Tho. wyatis translatyon of Plutarckes boke, of the quyete of mynde — De tranquilitate animi. English

Tho. wyatis translatyon of Plutarckes boke, of the quyete of mynde — De tranquilitate animi. English

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Title page

¶To the reder.

¶To the most excellent and most vtuous princes Katheryn / quene of Englande and of Fraunce &c. encrese & contynuaunce of moche helth and honour.

¶Of the Quiete of mynde.

§

¶Of the Quiete of mynde.

I receyued very late thy letter / wherin thou exhortes me that I shulde write sō thyng vnto the of the quietnesse of mīde and of those thynges / in Timeus / that thou thynkest nedeth more exquisite declaration. Trewly / where as Eros my frēde was redy to sayle towardes Rome and I had receyued hastely of Fūdanus the honest man the letters / & I had nat therfore leysar to apply me to that that thou desyredest / as I wolde haue done / nor agayne coude I suffre the man to be seen sent fro me with empty handes / certeyn chosen thynges I haue taken forth of the quietnesse of mynde / out of the comētaris that somtyme I made. And (as I thynke) ī such declaration thou sekes [Page] nat the delicacy of sayeng / and the piked delight of spech / and thou hast consyderatyon onely of some doctryne / to be as helpe for the lyfe to be ordred. & I iuge it very well doone / that where thou hast great priualte with princes / & that nat in cōmen thingꝭ / & that ī the glori of maters of iugemēt / no man is afore the / yet for all that thou dasyst nat folysshly at the fawnyng of glory / that wōders and exaltes the / as doth Merops in the tragedy. Oftimes also thou remēbrest that thou hast herde / that sore toos are nat esed with gorgious showes / nor the whit thlowe with a ring / nor the hedach with a crowne. For to what purpose is thuse of money for the eschewyng of the sickenesse of the mynde / or for the easy & sure passage of lyfe? Or wherto serueth the vse of glorie / or among courtiers apparēce? Onelesse that they to whom these thyngꝭ chaūce / can wisely vse thē whan they haue them: and agayne whan they want thē / ouer suffre the desyres of thē. and what any other thyng is that / than reason accustomed and fore thought / to restrayne quickly / & nat to suffre to stray the apasionate parte of the mynde / wantyng [Page] reason / whan it breketh forth / and to suffre it to forbeare whan it is ouertwharted / with assayling affections. Therfore / as Xenophon bad men in prosperous thynges chefely to remēbre the goddes / and to worshyp them than best / that whan case required with bet [...] hope what so euer they nede they myght aske of thē / therby contented and mercyfull. So those princyples that are most mete for to apese troubles / must be taken and receyued afore hande / onely of thē that are hole mynded / that long afore prepared / they may be long moost profytable. For lyke as feyrs dogges ragyng at euery voyce / yet at one voyce that they are vsed to and knowe / they apese thē selfe. So the wood affections of the mynde / it is no lytel busynesse to order and apese / Onlesse the princyples for that purpose vsed / be familier and redy at hande / that may clerely appese them / whan they are troubled and m [...]ued. Fardermore / they that are of opinyon nat to do many thinges / nor [...]uat [...]ly nor opēly / for the quiet passyng of lyfe. These first of all wyll make vnto vs / quyetnesse of mynde of a dere price / as to be bought / with sluggardy [Page] and slouthfulnesse / and as tho he were sicke / they warne euery man / as it were with this worde / lye still wretch in thy bed. Trewly where as it is an hurtfull medicin to the body that deedly sluggardy / nerawhit better phisicien for the sickenesse and trouble of the mynde / is slouth and tendernesse / & faynt hert forsaker of frendes / kyn / and countrey. Besydes that it is false / that vnac [...]yfe men lede a quiete lyfe / for els it must be that the lyfe of women were more quietous than that of men / as they that syt watchyng at home / occupied ī huswifely occupatiōs. And yet whan somoch / as the north wynde can nat trouble the yonge maydens / as Hesiodus saith / the diseses of the mynde / the troubles / the passyon of an yll thought / by ielousy / suꝑsticion / ambicyon / and vayne glorie / wherof no man can attayne the nōbre / crepe neuerthelesse / in to the house of their occupacion. Laertes lyueng twenty yeres ī the coūtrey (as it is said) only with an olde woman to serue hym of his meate and drinke / fled from his countrey and princely paleys / & had neuertheles sadnesse and frownyng debate in cōpany. what [Page] if that same / nothyng to do / hath troubled many from the ryght order of the mynde? as sayth Homere by Achylles / that he sat amonge the shippes folowīg his ire / with ferme purpose / flyeng from the fight / & the worthy counsayls of the nobles and the people / and dyuertīg the name of men vnactyfe / he fayleth in his hert / and agayne streyght he seketh the batails / and stereth him selfe ī the cruell stryffes of Mars. Therfore / whan he coude nat suffre hym selfe to wyther ī ydelnesse / he sayth angerly / I sytte lyke a deed lumpe of erthe / as the keper of the shippes. Nor yet Epycure the alower of voluptousnesse / is nat their auctor / that are outher ambitious or desirous of glory by nature / that they shulde gyue thē to ydelnesse / but vnto the gouernaūce of cōmynaltees / as nature ledeth them. for men that are borne to busynesse / can nat suffre with euyn and vntroubled mynde to be de [...]ued / of that they most desyred: Altho lyke a fole / he calleth them to a cō mon welth / that can nat holde them self from it / and nat rather thē that ar mete for the rule of it. Nor trewly the suretie and trouble of the mynde / ought nat to [Page] be measured / with multytude or scarsty of businesses. For to ouerslip honest thī ges / is no lesse displesaunt & troublous than (as we haue afore said) to do foule thynges. But thē also that haue chosen one maner of life to be voyd frō trouble / as some do the life of these husbādmen / some of syngle men / and some of kyngꝭ. Menander warneth with these wordes / that they erre far (as they say) out of the way. I thynke o Phania that these rich men that nede nat to make eschange for gayne / nor to playne in the night / nor in turnyng them vp and downe / to say often alas / slepe the swete and soft slepes. but whan he came and ꝑceyued the rych men / as well as the nedy to be troubled / it is no marueyle / ꝙ he / they ar of kyn & both borne at a burthen / lyfe & trouble. for it is the felowe of voluptuous lyfe / & of that brought vp by nede it encreseth. And trewly / as fearfull and sicke folke [...] out of a lytell bote lepe in to a gret shyp and from thens agayne in to a galy / thī kyng euer to be better / tyll they ꝑceyue them selfe nothyng the nere / & (as who sayth) clene done / as they that cary the coler and fearfulnesse euerywhere with [Page] them / so to take another & another kynd of lyfe / can nat delyuer the mynde from cōbre and troubles / such as ar vnknowlege of thynges / vnconsydred auenture / nouther to know nor to can vse a ryght thynges present / for a mater that is happened. These thynges trouble the riche aswell as the nedy / and vexeth with sadnesse the syngle men as well as the maryed. And for these causes / many that thinke moch welth is ī opyn places / can nat suffre a secrete restfull lyfe. for these selfe same causes / it repenteth many / of that they haue begon / that with gret labour haue thrust thē self in to the courtes of kynges. It is an vnplesaūt thing of sicke men / as Ion sayth / for the wyfe troubleth thē / they blame the phecisyen they be angry with the bed / ye and their frende noyeth them visytyng them / and agayne departyng displeaseth them. After that whan the disese forsaketh them and that by returned tēpre helth cometh makyng althyng mery and plesaunt / so that he on the ton day that coud nat broke an egge nor fyne bred / on the next day eteth hūgerly whetī bred & cresses. such effect & strēgth is there in resonīg / for to [Page] chaūge eche purpose of lyf [...] / for the happy passyng of the same. Alexāder whan he herde Anaxarchus argue that there were infynite worldes / it is said that he wept / and whan his