes Romanoe and Persianes XIX. That all daunsinge is nat to be reproued XX. The fyrst begynnyng of daunsyng and the olde estimation therof XXI. Wherefore in the good ordre of daunsynge a man and a woman do daunse together XXII. How daunsing may be an introduction into the fyrst morall vertue, called Prudence XXIII. Of Prouidence and industrie XXIV. Of Circumspection XXV. Of election, experience, and modestie XXVI. of other exercyses whiche, moderately used, be to euery astate of man expedient XXVII. That shotyng in a longe bowe is Principall of all other exercises

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The Proheme of Thomas Elyot, knyghte, unto the most noble and
victorious prince kinge Henry the eyght, kyng of Englande and Fraunce,
defender, of the true faythe, and lorde of Irelande.

  LATE consideringe (moste excellent prince and myne onely redoughted soueraigne lorde) my duetie that I owe to my naturall contray with my faythe also of aliegeaunce and othe, wherewith I am double bounden unto your maiestie, more ouer thaccompt that I haue to rendre for that one litle talent deliuered to me to employe (as I suppose) to the increase of vertue, I am (as god iuge me) violently stered to deuulgate or sette fourth some part of my studie, trustynge therby tacquite me of my dueties to god, your hyghnesse, and this my contray. Wherfore takinge comfort and boldenesse, partly of your graces moste beneuolent inclination towarde the uniuersall weale of your subiectes, partly inflamed with zele, I haue nowe enterprised to describe in our vulgare tunge the fourme of a iuste publike weale: whiche mater I haue gathered as well moste noble autours (grekes and latynes) as by myne owne experience, I beinge continually trayned in some dayly affaires of the publike weale of this your moste noble realme all mooste from my chyldhode. Whiche attemptate is nat of presumption to teache any persone, I my selfe hauinge moste nede of teachinge: but only to the intent that men which which wil be studious about the weale publike may fynde the thinge therto expedient compendiously writen. And for as moch as this present boke treateth of the education of them that hereafter may be demed worthy to be gouernours of the publike weale under your hyghnesse (whiche Plato affirmeth to be the firste and chiefe parte of a publyke weale; Salomon sayenge also where gouernours be nat the people shall falle in to ruyne), I therfore haue named it The Gouernour, and do nowe dedicate it unto your hyghnesse as the fyrste frutes of my studye, verely trustynge that your moste excellent wysedome wyll therein esteme my loyall harte and diligent endeuour by the example of Artaxerxes, the noble kynge of Persia, who rejected nat the pore husbondman whiche offred to hym his homely handes full of clene water, but mooste graciously receyued it with thankes, estemynge the present nat after the value but rather to the wyll of the gyuer. Semblably kynge Alexander retayned with hym the poete Cherilus honorably for writing his historie, all though that the poete was but of a small estimation. Whiche that prynce dyd not for lacke of jugement, he beynge of excellent lernynge as disciple to Aristotell, but to thentent that his liberalite emploied on Cherilus shulde animate or gyue courage to others moche better terned to contende with hym in a semblable enterpryse.

And if, moste vertuous prince, I may perceyue your hyghnes to be herewith pleased, I shall sone after (god giuing me quietenes) present your grace with the residue of my studie and labours, wherein your hyghnes shal well perceiue that I nothing esteme so moche in this worlde as youre royall astate, (my most dere soueraigne lorde), and the publike weale of my contray. Protestinge unto your excellent maiestie that where I commende herin any one vertue or dispraise any one vice I meane the generall description of thone and thother without any other particuler meanynge to the reproche of any one persone. To the whiche protestation I am nowe dryuen throughe the malignite of this present tyme all disposed to malicious detraction. Wherfore I mooste humbly beseche your hyghnes to dayne to be patrone and defendour of this little warke agayne the assaultes of maligne interpretours whiche fayle nat to rente and deface the renoume of wryters, they them selfes beinge in nothinge to the publike weale profitable. Whiche is by no man sooner perceyued than by your highnes, beinge bothe in wysedome and very nobilitie equall to the most excellent princes, whome, I beseche god, ye may surmount in longe life and perfect felicitie Amen.

 

THE FIRSTE BOKE

I. The significacion of a Publike Weale, and why it is called in latin Respublica.

PUBLIKE weale is in sondry wyse defined by philosophers, but knowyng by experience that the often repetition of anything of graue or sad importance wyll be tedious to the reders of this warke, who perchance for the more part haue nat ben trayned in lerning contaynynge semblable matter: I haue compiled one definition out of many, in as compendious fourme, as my poure witte can deuise: trustyng that in those fewe wordes the trewe signification of a publike weale shall euidently at) ere, to them whom reason can satisfie.

A publik weale is a body lyuyng, compacte or made of sondry astates and degrees of men, whiche is disposed by the ordre of equite and gouerned by the rule and moderation of reason. In the latin tonge it is called Respublica, of the whiche the worde Res hath diuers significations, and dothe nat only betoken that, that is called a thynge, whiche is distincte from a persone, but also signifieth astate, condition, substance, and profite. In our olde vulgare, profite is called weale. And it is called a welthy contraye wherin is all thyng that is profitable. And he is a welthy man that is riche in money and substance. Publike (as Varro saith) is diriuied of people, whiche in latin is called Populus, wherfore hit semeth that men haue ben longe abused in calling Rempublieam a commune weale. And they which do suppose it so to be called for that, that euery thinge shulde be to all men in commune without discrepance of any astate or condition, be thereto moued nore by sensualite than by any good reason or inclination to humanite. And that shall sone appere unto them that wyll be satisfied either with autorite or with naturall ordre and example. Fyrst, the propre and trewe signification of the wordes publike and commune, whiche be borowed of the latin tonge for the insufficiencie of our owne langage, shal sufficiently declare the blyndenes of them whiche haue hitherto holden and maynteyned the sayde opinions. As I haue sayde, publike toke his begynnyng of people: whiche in latin is Populus, in whiche worde is conteyned all the inhabitantes of a realme or citie, of what astate condition so euer they be.

Plebs in englisshe is called the communaltie, which signifieth only the multitude, wherin be contayned the base and vulgare inhabitantes not auanced to any honour or dignite, whiche is also used in our dayly communication - for in the citie of London and other cities they that be none aldermen or sheriffes be called communers: And in the countrey, at a cessions or other assembly, if no gentyl men be there at, the sayenge is that there was none but the communalte, whiche proueth in myn oppinion that Plebs in latin is in englisshe communaltie: and Plebeii be communers. And consequently there may appere lyke diuersitie to be in englisshe betwene a publike weale and a commune weale, as shulde be in latin betwene Res publica and Res plebeia. And after that signification, if there shuld be a commune weale, either the communers only must be welthy, and the gentil and noble men nedy and miserable, orels excluding gentilite, al men must be of one degre and sort, and a new name prouided. For as moche as Plebs in latin, and comminers in englisshe, be wordes only made for the discrepance of degrees, wherof procedeth ordre: whiche in thinges as wel naturall as supernaturall hath euer had suche a preeminence, that therby the incomprehensible maiestie of god, as it were by a bright leme of a torche or candel, is declared to the blynde inhabitantes of this worlde. More ouer take away ordre from all thynges what shulde than remayne? Certes nothynge finally, except some man wolde imagine eftsones Chaos: whiche of some is expounde a confuse mixture. Also where there is any lacke of ordre nedes must be perpetuall conflicte: and in thynges subiecte to Nature nothynge of hym selfe onely may be norisshed; but whan he hath distroyed that where with he dothe participate by the ordre of his creation, he hym selfe of necessite muste than perisshe, wherof ensuethe uniuersall dissolution.

But nowe to proue, by example of those thynges that be within the compasse of mannes knowlege, of what estimation ordre is, nat onely amonge men but also with god, all be it his wisedome, bounte, and magnificence can be with no tonge or penne sufficiently expressed. Hath nat he set degrees and astates in all his glorious warkes?

Fyrst in his heuenly ministres, whom, as the churchs affirme, he hath constituted to be in diuers degrees called hierarches.

Also Christe saithe by his euangelist that in the house of his father (which is god) be many mansions. But to treate of that whiche by naturall understandyng may be comprehended. Beholde the foure elementes wherof the body of man is compacte, howe they be set in their places called spheris, higher or lower, accordynge to the soueraintie of theyr natures, that is to saye, the fyer the most pure element, having in it nothing that is corruptible, in his place is higheste and aboue other elementes. The ayer, whiche next to the fyre is most pure in substance, is in the seconde sphere or place. The water, whiche is somewhat consolidate, and approcheth to corruption, is next unto the erthe. The erthe, whiche is of substance grosse and ponderous, is set of all elementes most lowest.

Beholde also the ordre that god hath put generally in al his creatures, begynnyng at the moste inferiour or base, and assendynge upwarde: he made not only herbes to garnisshe the erthe, but also trees of a more eminent stature than herbes, and yet in the one and the other be degrees of qualitees; some pleasant to beholde, some delicate or good in taste, other holsome and medicinable, some commodious and necessary. Semblably in byrdes, bestis and fisshes, some be good for the sustinance of man, some beare thynges profitable to sondry uses, other be apte to occupation and labour; in diuerse is strength and fiersenes only; in many is both strength and commoditie; some other serue for pleasure; none of them hath all these qualities; fewe aue the more part or many, specially beautie, strength, and profite. But where any is founde that hath many of the said propreties, he is more set by than all the other, and by that estimation the ordre of his place and degree euidentlye apperethe; so that euery kinde of trees, herbes, birdes, beastis, and fisshes, besyde theyr diuersitie of fourmes, haue (as who sayth) a peculiar disposition appropered unto them by god theyr creatour: so that in euery thyng is ordre, and without ordre may be nothing stable or permanent; and it may nat be called ordre, excepte it do contayne in it degrees, high and base, accordynge to the merite or estimation of the thyng that is ordred.

Nowe to retourne to the astate of man kynde, for whose use all the sayd creatures were ordained of god, and also excelleth them all by prerogatife of knowlege and wisedome, hit semeth that in hym shulde be no lasse prouidence of god declared than in the inferiour creatures; but rather with a more perfecte ordre and dissposition. And therfore hit appereth that god giveth nat to euery man like gyftes of grace or of nature but to some more, some lesse as it liketh his divine maiestie.

Ne they be nat in commune, (as fantasticall foles wolde haue all thyngs), nor one man hath nat al vertues and good qualities. Nat withstandyng for as moche as understandyng is the most excellent gyft that man can receiue in his creation, whereby he doth approche most nyghe unto the similitude of god; whiche understandynge is the principall parte of the soule: it is therfore congruent, and accordynge that as one excelleth an other in that influence, as therby beinge next to the similitude of his maker, so shulde the astate of his person be auanced in degree or place where understanding may profite: whiche is also distributed in to sondry uses, faculties, and offices necessary for the lyuing and gouernance of mankynde. And like as the angels whiche be most feruent in contemplation be highest exalted in glorie, (after the opinion of holy doctours), and also the fire whiche is the most pure of elementes, and also doth clarifie the other inferiour elementes, is deputed to the highest sphere or place; so in this worlde, they whiche excelle other in this influence of understandynge, and do imploye it to the detaynyng of other within the boundes of reason, and shewe them howe to prouyde for theyr necessarye lyuynge; suche oughte to be set in a more highe place than the residue where they may se and also be sene; that by the beames of theyr excellent witte, shewed throughe the glasse of auctorite, other of inferiour understandynge maybe directed to the way of vertue and commodious liuynge. And unto men of such vertue by very equitie appertaineth honour, as theyr iuste rewarde and duetie, whiche by other mennes labours must also be mainteined according to their merites. For as moche as the saide persones, excelling in knowlege wherby other be gouerned, be ministers for the only profite and commoditie of them whiche haue nat equall understandyng: where they whiche do exercise artificiall science or corporal] labour, do nat trauayle for theyr superiours onely, but also for theyr owne necessitie. So the husbande man fedethe hym selfe and the clothe maker: the clothe maker apparayleth hym selfe and the husbande they both socour other artificers: other artificers them: they and other artificers them that be gouernours. But they that be gouernours (as I before sayde) nothinge do acquire by the sayde influence of knowlege for theyr owne necessities, but do imploye all the powers of theyr wittes, and theyr diligence, to the only preseruation of other theyr inferiours: amonge whiche inferiours also behoueth to be a disposition and ordre accordynge to reason, that is to saye, that the slouthfull or idell persone do nat participate with hym that is industrious and taketh payne: whereby the frutes of his labours shulde be diminisshed: wherin shulde be none equalite, but therof shulde procede discourage, and finally disolution for lacke of prouision. Wherfore it can none other wyse stande with reason, but that the astate of the persone in preeminence of lyuynge shulde be estemed with his understandyng, labour, and policie: where unto muste be added an augmentation of honour and substaunce; whiche nat onely impressethe a reuerence, wherof procedethe a due obedience amonge subiectes, but also inflameth men naturally inclined to idelnes or sensuall appetite to coueyte lyke fortune, and for that cause to dispose them to studie or occupation. Nowe to conclude my fyrst assertion or argument, where all thynge is commune, there lacketh ordre; and where ordre lacketh, there all thynge is odiouse and uncomly. And that have we in daily experience; for the pannes and pottes garnissheth wel the ketchyn, and yet shulde they be to the chambre none ornament. Also the beddes, testars, and pillowes besemeth nat the halle, no more than the carpettes and kusshyns becometh the stable. Semblably the potter and tynker, only perfects in theyr crafte, shall littell do in the ministration of iustice. A ploughman or carter shall make but a feble answere to an ambassadour. Also a wayuer or fuller shulde be an unmete capitaine of an armie, or in any other office of a gouernour. Wherfore to conclude, it is only a publike weale, where, like as god hath disposed the saide influence of understandyng, is also appoynted degrees and places according to the excellencie therof; and therto also wold be substance conuenient and necessarye for the ornament of the same, whiche also impresseth a reuerence and due obedience to the vulgare people or communaltie; and with out that, it can be no more said that there is a publike weale, than it may be affirmed that a house, without his propre and necessarye ornamentes, is well and sufficiently furnisshed.