frendes asked hym what thing had happened hī to be wept for. Is it nat to be wept for / ꝙ he / syns they say there be infyn [...]te worldes / & we are nat yet lorde of one? Crates cōtrarywyse / wearyng an olde cloke lyned with sport and laughter / as in holydayes tyll his last. Agayne to Agamemno [...] it was greuous that he ruled so many / whā he sayd / Thou shalt knowe Attrides Agamēnon / whom aboue all men Iupiter exerciseth and troubleth with labours. Diogines / whan he was on the stone to be solde / he scoffed wt the crier that shuld auaunce the sale / and whan he bad hym aryse / he wolde nat / sayeng at the laste / what if thou shuldest haue solde a fissh? And So [...]rates in his bondꝭ dyd dispute of wisdome among his pursuers. Lo on the othersyde / Pheton clymyng in to heuin / optayning wepīgly / that his father shulde take hym his chare and his horse to rule. Trewly as a showe may be wrested to the facion of a dyuers foote / but [Page] nat the fote lykewise to the facion of the wrested show / So do the passions of the thought make eche maner of life that is offred thē conformable & like to thē self / nor vnto thē that haue chosē the best lyf custōe maketh it nat plesaūt / as sōe say / but rather wisdō maketh the best life to be also most plesāt. Therfore the well of surete of the mīde / sprīging ī our self / let vs assay to make most pure & clere / that those thingꝭ that gyue vs foren thingꝭ & chaūceable / we may make mete & accordīg / in suffrīg with gret vprightnesse of the mynde. For trewly it accordeth nat to be wroth agayn thynges that chaūce amisse. for our angre nothyng ꝑtayneth to them. but he that can amend by craft yll chaūces / he tre [...]ly doth more laudably. Therfore Plato compareth mānes lyfe with the dyse / in the which the best cast is to be of the dyser desyred moost. but how soeuer it happen / there shuld be a ware hede / that he vse ryght that that the chaunce gyueth / wherof it is to parceyue that the tone is nat in our power / that is the chaunce of the dyse / the other is / if we be wyse / that we take with euyn mīde / that that chaūce gyueth / & to gyue to eche of thē his place / that that which [Page] chaūceth well / may be most profyte / and that lest hurt that happeth ouertwhartly. But vnconnyng men / and ignoraunt howe to lede their lyfe lyke sickely men / that can nother suffre h [...]te nor colde / as in ꝓsperyte they are with an hye forhed outragious / kepyng no measure. so are they in aduersyte / with knyt & bent browes fouly distempred. So are they troubled of both / or rather ī both / of thē self / and lykewise in those that are taken for good thyngꝭ. Theodorus that was called Athens / was often wont to say / [...]hat he reched wordes to his herers with his right hāde / & they toke them with their lyft hande. Foles oftentymes whan fortune offreth her ryght hande / vncomely turnyng them selfe / set her on their lyft hande. wyse men do better / that lyke as bees make hony a right swete thīg / out of drie tyme / an herbe of very byt [...] tast / so of very vnhandsome thynges / oft tymes they chuse out some handsome and prefytable thynges to thē. which thing wolde be moche thought on / & laboured with great exercyse of the mynde. For as he that cast a stone at a froward dog / whan he mist the dogge / and hit his step [Page] mother vnware / It is nat moch amysse ꝙ he. So may we mende and turne another way fortune / whan she chaūceth otherwyse than we wolde. Diogynes bycause of his exyle / left his coūtre / it was nat so greatly yll / for it gaue hym occasyon of lernyng philosophy. Zenon of Citius that had but one shyp / whan he herd that it was perished / the maryners the marchandise / and (as they say) euery crom / Fortune / ꝙ he / thou doest very wel with me / that driues me to myn old cloke / and to the porche of philosophy. what therfore shall let vs / that we may nat folowe them? Thou art fallen from some rule or authorite / thou shalt lyue ī the countre. Aplyeng thy priuate busynesse / with great compasse assayeng to auaunce thy selfe in the princes fauour [...] thou art refused / thou shalt lyue surely euery where / with no busynesse layd vnto the. Agayne thou art tāgled with many cares and busynesses / warme water doth nat cheryssh so moch / tendre membres (as sayth Pyndarus) as honours and glory ioyned with power / doth make labour swete / and suffrable. But som offēce dothe trouble the / of backbityng / [Page] of enuy / or nouhhty sclaūdre / the best remedy is with the muses / or in som place of leruyng to suffre ouer / as it happened vnto Plato / as in a cruel tempest / whan he was taken ī to the fauour of Deny s [...] Therfore it is of no lytell effecte / for the quietnesse of mynd / diligently to marke noble and famous men / if they haue suffred any lyke thyng / by those same causes / as by example / want of children maketh the sad / Loke on the Romayn kynges / of whom neuer a one dieng / left his reigne to his childe. Pouerte / thou cannat suffre wt euyn mynde / who than haddest thou leuer be of al the Boetians / rather than Epaminōdas / or of al the Romayns / than Fabricius? But sette case thy wyfe be nat chast / knowest thou nat thepygram of Agys in Delphos? Hast thou nat herde how Alcibyades defyled Time a his wife / and how she was wont to name the childe that she bare / priuely to her maydēs / Alcibiades? yet that letted nat Agys / to be a very worthy and a noble man / no more thā vnchast doughter of Stylphon dyd let hym to lyue the merylyst of all the philosophers of his tyme. whiche shame whan Wetrocles [Page] layde vnto hym / is it my faut or my don [...]his? ꝙ he / thy doughts ꝙ thother / but [...]hy misfortune / howe can that be? ꝙ he / are nat fautes fallynges? yes ꝙ tother / and fallynges / are nat they also the errours / of them that they are the fallynges of? trewe ꝙ thother / and what be errours? are they nat the mysfortunes of them / that they be errours of? with such a soft & resonīg pesable spech he taught the vayn checkis of the dogged man / to be but triflyng [...]arkingꝭ. Lo now / there are many / whom nat onely the vyces of their frendes and kynsfolke / doth vexe / but in goddꝭ name / they also of their enmys. for scoldyng / angre / enuy / folies / & combrous riualytees [...]ar the foulyst spottes of thē that they be in. yet they trouble foles / like as the angre of neighbors or thiportunat famyliers / or the noughty wyttes of seruaūtes / wherwithall I thynke thou be oftymes incued. And as it is in Sophocles / the phisiciens wassh away the bytter coler / with a bytter medicyn / so thou (nat as aparteyneth the) agayn their diseses / and yll affectiōs of the mynde / art angry / and answerest thē with lyke sowernesse of the mynde / whithe [Page] thynges that thou doest / a [...] nat meued with gode & thrifty maners / as most metest instrumētes / but for the most ꝙ [...]e with sharpe and frowarde condicions. & truly for to correct these thynges / whan it is more than thou canst do / [...]o is it nat esy by any meanes. So that if thou cāst vse these thynges whan they growe / no nother wise than these surgiēs vse their sharpe scrapynge instrumentes / than if thou vse them thus / beryng alway with the / as case requireth / softnesse and mesure / truely thou shalt no more vexe thy self / with others wantones & foly / than thou shalt be gladded with the cōsciens of thyne owne affection. for thou shalte thīke they do it nat without a cause / no more than dogges whan they barke / do naughtly of their nature. or els folowīg such wekenesse and feblenesse of mynde / if thou care nat to be troubled wt others ylles / they shall disceyue the wrechedly / dayly suckyng vp many troubles / flowing vnto the / as tho thou sa [...]est in a low bottome. what? many philosophers haue reproued pyte / with which we ar meued in beholdyng mesurable men / thynking that it is thooffice of a good man to [Page] socour neyghbours / that be oppressed in misery / & nat to be sor [...] therwith / or with slack [...]esse of a low mynde / to gyue place to fortune. ye / and that that euery man wyll say is more / they wolde nat suffre vs / if we parceyue our self to haue done amysse / or to be of naughty mynd / therfore to be troubled in our thought / & to be sory / for without sorinesse / such thynges shuld be mended / whiche whan it is thus / consyder well / how beestly it is to suffre our self to be any thyng wrath or angry / if they that we haue delt with all do nat gentylly & kyndly with vs. Truly I feare me my frende / leest the loue of our self disceyue vs / nor the frowardnes of yll speche vexeth so moch the mynde / as we prefer it ouer moche deseruyng of our selues / for vehemently / as it were wt dasyng / to be affectionate to certeyn thī ges / and vncomely to desyre and folowe them / or agayn to be agaynst them & abhorre them / no marueyle if these bringe stryues and offences among men / whan diuers men take it diuersly / outher these to be taken from them / or that they are fallen in to the other / but if any man / as chaunce requireth / vseth hym selfe with [Page] measure to be aplyable / which way so euer he turneth hym / he surely lerneth / wt handsome esynesse to haunt the cōpany of men. Nowe lette vs take our purpose that we left of the self thinges / lykewise as to them that ar sycke of agewes / all thynges tasted / semeth strait / bitter / and lothsome / tyll they haue sene other take the same thynges / without any token o [...] vnplesaunt sauour / whiche they lothly haue cast vp / where at laste they ley the faut in themself & in the sickenesse / and nat in the mete or drinke. So we / if we consyder other that vse with great vprightnesse of the mynde and mery chere / that that we passe nat without playntfull heuynesse / must nedes leaue to be so angre with the selfe thynges. But truly for to kepe constancy of mynde in aduersite / it is of great effect / nat to forgete wt a wynkyng eye (as they say) those thynges that sōtyme hath happened hapely vnto vs / as we wolde haue wysshed / and with due medlyng to way the ꝓsperous thynges / with euery yll chaunce. But where / as wear wont to turne our eyes / that be dased with beholding bright thī ges / vnto fresh and grene colours / for to [Page] refressh them / contrary wyse / we tourne our mynde to heuy thyngꝭ / and by force cōstrayne it to the remembraunce of thī ges most of repentaunce / and we pull it away agayn the wyll of it / from agreable and suffrable thinges. And here I remēbre I may bring in metely / that that ones was spoken to a busy felowe / medlyng in that that partayned nothyng to hym / what the myschefe vngracious felowe / thou se [...]st other mēnes vices with kytes eyes / & thyn own thou lettꝭ passe / with wynkynge owles eyes? To what purpose good man doest thou cōsyder so diligently thy harmes / & renewes them alwayes with busy remembraunce (and hast no regarde to that welfulnesse that is present? And like as these surgen boxinges suckes out of the flessh the worste blode / so doest thou / all the worst of thy thynges / gader in to thy selfe / [...]ra whit better than Chius the marchaunt / that where he solde moch wyne of the best / he gadred to hym selfe / the sower and deed wyne. whose seruaunt whan he ran away from hym / and one asked hym for what cause he forsoke his mayster / aunswered / for bycause whan he had good [Page] thynges in his handes / he sought for il. Many lyke vnto hym forsakyng swete drinkes / gyue them self to sharpe & bytter drīkes. So dyd nat Aristyppus lene vnto the heuy balaunce of harme / but reched hym selfe to the lyghter. He whan he had lost a pleasaūt maner / asked of one of them that shewed them self most sory and āgry for his fortune. Knowest thou nat / ꝙ he / that thou hast but one lytell house / and I haue yet thre good fermes left me? yes ꝙ thother. Than shulde I / ꝙ he / rather be sory for thy fortune? for it is lyke madnesse to be sory for thyngꝭ lost / nat reioysīg in thīges that be safe. And as lytell chyldren / whā one hath taken from them one tryfle among many / castyng away al the rest / they wepe and crye. so lykewise we troubled by fortune in one thyng cōplayning and lamētyng make all other thynges to vs vnprofytable. But one wyll say / what haue we? ye / rather what haue we nat? He hath glorie / he a house / another a wyfe as he wolde wysshe / and he a faithfull frende. Antipater of Tarsis dyeng / whan he rekened on his fyngers / the thynges that he had had in his life / he [...] forgate nat the [Page] good se passage / that he had out Cilicia to Athens. & pardy / these cōmon & light thinges ar nat to be passed / and there is cōsyderacion to be had of them / that we lyue / that we are in helth / that we se the sonne / that we haue no warre nor rebellyon / that the grounde is erable / & that the see may be sayled with litell labour. ye / and for the last / that we haue lyberte to speke and to holde our tong / to be busy & ydell. Truely the possession of these thynges / shall gyue vnto vs / a plentous mater of quietyng the mynde / if we fasten in our mynde thimage of the absēce and of the desyres of them / therby warnyng our selfes (how helth is moch desyred of sicke men / peace of them that are combred with warre / how moch desyred vnto a streyer abrode / and vnto an vnnoble man is glory / and toptayne suche a name in such a cyte. agayne how displesaunt it is / to lese it whan thou hast it. And yet I thynke nat / that any of these thīges or like shuld be so gret / & to be desyred / that whan it is lost / nothīg shalbe safe. for it shuld be nowhit more estemed for that it leueth to be. Nor they shulde nat be possessed / as so worthy thynges / [Page] nor kept with such busynesse / watching busely / leest we be spoyled of them as so precious thiges / that we shulde therfore set lyght / and nat regarde thynges that we haue safe / as tryfles. for these wolde be vsed / and the frute taken of thē with gladnesse / most for that cause / that whā chaunce happeneth / we may suffre more pesably and temperatly / the losse of thē. But trewly / as Archesilaus sayd / some thynke it a great thing / with diligent in tent of mynde and of eyes / to beholde others enditynges / pyctures and ymagꝭ / exquisitely / as they come to their hādes and they nat regardyng their owne life / tho they that behold others chaunces / & loke vpon hym that hath many consyderations & aduertysmentes / and they nat vnplesaūt / lyke these adultrers / that lothyng their owne wyues / folowe other mennes / erre (as the prouerbe sayth) all the worlde out of the waye. For it maketh moche towarde the constaunt state of the mynde. first to esteme hym selfe / & his own thinges / and the particulers of one / if nat / at the lest to tourne thyntent from consyderacion of courser thynges / [...]at as the cōmon sort of menlin dyuers [Page] maner to wonder on th [...] / whom fortune hath exalted to the heyght of thynges / whan she lysted to sport. as by example / they that are in prison thinke bondmen happy that are losed / they them that be free / they that be free thynke them that haue the lawe of cyties in their handes happy / and they riche men / & riche folke prouostes & gouernours / and they kynges / and at the last kynges / the goddes / whom (I had nye said) it irketh also of their godheed / outcept they myght haue power of thunder and lightning / so that where they cā nat be euyn with their superiours / they can nat (as they say) rest with in their bondes. I care nat for the goodes of riche Gygis / ꝙ Thasius / nor yet I wondre greatly at them / nor I enuy the marueylous workes of the goddes / nor yet gape I gretly after any kīgdome / for fer fer are these thīges frō my eyes / said this Thasius. Lo now cōtrariwyse suche another as Chius / or another Galates or Bithynus / nat content that he hath gotten glory & may stership among the cytezins / but on goddes name he must aske pleyningly to be a senatour / whan thou hast gyuen him that he [Page] must be prouost / and sette case that thou graunt him that / than must he be cōsull and whan at last thou hast put to that / all is nat worth a pe [...]s / outcept he be ꝓnounced the first. And what other thing I pray the is this / but in gadrīg causes of vnkyndnesse agayne fortune / to tourment hym self / and hym selfe ꝑpetually to punish him self? Truly a man well assured of his mynde / tho one or other of mortall people (where as we ar sixe. C. tymes / hundred thousande seers of the son / and chyldren of the erth) passe hym in glory of name / or habundaunce of ryches / sytteth nat abiect