II. That one souraigne gouernour ought to be in a publike weale. And what damage hath happened where a multitude hath had equal authorite without any soueraygne.

LYKE as to a castell or fortresse suffisethe one owner or souerayne, and where any mo be of like power and authoritie seldome cometh the warke to perfection; or beinge all redy made, where the one diligently ouerseeth and the other neglecteth, in that contention all is subuerted and commeth to ruyne. In semblable wyse dothe a publike weale that hath mo chiefe gouernours than one. Example we may take of the grekes, amonge whom in diuers cities weare diuers fourmes of publyke weales gouerned by multitudes: wherin one was most tollerable where the gouernance and rule was alway permitted to them whiche excelled in vertue, and was in the greke tonge called aristocratia, in latin Optimorum Potentia, in englisshe the rule of men of beste disposition, which the Thebanes of longe tyme obserued.

An other publique weale was amonge the Atheniensis, where equalitie was of astate amonge the people, and only by theyr holle consent theyr citie and dominions were gouerned: whiche moughte well be called a monstre with many heedes: nor neuer it was certeyne nor stable: and often tymes they banyssed or slewe the beste citezins whiche by their vertue and wisedome had moste profited to the publike weale. This maner of gouernaunce was called in greke Democratia, in latin Popularis potentia, in englisshe the rule of the comminaltie. Of these two gouernances none of them may be sufficient. For in the fyrste, whiche consisteth of good men, vertue is nat so constant in a multitude, but that some, beinge ones in authoritie, be incensed with glorie: some with ambition: other with coueitise and desire of treasure or possessions: wherby they falle in to contention: and finallye, where any achiuethe the superioritie, the holle gouernance is reduced unto a fewe in nombre, whiche fearinge the multitude and their mutabilitie, to the intent to kepe them in drede to rebelle, ruleth by terrour and crueltie, thinking therby to kepe them selfe in suertie: nat withstanding, rancour coarcted and longe detained in a narowe roume, at the last brasteth out with intollerable violence, and bryngeth al to confusion. For the power that is practized to the hurte of many can nat continue. The populare astate, if it any thing do varie from equalitie of substance or estimation, or that the multitude of people haue ouer moche liberte, of necessite one of these inconueniences muste happen: either tiranny, where he that is to moche in fauour wolde be elevate and suffre none equalite, orels in to the rage of a communaltie, whiche of all rules is moste to be feared. For lyke as the communes, if they fele some seueritie, they do humbly serue and obaye, so where they imbracinge a licence refuse to be brydled, they flynge and plunge: and if they ones throwe downe theyr gouernour, they ordre euery thynge without iustice, only with vengeance and crueltie: and with incomparable difficultie and unneth by any wysedome be pacified and brought agayne in to ordre. Wherfore undoubtedly the best and most sure gouernaunce is by one kynge or prince, whiche ruleth onely for the weale of his people to hym subiecte: and that maner of gouernaunce is beste approued, and hath longest continued, and is moste auncient. For who can denie but that all thynge in heuen and erthe is gouerned by one god, by one perpetuall ordre, by one prouidence? One Sonne ruleth ouer the day, and one Moone ouer the nyghte; and to descende downe to the erthe, in a litell beest, whiche of all other is moste to be maruayled at, I meane the Bee, is lefte to man by nature, as it semeth, a perpetuall figure of a iuste gouernaunce or rule: who hath amonge them one princpall Bee for gouernour, who excelleth all other in greatness yet hath no pricke or sting but in hym is more knowledge than in the residue: For if the day folowyng shall be fayre and drye and that the bees may issue out of theyr stalles without peryll of rayne or vehement wynde, in the mornyng erely he calleth them, makyng a noyse as it were the sowne of a horne or a trumpet; and with that all the residue prepare them to labour, and fleeth abrode, gatheryng nothing but that shall be swete and profitable, all though they sitte often tymes on herbes and other thinges that be venomous and stynkinge.

The capitayne hym selfe laboureth nat for his sustinance, but all the other for hym; he onely seeth that if any drane or other unprofitable bee entreth in to the hyue, and consumethe the hony, gathered by other, that he be immediately expelled from that company. And when there is an other nombre of bees encreased, they semblably haue also a capitayne, whiche be nat suffered to continue with the other. Wherfore this newe company gathered in to a swarme, hauyng their capitayne amonge them, and enuironynge hym to perserue hym from harme, they issue forthe sekyng a newe habitation, whiche they fynde in some tree, except with some pleasant noyse they be alured and conuayed unto an other hyue. I suppose who seriously beholdeth this example, and hath any commendable witte, shall therof gather moche matter to the fourmynge of a publike weale. But because I may nat be longe therin, considerynge my purpose, I wolde that if the reder herof be lerned that he shulde repayre to the Georgikes of Virgile, or to Plini, or Collumella, where he shall fynde the example more ample and better declared. And if any desireth to haue the gouernance of one persone proued by histories, let hym fyrste resorte to the holy scripture: where he shall fynde that almyghty god commanded Moses only, to brynge his elected people out of captiuite, gyuynge onely to hym that authoritie, without appoyntynge to hym any other assistance of equall power or dignitie, excepte in the message to kynge Pharo, wherin Aaron, rather as a ministre than a companyon, wente with Moses. But onely Moses conducted the people through the redde see; he onely gouerned them fourtie yeres in deserte. And bicause Dathan and Abiron disdayned his rule, and coueyted to be equall with hym, the erthe. opened, and fyre issued out, and swalowed them in, with all their holle familie and confederates, to the nombre of 14,700.

And all thoughe Hietro, Moses' father in lawe, counsailed hym to departe his importable labours, in continual iugementes, unto the wise men that were in his company, he nat withstandynge styll retayned the soueraintie by goddis commandement, untyll, a litle before he dyed, he resigned it to Josue, assigned by god to be ruler after hym. Semblably after the deth of Josue, by the space Of 246 yeres, succeded, from tyme to tyme, one ruler amonge the Jewes, whiche was chosen for his excellencie in vertue and speciallye Justice, wherfore he was called the iuge, untill the Israelites desired of almightye god to let them haue a kynge as other people had: who appointed to them Saul to be their kynge who exceded all other in stature. And so successiuely one kynge gouerned all the people of Israell unto the time of Roboaz, sonne of the noble kynge Salomon, who, beinge unlike to his father in wisedome, practised tyranny amonge his people, wherfore ix partes of them which they called Tribus forsoke hym, and elected Hieroboaz, late seruant to Salomon, to be theyr kynge, onely the x parte remaynynge with Roboaz.

And so in that realme were continually two kynges, untill the kynge of Mede had depopulated the countrey, and brought the people in captiuite to the citie of Babylon; so that durynge the tyme that two kinges rayned ouer the iewes was euer continuall bataile amonge them selfes: where if one kynge had alway rayned lyke to Dauid or Solomon of lykelyhode the countrey shuld nat so sone haue ben brought in captiuite.

Also in the tyme of the Machabeis, as longe as they had but one busshop whiche was their ruler, and was in the stede of a prince at that dayes, they valiantly resisted the gentils: and as well the Romanes, then great lordes of the worlde, as Persians and diuers other realmes desired to haue with them amitie and aliaunce: and all the inhabitantes of that countrey liued in great weale and quietnes. But after that by symony and ambition there happened to be two bisshops whiche deuided their authorities, and also the Romanes had deuided the realme of Judea to foure princes called tetrarchas, and also constituted a Romane capitayne or president ouer them: among the heddes there neuer cessed to be sedition and perpetuall discorde: wherby at the last the people was distroyed, and the contray brought to desolation and horrible barrennes.

The Grekes, which were assembled to reuenge the reproche of Menelaus, that he toke of the Trojans by the rauisshing of Helene, his wyfe, dyd nat they by one assent electe Agamemnon to be their emperour or capitain: obeinge him as theyr soueraine duryng the siege of Troy?

All though that they had diuers excellent princes, nat onely equall to hym, but also excelling hym: as in prowes, Achilles, and Aiax Thelemonius: in wisedome, Nestor and Ulisses, and his oune brother Menelaus, to whom they mought haue giuen equall authoritie with Agamemnon: but those wise princes considered that, without a generall capitayne, so many persones as were there of diuers realmes gathered together, shulde be by no meanes well gouerned: wherfore Homere calleth Agamemnon the shepeherde of people. They rather were contented to be under one mannes obedience, than seuerally to use theyr authorities or to ioyne in one power and dignite; wherby at the last shuld have sounded discention amonge the people, they beinge seperately enclined towarde theyr naturall souerayne lorde, as it appered in the particuler contention that was betwene Achilles and Agamemnon for theyr concubines, where Achilles, renouncynge the obedience that he with all other princes had before promised, at the bataile fyrst enterprised agaynst the Trojans. For at that tyme no litell murmur and sedition was meued in the hoste of the grekes, whiche nat withstandyng was wonderfully pacified and the armie unscatered by the maiestie of Agamemnon, ioynynge to hym counsailours Nestor and the witty Ulisses.

But to retourne agayne. Athenes and other cities of Grece, whan they had abandoned kynges, and concluded to lyue as it were in a communaltie, whiche abusifly they called equalitie, howe longe tyme dyd any of them continue in peace? yea what vacation had they from the warres? or what noble man had they whiche auanced the honour and weale of theyr citie, whom they dyd not banisshe or slee in prison? Surely it shall appiere to them that wyll rede Plutarche, or Emilius probus, in the lyues of Milciades, Cimon, Themistocles, Aristides, and diuers other noble and valiant capitaynes which is to longe here to reherce.

In lyke wyse the Romanes, durynge the tyme that they were under kynges, which was by the space of 144 yeres, were well gouerned, nor neuer was amonge them discorde or sedition. But after that by the persuation of Brutus and Colatinus, whose wyfe (Lucretia) was rauysshed by Aruncius, sonne of Tarquine, kynge of Romanes, nat only the saide Tarquine and al his posterite were exiled out of Rome for euer, but also it was finally determined amonge the people, that neuer after they wolde haue a kinge reigne ouer them.

Consequently the communaltie more and more encroched a licence, and at the last compelled the Senate to suffre them to chose yerely amonge them gouernours of theyr owne astate and condition, whom they called Tribunes: under whom they resceyued suche audacitie and power that they finally optained the higheste authoritie in the publike weale, in so moche that often tymes they dyd repele the actes of the Senate, and to those Tribunes mought a man appele from the Senate or any other office or dignite.

But what came therof in conclusion? Surely whan there was any difficulte warre immynent, than were they constrained to electe one soueraine and chiefe of all other, whom they named Dictator, as it were commander, from whom it was not laufull for any man to appele. But bicause there appered to be in hym the pristinate authorite and maiestie of a kyng, they wolde no longer suffre hym to continue in that dignite than by the space of vi. monothes, excepte he then resigned it, and by the consente of the people eftsones dyd resume it. Finally, untill Octauius Augustus had distroyed Anthony, and also Brutus, and finisshed all the Ciuile Warres, (that were so called by cause they were betwene the same selfe Romane citezins) the cite of Rome was neuer longe quiete from factions or seditions amonge the people. And if the nobles of Rome had nat ben men of excellent lernynge, wisedome, and prowesse, and that the Senate, the moste noble counsaile in all the worlde, whiche was fyrste ordayned by Romulus, and encreased by Tullus hostilius, the thyrde kynge of Romanes, had nat continued and with great difficultie retayned theyr authorite, I suppose verily that the citie of Rome had ben utterly desolate sone after the expellyng of Tarquine: and if it had bene eftsones renewed it shulde haue bene twentye tymes distroyed before the tyme that Augustus raigned: so moche discorde was euer in the citie for lacke of one gouernour.

But what nede we to serch e so ferre from us, sens we haue sufficient examples nere unto us? Beholde the astate of Florence and Gene, noble cites of Italy, what calamite haue they both sustained by their owne factions, for lacke of a continuall gouernour. Ferrare and the moste excellent citie of Venise, the one hauyng a duke, the other an erle, seldome suffreth damage excepte it happen by outwarde hostilitie. We have also an example domisticall, whiche is moste necessary to be noted. After that the Saxons by treason had expelled out of Englande the Britons, whiche were the auncient inhabitantes, this realme was deuyded in to sondry regions or kyngdomes. O what mysery was the people than in. O howe this most noble Isle of the worlde was decerpt and rent in pieces: the people pursued and hunted lyke wolfes or other beastes sauage; none industrie auayled, no strength defended, no riches profited. Who wolde than haue desired to haue ben rather a man than a dogge: whan men either with sworde or with hungre perisshed, hauynge no profit or sustinance of their owne corne or catell, whiche by mutuall warre was continually distroyed? yet the dogges, either takynge that that men coulde nat quietly come by, or fedynge on the deed bodies, whiche on euery parte laye scatered plenteously, dyd satisfie theyr hunger.

Where finde ye any good lawes that at that tyme were made and used, or any commendable monument of science or crafte in this realme occupied? suche iniquitie semeth to be than, that by the multitude of soueraigne gouernours all thinges had ben brought to confusion, if the noble kynge Edgar had nat reduced the monarch to his pristinate astate and figure: whiche brought to passe, reason was reuiued, and people came to conformitie, and the realme began to take comforte and to shewe some visage of a publike weale: and so (lauded be god) haue continued: but nat beinge alway in like astate or condition. All be it it is nat to be dispaired, but that the kynge our soueraigne lorde nowe reignyng, and this realme alway hauynge one prince like unto his highnes, equall to the auncient princis in vertue and courage, it shall be reduced (god so disposynge) unto a publike weale excellynge all other in preeminence of vertue and abundance of thynges necessary. But for as moche as I do wel perceiue that to write of the office or duetie of a soueraigne gouernour or prince, farre excedeth the compasse of my lernyng, holy scripture affirmyng that the hartes of princes be in goddes owne handes and disposition, I wyll therfore kepe my penne within the space that is discribed to me by the thre noble maisters, reason, lernynge, and experience; and by theyr enseignement or teachyng I wyll ordinately treate of the two partes of a publike weale, wherof the one shall be named Due Administration, the other Necessary Occupation, whiche shall be deuided in to two volumes. In the fyrste shall be comprehended the beste fourme of education or bringing up of noble children from their natiuitie, in suche maner as they may be founde worthy, and also able to be gouernours of a publike weale. The seconde volume, whiche, god grantyng me quietnes and libertie of mynde, I wyll shortly after sende forthe, it shall conteine all the reminant, whiche I can either by lernyng or experience fynde apt to the perfection of a iuste publike weale: in the whiche I shall so endeuour my selfe, that al men, of what astate or condition so euer they be, shall finde therin occasion to be alway vertuously occupied; and not without pleasure, if they be nat of the scholes of Aristippus or Apicius, of whom the one supposed felicite to be onely in lechery, the other in delicate fedynge and glotony: from whose sharpe talones and cruell tethe, I beseche all gentill reders, to defende these warkes, whiche for theyr commodite is onely compiled.

III. That in a publike weale ought to be inferiour gouernours called Magistrates: whiche shall be appoynted or chosen by the soueraigne gouernour.

THERE be bothe reasones and examples, undoutedly infinite, wherby may be proued, that there can be no perfect publike weale without one capital and soueraigne gouernour whiche may longe endure or continue. But sens one mortall man can nat haue knowlege of all thynges done in a realme or large dominion, and at one tyme, discusse all controuersies, refourme all transgressions, and exploite al consultations, concluded as well for outwarde as inwarde affaires: it is expedient and also nedefull that under the capitall gouernour be sondry meane authorities, as it were aydyng him in the distribution of iustice in sondry partes of a huge multitude: wherby his labours beinge leuigate and made more tollerable, he shall gouerne with the better aduise, and consequently with a more perfect gouernance. And, as Jesus Sirach sayth, The multitude of wise men is the welth of the worlde. They whiche haue suche authorities to them committed may be called inferiour gouernours, hauynge respecte to theyr office or duetie, wherin is also a representation of gouernance. All be it they be named in latine Magistratus. And herafter I intende to call them Magistratis, lackynge a more conuenient worde in englisshe; but I do in the seconde parte of this warke, where I propose to write of theyr sondry offices or ffectes authoritie. But for as moche as in this parte e to write of theyr education and vertue in whiche they haue in commune with princes, in as moche as therby they shall, as well by example as by authoritie, ordre well them, whiche by theyr capitall gouernour shall be to theyr rule committed, I may, without anoyance of any man, name them gouernours at this tyme, apropriatynge, to the soueraignes, names of kynges and princes, sens of a longe custome these names in commune fourme of speakyng be in a higher preeminence and estimation than gouernours. That in euery commune weale ought to be a great nombre of suche maner of persons it is partly proued in the chaptre nexte before writen, where I haue spoken of the commodite of ordre. Also reason and commune experience playnly declareth, that, where the dominion is large and populouse, there is hit convenient that a prince haue many inferiour gouernours, whiche be named of Aristotel his eien, eares, handes, and legges, whiche, if they be of the beste sorte, (as he further more saythe), it semeth impossible a countrey nat to be well gouerned by good lawes. And evcepte [sic] excellent vertue and lernynge do inhabite a man of the base astate of the communaltie, to be thought of all men worthy to be so moche auaunced: els suche gouernours wolde be chosen out of that astate of men whiche be called worshipfull, if amonge them may be founden a sufficient nombre, ornate with vertue and wisedome, mete for suche purpose, and that for sondry causes.

Fyrste it is of good congruence that they, whiche be superiour in condition or hauiour, shulde haue also preeminence in administration, if they be nat inferiour to other in vertue. Also they hauinge of their owne reuenues certeine wherby they haue competent substance to lyue without takyng rewardes: it is lykely that they wyll nat be so desirous of Iucre, (wherof may be engendred corruption), as they whiche haue very litle or nothynge so certeyne.

More ouer where vertue is in a gentyll man, it is commonly mixte with more sufferance, more affabilitie, and myldenes, than for the more parte it is in a persone rural, or of a very base linage; and whan it hapneth other wise, it is to be accompted lothesome and monstruous. Furthermore, where the persone is worshypfull, his gouernaunce, though it be sharpe, is to the people more tollerable, and they therwith the lasse grutch, or be dissobedient. Also suche men, hauyng substance in goodes by certeyne and stable possessions, whiche they may aporcionate to their owne liuynge, and bryngynge up of theyr children in lernyng and vertues, may, (if nature repugne nat), cause them to be so instructed and furnisshed towarde the administration of a publike weale, that a poure mannes sonne, onely by his naturall witte, without other adminiculation or aide, neuer or sledome may atteyne to the semblable. Towarde the whiche instruction I haue, with no litle study and labours, prepared this warke, as almighty god be my iuge, without arrogance or any sparke of vayne glorie: but only to declare the feruent zele that I haue to my countrey, and that I desyre only to employ that poure lerning, that I haue gotten, to the benefite thereof, and to the recreation of all the reders that be of any noble or gentill courage, gyuynge them occasion to eschewe idelnes, beynge occupied in redynge this warke, infarced througly with suche histories and sentences wherby they shal take, they them selfes confessing, no lytell commodite if they will more than ones or twyse rede it. The first reding being to them newe, the seconde delicious, and, euery tyme after, more and more frutefull and excellent profitable.

IV. The education or fourme of bringing up of the childe of a gentilman, which is to haue authoritie in a publike weale.

FOR as moche as all noble authors do conclude, and also commune experience proueth, that where the gouernours of realmes and cities be founden adourned with vertues, and do employ theyr study and mynde to the publike weale, as well to the augmentation therof as to the establysshynge and longe continuaunce of the same: there a publike weale must nedes be both honorable and welthy. To the entent that I wyll declare howe suche personages may be prepared, I will use the policie of a wyse and counnynge gardener: who purposynge to haue in his gardeine a fyne and preciouse herbe, that shulde be to hym and all other repairynge therto, excellently comodiouse or pleasant, he will first serche throughout his gardeyne where he can finde the most melowe and fertile erth: and therin wil he put the sede of the herbe to growe and be norisshed: and in most diligent wise attende that no weede be suffred to growe or aproche nyghe unto it: and to the entent it may thrive the faster, as soone as the fourme of an herbe ones appereth, he will set a vessell of water by hit, in suche wyse that it may continually distille on the rote swete droppes; and as it spryngeth in stalke, under sette it with some thyng that it breake nat, and alway kepe it cleane from weedes. Semblable ordre will I ensue in the fourmynge the gentill wittes of noble mennes children, who, from the wombes of their mother, shal be made propise or apte to the gouernaunce of a publike weale.

Fyrste, they, unto whom the bringing up of suche children apperteineth, oughte, againe the time that their mother shall be of them deliuered, to be sure of a nourise whiche shulde be of no seruile condition or vice notable. For, as some auncient writers do suppose, often times the childe soukethe the vice of his nouryse with the milke of her pappe. And also obserue that she be of mature or ripe age, nat under xx yeres, or aboue xxx, her body also beinge clene from all sikenes or deformite, and hauing her complection most of the right and pure sanguine. For as moche as the milke therof comminge excelleth all other bothe in swetenes and substance. More ouer to the nourise shulde be appointed an other woman of approued vertue, discretion, and grauitie, who shall nat suffre, in the childes presence, to be shewed any acte or tache dishonest, or any wanton or unclene worde to be spoken: and for that cause al men, except physitions only, shulde be excluded and kepte out of the norisery. Perchance some wyll scorne me for that I am so serious, sainge that ther is no suche damage to be fered in an infant, who for tendernes of yeres hath nat the understanding to decerne good from iuell. And yet no man wyll denie, but in that innocency he wyll decerne milke from butter, and breadde from pappe, and er he can speake he wyll with his hande or countenaunce signifie whiche he. desireth. And I verily do suppose that in the braynes and hertes of children, whiche be membres spirituall, whiles they be tender, and the litle slippes of reason begynne in them to burgine, ther may happe by iuel custome some pestiferous dewe of vice to perse the sayde membres, and infecte and corrupt the softe and tender buddes, wherby the frute may growe wylde, and some tyme conteine in it feruent and mortal poyson, the utter destruction of a realme.

And we haue in daily experience that litle infantes assayeth to folowe, nat onely the wordes, but also the faictes and gesture, of them that be prouecte in yeres. For we daylye here, to our great heuines, children swere great othes and speake lasciuious and unclene wordes, by the example of other whom they heare, wherat the leude parentes do reioyce, sone after, or in this worlde, or els where, to theyr great payne and tourment. Contrary wise we beholde some chyldren, knelynge in theyr game before images, and holdyng up theyr lytell whyte handes, do moue theyr praty mouthes, as they were prayeng: other goynge and syngynge as hit were in procession: wherby they do expresse theyr disposition to the imitation of those thynges, be they good or iuell, whiche they usually do se or here. Wherfore nat only princis, but also all other children, from their norises pappes, are to be kepte diligently from the herynge or seynge of any vice or euyl tache. And encontinent as sone as they can speake, it behoueth, with most pleasaunt allurynges, to instill in them swete maners and vertuouse custome. Also to prouide for them suche companions and playfelowes, whiche shal nat do in his presence any reprocheable acte, or speake any uncleane worde or othe, ne to aduaunt hym with flatery, remembrynge his nobilitie, or any other like thyng wherin he mought glory: onlas it be to persuade hym to vertue, or to withdrawe him from vice, in the remembryng to hym the daunger of his euill example. For noble men more greuously offende by theyr example than by their dede. Yet often remembrance to them of their astate may happen to radycate in theyr hartes intollerable pride, the moost daungerous poyson to noblenes: wherfore there is required to be therein moche cautele and sobrenesse.

V. The ordre of lernynge that a noble man shulde be trayned in before he come to thaige of seuen yeres.

Some olde autours holde oppinion that, before the age of seuen yeres, a chylde shulde nat be instructed in letters; but those writers were either grekes or latines, amonge whom all doctrine and sciences were in their maternall tonges; by reason wherof they saued all that longe tyme whiche at this dayes is spente in understandyng perfectly the greke or latyne. Wherfore it requireth nowe a longer tyme to the understandynge of bothe. Therfore that infelicitie of our tyme and countray compelleth us to encroche some what upon the yeres of children, and specially of noble men, that they may sooner attayne to wisedome and grauitie than priuate persones, consideryng, as I haue saide, their charge and example, whiche, above all thinges, is most to be estemed. Nat withstanding, I wolde nat haue them inforced by violence to lerne, but accordynge to the counsaile of Quintilian, to be swetely allured therto with praises and suche praty gyftes as children delite in. And their fyrst letters to be paynted or lymned in a pleasaunt maner: where in children of gentyl courage haue moche delectation. And also there is no better allectyue to noble wyttes than to induce them in to a contention with their inferiour companions: they somtyme purposely suffring the more noble children to vainquysshe, and, as it were, gyuying to them place and soueraintie, thoughe in dede the inferiour chyldren haue more lernyng. But there can be nothyng more conuenient than by litle and litle to trayne and exercise hem in spekyng of latyne: infourmyng them to knowe first the names in latine of all thynges that cometh in syghte, and to name all the partes of theyr bodies: and gyuynge them some what that they couete or desyre, in most gentyl maner to teache them to aske it agayne in latine. And if by this meanes they may be induced understande and speke latine: it shall afterwards be lasse grefe to them, in a maner, to lerne any thing, where they understande the langage wherein it is writen. And, as touchynge grammere, there is at this day better introductions, and more facile, than euer before were made, concernyng as wel greke as latine, if they be wisely chosen. And hit shal be no reproche to a noble man to instruct his owne children, or at the leest wayes to examine them, by the way of daliaunce or solace, considerynge that the emperour Octauius Augustus disdayned nat to rede the warkes of Cicero and Virgile to his children and neuewes. And why shulde nat noble men rather so do, than teache their children howe at dyse and cardes, they may counnyngly lese and consume theyr owne treasure and substaunce? Moreouer teachynge representeth the auctoritie of a prince wherfore Dionyse, kynge of Sicile, whan he was for tyranny expelled by his people, he came in to Italy, and there in a commune schole taught grammer, where with, whan he was of his enemies enbraided, and called a schole maister, he answered them, that al though Sicilians had exiled hym, yet in despite of them all he reigned, notynge therby the authorite that he had ouer his scholers. Also whan hit was of hym demanded what auailed hym Plato or philosophy, wherin he had ben studious, he aunswered that they caused hym to sustaine aduersitie paciently, and made his exile to be more facile and easy: whiche courage and wisdome consydered of his people, they eftsones him unto his realme and astate roiall, where, if he had procured agayne them hostilite or warres, or had returned in to Sicile with any violence, I suppose the people wolde haue alway resysted hym, and haue kepte hym in perpetuall exile: as the romaynes dyd the proude kynge Tarquine, whose sonne rauysshed Lucrece. But to retourne to my purpose, hit shall be expedient that a noble mannes sonne, in his infancie, haue with hym continually onely suche as may accustome hym by litle and litle to speake pure and elegant latin. Semblably the nourises and other women aboute hym, if it be possible, to do the same: or, at the leste way, that they speke none englisshe but that which is cleane, polite, perfectly and articulately pronounced, omittinge no lettre or sillable, as folisshe women often times do of a wantonnesse, wherby diuers noble men and gentilmennes chyldren, (as I do at this daye knowe), haue attained corrupte and foule pronuntiation.