or lamentable wt wringyng handes (as they say) but rather where he seeth hym self better hādled / thā an infynite multitude of vndone men / as often as he cometh abrode / he reioyseth in his fortune. In the assays of Olympias / there was no vyctour that might refuse to medle with who so euer came fyrst / hauynge no lyberte to chuse his matche. In our lyfe the state of thinges gyueth lyberte to eche man / that cō pareth hym self & his fortune / with many / & with the fortune of many / to haue an hye and an vpright mynde / & to make [Page] hym therby to be seen and wōdred at to other / rather than him self to wonder at other / so that he be nat so folysshe to cō pare hym to Briarcus or to Hercules. So whan thou marueylinge / seest some great man caryed in a lytter / lette down thyn eyes / & loke vpon the berers therof. Agayn whan thou shalt wonder on Xerxes / as very happy / whan he passed the straitꝭ of Hellespont / with a brigge shapt of shyppe wood / behold also them / some their noses & some their eres smytten of and māgled / by reason of the brig broken / with shakyng of the furour of the sees rage / brekyng in by Athon / and beleue that they prayse with great commendacion / the and thy fortune. Socrates whan one of his frendes tolde hym / that all thyng was dere in the town / for wyne of Chia was at a pounde / and purple at thre pounde / and hony at .v. shyllynges the gallon / toke him by the hāde and ledde him in to the meyle house / it is solde / ꝙ he / for an halpeny the halfe busshell / therfore v [...]tell is good chepe. from thens he brought hī ī to the oyle house / it is solde / ꝙ he / for two brasse pens two gallons / al thyng than is nat dere ī the [Page] towne. So lykewise we / if we here any man say that our fortune is bare & wretched / for that we haue nouther the consulship nor other maistershippe / we may say vnto hym / that our fortune is fayre and goodly / and that we go nat frō dore to dore / and that among porters and berers / we wery vs nat with burdens / nor like flatterers / are cōstrained to be as parasites to princes. Altho (for we ar now come to that madnesse / that eche of our lyues hangeth vpon other mens / more than our own / and that our nature is so altred / in to a certeyn vnkynde and enuyous affectyon / nat so moch to glad ī our owne / as to be troubled with other folkes welthes) if thou loke nat only vpon those wonders / and famous thynges in them / whom thou wenest very blessed / & (as they say) in Iouis lap / but the curtē & the fayr trauers drawen / lettyng passe their glory and vtter apparēce / if aswell thou loke with in them / thou shalt truly fynde many inwardꝭ / sower & troblous. Pyttacus / whom the sure fame noyseth to haue ben endewed with wysdome / fortitude / and iustyce / whan he was cherīggestꝭ that he had / it is sayd his wyfe cāe [Page] and angerly ouerthrew the table / wherwith whan he sawe his gestes abasshed eche of you / ꝙ he / is troubled with some yll / I am in this state alway very well. This man that was demed abrode to be very happy / whan so euer he entred his threshold / he semed to be a wretch / I say nat that he was one / where his wyf had all and ruled prīcely / where oftimes & alway he neded to fyght with her. Many thynges do trouble you / no [...]hyng dothe trouble me. Many such lyke thinges do cleue vnto glory / vnto riches / ye and vnto a kyngdome. but truely of the ignorant multytude vnꝑceyued / for the pōpe is drawen / behynde the which those thī ges lye hyddē. Happy Attrides glory of grekes / eueriwhere mylde fortune the fauoureth / whyle she exalteth her chylde. This vtward blyssednesse to be compased with wepyns / horse / and armes / let vs here lykewise / the repentyng voice of an yll troubled mynde / cryeng agaynst suche excesse of glory. Mighty Iupiter hath tāgled me with greuous chaūces / & ī another place. O happy & blessed that ferre out of danger / vnnoble / and vnglorious / haue [...]assed their lyues. By these [Page] and such lyke declaracions / it may be sē sably parceyned / the playntfull vnquietnesse of the mīde / scoldyng with fortune and casting away it self with wo [...]dring at other / & to ryse for top [...]sse it self / and the owne thynges. For of trouth it breketh marueylously the constant & quyet state of the mynde / with hyer entent to stryue aboue the power to get any thing as to sayle with gretter sayles than proporcion / as whan hope shyneth neuer so lytell / ꝓmysing folisshly vnto our selfes vnmesurable and great thynges / & than whan chaunce foloweth nat / we accuse wicked fortune and our desteny / whā rather we shulde dam our selfes of foly / as it were to be angry wt fortune / that thou ca [...]st nat shote an arowe with a plou / or hūt an hare with an oxe / and that some cruell god shulde be agaynst them / that with vayn indeuour / hunt an hart with a dragge net / and nat that they attempt to do those impossibilytes / by their own madnesse and folysshnesse. Surely the cause of this errour / is the noughti loue of our self. For men / ouermoch deseruīg of them self / where as with great stryfe they alowe them selfe best / enhaunced wt [Page] pride / leaue nothyng vnassayd. For it is nat ynough vnto them to be ryche & eloquent / and amonge mery & gladsome festes. but that they must be famyliers of princes and in auctorite / but that they must haue the best horse & the best doggꝭ and (if god wyll) the best cockerels and quayles / or els they can nat be quiete in theie mynde. Denys thelder thought it nat ynough to be the grettest tyraunt in his tyme / but yuell content also / that he was nat so good as the poete Phyloxenus in poetry / and as Plato in the c [...]ft of resonyng / meued with yre / him he put in to a dōgion / and thother he solde / and banysshed in to Aeginas. So did nat Alexandre / that where he was greatly meued with Brison / with whom he stro [...]e in swyftnesse of the chart / with deliberacion [...]emed plesaunt / forberyng his own right. Therfore Homere spake it very well by Achylles / such a one as was nō among the grekes in batayle / and after he sayth / but there were other that were more eloquent. Megabysus of Per [...]a on a tyme whan he came in to Appelles shop / he began to bable I wot nat what of the craft of payntyng. Appelles that [Page] coude nat suffre his folyes / afore / ꝙ he / that thou shewedest thy self wt thy wordes / I had a good opinyon in the / by reason of thy golde & purple / auaūcy [...]g thy silence / now the prētises and boyes that grinde me my colours / do mocke thy bablynge. There is that thy [...]ke that the Stoyik philosophers do mocke vs / ī discribyng a wise man af [...] their facion / nat only to be wise / iust / and strong / but also an oratour / an emperour / a poete / ye [...] & a kyng. and they are nat ashamed to ascribe all these names vnto him / altho if they ꝑceyu [...] them self in dispeyre of thē / they are alway il content / which how it accordeth with reason / they may se whā that they knowe the goddes contented / eche with his godheed to be satisfied / as to be called Enyalius / that hath auctorite ouer the furour of bataylc / another Mantous / that is ouer ꝓphecies. ano [...]her Cerdous / that is ruler of lucre. So that in Homere / Iupiter forbyddeth to Uenus werly maters / as nothyng ꝑteynyng to her / & byddeth her to take hede to mariage maters. Besydes this / somthynges of thē that seme to vs to be desyred / accorde nat togider of their owne [Page] nature / as by example. He that desyres the study of sayeng & of lernyng / he must be quiete and without busynesse / agayn auctorites and familyarite with prīces [...] ar wont to make busynesses / & to bring often cōbraunces. Plētous vse of wyne and flessh / maketh a man strong & mighty / and the mynde frayler and weker. Agayn / vnmesurable diligence to encrese / or busy trouble for to kepe / agreeth for the gadring of riches. A tother syde / contempt & dispisyng / is a great instrument for the beginnyng of philosophy / and almost the first and chefyst exercyse of it. So al thinges is nat for euery man / but he that wyll obey the poesy of Appollo / must first knowe him self / and so take aduyse of his owne nature / & as she ledeth to take an order of lyfe / rather than passyng from one to another / to force & constrayn his nature. An horse for the cart / an oxe is mete for the plowe / after a ship that sayleth / a dolphin is mete to swym / and to hunt the bore a [...]cirse dogge. So that if one be troubled / for that a mighty lyon may nat be norisshed ī a womās lappe / as well as a lytell whelpe / surely he is a gret fole. And he is ne [...]awhit wyser / [Page] that wyll write of the worlde & seke the nature of thynges / both after Empedoclis facion or Platos / or Democritus togider / or to lye with a riche old womā / as Euphorion / and to be lyke those that were wont to bāket late with Alexādre / as Medius / and thinke it vncomely and scant to be suffred / outcept he may by riches be as notable as Ismenia / & by vertue / as noble as Epaminōda. Ronners whan they haue their game / are content that wrestlers haue their reward / if thou haue gotton / sayth Solon / the towne of Sparta / order it with lawes & decrees. we wyll nat chaūge wt you / saith the sāe man / vtue for riches / syns thone is our owne & stable / & riches is but chaunceable / & passeth frō one to another. Strato whan he herde that Menedemus had more scolers than he. Lo / ꝙ he / is it nat to be marueyled / if many had rather be wasshed than perfumed? Aristotle writyng to Antipater / it is mete saith he / to be as glorious for Alexander / and to be consydred / nat onely to raigne ouer many people / but also to haue beside other / a right opinyon of godly thingꝭ / so that they that vnder this maner / calle their [Page] glad thynges glorious / and nat so lytell to be estemed / they wt out doute shall nat be troubled / with wondring at straunge thynges. yet now whan none of vs sees a vyne beare fygges / nor an olyue beare grapes / we braule with our selfe neuerthelesse / and with vngentyll gredynesse oppresse our selfes / & are so wery of our selfes / outcept we may attayne to the hyest degre / both of richmen and of lerned men / both at home & in the w [...]rres / both of philosophers and of warryers / ye and bothe of flaterers & of them that by trusty and free playnesse / are knowen to be true / and at last / bothe of nygardꝭ & wasters. Altho that we se nature to tech vs marueylusly. For as it is sene by nature dyuers beestes to feed for their lyuēg dyuersly / nor that she wolde that all shuld be norisshed with s [...]edes or with flesshe / or with rotes / but as they are dyuers to ete dyuers meates / so hath the same nature gyuen to mankynde dyuers orders of lyueng / as pasturyng / plowyng / foulyng / and fysshīg. we must therfore eche of vs chuse that / that we knowe is most metest for vs / and with all our endeuoir gyue vs to that / & to parte from the possession [Page] of that that we parceyue parteyneth to another / or elles it is to no purpose that Hesiodus sayd. The potter enuyeth the potter / and ouer the smythes craft his felowe is enuious. Truly now men are nat ledde with enuy of the craft or order of their felowes / but riche men with enuy of lerned men / nobles of riche men / men of lawe / of deceyuers / and of players and of tomblers / and at the last / free and noble men of auncient famyles dasyng for wonder at the good fortunes of men of bondage in the courtes of kynges / while they thīke that all their own fortunes are to be lothed / they trouble them self / & with no lytell cure of mynde kyll them selfe. Surely that euery man hath cof [...]rs & receytes / and as who saith springes / of surety & trouble in his own thought / and Homers tonnes of good & yll / nat as he said ī Iouis dore / but with in his own mynde / the dyuersite of men proueth gretly / whom we se by affectiōs of the my [...]de to be diuersly tempred. for foles let good thynges passe tho they be present / and regarde them nat whā they perisshe / so moche doth their thoughtes gape gredily after thynges to come. Cō trariwyse / [Page] men of wyt with sharpe remē braunce / reducyng them self to thynges that be present / make those thīges that yet are nat / to be at hand. For that that is at hande and present / offring it self to be taken ī on onely instant / after that vnremembred / semeth vnto foles nother to be ours / nor to partein to vs. and as the roper that is paynted in Plutos house / as moche as he dyd wreth out of his basket in to his rope / he suffred folisshly an asse that stode by hym to ete / no notherwyse doth the vnkynde & slouthfull forgettinge of many / settyng asyde the cō modites of thīges past / the worthy do [...] dedes / the noble actes / the plesant ydelnesse / the mery and gladsome cōpany / & forgettyng and scrapyng out all the delyte of the lyfe / suffreth nat their lyfe to be all one facyoned and weued togyder [...] with the thinges past & the thynges present / deuyding yesterdayes lif from that of to day / & that from that of to morow / althyng do [...] they make vndo [...] / with the weryng out of their remēbraunce. Truely they that ī the scoles of philosophers toke away encresynges of bodyes / as vanisshing substaūce by wast / they only in [Page] their wordes made eche of vs / another & another than our selues. But they that contayn nat thynges passed / as tho memory failed / nor again remēbreth them / they do nat now in wordes / but in very dede / make them selfe dayly more nedy & more voyde / gapyng alwayes on to morowe / as tho thinges of last yere / of late / & of yesterday / ꝑteyned nothīg to thē / & as tho thei had neuer chaūced vnto thē. So that the constant state of the mynd / by this maner is troubled. And euyn as flyes slyp of whā they crepe vpon smoth glasses / & in rough & rugged places thei cleue esely / so men slyding frō gladsome and plesant thinges / holde fast the remē braūce of heuy thynges. And lyke as at Olinthus / ther is a place they say / wher in these horned flies be taken / and whan they be ī / they can nat get out again / but a great whyle flyeng vp and down with in / makyng many circles in vayne / they dye at last. so men enwrapped in the remembraūce of ylles / can neuer after get forth nor get socour. Therfore as paynters are wont in tables to vnderlay dym colours to the eyes / and to en [...]lyne and draw faire and bright colours vpon thē [Page] so shulde men in their owne myndes / all heuy and darke chaūces / ouercouer and ouerthrowe with glorious & faire chaū ces / worthy to be remembred. for thīges past can nat clerely be fordone / nor be agayne afterwarde / by man onely. For so variable / dyuers and reboūdable / is the tune of this worlde / as of an harpe / nor in mortall thynges / is there any thynge that is pure / clere / & symple. But as musyke standeth by hye and lowe soundes / and grāmer by letters / vowels & mutes / and that he is nat a musycien or a gramarien / whom eitherlyke of these dothe offende / but he that can vse them & temper thē most accordingly / no notherwise it semeth / that he wisely hath stablished his lyfe / that most dyuers chaunces contrary among thē self / hath lerned to mī gle hansomly / wayeng prosperite with aduersite. for clerely to set aparte / good or yll / mortall comodite wyll nat suffre / but it behoueth to make a temper with both / if we wyll determyn right of these thynges. It is nat therfore accordyng / in the tone of these to playne / & faynting in the mynde / to fall down as it were vnder to heuy a burden / but the power and [Page] thīpression of euery worst chaūce / to repulse with the remēbraūce of better thī ges / alwayes wrappīg vp discomodites in comodites / as it were in a napkyn / to make the tenour of the hole lyfe / made & gadered with prosperites & aduersytes / as a certayne accorde / tēpred with connyng reason. And truly / nat as Menander thought / a man hath as soone as he is borne / a good spirite / as begynner of his lyfe & techer of right lyueng / but rather as Empedocles thought / two spyrites of diuers cōdition / to whō he giueth dyuers & many names dothe receyue vs assone as we cōe ī to the light / frō thensforth gyuen vnto thē / as it were almost by right of seruice. He said that our generation did receyue the seedꝭ of al these affectiōs / & that therfore the draught of our lyfe was nat euyn and leuell / but rather brackish & sower / & therfore the wise man shuld haue the best thīges in his desyre / & loke for the worst / & in the tēper of thē bothe vse of neither