This industry used in fourminge litel infantes, who shalt dought, but that they, (not lackyng naturall witte) shall be apt to receyue lerninge, whan they come to mo yeres? And in this wise maye they be instructed, without any violence or inforsinge: using the more parte of the time, until they come to the age of vii yeres, in suche disportis, as do appertaine to children, wherin is no resemblance or similitude of vice.

VI. At what age a tutour shulde be prouided, and what shall appertaine to his office to do.

AFTER that a childe is come to seuen yeres of age, I holde it expedient that he be taken from the company of women: sauynge that he may haue, one yere, or two at the most, an auncient and sad matrone, attendynge on hym in his chambre, whiche shall nat haue any yonge woman in her company: for though there be no perille of offence in that tender and innocent age, yet, in some children, nature is more prone to vice than to vertue, and in the tender wittes be sparkes of voluptuositie: whiche, norished by any occasion or obiecte, encrease often tymes in to so terrible a fire, that therwith all vertue and reason is consumed. Wherfore, to eschewe that daunger, the most sure counsaile is, to withdrawe him from all company of women, and to assigne unto hym a tutor, whiche shulde be an auncient and worshipfull man, in whom is aproued to be moche gentilnes, mixte with grauitie, and, as nighe as can be, suche one as the childe by imitation folowynge may growe to be excellent. And if he be also lerned, he is the more commendable. Peleus, the father of Achilles, committed the gouernaunce of his sonne to Phenix, which was a straunger borne: who, as well in speakyng elegantly as in doinge valiauntly, was maister to Achilles (as Homere saith). Howe moche profited hit to kynge Philip, father to the great Alexander, that he was deliuered in hostage to the Thebanes? where he was kepte and brought up under the gouernance of Epaminondas, a noble and valiant capitaine: of whom he receiued suche lernynge, as well in actes martiall as in other liberal sciences, that he excelled all other kynges that were before his tyme in Grece, and finally, as well by wisedome as prowes, subdued all that countray. Semblably he ordayned for his sonne Alexander a noble tutor called Leonidas, unto whom, for his wisedome, humanitie, and lernyng, he committed the rule and preeminence ouer all the maisters and seruantes of Alexander. In whom, nat withstandyng, was suche a familier vice whiche Alexander apprehending in childhode coulde neuer abandon: some suppose it to be fury and hastines, other superfluous drinking of wine: whiche of them it were, it is a good warnyng for gentilmen to be the more serious, inserching, nat only for the vertues, but also for the vices of them, unto whose tuition and gouernance they will committe their children.

The office of a tutor is firste to knowe the nature of his pupil, that is to say, wherto he is mooste inclined or disposed, and in what thyng he setteth his most delectation or appetite. If he be of nature curtaise, piteouse, and of a free and liberall harte, it is a principall token of grace, (as hit is by all scripture determined.) Than shall a wyse tutor purposely commende those vertues, extolling also his pupill for hauyng of them; and therewith he shall declare them to be of all men mooste fortunate, whiche shall happen to haue suche a maister. And moreouer shall declare to hym what honour, what loue, what commodite shall happen to him by these vertues. And, if any haue ben of disposition contrary, than to expresse the enormities of theyr vice, with as moche detestation as may be. And if any daunger haue therby ensued, misfortune, or punisshement, to agreue it in suche wyse, with so vehement wordes, as the childe may abhorre it, and feare the semblable aduenture.

VII. In what wise musike may be to a noble man necessarie: and what modestie ought to be therin.

THE discretion of a tutor consisteth in temperance that is to saye, that he suffre nat the childe to be fatigate with continuall studie or lernyng, wherwith the delicate and tender witte may be dulled or oppressed but that there may be there with entrelased and mixte some pleasaunt lernynge and exercise, as playenge on instruments of musike, whiche moderately used and without diminution of honour, that is to say, without wanton countenance and dissolute gesture, is nat to be contemned. For the noble kynge and prophete Dauid, kyng of Israell (whom almighty god said that he had chosen as a man accordinge to his harte or desire) duringe his lyfe, delited in musike: and with the swete harmony that he made on his harpe, he constrayned the iuell spirite that vexed kynge Saul to forsake hym, continuynge the tyme that he harped.

The mooste noble and valiant princis of Grece often tymes, to recreate their spirites, and in augmenting their courage, enbraced instrumentes musicall. So dyd the valiaunt Achilles, (as Homere saith), who after the sharpe and vehement contention, betwene him and Agamemnon, for the taking away of his concubine: wherby he, being set in a fury, hadde slayne Agamemnon, emperour of the grekes armye, had nat Pallas, the goddesse, withdrawen his hande; in which rage he, all inflamed, departed with his people to his owne shippes that lay at rode, intendinge to haue retourned in to his countray; but after that he had taken to hym his harpe, (whereon he had lerned to playe of Chiron the Centaure, which also had taught hym feates of armes, with phisicke, and surgery), and playeng theron, had songen the gestes and actis martial of the auncient princis of Grece, as Hercules, Perseus, Perithous, Theseus, and his cosin Jason, and of diuers other of semblable value and prowesse, he was there with asswaged of his furie, and reduced in to his firste astate of reason: in suche wyse, that in redoubyng his rage, and that thereby shulde nat remayne to him any note of reproche, he retaynyng his fiers and stourdie countenance, so tempered hym selfe in the entertaynement and answerynge the messagers that came to him from the residue of the Grekes, that they, reputing all that his fiers demeanure to be, (as it were), a diuine maiestie, neuer embrayded hym with any inordinate wrathe or furie. And therfore the great kynge Alexander, whan he had vainquisshed Ilion, where some tyme was set the moste noble citie of Troy, beinge demaunded of one if he wold se the harpe of Paris Alexander, who rauisshed Helene, he therat gentilly smilyng, answered that it was nat the thyng that he moche desired, but that he had rather se the harpe of Achilles, wherto he sange, nat the illecebrous dilectations of Venus, but the valiaunt actes and noble affaires of excellent princis.

But in this commendation of musike I wold nat be thought to allure noble men to haue so moche delectation therin, that, in playinge and singynge only, they shulde put their holle studie and felicitie: as dyd the emperour Nero, whiche all a longe somers day wolde sit in the Theatre, (an open place where al the people of Rome behelde solemne actis and playes), and, in the presence of all the noble men and senatours, wolde playe on his harpe and synge without cessynge: And if any man, hapned, by longe sittynge, to slepe, or, by any other countenance, to shewe him selfe to be weary, he was sodaynly bobbed on the face by the seruantes of Nero, for that purpose attendyng: or if any persone were perceiued to be absent, or were sene to laughe at the folye of the emperour, he was forthe with accused, as it were, of missprision: wherby the emperour founde occasion to committe him to prison or to put hym to tortures. O what misery was it to be subiecte to suche a minstrell, in whose musike was no melodye, but anguisshe and dolour?

It were therfore better that no musike were taughte to a noble man, than, by the exacte knowlege therof, he shuld haue therin inordinate delite, and by that be illected to wantonnesse, abandonyng grauitie, and the necessary cure and office, in the publike weale, to him committed. Kynge Philip, whan he harde that his sonne Alexander dyd singe swetely and properly, he rebuked him gentilly, saynge, But, Alexander, be ye nat ashamed that ye can singe so well and connyngly? whereby he mente that the open profession of that crafte was but of a base estimation. And that it suffised a noble man, hauynge therin knowlege, either to use it secretely, for the refreshynge of his witte, whan he hath tyme of solace: orels, only hearynge the contention of noble musiciens, to gyue iugement in the excellencie of their counnynges. These be the causes where unto hauinge regarde, musike is nat onely tollerable but also commendable. For, as Aristotle saith. Musike in the olde time was nombred amonge sciences, or as moche as nature seketh nat onely howe to be in busines well occupied, but also howe in quietnes to be commendably disposed.

And if the childe be of a perfecte inclination and towardnes to vertue, and very aptly disposed to this science, and ripely dothe understande the reason and concordance of tunes, the tutor's office shall be to persuade hym to haue principally in remembrance his astate, whiche maketh hym exempt from the libertie of usinge this science in euery tyme and place: that is to say, that it onely serueth for recreation after tedious or laborious affaires, and to shewe him that a gentilman, plainge or singing in a commune audience, appaireth his estimation: the people forgettinge reuerence, when they beholde him in the similitude of a common seruant or minstrell. Yet, natwithstanding, he shall commende the perfecte understandinge of musike, declaringe howe necessary it is for the better attaynynge the knowlege of a publike weale: whiche, as I before haue saide, is made of an ordre of astates and degrees, and, by reason therof, conteineth in it a perfect harmony: whiche he shall afterwarde more perfectly onderstande, whan he shall happen to rede the bokes of Plato, and Aristotle, of publike weales: wherin be written diuers examples of musike and geometrye. In this fourme may a wise and circumspecte tutor adapte the pleasant science of musike to a necessary and laudable purpose.

VIII. That it is commendable in a gentilman to paintt and kerue exactly, if nature therto doth induce hym.

IF the childe be of nature inclined, (as many haue ben), to paint with a penne, or to fourme images in stone or tree: he shulde nat be therfrom withdrawen, or nature be rebuked, whiche is to hym beniuolent: but puttyng one to him, whiche is in that crafte, wherin he deliteth, moste excellent, in vacant tymes from other more serious lernynge, he shulde be, in the moste pure wise, enstructed in painting or keruinge.

And nowe, perchance, some enuious reder wyll hereof apprehende occasion to scorne me, sayenge that I haue well hyed me, to make of a noble man a mason or peynter. And yet, if either ambition or voluptuouse idelnes wolde haue suffered that reder to haue sene histories, he shuld haue founden excellent princis, as well impayntyng as in keruynge, equall to noble artificers: suche were Claudius, Titus, the sonne of Vaspasian, Hadriane, both Antonines, and diuers other emperours and noble princes: whose warkes of longe tyme remayned in Rome and other cities, in suche places where all men mought beholde them: as monuments of their excellent wittes and vertuous occupation in eschewynge of idelnes. And nat without a necessary cause princis were in their childhode so instructed: for it serued them afterwarde for deuysynge of engynes for the warre: or for making them better that be all redy deuysed. For, as Vitruuius (which writeth of buyldynge to the emperour Augustus) sayth, All turmentes of warre, whiche we cal ordinance, were first inuented by kinges or gouernours of hostes, or if they were deuised by other, they were by them made moche better. Also, by the feate of portraiture or payntyng, a capitaine may discriue the countray of his aduersary, wherby he shall eschue the daungerous passages with his hoste or nauie: also perceyue the placis of aduauntage, the forme of embataylynge of his ennemies: the situation of his campe, for his moste suertie: the strength or weakenes of the towne or fortresse whiche he intendeth to assaulte. And that whiche is moost specially to be considered, in visiting his owne dominions, he shal sette them out in figure, in suche wise that at his eie shal appere to hym where he shall employ his study and treasure, as well for the saulfgarde of his countray, as for the commodite and honour therof, hauyng at al tymes in his sight the suertie and feblenes, aduauncement and hyndrance, of the same. And what pleasure and also utilite is it to a man whiche intendeth to edifie, hymselfe to expresse the figure of the warke that he purposeth, accordyng as he hath conceyued it in his owne fantasie? wherin, by often amendyng and correctyng, he finally shall so perfecte the warke unto his purpose, that there shall neither ensue any repentance, nor in the employment of his money he shall be by other deceiued. More ouer the feate of portraiture shall be an allectiue to euery other studie or exercise. For the witte therto disposed shall alway couaite congruent mater, wherin it may be occupied. And whan he happeneth to rede or here any fable or historie, forthwith he apprehendeth it more desirously, and retaineth it better, than any other that lacketh the sayd feate: by reason that he hath founde mater apte to his fantasie. Finally, euery thinge that portraiture may comprehende will be to him delectable to rede or here. And where the liuely spirite, and that whiche is called the grace of the thyng, is perfectly expressed, that thinge more persuadeth and stereth the beholder, and soner istructeth hym, than the declaration in writynge or speakynge doth the reder or hearer. Experience we haue therof in lernynge of geometry, astronomie, and cosmogrophie, called in englisshe the discription of the worlde. In which studies I dare affirme a man shal more profite, in one wike, by figures and chartis, well and perfectly made, than he shall by the only reding or heryng the rules of that science by the space of halfe a yere at the lest, wherfore the late writers deserue no small commendation whiche added to the autors of those sciences apt and propre figures.

And he that is perfectly instructed in portrayture, and hapneth to rede any noble and excellent historie, wherby his courage is inflamed to the imitation of vertue, he forth with taketh his penne or pensill, and with a graue and substanciall studie, gatherynge to him all the partes of imagination, endeuoureth him selfe to expresse liuely, and (as I mought say) actually, in portrayture, nat only the faict or affaire, but also the sondry affections of euery personage in the historie recited, whiche, mought in any wise appiere or be perceiued in their visage, countenance or gesture: with like diligence as Lysippus made in metall kynge Alexander, fightynge and struggling with a terrible lyon of incomparable magnitude and fiersenesse, whom, after longe and difficulte bataile, with wonderfull strength and clene might, at the last he ouerthrewe and vainquisshed; wherin he so expressed the similitude of Alexander and of his lordes standyng about him that they all semed to lyue. Amonge whom the prowes of Alexander appiered, excelling all other; the residue of his lordes after the value and estimation of their courage, euery man set out in suche forwardnes, as they than semed more prompt to the helpyng of their maister, that is to say, one lasse a ferde than an other. Phidias the Atheniense, whom all writers do commende, made of yuory the simulachre or image of Jupiter, honoured by the gentiles on the high hille of Olympus: whiche was done so excellently that Pandenus, a counnyng painter, therat admaruailinge, required the craftis man to shewe him where he had the example or paterne of so noble a warke. Then Phidias answered that he had taken it out of thre verses of Homere the poet: the sentence wherof ensueth, as well as my poure witte can expresse it in englisshe

Than Jupiter the father of them all
Therto assented with his browes blake,
Shaking his here, and therwith did let fall
A countenance that made al heuen to quake,

where it is to be noted, that immediately before Thetis the mother of Achilles desired Jupiter importunately to inclyne his fauour to the parte of the Troyanes.

Nowe (as I haue before sayde) I intende nat, by these examples, to make of a prince or noble mannes sonne a commune painter or keruer, whiche shall present him selfe openly stained or embrued with sondry colours, or poudered with the duste of stones that he cutteth, or perfumed with tedious sauours of the metalies by him yoten.

But verily myne intente and meaninge is only, that a noble childe, by his own naturall disposition, and nat by coertion, may be induced to receiue perfect instruction in these sciences. But all though, for purposesis before expressed, they shall be necessary, yet shall they nat be by him exercised, but as a secret pastime, or recreation of the wittes, late occupied in serious studies, lyk as dyd the noble princis before named. Al though they, ones beinge attayned be neuer moche exercised, after that the tyme cometh concerning businesse of greatter importaunce. Ne the lesse the exquisite knowlege and understanding that he hath in these sciences, hath impressed in his eares and eies an exacte and perfecte iugement, as well in desernyng the excellencie of them, whiche either in musike, or in statuary, or paynters crafte, professeth any counnynge, as also adaptinge their saide knowlege to the adminiculation of other serious studies and businesse, as I haue before rehersed: whiche, I doubt nat, shall be well approued by them that either haue redde and understande olde autors, or aduisedly wyll examine my considerations.

The swete writer, Lactantius, saythe in his first booke to the emperour Constantine agayne the gentiles: 'Of conninge commeth vertue, and of vertue perfect felicite is onely ingendred.'

And for that cause the gentiles supposed those princis, whiche in vertue and honour surmounted other men, to be goddes. And the Romanes in lyke wise dyd consecrate their emperours, which excelled in vertuous example, in preseruyng, or augmentinge the publike weale, and ampliatinge of the empire, calling them Diui, whiche worde representeth a signification of diuinitie, they thinkynge that it was excedynge mannes nature to be bothe in fortune and goodnes of suche perfection.

IX. What exacte diligence shulde be in chosinge maisters.

AFTER that the childe hathe ben pleasantly trained, and induced to knowe the partes of speche, and can separate one of them from an other, in his owne langage, it shall than be time that his tutor or gouernour do make diligent serche for suche a maister as is exellently lerned both in greke and latine, and therwithall is of sobre and vertuous disposition, specially chast of liuyng, and of moche affabilite and patience: leste by any uncleane example the tender mynde of the childe may be infected, harde afterwarde to be recouered. For the natures of children be nat so moche or sone aduaunced by thinges well done or spoken, as they be hindred and corrupted by that whiche in actis or wordes is wantonly expressed. Also by a cruell and irous maister, the wittes of children be dulled; and that thinge for the whiche children be often tymes beaten is to them euer after fastidious: wherof we nede no better autor for witnes than daily experience. Wherfore the moste necessary thinges to be obserued by a master in his disciples or scholers (as Licon the noble grammarien saide) is shamfastnes and praise. By shamfastnes, as it were with a bridell, they rule as well theyr dedes as their appetites. And desire of prayse addeth to a sharpe spurre to their disposition towarde lernyng and vertue. Accordyng there unto Quintilian, instructyng an oratour, desireth suche a childe to be giuen unto hym, whom commendation feruently stereth, glorie prouoketh, and beinge vainquisshed wepeth. That childe (saithe he) is to be fedde with ambition, hym a litle chiding sore biteth, in hym no parte of slouthe is to be feared. And if nature disposeth nat the childes witte to receiue lernynge, but rather other wise, it is to be applied with more diligence, and also policie, as chesing some boke, wherof the argument or matter approcheth moste nighe to the childes inclination or fantasie, so that it be nat extremely vicious, and therwith by litle and litle, as it were with a pleasant sauce, prouoke him to haue good appetite to studie. And surely that childe, what so euer he be, is well blessed and fortunate, that findeth a good instructour or maister: whiche was considered by noble kynge Philip, father to the great king Alexander, who immediately after that his sonne was borne wrote a letter to Aristotle, the prince of philosophers, the tenour herof ensueth.

Aristotle, we grete you well. Lettinge you weete that we haue a sonne borne, for the whiche we gyue due thankes unto god, nat for that he is borne onely, but so for as moche as it happeneth hym to be borne, you yuinge. Trusting that it shall hapen that he, by you taught and instructed, shall be herafter worthye to be named our sonne, and to enioy the honour and substance that we nowe haue prouided. Thus fare ye well.

The same Alexander was wont to say openly, that he ought to gyue as great thankes to Aristotle his mayster as to kynge Philip his father, for of hym he toke the occasion to lyue, of the other he receiued the reason and waye to lyue well. And what maner a prince Alexander was made by the doctrine of Aristotle, hit shall appere in diuers places of this boke: where his example to princes shall be declared. The incomparable benefite of maisters haue ben well remembred of dyuers princes. In so moche as Marcus Antoninus, whiche amonge the emperours was commended for his vertue and sapience, hadde his mayster Proculus (who taught hym grammer) so moche in fauour, that he aduanced hym to be proconsul: whiche was one of the highest dignites amonge the Romanes.

Alexander the emperour caused his maister Julius Fronto to be consul: whiche was the highest office, and in astate nexte the emperour: and also optayned of the senate that the statue or image of Fronto was sette up amonge the noble princes.

What caused Traiane to be so good a prince, in so moche that of late dayes whan an emperour receyued his crowne at Rome, the people with a commune crye desired of god that he mought be as good as was Traiane, but that he hapned to haue Plutarche, the noble philosopher, to be his instructour? I agre me that some be good of natural inclination to goodnes: but where good instruction and example is there to added, the naturall goodnes must there with nedes be amended and be more excellent.

X. What ordre shulde be in lernynge and whiche autours shulde be fyrst redde.

Nowe lette us retourne to, the ordre of lernyng apt for a gentyll man. Wherein I am of the opinion of Quintilian that I wolde haue hym lerne greke and latine autors<35> both at one time: orels to begyn with greke, for as moche as that it is hardest to come by: by reason of the diuersite of tonges, which be fyue in nombre: and all must be knowen, or elles uneth any poet can be well understande. And if a childe do begyn therin at seuen yeres of age, he may continually lerne greke autours; thre yeres, and in the meane tyme use the latin tonge as a familiar langage: whiche in a noble mannes sonne may well come to passe, hauynge none other persons to serue him or kepyng hym company, but suche as can speake latine elegantly. And what doubt is there but so may he as sone speake good latin, as he maye do pure frenche, whiche nowe is broughte in to as many rules and figures, and as longe a grammar as is latine or greke. I wyll nat contende who, amonge them that do write grammers of greke, (whiche nowe all most be innumerable) is the beste: but that I referre to the discretion of a wyse mayster. Alway I wolde aduyse hym nat to detayne the childe to longe in that tedious laboure, eyther in the greke or latyne grammer. For a gentyll wytte is there with sone fatigate.

Grammer beinge but an introduction to the understanding of autors, if it be made to longe or exquisite to the lerner, hit in a maner mortifieth his corage: And by that time he cometh to the most swete and pleasant redinge of olde autours, the sparkes of feruent desire of lernynge is extincte with the burdone of grammer, lyke as a lyttel fyre is sone quenched with a great heape of small stickes: so that it can neuer come to the principall logges where it shuld longe bourne in a great pleasaunt fire.

Nowe to folowe my purpose: after a fewe and quicke rules of grammer, immediately, or interlasynge hit therwith, wolde be redde to the childe Esopes_fables in greke: in whiche argument children moche do delite. And surely it is a moche pleasant lesson and also profitable, as well for that it is elegant and brefe, (and nat withstanding it hath moche varietie in wordes, and therwith moche helpeth to the understandinge of greke) as also in those fables is included moche morall and politike wisedome. Wherfore, in the teachinge of them, the maister diligently must gader to gyther those fables, whiche may be most accommodate to the aduauncement of some vertue, wherto he perceiueth the childe inclined or to the rebuke of some vice, wherto he findeth his nature disposed. And therin the master ought to exercise his witte, as wel to make the childe plainly to understande the fable, as also declarynge the signification therof compendiously and to the purpose, fore sene alwaye, that, as well this lesson, as all other autours whiche the childe shall lerne, either greke or latine, verse or prose, be perfectly had without the boke: wherby he shall nat only attaine plentie of the tonges called Copie, but also encrease and nourisshe remembrance wonderfully.

The nexte lesson wolde be some quicke and mery dialoges, elect out of Luciane, whiche be without ribawdry, or to moche skorning, for either of them is exactly to be eschewed, specially for a noble man, the one anoyeng the soule, the other his estimation concerning his grauitie. The comedies of Aristophanes may be in the place of Luciane, and by reason that they be in metre they be the sooner lerned by harte. I dare make none other comparison betwene them for offendinge the frendes of them both: but thus moche dare I say, that it were better that a childe shuld neuer rede any parte of Luciane than all Luciane.

I coulde reherce diuers other poetis whiche for matter and eloquence be very necessary, but I feare me to be to longe from noble Homere: from whom as from a fountaine proceded all eloquence and lernyng. For in his bokes be contained, and moste perfectly expressed, nat only the documentes marciall and discipline of armes, but also incomparable wisedomes, and instructions for politike gouernaunce of people: with the worthy commendation and laude of noble princis: where with the reders shall be so all inflamed, that they most feruently shall desire and coueite, by the imitation of their vertues, to acquire semblable glorie. For the whiche occasion, Aristotel, moost sharpest witted and excellent lerned Philosopher, as sone as he had receiued Alexander from kynge Philip his father, he before any other thynge taught hym the moost noble warkes of Homere: wherin Alexander founde suche swetenes and frute, that euer after he had Homere nat onely with hym in all his iournayes, but also laide hym under his pillowe whan he went to reste: and often tymes wolde purposely wake some houres of the nyght, to take as it were his passe tyme with that mooste noble poete.

For by the redinge of his warke called Iliados, where the assembly of the most noble grekes agayne Troy is recited with theyr affaires, he gathered courage and strength agayne his ennemies, wysdome, and eloquence, for consultations, and persuations to his people and army. And by the other warke called Odissea, whiche recounteth the sondry aduentures of the wise Ulisses, he, by the example of Ulisses, apprehended many noble vertues, and also lerned to eskape the fraude and deceitfull imaginations of sondry and subtile crafty wittes. Also there shall he lerne to enserche and perceiue the maners and conditions of them that be his familiars, siftinge out (as I mought say) the best from the warst, wherby he may surely committe his affaires, and truste to euery persone after his vertues. Therfore I nowe conclude that there is no lesson for a yonge gentil man to be compared with Homere, if he be playnly and substancially expouned and declared by the mayster.