ꝑte to moche. Nor yet shall he cōe plesantly to to morowe / as Epicurus saith / that wt gret debatyng douteth whyder he shall lyue to it / but riches / glory / power / & authorite / [Page] gladeth & reioyseth such men most / that with cōtrary thīges a totherside / if case happē / can be as gode & as vpright. For truly vehemēt appetit of any thīg / hath alway fere his felow of lesīg it / that dulleth the gladnes / & maketh it more to be desyred / as whā flame is resisted wt gret wind. whō truly reson hath taught assuredly & vnferfully thus to say to fortun / if thou gyue it I shalbe rizt glad / if thou take it agayn / I shalbe indifferent. this mā that can thus vse hī self / wtout marueyle / must nedꝭ vse thīges that happen plesantly / and nat be pulled from thens with feare of that losse rennynge in the thought. Anaxagoras whan he herde that his sonne was deed / I knewe ꝙ he / whan I begote hī that he shuld dye / & I haue suffred ouer that awaytīg. this affection of Anaxagoras / is asmoch to be folowed of vs / as wōdred at. Surely we may stay forthwt ech misfortun / I knew I had slypy riches / nat nayled with sixe peny nayl / as they say in my possession / and that I had them / but to vse thē. I knewe well inough that they that gaue me power / myght also take it from me. I knewe that my wyfe was wyse / but [Page] that she was also a woman [...] and for the last I knew that my frende was a man / that is to say / a lyuely thyng redy of nature to be depraued / as Plato oft sayde. Truely he that compareth thus the reasōs of his affections / & byldeth him such rāpers of reason / if ought happen other wise than he wold / or ouerthwartly / yet is it nat to him sodayn / and where as he neuer admitteth those cōmen thīges [...] I wolde neuer haue went it / I was ī grete hope / I neuer thought it wold be thus / there truely dothe he fordo the vneuynnesse of a stertynge or glytteriug hert / & of one that was troubled and meued / he maketh forwith to him self / one pesable and constant. Carneades was wont to warne men most in prosperite of aduersite / for that euery sodain thīges nature is to be receyued all with grutchynge of the mynde / & as a maner meltyng. How great aparte is nowe Macedony / of the romayn Empyre? yet Perses whan he lost it / nat onely accused fortune wt foule complayntes / but semed also to dyuers / most infortunate & wretched of all men. Loke on tother syde / Emilius whan he had ouercom him / partyng from the coū trey / [Page] gyueng place in the lordship of the see and of the lande to the right successour / was receyued with the garlandes / and reioysynges of all men / and in the sacrifice extolled vnto heuē with praises / and nat vndeserued / but most deserued. For he remembred hym self to haue gotten a chaunceable kyngdome / the to therby vnwened and vnforthought chaunce was put frome the height of his kyngdome. Me thīketh Homer techeth with a proper example / how moch more hurtfull those thynges are that stryke sodenly. Uli [...]es at his returne home / wept at the sodeyne dethe of his dog / and nat to his wyfe that sat by him and wepte. for in cōmyng / consydringe the wepynge ymage of his wyfe / he had subdued the affection that els now wolde haue broken out / and by former shittyng of the mīde / had reduced it in to his own power / and was troubled with the vnforethought deth of the dogge / for that in the sodeyn thinge he had no space / to let the power of his affection. to cōclude shortly / thynges that chaūce agaynst our myndes / ar scant & herdly suffred / partly by nature / and partly we se thei ar greuous / by corrupt [Page] custome and naughty opinion / and they be the most parte. it is of gret effect against thē / to haue at hāde this sentēce of Menāder. Thou hast suffred no gret grefe / onles thou make it so thy self / for what toucheth it the / if it nother streyne thy flessh / nor reche to thy soule / as by example / thunnoblenesse of thy father / the adultry of thy moder / the dignite of the first place taken from the / the reward of thy victory bereft the / what ꝑteyn these thynges to the? for truely tho these thī ges happen / it shuld nat let the in thy body nor in thy mynd to be well / ye & right well. Agaīst these thingꝭ that by nature doth sōthing offend / as siknesses / hurtꝭ / & dethis of kinsfolke / this must be set. alas / wherfore alas? for we haue suffred nothīg / that ꝑteyneth nat to man to suffre. For there is no speche that soner rebuketh thaffectionate ꝑte of the mynde / whā it is drawen ouertwhartly with affectiōs / & whan it snatcheth the byt of reson ī the teth / thā that that warneth vs of our comen & naturall necessites / vnto whiche necessite man is borue / & entangled as the body groweth / whiche shall gyue vnto stryuing fortune / a knot / sure [Page] of all other thinges / that ar most chefe & grettest. They say Demetrius whan he sacked the town of Megarēsis [...] asked of Stylpo if any of his go [...]des was taken frō him? to whom he answered. I sawe no body take away myn / for wher as fortune hath suffred / all her thīges to be taken frō her / yet haue we no such thīges ī vs / as nother the grekꝭ cā do nor suffre. it is nat therfore mete so moch to forsak nature / as hauyng no strēgth nor sufferaūce / to matche fortunes violēce. wher as we knowe rightwell / that that / that ī man may be hurt with fortune / is but a lytell / and the worst parte of vs frayle & ouerthrowen with euery impression / by deynte tendernesse / and that we our self haue the power ouer the better partes / wherin be set those grettest & good thinges / as in an vnslypper place / and where also true glory / leruīges / & studys ꝑtaynīg to vtue haue their beīg / nother mortall nor byreueable by no strēgth. thus I say / knowīg our selfes of vnuyncible mīde / for trustīg to our selfꝭ / it becometh vs to be assured agayn thīges to come / & to saye that to fortune / that Socrates faynīg did say by Auitus & Melitus his accusers / truly ꝙ he / to the iugꝭ Auytus [Page] and Melitus may slee me / but to do me hurt or displeasure / they can nat. for tho fortune might ouerthrow hym with dyuers sicknesses / take frō him his riches or accuse hym to a tyrant / or to the people / yet might she nat truely make hym yll / or faynt herted / or fearfull / or altred of his mynde / or els make hym malicyous / but onely a good man / endued with manlynesse and corage of the mynde / & at a worde she might nat bereue him the right order of the mynde / whiche truely profiteth more to man / for the ledyng of the lyfe / than the craft of sayling / for to passe the sees. For the maryner be he neuer so cōning / can nat by any meanes redresse the fury of the water / nor repulse the assaut of the feirce wynde / no more than get a hauen where he wolde / whan so euer he wolde retourne from the see. No / nor this cometh nat to him by craft that whan he is taken with tempest / cō stantly and vnferfully to handle the necessite / herto it helph nat / that whilst he dispayreth nat / for place for his craft / takyng ī the sayle / driueth as he may with the tēpest / the coward now sitteth down with wrīging hādes from all this ge [...]e / [Page] & whyle the mast is drowned with force of winde / he shaketh with trēbling fere. but in a wyse man / an ordred mīde with the body brīgeth faire wether / that is to say with contynence / and tempre of fode and labour / wipyng away the causes of sicknesse / and if there be any outwarde cause of trouble / in the whiche a mans mynde is ron / as ī the roky fla [...]tes / with quicke pullynge vp the sayle yarde (as Asclepiades saith) it passeth ouer. And if so be it en [...]rese and growe more than can be socourd or suffred by man / the hauen is nat fer of / and there resteth to the to swym out of the body / as out of the ship boote / whan it wyll holde no more. Truly foles / nat so moche for the desyre of lyfe / as for the feare of dethe / hangīg on the body cleue fast with claspyng hā des / no notherwise than Ulixes dyd hāg on the wylde figge tree / whan he feared the russhing of the horelpole Caribdis / whom Homer saith / was so nere taken in the see of Sycill / that he coud nother stoppe by reason of the wynde that shoued hym / nor yet get out / so dyd that let him / and as tho he held the wolfe by the