Nat withstandynge, for as moche as the saide warkes be very longe, and do require therfore a great time to be all lerned and kanned, some latine autour wolde be therwith myxte, and specially Virgile; whiche, in his warke called Eneidos, is most lyke to Homere, and all moste the same Homere in latine. Also, by the ioynynge to gether of those autours, the one shall be the better understande by the other. And verily (as I before saide) none one autour serueth to so diuers witts as doth Virgile. For there is nat that affect or desire, wherto any childes fantasie is disposed, but in some of Virgils warkes may be founden matter therto apte and propise.

For what thinge can be more familiar than his bucolikes? nor no warke so nighe approcheth to the commune daliaunce and maners of children, and the praty controuersies of the simple shepeherdes, therin contained, wonderfully reioyceth the childe that hereth hit well declared, as I knowe by myne owne experience. In his Georgikes lorde what pleasaunt varietie there is: the diuers, graynes, herbes, and flowres that be there described, that, reding therin, hit semeth to a man to be in a delectable gardeine or paradise. What ploughe man knoweth so moche of husbandry as there is expressed? who, delitynge in good horsis, shall nat be therto more enflamed, reding there of the bredyng, chesinge, and kepyng, of them? In the declaration whereof Virgile leaueth farre behynde hym all breders, hakneymen, and skosers.

Is there any astronomer that more exactly setteth out the ordre and course of the celestiall bodies: or that more truely dothe deuine in his pronostications of the tymes of the yere, in their qualities, with the future astate of all thinges prouided by husbandry, than Virgile doth recite in that warke?

If the childe haue a delite in huntyng, what pleasure. shall he take of the fable of Aristeus: semblably in the huntynge of Dido and Eneas, whiche is discriued moste elegantly in his boke of Eneidos. If he haue pleasure in wrastling, rennyng, or other lyke exercise, where shall he se any more plesant esbatementes, than that whiche was done by Eurealus and other troyans, whiche accompanyed Eneas? If he take solace in hearynge minstrelles, what minstrell may be compared to Jopas, whiche sange before Dido and Eneas? or to blinde Demodocus, that played and sange moste swetely at the dyner, that the kynge Alcinous made to Ulisses: whose dities and melodie excelled as farre the songes of our minstrelles, as Homere and Virgile excelle all other poetes.

If he be more desirous, (as the most parte of children be,) to here thinges marueilous and exquisite, whiche, hath in it a visage of some thinges incredible, wherat shall he more wonder, than whan he shall beholde Eneas folowe Sibille in to helle? What shal he more drede, than the terrible visages of Cerberous, Gorgon, Megera, and other furies and monsters? Howe shall he abhorre tyranny, fraude, and auarice, whan he doth se the paynes of duke Theseus, Prometheus, Sisiphus, and suche other tourmented for their dissolute and vicious lyuyng? Howe glad soone after shall he be, whan he shall beholde, in the pleasant feldes of Elisius, the soules of noble princes and capitaines which, for their vertue, and labours in aduancing the publike weales of their countrayes, do lyue eternally in pleasure inexplicable. And in the laste bokes of Eneidos shall he finde matter to ministre to hym audacite, valiaunt courage, and policie, to take and susteyne noble enterprises, if any shall be nedefull for the assailynge of his enemies.

Finally (as I haue saide) this noble Virgile, like to a good norise, giueth to a childe, if he wyll take it, euery thinge apte for his witte and capacitie: wherfore he is in the ordre of lernyng to be preferred before any other autor latine. I wolde set nexte unto hym two bokes of Ouid, the one called Metamorphosios, whiche is as moche to saye as, chaungynge of men in to other figure or fourme: the other is intitled De fastis where the ceremonies of the gentiles, and specially the Romanes, be expressed! bothe right necessary for the understandynge of other poetes. But by cause there is litell other lernyng in them, concernyng either vertuous maners or policie, I suppose it were better that as fables and ceremonies happen to come in a lesson, it were declared abundantly by the maister than that in the saide two bokes, a longe tyme shulde be spente and almost lost: which mought be better employed on suche autors that do minister both eloquence, ciuile policie, and exhortation to vertue. Wherfore in his place let us bringe in Horace, in whom is contayned moche varietie of lernynge and quickenesse of sentence.

This poet may be enterlaced with the lesson of Odissea of Homere, wherin is declared the wonderfull prudence and fortitude of Ulisses in his passage from Troy. And if the childe were induced to make versis by the imitation of Virgile and Homere, it shulde ministre to hym moche dilectation and courage to studie: ne the making of versis is nat discommended in a noble man: sens the noble Augustus and almost all the olde emperours made bokes in versis.

The two noble poetis Silius, and Lucane, be very expedient to be lerned: for the one setteth out the emulation in qualities and prowesse of two noble and valiant capitaynes, one, enemy to the other, that is to say, Silius writeth of Scipio the Romane, and Haniball duke of Cartaginensis: Lucane declareth a semblable mater, but moche more lamentable: for as moche as the warres were ciuile, and, as it were, in the bowelles of the Romanes, that is to say, under the standerdes of Julius Cesar and Pompei.

Hesiodus, in greke, is more briefe than Virgile, where he writeth of husbandry, and doth nat rise so high in philosophie . But is fuller of fables : and therfor is more illecebrous.

And here I conclude to speke any more of poetis, necessary for the childehode of a gentill man: for as moche as these, I doubt nat, will suffice untill he passe the age of xiii yeres. In which time childhode declineth, and reason waxeth rype, and deprehendeth thinges with a more constant iugement. Here I wolde shulde be remembred, that I require nat that all these warkes shud be throughly radde of a childe in this tyme, whiche were almost impossible. But I only desire that they haue, in euery of the saide bokes, so moche instruction that they may take therby some profite.

Than the childes courage, inflamed by the frequent redynge of noble poetes, dayly more and more desireth to haue experience in those thinges, that they so vehemently do commende in them, that they write of Leonidas, the noble kynge of Spartanes, beinge ones demaunded, of what estimation in poetry Tirtaeus, (as he supposed) was, it is writen that he answeryng saide, that, for sterynge the myndes of yonge men he was excellent, for as moche as they, being meued with his versis, do renne in to the bataile, regardyng no perile, as men all inflamed in martiall courage.

And whan a man is comen to mature yeres, and that reason in him is confirmed with serious lerning and longe experience, than shall he, in redyng tragoedies, execrate and abhorre the intollerable life of tyrantes: and shall contemne the foly and dotage expressed by poetes lasciuious.

Here wyll I leaue to speake of the fyrste parte of a noble mannes studie: and nowe wyll I write of the seconde parte, which is more serious, and containeth in it sondry maners of lernynge.

XI. The moste commodious and necessary studies succedyng ordinally the lesson of poetes.

AFTER that xiv. yeres be passed of a childes age, his maister if he can, or some other, studiouslye exercised in the arte of an oratour, shall firste rede to hym some what of that parte of logike that is called Topica, eyther of Cicero, or els of that noble clerke of Almaine, which late floured, called Agricola whose warke prepareth inuention, tellynge the places from whens an argument for the profe of any mater may be taken with litle studie: and that lesson, with moche and diligent lernyng, hauyng mixte there with none other exercise, will in the space of halfe a yere be perfectly kanned. Immediately after that, the arte of Rhetorike wolde be semblably taught, either in greke, out of Hermogines, or of Quintilian in latine, begynnyng at the thirde boke, and instructyng diligently: the childe in that parte of rhethorike, principally, whiche concerneth persuation for as moche as it is moste apte for consultations. There can be no shorter instruction of Rhetorike than the treatise that Tulli wrate unto his sonne, which boke is named the partition of rhetorike. And in good faythe, to speake boldly that I thinke: for him that nedeth nat, or doth nat desire, to be an exquisite oratour, the litle boke made by the famous Erasmus, (whom all gentill wittis are bounden to thanke and supporte), whiche he calleth Copiam Verborum et Rerum, that is to say, plentie of wordes and maters, shall be sufficient.

Isocrates, concerning the lesson of oratours, is euery where wonderfull profitable, hauynge almost as many wyse sentences as he hath wordes: and with that is so swete and delectable to rede, that, after him, almost all other seme unsauery and tedious: and in persuadynge, as well a prince, as a priuate persone, to vertue, in two very litle and compendious warkes, wherof he made the one to kynge Nicocles, the other to his frende Demonicus wolde be perfectly kanned, and had in continual memorie.

Demosthenes and Tulli, by the consent of all lerned men, haue preeminence and soueraintie ouer all oratours: the one reignyng in wonderfull eloquence in the publike weale of the Romanes, who had the empire and dominion of all the worlde: the other, of no lasse estimation, in the citie of Athenes, whiche of longe tyme was accounted the mother of Sapience, and the palaice of musis and all liberall sciences. Of whiche two oratours may be attayned, nat onely eloquence, excellent and perfecte, but also preceptes of wisdome, and gentyll maners: with most commodious examples of all noble vertues and pollicie. Wherfore the maister, in redynge them, muste well obserue and expresse the partis and colours of rhetorike in them contayned, accordynge to the proceptes of that arte before lerned.

The utilitie that a noble man shall haue by redung these oratours, is, that, whan he shall happe to reason in counsaile, or shall speke in a great audience, or to strange ambassadours of great princes, he shall nat be constrayned to speake wordes sodayne and disordred, but shal bestowe them aptly and in their places. Wherfore the moste noble emperour Octauius is highly commended, for that he neuer spake in the Senate, or to the people of Rome, but in an oration prepared and purposely made.

Also to prepare the childe to understandynge of histories, whiche, beinge replenished with the names of countrayes and townes unknowen to the reder, do make the historie tedious or els the lasse pleasant, so if they be in any wyse knowen, it encreaseth an inexplicable delectation. It shall be therfore, and also for refreshing the witte, a conuenient lesson to beholde the olde tables of Ptholomee, where in all the worlde is paynted, hauynge firste some introduction in to the sphere, wherof nowe of late be made very good treatises, and more playne and easie to lerne than was wonte to be.

All be it there is none so good lernynge as the demonstration of cosmographie by materiall figures and instrumentes, hauynge a good instructour. And surely this lesson is bothe pleasant and necessary. For what pleasure is it, in one houre, to beholde those realmes, cities, sees, ryuers, and mountaynes, that uneth an olde mannes life can nat be iournaide and pursued: what incredible delite is taken in beholding the diuersitiee of people, beastis, foules, fisshes, trees, frutes, and herbes: to knowe the sondry maners and conditions of people; and the varietie of their natures, and that in a warme studie or perler, without perill of the see, or daunger of longe and paynfull iournayes: I can nat tell what more pleasure shulde happen to a gentil witte, than to beholde in his owne house euery thynge that with in all the worlde is contained. The commoditie therof knewe the great kynge Alexander, as some writars do remembre. For he caused the countrayes wherunto he purposed any enterprise, diligently and counningly to be discribed and paynted, that, beholdynge the picture, he mought perceyue whiche places were most daungerous: and where he and his host mought haue most easy and couenable passage. Semblably dyd the Romanes in the rebellion of France, and the insurrection of theyr confederates, settynge up a table openly, wherin Italy was painted, to the intent that the people lokying in it, shuld reason and consulte in whiche places hit were best to resiste or inuade their ennemies.

I omitte, for length of the matter, to write of Cirus, the great kinge of Perse, Crassus the Romane, and dyuers other valiant and experte capitaines: whiche haue lost them selfes and all their army by ignorance of this doctryne.

Wherfore it maye nat be of any wyse man denied, but that Cosmographie is to all noble men, nat only pleasant, but profltable also, and wonderfull necessary.

In the parte of cosmographie wherwith historie is mingled Strabo reigneth: whiche toke his argument of the diuine poete Homere. Also Strabo hym selfe, (as he saithe) laboured a great part of Africa and Egypte, where undoubtedly be many thinges to be maruailed at. Solinus writeth almost in like forme, and is more brefe, and hath moche more varietie of thinges and maters,and is therfore maruailous delectable: yet Mela is moche shorter, and his stile, (by reason that it is of a more antiquitie) is also more clene and facile. Wherfore he, or Dionisius, shall be sufficient.

Cosmographie beinge substancially perceiued, it is than tyme to induce a childe to the redinge of histories but fyrst to set hym in a feruent courage, the mayster in the mooste pleasant and elegant wise expressinge what incomparable delectation, utilitie, and commodite, shal happen to emperours, kinges, princis, and all other gentil men by reding of histories: shewinge to hym that Demetrius Phalareus, a man of excellent wisdome and lerninge, and whiche in Athenes had ben longe exercised in the publick weale, exhorted Ptholomee, kyng of Egipt, chiefly aboue all other studyes, to haunte and embrace histories, and suche other bokes, wherin were contayned preceptes made to kynges and princes: sayng that in them he shulde rede those thinges whiche no man durst reporte unto his persone. Also Cicero, father of the latin eloquence, calleth an historie the witnesse of tymes, maistres of life, the lyfe of remembrance, of trouthe the lyght, and messager of antiquite.

Moreouer, the swete Isocrates exhorteth the kynge Nicocles, whom he instructeth, to leaue behynde him statues and images, that shall represent rather the figure and similitude of his mynde, than the features of his body, signifienge therbye the remembraunce of his actes writen in histories.

By semblable aduertisementes shall a noble harte be trayned to delite in histories. And than, accordynge to the counsayle of Quintilian, it is best that he begynne with Titus Liuius, nat onely for his elegancie of writinge, whiche floweth in him like a fountaine of swete milke: but also for as moche as by redynge that autor he maye knowe howe the mooste noble citie of Rome, of a small and poure begynnynge, by prowes and vertue, litell and litell came to the empire and dominion of all the worlde.

Also in that citye he maye beholde the fourme of a publike weale: whiche, if the insolencie and pryde of Tarquine had nat excluded kynges out of the citie, it had ben the most noble and perfect of all other.

Xenophon, beynge bothe a philosopher and an excellent capitayne, so inuented and ordred his warke named Paedia Cyri, whiche may be interpreted the Childehode or discipline of Cyrus, that he leaueth to the reders therof an incomparable swetenes and example of lyuynge, specially for the conductynge and well ordring of hostes or armyes. And therfore the noble Scipio, who was called Affricanus, as well in peace as in warre was neuer seene without this boke of Xenophon.

With hym maye be ioyned Quintus Curtius, who writeth the life of kyng Alexander elegantly and swetely. In whom may be founden the figure of an excellent prince, as he that incomparably excelled al other kinges and empereurs in wysedome, hardynes, strength, policie, agilite, valiaunt courage, nobilitie, liberalitie and curtaisie: where in he was a spectakle or marke for all princes to loke on. Contrarye wise whan he was ones vainquisshed with voluptie and pride his tiranny and beastly crueltie abhorreth all reders. The comparison of the vertues of these two noble princes, equally described by two excellent writars, well expressed, shall prouoke a gentil courage to contende to folowe their vertues.

Julius Cesar and Salust for their compendious writynge to the unerstandynge wherof is required an exact and perfect iugement, and also for the exquisite ordre of bataile and continuinge of the historie without any varietie, wherby the payne of studie shulde be alleuiate, they two wolde be reserued untyll he that shall rede them shall se some experience in semblable matters. And than shal he finde in them suche pleasure and commodite as therwith a noble and gentyl harte ought to be satisfied. For in them both it shall seme to a man that he is present and hereth the counsayles and exhortations of capitaines, whiche be called Conciones, and that he seeth the ordre of hostes whan they be embatayled, the fiers assaultes and encountringes of bothe armies, the furiouse rage of that monstre called warre. And he shall wene that he hereth the terrible dintes of sondry weapons and ordinaunce of bataile, the conducte and policies of wise and expert capitaines, specially in the commentaries of Julius Cesar, whiche he made of his exploiture in Fraunce and Brytayne, and other countraies nowe rekned amonge the prouinces of Germany: whiche boke is studiously to be radde of the princes of this realme of Englande and their counsailors; considering that therof maye be taken necessary instructions concernyhge the warres agayne Irisshe men or Scottes, who be of the same rudenes and wilde disposition that the Suises and Britons were in the time of Cesar. Semblable utilitie shal be founden in the historie of Titus Liuius, in his thirde Decades, where he writeth of the batayles that the Romanes had with Annibal and the Charthaginensis.

Also there be dyuers orations, as well in all the bokes of the saide autors as in the historie of Cornelius Tacitus, whiche be very delectable, and for counsayles very expedient to be had in memorie. And in good faythe I haue often thought that the consultations and orations wryten by Tacitus do importe a maiestie with a compendious eloquence therin contained. In the lerning of these autors a yonge gentilman shal be taught to note and marke, nat only the order and elegancie in declaration of the historie, but also the occasion of the warres, the counsailes and preparations on either part, the estimation of the capitaines, the maner and fourme of theyr gouernance, the continuance of the bataile, the fortune and successe of the holle affaires. Semblably out of the warres in other dayly affaires, the astate of the publike weale, if hit be prosperous or in decaye, what is the very occasyon of the one or of the other, the forme and maner of the gouernance therof, the good and euyll qualities of them that be rulers, the commodites and good sequele of vertue, the discommodies and euyll conclusion of vicious licence.

Surely if a noble man do thus seriously and diligently rede histories, I dare affirme there is no studie or science for him of equal commoditie and pleasure, hauynge regarde to euery tyme and age. By the time that the childe do com to xvii yeres of age, to the intent his courage be bridled with reason, hit were nedefull to rede unto hym some warkes of philosophie; specially that parte that may enforme him unto vertuous maners, whiche parte of philosophie is called morall. Wherfore there wolde be radde to hym, for an introduction, two the fyrste bokes of the warke of Aristotell called Ethicae, wherin is contained the definitions and propre significations of euery vertue; and that to be lerned in greke; for the translations that we yet haue be but a rude and grosse shadowe of the eloquence and wisedome of Aristotell. Forthe with wolde folowe the warke of Cicero, called in Latin De officiis, wherunto yet is no propre englisshe worde to be gyuen; but to prouide for it some maner of exposition, it may be sayde in this fourme: 'Of the dueties and maners appertaynynge to men.' But aboue all other, the warkes of Plato wolde be most studiously radde whan the iugement of a man is come to perfection, and by the other studies is instructed in the fourme of speakynge that philosophers used. Lorde god, what incomparable swetnesse of wordes and mater shall he finde in the saide warkes of Plato and Cicero; wherin is ioyned grauitie with dilectation, excellent wysedome with diuine eloquence, absolute vertue with pleasure incredible, and euery place is so infarced with profitable counsaile, ioyned with honestie, that those thre bokes be almoste sufficient to make a perfecte and excellent gouernour. The prouerbes of Salomon with the bokes of Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiasticus be very good lessons. All the historiall partes of the bible be righte necessarye for to be radde of a noble man, after that he is mature in yeres. And the residue (with the newe testament) is to be reuerently touched, as a celestiall Jewell or relike, hauynge the chiefe interpretour of those bokes trewe and constant faithe, and dredefully to sette handes theron, remembrynge that Oza, for puttyng his hande to the holy shryne that was called Archa federis, whan it was broughte by kyng Dauid from the citie of Gaba, though it were wauerynge and in daunger to fall, yet was he stryken of god, and fell deed immediately. It wolde nat be forgoten that, the lytell boke of the most excellent doctour Erasmus Roterodamus, (whiche he wrate to Charles, nowe beynge emperour and than prince of Castile) whiche booke is intituled the institucion of a christen prince, wolde be as familyare alwaye with gentilmen, at all tymes, and in euery age, as was Homere withe great king Alexander, or Xenophon with Scipio; for as all men may iuge that haue radde that warke of Erasmus, that there was neuer boke written in latine that, in so lytle a portion, contayned of sentence, eloquence, and vertuous exhortation, a more compendious abundaunce. And here I make an ende of the lernynge and studie wherby noble men may attayne to be worthy to haue autorite in a puplike weale. Alway I shall exhorte tutours and gouernours of noble chyldren, that they suffre them nat to use ingourgitations of meate or drinke, ne to slepe moche, that is to saye, aboue viii houres at the moste. For undoubtedly bothe repletion and superfluous slepe be capitall enemies to studie, as they be semblably to helth of body and soule. Aulus Gellius sayth that children, if they use of meate and slepe ouer moche, be made therwith dull to lerne, and we se that therof slownesse is taken, and the children's personages do waxe uncomely, and lasse growe in stature. Galen wyll nat permitte that pure wyne, without alay of water, shulde in any wyse be gyuen to children, for as moche as it humecteth the body, or maketh it moyster and hotter than is conuenient, also it fylleth the heed with fume, in them specially, whiche be lyke as children of hote and moiste temperature. These be well nighe the wordes of the noble Galen.

XII. Why gentilmen in this present tyme be nat equall in doctryne to the auncient noble men.

NOWE wyll I somwhat declare of the chiefe causes why, in our tyme, noble men be nat as excellent in lernying as they were in olde tyme amonge the Romanes and grekes. Surely, as I haue diligently marked in dayly experience, the principall causes be these. The pride, avarice, and negligence of parentes, and the lacke or fewenesse of suffycient maysters or teachers.

As I sayd, pride is the first cause of this inconuenience. For of those persons be some, which, without shame, dare affirme, that to a great gentilman it is a notable reproche to be well lerned and to be called a great clerke: whiche name they accounte to be of so base estymation, that they neuer haue it in their mouthes but whan they speke any thynge in derision, whiche perchaunce they wolde nat do if they had ones layser to rede our owne cronicle of Englande, where they shall fynde that kynge Henry the first, sonne of willyam conquerour, and one of the moste noble princes that ever reigned in this realme, was openly called Henry beau clerke, whiche is in englysshe, fayre clerke, and is yet at this day so named. And wheder that name be to his honour or to his reproche, let them iuge that do rede and compare his lyfe with his two bretherne, william called Rouse and Robert le courtoise, they both nat hauyng semblable lernyng with the sayd Henry, the one for his dissolute lyuyng and tyranny beynge hated of all his nobles and people, finally was sodaynely slayne by the shotte of an arowe, as he was huntynge in a forest, whiche to make larger and to gyue his deere more lybertie, he dyd cause the houses of hi parisshes, to be pulled downe, the people to be expelled, and all beyng desolate to be tourned in to desert, and made onely pasture for beestes sauage; whiche he wolde neuer haue done if he had as moche delyted in good lerning as dyd his brother.

The other brother, Robert le Courtoise, beyng duke of Normandie, and the eldest sonne of wylliam Conquerour, all be it that he was a man of moche prowesse, and right expert in martial affayres, wherfore he was electe before Godfray of Boloigne to haue ben kyng of Hierusalem; yet natwithstandynge whan he inuaded this realme with sondrie puissaunt armies, also dyuers. noble men aydinge hym, yet his noble brother Henry, beau clerke, more by wysdome than power, also by lernynge, addyng polycie to vertue and courage, often tymes vaynquisshed hym, and dyd put him to flyght. And after sondry victories finally toke him and kepte hym in prison, hauyng none other meanes to kepe his realme in tranquillitie.

It was for no rebuke, but for an excellent honour, that the emperour Antonine was surnamed philosopher, for by his moste noble example of lyuing, and industrie incomparable, he during all the tyme of his reigne kept the publike weale of the Romanes in suche a perfecte astate, that by his actes be confirmed the sayeng of Plato, That blessed is that publike weale wherin either philosophers do reigne, or els kinges be in philosophie studiouse.

These persones that so moche contemne lernyng, that they wolde that gentilmen's children shulde haue no parte or very litle therof, but rather shulde spende their youth alway (I saye not onely in huntynge and haukyng, whiche moderately used, as solaces ought to be, I intende nat to disprayse) but in those ydle pastymes, whiche, for the vice that is therin, the commaundement of the prince, and the uniuersall consent of the people, expressed in statutes and lawes, do prohibite, I meane, playeng at dyce and other games named unlefull. These persones, I say, I wolde shulde remembre, or elles nowe lerne, if they neuer els herde it, that the noble Philip kyng of Macedonia, who subdued al Greece, aboue all the good fortunes that euer he hadde, most reioysed that his sonne Alexander was borne in the tyme that Aristotle the philosopher flourisshed, by whose instruction he mought attaine to most excellent lernynge.

Also the same Alexander often tymes sayd that he was equally as moche bounden to Aristotle as to his father kyng Philip, for of his father he receyued lyfe, but of Aristotle he receyued the waye to lyue nobly.

Who dispraysed Epaminondas, the moost valiant capitayne of Thebanes, for that he was excellently lerned and a great philosopher? Who euer discommended Julius Cesar for that he was a noble oratour, and, nexte to Tulli, in the eloquence of the latin tonge excelled al other? Who euer reproued the emperour Hadriane for that he was so exquisitely lerned, nat onely in greke and latine, but also in all sciences liberall, that openly at Athenes, in the uniuersall assembly of the greatteste clerkes of the worlde, he by a longe tyme disputed with philosophers and Rhetoriciens, whiche were estemed mooste excellent, and by the iugement of them that were present had the palme or rewarde of victorie? And yet, by the gouernance of that noble emperour, nat only the publik weale florisshed but also diuers rebellions were suppressed, and the majesty of the empire hugely increased. Was it any reproche to the noble Germanicus (who by the assignement of Augustus shulde haue succeeded Tiberius in the empire, if traitorous enuy had nat in his flourysshynge youth bireft hym his lyfe) that he was equall to the moost noble poetes of his time, and, to the increase of his honour and moost worthy commendation, his image was set up at Rome, in the habite that poetes at those dayes used? Fynally howe moche excellent lernynge commendeth, and nat dispraiseth, nobilitie, it shal playnly appere unto them that do rede the lyfes of Alexander called Seuerus, Tacitus, Probus Aurelius, Constantine, Theodosius, and Charles the gret, surnamed Charlemaine, all being emperours, and do compare them with other, whiche lacked or had that so moche of doctrine. Verily they be ferre from good raison, in myne opinion, whiche couaite to haue their children goodly in stature, stronge, deliuer, well synging, wherin trees, beastes, fysshes, and byrdes, be nat only with them equall, but also ferre do excede them. And connynge, wherby onely man excelleth all other creatures in erthe, they reiecte, and accounte unworthy to be in their children. What unkinde appetite were it to desyre to be father rather of a pece of flesshe, that can onely meue and feele, than of a childe that shulde have the perfecte fourme of a man? What so perfectly expresseth a man as doctrine? Diogines the philosopher seing one without lernynge syt on a stone, sayde to them that were with him, beholde where one stone sytteth on an other; whiche wordes, well considered and tried, shall appere to contayne in it wonderfull matter for the approbation of doctrine, wherof a wyse man maye accumulate ineuitable argumentes, whiche I of necessite, to auoide tediousnes, must nedes passe ouer at this tyme.