eres / as the prouerbe saith / coud nother [Page] hold the ire / for werynesse & discomodite of the chaūce / nor let it go for fere of the dredfull pyll. But if any māneuer so lytell cōsyder / the nature of our soule / and doth recken with hym selfe / the passage from the state of this lyfe to be to a better / or at the lest to no worse / by deth truly he hath alredy / no lytell forderaunce for his iourney / that is to saye / the contempt of deth. For who that / what with valyaunt vertue / whiche is the properte and peculyarite of man / and what with ordrīg assuredly the mynde / agaynst for rayne and straunge thinges / whiche cōe besyde nature / mightely to ouerthrowe our proper thynges / may lyue so plesātly / that he may say / I may go / I may go my way surely at the first tym / with the good leue of god / whan I wyll / whan I pray the / other greuous or cōbrous / or troublous thyng can happen vnto him? Of trouth / what soeuer he is that saith this worde / I haue preuented the / o fortune / and all thy entres were they neuer so streyte I haue stopte / this man nat wt berres / nor nayles / nor byldinges hath coraged and strēgthed hym selfe / but rather with decrees of philosophy / and rules [Page] of wisemen / whiche also be open & so redy for euery mā / that they nede but only the takynge. Nor we may nat take away byleue in those thynges / that haue ben left to our remembraunce of our elders / nor dispeyre in nothyng of thē / as tho thei were nat possible to be folowd / but as it is mete to loke vpon them / and to marueyle moche of them / as it were by grace wondringe of them / so must we make our selfes / by confyrmynge vs to their folowing lyklihodes of them / that by beginnynges set in small thynges / as sayeng gretter and gretter / we may profite to the hyest. But we must diligently loke / that we put nat the thoughtes of these thinges out of our mynd / nor that we let to tourne oft these thinges in our thought / and (as they say) to thinke on them with all our hert. Nor this busynesse endeth no gret labour (for as a certeyn swetnesse of the mynde / noyeth vs and hath taught vs with slouthful and vnexercised tendernesse / and hauntynge most prone thynges of lest busynesse / by an naughty fauour hath taught it selfe / out of vndelightsome thynges / to turne it selfe to eche plesant thyng / so lykwise [Page] if any man vse to fayne in his mynd / the ymages of sicknesse / of labour / of exyle / & to gader vnto him the strēgthes of his reason / to discus diligently eche by hym selfe. this man / this / s [...]all without fayle se that those thynges / for the most part / ar vayn and dispi [...]able / that seme heuy / ferefull / and horrible / and to say trouth / threten more with their loke / than they do in the departyng But many abhorre that worde of Menander / that any man a lyue may nat glorie / in [...]ayeng / this I wyll nat suffre. for that they knowe nat what it aueyleth for to auoyde heuines / to thynke and to vse to beholde fortune / with vnagreable and f [...]irs eyes / and nat to le [...]e to tendre thoughtes / and trifling delytes / and norisshmentes of esy lyfe / rysyng at euery lytell hope / and fallyng at euery lytell thyng. Altho it may be thus answered to Menander. It can no wyse [...]e sayde / why [...]e I lyue this I wyll nat suffre / lette it be so / but this I may saye whyle I lyue / this I wyll nat do / I wyl nat lye / I wyll vse no crafty deceites for to compasse men / I wyll nat begyle / I wyll nat disceitfully lye in an ayte. this syns it is in vs / it is a great helpe to thē [Page] that lyfte them selfe vp to the surety of mynde / in which maner lyke as botches be in the body / so is a naughty consciēce in the soule / as that that leueth repentaunce / busely prickyng and pulling the mīde. For where all other heuinesses ar wont to be taken away by reason / onely this repentaunce it selfe prouoketh by shame / as one that byte [...]h and gnaweth hym self. And truely / as they that shake of a cold ague / or burne of an hote ague / ar more sharply and feruently vexed thā they that suffre the same thynges / of vtwarde colde or hete. so casuall and chaū ceable thynges / haue more blunter heuynesses / as outwarde and forayn thīges. And this thing / no body is to blame for me but my self / which is wont to be plainynly cried / whan an offence is done / maketh the hurt tha [...] [...] greuous of it selfe / more greuous / and driueth it in deꝑ. So nouther gorgiousnesse of buylding / nor weight of golde / nor noblenesse of kyn / nor greatnesse of empire / nor eloquēce & fayre spekyng / brinketh so moche clerenesse of lyfe / and so plesant quietnes / as bringeth a mynde discouered from trouble of busynesse / lyueng (as they say) wt [Page] hym selfe ferre from yll aduyse. whiche hauyng the well of lyfe (I mean [...]yt & condicions / from whiche cōmendable dedes do sprīg) clere and vntroubled / shall bring forth all his dedꝭ / mery & vpright as it were with an heuenly grace / by the remembraūce wherof / he is feed with a more certeyn / than Pyndarus hope / norishmēt (as he sayth) of old age. And as Carneades was wont to say / the swete fyrres tho they be cutte or pulled vp by the rotes / they kepe a swete sauour a lō ge whyle / truely in the mynde of a wyse man / honest dedes do euer leue a certeyn fresshe and plesaunt remēbraunce. with the whiche remembraunce that same inwarde gladnesse springeth by a cōtynuall ryuer / as who saithe bering frute / to the great shame of their errour / that so lamētably blame this lyfe / sayeng it is a cōgregation of ylles / and a certeyn resort of outlawes / in to the whiche onely the soules that be banyshed from aboue be put. I reken that worde of Diogines worthy remembraunce / whiche he sayd / whan he sawe a straūger in Lacedemona / curiously pyking hym selfe agayn a holyday. what ꝙ he / is nat euery day holyday [Page] with a good man? yes and if we be wyse most gladsom holiday. For this worlde is a certeyne most holy temple / & most mete for god / in to this temple man is admytted whan he is borne / nat to be holde karuyn ymages wantyng senses / but the son / the mone / & the sterres / from whiche cometh mouyng / & the first principles of lyfe / whiche prouidēce hath gyuen vnto vs to beholde / that they shulde be sensyble ymages and folowynges of intelligible thynges / as Plato saith. be sydes these / the flodes that bring forthe alwayes newe waters / and the erth producyng fode / bothe vnto trees & vnto all kynde of bestes. with this goodlynesse & prospecte begynnyng truely our lyfe / it must be full of surety and of ouerspred gladsōnesse / nor [...] ar nat to be loked for of vs / Saturn [...] festes / or Bacchus festes / or Myneruas festes / as many do that receyue these and such other festes with great awaytīge / gladsomnesse and sporte / in whiche they may more lyberally / glad them self with bought laughter gyueng wages vnto mynstrels and tomblers for their minde sake. And what is more vncomly / than that in suche plays [Page] we syt with suche pertynax s [...]ylence doyn [...] nothing els (as they say) (for there is no mā that lamēteth or wepeth / whā he seith Pythia begyn / no more than he is hūgry after the feest) and those goodlynesses wherof god hym selfe is auctor vnto vs / and in maner player / with lamē tyng and sowernesse of mynde / ledyng a dolorous lyfe / we defile and make soro [...] full. And yet most vnsely is this / whan we delyte in orgaynes played and sounded / and in lytell byrdes songes / and beholde gladly the beestꝭ playng and daū syng / and agayne ar offended with their frowarde noyse and their cruell lokes / yet neuerthelesse seyng our owne lyues sadde and heuy / frownyng / & ouerthrowen with most troublous affectiōs and tangled busynesse [...] [...]nd cures / and driuen with vntempe [...]esse / that nat only we can nat gette vs some lyberte and space to take our brethe / but nother here also other exhortyng vs to it. To whose warnynges with clere and opyn cares / if we wolde gyue hede / we shulde vse thī ges present as they come without any blame / and shulde rest with the plesaunt remembraunce of thynges past / and at [Page] the last we shulde drawe towarde thynges to come / vnferefully and assuredly / with sure and glad some shyning hope.

Thende.

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

¶Tho. wyatis translatyon of Plutarckes boke / of the Quyete of mynde.

¶To the reder.

[Page]

It shall seme harde vnto the parauenture gentyll reder / this trāslation / what for shorte maner of speche / and what for dyuers straunge names in the storyes. As for the shortnesse aduyse it wele and it shalbe the plesaunter / whan thou vnderstandest it. As for the straūge names stycke nat ī them / for who that can take no frute in it / without he knowe clerely euery tale that is here touched / I wolde he shulde nat rede this boke.

Farewell.

¶To the most excellent and most vtuous princes Katheryn / quene of Englande and of Fraunce &c. encrese & contynuaunce of moche helth and honour.

[Page]

The boke of Fraūces Petrarch / of the remedy of yll fortune / at the cōmaundement of your highnesse / I assayd / as my power wolde serue me / to make into our englyss [...]. And after I had made a profe of nyne or ten Dialogues / the labour began to seme tedious / by suꝑfluous often rehersyng of one thyng. which tho ꝑauenture in the latyn shalbe laudable / by plentuous diuersite of the spekyng of it (for I wyll nat that my iugement shall disalowe in any thyng so aproued an auctour) yet for lacke of suche diuersyte in our tong / it shulde want a great dele of the grace. Altho / as me semeth / and as sayth this Plutarch / the plentuousnesse and faire diuersyte of lāgage / shulde nat so moch be desyred in suche thynges / as the frutes of the aduertysmentes of thē / whiche in my opinyon / this sayde Plutarch hath handsomly gadred togyder / without tedyousnesse of length / contaynīg [Page] the hole effect / of that your hyghnes desyred of Petrarch in his lytell boke / which he wrate to one of his frendes / of the Quiete of mynde / nerawhyt erryng from the purpose of the sayd Petrarch. which I haue made now of late ī to our tong nat p̄cisely (I cōfesse) wtout errour as one shulde haue done that had ben of perfite lernyng / but after my rudenesse / seking rather the profite of the sentence than the nature of the wordes. but howsoeuer it be / if it may please your hyghnesse to accept it / it shall nat onely be a defence for the symplenesse of the boke / agaynst ouer busy serchers of other mē nes actꝭ / whan the good wyll shall haue the alowance of so vertuous a iugemēt / but also corage to the symple endeuour of this hande / towarde better ent̄prises. And tho the smalnesse of the present be great / in respecte of that / that accordeth to your exellence / the sentence parauenture shall nat be moche vnacceptable / if it greue nat your grace to marke it after your accustomed wysdome. Pleseth thā your hyghnesse to pardone thouerboldnesse of your moost humble slaue / where he presenteth you / for the good lucke of [Page] this newe yere / with this his symple labour / and with as moch quiete of mynde as this boke pretendeth / alwayes prayeng god to sende you thonorable desyre of your vertuous hert.

At Alyngton the last day of Decembre. M.D.xxvij.

your most hūble subiect and slaue / Tho. wyat.

§

§

¶ Imprinted at London in Fletestrete by Richarde Pynson / printer to the kynges moo [...] noble grace.

¶ Cum priuilegio.

Information about this book

Title statement

Tho. wyatis translatyon of Plutarckes boke, of the quyete of myndeDe tranquilitate animi. English

Plutarch.

Edition statement

1528

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A09791

ID [STC]

STC 20058.5

ID [STC]

ESTC S110511

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99846038

ID [PROQUEST]

99846038

ID [VID]

10975

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Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A09791)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 10975)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 520:07)

Source

— Tho. wyatis translatyon of Plutarckes boke, of the quyete of mynde, De tranquilitate animi. English, Plutarch., Wyatt, Thomas, Sir, 1503?-1542..

Extent

[56] p.

In Fletestrete by Richarde Pynson, printer to the kynges moost noble gracc [sic],. [Imprinted at London :: [1528]]. (A translation of: De tranquilitate animi.) (Printer's name and address from colophon.) (Dedication dated: the last day of Decembre. M.D.xxvij.) (Signatures: a-c d⁴.) (Identified as STC 20059+ on UMI microfilm.) (Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.)

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