XIII. The seconde and thirde decay of lerning amonge gentilmen.

THE seconde occasion wherfore gentylmens children seldome haue sufficient lernynge is auarice. For where theyr parentes wyll nat aduenture to sende them farre out of theyr propre countrayes, partely for feare of dethe, whiche perchance dare nat approche them at home with theyr father; partely for expence of money, whiche they suppose wolde be lesse in theyr owne houses or in a village, with some of theyr tenantes or frendes; hauyng seldome any regarde to the teacher, whether he be well lerned or ignorant. For if they hiare a schole maister to teche in theyr houses they chiefely enquire with howe small a salary he will be contented, and neuer inserche howe moche good lernynge he hath and howe amonge well lerned men he is therin esteemed, using therin lasse diligence than in takynge seruantes, whose seruice is of moche lasse importance and to a good schole maister is nat in profite to be compared. A gentil man, er he take a cooke in to his seruice, he wyll firste diligently examine hym, howe many sortes of meates, potages, and sauces, he can perfectly make, and howe well he can season them, that they may be bothe pleasant and nourishynge; yea and if it be but a fauconer, he wyll scrupulously enquire what skyll he hath in feedyng, called diete, and kepyng of his hauke from all sickenes, also how he can reclaime her and prepare her to flyght. And to suche a cooke or fauconer, whom he findeth expert, he spareth nat to gyue moche wages with other bounteous rewardes. But of a schole maister, to whom he will committe his childe, to be fedde with lernynge and instructed in vertue, whose lyfe shall be the principall monument of his name and honour, he neuer maketh forther enquirie but where he may haue a schole maister; and with howe litel charge; and if one be perchance founden, well lerned, but he will nat take paynes to teache without he may haue a great salary, he than speketh. nothing more, or els saith, What shall so moche wages be gyuen to a schole maister whiche wolde kepe me two seruantes? to whom maye be saide these wordes, that by his sonne being wel lerned he shall receiue more commoditie and also worship than by the seruice of a hundred cokes and fauconers.

The thirde cause of this hyndrance is negligence of parentes whiche I do specially note in this poynt; there haue bene diuers, as well gentill men as of the nobilitie, that deliting to haue their sonnes excellent in lernynge haue prouided for them connynge maysters, who substancially haue taught them gramer, and very wel instructed them to speake latine elegantly, wherof the parentes haue taken moche delectation; but whan they haue had of grammer sufficient and be comen to the age of xiiii yeres, and do approche or drawe towarde the astate of man, whiche age is called mature or ripe, (wherin nat onely the saide lernyng continued by moche experience shal be perfectly digested, and confirmed in perpetuall remembrance, but also more seriouse lernyng contayned in other lyberall sciences, and also philosophy, wolde than be lerned) the parentes, that thinge nothinge regarding, but being suffised that their children can onely speke latine proprely, or make verses with out mater or sentence, they from thens forth do suffre them to liue in idelnes, or els, putting them to seruice, do, as it were, banisshe them from all vertuous study or exercise of that whiche they before lerned; so that we may beholde diuers yonge gentill men, who in their infancie and childehode were wondred at for their aptness to lerning and prompt speakinge of elegant latine, whiche nowe, beinge men, nat onely haue forgotten their congruite, (as in the commune worde), and unneth can speake one hole sentence in true latine, but, that wars is, hath all lernynge in derision, and in skorne therof wyll, of wantonnesse, speake the moste barberously that they can imagine.

Nowe some man will require me to shewe myne opinion if it be necessary that gentilmen shulde after the age of xiiii yeres continue in studie. And to be playne and trewe therein, I dare affirme that, if the elegant speking of latin be nat added to other doctrine, litle frute may come of the tonge; sens latine is but a naturall speche, and the frute of speche is wyse sentence, whiche is gathered and made of sondry lernynges. And who that hath nothinge but langage only may be no more praised than a popiniay, a pye, or a stare, whan they speke featly. There be many nowe a dayes in famouse scholes and uniuersities whiche be so moche gyuen to the studie of tonges onely, that whan, they write epistles, they seme to the reder that, like to a trumpet, they make a soune without any purpose, where unto men do herken more for the noyse than for any delectation that therby is meued. Wherefore they be moche abused that suppose eloquence to be only in wordes or coulours of Rhetorike, for, as Tulli saith, what is so furiouse or mad a thinge as a vaine soune of wordes of the best sort and most ornate, contayning neither connynge nor sentence?

Undoubtedly very eloquence is in euery tonge where any mater or acte done or to be done is expressed in wordes clene, propise, ornate, and comely: whereof sentences be so aptly compact that they by a vertue inexplicable do drawe unto them the mindes and consent of the herers, they beinge therwith either perswaded, meued, or to delectation induced. Also euery man is nat an oratour that can write an epistle or a flatering station in latin: where of the laste, (as god helpe me) is to moche used.

For a right oratour may nat be without a moche better furniture, Tulli saienge that to him belongeth the explicating or unfoldinge of sentence, with a great estimation in gyuing counsaile concerninge maters of great importaunce, also to him appertaineth the steringe and quickning of people languisshinge or dispeiringe, and to moderate them that be rasshe and unbridled. Wherfore noble autours do affirme that, in the firste infancie of the worlde, men, wandring like beastes in woddes and on mountaines, regardinge neither the religion due unto god, nor the office pertaining unto man, ordred all thing by bodily strength: untill Mercurius (as Plato supposeth) or some other man holpen by sapience and eloquence, by some apt or propre oration, assembled them to geder and perswaded to them what commodite was in mutual conuersation and honest maners. But yet Cornelius Tacitus describeth an oratour to be of more excellent qualities, saynge that, an oratour is he that can or may speke or raison in euery question sufficiently elegantly: and to persuade proprely, accordyng to the dignitie of the thyng that is spoken of, the oportunitie of time, and pleasure of them that be herers. Tulli, before him, affirmed that, a man may nat be an oratour heaped with praise, but if he haue gotten the knowlege of all thynges and artes of greattest importaunce. And howe shall an oratour speake of that thynge that he hath nat lerned? And bicause there may be nothynge but it may happen to come in praise or dispraise, in consultation or iugement, in accusation or defence: therfore an oratour, by others instruction perfectly furnisshed, may, in euery mater and lernynge, commende or dispraise, exhorte or dissuade, accuse or defende eloquently, as occasion hapneth. Wherfore in as moche as in an oratour is required to be a heape of all maner of lernyng: whiche of some is called the worlde of science, of other the circle of doctrine, whiche is in one worde of greke Encyclopedia: therfore at this day may be founden but a very few oratours. For they that come in message from princes be, for honour, named nowe oratours, if they be in any degre of worshyp: onely poore men hauyng equall or more of lernyng beyng called messagers. Also they whiche do onely teache rhetorike, whiche is the science wherby is taught an artifyciall fourme of speykng, wherin is the power to persuade, moue, and delyte, or by that science onely do speke or write, without any adminiculation of other sciences, ought to be named rhetoriciens, declamatours, artificiall spekers, (named in Greeke Logodedali), or any other name than oratours. Semblably they that make verses, expressynge therby none other lernynge but the craft of versifyeng, be nat of auncient writers named poetes, but onely called versifyers. For the name of a poete, wherat nowe, (specially in this realme) men haue suche indignation, that they use onely poetes and poetry in the contempte of eloquence, was in auncient tyme in hygh estimation: in so moche that all wysdome was supposed to be therin included, and poetry was the first philosophy that euer was knowen: wherby men from their childhode were brought to the raison howe to lyue well, lernynge therby nat onely maners and naturall affections, but also the wonderfull warkes of nature, mixting serious mater with thynges that were pleasaunt: as it shall be manifest to them that shall be so fortunate to rede the noble warkes of Plato and Aristotle, wherin he shall fynde the autoritie of poetes frequently alleged: ye and that more is, in poetes was supposed to be science misticall and inspired, and therfore in latine they were called Vates which worde signifyeth as moche as prophetes. And therfore Tulli in his Tusculane questyons supposeth that a poete can nat abundantly expresse verses sufficient and complete, or that his eloquence may flowe without labour wordes wel sounyng and plentuouse, without celestiall instinction, whiche is also by Plato ratified.

But sens we be nowe occupied in the defence of Poetes, it shall nat be incongruent to our mater to shewe. what profite may be taken by the diligent reding of auncient poetes, contrary to the false opinion, that nowe rayneth, of them that suppose that in the warkes of poetes is contayixed nothynge but baudry, (suche is their foule worde of reproche) and unprofitable leasinges.

But first I wyll interprete some verses of Horace, wherin he expresseth the office of poetes, and after wyll I resorte to a more playne demonstration of some wisdomes and counsayles contayned in some verses of poetes. Horace, in his seconde booke of epistles, sayth in this wyse or moche lyke

The poete facyoneth by some plesant mene
The speche of children tendre and unsure:
Pullying their eares from wordes unclene,
Gyuingn to them preceptes that are pure:
Rebukyng enuy and wrathe if it dure:

Thinges wel done he can by example commende:

The nedy and sicke he doth also his cure
To recomfort, if aught can amende.

But they whiche be ignoraunt in poetes wyll perchaunce obiecte, as is their maner, agayne these verses, sayeng that in Therence and other that were writers of comedies, also Ouide, Catullus, Martialis, and all that route of lasciuious poetes that wrate epistles and ditties of loue, some called in latine Elegiae and some Epigrammata, is nothyng contayned but incitation to lechery.

First, comedies, whiche they suppose to be a doctrinall of rybaudrie, they be undoutedly a picture or as it were a mirrour of man's life, wherin iuell is nat taught but discouered; to the intent that men beholdynge the promptnes of youth unto vice, the snares of harlotts ,and baudes laide for yonge myndes, the disceipte of seruantes, the chaunces of fortune contrary to mennes expectation, they beinge therof warned may prepare them selfe to resist or preuente occasion. Semblably remembring the wisedomes, aduertisements, counsailes, dissuasion from vice, and other profitable sentences, most eloquently and familiarely shewed in those comedies, undoubtedly there shall be no litle frute out of them gathered. And if the vices in them expressed shulde be cause that myndes of the reders shulde be corrupted: than by the same argumente nat onely entreludes in englisshe, but also sermones, wherin some vice is declared, shulde be to the beholders and herers like occasion to encreace sinners.

And that by comedies good counsaile is ministred: it appiereth by the sentence of Parmeno, in the seconde comedie of Therence:

In this thinge I triumpbe in myne owne conceipte,
That I have founden for all yonge men the way
Howe they of harlottes shall knowe the deceipte,
Their wittes, their maners, that therby they may
Them perpetually hate; for so moche as they
Out of theyr owne houses be fresshe and delicate,
Fedynge curiousely; at home all the daye
Lyuinge beggarly in moste wretched astate.

There be many mo words spoken whiche I purposely omitte to translate, nat withstandynge the substance of the hole sentence is herin comprised. But nowe to come to other poetes, what may be better saide than is written by Plautus in his firste comedie?

Verily Vertue dothe all thinges excelle.
For if libertie, helthe, lyvyng and substance,
Our countray, our parentes and children do well
It hapneth by vertue ; she doth all aduance.
Vertue bath all thinge under gouernaunce,
And in whom of vertue is founden great plentie,
Any thinge that is good may neuer be deintie.

Also Ouidius, that semeth to be moste of all poetes lasciuious, in his mooste wanton bokes hath righte commendable and noble sentences; as for proufe therof I will recite some that I haue taken at aduenture.

Time is in medicine if it shall profite;
Wyne gyuen out of tyme may be anoyaunce.
A man shall irritate vice if he prohibite
Whan tyme is nat mete unto his utterance
. Therfore, if thou yet by counsaile arte recuperable,
Flee thou from idlenesse and alway be stable.

Martialis, whiche, for his dissolute wrytynge, is mooste seldome radde of men of moche grauitie, hath nat withstandynge many commendable sentences and right wise counsailes, as amonge diuers I will reherce one whiche is first come to my remembrance.

If thou wylte eshewe bytter aduenture,
And auoide the gnawynge of a pensifull harte,
Sette in no one persone all holy thy pleasure,
The lasse ioy shalte thou haue but the lasse shalt thou smarte

I coulde recite a great nombre of semblable good sentences out of these and other wanton poets, who in the latine do expresse them incomparably with more grace and delectation to the reder than our englisshe tonge may yet comprehende.

Wherfore sens good and wise mater may be picked out of these poetes, it were no reason, for some lite mater that is in their verses, to abandone therefore al their warkes, no more than it were to forbears or prohibite a man to come into a faire gardein, leste the redolent sauours of swete herbes and floures shall meue him to wanton courage, or leste in gadringe good and holsome herbes he may happen to be stunge with a nettile. No wyse man entreth in to a gardein but he sone espiethe good herbes from nettiles, and treadeth the nettiles under his feete whiles he gadreth good herbes. Wherby he taketh no damage, or if he be stungen he maketh lite of it and shortly forgetteth it. Semblablye if he do rede wanton mater mixte with wised